Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1893 — FARM & GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM & GARDEN

SOWS KXLUNQ THEIR PIGS. Some sows are are naturally given to killing and eating their pigs, and it it believed by swine experts that it it due to the want of some needed nutriment. The hog is a flesh eater, living on Bmall animals and insects when in a state of nature, and if it is not supplied with this needed food it becomes ravenous at the smell of the young pigs and devours them. It is an exactly parallel cause to that of hens eating their eggs.—New York Times. A RECIPE FOR HARNESS DRESSING. Any one can make an excellent harness dressing, as follows: One gallon Of neat’s-foot oil, two pounds of bayberry tallow, two pounds beeswax, two pounds beef tallow. Put the above in a kettle over a moderate .fire. When thoroughly dissolved add two quarts of castor oil, then while on the fire stir in one ounce of fine lampblack. Mix thoroughly while warm, and strain through a cloth to remove any coarse particles and the sediment. When cool it will be ready for use, and you will have as good if not a better article of harness dressing than you can purchase. Besides, the castor oil in it will prevent rats and mioe gnawing the harness.—New York Sun. CONFINING COWS TO THE STABI.E. Some things are necessary for the welfare of an animal besides food. Certain wastes are to be provided for. All that an animal needs to sustain life and make a certain growth is not sufficient for health. The digestive organs cannot work healthfully without a surplus that must be ejected as waste. No one can make a ration that will keep an animal living without allowing for the wastes. And there must be a certain waste of heat, and this is got rid of by exercise. Heat confined to the system is as injurious and as productive of disease, as food confined in the bowels. Thus cold is refreshing to every animal to a certain extent, and to keep a cow shut up in a warm stable, while it may save food, or increase the yield of milk, will inevitably, in the end, be productive of disease in some form or other. And with this comes the equivalent of the food saved, which is inevitable loss. All the skill of man cannot get over a natural law, the violation of which brings its recompense in time. —American Agriculturist.

GEESE AND DUCKS ON THE FARM Are not very largely bred upon farms in comparison with the number of our land poultry, and yet they are both profitable and a delight to the eye. While liberal water privileges are useful where geese and Mucks are kept, they are by no means essential, as these birds will do well with no more than enough water for drinking purposes. Plenty of grass and good pasture are, however, very needful, as geese,arc as truly grazing stock as horses, sheoif or cattle. When clover and other nutritious fodder abound little or no grain is required, and geese may be reared very cheaply. The duck is a heavy feeder, but not overparticular, so that almost any farm waste may be used. Tabm leavings, small potatoes, beet and turnip leaves —in short, anything and everything at all eatable the duck will consumo and make return for same in a goodly number of large, rich eggs. It is quite remarkable how a duck will lay. She begins as early as February and lays every day for three or four months with few respites. Toulouse and Embden are by far the best breeds of geese, and the Pekin is queen of ducks. Hatch both geese and duck eggs under hens, as the geese make clumsy mothers and the ducks cannot be relied on for hatching.—Country Gentleman.

SECOND CBOr POTATOES FOB SEEO. The growth of small potatoes from tubers left in the ground in warm climates during August and September, probably suggested the idea that a second crop could be grown in the fall. E. A. Popenoe and S. C. Mason, of the Kansas Station, have found that the use of these second crop potatoes for seed the following spring has given much better returns than planting the regular crop. By the early planting of early varieties seed may be dug in July ripe enough to jtow a second crop that summer. Even under the most favorable conditions this second crop will be comparatively light, often small, but firm and of fine quality. These potatoes keep during the winter and until planting time in sound condition, being firm and nearly free from sprouts, when, the first crop would be much sprouted and shriveled. Two years’ trial shows an average gain of 48} per cent, in yield from second seed. • The much larger tope and more numerous flowers seem to indicate greater vigor and vitality, and they resist drouth better. These advantages are probably due to the seed not having sprouted in storage, which would have impaired the vitality. In Kansas potatoes can be planted in March. After the first crop is ripe, there are one or two months of warm weather, during which it is a question whether potatoes are better oft left in the ground or stored in the warm cellars which the climate affords. Hence the bulk of the potatoes are marketed early. It is believed that the use of firm second crop seed will obviate some of the difficulties. —American Agriculturist. now TO BAISE TOBKETB. Young turkey hens lay as well as any', but the gobblers should be two or three years old and of a different breed. If you intend to set the eggs under a hen do so as soon as you have nine or ten of them, not more than ten. When the turkey gets ready to sit break her up and she will lay another dozen eggs. Sprinkle sulphur in the nests and on the hen every week to kill lice and nits. During the last week of sitting sprinkle the eggs three times with warm water. When the turkeys are twenty-four or thirty-six hours old £ut them under a large coop on the dry grass. Make a pen of three ten or twelve-foot boards so that it

