Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-01-30
AGRICULTURE.

hUhASULl OhE.
AT recent farmers meeting in Mas
sachusetts, a speaker gave receipt for
making farming pay, as follows: g. Have
but one business and get up in the
morning and see to it yourself"
The absolute weight of soils varies di-
rectly with their porosity, and is greater
the more gravel or sand they contain.
Sandy soils are in fact, in point of weight
the heaviest Of all, while clayey land
weighs less, bulk for bulk, than any
other soils, except those in which veget-
| able matter predominates. The weight
of a cubic foot of dry silicious sand is
about 119 pounds, and the weight per
acre to the depth of one foot is 1902
600 pounds. While clay weighs seven
| ty-five pounds to the cubic foot, with q
total of 3,267 900 pounds per acre of a
foot in depth.
FEED sparingly of the common coil
cake" or chambers Scraps" that is
sold for use in the poultry yards nova
| days. A moderate allOWance-tWice q
weeks God for them. But over-feed-
ing this, or permitting hungry birds to
have constant access to it, in mass, is
detrimental rather than beneficial. 1t
will scour them, if fed too freely-and
induce laying hens to drop soft-shelled"
meal, alternated with scraps, for arti-
ticially fed fowls, is much better than
giving them the latter When they
have good grass run in the summer
season, the insect food they will gather
is all sufficient without any coil cake"
any way.
! CRoss-BREED SHEEP.-At the New Y ork
State Fair there were exhibited some
sheep bred from common MerinO ewes
and Il CotswOld ram. The fleeces of the
first cross measured five inches in length,
and the wool was as fine as the Merino,
and as easily cOmbed as that of Cots
void. The wool of the second cross, as
long as that of the pure Cotswold, was
still as fine as Merino wool. The car
cass Of the cross breed sheep makes
excellent mutton, and is nearly as heavy
as the pure Cotswold. We have fire.
quently alluded to the advantage Of this
cross, and the interesting example at
| Rochester proves how successful and
profitable a farmers sheep it would be.
The farmers sheep is undoubtedly the
Observation-Disclosures AU1cuAau7st
VALUE OF GOOD SEED-A farmer of
long experience says: The result of
my experience with at least thirty-eight
different varieties of wheat for years,
proves beyond doubt that good healthy,
unadulterated seed, selected and saved
as farmers select and save their seed
| Il Al
| least, but grow better. In June, 1876, |
| picked seven pounds Of the best center
heads of my wheat, and drilled it eleven
inches apart III rows, at the rate of only
forty pounds to the acre. 1t grew most
luxuriantly, and was entirely too thick
for large heads 1t attained a height of
six and one-half feet, and much of it
fell down. April 29th, it commenced
heading; was reaped June 18th, and
June Odd it was threshed, making, &C
cording to the report of committee,
over sixty-seven bushels per acre
TIE ESCAPE OF AMMoNIA.-The most
volatile but the best part of the manures
about the homestead, and IS, in great
measure, the cause of the strong odor
from stalls, barnyards, sinks, and privies
In the stable bedding of dry muck, a
couple of feet thick, will arrest and i'm
prisonthe fugitive, while q Slight cover
ing of leaves or straw will keep the
animals unsoiled on lying down at
night. The foulest stable will lose its
pungent odor in few minutes if over
laid with fine muck or pulverized peat.
Dry, and especially burnt, clay broken
fine, common ground plaster, and saw
dust, are also excellent absorbents.
The eXcrements should be removed
daily, and the litter, say once fort
night, or SO soon as it is saturated with
urine. Riches have wings" is an old
saying applicable to manural wealth,
and from every barnyard many a dollar
flies off into the air every year I'M
noticed save by the nose, and unfortun-
ately the usual warnings are seldom
impressive enough to induce the farm
er to take ordinary precautions to de-
tain the fleeing treasure.-Ras1M Neay
Yorker. #sa.as #'tf.
| THOROUGHBRED vs. COMMON SHEEP. -
A farmer in this country who is sup
posed to own as good common sheep
as anybody in this locality sheared his
flock, and after weighing the Heeces,
found that each sheep averaged two
and a halfpounds. Take the whole
number of sheep in this State and they
will not average more than the above.
Say that wool is worth twenty cents per
pound, the profits from each sheep will
be fifty cents. Take now an estimate
of tieeces of the thoroughbred Merino
and Cotswold, which will not average
less than eight pounds per head-the
net profits on each sheep, 81 so Of 81 10
in favor Of the thoroughbred will COM
mand a higher market value Now it
costs the same to raise the thorough
bred as the common sheep; the mutton
of one is as good as the other; the
profits of the WOOL of the thoroughbred
is three times greater than from the
common. Every farmer owning a
flock Of sheep should make it con-