Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1891 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. Some Very Important Points Pertaining to the Farm, Poultry-Yawl Dairy, Apiary, Household, and the Piggery. HK FAKJS.

HOG cholera is due to feeding on sour swill, grain, or corn, d i s t i llery slop, the essence of the sourness be- \ ing a vinegar \ which is formed \ lin the food after iLi# I the alcoholic ferM ' I mentation has had & L its run. The kinBship of alcohol MM|| and vinegar is very close, as all distillers know, their great art being to stave off the vinegar fermentaA 11 on. *B ake r s know it also. They

strive to keep their dough from being sour. The first effects of exclusive feeding on this sour or vinegar food is generally to produce constipation; next diarrhea, as the bowels, more or less paralyzed by the contact 6f the alcohol, vinegar, carbonic acid gas, etc., become distended, thickened, and pour off varying quantities of glairy, gluey, or watery fluid that comes mostly from the paralyzed cells coating the bowels. After awhile the blood becomes infected with the vinegary yeast; the red corpuscles adhesive and sticky; the fibrin filaments, that naturally are very delicate and almost invisible under the microscope, become thickened into massive threads, which aggregate more or less, forming skeins, clots, or plugs which catch on the valves of the heart. These fibrin filaments sometimes aggregate into long concretions that run for several inches, blocking up the blood vessels, sometimes plugging up the smaller vessels completely. The heart meantime automatically beats harder to overcome the obstacle, and if the vessels are weak they rupture near tho obstruction, and the blood pours out under the skin, if this is the site of the plug, and makes it look red almost like a case of scarlet fever. Again from tho paralyzing influence of the intestinal gases,there is, if the animal lives long enpugh, a paralysis of tho hind legs more or less complete. The hog will hunch up its back, and draw the feet together underneath. In worse cases it will move by its forefeet while the hindfeet drag.

Internal organs are subjected to internal hemorrhage from the same clots floating in the blood stream. If tho animal lives long enough there will be found in the lungs more or less breaking down and tubercular deposits, due to the vinegar yeast collecting there from tho blood stream. The appearances so much resemble those in consumption in man that hog cholera has been termed a form of quick consumption. It is not contagious, save by contact, and hogs living among the dung of infected hogs. Swine that has been fed on good swoet corn by the side of and in different pens from swine fed on distillery slop, and suffering from hog cholera, have not taken it—according to Dr. Salisbury. And swine affected with It have been cured by giving them good sweet corn. The practice of turning hogs into fields of standing corn and living on it allows the corn to be trampled into tho dirt and dung, to be wet with dews, rains, and urine. The omnipresent alcohol plant and vinegar plant begin their work, and the hogs get a sour, green, fermenting food like the distillery slop. If hogs everywhere were fed on good sound food, hog cholera would be much less. If the food is cooked thoroughly, the heat will destroy the alcohol plants and the vinegar plants, which some call baccilli, and there will be much less danger of the disease. . The immunity of swine fed on sweet, sound food, some may say is due to the resultant health of the animals resisting the disease. Be this as it may—those who are troubled with hog cholera should feed only good sound sweet corn well steamed, and unless the cases are too far gone, they will find' the disease arrested. Of course, the animals should be protected from cold.

So long as swine, and kine, too, are fed on swill, distillery slop, dungy and dirty soured corn, or 9will that is indigestible, with orange or lemon peel, trouble with the bowels must be ex.pected, more or less severe according to circumstances. If those who are interested doubt these statements, it is easy to prove or disprove them by trials accurately conducted. Feed healthy swine on distillery slop and nothing else for three months, having other healthy swine alongside in adjacent pens fed with good sweet corn and water, and then note the results. Such a course would be much better than arguing, and could prove or disprove the assertion of Dr. Salisbury, who experimented in this line many years ago.— Ephraim Cutter, M. D., LL. D., in American Agriculturist.

THIS POCtTRV YARD.

