Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1892 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Convenient and Economical Hay Feeding Floor—Keeping Frost Out of Cellars—A Flea for Improved Highways Pune Water for Stock, Etc. A Sliding Farm Gate. There are still large sections of country, in which even cheap gates are rarely to be seen. The rail fences have to be laifl down every time a field is entered. The hinge gate requires some skill to make, and the posts used must be heavy, and well and firmly set. The illustration of a very cheap gate, engraved after a sketch in the American Agriculturist,

shows a gate that any farmer, who can use a coarse saw and drive a nail, can readily make. It is designed for a place where small stock are restrained. For a full gate cut the cross pieces of the same length as the f'rout, and add two more hoards. There are two posts for each end of the gate, and they may be just the ordinary post, with no extra bracing, as the gate slides on the cleat nailed to the hack posts. It will be observed that the back posts stand so that the cleat can lie nailed to the front edge of one, and the hack edge of the other, giving room for the gate to he swung around toward the side of the post furtherst back. When the gate is closed the front end rests on the cleat nailed to the front posts. A barbedwire may he stretched across the top. Uveixlolns the Small Fruit Business. To the Massachusetts Ploughman a writer makes the inquiry: “Don’t vou think the small fruit business is in danger of being overdone?” Just the same danger that exists in every other kind of crop; when there is an appearance of money in it, there is a rush in that direction. It is overdome, prices go down and many leave the business until prices come up and the same is repeated. There was a time when apples were in great demand and large orchards were set; with the increaseof production there came a downfall of prices, blasted hopes, and many fine orchards were destroyed. It is well to hear in mind that in the ease of small fruits, and of the large ones too, that there is no danger of overdoing the production of fine fruit. Put specimens of acknowledged excellence of any product upon the market and there is no danger from the competition of inferior supply. With a very flush market there is always a sale of the best at good prices, but the poor article has to suffer and quite frequently goes begging for a market.

Feed tlie ft|raw. In all industries, the use of the byeproducts is a great source of profit. The straw in grain growing has much food value. To cure straw in the proper manner the grain is housed in good condition, or is so stacked that the weather will affect it but little. When threshed, it is put up in neat stacks winch will shed rain, if possible, placed under shelter. If in stacks, when the feeding season arrives it is so cut down with the hay knife that only a portion of it may be uncovered at a time. This applies more particularly to oat and barley straw, the feeding value of which for farm stock is considered to be worth half as much as timothy hay, pound for pound. If about two quarts of line salt per ton of straw be applied to straw at threshing time, it will make it more palatable than if not so applied, or, in feeding,a weak brine may be sprinkled over it, when the stock will eat it with more relish. The beards of barley straw are considered by many objectionable especially when the stock is allowed to feed from the stack, or from racks in the open air where the wind whisks the beards about, often endangering the eyes of the animals. Should a beard lodge in the eye, a pinch of fine salt thrown under the lid will cause a copious discharge, and the impediment is usually thus washed out, but if not, a second application will remove it. Most of the beards can he separated from barley straw by removing, at threshing time, a twoinch cross section from the straw carrier allowing the beards to fall through. The chaff is a valuable constituent of the oat crop, and should be carefully preserved for feeding purposes.—American Agriculturist

Wheat aid Rye on Corn Stubble. Many farmers plant corn stubble to wheat and rye, and are usually in such a hurry that three rows of shocks are placed together and the balance of the field sowed. This plan necessitates running over the seeded land to secure the. corn and stalks, but the worst feature is. in leaving unseeded strips across the field, which are useless to the crops. Weeds are allowed to take possession of the strips, and, until the crop of grain is gathered, the field indicates the shiftless farmer. It is not much trouble to haul off the shocks to the barnyaid or to an adjoining field, setting them up in rows. They are then more easily husked. The husked corn is nearly all in a body, and is more easily secured. The stalks and all litter of leaves and husks are then more easily gathered up and saved for future use. The grain and straw that can be produced on these strips will renay many times the expense of hauling off the stalks. If possible, haul the stalks to a pasture, or meadow lot, and thus insure cleanliness in husking. Stock will eat the broken leaves. Keeping Frost Out of Cellars. During the coldest nights of winter, says a correspondent, I keep a thermometer in my cellar, and when there is a probability of the temperature falling below the freezing point

