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Yol. IX. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, OCTOBER 17, 1874. No. 41. LiYG Stock- For the Indiana Farmer.' Meeting of the Swine Breeders. At a meeting of the Swine Breeders in Exposition Building, September 30th, 1874, Mr. Cobb, of Indiana, was called to the Chair, and L. A. Burke was appointed Secretary. Mr. Cobb took the chair and stated the object of the meeting. Mr. Smith, of Michigan, was called upon and made some good remarks in regard to breeding, feeding, and the management of hogs. Mr. Todd, of Ohio, spoke at some length as to his management of swine; also put in a few words for the Chester Whites. I. N. Barker was on hand to add his testimony and made some good remarks about his mode of raising pigs. His hogs will bear him out in his remarks. Mr. Cotteral, of Michigan, gave some valuable hints to breedersof swine. As the manager of a large herd he has made a success of breeding as his pigs at the fair was living testimony. Mr. R. Baldridge was also ready to say what he knew about pigs. He is one of Indiana's best breeders. Taking all in all we think that those present were satisfied that they had some good hints in the management of hogs. By. the way, what have become of the Swine Breeders' Conventions? The breeders should hold conventions every year, so that all the improvements may be known. This subject is of great importance to the farmers of Indiana. The people of Indiana should be proud of the hog show at our last State Fair. Let them commence now to have a much larger and better show next y«ar. • L. A. Burke, «•' ■ ' Secretary. r mm» I j ■; i ■■ ' Tl ?- E? mf-W )7\m Trite Truths. ■ft M *$$$% ^sH$ S^ f'M t} W If *<» JIf*3 r '■■**«. 'tm&^A 'Mr7» Grease Heel. OXFORD OF SPRINGWOOD, TENTH DUCHESS OF SPRINGWOOD, Owned Ly B. B. Grooms, Winchester, Ky. Rules for the Care' of Sheep. Greaseheel,or scratches, js usually caused by want of care and cleanliness in the daily grooming of the horse. If the horse's legs and the stables are kept clean at all times,- he will not be troubled with scratches. Whenever used in mud or other adhesive filth, the legs_should be washed clean when the horse is put into his stall for the night. No manure should be allowed to accumulate in the stall. If earth floors are used, gypsum should be thrown freely around the stall every day, in order to absorb odors. To cure the horse, give him a "bran mash" with plenty of oil meal in it, every day for a week. At the same time wash the feet and legs clean with warm castile soap suds every day after the day's work is done. As soon as the feet arc rubbed dry, rub in with the hand a little raw linseed oil. _ Castor oil will do, as also will carbolic ointments.— Ooiintry Gentleman. Fine and Coarse Hay. Producers are sometimes nuzzled to know why city buyers generally ask for coarse, well-maturedhay in preference to the more tender and.in reality more nutritious kinds. The Live Stock Journal thus enlightens them: "City men feed hay for a different purpose than the farmer. The farmer feeds it for its nutriment and as a principal food, while the city man regards grain as the cheapest food, and only gives sufficient hay to make bulk in the stomach, and for the purpose of health. Coarse, well-matured timothy serves this purpose better than the early cut and fine grasses. They do not desire such hay as will tempt the horses to eat tbo much of it. Straw would answer this purpose, if cut and mixed with the grain, about as well. But farmers should be content with this practice of the city customer, for it enables them to sell their poorest hay for the best priee, and to retain the best quality for home consumption." Improved Stock. The Mark Lane Repress informs us that the Devon tenant farmers are "stealing a cross from tbe Shorthorn in their native herds, much to their satisfaction, too." It also adds: "For increased size, with elegant grace and aristocratic style, let them try a small red bull of the best descended Bates or Knightly tribes." This is precisely what Mr. Lewis F. Allen of Buffalo, New York, has been doing with his Devons for 20 years past or more, producing one of the finest and most useful lot of combined dairy and beef animals I ever saw. The dairymen in his vicinity, however, did not properly appreciate them, and the whole herd of about 70 head was sold last September, to go to .Colorado, where they will unquestionably dadd greatly to the improvement of the Seattle of that fine grazing country.—An I Old Farmer. A circular issued by F. C. D. McKay, the General Agent of the American Emigrant Company, gives the following : The company have already ten thousand sheep scattered among the farmers, who _ purchased land of them in flocks ranging in size from fifty to two hundred head. 1. Keep sheep dry under foot with litter. This is even more necessary than roofing them. Never let them stand or He in mud or snow. 2. Take up lamb rams early in the summer, and_ keep them up until December 1, following, when thoy may be turned out. 3. Drop or take out the lowest bars, thus saving broken limbs. 