The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-01-26
OUR RUR4L TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
WINTER DAIRYING.

Why is it that Winter dairying is so much |
more profitable than that of Summer? Be I
cause, in the first place, more attention can be /
given the COWS; and ,,in the second place, the |
price of the products is always higher, and in
the last and most important place, the manure /
can all be saved and applied where most need |
ed. Not only So but the average annual yield /
per cow can be largely increased. How so ? /
Because the COW that drops her calf in the Fall /
can be better fed and attended to than in the |
Spring, when there are so many other matters
to be seen t.: the flies are then the least trouble
some, and she comes to her greatest flow of milk
just at the time when the price Of dairy pro-
ducts is beginning to advance. And although
by the time that Winter sets in she may have
fallen off little in her yield Of milk, yet if
she has been properly fed in the stable she will
not necessarily have decreased in her yield of
butter for the milk, although it may be some
what less in quantity, viii be richer in quality
And then by the time grass is ready to be turn
ed upon the following Spring she will give as
much as one that has just come in" and so
continue the season through Then as to the
calves. There can be no question that calves
which come IN the Fall can be better raised by
hand and make better yearIings than those that
are dropped in the Spring, for the very good
reason that by Spring the young animal viii
be able to run out with the rest of the herd and
brouse upon the young grass, whereas if calved
In the Spring il is generally weaned about the
time when the flies are at their worst and grass
the toughest and poorest Another thing about
Winter dairying is thatwe are then very likely
to get in the habit of feeding more grain to our
mich cows, which of itself is a matter of great
importance, besides having our calves weaned
and off on grass by the time that the skim
med milk is most needed by our pigs, and
which our experience tells us is of the utmost
importance.
| 1t requires little over nine months from the
| time COW is bred until she has her calf so
| that to have calf come in November or De-
cember the cow should be bred in February or
| Observation-Disclosures San.
ADVANTAGES OF UNDERDRAINAGE.
| Our space would forbid any attempt to con-
! slider all the advantages that come to the farmer
| because of undertakings, but as Winter adj
| yances with its freezing weather, and we notice
| fields where the impervious subsoil is so near
! the surface as to hold back the accommodating
water that falls in late Autumn to the extent Of
| fully saturating the super-strata and which, by
a continuance of cold weather becomes one mass
of CONCEALED ice and saturated earth we are
brought to feel more fOreibly the advantages of
| such a condition as would relieve the soil Of all
the abundance of water, and, so to sneak, re-
move the cold blanket that lies upon it,
The soil that is thoroughly under-drained ad-
mits of the free flowing Of Of all the surplus
| water, IN Summer and Winter leaving the soil
filled with air spaces that tend in Summer to
attract all necessary moisture, diminishing the
temperature and in Winter by its imprison-
ment, to hold the soil at a more even tempera-
| ture 1t is quite plain to be seen that where
| IF re coil tEvar
up IN Spring and be ready for use much earlier
than II fully solidiied by the presence of con-
geaied water in every air space of the soil
While undertakings looks like burying SO
much capital in the ground, there are no doubts
regarding its great advantages if farmers would
only look at the matter Alright Germantou0I
Telegraph
DANGER IN FRUIT CULTURE
History tells Us of people living some Ii
centuries ago who spent their whole time either
to hear or to tell some new thing That is to
s greater or less extent prevalent or nearly
/ universal inclination with mankind, and it ha!
continued to the present day. The eagernes
with which men throughout the country seel
their daily and weekly newspapers, even those
full Of chaffy matter, to the exclusion of those
containing substantial and durable reading, Elk
hibits this proneness to trifling novelty.
certain amount Of searching for novelties il
horticulture may be well, but there is danger
of carrying to a morbid excess when untested
novelties are urged in SLOWLY publications al
triple price on the people al large, who may no
be already supplied with the best standard anG
proved sorts. Very few have yet learned t.
raise perfect specimens Of the old sorts. The
new strawberries, thrust on the public at % OF
s. a dozen, rarely prove as good as the old va
rieties and the same is true of the new rasp
berries and the newer grape. Some nursery
+ men make it their special business to lauC
/ novelties, and to issue publications, periodical
and not, full of extravagant praises Of new
sorts, in order that they may make heavy anG
high-priced sales the majority of which in
few years turn out to be entirely untitled to the
: localities where they are planted. Horticulture
societies would perform a useful service to thu
public by placing some check the growing
.. practice; and periodicals might exercise mor
caution in their abundant notices Of the novel
, ties which are so freely held up to the publ
: before their real value has been established il
the country at large Country Gentleman.
NOTES.
a - Small carrots, small potatoes, etc. which
. cannot well be used ON the table, will be excel
7, lent appetizers for the horses, cattle ant
I chickens.
J, - The cit Of the collar and harness has nue.
+ to do with the amount of work horse can PEI
II form in day. Ill-ftting collars cause sore