Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1896 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

■■... , . i ► THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME, Rales and Rations that Will Make. Heim Lay—Disease Germs in MilkPotatoes ih Hills Rather than, in Prills—Odds and Ends. ,' To Make Hens Lay. Have the house warm, with plenty of room, five square feet of floor space for each hen, Have plenty of light, windows with a curtain, to prevent radiation of heat. This Is much better than outside Shutters for windows. A board floor is best, covered with chaff or straw or some other like material. Make the liens work, urges the New York Poultry Breeder. Keep them busy. Give warm food for breakfast. This is aagood ration: 100 pounds wheat bran, 100 pounds ground oats, 2£Kp®unds oil meal, 75 pounds animal meal. This combination is whole- ' some, and gives- the ydiK or thh'egg n: good color. Give the fowls all they will eat, and no moye. Mix the food with skim-milk. At night give grain, equal parts of corn and wheat. The fowls must have some succulent feeds. Mangel-wiirlzel beet gives best satlsfactlon. Cabbage Is good, also. Cracked oyster-shells are necessary. Plenty of fresh water to indispensable—The Cgg Is composed mostly of water, and the hens do well. It musj be given frequently, aud be bandy, so they can get it when wanted. What Is Found in Milk. A separator was in tin* dairy tent at the Orange County Fair, and the work its representative did from day to day was sufficient to tujn the. stomach of a human being against th'o use of tnilk, says tlie Xewberg Register* One morning he took twenty-six-quarts -of fresh Jersey milk, and after putting it through the separator there was a filthy residue left that would fill a small coffee cup. This is said to be deadly poison, containing disease germs in countless quantities. The milk has more or leas of these, but diseased animals have them in overwhelming quantifies. The operator had a scratch on ills finger one week and thoughtlessly cleaned our the forirign matter after separating the milk. His finger became inflamed and badly swollen, the results of the poison. Milk should be either boiled, sterilized or separated.

Potatoes in Hil it) or Drills. We do uot doubt the fact that the practice of growing potatoes in drills rather than in hills is becoming more common. It is the natural result of having seed of doubtful vigor, ufMch has been the rule ever since the potato beetle began its ravages, some twentytwo or twenty-three years ago. We still like, possibly from did habit, the practice of hill planting. If the potatoes are of vigorous habit of growth, three feet apart each way will leave no vacant ground when the plants aro full grown, and the spaces between the rows will, be equally well filled with roots. If an attempt is made to crowd the plants the vigor is diminished and also the yield. Some of the best new varieties grow their roots very compactly, and will bear to be planted in drills. But we think they are more likely to suffer in dry weather than are potatoes that are planted in hills so that the soil can be cultivated between them bath ways. This cultivation should never be detjg/Wben moist soil is turned up from below it exposes a new surface to the air, and this dries out more rapidly. Continued shallow cultivation will keep the dry soil on top to act as a mulch, and if me strata beneath is left undisturbed except early before the potato roots have filled the soil, the lower soil where the roots are will have some moisture rising up into it from below, even in a dry time. There is a possibility of injuring potatoes by very deep cultivation after they have attained large growth. Not only are too many roots cut off, but the soil is exposed too much to the air by being continually turned.—American Cultivator. Low Tops for Fruit Trees. In setting out fruit trees leave the lower branches or better still have three or four single buds on opposite sides of the tree, from which new branches may be grown. Head the trees Ipw,. The trees are less liable to bh Injured by storms. The fruit Jp .more easily gathered and the low top helps to shelter the surface soil, holding the snow on the ground under it, and thus prolonging the life of the tree, besides increasing its vigor and productiveness. The high-headed fruit tree is a relic of the days when horses and cattle were turned into orchards and the trees had to be pruned high to escape injury from them. The Digestion of Pigs. A well-fed pig often makes an average gain of a pound per day for the first eight or ten months of Jts life. Such an increase in weight as this requires that the animals have good digestion. To insure this, while young, the pig should be fed what can easily be digested, and that a portion of it should be succulent. Overtaxing the d’gestlve organs .while the pigs are young stunt their growth, and such pigs will never attain the size that would be possible for them If properly fed while young. Milk is the best food for young pigs, supplemented with wheat middlings if the milk is not sufficient. So soon as the grass starts they should be put in a pasture or orchard to eat what grass and fallen fruit they can get during the summer. If such pigs are fed liberally their digestion will always be good. Not until they are seven or eight months old should they be fed any corn, and then at first only in small quantities, so as to accustom the digestive organs to utilize this food, which for young anlnftis is always the most difficult to digest. Redrafting White Plnm Tree*. There are in almost every neighborhood many wild plum trees, besides wildings that have sprung from seed accidentally dropped. In their present state these trebs are entirely worthless. By taking them up and grafting with the most productive and valuable cultivated varieties these wild plum trees can be matte sources of Isl-

