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TO KEEP PIGS STROKO AND HEALTHY
Pigs can be kept neither healthy nor
growing without plenty of good succu¬
lent food. The natural food for pigs in
the wild state is grass, the masts of the
forest roots and bulbs of plants. Its
necessity is well recognized by nature in
providing the hog with a rooter. Even
after generations of domestication, with
an ample supply of sustenance, this pro¬
clivity to root remains a prominent
cliaracreristic. Farmers who during the
winter months at least twice a week give
one feed of potatoes, beets, artichokes
or turnips, find that the pigs not only
relish, but derive great benefit from
them. Brood sows are especially helped
by a liberal supply of food diet; indeed,
it is almost compulsory in order to in¬
sure strong, healthy pigs and a natural
farrow.—New York World.
WHEAT BRAN FOR LAMBS.
Some writers are becoming eloquent
of late in the praise of wheat bran for
sheep. We have seen its benefits de¬
monstrated for other stock. The edition
of the Sheep Breeder and Wool Grower
in an article designed to advocate “gen¬
erous feeding' 1 makes this plea:
“It is hardly too much to say that
generous feeding of a lamb all summer
and all the fall will create a constitution
where only a poor ond existed to begin
with. We have often wondered to see
how a cosset or some lamb that had had
extra attention, and was about twice as
large as the average of the flock, iu au¬
tumn when (lie trying season of parasites,
diarrhea, and other troubles of sheep
life came on, would go through every¬
thing—-pouring diarrhea*, rains, fogs, slushy Iiim irr^sL
paperskin, all around -
without a particle of injury. His mag¬
nificent vitality, created by months of
liberal feeding—all his life, in fact—car¬
ries him unharmed through evils which
lay waste the average flock. The farmer
ought to begin at once with his lambs,
if he has not already, giving them all
the wheat bran they will eat up clean
once a day at least, better twice, and if
there are any weaklings remove ihem to
a smaller flock and give them extra at¬
tention—feed for that priceless vitality
and force, that constitution without
which a sheep is about the poorest piece
of property in the line of live stock.”
BEEF CATTLE.
With the farmer one of the principal
advantages in keeping cattle is that a
better opportunity is afforded of using
up the roughness. To do this to the best
advantage it is necessary to provide a
comfortable shelter so that during
growth, at least, very little grain will be
needed where a variety of crops is grown.
A good suppl y of rough feed may be
readily secured, and this can be fed to
good thrifty cattle, At present prices
it requires the very best of management
to realize a fair profit from cattle. To
let them make a slow growth so that
three or four years is required for
growth, and then when they are ready
for market, must be sold as low-grade
cattle, what will be realized for them
will not pay the cost of raising.
With cattle as with other stock one of
the items necessary for profit is a steady
growth from birth to maturity. It is, of
course, an item to secure this at as low a
cost as possible, and in wintering good
sheltering is necessary to lessen the cost,
for the reason that less grain is needed.
That is, if cattle are comfortably shel¬
tered in winter they con be kept growing
steadily if they are well fed with rough¬
ness—hay, stiaw and corn fodder. Cat¬
tle will thrive better with a good sheder
in winter with hay alone than they will
with corn alone. Supplying bran in
addition to roughness will be of material
help, especially if the roughness is first
run through a cutting box. Feeding
racks should be provided so as to lessen
the waste as much as possible.
It should be remembered that the
value of the feed is the same, and the
work necessary to properly care for them
is the same, whether the cattle are of a
good grade or are scrubs, while there
will be a very considerable difference in
the gain secured in proportion to the
food consumed.
At best, under present conditions, the
margin of profit in feeding cattle is small,
and everv advantage should be taken to
increase them. Selecting a good grade,
giving them comfortable shelter and care,
so as to maintain a steady growth, are all
important,—St. Louis Republic.
FARM ANI) GARDEN NOTES.
Do not expect eggs when the hens are
moulting.
Keep fowls of the same size and dis¬
position together.
When possible to avoid it poultry
should not be killed when they have full
craws, especially for market.
The kind of food giveu hogs plays a
large and important part as to whether
the profits shall be large or small.
The most objection to peafowls and
guineas is their noise. Otherwise they
are very nice fowls to have around.
A small allowance of bone meal in the
food will be beneficial to young fowls
that are afflicted with leg weakness.
If necessary to give sulphur to the
poultry do not feed too much at once. A
teaspoonful in a quart of food is usually
sufficient.
The principal advantage in cooking
1- 2 /food for poultry is that^ if the right
dod of a ration is supplied, the fowls
will fatten faster.
