Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1896 — OUR RURAL READERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR RURAL READERS.

SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEREST THEM. Claims Made for the Adams Corn r- New Whiffletree for Three Horse Plowing—Handy Scaffold Device—Shallow Plowing for Barley. The Adams Corn. C. r. Augur, of Connecticut, writing In the American Agriculturist, says: M/ experience leads me to believe that

Early Dwarf Adams corn will give better results than any flint variety. This corn was first brought to my attention thirty-five years ago, a sample being sent me from Michigan, under the name of “Squaw” com. It was recommended as an extra-early table variety. It has been improved by years of careful selection, until now I think it has no superior for either the extreme north or the extreme south, as its early ripening

dwarf early ADAMs ma^es desirable CORK—K size of ear. In both sections. For other sections of the country, while It may not excel other varieties, it certainly can lose nothing by comparison. It Is a general-purpose com, If such a thing exists. As early. If not earlier, than the earliest sweet variety, it has large handsome ears, that are tender and toothsome on the table, and sell readily In the market. Not only will its size, .earliness and general appearance sell it, but those who have tried Its quality are ready to buy again. It has unusual vigor, and will grow sturdily on very moderate fertilization. It is a hardy variety, and can be planted safely a week or ten days earlier than the sweet varieties. There are four types ,of the Adams—Dwarf Early, Early, Late and Zigzag Adams.

The Garden a Help to Good Living. The fanner’s garden is not only the best paying piece of land on the farm, but it is the one that if managed as it should be, best shows what advantages farm life may offer. It is not creditable to farmers that the residents of cities and villages are able to secure cheaply better supplies of fresh garden vegetables than can the farmer. It ought Dot to be so. Even in the matter of earliness, it is within the power of the farmer with a good greenhouse to compete for his own table with the market gardener, even in the winter and early spring. But if he does not care to go to this expense, he will be Inexcusable if he does not provide an abundant variety of everything that can be grown in the garden in the open air. If the farmer was obliged, as his wife is, to provide the material three times a day for wholesome and palatable meals, he would pay more attention to the garden than he does. In any well-ordered family the garden ought to furnish half of what is eaten during the summer and fall months, and the half that will certainly give the greatest pleasure to unperverted tastes and appetites. New Whiffletree. A rig that beats them all for threehorse plowing, is shown by Farm and Home. The advantages are; The team is close to the plow and the plow beam needs but very little shifting when using a two-horse or a three-horse team. Fasten a standard 18 Inches long at right angles up and down to the end of the plow beam. It may be of wood or

Iron. Put a single tree at the upper end of the standard for the middle horse and a two-liorse tree to the lower end for the outside horses. The standard must have 12 inches above and 6 inches below the plow beam to equalize the draft between the middle and the two outside horses. To measure the right length of the evener, place the three single trees in line on a work bench. Let the middle tree lap 3 inches over inside ends of outside single trees. Cut the evener just long enough and you.will have a compact rig. Remove Dead Limbs. There is some evaporation going on even from limbs that have ceased to put forth leaves and are actually dead. They should be cut off down to the live wood and a plaster be put over the wound, so as to exclude the air and let nature form a new covering of bark over the stump. More or less limbs will be found dead in orchards even of thrifty trees every spring when new leaves are put forth, Unless the dead wood Is promptly removed the trees are sure to become unthrifty, and the dead portion will spread to other portions until it embraces the entire tree. Beilins Voons Plirs. There is no quicker way to get money in pork than to keep a few breeding sows and sell their pigs when ready to wean or soon after. There Is always a good demand for such pigs and at considerably more than their pork value. It Is known by everybody that the young pig makes more growth tylth the same feed than it will at any later period of its life. But the seller of the pig gets the advantage of this without being at any expense to care for and feed the animal. Therefore his profit Is greater than that of the man who buys from him. Top Rampant Grape Vine Growth. Many American grape vines, especially those that are in part descended from sije native sorts, require much more room than do the grapes grown In European vineyards. Unless given considerable wood at pruning time the growth of the few buds that are left by close pruning will be stimulated too much. ' *4vv» ?!\j 542 V.T'

