Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1895 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. Proper Way to Work Corn—How to Heal Wounds on Trees and Plants— Time to Kill Weeds—Success on the ■ Fni-in. :7 ■ - Working Corn. If you are able to own or hire a good sulky cultivator you are fortunate. The saving in time and labor in working twenty-five acres of corn, potatoes and root crops will pay for the machine in a single season. Whatever implement you may use, whether single or double cultivator, keep the soil loose and mellow and free from weeds* After the torn gets a foot in height the shade of the leaves will keep down the small weeds. When the weather is hot and dry, well worked corn will grow rapidly. The editor has a field of corn planted on the 12th of May that is now over one foot in height; the field has been worked three times, and will get, if possible, two more workings. Corn requires hot weather, but if the soil is hard and baked around the stocks the corn cannot take advantage of the weather, but is burnt up with the heat. Let the earth be mellow and the ground rich. The stalk and fodder may not be so luxuriant, but the grain will he there. The same rule holds good for all cultivated crops. Work often, work shallow and work level. After the last working sow fifteen pounds of crimson clover to the acre, and brush it in with a brush harrow. The clover will prevent weed growth and loss of fertility. The last of June is the time to sow It.— Baltimore American.

Wounds on Trees or Plants. The wounds made on growing plants or trees should always be protected by some application as soon as they become dry enough for it to adhere well. Common paint is better than neglect, hut any cement of the character of grafting wax is better. One of the best substances, hotli for its neatness and its long adhesion to the surface of the wound, is the well-known shellac varnish, consisting of a strong solution of shellac in alcohol. To prevent the neglect which so often occurs because the owner has nothing of the kind on hand it Is well to have sueh a preparation made in time. Procure a wide-mouthed bottle and Insert a brush to be used in applying it by making the cork a part of the handle. This will prevent drying up, and it will he always ready. .Those who have time to attend to it may make the turpentine and rosin mixture by using a half pound of rosin and tallow melted together, adding a teaspoonful of turpentine when it is cool, with tw r o ounces of alcohol and an ounce of water, heating again and stirring rapidly. This is a good application, but is not so delicate for fine plants as the shellac. If It becomes too thick add alcohol. JOLSaaSSK-to XIIJL Weeds,; ~ _ When the thermometer is up in tile 90s and the rays of the sun are bright is just the time to kill weeds. They may take root and live if the soil is cool and damp, but when they are turned up and exposed to the dry heat of a hot summer day they are destroyed as if with fire. Success on the Farm One reason, I believe, why a young man becomes discontented with farm life is because the prevailing idea of success does not lie in that direction. Fine clothes and a w f ell-to-do appearance are, according to the Stockman, a considerable factor in our ideas of a prosperous young man, and we, to a certain degree, drive the young man from thp farm to where more of these things cari'be found. We must change our tactics and teach the youth that lie can lead as commendable a life—one that will be fraught with more real pleasure and profit—on the farm than in the city. People generally wait until the crisis in the young man’s life has arrived, and then attempt to persuade him to remain. Teach the child, and you will never have occasion to persuade the youth. Breeding Off .the Horns. In ’BB I had a herd of horned cows. I did not want to cut off their horns, but determined to get rid of them In some manner. I bred them to a polled bull whose mother was a horned cow, says W. L. Anderson In the Agriculturist To my surprise, but one in ten of the calves had horns. In ’9l I had a fine herd of polled heifers, having sold all my horned cattle. These polled heifers thus produced from horned mothers by a bull from a horned’mother never had a horned calf, although all my bulls have been from horned mothers. This shows how easy it is to breed off horns. True it takes time, yet I think it the best way. In my experience, I And horned cattle require as much again stable room as polls, for I herd all my youug cattle In a large pen, like sheep, unjil they are ready to drop their first calves. All the older cattle are In another shed In the same way unless I milk them; then, for convenience, I put them In stalls. They gather at the feed troughs as thick as they can crowd, none disturbing the others. It Is not one-fourth the labor to stable them, since I use no chains, stanchions or halters. None ar6 vicious or wild, though Borne of their horned mothers were.

