Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1898 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME. Alfalfa a Drouth-Resisting Plant — Irrigation Coming to Every Farmer —Clearing Up the Barnyard —Best Branches of Farming. A Drouth-Resisting Plant. The chief reason hay will grow in the short grass country is that it has long roots. They have been known to strike twenty-feet deep for moisture. The plant will not thrive, therefore. In soil that is not open and deep. An ideal place for its growth is along the river bottoms in the western part of Kansas—land under which great lakes of "sheet water,” miles upon miles in extent, are found from ten to twenty-five feet below the surface. The roots of alfalfa readily push down to the drink when they need moisture, and the result is that the plant blossoms and prospers, and becomes a never-failing source of revenue to the man who cultivates it. On the rolling uplands, where there is scarcely an average rainfall of twentyfive inches a year, the plant will live and produce hay nearly always. It makes good pasturage under ordinary conditions there, and is almost certain every year to produce a fine crop of seed. All the uplands are fertile enough, the only trouble about making use of that fertility being the lack of moisture. Irrigation has not yet succeeded in bringing water in abundance to the assistance of the tiller of the soil in this region, and therefore only such a plant can live as has deep roots, and a pertinacity that even the hot winds of Kansas can not shake.—Harper's Weekly. Irrigation. Irrigation in some form will come sooner or later, and the farmer will then be independent of drouths. In fact, irrigation can be practiced on a majority of farms if the owners’will go to the expense of arranging for a water supply. The windmill, hydraulic ram and engine can be used to force water Into a tank or reservoir, from which it can be obtained for crops by gravity. What farmers should consider is not the expense but the prospective gain. It has happened year after year that at critical stages during the growth of crops drouth appears and destroys the farmer’s hopes, the loss during a single season being greater than the qxpense of an irrigating plant. It Is also possible that with an unlimited supply of water the yields may be more than doubled and the profits greatly increased. In this region the rains will assist the farmer the greater portion of the growing period, the supply of water to be stored being only sufficient to tide the crops over a dry spell. With the ability to apply water to crops at will, aud the liberal use of fertilizers, the crops grown on land that has been used for experimental purposes have been enormous, as much as three times the average yield having been secured.

Clearing Up the Barnyard. After the great bulk of winter-made manure is drawn from the barnyard and spread upon the fields, there always remains a considerable amount of scattering manure, which, if not gathered up, is sure to be in large part wasted. It should at least be always piled in heaps, where it will be less liable to waste than If spread. In most barnyards there are accumulations of finely rotted manure that have been left in previous years. It does not pay to leave such rich manure to go to waste. Two or three loads of such scrapings are easily worth a dozen from the piles of unfermented manure. Much of this old manure is rich enough to be used as a hill dressing for corn, to be dropped in the hill with the seed grain. It will make the corn come up a dark green and be more vigorous all the sea-, son.

Best Branches of Farming. Dairying and poultry keeping are about the only branches of farming that afford a nearly continuous income. The main and staple crops yield a harvest but once a year. The profits of farming, generally speaking, come slowly, and must be patiently waited for. To some young men. ambitious to get rich fast, this seems to be a reason for choosing to engage in some other business. But the returns of intelligent farmers. - although slow, are pretty safe and sure. The young live stock which a farmer raises must be fed and cared for a long time before any profit comes back, but the profit comes in due time. Their growth and increase in weight goes on silently and steadily as money at interest, and, in the end, should amount to much more. One important return of profit for labor bestowed and the cost of fertilizers applied comes to the skilled farmer in the course of years through the Increased fertility and value of his farm.

Peas on Poor Land. Land that is too ■’poor for nny other kind of crop may lie profitably sown with peas, putting in with the seed enough lime, phosphate and potash to make the grain. This on very poor land is a better first crop than clover, as the pea grain is large and will produce a strong enough stalk to live, while the young clover is so small that it may easily be killed out before it gets root hold in the soil. It is hard to get a clover catch on poor soil, while peas will grow, no matter how poor the soil may be. Mutton for Farmers’ Tables. There Is no meat quite so convenient for farm use as mutton, as the carcass of an average sheep can be easily kept In most families until It can be eaten. It la very easy to kill and dress a sheep.