By giving a good range aud not feed¬
ing too liberally there will usually be no
difficulty in inducing the poultry to take
all needed exercise.
Some bee-keepers prefer to have the
bait sections iu the centre of the super,
while there are others who think that it
is best to have it placed in one corner.
Dr. C. C. Miller thinks that one in the
centre is as good as one in each cor¬
ner.
By sowing some grain crop to occupy
the land through the winter you will pre¬
vent the waste of nitrogen. This is es¬
pecially true if much manure has recently
been applied. If to be plowed under in
the spring, rye is the best grain that can
be used.
What does it cost you a quart to make
milk? At the New Hampshire experi¬
ment station they found that from their
best cow it cost about 1| cents a quart,
aud from their poorest cow it costs more
than 4J- cents. There is a chance for
profit in one case and a surety of loss in
the other. *
Alternating hoed crops with grass,
clover and cattle is a necessity for farm¬
ers who seek for permanent success.
The only exception to this is where men
cultivate so little land that they can and
will manure it all heavily every year.
Market gardening is about the only use
that land can be put to and bear the ex¬
pense of such method.
The Ears of insects and Animals.
It would be quite natural, of course,
to look on the side of the head of any
living creature (providing he had a head)
for the organ of hearing; such investi¬
gation, however, no odds how thorough,
would be void of results in many in¬
stances. In the clam it is found in the
base of his “foot” or feeler, In the
moit of grasshoppers it is in the fore¬
leg, while several species of insects have
it in the wing. Lobsters and crabs all
have the auditory sac at the base of the
antennas or feelers.—St. Louis Repub
lie.
The Waste of War.
Just now the world is at peace, or at !
least the civilized world is more quiet
than for a huudred years.
Fft>m 1793 to 1815, the Napoleonic
wars prevailed. 1828 between Russia j
In there was war !
and Turkey. '
In 1830-1840, civil war prevailed in
Spam and Portugal. carried '
From 1830 to 1847, war was
on between France and Algeria.
From 1854 to 1856 there was war b©
tween England and France and Russia
From 1861 to 1865, civil war pre
vailed in America.
In 1816 Prussia and Austria were in
conflict.
In 1866 Franco was at war in Mexico.
In 1870-71, France and Germany were
at war.
In 1876 and 1877 Russia and Turkey
were at war.
In this century of conflict the loss in
'h'en is estimated at 4,140,000, not count¬
ing the almost unending conflicts in
South America.
In the Frauco-German war Mulhall
estimates the losses of both Nations in
killed, died of wounds, died ot sickness,
and disabled, at 371,751; German, 133,-
751; French, 238,000.
Of these numbers, 107,000 were killed
or died of wounds; 60,000 died of sick¬
ness; 205,000 were disabled.
The same authority thus estimates the
losses in killed and wounded at the dif¬
ferent periods of the conflict.
Battles. French. German. Total
Woerch 32,000 11, DUO 43. 0C
Mars le four,. .26,0(53 16.3 X) 42.200
Gfravelotte. % • • .28,530 20,100 46,603
Paris... • « • 3o, 000 13,300 43,100
Orleans, vjb 76.500 57,400 133,000
Total...... >r 193,000 118,000 311,000
The improvement in >
war weapous is
thus stated: The Germans in the war of
1870-71 fired 400 shots to every person
killed, whereas, in the American war, it
took 740 shots to kill a man.
War costs more iu life; peace costs
more in expense. The German army is
not killing anybody now, but it cost iu
18S9 to maintain it 18,S40,0l)0 pounds,
or $95,000,0U(J. The appropriation lor
the army of the United States is one
fourth of this sum, or $24,000,000.—
Louisville Courier-Journal,
A Good Word for the Tiger.
The tiger is not such a very great mis¬
fortune to the neighborhood where he
happens to have fixed his abode. His
chase gives pleasure, excitement, and
exercise to the many hard-worked offi¬
cials, whose lives would be those of un¬
interrupted routine were it not for this
recreation. It is also of great assistance
to the district officials, as it makes them
much better acquainted with the people
under their charge, and they get to
know out-of-the-way places wuieh, but
for this sport, they would never have
visited.
The tiger is a very necessary evil in
India, and were it not for him, deer and
wild boar would increase to such num¬
bers that the cultivation of the land
would become an inmense hardship, and
almost an impossibility; he keeps them
within bounds, and relieves the ryot3
from watching their fields by night in
the unhealthy localities.
