Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1901 — FARMERS CORNER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMERS CORNER

Tile and the Laying of It. Horseshoe tile are not as good for the purpose of* draining as round tile, says a correspondent of Country Gentleman. While they would be reasonably sure to stay in place If properly laid, they are not as efficient as round tile. The reason they are not as efficient is shown in the cut. If but a small stream of water is flowing, it spreads out over the entire flat surface of the horseshoe tile, and there is not depth enough of water to cause the removal of silt or sediment which may accumulate. It is far more difficult to lay horseshoe tile and do good work than to lay round tile. If the round tile-does not make a tight joint with its neighbor, it may be turned until a place is found where the joint is reasonably satisfactory. If the horseshoe tile does not fit with its neighbor, then the shovel must be used and earth removed or filled In as the occasion may require. If horseshoe tile are used, they will do better work if they are laid with the flat tile up, for then conditions as to flow of the water are produced which are nearly like those present with the round tile. When round tile are laid, it is well to lay a piece of common tarred building paper over the joint before filling in with earth. No matter how tight dhe joint is made there is

always a slight opening, and there is a possibility' that soil may pass into the tile and obstruct the passage. After the tile are placed a small piece of building paper laid over the joint just before replacing the earth will' insure against obstruction.

The Round Silo. As every student of mathematics knows, the circle is the shortest line which can Inclose any given area. When the material for building a silo is an important object to be considered, the round silo will contain more than any other that can be built at the same cost for lumber, and thus it is the better form for many, but we think not for all. A silo built In the barn taking one or more of the bays used for hay, and extending from the cellar floor, if there is a barn cellar, to near the roof, can often be put In at small cost, simply by lining the outer walls and making strong partitions on the inner sides, and the space so taken up will not be needed for hay unless the stock kept Is to be Increased, as the ensilage In it will feed more animals than all the hay that could be packed in It, as farmers mow away their hay. Of course we are not speaking of baled hay, because the farmers do not often bale hay that they intend to feed out at home. But a cubic foot of ensilage In a silo eighteen to twenty-five feet deep will average to weigh about forty podhds, which is a fair amount to give a cow each day with the hay and grain that should go with It, and a farmer can very easily figure how large a space would be needed to provide food for his stock. Many of them could not as easily figure the solid contents of a round silo If given dimensions, though they may have children who have graduated from high school who could do so. But the silo in the barn requires but little extra lumber and no extra roof, and it keeps the food very near where it is wanted. Those who have limited capital often have to choose the Reaper way if it is not the better way.—New England Farmer.

Grade Mothers. It seems to be a principle In breeding that when two animals of different breeds are mated, the influence of the one which Is the nearest pure bred. If both are in equal vigor and strength, will be the most potent In its effects upon the offspring. If one Is weak or In poor condition, the other may attain the ascendency, as surely will be the case with the one that Is of a pure bred and the other only a grade. When both are eqaal in breeding and health, it Is unsafe to predict which parent the offspring will most resemble, as It may vary according to their condition at the time of mating. This will explain why many who have begun to grade up their herds by the use of a pure bred male have succeeded better than those who have tried to effect a cross between two good breeds. And this is true of poultry as of animals. Clover and Corn for Stock. If one could raise good crops every year of clover and corn, there would be little difficulty In providing stock with suitable food, says a Michigan farmer. Clover I regard as a double ration, taking the place really of hay and grain. It Is possible to winter horses and stock on clover without producing any 111 effects or reducing them much In weight and strength. This I would not advocate except as an experiment or In an emergency. What our stock needs Is variety, and while clover might supply both hay and grain constituents there would be the possibility of inducing sickness and poor appetite ■from the-lack of variety. Clover, of course, produces a direct beneficial effect upon the soil and adds to it more than the corn trisw .».way. Persistent

