Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-08-15
FARM NOTES.

There should be no tobacco smoke
in the neighborhood of the milk room.
Good pure water should be furnished
to stock all the season of the year.
Horses fed on early cut hay will
keep in good condition on hess grain
than if fed on late cut hay.
The water-trough needs thorough
scrubbing and scalding occasionally.
or it will soon be coated with slime.
1t is claimed that quack grass, which
is very persistent can be eradicated by
cultivating crop of sorghum on the
land.
Shade-trees beautify the premises,
but those around the house should be
trimmed so there may be pure cir
| culation of air.
Too much grain is more detrimental
| to breeding stock than not enough.
The food should be bulky, with a small
allowance of grain.
Very cold water or slops will chill
the pigs if the weather is cold, hence a
| kettle of boiling water poured into the
| slop will be of advantage.
No animal is so handy as to require
no attention. The more an animal is
| exposed the less it will produce, either
of pork, wool, mutton, beef or milk.
Pigs will eat clover hay if it is cut
up. and it is excellent for them. The
best mode of feeding it is to scald it
and then sprinkle with bran and corn
meal.
Animals are. subject to habit. A
cow that is fed at certain hour will
always come up from the pasture to
be milked without the necessity of
sending for her.
Hen manure, mixed with twice its
weight of dry earth and stood in a dry
place until spring, gives one of the
very best fertilizers for onions that
can be secured.
The large breed of horses are not as
serviceable on soft lands or for driv-
ing as cross of such breeds on our
native mares, which will produce q
horse we'll adapted for all kinds of
work.
After good growth is secured, the
walnut makes one of the very best
shade trees we have, especially so dur
ing the latter part of the summer, as
but few insects seem to loiter around
them.
Mushrooms are always salable and
can be grown in any dark room or eel
lar that is kept at a temperature offrom
SO to 60 degrees. The mushroom
spawn can be procured at all seed
stores.
Evergreen boughs make an excel
lent covering for young rosebushes.
Cornstalks can be utilized in no manner
as well as for covering plants that are
to be exposed to the weather during
the winter.
A heavy application of poultry ma
nure on places infested with Canada
thistles is said to be effective, as the
manure is too strong for the young
plants. Such is the experience of q
Wisconsin farmer.
With proper provision of warmth
and shelter, and good store of en-
silage and hay, winter dairying can
frequently be made more profitable
than summer; labor is then cheaper
and butter higher.
It is good cow that will give three
thousand quarts of milk in a year.
Yet by breeding from choice sires,
even on ordinary dams, that quantity
can easily be obtained from every cow
in a herd in few years.
Experiments at the Ohio experiment
station show that whole potatoes pro-
duce better yields than cut seed,
the rate of yield decreasing with the
size of the pieces. There is, however,
large per cent of small potatoes.
The rule given by The Anaerrcan
StOc6naGas and substantiated by good
dairy authorities is one ounce of salt
to pound of butter, and yet after all
1t is mostly a matter of taste, and the
consumer should make the test for
each dairy.
The great objection to Usage orange
as hedge is that it sends its roots so
near the surface for such a distance.
An old hedge will take up the greater
portion of the fertility and moisture
for distance of at least fifteen feet
on either side.
Do not suppose the COW is drying off
because the milk flow lessened at this
season, as the cause may be change
from green to dry food. Feed liberal
ly and give cooked roots for a while,
and she will soon come back to her
usual quantity.
Winter lettuce can be grown in hot
beds, or even in cold frames, if the
frames are kept above the freezing
point. Hotbeds can easily be kept
warm by the use of a liberal quantity
covering with earth.
Though hardy plants may not re-
quire any winter protection in this
climate, yet the application of leaves.
straw, or any kind of covering that
may be used as mulch viii make the
plants come out stronger and more
vigorous next spring.
A good plan of managing a grape
vine that has not yielded profitable
crops is to cut it off close to the
ground, and allow new shoots to
spring up, and try liberal manuring
and thorough cultivation, securing ao
strong, vigorous growth.
Economy is certainly wealth in the
feeding of farm horses, and yet it does
not necessarily mean stinting or cut
ting off of rations. Give this matter a
investigation, and see if
there is not more in it than a superfic-
ial glance would indicate.
Dry dirt is better than sand on the
floor of stables, as it is an absorbent,
and the finer the dirt the better.