The exportation of dried apples from this country to France has greatly
increased of late years, and now it is said that a large part of this
useful product comes back in the shape of Normandy cider and light
claret.
A.B. Goodsell says in the _New York Tribune_: "Put your hen feed around
the currants. I did this twice a week during May and June, and not a
currant worm was seen, while every leaf was eaten off other bushes 150
feet distant, and not so treated."
Buckwheat may be made profitable upon a piece of rough or newly cleared
ground: No other crop is so effective in mellowing rough, cloddy land.
The seed in northern localities should be sown before July 12; otherwise
early frosts may catch the crops. Grass and clover may sometimes be sown
successfully with buckwheat.
The London News says: "Of all poultry breeding, the rearing of the goose
in favorable situations is said to be the least troublesome and most
profitable. It is not surprising, therefore, that the trade has of late
years been enormously developed. Geese will live, and, to a certain
extent, thrive on the coarsest of grasses."
When a cow has a depraved appetite, and chews coarse, indigestible
things, or licks the ground, it indicates indigestion, and she should
have some physic. Give one pint and a half of linseed oil, one pound of
Epsom salts, and afterward give in some bran one ounce of salt and the
same of ground ginger twice a week.
Asiatic breeds of fowl lay eggs from deep chocolate through every shade
of coffee color, while the Spanish, Hamburg, and Italian breeds are
known for the pure white of the eggshell. A cross, however remote, with
Asiatics, will cause even the last-named breeds to lay an egg slightly
tinted.
In setting out currant bushes care should be exercised not to place any
buds under ground, or they will push out as so many suckers. Currants
are great feeders, and should be highly manured. To destroy the worm,
steep one table-spoonful of hellebore in a pint of water, and sprinkle
the bushes. Two or three sprinklings are sufficient for one season.
Mr. Joseph Harris, of Rochester, makes a handy box for protecting melons
and cucumbers from insect enemies. Take two strips of board of the
required size, and fasten them together with a piece of muslin, so the
muslin will form the top and two sides of the box. Then stretch into
box form by inserting a small strip of wood as a brace between the two
boards. This makes a good, serviceable box, and, when done with for the
season, it can be packed into a very small space, by simply removing the
brace and bringing the two board sides together. As there is no patent
on the contrivance, anybody can make the boxes for himself.
Mr. C. S. Read recently said before the London Fanners' Club: "American
agriculturists get up earlier, are better educated, breed their stock
more scientifically, use more machinery, and generally bring more
brains to bear upon their work than the English farmer. The practical
conclusion is, that if farmers in England worked hard, lived frugally,
were clad as meanly as those of the States, were content to drink filthy
tea three times a day, read more and hunted less, the majority of them
may continue to live in the old country."--_N. E. Farmer_.
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