The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-02-24
FARM NOTES.


large amounts of potash. On some OF our
sandy lands an application of potash mas
but little effect.
A LAYER of phosphate of lime, when
| is said to be very rich, has been dlscov,
cred near Apt, in the Department Oh
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 ana
strong to engage in anything less IN
portant than war.
GUANo was first introduced in England
in 1S4I. 1t costs the farmer much more
than it formerly did to carry on ms
farm, and the need of the hour Is pro
ducts and prices commensurate with ms
increased expenses.
II Is the turnip alone that can be de-
pended upon to mature q crop soWh
after the middle of August in the fall,
before the ground freezes up. Turnlps
can I've fed tops and all. Subsequent 10
the harvesting the tops can be fed, ana
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 lOO
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 Mulch COW,
| forty-four pounds the OK, hfty-two
| pounds, and the sheep, forty-elght
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 dung-hIll
plug of l,2O0 pounds, and can go twice
! the distance on the road, day IN and day
out, with a relative burden or draught.
/ Blood in all of our domestic animals Is
superlative, as compared with low-bred
stock.
Mr.. DnLoN, of Brighton, Iowa, gives
his experience with sheep IN lSS0-1SSl /:
"In iSSO.' he writes, 81 sheared 40
sheep, averaging eight pounds to a
fleece, or 81 in value to a sheep, and
raised ninety lambs worth $3.50 per
head In 1881 I sheared 200 head and
sold 1912 of wool and raised seventy-five
lambs; besides l 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 man who made farming his
| only business to fail and become unable
to pay his debts. have known goodly
number of men, who under similar cir
1 ~ thnncrh Gfa
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 produe.
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 OF
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 in
absorbing liquid. Apply it to fat lands
at any time during winter. it can then
be thrown on broadcast and plowed in
a. soon as the ground opens. The ne
cessity of returning as much vegetable
nutriment to the ground as has been
taken off by the crop cannot be too
strongly impressed upon the attention OF
our farmers.
WORMS are among the best friends OF
the farmer; they are great bOrers They
go down into the earth, and the holes
they make enable the air containing
carbonic acid to penetrate down to the
mineral matter below the surface, by
which the fertilizing qualities are
changed and fitted for the nourishment
of plants. The worms, by opening and
casting up the soil. do for the farmer
what he does for himself by blowing.
The farmer is indebted to the worm for
producing plant food, and to the plants
! we are indebted for our own food
/ To THIS axiom every farmer should
hold fast. Without continuous manur-
ing there can be no continuous produc-
tions from the soil. The aim should be
to get full remunerative crop from
every cultivated acre at every harvest.
We manure for the future crop too much
and for the present one too little In
doing this we lock up part of our best
capital It has been often and we'll said
that the manure pile is the farmers
bank, and if 50 the funds should be
turned over rapidly and drawing good
4 interest every time. 1t is the nimbIe
sixpence which makes the money and
not the slow shilling.
This truism neither the farmer nor the
farmers wife should ever forget, that
while wealth can do much to make home
attractive, taste, industry, and an appre-
citation of the beautiful can do wonders
in not only making a beautiful home
but a happy one. The poor man may
have no coaches, and no horses, but he
can hang delicate vine leaves along his
porch, so exquisite In delicacy that nc
sculptor's art can equal it. He may
have no conservatories with their won
ders. yet he and his son can build mp 9
coppice of blooming things in his door
yard of which every floral leafiet is {
wonder, mystery, and scientific study
AMONG the many unexpected develop
: ments of electrical science is an applica
ton in the hiving of bees when the1
swarm, successfully tried by German
experimenters. It was thought by utli
: izing the electric force the bees Nigh
be Supplied for the necessary period o
time without being injured, and the
result proved the correctness OF the idea
The first attempt was made upon bee
that had gathered upon trees, the lnseet
falling upon the ground in KIND
! trance. which admitted of their being
safely handled. The next stage in thu
experiment was to capture the bees whei
, they were about to swarm. By intro
ducing the ends Of two connecting wires
into fuily-occupied honeycomb. anC
turning on thescurrent, the bees wer'
rendered inactive for about thirty min
utes, while no bad results appeared tx
follow their awakening.
THE experience of B. 2. Ware is very
favorable to ensiIaoa Last wear hC