Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1895 — OUR RURAL READERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR RURAL READERS.

- -- _ ■ ; . . , • - •_ SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEREST THEM. A Winter, Poultry Honae that Has Much to Commend It—New Way to Keep Green Fodder—Hog-Killing; KucKcationa—Home-made Scraper. “ Winter Poultry Honae. _. r The nceompanyingillusfratlon, taken from the Agriculturist, shows a poultry house that has much to commend it. For best results fowls must have a chance to scratch in the open air in winter and in stormy weather, and that, too, witliout be ing ol>lig etl togo -ont o-t he snawor out into the rain. An open scratching shod answers the purpose admirably. Such a house may be built to a somewhat extended length, as suggested in the illustration, ana so be used for a number of-lncedj, dl 1 sol 1 numerous flocks of th’e kgme breed; or It may be made of a length to have a single closed room and an accompanying open .sh’ed. The, latter may have a stout cloth curtalifTo fitTlown snugly over the opening on days when the snow would drift into the sheds. Plenty of light would come through the doth to make it a pleasant place for fowls to

scratch in, even on siormy days; or a light pair of doors, with some glass in tliem. Cfilli] lie used. Kadi closed room, and open shod Should have their yard in front, and litter khould be provided in the shed in which to scatter grain. Such a scratching room will also ho found serviceable in hot weather, when to be found, Doors open straight through the entire building, those being located on the back side. , To Keep Green Fodder. In the first place, let me say that during the past year we have been struggling with the question of green feed, libw to grow and how to preserve it. The trouble has been to preserve the food as nearly green as possible "without danger of rotting, and without' the expense of building a silo, and It was thought til’s might he accomplished by stacking the corn when well cured between layers of straw. We commenced our stack with a foot of straw on the ground, then a layer of-.the green grain, then another foot of straw, and so on till the stack was completed, says the Manitoba Farmer. We now a stack containing between fifty and sixtg tons of feed. The fodder is in verylgood condition—the stack having been opened just shortly before I left. The corn did not freeze. We chopped it before feeding. I think I may say that we have solved the problem of green feed and its preservation. We averaged fourteen tons to the acre of North Dakota Flint, and it cost us at the rate of ?T.40 per ton green. Home-made Earth Scraper. Iron shovels or scrapers for removing earth are somewhat expensive. A good substitute’can be made at-home, after the plan shown in the accompanying illustration. It should bo of hard wood, and the edge in front should

be covered with sheet iron, after which an old' piece of crosscut saw may be fastened beneath the edge and turned up at' the sides, as shown in the sketch. The iron, straps to which-the chain is attached should go around the back as weij as the sides of the scraper, to give strength. Such an implement is exceedingly handy on the farm for leveling off ridges and tilling depression's,! and for scraping, up into heaps the manure that becomes scattered over the, barnyard.—Orange Judd Farmer. A Select List of Apples. An enthusiastic reader of the Independent asks for a list of ten apples aud ten pears for successive home use. He wishes them to cover the year from July to May. lam sure that, if such a list were made out once a month, moro inquiries would come in covering the same ground. But here is a list that will go: Red Astrakhan, Summer Rose, Early Strawberry, Gravenstein, Hubbardston, Pound Sweet, Fameure, Shiawasse Beauty, King, Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening, Swaar, lioxbury Russet. That is as near ten as I can get and not leave out too many. As it is, I omit half a dozen very choice fruits. As for ten pears, I should se’ect Margaret, Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Lawrence, Anjou, Josephine aud Quince Bonne on quince stock. This does not include all really choice pears, but Is a good list, aud will reach from August to April. Hog-Killing Suggestions. The work of hog killing Is always done in cold weather. The alteration of exposure to severe winds and to a temperature of scalding water makes tfijb work doubly disagreeable. It will pay for health and comfort to have the work of dressing the hog done under a shed where snow and winds cannot come. For very heavy hogs ropes an'd tackle to aid iu lifting the carcasses

