The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-01-21

Peeled they the stalks all bare,
shattered and sundered;
Then they went onward--but
More than six hundred.
How TO GET A SKUNK OUT OF A CELL
LAR.-L. l.. S. writes: "AbOut fort
night ago we found q skunk in our cellar.
How to get him out without disturbing
him was puzzle. wanted to have him
shot but my wife would not agree to that.
After breakfast, an acquaintance, John
Thomas, heard the story and went over
to my house, and he and my son Robert
went down to the other end of the cellar,
beyond where the skunk was, and began
to whistle the same as if he was calling
the dogs, when the skunk made for the
door as quick as he could. They killed
it after he went out, and when l came
home the skunk was gone, and there was
no more smell in the cellar than if he
had not been there at ALL"
WHITE STREAKs IN BUTTER.-"A Sub
scriber," Alexandria, Mimi, says: 81
should be glad to know the cause Ofwhite
streaks in butter, and how to prevent
them"
Reply.-This defect is occasioncd some
times by the nature of the COW, which in
some cases is such that good colored but
ter can never be made from her milk;
sometimes by too long churning, or by
churning at too low temperature, or
permitting the cream to become too sour
or thick before tits churned. Sometimes
it is caused by want of proper or sufii-
cient working. As a remedy we would
suggest the use of annato or annatoine,
n preparation of annato made purposely
for cOloring butter or cheese. The anna
to of the drug stores may be used by TAX
ing piece the size of a pea for twelve
quarts of cream, dissolving it in warm
water, and stirring it into the cream in
the churn. The strained juice of car
rot may also be used for coloring.
CATNIP FOR BEEs.-A Correspondent
of the american Bee Journal writes: For
some time past l have been giving much
attention to honey producing plants, and
am constrained to believe that the cat
nip plant has not received the consider
alton that its Importance justly entities
it to. For three years past, l have been
sowing the seed on waste places in all
directions for the distance of q mile or
more from my apiary, and l have never
seen anything equal it. 1t commences
to bloom here the last week in June, and
lasts fully three months, giving a cOntin-
uous yield from the time the white clover
fails till frost.
1t thrives in any part of our country;
stands our continuous summer drouths
better than any other plant, and never
fails. Our bees are on it every moment
of daylight there is, from one months
end to another; not even smart rain
will drive them from it. Notwithstand-
ing it is now the driest time that has
been known here for many years, the
bees make constant roaring over the
the little catnip field which / am culti-
waiting. We shall plant more of it for
cultivation next spring. or rather winter.
January and February is the best time
to SOW it. Quinby says, "If there is any
article that would cultivate especially
for honey, it would be catnip. find
nothing to surpassit. t."
DESTRUCTION OF WooDLAND.-Our
wealth of maple walnut and hickory is
substantially gone, and large part of it
has been wantonly destroyed. Wiscon-
sin had q magnificent forest growth, but
the people are sweeping it away at a rapid
rate. One billion feet of timber was cut
in single year. 1t will not take more
than decade or two at the utmost
to fairly exhaust this source of wealth to
the State. Michigan and Minnesota are
following in the same course, slashing
away at their forests as if tree had no
right to lift its head. One of our most
intelligent army officers, General Bris-
bin, who knows the western country
thoroughly, and to whose accurate knowl-
edge of this subject we are indebted for
many facts, says that $4,000 acres of
Wisconsin timber, are cut annually to
supply the Kansas and Nebraska markets
alone. The Saginaw forests are even
now practically destroyed, and if the
Northern Pacific railway is built, it will
open up to the axe the one remaining
belt of American timber--in Oregon and
Washington Territory.
The railroads have been the great de-
stroyers of our forests. They use 100,-
100000 of ties annually-that means the
leveling Of at least 150, 900 acres of trees.
The outrageous waste of timber caused
by the telling of forests and the burning
of trees to bring the land under cultiva-
ton still goes on at fearful rate. From
1860 to 1870 no less than 10000, 900 acres
Of forest were thus wantonly destroyed.
For fuel, also, vast tracts are leveled of
their trees. 1t took 10000 acres of forest
to supply Chicago with fuel one year
1871. Our annual decrease of forest from
all these causes is not lar from 100000
acres. Yet we plant only 10000 acres of
new forest year.
The necessity for commission of for
estry, and the needs of efficient laws in
all the States for the preservation of our
forests, need no further argument than
these facts.
AN EXPERIMENTAL farmer of our
acquaintance made an experiment. He
took sheep that weighed about 100
pounds, put it in pen, and after it had
become wonted weighed all its food, and
found that three pounds per day of fod-
der and grain was all he could make the
sheep eat. The farmer had verified a rule
well known to the much despised "book
farmers" and arrived at by many and
careful experiments, that about three
pounds of good food per day for each one
hundred weight of live stock, is fatten-
ing allowance. For illustration, sheep
weighing 100 pounds requires three
pounds of food per day, and a steer
weighing 1000 needs thirty pounds.
These rules are approximately correct,
being varied somewhat by quality OF
food and stock. The farmer knowing
the weight of his feed and that of his
stock, by applying these rules can guess
closely as to whether he has food enough
for his stock.-Rochester Democrat.