Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1880-01-08
Observation-Disclosures

J; AGRICULTURAL NOTES.
The average size of an Irish farm i.
twenty acres. Il.
NEVER let COW 60 into winter quar-.
ters in q pd6r, thin condition. =:
THE best feeders have decided that il
pays to raise artichokes for hogs.
A MAN in Easton, Me-, has this yea,
harvested 10000 bushels of potatoes
from 45 acres of ground.
The rain annually pours into the soil
q quantity of nitrate of ammonia fully
equivalent to- three pounds per acre.
i AT a recent potato show in England,
where nearly 1,4OO plates were shown
a large number were of American yarie.
ties.
i BUcKwhEAT is one of the most STAPLE
articles of poultry food. 1t is very fat.
tening, an egg producer, and very much
relished by poultry.
GUINEA fowls will keep all bugs and
insects of every description off garden
vines. They will not scratch like othe,
fowls, or harm the most delicate plants,
| MACHINES for shearing sheep and
milking COWS have not proved successful.
These processes are best performed in the
old-fashioned way.
ONE hawk has destroyed for Mr..
Charles Gillen, of Chester county, Pa,
over thirty chickens in one month. It
is of the kind called the long-tailed
pheasant hawk.
HERE is a rare specimen of the. profits
OF horticulture worth striving for. Tie
originator of new white outdoor grape,
suited to our climate, is said to have sold
the copyright" of the same for $40, 900.
! OATS shoald be bruised for an old
horse, but not for young one, because
the former, through, age and defective
teeth, cannot chew them properly; the
young horse can do so, and they are thus
properly mixed with saliva and turned
into wholesome nutriment.
A GOOD test of the hardness of any
variety Of forest trees is found in the
| ripening of its seeds (fruit). If variety
does not perfect its seed in a given
locality, it is regarded as very good evil
dence that it is not sufficiently hardy to
be generally cultivated in such sections.
The product of scrub cow by a
thoroughbred bull will be half blood.
This, coupled with thoroughbred bull
would produce a three-quarter blood.
The nextcross would be seven.eighths,
and next fifreen.sixteenths.
The land Office at Washington never
was so busy as it is now. A much land
has been sold in the last four months as
was ever disposed of previously in q
year. The purchasers are nearly all
actual settlers.
TIE Rural Messenger, published at
Petersburg, Va, has received the follow
ing about farmer in Dinwiddle county,
that state: He seeded last fall lot
OF four acres, on which he put four
bushels and three quarters of seed, and
he threshed out OF the straw made on
those four acres 1874 bushels of wheat"
FAsTEN short piece of log chain
say five or six links-by means of a
light strap to his leg, just above the knee
Gin the stable, of course, and zee how
quick the paving horse will leave off the
habit. In most cases few days will be
sufficient to effect cure. i
THIS is a good season to haul the wood
to the house for the whole year. It can
then be cut for the stove and fireplace
in stormy weather, when nothing else
can be done. It will make the women
folks pleasant to have plenty of good,
dry fire-wood cut and put away for the
year.
IT has been many years since we have
had as propitious a time for reducing
or extinguishing mortgages. Farmers
should indulge in no unnecessary luxur-
les till the farm is relieved of blister,
and creates many heart. pang besides
Get the farm free, then keep out of debt,
and all will be serene. s.,
ON the subject of keeping eggs the
following has been contributed to a
country paper: I would say that eggs
can be kept the year round. Pack them
in box with oats lends DOWN., and nail
a cover on nicely when full; then take
another box about four inches larger
each way, put about four inches of
plaster in the bottom of this box, then
set the box with the eggs into this box
and fill all around and on top with
plaster, then put cover on this box and
set away in cool place. Turn the box
PARsN1Ps, carrots, Swedish turnips,
and especially mangel-wurzle, will ali
fatten pigs. These roots ought not to be
given in g. raw state, but always cooked
and mixed with beans, peas, Indian corn,
oats or barley, all of which must be
ground into meal. When pigs are fed
on such cooked food as we have stated,
the pork acquires q peculiarly rich
flavor, and is much esteemed, especially
for family use.-Dubin Farmer.
CHAUvEAu is correct. in saying that
the first ring appears on a cows horn
after she is two years old, but is some
what indefinite. From a large number
of observations, I have seen that the
first ring appears at two years, or soon
after, and sometimes before that age:
that the ring gradually increases during
the third year, and is fully formed at
three years.. the second ring appears
during the fourth year, and is complete
at the end of the fifth year; after that
one additional ring is formed each " ar.
A COW with three rings is six years old,
with four, seven years old. After nine
or ten years the rings are no indication
of the age.
A WRITER says: For seeding down a
wood lot to orchard grass I would advise
the following plan, by which have been
quite successful: Remove the under
brush, grubs, and rubbish, and pillow as
thoroughly a. possible, late in the fall;
then in February, or as soon thereafter
as the condition of the soil will permit,
harrow thoroughly and SOW about THIRTY
five pounds of seed to the acre and har-
row or brush it in. Keep all the stock
off the first season, and be sure to pasture
promptly the following spring, so as to
prevent it from becoming coarse and
harsh, or if it does the stock will not
relish it. Failures with orchard grass
are chiefly owing to some of these causes:
Defective seed, or ar insufficient supply
of good seed; inadequate, or, more often,
entire absence of any preparation of the
soil; late sowing; neglect of keeping it
grazed down closely.