The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-01-28
OUR RURAL TOPICS,
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
KEEP THE BoYs ON THE FARM,

KEEP THE BOYS on THE FARM.
There seems to be a great indisposition on
the part of the sons of most farmers to remain on
the paternal acres, and we mi ght say that eight
out of every ten boys, when they reach the age
of IS, either leave home entirely, or partially
escape the life which has grown irksome to
them by teaching school. Very frequently
one quits home to become clerk in some
country store at the magnificent compensation
of from So to $40 per month, or goes clear away
from home and works the balance of his life
as poorly paid clerk. There can be no ques-
ton but that in the majority of cases he would
have been far better off as farmer than strug-
Cling in a crowded city for a miserable pittance;
and yet every boy who can, almost always goes
away from home.
There must be cause for this, and we believe
it is to be found in the way boys are treated
at home. The majority of boys brought up
on farms do not receive proper training Lie
is made too grim for them; toll is always made
TO wear its hardest and least inviting aspect.
The truthful adage that "All work and no play
makes Jack dull boy does not seem to be
understood By many fathers, who are far too
exacting taskmakers. Then again, there is
another matter the farmer generally forgets,
land one which probably operates as strongly as
any other to make the boy dislike home work, J
and that is to give his son money for his labor.
1t is true he probably supplies him with good
clothes and all the other necessities OF life, but
young man occasionally wants dollar to spend
for something not an actual necessity, but never
thcleSs that which viii contribute much to his
comfort and contentment His friend, who works
in the country store or i'll the nearest town, has
money to occasionally take his sweetheart to
some place of Amusement, while he never or
very rarely has the wherewithal to do so. This
of itself must be a cause of great annoyance and
modification, and quite sufficient to make a
young man desire to get into n position where
he can handle Il little money OF his own occa-
sionally.
Then, the farm work is generally made I'M
necessarily hard and unnteresting. The father
frequently refuses to adopt many improvements
which the growing mind of the son naturally
suggests but ciings pertinaciously TO old ideas
and old methods. We remember the old, old
story of small farmer who always sent his
grist to the mill on the back of a horse putting
the grain in one side of the sack and rock OF
equal weight in the other, so rs to equaiize the
burden on the back of the animal. His son, a
boy of about II, had been intruSted with the
duty of going TO the mill, riding on the horse
and carrying the burden in 'front.' of him.
One day, Just as the y0ungSter was about
to start for the mill, the idea struck him
that it was useless to carry the rock-that the
same end might be gained by simply dividing
the grain. He did so only, however, to meet
a torrent of abuse from his parent, who COM
PEELED him to put back the rock and warned
him against new tangled notions.
Now, while we do not suppose any farmer
quite such fossil as this, we know there are
far too many welded to old ideas and intolerant
of innovation, and this alone must be to 4 boy
of intelligence and brightness source of con-
slant annoyance.
And then the home sometimes is far less at
tractive than it might be. The father is per-
hap5 tired and frettcd with the cares of the day,
and does not very heartily greet young people
who may drop in to spend the evening. We
think that the exodus of the young from the
homestead would not be nearly so great if a
little more attention was paid the matters to
which we have alluded.
COMFORTABLE ANIMALS.
The rule to be observed by every farmer in
regard to the proper keeping of cattle is that
every animal from the greatest to the least
should be kept happy and saved from pain and
misery. Then the stock are profitably kept,
and the profit is in proportion to the degree of
comfort enjoyed by them. Every farmer before
he retires TO his own warm bed at night, or be-
fore he eats his abundant supper, should ask
himself: Are my cattle horses, sheep, pigs, and
fowls resting i'll comfort and with well-flle
bellies? If he cannot answer himself atiirma-
lively and his conscience accuses him of neg
lect let him be assured that his pocket is suffer-
ing just as much as his stock are, and that,
moreover, his conduct is just as inhuman. as if
he prodded his animals with a fork or beat
them with clubs.
HOG NOTES.
In the feeding experiments at the Kansas
Agricultural College there occurred unintention-
ally a condition that furnished fair test of the
effect of temperature on fattening pigs. Ten
pigs were fed nine were protected, while one
CHANGED to be in projection OF the pen, lcav-
ing it wholly exposed. In January there was
a severe cold spell, and the exposed pig lost
exactly six pounds in weight while each of the
other nine that were protected gained in
amounts varying from five to ten pounds each.
! This little circumstance is sufficient to show
the Importance ofkeeping fattening pigs warm
or, perhaps what is equally as well and which
is followed by many, fatten before any severe
weather arrives.
A correspondent of the C0uhtYU Gentleman
says: If you find sick hog do not remove
him, but remove all the rest; this is very i'm
portant Divide your herd into two or three
parts, and put each one in u new and separate
yard or apartment. supplied with new troughs.
pals. etc, and then avoid entering or allowing
ono clsc 10 clilcE INC Vacated yafuS. LOOK
out where you step. Sprinkle the hogs. as we'll
as the pens and yards, with carbolic acid, di-
lutcd iii water, i'll proportion Of tablespoon
| iul OF the former 10 two quarts of the latter.
Little can be done i'll the way Of curing sick
hog, and all attention should be given to pre-
venting well hogs from getting the disease"
NoTELETs
- Statistics show that the wheat trade of
| California, Oregon and Washington Territory
| with Europe give employment annually to
more than 400 sailing vessels going round Cape
| Horn. The average passage for each vessel is
about 10000 miles, in an average time of little
| over four months.
| - Remember that every pound of hay fod-
! der or grain that can be turned into meat wool
| or butter Oh the farm, at such a rate as 10 pay
its market price, leaves at least three tourhs of
! its manurial value in a shape that may be re-
| turned to the land to assist in producing other
crops.
| - Bots in horses are not easily destroyed.
! Their attachment to the stomach is mechanical
and they will remain there until the season for
| their escape arrives Prevention in this case is
more practicable than cure. To prevent them,
| let the eggs from which they hatch, and which
may be seen as yellow nits on the hair of the
| legs and other parts of the body, be removed,
so that the horse by biting the part cannot get
| them into the mouth to be Matched, and then
| descend into the stomach.
| "A little lnSecd meal given occasionally