Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1894 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. I.lfe ol the Small Farmer Is a Happy One Convenient Raff Holder- A Model Village Stable Well-Arranged Water Bench—Agricultural Notes. Convenient Bag Holder. The Ohio Farmer thus describes the bag holder which is here Ulustraded: A, is au inch board 12 inches wide and 20 inches long. B, 15 is an inch board 6 inches wde and 24 inches long. Cis an upright post 36 inches high, ]}x2 inches square, and mortised through the boards A and B, B, at the bottom. D is au upright post 24 inches high, l’x2 Inches square. E, E are two iron arms 18 inches long, 1 inch wide and i inch thick, fastened on top ot post D with a wood screw bolt, and ghen a half twist as shown; also two upward and outward extending flanges G, G, 0 inches long and 1 inch high. H, H, are two hickory springs 21 feet

long, 2 inches wide by } inch thick, fastened near the outer end of the iron arms, E, E, with rivet at lower end to post D with | inch bolt. I is a small block fastened between the springs H, H, to give the arms E, E, the proper spread, which should be 20 inches at outer tips. Jis a collar made of hoop iron fastened to post D and litt ng loosely around post G K is a light iron clevis fastened loosely to post D and fitting loosely around post C. A piece of hoop iron, 18 inches long, is fastened in post 0, slightly extending at back of post, and has very small notches filed in It to which the clevis K holds. Post D with all that is fastened to it is free to slide up and down post C, thus adjusting jitself to long or short bags, while the springs, 11, H, allow the arms E, E, to be pressed together or spread, thus adjustin ' itself to wide or nanow bags. The dotted lines show bag in position for filling. A WeU-Arrunsed Wntur Henrh. Where water can be brought by a pipe from a near-by well, or from a Bpring, the task of br.nging it in pails can happily be avoided. But a large proportion of homes are still served with water from a pump in the yard from which the water must be carried to the house in pails. A simple bench usually provides a support for these pa is of water which are thus exposed to heat in summer,

dust, flies, and an occasional visit, perhajs, from the family cat The Illustration accompanying this shows how water can be kept cool in summer and perfectly protected from cats, flies, and dust When the pails are to be filled, the front which Is hinged, is let down, the cover raised, and the pails when tilled areas easily set back as upon an open bench. The front and the cover can then be closed and the water kept clean and cool. The closet below will be found exceedingly convenient for numerous uses that will occur to -any housekeeper living in the country. A|Tnb for Crain Soaking;. At the grain sowing season nothing is more handy than a tub in whice to soak, clean or kill smut spores than a tight half-barrel of

convenient she for use. On many farms the comimon method is ao borrow the good wives’ washtubs, pans, etc. The cut shows a

half-barrel which may be put to use at all seasons of the year for other purposes when not in use for seed soaking. In making, select a tight, 6trongly made barrel, a vine?ar or molasses barrel being preferable; but if a ligh one is desired a flour or sugar barrel where perfectly tight may be used. In the farm toolhouse it may be quickly sawed in two, tightly hooped and rope handles putin at the two sides. Progress in Spraying. In no other department of uorticuitural knowledge has so much progress been made as has been made in spraying. It was at first recommended chiefly to destroy the codling moth, which destroys the apple crop. Hut it is now found equally efficacious in preventing the scab and blight on leaf and fruit, which is a greater present danger than the codling moth to perpetrate its species. In most orchards where the apple crop entirely failed when apples are now grown they are free from worms. For grapes the spraying fs now regarded as Indispensible to prevent rot The Bordeaux mixture is also found an effective remedy for anthracnose on Blackcap raspberries, in spraying for fungus diseases several applications are better than one. A small bit of fungus that escapes th 4 fljst or second application

