Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-26
FARM NOTES.

the act.
The most BETTING use for a hard
milking or kicking COW is to fatten and
sell her to the town butcher.
Ground oats and bran are relished
by all young stock, and there is no
better food for developing bone and
muscle.
Alfalfa hay is used extensively for
horse food in California. The only
trouble is it is too laxative if fed in
large quantities.
The largest horse farm in the world
is near Cheyenne; Wy. Z. The horses
number over 5000 and the farm con-
tains 120, 900 acres.
The pig and cow make a good COM
bination, and together they have pulled
many a farmer out of the slough OF
debt and dependency.
The United States last year imported
poultry and eggs to the value of 81
600, 000-every dollar of which should
have been kept at home.
Cows that are compelled to drink
foul water can not give pure and
sweet milk. The flow will partake OF
the nature of the fountain.
s'There is a great loss every winter
from feeding stock exposed to the cold,
instead of in a thoroughly warm sta
ble,n says Waldo f. Brown.
Poultry manure is rich in ammonia,
which %evaporates by exposure to air.
It should be stored i'll covered boxes
or barrels until needed for use.
1t will be observed that first-class,
gilt-edge butter, put up for patrons in
cities and towns, brings really good
prices. 1t pays to make and sell the
best of anything.
Salt, used as a fertilizer, acts like
lime and the p~hosphates, rendering
available the inert plant food of the
soil. OF itself it possesses but little
fertilizing value.
A mixture of equal parts of bran,
corn-meal, and ground oats, scalded
and allowed to remain until it is cool,
is said to be the best grain food that
car be fed to poultry.
1t is said that the consumption Of beef
and pork in this country is declining,
and poultry products, fruits, and vege-
tables are supplying their place. Well,
that is not Il bad change for the public
health.
There are 20, 900, 900 acres of arid
lands in Montana, which may be re-
claimed by a system of irrigation. At
present LOCO, 900 acres is the total of
land in the territory under cultivation
or improved.
1t is asserted chat there is more di-
gestible substance in the stalks and
leaves ofcorn than in the ears. Whether
this is true or not, there is certainly
great value in corn fodder, if it is cut
at the proper time.
According to professor Long, a ton
of butter takes from the soil nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, and potash to the
value of about 90 cents. No other
product takes SO small an amount of
fertilizing material off the farm.
A farm is always worth more than it
will sell for. The farmer can o live
on the proceeds of the sale without
spending his principal, and risking the
chances of poverty or dependence,
should he live longer than his proba-
bic term.
Chemists tell US that the grape, when
fully ripened, is a perfect food, con-
tanning all the elements necessary to
sustain life and growth. They are
certainly refreshing and wholesome,
and every farmer should plant vines
OF the varieties that do well in his sec
ton.
All soils should be thoroughly under
drained, either naturally or artificially.
Much of the prairie soil of the Missis-
sippi Valley overlies Il porous subsoil,
affording good natural undertakings.
But in every farm there are places that
need thing; and, in fact, there are but
few fields but that would be improved
by artificial drainage,
1t is encouraging to note that people
are waking up to the fact that u civ
~ilization demands fast-walking as well
as fast-trotting horses. A good many
fair associations that never thought of
doing so before are offering premiums
this season for fast-walking horses.
There is utility in fast walking. All
horses need not trot, but all must
walk.
They get at the real value of a COW
in Sussex county, New Jersey, by sell
ing her at so much a quart. The
scheme is pronounced by dairymen as
the most equitable yet proposed in the
sale of mich cows. The purchaser gets
$3.50 per quart. Thus, if she gives
twenty quarts daily she is worth $50.
The purchaser keeps the COW Oh trial
for a week.
Secretary Rusk says: THE number
of cattle shipped to Europe has rapidly
increased, and the trade is probably
more promising than ever before. This
relieves our markets, gives new vigoI
to the cattle industry, aud proportion
ally increases the. business of the trans
portation companies" This will be a
very gratifying item of news to the cat
tie growers of the West.
Following is a reliable formula for
a tobacco sheep-dip: Tobacco, sixteen
pounds; oil of tar, three Pints; soda
ash, twenty pounds; soft soap, four
pounds; water. fifty gallons. Boil the
tobacco and add the other ingredients
in a few gallons of boiling water; then
add water to make up the fifty gallons,
retaining a temperature of about sew
enty degrees. This will suffice for fifty
sheep.
A series of experiments have con-
WINGED Professor Robertson that when
cows are denied salt for a period of
one week they will yield from IA 1-2
to IL 1-2 per cent less milk, and that
of an inferior quality. Such milk will
on the average turn sour in twenty
four hours less time than milk drawn