Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-06-22
LEDGER.
THURSDAY, JUNE %, 1898.
Garden, Farm andFie|d.
Cattle Raising.
BY JOHN ]. GILL.

Cattle Raising.
The principal profit that is de-
rived from the raising of stock comes
through their consumption of the
roughness, which by means of them
is converted into money. In the
neighborhood of towns and cities
where roughness can be sold to adj
vantage, cattle raising to any extent
would be folly. Where there is no
such market for roughness, TO make
the feeding of it on the farm most
profitable, winter shelter for stock
ought to be provided. The margin
of profit on stock-raising is SO
meagre that advantage ought to be
taken Of everything, however small,
that has tendency to increase it. All
that is necessary for young stock is
food enough to keepthem thrifty and
at the present price of cattle that
ought to be OF the cheapest possible
character. With winter shelter young
stock require no more grain at that
time than in summer. Roughness
with a little hay will keep them in
good heart. Without shelter even
where fed with grain it will take four
years to make them as heavy as they
would be at three with it. To do this
and then dispose of them as poor
grades could not be profitable under
any circumstances. A very impor-
tant matter in stock raising is to Sc
cur good breed. The cattle grower
should always bear in mind that the
feeding and fattening of such cattle
costs no more than of poor stock;
that the labor of taking care of them
is the same; and that they will al
ways bring higher prices than
scrubs.
SWEET POTATOES.
Habit has a good deal to do with
the selection of vegetables. The
sweet potato is no exception to the
rule. Some like them soft, others
prefer them mealy. The latter are
best when butter is plenty. The yell
low Nansemond is a good variety
but with many the red Bermuda
heads the list because it is more pro-
ductive. There is great art in growing
sweet potatoes and some farmers are
more expert at it than others. The
difficulty is mainly in securing
plants. After that the season has a
great deal to do with results. Plants
can be purchased at most nurseries
or they can be raised at home in hot
beds if the desired variety of seed
potatoes can be obtained. They are
hard to carry through winter and
are often scarce when wanted. After
the plants are obtained there is no
more risk in planting and cultivat-
ing them than with other vegetables.
They will grow equally well in ridges
or hills where they are kept loose,
free from grass and weeds and in
good filth. They do best when they
get the benefit of fall rains. Sweet
potatoes should be gathered before
frost and exposed while drying for a
short time to the direct rays of the
sun which will increase their sweet
ess
CELERY.
Celery is a popular salad. 1t is
easily raised and no vegetable pays
better for the care required for its
successful cultivation. Celery plants
can be purchased Of almost all nur-
series. They are also readily grown.
For this purpose SOW celery seed in
pots or in hot beds in March, in cold
frames in April and in the open air
In May. If sown in the open air the
best places for that purpose are the
south sides of close fences or build
ings. Before sowing, the bed should
have a heavy dressing of manure
well dug in and fined. The seed
should be sown in shallow drills
about n foot apart and lightly COW
cred and frmed. As celery seed
sprouts slowly, a little radish seed
sown in the drills will be of use to
mark their locality and thus assist
in keeping them free of weeds.
When the plants are three or four
inches high trim Of all the top
branches of all the stems except the
heart. Sometimes this must be done
twice. 1t makes the plants stocky
and uniform. When ready to set
cut prepare trenches q foot wide and
a foot deep, and four feet apart.
Dig some well rotted manure into
the bottoms of them and reduce to a
fine filth. After trimming them
again, set the plants in this from six
to eight inches apart and water and
shade them for a few days. When
they commence to grow stir the dirt
about them and keep clear of weeds.
As they grow hold the stocks together
and earth them up. This blanches