Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE]

GARDEN AND FARM

COST OF PRODUCING PORK. The cost of producing pork depends upon the kind of foods used. Experiments made demonstrate that by feeding cornmeal the cost of one pound of pork is 4.3 cents, requiring 6.3 pounds of meal. The same amount of shorts, costing 3.7 cents, produced the same increase, and 3.3 pounds of meal and shorts gave the same results. The cost also depends upon the prices of the foods.

SAVING VALUABLE LAND. When ditches or streams are crooked they do not cause inconvenience in the pastures, but where the land Is cultivated they are an annoyance when plowing or mowing. By placing tile or pipe in the ditches, and covering them, much valuable land may be saved and field work rendered easier. DEMAND FOR REGISTERED BULLS The demand for registered bulls of the various beef breeds ought to remain good for years to come. Breeders of registered cattle have it largely in their own hands to maintain good prices, and this they can do if they Mill make steers of the medium to fair bull calves, although they are from good families and subject to registration. Nothing will hurt the registered bull trade so much as selling inferior animals for breeding purposes. No matter how good the herd, there will necessarily be some Inferior animals and breeders can ill afford to sell such except for slaughter. Breeders should work to create a permanent demand for bulls, and this can only be accomplished by selling animals whose progeny will show up all right.—Live Stock and Wool Growers’ Journal.

RENEWING OLD ORCHARDS. The question how to renew an old orchard is again taking up its annual round in the agricultural papers. Some growers recommend top grafting, but, in my experience, this is one of the most uncomfortable, disagreeable jobs in an orchard. To get up Into the top of an apple tree with a basket of tools, Max and scissors, standing on a limb of the tree, or on a ladder, is downright torture. Then,, when one has sawed off a limb and undertakes to split It, he finds that, while the bark splits straight, the grain of the wood is winding around the stock, hence the split of the bark and that of the wood do not correspond. Then the bark has to be cut away an one side to adroit the scion, and the chances are that by the wind of the wood the bark has been so far separated from the wood that a union with the scion is very doubtful.

Again, think of the time it requires to go through an orchard and top graft every tree! Having had experience M’ith that method, and suffered from such irksome work and failure of scions to form a union, I have adopted a very different, and, as I believe, a much better, cheaper and more certain May of renewing an old orchard. I cut the trees down close to the ground, cover the stump with a little earth, or place over it a fresh sod. This should be done late in the fall, or in the winter, as stumps sprout better when you cut at that time of the year. The next spring the stump will throw up many sprouts. I allow them all to grow the first season, then, in the fall, I select two good ones and bud them, or wait until the next spring qnd graft. or grafts, M’ill make a very ra®l groM th and will be growing better every year, and will come into bearing as soon as the top graft, which will fail in a few years All surplus sprouts should be removed the second year. If a low head is desired, the first year’s growth of bud or graft should be cut back to four or six buds, leaving but one scion to grow after the first year.—N. B. White, in American Cultivator.

THE SOURCE OF ANIMAL FAT. A disputed point among scientific investigators and even among practical feeders has been the role of the different food constituents in fat formation. Some have- held that the fat in milk for example, must come from fat in the com-’s body or from that which has been formed by plant growth and is included in her food. Others have thought that the fat, both in the animal's body and that in milk might be formed in part by breaking down the nitrogeneous matters of the food, the proteine, aB well as by change of vegetable fats into animal fats. Still others have believed that the carbohydrates as well might be utilized in making fat.

This last has been proved true of body fat in case of some animats, and In experiments recorded in Bulletin No. 197 of the Geneva Experiment Station, It seems set . - d beyond dispute that starch and similar bodies in the cow's food help to form the butter fat she produces. In the tests recorded one cow in fifty-nine da'ys secreted 18.4 pounds of butter fat mo;;e than she could have secured from the fat consumed or protelne broken down; another cow in seventy-four days produced 39 pounds of fat similarly unaccounted for. and a third cow In four days one and one-quarter pounds. As these cows gained In weight, and thhs could not have drawn on stored body fat for milk fat. and as two constituents of the food were insufficient to account for the fat formed, the third constituent, the carbohydrates, must have formed part of the fat secretpd In the milk. Other points of value concerning the utilisation of food by

