Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1899 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTE RS O FINTEREST TOFARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Bo me Feison* Why ths Boys Leave the Farm -When to Besin with Vegetable* In the Garden-Always Be Up with the Market. The following Is extracted from a paper read at a Farmers’ Institute recently: “How few real homes we find on the farm. How often what we call home te' a place to hang up your hat, get throe meals a day and • lie down to sleep; a place where fattier and mother and children stay. How few of these stopping places do more than satisfy our da'ly physical wants, and utterly fail to supply our mental and better necessities. Is It any wondW our boys and girls make comparisons with the homes they imagine exist in the towns and cities? Home in its real sense Is an inspiration to all boys and girls. If It exists on the farm it is an Inspiration to a nobler, better manhood. If it is not on the farm, there grows up with the boy a resolve to get away from his crude environments and . try to find what his head and heart so yearns for. Home must be where love and confidence predominate. A boy is a queer study. His prattle and rattle are evidences of enterprise. In Indicates a want of Judgment and a need of kindergarten inquiry to discover the Inherent abilities of tbe boy and guidance into those lines. It is the general practice to curb all ebullition of the vigorous mind and hands of the boy, and make him do as we do whether he wants to or not. The twenty-one years to his majority is a tedious term to a farm boy. The farm boy imagines from what he sees of city young men that they must have a very much better time, and he is tempted to try it.”

Wh?n to Reg'n the Garden. The beginning with a garden should be really in the fall, as such plants -as spinach, kale, salsify, dandelion, cress, etc., can be seeded down in the fall, covered with mulch and be brought on the table very early in the spring. A patch of turnips left in the ground In the fall will provide the best kind of early “greens,” and the same may be done with cabbage stalks, which, if planted in the fall in a compact bed, will take up but little room and throw out sprouts early in spriug, before any other green crop comes. Later on radishes, lettuce and rhubarb will be in order, as they are hardy and can be had before summer crops are seeded. Asparagus comes almost by the time frost Is out of the ground. Half an acre in a garden which has been heavily manured will provide an enormous supply of vegetables. Teas and onions, as well as early potatoes, be had with but little difficulty, if the ground is sandy and warm, but to secure early crops the cultivation must be deep aud thorough and the land well drained, not by having a heavy surface flow, but by the water going down quickly. Wanffth is secured by the air following the downward flow of the water into the soil. Be Up with the Market. It would be of advantage to our fanners if they were to visit the markets of our great cities and acquaint themselves with the requirements of the trade; they should become acquainted with the methods of business, and should study the reasons for the adoption of particular systems of handling produce. A system is the result of growth. It Is not a special creation, fully developed and organized, and thrown Info being without some good cause for its existence. It may have grown to an abuse, but even then there is some reason for It.—Farm and Factory. FntinMi Tact in Farming. While it does not pay formers to suddenly change their crops whenever prices go too low for profit, there are often ways of overcoming these low prices, and perhaps manufacturing the crop into something that will give a good return for all the labor expended upon It. When there was everywhere a superabundant apple crop, the farmers who bad evaporators hired enough help to put up their apple crop in the very best form for a period of scarcity. Hence when there was a light apple crop through the country the result was that the evaporated apples were disposed of nt a profit. There are often times when grain damaged by harvesting, or which for other reasons sells below what it costs, can be marketed by feeding it to stock. It Is in such ways as this that business men learn to change losses into gains, or at lehst to mitigate their losses. Rat Farm Inc. The farmer that allows himself to fall Into what Is termed rut farming will fall of the greatest success, because a rut farmer does things In the same old way, . simply for lack of energy or knowledge. Each position affirms the fact of bis negligence, hence he falls under the ban of natural law and must to a greater or less extent, as the case may be, fall behind. The law of the survival of the fittest was never more evident than when applied to agriculture. Succesaful agriculture will not admit of trifling.—Rural World. Floor* for L’enbonMt, A henhouse floor should never be made of boards. There will be sure to he some cracks between them, and they make the best possible breeding place for lice. Rather than hare board floors we would have one with earth, underlaid with stone to secure drainage, and covered with sifted coal ashes. The moat satisfactory of all floors Is one of cement. This will not rot out like a board or plank plow, and It will not hava cracks to encourage the breeding

