Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-02-08
SEASONABLE FARM NOTES.

Island boy for raising the best crop of
corn in competition-eighteen bushels
on one-eighth of an acre.
ONE of the first things farmers wife
should learn, if she has not already
learned it as farmers daughter, is to
drive and harness a horse.
STRAWBERRIES are much more prolific
when four or five different varieties are
planted together, although each variety
may be perfect one, than if but one
perfect variety were planted alone.
A TRIAL has been made in Scotland to
test the value of an acre of cabbage COM
pared to the value of an acre of Swed-
ish turnips, for fattening sheep, and it
was found that the cabbage was worth
very near 500 the most
The opinion has generally prevailed
that little bran mixed with meal would
produce more pork than clear meal, but
in some experiments lately tried it was
found that clear meal made more pork
than mixture of bran and meal.
ELLSWORTH, Kan. has a COW that gave
birth to twin calves in February, 1880.
She gave birth to beautiful heifer calf
in February, 1881, and two beautiful
calves in December, 1881, making in all
five calves in less than two years.
If small piece of sulphur is occasion
ally thrown upon the fire in the smoke
house it will effectually prevent shippers
and bugs from making inroads upon the
meat; nor will it produce any effect upon
it's flavor, save on the mere surface or
skin.
The Breeders Gazette says the boar
for use should be raised on a varied food
so as to have strength. He should be
kept little low In flesh, and should not
do service till a year old. He should be
of good pedigree, also. One service to
each SOW is sufficient.
OWING to the high price of feed for
stock, there are heavy shipments OF ''ealt
hay" being made from the New Jersey
marshes. Formerly it was considered
scarcely worth taking, but the growing
demand for hay has given it value
which it never before possessed.
The Flemish farmer scrupulously col
lects every atom OF sewage from the
towns; he guards his manure like treas
ure, puts roof over it to prevent rain
and sunshine from spelling it; he also
gathers mud from rivers and canals,
|
highways, for conversion into phosphates.
PROFESSOR BREWER, of the sheffield
Scientific School, New Haven, says:
con account of the value of our straw
and of the stalks of our corn for feed
ing, it is found that an acre of corn,
wheat or other grain, pays as large a
profit here as in the west, and that the
labor of each man is as we'll or better
paid"
The value of all manufactured fertil-
izers depends upon their solubility, and
these manures should all be appropria-
ted by the growing crops. To expect
any such ferti]izing matter to remain in
the ground for another year is to pre-
sumo that the fertilizers are not properly
manufactured. Bone dust, however,
will remain in the soil several years.
WHEN corn on the ear is fed to horses
they masticate it much more slowly than
if the corn was shelled. AS a conse-
| quence that on the ear is better digest
ed. A horse requires more time to eat
! corn on the ear than If fed either meal or
| shelled corn. If the horse cannot have
time to masticate full feed of unshelled
corn, then it is best to feed something
| else.
The uncommonly large number of in
sects, injurious to vegetation, which did
SO much to destroy last seasons crops,
was not in consequence of an open win
ter, but followed very severe season.
The larvae of these insects were protect
ed by the snow. The present open win
Of these pests. They remain near the
| h @o,, VII 4hnxr no
fed off by the birds.
S. r. HART, residing in Brighton, N.
Y, near Rochester, says: 81 have used
during the past two years, water lmpreg-
mated with gas tar for the purpose of
destroying the Colorado beetle on my
potato vines. It las proved more effect
i've than Paris green, and has been used
with equal effect in my currant bushes.
Two quarts of gas tar to pailful Of water
are the proportions used, and the vines
or bushes are sprinkled by means of
watering-pot. i"
CHARLES HovEY, in the Massachusetts,
| PIoughman, takes exception to the
general impression that salt is essential
or even beneficial to asparagus, saying
thousands of plants are annually killed
or injured by it's application. He also
says that our mammoth specimens do
not compare with some grown by the
ancients, and quotes Ping as saying
there "was variety which grew near
Ravenna, deep, sandy country, three
shoots of which would weigh a pound. %
DIR. Noble, Saxon experimenter, has
succeeded in raising buckwheat and oats
both in water and Ill clean sand, no soil
| being present, The method EMPLOYED
was to mingle with the water and the
sand the chemical elements composing
ordinary soil. At the same time he COM
pared the growth of other plants in the
same manner, but with potash or lime,
or other ingredient omitted. It was
found that plants do not thrive unlsss
we'll fed with potash, lime, nitrogen and
chlorine.
AN eastern farmer says: "Onions are
very scarce and high priced this season.