The sun., 1886-08-19
INDUSTRIAL BRIEFLETS.

INDUSTRIAL BRIEFLETS.
President Adams, of the Cornell uni
versity, says there is in the country
more or less Of dissatisfaction with the
way in which the agricultural colleges
have met the expectation that was
formed concerning them. 'While l
do not think this dissatisfaction is gen.
orally well grounded. / am inclined to
believe that there are certain inherent
difficulties in the way of the schools Of
agriculture that have not thus far been
fully and frankly met. In the first
place. it is found that the farmer boys
are not able, - rule, to spend suf-
ficient time at college to enable them
to gain q complete agricultural educa-
tion. Then second difficulty presents
itself. II farmers boy takes course
of somewhat prolonged instruction no
is more or less apt to acquire tasto
for other pursuits. and so allows him.
self to be drawn off into other voca-
tions.
A writer says that the best way to
feed flock of lambs after they have
been turned to grass in the spring is to
drive up ewes and lambs at evening
into yard adjoining a sheep-house to
which the lambs have been attached all
their lives. Across the open door set
hay-rack on blocks high enough to al
low the lambs to run under but not the
ewes. Around the wall on the inside
have fat-bottomed troughs, the tops
six inches above the ground, with the
feed scattered thinly in them and very
lightly salted. Let the flock 60 short
on salt otherwise; then the lambs will
swarm into the sheep house as soon as
the flock swarms into the yard, and
will consume the feed readily, at first
for the salt, but presently for the feed
itself
Observations have been made at the
Ohio agricultural experiment station
on the hardness of young forest tree
seedlings after severe winters. Seed
ings of green ash and yellow locusts
escaped without any loss; per cent OF
scarlet maple and of black ash was
killed; 5 per cent. of red oak, 6 per
cent of white ash and wild cherry, z
per cent. of maple sugar, 8 per cent. of
catalpa, 20 per cent. of red oak, 80 per
cent. of cucumber tree, 50 per cent. Of
blackwalnut, SIS per cent. of chestnut,
and 81 per cent of white oak seedlings
were killed by severe winter There is
no doubt that these results would vary
with the soil, growth, condition, and
degree of ripeness of the plants, which
would be controlled by. external cir
cumstances in different localities and
seasons.
A correspondent of The Southern Cut-
tsvator thinks he has remedy that
will cure what he calls cholera. 1t is
his opinion that hog cholera is mostly
worms, and when these are expelled
the hogs get well. He uses this mix
ture: Five pounds of coperas, twelve
pounds of sulphur, four pounds of BIZ
carbonate of soda, two pounds of blood
root; powder and mix this we'll and
then add two bushels of lime and
twenty-five to thirty bushels of slack
coal. This should be dumped down in
dry place where the hogs can get at
it, but not scattered around. The
smaller the drove of hogs the smaller
the quantity of ingredients used in
making this mixture.
G. S. McCann stated to the Elmira,
N. Y, Farmers club that he found the
limbs of tho white oak much more dur
able for posts than the body of the tree.
He had tried setting posts erect and in
verted, but could find no difference in
their durability. Posts were found to
last longest when set in clay soil beaten
compactly about them to prevent the
passage of water and to keep them in
uniform state of moisture. In grave
ly soils, which permit them to become
often water-soaked and again soon dry.
they did not last long.
Prof. Aughey found, by careful test,
that prairie soil, which had been brok-
en- up by blowing, contained, immedi-
ately after rain, nine times as much
moisture as adjoining unbroken soil,
and this seems to explain the extension
of the rain belt westward. Let such
broken-up soil become covered with
shrubs and trees, and annually mulch
ed by their falling leaves, and it will
continue absorbent and retentive of
moisture without losing any of its sub
stance and its fertility.
A case is reported in the foreign
papers of the death of cattle to whose
coats poisonous sheep dip had been
for some purpose applied. The persis-
tent habit of licking themselves, char
acteristic of cattle, should not be for
gotten when it is contemplated to apply
medicines externally for skin affections
or the destruction of yermin.
Melons, grapes, and peaches are now
receiving great attention in South Ca
rolina as market crops They are much
more profitable than corn and tobacco.
Some counties in the state expect to
sell three million watermelons this
year. They are sent to eastern cities
by boat, and to western towns by rail.
They can be raised for 2 cents each:
Prof. Long, of England, says there
are in every herd cows that are mere
manure makers or pickpockets. They
have the same feed that the rest get,
and yet they will not give one-half the
milk The cows are in the herd, yet
the trouble is to pick them out. They
are generally frauds in the fact that
they are the best looking cows of all.
They give good mess of milk for .
short time and then drop almost out.