The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1878-01-19
Farm Notes.

A Vermont sheep breeder recon-
mends o tablespoonful of sulphur to
two quarts of salt, as feed to sheep
that will exterminate ticks. Feed
this twice mouth.
Farmers should use every means
for informing themselves in regard
to public affairs. Agriculture is suf-
fering from bad legislation and pub
lie neglect, because farmers have not
taken care to inform themselves and
exert their proper influence in and
on our law making bodies.
Soft soap, says the Country Cen
tlemaii, is an excellent wash for fruit
trees and will not injure them. Lin
seed oil has proved injurious in some
cases and useful i'll others. Oil APP
piled while the trees are dormant
will generally become dry, hard and
harmless before the leaves expand
and growth commences, and no harm
Will he done; or, applied to the
rough exterior of trees several years
old, it will not penetrate To tire
green bark. 1t appears to be par
ticularly fatal to young peach trees.
Preserving Posts. August. Starr,
of Madison county, ILL.,, says: "Some
twelve years ago l had some stakes
for a nursery made of pine inch
boards, three inches wide, sharpened
to a point, and then boiled for a
short slime In a solution of blue Wit
riol, and they are to-day lying about
in the field now as sound rs the day
they were made, while grape stakes
coal tarred do not last much longer
than when left without" From long
experience vitriolized poplar posts
have been proved to be as lasting as
red cedar. 80.
If u merchant were to set up half
a dozen stoves in his store and at
tempt to run little fire in each and
all Of them, burning only fuel enough
for one or two good fires, every one
would unhesitatingly pronounce it
remarkably foolish. The farmer in
attempting to keep more cattle than
he has hay and grain to feed is doing
the same thing. The cow is really u
machine for making hay and meal
into flesh and milk. just as stove
receives the wood and imparts heat,
the COW receives food and returns
milk and beet. And as the stove
can throw out no heat without fuel,
SO the COW can return nothing with
out food. Ii man had only two
cords of wood there would be no use
in his obtaining three stoves and at
tempting to keep a fire in each of
them all winter with such IN insig-
nifcant quantity OF wood. And the
same principle applies to cattle. 1T
q man has only hay enough to keep
six animals well, it is extremely fool
ish for him to try to keep eight
n. E. Homestead.
High bred animals are rarely prof.
table for the farmer, except for the
propagation of improved grades by
crossing Old natives Or common stock.
Hence farmer who has at large ex-
pense procured flock or herd of
pure bred animals, finds them dete-
riorating in condition and appear
ance, and less productive than he ex
pected. This has been the almost
universal experience of farmers. In
selecting animals for purchase, those
that have the most attractive APP
pearance are generally chosen, with
little regard to anything else than to
please the eye: The largest and the
best proportioned, or those OF the
most fancied colors, are preferred
because these are the most conspicu-
GUS points, and they appeal to the
sight rather than to an expert judg'
ment. The points which make pure
bred animals valuable to a farmer a'
a means of improving his heard are
not these, but such as lie deeper and
require experience and judgment t.
detect. The fine bone, small offal
quantity of flesh, vigorous constitu.
ton, and hereditary excellence, d,
not always in fact, rarely-accom'
pany excessive size or attractive APP.
pearance; but the former go to make
up the true value of an animal fol
the farmer who seeks to improve hi
stock rather than the latter New
York Times.
Hay, Grain and Water.
The following, from the Western