Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

POULTRY HOUSE LOCATION. In xelecting a location the poultryman ought to look around and get ’«ome place that will be found suitable for the business. He should select a place that will be healthy for his flock, convenient to market, and where the business can,, be carried on economically by being able to get feed cheaply. With the farmer it Is difficult. As the Journal of Agriculture says, hp has his farm and its equipment, and Instead of suiting himself to other conditions he has to suit his conditions to the breed he selects. He may select a breed that will do best in his hands and suitable to his needs Dn his farm. He will also be called upon to select tbe best place suitable for his flock rather than In ‘‘any old place,” which Is very often the case. It is no uncommon thing to see the house site, the place for the barn and other outbuildings selected with the utmost care, but the poultry house can be placed anywhere where it will be out of the way. The idea is too much prevalent that chickens are a nuisance any way and should be only permitted to stay on the place to please the “women folks.” This is all wrong. If the poultry business is of sufficient importance to give a place at all on the farm It certainly is worthy of good quarters and fair treatment. It is not always a good plan to have the poultry house attached to the barn or stable, and yet It may be well to locate ifc> so that it will have the protection of -such buildings. The poultry house should have some protection from the northwest winds and should be located with reference to other buildings and fehces, so it will not be subjected to too much snow drifting about it to be in the way of the flock. Very often snow-drifts will Interfere a great deal with the best management of a flock and with that indifference shown toward poultry on • some farms there is likely to not be much sepoping of snow. Where there is a choice of locations the poultry house should have a southeast frontage. A south front is all right and an east front is very well,but by having a southeast frontage there can be a combination of these good qualities and it will be found well. In winter the front will have the advantage of the morning sun and will get the good of it for the greater part of the day. It will have the rear part of the house set exactly against the quarter from which comes the most cuttiftg winds. In building the house the front should be higher than the rear and all the rear should be free from openings. Fences and lots should be provided with reference to the advantage to be obtained from them. One person will need no lots or fences, while another will not attempt to get along without them. We believe some lots can be used to advantage on every farm where poultry Is kept. The vigor of the flock can be kept up to much better advantage by selecting the breeding fowls each spring and raising all the young from that stock. This Is much better than breeding from the entire flock at large. It requires less care to breed Indiscriminately, but It is not the best thing to do.

Locate the building with reference to getting as much good from it in summer as in winter. While It Is most necessary to select a warm site for winter it will be as necessary to see that it is made cool in summer. A grove of small fruit might be selected as such a place. Next to this may be employed sunflowers or something of that sort for shade. If the house is in an exposed place it might be well to pile a lot of corn stover on the north and west sides in winter. We must learn to protect our houses against cold in winter and heat in gammer and against dampness at any season of the year. This can be done by giving the matter a little attention and perhaps a little artificial drainage to help out the natural location. —Commercial Poultry.

TURNIPS AS A CROP. July is the month for planting turnips, though August is not too late. As the seed is small, the ground must be plowed and then harrowed down to aa fine condition as possible. The most important point In growing turnips is in the fine soil. Sow the seed In rows which will permit of using hoes, and seed with a hand drill which la regulated so as to perfectly cover the seed. Use plenty of seed, as the fly does considerable damage during some years to plants when they are just appearing. If too thick in the rows the plants may be thinned with a hoe. Cultivate as soon as the growth of the plants will permit If this is not done weeds and grass may get the start, especially that persistent pest known as crab grass. A light skimming of the surface close to the plants after every rain, using a hand wheel hoe, will prevent weeds and grass. After the turnip plants have made considerable growth they shade the soil and can hold their own against weeds, bat the best crops are •ecured when the turnip plots are kept clean The ground should be manured and Die manure worked In

with a harrow " before planting tfil seed. There is no crop grown so easily and with so little cost as latesown turnips in a Jleld of well-culti-vated corn, to be eaten off by sheep. The shade of the corn will keep the turnips from growing much until the corn is cut. Possibly also their growth will be checked by the demand of the corn roots for plant food. But in the late summer that follows the first frost the turnips will make rapid growth, as they will then have all the land for their own use. The turnip will endure a pretty heavy frost, and grow again If warm weather follows it. But in our climate turnips cannot be left in the ground all winter, as can be done in England. —Philadelphia Record.

LEGUMES AND MANURE. From several inquiries received It is evident that the Impression pre vails that when legumes, such as crimson clover, cow peas, soy beans, etc., are used, stable manures become a luxury. This is a mistake, and a particularly serious one on poor soils. Take a soil as poor as that on which cow peas will bring the best results, as an example. Is it fair to assume that because cow peas will do so much to bring up such a soil that they supply all the fertilizer needed to furnish the growing crop and at the same time leave in the soil the amount needed by it to keep up its fertility? The sensible way is to use the legumes freely and also use stable manure or commercial fertilizers in sufficient quantities to give us the desired crop and slightly increase the stored up quantity left in the soil. Thi3 quantity in the soil may be brought into use by cultivation and increased so that after a time our crops will be larger from the application of the same quantity of manure or fertilizer —Indianapolis News.

CLOVER AT ITS BEST. Clover is at its best as a fertilirer when it has produced its second crop. This is when it has grown two full seasons. If kept beyond this time either weeds or grasses come in, according as the soil is best seeded with these. Whoever keeps a field in clover longer than two years lessens the crop that ca 2be grown after it. On the other hand, a clover sod will rot down the first season after it Is plowed, so that the land may be sown with clover seed the following spring. An old sod made up from any of the grasses should be cultivated two years before it is ready to r esee d* hence the smaller amount of fertility it furnishes is more thoroughly exhausted by three crops on It instead of two, as clover shows before the land Is again being reseeded.

THE QUEEN BEE’S EGG. The egg of the queen bee is about one-sixteenth of an inch long and as large around as a fine cambric needle These are deposited in the cells by the queen, sticking fast to the bottom of the cell, so as to stand on ana, being held by an adhesive substance. In from 60 to 72 hours these eggs hatch into little worms or larvae. They remain in the larval state about six days, when the cell r containing them is sealed over with raised capping by the worker bees, and the larvae, after spinning its cocoon and undergoing a transformation similar to that from a caterpillar to butterfly, emerges a perfect insect, as a worker bee, in 21 days, or as a drone in 24 days, the time being accelerated a little by extreme heat, or retarded by cool wather. ORCHARDS IN SOD. A leasable method for lands which are very steep and in danger of washing, or too rough, stony or stumpy to cultivate readily, Is to grow grass, moving once, or better twice a year, and using the h*y as a mulch about the trees. If this plan is adopted, special care should be exercised In preparing the soil. The holea should be large and the soil well pulverized and enriched before setting the trees. Mulching has much the same effect as tillage and the cost Is less. With proper pruning, spraying and fertilizing this method would prove successful on many lands which are yielding the owners practically no returns. —Professor R. L. Watts, In The Cultivator. - MAKES A CLEAN TURF. Lowland pastures should always contain red top in some of its varieties. It makes the cleanest, nicestlooking and sweetest turf of any grass. The fine-leaved varieties should be selected for Cultivation In pastures. Meadow fescue is a valuable pasture grass where the soil is good, and on sandy soils red fescue is perhaps one of the best species that can be cultivated, If accompanied by blue grass. POULTRY IN ORCHARDS. That poultry will benefit orchards and keep down maqjr insects is true only to a certain efctent. The hens will be found more usefiil when confined In yards here and there in the orchard. Movable yards, which esn easily be placed around any trees desired, should be used.