Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 180, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1916 — Page 3

IOWA ALFALFA FARMER GARRIES ON MANY INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS

Owner of Magnolia Crest Farm, in Scott County, lowa, of Wide Diversity of Interests—Believes In Rotating Pastures Wherever Possible— Carefully Selects and Stores Seed Corn—Never Was Successful With Potatoes—Profit in Sheep. ■

<Br O. H. ALFORD, Btate Demonstration Agent, Maryland.) C. W. Lau, who lives on the Magnolia Crest farm, six miles from tho city of Davenport, in Scott county, lowa, is a man of such a diversity of interests and carries on so many interesting and valuable experiments that we can learn much by a study of his methods. Mr. Lau owns 160 acres of • Of this 120 is tillable, while 40 is left in permanent pasture and carries about one head of cattle per acre. This ground is low and has a very troublesome ditch running its entire length, making it difficult to maintain fences and impracticable to cultivate. He believes that he can double the r carrying capacity of this pasture by > disking in the ground occasionally and sowing in a mixture of grasses. He will try a mixture of timothy, blue grass, white clover and sweet clover seeded in a two-year-old alfalfa field to produce a pasture of this sort next season. Mr. Lau believes in rotating pastures wherever this is possible. First Success With Alfalfa. Mr. Lau maintains abolition of two years of corn, one, year of barley in which alfalfa is sown, "followed by two years of alfalfa. He can rightly claim the distinction of having first gained an unqualified success in the growing of alfalfa in Scott county. He now has on the place some 30 acres devoted to this crop. So firm is his faith to the alfalfa plant that he has discarded red clover entirely and expects to follow a rotation in which alfalfa has a prominent part. He also has placed his seal of condemnation on timothy. Charles Lau says that one year’s seeding is five years’ weeding. To prevent this he clips his stubbles with the mower before the weed seed ripens. This iB better than plowing early and exposing the land to parching suns and leaching rains. »_ From 40 to 60 acres of corn are grown and the average production is about 56 bushels per acre. The seed is gathered early and the ears placed in ricks in the open doorway of his bam loft In this way it is located in

a draft where it dries out very quickly. It is left until quite thoroughly dried out and then taken to the basement under the house where the furnace completes the task of drying. He tests for germination in the spring. Mr. Lau’s corn tested in the county experimental plots at the orphans’ home yielded at the rate of 85 bushels per acre. From 25 to 30 acres of barley are produced. Last year he threshed 756 bushels, or 36 bushels per acre, which he sold at 75 cents. For two years he treated the seed with formaldehyde nnH had no smut in the crop. No oats are grown and only one acre of potatoes. Mr. Lau has never been very successful with potatoes, but his son, Carl, raises from one-half to one acre of popcorn and has gotten very satisfactory returns from it. Careful of Manure. The production on the rolling farm which Mr. Lau owns is maintained by about 200 loads of manure annually,

Experimental Alfalfa Plots.

spread at the rate of six loads per acre on the corn ground. The h|lls are given an extra dressing of manure’ every two years. Mr. Lau is very careful to conserve all his manure. He has built a concrete cistern to receive all the liquid drainage from the sow barns. When the manure is to he hauled out, it is heaped up in the yard and then this liquid is jjumped ovwf’ these manure heaps and hauled into the fields in that way

Concreting the Barnyard of C. W. Lau Farm.

Mr. Lau has 14 RedVolled cows of high grade which produce from 2,600 to 3,000 pounds of butter annually, which he sells on contract delivered at 36 cents the year round. In 1914 the production was 2.660 pounds. Bach cow returned him 273.66 last season as follows: 170 pounds butter, S6O; 4,000 pounds skim milk at 16 cents per hundred, $6; calf, $6, and 16 pints of cream used in household, $2.66. They are fed silage and alfalfa as the basis, with a small quantity of porn grist consisting of com and cob ground together.. These cows constitute the largest factor in his total income every year. He regards silage and alfalfa as the very best feed.' He owns one of the oldest silos in Scott county, having had it for 21 years. It holds 86 tons, has dimensions of 14 by 25 feet and requires from 7to 8 acres to fill. It Is constructed of wood staves and is built inside the bam and has proved practically permanent there. The cost was $l5O. Mr. Lau estimates the annual cost of filling at SSO. He always adds water to his ensilage in filling and finds that he can get a good grade of feed by putting it in when Just beginning to dent. To prevent spoiling on top it is thoroughly sprinkled with water and tamped down three different times. He had never had any trouble from feeding and values ensilage highly for both cattle and sheep. In # his opinion every farmer should have a silo. . Cows and Bteers. He keeps, in addition to his cows, 25 head of young cattle. The steers he sells as butcher stock. Purebred Red Polled sires have been used in his herd for 20 years, but the start was made with common cows of different breeds. Now their owner regrets that he didn’t use purebred dams as the foundation. Seven horses are kept to do the work on Mr. Lau’s farm. They are fed alfalfa as roughage almost exclusively. They are also given some silage and oats and com. Care is taken that the alfalfa and ensilage be bright and wholesome. No colts are produced. Mr. Lau has found sheep very proflt-