4. Count every day. 5. Begin graining with the greatest care, and use the smallest quantity at first. C. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her daily, for a few days, and mix a little alum with her salt. 7. Let no hogs eat with the sheep, by any means, in the spring. 8. Give the lambs a little millfeed in time of weaning. 9. Never frighten sheep, if possible to avoid it. 10. Sow rye for weak ones in cold weather, if you can. 11. Separate all weak, or thin, or sick, from those strong, in the fall, and give them special care. 12. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at once and washfhe wounds, and if it is fly time, apply spirits of turpentine daily,- and always wash with something healing. If a limb is broken, bind it up with splinters tightly, loosening as the limb swells. 13. Keep a number of good bells on the sheep. 14. Do not let the sheep spoil wool with chaff or burs. 15. Cut tag-locks in early spring. 16. For scours, give pulverized alum in wheat bran; prevent by taking great care in changing dry for green feed. 17. If one is lame, examine the foot, clean out between the hoofs, pare the hoofs if unsound, and apply tobacco with blue vitriol, boiled in a little water. 18. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe, and save carefully the pelt of any sheep that dies. 19. Have at least one good work by you for reference. This will be money in your pocket. Sugar Beets for Stock. In a paper before the Little Falls, N. Y., Farmers' Club. Harris Lewis said: "I have concluded that the best varieties of the French and_ German sugar beets are the most nutritious.,, tho most acceptable to the cow, and produce the best flavored milk of all the roots I ever fed. But all these sugar beets go down to the crown in the soil, and cost three or four times as much labor per ton to harvest them as it does to harvest any one of the kinds of beets known as themangoldwurzcl. Again, the sugar beets seldom yield more thpn 20 tons per acre, while the mangold wurzol often yields over 40 tons per acre. I would recommend the large wurzel, such as the Norbiton giant, long mammoth, red, yellow ovid, and yellow globe, for general cultivation, as those kinds which willgive the greatest yield per acre, and as cattle food, give entire satisfaction to all dairymen or cattle feeders, who may grow and feed them in connection with hay, or other dry forage, during winter. The more I feed beets to cows, the greater value I place upon them, as good, nutritious, health-promoting food. Diarrhea in Young Pigs. M. D. Mulford, M. D., in the American Swine and Poultry Journal, says: "Many of our swine-breeders in the West sustain considerable loss annually by their pigs dying from the effects of what is commonly called scours, caused by the bad quality of the sow's milk. The disease is more apt to make its appearance when the sow has been fed upon dry corn or musty food. It generally attacks them within one or two days after their birth, and seldom after .eight or ten days. I have never failed to cure this disease by giving the sow as much sulphur of the third decimal trituration as will stand on a nickel five-cent piece, once a day. It may be given in a little sweet milk or upon a small piece of bread, and should be given one hour before feeding. The medicine can be procured of any homeopathic physician. I have cured many cases with common sulphur, but prefer the above. . The Legislature of Kansas recently passed a law prohibiting horse-racing and the sale of intoxicating drinks at agricultural fairs. The result of this action, says The-Kansas Farmer, even in devastated Kansas, where the drouth and grasshoppers are supposed to have taken every green thing over most of the State, was to largely increase the show of farm products, while the exhibition of cattle, sheep, hogs and rioultry is reported as having been superior. The diversion of our own county and State fairs so largely,from the original intent, has become a source of very general complaint among farmers proper. As the saying goes, KansaB "has taken the bull by the norns," and is entitled to commendation for this exhibition of moral courage. South American Cattle in England.—A successful importation of live cattle; from the Kiver Platte, in South America, was lately made into England. Near a hundred head of oxen were shipped upon a steamer and taken from the Argentine Confederation to London in twenty- four days. On their arrival they were in such good condition that, after a week's restand feed, they were sold for $80 each, $45 in advance of their cost in South America. I know a farmer who bought a lumber wagon now almost 30 years ago, and today it is nearly as good as new."Sit has been in constant use, but always kept under shelter when not behind his team in the field or on the road. A neighbor of his bought ono at the same time and made at the same shop, but in consequence of always leaving it out of doors it went to ruin years ago, and now he has bought a new wagon for-the third* time. This is a fact, and the men are living to-daj', one a successful lanner, with plenty of money to use and to loan, the other an example of the worst effects ofthe opposite system. This one instance alone is sufficient to "point a moral." It should teach a lesson to every man engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. To be constantly buying farm-tools is more than a farmer can afford. Implements are expensive, and they should be made to last by being cared for. Every farmer should have a tool- house, and when a tool is not in use it should stand or hang in its place. A careful inventory of such tools occasionally would do much toward keeping them in their place and in good repair. Industry, economy and system will be of as much service to farmers as to any other class.