Agriculture, & r.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agriculture, & r.

BRIEF NOTES, Be sure and sprinkle a little pulverized charcoal about the poultry quarters. The fact that it soon disappears is evidence that more is required. The Germans are drying immense quantities of potatoes for their fle-.-t. The tubers lose 65 per cent, in weight, but are as good as fresh ones when used. The last month or so of a pig’s life has a wonderful influence upon the flavor of the pork. You can put on the frame all through the year, but the taste is determined by the feeding at the end. Feed well. The Dairyman says that it is simply annoying*to notice how much more milk one man can get from a herd of cows than another. Good milkers, it thinks, are born, not made; and when you get one you had better keep him. A writer in the Poultry Keeper keeps what he calls “ home-made tincture of iron” in a bottle of water in which a handful of rusty nails has been placed. A little of this placed in the hens’ drinking water adds greatly to their health, he thinks, but it may be doubted, Work the soil carefully and thoroughly among the roots. Handle the roots tenderly. When covered, tramp the soil firmly over them, so that the tree will be Arm by the support of the soil. Don’t forget this. Much mischief is done by over-feeding brood sows, nearly farrowed, in the belief that they will be better able to nurse their young brood. On the contrary, the food should be given very moderately before the litter appears, and afterwards should be increased only as the growing demands of the nurselings call for it. In some of the dairies in Cheshire and other parts of England half-breds (or shortboni Ayrshires) are largely used, and it is claimed that they are hardier than the shorthorn, that they produce more milk, cost less for food, and can be finished olf for the butcher in a most satisfactory manner. Prof. .Brown says that the experience of thirty years convinces him that of all animals on the farm the pig is the most free from dental irregularities; and the evidence of age, which a skilled inspector may obtain from a careful examination of the teeth, may be accepted as free from any suspicion of error. Dry sand is recommended for keeping apples and potatoes in sound condition. Into a barrel, filled with either of them, sand is poured until all the interstices are filled with it. Parties who have tried this method say the contents of the barrels are preserved until spring in a better condition than by any other means they have ever tried.