Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1892 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

h FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. —J — Wonderful increase In the Va'nn of Lands —lntensive 1 arming— A Prise Ho - Vat— Live Stock and Dairy—Pointers lor the Foultrymsn, Etc. Advance of Farm Vn'nns.

IN the Centra] Wist, throughout the Ohio Vallej', says the . American Agri- \ culturist, the \ farms which J cost a dollar or two per acre J fifty years ago, A are now held H at *4O, SSO, and y S6O or mote per acre, improved B with coin mo--5 dious and subV stantial build--3 ings, furnished

with convenient and often elegant furniture, carpets, sewing machines, libraries, and musical instruments. There are indeed poorer establishments, occupied by younger or less enterprising fanners, but improvement has been general if not universal. Beyond the Mississippi tire newer lands, more recent improvements, made by men who went into that region with scarcely more than willing hands and stout hearts, and their investments have virtually been created with hard and patient labor. In the enthusiasm of success assured by strong will and stout muscles, they have borrowed from friends in the older States, or from banks; and they are paying up their indebtedness rapidly. A reliable and successful farmer of the West declares that he can purchase a farm of 100 acres at 1100 per acre and pay its t:ost with the profits of cultivation in five years.

Intensive Farming. Year by year we are coming nearer the farming that has long prevailed In Europe. In the Eastern States the aim is to grow a large crop upon a small area, while in the far West the total only is looked at, and acres ire completely worthless. But things »re changing. Land is going up as the fertility is going down, and soon it will be necessary to base everything upon the market value of a load of dung. There is much comfort in this for the Eastern farmer, who needs to use every scrap of fertilizer he can rake and scrape together. He can afford to dissipate the effect of a ton of fertilizer upon a ten acre field. He feels that he cannot sow it broadcast upon a single acre, but carefully places a handful in each hill as corn or potatoes. Manure is as much a factor in farming as seed, and the load from the barnyard goes ahead of the seed bag from the granary. Till well what is tilled. The Prize Hog Trough* To scald hogs of 4 to 6 cwt. a common tub is inadequate. Nothing is better than the tank or trough shown, says Farm and Home. It should be made of 10-ft. plank two

inches thick. The bottom of one end of the trough is beveled to facilitate the work of sliding the porker in and out. For the same purpose a roller placed as shown is a great aid, and also for turning the hog over for complete scalding. A frame is hinged to the under side of the beveled end to support it while the hog is being drawn out. This can be buttoned close to the trough while it is not in use. For transporting it use a stone boat, or rude runners may be built permanently on the bottom of the trough ‘for it to ride upon. Sled shoes will do, as at B. A piece of inch hose, C, is forced through an auger hole at the bottom and is used for the double purpose of heating the water by steam from a cauldron with a tight lid, to which the hose is attached, and for draining the tank when the scalding is done. The scraping platform is arranged at the beveled end.