— IF. O. Spcus"!-, Madison Co., N. Y. Fattening Swine. As to the feed, there is nothing which can compare with milk for the young pigs, and good old corn for the last few weeks of the porker's life. Of course it will not pay to feed pure milk to pigs, but the skimmed milk has more virtue in it than is generally supposed. When the cream is taken off the main loss is fat, (carbon,) one of the most abundant substances in nature, and one which the growing pig can well spare, for wo do not wish to see young animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, excessively fat. A superabundance of adipose is not indicative of health, and does not tend to development of sound bone and solid muscle. The skimmed milk still retains the casein for the growth of muscle, and the saline matters for the production of bone. An observing farmer, and one who had had much experience, once said toiis thatheconsideredskimmed milk as worth two cents a quart to feed to calves and pigs. This may be too high an estimate ; but practice and analysis agree in giving this food a high value for young animals. The best pork we have ever seen produced was milk-fed early, and corn- fed in the later stages of its growth. There can be no doubt that a variety of food is congenial to all animals, especially those of some maturity. Milk maybe the steady diet of the very young; but when they come to years of discretion they will, if left to themselves, select a variety of food, and wide is the range which hogs will greedily devour, and on which they will thrive. A good feeder manages never to cloy his pigs with one kind of food, but always stimulates their appetites with different course—potatoes at one time, apples at another, and pumpkin-pudding, thickened with meal, at another, always wining up the fattening process with dry corn on the ear to produce a solid pork. Liquid puddings may answer well for growth and the early stages of fattening, but to top off with, dry corn is the food. The question is often asked whether it pays to cook food for hogs. Some kinds of food we should cookand some we should not. Roots and grain are better steamed, digesting more readily and losing nothing by the cooking. Apples are best uncooked, as they lose much" of their aroma and stimulating influence by being heated. Cooking enables us to serve up a greater variety of dishes, and we should, therefore, always have a cauldron set in the pig pen, and if properly set the amount of fuel required is small. The cauldron, however, need not be used.—Alex. Hyde in N. Y. Times. An Opportpnita for Investment.— A correspondent-writing from Nemaha County, Neb., says: "I presume a large number of your readers would be benefited by knowing that they can gather up all thc cattle and hogs they can wish in this part of the country, at their own prices. There is no corn throughout the whole region. Consequently there are great numbers of fine native steers that must be sold." Wind Power. Last year England imported 500,000,000 i eggs from France. We have often thought that we might make greater use of the wind as a motive power than we do. There are 12,000 windmills in Holland and Flemish Belgium, each doing from six to ten horse power service, according to the strength of the wind, and working twenty-four hours per day, and every day in the month during the rainy season, and when the snows and ice are melting and the streams are hign. The annual cost of the windmills in Holland is $4,000,000. Twenty times that sum would not operate steam-power sufficient to do the work, for all the coal consumed in Holland has to be imported from England or Belgium. Iii Behalf of tlie Birds. We commend the following opinions and statements, which we find credited to a late meeting of the Potomac Fruit Grower's Society, held in Washington. D. C: Dr. Snodgrass stated that the sparrows were doing a good thing in the public parks by destroying worms and insects ameng the trees. Major King had one charge against thc sparrow; that it robs the nests and eats the eggs of our native song birds; and he wished to have our native birds more generally domesticated and protected. D. O. Munson stated that though the caterpillars prey on some kinds of the maple, they do not trouble the silver, white and sugar maples. Capt. Smith reports that the crows are doing a great work in quickly and completely killing and clearing a way the potato bugs—making clean