Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-12-31
AGRICULTURAL.

orange hedge should pillow the ground
now, so that the sods will rot, and keep
the soil mellow with the cultivator until
the plants are set out.
PROFESSOR SHELDON, in his new work
on dairy-farming, assumes that $50, OOO,-
900 gallons of milk are annually made
into cheese in England, and $4,000, 900
gallons to butter. The quantity of the
former product made is $4,000 tons, and
of the latter SO, 2S5 tons.
LAST year thousands of choice cattle
died from what was supposed by many
to be corn smut poison. This year there
was probably as much smut on the
corn as last year, yet we have not heard
of single death from that cause this
year.
THOROUGH undertaking and the use
of clover, manure aud superphosphates
have, at least, doubled the entire product
of the soil in some of the best farming
districts. Again, the infusion of the
best blood into our herds of cattle, sheep
and swine, has produced great change.
TWELVE quarts of milk day is quite
common for Kerry cows--the smallest of
British breeds--but several cases are on
record where they have given when
flush, during a period of several weeks,
as much 81 twenty two quarts, of quail
ity, the London Live Stock Journal says,
" inferior only to that of the jersey"
A FARMER cannot work his farm
safely without knowing all about his
soil. Every field should be studied as
to the effects of certain methods with
fertilizers upon it. Then the owner
can act with reasonable certainty. The
plan of experimenting with fertilizers
SHOULD be followed up in successive
years until the character of each field is
known.
WHEN once you have determined to
fatten an animal for beef let the process
be as quick as possible. Any stint in
feeding at such times will tend to make
the meat tough and dry. Stalled
animals will fatten more readily than
others and younger animals require
richer food than older ones. In winter
fattening do not forget that much de-
ponds upon the warmth of the stable.
The warmer the cattle are kept the less
food will be needed.
To find the number of tons in long or
square hay stacks, the following is the
rule: Multiply the length in yards by the
width in yards, and that by half the
altitude in yards, and divide the product
by Is. To find the number of tons in
circular stacks: Multiply the square of
the circumference in yards by four times
the altitude in yards, and divide by 100.
The quotient will be the number of
cubic yards in the stack. Then divide
by Is to get the number of tons.-Micr
igan Farmer.
HENRY STEWART, of New York, says
it is pretty certain that potatoes are
worth twenty-five cents bushel to feed
to hogs, cows or horses. They contain
15 or Is per cent. of starch and some
albuminoids; 81 pounds of starch are
worth l pound of oil or fat for feeding.
Potatoes are cheaper for stock food at
twenty five cents bushel than cotton
seed meal is at twenty-five cents ton.
AS raw starch is only partially digested
in an animals stomach, potatoes ought
to be cooked. If it will pay to cook
any thing it will pay to cook potatoes.
HORSES may make noise from vari-
Gus causes. They may suffer from a
thickening or an liberation of the
mucous membrane, or from paralysis of
the muscles of the respiratory organs
The same apparent result of be caused
by a peculiar affection of the larynx,
and many horses are what is technically
termed "high-blowers are very noisy
without being unsound. It is often q
nice question whether race. horse who
is noisy is affected in such a manner as
to interfere with his speed when hard
pressed.-iSatuday Review.
THERE is no better base for compost
than leaf mold of the forest. ALI the
dead animals of the farm, the refuse
brine and vegetables, the leached ashes,
the wooden rags, feathers of the slaught-
cred hens and hair of the slaughtered
hogs, should be scrupulously added to
the compost heap, If, on entering the
village grocery, you smell old brine or
putrid fish. offer the merchant to take
the nuisance off his hands. They will
make a valuable addition to the COM
post. If there is WOODEN or paper mill
or tannery in thevicinity, these estab-
lishments will furnish much refuse for
composing.
IT is said on good authority that beef
keeps up as high as it was seven years
ago. This shows the necessity of farm
ers who wish to increase their profit
making use of superior bulls to cross on
their common stock. Among the best
for the purpose of beef are Shortborns,
the Herefords, and the Devons. Bulls
of these highly superior breeds can be
purchased now st very low prices, and
farmers make a great mistake in not
availing themselves of these where they
are not alredy supplied. A Shorthorn
bull crossed on q Texas or any other
equally inferior cow, gives a calf worth
double, and sometimes thrice the price
OF that got by common bull.
MUCH nonsense is circulated in re-.
gard to the rapid loss of fertility of
dairy farms, by reason Of the carrying
away of the phosphates in the,milk. Now
1000 pounds of milk contains about
four to five pounds of phosphates, of
which nearly the whole is phosphate of
lime. OF this, less than one-half is phos.
nhoric acid which NAV he taken as the