FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 278, 21 February 1874, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Every ftmior iliould have a. pan of linseed oil and a brush on hand, and whenever he buys a new tool he should souk it well with tlie oil and dry it by the fire or in the eun beforo using. The wood by tins treatment is toughened and strengthened, and rendered impervious to water. Wet a new hay rake, and when it dries it will begin to be loose in the joints; but if well oiled, the wet will have but slight effect. Shovels and forks are preserved from cheeking and cracking iv the top of the handle by oiling ; the wood becomes as smooth an glass by use, and is far less liable to bliiler the hand when long used Axe aud hammer handles often bivalt off where the wood enters the iron ; this part should bo particularly toughened with oil, to secure durability. Oitiug the wood in the eye of the me will prevent ils s-n elliug uml suriuling and sometimes getting loose. The tools on a large farm cost a laige sum of money ; they should be of the most approved kinrla. It is poor economy to set men to Work with un«uitfible, ohl-faihioned implements. T.ibo>i.eu slioi.lil be required to return their tools to the pomeiitenti places provided for them; after using, they should be put aw»v clean and bright. The mould-boards of ploughs are apt to get rusty from one season to another, even if sheltered; they should be biuahed over with a few drops of oil when put »nay, and will then remain in good order till wanted. A good domestic friutdrier may be made by lining Ihe inside of a box, like a dry poods package, with tin, and making on the sidoe little Banges or supports for wire shelves The box should be of a sue to fit over a common cooking stove, i'tw need c f>rr for conking more than six hours m a day, and often much Ims. Then top twelve hours or more the fire may be kept low, and tnts drier, Jull ot apples or peaches, is set on the stove There are holes at the top for i letting ofl'tho air laden with moisture.

A correspondent of tlio American Stock Journal writes in reply to the query, How little land will keep a cow? as follows. On the fir^t day of June la-t I commrncjtl cutting clover for one cow conbned in a j»rd enclosed by a high t.gbt board f,-nre, with a stable Pttnfhcd in which she hn< born fed. Sue has had no l'eeti but iicsh cut llovcv iroui thy lit June to the 15th October, and ull tnken from one fourth of in acre of ground, due has averaged 18 quarts of strained milk per day, from which my wife has made eight pound* of Luttor por week, dunng the four and a half months. The cm- is fire years old, and a cross of the Aywhire and Durham She has given more milk, more butter, and of & better quality, than she has ever done on paature. On another fourth of «n aotv, by mowing four tim^. I have •poured two tons of good hay. On one eighth of an aore I hare raised 150 bushels of sugar beets and carrots, whioh with the two tons of hay will keep her huudtomely through the balance of the year ; besides the manure laTed is quite an item. In the dairy districts, the usual estimate is four acros to the cow, on the hay and pasture system, whereas by soiling «nd raising roots five eighths of an aciu ii iound to be sufficient. I will state further, what I believe from nearly 30 years' experience m farming, that tbori- is nt> crop so valuable for soiling as clover, no crop, so many pounds of which, and of equal value for milk and butter, can be produced from an acre of ground. Sweet corn is a good crop for late feeding where clover will not grow, but not profitable for winter feeding.