The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-03-17
FARM NOTES.


clq ged., $3.50 .-
Z, X years ago it cost nearly as muc
to & tasbpshel of grain from Buffalo
New Iork as it NOW does to carry it fror
Chics< OTTO Liverpool.
"A WRITER of experience and reputa
ton has stated that the fence tax on tn
farmers in the State of New York
three and a half times greater per acr
than the State, county, and township
taxes ON the land.
DIR. J. NJ. BAILEY says "From m,
experience in feeding, so far as con
slider ensilage to be worth one half a
much as the best timothy hay. IwoulG
not, however, exchange ensilage for hay
and give two tons for one."
THE best of forage may not Away,
furnish in suitable proportions all the
elements necessary to produce the best
milk; therefore, give large variety OF
food, but guard against anything that
will faint the milk or butter.
- IA TRIAL was made in Scotland to test
the feeding value of an acre of cabbage,
compared with the value of an acre of
Swedish turnips for fattening sheep, and
1t was found that the cabbages were
worth very nearly 500 the most.
IT Is commonly stated that superphos-
pilates, potash, salts. and other similar
materials are more effective when used
together than when applied separately.
Certainly complete fertilizers are more
efficient than partial fertilizers.
The SOW should be fed but little corn
during the last two mouths of her preg-
nancy. Her diet should avoid that which.
lis too heating and fattening. Oats, bran,
middlings, AID beets are great deal
better than the everlasting corn diet of
the West.
The food of animals has duties to per
form which are not demanded of the
food of plants. In plants the food merely
provides the matter for building up the
vegetable tissues. In the animal, be-
sides constructing tissues, the food has
to furnish the means of producing heat
and N echanical force
Cows purchased from rich lands and
carried to poor soils seldom do well. 1t
Is far better to buy a good COW from a
poor farm, in which case Improvement is
almost certain. There is no good reason,
however, why poor animal should be
kept on a poor farm. Keep better stock
If you have to keep less. of it,
WHERE plants are abundant the old
stools of strawberries may be lifted. the
grass picked from around them, and
they may be reset IN trenches with q
well-rctted manure put about them on
the surface. In some localities strong
plants OF last seasons growth may be
transplauted with good results.
ExPEREscE and observation will con-
, vince anyone that better results will fol-
low the application of manure at the sur
face, or at least within three inches of it
than if plowed under TO three times that
: depth. For immediate results all we'll
rotted manure should be intimately
mixed with the surface soil by repeated
civilizations or borrowings.
The character of the winter has often
considerable influence on that of the fol-
lowing season. In wet winter the soil
may lose nitrates by drainage to a con-
siderable extent. Root development viii
also be prevented by excessive wet. Az
ter such a winter the wheat crop gener-
ally is in backward condition and finds
Itself IN an impoverished soil
A y. DOWNING, who was perhaps the
best hortlcultulst America has known,
said: . If were to preach a sermon on
horticulture, should take "a nv text
STR the Soil !" Frequent and deep
stirring will enable one to grow fine veg /
etaDles on comparatively poor and /
slightly MANFRED soil; while without it /
one fails to gain the proper advantage.
even from the richest and finest soil.
WHfRH 1aktxossx. An x<>s>->~>s,
tilizer it is better to use Peruvian guano
than nitrate of soda, and sulphate of |
ammonia or dried blood is preferable to |
nitrate of soda, the latter as general
thing being too soluble and too energetic
for plant food. The 10 per cent. ammo |
MIA standard guanos are not always the
most profitable, because with their ex-
cess of nitrogen they have a deficiency
IN phosphoric acid and potash. Next to
Peruvian guano. fish guano. fish SCRAPS
or sulphate of ammonia would be the
cheapest source of nitrogen.
THE character of the food will affect
The quality of the manure even more
than the character of'the animal. A diet
OF corn fodder and straw, for instance,
can yield onlya poor manure, because
these foods contain very little nitrogen
ur phosphates. A diet including a lib
eral amount of -oll-cake or beans will, on :,
the other hand, yield valuable manure,
these foods being rich in nitrogen and
ash constituents. A common. mode in
England and France of increasing the
supplyAof manure on farm is by the
consumption Of purchased food by the
animals of the farm.
LIZ HIS pamphlet on Fertility" DIR.
j. b. Lawes asserts that practically the
source Of the whole of the nitrogen in
our crops is the store within the soil
itself and in the heterogeneous manures
brought npon it At Rothamsted there
are about twelve acres of land, distribu-
ted In six different fields, and under
more, thai as many different crops, which
have either been kept entirely without
manure, or have only received purely
mineral naanures, for periods of from
twenty-five to forty years. AS these
areas are exposed to the same atmos-
pllsric influences as other fields, and as
crops growing on them are, with the ex-
ceHtion that they receive no nitrogen by
manure, subject TO the same Influences
rs similar crops in neighboring fields,
we NAV look with confidence to the re-
suits which they will yield IN the course
of time
A WRITER in the Scientific american
SAYS: 1--WE clean our premises of the
sletestable vermin, rats, by making
whitewash yellow with coperas and COW
ering the stones and rafters with it. In
every crevice in which a rat may go we
put the crystals of the coperas, and
scatter in the corners OF the hcor- The
result was n perfect stampede OF rats
and mice. Since that time not football
of either rats or mice has been heard
around the house. Every spring coat
of yellow wash Is given the cellar ar q
purifier, as a rat exterminator. and no
typhoid. dvsentery, or fever attacks the
family. Many persons deliberately at
tract all the rats in the neighborhood by
leaving the fruits and vegetables uncov-
cred IN the cellar, and some times even
the soap Is left open for their regalement.
Cover up everything eatable in the cellar
and pantry and you will soon starve \
them out These precautions, joined to /
/. the service of good cat, viii prove as
good rat exterminator as the chemist
can provide. We never allow rats to be
poisoned in our dwelling They are SO
apt to die between the walls and produce