Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-08
Farm Ind ORCHARD.
SOME POINTS In THE TREATMENT
OF STOCK.
Fall Pruning OF Small Fruit-Gophers
Like It-Collect The Leaves
Pear Tree Blight.

Waldo F. Brown, of Butler county, Ohio,
sends an interesting communication on the
care of stock to the Country Gentleman.
He says: 1t seems to me that there is no
one department of the farm where there is
so much loss easily avoidable as in the
treatment of the stock. The first blunder
is in the breeding, no particular type or
plan being adhered to, but the farmer
breeds to the animal that is handiest, or
will cost the least. This is so common
9 that every neighborhood will furnish ex-
amples of it, and when the services of a
thoroughbred bull-short-horn Holstein
or some other good breed-has been offered
the farmer for So or So, he has deliberately
chosen scrub at so cents, or mongrel
stallion at So or $40 rather than thor
oughbred at SIS to 500. By using thor
oughbred sires we get alta very small cost
the advantage of generations of good breed
ing, and which cost time and money that
would be entirely out of the reach of farm
ers of ordinary means.
A second mistake very common among
farmers is neglect of young animals, and
this is a mistake which can never be
wholly remedied. The words, EVERY
young thing needs nursing" ought to be
framed and hung up where they would
meet the eye of the farmer every day.
This rule applies to all life, whether ami
NAL or vegetable The man who has the
best success with field or garden crops is
the one who prepares the best seed bed,
and gives the earliest and most constant
cultivation; and the man who has the best
developed and thriftiest animals is the one
who feeds with the most care and wisdom
during the period of bone and muscle
forming. While / would not neglect to
feed and shelter animals of any age, SO
that they would lose flesh, if any must be
thus treated, it would do far less harm to
underfeed grown animals than growing
ones.
There are several points to be observed
in the feeding of young animals if we
would lay such foundation as will enable
us to build proftably in the future. The
food must be suited to the purpose for
which it is intended. The object we
should have before us in growing a colt,
pig, or calf, is to give a good frame, with
well-developed bone and muscle, and this
requires sufficiency Of wholesome food
and a well-balanced ration-not too much
heating, fat-producing food like corn, nor
a poor, Unbalanced food like straw; but
bran, oats, hay from early-cut grass or
clover, and bright corn fodder, with roots
In winter and an unlimited supply of grass
in summer. We have two kinds of food
which give US a perfect ration for the
growing animal-milk and young grass
and with an abundance of these we can
get perfect development of the frame.
pose place bran, then oats and oil meal,
and by judicious use of these we can
supplement deficiencies in our rough food,
if the hay and fodder are of poor quail
ity, as sometimes will be the case.
There are two points settled beyond
question in the case of young animals,
which Justify extra care, and, if need be,
extra expense in feeding them. First, the
fact that it always costs less to add pound
to a young, growing animal than to ma
ture one; and second, that with a proper
foundation laid or development of the
young animal, there will be greater profit
on all the animal eats after than if there
had been an imperfect development. 1t is
a rule which has no exceptions, believe,
that if we feed wisely the first 100 pounds
weight on a pig or 500 on calf or colt
cost considerably less than the second, and
the second less than the third. This
being true the wise farmer will feed for
early maturity. The reason for this is
plain, for in the second period of feeding
we must supply the waste of what flesh
has already been made, as well as give food
to make the new.
Perhaps my second statement-that an
animal never entirely RECEIVERS from being
stunted-will not be so readily accepted,
bat large experience in handling cattle
led me carefully to avoid such as had been
on starvation diet, and also carefully to
observe the effect of neglect sufficient to
stop growth both on animals and plants,
and the result was to confirm me in this
opinion. We can do much to keep ami
mails thrifty in addition to furnishing
enough food. Regularity in time of feed
ing, care to give regular quantity, and to
furnish water and salt, warmth and shelter
in winter, a comfortable bed-all these are
important factors in the economy of stock
growing. and with all these points OBJ
served there can be better development
Of the animal with much less food than is
necessary where these points are over
looked. There can be no true economy in
feeding without attention to these details
and there certainly can be no economy in
allowing young animals to fall off in flesh.
1t might seem unnecessary to make such
statement, but any one who travels in the
winter and notes the methods of feeding
and the condition of stock will soon see
that the time has not yet come when we
can stop preaching this sound agricultural
doctrine. have not only preached, but
for many years practiced comfort, shelter,
full feeding and well-balanced rations, and
can testify that they pay.
FALL PRUNING OF SMALL FRUITS.
The best form for growing currants and
gooseberries is what is termed the "bush"
or stool form. Young plants are set out,
and as growth advances year after year,
shoots proceed from the base, often in the
form of suckers. The common red and
white currants produce their fruit from
the older wood, and usually from little
spurs. Therefore, in addition to remov-
ing any dead or decaying wood, what is
wanted in pruning is to thin out the
branches so that all may have light and
air enough. After a branch has borne a
crop two or three years, it is often best to
cut it clean away, and allow other young
branches to fill its place. Also trim out
clear from the bottom any long, sappy
young shoots. All side shoots may be
shortened to form spurs, and the leading
shoots cut back one-half. The black cur
rent produces its fruit on young wood, and
only requires thinning out.
Gooseberries are also produced from
short spurs, as well as from the young
wood that is vigorous enough. Some train
gooseberries on single stems, but they re-
quire rather more attention than in the
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