Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1893 — AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. The “ Fanning-Poesn’t-Pay” t m iner—Spoil lorn Should be Carefully Selected—High Cost Not Necessary in the Construction us a Ice House. Complaining fanners. One of the jolly kind of farmers who is always happy, in writing to an agricultural paper, exp.esses himself as having no sympathy with that class of farmers who are all the time complaining that “farming doesn’t pay,” and claims that the difficulty lies with the complainant rather than with tho business of farming. He said that of the class that complain, you can usually find them and their families at the ci cus and indulging in matters of pleasure from which no benefit can he derived; and further, that the complaining class are those who snend from fifteen to twenty-live cents per day for tobacco. There is much truth in the writer’s remarks. Given health, strength and an enesgetic disposition, there is little occasion for complaining on the part of farmers. One great, trouble is the change in conditions from what existed fifty or seventy-live years ago. Then the labo:s of farmers, as well as of others, were blessed bv some increase and there was a gradual saving. There was less disparity among the masses of the people. While there might occasionally be found one more sucoessful than the mass, theie were few that were really wealthy; but in more recent times, by means of booms and speculation, men have become wealthy in a day, and wealth appears to he more concentrated, This has caused a feeling of discontent—a desire to grow rich without labor, and there can be found many who are waiting for something to turn up whereby they may be safely landed in the lapof luxury and ease. But this is wholly incompatible with the business of the farmer; it is necessary that he should prepare the soil and tend the crop if he hopes for any returns. And it makes no difference in what department his efforts are directed—fruit culture, cattle raising, the dairy or general crops—it means the ;putting forth of effort, and with that there will be sure to come a moderate increase of wealth. The process of saving must of necessity he slow, hut it will bo sure, and with care in the investment there will he an accumulation ample for all necessities; with a surplus for pleasure and ease In old age.

Tho Use of Kran In tlio Ilairy. As a plant makes all its substance from food, and it is necessary for the production of a crop to supply it with every element of its substance in due proportion, so with animals, every element of the body and the expected product, is to be supplied iu excess of those needed to sustain life. Bran, in the opihion of the American Agriculturist, is a valuable food for certain purposes. It supplies the material for making bone, and this is needed by old animals as well as young, for it is known that the bones of an old animal are leplaced to some extent during the whole of its existence. It is also an ex client fleshproducing food, and it provides the elements of milk except the fat. Bran has all the needed elements of nutrition for the sustenance of life in the proportion requi.ed, hut it is deficient in the fat needed for butter. Thus alone. It is not a suitable food for the dairyman. To furnish the quantity of fat for a pound of butter, a cow must eat forty pounds of bran, allowing for the unavoidable waste. But twenty pounds of corn meal would supply the needed fat, if no other food we e used. In practice it has been found that six pounds of bran and the same of corn meal is a good ration for a cow that may be expected to give one pound of butter a day in addition to good clover hay. But as bran is an excellent food for making bone and flesh it is one of the best for growing animals or for sheep rearing a Jamb, and making a fleece. An excellent food for calves consists of cut hay, wetted and mixed-wlth—-for ten pounds of it—one pound of corn meal, and three pounds of bran. This, with as much good clover hay as will be eaten clean, is enough for two calves per day.

The Selection of Seed Corn. We should all bear In mind the fact that there is a general law that seeins to pervade nature, that “like produces like,” and yet there is a difference to degree of quality which, when applied to seeds, should have a governing influence in this selection. In all kinds of cropping, especially of annual crops that come only from the seed planted, selection should be careful, and especially is the case with corn. There is no question but that the yield of the crop may be very much influenced by the seed planted; increase or improvement may result, or deterioration and a diminishing. What is desirable is to select those ears for the seed that appear to-be-most productive, have grown upon normal but vigorous, stalks, and this can be best done in the field before the corn is cut. and so marked as to be readily distinguishable at the time ol husk ng, and then should be put away in a dry, airy place for keeping till the next year. If selection can be made from stalks bearing two or more ears, we much prefer it, as that tendency is favorable to large production. We much prefer two well developed, medium sized ears upon one stalk to one car enormously large and imperfect in the matter of being capped out. Wo consider it a mistake in the selection of seed corn to pick out abnormal ears—monstrosities—in the hope of. improving either seed or crop. It is the best specimens of stalks of normal growth, fully matured and perfected in all that goes to make model ears, that should receive attention. As a rule, little good can be hoped for from attempting to reproduce the Ireaks which from some unknown cause are liable to occur.—Germantown Telegraph. Curing Hams. The Northwestern Agriculturist gives a rule for the curing of pork bams that may prove useful to our readers. Well cured hams are a luxury in every family, while poorly

