Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1896 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Mixing Fertilizers. Here is a plan cf a mixing box for fixing home-made fertilizer, as illustrated in the Ohio Farmer. The box should be made stationary to a centerpiece so that it will revolve with a crank. Fig. 1 shows wooden pins

running through centerpiece, necessary for good work. C, lid for opening and closing box. A should be turned to B for filling, and as shown for contents to be removed. The box should also be large enough to hold 200 pounds of commercial fertilizer, or about twothirds full for satisfactory work. Turnips Among Corn. Turnips will not only bear frost without injury, but it is the belief of many farmers that their quality is improved after the first frost. Certainly when they are grown among corn they make a large part of their growth after the corn is cut. This is commonly thought ■to be owing to the root crop being out from under the shade of the corn. This may be one reason, but another doubtless is that as soon as the corn is cut its roots cease to draw upon soil fertility. As the soil is warm and fermentation constantly goes on, nitrogenous plant food is constantly being liberated. This is still more so after a frost hard enough to kill most of the weeds, but not severe enough to affect the turnips. There is often a growing season of five or six weeks after the first frost, and in ’ this time the turnips will often double the growth they had made before the frost. Simple Framing of Building. There has been a wonderful change in recent years in the manner of framing buildings, reducing the size of timbers used and doing much Jess cutting of mortises and tenons. But there are still other changes in the direction of simplicity that are not commonly known. One of these is shown in the accompanying sketch, which very near-

ly explains Itself. Instead of a heavy silty a two-inch plank Is laid Upon the foundation, bedded into the cement. Upon this are laid the planks that are to support the floor boards. These are spiked to the uprights, which are themselves spiked to the sill plank. The same plan of spiking the frame can bo carried out in the upper portion of the building. In this way all the frame is made of plank, and no mortising or tenoning is required. This plan is highly useful for small buildings, while there are plans to use a somewhat similar construction in the framing of barns. Dark Stables. Every farmer and dairyman should have a stable than can be "darkened, in which to put his cows morning and evening during milking time. Being in a. darkened room the flies do not trouble them, and they stand quietly .while being milked, and are glad to be freed from the pests which torture them when outside the stable. A cow must have the patience of Job to stand quietly and be milked, while the flies are sucking blood from almost every part of her body; and because she kicks and flops her tail around to drive off these pests, the patience of the milker becomes taxed, and the poor beast is too frequently beaten and kicked, because she tries to rid herself of the flies that are biting her. Try a dark stable for milking, and you will never be satisfied without one thereafter. How to Hitch a Horse. To hitch a horse to a smooth post or tree without the rope slipping down or a untying is shown in the illusfi* . tration. The end is turned ;|| round the rope, forming a zffi' a small circle, carried round the Post, returned above the rope, Sr- S' passed round the post again, . pulled over the last turn of jl-x, the rope and through the first * circular turn made by a, coming out at b. Quick Maturing. There is less demand every year for the extra large over-fattened hogs that ■have taken two years to reach maturity. What is wanted for profitable (feeding is a thrifty pig that in six or •even dr eight months’ growth will average a pound of pork yer day. This •an usually be made at a profit The

heavier hog costs more to keep, and its pork is neither so good nor will it now sell so well as pork that weighs 200 pounds or less per carcass. Destroying Burdocks. The burdock is a bad weed for a careless or lazy farmer. If it is allowed to seed, the product of seed is so enormous from each plant that once they get scattered over the ground the place will not be free from them for years after. Yet it is not a hard weed to kill. All that is necessary at any stage of growth is to dut the plant off one to two inches below the surface and fill in the hole that the part of the root cut out has occupied with common salt Tile root is full of sap, which first dissolves the salt, and then as the moisture gradually increases, it rots away the root that is left in the ground, making a new growth of shoots above impossible. One application is enough, and it takes less than a minute to make it Feeding Hens Wheat. Wheat is good to make hens lay, but it must be fed in moderation. Hens are very fond of wheat, and if given what they will eat of it they will fatten as fast as if the grain were corn. It is best always to make the hens earn *what they get by sprinkling their grain among cut hay or straw. If clover can be got that should be used, and when the wheat gets scarce the hens will fill up on clover, which is an exeeilent food for egg production. No kind of gralh can be depended on for a full ration for fowls in winter. They need some grass or vegetables or clover, so that the grain may not lay in a hard lump on their gizzards. Potato Assorting Device. The device shown below for assorting potatoes is made by constructing a box 12 feet long and 1 feet wide, with three partitions. Thft back piece is about 4 feet high, tho next 3 and the third iy 2 feet. Nail* pickets on for screens. Put them rather closely together on the first incline, and further

apart on the second. This separates into three grades. Shovel them on the slide above the first incline and push down slowly and the assorting is accomplished.—Farm and Home. Dairy Dots. Watering is as important as feeding. Winter the best, and make meat of the rest. The milk dairyman cannot feed exactly as the butter maker. A cow’s biography is expressed, not in good'deeds, but in quarts of milk. Cows which give a large quantity of yellow milk are not’ always the best butter cows. Winter dairying gives milk and butter at a season when they command the highest prices. Smoking an old pipe where there is milk or butter, is first-rate evidence that the smoker ought not to be in the dairy business. Every time you swear at a cow she makes you pay for your ill manners. Every time you kick her you kick pennies out of your pocket-book. Fine butter will always sell readily at a profitable price, while poor butter fails to find a customer and loses in quality daily, and in the end makes a loss to every one who has anything to do with it.

Atoms from the Apairy. If a hive is in good condition id every respect, It is proof against robbers. Granulated sugar is the most healthy diet for wintering bees—much better than honey. When bees are to be left on their stands all winter, it will be a good plan to give them a windbreak on the north and west sides. Extracted honey will granulate Mid become hard and grainy on the approach of cold weather, and if of good quality it will become very white. Bees do their own ventilating, by standing about the entrance at such a distance apart as will allow a free use of their wings, and, by working them, produce a current of air through the hive. Combs given good care can be made to last a number of years. Save all pieces, fit them together and fasten them in the frames. The bees will complete the work, by waxing them fast, making a perfect comb. Farm Notes. Improvements are always in order, but—pay your debts first. Potato bugs appear to have been ufl? usually numerous this year. Exports of wheat for July and August aggregated 12,755,100 bushels, against 8,513,288 for the same months of 1895. The secret of grass culture is to save all liquid manures, and get both liquid and solid upon the grass land as soofi as possible after made. The old plan of a summer fallow fol tillage land is hardly worth following. It pays best to keep the land busy and always covered with some c»op. The farmer or gardener who has peimitted one weed to mature its seed has deliberately provided himself with th« work of killing many weeds next season. Some farmers do not make farming pay, others manage to get along fairly well, and some are making money. That is the sum of the situation, and it Is about the same In every other business.

BOX FOB MIXING FERTILIZER.

AN INEXPENSIVE HOUSE FRAME.

POTATO ASSORTER.