People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1897 — DAIRY AND POULTRY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DAIRY AND POULTRY.

INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. How Successful Farmers Operate This Department of the Farm —A Few Hints as to the Care of Live Stock and Poultry.

§T MAY not be amiss to suggest to inexperienced but-ter-makers that —; they will save themselves a good m deal of trouble, loss \ of time and damage to the butter if they will bear in mind a few simple rules that apply with

more force in cold weather than warm, says V. M. Couch in American Dairyman. The temperature of the cream for churning Is a nfatter of the first importance. What the exact churning temperature should be can be determined by experiment, for the condition of the cream varies on different farms, owing to the kind of cows, the way they are fed and the method of setting the milk and keeping and ripening the cream, but a temperature of about 62 degrees will come nearer, I believe, to suiting most cases than any other. It is safe to begin at that temperature and, if not satisfactory, raise or lower it at succeeding churnings until the proper degree is reached. For Instance, should the churning at 62 degrees take too long a time and the butter when it comes is off-color and inclined to be crumbly, at the next churning try a temperature of 64 or 66 degrees, according to circumstances. When if the butter comes too soon and is soft, a lower temperature should he tried. Cream should not be allowed to freeze, but if only one churning a week be made, it should be kept cool enough to keep it from souring till the day before it is churned, when if not slightly acid, it should be set in a room warm enough so that it will become so in twentyfour hours. The cream should he well stirred every time a fresh skimming is

added, or twice a day. When putting the cream in the churn, strain it through a cloth strainer. This will remove all specks that would mar the appearance of the butter, Including bits of curd that may have formed and hardened in the cream, and which, if allowed to go into the churn, would show as white specks In the butter. If granulated butter is made —which., is the best and most proper way—and It comes too hard or too soft, work it with water warmed or cooled to suit the case. If the butter is to be salted with brine, use water warmed or cooled to suit the case. If the butter Is to be salted with brine, use warm or cold brine as may be necessary to put the granules in right condition for working. Get into a regular routine of performing all dairy operations and it will save much time. Treatment of Milk Fever. A correspondent of Hoard’s Dairyman, B. W. Gregory, Sullivan Co., N. Y., claims to have been successful in the treatment of milk fever with cows. For the benefit of our dairymen we give his formula as follows: The formula that was adopted was to give % pound salt-petre on first discovery of the fever (which is always known by drying up of the flow of milk and prostration) and in two hours, twentyfive drops of aconite: in two hours more, if not relieved (do not try to get the cow up but let her be quiet until she gets up herself), repeat with % pound of salt-petre and then in two hours with twenty drops of aconite. Alternate the above % pound salt-petre and *>n drnno

of aconite every two hours until relieved. I have had several cases since adopting the above course and have not lost one since using it. Have had stubborn cases where they have taken four doses each of the above prescription, but they have always recovered all right. The first cow that was experimented with, my neighbor dairyman said, “Experiment with her as much as you please, she will never get on her feet again.” In fifteen hours after giving her the first dose of salt-petre she got on her feet with her own accord and in 48 hours was giving 20 pounds of milk twice a day. If the above is of any use to you or your fellow men, use it and “not put your light under a bushel.” I have kept a dairy for milk production, of thirty or forty cows, for a number of years, fed them heavily and took care of them “for all they were worth” and have been fairly successful.

Winter Poultry Notes. How Much Room?—More room Is required in the poultry house in winter than in summer because during the warm season the fowls can go outside, only requiring sufficient room for roosting, but in winter they need room for scratching when the snow is on the ground. It is the space on the floor that is required and not on the roost, for when a hen fixes herself on the roost she will be quiet until morning; but during the day she should be kept busy. Ten fowls in a poultry house ten feet , t «uare (making 100 square feet) are sufficient, but most persons endeavor to double and even treble that’ number, and the consequence is that they feed too many fowls in proportion to the number of hens they keep. (The Farmers’ Review doubts the correctness of the statement, and believes that far less room Is required.) Frozen Food, —All food that has been moistened will freeze and become useless when the weather is cold. When the food is placed in the trough it should be rather too little than too much, and should be given warm. As soon as the hens have eaten, all the food left over should he removed and the trough cleaned. If they have not had enough a little wheat or corn may be scattered in litter for them to scratch. If they eat partially frozen

