Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1896 — FAR! AMD GARDEN NOTES [ARTICLE]

FAR! AMD GARDEN NOTES

ITEMS OF TIMELY INTEREST TO THE FARMERSFailing in the Hen Business—Best Pasture Grasses—First Few Days of the PigTrim the Shrubbery. FAILING IN THE HEN BUSINESS. The reason why so many fail in the ben business, and others hesitate to go in, is because of the desire to get a living with little brain labor. Men will work three hundred days in the year shoveling dirt,who would not spend the few hours daily necessary to care for a flock of hens capable of returning far more than the earnings now secured, tt is easy to grub, but it is bard to grow. Because of this fact, there will never be overproduction in the hen business.—Maine Farmer. BEST PASTURE GRASS. Practical men have decided that general purpose grasses, as a rule, are not the most profitable. The best pasture grasses can be mowed, and the best hay grasses are injured by tramping. Never plant hay grasses on land where machinery cannot be used. Avoid patent mixtures claimed to be best for all purposes, if you w r ant to raise hay for market, select that which sells most readily; but, for home use, other varieties are often better. Timothy is the most popular market hay, particularly in the north, but it is inferior to -orchard grass, Bermuda, or even crab grass. But it outsells any of these. In the South, fall seeding—September or October—is best. Give most careful preparation to the seed bed, and that alone—never with nurse crops. To graze pastures too close in dry weather kills out the grasses and lets weeds come In.—Home and Farm. FIRST DAYS OF THE PIG. The directors of the Mississippi station have decided tiflTt during the first few days shoats should be confined to the farrow pen, or, at most, allowed to run in a Small dry lot. They will do better If confined to the lot until they are at least three weeks old. Just as soon as the pig shows a disposition to eat he should be encouraged in doing so. A small place should be cut off from the lot so as to allow the pigs—but not the mother—to enter, and in this little lot should be a shallow feed trough. If the pigs are getting plenty of milk from the mother, as they will, provided she is a good brood sow and is well fed, there is nothing better than soaked corn. Dry, hard corn will soon make their teeth sore. An abundance of this soaked com should be provided, and what is left should be removed at least twice a day and fresh com put in. If a little sweet skimmed milk can be given with care, we think it will add to the growth of the pigs. This may continue until weaning time, when a decided change in the feed becomes necessary. This is the most critical period in the pig’s life, and on his management at this time largely depends his future usefulness. If checked in his growth he will probably not recover soon enough to give the best results, whether kept to grace the breeding herd or to fill the pork barrel.—New York Witness.

TRIM THE SHRUBBERY. In many country and village door yards or lawns, the shrubbery consists of rose bushes, lilacs, wistaria and honeysuckle. Often these have not been trimmed for years, and they present a most ungainly mass of tangled growth, often rendering it quite difficult to obtain even a fair view of the house by the passers-by. This untrimmed collection is frequently supplemented by rampant growing evergreen trees, that were all right for the first five or six years of their growth, but they were neither cut back nor topped, and many of them now have branches spreading from ten to twenty feet. Where it is not thought best to remove them entirely, cut off the lower branches close up to the body of tree for a distance of about eight feet. This will remove the foliage that obstructs the view, and the remaining lower branches will droop a little, giving the tree a pleasing appearance. Other fruit and ornamental trees, by branching low, may obstruct the view, but Judicious pruning will regulate this trouble. Use the pruning knife freely on the . shrubbery, and if the bushes are of some desirable kinds try to Improve the flowers they produce. Turn down the sod about them, applying well-rot-ted manure, ground bone, or wood ashes well mixed, and you will be more than paid for your trouble. Let this pruning be an annual operation.—New England Homestead. NEW POINTS ABOUT PARIS GREEN. Paris green of standard quality contains about 54 per cent, of arsenious add, of which 4 per cent, is soluble In cold water and 8 to 9 per cent in boiling water. A “new process” paris green now on the market, according to the Mass experiment station is not paris green at all, but a combination of lime and arsenious acid with a small amount of copper oxide. It contains from 58 to 63 per cent, of arsenious acid. About the same quantity of its arsenious acid is soluble in cold water as in standard paris green, but in boiling water from 15 to 20 per cent, is soluble, or more than twice as much as in true paris green. It is suggested that the injury done to foliage by paris green may be caused by putting this substance into heated lime mixtures, to the heat generated by the chemical action in mixing the two, or to the heat developed by the sun on globules) of water standing on the leaves. If this is true, paris green should never be put into liquids until the latter are thoroughly cooled, and especially is this-true of the new process paris green, or by using the water with Bordeaux mixture, much more of the poison can be sprayed without injury to foliage than if paris green alone is used in the water. One gallon of the milk of lime to 10 gallons of the water containing paris green as ordinarily used (1 lb. to 150 to 200 gallons of water) will be sufficient. As Professor ,Miynard truly says, “The use of the Bordeaux mixture has become a neces-

