Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-01-04
SEASONABLE FARM NOTES.

hAhIoboh1 anu ISOuon DUCKS nave
been exhibited weighing over % and %
pounds the pair respectively.
The pigs should be killed early in the
winter, as later keeping is expensive;
besides it gives more room for the few
that are reserved for breeding.
A FARMER OF experience in wool grow
ing says that there is more money in
growing wool even at twenty cents per
pound than Id loaning money at ten per
cent. interest.
WINTERING bees in cellars appears to
be an improvement over wintering them
outside. The bees consume less honey
have less loss and are healthier id the
end.
PEAR blight has IN several instances
been arrested in affected trees by syring-
ing them with weak solution of potash.
and In some cases it has proved pre-
ventive when applied to the healthy
trees.
WELL-FED early chicks make good fall
and winter layers. It is not uncommon
for them to begin by the middle of
October and give seventy-fve or eighty
eggs each before the lapse of one hun
dred days.
OLD hens lay little, if any, in winter,
and but sparingly at any time; hence
never keep hens for layers after three
years of age, and it is more profitable to
sell them at the end of their second
year.
IF eggs are desired in winter-and
they always are in demand-the fowls
will require warm place and plenty
of food and water Lime, in some form,
as powdered oyster shells, old plaster
ing, etc., will be needed to furnish ma
terial for shells.
THERE have been many thorough ex-
perlments made to test the value of
winter shelter for swine, and they all
show that pigs to winter well must have
warm place with clean bed, and feed
enough to be comfortable. They are
not to be fattened, but simply kept in
good condition.
PROF. W. j. BEAL, having tried sew
eral ways of killing quack grass, says he
succeeded best by blowing late in the
fall, and cultivating as soon as the
ground will admit in the spring until no
traces OF the grass are seen, which will
usually leave time for late crop of po-
tatoes or rutabagas in the same season.
The horses will generally have an
easier time during winter than in the
busy months of spring and summer.
They should not therefore receive light
food and less care, but SO kept that they
will be in excellent trim when the spring
opens. Horses that come to the heavy
work of spring without accumulation of
flesh, or stored up force are unfit for the
work, and have not been properly and
therefore proftably wintered.
STABLES should be warm enough so
that horses may be comfortable without
blankets, then the blankets will do good
service az coverings when the animal is
left standing out in the street. The
practice of covering horse with blan-
ket in the stable, to be removed as soon
as he is taken out, is like man wearing
his overcoat indoors and taking it off
when he goes out in the open air.
THERE are not many things to be done
in the orchard at this season of the year
Manure may be carted, or, better, if
there is snow, drawn out on sled
among the trees. Cions can be cut, tied
in bundles, labeled and stored in saw
dust or sand. The clusters of the tent
caterpillar can now be cut away, thus
saving the tree from the attacks Of the
worms that hatch from them in early
spring.
FARMERS are often at a loss how to
clean an old pork barrel, making it fresh
and sweet. We have seen the following
plan recommended. It is simply to fill
the tainted cask or barrel with fresh
earth; let it stand a couple of days,
when this should be emptied out and
more earth put in. After two or three
days empty this out, and to make assur-
ance doubly sure, invert the barrel and
burn under it some bits of cloth satu-
rated with solutions of sulphur birthstone.
SERIOUS injury is done to many
horses, by boing exposed to cold winds
after hard drive, aud when they have
become much heated. ALI drafts of cold
air should be avoided at such times,
and the body of the horse covered with a
blanket. Sweaty horses that are taken
at once to warm stable, seldom need
the protection of blankets, and if they
are used it makes the animals more sus-
ceptible to chills when hItched out of
doors.
A swL1 barrel on the farm, where
every waste substance is thrown to sour
and rot, is piece of furniture we have
little respect for. There is no place for
it in the house, nor in the dairy room,
nor at the barn, nor have we found quite
enough room for one out of doors It
draws flies, breeds moulds and maggots,
smells badly, and not unfrequently
spoils the good food put into it. Meal
may be more digestible after being
soaked and soured to certain extent,
but risk of carrying the fermentation too
far, together with the disagreeableness
attending sour swill barrel, is such
that it is far better to abolish it entirely
or else keep enough swine to consume
all the waste of the kitchen, dairy and
farm in fresh condition.
The cow stable should be kept neat
and clean. Unless this is done the
milk can not he Derfect1v Dura The |