National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-04-11
Farm, Garden and Household.


Notss On the Farm.
II has been ascertained that il costs
farming community two dollars wee
for every head Of stock running in tn
road.
A farmer in Ten. essee keeps 10
goats, with which he contracts 10 clea
land Of underbrush, at given sum pc
acre.
Three hundred acres under Thorough
culture better deserve to be called
large farm than three thousand acre
poorly titled.
Whoever is TO SOW grass seed SHOULD
test the same by placing it for a few
days between two locks Of cotton KEEP
warm and moist.
The British Parliamentha appointed
committees to inquire about labor, about
diseases OF animals, about game, about
cattle and sheep, and about horses.
The total agricultural production OF
Great Britain is estimated ut 81 600,
900, 900, showing general yield from
the 90, 900, 900 OF acres under cultivation
Of only $50 per acre.
4nOSe IuTHleTS WHO uscu w Lhul tueII
wheat from 80 to 60 miles to the Miss.
issippi river say they do not make as
much money, now that the railroads
have come, as they did formerly, for
the reason that elevators, railroads, and
commission men charge as much Us il
used to cost to haul the grain with
teams. Meanwhile they are taxed heav.
lily to pay interest on bonds they have
got in debt, and altogether their second
condition is worse than the first.
In these days cows need careful at.
tention. They should be well fed, and
the last thing to be done before going
to bed is to see that they are all right.
When COWS meet with "bad luck at
this season, among the things to be
avoided by all means is the giving Of the
many 'nostrums recommended. The
more intelligent farmers become the less
will they torture ''cir animals by fore
ing medicine Gown their Threats. An
outward application Of healing nature
is Quite different thing.
The farmers of Franklin county, N.
Y, lately held iseeting to consider
which kind If stock is best, and it was
agreed that for milk and butter the
Jerseys are decidedly to be preferred,
but their milk will not make good
cheese, which is n new idea. The milk
of the short horns is not rich. To raise
q good calf the milk OF three cows is re-
CURED, and unless these cattle are well
fed they are every way improbable.
Still, for beef they excel, providing they
are fed high, and they will outsell the
Gait g brought from the West because
the meat is better For breeding pur-
poses the best animals should be select
ed; and better grades are obtained
from large herds because better oppo,-
tunity for crossing is afforded.
The agricultural Gaz,Ue of London
states that in England about 80 pounds
of mixed grass-seed is the usual guam
tity sOwn with thin seeding of barley.
or buckwheat about bushel OF seed
per acre may be drilled, or rather more,
sown broadcast in the end of May. Po-
tato tubers of fair size, planted two feet
apart, will amount to nine cwt. per
acre. The ordinary planting is now 80
inches apart, and 10 or IL inches apart
in the rows require about II or Is cwt.
per acre.
Washing Sheep.
In late number of the Irish Farm
ers Gazette plan for sheep washing is
which precludes the necessity
OF going into the water to perform this
operation. A clear running section of
water should be selected, and bench
or platform of suitable dimensions
placed in the water next to the shore and
about even with the surface. Place an
other one further out in the stream par
allel to the first place planks across
both, at the ends reaching to the bank
on these, in line with the stream, place
other planks to walk on and far enough
apart to pass the body of sheep read
lily between them. A sheep is brought
forward and two men, placed there for
the purpose, one on each plank, take
the animal by the legs and turn it, back
downward, into the water and float it
rapidly back and forth between the
planks, finishing off by sousing down
and up til the fleece is cleaned. The
sheep is then restored to its footing on
the end platform and suffered to walk
ashore.
Make . Map.
Nothing will 80 much conduce to the
adoption Of a system of working the
farm Us well-prepared map, hung
where the farmer can see it every day.
1t will be sure to set him to thinking
and planning how best to pitch his
crops, and how best to work to save
work. And once the farmer adopts
system of farming he starts on the road
to success. 1t matters not that the sys-
tenn is not the best that could be devils
ed; 80 long rs it is n system, it is infin-
itely to be preferred to the hnphazard
practice of many farmers. We there
fore advise every reader who owns
farm to make at once, or have made,
map Of it. and hang it up where he can
see it every day. And having made it,
study it.