Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

I THE NO-PURPOSE COW. This animal is In evidence on a great guny farms and has done more toward Injuring the dairy and cattle Insiness than anything else. The noyurpose cow Is much like the mongrel 4og or the barnyard fowl. Neither has ■ny particular breed, possibilities or capabilities. They exist because they •re the products of a lazy, careless ■ystem. They do not help their owners much, but tend to discourage them. The no-purpose cow i 3 the product of an indifferent system of farrowing, and It is an animal which Is neither good for milk or beef. She Is usually a good feeder, an excellent feeder in fact, but, not much of a producer. It is astonishing sometimes to know where the food goes which she eats, for it is converted into neither fat, flesh nor milk. It must make hone, muscle or sinew, for the flesh of the animal is generally tough when eaten. Now the general purpose cow is a «r 033 or type intermediate between the heef and dairy type. This animaj, atrictly speaking, is the product of careful and good breeding, and is not the outcome of chance or accident. She has been bred for a dual purpose and If she comes up to anticipations she is a good milker and a good beef producer. While not as good as the best heef animal or the finest dairy cows in producing beef or milk, she nevertheless possesses the ability to partake of aach to a considerable degree. She is eminently adapted to the general farmer who wishes milk and later a fat cow for the shambles, with calves ■which will produce good veal in a chort time from birth. It mpy not be generally known, but is is more difficult to raise such an animal than a typical beef or dairy cow. The danger, however, comes in with the nopurpose cow. In trying to secure a good g noral purpose cow, we may stumble upon the no-purpose animal. This should be avoided In every possible way, for the investment would prove as unsatisfactory as any possibly could on the farm. —L. E. Kerr, *n The Epitomist.

BROODER CHICKENS. Given a good, easily regulated brooder and chickens hatched all apparently alike, it is still to the Inexperienced, a source of astonishment and no little perplexity, that within a lew days, generally by the third, there Is noticed a difference in growth. As the days go on through the first two weeks it Is evident some of the chickens are failing seriously. You can Bardly notice any growth, their wings grow faster than their tail feathers a %ad symptom. What is to he done? They lack something that must be supplied. It is then best to separate them Into two classes. Sort out the weakly •nes and place in another brooder, seeing especially that they are kept dry, lave plenty of grit in their food, are fed regularly and not too often; four -Hmes a day is enough. It i 3 of great Importance to keep the brooders dry. Use newspapers on the brooder floors, fresh twice a day at Irst. Later the chicks will be out on the ground most of the time during the day, only running in for their meals, which it is better to serve in boors, making it an easy matter to get them under shelter in any sudden emergency. They soon learn to go in and out themselves as they would run wnder the old hen. The novice will be tempted to keep the brooders too warm. After the first day the lamp ahould be turned low, just warm enough to keep the chicks from huddling on each other. I a very good litter which should eover the floor of the brooder and be wnewed every day, is grass seed and ftne hay chaff found under the hay in the barn. Almost from the first, the •hickens must be supplied with some animal food. A good way to obtain it fe to turn over with a spade a small part of the ground about the brooders •ach day, bringing worms to the surface. As to food, give wheat screenings once a day, .fine cracked corn •nee. and for the other two meals (afi ter the first month, three meals a day will suffice) a cake made of corn meal and wheat middlings in equal quantl- ■ ties mixed with sour milk and a little ■ aada, baked for about an hour, when it | grumbles fine and dry.—American AgI atcuiturist. LATE PRUNING BEST. II The concensus of opinion in about all aarts of the United States, of ex1, ferlenceJ orchardists. agrees with that i mt llr. John Tibbetts, of Michigan, who ■ My experience of over fifty ears in ||pnning. not only in this State, but in Bjjlgifernia. has convinced me that $5 f, a bay would better be paid to an exhand to prune in June or ragtfy than have the work done for PpgfTHrr at a much earlier date. True, flltottftr prune even in January or Febi: nary than not prune at all. and the KgpfeUtions and locality would, of |bane, have much to do in the matPIM- In California we prune in Jan|;;aarr because the season there is from Ippaa to three months earlier than here, possibly in some of the old counIplgK ft might be proper to prune earittr than in this latitude. But a safe

