Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1901 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

FERTILIZERS VERSUS CROPS. The use of commercial fertilizers has prevented the falling off in the averages of staple crops in the East, the yields of which were decreasing every year. It Is almost impossible to produce sufficient manure on a large farm to retain Its fertility, and more fertilizers should be irned. FERTILIZING THE SOIL FOR SQUASH. Such crops as squash, cucumbers and melons should havs all fertilizers applied by broadcasting over the surface of the ground. If manure is applied It will also give good results if worked into the soil, although well-rotted manure in the hills will assist the plants at the start. FOOD FOR BEES. When the weather is warm enough for bees to fly, give them some finely ground corn meal, wheat or rye canaille, or the finer parts of sifted ground oats. Place in shallow pans, one to every four or five colonies, and do not put feed over one-haif inch deep. Avoid giving grain too finely ground like pure flour, as it would be liable to smother them. x A CONVENIENT BRACE AND BITS. It is oftentimes necessary to carry a brace and bits when working on the farm or lumbering. The most convenient way is to get a piece of soft timber as long as the bits, and bore the whole length of the bits into the end of the stick. Pour a little oil in each hole, to keep the bits from rusting. A block two inches square will hold all that are usually needed, and render them proof against the weather and damage from rough handling.

WHERE TO KEEP MILK. .The cellar Is not regarded as the best place for milk. It is claimed that the milk room should be above ground and be kept filled with pure and constantly changing air. Those who make the best butter, outside of the creameries, have excellent results by keeping the milk in shallow pans, from one and one-half to two and one-half inches deep, the temperature to be 60 degrees. This is considered one of the l>est plans for securing the fine, aromatic flavor and waxy grain to the butter. The milk should be skimmed at from 24 to 36 hours, the cream should ripen in from 12 to 24 hours, at 60 degrees. Dairy men must largely be governed IT? circumstances in making choice butter. ORADE MOTHERS, It seems to be a principle in breeding that when two animals of different breeds are mated, the influences of the one which is the nearest pure bred, if both arc in equal vigor and strength, will be the most potent in its effect upon the offspring. If one is weak or in poor condition, the other may attain the ascendency, as surely will be tlie case with the one that is of a pure bred and the other only a grade. When both are equal in breeding and health, it is, unsafe to predict which parent the offspring will most resemble, as it may vary accord-: ing to their condition at the time of mating. This will explain why many who have begun to grade up their herds by the use of a pure bred male have succeeded better than those who have tried to effect a cross between two good breeds. And this is true of poultry as of animals. SPECIAL CROPS. One of the objection;* to the farmer devoting himself to a special crop i 3 that he is likely to have to buy. or more often go without many things which he might produce at home at less cost than he buys them, and often he might be better repaid for his labor if he put it into production of such things as he needs to use at home. We think that a farmer should grow 1113 own supply of nearly every variety , of garden vegetables and email fruits, ; and produce his own pouity and eggs, if not his milk and butter. It may seem against the grain to devote as much time to an acre of gardens a 3 would do the work on four of f.v? acres of grain, or as much to the care of fifty hens as to three cows, but we work, or most of us have to, for the I profit there is in it, and there are I few things on the farm that will pay ! better for the capital invested and labor done than a well-carcd-for garden and poultry yard.—American Cultivator.

A HOUSE FOR SIXTY FOWLS. I am planning to build a hen-house 10x36 feet, divided into three peas, each 10x12, to accommodate 20 hens each. It will bo seven feet front and five feet rear, so that twelve foot of lumber will work without waste. Shall double board this with one-half or three-fourths Inch hemlock boards, with paper between, also paper roofing, Shall have either one full window or two half sliding windows in each pen with a three-foot door, opening outward. 1 expect to keep the doora open neqrly every day and when ahut at night It will he wanner than If there were more windows, will lay the sills on a stone foundation and fill In with sand or dirt for a floor to be kept well lirtared with chaff. Shall sell off or use for the table the hens In one pen every spring and use that pen for chickens, disposing of the roosters and keeping the pullets, 20 or 25, In the same pen to avoid the llfflculty of changing them around. The next year clear the next pen and ao

