Agricultural And Domestic

Keep your different kinds of stock in separate fiekls and yards; it's the only safe way. Fine wool being only forty-fonr cents a pound, lower tJian since 1857, it is wise to shut up merino rams for the season and cross with Cotswold. In making whiffletrees, they will be stronger if the front side of tlie whiffle tree is nearest the heart timber and the I back side toward the bark; they will re tam their shape longer if the timber be split in (his direction, across the grain o the wood. MiiiCH cows don't shrink in milk ex cept they are under-fed. Therefore, as the pastures are almost nsed up, feed as mucli as two quarts of meal and bran daily to each cqw. Poor economy to starre a cow now and waste food in fill ing her up in the spring. Everything about the granaries anc corn cribs should be made safe against vermin. Several cats may be fed at the cost of one dog, and they earn their feec far more profitably. Make holes where they can get in and out of the buildings and under them, but a foot or more above the ground, that skunks may not take possession. Geowing Potatoes Undeii Straw. One of my neighbors last season raised over 400 bushels of fine potatoes per acre under straw, whilo the rest of us in open ground hardly got our seed back, the summer being extremely hot and dry. His plan is to plant every shallow (one or two inches deep) in rows 18 inches apart, and when the potatoes are beginning to come up to cover with straw to the depth of eight or ten inches. This straw is of advantage in dry soasons, showing but little if any benefit, and sometimos a positive damage, in wet.- New York Tribune. The Best Farmer.- The best farmer is he who raises the best and largest crops on the sinallest surface of land at the least expense, and at the same time annually improves his soil ; who understands his business and attends to it ; whose manure heap is very large and always increasing ; whose corn crib and smoke house are at home ; who is surrounded by all the necessarios and comI forts of life ; who studies liis profession, and strivesto reaeh perfection in it ; keeps a strict account of his out-goes as well as his incomes, and who knows how he stands at the end of each season. Such a farmer, in nine times out of ten, will succeed, and not only make farming a pleasant but profltable occupation. Try it and see how it is yourself, reader. - Farmers' Vindicator. A correspondent of the Building I Neivs says : " Nothing can be better to exclude rats than to concrete the surface of the ground benpn'li wood floors ; not only for tliis, but al -d to prevent, as well, damp rising. All ground floors, whether wood, paved, or tiled, shonld have a layer of concrete, three inches to four inoho tbiek, botwonn them aud the soil. I have been in the habit of doing tuis for years, and all such houses have dry floors, and are vermin proof, as far as the latter are concerned, as rats cannot disturb well-made concrete. The concrete should be made of mederately line gravel (broken flint or glass added to it as an improvement), mixed with Portland cement, in the proportion of one of cement to seven of gravel. Not too much water should be used, but the cement must be thoroughly mixed with gravel, and, when deposited in place, well trodden or beaten with a grassbeater. Three or four iuches at most is sufficient in thickness." The best time to out hard wood for durability is early winter before the sap has a thought of rnoving. December is far better than February, and November or even Oetober, often better thau later. Duriug the latter part of the growing season those substances which, with access of water, form and enrich the sap, are produced in the wood. They gradually become soluble as the winter advaüces, and before spring fairly opons (trees varyiug considerably in time) are in a soluble condition, and taxing the soil for water to carry them to every twig and swelling biul. If ent thus, when filled with water or when f uil of soluble substancGS, the durability of the timber is much less than when these substances are in a chieñy insoluble condition, as they are in the autnmn. The above indicates a general principie. It may, however, be considerably modificd in practico. For many trees may be cut in fttll lea even shortly after midsummer to good advantage. For firewood it is important to cut soon after the leaves fall. Abont tho HouseToothache of the most excruciating soit may be relieved by alum and salt, pillveriaed, mixed in equal quantitieB, and applied to tlie iioJlow tooth in a ping of cotton. When color on a fabric has boell dostroyed by acid, ammonia ia applied to neutralizo the acid, af ter which an application of chloroform will, in almost all cases, restore the original color. First -rate Tooth Powdeb, - Mix equal portions of powdered chalk and charcoill, ítdding a small quantity of powdered curd soap. Tuis simple recipe not only cleanses the toeth, but is preservativo against decay. A piecíe tif red pepper the size of your fingcr nail, put into nieat or vegetables when first beginning to cook, will aid greatly in killing the unpleasant odor arising therefrom. Bemember this for l)oiling cabbnge, green beans, onions, chickens, mutton, etc. Kebpiníi Mioe Out. - Monse holes in wdlls and closets shoukl bo flrst fllled with lime and afterward pasted over with piaster of Paris, mixed with water. It is a good plan to keep a paper of the latter in every house, M it is useful in filliug cracks, and, ii fact, comes in many other ways into honsehold economy. Fmed Macktcrei,. - For frying, take small rnackerel, as fresh as possible. Wash thom, dry them in a clean cloth and score them deoply in the back, making sevcral dcep cuts. Hoason them with a littlo salt and pepper. Go over them with a beatón egg, and then cover them thickly with grated bread-crumbs. Fry them in boiling lard and dish them hot. To Make Boots AVaterproof. - Beef taUow l'ouv ouuces, resin one ounoe, boeswax one oanoe. Molt togother. Ailil, wlici oold, i quantity of ieatffc foot oil equal to the mass. Apply with a rag, warming tho boots beforn a lire, to the noles ns woll as uppers, and rnb in well with the hand. Two applications, it is said, will niake the boots Üiorooghly waterproof and Htill keep them solt. To KBEPtlie lips fioft, ue tliis salve : White wax three drachuis, spermaoeti ne and a half drachms, olive pil six drachms, alkanet root one drachm. Molt the wax and spnnnacr ti m a cnp, then the oil and root in another, near the firo ; stram through nmslin, or fmo linen, and mix with tho wax ; add balnaiu of Peni ono drachm, essence of bergamot ten drops, otto of rose fivo drops. Moths will work in carpeta in rooms tliat are kept warm, in tho winter as weü as in tho summor. A sire method of removmg the pests is to pour strong alumwater on the floor to tho distance of half a yard, around the odges, beforo laying the carpets. Then, once or twice dvïring the season, sprinklc dry alt over tho carpot before sweeping. Insects do not liko salt, and suffleient adheres to tlio carpetto prevent their alighting uponit.