Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1899 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERS O FINTEREST TO FARM. ER AND HOUSEWIFE How to Grow Early Cncumb*rs—Decision a* to Underground Water Right*—Cure for Hog Cholera-Small Farm* the Moat Profitable. Take a barrel and, with an inch anger, bore holes in the lower half, one or two In each stave. Dig a bole in the garden, saving the rich surface soil in a heap by Itself; set the barrel a little more than half its depth in the ground and replace the soil. Fill the barrel almost full of manure from the cow stable, pressing it down firmly, and leaving It lower In the middle than on the sides. Make a nice rich circle 2 feet wide around the barrel, using one bnshel of fine, well-rotted barn-yard manure and the surface soil saved; fork It over until very fine and deep; make a ring 1 foat from the barrel, and 1 inch deep; drop in the cucumber seed, cover and press the soil firm with the hands. Before the plants begin to crowd, thin out all but six goodstrong ones. Pour water Into the barrel as soon as the cucumbers get started and keep the contents thoroughly soaked all the time. The soil must be kept loose and free from grass and weeds. Never allow one to ripen on the vines. Be sure to give plenty of water, and you will be well supplied with good cucumbers. To have them very early mak* small sacks, from old “bone bags,” 5 Inches square when sewed up. Fill these with ‘ fine, rich earth, and press close together I In a shallow box. Plant two seeds, but allow only one to grow In each box. Place the box In a sunny window. Keep moist and give plenty of air, or they will be “leggy.” Set out In the sunshine every pleasant day, and as soon as the weather will permit plant six sacks around the barrel. Cover them on cool nights with old pans or boxes, and you will have cucumbers two weeks earlier than those who plant In the open ground. Gather the cucumj'bers early In the morning, but water may be added ai. any time during the day.—Epitomist Underground Water Rights. The Iron Age (New York) says: An Important decision was handed down , recently by Supreme Court Justice Smith awarding to Benjamin F. Forbell, a market gardener of Queens County, $6,000 damages In his suit against the city of New York, and also enjoining the city from operating a pumping station at Spring Creek, which forms part of the Brooklyn water supply system. Mr. Forbell owns a farm about 2,000 feet from the station. He stated that since the Introi duction of the pumping station he has lost $4,000 or $5,000 yearly because It has drained the water from his land. The station pumps its water from a series of wells sunk so as to tap the underground flow. The evidence satisfied the judge that the operation of the station lowered the water level under the farm several feet. The effect of this was to prevent the owner from growing those crops to which the land was peculiarly adapted, and from which he had previously made a large profit. The judge says: “The property right in waters which flow upon the surface of the ground is no more sacred than property rights in water that flows underground. There can be no escape from the conclusion that the acts of the defendant were Injurious to the plaintiff, and that an action will lie for the damages he has sustained by reason thereof.” Water works of this description are common throughout the country, and the decision Is, therefore, one of wide bearing. Cure for Hog Cholera. A farmer and hog breeder of Lamoille, HL, says there is no need of farmers having hog cholera among their hogs. He has never bad any—at least not since be found out the cause and how to remove It. He says hog cholera is caused by fever and the fever by worms, which two teaspoonfuls of saleratus dissolved in water and poured into the slop will remove. When you notice a hog not doing well, when it refuses Its feed and begins to look scrawny and sick, the chances are 99 to I 100 It has worms. If you kill one and ' examine it, you will And a bunch of worms In its intestines perhaps as large as your fist. These cause constipation and fever, which kill hogs. Oftentimes the worms will eat through the intestines into the stomach. Dissolved saleratus In proportion of two tea spoonfuls to every gallon of water will kill the worms, and almost Immediately your bogs will begin to thrive and look well again.—Warsaw Bulletin. Small Farms Moat Profitable For several years prices have, quite generally, been unremuneratlve and production consequently limited. Farmers have refrained from hiring help and have contented themselves with what could be produced by the familly. I know of no farm that Is yielding to its fullest capacity; yet some are producing more than twice as much per acre as adjoining farms equally good. To illustrate: A farm of 200 acres, 100 of which are Improved, receiving careful treatment and above the average condition of farms in the vicinity, has a cash income of from S6OO to S7OO yearly as the result of the work of two men. An adjoining farm oiKfOrty.acres, with the same labor, averages about SSOO. A river farm of forty acres, with a little more work, gives about SI,OOO. Small holdings, diversity of crops and profitable prices will more than double our production without an£ Increase tn the area of Improved land. France, with nine times our population to the

