The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-02-04
Farm and Garden.

Wood and coal are cheaper than grain
TO keep animals warm and many. farmers
consequently warm the feed and drinking
water for the stock.
Ducks should now be laying, and the
eggs command high price. Laying ducks
should be given liberal allowance OF
animal food at this season.
Geese and ducks are very partial to
cooked turnips, which may be fed with
ground grain Such food is better for
them than too much grain.
II butter pays better than beef the steer
should not take the place of the COW. but
il the cow is not up to the full standard OF
production the steer viii pay better.
Cut away the old wood OF blackberries
while the ground is frozen. Do not delay
such work until spring. Carefully burn
all cuttings, in order to guard against dis
ease.
An animal will perish il fed exclusively
on one kind of food, no matter how con-
centrated or nutritious it may be, as there
is no perfect food for classes OF stock eX-
cept by affording a mixed ration.
Smutty corn is said To be very injurious
TO stock, horses frequently dying from the
effects of the smut eaten with the corn.
All grain containing ergot gives I'LL effects
also. Grain for stock should be clean and
free from all signs of disease.
Nothing is lost that is added to the soil
if a farm is properly managed. The
coarsest manure will become plant food
after lapse of certain period of time,
but il is best to endeavor to have al
manure in the finest possible condition.
Corn that has been ground SO as TO
mature early, and the seeds selected for
next year before the crop was harvested,
as well as kept dry during the winter,
will give better results next season as
seed for planting than to use seed from
the crib.
Butter and sugar take nothing of value
from the soil. They are carbonaceous
materials and come from the air, the
plants Caking the carbon from the free
carbonic acid of the atmosphere, which is
converted into many materials grown or
used on the farm.
Throw the sweepings of the hay loft
and the chat from the wheat in the poul-
try house, so as to induce the hens to
scratch and work in the litter. When
given an opportunity TO exercise, by
scratching, the hens will lay more eggs
than when kept in state of inactivity.
South Carolina has had more poultry
shows and larger exhibits OF fowls this
winter than any other state in the union.
Yet, only three years ago she was far be-
hind the average place IN the poultry in
dustry. Georgia and Louisiana are close
to her, with New York and New England
following
Texas stock raisers recommends
roasted cotton-seed as great improve
ment on cotton-seed as now fed to stock.
Thought the yield of milk is not increased,
the flavor of the butter produced there
from is much better and the color more
uniform. He recommends il very highly
to those in feeding cotton-seed in any
form.
The air NAV be made to enrich the soil,
and add nitrogen thereto, by growing
clover and plowing under green manurial
crops. Land that has been left in sallow
has been known to increase in fertility by
the heterogeneous matter carried down to
the soil by the rains, which derive am
monia and nitric acid from the atmos-
phere.
A cellar should be dry at all seasons. II
the chimney starts from the cellar aoor
fireplace should be made in the cellar, so
as to keep a wood fire burning OCCASION
ally, which serves not only to dry the eel
lar but also to ventilate it thoroughly. At
the same time a cellar should not be
warmer than 30 degrees above zero nor
colder than 10 degrees.
Overlooking is detrimental to complete
digestion and is a waste of food. While
heavy feeding is the universal recon-
mendation ii a large WELD is to be secured,
yet it would be well to pause and consider
the fact that the powers of an animal NAV
be overtaxed and its digestion impaired.
Regularity Of feeding and the allowance of
a suificiency should be observed, but moth
ing can be gained by going beyond the