Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-11-13
DAILY DEMOCRAT.
AGRICULTURAL.


A WHOLE Hco There vas hog on ex-
hiLiti1n lt The Illinois State Fair which
weighed / 400 ibs.
An amateur farmer in Taunton. Mass,
saws his potatoes cos, him four dollars and
sixty eight cents q bushel.
Maine will scarcely produce apples enough
for home consumption this season, ard
grapes have proved . decided failure.
"cosmo.' in the Saturday Evening Post,
,id;eules the idea advanced by an agsicu,-
tursl journal that feeding COW peck II
Iadan .rea! day besides hay, during the
winter. will produce fine flow Of rich milk.
"cosmo" 10 right in this. A COW so fed
will f.,,en rapidly. but her flow Of milk will
decrease in a. equal ratio.
If By any accidental sars'sssnsss your
plants get from, dip them 1t oncs. and
hold them in pail Of rain water for few
moments. II frost gets into the green
house, yet down the Hues, and sprinkle oil
she plants freely with water; then increase
the temperature gradually until the frost 10
extracted Ger. Tel.
Josh Billings, in describing the horse fair
OF the Billi,gsville Agricultural Society,
says: There Was TOW yoko ov oxen on The
ground. besides several Jokes ov sheep,
and . pile Of carrots, and some wosted
work, but they didn't seem to attract emmy
sympathy. The people banker for pure
agricultural hossuots."
| Asparagus beds may be made this month
| Just as successfully Is III the spring. Pre-
pare the ground by digging or plowing itdeep
mot less than sixteen inches securing some
drainage from the beds into the alleys, and
thence freely aw9t. Cut off tho tops Of the
plants, plant about three inches deep, ard
dress tho whole bed over with coarse una
nure four inches deep. I-Ex.
| MEASURING PorAToEs. - The following
rule for ascertAining the number OF bushels
| Of apples, potatoes, &c, in bins and boxes,
is recommended as simple and accurate:
For tue number Of "even' bushels, multi
ply the number Of cubic feet in the bin by
5 aud point off one decimal For "heaped''
bushels, multiply by s twice and point of
two.
SALT As MANURE ron WHsAr.-A cor1
respondent OF the Canada Farmer gives tl4
result Of his experience in using salt as q
fertilizer for wheat. lie says: Last spring
| thought would try it, and bou, hit six
barrels, and applied one barrel to the acre,
on three acres Genssee Club spring wheat;
ut the same time I sowed half barrel
across five acres of wheat in another place.
Now for the result Tho three acres shot
out five days before the same variety sown
side by side on the same day, and the strip
across the field can sec ss plainly % if the
one was wheat and the other oats. The
reason | applied salt TO the Club wheat was
this: l have been troubled with the straw
breaking, and salt is highly recommended
to stiiien tho straw; whether it viii or not
cannot say yet, but l eau say that the
wheat / sailed keeps far ahead Of the rest.
| However. by harvest l will be abe to tell
you if il kseps the straw bright and stiH,
and If the wheat will ripen sooner
EDS. PaAIRis FARxsR One Of the best
farmers ! know saves ne-third Of his corn
by soaking IL, before be leeds il 70 his
horses. Ills plan 10 this: he places two
hogsheads in his barn cellar, secure from
the frost, fills them with ears Of corn and
pours IN water enough to cover them
When we'll soaked he feeds out Of one to
his horses, and by the time this is exhaust
ed the corn in the other hogshead IL well
soaked. The COTS become 50 soft that the
horses eat them with as good relish IS
they do the corn, ans they REQUIRE only
about w thirds as much corn AS when fed
without soaking. There is no doubt tina,
the cob eaten with the corn renders the diet
more ehoesome. A certain amount Of
coarse feed 10 necessary to the health Of an
finals. j. l.. II.
KEEPING PorAross.-Po,stoes that wish
to keep for summer use would gather in
to pits of twenty bushels each. and give
| them . covering Of long rye straw six inch
e. in thickness. and . light covering OF
earth at FIRST, increasing il at the sppsoach
! of cold weather. and leaving . small vent n
the top of the pits, secured from the liabil-
| ~ Of vet by y board or some other cover
| ing. They should b. taken out Of the pits
in early spring, put into barrels, Invaded up
aad placed in . cool cellar, or ice-reom
whore the temperature Is low enough to
keep them from sprouting. In oil my man.
ipulations. l would handle the tubsrs as
carefully - would apples. In this man
ner potatoes, l maintain. may be kept until
new ones come again. and be nearly rs fresh
- when first dug. Ii thus preserved, we
couli Justly criticise = cook who should be
| 20 foolish az to stick knife into q tube be
fore it was placed on the table ready to be
eaten The Circular.
Apour PLows.-lt 10 frequently the case
that farmer will buy two plows Of the
snme make and pattern, and one viii prove
TO be much easier running and holding
piow than the other. why. 1t may be
that the castings are warped and do no, ut
| together well but Tar more generally, be-
| cause the iron IN the two moldbosrds is not
oil the same temper-the pIow with the soft
| est moldboard being the poorest Of the
two. The turrow adher.ng moro closely to
the soft moidboaru, makes the draft OF the
| plow heavier, aud likewise pulls tho pillow
around to tho right away from tho land,
| therefore making it run unsteady. As an
illustration take two pleasure slsighs the
| one having on hard cast Shoes, and the 9TH
Ell soft-cast shoes. When these two sleighs
run over . piece Of bare ground, tho one
with soft shoes draws very much the hard
est, and has the IN ost side draft. lis quite
| difficult fer fu.nacemen to make their mold
bard OF the same proper temper, and espec-
tally is it 50 where they melt soft machinery
IRON At the same heat with hard plow iron.
| As general rule the best and most uniform
piows come from those firms Who make that
paiticular-tool speciality and . study
Their mechanics become familiar with So
'ecting and melting iron for that purpose.
and their castings are apt TO be fitted To-
Ye'her with extra care. Northern Farmer.
ASOLp farmers SLATE Writing abou,
improvements reminds me that Q farmer
does not always think Of what is needful
and may be done when leisure times occur,
and It recalls to my mind the practice Of .
large and successful farmer, who at bis death
LEFT his siiAi's in prosperous condition,
aud bis premises in complete order. His
neighbors often wondered Of the ease with
which be conducted bic operations; he
never hurried, but tho right thing was al
ways done u the right tins and his work
never Jagged. Much Of the improvement,