Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-02-13
FARM AND HOME.
Agricultural NotAa.

0AtAA 0AVO AOxk0s
Agricultural Notes.
COOP breeding without good feeding
will never give fine stock. Good feed
ing alone, however, will do it, though it
may be much advanced by careful breed
ing.
PASTURES of the best kind will pro-
duce more milk of the best quality than
any other feed. A quart of meal, twice
a day, is worth something in promoting
gentleness.
WHEN the farmer finds an abundance
of dew in the morning he is aware that
the day will be fine, because due is
never deposited in dull, cloudy weather,
but only in clear, calm nights, when the
cold currents of air are not mixed with
those of warm temperature.
HEN manure, which is usually wasted
on the farm, when properly applied to
corn or other crops at planting time, has
given the best OF satisfaction, and the
experience of those that have used it is
that it is far ahead Of any fertilizer that
can be bought in the market at $40 per
ton.
SEVERAL correspondents write to an
nounce the complete extirpation of rats
and mice from their cow-stalls and pig
geries since the adoption of this simple
plan: A mixture Of two parts of we'll
bruised common squills and three parts
of finely chopped bacon is made into a
stiff mass, with as much meal as may be
required, and then bake in small cakes.
which are put down for the rats to eat
English Standard.
Now let every farmer set about the
work OF the coming season; complete
every preparation, have the plows and
machines all in perfect repair, secure
now the best seed of all kinds for the
spring planting, and scatter the manure
where it is wanted while the ground is
frozen. Look well now to the stock,
feed literally, water regularly, and with
good, warm shelter, the stock will be
kept in y thriving condition that will
amply pay for the care and attention.
For keeping beef perfectly sweet for
using fresh, the following method is
recommended by a New York state farm
err: "Cut the beef in pieces to suit your
convenience, expose it where it will
freeze very solid, wrap each piece in a
separate piece Of paper, securing it with
Irvine, and bury it in a bin of wheat. If
you have nc wheat, peas, barley or any
other heavy grain will answer a good
purpose. l have kept beef fresh and
sweet in this way from the LIST of Janu-
airy to the lst of April. l have had
some beef kept in this way which was
better and more tender on the LIST of April
than on the week it was killed"
AS a general thing, a new wagon is
very much preferred to an old one. A
very old one is sometimes during the
first year after its purchase a great deal
more expensive than a new one. Better
pay $50 for a new one which will run
five or ten years without costing a cent
for repairs than to pay $40 for an old
n which will take $40 a year, besides
causing a great AMOUNT of inconvenience
and the loss of much valuable time to
keep in order; and which, by the time
the new one would need its first and in
expensive repairs, will be utterly worn
out and useless. Better run in debt a
little for a new n than to buy such an
old n as that. Indeed very old wagons
are generally expensive property.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Rural New
Yorker, speaking of the shiftless method
of farming in the west, says: at is the
unsurpassed fertility of our soil that
leads to all this. 1t needs no manure for
its first crops, and the few years in which
it produces well without it are Just suf-
ficient time for farmers to acquire lazy,
improvident habits about taking care Of
their manure. 1t is q common thing to
hear them ridicule eastern people about
their economy in saving, composing and
applying their manure to their lands.
Another trouble is, there are too many
producing corn, and the supply seems to
be greater than the demand in about five
years out of six. Every farmer here is
expecting to make money to pay his
taxes, improve his farm, and pay the ac-
debts of years, by growing on
h~alf-worn-out old soil foul with cookie
burrs, twenty and twenty-five-cent corn.
FARMERS who may wish to avail
Of the fertilizing qualities of
the muck of a convenient swamp, will
note that such manure is only advan-
under certain circumstances. If
vegetable matter is not fully decom-
posed, or contains much fibrous material,
It is hardly probable that it would be of
value as a manure on land. On
contrary, if very fine in texture, and
where more or less animal matter has
been washed anfOIry ~,
result Would be promised. Much would
also on the character of the soil.
II already well suppiied with vegetable
the effect would be less than the
Did, worn land, with vegetable matter all
worked out. Any sort of swamp muck
is useful in stables, yards, or in
compost heaps, if previously we'll dried,
is nearly useless if wet.