Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1898 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Form of Sugar Beet. Deep plowing is generally recotntnended in sugar beet culture. Except where the subsoil is very porous it should be loosened up with the subsoil plow. The proper preparation of the soil represents a most important feature of sugar beet culture. The cut shows the ideal form of sugar beet, grown In good soil with a porous subsoil. It also represents a lees desirable form of beet, which may be due to a subsoil so hard or other conditions so

unfavorable that the root has grown mostly near or above the surface of the ground.

Ensilage Wagon. Where there Is a large amount of corn to be cut up for ensilage, a number of teams are required, and much speed In getting the fodder to the cutter from the field. It Is often necessary to extemporize a wagon to meet the demand. The cut shows such a device. Two long pieces of Joist are held the right distance apart by strips of board nailed •cross them. The forward ends are

fastened upon the axle of a pair of farm wagon wheels, while trucks support the rear ends. A very good load could be hauled without the trucks by rounding off the rear ends of the Joist, so they will drag easily over the ground. Such a frame Is exceedingly handy, as It. Is low, and can be approached so lVadlly from all sides, there being no large wheels In the way. —American Agriculturist. Lime ns n Milk Preservative. Some of tin* Chicago papers complain, and with reason, against, the practice of a few farmers in putting lime in their milk cuns in order to keep tlx? milk from souring. Salt also is used l»y some for the same purpose. Moth lime and salt ure alkaline, and will therefore help to prevent acidity. But In Just the proportion they do tills they make the milk Indigestible. When put in the stomuch milk becomes acid as the first step towards digestion. All alkaline sub-stances-are, for this reason, injurious when combined with food products. llarncMN in Hot Weuthcr. During the summer months the harness should be wiped dry every day if ouly to remove accumulated sweat and dirt. It Is not best to wash the harness except rarely, and then the surface should lie rubbed over with a cloth dipped In vacuum oil so as to prevent the harness from cracking. So far ns possible tlie harness should, be kept away from the stables, us there is In a strong smell of ammonia from the rapid iftcßjr of manure®. This

ammonia will dry out and crack the harness worse than It will to use it a long time In cold weather. As the ammonia penetrates the leather, It causes the latter to rot and the harness soon becomes worthless. The Farmer’s Day at Hand. There is no longer any doubt concerning the immediate outlook for the farmer. Every Indication is that prices are going to be fair and the profits from agriculture such as to make farming a lucraitive occupation. The years Just past have been such as to try the skill of the farmers, and those who have not taken advantage of modern methods and machinery have bad a hard time, Indeed. We do not expect to have universal agreement as to the return of good times. When times get so good that no one will complain that farming does not pay the millennium will have arrived. The average farmer does not make money even in the best years. The average crop of com In this country is only twenty-four bushels to the acre, and the average crop of wheat one-half this. The average cow makes less than 100 pounds of butter in a year, and the average hen lays but three dozen eggs In twelve months, and all of these at times when prices are lowest. These returns are not such as to insure a profit when prices are at their highest. Below the average production there are many who must fare badly. They struggle along In a state of poverty and put in their time complaining about their lot We believe that not one in 1,000 farmers who read the papers and adopt modern methods get crops the yield of which is as low as the average of the country. Th» man who takes every advantage that skill and science places at his command may confidently count on crops above the average, and many times so far above that his profits will be entirely satisfactory. It is these reading, thinking farmers who make farming a profession to be proud of. To them the country looks for that material advancement that raises the price of railroad stocks and sets the factories going. They are going to have their innings now.—The Farmer’s Voice. Handy In BlauKhterinir. A tripod for lifting a carcass, with the poles sixteen feet long, Illustrated In the Rural New Yorker, Is operated as follows: Bore the holes to let the poles spread ten feet apart at the base. To set up

- f-—-» foT uee, dig three holes in the ground six inches deep, so that the tripod will stand sdx or seven feet high when set in the holes, as shown in the figure. When slnughitering, fasten the beef to the tripod, have a rope from the base of the single pole to reach out between the other two poles, and hitch on a team to draw the pole In toward the other two. So doing will raise the beef as idgli as desired. Southern Corn Always Late. It is always the rule that corn grown far North ripens much earlier than Southern corn. It not only lias to because the season is much shorter, but it must be remembered that the Southern corn gets during the growing season or from the 21st of March to the 21st of September fewer hours of sunlight than does the fnr North. This is probably the reason why nil kinds of vegetables attain their highest perfection and greatest yields near the northern limit of their growth. The Southern corn is mainly of the soft Dent or horse-tooth varieties, while Northern corn, that yields the most grain, belongs to the Flint varieties. Potatoes Make Salvy Butter. Every farmer who lias ever grown potatoes knows that they are of little value for feeding raw to stock, and that they ure especially objectionable as feed for cows giving milk. We have known potnto peelings to be given to cows, and while the quantity of milk was not lessened, its quality was injured, ns it lacked the line aroma given by feeding the cows on grass or born fodder. The butter made from milk of cows to which potatoes have been fed. Is white and salvy, lacking the grain which Is the characteristic of good butter.- American Cultivator. Htiihhtc Field Weeds. , Home weedis seem to hold possession of the land jK-rslstmitly, but when they are kept down by frequent cutting off of the 'toi>s dt Is but a matter of time before they will die, ns every cutting causi-s cxluiUHt lon. The stuhlde field Is a favorite place for wis'ds. but If the mower is run over the field the weeds will Ik* prevented from seeding until the land cun lx* plowed. (loMlingn and Dnrk linttn. Goslings and ducklings frisimuitly show signs of lameness when nearly grown, and are also ufilleted with vertigo. The ca*"Hc is due to feeding Largely cf grain. During warm weather they will thrive better if allowed nothing but grass. All aquatic birds require bulky sulwtanoe®, and will not thrivi ®n a diet of concentrated food,.

IDEAL BEET—ONE LESS DESIRABLE.

EXTEMPORIZED ENSILAGE WAGON.

FOR LIFTING A CARCABS.