Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1892 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Convenient Hayrack and Manger—Keep the Farm Tidy—Cultivating Potatoes— Artificial Method of Swarming Bees— H-w to Succeed With Stock. Hayrack and Manger. The hayrack and manger shown in the accompanying illustration from the American Agriculturist, is very cheap and simple, and will be found equally as serviceable and far more healthful than those costing three

times the amount. It is intended for those who feed their horses hay from above. The front of the rack, or chute, is twelve inches wide at the bottom and twenty inches at the top. The side is from twenty to twentyeight inches 'wide, the lower end being cut away-asehown.

Titty ®ip the Farm. In traveling through the country, with fences in good order, buildings 'looking neat and trim, trees trimmed and clean, we know the resident is a iperson who takes bride and interest In his farming, and that it pays him to do it It takes but a few days each year to keep the brush cut .away from the fences, to nail up a board here and there that may have become loosened, to keep the fences up Btraight, with no weak places to tempt stock to press through into the owner's or neighbors’ fields of grain or grass, to put the implements under shelter when not in use, to pick up boards lying about the barn and house, to trim the fruit trees and cut out all dead or dying branches, to mow the lawn at least once each year, to arrange all gates so that they will freely swing on their hinges, to have a well-kept garden; a good supply of 6mall fruit, the pump in good working order, a good supply of dry wood under shelter, to keep the roadside mowed and bushes cut down, to keep the outlet of expensive underdrains open, to clean out all open ditches, to look after the stock frequently. All these things take but a little time, and they increase the cash value of the farm. If you have, in the past, neglected these things, resolve that you will reform, and the strangers, in passing your door, may at least mentally say, “A good farmer resides there!” Possibly it will not allow as many leisure hours at the corner grocery, but others will take your place there, and you are adding to the worth of your earthly possessions, and to your standing as a man.—American Agriculturist. Vermin in a Hennery. To free a hennery from vermin, spray thoroughly with kerosene emulsion, so as to fill every crack and crevice with the liquid. The trouble with either whitewash or fumigation Is that they fail to go the bottom of the hiding place of the vermin. The emulsion gets there. To make the emulsion for this purpose, take of hard -soap one-half pound, or of soft soap two quarts, and one gallon of boiling water; stir until the soap is all dissolved, then adß one quart of kerosene, stirring until well mixed. An egg-beater is a good thing to mix With, or a small force pump is better to pump it back into itself. When thoroughly united, add 10 gallons of water, and stir well. With a force pump spray the inside of a house and roosts or, in the absence of a pump, apply with a brush sponge or large cloth. No matter what, if it be bountifully used. It is a capital plan to spray the fowls at night, when on the roosts, only when this is done there should be added one-half more water. Ts the house is sprayed about twice, and the fowls three times, each summer, ‘nary a louse’ will remain.

Cultivating Potatoes. With long, straight rows, as they -should be laid out, and a good twohorse sulky cultivator, an acre of potatoes or corn may be thoroughly worked, going once in a row in an hour. The old plan of running twice in a row iis obsolete and worse than useless. The way we manage is to take off the cultivator teeth, put on the .harrow or “bull-tongue,” chiselpointed steel teeth, set the frame to take the full width row, but not so as to injure the growing crop, and with fenders on each side of the outside .teeth to keep the loose soil from failing on the growing plants, the machine stirs every particle of soil between the rows, going to a depth of fiorn three to four inches Our object is not to plant more than we can thoroughly work. We And it pays to keep the cultivator running between the rows of corn, potatoes and beets after every heavy rain, not working the soil, however,' until it is dry or will crumble. . By so doing, the soil is always loose and mellow, and the weeds do not get a chance to grow. **ur potatoes and corn usually receive <Dur such cultivations, and sometimes five. By haryest all cultivation ceases, as the corn and potatoes are large enough to cover and shade them and very few weeds show themselves after this. If any large ones appear, they are pulled out by hand. —Baltimore American.

