The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-02-03

substance. If they were sold by weight,
the purchaser would get the value of
his money, while the seller would Sc
cure price only in proportion to what
he furnishes.
A FARM of good land in Vermont will
pay as well as in the West, if we'll man
aged. 1t has been well said that more
depends on the farmer than on the
farm. A thrifty, energetic man here
will be one in Minnesota or Dakota,
and the opposite is just as true.
"THERE is nothing like feeling big
| st. Louis is to hold a National Sheep
shearing Festival in the spring. Throw
ing an annual shearing open to the entire
country is an easy matter, but making
it national in its representation is more
difficult task,' says the Maine Farmer.
THOSE farmers who give their cows
about thirty pounds of good ensilage
per day, with moderate quantity of
mixed grain and dry fodder, are very
well pleased with their silos. Ensilage
is good and roots are good, but COW
should not be forced to live solely upon
either.
For lighting the road in front of the
horse when driving at night a Phila-
delphia physician fastens an ordinary
dash-lantern to the breast collar, whence
it throws the light on the road, where
it is wanted, instead of on the hips and
tail of the horse, as with the ordinary
carriage light
NEVER use barb-wire fences around
the barnyard, as the animals, being
somewhat crowded, are liable to injury.
Such fences are the cheapest that can
be used around the fields and are safe,
but the fence around the barnyard
should be built of boards for protection
against the winds.
MEN can no more make money from
Merinos on low, rank, high-priced pas
turage, nor Cotswold on dry, scanty
and remote pasturage, than they can
gather grapes from thorns or figs from
thistles. The eternal fitness of things
will beat them before the contest has
been protracted." So says the Breeders
Gazette.
BESIDES furnishing more or less of
all the essential elements of plant food,
stable manure furnishes large amount
of humus, or decaying vegetable mat
ter, which, on many soils, eXerts an i'm
portant mechanical effect by warming
and tightening the soil and increasing
its absorptive power, which enabl es it
to hold more moisture, heat and soluble
plant food.
A FARMER who keeps the roadway
free of stone, and cuts all foul weeds
and thistles, so that none of them go to
seed, we at once conclude is a good
| onI c,,nnnocfn1 IN, oil -
hand, man who neglects the weeds,
over into his neighbours fields, to annoy
him, is generally poor farmer" says
the Country Gentleman.
WHEN buying commercial fertilizers,
when we have part supply of stable
manure, it is much better to buy such
chemicals only as seem to be wanting
on each farm to make the stable ma
nure complete fertilizer for such crops
as we wish to grow, and to apply both
chemicals and manure to each field in
connection, instead of buying So
called complete fertilizer and using it
by itself.
4 FROM April Goth to May Goth is the
best period of thirty days in which to
plant evergreen trees in the latitude of
New England, though pines, spruces, frs
or other evergreens that complete their
growth in length during the month of
June may be successfully planted from
August to October, and even until the
ground freezes, if the work is carefully
done and the planting is in sheltered
situation.
THE economy of having lambs of the
mutton breeds dropped early in the
year, so that they may be ready for the
butcher in early summer, is becoming
quite extensively recognized by farm
ers. 1t requires more care and atten-
ton, both to the ewes and lambs, to
have lambs dropped in winter, but then
the farmers time is less valuable, and,
inasmuch as farmers wintering consid-
cradle stock expect to devote most of
their time to the care of their stock, a
few minutes more to the sheep will
hardly be noticed.
VEGETABLE oils come from many
plants which are familiar to every one,
such as the seeds of flax, cotton, hemp,
suntlower, butternut, peanut, castor
bean, with a proportion of oil varying
from ten to seventy per cent. There
are fatty oils and volatile oils, which
are distinguished by being dropped
upon paper; the former will leave a
grease spot, while the latter will wholly
evaporate, leaving no trace of grease
discernible. This volatility of the es-
sential oils also makes them usually
fragrant or strong-smelling.
WOLF & KNAPP have formed a table
of the fat of vegetable products which
shows the percentage therein as follows:
Maize fodder green %
1aDpaSe VI
Pea fodder dry 20
UlnVeI nay ~
Average of all the grains. 26
UJ
Va
80
Barley 20
WINTER z
pumpkin w
vi
WHETHER large or small, the grasses
anraa in hayinu hollow iointa6 slams