able, as they cost very little, clean up the weeds and transform much roughage into money through the sale of wool and mutton. He now has 17 ewes and gets about ten pounds of wool at i;he average clipping. Before he kept sheep, he had a great deal of rag weed in his pasture, but now a rag weed is a scarce article on his farm. Experience With Hogs. Mr. Lau has had many and varied experiences with hogs. He raises from 70 to 90 head of Poland China per year. In the 34 years he has farmed, he had cholera three times. In 1912 it broke out and from some 50 or 60 head he saved about 25. They were not treated, as Mr. Lau had no faith in serum at that time, having made a the preceding year with some socalled serum which was being used in the county. He treated with this two of his hogs and put them in a neighboring herd where cholera prevailed. In a short time they contracted the disease and died and Mr/ Lau was "convinced that the serum treatment for hogs was a failure. However, the success of the treatment at the lowa farms near Davenport soon set him to thinking again and he secured three pigs in the fall of 1912 from the lowa farms which had been given the simultaneous treatment and placed them in three infected herds in his neighborhood.' All three pigs weathered the storm successfully, although nearly all the hogs in # the three herds died. That put a new aspect to the subject and in the summer of 1913 Mr. Lau gave aH his pigs the serum-simultaneous treatment without any loss, although cholera prevailed in the neighborhood. He now gives his hogs the serum-simultaneous treatment, every year. Mr. Lau raises about 100 head of chickens each year, planning to sell off the cockerels and old hens each winter and keeps the pullets. He sells them dressed at 20 cents per pound in Davenport. He has had considerable ‘trouble with chicken cholera and with blackhead in turkey, being compelled to cease raising the latter fowl on that account. Gross Returns. There are few farms in Scott county rt®dh gbMT higher gross returns per acre than that operated by Mr. Lau. His gross returns for 1914 from his

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

various sales are given herewith: De ducting four acres for roads his gross receipts for 1914 were $29.23 per acre. Record of Sales. 1uu*r...:.;.r........ sh7ep'v.v:;.v.v.v.v::: S Poultry Erg BeeS 17.00 Sundries * 14,569-60 It is Interesting to note that Mr. Lau realized $1,050 in cash from his 1914 crop of alfalfa. There was no better field of alfalfa in Scott county last year. He put up over five tons per acre from these cuttings. In 1913 he cut five tons per acre and was offered S2O per ton for all of it He estimates that it costs $1.60 per ton to put it up. The first cutting in 1914 he kept for feed and it carried 40 head of cattle, 15 sheep and 6 horses through the winter, while the second, third and fourth cuttings returned him

Method of Dryinfl Seed Corn.