I keep out the frost by placing a lighted central draft lamp on the cellar floor. The flame is turned low so that but little oil is consumed, and, if necessary, it is raised toward morniDg. I have not banked up the house on the approach of winter since trying thjs expedient, and have kept out the frost with much less expense than was required in banking up the foundation walls with earth and straw. The heat thrown off by a central draft lamp is very great, in proportion to the size of the flame, and could be utilized to protect house plants in the windows and those stored for winter in cellar or cold-pit. A lamp of this pattern can also be attached to a window dox, so as to give bottom heat in starting early vegetables, flower seeds and cuttings, thus giving the amateur many of the conveniences of a greenhouse or hotbed. Why Should Cows Be Tested? The question may well be asked why cows should be tested. It is to determine the quality of the cow. Animals vary very much in their power to secrete milk, and also vary as to the proportion of butter fat contained in the milk product Two cows fed upon precisely the same food and in equal quantities may vary largely in the butter product Again, two cows so fed may give precisely the same product, while if the food be Increased, the milk or butter product of one may be also increased and in the other remain unchanged, for the reason that she has reached the limit of her production, while the other has not In that case—where the limit is reached —the use of any extra or additional food is simply an unnecessary waste. As more and more light is thrown upon farming operations through the medium of experiments, the farmer can discover the importance of the exercise of good judgment. Food that is giving no returns is simply wasted w icn fed to an animal. Floor for Hog Feeding. The floor, says Farm, Stock and Home, is built adjacent to the corncrib for convenience in feeding, and is just the height of the bottom of a wagon bed. When it is necessary to load hogs for market the wagon is

backed to the platform, the end board taken out, a gate ip the fence opened, and without noise or trouble the pigs are enticed into the wagon. In feeding, only so much com is thrown on the floor at one time as the hogs will eat up clean. The floor is cleaned off every day. The bogs are not fattened on corn alone, bus are turned out night and morning to taxe their corn ration on the feeding floor. Peas, while they last, and steamed ground feeds make up the; between times rations t» the fatten-; ing hoga A Blanket on Your Farm. No tillable land is ready to go through the rigors of a winter until its covering is clean, free from patches, | and clear of vermin. We cannot say too much on this subject, because it is of vital importance. Rubbish of all kinds is but a harbor of vermin. Chinch bugs, white grubs, wire worms,! all have their several habits,hut they have one in common they harbor under rubbish. Now, if you want the delectable satisfaction of sleeping sound the coming winter, free from all fear of insects, mildew or lungus next season spend every moment possible in clearing up the farm before winter comes. Make the inclement elements next winter kill your bugs, or the life giving elements of spring and summer will repeoplo your land and ruin your crops next season. Use the elements as your destructive police —Exchange

Dehorning Law SuVt. Some time since a humane society suit was entered against E. E. Ilaxen. Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for cruelty in dehorning cattle, it being held that the defendant was guilty of violation of law in this treatment of his herd. The case has been owe of special interest and has attracted widespread attention, both because of its intrinsic importance and the bearing it would necessarily have on the future of dehorning in this State. The trial came to an end in a victory for the defendant, the judge holding that the intention evidently was to benefit the cattle; that the charge of cruel and wanton treatment could not be sustained by the evidence produced.—National Stockman. Let Work Bo Well Done. It is not what we do, but how we do it that affects results. A small matter well attended to is better than a larger one conducted with inaifference. “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” This applies especially to work upon the farm. If a repair ot a machine is necessary, let it be made with a view to permanence. A disregard of this principle has resulted in much damage and sometimes severe accidents and loss of life. To keep all implements and vehicles in repair is one of the important duties devolving upon the farmer. Setting Strawberries. It was formerly supposed that in order to secure success, strawberry plants should be set early in the spring or in the fall; but all that is necessary is favorable conditions. We set in the month of .Tune and gave a good watering, and had no difficulty in making the plants grow, which are doing nicely. The principal point to be observed is to set when the soil is sufficiently moist as to compact around the roots, affording them an opportunity for taking hold of their feeding ground.—Ex. Go ext tor Pears. There are some varieties of pours tnat under some conditions of evil are greatly injured by cracking. In a conversation with Prof. Chamberlain, of the Storm Agricultural School In Connecticut, he mentioned the dis-

