Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1894 — OUR RURAL READERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR RURAL READERS.

SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEgfST THEM. Plana for a Modal Dairy Barn—Tho Future of Farming—Kind of Horses WantedFood Box for Poultry _ Ths Former's WUe. A Model Dairy Barn. The proper care of a winter dairy involves a great deal of labor, and it is difficult and expensive to so iearrange old barns that both labor and produce may be used to the best advantage. When there are such buildings on the farm they may be fitted for horses and young stock. The plans shown in the illustration are

from the American Agriculturist and are for a building for dairy cows only. Fig. 1 shows the ground plan of the stable with partitions between the cows, going back half way from the manger to the drop, and parti-

tions between the c o w s’ heads. Their is also a stairway leading from the stable to the floors above. Fig. 2 gives a section of the

barn and its approaches, showing the manner of constructing the frame. Fig. 3 shows the exterior of the building. The frame is 36x98 feet, with twenty-two foot posts above the stable, which has accommodations for forty cows, giving a width of three and one-fourth feet to each cow, and leaving a passageway across the center. This barn is built on sloping ground, making it easy to gain access to the barn floor, which is fourteen feet wide and is placed eight feet above the stabla The space lietween this floor and the stable Is used as a granary, and especially as a storage place for bran and other feed, which may be pur-

chased cheap in the summer and stored for winter use. The binsaie filled through trap doors in the barn floor above, which saves a great deal of labor in handling. The grain is passed to the stable by wooden shutes which deliver it Into a box on wheels in each feeding alley. As the top of a load of hay is twenty feet above the bottom of the mows, the unloading is mostly pitching down, which makes another great saving of labor in a busy time of year. Reparlng Fences. There is a great deal of work that can be done on a farm to good advantage after farm pork proper is finished. There is no better time in the year to put the fences in good shape than when the ground is frozen. It is easy to get about the fields with material, and the work has just exercise enough about it to make it pleasant A fence that is gone over every year seldom needs repairing. Yearly attention keeps in gqpd condition, but neglect it for a few years, and it will require as much labor to put it in good trim as it takes to build a new fence. Poultry Feed Box. This style of poultry house can be made of any length to accommodate as much poultry as is kept It will be found to not only prevent waste, but to keep the feed perfectly clean, thereby promoting the health of the birds. It should not be so wide but that the poultry can reach to the cen-

ter from each side. The cover should be wide to prevent the poultry standing on it Constructed as shown in the cut, they will slide off every time. Lath can-be used for slats. Any one who can nse tools can make one of these feed boxes, The Future nt Farming. The so-called bonanza wheat farms of the Northwest and the big farms of the California valleys grew out of transient conditions that no longer prevail—the California farms out of the old Spanish land grants and the Minnesota and Dakota farms out of the congressional grants to railroads. The history of the Northwestern big farms is that the land was purchased from the railroad companies with depreciated stock, and cost originally about SI per acre. The low price of wheat and the higher price of land have changed the whole aspect of large farming. There is no bonanza in the big farm now; it makes but a moderate profit on the capital it represents m average crop years, and with a bad crop it barely pays running expenses. It requires as care ful management as a factory. I believe that we are now in a transition period in agriculture. The inflpence of ms.ohinery has been fully exerted.