on, keeping none over three year*. I will have one male only in the tj/,t pen and use the eggs for sitting. It will take 2,100 feet of seasoned hemlock at sl4 per M, two rolls paper and the windows, nails and inside fixings will bring the cost up to SSO. —Edith W. Holton, in New England Homestead. WEEDS ARE OF SOME BENEFIT. Weeds are everywhere. Their presence should cause alarm. They choke the wheat in the field, annoy the gardener, thrive in the meadow, spring up by the roadside, rob cultivated plants of their nutriment, injure the crops by crowding and shading, make the cleaning of seeds difficult, while most of them are of little value as food for domestic animals. Yet weeds are of some benefit, for they induce more frequent and thorough cultivation, which helps crops. A new arrival of a weed of the first rank stimulates watchfulness. In occupying the soil after a crop has been removed, weeds prevent the loss of fertility by shading the ground. What enables a plant to become a weed? Sometimes by producing an enormous number of seeds; in other cases by the great vitality of their seeds. Some are very succulent, and even when pulled, ripen seeds. Soma seeds are difficult to separate from the seed of the crop cultivated. Some plants go to seed long before suspected, as no showy flowers announce the time of bloom. Some seeds and seedlike fruits are furnished with a balloon or sail, or grappling hooks. Some weeds defend themselves with forks or bayonets. Most of them are disagreeable in taste or odor, so that domestic animals leave them to occupy the ground and multiply.—The Epitomist.

HANDY FRUIT LADDERS. Many farmers have too few fruit ladders, and what they do have are often too heavy and hard to handle. A ladder to be used by carpenters or masons for carrying heavy loads to the top of buildings can hardly be too strong. There are generally men enough at hand to raise or move them as occasion requires, which is not very often, but in gathering fruit one needs a ladder that can be handled easily as one passes around a tree or goes from one tree to another. I have had good, strong ladders, that ; were not very heavy, made from white pine trees that grew and died i» thick groves of pines. There will be no pitch in such wood. If a live tree can be found of the desired size, and is cut j around at the butt to kill it, and then ! left to stand till it dies and is sea- I soned, it will be comparatively light j and very strong. After trimming off j what small limbs there are. and shav- j ing off the bark and as much of the | sap wood as necessary to bring it to j the right size, the holes should be j bored, after which the tree should be j split with a good splitting saw. White j oak or red oak makes good rounds if ' split from sound, straight grained tim- j her. Such a ladder should be safe for carrying bunches of shingles to the roof of a building. But for fruit ladders I prefer something lighter. I have made several very satisfactory ones from straight grain spruce boards that were but little more than an inch in thickness. In piles of one by six inch fencing stuff, as found in lumber yards, one can often find strips from the outside of the logs that are not only nearly free from knots, but are from an eighth to a quarter of an inch over thick. These will make excellent pieces for fruit ladders. I have three such, ranging from ten to nineteen feet in length. The longest one I can easily raise on end, and it is perfectly safe to mount to the top when properly placed against a tree. The boards are split with a saw on a diagonal line, so that when one 3ide is reversed, end for end, I have two pieces each three and one-half at one end by two and one-half at the other. After planing the sides and taking a shaving off from the corners and sandpapering to remove all slivers, the holes should be bored with a good extension lip bit. Inch holes are none too large for the lower end, but those near the top should be seven-eighths or even threequarters for the last two or three. My rounds have all been made from the butt of a butternut tree, and they -are strong enough and much lighter than oak. In working out the rounds I would have them larger in the middle than at the ends. The rounds should fit snugly In the holes at both ends, so that when tho ladder Is finished It will be almost like one solid piece. I always split the ends of the rounds after they are all in place and sawed off smooth, and then drive la hard wood wedges. This makes the ladder feel very firm and stiff. It should not be neceskary to say that, the wedges must be so set as not to strain the woo’d lengthwise of the grain. The bottom rounds should be the longest and grow shorter to the top. Made in this way, it will stand more firmly when in use and be easier to place on end. To make it still more secure, the end rounds and several between should be well pinned with hard wood pins driven Into small holes bored with a bit. Such* ladders, If kept painted and housed when not in user should last one a lifetime.—A. W. Cheever. In New York Tribune.