The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-02-21

performs her egg-laying regularly.
/ PRor. CLuM, of Rochester, the inventor
Of the 9lloscope, or storm viewer, is in Eng
land, and one Of storm instruments has
been placed in the Greenwich observatory.
A LEATHER belt 1872 feet long, 30 inches
4 wide and Of double thickness, il one Of the
curiosities on exhibition at Boston. 1t took
| the hides Of more than 50 oxen for its
manufacture.
| CHARLES ARNOLD, Of Columbia Co., New
| York, says that before he was aware Of it
! his fowls were covered with lice. Taking a
swab, he applied little kerosene oil under
| their wings, aud has noticed none Of the
| vermin since.
| PROF HoyGH, of the Dudley observatory,
speaking Of the comparative changes Of the
barometer and thermometer during the cold
snap of last month, says that in January
| the barometer attained the greatest eleya-
! tion ever known in the United States.
/ GLASS MoLD BOARD FOR PLows.-Messrs
/ o. F. Burton, of New York, and L. 3. Holt,
Of Cedar Falls, Iowa, obtained a patent on
the 9th uit., for making mold boards for
plows. Of glass. The idea is quite novel.
but we are told that on the praires they
\
| suits. -Scient.tc american.
! SEVERAL extremely curious experiments
have been made in Paris on the effects Of a
! safonic acid ian extract Of the flowers Of
santolino). When dose Of about ten cen
4 tigrammes is taken, q kind Of intoxication
is produced, which causes all objects to ap-
pear yellow to the patient, and when about
| fifteen centigrammes are taken the same OBJ
| jects appear violet colored.
| PLuMBAGo, which has heretofore ruled
| qnite high in the markets Of the world, for
the reason that good quality Of that mine
raj has heretofore been found in only few
! localities on the globe, is now being found
in large quantities in various parts of the
earth. Large discoveries of this valuable
mineral are stated to have been made in the
inlanu districts of the Cape of Good Hope.
NOTWITHSTANDING the abundance of oil
strikes the petroleum prospect is far from
good. The expense of sinking well has
increased in year from 5000 to 80, 200,
while the cost Of working one has increased
from $40 to $50 per day. At the same time
the price of oil at the wells has decreased
from SO to So barrel No well is there
fore worth much unless it yields twenty
barrels a day, and not one in fifty does that.
About Pithoie not one in twenty Of the wells
pays at all.
FArTESING CALvEs.-A sensible, practical
farmer told US the other day that he had Of
ten noticed that calves would thrive better
on milk that was not rich in butter, than on
what was commonly called very rich milk.
That is a fact in accordance with what we
recently stated, that the nutritive elements
of milk reside chiefly in the casein If you
hat rY,o ~ ;obv
and one that gives quality poorer in but
ter, it is better in every way to feed the calf
on the milk of the latter. The calf will
thrive better and you'll get more butter from
| the milk Of the first cow. Eassachtssetts
| Plonnsan.
BUILDING HoGs.-We JuM three hogs a
few years ago, that when completed, greatly
astonished our gulf state neighbors for =
considerable distance on every side of u.s.
Our nearest neighbor, S. S. Phillips, first
class farmer for that latitude, had litter of
ten pigs ten weeks old, from pure Chester
county sow and an imported Berkshire boar,
and the day that the pigs were six weeks
old the doctor said to us:
~ am going to select three of these pigs
to make hogs Of Then shall make you a
present Of three next best-we will keep
them till year from next Christmas. and
let us see who will make the most pork.
They say you Yankees do beat all nature in
making hogs
SO the selections were made; that was il
September; the doctor putting his pigs into
close pen. And from that day till the day
of their death, they were continually kept
up, and Toasted with everything hog is
supposed to like.
Our three were put into a tolerably fair
pasture, and had skinned milk for three
months, about quart each three times a
| day. At the end Of that time they were
put into warm pen to pass the Winter.
Their diet was quart OF corn-meal mush
made with milk, three times day and for
three meals every week they got boiled po-
tatoes and parsnips. The pen was cleaned
| piggies got thorough scrubbing down with
soap-suds and stiff brush. They liked
| that.
| In April they were returned to the clover
pasture, aud their milk rations increased to
two quarts each. three times day, by mid
Summer to three quarts, soap suas practice
continued regularly.
On the first day Of October we put up our
pigs to make hogs Of The regular feed
then was corn -meal mush with milk-four
feeds day, and about two quarts at each
meal. The pen and trough was washed
clean every morning. and the animals as
usual twice week.
On the wenty-fourth day of December
we slaughtered our hogs; and on Christmas
day we weighed-frst the doctors pork,
ranging from about two hundred and sixty
pounds to two ninety. Ours ran, according
to the figures made at the time, and now
within three inches Of the point of our pen
-429-4l3--39S.
Those three logs hung in state for plant
ers to wonder at, rs long as Mississippi
Christmas weather would permit.
Ersning Post.
UNION Stock YARDS OF CHICAGO. The
yards are provided with unequaled facilities
for weighing stock, by the single head or by
the car load. The scales used are Fair
banks, Greenleaf & Cos patent, six or seven
Of which are erected on the grounds. The
principal apparatus stands near the center,
in building made for it. These scales are
the largest manufactured. and are capable
Of weighing forty tons. They are marvel Of
nicely. The huge beam plays as easily rs
tho penny-weight balance Of the jeweler or
the apothecary. They weigh bank bill
as we'll as an OK or cur load of cattle. The
smallest bit Of paper causes the beam TO
vibrate. SO beautifully are the bearings con-
structed and so nicely does the whole OPP
crate. II is something of compliment to
the manufacturers of these model scales.
that the Stock Yard Company have adopted
them for use in their yards.