work of them. V Dr. Brainard said that the guinea fowls cat and clear off the potato bug very • readily, wherever they bave a chance. Capt. Sm.ith kills off and rids his trees of the caterpillars by singing them with a kerosene lamp or torch—holding the blaze under the webs. He cleans his own trees and then goes to his neighbors and does the same, and without the least injury to the trees or fruit. ' Other members suggested other modes, as soap suds, wood ash lye, etc. _ Earnest and general pleas for preservation of all the birds were urged by members, and the guinea fowl and turkey highly praised as insect destroyers and field and garden cleaners, especially the tobacco field and potato patch. _ Dr. Snodgrass said he had heretofore given some attention to the effects of plenty of fruit on the health of a community, thinking it promotive of better health, which was concurred in by the members, andhe was invited to read a paper on that subject to the society at a future meeting. Our Climatic Changes all Bosh. The London Pall Mall Gazette speaks rather contemptuously of the climatic changes which we Americans think are taking place on pur continent. It calls the notion a "preposterous fancy," and snubs us by adding.—"They have scarcely begun to scratch the suaface ofa small corner of the soil for a couple of hundred years, and already the idea has begun to be popular among them that, whether from the result of man's operations, or from some unexplored physical causes, the elements themselves are participating in the great revolutions which they have themselves accomplished in the political and social world; that summer and winter arc more or less intense in their temperature (for both theories have partizans,) the heavens Jess prodigal of moisture, the seasons more irregular. ' An experiment with potatoes.— ! Potatoes of large size are said to be produced by a monk in France by cutting two side shoots from each stalk when it is five to seven inches high, and sotting them in good, rich, mellow garden soil. In a few days they send out roots, and form tubers about as early and in as large quantities as the original stalk, while the latter does not seem to be injured by the moderate pruning. The experiment also seems to •»-- have been successfully tried elsewhere fy previously. The plan my be found especial - ^'- ly serviceable in the propagation of new and rare varieties for seed. { <•
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1874, v. 09, no. 41 (Oct. 17) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA0941 |
Date of Original | 1874 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2010-10-01 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | Yol. IX. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, OCTOBER 17, 1874. No. 41. LiYG Stock- For the Indiana Farmer.' Meeting of the Swine Breeders. At a meeting of the Swine Breeders in Exposition Building, September 30th, 1874, Mr. Cobb, of Indiana, was called to the Chair, and L. A. Burke was appointed Secretary. Mr. Cobb took the chair and stated the object of the meeting. Mr. Smith, of Michigan, was called upon and made some good remarks in regard to breeding, feeding, and the management of hogs. Mr. Todd, of Ohio, spoke at some length as to his management of swine; also put in a few words for the Chester Whites. I. N. Barker was on hand to add his testimony and made some good remarks about his mode of raising pigs. His hogs will bear him out in his remarks. Mr. Cotteral, of Michigan, gave some valuable hints to breedersof swine. As the manager of a large herd he has made a success of breeding as his pigs at the fair was living testimony. Mr. R. Baldridge was also ready to say what he knew about pigs. He is one of Indiana's best breeders. Taking all in all we think that those present were satisfied that they had some good hints in the management of hogs. By. the way, what have become of the Swine Breeders' Conventions? The breeders should hold conventions every year, so that all the improvements may be known. This subject is of great importance to the farmers of Indiana. The people of Indiana should be proud of the hog show at our last State Fair. Let them commence now to have a much larger and better show next y«ar. • L. A. Burke, «•' ■ ' Secretary. r mm» I j ■; i ■■ ' Tl ?- E? mf-W )7\m Trite Truths. ■ft M *$$$% ^sH$ S^ f'M t} W If *<» JIf*3 r '■■**«. 'tm&^A 'Mr7» Grease Heel. OXFORD OF SPRINGWOOD, TENTH DUCHESS OF SPRINGWOOD, Owned Ly B. B. Grooms, Winchester, Ky. Rules for the Care' of Sheep. Greaseheel,or scratches, js usually caused by want of care and cleanliness in the daily grooming of the horse. If the horse's legs and the stables are kept clean at all times,- he will not be troubled with scratches. Whenever used in mud or other adhesive filth, the legs_should be washed clean when the horse is put into his stall for the night. No manure should be allowed to accumulate in the stall. If earth floors are used, gypsum should be thrown freely around the stall every day, in order to absorb odors. To cure the horse, give him a "bran mash" with plenty of oil meal in it, every day for a week. At the same time wash the feet and legs clean with warm castile soap suds every day after the day's work is done. As soon as the feet arc rubbed dry, rub in with the hand a little raw linseed oil. _ Castor oil will do, as also will carbolic ointments.