Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

THE FARMYARD IN SPRING. How it usually looks after the long winter of the north country! Bits of board, scraps of bone, perhaps brought there by the dog, or, what la worse, thrown out there after dinner; wisps of straw, scraps of paper and all manner of Cebrifr scattered there during the cold days of winter, come to light, now that the snow has vanished. What about it? It ought to be cleared up. You know It. THen why not do it? We live In this world but once. Life is precious to most of us. Pity the man of whom this is not true. More than we xnow or realize our health and length of life depend upon our farm surroundings. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the light which comes In through our windows, all have much to do with the length of our days and the Joy of living. All the waste material left by the winter days will surely decay ts left where it is, and decay means malaria, which is simply the latter day big word for bad air. The hashing from this decaying matter floats along the surface of the ground until it finds its way into the well, bringing back to us impurities which pass into the food we eat and the water we drink. The house drains get stopped and need opening. But, putting aside all considerations of health, look at the matter from an aesthetic standpoint. How much better it looks to pass a farmhouse the grounds of which are well kept! You have noticed this. You cannot help it. About houses owned by those who “have no time for such things” you have seen indisputable proofs of the fact that the man who lives there thinks that all is of farming is "the money he can get out of the place. Nine times out of ten, If you really knew the family sheltered by that house, you would find them ill natured, hard worked and generally unhappy. Life has little meaning to its members. Every thing about the farm corresponds to the appearance of the grounds around the house. No doubt the boys and girls are just aching to get away from the home to the city. The rundown and slipshod way of keeping the house yard may be taken as a sure index of all the other methods of the farmer. The trim and neat farm yard betokens a thrifty and happy farmer and contented children. Home is not simply a place to live in overnight. It is home in the fullest sense of the word. Around it centres all that makes life worth living. The children may go away, but their hearts will ever turn back to the old place. It pays from more than one standpoint to make the farmhouse as nied as possible. The expense is not great and the return beyond estimate. Then, take time to clean up.—E. L. Vincent, in New York Tribune Farmer. MUTTON SHEEP. We are yet behind our, English competitors in the raising and fattening of mutton sheep. Any one who has ever eaten a genuine Southdown mutton chop has little need to be told of # its superiority; indeed there is no comparison. There is none of the rank, wooly taste so often noticed in our American mutton. Prime mutton is one of the most wholesome of meats, but on account of its price and scarcity very little enters into the diet of the working classes, tq whom it would be of great benefit. In the West, where both the climate and natural grasses combine to render it one of the best sheep-growing sections of the world, the raising of good mutton sheep may be attended with profit. In fact, all who have tried it have met with success. One of the best breeds of sheep for mutton and wool Is the Southdown. This is the favorite English mutton breed, and is probably one of the oldest breeds, being well known at the time William the Conqueror entered England. From them the Oxford downs have sprung. The Bize is medium, though the body is much larger than it appears, from the fact that they are very shortlegged. A thoroughbred Southdown should have a dark brown face and black legs. The wool is about four Inches long, thick and close; the fieeces average from eight to twelve pounds per head. They are docile and become very tractable with kind management They will not bear herding in as large herds as the merinos, but are more easily herded. They are excellent mothers, taking the best care of their young, and very prolific. They will attain a weight at two years old, of from one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred pounds, or more, and may readily be fattened at any age, for which reason they are particularly valuable for market purposes, as the lambs mature early.— Philadelphia Record. POULTRY FOR WINTER. Those who raise poultry for eggs have probably selected the young stock for winter laying, and they should be located where they are getting all the green food they Leed, yet not running over too much area. After spending all of the summer on a range of considerable size, it Is a good plan to bring the pullets ia near-

er the house and give them a smaller range; room enough to get plenty of exercise, but not enough so they will run off the muscle and weight gained during the summer. They must not go Into winter quarters fat, but they should be plump and with enough vitality to stand the confinement. If any are ailing separate from the rest of the flock, and If they are not readily cured by simple remedies, kill them and burn the carcasses, bearing in mind that one can not afford to take an ailing bird into winter quarters. Provide a place for the surplus cockerels, so that they will not trouble the pullets or hens, and as soon as they can be put In proper shape sell them for what they will bring. Be certain, however, the best specimens have been selected for keeping up the strain. Use these selected cockerels for mating with the older hens at breeding season, and the pullets of the* past spring mate to a two-year-old cock. —Indianapolis News. TOO MUCH LIME USED. That many soils are benefited by lime there is no doubt, but it should be used with discretion, remembering that it is simply a sweetener of the soil and an agent in bringing into use the other chemicals in the soil. Its fertilizing value Is so small that It may be properly said not to be a fertilizer. In many localities lime is used yearly in quantities ranging from fifty to one bundred bushels an acre. This is too much, and while It may do no special harm it does no good, hence is a waste. A light application, twenty to thirty bushels an acre, is sufficient, and should not be applied more frequently than every three or four years, unless the soil is decidedly sour, which may be determined by the litmus paper test, when the applications may be more frequent. If this test shows a decidedly sour soil the applications should be at the rate of twenty-five bushels the acre for two years In succession, then skip two years, then apply for one year twenty-five bushels an acre. This will be sufficient for three years, and the crops will be all that the applications of lime can make them. If proper fertilization of the soil is done there ought to be no further trouble with sour soil. —lndianapolis News. CARN AND COW-PEAS. I planted the corn in alternate spaces of four or five feet, so that I could get double drill In the five-foot space. After the corn was up, I ran the drill through the five-foot spoce and put the cow-peas in six feet from the com row. The pea took to the corn better than I expected. It was cut by hand with a hook cutter. In this way the stock was cut and it was easily bandied. Twenty to twenty-five per cent, more labor was required to handle it In this way than to handle the com alone. The object in planting was to get a stock of com and a stock of peas eight inches apart. Ido not imagine there would have been any perceptible difference In the amount of com raised If I had not put in the cow-peas. The entire yield was 160 tons. We fed it all winter, and the cows like it very much; equally as well as the com silage. They commenced on it about the first of last month. They ran out until the weather got cold. Since being brought in they are doing well, either from being warmly housed or from the feed.—H. M. Palmer, in The Cultivator.

PRACTICAL POULTRY POINTS. Introduce new blood among the poultry. Give the fowls especial care during the moulting season. Oil meal will assist and hasten tha moulting process. Do not expect to get good, pure-bred poultry for six cents per pound. Keep the henhouse clean and sweet Hens should have food and drink at regular intervals. Treat your fowls gently and they will be tame and look to you for kindness. Save all the droppings for future use. Give your fowls plenty of room; save crowding. Keep the roosts saturated with kerosene. Keep the henhouse free from lice and the hens also. % Feed Balt very sparingly; large amounts often prove fatal to them. Save your jecond crop clover; cut it up and feed it with a mixture of bran. Do not forget a supply of fresh water; an egg is nine-tenths water. VALUE OF BUTTERMILK. Buttermilk Is a valuable food for both man and beast It Is that portion of Hie milk or cream left after the fat has been removed. It contains nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid, soda, and a certain proportion of milk sugar. A ton of buttermilk possesses a manorial value of two dollars. It la a more valuable food than many sop* pose. The cocoannt palm has leaves Measly thirty feet long.'