Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1894 — HOME AND THE FARM. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME AND THE FARM.

TOPICS OF INTEREST TO FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. How to Make a Simple Drive Pump— The Bulletin Board Plan for Selling Off Surplus Farm Products—Device for Unloading Corn Fodder. A Home-made Drive Pump. A mechanic living near me made a drive pump from about thirteen feet of iron pipe two Inches In diameter, and a connecting piece for fastening pipe to the side for the spout, to which Uprights were attached to hold the handle, as shown In the Illustration. He fitted a steel plug (d) to one end of the longest piece of pipe and drilled holes

pear the end for the inflow of water (c). The pipe was then, with a large mallet, driven down about ten feet into a sandy loam, until It had penetrated a layer of sand containing water. To the top of the pipe the cross piece was connected, and about five feet down a plug was Inserted containing a hole fitted with a leather flap valve on top (b). A plunger of hard wood with a hole In the bottom also fitted with a leather flap valve was connected to a handle by an iron strap, and the handle was supported from the spout of the pump on two strips of hard wood bolted fast together. On the piston, or plunger (a), strips of leather are fastened to promote suction. A drive well at first brings up the flue sand with the water, but as the sand is pumped out a cavity is formed which holds a barrel or two of water, and in time all the sand near the bottom of the pipe disappears. One advantage the driven well has over a well that is dug and walled up Is in its freedom from mice, toads and Insects. Another advantage Is its cheapness. The well here described cost only about six dollars completed, and has done good service for several years pumping much water in a dry climate.—J. L. Townsend, in American Agriculturist.

The Use of Ithe Harrow. The harrow has hever been used to anything like the extent to which it ought to be in our systems of agriculture. The necessities of some of the prairie soils of the far West are compelling many farmers to do what science and good judgment should have taught them long ago. We refer to the harrowing of the grain after it has appeared above the surface of the ground. Owing to the persistence with which they have grown wheat on the same lands from year to year, those lands are becoming very foul with weeds. Two ways of cleaning them have been resorted to. The first Is through the instrumentality of the bare fallow, and the second is through the .free use of the harrow after the grain has appeared above the surface of the ground The latter practice has not been resorted to very generally, but some farmers have tried it, and with results that are most encouraging. When land is to be thus harrowed after the crop has appeared above ground, the grain should be sown with the drill. Were it sown broadcast, some of it would become rooted so near the surface that the teeth of the harrow would probably drag it out. The depth to which grain should be sown will depend—first. on the character of the soil, and second, on the kind of grain sown. On prairie soils of a light, loose and spongy character, the grain should be sown deep, and, if possible, with the press drill, to firm the ground underneath the seed and above it, otherwise the high winds that prevail may carry the soil away and lay bare the seed.— Field and Farm.

Unloading Corn Foddw. My son and I, writes James P. White, In Farm and Home, devised a method for unloading corn fodder in

the barn and have been using it for years with most satisfactory r e - suits. Get as many pieces of %-inch rope, 13 feet long, as you want to haul shocks at one load. Make a loop lat one end of each piece. Lay one of them on the bot-

tom of the hay frame with the ends extending beyond the ends of the frame. Lay one shock of fodder on this with the butts say to the right Put on another rope, then lay on another shock with the butts to the left Continue this until the load is complete. In unloading put the free end of the rope through the loop on the other end, draw up tightly, tie a knot, making another loop or single bowknot. Take off the hay fork and in its place put a plow clevis. Pass the clevis through the last loop, start the team, slowly allowing the rope to tighten about the fodder, then go ahead. The accompanying illustration explains tho method of attaching' the rope to the clevis. Corn. Stalks Heating in Winter. There is a large amount of moisture in corn stalks early in the winter, no matter how thoroughly they may seem to be dried. The rattling of the leaves only shows that they are dry, but they are comparatively a small part of the whole. When cut before severe cold weather comes, the cut stalks will go into much smaller space, and if in large masses will heat very rapidly. For this reason it is not best to cut the bulk of th» corn fodder very

early. It Is easier to cut tut stalks all at once by horse power early in the season make only one job of It. But when this is done the after labor of turning the pile of cut stalks over every day to keep it from spoiling offsets the advantage. Most good farmers who cut their corn stalks by horse or steam power hqve also a smaller cutting box operated by hand power for cutting stalks early in the season. Dairying in Canada. The Baltimore Journal of Commerce says: “The United States Consul at St Stephens, N. 8., reports that the Dominion Government is making special efforts to interest the farmers of the maritime provinces in dairying, and for this purpose is sending out traveling dairies in charge of agents of the Department of Agriculture. Meetings are held throughout the farming districts, and information is intelligently presented. Each year shows a marked increase in the number of large creameries established in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and farmers are reaping substantial rewards as the result of the enterprises encouraged by the agricultural bureau at Ottawa.” Calf Feeding;. There is an impression with many farmers and dairymen that skim milk is a rather thin diet for calves, and we see constaptly in the dairy papers recommendations that it should be reinforced with flaxseed meal or jelly made from the ground seed or cake. So far as the oil or fat is concerned, this addition is all right But flaxseed, and especially the ground cake, is exceedingly rich in protein, and this is just the trouble with the skim milk. It is deficient not in plotein, but in carbo-hy-drate—fat and starch. The best single addition to skim milk for calves as soon as they can eat is corn or oats.—Farmers’ Home Weekly. This Plan a Good One. The Rural New Yorker suggests b plan by which many small farmers would be able occasionally to reach the public to the extent of selling off any surplus stock on hand without too great expense in the way of advertising. The plan is nothing more than a bulletin board, constructed like the one shown in the illustration. Such a board nailed in a conspicuous place would give you lots of advertising and increase your circle of customers. What are you raising goods for? To sneak them off to market with the least possible pub-

licity ? Why not advertise and increase the competition for what you have to sell?

American Horses Abroad. The remarkable increase of the exportation of our horses to Europe is opening up a new’ era to American horse breeding. We learn of shipments to England, Scotland, France and Germany. Many of our importers are buying high-class horses for export, especially in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. The only drawback is the great scarcity of suitable horses good enough for this export trade. But the trade will grow just as our cattie export trade has grown, only faster.

Odds and Ends. Rub spoons with salt to remove egg stains. To purify a cistern, tie charcoal in a bag and drop it in. Canned sardines carefully browned on a double-wire gridiron and served with lemon are appetizing. The merest dash of cinnamon in a cup of chocolate after It is poured is said to add a piquant and undistinguishable flavor. A silk dress should always be brushed with a soft camel’s hair brush, as whisk brooms are too harsh and cut the silk. When an eiderdown comfort has got hard and lost all of its elasticity hang it in the cool, balmy sun for a few hours and all the life will come back. Linseed oil is better than anything else for removing rust from stove pipe. Rub the pipe thoroughly with the oil (a little goes a great ways) and build a slow fire until it is dry. When you are through with washtubs or wooden pails, turn them bottom side up on the floor of the woodhouse or cellar and set a can of fresh water under them to keep them from coming to pieces. Mix lemon and vanilla when you are tired of either of these flavors. To a tablespoonful of lemon extract add about a third of a teaspoonful of vanilla and you will think you have discovered a new'flavor. The breath may be kept sweet by using a tooth powder which contains orris root, and by rinsing the mouth with water into which a few drops of bisterine or tincture of myrrh have been put In these Says of bacteria let the sunlight have free access wherever its poi-son-scattering rays can reach. In other places use boiling water and cop. peras, or chloride of lime where watej is undesirable. A Rope Pali.

A SIMPLE DRIVE PUMP.

THE BULLETIN BOARD.