Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-08-19
NORTH BERWICK.
Farm Notes.

Farm Notes.
The Farmers Review calls attention
to the change in recent years in III"
size of hog the market demands an
aptly remarks that compared with Il
few years ago we have new hog.
He is new in his makeup, lives fast
and dies early for profit and there
fore is handled differently than h.
used to be- The demands upon him
are also new. Instead of Il year and
Il half old he must mature in seven
or eight months. Now the feeding
weight of the hog of commerce is rs
or 200 pounds instead of 800 or $50 as
formerly. This size of hog can easily
be brought TO salable maturity in one
season and does away with the old
method of keeping long time for
n relative small gain. An early spring
litter can be fitted for market before
cold weather makes feeding unprotit
able. After the pigs are weaned the
SoWS can be kept on short rations
and produce the second litter which
Will also be sent to market within the
year. If the sows can have the run
OF an orchard during the summer it
surprising how little purchased food
they will need in order to keep them
in good breeding condition.
Prof. Hayward of the Pennsylvania
agricultural college says: In selecting
rations for feeding, due regard must
be taken of their chemical compost
ton. BY chemical composition here
is meant a consideration of the three
important compounds found in all
food, namely, protein. or the bone and
muscle-forming material; carbohN-
drates. or fat and ener9y-making ma
terial and fat which. too. is a fat
and energy former, but which is worth
in stock feeding two and half times
as much as carbohydrates 1t has
been conclusively proven that dairy
COWS will produce milk and butter
more economically when fed upon
foods where the protein comprises
from one-titth to one-Sevcnth of the
ratio or in other words, when th., r;l-
ton has Il nutritivc ratio of one To
five or one to seven. Foods containing
large amount of protein, as lnSecd
meal. cottonseed meal, oats. etc. are
comparatively expensive. while carbo-
hydrates, which are very abundant in
our corn fodder as straw and corn
stover, are very cheap. but a dairy COW
needs six or seven times as much car
bohydrates as protein, and so the
difference in cost is largely compen-
stated for.
The digestibility of a food should
also be known. and since the di@eSti-
bility of different foods varies greatly.
we should buy all our cattle food upon
the basis of the cost of a pound of
digestible matter.
The value of foods, however. cannot
always be estimated by their chemi-
cal composition. food may be rich
IN digestible food elements. and its
per cent of digestibility be high. vet
the results will be unsatisfactory ow-
ing to the deleterious effect upon the
animal system. These peculiar char
acteristics cannot be ascertained eX-
cept by actual trial. but when once
known, can be overcome bv feeding
two or more foods in such proportion
that their effects upon the system
will be corrected one by the other
More satisfactory results can be OBJ
'"''NN ~ iNVpflISS IllI\tu uItI, since.
as IN our own foods, palatability and
relish are obtained by variety.
The New Hampshire Experiment sta
ton has issued a bulletin upon the cod
ling moth and apple maggot 1t de-
scribes in detail the history and develop
ment of these two insects that cause so
much financial loss to the fruit grower.
and calls attention to the remedies now
IN use. FOR the former the trees should
be sprayed with Paris green mixed with
water. by the aid of the spraying ma
chlhe the fruH grower is able to place in
the blossom ends of the young apples a
lew particles of poison and when the new
y y, Matched worm nibbes at the skin it il,
likely to eat one of these particles ana
be killed. The spraying is done from The
Tune the apples are the size of a pea until
tney are the size of a hickory nut Two.
are necessary, depending upon the !
am OF rain to wash off the poison.
ne remedy prescribed for the railroad
worm. when is found only on the inside
ol me irult, Is to gather and destroy the
Wlndtalis. The worms are in these and
II left on the ground the maggots leave
me h apples and burrow in the earth These
should be picked as often as every dav
ana either fed to stock or buried In the
ground. Spraying does not prevent the
INJURIES OF The apple maggot. as the eggs
fr'7;+ deposfteI beneath the skin of the
lrult out or the reach of the insecticides.
n puiiellil VI the Minnesota EXPERIMENT
station says:
, III IS not generally understood that a
muich may with benefit be applied to chi
tiVaIed ground: The usual method of an
plying coarse litter and manure to treee.
a an small fruits is falling into disrepute
Win MI. some Of the best horticulturists
ms rms method causes the root system To-
roi III 700 near the surface of the ground.
SO mat when the mulching becomes thin |
or a protracted drought ensues, the trees
quickly succumb. Moreover cutivation |
Is not possible with the thick mulch and
o ,,1'ao, coarse weeds grow up, and
H.. ,h grass finally takes possession. to
me ,ota. destruction of the trees or small
vio Slos IN Many horticulturists are now adj
u,S1ag the abandonment of the thick-littrr
i,ntio, ana prescribing instead only cult
, na,i on or the dry-earth mulch. But his
method has disadvantages also, irnde IN Il
me aana becomes impoverished. owing to
a ore neat Of the suns rays Nitritica,
f.u,l Is Ietarded, since it progresses NOR
iaVoraDiy when the surface of tha ,,rn,,nd
IL, Is Il Party shaded. Again. the cultivatinn
''''ou' 70 De effective, must be frequent