Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1899 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINOB PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME. Deep end Shallow Cultivation for Corn—How to Raise Peanuts—Turkeys Should Haw a Good Range— Some Advice totYonng Farmers. In a bulletin from the University of Nebraska appears the following: A test of the relative values of deep and shallow cultivation of corn on the station farm demonstrated beyond doubt the superiority of the latter method. Four acres of land were divided into tracts of one acre each, and each tract was cultivated by a different cultivator, the same one being used on each throughout the summer. The samb number of cultivations were given in each case. In the fall the corn was picked from each acre and weighed. The yield was as follows: Deep cultivation, 59 bushels; shallow cultivation, 68. 69 and 60 bushels. The land receiving shallow cultivation was stirred to a depth of 3 inches, that receiving deep cultivation to a depth of 6 inches. Shallow cultivation for com possesses two advantages over the other method. In the first place, by stirring the soil to a depth of only 3 inches the air does not penetrate so deeply, and it does not dry out to such a depth. A study of the roots of the corn plant shows that many of them would naturally grow within 3 or 4 inches of the surface, but when the upper layer of soil is dry they cannot obtain nourishment from this portion of the ground. Another injury to the corn crop from deep cultivation Is the tearing out of the corn roots by the cultivator shovels. By pruning these roots the ability of the plant to secure nourishment is greatly hindered, aud the crop Injured thereby. It is very important' that the cultivations should be sufficiently frequent to prevent a hard crust from remaining on the ground for any length of time. Peanuts. ? Peanuts require a climate in which there is a season of five months free from frost. Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee produce a large part of the crop of the United States, amounting to about 4,000,000 bushels of 22 pounds each annually. Upon soils properly cultivated yields of more than 100 bushels an acre have been obtained, but during recent years successive planting has so depleted many farms that scarcely twenty bushels are raised. The vines are valuable as hay, being but slightly inferior to clover, and superior to timothy. Peanut meal is highly regarded as a feeding stuff in European countries. A sandy loam, neither too dry nor too sandy, yet light and porous, produces the most marketable peanuts, yet any soil that can be put in a friable Condition and kept so will produce them, provided it contains a sufficient quality of lime. Soil as near like the natural color of the peanut shell produces the light-col-ored shell so popular. Soil should be worked into a level, well-pulverized bed, the seed planted in drills about 3 feet apart each way. though on less fertile land they may be planted nearer together, about May 1. Weeds must be kept out, and the soil tilled enough to keep it well pulverized. The nuts should be out of the ground before the first frost. In harvesting a specially prepared plow is used to cut off the tap roots of the vine, after which laborers with forks remove the vines with pods and stack them up around poles 7 feet high, set in the ground at conven Ijjfet distances. They are carefully protected from rain, left to dry fifteen or twenty days, after which the podß may be picked. This must be done by hand, and is one of the largest items of expense to the peanut farmer. The nuts when picked are placed in bags holding four bushels, and either store# or sold to factories, to be cleaned, sorted, sacked and branded.— Southern Field. Ranee for Tnrkejra. The turkey is a fowl that has been least time domesticAed by man. It is considerably less than 300 years since any attempt was made to domesticate this bird. One result of the wild nature of the turkey is that it will not bear to be confined. Even the domestic hen will not he so good a mother : to the turkeys in their later stages as 1 the turkey hen. She will take long | jaunts In the fields catching insects, ; and when frost loosens the beechnuts on the trees, the turkey hen will take her brood to the woods anu live on what was! in their wild stute the main j feed of the turkey during winter. A beechnut diet.gives the turkey a better flavor than any other food. Buckwheat Is, perhaps, the next best grain for turkeys, hut It lacks the oil with which the beechnut abounds. When turkeys are put up to fatten, which is I the only time they should be confined, j It is worth while to mix a few tfcwchnuta with their feed. This will keep j the other food from caking in their crops, and enable the turkeys to fatten faater, besides Improving the flavor of \ their flesh. To have good-flavored meat the turkeys must be kept from indigestion, which always creates fever. For this reason the fattening of turkeys must usually be completed in ten days to two weeks after they have been confined In a dark place, where they can do nothing but eat Pome Dvnirible lions* Plant*. For pretty foliage we seldom see anything finer than the varieties of asparagus now grown for decorative purposes. The asparagus tenulsslmns Is a most useful plant for home culture, and it easily managed; It needs a good soil And light, with a doe amount of

