Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1895 — HELPFUL FARM HINTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HELPFUL FARM HINTS

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AGRICULTURIST AND STOCKMAN. Simple and Convenient Form of Snoke Honee—A Novel Gate Fastener— When Pig* Should Be Marketed— How to Winter Beee— Farm No tea. A Well-Arranged Smoke House. The Illustration, Fig. 1, shows a simple form of smokehouse, arranged so as to give direct action of smoke upon the meat or fish within, and yet free from the annoyance that comes from entering a smoke-filled room to replenish the fire. The house is square and of a size dependent upon the amount of material one may have yearly to cure by smoke. Ten feet Bquare will he amply large for ordinary use. There is an entrance door on one side, and- a small window near the top that can be

opened from the outside to quickly free the Inside from smoke. At the bottom ct one side Is a small door, from which 'extends a small track to the center of ithe room, in which slides a squaie piece of plank, moved by an iron rod with a hook on one end. On this plank is placed an old Iron kettle, with four or five inches of earth ip the bottom. On this the fire is to be built, when the kettle can be slid to the center of the foom with the Iron rod. It can be drawn to the small door at any time, to replenish the fire without entering the smoky room, or allowing the Bmoke to come out. The house has an earthen

floor and a tight foundation of stone or brick. The walls Should be of matched boarding and roof shingled. The building is made more attractive In appearance If the latter Is made slightly .“dishing.” Corncobs make an excellent smoldering fire, with an abundant evolution of smoke. Chips from the woodpile, with some earth and sawdust, if not too moist, also make a smoldering fire that answers very well. —American Agriculturist Ice Ponds. The water should be let Into the pond before the end of November. If the bottom of pond Is full of weeds, cut them down and burn. The water should have a depth of eighteen inches, If possible, as the ice Is much superior, being free from the sediment at the bottom of pond. If earth and leaves have washed into the pond, take them out with a two-horse steel scoop. With two active men and a strong team a good-sized pond can be effectually cleaned In two days’ time. This earth, after It dries out, should be mixed with lima, In the proportion of one bushel of fresh lime to a carload of earth. Throw It up into a high, narrow rick, and let It season for several months. It makes a capital compost for meadows, pasture and for the garden. The bottom outlet from pond should be securely puddled with clay, as this Is the weakest part In the breast of the dam. The breast of dam for a small pond Is best made of clay. It should be fifteen feet wide at the bottom and four feet at the top. After the pond is full of water turn the water off and let It run round the pond. Still water quickly freezes, and water of a depth of twenty inches will freeze over and be fit to cut several days before Ice that forms on deep water, or when the water Is constantly agitated.

Feeding the Silage. In feeding silage It is much better to always feed from the top, and the area of the feeding surface should not be much greater than five feet square for each cow fed, says the Agriculturist * It is a common mistake to hare the feeding surface of the silage too large, and under these conditions the silage has time to heat and spoil to some extent All heating of silage is at the expense of feeding value, and In good silos, after the first heating, the silage cools and remains cold to the ; touch for an Indefinite time, unless again exposed to the air for south days. Silage should be fed after milking. Almost any substance possessing an odor at all marked has a tendency, when fpd to the cotvs just before milling, to have it excreted w’ith the milk at the •time of milking. If, however, turnips or silage, etc., are fed after milking then the odors have time to escape from the blood of the cow, through the lungs, kidneys and skin, before it is again time to milk and the milk wIU not be tainted. k Pigs for Market. At what weight should a pig be marketed? The moro a pig weighs, the more food must be eaten to support life. The animal must first be kept alive, then any surplus of food goes to make growth, says the Orange County Farmer. The 300-pound pig has half as much again of bodily tissue to keep alive and to nourish as a 200-pound animal, and there Is, consequently, a smaller proportion of the food left for inducing growth. There Is, therefore, I a time when the cost of keeping begins ' to exceed the value of the Increase and profit ceases. Poultry in Winter. Greenery, water, grit are the essentials to successful poultry culture in ; winter, says the Agriculturist. Green 1 rye or grass as long as it can be had, chopped roots and fresh vegetables, clover or com silage will snpply green food; hang a cabbage where the birds can pick at it Fresh water Is more ' necessary in winter and early spring

