Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1901 — AGRICULTURAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURAL

Fruit Tree Sprayer. The illustration shows an improved spraying apparatus for discharging liquids on the foliage of fruit trees, the 'machine being designed especially for large orchards, where time is more valuable. With the apparatus provided It is possible to drive a team between the rows at a fairly rapid pace, and as two streams are provided the adjacent sides of two rows of trees may be sprayed at the same time. There is also a storage tank for the accumulation of pressure, iu order that if a tree is discovered to he unusually infested with insects the wagon may be stopped long enough to treat them to an extra large dose of the destroyer. The pipes are arranged in such a manner that a number of barrels of the liquid may be -carried at once, emptying themselves automatically in rotation, without the •opening or closing of any valves when the sprayer is once iu motion. Thus a large quantity of the liquid may be carried and discharged with the least attention to detail, allowing the operator to devote his entire thought to

the condition of the trees. The pump Is operated by gearing it directly to the hub of one of the wheels. The patent has been granted to Ferdinand L. •Capps, of Atlanta, Ga. Mixing: Fertilizers at Home. There is one advantage in mixing fertilizers fit home, that if one has a detinite idea of the elements most ueeded in his soil, or by those crops he antends to grow, he can use them in .•such proportions as he wishes, without (buying such as are not needed. He can also usually 1 buy the raw material at such prices as may save him the usual commission paid to the agents, and the cast of bagging, and put into his pocket also the price charged for the mixing. A part of the two first items is more Imaginary than real, however, as the dealer wants profits on the material, as he would have on the manuafetured goods. But if the farmer decides to do this we advise against the buying of raw phosphatic rock or bone, and mixing it with sulphuric acid. The carboys of acid are unpleasant things -to handle, as the acid burns clothing or flesh wherever it touches them, and railroads charge high rates of freight on them, because of the danger of tweaking in transportation. It is better to buy the acid phosphate fourteen to sixteen per cent strong.—American Cultivator. 'Large Hay Crop and Hay Stack. A farmer near Corvallis, Ore., is re--ported in the Oregonian as having 26Vi acres of what is called “beaver dam” land, a part of which has been in timothy for over seven years, last year being the seventh year of cutting, and one of the best they ever had. ( The yield was over four tons to the acre, and they put over one hundred tons in one stack, which they sold to a Government contractor at $0 per ton, or nearly SI,OOO for the stack. We doubt if so ■much was put in one stack anywhere else in the United States.! Near the edge of the meadow stood two large fir trees, and a wire was stretched between them fifty feet from the ground, then by ropes, pulleys and hay fork the liay was carried to the top of the stack. It is not often,that timothy will endure so many years in one field, but on strong land, not pastured or cut too closely we can believe that it might have done so.—Exchange. The Horse’s Month. There is no such diseased condition •of the horse's mouth as iampers. Sometimes, when they are changing their -fcemporaiT teeth for permanent ones, there is a slight inflammation around the root of the tooth, but this only lasts a few days and never extends to the bars of the mouth. Do not allow any ■one to cufc«or burn your horse’s mouth tinder any circumstances;, as there is :no disease that such treatment will benefit. Color of -Draft Horses. Don’t worry about the color If you are buying a draft horse. Don't pick au Inferior one because he Is your color. Get a good horse, and his color will «ult the market. Of course If you have « set of breeders who insist on bUok &£ /

or gray or chestnut they must be pleased, but can they not be better suited with a good horse than a good colored one? Gray is the favorite color among the buyers of draft horses in market. It is not, however, the favorite among breeders. At least it does not seem to her when Importers are forced to bring over, more blacks than grays to' please their customers. Getting Ready for Potato Planting. Go at the early potato field “hammer and tongs.” Put on the disk, spring tooth, acme, smoothing harrow and plank drag or anything else that you have that will chop it up and help to make it as fine as an ash heap. Then do it again. Set the disk to cut deep and fairly plow it up, crossing the piece once or twice, allowing the disk to lap one-half. Do not stop at pulverizing the surface for this or any other crop, but cut and mellow and make your soil fine right down to the bottom of the furrow if possible, which will give the millions of tiny, hair like rootlets that will later penetrate to this depth every opportunity to reach and feed on all of the available plant food contained in every small particle of the soil. When satisfied that your soil cannot be better prepared, you are then ready to make the first application of fertilizers, in which you can afford to be very liberal, since any surplus left from the rank feeding potato plant will be available for the following or “second” crop, so that no part of it will be lost.—Ohio Farmer. Water in Butter. The lowa experiment station has been making a series of interesting experiments concerning the absorption of water in butter which are reported in bulletin 52. The greatest amount ot water was found in the butter when the churning temperature was low (52 degrees) and the wash water warm (70 degrees). The least amount of water was found where the temperature was 71 degrees at churning and the wash .water was 40 degrees, the granules in both eases being the size of bird shot. The principle shown by these experiments have proved effective in practice, as shown by the results of analizing butter made by the college creamery for the English market, when it was desired to make but> ter rather 1 free from water. Farm Cattle. It is not true that the cattle business, to be profitable must be conducted on the broad ranges of the western plains, says Texas Farm and Ranch. That ie one profitable system of cattle raising, but there is another which yields fully as great profits for the capital invested. Raising cattle on the farm has in all countries and all ages been found profitable, and more so now than ever. By raising cattle on the farm the farmer has a good market for all the feed h« can raise, saves labor and expense oi transportation and avoids much loss from waste and the hocus pocus ol commerce. And one of the main features of stock farming is that it can b< made to continually improve the fertility and value of the farm. * $ Growth of Our Farm Products. Nothing could more surely and clearly indicate that the prevailing prosper ity of the country is founded on a sound .basis t|ian the figures showing the large Increase in the value of American farm products in recent years. According to a statement just issued by the Department of Agriculture, the farmers of the United States received $155,290,172 more for their products in 1900 than they did in 1899. The greatest advances were observed in corn and hay, the advance in the price of the latter giving the farmers over $33,000,000 more in 1900 for a crop of 50.000,000 tons than was received in 1899 for a crop of 50,055,756 tons. Scabby Potatoes. Some one expresses an opinion that the scab on potatoes is worse where the ground is packed solid or is allowed to crust over. If this is true it is true it should be less abundant where a strawy manure is used than where commercial fertilizers are used, which is not often the case. A soil made loose and porous by having green rye or a heavy grass sward plowed under just before the seed is planted will grow potatoes free from scab almost invariably, but we think that the decaying vegetation kills the fungus that causes the scab.—Exchange. When to Plant Suuar Beets. The Michigan station decides that it is safe and wise to plant beets as early in the spring as we do any farm crop; that prolonging the date of planting gives a longer period for thinning and in ordinary years should lengthen the season of ripening and harvesting, and finally that the date of planting seems tp have but little influence 9n the percentage of sugar. Dr. Wiley says, “Beets should be planted as early in the spring as possible.” Price of Stallions. Don’t expect to buy a high-class horse for a little money. Times have changed. A few years ago everybody wanted to get rid of stalliofis. Now it’s the other way. If you owned a good stallion, would you sell him cheap when there were a lot of people wanting to pay a fair price for his service? !?ot much. Then don’t expect the otbar Mlorr U* X

FORCE PUMP AND CARRIER.