Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Harnessing Wind for Many Uses. A sensible arrangement is portrayed by Farm and Home, showing how an Ingenious North Dakota farmer makes full use of wind power. The machinery consists of a geared windmill attached to a pump, churn, washing machine, feed mill, wood saw ana grindstone. The illustration shows the “pump bouse.” The feed mill is on the upper floor, while on the ground floor is the , washing machine, churn, and pump, all po arranged as to be easily hitched to the wind. The deep setting creamer, which is neatly kept, is set in one cor-

ner of the pump house. A spout carries water also to a watering tank near by, where cattle and horses quench their thirst. The circular wood saw, the grindstone and the corn shelter, e, have been added In making the illustration, as has also a water tank. This last is for use as a reservoir in very cold weather, to supply water to a smaller drinking tank outside the building. The water in this reservoir and in the creamer can be kept from freezing in winter by placing a small stove, if necessary, in the room. The stove would also be very useful at churning time and on washing days. Having machinery in a small house under the windmill does not prevent carrying the power by means of a chain, belt or tumbling rod, from the mill to other adjacent buildings. Screening wheat, grinding, shelling, cutjtlng feed or other operations can usually be more conveniently done near the storage rooms. The mill is convenient to the kitchen and saves much labor in pumping water, churning, washing, etc. A Convenient Farm Bench. The illustration herewith, taken from the American Agriculturist, shows a bench easily made in the home workshop and very convenient in many operations about the farm—when planting the garden, graf ting in the orchard,

assorting fruit, dressing fowls, and a 'hundred and one other times when it Is desired to have tools or packages raised above ground. When not in use, It can be folded into small space and put

away, as shown in the first illustration. construction is so plainly shown in the cut that little explanation is needed. The braces running from the middle to the bottom of the legs are hinged to the legs and go into slots a, underneath the bench near the' center. The bench ready for use is seen in the second picture. Some Careless Farmers. A Western grange officer who has been traveling through the rural districts, was impressed with the careless habits of many of the farmers. He says: “I have been much over the country during the last two years, and when I see a plow standing in the comer of the fence, a binder under a tree, wagons, carriages and implements standing promiscuously about the yard, it always attracts my attention, and I have ■been very much surprised at the lack of care and thrift which a ride over the country will disclose.”—Ohio Farmer. Bnryins: Apples for Winter. Most cellars are too warm to keep fruit well. They are also subject to frequent changes of temperature, in which the fruit suffers almost as much as it does by being kept too Warm. We have known farmers to put apples in pits as potatoes and roots are pitted, spreading a layer of straw over them in order to keep them from contact with the earth. Such apples come out with very little loss in tspring, where c? je is taken that none which are specked were put up in the fall.— Hural World. Warmins: the Poultry House. While there are many ways by which a-poultry house may be made warm, yet but few make it an object to provide heat. As we have before suggested, the cheapest method is to hang a lighted stable lantern in the poultry house, suspending it from tie middle of

the roof. The vessel containing the oil should have suffident capacity for permitting of holding a supply for the night, and the wick should not be turned too high. It is not necessary to have the temperature higher than 50 degrees, and as there is quite an amount of heat given off from a lamp the temperature will be raised to that point if the house is not too open; it will also assist in drying the walls and preventing dampness. There will be no liability of foul air or injury from the lamp in winter. Cut Feed for Horses. All farmers use cut feed for horses when at hard work, because there is a great saving in the laSor needed to digest cut feed. If mixed with some grain meal and wet so that the meal can only be got by -eating the cut feed mixed with it, the whole will be chewed sufficiently to moisten it with saliva, which is necessary to quicken digestion. But this economy in feeding cut feed is also important when the horse is not working. If the cut feed is corn stalks, it should always be steamed with very hot water, so as to soften the cut ends of the stalks, which may cause Injury. This is the beet, also, if hay or straw is cut, particularly wheat or rye straw, which, being harder than cut hay and less nutritious, is not likely to be thoroughly chewed. The stomach of the horse needs a slight irritation. This is the advantage which oats have over other grains. Its hull helps the grain to digest better, and this makes the horse feel frisky and able to do his best It is an old saying of farmers that when an old horse begins to act unusually coltish he has probably “got an oat standing corner wise against his stomach, and he jumps around so as to get it out” It is a homely illustration, but may have truth in It.—American Cultivator.

A Device for Lifting. It is often desirable in the stable, barn or other buildings, to raise some article from the floor for weighing, or other purpose. This is usually done by sheer strength in lifting. The simple device figured herewith will save much strength exerted in this way. On the top of a beam or crosspiece of the framing, mount a wooden roller, as suggested In the sketch. Whenever a weight is to be lifted It is only necessary to throw a rope over the roller gnd raise it as one would with a pul-

ley. The roller should of course be an large in diameter as the beam Is thick, so the rope will not draw across the corner of the beam. Breaking Prairie. A Kansas correspondent gives the experience of an lowa fanner whd wanted to raise a crop without waiting a year for the sod to rot. He proceeded 'as follows He first turned a four Inch sod and followed In the same furrow with stirring plow and turned six inches of dirt on top of the sod. The next sod was turned into the bottom of the furrow and another furrow on top of it, and so on to the end. The piece was then planted to corn, and he never put a plow or hoe into it after planting, and he had the biggest crop of corn in the country and scarcely a weed .to be found In it. The next spring he plowed the land and sowed to spring wheat and had one of the best crops h’e ev6r raised. And he said the ground for the whole ten inches turned was just like an ash heap, with scarcely n trace of sod to be found la It.

Mutton Is the Best Meat. Mutton is more easily digested than beef, though in a healthy man no marked difference would be observed, since in the stomach of such a man there arises no inconvenience from’the digestion of beef. However, mutton will be found to tax the stomach of a dyspeptic person less than beef does. Lamb is not nearly so nutritious as mutton. The tissue is soft, gelatinous and rich in water. Lamb should not be selected for those whose digestive organs are weak. Leaving the Farm. It is generally a mistake for the farmer’s boy to leave the farm, and in quite as many instances it is also a mistake for the old man to leave and move to town. It is a mistake for the boy to think he knows as much as his father. The latter may not be the more intelligent of tlie two, but he at least has the benefit ot a great deal of experience that the boy has not acquired. Plenty of Clover. Plenty of clover will go a long way toward making a farm profitable. Think how many ways it can be utilized—for pasture, for hay, for feeding the stock or for feeding the land, sometimes serving the double purpose of feeding the stock and then going back to the soil in the manorial product Fear not raising too much; it will always find a market. • Land-Poor Farmers. Mnay farmers are land poor. Others have poor land. Both may be said to be robbertt The one robs his tenant and the other robs his soil and himself, The remedy is to sell a part of the farm bi the one case and to add fertility and to adopt a wise rotation In the other. Profitable Cows. It seems doubtful whether large, coarse cows are more profitable, even when giving a heavy milk product. They are always very heavy eaters, and hard to keep in a rough pasture. A moderate sized cow, active and vigorous WtU thrive better in rough pasturw aad upon coarse fodder.

A CHEAP SOURCE OF POWER.

BENCH FOLDED.

MOVABLE BENCH.

LIFTING DEVICE.