Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1900 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Fruit Storage Houae. The Vermont Station gives a description, with Illustration, of a frame storage house In which low temperature and ventilation are provided by throwing open doors and windows during cool spells In the fall and keeping them closed at other times. The house Is 30 by 50 feet and has two stories and basement The basement and first floor are used for storing fruit and hold 1,000 barrels each. The second floor Is for empty barrels, etc. The building has double Walls and double windows. An oil stove gives heat enough to keep the fruit from freezing in winter. The lumber used in the construction of this house was as follows: *Three thousand ffive hundred feet wall boarding, 3,C00 feet roof boarding, 8,500 feet celling (inside), 7,200 feet floor boards (“double floors), 4,000 feet clap-boards, 25 bundles lath, and 22% squares slate. Outside Finish—Two hundred feet (linear measure) 5-Inch crown mold, 190 feet (linear measure) 3-ineh bed mold,

800 feet (linear measure) % by 10 mold for freize and facia, 200 feet (linear measure) 7 S by 7 base and water tables, 200 feet (linear measure) % by 12 planers. Corner boards, fout>p!eees, % by 5, 15 feet; four pieces % by 0, 13 feet. Sills, eight pieces, 2 by S, 15 feet; 10 pieces, 2 by 8, 13 feet. Floor Joists. 5U pieces, 2 by 9, 15% feet; 20 pieces, « by 9, 30 feet. Collar ties to rafters, 20 pieces, 1% by 0, 19 feet. Wall studs, 100 pieces, 3 by 4, 14 feet; 20 pieces, 3 by 4,' 12 feet. Itaftcrs, 50 pieces, 2 by 8, 21 feet. Braces, 20 pieces, 2 by G, 0 feet; 20 pieces, 1 by 0, 8 feet. Ribbons, 10 pieces, 1 by 4, 13 feet. Ridge poles, four pices, 2 by 12, 13 feet. -- This bill Is estimated at 5443.09, and the house cost 51,500 finished. The labor of building was performed by the Rwner at spare times. , I Such storage buildings as the one Just described, which depends on the husbanding and utilization of low temperature during cold waves in early spring and fall, would not, of course, fulfill their purpose during the hot summer months. They are obviously best adapted to a cold climate, such as is found in the Northern States. Here they can. In the opinion of the New Hampshire Station, be made more useful In our present transitional period of storage construction than any other. Their defect is that they do not main-

tain a sufficiently low and even temperature, and they would l>e of little use In a warm climate. It is, however, but a step from such irfrult house to Ice storage. Aside from® the details or construction, the only difference Is that the upper* story Is used for storing Ice, thus cooling the air lu the top of the building, which sinks and in turn cools the room below. Market Value of KnolLage. Trof. Phelps makes quite an elaborate computation ns regards a fair mafket value of ensilage, from which lie decides that It Is worth about one-third to one-fourth the price per ton of a good stock liny free from clover. He figures It In this way; Thero is about 4HU potuuls of water free of dry matter In a ton of ensilage and 1,740 pounds In a ton of liny, but when the digestibility is calculated there Is .‘l3O pounds of food elements digestible In the ton of silage, and about 1,000 pounds In the ton of hay, being near enough to call It one-third of the food value. But we do not always compute the value to the dglryman by the nutritive value If the Professor does. Tbo-jjaoro succulent and easily digested silage when given as a part of the food ration will produce more milk than one-third of 1U weight In hay. That is those who have tried It aay that thirty pounds of en-

silage a day with ten pounds of hay will give better results than twenty pounds of hay. As those who have grown it for years say the cost when in the silo is from $2.50 per ton with best machinery up to $3.50 when much hand labor is used, we think it Is profitable for the farmer to put pp his ensilage. Keep the Hon on the Form. A great deal of plausible advice has been given under this heading, which may or may not be practicable when applied to real life. But oue secret 6t keeping the boys In the country home, and thus solving the abandoned farm problem, Is In arousing their Interest and giving them some personal share In that farm, something which they can feel Is their own, and which will be theirs also when the time comes for Its sale. For this purpose nothing Is better than poultry raising. Many a boy has become a successful poultry keeper by having a pair of bantam fowl given him when a child, and being made responsible for their care and keeping. Do not discourage the crude attempts of the boy, nor laugh at his enthusiasm, but tactfully point out the best way to accomplish the end he desires; show him how to care for his little flock, and foster his Interest in every way. Teach him about the nature and habits of the hen, and cultivate In him the faculty of careful observation. As the boy grows up, his interest will deepen, and when the time comes that boys are tempted away from the farm by the attractions of city life, he will be unwilling to leave the business which he has built up and which he finds profitable. Give him occasionally a pair of fancy fowl; encourage him to exhibit at the fair and to take a pride In the condition of the feathered community under his care. A subscription to a good poultry Journal or live farm paper, if he Is at all Inclined to reading, will help to stimulate Ills interest. If the boy, the average country boy, has a pleasant, ey-making employment, he will not often desire to leave the farm; and that employment may often be found In poultry raising. It is a business which is never likely to he overcrowded. Encourage the boys; they are the lifeblood of New England.—Maine Farmer. Clean Milk. To secure cleanliness in milking the American Agriculturist suggests a wooden hoop a little smaller than the

top of the uiilk pail. Put a square cf cheesecloth over the top of the pail and held In In place by the hoop, as shown. This is an aid to cleanly milking and can be

made In ten minutes. The cloth should be washed after each milking, when It will be ready for use again. This simple device will do just as well as the tin tops that come ready to l*e adjusted to the tops of the milk pails, and the homemade affair will cost nothing. Birnyard Sheds. We once knew a man who decided that he would make a tight board fence on the north and east sides of his barnyard to protect the cattle from the wind, as It would cost but Little more than any other snug fence. When this was done he found that a little expense would roof over the space between the fence at one side and end and the building. Then he had a shed, not quite water tight, for ‘he did not shingle It, but battened the cracks, where the cattle could stand while he was cleaning out the stables and spreadßrgThe bedding In a stormy day, aud longer when the sun shone into It, and they were much more comfortable. It was pleasing to see how the cattle would gather in that shed after they had drank, while waiting for the door to open that they might go Into the barn, /l'he expense was small and was more than repaid by the comfort-Of thecntfte, apd probably’by saving of food, though the farmers of those days did iiot parry their experiments on ps jclentjfleally and get results as exactly as the experiment stations do now. When they Uioimt ft ncw/metlmd pajd they did not figure tno profit down* to fractions of a cent.—American Cultivator. Too Much Salt. Too much salt is used by many butler makers. The whole tendency amoto consumers is toward fresher butter, la England and on the continent butter made in those countries Is served particularly fresh and white. In the bsst restaurants and hotels In the larger cities of this country the butter contains very little salt. A great number of American who go abroad or who patronize city hoiels and restaurants In this country are acquiring the taste for fresh butler.—American Agriculturist. Adnlterated Flour. It is said that one reason why English buyers prefer to purchase wheat and have It ground there, instead flt buying American flour, Is that they have found evidences In the flour of adulteration with corn flour, and even corn cobs, clay and -oilier substances. If this charge Is true, there Is no one to blame but the millers If they do not grind aH the wheat we grow, or all they need to keep their mills busy. It Is said that the Millers’ National Association will take action in the matter.

ATPLE BRORAGE HOUSE.

CROSS SECTION OF APPLE HOUSE.

PAIL COVER.