Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1892 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MAPB UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. The Process of DetaneUng Cons- -Raising and Storing Potatoes—Fanner’s Butter— Care of Young Turkeys—Concerning the Markets—General Farm Matters. Cure for Black Knot.

THE disease that attacks some species of trees, especially the JSa, plum, and known as “black knot,” is of a nature |*-V that seems [ T to require he- * roic treatment. * Whatever may _-riPbe the cause, it J 7 is persistent in Js its hold when 7 _ once it becomes attached to the tree. In effect it seems to take the very life out

of the tree, and covers the smaller branches with its unsightly fungus or excrescence growth. It has been said that to remove the branches upon its first appearance will prevent the spread the disease; but we have our doubts upon that point, having tried th’e same without effect. When once black knot takes hold of even a small branch of a plum tree, the sap appears to be effectually poisoned, and finally develops itself upon all parts of the tree. We have sometimes thought It also spread to other trees. The question, however,' is regarding the cure, and it is within easy reach of every one. Cut down every tree in any way affected and burn. There is nothing short of cutting and casting into the fire that will prove a full and entire cure, and aqy presence of the disease Is destructive to fruit development Handy Garden Marker. Take three pieces of six-inch fence board, from twenty-two to thirty

inches long, for runners, and one piece to nail across back end of runners. .Nail a pole,

from six to eight feet, on hack end, as seen in illustration. To make the mark wider, tack on small, threecorner mitre on bottom of runnor. Any one can run this marker straight. —Geo. W. Baker, in Practical Farmer.

Detassellng; Corn. The process of detasseling corn consists in removing the upper portion of the stalk to which the spray of male or pollen-bearing flowers is attached. Several experiments have shgfcvn that it increases the crop to remove the tassel from fully one-half of the stalks before the pollen Is shed. The results of some extensive tests made by the Nebraska Experiment Station, show the opposite effect. There was a uniformly lessened yield upon the plats when one-half of the italks were detasseled. Similar remits obtained when the tassels were removed after the pollen had been matured and scattered. In view of these results, it does not seem wise to intftrfere with nature for profit’s sake.

Farmers’ Butter. For the manufacture of butter by the factory plan scientific methods are prescribed, so that by them an article may be produced possessing all the most desirable qualities. But all farmers do not adopt the factory plan, but confine the manufacture of butter to the home, so that such farmers’ wives are compelled to manufacture an article’that must come in competition with the factory butter, and all this without any definite rules by,which to be guided. So long as frfNners insist upon pursuing thiscourse*they should study all the requirements necessary, and to assist In bringing domestic dairy methods up to as near a perfect system as possible. In order to do this system must commence at the foundation. With the feed there should be .care, and clealliness should be observed in the milking; the setting should be done with care and in open pahs where there will be no danger from bad odors. The cream should be allowed to cure, and the churning, setting and working all conducted with to secure the best results. Then the butter should be neatly put up, and if under such conditions it is not acceptable, we shall be disappointed.

Non-Paying Stock. It is a drain on every farm to carry stock that does not pay If for humanitarian feelings anyone wishes to keep an old horse, cow, or ox that has been a faithful servant, it is all right, hut the expense ought not to lie chargeable to the farm. The keeping ot scrub cows that produce little milk and of low quality is one of the heaviest drains that can be made upon a farm. It in reality becomes an expensive mode or transforming hay and foddeikinto manure. So long as care must be giyen to animals, let it be bestowed in such a manner, or rather upon such animals as will give some returns for the labor, and only good animals will do this.

Attention to Lamb*. A large proportion of the profit from sheep culture comes from the production of lambs, and the suocess in tnis line all depends upon the attention they receive, coupled with the care of the sheep themselves, for unless they are well kept and properly housed during the lambing season lambs will be scarce. As an illustration, we know of a farmer, who has a flock of twenty-five or thirty sheep that gave birth to lambs, but for want of such attention as should have been given, every one died but one. If that is good farming and a profiV able business, then all of our ideas in that direction are sadly at fault.— Germantown Telegraph. Kalsing and Storing Potatoes. Too much promise and too much postponement are often the cause of failure to secure a paying crop of potatoes. The selection of seed, its care through the winter so as to have

it in the best condition for producing healthy strong plants In the shortest time and, the proper variety to raise, should all be carefully considered. The points of difference in varieties and their adaptatjon to your purpose, whether for early or late market, storage until the spring market, long shipment or for a market a few miles away, should he investigated.. Then, too, comes the question of whether one variety will rot under unfavorable conditions sooner than another. For 6ome years I have selected for seed the best shaped potatoes, free from all prongs or deformities of any kind. Handle them carefully and store them at once in a cool, dark cellar. I select my seed as the potatoes lie on the ground, as the bright sunshine is a great revealer of bad points, and stray varieties that may have been mixed accidentally can be detected then as at no other time. To store small quantities of seed I like barrels. It is necessary to have a dark as well as a cold place to keep them. The light causes the sprouts to start even in a a cold place. Tho temperature should be qs even as possible. The temperature in the barrel can be kept more uniform by covering it with coarse bran sacks or any such thing. If the cellar and the potatoes are dry no harm will comeof it. Thisplan gives seed as hard in the spriDg and as free from a sprout as when the potatoes were dug.

