Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

CREATING A DEMAND. At a Nebraska fair last year the dairymen in a' community organized and sent their best butter to be given away as samples, on crackers, as well a£ distributing circular!' describing how the butter was made and the dairies managed. The result is that at the present time the demand is greater than the supply, and at prices higher than the regular market quotations. LOSSES OF YOUNG CHICKS. The losses of young chicks occur during the summer from so many causes as to sometimes cause astonishment. They seem to disappear without enemies. The fact is that dogs, hawks, rats and other depredators carry them off. The most destructive enemy is the family cat, and the one that eats from the same dish with the chicks, allowing them to sit on her back, will take her share of young poultry when she is not observed; In fact, it is the kind and gentle cats that do the greatest damage. SOWING SEED ECONOMICALLY. The sowing of seed by hand is not an economical method, as more seed is required than when a drill is used, and there is a larger return from the drill, owing to better covering of the seed and greater uniformity of depth. The drill has been improved to a high degree of efficiency, and some .have fertilizer attachments. In all experiments made to determine the comparative value of the drill and hand seeding a less quantity of seed, carefully drilled in. yielded more bushels per acre, in proportion to seed used, than seeding by hand. OAT HAY AND TIMOTHY. Oat hay makes very fair feed for horses, although it is not quite the equal of timothy. One ’ hundred pounds of the digestible food in oat hay contains about 4.07 ppunds of proteine and 33.35 pounds of carbohydrates, while the timothy contains 4.82 pounds of preteine and 46.83 pounds of carbohydrates. For milch cows there is no better rough feed than well cured clover hay which should contain nearly 7 1-2 pounds of digestible proteine and 38 pounds of carbohydrates. As proteine is an important feature in producing either muscle or milk, if entirely palatable, then the hay that contains the most of this material should be best suited for horses or dairy cows. We have been feeding oat straw to our horses all winter with good results, but now with the hard work of plowing they are feeding on timothy. Oat straw is not to be confounded with oat hay, for the latter is cured as hay and contains nearly four times as much digestible proteine as the oat straw does. —C. S. Plumb, in the Indiana Farmer. ASHES AS A FERTILIZER. We used to think that ashes were a good fertilizer because of the potash that! they supplied, but we are not now sure of it. They have the reputation of assisting in the growth of the fungous disease which causes the scab in potatoes, by the lime that is in them. If they have been applied two or more years before the alkaline property of the time will have disappeared so that the potash will show its good effects, as that neither evaporates nor fleaches away very rapidly. On strawberries ashes are reported as not being a desirable fertilizer unless the land Is wet, cold and sour, or, in other words contains too much acid. On good corn land, which is not wet and sour land, ashes seem to act favorably for the corn crop, or, indeed, for almost any grain crop. We need to learn much about the action of lime on our soils, not only in the ashes, but as the carbonate and sulphate of lime or of the lime in the phosphate. There is reason to believe that they are beneficial to some soils which are not apparently acid in character, but where tuey help to make other mineral elements available, yet we have little real knowledge of the facts or of the conditions under which lime or ashes containing lime do their best work. —The Cultivator. MILK FEVER. In a bulletin from the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station preventive and curative measures for the milk fever in cows are given, which should be of special value to those who have animals suffering with tms disease, or which show a tendency to contract it. At the outset it is stated that the disease is most likely 'to appear in heavy, deep milkers, which means our most valuable dairy cows. The preventive measures consist chiefly in regulating the diet and bowels of the cows previous to calving when the fever is most likely to appear. A very rich diet at such times is dangerous. It is even necessary to take the heavy milkers at the time of parturition from rich pastures and put them on thin and scanty ones. If stall fed they must be given a tuoi that can be easily digested, and ono that is not very rich and heavy. The animals must have plenty of exercise, and milking should be thorough two or three times a day. Cows that have suffered with milk fever are very apt to have a second attack during calving time, but a little Attention to the diet, exercise, fresh air and careful milking will generally prevent a recurrence. Deep milkers should be watched at such times, whether

