Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-06-09

ever, that the egg business, conducted
, as business, can be made to pay, and
, pay well at that.
Charles Duncan, a fireman on the
| Wisconsin Central road, was held up by
two mtl at Ashland. The highwaymen
secured only few cents in change
HOW THE DIPPING OF SHEEP
SHOULD BE CONDUCTED.
Soft Food for Chickens Not What 1t
Is Cracked up to be-The Sailing of
Cows-Spruce Profitable Invest
ment-Barn - Good Cleaning-Pigs
Shouldn't Squeal
Ihe old-faShioned sheep dip for ticks
used to be five pounds of plug tobacco
to ten pounds of stems, boiled and
added to about forty gallons of water
for lambs and little stronger for the
old sheep, but it should be tested by
putting 4 few OF the insects i'll it to
see II 1t is strong enough to kill them
Ihe lamb and sheep are dipped all but
The mouth and nostrilS, and then the
lamb or sheep being placed i'll another
trough us much OF The dip as possible
Is squeezed out OF the wool, both for
econOmyS sake and to hasten the
drying. But Il better dip, and perhaps
us cheap, is made by ulsolying three
pounds OF white arsenic i'll six gallon
OF boiling water, and adding this to
forty gallons of cold water, which
would make enough dip for 100 sheep
and lambs. The person doing the dip
ping OF squeezing the wool should not
have the skin broken on his hands,
and the water after it has been at it.
and the dipping trough should be thor
oughly rlnSed out, and used for no
other purpose. With care in these
respects, and care that the wool is
not wet enough to drip upon grass or
hay that they are to eat, there is no
danger in using arsenic, and the cure
Is sure. IT ticks have been very plenty,
it might be well to spray the walls of
the sheep shed with this dip. Then
before the flock are put in for the
winter, see if they have appeared again,
and If they have, mix an ointment of
seven parts of lard to one part of the
mercurial ointment of the druggists,
and rub from Il half ounce to an ounce
into the wool of each sheep, opening the
wool along the back and sides in fur
rows il few inches apart, and rubbing
1T well down to the skin, paying par
tlcular attention to the neck and briSket
lis the places where they are most
abundant. This should carry them
through next winter without trouble
The top shoot of the grape vine will,
unless carefully looked after, so far
take the lead of all others that the
fruit on the lower part of the vine will
be materially injured. 1t is not best
generally to leave many buds on even
the most vigorous shoot of the previous
years growth, but if several are al
lowed to grow bend the shoot down
ward, if possible from where last years
shoot started. We know an old man
who grew excellent grapes by changing
the positions of the shoots during the
growing season. At first he allowed
one to lead and then others. But by
midsummer he Always resorted to the
pinching in-process. At this time the
growth so that pinching them concen-
trated the sap and made the canes
for next years bearing much heavier
than otherwise, they would have been.
In growing grape vines length of vine
! is q trivial matter. 1t is the thickness
and ripeness of the preceding years
canes that count for most.
1t is surprising that so much soft
feed is given to young chicken, and
that, too, by those who ought to know
| better. Whole wheat will be readily
eaten by chicks a week old, and before
that time the wheat grains, pounded or
cracked, are better than anything else.
Because the chicks are little it does not
follow that their digestion is weak.
the first twenty-four hours they live
on the remains of the yolk of egg,
which is extremely hard to digest. I'm
less their natural strong digestion has
something to work on, the chick soon
becomes sickly, "crop bound" and dies.
Wheat is at all times the best feed for
making hens lay. In spring if fed to
young chickens the hens will thrive
so on their wheat that they will often
begin egg production before the chicks
are old enough to care for themselves.
If the sandy soil have clay or other
wise tenacious subsiol, so that manure
will not leach out of it, keeping it in
good cropping condition is not difficult.
Good catches of clover can be got on
very poor sands by use of potash man
ures, and wherever clover will grow it
will supply the vegetable matter which
is needed to keep sandy soils from vast
ing. But once let sandy soil become
thoroughly exhausted, and it is less
hopeful than an exhausted clay soil.
The latter generally protects itself
from loss by forming itself into Jumps
which neither rains nor roots can pene-
trate, and which only need breaking up
to restore fertility again. An exhaust
ed sandy soil needs to be built up
from nothing, supplying all the ele-
ments of fertility.
| We used to know careful farmers who
make it practice to salt COWS every
Sunday afternoon, after return from
church. Once a week is better than
leaving the sailing to accident, but if
salt is placed where cows can get it all
the time they will not eat too much
of it. Rock salt is best. Leave large
Jumps of it where the cows can lick
/