Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1886 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

It is not he that sows but he that manures that gets the big crop. Illinois farmers are taking the lead in improving their lands by tile drainage. Memorial-trees planted on birthdays grow into living and lasting monuments. if the farm is small plow deep and manure strong. If the farm is also poor manure more. The ftoor of the lien-house should be dry if colds and cramps in the poultry are to be avoided. A correspondent of the Breeders' Gazette thinks it unwise to feed ensilage to breeding cattle. Meat smoked with corn cobs will have a better flavor than any other burning substance will give it. Are we lawyer-ridden? Eveiy village swarms with them, and they make a living by “hook or crook,” says Home and Farm. The Grange is represented generally by men in middle and advanced life. Why should it not be as good a place for young men? Many injurious insects and their eggs will be destroyed by raking up all the dead leaves and weeds in the orchard and burn ing them. If you happen to have wood ashes the kitchen garden is a good place to apply it as a top-dressing. If leached for making soft-soap it is still valuable. Water house plants only when they require it. This may be from two to three times a week, depending on how fast the soil dries out in the pots. An attorney, formulating a set of rules for renting land, wisely adds, as seventh and last: Above all, be careful in selecting your tenant. There is more in the man than there is in the bond. A farmer of North Belgrade, Me., says three bushels of plaster on grass land are as good as six. He would apply it just after the ground becomes bare in the spring and just before a rain if possible. To supply any lack of vegetable matter in the soil there is no readier or cheaper means than the plowing under of some green crop. Manuring with rye is an excellent way to ameliorate and enrich a garden. Professor Caldwell says that succulent food increases the flow of milk, but does not necessarily increase the proportion of water in it. The flow is greatest in June, yet the milk is no poorer than at other times. Carlyle has said: “Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” This truth is eloquent in agriculture. The man who sees clearly wlnit to do and does it is prosperous. Assist yourself in spring work by bringing up all odds and ends, square at once, see that all tools and implements are in order, and especially that the plows are sharp and well scoured. Then, when plowing time comes, go to work with vim. If you want to get the good-will of your hens, says the Prairie Farmer, feed them dry, hot corn at night. Heat the corn in an iron pan or kettle in the oven, and stir occasionally. No matter if it gets a little charred. It won’t do any harm to give warm water, either. If a plow or other steel implement has become very rusty, make a mixture of half a pint of oil of vitriol poured slowly into a quart of water, and apply to the rusted metal. Wash off with water, and scour in the usual manner. It is better, however, not to let any implement get rusty. Eveiy bed of asparagus should be manured in the fall or some time during the winter. The more thoroughly this manure is mixed with the surface soil tiie better. Mineral manures are best applied in spring after growth begins and after the heavy rains which might wash them away have ceased. .Sneaking of ensilage. Professor Arnold e:.:;;.- ’"•■d .imt sueen. i.in winter •* * oi maviag annual