The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-01-06
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
WINTER HINTS FOR THE FARM.


WINTER HINTS FOR THE FARM.
The following timely hints for the farm
are from the January number of the Amer
aedn Agr'cuhwisl without doubt the best
agricultural paper in the United States
Every farmer should take copy of the
| Agr'culturist, and ca refully study it, and
from the pages of hich, ina single year,
he might acquire more useful, practical
knowledge than it is possible to gain in
ten years, from the limited field of his own
personal observation. Every practical farm
er will recognize the contents of the Agri-
cb!turist to be the product of minds thor
oughly conversant with the endless variety
of subjects on which they treat.
Horses that are doing nothing can be
/ wintered on good, bright, straw, with four
or five pounds of corn per day, cheaper
than on hay. If they arc worked regularly,
they require higher feeding; say ten pounds
grain, ten pounds hay, and ten pounds
straw per day. On grain farm, where
straw or corn-stalks are abundant and hay
is scarce, third hay, and one-third
straw and stalks, cut up together with one
third the weight of cornmeal mixed with
it, makes cheaper and more nutritious
food than more hay and less grain.
! Cones do far better on stalks than on
straw. They do not like the latter. Our
stalks were so we'll cured last fall that,
after the cows were taken from the pas
ture and fed in the stables on stalks,
! they increased in their milk and the
quality of their butter improved Cows
that are giving milk will pay for little
corn-meal, say two quarts per day, in addi-
ton to the stalks or hay. Keep the stables
clean and well ventilated. In stormy
weather it is best to keep them in the sta
BILE all the time, except to turn them out
twice a day to water. Many farmers only
water once, and this will do when they run
in the yard for two or three hours, but 9TH
wise it is far better to water twice. Gige
them time enough to drink. Cows are not
like horses in this respect. A horse will
drink at once all he wants, but herd of
cows need longer time and more or less
humoring.
Steep will eat straw better than any other
stock. With good, bright straw and half
pound of corn per day, Merino sheep can
be kept in good, thriving condition, and
with a pound of corn per day the right
kind of sheep will get fat. Towards spring
the sheep should have a little hay-say one
foddering a day. Merino ewes in lamb to
a large. long wooded or South Down ram,
should have good keep, in order that they
may have nourishment enough for the large
lamb. Nothing is better for them than
bran and clover hay. Corn is a cheaper
food and half a pound a day will not hunt
them unless the ewes are unusually fat
| Where roots are scarce it is better to re-
serve them until March and April than to
! feed them now. Bran is the best Substi-
tute for them. Cattle, horses, and pigs
should be fed i'll the morning, the first thing
before breakfast, but sheep need not be fed
till after breakfast. 1t is better to let them
lie undisturbed until sunrise.
lettering tie Sleepy ards is a point of
great Importance, and requires good iudg-
ment and experience. They will lie down
and rest as soon as they have little fresh
straw spread in the yard or under the shed,
and this should be attended to every day;
but it is exceedingly important not to get
SO much straw and manure under the sheep
as to cause fermentation. Avoid the mud
and dirty straw on the ono hand, and fer
menting manure on the other. Both are
injurious. A little straw and often is the
rule. BE careful to throw the straw pulled
out from the racks about the yards every
day and not let it accumulate. A little
attention to this matter will be amply
rewarded.
Piggy Dung growing pigs should have
abundance of nutritious food, and warm.
dry, comfortable quarters. Feed three
times day, and as much as, and no more
tLan, they will eat up clean. Our own plan
is to cook the food half corn meal and half
bran, and feed warm. Our breeding sows,
at this season, get nothing but bran soaked
in water, and we do not give them quite
all they can eat, fed twice day. We soak
the bran in warm water about twely e
hours, and get some of the milky water out
Of the bran TO mix with the cooked food
for the little pigs. The bran is still nutri-
tious enough for old sows that have moth
ing to do but live, while the young, grow
ing pigs need as much easily digested.
nutritious food as they can assimilate.
Pigs well Uttered make a great quantity
of manure. We clean out the wet and
soiled part of the bed every day, and put in
4 little fresh straw. The butts of corn
stalks, left by the sheep and cattle, we put
into the pig-penS at the bottom of the pen
and cover them with straw. They serve to
keep the pen dry and save much straw
When pigs are shut up it is exceedingly
important to have the pens well ventilated.
Naaure.-Either draw manure out to the
field as it is made and spread it, or make
it into large heap in the barn-yard. Oh
the whole, we prefer the latter course. If
properly attended to, and the heap is turned
in February, the manure will be in good
condition for spring crops 1t is not
uncommon to see a heap of smoking manure
by the stable-door, another heap near the
cow-housc. while that from the pigs lies
frozen by itself, half mud and half corn
cobs. The whole should be wheeled or
drawn in Il cart to a central heap and mixed
together. They will improve each other
The warm horse manure will induce fer
mentation in the cold w-dung and the
still colder and more sluggish pig manure
Let the whole be carefully shaken to pieces
and thrown into loose heap. During our
cold winters there is no danger of the heat
fermenting too rapidly. In fact, where
there is an abundance of straw it would be
desirable 10 sprinkle 2 little dried blood,
bone dust, hen manure, etc, over the heap
occasionally, to induce a more active fer
mentation. A heap SO managed, and turned
once or twice, will be in admirable condi-
ton for root crops in the spring. Any that
is too raw for this purpose can be used for