Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1902 — SEPARATION BY DILUTION [ARTICLE]

SEPARATION BY DILUTION

It has been known among dairymen for some years that milk could be diluted with from 25 to 50 per cent of water and the cream be gathered on top by the gravity process without injuring its quality to any marked degree. It has also been demonstrated by dairymen and experiment stations that in some cases where the milk is unusually thick, such as that from strippers, diluting with water would, to a slight degree, aid in separating the cream from the milk, 't has also been shown that on the average cream will not separate as perfectly from milk where dilution has been used. Separators working on such a plan, if we may call them such, are nothing more than tin cans in which the separation of cream is accomplished by the gravity process, and Is claimed to be greatly aided by dilution with water. It has been clearly shown that these cans do not separate as thoroughly as the old pan or shallow can system. Many farmers and dairymen are misled by their claims as to thorough separation of cream from the milk. The companies promoting these dilution cans also claim the patent right of diluting milk with water for the purpose of creaming. This claim is without foundation in law or in fact. In a few words, when a farmer purchases such a separator he is getting nothing more than a tin can and the privilege of mixing water with his milk, which does more harm than good.—T. L. Haecker, in Nebraska Dairyman. GREEN FOOD FOR HENS. The regular farmer generally has enough by products from his fields to feed the hens without considering special crops for them; but the person who raises chickens for a living alone must raise crops for them lu iiußmu.

One cannot expect to make money with chickens if all the food is to be bought. This is the mistake made by many beginners. It should be understood at the outset that farming of a certain order must be conducted along with the business of chicken raising. There should be enough clover hay raised to last the hens through the winter, and an acre of good clover should be sufficient to feed the hens with dry hay all winter. In addition to this, one should clip tne lawn every week for the sake of the short green grass which the hens will eat all summer and fall. Green crops should be planted in the garden or field to supply the hens with green food through , the spring, summer and fall. One of the best spring crops is lettuce. Plant the large variety, and a great deal can be raised on a few square yard of soil. Then follow up with radishes, the tops of which the hens will eat. Cabbages, turnips and beats are all good foods for the hens. Tuey can be fed in summer and winter. By storing up enough cabbages for winter use we provide a most excellent winter food for the laying hens. Potatoes, beets or turnips cooked in winter make excellent food. The green tops of all these vegetables will do for summer and fall. It may not pay one in the East to raise corn and wheat for the hens, but certainly all the other food crops should be raised on the poultry farm. —Annie C. Webster, in American. THE MOST PROLIFIC HOGS. The best hogs are those cared* for in the best manner. Among the standard breeds of hogs the point of superiority must be looked for in their keeper—it cannot be found, uniformly, in the animals. A breed that is everything desired with one man may be a flat failure with another. It is said that the large Yorkshire is one of the most prolific of the breeds, yet plenty of individual cases are cn record where other types have proved to be more so, as well as where the Yorkshire has fulfilled all the promises made for it. The fecundity of a breed depends upon how the individual breeders, male and female,-are cared for, how fed, exercised, sheltered, etc., and economy of meat production depends upon methods of feeding from pighood up, upon pasturage, utilization of by-products of the dairy, as well as of grains; composition of feeds, regularity in feeding, careful watching of the effect of a given ration upon each individual, and other details too numerous to mention. These things constitute tne best hogs, the cheapest production, the largest profits anu the completist satisfaction in all respects. Breeds have become more a matter of taste than anything else, and the feeder is likely to do the best with the style of hog he likes the best. The man who admires white hogs should not raise black one', especially when, as may be the case, the only difference between them, under similar conditions, is their color. If one will use any one of the popular breeds of hogs, care for them according to the teachings of this department, past, present and future, he will be ready to affirm that he has got the best breed on earth.—Farm, Stock and Home.

HELP EACH OTHER. Little things, or rather, we should say, seemingly little things, ar.se in poultry keeping which baffle the owner of the stock and he becomes discouraged, while another is successfully treated as a rival. Hence, it is very desirable that poultry raisers, men and women, should endeavor to do each other all the good they can in this direction. We are all too apt to take up one or two breeds and for the time tell people they are the best breeds in existence, then in a year cr two discard them for another variety, and occasionally in less time than this even, all because of the little things which came up to discourage us. Perhaps the next breed tried, we meet with the same discouragements, forgetting the fact that we have tried those various breeds at different seasons of the year and under different circumstances. One year may be a bad year for poultry, and the food and houses may not be as good as at another time, or our treatment of the fowls not the same. Raising poultry is very interesting, but it is no child’s play, and we have very little time for pleasure trips, as work soon accumulates in case of delays and neglect, and unless given prompt attention, may result fatally so far as the life of the fowls la concerned. I find that clean, comfortable houses, with plenty of exercise and a variety of food, are the safeguards against disease. The beginner in the poultry business Is too often misled, as so many writers seem to want to please them by making things look big on paper, instead of giving facts. If I were going to start In the breeding of fancy poultry again, I would put a good price into a trio of the breed I liked the best, build a comfortable house, study the business and grow up with it. There are so many things to be looked after to make poultry breeding a success, that it cannot all be learned at once. I find that board floors should always be used In coops. The floors should be made separate and the coop should fit down to the ground around the floor. This allows the chicks to be above the ground the thickness of the board floor, preventing their getting damp In rainy weather, and you will find they will thrive better than where no floor is used.— M. F. Norris, in In land Poultry Journal. In order that a rainbow may be produced the sun must not be more than 42 degrees above the horisoa.