Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1900 — FARM AND GARDEN NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.

ITEMS OF INTEREST ON AGRICULTURAL TOPICS. Exercise the Hoge-Peet Size of Flock - Breeding Draft Horses-Quality As Well as Quantity Counts—Don’t Forget Good Water—Etc., Etc. Exercise For Hogs. Hogs do not need as mnch exercise as some believe, yet they do not want _ confinement in a small pen except during the last few weeks of finishing for market. A breeding boar can hardly have too much exercise, neither can the brood too much. Pigs which are growing for the market should have only enough to keep them growing and healthy. A small pasture of a few acres will afford them all they need. Best Size of Flock. _ At the Maine station, flocks of fifteen, twenty, twenty-five and thirty hens respectively, were tested for comparative profits. The lots containing twenty bens gave a greater net profit per lot than any other number. Lots of twenty-five hens gave a slightly greater net returns than did the fifteen hen lots, and those with thirty hens gave much less net returns than any of the others. The general result Indicates that the best profits will be obtained by allowing each hen from eight to ten square feet of floor space.

Breeding Draft Horses. It is not many years ago that the very heavy draft horse was not in popular favor? and It cannot be said that it is in anything like universal favor yet. It was once said that the feet of the animal would not stand its weight. There is not anything in that, however. The Percheron’s feet are quite as good as the feet of other horses. But the large horse is an inconvenient horse to handle, and is not required on the average farm. It is not pleasant to harness a horse when it is necessary to use a step ladder to reach the top of its neck. The horse that weighs from 1,200 to 1.500 pounds' is quite as large as can be conveniently used In farming. Germany buys a considerable numlter of our very heavy horses, even horses that have a weight of 2.000 pounds. Good sound horses of the draft type bring from S2OO to SOOO per pair, according to . weight. The heavier the horse, the higher the price generally, and hence the farmer who buys a heavier horse than he needs, throws away his money. Breeding draft horses, however, is profitable, ■whatever their size and weight may be.—Tire Epitomist. Qua'ity As Well As Quantity Counts. The ideal cow for the dairy is the one that gives a large quantity of milk that is of g<d quality. A large amount of milk must not be obtained at the .expense of the butter fat. Too often we heard farmers tell how mneh a certain cow belonging to them is giving, and we sometimes think he has a gold mine in the shape of cow’ flesh. The next time you hear a man telling how much milk his cow gives, let his account be accompanied by a statement of what his cow is capable of doing in the way of furnishing butterfat, and if her milk will not test a good percentage of butter-fat the cow is not above tho average, no matter how much milk she gives.—New York Weekly Witness. Don't Forget Good Water. Plenty of good water for the team is good economy in hot weather. Drawing the binder is the heaviest sort of work. It is excellent practice to take water to the fields and water the horses two or three times in the course of a half day. This Is little trouble and is of wonderful help to the team, besides being humane. This is often done by placing a barrel on a low sled, drawing it to a convenient point In the field and wrapping the barrel with wet gunny sacks. The water can thus be kept reasonably cool. What Is refreshing to man Is. also, to his faithful, hard-working animals. Belgian HaresIn the last year or two a very great and wide-spread interest has licen developed in this country In Belgian hares. Recently In some sections It has become an actual craze, and fabulous prices have been paid for Imported bucks and does. At Los Angeles. Cal., the craze has become most violent, and some breeders have paid as high as $1,500 for a pair of hares. It Is said, too, that they are being sent from there to all parts of the country, actually In car loads, to be used for breeding purposes. At Kansas City the craze seems to be worse than at any other point of the Middle West, and they are making a great stir about the hares there. This will no doubt prove to be such a fad as has occasionally broken out in this country before, with one thing or another, and will In time settle down to reasonable methods and probably eventuate In a profitable and commendable Industry. This, we believe, will be Its proper destiny. There is nothing about the Belgian hnre to run wild over. Even the most extravagant claims of their wildest champions are not extremely strong. They are prolific; they seem to bear confine-

