Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1899 — TOPICS FOR FARMERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TOPICS FOR FARMERS.

A DEPARTMENT PREPARED FOR OUR RURAL YRIENO& . How a Simple System of Farm Telephone Max Be Installed at Small Coat—Corn la Oar Moat Valuable Crop —A Farm Ice House. The organizer of a successful farm telephone service tells how a simple system can be Installed at a low cost. The first requisite is to secure at least one man who has sufficient practical knowledge of electricity to superintend the work of installation. Telephones to serve the purpose fairly well can be bought for sll to sl2 wholesale, and an extra quality can be secured for sls, with two-jar battery power and with adjustable arm attached to transmitter. The cheaper Instruments, however, will last for years for farm work; they are easy to handle and adjust, and carry sound perfectly provided the battery is kept in working order. Too many telephones should not be placed on one circuit, or the talk will be weak, from the resistance being excessive. One farm circuit, which runs a distance of three miles, has ten Instruments on it. This Is about all it can carry, especially as it is wired with common No. 12 galvanized wire, which Is liable to rust, and thus involve greater resistance to the current Copper is now being substituted for iron on some lines which were originally put up at the lowesf possible cost. Copper is a better transmitter of current, and does not impair the distinctness of the talk by corrosion. The average cost of iron wire for farm lines is about $7 per mile, while No. 14 copper can be tad for s2l. The poles may measure C to 8 Inches at the base and 4 inches at the top, and 23 feet long. They should be put 3 to 4 feet in the ground, and 175 feet apart. Locust poles are very serviceable. When the instrument has been put up in the house, and an insulated wire run out to meet the line outside, ground connections should be made by putting copper wire or rod down, say, 4 feet, into damp soil outside or in the cellar. This is needed to make the circuit only when one line of wire is üßed Instead of two. It is a common practice to start out the line wire slack from the house to the first pole near It, so that the vibration from the main wire will not be brought into the house, to the possible annoyance and disturbance of nervous people. Corn the Most Valuable Crop. The corn crop of this country is usually about four times that of wheat and three times that of oats. While much Importance is attached to our wheat crop, yet it is far behind corn iu value. No crop is more useful than corn, for from it the larger proportion of the meat and other products from animals Is obtained, while its fodder nearly equals the value of the grain. It is really the corn crop that gives this country its advantage in agriculture, instead of wheat. Although wheat is a prominent article of export, yet it does not enter very largely into the production of meat, milk, cheese and butter, hence the exports of corn, in the forms of products on the farm from its use, largely exceed wheat, while the consumption of corn on the farms is also enormous. The corn plant is also becoming a source from which paper is manufactured, while the government utilizes It from which to derive articles for useln the navy. The amount of corn used in the manufacture of glucose is large, and cor* o'* is a valuable product. One of the advantages of the corn crop Is that it can be grown on nearly nil soils and its cultivation assists in clearing the land of weeds. The average per acre of corn is much lower than it should be, but improved methods are raising the average every year. Borrowing and Returning. It is a bad habit to borrow tools and not return them, or, if returned, broken and unfit for use until repaired. A farmer should have enough tools without borrowing, but there are some tools that are only needed once a year, and many not able to buy all they need can often benefit one another by lending and borrowing. There should be punctuality in returning, but if not it Is often a great disappointment to the lender when he needs his tools to have to go 'and lose valuable time to get them. It often causes unfriendly feeling with otherwise good neighbors. That is \yhy some of our best farmers don’t want to lend. I well remember when I came here, twenty-five years ago, I was told of a close neighbor who would not lend any tools. I needed a’tool that no one in the neighborhood had. I ventured to ask him for the loan of it, and he handed it to me without hesitation. I asked him when he needed it, and in reply he said; “I don’t know.” When I returned it the next day he said: “I never refuse to loan to parties who will return; but I won’t loan where I have to go after them." I never had a better neighbor; always ready to loan and to return when he borrowed of me.—Jacob Faith, In Farmers’ Advocate. The Ho* and the Brook. Experience has shown that the brook Is a dangerous adjunct jo the hog pasture. This Is especially so in most of the prairie States, where the land is so level that a brook winds alugglshly through many townships, and must needs receive the drainage from mimy farms. ’ When hog cholera breaks oat on one farm It often, in this way, dlstribates the disease to all the farms further down the course of the stream, whatever the hogs depend on the brook for dstrttnt wafer. , Investigations Have -SrhS^^*t^lSm^htowS k ’ In* momtalnoos country, where W streams are many times so short that they are known from source to final

