Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — REAL RURAL READING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

REAL RURAL READING

WILL BE FOUND IN THIS DEPARTMENT. Two Million Dollar* Worth of Cheatnota Imported Annually—A HomeMade Clod Cruahei —Brooder for Early Chicks—Profitable Cows. Chestnuts for Profit. Upwards of $2,000,000 worth of nuts, mostly chestnuts, are imported annually into the United States, yet chestnuts are.selling at as much per bushel at this time as they did during the war. At present prices, there is no more iuvlting field in all horticulture thau the growing of these Improved chestnuts. At this time, when the prices of many farm products are verging on the cost of production, and some going far below it, improved chestnuts not only yield a large profit to the grower, but sometimes make returns that seem fabulous. A grove once planted is a source of great revenue for generations. I own a farm of 140 acres of land at Emllle, Fa., and have nearly 1,000 grafted Paragon chestnuttrees six years old on the farm; some of the trees bore from six to eight quarts of nuts per tree this fall; this grove of chestnuts will yield more revenue for the year 1893 nan all the rest of the farm. It Is to be remembered that large tracts of land suitable for this crop can be bought at $5 to $lO per acre. Much has been written on how to keep boys on the farm. The problem would be solved If the farm could be made profitable. With twenty acres of improved chestnut trees in bearing the strife among the boys would be, not who will go to the city, but who will stay on the farm. Cleanliness In Butter-Mnlfing. We hear a great deal about the value of bacteria cultures. It is likely that some good will result from their introduction; there Is danger, however, that in the attempt to produce the best result we overlook one of the oldest cultures In existence, the culture of cleanliness. We believe it was Wesley who said cleanliness was next to godliness, a motto believed by many good people to be found In the Bible, says the Creamery Gazette. It contains, In fact, a very strong element of Bible doctrine. There Is no place, however, where cleanliness Is so essential as In the dairy. From the brushing of the cow’s udder until the tub is ready for shipment, cleanliness is of the utmost Importance. Dirt on the outside of the tub, no matter how fine the butter may be, will seriously affect the price. Culture of cleanliness cannot be purchased in quantity. It can only be had by self-control, dilligence, formation of the habit from childhood up, and an Instinctive hatred of dirt, and all the better If the Instinct Is Inherited. Let us get all the good possible out of cultures and starters and all that science cap give us on that line, but do not forget the old and reliable culture of cleanliness. An Excellent Clod Crusher. The illustration shows a home-made Implement that will not only crush clods, but will be found very serviceable in fitting nay soil for planting, making the surface exceedingly fine and mellow. The Importance of securing a fine seed-bed cannot be too strongly urged upon farmers, and this machine so finely supplements the

work of the cultivator as to make it worth any one’s while to spend the necessary time in making it. The cylinder can be large or small—the larger it is up to a certain point the easier will be the draft Two disks are cut from planks, and triangular-shaped pieces firmly nailed to these, square joists split at the mill serve well for this purpose. Shafts are then added. Soil Moisture. Prof. W. D. Gibbs, at the farmers’ convention, in Ohio, made the statement that it requires 1,200 tons of water to make an acre of com. He urged the systematic saving of the natural moisture of the soil by eradication of the weeds. They act as so many pumps to bring the moisture to the surface and evaporate It. He showed that the natural moisture of the earth is easily exhausted by Improper methods of cultivation; that frequent level and shallow cultivation furnishes a mulch at the surface; that while loose soil will hold In solution twice as much moisture as compact soil, yet If the entire soil surface be loose it will soon exhaust the subsoil of its moisture, because, being loose, it parts with moisture rapidly under the sun’s rays, and, being loose, has not so great capillary power to bring the plant roots the moisture of the subsoil. Best Stock for Pears. Pears are generally poorer growers than apples, and many varieties have to be double-worked in order to get a good tree. This is particularly true of some of the recent introductions of winter pears, Barry and B. S. Fox, for instance, which always have to be top grafted. One of the best, if not the best, stocks for top-grafting Is the Kieffer, but any strong, upright, vigorous sort will do. The Kieffer IS a quick grower, hardy, and can be bought at a reasonable price. It is as easy to graft pears as apples, and any one can do it with a little study and practice. Protect!nc Fruit Trees. Do not fool away your time making decoctions of paint, copperas or any similar compound. Weave together eight laths, so they will be one-eighth of an inch apart and fasten them about the tree. This will afford protection from rabbits, borers, sheep, mice and sunscald, and will last a long time at a, cost of a half-cent a year. I have used this protection for twelve years, and have not lost a sisigle tree, says A. J. Phillips, secretary Wisconsin State Hortfcultural Society. Good for the Garden. Don’t make your onion-bed the same place you did last year, just because you have been making it always In that corner of the garden. Change them around; put your onions whore you had