'.Tills is a frequent cause Of unfruitful ness in such varieties as the Rogers Hybrids. There is such an excess of sap flowing into ..he shoots that when they blossom the tendency to wood growth is so strong as to prevent setting the fruit Such varieties should be ■ pruned long, and If too many buds start, pull out every alternate one after the fruit has fuMy set and the danger of growing only wood has passed. The Early Planted Potatoes, Potatoes will grow at a much lower temperature than corn; but it is none the less a mistake for the early planting to put the sets in deeply while the ground is cold and wet. Cut potatoes thus planted rot very easijf. For all early planting we should use whole potatoes, entting out all but two or three of the most vigorous eyes This will make a much stronger growth than the whole seed not thus prepared. Three inches is deep enough to plant on heavy ground, though after the soil has been warmed to greater depth, potatoes will do best if planted four and a-bftlf to five inches deep. Such potatoes will not need to be hilled to keep the crop from growing out of the ground, and the deep planting is also to some extent a means of preventing the rot, which, as it comes from spores bred on the potato leaf, is most apt to attack the tubers nearest the surface. Testing Seed Corn. j.*-ere are every year so many complaints and losses from poor seed corn that the only safe way Is to test it by planting some under cover, and in a moderately warm place. This is not Itself a test of how many seeds will grow when planted in the open ground, but it will at least show whether the seed has retained its vitality, and under favoring conditions can be expected to make a crop. Knowing that his seeu can be depended on, the farmer can be saveti the loss sure to occur if he puts in more seed than is needed with the expectation that some will not grow. Thih loss is most serious of all, for the seed with little vitality usually makes a weakly growth, and the number of plants in a hill makes it impossible that any of them shall produce more than nubbins. A Handy Scaffold Device. Perhaps the east end of the house or barn needs cementing or replastering. If so, and you don’t want a quantity of lumber used, make an angle of 3 by 4

scantling, as shown in the illustration, and slide it up against the wall with a stout pole or scantling. Fasten it at the bottom, or let the end sink into the earth, and the more weight you put upon it the more secure it will become. You will want at least two of these angles and a board across them. Kes« as Chicken Food. For very young chicks, and until they are old enough to eat whole wheat, there is no better food than egg boiled hard, so that it can be crumbled. It should be given a little at a time, and the chicks be allowed to run around for an hour or two before any more is given. If the egg shell is crushed' fine and added, this will also be eaten, and it will furnish the needed grit to aid digestion, besides supplying the lime which is essential in growing bone and feathers. Many chickens suffer from indigestion because cooped on wooden floors, where they cannot get either sand or gravel, which all fowls must have if they would keep in good health. Stone as a Mulch. Wherever a stone heap has laid a few years, the soil beneath will be found more fertile. This is especially the case where the whole or part of the heap is composed of limestone. The disintegration of the stone is in part responsible for this. All rains and snows contain some carbonic acid gas, which makes them a good solvent. It Is from stone that the earthy portions of all soils were originally formed. Another, and in some cases the most important benefit to the soil from the stone heap lying above it is, that the stones act'as a mulch, shading the soil, and this enabling it to disintegrate the insoluble particles, and prepare their plant food to be taken up by the roots of plants.

Shallow Plowing; for Barley. The roots of barley do not run deeply, and the plant makes a much more vigorous early growth if the surface soil is merely cultivated, instead of being turned to the bottom of a furrow with a plow. The only objection to shallow plowing for spring grain is that it makes the plowing harder for teams and plows when the spring stubble is turned over in the fall for sowing to winter grain. But some farmers have found that here also the shallow plowing succeeds best. Deep plowing of stubble land only keeps the soil loose to a greater depth, allowing it to absorb more water, and thus increase the injury to the crop from winter freezing and thawing. Ground for Celery. Celery requires very rich and ye: moist soil. It should be made rich by previous manuring, as a large amount of fresh manure put on the year the crop is to be grown makes too dry, and though the celery will 'grow rank for a time, it will become dry and pithy. If the soil In which celery is to be grown is found not to be rich enough, some quick acting nitrogenous commercial fertilizer will be found more profitable as well as cheaper than the quantity of stable manure needed to secure an equal amount of growth. The commercial fertilizer will not dry out the land as stable manure will. When a girl is 16 the eligibility of a young man depends a good deal on what sort of a mustache he has. When she is 26 she Is likely to think more about his bank account—Somerville Journal

THREE-HORSE WHIFFLETREE.

SCAFFOLD FOR REPAIRING.