Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-03
FARM NOTES.

Select trees for planting that are both
useful and ornamental.
Straw and fodder are best converted
into good manuring by feeding to good
stock.
For wintering cattle good hay comes
nearest of being complete food. If
you have it, feed literally.
With a good rotation of crops much
valuable work can be done in exter-
minating and keeping down pests of
all kinds.
Let the breed be what it may, it is
only by giving the best feed and care
that the most profitable growth can be
secured, and during the fall and win
ter these are of special Importance.
With farm stock of all kinds an
ounce of preventive is worth a pound
of cure, and little pains taken to keep
in good health will be much more
economical than relying upon being
able to cure.
1t is next to impossible to make any
considerable improvement upon a runt
! or scrub. 1t will always be more salts
factory to use at least well-bred male.
because it is possible to secure more
rapid improvement.
No system of farming has as yet been
devised that in a series of years will
equal raising variety of crops and
keeping a variety of stock in sufficient
numbers. Consumeto AN advantage
all that is raised.
Do not allow old boards of any kind
to lie around in the stable or feed lots.
! An old nail wound is ons of the verv
worst with stock of any kind, and the
safest remedy is to take all reasonable
! precaution to prevent.
| There is very considerable amount
of difference in the different kinds of
soil, and the necessary work and pre-
paration that will be best for one kind
of soil will not answer for another.
! Form your soil according to it's
| character.
Reduce the amount of fencing as
much as possible. Make good pas
ture and keep as nearly as possible all
the cultivated lands in one field. Keep
| ing up useless fences adds to the cost
creases the cost of raising crops.
The value of the manure depends
considerably upon the kind and quality
of the feed supplied, as we'll as the care
taken to properly save, SO as to avoid
waste. Bran, linseed and cotton-seed
meals add considerably to the value of
the manure heap.
In determining the amount of profit
the cost should always be considered.
With crops this should include the
| labor necessary to raise and prepare
| for market, and with stock the amount
! of feed to grow and fatten for market
must be considered.
In mating the breeding stock re-
member that the sire or the dam should
always be matured. Breeding with one
stock is certain to produce weaker Off
spring, that in at least two or three
generations will make a very consider
able difference in the grade.
Loss in shrinkage, waste, interest, as
well as often a loweringin quality must
always be considered in attempting to
keep produce for higher price. Oc-
casionally it will pay, but in a majority
| of cases the better time to sell is when
the crop is ready.
| Stable manure is always first and
best, and when properly applied al
ways gives satisfactory results. Green
manuring and commercial manures
should only be used to help these out,
and not, as is often the case, to be
purchased while the farm manure is
allowed to go to waste.
One of the best remedies for scratch
es in horses is to wash the heels clean
and dry thoroughly and apply oxide of
zinc ointment. Veterinary vaseIine
rubbed in often, thorough clean, is
another good remedy. Keep close
watch, and commence to cure as soon
as it makes its appearance.
At this time there are two things
that the farmer need not fear an over
supply; one of these is feed and the
other is manure. Having plenty of
| feed and a sufficient of stock to con-
sumo to Il good advantage, and it is
comparatively an easy matter to secure
a good supply Of manure.
1t is only in exceptional cases that
the farmer can afford to purchase feed.
So far as possible only such a number
Of stock should be kept on the farm as
the food raised will keep in good con-
dition and fatten for the market when
matured. More than this implies either
stunting the stock or purchasing food;
less than this implies wasteful feeding
or selling products.
| Bone dust may be converted into an
excellent soluble fertilizer by mixing
| it with unleached wood ashes. Put the
mixture in barrel and keep it some
what moist, occasionally adding
small quantity of liquid manure to the
mass to invite decomposition. The re-
of potash, which is more valuable than
the commercial superphosphate gener-
, ally used.
| Wheat and potatoes are two products
that can be grown and marketed with
out feeding, but they should form a
part of rotation, and with wheat the
straw should be saved and used as feed
or bedding, and by this plan be con-
verified into a good fertilizer. In ad-
dition to farming good system of
rotation, raising a variety of crops en-
ables the farmer to make up a better
variety OF food for his stock.
A stockman told the National Stock
man recently that he, few years since,
bought fine road stallion at price
which caused many of his friends to
question his judgment. But the first
| four colts, even from ordinary mares,
more than paid for the difference be-
tween tie horse in question and the
| cheapest one he could buy. The
| animal has been used only in private
| breeding, but has now much more than