Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1873 — FARM AND HOUSEHOLD. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

—An experienced man in Illinois says that he finds much economy in boiling corn in the ear, and so feeding it to his hogs. ’ He supposes that the al’iallcs contained in the cob act upon the flinty covering of the grain and soften it, while they also loosen the attachment of the kernel to the_cob. Certainly the animals prefefTorKaVe'tEe corn~in this fashion. They fatten faster and keep in finer condition. —A correspondent of the Rural New, Yorker says that, in many cases, what is called chicken cholera is not that at all; that on hind parts of chickens are small nits; that the chickens pick these nits off their own bodies and swallowthem; swallowed, the nits hatch into little worms in the gizzard, and these worms kill-the, chickens. The remedy is greasing the hind parts of the chickens. —Excellent Varnish for Harness.— Pulverize and put in a jug dr bottle half a pound to a pound of gum-shellac, cover w'ith good alcohol, and cork tightly. Put the mixture in a warm place. In about two days, if shaken frequently, the gum will be dissolved and ready for use. If the liquid appears as thick as thin molasses add more alcohol. To one quart of the varnish add one ounce of good lampblack and oiie ounce of gum camphor. An occasional coat of this is also good for rendering boots waterproof.— Rural New Yorker, —Pumpkins forCows.—Fromapeck of seed dropped and covered in the gaps of a cornfield, a dairy of nine cows have been; , kept up to summer milking and the quality of the butter is super-excel--4 ent, and six licifer eal ves raised front thc above as fat as moles. The cows are fatter, too, than a majority of the cattle slaughtered. These cows have been mak- ■ ing about six pounds of butter per week, besides supplying new milk and cream for a'gentleman’s house with sixteen- in--mates. The pumpkins are chopped up in the manger with a spade, morning, noon and night, about half a bushel each ■ time when cut into pieces. They eat while being milked morning and night, and they come to the yard and go into the stable for half an hour at noon. Beets, carrots, and some other roots and small ears of cprn will follow, so as to keep up the milk during winter. —Choosing Hatching Eggs—Eegs for hatching should be chosen of the fair average size usually - laid by- lire hen they are from; any unusually large or small being rejected. Some hens lay immensely large eggs, and others small ones, A fat hen will always lay small eggs, which can only produce small and weakly chickens. Absolute sizein eggs js, therefore, of but little importance. Round, short eggs are usually the best to select; very long eggs, especially if much pointed at the small end, almost always breed birds with some awkwardness in style of carriage. Neither should rough-shelled eggs be chosen; they usually show some derangement of the organs and are often sterile. Smooth shelled eggs alone are proper for hatching. It is a farce to suppose that the sex of a bird can be determined by the shape of the egg.— Canada Poultry Chronicle. —lt is well known that sows not unfrequently attack and destroy their young ; or, if prevented from this, will not let down their milk, so that the young pigs necessarily die from want of nourishment. When this condition of things is not caused by a diseased .condition of the uterus, it is said that the sow can be brought to terms by pouring a mixture of ten to twenty grains of the spirits of camphor with one to three of the tincture of opium, into the ear. The sow will immediately lie down on the side of the ear to which the application was made, and remain quiet in this position for several hours without interfering with her pigs; and on recovering from' the stupor, will have lost her irritability in regard to them. The experiment has been tried ip Germany hundreds of times, according to one of the agricultural journals, without any injurious effects. It is also said that the eating of pigs by the parent sow can be readily prevented by rubbing them all over with brandy, and making the same application about the nose of the sow herself.—L'. 5. Agricultural Report.