The Opelousas courier., 1892-11-26
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.

FARM n GARDEN NOTES.
The effect of warm weather is found
in the egg basket.
Do not brighten the hens, as it dimin-
ishes the egg supply.
The largest kind of matured corn is
the best to convert into ensilage.
In arranging the poultry house have
both the nests and the roosts low.
One of the worst mistakes that poultry
beginners can make is too close inbred.
ing.
In nearly all cases the fowls can be
fattened on soft food faster than on hard
grain.
When the poultry are confined a por-
ton of the run should be spaSed up
daily.
With all kinds of poultry it is the
morning meal that is the most important;
give it early.
One of the best ways of fattentng
geese rapidly is to feed them boiled oats
with plenty of milk.
A good way to break a hen OF wanting
to SEQ is to put her in a strange yard
with a young cockerel.
A COW should be fed all the clover she
can eat, which will be in the neighbor-
hood of five pounds per day.
Select the turkey hens wanted for
breeding. The hens should not be kept
after they are three years old.
Now is the time when the fowls relish
green food. Give them plenty of it sn1
less grain rations-sspecially corn.
Care should be taken that the fowls DO
not lay on too much fat. Be careful in
feeding, aud there will be no danger.
When tne feeding is done at regular
hours the fowls sQon get accustomed to
it, and will know when the time comes.
Many consider that boiling the milk
before feeding it to the poultry increases
its value aud lessons the risk of disease.
The fowls losing their feathers is
often caused by want of green food or OF
a dust bath. See that both are supplied.
One reason ehy there is such a largo
amount of poor butter is that the erea n
is allowed to stand too long before it is
churned.
In feeding a considerable saving
might be maie if the keeper would re-
member that what makes fat DOES not
make eggs.
Old stock Of any kind is Improbable.
Every season enough young poultry
should be selected from what is raised
to take the place of the old.
The farm fowl should be Of a good
size, a good table fowl, good layer, con
stitutionally strong and well adapted to
stand the rough usage of the farm.
No COW was ever a good dairy COW
that was not born SO, but thousands of
COWS that were born SO have been
spoiled by poor and uuwise handling.
A thrifty tree that fails to bear should
be o t-pruned. A trench dug about it,
and filled partly with rubbish, will effect
important and profitable changes for the
better. Root.pruniug checks growth
and develops fruit buds. 1t is an old
femedy, but not as often resorted to as
il should be.
As the wheat and other small grain
ripens, their sap dries, cutting OFF the
food supply of the chinch bugs, which
thereupon often migrate to the juicy
stalks of the cornfeld. This migration
can be prevented by blowing a strip
some rods wide between the small grain
and the corn, as the chinch bugs arr
10th to cross land devoid of vegetation.
Farm stock is often kept too long for
profit. Sheep decline very rapidly after
six years old, and are best sold at five.
Cows may retain their usefulness until
twelve. Cattle and sheep are sold for
meat, but with horses it is different. A
horse that has been a good and faithful
servant for many years is often kept TN
til he dies, which is better than selling
him for q mere pittance, to be abused
the remainder of his life. A good rule
to follow is to dispose of farm stock al
or previous to their prime Of life.