Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1904 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

THE FARMER’S LIFE. The farmer can be the happiest and most independent man on earth. .Before sunrise the crowing of the roosters and song of birds usher in the new day, while the cows remind him • by their bawling that they are ready I to pay their tribute of rich foaming milk and are in a hurry to be off to the pasture, while the faithful horse 3, man’s good and tried friends, are impatient for their share of attention, and will not be quiet until their wants are supplied. Then the fresh gathered berries from the garden, with plenty of good cream—surely food fit for the gods—but none too good for the farmer, who works hard to get them. One fruit overlaps another so that by the proper management there can be, in a good year, a continual supply for weeks at a time. Strawberries commence to ripen the first of May and when they are half gone raspberries begin, followed closely by blackberries, which, counting from the Early Harvest to the late varieties are, or might be, on hand for some time. Then the early and late cherries, the plums, peaches, pears and grapes which every farmer ehou.d raise, as well as many other fruits not here mentioned, surely make an inviting list of fruit, the raising of which is delightful and profitable. The apple orchard is of co.irse an indispensable thing on the farm, furnishing food and cheer throughout the greater part of the year. What more can the farmer ask of nature? I cannot stay my pen Avhen looking out over broad acres of land lying idle that could be made beautiful and profitable if planted out to fruit, while so many families are entirely without fruit of any kind whatever and generally without the enterprise to plant it out and care for it. This comes especially hard on the women of the family who have the meals to prepare, and that too sometimes with a, very poor garden, or worse, no garden at all. Living as we do on a public road we often furnish meals to travelers, who enjoy our berries, and as we grow them ourselves they are about as cheap as any food we can furnish. —Jacob Faith.

SAVING STABLE MANURE. Many methods have been recommended for saving manure and preventing loss of nitrogen, but it is plain that the best mode of keeping cattle manure, so as to incur the least loss, ia to have an impervious floor, leaving all manure in the stall to be trampled and packed under foot, using very fine absorbent material, until it is thrown upon the heap. This would necessitate deep stalls. The manure would receive the urine and be richer than thrown upon the heap. Experiments made to test the mode of keeping manure show that ten tons of that kept in deep stalls contained 108 pounds of nitrogen, while that from the ordinary heap weighed sev r en and one-half tons and contained sixty-fqur pounds of nitrogen. As the increased bulk of the deep stalls was partly due to moisture, the solids in both cases being nearly the same, there was a loss of 40 per cent, of nitrogen in the manure daily thrown out. It is almost impossible to use the deep-stall method on dairy farms thought it might be employed with beef cattle.’ The stalls of cows must be kept scrupulously clean, and even washed, in order to have the milk pure and wholesome, but one of the nearest approaches to packing the manure is to use all absorbent materials in as fine condition as possible, as the finer the pieces the greater their capacity to absorb the liquids, which is a fact that is very difficult to impress upon those who are In the habit of using coarse straw and stalks. There are farmers who pay great attention to the making of manure, but the making of manure—that is. the addition of various substances to the heap—is not so important as to preserve the manure in a manner to prevent the usual heavy loss of ammonia.—Philadelphia Record.

VERMIN AMONG POULTRY. This is one of the subjects that must be talked about repeatedly until poultry raisers understand fully how important it It It may be safely said that there Is no one thing that does so much to prevent success in poultry keeping as the neglect of the vermin which make fowls so miserable. For this reason every bit of advice urging the tree and frequent use of whitewash, insect powders and kerosene on the roosts should be followed. There are many very good insect powders, but they are practically of no avail when it comes to fighting the vermin on the roosts and here is just where they gain a firm foothold among the poultry. When the fowls are moving about during the day they will do mere or less dusting and get rid of some of the Insects, but when they are roosting they do not protect themselves so well. The roosts should be swabbed freely with kerosene at least once in two weeks, once a week will mean less vermin, from the time the fowls occupy the house In the fall until they are turned eat on the range In the spring, and the bouses should be so

arranged that the birds will not beable to occupy the roosts except at night. Begin fighting poultry lice now and keep at it all winter; a marked Improvement in the egg supply as well as in the health of the fowls will be seen.—lndianapolis News. THE POULTRY INDUSTRY. Duck raising In many situations is even more profitable that chicken raising, but Is not susceptible of as many sub-divisions. In the first place, there are fewer varieties of ducks than of chickens. The eggs are produced either for the table or for hatching breeding, stock. The birds produced are sold for breeding stock, for roasters, or for ordinary table purposes. The feathers are also a source of considerable revenue. Geese are among the most profitable kinds of poultry when raised In a favorable location and where they can be readily marketed at fair prices. The products sold are eggs for hatching breeding stock, grown birds for breeding stock, goslings for fattening, green geese, mature geese for the table and feathers. The turkey industry is a very extensive one and always yields good returns for judicious care. The specialties are eggs for hatching breeding stock, mature birds for breeding purposes and birds for the table. Pigeons are not to be despised as a source of income, either alone or in combination with some other employment. They are often combined with poultry raising, fruit growing or gardening. The products sold from the aviary are squabs, breeding stock and mature pigeons for the table and other purposes.

FARM TOPICS. The age has come when the man who makes a failure at everything else, must make a failure at farming also. Ground bone is the best form in which animal food can be fed to laying hens. If this cannot be obtained meat scraps from the house and an occasional liver give good results. If the bees are protected by packing the hives over the summer stands, nothing the least bit damp should be used. Dry wheat chaff is the best material. Fine excelsior, planer shavings or pine sawdust will do. Well-painted implements are generaly accepted signs of thrifty farming. A dollars worth of raw linseed oil and color will answer to cover the running part of a farm wagon. Clover always does its best the second year after sowing, and there is a waste of time and consequent loss to allow it to occupy the land a longer time. It costs something to buy a harvester, tedder or hay press, and yet such implements are not always well cared for. One or two hours devoted to cleaning and oiling the implements and tools not required, and storing them under shelter, may save the cost of repair next year. All wastes should be added to the manure heap. At this season, when the rakings and refuse are obstacles, the labor of cleaning up around the barns and stables will be amply repaid in the conversion of all useless material into manure. In every neighborhood men surrourNled with all the requisites for keeping stock in the finest condition will have the most scrawny flocks, while other men, with very few of their conveniences, will torn out the finest of big fat animals. DUCKS FOR ROASTERS. Peklns are adapted almost exclusively to this industry. This breed is docile in confinement, requires little water, grows rapidly and develops a splendid carcass. Young ducks are kept for laying, as they begin earlier than those over a year old. The breeding stocks is selected in midsummer, males to weigh about twelve pounds and females eight pounds. They are mated about November 1, and eggs will be found fertile about January 1. The great object Is to get as many birds ready for market as possible during April, May and June, while prices are at their best. During the latter part of April and the early part of May they bring forty to forty-five cents per pound. The birds are marketed at ten to twelve weeks of age, and average, dressed from eight to twelve pounds per pair. Even when they sell as low as twelve cents pec pound, which Is about the minimum late in the season, the returns are satisfactory. It is claimed they can be raised for five cents a pound. The birds are dry picked and are packed with ice in barrels for shipment. The F*rench are now using a method of cutting down trees by electricity. A section of platinum wire is kept at white heat by the current, and this eats Its way through the tire fc* onefifth the. time a saw could do the - work. The charring of the log also prevents rotting and checking. The Utah “cutoff" across many miles of Salt Lake is undoubtedly a marvel as a railroad exploit. Our Americas engineers are of this spirit, the harder the task the more eager they are to take it up.