Connecticut western news., 1889-09-04
ABOUT THE FARM.

ABOUT THE FARM.
 Hints for Farmers and Busy
 Housewives to Appreciate.
 It may seem like Hibernicism that . good rake is the best hoe, if the rake has long, sharp teeth and is used be- fore the weeds get too large among cabbages, caulifowers and other plants that need frequent working. Try the rake early and often.
 Take an occasional "day off," If you have heard of some fine animal, excellent crop, some machine or farm implement, hunt it up and give it appreciative attention. Leave all your own matters at home. There is no more disagreeable visitor than he who does not discuss what you have to show him, but continually prates about what he himself has at home.
 have given up the idea that pure bred poultry is the most profitable on the farm for many reasons. Experi- fence teaches me that the best breed for the farm is one that is most prof. table under all circumstances. None of your fancy breeds, but happy me dium. In other words, for breed of your own ''get up," take the common fowls. You can breed them up to any desired quality you wish. While they will not be pure, they will be far more healthy, more profitable, and just handsome.
 The destructive black-rot of grapes is successfully treated by prepara- ton of lime and salts of copper, called the Bordeaux mixture. It is made as follows: Dissolve six pounds of sul- phate of copper (blue vitrioD in six teen gallons of water; and in another vessel slake six pounds of lime in six gallons of water. When the latter is cool pour it slowly into the solution, stirring constantly to keep we'll mixed. This is diluted at the rate of one gallon of the mixture to twenty gallons of water, and being applied by being forced through spray nozzle.
 If you save all the slops from the house, the wash-water, and studs of sundry occasions during the week, you will find that you will have supply of nutriment at hand to draw upon which is far richer than you had any idea. It will not make poor soil permanent ly rich, but it will afford sufficient nu- triment to nOurish such plants as you grow in it during the summer in very satisfactory manner. We planted some annuals on stiff clay that had been thrown out of cellar. Wewater them regularly with suds and slops, and they surpass in growth and flOri- ferousness those grown in the garden.
 The very worst weed in the lawn grass is itself grass-the 'scrab grass" often called Digitaria, but properly Panicum sanguinale. In some of the Southern States this grass is of value as supplying poor hay. It is hardly observed in the lawn unless one looks for it. It seldom starts before this month, when its prostrate stems lie close to the ground, roofing at each of its many joints and forming 8 dense mat. which chokes the lawn grass and robs it of all its moisture. It is an annual, and the only help is the mower, which will cut off the flower heads, and thus prevent seeding for another year.
 It is difficult to remove the smells imparted to the clothing by milking and the care of horses. But they may be lai gely prevented. Common land plaster sprinkled freely in horse and COW stables will absorb most of the am- mOniscal odors. A weak solution of copperas sprinkled from watering pot is an additional and very effective deodorizer. Of course all such means for maintaining purity are useless without perfect cleanliness and good ventilation. But with those and the simple appliances named, the air of the stable may be kept as free from offensive odors as that of parlor.
 The so-called s' green bug" which has infested the wheat fields is not an entirely new pest, but the grain plant louse of Europe, which was first noticed in this country in 1861.
 It is minute blueish-green or pale-brown aphis, no larger than the eye of house-tiy. In form it re- resembles the green fly or plant-louse so common on house-plants, and like them part are wingless, and others have large gauzy wings. Small as it is, the grain plant-louse does much mischief by sheer force of numbers,