Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-06-13
FARM AND GARDEN.

s4HE wheat acreage OF Minnesota this
spring is placed at two and a. half mil
lions, while III Dakota the, area under
wheat will be increased 100000 acres
over last years planting.
GROUND. oats form one of the best
feeds to promote a'AoW, Of milk either
III COWS, ewes or III breeding sows. The
oats will grind better If one bushel of
corn is mixed with every two or three Of
the lighter grain.
In Ohio the farmers have abandoned
the old plan of working out the road tax.
The roads are kept in repair by contract,
and the result is much better nowadays,
really costing no more money than I'M
der the old system.
The roqfrof barns should be steep,
and If of wood the surface either painted
or the shingles dipped in lime water, to
make them more durable. Stray and
dirt collect under fat-roofed shingles,
and cause rapid decay. '..-
THE cold winter has sensiblY di-
mlnlshed the number of sparrow=, ex-
cept where sheltered in or near cities. 1t
is scarcely probable that they will be-.
come the pest to northern farmers that
they are to farmers in England.
IT is stated that by spreading salt on
the ground under plum trees as far out
as the branches extend, q, good crop is
often secured, as it interferes with the
operationslof the curculio. The same
application is good for bark lice
If there are thin places in the meadow
or pasture, LITTLE grass seed sown now
and narrowed in Wills greatly improve
the future yield. Covering with light
dressing of manure and narrowing once
or twice will also help improve the
yield.
The granary should be entirely cleaned
at least once year, or it may breed wee
VII i'll the old grain. The wheat needed
for -four for family use should be ground
during some warm day in spring and
kept in barrels in a cool place during
summer.
IT is now suggested that few tobacco
plants can be grown advantageously
among cabbage. La fact farmers who
have tried it INSIST that good crop of
cabbage can be grown in this way, where
not sound head has been seen for two
or three years.
COMMON tobacco stems placed on the
ground around currant bushes, in the
spring before frost is out, will keep oft
the currant worm and keep. the bushes
clean. The tobacco is distasteful to the
worms, and they will nol crawl over it to
ascend the bushes.
IT is great labor for a farmer to pre-
pare paper to be read at a farmers
club, and yet no labor on the farm pays
him better. 1t frequently wakes up a
sluggish mind, and induces it for the
first time TO look out inteIligently upon
a busy, active, competing world.
THE dirt-scraper can be ppoftably
used III making open bitches through low
lands. IT properly managed the ditch
will have such sloping banks that a
wagon or reaper can pass over ii. The
earth spread over adjacent land is worth
as manure all that the latter will cost.
An exchange asserts that the difference
between the yield of eggs IN the most
prolific cases, as compared with poor
layers, is IS three or four to one. In
favorable instances individual hens have
been Known to produce $50 eggs per
year. Yet 200 is reached so seldom as
to be called a remarkable yield.
THERE is grade of wheat in Oregon
known as 'goose wheat" so called be-
cause it originated from few grains
found in the crop of wild goose. The
wheat has hard outer husk, and the
bran is very coarse; it makes a peculiar
grade Of -four. Its exact duplicate is
found In a small province Of Spain.
IN buying farms it rarely pays to pur-
chase one badly run down., with the
idea of improving It,. The cheapest i'm
provements are always to be had ready
made. If the owner goes to work to
improve the rundown farm, he finds q
neyer-endin9 job, and himself an old
man before the farm is fitted to suit his
ideas.
DIR. STURTEvANT's, experiments in
feeding COWS at the New York state
farm in Geneva give extraordinary re-
suits. Richer milk was produced from
shorts or gluten meal than from corn
meal. It is probable that the corn makes
the globules of cream larger and more
readily separable from the milk than
when wheat bran Or shorts are fed.
w ALDO 4. BROWN recommends TO BMe
readers of the Rural New Yorker that
they should simply pulverize the surface
of land intended for oats instead of
breaking it up with pillow. It's advan-
tages are a better seed bed, a, heavier
crop and more land seeded in the same
time. All that is needed is to get three
inches Of the surface fine and mellow.
A WRITER in the Fruit Recorder makes
the statement that one OF his. neighbors
planted some cabbage among his corn
where the corn missed, and the butter
flies did not find them. He has there
fore come to- the conclusion that if the
cabbage patch were in the middle Of the
corn patch, the butterflies would not
find them, as they fly low and like plain
sailing
CANE sugar and syrup are ne. longer
exclusively tropical products. The in
crease in the sorghum industry prem
ises to make it a leading crop with
northern farmers. It is a fact not gen.
orally known that the amber sorghum
cane Is best in northern latitUdes. II