The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-05-14
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
GRAFTINGsFRUTT TREES.

should be first finished. The cions may be cut
now, but no time should be lost or the buds
1 will swell. If the cions are cut now it is best
| to bury them in the soil to keep them fresh
| The grating wax is of more Importance than is
| usually supposed. The cion may be perfectly
| well placed, but if the wound in the bark and
| the joint are exposed to the air and become
| dried, the operation will fail. The grating
| wax is used to prevent this. It must be plas-
tic, adhesive, and sufficiently hard that it will
not melt by the suns heat. A mixture of resin,
tallow and hnseed Oil are the best materials for
the wax, and may be combined in such pro-
portions as to secure the desired qualities. Two
| pounds Of resin melted with one pound of tai
! low and a pint of linseed oil added and the
| whole stirred until cool, will make a good
grating wax. While still soft it may be formed
into sticks in tepid water.-N z Times
sHEEP-IMPROvED PASTURES.
Dr. Reynolds, of Maine, writes: "Sheep
effect very marked improvement in pastures.
Pastures which have become so thoroughly
runout and overrun by briers and bushes as
not to be worth fencing for cattle pasturing, by
being given over to the sheep for few years
will be brought into a productive condition.
Any pasture used for cattle or horses may
stock as there are acres in the pasture. and the
pasture will be benefited thereby. Sheep eat SO
many kinds of plants which cattle and horses
refuse that the addition of few sheep, by
keeping down those plants which other stock
refuse, really increases the product of grasses
for other stock. A committee of the bingham
Mass, Agricultural Society once remarked in
their report that flock of sheep is as beneficial
to the pastures of q large farm as the pruning
knife is to the orchard, as the broom to the
kitchen. They will effectually clear up the
weeds, briers bushes and other rubbish, there
by saving the farmer more labor with the bush
scytbe, and by their droppngs prepare the field
for the pow. 1t is for these purposes, for rails
ing mutton, and for clearing up old FARMS
many of which are becoming foul and possibly
for the expectation of full-bioodei sheep par
ticularly bucks, that the faxWers of this imme-
date vicinity should engage in the raising of
sheep" Harvey Wolcott, esq. of Agawam,
Mass, who has been engaged in sheep hus-
bandry for many years, says Il have two
pastures 90 acres each. l have kept sheep on
one of them about seven years in 10, and the
other three i'll 10. Tho enc l kept sheep on the
most is worth % per cent. more than the one
pastured with cattle. | have an orchard of 400
or 500 trees. Of about FIVE acres. When the
apples are the size of walnuts, l turn my sheep
in They pick up the green fruit which has
fallen to the ground, thereby destroying many
middle Of July. aud I think they benefit the
orchard moro than one-half the expenses of
their pasturing through the season."
CARE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS.
The cost of machinery to properly equip a
farm is large, aud why there should be such
carelessness displayed in the care, or rather in
the want of care; of this expensive machinery
is puzzle. Take the grain-dril,, fur instance.
The farmer uses It for putting in his crop and in
H.
corner or in an open shed, where it is exposed
to the weather. and where the chickens roost
on it and damage it more than a year or two of
use should. Ii it is fertiizerdri the chances
are more than good that the farmer never
thinks of cleaning out the fertilizer that may
be scattered in the hopper, and the acid in the
fertilizer eats outsthe leather belts and renders
a new set necessary for the next sowing. all Of
which expense and trouble might be avoided
by proper care that would take very little time
sUNFLowER, SEED FOR HORSES.
The National Fa1saer says: Half a pint of
sun1iower seed given to horse with his other
food each morning and night will keep hin, in
better health and better spirits than he will be
without it, while his hair will be brighter.
When a saddle horse is required to be particu-
larly sprightiy he may be given pint of sun
flower seed with his oats at night. and half as
much in the morning. he will be found more
antc and sprightly during the day, aud conse-
quently be more pleasant to the rider. After
a little use the horse becomes very fond of eat
ing sunhower seed"
THOROUGH TILLAGE.
Many man has broken his back and lost
his heart on a poor farm which he has suffered
to run down by bad management. He has
spread his labor and capital over 100 acres
when by combining himself to % 30 he might
have become happy and rich. The way TO
pair such an error is to begin with one field
and get that into good condition, and let the
rest lie, and SO on through the farm. One rich
field will then make it easy to enrich another
or two: and while the beginning is slow. it is
downhill work, and as the end is nearly reached
progress is fast and easy.
NoTELETs.
Should you run out of axle grease some
busy time, mix two parts of lard with one each
of black lead and wheat flour and apply.
Sprinkle little lime airslackea) over the
potatoes in your cellar. 1t will tend to prevent
rot, and purify the air of the cellar.
"A safe rule in feeding turnips for beef, just
as ii is for milk, is to give some time for the
odor and flavor of the roots to pass Off. If an
animal is fed only on hay and corn for two DAYS
before slaughter, after having fed upon turnips,
the odor and flavor will not appear in the flesh.
The turnips are good feeding material, but
Soho finishing food needs to be put ON top of
them.--E1c}aange.
Nothing adds more to the comfort Of the
occupants of the farm house than dry aud clean
walks about it. They are almost indispensable
from November till May, and do not come amiss
during the other five months.
An exchange wisely says that rocky forest
land had better be kept in woods until the rest
Of the farm is in the highest state OF cultivation.
There are millions of acres OF poor land, partly
cultivated, that ought never to have been
cleared OH. Of that which is plowed, not one
acre i'll one Thousand is made to produce half as
much as it would produce if thoroughly titled
and wisely fertlized.
i Don't let yonr boys shoot the birds. Teach
them that it is wrong to kill a bird rs to take
the life OF o pig or lamb. One reason the apples
are so wOrmy of late years is that SO many of
our beautiful native birds which destroyed
worms and insects have been killed Off and
annihilated. l-At4
If you wish to clean up an old piece IF
ground that is filled with coarse grass, weeds
and briars, turn III the sheep.
Don't throw away bones tut convert them
into fertilizers. 81
Too many, in breaking their horses, put
them Immediately to work. This custom, while
effective, destroys somewhat the temper and
action of a horse! The most humane and profit
able course to pursue is to make work light at
first, gradually increasing it until the full
capacity OF the horse is,Teached.
If your blood9iss vitiated, cleanse it without
delay by the use of Ayers sarsaparilla. Sale
and effective. oiis-
lRheuRAtism.