Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1898 — TOPICS FOR FARMERS [ARTICLE]

TOPICS FOR FARMERS

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Feed Wheat Should Be of the Best and Thoroughly Cleaned—Fertilizers in Grain Drills-The “Razor-Back” Hob for Bacon—Farm Notes. Cleaning Grain for Feed. Too many farmers forget that as they sow so shall they reap. When seed time comes they use whatever Is most convenient, and pay very little attention to its being properly cleaned and selected. Looking after the seed wheat first look around and see what variety has done best In your locality, and if you have not grown that variety find out where the best seed can be obtained. Get it when it has been threshed by a good machine, where grains have not been cut, and as clean as possible. It is best to procure your seed from grain tlmt has been stacked and gone through a sweat;*as it will be plumper and better In every way. Store it in a dark, dry place If you have It about the barn, and, sometime before seeding give it a thorough scouring and cleaning. See that there isn’t a single grain of anything else in it. Very few fanning mills are to be found ou farms these days, which is probably the reason why so much poor seed is sown all over the country. But it will pay any farmer to keep a wheat fan of modern pattern if for no other use than to clean his seed wheat. If you don’t own a fan, arrange to have one for a day In order that you may hnve clean seed. If you can’t do hotter take your wheat to the nearest mill, where you can have it scoured and made perfectly clean for a very few- cents a bushel. It always adds to the ready sale of a wheat Crop tt> have it clean aud nice. And if you will look around you will find that the very few farmers who have the reputation of growing nothing but pure, clean seed wheat can most always dispose of their crop at an advance over regular market rates among farmers who desire to change their seed.

Some farmers make it a rule to buy their seed wheat each season, procuring grain that ha«s been grown upon land different in formation from their owu. Thus the farmer ou clay land will go to the farmer that grows wheat on sandy soil and vice' Versa, but whether or not there is enough iu this sort of exchange to pay for the trou bic, we .will not stop to argue. At any rate, when seed fs procured from abroad, particular attention should be paid to cleaning same, or you arc likely to get some sort of weed pest on your farm that you do not care about. Have your seed particularly clean of smut. A very successful wheat grower once told us that he never had smut for the reason that he always wanted his wheat to get dead ripe before it was cut, and when he did this lie never had any sign of smut in his crop. If the price of wheat is to remain low we must work up to better crops if we expect to make a profit, and begin our next crop with as perfect seed an possible.—] Farmers' Guide.

Fertilizers in Grain Drills. To very many farmers it is not merely a surprise, but almost incomprehensible, how the small amount of fertilizer, usually not over 15G to 200 pounds per acre, can produce stu b results as they are used to seeing. It may help farmers to arrive at just conclusions in this matter If we explain how the fertilizer works. In the first place. It usually has a small percentage of nitrogen In available form. This is just what the young plant wants. It is not a stimulant, for plants have no nerves. But to supply them with what they need is to plants much the same as a stimulus is to man. It incites the roots to spread out in every direction, aud as each rootlet carries both carbonic acid gas and a small proportion of ammonia, both are powerful solvents. Thus it is that the young grain, which is thus fertilized so quickly, extends Its roots into adjoining drill marks that it apparently and really Injures those which have uot received such abundant supplies of plant food. If any one will examine the roots of grain in drills, he will find that within ten days they have extended Into the rows of the drills not fertilized, enough to dwarf the growth in the latter. Where all the drill tubes distribute fertilizer this effect is neutralized.

The New Bacon Hoc. Strange as it may seem, the “razorback” hog is assuming considerable prominence in several sections, both North and South. It is being boomed as the coming bacon liog. aud there are many who believe that the perfect bacon hog will be found in a cross of the razor-back aud the Berkshire or Taimrorth, of more civilized antecedents.^ There has been a great change In the demand for bacon. Formerly consumers were satisfied with one streak of lean to two of fat in their bacon, but now they want it regularly ktriped with lean aud fat, and the more lean the better. This new fashion Is an imported one and comes from those who have learned how delicious Danish and Irish bacon Is. American feeders have this problem before them, and until they solve It they must be content to take the lowest price for their bacon. The razor-hack makes good bacon when well fed and given unlimted opportunities to roam at large. The Berkshire is the most active of the popular breeds, and a cross of these two promises to a«nke a graft improvement in the baepn produced. l£,,fcj predieted that the erotic will inf««e vigor and a tendency to produce muscles instead of fat, and bur Southern brethren firm W%orlAS|«l the problem of producing a bacon breed

with considerable enthusiasm. Ths Northern breeder watches this work complaceutly, knowing that no possible cross canid make a more unpromising animal, so far as appearances go, than the pare razor-back that glides through the forests of the South with a nose so long that he seems balanced on his fore legs and an anatomy so thin that the old story of tying a knot in his tail to keep him from crawling through the fences does not seem entirely ridiculous.—Farmer's Voice.

