Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1909 — HINTS FOR FARMERS [ARTICLE]

HINTS FOR FARMERS

To Tan a Hide. Take the hide green and salt well. Let it stand for thirty-sis hours; then take hair off with lime in the usual way. After taking off hair let hide soak for seven or eight days In clear running water; then scrape and clean off. For a hide of ordinary size dissolve three pounds of alum and five of salt in enough warm (not hot) water to cover It. Put In hide and leave five days, stirring every day. At the end of that time take out and put in vessel with enough clear water to cover: then add five pounds of clean bruised red oak bark. Let this stand till desired color is got; then take ®ut. wash In clear water and hang up. When half dry begin working and work till dry. Small hides in proportion.—Southern Cultivator. Hogs and Straw Ricks. Some farmers think that, a straw rick is a good place for the sow and her brood to sleep. This is a mistake. It best to keep them away from the straw pile winter and summer. In the winter the pigs will burrow beneath the straw, get too warm and take cold when they come out into the freezing atmosphere. Coughing and wheezing is the result, and the pigs do no good or die. Besides, if burrowed beneath the straw they are liable to be stepped on and seriously injured or killed by the stock running.to the rick. During tbe summer mouths especially should the sow and her young be fenced from the straw pile. If they burrow down into the half rotted straw they will be very apt to contract some disease. Sheep Notes. Cold air will not injure sheep, but a wet coat and a cold wind may prove as dangerous as it would with any other animal. Cornstalks are valuable fodder for sheep, and if they are cut green and properly cured and then put through the shredder there will be but little waste. Breeding ewes should not be allowed to get fat. They should be kept in good condition and so fed as to be plump and hard, but there should be very little surplus fat on them. If pastures fail late In the fall they should be given extra feed in order to keep them in good condition, so there will be no trouble getting them in lamb. Poultry Notes. Others have built up an egg laying strain. Why not do so yourself? Lazy hens cause much of the high prices for eggs. Make ’em get busy and hustle. The warmer the weather the more water required, as more is thrown off by the body. Many a hen that is otherwise well fed may fail to lay on account of Jack of water. Successful poultrymen, in order to keep their poultry on a paying basis, are continually culling their flocks. One of the great values of green food, it is said, lies in its ability to aid in the digestion of other things.—Farm and Ranch. Alfalfa For Pasture. Alfalfa has not been used to any great extent in the eastern states for pasture. For cattle it is knowy as a dangerous pasture, on accoufit of its tendency to produce bloat, aud cannot be safely used unless the animals are kept on it continually. For sheep aud swiue it furnishes the best of pasture. There is, however, one drawback to the use of alfalfa for grazing purposes, on account of its Ila billty to be tramped out by the stock pasturing on it. It may be that after alfalfa comes to be more commonly grown that it will be found valuable for pasturing purposes, but as yet it is grown principally for hay.—Farm and Fireside. Scaly Leg In Poultry. The first thing to do for scaly leg Is to get every bird troubled that way out of the flock by itself. Then the roosts aud all tbe woodwork of the houses should be thoroughly washed with kerosene. Boiling water or whitewash with a few drops of carbolic acid will also do the work. Do anything to kill the parasites, which make their home in every crack and crevice. When the houses are clean, keep them so. This is your only salvation. To relieve tbe hens which are suffering take sulphur and lard, mix them and rub the mixture on the legs ouce a week till cured. Some good poultrymen use simply gas tnr rubbed on well. —E. L. Vincent la Farm and Fireside. Care of Milk Vessels. The sooner the milk utensils aud separator are washed after use the easier it is done and the less danger there is of their becoming foul. To do this properly you need three waters. First, use a lukewarm water to remove all the milk. Second, use water a little warmer, into which should be thrown a handfuT of salsoda or a few drops of concentrated lye. Third, use au abundance of boiling water, which must penetrate every nook and corner and remain long enough to destroy every germ that may still be looking for a home. Scalding Poultry. When scalding poultry for market it Is best to first dry pick tbe legs, so and they will not necessarily be placed in the water and change color. Neither the heads nor tbe feet should touch tbe water: The water ought to be as near tbe boiling point as possible without boiling.