THE WISCONSIN                     FARMEIR.            
          321

plied, is a question upon which our best farm- rate the fine from the course."
 But it is nol
ers do not agree. What is needed, is a copious supposed that with the coarse
part alone we
rain immediately after the dressing is spread, S
but as we cannot command this, we must ex- can keep our stock thrifty; consequently,
the
ercise a sound judgment in the matter. and coarse and finp must be fed together.
I have
be content with the result.  If the compost  doubt but that some one will
he able to en-
cart should follow that which carries away no
the hay, and a liberal shower follow, perhaps lighten us ujbon this point.
there would be no better time to apply the                            W.
A. B. BANGS
dressing; and in a moderately moist season, |_



Wes course will succeed well.   Starch an(
April are good seasons, but then the objectiot
exists of cutting up the fields by the feet o
the team, and the wheels.   In the autumi
there is little danger of this, unless the sea
son be very wet; the more pressing work o
the warm season is out of the way, and, upon
the whole, perhaps this is the best time foi
this operation. The third point requiring care
is the condition of the dressing when it it
used. It should be rich, that is, made of good
materials, and fermentation not carried so fat
as to set free its gaseous properties; and then
it should be fine-if as fine as sand, so much
the better. This will allow of its being spread
evenly, and present such a surface to the rain
and dews as to have every part quickly pene.
trated and its fertilizing properties carried tc
the roots below.



The Straw Question.



  The most important point of this question
is: How to make the stock eat the straw?' It
is, at least, the one upon which I need the
most information.  Cattle, when allowed to
run to a straw stack, will nose it over and
pick out the titbits, and waste the rest. They
would do the same were it fed to them, if they
could. Now the question arises, Do they have
a natural antipathy to the coarse part, or is
the presence of the chaff and what little grain
there is in it, being so much more palatable,
the cause of their dislike for the rest'!  I am
inclined to the latter opinion, as I have no-
ticed that, as a general thing, the brute crea-
tion obstinately refuse to eat a common arti-
cle of food when there is access to anything
better.
  If, then, this is the true difficulty, how are
we to obviate it ?  This is the question upon
which I want practical information.  That it
can be done at an expense that will more than
balance the profit is a question of easy solu-
tion. What is wanted is the econsomical way
of doing it. Perhaps some will say, "1sepa-



            Durability of Timber.
  TIlc piles sustaining the London Bridge
have been driven 500 years.  In 1845 they
were critically examined, and found to have
decayed but slightly; these piles are princi-
pally of elm. Old Savoy Place, in the city of
London, is sustained on piles driven 650 years
ago; they consist of oak, elm, beech and
chestnut, and are perfectly sound. The bridge
built by the Emperor Trajan over the Danube
affords a striking example of the durability
of timber in the wet state. One of these piles
was taken up, and found to be petrified to the
depth of three-quarters of an inch, and the
rest of the wood had undergone no change,
though it had been driven 1600 years.
  There is much uncertainty concerning the



     StaUUUUJLVUIUUUtlbru  ]¢urUJil 01 uLnur.
Many of the vessels built on the lakes during
the war of 1812-14, from timber then freshly
cut, have varied materially in their durabili-
ty, notwithstanding the fact that the timber
seems all to have been cut in the same man-
ner at the same season of the year. Some of
these vessels were dlecayed in three or four
years, while one of them, which, in the pres-
ence of numerous spectators, was permitted
to pass over the Falls of Niagara within a few
years, was found to be perfectly sound when
picked up below the falls.- Working Farmer.

  CHEAP SOMmF.R FOOD roR HOGs.-The edi-
tor of the New England Fanner says he has
practiced the following plan for summer feed-
ing of pigs for many years, and finds it to be
an excellent one:
  "1 A few rods of grass-plat, convenient to the
pen, is reserved for this purpose, and is ma-
nured by the weekly suds from the wash-room.
Commencing at one side of the plat, a large
basket of the thick short grass is mowed each
morning while the dew is on, and a part given
to the swine at each feeding, th4 e times a
Jay. By the time the last portion ot; the grass
is cut, the first is ready to cut again, and in
this way the ground is mowed over many
times during the summer, while the grass is
kept short, thick, tender and sweet. It keeps
the hogs in a healthy, growing condition-
'hey are fed with as much as they will eat ev-
ery day, and little additional food is needed
besides slops from the kitchen."