The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-08-09

a
grass will restore fertility after it IS so
far gone that seeding must fail.
One way to make your boys dislike
farming is to be continually finding
fault, Complaining of the hard lot
and slavish life of farmers and telling
them of the ease and comforts of city
life.
Burned bones are useful in the poul-
try-yard, but do not equal those that
are procured in the ground condition.
Bones from the butcher, pounded into
pieces, are preferred by the hens, as
they contain more or less meat.
Experiments in raising alfalfa are
being made at the Iowa Agricultural
college. tis likely that this forage
plant will grow in Iowa and do fairly
well, but there is no prospect that it
will be as valuable for stock food as
clover and grass.
DIR. Salmon says there are two con-
tagious diseases known as hog cholera,
one affecting the bowels, the other the
lungs. The one is the genuine hog
cholera, the other the swine plague.
1t is possible for an animal to have
both diseases at the same time.
Sheep are one of the best-paying
things that can be had for north Da-
kota. One farmer got three sheep two
years ago, and from them he now has
eleven. Another farmer had in 1888,
with addition to other stock, 100 sheep,
and he has now $50 besides 140 young
lambs
The pig that brings the farmer the
most money is not the one that yields
him the greatest profit. Fall pigs win
tered over and fattened the next fall
are almost invariably expensive ami
mails. Where corn is fed to cattle
whole, a few pigs may be kept to fol-
low them without much outlay, but
only few.
To make hens lay, says an exchange,
put two or more quarts of water in a
kettle and one large seed pepper or
two small ones, then put the kettle
over the fire. When the water boils
stir in coarse Indian meal until YOU
have thick mush. Let it cook an
hour or so; feed hot. Horseradish
may be chopped fine and stirred into
the mush as prepared in the above di-
rections.
Several reports of death from hand
ling animals diseased with glanders or
blackleg are reported. If the virus of
these contagious diseases enters the
blood through scratch or wound,
blood-poisoning, and frightful death
follow. The fact is not generally
known, and it ought to be carefully
borne in mind, and neighbors ignorant
of the nature of these diseases eau
toned.
One of the principal causes of heaves
in horses is the feeding of dusty or
dirty hay. Ordinary clean hay can al
ways be fed with safety if cut up,
noistened. and mixed with ground
grain; but to feed the mnsty or dirty
sorts is very injurious. Glover, owing
to its liability to crumble, often gets
dirty, even after storage, and should
never be. fed without being previously
moistened.
The cheapest and best mode of keep
ing lice out of the poultry-house is to
add quart of kerosene oil to each
bucket of strong soapsuds on washing
days and thoroughly saturate the floor,
walls, roosts, and every portion of the
poultry-house, forcing the liquid into
the cracks and crevices. 1t will kill
the vermin as soon as it shall touch
them, being one of the best insecticides
known.
The best tonic and preventive of
poultry diseases is as follows: To one
gallon of pure water add from fifteen
to twenty drops of tincture of iron and
two or three drops of aconite. Stir
and mix well before putting into the
drinking-vessels. If used all the
year round this will produce healthy
flock of birds. The iron strengthens
the blood, while the aconite prevents
and allays feverishness. Care must be
taken not to get too much aeonite into
this mixture.
DIR. George A. Bowen, of Woodstock,
Conn.,, some years ago began expert
ments in a small way in planting the
nuts and seeds of native forest trees
He learned that if a board be placed
in the bottom of the trench in which
the seeds are planted the would-be tap
root will be turned from its downward
course and become more branched and
fbrous, making better tree to trans
plant. Success in a small way en-
couraged more planting till his little
garden nursery has become the source
of supply for many planters.
w. d. Hoard, the Wisconsin dairy
editor, writes: Under no circumstances
would we run the risk of dehorning a
male or female in whom we placed any
reliance for breeding or butter pur-
poses. We believe farmers have gone
into this business, and especially dairy
men, without sufficient knowledge of
its physiological effects. Not one
farmer in a hundred has ever made
any study of the machinery of butter
production. How should they know
whether it is safe to dehorn dairy or
butter cow? Yet they drive ahead just
as if they knew all about the future of
its effects.
A correspondent informs the Mark
Lane Express that last spring, when on
a sheep farm in England, he noticed
several she goats from which lambs
that had lost their mother were suck
ling. The owner informed him that
this was very general practice in the
neighborhood, and that it was much
better than using the bottle and cows
milk, as the lambs usually, by that
method, become pot-bellied and hardly
ever thrive. The goat is kept tethered
in warm pen and her food taken to
her, and when lamb requires milk it
is taken to the goat and allowed to
suck. This seems worth trying where
goats are obtainable.
Music which compels people to ap-
plaud with their feet might be styled