Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-02-06
FARM AND GARDEN.


F. J. EMERY says that from $50 to 900
per. cent profit is what the west is pay
ing eastern publishers for school books.
ENGLISH papers say that the run on
Hereford cattle by American buyers at
this time is phenomenal, and the like
was never known before.
IT is said that tilling, or thorough I'M
derdrainage, warns the soil to such
degree as to amount to the same thing
as moving $50 miles farther south.
THERE are evidences that the corn
root worm is rapidly increasing in all of
the western states, and that serious
alarm is felt for the next crop in some
localities.
ONE hundred and fifty dollars pre-
miums on seed corn for each of the
northern, central and southern divisions
of the state are offered by the Illinois
state board for their next state fair,
The farmers in Maryland and Della
ware raise tomatoes for the canning fac
tories, from which the farmers derive
500 per acre year. This vegetable is
canned there to supply the Iowa gro
Gerry stores. LIS this not "a pretty kettle
of fish? And we will raise wheat at q
gross product of 81 or So per year, to
pay for these tomatoes.
RICE contains more starch than either
wheat, rye, barley, oats or corn. Of
these grains oats carry the least starch,
but by far the largest proportion of cell
Iulose. In heterogeneous substances wheat
leeds, followed by barley, oats, rye and
corn, while rice is most deficient. Corn
leads in fat, and oats in relative proper
ton of water. Wheat leads In gum and
rice In salt.
The president of the Elmira Farmers
Club tells the husbandman that his crop
of sorghum got caught by the frost, and
too much injured to be of value as
strip producing substance. But he fed
it to his COWS which ate it greedily, and
soon began to gain in milk. He thinks
he got about as much profit from the
crop as if it had been devoted to the
original intent.
ALL manures deposited by nature are
left on or near the surface. The whole
tendency of manure is to go down to the
soil rather than to rise from it. There
is probably very little if any loss of nj
trogen from evaporation Of manure,
unless it is put in piles so as to foment.
Rains and dews return to the soil as
much ammonia In year as is carried off
in the atmosphere.
CONVENIENCE for farm buildings is an
important aid to good farming, especial
ly where much stock is kept and there
are many chores. Water should always
be provided In the barn-yard, the feeding
boxes should be near where the feed is
kept, and the buildings should not be
very far removed from the house. If
this results in more neatness about
barns and barnyards than has been
thought necessary, it will be another
important advantage gained.
THERE is yet serious agitation in and
near all our eastern cities about the
price which the farmers get for their
milk. They generally get about three
cents per quart, which the buck
sters retail In the city at ten cents. The
great trouble there, as well as else
where, is that the farmers will not con-
centrate In unions and regulate the
price. It will take several centuries vet
before the farmers will protect them
selves and their interests as all the other
industries do.
r. G. Dunn & Co., in their annual
trade circular, after recounting the num-
Der of failures In 1883 and the number
in each branch of industry, make this
gratifying statement: "The single cir
cumstance that the mortgage indebted
ness on the farms of the United States
has decreased rs per cent. is full of the
utmost significance. Ina country whose
chief strength is founded upon the pros
perity of the agricultural community,
this fact is of high import, as not only
indicating the welfare of the farmers
and planters themselves, but prosperous
condition for the enormous number of
people dependent upon them"
FARMERS Call: The experiments
conducted during the last season at the
| Missouri State Agricultural College full
~ demonstrate the ACCESSIBILITY of mulch
ing potatoes. We believe every expert
ment so far reported gave similar re-
suit. The cost of the materials for
mulching is usually very small, leaves
or straw being plentiful and cheap upon
the farm. The materials manure the
ground; and mulching saves hoeing.
The potato requires cooler climate and
moister soil than our latitude affords.
Mulching tends to secure both. The re-
suit in every case has been largely in
creased yields of superior quality.
THE more expensive greenhouses with
glass and heated by furnaces are not
likely to soon come in vogue with most
farmers. 1t is a comparatively easy
matter, however, to make small hot
bed with two or three loads of horse
manure Oh the sheltered side of some
building. Here plants for early cabbage
and tomatoes may be grown, and small
corner reserved for lettuce will supply
the table long before anything can be
gathered from the open garden. It is
none too early to be gathering few
loads of manure, and making the neces-
sary sashes now. The glass should be
painted white, to prevent burning the
plants beneath by unobstructed rays of
the sun.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York
Tribune remarks: "Of the use of oat