Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1899 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Swing! Both Ways. The gate shown In the illustration 1 have used for years and find it safe and cheap, writes George James, in an agricultural exchange. The horizontal boards, a, are six inches wide and 14 feet long. The uprights, b, are 2x4, three of them 4% feet high, and the fourth, c, 7 feet Mortise the boards into the uprights to a depth of one inch. For a brace use two lx4’s, 16 feetlong, g. Bolt to top of 7-foot upright ,and at the bottom of the front one, b. Nail a board over the back ends of the gate plank. Thta makes the whole thing stronger and I prefer it to a 4x4 for a hinge timber. Get your blacksmith to make a pair of hinges. The post hinge at the top must be long enough to go clear through so that a burr can be

placed on the end. As the gate sags, this is tightened. The bottom one can simply be driven Into the post It should have a shoulder to rest against ; Getting: a Stand of Clover. The reason more farmers do not raise clover, says a correspondent in the Orange Judd Farmer, Is they persist in sowing their clover with grain, usually oats. The result vis that the grain so shades the clover that when it is cat the direct sunshine kills the clover by drying it up. I have not missed a crop of clover for thirty years. I prepare the ground in the fall and sow the clover seed alone the first thing in spring. I do not, however, harrow the field until the ground Is so dry that the dust will follow the harrow. I have done this for thirty years, and have not failed to get two crops a year, which proved to be more profitable than any grass or grain I could have raised. At the approach of winter a firm sod is secured which does not winter-kill, while if it is sowed with grain it will not form a sod, because it Is so shaded. The frost then throws it out of thp ground. This is what is called winterkilling. By sowing the clover in the above mentioned way I never fall to get two crops the year it is sowed," and the same number each year thereafter. To make good hay, clover mast be cat when the dew is off. After cutting, pat it immediately into heaps, and in two days fork it over and let the air get to it; then heap or shock as before. In two days open it agfrin, and again put it into heaps. After two or three days it is ready for the barn. I have had it come ont in the winter looking as green as it did before being cut

Improved Corn Marker. There are bat few farmers who now plant com by hand, bat I know of some who do so. For those the Improved marker shown herewith will be helpfnL The illustration explains the manner of construction. The materials needed are one piece of wood, a, 2x4,

about 9 feet long; one piece, b, 2x4, about 4 feet long; two pieces, d d, each 2 feet long; two pieces of scantling, c c, about four feet long; two old plow bandies, an old pair of buggy shafts and three or four old cultivator shovels. Set the shovels at proper distance apart to make row of the required width.—J. G. Alehouse, in Grange Judd Fanner. Keep •• mall Tools Sharp. All the hoes and other small tools used ih cultivating soil, including cultivator teeth, should be sharpened at the beginning of the season and kept sharp thereafter. In stony ground, a hoe will need a little touch of the grindstone nearly every day. This may seem a small matter, but the time used In keeping small tools sharp is not wasted, as it enables the workman to work more effectively for a day thereafter. Lsjr Two Hundred Kate a. How can we produce hens that will lay 200 eggs per annum? By scientific breeding, as for a good butter cow or a cow milker, as for a good trotter or high Jumping horse. Experiments have been made to increase the number of rows of Kama |g JDOllcable to TXHlitrv 1 w 111 tort

200 or better are the result. At the same time, it is just as essential to breed out of males from prolific layers as it is the females; in fact, it Is more so. If we look after the breeding of the females only we will introduce on the male side blood which Is lacking in proficiency, and thus check every attempt In progress. It Is just as essential that the male should be from the ben which lays 173>ggs and from a male that was bred from a hen that laid 150 eggs as it is that the hen should be from one that laid 175 eggs ant whose mother laid 150 eggs.—Poultry Herald. Small Farm* Profitable. For several years prices have, quite generally, been unremuneratlve and production consequently limited. Farmers have Refrained from hiring help and have contented themselves with what could be produced by the family. I know of no farm that is yielding to its fullest capacity; yet some are producing more than twice as much per acre as adjoining farms equally good. To illustrate: A farm of 200 acres, 160 of which are improved, receiving careful treatment and above the average condition of farms in the vicinity, has a cash income of from S6OO to S7OO yearly as the result of the work of two men. An adjoining farm of forty acres, with the same labor, averages about SSOO. A “river” farm of forty acres, with a little more work, gives about SI,OOO. Small holdings, diversity of crops and profitable prices will more than double our production without any increase in the area of improved land. France, with nine times our population to the square mile, produced over eight bushels of wheat per capita for the five years ending with 1897. Our production for the same period was but little more than seven bhshels per capita.—North American Review. ’ Feeding Large and Small Chicks. Where large and small chicks run at large in the same riot the feeding of them becomes a difficult mater, as the larger crowd the weaker and take most of the food. Get one or more big but low dry goods or grocery boxes and remove a part of each side, as shown in the cut, making the opening just high enough to permit the smaller chicks to enter. Stretch a wire from side to side at the top and throw feed inside for the younger broods. They will quickly

learn to start for their own quarters when the feed dish appears.—American Agriculturist How He Salted the Calf. A Jefferson County farmer hired a very inexperienced boy out of the reformatory to help abont the place. One morning he told the lad to go and salt the calf in the pasture. The boy took abont a quart of salt rubbed it all over the calf, working it into the hair. A gang of colts In the pasture scented the salt and got after the calf. They licked the hair all off the calf's back and tried to lick the hide off, too. The farmer tried to catch the calf and wash it off, bat the creature, thinking he wanted to lick, too, kept out of bis way. The .boy, calf and farmer are all unhappy. The colts are the only ones that got any fun ont of it.—-The “End Man,” In Denver Field and Farm. A Garden Feet, Plant lice are everywhere and on every plant, even yonr boose window plants are not exempt. These Hce work nearly entirely on the under side of the leaf, and no effort so far tried has been. any relief, nor seems to disturb them.' By keeping the soil clean and fine if we have frequent showers daring their period of work, the ander side of the leaves will get covered with mud, which greatly checks their destruction, bdt if the weather Is dry the crop is doomed to destruction. There is a large class of plant lice which feed on the outside of the leaves. These can be killed by the use of tobacco in various forms, dost, smoke and spray with tobacco tea.—F. S. White. Xoaozna* on Apples. A French fruit grower turns out apples with monograms inscribed on them by nature. Anybody’s crest or monogram can be secured. When the apples are the size of walnuts they are covered with paper bags, which keep them green. When the maximum size Is reached the first bags are replaced by others, which have the crest or monogram stenciled into them. When a stencil is used the monogram comes ont red on a green ground. If yellow or green on a red ground is desired, the monogram is ent ont and pasted on the apples. Grafting: Cherry and Plan Trees. Most of the failures in grafting cherry and plum tapes come from cutting the grafts too late. These trees swell their buds earlier than any other fruit trees, and if the buds swell before be- || Jg best t 0 SOt ttiO I gnu.l9 Dulwto UIV LAAWA" I

OUTLINE OF GATE.

THE IMPROVED COBS MABKER.