The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-11-20
Editorial NOtings.

EullOTiHl NOtluBSs
THE RoLFE APPLE.-If any of our
readers are finding a profit in growing
the Gravenstein-and it is very profit
able apple when well grown--we adj
wise them to try the Rolfe, Maine
apple, highly recommended by the
Pathological Society of that state as
being much like the Gravenstein, but a
month later. L is a seeding of the
Blue Pearmain, and keeps up to and
beyond the holidays.
FooD RATIoNs. -Remember, in max
ing up balanced ration for your stock,
that cows or horses in winter require
less of the heterogeneous element, espe-
cially when not giving milk or at work.
The heat-makers-the carbonaceous
elements of the ration-need to be
considerably increased during the cold
weather. AT hard work the food needs
to be more heterogeneous, and more of it,
to supply the waste of tissue. If stand
ing still at Il low temperature more of
the carbonaceous elements are needed
to keep up the heat of the animal sys-
tenn
KEEP ON LEARNING.-A farmer
told the editor of Hoard'S Ddirymdn
that in three years he had imbibed,
from that excellent journal, knowledge
sufficient so that his two-year-old heifers
were as good as his best cows were
four years ago, and his old cows-those
that he had retained-were doing fully
fifty per cent better than ever before.
Another subscriber says that he is en-
abled to make his thirty-cent butter for
very much less than it costs the or
binary farmer to make his siXteen-cent
butter. He makes good profit, even
on the reduction in cost. There is
enough in this to talk about for year.
MANURE THE ORCHARD. - Next
year will be generally the bearing year
in New England orchards, and the
probability is that the trees will be
loaded with heavy crop which, if
small in size and otherwise inferior,
will fail of "a profitable market. AS
Mr.. Gilbert of the Maine Farmer-a
skillful orchardist as well as dairyman-
says: Now is the time to manure the
apple-trees to promote the fruitage of
another year. The fruit buds are
already formed, and what is further
wanted is that they be forced into a Wig
orous growth early the coming spring.
Manure spread upon the surface, or,
better, worked into the soil, will be
leached by the rains and melting snow,
and the ingredients in solution will be
carried into the soil, and in contact
with the rootets, where the effect will
be promptly felt by the tree. Barn
manure is good enough for this, and in
its absence, ashes or fine ground bone
are good. If fruit be expected, the
tree must have plenty of material to
feed upon. -
BUTTER IN BRINE.-While the ten
dency now is to market butter right
from the churn-unless necessary to
hold it on account of drop in prices
vet we note considerable reference
made to keeping it in brine, either in
the granular state or in rolls. There
can be no doubt that this is the best
way to keep butter, when it must be
held for considerable time, as in pure,
cool brine it is protected from every
cause of deterioration and may be
preserved indefinitely. There is moth
ing new in this; it is an old method,
but not less a good one. The air is
full of germs of change and decay, and
every perishable food product exposed
to the air must at once begin to dete-
riorate. If a dairy woman makes her
butter into balls or prints she should
have a tub of sweet saturated brine at
hand-brine containing all the salt that
the water will dissolve after it has been
well boiled-and put her butter into
this, weighing it enough to keep it from
floating. The brine will exclude the
air, and the butter will keep nice and
fresh almost any length of time, if the
tub is set in cool, clean, sweet place.
This is good way to keep butter for
family use.
PLOT EXPERIMENTS exchange
says that " every farm should be made
an experiment station to the extent of
applying all kinds of fertilizers to small
patches of all kinds of crops and on
every field. If needed anywhere, the
effect will at once be observable and
serve as a guide to what materials to
apply. This is more economical and
sensible than to apply large amounts
of fertilizers on a guess Much has