Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. Cribbing Corn In the Field—How to Keep Frost Out ot the Cellar—Fruit May He Had at Little Cost—Farm No ter*. From City to Farm. Some one has said that there is a tendency in certain quarters to use the word “practical” as a shield to protect themselvos against the necessity of brain work. It is often used to excuse our own ignorance. Now this is true of quite a uurnber of farmers living near me. There are quite a few city men who have bought farms around here in the lust six years. Most of them don’t know a great deal about farming by practice, but they know it all in theory and do lots of experimenting. They generally take to stock, as raising corn and potatoes is too slow for them. lam free to say that if they stick it out for a year they generally stay with us. Still a good many “peter out,” and some “practical” farmer picks up a farm with good buildings, fences, trees, etc., at bis own price. So plenty of my neighbors are disposed to laugh at these new-comers. They seem to forget the successful ones, and these, as I think it over, especially tfie fruitgrowers, are tuen who have had good business training in the cities. I know that these men plan better, make every hour count for more, and cut down the*small expenses that lots of we country-born farmers don’t seem to notice at all.- I started to say that we ought to encourage this coming from the towns to farms. It will give us many new ideas and most generally kind and agreeable neighbors. There is room for more.— American Farmer. How to Keep Frost Out of the Cellar. It has been my plan to keep frost out of my vegetable cellar by keeping a lighted kerosene stove there during the coldest nights. I began this plan about a dozen years ago and It has worked well. 1 use one of the largest patterns, as my cellar Is a large one. If a farmer has no kerosene stove at hand, on an emergency he can raise the temperature of his cellar from near freezing to seventy degrees in a few minutes by saturating a dozen old newspapers with kerosene and burning these, in coal hpds,, tvvq at a time- Have kcrosepe poured on them just sufficient to saturate.' By using two hods the unconsumod fragments in the one fire can be put in the other before it is lighted, which will insure there being no fire there when repacked with paper. The precaution needed is to have a clear space above and around the hods of six feet and be sure that there is no fire left in the hod, and that its temperature is not at ignitish heat when pouring the kerosene on the paper. A quart used in this way will in a few minutes raise the temperature of a cellar of average size thirty or more degrees. It is a dangerous plan in the hands of a careless man, but a careful one may be able sometimes to save himself from a loss of hundreds of dollars by its timely use. —J. J. H. Gregory, in Grange Homes. Storing a Cabbage Crop. The cabbages will be stored away roots down. The usual custom of burying the heads in New Jersey is that they become sealed up when frost is in the ground, and they then rot when frost leaves. Last winter (a cold one) the cabbages were placed in a row, roots in the ground and heads out; then another row close to the first, and so on, the whole forming a compact mast of cabbages, which bed of cabbages was covered with six inches of hay, stalks placed on the hay and a few boards (to shed water) placed on the stalks. When cabbages were wanted the hay was removed, the heads cut from the stalks and the hay replaced. They could be had at any time, and were always green and Iresh looking. Not one rotted, although they were frozen. The hay prevented sudden thawing. When the cabbages were i gone the hay was removed, and the [ stalks produced early greens. By this method the eabbage plant Is kept over winter alive, as the sprouting of the stalks in the spring demonstrates. Cabbage' growers should try it.— Philadelphia Record. Winter Care of Sheep. I have learned by experience that success in sheep husbandry depends largely on proper housing, feeding, and general management during fall and winter. Have attained success as follows: 1. Avoid as much as possible exposure to inclement weather. 2. Don’t crowd too many sheep into small inclosures, which is detrimental to thrift. 3. Winter feed, bright clover hay and com fodder for bulk, and for grain rations equal parts in bulk of oats, corn, and wheat bran, in a ration of ten quarts per feed twice a day to forty head. In addition, double handful of oil meal once daily. 4. All weak sheep feed separately (especially cared for). All breeding ewes separated from main flock at least ten daysdiefore yeaning, to become accustomed to new quarters. 5. Regular watering indispensible to thrift.—National Stockman.

Cribbing In the Field. It saves a good deal of labor in husking corn to throw the ears in a box as they are husked. Some will fall outside when fat husking is attempted, but it is easier to pick up the scattering 'than to leave all on the ground. There Is a further saving in the fact that these boxes at night may be piled one on another to the height of four, five or six tiers, and a couple of wide boards laid lengthwise of the crib will protect them from rain or snow. Those who grow sweet corn for seed often provide boxes to hold their entire crop and leave the corn thus cribbed 'in the field uutil it is dried out enough tO'market. With slatted boxes built up one row wide corn will dry out very fast. The boxes need not be very expensive.

