Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

AN EXCELLENT COMBINATION. Oats and peas are grown early in the season and the combination is an excellent one. The seed should bp broadcasted as soon as the ground can be prepared, in order to escape any dry weather that the crop may possibly encounter. Oats and peas provide early green food for cows, and may be cut at any stage of growth, but the nearer the milky stage of oats the better. THE COW’S PRODUCT. The cows on many farms would be considered first-class producers if each product amounted to 200 pounds of butter per year, yet it is claimed by some of the best dairyman that 200 pounds of butter per year from a cow does not pay. Those who aim to make the most butter from their herds have the standard up to 300 pounds per year, and some fix the limit higher. Every farmer can have the individual members of his herd reach that amount by breeding for better cows every year. STRAW AND CORN FODDER. It is not many years ago that farmers in the Western States were burning their straw stacks to get them out of the way. There was apparently no market for it excepting at points where the cost of transportation was likely to exceed the price for which they could sell it. Now at nearly every market In the states the price of good straw is as high as that of No. 1 hay, and in some places It is higher. There were some who would not burn it, but put it in the wards for the farm animals to pick what they wished to of it, and to trample the rest into manure. After a few years it was found that the farms of these men increased in fertility and productiveness, and the practice of burning straw was nearly discontinued, even before the common use of the bailing press made it profitable to ship it to Eastern markets. A change almost as great has taken place in the opinion of the value of corn fodder. It is but a very few years since the corn growers of the Western States cut no corn fodder, but after picking off ears, let the cattle and hogs in to pick and break down the fodder or what they would of it, and then it was a task in the spring to break down the rest so that it could be plowed under. Now it is nearly all being put through the shredder, and made so fine that any stock eats it, and it is thought as valuable as the average Western hay. DAIRYING A DRUDGERY. This fall I visited two friende, each milking about the same number of cows (twenty-five head.) Both of these friends worked in their fields until dark, then milked and cared for the milk, and by the time ail the work was done it was along toward 10 oclock. Drudgery? Yes, but whose fault? From such dairying, drudging and slaving deliver me and my family. We do sometimes put "in twelve hours a day, but never sixteen to eighteen, as do these friends and hundreds of other farmers. Our dairy work has its place in our system of farm management, and is done on time. Milking time comes and milking begins at a certain time, not at this or that time, but at such a time, and under ordinary circumstances without nny variation The time is gauged according to the time of the year and number of cows irf milk, but we always begin in time, so that all work is don« in good season. In the summer time our teams leave the field at 5 o’clock and our milking begins at 5.30 o’clock. With five milkers, milking is done, milk separated and everything fed by 6:30 o’clock. Thus we still have plenty of time for rest, recreation or reading before night. If such a system or a better one were generally adopted by farmers who, like the writer, are interested in dairying, w.> would hear no more about dairying being a drudgery. Let our motto be “System.” Let us write it in our houses, in our barns, on our farms. It will lighten our la bors and gladden the heart, ’t will bring prosperity, contentment and good will to all who in their work strive with a system.—M. E. K ng, In Kansas Fanner. HOW TO FEED COWS. The cows requires not only materials for her maintenance, but must also have proteine, fat and carbohydrates to make milk from. The milk contains water, fat proteine (easel ne or curd), sugar and ash, and these are all made from the constituents of the food. If insufficient proteine. fat and carbohydrates are contained in the food given her, the cow supplies the deficiency for, a time by drawing on her own body, and gradually shrinks in quantity and quality of milk, or both. The stingy feeder cheats himself as well as the cow. She suffers from hunger, although her belly is full of swale hay, but she also becomes poor and does not yield the milk and butter she should. Her milk glands are a wonderful machine, but they cannot make milk caseine out of carbohydrates or coarse. unappetizing. indigestible swale hay or sawdust, any more than the farmer himself can make butter from skim milk. She must not only have a generous supply of good food, it but must contain a sufficient amount of nutrients needed for making milk. Until this fact is understood and appreciated, successful dairying is out of the question. The cow must be regarded as a living machine. She takes the raw materials given her in the form of food

