Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1880 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

Land inTexasis^ T t2ee*^Mooesewß ran^*oT feta S&wSo Scre^bszlost been completed, Bad Um land is now in market The latest agricultural returns state that the general average of the tobacco os op for the whole country is 86. and was in 1879 at the same time 77, and 1878,84. There has been no change reported since smooth, except a decline in Maryland and Kentucky and an increase in Virginia, owing to favorable weather. * Chip Manure.—H. la, fV , ‘ > Mountain, N. C.; Rotten chips of hard wood an vslable as a fertilizer when thoroughly decayed; otherwise they favor the growth of a fungus which is Injurious to some plants. The best way to use jt it for bed. ding pigs and costs, and to absorb the liquid waste of stables, and to mix it with manure. Carefully collected statistics of the wheat acreage and production of Minnesota in 1880 make it one of the most important wheat producing states in the Union. It is estimated that the prodoc lion this year will be very close upon 40,000,000 bushels, from an acreage of *#».- 825, or 200,804 more acres than were planted last year. Upon this basis it is calculated that Dakota sod Minnesota will, in all probability, produce oo e-tenth of the wheat grown In thd United States this season, figuring the whole amount at 480,000,000 bushels, the probable yield.

The Omaha Republican gives a detailed statement of this year's cattle drive, the total reaching 901,000. Of this number about 50,000 bead will be driven to the Union Pacific. The cattle are in good condition, fully up to the standard of pre vious years, and are mostly one, two and three years old, very few being beef cattle. The drive to Nebraska would have been larger had it not been for the drouth making a acaicity of grass along the road. About 25,000 hones are being driven up ifom Texas this season, of which number about 5,000 go to Nebraska. Forty years ago Messrs. Lawes A Gilbert of England began a aeries of experiments in wheat growing. They selected plots of ground—in some they tried different manures, while on one plot no manure or change of crop was allowed, but wheat followed wheat, season after season for 40 years. In that time there has been a decrease of just ten bushels per acre in the yield. Taking this as a standard case, fanners who follow wheat with wheat not giving the land any needed rest or feeding it with manure or green crops turned under, may look for a decrease, of cohrte less more years than others, but an average of one fourth bushel per acre a year This Is one practical outcome for these celebrated experiments, for which the farmers of the whole world may feel thankiul to the Messrs. Lawes A Gilbert. To tell the age of cows.—The ages of horned cattle may generally be known by the rings on the horns till their tenth year, but alter that time they give no Indication of age further than that the animal has passed its tenth year. The first ring appears on the horn alter the animal is two years old—soon alter, as a general rule, though sometimes before that age. During the third year the ring gradually increases, and at three years ot age it is completely formed. The second ring appears during the loath year, and an the end of the filth year it is complete. After that period an additional ring is formed each year. This rule is sufficiently plain, and even a young farmer needs but little practice to enable him to read a cow’s age on her horns. A cow with three rings is six years old; with four rings she is seven years old. No new rings are formed after the tenth year; the deeper rings, however, sod the worn appearance of the horns are pretty sure indications of old age.

Cure For Founder.—“ln the beginning of the disease remove the shoes, and rasp down the heels and edges of the hoofs, so that the bearing of the animal’s weight comes comes entirely upon the sole and frog; then place the fore feet in a tub of warm water for half an hour, which repegt three or four times daily daring two days; alter which apply hog’s lard or some softening ointment to the soles of the feet daily. Leavo the animal without shoes in a roomy box-stall or comfortable shed, with plenty of bedding. To keep such an animal tied up in a stall with inclining or sloping floor is objectionable. He must have liberty to frequently change his position, which cannot be afforded in a single stall.

"As soon as the shoes have alt been removed and the feet pared as directed the horse should be given a laxative doae of medicine, for which purpose dissolve from one to one-and-a-balf pounds of glanber salts in a quart of hot water, adding to the solution so once of powdered ginger, sad give the whole at one dose. Then give every hour daring six hoars ten to fifteen drops of tincture ot aconite; alter which, daring the next two or three days, give, morning, noon and evening, four ounces of a solution of acetate of ammonia with an ounce of sweet spirits of nitre in half a pint of cold water. If, after three or four days, much pain and tenderness should remain, a fly-blister may be applied around the coronet of the feet for about three fingers in width, during which the horse should be tied up so as to prevent his interfering with the blister by rubbing it with his mouth, as he will be almost certain to do daring the next six hours after the application ol the blister. ‘ From the beginning he should be kept quiet, in a comfortable, well-ven-tilated pli£e, and be well blanketed, to induce perspiration. The food, which should only be given in lianlted quantity, should be of a loosening nature, such as a mixture of steamed oats, bran and flaxseed meal, together with only very little hay, which should not be timothy. When the urgent symptoms have disappeared the horse should be given the liberty ot the barnyard during daytime, when weather permits, and during summer turned out to pasture.”

A wag got hold of an editor’s whisky bottle, and labeled it “To be continued in our necks.” Farmers do not hear the cornstalk. Neither do the men who wear tight boots, but there are some things that speak louder than words. When a girl is twenty she feels very easy on that score. I’ts only when she scores another that she begins to wonder who invented wrinkles. Every man who has become president of the United States has been elected during a leap year. This is something for the girls to wonder abont. An exchange contains the marriage notice of Hr. and Miss Carr. We notice it merely as an instance of car coupling by a clergyman, which is something unusual. As you travel around the country you are more and more impressed with the conviction that the chief end of man is to paint medicine signs on the fences. “Will you have some cream and glucose in your coffee V” is the question now propounded from the maternal end of the breakfast table. “Yes,” answers the paterfamilias, “and pass the oleomargarine” Diana locks are the names of new hangn introduced into fashionable circles. They are called after the arrowy goddess because they quiver when the bean comes around. “Seth,’’ said Mrs. Spicer, “I wish you would go and see to the furnace; that Kate is putting in coal as if she was firing a locomotive.” And, when Spicer remarked that the girl was, perhaps, a railway-cinder-Kate, Mrs. 8. grew warmer than ever. . Yon may say what yon please, but there is luck in horse-shoes. A woman nailed one up against the woodshed a month ago, and last week her husband eloped with the hired girl. The man had not earned a cent for more than two yean. Tbs Cincinnati, Indianapolis, 6t Louis and Chicago Railroad company, having sold their Lafayette shop to the »-**« Kris and Western Railway company, will at once erect new shops just west aad north of the point where the company's tracks cross Second street.