than In summer, when fouls can help themselves. Oyster shells make the best sharp grit, but are expensive inland, and broken crockery or glass may be used Instead. Fall-sown rye makes splendid fresh feed In early spring, when the birds most need something of the kind to Insure virile eggs that will hatch out vigorous chicks; early sown oats will supply green feed after the rye is tough until the hens can be turned out to grass. * Snlphur in the Greenhouae. Sulphur is of the greatest service in the greenhouse. It is invaluable, according to the Philadelphia Ledger, against mildews and a great help against the red spider. The common way for using it is to mix with an equal bulk of air-slaked lime, and with water, oil or milk mixed to a paste with which to paint the heating surfaces of the house. There are other methods of using sulphur, as placing the flour of sulphur on tin plates on the heating pipes, or saturating cotton rags with melted sulphur, letting them dry, then laying them over the heating surface and moistening them. Either is unobjectionable. Raising Pheasants. If the ordinary person were to take up pheasant raising as a hobby he would vote every variety delicate—that is, unless he possessed great patience and an almost unlimited capacity for work, says the Germantown Telegraph. Playing mother to a dozen or more young pheasants, in which there is an inborn desire to eat every hour or so, and whose appetites crave such tidbits as gnats or grubs and Insect eggs from old tree trunks, is an occupation which keeps one on the Jump or dig most of his time.

A New Milk Separator. A machine, which separates the milk and churns the butter at one operation, pasteurizing the milk before it is separated, won a medal at the British Dairy Show. This machine, of course, makes sweet, fresh, unsalted butter, which is so unpopular in the American market that similar machines, known as the butter extractor and accumulator, which have been perfected by aq American manufacturer, are no longer made. A successful milking machine was also exhibited at the show. Seed Sweet Corn. Sweet corn can be readily saved for seed, even while green, if the ear is cut from the stalk and hung up to dry. It is still better If exposed, with the hußk stripped from it, but attached to the butt, to a temperature of 120 degrees. Sweet corn has so much more moisture than other corn that it is difficult to get It dry before freezing weather, unless care Is taken to expose It to a heated atmosphere after stripping the husk from It Fertilize the Fruit Garden. I believe naturally good fruit soil can be made more productive by the application of sheep manure, hen manure and wood ashes; that orchards should be cultivated, some crop raised that does not sap the soil badly, with, perhaps, a year or two In grass, until the trees are well established. Small fruits should receive more attention on the farm and all varieties that can be grown should have a place. Wintering Bcea. My conclusion is that upward ventilation appears to increase somewhat th* tendency to an accumulation of feces, says a writer in the Bee Journal, and also, at least In this experiment, to decrease the strength of the colony, and If this appearance is real, we may conclude that the upward movement of thi air disquiets the bees and causes a larger proportion than otherwise would to leave the cluster and perish. A Novel Gate Fastener. The fastening Illustrated below may be adapted to almost any description of farm gate; it easily made and the most sagacious and mischievous horse

or cow would find it very difficult to open. The gate bar next to the top is made so long as to project through the upright, or a special piece be fastened there for the purpose! A piece of wood ten to fifteen inches long and shaped as shown In the llllustratlon, is fastened by a bolt or wooden pin to the Inside of the post A second pin is driven into the post When the gate Shuts, the fastener falls into position by Its own weight.—Farm and Home. DKeep the Silo Far from the A mistake which has brought the silo into disrepute is in building it in connection with the cow stable, Into which the door opens for convenience. This door, left open, allows the gases, which should be carried off through a ventilator, to vitiate the air which the cow must breathe.

Fall-Sown Rye. Fall-sown rye on light loam soil makes an excellent crop to plow under in spring. Do this just before corn plantlug, add a little potash salts and dissolved bone black, and without the use of expensive nitrogen you will be pretty jsure to make a good com crop, d Distributing Weeds by Thresher. If your neighborhood Is Infested with any kind of noxious weed, see that the threshing machine Is well cleaned before it comes to your farm. In going about from place to place it is one of the worst distributors of weed seeds. Shelter for Stock. Shelter pays better than food In proportion to cost A shed that protects the animals in winter against the cold wind lessens loss of warmth from the bodies and reduces the amount of food that Would otherwise be required. A Forty-Acre Holding. Forty acres of land is more than the average fanner can handle to the best advantage. Intensive methods should be the watchword.

FIG. 1 GOOD FARM SMOKE HOUSE.

FIG. 2. FIRE, KETTLE, AND TRACK.

NOVEL GATE LATCH.