Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1893 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

Angu»t on the Farm. Philadelphia Record. The crop grown on a field this fear takes only a portion of certain plant foods and almost wholly appropriates some other elements. A different crop next year may find an abundance of plant food in those substances which were not used by the previous crop. Plant food may ilso exist plentifully, yet be in such 1 condition that the crop cannot draw upon it. The farmer can change the form of the food, and also add to the fertility of the soil, by a system of rotation. He can also perform a large share of the duty of increasing fertility by preparing his land in the fall and growing green manurial crops to feed his soil for the next season. When a field is turned over to weeds it is still growing a crop and exhausting the soil. It is better to grow a crop for manure and at the same time destroy the weeds. Rye can be seeded down in the fall and plowed under in time for corn in the spring. The difficulty in the way is that farmers will be tempted to allow the rye to mature and cut it as a crop. All unoccupied land should be plowed, harrowed and left untouched for two or three weeks, when it should be worked over with the cultivator, broadcasted with twenty bushels of lime per acre, harrowed and seeded to rye. This will kill the weeds on the land, and the rye may be used for late pasturage, and also as the first early green food before grass appears in the spring. But, above all, turn the rye under in' the spring, first allowing it to grow as much as possible, but not to produce seed. If preferred, it may be turned under during an earlier stage of growth. The object of the crop is to destroy weods and to add vege-. table matter to the soil.

By fall plowing and seeding down to rye, two crops will be turned under —weeds and rye. There may be little or nothing added to the soil, as the green food is derived from the soil itself during growth, though something may be gained by the appropriation of the free nitrogen of the atmosphere, but the roots of the various kinds of weeds draw upon both the soil and the sub-soil, converting insoluble substances into plant food, and also feeding upon the nitrogen brought down by the rains as ammonia or nitric acid, which are returned to the soil when the weeds are plowed under, while the stirring of the soil permits the seeds of the weeds to germinate and be destroyed when the rye is seeded down. As rye feeds on different foods from that preferred bv many of the weeds, it will also convert inert matter into plant food, by storing it in the stocks, so that when corn is planted on top the rye, in the spring, the land will have increased in fertility and the yield of corn will be larger. The greatest benefit, however, will be secured by the destruction of the weeds, and the lime will exert a chemical effect on the soil that will greatly assist in changing the character of the plant food. Dairy Testa at Chicago. / The public tests of the Jersey cattle at the World’s Fair, though conducted with the object of securing a record for the breed, are none the less interesting to all who are engaged in dairying. There is a large herd of them at the Fair, and it is composed of selections from the best cows on the farms of many breeders, quite a number of States being represented. It is true that these cows do not give the results boasted of in the private tests of their owners, or when the tests were made under the auspices of the Cattle Club. Nevertheless, the Jerseys are performing grandly, and are making creditable records. Attention is attracted to the-work at Chicago because the facts can not be refuted, and also because there is a great comparison between them and the scrubs.

It is not claimed that the Jerseys excel as milk producers, nor have they succeeded in defeating the Holsteins as butter producers, but they stand forth as a warning to dairymen that the time has come when only the best breeds can be used. While each cow at Chicago has differed from her companions, a selection of any one of them may be safely made as a model for farmers to study, so far as her product is concerned. The herd records show that on one day 870 pounds of milk containing 126 pounds of cream, stood as the performance. From this was secured 50 pounds of salted butter. The cows average about two pound of butter per day, when doing Well, and yield about fifteen quarts of milk daily. The fractions are here omitted, but the figures show that while the quantity of milk yielded is not above the average of some choice herds, yet the richness of the milk is great, and the production of butter far above what any farmer would expect from his herd. Some of the cows at the Fair, however, have given larger yields of both milk and butter. If a whole herd of cattle —25 in number—can fully demonstrate the advantages and value of breeding it is a lesson to farmers that they are losing time, money and labor in allowing themselves*to be held to cattle that have no recommendations or characteristics. The cow that produces 14 pounds of butter per week is more valuable than two cows each yielding T pounds, as she requires only one-half the room, labor and expense. The test demonstrates that the cows are doing just what they pre bred to do and tfcat they are fulfilling expectations which could only be realized when an object Was sought and desired to be obtained. Public

