The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-06-07
far,Mers' Column.
Speed the PIOsU."
Farm Notes.

Calves and yearlings, and cows and oxen
as WELL when infested with lice, should be
freed at once by rubbing the skin with
mixture of sweet oil and kerosene in equal
parts. ....sl.- ....-H
A farmer of twenty-five years. expert
ence finds that it pays well to roll pasture
as well as meadows, wherever the frost has
loosened the grass roots. 1t may be well
to scatter little grass seed on the bare
spots. aaa.a7l .'salnH
In 100 pounds of dressed pork there ara
usually fourteen pounds ham, sixteen
pounds shoulders, forty pounds sides, six
teen pounds lard and fourteen pounds of
waste. The hogs products are now lower
than they have been since the war.
The Massachusetts Legislature have made
some attempts to have eggs sold by the
weight. 1t is evident that large egg
weighs more than small one, and it is
true that fresh egg is heavier than a stale
one. Eggs begin to lose in weight from
the time they are laid.
An English grape-grower, whose vines
were much affected by the mealy bug, APP
piled, with small brush, a mixture ola
pint of spirits of wine and four ounces of
petroleum. He describes the result as
wonderful )" the insects were destroyed
and the plants suffered no harm.
When cleaning the perches in the poul-
try house, it is necessary to apply the mix
ture of kerosene oil and grease to the I'M
derside as well as the top. This often neg
lected, and the lice gather there. Every
thing about poultry management should
be thoroughly done, to avoid failure.
If cabbage do not head properly, pinch
of salt to each head will be beneficial, or
better give them slight watering at night
with weak brine. This may again he re-
peated later in the season. A single wa
tering with quite weak brine is also excel
lent for watermelons about the time the
fruit is setting.
An acre of soil one foot deep contains
100000 pounds. An average acre of
American soil six inches deep, is estima-
ted to contain 1888 pounds Of potash,
1880 pounds of lime, 10000 pounds mag
nesia, 5000 pounds soda, 2,730 pounds sui
phuric acid, 1000 pounds phosphoric acid,
and 500 pounds chlorine.
Plaster is often very useful upon young
clover frequently doubling the hay
crop. Thus applied, it will serve to pro-
duce a good crop to be plowed in upon
distant fields where manure cannot be cas-
lily handled. One bushel eighty pounds,)
up to four, six or eight bushels even, may
be used to the acre as early as practicable
this month.
Sheep are often troubled with kind of
influenza caused by exposure to cold rains
and heavy dews at night. Try giving them
shelter at night and during cold rains, and
note the result. You may also give each
animal a half ounce of EPSON salts and
one drachm of ginger in IL gill Of water if
they are seriously affected. Common salt
should also be kept in convenient place
where the sheep may have access to it
whenever the cravings of appetite may
lead them to indulge in this excellent and
cheap medicine.
A hen will, in oil probability, consume
the weight of her eggs in grain during the
process of laying them; but her body is
still left and is in fair condition too, and
the flesh of fowls is always in demand in
markets frequented by epicures. For cul-
mary purposes there is perhaps no egg
richer than that produced 10y the turkey.
AS turkeys eggs are seldom marketable,
except for Matching purposes, it is great
boon for the housewife when her hen tur-
keys produce a late clutch. Young hen
turkeys are generally pretty good layers,
seldom wanting to sit early in the season;
but barnyard hens are the great egg pro-
ducers ..
1t hardly need be said that, if the seed
is not good, no good crop can be hoped
for. The necessity for selecting seed with
care has been maxim of agriculture for
thousands Of years. The Oldest books tell
of it. And yet the success ofpersons who
make business ofdoing this, is now made
a mine days wonder" Unfortunately it is
forgotten again in nine days, and we 60 on
sowing tile seed just as it comes from the
sheaf. 1t is good plan to sow, at least
small strip in the field, with the best seed
to be procured, upon ground prepared in
the best way, and cut this by itself at har-
vest, and thresh at once for seed. But if
this pays, why not grow the whole crop in
the same way9 A good farmer should
have no grain that he cannot use for seed
none that is poor, light, shrunken, or mix
ed with cookie and garlic.