Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-15

DuL, dS MS aim Is 10 DSneul Tue IAdi NCt TIC
feels justified in his position. Besides,
there is plenty of room for both fancy and
market poultry. We need the fancier, by
all means. We cannot produce crosses
without pure-breds. There are two great
points desired in the ree1ing of poultry
an increased production of eggs, and i'm
provement for the table. These are the
legitimate grounds which justify cross
breeding. In crosses we combine quality
with size, as, for example, Houdan on Co
chin or Brahma. or Cochin on Dorking.
This latter cross is after the English
fashion. They take a good two-year-
old Cochin cock and mate with six good
Dorkiug hens of a year Old The pullets
of the cross are next season mated with
game, and their produce is then marketed.
Thus they gain size from the Cochin, and
quality from the Dorking. By the game
cross very little in size is sacrificed, while
another irst-rate cross, in point Of quality,
is added. An Englishman, referring to
this cross, once said: "The flesh is white
as snow, and as savory as any aldermanic
gourmand could desire 1t must be un-
derstood, however, that nothing is gained
by mating the progeny. Cross-bred birds
should never be mated together. When
we make the cross we have the ideal Of
our experiment; beyond that there is
downward tendency. We do not believe
any great success can be obtained in mat
ing for increased egg production. That is,
no cross can be secured that will give
higher egg record than that which some OF
our noted strains now have. 1t Is prlncl-
pally for an improvement Of table quality
that We recommend inter-breeding-Amer-
lean Agrieuiturist.
POTATO FUNGUS.
The State Agricultural Experiment Sta
ton of Maine gives the following direc-
lions for guarding against the spread of
the fungus which causes the potato to rot,
and which lives over winter in the spores
contained in the stems, leaves and tubers:
l. Burn the tops and leaves in the fall
after the crop is gathered, to destroy the
spores contained in them. 2. Gather all
the small potatoes, for if allowed to decay
in the field the spores in them will start
the disease the following summer. 3.
Select seed for planting, if possible, from
fields or localities exempt from the disease
the previous season. 4. Rotate the potato
crop, as the winter spores terminate the
following spring, and finding no food,
plants must perish. 5. Burn all decayed
potatoes taken from the cellar or bins, and
other potato refuse; do not allow them on
the compost heap, as the spores retain
their vitality and are spread far and wide
with the manure. 6. The winter spores
do not terminate very early in the
spring. The planting of early varieties,
that mature before the parasite can get a
start, has been recommended. Z. II cut
seed is used the surface should be allowed
to dry, for when placed in the ground the
winter spores would find ready entrance
through the freshly cut surface.
THE FOOD OF CROWS.
The Agricultural Department at Wash
ington has been making careful inquiry as
10 the food of crows, and the result, as set
forth in the report by Walter B. Barrows,
is likely to surprise those who have always
contended that these birds do very much
more good than harm. 1t is not disputed
that they destroy injurious insects, that
they are enemies of mice and other TO-
dents, and that they are occasionally valu-
able as scavengers; but these services are
slight in comparison with the mischief
for which they are responsible. The in
jury done by them to Indian corn, wheat,
rye, oats and other cereals is enormous.
According to one observer, the crow eats
corn "from ten minutes after planting
until the blades are three inches high," "
and more than score of other observers
testify that he not only pulls up the young
plants, but digs up the newly-sown seed.
His depredations extend to potatoes,
sweet potatoes, beans, peanuts, cherries,
strawberries, raspberries and blackberries,
and he widely distributes certain poison
GUS plants, the seeds of which are i'm
proved, rather than impaired, by passage
through his digestive organs. As if all
this were not enough, it is shown that the
crow eats beneficial insects, and that he
makes himself a most FORMIDABLE nuisance
by destroying the eggs and young, both Of
domesticated fowls and wild birds.
SALT FOR MILKING cows.
An experiment made the past summer
with our COWS proved that when handful
of salt, or about two ounces of it, was
given every day, the yield of butter was
increased one-ffth and when salt was
withheld the yield fell off in the same
proportion. The reason beyond question,
is that as salt is required for full digestion
oe the food, more Of the food was changed
to milk. Keep rock-salt within reach Of
the cows.-American Agiculturist.
FARM NOTES.
We reckon that good deal of the ad.
vice to raise the standard Of the herd is
beginning at the wrong end There are
cases where the dairymen must be lifted
before anything can be accomplished.
The COW may work well, the churn may
work well, and the conditions may be per
| feet, but if there is not an active brain
behind the whole thing it will be like an
engine without any fire under the boiler.
Wood or coal ashes are among the best
materials that can be used to loosen up a
stiff hard soil, says the Liys Stock indicator
and should be adopted freely whenever
they can be secured, while wood ashes are
valuable fertilizer.
At the present price of feed stufs Pro
fessor Goessman reaches the conclusion
that it pays to grow and prepare corn
fodder, slower or corn ensIlage. This con
clusion is confirmed by the Ohio and Iowa
experiment stations
Instead of counting on more competition
from the West in the future, the East may
count on less. The West will become more
and more a consumer of its own products
while it will manufacture more and more
and buy less of the East.
A farmer in Texas gives his hogs one
good feed each year of corn boiled in the
| poke root, three parts of corn to one Of
the root. He considers the root pre-
ventiye of cholera. In twenty-five years
experience he has never lost a hog with
this disease.
Of tho sorar, u-eeds rh;ch the nrraed