Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1894 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

, Transplanting. Many people ask, when is the proper time to plant trees, in the fall or in the spring? This is a question which has been asked thousands of times, and has been answered both ways by people who have had -special success, in the spring or fall, as the case may be, says “Meehan’s Monthly.” Now, according to the studies of those who have used their eyes and experiences on the subject, one time is as good as the other. Trees in full health transplanted in the spring go on pushing their leaves and making young fibres on the roots as if nothing had been done to affect their usual habits. In trees as in a human being, health is a great factor in success. A good, sound, healthy person, who loses a finger or even a hand, feels or exhibits no signs of the trouble he has gone through. The blood is good and sound and goes on healing the wounded parts. So with a tree; the spring is the healthy time of all nature; all plants are in their best health, and they naturally feel less the damage done to them than at any other time. Planting in the fall also has its benefits, even perhaps more so than in the spring. Tn early fall transplanting, the leaves are picked off, and the tree is again planted. The advantage the fall planter has is this: the tree, we may say, has gone to sleep for the winter, the leaves being off, they do not need the life giving strength of the roots, which possibly may have been injured in the digging, and need all their strength for themselves. What does it matter if we take the leaves off, instead of waiting until they fall off? Does not winter weather sometimes come early, andjigain it comes late in the year? Two or three weeks make no difference, the trees are always prepared, and, “have gone to sleep.” To return to the planting, we see the trees suffer very little or none by the leaves using the strength of the tree. Another point is that when spring does come, the plant has been made solid in its place by the winter months. In the first part of the article we say that it makes no difference whether trees are planted in the fall or spring. There is one exception in favor of fall planting, and that is in the larch family. Larches planted in the fall are invariably successful, While those planted in other seasons pull through only after a hard struggle. Evergreens can be transplanted during the summer.

MUk an 1 Hatter, It is a well ascertained fact that more milk can be drawn from the udder of a cow during the milking than can be held in the udder at any one time. This is because the act of milking excites the active secretion of the milk. When one begins to milk, the milk comes slowly and the udder and teats are soft and only partly filled. After a short time these vessels are found to fill rapidly and the milk flows with a more copious stream. The more quickly this is drawn off the greater is the flow; so that tlie milking should be done as rapidly as possible. The milker of the greatest value, and who knows his business best, always milks with dry hands. It- is better for the cow’s teats, and vastTy“a"Tfi'of e 'cteanty - 'p ructice.—-Some-otherwise good, -milkers spoil thelrmilk by wetting their fingers with milk, conceiving that the operation is improved thereby, but it is an injurious, nasty method, and no wellbalanced milker will do it. ~ Air is destructive to the good qualities of butter, as the oxygen in the air unites with the carbon in the butter and slow consumption of the elements takes place; therefore, pack as soon as possible after making. A dairyman estimates that a cow may produce in the year six times her weight in milk, with a calf in addition. If we take the cow as weighing 1,000 pounds, we have, in the salable products, about 800 pounds of dry matter, containing 36.8 pounds of nitrogen. If the ensilage from one acre will feed a cow through the winter, as is claimed for it, the cost of the milk will be lower than that from any other kind of food. The value of ensilage is in the saving of expense in production, the crop growing quickly. Sweet corn has been highly recommended as most suitable for the purpose, hut the cost of the seed is greater than that of field corn. It wifi pay dairymen to grow a crop for ensilage this year.

Improvement of Fruit*. Meehan's Monthly/ The stamens of a flower produce pollen, and flowers cannot be fertilized unless this pollen reaches the pistil, the pistil being the terminal point of the ovarium, which is in the center of the flower, and eventually contains* the seeds. There is a certain period in the life of flowers, when the anther cells burst and expose the pollen; and there is a certain period in the growth of the pistil; when the apex, or stigma, bursts pud exposes a liquid secretion. The pnly art in fertilizing flowers, is to note, which can readily be done by a small pocket lens, when the pistil is in receptive condition. When the pollen is applied at this period, the ovarium becomes fruitful. It so happens that in some flowers the atamens will mature the pollen before

