The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1879-01-17
AGRlCULrURAL ITEMS.


of Hsece-cemmon sheep-2i pounds
per animal. Msrino and Cotswold will
average eight pounds per head.
Robert Bonner goes in for fast
horses, and between his stables in New
York city and his farm, he keeps nine
teen trotters; thirteen Of them have
trotted in . 90 or better, and one in
. 141.
If ycu have any milk to spare, that
is more than you want to feed to the
swine, after home treatment, convert it
into curd, and see how eagerly the hens
will consume it, and how they will
thrive upon it into the bargain.
1t has been pretty clearly demon
strated that good healthy seed, select
ed frem the home wheat field, as one
would select and save seed corn, will
not run out, bat on the contrary will
grow better annually.
Early potatoes may be easily pro-
duced by placing the seed-tubers in =
warm place until they sprout, then
cutting them into sets, but taking care
not to break the sprouts. Cover them
up at night with mats or straw.
A contemporary says that farm la
borers in Russia receive 81 per day and
good rations. We are at less to i'm
imagine where his authority comes from.
They do not receive half that sum.
Forty cents per day is considered good
wages there.
There is always good demand for
eggs, and fer fine poultry. As fowls
can be raised upon any farm at so little
expense and trouble, it should form a
portion of the business of every coun-
try family from Maine to Oregon.
One third clean straw, cut up with
two-thirds good hay, and the whole
moistened and mixed with g small DOR
tiOn of meal, win make palatable food for
horses in winter, and such as they will
eat eagerly, leaving none in the trough.
We pity the man who can sit down
contented before warm fire, when his
stock has not been carefully fed and
housed from the inclement weather.
POorly-housed cattle require twice the
amount of fOsd that animals do when
well protected.
They give their horses 4 certain
quantity of arsenic in England to beau
tify their coats, but it is dangerous
business, and ssme valuable animals
have Just been killed thereby in Cam
bridgeshire. Carrots mixed with a
portion of grain are better for that pur.
pose than any thing else.
Poultry should not be plucked too
soon after killing. If feathers are
pulled out while the blood Is still fluid,
the vesicle at the root of each feather
becomes engorged and the skin spotted.
Don't feed before killing; a fowl killed
while digestion is going on will hardly
keep week.
In giving carrots to horses, mix with
their grain, cut In small slices. By this
means the heterogeneous part of the oats
has no chance to pass of in a fluid
state, but combines with the portion of
the carrot, and forms a gelatinous
substance that Is retained to supply the
wants of the body.
Harness should net be kept hanging
In the barn where the cattlo are housed,
but IN separate room, as the ammonia
which imPregnates the air will decay
the leather. 1t is very easy to board
off a small room, and make it the har-
ness-rOom, wherein to shut up the more
delicate farm tools.
Large wheat-grewers at the West
have satisfied themselves that wheat
should be cut six or eight days before
becoming fully ripe. This will cause
the grain to be realized in it's most per
feet condition. The longer it remains
uncut after this stage, the eoarser it be-
comes.
If farmers would keep their sons
and daughters contented at home, give
them plenty Of good reading; it will
prove more attractive than any other
means that can be devised, az well as
fit them for future dealings witk the
busy world into which they must pass
by-and-by.
Some farmers carefully bed their
cows and oxen, as they do, or should
do, their horses. Animals thus treated
feel better, and are better. A farmer
wouldn't like to lie on the chamber
door himself; be wants something be-
tween him and the bare boards. Think
of it.
No investment pays so well as money
judiciOusly ly spent upon the farm in rea-
sonable Improvements Draining wet
land win pay from fifty to one hundred
per cent. on the cost every year. Good
stock pays vastly better than poor:
goal fences, neat lawn, well-selected
tI,'is trees, all pay large profits, as
well as adding to comfort and self-re-
spect
Shade trees are often planted too
near to our dwellings and too thickly,
as to make the house dark and damp
and cheerless. Large evergreens are
very much out of place on the sunny
side of the house, while they form an
appropriate. screen and wind.break |
along the cold and exposed sides of
our Buildings, Set ont trees-it is |
duty, but set them out judieiously.
Every family finds more or less bones
accommodating. Burn them with your
wood, and the ashes thus enriched is |
one Of the most valuable fertilizers. |
Money cannot buy an article which |
will go fertilize your soil. Bones thus
CONSUMED viii quadruple the value Of |
wood ashes, which in themselves are
among the best of soil-enrichers.
= ~