Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-06-19
AGRICULTURAL.

Shipment TO Liverpool, via barge TO
New Orleans.
RFPoRTs from the peach-growing pen
insula on the Atlantic coast indicate
the yield this year will be the largest
ever known
THE United States exported s51, 752,
O6S worth of bacon and hams last year,
the greater proportion of them going to
the United Kingdom.
SALT FOR STRAwBERRIEs.-Sa is of
great advantage in strawberry culture.
From six to eight bushels to the acre
sown at the time of poisoning will be
found beneficial. 1t kills grubs and
keeps the ground moist, increasing
yield and quantity of fruit.
AN experiment IN feeding mich COWS,
conducted by Prof. Villeroy, of Berlin,
between the Hollanders (Holsteins) and
quarts of milk for 100 pounds OF hay
from the Hollanders, and 1913 quarts
| from the Devons, from the same guam
tity of hay. Barno Ockle in Wauken-
felde also made comparative expert
ment between Ayrshires averaging S06
pounds in weight, and Hollanders aver
aging 1016 pounds in weight. The
smaller consumed SO 10 pounds of hay
to 100 pounds of live weight; while the
Target breed consumed 28.10 pounds OF
hay to 100 pounds live weight.
Loss OF SHEEP BY DoGs.-According
to the returns of the department of
agriculture, the direct losses of sheep
| owners by the ravages of dogs reach a
million OF dollars annually in wool and
mutton, and the indirect loss in the re-
preston of sheep husbandry, and the
consequent waste of large percentage
of the grass crop is still larger. Reports
from $40 countries, representing about
one-fourth of the sheep of the United
States, shows total of 1925 sheep
killed during 1874; and even these
returns are not complete. In some of
| the states the loss is from four to
eleven per cent. of the whole value of
the sheep kept. In this state the loss
| is comparatively small, though larger
than it ought to be. This should not
bear against dogs generally, but only
''sheep dogs" a tribe without ancestry,
blood, or the 10 eanest kind of pedigree.
SQUAsHEs.-At a recent agricultural
meeting in Salem, Mass, the following
practical points we're brought out with
reference to raising squashes. First
if squashes were planted in season to
| give full crop one must fight the
small striped bug and the large black
bug. Keeping the vines sprinkled with
fine plaster was the best way to protect
them from the striped bug. A shingle
at each hill for shelter for the black bug
at night and trap from which to take
him in the morning was the best known
way to protect the vines from his
depredations. Some thought much, if
not all, that has been charged to mag
gots and borers should be charged to
black bugs. Farmers in the vicinity of
Lowell and Lawrence prefer to plant
after the Goth of June, with the ex-
pectations of smaller crops, but no
trouble from bugs, borers or maggots.
Hoo CHOLERA.-A farmer writes to
the Nebraska Farm that he has been
watching this dreadful disease for years,
and has found that wherever the fol-
lowing rules were observed there has
been no disease: 'Keep the hogs clean
inside and out. Do not feed rotten,
nasty feed, that is not fit for even a hog.
Give him dry, clean place to sleep,
and corn cObs for a bed. They are
much better than hay or straw, for they
absorb the moisture and do not sweat
the hogs. [ think sprinkling sulphur
on the cobs occasionally would be a
good thing to destroy ffeas and other
insects. Give hogs plenty of wood ash
es and charcoal mixed with salt. Give
/ OF
eopperas in it the better. have talked
with quite number of hog men of late
that practice the above in the main,
and they say they have never lost a
hog from the cholera"
| HINTS ABOUT RURAL HOMES.
ness is the grand aim of life, and to Sc
cure it's fullest blessings we must cult
vate the mind and all the graces OF the
spirit. We always associate leisure, in
nocence and peace with rural life, COM
bined with the kindred joys which COM
petence and contentment bring. Al.
most our first thought of a country
home is one of pure air, green earth,
gentle breezes ladened with the breath
of many flowers and whispering pleas
ure, and where every shade
| plOIlllSto COO1 dllu o"GSG ISpOSCs 1ho
thought of rural home is full of prom
ises of the fond ideal and of cherished
meditation. Every person ofsentiment
reverts to the country with pleasant an
ticipatiors; it is feeling inbred in our
very natures. Fields, meadows, and
groves, singing birds and fragrant flow
ers, running brooks and grazing herds,
are ever the delight of mankind.
Money-making is not one of the incen-
tives of country-residence,u upon which
a practical or a sensible man builds ar
| dent hopes. Nor does man of sound
judgment seek a county home upon
which to foolishly s9uander the fortune
! his industry and his economy have en-
abled him to accumulate through years
of toll and sacrifice and self denial. But
it is the place where he can realize the
cherished tastes of cultivated thought,
refinement and study-the place where
his fond ideals, long anticipated, be-
come the real enjoyments of rational
realities-the quiet abode of retirement
and domestic ease-the place of rest
the place where the alter is sacred to
| the affections, and where love radiantly
reigns supreme, and peace spreads over
the frugal board and joy is reflected
from face to face, making home happy;
where freedom and independence pro-
claim the man king, the woman queen,
and their darlings princes and prin-
cesses, in this rural kidgdom. Here
the greatest fortune is the
wealth of domestic affections,
and the sweetest sounds the
cadences or loving hearts. 1t is the
bower of retirement and the home of