We are accustomed in England to hear
constant war preached against this ani
mal for its total extermination; but this
ought only to be incases of the destruc¬
tive cattle killer or man-eater, and these
ought to be got rid of at any cost. The
villageis are always extremely careful of
their good cattle, watching them well
aud keeping them grazing on the border
of fields where they are working, and
would be very sorry if the tiger were
exterminated; of course they themselves
are often carried off by man caters. But
tigers of this class are luckily very scarce.
Tigers are still numerous in the State
of Mysore, and panthers have often been
killed in the city itself quite recently. I
believe that in Mysore tue large it tigers
in India are to be found. Some have
been killed quit© lately by sportsmen
measuring nearly ten feet six inches from
the nose to the tip of the tail. There
ire two kept by the Maharajah in tha
courtyard of his cattle stables that measi#.©
very little short of that.—Harper’s Ma¬
gazine.
Glass beads were qaediums of exchange
in the earliest ages.
Properties of a Kentucky S.irin*. ^
Had Ponce De Leon, in his search for
the “fountain of youth,” wended his way
to Little Sandy, in Kentucky, and
plunged beneath the placid waters ot Red
Spring, he might not have had his days
prolong until now, but most certain it
is his color would have been changed to
a bright crimson. On the Frese Hardin
Farm the Red Spring is located, and for
years has been used by old ladie3 in that
vicinity to color their carpet rags; by
the young ladies to color their dress
goods aud ribbons and to blond me their
hair,
The water of this spring looks as clear
as crystal, and is remarkably cold at this
season of the year, much more so than
the water of the wells in that vicinity.
This water is much used at the approach
of Easter Sunday to color eggs, and a
strange thing about it is the di(Terence
in color upon aiticles of different quality
or substance. The hair it blondmes,
colors egg 3 , ribbons, and dress goods a
crimson red, the flesh of persons a light
blood red. The color is permanent in
both cotton and silk goods dyed by the
water. The blondining of the hair gen¬
erally lasts about three weeks, whil» a
person who bathes in its waters is given
a coat that lasts about six weeks. Soap
applied to any articles dyed by the
water but strengthens the intensity of
the color.
People for miles around come and carry
the water away in bottles, jugs aud bar¬
rels, to use in dyeing various articles. A
mystery concerning a family by the name
of Brand, whose numbers are quite
large, and whose color has always been
a phenomenon, is now explained, it is
believed, by their having always used
this water tor driukiug and bathing pur¬
poses. So long have they used it that
its qualities seem to have permeate d their
systems, and its effects are seen in their
progeny to the fourth generation. They
have known of this spring for years, and
for a long time kept its qualities a secret,
but it was divulged recently by a young
man who had married into the families.
•—Cincinnati Commercial Gazettl.
The Hedtvood Tree.
On the camping-grounds ofj the Bo¬
hemian Club on Austin Creek, and in the
Armstrong tract ^ear Guemeville, one
finds the lowland redwood in perfection.
In such places there are often rings of
great trees inclosing pits five or six feet
deep, and thirty, forty or even fifty feet
in diameter. Each of these pits is sup¬
posed to show wher3 the venerable an¬
cestor of the surrounding circle of trees
once stood. Long before it fell, in¬
numerable sprouts grew from the yet
living roots, Afterward, when the
giant yielded, the rains washed new soil
into the “bottoms” from the mountain
sides, fo fill the deep chasm. For a cen¬
tury or so there was a struggle among
the children of the fallen monarch, and
at last only seven or eight remained, to
become great trees of twelve feet in diam¬
eter set on the rim of the pit formed by
the decay of the roots of the ancient tree,
and each having a complete root system
of its own. Other trees, seedlings of
sprouts, grow up between them, and in
few more centuries the process of form¬
ing another redwood tree ring will bo
repeated about the largest of the second
growth. Ring3 of this sort can be
in all stages of formation in every
and valley of the redwood country.
Some very large rings still show the
broken edges of the central tree’s roots
projecting like the staves of a barrel
around the hollow, overgrown with fern*
and wild oxalis, or filled to
brim with fresh spicy redwood
sprouts. The green spires of the
forest,three hundred feet high, filter tho
air through their innumerable branches,
aud shut out all but faint blue sparkles
of the sky. The dust of one of the pio
neers is underfoot, and a little tree
last year’s growth is struggling to gam a
place. The red-bronze trunks of tho
trees stand like a wall, hiding the rise of
the mountains, hiding the banks of tho
river, though one hears the sound of
flow, aud tho splash of little
streams in thecanon3. Such groves
this are the temples of the
forest system.—Century.
The exact physical centre of
United States is the stone at Fort
Kan., which marks the grave of
Ogden, who died of cholera in 1855,