Smyrna times., 1883-07-25
Farm Notes.


One of the best crosses between fowls
is the mating of a Houdan cock and
Brahma hen, which produces not only
an unusually large fowl but also an
excellent class of laying hens. The
cross also combines hardness, early
maturity and quick feathering.
Hawks have partiality for tall
pole, from whence they can survey the
field before seizing their prey. The
knowledge of this propensity of the
hawk by the farmers sometimes in
duces the latter to erect poles at GER
tain locations, at the top of which are
fastened steel spring traps, which close
when the hawks alight on them.
w. P. Atherton, in paper on the
care of fruit trees, read before Maine
horticultural society, told the follow
ing: "A farmer dismissed a hand be-
cause he set only nine trees in day
during his absence; the next day he
set the balance of 100 himself. When
they bore fruit, the nine set by the
hired hand proved to be more valuable
than the ninety set by himself"
Strawberries, raspberries and cur
rants have been wonderfully improved
within the last five years, and to those
who have not carefully watched the
progress of improvement in such fruits
it is advised to give all the new varie
ties, at least, an inspection, if not some
of them a trial, as the difference in size
and quality of many of them is very
marked. The currant is at present re-
ceiving careful attention from nursery
men, and at the rate of progress lately
made they will, no doubt, soon be as
large as cherries.
For an account of dairying Mr.. Geo.
w. Noble. of Wells, Pa, gives figures
figures entirely reliable He had 80
cows last year, their ages ranging all
the way from , to years, all grade
Jerseys. The gross yield of butter was
$3.50 pounds: all sold in this market ;
aggregate receipts, $5,415.27. This is
an average of $75.47 to each cow, and
it will be observed that he had heifers
of :, 3 and I Years, certainly not mature
COWS. Besides, there was the butter
milk, worth enough more to bring the
average to $50 at least.-THe Husband
man.
In the Michigan Horticultural report
]. F. Taylor, ofSaugatuck, recommends
the plOwing i'll of green rye to enrich
an orchard. The seed should be sown
by the end of August, so as to secure a
dense growth before Winter. If later
in autumn the crop will be smaller and
less valuable. 1t must be turned un.
der in Spring as soon as the heads be-
gin to appear. 1t the straw hardens ii
loses its value. The thick mat of rye
on the ground during Winter protects
the trees. A single crop is insufficient
the green maMuring must be continued
year after year. He especially recon.
mends this treatment for peachorchards
"Tenella," the Jersey COW belonging
to ]. B. Wade, of DeKalb County
Georgia, will become historical. Hel
remarkable butter record has excited
so much interest that a gentleman
came from Boston here and Offered
$4,000 for her, which was refused. Sh,
would bring at auction $1,000 to $40,
000; but Mr.. Wade would not TAX
that. Tenella has the best butte
; record of her age in the world, havin,
] made twenty-five pounds and thre
ounces of butter in one week when
years old, The best butter record O
3 any age was made by the Jersey Bell
, of Scituate, which was twenty-fiv
3 pounds and two ounces.-SOuther
8 World.
5 Great strides are being made in tn
3 conquest of frontier lands. A CORES
5 pOndent of the Rural Home says tina
$ Colorado has added 125,OOO acres t
. her fertile territory for 1888. This
due to reclamation of barren upland
I. of no actual value and substituting a
equal acreage of land insured again.
drouths and assured of perennial croI
forever. This transformation has bee
effected by canals of irrigation, hu
banding mountain streams i'm reservoir
and spreading their waters over I'll
e land, California adds to this year
% agricultural capacity four times ,
q much land, and the extension now
Q process will add as much more to mel
. years capacity.
n Why not work the bulls? 1t is I
a. wonder that bulls so often becom
d vicious. They having to do but
!. u study" deviltry. For some inexpl
cable reason they are considered t.
good for any sort of labor. In this Of
= of rapidly doing things we do not e.
. pect to see an increase of the use
\ oxen on the farm. But we have IL
bulls, and if working them will n
only do them no harm but will have
tendency to make them more Harmless
why not put them under the yoke
The american AgricWLturist says tn
ed it is q common thing in West India
work bulls, and that they ape so doci
If that they are handled even by sma
boys. The bulls are not worked har
but are handled so frequently that the
have "no time to concoct wickedness
- The american Agriculturist say
Many farmers do not fully apprecia
the value of peas for pigs. Swil