Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1891 — FARM NOTES. [ARTICLE]

FARM NOTES.

Carrots, rutabaga and mangled. , wurtzels, turnips and cabbage refuge niake excellent food for cows and ba-rn-diately increase the milk flow; but ; some who have tried these complain | that the butter and even the milk acj quire a rancid taste. If fed In mOders I ation regularly and immediately after milking there will be no noticable effect Tbe feeding should be begun gradually, and there should, of course, be enough dry food in connection with these items. Fed with discretion they constitute cheap and valuable addition to the feeding ration. Heavy wheat—that is, wheat that will weigh sixty pounds or more a bush- ; el—willj yield more flour in proportion to weight and is consequently more valuable pound for pound than that which will weigh 58,55 and 54 pounds. The first step toward growing uniformly heavy wheat is to exercise proper care in the selection of seed. We wish every farmer who reads this would select by hand a few ounces of heavy, plump seed and plant by itself the coming year and observe jthe results as compared with his ordinary* seeding. We are convinced that such an experiment would finally conduce to greater care in selecting the entire amount of seed, and so to beter yields of grain. There is no question about the wisdom of renewing seed, and especially small grains, from a distance. Grain that has been repeatedly sown in the Bame vincinity will “runout,” that is, have a gradually weaker vitality, and to resist these adverse conditions we must renew the life of the seed: renewals from the same county or parallel of latitude are not sufficient, but the new seed should be brought from a locality that has essentially different climate conditions. The general principle is that we should work from the north toward the south in these renewals, but this rule, of course, has its limitations from natural causes. With wheat and oats the same seed should not be used more that three successive seasons.

I An exchange speaks of the comparative merits from the mercnant’s standpoint, of the cash and credit systems of dealing. It says: "Merchants know that the average man will buy more goods if he has an account than if he pays cash. There is something about the bare fact of paying out hard-earned dollars that makes one pause and consider whether the purchase is a neces* sary one.” There is another point, too, worth [considering from thq buyer’s standpoint a purchaser will not scruntize the prtce so closely when buying on credit as when paying cash and so often pays much more for an article. Farmers, above all people, should avoid store accounts, asasingln crop failure is liable to make such a debt become very burdensome. If ready money is not obtainable the store account can often be avoided by growing something which can be exchanged through the season for such things as. must be bought. A little space time devoted to fruits or vegetables, to chickens, bees, etc., will often prove of much more value thaD the mere amount of money derived from the sale of the products by enabling one to avoid a debt,. These things may bo exchanged at the store each week in small quantities, answering the same purpose as pash, A, ■'one-crop” farmer is almost always in debt for thre®r fourths of the year. By a little attention to small matters of this sort he would he in a much more independent position, and eventually find more profit in his work. The straw produced upon the farm is all of value and should be wholly utilized, either as fobd~ or ag~mahureT~ . While its manurial value alone is not great, it may be the means, by being carefully used as an absorbent, of adding largely to the quantity of good fertilizer. If properly stacked the oat straw especially is an excellent food for winter use. It should not be con-, sidered as a complete food, but it can be heed to good advantage in connect tion with something else. Mixed with a small amount of clover hay and with a little bran added, a ratio can be made which will keep horses, sheep and cattle in good winter condition if they are given good shelter. A good straw* stack properly used will materially lessen the quantity of hay and fodder consumed, and consequently will lighten the expense of winter feeding—always a matter for serious consider*, tion upon the farm. *ln converting the straw into manure enough should be kept in the stalls to fully absorb all liquids before they reach the floor. This cannot be done if there is but a, slight covering. Nothing is to, be, gained by increasing the bulk of the manure pile at expense of quality, buti all the straw that can be used aa an absorbent and left in the stall until it has taken up all the liquids It will hold* will add both to the bulk and quality of the manure. In growing wheat the grain rarely is consumed upon the farm, so that the straw is all that Is left to be returned to the soil, alld the most should be made of it