The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-03-19
FARM NOTES.
Teach the farm animals good habits.

| The United States raised 629, 4O9,OOO
bushels of oats last year.
Grapevines may he trimmed at any
time during the winter.
Linsecd meal fed to stock OCCASION
ally is beneficial. and will keep the hair
bright.
Selling milk ut 3 cents per quart is
equivalent TO getting % cents per pound
for butter.
A large COW needs more food than =
small one and one giving milk more
than one that is dry.
In area 100000 acres of cotton
were grown in 1885. The indicated
crop is ) 667. 600 bales.
The Mdusiriaiist of Kansas says
bushel of corn i'm that State is worth
less than a dozen eggs. Raise hens.
1t requires the breeding of over ,OOO,.
600 yearly to supply the demands of
wear and tear of draft and driving
| horses.
Let the law. survival of the fittest,'
have full sway on the stock farm-that
is, slaughter and dispose OF the poorest
and save the best for breeders.
Over 100000 cows are required to
| supply the milk yearly consumed in
| New York city and Brooklyn. amount
| ing to about 100000 quarts.
A California cattleman has sign up
to scare off the shcepmen. Il rcads:
1--WE Use fish salt here Salt used on
fish will kill sheep as fast as a knife.
1t is stated that bOrers can be kept
from young trees for some time by the
simple cxpedient of wrapping some
cheap muslin around the trees at the
collar
1t is said that if chloride of lime
mixed with water is sprinkled about dens
and harbors of rats and mice it will
| effectually rid the premises of these
pests
| A farmer thinks he has discovered
that the common larkspur is fatal to the
potato bug. He proposes next year to
| plant it numerously among potato
| vines.
The States producing over 100000
| bushels of wheat last year were, i'm the
| order of production, Minnesota, Michi-
| gan. Iowa. Dakota. Indiana, and Cali
| fOrnia.
The United States produced of butter
| in 1860. 459,68l 1872 pounds; in 1880,
900. 100000 pounds. OF cheese in 1860,
1870, 100000 pounds; in 1880. 100000
600 pounds.
Australian wool does not compare
with fine American ileeces for fneness.
evenness. and strength of fibre, and
| there is more waste on this account in
manufacture.
| Henry Bergh. the friend of the ami
mails is endeavoring to secure the pas
sage of Il law in New York forbidding
blacksmith from putting Il hot shoe on
a horses foot.
The man whose cow ate up his wallet
containing 5000 remarked that there
was no money i'm cattle. There, seems,
however, TO have been a good deal of
money in that old cow.
Both corn and oats in the last crop
| show Il greater acreage than ever before
i'm the history of the country. The
average yield was also larger than in
the last six years before.
Prof W. j. Bcal says that washing
the grain of seed wheat i'm blue vitriOl
to prevent rust is no more eflectual than
smoking cigars tn cure corns on the
feet. Rust and smut. however. are very
different things.
| Muller, German chemist, has fed
animals ten weeks with dry and with
stepped unground Indian corn. The
former showed IN average increase in
weight of nearly seven pounds more
than the latter.
In wheat there was a decline of 80
| per cent i'll the last crop as compared
with the previous one. but the value
increased from 6j.7 cents to III cents
per bliShe. The total crop of 1885 was
| 357, 900 bushels.
| Has your grindstone became followed
from the grinding of small tools? Grind
up the spades and shovcls by holding
them square across the stoH" at a proper
level. Spades, like hoes, should be
ground all on one side.
| A Missouri farmer who Las been test
ing seed-corn from the butt. the tip and
| the middle Of the ears foi three years
| finds that the corn from IL" tips Mili
ripen first. that from the middle next.
and that from the but, last.
Poverty of the surface soil. says the
| 'btf'!F .hoH'"T. - tlttIiVF ~ F'''iNc
OF fruit failure than grass. "chan:!r
of climate or many Imaginable ills
brought up to cover poveit. of pocket
or of industrial inclinatois.
Oats and rye are very similar to each
other in composition. To make II good
feed for horses corn should he mixed
with them. a buShcl of rye. two bush.
els of oats. and live of cora. ground to.
gether. will make excellent food.
The escaping ammonia from the ma
nure unless stables are kept clean and
pure. causes sore eyes anc throat troll
bes i'm the animals sheltered in them.
II it is inconvenient to min on entering
a stable, be sure il is so to animals.
If You have an old grapevine that
yields poorly and has seen its best days.
cut it entirely off close to the ground,
manure heavily and let it throw up two
new leaders, and the following year you
will see that it is as good as young
vine.