National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-11-03
Farm, Garden and Household.

HOLDING BACK THE MlLk--ln Swlt-
zerand wet rag is hid on the back OF
n COW that holds back her milk, and is n
very good remedy. A weight laid on
the back-as bag of earth or sand, or IA
chain in the bag-will make her give her
milk.
LICE ON POULTRY. Take ont of the
house every perch, nest, box, or movable
thing remove all battens, cleats, or any
thing whereby crevice is made, SO that
the inside is smooth Then make n
whitewash of fresh lime, into which put
one ounce of carboic acid to pailfnl.
Wash the house thoroughly with this.
Then wash the outside. Then smear the
perches with n mixture of lard and kero-
sene oil, putting it on thick so that
when the fowls roost they will get some
of it on their feathers. Also, put some
of it on each fowl, under the wings. |
This will clear the house, and the hens
will clear themselves if no recruits are
furnished from the house.
KEEPING EGGs.-Partes in the egg
business i'll n large way build brick watts
made watcr-tight, N which is lime water,
made by put'irg lime in water, and
when it is Stacked and settled to the bot |
tom drawing of the clear liquor Into |
this liquor the eggs are placed and kept |
beneath the surface. They are kept AS
cool as possible These are the LINED |
eggs" with which the markets are sup
piled during winter Another mode of
keeping eggs, tested by the Agricultural
Department, is as follows Rub the eggs |
with faxseed 1inseed) oil, and place
them, small end dovnwards, in sand. |
Eggs 30 prepared were found at the end |
of six months to have the taste and smell
Of perfectly fresh eggs, and to have lost
in weight only three per cent. Greasing
eggs with lard or taow has not been
successful in preserving them, except
for short periods
To ExTIRPATE SoRREL AND MUSTARD.
II depends good deal on the chnrac-
ter of the land, the kind of crops grown,
etc. We have succeeded in banishing
sorrel from piece of light, sandy land
that was formerly covered with it, by
seeding it down to grass and top-dress-
ing it with manure. The first two years
after it was laid down to grass, the sorre
almost killed out the grass, but the ma
nure so encouraged the growth of the
grass, that in two years more it crowded
out the sorrel, and it entirely disappear
ed. The same result sometimes follows
dressing of wood-ashes or lime, and it
has been supposed that the ashes or
lime neutralized the acid in the soil and
prevented the growth of the sorrel.
There is nothing in this idea. The ashes
and lime like manure, encourage the
growth of other crops, and these starve
out or crowd out the sorrel. In regard
to mustard, we know of no better plan
to get lid of it than to summer or fall
fallow, and follow with two or three hoed
crops. The point is to cause the mus
tard seed now in the ground to perminate
and then kill the plants before they go
to seed. Any plan that will 40 this is
good. Seeding the land with clover and
moving the clover before the mustard
goes to seed, will be useful
--Aqicuhwist
STEAMING Foop. w. G. Blaclfan, of
Bucks Co., Pa, writes Il would like
to know if it would be profitable for me
steam the food for my stock. fatten
twenty head of cattle, and have twelve
to fifteen head of milk cows, sheep and
swine, horses, etc. Would tpay to cut
up corn fodder and steam it with meal
on it and would be the gamer after
tut tAtiu hpbi WIS Ut ulCttN AN IL
young farmer, and desire to make farm
ing pay by any new improvements. -
1t is the general opinion that steaming
saves one-third OF the food, aud that
cattle thrive better on cooked thaa on
uncooked food. Our experience seems
to sustain this assumption Your stock
seems to he about equal to forty head of
cattle. III we fix the saving at oae-q,,ar-
TIM. psfno1 of ,t,.,J will h,
steamng the cost of the food of ten
head. You know better than we do
how much this is worth. The extra
cost of steaming will be, say, 12s per
cent on the cost of apparatus $500,
800; fuel, $25 extra labor. 500; in
all, 1925. To offset a portion of this, You
will have steam-power for thrashing, saw
ing wood, grinding grain, etc, etc, and
the services of the extra help for IA
portion of tie time. If your own time
is not fully occupied in the winter, your
extra labor will cost less than our esti-
mate. With the foregoing facts before
you, you can decide better than we can
whether it will pay. 1t does pay us. =
Ecchmge
The AGE OF Fowls. The following
will give our readers who are interested
an idea of the way to judge the age of
fowls -
If a hens spur is hard, and the scales
on the legs rough, she is old whether
you see her head or not. but her head
will corroborate your observation. If
the underbill is SO stiff that You cannot
bend it down, and the comb thick and
rough, leave her, no matter how fat and
plump, for some one less particular A
young hen has only the rudiments of
spurs the scales on the legs are smooth
glossy and fresh colorel. whatever the
color may be the claws tenderand short,
the nails sharp. the underbill soft. and
the comb thin and smooth.
An old hen turkey has rough scales on
the legs, callosites on the soles of the
feet, and long strong claws a " ung one
the reverse of those marks. When the
feathers are on the old turkey-cock has
a long tuft or beard. young one but a
sprouting one and when they are off,
the smooth scales on the leg decide the
point, b, sides the difference in size of
the wattles If the neck and in the elastic
shoot upon the nose.
An old goose when alive is known by
the rough legs, the strength Of the wings
particularly AT the pinIons, the thickness
and strength of the bill, and the fiDeness
of the feathers and when plucked, by
the legs, the tenderness Of the skin under
the wings, by the pinions and the bill
and the coarseness of the skin.