Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1887 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

It is a mistake to suppose that sour, fermented slop for hogs is better than a fresh mixture that is sweet and clean. Professor Stewart reports the feeding of 104‘cowson an acre of corn in the milk, and it gave them full feed for four days, equal to 416 days for one cow. When the leaves of • plants assume a yellow tinge the application of a solution of nitrate of soda (saltpetre) will often cause them to again become green and thrifty. If in a very fat condition the chances are that the hen will show an inclination to set. Even the so-called nonsetters on becoming fat will attempt to hatch a brood. A poulterer says: We would never attempt to keep a flock of chickens through the winter without plenty of dry earth for a dust bath. The best time to store it is when it is dry. A farmer writes that he considers a cow three-quarters Jersey and onequarter corn meal about as good for butter as any he can find. He has a small herd of such cows whose butter sells at a handsome advance over th® average price. The dairy cow may be regarded as a machine for transforming the food which she receives into milk, butter and cheese. She has no power, however, te produce something out of nothing. Th« best she can do is to perform her work economically. Farmers will find it to their advantage to corn mutton in a weak brine for home consumption. The hams can b® smoked and used like dried beef, or they can be boiled. The corned mutton will be found an agreeable change from sausage and spare ribs. Tomato vines will endure quite an amount of cutting and trim mi ng,and often renew themselves when nearly dead. If the branches be too thick it will be of advantage to cut some of them out from a few vines where a limited amount of early fruit shall be desired. Store beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips in bins in the cellar and pack them in dry sand or earth and they will keep well for winter use. This method will enable the farmer to use them at any time, which will not be the case if they be stored in mounds in the open air. Hogs kept in confinement will eat charcoal or even bituminous coal with relish, and they are also fond of rotten wood, these substances seeming to furnish a desired, if not necessary, condiment or appetizer. Charred corn once a week is a welcome variation in th® fare of swine. Sassafras is a nuisance in any field,but it cannot be destroyed very easily except by grubbing it out, removing all the roots. Being a hardy and persistent plant it must be killed in its younger stages. If allowed to overrun a field it will entail nearly as much labor as is required to clear new land from brush. An observing writer remarks tha farmers may naturally be divided into three classes: 1. Those who grow crops below the average,and whose lives are a struggle with poverty. 2. Those who grow average crops and make a living by close economy. 8 Those whose crop* are always above the average, and wh» are prosperous. Those making use of driven wells should remember that the patent expired two years ago, and that the wells put down since then are free of any royalty; also, that the right of any person claiming to act as agent of the patentee should be cleatly established before money is paid him. It is a good rule in all such cases to go slow and act with neighbors.