Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1892 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. Good Results froth *1 liorottghly Dried Seed--How to btioot a lleef-Vslnn of Corn Meal lor feetluiR —l oultry Notes— Household and Kitch«u. Thoroughly Vttied Se#<! rmn.

ALL seeds have to he thoroughly dried in order to germinate well. jjN We have known seasons when much rain pre--1 \ vailed before harvest, giving the wheat grain a a solt. moist —yu' herrv when it Jv possessed comy paratively poor germin a ti n g powers, and in pS* 5 * such seasons wheat of the

previous year’s growth y '•aided best. Corn more than almost any other grain is liable to be poorly dried at planting. It is a large grain, matures late, and sometimes only dries as the moisture freezes out of the grain, which almost always injures the germ. Sweet corn and the large Western Dent corn, that have long, deep grains and heavy cobs, are most difficult to dry out thoroughly, and from these come niost complaints of poor seed. All these complaints could be avoided by hanging the ears Intended for seed by the chimney, where it comes in contact with warmed brick whenever a tire is lighted. Some farmers who have smokehouses put the com in a loft, above the bacon, and they claim that corn thus smoked grows better than any other. It is likely that the extra drying such corn gets rather than the smoking it receives accounts for its superiority. Some years ago we grew sweet corn for seed for a practical seedsman. It was a large variety, and the season being cold and wet. at harvest-time, we suggested drying it in an evaporating house. It was kept at a temperature of 110 to 120 degrees above zero for two days, and in that time every bit of moisture seemed to have dried out of it. This corn, the seedsman informed us, made the most satisfactory evergreen seed corn he had ever had. We understand that kiln-drying seed corn ip i evaporators is now commonly practised by seed growers, and it deserves to come into general use, if the heat is not kept too high. It is better to take a day or two longer than to have the seCd-room above 140 degrees.—American Cultivator. Slio.tlng a Beef. Many will tell you to shoot “right between the eyes.” A correspondent of the Practical Farmer says, however, that this' is a mistake, and has

resulted in much useless cruelty. Drive the animal quietly to the place of execution. Don’t lose your nerve.

Get in position with gun cocked, finger on trigger, and muzzle elevated, and wait for your opportunity. Then glance over the sights, and shoot quick at the point where the two lines drawn from eyes to horns cross.

Groundless Fears. Since the days of Malthus fears that the world’s population would increase beyond the capacity of the earth to support have been common. The latest scare of this kind is by Mr. Ravenstein, a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He computes that in 182 years the earth’s population will increase to 5,850,000,000, and this would give 207 to each square mile of the 28,000,000 of fertile lands. It is quite likely in light of recent agricultural improvements that much land now counted as desert will be cultivated and improved long before the era of short rations predicted for earth’s inhabitants. Besides, no account is made of food from the sea, which has as yet been scarcely drawn upon for sustenance. Nobody has yet found out the possible productive capacity of a single acre of land. In ail tropical countries bananas will furnish food for a human being for a year from an extremely small amount of land. So far in the world’s history the increase of population has always been accompanied by increase of human sustenance, which is the basis of improved civilization. What has been will probably continue to be for an indefinite future.