Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1899 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERSO PINTEREST TO FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Water for Stock on the Ramge—Rural Mail Delivery Has Been Received with Great Favor Potato Bread Fed to Herses in Germany. If the stock ranges are to be restored to anything like their former value water must be provided In sufficient amount so that cattle will not have to travel long distances Tor it in times of severe drouth. Whenever the drainage slopes are not too precipitous, artificial tanks may be formed across the draws by building dams, and if the bottom of the tank is carried downi to hardpan, or is puddled before being filled.a supply sufficient to last through the dry season may be secured at small expense. Such tanks or wells, either artesian or where the water is lifted by windmill pumps, should be provided at least every four miles over the range, so that cattle will never have to travel more than two miles to water.

Where the wells, water holes or tanks are eight, ten or more miles apart, as they very frequently are on seme ot the Western ranges, cattle greatly overstock the range in the vicinity of the water, while the back country is thickly covered with good feed. The forage on the large ana back from the water is entirely lost through not being grazed. The cost of constructing dams or providing windmills will often be but a small percentage of the loss incurred when no water is provided.

It has often been observed that the period of flow of the rivers in countries which have been overgrazed is very much less than it was formerly. This is because the trampling of the herds has compacted the soil, and also because the waters are not retarded from running off the surface as they would be when the land is covered with a thick coating of grasses.—Denver Field and Farm.

Tural Mail Pc.ivery. The Pos.office Department is constantly receiving a large amount of evidence tending to show the popularity of the free delivery system where It has been tried, and the desire for the extension of the service to other territory where it is not yet in operation. The original appropriation by Congress for the trial of the system, was $50,000, and the Fifty-fourth Congress followed Ibis with an appropriation of $150,000 to continue the experiment. The Congress just ended increased this amount to $300,000, and the system is now considered practically a permanent feature of the Postoffice Department. It is stated by the officials that very great satisfaction has been expressed throughout the country, and those familiar with the subject claim that in populous sections, where the country is thickly interspersed with farm houses and whose correspondence naturally is considerable, the system will be self-sustaining. The service has now been extended by the department to nearly all the States and Territories, and in such States as have made application. the department is now considering the most advisable systems to introduce. In some of the sparsely settled regions, where the farms are very large and the distances between houses great, experiment is being made with a bl and tri weekly system instead of a daily.

Potato Tread for Horses. According to Consul Hughes, of Coburg, potato bread is used by the natives of Thuringia, Germany, to feed their houses, especially when they are worked udrd in very cold weather. The animals thrive on it, and their health and strength are excellent. The method of preparation is simple and inexpensive. The potatoes are slowly stewed till soft. They are then mashed thoroughly, and an equal quality of corn meal is added. It Is mixed into a thick paste, with a small quantity of salt. The paste is then divided into four-pound loaves and allowed to bake tin thoroughly done. In the slow country ovens it generally takes from fir teen to eighteen hours. When cold they are fed to the horses and cattle doing heavy work at the rate of four loaves a day, viz., one in the morning, one at noon, one about 4 o’clock, and one at night. With the last about ten pounds of poor hay is given. It is claimed for this method that horses can do much more work on the same amount of food and that it is good for their teeth.

"'loor* for Henbonae*. A henhouse floor should never be made of boards. Rather than have board floors we would have one with* earth, underlaid with stone to secure drainage, and covered with sifted coal ashes to receive the droppings from the roosts. The most satisfactory of all floors is one of cement. This will not rot out like a board or plank floor, and It will not have cracks to encourage the breeding of vermin. On a cement floor under 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 over them they will be rotted down by spring, so 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.—Boston Cultivator. Winter Grain After Oita. The oat crop Is a very diflicult one to geet a good seeding with. The roots of oats spread much more widely than those of barley, and as the oat leaves are narrow the plant takes much more of the grain from the soil. Oats are the latest of the small grains to ripen,

and this extra time While their roots are drawing moisture from the soil la very hard on the seeding. If the land is plowed as soon as the oat crop la off, and is worked well on the surface, a good seeding may be got if wheat or rye is sown this fall. Timothy seed should be sown after the grain seeding, as the washing of loose soil over the seed will be all the covering it will require. Next spring six quarts of clover seed per acre will make a seeding that is much better than can be got on any land that is plowed for a spring crop.

