Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1894 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

Proper Food for Hurt*., John E. Russell well says that the knowledge ol how to take care of horses is of the greatest importance, as will 5 be readily seen if one will consider the conformation and each special part and function of the ani- ' mal.—The horse is the most intimate friend of all animals to mankind, his improved descent being along with with the general progress of. mankind and exerting on the littiter a great influence. Our knowledge of him begins at the very beginning of history ana comes along in the progres with man himself. The horse, like the human being, requires an appetite to eat and a stomach to assimilate food. 4 great deal depends on the way the horse is Jreated. There is no rule to go by in the stable for the care of horses or for the amount of food to be fed. Much depends on the size, disposition and amount of work to be done. I believe that one of the most frequent causes of disability, feebleness and weakness in horses is caused by overfeeding. Too much grain, hay, coarse feed, etc.. fed to the animal, whether at work or not, is as a rule injurious. Perhaps a good rule to apply is to feed the horse two per cent of his weight in oats and hay. As a horse has a small stomach he should be fed often. A friend has said he has watched a horse feed for twenty out twenty-four bourse in an ordinary pasture. When left to himself he walks about munching and eating about all the time. Unlike the human being the horse has a small stomach and no gall sack. Because of the lack of the latter organ a quick digestion follows, and for the former reason but a small amount of food should be fed at a time. I consider maize to be a poor food for the horse. The best food is oats, roller crushed. These are "invariably fed by the trainers of race horses and by our best breeders. They are worth from 20 to 25 per cent more to the horse, as the nutrients are more easily arid rapidly digested. The digestion of whole grains is poor, as the gastric juice cannot enter into them aud do their absorptive work.

Cement Floors for Stables. In Farm and Home, Waldo Brown writes; I have at last got my stables in the shape I have wanted them for several years, as we. finished, this fall, laying the last of the floors with cement. Mv stock barn has been built but eight years, but the stable floors had been patched for two on three years past, and we were losing much of the liquid manure, which, in the .case of horses, is worth six times as much for a given weight as the solid excrement. I know that my floors routed out much quicker than they would have done if I had let the air circulate under them, hut that makes a old stable, which is just what I do not want, for since building this barn J have demonstrated that a thoroughly warm stable will save one-third of the food. There was another thing which I did not like under the old arrangement, and that was rats. We have three stables, each thirty feet long. The cow and horse stables tire arranged so that the stock face each other, and both cat from a manger six feet wide. Then behind the horses we have a stable into which we throw the manure every morning, and in this we keep colts or young cattle 1 mse to tramp the manure. This last si able can be into four box stalls, or, if we wish, it can be th'-own into one or two. In putting in the cement floor we included the manger, and thus got rid of the last rat harbor about the barn.

Preparing Bees for Winter. Bees begin to make preparation for winter much earlier than is generally supposed. In preparing for winter, as indeed in all other matters pertaining to beekeeping, apiarians should adopt methods of management as nearly as possible in agreement with the instincts and habits of the bee. It has been found a good practice to widen the spaces between the comb frames near the close of the honey gathering season, in order that the bops may, by elongating the cells, place a large share Of the winter stores above the cluster. When bees build their own combs after their own designs, as in box combs, spaces are left between with enough to permit of elongating the cells in order that a lage share of the winter stores may be placed in the top of the hive, easily accessible in the severest weather.

As soon as the 'storage of surplus honey is done the condition of every colony should be examined, the amount and character of the winter food ascertained, the number of comb frames, arid the size of the apartments should be determined by and adapted to the wants of each colony. After the supply of winter stores has been equalized among all the colonies, if the supply is insufficient, feeding should be done before the advent of cold nights. Bees expected to perform the functions of hibernation should not be too old nor ydt too vouog. Both queen and worker to be in full physical vigor. The bees constituting a colony, when placed in winter quarters, should be such as are hatched after the midsummer working season is past, and before the bees ceuse flving freely in the fall. At the close of the wonting season

the workers instinctively cease stimulating the queen for oviprqductkra: gradually the bees cease flying and the cluster is formed for the winter. After the cluster is formed the colony should remain undisturbed. If the bees are to be packed in the summer stand the work must be done with care and without disturbing the bees, and before the temperatures! night reaches the freezing point. If the bees are to be placed in a clamp, or in a cellar or winter repository, great care should be taken not to disturb the cluster when the hives are taken to the summer stand. Woollen quilts or blankets are the best coverings for. cold weather. Wool prevents the radiation of heat and permits the escape of moisture, thus securing warmth and dryness. Hives should be set eighteen or twenty inches ab ve the bottom of the cellar or winter re_piository. and in tiering them up, one a hove the other, if ismuch better that they rest on a rack prepared for the hive, rather than one upon anotherT" Wm- H. Allen. Livermore Falls. Me.

Siirplui Fences. American Farmer. With the methods of farming which are followed in most parts of the country fences are absolutely needed. In many ways they are a nuisance, but we cannot get along without them. They seem to fall under the. somewhat peculiar classification of “necessary evils.” Though fences are needed there is such a thing, and it is a very common thing, of having too many of them. Upon many farms there are fences that could well be spared. More than this, the removal of these surplus fences would be a great benefit. It would improve the appearance of the farm, reduce expenses, increase the quantity of land that could be cultivated and remove one of the principal shelters for breeding grounds for insects and vermin. It needs no argument to prove that a farm would present a better appearance if its surplus fences were removed. Neither is it necessary to argue that money would be saved bv removing all the fences that are not required, for every fanner knows that it;" takes time, and work, and money to keep fences in good condition. The fewer fences we have the less will be the cost of maintaining them.