The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-05-26
Some improyement should be made in

Some improvement should be made in
the OK yoke commonly used. It should
| fit the neck. or else when the OK is draw
ing the load much inconvenience may be
the result, the windpipe being at times
| partly closed and the inner part OF the
neck CALLED.
The problem of farming consists in
making the soil increasingly fertile. Ma
nure is the farmers savings bank, and if
more of them would have large heaps OF
it every spring to spread upon their lands
instead of money at interest, they would
prosper in the end.
The best varieties of lettuce for summer
use arc the yellow butter and the white
summer cabbage. In deep, we'll en-.
riched soil they stand the heat we'll and
remain for long time in condition for
use. These varieties form large heads,
and on this account are Objectionable to
some persons.
No pruning at all is safer practice than
the putting a pruning knife into the
hands of an ignoramus. 1t requires skill
and knowledge of varieties and their Pc
culiarities, which few possess, to prune
apple and pear trees properly. What
would be good treatment for one variety
would be ruinous to others.
After calves get so they will eat hay,
give them what they will eat clean of
this and about one quart of oats daily.
Without the grain the hay will only keep
them in store condition and worth little
more at year old than now. All the
profit will come from the grain, and the
farmer who sees this point will increase
the grain feed all the animals will bear.
Much time on every farm is spent in
doing small jobs, and if proper conve-
niences for these are not furnished the
time wasted is so much clear loss. A
good farmer will try to have stock,
grain, hay and roots, with water, all
under one roof. This enables him to do
the work with the least needless labor,
and gives more time for necessary i'm
proveluents.
Prof. E. W. Stewart says that sun
flower seed is a valuable food for stock
if fed properly. The best way to feed to
calves is to remove the hulls in hulling-
machine and then boil the meats to
jelly. It is, in this condition, good
addition to skinned milk. Sunf1ower-
seed contains 1916 per cent of oil, while
faxseed contains 81 per cent. The oil is
mild laxative, and will keep the coat
glossy. Fifty bushels of seed could be
raised from twenty-five thousand plants
on an acre.
Most farmers have learned that cut hay
or even straw wet and sprinklcd with
meal is a better feed for working horses
than whole grain and hay. In this
shape the nutriment in the feed is easily
eaten and easily digested. Horses do not
need water when eating, except as it is
put on the chopped hay to make the
meal stick to it. The meal being fine
digests perfectly, while much of the nu.
triment in whole grain is lost. Again,
the wasted effort made in digesting the
latter is so much detracted from the
strength which should 60 to the work.
Fresh wood ashes are often of little
benefit. The caustic potash probably in.
lures the roots of tender plants in some
cases, as any one can test by putting an
overdose of ashes in the corn hill with
the seed. But the ashes soon lose their
caustic properties. In the soil vegetable
decomposition is constantly throwing of
carbonic acid, and this neutralizes the
alkali of the potash. Old ashes long ex-
posed to the air absorb considerable
amounts of ammonia, and to this leached
ashes owe much Of their value. What
potash they contain is in the form OF. a
nitrate and ready for immediate use.