People And Patriot

THE RURALIST.
Correspondence Solicited.
Correspondence from practical farmers, and all interested in agriculture in any of its branches in or out of the state, upon all subjects of general interest to the farming community is respectfully solicited. Communications intended for publication in this department should reach this office as early as Friday preceding the day of publication.

Skim-milk is said to be good to cause hens to lay. It is often fed in the form of loppered milk, in which form the fowls are very fond of it. The best solid food is wheat.

Boracic acid is an excellent article for roup or cholera in fowls. A solution of a teaspoonful of the acid in half a glass of water, with a teaspoonful of the solution for a dose, is considered an excellent remedy for both diseases.

Before slaughtering an animal withhold all food from it for twenty-four hours, but allow all the water it will drink. This course empties the intestines, facilitates the cleaning of the carcass and lessens the possibility of contamination of the meat.

A corn planter has been patented by Mr. Frank H. Rybacek of Riverside, Ia. It has a seed dropper operated by sliding clips, worked by levers having daggers which enter the ground and thus move the clips, whereby the seed dropper is operated independently of the wheels.

A grade will cost no more to raise than a native, but at the same age will weigh more, sell more rapidly and pay a better profit. Yet we see on every farm numbers of natives, and the claim is that farming don't pay. Nor would any business enterprise conducted on the same principle.

Dairying may not be more profitable in some sections than regular farming; but, supposing such to be true, the farm that is devoted to dairying will annually become richer in fertility and larger crops grown every year which explains why those farmers, who make dairying a specialty, gradually become wealthy while other farmers fail.

Lady of Otsego, a Jersey cow belonging to John Soden of West Laurent, N. Y., dropped her first calf when two years old. She gave in twenty-five days over 607 pounds of milk, which made thirty-eight pounds and fifteen ounces of butter. In four months and twenty-five days she gave 3486 1/4 pounds of milk and made 227 pounds of butter.

As milk removes the phosphates and nitrogen from a pasture an application of finely ground bone should be applied every year, especially in the fall. In spring 100 pounds of sulphate of ammonia and 200 pounds of muriate of potash will be beneficial. Before seeding down the land for a pasture a heavy application of lime should be made.

Cider should be made only from perfectly clean and sound apples if it is expected to be good. Insist on cleanliness being practiced at every stage of the making. For preserving it there should first be slow fermentation in a cool place, and after fermentation bung tightly. It will soon become clear, when it should be racked off in bottles.

A corn shocker has been patented by Mr. Edward W. Comegys of Edesville, Md. The body of the machine is mounted on truck wheels, and it is provided with appliances to gather corn and stalks on the field, either at the time of cutting or afterward, to hold the corn while being tied in bundles, to carry the bundle to the shock, and to stand it up against the shock.

It is said that while pea-meal is a great butter-producing food, it is very dangerous to feed it in large quantities. It is much worse even than finely ground corn meal for forming into balls in the stomach, repelling the gastric juice, and thus treating inflammation of the stomach. The most safe way to feed it is to mix it well with plenty of oil-meal, new process.

We have received from Secretary Gilbert, the Agricultural Report of Maine for 1884, which has many valuable papers and reports of meetings, among which are valuable discussions on dairying, and grasses of Maine, a paper by Prof. Fernald of the state college with 42 plates representing well known grasses. Also analysis of fertilizers, agricultural statistics, etc.

All animals in their natural state are rarely subject to contagious diseases, while all classes of domestic animals are seldom free therefrom. We must attribute the cholera and other diseases, therefore, to the conditions surrounding the hog in the pen. From a life of freedom he is consigned to imprisonment and relegated to a diet incompatible to his tastes. With the free air around him in his former condition, he now breathes the odors of the pen. From a bed of leaves and boughs he is transported to filth and worried with insects. All these things must be considered in arriving at a knowledge of the causes which bring disease and death to our swine.

