Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-11-02
SEASONABLE FARM NOTES,


ENCOURAGING words will sometimes
make a scythe cut we'll IN hour longer
than it otherwise would.
GIVE the boys work and take pains to
teach them. 1t is to this source that we
must look for our best farm men.
THERE are two things that every farm
er must have-things that subserve like
purpose and are about equal in importance
"a grindstone and newspaper.
The seeds of trees for spring planting
are best preserved by mixing them with
sand and placing the boxes in a cool and
dry place out of the way of mice.
BONES kept damp in box with ashes
Tor months, not wet enough to leach,
will gradually crumble and form CON-
pound more valuable than guano.
A SMALL early maturing hog is much
more valuable than large one, as no
more food will be required to raise two
good quick growing ones than it will for
large but slow all-lard hog.
SPROUTS generally spring up from the
stalks of tobacco left on hill when the
crop is harvested. It is best to destroy
them as soon as they start, as their
growth impoverishes the soil.
SouAsHEs to be kept over the winter
should be gathered before hard frosts
occur, with the stems remaining on
them. They should be dried in the
sun and placed where thetemperature is
not subject to much change.
FLAX may be sown during longer
period in the spring than any kind of
grain, but on the ground that is some
what foul it should be sown early so that
the weeds will not get the start of the
fax.
TIE best farmer is one who thinks as
well as works, who knows what he in
tends to do day, or at least night,
in advance; who believes that thought
has as much to do with successful farm
ing as plenty of muscle, if not more.
THE bull is half of the herd, thus a
bull of the best strain of blood used even
in a small lot of COWS greatly and at once
improves each of his get. And the high
priced bull, though seemingly extrava-
CANT at the start, soon returns to his
owner heavy profit.
A MICHIGAN horse rolled in the fresh
ashes, completely covering himself with
them; rain came on soon after, and the
I've thus formed ate the hair, hide and
flesh of the poor animal to such an ex-
tent that the owner expects to lose him.
Moral: Look out for your ashes.
Roof grating is done during the win
ter, and therefore the stocks should be
in convenient place. They are taken
from the ground before it freezes, as
sorted, tied in bundles, and then placed
in boxes with the roots covered with
soil and put in cellar.
TREES planted this fall should have
earth drawn up around them, making a
mound IL to Is inches in height. It
should be of solid, clean earth, free from
all sods, weeds, etc., or else it will fur
nish winter home for mice. The
mound thus made serves double pur-
pose of support to the young tree
against the winds of winter, and prevents
mice from gnawing the tree.
RABBITS can do much harm to a
young orchard. When the trees are few
they can be protected by band of cloth,
or even tarred paper. These pests have
q distaste for meat, and may be kept
away from the trees by rubbing them
with flesh or smearing the trunks with
blood: Boys can catch many of them
trapping, and afford what is to many, an
acceptable variety for the table.
The most profitable way to raise beef
cattle is to keep them constantly in a
thrifty and improving condition. It is
not necessary to keep very young stock
rolling in fat, but there should always
be an abundance of nutritious food to
help nature in development. To allow
stock to run down in flesh and become
il-conditioned, simply because it ia not
designed for market for some time, is the
height of folly.
WHILE among old breeders there are
many men of many minds concerning
the superiority of different breeds OF
sheep, there are none who will not say
that any of the breeds, or their grades,
are superior to the common grub stock
in such general use in ali sections of the
country. Thoroughbred sheep are
cheap, but scrubs are always dear, and
yet there are thousands of penny wise,
pound-foolish people taking the reverse
view of the case.
The importance of planning for work
for days when the help must be indoors
should be more fully appreciated.
There are many things about farm
that may then be done indoors with
great advantage. There are tools to be
mended, painted and put in good trim
for the time when they will be needed
harnesses to be cleaned and oiled; grain
to be famed; wood split and mauy othe1
jobs that can be done as we'll when i
rains as during the brightest sunshine
GIVE your animals good dwellings,
The inmates of stables and sheds nee(
light andventilation fully as much as tn
denizens of our handsomest houses
And yet thousands of horses, upor
whose work men and families depend fol
theig livelihood, are stabbed in close
dark, filthy Enclosures, while COWS, O
whose lives thousands of children ar,
partakers in the most literal sense, far,
far worse in all that pertains to health
It is! believed by many careful observer
that animals are as sensitive as men ever
to malarious influences. Certain it il
that in malarious regions the horses ani
cattle are always thin, bony and spirit
less.
ORDINARILY about nine weeks is re
quired for tobacco to cure properly
The leaves may be cured in lees TIM
than this, it is true, but where the dry
ing is rapid the quality of the produc
is inevitably injured. The more slowl,
tobacco can cure and yet escape pole
burn the better will be the quality 0
the leaf when cured. This fact may b.
proven by hanging few plants in tn,
cellar, or q very close, dark clubhouse
as an ice house. Here the leaves vii
cure very slowly, but when at last tn
natural juices from them and the stall
have escaped, the color and general
quality of the leaves will be found ad
mirable. This method Of curing Tobacco