Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-06-11
A CORRESPONDENT of the Husband

OF potato rot, and this Is confirmed by
the experience of Vermont farmer,
who rolled his cut potatoes in fine sui
! phur at planting and busted the plants
as they appeared above the ground.
Neither rot, worm nor insect touched
them, though potatoes on neighboring
farms were badly damaged. His pota-
toes were excellent and the crop yield
ed well. There is no doubt that sui
phur will aid materially in preventing
fungus growth in other plants as well
as potatoes, and it would be well If
farmers gave it trial for such pur
poses the coming season.
CHARLES GOODNIGHT, one of the cat
tie kings of Texas, thinks ''lump-ia
IN cattle, is caused by decayed teeth.
A few years ago he saw in his herd
young steer having swollen jaw. The
animal was promptly roped, his teeth
examined, and one which showed de-
cay was knocked out. In day or two
the animal recovered. Since that time
his men have orders to watch for signs
of "big jaw" and on it's appearance to
resume their dental operations. He has
had no "big jaw" in his herd since
adopting this plan, of which those
scientific gentlemen who pry into the
secrets of nature and her jaw with mi
croscope and great curiosity should
make note.
EVERY farmer who undertakes to
raise squashes must exercise consider
able ingenuity as well as patience, in
order to prevent them from their in
satiable enemy, the squash bug. A
| COLTS foTI1,or found fo1-
lowing plan successful the first season
"Spread the main part of the manure
upon the land and pillow under, putting
one shovelful of finely composted ma
nure in the hill, with handful of salt
thoroughly mixed with it. Ii the mag
got should appear, pour water mixed
with Paris green about the roots of the
plants" He only found it necessary to
make two applications of Paris green,
which, being applied before the plants
bloomed, could do no harm.
CURRANTs are not only hea1thful
and refreshing in midsummer, but are
always a profitable crop if properly
cared for. John FL. Hale, in the Con-
necticut Farmer, truly says that there
is money in this crop if it can be dis
posed of at six cents per quart, and the
price is rarely less than ten cents.
Every farmer should go through the
neglected rows of old bushes in the
spring, cut out at least one-half of the
old wood, shorten in the remainder,
pillow in a good coat of manure, dust
with powdered hellebore when the
worms appear, and the increased size
and yield of bunch and berry will make
him think he has one of the new varie-
ties which shows SO generously in the
colored picture of the nurserymen's
catalogues.
MORGAN BUTLER, of Oneida County,
n. Y, has for fifteen years cut an aver
age of more than two tons of hay per
acre from meadow seeded with fescue,
oat-grass, bent grass, Kentucky blue
grass, timothy, vernal grass and clover.
This list shows the Importance of seed
ing with great variety of grasses. No
one alone could produce SO large crop
for SO long time. The mixture of
seeds is one of the best where the land
is to be seeded two or three years. The
clover alone can be relied upon after
the second year, as it is biennial. I'm
less it has been fall sown not much tim
othy will be found in the meadow the
first year. The decay OF clover roots in
the soil will make the grass much more
permanent than it can be made without
manuring where timothy has been
sown alone.
Wool has been raised in California
thirty years or more. The earliest rec
ords are from the books of the late
Emile Grisar. These show the yield as
far back as 1854. Of course the prod
uct at that time was small. It was not
till 1857 that the clip amounted to
100000 pounds. Two years later it
was double that quantity. Three years
later it was again doubled. It took five
years to double it again. That was in
1867, when the clip was 10,288, 900, or
nearly ten times as much as was pro-
dnced in 1857. In 1870 the clip of 1867
was doubled, and in 1875 the clip of
1870 was doubled. That was the last
doubling that has ever been made. The
clip for 1875 was 1852 900 pounds, or
100000 pounds more than was pro-
duced last. The bonanza year in this
line was 1876, when the clip was So
551, 1000. It was 53,11O000 in the fol-
lowing year. In 1883 it was 4O,648,OOO
pounds.
PROF. GEORGE H. Cook, of the New
Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station,
concludes, after much experimenting
with the feeding value of ensilage, that
it is a wholesome and nutritious food,
milk made from it fed daily to COWS
having been uniformly satisfactory in
quality to the numerous customers who
have used it; but when compared with
inely-cut dry fodder it has not, in most
of the experiments made, been found
more nutritious. The fact however,
should not be forgotten, that most of
the dry fodder raised by farmers is
much reduced in value by exposure to
the weather, or by imperfect curing. It
is well-known that the use of rye as en-
silage, or dried as fodder, has not been
successful on account of being too
tough after it has been headed out. A