Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-05-09
FARM NOTES.
Raise good draft horses.

| ieSSenS the amount OF iced.
A muley bull will make dehorning
q comparatively easy task.
Buttermilk poured over the backs
of the hogs will clean off the scruff.
At least an acre of land can be de-
voted to small fruits and the garden to
a good profit.
Breeding stock of all kinds should
have laxative foods for few days at
least before the young are born.
Cooked roots of all kinds are es-
pecially good feed for growing pigs,
when they can be readily secured.
In fattening hogs it is good economy
to have a dry, comfortable sleeping
place and tight, dry feeding floor.
Every day that the stock is fed adds
to the cost. See to it that a gain is
secured all the time to make this up.
Chopped oats and barley is good
feed for breeding sows and growing
pigs. 1t is good muscle and bone
food.
A mound of earth built up at the
foot of the trees will be found good
preventive against mice gnawing the
bark.
Wheat bran is one of the very best
materials used to feed the milch cows.
Keep good supply on Land so as to
feed regularly.
Don't let the hogs get lousy. One
way to prevent this is to be sure to
provide good clean bedding and then
change at least every ten days.
Shade-trees add much to the appear
ances as well as the value of the farm,
but in making selection of varieties
hardness should always be preferred
to rapid growth.
If the work in the winter will per-
NIT and the days are not too cold, fix
up the fences good for spring. Dis
pense with all unnecessary fenc-
ing, but have what you do have effect
i've.
Dry dirt is an excellent absorbent in
the stables, the pig pens, and the poul-
try-house, but sufficient quantity
must be supplied to keep dry. 1t
rarely paws to allow stock to stand
or lie down on wet bedding of any
kind.
1t pays to have good tools, and then
when secured it is good economy to
take good care of them. The loss of
farming tools by needless exposure is
an enormous sum, much of which
could easily be saved with proper care
in storing away.
The fruit of the peach is borne on
last years growth of wood on account
of the freezing of this new growth dur
ing the winter. Defer pruning until
spring and after that cutting out of
the frozen wood will be all the prun-
ing that will be necessary.
Sometimes the trees are severely in
jured by freezing so hard as to split
badly. This can often be cured by
heating grating wax and pouring over
piece or strip of muslin sufficiently
large to cover the entire wound and
then tie with a string of the same ma
terial.
Necessary repairing on the farm
tools needed in the spring can always
be done to good advantage during
| the winter, and often considerable
valuable time be saved than if DELAYED
until time to commence work in the
| spring. while in many asecs the cost
will be much less.
The hen is literally an egg machine,
! her chief purpose being the production
of eggs. Like any other kind of ma
chine she must have the raw material
with which to manufacture her pro-
ducts. Her instinct teaches her how
| to select, all that is necessary is to
place within her reach that which she
requires and everything will be well
and eggs abundant and complete.
To query about how to keep milk
twenty-four hours in shipping it, the
Farming World says: Add to the
milk a small quantity of bicarbonate
of soda. This addition is by no means
injurious to health; on the contrary,
| bicarbonate of soda promotes diges-
! ton. One of the principal diaries of
Paris employs no other method but this
for preserving the milk while on sale
During the next two months the
stock will depend almost entirely upon
the food supplied, as there will be but
little if any opportunity to pick up any
thing outside. 1t is quite an item then
to feed we'll and in such variety as to
keep in good condition all winter,
and in feeding variety this can be
done to better advantage than if de-
pendence is place almost entirely upon
one or two materials.
The most disagreeable thing on
farm in winter is mud, and, although
it can not be entirely avoided, yet
some of its disadvantages may be
overcome by carefully draining every
location that allows an excess of water
to accumulate. When the cattle are
compelled to stand knee-deep in mud
there is loss of animal heat, and
greater proportion of food will be re-
CURED to keep them in condition.
Plan or arrange so that this spring
full assortment of small fruits can be
set out. Have the soil reasonably
rich, well prepared, and then put
everything in long rows. so as to lessen
the cost of cultivating as much as pos
sible. If properly managed. small
fruits can be raised as economically as
corn or potatoes; but if this is done
nearly or quite all the cultivation
should be done with the plow or culti-
vator.
Churning cream when slightly sour,
as is the custom in the Holstein dair-
les, yields butter of peculiar and fine
aroma. Butter made from very sour
cream is destitute of this aroma, and
has the taste which the Holstein but
ter acquires after keeping some time.
Stirring of cream does not promote
sOuring. but rather binders it by in