Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-04-23

CURRANTs are not only healthfuI and
refreshing in midsummer, but are always
profitable crop if properly cared for.
John ii. Hale, in the Connecticut Farm
er, truly says that there is money in
this crop If it can be disposed 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 this spring, cut out at least one
half of the old wood, shorten in the re-
mainder, pillow in 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 varieties
which show SO gOrgeously In the cOlored
pictures OF the nUrseryman's catalogues.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Rural New
Yorker describes the following method
by which an extraordinary crop of water
melons was raised: Holes were dug ten
or fifteen feet apart each way, eighteen
inches square and fifteen inches deep.
These holes we're filed with weIl-rotted
manure, which was thoroughly incor-
porated with the soil. A low, fiat hill
was then made and seed planted. When
the vines were large enough to begin to
run the whole surface was covered to the
depth of foot or fifteen inches with
wheat straw. The straw was placed
| close up around the vines. No cultiva-
ton whatever was given afterwards; no
weeds or grass grew. The vines spread
over the straw and the melons matured
clean and nice. The yield was abund-
| ant and the experience an entire sac
| cess.
How to protect harness from rats is
told by the Germantown Telegraph as
follows: ''Rats when they are hungry
which they always are-will eat har-
ness. A correspondent informs us that
If, after greasing the harness, it is
busted with cayanne pepper, they will
| not disturb it. Another correspondent
says that q coat of carbolic acid following
the greasing is a sure protection.
Either or both may be for all we per-
sonally know; but we have a method
that we never found to fail, to-wit: Hang
the harness carefully up and high
| enough to be out of reach of this de-
structive rodent, and off from anything
that may offer assistance to get at the
harness, and you need have no fear of
injury from Them"
F. Il. BABCooK, of Vernon, N. J., who
is extensively engaged in producing
honey, claims to have made a discovery
of great interest. He says it is the cell,
not the egg, that determines the sex Of
the bees. Last summer, wishing to stop
the excessive swarming from one partic-
ular hive, he cut from the combs all the
queen cells, leaving those for the drones
and neuters. Soon afterward he discov-
cred that the bees were converting some
OF the neuter cells into queen cells, the
eggs that had been previously laid In
each for neuter remaining. He let
the bees go ahead. When the time came
for Matching out the egg he cut the cells,
and they Matched out queens while he
was watching them.
The Turf, Field and Farm mas these
timely hints concerning spring manage
ment of horses: "This is the season of
lung troubles in our domestic animals.
and few people are aware of the extreme
mortality from pneumonia, maladay
due almost exclusively to exposure dur
ing the time of changing the coat-a
time when the animal is more suscepti-
bic to disease than in midWinter. Those
having the care of horses. may avoid a
great deal of trouble in this direction,
and perhaps prevent the loss of valuable
stock, by seeing that for the next thirty
days the animals get change and an
increased ration of food; that they are
put on the spring work slowly; not al
lowed to work during rainy days, and
have rest just as soon as any of the
normal functions show the slightest de-
rangement.
The National Live Stock Journal has
the following respecting the care to be
taken of calves out OF which good COWS
are to be grown: "When selected, the
young animals should be treated with
sufficient care and iberality in feeding
to keep them growing thriftily, not only
through the summer, but through the
winter also. New milk at this season of
the year is valuable, and dairymen often
think they cannot afford to feed it, and
it is certainly a pretty costly feed, yet it
Is the most natural and the best feed,
but it is not a necessity. We have raised
calves for many years, with very salts
factory results, on skim milk, by begin
ming with new aud changing gradu-
ally to skim-n1ilk and always feeding it
warm and sweet, till the calves become
old enough to Craze for a considerable
share of their support, when the temper
allure Of the milk was reduced by slow
degrees to the temperature of the air,
supplying the place of cream with some
nutritious substitute, usually little OIL
cake or cooked corn meal.