Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1895 — ALL ABOUT THE FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALL ABOUT THE FARM

SUBJECTS INTERESTING TO RURAL READERS. Hanging Feed Rack for Sheep—Advantages of a Movable Poultry House—De vice for Su p porting Wagon Tongues. To Cure Self-Sucking Cows. Farm and Home says the cure of a self-sucking cow la easily effected by adjusting a halter and a surcingle

around the body just behind the fore legs. Connect the halter ring and surcingle with a stick 3 to 3% feet long, letting the stick hang between the cow’s fore legs. A short strap 4 to 6 inches long con-

nects the stick to surcingle and halter so as to give the stick some play. A pad may be needed on the back under the surcingle as the latter sometimes cuts through the skin. In very persistent cases two sticks may be needed, one on each side of the cow, outside of her fore legs, to break from sucking. Afterward a single one will do. Feed Rack for Sheep. The usual method of feeding sheep has a number of disadvantages. When fed from the floor adjacent to their pen, the lambs are quite sure to be found walking all over the hay and grain, and making themselves generally at home in the uttermost parts of the barn. The sheep, moreover, wear off the wool from their necks and disfigure themselves when feeding through openings tn the side of their pen. When the fddder is thrown down from the floor above the pen an arrangement such as Is shown in the Illustration may be found serviceable. It Is a hanging rack with slats all around It, and made narrow at the bottom so that the flock can reach even the last spear of-, hay. There will be no crowding with such an arrangement. The feed will not be soiled, and the pen can be kept closed so that the lambs cannot escape from ft Even when the fodder is not thrown down from the floor above such a rack may

be hung near the side of the pen, and the hay thrown over into it from the feeding floor, giving much more feeding space to the flock than would a rack nailed against the side of the pen.—Orange Judd Farmer. Why the Churn Churns. The most plausible theory for the separation of the butter fat in cream by the churn, is that the fat globules in milk and cream being surrounded by a thin layer of liquid cream serum, the concussion of the churning causes the usually round, uniform, floating globules to harden into Irregular shapes, which results In their adhering to each other until the.enlarging granules of butter can be seen by the naked eye. For some time before the butter “comes,” or the cream “breaks,” the fat globules have been massing together, and the usually rapid increase in size after they are visible is due to the greater surface exposed, just as a rolling snowball grows fastest at the last. The factors which affect the completeness of the churning are stated by Director J. L. Hills of Vermont, to include the food of the cows, the period of their lactation, the creaming and ripening, the size and kind of churn, with the heat and density of the cream. There seems, however, to be no relation between the sourness of the cream, the temperature, the curd In the butter, and the time needed for churning.

Forcing Early Rhubarb. The most common method of forcing an early and large growth of rhubarb was to place an upright barrel over the plant with both heads open, and the pile around it a mass of horse manure to decompose and increase the warmth. At night when the weather is cold the top of the barrel should be covered with .ft. mat to,..eft-, elude the frost. It used to be supposed that the manure thus applied furnished .plant food as well as heat. Really, however, it gives little of either. The barrel with open head covered at night warms the soil around the plant better than' doek the manure which obstructs the sun’s rays. A very small amount of composted manure dug Into'the SolllMMae the barrel will give more,plant food for immediate usd than will a big pile of coarse manure outside. The most of the heat inside the barrel edmes from the sun’s rays both inside and outside It. The barret should, however, be wrapped in a blanket on cold nights, besides being covered at the top so as to hold the ’heat gained during the day. Crowd aft 'Melon Thieves. Melon growers have a new enemy to - guard against. Those in some parts of Delaware found large holes pecked In the melons and were at first unable to decide what was responsible. Watching the patches closely they found a colony of crows walking over the field at early morning and pecking the melons just enough to make them unsalable. One hundred melons were thus destroyed In one field before the thieves were recognized and driven away. Rotation in the Garden. However fertile the soil of a garden, If planted year after year it will often become badly infested by worms, grubs and other insects. If plant food is supplied in the shape of stable manure, the insect pests are all the more likely to become numerous. For this, as Well as for other reasons, rotation Is as Important In the garden as In the field. A good ptan Is to have a garden twice as large as Is required for

