Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-05-29
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.



1t is a good idea to feed the falling
apples to the hogs, and thus put them
in good healthy condition to fatren later
on.
Stable manure should always heat
somewhat before being drawn on the
land, to destroy weed-seed and to place
the elements of plant food in more avail
able form.
The heavier an orchard is cropped the
more manure it requires. From 100 to
200 pounds each of bone dust and Kainit
potash salts) per acre is recommended
by the best orchardists.
Don't allow the ornamental vines on
the house to run upon the roof. The
small roots will creep under the shin
giles, and the leaves stop up the cutters.
Trim them down below the caves.
Returns from Southern parishes are
all favorable still for bountiful crops OF
sugar, rice, corn, vegetables and fruits.
A red-letter year will 1885 prove to
Louisiana agriculturists, If the present
promise be kept.
The milk crop in England is now
ESQ, 900 900. or about $3.50, 100000 This
is more than the value Of the wheat
crop, and the disproportion increases
yearly, as the tendency is to stock-feed-
ing rather than to grain growing.
1t has been discovered recently by
medical men that ''lump jaw" as it is
called, or Jumps found on the jaws OF
cattle. are sometimes caused by decay
ing teeth. 1t is not known how much
the poor brutes suffer with too;hache.
For young animals no better feed can
be found, as an adjunct to the natural
hay, grass or clover, than rations of oat
meal, graded according to the age and
size of the family. For fattcning corn
meal and shorts are excellent.
Walks should now have their spring
dressing-the verges cut, and thin
coating of new gravel laid on. Before
putting on the new, harrow up the face
of the old gravel with strong IRON
tooth rake. Roll well after the new is
laid on.
Who has not observed that the soil is
always loose and moist beneath stone
heap? The American Cultivator tells
of some pear trees that were mulched
with stones. and which made three
times the growth of any others, though
all did well.
When the ground around pigpen is
thoroughly undetermined, as it should
be, bare earth makes the best and GER
tainly the most desirable floor. A fresh
supply of loose earth should be thrown
in twice year, and removed as manure
whenever it become rich enough.
Ants can be driven away by applica-
tions of tar, but it is doubtful! whether
ii is profitable to get rid Of them in the
neighborhood Of apple trees, as ants
prey upon the plant lice, which do
much damage to foliage at time when
it is needed for starting young fruit.
In great many instances disease of
root crops arise from the use of infer
mented or partially rotted manure is
used there will be less liability of the
crops being affected with rot. This has
been particularly noticed in case of both
white and sweet potatoes.
1t is unsafe applying salt in contact
with cut seed potatoes, but, after the
plants are up, little sprinkled over the
hills repels worms, and on some land
will make bright, clean tubers, which
would otherwise have been affected
with scab. The salt also helps to keep
the soil moist in dry vine.
Meadows which it is not desirable to
pillow will often show patches where the
grass is thin or perhaps entirely lack
ing. If such places are top-dressed
with fine, well-rotted manure, and har-
rowed, grass seed may be sown with as
much certainty of securing a good
catch as if it were sown in the usual
way with grain crop.
A correspondent of the Rural Record
urges the necessity of training the boys
of the farm 10 habits of industry, that
they may learn the value of money; but
he justly reasons that this training will
be best accomplished by avoidance of
overtaxing, and by giving the boy Pc
cuniary interest in the product Of his
labor, letting him spenG the money
thus earned as he sees fit, but encourag-
ing judicious investments by precept
and example.
The average American farmer seldom
tastes any kind of small fruit of his own
growing. He is not yet educated up TO
the full enjoyment of his privileges. He
does not consider that each fruit, in its
season, contains some element adapted
to the wants of the body at that time,
and that a free use of each would save
much suffering, and perhaps a large
amount of Doctors bills. Neither does
he realize that when he neglects to pro-
vide himself and family with these
hea!th-giving fruits he is responsible
for the bad results.
A New Orleans paper refers editorial