Unscientific Science. In relation to science of the kind indulged in by closet professors, Poultry Keeper gives the following whack: Whenever a “Prof.” speaks people take off their hats. The last item going the rounds is the following which the “Profs.” give out as science: In the bulletin of the Tennessee Board of Health attention is called to a condition of the egg, little known, whieh considerably impairs its sanitary value as an article of food. Soon after it became the practice to transport eggs in large quantities and to long distances by railway trains, it was found on their arrival that adhesion had taken place between the membranes of the yelk and those of the shell so that the yelk could not be turned out of the shell unbroken. On examination by experienced patholists this was found to be the result of true inflammation; the material of the adhesion was found to be precisely the same as that of the plastic exudation in iuflammatios of the lungs or bowels. Thus, structureless and unorganized as it seems, the egg, even fresh layed, is a living being and capable of disease from external causes, the cause of this inflammation being undoubtedly the shaking and friction from the motion of the cars, necessarily rendering the egg more or less unhealthy, as the products of inflammation can never be as salutary in food as those of healthy growth. But we poor chicken fellows would say that the eggs were stale before they were sent, and that the eggs had firstbegun

to adhere previous to decomposition, as they always do, journey or no journey. What these scientific fellows really discovered was that the yelk adheres to the shell, and that eggs become rotten. Wonderful discovery. Mongrol Fowls. The fact that a cross of pure-bred fowls often does better than either alone, has mislod many into crossbreeding too far. To get the best results, fowls at least on one side should be pure bred. That will mako them half bred. It is the time of year when poultry dealers are thinning out superfluous cocks, and some of the best can now be had at very moderate prices. This kind of change in poultry should be made every year or two at the farthest. *

« Drill* Laying in Winter. Cold weather is the chief cause why we do not get so many eggs in winter. Fresh moat and all other kinds of summer feed may bo provided, but in our climate we cannot entirely shield fowls from the cold. Some varieties arc less Injured than others. They have largo bodies, and make a good deal of heat themsolves. This is the chief reason, probably, why the Brahmas are better winter layers than the Leghorns.

THU UOUSKUOLD.

Canning Fruit. Pare all fruit with a silver knife, and, as It darkens by exposure to the air, drop each piece as pared into cold water and prepare only tho quantity needed to iill two cans. Fruit looks and is better when whole, tho juices are dearer and tho flavor is more fully retained. It is difficult to cook a large quantity evenly without Injuring the shape. Fqr this, reason it is better to cook only enough to fill a few jars at a time. In canning a crate of berries it is well to select tho finest, looking quarts and can expressly for siinplo desserts at table. Such particular canning will not bo necessary for cooking purposes. Cook fruit in a porcelain-lined or granite kettle. If tin is used It should be now. Cook evenly for fifteen minutes after it begins to boil.

There is no necessity for using sugar in canning fruit, but one tablospoonful to a quart of fruit is sometimes addod. When ready to can, have all articles needed close at hand. Set the can on two thicknesses of warm, wot flannel. Dip out the boiling fruit with a longhandled ladle, and fill the jar to overflowing. Run a knitting-needle three times down to the bottom of the filled can, and liberate tho air bubbles. Then, with a quick movomont, break the bubbles lying on top, and seal without tbe loss of a seobnd. In ten minutes tighten tho tops again with your wrench, and when the cans are cool wrap in paper, and keep in a cool, dry, dark place. Bo sure there are no seeds or sediment on the rubber ring before sealing. A funnel comes, which Is a great convenience In filling the jars. Do not store your cans of fruit on a swinging-shelf, unless you are certain It will bear tho weight. In canning berrios, dip out most of tho surplus juice, and seal, when boiling hot, In pint cans for „the children.-— Euntern Argus. How to Mako Good Oread. Fall and spring wheat flour mixed makes the best bread. I take a one-gallon Btone crock and put Into it about one pound of dry flour, with a dessert spoonful of salt and one of sugar, then when I have boiled the potatoes Tor dinner I drain tho boiling water from them over the flour and stir it up. After a few moments I cool it with cold water to the proper heat (In winter It requires to bo much warmer than in summer). In the meantime I soak two or three yeast cakes, according to the number of loaves required, in a cup of warm water and beat it all up together In a stiff batter; this I call potato foam. Cover it with a warm cloth and set In a rather warm place until next morning, then sift tho flour Into tho bread tray and turn the foam over it; adding more salt to suit the taste, knead it up thoroughly, drawing the outer edge of the dough Into the center, as this breaks tho grain and makes the bread tendor, then set in a warm place to rise.

