Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-06-19
RURAL ECONOMY.


NJ I0Imcl WnO0e IbuU Will BIOW COtu
and grass q expect remunerative re-
turns unless he breeds meat producing
stock. In every grass and grain-produc-
ing district, in all parts of America are
found examples OF wellto-d0 and thriv-
ing farmers whose practice illustrates
the truth of this Observation-Disclosures
Lire-Stock Journal.
ANY farmer that has . small pond or
lake on his farm, or . ncver-failing
spring. 80 situated that BY damming up
the gully or hollow below it, q pond can
be formed, may make an acre or two
thus located the most profitable part of
his premises, by stocking the water with
fish. This can now be done with little
expense through any of the state fish
commissioners.
Fowls as well as animals and human
beings, love occasionally to have condi-
ments with their food. Cayenne pepper,
mustard or ginger, increases the vigor
and egg production of fowls This ap-
parently artificial diet is needed to sup
ply that which birds get in their wild
state-spiced berries, buds etc. 1t is
these that give wild fowl their peculiar
"game favor"
WRONG education, false views of life,
mistaken ideas of labor, and q desire to
make money too fast and without hard
work-these are some of the prime causes
which, with unfortuitous times and cir
cumstances, have produced such an army
of idlers. There is only one remedy for
back to the old doctrine that any kind Of
productive labor is honorable, and re-
ject the idea that white hands and an
untanned face are essential to respecta-
bility.-Ohio Farmer.
If an increase of eggs is desired in the
poultry yard, before very large sums are
expended in the purchase of everlasting
layers, we would recommend the keeping
of no hens after the first, or at most their
second year. Early pullets give the in
crease, and the only wonder is that people
persist, as they do, in keeping up . stock
Of old hens, which lay one day and stop
three, instead of laying three days and
stopping one. In some parts of England
it is the invariable rule to keep pullets
only n year. Feeding wilt do = great
deal-a surprising work, indeed-in the
production of eggs, but not when old
hens are concerned; they may put on fat,
but they cannot put down eggs. Their
tales are told, their work is over; nothing
remains to be done with them but to give
them a smell of the kitchen fire.
The Spirit of the Times shows very
plainly how very many horses are made
lame. 1t AYERS that "during the past
eight years about all horse shoe nails
used have been machine pointed nails,
cut from cold rolled iron. By this pro-
cess the fibre is destroyed, and the iron
forms in thin layers. When the nail is
being driven, the horny fbres, of which
the hoof is composed, separate these thin
layers at the point of the nail, causing
n Of the thin blades to enter the timer
parts of the foot, the other passing out
through the wall of the hoOf and
clinched." The farrier is thus deceived
but the poor horse is in agony. 1t would
seem that the best thing to be done with
a lame horse, is to pull off his shoes,
although this will not always remedy the
trouble, for sometimes the point breaks,
and is left in the foot. The best plan is
to use hot forged nails as those do not
split, and seldom break at the point.
CHEESE is struggling in the depths.
A large portion of it does not give salts
faction in the foreign markets. One rea-
son, and the principal one, is, undoubt-
eddy, that cheese factories produce too
much butter; the skinner is too much
used. A certain amount of cheese will
be taken for export to tropical climates,
or where q full cheese will not stand.
This supply, however, is very limited.
The English demand for full cheese is
not limited. The people at home will
not eat skim cheese. If palmed of on
them for cream cheese, they will cease
eating cream cheese at all. In fact,
from the low general character of our
domestic cheese, in years past, very few
persons have cared to eat it all. Good
cheese must become common, and the
people must become educated to taste
for it. This can never be done if the
consumer gets a fair slice to-day, and
the next perhaps a mean one from his
grocer; and yet the average grocer sells
cheese in just this way. It is luck and
chance; n day he buys a good one,
and the next day perhaps a poor one;
md af7 nom the same dealer. The
blame lies in the skinner. Certain fac
tories do not use this cheap implement,
and this is the class of manufacturers
who complain the least. They have a
reputation to maintain, and they do
maintain it.-Prairie Farmer.
M0sT of our western soils rest upon a
foundation as impervious to water as if
made of glue. A fertile soil lisa "build.
ing Of the most wonderful architecture,
with its columns, spaces and aqueducts,
not for the purpose of holding water
like a jug, but a great andcomprehensive
stOrehouse in which are deposited the
riches of the earth, the air, the sunshine,
and the falling rain. During the wet
periods when the land must lie in a
saturated condition, the porosity of the
soil is broken down; the fertilizing gases
are expelled from the hiding places and
the roots Of the growing crops are COM
PEELED to creep near the surface and
reach out into the sunlight for subsist-
ence. While this is the case, the few
scorching, dry days may ruin the farm.
er's hopes, by converting the soil into
bricks. and the roots of plants to dry
brauches. The water supply being kept
20 near, and within reach of the roots of
vegetation is a wise provision of nature
if the water line is Kept three or four
feet beneath the surface by artificial
means. This is secured by either the
tile draining, or open bitches, the tile
being preferable, for the reason that it
does not lessen the cultivated surface of
the ground. Many farmers have found
tile laying to pay for itself in . single
year, to say nothing of the satisfaction
derived from cultivating such 4 soil and
what may be gained in the healthful con-
dition of the climate Western Rural.
SOME men fail to make money even
from good fruit, because they are care
less or slovenly or dishonest in their
method of presenting it to purchasers.
Except in rare cases and for peculiar
purposes, all fruit should be ripe when
offered in market. IT it is not ripe it
should not find sale. 1t should be sound
also. If the quantity on Land