Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1898 — TOPICS FOR FARMERS [ARTICLE]

TOPICS FOR FARMERS

. . ■ - . y. r . „ A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Essential Prerequisites to Sqgcess in SubsoilinjK—How to Handle Beea— Intelligence of the Horse—New Use ’ for Tomatoes—Farm Notes. Plowing of any kind, Including subsoiling, should be gradual, and not a sudden deepening over the former cultivation of tbe land, writes W'. F. Massey In Home and Farm. Thorough drainage and aeration is one of the essential prerequisites to success in subsolling. If tbe subsoil needs drainage there is little benefit to be derived from subsoiling, as it will run back together as soon as the snbsolling has been done. Then, too, where the Immediate subsoil Is a mellow, yellow clay, there Is less evidence of benefit from subsoiling than where it is a hard, red clay, such as we have here, and such as is common in the uplands of Georgia. One of the greatest benefits to be expected from a good subsoiling of a hard clay soil is in its allowing the roots of the peas and other legumes to penetrate deeper, and hence to draw more mineral matters from the subsoil for the benefit of the upper layer. There are few tracts of the worn uplands in the South which can, with safety, be turned to the depth proposed at once, and before we can turu such soils safely to the depth of ten inches, or even less, the aeration of the subsoil must be done, and in no way that I know of can it be done except by the subsoiling of the hard pan just below the former run of the plow. I feel perfectly certain that little benefit will be noticed in the first crop from subsoiling where the land can safely be comminuted to the depth of eight or ten inches, and I would not care to subsoil any of our lauds deeper than twelve inches, for this is as deep as it ever need be. Land that can be plowed to the depth of eight or ten inches without turning any of the “cold, clammy subsoil,” needs very little subsoiling.

Handling; Beea. A good many people do not keep bees because they have a notion that bees do not like them. It has been pretty well established that in the matter of likes and dislikes everybody is alike to bees. The most successful bee-keeper is the one who wears a veil all the time, and goes among the bees with a calm determination not to strike wildly at the air if one of the colony begins to buzz about his ears. Bees are not at all averse to a hostile declaration, and arc ready at all times to sacrifice themselves in ?i fight with any animate being. The best way to handle bees Is to take advantage of their weak spots, and bees are in the best condition to manipulate when they are approached through their stomachs. Smoke is the most convenient thing to use in raising an alarm in a colony of bees. As soon as smoke begins to enter the hive every bee attacks the stores of the colony and eats all the honey it can hold. If the colony Is gently smoked, and left to itself for a few minutes, it can be handled by any one. This is equally all bees when handling them, but some breeds of bees are more aggressive than others. The n%live black bees are liable to go out of their way to sting a man, but Italians rarely make the first move toward battle. For this reason Italians should be chosen in selecting a breed. Another good reason for choosing them is that they are the best breed. —Farmer's Voice. Horae Intelligence. While the army mule is almost iuvariabty more intelligent than he is suspected of being, the horse occasionally exhibits unexpected aptitudes, as Col. Roosevelt found out. The Colonel, with a number of the rough riders, had been training the horses to lie down at a signal given by a certain pressure and a certain twist to the reins. At first 001. Roosevelt's horse didn’t quite catch the idea, but it soon learned and It didn’t forget. Shortly after the lesson, the Colonel rode hack to his tent, where he found a number of friends waiting for him. Before he had time to dismount they came up and began talking to him on some subject in which lie was much interested. Now, It Is characteristic of the famous soldier that when he becomes interested in a subject, it engrosses his entire attention. As he talked he began to make gestures and to move in his saddle. Presently he chanced upon a combination of movement and gesture that meant more to his horse than to his hearers. That intelligent animal began to give way under him, sank slowly down and left the animated speaker stranded in the midst of a sentence, with both feet on the ground, straddled well apart, and a prostrate horse between them. In a moment his was the picture of amazement. Then he remembered, spoke to the horse, which got up, and resumed the conversation, remarking that the animal didn’t seem to be feeling well.—New York Sun.

