Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-10-15
Gossip With the Farm ers.


Gossip With the Farmers. FA
-IHE Plantation says hens will thrive
well on mixture of beans, boiled soft,
and about one part corn meal to two of
beans, we'll stirred together. IN
marketable beans may be used for this
purpose. '7it
A SAFE HAIR s1NG.-The follow
Ing IS from the Year Book ofPharmacy
for 1872: soil OF cocoanut, twelve
ounces; castor oil, three pounds.
Melt the cocoanut oil, and then add
the castor oil ! agitate until they are
thoroughly mixed, and then add strong
alcohol, four pints.''
To cure leg weakness in chickens, a
correspondent of the Prairie Farmer
gives each of the chickens from three
to eight grains of citrate of iron daily,
and due supply Of nutritious food,
care being taken to select such sub
stances as are flesh producing, and not
fattening-wheat, barley, and due
supply Of worms, or, in default, some
chopped raw meat. $50 afin 20
CONSUMPTION OF FooD.-As a general
rule, cattle, horses and sheep will eat
three per cent. of their live weight Of
food per day-that is, very, near their
own weight every month. But there is
a vast difference among them as to the
profitable results of their consumption
o. food. Some will merely keep alive,
while others will increase in weight
and size, or produce milk in much
greater proportion for the food con-
sumed.
FARMERS AND ROADS. There is no
single item in connection with the far
mers' business that attracts more of his
attention that more excites his ire, or
gives him greater satisfaction than
good or bad roads; and yet there is no
subject in which he is more porsistently
perverse and careless. Who ever heard
Of two farmers agreeing upon the
proper time OF repairing roads, or the
best means of doing it, Road mend
ing with them is, in most instances,
merely spasmodic outbreak of mis-
directed labor, applied without a def
mite object, and regardless Of all recog-
nlzed laws of mechanics or nature.
THKEsHING TIMOTHY. The best way
to get out timothy seed is to thresh it
with a fail !; for although machine
will work more rapidly yet the seed
overbalances the advantages. When
threshed out, then spread it out On the
floor, go over it again thoroughly with
the fail; then pass it very slowly
through tanning mill so as not to
blow out the seed (Which can be soon
learned by exam1nation) then pass it
through sieve fine enough for the
clear seed to pass, but retaining the
chaff- covered seeds, and tEresh the
latter again-and SO on till all is saved.
For home use, all this care, is unneces.
sary, but only to fit it for market. n.
NoxIoUs GASES IN WELLS. --Lives
are frequently lost by noxious gases
in wells. This may be, prevented by
the adoption-of the following very sim
pie means Take some pieces of car
pet, Or common sacks, and make them
up into loose bundle, nearly as large
as the area of The we'll. Enclose in it
a brick, to give weight, and attach
to the bundle a rope of sufficient
length to reach the bottom of the we'll.
Throw this bundle down the we'll, and
haul it up again as quickly as possible.
Repeat the operation rapidly for ten
minutes, AMI the atmosphere of the
well will become innoxious, as may be
proved by letting down a lighted
.candl e & Mhis bd.nale,l as isceagily sun4
derstood, carries before it a quantity
of fresh air from the surface, and this,
of course, displaees the foul and dan
gerous air from the bottom.
USES OF RAwHDE,zThe skin OF an
animal, whethef~ cow calf, kcoH, or
horse, that dies on the farm, lis worth
more at home than OF the tanners.
Cut it into narrow strips and shave off
the hair with a sharp knife before the
kitchen fire. or in your workshop on
stormy days and evenings. You may
make them soft by rubbing. A rawhide
halter strap an inch wide will hold a
horse better and last longer than an
inch rope. It is stronger than4hoop-
iron and more durable, and may be
used to hoop dry casks and boxes, and
for hinges. Try it on broken thill, Or
any wood work that has been split; put
it on wet, and nail fast. Thin skins
make the best bag strings in the world.
A rawhide rope is a good substitute for
a chain. It is valuable to mend a
broken link in a trace chain. For some
purposes it is best to use
It in its natural state. For other
purposes it may be dressed soft.
Q BAD SEED WHEAT.-It is a mistake
in wheat culture to SOW inferior seed.
Indeed, this is very foolish IN regard to
any and every crop. Like begets like.
Weakness and disease are .propagated
in the plant world very much as they
are transmitted from parent to child in
the world of human beings. The great
est pains should be taken to procure
cleanest seed that can possibly be had.
It will pay the farmer who depends
upon his own growing of seed, to Gull
out the best portions of field, when
there is a perceptible difference, and
devote them to this important use. In
deed, it is wise policy to select the
earliest and finest heads, and from
these grow seed. It is also well to sb-
tain change Of seed from time to
time, as successive sowing in the same
soil and climate seems to induce more
~ rocc 1aponaracv The farmer shOuld