Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1894 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

A DEPARTMENT MADE UP FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. t* _ - Value of Crimson Clover as Pastnre and as a Soiling Crop—Three Good Gate Latches —The Use of Fertilizers —To Fatten Gogs. Crimson Clover. Crimson or scarlet clover is a comparatively new plant which has been steadily growing in popular favor during the last Uve years. It is an annual variety of special value as an extra crop, both for feed and for improving the soiL It is not a substitute for red clover. The best results thus far obtained indicate tbe latter part of tbe summer as the best time for seed ng. This will give an early spring crop for pasture forage or for green manuring. Crimson 'clover may be sown in orchards, berry patches, with corn, tobacco, tomatoes, etc., and upon raw ground following potatoes, melons or other early harvested crops. It is not adapted for seeding with wheat or rye. Twelve pounds of seed should be allowed to

the acre. Experience shows that the seed takes better when lightly covered. Failure to secure a good stand results generally from heavy rains lust after seeding or from hot, dry weather after sprouting has commenced. American seed is superior to foreign. Crimson clover in common with other plants requires good soil for the best development, though it is well adapted for light lands. It will catch readily and grow well where red clover will not thrive and is also more hardy Crimson clover provides a good pasture belore other crops are available An acre of It when six inches high contains sufficient digestible food to properly nourish twelve cows for one week. The roots are equal to three tons of city manure As a sailing crop it is excellent both forquantliy and quality. There are many farmers who well understand the value of growing a crop to oe turned under to enrich the land, but dislike to miss a corn crop for this purpose. Tt is here that the value ot crimson clover comes in. After the corn has been cultivated the last time the seed may be sown through the field, and farmers who have tried it claim, that it helps instead of injuring the crop of corn. A number of Western farmers tried the plan of sowing crimson clover with oats. This clover makes a good growth with the grain and is very valuable to those who waut to secure the greatest amount of fodder from an acre with the least labor. The oats could be cut for grain hay; then the clover will make a good crop, and after cutting it the ground may be plowed for rye or wheat. Cloan for Poultry. A very simple arrangement for keeping a dish of clean water near the fowls is Illustrated in Farm and Home. For keeping the water clean it is not necessary that the pan should be set in a frame attached to a fence, but a box with the four sides removed and strips nailed on may be

set In any part of the chicken ccop, thus providing water that is clean and wholesome. It is convenient, however, to keep the water high enough so that ants and insects may not crawl into it readily. For this purpose a small section in the fence may he removed and the head and bottom of the box nailed to the opening above the ground. Small slats of wood can then be nailed as shown in cut, being set far enough apart so that the poultry can get it easily. Us'ng Fertilizers. Does it pay to pse fertilizers'? This question is often discussed at the farmers’ meeting with a wealth of words, that, after all, prove nothing but the opinions of persons who enter into this dis ussion. But there are some facts that speak louder than words in this regard that may be mentioned. The farmeis of the United States buy and use and pay for not less than 1,500,000 tons of fertilizers every year, and this enormous quantity costs them fully $50,000,000. To form an idea of the great bulk of this quantity let us say that it will fill 150,000 freight cars which, extended in two vast trains properly coupled together, will occupy an air-line railroad with double tracks from AVashington to Chicago. Is it reasonable to think that the farmers would continue to use this quantity of feitilizers and keep on increasing their purchases and consumption steadily every year, if this use of them did not pay? But, taking the statistics of the crops and the yields of them, we find that they show large increase during the last few years, and since the use of fertilizers has become so common; and also that the culture of- fruits and market crops for which this kind of plant food is mostly used

