Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1896 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME. Best Method of Preserving: Fodder Corn—How to Relieve Choked Cattle -Late Maturing- Potatoes Are .Moat Productive. Preserving: Corn. Fodder. ( A report from the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station says for two years past experiments were conducted to determine the best method pf preserving the corn plant for winter use. Four methods were tried. First, whole ensilage was made by running the newly cut corn through a cutter, reducing it to one-half inch lengths, then putting info the silo. Second, the ears were husked, cribbed, dried, ground, cob and all, and fed in connection with the stalks,-which had beeii previously cut and made into ensilage; this was called stover ensilage and meal. Third, the fodder was preserved In large shocks, and before feeding was ruh through 0 cutter, ears and all, and cut into onehalf inch lengths. Fourth, the corn was husked from the fodder, ground with the cob and fed with the stover, after it had been run through the cutter as needed from time to time, Samples from the material preserved by the different methods were carefully analyzed, and the fodder was fed to a herd of fourteen milch cows. It was found that each of the methods preserved about four-fifths of the dry matter harvested, the loss from each being practically the same in quality and in character. The fodders kept in the shpek lost more and more dry dry matter as the winter progressed. The ears In the silo during the last test lost more of their food value than those preserved in any other pray, this being the reserve of a previous test. The relative cost of placing the same amount of dry matter in the manger was greatly in favor of whole ensilage. Time and money spent in husking and .grinding the ears were wasted, as better results were obtained when the ears were left on the stalk. The ensilages were relished much better by the cows and they do better upon them. -—Farm News. Relieving Choked Cattle. “I have never known my method of relieving choked cattle,” says a writer In an English farm paper, “to fail in giving instant relief. I cut a stick about four feet long and one-half an inch through at the large end, with prongs like fork tines about one inch long at the small end. The stick wants to be straight and smooth. I generally cut a small gray birch. Then wind the prongs with yarn until well covered, and sew over and through this a piece of cotton cloth, making a ball some Inches In diameter securely fastened to the small end of the stick. Grease the ball well with lard, insert in the animal’s throaL and push it down the length of the stifk if need be, or until the substance is forced Into the stomach. Then withdraw the stick and the creature /will be relieved. I have been called In the night to go four miles to relieve an animal that had choked for hours. I relieved her in two minutes after the stick was ready, so that she commenced eating immediately. Two or three men had tried every way they knew for hours without success. The creature was choked with a potato.”

Late Maturing Potatoes. Most of the very large growers of potatoes plant mainly of the late-matur-ing varieties. There is a good deal of loss In marketing early varieties, especially those dug while their skin is stlil tender, and is broken by being rubbed against. In hot weather such potatoes rot easily, and though the price Is higher there is not so great profit as for the more productive later crop that can usually be marketed without Injury. Early potatoes do not generally produce heavily. Hot, dry weather shortens the crop, while with late- potatoes planted late much of the growth of Hie tubers is made after the heated term has passed. Fait Destroys Seeds. Wherever salt is sown so that It comes In contact with germinating seeds it will rot and destroy them. The first germ of seeds is very tender, and as It starts out the seed gives out some moisture which dissolves the salt. The effect of very small quantities of salt Is to decompose vegetation of all kinds. A large amount might pickle it and preverft decomposition. But either small or large. It Is destructive of tin; germs of vegetable life. But if there Is a great deal of rainfall the,salt Is dissipated, and so mixed with surrounding soli that little injury to the seed Is produced. 1 An Impromptu Filter. An Impromptu filter will be found convenient. Buy 5 cents’ worth of powdered charcoal; put It In a piece of flannel, together with some small stones—fine pebbles are best—and tie it to the spigot. T.he water running through this will be quite clear. Be sure you have coarse flannel, ns the charcoal sifts through muslin. If it ,ruris too slowly put something under the spigot and let it run while you are flolng something else and dip It out afterward. The increased clearness qf the writer will repay you. The Strawberry Patch. The family strawberry natch is not usually large, and can therefore be given the best of attention. Rake the beds and clear off all the refuse, or burn the beds over. Then sprinkle Rue bonemdal and muriate of potash over the rows, or use well-rotted manure that Is* free from litter, covering the beds with straw or salt hay. and placing cornstalks or brush on the hay. Early In spring remove the mulch and sprinkle nitrate *of soda orer the rows before the plants begin to grow.

Trees in Tilled Fields. A. few years ago we wrote on the expenslveness of keeping scattered trees left for shade In pastures In fields that every, fg\y years had to te broken up and used for tilled crops. The grass may or may not,be Injured under *he tree, according to Its variety and habit of growth. But wherever the field was planted with either corn or potatoes the blighting effects of the tree sapping the spll.of moisture were to be seen as far either way as Its roots extended.

