Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1912 — NOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM

By William Pitt

Inbreeding too much will cause pigtons to "go light;” Persistency is one of the valuable Dualities of a good dairy cow.- • Do not allow the pullets to roost in the coops where they were raised.. J he horse that slobbers when eating. should have his teeth examined. The experienced; poultryman will • breed only from his best winter layers. Onions, unlike potatoes and other root crops, will not keep in a moist cellar. ' Tile drainage by making the soil firm, enables earlier cultivation in the spring. Low ground drained can be.cultivated earlier than high ground - not drained. Prune the currants and .gooseberries as soon as the leaves fall, or early next spring. At this season ©f the year with the coming of the fall rains, a dry shelter should be provided for the sheep. 1 * i “Almost every wrong act of the horse is caused by fear, excitement or mismanagement,” said a great horseman.

Begin a systematic culling of the flock this month, and get rid of all unpromising birds before cold weather sets in. - ‘ I A dairy barn can be kept practically free from unpleasant odors, but we never saw more than half a dozen such barns. It is just as important that every horse should have his own collar all the time as that a man should wear his own shoes. Save the small potatoes and imperfect heads of cabbage and other waste j vegetables. They will all be relished ; by the hens in the winter. ) Work horses, that have been pushed in the fields <all summer should 1 now have the advantage of every hour i possible in the fall .pastures. j Where a number of horses are kept | in the same barn the sides of the stall i should be low enough to allow them to see each other as all horses love company. Let the same person milk the same cows every day when possible, because a strange milkei always makes the animal nervous and affects the milk flow. The first test to be given a new workman on the farm is to send him out with a team. If he handles them kindly and skillfully he is pretty sure to be a good all-round man. If you find a workman kicking or beating a horse back him up into a corner and give him a sound lecture. Then watch him carefully and if he repeats the act send him adrift. .When a man sends his horse pellmell down hill with a loose rein he not only jars the shoulders, springs the knees, weakens the nerves, but runs the risk of breaking his horses’s knees. Put new Band on the floor of the hen house immediately, otherwise it will not dry out thoroughly before cold weather comes but will remain damp and make the house uncomfortable throughout the winter. There is no economy in feeding musty grain of any kind to the chickens, even if it can be had for a quarter of the price of good grain. The fowls will eat it, if other food -is withheld, but it is not good for them. r • . • . —r:' :V In many of the big sheep states the farmers find it profitable to engage the professional shearers with a machine. They go about from farm to farm shearing the flocks singly or have several flocks brought to g central poiht Sheep require different feeding and handling from any other animal on the farm. Even though you are an experienced sheep raiser, don’t get too ambitious and try to manage a larger flock than you can keep up to the standard of excellence. The’ average depreciation of farm machinery is reckoned at 10-per cent, pe • year. A machine shed will cut this cost at least one-third, or extend the life of the average machine to fifteen years, where It is now thrown onto the scrap pile in ten years.