The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-09-06
For the Farmer.
Carton in COW pasture will affect
the milk of the cows.

Carton in a COW pasture will affect
the milk of the cows.
A well-drained farm is said to i'm
prove the health of domestic animals
that live upon it.
The experiment of shipping butter to
England from New Zealand has not
proved successful.
An increase of one-fourth in the
milk-producing qualities of COW is
doubling the net profits.
1t is much better to pay a little more
for reliable harvest help than to rely
on tramp laborers
la some parts of Europe the sunfower
is cultivated for an oil that is extracted
from the seeds.
Remember that thorough drainage
will lengthen the season on heavy and
damp soils at least two weeks.
An eXperimenter atlirms that squash,
lima beans and other fiat seeds will
terminate quicker and grow better il
the seeds are placed edgewse in the
soil.
For fodder the yield of sweet corn
and sorghum is about the same. The
former, however, is better relished by
stock, while the latter endures drouth
better.
A Michigan farmer drained bog on
his farm last year at considerable eX-
pense, but reports that the profits of
last years crop from the land more
than compensated him for his outlay.
1t is said that a solution made of
water and poultry droppings will pre-
vent the striped bugs from injuring
squashes The mixture should be allow
ed to ferment, and the application
should be made frequently. 1t will al
so greatly assist in Fastening the growth
of the vine.
The IoWa Homestead finds no trouble
in making hog fence of wire. Use
six wires, and posts about rod apart
Use hog wire for the lower strands, and
put the lower wire quite close to the
ground, and the second four inches
above the first. They are cheaper than
boards and in every way better
In Central Illinois the Ben Davis
apple trees, which in 1882 and 1883
bore large crops, are reported dying to
an alarming extent. a correspondent
of the Prairie Farmer thinks their de-
cay is due to q lack of moisture, and
recommends digging n ditch around
each tree far enough away to catch the
drip, throwing the earth toward the
tree. In this way he thinks the feeding
roots will get the most water.
In the door-yard of Delos Hotchkiss,
al Cheshire, CT, stands an apple tree
which is supposed to be the oldest,
largest and most fruitful in New Eng
land. 1t is the last survivor of the
orchard which was set out by the first
settlers of the neighborhood, and popu-
lar belief fixes its age at $50 years.
The tree is sixty feet high, and the tips
of its uttermost branches are 104 feet
apart. Mrs. Hotchkiss aflirms that she
has picked l25 bushels of sound apples
from it in a single year.
A farmer wife, writing to the Coun-
hy Gentleman, tells how she keeps cab
bagc-worms away from her plants
She always has nice cabbages. She
keeps an old tin pan full of dry fine
earth, and every times she goes into
the garden she sits teaspoonful or
more of this dust over the cabbages
and the worms never modest them.
Also by putting plenty of sawdust
around currant bushes she saves them
from the worms, and it makes them
bear larger fruit, as it keeps the ground
moist and rich.
At recent meeting of the Pennsylva-
MIA Horticultural Association the ques-
ton was raised as to whether bees do
or do not puncture grapes and peaches.
Some present thought they never dis
turbed fruit unless the skin had been
previously broken, but there were others
who knew that they punctured grapes
aud peaches when flowers were scarce.
In Germantown, suburb of Philadel-
phia, bees are regarded as one of the
obstacles in the path of grape culture,
many growers using paper bags to
protect their fruit.