Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1899 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

The Present Day Pig. The pig of to-day is infinitely superior to that which was generally found In this country, say. a quarter of a century since. Of this there appears to be little doubt, and. further, the breeders of pure bred pigs would appear to be well within their right when claiming that this marked improvement was mainly owing to the pigs which had been distributed from their herds, principally for crossing In the more ordinary farm pigs. But do the pure bred pigs of to-day possess anything approaching as many of those commercial points as they should possess or are they so much in advance of the common country pigs as they were two or three decades since? We fear not. And yet the difficulty of improving the pig stock of the country is now far greater than it was in years gone by, owing to the difference in form and quality between the two classes of pig having become less pronounced. Another difficulty presents itself to the breeders of pure bred pigs of today—the public taste, oY fashion, demands a pig of the form and substance which is somewhat contrary to the form of the original pig, which carried the greater part of its weight in the fore quarters, whereas now the pig of to-day must furnish the greater portion of its meat from the ribs and hind quarters. Thus the pig of to-day must be a manufactured article, since the wild hog, from which all our domesticated pigs are descended, was so formed for defense and for the search for roots, bulbs, etc., that the major portion of its weight was in the fore quarters. We not only have to attempt to produce pigs totally dissimilar in form and character to the original foundation stock, but we have to be most particular in mating animals from as similar a source as possible, or we inevitably produce a pig with many of the undesirable points of the

parents, and with few of those qualities which we are anxious to see exemplified in the pig of to-day. Great Yield of Wheat. In Belgium they sow a small piece of a few square rods with wheat, sowing seed broadcast and rather thickly, usrually in September. They then prepare a field by plowing deeply in narrow furrows, putting on edge several times, and then narrowing with fine harrow to kill any weeds that may come. It is, however, left In the rough furrow after the last plowing, which gives a chance for the frost to pulverize the soil, and kill insect eggs or pupa. In the spring this field is heavily manured, plowed, harrowed, and finally raked with an Iron-toothed rake. A marker then marks rows ten inches apart, and furrows two or three inches deep are made along the mark. Another takes up the plants from the bed where the wheat was sown in the fall, separating them to single plants and rejecting any poor ones. These plants are put in the furrows about four inches apart, the roots well covered with soil, and then patted down solid with the back of the shovel. At times the soil is stirred with a hoe and all weeds killed. Where four or five work together, each doing his or her own part of the work, for women and children assist at it, the transplanting is done very rapidly. The plants being strong stool out to 30 or 40 stems each, the ground is well covered, and It Is said 100 bushels per acre Is a common yield, and from that to 150 bushels. A three-acre field is a large one there, but it yields as much as many 20-acre fields in this country. Labor is more abundant than land, but a little seed on a little land produces a large crop.— American Cultivator. File* and Mosquitoes. At a meeting of entomologists at Columbus, Ohio, last summer, a paper was read in which an expert connected with the Russian Government reported that the gadflies, sometimes known as horseflies or deerflies In different sections, would be destroyed by covering the surface of the pools of water from which they drink with a thin film of kerosene oil. Sometimes covering <me such pool will destroy them over a large section of country. Some time ago Prof. L. O. Howard, of the Agricultural Department, reported that the use of a small quantity of kerosene in this way on ponds and otheg pools of stagnant water would destrty the larva of the mosquitoes that* bred there, and if it Mill also destroy gadflies it would be well worth making use of it in sections where these insects are a continual torment to man and. beast, and more especially to the poor beasts that must stay all day in the pastures near these ponds and swamps. Killlns Bparrow*. A writer tells of the nuisance English sparrows were about his house and barn, until he got a gun, and in about 900 shots he killed twenty-five of them,

