The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1880-12-17

SWAMP MUCK. If the season remains
omen no better work can be done than
getting out muck from the swamp TO De
exposed to the freezing and thawing OF
the winter. 1t Is always valuable as an
absorbent, ana often contains much am
monia.
SHEEP are peculiarly sensitive to good
treatment. A good shepherd is always
gentle among his sheep. Ewes which are
TO lamb early ought TO be by themselves
and have better care as their time approach
cs. Feed few more turnips and give
them a little more liberal sprinklng of'corn
meal and bran, or oil cake.
A VERY valuable fertilizer is lost by not
saving the manure from the hen-house,
which Ia nearly as strong as guano. The
health of the fowls demands that the poul-
try-houses be regularly cleaned, and at
each cleaning the droppings may be placed
in a barrel, with alternate layers OF road
dust or coal-ashes, each layer an inch in
thickness.
CorToN seed oil cake meal is being large
" used and is worthy of being fed more
extensively. Cotton seed is used in the
Southern States with good results. The
meal should be fed mixed with bran and
best on cut hay. A little corn meal added
gives flavor and color to the butter. Rowen
or well cured lawn clippings are the best
food for giving color to cream and butter
In winter.
FLOUR of sulphur is simple and ef-
fective remedy against worms in pigs,
and the animals readily partake OF it when
mixed in cruel or other sloppy food. For
-pies under three months old, a teaspoontul
is a dose, and for older ones small table
spoonful 1t may be given four days in
succession, morning and evening, and re-
heated every other week. Give plenty OF
sour milk, green food, celery tops, acorns
and sliced raw onions. Avoid stagnant
and putrid water. Give access to charcoal
and ashes - Western Rural.
For the last nine years l have used, both
in this country and in northern Illinois,
the soft soap wash on apple trees. About
June Is take sufficient quantity OF the
soap, thin little, let stand half day to
thoroughly mix, and then paste or pant IL
on the trees with a large paint prush,
First scraping the body OF the tree ana see
ing that the trunk is clean, put on plenty
of soap as high on the limbs as one mas
time and patience, and extending wen 10
the ground. One will be astonlshea at
the beneficial effect. Correspondent o.
Tribune.
M1LoH Cows.-These ought to be well
fed, and cleaned by card and brush, daily,
if possible, otherwise twice week lhey
should be MIXED up to within four weeks
of calving 1t is a great temptation 10
dry off a COW so as to save the LABOR Oh
milking. and not alone will hired men 40
this. but the farmers themselves generally
do ii, and think that they can save gooa
deal in feed and labor, while in reality,
with Young COWS, they impart habit OF
going dry early, which will last them as
long as they live The better milch COWS
are fed, the better return they glVe' Du'
feed judiciously.
THE readiness with which fowls will eat
the various garden vegetables depends on
habit or education, if we may use SO pre-
tentious word. In winter chop up car
rots. turnips, beets, mangods, or cheap
Seeding apples, if the latter can be AFFORD
cd and to teach the fowls to eat these,
thoroughly mixed with meal till appetite Is
acquired, when they may be given alone,
and alternately raw and cooked boiien
potatoes and raw cabbage will generally be
eaten without previous training, ana TINS
fact indicates that they are the best vegeta-
BILE food for winter.
EARLY LAMBS. Now is the time to
speak for early lambs. 1t is quite probable
that the price of early lambs next summer
will be higher than it was the past summer.
Many who raised them the past season dld
not realize as high prices as they expected,
and part of them will not take the trouble
to raise them the coming year, so that there
will be all the better chance for those who
do. Let the lambs come carly, feed the
sheep literally with roots and grain, and
give the lambs all they can eat, and good
prices will be obtained for them. Raising
lambs for ten cents pound will pay, but
when twenty or twenty five cents can be
obtained. as is sometimes the case, the
profits are such as are highly pleasing to
the farmer who has plenty OF good TAT
lambs to sell.
P1es.-Neary double the feed will be
required to keep pigs from going back,
after really cold weather comes on-say,
when the ground freezes. 1t is then best
to kill at once. Every farmer ought to be
able to kill and cut up his own pigs.
Butchers are often very rough and brutal.
This is not necessary. Many farmer Kills
his own pigs because he wants the JOB
kindly and humanely done. He actually
thrusts the knife as if he loved the victim.
Feed soaked corn, that is, corn which is
covered with as much boiling water as 1t
will take up in twenty-four hours. Inns
is better for either fattening or store pigs
than coarse meal, unless the latter be thor
oughly cooked.
POULTRY. will lay up to Christ
mas, if they have warm quarters
manure shed, where mixed manure throws
off considerable warmth, and which is
closed in, but well ventilated, is an excel
lent place for fowls. They are kept warm
and comfortable, their droppings are all
saved, going to enrich the manure, ana
they keep on laying, often all winter. AT
noon feed, in open weather, soft food
r. at is, boiled potatoes mixed with bran
ard corn-meal, or something of the kind
at night give a good feed of whole grain,
throwing down enough to call them OH the
roosts for an early breakfast, unless thereby
YOU will be feeding an army of rats all night
In snowy and frozen weather, 1eeu three
times day, and give only what they VIII
run after at each meal.
To wash flannels: First have soft
water for the whole process, made so artl-
ficially if necessary, and next have good