Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-07-16
FARM AND GARDEN.

ANY changes made in the food of
calves should be done gradually.
The full strength of stable manure is
secured by spreading it on grass land.
AN acre of buckwheat while in bloom
will yield fourteen pounds of honey
daily. er..
NEW YORK orchardists, whose trees
were infested with aphides, have found
tobacco water the best remedy.
The best method of catching hawks is
by affixing steel traps to posts, as the
hawks usually alight on post in prefer
ence to anything else, in order to look
around before selecting their prey. 4
AN exchange says Kansas farmer who
had nine head of sheep put the money
that came to him from the sale of NUT
ton and woolinto more sheep. In nine
years he had LOO sheep, worth $4,000.
AN English gardener advises trapping
ants with bones upon which some meat
has been left, and dipping occasionally
in hot water. For "slugs and wine
worms" he uses pieces of potato or car
rot.
On farms where pasturage is likely to
be insufficient in the latter part of the
summer, millet will be found a good
substitute for grass. 1t may be sown
yet, as it will grow but little before hot
weather. tt
crop of North Carolina to be worth
$2,854, $50, which is worth more than
all the wheat, and nearly three-fot1rths
of all the cotton, and yet some people
think chickens are small industry.
I HAVE conducted two experiments
since I have kept bees to ascertain the
age at which bees gather the first honey,
and as each proved to be the same, I
believe Is days to be the time when
the bee brings her first load of honey
when the colony is in normal condition.
Mr.. A. M. LANG, who has had TWEEN
ty-seven years continuous practice in
successful poultry-raising tells the
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette that he
would rather have twenty-five two
year-old common barnyard hens to
place on 325 eggs than any $50, $75 or
$3.50 incubator he ever saw.
THOMAS BELL, the naturalist, tells
story, of how q spider caught tartar.
A big blue-bottle fly bounced into q.
spiders web. The spider hastily pre-
sented himself, and threw his long arms
around the fly. The fly returned the
compliment, and, after tearing and bat
tering the web to pieces, few away with
the spider. .as raa b.
Mr.. B. F. JOHNSON, thoughtful OBJ
server, is credited with the remark that
if decreasing the country goes on,
and tile-draining increases as it has
during the last five years, "the chan
nels and bottoms of the Ohio, and riv-
erse tributary to it, will become unin-
-habitable, being torrents in the wet
season and deserts in the dry.
The method by which stumps are re-
moved by petroleum consists in allow
ing the stumps to become completely
saturated with petroleum and then
setting them on fire. The method by
using saltpeter consists in boring holes
into the stump and putting into each
one ounce of saltpeter, and, after leav-
ing it to become wet and penetrate the
substance of the stump, the latter is set
on fire when it will be completely con-
sumed. f,
The havoc of the cabbage worm has
begun. Prof. Riley, the entomologist
of the national government, recon-
mends the application of pyrethrum to
the plants for their preservation. The
dust may be mixed with ten or fifteen
times its bulk of -four and applied with
bellows. Water at temperature of
100 degrees poured on the plants will
not injure them, and will kill any soft
bodied worms. The latter remedy is
widely used.
FARMERS cannot expect to raise
choice vegetables without labor now,
but the garden plat really pays better
than field crops for the tirae and labor
given it. Weed seeds are terminating
rapidly, and most garden soils are well
filed with them. The hoe and the
rake must be piled constantly or weeds
will get the best of the struggle.
Throwing the earth up little around
most growing vegetables is better than
level culture.
The new Japan naples are now Great
ing a good deal of interest as hardy
plants for lawns. They are perfectly
hardy, and grow to height of from six
to nine feet. They possess not only
the extraordinary merit of having their
foliage colored with the hues Of autumn
the entire season, but the delicate forma-
ton of their leaves gives many of them
the appearance of the most fantastic
fern. Nearly every known shade of
color is found in the leaves.
IT may seem absurd to pay 5000 for
a ram that weighs little more than 100
pounds, but if the progeny of this
ram will shear eight or ten pounds of
wool, while common sheep average five
or six pounds with the same cost of
keeping, the use of the pedigree sheep
as a breeder will pay heavy interest on
much more than his increased price.
1t is not every farmer who can breed
fancy stock with profit, but there is
nome who cannot improve his herds by
the use of the best male parentage.
A WRITER in the Mirror advises this
treatment for hard mixer: CON go