and scared away a million, more or less. We think bis markmanship was pot as good as that of the Boers. We saw one of our neighbors kill thirty-three of them at one shot, and it was not a large flock of sparrows either, at least after the shooting. Feed them oats a few times in some convenient spot and they will soon gather there, so that- with a good charge of fine shot, a man ought easily to kill half the flock every time be fires. Those that are scared away will live to come another day. ' After he has had a few such shots each fall, the sparrows will avoid that place and its vicinity, and if every one would do so, we might see and hear some of our native song birds and Insect destroyers around the buildings again. By the way, those sparrows make a nice little pot pie, as we know, for we helped eat those thirty-three, but the picking and dressing them was worth more than the game.—Exchange. A Great Potato Crop. The average yield of potatoes in the United States is said to be 85 bushels per acre. The Canada yield is reported as averaging 20 to 25 bushels higher than that, while in England a good crop may be 240 bushels, "which is no more than some farmers here obtain who manure liberally and try to grow good crops. But on the estate of Lord Rosebery at Dalmeny, Scotland, they are reported to obtain an average of 720 bushels to the acre. How does he do it? He puts 30 gross tons, 2,240 pounds to the ton, to the acre, of manure, mostly from the city of Edinburgh, plowed in upon a clean* stubble In the fall; then In the spring be grubs in 448 pounds of “ground” lime, and at planting time he puts in the drill per acre 448 pounds of superphosphate, and 112 pounds each of muriate of potash, sulphate of potash, fermented bone meal and sulphate of ammonia. Here, then, is 896 pounds of good fertilizer material In the drill, beside the lime, and the 30 tons, which we should call here 33 tons, 1,200 pounds of ma-, nure. Profit in Squab*. Make each pair of .birds take a certain box. For Instance, if the birds seem to prefer a high box, give it to them; if a low one, choose one nearer the floor. One can always judge by their actions. All the empty boxes must be kept closed. It is surprising how quickly they will learn their own boxes, and once settled the male bird defies all intrusion. By so doing you learn all your birds by sight, and if there are odd or strayed ones In the flock they may be removed. At night is the best time to look them over. Feed little besides corn and wheat,; with a box of oyster shells and grit To avoid disease clean the boxes from 1 which the squabs have been taken to kill and scrape the floor once a week or every two weeks. Keep air-slacked lime and carbolic acid scattered about profusely and the disease wlll soon depart. This must be done frequently the year round, as perseverance and constant attention are the only way to success—Farmers’ Voice. * Here'* a Water Heater. There is no question about the advisability of taking the chill off the water that is given to cattle in the winter. The problem Is to secure a practical, cheap way of warming the water. The Illustration shows how this may be done. The trough is raised as shown, and a circular opening cut in the bottom. A thick body of white lead is spread about this opening and a sheet of galvanized Iron is then tacked flrm-

ly down upon the lead as shown. Under this is made a box and in it is placed a small oil stove. Have two small boles In the door and in the rear wall ot the box near the top. With the cover down, a whole troughful of icy-cold water can soon be brought to a temperature where, it will be safe for stock to drink it, and that, too, at almost no trouble at all, and at hardly more than a cent’s expense.—American Agriculturist for Fattenins Cattle. At the Ontario Agricultural College they fed three lot* of two steers each as follows: Lot 1 had 57 pounds of ensilage each, lot 2, 31 pounds of silage and 9 pounds of bay, lot 3,43 pounds of roots and 11 pound* of hay. Each had about 12 pounds a day of grain, consisting of ground peas, barley and oats. Lot 1 weighed 2,789 pounds at thebeginning, and in 146 days gained 555 pounds or 1.9 pounds each per day. Lot 2 weighed 2,735 pounds at first and gained In same time 448 pounds, or 1.53 pounds each per day. Lot 3 weighed 2,672 pounds, and in the time gained 537 pounds, or 1.84 pounds a day. The gain by feeding only ensilage and grain was not much larger than that on roots and hay with grain, but all estimates indicate that the silage is much more easily and cheaply produced, the 57 pounds requiring less tend and less labor than the 43 pounds of roots, to say nothing of of the bay.

THE PIG OF TO-DAY.

A PRACTICAL WATER HEATER.