Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1901 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN A ND FARM

BEST TIME TO CULTIVATE. The best time tq cultivate is after a rain, as then the soil is liable to bake or become hard on the surface. Even a taking will prove beneficial, as the top soil is kept fine and lobse and prevents the escape of moisture from below. Weeds seldom appear if the rake is freely used. » HOW TO WEIGH A HAYSTACK. Measure the length and breadth of the stack; take height from the ground to the eaves, add to this last one-half of the height from the eaves to the top; multiply length by breadth, and the product by the height, all expressed in feet; 'divide the amount by twenty-seven, to find the cubic yards, which multiply by the number of pounds supposed to be' in a cubic yard, viz.: in a stack of new hay, 132 pounds avoirdupois each; if old hay. 154 pounds each. KEEPS VESSELS PERFECTLY CLEAN. Tin or earthenware vessels should be used in feeding milk to calves. They must be kept perfectly clean. Wooden pails are objectionable in that it is impossible to keep them in the best condition. Many cases of calf from feeding milk from unclean vessels. IMPROVEMENTS IN SMALL FRUITS. Some of the improvements made in the small fruits within the past ten years have been remarkable. Those who have carefully watched the progress of improvement in strawberries, raspberries, currants, etc., sfioulff give new Varieties their attention. The size of the strawberry has been increased until occasional specimens are shown that are as large as plums, while the currant is also being improved to great size compared with those of former days. All varieties differ, however, and size may not indicate quality, though it is the object of originators of new varieties to combine quality aud size as much as possible.

ESSENTIALS OF POTATO CULTURE. After planting, do not wait for the weeds to start before cultivating, but begin with the weeder and spike tooth harrow, both length and crosswise of the row, destroying millions of sprouting weed seeds. When the plant appears go into the field with the horse hoe or the riding cultivator and continue to dig up and turn over to the sun and air all the earth you can reach without literally tearing up the plant. Do not be afraid to expose or even break off some of the lateral rootlets while the plants are young. It will let in the air to soil and roots where most needed and tend to send large roots deeper down to moisture. Should the growth of the plant indi-. cate a marked deficiency of active food at an early stage I have found it decidedly advantageous to apply some soluble and quickly available manure alongside the row and cultivate deeply into the soil. Almost all of the first class high grade potato manures are readily soluble in water and will give the plant a quick, healthy start that will tide it over the seasons of usual drouth, leaving it in vigorous condition to mature a crop when fall rains come. Two to three applications of from seventy-five to on? hundred pounds each per acre, made at intervals of from ten days to two weeks, the last dressing not to be made later than ten days before the plants come into bloom, will produce the same result. If it is not desired to hill or bank up the rows when laying by the crop, a furrow should be left in the center between rows at the last cultivation, serving to drain the surplus water from the row, to hold it in reserve, and to prevent rotting during a possible wet period after maturity.— A mcrican Agriculturist.

POULTRY FOR PROFIT. Every poultry raiser should be able to tell at any time, how many {owls he has, how many eggs he is getting, how many chicks he has hatched, and the number of eggs required to hatch them, how many fowls or chicks lie 10.-es by death or otherwise. In short a poultry raiser should have a record of each and every day’s transaction for all the fowls on the premises. | Eggs in abundance, rapid growth in market poultry, and top prices for his products, are all necessary to the poultryaian’s prosperity; but the most important factor and one that must be considered first, last and all the time, is the cost price. '1 here is no profit in eggs at twenty-five cents per dozen if the eggs have cost twenty-six cents. There is profit in eggs at twelve and a half cents per dozen if the cost has been but ten cents per dozen. Just so with poultry, if the cost of production has been too heavy, by just that much is the profit reduced. And if the product, either’ eggs or poultry, has cost more than the very least for which it could have been produced it has cost too much. Care I should be exercised in the use of high | priced foods, expensive houses and apparatus, when cheaper foods, buildings in the construction of the buildings, for and appliances will do just as well; also when so awkwardly arranged that too much time is consumed in caring for the fowls, this is an added expense. It is not always true that things lowest in price, all things considered, is the cheapest, nor is it always true that the best is the cheapest. Food that is poor in quality is generally dear at any price. -Yet a high priced food ought always to be used under protest, as it were, and only until something equally as good and lower in price can be found to use as a substi-

