Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1899 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERED FINTEREST TO FARMER ANO HOUSEWIFE. Plans for Storing Vegetables in Win-ter-Beat Method of Making Vinegar from Apple Cider—The Treatment of Roup—Brief Farm Gossip. A rteot cellar of pH 1s doubtless the best place In which to winter vegetables, but as few of us are fortunate enough to have one we must plan some way of accomplishing the same result with the means at our disposal. Vegetables can be bought so cheaply in the fall that it is a matter of economy, as well as convenience, to store them at that time. PotaFoes are kept best in barrels or bins in a cool cellar of even temperature; they must not be exposed to light for any length of time, as it not only causes them to sprout but greens the akin so they become bitter and unfit for use.

The following plan for preventing them from sprouting in spring will be found useful when many are placed in the cellar for family use; it destroys the eyes or buds, after which they never start, consequently 'the tubers do not become shriveled and tough. Before placing them in the cellar leave the tubers for an hour in a solution of sulphuric acid, about one and one-fourth pints to twenty-five gallons of -water, the whole being thoroughly mixed; after removing from this bath they should be spread out to dry, then placed in barrels. The solution also prevents decay. Such potatoes will never grow under any circumstances, so those intended for planting should not be ao treated. •

Such roots as carrots, parsnips, beets, salsify, turnips, winter radish and horse radish should be stored in boxes or barrels, the spaces being filled in with dry soil, a thick layer also being placed over the top. These vegetables do not remain long in good condition if exposed to the air, especially that of a poorly ventilated cellar. They should be kept as near the freezing point as possible, being able to stand more cold when packed in earth and the temperature is also kept more even by its use. Carrots, turnips and parsnips are especially susceptible to changes in temperature and quickly show the effect of too much heat by becoming withered and tough almost immediately after being pulled, after which no amount of cooking will make them tender.—Vick’s Magazine.

Something About Roup.

Genuine roup is a diphtheric disease, and contagious. There are distempers and influenzas that show similar symptoms that may not be contagious, but genuine roup, with swelling of head, discharges of matter from nostrils, eyes, etc., is contagious, and the disease has been communicated from fowls to human beings. It can be prevented by removing the sick fowls to a hospital, and either taking the entire flock of well fowls to fresh, clean, comfortable quarters, or by disinfecting the old quarters thoroughly with zenoleum or chloro-Daphtholeum, or a weak solution of carbolic acid. Saturate roosts, sides, floors, everything. It is not worth while to doctor a fowl after it gets to the second stage, with putrid discharges. Besides it is dangerous. If one has the skin of hands abraded and some of the diphtheric matter gets on It the result might be serious. The recent report of the bureau of animal industry on infectious diseases among poultry ogives numerous cases of the disease passing to human beings. Treatment in the first stage is all right, and often arrests the disease. It consists mostly of good hygienic conditions, removal of all excavations, local application of disinfectants, comfortable, wellventilated quarters, etc. Often the disease runs a slow chronic course, and the most of the fowls recover. Where it is malignant and rapid chronic course, kill the most of the fowls and bury deep, or burn, and then disinfect. —Ohio Farmer.

Vinegar from Apple Cider. Take, say, ten gallons new cider, and suffer it to ferment fully, which will probably be in about two weeks, if the weather is warm; then add about eight gallons of new cider for producing a second fermentation, and in about two weeks add a like quantity—to produce a third fermentation. Stop the bunghole of the barrel with an empty bottle with the neck downward, and expose to the sun. When the vinegar is come, set in a cool place. When making, let there be a moderate degree of heat and free access to external air. The process is hastened' by adding to the cider a quantity of mother of vinegar, which acts as a ferment. The strength of the vinegar depends upon the amount of sugar pr starchy matter to be ultimately converted into acetic acid. Cider made from late apples Is esteemed the best for vinegar. Another method is as follows: Put some cider in a cask and add to it some vinegar containing abundance of mother of vinegar; after some days, if the acetic fermentation has taken place and souring is going on, add another portion of cider, and at similar intervals a third and a fourth installment of cider. When the whole has become vinegar, take out as much as is equal to the vinegar tfrst put in and replace by fresh cider, and so proceed. The casks should never be but partly full; good exposure to air Is necessary, and thfe temperature Should be kept at 85 degrees. Preventing Loa* of Ammonia. Use land plaster and kainlt freely with the manure and there will be Jess escape of ammonia from the heap. Piaster absorbs gases and is of iteelf an excellent fertilizer. The same may be said

