Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1892 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Farmers Should Indulge In Periods of Observation—A Bank Wall House for Poultry-Keeping Apples-Oeneral Hints on Horticulture. .. —■ Keep Out of tlio Ruts# Farmers, as a class, are very apt to get into ruts and to keep In them, says an exchange, They get into the habit of doing certain things every day, and it seldom occurs to them that it might be a good thing to change. They are not, however, constituted differently from other people, and there is no good reason why the farmer, and especially his wife and daughters, should not be helped by an occasional outing as much as the dweljersin cities. It is true that the farmer’s success depends largely upon the daily personal care of his stock and Us crops, and that it is rather more difficult for him to leave his cares in charge of others than for most men of business. Still it is not by any means impossible to arrange matters In such a way as to leave home for a few days occasionally. Perhaps neighbor Jones would be wi) ling to change work with you for a few days and see that your work is well done, or perhaps you have a son who would be made to feel more manly if you left him in charge of things. It may help him to learn to love a farmer’s life, if you give him the reins once in a while and let him try his hand at driving. A Bank Wall Poultry House. This building is 10x20 ft with 7 ft posts in front, a 3 ft wall and 4 ft posts in the rear. The doors at the ends should be boarded up and entrance made to the two rooms from the hallway, which may be used as a hatching-room. Still better, abolish all doors in front and enter through an end door. The following engraving shows the interior arrangement. The hatching room may be used to

store feed when not used for hatching. The hatching nests will be used for laying until a hen wishes to sit, when they may be closed to the roosting room and opened at the other end. These nests may be raised three inches from the ground. The extra nests are raised 15 inches. Coops may be built under them to shut up sitters.—Edward A. Atwater, In Home and Farm. Peppermint Oil as a Crop. Twenty pounds of peppermint oil per acre is considered a fair yield, but the yield is often greater. The producer realizes from two to four dollars per pound for his crop, which is better by far than any grain cron would yield, and it must also be remembered that this revenue is derived from lands which a short time ago were considered a wilderness and wellnigh worthless. St. Joseph county’s (Michigan) last year’s crop of peppermint oil sold at ten dollars a pound and made the nice total of $40,000 for the growers of the herb. There are thousands upon thousands of acres of such land In the Southern part of the same State that lie unreclaimed, only waiting for intelligent and industrious cultivators of the soil, who have a little capital to be laid out in drainage when they will yield abundant harvests of this and other crops. The expense of drainage is the main one to be met, and this is not great when results are considered. —Western Rural.

Hanging; a Gate to a Tree, Bore a hole through the tree above the top rail of the gate with a 1£ or 2 inch auger. Get young hickory of the size of auger, split it, take one half, bend it around the upright of gate, then pass the ends through the the tree as shown, drive a wedge be-

tween ends. The lower end of upright acts as a pivot in the notch of spur root, or in Impression made in stone buried there. The tree is not injured, and soon heals up, holding it more

secure. It will last as long as an iron hinge and cannot pull off or come out, until wanted out. It can be renewed without making new holes, as in the case of iron rings.—Practical Farmer.

Variation In Quality of Fruit. Fruits of the same nominal kind often differ much in quality. It has been supposed by some within a few years that as most fruits are now grafted or budded, thus variation in quality may depend on the original stock. But it is certain that so much i depends on soil, access to sunshine! and other conditions that little room j remains for other factors. Manuring heavily with stable manures injures fruit quality. These are mainly nitrogenous, and they cause an excess of sap that the leaves cannot wholly | assimilate. Excessive manuring with 1 Borne mineral that injures title roots ! may also cause injury to or entire deBtruction of the leaf, in which case the fruit is worthless. A barrel of brine carelessly emptied near a plum tree in midsummer carried such excess of salt to the leaves that they all fell off, while the half-grown plums remained on the tree, but never increased in size, and when bitten into gave a distinct salty taste In addition to that natural to green plums. Concerning Weeds. The following excellent suggestion j Is from th Baltimore American: “There are a large number of farmers’ clubs throughout the country,and a great deal might be done by hanging a weed chart upon the. walls of these halls, where farmers gather from time to time for mutual improvement and a better understanding of the ways and means of a more profitable agriculture. Weeds have been neglected In more ways than one, and just so far as they are. overlooked and left to themselves,the greater will be the curse. As we look ou*r the premium lists at our thou-