— Ooiintry Gentleman. Fine and Coarse Hay. Producers are sometimes nuzzled to know why city buyers generally ask for coarse, well-maturedhay in preference to the more tender and.in reality more nutritious kinds. The Live Stock Journal thus enlightens them: "City men feed hay for a different purpose than the farmer. The farmer feeds it for its nutriment and as a principal food, while the city man regards grain as the cheapest food, and only gives sufficient hay to make bulk in the stomach, and for the purpose of health. Coarse, well-matured timothy serves this purpose better than the early cut and fine grasses. They do not desire such hay as will tempt the horses to eat tbo much of it. Straw would answer this purpose, if cut and mixed with the grain, about as well. But farmers should be content with this practice of the city customer, for it enables them to sell their poorest hay for the best priee, and to retain the best quality for home consumption." Improved Stock. The Mark Lane Repress informs us that the Devon tenant farmers are "stealing a cross from tbe Shorthorn in their native herds, much to their satisfaction, too." It also adds: "For increased size, with elegant grace and aristocratic style, let them try a small red bull of the best descended Bates or Knightly tribes." This is precisely what Mr. Lewis F. Allen of Buffalo, New York, has been doing with his Devons for 20 years past or more, producing one of the finest and most useful lot of combined dairy and beef animals I ever saw. The dairymen in his vicinity, however, did not properly appreciate them, and the whole herd of about 70 head was sold last September, to go to .Colorado, where they will unquestionably dadd greatly to the improvement of the Seattle of that fine grazing country.—An I Old Farmer. A circular issued by F. C. D. McKay, the General Agent of the American Emigrant Company, gives the following : The company have already ten thousand sheep scattered among the farmers, who _ purchased land of them in flocks ranging in size from fifty to two hundred head. 1. Keep sheep dry under foot with litter. This is even more necessary than roofing them. Never let them stand or He in mud or snow. 2. Take up lamb rams early in the summer, and_ keep them up until December 1, following, when thoy may be turned out. 3. Drop or take out the lowest bars, thus saving broken limbs. 4. Count every day. 5. Begin graining with the greatest care, and use the smallest quantity at first. C. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her daily, for a few days, and mix a little alum with her salt. 7. Let no hogs eat with the sheep, by any means, in the spring. 8. Give the lambs a little millfeed in time of weaning. 9. Never frighten sheep, if possible to avoid it. 10. Sow rye for weak ones in cold weather, if you can. 11. Separate all weak, or thin, or sick, from those strong, in the fall, and give them special care. 12. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at once and washfhe wounds, and if it is fly time, apply spirits of turpentine daily,- and always wash with something healing. If a limb is broken, bind it up with splinters tightly, loosening as the limb swells. 13. Keep a number of good bells on the sheep. 14. Do not let the sheep spoil wool with chaff or burs. 15. Cut tag-locks in early spring. 16. For scours, give pulverized alum in wheat bran; prevent by taking great care in changing dry for green feed. 17. If one is lame, examine the foot, clean out between the hoofs, pare the hoofs if unsound, and apply tobacco with blue vitriol, boiled in a little water. 18. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe, and save carefully the pelt of any sheep that dies. 19. Have at least one good work by you for reference. This will be money in your pocket. Sugar Beets for Stock. In a paper before the Little Falls, N. Y., Farmers' Club. Harris Lewis said: "I have concluded that the best varieties of the French and_ German sugar beets are the most nutritious.,, tho most acceptable to the cow, and produce the best flavored milk of all the roots I ever fed. But all these sugar beets go down to the crown in the soil, and cost three or four times as much labor per ton to harvest them as it does to harvest any one of the kinds of beets known as themangoldwurzcl. Again, the sugar beets seldom yield more thpn 20 tons per acre, while the mangold wurzol often yields over 40 tons per acre. I would recommend the large wurzel, such as the Norbiton giant, long mammoth, red, yellow ovid, and yellow globe, for general cultivation, as those kinds which willgive the greatest yield per acre, and as cattle food, give entire satisfaction to all dairymen or cattle feeders, who may grow and feed them in connection with hay, or other dry forage, during winter. The more I feed beets to cows, the greater value I place