At the time our views met much'severa criticism from those who regarded the trees'"as objects of beauty, and to b* spared, whatever they cost to the Farmer. But the loss from flowing, wasting seed, and labor In cultivating crops under trees and getting nothing In return has convinced most who a few years ago were critical that they were backing a luxury that not one farmer In ten can afford. Keep the trees If you wish in lgpd that is to be always in grass, but if It is to be plowed and cultivated, clear them out so that all the labor applied may have its fullest effect.—American Cultivator. Plowing and Reseeding. Within tl),e past few years there have been more than usual complaints of grass arid clover seeds not “catching” well, and of “running. out” after an apparently good seeding had been secured. Drought, or. bard freezing in winter, are corrimonly ijiyen ns reasons for these grass failures, But in many cases we suspect that this does not explain the whole difficulty. As vegetable matter in’ the soil decreases It 11 much more Injured by drought than It' is while the soil retained Its virgin fertility. Our climate is hot a moist one, like that of England, and our winter cold is much more severe. We cannot expect permanent grass either for- pasture or meadow. ' To plow and reseed every second or third year seems to be a necessity of good farming in our Northern States. Nor is this necessity any real hardship. The»first year or two after seeding the crop is always better than after, and then, too, there is the best sward to plow under. English turf may keep thickening as the years pass by, but out - grass lands are sure to grow thin. The longer the replowing is delayed, the more difficult it is likely to be to get a good catch with the new seedjng.—Ex. 1 J Keep Live Stock in Good Condition, It is the best and safest plan jto put all the live stock on winter rations in good time and before they beeome really hungry and lose flesh by the want of, nutriment in the food gathered from the fields. As soon as a frost has taken the starch out of the herbage and lessened its ability to nourish an animal the main supply of food should be given from the winter stores. To fall off now is to keep out of condition all the winter. It is quite possible to stallfeed an animal with success in the winter, but the consumption of food will be considerably increased over and above what would be required at any other season. It Is an old saying that an animal well summered is half wintered. It is perfectly true, for once the system is In a thrifty condition it is more easily kept so than it can be recovered from a lowered state of health and vigor. Thus just now it should be the effort to prevent any falling off in the condition and put all the stock into winter quarters in as fine a state of health as is possible.—Orange Judd Farmer,

Keep Flour from Taint. Flour should be kept with the greatest care, (as it takes on the odor of things about it, and becomes tainted almost as easily as do milk and butter. As It also becomes heavy and moldy in a damp place, it should be kept where weather changes will not affect it. The lightness and dryness of the flour, of course, has a great deal to do with the superior quality of the bread and cake made from it. When flour Is bought l>y the barrel, a patented convenience that consists of a swinging shelf that raises the barrel a few inches from the floor, so that the air may circulate freely about it, is liked by housekeepers who have space for It. Odds and Ends. > -v An easy way to remove spo'ts of paint from glass Is to make a strong solution of soda in hot water and - wash the glass with a flannel dipped in this. Tumblers that have been used for milk should never be put into hot water until they have first been rinsed in cold water. The heat drives the milk in and gives a cloudy appearance to the glass, which cannot be removed. Clothing that has become spotted and whose color has been destroyed by acids may have the color restored by applying ammonia and afterward chloroform. Occasionally your pet canary bird should be fed with’ a hard-boiled egg, chopped fine and mixed with cracker crumbs, giving it not more than a thimbleful of the mixture at a time. Farm Notes. There Is no charm-in slipshod farming. none in weedy fields, fences, fence corriers or barns, or with buildings in a general state of disorder. Before the ground freezes see that good drainage is provided around the stables and sheds, the fruit and vegetable pits and In the orchard. Turkey raising is becoming more profitable and-popular. Like sheep, they grow and fatten In the fields on what would be otherwise lost; besides, their eating of insects by the million is a benefit to the crops. A good crop of turkeys brings a tine income for a little expense. Their long legs enable them to move more easily anywhere. The fall is the time to ditch and till the land for drainage, as the work can be then done at less cost than at Any other period of the year. Lands in the West that have been tilled have gained sriffleiently in oye year, by the increased yield per acre, to more than pay the cost of drainage. Every year that wet land is left undraiued Is a loss or Just so much time that could be gained by drainage. , <* An orehahlist says: Peach trees will not bear choice fruit when growing in sod. In fact, there are few fruit trees that will not produce better fruit and more of it if. the grass Is prevented from growing near them. Fruit trees In poultry yattfs, where the ground is kept constantly bare of all vegetation, usually bear excellentfruit. Of course, some allowance mrist be made for the fertilizing benefits received from the droppings of the fbwls. In harvesting, as well as in storage, potatoes should be exposed to light as little as possible,, says Farmers’ Bulletin No. 35 of the United States Department of Agriculture. Ih storing potatoes a low temperature Is required. The potato tuber is uninjured by a temperature of 33 degrees F., And one authority gives the freezing temperature or potatoes 30.2 degrees F. Warmth favor* sprouting, which Injures potatoes, both for planting and eating.