Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-01-09
THE FARMERS COLUMN
Practical Notes.

o Practical Notes.
Il ENGLISH butter buyers refuse to han
a die butter tubs fastened with wires."
: QU1TE number of horses have beer
t poisoned in Kansas by being fed raw
castor beans.
s A WRITER in an exchange says: {"
F.; laid in a store of sod cut in pieces, 70
9 my chicken house last winter, ant
Y found it most valuable for the fowls
, | packed it in one corner of the hous,
and before spring the poultry had pulled
: it all to pieces"
THREE HUNDRED gallons of castor OF
were produced this year in st. Clail
County, ILL.,, alone. The oil Of Illinoi,
is said to be equal to that produced in
1evant, in spain, Provence, Brazil, OF
the West Iudies, and it is steadily i'm.
r proving in quality. About twenty
bushels of beans to the acre is considered
fair yield.
THERE would seem to be no end to
big crops this year. In the North we
have the largest live stock and corn
crops for many years, and now comes
along the South with All enormous cot
ton crop, amounting to 4,Sll, 1865 bales
against 1, 1875, 1923 bales in 1877. This is
the largest crop since that of 1S59.6O,
the greatest ever known.
THE following is on the wing, which
if true, we shall have to tally one for
whisky: Some years AGO [ was told
that a mcllowing drink of whisky or
beer given to SOW that refuses to let
her pigs suck, would induce her to adopt
! hn,> l., Il 80,
Dor who had worried all night with 81
valuable SOW, applied for assistance, and
advice being much cheaper and easier
than work, | urged him till he admin
istered half pint of whisky. 1t worked
like a charm. She received her eight
little ones with the usual porcine ex-
pressions of maternal satisfaction, and
has been kind mother ever since.
Will the readers of the Rura1 remember
this and keep on hand the said "half
pint" but don't drink it yourself, it
might have the same effect on your poor
self.-Rural World.
ONE of the adjuncts to the workshop
Of every farm ought to be set of tools
needed in mending harnesses, so that
the boys may, on rainy days, learn
new trade, and save quite an expense.
With harnesses, stitch in time saves,
not nine, but ninety-nine more. The
ssentials are, two avis, needles, waxed
ends, and a clamp to hold the piece to be
sewed. The last may be made out of
couple of barrel slaves fastened to
block, and frightened by a strap around
the middle. Some mending will nave
to 60 to the shop; but, in the course of
the year, quite sum can be saved by
merely sewing up the ripped and torn
places in the harness or padding. We
have found copper rivets, sold in half
pound boxes, of great advantage in
mending harnesses. Half-inch rivets
come into play oftenest, though few
three-quarter inch ones may be needed.
Exchange.
This very old mode, among tidy far
mers, to make their apple orchards look
nice, but which for many years has been
next to abandoned, is coming into vogue
again, and discussions are being held as
to the propriety of it. The German
town Telegraph says: ''What we know
! about the matter ourselves is, that we
do not think that it makes much differ
so far as the health and productiveness
Of the trees are concerned, whether they
are white-washed or not. In other
words, we do not think it pays. 1t
certainly has a tendency to close the
pores of the trunks, az we'll as that it
has an unnatural appearance. So far as
it is declared that the white-wash causes
the old bark to scale off and hiding
places of insects to be disturbed, and
this is about all that is clasmed for it,
how much better for every farmer hav-
ing an orchard, to scrape the trees
once year, or only every other year,
and follow it with washing of whale oil
soap or carbolic soap and water, applied
with short broom. This would be sure
to dislodge the insects, open the pores of
the trees, and give them a natural,
healthy appearance. This would do the
work efectually, and leave no room for
doubt or discussion. Whatever aid the
whitewashing of trees may be to their
health and productiveness, the best
orchards we ever saw, which bore full
crops for generation, were not white
washed, but scraped and washed with
soft soap"
We frequently. come across remon-
strances against keeping harnesses in
stables, the reason given being that the
ammonia prevalent there rots the leather
and soon destroys the harness. Now
this is beginning at the wrong end to
remedy an evil. We may talk and adj
wise, "year in and year OUT about the
matter, but harness will be kept in the
stable in spite of all. Where else can
the majority of people who keep horses
hang these trappings? A rich man may
have closet in which the harness may
hang safely from fear of ammonia and
all other dangers; but the average horse
owner willhave his peg behind the team,
because he can have no other way of
disposing of the harness. But the
trouble would end if the production of
ammonia were prevented. Enter an
ordinary stable at any period. but espec-
tally in the winter, when every Granny
through which the wind can come in is
carefully stopped, and what an offensive
odor offends the nostrils and initiates the
eyes. Is this odor of ammonia, strongly
alkaline and irritant, injurious only to
the harness? What of the horses, and
the tender membranes of the eye, the
throat and the nasal passage? Do you
think they are less sensitive than oak
tanned harness leather, we'll creased and
preserved as it is? By no means. If
the prevalent odors injuriously affect
the leather, you may be sure the eyes
suffer, the throat and lungs are irritated
and the nasal passages become infamed.
Then occurs the frequent moon-blind-
ness, ophthalmia, weeping of the eyes,
followed by Inflammation, white specks,
then follow coughs, bronchitis, pneu-
monia, heaves, catarrh, nasal gleet; and
by-and-by, when the blood has become
poisoned by the absorption of diseased
matter from inAamed and suppurated
membranes, faroy and CHAMBERS dread
full and fatal to man and beast, too
result. And while we think of saving
the harness and removing it to a purer
place, the beast which is worth dozen
sets Of it, is left to rot from these pun
gent gases without any help. Clean the
stables and the harness may hang in
them in safety and be sure, if the stable