The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-03-13
Farm Notes.

dfHu NUbcO.
Purchase small trees with plenty oi
roots rather than large ones with few
roots.
If You have choice potatoes to keep
| for seed put them in a box of sand in the
cellar. They will not sprout nor freeze.
| Cows in milk require but little excr-
else to maintain good health, The quiet i,
| er they remain the richer their milk will
be in butter.
Sunfiower seed given to a horse at
each morning and night feed viii keep
him in good spirits and give his hair a
sleek appearance.
To keep apples late, pack them in
tight barrels in plaster (gypsum). This
will keep the air away, and, if the APP
Piles are originally sound, they will not
rot for months.
1t is better to set fruit trees in the
Fall, when the sap is comparatively at
rest, and VIXEN the soil and atmosphere
favor root growth rather than body
growth. Cut in the roots well and take
pains in transplanting.
IL is a good idea to select potatoes that
are to be planted next Spring as they
are dug this Fall, and then give them
good care In the winter Choose tubers
from vigorous growing plants and those
that are fully matured.
Frozen roots, or, indeed, frozen food
of any kind, is very pernicious to swine
and all other stock, as it is apt to scour
them badly, and in any event disturbs
their digestion and renders the other
food taken into the stomach less nutri-
tious to the animals.
The lookout for the honey crop of
1882 (according to BradStreet's) is but a
little better Than that of 1881 New
York State, q leading honey producing
center, win run short oft general good
average, but this deficiency will be off
set by gains in Illinois, Michigan and
other Western States which produced
less than usual in 1881. California
promises quarter crop this year,
against total failure in 1881. This viii
constitute the surplus over the quantity
of honey marketed in 1881.
For keeping apples the essential re-
quisities may be summed up thus: Pick
without bruising; store without heating;
winter without frosting; use one or more
thermometers; preserve an unchanged
temperature; guard against air cur
rents; give needed ventilation; remove
ripe specimens before decaying; separate
the fruit room from all other apartments
With these precautions and care, such
apples as the Baldwin, Red Canada,
Swaar, Fameuse and Northern Spy may
be kept fresh into June and July, as
we have had an opportunity for testing.
The cellar of many u farm house has
caused disease which could have been
avoided with little extra care. Decay
ing vegetables and fruit fill the cellar
with their unhealthful odors and gases,
and these arise to the rooms above
through cracks and ereyices or through
the open door, and the family is com
PEELED to inhale them. This may be
remedied by carefully asserting out all
decaying vegetables once or twice
month, and by opening the cellar win
dows at night and closing them through
the day. Ventilation is the secret. 1t
is good plan to connect flue from the
bottom of the cellar with the chimney
by which noxious gases will be removed.
Don't put off this matter of ventilation
until it is too late.
Many complain that onions do not
keep. The trouble is in keeping them
too warm. The onion is bulb, plant
at rest, and the least warmth starts it |
into activity. 1t is much better that on
ions should remain frozen through the |
Winter, provided they can thaw gradu- |
ally. than to put them into cellar or
other warm place where their vegeta- |
tive powers viii be aroused. If put in |
large heaps onions will be sure to spoil; |
but if spread in thin layers and covered
with hay and straw, SO that il frozen the /
thawing will be gradual, they will keep |
well through the Winter. 1t is the Gus
tom with onion growers Ia got their |
crop TO market as soon as possible. Ii |
they were to provide proper storage
they would realize much more from
them when sent TO market later in the |
scason.