Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1900 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

For Controlling Horses. The control of vicious and runaway horses is a matter that has often been the study of the inventor, as numerous devices already on the market attest; but there is always room for improvement, and the illustration shows one of the newest forms. It Is the inventor’s Intention to have the appliance used especially for those animals which are in the habit of taking the bit between their teeth, which, as Is well known, makes It almost impassible to control them with the ordinary reins. The new apparatus consists of two straps threaded through guiding devices attached to the thills of the vehicle, the forward ends of the straps connecting with the bit in the animal’s mouth and the rear ends passing

through rings located on the carriage, with links to be grasped In the hand for use. The straps normally do not Interfere with the movement of the head, hut when the animal attempts to run the links are grasped in the hands and the straps pulled taut, the force exertejY being much greater than is possible with the reins, because of the increased leverage when pulling in a direct line with the driver’s feet, enabling him to draw the animal’s head down and dislodge the bit. Salting the Sheep. I would like to describe an apparatus for salting cattle and other stock so they will always have salt before them and no waste, writes Joseph H. Yoder In the National Stockman. For cattle or horses j would prefer to use rock salt placed in boxes or troughs for the winter, and scattered about the pastures on the grass in summer. Kalns have little effect upon It, and this will be found both convenient and economical. For sheep, however, this plan does not work so well. The rock salt is so slow to dissolve that they are not able to get a sufficient amount of It to satisfy their wants, hence it is necessary to use the loose salt for them. During the winter a box can be fastened up at.a convenient place In the shed, and at the proper height so they can have access to it at all times of the day. In summer, if they have not a shed to run under, the box can be fastened to a gate post and have a roof placed over it so as to keep out the rain. If It is desired to use loose salt for cattle, the same arrangements can be used as have already been described for sheep. The roof over the box should be high enough to be entirely out of the way of the animals. Where loose salt is used It is necessary to be careful to keep a supply in the box all the time, as the animals are liable to eat too much If they go without for several days. Giving Medicine to a Pig. As It is difficult to make a pig swallow medicine we give the accompanying sketch of a pig tied in the way he should be when giving medicine; always In a liquid form, or it cannot be given. The 1 medicine is given through an old shoe, the toe of which is cut so

that the medicine runs down into the mouth, when it is swallowed with ease and safety. The pig pulls back on the rope, keeping it tight, and does not struggle, and its attention being diverted from all other things It seems that he swallows his dose without knowing it Honeaty on the Farm. As a rule the farmer Is honest Some are so eager to get rich that they are not very honest with themselves, and ltjls hardly to be expected they will he with anybody else. In discussing this topic, a writer in the Homestead rightly concludes that a farmer can be the most dishonest man in.the world, if be desires to be. All the good of everything can be put in the top of the heap If he is inclined, and there is room In so many places to be dishonest, but a* a <jlass they are not dishonest. The best man In every special line likes to iJake his packages good in quantity and appearance. He will and should put a few of the best to the top of tbs

package, but all in the package should be merchantable. It is the honest farmer that prospers. The dishonest may prosper for a time, but he will lose the respect of his neighbors and friends and sometimes even that of his own household. The dishonest farmer is trusted by nobody, and everybody will soon learn of bis tricky ways, and even If he should feel like doing the square thing at any time, he will be watched. Get a good name and keep it It is worth everything to a man. —Barnum’s Midland Farmer. Chinch Bugs. One of the most destructive pests the farmers of this country have to contend with is the chinch bug. says the lowa Homestead. It of course originally subsisted on wild plants, but it learned very early to prefer cultivated ones. The new food supply being always at hand when the bugs lay their eggs and the young are growing naturally causes their numbers to increase, and the loose soil aboutthe roots of cultivated plants furnished conditions more favorable to the work of the young than could be found in the uncultivated ground. These facts largely increased the facility with which the chinch bug was propagated, and it unfortunately has few natural enemies. Its bedbug flavor makes it no very de sirable morsel to insectivorous birds, and the fungous diseases to which it is subject require a wet season for their propagation in the field, and in a wet season the chinch bug is not very dangerous. In normal seasons, therefore, all the natural conditions are quite favorable to the chinch bug in cultivated fields, and the farmer must mainly rely upon his own efforts for protection. One of the best remedies in the world for the chinch bug is to clean up. If infested lands be burned off and all the rubbish gathered and burned in early spring much will have been accomplished. All the rubbish accumulating along the fences and headlands should be cleaned; uncultivated prairie lands adjoining fields should be burned off early; corn stalks should be down and burned in the spring 'following a chinch bug year, as it will destroy millions of the insects that have hibernated between the leaves and the stalks. Wherever, by reason of the previons presence of the chinch bug, another visitation is probable, no pains should be spared to thoroughly clean up and destroy all the stubble, corn stalks, dead grass, fence row rubbish and the like possible, and it should be destroyed by fire. It is work, of course, but it is the work that will pay where there is any reason to anticipate the chinch bug visitation. Coat of Milk. It is Important to know the cost of production, and if weighing, milk will induce us to compute the cost let those of us who do not know begin weighing at once, says S. W r . Marble in Practical Dairyman. Mr. Carnegie, the great steel manufacturer, it is said, paid $40,000 a year to keep records of the cost of production of his steel. It is stated that every wheelbarrow of material that went Into the furnaces was weighed and recorded. It was the special work of a bookkeeper to keep those records, and every time they turned out an order for steel, whether for a bridge or for a ship, or whatever it was, It was figured out down to the very lasi detail. He knew the cost of every piece of steel that was turned out. Now, if he could do it at an expense of $40,000 on his business, the farmer, with twenty cows, says Prof. Henry, could afford to spend five days’ work a year on his business, because the percentage of difference would be a great deal less on the five-day investment, which is all that is needed, than to Mr, Carnegie on his $40,000. Dairy Figure*. There are 16,000,000 milk cows in the United States, distributed over 4,750,000 farms of three or more acres, and 1,000,000 more owned in towns and cities and on small country places, making about 17,000,000 in all. The product of 5,000,000 of these cows Is consumed as milk and cream, either fresh or condensed, that of 11,000,000 is made into butter and that of 1,000,000 into cheese. The average yearly consumption of dairying products per person is twenty-five gallons of milk, twenty pounds of butter and three pounds of cheese. There are about 11,000 creameries and cheese factories in the United States. Nearly all of the cheese is made in factories. Only about onefourth of the butter is factory or creamery made, the other three-fourths being’farm and home produced. The annual consumption as milk and cream is 1,750,000 gallons. The production of butter is 1.500.000,000 pounds and of cheese 300,000,000 pounds. To Have Cow Pea*. To harvest cow peas, cut with mowing machine, says Robert C. Morris of Olney, 111. “Cow peas may lie one oi two days after being cut, then cocked and allowed to remain until the peas get fairly dry. They may be bulked greener than beans, as they do not have so much oily matter in them. Cow peas cannot be threshed on separators until the speed of cylinders is greatly reduced, but they are easily flailed out." Bee* Have Keen Fyea. Bees are said to see an enormous distance. When absent from their hive they go up in the air till they see (belt home, and then fly toward it In t straight Hoe,

VICIOUS HOUSES EASILY CONTROLLED.

TO GIVE MEDICINE TO A PIG.