Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-09-03
FARM AND PRESIDE.

J = FARM AND PRESIDE.
SUMMER APPLICATION OF MANURE
Much of the manure manufactured on
farms in the winter is too coarse for spring
application at the time. It is therefore
thrown into heaps and left to decay
through summer to be applied in autumn.
Some economy may be effected both as to
time or labor, and the value of the man
ure, by drawing it out during the
present month, spreading it well and
grinding it to powder with brush
harrow or anyother with widely slant
ing teeth, increased. A common har-
row knocks the Jumps aside without
breaking them; brush grinds them
down ward and spreads them evenly. This
treatment renders the manure more effec-
tive and prevents waste by bringing it at
once into contact with the soil. This mode
is best adapted to top-dressing grass land,
as the pulverization is more complete on
a grassy surface than on bare soil. The
practice possesses the advantage Of allow
ing the manure to be drawn out before the
busy work of autumn has begun. The
manure is drier, more easily drawn, and
may be more finely pulverized than after
soaking with autumn rains.
After being thus spread the first rains
carry the soluble parts down into the
soil, the fbrous character Of which i'm
parted to it by the grass-roots facilitating
the soaking downwards.. If spread on
bare or plowed ground it would be better
to harrow it in after being thoroughly
spread.
The success Of this management will de-
pend much on the character of the soil. On
heavy or clayey land it will prove decided
ly beneficial, the clay absorbing and hold
ing the manure when brought into con-
tact with it. This effect cannot take place
if the manure is left loosely and in Jumps
on the surface. 1t will not succeed so well
on lighter or non-adhesive soils not cover
ed with growing grass. On the bare sur
face the common harrow, gang plow Or
harrow my be used advantageouslY
for giving it slight covering until the
time for deeper blowing. Country Gentle
man.
FEEDING CATTLE.-We take the liber-
ty of publishing the following from a pri-
vate letter from our esteemed friend, Col
onel r. III. Dulaney, of Loudoun county:
s'Thus far have concluded that equal
quantities, by measure, of bran and corn
and cob ground fine, one gallon Of each
with three pecks Of cut hay, straw and
corn fodder, well mixed and thoroughly
cooked by steam make the best ration for
feeding cattle in stalls. fed this quanti-
ty morning and evening, giving in the
middle of the day feed Of hay or straw.
After the cattle have been in stalls four
weeks, add a little to the meal ration, so
as to give one peck Of pure meal day.
Instead of always increasing the meal, I
have added two pounds of fax seed meal
for part of the number fed, and found
that their increase in weight nearly paid
for the addition Of the flax seed meal. In
feeding eighty-two cattle in my barn, I
have usually, in 125 days, added 200 pounds
to their weight. This has not always paid
me for their food. have looked for prof
it in the increased price per hundred
pounds at which have sold, and the ma
nure. The manure falls into an alley and
is thrown into cellar, which is ten feet
high and under the whole barn. The hogs,
which are in the cellar in the day time,
keep the manure level and compact I
have no trouble in forking it over, as the
hogs do all this work for me. apply to
the land as it is ploughed, and mix it
thoroughly with the soil with heavy three
horse harrow" This we conceive to be
sound practice, and an excellent result.
Indeed. few feeders, we think, obtain 200
pounds gain in 125 days on large stall fed
lots Of cattle in actual practice. The mode
of managing the manure is simple, ration
al and inexpensive. -Southern Planter.
TANsY FOR BoTs.-About thirty years
ago friend lost by bots very fine horse.
He took from the stomach of the dead
horse about gill Of bots and brought them
to my Office to experiment upon. He made
a preparation of every remedy he had
heard of, and put some of them into each.
Most had no effect; some affected them
slightly, but sage tea more than anything
else; that killed them in fourteen hours.
He concluded he would kill them by put
ting them in nitric acid, but it had no
more effect on them than water. The
third day they were as lively as when put
in. A bunch of tansy was growing by nv
office. He took handful of that, added
a little water, then squeezed out the juice,
and put some in. They were dead in less
than minute. Since then I have had it
given to every horse have seen affected
with the bots, and have never known it
to fail of giving entire relief. My friend
had another horse affected with bots sew
eral years later. He gave him tansy in
the morning, and a dose of salts in the
evening. The next morning he took from
the excretions three half pints of bots.
To DESTROY THE CABBAGE WORAr.-l
The complaint still continues of the ravat
ges of the cabbage worm and a demand
for remedy for it. In an agricultural
journal, a few weeks ago, a correspondents
told of his troubles last year, and that they
were already beginning this season, and