Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1893 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO FARMER - AND HOUSEWIFE. Two Ways of Shocking Corn-The Care of Apple*— Value of Reputation to a Farmer —Setting Cuttings—Box for Wetting Hay. Etc. Setting Cuttings. In setting grape, currant, or other cuttings in the open ground a trench is often plowed or dug, the cuttings placed in position, and the earth thrown back. Many make the ground as mellow as possible, and with a pointed stick cr sharpened iron rod snake a hftle of the proper depth and lodination, and insert the cutting. The operation can be greatly expedited and cheapened, says the American Agriculturist, by the hanaied foot dibble shown in the illustration,

Fig. 1. A blacksmith can make one from an old fork. Cuttings are usually placed about four inches apart in the row. Hence, havp a three tlned fork made with straight tines four Inches apart, five inches in length, three eighths of an inch in diameter and pointed at the ends. The operator walks by the side of a line or mark and forces the fork into the ground, four inches apart, at any inclination desired. If the ground be hard the foot is used to press the fork down, a uniform depth can be secured by running the tines through a light strip of wood shown<in Fig. 2. After the cuttings are in place, the dibble should be aga:n pressed into the earth within two inches of the cuttings, and moved slightly to press the earth firmly against the cutting at the bottom. Test this by trying to pull out the cutting. Walking along both sides of the row fills all interstices, and growth is assured as far as proper setting is concerned.

Shocking Corn. There are various ways of building a shock; says C. F. Curtis in Rural Life, but we have settled down to one of two ways, depending upon the corn and other conditions, viz.: The solid shock or standing shock built close around a jack. The former is made by placing the first armful flat on the ground, the next across it at right angles, and followed by filling in the other angles and building up solid from the ground, keeping as much of the fodder corn from coming in contact with the ground as possible. The jack used in the second method is made from a 2xl scantling fourteen feet long, with two legs supporting one end about four feet from the ground; the other end rests on the ground, and about three and one-half feet from the upper end put a four-inch fence board seven feet long through n mortised hole in the scantling. Let the intersection of the board and the scantling be in the center of the shock, and make a good -big solid one and bind it tight at the top When the shock is finished remove the jack by sliding the board out first, and you will then have a large, well-built shock partially quartered, permitting the access of sufficient air to prevent the fodder from spoiling, even if quite green. I had some fears when I began to use this method that the jack would leave the shock too open and cause it to bleach and take water, but it does not. Corn may be put up in this manrer as green as it ever need be cut if not wet with dew and it will come out in perfect condition. The method is not so satisfactory if the crop is somewhat green, and it has the further disadvantage of being more subject to the ravages of field mice, but it beats the old plan of tying the tops of four hills together for a foundation.

Care of Apples. There is no question about the importance of so far as possible preventing the bruising of the fruit From' what has been said in strong terms concerning the barrier erf a tough skin which nature has placed upon the apples it goes without saying that this defense should not be ruthlessly broken down. It may be safely assumed that germs of decay are lurking almost everywhere, ready to come in contact with any substances. A bruise or cut in the skin is therefore even worse than a rough place caused by a scab fungus as a lodgment provided by the minute spores of various sorts. If the juice exudes, it at once furnishes the choicest of conditions for molds to grow. An apple bruised is a fruit for the decay of which germs are specially invited, and when such a specimen is placed in the midst of other fruit, it soon becomes a point of infection for its neighbors on all sides. Seldom is a fully rotten apple found in a bin without several others near by it being more or less affected. A rotten apple is not its ' brother’s keeper. The surrounding conditions favor or retard the groVlh of the decay fungi. If the temperature is near freezing, they arc comparatively inactive, but when the room is warm and moist the fruit cannot be expected to keep well Cold storage naturally checks the decay. The ideal apple has no fungous defacements and no bruises. If it could be placed in a dry, cool room, free from fungous germs, ft ought to keep indefinitely until chemical change ruins it as an article of food. Value of a Reputation. Have you ever observed that some farmers can get a better price for exactly the same grade of cattle than can be obtained by other men? There is nothing mysterious about it It is simply because they have a reputation for that Kind. This is a principle of profit in cattle growing too much overlooked. Get a reputation for having superior stock all the time, and you will always get the top price, or a little more, because there will

