The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-11-18
Farm Notes.

Tobacco stems from cigar makers
will afford lice proof hens nests.
Do not try to farm too much land.
1t is much more profitable to thor
ouphly till small area, which can
be manured and kept in good con-
dition, than to attempt TO grow larg-
er crops at the expense of cultivat-
ing two or three times as much land
as may be necessary under a better
system.
Give plenty OF room in the stalls.
Horses and cattle need rest in a re-
cumbent position just as much as
men. 1t is not only exceedingly
cruel but the greatest unwisdom to
place them in such narrow STILLS, or
to so tie them that they cannot lie
down easily and rest.
A friend of the Jerseys and other
small breeds of cattle says: Better
keep a COW that is worth but little
for beef, that will give you $50 or
s75 a year in dairy products. than
to keep beef animal that will yield
only $40 to $50 a year, because in
the end she will sell for few more
dollars to the butcher. A dairy COW
should not be considered at all from
beef producing point of view
"A bushel of corn, when compact
ed into lard, or cheese or butter, "
says the New Orleans Times Demo
crat, "can find its market anywhere
in the world where the cost of send
ing the corn itself would make a
market for it impossible. Besides
this, in making the lard or butter a
manurial residue is left on the land
instead of being carried away 20 fer
tilize foreign fields. This is the ker-
mel of the argument for mixed farm
ing instead of grain farming"
Z. II. Hanley tells in the Ne,C
England Homestead how he treats
choking cattle When a COW chokes
on apples he pushes down the an
imal's throat a rubber hose until the
obstruction is forced into the stom-
ach. He keeps on hand for this
purpose a one and one-quarter inch
rubber hose four or five feet long
When the hose is not very stiff a
stick may be put inside to give it
the required tension. The rubber
being smooth causes the animal no
pain.
As a rule, cattle and sheep relish
their feed best as near the natural
state as they can get it; grass, fresh
and green, hay as nearl; as possible
to the condition it was in the field,
and fodder bright and dry, without
chopping or cooking. When feed
has once been brought within reach
of the animal there is no appliance
that so thoroughly fits it for the an
imal's use as the stomach itself
hence when corn has been shelled
for sheep or crushed for cattle, fur
ther preparation of this food only
makes it less palatable.
Oats are food coming much
nearer to the requirements of a we'll
balanced ration than corn, and have
long been considered a standard
horse-food. They do not pack in
the stomach like corn meal, because
one-third of the oats is husk, and
this is eaten with the concentrated
part and renders the masticated food
light and porous in the stomach.
They also contain a much larger per-
centage of muscle-forming and bone
building material than corn. This
is why oats form the largest element
in the ration of horses for fast work,
but oats are often more expensive
than other kinds of food for horses.
Upon the question of feeding, and
the difficulty of formula for feed
ing, the kind of anim1l must be
taken into consideration. For in
stance, cows more readily assimilate
the nutriment of cut straw and rel
atively of all woody fibre than hors-
es. Again, the feeder must take in
to consideration the age of the ami
NAL and the kind of animal (cattle
and sheep require more bulky food
than horses and swine), the natural
temper and disposition of the ami
NAL. whether it be kept for fatten-
ing, labor. breeding or milk, and the
digestibility of the food. For in
stance, if straw is a portion of the
food more oats or other nitrogenized
grain must be given than when hay
is fed.-CbscagO Tribune.
Colonel H. w. Wilson, in his ad-
dress on lawns before the Massachu-
sette Horticultural Society,said that
blue grass and white clover were un-
doubtedly the finest plants for lawns
from the beauty and thickness of
the turf which they make, and their
delicious fragrance when mown.
They are both fond OF calcarious
soils, and the only way that fond
ness can be met is by fres use of
lime while making the lawn; 200
bushels per acre would not be an
excessive quantity for the soil when
it is trenched or subsoiled. At least
two bushels OF plaster should be
used with the annual top-dressing.
An Objectionable practice. which
Colonel W. mentions. is that OF SOW
ing oats or other grain with the
grass seed, which puts the grass
back nearly a year. and while the
grain is growing it is no ornament.