Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. Bome Information of Valne to tha Farmer, Stork-Breeder, Bee-Keeper, Housewife and Kttclien-Mald. THE FARM. An Oleo Teat. The best and simplest test ever devised for testing oleomargarine was given to the public some years ago by Prof. Thomas Taylor, of the United States Department of Agriculture. The test is very easily applied, and consists in combining the sample with sulphuric acid, in the proportion of one grain of the substance to two drops of the acid. When pure butter is combined with sulphuric acid in these proportions it changes immediately to an opaque, whitish yellow. Within five minutes a change in color, beginning at the edge, takes plaee, and it becomes a very pale shade of scarlAt. In thirty minutes the color deepens perceptibly. But fresh oleomargarine, made from beef fat, when treated with sulphurie acid, becomes at first a transparent amber color, and in the course of twenty minutes changes to a deep crimson. When the beef oleo is stale or decomposing it turns under the acid treatment to a dark opaque brown. Fresh oleo, with a lard basis, when first treated changes quickly to a transparent amber, a shade paler than beef oleo, and in half an hour becomes a deep brown. Butter oleo mixed will show tints In proportion to the quantities of each.

Scab on Slicep. Mr. Cassj, of Kansas, gives the following on this plague of the flock: Scab is caused by a spider-like parasite called the acarus. It is acarus which produces itch in man and mango in other animals, but the sheep acarus or scab mite will not live long on any other animal. A female acarus will burrow into the skin of a healthy sheep and within ten or twelve days lay (fight to fifteen eggs, which are quickly hatched, and the young in turn are laying eggs within the next ten or twelve days, until within three months the Increase from one female has, according to reliable authorities, reached the vast number of 1,500,000. A close observer will detect the first Indications of scab In about two weeks after exposure to contagion. One thorough dipping with tobacco and sqlphur, or other safe dip, will kill all living scab mites on the sheep. A second dipping ten days later will kill all that wero unhatched at the first dipping and leave the flock clean, provided the work has been properly done. Some, to insure success, give a third dipping ten days later. After the first dipping the sheep must be removed to fresh, uninfected yards, pastures, etc., or all will again become infected. Frost, only, will effectually cleanse a barn, yard, or pastures from the infection of seal). The Art of Stacking. Few understand the art of stacking hay so that rain will not get into the center, says Mr. W. 11. Doane in the Orange Judd Farmer. One great enemy to keeping of hay is the wind, especially In Kansas. Many time the farmer gets his hay and grain stacked up In good condition, and along comes a gust of wind and all his labor is swept away, as far as the keeping qualities of his stack is concerned. Enough hay goes to waste every year on many farms to pay for lumber to cover it. In Illinois, years ago, stacks of hay were roofed with three-eighths or five-eighths inch ceiling. They were hiproofed, making them as solid as light material could make them; then to hold them in place four 4x4 inch posts were set in the ground fourteen feet high, with four plates at the top to hold the posts in position and keep them plumb. The roof was placed in position before the posts were set up, having the corners at the cave ends of the roof gained in to permit the roof to slide up or down on or between the posts. Holes were bored in the posts to put in pins to hold the roof up. When it is time to begin stacking fasten the roof at the top of the posts and begin the stack between the posts. Build to a finish, or in case there is not enough hay, put in what there is, stopping work on the stack for any length of time, take out the pins and lower the roof down upon the hay, leaving the hay level, or nearly so. As the stack settles the roof will follow the hay down and protect it from rain and wind. If I wero going to build one I should build it for ricks instead of stacks; it would be cheaper in the long run in cost of lumber and the work generally. Then when not in use as covers for hay they could be used for storage of farm tools, wagons or anything that should be boused from sun or rain.

THE GARDEN. Horticultural Notes. Seeds of any hardy flower of which more plants are desired, are better sown as soon as ripe. The young plants which come up will bloom the next year. . When it is observed that trees planted in the spring have trouble In holding their foliage, mulch them and prune a little more, even if it is late in the season. Whl,e trees and plants are growing is the time to prune them, to make thick bushes of them. It forces out the side branches, giving, perhaps, a half dozen for every one that was there before. Common ashes from the house are excellent to use on heavy soils. Many changes of a beneficial nature have been made by their use. It gives a porosity which it is hard to get in any other way Cuttings of chrysanthemums rooted in late summer form nice little pot plants for house decoration in early winter. Plants which have been grown since spring are often too large for the purpose. Common poppy seeds sown in half wild places give variety when they grow and flower. They*-e-sow themselves when once introduced. Several lots of English field poppy seen in situations recently suggest the thought. Chrysanthemum multicaule is a recently introduced plant of dwarf habit and bearing buttercup-like flowers. In wet seasons, such as that of last year, the plants rot out badly. Hot summers suit it best. It is an annual and forms a low, thick mass of foliage. Among weepimr trees destined to become very popular is the Tea’s weeping mulberry. There is just enough sweep of the branches as they bend over to give a pretty outline. The long pendulous branches soon reach the ground. They should be had on stems of from five to six feet to look the best. A good

covering ot manure about the base of trees from which better growth is desired is a great help to them. Rains wash it down to the roots, causing a vigorous growth of brauches the following year.

