Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-10-10
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


Dry paint is removed by dipping a
swab with handle in strong solution of
oxalic acid It softens it at once.
Drilling is better than sowing wheat
broadcast. 1t deposits the seed more
evenly, and deposits it in the moist
earth.
Salt on rich land frequently proves a
good fertilizer for wheat. Sow two to
five bushels per acre before putting in
wheat
The best season for pruning to pro-
mote growth, theoretically, is in autumn,
soon after the fall of the leaf. Next to this,
winter pruning performed in mild weather
is best, and in orchards this is the season
usually most convenient.
TO prevent a horse paving in the
st able, tie or strap the legs together just
above the knees so they will stand about
natural, say six or eight inches apart. 1t
will not in the least inconvenience the
horse in lying down or rising, and will
prevent this annoying habit.
Draining causes the rain to sink
through considerable thickness of soil be-
fore it runs off, and hence it causes less
loss of nutritive matter than is occasioned
by rain washing soil, as it does in un.
drained lands, carrying off to the streams
and rivers much of the valuable nutritive
matter that abounds on the surface.
An experiment made in England as
to the best way to grow oaks from acorns
shows a great advantage in planting pota-
toes between the rows, both growing bet
ter than if separate, and the oaks grow
more in four years than they will in six
years without the potatoes. 1t is a great
object to have the oaks grow as fast as
possible for five or six years, after which
their branches interlock, and then each
tree seems to try to outgrow the other,
which is agreeable to the theory of the
advantage of close planting.
--Mince Meat-Three and hall
pounds of good chopped beef, pound OF
suet three and half pounds of raisins
half of them stoned and chopped, the
other half left whole; the same quantity
of currants as of raisins, seven pounds OF
chopped apples, one pound Of candied
citron cut in thin slices, two pounds OF
sugar, one ounce of nutmegs, three pints
OF cider or canned grape juice, one pint
golden syrup or best molasses These
ingredients, put down in close jar, will
last all winter.
Small Horses.-The Southern Farmer
says: "The arguments may all be in
favor of great size, but the facts are all
the other way. Large horses are more
liable to stumble and be lame than those
of the middle size. They are clumsy, and
cannot fill themselves so quick. There is
nothing more surprising to Western men
than to visit Montreal and see the small
but stout Canadian horses hauling large
two-seated carriages, full of people, with
apparent ease. A horse weighing 90C
pounds in Maine takes a chaise or Con
cord wagon, with two men in it, and
makes fifty or sixty miles day over hills
that might have terrified Hannibal But
their weight is where it ought to be. II
is compact, and not lying around loose
1t is muscle, not pulp, than we want in a
horse"
Lazy Farmers.--Laziness prevents a
man from getting off his horse to put on
the first rail that gets knocked off the
fence, and through this lazy neglect a
whole field Of corn is seriously damaged
LaZiness keeps man from driving one
nail when one would do, and finally costs
carpenters bill for extensive repairs.
Laziness allows gate to get off the hinges
and lie in the mud, or stand propped by
rails-Or a stable or barn to leak and
damage hundreds of dollars worth of
provender. Laziness, in short, is the right
and proper name for nine-tenths of the
excuses given for bad farming But by
far the most prolific of the many wastes
that are due to laziness is the waste of ig-
nOrance.
TO make Grape Wine.-Express the
juice from twenty pounds of grapes; rinse
the pulp and skins in as much water as
will cover them; mash them and strain
through coarse cloth; add to this the
juice, and put in two pounds of brown
sugar to each gallon When the sugar is
dissolved, pour the whole into key, hav-
ing the bung open, and let it stand where
the temperature will be about seventy de-
grees until fermentation ceases then bung
tight and let it rest for month to settle,
when it should be drawn off quietly, the
keg we'll washed, and the wine returned
to it, adding one pound of good raisins;
and if the wine does not seem sweet enough,
two pounds of sugar may be added to the
whole. The necessity of doing this de-
ponds upon the kind and quality Of the
grapes. The wine should remain until
the key is wanted the next season, when it