Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-12
Farm and Household.


high time now to know, with reasonable Ger
tainty, what crops are TO be raised the com
ing season and where they are to grow. Sucl
planning will take but little time from othei
duties, as one can plan and work simullane
ously. Planning alone however, wont SC
much as brush away cobwebs, but must be
followed by action, and the farmer who i,
not active this month, will, very likely later
in the season, be found flying around from
one thing to another, with so many things
crowding, and allneeding to be done at once,
that ho will hardly know which to take hold
of first. There is nothing like being all
ready for the duties of the hour, when the
hour arrives
SuSdriag In the sugar orchards fun and
hard work will join hands this month. Our
sugar-wise friend, Mr.. Wheeler, promises a
good flow of sap this season, and as his pre-
dictions have usually been reliable, it will
probably, be safe to make ample prepare
ton for good sugar harvest
In sugar making as in every other kind of
work, it pays to understand the business thor
oughly and to do each part as well as one
knows how. 1t makes a big difference wheth-
er one gets six or ten cents per pound for his
sugar, when the amount made gets up into
the tons, while on each hundred pounds the
extra four dollars will purchase great many
useful and convenient things for a family.
Hired Help. Help for the season should
be secured without further delay, unless one
expects to do his own work. The best men
are nearly always engaged early, indeed, re-
nllV fret -placc Y1,a IL. -
you have a good man now, don't let him
leave on account of dollar or two per month.
A careless, thoughtless man will waste, in
many ways, more than tho difference in
wages. There are differences in men that it
is difficult to figure out by dollars and cents
rule Some men can't drive through gate
without hitting both posts. One of the most
valuable traits in the character of any man,
is the faculty of seeing ard preventing an ac-
cident before it happens. great many men
don't seem to know that shovel was never
made for prying large stones out of holes
nor that crowbars and wagon stakes are i'm
proper implements for teaching obedience on
the part of steers and colts.
High,rdys and Bytcdys. roads will be
very soft this month, and the man who is
both wise and merciful will remember that
animals as well as men can get tired, and
that they are limited in their powers of en-
durance. Don't load too heavy while haul
ing out the manure from the barnyard.
And by-the-way, wouldn't it pay to dig out
that rock in the wheel rut that has been run
over till the tires have worn a channel into
its hard surface, and also to fill that hole
which it has strained the cattle so many
times to lift the loads from? There is no
place where farmer will often get more for
his money, than by q judicious expenditure
on his farm roads and cart paths. Work
done on public ways helps others, but on
ones private roads the labor expended is all
for his own benefit, and it would seem that
liberal OUTLAWS could never be begrudged but
it is fact that men, generation after genera
ton, will drive loaded teams upon their own
land, over paths that they would cause to be
indicted within twenty -four hours, were they
owned by the public.
1t should be remembered that the worst
spot in piece of road, whether a public or
private way, measures the capacity of the
team for hauling loads over it, or, in other
words, team can draw between two given
points only as much as it can draw over the
hardest spot, whether that spot be a steep
hill or muddy slough hole, no matter how
perfect the other portions of the way may be.
Any man would be considered fool who
should keep good pair of horses for hauling
loads and then persist in using them on a one
horse wagon, drawing but a half load at a
time, and yet that is just what we are all do
ing, who year after year haul manure, farm
products or merchandise over roads that, by
the expenditure of small amount of labor,
would enable us to haul double the weight we
now draw. March is oftentimes good
month for making repairs in roads and paths
Young Stock.-Calves, pigs, lambs and
chickens will be making their appearance
now, and should receive warm welcome in
to the world. Give pregnant animals dry,
warm quarters, where there are no cold drafts
to chill them or their offspring, If their
rooms are sufficiently warm there will seldom
be any necessity for sitting up nights to
watch and care for them. Nature is a pretty
good nurse if we give her fair show, but
nature never shuts up animals in cold wet
stables or muddy pig pens, nor does she plan
to have young chickens running around
among March snowbanks. If we want our
young stock to arrive early, so We can take
the'beneft of an early market, when prices
are high, we must somehow provide spring
or summer weather artifcially. This can be
done to certain extent by building tight
warm sheds, but ventilation must not be
overlooked, for pure air is as necessary to
perfect health at one season as at another.
breeding So,rs should have a dry room
with solid floor, and if there is joist or
timber placed all around the pen. Just high
enough to keep them from lying upon their
pigs, many lives may be saved. Kindness to
domesticated animals always pays, but never
better than when the animals are kept for
breeding. Feelings and sentiments are her
editary as well as spavins and other diseases.
A mother animal that is kindly treated, and
never made to fear the hand of man, will
bring forth offspring that will be easily han
died and trained
Sitting Hens should have apartments by
themselves, where they cannot be disturbed
by other fowls. Mr. VIM. H.. Carleton,
successful poultry breeder, of Fitchburg
builds of laths coop just large enough to
contain the nest and other necessary furni-
ture for each brooding hen, and then keeps
her confined during the whole twenty-one
days, food and water being constantly within
reach, SO that no further attention is required
till the chickens hatch. This method saves a
great deal of time on the part of attendants,
while the risk of having the hens desert their
nests, or double up two or more upon one, is
entirely removed.
ScioRS can be cut at any time during win
ter, for use in the spring, but the sooner they
are cut now and stored where they will keep |