Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 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 is 79 per cent.; in the middle West and in the middle group it is 78 per cent.; in the South it is GO per cent. At the Illinois Dairyman’s Association, Col. D. T. Curtis,' in speaking on the subject of grasses, said we must have plenty of good grass, or 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 then- 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 Go degrees, and near 70 degrees is better. Kept in a warm place, in a drawer for instance, in a room that is always heated, they winter in good condition. The Farmer’s Magazine thus says regarding sunflowers: “The sunflower yields more seed titan corn. A bushel of 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 by 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 shall 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 regax-d is needed only in case of the sire. If he has come of a well-established pure-bred family oi 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.cn silos and • other methods of curing corn fodder I was reminded ofvthe way ,in (which it is often cured in Maine. .'After the com is husked (which ds. 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 *o as i£o . 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 isdoubtful whether in this .climate and .with the corn fodder as green as it is usually cut, it could bekppt tin that way. But if fodder from corn < jflanted lor fodder only—to be icut >b#fa»e the corn, is .matured, or that'.from . corn matured, ds carefully cured ambkfpt 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 snperiorfto silo-fodder. When left out in the fields, exposed to (the weather, mixed with dirt, dnst and sand by . th® rains and winds, it is of little .value. — J. P. S., in Pkifadefpk&ciße«on/.