There are thousands of farms throughout the country that have no better class of horses upon them than they had fifty years ago. When it is fully understood that a $200 or $300 horse can be raised at as little expense and trouble as a cheaper one, the work of improvement will be more general, and the profits of this department of live stock growing will be increased accordingly.

Recent experiments at the New York agricultural station have shown that the smallest tubers from the most productive hills yield more crop than the largest tubers from the least productive hills, thus indicating very clearly that in order to increase the yield of potatoes it is only necessary in digging to expose the hills separately and then go through and select seed from those hills which show the most abundant crop.

In seasons when apples are abundant and cheap, as they are in most places this season, many can be profitably fed to stock. Given in small quantities they are excellent for milk cows, though if an overdose is taken nothing will dry up a cow more quickly. They are also good for hogs, but for this purpose they should be boiled and a little meal added while hot. Green, sour apples will make hogs' teeth sore when fed on corn in the ear, and will thus often do as much harm as good.

A successful feeder of animals is not one who throws food before them or sets down the pail of milk, indifferent as to whether they eat or drink. A skillful feeder watches the peculiarities of each individual, and sees to it that the tyrants do not rob the weaker ones. We have learned that stock thrives best when they only feel the weight of the master's hand in kindness.

Cows that calve in the fall will, if previously fed as they ought to have been, be in good order to withstand this trial, but are likely to lose flesh if not generously cared for. Timely attention now will keep them hearty and well prepared to do good service in their winter quarters.

How to procure green food for poultry in winter is thus explained by Mr. James Rankin, South Easton, Mass. He sows a piece of rye in August quite thickly, and by fertilizing freely he gets it eighteen inches high—a mass of green vegetation. When frozen solid, and before the snow covers it, he cuts and packs it away in an outhouse where it remains frozen till needed. Every day or two in winter he exposes a portion of this to the warm air until thawed, and then chops it fine for his hens. A free use of this green food alternately with boiled potatoes, cabbage and refuse gives healthy fowls and an abundance of eggs.

SELLING LAMBS IN THE FALL.
Fat lambs are always in good demand in autumn, and the farmer is usually in need of the money that can be realized from them. In his anxiety to turn the needed cash he is quite apt to overlook the ultimate wants of his flock. He is well aware of the fact that old sheep are not profitable in any capacity, yet he thinks that he will chance them another season, and turn his lambs over to the butcher. So the barebellied, unprofitable old ewes are kept over again, and the quality of the flock gradually deteriorates.

However well it may pay to sell young lambs in autumn, it certainly does not pay to keep old, worn-out ewes to breed from. Enough of the best ewe lambs should be saved to take the place of these old ewes. A ewe should not be kept to more than the age of four or five years. Many of them are at their best at six years of age, but as a rule they begin to deteriorate after lambing three or four times.

Old sheep may be turned off to very good advantage, even old ewes. By keeping them away from the ram in autumn they may be fattened and sold in early winter at small cost. Sheep usually come up from the pasture in autumn in excellent condition. This start should not be lost. Commence graining them lightly even before they are entirely removed from the grass. Commence early to keep them under cover of sheds or stables, and they will not fall away, as is too often the case in early winter.

Wethers can be profitably kept until three years of age, when they can be made to dress 100 pounds and upward. I think it more profitable to keep the greater part of the flock to this age than to turn off when but six or seven months old.

Early spring is a good time to turn off fat wethers. Sheep fatten well in cold weather. The farmer has more time to attend to them in winter than at any other season of the year, and by fattening in winter and holding until spring the fleece is taken off and sold separately, by which plan much more may be realized from it. They can be clipped and sold in April by this method. Mutton usually commands a good price at this time, while the wool may be held as long as desired.

On the whole, I do not believe it good policy to turn off so many lambs in autumn. I think that flocks are too much kept down in this way, and that the farmer cannot realize to the full on such young animals. We must consider for the future as well as for the present in these things. -[Cor. Wool Grower.