Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1890 — Farm Notes. [ARTICLE]

Farm Notes.

Orchard grass is considered superior to timothy, but it does not yield as much hay. About one pound of London purple: to 200 gallons of water is a sufficiently strong solution for an insecticide. All fallen fruit, whether very young or no irly matured, should be destroyed in order to prevent the propagation of insects as much as possible. During the warm days of summer the manure will “fire-fang” unless plenty of absorbent material be used, or the mauure turned over occasionally. The hoe will compensate for lack of manure in the garden sometimes. Nothing improves vegetables like a good hoeing of the soil and catting out the weeds. Cows will not refuse stagnant water when thirsty, and as such water contaminates the milk the matter of a plentiful supply of fresh water is an important one. Should fowls that have been afflicted with roup show the effects of the disease during the summer, the difficulty of effecting a cure is too great, andthe floclTshbuld be destroyed. Sow grass seed on all the hare places on the lawn. A mixture of blue grass and white clover will make an excellent lawn. All lawn plots' should be seeded as early as possible. Stock need salt when green food ik plentiful more than at any other time. The lack of salt sometimes causes injurious effects from green food that might be avoided by its use for stock. If it pays some farmers to raise the dairy cows that are purchased by dairymen, who sell their calves, it should pay the dairyman to raise his own cows, especially if he does so with the aim of improving his herd. On all fields where tbß mowers are to be used, the advantage of the land having been previously rolled will be noticeable. Fields that have been rolled can he mowed easier, and the work done more completely than where the land is rough. Gilt-edged butter depends for its quality not only upon the breed and feed to a certain extent, but more so on the skill of the dairyman. The first requisite is cleanliness, which begin s at the stable and ends with the packing of the butter for market