Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-05-31
FARM NOTES

for providing dust ba hs for poultry.
All the rakings, sod grass and refuse of
the farm can be used as foundation for
comp post heap.
If you have a rough road ecross the
farm, where heavy loads are moved, make
it smooth before you use it again.
Geese will clear eff the purslaine from
a field. They are very fond of it, and
will eat it at any stage of growth.
Que stone six inches high in wheel
track causes more wear of team and car
riage than an additional half mile of
smooth road.
Cultivate the peach orchard il the same
manner as when cultivating corn. That
is, use the cultiyator ana stir the top soil
frequently.
Get your fruit trees in the ground be-
fore this month is gone. the later it is
deferred the greater the chances of in
jury by dry weather.
Do not try 20 cultivate onions deep; if
al inch of the surface is kept mellow,
and DO weeds allowed to grow, it is ell the
cultivation that will be needed.
The shorter the peach tree is cut back
when planted, the stronger and healthier
soil around young peach trees clean and
loose.
Wood ashes are excellent on the flower
beds. Roses need an application of them
now. All kinds of flowers will be bene-
fitted by superphosphate and ashes at
this season.
Start the hand c1ltivator in onions the
| first day you can see the rows, and use it
as often as necessary. 1t will take little
over three hours to pillow out a half acre
twice to the row.
Fathers are apt to give the boys the
poorest team and the poorest tools on the
place to work with; but it is bad policy
If the boys are to be encouraged to be-
come good farmers.
In all my experience of upward of 40
years in gro wing clover I cannot point
to one instances on my farm of a failure
of grain crop when the land was pre-
vlously well set IN cDover.-E. p. Root.
Young ducks drink water very often
when eating and should be pIentifuIly sup
piled with all they can drink but should
not be allowed on ponds until they are
well feathered.
As soon as a sufficiency of green food
can be provided, cut down the grain ration
! of the hens. By SO doing they will keep
in better health and lay larger number
of eggs. AS rule too much grain is fed
to poultry.
After each rain the ground should be
cultivated highly in order to prevent
evaporation of moisture. The loose dirt
serves as covering and shields the earth
from the direct effects of drying winds and
the heat of the sun.
Early cabbage should be set out. The
hoe shows good effects on cabbage, as the
plant delights in frequent cultivation.
For an early supply only rich land should
be used, and the ground made very fine
| before putting out the plants.
The white butterfly is the parent of the
cabbage worm. If a careful lookout is
given when they first appear aAd the but
TEXTILES destroyed, which Is not as difficult
as may be supposed, there will be saw
ing of labor aud less loss of plants.
Work the horses lightly at first. Stand
ing in the stalls during the winter has
rendered them soft, and less able to Der
form hard work without soreness of
the muscles. The collars and harness
must also fit, or the az mails will be gall d.
Sorg hum is ali excellent farage plant,
but it not equal to corn. The seed can
be protitably utilized for poultry. Broom
corn is profitable crop TO those who
understand how to prepare the brush for
market. The seed is also excellent for
all classes of stock.
Plant small patch of sweet corn,
beans, peas and potatoes very early. If
the frost kills some of them the loss will
be small, and if they escape you will have
a chance of rations a month earlier than
people who neglect the garden till all the
farm crops are in.
Weeds make excellent green manure if
turned under. A rank growth of weeds
indicates fertile land, but such land eau
be exhausted by removing weeds as well
as by removing regular crop. It will
pay, therefore, to turn the weeds under
and let them rot in the ground.
The liquid manure is more valuable
than the solids, and liberal use of ali
sorbent material will aid in arresting its
loss. 1t should be saved carefully, and
drain at the rear of the stalls should cor
duct it to some kind of receptacle from
which it may be pumped over the manure
hear.
If you have q track in the pasture
are dry weeds and grass enough 10 lead
the fire, burn It over when dry before
the new growth starts. This will kill
many of he bushes and give stock q
chance to get the green plants while they
are tender.
Every weed that sprouts is one seed less
TO come up. If the weed is cut down it is
destroyed. By constantly cutting them
down the most obstinate field of weeds
can be destroyed. 1t requires work and
time to do so, but there will be less work
to perform after the field is cleaned of
the weeds another season.
Old sod land may require frequent pull
verizipg before it can be effeci ually re
duced, as portions of the sod may not be
perfectly turned uEder, and the grass will
sprout. 1t will not decom pose in such
cases, and if necessary the land may
have to De cross ploughed. The pulver-
izer can do good work on ii, howevr, and
should be Csed after each lain until the
field is in q fine condition. Next spring
the fleets of the labor bestowed will be
shown on the corn grown on the land.
large grower of tomatoes has found
the following plan of raising plants al
that can be desired: He rolls strips of
resin paper into cylinders three inches Ia
diameter and six inches deep, locking the
ends by driving two tacks through the
paper AID clinchiDg them on piece of
iron pipe as al anvil 2r block. These
bottomless cups are arranged IN the frame
and filled with soil in which the seed is
planted. When the plants are ready to
set out they are large and well rooted and
are trsnsplsnted with the cylinder around
Ill .,
iect three inches above the ground and
make an obstacle over which cut-worms
will not climb, and so the danger is evsd-
ed, as we'll as all risk of checking the
growth by trauspianting- He has set OFT
plants already in blossom without any
check By means of this device.
Young colts will soon learn to eat oats
when in the stalls with their dame, and
an excellent way to make the young
lambs grow is TO keep ground oats where
they can eat whenever they so desire, but
the food should be so plsced that the
lambs csn get 20 il, while the old sheep
cannot reach it.
Why more men DO not make dRirying
pay, ia because they refuse to believe that
there is any study and iuvestig alton
needed in regard to the care, treatment
and management CT the dairy. If they