Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1902 — GARDEN AND FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GARDEN AND FARM

CROPS NEED ATTENTION. Tillage and manure seem to go together or are Intimately connected. Complete success cannot be looked for without both. However strong the tendency on the part of mankind to avoid labor, it must be remembered that it has proved that, as a rule, crops will not perfect themselves without attention. CHARCOAL FOR HOGS. Every hog house should contain a box full of charcoal. This may be secured by digging a pit in the ground starting the fire at the bottom and as is progresses throwing in„ cobs and wood until it is full. When the Are is well started, cover the whole with a piece of sheet iron. The mass will be thoroughly charred in a day or two and can be taken oift and used. Some feeders make a solution of 12 pounds of salt and two pounds of coperas in a pail of water and sprinkle over the charcoal until it is pretty well satur ated. Hogs will remain healthy and in good condition if they are given good feed and plenty of charcoal. CHEAP IRRIGAI lON. As an illustration of the value of a little inventive genius in utilizing all possible advantages of one's surroundings, there Is a small grower of strawberries and other small fruit who makes every rain store water for irrigating his plants in dry weather. In his section of the country dry weather at the critical fruit-growing period makes his crop some years very uncertain, blit if he can mature and ripen a full crop he realizes a good deal of profit., Consequently he has been led to protect his interest by means of an invention of his own. All the water which falls on his barn and house is conducted by leaders to a huge tank made of wood and cemented inside to make water tight. This tank holds enough water to irrigate his plot of five acres through almost any ordinary drought. As an artificial water gatherer he has arranged a series of slanting wooden frames which he covers with canvas in the spring season to catch the rain water. By means of these he is enabled to store the water which fails over a considerable area. The canvas covering is put up only prior to the dry period of early summer, and taken down when the crops have been harvested. They are sort of emergency water-gatherers. The water running down the sides of these canvas slopes Is caught in a gutter and conducted to the storage tank where it is kept until needed. The construction of this tank, with Its capacity of 50,000 gallons, was the most expensive part of the work, and it required a good deal of work and planning to locate It so that it would have a slight elevation above the flat garden. As it stands today it supplies a very slight pressure to the water and the pipes and hose which tap the tank can carry the water to any part of the five acres. During long periods of dry weather the man keeps his crops supplied with sufficient moisture to make them grow continously. There has never been a tiiW-in the past five years when he lost anything from drought, although farmers all around repeatedly lost a part or all of their small berry crops. The invention and work certainly pays big interest in the investment, and should serve to encourage others to make some provision against destructive dry weather, where so much depends upon the results. —Professor S. N. Doty, in American Cultivator.

BREEDING FOR THE DAIRY

The measure of the profitableness of the dairy business is our ability to increase the productiveness of the soil and the yield of the cow. The two go together, and the former is in large degree gauged by the latter. While it is stating a self-evident fact that only the cow of medium to large producing capacity pays a profit on her keeping, the other fact is just as evident, that a large part of the dairymen come short of the full measure of success in their vocation because they fail to practice on that line so evident. While the disparity in the appreciation of the farm Incident to keeping upon it good or poor dairy cows may not vary greatly in favor of one or the other, the business as a whole is one-sided, and hence is not a success. In these days of low prices and competition with frauds in dairy products, It is only with cows of the highest producing capacity that we can meet the situation and score a positive gain or profit. There are but few dairies where the best cows are not carrying a lot of poor ones, or rather, a lot of poor cows are dragging down the net income of the best producers. In the majority of dairies In the country today, if we could strike a balance we should find that the -Ayqpffge butter production of the herds Is nearer the standard of the poorest than of the best. This should be reversed. Thera is no reason why this happier condition cannot be brought about. It lies with the dairyman and farmers themselves. A large item in the current expenses of keeping a cow Is in the food Rhe wastes. The consumption of food is her legitimate and proper business, and her rating In the dairy Is based upon her rapacity to consume and turn into good milk large quantities of food. But the qualifying circumstance is the amount of food wasted — diverted to the production of fat or failing to appropriate aU the elements

of the food. Every dairyman should study *nd know the capacity of his cows, and, acting upon this knowledge, eliminate the poorer animals from his herd, and fill their places with cows of higher producing capacity, flow to get such cows is the question. An economical and practical way is to raise them from the best cows of the herd. Sires of the best butter producing strains are cheap at their call. A little more thought and wise calculation in these matters may be turned to good account. —New York Tribune Farmer. COVERING FOR THE SOIL. Farmers cannot control the rainfall, but they can at least mitigate the effects of drought to a certain extent by the proper preparations and cultivation of the soil. It is a well-known fact that when the soil is kept In a loose, fine friable condition it not only absorbs moisture from the atmosphere especially at night, but allows of the downward course of the water during showers instead of a loss by flowing off, as is the case when the surface is hard. A loose, deep soil also permits an upward tendency of water by capillary attraction, the loose soil thus storing moisture by its greater power of absorption when rains are abundant. We, therefore, find, in time of severe drought that the frequent use of the cultivator even when the soil apparently does not require working, is very beneficial, the green tinge of the growing corn giving evidence that the constant stirring of the soil enables the crop to derive a certain proportion of moisture that It would not otherwise obtain. The leaves of plants give off moisture very rapidly. When we sprinkle a plant with water the moisture is not absorbed by the leaves, as many suppose, but it arrests, temporarily the rapid evaporation that constantly takes place, which is greatest when the season is very warm. We may safely compare a growing plant to a pump, which brings the moisture from below and discharges it from the leaves. The moisture is collected by the roots, which spread in every direction, and the amount of moisture given off in a day by a plant, as corn, for instance, is very great. We cannot, of course, water a field of corn, but we can at least lessen the amount of water which it gives off. The warmer the soil the more active the plant in search of moisture. Among the agencies used for assisting to retain moisture is plaster, which absorbs moisture to a certain degree from the atmosphere. Any material that serves as a mulch will impart great benefit to a growing crop, not only by preventing the evaporation of moisture from the soil, but also by keeping the earth cool. The only method known, however, for securing the largest proportion of moisture is, as stated, the deep, constant thorough pulverization of the soil. There is another fact to be considered. Weeds and grass also give off moisture, and every weed that grows by the side of a plant intended for cropping deprives the desired plant of moisture. Sometimes the weed or blade of grass requires more moisture than the plant, and flourishes, while the plant dies. Clean cultivation, therefore, prevents the robbery of the plant of moisture by destroying weeds and grass. As two plants of the same kind growing together are rivals, the one struggling against the other for supremacy, in procuring food and moisture, we should be cautious not to have too many plants to the hill. When danger occurs during drought, as happens nearly every summer, the rules should be to thin out every plant that can be spared in order that the stronger and more thrifty may have better opportunities to mature. A clean surface and deep tillage will often save a crop that otherwise might be lost during a dry season —Philadelphia Record.