and works them over into milk. If the supply of proper materials is small the output will be small. The cow that will not repay generous feeding should be disposed of at once, and one brought that will. There are certain Inbred characteristics which even liberal feeding cannot overcome. fornia Experiment Station Bulletin. TO PRODUCE HARDIER PLANTS. Gaideners will recall the apparent peculiarities often manifest in the behavior of plants subject to frost. Two plants of the same variety, standing side by side, may show altogether different results, the one being killed or severely injured and the other remaining practically untouched. At times these differences may be due to varying atmospheric conditions, but much of it must be the result of difference in inherent vigor and resistance of the ‘individual plants. It is possible in the case of tender plants, by selecting and breedings from those individuals which show greatest resistance, to develop a hardier strain. This question has been under test with garden beans. Three varieties of bush beans were planted in a hotbed in the spring of 1899. After they were well up the sash was removed, exposing them to frost on a cold night. Mary of the plants were killed outright, others severely hurt, while a few showed little injury. Seed from these was saved and subjected to similar treatment in the spring of 1900. This time an unusually hard frost occurred on the night when the sash was first removed. The temperature reported by the meteorologist of the station, as occurring in the village near by, was 28 degrees. Yet a few plants remained unharmed, others were less severely injured, and many were killed outright. Other seeds saved from the resistant plants were planted in the open ground in comparison with ordinary seeds. The plants from these have shown greater v igor in resisting cold and untoward conditions, and at the present writing are decidedly in advance. The question asked at the beginning of the experiment cannot be answered fo~ some time, but the indications now are that careful selection may produce valuable results in securing plants less subject to frost injury.—Rhode Island Experiment Station Report. APPLE CULTURE Apple culture when conducted properly pays better profits than almost any other branch of agriculture, but an intensive system of scientific treatment of the trees and soil must be closely followed. An acre of apple trees may barely cover expenses of picking and marketing them, while another may yield a profit of SIOO or more per acre. Returns of S3OO and S4OO per acre are not unusual, but then neither are returns of SIOO and $l5O per acre unusual. Figured on these yields one can readily see whether the work is profitable or not. Spraying is absolutely necessary to get good crops of apples, and to neglect it may reduce a S3OO yield to $l5O in a single season. It is almost useless to try to make a success of apple culture without spraying. One may have his theories about it and convictions, but they do not count in view of the vast amount of facts obtained from thousands of farmers and scientists who have shown the value of spraying. The spraying should be made just after the blossoms have fallen, again two weeks later, and once more when the apples are half grown. The conditions requiring such spraying may not be apparent to the eye, but the only safe way is to do the spraying every season without fail. The mixture may consist of any of the approved formulas, such as half a pound of paris green and three pounds of disparene to fifty gallons of water. Such systematic spraying will in all probability make the yield of apples large, and the fruit fine, free from specks and rot, and handsome in appearance. The orchard needs fertilizing and draining, and the trees pruning and protection, if the work is to be done properly. Plant the trees In the fall, select only such trees which will pass rigid examination by yourself, and in setting incline the tree; a little toward the prevailing heavy winds. This will save them from growing up with a slant. Protect the trees from mice and rabbits by surrounding them wi’h fine galvanized wire screen, which may be wrapped around the t:ee an inch or two below the soil and two or three feet above it. This pro.ection will last for years, and costs -> ily a little for each tree. Low and wet grounds are bad places for orchards, and the fruits will often fail there when they succeed on the hillsides and ‘ higher grounds. On heavy clay soils good tile drainage ia essential, and will benefit the trees a good deal. Trees should be fertilized every year just as regularly as a field of corn or wheat. Every dollar put in fertilizer m the orchard will be returned twofold. The trees need thorough pruning every fall and spring. This should take the form of cleaning out the mass of Inside twigs co the sun can get at the middle of the tree, and also to shape the tree so that the branches will not hang on the ground nor shoot straight up in the air. Good shapely trees are generally the best producers, and they are also the easiest to pick.—C. T. Mildron, In the American Cultivator. The most extensive cemetery in the world Is that at Rome, in which over six million human beings have been interred. When a woman is fatigued in bargain hunting she might be said to ba shop worn.