Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1901 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Feeding and Watering Fowls. Where there is a scratching shed connected with the poultry-house, all of the feeding should be done there. If, however, this valuable addition can not be had, and the feeding and watering must be done in the roosting room, some provision should be made so that the food will be neither wasted or soiled by the fowls, says the Indianapolis News. Crates are Inexpensive, and are readily constructed of light material. The slats should be of smooth lumber and placed so that the fowls can get their heads in and out without difficulty. They should be open in front and on both sides, if placed against the walls of the house, or, if set in the open space, they should be open on both sides and both ends. Each crate should have a solid floor of boards and a binged top, so that the pans of food and water may be placed in position with little trouble, and the crates be readily cleaned. If the house is so small that

these crates can not be a fixture in it, they may be placed in position at feeding time aud removed later. Siloing Sugar Beets. It is the custom in some localities to haul sugar beets to the factory if possible when harvested, and if it is not possible to do this they are gathered and placed in long ricks or piles on the surface of the ground. The base of these ricks or piles is from 3to 3Ms feet, with a height of 3 to 4 feet, tapering toward the top. Along each side of these ricks several furrows are run with a stirring plow in order to loosen the dirt. The ricks are then completely covered with this dirt by the aid of shovels. This covering is put on to the depth of about 0 inches, occasionally air spaces or ventilators being left on the tops of the ricks, which are usually made by the use of tiling or small elongated wooden boxes or simply straw, the purpose being to prevent fermentation. Storing the beets in this way is called siloing, and the ricks or piles are called .silos. In case severe cold weather comes on, these silos are covered with straw manure, straw or something of that sort, and then an additional amount is thrown on the straw covering. In this way it has been found that the beets will keep in very good condition until the last of January if necessary. Using Lime Intelligently* The testimony on the part of farmers to use lime without much regard to the condition of the soil is wrong. Where the soil is plainly acid in character as shown by tests with blue litmus paper the use of lime, in quantities sufficient to reduce the acidity of the soil, is advocated, but Its continued use year after year is not in the line of progressive agriculture unless the crops are such as to demand lime in greater or less quantities during the season. Of course, this can only be known by actual tests, for while in one soil currants, barley, oats, onions and other plants, which are benefited by the application of lime in a general way, will respond freely to the lime treatment, in other soils they would not be benefited, but might be injured. The blue litmus paper test referred to consists iu placing a small piece of blue litmus paper, obtainable at any drug store. In a crack in the soil made by the blade of a spade and leaving it there for twenty-four hours; If the soil Is acid and needs lime the paper will turn red. This should be the general guide in the use of lime on farms where a miscellaneous lot of crops are grown.—lndianapolis News. Cannibalism Among t-wine. In nine cases out of ten where sows kill and eat their young the trouble is due entirely to improper feeding, and it will be generally found that such sows are fed on a corn diet almost exclusively. The brood sow needs protein before and while she Is nursing the pigs. During the period when the brood sow is on the range she should have an abundance of green food and in some variety, rape especially being good for her. The grain foods should be bran, peas, oats, and little or no com, and when confined she should have plenty of clover hay to take the place of the green food of the summer. Aside from the danger of the sow eating the young, the corn diet Is too heavy, nearly always exciting a feverish condition bad for both the sow and the pigs.—Exchange. Starting in the Ponltrr I’uaineaw. Beginners in poultry keeping try to do too much at the start. This applies quite as much to the average farmer as to any one, for It is admitted that the farmer, as a rule, knows comparatively little about poultry. After a man has

gone through the various trials of three years with poultry, he Is in a position to extend bis business with profit or to give it up In disgust. If the latter is the result it Is proof conclusive that he is not fitted to the business, or that be has not profited by his experience. In either case the loss will not have been very heavy. Get experience, then extend, is the best possible advice for those who Avant to go into the poultry business, and it applies to those who wish to raise poultry and eggs for the city markets quite as much as to those who expect to become breeders of the fancy.—Exchange. Preservmir E«st, Numerous methods of preserving eggs are in use, says Field and Farm. The idea of all of them is to keep out the air so that oxygen decay may be arrested for a considerable length of time, especially if the eggs are perfectly fresh at the start and are kept in a cool, dark place. The standard method most used by speculators and dealers is to put eggs in lime Avater. The process is as follows, this recipe having been widely sold at ?5 under pledge of secrecy. Take two gallons of water, twelve pounds of unslaked lime and four pounds of salt, or in that proportion, according to. the quantity of eggs to be preserved. Stir several times dally and then let stand until the liquid has settled and is perfectly clear. Draw or carefully dip off the clear liquid, leaving the sediment at the bottom. Take five ounces each of baking soda, cream of tartar, saltpeter and an ounce of alum. Pulverize and mix these and dissolve in one gallon of- boiling Avater and add to the mixture tAventy gallons of pure lime water. This will about fill a cider barrel. Put the eggs in carefully so as not to crack any of the shells, letting the water always stand an inch above the eggs, which can be done by placing a barrel head a little smaller upon them and Aveighting it. This amount of liquid will preserve 150 dozen eggs. It is not necessary to wait to get a full barrel or smaller package of eggs, but can be put in at any time if fresh. The same liquid should be used only once.

Fo- Preechy Bulla. Herewith is produced an illustration of a device copied from a sketch presented in a leading agricultural paper

in Australia. The device is thus described: “A block of wood is screwed on to each horn and a wire stretched from block to block and also to the nose ring, as

shown. So long as there is no pressure on the wires between the ring and the horns the nose ring is simply held upward without any discomfort to the animal. Should the bull rush any other animal or attempt to get through any fence the pressure pulls the nose ring upward, causing considerable pain. It requires very few experiences to teach the animal that any misbehavior on his part is attended by suffering to himself. One prominent breeder says even the fiercest of bulls is quickly tamed by his device. Gool Care of Stock Pay*. Never try to lay up a big bank account by raising scrub stock, says the Fanner’s Advocate. If you have a good grade of stock and cannot afford to buy one or more thoroughbreds, you can make your grade stock better by liberal feeding and good care. Stunting young stock, though they may be thoroughbreds, will in a short time reduce them to worse than scrubs, because scrubs are never used to aud do not receive but very ordinary care. The thoroughbred does expect liberal feeding and good care, and will degenerate without it. Feedinsr Grain to Sheep. Sheep make the best use of grain when it is fed in Its original whole, dry condition. Masticating their food thoroughly, the finest weed seeds are totally fined and destroyed. Finely ground grain forms a sticky mass in the mouth and seems distasteful to the sheep. Dairy GleMulnit-. It Is not always the man with the biggest herd of cows who clears the most money from bis dairy. Gilt-edged butter is more to be desired on the average customer’s plate than any delicacy of the season. The dairy woman who churns before “sun up” In the morning often makes firm-grained butter without the use of Ice. The reason some farmers never extract the latent gold In dairy cows is that they persist in looking to the grain and corn fields for it. It Is a parody on cleanliness to try to strain filth out of milk when it might have been obviated by the exercise of the most ordinary precautions. Despite all of the laws to the contrary. skimmed cheese is yet sold for “full croam,” and oleomargarine for real butter. Where Is the remedy? It is a curious fact, and yet true, that some of the most profitable moments' any one engaged iu dairying can spend are In repeated washing of the bands. While It pays to raise good hogs In conjunction with the dairy, It never haa or never will pay the manufactory to keep the swine quartered near a cheese factory or creamery —Exchange,

POULTRY FEEDING CRATE.