can easily be moved, wmen should be done every morning, unless tin; ground is wet. I lay a wide board where I want to put the coop next time, and then the ground is always dry. Wet places, dirty coops and lice are death to turkeys. Feed the young ones \yith chopped hard-boiled eggs and bread and milk for a few days, then with sour milk curd mixed with wheat middling. Never use corumeal. Three times a week crumble a handful of eggshells to keep the crop from getting hard. Whon they are six or eight weeks old give some pounded earthen ware or oystershelle regularly. The*c take the place of gravel, which they don’t like, and should be fed every other day. If the crops get hard, give eggshells and lard at once or they will die. If any begin to dump around, give one part, black pepper and three parts lard three or four times a day.—, Farm and Home.

FARM AND GARDEN NOTES. Speed still commands good prices. Too much mulch about fi uit trees is Injurious. A horse suffering from colic should be kept quiet. As trainers of trotting horses, Americans beat the world. Don’t let the colts lose flesh when first turned to pasture. Corn should not be made the only food for horses in summer. Horses will not drink too much water if they are given it frequently. Scatter the grain well so that the fowls will have to sets to h to get it. Whitewash the inside of the house well once every three or four weeks. Hens relish peppur. Mix a little with some soft feed and see how they go for it. Do not overfeed; hens when fat «i<> not lay as well as when in prime condition. If the milk of the mare is mouffioient, the young colt should be fed milk warm from the cow.

Crossing a thoroughbred sire with a hackney gives a horse Unit combines courage and style. Those varieties of cabbage having firm, close heads are least affected by the cabbage worm. Feed your refuse meat to liens and you will be surprised at the increased production of eggs. Lime is. death to lice. Air-slacked lime placed in the nest, boxes is excellent to rid the hens of lice. There is now a saddle-horse register, and a breed of horses especially for tliu saddle is being established. Keep the hen-house cleaned out well, for there is where disease is sure to breed unless properly cared for. If farmers would remember that the exhaustion of their fruit trees comes from maturing the seed, they would thin their fruit. The remainder would be better, and better prices would result. Professor Beach reports that experiments show that timely and thorough applications of the copper compounds or Bordeaux mixture are effective with the common plant diseases except fire blight. Fungi develop most readily in wet seasons, so most spraying should be done then. The first spraying of Bordeaux mixture should be made when the leaf buds first open. Paris green may be used here for the bud moth ; Bordeaux mixture alone just before the buds open. A combination just after the blossoms fall, to be repeated at intervals or about ten days. To protect young trees from rabbits it is recommended to “take a bucket with two gallons of water, put in two pounds of flour of sulphur, add one pound of wheat or rye flour, Btii thoroughly; apply with a whitewash brush. This is said to be good for the trees, and the rain will not wash it oil for several weeks. There are many diseases to which hogs are heir, and no doubt great suffering is experienced by porkers when thoso who have charge of them have not the remotest idea of their affliction. The best and most successful swine men are cognizant of this fuel, and means and measures for warding off or curing these diseases are carefully looked after. The National Provisioner says that abnormally fat hogs are fast becoming a drug in the market, and no wonder. Some farmers seem to think leanne:-J in hogs is undesirable and hence their aim is to put as many pounds of fat on their stock as possible. The result is that they do not reap nearly as much profit as they would if the lean und fat were properly intermingled.