Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — HOME AND THE FAEM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FAEM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. An Agricultural Journal Advocates the CoOperative System on the Farm • IJglit Shoes for Horses—How to Keep Apples— Grow More Fruit. Etc. Dividing Profits With Farm Help. The co-operative system is adapted successfully in many kinds of business. The modification of it which gives to the lalborer a certain proportion of the profits without requiring the workman to share the los-es of the business, is certainly a benefit to the laborer. Of course under such conditions the proportion that the workingman would get must be much smaller than when he is made a full partner. But it is often on the farm equally an advantage to the farmer. Perhaps some one with turn for a Joke jnay regard this as tantalizing the laborer, luring him on by profits sure not to be realized. Suppo e it is, this is the condition under which the farmer himself of ton works and if he is fit for his business it makes his time Jjnd labor worth more than that of any man ho can employ at stated wages. If by even an illusory stimulation a farmer can get his hired man to be as careful of trifles and as earnest in preventing wastes as the farmer himself is, ho can well afford at the end of the season to pay the hired man something extra for it There is altogether too much eye service on American farms: good work only while the employer is present or working with his men. Any plan that will help to secure good work all the time is to be commended. American Cultivator. For Ringing Ilogs. To hold hogs for ringing make a box without ends, 6 feet long, 30 inches high, 18 inches wide inside measure. Box has a strong frame at front end to which the boards are nailed. The upper and lower slats of the frame are double and between them a strong lever has free play. For large or small hogs two pins are

set in the lower slat, against which the lever can bear. The pins do not go through the lever. Place the box at the door of a pen, aud tw > men are required to tend it and ring the hogs. One man catches the hog just back of the head as it trios to pass through; the second man rings it. The lever is raised and the hog is let RO. A Cheap extern. A Pennsylvania farmer tells The National Stockman how he built a cheap cistern. He struck a circle seven feet in diameter, then dug down three feet, then another circle one foot less in diameter and dug three feet further and broke down the sides to a slope; then with a livefoot circle he went another three feet and cut away again, making the cistern In the form of a jug. The sides and bottom were plastered with cement directly on the clay, and the top was arched over with brick packed j up with sand and cement, and a tile was put in to act as an overflow pipe about eighteen inches from the top. ,As the average diameter would be a more than six feet, it would require nearly seven barrels of water for each foot in depth below the overflow pipe, ever fifty barrels when the water was seven and one half feet deep. His figures for the cost were: Two days’ labor, $2; one half day of mason, $1; t\yo barrels of cement, $2.50, 400 brick, 32.40; total,: $7.90. j It has been in use ten years and is as good as ever excepting near the top, where he allowed it to free/e, and the cement cracked and pulled off, which could have been prevented by covering with straw or other material. Light Shoes for Young Horses. The most careful horse breeders arc igreed that the lighter the shoe and the less it is worn the better. In a recent address before an English agricultural society. Prof. Axe discussed the subject, deprecating the blundering management of the feet of horses. Often fine animals are ruined hy being caused to wear their shoes too early and too long. Standing in the stab’e a long time is liable to cause lameness and could be avoided by taking off the shoe* and substituting soft leather. lied-hot shoes should not be apDlied to the foot of a horse at anytime. Jn plowing, cultivating, and many other farm operations a horse will walk ten to twenty miles a day and advances about four feet at a step. At each step the horse lifts half a pound extra on its two feet, 667 pounds in every mile. In a day’s work of fifteen mile 3 the horse would lift 9,900 pounds extra* or nearly five tons. If the force required to lift this five tons of iron could be expended in the work the horse is doing much more could be accomplished. In the light of these facts is it any wonder that when youog horses begin to wear shoes they soon become leg weary, have their steps shortened and acquire a slow walking gait Keepln; Apple*. Probably cold storage affords as convenient and sure a method of keeping apples as could be adopted, but that is a mode that cou!d hardly be adopted by tbe average farmer, and so be must devise some other method that comes within his reach. Where it can be had as well as not, a cellar that could be devoted exclusively to apples would be desirable, so as to regulate the temperature to as low a point as possible without endangering the fruit. Toe trouble with most bouse cellars, unless they are arranged so as to regulate the temperature, Is, that they are too

