The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-10-07
FARM NOTES.

In curing tobacco, it should dry slow
ly, and yet not pole burn. Very much
depends on the weather. Rapid drying
tends to produce light colors, which,
usually, are not desirable.
KEEPING sheep is pleasant and profit
able, if attended to properly. Wool Is a
sure thing every year, and brings cash.
1t has its ups and downs, but let any
man make up his mind that none but his
wife or his administrator shall sell his
wool for less than fifty cents per pound,
and he will conn out all right. So talks
m eastern contemporary.
FROM a late Paris journal we learn
that the French Forestry Department
have arrived at the conclusion that for
ests greatly increase the water supply
wherever found. From close observa-
tons made it is found that rain falls
much oftener and more abundantly in
wooden tracts, and that, while the leaves
and branches give back the water quick
ly to the air, they prevent rapid evapora-
ton from the ground, and are thus favor
able to the formation of springs.
Corn loses one-ffth by drying, and
wheat one-fourteenth. From this the
estimate is made hat it is more profit
able for farmers to sell unshelled corn in
the fall at 70 cents than st 81 a bushel In
the following summer, and the wheat
81. 25 in December is equal to $1.50 in
the succeeding June. In the case of po-
tatces-takipg those that rot and are
otherwise lost with the shrinkage, there
is but little doubt hat between October
and June the loss to the owner who
holds them is not less than 80 per cent.
A CALIFORNIAN claims that in seven
years trial, exposed to all possible vicissi-
tudes, and subjected to early and late
planting on all kinds of land, the Ana
hiem Odessa wheat has never been
known to rust. 1t stands hot dry spells
and north winds before which other
varieties are known to fail, besides
which it has been known to produce
forty bushels to the acre on strong alkali
soil that had failed to raise any other
crop and would not sprout corn. Moth
ing was said about the marketable quail
ity of the wheat, but if it has standard
value in addition to all these qualities it
looks very much as if it could be intro
duced into Oregon, and especially to the
dry alkaline lands East of the Noun
tains, TO good advantage. = Prairie
Farmer.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Country
Gentleman believes that every species of
bird, large and small, is subject to the
gapes. The young of the robin are
often troubled with them. 1t is also be-
lieved that many chicks thus afflicted die
of starvation, on account of their inability
to swallow. This parasite disease is oc-
casioned by a number of small worms in
the throat, producing inflammation. The
fowl is oftentimes relieved by the use of
n stiff horse hair or a quill stripped of
its feathers within an inch of the end,
which, when carefully used, will remove
some of the worms. Care and proper at
tention to fowls will ward off the disease.
Pure water, wholesome food and suffi-
cient room for exercise will seldom fail
in preventing its appearance.
SOME time ago we remarked that an
acre of swamp muck of good quality,
three feet deep, was actually worth $685..
600. No doubt such a statement is sur
prising. So was the statement of DIR.
Lawes, of England, that a ton of bran
fed to COWS returned more than it cost in
manure. Swamp muck, free from sand,
contains two per cent. or forty pounds Of
nitrogen in a ton. Nitrogen is worth IL
the market twenty-five cents per pound,
so that a ton of swamp muck is worth
$40 for the nitrogen in it. All that is
needed is to work up the muck, SO as tc
make the nitrogen available. An acre
of swamp muck three feet deep contains
$500 tons, and would require eight
months to draw out, ut ten loads a day.
Few persons realize the value of the fer
tilizing elements of common waste mat
ters which lie under their feet, and the
innumerable tons of matter that may be
available for fertilizing purposes, anc
that much of the neglected
materials represent a vast amount o
wealth. American Agriculturist.
IT has been stated by some of our ag
r%icultural papers that n objection t.
the Southern cow-peas for the North j
that the season is too short to admit o.
their ripening seeds. This is one of thos'
error that occur from p~erfunctory exper
iments. The variety of cow-pea callet
"Poor Land" ripened seeds at the Rura
Farm in large quantities by August 18th
This variety is, indeed, one of the bes
for Northern fields. The seeds germin
ate freely and produce an immense
amount Of vine, which completely cover
the earth for a space of not less than si1
feet. Those who have tried the mixet
kinds which we distributed last season
and who would pronounce them a failur'
- n