Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1916 — CHEAP FENCE POSTS. [ARTICLE]

CHEAP FENCE POSTS.

The Hardy Catalpa One Jf the Beat Trees That Can Be Raised for the Purpose. The lowa Agricultural College has let a ed in Bulletin No. 120 the results of experiments and careful observation of the hardy catalpa in that state. Every farmer has more or less need of fence posts, and will therefore derive practical benefit from this bulletin. Following is a summary of the results: 1. The hardy catalpa Is one of the best fence post trees that can be grown in lowa. 2. Eighteen-year old trees that have been properly cared for will yield from 2J)00 to 2,500 posts to the acre. The gross annual return an acre on the lowa plantations studied varied from $10.77 to $20.34. 3. Catalpa posts rank next to osage orange and red cedar in durability, provided that they are cut before they become infected with fungi and are properly seasoned. 4. Catalpa should be cut by the time they are eighteen or twenty years old. If left longer they are liable to become infected with a’fungus which in a short time -makes them worthless. 5. Catalpas do not make satisfactory poles, as they are not large enough by the time they must be cut. Another objection to catalpa for pole production is that the trunks never

grow exactly straights- - 6. The hardy* catalpa is the only species that can be grown successfully in lowa. The common catalpa, which has sometimes been substituted for it with unsatisfactory results, can be distinguished from the hardy species by differences in the bark and seeds. 7. Catalpa seed should be sown as the danger of frost is past. Sow in broad furrows at the rate of thirtyfive or forty seeds to the foot, and cover one-half inch deep. Stable Manure Values. It is pleasant to note the gradual change in manure-handling methods as a person travels over the country. Formerly very few ventured to draw out the stable manure during the winter for fear it would leach. They never dreamed that the leaching on the open yard was immeasurably worse .than that on the field, because on the pile fermentation is constant and plant food becomes soluble and is leached out and entirely wasted while on the field it will almost always be taken up by the soil and fermentation ceases. A very fair per cent of the fanners haul their stable manure to the field nearly as fast as It Is produced. The greatest loss on many of these farms is on the floor of the station. It is surprising how few farmers have cement floors in their stables and as a rule they do not realize the loss they sustain by having the earth floor or a leaky, filthy plank floor. A farmer in a limestone country put a concrete floor in his stable last summer. He had an idea that very little liquid got away in his clayey stable floor, but said : “Since I put down the concrete I can hardly get enough bedding to absorb all the liquid and I verily believe I formerly lost half of the liquid manure. and when I think over it and the loss of fertility I sustained with my 45 animals it makes me nervous.” It might be well if some more farmers would become nervous about this matter. The trouble is we do not realize what loss we sustain until we have an object lesson like this farmer had, Only after carrying bedding and handling the heavy manure from the concrete floor for some months and comparing it to the light strawy stuff he formerly handled could he realize what losses he bus- i talned by using the earth floor in his stable.

Red Raspberries. For red raspberries available for gen- - eial cultivation we have to rely on our native varieties, those of Eurbpean descent not being hardy in our winters, even in states where cold is not severe. Looking back over the list of kinds appearing at different times, and then the most of them disappearing after a few years- trial, what a lot there are: Allen, Brandywine, Cuthbert, Rutland, Loudon, Marlboro, Philadelphia, Reliance, Turner and Caroline, yellow one, have all had their trial; and today Cuthbert, now one of the oldest known is still the leader of all. Reliance and Turner were rather popular for a while, but could not displace Cuthbert, for plant it where you will it thrives and bears well. There is - one of the European sorts, the Antwerp, which pleases many; the flower is excellent, and it is fairly hardy. When the burying of the canes in winter would not be thought a hardship the European sorts might well be set out. Their flavor is better than ours. Of these Clark, Fastolf, Fillbasket, Franconia, Hudsonßlver, Hornet, Herstine and Thompson’s Early might all be tried. Hornet is sometimes classed as a native variety, but it seems” to belong to the foreign type properly.. Besides these red ones the yellow one called Brinckle’s Orange, wasvery popular in its day, it itnge. vaj very popular fa its day. The amateur might well take the time to bury up the canes of these European sorts; fa fact, it is not unknown for gardeners to bury up our native sorts, they asserting that it paysto do it in the preservation of the canes and buds to better advantage than when the canes are exposed all winter. Fowls are never fed unless they are regularly fed. J.