food the hens will be chilled and will not lay. Winter Expenses.—The profits will not be large if the expenses are not kept down. The loss from useless' males, hens that do nbt lay, and chicks that make no growth sometimes balances the profits produced by the profitable hens. There will be some good hens In all flocks, and they give large profits for the entire*year, - but the expenses due to keeping fowls that produce nothing lead the inexperienced to attach the fault to the whole, the good as well as the inferior: when the best) course is to dispose of all but the ones that are paying for the shelter and food bestowed. Bowel Disease and Chicks. —The principal cause of loss of chicks in winter is bowel disease, which is generally attributed to the kind of food used, but which is due, as a rule, to lack of warmth. Chicks are very susceptible to changes of temperature, and especially during damp days. A brooder should be kept at 95 degrees and the brooder house at 75 f degrees, so as to prevent the chicks from being chilled at any time, for should a young chick become chilled bowel ✓■ease at once sets in and the chick sooq dies.—Mirror and Farmer. * One hundred and forty-six thousand, five hundred and ninety-nine tons of wool were, exported' from Argentina from Oct. 1, 1895, to May 1, 1896. Put no faith in the moral nature of rata. 4 ,

Helps Hog Cholera Along. I have known hog cholera germs tob« conveyed four miles on the windj alight in a filthy hog pen and finally destroy all the hogs in it, while hogs in clean pens near by escaped, says aa exchange. There is a great disparity: of opinion as to what filth is. Generally it emits a disagreeable scent. A stinking swill barrel or hog trough is not cleanliness, nor is a bad smelling hogpen. “Hogging down” corn, especially when the weathqr is warm, is not a clean proceeding. A hog may, eat part of an ear of corn, leave solid droppings on the remainder to festee in the hot sun, cholera bacteria alight upon it and breed, and then another hog comes along and finishes the ear, disease germs and all. “Hogs following cattle” —well, this is dangerous ground. So many practice it and believe in it that if I should condemn it all the Toms, Dicks and Harrys from Oklahoma to Ohio would “follow” me with the precipitancy of a man running down stairs pursued by a kitchen! stove, and perhaps, for safety, compelling me hastily to seek the shortest way, to the tallest timber. So I will let that pass and say nothing about it Anything that weakens a hog’s system makes him more receptive of cholera microbes. In this category can be named too close inbreeding, breeding from immature animals and wrong feeding, as an all corn diet for young animals, stinking slops, impure drinking water, nesting in cold, damp places and other errors in feeding and care. Disease bacteria and cleanliness are antagonistic, and the farmer will not flourish if environed by the latter, with this one exception, that there has been a profuse production of the former in some near-by fountain of filth. Poultry and Egg Prices. A noteworthy feature in the egj trade in Chicago during the ended year was the phenomenally low prices realized. The greatest production of eggs, or the beginning of the egg season proper, which usually occurs in March and April, took place much earlier in 1896, and eggs fell to 12% cents a dozen in the month of January, and during the spring the capacities of the several cold-storage houses were taxed to accommodate the eggs stored. Prices

have been low, but dealers in this product have had a fairly successful year, and, though all the cold-storage egga have not been disposed of, Chicago enters the new year with 50,000 cases of eggs less than were carried over one year ago. The supply of poultry has been smaller, proportionately than In past years. It Is estimated that the crop of turkeys was one-third less than in 1895. • • Below are average prices lor the year for eggs and poultry: , Eggs. Poultry. Doz. Doz. January 15% 8 February 3 ... 11% 8% March 9% 9 April * 9% 8% May 9 8% June } 9% 8 July 9% 8# August 11 8 September 13% 7% October , 16% . 7 November 19% 6% December 19%' 6 >' - Fluctuation in Value of Hogs.—The values of no other kind of stock seem to rise and fall as rapidly as those of hogs. It has only been a few years since hog prices were away above those for anything else. For the past six months prices have beeen comparatively lower for hogs than for any other kind of live stock. Presents Values,can not last long if prices top other farm products appreciate. The' business man will put hogs on his list for next year’s crop if he is figuring oa ornflts.—Ex.

HOME SCENES ON WESTERN FARMS: “I WONDER WHO MENDS FOR TEDDY.” Photograph Copyrighted 1896. L. D. Weil.—From the Illustrated American