Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1899 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERSO FINTEREST TO FARM. ER AND HOUSEWIFE. Governor Mount Deprecates Waste on the Farm—Management of Strawberry Beds—Twenty Uses for CornHow to Run a Farm Steam Engine. Gdv. Mount of Indiana, who for many years was a farmer, says that of the 80,000,000 acres of corn grown in 1897, 50,000,000 acres of the by-prod-uct, or fodder, were in a measure lost. • If this waste had been properly cared for. Its value as food for farm animals would have amounted to multiplied millions of dollars. An utter disregard of economic principles is alarmingly manifest in the methods of the average farmer. The wasteful methods of harvesting the corn crop, if pursued in ahy other business, would result in bankruptcy. Recently, in one of the farm institutes, a gentleman who last fall traveled in Europe, made the statement that the waste of Indiana fanners would . keep the farmers in France. As a result of my own travels, says the Governor, through Indiana I have become convinced that 1,000,000 sheep could be kept during the summer months on the pastures and fields, utilizing What would otherwise be wasted, and much of which, in the shape of weeds and brush, is positively hurtful to the farms. lam unable to manage any farm and obtain the largest returns without sheep.—Farmer’s Voice. Strawberry Beds. Strawberries can be made a week or ten days later by mulching quite heavily, and leaving the mulch on until late in the spring. This will, enable the fanner to prolong the season of fruit If he will uncover a part of his bed early, and the remainder In ten days or so later. Plant in rows four feet apart and form a matted row about eighteen inches wide, and leave the rest of the land bare of plants. In covering for winter protection cover the rows quite heavily (a strawberry plant Is. not easily smothered), and then in thasprlng, before uncovering the rows, work the space between deep and mellow, and move the covering from the rows on to this mellow strip. If there Is not enough of this mulch to keep the fruit clean you can add straw or any material free from seed in the spring. Proper winter protection is Important. The best mulch is made by bedding horses with corn fodder waste, cut to lengths of less than a foot. This material is light, will not blow off easily, contains no seed of any kind, and can be had op every farm where corn is grown. The best time to apply the muleh is the first time the ground freezes to bear a wagon.—The Market Basket Twenty Use* for Corn. The Indian corn propaganda at the Paris Exposition and the conventions recently held in the West in the interest of corn growers have brought out the fact that over twenty Important products are now manufactured from corn. One of the most important products Is distilled spirits, the demand for which has greatly increased since the invention of smokeless powder, tn the manufacture of which the spirits are largely used. Among the other products made from corn are: Mixing glucose, crystal glucose, grape sugar, anyhydrous grape sugar, special sugar, pearl starch, powdered starch, refined grtts, flourine, dextrine, British gum, granulated gum, gum paste, corn oil, com oil cake, rubber substitute, gluten feed, chop feed? gluten meal and corn germ. With the present economical methods of manufacture not a particle of the corn is wasted. There is do refuse. , Learning to Ran an Engine. Whenever a steam engine la brought to the farm, if only for a few hours* use in threshing or some other farm work, it is at once made the mark for much inquiry and for many curious eyes among the boys on the place. This curiosity ought to be encouraged instead of being repressed, as it too often la Most of the work of the world is now done by steam, and as this tendency to substitute steam for human labor increases, the knowledge of the construction of a steam engine and how to operate becomes one of the most important branches of practical education that a young man can acquire. In every city there are thousands of men employed to run the stationary engines required for furnishing power or for heating. The men who know most about steam engines get these places. Such knowledge is therefore often a better resource for a man who is out of work than the best college education would be without knowledge of anything else than can be turned to practical use. How to Feed Orchard*. A system of manuring for cultivated orchards may be outlined as follows: To supply vegetable matter and Improve the physical condition, apply yard manure once in four years in the fall or winter, at the rate of five to ten tons per acre. To aid in the decomposition of vegetable matter and insure a sufficiency of lime in the plant food, apply lime at the rate of twenty-five bushels per acre once in five years. To provide, in addition to the above, an abundance of all necessary forms of available plant food at the time most and fruit, apply annually commercial fertilizers in the following proportions: Nitrate of soda, 100 pounds; South Carground bnnC; 200 pounds; muriate of tier to apply win uepenu oa roe cnor-

actor of the son, the hind of fruit anfl the age and vigor of the trees. The introduction ot crimson clover gives us a plant admirably adapted to supplying cheap nitrogenous vegetable matter for orchards and its use for this purpose is to be recommended wherever the plant can be successfully grown, instead of barnyard manure. The Red Sorrel. Many pastures and meadows are red with sorrel sending up Its seed stalk. Where this weed abounds, especially if the field has been liberally seeded with clover, it means that the soil is deficient'in either potash or lime, which clover must have and which sorrel can do well enough without But sorrel is almost always most abundant on sandy land where there Is no surplus of water to make it sour, but which Is always deficient in lime or potash or both. The best way to keep out sorrel is to give the land a dressing of potash in available form and then sow ten quarts of clover seed per acre with a grain crop which has had 200 pounds of superphosphate drilled in with the seed. The clover if evenly sown will entirely smother the sorrel and kill it, though if there are any missed places these will be red-with sorrel, showing that the weed tried to grow but was smothered out. Cultivating: Tonne Orchards. It is almost universally agreed that it is best for young orchards, at least until they get to bearing age, to be kept in hoed crops as much as possible in order to encourage growth. Some have said that it is best to grow corn the first year, as this will afford a shade for the small trees that a. potato crop will not But the corn does not grow to a size necrzszry for It to afford much shade until the tree, If it lives, has become pretty well rooted in the soiL .But whatever the hoed crop, a space around the tree of two to three hills each way should be left so that the whole surface can be cultivated, and there may be no temptation to sacrifice a newly planted tree in cultivating to save a hill of corn or potatoes. The tree barked or otherwise injured by the cultivator makes a loss that is far greater than that of any corn or potato hill that is saved while it is sacrificed. Early etnna Bean*. One of the best paying crops for a farmer near a city or large village is beans, not to be grown for the grain, but to be sold as string beans in their season. All that is need is to secure an early location and protect the beans from frost by small boxes over each hill, which are covered with paper at night. In this way, the beans are made ready for picking two or three weeks earlier than beans that have no such protection. The first supply of green string beans comes from the South, but so soon as the home-grown product conies in the market the Southern beans become unsalable.

To Cure Pawlag Horses. To prevent a horse pawing in the stall make a frame four feet long, and of width to nearly reach to the top of the manger from which it is suspended, allowing it to reach within about ten inches of the floor Board up the sash or frame so that the animal cannot get its feet over the lower bar, which is made of a round stick two Inches in diameter. When it paws the frame will be set in motion and strike the animal's shins, which will so disgust it that the habit will be given up. Coot of Butter. Too many who follow dairying make the butter cost too much. Improved methods of feeding and management, as well as of manufacture, tend to lessen the cost of production, and with the dose competition every item in the cost must be do ely looked after. To attempt to follow old lines or methods is to increase the cost to an extent that will leave but little profit Quality of Milk. Butter quality in milk is a certain Indication of Its-actual value for manufacturing purposes. The butter and cheese in milk, not the water or weight, give It value. Some cows give a large amount of milk, but it will contain but a small proportionate amount of butter or cheese. Vegetables with Flower*. Gardening and horticulture may go hand In hand, and many gardeners find It quite profitable lb give some space in their green bouses to the propagation of flowers.