Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1898 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME. Practice of Borrowing Implement* la Bad—Europe Manufactures Eggs Out ol Starch-How to Keep Milk in Hot Weather-Bog Cholera Cure. Hiring vs. Borrowing. A great many farmers thing it is unjust for a neighbor to ask pay for the use of such implements as grain drills, corn planters, mowing machines, etc. Why shouldn’t It be right? This spring I bought a corn planter, paying for .lt $37. Now, has a neighbor any more right to ask for the loan of that planter for nothing, than to ask for loan of its value in money, without Interest? Would it pay me to loan it? I think not. I Intend to charge 5 cents per acflb for drilling, aud 10 cents per acre for checking, which will amount to $2 for drilling forty acres or $4 for checking. Allowing my planter to plant eighty acres, besides my own, I would realize $4 or $8 for the use of it. Is there anything unjust in making such charge?— B. A. C. We think it perfectly right to charge for the use of farm machinery. This will not prevent neighborly acts of kindness, such as lending a machine or tool to help a neighbor out of a tight place, which may have resulted from accident or unavoidable circumstances. But the habit some have of depending on neighbors for tools is bad.—Rural World. Kggs No Hen Ever Saw. It will l*e a shock to many to learn that millions of eggs which have been bought apd eaten as products of the hen have do connection with that useful fowl. There are factories in England and on the continent where these “oviform frauds” are produced at the rate of many thousands a day. The yolk Is first quickly fashioned by machinery, from a mixture of maize, starch and one or two other ingredients, colored with ochre. The yellow sphere Is then placed in another “box of mystery,” when the white part of the egg is added. The resultant ball Is frozen arid molded into the requisite oval shape—again by machinery. It is then immersed in a third vat, which contains plaster of paris, and emerges with a shell which quickly assumes all the hardness and appearance of a genuine egg-shell. The process of thawing quickly reduces the contents of the shell to the consistency of a new-laid egg, and the artificial result Is ready for any of the uses to which eggs are put. These “eggs” can be profitably manufactured to sell at prices ranging from 4 cents to 12 cents a dozen, and are retailed at prices which yield anything up to 100 per cent profit.—London Tit-Bits. Keeping Milk in Hot Weather. Many patrons of creameries and cheese factories can not keep their milk sweet for the daily delivery, and more lose Saturday night’s and Sunday morning’a milk—one-seventh of their entire product. This loss Is unnecessary, and can be prevented by care that can be given on any farm. The souring of milk is caused by bacteria which are In the dirt oa the cow’s udder, milker's hands, pails, strainer and cans and In the dust in the air.

The first step in keeping milk sweet la to get it clean, 1. e., free from bacteria. Clean dairy utensils by rinsing In lukewarm water, then thoroughly scrub in hot water and scald with boiling water or steam and expose to the sunlight. Boiling water and sunlight kill the germs found in dirt In palls and cans. Just before milking the milker should wash his hands In hot water, as the dirt on his hands Is full of germs. Brush the cow's udder with a damp cloth Just before milking, and milk in a place free from dust. Strain the milk through the ordinary wire screen and through one thickness of canton flannel or feur thicknesses of cheesecloth, treating the cloth with boiling water just before using. This method will give milk with few germs. Cool milk as soon as drawn, for If kept twenty or thirty minutes before cooling the souring germs in it mays double. The colder milk is kept the longer It will keep sweet. After the milk Is cooled put the cans containing It in a tank of cold water and keep at 60 degrees or less. If the dairyman has a windmill this is easily done by letting a small stream of fresh water flow through the tank. In delivering to the creamery, have a cover on the wagon, cover the cans with a wet blanket, over which put a dry cover. This will hold the temperature down until the milk arrives at the creamery. Budding the Rose. Budding Is performed In the usual manner, and Is not intended as a means of increasing the stock, but of Increasing the varieties upon one plant. It is accomplished by making a T-sbaped incision tn the stock, taking a dormant bud from any rose desired. Thts should be about an inch In length, with a small bit of wood to protect the vitality of the little stranger. Lift the corners of the Incision at top, press the bud down till nearly even, trim top of bud evenly, tie tightly, but not too tightly, with soft cord or yarn, one-half Inch above and one-half below bud. Will unite In about twelve days, then remove tie. A wild rose stock can be used for budding on, and all kinds may be budded onto K soon as the bark separates easily from the stock.—Practical Farmer, Ronp 1b Poultry. Roup in poultry Is one of the most d redded of all diseases. The symptoms are -hoarse breathing, swelled eyes, discharge at the nostrils, and sometimes a fetid breath. Treatment la not generally satisfactory. The affected birds

should be removed, the and disinfected. Damp, foul air and cold draughts In the poultry houses should be carefully avoided whenever fowls are subject to roup. A decrease in the proportion of corn and an increase in the proportion of meat food in the daily ration' Is held by some to be highly beneficial in warding off this disease. In general, the treatment at eommon diseases of fowls is not satisfactory as preventive measures. Nowhere more than In the poultry business does that old adage apply, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”—Agricultural Department Bulletin.

