Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1890 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO THE FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Some Valuable Information for the Plowman, Stockman, Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Everybody Connected with the Farm. THE FARM. Wheat Succeeding Reans. Beans are a much more exhausting crop than is often thought. It is partly what they take from the soil, as well as their mechanical effect in leaving it too dry, that unfits them for preceding a good wheat sowing. Beans are also generally a very weedy crop,as it injures the pod to cultivate after the plant is in blossom. Abundant weeds, joined to the exhaustion of soil by the bean crop, leaves it dry and hard. When the weeds are turned under, if rain comes to cause them to rot, the seed bod is too porous to make the right kind of wheat growth. But if there be plenty of rainy weather, cultivation and free use of the roller will make the seed bed what is needed, and a dressing of superhosphate will restore the mineral fertility that the bean crop lias taken from tho soil.

Peas for Pigs. No kind of grain is better for pigs, or yet for fattening hogs, than field pqas. They require loss labor than corn, and for inducing thrifty growth they are superior to any grain, excepting possibly wheat. A patch of peas ought to be sown expressly for the pigs, and as soon as the peas are fully grown a hurdle fence moved from place to place will enable the pigs to harvest the crop themselves. While the vines are green they will eat pods and leaves, but as soon as the peas begin to ripen the pigs become expert shcUers. It is an excellent crop to grow in orchards, and the rooting of the pigs in search of scattered grains will keep the surface mellow and cover the droppings which they make, thus insuring against waste. To grow peas in orchards and feed them down with hogs there becomes a good way of keeping the trees in best condition. Feeding Crecu Corn. Aii lowa correspondent of the Western Swineherd, in relation to feeding green (unripe corn) says: lam oik 1 of those who believe that intelligent care is doing more to save swine from disease than all the remedies and preventives under tho sun. From the imp-hazard methods of fifty years ago has grown up systematic methods for tiie care of stock. And the more intelligence used in breeding and handling the greater the success. True, swine are still lowest in the scale of care, for it is slow work dissipating tho prejudice of centuries; “that anything is good enough for a hog.” We are making commendable progress—we have learned that good blood and good care tell even with swine. Yet, what good care is may often be mistaken. And now 1 come to the point I wish to touch upon and learn how nearly general opinion coincides with my observation. If hog cholera has a special season of virulence it lies between September 1, and the holidays. I know it “hath all seasons for its own,” but It is when the corn begins to glaze—when people begin cutting it up and feeding it •—that the unaccountable outbreaks of disease are most numerous and fatal. It •niuy not be the corn, but 1 have my suspicions that it will be well to feed the corn carefully. An observant friend of mine once remarked in my presence that “hog cholera always comes witli a big corn crop.” 1 did not fully understand hint then but have since concluded that he know what lie was saying. I conclude that the anatomical experts know what they are' talking about when they say that the human and the hog viscera arc gotten up pretty much on the same plan. That being so, I point tills interogation: How many, human stomachs subjected to a “hard-tack” diet for six months could switch suddenly to exclusive green corn without deathly revolt? Yet it is just this radical change that half the hogs in tho country ftust endure in the next six weeks. I am daily passing a side-hill feed lot containing some sixty head of hogs and shoats. It is owned by a good farmer, as the world goes, but he is built on the shorthorn plan and can see no merit in anything but cattle. This lot is barren of shade and as free of grass as the sole of my shoo is of hair. A trough fed from the overflow of a tank dedicated to the more favored stock, furnishes an intermittent water (and mud) supply. Dry ear corn twice, a day Is the diet. 1 expect to see cut up green corn take the place of the dry corn. The sudden transition of one to the other may not cause pestilence and death, but twice in the past six years “cholera” has swept this hog lot shortly after green corn diet was introduced. Now tills method of feeding and caring for hogs is not at all singular. It is the rule or at least tiie custom on many farms. I have no doubt at all but much—probably 50 per cent—of tho cholera of the fall and winter season is due to this reckless feeding. Is green food injurious? you may ask. Not at all when judiciously used. 1 endorse all that is claimed in behalf of the sensible use of green food, but its abuse is what 1 cavil at. Don’t violate the plainest laws of common sense. A gradual change of foods is the practical and safe way, and in changing over to green corn if care is us4d the fall cases of cholera will be fewer than heretofore. If turned from other green feed to green corn there need not be so much care used, but in all changes of diet sudden and radical measures should be avoided.

