Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1899 — TOPICS FOR FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS FOR FARMERS.

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR * OUR RURAL FRIENDS. Cuba aat tbe American Parmer—The Farm as a Permanent Heme—Hear to Cut Up Hose - Traveling Postoffices for the Country. Since tbe farmers of this country have learned more alout Porto Rico and Cuba there has been much qoestion as to what extent tbe soil products of these countries will Injure borne production If admitted free of duty to oar markets. As Porto Rico Is now a United States possession there will be no duty on products shipped front there, and tbe distance will serve to keep down prices to a point where they will be of little injury to the home output. Wit 8 Cuba it is different, but it is not probable that the products of the island will materially interfere with oar own except in few instances. In vegetables we have little to fear from Cuba. Tlie main comjietition wiU be against onr Southern Slates, and chiefly In sock tropical productions as pineapples, bananas, mangoes, oranges, tobacco and sugar. With the growths of the North Cuba cannot compete, but the people of the Island will in time grow their own vegetables for winter or ■ rainy season use and also raise their i own meat, thus cutting off a valuable market. At the present time we have more to fear from the free entry into this country of sugar from Cuba than anything else. If Cuba is kept an independent nation a duty will probaWy be kept on sugar, but if the island shall eventually become part of the United States our sugar-producing States must suffer unless especial provision is made for them.—Farmers’ Friend. •;hft Farm a Home. The farm is a home —not a place to be lived at to-day and moved from to-mor-row, but a home to be improved and beautified—a home where orchards are .to be planted, where vines are to be grown, where substantial tilings are to be constructed, where children are to be born and fathers are to die. Into the fields come and reap new genera lions; out of the fields and into the graveyard pass old generations. There is no si>ot on earth where God more continuously shows himself than on a farm, dlere becomes understood the endearing name “Father.” The God is Father to the father, Providence unrolls the heart-curled corn leaves, fills the grape skins with new wine, gives drink to thirsty rattle, beautifies the garden with many-hued flowers, perfumes the air with fragrance made among the meadows. Here, too, man is made philosophic as he beholds on every hand the “evidences of design.” Faith he does uot need; certainty takes the place of it.—Farm and Factory. Cutting Up Hoss. For cutting up, the,carcass of a hog should be laid on tbe back, upon a strong table, says Western Flowman. The head should fhen be cut close by the ears, and tbe hind feet so far below the books as not to disfigure the hams, and leave room sufficient for hanging them up; after which tbe carcass Is divided into equal halves, up th? middle of the backbone, with a carving knife, and, if necessary, a liand-mallet. Then cut the ham from tbe side by the second joint of the backlione, which will appear on dividing the carcass, and dress the ham by paring a little off the flank or skinny part, so as to shape it with a half round point, clearing off any top fat which may appear. Next cut off the sharp edge along tbe backbone with a knife and mallet, and slice off the first rib next the shoulder, where there Is a bloody vein, which must be taken out. since, if it is left in. that part is apt to spoiL The corners should be squared off when tbe ham is cut. The ordinary practice is to cut out the spine or backbone. Some take out tbe chine and upper parts of tbe ribs in the first place; indeed, almost every locality has its pecnliar mode of proceeding. Traveling Postoffices. The Fostoffice Department has ordered an innovation in tbe postal service by tlie experimental establishment of a postoffice on wheels, to operate in the vicinity of Westminster, M<L The service, which is to begin shortly, calls for tbe use of a postal wagon to travel over a designated route in rural districts. Mail boxes can be placed at some point on tbe route for every farmer living within a mile or two from the proposed route and mall will be collected therefrom. One Important feature of tbe contemplated innovation, which, if successful, will be extended generally, is that it will bare money order and registry matter facilities. Grafting Car a Head. '— A writer In one of our contemporaries tells bow be succeeded in rebuilding a tree by grafting limbs on tbe body of a tree. He bad some trees which were not symmetrical, and some from which limbs bad been broken, until they were one-sided. These were so badly crippled that It was cot probable tbe tree would correct tbe fault, as It would if but slightly misshapen, so be secured some scions, and opening tbe bark of the body of tbe tree to be operated on, introduced tbe scions exactly as be would If budding a tree, tbe only difference being that tbe scions bad several buds on instead of being a mere bod. These were then waxed and bound as a bod would be, and all of them began to grow at once, and at tbe end of tbe season had made a very satisfactory growth, with a promise of making the trees so grafted symmetrical In a very abort time. It is thinking of these little things that mikes successful fruit gvsu^