sands of county and State fairs, we seldom see a prize offered for the beat collection of weeds. It seetm, incompatible with our fitness of things to have a good collection of anything that is bad, and yet the fact remains that there is no class of plants about which an increase of knowledge is nnre imperative than these same ugly weeds. A few dollars expended in awards by each fair association would bring together' lists of plant pests, the exhibition of which would not only surprise, but greatly instruct, those who see them. It is not less' important for the farmers of any district to know of the arrival of ai new weed than of the advent of a' new fruit or grain. A Good Corn Knife. Take the big end of an old handsaw, and take off old handle, saving the screws. Make handle any length

desired, and screw on, then grind back of saw sharp and you have the boss corn knife. Good Fenoeg and llroaoe Cattlhy. It is to many a matter of wonder why cattle should show an instinctive desire to get into the next field. But if we consider that the next Held always has a crop of very inviting corn, or small grain, or splendid grass to be cut for hay, the wonder ceases. Cattle are much like humans in their behavior; we all want to trespass on forbidden ground, and the greater the difference between that and our own quarters, the stronger our will “to get there.” If grazing stock is put on first rate pasture, as it should be, there is no desire to break out. Pasture must be cultivated as well as plow land. All bare spots must bo scratched up with a harrow and seeded to grass, and the whole field kept as nice and clean as a lawn. Prevention is better than cun’, and it is no great trick to teach a cow to behave herself. To Keep Applet). A correspondent of the National Stockman gives his plan of keeping apples: “We made a board cave and covered it with earth. The ends of the cave we boarded up about sixteen or eighteen inches from the bottom and banked up to carry off the water, leaving open above to admit air until cold weather. The end from the storm should remain open all winter unless to severe freezing. Put a layer of straw in the bottom of the cave and put the apples in as soon as picked from the trees. A pples kept in this way retain their firmness and flavor better than when kept in a cellar. We have apples up to date, June 10, that were put in the cave early the previous falL *'

Plum, for Profit. Those who have heen longest engaged in plum growing say that it is the most certainly profitable fruit grown. The fact that curculio destroys the crop cf those who do not give it care makes it all the more profitable. If there were curculio every year, the careful plum grower would ask nothing better. The glut in the plum market occurs usually when the curculio fails to put in his appearance, and plums are grown by the careless and thorough cultivator alike. Low prices, paying very little to the grower, show what the plum business might be every year if the curculio did not make plum growing a business requiring skill rather than dependent on chance. Mortioulturul Hint*. If you want your berry bushes to be productive, lieep cut back. Low growing vegetables may be cultivated between raspberry rows. Cut off and burn all the black knots on your cherry and plum trees. Always set out a few of the best varieties of early and late sweet apples. Fruit trees along the roadside are an invitation to all to help themselves. In starting an orchard, it is better to trust to old varieties than to experiment with new. TnE earlier varieties of fruits and vegetables are not usually as fine flavored as the later ones. One of the best of garden fruits is the currant, and It is easy to raise with the use of a little helebore. Agarden once laid outand planted, it comes easy and natural to keep it up year after year, and it pays. Celery is now grown by planting it so thick on rich ground that it shades and bleaches itself much better than throwing soil around it. It was once thought that soda was not necessary to growth of a plant. Since then it has been found that no plant ever grew that did not contain it. Carefully saw off broken branches of fruit trees, sharp-knife the wound smooth as possible, then paint over with any common pafnt. This preserves the wood, and prevents rot starting at that point

Housekeeping Notes. Never butter your pie plates, but dredge them lightly with flour. To scour knives easily mix a small nuantlty of baking soda with the brick dust. \To stone raisins easily, pour on bailing water and let them remain in aishort time. To test nutmegs, prick them with a pin, and if they are good the oil will instantly spread around the puncture. Put salt on the clinkers in yout stove or range while they are hot, after raking down the fire, and it will remove them. Wet boots and shoes may be kept from shrinking out of shape when drying, if, as soon as taken off, they aye tightly stuffed with newspapers. These form a sort of ruje last and ought not to be removed until the l acts are thoroughly dry. Veal “goes farther” than mutton, especially the fillet, being nearly all meat. The remainder after a dinner, v ill make a pie, with a slice of boiled t am or bit of boiled salt pork, and at tle cutlets enough will usually ree lain for a small mince on toast for t reakfast, to be perhaps supplemented b J eggs ° r broiled bacon.