Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1900 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

A Dehorning Case* •—A convenient and easily constructed dehorning cage is shown in the accompanying cut reproduced from the National Stockman and Farmer. The dimensions of the cage are as follows: Six feet long, 6 feet high, 3% feet wide at top in front and 4Ys feet wide at top at back end. Bottom or foot board 1 foot wide, with seven cleats V/a inches thick, 1 foot long, nailed across it to keep cattle from slipping. Foot board two inches thick, and rests on three 2x4 inch cross pieces 4 feet long. To these are bolted upright pieces 7 feet long, 2x4 inches, for nailers for sides of cage. Across the top of cage are used two strips Ix 4 inches for each set of upright', bolted one on each side of upright. The inside of this frame fs boarded up with inch plank of con- ■ venient widths. The lower 2% feet should close enough to prevent animals putting their feet through the cracks. On left side, 3% feet from -bottom, should be used a board one foot wide, and one foot longer than the cage. In this bore two one-inch holes four inches from sides of board. Through these put a piece of rope and tie on outside. This loop is put over the animal’s nose and drawn tight by the use of a hand spike. An upright lever is used to catch the back of the head and draw

it to the left side of cage. This upright [should be a strong 2x4 Inch, 9 feet long, bolted to bottom cross piece near !the right side, the upper .end slipplug Lack and forth between the cross [pieces that hold the tops of the two 'front uprights in place. This lever Is [thrown to the right when open for the ‘animal to enter. As soon as the head 'passes It is pushed to the left side and [fastened as tight as required by a small iron pin slipped through the cross pieces at top back of it. ■ As soon as the head is fastened a hand spike is slipped through the cage .back of the animal, and another over the neck to hold the head down. These remain in place usually without holding, the operator standing in front while taking off the horns. The smallest anljinal having horns up to a bull weighing ’1,830 pounds has been dehorned in this sized cage. Animals weighing up to 1,200 pounds pass right through the cage when the holding lever is thrown back against the right side. Cows heavy in calf and larger animals back out of the cage. Raising Broom Corn. Broom corn is easy to raise and care for if a man will exercise good judgment Plant in rows four feet apart; plant about eight pounds of seed per, acre. If the seed is clean a common corn planter can be so arranged as to plant the proper quantity. The corn should be thinned out until the stalks stand about two or three inches apart in the row, or, If very good land, would not hurt to let It stand a little thicker. Cultivate as common corn. When the brush is at its best, or, rather, when the seed begins to turn from its light color, and before the brush begins to turn red, it should be cut in haste. Walk between two rows, reaching as high as possible; break the stalks down, breaking both rows as you go, and break both toward you. When you have gone around this way (four rows), take your knife and start back the way you came, cutting the brush off, leaving a stem of about six inches. When you have a handful of brush, break a few stalks down just behind you, so the stalks will be between you and the two rows you first broke; lay your handful of brush on this, as It protects it from the ground; put what Is convenient on this, and make more to suit On the two other rows you can use these piles also. When the day’s cutting is done, if there be any likelihood 6f rain, gather up your brush and make a good bottom with stalks; lay your brush on this in two piles, with heads together; cover over good with stalks, ffind your brush Is safe. But If the weather is favorable, let it lie for one day and night, and then gather up. After a few days your brush will be cured and have a fine green color. Haul In when convenient. and stack in as large pile’s as you like, and, if dry, It will keep safe aHd sound.—Lee McConnell, In Farmer’s Advocate. Wheat Bran. The farmer who grows wheat can make a good profit In selling his wheat, and buying wheat bran to feed o«L The pound ofyvheat will nearly pay for two pounds of bran, and the bran, If sweet and in good condition, is worth more per pound to feed to cows in milk, those soon to calve, to growing young stock, sows in pig or for sheep

