The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-10-29
SEASONABLE FARM NOTES.

Oue.
CIGAR smoke in cornfeld may pre-
vent the depredations of crows, but 1t
never fails to make the net yield less.
! SOME kinds of wood season better out
of doors than under cover, but 1t Is
not SO with the beam and handles of a
pillow.
EVERY farmer should compete for all
the premiums at the annual fairs Ia his
line except 4" the fastest trotter owned
and raised in the county"
A FARMER need never to say, If L
could only get work 1 should be happy"
His store never lacks customers. His
factory need never be run on half time.
SoAPsUDs, especially when little spir-
It's of ammonia has been added, are
valuable fertilizer for flower gardens and
are admirably suited to verbenas, which
require good deal of moisture.
MEN may deceive each other, but they
can never deceive Mother Earth. Deal
ers may sell sawdust guano at fifty dol
lars ton, but they can not count on the
soil as helper in their imposition.
THE 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 farming
as plenty of muscle, if not more.
A Mr. WATTS, of South Carolina, has
female Angora goat that has given
four quarts of milk daily, the season
through, of as rich a quality as that of
any Jersey COW on his farm, of which he
| has several. An Angora goat will thrive
where a COW will starve, and six goats
subsist luxuriously where one COW Will
only find sufficient good grazing.
r. M. MONAGHAN, Pettis County,
Mo-, says that, in 1874, he and others
had cattle affected with the eye dis
ease now prevailing in some of the coun-
| ties of western Missouri. He simply
! bathed his cattles' eyes with cold water.
| Others did nothing for theirs. Though
some became entirely blind, all got well
in a short time. He attributed the all
ment to drouth and dust.
SHEEP do not impoverish land. Rug
| ged canyons and mountain slopes, at
! present not available for other use until
better roads are built to market, may be
utilized a long way in advance of the
march of improvement. This will
surely enhance the value of these pos
sessions as surely as roads, settlements
and school-houses draw nearer to them;
and, in the meantime, the hardy pioneer
need wait but short while for their
coming.
EVERY farmer who has garden for
| the production of vegetables and small
fruits, should insist on two points-a
rich soil, and no weeds. The first is at
tanned by manuring each year; the sec
ond by not occupying more ground than
can be kept clean. 1t will be useless to
attempt the last mentioned requisite ex-
! clusively by hand labor. The garden
must be laid out in parallel lines, so that
| the cultvating and dressing may be
done with horse labor at one-tenth the
cost of human work, and in better man
ner.
A PROMINENT New York farmer whose
crops are proverbial for their abundance,
uses no other fertilizer than land plaster
and clover. His plan is to SOW clover,
| plaster it so as to secure rank growth,
and turn under for his other crops, wheat
included. He has kept up this plan for
over fifty years, and claims that his farm
is growing more valuable each year.
! The impression is fast gaining ground
that clover is yet to be the farmers main
reliance for fertility, and that plaster is a
valuable agent in promoting the growth
of the clover.
Mr.. JAMES S. GRINNELL, writing to
the Springfield Republican of bells on
sheep as a protection against dogs,
gives this illustrative experience: GA
good farmer in Leyden, who keeps about
a dozen excellent Southdown ewes, al
ways belled, was grieved and surprised
one morning to find that dogs had raided
his flock, killed two, mangled others,
and scattered the rest. On collecting
his little flock into the yard after a day s
search, he found that the tongue was lost
from the bell. This was replaced, and
never since has his sheep been worried
The experiment is SO simple and cheap
that it is worth trying"
DIR. FL. GIBBONS, at recent meeting
of the California Academy of Sciences,
said that since he put petroleum on the
trees III his garden they had grown bet
| ter and faster than ever before. The
petroleum seems to kill the scale insect.
The handsomest rose he exhibited was
from bush which looked nearly dead a
short time before. The petroleum was
mixed with castor oil. It is applied
sparingly, and great care is taken that
it does not run down the roots. Per-
haps in a crude state the petroleum
would be bad, even on the stalks; but
mixed with the castor oil it appears to
be advantageous to the plant.
To test the bearing qualities of the
leading varieties of wheat the superin-
tendent of the Ohio Agricultural College
Farm, sold seed wheat to farmers In va
rious parts of Ohio and other states, re-
questing reports Of yield from each.
The results are shown in the following
comparison: Fully fourteen reports av-
erage twenty-five and three-fourths
bushels; Clawson, ten reports average
twenty-five and three-fourths bushels;
Silver Chaff, fifteen reports average
twenty-six and one-fourth bushels; Vel
vet CHAT, eleven reports average twen-
ty-six bushels; Gold Medal, twelve re-
ports average twenty-one and two-thirds
bushels; Sandomica, seven reports aver
age twenty-four and one-half bushels.
WHERE sheep are kept for the double
purpose of direct income in mutton, etc. d,
and the manure they make, it is impor-
tant that the extra food, or that outside
of what the pasture furnishes, should be
chosen with care. 1t would be wise for
: the American farmer to become better
: acquainted with cotton-seed cake, lin
| seed oil cake and like concentrated