The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-04-02
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers



! The best barley for brewing should have
rounded grains with thin skin, Of uniform
size, and straw-cOlored yellow, floury when
broken, and showing but slight amount
of heterogeneous matter The barley which
/ shows these characteristics most closely in
/ Austria-Hungary is the early Hanna Is
has been lately tried in the barIey-grOwing
regions of France so successfully hat it is
now recommended 10 the exclusion of all
others. 1t is early, yields more largely, and
possesses better brewing qualities than the
/ varieties usually grown. MOravian proves
to be extremely like it, but Austrian. Ger
| man, and French brewers have given Hanna
| the first rank, after exhaustive tests in
/ brewing it on a large scale, and also at the
Brewers Experiment. Station. The seed
was introduced by the French Minister OF
Agriculture.
French Rules for Milking
Work rapidly; slowness causes loss OF
Milk thoroughly, to the last drop, because
the last milk Is the best
Milk at the same time every day.
MIX crosswise-that is to say, one fore
teat on the right and hind teat on the left,
and vice versa; the milk thus flows more
copiously than by parallel milking
Milk with five fingers, and not with index
and thumb, fault too common with
mixers.
Do not employ any kind of milking ma
chimes
To milk young, FESTIVE cows, raise one Of
the fore-feet. Never strike them.
Always keep he hands clean, and also the
cows udder and dairy utensils.
During milking avoid distracting OF dis
turbing the COW.
Those who neglect any of these prescrip-
tons iDfalhbly lose milk.-Gazette Agricots
de Lat
Mineral Manures for Beans.
The idea that beans do well on poor land
and that the crop may even be injured by too
heavy manuring, is due to the fact that the
applications of stable manure will often in
duce large growth Of vine without corre-
spending grain product. WI at is needed in
such cases IS more potash and phosphate. All
kinds of grain are benefited by applications
OF phosphate, and the bean perhaps more
than any other. The bean being one If the
family ofleguminous plants, has power to gee
It's nitroeen from air in the soil. If the soil
has much mineral plant food the bean roots
will derive enough TO make fair crop. But
the minerals in the soil are usually in I'M
available condition for plant roots to use.
Some soluble phosphate will, therefore,
nearly always pay in growing beans, no
matter how rich the soil may be. Farmers
In the bean-growing districts found out this
fact years ago, and those who understand the
business best apply phosphate in the hill
with their beans, with as much certainty Of
profit as they drill the same mineral fer
tilizer with Winter wheat The phosphate
makes the beans earlier, and it promotes a
great development of pods well filed with
plump beans inside. If the soil is poor the
beans, even when the pods are full, will often
be somewhat shruDken.
Dairy Items.
The Vermont Station finds the best REM
edy for the horn fly to be kerosene emul-
sion sprayed on the cattle, and quicklime
applied to the drOpp;ngs to kill the eggs.
The Minnesota Station finds that prairie
hay produces as much milk or butter as an
equal weight of timothy, that it costs less,
and cows prefer it.
The Vermont Station made excellent
silage of sofa beans also of Vetcb. Both
kept well. Rye silage was much inferior
10 corn silage. A mixture of sofa beans,
pats or peas with corn made much richer
,ilage than corn alone
Farm Notes.
In pruning of old and neglected grape
vines the principal object should be to IN
luce young growth which in time is to
AXE the place of the old barren wood