The Farm

John T. Gillet, the great stock grower of Illinois, sold, recently in Chicago, fifty-six head of high-grade Shorthorn steers, averaging 1690 pouuds each, for $7.25 per hundred live weight. It is estiniated that witliin ten years 1,000,000 acres of land have gone out of cultivation in England, that is, have been turned into grasa. At ihe present time in Great Britain beef pays better than wheat. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer does not believe in keeping hen-inanure too long before using it As soon as lie has his poultry house cleaned, he takes the manure and spreads it over his wheat field, or a poor spot in his meadow, and you can take his word that a man with one eyecan see vvhere he putsit. If you begin pruning fruit and ornamental trees and shrubbery wbile young, and follow it up each year, you can form juBt such a top as you want. If your tree needs spreading out, cut the young shoots off justabuvea bud on the outside of a shoot; and if you want te train upward, leave a bud on the upper side of the limb where you cut it off. An Ohio Farmer correspondent says : [ can make more pork with clean, shelled corn soaked 12 hours in pure spring Water thau I can with new, soft corn, Í will keep my pigs in better condition, and my feeding floors and )astures will not be covered with coba. Phe waste in feeding new corn is greatar than the cost of shellip.g the old. Stables should be warm enough so hat horsen may be comfortable without blankets; tlien thu blankets will do good service as coverings when the animal ;3 ieft standing out in the Street. The practice of covermg a horse with a blanket in the stable, to be removed as soon as he is taken out, is like a man wearing his overcoat in doors and akiug it off when lie goes out into the pen air, This is the most diflicult season in ,he year to keep up the flow of mük ncowsandto produce good butter. ?he grass in the pasture, having been rozen, is of IitUe value' paroicularly 'or butttr making, and ye,t ït is so eary in the season that the farmer hesi;ates about feeding his best hay. Sweet orn lodder is, however, a good help. and a d iily mixture, two quarts each, of ehorts and Indian meal will be irnnü a good substituto for good pasure grass. To make a durable wash for outbuildings the following is'recommendd:Slakehalf a bushei good lime in boiling water in a covered vessel, and train it through a fine sieve; add a eek of salt dissolved in a small quanty of hot water, three pounds of rice joiled wilh water to a thin paste, one )our.d of Spanish whiting, one pound f glue softened bv soaking in water nd .hen dissolved over a water bath, nd five gallons of hot water. Agítate, over from dust and allow to stand everal days. Apply hot. Accordingto the last report of the Commissiuiier of Agriculture there re 7.000,000 persons in the United tales engaged in agricultural pursuits. The total yalue of farms and farm implements is $13.461,200,433, or twothirds of the pnHuctive wealth of the iKtiion. The valué of farm producís ,md live stock lor 1878 was 3,000,000,000, against $2 SOO,000,000 of miuing and rnanufacturiag producís. From this it appeara that a majority of the adult male population of this country is engaged in agriculture, and more th;-. half the wealth of the nation is invested in that industry. Patience Pringly, in Pet Stoek, Pig eon and Poultry Bulletin, tells how she rid her hen house of lice. She si'.ys: "I determined if lice were killablé not one should live on roosts or nests in iny fowl house. After learning that no one, especially women, can trust others to do work that you want done as you would do it, I got a gallon of cheap petroleum and with a large aponge fairly soaked the roosts and nests ; not a crack or cranny near either escaped. I followed this up with thick, strong whitewash, applied in equallv' thorough manner. I did this every three months, and I solemnly aver that all who will do likewise need never complain of the ever-present louse.' At this season of the year there are many days wheu but little work can be done in the fields, yet au inclement day can be well utilizad by looking after the farm tools, carts, "wagons and the various implements required upon the farm. A coat of p.iint applied to the wood work would preserve them for a great many years, and the paint applied to the iron work would greatly preserve it, but in this case the hearings should not be painted. A conting of lard oil would, however, be found of goed service; the bearings would be preserved from rust, and when the macaine was brought into use in Spring or Summer it would run much easier than if allowed to rust all Winter. It is reported upon good authority that upwards of 000 American horses are now doing service in the Frenoh cavalry, and have given so good satisfaction that the French army offlcers induced their secretary of war to send two of their most trusty offlcers to this country last season to inspect our horses. They want a compact, hardv active animal about 15% hands high] and it is such a elass oí norseá as this that farmers will always find it profitable to raise. It should be borne in mind that size is but one of the qualiüeations. They must have the compact form, the hardy constitution and active temperament combintd with size in order to insure a ready niaiket at a paying price.and the more style and speed they have the better the price they will command. The habits of canker worm3 are pe culiar. The miller that lays the eggs for the worm commences coming out of the ground as soon as it begins to thaw in the Spring, and immediately erawls up thp tree and lavs its' eggs iri and oa tl e buds, which hatch as soon us the tree uegu;s to lear, when tlie work of the worm commences. These millers are hardly ever seen in the daytime, and they never climb the tree except at night. From half an hourto an hour after sundown they appear to pop out of the ground, and start straight for the tree. The female has no wings and in crawling up the tre# gets stuck in the tar or priDters' ink, that should be applied to the trunk of every tree, and is thus destroyed. Colts should be broken to harness at three years old, and used in light work for two years, when they will become matured and fit for f uil work. If they are used for harj service before their joints become settled, or surrounded by a full-grown texture of muscle and ainews to support them, they are Hable to become strained, causing spavins or bony enlargements, that will deatroy their future usefulness. Any imbecile can break down the cult; but it requires good sense to build them up after they have been crippled by ignorant tasktnaster3. It is not wortü while to risk the experiment of converting sound colts into invalida, when they will live longcr aud perforun moro service if suffered to ripen into the full-matured norse before being