uttar, and win respond to Jodidowi fertilization. It beautifies the plainest flower and gives a grace ana loveliness to the most uncompromising stiffness found In some floral beauties. It has the advantage of being freah-looklng long after It has been cut, even when It has no access to water, and this feature makes it doubly useful. The asparagus tenulssimus sometimes grows stocky and sometimes almost like a vine with branches several feet in length. The asparagus sprengeri is quite distinct from tenulsslmns; this has a heavier foliage and stronger stalks, and makes an immense growth —under greenhouse advantages it will grow to be ten feet in height or length of sprays, and Ita fresh, brilliant green color makes It a conspicuous object This is most useful for cutting, and the medium sprays are almost wreaths of themselves if the ends are tied to> gether, so closely is the foliage set upon the stems. The asparagus sprengeri blooms and bears in due time a small red fruit or seed; the fruiting takes a good deal of the strength of the plant, and unless you prefer this to the green growth It is well to pick off all withered blooms. This plant grows under the most ordinary conditions, and makes a most charming bracket plant, —Vick’s Magazine. Hoks Want Water. Hogs frequently suffer from lack of water, because farmers do not remember that whatever comes In liquid form is not a substitute for the clear and fresh water which all animals need. Most of the water that pigs get Is as bad for drinking as skim milk. It is largely the water used for the washing of dishes or the freshening of salted pork. In this way the hogs get more salt into their stomachs than they require, and this also makes the hogs feverish and injures the quality of the pork. This sometimes makes the Western pork, which is fattened hi large droves and get little salt, better than the pork made by farmers who keep but two or three pigs and feed them from the swill barrel filled with a mixture of skim milk and salt water. If fed as it should be, with only enough corn at the close of the fattening and without an excess of salt, the Eastern pork Is much the best. The water in which salt pork and beef are freshened Is highly nutritious, as a good deal of its strength goes out with the salt when it Is freshened for cooking. But the great majority of hogs wosjld be healthier If they had enough fresh water, fruits and vegetables to offset the excess of salt that most of their drink contains.—Boston Cultivator.

Halter-Breaking Colts. Every colt should be taught to lead with a halter while still with the dam. There is less difficulty at this early age than later, 'and also less liability to having the animal injured in Its struggles to get free. The first thing to do is to make a strong bead halter that can be let ont or taken in with buckles so as to exactly fit the head. Put on the head halter at first without any bitching strap, and leave the colt all day to become used to it, taking off the halter at night. When the hitching strap Is attached it should be held firmly, for if the colt finds that It can escape, It will be slow to unlearn the habit. It Is well at first to lead the colt and its dam side by side. When he learns to stand by a hitching post without trying to pull away the breaking to lead may be considered complete. It takes very little time when this breaking to the halter Is made while the colt Is young. The handling that this requires Is the first lesson to the animal that it Is to be man’s servant If this is early impressed the breaking to harness Is made much less difficult

IST"* Protect in* with Whitewash. Experiments made in Missouri have proved that spraying peach trees with whitewash will protect the fruit bads from winter injury, even when the temperature falls ten or twenty degrees below aero. The Injury to the buds by the cold is due to the fact that on warm or bright days the action of the sun heat on them has caused them to swell, and thus they are in a condition to be injured by the cold weather. The whitewash reflects the heat and the buds remain dormant and are able to sustain the low temperature. The whitewash consists of four parts water, one- part skimmed milk and enough freshly slacked lime to make as thick a wash as cun be conveniently pumped through a Bordeaux spray nozzle. In the experiments made the first spraying waß given the last of December, and subsequently, at Intervals, three more Were given during the winter. How to Keep Apples. The proper temperature for keeping apples is aa nearly 35 degrees Fahrenheit as it is possible to keep it, says the Farm Journal, and In order to maintain this it will often be necessary in this climate to provide a separate place for storing the fruit, as the average cellar under the dwelling house Is wholly unfit for this purpose. If the collar consists of several compartments so that one can be shut off completely from the others, aud the temperature in this kepi below 40 degrees, It wtll answer the purpose very well. If this cannot be done, a cheap storage house may be built In connection with the ice house, by building a room underneath, having it surrounded with ice on the sides and overhead, with facilities for drainage underneath, keeping the air dry by means of chloride of calcium placed on the floor In an open watertight vessel, such as a large milk crock or pan. Iu this way the temperature may be kept very near the freezing point the year round, arid apples may be kept almost indefinitely. The model church will be the one that pays Its preachers what It now pays its singers, and its singers what it now pays Its preaebsn.