Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1895 — THE FARM AND HOME. [ARTICLE]

THE FARM AND HOME.

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO FARMER AND HOUSEWIFE. More Independence Possible in the Farmer's Life than in Any Other Oc-cupation-Every Farm Should Hare a Workshop—Art of Stack Making. Bright Side of Farm Life. That the average farmer’s life is not exactly a bed of roses few will deny. Butthatit has its bright side Is not to be disputed. Among the advantages held by the farmer over any other laboring class - may be mentioned his independence. With his comfortable dwelling, well-ftliedribaresend cellars, the modem farmer is absolutely tbe most independent of human beings. Financial questions which the nation may be worrying itself about affect him but little. Labor strikes, which involve* thousands of dollars and nearly all classes of men, pass him by unheeded. ness or profession which is less dependent upon the patronage or favor of others, says the Denver Field and Farm. He knows that if he raises more of any kind of produce than lie requires for his own use, he will be able to dispose of it, because his produce are the necessities of life. In place of being dependent upon others, he has the satisfaction of knowing that the whole world is dependent upon him. This independence is shown in many forms. He is not compelled, as many others are, to rise at a certain hour and labor a certain number of hours each day under the directions of others until he becomes simply a piece of machinery, without thought or feeling of his own. But, instead, his work is performed as he thinks best, and at whatever time he may consider most suitable. Neither is he worried by the fear of losing his situation, as raanyr a one who is employed by others is bbund to be atbue time or anoffier. His position is secure, and he knows that with a fair season his recompense is assured. Looking at the bright side of farm life from another standpoint: No one ever passed a fine farm in midsummer and did not envy its owner. The picturesque surroundings, tbe well-kept fields and pastures, the fine horses and sleek cattle, the general air of peace and prosperity which hovers over a wellappointed farm. At this season, however, inspired poets have caused many men in other walks of life to become farmers, and and many of tbe wrecks along the country roadside were caused by men who had better have remained In other walks of life. The Form Workshop. . Every farm ought to have a workshop on it. If not a separate building, at least a room where a supply of tools most commonly used are kept for use In cases of emergency. There are times, Bays ' Farm NewsT when brace and set of bits will save a trip to town and a loss of time when time is valuable. A portable forge and an aavil, with a few blacksmith tools, will be used very frequently, and a shoemaker’s outfit comes handy when there is a break in the harness or a call for a stitch or two in shoes or straps. A neat little kit of shoemaker’s tools can be purchased for $2 and a very convenient blacksmithing outfit for about sls, and a few dollars more spent for planes, chisels, files, saw, augers, squares and such common tools will pay a large interest in a way that Is quite astonishing. Many times a small break is neglected, until a serious one results from it, when if tools had been handy, the matter could have been attended to at the proper time. With the number of tools and Implements that are now necessary on every well-conducted.farm, there are frequent calls for repairing, and in a majority of the cases the farmer can make all necessary repairs himself, If he has the tools to work with. Rods that get bent can be straightened, plows sharpened, and the thousand and one things that make a trip to the blacksmith or carpenter or wagonmak-' er necessary, and adds to the expense account, may be easily avoided by making a small outlay for tools. All these things count in a year, and the saving is worth looking after. The Art of Stack Making. American farmers have never been good stackers. The grain is put iu barns. Instead of being stacked as it usually is in Europe. At present the difficulty in making a good stack is greater than ever. Threshing machines that will put through 1,200 or more bushels of grain per day require all the help that can be got to get the grain In the straw to the machine. Only enough are left on the stack to get the straw out of the way. To make a really good stack, the straw should be trampled all over the stack and especially on the edges. It is very important that the chaff which comes with the straw be evenly distributed through the stack. If it is not, water will settle Into the stack where the chaff is most plentiful and will rot It. It is best usually to dispose of this ebaff by dropping it at the foot of the stack under the carrier, and after the threshing in done taking it Into the barn. It is the most nutritious part of the straw, and will be readily eaten by stock In winter as a change from grain and hay. Low Price for Machine Work. When mowing and reaping machines first began to be used, tbelr prices were high, and what was fully as important, few were competent to manage them. We have known instances where as higb as $1 per acre was paid for cutting a meadow, and tbe owner of the land furnished the team. Of late years the price of machines Is lower, and there are many who understand running them. The consequence '.s that In some neighborhoods the competition la ao A

