Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-04-24
FARM NOTES.

EATNl
A MIXTURE of kerosene and lampblack
is q good application to keep steel sur
faces bright.
ALONG the li1e Of wire fence is an ex-
cellent location for Lima beans and 9TH
er climbing plants.
Cows will change from day to day in
the amount Of solids in their milk. and
especially in the amount of butter fats.
IT is better to kill one or two of the
young pigs than to allow the SOW to at
tempt to provide milk for a large litter.
If the whiffietree breaks, don't
throw it into the corner Remove the
irons. They can be fitted to new wood.
By keeping the cattle off the pasture
one day longer in the spring you may
keep them upon it two days longer in
the fall.
The farther you are from market the
greater is your need of condensing
products by feeding grain and slower to
animals.
A HANDY thing to have is a box con-
tanning an assortment Of bolts, nuts,
rivets, nails and a hammer, pinchers
and cold-chisel.
The paint brush that proved to be a
bargain was cleaned in turpentine each
time its work was done, dried. and
hung up by it's handle.
KEEP a few panes of window glass and
a paper OF tacks or some putty on hand.
When the window pane is broken, don't
make shift: replace it.
A HEDGE that is not properly kept is
unsightly, but if carefully trimmed 1T
adds greatly to the characterization of a
front yard, as it keeps green the entire
year.
The best time at which to cut any
growing plant to make good ensilage is
when the plant approaches maturity
and has begun to decrease in the per-
centage OF It's water contents.
For early potatoes prepare a special
plot, and after the plants are well up
thin them out 80 as to have only one
plant to the hill. The potatoes grown
in this way will be more uniform in size
and also earlier.
To sell the milk of a Jersey or Guern-
sey to a milk-buying cheese factory
would be a financial suicide, or to keep
a cheese cow to send half a pound of
butter fats e day to a cream-buying
factory is another folly.
THE chief action OF potash is to liber-
ate or solve phosphates and the nitrate
OF the soil that may be in the reverted
state; especially when phosphate is to
be applied, wood ashes are always valu-
able in connection with it.
CUT out the old cane from black
berries and raspberries while the
ground is frozen. Trim the grape vines
while the weather is cold. If the trim
ming of grape vines be deferred until
spring it will be unwise to cut them at
all.
DoN'T trust to your memory when
planting an orchard with several varie-
ties of fruit, but make a diagram and
preserve it for future use. The trees
may not bear for four years, when the
location of each variety may then be
forgotten.
CURRANTs can be easily grown. and
the bushes last many years with care.
The only difficulty is the currant worm,
which can be subdued with applications
OF hellebore. Currants are always sal
able, and should be more extensively
grown.
THERE is frequently a large waste in
swine feeding. much ofthe food passing
off undigested. The farmer imagines
that because his hogs eat a large amount
of meal or corn that they mus gain ac-
cordlngly. There never was a greater
mistake.
UNBLEACHED ashes possess fertilizing
qualities far hey ond the estimated value
of potash therein, as lime and phos-
phorlc acid are also constituents.
Leached ashes may also be used with
advantage on soils deficient in lime or
potash.
SANDY soil is not as fertile as a loan
or clay soil, but the labor required on
q CQn6u col 10 r1roh loCc Thu rroror
time for spreading manure on light soils
is early In the spring, but on heavy
soils such work may be done in the fall
Or during the winter.
ASPARAGUS is a very early vegetable,
and any work to be done TO the bed
must be done early. 1t is a gross feeder
and can appropriate any amount OF ma
nure, which should be broadcasted on
the beds now, to be forked in as soon
as the ground permits.
A SUCCESSFUL potato grower of Maine
says that he does not divide his crops
with the "bugs." AS soon as they ap-
pear he sends trustworthy men over
the fields, who give the enemy plenty
of Paris green mixed with water, two
heaping spoonfuls to a pail of water, ap-
piled with a fine nozzled sprinkler.
OATS grown in England and Scotland
weigh fifty pounds to the bushel, while
the same seed grown in this country
will give but forty pounds, and in three
seasons reach the usual weight of oats
in this country, which is twenty-eight
to thirty pounds to the bushel. The
reason is that the climate of Great Brit
ain is better ADAPTED to the develop
ment of this grain than ours.
AS food is indispensable for the pro-
duction of rich milk, there only re-
mains to adjust the ration to the ability
Of the COW to digest it and turn it into
profit. This ability varies with the
cow, and must be learned by the own
er. No standard ration has an iron-clad
limit; it is a standard to be used as a
starting point, to be lessened and in
creased as each case may warrant.