The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-01-08
Farm, Garden and Household,
How TO Avoid a Cold,

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for the benefit of those who desire to
avoid catching cold
eff cold settles on the outer cover
ings of the lungs it becomes pneumo-
mia, inflammation of the lungs, or lung
fever, and in many cases carries the
strongest man to the grave within
week. If cold fall upon the inner cov-
ering of the lungs, it is pleurisy with
the knife-like pains, and its slow, very
slow recoveries. If a cold settles in
the joints there is rheumutism, with
the agonies of pain, and rheumatism of
the heart, which, in an instant snaps
assunder the cords of life with no
friendly warning. It is of the utmost
Importance, then, in the wintry wealth
er, to know not so much how to cure a
cold as to avoid it. Colds always come
from one cause-some parts of the body
being colder than natural for time. If
person will keep his feet warm always,
and never allow himself or herself to
be chilled, he or she will never take
cold in lifetime, and this can only be
accomplished by due care in warm
clothing and avoidance of draft and ex-
posure. While multitudes of colds
come from cold feet, perhaps the ma
jority arise from cooling off too quickly
after Becoming little warmer than is
natural from exercise or work, or from
confinement to warm apartment.
Winter Care of Sheep.
Winter is a critical time with sheep.
The greatest danger is in too much
care and coddling. If well fed with
good clover hay and with plenty of
water to drink, an open she'd with an
uncovered dry yard attached, is better
than any stable, or tight, close shed.
Warmth is more injurious than cold,
and sheep may safely be trusted to ex-
ercise their instincts in seeking shelter.
It is well to divide the flock, and if
it numbers as many as fifty, to make
three divisions rams, wethers, and
ram lambs in one flock, ewes in lamb in
another, and tender ewes and eve lambs
inEanother. As changes may be seen
desirable, they should be made, and
the feed should be apportioned accord
ing to the necessities of each flock. AS
soon as sheep appears to be ailing it
should be removed from the flock, and
if any cough or lung disease is per-
ceived, a tablespoonful of turpentine
should be administered as a remedy
against the lung worm. Salt should be
given in abundance, and oats, rye, or
buckwheat, or wheat bran, but not
much corn, especially to sheep that are
in poor condition.
Men From the Trades on the Farm,
Some time ago, says the Rural Ne,U
YOrkcr,we advised farmers to give men
work. 1t seems that some parts of the
country are filing up with men from
the trades seeking work to do. The
cities and large manufacturing centres
have overfowed their unemployed pop.
ulations into the small country towns.
Many of these men will not work on a
farm-will not offer to do so. Some of
them, however, are seeking work on
the farms, and prove to be good farm
hands. They are methodical and ex-
act in their work. One farmer writes
us, however, that some of those whom
he employed are not worth their board
they retain their city notions in re-
gard to the number of hours that con-
them, even if they are turned out Of
doors. Many of these men are good
mechanics, and can be utilized in re-
pairing and fitting up buildings, &c.
The wide-awake farmer will take ad.
vantage of this superabounding labor
to get such odd jobs done and he
could benefit many worthy men by sc
doing.
Keeping Poultry TO Enrich Lands.
Col. Waring, in his Elements of Ag
riculture," says: Poultry dung is near
ly equal in value to Peruvian guanc
Except that it contains more water).
granted that hen will consume of tht
different kinds of grain, meat, and veg
tables, during the year, the equivalen
of two bushels of corn which weigh 12t
pounds, then it is certainly low enough
to place the excrement-the result o
the digestion of these two bushels-a
equivalent to fifteen pounds of guano
AS the manure from 100 fowls, during
year, would amount to 1000 pounds o
guano, taking the above supposition a
at least safe; and as 300 pounds is ordi
narily sufficient for an acre of corn, i
will be seen that the manure from TO-
fowls will make compost enough for fv
acres. The experiment has been trie,
by the writer, of applying to one acr
OF corn in the hill, the manure of
hens one year, mixed with swamp muck
in the proportion of one part hen me
nure and three parts muck, and the re
suit was a better crop than upon a
adjoining acre enriched, for sake of e2
pertinent, with fair ordinary dressin
of stable manure.
How to Make a Mustard Plaster.
How many people are there who reall
know how to make a mustard plaster
Not one in a hundred, and yet phys
clans prescribe their application, neve
telling anybody how to make them, fo
the simple reason that the doctors then
selves do not know, as a rule. The o.
dinary way is to mix the mustard wit
water, tempering it with little foul
but such plaster as that makes
simply abominable. Before it has ha,
done its work it begins to blister th
patient, and leaves him finally with
painful, fayed spot, after having pre-
duced far less effect in beneficial wa
than was intended. Now a mustar
plaster should never make a blister ,
all. When you make a mustard pla
ter, then, use no water whatever, bl
mix the mustard with the white of o
egg, and the result will be a plastt
that will "draw " perfectly, but will nj
produce blister, even upon the skin
an infant, no matter how long it is a