The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-01-17
General Farm Notes,

Sunf1ower seeds, fed in small quaint
ties, impart beautiful gloss to the
plumage of poultry.
Remember this, that apples keep bet
ter in damp, moist cellars than in dry
ones. In the latter they become dry and
shrivelled; in the former plump and
juicy.
Keep the fowls warm and dry, feed
some warm food and give them variety
of it. Take out all the old hens and
keep only young ones, and the egg
basket will be well filed, even at this
season.
A correspondent of the Scientific
american reports success in growing
potatoes on top of the ground in rows
two feet to three feet apart, covered
with sawdust six to twelve inches
thick
A veterinary writer condemns high
managers for horses, claiming that they
irritate the throat and create tendency
to heayes. He says the manger should
be on level with the feet, as that is in
accordance with nature.
The weight of hens eggs ranges from
fifteen to twenty-four ounces per dozen.
A weight of twenty-five and one-haf
ounces may be taken as a fair average
for good-sized eggs, although a weight
of nearly four ounces is not unknown for
single specimens of eggs.
Stable manure is preferable to any
other fertilizer No farmer can afford
to waste his manure. All of it should
be saved and utilized. In many cases
farming would be more profitable if less
land was cultivated, with higher fertiliza-
ton. One acre highly MANFRED should
pay better than three but half MANFRED
and half cultivated.
1t is the opinion of many that fowl
fattened quickly viii make far more
juicy and toothsome meal than a
year-old fowl will make much better
broth for an invalid than six months
chicken.
Pigs thrive so much better when kept
clean and comfortable, that it is surpris-
ING any farmer should let them wallow
in filth. A dry, warm bed, with the same
food, will add one-haf more weight to a
pig over and above one that is kept in
filth and wretchedness.
According to DR.. Won Liebenburg, all
air-dry soils, at the same temperature,
radiate heat equally. He insists strong
ly ON the injurious effect of any agency
that lowers the temperature of the
ground in Spring, as that will certainly
influence the quantity and quality of the
crop.
Design and Works says that grease for
belts, which renders them more adhe-
sive and more durable, can be obtained
by mixing oil of rosin with 10 per cent.
tale The grease is spread on the belt
with q brush several times, or until the
leather viii not absorb any more. The
operation is repeated after some weeks,
a smaller quantity of grease being used.
The belts acquire more fexibility and
resistance, adhere better to the drums
and do not slip. The greasing is only
required every few months.
Potato culture is reviving in every
part of the United Kingdom. In Ire
land the acreage has risen since 1880
from S23, 900 to 854, 900, Notwithstanding
the increase in beans, rye, oats and peas.
In Scotland there was also an increase,
though not large. In England $4,000
additional acres were put under this
crop. Wales, this Summer, had ~, 400
acres devoted to the potato. against
SO. 900 acres in the preceding year.
The total increase is put down by some
AGRICULTURAL statisticians at 10000
acres.
The composition of buckwheat has
been examined by M. G. Lechartier he
states that the proportion OF mineral
matter in the straw increases with the
weight. The straw may indeed become
richer in phosphoric acid than the grain,
differing as it does completely from that
of the other cereals. The straw OF a crop