Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1901 — FARMERS CORNER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMERS CORNER

Plant* Poisonous to Animal*. The bulletin from the Montana Experiment Station gives a list of fourteen species of plants which are known or strongly suspected of poisoning animals. Among them are the lupines, which killed 100 out of 200 bucks fed on hay, and in 1898 some 2,000 sheep <t om eating ripe lupine on the range. The trouble seems to be in the ripe or nearly ripe seed. The purple and tall larkspur killed 40 cattle in the Gallatin Valley when other plants were covered with snow; aconite, water hemlock and nightshade have proved poisonous to both man and beast. In 1898, a dairyman had a field of oats so badly smutted that he cut them for hay instead of letting the grain ripen. Out of 30 cows which were given one feed of it, 12 died within 18 hours'having both gastric and cerebral trouble. Ergot on native grasses is claimed to have killed a number of horses in from six to eight hours, the muscles of the throat being paralyzed first, and then the whole body paralyzed. Strychnine and whisky seem to be the only remedy having effect. It is better to avoid feeding ergot or smut on any grass or grain.—Exchange.

How to Catch the Cui-culte. A Kansas experiment station bulletin says that the curculio has been controlled successfully by jarring the trees in early morning- and collecting the insects in the curculio-catcher. .The can

below the canvas Into which the Insects fall Is partially filled with kerosene. A sheet with the seam ripped half the length to permit its being readily placed around the tree is a cheap and effective substitute for the catcher here figured. When the sheet is used, the insects should be collected in another receptacle after jarring each tree. Start Horses Slowly. When the horse has been fed and is taken out to work, it should be started in to labor rather easily to get the most work at the least inconvenience to the horse. The reason for this Is not hard to find. It is simply that during the feeding time the organs are getting themselves into condition for digestion and are possibly even digesting the feed. A large quantity of blood is called away from the other members and Is poured into the vessels about the stomach. This blood must all be withdrawn when the horse begins to work and be supplied to the muscular organs where it is most needed! This change cannot be done all at once. It requires a little time for the blood to reach the physical demands. If the blood has time to make the change by moderate starting all will be well. If not, then there is a temporary exhaustion from which It may require hours to recover entirely.

Ilfutrorine Endi-h Sparrow*. A paper published in New Soutli Wales, Australia, tells how farmers destroy English sparrows out there. They make a double codp and put one or more fowl or chickens in one compartment, leaving the other empty. When feeding they scatter a little wheat In the empty compartment, which is soon found by the sparrows. After about a week they soak the wheat in vinegar and sugar. After the sparrows become accustomed to this, they add-a little strychnine to the vinegar and sugar, and allow the wheat to soak about twelve hours, tjjen dry it and scatter it in the empty coop. One or two grains is enough to finish any sparrow, and If it is given every day at the same place in the same way, and dead birds removed if ally die in the coop, hundreds of jhern may be destroyed, but if the dead are left it may frighten away the others.—Massachsctts Ploughman. Clover float. Clover bloat can always be prevented by keeping the cattle off the clover while it is wet with rain or dew. The usual cause of death when an animal is bloated is congestion of the lungs from pressure of the stomach against them. The flesh of such animal should be darker in color from the stoppage of blood in the small vessels than the flesh of an animal butchered, but I do not believe it. would poison any one to eat the flesh of such animals. The best remedy for clover bloat is to make an epening in the upper part of the left flank with a pocketknlfe and thrust the fingers into the opening. Then the gaa will escape at the sides of the finger. Or use some hollow tube to put into the opening. UiTnlfl'lect Prophvcjr. We have been re-rendlng the prophecy of Mr. C. Wood Davis, issued about ten years ago. in which be said that aa in 1880 the United States exported enough of grain, hay and cotton to supply 0,045,000 people In other countries.

