Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-10-23
The farm aud fireside.

Why CorroN SEED KILLS Hoes.-A wri
ter in the Macon Telegraph and Messenger
argues that it is lot at all improbable that
much of the mortality among swine in Geor,
gia, and ascribed to "hog cholera" is the re.
suit of eating fresh cotton seed, to which they
have frequent access at the gin house or when
carted to the field and spread out for manure.
In proof of this suspicion, he cites the follow
ing experience:
ave have lost scores of hogs both in Liber.
ty and Baker county, from the eating of fresh
cotton seed, and took some pains to investi-
gate how the poison operated. Strictly speak.
ing, there is no poisonous element in the seed
itself Repeated examinations of the intes
tines after death, shows their action to be
purely mechanical. The hogs gobble them
up without proper mastication, and the seed,
stimulated and warmed by the fluids of the
stomach, forthwith begin to swell and sprout
It is this termination that causes the death
of the animal. AS a proof of this, when the
germ has been destroyed by long exposure to
the weather or steaming, hogs will eat the
cotton seed with impunity. We have seen
them burrow for weeks in a pile of old cotton
seed in fermented state, eating them ad
libitum, without injury. Indeed, the writer
has used cotton seed to fatten his meat hogs
mixed with rice flour, bran, turnips, potatoes
or loose corn, and thoroughly boiled, with the
happiest result. Even in a green state they
are excellent food for cattle and sheep, al
though the butter produced from the milk o.
COW fed chiefly upon cotton seed is white
and cheesy in its consistency"
BoRAx IN PRESERVING MEAT.-Just now
different opinions are being expressed abou
the use Of borax in preserving meat. M. LII
Bon has found that, while it preserves tht
meat very we'll, the meat so preserved-taker
after few weeks-causes serious intestina
trouble. Borax, he says, taken in small re
peated doses, is poisonous substance, and 1t:
use in meat-preserving should be severely
prescribed. Various companies that have
commenced preserving American meat with
borax, have had to give it up. M. LIE Bor
considers it indispensable to give up the use
of chemical substances, even salt, in mea
preserving. The most nutritive part OF the
meat is the juice, of which 30 to 40 per cen
of the weight of the meat can be got by
pressure. Now, when meat is plunged ii
a saline solution, or its surface is covered
with powdered salt, exchanges take place
very rapidly by endosmose between the solu
bic principles Of the meat and those of th'
saline solution. The latter are substituted
for the former, and the meat, though moi
much changed in aspect, ultimately loses tht
greater part of its nutritive qualities. es.-Bosto'
Journal Of Chemistry.
SMALL FEEr.-For the sake Of having
small feet, many an otherwise sensible woman
will martyrize herself by pinching those un
lucky members of the body into boots SIX
too small AS natural and necessary re
suit of such pinching confinement, the foo
becomes deformed and larger than it would
naturally grow, with large joints and toe:
turned from line parallel with the foot, te
say nothing of the troublesome corns, so an
noying and crippling to a large class of young
women. The worst results Of this Gripping
custom of wearing small and narrow boots is
felt by children when allowed to outgrow theil
boots 1t is poor economy to allow the young
to wear boots when the feet have become
too large for them, since deformity Of the fee
is easily produced at this time. When the
boot is too short and the heel too high, the
ingrowing of the nails is perfectly natura
result Children will have sufficient ills tc
contend with without crippling from deform
ed feet, the most prominent cause Of which il
small and badly. fitting boots and shoes.
TAR ON FRU1T-TREEs.-According to the
experience of Mr. Henry Reynolds, Of Mont
gomery county, N. c., tar is perfect remedy
for SCARED and sun-cracked apple-trees. He
says that by coating with new tar the trunk
of q favorite fruit bearer that was cracked
and so decayed that the bark was dead and
would peel off, he has restored it fully. He
spplies it to all branches that show signs o.
decay. Since practising this cheap remedy
he has not been troubled with insects. BY
applying tar to the trunk, and clearing away
the surface at the roots, so as to let it rur
down on them, peach trees, badly damaged by
borers are fully restored. Replace the dirt
and you will have no more trouble with the
tree for two years or more. If the tar is ap
piled to young trees, the borers will not trou
BILE them at all. He states that the coating
should be applied in the Winter or early ir
Spring, with new tar.
OUNCE WEIGHT.-Sometime we are at 8
loss for an ounce weight, when, perhaps, We
have one at hand without knowing it. Jus
take three old.fashioned copper cents, or five
of the present two cent pieces, or ten of thu
present nickel cents, and we have at once 6
good ounce weight. A nickel cent piece may
be considered good A grain weight. Some
suppose an ounce of quinine, or of any othel
medicine bought from medicine store il
4SO grains, but not so; an ounce by buying
and selling wei ght, whether it be medicine Of
anything else, is just 4373 grains.
p@ Did you know that birds and other ami
mails, when collected together, have curious
technical names? 1t is proper to say, GOV
ey partridges, nide of pheasants, a wisp O
snipe, bevy of quails, a flight of doves,
muster of peacocks, siege of herons, brood
of grouse, stand of plover, a watch of night
engales, a swarm of BEES flock Of geese, {
cast of hawks, heard of swine, skulk O
foxes, pack Of wolves, drove of cattle, 6
herd of buffalo, troop of monkeys, a pride
of lions. sleuth of bears, shoal Of her
ring, and bevy of schoolgirls.
To PREVENT Stoves FROM SMOKING
There is very simple way of avoiding the
disagreeable smoke and gas which always poul
into the rooms when fire is lit in stove
heater, or fireplace on a damp day. Put
in the wood and coal as usual, but before
lighting them, ignite handful of paper OF
shavings placed on top of the coal. This
produces current of hot air in the chimney