ite'emterthgof dsMUhr ten* son that it Is ns* possible far * Am* to exist there without ffeprtatmetl ring known. Bat In level States the length of the streams precludes this knowledge. In every section of level reentry where hog cholera exists at alt, the bog and the brook should be separated. This precaution, if widely taken. wtH lessen the disease named by a large per cent.—Field, Farm and Fireside. Disinfectants and Deodorisers.* One of the quickest disinfectants and deodorizers for stables, heahoaran, cesspools and cellars is a solution of corrosive sublimate, dissolving asm ounce in a gallon of hot water, then adding seven gallons of cold water, and sprinkling freely with it nr spraying with it. It kflis all dtaense germs as well as bad odors. It needs to be handled with care before it la diluted, as It is poisonous and enwstie. burning like blue vitrioL Chloride of lime is very good, but its smcH is quite as bad as those It is used to destroy. We prefer where there is no infections disease to use a solution of sulphate of iron, better known as oopperasf Put in as much as the water will dissolve, and use it freely. It is not poisonous. and may be used to dean mangers and feed boxes, and it has no odor of its own, and will kill fungus germs and many disease germs, though not all varieties. A thorough cleaning out of all manure and other substance should go before the use of the disinfectant, and air and sunlight afterward will help to complete the work.—Exchange. The Tuberculin Teat. At the Connecticut Agricultural College they purchased a cow from a' farmer which was supposed to be free from tuberculosis because she did nut respond to the tuliereulin test. In a little more than a year she died, and she was found by postmortem examination to be badly diseased. Before ber death she had communicated the disease to eleven out of the twenty-five head on the College Farm. It has hang been known that an animal that has this disease in an advanced stage, as she probably had it when she was bought, will not respond to the test. It is now asserted that a cow which has responded to it once will uxt respond again for some considerable time, and parties are taking advantage of a knowledge of this to test their cows at home, aud if they find indications of the disease to send them away for sale during this period when they are immune. Of course they may l*e tested again, and easily obtain a certificate that they gave no resjronse to the tuberculin test, and are free froo the disease. The Farmer’s Ice HoUVe. Many people suppose it costs a great deal to build a serviceable ire house, also that the harvesting of the ice crop is very expensive, but the cost of a suitable house need not be great. Some have old buildings that might be utilized for ice houses. We have an ice house that was quite inexpensive, and we sell enough ice to pay for cutting, hauling and packing the tee in the house. It is a great deal for cooling milk, butter and other things, and for making ice-cream and other delicacies. Ice is also a great convenience in time of sickness, especially if one lives far from a city or town.—Job. M. Doughty.

A New Notioa About Black Kwot. Two years ago I found some black knot on a plum tree. To remove It by cutting off the limbs would greatly disfigure tbe tree. The idea occurred to me to cover It with a plastic naive that would prevent the spores being cast off, aud thus prevent any further increase. I mixed equal parts of kerosene, lard and resin, melted them together, then applied with a swab, covering completely the enlargement, and in the fall gave another thorough application. In tbe spring the knots were scraped off easily. Now the bark is growing over the bare spots and will soon cover than. There is no guesswork about tMs. It does the work, says a Rural New Yorker correspondent. *

, Lice on Poultry. The advertised “lice killers” used few* destroying lice on poultry ate made principally with naphthaline as the main substance. Dissolve as much naphthaline in a gallon of keroOene as It wUI take up, then add a gill of crude carbolic acid, two gills of gas tar. and ft quart of crude petroleum. When wanted for use, paint it ou the roosts or wherever lice may appear. Tbe naphthaline evaporates aud penetrates the feathers of the fowls whllo they are on the roost, destroying tbe large body lice as well as tbe small njltea. Tbe cost is but a small snm.

Sew Lettuce la Autumw. If the ground remains warm nuke a bed on the south side of a building, me plenty of manure and sow lettuce seed. When the plants come up cover the bed with a coarse litter and leave It until spring. If sown in a cold frame it will be better. Lettuce is hardy and can stand considerable frost. If the seed is sown late it will come up very e<ariy In the spring. The young plants may be transplanted to other ooK frames if desired. Furnace for Buraia* Stamp*. .for nae In burning stumps n Western man has designed a furnace, which can be built up in conical sections around the stamp, with draft openlngr la each section, which cause a hre started at the roots to consume the stamp hmtead of'going out. ' - '>■* ** i w * Bran for Gabbasce Warsaw of Cfloiltp* H tIM it* tacks of worms. Besides being a Irani destxupar the bran la a good fertiliser.

awake to active fife again. It grown sometimes to the length of six or eight feet, and is so interesting to naturalists that the Royal Society of Queensland has taken steps to prevent its dying out by placing the young In n large number of Australian streams adapted to its preservation. Another kind of long Ash—protop-terus-H found in Africa, but it does not grew so large as the Australian specks, and has a peculiar method of preaetyiog itself daring the dry season. It reals itself up in a day sue or cone and lies dormant until the rains soften the day and let it out into the water again. Specimens of both kinds of lung fish have lately been taken to the London Zoological gardens, where they have attracted a great deni of attention. The African specie* was brought in its day cone, and when the cone was put into lukewarm water the fish squirmed out as lively as if it were in its native stream.