cured hams are likely to become spoiled and so lost, for which reason it is test to exercise a good degree of care. The rule is as follows: For every 100 pounds of meat take five pounds of sugar, tire ounces of salt* peter and six and one-fourth pounds of salt, and water enough to cover all the hams when packed down. Tho hams should remain in the brine thus made until they are completely pickled, which will requiro longer time in cold weather. After being sufhciently pickled they may betaken to the smoke house and smoked to the taste. Fork hams are frequently spoiled by being taken from the brine before theyjare pickled through. If oven a small portion of the meat around the lmne lacks the elTect of tne salt, if kept into warm weather, it will liecome tainted. A Cheap 100 Hnuso, Once more we say that high cost is not necessary in an ice house. The essentials arc ground from which the water will run away, sides stiff and tight enough to securely hold tho lino packing with which it must be surrounded, a roof good enough to turn rain and free ventilation over tne top of the material with which the ice is covered. “Any shed which will furnish these requisites and eighteen inches of chaff,sawdust, tine charcoal, cut corn, foddoT.or straw packed hard and tight under, on all sidos and above the ice. with both gable ends wide open, will keep the ioo better than a $250 stone building,” says one who has tried it in the Philadelphia Farm Journal. A pile of ice Bby 10 feet and 6 l'cet high will hold enough for any ordinary farm tamily, with a dairy attachment —N. W. Agriculturist

Tho Ilc«t Food Tor Horne*, Oats is the bestgrain to food horses in good health. Barley is next best For a steady diet, corn is not wholesome and, it fed alone for any length of time, is certain to produce ill effects from indigestion. Oats havo about the right proportions of nutritious and coarse matter to bo healthful, while corn has a very largo per cent of strong food, a good mixture being four bushels of oats to one of corn. Twelve quarts per day of this ground mixture will prove a good feed for any horse whllo plowing or doing other heavy farm work. Whole corn should he soaked in warm water six hours before feeding. Once a week give horses a feed of wheat bran. An occasional feed of potatoes, apples or roots will prove beneficial, and the animals will relish the change of diet

Hinull Parmer*’ HpeelalUott One of the advantages of the small farmer is that he is obliged to get out of the usual ruts? He cannot afford to grow on a small scale the grain and other staple crops that must compete with like products jyown by the hundred .or thousand acres. But this disadvantage of the small farmer in the end helps him. Selecting some specialty and devoting his attention mainly to that, hc'soog earns more from a few acres thas those who go in the old ruts "get from their larger farms. , Poultry Picking*. A good dust box is a good llcc exterminator. Poultry may be made to return a considerable ingome. Stagnant water is one of the first steps toward cholera. It is not quantity, but quality In water that promotes health. Poultry should always have access to green food when it is possible. Ducks will rarely crowd together for warmth as closoly as chickens. The hen that is too fat Is the one that is laying the soft-shelled eggs. In confinement fowls require ( loser attention than when given a range. Tarred paper is good to drive away lice, and can he whitewashed if desired. The best plan in feeding ducks is to put water where they can help themselves. Do not buy an incubator because it is cheap; generally that will prove a poor economy.

MtucelluncauA ItuclpcM. Light Fkuit Cake.— Four eggs, two-thirds of a cup of butter, one cup of milk,.ope cup of stoned raisins, three cups of flour, three tcaspooufuls of baking powder. Eggless Cake. —Two cups brown sugar, butter size of an egg, two tablespoon fuis milk, one tfip chopped raisins, one and one-half cups of light bread sponge, one-half teaspoonful cinnamon nutmeg and cloves, and flour enough to make a still dough. Orange Jelly. —Soak a half a box of gelatine in two teacups water, and the juice of three lemons, the grated rind of one and one quart of boiling water. Stram and stir into three cupfuls of sugar, Remove the skins and seeds from eight or ten oranges, cut them into a dish and pour over the jelly and orange juice. Set in a cool place until next day. Pumpkin Pie. —For three pies take a quart of sifted cooked pumpkin, one and a half teacupfuls sugar, onehalf teacupful molasses, one quart of milk, three eggs, (or less egg will answer if two tablespoonfuls of flour or cornstarch are well scalded in the milk,) a pinch of salt, one and onehalf teaspoonfuls each of cinnamon and ginger and a little nutmeg grated on top as placed in the oven. Bake in a moderate oven. Mock Cherry Pie.— Chop together a cupful of cranberries and threefourths teacup of raisins; add oce teacupful of sugar, one-half teacupful boiling water, one tablespoonfuJ of flour and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Stir up the flour with water and cook it thoroughly in the boiling water before adding the other ingredients. Have a deep pie plate lined with a good crust, pour in the mixture,cover and bake at once. ISutCake. —One cup sugar, onehalf cup butter, two eggs, one-half cup milk, one cup English walnuts or shellbarks, one cup chopped raisins, one-half teaspoonful soda, one Leaspoonful of cream tartar, two cups of flour. Mix the sugar and butter ro a cream, add the eggs beaten, also the milk with soda dissolved in it, one cup of flour containing the cream of tartah the nuts, fchopped a little, then the raisins with the rest of ths flour.