upon them, as good, nutritious, health-promoting food. Diarrhea in Young Pigs. M. D. Mulford, M. D., in the American Swine and Poultry Journal, says: "Many of our swine-breeders in the West sustain considerable loss annually by their pigs dying from the effects of what is commonly called scours, caused by the bad quality of the sow's milk. The disease is more apt to make its appearance when the sow has been fed upon dry corn or musty food. It generally attacks them within one or two days after their birth, and seldom after .eight or ten days. I have never failed to cure this disease by giving the sow as much sulphur of the third decimal trituration as will stand on a nickel five-cent piece, once a day. It may be given in a little sweet milk or upon a small piece of bread, and should be given one hour before feeding. The medicine can be procured of any homeopathic physician. I have cured many cases with common sulphur, but prefer the above. . The Legislature of Kansas recently passed a law prohibiting horse-racing and the sale of intoxicating drinks at agricultural fairs. The result of this action, says The-Kansas Farmer, even in devastated Kansas, where the drouth and grasshoppers are supposed to have taken every green thing over most of the State, was to largely increase the show of farm products, while the exhibition of cattle, sheep, hogs and rioultry is reported as having been superior. The diversion of our own county and State fairs so largely,from the original intent, has become a source of very general complaint among farmers proper. As the saying goes, KansaB "has taken the bull by the norns," and is entitled to commendation for this exhibition of moral courage. South American Cattle in England.—A successful importation of live cattle; from the Kiver Platte, in South America, was lately made into England. Near a hundred head of oxen were shipped upon a steamer and taken from the Argentine Confederation to London in twenty- four days. On their arrival they were in such good condition that, after a week's restand feed, they were sold for $80 each, $45 in advance of their cost in South America. I know a farmer who bought a lumber wagon now almost 30 years ago, and today it is nearly as good as new."Sit has been in constant use, but always kept under shelter when not behind his team in the field or on the road. A neighbor of his bought ono at the same time and made at the same shop, but in consequence of always leaving it out of doors it went to ruin years ago, and now he has bought a new wagon for-the third* time. This is a fact, and the men are living to-daj', one a successful lanner, with plenty of money to use and to loan, the other an example of the worst effects ofthe opposite system. This one instance alone is sufficient to "point a moral." It should teach a lesson to every man engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. To be constantly buying farm-tools is more than a farmer can afford. Implements are expensive, and they should be made to last by being cared for. Every farmer should have a tool- house, and when a tool is not in use it should stand or hang in its place. A careful inventory of such tools occasionally would do much toward keeping them in their place and in good repair. Industry, economy and system will be of as much service to farmers as to any other class.— IF. O. Spcus"!-, Madison Co., N. Y. Fattening Swine. As to the feed, there is nothing which can compare with milk for the young pigs, and good old corn for the last few weeks of the porker's life. Of course it will not pay to feed pure milk to pigs, but the skimmed milk has more virtue in it than is generally supposed. When the cream is taken off the main loss is fat, (carbon,) one of the most abundant substances in nature, and one which the growing pig can well spare, for wo do not wish to see young animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, excessively fat. A superabundance of adipose is not indicative of health, and does not tend to development of sound bone and solid muscle. The skimmed milk still retains the casein for the growth of muscle, and the saline matters for the production of bone. An observing farmer, and one who had had much experience, once said toiis thatheconsideredskimmed milk as worth two cents a quart to feed to calves and pigs. This may be too high an estimate ; but practice and analysis agree in giving this food a high value for young animals. The best pork we have ever seen produced was milk-fed early, and corn- fed in the later stages of its growth. There can be no doubt that a variety of food is congenial to all animals, especially those of some maturity. Milk maybe the steady diet of the very young; but when they come to years of discretion they will, if left to themselves, select a variety of food, and wide is the range which hogs will greedily devour, and on which they will thrive. A good feeder manages never to cloy his pigs with one kind of food, but always stimulates their appetites with different course—potatoes at one time, apples at another, and pumpkin-pudding, thickened with meal, at another, always wining up the fattening process with dry corn on the ear to produce a solid pork. Liquid puddings may answer well for growth and the early stages of fattening, but to top off with, dry corn is the food. The question is often asked whether it pays to cook food for hogs. Some kinds of food we should cookand some we should not. Roots and grain are better steamed, digesting more readily and losing nothing by the cooking. Apples are best uncooked, as they lose much" of their aroma and stimulating influence by being heated. Cooking enables us to serve up a greater variety of dishes, and we should, therefore, always have a cauldron set in the pig pen, and if properly set the amount of fuel required is small. The cauldron, however, need not be used.