Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-11-19

Pine tar generously applied to the
noses Of the sheep at shearing time
will prevent grub in the head.
Little things done in season will
tighten the big tasks and make farm
| ing more pleasant and profitable.
Preaching economy doesn't amount
to much You must practice it. but
| there is such thing as being too
economical
Dairying Is ready money business,
and no other branch Of live stock keep
ing can compare with it for enriching
the farm.
Three common faults in butter max
Ing are overripe cream, overchurning
and overworking. The first means
strong butter, the second and third soft
butter.
The man who starts in the dairy
business with the idea that he is going
to make q success simply because he
has some particular breed, is on the
wrong road.
Many lovers of fine horses are am
bilious to breed their own driving
horses, breeding high class trotting bred
mares to Hackney or Coach stations
for beauty and action.
Do not buy horse with a narrow
or shallow chest, or whose forelegs are
close together. He has but sufficient
room for a rest of strong lungs and
will not be long winded.
A two-inch hole bored foot deep
into the stump and filled with salt
peter TO which water is added, and left
to stand a couple of months will has
ten the burning of the stump.
One farmer recommends as a pre-
ventive of ravages on the sheep tiOcks
by dogs that the sheep owner place
along very well with the sheep and de
fend them from the dogs.
A Mississippi steamboat which car
ried away a cows calf was followed
thirty miles by the bereaved animal,
swimming all the time. When the COW
was about to be drowned from ex-
haustion she was rescued by fisher
men.
The onion crop OF Texas is becom-
ing an important factor in the large
eastern markets. Texas onions are
crowding out Bermudas and prices of
the latter are steadily falling. 1t is
said that the quality Of the Texas
onion is almost if not equal to that of
the famous Bermudas.
Be careful to furnish a good dust
bath for fowls, for it is the only nat
ural means the bird has of Kidding it
self of lice and mites. Provide a
house free from vermin, then provide
the birds with a good dust bath, and
the question of lice and mites will be
reduced to minimum.
1t is estimated that the farmers Of
Colorado finished more than a million
sheep and lambs last year, mainly on
alfalfa. 1t was a bad year for the
sheep business, and it is said that the
loss will be about ST per head. How
ever, no credit is given for the great
amount of fertility returned to the
land.
A farmer of Nadoway county, Mis-
souri,, missed several choice pigs recent
ly and began to suspect his neighbors
until he discovered that the young
animals were being pecked to death
by a flock of crows. A flock Of 200
of these black pirates actually killed
a pig and stripped its bones clean in
less than thirty minutes.
More horses are injured by enforced
idleness than by work. Days that
horses are not at work they should
run in box stall or yard Their hair
may not lie quite as close and even be
a little longer, but they will keep
healthier and be in much better shape
for next seasons work for having their
regular exercise every day, either in
the harness or out In the yard.
There were tifty-SiX calls upon the
Wisconsin dairy school last Jear for
men to fill good positions in chee0e
factories, and fifty-three butter-mak-
ers were wanted. In addition to these
there were numerous requests for men
skilled in the operation Of creameries.
The college was unable to supply all
the demands, and yet some farm boys
prefer to sell neckties in a city store
on a salary of So per week rather than
to take course at the agricultural
college.
An English stock journal tells of a
famous veterinary surgeon who was
once called on to Geride a question
of blindness in a horse, concerning
which two London vets differed. He
entered the yard where the horse stood
and, without examining the animals
eyes, ordered halter to be put on him
and an empty bucket to be placed in
the middle Of the yard. Then taking
the halter he led the horse In a direct
line for the bucket. The horse went
forward and bIundered over fl with