The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-09-18
The Household Department.

cause injury to the feet Nothing is as good as
an earth floor for all animals that have tender
feet.
Turnip tops chopped and mixed with straw,
have been used IN the silos in Scotland, and
good results are claimed therefrom.
If you plant the pits of peaches with the
view of growing trees you may fail to secure
peaches worth growing; but chance tree from
the number may be superior to any not known.
No plum is free from the attacks of the cur
culio, but plums can be grown successfully II
well cultivated and the trees kept vigorous. In
the spring few weeks work will greatly avoid
injury from the curculo.
All weeds that have been moved down
should be consumed by fire, and not lett to de-
cay, as il frequently done. Burning them de-
stroys many seeds and lessons the number of
harboring places for insects
A large flock of hens do not thrive as well as
smaller flock, owing to crowding and compe-
tltion. The scraps from the table amount to
but little when given TO large lOcks, but for a
few hens they are of advantage and greatly re-
duce the cost.
Ground bone is fertilizer that benefits nearly
all crops, can be applied at all seasons of the
year, will not iniure any tree or plant, is per-
manent and lasting in its effects and is the
cheapest form Of fertilizer in proportion to the
benefit it imparts that can be used.
Some one has calculated that a honey-bee
blossoms before one grain of sugar can be OBJ
tanned. As honey contains three-fourths its
weight of dry sugar each pound of honey rep
resents 100000 insertions of the bees.
AS the grass decreases give hay to the cows
thus gradually making the change from green
food to dry food. Ii the change is made sud-
denly the cows will fall of in milk. As an as
sistance to the green food (which will soon be-
come scarce) give sliced turnips. beets or car
rots.
The crescent strawberry produces a large
number OF runners, and it is one OF the best
for planting il the matted row system is pre-
ferred. On light soils the Sharpless noes not
thrive well. The Wilson will grow and bear in
all sections, and is still the best shipping berry
grown.
If barbed wire is used to confine hogs it need
not be very high. The bottom wire should be
about four inches from the ground and the
next wire ten inches above it. If sheep are in
closed the strands should be six inches apart
for three feet from the ground, as it requires
close wire fence to confne sheep.
About and half pounds of corn will
suffice as a grain ration for one sheep If the an
imal is given all the hay or grass it desires.
The breeding ewes, however, should be allowed
oats in preference to corn. TO fatten a wether
give mess of cooked turnips and corn meal,
with the other food. and it will gain rapidly.
Although the question has been discussed
since the time Sir Humphrey Davy made his
experiments in that direction, yet scientists are
divided the question of the appropriation
by plants of free nitrogen from the atmosphere.
When some process is discovered by which the
nitrogen of the air can be utlil led as fertilizer
which is not improbable-the cost of produc-
ton will be very low and all heterogeneous plants
made to produce enormous crops.
Cut straw as bedding for sheep keeps the dirt
out of the wool, and affords a dry place for the
sheep at night. The shed in which sheep re-
main at night should be frequently cleaned in
order to avoid accumulations of drOppinRs.
As the fall rains approach and the weather re-
mains damp, sheep easily take cold, which is
accompanied with discharges at the nostrils.
Dry shelter and bedding will greatly assist in
warding of this difficulty.
The bottoms of all manure pits, if large guam
titles of manure are to be accumulated, should
be well covered with cut straw, leaves, earth or
any other absorbent material The heap should
be made on stiff clay land, if possible, so as to
avoid teaching of the liquids into the subsoil.
The thicker the bottom is covered with absorb
ent materials the better, especially if the ground
is porous. The amount of valuable fertilizing
material carried down into the ground and lost
is enormous, and much of it can be saved with
care.