—Alex. Hyde in N. Y. Times. An Opportpnita for Investment.— A correspondent-writing from Nemaha County, Neb., says: "I presume a large number of your readers would be benefited by knowing that they can gather up all thc cattle and hogs they can wish in this part of the country, at their own prices. There is no corn throughout the whole region. Consequently there are great numbers of fine native steers that must be sold." Wind Power. Last year England imported 500,000,000 i eggs from France. We have often thought that we might make greater use of the wind as a motive power than we do. There are 12,000 windmills in Holland and Flemish Belgium, each doing from six to ten horse power service, according to the strength of the wind, and working twenty-four hours per day, and every day in the month during the rainy season, and when the snows and ice are melting and the streams are hign. The annual cost of the windmills in Holland is $4,000,000. Twenty times that sum would not operate steam-power sufficient to do the work, for all the coal consumed in Holland has to be imported from England or Belgium. Iii Behalf of tlie Birds. We commend the following opinions and statements, which we find credited to a late meeting of the Potomac Fruit Grower's Society, held in Washington. D. C: Dr. Snodgrass stated that the sparrows were doing a good thing in the public parks by destroying worms and insects ameng the trees. Major King had one charge against thc sparrow; that it robs the nests and eats the eggs of our native song birds; and he wished to have our native birds more generally domesticated and protected. D. O. Munson stated that though the caterpillars prey on some kinds of the maple, they do not trouble the silver, white and sugar maples. Capt. Smith reports that the crows are doing a great work in quickly and completely killing and clearing a way the potato bugs—making clean work of them. V Dr. Brainard said that the guinea fowls cat and clear off the potato bug very • readily, wherever they bave a chance. Capt. Sm.ith kills off and rids his trees of the caterpillars by singing them with a kerosene lamp or torch—holding the blaze under the webs. He cleans his own trees and then goes to his neighbors and does the same, and without the least injury to the trees or fruit. ' Other members suggested other modes, as soap suds, wood ash lye, etc. _ Earnest and general pleas for preservation of all the birds were urged by members, and the guinea fowl and turkey highly praised as insect destroyers and field and garden cleaners, especially the tobacco field and potato patch. _ Dr. Snodgrass said he had heretofore given some attention to the effects of plenty of fruit on the health of a community, thinking it promotive of better health, which was concurred in by the members, andhe was invited to read a paper on that subject to the society at a future meeting. Our Climatic Changes all Bosh. The London Pall Mall Gazette speaks rather contemptuously of the climatic changes which we Americans think are taking place on pur continent. It calls the notion a "preposterous fancy," and snubs us by adding.—"They have scarcely begun to scratch the suaface ofa small corner of the soil for a couple of hundred years, and already the idea has begun to be popular among them that, whether from the result of man's operations, or from some unexplored physical causes, the elements themselves are participating in the great revolutions which they have themselves accomplished in the political and social world; that summer and winter arc more or less intense in their temperature (for both theories have partizans,) the heavens Jess prodigal of moisture, the seasons more irregular. ' An experiment with potatoes.— ! Potatoes of large size are said to be produced by a monk in France by cutting two side shoots from each stalk when it is five to seven inches high, and sotting them in good, rich, mellow garden soil. In a few days they send out roots, and form tubers about as early and in as large quantities as the original stalk, while the latter does not seem to be injured by the moderate pruning. The experiment also seems to •»-- have been successfully tried elsewhere fy previously. The plan my be found especial - ^'- ly serviceable in the propagation of new and rare varieties for seed. { <• |
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