Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

■&' PARTIAL SOILING. Farmers generally and dairymen in E particular do not seem to realize the ■ Importance of supplying proper food ’ during midsummer when the pastures are almost invariably short. This ahnrtago comes at a critical time for flairymen as it is when the weather is hot and the flies excessively troublesome. The result is a shrinkage in flow of milk, and It is practically impossible to restore the original flow during that'period of lactation. This is the season of the year when the question of partial soiling should be considered in connection with plans for the uummer’s work. A pasture will carry much more stock during spring, early summer and fall than it will in the dry weather of midsummer. By helping it out during this season with partial soiling, the stock not only have better feed, but more stock can be carried on a given area than by pasturing alone. Feed may be supplied in two ways, either by growing some crop that can be pastured oft by turning on the cows a short time each day or by cutting the crop and hauling to the cows. The former method is the more economical in labor, but there is greater waste of feed and it requires either a small field or some temporary fencing. Alfalfa makes an excellent crop for partial soiling, especially for dairy cows. It can be cut when needed during the summer and by the time the piece is cut over once the portion cut first will have grown up so that it can be cut again. In this way continuous feed can be supplied at all times from the same land with the same kind of crop and without different seeding or cultivation. Another advantage alfalfa baa is that whatever is not needed for soiling may be made into excellent hay and utilized in this way. I would strongly advise dairy farmers to try an acre or two of alfalfa, as the results gotten by Dr. Hopkins and published in bulletin 76 of this station, indicate that if properly managed alfalfa will yield eight tons of hay on most Illinois soils. If pastures are short and no allowance has been made for green feed corn should be cut from the regular crop if it will bear the roasting ear stage, as it will bring the best returns Never under any consideration allow the stock to go hungry and suffer the losses incident to shortened feed at the time which is for every reason the most trying to live stock. —W. J. Fraser, University of Illinois, In Farmers’ Review.

HUM US AND MOISTURE. Decayed vegetable matter Is humus. To have a good soil we must have a supply of vegetable matter in it. The chief advantage in this is in enabling the soil to hold water to a greater degree than would be the case did It not contain water. The eastern gardeners have been surprised, sometimes to And that their soils would not rer spond to commercial fertilizers and that the land was becoming apparently very subject to drouth. The trouble was that the humus had been exhausted by year after year growing crops upon it by the help of commercial fertilizers without putting on a particle of barnyard manure or turning under green crops. At the I Minnesota experiment statiion tests were made on soils with a good supply of humus and those with little, as to water content. On one soil the I humus was found to be 3.35 per cent. all. The water content was 16.48 per cent The other soil contained 2.5 per cent of humus, and the water content I was 12.14 per cent, of the total. This difference has been figured out as about a quart of water per cubic foot of soil, which would mean over 10,000 gallons to the acre. In a dry season thia difference would be a very great I factor tn the maturing of the crop. Plants do not eat; they drink. All | food is taken in a liquid condition. If the water is absent the plant starves. The humus supply is therefore of prime importance in the developing of our farm crops. There is another great advantage in having a eoil rich in humus and that is that the noil does not give off its water so rapidly as do soils where the humus la wanting. The roots go after the food and moisture and get them, but the water does not so rapidly pass to the surface of the ground. The humK us acts as a sub-earth mulch, if such a term be allowable. It hinders the F pumps of the sun and wind from taking moisture out of the soil, but helps them to take tihe moisture from leaves Of plants, which method is serviceable to man. At the station mentioned the two soils were saturated with the same I amount of water and exposed to the | san and wind for ten hours. At the I sad of that time the soil with the I largest amount of humus contained E. 12 per cent of its water, while the I Other soil contained only 3.94 per cent, r —Farmers' Review. ORCHARD GRASS. I have grown orchard grass for | about 15 years, both for grazing and m Browing, and find it has proved very EMsemuDedating in old fields, for it out well and when the other | grosses have died out, will stool and I'aadesvor to fill the gap. Then, when Iby favorable season, or application |«f fertilisers, the other grasses are

given a more vigorous start, the orchard grass has retired to closer quarters, and with Its abundant leaf growth from the root, made a bottom that piles up hay behind the mower. In fact this habit is what makes it valuable, with late maturing grasses, as it ripens its seed several weeks In advance.

If not sown thicker than one-half bushel seed per acre, with the other seeding, the heading salk will be of small value compared with the leaf growth, which remains fresh and palatable till late fall. When sown alone two or three bushels of seed per acre should be used.

Two years since I seeded a plot, which was intended to lie for two. seasons, with red clover and orchard grass alone. The dry weather was too severe for the clover, and burned off most of the young plants when 1 to 2 inches high, leaving only orchard grass. The following season, being short of hay for my horses in June, I cut the piece of orchard grass when in bloom, and began feeding as soon as cured.

Unlike most green hay, Instead of shrinking my horses, they promptly began to put on flesh with their usual feed of grain, old timothy and red top hay and regular work. In fact they gained so rapidly that I gradually took away their grain altogether, and on that new orchard grass hay without grain, they kept in better condition and showed more life at usual farm work than with the other hay and grain combined. This pleased me so that when my orchard grass was ready to cut last season, I began at once to feed It to horses with the same satisfactory results as before. For land in pastures which I am reseeding, I always make it a prominent proportion of the seed. —A. J. Hamm, in American Agriculturist.

FEEDING HORSES. In caring for work horses I like to give them a drink of water the first thing in the morning, then some hay, and finally their grain the last thing before going to breakfast. By letting them eat hay awhile before feeding the grain, they are not quite so hungry, and will not eat so fast. If there is something in the stomach the grain seems to digest better. The horse will do more and remain in better condition if worked steadily with short stops, than he will If hurried and allowed to stand still long at a time. The last half hour before quitting time, he should have short stops often, then when he gets to the stable be can have some water. At noon give hay while the driver gets his dinner, then water and feed the grain. Give a little water when they go out to work If they want It.

At the night the horses should have some water when they come in. Thengive hay and afterward more water before they have their grain. If one does not feed the same at each feeding the horses should have the largest amount at night when they are going to have a long rest. I may seem overcaustlous about giving water but the horse wants plenty of it, only not too much at a time. If you will watch horses in the yard you will see them go and drink often and take a little at a time. In feeding horses one should watch each animal, as the same rule will not apply to all.—W. W. Morrison in Orange Judd Farmer. TRAIN THE CHICKENS. The nautral instincts of fowls prompts them to roost high above the ground, not for sanitary reasons, but to be out of harm’s way, where they cannot be molested by marauders which prowl about at night, ready to pounce on them for their suppers. For this reason the young chicks soon make their way to the fenece top and from there to the tree tops, and when once they have acquired the habit it is very hard to break them. They soon develop crooked breast bones and bumble foot, or, worse still catch cold, which in time changes to croup, and all our work is wasted. They should be compelled to roost on the ground, in or near their coops, until they are four months old, after which they should be taught to go to the house, and for them a separate one should be built. They should not be compelled to fight for places on the roost with old fowls, but should have a quiet place all by themselves. A house like that described elsewhere will accommodate a hundred or more chickens until the pullets begin to lay.—Home and Farm.