Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — REAL RURAL READING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REAL RURAL READING

WILL BE FOUND IN THIS DEPARTMENT. How to Close the Crack Coder Tour Door —Concerning Dairy Stock Bench for Mowing Harness, Etc.—An Effective Hog Catcher—General Farm Matters. Weather Strips. In most outside doors there is quite a crack between the door and the floor. The arrangement shown here, from Farm and Horne, is made so that whenever the door is closed, a strip covered on the bottom with felt is pushed down against the crackfand when the door opens the strip raises so as to be out of the way of the door when swinging back. In figure 1 a general view of thedoor is given with the parts of the weather strip arrangement slightly enlarged. CC is a strip of wood of any size desired, Ixli inches being the most convenient. This strip is painted or stained and varnished, and may be made to match the door. Figure 2 shows a cross section of this strip. The shaded part is the felt strip glued in the corner. The piece cut away in the right - hand corner of figure 2 is a small place cut out in the middle of the stake to receive a, part of the

piece D, shown in figure 1. This piece I) may be either wood or iron, as desired, and reaches up a little beyond the lower panel in the rtSlddle of the door. It is held close tfr the door by the two damps 88, shown bv the section view in figure 6. These clamps may be easily made otlS of ribbons of iron,, such as are used to fasten bundles of shingles The upright Dis fully illustrated in figures 3 and 4. A cross piece is "placed at the bottom to CC, and about two-thirds the way up are two projections, shown in figures 3 and 4. If the piece D is of iron, they may be of one piece only, but if wood is used, two screws may be used.

Between these two projections is the end of the latch E, which plays on a pivot F, and is kept from the door and on a level with the front of Dby a small washer. (See figure 7.) The part of the latch beyond the pivot is made heavier so that by its

weight it keeps up the upright D and the strip CC. To the side of the door post,liKe the catch of a common latch, is fastened the piece A in figure 1, and also shown in full view in ngure 5. The upper side of this slants upward. Now whenever the door is opened, the heavy part at the latch, in figure 1, keeps the strip up from the floor, but whenever the door opens the end of (the latch strikes A and runs up, thus pressing down CC against the floor, and so covering the crack. The thing is simple and easily made with a few tools. Cow-l’etia for Fodder. With the many 'different kinds of fodder that are now recommended, says the Germantown Telegraph, it becomes an important matter to select such as will be likely to give the best results, taking into account the general purpose of the feed. For. which reason when butter production is the object, the thought should be directed to quality in preference to quantity. It is often the case that a smaller quantity of a superior quality is much to be preferred to a larger quantity of inferior quality. Now regarding the results from using cow-peas as a fodder in butter production, one who has been an extensive grower of them says they give a golden tint and a particularly pleasant aroma and delightful aftor taste to butter; that no June pasture-fed cows will produce butter equal to that of cows fed cow-peas. The use of cow-pea meal is highly recommended, and this is probably the only way that Northern farmers could test the advantages to tie derived, as the pea itself can hardly be matured in a northern climate. If the feed is in the market, it would be worthy of trial.

I>*lry Stock. The uncertainty of deciding the value of dairy stock by general appearance was recently demonstrated by a breeder of high-class dairy cows. According to Hoard’s Dairymen, his herd had been carefully bred, and, in a general way, he thought he was well acquainted with the proportionate value of each. He believed he could pick out the best, and did so, pricing a number of them to a distant prospective purchaser. This was before he had submitted the milk of any of them to chemical analysis—which of late has become so simple and cheap a process as to be within the reach of every dairyman. The tsst was a revelation to him; he discovered that the milk of one of the cows, priced among the very lowest of the lot was .yielding over sixteen pounds of butter per week, while he had not suspected her capable of the half of it She was seven years old, and he raised her from a calf. A result somewhat similar followed the testing of another cow. and this was also a surprise; and still another, which was esteemed of far greater value than either, and was thought to be among the most profitable butter makers in the herd, showed a ca- : pacity of la trifle less than a pound a day. Luckily for the owner, the buyer was tardy in accepting the cat-

tie at the offer. A revision of prhse# and estimates followed. These tests did more toward convincing tbe breeder of the utter ajgbiguitf of judging a dairy cow by her “looks” than a whole life of argument could have done: He names no prices for any of his cows until after they are tested. Then, he says, true value can be approximated with some degree of satisfaction. A Sure Gate Clottar. The annoyances resulting from open garden and lavcn gatescan be avoided by the contrivance shown in the accompanying illustration drawn from the American Agriculturist. This

gate closer will not only close the gate everv time it is opened to the usual width, but if the gate is swung completely back -to the fence, it will also hold the gate open. This is a great convenience, as all realize who have tried chains or ropes with .weights, and self-dosing'hinges or springs. With self-closing gates, the carelessness of children and callers will be overcome, and the trees and plants saved from injury by trespassing cattle and swine.

A SELF-CLOSING GATE.