Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-07-03
Notes for the season.
COOLING by EVAPORATION.

COOLING ny EVAPORATION.
In the hottest weather vessels of vator
Tor drinking may be kept cool by surround
ing them entirely with some porous sub-
stance kept constantly wet The cvapora-
ton from this will dissipate heat so rapidlv
mat only slight changes of temperature of
tle llqud inside the vessel will be noted.
IL Is dangerous, however, to keep ones self
cooI IN this way, as the chilling of internal
organs Is scarcely ever done without serious
INJURY often resulting in disease and death.
SUPPORTS FOR MELON VINES.
Cucumber and melon vines need some
thlng for their tendris to cling to. so as not
TO be blown about by the wind Small pieces
OF brush stuck into the ground between the
mis- VIII allow the hoe to be used and keen
Ihe land free from weeds, and will insure
the vines against being torn and injured
by winds, This is a great deal better than
the practice of allowing weeds to grow for
thls purpose, as some old-fashioned farmers
used to do.
ERADICATING SoRREL.
Wherever fields are red with sorrel at this
season of the year it indicates some defect
In the land which prevents the seeding of
more valuable grasses and clover. Sorrpl
is easily Kept in check where a good catch
OF clover is had, as the clover outgrows and
smotherS it. On sandy soil clover fails
from lack of mineral elements, lime or
potash, and application of one or both will
insure its success. The sorrel does not
need either lime or potash, and only comes
III where more valuable plants cannot be
grown.
ONER-ESTIMATE OF NIGHT SOIL.
The quite common belief that human eN-
crement is the richest of all manure is NOT
borne out by practical experiment or bv
chemical analysis. 1t has greater value
than the solid eXcrement of horses or sheen.
but much less than the liquid excrement
OF either, and has little more than half the
value of fresh hen manure II is possibly
one indication of mans superiority that he
gets more nearly all the good out of the
rich food he eats than do domestic animals.
Nor is it certain that the food which men
generally eat contains so much of the ple-
ments of either nutrition or fertility as most
animals choose for themselves.
ALsIKE CLOVER AND TIMOTHY.
To secure thrifty stand of timothy.
which will remain good for two or three
years, there is nothing better than seeding
it with the alsike clover on a winter grain
crop. The alsike does not smother down
the timothy quite as badly as red clover
does, and if cut in June, Just as the bios
SONS begin to fade, the alsike will produce a
full seed crop and then entirely die out. This
leaves the soil entirely to the grass. and so
stimulates its growth that often a second
crop of timothy of a ton and half per acre
can be cut the same season. With common
red clover the timothy does not do much
until the second year.
BETTER QUALITY OF HAY.
Dry weather during April and May has
lessened the amount of the hay crop. but il
does not follow that it will decrease its
value in the same proportion. Hay is not
likely to be as cheap as it has been the past
two years. Its quality also will be better
1t was the poor quality of last years hay
crop, as much as the scarcity and high price
of grain, that made cows unusually poor
everywhere last spring. We hope vet in
most places for good crop of coarse grains,
but stock will do as we'll next winter on
hay alone as they did the past two years in
most localities on flooded and water-soaked
hay with grain added.
KILLING TICKS ON LAMBS.
As soon as sheep shearing is done the
ticks, which have found refuge in the long
wool of older sheep, will desert them, and
take to the unshorn lambs, whose wool
then affords better hding-place. These
ticks are easily killed by dipping lambs up
to their ears in a strong solution of tobacco
Refuse stems can be used, and can usually
be had for little or nothing in tobacco
growing localities. The wash, after the
lambs have been dipped in it, is excellent
to apply to melon or cucumber vines TO re-
pei the bugs 1t may not kill Them but it
will drive them away, which answers every
purpose. 1t has also excellent manurial
properties, but we prefer to use it in small
quantities merely to rcpel insects.
THE USE OF PARIS GREEN.
Possibly when the use of arsenical poi
sons for potato bugs and other pests was a
new thing, exaggerated ideas prevailed as
to the danger from handling them. But
familiarity has bred Indifference to danger,
and now the tendency is too much the other
way. 1t is true as ever that poisoning may
occur from inhalation of Paris green.
Hence it is never safe to use it dry, for
mixing may carry it into the system. In
water, if well diluted, it is safer, but caution
should under any circumstances be eXer-
cised in handling this or any other poison.
Cordial Words for the Grange.
Rev. Thomas X. Beecher of Elmira. Y.
Y, in an address to the state grange, paid
the following tribute to the grange and