Connecticut western news., 1874-01-09
Farm, Garden and Household.
Maturing with Brush.

MT. J. Clark gives, in the German town Telegraph, the following experi- ment of blowing under brush and manure, which illustrates polnt worthy of attention. The loosening and feration of the soil, especially if heavy, IS not sufficiently cared for. The best crop of oats (S0bushels to the acre) we ever raised, was obtained by blowing under all the straw the blow would cover. This was good, sound straw, and could not have decayed early enough to produce such Q result as 8 fertilizer. It was simply the effect of leaving an air space eight inches down in stiff, clay loam. MT. Clark says: My idea was that one great cause why i could not get as good crops from old fields as when they were first cultivated, was owing, 1n a great measure, to the density of the soil. I had observed that the first eight or ten years after clear ing off the forest, the land would give good crops with very little care in blow ing; the reason for this, argued, was the decaying of the innumerable root lets of the trees cut down. In order to test the theory, cut down about two tons of waterbrush, hardhack and other small bushes, and let them lie in pile exposed to the weather one year, and then applied them to half acre of land, and applied barn-yard manure to another half acre adjoining. The re- suit proved the manure to bea little the best the first year, which was corn. Sowed grass seed in the fall after har- vesting the corn. The manured place did pretty we'll for about five years, the brush piece did we'll for about ten years, proving the theory to be correct. fused two cords of the manure as a balance for the two tons of bushes; the blowing was six or eight inches deep. I have repeated the experiment since, with the same result
 Tanning Lambskins with the Wool On.
 Wash the pelts in warm water, and remove all feshy matter from the inner surface then clean the wool with yell low soap, aud rinse the soap thoroughly out. When this is done, apply to the flesh side the following mixture for each pelt Common salt and alum, one-quarter of a pound of each, and half an ounce of borax dissolved in a quart of warm water; add to this enough rye meal to make thick paste, and spread the mixture on the efesh side of the pelt. Fold the skin lengthwise and let 1t remain two weeks in an airy and shady place, then remove the paste from the surface :; wash and dry. When nearly dry scrape the flesh side with @ knife, working the pelt until it becomes thoroughly soft.
 Sheep on Stubble.
 We learn from a subscriber that he has lost sixty head of valuable sheep by turning them into his stubble fields. He had previously turned in his hogs, and supposed they had taken most of the grain. The rain had caused the wheat left on the ground to swell ready to sprout, and there was enough of it to ruin many of the sheep before he learned that they were affected by 1t. Probably other farmers have had simi- lar experience, though perhaps not with so much loss. It would be valua- ble to have the facts brought out with regard to pasturing sheep on stubble. -ETchonge.
 Gird1ed Trees.
 About the best preventive against in- jury by rabbits in the orchard is to smear the bark with blood, butchers offal, fresh beef or hogs liver. Some horticulturists wrap the tree stem with heavy paper and apply over this a coating of tar or rancid oil. Tar or grease applied directly to the bark would probably seriously injure if it did not kill the tree. Where the bark has been stripped or gnawed away, an application of fresh COW manure, fast ened on tightly with an old cloth, is decidedly the best method of mending the wound and inducing fresh growth.
 Cooling Milk.
 The best possible way for cooling milk is to place the vessels containing it in tank supplied with spring water, which is always cold. It is equally good if the tank be supplied from deep we'll, but in this case the labor of pumping is considerable. The cooling of milk by placing ice in the vessels containing it is not advisable for several reasons, one of which is that it dilutes the milk Another is that 1t does not cool the milk equally.