Connecticut western news., 1874-04-24
Farm, Garden and Household,
seasonable Hints.

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 seasonable Hints.
 Spring wheat is usually the first crop sown.
 Oats or peas do better on 8 recently inverted sod than barley. But if the sod is old and tough it is better to plant 1t to corn.
 Animals require special care at this season. The weather is very change able and horses and COWS are shedding their coats and liable to catch cold.
 Mangel. Wurzel is favorite crop with us. It requires rich land. Should be sown early in drills, 2} feet apart, and thinned out in the rows, 12 to 15 inches apart. If drilled in, lbs. seed per acre; if dibbled in. 15 inches apart, 2 lbs. is sufficient. In the latter case soak the seed for AS hours.
 Barley can not be sown too early, pro- svided the land is in the proper condi- tion. It should be made as fine and mellow as possible. Sow from II to q bushels per acre. Barley and spring wheat are both good crops with which to SOW clover and grass seed. Make the land as fine as possible by repeated harrowings before sowing, and then roll after the grass seed is sown.
 On sod land it is far more convenient to plant potatoes in hills, three feet apart, than in drills. On mellow, rich land, where fHrrows can be opened with blow, it is 8 good plan to make the furrows 3 feet apart and drop the sets in the furrow every 15 or IS inches and cover with the blow. If the land is rich enough 8 larger crop can be obtained in this way than by planting in hills.
 Narrowing the potatoes with light harrow, just as they begin to break the ground, will kill millions of young weeds and favor the growth of the po- tatoes. On our own farm we use 8 Thomas harrow for this purpose, and go over the ground three or four times. We have frequently used an ordinary harrow. It pulls up few hills, but not enough to do serious damage to the crop. ..,.
 Sheep must be managed according to . circumstances. If the yards are large and dry and you have plenty of roots it is probably best to keep them out of the pastures until there is a good bite of grass. If the yards are small and muddy it will be we'll to let them run out every fine day. A sod field that is to be plowed for corn will make good run for them and will save the regular pasture. Feed all the hay they will eat. It is great mistake to stop feed ing hay and grain as soon as the sheep are turned to pasture.
 Potatoes require dry land. A rich, clover sod is excellent. But if the land is rich enough, says the Agriculturist. potatoes can successfully grown after any crop. If manure is used it should be we'll rotted and fine, and the more thoroughly it is mixed and Incorporated with the soil, the less likely it is to in- Jure the quality of the potatoes. Peru vlan guano is one of the best auxiliary manures for potatoes say 200 pounds per acre sown broadcast, or table spoonful dropped in the hill and mixed with the soil before dropping the pota- toes. The latter is the better way to apply 1t, provided the work is done carefully. Peruvian guano, if a good article, will burn the potatoes if they come in direct contact with it.
 Lubricators.
 Pure sperm oil is the best known lu- bricator, but many other substances are used, because they cost less the | following are some of the substances isa CARNAGE AXLE GREAsE.-Take half 3 pound of sal-soda and dissolve it in gallon of water just at the boiling point, now add pounds of tallow and 1 ot lard, and stir the whole together nnsl1 they are well mixed. An iron ves- gel IS the best to use for this operation. When these ingredients are thoroughly amafgamated, the vessel should be taken Oil the fire and it's contents stir red until the compound has become | cool. A very good and simple grease for the saxles of carts can also be made Dy stirring half 8 pound of powdered black lead in six pounds of melted lard.
 INDIA RUBBER LUBRIoAToR.-Take one gallon of rape-seed or of lard oil and heat it to about PIP degrees Fah... then add half pound of India rubber cut into fine shreds and stir the whole until the rubber dissolves. This is held to be superior anti-friction lubri- cator.
 LUBRIoAToR FOR CnooKwoRK, &c.- Refined glycerine is the best lubricating vehicle for clocks, watches, and other very fne mechanism it is a substance which never becomes hard like some oils when exposed to the atmosphere, and 1t does not freeze in cold weather.
 Effects Of Cold i'm Fattening. 1+
 A producer of pork in Muskingunn county, Ohio, who has made an experi- ment with view to ascertain how far cold retards the rate of fattening, re- ports the following results Carefully weighing the hogs fed and the corn fed to them, and estimating hogs at four cents pound, he found that what he led out during the first week in Octo- Der returned Gin pork) 80 cents per bushel the first week in November. + 60 cents the third week, 40; the fourth week in November and the month of December, 25; the first half of Janu- ary, D; the last half, 0. In the Octo- Der week of the experiment. the weather was pleasant and warm. It gradually grew colder till the latter part of No vember, from which time it remained fs about stationary till the 1st of January, after which it ran down to zero and be. low in the latter part of the month. The hogs were we'll sheltered in good pen with plank floor.
 A Farmers Productions, |, If g farmers productions are of really good quality, as they should be, they will be sought in preference to what others have. There is the greatest diff ference in the world between choice butter and middling between assorted well-kept potatoes and haphazard lots between grain that is ripe, clean and plump and shrunken foul grain, and so on through the whole list, and when a character is established there will be always men willing and anxious to pay extra prices.