increases very rapidly. But It la probable that thorough spraying one season wMHrreatly lessen tha*aMount of this work that will be needed the year following. Working a Small Farm. If you can’t do better, be a onfiborse farmer. Jr you have a little money ahead, buy a small piece of land and become independent. You can get out of it enough to eat; it will make for you a home for your family; your one or two cows will become pets; your horse, one of the family; your hens will give you eggs and fat chickens for an occasional dinner. Your wife and children can go to town or to see an acquaintance occasionally. It will make life happier for them and keep oil the blues. If your gains die small, your ex; enses a:e small also. If there Is not much mouey in your pocket-book, you have the satisfaction of knowing that there is corn in the crib, potatoes in the cellar, milk in the pantry, butter in the jar, eggs in the basket, and cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, sweet corn, squashes, onions in the garden all to be had without | uttiug your hand into your po ket-book at all. You can be busy all the time. A little farm can absorb all your energies. If there are rocks on It they can be removed, one at a time at any time of the year, when other demands for labor slacken. You can seize your crowbar, a: d with a little dynamite hoist these obstacles to farming skywards. If there is an old apple tree In the midst of your meadow, and which has been plowed around for years, grub It out. Then the cultivator can ride over the spots which It must now go around, and two years hence thomowing-iuachlno will not have to dodge it in the hay season. Last year I took out a rock in the field and the plow ran right through a spot that had been plowed around for sixty years, aad 1 had a number of protltable corn hills where none ever grew before. This spring, from that same Held, which will be put into oats, I shall remove another and larger rock. Dynamite will make quick work of It. About the only labor will lie in hauling tho broken pieces.—W. L. Thacker. A Village stable. 1 A small window over the stable door, through which hay Is pitched with difficulty, is avoided by a break In the roof, as shown in tho accompanying illustration from tho American Agriculturist, giving room for a

door of generous size. A box Btall ought to be provided In every stable, as it will be found most useful for the occasional use both of the horse and cow. It may take tho place of the extra stall that ought always to bo provided for the horse of a visitor, so that there is but little extra rocm called for. Fattening Animal* on Gras*. Large numbers of animals are every year fattened on grass, being turned out in May or June, and sold off when fattened in the fall. This grass feed is also right when at Its best, but at either end it needs to be supple* mented with grain feeding, as does also the feed of cows at pasture, bo long as tho grass is immature a considerable amount of grain will be eaten daily. There should be a grain ration also when the pasture fails In the fall, and especially If it Is supplemented by fodder corn cut before it is mature enough to come In tussel. A little grain feed in summer will go farther in fattening any kind of stock than a much larger amount in winter. Dairy Hint. Hoard’s Dairyman gives these hints about wooden vessels: “Don’t set a wooden bowl or butter printer in the sun or by a stove to dry. They last much longer If dried slowly. Also wet these things before using them for cream, milk, or butter. 11 the pores are lllled with water they cannot absorb grease and so get tainted. Wood will absorb the butter lats in milk and milk products, and they will not dry out as does water.”

Farm Notes* WniTE clover is excellent for fil. ing up bare places on grass plots, as it will grow and thrive where other grasses will fall, but it prefers a rich soil that contains lime. The farmer is his own employer, and does not have to go or come at ! the beck ot anyoue else. This is j worth remembering when you are figuring up the advantages and disadvantages of the occupation. The Lima bean has been so callcJ for a hundred years, and, as its name indicates, seems the have first been known in South America. The common kidney bean seems to have first been known to thCi ancient Peruvians. '+> It is stated that the’best way to test cabbage seed is to drop some on a botTstove. If the seeds burst and pop (like popcorn) they may be considered of good quality, and those is the package will germinate and produce good plants. When green crops arc plowed under for the purpose of enriching the soil, an application of lime will often be of the greatest benefit It helpi to correct the acidity of the soil, which often results lrom too rapid fermentation of the green stuff. Farmers’ clubs, grange meetings, institutes, etc., help to promote the 1 social side of farm life, and bring the people of a community into closer re lation and sympathy with each other. Do not neglect these things any more than you do the proper cultivation oi your land. Is does not pay to use low-grade fertilizers. They contain less or the elements In proportion to their cost than do the higher grades, and the cost for freight and handling is out of proportion to their value II you buy jour fertilizers, do It la as condensed form as Possible.

BAG HOLDER

CONVENIENT WATER BENCH.

VILLAGE STABLE.