Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1890 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

The first step in changing from summer to winter dairying will boto have the cows bred in December or January bo that they may drop their" calves it the fall instead of the spring. If you propose to make the change next year it is not too early to begin laying plans mow.'. ' .s. .■ ' J. - ■" ■ v : : '

The American Agriculturist says that a fowl that will lay from 175 to 200 eggs from January to December should be considered worth while keeping. The Pekin duck will do it, yet some farmers have forgotten that such a thing as a duck exists. Beside being good layers they rear a great many in a season, maturing in eleven weeks. They are sure to market at a good profit It is an open question whether it pays the farmer to hold any sort of produce • ‘for a rise. • * In the long run the butter maker who holds two or three months pays 50 per cent, on the venture. The market nor ihe consumer does not want butter that is old nor that-has been held for a rise. The butter that brings the highest price is that freshest made. The good butter made yesterday always sells highest, and is fir3t inquired for. The most successful butter-makers are those who sell their butter as fast as made and try to make the bulk of it between October and June.

The cheapest pork is made from bogs that are never wintered and that may get a good share of their sustenance during a long season upon pasture or upon a good range. In the north clover is becoming our universal pork producer. In the south a range with plenty of mast from the various fruit, oak and nut trees supplies this place even more cheaply. It is not necessafy that a hog should be a “razor back” to thrive upon such fare. Any good, thrifty shoat will feed himself in the woods from June until November, and then by the middle of December can be fed up to a weight of 200, which is quite heavy enough for the production of good bacon. - . The breeding of the "family cow” is a department of our live-stock industry that is too generally overlooked, The department of agriculture estimates that the number of cows kept in the towns and villages is more than 1,000,000. A largo proportion of these owners would gladly pay a good premium for an animal that just suited them—a liberal, rich milker, free from all blemishes, and kind in disposition. No matter what her breed or pedigree if she fulfills these conditions. Such a cow is hard to find, as every one can testify who has sought, and when found can only be obtained at a "fancy” price something more than her value either for beef or for the commercial dairy.

There is a steady Increase In the popular appreciation for fancy poultry in this country, but it has not reached as high a pitch as in England. At the Chrystal palace poultry show last year there were nearly seven thousand entries. The highest-priced bird shown was the Asiatic Cochin, specimens of which were sold as high as $292 a head. Specimens of the Brahma sold at $245 each, and black Spanish from $97 to $195.- Even at prices much below these the successful brooding of fancy poultry affords gooo profits. It is one of the out-of-door industries that is peculiarly adapted to women, requiring nice, painstaking, and close attention to de. tails rather ttian severe labor, A beginner would do best by confining attention strictly to some one popular breed, branching out into others only after procuring a good degree of practical experience. A new milking machine, which is an embodiment of the bell and the suction tube, is being experimented with in Scotland. The machine consists of an iron suction tube, which is fitted all round tho byre and above, the cogs, and from this an india rubber tube descends to the vessel into which tho milk is to be drawn. A belt is hung over the cow’s back, and from this belt a close vessel into which the milk is to be drawn is suspended. Four separate india rubber tubes about a foot and a half long terminate in this vessel. and on the other end have tin necks which go on the teats of the cow. They do i not not grasp the teats, but fix themselves by the force of suction to the udders at the roots of the teats. Ihe suction force is supplied by a force jiump.whieh ean be easily-managed by a boy. The lid of the closed vessel is of gloss, so that the milk-maid can see at a glance that the four different streams of milk from the seperate teats are coming all right If this machine proves practicable and the cotton-pick-ing and corn-cutting machines are finally perfected, three important steps will have been taken toward lessening the drudgery of agriculture. Potatoes for the JJw inter should remain in the ground until they are thoroughly natured, and then well sun dried before being stored away. The best way to store them is in shallow bins in a cool, dry, dark cellar. If there is a lack of cellar room pits may be used, and, if rightly Aiade, are excellent for preserving the tubers.' They should not bo placed in the pits, however, uhtil just before the advent of winter, and then should be buried below the surface of the ground. It is a mistake to throw the tubers in a heap on the surface and then cover tbe conical pile with a heavy blanket of straw and soil. They need air as much as warmth. The best method Is to dig a pit about four feet deep and .as large as required, being sure to locate in a dry, well drained soil. Fill this with potatoes to within a foot of the surface, and then lay stout supports, covered With earth and straw over the pit. Make the covering rounding, so as to shed rain, and in-