has Increased enormously, so that wide districts, where once not an acre of such products was cultivated, are now covered with prosperous gardens and plantations, and are occupied by thrifty, if not wealthy, { farmers. * Good Butter. ! If you would make good butter, the j first point is to make a good keeping , butter. This keeping property of I butter depends upon not leaving too much casine or water in It The latter is the i hies difficulty, if a large i quantity of water is left in the butter, the latter will never keep. The butter grains must be drained so as 1 to get the water out of them as much as possible aLd the air in between ; them, so as to sweeten and freshen the grains and promote the growth of the beneficent bacteria which proi duces good flavor. Afterwards, of ■ course, the air must be pressed out 1 and then excluded. In packing but- | ter use nothing but the best salt, and { be sure to soak the tubs beforehand, as otherwise the wood will draw the moisture from the butter, to the detriment of tbe latter. Oak tubs are ; the most desirable, as that kind of wood has little natural odor for the | butter to absorb If the butter has been carelully made and packed, covered with parchment paper and then with brine, and placed in a cool, dry, odorless place, it should keep well for months. Sickness in Horses. In his lectures upon the care of horses Prof. Pritchard attributes most of the cases of sickness in herses to ignorance. Animals that eat hard food, like beans, hay, and grass, must necessarily have teeth like living millstones because of the hard nature of the food. If they are allowed to become ravenous they tail to masticate their food properly. The man who eats too rapidly ruins his digestion in time, and the same applies to the horse. Without good digestion there could not be a healthy supply of blood. It is a mistake to drink while feeding, although it is the frequent practice. Horses should be fed not more than four times a day, and when fed regularly and at proper times they rarely become ravenous. Threo Good Gate Fa* ten Inga. The form of the gate latch or fastening is an important part of the structure, and care should be exer- ! cised in its construction. The form j shown in Fig. 1 is very simple and | effective. The latch, A, is of hard ! tough wood, eighteen inches in j length, three-quarters of. an inch thick, and one and a half inches wide. Through the inner end a wooden pin holds it in position. When the gate is closed the outer projecting end rests in a notch cut

in the post, as at 8. All the plans shown a Imit of the gate opening either way if desired. In Fig. 2 a swinging latch is used, which should be about the size of that, in Fig. 1. It is suspended by a wire at If. Two wooden pins prevent it from being moved too far in either direction. The plan in Fig. 3 is quite similar to the others, and is clearly shown. The latch, E, is shown in an enlarged form. A notch is cut in the lower

side, which rests on a pin when the gate is closed, the weight of the latch keeping it in position. Next in importance to the hinges of a gate are the fastenings, which should invariably be made of the very best material. Most Profitable Stock. Men who are breeding and feeding pigs have the advantage of their fellow farmers who are breeding sheep, cattle, horses or mules. Pigs come in the spring, and before the Christmas holidays have eaten themselves fat. weigh two hundred to three hundred pounds, and are sold and out of the way at a better market price than any other live stock. This is the situation in a nutshell. The men who buy and carefully breed and judiciously feed hogs have a first-class market all the year round, and the top of the market, too, so far as prices are concerned. True, it doesn’t do to breed any too many in a bunch, and it pays to give them the best of care so far as food and other surroundings are concerned; but these being cared for. the busi. ness is as safe as banking and as profit’ able. Farm Note*. In preparing for an apple orchard select a choice plot-, one containing clover sod preferred; turn the sod under and set out the young trees in the spring. Be slow to cut off large limbs from fruit trees, prune the young sprouts with the thumb The less severe the pruning to which a tree is subjected the more likely it is to be ot long life. Tiie best pork, as well as the cheapest, says an experienced hog raiser, is that made from hogs that have never been wintered, (*uick growth and early maturity are essential in securing the largest profit. 'Jhe fall is an excellent time to use lime. Plow the land, run the cultivator over it crosswise, and apply from thirty to fifty bushels of lime per acre. It may be left on the surface,no harrowing being required, as it will be carried down by the rains, A farmer suggests that it is a good plan to fumigate all grain bins, and corn cribs, by burning therein behind closed ddiW# add windows a good pot of brimstone. This will kill all insects and destroy spores of disease that might otherwise be perpetuated.

CRIMSON CLOVER.

WATER-PAN FOR POULTRY.

FIG. 1 SIMPLE GATE LATCH.