square mile, produced over eight bushels of wheat per capita for the five years ending with 1897. Our production for the sarnie period was but little more than seven bushels per capita.— North American Review. Alaike Clover, . M It seemed a few yean ago as if red clover-growing must be abandoned because of insect midges that destroyed the seed in the blossom, and the worm that ate both blossom and leaf. Botb these have In most clover-growing districts found parasitic enemies that kept the destroyer in check. If there Is any place where red clover is still hard to grow, alslke or Swedish clover is a good substitute. It Is a true clover, and Intermediate in size between white and red clover, and making in its first crop a fine, sweet hay. Unfortunately, when this crop Is cut the plant dies out, as it is a true biennial, dying after bearing its seed the second year. Alslke clover is often sown with timothy, which it will so overshadow that scarcely a spear of timothy can be seen among the alslke, The alslke needs to be cut so early that what timothy there Is has not got to the heading-out stage. Hence it sprouts readily, and makes an astonishing growth, feeding on the alslke roots that have perished a few weeks before. A good crop of timothy hay can be cut In August on land that has borne alslke hay two months before, and that then only showed a very little straggling timothy among the clover. Oatmeal for Young Chickens. According to analysis oats are among the best grains to promote egg-laying in hens. But as often happens, practice contradicts the conclusions of the chemist. Probably the oat grain Is all right to make eggs, but fed with the hull the mass fills the gizzard too quickly, and possibly even clogs It, so that the oats cannot be digested and the fowl becomes cropbound. At all events, we never changed from whole wheat as feed to oats without noticing a falling off In egg production. But for the youngest chicks we know no better feed than ground oats slightly moistened and fed with milk curd, squeezed until It Is nearly dry. This is as good and cheaper than feeding hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine, though this last should be given occasionally for variety of ration. So soon as the chicks are a week old broken wheat Is their best food. They will very quickly learn to eat whole grains of wheat, but the cracked pieces which are damaged for sale for grinding can be had mor* cheaply and are just as good. Whatever food the chicks have, they should have access to gravel at all times. y Formalin for Potato Scab. In using Insecticides, fungicides and other sprays and washes we should always use those that are non-polsonous, when they are effective. The great objection to using corrosive sublimate In treating seed potatoes to prevent scab, has been that this substance is one of the deadly poisons and must be used with care. Formaline has lately been found to work remarkably well, and it has the advantage of not being particularly poisonous, nor is it difficult to handle. It Is used by adding half a pint of formalin to fifteen gallons of water, or in that proportion for larger amounts. The tubers to be used for seed are soaked In this mixture for two hours before cutting to plant Scab has become so general that some measure should be taken by every one to prevent its ravages, and this formalin treatment is the best all things considered, that has yet been discovered.—Farmers’ Voice. An Original Story. The teacher of a school in the rural districts assigned each pupil the task of writing an original story. On the day when the stories were read a bright little towhead arose and started as follows: “On the green slope of a mountain stood a first-class Jersey cow with three legs.” “That won’t do, Johnnie,” interrupted the teacher, “you are one leg short.” “No, I ain’t,” replied the future author. “You don’t wait to git my plot, which is that a railroad train cut off one leg and-the owner of the cow got $3,000 damages, an’ moved his whole family to Paris in time for the exposition, where the girls will be married to rich Frenchmen and die happy pver afterward.”—Atlanta Constitution. Sprint; wkeat. The twelve varieties of spring wheat which gave the largest crops' In 1898, taking the average of the results obtained on all the experimental farm of Canada, were: —Per acre— Bush. Lbs. Wellman’s Fife 32 42 Monarch 32 8 White Connell3o 50 Goose 30 22 White Fife3o 6 Red Fife 29 56 Preston 29 52 Progress. f . 29 30 Percy i 29 18 Rio Grande ...28 50 Stanley .28 54 Emporium .28 32 An average crop of 30 bushels 6 pounds per acre. Disease of Young Cattle. A new disease, so far only affecting cattle less than 1 year old, has appeared in the herds in Northern New York. The disease makes itself known In the breeding in the throat of hundreds of white worms, which If not removed speedily eat their way into the flesh, making death certain. Dots in Horses The jtdee of a raw potato will kill bote Instantly. For immediate relief grate raw potatoes, add water enough to pour out of a bottle, and drench the horse. Feed the horse raw potatoes as regularly as you salt them. For horses that are not used to potatoes, cut or grat? and mix with feed. -