Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1895 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME, The Proper Time to Prepare the Ground for Seed—Several Good Va-rieties--Cows Pay Well for Their Keep—How to Break Mules. ' V Fall Plowing. To prepare the ground ftff thg.,seed, it should be deeply plowed mioutuiim and cross-plowed, as the land"cannot be. plowed in the spring- without exposing a large surface to the strong drying effects of the spring winds, and thus occasioning the loss from the soil by evaporation of a quantity of water proportional to the Increase of surface exposed. By the reciprocal action of the atmosphere and the soil, says the New York Tribune, the latter keeps up its store of available nutritive matters. The silicates soluble” with difficulty slowly yield alkalies, lime and magnesia in soluble forms; the sulphides are slowly converted into sulphates, and generally the- minerals of the soil are disintegrated and mixed under influence of the oxygen, the water, the carbolic acid and the nitric acid of theair. Again, the atmospheric nitre-: gen is assimilable by the soil in the; shape of ammonia, nitrates and the amide-like matters of humus. The rate of disintegration, as well as that r of nitrification, depends in part upon the chemical and physical character of the soil, and partly upon the temperature and meteorological conditions. Moreover, the soil lying in rough winter furrows has been subjected to the action of frost: ft is in its upper layers so broken up aud divided in all directions by the powerful expansion of the water when converted into ice as to he reduced to the condition of the greatest possible fineness recognized and so much desired by the farmers under the term mellowness. It lias consequently attained that degrctT of pulverization and porosity which, with an adequate degree of. moisture, affords a solid standing ground for the young plant, while at the same time enough air for the development of the germ can penetrate the surface soil, and in the upper layers nutritive material for the young plant dissolved by the moisture of winter is always present. It is, therefore, in accordance with reason not to plow the land at all in the sprihg, but to put in the seed without further preparation than a previous harrowing. The vigorous development of plants depends far less Upon the weight and size of the seed than upon the depth to which it is covered with earth, and j npon the stores of nourishment which it finds in its first period of life.

Good Varieties of Wheat. The best wheat at the Ohio Experiment Station is the variety known as Mealy. It lias given the highest average for the last tive years, and at present is one of the most promising varieties. Geneva'is another productive variety, but in former years it has seemed to be more susceptible to smut that most of the other varieties; this sort and three others were not threshed in ISOI, but were burned in the field because of the large percentage of smut found in them. The Itudy wheat has premised well the last five years, but It lias'given the lowest yield of all the Borts- in the comparative test for the past drouthy season. For good, strong ground, the Valley, Velvet Chaff, Nigger and Mealy are perhaps the best, and the Poole, Democrat, Hicks and White Chaff Fultz are better adapted j to lighter and thinner soils. Butter Pays All the Time. If we want to make our farms self- | sustaining, we must keep more cows ■ and less steers and other Stock, as the cows pay for their keep and leave a fair profit, while it costs as much to raise two steers as we can get for three if we sell to the butchers. Therefore, says B. F. Willey, in the Rural World, I should advise farmers to keep cows, , make butter and feed the milk to pigs. ! Butter always brings a fair price, with ! the least change in price, during ail !of the panic times we have had. Butter Is the'only farm product chat has uot been down to ruinous prices. Therefore, let us keep all of the good cows ; that we can get fodder for. This can be grown right at home on the farm in tlie form of grain crops, ensilage, with all of the grain, such as wheat, barley, and oats, that it is possible to raise. Then our farms will be self-sustaining. In Regard to Brcukiuc Mules. When a mule gets to be three years old he is then at the proper age to be 1 broken; but be should not be worked hard until four years old. When you take him iu hand to break him, says the Maryland Farmer, do not be rough with him; be sure to fasten him so that he does not get away, for if he tince breaks loose he does not forget it, and it renders him more difficult to manage. Mules should always be broken to a wagon with a horse or mule that has a swift walk; they may be broken to walk swift or slow, at pleasure, by accustoming them to either gait at first. Tie foil ale n ule is considered pro-” ferable to the male, being more tractable. and some say of a greater endurance. How Old May Cows Be Kept? It is not often that average cows are kept more that to their ninth or tenth year. But this is by no means the limit for keeping animals which have proven especially valuable for milk or breeding. Such cows generally receive better treatment, and If properly cared for will breed and give milk to an age twice as great as Is Recorded. A. case Is Instanced in Ductless Alice, calved Ang. 23, 1861, and which produced seventeen calves, the last when 22 years aid. Helen *Evlc was calved Nov. 26,

