The Hickman courier., 1881-09-23
FARM NOTES.


ers in feeding that about one-fifth of
ground corn passes through cattle undi-
gested.
IT is said that in Great Britain more
persons were killed last year by horses
than by all the railways of the United
Kingdom. Very bad management some
where.
The oxygen of the air aids and facii-
tates the termination of seeds, and seeds
buried so deeply in the ground as to be
out of reach of the atmospheric air will
exhibit no signs of life.
ANIMALS when first confined, aud sup
piled with fattening food, always increase
largely in weight during the first few
weeks, after which the rate of increase
diminishes to considerable extent.
TExAs has five million head of horned
cattle and a superabnndance of mast and
corn, and thousands thoroughly educated
men and women, yet she imports butter,
lard and school teachers from Kansas
City.
ID. BRIGGs, of Davisville, Tolo Co.,
Cal, has q plantation of 400 acres of
graperies from four to eight years old,
on which he has raised forty-slx car
loads OF raisins, most of which We're
sent to the East.
IT IS said that one of the best remedies
for thA A&abbage worm is to sprinkle air
Stacked lime on the plant in the morning
on the dew till the plants are white with
it. One who has tried it for several years
says that at most two applications are
sufficient.
IF THOSE farmers whose farms are soils
underlaid with clay would sell one
quarter or one-half of their land and put
the proceeds into the iudicious tile
drainage of the rest, they would make
more money from the one half of the
original farm under improvement than
they now do from the whole area.
For general purposes on the farm cas-
tor oil, with a little kerosene added, is
the best lubricator and preserver. For
saws, mowers, buggies, and the like, this
mixture furnishes more body with less
gum than most other oils. The amount
of Kerosene, If any, 10 be added must be
governed by the purpose for which it is
designed.
OPINIONS upon practical agriculture
should never be formed from books or
papers alone. They are excellent for
suggesting ideas, and for comparing
notes with our own practice. We may
be able to endorse the opinions at sight,
but generally speaking new practices
should be verified upon our own lands
before we either adopt or endorse them.
REFERRING to the scales which form
the cortex of wool, and continue its
most important distinction, determining
its felting power, a recent writer gives
the following table of the average mum
ber of scales to the linear inch in differ
cut woods East India wool, l 200 scales
to linear inch. China wool, 200, domes-
tic wool, ], 400, Leicester wool, 1,4O0,
Southdown wool, 1900, Mcrino wool,
1000, and Saxony wool, 2,200 scales to
linear inch.
MANURE should be forked over occa-
sionally to make it fine. If it Is heat
ing, then muck or loan should be mixed
with it to absorb the ammonia which is
formed during the process of decomposi-
tion. Sprinklng the manure pile with
ground plaster is advisable. The plaster
will absorb any ammonia which escapes
from the pile and save it for the use of
growing plants. Ammonia is too valua-
bic an element of plant food to allow it
to be wasted. Again upon some lands
plaster is an excellent fertilizer
THERE is probably no feed Sc good for
raising good dairy animals as warm skim
milk with n mixture of moderate quaint
tiles of ground oats scalded. The milk
and oats contain n large amount of
muscle and bone material and, as a
consequence, we have IL COW with an ex-
cellent constitution aud good-sized
frame Corn meal does not contain
enough of the requisite materials for
giving good-sized and at the same time
a well formed animal. The oats might
be alternated with linseed and cotton
seed meal
The Australians have a very stringent
law for the eradication of scab in sheep.
State scab inspectors are appointed,
whose business it is to see that the Aw
is enforced. Every owner who discovers
indications of scab in his flock is obliged
TO notify all hock-masters within a GER
tain radius of the fact, and also to post
notices in public places. If the disease
is not stamped out within ninety days,
the diseased animals must be killed
The result has been that scab has almost
entirely disappeared from Australian
dOcks
An INCORPORATED company for sheer
breeding has been formed in Southern
Missouri, one hundred and fifty miles
from st. Louis The incorporators pro
pose to locate 30, 900 acres of land on the
side of the Ozark Mountains, and tc
start with 1000 sheep, fenced in at
less cost than herdsmen can be employed
They expect to bring the land undel
cultivation at an early day, and to grazt
the sheep In blue and tame grass insteaj
of bunch grass also, to provide shelter
and winter feed for the fiocks, with othei
necessary improvements as needed. Thi
- more sensible than the Colorado
system, which relies on pasturing O
starvation in the winter.
LEGUMINoUs crops have a special powe
uf accommodating nitrogen in the sur
face soil, and are hence of the creates
value IN rotation. Red clover is tn
most striking instance of this action
Its roots extend further perhaps thai
any other farm crop, and being biennia
It has n long period for growth. Th
accumulation of nitrogen at the surface
In the form of roots, stubble and decaye,
vegetable matter, is in the case of
good crop of clover so considerable. tina
the whole of the above ground growt
may be removed as hay, and the Ian
yet remain greatly enriched with nitro
gen, and in an excellent condition 70
producing a crop of wheat.
AS TO the manurial value of differer
cattle-foods, we find that the oil cake
yield the richest manure, as they COZ
tain the largest amount of nitrogen an
phosphoric acid, with a considerable
amount of potash. Next to these bean
and peas. malt-dust and bran. Glove
hay yields richer manure than oat,
wheat. barley or corn, while meade
hay stands below the cereal grains. Th
various grains and the roots, like tn
lips. carrots and Swedes, contain abol
the same proportion of nitrogen in the
dry substance the roots, however SUI
ply much more potash. Potatoes star
below other roots in manurial valu
Straw takes the lowest place as m.
nure-yielding food, bean and pea stra
being more valuable for this purpo'
than the straw of the cereals.