They Have Advantages, The advantages which the horticulturists of the present day possess over those of former years, stimulate them to exertion, and hundreds of acres are now devoted to the cultivation of small fruits where there was not fifty acres ten years ago. The great amount of fruits consumed at present, far surpassing that of former years, cannot be attributed wholly to the increase of population as that has not been in proportion to the increased quantity of fruit consumed. The almost general use of canned goods affords an uninterrupted supply of choice fruit regardless of season. Thousands of bushels are canned for home *se bv the family both in the country and city. Step into any restaurant on the coldest day in winter and call for a dish of strawberries and cream and you will be supplied. Every steamer and sailing vessel takes with it a supply to be used on the voyage, and it often forms a share of the freight. It is not every soil and location that is adapted to the culture of small fruits; neither will every variety succeed equally well on the same place, consequently the favored localities must furnish the supply for other localities.

The Markotft. The farmer who has products to sell should at all times be fully acquainted with the state of the market The purchaser may and he may not inform you regarding the real condition. Selfishness is in the human heart and is likely to influence in action, and while one may honestly inform regarding thepriceof products, there may be nine who, if you chance to be ignorant of market prices, will take advantage of such ignorance. For this reason qvqry farmer should keep posted whether he has products to sell or to buy. It is a very good safeguard.

Horticultural Notes. The blood-leaved Jit pan plume should be planted where one is not already possessed. From early spring ’till late fall it keeps up its dark purple color. The Japanese umbrella . pine, Sciadopitys, a beautiful, hardy acquisition from Japan, is said to flourish the best in rather datpp situations in its*native country. It is one of the prettiest conifers wc have. Nearly all the pampas grass plumes sold in the East are produced in California, where acres on acres of the plant are grown. North of Philadelphia there is not much success in growing it out of doors, as it will not staDd the winter.

From Philadelphia, southward, one of the handsomest of small trees is the Gordonia pubesceue. It bears flowers like a single, white-flowered Camelia, and blossoms from July until frost, and on quite small bushes. Spring is the time to plant it. The common golden bell is Foi> sythea Vindisslma. Another species, Suspensa, flowers of a few days, earlier. It is also partly of climbing habit, much as the,, yellow jessamine is. It can be trained to climb, or grown as a shrub, and is pretty either way.

There is a neat little vine, often used for hanging baskets, called Kenilworth ivy. It is not well known that it is quite handy here. In some of the rural cemeteries about Philadelphia, it has been planted to cover small walls, work it well performs. It is very pretty. Lpphospermum scandens is an exceedingly pretty vine. While the flowers are like the Barclayana vine in shape they are much larger, and so, too, are the leaves. It does not spread to cover so much space as some other vines, Its large, rosy blue flowers are much admired.

The Brugmansia suaveolens is one of the plants for Summer decoration. It bears large white, trumpet-shaped flowers of immense size, and always in great abundance. It is kept In a cool cellar in winter without, any trouble. It is known to a great many persons under the name Datura.

Young Turkeys. Fresh air, wholesome food and plenty of exercise are three essentials for the well being of young turkeys. When one month of age, eggbread scalded in sweet milk may be substituted for custard, and clabber be given to drink instead of sweet milk. At this age, some dry grain may be offered, as wheat, oats or buckwheat, which may compose one-balf their daily rations when the poults are two months old, the nicest of the table scraps being also substituted for egg bread. . The greater part of their food consisting of insects and tender verdure of wild growth, they can gather for themselves, but this must be intelligently supplemented if we expect rapid development. Until the poults are past all danger of drowning, it is well to restrict their range to a lot near the house, so as to De able to recoop them should a shower threaten, and no matter how halsay the evening, always see them

eafely sheltered at night A good, dry run Is absolutely nocessary lor tbs health of turkeys, either young or old, and it is useless to attempt to koqp them on damp, cold or marshy ground. After the yaung flock begins to taka a wide ramre, two meals a day are sufficient—in fact, many persons stop feeding them altogether at this time; hut I have noticed that flocks which are fed far outweigh those which are not. A male of the variety known as Mammoth Bronze has weighed thirtytwo pounds at seven months only.— Country Gentleman.

