Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1901 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

' Tobacco-Cut-ins: Attachment. An appliance much in use by farmers who grow tobacco for the purpose of easily getting the bunches in the desired position will be found useful for curing anything that it is desired to swing from the rafters of the barn. Figure 2 in the illustration represents a board five feet long and three or more inches wide, which rests on the rails that are fastened to the rafters. This board should not be fastened, for It Is to be moved along on the rails from

place to place, as desired. Figure 1 shows the bar with hooks at either end, on which the bunch of tobacco or other greeu is placed. Two ropes connect tills to the framework, figure 3, which hangs over the five-foot hoard, figure 2; to either end of the top bar of figure 3, small pulleys are attached, as shown in the illustration. Figure 4 represents the rope by which the appliance is worked.—lndianapolis News. Convenient Corncrib. The Country Gentleman presents a tketch of a corncrib which is very popular throughout the Middle West. It is so constructed that the wagon may be drifted between the two parts In which corn is to be stored, and this central part comes handy as a place in which to store small tools or wagons during the winter. A floor may be laid on a level with the plates, and the attic will provide a large amount of valuable storage room. In boarding up the sides leave a space of about 1% inches between the boards. This will facilitate the drying of the corn. Frequently more slant is given to the outside walls than is shown in the illustration. This Is somew r hat a matter of taste. A com-

crib built with the dimensions given and 12 feet long will hold about 700 bushels of ears on each side. Care of Asparairns Bed*. The future of the asparagus bed depends largely on the care given it the first year after planting. Cultivation Is largely what the bed needs during this first seuson, not only for the purpose of keeping down the weeds, bu.t to keep a mulch of loose earth on'the surface so that the moisture in the soil may be retained. Of course, during the first season quantities of small sprouts will grow, and the soil should be raked or cultivated close up to these sprouts, but care must be taken not to cover the crown of the plant with the soil. In some sections the practice is to cultivate away from the plants instead of toward them, but, as a rule, this is not desirable except in the case of a moderately wet summer. In a dry summer or during the season when drought is prevalent, the cultivation between the rows and the throwing of the soil toward the young plants, assists In keeping the growth moist, which is absolutely essential during this first season. In the aspargus section of the East it is the practice of growers to raise small vegetables between the rows of asparagus plants the first year, provided the rows are not less than four feet apart. Of course, when this vegetable growing is done, the work of cultivating must l>e largely done with hand hoes or with a small wheel hoe operated by hand. While care must be taken to destroy any insects that may appear, cultivation ib the main essential daring the first year. and. for that matter, is quite as necessary during the second year, the first cutting being done the third season after the planting, and that only moderately.—Exchange. Permanent Pasture. Prof. Roberts, of the Cornell Experiment Station, gives directions for forming a permanent pasture, which we eondense. Plow now. and sow with Duck--'Wheat to be plowed under wbea la

tfoom. If par* of the land is moist tow R with four quarts of rape seed per acre, which may be fed down by sheep, but If fed or not turn rape stubble under at same time as buckwheat. If cost Is not too great sow from ten to twenty bushels fresh slaked lime per acre, and then harrow it in. After thia, or when seed is sown, use from 100 to 200 pounds per acre of a mixture made from 1,000 pounds acid phosphate, 300 pounds dried blood, 200 pounds nitrate of soda, 3,000 pounds muriate of potash. (We should think the above 1,800 pounds not too much for ten acres of pasture laud, and if well distributed as a topdressing on some old pastures it might save necessity of plowing and reseeding if there was a good turf.— Ed.) For reseeding he advises the following mixtures per acre. Sown about Sept. 1: Red clover seed, six pounds; alsike clover, five pounds; Kentucky blue grass, orchard grass, fescue and red top. 3% pounds each; timothy, four pounds. This is a very good mixture, but for New England we should put four pounds of white clover in place of the alsike or add it to the mixture, and if the pasture was for dairy purposes, would add four pounds sweet vernal grass and two pounds tall oat grass per acre to insure good early pasturage. The little extra cost would be quickly repaid.—American Cultivator. Late Hatched Ponltrjr. While,~of course, the dependence for winter layers must be placed on the chicks that are hatched in February, March and early April, there is no question but what June and July hatched chicks may be made profitable, provided they are kept growing at the greatest possible rate all through the summer. The present season, owing to I the rainy wea'tner,”uie~eaVij were very~i»oor” ana' 1 ..usber**-lbe_batch ing was done by the old hens it seemed almost impossible to get enough hens in a broody condition to do anything along this line, so that this year, more than for several years previous, there will be very many late hatched chicks. June and July hatched chicks should ha-ve all of the green food they can obtain on a good run, fed carefully with small grains, and, while not being overfed, should have food every time they show any inclination of being at all hungry, the plan being to make every day count in giving them weight and strength. This treatment should be enforced regardless of the destiny of the chick. If it is to go into wipter quarters to lay at the proper age, it will be all the better for the treatment indicated, while if it is to be put on the market In the early fall, it certainly would be more profitable to have It of good weight.

The Beat Strawberries. Mr. J. H. Hale, of Connecticut, who is good authority upon peaches and strawberries, classes the Marshall, Sample and Glen Mary as the great market berries of the new kinds, and the Nick Ohmer, Maximus and Mammoth as fancy amateur varieties for home use or for a near-by market where firmness during transportation is not considered more important than flavor or quality. All are very productive and most of them produce large berries. These have, w'e believe, all been Introduced wdtbln about ten years past, and may be said to mark the improvement made in that time, but many still make their main crops of the older varieties, either because of the cost of plants, or because of a not entirely unfounded Idea tljat most of these require unusually good soil and cultivation to produce the best results in size of berry and amount of yield. It is those who get the fancy berries and fancy prices _ whose fruit sells first when the market is well supplied, and as costs of picking, boxes, crates and transportation are no more, and of high cultivation but little more on the twelve-cent box than on those that sell for live cents or less, they are the ones that pay the best profit.—Massachusetts Ploughman. Growing Tomatoe*. Vick’s Magazine, which is very good authority upon as well as florists' business, says that Professor Mussey formerly entertained the opinion that heavy applications of nitrogenous manures for tomatoes made the vines too rank and the fruit crooked, but now he thinks that If the strain of seed is good no amount of manuring will make it more irregular in form**, and that a rank grow th of vine, means that they will need more room and produce a larger crop of large tomatoes. He believes that seed from small fruits will produce small fruit, and the reverse; that training to a single stem results in less number of blossoms, less pollen and a smaller crop, while the largest crops are on the plants that are allowed to develop naturally, and fruit on healthy plants lying on the ground Is no more liable to rot than that off it. Like Indian corn the tomato best when the seed is grown in the same climate and latitude where the crop Is to be grown, and to take it far north or south is to prevent it from doing Its best. If this Is so the gardener will do well to save his own seed from his largest tomatoes, which Is a very simple matter. Fairy Poultry Tales. The daily papers report a certain Boston millionaire as buying some fine poultry at prices w hich make previous big figures look small—sl,ooo for a dozen birds, $3,000 for two pair, S7OO for another pair. We never did bank very heavily on the accuracy of the daily paper* when they treated matter* relating to poultry (not much on other matters either; and know of no reason for changing our method now. Indeed, such statements serve to confirm us in our old opinion of the Inaccnracy of the daily papers.—Farm Poultry. Immigration for the eleven month* ending with May Increased 411,073.

TOBACCO-CURING ATTACHMENT.

POPULAR CORNCRIB DESIGN.