Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1902 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Growing Sugar Beets. The reports of the United States Department of Agriculture Indicate that fa the States of California, Colorado, Nebraska and Michigan the sugar beets can be grown of such quality that they can be used profitably for sugar-mak-fag, if they can be bought cheaply enough. This also is true of some sections of New York, and a few tests lead them to believe that they also can be grown in Utah, Idaho and Oregon, with * percentage of sugar high enough to ■warrant sugar being made from them. But several hundred samples tested from lowa showed that the sugar content fell just short of the average standard fixed for successful manufacture. Of Illinois and Indiana beets the report says, “both the contents of sugar and co-efficient of purity were below the standard.” Of Kansas it is reported that “the climate is not suitable for growing high-grade beets.” In Oklahoma the conditions are not called favorable, and the chemists report that, on the whole, Ohio is not adapted to growing sugar beets. The department tries to make as favorable report as possible for the new industry, but it has nothing to say about the profit or loss to the farmers, who cannot average fifteen tons to the acre, and must cart them dr pay transportation to the factory at a price of $4 per ton. In this State it would be hard to get a man to load them, carry them five miles and unload them for 'touch less than that after they were grown and harvested. A Corn Marker, The cut, from the Ohio Farmer, shows a five-row corn marker. The runners are I’4 or 2 feet long, six inches wide and two inches thick. They are placed

as far apart as you want your rows and two three-inch boards (A) nailed ou top. Dis a handle. The driver walks in the last mark previously made and holds the handle in one hand. There should be such a handle on each side of the marker. Use one horse and attach a rope or wire from each outside runner to the traces. Renovated Butter. Renovated butter is several degrees worse than oleomargarine, in our opinion, which is based on actual knowledge of the processes by whieh the two are made. We have said and repeat that between the two frauds we greatly prefer oleomargarine because it cannot possibly be made of more uncleanly materials than are used In making process butter, and very often is made In a cleanly manner from materials that, in themselves, are not unwholesome. The extent to which renovated butter has Influenced the markets of the country is not fully appreciated or there would have been a stronger deihand for Its regulation long before this.—Dairy and Creamery. Seeding with Clover. When clover is sown early in the spring on the crop of wheat or other winter grain, it may cost nothing but the price of the seed, which is not much, whether ten or fifteen pounds is used to the acre, and the labor of sowing. yet we would prefer to increase its cost by going over the wheat with a light or smoothing harrow before sowing the clover seed, says the New England Farmer. This will benefit wheat or rye if done at the right time, when the ground is not wet enough to cause the harrow to sink too deep and uproot the plants. This makes a good seed bed for the clover, and In a dny or two after the first rain the little plants will Im* sending their roots down into the soil. Selecting Varieties. If your strawberry market pays high prices for early fruit, large, highly colored and attractively packed, It would be Mollsh for one to raise mainly the mid-season sorts and market them unattractively. If potatoes bring good prices and cabbages are a drug, don’t raise cabbrt’ges. If white eggs are wanted, don’t keep fowls that lay brown eggs, and vice versa. On the other hand. If the best market is for the car•caaa, keep Plymouth Rocks for this trade and use the brown eggs at home If they cannot be sold for a fair price. In short, nil along the line, raise what the market demands and do not try to educate the public to some article it does not want, simply because It seems the best article to you. Increasing Value of Feed. 'When the farmer produces the best quality of conrse fodders, such ns clover. corn fodder, oafs/ hay and prairie hay. It will npt be necrisnry to feed as large an amount of grain as when poor fodders are used. «By good cultivation, the use of manures, selection of seed,

r: • - cutting at the right time and properly protecting fodders from bleaching and leaching, It is possible to increase their feeding value 30 per cent. Water on the Farm. Drinking water on farms is given but little consideration as to its purity when it is derived from springs, but many-farms are supplied with water from open wells, and its purity in such cases depends largely upon the mode of protecting the well and the surroundings. Wells being deeper than ditches or drains, and the tendency of water being downward, much soluble matter gets into the well that is unknown to the farmer. The water may appear clear and pure, be free of odor, and yet contain impurities. Farmers who do not Consider the matter have no conception of the many sources from which their drinking water is obtained. It comes from the clouds, of course, but it does not fall into the well, only reaching it after passing through the surface soil and dissolving the impurities. Because the water passes through sand it is not filtered of the soluble matter. If salt is dissolved in water the salt is not removed by filtering, as the dissolved salt will go with the water to the lowest place. If the well is open there may be toads , and insects in the water, which drown and decompose. The wells should be covered and the surroundings kept clean, with good drainage in all directions. Driven welis are better than those that are open, and should be used in preference.—Philadelphia Record. Corn Planting, Many of the tests at experiment stations have shown better yields from planting moderately early, rather than very early; from planting a larger number or kernels per acre than most good farmers think advisable; from planting small growing varieties in rows closer together than is best tor large varieties; from giving shallow and level cultivation rather than deep and ridged cultivation; from planting rather shallow early and deeper In Into planting. Other trials have seemed to show that very frequent cultivation does not repay its cost; that it is Important to cultivate as soon as may be after rains; th.it deep cultivation while the stalks are small may be helpful, if followed by shallow culture, says the agricultural column of the Hartford Times. It also adds that the farmer will be better satisfied if he tries some experiments of this kind himself, and tries them more than one season, that he may be sure that the change in method and not the season has changed results. With all of which we agree. ** Using Improved Tools. There is no more reason why a farmer should hope to work advantageously with half-worn or cumbersome tools than the mechanic, and yet few of them feel that they can afford the more modern tools. This is short-sighted economy, and particularly so in the case of the heavier implements, which save so much hard labor. One of the tools that should be on every farm where considerable manure Is handled is the manure spreader. By the use of the manure spreader the heavy work of handspreading is not only avoided, but the spreader breaks up the manure and distributes it evenly and in such form that it benefits the soil equally wherev'er it falls. There are no heavy lumps here and there and scant supplies tn other places, as with band-spreading. For Rolling Small Seed. No garden is complete without a roller for baud use. Small sedds come up better if rolled after planting. A

nail keg may be fit’,ted with an axle from an old fence rod or piece of old shafting and attached to the handle of

a push-cart, or the handle may be quickly made to order. Stones Inside the keg will give needed weight.— Farm and Home.

Farm Notes. Nothing cures a dog that kills sheep so qhick as a shotgun. Plenty of clover will go a long way toward making a farm profitable. A cow that is well cared for Is a source of comfort and profit to her owner. Bee-keepers should develop a home market rather than send their products to a city market. In these days of close competition every farmer must give the closest attention to every detail. There Is no longer any profit In making butter that cannot be classed among the best grades. The man who owns ten or more cows and Is without a separator is standing In his own light. It’s poor policy to compel animals to dtJuk water that the farmer would not think of touching himself. When In the natural state poultry •Ive on seeds, grass and insects. Try to follow this ns nearly as possible when feeding them. Many a failure in the vegetable gar den la caused by poor seed. Purchase whatever seed you may require from reliable dealers only. If a hen does not have abcoss to plenty of water she cannot lay many eggs for the reason that eggs contain more water thfin anything else. • Tbc farmers who arc successful are those who nover lose sight of the fact that the farm is a home; that everything done toward beautifying and Improving the place 1s enhancing its value. * Plant a grape vine wherever a place can be found for one. Grapes can be had In abundance, and the vines take but little room If they are planted where they wIP. noI to In the way o( anything elan. —. „

A FIVE-ROW CORN MARKER.