The National tribune., 1884-08-07
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
woRN-ouT FARMS.

leSe; Will DC VI Value TO GnOSe intending 10 rem
ovate worn-out lands: 81 believe the easiest
| and cheapest way to bring up down farm
is by green manuring. Suppose your farm is
too poor for clover, and grass makes only fee
bic growth: put on it a manurial crop that
viii grow, such as peas or rye, turn this under
with your plow, and then you can raise some
thing better; keep feeding your soil with ev-
erything your shovel and team can command
ashes, leached ashes, if you can get them by
drawing them within five miles--muck, top soil,
mari, anything that will bring green mantle
over your fields Soon you can set the clover
pump to work, pumping up to the surface the
lnexhaustible resources of your subsoil. IF an
animal dies, don't stop to bewail your luck and
exclaim: Everything goes to the dogs on my
farm' Don't send it to the dogs at all, but
compost it with muck, or even soil, and thus
secure valuable manure. Sampson performed
wonder by taking honey from the dead car
cass of q lion, and do not wonder if you ex-
tract wheat from the dead carcass of a COW.
Pick up all the bones you can find, put them
under cover and mix with two or three times
their bulk of ashes from your kitchen; moisten
enough SO that the potash may act on the gela-
tine of the bones; stir them over once week,
and in month or two you will find the bones
SO tender that you can cut and crush them
with one blow of your shovel; beat the whole
into powdery mass, and you will have a ma
nure better than the average of superphos-
pilates which you feel too poor to buy. Give
handful of this to each hill of corn and see
how 1t will wave its banner of green and pour
into your basket the golden heads of wheat.
But In bringing your soil into good condition
do not neglect green manuring. Do all these
things patiently and hopefully, without urging
your soil beyond what it can do, and you will
yet, out OF the fullness of grateful heart, ex-
claim: Bless God for the farIn.''
SCRUB HORSES
An exchange says in regard to the raising of
horses: 1t is time for our farmers to under
stand that the days of small horses are over,
except to drive to town and for light livery
work. They cannot afford either to raise them
or own them. If they will observe carefully
they Will discover that it costs no more to keep
colt two years than a calf and that during
these two years on stock kept the colt will in
crease IN value great deal faster than the calf
We do not advise farmers to go altogether into
horse farming or into any other speciality, but
along with the calves and pigs raise few good.
large colts. It's unsafe to devote a farm to
any one kind Of stock. The true wisdom is to
raise some of each, but whatever you do, raise
the best. We have learned by experience that
corn is never so cheap or grass SO plenty that it
will pay to put either into scrub cattle, scrub
hogs or scrub horses. And the man who does
it when he can help it viii soon be rated as q
scrub farmer
LIME FOR FRUIT TREES
The n. Y. Times prints the following sensible
remarks IN regard to the manuring of fruit
trees: 1.-The ash of the apple tree contains IL
per cent. lime. That Of the pear and peach
nearly as much This fact, taken with another,
viz, that 1t is rarely thought necessary, and
still more rarely practiced TO apply lime as
feartilzer to fruit trees, viii be quite sufficient
to account for the wretchedly miserable ap-
pearanee OF many old orchards, as well as to
explain why orchards that are planted upon
lands rich in lime are so thrifty and bear such
handsome fruit. If we should follow reason
and analogy in respect to the management of
orchards, we should apply lime every third or
fourth year with hberality. Good farmers
dress their fields once IN five years with fifty
bushels of lime per acre, as an announcement
of the clover; why, then, should we not as pro-
fuseiy lime our orchards, which require so
much OF this element, when clover, which con-
tains less than half as much, is so literally
treated?"
sALTING STOCK.
Farmers often neglect to give salt to their
oSoSh-p Ss ~ 40 do AlipOILGub do watering or
feeding, for upon it depends the health and
productive capacity Of the stock. When the
animals are turned out to grass provide them
with salt freely and regularly. Many good
farmers prefer placing rock salt where stock
can get to it at all times. When this is done
the animals will never take more salt than is
good for them, although much is to be said in
favor OF carrying the salt to the stock two or
three times a week, as it gets them into the
habit of yrn Ifaa
them tame and giving the owner chance to
see il any have strayed or are injured in any
way.
NoTELETs.
- Completely saturating the part of the post
to be placed in the ground with kerosene, and
then applying good coat OF tar, will keep the
wood sound for many years.
= Cut your first crop of clover and plough
the second under, if you wish to enrich your
land with green manure.
The use of breast collars on driving horses
is objected to by some on the ground that it
Injuries the animals by drawing the shoulders
together, thereby preventing expansion of the
breast.
"A ton of rich, well-rotted manure retain
ing all the urine, owes its entire value (except
the mechanical effect to about 80 pounds of
potash, 10 pounds of phosphoric acid and 80
pounds OF nitrogen contained in it,
nc uIlettor OF the iowa agricultural Col
iege values the various milk producing foods
as follows: Corn, per 100 pounds, 80 cents;
oats, 90 cents; barley, 80 cents; wheat 65
cents; bran, 20 cents; oil meal, S1.45; clover
hay, 90 cents; timothy, 90 cents potatoes, 10
cents
= To prevent haystacks firing, scatter a few
handfuls OF common salt between each layer.
The salt, by absorbing the humidity of the
hay, not only prevents its fermentation and
consequent heating, but it also adds a salty
taste to the forage, which all cattle like; be-
Sides it stimulates the appetite and assists
their digestion, and SO preserves them from
many diseases.
a Connecticut peach grower thins cut his
fruit, cultIvates his orchard, manures with |
commercial fertilizers and trims his trees every
year. The result usually is that he gets better |
crops than before, while the extra quality of |
the fruit brings higher prices for it in market.
SO soon as the sheep are shorn, the ticks |
which have found hiding place in the thick I
wool betake themselves to the earliest and best /
lambs, whose wool affords the best protection. /
Dipping the lambs in water where tobacco |
stems have been stepped viii greatly relieve I
5he lambs and prevent the whole flock going /
he down-hill road on the approach of winter. |
1t is no economy to buy second hand farm
ng implements. They are continually break
ng down and are a constant source of annoy
lnce and expense. 1t is far better to buy new
Implements, even if you have to get fewer.
- GIVE calves d comfortable yard or pen,
whether raised by hand or the cow, writes
armer. Confined in close quarters, tic floor
beneath should be cleaned often and Uttered
lbundantly. 1t is as cruel as unprofit- Die TO
Keep them tied in cold filthy places.
Prof Toy an 1jcbo |