Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1903 — FARMS AND FARMERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS

Care ot Grape Vines. The illustrations are from bulletin 158, entitled ‘The Home Vineyard,” by W. H. Ragon. If you will apply to the United States Department of Agriculture you will get this Interesting and valuable treatise on the grape without cost. Cut 1 of the illustrations represents a one year old grapevine at planting, showing how deep It should be planted and where the canes should be’cut off leaving only two buds on the newly planted vine. Cut 2 represents the grapevine as It should look after one year's growth, and the line crossing the vine shows where it should be cut off, leaving two buds to grow to make the two arms that will be needed for the next year. Cut 3 represents the same grapevine the secand year with two branches produced, all others having been removed. Cut 4 represents the manner of making a trellis, and of bracing the end posts so they will not pull over by the strain of the tightened wires that support the vine. Cut 5 shows how a grapevine may be propagated by lagering the new green growth in July. Cut 6 represents the grapevine as it should ap-

pear at the beginning of the third season's growth. ■ The last ent sljpwn is the vine In full fruiting properly trained.—Green’s Fruit Grower.

Whitewash Formula.

Take half a bushel of unslacked lime, ilake It with boiling water, cover during the process to keep In steam, •train the liquid through-a fine sieve or strainer, and add to It a peck of •alt, previously dissolved in warm water, three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin paste and stirred In while hot, half a pound of Spanish whiting, and one pound of clean glue, previously dissolved by soaking in eold water and ‘aen hanging over a •low fire in, a small pot hung In a larger one filled with water. Add five gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir well, and let it stand for a few lays covered from dirt. It should be ipplled hot, for which purpose It can be kept In a kettle or portable furnace. The east end of the President’s house it Washington Is embellished by this brilliant whitewash. It Is used by the government to whitewash lighthouses.

Value of Dry Knrth. Farmers are continually advised to use such materials as gypsum, dried iwamp muck and kainit in the barns and stables, yet very few have anything of the kind on hand. Many who would like to use preservatives and absorbents are checked by the cost. These will And a hint In the foreign Bxperiments in the use of dry earth, from which It appears a substance so abundant and easily handled will answer the purpose. A. covering of dry garden soil, only two or three inches thick, proved enough to hold the ammonia In a large heap of manure. It Is equally effective In the stable in taking up the liquid manure, preventing waste and odors. The earth when stored must be very dry. or there will be some trouble from frezlng.—Massachusetts Ploughman.

Profit and Ixibs Accounts. In a majority of cases the farmer who wishes be were in the class of the eminently successful will find that he has neglected entirely the important .matter of keeping books. Now, keeping books consists not merely in making a rigid account of household expenses. Important as this is, it may much better be omitted than may those accounts which show how much a product costs to produce It and market it and how much was received for It Such a record will necessarily show the dates of all that Is done on the farm. This record of dates is In Itself most valuable.—Kansas Farmer. ■■■■■"’ • Packing Eggs. A Danish experimenter, writing on :he science of packing eggs, concludes after examining many thousand boxes, large eggs break much more easily than the small ones. To prevent breakage, he recommends that poultry be

supplied freely with lime throughout*' the year. The eggs, he says, should be graded carefully, and packing material should be used, since the loss by breakage exceeds the additional cost of the packing material.—New England Farmer. Heatinir a Planthonae Cheaply. Here’s a method tor heating a planthouse measuring about 8 by 17 feet I use a hot water circulation in iron pipes, and the heating is done by kerosene lamps under two tin boilers. The boilers are bell shaped and set up with mouth down. The hot air, after having done Its work of heating the water, is controlled by a tin drum, at the top of which Is a smoke pipe, by which all fumes are carried off. The lamps were made to order by the tinsmith

and are fitted with common flat wick burners. Four of them can be placed under each boiler. Thus In the severest weather there are eight lamps burning, and they may burn 25 cents’ worth of oil in a day. The planthouse walls were built with care to make them warm, and I have a system of screens, made by stretching cotton cloth on wooden frames, which I put up every cold night under the glass and take down in the morning, this operation tak|ng not over five or six minutes each day. Under these circumstances my heating system has worked admirably and has never failed. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon I can light as many lamps as I think necessary and leave them with the most perfect assurance that I shall find everything right the next morning or the middle of the forenoon, If I am as late as that.—Correspondence Rural New Yorker. For Breaking Corn Stalks. When the ground Is frozen hard, If the land is not too hilly or rough, the breaking of the corn stubble Is not difficult if the farmer has the proper Implements. For those living handy to a railway, It is a good plan Jo buy an old rail or part of a rail discarded from the track. About four feet from each end of it a bole is drilled through the narrow part. A chain is attached at each hole by a bolt or hook, and the chains being brought together at the other end, a ring Is attached, to which three horses are hitched. The chains may be attached without drilling holes, If Iron rods of suitable size be heated and bent round the rail at the proper places, so as to form eyes or hooks. Another good stalk breaker may be made by selecting a wooden pole of as uniform diameter as possible and long enough to break five or seven rows of stalks. After ascertaining the center of gravity by balancing over a log or some like object, cut notches at 8% or 4 feet on each side of this center. Fasten chains around the pole at the

notches and to a doubletree and singletrees, as shown in the illustration.—J. G. Allshouse, in Ohio Farmer. Farm Notes. Nall a piece? of raw fat salt pork up In the chicken house where feather eating hens can get at It Exposure of dairy cows to winter rains results In serious loss to the dairyman, and the dry cold of winter days calls for additional feed. The idea that the Ben Davis is no longer a desirable or profitable variety will have to be told to the amateur to be believed and not to the commercial orchardlst, said an Illinois speaker before the apple growers’ convention. Where there Is a large herd the easiest plan Is to spray with kerosene emulsion. This will not only destroy .parasites, but will also clean the hogs as well. If only a few are kept, a thorough washing with warm water and soap and the free uSe of the scrubbing brush is exceedingly effective. The egg Industry of the United States is still growing. Ten years ago we imported many eggs and exported few. Now the exports exceed the Imports, but there Is room for still greater development. There need be no fear of over-production of poultry and eggs in the near .future. Ground Intended for onions should be plowed as early as the weather will permit, as the onion crop Is the first to go in. One method of producing onions is to sow the seeds in hotbeds and transplant the small bulbs later. The seeds may be sown in ths hotbeds in January or February. By thus growing them there te a saving of time and less difficulty with weeds. If preferred, the onion set* may be procured of seedsmen.

CONSERVATORY HEATED WITH LAMPS.