sity to protect most of cur crops from fungus pests, and as the lime in this mixture has the same effect as the milk of lime, we urge their combined use, thus reducing the cost for the destruction of each pest to the minimum.’' HOW SAWDUST KILLS CHICKS. For three years, writes C. A. Bird, I have been losing chicks from bowel trouble. I tried every known remedy, but without avail. Last year, out of three hundred and fifty hatched \ raised one hundred and fifty. The chicks that were put in the most favorable place were the ones that died. I studied, examinee and Investigated, but all to no purpose. I built a cosy house Just south of the barn, twentytwo feet long and eight feet wide, and divided it into four rooms. I filled up the floor with dirt, coal ashes, gravel, sand and lime, and thought I had them this time. So I did until I turned them out one bright sunshiny day to exercise among the grape vines, etc. Well, you may Judge my chagrin and surprise when in a day or two they began to die, and in a week out of the twenty-two bright little fellows not one was left to tell what the matter was. Upon making a post-mortem examination I found plenty of grit, and everything all right except inflamed intestines. But upon a closer inspection I found what I had taken for bran and bread crumbs was sawdust. My eyes began to open. I began to wake up, and on looking around found a lot of sawdust that had been thrown about the grape vines. The biddies in hunting for bugs, etc., had scratched it about, and the chicks, mistaking it for the bread crumbs I had been feeding them, had eaten a quantity of it, with the above result. “Eureka!” said I to myself, and the shovel and the wheelbarrow were at once brought into service, and the sawdust placed out of the reach of both chicks and hens. That was nearly two months ago, since which time I have not lost a chicken with bowel trouble.—Farm Poultry.

IMPROVING HIGHWAYS. At a Farmers’ Institute held in Retreat, Wis., says the Milwaukee Sentinel, a paper on “Highways” stated that while in Europe good roads are laid out over the best grades on highpriced land; in this country they are kept off of good land as much as possible, and run over hills and rocks, through ravines, sand patches and mud-holes. The great loss resulting from hard teaming, wear and tear of wagons, harness and horses, does not seem to be considered. Some of these evils could oe easily rectified did not individual selfishness stand in the way. The grader is taking the place of plough and scraper, with good results on many roads, but cannot be depended on alone. The water bars used on hillsides are often made too high and put in the wrong place. They should be made in depressions, not on the steepest grades, and in repairing the new material should be placed a few feet back, not on the top of the old bar. When desirable to turn water both sides of the road, the bar should be Vshaped, with point up the |iill. If on an angling road, turn the water to the lower side. But whatever the form, the two wheels should strike and leave the upper side of the bar at the same time, to avoid disagreeable wrenching and cutting a hole in the lower track. Short pitches and sags can often be allowed to grade themselves, and it Is noticeable that a sag so filled is always a good track, showing that a mixed soil makes the best road. Roads should receive attention at frequent intervals, not when the workers have nothing else to do. Slight repairs as soon as needed will save time and cost in the end. A great help to good roads would be the general use of broad tires instead of narrow ones. Every town or district should own a snow roller, and use it after each drifting storm; the winter roads would then be real hghways, level and hard, with snow on each track.