Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1884 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL

In the Fruit Garden. —F. TL 8., Ripley county, Indiana, writes: “What with work in the orchard, getting ready to store the root crops and attending agricultural fairs; the smaller interests; such as the fruit bushes and trees ip the garden, are sometimes neg-» leeted. So it may not be amiss to say that there is no month like the present for pruning, digging round and transplanfingcurrent and gooseberry bushes. Cuttings especially do well if planted about this time. Blackberries nnd raspberries may also be planted this ! month, as well as dwarf trees.” Fowls swollow their food, broken or not,and it enters the cro por first stomach and remains in it until it has become softened more or less, when a small quantity at a time, just as grains run into a grist mill, is forced into the gizzard, among the gravel stones. This gizzard is a strong, muscular stomach, and plies night and day when there is grit to grind, similar to a bellows, contracting at times, thus forcing the gravel stones into the graiii and breaking it into fragments and triturating the whole mass, after which it is in suitable condition to be digested.— Chicago Journal. Thk . Massachusetts Ploughman. among other things, talks suggestively about the compost heap, saying that it is a good plan to have one for the benefit of the farm. The compost heap may be made of road Scrapings, the scourjngs of ditches, the cleanings of ponds, clippings from banks and hedge rows, scrapings and sweepings of farmyards, garden refuse, house refuse, and indeed all sorts of rubbish may be added to a compost heap. Even weeds will decay and then help to swell the material for enriching the land. The heap should occasionally be covered over with a layer of lime, and a layer of salt now and then is also a good addition. These materials are beneficial in themselves, and keep weeds from seeding on the top of the heap. The compost should be turned over from time to time, and when well mixed the land may be dressed with it either in spring or autumn. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel the Carey family were the first to undertake the cultivation of cranberries in the vicinity of Berlin, Wisconsin. They settled in Berlin in 1852, and in 1860 James and Richard Carey bought 000 acres of marshland seven miles from that place, at an average price of $7 an acre. They at once ditched the tract-, constructed drains, and planted berries. The first year they picked 100 barrels and disposed of the lot at sl3 a barrel. With increased financial resources they improved the marsh and profited from year to year. In 1872 they gathered 10,000 barrels which they disposed of at sll a barrel. In 1873 the firm purchased two water-powers, one located at Auroraville and the other at Hamilton, paying $17,000 for them. A canal was then dug for the distance of one mile, at a cost of $7,000, and no difficulty is experienced in flooding the marshes when wanted. Farmers Should Know the Breeds. —Farmers who have not familiarized -themselves with the breeds of-sheep should bear in mind that they are behind the buyers, who can tell at a few moments’examination exactly what kind of a sheep from which the wool was sheared, and its fitness for the purpose for which it is desired. The buyers know the breeds, the kind of wool peculiar to each breed, and all about them, lor it is “busiuei-s.” A farmfir would sneer at a eaVpeeler who professed to be a carpenter and yet who could not do a piece of work in that line; and yet,wo venture to say there are hundreds of farmers who profess to l>e farmers, and who would be insulted if their knowledge of their business were questioned, but who,* at the same time, can not te’l as much about the products of tho farm as many of those who know nothing about farm life. There are hundreds of farmers who are not able to distinguish breed, of sheep, and who do not know the particular pnrposos for which a breed is most suitable, and still they pride themselves on their calling as a business which they intend to make profitable. If such farmers could bnt bo brought to a realization of tho fact that they are rqully deficient in knowledge. it would be to their interest to do so. Every year we witness the shipment of the products of the farm to market w here the buyer fixes the grade, although he has bad no experience on the farm. Farmers as a class are not business liluy for they rely too much upon the judgment of others. It is not intended to imply that they should not seek the advice of others, but when the farmer surrenders everything to hard work, we insist that he should begin to educate himself in every possible way in order to improve his chances.— Farm, Field and Fireside. Disposing ok dead animals. —The farmers nowadays are ignorant of the value of the flesh and bones of animals for manure, but a comparatively small number understand how to compost animal matter without- loss of nitrogen, and, in the ca-e of diseased animals, risks of infection. A compost heap containing animal matter not diseased, such us immature calves, etc., may be made as follows: First spread a layer of vegetable matter and earth; soil, muck nnd sods are a good mixture; on this place a layer df animal matter,over which sprinkle lime and then soil; after this may come a layer of yard or Btnble manure"; then animal matter, with a generous sprinklihg of lime, and so on until the heap is finished. The handling of animals that have died from disease is full of danger and the usual disposition of such carcasses is burying them. M. I’astour. it seems, has proven to Lis satisfaction that the burial of diseased animals does not destroy the germs of disease or obviate tbe chances of infection to any animals that may chance afterwards to feed on the ground above where the l>ody of tbe diseased animal was buried. M. Girard,another French scientist, claims that diseased animals nifty lie converted into manure without running the risk incurred by burying them. By bis process the tufrer.eses are immersed in oil of vitroil and after a bath of forty-eight hours no recognizable portions remain. Experi-

ments made in this direction at Rt. Gobain, appeared to prove that the destruction of poisonous germs is complete. It waft shown that 321 kilograms at 60 degrees proof dissolved in ten dayenine sheep weighing 201 kilograms. The resulting liquid, mixed with 440 kilograms of coprolites from Ardennes produced 949 kilograms of superphosphate of lime, containing 36 per cent, of nitrogen. Thus, by a simple process most dangerous bodies are destroyed and valuable fertilizers obtained. —New York World. *■