THE STOCK RANCH. Pure Water for Cows. At this season of the year the quality of milk is often unfavorably influenced by poor water, when the cause is frequently supposed to be the inferior driedup pastures on which they feed. Cows are not fastidious about the water they drink provided only that it be warm. They will often drink stagnant water from a pool while rejecting that of first quality fresh from he well. The cow’s instinct teaches' her that the cool, refreshing liquid at a temperature far below her own blood will give her an attack of indigestion. She does not care half so much for imDuritns in the water she drinks, because, forsooth, these impurities are discharged from the system in her milk. It is just here that man must step in and interfere for his own protection. He is only indirectly interested in the cow’s health, as it affects the milk she produces. He is directly interested in the milk because it, in various forms, is a staple article of his own food. Butter made from cows fed on stagnant

water cannot be rid of the original microbe infesting it, and it is almost impossible to make it keep well, however salted. This is often the trouble with summer-made butter. Live Stock Notes. Ax exchange says young pigs with thumps should be placed in clean, cool quarters, given plenty of pure, cool water to drink, and a quantity of Glauber salts night and morning. Feed freely with roots, but omit corn. Breeders in Scotland have made several sales of Shetland ponies to American importers. Tho Shetland Pony Stud-book in tills country and also in Great Britain lias greatly stimulated the trade in choicely bred ponies with pedigrees. Wyoming sheep men are now using Shropshire, Cotswold and Lincoln bucks much more than formerly, and are well pleased with the results. Wool and mutton are the main objects now. The cross of the mutton rams on grade Merino ewes is quite satisfactory. Nixk-tknths of the hogs bred and fattened for market by the average farmer do not have as much salt as they should. Only the hog starved for it will take an overdose when it is thrown to him. Away with the idea that it is dangerous to salt the hogs! Give it to them daily either in their slops or whore they can have access to it. Wood ashes mixed with it will not hurt any.

THE DAIKY. Skill 111 Clifoso-Mnklng. I will say a few words about the application of skill in a cheese factory. When a man in a cheese factory has a weighing can all greasy inside and all spattered outside, lie is not ready to sell skill. He is going to contaminate the milk, and skill and contamination won't go in partnership in diary work. When a man lias not. the milk spout washed oftener than once a week lie is not going to supply any skill; and he cannot sell skill that way, for skill does not run through a pipe like that. Lot me tell you right here that when a man sells anything he gets from a farmer, he never sells at a profit except when he sells skill, and that pays: hut bad milk and bad butter are so limited in their capacity for holding skill that the buyer never detects the skill, and so he does not pay for it. Then when a man has a milk vat that has been painted, and that may be painted yet for all any observer call tell from its outside appearance, he is not ready to sell skill. Then when a cheese-maker does not have the hoops in his factory scrubbed oftener than twice a year, lie may sell some skill; but somehow the skill outside is applied unsklllfully; and you know if you have skill in a cheese with a rough outside, the buyer wants to get the cheese for the price of unsklllfully made goods. 1 will glvo you a little wrinkle here. If you will buy a few cents' worth of borax and wash your hoops with that once a week, I believe you-seldom would have mold on the sides of the cheese. 1 have had cheese stored in rather a damp place for a long while that have been treated in that way, and I cannot find any mold coming on them yet. Skill can bo sold that way to advantage. Then if a man has a strainer cloth on his vat through which thu milk can hardly find passage at all—well, he has dammed the channel of skill. It does not run that way Suffer me to say a few plain things here. There are cheesemakers who write to me complaining of the careless neglect of the farmer in not airing his milk, when they have a strainer cloth that would completely counteract all the good of aeration. The cheesemaker should remember that it is a good thing not to complain of the mote in his neighbor's eye when there is a beam in every part of his strainer’s eye. —From an address l>y Prof. James IF. Ituhertsan at a t'unvcnUnn of dairymen at Stratford, (hit.

