Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-04-17
Farm, Garden and Household.
Farm News and Notes.

They have neither sheep nor grass in
Japan.
Find out what apples do best, and for
a large orchard plant no more than six
or eight sorts.
A Wisconsin farmer, who keeps a
large flock of sheep, raises - bushels
of wheat to the acre more than his
neighbors.
1t is discouraging to be informed that
while the wealth of the country in
creases, the value of many farms is on
the decline.
A Jerseyman who planted four va
rieties of potatoes last season, found
Early Rose failure, and Peerless ca
grand success"
The Poultry World declares that a
thrifty fowl will drink fifteen or twenty
times day if it has the chance, and
still oftener in close coop or hot
weather.
At a recent meeting of 600 farmers at
Galesburg, ILL.,, the not new but timely
recommendation was made that each
Club would do we'll and save money by
employing competent person to pur-
chase supplies.
T. L. Hart tells The ". e. Farmer
that g horse may be speedily cured of
cribbing by following out q trough two
inches deep in the upper edge of the
manger and keeping it filled with yellow
snuff.
Minnesota has already shipped of
last years wheat crop Is, ,000, 900 bushels,
and has 5000, 900 on hand for seed and
other uses, making a grand total of
$4,000, ,000-which is not 80 bad for
Minnesota, considering her youth and
inexperience.
It is proposed in Ohio to memorialize
the Legislature for a law to encourage
the ornamenting of road-sides with
trees, by offering small premium to
whoever shall so plant. The trees are
to be of some valuable variety, are to be
set 80 feet apart, and only along streets
as wide as 60 feet.
A farmers club was recently organized
in Springfield, the State Capital of
Illinois, on which occasion Gov. Palmer
delivered an interesting address. The
subject of railroad monopolies was then
discussed, and one speaker said that if
Government should exercise half as
much oppression as a railroad it would
produce revolution.
Those hens ought to be happy who
deserve such praise as this given by a
writer in The Poultry World: "White
Leghorns are the most profitable and
most desirable of fowls; they are good
for the table, of medium size, are hardy
and easily reared, feather soon, mature
early, and commence to lay when quite
young; and they give more and larger
eggs for their size and food they eat,
than any other breed. Besides all this,
they are very handsome. They are
quick in their motions and easily
startled-yet they may be completely
domesticated."
Dissolving Bones.
No plant can be made to grow in a
soil that has been exhausted of its bone
making material, which is about two
thirds lime and one-third phosphorus
united with oxygen, forming phosphoric
acid. AS bones contain this phosphate
in q purer and more soluble state than
mineral phosphates, it is of great i'm
portance to every farmer to know how
to reduce bones to soluble condition
without which they are useless as plant
food. The plan by which the English
farmer who buys no commercial super
phosphate makes his own soluble bone
material is as follows:
Nnl1aof tho hopac onI hraoH fha,,, ~,
with sledge-hammer, the finer the
better; place them in q barrel tight
enough to prevent leakage, put in a
little at time, and mixing them as you
do so, with dried, finely pulverized
swamp muck or wood mould, filling all
the space between the bones-say one
part muck to foUr parts broken bones
cover the top with six or eight inch
layer of muck alone, after which pour
on all the urine of the premises from
day to day, keeping the mass moist.
In six weeks the bones will be reduced
to soft, pulpy mass that when mixed
even in the compost heap become suffi-
ciently soluble for plant-food. Such an
application of bone material does not
change the carbonate of lime of the
bones like sulphdric acid into plaster,
but it makes the phosphoric acid avail
able to growing crops. Some farmers
buy bone-dust and sulphuric acid and
make their own superphosphate, but
this is an expensive plan, as the sui
phuric acid has not only to make the
phosphoric acid soluble, but to turn all
the lime into plaster (sr'lphate of lme),
and mineral phosphate or coprolites
contain still other stubborn mineral to
exhaust the sulphuric acid. Hence the
Importance Of collecting bones and
every farmer making his own soluble
bone material. Bones may also, if
broken fine, be reduced by composing
with hard wood ashes and lime.