milch cows are discussed In the bulle tin. It should be In the hands of every farmer who believes that knowledge of principles has anything to do with success in feeding. STOCKING UP WITH GOOD POUlj TRY. There has yet not been a single year that there was enough good thorough-bred breeding stock of poultry to go around, and as a result many can not get their orders filled, and have to go without. The wide awake always buy their breeding stock in the fall, or during the forepart of winter. Most fanners who keep good poultry, and frequently order soma breeding stock to Introduce new- blood In their flock, put off doing so until spring, which is a mistake on their part. Breeding stock in spring has always been very scarce and prices double that of early winter, so that the best time, anil the cheapest time to lay in breeders is either fall or fore part of winter. Poultrymen are catching on to this fact, and each year the fall demand increases, while the spring demapd diminishes, but yet, there is a grand rush for stock in spring, and as there has not been enough to near fill half of the demand, the most have been disappointed in not getting the stock they desired. During the summer is a good time to buy next rear’s stock, when the chicks are not fully grown, and the weight of the same is not half what it will be in spring, hence the cost of transportation is but half of what it is in spring. Breeders sell summer chicks at less than half the price of winter chicks, and the saving is considerable.

Many persons ask the question, ‘‘What is the best and cheapest M’ay to get into a good stock of poultry?” This may be truthfully answered by saying, that a breeding pen is always the cheapest. While a breeding pen of choice, pure-bred birds of any variety. costs more than eggs for hatching, yet they are the cheapest. To get into a good flock of foM-ls during one season, a large number of breeders is not required. A cockerel, and four or five hens is sufficient to produce as fine a flock of choice foMis as almost any farm will want, if they are purchased during winter, and thus are ready to furnish eggs for hatching during March, April and May.—A. H. Duff, in Farm, Field and Fireside.

THE FARMER S PROBLEMS. One of the principal subjects discussed at farmers’ institutes is that of cultivating the soil at certain seasons. It has been claimed that too much cultivation is injurious, u-hile it is also maintainel that cultivation admits air, warmth and moisture, the deep plowing permitting of the greater retention of moisture. Unfortunately, so much depends upon the location of the farm, the texture of the soil, the kinds of .crops grown thereon, the depth of the surface soil and other matters, that it is impossible to formulate any system that would be applicable to all farms. Some of the most progressive farmers have strongly advised deep plowing, but were promptly disputed by those who had Jound shallow plowing more advantageous. The fact Is that each farmer who has been sufficiently interested In the general Melfare of all as to make known his experience referred to his own farm only, and the result is that there have been a great many methods of cultivating the various crops promulgated that tend more to confuse than to educate. Every farmer should experiment for himself. It is not expensive or laborious to use a small plot for experimental purposes, and the knowledge gained will be valuable for the reason that it applies directly to the farm upon which the farmer grows his crops. Farmers who purchase fertilizers are frequently perplexed as to the proportions of plant foods to use, and the are thus frequently at fault in their selections in that respect. The reason is that M’hen purchasing fertilizers they must take into consideration not only the prospective crop but also that grown the previous year, as well as the amount of manure No knowledge of how to purchase fertilizers can be de- ’ rived by observing the methods practiced by a neighbor. Each farm is a world to itself, so far as its management is concerned. When a field that Is fairly fertile refuses to yield a satisfactory crop, when cultivated properly, and with the conditions favorable, there is a cause therefor. This cause the farmer must discover himself. He cannot ask for assistance elsewhere without giving full details regarding his farm and hlsl mode of management. His farm may require drainage, may be deficient in lime, contain but little humus, has not been properly rotated, or even the system of cultivation may be wrong. Usually, however, when a crop fails to satisfy the expectations of the farmer there is a lack of pome particular plant food, to determine which the farmer should experiment by groMing sample crops on small plots, side by side, and applying different kinds of fertilizers or combinations of fertilizers, which will give him demonstration of their effect on the crops. An analysis of the soil will be of no value, as the very portion selected for analysis may be Trom a few Riches of soil previously manured In some manner,.and which may, not represent the condition of the .entire field, Just as soon as the farmer thus tests his land, and learns by observation the results from the use of certain fertilizers, he wiU be able to feed his crops intelligently, and thus save hundreds of dollars in the purchase of plant foods and also gain In the yield of crops.—Philadelphia Record.

The man who lives to nr purpose Uvea to a bad purpose.