Tllli J’OULTK V-YAHI). I’rnlilalile Poultry un thu Furm. Miss Mary Zimmerman writes to the Nirrthwextern Funner and Breeder the following concise directions for the care of poultry. FEED. Poultry should bo fed regularly, and a change should not be made in food too often. The best, and most excellent articles of food for poultry Is wheat, or parched corn. Fowls must be fed twice a day and must have a constant supply of pure, fresh water. The indestructible stone, drinking fountains so generally used are well adapted to - hold the supply. The chicken house should bo cleaned once or twice a week. Poultry should have lime in some form for the formation of the egg shell. BREEDING AND HATCH I NO. Hens should be set in the evening, and furnished with a good nest in a darkened spot. The hen should be taken off the nest every day, for food, water, brief exercise, and a good dusting. The young chicks should not bo removed until twenty-four hours after they all are batched. Young chickens should be fed regularly and often until live or six weeks old. If intended for marketing they should be forced and marketed early; eariy spring chickens pay best. If the chickens have been liberally fed they, will be in prime condition for the' table without any extra fatening. In raising fowls for market, as a rule, the chicks should be killed as soon as ready, certainly as soon as they have attained full size, as then better prices are generally procured than later in the season. THE MARKET. Poultry costs less to produce than beef, and brings a higher average price. Fowls and eggs are always in demand. In preparing poultry for market dress as nicely as possible. For scalding poultry, the water should be as near the boiling as possible, without actually boiling; the bird being held by the head and legs, should be immersed and lifted up and down in water three times; this makes picking easy. Most of the poultry sold is wet picked, and such is generally preferred. In preparing frozen poultry for the late market, dry pick the poultry, as it will keep longer, hold its color better, and commands better prices; the head should be left on, as it looks better.

THJE AFIARV Marketing Honey. Every producer should interview his customers, and ascertain the size he

prefers the honey to be in, and whether he prefers comb or extracted. The editor of Oleanhujs in Dee Culture lately interviewed the commission men of large cities, who handle honey, to ascertain tiie size of section the trade prefer. Their replies show, almost unanimously, that the weight preferred is a trifle less than a pound; preferring it to weigh fifteen to seventeen ounces, as retailor* sell by tho piece, and buy by weight. Standard Size. —Tiie size determined upon by universal consent is 4 1 ix%x1% inches. As this no doubt will be tho standard, it will save a great deal of “vexation of spirit" if all adopt it. Shipping eases and crates for holding sections on the hives, will be manufactured to suit this, and when odd sizes aro ordered, delays will necessarily ensue, which might cause the producer to loso his whole crop. I would prefer a section that would hold just as near one pound as possible. Lately 1 Interviewed dealers, who strive to do a straight business, and that is what they prefer. Another one of the snide order preferred light weight; buying by weight and selling by the piece. Size of Package. —Tills will depend largely upon where the honey is to bo disposed of. Where the producer delivers in person, to consumers or to small dealers, a package of one dozen sections will be preferable. A family will take a case of this size when it would not a larger one. If shipped by express, when those small package* would be unloaded from the car, they aro too often either tossed onto the load, or caught in tho hands of another, and much of tiie honey broken loose from .the sections. If enough of these small packages were packed into a crate, with handles to it, and largo enough so that two men would handle it, who are paid by the day and work slow ly, and sent by freight, It might reach Its destination safely. So the size of the package should depend largely on how and where it is to be marketed.