cultivation of corn on any field must In time reduce the soil fertility to such a low point that succeeding crops will suffer. With clover as a part of a rotation there would be little chance of such soil degeneration. Raising pr Baying Feed. Where the farmer grows the fodder and grain for his animals he is justified In feeling that it has cost less than it would if he paid the cash for It in the market if he has been successful In gettaing good crops. He has made a market for his own labor, the labor of his team and use of tools, and for the manure that was a waste product of his stock. All of that forms a part of his profit, and the crops may be said to have cost him the seed, hired labor and fertilizer bought. But It may not be the cheapest feed for him to use. He may be able to sell it and purchase other food materials that would give him enough better results to repay him for the labor of drawing both ways. Bran and gluten feed produce so much more milk than corn meal that he may sell the corn he has raised, and buy the other feeds which he dpes not raise. Other foods are better for hens than the corn, or even than oats. The man who tries to be so independent as neither to buy nor sell, had better set up a hand loom and a cobbler’s bench, to save spending money for clothing. We could fatten hogs and cattle on turnips and onions cheaper when w sold them and bought our corn than we could to have fed the roots, and we thought cheaper than if we had grown the corn. —Exchange.

Weights anl Measure*. The old saying that “a pint is a pound all The ’round” does not hold good with the many grain feeds. They vary much, and as the papers when giving balanced rations usually express themselves in pounds, while the farmer usually feeds by measure, dipping it up with the handy two-quart measure, it may be well to know just what a quart weighs. We copy from the Rural New Yorker this table, which we think is nearly accurate for weights of a quart. Coarse wheat bran % pound, coarse wheat middlings 4-5 pound, wheat, mixed feed, 3-5 pound, fine wheat middlings 1.1 pounds, linseed meal the same, gluten feed 1.2 pounds, gluten meal 1.7 pounds, corn meal and cotton seed 1% pounds each. To dip up a measure full of fine middlings is to give more than twice as much as to use the same dish full of coarse bran, which may be a good reason why many get the best results from feeding the finer grain, while corn meal weighs three times as much as the bran.—Massachusetts Ploughman. ,

The Pea Louse. We hear of some who say they will not try to grow green peas this year, because they lost their crop last year by the aphis or* plant lice on the vines. We would not cease to plant them for two reasons. If the insects came on so abundantly as to threaten destruction of the crop, we would plow them in, which would destroy every insect, and the green crop would be a good fertilizer on which to grow some other late crop, as winter beets or cabbages, or to set tomatoes, or to sow’ spinach or kale for next spring. But more than that these plagues of plant lice are seldom troublesome more than two or three years in succession, often disappearing as suddenly as they came, while if no peas are to be found they can as well live on the clover as on peas. If there are peas they prefer them to clover, and they are destroyed with the peas.—Exchange.

Ration for Hogj., I don’t think It. profitable or necessary to give a pig all the milk it can drink to produce the most rapid growth, says S. F. Barber, in National Stockman. I mostly dilute the milk from one-third to one-half with water, and then by the addition of foods rich In protein (those foods which produce the blood and bone material) I can develop a pig very rapidly. Rigs Should be fed bulky foods, such as coarse bran. Buffalo gluten feed, oats chop, etc. I never feed corn to a pig under five months, and then only to top them out. Persimmons from Seed, Persimmon seeds are vbry easily sprouted if treated properly. If they have become very dry, it is possible that germination will be slow, or perhaps they will not grow at all. They should be mixed with sand, kept moist all winter and planted in the spring when the soil is In good condition. A depth of one or two Inches Is about right to cover the seeds.—Rural New Yorker.

Farm Notes. Transplant the early sown lettuce. Mongolian pheasants are being successfully reared In Ohio. The farmers of northeastern Ohio are making a great thlbg of the onion crop. To push along the lima beans and cucumbers start them on sods in the hotbed or cold frame. • Cottonseed h,ull ashes are In great demand as fertilizer by the tobacco growers of Connecticut. A commercial estimate of the cranberry crop of the United States for 1900 places it at 189,000 barrels. All the world seems to have gone to raising mushrooms lately. Luckily, their popularity seeins to be Increasing with the supply. ’ Spurry is sahi to be of value as a catch crop on light, sandy soils, which It Improves when turned under. It requires considerable moisture. Sow eggplant in the hotbed and transplant high to other beds or pots. Plants must have good beds, for a check in their growth means all the difference between profit and loss, sajrs TW-M-rr

ROUND TILE.

HORSESHOE TILE.