Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

THE BASKET WORM. The obnoxious basket worms, which destroy evergreen hedges, must be picked off by hand and consigned to the flames. The work must not be delayed until spring, but should be done now, and the hedges examined again in a week or two, so as not to overlook any of the pests. In April spray the hedges once or twice with Paris green and water. A DESIRABLE SHADE TREE. The maple is one of the most desir able of and of the varie ties it is difficult to select, as some thrive in certain climates better than others. The rock maple (or sugar maple) Is one of the handsomest, having deep foliage, and will bear consid erable ill-usage, thriving where some trees fail. As a shade tree it has no superior, and where a residence is surrounded by them the value of the farm is largely increased.

IMPORTANCE OF THOROUGH MILKING. The richest portion of the milk is that drawn from the udder as the last. In experiments made to test the matter it was found that the dis ference was so great that with some cows the stripplings consisted almost entirely of butter fat. It is important, therefore, that milking, the cows be done in a thorough manner, leading nothing in the udder. If this be done the cow will not be so liable to become dry as soon as when the milk Is not entirely removed at each milk Ing. The practice of carefully strip ping also serves as a check upon care less milkers, as the farmer can, and should, examine each cow after she is milked in order to observe If the milking has been done thoroughly. Where there is no supervision the milking is sometimes performed carelessly and at a loss to the farmer.

WATCH THE HOGS CAREFULLY. A hog that does not care for its corn is an object of suspicion. It should at once be separated from the herd. Both the sick pig ajid the herd,, which are as yet apparently well, should be thoroughly disinfected—themselves and their yards, nests and feeding troughs—and put on a laxative, cool Ing diet. On a failure of the off-its-feed pig to recover at once, or the ap pearance of further disorders In the herd, resort immediately to stringent measures to cure hog cholera—for the chances are that your herd has this fatal disease, whether the disease is known to be in the neighborhood or not, or whether or not you know that they have been subject to direct Infection. We are convinced that every farm on which swine are kept should be provided with a dipping tank for swine in order to keep the stock free from lice and skin diseases by an occasional dipping, and especially to disin feet the hogs in case of a threatened outbreak of cholera. The dipping tank is a comparatively cheap appliance.—Nebraska Farmer.

CULTIVATING AN ORCHARD. Sod is a detriment to an orchard. Trees require a cool, moist, rich soil. Cut through bluegrass sod, even after a heavy rain, and you will find the ground hard and dry. An artificial fertilizer w'ould find little chance to reach the roots of the trees. There are several kinds of orchard grasses that are widely advertised, but none of them have the advantages of red clover. The roots keep the surface loose and open, the growth and deposit of leaves give shade and moisture and mulching. The rain sinks directly into the soil. By turning the clover under every two or three years, the soil will receive a dressing of the best fertilizers. But while clover probably possesses the most good points of all grasses, cultivating and raising some vegetable or root crop between the rows of trees is doubtless the best care an orchard can have. It keeps down the weeds, stirs the soil thoroughly, and enriches the ground with a twofold purpose, to benefit the crop and also the trees, A friend who had an unfruitful orch ard stumbled upon this knowledge, His potato field bordered the orchard, and as he lacked room he ordered the first three rows of trees plowed up. The next season he was surprised to find a fine crop of apples on the trees that had been plowed around. The rest of the orchard was as barren as usual. He extended his experiment and soon had the entire orchard under cultivation, and one of the finest apple orchards In the country. Of course it is troublesome to raise potatoes in an orchard, but it certainly pays to do so. The farmer who is a success utilizes every foot of ground, and studies how to get the greatest return for the soil and labor.—J. L. Irwin in The Epitomist.

