Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1892 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

Saving Manure—Covered Barnjnr.t. I note in a recent issue Mr, Geo. Jackson’s report of his failure with a covered barnyard, writes G. W. Farlee in the Country Gentleman. It seems to me that manure preserved under shelter requires a good deal of attention to avoid Gre-fang-ing. In fact. I very much doubt the economy of t®is method of treating barnyard manure. I much prefer the plan of getting the manure on the field where it is to be used as it accumulates. I use the bulk of my manure on corn ground, and it is cartel and spr< al during the winter as it is made. The weather or soft condition of the ground occasionally interferes with the eartlng, but we rarely have more than two weeks’ uccummulation in the yard. If it freezes before we can get it out, we continue its removal, and if it is lumpy, break up the lumps in the field after a thaw. I need my barnyard in the winter for simbath9 for my cattle on warm, sunny, days; besides, if I postponed carting the manure a field until spring, I. am sure that I would be lute with my spring crops. As it is, with the spring manuring accomplished in the winter, I have to keep pushing my men to get my spring crops in in season. *** spring seeding and planting done as early as the season will allow,so os to have ample time for cultivation before - haying and harvesting come on. Many a crop of eorn suffers for lack of cultivation during haying and harvesting which wo feel must not be neglected. The ordinary rottfon with us is corn on sod followed by oats and theu wheat or rye, and I am satisfied if you practice this rotation, the crop on which to use the manure is corn. If artificial fertilizers have proved of benefit in the neighborhood, I should like to use a little on the wheat or ryo as well for the grain as for the grass seeded with it. If I were going to use it on wheat,l should pile it in winter, when the men are comparatively idle, with a layer of earth or muck four to six inches deep every two feet in depth of the pile. I have rarely seen a farm on which there was not a wet spot or patch of meadow land that would be improved by an open ditch. Opening or making the' ditch would give you the material necessary for preserving all the strenght of the manure, and in fact adding to its value. I would, if you have it, use the earth or muck more freely than I have indicated. In this connection let me say that . very few hired men—or farmers for that matter—know how to make an open ditch properly. The sides should be sloping, otherwise the frost will cause the sides to crumble and fill up the ditch. The best plan for a ditcn three feet deep is to have it four feet wide on the top, and a foot or fifteen inches on the bottom. With an open ditch three and a half feet deep and one or two short underdrains. I have lowered the water level of a medow fully 18 inches, and reclaimed and made good medow of a patch that grew nothing but bog grass. Doe* it Par to Raise Horses f This question was asked me a few days since. After answering it in the affirmative I thought the matter over carefully, and here are the results :

1. I am working a farm of 140 acres, and need three horses to do everything conveniently. 2. It does not need any more coital to have two of the threo horses brood mares. 3. Judiciously managed, I need not lose a week’s work of eithor of them on the farm In the year because of their foaling a colt. 4. It does not require any extra help on the farm to care for the colts as it does with an increased number of cows. Now, as to how I managed the breeding, etc. I have two mares at the present time—one foaled her colt the Ist of May, the other will foal hers about the Ist of September. In this way I have one of them in shape for heavy work in the spring, and the colt weaned from the other ready for the fall plowing and other heavy work. There is often a mistake made in thinking that to breed good horses the mares must not bo worked. My own experience proves this, as I have tried both methods. ' When io sell ? I have always sold when somebody wanted to buy badly enough to pay mv price, whether it ' be for fbiir mouths, a year, or whatever age it might be when the customor comes. It has always been my plan to ask for & colt just what 1 would be willing to give for it were 4 wanting to buy, and up to the age of two or three or four years nothing short of that price would buy. This matter of selling Is where many make a mistake and really make the breeding of horses un unprofitable business Another thing—when I find that I am using a sire that makes a good cros3 with a dam I am perfectly satisfied to keep on raising that hind of a horse. Another great mistake is nearly always made-that of breeding worn out, unsound and many times vicious mares. Don't nse such as these, but have young,sound, gontlc, well trained mares, and your colts will then Inherit only good qualities, and will moke a class of horses that will never go begging a customer. Brother farmers, don’t be afraid to breed horses; there will always be a demand, and no horse sells better than a good horse. Just think of it! Now York city alouo loses by death about fourteen thousand horses annually, and as many more get lame and disabled. Add to this the losses In other cities and the country, and what would the number be? Does it pay? I soy yes, and emphatically, too.—Country Gentleman. Thinning: Minna Fruit*. ! Improved methods of doing business, in all kinds of husbandry, are being adopted every day. The writer in youth, used the sickle, then the mowing machino, then the reaper, then the reaper and raker. Now my ncigbors sits on his reaper and bluder sad turns the standiug grain out in bound bundles. The ti.osi notieo-

