Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

BRAN AS A FOOD. Bran is probably the cheapest food that can be purchased and brought on the farm, with the exception of cotton seed and linseed meals. One advantage in favor of bran is that it is rich in mineral matter, and when fed in skim milk to pigs it gives excellent result*. It also adds largely to the value of the manure. THE ASPARAGUS CROP. Just before the asparagus plants produce seed cut them down, leave them on the bed, add straw if necessary and burn the bed over, so as to entirely consume all of the tops. By so doing some of the insects and parasites that attack the plants will be destroyed. Never allow the plants to produce seed, as the maturing of the seed takes plant food from the soil. PROFIT IN PIG-j. The pigs give the largest profit when they are gotten into market as early in their stage of growth as possible. The cost of pork is less if the animal Is sold when it does not exceed 200 pounds, as any excess of that weight will cost more in production than when the pig is growing, the heaviest increase in weight being with young animals. INFERIOR BUTTER. Inferior butter frequently from keeping the cream from one milking too long while saving it to j add more cream for the next churn- ; ing. Ripe and unripe cream should I never be churned together. Bad butter comes mostly from those who j have but one cow, or cows that are not in full flow of milk. The cre.am is | saved until more can be obtained, and the first cream is kept too long, the j result being that the whole supply is injured. WATER FOR SHEEP. The idea that sheep owners used to have, that sheep required no water, or none when in pasture, probably j arese in part from the fact that they will not drink of impure or stale water, unless absolutely obliged to do so. It is true that the habits of sheep to eat early in the morning, when the dew is on the grasses, serves in part j to lessen their desire for water later j in the day, hut when yarded in the winter or when in pasture during the j dry and dswless’ nights there are not many animals that are to be seen at j the brook or the trough of clean cold water more than the sheep, and they j usually prefer the trough to the brook, j possibly because they may have un- j pleasant recollections of the days when , they were washed in it, but more likely i because it is not as pure in some cases j as the water from the well, and we I supposed that it was because the latter ; was either pure or was cooler than the ; pond water. But we do know 1 that if j sheep are given pure and fresh water j they will drink many times a day, : while they will often pass by a tub or j trough that has had water in it all the previous night. The sheep may not be very dainty in its food, eating many things that we call weeds, but it is dainty about its water. —The Cultivator. INCREASING MILK FLOW. Happily we have feed stuffs that are rich in proteine and at the same time of low cost, because they are by-prod-ucts of the manufacturer of other articles of trade. Of these wheat bran, gluten feeds and o.x meals, both from cotton and flaxseed, are the most available. Of all feed rich in proteine it costs less for a pound of proteine when it is bought in the gluten feeds than In any other material available for supplying this element. The proteine in gluten feeds is not only low in price, but it is very palatable and highly digestible. Palatability and digestibility should not he lost sight of, as a feed may be rich in the elements of nutrition and stiy not of the highest value, becauselt is not as palatable as some feeds of lower nutritive value, but so palatable that it will bring better results. Clover is the ideal roughage for dairy cows, as it is almost exactly balanced. Oats are also balanced, and if these two feeds were to be had at a low cost we would not need to worry about balanced rations, because nature has in these done her perfect work. When compounding rations it is sometimes cheapest to feed a wide ration—that is, one rich in carboydrates, because the feed most available may be so cheap that we can better afford to wasts the carbohydrates in order to get enough proteine than to look for proteine from another source. As a rule, however, it is cheapest to use one of the feeds we get from by-prod-ucts than to feed a ration that is very wide. Corn stover, timothy hay, millet or Hungarian grass hay, and straw, are all poor in proteine, and when they are fed one or more of the concentrates should be used in sufficient quantities to bring the ration to the proper proportion. Roughly speaking, to ten pounds of any of these rough feeds two pounds of linseed oil meal or gluten meal should be used. In the various experiment stations this question of supplying proteine has been very thoroughly studied, and the concensus of opinion at this time is that proteine is a very important part of the ration.—Dairy and Creamery. . * ORCHARD COVER CROPS. It Is no longer a question that for the great majority of orchards the beat

