Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1895 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

EXPERIMENT WITH FOOD, f’ittsburg Telegraph. ’ ” ’ .. .' ;The Pennsylvania experiment station has made several valuable experiments this year and farmers throughout the State are furnished, with reports and bulletins at any time, on application, inquiries on Agricultural subjects being also answered, free of charge. One of the experiments was to test the value of i food known as “cottoiiseed feed, 0 jomposer of one part cottonseed meal And five parts of cottonseed hulls/by weight. The station found that while the chemical composition of the feed ttbires ponded with the claim in its favor, its digestibility was comparatively low, being somewhat less than that of clover or timothy hay, but greater than that of corn fodder. At the prices of the feed in the market a pound of digestible food was found to cost 34 per cent, more than in timothy or clover hay, and 20 per cent, more than in corn. It is to place such facts before the farmers that the station engages in experiments of the kind, in order to enable them to select the least costly foods. The station made two tests with dairy cows and fouqd that a ration of cottonseed feed and bran produced 18 per cent, less butter than one of corn fodder, mixed hay, corn meal and cottonseed meal containing the same amount of dry matter. The estimated net profit per day was 17 per cent, less on the cottonseed feed ration than on the hay and fodder ration. In the second experiment a ration of cottonseed feed bran and gluten meal produced 15 per cent, less milk and 6 per cent less butter than a ration of clover hay, corn meal, bran and gluten meal, containing 21 pounds mb re grain and tnree-fourths of a pound more coarse (fodder.. The net profit per day arid head in this case was 4 per cent less pn the clover hay ration than on the other, but it is probable the cows on !the clover hay ration were somewhat overfed.

—The result of the experiments lead : to the conclusion that cottonseed feed is too expensive in propqrtion’-to the amout of food contained to successfully compete on equal terms with ordinary dairy food at average prices. An incidental result of the experiments is to illustrate the possibilities pf profit in dairying. The net profit above the cost of food and care in the shipments ranged from 77 to 95 per cent, of the cost of the feed, while there are other elements of expense in dairying not included in these estimates, the results,nevertheless make a very good showing for the profits of dairying and particularly of butter production.

GROWING CUCUMBERS. Meehan's Monthly.» Those who are only acquainted with the growth of cucumbers, in large tracts, where they trail upon the ground, can have no idea of the extraord in ar j' vigor that they show when growing over small trees or twigy bushes; an enormous increase of fruit is the result. This cannot be carried on to any great extent where the cucumber is grown extensively as a farm crop, because of the difficulty of getting strong, stout brush wood on which to train the plants. One could not store up brush wood in advance for this purpose, it would not be profitable perhaps; but in a garden where only some dozen or so of plants are required it is an excellent practice to have stout, bushy branches planted, as one would a bean pole, on which to allow the cucumbers to run. One may get as many cucumbers from one plants© trained as from a dozen Buffered to trail over the ground, besides the advantages of the plants occupying much less space.

CULTIVATING TREES. A journal which assumes to be luthoritv on all subjects pertaining so orchards and fruits, says it is a good plan to plant some crop among foung trees, but not nearer than eight feet from the trees. This advice is good enough and ought to be practiced, but when it goes on and says cultivate the crop twice as much as the trees are or ought to be pultivated, we feel like protesting. Poo much can not be given young trees any more than any other crop. The principal trouble is that too many times young orchards are neglected in this respect. Cultivate your trees as much as possible-. Stirring the soil never hurt any crop or any orchard.

FOOD FOR HOGS. American Farmer. There seems to be an opinion prevalent that the best food for hogs is pome kind of grain. We believe that this, leading as it has to feeding liogs almost exclusively on corn, has been the most prolific source of dispase among the hogs of this country. In its native state the hog feeds very largely on roots and grasses, with puch nuts and fruits as' it can find growing wild. In its present domesticated state the hog will thrive and grow without feeding grain of any kind if it has access to a good grass range, The object of feeding with grain is to produce fat, and a grain fattened hog is not in the best physical condition to repel the attack of disease. When we consider that for almost unnumbered generations the hogs of this country have been fed on a diet of corn annost exclusively w« need not Wonder that the ravage

of cholera decimate their ranks- at • frequent intervals. J. If vfe would feed more of the coarser foods that are natural to the hog we would have less of the dis-( ease that causes such enormous losses in this class of stock year after year. Growing hogs should be fed on foods of a more nitrogenous nature than corn, and among these may be named wheat, oats, barley,.' rye, grasses of. all kinds and milk. If the pig is fed mill stuff and allowed : to run on grassuntil it has growq to some size it may be finished off with corn, but no pig can be made to produce the number of pounds on corn 1 alone that it can on a mixed ration at the same cost. It may take some time to recover the natural healthful condition of' the hog, but a more rational system of feeding is , inoperative to bring this about.

THE CULTURE OT NUTS. ’ American Farmer. A recent note on this subject in these columns has brought several queries which I will try to answer. Most nut trees can be got from any good nursery and but few of them are hard to transplant, though I think it best to plant them where they are to stand. Nuts should be planted as soon as gathered and be-, fore becoming dry. Japan chestnuts will bear as soon as peach trees, as will also almonds, filberts and dwarf English walnuts. None of these will stand severe weather. Standard chestnuts, hickories, pecans • and walnuts may be planted for those who come after us. Pecans will grow as far north as Peoria, 111. Chestnuts do not grow’ well in a sandy, level country. It needs a. sandstone or shady soil, and does not do well on a limestone soil. Hickory nuts are the ones to be grown for profit in the North, and pecans in the South. There are few nuts that pay better than pecans’ where they grow at all. Aside from the question of profits, nut trees are as good for shade as any deciduous’ trees and should be chosen, because,' besides being desirable for shade,' they will, when grown, produce a valuable crop, which is got at no cost, the benefit of the shade being equal to the trouble of raising them.

AGE OF* SHEEP. I Sheep have two teeth in the center of the jaw at one year old, and add two each year until five years old,' when they have a “full mouth.” After that time the age cannot be told by the teeth. The natural ago of sheep is about ten years, to which'age they breed ‘ and thrive well, though there are in-! stances of their breeding at the age. of fifteen and of living twenty years., On the western plains sheep do not 1 last nearly so long,, from the fact' that their teeth soon wear out while Constantly nibbling-tlie gritty age of the sandy prairie on which: they feed. Sheep under these conditions seldom last longer than six years and cease to be profitable after; five years. When the teeth give out' the sheep take on digestive ailments' f aft^sfxm _ becQmjß ; Rmai:iated for want of nutrition which they cannot eat.’ GRAPES SHELLING. No one reason will account for the. phenomena of grapes shelling from’ the vines before being picked or rat-, tling after packing. For one thing it is partly a constitutional thing,! some varieties, as Hartford, always 1 being more or less troubled. A de-' ficiency of potash is another reason, | says The Grape Belt. We saw a ; vineyard where a heavy application; of muriate of potash was made two ; years ago. The line where the! potash ceased was pretty well de-i fined by the shelling, which abruptly! stopped where the application was; made. But our conviction is that' for this season the reason of reasons’ is to be ascribed to the abrupt tran- 1 sition from the hot, dry weather of the severe drought to the abundant rains and cooler weather following. We give this as the cause without attempting to give the scientific rea-' sons why it is so.