Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1880-05-06
HINTS FOR FARMERS.

HINTS FOR FARMERS.
An excess Of salt in the food retards
: the fattening Of animals.
BUTTER must be packed while PERFECTLY
fresh. Immediately after the final work.
ing it should be put away in the
packages. IS
THE secret for manuring the corn is to
keep the fertility near the surface
when applied, and it is rare when another
course is advisable.
To increase the yield of rich milk give
cows every day water slightly warm and
slightly sailed; in which bran has been
stirred at the rate of one quart to two
gallons of water. -. ~.
THE soil OF q young orchard may
be kept in cultivation until the trees
begin to bear; grain should never be
grown except Indian corn, but potatoes
and root crops are the best. ~-'@. 800
Cows when they expend vitality in
labor eat more, when they expend it in
keeping warm they need more food, and
when they either lay on fat, or produce
milk, OF grow, need food in proportion.
TNcTURE Of iron is practical remedy
for foot rot in sheep. Keep the sheep
on dry floor, pare away the loose
horn without injury to the vital parts.
and then make daily application Of tine
ture of iron. g..
POTASH is absolutely necessary to sue
cessful potato growing. The easiest and
best mode OF supplying it is in the form
OF wood ashes. It is furnished also in
soft coal ashes or in well-rotted yard or
stable manure.
An exchange says that white oak fir
lins soaked for two days in sour milk.
then washed out and soaked one dav in
strong brine, and then rubbed thorough
~ with salt make the best vessels for
packing butter. -.
Mr.. JOSEPH BARNARD, Hopkington,
N. H., tells the People that the C En-
glish white potato has been raised from
this place from fifty to seventy-fve years
and upwards of 100 years on the farm
above, and is the only variety that has
not gradually run out..''
In some places rats have become a
great pest in farm houses and barns
Copperas is the dread of rats. In every
crevice Or every hole where rat treads
scatter the grains of copperas and the
result IS stampede Of rats and mice.
But look out for poison.
If the soil is full of angle worms. it
is also, doubtless, lumpy and hard to
pulverize when broken up with the
spade or pillow. In this case draining is
the principal remedy. An application Of
salt, also ashes or sand, for mechanical
effect will prove beneficial.
In the manufacture of butter the
custom has become general after churn-
ing to wash the butter with cold brine of
greater or less strength, not only to
wash it once but twice, if the first wash
ing does not remove every trace of but
termilk.
FRUIT trees can be pr1ned at any
time, provided only small limbs or twigs
have to be cut. The rule should be to
so prune the trees that no large limbs
would have to be cut. Cuts made in
June will heal sooner than at any other
time; but it requires more care at that
time as the bark peels so easily.
Mr.. x. A. WILLARD expresses the be-
lief that ropy'' milk is due to weeds.
bad water and bad treatment to COWS.
and Professor Englehart once said he
knew it was weed. DR.. Lehman has
known it to stop when COWS were changed
from good to bad water, and as for
weeds the disease appears at all times.
In following the old rule of sowing
from two to four bushels of oats to the
acre, remember that on a heavy clay land
you will want more seed than on q light
soil. On any ordinary land three bush
els will give the best crop. The earliest
sown fields are usually the most product
i've.
A CANADA correspondent recommends
when butter will not Come placing a
small piece of fresh butter in the churn.
which will cause the globules to gather.
If that fails, the best way is to put that
cream in vessel and that vessel in an
other containing hot water on the top of
stove. Bring the cream to tempera-
trlre OF eighty degrees, then chr1rn.
DURING the past winter experiments
have been made by poultry dealers of
giving skim milk as poultry food. The
trial has proven a success. The milk
takes the place of animal food which Is
lacking in the winter, and the result is
that IN warm room with plenty of light
and southern exposure, there is no diff
Guilty in getting an abundance of eggs.
CHIP dirt taken from under the
woodpile is known by most to be an ex-
cellent # rtilizer for many kinds Of shrubs
and trees, and in view of these SELF
evident benefits derived from the use of
decayed wood, farmers can devote few
days time to no better work than hauling
sawdust for next winters use as bedding
or an absorbent Of liquid manure.
The depth to pillow depends upon cir
cumstances and conditions, different
soils and requirements. Nearly all the
root crops require deep plowing and deep
tilage. In old ground which has be-
come infertile by constant cropping.
deep blowing is beneficial in bringing to
the surface the fresher and richer sub
soil. On sod ground shallow blowing is
best for crops whose roots do not pene-
trate far into the soil, as in the case of
corn, etc. General y, however, deep
cultivation is best, as the soil is less sub
ject to extremes of wet or dry weather.
The small mites that infest chick
ems may be eradicated by using plenty
Of sulphur about the chicken house. It
should also be freely scattered in the
nests used by the hens. If you have
young chickens infested with these mites.
mix little sulphur with lard and apply
it to their heads and also under their
wings. Your chicken-house should also
be well cleaned and fumigated with burn
ing sulphur, but not when the fowls are,
present. Carbolic acid diluted with a
hundred parts of water will also destroy
the mites that are concealed in the cracks
of the woodwork about the hennery, if
washed or sprinkled with the solution.
A WESTERN farmer, to determine the
loss Of weight in killing and dressing
hogs, selected twenty hogs that had been
fed in the average way on corn, etc., and
weighing about $50 pounds. The shrink
age in this experiment. was trihe over
one-seventh Of the live weight. The loss
from the flow of blood in 6 sticking, was