before lambing, and while lambs are with them, than the whole wheat would be. If it is not fattening or heating enough at other times the wheat can be sold and corn bought, and still leave a balance in the pocket. It is much like selling the butter fat from the milk, and feeding calves or pigs on skim millk, which is better for them, and has not so high a selling value. If more fat Is wanted a little linseed meal or flaxseed tea will give it at les?s cost than butter fat. Almost anything that has a place on the table will sell for more than it is worth to feed to animals, as they care less for looks and delicacy of flavor and more for the nutritive qualities than does mankind.—American Cultivator. rPaying for Land with One Crop. It is sometimes boasted by Western farmers on rich prairie land that with favorable seasons they have been able to clear as much money from their first., good grain crop as the land originally cost them. That is, however, usually because the land was bought at so low a rate that to make one crop pay all the original cost might not, after all, leave much, if any, profit to the farmer. The breaking up of prairie sod so aJs to fit it for producing a crop costs more than the land did at first in many cases. But to make old established and valuable farms pay their cost in crops of a single year is a different matter. It is most often done in growing fruit. A New Jersey farmer bought a cultivated farm well stocked with fruit of all kinds for $2,200. Last year he sold from it $2,450, or $250 more than the whole farm cost him. Besides fruit he grew and sold vegetables, milk and the other products of ordinary farmers. All of these added to his income and increased his profits. He had doubtless a favorable year for fruits, but, as the New York Farmer says, the question what profit a farmer shall make depends more on the man than on his crops or location. It is not uncommon for market gardeners to grow crops that exceed in value the land which produced them, and it is sometimes done by farmers who grow potatoes and cabbages.—American Cultivator.

Fumigating Poultry Houses. Remove all nests, roosts and everything that is portable, put a pound of sulphur in an iron pan, with some burning coals, place the pan in the middle of the house and close up the doors, windows and all other openings, letting them remain closed for two or three hours. Afterward paint the roosts and nest boxes thoroughly with coal tar, and whitewash the house both inside and out with lime. A spraying pump is very useful to get the lime wash into the crevices in the roosts and walls. It is beneficial to add some carbolic acid to the lime Wash. Once a house is thoroughly freed from vermin it is easy to keep it so by attending to it regularly and whitewashing It frequently.—O. G., in Epitomist. Butter Flavor. The flavor of butter, it is very evident, depends principally upon the proper ripening of the cream and upon the absence of bacteria, says the Stockbreeder's Magazine. Thus the washing of butter in a granular condition with pure water is a matter of farreaching importance, for if this is neglected the butter will contain milk, sugar and bacteria. Chemical action brought about by the latter will hasten decomposition of the butter. The enemies that have to be dealt with in the dairy are invisible and therefore all the more difficult to wage war against. It is only unremitting care and constant and almost scientific cleanliness that will prevent their development. Growing Barley. Why is not barley grown more frequently in New England? It will grow where oats will, is sowed about the same time, and the average yield is nearly as large as oats, while it Is much more valuable as a feed for swine and poultry. Our Canadian neighbors think barley almost indispensable for feeding purposes, but it is many years since we have seen it growing in any of the Eastern States, excepting as it sometimes comes up among the oats when the seeds are mixed. In such eases farmers think the oats are no less valuable for feed, and perhaps more so, than would be oats unmixed. Cutting Strawberry Runners. A great deal of work is usually required in keeping the runners cut back on the strawberry bed in summer. New shoots are constantly being sent out, and a wholesale method of cutting them off is needed. Get the tinman to cut you a 10-inch circle from the heaviest sheet iron or galvanized iron, and saw a silt in the end of a stout handle, and pin the wheel at the center. This can be run quickly along each side of a row cutting every runner In its path. Keep the edges sharp.—Orchard and Garden. >» Remedy for Cutworms. Mix parts green with what millers call “shorts" or middlings. Use just enough parts green to give a slight green color to the “shorts” or mixture. Dampen slightly and then scatter over Infested places. The worms prefer it to any plant. After eating it they die. When Lime Is Needed. Lime may prove to be a wonderfully good thing for some soils. If the land Is acid, lime is always beneficial. Buy It when it The amount to apply will depend altogether upon the character of the soil.

DEHORNING CAGE.