Large Rye Crops. Few farmers appreciate as they should the possibilities of rye when grown for grain. It almost always yields lees than wheat, but this is mainly because It Is often the poor land where wheat could not be grown at all that is soqyi with rye. Rye can be grown on the same land in succession without falling off In field; this shows Its great advantage so far as exhausting fertility is concerned. Rye straw is In many places salable at as high prices as hay, or sometimes higher than this. If grown with mineral fertilizer rye straw can be used in many branches of manufacture. The softer rye straw grown with nitrogenous fertilizers Is much Jess valuable. New Use for Surplus Pears. • Surplus apples can be dried or cider made from them, for which there Is also usually a profitable market; but the use of surplus pears has been comparatively limited. In France, they are usually ground Into a form of cider known to the English as perry; but it has never had anything near the popucider obtained from apples, has. It is said by Meehan’s Monthly that a very profitable use can be made of the surplus pears by turning them into syrup. About three gallons of cider can be obtained from a bushel of pears, and out of this it Is said that syrup enough, quite equal to can syrup, can be obtained to make the operation profitable.—California Fruit Grower. Cabbage Worms. Many remedies have been suggested, but paris green is used more frequently than any other, to which objection Is made by consumers, though it Is doubtful If harm has resulted from Its use. Many growers prefer a more harmless remedy, but there Is nothing sure. Kerosene destroys them, bnt leaves a taint on the cabbage. Much good can be done by destroying all white butterflies (parents of the cabbage worms) that appear. It is an evil that can only be prevented by vigilance and persistent effort Dry dirt, cornmeal, wheat bran, flour or Insect p«vwder dusted on the plants have given beneficial results. —Philadelphia Record.

To Utilize Low-Grade Apples. The Virginia station has reported experiments on various means of utilizing low-grade apples, which, it Is esti-t mated, constitute 40 per cent, of the annual crop in that State. Comriderai ble quantities of this fruit are at present sun-dried, but It Is believed that the use of evaporating apparatus would be much more economical. The cost of manufacture In either case is ’about 3 cents per pound of finished product. The evaporated fruit, as a rule, sells for about 6 cents per pound and the dried for only 2% cents. Thq amount of evaporated fruit per bushel of apples was found to be about 6.6 pounds. Sngar Beets. Experiments with sugar beets have given very encouraging results. In the West the general rule is to pay $4 per ton for beets containing 12 per cent of sugar. In New York State the yields have been from fourteen to eighteen tons per ac# In some localities, one plot producing twenty-six tons per acre. The percentage of sugar has also been high, some samples giving 17 and 18 per cent., the average being 14 per cent. It Is possible to grow over four tons of sugar per acre, with the aid of beets. It la believed that beet sugar will soon become a feature In some sections of this country. To Keep Birds from Fruit. An easy method of frightening birds away from ripe cherries and other fruits is to hang bells so that they can bo rung by pulling a string reaching into the house. Old cowbells, or a few old-fashioned slelghbells will answer the purpose nicely. The frightened birds will return after awhile, but it is but little trouble to jerk the string now and then, and off they will go again. This is much better than to shoot them. It is true that dead birds will eat no more cherries, but neither will they destroy more, Insects or sing more happy songs.—Hartford Times. Lou of Moisture. The loss of water from unplowed ground by evaporation during a dry season Is said to equal on certain lands nearly two inches of rainfall every week. This loss is more than a man with a sprinkling cart and two-horse team can replace by constant work for ten hours 4 day, provided the water was hauled one-fourth of a mile. a ... Hok Cholera Cure. Raise plenty of mustard and feed about two or three times a week when fattening, and occasionally put a little buttermilk and soda In the trough. Feed them about twice-a week on green mustard and corn, and give them plenty of good, pure water. When to Dig Potatoes. Potatoes should be dug when the stem or plant begins to turn yellow rather than to wait until the top dies down, as they will be more liable to rot if they remain In tbe soil t’uk the tubers in tbe shade to dry and store them In a cool place and tn a manner to prevent them from heating.