The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-01-17
Farm and Garden Notes.

Take time to read and study about
your work and you will accomplish more.
One advantage in keeping careful farm
accounts IS that they enable you to de-
termine what products of the farm are
profitable and which are not.
A crop of colts, a crop of early lambs,
plenty of the best butter from each cow
and lots of pigs to sell, is good founda-
tion for successful farming.
Charcoal should be fed to hogs and
poultry. Experiment has demonstrated
that the same feed will produce a far
greater amount of flesh and fat when fed
with plenty of charcoal.
Two parts dry earth, one part plaster
and one of poultry manure is an excel.
lent mixture for retaining the fertilizing
qualities of the poultry manure. The
mixture should be kept dry.
Sometimes by adding salt to the foot
the hens VII be benefited, and even
tincture of iron in the drinking water
promotes the appetite. A laying hen
should have good appetite, but must
not be overfed.
There are farmers in almost every
community who do not seem to realize
that this is the age of progress, and that
if they are to hold their places or 60
forward, they must be alive, and keenly
alive, to the times in which they live.
Want of forethought among many
farmers, is the main reason for their fail
ure to acquire competency. They buy
more land than they can use, oftentimes
with borrowed capital, and can lily
afford to pay interest and taxes on that
which brings no income.
A swamp that contains muck may be
perfectly cleaned, plowed and used
for celery bed. 1t may require two or
three years to get it in proper condition
for the purpose, but once it has been
cultivated it will be one of the best loca.
tions for celery that can be had.
Do not prune peach trees until spring
Then cut off one half of the wood. The
fruit is borne on the last years wood,
but by cutting away the excessive
growth of new wood the trees become
stocky. AID are not SO liable to being
,topheavy and.shaken by the winds.
In winter, especially, it is desirable
to have plenty OF chaff Chartered in the
houses for the fowls to scratch about and
pick over, for otherwise they would have
nothing to do but eat their meals at
regular intervals, and would spend the
intervening time in moping around or
slecpily sitting on their roosting benches.
Deep cold setting of milk is far ahead
of the old-fashloned shallow-pan system,
both for reasons of economy Of labor, and
because more uniformly better butter
can be made by the process. The cream
separates more promptly and more thor
oughly, the milk can be preserved sweet,
and the work of handling is reduced to
a minimum.
A man who has sliced clover two years
says if it is left to wilt on the ground
for about two hours after cutting, and
each days filling of the silo is allowed
to heat before the fresh clover il added,
and the sides, not the center, are thor
oughly tramped, the clover will come
out moist and green, and the cattle will
relish it as well as summer pasture.
During the early part of the winter is
good time to apply manure on the
garden. If the ground is we'll plowed
and good dressing of manure, applying
early taking pains to scatter evenly,
having it reasonably we'll fined. This
will afford good opportunity for the
more soluable portions to leach into the
soil and be available for the use of the
plants.
Different plants have ashes of differ
emit composition. Thus, one may take
from the soil large quantities of potash,
another of phosphoric acid. and another
of lime BY understanding these differ
ences we shall be able SO to regulate our
rotations that the soil will not be called
on to supply more of one ingredient than
of another, and thus it may be kept in
balance.
Cows should have an abundance of
suitable foot and water, and salt kept
where they can have access to it every
day. They should be kept from all foul
odors, aud not be allowed to eat or drink
anything that will faint the milk. Milk
4 ing should be done at regular hours, with
clean hands and clean udders and clean
stables, and the milk kept from con-
Eliminating odors. Milk should be
strained Immediately after drawing, and
aerated to eliminate any Objectionable
odors.