covery of a remedy that has proven very efficacious fh' preventing snch cracking, and it consists in a free sprinkling of air-slaked lime on the surface of the ground under thotree It has been tried in a number of cases and has not been known to fail. Pur© Water for Stock. Live stock should be furnished with pure water. If they are now obliged to quench their thirst for the greater portion of the year from a pond or slough hole, this condition should be changed by the use of a well and pump. The water can be raised cheaply and in sufficient quantities by a windmill. General Farm Note*. An excess of manure is injurious to grapes. Late cucumbers usually make the best pickles. Keep your watering troughs scrupulously clean, For fruit trees one pound of poison to two hundred gallons of water is the proper amount Take time by the forelock and always be in readiness for the next work on the farm. Sheep restore to the soil a larger proportion of the elements they take from it in grazing than do any other stock. Old, sound hay, and a liberal ration of oats, with a very little corn, is hard to beat for the farm work team. Jf Lime is the best absorbent that can be used in the poultry yard and house. It destroys bad odors and kills disease germs. Milk and cream are very susceptible to odors and should not be kept in cellars where there is anything that will contaminate. Keep a strict record of your feed bills, egg records and sales of poultry, and at the end of the year sum up. It will prove that keeping hens pays. If farmers would study the many ways in which clover can be made a paying crop they will sow a larger acreage next year than they have been doing. The American Cultivator says that Hungarian grass is not only a good hot weather crop, but succeeds on land that in early spring is too viet for cultivation. The policy of taking evcrjrthing from the land and adding nothing to it will eventually result in bankruptcy, no matter how good the crops may be for a while. Good roads increase the value of live stock, land, and living generally. If a horse can do one-third more work on a good road, then his value is increased one-third.

Poultry Pickings. If you buy an incubator get a good one. All breeds of fowls have certain points in their favor. IViULTRY fife early risers and need their morning meal early. The comb of a Howl may be conridered as its health indicator. Get the guineas to roost in or near the poultry house; they will act as guards. Ducks raised especially for market thrive better without a pond than with '©me. Mix a little flax seed ©r oil meal with their ration oiow in feeding the moulting hens. When fowls are kept in large numbers the risks of <contagi©us diseases are increased. Poultry must have every daycare, and judgment must be .used In the management. Better do a little and >do it well rather than undertake to do too m uch and fail to do anything well. So fab as it can be avoided, nothing tnat will cause dampness should be used in the poultry house,

MlsceUanooug Recipes. Balloon Muffins— Take one pint -of flour, half a pint of water and half a pint of milk; beat thoroughly with an egg-beater; have gem irons hot, grease and fill them two-thirds full. Bake in a quick oven twenty minutes, or until light and browned. Use no saltor baking powder. Ckab Apple Jelly. —Out the apples to pieces, but do not pare or remove the seeds. Put into a stone jar, set the jar into a kettle of hot water and let it boil half a day or more, then turn into a muslin bag. Hang It so it will drip; do not squeeze it. Allow one pound of sugar for one of juice. Pickled Ontons. Select small silver-skinned onions, remove with a Knife all the outer skins. Put them for three days into brine that will float an egg. Bring some vinegar to the boiling point, add a little mace, whole red pepper, a few bits of cinnamon bark and a tew cloves, then pour It hot over the onions which have been well drained from the brine. Peach Flummery. —Line the bottom of a glass or porcelain dish with slices of stale cake not more than an inch and a half thick. Make a boiled custard out of a pintos milk and the yolks of four eggs, and just before serving pour it over the cake. On this spread a thick layer of peeled, sliced and sugared peaches, and over that a meringue made of the whites of four eggs beaten stiff with four tablespoonfuls of sugar.

Whole Tomatoes for Winter Use.— Fill a large stone jar with ripe and perfectly sound whole tomatoes, adding a few cloves and a sprinkling of sugar between each layer. (Dover well with one-half cold vinegar and one-half water. Place a piece of thick flannel over the jar, letting it tall well down into the vinegar, then tic down with a cover of brown paper. These will keep all winter, and are not harmed even if the flannel col lects mould. Clams and Rice. —Chop an onion tine, a small piece of ham and pork chopped, add a little saffron water, a bruised clove of garlic, one cup of tomatoes; fry all these for a few minutes uhen add a pint of small clams, shells and all. after well washing them and opening the shell a little; steam with the dish covered for half an hour, then add one cup of well washed rice and about one pint of water and a teaspoon of salt; cook until the rice is done.

A SIMPLE GATE.

HOG FEEDING FLOOR.