Leaves for Bedding. If a farmer grows grain he has no need to collect fallen leaves in the woods for either bedding or manure. They are not better for their purpose than Is straw, and their manurial

value ia not so great The tree leaves that fail in the woods are needed where they fall, not merely for manure for the tree, but to form a mulch and protect thp soil from deep freely ing. The feeding roots of trees in forests are near the surface. Even falls of snow and a mulch of leaves protect them so long as the forest is left alone. The leaves are not worth the labor of gathering for their manurlal value. They may sometimes be used by farmers who have no straw for bedding purposes.

Sowing: Clover. When you come to the time of sowing clover do not go by any arbitrary rule as to amount of seed. The amount needed for an acre depends upon the soil and the time of sowing. If all the see s grow there is enough seed in three quarts to make a line stand. Probably a less amount would be sufficient if this could be insured, but it must beremeipberedthat even under the best conditions all the seeds do not germinate. Manj plants fail to get rooted, and of those which do start a great number are afterwards killed by heat and drouth, frost, and insects. The later one sows the more seed will be needed, as the soil is not so fa\orable for germination as it is earlier. Many farmers use only a bushel to eight acres, and they wonder why they do not have a full stan I. The reason is that they had not enough seed to satisfy all the losses and yet leave enough seed to produce the stand. A bushel to four acres is a safer allowance, although that may bo a little more than is often needed. Perhaps a l.ushi'l to five acres is as near as wo can get for the average land.—Philadelphia Inquire.

Light Stables. It is important to have light stables. Light is always conducive to health, either for man or animals. An illustration is the following: An experiment was made by a stockman on two calves sixty days old, tho one weighing 180 pounds was put in a light stable, and another weighing 182 pounds, was put in a dark stable. They were fed exactly the same and given the same care in every respect, and after three months’ time they were again weighed. The one in the ('ark sta do weighed 300 pounds and the one in the light stable weighed 430 pounds. Here is a very marked difference, and it is attributable solely to the effort which light has on tho health and growth of young, stock.—lndependent.

, , Fruit at Little Co*t,. Those who own but little land, or Who are able to plant but few trees, piay still make provision for a fine future supply. Let the owner set off a small portion of ground for a small orchard or fruit garden, even if he cannot plant it at once. He may procure two or three or half a dozen trees, and set them out in lino. The needed care for this number need not interrupt his other business for a few years, whe* they will begin to bear. These few first sorts may be early or autumn apples, which when they begin to show their rich promise will convey substantial enjoyment to the family who have watched their growth. In each coming season more may be added, and in time a handsome and ~thrifty orchard will occupy the ground. If pains are taken to plant only the very best which may be done by setting only a few at a time, an orchard of choice fruit will be the result Tho Stability of Dairying. Dairy products, despite all commercial panics, have held their price better than any others. This is partly perhaps because tho drought in many sections lessened the production of milk, butter, and cheese. But it is true also that taking a series of years together dairy products vary in price less than any others that the farmers can produce, and the business is, therefore, safer than most other kinds of farming. The product can be cheapened by selecting the best dairy stock and weeding out animals that prove inferior.

Farm Note*. Mature horses are best for family drivers. Even when well broken a horse Is less reliable before he Is seven years old than afterwards. He Is also more subject to colic and other troubles. In some classes of faim products, over production has not so much to do with the depression of prices as has poor quality. This applies equally to products so widely different as cattle and fruit Land too rough for cultivation should either be seeded with good grasses for sheep pasture or planted with timber or fruit trees. There is comparatively little land which we are warranted in permmitting to remain absolutely idle. A small farmer can hardly afford to load himself up with expensLe machinery for cultivating every separate crop. Very often the farmers of the neighborhood can unite to advantage in such purchases. Practice co-operation when you can. One of the points which all agricultural education tends to impress on the mind of the student is the need of thoroughness in all the operations of soil cultivation. This may be attained without the instruction of the schools but in whatever way it is attained, when carried into practice it is bound to make the successful farmer.

Odd* and End*. A bread cloth should always be sweet and clean, and never used for any other purpose. If the rollers of a wringer are sticky or covered with lint pass a cloth dampened with kerosene between them.

A good broom holder may be made by putting two large screws—nalia will answer—into the wall about two inches apart Drop the broom between them, handle downward. A good and easy method to mend small tears in an umbrella is to lay the ragged edges together a 9 closely as possibly and then stick a bit of court-plaster over the tear on the under surface of the covering. It pays well to do the mending before the article goes into the wash, since the processes to which it is there subjected materially enlarge the holes, and it is better and more agreeable to wear if the washing follows the mending.