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Agricultural And Domestic

Agricultural And Domestic image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
April
Year
1877
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Around tlie Farm. Bemove tlio coveriug over strawbcrry plants, especially if it be thick, as itmay pack and sinother the plants. Potatoes which are to bc plantee! had better be cut a few days bef ore and placed so the cut part can be dried before planting. In laying out the garden devote no more to flowers than you intend to tako care of and to do it well and scientifically. And if you do not know what tliat means let the flowers alone and devote the space to potatoes and onions. ■ The editor of the Hamilton Freeman recoinmends the following list of apple trees as being valuable fruit, and reliably hardy. to-wit : Wealthy, Duchess of Oldenburg, Willow Twig, Fameuse, Talman Sweet, Ben Davis and Red Astrachan. Harrowing Witbat. - It is a good plan, both for the wheat and the catch of cloyer seed, to harrow wheat in the spring. Select some day when tlio ground is dry enough to pulverizo freely, and, if possible, just before a rain. Wliere wheat has been drilled in a common, heavy drag will only break down the ridges between the rows and cover axposed roots. Top Dressing fok Grass Ijands. - A top dressing of clay on a light loamy soil will render it much more productivo, and its beneficial effects will soon be observed. A top dressing of swamp mud, after it has been exposed to the atmosphere for a time, is equal to the best mamire for grass crops. Sand spread over a clay soil, or on swamp muck, constitutes an excellent fertilizer, and its application to such land is a permanent benefit. Bonk Spavin Cure. - Muriatic acid, eight ounces, pulverized cantharides, one ouncc. Fill a drachin vial about one-thii-d f uil with the medicine, and, after greasing below the lump with lard or oil, apply it upon the lump, covering a space the size of a five-cent piece. Apply it once every day for four days, then keep the sore well greased with l;ird or oil until it heals ivp. If one course of this treatment fails to cure, apply the medicine as before; the second never fails. Farm Labor and Profit. - Col. Scott, in the last Producer, wisely attempts to inform the public what a farmer sells when he disposes of a load of corn at a railroad station. Hehasmarketed thirty bushels of corn, for which he gets $7,50. With it he has sold one day's labor of himself and team, hauling it to market, and anothcr day with the same forcé gathering and cribbing it. Behind thifi is the preparátiori of the ground, the rent of an acre, the seed and planting, cultivation, interest, taxes, wear and tear of tools, risks and failures from floods, droughts, and careless culture. Besides all these, hc is selling in that load of corn the creamof his land, which is probably already mortgaged to some other man; nnd, above all, he is selling his independence as a farmer. These are some of the things a man sells for the paltry sum of $7.50. Jerseym and Alderneys. - There is constantly a difficulty in the minds of the ma ss of the people relativo to the abovc-named breeds of cattie. The editor of the Country Gfénttentím defines the matter as follows, which is plain and easily understood : ' ' The Jerseys are the cattie of the island of Jersey ; are quite uniform in size and deerlike appéarance, and are ratlier small. The Alderneys are from the island of that name, and are said to be a cross between the Jerseys and I hc coarser Guernseys. They are therefore uneven in size, coarser, and more broken in coloring, often having considerable white, red or brown, which colors are bred out of the Jerseys as far as possiblo. Both breeds are noted for rich milk, and golden butter - the Guernsey cross increasing this quality in the Alderney. In tliis country, however, the two names have been used indiscriminately for precisely the same animal, and the number of ' Alderney ' cattie, strictly speaking, that have ever been imported is very small indeed !" Sheep Washing. - "Washing sheep previous to shearing, or leaving them unwashed, is a question that, like dcep or shallow plowing and thiek or thin seeding, has caused much difference of opinión among farmers. It is probable that the most profit will be found to result from carefully washing sheep and putting up the wool carefully without the slightest attempt at deception of any kind. By a little attention to the destruction of burdocks and similar weeds in shoep pastures the fleece will not be clisfigured by burs. Sheep should ho careiully tagged before being let out to grass in the spring. This is indispensable in Üie management of breeding ewes, and is necessary for all other sheep. Shearing time añ'ords an excellent opportunity for " drafting" or "culliug" sheep - removing all those that are in any way uprofitable, and filliag up their places with better stock. Weakness of constitution, predisposition to dosëhsé, wildness, barrenness, the prodtiction of inferior wool, etc, are among the causes which render culling out of the flock necessary.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus