Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1901 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Ab to the Beat Sheep. The breeding of sheep baa been carried on for so many years with so much skill and good business judgment, that there is not one breed that Is not the best, or that is any better than another, when the same good care and skill are expended oh the flock. Just at the present time the Shropshire Is the most popular of all the coarse-wool breeds, In the proportion of five to three of the next in order, which is the Lincoln, then comes the Leicester, Oxford, Hampshire, Cheviot and Southdown.. Every cme of these sheep is good and In prominent tests as to their profit as mutton there is not anything to choose between them. Every sheep has been

bred by the most skillful English sheep- ' men, and on this side of the ocean our people have successfully maintained the excellence of those sheep which have been imported. The Shropshire is mostly chosen to cross on the common sheep, while the Lincoln comes next as a popular sheep for this use. For your locality, perhaps, the Cheviot would be preferable, because Its home is in the hilly country between England and Scotland, and it is hardy and will be easily acclimated. The illustration of it which is given on this page, is life like, and exactly represents the animal as it stands. It gives a fleece of good wool, is a first-class mutton sheep and is extremely hardy. Its mutton Is highly considered, but for mutton solely the Southdown stands and has always stood first of all sheep. It is, however, to be remembered that the quality of mutton is controlled mostly by the food. The best sheep for any man is that which he will love the most, and so we will do the best for.—Montreal Star. A Slush Scraper. Where a farmer has a large ditch running through his farm a slush scraper is indispensable. This one is made from two inch plank., sides five feet long, with one end patterned for the scraper and tapered to make suitable handles, as shown in cut The scraper box should be four feet wide, two feet from front to rear of box, and one foot in depth. These dimensions will move almost a half yard of mud at each load, and a team will pull it easily. The top and bottom of scraper should be banded with tire iron, which will make it more rigid and wear better. Any blacksmith can make the blade out of an old drag saw blade or suitable piece of flat steel. This should be bolted and riveted to the box and band irons of box and made quite sharp to cut well. The eyelets shown in Illustration near the blade are to fasten a log chain iflto. With this scraper one can clean the slush out of a large ditch

and work the team on bank. The length of chain can be regulated to suit the depth of ditch. We used a scraper similar to this last autumn on our farm and found It excellent to clean out slush and also to dress off overhanging banks.—Correspondence Ohio Farmer. Hay for Hogs. A hog likes clover or grass in the summer and a little clover or alfalfa hay in the winter, and if properly used they are good feeds, promoting growth, but the Nevada experiment station has proved that hay alone is not a cheap food for hogs. They fed four pigs, weighing about 146 pounds each on hay for three weeks, and reported a shrinkage of eighty-five pounds in that time. Cow peas and cow pea hay are also good, and, with the peas In, would come much nearer being a perfect food than clover. A New Radish. The mongfri, or edible podded radish, is a new vegetable from Java which is now recommended by the American Consul in New Zealand, where it has been tried. It is as easily grown as the ordinary radish, producing enormous crops of long pods, which are crisp and tender, with a delicious flavor. Persons who cannot eat the common radish because of its indigestible qualities should hail this new variety with pleasure. New Package for Butter. A new use has been found for glass. It consists In packing butter in a box made of six sheets of ordinary window glass, the edges being covered with gummed paper. The closed box is then enveloped In a layer of plaster of Faris a fourth of an inch thick, and it

is covered with a Specially prepared paper. As the plaster is a bad conductor of heat, says the Scientific American, the temperature inside the hermetically sealed receptacle remains constant, being unaffected by external changes. The co*t of packing is only about two cents per pound. It is used to a great extent in Australia. Butter has been sent from Melbourne to Kimberley, in Africa, and the butter was found to be In a perfectly sound condition. Cases are now made which hold as much as 800 pounds of butter. Starting; Barly Potatoes. The plan tested at the Rhode Island stations of sprouting seed potatoes, in trays so that they , would be fairly grown, or as large as they usually are at the first hoeing, when they were set in the field, seems to be so simple and to have so increased the yield, as well as given an earlier crop, that we cannot refrain from mentioning it again, in the hope that some of our readers Will try it They used trays 3% feet long and 1% feet wide, a convenient for one man to handle, and holding about a bushel each when they were spread out. The sides of the trays were but about an inch high, and the bottom was of laths placed an inch apitrt. Then these were placed on a rack so as to leave eight or nine Inches between them, and that placed so as to give each tray air and sunshine above and below, in a room only moderately warm. Thus they had on each piece a strong, vigorous sprout three or four inches high when ready to set them out and they found that the increase in yield at the time they were ready for digging or when first fit to sell Was 27 per cent over those kept in a cool cellar and planted in the open ground, while when fully mature the gain was 40 per cent, with more large potatoes. A Good Harrow. I have made a new innovation in my neighborhood in the shape of a 3-A harrow, having fifty-eight %-lnch teeth, and taking a sweep of nine feet. Tc this I hitch three horses, and can gc over thirteen acres a day, putting it in splendid order, as the teeth ate laid ofl two inches apart, and counting th<

width of the teeth, no clod over half an inch in diameter can pass through. This is as far ahead of tho old few-toothed harrow as the binder is ahead of the cradle. The frame is made of 2x4’s, and can be made any width desired. For braces bolt an inch thick plank across from side to side, and then have the blacksmith make from wagons tire a good hook and circular brace. As tc draft, I find three horses can take this tool as easily as two horses can take a double A harrow, and do three times the amount of pulverizing.—J. S. Mor rison, in Practical Farmer. Raise Hogs on the Farm. Every farmer should be a hog raiser at least to the extent that hog prod nets can be consumed on the farm If he can do so, and nearly every one can, he should also raise some pigs for market. If his farm is large enough he should by all means grow and fatten enough hogs to fill a ccr, and just as soon as they are in marketable condition send them to the packery. On small farms it may not be convenient to raise many more than is necessary for home use. But one or tw’O, or a dozen, or twenty, as the case may be, put in first-class condition and sold to people in the town or country, who will not or do not raise their own pork will prove profit able. Poultry Not?*. Hens will not lay in cold houses. Arrange for plenty of sunlight in tho winter. Do not place too much dependence in one kind of grain. Keep the late hatched turkeys until February. Comfortable quarters for winter will be a saving of feed. Old stock of any kind decrease in value as they become older. , Those who raise fowls for market must keep young stock. Weight and condition come from tbe surplus nutrition in the food. If the chicks beglh to droop, examine their heads for the large lice. To prevent egg eating make the nests high and dark. If the young fowls droop from too rapid feathering, feed some meat. With fowls it is much better to keep the appetite sharp, compelling them to hunt for food. While sour milk is rehsiied by the hens, it should not take the, place of water. Unless soft feed is being given, the trough should never be used for.holding food. Cooked food fattens quickly, probably because it is more completely digested.

PRIZE CHEVIOT RAM.

SLUSH SCRAPER.

TOP VIEW OF HARROW.