The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-11-18
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Good Farming-How not to Do 1t.
by w. A. CROFEUT.

y
then hire Dan Tucker to take care of it,
instructing him to use his own judgment
and not bother you. Encourage the rails
ing of livestock by attending horse races,
and patronize breeders by stalking your
money on the result. Connect yourself
with the agricultural press by subscribing
for some journal that gives rural advice
from the standpoint of 1.-The Turf and
Ring"
Show your interest in the growth of
rye, barley, and hops by partaking freely
of the beverages therefrom cOncocted.
Give your cOuntenance in the same way
to tobacco culture. Don't get married !;
you can hardly afford that sort of hus-
bandry. In about four years, if the farm
is good one and if you are as frugal as
you will be likely to be, Dan Tucker, or
more enfaprising neighbor, will foreclose
sundry mortgages, take your worthless
property off your hands, and leave you to
go to sea to complain of your bad luck"
denounce farming as an occupation, and
wonder what has become of your money
If you are an old hand at it, without ex-
pensive vices, and still manage to keep a
farm going on slip-shod principles, the
following rules, closely followed, will en-
able you to do all your work uniformly in
the worst possible manner:
Concerning Land Buy all you can on
credit, and mortgage every thing to insure
its payment To farm it by the thousand
acres is Napoleonic-it shows genius, you
know, and sounds well.
Purchase poor land at low price,
rather than the best at a high price; you
will thus get, at least, half as much har-
vest for your subsequent labor, and you
will have all the improvement for moth
ing-if there should happen to be any,
Never drain; if you do, the teamwork
will be FASTENED, crops increased, and ma
nure saved-besides which, you will lose
the stagnant water and the buried crock
cry"
Plough shallow; keep doing as your
grandfather did, and stick to it that "yal-
lcrIearth is pizen."
Concerning Mdnurs.-Build your hog
pen, and, if possible, your barn-yard,
| across a running stream; this will carry
the filth off your farm, and you will not
be troubled with it. Some of our best
farms are always stuck up with manure
If there is, unfortunately, no stream
handy, move your barn, when the manure
has become packed five or six feet in your
yard, to another side-hill, and start again
the original deposit will wash away in
time. BY this philosophical method OF
| fianking do thousands OF farmers through
out the West get rid of a nuisance, and
promote that cleanliness which is said tC
be next to godliness
Don't be persuaded to sow clover and
then waste it by blowing it under; be
sure that these boOk-farmers who adj
vocate such doings have clOver-seed tC
sell
If, after the above treatment, your sol
yields any crops, never feed or pillow
under the straw or corn stalks, but Away
burn them; you will thus "get them on
of the way" and will gradually diminish
the growth of straw and stalks, till ulti
mately there will hardly be any to burn.
Concerning Cr0ps-Plant and SOW very
late; by so doing, you will diminish TIL
crop an amount equal to the whole ne
protit-that is, you will get nothing 70
your labor.
Allw your corn-felds to be filled with
dense underground of weeds, and your pc
tatOes, turnips and onions with a dcns
over-growth Of ditto; it will not cos
halt so much to harvest your crop, an,
money paid out in the fall is an importan
item.
Don't be fooled with the cry of d" rota
ton" Dirt is dirt, isn't it and if a feel
will grow potatoes, of course it will groN
wheat Keep your corn in the "corn-lOt
all your life, as your father and mine did
If you were to jump around from field t
field, as the book-farmers advise, you
; corn crop would very likely OutgrOY
the granary, and then what a fix you'd b
, in
; Cooce,.n;,n CyoeL Goo how, I;+,Io Go
, will keep a COW alive. All you save
clear gain, and it is astonishing how thi
sort OF economy counts up
Feed as irregularly as possible Wal
, ing an hour or two for breakfast will who
the cows appetites and it will save ther
anxiety if they don't know precisely whe
to expect it.
wouldn't waste many oats on horses
2 how do horses get along in thos
countries where oats went grow
G Besides, oats make horses frisky
get them used to going wthou
, and they will be soberer and more mar
ageable, and just as well satisfied to gna,
| the wood-pile or the fence. A friend
ours, carpenter, who fed his horse fri
e gally, took it into his head that the an
NAL ate the shavings whercwth he Wa
bedded, which were supposed to serve q
, a divisOr and distender. So he saved q
other food and taught the sagacious ere;
/, ture to rely wholly on pine-shavings Tt
horse lived some weeks, and finally diet
, as the owner beloved, of over eating.
Never throw corn to pigs; men can e;
corn, and there has been enough waste
/, on hog troughs to keep thousands of HI
man beings from starvation. Above al
never feed pigs until they stop squealinj
To squcal is bad manners, and well-bre
swine ought to be broken of it.
Let neat cattle, so-called, lie intheir ow
drOppings as much as possible, for it wi
keep them warm. Never curry them
I, makes them tender
Teach your cattle to Jump; it will n,
cost you half so much to feed Them and
1t costs your neighbors more, that is the
lookout. A careful observer says: "Ca
tie may be taught to go over any fence /
careful training as follows: First giy
them very little and very poor feed, whiC
will make them light and enterprisin
AS soon as they go over the lowest part
the fence after provender, put on anoth,
rail- and make them jump back again, sa,
s ing Plague take you, | guess that
keep you out! Next day drive them OF
D again, repeating the objurgation an
4 adding another rail In p short tin
they will be able to take care of then
| selves"
Cattle will live with very little car
1 Stables and sheds are an expensive an
D needless luxury. You will be surprise
G to see how much exposure to snow storm
cattle can stand when they are one
hardened. When winter sets in, turn q
/ your stock to the hay stacks, pull dow
| the fences (unless you have discipline
/ them according the last paragraph, an
/ make them earn their own living.
' the spring you will have land pike pig
/ humpbacked COWS, and horses of goth
: architecture, with appetites as sharp
]. their hips. Don't fail to teach your stoC
e self-reliance. In this way the cattle w
i go further before you.kill them, and the
t meat will go further after you kill them
pound for pound.