vegetables, and keep one-half In do ver, with frequent alternations. Early Corn for Fodder. It Is bo Important for securing ths best results corn for fodder or ensilage that It should nearly reach tin stage for ripening ears that only ths early sorts should be drilled for thess purposes wherever there is ariy doubt on this subject Sometimes, too, a drought late in summer cuts'll crop, destroying that which ripens latest while the darly corn has matured and Is out of the way of injury. Even in a season without drought, it is important to get the corn fodder cured ot put in the ensilage pit before the fall rains. The common New England Flint varieties will not give so large a bulk of fodder as will the Southern and Western Dent corn, but they will have a higher nutritive value in proportion to the expense of making and harvesting the crop.—American Cultivator. A Movable Hennery. On stubble fields there is often a great deal of food which, if the fowls can be induced to forage sufficiently, would amount to a considerable quantity of food. In some countries, according to the American Agriculturist, the young fowls are housed in a small, lightly-constructed bulld-

Ing on wheels, of a weight not too heavy, for a horse to draw, and of a size to accommodate from fifty to seventy chickens. The birds are quartered In it and drawn to the field, where they are fed once or twice in the house to accustom them to it. Then they are supplied with plenty of water and turned upon the stubble, changing them about to fresh forage as often as they seem to require new ground, to And sufficient of the fallen grain. If the house be built of half-inch matched boards, it will be found light enough to be moved easily, and will prove quite a saving in feed from year year. Fences on the Farm. A great deal less fencing is used now than when the country was newer. It can be still further diminished, not only without decrease of production, but with the effect of making the farm product greater. Before making a fence to save a little pasture, it is well to make an estimate whether it would not be cheaper to let the grass grow and cut it, or at the worst to let it fall on the land as manure. If the little pasture is a field of young clover, either one of these last-named methods will prove more profitable than turning the stock on It. So long as fencing material was abundant farmers used to cut it into rails and surround fields with them as the best way of disposing of surplus wood. But a well-fenced farm Is now not valued so highly as one without fences, but in which the more important point of maintaining soil fertility has been attended to. Support for Wagon Tongues. The Scientific American describes a new wagon tongue support which has been patented by a man in CaliforiMU. The accompanying illustration shows how it is used. It is very simple, iconsisting of two plates fastened to the front and-.rear sides of the axle by means of bolts. On the front plate are two elongated lugs, which are apertured to receive the supporting arms. The latter are preferably of stout wire, and have a

vertical section held ifi place by a set screw. It is not necessary to connect the arms to the tongue; the latter simply rests upon them. Keeping Nuts Fresh. A Dutch horticulturist journal says that an excellent way to preserve fresh nuts Is to place them immediately after gathering in clean flower pots, the holes in which have been stopped, and covering them with a tile or bit of slate, to bury them in the earth until they are needed for use. The mnin thing Is to protect them completely from the action of light Farm Notes. Land that is hard clods can not be expected -Wi give-good crops. Use the pulverizer and barrow until the soil Is worked As fine as would be desired for a garden. Never allow cows to drink water that r you would not drink yourself. Milk from copunon. cows, whela grass fed, per |ent water. The cow has nolifter in her to purify water, afid«if the water is impure the Impunity goes the milk. iCrqhard grass is excellent for permanent pasture; timothy lasts but a few years, and clover less. A good mixture is five pounds red clover, four 1 timothy,, fourteen pounds Kentucky blue grass imd fivir pounds orCh^ari},.grass, .fijst two make the good pasture in the stafct drew a large crop of potatoes. This country buys large quantities of potatoes from Scotland. Do not be afraid of low prices. If potatoes can not be sold at a profit they can be utilized at home for stock. Considering the large possible yield from potatoes they should always prove profitable. An Ohio farmer says that his 100 stands of bees pay him more than all the rest of his Sixty-acre farm, and do not require half so much labor. Wherever alfalfa is grown bees should so! low;.and even for the sake of bees it may pay to raise alfalfa, if it will grow in your latitude. For the dairy, for work, for breeding and even for fattening, the quiet, docile animal Is always worth more than the fractious one. The latter is not only m<ji;e r troublesome to handle, but It is a disturbing element among the others, and is often an expensive animal to keep within bounds.

SELF-SUCKING PREVENTED.

HANGING FEED RACK.

MOVING THE POULTRY HOUSE.

NEW WAGON TONGUE SUPPORT.