Connecticut western news., 1880-04-14
FARM AND GARDEN.
FARM NOTES.


 THE Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, which announces an interna- tional sheep and wool show in connec- tion with their regular State fair, to be held in Philadelphia September 6-25, have extended most liberal premiums for stock. For horses $7,O00 is offered, $6, 900 for sheep, $9,5OO for cattle, and 5000 for swine.
 THE Farmers Club of Elmira, N. r., has offered premiums of $12, $9 md $5 for the three largest crops of corn that may be raised the coming season on one- tenth of an acre by boys under sixteen years of age.
 A CORRESPONDENT of the Dirig0 Rural saysssthat one bushel of sugar beets, mike With nine bushels of apples, makes cider richer and of superior favor to that madej from apples alone, and that sugar-beet juice can be converted into vinegar intthe same manner as is cider.
 As REGARDS soils, peaty or mucky and damp, cold and spongy ones are wholly unfit for fruit orchards of any kind. Alp pies and pears as rule thrive best on @ 1 dry, deep, substantial soil, between a sandy and a clayey loam, and possessing among it's inorganic parts a considerable portion of lime. It is the belief of many farmers that apples grown on clayey soils possess better keeping qualities than those grown on light soils. The most enduring peach orchards are found on dry, sandy loams.
 CoRN-sTALKs contain @ considerable quantity of sugar, and this sugar adds to their feeding value. The sugar is pres- ent in the largest quantity when the stalks and grain are ripe, but yet green. If the stalks are permitted to dry and stand exposed to the weather, much of the sugar is lost through the washing of ! the rain. The best time to cut the stalks l is when the grain is hard and the stalks are green, and have not been frozen. Frost ruptures the cells, causes fermen- tation of the juice, and the loss of the sugar in great part.
 EVERGREEN trees may be transplanted until May or June, when the new leaves are coming out. Other trees should be set out as early as the ground will admit of it. If planted later than April, the soil should be we'll watered and heavily mulched to keep it moist, lest the CO., pious corporations from the young leaves l exhaust the roots of moisture.
 GRASS IN ORCHARDS.
 SPEEDING down orchards and leaving the land in meadow may answer in moist climates or where the soil is naturally wev, but t is g poor practice where the trees are likely to suffer for moisture about their roots in summer. We have heard farmers say that they thought shading the ground with grass or some kind of crop growing thereon would helr to keep the soil cool and moist but this is an error, for the evaporation o1 moisture through the leaves of growing plants is many times greater than from the exposed surface of the ground, ever in the driest and hottest weather. Any one who desires to see for himself the difference has only to dig under the turt or about the roots of growing plants in { dry time, and then examine the condition of soil that has been worked over and Jeff fallow. Many an old stunted orchard that has long been seeded down would be greatly benefited by having the swart broken up this spring, and the grass and its roots left to decay during the coming summer. If the farmer thinks he canno afford to leave the land fallow, he may add manure and plant it with potatoes beans, or some other ow-growing crol requiring cultivation.
 IMPROVEMENT IN COWS.
 THE improvement of dairy COWS is most important part of the dairyman' business. A poor COW that gives bu 125 pounds of butter, worth $37 q yea costs as much to feed and keep as on' that yields 250 pounds, worth $75. Th' difference on twenty cows is equal tC $750 yearly, which is the interest at si! per cent. on SIP, 2,500. Perhaps so trivia matter as it may seem at the first viev could not be more forcibly presented thai in this way: The improvement on hero of twenty COWS that would result il doubling the yield and bringing it up t' the very possible amount of 250 pound ill year is actually worth $12, 800. l may be done, too, in eight or ten years and thus the energetic and skillful dairy man may earn $1,250 Q year for tn trouble and attention given. The heife calves from the best COWS in the dairy bred in the manner pointed out, shoul, be kept and well taken care of. This the main point. A good animal may b spoiled in the raising. A good calf ma: be raised on skinned milk; ill fact, flll milk is not desirable for stock calf. w , want bone, muscle, and 8 good well-buil 1 frame, not fat nor rounded, well-tille l Hanks. After one week, warme 5 skinned milk is the best food for cal } but warmth is necessary. The tende r stomach is not chilled then, and there no drawback on this account. After month, the calf will eat little brigE soft hay, and may be taught to take
 teaspoonful or two of bran. This extr , food may be gradually increased up the age of three months, when quart cut hay and two ounces of mixed ground feed may be given twice day. For aa winter calf this will bring it to gras