Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-01-18
Farm. Garden and Household.

ACCptHH 4tpi1ttS. 1llt ICfHtOht LuH :
mer recommends long shallow boxes,
large enough for two men to lift when
full of fruit, by each taking hold at the
end, filling not quite up to the top, and
then as the apples are put in, placing
one on the other till piled as high as a
mans shoulders. In this way large
quantity occupies small space, and
whenever the apples need picking over
the boxes are successfully lifted off and
examined. In some cases it might be
as well to make the boxes shorter, so
that one man could put them up and
take them down.
Beef CdHle. only a small proportion
of the western milch cows are sold or
exchanged in the market-places. When
no longer valuable for the dairy or for
breeding they are mostly sold to West
ern beef-packers located at points most
convenient for the collection of what
they term coarse cattle at the smallest
expense for transportation. OF the steers
md fat oxen not far from 100000 are
Annually slaughtered west and south of
Chicago, 1000 in that city, and about
100000 are sent to the cities of New
York. Albany, Boston, Philadelphia,
and Baltimore. Fully 100000 sheep
and lambs are used up annually, of
which more than 1,000,O0 were sold to
slaughterers in New York City. In
eleven Western States from which re-
turns were received there were packed
last season 1858, 448 hogs; very nearly
1000, 900 were received in New York
alive, not far from 1000, 600 in Boston,
and $500, 900 in Baltimore and Phil
adelphia; so that at least 10, 100000 are
yearly slaughtered in all the States.
A correspondent of The Prairie Far
neer tells show he cured runaway
horse" on which all previous prescrip-
tions had been tried in vain. At last he
observed that the fiery, untamed steed
never gave him any troubble at night,
particularly if it was quite dark. On
this hint he acted. He made hood of
leather, and attached it to the headstall
in such way that by pulling q cord the
hood came down and completely cut off
his view. Adjusting this appliance, he
drove to favorable place and let him
have his will. In few moments he
was under full sail, then the cord was
pulled and the hood fell. Mr.. Horse
could see nothing, began to slacken of
his own accord, and finally stopped
stock still. The hood was lifted, he be-
gan his pranks again, and again the
binder covered his eyes. He was guild
ed against cart standing in the road,
which hurt him some. In a little while
he could not be whipped into run, and
was completely cured of his bad habit.
Sugar Beets. There is great amount
of food produced in sugar beet culture,
the leaves, the pressed pulp, or macer-
ated slices of beet, as well as the tops,
being at the disposal of the farmer.
The leaves, some three to six tons per
acre, should not be taken from the beet
during the growth, as quantity and
quality are greatly impaired. Those
not fed fresh to cattle and sheep should
be stored up i'll trenches for winter use.
They must be firmly trodden down one
per cent. of salt may be added, as well
as chatf of grain. The whole is well and
tightly covered by earth, and after ul4-
dergoing process of fermentation can
be fed at the rate of twelve to fifteen
pounds per head of cattle, and one to
one and one-half pounds per sheep. The
pulp, of which fifteen to eighteen per
cent. in weight is returned, and of slices
some seventy or eighty per cent, should
also be trenched and firmly troddsn
down; the pits of the last should be
properly drained. They can be fed fresh
and after fermentation, being composed
of great amount of water and hydro
carbons, heterogeneous or proteine sub
stances should be fed, such as oil cake,
bean and pea meal, and clover hay. All
this food brought back to the farm, with
the lime used in saturating and the re-
fuse of the filter, will nearly make up
the loss of mineral substances exported
therefrom; the former will therefore in
reality export sugar, that is, oxygen,
hydrogen and carbon, given away in in
exhaustible quantities by bountiful
nature.
Muck as q Manure. Med Martin
Alexandria, Va, writes to the Farmers
Club, 81 shall feel extremely obliged
for the opinion of the club on muck as
a manure for meadows. [ have had the
opinion of gentleman in this neigh
borhood who is considered an authori-
ty on manures, and he by no means
recommends its use, for the reason that
weeds, especially sorrel, are certain to
follow its application; otherwise think
he considers that it would to some ex-
tent have a beneficial influence The
muck | have in view is near to the
mouth of a small tributary of the Po-
tomac and forms portion of small
marsh. 1t consists principally of de-
cayed marsh vegetation and sand, in
some places nearly black, and where the
sand is more abundant of dark brown
black"
A question arose as to what is muck, to
which Mr. Bruer replied, "I suppose
by muck he means turf, does he not ?"
S. E. TODD. Turf may consist of
clear muck, or of muck, sand and clay
in equal or unequal parts. Pure muck
contains no sand.
FL. H. Inglesby gave details of his ex-
periments in the use of muck on his
cultivable fields. A bountiful dressing
was applied to some fields more than
twenty years ago, and the fertilizmg eff
feet is perceived to this day. '
W. L. Heuser advocated the use of
muck on light land
Dr. E. w. Sylvester said that muck
which isproduced by the decay of leaves
is very valuble as fertilizer on almost
any soil, as there is large amount of
inorganic matter in leaves, which is
soluble after they have decayed. But
the muck produced by the decay of
cranberry moss is comparatively worth
less for fertilizing purposes. He had
used muck as q top dressing on his