Deep Plowing:. It is commonly said that plowing deep Is the direct means of making the soil deep. It Is true that deep plowing opens a lower stratum to the action of air, but this only hastens the decomposition of vegetable matter In the soil, and If this is not replaced the soil becomes so deficient In humns that deep plow Ing Is useless. There Is no better way to deepen soil than to sow clover and

every third or fourth year use the sub-| soil plow as deeply as It can be run. This will enable the clover roots to penetrate the soil to a greater depth. Whenever a clover sod is plowed a considerable part of its lower roots are left In the soil as they grew. These roots rapidly decay, and they enable root* of grain and other crops to go down deeply in search of moisture. This is one reahoed crops on a clover ley wifMtand drouths better than if planted on timothy sod, whose roots are all near the surface. To make the clovet* grow as large as possible Is all important- The larger the growth the deeper the clover roots run and the more, the subsoil is benefited.—American Cultivator. Value of the Bartlett Pear. For small gardens, such as are usually seen near large cities, the pear tree is the most profitable one to plant and the Bartlett the best of all. Pears really take but little room. Their growth is more upright than spreading. They commence to bear in four years from the graft, and never entirely miss' a season having fruit It is an error, according to the Philadelphia Press, to suppose that the plum and the apricot wUI not thrive as they used to do. The fruit sets as well as it ever did, but the attacks of Insects are worse and cause the dropping of the fruit. Those-who grow these trees largely for their fruit find it pays them to fight the pests to get a crop, but, as a rule, an amateur will not take this trouble, and, in such n case, it is useless to plant the trees.

Color of Egg Yelks. than the feed? I have Silver Compines, and the shell of their eggs is snowwhite, While the yolks of the eggs are a vary pale yellow, writes M. M. Murphy to the New York Tribune. I have also Plymouth Rocks, the shells of whose eggs are a dark yellowish brown, and the yolks of their eggs are a deep yellow. These two breeds get the same feed—corn and wheat in “milk cooked food or sloppy stuff.” My experience is that the eggs from tlio Asiatic breeds are dark, and the yolks a deep yellow; and that the Leghorns, Compines, etc., lay a white egg, the yolks are pale yellow. There is no feed that will make these breeds lay dark eggs, and no feed that will make the Asiatic breeds lay pure white eggs. Hence, I think, it is the breed and not the feed that causes the yolks of eggs to be pale or deep in color.

The Care of Fertilizer Drills. It is a common experience of farmers that the grain drill with fertilizer attachment soon fails to w’ork properly, and the fertilizer cannot be evenly distributed as at first. All the commercial have sulphuric acifl or oil of vitriol in their composition. Most of this goes to dissolve the phosphate of lime, but there will always be enough free acid to rust metals with which it comes in contact. The fertilizer boxes should be cleaned thoroughly whenever •the woik-is finished, ewea though it may . be only a day or two before the drill has to be used again. If the drill is kept in a dry place and cleaned frequently it should be in good condition for ten to fifteen years, instead of being thrown aside after being used only two or three years. Rich Ground for Tomatoes. Too great proportion of nitrogenous plant food Is not best for tomatoes. It makes a large growth of vine, but the fruit does not set well. But If there Is a suiHclency of potash and pLosphnte the soil can hardly bo made too rich. Stable manure is usually deficient in potash, nnd it is better to use a commercial fertilizer if it can be had, and then plant on ground that has been made rich by previous manuriog. The. ground should not be wet This will make it cold and delay ripening. Tomatoes endure drought better than most plants, and though a severe drought diminishes the amount of the crop, It makes It earlier, and therefore worth as much money, though costing less to handle and to market.

Level Surface for Beans. In planting beans it is best to leave the surface over them level with the soil around, according to the American Cultivator, and on no account to plant In a hollow. The bean leaf Is very easily Injured by contact with the soil. This Is almost Inevitable,"when, as tho young beans come up, the stem is surrounded by a higher surface. So soon as cultivation begins the soil will be thrown against the beans. The same thing will happen If violent storms cause flooding of the Boil. The bean crop Is very impatient of wet, except enough of moisture to germinate the seed. ’ v Mom on Apple Trees. The appearance of moss on apple trees shows that there is excess of water in the soli, and this occasions lessened vitality. Washing the trunk with water in which potash has been dissolved will remove the moss, but It will come again unless Its cause in removed. The land should be drained for orchards as for other crops. It Is by underdraining that the soli la deepened, so that, the subsoil will hold more moisture in shape for the roots to use. Stagnant water Is of no benefit, oijd Is more often the cause of moss on trees than any other one thing. Turnip* for Btoclc. This should be made a special crop, and the summer is the time to grow them. As late as July, so as to use the new crop of turnip seed, Is the usual period of the year for planting turnips,, but to excel with them the ground should be prepared now. Flow and spread well-rotted manure. Then let the weeds sprout and use the cultivator. By this plan the weeds will be killed out before tbe land Is seeded