tillage consists of ciean cultivation until about midsummer, and then the sowing of some cover crop which will assist in ripening the wood in the fall and protect the soil during the winter. This protection is, of course, the great advantage of a cover crop, as it prevents erosion and leaching. If the crop is a leguminous one it will also increase the supply of nitrogen in the soil; and, in any case, when plowed under in the spring it will f.ad to the humus, which is of so much importance. The best plant to use for this cover crop depends to a great extent upon local .conditions, such as soil and climate. A crop which remains green during the winter is of course, superior to one which dies in the fall. Whether or not the crop should be a legume depends upon the supply of nitrogen already in the soil. This is best indicated by the growth of the trees. If. they are making a very heavy growth of wood no more nitrogen is needed. If they do not make a normal growth it certainly is. Some orchards need a leguminous crop grown in them occasionally, some every year and a very few rarely or never. Among the crops most commonly sown for cover are the clovers, cow peas and vetch among the legumes, and rye, oats and buckwheat among the non-leguninous plants. Cow peas are a very valuable crop, but as they are killed by the first frost they are not the ideal one for winter covers; besides they do not mature seed when planted so late except in the south, and are generally more profitable elsewhere. Buckwheat has the same disadvantage of dying in the fall, and is for that reason inferior to rye or oats. Rye is the old stand-by, and where a legume is not needed is probably the best cover crop, all things considered. Where common clover does not winter kill it is almost an ideal crop, but it is often difficult to secure a stand. Red clover is also very valuable in the orchard as anywhere else. Sand vetch is one of the best plants yet offered for this purpose, but unfortunately the price of seed is so high as to be almost prohibitive. Mixtures ot different plants might be made to give good results. The Cornell Station reports favorably on a mixture of alfalfa, turnips and mammoth clover sown together. Whatever crop is sown, and there should surely be one of some kind, it is well to prepare the land thoroughly for it, and then to plow it under early in the spring so as to add to the moisture-holding capacity of the soil. The cover crop is for the benefit of the trees exclusively. and should be so regarded.—E. E. Miller in Agricultural Epitomist.

WHEAT AND FERTILIZERS. As the time approaches for farmers to consider the purchasing of fertilizers for the wheat crop to be sown in the fall they should carefully review their operations of last season in order to avoid repeating any mistakes that may have been made. Although there are hundreds of farmers who fully understand the requirements of their soil and crops, and who buy intelligently, yet there are many who do not know what should be used on their crops to the best advantage, in consequence of which they do not expend the money appropriated for fertilizers in a manner to secure the best possible results in yields. As a rule many farmers bujr “phosphate." As phosphate is only one kind of plant food, the farmer who relies upon it may be disappointed. The complete fertilizers contain nitrogen, potash and phosphate, the latter being procured for the soluble phosphoric acid contained, as the phosphate rock or bones used for fertilizer are usually put through a process of acidulation in order to render the phosphoric acid available. Where manure and fertilizers are used together the result will always be satisfactory, and at an expense of about two or three dollars per acre for fertilizer the returns in yields of crops will be more than sufficient to pay for the fertilizer, give a larger yield as well and leave the land in better condition. Soma farmers, however, who keep large herds of cattle and have an abundance of manure, prefer to use only phosphates for wheat, as they regard the manure as sufficient for supplying the necessary potash, and If clover enters into the crop rotation the supply of nitrogen may be sufficient; but much depends upon the quality of the manure and how It was kept. Phosphoric add is the best of the fertilizers for the grains, but in growing a crop of wheat it is important to have also a good growth of straw as well as well-filled grains. The drilling of seed wheat is done easily and rapidly with the grain drill, which also has a fertilizer attachment for applying fertilizer at the name time. In addition to phosphate the farmer should use some potash, applying but little nitrogen in the fall, as an application of nitrate of soda in the spring on growing wheat has a wonderful effect. If the nitrogen is applied in the fail there is a liability of some of it being carried off by rains and melting boowb. Farmers who prefer to use a nitrogenous fertilizer In the fall resort to ground dried blood, which is not as readily solub’.o as nitrate of soda.