Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1889 — FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND HOME.

—Small Fruits >ud Market (iArdarilng. The owners of large farms, who look down upon berry and truck raising as small business, have not informed themselves as to the amount of capital invested and labor employed in this direction. According to the last census the value of market garden products sold in 1879 Was over $21,000,000, while the orchard products sold or consumed amounted to $50,000,000. Small fruits are possibly embraced in the market garden products. There is scarcely a doubt that were tho value of the products of all gardens added to the former the aggregate would equal, if *n»-p««s, the latter. Gardening, then; is no sinall matter, even when compared with the so-called great industries of the country, and when the thoughtful farmer contrasts the acreage employed in market gardening and the value of its products with general farming and its products he will discover that there is no occasion to spre d out over a township or so to make a living and make money too. To be sure there is something a glut of garden products in the large centres of trade, but there is no general overproduction as with staple farm crops, and since increased production scarcely keeps pace with increased demand there'is a wide field for the farmer with limited acres to operate. From a health standpoint, the consumption of fruits and vegetables should be increased * and pork proportionately discontinued, especially during the summer season; and as people will learn by practice that they can do as much labor and have better health by giving pork a. less important place in the daily rations the reformation of farmers’ bills of fare will be secured. Why should not every family, rich and poor, be supplied with delicious fruits and ehoicfi.y.egetables?:.—Surely not because these cun not be produced cheaply and in any quantity required as Soon as the demand for them arises. The large profit so- often reported from small fruit growing and market gardening is by no means fictitious, and the business will bear strong competition and still be more renumerative than general agriculture to tho farmer, while society at large would be relieved of terror on account of trichina} and diseased meat if its diet consisted principally of fruits, cereals and vegetables. l am aware that in many places a curtailment of the tobacco crop and a widening out into vegetable gardening would not be considered for a moment, because of the belief that there is more money in tobacco. I question this. What tobacco grower has realized S6OO to SI,OOO per acre, as reported, from cabbages or onions, not to speak of SI,OOO to $1,500 from strawberries or celery, or $2,000 to $2,500 from cauliflower? .These, of course, are maximum crops with best prices. Nevertheless, they prove possibilities, and show a wide margin beyond the no profit line. Capital, skill and attention are demanded to insure success in this field, but so are they essential in any field.. And-in the coming “readjustment,” of which we hear so much, small fruits and vegetables will occupy a l arger place on our farms and on our ’tables; to the profit to both the grower and consumer. Practical Farmer.

The Polnli of a Good Batter Cow. A good butter cow should have a long face, wide between the eyes, the eye alert and expressive, and placed a long way below the horns. A cow with eyes near the top of the head does not know any more than a man with eves so placed. She should have a large muzzle, a slim neck and a yellow skin, especially inside the ears, the breathing should be regular, the buck and abdomen strong, the udder wide where it connects with the body, the teats squarely placed and the tail slim. Over and above all these points she must have tho d iiry form. The points at best are only indications. The dairy form is inseparably connected with a good butter cow. The desirable dairy form is always seen in the best types of Jerseys. Guernseys, Ayreshires and Holsteins. The best beef form is presented in Shorthorns, Herefords and most of the polled breeds. The intelligent dairyman, with a knowledge born of experience, desire and capacity for the business, never makes the mistake of choosing his cow with a beef form. While it is not difficult for a dairyman with a knowlcdro of his business to select a cow That will make ten pounds of butter a week, provided always such cow is within the drove or herd he iff inspecting, cows that will make fourteen pounds of butter a week are not to be found in the droves that are driven about for sale. Such cows are seldom for sale except at breeders’ prices. A novice might by chance select a cow that was making ten pounds of butter a week under the right treatment, vet-If he-kent her in a cold st&la sncT&nve her ioe-water to drink and fed her on timothy hay and ground barley and corn-meal, all of which are lacking in protein, the cowwould soon run down to three and one-half pounds a week and stay there, or make less. Another man who know his business might havo selected the same cow and kept her in a warm stable, given water, warm ensilago made from sweet corn woll manured, two or three pouniss of tlover bay and a plentiful supply of

wheat bran or middlings, ground oat* and peas, or a little oil meal or any other food, con taming protein in liberal” proportion, and the cow would probably have increased to a week if her Hfcit permitted,—American Agriculturist