The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-10-04
raGEORGE w. PECK.
l.- "Home Missionsry's" Views on Agri-
cult,rre and Kindred Topics.

We should study how to prevent the
calarities that bef,lll crops, and expert
ment ON preventives. For instance,
now. about the rusting of wheat. lis
there not something that can prevent
that staple product from rusting? If
was q farmer and had large field of
wheat. and there should seem to be in
dications of rust, would take piece
of flannel cloth, saturate it with sweet
oil, and go over it myself, and wipe off
the rust. Such process will work
wonders on shotgun. Why will it
not do on field of wheat? This may
seem impracticable to some, and may
be scoffed ut, but we must remember
that every new idea that has been adj
vanced by scientific men has been
laughed to scorn, until it proved sue
cessful.
Again, it is admitted that the rusting
of wheat is caused by rain and sunshine,
spread on little too thick Nature
furnishes rain and sunshine. but she
does not, ut all times, place them where
they will do the most good. She seems
to depend upon man to utilize what she
furnishes Now, why not erect awnings
over field of wheat, made so as to be
rolled up when you desire the sun, or
rolled down when you have got enough.
You arrange to control the elements of
nature on your cranberry marshes, why
not buy striped tent cloth, and control
the sun and rain on your wheat fields?
These tents would add to the appearance
of farm, and make good place for
tramps to sleep. Before leaving the
subject of wheat, permit me to allude to
the oft-repeated cry of chinch bugs. 1t
be summarily disposed of at very little
expense. Most farmers have self-rak-
ing reapers. 1t would be but little
trouble to attach fine-tooth combs to
the arm that holds the rake, and go
over the field and comb the bugs out of
the heads of the grain, as is done on a
smaller scale mt an early period in the
existence of nearly every man. If this
method is considered too wearing upon
the thumb nails, solution can be pro-
cured at drug store that will destroy
chinch bugs, or kill every head of wheat.
These suggestions are crude, but they
are thrown out in the hope that the in
ventive genius of the land will find an
idea that can be improved upon. The
elements, rain, and sun, and wind, and
cold are mt times against us, and there is
no rule that can be adopted that will
succeed always, and we get tangled
when we think how nature sometimes
slops over. For instance, up in La
Crosse valley this spring farmer got
drunk, and remained drunk three
weeks, while all his neighbors were SOW
4 L., h 49,, ,.1
furrow. They all pitied him and his
family, as they looked mt their fields of
wheat all dragged in nicely. He sobered
up about the time that wheat was
sprouting, and went to work and plowed
and sowed. The result was that the
wheat sown early was destroyed by rain,
rust, and nine kinds of bugs, and they
never cut it at all, while the drunken
man had twenty-five bushels to the acre.
/ do not mention this as an argument in
favor of farmers getting drunk for two
weeks in the spring, but to illustrate
how uncertain everything is in this
wicked world.
There are so many improvements that
can be inaugurated on farm that it is
hard to tell where to commence. If the
awning project is good for sun and rain,
why is not gigantic street sprinkler
good thing for drought, where a farmer
is not provided with water works and
hose? With sprinkler the field could
be kept wet, and the time occupied
would keep the farmer from going to
town with a two-horse team TO buy
spool of thread.
The artificial propagation of fish has
attracted much attention late years,
and the success of experiments has
shown that every farmer that has
stream of water on his land can raise
fish enough to get rich in five years,
four months and twenty-one days. The
Matching of fish eggs has become an
important factor in the food produc-
ton of the country, and many farmers,
whose setting around" has heretofore
produced nothing but patches on the
elbows of the pants, have found that the
noble industry of setting" is produc-
tive of much wealth. There is no labor
in Matching fish. All you have to do is
to procure eggs, place them in the
water, and let nature take its course.
A farmer who has good fish pond is
an object of interest, and he will find
that visits from city friends with fish
poles will be too numerous to mention
To raise fish successfully man needs
well-intentioned bulldog and shot
gun that goes off accidentally when it
is not loaded. The artificial propaga-
ton of amphibious animals will follow
the success of raising fish, and the time
is not far distant when every farmer
whose farm is located on the Fox river
will have school of hippopotamus.
These animals are easy to raise, and
can be artificially propagated, and the
selling price is quoted at S25, 900. From
the sale of two or three good hippopot-
anus a year the farmer would become
more independent than if he owned a
brewery.
Many farmers are discovering that
there is plenty of money in the dairy
business, and butter is getting to be an
everyday occurrence, and cheese fills a
want long felt. However, many men go
into the cheese business that do not I'M