and publishing the remits is urtat antes a cam's work rataebte* to the world a nB as ItariL-FSulKfk Voice. Sky Vm SkMrit Kn* He-a. J- Beranse pn ought by their raenna to convert a great dial of the waste of the fun into money, in the shape of eggs aad daidkrus for ansket. 2. Because* with tateflEgeut nuanagomeut they ought to be aB-year-rerenne producers, exceptmg, perhapn. abont X Because fxmttiy wfll yieid yon a quicker return for the capital, invested than any of the other departments of agriculture. 4. Because the mannre from the pool try bouse will make a valuable compost for use la cither garden or orchard. Tbe birds tbemsdret wfß destroy many insects. _— 5. Because whale cereals and frafts cue only be stcmsfuDy grown in certain seethms. peadSry caa be raised in aR parts of the country. <*. Because peulniy raising Is an enapJoyxDcu* in whit* the farmer's wife and daughter can engage and leave burn free to attend to otlber departments. & Because to start poultry ra'seng on the farm requires lottie «r no capital With proper management, poultry can be made a valuable adjunct to the farm.- -I'annacr's Review. CoatMacd Harvester asd Thresher. Tbe Laicfenborg traction engine and cexalMUtd Soamestes* is thus described by tbe Scdenrafie Anmerwtam: Tbe harvester. vliiriu is used in the great wheat fields of CaSiffojaea sad the Pacific* coast Statos, cuts a swath 2$ feet wide, and threshes, deans and sacks Site grain as at moves along. It would seean that a mac!) time cutting a strip of grain 28 feet wide would be SssiwlStag: straw fast enough to satisfy almost any one. hut tbe Laufemburg machine has teem budl to cut a mke Jit ale swath of 52 feet and sack the grain cotmidetely cleam and ready few market. lYliile the ceualw'aed tearresrer is mot n new feature im the of crops on the -pbast. only recently, and until the trsi-iiou eugms* became a Success in the field, did they ever attempt to cut wider than 18 feet. 1«I feet being the standard ms :-hame_ re |Taring from thirty to forty head of h orses to ha wile it. 'tfealth es the I'sn'ted States. The United baase* constitute* the rk'ls-st nation on the globe. Malha.lt fnrai-lies these figures: United States. s£L73ojOMuQa»; Great Britain, SXMOV©WMXW; France. MlßOtinOyM; Germany, Russia, $32,125,- «**.<#**: Austria. Spain. fl!JMrlUott9uu»>>. These rompmtatians are based upon values as shown by real estate buildings, merchandise and railways, as well as the circulating medium In ea< h nation. As will he seen, cur wealth Is more than seven times greater that of Spain, double that off Germany, two and one-half tisanes greater than that of Russia, neatly double the wealth of Russia. Italy. Austria and Spain, and S22?3MIO(MMM> larger than that of Great Britain. Keen Oat at the City. Why do men prefer the Jwivathwrs and battling aaad poverty off a city, when on a farm there is so munch of plenty and peace aaad wealth? Tbe illiterate laborer selects the town because of that sense which preempts the knowing to raise his eye above the sixpence which conceals the dollar beyond. “It is easier."' says a carter, “to load a cart than to grab a Hearing.’* And so It is. only that brash land once made Hear stays cleared, while cans that are laden empty as fast as they are laden. The work with the cart waxes harder with the age of the carter. Tbe cultivation off the land grows easier with the children off tbe fanner. To Exterminate Vermin. A writer in the *Vndfie American says he has chared his premises off vermin by making whitewash yellow with copperas and covering the stones and rafters In the cellar with it. In every crevice in which a rat might go he put the copperas, and scanned it in the comers off the floor. The result was a complete disappearance off rats and mice. Since that time not a rat or Every spring the cellar is coated with the yellow whitewash as a purifier and a rat exterminator, and no typhoid, dysentery or fever attacks the family. Cn'tlwatian at Umber. Very little off the timber now In this country to valuable for lumber, aad that which will not make Inmber has Iff it Is to be retained, why not have the land freed from taxation? Perhaps a premium should be paid for the cuttlwe arrive at some determination the better it wfll be for the country. As an investment our timber bunds do not now pay.—Globe-Democrat. ff*t«tw in Afr'ca. In spite off the statement frequently made that white potatoes would not grow la Africa, the trial was recently made again, and the potatoes gmr and brought forth abudastly. From this time on travelers and mtasaonviee need not be deprived off their favorite vegetable, provided they stick to the higher attitude*. WhOe the Africaa-raioed potatoes are s little more watery than the they are net so much so as th impair