National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-08-29
Farm, Garden and Household.
Notes Of the Farm,

A California local asserts that h
"took home ana ate tirnip measurin
two feet four inches in circumference
and weighing over nine pounds"
There is absolutely nothing in III
schedule OF premiums Of the New Yorl
State Agricultural Society to encourage
the jockeys, but prizes are offered TO
fast walking horses-an idea and an nc
ton altogether worthy Of encourage
ment.
Most sensible is the BroonYe Count,
Farmers Club. which meets once i
month during the summer in different
groves, where they have picnics or CO.
operative dinners. when the men talk
agriculture. and the ladies' sing songs
and read essays.
A California correspondent asserts
that squirrels are draining the resources
of the farmers of that State more than
all the "sack rings" middlemen. "
"railroad monopolles," and tax.ga'her-
ers combined, ana that they will soon
be wholly bankrupt unless the nuisance
is abated.
A society OF cooperative farmers of
Union Lake Valley, Kansas, organized
to purchase goods cheap and to protect
themselves against monopolists, and
they meet once in two weeks. They
have experimental grounds where they
have an acre of wheat, two acres OF
corn, and the like, the seed of which
came from the Agricultural Department.
The saving in cutting hay, straw, and
other fodder is equal to about one-third
Of the consumption of both hay and
meal. The food is eaten without waste,
and is more perfectly digested, and it is
the food that is digested, and not alone
that which is eaten, which counts as
nutriment Cattle should be fed three
times day. Little and often is much
better than "semi-occasional gorges.
John p. Reynolds hopes "that beet
sugar will some day be made in Illinois
at cost of six cents or less per pound"
but he asserts that it has not, as vet.
been made there for less than twenty
times that cost. He adds that he hap
pens to own several thousand dollars
OF paid-up stock in the only organiza-
ton or enterprise or experiment which,
up to this time, has practically demon
strated anything on the subject of
beet sugar manufacture in Illinois" and
he will be glad to exchange the same
for any yearling calf or colt, or Berk-
shire pig.
The present season has been doubt
less prolific in failures of clover seed
ings, as almost all dry seasons are. To
remedy the evil it would be we'll to
harrow the stubble and SOW the seed
Immediately, and then roll or brush the
field with a heavy brush harrow or n
drag composed of half dozen heavy
planks fastened together with hooks or
staples at distance of six inches apart.
Such an implement hauled across field |
(edgewise, not lengthwise) will level
and compact the surface and cover the
seed. A moderate dressing of active
FERTILIZER, or 100 pounds of plaster per
acre, would help considerably.
The question of deep blowing comes
up once in while, in England, by the !
statement being made that all the fer. I
tillty of the soil lies within four or five /
inches OF the surface, and that to pillow
deeper will bring up the "cold stuff"
1t does seem, however, that on cold
clay soils farmer is likely to be ruined |
by blowing deep, but not by subsoiing,
and it is important to consider this diff |
ference. BY deep blowing unfertile
and dormant clay may be brought to
the surface, but by subsoiling the roots
OF plants can descend deeper, and in
year or SO the cold clay becomes fertile.
when deeper blowing can be done with
great advantage.
Bran and shorts are not sufficient food
with which to fatten hogs. Indeed, the
constant use of these articles in Stops
(and OF other similar ones) is a prolific
cause of hog cholera which is directly
traceable either to food deficient in
some needed element, or indigestibility.
But bran and shorts, scalded or cooked,
with an occasional feed of grain, MS
barley, oats, or corn, and of roots.
either potatoes or turnips, will keep
hogs in health and fatten them rapidly.
Occasional small doses of salt, sulphur,
copperas, and charcoal, will very much
aid in maintaining health. Pure water
in abundance to drink is absolutely
needed even when fed upon slop food.
Sheep Eating their Wool.
Instances of sheep eating their own
wool are quite common, especially du-
ring the latter part of the winter and
early in the spridg. Some have thought
the habit resulted from the presence of
small parasites, as minute as the red
spider of some Towering plants, which
produce an irritation, and to allay this
the sheep acquired the habit of biting
their own skin, and thereby eating its
own wool. 1t Is generally believed,
however, that the habit is analogous to
that of hens eating their own shells,
and of the abnormal appetite of cows
for old bones, wooden rags, &C., and is
caused by an exhaustion of the phos-
phate in the soil Old pastures and
fields that have long been cropped are
deficient in these elements, hence the
absence Of them in the feed, and conse-
quent want of them by the animals. As
preventive, mix small quantity of
bone meal with corn meal, and give
them an occasional feed Sulphur also
has been found to be preventive of
the habit, and many farmers keep their
stock constantly supplied with it. 1t
no doubt assists in giving a healthy
tone to the system. Maine Farmer.