$1,050 in cash. He harvested 130 loads from 26 acres in three cuttings and 7 acres cut the fourth time. He baled and sold at sl6 to sl7 at home, or $lB to sl9 delivered. Mr. Lau tried alfalfa repeatedly for 25 years but had no success until he applied some lime eight years ago. Since then he has found alfalfa a very profitable crop. In 1914 a strip a rod wide through his field left unlimed produced practically nothing. Iron and Concrete. Mr. Lau. declares that this is an age of steel, iron and concrete, and, whereever possible, these should be substituted for wood in farm construction. He has concreted his entire barnyard this year and will keep straw in the cow yard to catch all the liquid manure as well as the solids. The cost was 7 1-3 cents per square foot. Mr. Lau’s barn is 40 by 80 by 24 feet and contains 80 tons of hay and straw for bedding. He has an elevated tank supplying 10 hydrants, including 3 faucets in the house. He has shelter for'4o head of cattle and 7 horses. His hpghouse is provided with selfwaterers and self-feeders, the latter for hogs on full feed. Thus the hogs eat and drink at leisure, there is no sudden exposure and no wrangling, no rubbish to clean off but clean cobs for the tank heater or kitchens stove. Item of Chores. In doing the work on the farm where there is lots of stock, the chores become a considerable item. Mr. Lau has a two-horsepower gasoline engine mounted on a truck sufficiently light for one man to easily pull around and he makes this the chore boy for a multitude of jobs. He regards gasoline as cheaper than hired help. He is careful that no feed shall be hauled or carried in baskets to live stock and puts the hay in a place overhead with the feed bunks below for the cattle and has a feeding place for hogs adjoining the corn crib. Water is also piped to the slop barrel and the table is- set before the hogs are invited to their dinner. In this way no feed is dragged through the snow or mud but the animals coine to their dinner themselves.

Another important point in the management of this farm is the dividing and subdividing of the place with fences which are iiog and cattle tight. In this way many weeds, volunteer grains and shattered kernels of corn, oats and barley which otherwise would be wasted, can be utilized in producing mutton, pork and beef. In his experience a th’rifty lot of hogs with such a range will return from 80 to 90 cents per bushel for corn when fattened. Vineyard and Orchard. This discussion would not be complete without a statement in regard to Mr. Lau’a fruit. He has a vineyard excelled by that of very few farmers. It contains many choice varieties of grapes. He has apples, pears, plums, cherries and plenty of small fruit as well as a good garden. The orchard of one-half acre has been sprayed each year for four or five seasons and has always produced fruit since the spraying was started. In 1913 he sold $247 worth of fruit. ‘ Mr. Lau has raised a family of five boys and one girl. He thinks the farmer has an opportunity of having something more than a farm. He can have an attractive home and it should be the ambition of every farmer to make his homestead beautiful as well as his farm profitable, iTo render farm life more attractive he has installed a carbide plant outside the house to light nil his buildings,j, has transformed an old well into a cold storage place tot cream and victual*,

PLACE FOR MIRROR

No matter what room in your bouse or anybody else’s 'house may need a mirror, you can find it by a little careful shopping; for the shops are full of attractive mirrors, made to harmonize with every sort of house and furniture. A cheval glass, or any portable, fulllength mirror is especially useful in giving size and brightness to a room. And as the portable mirrors can be moved to catch shifting lights, they have an added attraction. The one in the sketch is made with a black enameled frame, finished witfi a narrow, white molding next the glass. There are mirrors framed with Japanese lacquered frames that have much to recommend them. They are usually of Irregular shape and hang flat against the wall, above a console table or in some recess where they catch and reflect light The design in the lacquered frame is always slight but effective. The mirror with candles on each side is always pretty. There are some very old -mirrors of this sort, with silver frames and candlesticks. But their modern counterparts, with carved wood baskets of flowers and fruits, painted in natural colors, decorating an enameled or carved wood frame, with small candleholders at each side, are almost as attractive. All this talk about mirrors, and yet not a word about the most obvious use. They are used to decorate a plain wall, to brighten a dark corner, to reflect a pretty view, to add apparent size to a small room. But does the modern usage of mirrors ignore their ability to reflect the human face and figure? Indeed not. Never before were hand glasses and the mirrors on toilet tables, dressers and dressing-room doors so wonderful. It is a long, call from Eve’s crystal mirror or the Egyptian beauty’s mirror of burnished metal to the wonderful mirrors which every woman has on her dressing table today. Perhaps one of the best things about these modern mirrors, aside from the very fact of their perfect surface, their wonderful reflecting powers, is

Mirror Decorated With Flowers at the Bottom and Candles at the Sides.

their variety of shape and size. There is everything, from the tiny circular mirror, of magnifying sort, that forms the base of the individual powder-puff bag, to the full-length mirror that is a panel in the dressing-room or boudoir door. The most convenient dressing-table mirror is in three sections, and these can be adjusted so that one gets a good view of the coiffure without the necessity of using a handglass. Of course mere man sometimes needs a mirror, much as he scoffs at them at other times. And for his particular benefit there is the shaving mirror, with several sections, adjustable so that he can get his image from several angles. There is also the mirror to which is attached a tiny electric bulb to throw a brilliant and glaring light in his face and so make the task jof shaving easier.

