The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-02-09
All Around the Farm.

necsicut, reports that the average yield
OF milk per COW in that state In 1850
was 2772 gallons while in 1890 it had
increased 10 425.4 gallons.
The proper way to clean hen soost
IS to first carry everything out doors
r5ost poles, nest boxes and loose boards
Give them a dose Of oil and apply the
match. If the wood takes fire it can be
put cat by throwing sand on il. Now
rake out all the fowl dirt, and give the
inside good coating Of whitewash.
Do this once a month.
When young men tell you they never
read experiment station bulletins, that
they take no stock whatever in the
farm institutes, and, at the same time,
they are about to be sold out under
mortgage on q farm their old father
gave them free of debt, there IS some
thing wrong in the brain machinery OF
those men and no mistake.
Il is not so generally appreciated as
it should be that the breeding SOW
while she is bearing her young needs
just the kind OF nutrition that the grow
ing pig will require. Sows fed heavily
on corn, fatten, and bring thin, stunt
ed pigs, with very little ability 70 care
for themselves. Such pigs will never
do so well as those whose dams were
fed milk aud wheat bran with some
kinds Of roots while bearing their
young. These viii have good diges-
ton. and viii grow rapidly, while the
stGnted pig will never fully recover
from the improper nutrition it received
before it was fSrrowed.
Alta recent annual convention Of the
Fruit Growers Association, Professor
Fletcher strongly recommended spray
ing fruit trees during the winter. The
spores of the various fungi rest on the
limbs and twigs as well as on the leaves.
When the leaves are ON the tree it is
impossible to get spray on TO the limbs
and tsgigs. The best time to do this
spraying IS during the winter. It
could be done any time when most con-
venient, but the best time is toward
spring when vitality is returning. If
the trees are sprayed during the win
ter better results will be obtained as the
result of spraying after the leaves are
out. Professor Taft, of Michigan, and
others, also very strongly rec mnend-
ed winter spraying.
A haif-dozen small tubs holding not
more than eighteen or twenty quarts
are best for use in caring for human
excrement. A box filed with dry soil
near by, with small shovel to distrib-
ute this soil over each addition Of ex-
crement, will entirely prevent any Of
fensive odors. When the tub is filed,
or so nearly so that it requires dump
ing, its contents should be deposited in
a large receptacle where they will fer
nent under the cover Of more soil. In
a years time this excrement mixed
with soil will be converted into fertii-
izer with very slight odOr, and which
may be easily applied to the erops
whose growth it is desired to hasten.
Night soil IL, however, usually def
cient in phosphates and potash. If
these minerals are added to the heap
in soluble form they will add greatly
to its value as a fertilizer.
Whenever the grass seeding fails the
blame is usually laid upon the weather.
But that is not always correct, even in
part. Grass belongs to the same botan-
ieal family as wheat, only the grain
has had a greater development Of lis
seed. All farmers understand that the
wheat crop needs phosphate to be grown
successfully, year after year, on the
same land. To be sure, the soil is eul-
tivated, and there IS a new seeding
with some manure each year, for the
grain crop. Yet farmers think that
grass, without reseeding, and without
new supplies CT mineral matter, will
continue TO grow. The result is that
the grass gradually dies out and IS re-
placed by moses or other weeds Of low
organization that can live without min
eral plant food. Not only Is the amount
Of grass lessened, but its quality IS also
impaired by lack Of the mineral. On
land that has long been without pics
phate cattle will not thrive, and cows
which give milk will ss%o n the eating
of old bones TO secure the mineral NJ
triton they require. People who have
learned that ground bone is good to
make hens lay are apt to forget that
the mose bulky COW has an equally
wonderful operation to perform. That
Is, to take from her grass feed the nu-
triton required to make milk, which
is less concentrated than the egg, but
contains very nearly the same kind Of
nutrition. When we began using min
eraI manures en- grain We found that
the second and third crops Of grass
seeded with the grin did not run out
as they used to do. 1t is far better 10
apply the phosphate with the grain.
The grass; seeded with il win get the
effects Of the mineral fertilizing for at
least two years thereafter.-American
Cultivator.
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