THE ORCHARD. Fruit Notes. It seems very nice to tell of having to prop up the limbs of fruit trees to support the crop, but it is evidence of lack of knowledge. Such a tree is overloaded, and is being injured by being permitted to carry so much fruit. The Sweet Bough and the Yellow Harvest apples are old sorts, but for regularity of bearing they have but few equals. That they are esteemed is attested by their being found in every collection in this part of the country: Mr. Wili.ard, of Geneva, N. Y., says that more money is made there from dwarf pears than from standards, and ho thinks this to be the case wherever the soil is of a strong clay loam, as It is there. If planted so that roots are emitted from the pear stock they last a generation. A great many orchardists say that while trees grown in grass are of slower growth than when cultivated, they are almost entirely free of blight. The growth ripens well and is able to resist all fungus attacks. Coolness at the root, which sod produces, is of great benefit to all kinds of fruit trees. Pear blight is less abundant in orchards where but fair growth is made than among trees forced along by strong manures. Moderate growth well ripened is the best for pears. B'or this reason in districts where blight abounds the trees are often grown in sod. There is but, little pear.blight in Pennsylvania. The trouble with the White Doyenno pear is not that it will not bear, the fault found with it elsewhere, but that the fruit cracks so badly that not a single perfect fruit can bo got from a tree. Any other sort grafted on it does well enough, showing that in some way it is the fruit and not the tree that the fungus attacks which cracks the fruit. Some laugh at the idea of varieties running out, but there is no doubt that.a change of plants is of benefit sometimes. Raspberries and strawberries will fall to give satisfaction at times. If the same kinds are brought from distant parts to replace them they do well enough. The same may be said of potatoes. Good varieties of strawberries will deteriorate after some years, and new seedlings have to be depended on.

THIS I)AIR V, Milk for Cheese Factories. Tin pails only should bo used. All milk should bo strained immediately after it is drawn. Until after the eighth milking it should not be offered to a cheese factory. Milk from cows in good health and apparent contentment only should bo used. An abundant supply of cheap, succulent, easily digested, wholesome, nutritious feed should be providod. Pure cold water should bo allowed in quantities limited only by the cow’b capacity and desire, to drink. Cows should be milked with dry hands and only after the udders have been washed or brushed clean. Only pure, clean, honest milk should bo offered. Any deviation from that will not always be unpunished. Milk is better for being kept over night in small quantities rather than in a large quantity in one vessel. In warm weather all milk should be cooled to the temperature of the atmosphere after it lias been aired, but not before. Wild leeks and other weeds common in bush pastures give an offensive odor and flavor to the milk of animals which eat them. Milk stands should be constructed to shade from the sun the cans or vessels containing milk, as well as to shelter them from rains. All milk should be aired immediately after it has been strained. The treatment is equally beneficial to the evening and to the morning milk. A box or trough containing salt, to which the cows have access every day, is a requisite indispensable in the profitable keeping of cows. * Cows should be prohibited from drinking stagnant, impure water. The responsibility for the efficacy of that beneficial prohibition rests wholly with the individual farmer. Milking should be done, and milk should be kept only in a place where the surrounding air is pure. Otherwise the presence of the tainting odors will not be neglected by the milk. All the vessels used in the handling of milk should be cleaned thoroughly immediately after their use. A washing in tepid or cold water, to which has been added a little soda, and a subsequent scalding with boiling water, will prepare them for airing, that they may remain perfectly sweet.

THU HOUSEHOLD. Tim Care of the Eyes. Troubles of the eye are very common and numerous, and yet for many of them the simplest remedies can be applied with the most salutary results. When cinders or other foreign bodies get into the eye, do not drop in a flaxseed or use a key, for these do more damage than the cinder. It might be almost as well to get a at once as to use a key. The proper way to get a cinder out of the eye is to draw the upper lid down over the lower, utilizing the lashes of the lower as a broom, that it may sweep the surface of the former, and thus get rid of the intruder. Or, gently drawing the lid away from the globe, pass a clean camel’s hair brush, or fold of a soft silk handkerchief, two or three times between them. This procedure will in nearly all cases suffice; when it does not, the services of a physician are necessary. It is a remarkable fact that a very minute body will give rise to intense pain, and even after it has been extracted the sensation remains for an hour or more. After the intruder is out, gently bathe the lids every fifteen minutes in iced water till the feeling subsides. When the eyes itch, or are a little red, bathe them with a weak solution of salt every few hours, a teaspoonful to-a glass of cold water. Should an eye be greatly inflamed and painful, bathing it in hot water will relieve for the time being. The eye should be kept perfectly clean, pus and other discharges gently washed away with lukewarm water. The other eye may be infected by the discharges, so the affected one should bo covered by a light bandage, Remember that matters from an inflamed eye are infectious, and a person having sore eyes should have his own towels and basin, which

