Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1899 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Corn-Husking Horae. The horse is made of light material. The cut explains itself. The rung B should be stuff, put in with shoulders cut down to 1 inch where it goes through the legs. The rung is put down so the ears of corn will not catch when pulled forward. Corn-husking makes lame backs and sore hands. The horse will help the back and the following recipe will help the hands: Take white wax, one-quarter ounce, spermaceti, one-quarter ounce; almond oil, one ounce; glycerine, two ounces. •Mix, melt the wax and stir in the oils until they are perfectly mixed and still

continue to stir until cool. Apply to the hands two or three times a day. Wash the hands in warm water and apply the salve while the, hands are still quite damp, and rub them until dry.—Ohio Farmer. Cattle Dipping. At a meeting recently by the Texas State Live Stock Sanitary Board, at Fort Worth, Inspector Dean, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, said the jdepartment was satisfied with the dipping experiments recently made there and elsewhere, and insisted on maintaining the present quarantine line and a close season. He says dipping stations will shortly be established along the quarantine line. Inspector Dean reported satisfactory results attending the cattle recently dipped and shipped to Illinois. He advised dipping in moderate weather in order to avoid the effect of exposing the cattle to either 'heat or cold while their hair was saturated with the oil. The formula of the preparation which he recommends, and which has been adopted by the Government, consists of parffin oil, known as dynamo and sulphur. Wagon-Washing Device. On many farms it is possible to wash the carriages and farm wagons by backing them into a stream or shallow river. The conveniences of the location are usually offset by the inconveniences—mud, and the wetting of clothes. The cut shows a plank walk, set on posts on the edge of the stream, into which the wagon can he backed, when it can be washed with great com-

fort. A slat platform, sunk into the walk, will keep the wheels from the mud of the bottom.—American Agriculturist. Farm Accounts. Close up all the little outstanding farm accounts. Make a list of the bills you owe, and the amounts owing to you. These little bills in the aggregate amount to a large sum. Make a settlement if you can; if you cannot, get the full amount of your bill; it is always best to know exactly what you do owe, and It is very bad policy to keep a running account—unless a settlement is made every month. Farmers are unusually careless in their money transactions; the only safe way is to keep a strict account of all outlays. Pay as you go, and take a written receipt for every bill paid. These bills should be pasted in a book kept for this one purpose. This work should be done every evening. It is not selfish to be correct in your dealings, nor parsimonious to be economical.—The American. Winter Ration for Fowls. Here is Prof. Gilbert’s winter ration: Bran, 3 pounds; fine feed, 3 pounds; cornmeal, 2 pounds; fed with clover hay steamed and cut, adding also a very small quantity of salt, apd two or three handfuls of coarse sand and fine oyster shells mixed. Sometimes boiled vegetables are used in place of the hay.' At noon he gives a light feed of pats, and a good feed of wheat in the evening. The grain ration is varied as much as possible. He keeps raw vegetables, including cabbages, carrots and turnips, where the hens can peck at them at any time. Prof. Gilbert has charge of the poultry department at the Ottawa (Canada) experiment station, and has done some good work in bringing out the egg possibilities of bens.—Agriculturist Distance for Apple Trees. Apple trees should be planted at distances ayort than hrs nsuallf

been the custom. The best soils art none too good for the apple orchard, and such will develop much larger trees than will the poorer hillsides so Commonly chosen for orchard sites in the past. For the stronger growing kinds like the R. I. Greening, Bellflower and Baldwin, a distance of forty feet is none too much, while those with less spreading heads like the Northern Spy and Ben Davis should have thirty feet space each way. This assumes that the orchards are regularly to be cultivated, a practice that now prevails in all good orcharding.—Vick’s Monthly. Care of Tomato Plants. Tomatoes may be forced In winter like other plants. The house should be light and warm, tbe roof five feet above the bed or benches, plenty of light being essential. The temperature should be from 60 to 65 degrees at night and 70 to 80 degrees during the day, the soil to be rich, and close personal attention should be given the plants. The flowers must be pollenated by hand in winter, which is done by knocking the pollen from the flowers when the atmosphere is dry and catching it in a spoon into which the stigma should be thrust. The plants should be well watered as required, instead of a litcle and often, and should be trained to stakes, the surplus branches cut away. They may be also grown in large pots or boxes. The Sheepfold. The fine wool breeds of sheep are most subject to foot rot. Perhaps the best way to treat it is to cut off the diseased portion and apply nitric acid. Sulphur should be kept in ready reach in the sheep house; insects and vermin do not like it, and it is preventive of many ills. Further, a piece of roll brimstone should be found in the feed troughs of the horses and the cattle. Many of the internal parasites which cause losses in the flock are taken in while watering at foul drinking places. s Unless the water supply is watched carefully, there is likely to be at least a loss of condition among them, if there is no more serious loss. —Indiana Farmer. ' A Milking Stool. The accompanying sketch is of a milk-stool that was found to be very convenient in fly time or in milking restless cows. The two upright pieces forming the legs and end of the stool

are made of two by fours, about a foot long. The support for the bucket and the seat are made of inch boards. It is well to put three-cornered blocks under the seat and bucket boards as stays or braces. The most restless cow cannot upset a bucket on this stool. —New England Homestead. Paint Against Rabbits. At butchering time or by a visit to the local butcher, secure a quantity of blood. Set it away until it begins to emit an odor. Then lime, which has been thoroughly slaked, should be mixed with the blood, stirring It until about the thickness of whitewash. A little sulphur may be added. To apply to trees, take an old whitewash brush and cover all parts which the rabbits can reach with the mixture. They will not trouble a tree treated in this manner. One painting will last a season, and it is much easier to put on than winding with paper or covering trunks in any other way, besides being more effectual. The lime in the mixture also is beneficial to the trees.—Orange .Tudd Farmer. Labor-Savers. Labor-saving implements and laborsaving animals on the farm should be the rule. There Is only a certain amount of butter and milk to be derived from a bushel of grain, and there Is no more reason for feeding that bushel to three cows instead of to one than to use three horses to do the work of one. If one cow can produce all the butter in a bushel of grain it is certainly expensive to feed three cows, and thereby add to the expense of food, labor and shelter. Breed is the most Important factor in stock raising, because it enables the farmer to use la-bor-saving animals—labor saving because they reduce his labor and also give him an product. • Dressing Fowls. The Massachusetts Plowman thinks that In dressing poultry Americans have considerable to learn from the French. Not only do the French poulterers know how to stuff the fowls to get a plumper carcass, but they whiten and mold and manipulate the fowl after killing until It looks almost good enough to be eaten without further preparation. American markets might not yet appreciate so much care and attention to the appearance of dressed fowls, but it is well known that carcasses prepared with the greatest care by American methods always bring the best price. To protect passengers from the extortion of cabmen in Havana the lamp posts are painted in various colorsred for the central district, blue for the second, peer £&? the third, etc.

HUSKING HORSE.

FOR WASHING VEHICLES.

FOR RESTLESS COWS.