Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-01-22
MARTINSBURG INDEPENDENT.
AGRICULTURAL.


liberslls Butlel IL nigh, and how
is the time to feed proftably.
Cracks in stoves may be effectually
stopped by a paste made of ashes and
salt mixed with water.
Evaporated fruit is as superior to
sun-dried fruit as fresh raspberries
are to those dried on the bush.
Always give,the soil the first meal.
If 1t is well fed with manure, it will
feed all else, plants animals and men.
1t is estimated that the stalk Gro p
OF the country annually amounts to
100000 tons, worth over $685. >
900.
Z. p. Roe, in his valuable work on
small fruits, recommends setting out
blackDerries either i'll autumn or very
early in the spring.
About 10000 buffalo hides were
shipped from Yellowstone county,
Montana, last summer and spring.
They were worth about $4,000.
An Otoe county, Nebraska, far
mer put in his yards last November,
100 head of cattle, at a cost of SIS ,280.
Recently he sold them for $3.50.
A farmer who has tried it speaks
in the highest praise of gas tar for
painting wagon wheels, stating that
it tightens tires and spokes better
than anything that can be tried.
Turnips are healthful for horses.
They should be cut into thin slices,
or what is better, pulped finely, and
mixed with a little meal and some
salt. Ruta-bagas are better than
white turnips.
A little dry sand covered over pc
tatoes when they are first put into
the cellar, will destroy any unpleas-
ant odor they may have. A sprink-
ling of dry, air Stacked lime will nit
igate tendency to rot.
Market gardeners, in the vicinity
of Boston, are discarding lath trel-
Uses for tomato plants, and substi-
tuting straw. This material is placed
loosely under the plants, which rest
upon it. 1t serves as mulch, and
also keeps the fruit clean.
Stale bread moistened with sweet
milk is recommended very highly as
good food for young chickens, the
first few days. When a week old,
they may be fed on cracked grain,
scalded. When old'enough to swal
low grain, give them plenty of it.
A German gardner is reported as
saying that he prevents lettuce from
running to seed by drawing knife
through one-half the stem to which
the head is attached. This weakens
the plant by depicting it of it's sap,
yet leaves enough to keep it fresh
and growing for another week or
two.
Hens should not be allowed to dis
turb the settlers by laying in their
nest. Broken eggs and a bad hatch
will he the result. Ii the setting hen
cannot be isolated in any way, cover
her with an empty coop, basket or
box, being careful to have her come
off every day for feed, water, exer-
else and dust bath.
The analysis of hay cut at differ
ent periods of growth, at this Con-
necticut Experiment Station, shows,
says the CUttirator, that the early
cut hay is scarcely better than the
later moved; while the feeding re-
cords give no actual value to the for
mer. The early cut hay, moreover,
is reckOned to diminish the crop on
sevenJy-fve acres, twenty tons on
account of shrinkage. The is con-
trary to general belief.
WINTER CARE OF STOCK.-The
time of the year has now come for
every farmer to take into full con-
Sideration the advantages of provid-
ing good, suitable shelter for all the
live stock he may have about him to
be cared for during the winter. 1t
is difficult matter to calculate just
the amount of loss that may be suf-
fered in keeping given number of
either cattle, hogs or sheep through
winter season In our climate with
out proper shelter, as much will de-
pend on the kind of weather we may
have during the winter, but there is
no doubt but that there is more or
less in all cases Of the kind. Alter
nate freezing and thawing, with a
mlAIuT0 OL rain, Sle6I anu SNOW,
makes the worst kind of weather for
live stock to suffer exposure in, and
there is hardly any kind of stock
that can be expected to hold its own
in weight and condition with all the
feed that may be given where it is
fully exposed to such weather as we
have described. 1t is not very cost
ly matter to provide shelter for all
the stock that is usually kept on a
moderate-size fern, and we are sat
isfied that there is no investment a
farmer could make that would pay a
better profit in the way of saving
than to see to it that all the stock of
every kind that he may have about
him shall have good, comfortable
shelter from all winter storms. Com
mon humanity requires it, and his