Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-08-16
The Farm.

| We wish every farmer would make
the experiment of picking off all the
fruit from at least one apple tree this
year, as soon as the fruit is as large as
acorns; and from another tree pick off
larger portion of the fruit at the same
stage, and note the results Whether
the bearing years can be changed by this
course, we are unable to say with GER
tainty. 1t has been often claimed that
the change might be made in this way.
| Cows pastured on rye will fatten and
give a greater quantity of milk than they
will when pastured on the wild range
OF fed corn IN the ear Even in winter
the butter has nice golden color and
sells well. If sown early on we'll pre-
pared land rye will afford more pas
turage to the acre during fall, winter and
spring than blue grass or timothy. Rye
pasture Is cheaper and easier to be had
IN winter than root crops, and grows
| faster IN the early spring than the usual
pasturage grasses.
PACKING BUTTER.-The tubs that we
have found best in use for packing
butter are new white oak pals holding
| fifty pounds. Scald them with boiling
hot brine, and then soak thoroughly
with cold brine, before packing the but
ter. When churning is ready to be
| packed away, sprinkle the bottom of
the tub with clean Ashton salt. and
press the butter down level with the tub:
sprinkle little salt upon it, and lay a
wet muslin cloth over it. 1t so remains
until the next churning, when the but
ter is packed in the same manner with
out disturbing that first packed. When
the tub is filled even to the top, cover
the butter with dry salt, lay cloth cut
to fit the tub over the salt, and fasten
down the cover. If the butter is good, a
tub so packed and kept in a good cool,
sweet cellar, will keep good for a year
american AgricukuaiS.
| CHIMNEY SWALLOWs.-The chimney
swallow is a well-known bird which
builds its nest inside unused chimneys.
The nest of this bird is somewhat like
that of the barn-swallow in shape, but
is made of small sticks instead of mud.
The sticks, like the little balls of mud,
are fastened together by means of a
| glue-like substance which is formed in
the mouth of the bird; for almost all
the birds which belong to the swallow
family are able to secrete this glue, and
make use of it in building their nests.
The chimney-swallows are usually not
abundant in the large cities, and so are
met with there only now and then; but
In small towns, and in the country, they
are very common, and nearly every I'M
used chimney has at least one nest.
| The birds feed almost entirely upon in
sects, and when the young brood is
Matched, the parents hunt for food by
night as we'll as during the day; there
fore you often may hear in the middle
of the night the twittering of the young
birds in the chimney when the old ones
return to the nest with the insects
which they have captured. Like the
barn-swallows, the chimneyswallows
are very sociable, and so many often
build in the same chimney that the
nests block up the f1ue and entirely stop
the draft. When heavy and continued
rains occur the glue by which the nests
are stuck on become softened, and the
old birds striking against the nests while
flying in and out break them from their
attachment to the bricks, so that they
| fall to the bottom Of the fue 1t is said
that, in 1857, during a long season of
wet, cold weather in June, four hundred
and eighty of these birds, young and
old, were precipitated down chimney
in Woodbury., Connecticut. Sometimes
the chimney-swallow and the barn
swallow build their nests in caves or
hollow trees, but barns and chimneys
are so much more safe and convenient
that they are almost always selected in
preference.
TIGHT BARNS FOR HAY-The general
opinion among farmers probably is that
barns with air-spaces between the board
ing are better adapted to cure and pre-
serve hay than barns with very tight
boarding and tight bottom But this
opinion is founded upon the supposed
fact that free access of air will assist in
carrying off surplus moisture, and pre-
vent heating and fermentation, which
supposed fact is not fact at all, when
applied to a body of uncured hay.
When this uncured grass is spread in
thin layers on the field and exposed to
the air, the moisture is carried off so
rapidly as not 10 permit any heating or
fermentation, but when placed in
thick body in a NOW, the heat, with &C
cess of air, causes rapid fermentation.
The oxygen of the air feeds the fermen-
tation, and thus becomes the active
cause of its destruction. This principle
is familiar to the good housewife who
preserves her fruit in an alright jar.
We tried an experiment some years ago,
which applied this principle to keeping
green clover. We took a large lnseed
oil-cask, unheaded one end, filled it with
green clover just in blossom, containing
all its sap, rammed in solid, replaced
the head, drove the hoops, and then
stopped all air-spaces with white lead
and paint. On opening, ten months af-
ter, the clover blossoms were found al
most as bright as when put in.
HOGS ON THE FARM--Every year the
Importance of raising our own pork be-
comes more apparent on this coast.
Our farmers find that there is policy as
we'll as profit in raising pork upon the
farm, Alfalfa fields make the best kind
of hog pastures at any time of the year
Grain fields are easily harvested by
hogs, and the stubble fields are easily
CLEANED by them. On many farms par
ticularly where dairying and grain grow
ing are carried on together, the cost of
raising a few hogs each year is nothing,
as they get their living upon what would
otherwise go to waste; but it pays to
feed hogs well; to keep them in good
growing order from their birth till they
are ready for the butcher. The hog
should be looked upon as a necessary
part of every good farmers stock. And
while he saves what would otherwise go
to waste, he should also be provided for
IN times when there is no waste feed. |
A few sections Of movable fence will
allow any grain grower to pasture hogs