I ought not to be used by any ottaor pep* son, lest they, too, contfact the disease. When the eyes stick together in the morning, a little vaseline applied to the edges of the lids before going to bed is better than all the patent eye-salves in existence. Crusts forming on the edges of the lids may be readily removed by gentle friction with the tips of the lingers dipped in warm water. Advertised nostrums are usually applied without reason, and, like homemade remedies, do more harm than good. A tea leaf poultice applied to the eye by the advice ot a friend has often been the cause of a child being educated in the Blind Asylum. The eye is not a boll, “to be drawn out,” but it most assuredly will be injured if the poultice be left on long enough. v t Of no organ of the human system Is the maxim so irue as of the eye, that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” — Ladles' Hume Journal. - • Hints to Housekeepers. Soii.kd dothess hould not bo allowed to remain in the bedrooms. They taint the air and make it impure. Sprained ankle has been cured in an hour by showering with hot water poured from a height of a few foot: Common washing soda and boiling water should he used to rinse ali the waste-pipes at least once every week or ten days. All preparations for waxing floors am heated by setting the kettlo containing the mixture into another containing boiling water. By this means the beeswax becomes incorporated with the turpentine and other ingredients. No floor will bo “sticky” if tho wax Is properly rubbed in. Tho best article for rubbing in oil or wax is a parquet brush, such aa are sold by manufacturers of parquojt floors, and at largo house-furnishing stores. The use of tho tooth brush in connection with powders, washes, or othor treatment of tho teeth, should bo gentle. Bleeding of the gums is always a danger Signal. It shows that the skin has been broken, inviting tho absorption into the system of any poisonous or foreign matters which may bo present in tho mouth. If the gums are very tender, a soft brush should bo used, and used very gently, till they have hardened sufficiently to withstand more vigorous treatment. Even then, tho llablil|y will bo to err on tho side of harshnoM.

THU KITCHEN. Choice Red pea. Holt, Jelly Cake. —Three eggs, onehalf cup of white sugar, one and one-half teasuoonsfuls of baking powder sifted twice with one level cup of sifted Hour; bake in a moderately heated oven. Apple Snow. —Bako six good apples, take out the pulp, and when cold beat it thoroughly with the whites of three eggs, and sugar enough to stiffen a little; servo with a boiled custard for sauce. Rick Bread. —Two cups milk, two cups boiled rice, one cup white corn meal, throe eggs well beaten, two tablespoonsfuls butter, teaspoonful salt. Bako in a hot oven, in rather shallow pans. Baked Bananas. —Select large, ripo bananas, and bake them in the oven as you would potatoes. When the skin begins to split at the scams they are done. Take them out. and servo ono to each person as a vegetable. They should bo peeled, and eaten with butter and a little salt. Cream-Pie. —Line a plate with cruststir to o cream one-half cup of sugar and one tablespoonful of butter, add twa well-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of flour and two cups of milk; mix all together well; flavor to suit the taste, pour into tho lined plate and bake like a. custard pie. To Make Raspberry Salad. — qjiart (ts ripe raspberries you need halfl| pint of currant jelly and a gill of syrup, made by dissolving a gill of sH in a saucepan with a tablespoonfulH hot water; when melted add tho cH/: rant juice; when cold pour this all tho raspberries, and set on ice tiffl morning. Tomato Salad. —Cut six ripe tomatoes into slices and remove all the seeds; rub a dish with onion and ponr into it a mixture of oil and vinegar (in the proportion of two spoonfuls of oil toone of vinegar), sprinkle on tho tomatoes pepper and salt, and leave them in tho dressing two hours. They will then be. ready to serve. Lemon Pie. —Two lemons, juice and grated rind, two cups of white sugar, ono cup of cream or rich sweet milk, twotablespoonfuls of cornstarch mixed with the yolks of six eggs; bako in a rich, crust. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, with eight tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar; spread on the top of tho pies and brown; this will make two pies. German Puffs. —One pint of milkthree eggs, a little salt, and flour enough, to make a thin batter; pour into eight buttered cups. Have tho oven hot, and don’t be discouraged if they don’t rise for the first twenty or twenty-five minutes;, they will soon surprise you by puffing above the cups, and turning a golden brown. For sauce, beat pulverized sugar and a small piece of butter togethermoisten with milk and flavor. Salt Codfish. —Pare your potatoesand lay the codlish, nicely skinnedon top of them. Boil and servo with a simple gravy of flour and water well cooked, seasoned and heavily buttered. For breakfast “pick up” finely what is left, and in tho morning heat over in just water enough to moisten it, butter and pepper it well and spread like sandwiches on thin slices of bread in cold water, then dip in beaten egg and milk and lay on a nicely buttered frying pan over a quick fire; turn quickly, spread on your fish and serve hot.