Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1894 — OUR RURAL READERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR RURAL READERS.

SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEREST THEM. Connmfant Combteatlon BolMlng for Poultry aad Pl«»—How Milk M Analysed —lMveraiOed Farming I* Needed—How to Ship Fruit Long Distances. For rigs aad Poultry. Where one desires to make a single building serve for the accommodation of both swine and pou try, be may find some suggestions in tbe accompanying illustrations. This house has two pens for fowls and two for pigs, and ample hall between the

two, a set boiler for cooking food, and a grain room. If the nature of the lo atlon permits It, a cellar beneath the building could be utilized for the storing of roots, which might be made to serve as a large factor in the food of both fowls and pigs. The loft aboie prov.des room for setting hens, while one end may be used as a pigeon house, if these most interesting pets are kept for the delight of

the children upon the farm. Yards may be arranged at either end, for the comfort of both the feathered and the porcine inmates. In the first illustration is seen a j erspective view, and in the second picture the ground plan of the very convenient combination building. Farm Labor. Steady employment throughout the year is what is needed to procure and keep a trustworthy class of men to work on the farm. It is (Hie fact that the farm only offers work for a few months, and those when It is least required for subsistence, and this drives the energetic and good hand to se>k employment in the cities, where work will be continuous the year around. In tne old days there was more winter manufacturing on the farm than is now possible. There are no more farmers who tan hides and make tbe leather into boots, and shoes, and harness. All these are put on the market so much cheaper anl with so mu h better polish by the wholesale manufacturers that it is quite impossible for the home manufacturer, working on a small scale, to compete. There are still shoe repairers who are able to earn a living in cities, but they are often not so well paid as workers in large shops, and their number tends to decrease rather than increase. We have known some farmers to grow broom corn exclusively and manufacture at least a portion of thecropinto brooms. This labor is not difficult to learn, and in this way, in certain neighborhoods, employment Is given to large numbers of men, but the wages are net and cannot be very high. There is too much competition to allow the manufacture of brooms to be carried on during the winter, even on the farm, it high wages are paid, but if one or two farmers in a neighborhood should grow broom corn and manufacture and sell the products during the winter near home they might be able to get something better than wholesale prices, and so keep their men at work the whole year. This Is a suggestion worth considering, difficult as it is becoming to procure and keep good farm helix—Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bow Milk Is Anayzed. The chemical analysis of milk is not complicated or difficult, says a writer in the Dairy. A small dish is accurately weighed, the weight noted. Into it is now introduced a small portion of milk, and both are again weighed. By substracting the weight of the dish from the weight ot both, the weight of the milk is found and carefully recorded. The dish is placed over a steam jet, and the water of the milk evaporates, leaving a residue. It is this residue which passes under the name of “solids.” A last weighing of the dish with the milk residue, less the weight of the dish, gives the solids, and by a single calculation the percentage is found. The solids of milk have been found by innumerable analyses to average about 13 per cent, and, while the fat varies in the milk from different cows, the solids left after extracting the fat is a very constant quantity, hardly ever falling below 9 per cent This gives the chemist a positive basis for his calculations, and enables him to state with great certainty whether or not the milk has been watered. The fat or oli in milk is determined by dissolving it, by means of ether, out of the totalsolids, the residue remaining after the opperat:on being termed “solids, not fat.” The average fat or oil found in cow’s milk is 3 per cent., and any amount less than this is commonly 'taken as showing that the milk has been skimmed. If analysis shows a decrease of fat, and solids not fat, it is said to be certain that the milk has been watered, while, if the fat only is low, it shows that the milk has been sk mmed. Wheat Growing In California. The yield of California wheat last year was 31,191,400 bushels, which is the smallest for years, owing to unusual wet weather early, which prevented seeding. The State report of the State Board of Agriculture claims that wheat growing at present prices is still profitable. Land is cultivated with gang plows worked by six horses, with which one man will plow six acres ter day. Eighty pounds of seed,

