The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-10-15
FARM NOTES.

An application of lyc will restore to
rough trunks and branches of orchard
trees their original smoothness.
The digestive organs of swine are
easily disarranged under our artificial
system of breeding. There is no farm
animal more clearly in its food naturally
than the hog.
The land that will maintain twenty
common herd cows will maintain twenty
well bred ones, and the annual profit
from the latter will be considerably
more than from the former.
1t is the same with IN animal as with
| stcam-bOiler-the more complete the
combustion of the food or fuel it gets
the more satisfactory will be the result,
because there is less waste.
Resources of the soil do not end alb
ruptly ut four or five inches in depth,
vet there are hundreds of farms where
all beneath is terra incOgnita because
no effort has ever been made to explore.
Honey of different grades should be
kept separate. An inferior grade put
in with the best will set lower price
on the whole. At the close of each sea-
son of bloom grade the whole product.
Deep tillage of heavy lands is one of
the surest safeguards against drought,
for it constitutes provision for storing
moisture i'm the place where it is most
readily available for the support of
plants.
When an Elkhart, Ind, farmer was
unloading a load of hay which he had
| driven to market and sold, he found
very lively rattlesnake in the hay, and
in the serpent he found two meadow
moles still alive and kicking.
The practice of pegging down ever
blooming roses, so that they will cover
completely the surface of the bed, is well
known to produce very pleasing results.
1t is said that pegging down dahlias
proves quite rs satisfactory.
A contributor to an old number of the
Ioa0a Homestead says that the secret of
raising winter squash is to plant late,
and when the borer gets in cover the
vine six inches deep with earth. Bury
ing the worm kills it and saves the crop.
In some parts of Indiana farmers are
tearing down their worm fences built of
black walnut rails and selling the sea-
that will refcnce their fields with pine
and leave a margin of profit on the
operation.
The value of ensilage as winter food
for cows seems more and more appre-
ciated year by year. Improved methods
of preparing and preserving the fodder,
improved silos, and labOr-saving ma
chinery have added largely to the value
of the food.
Although flat turnips are mostly
water. there is nutriment enough to
make them an important addition to
food for cattle and sheep, and it is
therefore desirable that in season of
scarcity they be raised to the full extent
of opportunity.
Bees do not work we'll in hive ex-
posed to the sun. In midday, when
very hot, all work on the inside. such
as comb-building and storing honey.
has to be suspended. Sometimes combs
melt down, and the brood dies in the
heat of the sun.
DO not have too many plants in the
hills. If the late corn is backward and
growth apparently slow thin out the
plants, so as to allow of more room and
plant-foOd. 1t is better to have one or
two good thrifty stalks than three or
four weakly ones.
A good animal should be a heavy
feeder. 1t has often been considered
an advantage that an animal eat but
little, but just the opposite should be de-
sired. 1t takes liberal supply of food
and good appetite to derive the great
est amount of product
If you have thin. flat stones ut COM
mand, say as thick as roofing slate or
somewhat thicker, try mulching n few
strawberry plants with them. Tin an
swcrs the same purpose. Shingles are
good, but inclined to warp. A patented
clay tile is sold in some places, but
stones are cheaper and better.
Much of manure dropped by cows
yardcd over night in the barnyard is
wasted. Unless the yard is well Uttered
the liquid excrement is lost, and the |
solid droppings dry away until much of |
their value is gone. Throw the manure |
in heaps and applying little dry earth
to tho heap daily will prevent loss.
There is much difference in the quail |
ty of paris green, much that is sold be-
ing so heavily adulterated that it is inn
possible to decide how much to apply. |
The impure poison is believed to be in
furious to potato vines, perhaps because |
of its impurity being applied stronger |
than it should be. The high-price paris
green is cheapest.
II is stated on the authority of DIR. |
William Trelease that if dose of half
pint of linsced oil and two ounces of |
ammonia be Immediately administered |
to the horse after he has partaken of a
loco weed. and he is kept in the stable
and fed on grain and hay for week or
ten days. he Twill never again return to
the pernicious loco weed"
ID. A. Jones, of Beeton, Canada, uses
chloroform in introducing queens. He
is very successful, seldom losing queen
when introduced in that way. He puts
few drops of chloroform on a rag
or sponge in the smoker, and, giving
few puffs i'm ut the entrance, stupefies
them, and by the time the bees recover
from their stupor they know nothing of
what has happened.
There is nothing better than dry
earth to absorb the odors of the stable,
and the value of this absorbent is in
proportion to the clay contained. A
few shovelfuls of earth scattered over
the floor after cleaning will render the
air OF the apartment pure and whole
some, and the addition of the earth to
the manure hill will largely improve
the quality of the heap.
One of the best, well-tried, and al
ways successful preventives OF disease
among swine is to keep a trough. to
which they can always have access.
hlled with mixture composed OF 60
parts of wood ashes. 20 parts salt II
parts aulphar, and 8 psrts eoppafaA I