Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1887 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

«' . * It costs very little to plant trees along the road, and when they shall reach a fair size they will add something to the value of the farm. Attractiveness is often as much value as fertility when disposing of a farm. Carrots are valuable as food for ail kinds of stock, and 500 bushels inay be raised on an acre, but turnips are grown in preference, because they germinate* from the seed sooner, and are not easily Overrun with grass or weeds, fi The earliest Lima beans, which are usually found near the lower parts of the vines, should not be picked until enough have been allowed to dry for seed, as next season they will produce earlier than the higher grown seed. Where sheep are troubled with flies and maggots they rapidly lose flesh, as they get but little rest and have no appetites. Damp pastures are also injurious, often causing foot rot. Tlie sheep should always lie sheltered at nightT It is not generally known that hyacinth and tulip bulbs, lifted after the foliage begins to die, kept in a cool, dry place through the summer and reset in October, produce the most abundan and perfect flowers. This is worthy of trial. It is a fact that a strong nest of bumblebees in a clover field is worth S2O to the owner, for these insects are the chief agents in fertilizing the blossom, thereby insuring a heavy crop of seed. In Australia there were no bumblebees of our kind, and they could not raise clover-seed until they imported some. —New York Sun. A pigeon-loft should be arranged on every farm. There is as much profit in pigeons as in chickens, if rightly cared for. - Sell all the squabs before they fly, or use them upon the home tahle. There is no daintier morsel of food than a squab that has still a.little-down on its head. After they commence to fly the tender flesh is soon hardened into muscles, and they are not so palatable. A fast horse is not the best for the plow or cultivator, as such horses not only soon exhaust themselves, but the driver also. The best work can usually be done with a slow animal, as the grass and weeds can thus more easily be destroy edi - The whi e and brown Leghorn fowls begin to lay when only five month old. They are nbn-setters, lay white eggs,aud rank very high as egg-producers. They are, however, small in size, and do not answerj as| well for market as do the larger breeds. 1 - A. difference in the yield of milk of four quarts a day, even at two cents a quart, is equal to $24 a year, which is the interest at fl.per cent, on S3OO. A difference of 100 pounds of butter a year in pqnahtrrfhe same amount. With ten cows this counts up pretty fast. The carrot has more fattening quali ties than o her roots and for this reason is particularly' adapted to sheep, young cattle and all animals intended for meat. Carrots will help to fatten animals quickly and with less cost than other roots, and quick fattening produces tender and juicy meat. The toed that is given the hen should contain all the elements that exist in the egg. These are found in wheat; oats, corn, bran, lins°ed, crushed bone, mustard seed, sunflower seed,'and vegetable •matter. Reasonable mixture of all of these, varied more or less with the aid of crushed limestone or gypsum, would afford every element called for to produce a sonstant yield of eggs.