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Show THE FARM AND HOME. THE BEST HORSE FOR CENERAL FARM USE. tare In Selecting Fowls for l'rotlt Kill the Fat Hens Top Dressing for (Irons Lamia II oner Hoards The Home. The Hone for the Farm. Strength is not the sole requisite in farm horses. As a rule, the horse that plows must also draw the wagon upon l.he road. The average farmer cannot afford to keep road horses also in his stable. The two must be combined, and combined in such a way that the rido for business or pleasure shall not be made irksome because of dullness in the motive power, or the plow stranded in the furrow because of lack of strength to move it. It is well worth noting that ability to do good service in drawing loads, or in doing general field work, is not wholh- dependent de-pendent on size of body. Courage and a resolute way of taking hold of work will often make an 1,100 pound horse worth more in a team than an easily discouraged one having a bulk several hundred pounds heavier. Again, a farm horse should be a quick walker. One may as well use oxen as some of these sluggish teams that seem to drag their feet over the the ground rather than lift them, while every motion is made with the utmost deliberation. Men and teams are less worried by active movements than by a mere creeping gait. To prove this, let a man walk a mile briskly, and at another time, saunter over the same loaves of grass prevent the manure from v -ashing, while the roots prevent waste Jf anything through leaching. The further advantage from top-dressing grass is that what fertility the soil receives re-ceives when put into grass is retained on the farm, as a smaller proportion of the hay crop is sold than any other farmer can grow. Farm Notes. Every man's farm is his garden of Eden, but he musn't fool with sour apple ap-ple trees. If you want fioO bushels of potatoes per acre, aim at "00 bushels, and you will hit the o00 mark. Bees serve as active agents in tho fertilization of plants, and it U generally gener-ally conceded that they are not destructive de-structive to the same. Insects do not like wood ashes. I'so the ashes for the trees and vines. If you have no ashes buy some. Ashes contain both lime and potash. Wherever Mitutoes are to be grown extensively they should be planted and harvested by improved implements. In one sense potatoes cannot be grown successfully without a good deal of labor, but whatever labor is saved in planting and harvesting will bo much more productive if applied to securing more thorough cultivation. Prof. J. L. Budd argues that sugar beets can be most profitably worked up in small factories, which will cost about if 10. 000 each, the crude sugar product being sent to a larger factory to be refined re-fined for market. On this plan, each county could have its own factory, and there would bo no shipping of beets long distances. The objection is the ui"w,.it v-of eviit.it fne tlio m:tnnf:u'tiiiiv road, and note the difference in feeling at the end. Tho farm horse should be kind and fearless, lie must bo such that the oldest and youngest, the boys, the girls, and the mother, as well as the father, may all drive and pet. him. A farm horse ought really to bo one of the family, since he enters so largely into the everyday work, and should also bo the means of affording so many pleasures as to make his ownership a comfort to every member of the family. Farmers' wives and daughters, as a rule, would look anm.ed at the suggestion sugges-tion of a ride for the mere pleasure of riding, so accustomed are they to tho deprivation. 'Tistruo, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis" that this should be true in so largo a number of households. Farm horses should have good lung power and good feet and legs. It is folly to think that unsound feet are not a serious disadvantage since their work is largely on soft and yielding footing. To do his work quickly and well, and to last as he should last on tho farm, a horse must be sound in every point. Where mares are used it is especially important that there be perfect soundness, sound-ness, that there be no inherited weakness weak-ness in tho progeny. A neighbor attempted at-tempted to raise a eolt last season from a mure that he owned. This animal will weigh perhaps S50 pounds, and has spavine on about as many legs as she possesses. In addition to this she is nervous, addicted to shying, even when there is no provocation, and travels very much like a sheep. Her owner bred her to some scrub stallion that was standing at a low fee. Now this would not be worth mentioning mention-ing if it were not a sample of a very common practice. In the case mentioned men-tioned outraged nature refused to bo a party to such foolishness, and the mare proved unfruitful. Am. Agriculturist of tho crude sugar. Rotation of crops is always benelieial. Laud that is given a different crop every year will not become exhausted as soon as when given up, year after year, to a single crop. A crop will take from the land certain funds in excess ex-cess of others, and causes it, to fail, though it may not be lacking in other elements. By rotation of crops tho supply of uhmt food removed is equalized, equal-ized, and the soil is bette:' enabled to produce crops for a longer period of time. It is well known says the Mirror and Fanner, that linseed meal will often improve the coat of a horse. It will also brighten the plumage of birds, a well as correct indigestion and promote pro-mote laying. Give twice or three times a week a teaspoonful to each hen in her ground food. It answers all the purposes of medicine, as