Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1873-11-05
Agricultural.

PENNSYLVANIA BARNS. In Chester
and Lancaster Counties is, / think, the
most finished farming in the Union.
The farms, composed of a brickdust
sort of soil, are cultivated from fence
to fence, every rood. as the farms of
Flemings and of Brittany are culti-
waited from hedge to hedge. Cattle
stand with their four feet in two feet OF
clover. Every field is park. Every
barn is q cow-palace. Every pig-pen is
a porcine paradise. Pennsylvania is
pre-eminently the State of barns. Think
Of three-story stone barn, with a swell
front and dormer windows in the roof,
and a luxurious portico where the
Sybaritic calves chew the cud of sweet
contentment on summer evenings And
then behold the little cabin In the rear
where the agricultural Dutchman lives
with his "frow, and where the children
lie on the floor and envy the happy
calves IN the lattice portlco. Livery
barn Is three times as large as the house,
which serves as sort of appendage,
snd, as it were, plays second fiddle to
Il. The barn is headquarters, and the
house sort of sentry-box where the
man resides who takes care of It. The
barn is slated, painted, corniced, cis-
termed, lightning -roded, and the pig-sty
IS glazed, the chicken coops are painted
and the worm fences are whltewashed
SIS far as you can see. | have no doubt
the original dwellers here whitewashed
the ground for acres around the domiclle
twice or thrice year, till they learned
ats fatality.
| do not know about the effect on
cattle OF so much petting. | should
think it would tend to make the animals
sristocratic, vet l do not know OF any
place where cattle are more stuck up
than they are in the West. There, you
know, We have no barns to speak OF.
There are townships enough in Mime
sofa where everything with horns has
the same chance to fight fol- the warm
side of haystack in January, and, ii
must be admitted, the weaker animals
are considerably hump-backed and sub
dued in their feelings by April. More
over, here the farmers use fertilizers,
Dut in Minnesota We have an idea that
the earth is an orange to be sucked,
goose to be plucked, sponge TO be
squeezed, q reservoir to be everlastingly
drawn from, without in the least dimin-
.shing its flow. All through the central
West they are learning what Minnesota
has yet TO learn, that Natures wheat
restorer, 10 which the poet so touohingly
alludes, If not balmy sleep, but manure.
! CONVENIENT DRAG.-A cOrrespon,
dent gives the following directions for
making drag or pulveriZer. He says:
Il have used for many years simple
implement for pulyerizing the soil, that
1 think superior to either a roller or
harrow, while Il can be made IN an hour
by any farmer with no tools but 4 saw
and hatchet. We call il drag or pull
verizer. The side pieces should be
made of 4x5 inch scantling, and the
bottom may be of inch boards, or
thicker, Just as is most convenient.
Slope the ends Of your side pieces, and
begin to nail on the boards at the hind
end, letting each lap two inches on to
The last one. precisely as IN weather
boarding house the advantage OF this
Is that yOu have number of sharp
edges to cut the clOds, and it will do
the work better than if nailed on fiat.
| am sure that any farmer who has once
used one of them would never do with
ont it. They grind the lumrs fine with
ont packing the ground, and leave IL
perfectly level. We generally keep on
hand two or three sizes, having a small
one not more than yard square, which
we use to cover turnip seed between the
rows of cncumbers about the time they
begin TO run. We think this the best
way to cover the seed in dry weather,
as IL presses the soil and retains the
moisture much better than raking in.
We use large one on the corn ground,
either Just before laying it off or after
II is planted. This may be made six or
eight feet wide, and should have a
scantliDg IN the middle 10 strengthen
1T, as it would soon become racked and
shaky without it. 1t is best to make it
rather light, and then either ride on it
or add the necessary weight.
WINTER CARE OF HoRsEs.
able is written nowadays about false
economy in various ways Ny obserya-
ton leads TO the conclusion that one
important item is almost entirely over
looked, and that thousands of dollars
are lost each year by the careless win
tering of farm horses. For instance,
Farmer 4. owns fine span of horses
ne is not much of a hOrseman, but in
the summer he works them, and keeps
q man who takes good care of them. In
the fall, after work is over, the horses
are put into the stable and fed all the
nav they viii eat lbe the same good or
Dad > are left perhaps a week or two
weeks at time, with little or no exeI-
else, and, when they are driven, are let
90 at the top of their speed. Fast driv-
ing, with their stomacLs full of undi-
gested hay, is the very worst of treat
ment. The result is that, in year or
two the horses have the heayes badly,
are spoiled for market, and are unable
to do the usual amount of service on
the farm or road {; and this alone causes
& loss each year so long as the team is
used.
This could in some degree be avoided,
by building a shed with a yard for
exercise, and by feeding food of suffi-
clent strength to keep the muscles in
full strength. Some say that wintering
horses in the field on hay alone, Will
cause a falling away of muscles and
strength difficult to regain. No doubt
being chilled by standing in cold barn
as very injurious to horses.
WEEps.-These pests may be divided
into four classes, viz Annuals, BIZ I
annuals, Per-annuals and Bi-per-annu-
ais. The first spring from the seed, 4
perfect their growth, and, after ripening, 4
the seed perish in the fall. The second |
class form seeding plants the first sea-
son, and, living through the winter,
perfect their seed during the second /
season, and then die. To this class
belong the common mullen and dock. |
The third class, "when once mstured,
continue to produce flowers and fruit /
Tor series of years.
The fourth class-which We believe |
is original with the doctor,-contains
such plants as have the power of increas-
ing by the addition of root-stocks or
underground stems. Some of these