18GS, and produced sixteen calvesrifio J last when 19 years old. The difficulty in keeping cows much longer than their thirteenth or fourteenth year is In getting food In winter easily masticated and digested. Ensilage supplies this need, and those who have extra valuable cows may profitably keep them several years longer if they will provide ensilage for them in winter. Old cows are not worth much for beef, and with animals that are not valuable for milk it may be as well to kill them when- hut little past their prime. But we think there Ts a profit in keeping the best milkers to breeding as long as they will. The heifer calves produced after the cow beconies old have less tendency to fatten and a greater milking capacity than those they bore while themselves young and in full vigor.—Exchange. The Cream Trade. The next time you go to town see the ice cream JHan and the summer board-1 ing house keeper, says the National ( Stockman, and see if yon eannot make a deal on the cream question. A man with a separator, a good cream trade and young pigs to which to feed his 1 skim milk, is in an enviable position. I Some one has said that a farmer ought never to market anything unless he had two profits In it. For instance, he. raises hay, and has a profit in growing the liny, then let him feed the hay, and make a profit on the animal to which the hay is fed. Then, when he sells the animal so? meat, he has two I profits, one in the hay and one in the meat Now, when a man feeds I milk, he has three profits, one in the cow feed that be raises, one in the milk j that he gets from the cow, and one in the meat made from the milk that he j feeds to his pigs. And, while this is just as applicable to the. butter trade as to the sltim milk trade, yet it is a • point that should not escape observa-i tion in considering the cream question. Mending Milk Cans. Milk cans often get very hard usage on carts and railway platforms, and it is no small part of the hardships of the owners to keep them in order. Bits of dough have been used at times to stop leaks discovered when it was too late j to have a colder application to the bad place, and cases have been known where soap has been used for such a purpose. But one is prone to ask if there are not other and more cleanly and durable means available for stopping leakv and coating over the rust spots which will appear on milk cans. Beeswax would coyer the injured parts and would not injure the milk. But soldering is such an easily learned accomplishment that every dairyman •might be able to hell) himself in that way. ./ Nine Ways to Made Hc.is Lay. Warm and dry house for them t(. roost in. ~ Alongside each pen a shelter shed foi bad_weajthfiJk ' Corn should only be given on cold evenings; All grain should be buried to induce exercise. Mashes of ground grain with meat scraps for morning meal. A liberal supply of green food. Fresh water daily, or twice a day in warm weather. A constant supply of sharp grit and broken shells. Perfect cleanliness.

Remedy for Grape Rot. French horticulturists report success in keeping grapes free from rot or mold by means of the vapor of alcohol, says the Rural New Yorker. The fruit is placed in a brick room, cemented inside and closed as nearly air-tight as possible, by a common wooden door. The grapes were laid on wood shavings, and an open bottle containing alcohol placed near them. Grapes fresh from the vine were placed in tills room on Oct. 31. and were kept in good condition until Dec. 24. One thing is sure, this process i.s simple aud easy, and anyone who has an air-tight, cool place eau test it. Dwarf Lima Beans. Wo had such success with lima beans last season that we mean to grow still more of them this year. Henderson’s bush lima is good for early use. and very prolific. The tail-growing kinds produce larger beans, blit some of the beaus are so late 1 maturing that the frost gets a considerable percentage of the crop. This year we expect to try extra early seed, saved for several years from the earliest-ripened beans, and in this way hope to secure the entire yield before frost.—Fx. • i Paving Squash frem Insects. Professor Smith says: “One way to save the squash from its insect enemies is to have the ground on which the squash is planted manured evenly and in such condition that the vine cay send out suckers; have it well cultl vttted. One of our vines treated In that way yielded twenty marketable squash < os and six thnt wore fed to the cows, the best crop ever grown ou that ground ” Fnmciinc mid Talmai?Sweet, In the Eastern and Middle States, with spraying, both these apples do well, aud are fairly profitable. Talman Sweet, while not of high quality, Is a superb keeper, and there are pleuty in the New York market during February and sometimes March- Unless put in cold storage, the Fnmouse disappears in ipecember. Kind Treatment Tor Stock. Nervousness and viciousness are engendered in the 111-treated cow, and are transmitted to her offspring. The more docile the cdtv, the more are her energies likely to be devoted to the dairyman's Interests. We cannot be too watchful over Irresponsible help, who hesitate not to beat, hurvy or frighten the cows.