Not even poultry can be prepared for the table with so little trouble. What is better, the mutton killed on the farm is of superior quality. It lacks the “woolly taste” which so often comes to mutton from sheep that have been long driven to market, or that have had to endure long journeys by railroad, often without food or drink for twenty-four to thirty-six hours. It is one of the advantages of better prices for wool that more farmers will be able to keep sheep. If mutton could more generally supersede fat, greasy pork on farmers’ tables, they and their families would be much more healthy tiian they are under present conditions. Sweet Potatoes. Some of the varieties of sweet potatoes that are most popular in the South will hot succeed with Northern growers. The sweet potato requires a long season to grow In, and only the early kind will succeed in the Northern StajeS. It is usually a mistake to send South for sweet potatoes to plant. The Northern varieties, propagated in slips for planting |y seedsmen, are much better, as well as cheaper, than trying to winter the sweet potato and cut it into sets for planting, as Is done with the ordinary w hite potato. It is a great advantage in growing sweet potatoes to have •well-rooted plants ready to set out when the soil and air are warm enough to insure rapid growth. Most of the successful Southern varieties of sweet potatoes are watery and poor when grown North. Horticultural Hints. Give the orchard all the potash that It needs. t Coarse, raw manure is not fit for the garden. Toads, frogs and lizards are useful in the garden. The gem melon Is the best seller in the market. Prune the quince tree and train it to a single stem. Extra work in getting a good seed bed pays in garden work. Cut off all the bruised roots when planting a tree, but do not mutilate the top. A neglected orchard encumbers land that might be used profitably for other purposes. A late crop of cabbage is easily grown, for the seed can be planted in the open ground. Five acres in cucumbers for pickles will ordinarily pay as much as all the rest of the farm. Seedling Peach Trees. In every peach orchard free from the yellows, there will be more or less seedling peach trees springing up every year from pits dropped after the peach was eaten the previous fall. It requires freezing to open these pits, and the germ usually comes forth with the first warm weather of spring. These seedlings will usually be of poor quality, as they are only natural fruit. But if they ’are set ouf in rich soil as soon as the shoots start, they will grow rapidly and be plenty large enough to be budded in July next. It is a comparatively easy thing to learn to bud. In tills way a stock of peach trees can easily be secured if one plants peach stones from healthy fruit in the fall, and takes care to use only buds from healthy stock for budding purposes.

Location for Bees. Many people fail of success tyith bees, because they do not place the hives right. If too shaded the bees are likely to be attacked by the moth miller, which breeds those worms that destroy the honey. It is well to have the bees up early, so the hives should front to the east, so as to catch the first rays of the morning sun. Either a well-roofed, low building should be put up as a bee stand, or the hives should be set on a bench under a tree all through the summer. In winter it is not best that bees should see sunlight. If an underground Cellar out of doors can lie fitted up where the temperature may be kept below freezing all the time, it will be much better than the warmer house cellar.

Guessing vr. Knowing Weights. When the farmer sells one of bis animals to the butcher to kill and market, the latter has every advantage. He is used every day to estimating weights, and his business makes it necessary to guess closely. So in most such sales by guess, the farmer is apt to be cheated, often by fifty or a hundred weight. Every farmer who has occasion to sell anything by weight should procure a pair of farm scales. They will save their cost often in a single year. Notes for F hepherds. Sheep fertilize the pastures. Sheep are death to wild mustard. Eastern Australia has 100,000,000 sheep. Don’t keep a flock in unventilated quarters. The Merino matures too slowly for a profitable mutton sheep. The demand for stock sheep has been very strong this season. Second growth clover is highly recommended for lambs after weaning. Once in a while the stables should have an extra and thorough cleaning. Dry feed and nothing else will likely cause sick sheep before spring. Oil meal Is a remedy. The ram is by no means a coward, and we have seen one put up a successful fight against a dog. To compel the ewe to raise a lamb and grow a big fleece the same year Is too much work for her. The breeding of lamb rams Is a serious mistake to both the breeder and customer, says h flockmaster.—Western A man Is always looking for letters, but he never answers them.