The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-02-23
FARM NOTES.

more food raised In the poultry yards OF
France than in the stalls and pastures Of
England.
GRANITE rocks, sand, and dust contain
large amounts of potash. On some of oul
sandy lands an application of potash has
but little effect.
A LAYER of phosphate of lime, which
! il said to be very rich, has been discov.
cred near Apt, in the Department Of
Vancluse, France.
NEARLY all of the agricultural work
In Prussia is done by women, and the
/ custom is now as it has always been the
men are considered far too brave and
strong to engage in anything less i'm
portant than war.
GUANo was first introduced in England
in 184l. It costs the farmer mach more
than it formerly did to carry on his
farm, and the need of the hour is pro-
ducts and prices commensurate with his
increased expenses.
IT is the turnip alone that can be de-
/ pended upon to mature a crop sown
after the middle of August in the fall !,
before the ground freezes up. Turnips
can be fed tops and all. Subsequent to
the harvesting the tops can be fed, and
later ON, the roots. Fed with straw, the
turnip sets at defiance the analysis of the
/ chemist in the amount of nutrition they
develop.
EXPERIMENTS have shown that, of 100
pounds of the dry matter of fodder, the
| following amounts pass into excrements,
solid and liquids together: Fed to the
horse, fifty three pounds the mich COW,
forty-four pounds; the OK, fifty-two
pounds, and the sheep, forty-eight
pounds. On the average, then, about
one-half of the dry matter of the fodder
passes into the manure.
ANIMALS of spirit and determination
are stronger than those of much greater
weight, devoid of these qualities. The
thoroughbred horse of 1000 pounds
weight can draw more than a dung-hIll
plug of 1000 pounds, and can go twice
the distance on the road, day in and day
out, with relative burden or draught.
Blood in all of our domestic animals is
superlative, as compared with low-bred
stock.
Mr.. DILLON, of Brighton, Iowa, gives
ain 1850" he writes, IT sheared lao
sheep, averaging eight pounds to a
|
raised ninety lambs worth $3.50 per
head. In 1881 I sheared 200 head and
sold 1912 of wool and raised seventy-fve
lambs; besides I lost many lambs by the
late spring and severe winter. Neither
did the sheep shear SO heavily as the
year previous"
AN OLD New Hampshire farmer writes
"I have been intimately acquainted with
the farmers in my vicinity for twenty-five
years, and during the whole period have
not known o man who made farming his
only business to fail and become unable
to pay his debts. Ihave known goodly
number of men, who under similar cir.
cumstances, though starting with little
or nothing in the way of property, have
become owners of valuable property and
have money to let"
FARMERS generally lay out too much
work for the help they employ. The
best rule is not attempt the cultivation
of large areas but to make the land pro.
duce the largest yields. If one acre OF
ground can be made to produce fifty
bushels OF wheat or 100 bushels of corn,
that is far better than to appropriate
two or three or four acres in the produc.
ton of the same quantities. Forty acres
well titled will, in the long run, yield
better returns than hundred carelessly
managed.
ONE of the most prevalent errors
among average farmers is the neglect oi
making and preserving manure, and also
its improper application to the ground
Collect all the refuse material YOU can
use your chip dirt from the wood-pile il
absorbing liquid. Apply it to fat lands
ut any time during winter. It can ther
be thrown on broadcast and plowed ii
as soon as the ground opens. The ne
cessity OF returning as much vegetable
nutriment to the ground as has beer
taken off by the crop cannot be tot
strongly impressed upon the attention O
cur farmers.
WoRAGs are among the best friends O
the farmer: they are great borers. The
60 down into the earth, and the hole
they make enable the air. containing
carbonic acid to penetrate down to tn
mineral matter below the surface, b,
which the fertilizing qualities ar,
changed and fitted for the nourishmen
Of plants. The worms, by opening ant
casting MP the soil. do for the farme
: what he does for himself by plowing
The farmer is indebted to the worm fo
producing plant food, and to the plant
we are indebted for our own food.
! To THIS axiom every farmer shoul
hold fast. Without continuous manur
ing there can be no continuous produc
tions from the soil. The aim should b
to get q full remunerative crop fron
every cultivated acre at every harvest
We manure for the future crop too mucl
and for the present one too little. L
doing this we lock up part of our bes
|. capital It has been often and we'll sal,
that the manure pile is the farmer
! bank, and if 30 the funds should b
turned over rapidly and drawing goo'
interest every time. 1t is the nimbl
} sixpence which makes the money an,
not the slow shilling.
This truism neither the farmer nor tn
farmers wife should ever forget, tina
while wealth can do much to make hom
attractive, taste, industry, and an appre
citation of the beautiful can do wonder
in not only making beautiful home
but q happy one. The poor man ma
have no coaches, and no horses, but h
cen hang delicate vine leaves along hi
porch, so exquisite in delicacy that n
sculptor's art can equal it. He ma,
have no conservatories with their won
! ders, yet he and his son can build up
: coppice of blooming things in his door
yard OF which every floral leaflet is
wonder, a mystery, and scientific study
AMONG the many unexpected develop
e ments of electrical science is an applica
tion in the hiving of bees when the
swarm, successfully tried by Germa1
d experimenters. It was thought by util
= izing the electric force the bees nigh
be stupiied for the necessary period Q
time without being injured, and tn