or one bushel and a third, is all that is sown, and the yield averages eight sacks, or sixteen bushels per acre. By the figures shown the California wheat grower gets his wheat at a cost slightly less tban 29 cents per bushel This estimate puts the cost of harvesting wheat, including the threshing, at only tl per acre. We do not believe any wheat crop was ever grown at such figures as the State Board of Agriculture puts forth. But its worst oversight is in making no account of the decrease of soil fertility. After two or three crops the yield Inevitably runs down and the wheat farmer suffers accordingly. It is never safe anywhere to grow crops and leave out of the calculat on the maintaining of fertility. Srlentile Feeding. •ne of the greatest benefits of chemical science to the farmer Is in confirming the experience of practical men with various kinds of food, and explaining why each produces the results which the farmer has learned from his own experience to expect When we know the reason of something that we have tried, we are able to experiment Intelligently instead of haphazard. The truly scientific man rarely differs frem the best practical feeder. The latter has learned by many and costly experiments what the scientist shows should be probable from chemical analysis. It is in the trial of new experiments in feeding that the opinion of scientists becomes most important. In such cases the practical feeder readily allows the scientist to take the lead, and he will then prove by experiment whether the theory can or cannot be successfully put in practice. Half-Bred gowl* Not Mongrel*. Many people fear to begin the improvement of etheir poultry flock, because, as they say, those who have tried it tiud that ttie crosses, though excellent at first, soon “run out,” and are no better, if as good, as the native stock which they first had. We do not doubt thl» at all. It shows what we have always maintained, that the first cross of pure-bred fowls always makes an improvement, but if the fowls thus bred are allowed to interbreed they become mongrels, losing often the valuable characteristics of both sides. Always keep purebred roosters. If you do not breed the pure stock this will necessitate buying some roosters each year to cross, with the half breads. Kill all the young roosters of the cross-bred stock, and the flock will not become mongrels.—American Cultivator.

Farm Notea. There Is not very much difference in the cost of feeding a cow that makes 150 pounds of butter in a year and one making double as much. Charcoal Is almost a necessity for hogs. Its cost is but little, and all that is required is to place a large piece in the pen daliv, as the hogs will easily crush it for their use. Any animal will eat too much salt if deprived of It for a lenth of time. A little salt every day will be beneficial. If a lump of rock salt* Is placed where all kinds of stock can have access to it they will regulate the quantity for themselves. The young pigs are pretty sure to be wintered at a loss if fed wholly or even mainly upon corn. If one-third or one-half of the ration is composed of that heating and fat-producing grain it will be quite enough. Feed for growth rather than flesh. Fine bone meal has been fed to hogs with advatage, and ground bone is largely used for poultry. Cows have also been known to lick bone meal. It serves as an occasional offering to stock, but whether it is safe to allow it regularly has not been determined. No kind of land should remain idle. It can be made to produce some kind of crop, or it can be improved in fertility in some manner. If useless for crops let it be given up to sheep If this cannot be done plow it, and use lime on it, so as to enable it to become tit for cultivation in the future. The potash in the soil is mostly in the form of a silicate, which is not readily soluble. All other forms of potash are very soluble. When lime is added to the soil it assists in breaking up existing combinations and renders the inert matter of the soil more easily taken up by the roots of plants.

Oddea and End*. Wash all the vegetables with a brush, and thus preserve the bands. Thy this for soft corns. Wet a piece of old linen with turpentine, and bind it over the corn. This should be done night and morning. Dkesses of delicate tint, faded from exposure to sunlight, will sometimes return to their original color after having been kept in the dark for several months. In hanging dresses away they should be suspended from two or three hooks, rather than one. This tends to keep them in shape, and also prevents tie crushing of the draperies. Dinner napkins should be threequaitersof a yard square. Anything smaller is insufficient, anything larger awkward. Breakfast napkins may be half a yard square An iron weighing seven pounds does better work by passing it over the clothes once with a firm, steady pressure than a lighter iron hurriedly passed over the clothes two or three times. , ...» Silver used on the table should be wiped each day with a soft chamois. Silver becomes clouded as much from the steam of coffee, tea, and hot foods generally as from actual use, and the daily polishing keeps it in good condition. Black silk may he cleansed by sponging on both sides with weak ammonia water, then rolling up on a roller and leaving until thoroughly dry. Great care must be taken that every wrinkle is smoothed, and the silk will come out very nicely and repay the trouble. A simple remedy for a rough skin is to first wash' the face thoroughly at night, then rub it with about a teaspoonfur of cream and let it dry in. The skin will lobk shiny and feel stiff at firsts but in the morning you will be surprised to find how soft tbs skin will be. *■

POULTRY AND PIG HOUSE.

GROUND PLAN OF COMBINATION POULTRY AND PIG HOUSE.