Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1882 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

The first premijpm fowls of the fairs are hatched this month. Chester white pigs have increased in price in the past two years. Ordinary stable manure contains upwards of 70 per cent of water. Connecticut established the first agricultural experiment station in America. Poland China bigs are being sent from Illinois to Germany for breeding purposes. Separate all breeding ewes from the other sheep in the flock now until after lambing. Orchard grass, though suitable for orchards, can endure more sun and drought than blue grass. HoojLand horn shavings contain more than 25 times as much nitrogen as is contained in average stable manure. ' Onicns will soon be “the first on the ground,” closely followed by green peas. Now is a good time to sort out and select seeds. Sheep fed on dry feed are frequently troubled with sore lips. An application of sulphur and lard once or twice will generally effect a cure. It is stated that goats among the sheep afford them protection against dogs. The goat being pugnacious, attacks the dogs while the sheep escape. • The roads at this season are liable to be in bad condition. The horses feet need watching, and the owner should be careful to see that they are properly shod. Owing to the drouth of last summer the erop of white beans t?as very short in this country, and good American beans are now selling in New York at $4 per bushel. It is a mistake to allow sows to breed before they are at least a year old, as they are not sufficiently matured, and pigs from such are sometimes too weak to live.

Nearly all kinds of fruits do well on a mixture of superphosphate and wood ashes. Lime is not suitable for strawberries, but excellent around apple, peach and pear trees, For turning under a heavy sod there is nothing to equal a pair of good oxen. They may be a little slow at their work, but it will be well done if they are managed by a good driver.

Like the blackberry, the raspberry bears the fruit upon the cane of tbe previous year’s growth, which, after iruitflge, dies, the new cane coming forward for the next year’s crop. Old newspapers can be used to good advantage in poultry houses, stables, etc., by being pasted (double thickness) on the walls to keep out draughts. They can be easily removed afterward. Fine flowers require thoroughly rotted manuie and wood mould mixed, and tomato or other early plants can be grown in boxes, and afterward transplanted with better results with such a mixture. At a recent farmers’ meeting O. A. Judd said he had noticed that when cows aborted the premature calves had no bones, which led him to think that a deficiency of phosphate in the soil was one fruitful cause of the trouble.

If good clover or mixed hay is cut into half-inch lengths and steeped in hot water it makes an excellent, cheap and healthy food for. fowls in winter, and, as with cattle, a little linseed meal sprinkled on it adds to its virtue. As the influence of male animals is more strongly impressed on the offspring than that of the female, it is important that undue care be exercised in the selection of males for improvement. One with doubtful lineage should be avoided.

Dogs doing damage among sheep have been blessings in disguise iu some sections. The farmers were compelled for security to hurdle and house their sheep, the consequence being a greater profit from them and an increase of yield from the lands in crops. Cats on the farm do much damage in destroying useful hirds, and they often play with the chickens when the master is at home, but they do not forget to appropriate a young one or two occasionally when unobserved. They understand now to act much better than may be supposed. It is as necessary to use precaution in cutting off limbs from trees as amputating the leg or arm of an individual, and it can only be done safely when the tree has sufficient streugth to bear the shock. Trimming of trees should be done gradually, instead of cutting off all the diseased limbs at once.

Manure heaps that are thickly covered with snow will get a good leaching when the thaw comes. Those farmers who have gone to a little expense to protect their manure heaps will possess twice the amount of fertilizing properties as compared with those who have been careless in that respect. The following is another of the many cures that have been recommended for chicken cholera: Charcoal, oie pound; sulphur, one pound; copperas, half pound; calomel, ten grains; salicylic aold, one drachm. Grind to a line powder and give a teaspoonTul in moist meal toadozen fowls once a day.