tests are public indicators and point unerringly to the great improvements that a’ fe being made in our various breeds of cattie. H«rrMtfa>r Potatoes. The harvesting at the potato crop cannot be made simply a matter of convenience, as is the case with many farmers who raise only enough for home use, but there is a proper season and time for • their gathering which must be observed. By postponing the season until the cold rains of autumn set in we often invite the potato rot, which is caused by the accumulation of mud on the tubers. The ordinary crop should be dug, as a rule, not’ later than the end of August. When growing in dry, gravelly soil they should be dug a day or two after an shower of rain, so that the soil will not adhere to them; but on muddy, loamy soil it is better to dig them when the ground is very dry. One can easily select a time when the soil is in the right condition to fall away from the potatoes when turned up either with the plow, potato digger or fork. By harvesting a clean crop in this way the labor of harvesting is greatly lezsened. Potatoes should not be wasted as a rule, yet they must if we dig them up with the soil adhering to them. A dirty crop of potatoes will not keep well. Sometimes, however, potatoes will get muddy from necessity, and then some place to keep them while they are washed should be provide!. It is not such an easy job to wash potatoes, for the mud is only loosened and not washed off by throwing water over them. If they are piled up in a heap and then washed with a hose for some time, the tops will be as clean as a whistle, but down toward the bottom the mud has accumulated. -

The easiest way to wash them is to make a temporary lattice work on the top of four barrels. Lay bean poles across the four rails, so clofte that the potatoes can not slide through. On top of this place one bushel of potatoes at a time, and then turn the hose on them. The water and dirt will drip through the lattice work to the ground and leave the potatoes bright and clean. As fast as cleaned the potatoes should be spread out on a canvas or boards to dry before sorting. They will dry in a very short time in harvesting seasons. They must not be stored away in a damp, cold place while wet or the rot will surely set in. A good drying and storing place for potatoes should be provided beforehand in the barn. A latticed floor should be made somewhere on the north side of the barn, and either stretched from mow to mow or constructed on a cheap framework. The floor can be made of bean poles or cheap scantling. , The spaces between the slots should only be about an inch. If such a storage place is provided the potatoes can be placed there even when they are wet, for the dry air circulating through them soon carries away the moisture. All through the rest of the summer and the early fall the potatoes can be kept in this cool place in the best of condition. If potatoes are to be kept until late in the winter for sale they will turn ont 50 per cent, better if cared for in the summer in this way. All of the moisture is dried* I out of them, and heat has no chance to rot them.

The Plum Knot. The Rural New Yorker states that a correspondent paints portions of his plum trees, on which the plum knot appears, with coal oil, and that this eventually stops the growth of the swelling known as “the knot.’ By taking it in time he says that the disease does not spread, and that the knots eventually peel off, leaving only a scar to mark the spot, As this disease is caused by a minute fungus, there can be no doubt of the accuracy of this observation. Oik of all kinds are well known to be fatal to all fungus organisms. It it more than likely that if the plun trees were to get a painting of pure linseed oil, or any other vegetable oil once a year, they would continue at all times healthy—as in this case the ■ spores from whieh the fungut germinates would be destroyed be fore they had the opportunity to de any damage at all. 4 Peach Growing Under Dlfllcnltlee. In countries unfavorable to the outdoor cultivation of the peach glass houses are built for their ac commodation, and great success fol lows this method of treatment; ii fact, it has oeen asserted that undei proper management a house of no particularly large size would groi as many peaches as one would get it an ordinary orchard, covering hal an acre of ground. This, however must be under .extremely favorahi circumstances; but still it cannot b denied that remarkable and wonder ful success follows this artificial sys tern of culture. They are not on! grown in the open ground, or in bor ders, as the practice is technical!; called, but are often made to prt duce enormously when grown in pots Illustrations frequently appear i horticultural papers, showing th method of pot culture and what ei cellent results can be had frqm it. j number of growers, however, i America have them in this way—nc so much because of any in outdoor culture, as to have thei early; in other words, for forcing They can be produced in this mat nor so as to have the fruit ripe i April and May; and, indeed, it said that some ‘have been gathere under extremely careful and intell gent culture as early as Marc This, however, it is presuined'not be very often the case.