they have ever had the fever or not. They may in this way be prevented from suffering an attack. Curative treatment is more difficult and complicated than preventive, and many cows with milk fever have been drugged to death to cure them. Usually the safest course is to have a veterinary surgeon who understands his business well to take charge. The so-called Schmidt’s treatment is said by the Mississippi bulletin to be generally successful, but this is not a simple operation for one not accustomed to it. It consists In washing out the udder with a solution of the iodide of potash. After washing thoroughly outside with warm water and soap, and then with a five per cent, watery solution of carbolic acid, two or three drams of iodide of potash, dissolved in a quart of warm water, is infused in the udder by means of a rubber tube and glass funnel. The detailed method is described in the bulletin. —Prof. S. N. Doty, in American Cultivator. POTATO SCAB. As we have many inquiries concerning potato scab and its prevention, we will give our readers a method that is in general use in many sections. It has been proved that potato scab is a low form of fungus life. Some writers believe that there are two kinds of scab, the surface and the deep scab. But the two are almost identical as far as injury to the potato is concerned, and may be considered the same. If scab has msde its appearance, new ground should be selected, if possible, for planting potatoes' The fungi of the scab will remain in the ground for years, and attack the potatoes whenever they are planted in the affected ground. Some have made the statement that the scab was worse where barnyard manure was used as a fertilizer. But this was found to be the case only where the stock had been fed upon scabby potatoes. The only way to destroy scab where the potatoes are fed to stock is by thorough cooking, as feeding raw has no destructive effect upon the germs. They pass into manure and are ready *o attack the potatoes whenever an opportunity offers through the fertilizer. This scab also attacks beets in the same way that it does potatoes, hence to get rid ot the disease no planting should be done where the affected vegetables have been raised. To prevent this disease, seed potatoes may be treated in the following way; Procure from your druggist one ounce of corrosive sublimate (mercuric bichloride) finely pulverized, and pour upon it one gallon of hot water. When it is dissolved pour into a barrel and add six gallons of water. Stir it occasionally for four or five hours, then put the potatoes into it. letting them remain one and a half hours. They may be cut ready to plant, or left whole; if whole they should be dried before being cut. If more of the solution is needed at a time, the ingredients may be doubled, or kept in about the same proportion. Use no metal in connection with it. The potatoes can be put into a coffee sack, or something not closely woven, and immersed in the solution. Remove them and treat others in the same way; the the liquid may be used many times. Care should be used in handling this solution, as it is very poisonous. All potatoes so treated should be planted or destroyed. There are other methods that are successful as a preventive of scab. One is the use of the Bordeaux Mixture, in which, as a weak solution, the potatoes are soaked for an hour. However our preference is for the first solution given, as we consider it better adapted to the purpose.—Agricultural Epitomist. FARM NOTES. The food for the cows should be of such a nature that no bad taste will be imparted to the milk. For rust on bean vines spray with saltpetre water, one ounce of saltpetre to one gallon of water. Stripped cucumber beetle may be checked by applying soot on the plants early in the morning while the dew is on. For squash and cucumber bugs, dissolve a tablespoonful of saltpetre In a pail of water. Apply a pint to each hill. Feed regularly, water regularly, milk regularly and treat kindly always, is the golden rule for caring for your cows. Remove the milk of every cow at once from the stable to a clean, ary room, or where the air is pare and sweet. Do not allow cans to remain in stables while they are being filled. To fatten animals quickly the fat elements of foods must predominate, but not to the exclusion of the proteids. Horse blankets should always tye used out of doors to protect sweaty horses from cold and rain. No one should try to raise hogs without plenty of pasture throughout the season, but remember also that it takes grain to make a marketable hog, and to keep brood sows up to their work. There Is practically no difference between beets and ensilige as a succulent food for ewes rearing early lambs, there is nothing better than Rood clover hay. Land Without Limit. In MAnitobla and Asslnibola there are 60,000,000 acres of rich arable land, which could support 6,000,000 persons. The present population is only 320. Every man who has money is abused for not buying things other people want to get rid of.