Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-09-21
AGRICULTURAL.
TARn, GARDEN avn HOUSEHOLD.

1
es. He says:
81 drive and work q span of 1000 II
horses, who have not had shoes on thei
feet for five years, and never on thei
hind feet, and / always regretted tn,
mistake of putting shoes on their fore
feet, even in one winter. avoid al
heavy hanling while ice prevails, bu
drive them even up and down hills, anG
as fast as the best of shod horses. They
Were made lame by shoeing, but never
since, and their hoofs are almost as
hard as iron itself. So, / say, keep
shoes off colts as long as possible. II
their feet become tender, let nature
4 have little time to increase her power
of resistance, then go on again. 1t is
amazing to all inveterate horse.shoers
to see what substantial work nature
will do for the feet of our 'Orses ii we
only give permission. Against the
j practice of early, constant, and indis-
criminate shoeing, Iurge the following
considerations, viz: The time, travel,
and cost; the bresking of hoOf-by
shoeing and becoming tenderzlf shoe
comes off unawares, or at distance
4 from a blacksmith; the liability of dis
1 tressing limpings and constant lameless
from interfering corks; the habitual
corking of themselves, causing long
| times of lameness, and often split hoof
for life; the serious results that attend
| the kicking of shod horses; the putting
| that God intended should be as light as
possible. My young span, Lightfoot'
| and 'Fleetwing, who easily go three
| and half miles to the post Office and
| return in from forty to sixty minutes,
are not likely very soon to exchange
the elastic step of the light-shod Yam
kee for the dead tramp of the English
peasant, whose double soled, iron
| spiked, or plated clogs are well-nigh
inhuman. / have known very heavy
horses, unshod when young, attain an
elastic, light step that lasted all their
lives, even though shod at a later PEE
Rod" a5- .E
"But do your horses never fall upon
the iceP"
II answer yes, about as often as the
shod ones, and With this difference
They have thereby damaged them
selves with their ever dangerous corks,
while mine are unframed, and soon
ltdIb OCAbpl thdn bO Idii II bNOH so iCN.
l speak not of heavy draft horses on
macadamized streets aud leyees, or of
roadsters III a rock bound country, but
of prairie farm horses, and thousands
of others, too, which are so very need
lessly shod. say, begin right with
the next colt, aud keep the horse -shoe
ing shop off the farm. While talking
about horses, / want to condemn most
decidedly the barbarOus practice of
| binding down upon the brain or fore
| head, under heavy bride bands, that
foretop that God evidently designed
should fly loose in the breezes. Oh!
cut those bands off your brides, or
else pull ont those foretops. especially
in hot weather, and your horses would
thank you a thousand times if they
could speak. .af
| PLANTING ASPARAGUS IN THE FALL
Among the many valuable ideas for
which we have vanity enough to think
| the horticulturist is indebted to the
Gardeners Monthly, transplanting trees
just before, instead of after, the leaves
fall, stands prominent. This is but
''Fall planting" November setting out
is really Winter planting.
Every year as we note observations
and make experiments, we can see that
this early Fall practice will yet be APP
piled to many valuable purposes we
now have little idea of Within the
past two years we have watched expert
ments made by several gentlemen on
planting Asparagus in August, and the
result is remarkable success.
The ground is prepared as for a crop
at any other season, and after cutting
off the green tops of the young seed.
liDgs the roots are set precisely as in
Spring planting. They push new roots
at once, aud make eyes so strong that
even from one year old seedlings, some
| Asparagus-bu not, of course, very
strong-has been cut the following
Spring, and where two year old roots
have been used, full crop has been
cut in the same time, "a result no one
expects from Spring planting.
In this region the plan has taken
strong hold of gardeners, and Aspara-
gus planting is likely to take rank at
once with the Strawberry as regular
August operation.
1t will, of course, be best in such
cases to cover the beds, after they have
once become frozen, with some kind OF
litter, not to keep out frost, but to pre-
vent thawing and freezing until the
natural Spring season comes; or the
plants may be thrown out.
The same is true of Hubbard and
many root plants. If put in early so as
to have time to put out few fibres be.
fore winter comes they will push out
very strong next year and season OF
growth is saved thereby.-GaTd Month.
SKELETON LEAVES. The following
method has been communicated to the
Botanical Society of Edinburg: A So
luton is made of 30z of washing soda
and two pints of boiling water; to this
is added l 2 ounces of quicklime pre-
viOusly slackened; boil for ten min
utes; decant the clear solution, and
bring 1t TO the boiling point. During
ebullition add the leaves, and continue
the boiling for an hour, in the mean
time adding water TO supply the waste
of evaporation. Take ont leaf and
put it into a vessel of water, rub it be-
tween the fingers under the water. III
the epidermis and parerchyma sepa-
rate easily, the rest of the leaves may
be removed from the solution aud
treated in the same way; but if not, then
the boiling must be continued for some
time longer. To bleach the skeletons,
mix about drachm of chloride of lime
with pint Of water, adding sufficient
acetic acid to hberate the chlorine.
Steep the leaves in this about ten min
ntes, or until they are whitened, taking
care not to let them remain too long.
otherwise they are apt to become brit