cabbage or tomatoes last year, and pat peas and beans where yon ha*d parsnips and beets. A change of gronnd Is good for vegetables, as a change of pasture is for sheep. All plants do not take the same nourishment from the soil. Hence, when one vegetable has exhausted such properties of the soil as it needs the ground is still rich in some other property that will produce a good crop of some other kind of plant. So we see the necessity of rotation of garden vegetables, and have seen its effects by trying it. Try for yourselves and be convinced, says the National Stockman. For Early Chickens. It is not a difficult matter to hatch out chicks early with hens. It is a more difficult matter to make them live and grow when hatched in cold weather. They must stay under the hen almost constantly In order to keep warm, but after a few' days the hen will not continually brood them, even if cold, and the chicks become chilled. The engraving shows a device for keeping the brood warm. It is a coop with glass top set on top of a pen filled with heating horse manure. It is, in fact, a coop on top of a hot bed. The bottom of the coop is of thin boards, so that sufficient warmth will get up into the coop to make it very comfortable. The hen and the chicks are placed inside and sand and chaff given to

scratch in. A score of early chicks can thus be raised that will set to laying early in* the fall. Cow Peas Plowed in Full or Spring;. Experiments conducted at the Alabama station show that approximately six and one-lialf times more of nitrogen is found in the vines of cow peas In the fall than in those left over to tho following spring. The reason of this is that the nitrogenous materials are lost by decomposition. The materials of a mineral character will be also lost from the leaves being blown or washed to other localities. The North Carolina station has gotten the best results from plowing under after the pea vines are ripe in tho fall, following with wheat, and not allowing them to remain on the land until the next spring. Cow peas have somewhat more fertilizing properties than common clover. Comfort for Crown. The simplest, cheapest and most effective remedy I know, of is to feed them, says the New England Homestead. As soon as the corn Is planted, scatter about two quarts of shelled coru thinly over tho whole piece, and this amount will be sufficient whether it is a half acre or ten. Every evening repeat tho operation, using one quart. Do not put up any scarecrows, twine or anything else to notify the crows that you have corn planted ready for them. The crows will not dig up the ground or pull up the younger sprouts if they can get it without this trouble. Prom a peck to a half bushel will be sufficient to feed them until the crop is too lurgo to pull.

Thrifty Farming. Farming ought to be done systematically, adopting those systems and plans Which have proved the most successful In each individual case, says the Market Garden. Have a time and place for everything, and see that everything is kept in its place when not in actual use. And what must we do and have in order to make farming pay? Flret and foremost, we must give to the farm and tho farm business our personal attention. We must have bone and muscle, a large amount of ambition, which needs to be put In constant use for about 313 days in a year, for without work on a farm nothing seems to do well. The Profitable Cows, The difference between a cow that will produce 200 pounds of butter per years at 25 cents per poupd, and one that will produce 300 pounds, During ten years of the cow’s life there is a difference in favor of the 300-pound cow of $250. With twenty such cow« there would be a credit in favor of tho superior cows of $5,000 and with forty, SIO,OOO would be the amount your bank account would show over and above what it would with the cow that produced 200 pounds per year for ten years. Farming Not Hard Work, Farmers are not an over-worked class. In fact, there Is no class of laborers having work on hand at all times that are so little chained to the treadmill at labor as are the farmers. Work well and 'hard they do—that Is, the enterprising ones—yet there are snatches of time, leisure hours, stormy days, and, above all, winter evenings, which give leisure and the opportunity for reading far above that of any other class of laboring people, says the Maine Farmer. High Feeding of Stock. Within certain limits, high feeding, and especially high nitrogenous feeding, does Increase both the yield and the richness oif the milk. But It is evident that when high feeding Is pushed beyond a comparatively limited range, the tendency is to Increase the weight of the animal; that is, to favor the development of the Individual, rather than to enhance the activity of the functions connected with the reproductive system. Armenian Corn. Armenian corn is one of the latest novelties In the grain line. Its value has yet to be proved for the conditions of this section. be’

HOME-MADE CLOD CRUSHER.

A BROODER.