Wet Grain in Mows. During the rains which have lately fallen, much grain has been put in mow and stacked in much too wet a condition to keep well. While the grain itself is in not much danger, because it is surrounded by chaff, which being always dryer helps to take up its superfluous moisture, there is danger that the straw, especially where the bauds enclose the bundles, will rot. aud this may extend before checked all through the bundle, and may even affect the grain. It is a great deal of work to turn over a mow and relay it again, especially if this is done when the air is nearly saturated with moisture, so that exposure to it dries it out very little. The best remedy we know is to thoroughly dry some bricks or tile in an oven, and after digging down into the stack, deposit a few of these through it. A well-dried brick or tile will absorb nearly or quite its own weight in water. In other words, weigh it when you put it in aud when it is taken out. and any one will be surprised at the increase in weight after a few weeks exposure to damp grain. Care is needed when threshing such grain not to put the brick or tile through the threshing machine. The remedy for damp grain is applied without this danger ifjirjck or tile is put among grain in the bin. Bees and Frnit. The charges that bees pierce the skins *of grapes and feet) on the juices of this fruit are wholly mistaken. The bee cannot bite anything as hard and siriootli as a grape skin. But there are niafiy kinds of grapes that have the bad habit of cracking. The Concord sometimes does this, bus still more often the Creveling and Hartford Prolific. This kind drops from the stem, and where the grape is joined to the stem the bee can get an entrance and suck the juices. Bees also often gather on the bruised surfaces of apples, pears and peaches which have fallen to the ground. Though the bees are very fond of these* fruit juices, it is not good for them to Indulge. It is mostly done because honey flowers are less plentiful at this season than they are in June and July. A field of buckwheat coming into blossom at this time will be visited by millions of bees every day wherever there are many bees kept within a mile or two. It is far better Jo make even buckwheat honey than to force bees to sip the juices of grapes aud other fruits. They weaken the bees, giving them a diarrhea, and often this involves the loss of the swarm of bees the following winter.—Exchange. . The Country Boy. The country bred boy has the distinct advantage over the city bred fellow in two things: Ilis strength is greater by reason of his country birth, and he has a clearer idea of hard work, 'die country bred boy, as a general rule, has to struggle for his existence; lie lias to help on the farm, and generally it is at hard work. This gives him strength and power of endurance, while all the time he is breathing an atmosphere of pure air into his lungs. Experience prepares such a boy for hard work. The city bred boy hardly knows what hard work is, and when he meets it as a young man he cannot endrte it. It is true that the country boy approaches city problems with a lesser knowledge of them than does the city bred bojv But. often, as has been said, the two fundamental essentials in carving out one’s way to a successful career are good health and hard work. With these a young man can accomplish almost anything he desires; without them he can do nothing.—Ladies’ Home Journal.

Feeding Chickens for Eggs. By actual experiments, I found it pays to few! my chickens twice a day, although they have the free run of the fields. Whenever I feed only once a day, my egg rcceitps drop off 50 per cent. I feed wheat which costs me Go cents per 100 pounds. I have the pure Golden Wvandottes and also R. O. Brown Leghorn hens crossed by roosters of the former. They lay eggs the year round. They bug my potatoes, worm my cabbage, and, by liberal feeding, they never trouble niy garden stuff. I find this cross the most profitable, all plumage alike; no black chickens, good size, quick to feather and mature, and very healthy—G. Camerer, in Practical Farmer. Signs of a Good Cow. One or two signs will denote a good cow, Prof. Haecker says, as Well as twenty; in a poor cow the thigh runs down straight, so there is no space between the thigh and the udder on one side and the tail on the other. One of the best ways to tell what kind of q cow you have is her temperament. 4 good dairy type has a sharp spina strongly developed nervous system and sharp liip bones. A good cow has a large, wedge-shaped stomach, for she must hare a large and powerful digestive system to use up her food quickly and make the best returns for It. . t - *! To Destroy Ticks. * •To got rid qf ticks qn the pasture keep the cattle away until tlie grass has attained height and becomes dry. The# set ttv4 td the dry grass and buru the figldov#r clean.yAWifiPßtoiH<>t ta»igg|fe season vttfilUßt be InJured hjHlthls method of destroying ticks.