National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-12-19
Farm, Garden and Household.
Orchard and Nursery.

something can he done THIS month
many sections Of the country TO lighte
tho labors of the coming spring. an
advantage must be taken of every favor
able day that will allow outdoor wor
10 be well and proiitably done.
Cions. Gut from the growth Of tn
past season before the wood freezes
Label each variety and store in fresl
sawdust in the cellor, and look to then
occasionally during the winter to SCI
that they do not dry out.
Pruning, except upon large limbs
may be done now. Young orchards, il
looked after every year, will seldom re-
quire any large limbs to be cut Off
besides, all the necessary pruning cai
be done nj n time when other work is
not pressing.
Stocks for root grating may be lifted
whenever the ground is not frozen, and
heeled.n in n dry place or in the cellar,
ready for grating during the winter.
Manure. --Continue to cart out manure
to the orchards whenever there is time
TO spare from other work. 1t is better
for team to work a little every day
than to remain idle in the stable.
Mice and Rabbits To prevent their
injuring the trees, keep all rubbish
away from the trunks, and whenever
snow falls tramp it down firmly around
the tree. Fresh blood smeored upon
the trunks will prevent damage by
rabbits, and paper, tarred or otherwise,
or cloth wrapped around the base Of the
trunk will keep off mice.
Heeled-in Trees. See that they have
drains to take away the surface water if
necessary, and be sure that the roots
are properly covered,
Fruit stored in cellars will need look
ing after. Take advantage of the mar
kets to sell fruit when the prices are
good better sell at once than wait I'M
til spring and lose half the fruit, even
if prices are somewhat lower now.
Fences Look after fences and gates,
and have all closed and strong enough
to turn stray cattle. A stray animal
will do more damage in a young orchard
in an hour than can be repaired in
years.
Seeds of stone fruit should be buried
in the open ground at once if it has not
hINhhN bttIl dpnt. III VIC SIJTluR IllOSt
of them will have sprouted and be ready
to plant in burrows in the nursery.
Dairy Cows II, winter and summer.
Chester Hazen gives in the Wiscon-
sin State Agricultural Society Report
the conclusions of his experience for
twenty years in that State. He says:
The care and food of a dairy are of
lection of the COW; for even good
cows, unless well fed and cared for, are
poor property, yielding little or no
profit. They should always have good,
comfortable stables in winter, and be /
literally supplied with the best quality
of hay, with light feed (from one to |
two quarts of meal each day. With |
this treatment, if fed and watered regu-
larry, they will pass the winter in good
condition, be fat enough for beef in the |
spring, and will not have to lay on flesh |
for number of weeks before they come |
to full flow of milk.
To secure the most satisfactory re- |
suits, good pastures should be provided;
the tame grasses, timothy and clover,
are the best. A daily mess of ground
profitable ; and some provision Sowing |
corn or some other ere p to cutup green) |
should be made for drought or short |
feed in the fall. Pastures should have
plenty of pure water IN them, easily
acce ssible ut all times. Shade trees or
some kind of shelter from the scorching
heat of the sun are essential to the com
fort, and consequently to the profitable
ness of the COW. When the weather is
warm and the flies are troublesome, they
should have pasture to run in nights.
At this season of the year they will
feed more in the night than during the
day.
Good, careful hands at the milk pail
are very essential in the proper man
ngement of the dairy. Each mixer
should have the same COWS assigned him
to milk regularly night and morning,
and the milking should be done, as
nearly as possible, at the same hour
each day.
1t is eminently true that the better
the care taken of the cows, and the bet
ter they are fed, the greater will be the
flow of milk The special aim of every
lairyman should be to get the greatest
amount OF milk from given number
Of cows, for in this they will find their
greatest profit.
Pumpkins for Stock.
The different opinions of farmers as
to the value of pumpkins for milch
COWS and other stock, is believed to be
The result OF different ways of feeding
them by correspondent of the Ger
mantown 7eicgraph. In a hurry to
lean field, farmers will give their
'attle surfelt of pumpkins for a day or
wo, then for day or two perhaps
zone, and thus alternate feasts and
asts, and conclude pumpkins are
worthless. The writer gives regularly, as
ong as they last once a day, from one
o three pumpkins per head, never
more, and finds them greatly conducive d,
health of stock, besides greatly in
reasing the quantity and quality Of the
utter made.