There arS*no mon fertile lands on the globe to be conquered by civilization and to Increase the food supply. With growth of population will come better prices for farm products. Farm life will become more attractive. The tendency to large farms will be checked. A hundred acres, even with exclusive gvva farming, will afford a good living to a family. Better times for American agriculture are not tar off.—E. V. Smalley, in Forum. The Flrmfr'i Wife. 1 can see her, a .faded, haggard, sallow woman, tired from the weary rising in the dark winter mornings, to the crawling from the unfinished pile of mending to the told rooms up-stairs, at night Her husband is k.nd to her; but he has his own work; and her back aches, she is dizzy and faint, and life grows a heavier load on her shoulders every day. She does not consider that her health is part of the home's capital; and she is sure that they cannot afford to hire help, behindhand as they are, they can't afford a doctor (who would ride ten miles and charge 15,) but she remembers that the last time she was at church she heard one of the society speak of a patent medicine that helped her last spring, and she will send for the medicine. Or else she writes to the household paper (price 50 cents a year) which she takes, asking the editor’s advice. What pathetic and suggestive things are the correspondence columns in these humble Journals! How the ineradicable womanly longing to be attractive comes out in queer prescriptions to prevent the hair falling out, to remove freckles, or to make over old gowns with small sleeves into the flamboyant style of the day; how the woman’s heart peeps through Its thin disguise in those pitiful letters describing lonely livesand love that the strong years conquer, and the daily jar and fret of disillusioned toil, and all the rest of the dismal story. I seem to see the broken woman, who was a joyous and amb tlous girl, tugging over more wearily at her Sisyphus stone of duties, growing more irritable, more complaing as strength and heart fail, until the day shall come when the tired mother will not creep down-stairs. Then the, neighbors will watch and nurse by turns, and the doctor, who might have helped years ago, will be called in to witness properly the end he cannot avert. —Scribner.

Rolling Meadow Land. Billing the meadow, and sometimes the pasture land, as soon as the frost leaves the giound in the spring, is often done by practical farmers. The action of frost often throws many stones to the surface, and when the ground becomes settled these impediments are thus left in a position to cause serious injury to the cutting apparatus of the mowing machine. Upon land liable to heave by action of frost the surface soil Is left uneven, many tufts of timothy are nearly thrown out of the soli, and these the roller presses down smooth, and only Insuring a better and more healthy growth, but leveling the Held for the more economical (fathering of the crop Fall sown wheat and rye fields are often benefited by rolling, which should be done the same day that the field is seeded to clover, or soon after, as the action of the roller, in crushing lumps and mellowing the surface, makes a good seed bed, and covers a large proportion of the clover seed. Newspaper Holder. A strong pocket for holding newspapers as seen in the sketch herewith can be made of a Japanese splasher. Select one with a design near one end as this must serve tor the decoration on the x ujiper part of the pocket. Line trie whole, with bright sateen to give additional

strength; fold up three-eighths of the lengths and sew the sides shut to form the pocket; turn over the other quarter, letter on “newspapers” In liquid gilt; sew on stout rings to hang it up by, and hide these with full hows of No. 9 plcot-edged ribbon. Trim the front or flap with loops and tassels of rope about the thickness of a lead pencil. ♦ ————— Hint* to Housekeeper*. Cut Ungers and bruises of all kinds if wrapped in ciotb wet in alum water will heal very rapidly. j Paper will stick to walls that are washed in a solution of one-fourth pound of glue to a gallon of watdr. Kid shoes may be Kept sbft- agd free from cracky., by rubbing them occasionally with- bpye’glycerine. /'■ ’ '' To purify greasy sinks an£ pipes, pour down a pailful of boiling water in which three or four pounds of washing soda has been dissolved. , . By rubbing with a damp flannel dipped in the best whiting, the brown discoloration may be taken off cups in which custards have been baked. To take stains and spots out of mahogany furniture, rub with a cork dipped in oxalic acid and water. After the color is restored, rinse with clean water, wipe dry and polish as usual To keep iron kettles from rusting when new boil a piece of pork in them and let the solution cool before emptying; or simply grease them with the pork rind and heat it in thoroughly. For washing embroidery in crewels or silk, pour ,a gallon of boiled water on one pound of bian. v Let it stand for twenty-four hours, stirring occasionally; strain and use. Ink stains may be removed from white goods by saturating the spot Sth water and then covering with unded salts of lemon. Put in the sun for five minutes, wash with soap and rinse.

GROUND PLAN.

CROSS SECTION.

PERSPECTIVE VIEW.

FEED BOX FOR POULTRY.

SERVICEABLE PAPER POCKET.