Two very important things are ssary to be observed. Never let the bread get chilled while fermenting, and lot it rise well before molding into loaves, for if it does not come up the first time it will not the second. I never knead my bread but once. When taken from the oven turn the loaves upside-down and cover them with a thick cloth. In hot summer weather if you have the least doubt of your sponge toeing sour, take a little carbonate of magnesia, and dissolve in warm water and knead lutothe dough, and it will be whiter, sweeter and more wholesome for it.— Cor. Detroit Free Press. Hint* to Housekeeper*. Weld-ventilated bed-rooms will prevent morning headaches and lassitude. Apply linseed oil and turpentine in equal parts with a soft cloth to the white spots on your furniture. Wax drippings from the tapers now so fashionably used for lighting purposes can be removed from linen tablecloths with a hot iron and a piece of blotting paper, or by dipping the part in eau de cologne, which renders the wax brittle, so that it can easily be rubbed off with the finger. If you insist on your dressmaker facing your gowns with velvet or velveteen instead of braid, you will lessen your shoemaker’s bills and be saved from the purple blemish on the Instep caused by the movements of the skirts in walking. All grained or varnished wood-work should be cleaned with tea, made of medium strength and strained, after which it shonid be rubbed over with a small flannel cloth dipped occasionally in boiled linseed oil, and wiped thoroughly with a dry flannel cloth. Nothing is more convenient than a wooden skewer for cleaning out crevices and corners. *

THE EIGGEKY.

Feeding Pigs, Pigs can be grown profitably without milk, says Waldo F. Brown in the Ohio Fanner, but it will require more care to make a palatable food for them, and to induce them to cat enough of it. One of the best substitutes for milk is boiled mashed potatoes; a half bushel of these to a barrel of swill will give an excellent flavor, and also help its digestibility. I think that, used for this purpose, the unmerchantable potatoes can be made profitable, but the arrangements for cooking must be such as to economise time and fuel. With only ten or fifteen pigs, a pot of potatoes can be boiled on the cooking-stove each day. but if one has a large lot he should have a stone furnace with a sheet-iron pan, aiid plenty

of light, dry fuel, so that by starting th© fire when he first gets up, the potatoes will be cooked ready to mash by the time breakfast is over. A short Iron pan heats very quickly and economizes heat. I think a pan and furnace sufficient to cook two or three bushels at a time can be made for about five dollars. Lay {he stone with clay Instead of lime mortar. It will last much longer, as tho fire will hardon the clay. The older hogs will do very well with corn and grass, but will, I think, gain faster and make cheaper pork if fed with some bran and oil meal slop also, and bran at seventeen dollars per ton is a cheaper feed than corn at lifty cents a bushel. Care of Hrood Sow*. Brood sows should be kept separate. Even two in the same pen are liable u> injure each other by , crowding for coveted places, or one lying on or against the other. The pen should bo ample and free from obstructions and projections that may be run against. The pen should be kept clean and well bedded, and care should bo taken to keep the sowr clean from lice. Tho food should be nourishing, but not of a fattening and heating nature, but rather relaxing as tho time of approaches. In warm weather a good free range ought to bo provided, that the sow may have a chance to exercise, have good air and a chance to keep clean. It is better not to fill the stomach too full in tho morning, but let the sow feel a sense of hunger, so that she will roam around and search for food. Vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbage, turnl is, apples, etc., may be thrown to her in liberal quantities. A bed of sand or dry earth is the best, or if boards are used for a foundation, let them be tight, and the sides banked up so as to avoid all drafts of wind. Plenty of fine-cut straw or coarse grass should be provided; and, above all, the sow should have plenty of clean, fresh water to drink, and froo access to salt, bonemeal, wood ashes and charcoal. Whitewash tho pen after giving a good scraping and cleaning. Carbolic acid may bo used in cleaning and preparing for whitewashing. As the day of farrowing nears, feed bran mashes with oil meal, and see that, tho bowels aro kept open and free. A little sulphur in tho mash will do no harm. Bo sure to put pig guards all around tho pen in time. Those may be an Inch board, ten or twele Inches wide, put in like a shelf against the side of tho pen and high enough for tho pigs to readily go under, but not low enough so that tho sow wlh be likely to roll onto It. Get tho sow In the habit of’ being handled and talked to, so that she will not bo disturbed by your presence at any timo. Have on hand any conveniences which the situation and conditions may suggest, and watchfully abide tho result. If duo care has been taken, and tho sow is healthy and in good condition, there Is not likely to bo any trouble In farrowing. Nature does tho rest, as a rule.— Mirror and Farmer.