Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1882 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Cucumbers may drop from the vines on account of too much moisture, or too much sap from a rank growth when grown on too-rich soil Sandy land is best for them. To prevent too, much moisture raise the hill, like a mound, so that the roots will be above the level oi the surface, and will be well drained. Plaster is a good fertilizer and keeps ofl insects. So long as the American people prize sugar sweet-cakes, and the New York hotels consume 1,800,000 chickens and poultry and 5,300,000 eggs every week, the poultry business in this cofin try will remain 1 a good one. Give your fowls warm, clean houses, and dry, grassy runs, if yon would have them clear of roup and canker. And feed them regularly with good, nourishing food, if you would have them free from disease, lay more eggs and be more profitable every day. A correspondent of the New York Tribune remarks: “ When we know what the future will require, it is wise economy to provide for it. Ten years hence “not less than 20,000,000 railroad tics will be needed annually. Fence posts by the million will be wanted; while the immense consumption of lumber of all kinds will be largely increased. The farmers should provide for this certain demand of the future. When once started, unlike most other things, forest trees will take care of themselves. Here is an investment with a sure profit. There millions of acres of rough land, hillsides, and untillable spots, which could be clothed with forest trees growing into money.” Eaklt Sweet Corn. —A‘n intelligent farmer says: “I prefer the Minnesota to any sweet sort I have yet trjed, because the stalks grow about five feet high. It is an abundant producer and the ears are larger and have larger kernels on them than any other of the earliest kinds. Ido not like the dwarf sorts, the stalks of which scarcely grow above three feet high. The ears of such are so small as to be scarcely worth cooking, and if they come a few days earlier than Minnesota, Concord and others, this does not compensate me for the diminutive size. In the opinion of the Weekly Herald, the early Minnesota is the best and greatest early com. Perhaps it is no better in quality than the Narragan sett, but in our neighborhood it makes a surer crop. It is a light, delicious corn, and, of course, to market gardeners who know all about it there is no use of talking. It is the best early corn to plant.

Weaning Colts.—A little skimmed milk may be given with advantage at this period, especially if the colt is not in good condition, but clean, sound oat*, ground or unground, constitutes the best of all grain foods for the colt. Wo prefer to have them ground, and, as cold weather approaches, we would add about one-fourth in weight of corn meal, which helps to lay on fat and keeps up the animal heat. A little oil meal —say a pint a day—may also profitably be given with the oats for a few months after weaning. Don’t be afraid of feeding too liberally. More colts are injured the first six months after weaning by too scanty an allowance of food than from the opposite extreme. By all means see that the colt has ample opportunity to romp and play. If you keep him up in a close box and feed him highly you will ruin him; but let him have a chance to race through the fields and pasture—and grass, by the way, is the best of all foods for colts—and then there will be little danger of injury from overfeeding.— National Live Stock Journal. To Preserve Meat. —Secretary Gold gave the following recipes at the Williinantic meeting of the State Board of Agriculture: “Beef should not be allowed to freeze. Salting should be deferred until the meat is ripe. The fat of pork only should be salted, the lean should be used for sausage meat. Pack Professor (to student who writes, not for the masses, but for the educated few): “ You should write so that the most ignorant of your audience can understand all you can say.” Student (puzzled): “ What part of my production is not dear to you, sir ? ” The man who stepped out “to see a man” four times during a five-aot play at the theater, and on each occasion returned with an aromatic breath, did not understand why he was called a fourleave clover. “What,” asked the teacher, “was the greatest obstacle Washington encountered in crossing the' Delaware?*’ And the smart bad boy thought lor a minute, and then made answer, “ The toll-man.”