The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-01-07
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

iu phoIioicu uus. IL Is wise also 10 Duy |
only OF seedmen who have ansestablished
reputation and accuracy, carefulness and
responsibility" As to the quantity, a |
writer in the Country Gentleman advises
half bushel per acre ofstimothy and |
clover mixed in equal quantities, affirm
ing that it is more economical to do this
than to SOW thin, since it is penny wise
and pound foolish to be economical of
seed, just SO much of which should be
sown as will stock every square inch of
the ground with, at least, one growing
plant.
HOMEMADE OIL CLOTH. -" Daisy
Eyebright" tells how to make cheap
oil cloth. We think, however, the car
pet should be allowed to dry slowly and
quite awhile before using. She says:
Nail the old Brussels carpet loosely to
the floor in a large attic or woodhouse
chamber, not in use. Then paint it over
with thick coat of linseed oil and
burnt umber. Let it dry in tn sroughly;
add coat of good varnish. Let that
dry for week or two and it can be
scrubbed and washed with milk and
water like any oil cloth. Paint it on the
wrong side and nail it down closely, for
it need not be taken up in many years.
AS the varnish and paint wear of, renew
them, and thus it will last four times as
long as common oil cloth. If you choose
you can ornament it with border of
scarlet, green or blue lines.
PLUCKING Fowls FOR MARKET
There are some people who object to
scalding fowls preparatory to removing
the feathers, Prof Blot among the num-
har tha hat in ha
quality of the flesh. With all respect
for the renowned professor, we do not
believe the difference is worth Winding
at all. Plucking fowls is tedious enough
at best.
If there are any who want to operate
without the aid of the scalding process,
let them do so. and when they are tired
of it, let them try the following i'm
proved method: Dip the fowls in cold
water and let them drip. Then apply
finely pulverized resin to the feathers,
using dredging box for convenience.
Then scald in the usual way. The resin
sticks the feathers together so that the
pin feathers come out with the others,
saving much trouble. Apply about a
half tea-cup full of the resin to fowl.
Use the common crude article. 1t is
cheap stuff and its cost is made up ten
times over by the labor saved.-Poult,y
World.
SALT AS MANURE.-Common salt has
been employed as a manure from very
early period with very good results. 1t
was cried up so high, at one time, as an
almost universal specific, that, when the
expectations thus raised, were not full
filled, it fell into disrepute. There can
be no doubt that it is manure of great
value when applied in proper quantity
at the right time.
WhenAused as top dressing for wheat
at the rate of four and five bushels per
acre, it increases the crop considerably
at trifling expense. 1t is also good
top dressing for grass land. From prac-
tical experience made in England, it
was found that six bushels of salt, cost
ing three dollars, increased the crop of
hay one ton per acre, over that portion of
the field to which there was not any
dressing applied; while one hundred
weight of nitrate of soda, costing $3.50,
caused an increase of only twelve hun
dred weight per acre.
In comparative trial of salt, nitrate
of soda with rape dust as top dressing
for wheat, it was found that nitrate of
soda alone gave 1852 pounds of wheat,
exclusive of straw, for 81 shillings, Brit
ish, or Us. I'd per bushel, nitrate with
rape dust gave 400 pounds of wheat, for
43s Cd, or IS Cd per bushel and common
salt gave 472 pounds Of wheat for IS Cd,
or Cd per bushel. These experiments
also demonstrate that salt has a tendency
to improve the quality and increase the
sfxyA f tInr in tor ratt IN
than that of the straw.
The principa, reason why salt proves
to be useless, is its previous existence in
sufficient quantity in the soil. With
lime, salt is of great service in making
up compost heaps. A sprinkling of salt
over farmyard manures, either in the
manure pile, or when it has been drawn
to the field, has been found very bene-
fetal to the crop.
DRILLING WHEAT.-A singular dis
cussion arose in the papers last fall as to
whether there was really any advantage
in the drill over broadcast sowing. 1t is
strange to find such subjects come up.
TO experienced minds it is like arguing
whether we had not better abolish reap
ing machines and return to the old
cradle, if not indeed to the sickle at once.
To us a more reasonable matter would be
the width Of the drills. We do not
know of any extended and satisfactory
experiments in the country, so as to test
the matter beyond question. At any
rate, what foreigner would call very
close sowing is the rule here. In En-
gland, however, where close calculation
is much more the rule in farming among
the more intelligent than with us, there
is growing feeling of wide drills. Some
set them as wide as ten inches, and the
reports, especially this year, are gene
rally in favor of the wide drills.
The great trouble with most of the ex-
periments Of this kind is, when made in
experimental grounds, that they extend
but over single season, when it is only
after trial through series of years that
general rule can be formed. 1t makes
great difference, for instance, whether
the experiments are made through dry
season or moist one. In dry season
like the present, when there is deficien-
cy of moisture in the ground, wide
row will have the advantage over the
narrow, as there wonld not be enough
for all. In other seasons when there is
more moisture, and enough for all, the
result might favor closer rows. So also
the nature of the soil might make much
difference. A soil which does not dry
out easily will permit of closer sowing.
The one element of moisture. for the
growing crop alone makes considerable
element to be considered. Still an aver
age of years would show what would be
best on the whole, and we should like to
see such figures. Germantown Telegraph.
Household Helps.
CHEAP MoLAssEs One
tablespoonful lard, one cupful good mo-
lasses, one cupful boiling water, one tea.
spoonful ginger, one Of soda, salt and
-four. This is very. nice breakfast OF
tea cake, eaten hot with butter.
BEST DIET FOR CHILDREN.-At the