er in our successful peach belt, Op* ana county, told me one of bis peach trees commenced to bear at three; when six years old it bore so many peaches it died. He said with much emphasis that he was well satisfied with that tree, it had paid for itsolf over and over again. Now we do not let our trees bear themselves to death, we thin them. By thinning we mean, pick off the green peaches when quite small. If you have a small orchard, pick them off, especially if they do not hang very full. If a large orchard, it is a slow process. If heavily loaded trim the tree tolerably severe, especially when the twigs stand close together, cut soifao of them out; if some limbs are stretching out ahead of the rest cut them back, and the limb that hangs directly over another limb full of .fruit. Instead of picking, them off use a pair of shears; in tbiUwway they can be cut off very fast. After you have thinned as high Up into the tree as you can reach, drive a light wagon under the tree and stand mor on that. This should be done two or three times; in fact you should go through your orchard, to every tree, as ofteu as once every two weeks, not only to thin them, but to trim, bolt, grub them, etc. They should not be nearer than four inches, in some cases five inches is bet|er. Thin them thoroughly this year, and next year you will thin them still more. Have had ten years' experience and have 5,000 fruit trees planted in the village.—Coleman’s Rural World. “ —' Growing Hemp. At the present time, says the Farmers Review, not only ,is the hemp industry centralized in a single .State, but it is concentrated in a very small group of counties, four of them producing 59,48 per cent, and six others 31,94 per cent of the total hemp crop of the country. There is therefore but 8.58 per cent of the entire crop raised in the remaining 24 hemp producing counties of the eight hemp producing States, and yet the time was when the State of Missouri from which a total of 31 tons is now reported, produced over 67 per cent, more hemp than is now produced in the whole of the United States. The highest State average is that of New York, 1,192 pounds, and lowest that of Ohio, 678 pounds. Of individual counties, the highest average yield per acre is that of Meroer county. Kentucky, 1,264 pounds,and the lowest that of Saline county, Missouri 480 pounds. The county having absolutely the largest production is Fayette county, Kentucky with a yield of 2,773 tons, or 24.09 per cent of the total amount reported from tbo eight hemp producing States.

The Prospect. Wo may be satisfied that as mutton has become such a prominent factor in the food of the American people, that sheep husbandry will be largely increased, and that a good demand will be found for breeding stock, so tiiat fanners having surplus ewes will find ready customers at fair living prices. The prospect is encouraging for this great industry. The consumption of fat lambs and good young mutton is immense, and the demand is sura to keapupwith the supply for some time to come. * ® Sheep Sheering. Sheep with overgrown hoofs never do os well as they might. Country wool buyers do not al' ways buy wool on its merits. Shropshires are not only%apltal nurses, but they are very prilfic. A flock of well cared for scrubs is E referable to the same number of alf-starved thoroughbreds.

Never have the troughs so low that the sheep can get their feet into them or they will waste feed, i Do not place too much dependence on either wool or mutton alone, but rather a combination of the two. If tho best profit is realized, not only the wool, but the mutton and the lamb must contribute their part. Poorly kept sheep will not make the owner rich or do much towards building up the fertility of the soil. The pian who thinks of how is the best jfian of having an easy time of it has as a rule no business attempting to handle sheep. ... In any locality where the land is broken to be cultivated to good advantage sheep can nearly always be mode profitable. "With care in breeding the ewe lambs should keep the number good so that the wethers can be readdy marketed when properly matured. Have an ideal sheep and then breed to it and follow up until you can see the result of your labor, and then you can determine whother you arc right or wrong. Whenever it is considered necessn ry to feed grain to sheep the better plan is to commence with a small umount at first and gradually increase.

Horn* Hints. Good Housekeeping. A towel wet at one end and pinned around tho neck will cure sore throat. □Scratches and bruises may be removed from furniture by using the kernel of a walnut or butternut. To make the eyebrows grow better rub common salt into them every night before going to bed. Clean white sheepskin rugs by scrubbing them withoostilo soap and water, drying thoroughly in the sun. Headache, toothache, backache, or most any other ache will be relieved by heating the feet thoroughly with the shoes on. Pino may be mode to look like Borne beautiful wood by giviug repeated coats of hot linseed oil and rubbing hard after each coat. Many a man, aud perhaps more womeu, would have been saved from iusanitjr if they had resolutely obtained sufficient sleep. I’or a disagreeable breath, put a few drops of tincture of myrrh in a tumbler of water and thoroughly riots the mouth with it. A whits cashmere or chudda may bo nicely and easily oleaaed at home by using soap bark, which may be £ >; - i Hit f 1/ ... v 'ST!!. . . mi