Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1901 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Barn Conveniences. There should be In every stable a closet large enough to allow the hanging up of all harnesses, whether for carriage or work teams, and so snugly made that when the doors are shut the closet will be nearly air-tight. The cost of such a closet will be more than repaid by the saving of leather from the fumes of ammonia, if there is a cellar for manure under the building, and from the dampness caused by the breath of animals or in other ways. Another and smaller closet, or box with shelves, near the animals, or two —one for the horses and one for the cattle—in which to keep currycombs, brushes, cattle cards, sponges, hammer and nails, often needed, and little bottles or packages of simple remedies that may be needed for a sick animal, to save calling a veterinarian, or to save the animal until he can be brought there. We usually had tincture of aconite, saltpetre, powdered charcoal and a bottle of some liniment on hand always. Then a rack in the stables to hold forks, shovel, hoes and brooms for cleaning them out, and another in some other place for forks, rakes and broom, as well as other things used in feeding. When there is but one place for each article, and that is always in its place, no time Is lost in hunting for it, and there is less breakage from their being thrown down, stepped on or run over. The field tools should have a room or place separate from those that are used at the barn nearly every day.—American Cultivator. A Sap Boiler. The device for boiling maple sugar consists of coils of one-inch pipe, bent or cut and connected with L’s to set top of the arch under the sap pan, as shown. Dotted lines A A A A show where it may be bent, B union to connect with feeder, C throttle to regulate feed, D delivery pipe can be turned down, as shown by dotted lines, to allow the pan to be drawn off. „ I find this device a great saving of

fuel, says a correspondent in Rural New Yorker. Tile sap running the whole length of pipe comes out boiling hot, frothing and sputtering like a scolding woman, but do not be alarmed at the noise it makes, for it will do no harm if you keep sufficient sap running in so it will not all evaporate In the pipe and consequently burn. Tenant Farmins. Why should not the American system of tenant farming be abolished? asks a correspondent of the Prairie Farmer. It is already a fruitful source of wrong and a menace to free Institutions, dethroning the goddess of justice and supplanting her with the goddess of greed, keeping in a state of servility our disinherited fellow-farmers, many of whom were robbed of their birthright before they were born, when their rightful heritage was given to the railroad magnates, who in turn have robbed and now continue to rob their beneficiaries, the people, by exorbitant rates. We, the surplus landowners, both rural and urban, hold in our grasp the destiny of this republic for weal of woe. Then why not heal the mortal disease that is gnawing at her vitals? My twenty-five years, under monarchy convinces me that the landlord and the renter system is the blight and deathknell of republics and the bulwark of monarchies. The Kansas landlord paid only $1.25 an acre forty years ago for the land that now brings him an annual rental of from $2 to $5 and upward. The system begets an impoverished soil, impoverished peasantry, and poorhouse and penitentiary candidates. Cotton Crop Ten Million Bales. The statistician of the department of agriculture reports 10,100,000 bales as the probable cotton production of the United States for 1900-1. The estimated yield In pounds of lint cotton per acre Is as follows: Virglbin 180 Louisiana 234 North Carolina. 189 Texus 226 South Carolina. 167 Arkansas 223 Georgia 172 Tennessee 177 Florida 133 Missouri 275 Alabama 191 Oklahoma 318 Mississippi ... .159 Indian Territory.2B9 The acreage after eliminating all land from froth which no crop will be gathered is estimated at 25,034,734. Old Apple Trees Need Food. When you clean up the henhouse wheel the guano out among the small fruit and young trees. There Is no better fertilizer under the sun. If you have any left over wheel It into the orchard. The old apple trees are as greedy for food, and more so, than young trees. It Is folly of the biggest kind to expect trees to go on and on bearing heavy loads of good fruit and starve them. They need food Just as much As you do. Profits In Bmall Thlnns. That farmer Is fully up to his prlv* lieges when he and the matron can make enough from the poultry, the •mall fruits, tbs truck patch «*d ths

orchard to defray expenses of the table, clothing and other necessities and luxuries of a personal nature. 4 If he does this the staples, cattle, sheep and hogs which may be sold can be used in buying a son and daughter a few acres, etc., to commence life with, or perchance to build a bam or mansion. Such farming is profitable, andywithin the capabilities of the majority of farmers. Kicking Hones. Many years ago we were run away with by an old horse, because sbfue older person would not trust us to harness him to the sleigh, and hitched him so close that he hit his heels. Some horses would have kicked the sleigh to pieces, but we were able to guide him for two or three miles without any greater damage than bruising the horse’s legs a little. Since then we have seen a colt that would allow the whiflletree to hit his heels without any protest excepting to come down to a walk and step carefully, while another horse we owned would stop so short as to almost throw us over the dasher whenever a strap gave way. It was all a matter of early training, and while every one should see before starting out that the harness is in good condition, those who raise- the colts can easily train them so they will neither run away nor kick in case of an accident Perhaps some colts inherit the kicking instinct, but more get it by bad management, while care should break the others of it.—American Cultivator. Whole Corn In the Silo. It is claimed that when the ensilage corn is good enough to yield from 70 to 90 bushels of ears to the acre that it is as mtich corn as needs to be fed with it, and the grain ration should be bran, middlings or oats. When it is less than this, coi-nmeal should be added. But something depends upon the dry fodder used with it. With corn stover or timothy hay use more of the gluten or middlings than when clover hay is used. With clover hay to furnish protein, more corn may t>e used to supply the carbonaceous or heating food, while timothy and corn stover lack the protein that is found in the middlings, bran or gluten meal. If the bran is cold or the cattle are much out of. doors, more corn is required to keep up the heat in the Astern and prevent it consuming its own fat or the butter fat.—Exchange.

Hay and Stock Scales. A correspondent tells of a farmer who decided to put in stock scales. While waiting for them he had an offer for a lot of cattle at a certain price for the lot, or at so much per pound. He asked for time to-decide, and when the scales came he hustled them into place and weighed the cattle, with result that they brought sl2 more when weighed than they would have brought at the lump price offered by the buyer. All large farmers should have such scales, not only in buying and selling, but they need them when fattening stock, that they may see whether the gain each week is paying for the food. Alfalfa and Cream. The cream from cows that have been fed on alfalfa will average about 10 per cent of the milk. A sample of every contribution is taken in a little glass jar by Western creameries, hermetically sealed and marked with the date and the farmer's number an<\ put away on a shelf until the attendant has time to analyze it and record the value of the contribution it represents. The farmer is paid from 2 to 4 cents a quart, according to the richness of the milk and the local demand. Books on the Farmstead. Lots of books should be about the farmstead, so that the boys and girls will grow up to be Intelligent men and accomplished women. If they early acquire a taste for good reading it will save them from much foolishness and the parents often from anxiety. Books are cheap, and there can be uo legal excuse for a farm home not being the home of useful intelligence. Feeding Value of Roots. An exchange says: “In estimating the feeding value of such crops as beets, turnips, etc., the value of 100 pounds of beets Is placed at 19 cents, rutabagas at 15 cents and the ordinary turnips at 11 cents. This makes these foods cheap compared with some kinds, and they are also beneficial outside of their actual food value.”

Dairy Cows In Winter. Keep the cows In good, warm stables, give plenty es feed rich in protein, such ns alfalfa, clover, soy beans, bran and the like, and when the weather Is fine turn tUfe cows out In the yard for exercise.

DEVICE FOR SAP BOILING.