The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-11-06
OUR RBR4L TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
SAVE ALL THE FODDER.


proved to be unusually light. Already hay is
quoted in the markets of Boston and New York
at prices ranging from $1S to $40 per ton;
while raw straw sells from So to $3.50 per ton.
1t is believed by those who ought to know that
before Midwinter is reached. those figures Will
go much higher. In the Chicago market, No.
! timothy is quoted at $40; No. 2 at 50 and So.
The severe and protracted drouths prevailing
the past season in various parts Of the country
have, in many instances. proved disastrous to
the hay crop: 80 much SO, in fact, that by
some the shortage in the New England and
Middle States is estimated as approximating so
per cent With these facts in view it is plain
that the sweet, succuent grasses of the Western
prairies, in the form of baled hay, viii conf
mand good prices in the markets of the East;
while naturally the scarcity of hay there, and
the consequent rise in price will necessarily
affect the state of the market here. A writer
in the american Cultirator, on the question,
"What Shall the Harvest Be?" says from the
hay fields (of the East the answer comes, q
light yield and half filled barns" 1t will
therefore pay the farmers of the West to give
some attention to this matter. Farmers having
a hay press may well put it to work getting
what hay they have to sell in good shape for
marketing. There can be little doubt that after
deducting the cost of transportation to the
seaboard, fair profit will be left for both ship
pers and farmers. To this end, too we need
hardly call attention to the necessity OF
saving all the corn fodder possible. Its value
as food for cattle, or even horses and sheep,
when cut and properly cured, is so well known
no
point is that plenty of this sort of feed will
leave more surplus hay which can be spared to
supply the demand for it in those States where
the yield has been light and the barns are
only half filled.
THE FARMERS TABLE.
Gardeners and, above all, farmers, says the
Chicago Herald, have no business to live
meanly or to think of themselves as obliged to
drudge ceaselessly without the indulgences of
other classes One has no business to see town
folk having early vegetables and berries a
month before his tardy supply comes on, to be
out of them in dog-days before the merchants
and cheap boarding house keepers in the city
have begun to see the end of fresh things; he
has no need to live on doughnuts and boiled
dinners the year round, when others try the
changes of Spring lamb, fresh fish, boiled
chicken, Salads ducks and green peas, capons
ought not to see town homes fragrant with
flowers while his wife has only bunch Of
syringaS or cinnamOnr0Ses, with q tuft of as
paragus, to sweeten the parlor when she thinks
to pick them. What better right have rich
men to sit over desserts and choice pears,
plums, grapes and apricots, while he must con-
tent himself with a. Baldwin apple in Mid
winter? Why should've not have becoming
| home, with its lawn in front and large borders
| of the richest flowers his house, one-stOry
and small, perhaps, yet hung with woodbine,
wild grapes and roses against the background
of orchard and shade trees. spreading their
fanking boughs with good effect as if it were
a cottage Ornee, with its acres Of strawberries?
Why should he not have in his garden choice
| fruits of the Observation-Disclosures. currants and
gooseberries jostling each other in earliest per-
fection red and black cherries, golden and
| purple plums, plenty of black-caps to make up
for the lost Strawberries, and grapes as soon as
raspberries are over, big blanched salads, peas
in succession, as we'll as his town neighbor
who sells him groceries and cotton? Why
should he not have as fine pears, peaches, Win
ter apples and grapes at Christmas as we'll as
the President of the horticultural Society,
| and why should not his girls have big French
| roses and tuberoses as well as thesolitary dahlia
| and China aster which decorate the yard, and
the common geranium indoor Why doesn't
he have an herb bed to make his plain dinner
savory, and lavender to sweeten his sheets at
night? A poor English cottager will have all
these by thrift and contrivance. Why not an
American farmer?
CORNs IN HORSES FEET.
Corns in horses feet are sometimes very
| troublesome; they are almost always the con-
sequence of shooting. Destroying the expans-
bility OF the foot must, when the coffin bone
has q backward or q downward motion, i'm
| prison and injure this portion of the same.
| This evil is increased when the shoe is badly
| fitted and the foot is not properly dressed or
when shoes are suffered to remain too long
| without resetting, or by the foot becoming hard
and inelastic COrns are generally on the in
| side heel, as that is the weakest. The method
| of shOers generally to discover the existence of
corns is by the pain the horse exhibits when
| the pincers are used on the wall and bar of the
| foot. This is cruel treatment for the horse.
| If the horn is naturally thip, he will feel
| great pain, whether there is q corn or not The
cure of old corns is difficult. The first thing to
| be done is to dress the foot as near its natural
| shape as possible. Open the angle of the heels
| well. BY this we do not mean to dig great
hole, but just uncover the corn and get all
| pressure Off it. After the foot is so you can
take it between your hands and expand it, fit
a shoe to the iOOt-nOt calk a shoe and fit the
foot to it, as some do. When you are ready see
that you have an equal bearing all around if
| you have, take small drawing knife and take a
1
the corn, to relieve it from pressure. Then
| nail on your shoe, leaving out the fourth nail
on the inside. Ii you have q horse with corns
and feet that are badly contracted, treat that
| at the same time. 1t needs something more
| than shoeing to cure diseased foot. If horse
! has a fiat foot nth corns use the knife very
| sparingly and carefully, and relieve the bear
| ing on the heel and shorten the toe. In bad
cases use a bar shoe to take the pressure SS t1e
heels. Always use the kc::sss very lightly on
| feet of this kiraa-rr
FALL TREATMENT OF PASTURES.
The Fall is the best season for top dressing
grass lands and putting them in shape for the
| Spring. When meadows have been pastured
the droppings should be broken up and spread,
| and all the unconsumed lunches of heritage
should be moved of level. 1t might, perhaps,
be resented as too trite and unnecessary an
admonition that grass should not be pastured
down too closely just now, but it is one of those
points upon which line upon line and precept
| upon precept" is entirely applicable. For even
| knowing the appropriateness OF feeding the
heritage which is hard, iInutritious, and indi-
gestible and the injury of leaving the sod bare
and unprotected, farmers as rule neglect the
plainest and simplest wisdom in this respect
and leave their cattle out on the meadows until
| the heritage is worn down to the roots.
| common objection made to leaving an after
math upon meadows islthat the rank fog " or
dead grass is an obstacle to moving the next
| season This isswholly gratuitous alarm, and
| if one needs proof he is referred to the wild
growth of the prairies and meadows, which