great that It Is cheaper to hire grass and grain ent than to do It, even If the farmer had the implementsand team. We have heard this year of large fields t>f grain being cut and bound for 80 cents per acre. As the twine for binding came out of this, the man who took the job did not earn for himself, machine and team more than 65 cents an acre. This is much cheaper than grain was ever cut by hand, and tbe fact that the work can be done so cheaply on large fields is one of the reasons why* grain Is and must continue to -be low in price.—American Cultivator. firs: Dry Earth as a Disinfectant. , A good expedient fdr securing dryness in tbe coops is the use of dry earth scattered about under the roosts and on the floor. This acts as anabsorbent of the moisture, as a disinfectant, says Farm and Fireside, and, moreover, repays all the trouble spent over It by the better preservation of the. useful Ingredients of the droppings, and the great comfort to the attendant. The utmost cleanliness must be aimed at in order to render this possible, and tbe buildings must be conveniently arranged for cleaning. If they are too low or cramped, If the perches are badly arranged, and if there are nooks and corners that are difficult to get at, the result will be that the cleaning operation will never be perfectly accomplished, and little heaps of decomposing filth will remain, to the disgust of the attendant, and the damage of the health of the fowls. The most powerful aid in preserving cleanliness is the dry earth mentioned above; this should be as often renewed as It becomes well mixed with tbe droppings. The perches and nests should be whitewashed, and for this purpose they 6bould be movable.

Growing; Clover Without Grain. Wheat or rye are the best grains to seed with, but the low price of wheat for several years past has led many farmers to wish that they could dispense with it It Is possible to grow clover sown alone, says the Independent, but, unless the soil is reasonably free from weeds, we would prefer to sow it on grain that has had two hundred pounds per acre of superphosphate drilled in with it The extra yield of grain will more than pay for the phosphate, and there will be the second year a, better growth of clover than there will be with clover sown alone without the phosphate. We had occasion to test tills many years ago, drilling once half way across a field without sowing either grain or phosphate. The clover seed was sown broadcast with a Caboon sower, and at harvest the clover on the strip where no grain waa-sown was decidedly better than the other. But after harvest the clover in the grain stubble rapidly gained. By the.time the ground froze we could see little, if any, difference. But the %ext year there was a difference, and the clover where the grain and phosphate had been distributed was fully-two-iblSds beavlsß«Hiau : other. Dairying Is Sure. The man who does his own work knows how it Is done, and, I believe, takes more comfort than one who has to trust a large part of It to others. This Is especially true of the care of cows. I keep no sheep, Just cows and hens and two horses, says John Newton in the Rural New Yorker. Half the farmers around here went Into horses, and many of them ope weighted down with them now. Taking up dairying and sticking right to that, has been a great blessing to me. But it was very discouraging work at first with a poor pasture, and only small spots here and there on the farm on which com could be grown. Winter dairying solved the pasture question. I turn the cows into a back pasture when they are dry the first of August. I have not become rich, but have found that, with the blessing of God, a man who Is not strong, and who Hfis a hard, stony farm, can have a happy home and bring up a family in these times of depression in agriculture.

Value of Sunflowers. The composition and yield per acre of food constituents are tabulated by the Vermont experiment station for Japanese radish, spurry, millet, rape, soja bean, horse bean and and for mixtures of peas, oats and rape, hairy vetch and'soja beans, hairy vetch and horse beans, and vetch, oats and rape. The largest yield of dry matter, 7,491 pounds per acre, was made by rape; this plant produced a larger crop when the drills were six inches apart than when planted at a distance of twenty-seven Inches apart. Japanese radish was refused by cattle; sunflower heads afforded 2,738 pounds of dry matter per acre, containing 607 pounds of fat, a much larger quantity than that produced by any other crop. Protecting Fruit from Winds. There la much less cropping of orchards now than there used to be, and the result is that lower beaded trees are generally prevalent. These are better on many accounts, mostly because the low heads are less exposed to heavy winds, and there is less wastage of fruit In all exposed places further protection from winds is needed. It will pay wherever a young orchard is planted to also plant on the sides most exposed to winds a row of evergreens that shall serve as a windbreak. The loss of fruit blown down and made worthless in a single storm is often many times greater than the cost of a protection which would make such loss unnecessary. Shallow Corn Cultivation. At the agricultural experimental station at Champaign, 111., they have tested the methods of corn culture for five successive years. Faithful trials with surface culture and deep culture of this plant have resulted quite favontbly to the method of shallow culUrtt tloa.