Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-06-26

FARM NOTES.

The model dairy cow is the one that
makes the most butter or cheese at the
least cost
Agricultural textbooks are used in the
common schools of Ontario. Can. and it is
a move in the right direction.
Some Georgia capitalists have undertaken
to manufacture paper from cotton stalks
and bolls, which are now practically use
less to planters.
All farmers who are stu lying their bust
ness as the merchant. the lawyer. the doe
tor and the banker stu ~ theirs will learn
something from the agricultural expert
ment stations.
Experiments male both in this country
and Europe do not Indicate that the use of
electric light, when applied for the growth
OF plants, can ever be of any practical ben
eft.
Better put complaining off until some
other time. What is the best time for it
is hard to say. Perhaps an indefinite post
ponement would be a happy thing for all
concerned. Half the things that we groan
over tonight will right themselves before
tomorrow night if we let them alone.
One of the mysteries of nature as seen
in fruit is realized in the delicate differ
ences of flavor. The combination an pro-
portion of ingredients that make a certain
tlavor-that make a peach peach and a
blackberry blackberry is a study for sci
entists.
Any cultivation which disturbs the fine
roots of growing plants is an injury. Deep
cultivation, therefore. after the roots have
spread through the soil should he avoided.
This applies to everything that you grow.
Clean, shallow culture and plenty of it
should be the rule.
Dairymen should remember that lessen
ing the cost in producing milk is quite as
short a cut to the profits, and equally as
certain, as an advance in price per gallon
Improvement in the COW, the feed and the
management will insure the first condition,
and will most likely be followed by the
second.
The young woman who writes her name
and address on the eggs before she sends
them to market has received a proposal
1t came from a man who proposed that
hereafter she send strictly fresh eggs in
stead of the stale ones she had been in the
habit of selling. She no longer counts her
chickens before they are Matched.
A recent writer. while refusing to ac-
cept the idea that lis on sheep are Suf-
ticient protection against dogs still cant
do without them having learned, during
eight years experience. to rely upon their
tinklng to notify him, even from dis
lance of three-quarterS of mile, of any
disturbance of the flock. He adds that
two-thirds of the bells in use for this pur-
pose are too small.
Thousands Of cows wearing blue Specta-
cles is a curious sight in Russia. Blue
glasses We're recommended because the re-
Election of the light upon the snow has
been so binding that tens of thousands of
cattle have been attacked with ophthamia.
According to a recent despatch from Wen
ma the entire supply of blue glass in Nicn-
ma has been exhausted for this purpose,
and it has been necessary 10 obtain addi-
tional supplies from Paris and London.
In France the fattening of geese for the
market is the business Of men who do
nothing else. They contract with the deal
ers to get their stock in marketable condi-
ton at Il certain time for price agreed
upon. France is considered the largest
poultry market in the world, the keeping
of poultry being done in a manner that
makes it pay. 1t is not uncommon to see
the French peasant driving into market
flock of several hundred geese, selling them
as We would so many sheep or hogs.
There are also many who go among the
farmers, pluck the geese feathers. and
market them on percentage; this gives en-
ployment and living to many poor people.
The old rule, "a stitch in time saves
nine is never more true than applied to
weeds. 1t is not merely in roofing out new
patches of pestilent perennials, like Cana
ia thistle and quack, though here, too. the
rule of economy in promptness holds good.
When the thistle or quack seed first germ;-
mates, it is as easily killed as any common
annual. Pull it up and lay it in the sun.
and a few hours exposure destroys all Vi
tally. Let it get its underground stems.
and the failure to extract piece no more
than the length of finger will in few
years reGstablish the whole patch. But
even in ordinary cultivation of hOed crops
difference of two or three days often adds
an enormous amount to the labor required
in cleaning small piece. The rule Of
three does not operate here at all. Ten
men might hoe ten acres of corn in day,
but two men might not hoe it in ten days,
nor one man if given all summer to COM
pete the job