Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-08-28
FARM NOTES.

Grass lands need heavy manuring as well
as corn or wheat land. Grass deprves the
soil of its elements in proportion to the de-
gree of cropping given the land When
grass has been moved several times the
land has been made to do more than its du-
ty, and the same effect occurs when cattle
Craze the grass closely. An excellent time
to apply the manure is i'm the fall, after the
grass begins to fail.
Canada thstles have been DESTROYED by
sheep, but to secure the best results the
thistles should be slightly sprinkled with
salt as fast as they appear above ground,
which will induce the sheep to eat them
close into the roots. As fast as they appear
sprinkle more salt. They will gradually
lessen in number and finally disappear.
The roots cannot live if top growth is pre-
vented.
Buckwheat keeps down most annual
weeds, and it ripens so quickly after sowing
that those which grow among it cannot per-
feet the seed. 1t also has an advantage
over most other crops in not furnishing de-
sirable food for wire-wOrms and white
grubs. One or two seasons with it will
clear insect enemies out, and leave the land
richer than before, as if grown year after
year its scattered seed furnish green ma
nure to keep up the supply of vegetable
matter in the soil.
One way to keep the boys on the farm is
to make the farm interesting to them.
Start the little ones by giving them a few
bantam chicks to raise, and as they become
advanced allow them pig or lamb, or even
a colt. But always give them the proceeds
of their labor. Children appreciate own
ership of stock, and the early lessons lead
to deeper interest later on.
1t is not an easy matter to breed up a
herd of good cows, says a correspondent of
the Rural New Yorker. To begin WITH
half the calves will be males. Then half
or more of the heifers will have some de
feet, something that is dsagreeable, if it
does not spoil them. And the higher a
dairyman's ideal, the more difficult it will
| be to get good cows. Raise up heifers and
you will find one is natural kicker, an
other is hard mixer, another is hard to
! get in calf, and have had two injured by
coming in when they were Is months old.
A writer in London Truth says: Nothing
on earth will upset a horses stomach.
This is not because the horse does not feel
pain, but simply because the horse has no
gall bladder. Has anybody ever seen a
horse sick at sea! Has anybody ever
known an emetic to have any effect on a
horse? At a bull-ight horse may be seen
eating with its entrails trailing on the
ground. As for the contention that a
horse is not so sensitive to pain as a man,
think that probably the horse is great
deal more so. There is no living creature,
not even a hysterical woman, so nervously
sensitive as a horse.
Waldo f. Brown says in the New York
Ill. .,.l
as thrifty lot of fall pigs as ever saw.
They were smooth-haired and clean, and
weighed 60 or 20 pounds each. Seen again
last week | found them long-haired, slab
sided and scurfy, not a pound heavier than
five months before, and so stunted that no
one could afford to take them as gift.
The cause was understanding and allowing
them to sleep in manure pile.
Breeding too young is a leading cause OF
both hogs and sheep deterioratng. The
offspring are weak and often sickly.