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Show FOR THE FARM. A farmer says-"Four years ago my farm was fearfully infested with rats. They were so numerous that I had great fear of my whole crop being destroyed by them after it was housed, but, having two acres of wild peppermint that grew in a field of wheat, cut and bound with the wheat, it drove the rats from my premises. I have not been troubled with them since, while my neighbors have any quantity of them. I feel convinced that any person who is troubled with these pests could easily get rid of them by gathering a good supply of mint and placing it around the walls or base of their barns." IF after feeding hay and then oats we allow a horse to take a large drink of water, a considerable part of the oats will be carried by the water in to the intestines, and gets little of the advantage of feeding the oats after the hay. If such a drink is taken soon after eating hay alone, the effect will no be so injurious, because hay does not need so long a time for digestion as grain. If only one or two quarts of water are allowed, it will pass the food in the stomach without changing its position to any great extent. When the stomach has got rid of a considerable part of its contents, it seems a difficult matter for it to force out the remainder, and fermentation and colic sometimes result. A drink of water at such a time, by carrying on the substance which has remained long enough, relieves the condition. This probably explains why some horse car companies have found it advisable to have their horses watered at midnight. WHEAT AND CORN-The production of wheat and corn in the United States for the year 1879, as given in the reports issued by the Department of Agriculture, was as follows: Wheat, bushels . . . . 420,122,400. Corn, bushels . . . .1,312,658,000. Total . . . .1,762,680,400. Assuming the present population of the United States to be 45,000,000 this gives an average on forty bushels to every man, woman, and child in the country. This is equivalent to 2,600 pounds per annum for each-500 pounds of wheat and 2,100 pounds corn. It is equal to a daily consumption of over seven pounds of bread for each. Only 145,122,000 bushels wheat, and 87,192,100 bushels corn of this immense crop was exported last year-but little over one seventh of the whole amount. Of the remainder much was used in the manufacture of whisky, starch, etc., and in the fattening of hogs. Even all this, and consumption and seed reckoned besides, leaves so much of the production unaccounted for, that it must be concluded that the greater part was wasted.-Cal. Farmer. CONTROLLING vicious horses.-A new and very simple method of training vicious horses was exhibited in West Philadelphia recently, and the manner in which some of the wildest horses were subdued was astonishing. The first trial was that of a kicking or "bucking" mare, which her owner said had allowed no rider on her back for a period of at least five years. She became tame and gentle in about as many minutes, and allowed herself to be ridden about without a sign of her former wildness. The means by which the result was accomplished was by a piece of light rope, which was passed around the front jaw of the mare just above the upper teeth, crossed in her mouth and thence secured back of her neck. It was claimed that no horse will kick or jump when thus secured, and that a "bucking" horse, after receiving the treatment a few times will abandon his vicious way forever. A very simple method was also shown by which a kicking horse could be shod. It [unreadable] on connecting the animal's head and ?? by means of a rope fastened to the tail and then to the ?? and incline the horse's head to one side. This, it is claimed, makes it absolutely impossible for the horse to kick on the side of the rope. At the same exhibition, a horse which for many years had to be bound on the ground to be shod, suffered the blacksmith to operate on him without attempting to kick while secured in the manner described.-Lebanon Courier. HUNGARIAN GRASS and Canada thistles.-I have raised Hungarian grass a number of years, from ten to fifteen acres yearly. It is excellent feed for cows which are giving milk, and for others. I have never known it to be injurious to horses or any other stock. We do not hesitate to feed it to horses, oxen and young cattle but to cows-especially those in milk-we like to feed it once a day through the winter. One of the reasons of our raising it is because of its value in subduing Canada thistles. There is no specific for Canada thistles. In this part of the State they have invaded the whole land, even on those farms where the most persistent fight has been made against them. I remember the first which appeared here, and how carefully my father destroyed the first little patches, and how he continued his zealous watch against them as long as he lived. But he lived to see them spring up in new places all over the farm, and he came to the conclusion (and said so to me), that we can never get rid of Canada thistles, but if we are thorough with them they will never do us any serious injury. This I have verified. They do me now no very serious injury. But I know of no way of getting entirely rid of them. There is no specific, or sure cure. When I applied, some years ago, to an old physician for relief from neuralgia, he said: "You had better keep about as well as you can." In seeking relief from these pests we must attend to the whole system of the farm. I have tried "plowing once a month." It killed the thistles and it injured the land. It will not do to expose all soils to the burning sun in that way. Then how much land, is infested with thistles which cannot be plowed-pastures, roadsides and corners of fences. In tillable land, where thistles are disposed to grow, we do not sow oats after corn, as that would greatly encourage the thistles, but we sow Hungarian (as I said), which completely smothers them, and is better than a summer fallow. We sometimes plow in a crop of Hungarian grass for manure in preparing for wheat. It is a good thing for that purpose, having a large quantity of vegetable matter and being easily turned under. Then comes wheat and a suitable reseeding of clover and timothy, and we see scarcely any thistles in the field after that till the time comes again in rotation for corn. The scattering ones which come up we clip off with a scythe. In places that cannot be plowed we mow them off at a proper time, which is not until they are fully in blossom. This gives the grass a help and tends to bring the thistles down almost to harmless proportions. If the land is rich the grass can easily be brought to overcome the thistles. If the land is poor a top-dressing of fine manure will greatly help the grass, and the thistles too, for the next year, but after that they will be of little account. I do not expect to see the end of the Canada thistles till they go off themselves, as some other weeds have. Our present hardest fight is with wild carrots.-N. ??, in Country Gentleman. |