WAYS OF FIGHTING FRECKLES

Thfey Can Be Done Away With If One Wirt Only Go About It in Right Manner. It is generally known that freckles are divided into two classes, those which are constitutional, fading as eoollng weather approaches and coming into full glory again In the spring and those that come in the spring and disappear entirely in the winter. Both checked when preventive and corrective measures aTe taken before the action of the sun on the skin has fall sway. Simply powdering the skin is not sufficient when going outdoors. It is necessary that the exposed parts be thoroughly massaged with a good cold cream, then dusted with rice powder, which serves as a mask and does not allow the sun’s rays to penetrate Os freely. A greaseless cream or a tonic astringent may be substituted in place of the cream, which should contain one or more bleaching agents to act on general principles. Going into the sunshine wearing a nmnii hat (many of them are brimless this year) certainly encourages freckles. Protect the face by wearing a larger bat and a chiffon veil or by carrying a parasol. All these adjuncts are usually becoming this season, so there is no objection to their employment. Light freckles are frequently con-

quered and dark, large onea considerably bleached by the application of lemon juice directly to the akin when it does not proyp too irritating and adding a little alcohol when it does. Where freckles are thickly distributed use a little camel’s hairbrush to apply the Juice directly to them, allowing it to dry on, to be removed after an hour’s time or longer. When the skin will permit it, take a slice of lemon and apply to the spots, taking care that none reaches the eyes or hair. A formula that agrees with moat skins contains rosewater and glycerin, with enough lemon Juice to make it desirable. A simple remedy for freckles that tones the skin as well contains two parts of lemon Juice and one of Jamaica rum. Apply with absorbent cotton.

DESK FROM CABINET ORGAN

How Worn-Out Musical Instrument Was Converted Intq Really Useful Article of Furniture. We had a worn-out cabinet organ made of walnut. My husband and I decided to make it into something

useful. We took the stops, keys, etc., out and made six pigeonholes, three on each side. In the middle we left a place for account books. We fastened the lid below, which made a nice place to put magazines. We then took out the pedals and the sides and made two compartments. One side I use for linens and the other for baby’s clothes. We revarnished it and it made a lovely desk.—Mrs. Bertha West in Farm Progress.

FASHION OF SPORTS CLOTHES

Rules Laid Down Are as Hard and Fast as Those for Any Other Garments.

Jersey silks in pink, blue and green stripes, usually combined with plain white, comprise the most popular type of sports suit. Skirts are full and plain, and jackets in sweater models. Watermelon, blue, green and yellow are the popular colors. The fabrics are jnovelty materials, heavy linens, bold striped cottons and gabardines. Velour and worsted checks, bedford cords, piques, pongees and taffetas, in plain and patterned effects, are also among sport materials. Sports coats, usually in checks and stripes in bold effects, are knee length, with collars so cut that they may be buttoned up for motor or travel. Sleeves are full at the cuffs and on the angel type. Large buttons of leather or braid, with pockets and belts, form the principal trimming. Sports skirts are usually quite simple and full, with pockets.

SMART HAT AND COLLAR

The hat is of tan straw covered with a brilliant colored Georgette crepe, The bow of blue blends most tastefully and gives the hat a striking appearance. The collar is of handkerchief linen hand-embroidered with dots.

Out-of-Date Skirts Useful.

There is a good use for skirts that are no longer fashionable, for street wear—they may be worn on stormy days under a raincoat or used for house wear with tubbable waists. A bygone fashion is not recognized in the home. Many a dainty woman owes her charm at home to the frocks upon which fashion has frowned, but which proved to be particularly becoming to the last. Economy has banished the house gown and substituted the second best wearing apparel which has unqualified masculine approval for its nattiness.

The Newest Skirts.

Some of the short, full, silk skirts with velvet flounces beneath have straight gathered pockets on either side drawn into a wide heading., A new model has bodice and skirt cat in one in front, the bodice opening In a V-shape, the side of the skirt displaying a very wide plait; a kilted basque falls from the waist, finished by a belt beneath the arms, the sleeves quite tight.

