The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-03-18
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Acorns for lAnimaIs.

Acorns FOR AnfmAte.
In Saxony and some other parts O.
Germany, according to the London
agricultural Gazette, considerable store is
set on oak mast" as a winter food for
sheep, and where other food falls short
the acorn crop Is looked forward to
with no small degree OF anxiety. In
the New Forest in Hampshire, in Mid
d!esex and Hertfordshire, large guam.
titles of "mast" are now being gath.
cred in. In the former count. whole
herds OF pigs are turned loose to forage
for themselves at this season OF the year,
and receive but little of any other kind
Of food. Although tolerant OF acorns
far aboAe that OF beasts and sheep, the
practice OF allowing pigs an unlimited
amount of unprepared mast" is not
to be commended. II given in largl
quantities for long periods swine be-
come surfeited, and altogether indiffer.
ent to them, while at the same time they
lose rather than gain flesh, and where
pushed too far the system becomes dis
ordered, the Emphatic glands enlarge,
and the balance Of health Is upset.
Moreover, used in excess, the meat is
rendered hard, stringy and lumpy, and
loses its brightness. succulence and
flavor .-Rnrdl Ne,0 Yorker.
cor --'r=.
hIany farmer Is kept poor by keep
ing too much stock He would oe
prosperous if the stock was of the right
kind. 1t does not pay to keep cows
through the winter that are dry
pretty much all the time. 1t does not
pay to keep over a lot Of lean and frac-
tious steers In the expectation that they
will make good working cattle by
WAITING l0n0 annnoh All arob
mails should be sold to those who have
more food in store than their present
poor owners. A miserable and melan-
choly lot OF no-breed sheep constitutes
no more desirable property either.
Their feeces are not worth waiting for,
and their mutton Is called such only
by courtesy. They are of no use TO y
farmer but to help keep him poor.
Good stock, superior stock, pays for
Itself all the time. A herd OF COWS is
well worth wintering that will pay in
milk and butter many times more than
the cost of their keep. No other kind
ought, therefore, to be allowed on a
farm. No business man ever expects to
make Roadway against competition by
holding a stock OF goods that is of in
ferior value and out OF fashion; and
farmer ought to observe the came rule,
and carry on his hands no stock that Is
not OF the very sort to give him a good
footing in the produce market. He never
can get good milk. good butter or govd
beef from poor runts of creatures whose
existence comes under the head Of acci-
dent rather than design. Superior stock
is the only kind an enterprising and
thrifty farmer can afford to keep.
When COWS show beyond q question
that they cannot give milk enough nor
milk good enough TO pay for thei.
support and yield liberal profit besidep,
II Is time they were disposed of on al
most any terms that will clear them on
the farm. 1t is the same with all
creatures that are an inoumbrance on
the farm instead OF profit, let them DO
put OF without delay, and let the So
called sentiment In the case be eradicated
by healthier considerations of what
constitutes thrifty ana profitable farm
Ing. II 1t were really made so, we
should soon see an end Of dawdlIng,
routine, traditional. and listless farming,
and the infusion OF vigorous element
such rs moves the world of business and
carries life and activity into every
department.
There are, Of course, many ways in
which q farmer can trace the sources OF
his unproeperous condition.; but the
practice Of keeping on hand, summer
and winter. lot OF practically worth
less cattle for ali cattle are worthless
that are not prohtable-is the moth aud
the canker that Is surely eating out his
substance. 1t Is simply question OF
time how soon he will succumb, for 10
be acknowledged hopelessly poor is sub
mission. We repeat, no farmer can af-
ford to keep Inferior cattle; a rich man
ness to within or delusiye beneyolence;
but the farmer who has his living TO
make of his farm cannot afford 1t, nor
indeed can he afford TO keep any kind Of
cattle but the best. He owes Il to him
self to clean out everything that Is trash
and worthless, and begin and build up
on a sound basis. The more poor stock
he keeps, the poorer he Is In consequence
himself .--Massachusetts ?lostqhDlan.