Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1881 — FARM AND WORKSHOP NOTES [ARTICLE]

FARM AND WORKSHOP NOTES

A mongrel sire of any kind of stock should never be used. . Vegetable charcoal is highly recoin* mended by English army veterinarians as a eheap and efficient drossing for wounds. In light soil it is desirable that the surface should be continually covered Sr crops bearing as much leaf as pooole to convey to the land from the atmosphere its manuring properties. A subscriber at Pemberton. N. J., writes that twoor throe bricks laid flat on the ground near the roots of rose bushes, and other plants will prevent 'evaporation and be of groat benefit during hot and dry weather. Edoes A Co., New Wales,upon one sheep farm at Buna wary, had a sheep shearing which lasted ten weeks during which time 260,123 sheep were shorn. One hundred shearers besides the regular hands were employed. A herd of shorthorns owned by Abram Renick, of Winchester, Ky., consists of about 100 head, for which it is reported, he has been offered and refused $200,000. This gen tieman is seventy years of age, and has neither wife nor child. We are accustomed to associate the idea of combustibility with vaper. If it be wrapped tightly around a metalic rod it can be held in a gas flame without burning. The metal carries the heat away rrom it as fast applied, becoming hot itself. After awhile it will reach a temperature, provided the flame is large enough, at which the paper will burn.

Of 60,000 acres devoted to the growth of hops in this country, according to 'the New York census of 1875. Otsego had 7,570 acres; Oneida, 6,600 and Madison 6,552, making in all 20,712 acres. These figures have not materially changed since that time. The annual value of the crop in these three counties is over $700,000. ' The much abused dragon flies are perfectly harmless to human beings; they neither bite nor sting, but destroy vast quantities of mosquitoes.flies and other Insects. They can be brought into the house to catch flies and mosquitoes, which duty they perform if unmolested.' While in the larvae state they perform the same good work. The presence of one-twentieth of 1 per cent,of lead or certain other metals in standard gold will render a bar an inch thick so brittle that it may readily ,be broken with a slight rap with a hammer. Less than one-half of 1 per cent, of iron .in metallic copper will reduce the electrical conductivity by about 60 per cent., while a far smaller quantity will render it quite unfit for manufacturing into telegraph cables or for other electrical purposes. ■ The cow Jersey Queen, of Barnet, owned by Josiah S. Kenerson, of Barnet, Vt., gave from May 20 to June 1 480 pounds of milk, averaging 40 5-12 pounds per day, which made 20 pounds 5} ounces of butter. From June 1 to July 1 she gave 1,286 pounds of milk, averaging 46J pounds of milk "per day, which made 80 pounds 6| ounces of butter. A total of 1,881 pounds of milk making 100 pounds 14 ounces of butter, between the 20th of May and the Ist of July. The small estates oi, England are nearly all mortgaged to two-thirds of their value, and the rents now received are inEufficieflt to pay the interest, let alone support the ’Squire and his family. Columns of the London Times are filled with notices of old country residences, broad demesnes, wooded parks and snug country homes to bo sold. In Lincolnshire farms can be had if the tenaut will only keep down the taxes; in Shropshire lands can not be let at any price; in one Parish in South Warwickshire only 600 can be let out of 3,000 acres.