Sell Farm Stock Young. Farm stock is often kept too long for profit Sheep decline very rapidly after six years old, and are best sold at five. Cows may retain their usefulness until twelve Cattle and sheep are sold for meat hut with horses it is different A horse that has been a good and faithful servant for many years is often kept until he dies, which is better than selling him for a mere pittance, to be abused the remainder of his life. A good rule to follow is to disposeqf farm stock at or previous to their prime of life. Should Inform Himself. It would pay any farmer’s sou who

contemplates entering upon farming and breeding, to travel about the country for two or three months with a cattle buyer—one buying for shipment to a first class market. Object lessons are more convincing than any others, and the novice would secure plenty of food for thought before the end of the first month, and, if an apt student, he would have shed the scales from his eyes by the end of the third month, having a useful store of knowledge instead. Sheep Shearings. i Sheep are fond of variety of food and thrive upon it. Sheep have a good coat of wool, vet they need good shelter from storms. If the sheep are fed sulphur, keep them dry for a few days after feeding. Having the ewes in a good, thrifty condition at lambing is better than fat An occasional pet lamb in the flock will help materially to keep the flock tame. Feeding on low, wet land produces an unfavorable condition for the sheep One advantage with making a start in the sheep business is that it requires only a small amountof capital. By having the greater proportion of the sheep ewes, two profits can be secured with the lambs and with the wool. A thorough understanding with each would just be worth thousarffls of dollars to the wool growers of the country. Be careful and tag all of the sheep and especially the ewes that are suckling lambs before turning out into the pastures. Grinding tor an Easy Cut. Fasten a board or plank on top of the grind-stone frame, and rest the back of the sickle, or mowing-ma-chine knife, on it, as shown in cut. This is a much easier way of

holding them to grind, than to hold them out at arm’s length on top of the stone without a rest, as many do; besides with a little practice a true bevel can be ground on the knife, instead of a round one, as is very likely to be the case with the old way. By shifting from one side of jibe stone to the other, and from one edge to the other, the knives can ail be ground without a long shaft to the stone, and the stone will work true, if true and square in the first place. The stone should be turned towards the knife when grinaing.—F. A Putnam in Practical Farmer. Artificial Method of Swarming. Concerning an artificial method of swarming bees, an authority says: If you have any brood combs left over from last year, it will be of great benefit to use them in the brood chamber of your new swarms. This can be done by fastening them in the brood frames of your new hives; or if the old hives are of the same shape and size, then the frame with the combs can be hung in place of theempty frames, which will save valuable time and trouble. If your bees are about to swarm you can take a frame or two of such stocks and exchange for as many of the empty or old combs as you have taken of full brood and bees, being careful that you kDow which hive the queen is in, which does not make much difference so you give the hive plenty of empty combs in which you have left or placed the queen. I' often leave the queen in the old stock and give her plenty combs, taking most of the brood and bees for the new swarm and placing them in a new location, leaving the old stand with the queen and say one frame of brood, with plenty of empty combs as before mentioned for the use of the queen in the old location. She will in a few days fill them full of eggs. Your new swarm will raise a queen for themselves in the course of ten to fifteen days. If you have queen cells ready capped over at the time of making your artificial swarms, give them the advantage of such and you will save valuable time for the bees.

A Homemade Corner-Shelf. A very cheap and quickly made corner-shelf, or shelves, is shown in the accompanying illustration. The three large shelves are made from boards from 10 to 30 inches in width, and front rounded as indicated. The two front supports or standards are three feet in length, and one and a half inches square. The back standard is

the same size, only 10 inches longer, the short standards being ten inches long and one inch square. This arrangement is to be set in a corner. The top shelves and front are draped with cretonne. The upper shelves are used for lamps, books, etc., the lower shelves for the work basket, books, papers aud many other things. The whole outlay for lumber and cloth need not exceed 50 cents.— Agriculturists. Lin Stock Notes. Give the hogs good pasture during the hot weather, a good shade and all the pure water they want. It is not best to undertake to keep the pigs during the summer without feeding at least some gram. * Every horse owner should have a box stall or two in the bam. Box stalls are often convenie'’t- and useful. The calves and colts ought to he halter broken when small. It will save time and perhaps morals, later oa.

SERVICEARLE HAYRACK AND MANGER.