Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1891 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL READERS. The Farm vs. Ufa In thfc 'City- A Simple Yet Practical Device for Keeping a Gate Open—A Movable Fig Sty—Household Hints—Kitchen Recipes, Elo, Etc. THE FARM. Farming vs. City Elio.

K ARMING is just abominable,” I said to myself one line June moruN. ing. “Hero I go from 4:30 a. m. until 8 p. m., just 1 as fast as I can \ fly, and what does ( it amount to? ! Plain clothes, { plain food, no jP social advanJv tages. no excur- // sions, no parties, W and very lltle cash in the bank. I g-kfe am just tired of worrying with contrary hens and

ailing chickens, with the jiesslng of inilk and butter, with trying to be cook, house-inaid, seamstress, nurse, dairymaid, poultry-keeper, and a multitude of other things. There is no time for dress up in the afternoon, no time for social reading or mental advancement. When evening comes every one is too tired to do aught but drop into a chair, lazily run over the weekly news, then off to bed. It’s stagnation itself. I wish we lived in town.” I thereupon began to dream how lovely things would be there. My husband would find work at a good salary, or meet with a congenial partner in some business. I’d take boarders, and make ten times as much money as I could fussing with chickens. I would grow ntellectual and so would the children, and life would be worth living. Well, we left the farm and went in town to live, and this is how it all turned out. The city was one of the big ones, so big we had to rent a house three miles from the center to avoid being squeezed into no space at all, and to have the rent reasonable. I soon found that my shopping trips must be well considered, for car fare soon amounted to a neat little sum. Our mother church was located near the business portion of the town; after walking the distance one Sunday with the children and paying 30 cents in car tare the next, we concluded to give up the long-wished-for privilege and attend a church nearer home. I began to be told how unhealthy it was. I had not thought of sickness; at once I was sure one of our family would be laid away in the cemetery on tho hill. I begged to move back to the farm, but just then the children came down with the whooping cough, and so the poor dears had to be isolated. There was only a small yard with no resources; their only amusement was to sit on the porches and watch what was passing. How they longed for the freedom of the farm, where they could shout, chase the pigs and chickens, ride horse-back, build forts, dig wells, do so much that suited their active nature. The plaintive cry was, “I don’t know anything to do.” The little boys around would swear and play so roughly I found I could not encourage their coming, and whep I heard how little ones were treated at school by the older scholars, I groaned and declared they should not go. My neighbors were very pleasant, and, not being on a farm I supposed they were all happy—one especially, who was the owner of a pretty house, well furnished, a nice turnout, and her children near by; surely, I said, she must bo happy; yet, when I remarked the same to her, she replied, with a sad smile, “I’m far from being happy. I lie awake many nights planning how to make money. I want to be rich, and can’t be; so I am just miserable.” The husband of my next door neighbor was a book-keeper, so, having a certaiu sum to depend upon, I concluded he was satisfied, but when I learned that he left at (ia. m., and did not return until 10 p. m., eating a cold dinner, I did not wonder that he preferred farm life; and later they rented a farm. Another was distracted because he had mortgaged his farm to buy city lots. Dull times and no business had used up everything, and he, too, went back to the farm. Many others were similarly situated. I found even those well-estab-lished businesses worried by failure of health and the perplexities of hard times. The partner my husband sought could not be found, nor the salary. I didn’t think, when it came to the point, that taking boarders would bo any more agreeable or as profitable as raising poultry. I was surprised at the rigid economy my neighbors practiced. They dressed well, but had to deny themselves things I considered essential. Butter, eggs, and milk, though so poor, cost so much when used as freely as I was accustomed to. We returned to the farm a wiser and a more contented family, and have endeavored to remedy the evils instead of running away from them. To Save Tine and Patience.; Here is a device for keeping a gate open. The drawing explains itself. If the gate swings free from the ground there will be room enough to fasten the

stick to the lower board, and it will drag after the (rate and brace it open. Just kick it through and it will drag after it and brace it shut. Try it. — IP. U. Pearce, in Practical Farmer THE DAlttlf. Take care of the little details. The cost of a quart of milk at the New Hampshire station averaged for the herd 2.74 cent. The best cow on good feed made milk for 1.59; milk for the poorest cow on the same food cost 4.26. Milk that contains more than four pounds of butter-fat should be skimmed

two pounds to every 100 pound# of milk, and the surplus made into butter, says H. P. Carpenter in the American Creamery. Practical New York dairymen claim it has taken at least ten and one-half pounds of milk on tho average this season to make a pound of cheese. This Is in excess of ordinary years, says the American Cultivator. The dairy world to-day is not so much in need of new and startling experiences as of the courage and persistency to carry out what it does know already. To accomplish success, we must watch for and try to meet courageously the great array of competition that is warring against us. The successful dairyman has confidence In himself and faith in his cattle. He must farm it 305 days in the year. Our dairymen are fast finding out that the ration that makes one pound of steer beef will also make one pound of butter or two pounds of eheeso. No cow was ever a good dairy cow that was not born so, but thousands of cows that were born so have been spoiled by poor and unwise handling. The claim lias been often made, says the Americrn Dairyman, that tho milk of the cows in tho Northwestern portion of Canada will yield a larger proportion of butter and cheese than that produced elsewhere under sifnilar conditions. Last year a very careful test was made at the •Tplly creamery In Manitoba, which, as far as butter is concerned, seems to favor this view. Tho relative result of this and other trials may bo briefly stated as follows: For each 100 pounds of milk Manitoba Is credited with 4.7f> pounds of butter; Quebec with 4.25; the United States with 4.00, and Ontario with 3.75, while tho average yield in Europe is only 3.50. What makes tho difference really larger than the figures indicate Is the fact that tho cows tested In Manitoba were all of native stock, while of those in other countries either belonged to improved breeds or were a high class of grades. The results of future tests in this direction will be? looked for with interest.