Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Arrangement by Which Keroeene and Water Can Be Mechanically Mixed In the Spray Pomp—A convenient nig sty —New, Tire Lighter— Fa-m Notes. Spray-Pomp Attachment. A kerosene attachment for knapsack pumps which differs in some respects fiom other attachments of a similar nature is described by Prof. W. E. Weed of the Mississippi Station as follows: The kerosene is placed in a separate tank, which is attached to the back of the main tank by means of two clips at the side Dear the top and holds one and one-quarter gallons. A quarter-inch hose attached by a collar connects the kerosene tank with a brass pipe joining to the cylinder of the pump just beiow the lower of the two small balls whicn serve as valves. A stop-

cock is provided, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the kerosene, or a portion of it, can be shut off at any time. The attachment Is shown m more detail in Fig. 2, and but little is needed by way of further explanation. A pipe lor the passage of the water is provided, at right angles to the pipe through which the kerosene passes, and this Is at o provided with a stopcock with an elongated handle extending through the top of the main tank, so that the water may be shut off if desired. The mechanical mixture of kerosene with water is designed to do away with the necessity of making a kerosene emulsion. Such being the case, If by the mechanical

mixture of kerosene and water wo can accomplish the same results obtained by.an emulsion, we have greatly simplified the matter, so that it will be used as an insecticide much more extensively. Preserving Eggs. In the experiments in keeping eggs made at one of the New York experiment stations, the eggs were all wiped when fresh with a rag saturated with some antiseptic and packed tightly in salt, bran, etc. Eggs packed during April and May with salt, and which had been wiped with cottonseed oil, to which had been added boraic acid, kept from four or five mouths with a loss of nearly one-third, the quality of those saved not being good. Eggs packed in bran, after the same preliminary handling, were all spoiled after four months. Eggs packed In salt during March and April, after wiping with vaseline, to which salicylic acid had been added, kept four or five months without loss, the quality after four months being muelj superior to the ordinary. Temperature of each box varying little from b*o degrees, Fahr. A Pig Sty. The accompanying cut shows the best arranged sty I have seen, says a correspondent of the Ohio Farmer. The material used is oak. It is divided Into three compartments, each having sliding duors opening into the

exercise yard at the rear. A rain trough Is placed the whole length of sty. thus rendering the yard freer from moisture. The yard should be kept clean and dry, and may be covered hy a roof. The feeding should all be done In the yard, and the sty used for sleeping. A feed trough is placed in the yard also. A drop door hinged at b b is provided, to admit light and air in case it is necessary to close the doors in the rear, and is held In place by the button. Straw Mot Good for Horses. Cows need a much more nutritious ration to give good milk and In paying quantities than It is possible for them to consume when straw constitutes any part of it. A variety of feed is good tor nearly all stock, and when cows have clover hay, cornstalks and grain or silage, they will still eat a little straw if given it, tasting it apparently as a change of food. We have seen cows do this when well fed otherwise; but in every case the result will be a lessened milk yield. We know dairy men who are careful not to let cows get a chance to eat straw bedding, which they will often do if allowed. This objection to allowing cows to eat straw is important just now, when the thoughts of farmers are turned towards any possible economy

