Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-08-23
THE FARM.

ing the draught of 1868 many Aocks
were ruined by want Of water. | know
OF "A striking instance where the animals
wasted away and were sent to Chelms-
\ ford market in evil condition, the own
er being ignorant Of the cause. The
dealer, who bought them +" for song"
first examined the whites Of their eyes,
thinking they must have had the rot or
the jaundicc; but seeing all right 50
far he found that water was the only re-
storative required. Grass III II succu-
lent state contains seventy per cent. of
moisture, but when dry, much less. The
same remark holds good for clover, etc.
When We give cake, corn, malt, combs,
bran, etc, which we all do, il becomes
absolutely necessary to provide water,
Or the animals will not thrive. Give the
opportunity Of Judging for themselves
by an always avallablesupply, and they
will exercise Il proper discretion III tie
matter. An iron water cart is ON most
farms san indispensable requisite. When
food is too wet and sloppy, dry cotton
cake Or grain is 4 good profitable rcgu-
lator. Turnips and mangcls are dispro-
porhonatcly watcry as food for animals;
hence the losses occasioncd BY them,
especially with breeding sheep. They
contain fully nine parts Of water to one
part of dry food. Ninety per cent. Of
water IS toomuch; sixty-iiycto seventy
SIX per cont. in pasture grass il TIE
more natural and proper proportion.
Tho human animal frame has seventy
five per cent. Of water, Just as good
grass holds. Meat is dear ITS food, be-
cause it contains, in the lean portions,
sevcnty-iive per cent. of water. No won
der that bread and cheese arc found
far more economical Mdrh Lane IA
press.
RAISING TuRNIPS. The Massachusetts
PioughDian urges the use Of turnips Us
food for stock, and tells how to grow
them successfully ms follows: 80" The
time for sowing the flat or English tur-
nip IS now here, and Us this is Il crop
well worthy of the farmers attention, il
few suggestions us 10 its culture may be
reasonable. IN the first place we would
like to disabIsc the minds Of farmers Of
the common prejudice against turnips
US food for stock. We hear it often Oh
jeetcd to them that they are watcry,
nnsrlbstantlal food good for drink, but
worthless for making muscle or fat. A
farmer once said to us, 81 followed
| your advice last summer and raised IN
acre 600 bushcls) of flat turnips and
fed them TO my sheep, but ! could not
see but that my flock consumed Us
much hay us ever. All the good the
turnips did was to give the sheep i good
appetite for hay" "WcIl. we replied,
How did your sheep turn ont this
spring. "Ncver had them do better;
the sheep arc IN good condition, and
the lambs are splendid" Have yoll
weighed your wool and noticed your
pile Of sheep manure" we asked. con,
yes; mono had such heavy tlecces, and
We hayc lots Of manure. We could
not help laughing 1T the man for con
demning turnipsa us worthless after such
mi experience, and told him we desired
no better testimony in their favor. If
the turnips kept his sheep in good
health, made large flecccS and splendid
lambs, he ought to be satisfied, even if
! his flock did consume as much hny as
ever, which we questioned and of which
he was not certain. The testimony Of
this farmer is corroborated by hun
drcdS by all, indeed, who feed tumips
Systematically and watch the results;
still comparatively few farmers raise
them III largo quantities, and we are
confident that one reason is that they
do not fully comprehend how easily
this crop is cultivated, Perhaps they
have tried them on old land from which
tho potash and phosphates had been
exhausted 10y long tillage, and
have become Disguised with the small
yield. If any one supposcS that turnips
have little nutrition in them and can
therefore lie raised on barren sand lie
is mistaken bothln his premise and con-
clusion They require il rich soil, and
this fact i'll itself is pretty convincing
proof that they are made Of something
besides air and water. Turuips belong
TO the Brarrica (cabbage) family, and
everybody knows that cabhagcs furnish
rich food and require rich food. Analy-
sis shows that the turnip, like the pota-
to, is Il potash plant, Us its ash is nearly
half potash. Common salt enters large
Il into its composition, nearly fourteen
per cent, while sulphuric and phos-
phorc acids make up about twenty per
cent The proportion Of nitrogen varies
greatly with different specimens, rang
inc from three u five rcrcent. Now is
g the simple mode Of raising turnips.
Cur mode is TO raise them on land from
which sc had taken crop Of early POI
tatocS. We plough this land and top
dress is with arch compost made Of
muck OF leaf mould or turf rs the ha-
sis. with night soil and wood ashes is
the active fertilizers. (lfnight soil can
not he obtained We'll rottrd barn yard
manure will answers With this COM