Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1900 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Holds Milk Pail Firmly. It is a somewhat difficult task to hold a milk pail between the knees while filling it with the lacteal fluid, and it is not always a wise plan to set the pail on the floor beneath the animal's udder, both for sanitary reasons and because of the danger of an accidental upset. Nelsou M. Jewett, of Riceville, lowa, has recently patented the combined stool and pall holder illustrated below, with the idea of providing a secure place for the pall and yet permitting it to be Instantly removed when desired. The fronf edge of the" stool is cut out in

A COMBINATION PAU.-HOLDKK. a semi-circle, and at one side are secured metallic straps which fasten with a latch and form with the stool a circular well into which the pail is lowered. The milkman may now seat himself on the stool and draw the latter forward until the pail is catching the streams of inllk. This invention should prove us“eful when the pail is nearly full, If at no other time, as the weight is then much Increased and tilting the pail most also be avoided.

Unprofitable Stock. It is one thing to keep an old animal that has been the pride and pet of the family for years, after it has ceased to be profitable, and another to keep one that is not and never was able to earn its keeping. Yet while not many farmers feel able to do the former for sentiment’s sake, there are hundreds who are doing the latter from no other reason than an unpardonable Ignorance as to the cost of keeping, and the actual results received from the animaL The Babcock test is doing much to weed out some of the unprofitable cows, when used in connection with the regular weighing of the milk, but other animals need to be looked after. Sheep need to be culled carefully every year, and those that do not produce and bring up good lambs and a good shearing of wool should be fitted for mutton. There is many a man who keeps a horse, when he could hire one to do the work he has for him at less than the coat of feeding, and others wh6 keep two, though one could do the work excepting during a few days in the year. Weed out the unprofitable animals even if obliged to kill and bury them. They may do the world some good -in that way. P Draining: Low Lank Stone will make an excellent drain for low, wet land if it is laid carefully. It has the advantage of being indestructible, and once made the drains will be permanent. The extra cost of digging the larger ditches will be more than repaid by the use of the stone. But the stone is to be laid carefully so

that It will not fall in, and that the water will not flow In behind It, and wash out the foundation. The accompanying cut shows how the stone should be laid to be safe. AA are two flat stones placed as shown, one upright and the other sloping; the rest of the drain, B, Is filled In with small stones and on top is laid some brush. Drains have been put in according to tills method audjinve been found to work well, better than the square stone drains. Vest Market Chickens. A promlneut Chicago commission merchant. In a paper on “Poultry Raising,” before the Illinois farmers’ Jnstlsaid; “The best kind of chicken • •Bflie market is a plump fowl with y4fftw skin, such as the Plymouth Roek,.W.vuiul(>tto, Light Brahma, Leghorn or, jrtgLh't, almost any chicken with lighf Stock of this kind dresses out yellow and always will bring the top (A the market. Dark feathered poultry Ashen dressed out always sells at a lowerlflice than lightcolored stock.” Tbß Grain Fertilisers. In the Southern States there are many who use cotton seed meal as a fertilizer to furnish nitrogen, In preference to using nitrate of soda, or Any f«feer «f the fertUtatof materials that

contain nitrogen, aa tankage, dried blood or fish waste. But it is one of the peculiarities of this n.eal and of linseed meal, that when used as a food for milch cows, it increases the milk, improves Its quality, and then returns to the manure heap almost as much nitrogen as it had before being digested. Much the same thtog may be said of the phosphoric acid in wheat bran, and in this way they are cheap foods when properly used. Ctaaneiaa Feed. There is yet much to be learned about the matter of increasing crops by obtaining seed from other sections than that where it is to be planted. At the lowa Experiment Station they obtained potatoes from Canadc. and planted them by the side of seed grown upon their own soil, from the seventh crop of that variety grown there. They obtained 734 bushels per acre from the Canada seed and 109 bushels from the home grown seed. Yet the results are not always that way even with potar toes. It may be said that generally home grown potatoes donotproduce as - much gs seed grown farther north, but it is not an invariable rule, and some successful growers would not trust their crop to seed which they had not grown and saved themselves, and say that when they have tried it home grown seed has always produced the best crop. The result of one experiment do not prove a case, and we need more, with a thorough knowledge of how the crop was grown, and seed selected in each case. We need to know if forcing* a crop to grow and mature in-a shorter time, either by a richer soil or cooler climate, or both, will make the seed more prolific.

Hackney Stallion. Bell Boy, a promising young Hackney stallion, with Courier for his sire and Belle Lyons for hla dam, was bred by Dr. W. S. Webb, Shelburne Farms, Vermont. He is of rich, dark chestnut color, a model in conformation and action. This is his first year In Canada. At the Montreal spring show he received first prize; at the Toronto Indus-' trial Fair, second prize. He won the sweepstakes at the London fair, and

the second prize at Ottawa. He was exhibited by his "present owner, Dr. John Watson, Howick, Quebec. Savin'- Fod ler. One of the Items of greatest waste oil the farm has been the reckless way in which corn fodder has been bandied. The silo has solved the problem of making the most out of this valuable food, but not one farm in 100 or perhaps 500 has a silo. Left to ripen to a degree that would make it worthless and then possibly rot in the shock, the cornstalks on most farms have fallen into disrepute, and very few regard its feeding value as they should. With improved machinery for preparing it for feeding there should be more thought given to utilizing fodder, which can be made a good substitute for hay.—National Stockman. Feed Corn. So much damp aud warm weather as we have been having may injure some of the seed corn if it is not well looked after. It may pay to bring it into the house and dry it well before freezing weather comes. If it is thoroughly dried freezing will not hurt it, but If it freezes while damp, it, may Injure the germinating power or at leijst reduce the vitality so that it will produce but a weak stalk.

About the 8110. circular silo made of good hard wood staves Is cheapest and best. The silo has come to be as necessary a part of a dairy farm plant as a corncrib or a haymow. Thirty pounds a day Is enough silage for an average sized Jersey cow. Larger cattle will eat more. A cubic foot of silage from the middle of a medium sized silo will average about forty-five pounds. For 182 days, or half a year, an average Jersey epw will Require about six tons of silage, allowing for unavoidable waste. Fifteen feet In diameter and thirty feet deep is a good size. Such a silo will hold about 200 tons of silage cut In half Inch leugths. Silage comes nearer being a perfect substitute for the succulent food of the pasture, than nny .other food that can be bad In the winter. Corn Just pnsslng out of roasting ear stage Is the best single material for silage. Cora and cowpeas are the best combined materials In cowpea regions. A larger amount of healthful cattle food can be preserved In the silo in better condition, at less expense of labor nnd land, than by nny other method known.

CROSS SECTION OF STONE DRAIN.

BELL BOY.