Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-18
AGRICULTURAL.

hCE1PTS FOR HOG CHOLERA.-Iake
one teacupful of pulverized copperas
and mix with one gallon of salt. and
salt the hogs twice week regularly.
Ihls Is said to be Il sure preventive. and
has been known TO cure in many in
stances after the disease had COM
menced.
SANITARY REFORM ON THE FABN-De-
cayIng vegetable matter about the
house, around the walls. and in the cell
lar, are prolific causes of disease in farm
house. Ill-treatment of COWS. getting
them excited and then feeding the milk
to children is practice liable to be at
tended with fatal results Bad ventila-
ton, attended with impure air, causes
catarrhal and skin disease of our ami
mails, especially when obliged to breathe
the impurities Of decaying manure,
ventilation of sleeping rooms is urged
and naere outdoor exercise for the
farmers wife.-Trdnsaction Ne,g HdnaD-
shire agricultural Meeting.
SCIENCE AND FARMING Farmers are 4
thinking people, and, if anything, over
skephcal as to the advantage ofscience,
and rather give to the old ways even
when they believe in their hearts that
new-ones may be better If farmers
would take each newly announced
scientific truth which appears to bear
upon their business and test it upon a
small scale before forming Judgment
| OF It's Value-fOr example. if ii refers to
manure or seeds or methods of tillage,
test it upon two or three square rods of
land, or If to the care or treatment .Of
animals, upon one or two, before pro-
ceeding further, they would follow a
truly scientific method. No doubt BY
this they would meet with frequent dis
appointments, but on the other hand,
they would secure many beneficial re-
suits, which would pay them we'll when
fully carried into practice.-Rurdl Nev
Yorker.
EXHAUSTION OF Soil By Cows.-A COW
giving 1000 quarts of milk per year,
takes from the soil about fifteen pounds
of phosphate of lime, and, if the milk is
sold: that amount of phosphate of lime
will be removed from the farm. But
the amount is readily restored by the
purchase of 200 pounds of bran, so that
it is readily seen that as far as exhaus-
ton Of the mineral element of the soil
by selling milk is concerned there is no
! cerious trouble to be apprehended,
since the phosphate of lime is the most
important element removed Where
cheese is made on the farm, and the
whey is used for feeding to the hogs,
the loss is still less. If only butter is
sold, and the rest of the milk is fed to
| the calves and swine, and the manure is
saved, the loss to the farm will be of no
account, for in fact there will be no ex-
haustion of the soil thereby The ele-
mentS of butter are carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen, and these everywhere
abound in the air, in the carbOnic acid gas
and water which supports the vegetation
which is finally transformed into fat
and butter by COWS.
| NITRATE OF SODA ON WHEAT-A
writer in the London agricultural Gazette
says: My own experience this year,
from the use of II cwt. per acre of nj
trate of soda, used alone, was, [ might
almost say, marvellous | took in hand
small farm of IS acres, which had
been in bad hands for some years-twc
fields of respectively IA and Is acres
one of wheat, the other half wheat anC
half winter oats. Nothing could have
looked much worse than the wheat dur
ng the winter, so in the spring [ sowed
the nitrate on both fields, with the ex-
ceptiOn of about three acres of wheat,
on which put SCOT (which is greatly
used in this part of the country-West
| Herts We had some refreshing rain
shortly after the nitrate was put on
and in about a month the crops sprang
up, and there were no crops in our part
of the country which looked better
about the beginning of July. The straw
was long, snowy, and the ear long and
full; and [ hope to get a good crop OF
| both grain and straw from those twenty
two acres, which have scarcely had any
manure on for some years except this
dressing of nitrate, at the cost of about
30s per acre With regard to the ques-
| ton Of nitrate destroying white clover, ]
can only say that saw farm in Ian
cashire the other day, where top dress
ing of l cwt of nitrate and 3 cwt OF
bones had been used as top dressing
on oats and permanent grass seeds, and
never saw greater promise of white
clover than was springing up. [ should
like to have some ones experience Of
! LOp uI6SSllS Vi the ABOVE ulIALuIe OIL
pasture lands.
OUR DRAFT HORSEs.-The importation
of the best specimens of the draft horse
to this country from Europe goes on
apace, and we shall soon be in position
to challenge the world in the quality of
our draft stock, as We already are in our
rCadsters and running horses.
This importation of the draft breeds
is comparatively a new enterprise, but
! is rapidly making itself felt in the super
ior quality of the stock and dray horses
seen upon the streets of our principal
cities. Very early in the history of the
American colonies the importation OF
the best racing blood of England was
commenced, and it has been kept up to
the present time, so that there is but
little difference in the quality of racing
stock of the two countries at the present
day, but our draft stock has been per-
mitted mainly to take care of itself I'M
til within the last twenty-five years
Since that time there has been a con
stantly increasing demand for the best
! blood of foreign countries, and impOrta-
tiOns Of the choisest specimens of the
draft horse from England, Scotland and
! France have been numerous. Those
from the latter country having taken
the lead in point of numbers, especially
in the western states. We do not pro-
pose to enter into discussion as to the
/ comparative merits of these breeds. AL
have crossed kindly with our native
mares, and all have marked substantial
improvement, at least in the size of our
draft stock, and some of the very best
results have been obtained by com
minnlinr of the blood of tMn or more OF