Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1902 — AGRICULTUREAL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTUREAL

Signa of a Good Milker. When It comes to buying or raising a daisy cow too many neglect te consider whether the cow, from her general appearance, seems to be fitted to do good work in the dairy or not. Now, it is to be admitted that you cannot tell certainly whether a cow is a deep, rich milker from her general appearance; but still, so large a percentage of the high quality cows of the land have certain external signs that have come to be regarded as the marks of a good cow that it is folly to overlook these marks when selecting cows for one’s herd. One of these special signs that is extremely important may be comprehended under the term “capacity.” In order to turn a large amount of hay, grass, ensilage and grain Into

milk and butter a cow must have a large, deep body and a large udder. The cow Illustrated shows the great deep body and the splendid development of udder that characterize the big milkers. A cow’s body is a butter and milk factory. You cannot expect to make much butter and milk in a small factory. The “wedge-shaped” cow has a deep body where depth is needed—where the machinery of the body is at work converting fodder into dairy products. Notice the fullness in the fore part of the udder and how well it runs up behind, with the large, well-placed teats and its general appearance of large capacity. Such an udder, when milked out dry, will fall in loose, soft folds, like an empty bag. It is a good type to breed to. Plowing Under Green Crops. While we advocate plowing under green crops, when they are not worth more for stock food than for manure, we believe that there are some soils where this practice may do injury rather than good. If the soil is light and sandy, lacking nitrogen, or when it Is stiff and needs to be made more porous, then almost any green crop is a good manure for it Where it is low and wet, and perhaps has too much acid in it, a heavy crop of clover or other green manure will usually be an injury to the succeeding crop, unless it is given also a dressing of lime in some form, and we would prefer to pay more for a good phosphate of lime or fine ground phospha tic rock, with an addition or potash, than to use either slaked lime or sulphate of lime. Yet in a limestone soil wo have seen green manuring work wonders, and so It will on land recently cleared, where the bushes and brush had been burned on the ground. Phosphates, potash and wood ashes may be put on to grow the green crop, and if used Mberally will benefit that and the succeeding crops. Sowed on the surface and harrowed in they do not waste or do any harm If the amount is much more than one crop needs.—American Cultivator. How to Set a Hen. Here’s a good way te set a hen. The nest is made in a roomy box, with a cover. Nailed to one side of the box is a little slat yard, slats on top also, In which water and food are kept constantly. The hen can go out Into the yard at any time, eat and drink, and

has no temptation to wander away and let her eggs get cold. Where several hens are sitting* a contrivance like this for each saves all bother of looking after them, to see that two do not get on one nest, etc. You put food and water in the dishes—the hen “does the rest.” C. D. Young, In Farm and Home. Shad? Enriches 8011. The complete shading of the soil rapidly* enriches it, even without the application of manure. It may be that shading causes a deposit of nitrogen from the air; every farmer knows that wherever a stack of hay or straw has stood for several months the ground underneath is not only enriched, bnt grows ranch darker in color. Anyone may try an experiment as follows: Select the poorest spot of ground an the farm, lay

over a strip of any length, but about a yard wide, a few inches of straw, and cover with a board, or, If preferred, lay only a board on the ground. If the place is seeded to something after the covering is removed the difference in growth between the portion previously shaded and that not shaded will be very marked. Status of the Farm inn Industry. There are 10,438,922 persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, while all other Industries engage 18,845,000 persons. One-third of the entire area of this country is devoted to tilling of the soil. There are to-day 5,739,657 farms in the United States, and the value of farm property, including improvements, stock and implements, is $20,514,001,838. The number of farms has quadrupled in the past fifty years, while the value of the farming land to-day is five times as great as the selling price of fifty years ago. More than 1,000,000 farms have been laid out and fenced in by settlers, principally In the West, In the past ten years. Fifteen thousand farms were given away by the Government during 1901. When the Indian Territory is opened for settlement, about 1904, 8,000,000 acres of fine farming land will be offered for sale at low prices, and farming will receive another valuable acquisition to its ranks. There are 306,000,000 acres of unsettled land in the United States ready for immediate occupancy. The total acreage used for farming purposes is 841,000,000 acres—an area which would contain England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Japan and the Transvaal, leaving sufficient room for several smaller countries to go in around the edges. None of these countries, or all of them combined, would make a respectable showing with our agricultural products. The value of farm exports in 1901 was $951,628,331. —Review of Reviews.

Yields of Cheese From Milk. With ordinary milk the yield is about 2.5 pounds of cured cheese for each pound of butter fat in the milk. The per cent of butter fat in different milks very nearly determines their relative values-for cheesemaking. Professor Van Slyke fbund by a series of experiments that with milk ranging from 3.4 per cent to 4.4 per cent the amount to each pound of butter fat was 2.72 pounds of green cheese, or 2.5 pounds of cured, five weeks. It was found that 5 per cent milk made but 2.4 pounds of cured cheese for each pound of butter fat, but the better quality of the cheese from the richer milk was thought to compensate for the slight difference in quantity, it will be seen that a hundred pounds ot 4 per cent milk made ten pounds of cheese and a hundred pounds of 5 per cent milk made twelve pounds ot cheese.

Corn-Husking Peg. Miles R. King, of Macoupin County, Illinois, writes Homestead as follows: “I have not seen an illustra-

tion of the new husking peg, and since a great many of your read er s would like to know about them, I send you a sketch

of one that I have been using. It will require a short time to become accustomed to one of them after the oldfashioned peg has been used, but when once a person gets used to them he can make good headway In taking out corn. They are sold in all the markets, and consist of a stout strap with a hook attached, as seen in the illustration.” Success with Poultry. Those people who do not have good success in hatching eggs under hens, usually will not do much better with the Incubator. They may be divided into two classes, one that is careless and neglectful, and the other that is altogether too fussy, who wants to be stirring the hen, or feeding her, or handling the eggs three or four times a day. For either of these to succeed with the Incubator there must be a thorough reformation; a determination to follow the Instructions given exactly, and do no more and no less than is explicitly laid down, and to do it by the clock. This can be done, of course, but how many can or will settle down to those rules? Ideal Animal for Beef. The first point observed in an ideal animal of beef type Is his form. This will approximate the rectangular. It will show a body that Is compact, symmetrical, broad, deep and close to the ground. Legs are only of use to carry the animal around. He is “straight in his lines” —that is, the lines from the top of the shoulder to" the tail head, and from the brisket back to the purse are as nearly parallel as possible, as are also those from the center of the shoulders to the center of the thighs, no deviation from the horizontal being allowed the top line. This will give the form a rectangular appearance. Get After the Borers. In August we get after the borers in the orchard. We find them by the wood dust around the stem of the tree. We go after them with a sharp knife and a small wire. It we do not get the job done in August, we do it in September, says Farm Journal.

A GOOD MILKER.

NEST FOR A SETTER.