sort at intervals small chimneys of boards or tiles for ventilation. An handling the potatoes carefully avoid bruising or breaking the skins, as this induces decay. If put into such a pit as we have described, dry and sdund. they will come out in perfect condition in the spring. We have often suggested lu these .columns the value of timber plantations and have urged that rough fields, or such as for any cause may have proved unprofitable in ordinary cultivation, might be most profitably put to such a use. A recent issue of the Tradesman re ports that an experimental black walnut grove in Michigan is now rapidly nearing fruition, and that the owner may reasonably expect within a very few years to reap the harvest of the most profitable crop over planted in this State; and the owner’s greatest regret now is that he did not enter more extensively 1 into the business. The certainty of large returns is the great feature of the business of growing the afore valuable sorts of timber, Black walnut is in demand throughout the country, and its scarcity is becoming yearly (Apparent. It is one of the most valuable timbers that can be produced by cultivation in this country, and is hardy and thrifty. Though slow of growth and requiring many years for the giving of money returns, a small plantation of the trees will begin to add at once to the selling value of a farm, and the value will increase with each year’s growth. The minimum value of a black-walnut tree at twenty years is put at S2O, with a yearly increase of $2 in value thereafter. A single tree becomes, within a short lifetime, of more value than the acre of ground on which it is grbwn, and hundreds can bo grown to each acre. The growth of new towns throughout the South has been almost phenomenal during the last decade, but in many instances there has not been the corresponding growth in the agricultural districts surrounding them which there should be to assure permanency and continued prosperity. This want is now being met by land companies which have procured large bodies of land adjacent to good towns and are selling it off in small lots of from ten to twenty-five acres to truckers, fruit--growers, and poultry and dairy men. In one case, where the company is endeavoring to promote market gardening on a largo scale, a canning factory has been erected as'an adjunct to the enterprise, so that the surplus products, if any, can be economically saved. Capital, eo'-operating with labor in this manner for the promotion of new agricultural enterprises, can hardly fail to produce good results. It can seek out, as the farmer hardly can do single Handed, the most favorable basis for such operations. It can promote markets and apply the most successful business principles and management to the affairs of agriculture. The tendency of the times is toward centralization, combined efforts, the pooling interests, and against the old rule of • ‘each man for himself.'” ThAtnoro that agricultural producers can unite under single management the more economically can their matters be conducted hnd tho stronger will be their position. ALLIANCE NOTES. The Prohibitionists and Farmers Alliance of North Dakota united in a State ticket this Fall. The Legislature of Georgia will have an overwhelming majority of Farmers’ Alliance men at its next session. ~~ The Alliance men of Lumpkin county, Ga., announce their intention of opening a co-operative store at Dahlonega. Tho Alliance in Kentucky numbers eighty thousand men, divided into IUO county alliances and over 2,100 sub-, ordinate associations. The Alliance of Buncombe count)', N. C., has organized a Farmers’ Exchange in order to secure the best possible terms in buying and selling. The Alliance of North Carolina will establish a school that will provide a liberal education for the farmers’ children at absolute cost prices. Each pupil will pay his or her proportion of the amount expended iu boarding and teaching the scholars. Tho school will be locatid at Moorehead City, N, C,, and will accommodate three hundred pupils. ,

Tlie Farmers’ Alliance is making the Illinois election contest a very interesting affair this year, and the two old parties regard it thus far as an unknown quantity likely to work any amount of havoc to their well laid plans. It is conceded that tho Alliance will certainly elect some members to the State Legislature and the fear is gaining ground among old party politicians that those may hold the balance of power iu the Lower House.