The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-04-11
FARM AND GARDEN.


Cleanliness in Farming.
A sloven Is never good farmer No mat
ter how industrious he may be- or saving OF
time aud money, if IL due regard is not PAID
to cleanliness very great success Will never
crown his efforts We, of course, do not al
ludc to the person Of the farmer TOR that Is
his own business: whether he ever takes a
bath or combs his hair is nothing to us, nor
does it concern the principles we WISH to in
culcate or the errors we would warn him
against at this time. But clean farming is
the great feature in successful farming, and
the man who neglects to keep his fence cor
ners clear of weeds is off the track and the
sooner he gets or again the better
1t NAV be asked what have few dead or
live weeds IN out-ot.thc-way places to do with
good crops, or what does ii matter if there
are heaps of old brush, straw, manure or
rubbish lying undsturbed in the back yards
or fields? These do no harm, it is said, if
let alone, and it will take time to remove or
put them out of the way. Suppose these ma
terials are not needed for manure or other
purposes, are they really harmlesse No; for
it is in such rubbish heaps that hundreds OF
species of noXious insects breed and come
forth to attack the farmers fruits, flowers
and grain.
That great pest Of corn and wheat in the
Western States, the chlnch bug, hibernates in
winter in heaps of grass, weeds and other
rubbish, which is found in greater or less
abundance about every farm; also our COM
mon squash bug, which preys upon various
kinds OF vines. Conseq identity the greater the
amount of such rubbish about the farm the
better the opportunities tor the increase Of
these pests. The moths, which are the par,
ents OF the cotton and corn, also live through
the winter under leaves, grass and weeds,
which, if burned late in the fall or early in
spring, would destroy immense numbers OF!
these destructive insects.
Knowing these facts, the importance of re
moving such rubbish and burning over all
waste places must be apparent to every farm
er, and this is but first step in what we would
call cleanliness in farming. Old rubbish
heaps of all kinds, including the undisturbed
heaps OF barn yard manure, are the breeding
places of flies of various kinds which annoy
Us in our houses as well as the animals in
the barn and fields. 1t Is as important the
barn. stable and all outbulldings should be
thoroughly cleansed once or twice year as it
is to clean the dwelling house. Measly pork
is the offspring Of filthy h0g-pens, Lice on
fowls, scab on sheep, scratches, itch, and
various kindred diseases are sure indications
of unceanliness. Then, again, there are fire.
quently stagnant pools ON the farm which are
breeding places of mosquitoes as well as mi
asmatlc diseases. These should either be
drained or filled up, or in some manner kept
clean and pure.
If we visit the dwelling houses of many of
our wclltO-do farmers we may findth cellars
fra grant with dcCaying vegetables, the odors
OF which penetrate every part of the house,
leaving the spores of microscopic plants III
every crack and corner from basement to gar
ret. Perhaps the good housewife is at the
same time trying her best to make good,
sweet butter, but fails on account of an i'm
pure atmosphere. 1t is well known to every
chemist that butter is one of the most power
full absorbents Of liayors given off by other
substances; hence the often repeated advice
TO keep milk, cream, and butter in clean,
sweet rooms. These are but few of the ma
ny reasons which we might urge in favor of
cleanliness about the farm, so far as it relates
to filth that must necessarily accumulate in
greater or less quantities unless put out of
the way.
In the same category, although not as i'm
portant on account of health, but equally so
for profit, we might place the purity of seeds
sown upon the farm. Clean seed wheat rye,
oats and other grain are seldom too highly
valued even by the most careful farmer It
is a waste to cultivate weeds and foul seed,
to be attcrward separated from the grain and
thrown away. The honest miller is often
blamed for too much shrinkage il the grain
taken to the mill, when the fault was not his,
but of the one who furnished the grist con
tanning too large proportion of weed seeds
and smut
These remarks do not apply to one portion
of the country more than another; tor the cot
ton planter at the South as well as the far.
mer at the North is far too negligent in this
matter, and little more cleaning up, both
indoors and out, would benefit themselves
and their ueighbors as well as all animals in
their care As the frosts leave, begin to clean
up tor it is habit worth cultivating as well
by the poorest farmer as the richest-Neo
YORK. SIN.