The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-07-12
ABOUT THE FARM.

The cold winter has weakened the
vitality Of many animals, Horses will
require careful spring feeding. Do not
overfeed any animals.
A progressive dairyman puts 1t as
follows: IL you will go without a new
suit of clothes this winter and buy a
thoroughbred bull calf he will buy new
clothes for all the family a few years
from now.
The proper temperature for churn-
ing is from sixty to slxty-six degrees.
Each one should get a thermometer
and decide for himself. The tempera-
ture at which butter comes is the pro-
per temperature.
Many reasons are given for the fail
ure of apple crops in regions whore
they were once abundant Besides the
destruction Of the forests and the in
PRODUCTION of diseases, Is there not
another cause to be found in the ne
glect Of the hardy, full-bearing seed
lings Of our fathers for the tenderer
varieties which bear more name than
fruit?
A crop of peas, II early sown, will
make a good soiling crop that can be
fed quicker than any other spring
sown grain. II will make half It's
growth before corn for soiling can be
sown and have the young plant get out
Of the ground.
Do not be afraid to use land plaster
literally in the stables, cutters and
stalls. 1t is clean, harmless and
makes the stable lighter. Keep the
walls white-washed and apply fresh
plaster on the floors every day. 1t Ia
cheap. and a bag or barrel Of plas-
ter should always be kept for conven-
lent use.
Gradually the light Is breaking and
our farmer boys are seeing that there
are just as great opportunities for sd-
vancement in their line as in any
other, and that going away to school
to study agriculture is as reasonable
and profitable as to go away from
home to study in order to become a
teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, or a min
lister.
Early potatoes should pay well, as
they are always in demand. A potato
field should be kept clean from the
time of planting to the harvesting OF
the crop. Many potato fields are al
lowed to become so overrun with
weeds as to make the cost of harvest
ing more than all other labor given
during the start, and the tubers will
be larger and the yield heavier.
Old hay answers an excellent pur-
pose even when the cows have an
abundance of green food on the pas
ture. 1t is highly relished by them,
and they should have full ration
of it at night. During the season
when cows are first turned on grass
they should have salt, and should any
of them have the scours keep them
in the barnyard and feed hay, with a
mess of hot bran and cornmeal sea-
soned. Green grass Is laxative, and
the cows must not be allowed too much
at the beginning of the pasture sea-
son.
A Missouri farmer writes in the St
Louis Journal OF Agriculture that he
finds goats profitable for rough land
filed with weeds and bushes He has
had goats for four years and they have
destroyed the bushes, sumach and
small persimmon trees. His hogs have
been free from disease, while all
around him farmers who did not keep
goats lost most of their hogs by chol-
era The writer says that the meat Of
young goats is better than mutton.
The wool of sheep is now worth so
little that the question is worth
thinking of whether few goats may
not be kept with profit on rough land
unsuited to cultivation in some of the
Eastern States.