Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-07-04
FACTS FOR FARMERS.


Red clover is called the foundation
crop of continued fertility.
"A well-known agriculturist claims
that Canada thistle can be eradicated
by smothering with clover.
When an intelligent farmer is once
convinced that poultry can be made a
paying branch of his business he is
usually not slow to take steps toward
improving his flock and providing good
quarters for them.
Some of the best farmers of Amer
lea have given up binding and are
more than pleased with results. Es-
pecially is this true with oats, the crop
being, as a rule, saved in better con-
dition than when bound. Farmer and
Stockman.
Keep the stock growing When
young give it food that will make it
grow and develop bone and muscle,
and when size is attained, rush it for
the market by laying on the fat The
quickest growth is always the cheap
est.
There is hardly a crop on the farm
in regard to which so much neglect is
displayed in cutting and curing it in
its proper season as our hay, to the
great detriment of its quality, as well
as ofits marketable value. Rural New
Yorker.
Foot rot is not as prevalent as
formerly. This is due to the sheep
being kept on dry ground instead of
given only the wet pastures, as before.
Sheep shouldlinvariably have shelter at
night, but they object to being confined
in a close building. An open shed,
with dry floor, should be provided.
Animals that burrow, like the
prairie dog. etc, may be killed very
easily by putting bisulphide of carbon
in their holes. 1t is very volatile and
forms a deadly gas very quickly by
evaporation. Saturate cotton rags with
it and put them in the hole. closing the
hole as quickly as possible with dart.
The poisonous vapor will penetrate
every part Of the hole and kiln every
livingthing In it,-Western Plowman.
An old SOW that has shown herself
q good mother should be preferred to
one that is younger. The practice of
using young sows is sure to end in q
degeneracy of stock sooner or later.
To avoid liability from the weight of
old sows, which sometimes crush their
pigs, reduce them in flesh. AS rule
most brood sows are too fat. in which
case the pigs come weak. Clover, with
bran slop at night, is the best food for
brood SOW in summer.
-Barn-yard manures, either coarse
or rotted, are the best fertilizers for
meadows, and spreading them early is
altogether the most economical way of
applying them, and if any be unevenly
spread, as may sometimes be the case
from want of uniformity in composition
a smoothing harrow should be applied,
which will spread the manure in per-
lection. Chemical manures may also
be added If necessary, but they are not
SO lasting in their effects.
The Importance of reducing the
heads of young trees when trans
planted, remarks the Country Gentle
man, by cutting back or thinning out
the younashec-> to correspond with
the partial loss of the roots, is well
understood. But it adds the caution
that the mistake is too frequently
made by performing this pruning after
the buds have begun to open or new
leaves to appear This always gives
them q severe check in growth from
which they do not soon recover. The
shortening back should always be per-
formed before any movement is made
| by the trees towards growing.