Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1898 — AGRICULTURAL Clover for Hogs. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Clover for Hogs.

Jersey with a Good Record. J. W. Hart of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Clemson College, S. C., writes to Hoard’s Dairyman; Realizing that my little six-year-old 840-pound Jersey “Nitelis” needed only an opportunity to make herself famous, I decided to give her a week’s test under the rules of the American Jersey Cattle Club. In addition to good grazing, consisting of orchard grass, red clover, crimson clover and green oats, she ate, duriug the week’s test, forty-three pounds of wheat bran, forty-six pounds of corn meal aud twenty-eight pbuuds of potton seed meal, given on forty-four pounds of cotton seed hulls, the last

being oue of the best vehicles for transporting the finely ground meals to the cow’s stomach that I kuow of. Her total yield of milk for the seven days was 820% pounds, from which was made 16 pounds 7V& ounces of unsalted butter. Considering the bread and the size of the cow, the milk yield was very large; and had she been milked thrice instead of twice daily, she would have made a considerably better showing, both in milk and butter. Pena for Haislng Plus. It is not necessary to have costly pens in which to raise pigs. There are enough loose boards lyiug around every farm to make at least one or two good cheap places for the sows. A correspondent tells how to make them after the style of a chicken coop. They should be built on runners so they can be moved with a horse to any place you ivant them. If the ground is dry, no floors are needed, but if uot dry floors will be better. The door should be made in one end and placed to face the south In order to catch the sunshine. In cold weather a piece of old blanket or burlap should be bung over the door to keep out the

cold ami snow. A small hole for ventilation should lie cut in the opposite gable end from which the door Is made.— Farm and Fireside. Well-Ripened Potatoes for Seed. The fact that a potato is meally when cooked shows that it Is well ripened. Such a potato is much better for seed than the poor, watery potatoes that have not secured their proper amount of starch through destruction of their leaves. We are always suspicious of seed of a potato that in winter or spring appears watery and deficient In solid matter when cut into. It may have come from a hill that had not time before it was dug to ripen the crop of tubers beneath. But in nine cases out of ten it was eaten by potato hugs or its leaves blighted before the potatoes reached maturity. Such potatoes cannot make good seed. Coal Ashes for Fruit Tree*, That coal ashes are beneficial when spread on the surface of apple orchards in grass cannot be disputed. But they contain scarcely any mineral fertilizer, and are, of course, having passed through fire, destitute of any other. Undoubtedly they benefit by setting as a mulch, and where they cover grass causing it to die out and rot. In this way they supply considerable fertility and moisture indirectly. Wherever coal ashes have long lain under fruit trees there will be an abundance of tree roots Just under the ashes where the grass has been killed, A Tribute to the Mule. While we arc carrying on about the herot s of the war let us not forget the nriny mule. He may not be as klssable ns Hobson, but we owe him Just as much recognition, Hen. Hhuftcr says he could not have supplied his army at nil if it had not been for the mule, and Cen. Blanco knew what lie was about when he rushed to the cable otllee and telegraphed to Madrid how the Americans had killed that mule at Matanzas. Louisx Die Courier Journal. Cutting Fodder by Horse Power. We are sorry for formers, and especially for the farmers’ sons, who ure obliged to cut fodder for stock In winter by band labor. It is a slow Job ami involves muscular effort Hint might well be put to more necessary uses. If every funner who rends tills would get a hone power, or better still a small

steam engine to do the various jobs that are n6w too often done by human muscle, there would be far less discontent with the farm on the part of the young, and the time thus saved could aud would be put to better uses.—Exchange. Green Food for Fowls. Fowds In winter confined in henhouses lack the variety of food which they get in summer while allowed a wide range. They require more condensed food than in summer, and graiD should be their principal ration. But they will eat more or less green food also, aud we never found a batter w’ay than.to hang up a cabbage head by the roots, allowing the head to come near enough to the ground so that by jumping they can bite out a mouthful. The inferior heads of cabbage that would otherwise be thrown away can.thus be put to good use.—Exchange. Clay Soil for Pears. Tlie best pear orchards are grown on a heavy soil with clay as the subsoil, into which the tap root of the pear will sink beneath all ordinary fluctuations of temperature in - the air above. It is this even temperature that saves pear trees on clay soils to a great extent from ’lie blight which is so frequent where the soil is sandy or gravelly. It Is not, of course, an absolute preventive, but we have always noticed that the pear trees which lived longest and longest continued productive were grown on clay soils. Turnips Need Moist Climate, The principal reason why turnips are not popular in this country, even among those English farmers who always used to grow them In England, is because our summers are almost always too hot aud generally also too dry. In hot weather, if moist, worms breed in the turnips, unless they are gathered and sold while small ns market gardeners do. If the weather turns dry for any long time, the turnip becomes pithy aud worthless. Plow Kvener. As a rule, farmers when they went to plow get any evener without measuring the length, and then their plow does not run steady, while their neighbor may have the same kind of plow and it runs all right. The difference is often in the double-tree. The right length is three times the width of the plow. For a 14-lncli plow make a 42-Inch evener. Hitch to center of plow and it will bring end of evener in center of furrow.— Practical Farmer.

Bring your hogs to 200 pounds on clover, and it is then an easy matter to finish them off quickly on corn In the fall without the expense of feeding long through the cold weather. Feeding corn in order to keep up the animal heat, while putting on fat, does not pay. Although you may not have quite such Heavy weights iu the end as by other methods, there will be more money iu the purse.—lndiana Farmer. Good Road Essential*. Three essentials of modern roadbuilding are the road machine, for grading, shaping and preparing the roadbed; the stone crusher, which may often advantageously be portable, with outfit for breaking the stone, and an efficient road roller, preferably a steam roller of about twelve tons weight. These are at the bottom of economical macadam road construction.—North American Horticulturist. Valuable to Farmers. The fourteenth annual report of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture la published by order of Congress for free distribution by Senators and Representatives, to whom all requests should be made. To Exterminate a I’est. In a iMjrtion of Hanover, Germany, a local decree requires each farmer to deliver to the authorities twelve sparrows or sparrow heads between Oct. 1 and Hoc. 1, or pay a fine of (i marks. .

Poultry Pointers. Coal ashes are good for the poultry. Do uot allow the males to remain In the flock. A little oil meal will assist the moulting lieus. Don’t permit bad odors about the poultry house. Ho rax is a goood thing to sprinkle In the nest boxes Waste tobacco stems are good vermin destroyers. Worms may result from feeding raw meat too freely. Leghorns ate less tamo, usually,than most other breeds. (live the youngest chicks a chance to eat by themselves. See that the eggs are clean before being sent to market. Don’t build a fancy poultry house. Put it up plain, but warm. Table scraps willl start early pullets to laying. Nothing better. An earth floor in the poultry house is not only good, but the best. Never mhid threshing the oats for the fowls they prefer to do It themselves. Hens lay better and the eggs keep longer If no males are allowed with them. * A poultry house should ta high enough for a person to stand In, and tluu Is high enough.

JERSEY COW “ NITELIS” 102722.

MOVABLE PIGPEN.