Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1910-03-12
FARM NEWS AND VIEWS

Il
When hoops come off barrels, hooE
them with wire. Cheaper than buying
new barrels and anybody can do it.
The windy days Of spring are here
Rattle log chain down the chimney and
get the SCOT out before it burns out, and
maybe burns the house, too.
Two good eyes to hill Of potatoes are
a.plenty. We make a mistake many
times in seeding too heavily. Good stocky
shoots are better than spindling ones.
Burn all the old brush heaps now and
get rid OF a thousand and one pests thai
have had their home there waiting fol-
warm weather to bring them into activity
again.
Keep the boys from fooling with any
Of the farm animals. Joking with calves
or colts will surely bring jokes that make
us laugh ont Of the other corner Of our
mouths.
Neighbors may save nice bit OF money
by putting their orders together and buy
ing large quantity Of grass seed or other
farm necessaries.
Don't wait till the last minute to polish
up that rusty old ploW, or to get new
bolts, or to grind the moving machine
knives. Preparatory ticks in time blaze
the way to final success.
How natural it is when one man makes
a pretty good thing Of any one crop, for
everybody to rush in and try to do just
as he has done The best way, though,
10 to take it steady. If you do venture
into strange crop, do it conservatively.
The farmer should hustle around in
early spring, order new tools and fix up
old ones. In many localities the black
smiths are oYerburdened in repairing
farming tools just at the time when the
tools are needed for spring work. Not
having implements ready for work at the
first opportunity means loss of several
days in getting in crop. Let US be on
hand with the season. II We have been
alternating during the winter like the
frog, we had better wake up and stir
around some now.
March winds Whittle the flesh right off
the cows. Keep them in out Of the cold.
We would not hear so much about Pas
teurizing in the creamery If there we're q
little more pasture-izing in the dairy.
You can't tougher horse to the spring
work in a day. Start in easy. Think
how it is with your own shoulders.
Take pains to exercise the horses and
harden them up before the real spring
work begins. This is pecessary If you
wish to avoid delays and risks.
Don't think the old orchard is past
hope. If too thick, thin out the trees.
Clean out all bad limbs. Spray and cul.
tivate. Feed plenty of stable manure
and, my word for it, in nine cases out Of
ten, the old orchard will pay for itself
ten times over. Take care of it, be good
to it; it pays.
Apples do not grow without something
to grow from. They need more in the
way OF fertility than they can draw from
the sky or from the tired and WORKOUT
soil. If this food is not supplied, the
trees resent il by Withholding their bar
vest. If your trees are not doing SO well
as they should, try 400 pounds of bone
meal and 200 pounds Of muriate Of potash
per acre.
Ewes due to lamb in the early spring
must have more nutritious feeds now fol-
toning the system, developing the young
and growing coat Of wool. heterogeneous
feeds, auch as oats and bran, are needed
for developing the young and growing
wool.
The "baby chick" business is getting
to be a big thing. One firm in Ohio ia
said to hatch as many as $1,000 chicks in
a season, which are sold when a day old.
Day-old chicks can be shipped long dis.
tances, needing neither food nor water,
and the business is very convenient for
those who do not want to hatch their own
chicks.
Autos and motor vehicles have never
affected the demand and prices for draft
horses, for they are in demand for heavy
work that motor vehicles will not supply.
Draft horses in prime condition for i'm
mediate service we're never in more mr.
gent demand or sold at higher prices than
the current year. With the expansion OF
business traders are commencing to won
der where the supply of commercial
chunks will come from in the next twelve
months. The United States is a. great
country and it's rapid industrial develop
ment is broadening the demand for prime
draft horses faster than production, and
high prices are sure to prevail for several
seasons.
A good authority on horses says that
the gray will live the longest, and that
the roans come next in order. Blacks
seldom live to be over twenty, and creams
rarely live more than ten or fifteen years.
It has been found by experiments at
one Of the New York stations that the
soil mixture best adapted for forcing head
lettuce is of rather compact texture and
contains good portion of fine sand, clay
and silt, moderately lightened with fairly
well-rotted horse manure. Il was also
found that after a heavy application Of
stable manure any further addition OF
chemical fertilizers is only thrown away.
Fertilizer tests with corn show clearly
that blowing under green leguminous
crops Is highly beneficial practice, and
that where this 10 followed only moderate
amounts of fertility will be necessary to
give increased yields.
The cattle of the United States On she
first day Of January, 1910, had q total
value Of 81, 1897, 761, 900. This is an in.
crease Of SlSl, 062, coo over the figures for