Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1890 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO THE FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Some Valuable Information for the Plowman, Stockman, Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Everybody Connected with the Farm. THE FARM. Value of White Clover. Much more pasture can be got from a field well seeded with white clover among other herbage than its appearance indicates. It is a creeping plant, and does not show for all it is. Besides, it springs up quickly when eaten off. thus making new supples of fresh, rich herbage at times when grass roots are drying up. A white clover pasture is one of the very best for butter making, and from its blossoms the bees make the choicest honey. Where white clover is once seeded, it is very persistent, as seed forms on uneaten heads all the summer, and spilled upon the ground is brought up with every new plowing, so that farmers used to think it grew without any seed from which to start. Rapid Decay of Posts. A farmer wno has long cultivated a sandy farm remarks as one of the expensive incidents of this land the increased cost of fencing it. Posts set in sand rot out much.more quickly than in heavier soil, mainly because, as with every rain the water settles down, the air follows, and it is exposed to constant changes. Sandy soil is through the summer generally warmer than other land, and this promotes speedy decay of anything in it. The farmers had once set posts that did not last more than eight years before they were rotted off, the decay occurring just at the surface of the ground. Posts of the same kind set on heavier soil, wet most of the season, were good after fifteen years of service. Weed Seeds in the Soil. The persistency of weeds in keeping possession where they once get a foothold is largely due to the fact that their seeds have great vitality, and reappear whenever a new surface is . turned up. Many are also brought to the land with manure or by winds and birds. The late Peter Henderson once said that if any one could get rid of all weeds the market gardener should be able to do so with his thorough culture and repeated handlings of the soil. Yet after years of this treatment more or less would reappear every year. Enough if allowed to seed to speedily occupy the entire ground. On the farm one of the best weed destroyers is a heavy mat of clover, sown eight quarts per acre and itself free from weed seeds. Farm Hints. The shortest road to long prices is to have the best articles to sell. Poison next season’s crop of potato beetles now if yon wish to raise a good crop of potatoes then. A small paint brush is handy for greasing harness. There is meat in grass for pigs, as well as sheep and cattle. “Clean culture” means keeping the ground not making it clean. A light hoeful of earth on the melon vines near the end will keep the wind from beating them about. A farmer is foolish to take six months to grow a lamb for market when it can de done in four, with a little extra food, You want early asparagus next spring? Then cease cutting early and let the tops grow the rest of the season. A spirited horse will in the end be made slow and spiritless by constant nagging, twitching the lines, peevish urging and other wearing processes that fretful drivers practice. It you actually did sow rye, wheat or oats in your orchard, go now with a scythe and cut it away around the trees, and let the fallen grain lie as a mulch. This may save the trees from being stunted. It is a dummy who cannot keep his mower from rattling to pieces. Watch your machine closely and use oil freely.— Farm Journal. A Few Sheep Wrinkle*. Old, broken-mouthed ewes are dear at any price. If they cannot be sold to the butcher feed them to the crows in the fall—they will get them anyhow before “the voice of the turtle is heard in the land.” All sheep are subject to both internal and external parasites. Feed them occasionally a little hardwood ashes or finely pulverized tobacco, which will free them from worms and improve their general health. Dip them thoroughly in some approved sheep dip,and there is nothing better than a preparation of tobaeeo. Do not overstock; better keep too few, rather than too many. If a flock of 100 sheep could be made as profitable as a flock of ten, shepherds would be “clothed in purple and fine linen.” Mix a little sulphur with their salt; it enriches the blood, and disagrees with ticks and other parasites. Mark those ewes that have disappointed you; don’t be fooled twice by the same sheep. Keep a well-trained Scotch terrier in the sheep barn; ho will dean up the rats and give notice of the approach of prowling curs or thieving tramps. The sheep will soon become familiar with his presence, and he may run between their legs or 1 •wer their backs without exciting them in the slightest. (live mixed feed, and always remember that oats should constitute a part of the food of the “golden hoof.” If you are feeding a mixture of equal parts of corn meal, ground oats, and wheat bran, and forget to exchange it for something else every thirty days, as the books direct, don’t be alarmed, the sheep won’t be insulted. If you are giving it to them as a warm slop,one pint of grain each, there times a day, stirred into enough warm water to make it into a thin mush, the lambs will dance and the ewes cry out for joy every time they hear the rattle of your pails. Fowls of any kind are a nuisance about the sheep barn, and should be carefully excluded. Examine carefully every ewe’s udder before deciding to retain her as a member of your breeding flock. If you find one side spoiled, reject her. After weaning lambs, mjlk the ewes twice a week and keep them on the shortest pasture until dry. Any breed of sheep is good if they have a shepherd; all breeds are poor if they are neglected.— American Wool-Grower.