The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-03-08
FARM AND GARDEN.

GETTING FLENTf OF ThEoh LOOo.
In a long communication to the German
town Telegraph upon the subject of
poultry, Mr.. E. Dwight, of Hudson,
Michigan considers the question, "How
to get plenty of good favored fresh eggs
with little trouble and thinks if there
is any secret in it he has discovered it,
and makes the same public for the
benefit of the public. He says:
Once, thirty years ago, l was troub-
led just as my neighbor now is: fed my
hens plenty of corn and got but few
eggs. reasoned upon the matter, and
happened to think that the constituent
parts of milk and the white of eggs were
much alike. Now, it has long been
known to milkmen that wheat middlings
and bran are about the best of any food
to make COW give milk; why not the
best to make the hens lay eggss tried
it, and since then have had no trouble.
My mode of preparing the feed is to
mix five parts of bran with one of mid
dlings.
In the morning wet up with water
about four quarts of the mixture in
large pan, taking pains to have it rath-
er dry, though all damp. This l set in
a warm, sunny spot south of their shed,
and they walk up, take a few dips don't
seem to fancy it like corn, and start of
on short hunt for something better,
but always coming round in short time
for a few more dips from the dish of
bran. There is little time during the
whole day but what one OF. more are
standing by the pan and helping them
selves. l am careful to mix just as
much as they will consume during the
day. At night, just before they repair
to the roost, l usually throw them
about pint of shelled corn, well scat
tered, so that each one can get few
kernels. Ifyour hens don't incline to eat
this feed at first, sprinkle little Indian
meal on it. / would like all who COM
plain of not getting eggs to try my plan,
and l think they will never be sorry"
THE VALUE OF PUMPKINs.-Last
year raised twenty OK loads of pump
kins with corn from an acre. The cart
would hold forty bushels of potatoes.
l consider them a valuable feed for
stock, taking into consideration how
cheap they can be raised. undertook
to dry in my apple dry house some for
market, and was offered five cents
pound. l found that green pumpkin,
weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds,
would make about one pound of we'll
dressed dry pumpkin, and that it would
pay better to dry them for hogs as it
could be done very cheap than it would
to SELL
soaked the dry pumpkins in milk,
and fed the same to the hogs-they gain
ed fast. | also dried an amount and
barreled it to feed this summer. l fed
my sheep upon the green ones two
months, and it did very much towards
fattening forty, which l sold for mutton,
and the forty which l wintered never
did better. l commenced to feed my
cattle in September, and fed some ev-
cry day until February. 1t saved vast
amount of feed. l am planting but a
small piece of corn, and wish to raise
large amount of pumpkins, so plant
them with my Early Rose potatoes
their tops die early, which will let in
the sun and give the pumpkins a
chance to grow.-Maine Farmer.
RooTs AND OIL CAKE FOR SHEEp.-
If growers of combing woods should
raise sheep primarily to produce NUT
ton should attend to the breed, and
keep their sheep well fed and care for
them generally; and should also try to
mature them early, so as to sell the car
cass-we should have wool from well
fed, healthy, strong, fat sheep, which
is just the wool wanted for delaine pur-
poses. Farmers cannot keep these
large sheep on lean pastures, with but
little care of them, and have good wool
And the great reason that combing-wool
sheep run out when brought from Eng
land and Canada is, that they do not
get the same care and treatment they
had IN those countries, and are often
kept on soil they are not adapted to
and are not fed sufficiently. The wool
from Leicester sheep that has been in
the United States two years is generally
harsher, leaner, and worth much less
than it would have been if the sheep
had staid in Canada or England. Now
this will not always be so, for growers
will yet learn that these large sheep
need more to eat than the small Meri-
no, and their food should not consist of
Indian corn, but they should have some
roots, mangel-wurtzel, and oil cake.
When sheep are fed on corn, they are
too not and. feverish, and the wool be-
comes harsh and brittle, while a proper
supply of roots and oil-cake with other
food would produce soft, sound and
elastic wool.
Al