Naw Use for the Tomato. Cosmos, a French scientific review, says that a South American fanner has recently made an accidental discovery of great value to gardeners and florists. It was to the effect that leaves of tha tomato plant will drive Insects away from other plants. He covered the tomato leaves over some young shrubs he wished to protect from the sun and from small Insects, and was delighted to find that tbe latter cleared out ms soon as they got the odor of the tomato leaves. He then extended the same treatment to an entire row of young"peach trees, and his success was complete. To render the process more simple he tried a decoction of the fresh tomato leaves as a spray on other

trees and shrubs, and found that h« had a perfectly effective weapon. He also found that a spray of the same kind would keep dies off his horses. Care of Helf^rv The development of a heifer depends very much on the intelligence of tbe owner. Some owners indulge In a fattening, others In a starvation policy. By the latter the animal Is stunted and Its digestion impaired, so that It is little good for any particular purpose; by the former she is fit only for the butcher. If you feed on grass, which Is a flesh and fat producing food, she may be expected to yield little else than tallow. Abundance of succulent, nutritious food will stimulate the glands that carry the milk. Ensilage is good feed for heifers, mixed with a dry clover hay, or wheat bran mixed with corn ensilage is better. And then a heifer should be bred early, and If she drops her first calf at a year and a half old she will be all the better milker. She should be fed liberally with food that will make growth rather than fatten. Do not feed with corn, but some oats may be given, if the milk production is large enough to keep the heifer thin in flesh. As already stated, intelligence is needed in the development of a heifer to a profitable dairy cow. Every farmer should give the matter more thought than has heretofore been the case, bearing in mind that fall calves thrive better and make better cows than those dropped in the spring. - The Boil Over Umlerdraina. Always In digging an underdrain the lowest subsoil, often cold, hard and without vegetable mould, is more or less mixed with that dug near the surface, and which Is usually richer. In filling the ditch this mixture continues, so that the soil that was dug from the bottom of the ditch may often be In the last spadeful thrown In. Yet we never knew this to make any difference. Always crops of any kind show a better growth directly over the drain than they do on either side, even during the first season's growth. After a year or two the good effect of the drain extends to land on either side, as the soil freezes deeper when surplus water Is removed from it, and the roots of plants can go deeper for moisture or plant food.

Apple* for Cooking. There are many sour apples that contain more saccharine matter than those that are called “sweet” only because they lack acidity. And there is some malic acid in the varieties that are called sweet. It is the combination of sweet with acidity that makes the richest and best flavored apples either for eating raw or for cooking. Commonly, only those that are very distinctly acid have a good flavor when cooked, and they should be acid enough to require considerable sugar in cooking. To Make Farming Pax. While farmers with large areas sometimes claim that “farming don’t pay,” other farmers manage to live and save something on ten acres. One of the successful farmers on a small farm made it a rule when he went to market to bring home more money than he carried. His rule was to endeavor to sell, in value, more than he purchased, and to grow everything on the farm for his own use that the land would produce. Farm Notea. Fire is the best agent to use in getting rid of insects and their eggs. Every limb removed and all leaves and refuse under the trees should be burned and lime scattered on tbe surface of the ground. Sonic growers burn the strawberry beds as soon as the ground is frozen, and then mulch the rows with clean straw or salt hay. By so doing weeds that have died down are cleared away trad many seeds on the surface of the ground are destroyed. It does not always pay to hold pota-> toes over, as hauling, shrinkage and de» cay during the time they are held wili more than offset the extra price unless prices are very high. Then there Is storage room to provide and labor incurred to caring for the tubers during the winter.

Ornamental trees serve to beautify q homestead and perform tbe part ot windbrakes, but they pay because they add to the value of the farm. Paint is also a valuable adjunct in farming, aa it gives the buildings an attractive appearance and assists In preserving} them. The importance of nsing plenty of seed may be mentioned from the fact that only 30 per cent, germinates on jhe average. The conditions of the soil, kind of seed, its age. and depth of planting must'be considered, but the rule to be observed is to use rather more seed than too little. An excellent time to select seed corn is when it is being husked. AH seed corn should be kept In a dry place, and If hung up where the air can, circulate through It, so much the better. In some sections seed corn is Injured in winter by severe cold, but this danger is not so great if the seed Is kept dry. A special crop for the use of poultry Is millet seed. The use of such seed for that purpose increases the number of eggs and enables the farmer to get a good price for his seed by keeping large numbers of hens. The yield is about twenty bushels j)er acre, and It can be grown on nearly all kinds of soils. The amount of green food that can be grown on one acre Is enormous. Experiments have shown that on an acre there may be grown 14 tons of pea vines, 24 tons of peas and oats (grrown together), 37 tons of green corn, and 3 tons of second-growth clover. An acre of green food will provide more than will 5 acres of ordinary pasture.