Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1898 — TOPICS FOR FARMERS [ARTICLE]

TOPICS FOR FARMERS

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. How to Keep the Children en the Farm—Beet Way of Making Corn Stooks-When to Harvest Beans— Pointed Poultry Pickings. Jk To Keep Children on the Farm. y We often Rear it deplored that (bo many farmers’ boys and girls leave the farm so early, but it Is all in their bringing up, and nine times out of ten the parents are responsible. They do not make farm life attractive enough. I beard a young man of twenty-three •ay that he wouldn’t leave home for anything—that he considered It the prettiest spot on earth. Come to find out, that boy never had to get up at 3 o’clock In the morning and work until sunset He was blessed with parents who considered their children of more Importance than overwork or money. Pleasures were furnished at home to keep the boys out of danger. Even Fourth of July was celebrated bo splendidly at home that the hoys had no desire to go anywhere. I went to one of those farm entertainments, and there was a picnic all day in the orchard, with swings and boat-rides on the mill pond, ice cream and fireworks. The farmer was not a rich man, either; he only looked out for the good and enjoyment of his boys. Some farmers and their wives take time to Interest their children In beauties around them, and set them to work making collections of flowers, leaves and grasses. They let them bring mosses and stones into the bouse and form little cabinets of their own. They encourage them to draw and paint pictures of all the birds and insects they see, to learn their names and become acquainted with their habits. Such children will not want to leave the farm. But the average farm Is so dreary and monotonous, with its endless routine of duties, oftentimes accompanied with hurry and harsh words, no wonder the young people want to leave the farm and hunt up something more cheerful. There is nothing in the world so sweet, so healthful, as farm life when carried on right, and ’’there’s love at home." Let parents look to it that their children are entertained, and so many of them will not want to leave the farm, but will be satisfied to remain at home. —New York Tribune.

Making Good Corn Stooka. Something about the best way of making the corn stook may be of interest. We never used the so-called • horse” which some used to advise for building the sitook around, which was to be withdrawn after the top of the stock had been firmly bound. A good stiff hill of stalks, all the better if it had three to five ears to lean the cut corn against, was always chosen for the center of the stook. Then we cut hills an each side, standing them up opposite to each other and leaning slightly against the center hill. In this way the center became of less Importance and could be cut away after the stook was finished without making it sag to either side. Where we were, storms mostly come from the west, so we piled up rather more stalks on the cast side in order to prevent it from blowing over that way. For tying the top we usually had corn stalks cut three or four days before, and allowed to wilt. Most of these would bend readily, and by taking two to each stook the top could be bound so that It would not break. If the top band breaks the stook is sure soon to lean over or fall to pieces, which means falling on every side. An immense amount of (torn is every year lost by defective stookiug. The best of all bands is made from osier willow, and we think every farmer who grows much corn ought also to grow the osier willow for this purpose. One band can be bound around the top, and another a foot lower down, banding it so tight that the stock may be hauled by it when it is necessary to load it on a wagon.— Ameftcan Cultivator. Harvesting Heans. When the pods turn yellow and most of the green ones have nearly fullsized beaus In them, It is time to harvest the crop. Pull the beans and put them in small-sized stacks. DriVe two stakes down where the stack is to be made, and lay one or two stones, or a bunch of grass, between the stakes; then put the beaus as pulled between the stakes, the roots out; press the beans down closely. The beans should be dried out before being hauled in. When dry haul in during the heat of the day and spread over the top of the mow. Beans gotten In free from rain will be free from spots, and can be sold for an extra price. The bean ground should be given a thorough harrowing and drillud to wheat. The bean crop is a very profitable one, as the demand is constant, and the price ■ ranges from $1.40 to SI.BO per busheL The beans can be threshed, cleaned and assorted during the rough days of winter. The bean straw Is excellent for sheep.— Baltimore American.

