The national leader., 1889-04-06

CATTLE.-Cattle that are necessarily
fed upon coarse food in winter should
be amply provided with salt. A small
quantity of meal Of some kind, but
( most especially llnseed meal or cotton
seed meal, will be useful and safe.
guard against the prevalent diseases
of the season. Pasturing in swamp
meadows will produce and aggravate
the frequent foot ailments caused by
constant moisture and the presence
of mud or sand between the claws.
Cleanliness will prevent this evil.
| Sore feet should be treated promptly.
An excellent remedy for sore feet and
wounds In animals of all kinds Is an
ointment made in this way: melt to-
gether four ounces of lard, one ounce
Burgundy pitch and one ounce Venice
| turpentine; STIR in one ounce of spirits
| OF turpentine, two drains OF acetate OF
copper. Stir until cold and keep IN an
earthen Jar. Sore feet Of COWS, oxen
or sheep, should be washed and dried
| and then dressed with this ointment
daily. 1t is a good thing to have in
the stable. Keep up the feed of milk
ing cows. Shelter them at night. Cold
uses up cream. Give salt regularly
and a few ears of soft corn and
mangel or two twice day.
A GOOD WORD FOR WEEDS
Weeds are plenty IN the wrong place.
They all probably have their right
places and their use somewhere In
natures economy. though these are
sometimes hard to appreciate. The
most Of them may serve to keep some
desolate spot from being entirely bare,
and the decay Of their repeated gener-
| ations, furnish mould to the ground,
| and may in time make it ft to bear
something better. They all too, have
elements of beauty, and these will re-
veal themselves to every one who dill
| gently searches for them. Even the
most forbidding are revealed under
microscopic inspection as objects of
rare beauty. Many of them, If they
we're not weeds. would be prised as rare
| flowers, and some Of them have been
such.
LINSEED TEA FOR SICK HORSES
Linseed tea Is not only valuable re-
storatlve for sick horses, but is exceed
| ingly useful in cases OF Inflammation OF
the membranes peculiar to the organs
of respiration and digestion; it shields
and lubricates the same; tranquilizes
the irritable state Of the parts, and
favors healthy action. We have pre-
scribed linseed tea in large quantities
during the past month, for horses
1oh hn 1fyn inf 1yIn
they seemed to derive much good from
it, and generally drank with avldity.
THE hen house should have tight
roof and walls. If the shingles are old
and admit the wet, then surely trouble
will ensue. Damp floors will be sure to
bring colds, and tn ese neglected soon
develop into roup. the most difficult
disease to control known to the poultry
yard. Stop the leaks. patch the roof,
seal up the cracks, and so keep the
hens healthy. for surely they will not
produce eggs If diseased.
ONE OF the worst and most hopeless
features Of the present improbable
dairying is the fact that so few of our
dairymen know just what they are
doing and whether all of their cows or
any of them pay cost. So many farmers
fail to keep accurate accounts Of their
operations that 1t often takes them
years to ascertain positively whether
they are gaining or losing by their oper-
ations and by what ones they gain and
what they lose.
To DESTROY THE CANADA THISTLE.
Henry Ward Beecher, the famous
preacher and fancy farmer, claimed to
have solved the problem OF getting rid
of the Canada thistle. He said: The
only way to exterminate the weed is to
plant it for crop and propose to make
money out of it. The worms will gnaw
it, bugs will bite it, beetles will bore it,
spiders will web it, birds will peck it,
heat will scOrch 1t, cold will freeze 1t,
rains will drown it, and mildew and
blight will cover 1t.
AN excellent mixture of hay for all
classes of stock Is One-third clover-hay
with timothy and redtop, which is
much better than either one alone, as
| the mixture Is more complete in food
elements. 1t should be fed with an al
| lowance OF ground grain also.
The best soil for rhubarb is rich,
deep, sandy loan, and the best fertil-
| iZer well-rOtted manure. The ground
should be deeply plowed, subsoiled and
thoroughly cultivated. The plants
should stand about four feet apart each
way. Good garden cultivation is neces-
sary but no plants should be taken the
first season. An early crop and a good
market make rhubarb very profitable
crop.
IN selecting young peach trees for
spring transplantlng examine them
carefully, as the borer is often found in
them. A healthy young tree should
have very smooth bark, plenty of roots,