will be a great askhsj;airce and Savlng of heavy laluir. It is well also to have • a thormomeior to test the water for scalding. Many farmers thirik-fhey can guess this closely enough, but they waste more time from having water too hot, thus setting the hair more firmly than would pay for a dozen thermometers. The temperature of waiter for scalding should be between 180 and 190 degrees. When tfie water is thrown on the hog cover-it quickly with hair or woolen-cliMii-srui]tii ihe lieat has offected;the loosening of the hair. Slow aiid Fust Husking. There is a great difference in the amount of corn that cam be husked by mem who lia vp liad equal practice in the nrr; •Much depends on • how the busker began when he learned his business. We remember an old man who had always a n apparently slow motion in haiidlihg- stalks a nil' detaching the husks from 4lw cars. Yet lie would husk-forty to fifty bushels of good corn in ardiTy, putting np the istalks as he went along. Tim secret; was that he made every motion tell. There was just the same way of scaring the stalk each time, and tin* method of stripping tlieTiTfsks qnct breaking off” the ear. It makes hard work for the hands-if pursued all day. It usually takes sixty to seventy ears ot corn to fill a bushel basket so that it will shill out a bushel. . Multiply this by forty or fifty bushels, and it will be seen that there is no,jime to be lost by a busker who will get ou t tlia t number of bushels of ears in a day. - Ex. A New Mechanical Milker. - irtintirms-g:tsptpe''pTrssesTidoTrg-the" bottom of the manger in front of each stall, .j ancT to it is attached a rubber hose four feet long, to which are attached {lie milking-cups. These cups are fastened over the teats of the cow, and arc ln.dd there by air-pressure, the ! suction quickly drawing the milk from ; The udder. The pressure for fin*.entire Lmimher of cows is summed by a inaI chine outdoors, says Hoard’s Dairyman. • .'J’he cows fain- very kindly to the new ; meciiaqi snuc111 fact, if their actions t con fit for anything, it is away ahead of tin* old process. The iron pipe leads j to a large reservoir, and 1 lie most absoj lute cleanliness is insured. Two men j can fasten tlie-cups and milk one hunI dred cows an hour. Feed Your Grain. j It sounds passing strange in these ; days of cheap oats,„ cheap corn and i cheap barley, and butter at a good | price, to hear farmers talking about sell- ! ing their grain, says Hoard’s Dairyj mall. There are’three* pounds of butj tor in a bushel of oats or corn or bar- | ley, when fed to a good butter-produc-ing cow. Can ft man sell his grain at any better price, in these times, than to turn it into butter? Some men seem fearfully afraid'of trusting the cow, while they will go it blind on a horse ! or a hog. I Low, lljagon. Wheels from I,ogs. . P f'kdect a log of the desired size from a gum sycamore, or 'any other hard | timber that does not split readiiy. Saw off (lie wheels, making them the desired thickness,, says tlie Agriculturist. Then take out the spokes from an old • wagon wheel, square the hub and fit Into ’the center of the log wheel. The wheel is then completed, and will last »many years on farms, or even for the j road, If well taken care of. Many of ! these are in.use in this locality, and are I quite satisfactory. Killing’lnsects. * Late,,frosts and severe winters will not kill insects in the ground. - It is favorable to insects and parasifds when the ground is hard and frozen throughout the entire winter. When the ground is plowed, however, late in the fall or early in the spring, so as to subject lusects to dampness, as well as alternate - wanning and freezi n g weather, they are then destroyed. It is the exposure to the surface which they cannot endure. o Keep the Horse Mangers Cleon. To clean out the feed boxes iu the horse stable, every day will be time well spent The leavings of cut feed will sour and become offensive to any animal, says the Massachusetts Ploughman, and, ivorse than this, it will be productive of disease qf various kinds. It is a good plan to bavin a small slioyel, such as is used with the kitchen stove, for this work, gathering the uneaten food daily, giving it to the pigs, which will dispose of it profitably. Cooked Feed for Stock. It costs something to cook food for stock, which lessens the gain by so doing, but it should be a rule to give the stock cooked food at least once a«week as a change of diet. Potatoes, turnips and carrots, cooked and thickened with bran and middlings, seasoned with salt and fed warm on cold days, will be highly relished. ■, . To Keep Cut Flowers. It is said that cut flowers will keep very fresh if a small pinch of nitrate of potash, or common saltpetre, Is put In the water iu which they stand. Tho ends of the stems should bo cut off a little every day to keep open the absorbing pores. *i~-< ?■ An Open Furrow. A ditch across.a wet field w* assist in draining a large area, and will perform valuable service by permitting the teams to work on suoh land early in the spring. Instead of waiting for the water to sink down or keeping the land wet, □ Whitewash Trunks of Fruit Trees. A thick daubing of whitewash will be an ad, vantage to fruit trees, even at this season, and It may be sprinkled over the .ground, around 'the trunks of the trees also, as a partial rentdj for the destruction of spores.

COMFORTABLE POULTRY HOUSE.

EARTH SCRAPER.