Year: 1874

tend TO dry up cows. Apples in mcder-
ate quantities have no such tendency,
but on the contrary may he fed 10 adj
vantsge-cspccially sweet apples. 20
tatocs are aid TO dry up cows also
nothing is more absurd, for they are an
eminently min producing food, and
when small potatoes are not boiled and
fed to pigs, the COWS ought to have
them. Pumpkins are weltknown rs eS.
cellcnt milk feed. The seeds, however,
are diurctic in their tendency and very
likely reduce the quantity Of milk.


RESovArING Breezy Tors.-Enamel
leather tops which have become hard,
but have not lost their color, can he soft
ened and much improved in appearance
by oiling them with pur castor oil. The
oil is readily absorbed by the leather, and
will not fry out in the sun. When the
leather has turned gray, apply coat of
hattcr's blacking, after the oil has struck
in, and rub well with a cloth to bring
out the polish. Most varnishes dry too
hard to be used on tops, shellac varnish
being the only kind that can be used
with safety, hut this viii crack unless
the coat be applied very thin.


AprLEs FOR Cows.-All good, nu-
tritious, succulcnt food has n tendency
to increase the milk Of cows, IL properly
given. Apples, when fed to cows, should
first he given in small quantities with
great regularity, gradually increasing,
but never to exceed the moderate guam
titles which accord with perfect diges-
ton. Cattle sometimes break into or
chards, and without any previous inure-
ment gorge themselves to rcpletion and
become sick from ovcreatng, in which
case the milk is more or less dried up
by the fever or disease. In feeding ap-
Piles special care must I've taken to have
them previously cut, as from their
smooth exterior they are more apt to
choke cattle than any other food.-Coun-
try Gentleman.


CULTIVATED AND GRASSY ORCHARp.


The Practical Farmer describes an ex-
pertinent made on the Eastern expert
mental farm of Pennsylvania in a stand
ard Bartlett pear orchard. One portion
had lain in grass five or six years, and
had formcd-a tough sod. This was care
fully and thoroughly plowod last year
Another portion had been cropped with
vegetables until within two years, when
it was seeded to grass Both portions
had been alike dressed with fresh ashes u
year ago at the rate of one bushel per
acre. Both set heavy crop of fruit
this year. The trees on the portion two
years in grass ripcncd their fruit soonest,
dropped their leaves prematurely, and
the fruit was smaller than the other.
The trees ON the portion plowed last
year retained their leaves late, the fruit
was large and perfect, and sold at four
dollars per crate wholesale


SpptSc Uorsrs-Tbe surroundings
of spring houses are usually Of char
acter that produce, particularly in hot
weather, qualities in the atmosphere OF
the locality, similar 10 that found in
the marshes abounding in malaria. They
are usually in low places, abounding in
vegetable matter and perpetual moisture,
the essential, active agents necessary in
the elimination OF malarious' gases.
These gases are known to be Of greater
specific gravity than pure atmospheric
air; and the floor Of the spring house, or
the troughs in which the milk is placed,
usually being lower than the surface OF
the SURROUNDING ground, they naturally
flow into the spring house and constant
ly stand over and around the milk and
butter, by which they are continually
absorbed. Were there no other reason,
this alone is sufficient TO condemn the
spring house, and place it with other
matters that the march off civilization
and science has supplanted by some
thing better.


Wur,r ,rrrp Ton,cco- il well
understood that the largest Weld here
ner acre of wbeat !. n, land which bss
been cultivated for tobacco-which is
the only good thing that can be said OF
tobacco. II is a proper question Tor the
agricultural chemist whether this Is from
any influence on the soil, which the to-
bacco exerts, taking up the coarser ell
ements OF the manure and leaving those
which the wheat requires; or Is 1t Dying
to the high manuring and very complete
cultivation OF the land, generally gwen
for tobacco? IL 1t Is from high manur-
ing and good cultivation, may we no. ex-
pect such a yieid oi wheat aiter other
crops as well preparedY what might
we expect after corn manured rs they
manure tobacco what Is the limit IN
manuring ior corn, ana what Is the limit
IN the product of an acre OF corn There
would be great advantage II we should
raise ilve hundred bushels OF corn on hve
acres instead oi ten, ana Then harvest
roll hNN.hnl- n