Id win tor {eedlng,— American Cultivator. ‘ * —— %Vh»t Tests. It has been observed for a numbei of years in the Ohio and Indiana wheat tests that the velvet chat! (Penquito’s) has proved more reliable than most any other sorts on black soils. In a recent trial at the Illinois Station a single plot of this variety yielded at the rate of fortyfive bushels per acre, and this yield was exceeded by only three sorts— Geneva giving 48 bushels, valley 46 bushels and crate 45} bushels. The following varieties gave actual yields exceeding forty bushels per acre: Golden Cross (synonym of l)iehlMeditterrapean), mealy, Poole, Oregon, valley, yellow, Gypsev, plckaway, witter, nigger. New Michigan amber, American bronze, rock velvet (synonym of velvet chaff) crate, Missouri blue stem, silver chaff, DiehlMediterranean, Tasmanion, red golden prolific, Lebanoc, royal Australinn (synonym of Clawson). On the fertile limestone soil of the Pennsylvania Station the velvet chaff gave a comparatively poor yield, the best variet.es proving to be the reliable, Ontario Wonder, rudy Canada, Wonder and Fulcaster. In a comparison of the average yield for five years the most productive varieties at the Pennsylvania Station we e found to be the reliable, valley. Fulcaster, Ontario Wonder, Deitz longberry red, Wyandotte red and. Currel'l’s prolific, in the order named. A Point In Fnttenini; Hogs. Prof.-Sanborn, a highly successful practical farmer as well as an agricultural professor and experimenter, made over 100 actual feeding testa with hogs of various weights, using various foods and employing about 400 hogs. He found on the average a certain amount of food was required to make a pound of gain on pigs weighing ar> pounds, 3.3 percent, more food was re |Uired to make the sanie gain on pigs weighing 70 bounds, 14 per cent, more on pigs weighing 120 pounds; 10 percent, more on pigs weighing 175]ounds, and so on up until 71 percent, more feed was required on hogs weighing 325 pounds, ho it uppears a hog fed at a fair profit until it reaches 200 pounds would be fed at a loss shortly after it had passed that weight. Winter Dairying. Most farmers who have tried winter dairying find that they can get more money either from soiling flillk or butter from cows that calve in September or October than from those that calve in spring. She summer prices of all dairy products are much loWer than! they are In winter. Milk/muit be freshly produced every day., It is equally true of butter that jo what is well made in winter brings better prices than wbat is kept over from summer. It is not a difficult matter with ensilage and grain feeding to mak6 yellow butter iti winter as good in quality as that made from cows at pasture. The white, poor butter made in winter comes from feeding the cow on hay mixed with weeds, which injure its flavor. New Flro Lighter. Here is a valuable little kitchen implement which has Just made its appearance in England. It is for quickly lighting the fire without the aid of any kindling. It is formed of

a strong iron casting, in the box-like end of which is embedded a composition that greatly resembles asbestos in its properties. This composition is fastened down by a wire mesh, and when being used is soaked with paraffine, and set in the grate. It is then lighted and coals heaped on in the ordinary way, and as soon as the tire is well alight is removed. Value of Feed. Every farmer should make it point to save every bit of feed possible. It will all be needed this year. The drought in the West has cut short hay, oats, and corn over a vast extent of country, and lack of pasture has compelled feeding what should be laid by for winter. The lack of feed will cause an early rush of poor, half-fatted and inferior stock to market, Those who have the feed will do well. to. keep their stock till this rush is over. Good, well-fed stock ought to bring remunerative prices later on. Maize Syrup Abroad. The representative of the Agricultural Department at Berlin has writ/ ten to Secretary Morton that he finds that lieriln firms are interested in maize syrups, and suggests that if the prices for Indian corn syrups in the United States are low it seems there might be a sale for them in Germany. Secretary Morton will promptly supply to the agent the names of any American manufacturers of maize syrups who will communicate to the department. Molt FrofUablo 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 200 to 300 hounds, and are sold and out of the way at a better market price than any other live sleek.iThls Is the situation in a nutshell. Honey In Hotter. The peculiar flavor observed in the butter lurnisbed at hotels in Eng*land and at those on the continent patronized by French people is §aid to be due to ohe presence of honey in the butter, says a writer, in a Nest York daily newspaper* The proporjtion is 1 ounce of hbfiey to 1 podnd of butter, and the result is a deoided improvement in flavoir and the avoidance of all rancidity in the butter. Little Land, Much Money. A committee sent from Maryland to examine the truck farms in Lancaster County, Pa., say the half of one farm of eighty acres yields annunaily *16,000 worth of fruit and vegetables; another, of 3ix acres, yields a profit of SO,OOO, another of ninety acr. s, manes a return of $20,000; another, of twenty, returns SB,OCQ worth.

SPRAY-PUMP ATTACHMENT.

VIEW OF INTERIOR.

CONVENIENT PIG STY.

A FIRE LIGHTEB.