Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1879 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Autumn Garden Gleanings. Martynias.— Gather for pickles while very tender. Onions.— Gather and store in a dry, cool place. Weeds. —Do not put them in the compost heap, if already gone to seed. It is best to bum them. Melons. — Should be turned occasionally, as they ripen better. Remove the very latest ones as they set. Spinach— For next spring is to be sown this month, in drills fifteen inches apart. First thoroughly manure. Beets.— Continue to hoe the lategrown crop until the tops are too large. Some thinning of the late sowings may be done for greens. Sweet Potatoes.— The largest maybe removed from the rows for use, and the rest left to grow. Do not allow the vines to root at the joints. Cabbages and Cauliflowers — Are benefited by frequent hoeing, and a dressing of guano or other concentrated manure is often applied with advantage. Turnips.— Hoe and thin the larger until prevented by growth of tops. The strap-leaf sown before the middle of the month will usually make a crop. Tomatoes.— Destroy the large green worms. Make into catchup when fruit is abundant. Gather green fruit for pickles before frost comes and spoils them. Cucumbers.— Gather for pickles every second day. Let none ripen save those needed for seed, and they should be of the earliest, otherwise the vines die. ♦ Corn.— Dry a quantity for winter use—it never comes amiss. Save the best and earliest ears for seed. Cut up and cure the stalks for winter fodder as soon as the crop is off. Glean the ground. Celery.— Keep dear of weeds. If some is wanted for early use, straighten up the leaves and draw the earth to them with the hands. But around New York this operation is not performed until next month, as the plants will now make their most rapid growth in the cool nights and warm days.

Why Stock-Farming Is Better Than GrainRaising. The advocates of stock-breeding and feeding as being more desirable farming than making grain-growing a specialty need not be without a reason for the faith that is within them. It is not a mere blind assertion that the former will pay better than the latter in a series of years. It has not simply “happened” that this has been true in the past. It can be shown that the principles of good business management strongly favor the plan of making live stock a prominent feature on the mass of farms of the country—certainly in the West. There are many farms of which this is not true, but they are in the minority, not the majority. It is an obvious principle, that, if we have to transport our products, especially long distances, it is wise to reduce the weight and - bulk as much as possible. This the farmer does in a marked degree where he feeds his grain and grass to animals instead of selling these products. The condensation is most marked where the product of the animal, as wool or milk, or better, its products, butter and cheese, are sold; but the homely proverb, that the best sack in which to ship corn to market is a beef-hide or hog-skin, expresses a truth forcibly, if not elegantly. The one great disadvantage of Western agriculture, as compared with that of the East, is the greater distance from the great markets for farm products. Complaints of too high charges for transportation have been very common. A difference of even a small fraction of a cent in the freight charges per pound, for shipping corn, may decide whether the crop is to give a profit or loss, for its value at starting is now less than half a cent per pound. A like difference would be less important in the case of pork, beef or mutton, still less in the case of cheese, butter or wool. Here is one indisputable advantage the stock farmer has. It is a generally recognized rule that the selling price of any article is largely affected by the time, labor and skill required to produce it. It is also usually true that the more frequently we change the form of the product, the more we “manufacture,” the greater the probable profit. In these regards the stock farmer has the advantage over the one who stops at grain growing. Animals require a longer time for their production, and usually more care and skill than grain growing. It is one of the most obvious of business principles that one should keep his capital employed. It.is better to loan money to the Government at 4 per cent, for a long series of years than to loan it for three months of each year at 10 per cent., and have the money lie idle the remainder of the time. It is better to take steady work at $1 a day tl an to rely on uncertain “jobs” at $2 a day. It is a special advantage of stock-growing and feeding that, if rightly managed, each animal may increase in size, weight, and value each day, and each day labor for itself, or require the labor of its owner in some form. Payment for this labor is to be expected, and some profit also. It is a special disadvantage of exclusive grain-growing that, especially with spring-sown small grains, all the work may be done in less than half the year; then the crops cease to improve or change in actual value, except to lose by waste of various kinds. During perhaps half the year the farmer giving his attention to grain-growing is comparatively idle, as are his teams, while the stock-grower may find employment during the entire year. The fact that daily labor throughout all the year is an essential in dairy farming is one chief reason for the more than usual profitableness of that interest through a long series of years. It is wise not only to keep capital constantly employed, but also to keep all the capital employed whenever it is possible. Stock-farming here, again, has the preference over grain farming.. Very many far ms are too wet, too hilly, too stony, or, as yet, too stumpy for profitable tillage, but will give a fair return when in grass. There are nooks and corners, there are the sides of streams and fences, which produce good grass, but are not used when the land is in grain. So, too, the stock will probably consume many products which would be largely wasted on grain farms. The waste of valuable food, where no stock is kept on a corn-growing farm, is very great. Even straw from the small grains can be put to better use than simply to allow it to rot for manure. The use of the word manure readily suggests one other marked advantage in rearing and feeding stock over the plan of grain or grass growing for sale. Much less is removed from the farm and much more remains to be returned to the land as manure. The hay-seller disposes of neaaly all the land has produced, except the roots; the grain-sel-ler saves the stalks, the stock-seller saves much of the grain; the wool or milkseller saves still more, as a rule, although in some respects pasturage of dairy cows is more exhaustive to land than is feeding steers.— Western Farmer. It has often been wondered where all the cast-off clothing of the British and continental armies was disposed of, but, in passing through Maritzburg, South Africa, one may see numerous

Kaffir stores with the uniforms of European soldiers laid out in every form of tempting display. Once, out of curiosity, a correspondent examined a native, and found him wearing, in the middle of an African summer, a’Guardsman’s tunic, a Lancer’s tunic and the ample cloak of a Life-Guardsman.