ment well; they make a very desirable dish for the table, and probably they prodace as large an amount of flesh food for the cost as any animal we can raise. So the Belgian hare is no doubt a good thing, and will become an article of staple production and salable at a fair price in all the markets', and when that is said, it is about all that commerce will admit as possible. But we do not doubt that the breeders who are acting the wildest, will make money out of the business for a while. Craziness is catching. The only thing that Is necessary to know Is when to sell out and quit—Journal of Commerce. Blackleg in Cattle. Blackleg In cattle also goes under the names of symptomatic anthrax and black quarter. The disease was for many years confounded with anthrax, and- it was only found after careful research that it differed in a great many ways from that dist>ase. Especially in its contagious nature Is the distinction marked, for of animals other than cattle only sheep and goats are susceptible and these slightly. The symptoms of the disease are familiar to all stockmen. These are lameness in a front or hind leg, accompanied by the development of a tumor on that limb. This tumor IS filled with gas and upon pressure a peculiar crackling sound is produced. The meat which this tumor effects is black and the tumor itself contains a dark fluid. Blackleg is caused by the introduction into the system of a germ known as the blackleg bacillus. The usual manner of infection is through a wound of the skin or mucous membrane. The germa do not pass out with the excretions, hence the disease is not communicable from animal to animal. But if a blackleg carcass be skinned and the blood and juices be allowed to enter the soil or if such carcass be allowed to decompose without being buried, the germs form spores, or “go to seed - ’ and in this form may live in the soil for many years, ready to begin life anew as conditions are favorable. Thus the pasture may be a constant source of Infection. To prevent~thls the carcass must be burned Immediately, or buried at least six feet under the ground. There have been many treatments advocated for this disease. The most common are rowelllng and the use of setons. These are alike utterly worthless. Within the last five yeSre there has been introduced a vaccine prepared from the dried meat of the muscles of the tumor of an animal that has succumbed to the disease. This Is the only practical method at command at present for combating the disease if the animal is exposed to Infection.— A. T. Peters, Nebraska Experiment Station.

Danger in the Crimson Clover. As a cover or catch crop crimson clover is justly popular with tho orchardist who tries to keep his ground pnq>erly protected during the winter and to save available plant food In the soil. Under proper management that is, plowed under in early spring or fed to stock before blossoming—no trouble need be expected from its use. But if permitted to produce seed and the straw then fed to horses there is considerable danger to the animal’s health. The minute hairs of she flower head, though soft before seed production. become lumped together in the animal’s stomach and Intestines and set up inflammation, which, unless relieved by the removal of the obstruction, may result in mortification and death. The writer has seen some of these hair balls that were five inches in diameter. To save an animal with such an obstruction in his intestiuus Is wellnlglit impossible by means ordinarily at hand upon the farm or in Its vicinity. The hairs are usually about an eighth of an Inch long and provided with little barbs which In mature hairs are stiff. When immature the barbs and hairs are pliable and do not congregate in masses. Hence it is important that when plnns are made to feed crimson clover the crop should be cut prior to full blossoming, and when seed Is the object the straw should be used for other purposes than for feeding. The practice of feeding the straw after thrashing is murderous, since the hairs are then at their very stiffest, hence most likely to form balls. The writer recently passed through Maryland nnd Delaware! where crimson clover is grown very extensively, nnd found that the farmers suffer loss of their horses In Just about the proportion that they employ crimson clover that has matured seed. Some cast's that were seen revealed the most Intense suffering, nnd could not be relieved even by the best veterinarians in the vicinity. The proportion of recoveries is very small.—M. G. Kains, In National Rural.

Short and Useful Pointers- . Start the calf right. It pays to crush or grind feed. Be careful bow you keep the cream. Too many cows are as bad as too few. Never allow the hens to eat sour feed. A farmer cannot raise too mucß clover.

Have the trees lean • trifle to the southwest. Don’t allow the milk to be placed in dirty receptacles. A water fountain for the chickens is an excellent idea. Geese do not thrive very well when kept in confinement When you neglect the poultry you pay for the privilege. The real value of lime is its mechanical action upon the soil. When marketing your eggs try to have them of uniform size. Breeding without liberal feeding Js sure to bring disappointment. To secure good milk the cows must have good water and good food. The poultry ought, to come in for a share of the second crop clover. Handle the frtilt carefully. Every bruise takes so much off its value. When buying a fertilizer make it your business to find out what it contalns. .... _—-----——— The farmerx who practice a rotation are generally the ones who get the best crops. Tiie breeding and feeding of beef cattle ought to interest more farmers than it does. To prevent poultry having the gapes put a little turpentine in their water and feed onions. Bran contains muscle, bone and strength material. This proves its value as a food. It is said that skim-milk gives better returns when fed to poultry than when fed to pigs. A little cane bestowed upon the meadows and grazing lands will be a great help to them. The stock breeder who understands his business breeds only from animals that have been carefully selected. It is said that the expense of cutting, hauling aud putting a ton of corn into the silo amounts to about sixty cents. In order to obtain the best prices for eggs they should be gathered at least once a day iu summer and twice a day in winter.