Feeding Apple* to Cowi, We do not wonder that there is strong prejudice against allowing cows, and especially milch cows, to eat apples. For the most part, it to well grounded. While it is possible to give a milking cow a few ripe apples without drying up her milk perceptibly, that Is not the kind of apples she usually gets. If the cow is in an orchard where apples are falling* she runs every time she hears one "drop and eats It greedily, however wormy, sour, green and bitter It may be. All apples have some malic acid In them, even including those that we. call “sweet.” This malic acid, together with the tannin that -to found In the apple

peel, and especially In green, small apples, contracts the cow’s stomach. If she eats much of such fruit. It gives her the colic just as surely as It does the small boy. The cow’s stomach Wasn’t made to digest such stuff, and so sure as it is put Into her stomach, there is riot and rebellion. Every one knows that giving vinegar to cows, and rubbing her udder with vinegar, will dry her off. We believe that allowing cows to eat many apples, even If they are ripe, has a bad effect on their milk production.—Exchange. Why Young Meat la Beat. Almost everybody likes best the meat of young animals. But the reason why does not appear to be so generally understood. It will be said, of course, that the young chicken is more tender and delicate, and has a sweeter flavor than the old fowl, and the same also of the young pig or lamb as compared with the old one of the same species. The truth seems to be that the young animals’ meat Is best because it has never been either pinched and starved, nor been surfeited by overfeeding. As proof of this we have seen runt pigs killed which had been stunted still more by overfeeding with corn, as every farmer knows is liable to happen. The pigs were sickly, or at least had so poor appetites that they would eat very little, and were at last killed, as it seemed impossible to make them grow. There was fat enough in such pigs, but It never seemed to us wholesome fat, and we would much prefer a cut from a thrifty pig that weighed 150 to 200 pounds. It is a lesson that all feeders have to learn, that only by keeping the digestive organs In good condition and making the animal fatten rapidly can gain be profitably made or the meat thus produced be wholesome and of the best quality.— —American Cultivation.

Horses’ Teeth. When a horse does not appear to thrive, as he should, on his food, and the moat careful observation fails to account for his condition, it Is wise to have his teeth carefully examined, especially the backjaw teeth or molars. An Irregularity of these is often the unsuspected source of the evil. The molars occasionally wear Irregularly; sometimes the upper border overlapping the external surface of the lower, while the Internal surface of the lower rises to a corresponding height within the mouth. In such cases sharp points are found where the wear has been slightest, and these roughnesses lacerate the inside of the cheeks and cut the sides of the tongue, so that mastication is performed not only with difficulty, but with pain. The consequence Is that the food is not properly prepared for the stomach, and passes through it without assimilating to a full extent Its nutritive principles.— Germantown Telegraph.

Clipping: Wins*. The most convenient way to keep fowls - from flying over fences is to clip one of their wings, but if this is not properly done the clipping disfigures the bird. The proper way to clip a fowl is to spread one of its wings as widely as possible and clip off the wide side of the primary or pinion feathers dose to the shaft. Do this with one wing only, and when the bird tries to fly its wings will not balance and it can not fly over an ordinary fence. By dipping off the wide side of the feathers only the dipping does not show when the wing is folded in its natural position against the side. Clipping notches in the wing feathers is also a good way to mark a fowl if identification is only to be desired for a short mark, as the feathers are renewed every year.—Farmer’s Voice. Asparagni-Growinc. The Missouri experiment station has been experimenting for the past two years with asparagus growing, and has successfully grown asparagus in the open field in mid-winter by running steam into shallow funnels between the asparagus rows. The asparagus field was first covered with six or seven Inches of heating horse manure, and the steam forced Into the soil from the green house boiler. By this means a large yield of fine asparagus was obtained throughout the months of December, January and February; the finest quality being gotten in the middle of January, when the weather was coldest.

Poultry Pickings. Too much corn will give young ducks the cramps. Tobacco dust is excellent for dusting lousy fowls. Beans are a good feed because they are nitrogenous. • ' v> Eggs sell better when sent to market in regular cases. The laying ben consumes more food than one not laying. The early pullets are the profitable winter egg producers. Ten weeks from shell so market to the time allotted a chick. Ten hens with one male make about the proper proportion. Ten flocks, each consisting of ten hens, are enough for an acre. Scatter the grain at noon among litter, so the fowls must exercise. Egg shells ground to a powder make a good addition to the mash. Green bone is a valuable food for growing chicks and matured fowls. Ground oata, cornmeal and bran constitute proper foods for poultry. Steeped clover, mixed with the morning hash, is a great egg producer. Keep cabbage hanging in the house within the reach of the fowls. > After the second year the hen’s value as a winter egg-producer lessens. Filthy quarters produce sickness, and sick hens will not produce eggs. ' ‘