the pistil is receptive; or perhaps toe stigma will be receptive before the pollen is matured on the stamens; and this is frequently the reason why so many flowers are infertile. The pollen matures and disappears before the pistiLis ready to receive it. One can only learn these things by observation; but with little practice an experienced person soon becomes an adept in the art. In the actual work of crossing, the practice is to keep a certain point in view. For instance, we may have an apple which is sour or small, but would like to have a variety of sweeter characteristics or larger. We take the pollen from a tree with, large or inferior fruit, and apply it to the smaller one which we wish to improve. The result is that the seedling apple will in all probability be very much larger than the female parent** and in this way improved kinds are brought about in the lines that the operator desires. The Baldwin Apple. Many persons ask why it is that an apple so comparatively poor in quality should be so universally grown, and form the chief stock of what is offered during the winter in the markets. Certainly there are nsmbers of much better flavored kinds. But the fruit grower who supplies the market necessarily looks to profit beyond all things, and the Baldwin happens to be a tree which has a remarkably hardy growth and bears very abundantly —and the apples are so sturdy in keeping qualities that it is no wonder it receives the particular attention of those who plant to supply markets, If one is satisfied to have trees not quite bo sturdy and vigorous, more liable to the little troubles that bother the fruit grower; and desires to have high flavor, beauty and other qualities- independent of - great—product— iveness, there is a very large list to choose from. Raisers of seedlings should aim at uniting both good properties. Such a variety would be welcomed by all fruit growers. • For the Horae Owner. s=-- The collar is the most important part of the harness. If a collar is too large it will chafe; if too small it will choke. It costs no more to get a collar that fits than to get one too small or too large. Don’t torture a horse with a misfit collar. Overloading is costly and cruel, and has ruined thousands of horses. No load should be too heavy to haul over the hardest place on the trip. Steady, hard pulling causes great pain, so give your team frequent rests, especially during the early part of the trip. Four horses belonging to Mr. John Tracey, ex-sheriff of Carroll county, Md., hauled a load from Arlington to Baltimore, a distance of nine miles; the load consisting of 15,750 pounds (nearly eight tons) of hay. Such loads save no expense in hauling, save over very good roads, as one of the horses died from over-exertion. There are many things that should be carefully observed in the education of hoi’ses that are entirely omitted. Too much dependence is placed in the bits, lines, strength of the harness, the use of the whip and the ability of the driver to control the horse by sheer brute force. Hence there are so many fatal accidents. The best grain feed for mature horses is about two-thirds corn and one-third oats in winter, and twothirds oats and one-third corn in the summer. For rapid fattening warm mashes of corn meal and wheat, bran may be given while idle, but should be changed to hard gram some days before beginning work. Clovei hay is more fattening than timothy. Oats are the grain for horses that must be driven fast or far, and for growing colts.

It would pay any farmer with an orchard to keep a few colonies ol ' bees to pollenize the blossoms, even if he got no honey from them. To make the lambs grow, first feed the ewes all they will eat, and then place the trough of ground oats fbi the lambs, with a pen around the trough to prevent 1 the ewes from eating the ground food, but Laving the bottom rail or board of the pen ol sufficientheight from the ground tc permit the' lambs to get to the trough. They will grow rapidly and get into market two or three weeks earlier. Sow a crop of oats this spring, bj doubling the quantity of seed and using plenty of manure. Do nol look for a crop of seed, but cut the oats wlfM. they are in the milky stage of tiie seed, which will arrest the nutritive matter in the 9talks. Cure the crop the same as hay, and feed by cutting with a straw cutter, using both straw and heads.

One of the most important labor} saving methods is to have straight rows. When extra time is devoted to such work it render cultivation much easier during the growing season" as the plants can be cultivated both ways, or diagonally. II small plants are put in straightrows, but close together, hand implement! can often be used to good advantage. To Remove an Obstinate Glass Stopper. In order to remove a glass stopper which sticks fast in the bottle, heat the neck by pouring over it hot water without spilling any on the stopper until the latter iecotn® loosened; or, if that coune fails, bold the neck over a gas jet turned down low or other small flaire, slowly revolving the bottle* wkile the neck is being heated, thys oinimiz ing the danger of cracking tie glass.