of kalnit, which contains both salt and potash, and, lh addition to serving as a chemical agent, it remains in the heap as an ingredient in the plant food of the manure. Used in the hills In the spring as a starter for corn, both plas ter and kalnit are excellent, but more so with manure. Lime, when added to the manure heap, causes the ammonia tn escape, as it creates heat and hastens decomposition, but such is not always the case, as the coarseness of the materials and the kind of absorbents used affects the loss of volatile matter. When manure is kept damp there will be less loss of ammonia because it is absorbed by cold water, and some farm ers use small quantities of lime in ordei to have the manure decompose sooner than it otherwise would when the materials are coarse. If the liquid manure Is added to the solids, however, there will be no difficulty in having the heap undergo decomposition, and it is then that plaster and kainit’will prove of much benefit in avoiding loss of ammonia.

The Cavalry Horse. . A veteran cavalry horse partakes of the hopes and fears of battle just the same as his rider. As the column swings into line and awaits the horse grows nervous over the waiting. If the wait is spun out, he will tremble and sweat and grow apprehensive. If be has been six months in the service, he knows every bugle call. As the call comes to advance the rider can feel him working at the bit with bis tongue to get it between his teeth. As he moves out he will either seek to get on faster than he should or bolt. He cannot bolt, however. The lines will carry him forward, and after a minute he will grip, lay back his ears, and one can feel bls sudden resolve to brave the worst and have done with it as soon as possible. A man seldom cries out when hit in the turmoil of battle. It is the same with a horse.—Buffalo Horse World.

Feeding Corn Smut. Tests made on two cows at the Michigan Experiment Station in feeding corn smut, beginning with two ounces a day and gradually increasing up to eleven pounds a day, which is more than a cow would naturally eat in ranging the corn are reported as indicating that no evil results would come from feeding corn that was badly affected with smut. Some years ago the Agricultural Depytment made similar tesrs on heifers and reached the same conclusion. But farmeis have usually thought that such corn was an unwholesome if not a dangerbus food, and they probably founded their opinion upon some one's practical experience. We are inclined even now to think the farmers are right. Possibly the secret of its having done no Injury will be found in the gradual increase of the amount given.

a Poultry on the Farm. Poultry becomes an important branch of industry on farms in France compared with this country. As rnt-hy as 500 fowls are kept on an acre of land, but careful attention is given and the profit is large. In this country the poultry department seems to be beyond the notice of the farmer, the hens being turned over to the female members of the family, but in France it is the most important of all. Poultry as a business demands too much labor, especially in winter, to expect women to care for the fowls, and If farmers will give more consideration to poultry themselves they will find larger profits in that direction than from any other source in proportion to capital invested. Farm Profits. Profit should be the object in view at all times. No farmer should be satisfied to simply “get his money bock,” for, in addition to the cash outlay, the time given a crop can never be regained. It is also proper to reduce the cost of a crop by cheapening expenses, but it is not correct to attempt to cheapen the cost by using a smaller amount of fertilizer. Cheap crops also bring lower prices, because by not bestowing the necessary labor, and at the right time, there may be loss in quality as well as yield. Every crop grown should return a clear profit over the cost for labor, rent of land, depredation of implements and plant food. Fertilizer for House Plant*. An excellent and clean fertilizer fur house plants Is to get a pound each of nitrate of soda, superphosphate of lime and sulphate of potash. Do not mix them, but use them as desired. A teaspoonful of each in half a gallon of water will partially serve to protect against insects and provide plant fo”d when used around the roots of plants. If the leaves of the plants are vefy green reduce the nitrate of soda owhalf. If the stems and shoots are slow in growth slightly increase the potash. When seeds and flowers are forming the proportion of superphosphate may be increased.

South American Saddle Horse*. The‘saddle horses in South America have a mincing pace, which is very easy to the rider, and is said to have been acquired in the time of a conqueetadors. During the early days in th} colonies the cabelleros decorated their horses with a great many trappings and often had sharp nails hanging to the saddles and the nets with which the animals were covered. To avoid contact with these the horses took short sbeps, which finally developed into the amble that is now so common. —Cfalcaip* Chronicle. F<mM for Duck* and Gee*e. The btzt food for ducks and geese after grass disappears is a mess of cooked lurnlps, thickened with bran, twice a day. If the cooking is objectionable the turnips may be sliced with a root cutter and the bran sprinkled over them. Ducks and geese prefer bulky Fiod and require but little grain when not laying.