Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1912 — NOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NOTES from MEADOWBROOK FARM

By William Pitt

If rabbits have gnawed only the outer bark, wrap the wound with cloth. Barley and oats, as well as wheat, ane usually improved in quality oh flax land. Working the soil when it is wet will make it coarse and lumpy the whole season. As soon as your lettuce is large enough; feed it to those chickens you are fattening. There is no better way by which the corn crop can be used than through the silo. You can not make as good silage from dry cornstalks as you can from mature green corn. Plant a row of the large, tame sunflowers along the fence for hen feed at moulting time next fall. * The strawberry is one of the small fruits which apparently thrive better in acid than in alkaline soils. The fleece of the ram should be dense, even in quality, and of a strong, clear, white fiber throughout. A pure-bred bull is often a poor bred bull. Pedigree and performance are not interchangeable words. It is to the poultryman’s interest to keep his stock to the best type, healthy and vigorous all the time. A half day’s work in the orchard with the manure spreader will show up when apples are ripe next summer. No profit in keeping old ewes that have lost their teeth. Better fatten them the best you can and get rid of them quickly. You should know the working qualities of your sows; watch them from the time they farrow and see how they treat the little fellows. The average cow ought to have four to six weeks’ rest each year. A good time to dry them off is just as they be gin to make an udder. Coal oil will soften the old paint brushes used last year. Plaee them in a can of the oil and wash them well in warm soapsuds. Feather pulling may be checked by dissolving powdered aloes in watei and washing the feathers of the birds that have been plucked. j: To keep up g heavy milk flow a cow must have all the water she can drink for every 100 pounds of her milk con tains 87 pounds of water. Every garden for the home should have grapes and many market gar dens could be made more profitable by growing this splendid fruit. Many people have the idea that brown shelled eggs are the richer but the difference between white and brown eggs is only in the color. The best milking pail is the one so constructed that it will reduce to a minimum the amount of dirt falling into the milk during the process oi milking. One of the most general methods adopted for cooling milk is to place the cans in a vat containing water which reaches a point slightly above surface of milk. Cleanliness in handling, in straining and in separating the milk is a thing that cannot be too religiously adhered to, for prevention is the key word to quality in all dairy work. The cow is a fertilizer factory, a butter factory and a skim milk factory; yet many farmers feed her as little grain as they dare in the winter and none at all In the summer. Plan to have a good, big patch of strawberries for home use, and secure your plants early in the season. The big crop of berries is from vines that have a long season of cultivation and growth. Horses with sore eyes can be greatly relieved by applying one part coal tar. disinfectant and eight -parts vaseline. Do not get grease in the eyes. Also use saturated solution of boric acid and salt water as a wash. If you have plenty of potatoes on hand they make an excellent feed for pigs, but they should be cooked and mixed with corn chop, middlings, etc. Corn meal and potatoes, well cooked into a soft mush, makes an ideal feed and is greatly relished by pigs, besides it is a very healthful food.