Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1901 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

WHEN THE ORCHARD GIVES A PROFIT. Time is- required before an orchard may .begin to give a profit. One cannot expect returns from an orchard in a year, as with animals, hence the sooner the trees begin to bear the less the loss of time, land and capital. It is important, therefore, that the best of care be given young trees from the start. BUTT AND TIP KERNELS FOR /SEED, Professor Shamel, instructor in farm SflJps at the Illinois College of Agriculture, says that it is a good plan t<? shell off and discard both the tips and butts of the corn ears selected for seed. That was what we were taught to do when young, and we thought it the proper way until we saw the results of a trial made by the late Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant, while Director of the New York Experiment Station at Geneva. He planted several rows of com, placing the kernels in the drills just as they grew in order on the cob, also strips in which one had seed from eight butt kernels in each row", another from eight tip kernels in the rows, and the third eight kernels from each row as near the middle of the ear as possible. We think in every test the kernels from the tip gave earliest ripening corn, and in more than half also produced a larger yield than those nearer the middle of the ear. In every case the yield was at the rate of several bushels less per acre from those kernels near the middle of the ear.

'_ CUT HAY EARLY. Practical feeders have all noted that farm animals are less likely to make satisfactory gain during the spring months. Sometimes they will even lose flesh unless given the very best of care. They often refuse to eat the usual amount of forage. I have found that by saving my best forage until last that I can keep the animals from losing flesh and in a great many cases can make them gain. For this reason I find it desirable to have on hand a little supply of early cut hay or corn fodder. With milch cows this early cut forage makes it possible to keep up a fairly good flow of milk until the cows are turned to grass. Not only do the animals do better when the best forage is retained for Spring months, but the animals seem to be in bcjter condition for making satisfactory gains when turned onto pasture. This is reasonable, for this kind of forage is similar in composition to grass, consequently when the change from winter to spring feed comes, there is but slight difference in the character of the food. Early in the winter animals are in better condition to consume and make use of the more mature fodder crops. This is due partially to the appetite being keener during cold, crisp weather, and the digestive organs being in a more healthy condition. Where a large amount of hay is to be put up, it is, of course, difficult to cut it all when in bloom, but every effort should be made to harvest as much as possible at that stage.—L. O. Folio, in New England Homestead. BUYING A COW. Dairying is something new in this part of the country. Few farmers know the real value of a good cow. It is generally considered that a cow is worth from $35 to S4O, and if she is a common scrub, she is clear property at that price, if milk is worth $1 per 100 and a cow cost S4O per year to feed, anti the manure pays for the labor (but it does not), the cow gives 10,000 pounds of milk per year, and returns a profit of S6O. A cow giving 5.000 pounds returns a profit of $lO, and one giving 4.000 pounds or less returns nothing; labor and stable* room about the same, besides the offspring from the 10,-roo-pounds cow is worth at least $lO per year, and from the 5,000-pounds cow probably $2, and from the scrub nothing. Counting the lifetime of a cow 12 years the lo.ooc-pound cow gives a profit of S7OO, the 5,000-pound cow, $l2O, and the 4,000-pound cow only the value of her calf at birth, and the service fees taken off that amount.

When buying a cow, we should use the same judgment as we do when buying a horse. A small scrub horse will sell for SSO to S6O; an ordinary farm or driving horse will sell for sioo to $110; but if we want a good draft horse, or a good roadster, we pay $l5O or S2OO, and a good horse will readily sell for this amount, because they are bred to perform the work they are bought for. If this is true of a horse, it is also true of a cow. In my experience a small horse cannot perform the same work as a larger one. Neither can a small cow, She might do it for a few years, but her constitution will not allow her to do so for any length of time, because she has not the strength in her body to sustain her in her work as the larger cow has. The large cow will consume more coarse fodder, but the small cow will need more grain to do the sarqe work, and then she can’t do it; at- least, she never has done it for me.— The Southern Farmer. THE FAMILYGARDEN. The family garden usually pays 3 greater profit on the labor bestowed upon it than any other portion of the farm, even managed by the old fashioned method of small plats and beds and hand cultivation. This being the case, it can surely be made to pay a much greater ratio of profit by planning to plant everything possible in long rows far enough apart so as to work then) with a horse and cultivator, thus greatly relieving your muscles. And the saving in cost of cultivation is only a small ipart of the benefit of the long row ar-