lute. There are times when it is necessary to buy what you want and pay the price asked,* One who is fqtqiUar.with the markets and with th* feeding value of available food is often able to substitute a low priced commodity for a more expensive one without detriment to the fowls and with gain to himself.—Geneva Marsh in The Epitomist. BLIND BRIDLES FOR WORK ' HORSES. The farmers of forty years ago never thought of working horses on the farm or road without blinds on bridles. I was brought up under the impression that a spirited horse could not be worked with- j out blinds. But I haven’t a blind bridle on the farm now and do not think I shall ever own one again. The argument used by those who favor the use of blinds is that when a horse cannot see his driver or the machine or vehicle behind him, he goes ! along much steadier and without getting excited, and drives freer and shirks his duty less. The other side is that when lip is broken without the blinds he has more confidence in himself and in his driver and is not so likely to scare ' at anything he sees behind him, or shy at things he half sees on either side. No horse with open bridle is continually finding ghosts, or shying at bicycles, ■ baby carriages, road scrapers and the like. I know front experience that one can get a horse accustomed to railroad trains, traction engines or threshing machines much quicker by using open bridles, or when he can see plainly instead of having two-thirds of his vision j obscured.

It is true that a horse broken with blind bridle will act foolish when a change is made to an open one. The reason is simple; it is like breaking an animal in the first place. When hitched up. instead of hearing the rambling or rattle of the wagon or machine behind Trim he sees it following closely after him. He will probably try to get away from it at first. It takes some time to get him Used to his new surroundings, but if he is carefully handled he soon gets down to work and is very much more tractable and level-headed. I know of but one kind of horse that works better with blinds than without them, and that is the sluggard or regular shirk. With the blinds on, at each cluck of the driver he does not know but he may get a lash of the whip. He surges along and keeps up his end. With the open bridle he soon learns*to know when the whip is in the hands of the driver and governs himself accordingly. I like to have harnesses, as well as bridles, as free from unnecessary weight or encumbrance as possible, for it adds to the comfort of the animal. We should give this matter a thought as we go along. I hear a good deal said against the overcheck. and it is all right as a rule to discard it, but I would for the same reason let the blinds go the same way.— W. W. stevens, in Orange Judd Farmer.

QUALITY OF BUTTER FOR MARKET. Not a little of the difference in quality of butter is due to different demands of various markets. While market dealers attempt to establish a pertain standard, it is not always possible because of the difference in the taste of people. For instance, butter for export trade should have quite essentially different qualities than that made for table use in the home markets. It has been found by experience that butter for export trade should be milder in flavor, less salty, and lighter in color than that demanded for city use in this country. Neither is it so important that emphasis should be placed upon the grain and texture of the butter intended for shipment to the British markets. It is well known that a good deal of the butter received at New York, which fails to pass as extra table butter because of the qualities mentioned, finds a good outlet in the export trade. On the other hand, butter that has reached the city in perfect condition so far as our standards of judgment are concerned—that is, >vith perfect grain, color, saltiness and texture—has been shipped abroad and met with such poor reception that the prices obtained for it were very unsatisfactory. There is a good deal in making a particular study of the markets of any farm product, and a little more attention paid to the butter shipped might prove of pecuniary advantage to the manufacturer and commission houses. Our Canadian butter makers have scored ahead of us in this respect, and they ship to English markets butter with all the qualities that the British taste demands. We are too apt to take it for granted that the British like what we like, and that they should cultivate their taste according to ours. Such reasoning never pays, and it is wrong at the start. Our judges of butter have been a good deal at fault in this work. Finish and style of package and' the butter in it have been emphasized too much, often at the expense of the butter. Now quality in the butter should always be the first consideration. No matter how carefully packed, ordinary butter must eventually be marked down or somebody will be cheated, which in the end causes trouble and discredit to the maker. Renovated butter is now often packed in fancy packages and sold as fresh creamery or dairy. Such butter may not necessarily be inferior, but it is a deception to the public. Butter washed, cleansed and repacked c.;n never have the same delicate flavor as that made fresh On the-farm and shipped to market. —S. W. Chambers, in American Agriculturist.