Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-06-06
FARM NOTES.

EAhm MI
Trim up the shade trees and have them
in good shape and attractive.
All the rakings, sod grass and refuse OF
the farm can be used as foundation fol-
compost heap.
Geese will clear off the purslaine from
a field. They are very fond of it, and
will eat it at any stage of growth.
One stone six inches high in wheel
track causes more wear of team and car
rage than an additional half mile of
smooth road.
Cultivate the peach orchard in the same
manner as when cultivating corn. That
is, use the cultivator and stir the top soil
frequently.
Get your fruit trees in the ground be-
fore this month is gone. The later it is
deferred the greater the chances of in
jury by dry weather.
Do not try 80 cultivate onions deep; if
aa inch of the surface is kept mellow,
and DO weeds allowed to grow, it is all the
cultivation that will be needed.
The shorter the peach tree is out back
when planted the stronger and healthier
it will be after it gets start. Keep the
soil around young peach trees clean and
loose.
Start the hand cultivator in onions the
first day you can see the rows, and use it
as often as necessary. It will take little
over three hours to pillow out a half acre
twice to the row.
Fathers are apt to give the boys the
poorest team and the poorest tools on the
place to work with; but it is bad policy
if the boys are to be encouraged to be-
come good farmers.
In all my experience of upward of 40
years in gro wing clover l cannot point
to one instance on my farm of a failure
of a grain crop when the land was pre-
viously well set In cJover.-E. p. Root.
Young ducks drink water very often
when eating and should be plentifully sup
piled with all they can drink but should
not be allowed on ponds until they are
we'll feathered.
AS soon az sufficiency of green food
can be provided, cut down the grain ration
of the hens. By SO doing they will keep
in better health and lay larger number
of eggs. As rule too much grain is fed
to poultry.
After each rain the ground should be
cultivated highly in order to prevent
evaporation of moisture. The loose dirt
serves as covering and shields the earth
from the direct effects of drying winds and
the heat of the sun.
Early cabbage should be set out. The
hoe shows good effects on cabbage, as the
plant delights in frequent cultivation.
For an early supply only rich land should
be used, and the ground made very fine
before putting out the plants.
If you have rough road across the
farm, where heavy loads are moved, make
it smooth before you use it again.
Sorghum is an excellent farage plant,
but it is not equal to corn. The seed can
be pcofitably utilized for poultry. Broom
corn is a profitable crop to those Who
understand how to prepare the brush for
market. The seed is also excellent for
all Glasses of stock.
Plant small patch of sweet corn,
beans, peas and potatoes very early. If
the frost kills some of them the loss will
be small, and if they escape you will have
q chance of rations month earlier ethan
people who neglect the garden till all the
farm crops are in.
Weeds make excellent green manure if
turned under. A rank growth of weeds
indicates fertile land, but such land can
be exhausted by removing weeds as we'll
as by removing regular crop. It will
pay, therefore, to turn the weeds under
and let them rot in the ground.
The liquid manure is more valuable
than the solids, and a liberal use of alb
sorbent material will aid in arresting its
loss. It should be saved carefully, and
drain at the rear of the stalls should CON
duct it to some kind of acceptable from
which it may be pumped over the manure
hear.
If you have track in the pasture
where there are small bushes, and there
are dry weeds and grass enough to lead
the FIRE, burn it over when dry before
the new growth starts. This will kill
many of the bushes and give stock
chance to get the green plants while they
are tender.
Every weed that sprouts is one seed less
to come up. If the weed is cut down it Is
destroyed. By constantly cutting them
down the most obstinate field of weeds
can be destroyed. It requires work and
time to do so, but there will be less work
to perform after the field is cleaned of
the weeds another season.
A large grower of tomatoes has found
the following plan of raising plants all
that can be desired: He rolls strips of
resin paper into cylinders three inches ia
diameter and six inches deep, locking the
ends by driving two tacks through the
paper and clinching them on a piece OF
iron pipe as an anvil Dr. block. These
bottomless cups are arranged in the frame
and filled with soil in which the seed is
planted. When the plants are ready to
set out they are large and well rooted and
are transplanted with the cylinder around
them. This is slipped up so as to pro
jeot three inches above the ground and
make an obstacle over which cut worms
will not climb, and go the danger is evad
ed, as we'll as all risk of checking the
growth by ransplanting. He has set oct
plants already in blossom without any
check by means of this device.
Young colts will soon learn to eat oats
when in the stalls with their dame, and
an excellent way to make the young
lambs grow is to keep ground oats where
they can eat whenever they SO desire, but
the food should be so placed that the
lambs can get to it, while the old sheep
cannot reach it.
Why more men do not make dairsing