be some one on the watch to buy your cattie when they come on the market Use the best class of sires even if you have only grade cows, and It will help not only the actual quality of your product, but your reputation as well A pure bred bull of a high record dairy family you well know will stamp its quality on your dairy herd, and the merits of your cows will become so well known that you will be able to procure fancy prices. The same thing holds good, only perhaps not to so pronounced an extent, in breeding beef cattle for market. — Philadelphia Inquirer. Making a Good Stack. At each threshing time, the difficulty of getting the straw properly cared for increases. The straw is regarded as of more importance than it used to be and good stackers are less plentiful. In the first place there ought always for a large stack to be three men at work on it. . With less than this, the necessary packing down is Impossible. Keep the center full and well packed down. Under the carrier, unless great care is taken, there will be an accumulation of chaff. If the straw is to be sold, keep the chaff by itself by poking it down the side of the stack and drawing in to be fed out to the stock in winter. If the straw is be fed in winter, distribute the chaff through it as evenly as possible. Chaff packs more closely than will coarser straw, and this even distribution causes the stack to settle evenly. It will thus be better prepared to shed rain. A poorly-made stack from having too little help at threshing will have a large accumulation of chaff where the straw dropped from the carrier. This will settle and begin to rot after the first heavy rain. After two or three weeks, the chaff, which ought to be worth as much as hay for feeding, will be good for nothing except as manure, and the straw will be rotted down to the ground on that side of the stack. Box for Wottlur Hay. The illustration represents a box used for wetting hay. To use, crowd a feed of hay into the box, set an empty pail under the open gate and pour the water over the nay from another pall. If one pouring does not

wet sufficiently, reverse pails and pour again. Ground grain may then be mixed with the wet hay, if ope wishes, although 1 prefer to sprinkle it on after putting the hay into the manger with a fork. If one has sufficient room, the box may be made long enough to wet hay for two or more horses. For convenience, it should stand in front of the manger. The bottom of the box slope about an inch to the foot in length. In wetting hay this way, all surplus water quickly drains out and the hay does not need to be cut. It requires no shoveling over, or mixing over in order to get it all wet. Hedge* for Shady Places. It is often desirable to have hedges along lines where trees are already growing. Evergreens are wholly unfitted for these situations; only deciduous shrubs can be employed. Among the best of these are the various varieties of Privet They stand dry ground better than almost anything else. It is not so much the shade which injures the hedges in these situations as it is the drying of the ground by the roots of the trees. When we imagine the enormous amount of moisture transpiring from thousands of leaves of trees, we can readily see how dry the ground must be which has to supply this moisture. But those who have practical experience understand this without a thought of the philosophy Involved.— Meehans’ Monthly.

FF Frosted Grass Innutritions. So soon as hard frosts come, every, thing dependent on pasture requires extra feeding. The effect of frost is to expand and burst the vegetable cells that contains sweet ariti nutritious juices and either dry, them up or blacken and rot them. This with cows affects the quality as well as the amount of milk, making the cream harder to churn, as it contains a greater proportion of fibre and caseine and less butter fats. Use a Fodder Cutter. The fodder cuttgr is one of the most useful and important implements on the farm. It is not used as much as It should be, for it demands bard work if there is no power to be obtained, but it will enable the farmer to use a large amount of coarse food that is usually wasted. The fodder cutter should be kept tn constant use during the winter. Brief Hints. The fumes of a brimstone match will remove berry stains from the ! fingers. Tar stains are removed by applying oil, and then removing the oil with benzine. Moist bands are frequently relieved by bathing them in lukewarm water containing a teaspoonful of borax or ammonia. If a shelf In the closet is infected with red ants, carpet it with flannel and the tiny insects will not attempt to invade that limited precinct A sponge large enough to expand ■ and fill the chimney after having been ■ squeezed in, tied to a slender stick, is the best thing with which to clean a lamp chimney. In some ot the tests in bluing it has been discovered that certain properties in poor bluing, combining with qualities of certain soaps, will produce an iron rust or stain in the clothing. To draw linen threads for hemstitching take a lather brush and soap and lather well the parts where the threads are to be drawn. Let the linen dry, and the threads will com« out easiir. oven in the finest llnem

FIG. 1. FIG. 2. FOOT DIBBLE. GUIDING BOARD.

BOX FOR WETTING HAY.