Connecticut western news., 1874-07-24
Farm, Garden and Household,
Hints about Work.

1orce themselves on our attention. They are rarely neglected.
 Little things, which we are apt tc overlook and neglect, are the most i'm. portant. We need to look more to the little rivets that fasten the sections or the cutter-bar of a reaper than to the main drivingwheel. Dipping lambs te kill ticks is more important than shear. ing the sheep, because more likely to be postponed and forgotten.
 Some of the most successful farmers we have ever known were men who kept work themselves. They knew how everything should be done, and saw that it was done promptly and well. They lent hand when it was necessary, but took hold of no steady work that an ordinary laborer could perform.
 Your own health and that of your family should be the first consideration. See that the cellar is clean, and the sink and out-houses are not giving of poisonous gases.
 Dry earth is a cheap disinfectant. Use it freely, and be not sparing oi water, soap, and lime.
 Personal cleanliness would be less rare among hard-working men and boys ii bathing conveniences were more com mon. A good swim is a good thing, but man can be clean without having river to bathe in. A tub of soft water, in the barn, if need be, with soap and sponge and towels, should not be lacking on any farm. We should think little of the man or boy who will not use them.
 In malarious regions do not get up too early in the morning and in our changeable climate no house should be without the means of making fire at a moments notice. If the evenings are damp or chilly, make fire, if necessary for comfort, and keep the doors and windows open. Many people seem to think if they make fire they mast shut the doors. -.f-..
 Nutritious food and plenty of it is essential to good health. A man who does not eat can not work. Meat soup IS better than beer, and cup of good coffee is more invigorating than pitcher of hard cider. For a hard working man, good bread and firm, fat pork, are better than cakes or cookies.
 It is less fatiguing to milk ten COWS in an hour, than in an hour and half, and you have the half hour to give them little extra food, which is cer- tainly good for the COWS. Horses should rest in the pasture or the stable, and not when in harness. Heavy boots and slow motions belong to species of farming which is fast becoming extinct. Do not carry one pail of water when you can carry two. Study the economy of labor. Do not waste your time or your energy. Make every stroke count, and let the strokes be given with will.
 Having should be pushed forward rapidly. In our experience, it is not wise to wait for the weather. While the grass IS green, little rain or dew does not hurt it. We like to cut in the afternoon and evening, and let it lie all night. The next morning, when the dew is of, turn it or ted it with a machine. In the afternoon rake into windrows, and if timothy, draw it in or if clover, put it in cock and draw in as soon as ready-say the next after noon, turning or opening the cocks in the meantime, if necessary. Clover makes capital hay if cut early and well-cured.-Agricuzturi8t.
 .5' g,sr Sheep fer Run Down Lands.
 In 1866 bought a moving field of forty acres, says H. s. Abbott, which had been ssrun. out, 2 as we term it, and not having dressing enough to bring it into good condition, I tried pasturing sheep on it. I turned about ten acres of this field into a pasture, and put fifty sheep on the ten acres; the sheep had no lambs. expected that in the course of three or four years they would sub- due it, and bring it into such condi- tion that l could blow it and get the benefit of the sheep pasture. After the expiration of one year I found that the grass began to make it's appearance. l will state that the field was nothing but white weed and yellow weed-the grasses had been killed out. I let the sheep run another year, and the next spring, on examining the field, found there was great change in it's appear ance. l was induced, from the appear. ance of the field, to let the grass grow and when the time came for moving, found the heaviest grass there that we have ever grown with any amount o1 dressing. Herdsgrass and redtop came
  grasses made a perfect mat, so that i was difficult to run moving machine in certain portions. It has been moved now five years, from the time the sheer were taken off, with as goods results a! the average of fields that have beer under manure. The soil was clayey loann, canting little to the north anc west, perfectly smooth, free from stuml or stone, had been mown for twelve o, fifteen years previous to my putting o1 the sheep; they had access to water bu no grain; they were on the ground from spring until fall, and were in thu very best condition.
 A great loss is sustained by ever, farmer who does not pasture sheer upon his improved land. In one sense it has cost me nothing to bring thes ten acres into the condition in whicl they have produced this amount of hay may say, it has been an entire saving because we usually let sheep run on un improved land, which we never culti vate. have great confidence in tha manner of managing land. Ira D Sturgis, of Vassalboro, one 0 our wealthiest and best farmers has adopted this, method of fe1 tilizing old fields by pasturing sheer He put some 400 on his smoot fields last year, and intends to kee them on the present season, and the let portion of his fields come int ass for the scythe. His experimer will be of great benefit to the farmin community.
 Protecting Sheep Against Dogs.
 Land and Water, an English sport ing paper, copies letter from core spondent, in which he recommends tn putting of bells on sheep to protet them from the attacks of dogs, and al proves of the suggestion. The edite states that the plan recommended is use in parts of Scotland and England and that it is successful. Surely g cheap, simple, and practical a metho