Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1900 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Some Cow Stall Devices. New ideas, says a correspondent of (the New York Tribune, have done away (with some of the old-fashioned notions about cattle fastening, and have brought much relief to stock. But all dairymen have not yet reached the most humane and most convenient results. (A. recent visit to the progressive owner of a dairy farm was productive in securing several points that were new to [the writer, and to many others doubtless. They arc shown in various cuts

given herewith. Fig. 1 shows the dairyjinan’s plan for keeping the cow from soiling her flanks when she lies down. A strip of joist 2 by 3 inches Is nailed across the floor of the stall just behind the hind feet of the cow, when she is standing as far up in the stall as she possible can. This crosspiece is shown at A. The cow cannot lie down upon this piece of wood, so she stops ahead and lies down, all of the droppings thereafter falling behind A. Only a shallow trench is found at D. Fig. 2 shows an excellent plan for a crib. The hay comes down from the second floor’ into a slotted receptacle, under which is a place where corn fodder or other material can be placed

from the walk in front, the front edge projecting In front of the hay crib to make it more accessible. Here the grain ration can be placed, or a grain bag can he set Into this space. Fig. 3 show's how the cows are fastened at this dairy farm; They are ngt fastened at the neck at all. The stalls are 3% feet wide, with a chain or rope stretched across the stall behind the cow. The sides of the stall must be high euough and extend baclf\far enough so that the cow cannot turn around in the stall. She can only back out, and this the chain prevents. This seems the most humane cattle fastening imaginable, and it works very satisfactory in the barn referred to. Of

course, the manure is scraped from the rear end of the platform several times a day, though while eating her hay the cow stands well back, where the manure will fall into the gutter. The shallow trench saves the cows from many u slip and jar. • Value of Wheat Bran. That a ton of good wheat bran contains more protein than a ton of cornmeal, and is therefore more valuable as a milk-producing food, or for building up the bone and muscle on growing stock, is well known to many farmers. But there Is a considerable difference in the quality of bran. Some samples have been found which analyzed over 18 per cent of protein, and others not much over 12 per cent, or about twothirds the amount of this most valuable element. Spring wheat bran averages better than the winter wheat bran, or nearly 1(5 per cent protein with 4.34 per cent fat aud 52.8 G per cent of starchy matter. Tills bran should always be sold on a guaranteed analysis, and at a value very nearly represented by the protein found in it. If that having the least protein is sold at sl2, it may be more profitable to pay sll for the best that ran be found. ToD-Hre»»lnn Kali Grain. W e think a fertilizer of 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 100 pounds of mnriate of potash to the acre is better for fall grain tliau a dressing of stable or barnyard manure, first because it costs less than the manure is worth for other crops, and because v/hlle It may not Stow as much straw It will grow a . , f '%£■ -

■tlffer straw that will not lodge, and it will make ajieavier and plumper grain. When'the seed la drilled in It may be drilled in with it without extra labor, but when seed is sown broadcast we would harrow In the seed 1 first and then sow the above it to be carried down by the fkll rains. In many sections the amount we advise for one acre would be thought enough for two acres, but we think the larger amount would prove most profitable on land which had been long used for growing hay or for pasturage. If the land was very light we would top dress with from 75 to JIOO pounds per acre of nitrate of soda after wheat came up, in preference to sowing it jvheu wheat was sown, and in any case unless wheat was very rank in the spring, as it may be where clover or other manurial crop Was plowed in, we would sow about the above amount of nitrate of soda early in the spring to stimulate a good growth and early maturity.—American Cultivator. Sandy Soils. The Department of Agriculture has not been able to find a soil so sandy and poor,that no vegetation will grow upon it. The sandy beaches upon the seashore, and those places where the sand drifts almost like light snow have been planted with what are known as sand binding grasses and sedges which have been found not only to grow there, but to so fill the sand with their roots as to ptevent it from blowing by the wind or even being washed away by ordinary w'aves or tides. Once made to grow, these plants will contribute vegetable matter to the soil, which in time may make them fertile for other plants. The department is introducing sand binding plants from foreign countries which they propose to have tested in climates here like those from which they are Brought, to see if any of them are superior to our native sand-growing species. Even if they fail to make the sand fertile, it will be of advantage in preventing its drifting and covering other land. For some years the Government has been setting some of the beaches with sedge or grass to prevent the shifting of the coast line, and the formation of sand bars in streams by the blowing or washing of sand from the shore, and they may find some plant which will be more valuable for this purpose than any we now have.

Breaking Ont Roada in Winter. At a Farmers’ Institute in Kennebec County, Maine, Mr. E. C. Buzzel gave his experience for the past five winters in breaking out the 100 miles of road in his town. The average depth of snowfall during a winter for the last twenty years has been ninety-six Inches, or eight feet of snow a year. For the past twelve years they have used rollers, and now b&ve six of them to cover the 110 miles. They have roads from eleven to thirteen feet wide without high ridges at the side, so that heavily loaded teams can pass each other safely, even aifter the heaviest snowfalls, which usually come In February and March. The average cost for the past five years has been S6OO per year, Including all expenses of shoveling when necessary to get the first roller’s through. This is in the town of Fryeburg, but many towns near there are now' using the same system. But there are still many towns in the State that have less than 100 miles of road that spend from $1,700 to $2,000 a year to break out their snowdrifts, using road scalpers, snow plows and gangs of shovelers, and yet do not get as good a road as those tow'ns that use the rollers, so says an Eastern exchange.

Method of Slack ins Fodder. An excellent method of stacking fodder, says the Ohio Farmer, is to construct a long and narrow platform of rails or anything that will serve to keep the bundles off the ground. This platform can be as wide as the length of two bundles or it can be two or three times that width, if there is a largte amount of fodder to be stacked, and as long as necessary. The stack should be quite long in' proportion to its width, as the fodder is to be used from the ends. Begin by laying bundles closely lengthwise until the center is from four to eight feet, depending on the width of the stack, higher than the outside. Then begin laying the bundles crosswise, close together, butts out. Keep the center higher as the stack advances, that the top bundles may be quite slanting to shed water well. Tie a number of bundles near the top, divide into two equal parts, set half on either side of the top the Whole length of the stock, and it will not take water. In using the fodder, begin at the ends; pull out the bottom bundles first, and none need be damaged by rain, the end only being exposed. Form Machinery. The increased use of farm inaeiilnery was at one time thought to be taking so much work away from the laboring class that in some places mobs burned the harvesting machinery when taken into the terming districts because it was going to tatfe away the poor man’s means of support. To-day it seems to be realized that only by the use of such machinery is the cultivation of large areas made profitable and possible, and these large tracts annually employ more labor than did the small ones which were grown In the days of han<| labo£ They have also helped the poor man in another way. They have Increased the amount of food production, and cheapened tta cost, so that we are not only obtaining our own food at lees cost than thirty years ago, but are selling large amounts of It to the people of other countries, not only to the profit of the termers, but ’’o the advantage of those who grow it, and those who find wellpaid employment In transporting It

FIG. 1—FOR KEEPING FLANKS CLEAN.

FIG- 2—PLAN FOR CRIB.

FIG. 3—HOW COWS ARE FASTENED.