Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-01-02

Farm and Live stock Notes.

Drifts don't form where fences are
down.
Grind the cobs with the corn.
Feed the hens at daylight.
Char corn slightly. and it's most as good
as wheat for fowls.
Hay, bitter from weeds, makes bitter
butter.
Squirrels are a nuisance about corn
cribs often; set traps.
Never feed corn stalks uncut; even for
manure making, cutting is far better.
Weight for weight and milk is richer
in butter in winter than in summer.
Let no animal be placed where it will
be helplessly threatened by stronger one
without chance of escape.
Send for catalogues of dealers in tools,
fertilizers, seeds, and so on, and study
them 10 the winters leisure. Really they
contain a vast fund of information, vir-
tuaily free.
When skim milk or buttermilk can be
secured at from two to three cents per
gallon. it is one of the cheapest foods that
can be given to chickens. 1t may largely
take the place of flesh, and will induce
them to lay early and often.
The craving for salt in animals Is natur-
al and not result of the care of man.
When this country was wild every salt
spring was frequented by deer, a fact that
was taken advantage of by hunters tor
their capture. Near the ocean less salt is
required than farther inland, owing to the
fact that the atmosphere is in a degree
,ha r.rad NTH and thic 10 INN rod tn
growing crops through the dews and rain.
A good condition powder for fowls is
made as follows: One pound each of
ground bones, dried meat, linseed meal
and fennyreck; an ounce each OF sulphur,
ginger, pepper and copperas Give a
small quantity once day mixed with soft
| feed.
Bran. sprinkled with pepper and mixed
| with milk. is excellent feed occasionally
in winter for laying hens.
| Live Stock in Winter.-In managing live
stock, "a main thing is to look to the com
| fort Of the animal. No animal thrives at
the same time that it is cold and uneasy,
while quiet appearance is sure indica-
ton of thrift. When the observing farmer
sees restless and uneasy animal he may
know something is wrong; he will treat it
to remove the cause if he studies his best
interests. We do not maintain but that
some animals are by their very natures
restless under any treatment; such will
usually be found unthrifty and unpr1fita-
BILE in the same degree, and had better be
wceded out unless, perhaps, there is some
chance of reforming them.
Butter Making The notion is too prev
aent that good butter making is not for
winter, and one sees the majority of farm
ers managing to have their cows come in in
the spring, just fairly before grass time.
Then the butter crop comes along chiefly
in the pasture season, when of course the
product must be at its cheapest. Now we
do not claim that butter is easily made, and
without good deal of extra care in winter,
even if the calving time is right, but we do
know that with good feeding it can be
done, and with greater remuneration than
in summer. First, the stables must be dry
and comfortable. and along with this the
feed must be right Good cornstalks are
better for cows than hay. Glover. while
richer in nutrtive value than the grass is,
is not so good for butter Cows turned
into the best field of clover will eat the
grass of the fence corners before they will
touch the clover. For winter reeding Sec
ond growth clover is much better than the
first cutting. Corn in any shape is excel
lent teed for mich cows, and should be Civ.
en- twice day. Winter butter naturally
tends toward a white color feeding carrots
freely will render it of better color. We
do not object to artificial! coloring of any
approved kind. if it be judiciously used.