come. There is a general belief that grafting of the plum can only be done 1 It is true that if the bud of the graft has started to grow it will probably require too much moisture before the union with 'the stock can supply it. Then, of course, it will perish. But a graft that was cut early, and has been kept In a cool, moist place where it will not dry out, can be set In a plum tree after Its own buds have started, and will be nearly certain to succeed. • A Frnitfnl Fowl. We are indebted, to a French scientist for the Information that the egg cham'ber of alTaverage heal!hy'beu eontatmr COO eggs, and that, as a rule, it takes nine jears to lay them,-* according to the Maryland Farmer. More than half of the eggs—between 300 and 375—are laid during the second, third and fourth years, and the number gradually decreases, from fifteen to thirty being laid in the eighth year, and from one to ten in the ninth, from all which it is manifest that it does not pay to feed a hen after the fourth year. There has • long been atHmpressl on that- ii eus-after.-that age are.'unproductive, but the French scientist is the first to. tell us why they cannot be productive. It is just such information as tills that is needed by farmers and poultry dealers, and those Who fqmish It and fiiSsemlnate it are in aT sense public benefactors. ‘ Onlons aa Food for Chickens. Fowls of all varieties are extremely fond of onions, and derive great bene fit from eating them. They not only serve all the purposes of food, but aid digestion and tend to ward off disease. Tney may be given in a raw or cooked state. Chiclfeiis will eat not only the bulbs, but the leaves, when chopped up and mixed with the soft food. Chickens that are allowed, onions prepared in this way rarely, if ever, have cholera, and are not likely to be infested with vermin. A very good food for laying hens during the Winter months consists of cooked meat, potatoes and chopped onions. The last ingredient answers the same purpose os pepper. Potted Plants, Do not use pots for wintering flowering plants that are too large. It Is better to give larger pots when necessity for such arises. Be careful in watering. The tendency is to apply too much water. An excellent fertilizer for winter plants is to dissolve a teaspoonful of nitrate of soda, phosphate of lime and phosphate of potash In three pinto of water, which may be applied in sufficient quantity three times a week. The materials are free from odor, and may be procured at any drug store.

Don’t Desert Old Varieties. It Is a sad mistake the poultrymen on the farms are making in deserting the old and tried varieties, and taking up with every new breed coming before the public. Why cannot our poultry breeders learn what everybody else knows to be true, that It is only by clinging to and improving any variety that excellence Is maintained? It Is too bad that the business must suffer because of the leapfrog practices, of men keeping hens. Cheap Reef. A Southern cattle feeder says the feeding of cattle for beef purposes on cottonseed Is a cheap way of making beef; but the corn feeders, he thinks, must learn to mix other cheaper feed with their solid grain, which will in all probability enable them to make corn beef as cheap as cottonseed beef. Training a Young Horse. Train the motions of the young horse. With the walk Is the foundation of all other gaits, and without beginning at this foundation all future developments will be unsatisfactory. A slow walker In the wagon or plow is a worse possession than an indolent farm hand. Odds and Ends, Old potatoes are greatly Improved by being soaked In cold water over, night, or at least several hours after peeling. The water should be changed once or twice. Tea or coffee stains In linen may be removed by moistening the spots with water and holding them over the fumes of a burning match. Then wash Immediately wtth water in which a little ammonia or soda has been dissolved. Leather belts or boots that have been soaked In water or dried hard may be softened by rubbing plentifully with coal oil. If the leather is very dirty wash It with good hot soapsuds first An essential article that should be found in every kitchen Is a vegetable brush. Lettuce, spinach, celery and many other vegetables may be cleaned much more readily with one than with the hands. ' For a sprained ankle immersion far fifteen or twenty minutes In very hot water, and following this an application of bandages wrung out in hot water, Is recommended as the best treatment. The only method of cleansing jewelry without scratching it is to wash In hot soapsuds in which a few drops of ammonia have been added, and then placing the Jewelry In a beye of Jewelers’ sawdust to dry. A valuable salve for cuts “or wounds of any kind: Boil one-half cup of thick* kweet cream ten or fifteen minutes, stirring constantly; when cold beat it thoroughly, when it will be a creamy paste. Bottle and cork tightly, or make fresh every time.