Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1884 — AGRICULTURAL. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL.

The United States census shows that of the whole number of farms the largest proportion occupied by actual owners is in New England—9l per cent. The next largest is 82 per cent., in the Pacific States; in the West it in 79 per cent.; in the middle West and in the middle group it is 78 per cent.; in the South it is.6o per cent. At the Illinois Dairymen's Associating, Coh D. T. Curtis, in peaking on the subject of grasses, an id we must have plenty of good grass, r we could not expect success in the dairy. We must also have plenty of pure water for the cows. He was not particular as to breed. Select good milkers from any of the breeds, and then keep up the dairy stock by. careful selection in breeding. Vick says that gladiolus bulbs may be kept over winter in sand in the cellar, or wherever they will not freeze. Tuberose bulbs, in order to preserve their germ, which will perish in a low temperature, especially if accompanied with moisture, need to be kept dry and warm. If possible the temperature should not fall much below 65 degrees, and near 70 degrees is better. Kept iu a warm place, in ja.drawer for instance, in a room that is -always heated, they winter in good condition. The Farmer's Magazine thus says regarding sunflower's.: “The sunflower more seed than corn. A bushel .qf seed will yield a gallon of oil, and the residuum is equivalent to that of linseed. The flowers make good dye, and furnish bees with material for wax and honey. The stalks make excellent fuel, ■and furnish a fine fiber for working with silk. The leaves are a good adulterant for Havana fillers, and are eaten iky stock. As food for the table the seeds can be ground into flour and made into palatable, nutritious bread.” If it is our purpose in rearing pigs that they ehall be fattened and sold on the market for pork, it will not be necessary that the dam is a pure-bred animal. Care in this regard is needed only in case of the sire. If he has come of a well-established pure-bred family of good feeding animals, his progeny from well-formed and vigorous common or grade sows are usually all that can be desired as rapid growers and good feeders. Such sows will generally prove quite as profitable for this purpose as the higher-priced pure-bred animals. In fact, common sows are, with a good show of reason, often deemed the better suited for rearing pigs to be fattened than are the pure-bred sows —first cost being left out of the question altogether. They are believed* to be more hardy, from the supposition that their digestive and vital organs are better developed. In reading your remarks on silos and other methods of curing com fodder I was reminded of the way in which it is r often cured in Maine. After the corn is husked ('which is done as soon as the corn is cut) the fodder is put in a mow or on a scaffold—a- layer of straw and then a layer of fodder three or four inches thick, or so as to cover the straw, and so on. Usually some salt is scattered over each layer. The cattle eat it readily in winter, straw and all. It is doubtful whether in this climate and with the com fodder as green as it is usually cut, it could be kept in that way. But if fodder from corn planted for fodder only—to be cut before the corn is matured, or that from com matured, is carefully cured and kept from the weather it makes an excellent food for cattle or horses. If cut and steamed I doubt not it would be equal if not superior to silo-fodder. When left out in the fields, exposed to the weather, mixed with dirt, dust and sand by the rains and winds, it is of little value. —«7. P. S., in Philadelphia Record. I

A writer in the Christian Union says: “Comfortable barns save fodder and at the same time promote tue growth and thrift of the stock. Cattle kept in warm bams require less food to keep up the temperature of their bodies than do those who are kept in cold ones. The temperature of the body must be maintained at its normal position, 98 <degnees. If the surrounding temperature is down to zero, it is evident .that there must.be a great loss of heat from the animal. Every one knows that if the animal were killed the temperature would soon fall to nearly the same degree as that of the surrounding air, yet the great change that would then take place is no more rapid than is constantly going on from the body of the animal. This great loss of heat has to be supplied by the burning up in the system of some of the food taken in the fat of the body. If the animal is -exposed to a verv low temperature, it will require nearly all the food ordinarily eaten to keep it > from freezing. This is a method of keeping cattle warm that does not pay. Farmers are realizing the truth of this, and are making ’barns warmer than they were accustomed to formerly.” The turnip-root celery, under which name this variety-of celery is generally sold, is comparatively little known out•side of our large eity markets, while on .the Continent of Europe it is grown to •the almost entire exclusion of the stalk kinds. In these vtwo varieties of the ;same species it is simply shown how •much systematic ai d persistent cultivation can accomplish in the development of special and different characteristics. While in the one the vital en- • ergy of plant becomes directed to its • development of the leaves, in the other it is turned to the of the roots. In celeriac .the productions of large, tender roots is the object to ba ;attained. These roots, which are irregular, round, of the size of a large turmip, white outside and inside and of a texture similar to patsnips, are princiused as salad. They are boiled like beets, peeled, sliced and dressed with vinegar, olive oil,. salt and pepper. A favorite way of serving this salad is to arrange it in theccrtterof a dish, and surround it with a broad rim of red coldslaw, edged with «<>me leaves (4 corn-salad, the contrasting colors of red, green and whit • making an ornamental anil attractive dish. The sowing of the seed, transplanting and after management differ but little from that of commun celery, except that, as it requires not to be hilled-flip, it may be planted closer, placing the rows two feet apart and setting the plants a toot apart in the xews. To obtain large and tender roots the soil must lie loose, deep and moderately rich, and in ,dry seasons a thorough soaking of water should be given every two or three days. The roots are not injured by light frosts, but they are not hardy enough to winter out doors, and should therefore be heeled-in it a cool cellar, .or kept in box es coveted with soil or sand. —Ameriican Garden.