rule in any latitude is to only prune when the bgrk peels, because then it is the wood-forming period. It must be apparent, to any one that the sooner a wound begins to heal after it is made the better. This is sound advice in nurseries and in young orchards. But in old orchards, when the time comes for a grand shortening or cutting back of the far-extending limbs for the development of a new top, the work must be done in November or in the early winter on mild days, and the wounds should be painted or covered with good liquid grafting-wax covered with white paper. The last plan is far best, but the painting is a -quicker process and is fairly satisfactory.

FOR CONFINED POULTRY. One of the main objections to keeping poultry confined is that they do not get sufficient exercise or green food. A good way of, at least partially, overcoming these troubles 13 to arrange two yards, or better, three, having one of them composed of a heavy grass plot. If three yards are had two of them should be in grass. Have those yards as large as possible and locate one of them where It will have partial shade during the day.’ The yard that is bare should be sunny during the morning, so tliat p the fowls may use the soft soil for dusting; then as it gets warmer give them access to one of the grass plots where they may have shade as well. To Induce exercise the noon feed of grain should be scattered sparingly through the gras3. This will keep the poultry busy for a long time. After a week or ten days close this plot of grass and use the remaining one, giving the grass a chance to grow in the first one. If some care is taken to remove most of the droppings left on the grass plots there will be no trouble in getting the fowls to keep them pretty well cropped. The plan is not an expensive one and by keeping the fowls busy they will keep up the egg supply and keep out of mischief. —Indianapolis News. GOOSE PASTURAGE. Geese are grazing birds. In fact, they live and thrive on good pasturage and water, although, of course, they do not make the rapid growth that may be secured when some grain is fed; on the other hand, it is probably not possible to raise goslings on an exclusive grain diet without a liberal supply of some succulent vegetable food. Young goslings make the most rapid growth upon short, nutritious grass or brook grass and grain. In a wild state geese devour large quantities of roots of grasses and aquatic plants, which they dig from the banks and borders of streams, and wash free from earth in shallow water. Domestic geese confine themselves to less water and aquatic plants, and generally feed upon pastures, preferring moist, rich localities where the grass is kept short and sweet by constant feeding and rapid growth. Tall, woody grasses which have become tough are not relished by them. This natural habit of geese makes considerable space necessary for their successful keeping, or requires that they be provided with succulent green growth.—American Cultivator. , ORCHARD CULTIVATION. , It is surprising to hear people discussing the question of non-cultivation or cflltivation of apple orchards. The discussion would indicate that there are orchardists who practice no cultivation with marked success in some places; but those who give no cultivation either cover the soil with straw or manure or keep in the orchards flocks of sheep or swine that continually enrich the soil. Many people have cultivated their orchards so deep as to cut off the top feeding roots of the trees and have thus done their orchards injury. Where orchards have been cultivated with intelligence, nearly all the work being done with a disc harrow, cultivation has proved as desirable for apple trees as for other fruits. All young orchards should be continually cultivated, and we might add nearly all older orchards. And yet it Is claimed by some that apple trees will do much better in sod ground without cultivation than peach trees. No one will attempt to grow peach trees without more thorough cultivation.—Peaeh Growers’ Journal. STARTING A LAWN. In starting a lawn, work the soil thoroughly to a depth of eighteen inches, and after it has been brought to the same condition as that desired for a good flower bed, put on a topdressing of twenty bushels of wood ashes, ten bushels of ground bone, five bushels of salt and one bushel of lime to the acre. For smaller parcels of land use, of course, smaller proportions of the same formula. The formula for mixing seed is five bushels an acre, divided as follows: Two bushels of blue-grass seed, two of Rhode Island Bent, three-quar-ters of a bushel of sweet vernal and one-quarter of a bushel of white clover seed. —The Cultivator. Farmers claim that the ore Smei;*rs of Butte, Mont., throw into the air five tons of sulphuric acid and half a ton of arsenic each day, greatly to the damage of crops.