Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1878 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

[From the American Agriculturist for November.] Be prompt now, when the days are shortening and the season for field work is rapidly nearing its end. Utilize every hour for securing the crops yet ungathered. Neglect no chance for putting the ground in order for spring work, but turn every fair day to account, that nothing may be neglected. There are a score of things to be done on every farm that may be considered of little account singly but, which, in the aggregate, make up a serious total. Every one should look about, note down what needs to be done, and frequently examine the record. Every day the com remains uncut, after maturity, there is loss. Com gains nothing by standing after the kernels are glazed, but fodder loses rapidly in quality. Much of its digestible matter is changed into woody fiber, becoming hard and indigestible. The sooner it is cut and shocked, the sooner it can be housed in safety. Com stalks are no longer to be considered as a waste product, good for nothing but to be trodden under foot. They are worth fully the cost of putting in the crop, if well saved and cured. When cut at the right time, and well cured, $6 a ton is, by many, considered a reasonable estimate of their value for feed when hay is worth $lO per ton. Careful experiments place well-cured com stalks as worth about three-fifths as much as hay. Much has been previously said as to the methods of curing corn-fodder. A caution may yet be given. Let the stalks be thoroughly cured before being stacked. Small stacks will not readily heat and mold; large ones will. Put a ventilator, if only three or four rails set on end, spread below and tied at top, in the middle of the stack. Carefully build or protect them on top, so as to shed water. Better finish the husking, if possible, while it is still pleasant weather. It is disagreeable work on a raw November day, when fingers get numb and the body chills quickly. Last year we saw farmers with wives and children thus employed when snow was on the ground and all through the stacks. And so it will be again with others who are behind-hand.

Husking machines have been much improved since first brought out. For 1,000 bushels of com it will pay to use a power-husker. By and by the tliresher-men will have machines to do -his work, and shell the corn at the same time. Some of the steel and chilled iron com-cob mills will grind corn in the husk. For cows, cattle, hogs and mules (and perhaps horses, -when it is carefully used), it may be thus ground, conveniently and economically. The com may be cribbed in the husk, and used as required. If not’perfeetly dry, grind small quantities at a time, as it will heat if kept in large bulk. Harrowing wheat in the fall should only be done when the surface of the land is dry. No kind of cultivation should take place when the ground is wet. Experimental cultivation should be done as early as possible. Deep plowing is not needed. To kill weeds and mellow the surface are what is wanted. Harrowing may be done safely two weeks after sowing, and repeated twice or thrice. Then grass seed may be sown, but not before. It will take at once on the mellow soil, and soon get ahead of that treated in the usual letalone manner. Wheat needs nitrogen at this season, and so does the grass. One hundred pounds per acre of nitrate of soda would be a help to both. Mangels and beets are injured by frost. Those should be gathered and secured in pits this month where frost is prevalent. The fresh leaves have an injurious effect upon cattle if fed in excess. A day or two after cutting they may be fed safely—a pressed buslielbasketful at a time, sprinkled over with a handful of salt.

Horses that have been on pasture should now be taken up at night, and have some dry feed. The change of feed from green to dry should be gradual with all stock: otherwise, the appetite may fail, and the animals lose thereby. Milking cows cannot be kept in full flow without ample rations of fresh fodder. As the pastures become bare, newly-cured corir-stalks, cut and mixed ■with chopped roots and sprinkled with middlings, and ground corn and oats, may be given. Liberal feed always pays with the right kind of cows. The aim in feeding now should be to get the stock into good condition before cold weather, remembering that an animal beginning the -winter well is as good as half through it already. Sheep, if fed liberally and managed carefully, are most profitable stock. The better we do for them the better they will do for us; badly managed, they are likely to prove a failure. Feeding sheep for market is a profitable business for those who have judgment to buy well, to feed well, and to sell well. Two profits can easily be made; a big manure heap and good pay for feed and care will be returned to the skillful feeder. For more detailed information “ Stewart’s Shepherd’s Manual” may be consulted. * Feeding for pork may best be begun at once, using up the soft arid poor corn first. Some feed green stalks, cut fine, and mixed with meal; this will bring the pigs into a thrifty condition, to be finished very rapidly in November. It is a great mistake to stint animals in water; 75 per cent, of their weight is water. Digestion cannot go on without it. Water is, therefore, food in one sense, and an ample supply should be provided for every animal to drink when inclined.

If eggs are expected during the winter, they must be provided for now. Dispose of the old hens; select as many of the best young pullets and feed them well. Give wheat, soaked in hot water, once a day. Barley, buckwheat and corn, in equal proportions, may make the rest of the food; chopped cabbages will help. Provide clean quarters, plenty of water, gravel, old mortar and charcoal. Make the house warm; do not crowd too many into it, and a good supply of eggs will result. Yinegar-making is a sort of fermentation greatly facilitated by a kind of low microscopic plant, popularly known as the “ mother” of vinegar. Placing cider in old casks containing this, and mixing cider with old vinegar, hastens the process. Top-dress the orchard with fine manure this month, or later. Leave no dead weeds, grass or other rubbish near young trees to harbor mice. Recentlyplanted trees should have a conical mound of earth, about a foot high, around them. Strawberries are sometimes injured by too much covering; the straw, marsh hay or other material should be placed freely upon the soil, but only an inch or two thick over the plants themselves. Raspberries of tender sorts are laid down and covered with a few inches of earth. This is quickly done by two men—one to bend over the plants and the other to put on the soil.