Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

CARE OF YOUNG TURKEYS. | A pen should be ready for the little turkeys to occupy about a week, with plenty of room for the mother and a I good lengthy run. If the mother is a wild cross, It is hardly best to confine her at all, as ehe will struggle to escape. Put the turkeys out at once In a high, light graee patsure, and “shingle” the mother to prevent surmounting the wall. Give the little ones all they want to eat, four times daily, coming down to three when a third grown, and ■ afterward decreasing to two. North--1 ern corn meal mixed with milk, sweet jor preferably sour, should be the ’ earliest food, with the admixture es black pepper when necessary- A little hard boiled eggs may be added, bread crumbe soaked in milk, and by late summer cracked corn, which it is an excellent plan to scald. By win* ter they may be fed whole corn. In September and October the feeding i may be wholly omitted, and then a mixture of new and old com will fatten rapidly with the best results in November. Do not allow the turkeys | access to the fields of green oats, for they will prove exceedingly distastrous. Brisk showers will usually kill young turkeys, and eternal vigilance will be needed to get them under cover. If the shingle fetter for the another is objectionable, It is sometimes practicable to give her the circular run of a long cord, pegged to the earth. i The little turkeys should be en'eouraged to roost out aa early as possible, care being taken to keep them from the early morning dew until they are at least a month old. There will not be much Illness in a flock from the best irjfd hardiest stock, not inbred, n.'id carefully watched and tended, though distemper will attack and lay low the finest j of flocks at times, and the depredations of foxes will undo the painstaking work of months. August is the most trying month for stomach troubles, and bearing this fact in mind and using red and black pepper and ginger as preventives, these may be sometimes wholly warded off. Death among very young turkeys us ually occurs during the first week. — M. M. Tallman, in New England Homestead.

ADVANCEMENT IN FARMING. The man who is engaged In agricultural pursuits at the present day is expected to keep up to and advance with the agricultural progress of the world. He must dispense with the old methods and adopt the new and later inventions. We cannot raise and feed our stock as our forefathers did a hundred years ago because we are advancing and land is more closely taken up; consequently we must work more on the order of the intensive system. We know It Is hard for some farmers, who have been taguht and raised to do a thing a certain way, to change to the better methods. It seems to them that it is wrong, and often they cannot be blamed for feeling so. But we must gradually free ourselves from these ideas. All the other departments of the business world are advancing, and why should not agriculture advance with it? The whole race of humanity is depending upon agriculture for a living and the trade should not be thought any the less of by any one. The man who is engaged in other pursuits of life should honor the farmer, as he must understand that whatever he eats comes from him. If the farming class does not advance with the rest of the world It will be its own loss. . It is not natural that we should be satisfied to work In the same road we did years ago, or even one year ago. We should strive to do better this year and make an advancement wherever possible. The best, easiest and most practical way to advance ourselves is given in one sentence, namely,—* “Read plenty of agwwHtural literature, and apply the facts gained to actual experience." The farming world would be far behind where It now is if it was not for the help that has been given us by farm literature. Every farmer should try to make some improvement and advancement every day. Never let your business get the best of yrtr, but get the best of it, and you can best do this by advancing with the rest of the world. —E. J. Waterstrlpe, in The Epitomlst.

CROWDING POULTRY. Practice has demonstrated that the only way to make poultry profitable Is to divide tne fowls into small flocks. Large flocks of fifty or more have at times occasioned a loss, as crowding is just the opposite to the need of the fowls. Every form of disease that makes its appearance In the fowl houses and among the flocks Is traceable to crowding. Then crowding is injurious in several other ways. It places the weak under the dominion of the strong, insures competition for existence, nnd prevents systematic breeding. In summing np the advantages of keeping poultry In small flocks may he mentioned the following: Smill flocks, in separate yards, enable us to breed our fowls to suit our incliaatleas, and we are

able to make crosses with certainty. As no two cocks are together in tho same yard there is no warfare, and better hatches will result from the eggs. The feeding can be performed according to the requirements of each flock. The maintenance of a superfluity should be avoided, as only the breeding yards need contain them. Should disease appear it can be confined to the yard in which It makes its appearance and can be more effectually checked. Should a thief make an attempt he will find greater difficulty with several yards than with one only. There will be greater security against the natural enemies of the fowls. Accounts can be kept with greater certainty and accuracy. Hens will lay better when but few are kept together. It will be as easy to keep five hundred hens In small flocks as to keep one hundred running at large. Perfect cleanliness can be practiced, and the fowls will not make the stables filthy, nor the lofts and other places on the farm. The soil on which they are confined will become very rich. If trees are In the yards the fowls will do them service in ridding them of noxious insects. The fences can be built of lath or other cheap material. If well managed a profit of three dollars may be expected from each hen In eggs and chicks, which has often been the case.—Mirror and Farmer.

DAIRY NOTES. It is safe to learn something of the dairy business before embarking very heavily in It. At an auction sale recently the great Hblstein-Fresian cow, Segls Inka, sold for $1,600. A cement floor for the cow stable .is a sanitary floor. It should be more or less rough to prevent the cows from slipping. A dairy cow that is worthy the name always shows her excellence, in form, in color, or iu rlze and shape of the udder. There are doubtless some farmers’ wives who are poor butter makers, but it is a slander to call them a class of poor butter makers. See that your pasture, during the summer months, is well provided with shade and water. The comfort of your cowß is money lo you. The bitter taint in cream caused from the cow eating ordinary weeds, can be removed by mixing the cream with two or more-parts of water at any temperature above 70 degrees Fahrenheit and running it through a separator. An analysis of milk In Scotland demonstrated that morning’s milk contained 3.2 per cent fat and 9.2 solids not fat Evening’s milk contained 4.5 per cent, fat and .8.9 per cent solids not fat Many modem, methods add very much to comfort and convenience of both customers and dairyman. Quart bottles, ice boxes, rubber tires for milk wagons, etc., have revolutionized the old fashioned milk business. Cowß differ a 9 to their habits of feeding. It is usually best to let them have their own way. However, it is desirable to keep them in milk as much of the time as possible. But if they want to rest a few weeks, It will not hurt them. , USING COMMISSION MAN. Very few farmers are good salesmen, hence the commission merchant in some nearby city Is necessary, in order that the farmer may get fair returns for his produce. Not all commission men are dishonest, and if one goes about In a businesslike way to ascertain the standing of the city men he proposes dealing with, he runs little risk. On the other hand, there are many farmers so located that they can make more money dealing direct with the consumer, but the one trouble with this plan is that when a number of growers meet In competition they lose their heads and begin cutting prices, a thing merchants rarely do; instead of wholesale cutting the commission men generally agree on prices for certain qualities and maintain these prices. If the producer takes to the consumer a product of first quality he is warranted in asking a higher price than is asked for the same produce of Inferior quality, and he will, as a rule, find little difficulty in selling the first class article. If one is a fairly rood salesman, work np a retail nearby; If a poor salesman, send the products of the farm to some reliable commission merchant. —Indianapolis News.