Till: iioi si iioi.n, IVlßiidtng: a (ilovo. The following directions for mending a kid glove are given in an eastern paper: Every one who has attempted the tusk knows that it requires a .particularly deft touch to mend a rent in a glove successfully. In the picture of Hilda, the heroine of the “.Marble Faun,” engaged in mending her gloves. Hawthorne drawn attention to the grace of this 'peculiarly feminine task. The best, glove-menders In the world, unfortunately for this sentiment, are men, “professional glovo sewers,” who handle the kid and needle with methodical dexterity. A rip Is a simple matter to them; it is In mending a tear in the kid that they show their skill. The color of the glove is carefully matched In silk taffeta or any* silk goods of firm, light quality, and in sewing silk. A piece of the silk is run on the insldo carefully under the rent so as to bring the edges together, but hot so us to show on the outside of the glove, and the edges of the kid are. then drawn together by almost invisible stitches, as a elotlirnondor mends cloth, Properly rubbed with the finger, the rent hardly shows If It is not In a plael*where the stitches are stretched when the glove Is worn. After a little perseverance any one can catch up tills art of glove-mending and learn to do the work with something of the skill of an expert. A rip In the stitching even may bo “stayed’ with a bit of silk, where it la caused by a special strain, and may bo kept in tids way from breaking opt again.

Hint n tc» flmiMokitoperft. Keki* cake in a tin or wooden box. New Iron should lie gradually heated at first; It will not be so likely to crack. Furniture needs cleaning us much us other woodwork. It may lie washed with warm soap suds quickly, wiped dry and then rubbed with an oily cloth. Clean off the oil und polish witli chamois skin. The French method of administering castor oil to children is to pour the oil into a pan over a moderate tire, break an egg into It anil stir up; when it Is dono liavor with a little salt or sugar or current jelly. Whenever your little ones cough and are hoarse, and there are any signs of croup, stir a fourth of a teaspoonful of allspice' in a teaspoonful of molasses, and give at once. Repeat the dose as often as necessary. It Is very loosening and efficacious. The way to can peaches Is to .have a kettle of boiling water and another of syrup, made quite rich. Drop tho peaches Into the water and let them boll until just tender when lift them out with a wire spoon and put them Into the can; tiill it up with the clear syrup and seal directly. Skim-mii.k added to twice the quantity of warm water cleans graining or any varnished woodwork easily, and Injureg the varnish less than any other preparation, as proved by many years trial. It brightens up oilcloths to wash them over with skim-iniik after cleaning. To cure hiccoughs sit erect and inflate tho lungs fully. Then, retaining the breath, bend forward slowly until the chest meets the knees. After slowly rising again to tho erect position, slow ly exhale the breath. Repeat this process a second time, and the nerves will be found to have received an excess of energy that will enable them to perform their naturtl functions.

THE KITCHEN. Brciiklaxt Cake. Two tablespoons of siiKiir, two tablespoons of butter, two eggs, ono cup of milk, one (scanty) quart of flower, one teaspoon of soda, two of cream tartar. Hake twenty minutes In a- quick oven. Eat hot with butter. Klee Budding. One and one-half enps of sugar, one cup of rice, a piece of butter half the size of an egg, put in a two-quart basin, and fill the basin witli good, rich milk, put in a slow oven and bake two hours. Stir two or three times. For Flowers. liirch-bark canoes of various sizes are charming flower holders. One tilled witk dark-purple pansies is effective, the contrast of color being delightful. Very small canoes, six or seven inches long,, are just the thing for holding violets. Breakfast Balls. A little cold beef or mutton, or both, & slice of ham or salt pork, a small quantity of bread crumbs, a little parseley (if yon have it,) a little sage; chon all together and add seasoning to taste, a little melted butter and an egg well beaten. Take a tablespoonful of the mixture, dredge it in flour and make it into a ball,, which fry a quick brown. This is a.good way of getting rid of cold meat and is &. nice breakfast dish. ;‘i[