The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-15
Farm and Garden Notes.

Chicago Herald.
Farm and Garden Notes.
Carefully gather the scraps from the
table ands give them to your fowls.
There is no kind of food that is better
for them.
Let your onions grow until the tops
fall, then pull them up. They should be
allowed to become dry and be stored IN
a cool place.
As soon as the ears have been taken
from the sweet corn the stalks should be
cut up and fed to the COWS in as green
condition as possible.
Sheep will eat nearly all kinds Of
weeds, and may be made to do good SER
vice in some fields. They should, how
ever, always be given feed of grain at
night.
Dr.. Hexamer salted three rows across
his asparagus patch six years in suces.
sion, leaving the rest unsalted. He did
not detect any difference in favor Of the
salted rows.
Tomatoes trained to stakes give the
sweetest fruit, and remain in bearing the
longest; but many cultivators who grow
for size and quantity only, believe they
have the best results when growing them
on the level ground,
The Gardeners Monthly contends that
very much may be done by the hand in
the destruction of insects, to much bet
ter advantage, in many cases, than by
the numerous remedies that aim to de-
stroy them all at one fell swoop.
Bees in their search for honey visit
only one kind of flowers on the same
trip. This is not accidental, but it is
wise provision for preventing hybridiza-
ton of different varieties from the pollen
which bees always distribute In their
journeys from flower to flower.
Mulching strawberries increases the
size of the fruit, as well as the yield. 1t
keeps the berries clean, and, therefore, in
more marketable condition. The mulch
ing should be laid on in the autumn, just
after the ground has been frozen, and be
opened away from the plants in the
spring.
Thorough ventilation Is necessary
where milk is kept in cellars, or it will
become injured by mould or foul odors.
This is more often the cause of poor sum-
mer butter than any other. The butter
is tainted before it goes to the churn, and
no possible sfter-care can make it good
or keep it fit to eat until winter.
Green smartweed briskly rubbed on
neck, sides and other exposed parts OF
COWS or horses will keep flies from at
tacking them. To be effectual the rub
bing should be given twice day, but it
will repay this trouble. Smartweed can
be found on most farms, and is valuable
enough for this purpose to claim the
room it occupies.
A successful dairyman says that one of
the best average rations he has tried is
one quart of Indian meal, two quarts
each of oatmeal and wheat bran and one
pint of oil meal. This he mixes with
about one-half bushel of cut hay and
we'll moistened with water before feed
ing. This ration is given night and
morning to an ordinary sized COW with
what hay she will eat.
Waldo F. Brown, of Ohio, is credited
with saying: "The fattest cows ever
sold were milked every day till slaugh-
tered, and had been MIXED over two
years each when sold. I believe that
often the farmer or dairyman would find
it profitable to give some richer food to
COWS while on Ta.ture, and this certainly
would be the case when the pastures arc
short from overstocking or drought.
A plan for training Lima bean vines
practised in some parts of New York is
as follows: The beans are planted In
rows and strong stakes are driven in
rows of some distance apart and about
six feet in height from the ground when
set. Passing over and attached to the
tops of these stakes is strong wire, to
which is fastened a large number OF
smaller wires or twine, one of which eX-
tends down to each vine.
One of the chief reasons why orchards
should not be cropped is because they re-
quire cultivation during the summer
season. When roots are destroyed by
deep working the ground it often results
in permanent injury to the trees, espe-
cially if done late in the season. Since
the clearing of woodlands has given
winds free sweep the soil dries out much
faster than formerly, and this makes trees
more liable from mutilation of their
roots.
Says Vi.k's Magazine: The best time
to destroy a weed is before it comes up,
and the mere stirring of the surface fol
an inch as soon as the land is dry enough
to work after rain, will kill nine-tenths
of the weeds that have started. Make it
rule that weed shall never 60 to seed
on your garden. The average farmers
garden Of one fourth of an acre ripens
enough weed seed to supply the entire
farm, and it will take more than five
years to get such a garden clean, but
if clean cultivation is persevered in the
time will come when the labor of cult
vating the garden will be reduced one
half.
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