A MEDICAL TREATISE

By J. B. C. YOUNG.

The little nurse was coming down the hallway with a tray for her patient in room 16. It was about four o’clock, and, of course, Mac Thompson was standing somewhere near, with his hands in his pockets and his hat on the back of his head, waiting for her. Beside him stood Bill Field#, who immediately brought his heels together and bowed profoundly when he saw her coming. “Hello, Miss Arthur,” said Mae, with a most irritating smile. “How do yon do?” said the little nurse primly, and marched on with her tray. “Allow me,” said Mac, as be pushed open the door. “Thank you, Mr. Thompson.” And she whisked past him into the room. Bill disappeared down the hall, and Mac sauntered up and down and waited for his tormentor to reappear. Out she whisked and was proceeding to pass him with another sweet and preoccupied smile when he caught her apron. “Let me go this instant, Mac. Let go my apron. I Just wish you medical students wouldn’t come bothering me when I’m busy.” “Hey? Plural? Which ones have been bothering you? Give me their names. Til see to them directly. I’m the only medical student licensed to bother you.” Mac took out his notebook and pen with a flourish and looked at her in a business-like way. She bad to laugh. “Mac, you ridiculous thing, you’ll never be sensible. But, seriously now, you are interrupting me In my work. I wish you would go away.” She screwed her face up into a frown. “I’ve got my orders. Farewell, cruel young woman.” And then he turned right about and walked stiffly down the hall. “What a boy!” she said scornfully, with a smile at the corner of her mouth. How she longed to shake him, as she watched him cross the street from hospital that night. Strange how she watched for him every night

“Hello, honey!” he said next night, when she came out of room 16 with her arms full. She had just been thinking of him, and she looked up with a smile that was too brilliant to be anything but genuine. Mac’s face lost its bantering look and he stooped and kissed the upturned face. “You darling!” he said huskily. But the little nurse was petrified with horror. Had he thought she was glad to see him? Did he dare to think she had wanted to see him? “Oh, how dare you? I—I—” Her thoughts trailed off into nothingness, and she made her escape into her room and had a weep for very rage. “How dare he? Horrid thing! He took advantage! I’ll never, never, never—” But she did not say what she would never do. “Miss Arthur.” Mac was standing before her in the doorway when she came out of a room next evening. There was grim determination in his face, and the little nurse was panicky. Oh, for anything to stave this reckoning off! “Oh no! Oh, no, no!” she stammered, and would have fled. He turned quickly, and caught his finger in the doorjamb. “Jove!” he muttered forcefully, an he rescued his hand and examined it. “Ob, Mac, I’ve hurt you! How did I do it? Do let me see it, please do!”

Now Mac, naturally a wily young man, saw his advantage at once, and drew his face up into a still more excruciating scowl. “Jove!” he said again, pretending that the pain made him oblivious of her presence. "Dear Mae, do let me see it rU bandage it I’m so sorry, Mac, dear.” The little nurse was so truly distressed that she did not care what she said. “Not out here, come on into this empty room. Jove, but it pains 1 Are you very sorry?” “Oh, yes, so sorry!” “Shame!” thought Mac to himself, “but it’s got to be done!’ He raised a pained face to her sorrow-stricken one. “Would you be sorry if my hand had to be amputated?” “Oh. Mac!” And she buried her head on his arm in tears. “Would you marry a man with only one hand?” The little nurse nodded her head, choking with sobs, and Mac cheerfully grinned over her head and winked his eye at the window. “Oh, but you would rather have a good article than a damaged one." “I love you anyway, Mac.” “Then it’s all right, girlie, for I didn’t hurt my hand at all,” said Mae cheerfully, printing another kigs on the astonished face of the little nurse. She was so relieved that she kissed him in return. “Mac, where are you?” came BiIFS voice from the hall outside. "Here.” “Coming to class meeting?" said Bill, putting his head inside the door. “What the deuce are you doing Inside here? Eh? Well, I’ll be —. Congratulations P* Bill vanished discreetly. A few minutes later Mac came out of the hospital with a jaunty step. He waved his hand at the little nurse, who openly stood at the window and smiled. - *-~ **“ ~' ' (Copyright. 1318, by the McClure Newape--1 per Syndicate.)