>' and In 1885 enough to supply 4,300,000, 1 that by 1895 we should have to buy food and cotton for 380,000 of our own people at home, and in 1900 enough for 5,475,000. We said then that we had no faith in his figures, and that we believed the cultivation of some of the then unimproved land and better methods of production would enable us to feed and clothe our population and have a surplus for other nations not only in 1900, but for many a decade after that. We are thankful that we have lived to find that in 1900 our exports of agriculture products not only grain, hay and cotton, but many other things have not decreased in value or amount below the amount we sent out in 1885 and 1890, but have made a handsome increase, and it will yet be rnahy years before all our available land will be tilled or grazed, and many more bef<Jre We shall have reached our largest capacity of production. The average crops ns reported by the last census are far from being one-half, and are scarcely one-third “of what good farmers call a good crop. Figures are deceiving sometimes—New England Homestead.

Cabbasres aa Stock Food, The value of the cabbage as food for stock may be summed up as strong in two points, the large amount that can be grown upon an acre of soil and its succulency, which makes it a milk-pro-ducing food easily digested. But it requires strong soil and good cultivation, does not keep well for winter use unless pitted where it will be frozen until spring, and even*then having but a short season, while if stumps and any decayed leaves are fed it is almost impossible to prevent it imparting a rank, unpleasant flavor to the milk and butter, or even to the meat, unless its use Is discontinued two or three weeks before t£*e slaughtering. As regards the nutritive value Professor Johnston in Agricultural Chemistry estimated seventy pounds of cabbage to have about the same value as four pounds of oil cake, twelve pounds of pea straw, sixteen pounds clover hay, twenty pounds of meadow hay, 110 pounds of oat straw or 120 pounds of turnips. This last we think he bases upon the flat or English turnip, which are not as nutritious as the rutabaga. The value of the cabbages, as of the roots, is best found when a small amount is given along with coarse, dry fodder and a limited amount of grain.—Massachusetts Ploughman. ____________ The Hessian Flv. A correspondent of the National Stockman tells how he avoids trouble from the Hessian in his wheat fields. He prepares his ground for sowing, and then waits till he sees the fly about. Then he drills In his wheat. As the flies all swarm at once, and only last four days, they have all perished before his wheat is up, and he suffers no damage, and averages much better crops than his neighbors. We do not know whether this habit of all coming out at once and perish in four days is true of it everywhere, or peculiar to them in Ohio. We never saw or heard It mentioned before, but if true it should be generally known. Feeding Kn«i!nee. One can begin to feed silage from the top of the silo as soon as cutting ceases, or the material may be left until needed iu winter time, says Breeder’s Gazette. The silo should be arranged to have such diameter that from an inch and a half to two inches of silage will be fed off the top each day. If less than this amount is fed off, trouble may arise from the exposed silage starting to heat and mold. If so much as an Inch and a half or two inches is fed off daily, then the silage material at the surface is always fresh and in good condition.

Block Tongue In Cottle. Black tongue is one of the forms of anthrax. The tongue turns black, and the animal dies in a few hours. It is contagious and infectious and is incurable, and all carcasses should be burned. If it appears in a herd o§ stock, the well ones should be vaccinated with anthrax vaccine and not blackleg vaccine. When Hogs Are Sick. Whenever a hog seems to be sick, it should be separated from the well ones and a rigid examination made to find the cause. Then the cause? should be removed. In case of infectious disease this process should be reversed and the well ones removed. Notes About Fruit. In the market buyers sometimes prefer small but fully ripened strawberries to larger ones picked two green. The grape is considered the most healthful of all fruits. Every one who has a garden, a yard or a wall can grow grapes. In starting a young orchard look after the trees often, and wherever g limb is found crossing another limb cut it out. Plum trees should be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, but it should be weaker than for apples, or it will burn the foliage. Apple, pear and plum trees should be planted in every poultry yard. They will afford shade for the fowls and the poultry will destroy many Insects. Plum trees do not generally require as much pruning ns apple trees. Pruning should be done as early in the spring as possible, before the sap starts. There is no section of country where some variety of every kind of fruit will not do well. Experiment with fruit until you find varieties suited to your locality. Most plums should be picked for market a few days before they are -thoroughly ripe. Even for home use they are better .Just before they are perfectly ripe.- -Germantown Telegranb., I

A CURCULIO CATCHER.