"■""T" of vermin. On a cement floor undef the roosts no litter should be allowed. Thus the excretions may be kept free from matter that cannot be rotted down, and If put into a large box with sifted coal ashes sprinkled pver theni they will be rotted down by spring, ss as to be in good condition for drilling with grain or for sprinkling in the rows where early peas are planted. There Is nothing better to give peas a vigorous start early. It will also make them several days earlier, and thus secure for them a better price. To Keep Apples. To keep apples sound,, laying them on a dark, dry shelf is one method. But when so kept many will be found to lose their beauty and shrivel; If packed In boxes or barrels with dry sand, however, the flavor and soundness are not only preserved, but their original beauty and firmness are also maintained. Sawdust or bran are liable to get damp or moldy, and thus injure the fruit. Pears may also be preserved in this way, but as these undergo a slight fermentation, after becoming ripe, the effect of which is shown in a kind of greaslness on the skin, they should be left a week In the storeroom before the method of preserving here pointed out is commenced.—London Journal. Management of Mnnare. The sooner the manure spread on the land is decomposed the sooner the plants can utilize it. When a large mass of undecomposed straw or cornBtalkß are hapled to the field they are In a condition beyond the reach of the plant roots. When the manure heap Is well managed, and all the Ingredient* “rotted,” one-half of the nattle is won. It is a saving of time because the farmer who desires a quick start for his corn In the spring cannot afford to wait for the manure to rot in the fields. Good management of the manure heap means that the manure must be decomposed in the heap without losing any of its advantages. Every farmer knows how to do so, but the majority allotv large portions of tbe valuable ammonia to slip aw’ay from them.

snow in the Foreat. In a dense growth of trees snowfall lies more evenly than it can anywhere else, and even to this day the depth of snow in the woods is in country districts the only recognized measure of the depth of the snowfall. There is a great advantage to the trees in having this uniform depth of snow all around them. It prevents deep freezing of the soil, and in many cases prevents it from freezing at all, as there is always a bed of more or less decayed leaves, under the snow. In most cases when a forest becomes so thinned that winds will blow the snow in heaps, some of the older trees will begin to die out. The ground freezes deeper and they no longer get water enough. Place for the Incnbator. A cellar is an excellent place for an incubator, because it is usually of an even temperature, especially if the cellar is one that will preserve roots and fruits; but the atmosphere should be pure, which will be the case in winter. Any place will answer for the incubator that is of an even and regular temperature. If the incubator is in a room where the temperature changes no harm will result, provided the operator watches the lamp aflame, and does not allow too much heat to accumulate. The hot-water Incubator (no, lamp) must be operated in a warm place, if possible, in order to avoid loss of heat at night.—Poultry Keeper. Early Chick*. Early in the spring the hens will begin to sit and young chicks hatched. It is important to keep the chicks warm until they are feathered. They are hatched at a temperature of 103 degrees, and when exposed to an atmosphere at a temperature of 50 or 60 degrees become chilled, from which they seldom recover. Bowel disease, which is ascribed to faults in feeding, is more frequently the result of lack of warmth. Late in spring, when the weather is warmer.'the chicks can have more liberty, but in* winter, when the early ones are hatched, shelter and protection from cold draughts will be neo> essary to prevent loss. Oil from Snt'flower Seed. In 1842 a Russian farmer named Bokareff conceived the Idea of extracting oil from the seed of the sunflower. His neighbor told him it was a visionary idea and that he would have his labor for his pains. He persevered, however, and from that humble beginning the Industry has expanded to enormous proportions. To-day more than 7,000,000 acres of land in Russ? a are devoted to the cultivation of the sunflower. Two kinds are grown—one with small seeds, which are crushed for oil, and the other with larger seeds, that are consumed by the poorer people in enormous quantities.

Clover and Corn for Hogs* When wheat was low In price a large proportion of the crop was used for feed. Now the farmers have gone back to corn, but the quality of the pork Is not equal to that which was made from wheat. In feeding corn some farmers claim that when the corn is ground and mixed with clover which has been cut fine and scaled more pork and better pork con be made by the combination than with corn. The sheep and Dog Problem. There has been legislation enough to protdcf sheep. The problem is how to keep the dogs In check. Dogs can easily go through a barbed-wire fence, or will dig under it, hence there Is no inexpensive way to protect sheep. As sheep graze in the evening, after the mm goes down, as a protection against heat In summer, they cannot be confined at night in a building, and It will not pay to employ a watchman, unless the flock Is very lgrgc.