RAPID GROWTH OF FOREST TREES. If It was not generally known how quickly timber could be grown on land that had been cleared of primeval forest, there would be many waste places planted with trees. Most people, when measuring the diameter of a tree and counting the growths of each year to ascertain Its age. get the impression that Is the average growth for al) trees of the same kind. This is a mistaken Idea, as trees will grow to the size of one foot in diameter on land that has been cleared and laid to the tun for a few years In one-third the time they will among the large treos of an original forest. Thirty years ago, when pulling up

■ stumps ou the homestead, an oak tree was torn out by the roots that showed thirteen years’ growth and measured thirteen inches in diameter close to the ground. When visiting in Susquehanna County, Pa., I happened where a carpenter was finishing a house with pine lumber, some of it twelve inches wide. He informed me the last crop on the land was potatoes, and the rows could b© plainly seen when the timber was cut. During one of my rambles through the forest many years ago, in search of wild bees, a line led me on strange ground. While searching the tree I came across an old board fence that was supported in position by small trees. There was nothing to show the land had ever been cleared, and I concluded the fence had inclosed forest for pasture when the pioneer had only a little cleared. On making inquiries I founu persons, not old enough to be in their prime of life, who had seen a fine crop of wheat growing on the land. —J. H. Andre in New York Tribune.

RAW MATERIAL ON FARMS. Crops are grown for use on the farm as well as for market, hence the value of a crop does not depend solely upon what it will bring when sold, but also upon the uses to which it may be applied upon the farm. In fact, a crop may be worth more in the barn than in the market, as it is so much raw material ready for use to be converted into beter products, while if marketed in the raw condition the transportation charges and commissions for selling reduce its value. Even when a crop, such as corn, is converted into meat, milk, butter or other products, its value cannot be estimated, as there is always a portion remaining over in the manure heap which may be equal in value to that sold. The value of the products of all animals on farms depends so largely up» on the individual characteristics of the animals as to render it almost impossible to estimate the wealth of the farm manure. , When food has passed through the bodies of the animals the manure from each will differ from that produced by the others, as the proportions consumed, the digestive capacity of each animal and the kinds of foods used are factors to be considered in the estimate, but experiments in one case show that with a lot of animals, tested for two weeks, as much as 62 per cent, of all the nitrogen, 80 per cent, of all the phosphoric acid and 6 per cent. of all the potash in the foods consumed remained over in the manure, which demonstrates that less than one-third of the food Is converted into marketable products, and that much the larger proportion goes into the manure heap, because of being only partially digested. It is, however, so much raw material awaiting application to the soil for assisting in providing crops another year. The profit on the raw materials will be but little if the materials are not of the best quality, and the gain will be large if the raw materials are of themselves valuable. For instance, where such concentrated foods as linseed meal and cotton-seed meal are purchased and brought on the farm the value of the manure will be great er than when it was produced from bulky foods, hence If the prices obtained by the farmer for his milk, beef and butter are no greater than the actual outlay for the concentrated foods purchased the manure alone will give a large profit, as the larger proportion of the foods will find their way to the refuse heap, but, having passed through the bodies of the animals, will be in proper condition to serve as available plant foods. The material value of a food Is sometimes greater than its feeding value, and If the man ure should be sold to a customer who fully understood its real value it would be as much a marketable product of the farm as meat or milk, but it is more economical to retain it than to sell it, as its removal adds to its cost. Many foods are even cheaper than their manurial value, and may be applied directly to the land with advantage, but a large profit will be secured by feeding the foods to animals and using the manure. The farmer, therefore, produces many articles of value, though they can be changed on the farm Into crops, the crops into more concentrated produces, and a profit secured because the more con centrateed the product the lower the expense of marketing. There are many sources of profit on farms that are overlooked, but the farmers who give careful attention to the manure heap are those whose farms become more valuable every year.—Phfladel ph la Record.

Whom Kipling Called the Greatest In his capital biography of Cecil Rhodes, Mr. Hensman says that when Kipling was interview in 1898 as to his opinion of Cecil Rhodes, he described the Prime Minister as “the greatest of living men.” While every one may not agree with this enthusiastic statement, it yet remains that those who know Mr. Rhodes best are those who estimate him most highly, though they admit not being able entirely to understand him. Despite his vast wealth and powerful Influence, he la the most democratic of men, brusque, unconventional, his clothes designed for comfort rather than smartness. He is an omnivorous reader, devouring hiktory. biography, and Action with gusto, his favorite novel being "Vanity Fair.” His mansion at Groot Bchuur is filled with antique furniture and rare china and paintings. In London there are, according to the latest directory 1,500 fan!llles by the name of Smith, 950 by the name of Jones, 700 Brown families and 351 Robinson families.