Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1903 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

FERTILIZER FOR ORCHARDS. Scientists and practical orchardlsts are generaly agreed on the great value of well rotted barnyard manure as the best for an apple orchard, says a government bulletin. It not only supplies humus, but It contains a large per cent, of other necessary nutritive elements for maintaining health, vigor and fruitfulness of tree and* development of qualities for a fine fruit product. But as the stock of tills sort of manure Is not always sufficient for the general demand, other agents have to be resorted to, and next in value and In a concentrated form are unleached wood ashes, which will supply to a great extent the necessary element of plant growth. It is maintained by some authorities that one ton of unleached wood ashes contains as -much plant nutriment as five tons of ordinary barn manure, and whenever obtainable ashes should be used In preference to any other fertilizer. There are many kinds of manufactured fertilizers, some of which are valuable for special soils, but to determine just which brand to use is a little difficult to decide without knowing what elements are lacking in the soil. The three elements most commonly deficient in soil are nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, and chemical fertilizers that contain the largest per cent, of these substances will be the most economical and beneficial. A fertilizer containing one and a half to two per cent, of nitrogen, one to nine per cent, of available phoßphoric acid, ten to twelve per cent, of potash, will give excellent results when applied to orchard land in quantities ranging from 400 to 600 pounds per acre. TIMOTHY AND CLOVER. The importance of clover in the list of grasses grown upon the farm is becoming more generally recognized each year, and the amount grown Is annually Increasing. The Stockman and Farmer was asked in regard to sowing the seed, replying that they would advise by all means that clover and timothy be sown at the same time in tlie spring. If clover seems to do a little better in any locality than timothy it might be advisable to sow rather more timothy seed than is commonly used. Where each of these thrives quite well It Is usually the custom to sow eight or nine pounds of clover seed per acre and four or live pounds of timothy. In this case the timothy is not expected to make a very great showing the first year, but it will very soon take possession of the soil afterwards. It might be advisable in the case under consideration to sow equal parts, by measure, of clover and timothy seed. Put them in on a well prepared soil as early as possible in the spring and do not seed the oats and wheat very thickly. Where the practice is adopted of sowing ten or eleven pecks of grain per acre when land is not seeded down, we would advise the cutting down o» this amount considerably. If land Is in good condition six pecks of oats or wheat will usually make a fairly good stand, and such a seeding will be much more favorable to obtaining a stand of clover and timothy than if more seed is used. DAIRY NOTES. Cows regularly and thoroughly milked are a profitable investment If the cows are good. If fed right, 100 pounds of skim milk has a feeding value equal to a half bushel of corn. Individuality counts more than numbers In a dairy herd. Cream from a separator should be cooled as quickly as possible. Set the cream cans in cold water. Cattle do not like to graze after sheep. If the pasture is small, either the sheep or the cows have to go. It is well for butter makers to adopt some shape or design of their own and always send their butter in that style. Some confidently believe that at least half of the cows on the farm would not pay their .board if tested by dairy standards. Oats cut green and fed in the sheaf, or threshed and ground, make a good milk flow. Corn, oats and bran ground make a good feed. Plenty of veins on the udder Is a sign that it is not fleshy, and is one of the signs of a good milk cow. The larger and the more crooked the better- ... i The milk flow and the appetite, in* crease and stimulate each other. If properly managed each will reach the full capacity of the cow and may be kept there. ROOT CROP AND WATER. The largest profit from the use of water as an ingredient of farm products is when the farmer grows such root crops as beets, carrots, potatoes and turnips, as they can be utilized on the farm instead of entailing coat of transportation to market. While these crops contain a large amount of solid matter in proportion to the yield per acre, their chief value is in the water, aa tha water is an important aid to digestion and contains nutritious matter In solution to a large extent;

hence the water is not a useless sub* stance which adds weight only, but da as desirable in the form in which It exists in the plant as the solid portions, but while the solid materials cost the farmer something the water does not, and that Is an important consideration which must not be overlooked. The water entering into the composition of plants cannot be supplied artificially. Every one knows that there is a difference between green apples and apples that have been dried and cooked in water. It is the same with vegetables and roots. We can dry them and render them juicy again by cooking in water, but wo cannot regain the condition in which the water existed in the plant before drying or evaporating the substances. Water existing in foods is more valuable than that which is supplied. FARM BUTTER MAKING. Two things have greatly Increased butter making on the farm, viz.: the hand separator and the use of skftn milk in growing pigs. The hand separator has come to be greatly appreciated on the farm, both because of its economy in quickly separating the cream while the milk is fre3h, and because it thus provides the sweet skim milk in Its highest condition for feeding, says an experienced man. The farm has been studying the. principles of butter making, and with better facilities is producing a finer quality and getting creamery prices for it. It is said that these advances in farm dairying are having an unfavorable effect on creameries, and inducing them to establish dairy herds of their own. This toning up of farm dairying is a moat desirable thing. It enables the farm to realize better prices on the finished product of the raw material which it so abundantly affords. The farm long ago found that it was most desirable to sell its corn and other products in the shape of beef and pork, and now it is more and more adding to these butter. It means feeding more of the crops grown on the farm, and returning to the soil the fertility incident to wider husbandry. And so the hand separator is proving a blessing to the American farmer, and the movement must continue to grow till one is found wherever cows are milked, both for the larger profits on butter and the value of sweet skim milk for pig growing. ECONOMY IN FERTILIZING. It is not economy to pay for fertilizing materials which the soil or the farm manure pile may themselves yield; but it is economy to use commercial fertilizers when the soil and the natural farm manures fail to return the equivalent of what is removed by the farm crops. It is not economy to supply fertilizers indiscriminately because they are called fertilizers, and many times in our own State has the righteous cause of the artificial fertilization of the soil been repudiated simply because the farmer who “tried it” did not take the pains to ascertain if the particular fertilizer he was using was the one adapted to his land. One could not expect to get good returns for his investment if he applied a nitrogeneous fertilizer to a soil already rich in nitrogen, nor could he expect a soil that had been liberally dressed with wood ashes for years to be much benefited by an application of a fertilizer high in potash. A fertilizer containing a high percentage of potash is needed on that soil in which potaqJi is deficient. A consideration of the proper kind of fertilizer to be used depends also on the crop to be raised, for plants differ widely with respect to the particular ingredients upon which they draw heaviest in the soil. THE SILO. A silo is simply a receptacle for ensilage. It may be of any preferred breadth or depth, but should be strong and tight. It may be constructed of stone or heavy boards, either above or below the ground, and may be of round or square shape. Ensilage is green vegetable matter, finely cut and packed closely in the silo by heavy pressure, so as to exclude the air. It is the exclusion of the air that prevents excessive fermentation and decay. Clover, green grass, vegetable tops or any green substance may be ysed, but the cheapest ensilage is that secured by drilling con in rows, cutting the stalks when the ears are beginning to glaze, passing them through the ensilage cutter (or cutter and shredder) and filling the silo as quickly as possible. The ensilage is fed to cattle in winter as a substitute for green food, being really preserved green corn fodder.