Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-11-03

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD
SwELLED LEGS. Coarse horses, possess
ing considerable development of circnla1
tissue, are very commonly subject to drop
SIcai enlargement of the extremities. usual
ly denominated as swelled leg. The nature
OF this swelling may be readily detected
and distinguished from that of the phIeg.
mon, by pressing it with the fingers when
1t pits; that IS, the impression Of the fingers
are lett for short time. 1t is, in fact, a
I deposition OF the water portion of the
blood IN the cells of the membran the alb.
! Sofbehts or Iymphahc vessels are unable to
take up or carry into the circulet lion of the
serum so fast as it is deposit d. Tt may
arise from the weak state of the lymphatics
from cold applied to the legs, from the
! phIetorlc state of the system, or from the
redundancy of serum in the blood. 1t
exists in various degrees; sometimes the
legs are merely filled Us it is termed, pro-
ducIng no lameness, and but little apparent
inconvenience; at other times the limbs are
Immensely gorged, and attended with con-
+! siderable pain and stiffness Between
these two extremes the disease NAV
exist in every intermediate degree.
IL may thus appear in an
acute or subacute form, and may be pro.
duced either suddenly or gradually; when,
| however, it exists in severe form, it us,l-
ally appears suddenly. The horse perhaps
is well over night but the next morning
one of his legs Is amazingly swelled, and
on handling it the horse often catches it
up suddenly and so violently that he
nearly falls. If the disease be not very
soon relieved, large assesses either form
III different parts of the limb, or the skin
gives way, the heels are affected with
grease, or the vessels become enlarged and
the swelling organized, and the horse has
for life big leg. We often see an animal
with one of the hind legs twice as large as
1t ought 10 be; the poor brute, in addition
10 his accustomed labor, condemned to
drag for life this weary load, which, in
nine cases out of ten, is to be ascribed
either to the negligence or ignorance of his
owner These big-legged horses usually
belong either to poor men or to farmers:
the former neglecting them from poverty
and the latter because they prefer treading
IN the footsteps of their forefathers, and
employing Ignorant empires in preference
to skillful practitioners.
PIE CRUsT.-No matter how delicious
and nice ones materials, if the result is
worse than wasted
Perhaps no form of food in common use
is more indigestible than the ordinary
method of making pie crust. If we will
have it, great care should be taken to
make it as nicely and delicately as possi-
ble
A few things should be carefully observ-
ed in its preparation. The lard or butter
used for shortening should be of the very
best quality. Salt should be freely used
with lard; neither should ever be in the
least degree melted. A cool room (if hot
weather,) cool moulding board, cool hands
and cold water are indispensable. bowl
Of ice-water to dip the hands into, as we'll
as to mix with, is a great help. A marble
board is best, and cellar or cool milk
room to prepare paste, if hot weather
When the water is added mix first with
a spoon or knife, just sufficient to make all
adhere together; touch lot with the hands
until ready to roll, then cut with a knife q
piece large enough for the size of the plate;
knead none at all, but touch lightly, and
roll but one way, never back and forth. Ex-
perience will teach about the size necessa-
ry tor one crust, and thus one will not be
necessitated to work over again many bits,
which would form a tough, disagroeable
crust Pieces, however, that are left should
always be used, either for an under-crust or
baked, without rehanding, for lunch
crumbs.
pint OF flour rightly managed, will
make two crusts, and a piece of shortening
rs large as an egg Ca goose egg will be suf-
iclent. If you desire it more haky, with
the trouble of puff-paste, spread soft but
ter or lard upon the upper crust before
sending to the oven. Cor. Country Gentle
man. .-... ..
CULTIVATE YOUR APPLE TREEs.-A cor
respondent in Montgomery county, Pa,
informs us that he can succeed with his
apple orchard in obtaining crop as well
as any other field product upon his farm.
He commences his orchard by selecting
his trees himself in the nursery, as farm
er selects his seed before sowing; helps to
take them up, as farmer secures his seed;
hauls them home late III the afternoon or
evening; puts them in where they are to be
planted until next day; has the ground
prepared beforehand and the holes dug;
removes and sets the trees as he needs them
in the most careful manner, applying two
buckets of water to each tree-One when
the hole is half filled up, the other when
entirely filled, leaving the ground around
the tree bOwl-like. Stakes firmly; mulch
es; waters occasionally; keeps all cattle
and hogs out; and when the trees are
few years planted, twice year, spring and
fall, scrapes the trunk, scrubs it severely
with cow urine gathered in a tank from the
stable. using about half bucket to each
tree, and gives them thorough eXamina-
ton to ferret out any worms, &c. He says
it is not nearly as much labor as any other
crop on the farm, while it is just as sure
and more profitable.
Farmers, do you hear that p German
tO1U1 Telegraph.
ORIGIN OF THE PoTATo.-There are sew
eral species of potato described as growing
wild in Mexico, and one of these, the sOla-
nam UerYucOsun1, is said to produce very
palatable but small tubers Our civilized
species probably came from Chill.
The word potato comes to us from the
Spanish bdttatd, and the Spanish got it from
the Indian pdpUs
The date of the introduction of the po-
tato into England is rendered uncertain,
probably by confounding the sweet potato
with the common potato There is no
doubt that the potato was cultivated in
South America by the Indians, before the
discovery of Chill by the Europeans. The
cultivated plant found its way to the Caro-
linas and Virginia, and Sir Walter Raleigh
took it to England in 1886.
The tuber of the native potato never ex-
ceed two inches il length, and is insipid to
the taste, but not bitter. 1t has been sup
posed to be naturally a sea shore plant,
peculiar to hilly and rocky soils. The
first particular cannot be true of all escu-
lent native potatoes. The pottto loves
such cool, uniform, moist and ID g season
as may be found in some parts I'D alti-
tudes of the tropics. But its onderful
constitutional vigor has enable it to be
transplanted in all parts of the EARTH until
it is now considered ''the most important
of all eseulent, roots and next in value to
cereals AS an article of human subsistence "