warm; so warm in fact as to hasten on tne fruit beyond maturity and to the point of decay and then there 19 no help for the condition. The chief trouble In keeping apples is to hold the fruit as long as possible at the point of maturity, and if this can bo accomplished by a temperature at the freeing point and as stoadily held there as possible, there will be no trouble about the fruit keeping. For the Cabtmga Worm. Farmers and gardeners know how | destructive cabbage worms are to the | growing crop. In fact, year after year farmers lose thousands of dollars from the loss of cabhage destroyed by worms. A simple remeay has been wanting, one that people would adopt, as the insecticides so extensively used contain poisons which deter the consumers of cabbage from trying them. An old grower has recommended the use of a tablespoonful of saltpeter to three gallons of water sprinkled over the plants. This will knock the cabbage worms aud save the crop it is simple, safe, and cheap and will prove satisfactory if thoroughly applied. When to Sow Timothy Send. It. is usual t > sow the timothy seed with the, grain In the fall,, "but not through the same spouts as the seed. There is a separate sowing apparatus for the grass seed to avoid burying it too deeply, it is better to sow the grass seed by hand after tho grain is put in, and while the soil is loose and soit, than to drill it with the grain. The grass seed may be sown In the spring with the clover, if this is to be sown, and a light, sloping-tooth harrow may be run over tho land without damage, but with benefit to the grain. This is doubtless the safer way.

Orchard Ur>n for Slicep. Herbert W. Mum ford of Michigan, writes in tlie American Sheep Breedor that orchard grass makes better feed for sheep than does any other, affording from a third to a half more feed on the same land, it needs pretty close pasturing to keep it from sending up Its seed stems; but if these are kept down it does best where kept in pasture for a number of years, t.be first season’s growth being apt to be in patches. For this reason it is a good plan to seed clover with the orchard grass. As tho clover dies out the grass will come iu and take Its place. Can Be Kept Clean. , The question is sometimes raised whether it is possible to always keep wooden dairy utensils perfectly clean. It is not good policy to let milk stand for any length of time in wooden pails or receptacles, but wooden churns and butter-workers are all right, and can be kept perfectly sweet and bacterla-proof by the use of lots of hot water. t Value of Wood Allies. Do not underestimate the value of the wood ashes produced on the farm and so let them go to waste. They are valuable in the garden, and for corn and wheat as well, and the value of a liberal application of them will bo seen for years. Keep covered until you are ready to apply them to the land, so that they do not leach. Permanont Pastures. Permanent pastures may be made with one species of grass only, „but their feeding value is much increased by having a variety. The varieties should be selected with a regard to their habits of growth, as hardihood, durability, the part of the season during which they grow and the feeding value of each. Grow More Fruit, To be sure, there aro apple trees on most farms, but apples are but one kind of fruit, and there is not one bushel of pears, cherries, or plums, not to mention grapes and berries, grown where there ought to be 100, and could be, too, with a little effort —American Farmer. A Quick Renovator. If you have some land which has been made poor by the growing of successive grain crops, plow it and sow early in the spring a crop of peas to bo turned under. This is one of the quickest renovators among all our green crops that may bo used for that purpose. Short Furrow*. You can never win your boy’s love with a big elm switch. iF you have to bite at every bait you see you had better have a guardian appointed. Some men are poor because there is a shady side to a hedge row in the summer lime. The time to pray for good crops is when you are vigorously stirring the soil with good plows. He who permits his farm maehin. ery to rot in the fence corners makes a first class “Calamity howler.” When you get very angry and feel like saying or doing something real rash, just stand ouone foot till you get over it. The sun shines upon the just, and the unjust alike, but the former sees a beauiy in its rays which the latter can never discern.

BOX FOR RINGING HOGS.