rangement. It will naturally lead to g much more frequent and. thorough cul-. tivation of our garden The important advantage of 'a frequent stirring of the surface soil among all our growing crops, we are convinced, is too often greatly underestimated. *. It is said that it pays to hoe cabbage every morning during the early part of the season, and, although this may be carrying it to an extreme, we are convinced that a more frequent cultivation than is ordinarily given might proveprofitable. The breaking of the crusts admits of a freer circulation of the air to the roots, and aids them to make the most of all the dews and rains which fall. Next to actual irrigation, frequent and continued surface cultivation aids in securing and retaining moisture and supplying it to the growing plants.— New England Farmer. GREEN MANURIAL CROPS. Green manorial crops are now considered essential to good farming for several reasons, the principle being that certain kinds draw nitrogen from the atmosphere and thus add to the fertility of the land. The fall of the year is usually the time when crimson clover is seeded, and as it is liable to fall if seeded too late farmers have selected August (or not later titan the middle of September) as the best period for seeding the crop. As crimson clover seems to fall unexpectedly, and at other times gives good results, it is difficult to induce some farmers to use it, but as a rule many failure* that are attributed to the crop, are du* to mistakes on the part of the farmtr. They have been informed that crimson clover could be sown on tho ground, before corn was cut down, and a good crop of clover secured without any preparation of the soil; but, while crimson clover really grows at a season of the year when no other crop is occupying the land, and can be turned under even before warm weather appears in the spring, yet it is not so good a servant as to thrive under adverse circumstances. It does not fulfill the expectation of those who desire to secure a crop without labor. The fact is that it requires soil that has been well plowed, and it will grow rapidly if given an opportunity. Early seeding permits it to get a start and make considerable growth before winter, thus enabling it to withstand a severe season. It then starts off early in the spring, and by the time the farmer is ready to plow his corn land the crimson clover will be of sufficient height to be turned under as manure. Where the farmer desires to improve his soil with green crops he does not expect to invest largely in commercial fertilizers, but he can assist his green crops by the use of one substance that is not costly and which is also a plant food. This substance is lime. When the land is plowed the farmer should apply about 30 bushels of air-slaked lime, harrow well and then broadcast the seed, harrowing again. The lime renders the soil somewhat alkaline, which fits it for the work of the minute bacteria which perform an important part in deriving nitrogen from the atmosphere and altering it so as to-render it suitable for plants. The nitrogen is converted into nitric acid, while the plant depends upon the soil for its mineral matter. The ash of a plant will always contain lime, if only in small quantities, but the ash of clover shows lime to be an important ingredient. Lime also assists in the liberation of the inert materials of the soil, the roots of the clover utilizing them as food for the plants. Ihe entire crop, when plowed under, consequently not only adds nitrogen to the land but returns also the mineral elements derived from the lowe* soil, as well as the Time •taken up during the growth. When the crop of crimson clover is plowed under it will be of advantage to apply about to bushels per acre more of lime in order to assist in neutralizing the vegetable acids that may be generated in the soil during the process of decomposition of the clover. While an application of commercial fertilizer will of course Increase the crop of clover, yet the objects of many farmers is to attempt to avoid such expense and renovate their soils by the use of lime and crimson clover only. Green manurial crops give good results on all soils. Whether a farm is fertile or impoverished the fanner cannot add .too much fertility to his land, and the cheapest method of improvement, except loss of time in some cases, is by plowing under green crops. If he is desirous of saving time he should rely on commercial fertilizers. Fortunately crimson clover occupies the land only at a period when no crop can be grown (from fall to spring), hence it is not in the way of any other crop, and as it adds nitrogen to the soil (which is the most expensive ingredient in fertilizers), the farmer can re-enforce his clover nitrogen in the spring with a potash and phosphoric acid fertilizer. Fertilizer manufacturers understand the value of crimson clover to farmers and they comsequently prepare brands which contaih the mineral elements only. The farmer, however, will lose nothing "by having some kind of clover crop on his land. The growing crop will prevent loss from leaching of the soil, and by shading the soil the conditions are made more favorable for the work of the micro-or-ganisms which are so essential to success with certain crops. The large amount of green material that may be turned under renders the land better enabled to hold moisture, and humus is formed while the covering crop is on the land. Outside of the cost of the seed but little expense is connected with the growing* of crimson clover, and farmers should not omit it from their rotation of crops.— Phila delflda Record. ■ « It is said that 1,000 pounds of poultry will cost less to raise than 1,000 pounds of beef, and will sell for almost twice as much. New Zealand is picking up in manafactures. At last accounts she had 6,-1 438 factories, with 48.938 employes.