Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-12-07
HINTS TO FARMERS.

CELERY will bear cold to tempera-
ture of % degrees without injury, but
any cold below this will destroy it's
vitality, and decay Immediately follows.
! ANIMALS, when confined and supplied
with fattening feed, always increase
largely in weight during the first few
weeks, after which the rate of increase
diminishes to considerable extent.
DAIRY strainers for dirty milk do not
quite fill the bill for neatness. Better
| clean the COW before sitting down to
milk her and provide clean place for
her to lie in. Straining out dirt means
that some solution of it has passed
through the strainer.
| POTATOES are so scarce and dear this
year that every one cut, hacked or
pricked in digging appears in judgment
against the carelessness. Choice potato
soil, free from stone, where digging
machines can be worked, viii presently
be looked for. aa
IF underdrainage does not create a
double surface to the soil Of a given
| field, it seldom fails to double it's capac-
| ity for production. 1t is shown by ex-
perience to benefit high and dry land
| as we'll as low and wet, to loose and
aerate the soil, and to bring the ele-
| ments thereof completely under control
of the skillful farmer.
Nor single horse, COW, sheep or
hog should be kept on the farm this
winter, that has not a shelter to keep it
comfortable. Ii this shelter has not yet
been provided, lose no time in making
it. Enough food will be saved in a
single winter to make the shelter.
Thousands of domestic animals die
every winter that would survive if COM
Portable quarters were provided.
STABLES should be warm enough so
that horses may be comfortable without
blankets; then the blankets will do good
service as coverings when the animal
is left standing out in the street. The
practice Of covering horse with blan-
ket in the stable, to be removed aS soon
as he is taken out, is like a man wearing
his over coat indoors and taking it off
when he goes out into the open air.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Ohio Farmer
| advises farmers, instead of burying
their cabbages in the ground, thus run
ming the risk Of freezing, damage by
ten when wanted for use, to pull up the
heads, shake off the earth well, pull off
| q few of the outside leaves and hang
them up in the cellar by Irvine tied to
the stems and nails driven into the
joints. The cellar of course must be
well ventilated.
IMPROVED stock have solved the prob
lem of how to make the farm pay.
| Raise such crops as can best be fed to
stock, and to thus market our farm
crops brings the best profits with the
least labor. Prominent among such
crops is grass. Let us have more grass
| pasturage; take better care of it; don't
pasture it to death; give the grass a
chance, and it will pay better than any
other crop for the stock farmer.
AN old barrel, sunk in the ground
away from surface water, is a good place
to stow the family cabbage. Cut off the
heads, strip away loose leaves, and
pack loosely, with a board over, not
alright, but sufficient to shed rain.
A line of barrels in deep trench will
hold large supply. We may expect
that cabbage so fixed will freeze dry,
and stay so till wanted for the pot.
A WRITER in the Country Gentleman
is still enjoying the three or four inches
of sand which he carted upon the too
stiff clay of his garden twenty-four years
ago. "When this sand was well
worked into the clay the whole became
an excellent sandy loan, just the soil
for agreeable working. The sand does
not evaporate, wash away, or become
consumed in the growth of plants like
manure"
AN Illinois farmer who keeps twenty
horses, some of them worth ST, 500 each,
writes that he pastures them all at
times in fields fenced with barbed wire,
has done it for years, and had no harm
result from it. Before turning them
out he first leads them to the fence, and
let's them rub their noses against the
barbs, and the hint is sufficient. They
know enough after that to keep away
from the fences.
ONE of our correspondents said that if
lantern was hung near the fowl house
all night for several nights, no mink
would bother the fowls. Last week it
was our misfortune to lose one of our
finest Plymouth Rock hens and five
young chicks from the invasion o. a
mink. We have given the above fair
trial and are prepared to indorse it's
efficiency as mink preventive. South
cru Live Stock Journal.
The Ohio Farmer says: November
is the best mouth for cutting gratis,
though they may be cut any time dur
ing the winter when there is no frost in
the trees. Those cut in the fall how
ever, make the strongest growth and
are more certain to live. Tie them in
bundles and bury in the ground beyond
the reach of frost, or bury them in the
cellar, in damp loan. Put thin strip
of board in the bundle, with the name
written on it,"
The agricultural editor of the New
York Tribune, in reply to correspon-
dent, offers the following good sug-
gestions: "Walnuts, shellbarks and
chestnuts should under no circumstan-
ces be allowed to dry Immediately
| r