Poultry Pickings. Watch for the feather pullers, and do not slight the lice. Kill both. Lice drives more setting hens from the aest, and causes more deaths to setting hens, than any other cause. By close observation ahd figuring, an egg costs the producer one cent, anything over that amount is profit. If you get a good laying hen by crossing don’t get wild over the prospect of a “new breed.” Keep on with the cross. The hen that leaves her nest more than once a day will take twenty-two to twenty-three days to hatch the eggs under her care. Don’t try goose farming unless you have good pasture for them. Ducks will do without it but geese never thrive on barren soil.

SnADE and greens are two summer requisites, for both old and young fowls, not forgetting that fresh water is absolutely necessary. One dollar will keep a hen a year in good condition, and fifty eggs will pay that, taking two cents as the average value of the eggs. Never grease a setting hen, unless you don’t care for a hatch. Insect powder will do the work more effectively and with less danger. Drevenstedt thinks it is a hard matter to find the combination of experience and cash in one man—and he is about right. Generally one of them is wanting. A vice in poultry is hard to correct There is but one standard remedy, and that is death. A toierence of tho habit in a flock will spoil the entire number.

Our Useful Basket. Always use cold water (in summer iced water) to mix pastry, and if it cannot be baked immediately set it away in a cool place. Asthma may be greatly relieved by soaking blotting or tissue paper in strong saltpetre water; dry it, then burn it at night in the sleeping room. A very good authority gives us a simple remedy for hiccough: A lump of sugar saturated with vinegar. In ten cases, tried as an experiment, It stopped hiccough in nine. To cure a felon take part of a leaf of prickly pear, split open and bind on, and change as it gets dry. To make this a success, it must be used as soou as the felon is discovered.

If your tea or coffee-pot has b®come discolored Inside, put into it a teaspoonful of baking soda and fill It two-thirds full of water, and let it boil two hours. Wash and rinse before using. The whole secret of having boiled ham or corned-beef juicy and fullflavored, is putting it into boiling water when put on to cook, andVhen it is done, letting it remain in the pot until cold.

If you suffer from sick headache, a teaspoonful of common salt will invariably relieve the sickening nausea which generally accompanies that awful pain In the head. The salt must be dissolved in water. Smother fire with carpets, etc.; water will often spreading burning oil and increase danger. Before passing through smoke take a full breath apd then stoop low, but if carbonic acid gas is suspected walk erect. During the season when eggs are plenty and cheap many persons pack them, small end down, in a box well covered with coarse salt, never allowing the eggs to touch each other. Have small holes bored in the bottom to drain off the moisture. Some use oats to pack in.

Miscellaneous Recipes. Snow Cake. —Cream three-quar-ters teacupful butter with two teacupsful sugar; add one teacupful each of sweet milk and corn starch, two teacupsful flour, one and one-half teaspoonful baking powder, and flavoring to taste; lastly add the well'beaten whites of seven eggs. Stir these in. Baked Tomatoes. —Having selected those of equal size, fresh and ripe, wash and cut out the hard centers. Place them on an earthen piedish, and put a little sugar in the core of each as you would for baked apples. Bake in a quick oven for about one hour, or until tender. Grated cracker or bread crumbs could be sprinkled over them if liked.

Bread Cake. —lnto two teacupsful of light bread dough, work with the hands one and one-half teacupfills sugar, one of butter, half a teacupful of milk, two well-beaten eggs, one teaspoonful baking powder, nutmeg to taste and a teacupful seeded raisins. A little more flour may be needed. Place in nan it is to be baked in and let rise again, and when light, bake in a moderate oven forty or fifty minutes. Baked Omelet.—A baked omelet that does not require much attention when one is hurried is made in this way: Heat a pint of milk with a tablespponful of butter in it Beat six eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoon ful of flour and a little cold milk toeether until smooth, then mix quickly into the hot milk and pour in a buttered dish. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a hot oven. This is a nice looking breakfast dish.

Strawberry Jelly.— Stem the strawberries, put them in a pan, and, with a wooden spoon or potatomasher, rub them flne. Put a sieve over a pan, and, inside of the sieve, spread a piece of thin muslin; strain the Juice through this, and to a pint and one pound with a quarter of an ounce of isinglass, dessolved in water, to every five pounds of sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, set the kettlp over the Are, and boil it to a jelly. Pour it into glasses while warm, and plate them whe»* cold.