The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-02-21
HOUSE, FARM, AND GARDEN

10 WASH STRAW AFTING.-lake q
pail half full OF hot water, perfectly
clean lOng-handled mop, and dish of
dry, unsifted Indian meal. Sweep all
dust off the mating, then scatter the
dry meal evenly over the room. Wiring
the mop so that it will not drip at all,
and rub hard, one breadth at a time,
always lengthwise of the straw, and use
clear water for each breadth. When
the mating is dry, the meal can be
swept off easily; it should always be
done on a dry day.
SCREWS INSERTED IN PLASTER WALLS.
When we try to fasten brackets, strips of
wood, etc, to plaster walls by means
of screws, it is often found impossible
to make screws hold firmly. When we
turn them in, the plaster breaks out and
our labor is in vain. And yet a screw
well set into a plaster wall will hold
very firmly. The best plan is to en-
large the hole to about twice the diane
ter of the screw, fill it with plaster of
Faster, such as is used for fastening the
tops of lamps ETC., and bed the screw in
the soft plaster. When the plaster has
set, the screw will be held verystrOngly
BUYING AT Wholesale, so far as is
practicable, will make quite reduction
in the yearly household expense bill of
even a small family. Though the say
ing of "a cents on a six-pound box of
starch may seem but a small economy
considered by itself, yet the saving in
the aggregate on the articles of tea,
coffee, sugar, starch, soda, cream of
tartar, pepper, and other spices, flavor
ings, the finer kinds of soap, etc, used
during the year by family, Will make
an appreciate item. In buying gimps,
ribbons, braids, trimming-Iaces, and the
like, it often costs less to get piece of
u or 13 yards, to get six or seven yards
at retail. Thread, tapes, pins, buttons,
needles, nothing is so small but it is
not economy to buy it by the quantity,
especially if one or two families Will
unite in making such purchases.
GUINEA PIGs.-A writer of distinction
says those little plump, clean animals
should be used for food A mistaken
notion is entertained generally that
they are a kind of rat, and therefore an
unjust prejudice ought to be overcome,
since they are excellent eating. Guinea
pigs are not pigs. They are harmless,
timid, vegetable feeders. Their flesh is
nutritious and delicate. If once re-
ceived into our markets, being easily
raised, they would soon be priced for
their many desirable dietetic properties
Being prolific, too, they might be raised
in vast abundance, their food being an
item of no expense, a few cabbage
leaves, roots, or waste parings being all
they would require to grow into proper
lions to fill vacancies in a gourmand's
stomach.
COoKNG FooD FOR SToCK.-The da-
vantage of cooking food for stock, es-
pecially mich COWS and young stock, is
fast becoming one of the settled ques-
lions in agriculture. We hardly know
a dairyman who does not pour boiling
water over his cut hay and meal or
bran, even if he does not cook it by
It is found to economize
feed, to increase the flow of milk, and
promote appetite Cows viii eat much
more of cut hay and feed steamed or
moistened with boiling water, than they
will of dry food and we hold it is true
policy of the dairyman to induce his
COWS to eat as much as possible, as the
more they take in by the way of food,
the more will be given out in the form
of milk. To stint cows at all in an am
pei supply of proper food to keep up
nutrition, and promote milk secretion,
can only be called ca penny wise and
pound foolish policy. 1t viii not pay.
When roots are also boiled or steamed,
the nutritive matter they contain is
more fully developed, and the same
weight of roots produce larger results,
both in the condition of the COW and In
her milk secretion.
THE BEST WAY TO BREAK HENS OF
EGG EATING is to break their necks and
restock with birds that have not ac-
quired the habit Fowls that are expert
in egg eating first attack the egg with
their bill If it is a thin shell few
strokes will break it, and the rest is an
easy job If, however, the shell is a
thick one, they generally fail to break
it with their beak; then they begin to
scratch in the nest, and, with their feet,
throw the egg against the hard sides of
the box until it is broken First of all,
make hens lay hard-shelled eggs, so
hard that they can not be so readily
broken by hens bill. This can be done
by feeding freely with Stacked lime,
ground or broken bones, oyster shells,
etc. To prevent breaking against the
sides of the box, the nests should be
high and lined upon the sides with
cushions filled with hay or other soft
material. Their only chance then Is
that they may throw two eggs forcibly
against each other. To prevent this I
rob them of the nest egg, and gather
the eggs several times a day. 1t is a
good plan to leave a few China eggs
near the nest for them to work at, which
VIII make their bills so sore that they
viii strike the real egg with less force.
The Fast Horse at Fairs.