The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-05-27
FARM AND HOME.
Farm Notes.

Don't be in q hurry TO go.
The city has many attractions,
But think OF the vice and sing;
When once in the vortex OF fashion,
How soon the course downward begins
THE farmer should be an educated
man. Formerly all necessary qualitica
ton was physical development.
FARMERS must arrange so as to cult
vate their farms without having
their houses crowded with hired help.
Do ALL work as cheaply as possible
this year. but do it thoroughly. The
prospect is good for prices,
If economically produced.
THE CHECK REIN. Why is it that so
our city carriers, insist upon using a
tight rein on working horses? When a
horse, left to his natural inclination, has
a heavy load to pull, he can best exert
his backbone in one continuous line,
and this he will invariably do il not pre-
vented by a tight check-rein. Some
claim that it prevents the horse from
falling down, and when man can raise
himself over fence by q lift on his sus-
penders we will believe it. When a
horse falls, tight rein will most effect
uaily prevent him from getting on to
his feet again. Try it without the rein,
and see if we are not correct in our
practice and theory both.
WASTED FERTILIZERS. The Farmers
Home Journal says : On every old
place in Central Kentucky there are
such things as old wood-piles, where
chips have and decOmposed
for fifty years then there are old piles of
ashes sometimes three or four feet deep,
which have been accommodating for the
same length of time then there are old
straw piles and heaps of stable manure
which have never been hauled ont;
and there are deposits under the hen
roosts, sometimes two feet deep, which
are equal to the best Peruvian guano,
and when these are all hauled out, we
will go to an inexhaustible supply Of
rich molds and alluvial deposits of de-
cayed vegetable matter, which have
been collecting for ages, in places on
branches and creeks which run through
most farms. We have still anothers sup
ply yet, in the muck mud, which, if dug
out in the summer time, when the
marshes and swampy places are dry and
hard, can be hauled close to, if not
quite to, where it is wanted, and the
winter freezing will pulverize it and put
it in fine condition for crop the next
season.
PRESERVING Posrs.-Every farmer
who has to fence his land knows too well
how quickly posts planted in the earth
become rotten, especially in a damp
spot. All of them will welcome the fol-
lowing process to prevent rottenness,
n process as wonderful in its effects as
it Is simple and almost costless. 1t is
taken from lie Bien Public, of Dion,
France:
Take linseed oil, boil it, and mix it
with charcoal dust until the mixture has
the consistence OF al ordinary paint.
Give to the post single coat Of the
mixture or paint before planting them,
and no farmer, even living to the age of
the patriarchs of old, will live
long enough to see the same posts
rotten.
6 Some years ago 1 discovered
way of rendering wood more durable in
earth than iron itself, says the author
OF the communication, =" but it seemed
to me so simple and so inexpensive, that
did not think it worth while to make
much ado and fuss about it. Posts of
soft wood thus prepared were removed
after remaining seven years in the earth,
ahd were found MS sound as when plant
ed. The only precaution to take is
to use only .well-dried posts before
covering them with the charcoal
paint.
FARMERS FooD. In the last report |
of the Massachusetts Board of Health, |
DR.. j. +. A. Adams, OF Pittstield, one |
of the most accomplished physicians
in the State, has presented n long and |
valuable report upon the health of
farmers, in which he combines his own
experience with that of the leading ply
sicians in the State, to whom he sent
circulars containing twenty questions,
TO which they responded. DIR. Adams
concluded that the following are the
diseases to which farmers are most liza
bic, and the liability is in the order
named First, rheumatism second,
dyspepsia third, fever fourth, acute
lung affections ; fifth, consumption. In
answer TO the question "What causes
tend to iniure the health of farmers and
their families % overwork is mentioned
as the first, improper diet the second,
exposure the third, sanitary defects in
barn-yards, hogpens, privies, drains,
cellars, etc, rank rs the fourth cause
want of ventilation the fifth want of
recreation, cleanliness, and other causes
are mentioned, but the first four are the
principal.
Upon the subject OF farmers diet, DR..
Adams comes to several conclusions,
the full force of which our Western
farmers will appreciate fully. 1t is
not insinuated that wives of Western
farmers are inferior to their sisters at
the East in the practice of the culina-
ry arts, but they have been so long IN
the habit of preparing the meals in just
such a way that it is difficult to make
a change. AS to farmers diet, DIR.
Adams arrives at these eight conclu-
sions
l. Good bread is scarce, and is too
often made with some unwholesome sub
stitute for yeast.
2. There is too little variety in food.
B. Meat is too apt to be fried.