The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1891-08-04


in England, is known as the Tom
Thumb. The Florists Exchange says
of them that the plants are of very
dwarf habit, and are from nine to
twelve inches in height, compact and
bushy, and produce their single flow
ers freely. Twelve distinct colors
have already been "fixed,"
New York and the suburban cities
which are virtually a part of it con-
sumo each day, on an average, 5000
sheep, 5000 hogs, 1000 beeves, 10000
fowls, 100000 eggs, 10000 barrels of
flour, $4,000 pounds of cheese, 100000
pounds of butter, besides the hundreds
of other odds and ends that go to make
up the usual bill of fare.
Though the floods that have oc-
CURED in some of the Western States
have destroyed much property, the
storms accompanying them have rem
dered it improbable that drought will
injure the grain crops this year, and
therefore to the majority of the farm
ers in those parts of the country the
outcome will be beneficial.
Although this country is considered
great corn-growing one, it is never
theless true that the combined poultry
and egg products exceed the entire
corn crop of the country by several
millions of dollars. The poultry in.
dustry is scattered over the country in
such way as to escape the notice OF
many, but statistics show that the egg
and poultry industry combined fuc-
tuates between five and six hundred
millions of dollars annually. Such
enormous sums seem large for this
business, but official publications show
that they are nevertheless true.
A trip through the sheep-breeding
districts of the country would soon
convince one that sheep are of inesti-
mable value in keeping up the fertility
of the soil. In England the fine breeds
of sheep come in for their share in the
intensive farming of the country, and
recent writer on farm matters makes
the assertion that a great deal of the
fertility of the soil there is due direct
ly to the flocks. In clearing and rem
ovating old fields the value of the
flock cannot be overlooked, and there
are many poor, briar, bushy farms in
this country that could be greatly ell
hanced in value by letting the sheep
roam over the fields.
Hot weather is one of the most
critical times of the year for all cattle,
and the mortality is almost as great
am"ng the sheep as during midwinter,
unless the owner oversees the flock
and attends to their needs carefully.
Hot weather produces the parasites
which infest the sheep, and indirectly
cause the growth of ticks, lung worms,
liver worms and stomach worms.
These enemies are especially injurious
to the lambs, and great harm may be
hNy
combination farmer and shepherd is
very apt to forget the flock during
summer, owing TO the press of other
farm work, and the lambs naturally
contract bad habits and stop growing.
l have found that quite a saving
can be made in keeping ice in a re-
frigerator by keeping it covered with
woolen cloth laid over the ice, which
hinders its evaporation very sensibly,
and if kept up through the summer
will reduce the amount of the ice bill
considerably where one has to buy it
daily from the ice dealer. In the case
of people who have ice-houses of their
own where a ton or two more or less
put up iniwinter makes but little diff
erence in the cost, such small savings
are not worth considering, but not
many people are thus situated. l
even find that covering the piece of
ice with newspaper doubled and
tucked down its sides helps to keep it
from melting. And then great deal
depends on not exposing the ice to the
air by opening the top frequently.
-["Housekeeper," in N. Y. World.
The business of shipping live cattle
to Europe began only sixteen years
agO-in lS75-with 300 cattle. Two