To Make Lean Pork.

There is a gradual growth of a preference for leaner and better-flavored pork, and a breed of hogs—the Tamworths—have been introduced, the merit of which is tliat, while they grow rapidly and increase in weight like other breeds, they excel in lean meat. Farmers who have used boiled potatoes, crushed oats and peas, are of the opinion that hogs-receiving the varied diet will make more weight than when fed only on corn, while the meat is of much better quality and brings 1 cent or 2 cents more in the price per pound. The well-known “Irish bacon,” which sells at from 20 cents to 30 cents per pound, is produced without corn, the food being largely nitrogenous.

Manuring Pear Trees.

Late In summer is the best time to apply stable manure to pear traps- It should always be used as top dressing, and if the soil is moderately fertile little or no stable manure will be needed. Too much stable manure plowed In the soil creates an excess of all kinds of germs la contact with the dear tree roots; these are absorbed and sent up into the trees, causing blight. If the stable manure is applied in August or September as topd.-easing the tree gets no benefit from it until spring, and will then make a healthy growth. Most of the manure for pear trees or any other kind of fruit trees should be mineral, potash, phosphate and lime.

When to Sow Binegrass Seed. This seed can be sown at almost any season of the year w’hen there is enough moisture to cause it to germinate. Hie best time, however, is in autumn, say about the middle of September, or iu early spring whqn the frost is conrng out of the ground. Possibly the best way to sow it is in connection with timothy or some other grass. If blue grass only is wanted, sow it alone in a well-prepared seedbed. Keep the weeds down until a good sod has been formed. It soon crowds out the other grass, so that sowing with timothy may be more satlsf-ictory in thnt a catch is often more easily secured than if sown alone. —Orange Judd Farmer. Cows Eating straw. Wherever grain is grown largely and its straw is stacked in the barnyard after threshing, cows have a great liking tor rubbing themselves against the stack to rid themselves of the flies that torment them. A fence should be built around the stack to protect it from being pulled to pieces. Cows will aat considerable straw*, picking at it, and they will often eat enough of the chaff to lessen their flow of milk. This chaff makes good winter feed if moistened and grain meal or bran is mixed with it. Thus fed even the straw will not help dry the cows off, as it will If fed dry.

Trees Grow Very Rapidly. It Is perfectly amazing to notice carefully how much an ordinary shrub will grow in a single summer. A silver fir, 2 1 / 3 feet high, was lately carefully measurM. It had put forth since early spring, 585 new shoots, varying from % inch to 6 inches each. The average was 2 inches, equaling altogether 98 feet. The total number of leaves on these shoots was 39,814. Taking the aggregate of the length of each shoot, this small tree has tn six months put or» a growth which, If laid in a line, would extend considerably over half a mile.

Uniform 'Milking. Cows are very sensitive to sudden changes. It is a mistake to change milkers if it can be avoided. Each milker has a magnetism peculiar to himself. The co>w knows as quickly as a strange hand takes hold of her teats that the accustomed milker Is not present, and will hold up her milk. Quite often she will not allow a strange milker to approach. Where the persons who do the milking are changed often It is impossible to keep up the flow of milk that the cow should be able to givel

Pwret Corn Fodder. If properly cared for, the fodder from sweet corn is as much better for stock as is the grain for eating as compared with ordinary field corn. Yet as the crop is never all ready to gather at once, it is the general practice to leave the stripped stalks standing until they dry, which will be very quickly after the breaking off of the ear admits air to the stalk. The small nubbins, which are generally the third ears on a stalk, are worth more to go with the stalks for cow feed than they are to sell or to cook. Saving Lettuce Seed. As usually managed, lettuce always tends to deterioration, the seed being saved mostly from the plants that produced seed most abundantly. The result Is that after a few years lettuce is grown that produces very few leaves before it sends up a seed stalk. This lettuce is not worth anything. The best lettuce seed is from plants that grow a large head of leaves and send np a seed stalk from that. Such seed must always be dear as compared with that where the growing of a large seed crop appears to be the object aimed at. Farming looks as pleasant to the lawyer as a lawyer’s work does to a farmer. ’