well as serving serv-ing as an agreeable change of nutritive food. For drooping or mounting hens it is excellent and unsurpassed. To exterminate quack grass these methods were suggested at the Owatonna farmers' institute. By Mr. Sommerville: "Plow tho ground in the early spring then go at it and separate with a Disk harrow or plow, cultivating the ground until June, when it will all bo killed out." By Mr. Moore: 'Turn the ground up with a plow to the depth of two inches as soon as the crop is off; then keep the ground stirred until frost comes, when all roots will be dead." A close, compact head is a great advantage ad-vantage in aiding growers of cabbage to ward off the attacks of the cabbage worm. It soft-headed varieties are grown near by the white butterfly, which lays the eggs will of choice deposit de-posit them where they can be most easily protected. Most of the very early cabbages are loose-headed and more difficult to grow where tho worm abounds. The early Winningstadt is an exception to these. It forms a sugar-loaf head, which is reasonably hard, and is always a sure header. Huuaeholil Jiintt. Use tepid water for washing while silk handkerchiefs. Tin cleaned with paper will shine better than when cleaned with flannel. Wash flatirons occasionally and dry them thoroughly before putting on to heat. A teaspoonful of borax water added to cold starch renders the collars and cuffs much stiffer. When soot falls upon a carpet of rug, if covered thoroughly with salt it can be swept up without leaving a liface. "Olive slaw" is something new. It is olives pitted and then chopped fine and saturated with a sharp French dressing. Bathing the face daily in hot water removes pimples by softening the oil in the tiny tubes, and is said to prevent pre-vent wrinkles. Select the meat of an old rather than a young animal for soups. It is more nutritious and has a more pronounced pro-nounced flavor. Our English Cook: "Now, 'ma'am,' 'ow will you 'ave the duck to-day? Will you heat it cold, or shall I 'eat for you?" Life. Five drops of oil of peppormiiu in a pint of hot water well shaken makes a j peppermint water very soothing to itching surfaces where tho skin is unbroken, un-broken, used with a soft sponge. A physician remarks that there is a very direct relation between tea drinking drink-ing and cold feet, and that some women experience a cold perspiration of the soles of the feet as a result of tea drinking. The Lancet says that overwork is one of the bad habits of the present age, and that the evidence of it is apt to be first seen in loss of appetite and Bleep, which are warning signals that it is time to rest. Steel pens are spoiled and destroyed by the acid in the ink. If an old nail or old steel pen is put in the ink the acid therein will exhaust itself on them, and pens in daily use will remain re-main in good condition much longer. It is necessary to the health of the feet to bathe them daily and change the stockings very frequently. Be always al-ways careful to hang the stockings which have been wftrn where they will be thoroughly aired at night if they are to be worn again. The Farmers' Fowl. What breed of fowls is the best for the average farmer? This question is often asked by young people just beginning. be-ginning. Everyone must determine for himself what breed is best for his purposo and his immediate surroundings. surround-ings. If a farmer has no yard for his fowls, the Asiatic breeds will give tho best satisfaction, with the exception of the Plymouth Hock, which is purely an American production. These fowls give less trouble in the grain fields and gardens, for almost any kind of fence will keep them out, while the Light Brahma, if raised for eggs and broilers, cannot be beaten, as they lay a large, red egg and make good winter layers; the young chickens grow fast and make good marketable broilers at four months old, but when matured and dressed for market the carcass is too large for ordinary customers, they having a uniform weight of about six and one-half pounds for the hens and eight pounds for the males. If one is breeding for eggs alone, tho Leghorn and Minorca are excellent. The Silver Spangled Hamburg are admired ad-mired by all; they have beautiful mottled mot-tled plumage; lay a white egg equal in size to tho Leghorn, will bear confinement confine-ment well; aro great foragers and non-sitters; non-sitters; and a more beautiful fowl would be hard to find. Where one Is breeding for eggs alone he could make no better sel-i-jtion than the Silver Spangled Hamburg. For an all-purpose fowl, for eggs, early broilers, beauty of plumage and a good medium-sized medium-sized market fowl, the Plymouth Rock takes the lead. The Plymouth Rock is a better sitter than the Asiatic breeds, as the medium hen will not crush the eggs like the heavier hens. But care must be taken that the nests are free from lice when the hens begin to sit, for they will soon accumulate on the little chicks as soon as they leave the thell. If the chicks trail their wings you may be sure they are infested with vermin, and a great many more are lost when small from this disease than from anv other. Top-Drnsslnc Grass Lands. Both the leaves and roots ol grass , hold manures from wasting, and there-' there-' fore manures applied as top-dressing, for these are in less danger of wasting than applied in any other way. It used to be taught that there was waste of ammonia by exposure of manure to the atmosphere. But it is now known that "iere is only the slowest kind of de- nposition in manures thinly spread, 1 what ammonia is formed is held by ns and enrried into the soil. The |