Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-10-15

Farm and Live Stock Notes.


Turnip tops suit sheep.
Poor fences make jumping cattle.
Put the chicken quarters in order.
Fowls absolutely need some animal
food.
Potatoes are safer from rot in small bins
than in large.
Merino sheep will not winter well in
droves larger than 100 head each.
An old-fashioned worm fence when used
to divide off land into six acre fields, oc-
cupies by actual measurement one-eighth
of the land, or three-fourths OF an acre
per field. On farm of 100 acres fenced
at this rate, if oue-half the fences were
removed, there would be gain equiva-
lent TO ten acre field.
Cider Making.-It often pays to assert
the fruit, for the best apples will make
superior article OF Juice, that ought to sell
at a high price, while the inferior lots
may 90 to vinegar. In these days OF acid
and fixed up vinegars, good article OF
cider vinegar finds ready sale. Cider,
as it comes from the mill should be strain
ed into clean casks, and allowed to fer
ment slowly in cool cellar. When the
fermentation has ceased, rack on into
other clean casks and bung up.
Wintering Potatoes.-Prices OF potatoes
are generally enough higher in the spring
than in the fall to pay well tor keeping
them over. One year we remember.
when they could be bought in any quanti-
ty in November at fifty cents bushel;
good article brought two dollars bushel
the following spring. Potatoes keep best
away from light. air, and excessive mois-
ture, and at low temperature. few
degrees above freezing. Where there is
good cellar room tor storing the crop,
nothing further is wanted, but often this is
lacking and burying must be resorted to.
Aside from the labor. there are few dsad-
vantages in burying potatoes. They should
be stored upon the surface of the ground in
any dry place, in heaps of from thirty to one
hundred bushels each A light covering
of straw is thrown over the heap, and on
this heavy covering of earth sufficient
10 keep out severe frost and water.
coat IS inches deep might answer. but one
or two feet would be safer. Where the
soil is perfectly drained, there may be an
excaton several feet deep made, in which
to start the pile. Some in such places
even advocate making pits large enough
so that the storage will all take place be-
meath the surface. Where it is desirable
to get at potatoes in the winter. cheap
vaults or cellars tor storing them are
sometimes made in hill sides to hold from
500 to | 800 bushels. In cellars it an
swers we'll to keep the crop by barreling,
but this is not As economical of space as
to store in bulk.
Under Draining.-T greatest single
Improvement in the agriculture Of the
near future will be increased tile drainage.
Many are deferred from the step by the
expense, all of which must be borne at
the start. But the benefits will be perma-
nent, and by dividing the cost over many
years, the outlay per year bears but
slight proportion to the returns. No bet
ter season for laying tile ocurrs than in the
fall months, when there is not the crowd
of work common to the spring, the wealth
er is favorable to heavy work, and the
soil is apt not to be loaded with water.
The distance apart tor the drains must de
pend somewhat on the depth. By putting
them down four feet. distance of forty
or even fifty feet apart will be adapted to
most soils If there are rocks or INSULT
cient fall to allow of more than three feet
deep, then the drains should not be more
than half as far apart. In retentive clays.
they should be little closer than the fig
ures given. The greater the fall the
smaller may be the tile. With fall of
two inches to 100 feet, if the tile are of
two inch bore and properly laid, they will
answer every purpose as laterals. The
mains must of course be larger, porpor
tionally as they serve to carry the contents
of more laterals. The bottom of the
trench should be rs near true incline as
possible. The use of straight edge
twenty feet long made of inch board six
inches wide at one end, and as much
wider at the other as the desired fall of
the trench for such a length, will be
found most useful to guide operations, by
using spirit level on the top edge.