Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1904 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Sanitary Milkina Apparatus. With the recent report of a State health board official that an epidemic of fever in one of our largest cities could be traced directly to a case in the family of a milk dealer in that locality, the urgent necessity for sanitary inspection of the milk supply. Is again made apparent to even those individuals who are rather inclined to scoff at such advanced and scientific .theories. No doubt the time will come when all milk will have to be sterilized before being offered for sale, but

even should that desirable condition of affairs be reached it will , still be obligatory upon the milkman to see that no opportunity Is afforded for the contact of the lacteal fluid with contaminated atmosphere In the stable. Probably the best way In which this can be accomplished is by the aid of the pneumatic milking machine here illustrated. It is so arranged as to not only milk the cows automatically, but also incloses the milk in an airtight receptacle as long as it is in the proximity of the animal. This Is accomplished by a reservoir suspended overhead and connected with the teat cups by a short section of hose. By means of a vacuum created in the pipe to which the reservoir its attached the milk is drawn from the teats and de-posited-Jn the receptacle, whence it can be removed to the creamery for further treatment before being placed on sale.

Farm Conveniences. The first two figures show conv-eniv ences originally sketched in the Farm Journal, which says of them: This crate should be about three feet high and fitted with sidepieces extending below It that will just fit into the side irons of the wagon body. It can thus be set upon the wagon bed in an instant and will be found most useful In moving calves, sheqp, pigs or other stock. It will fit on to a sled in the same way for winter use. It is also convenient when hauling loose material. If this is long the rear gate

can be hinged to let down, as shown. It can also be hinged-to open at the side. The slats should be, of hard wood three-quarters of an inch thick. When there is plowing to be done close to fences or trees have your smith put extension rods on the plow and a clevis to hitch the team to, like the cut. The sketch was sent us by one of our readers in Kansas, and he says it works well for him. If the beam of the plow is adjustable to draft it should, of course, be adjusted before the rods are bolted to the handles. The lower figure shows two views of portable sheep fencing used at the Colorado experiment station. It is easy to move about and set up and very readily made. DresainK Ducks for Market Ducks much the same treatment In dressing for market ns do fowls. They should be kept without

food and water for twenty-four hours previous to killing, so that the crop and Intestines will be well emptied. Confine them in a sin*• 11 pen with c 1 e n n straw* so that they will not be dirty. Bleed through the

mouth, nnd when (lend, scald In water at a temperature of 185 degrees. After scalding, wrap them up in a flannel blanket for ten minutes, which will help wonderfully in picking.

If (’(‘aiding is properly done *nnd bird* are wrapped tip In tjiis wiiy, they can be picked easily and qulcgly. It la cuntomary with many to leave feather* around the neck for nliout two inched, also the feathers on the tint Joints of the wings, including the ana In flights. After picking clean, put them Into hot water for a few seconds and thou throw into lea water, leaving

them for several hours, or until thoroughly cold, when they may be taken out, dried, and are then ready to pack for market.—E. J. Lawrence, in Farm and Home. ' ' _' 1 , ...

How Stored Grain Shrinks. The advantage to the farmer of storing his grain and holding it till spring is not always represented by the increased price he may get for it The shrinkage during the winter storage must be taken into consideration, and this shrinkage not infrequently more than offsets the increased price, In such cases it pays the farmer to sell his grain as soon as it Is in shape to go to the market. A good many investigations have been made to discover the percentage of shrinkage in various grains. The results have varied immensely. In some of the humid States and with early gathered crops the shrinkage has been as high as 30 to 40 per cent, while grain raised in arid States and hauled to humid States and stored has gained in weight during storage. The shrinkage of wheat has not generally been as great as that of some other grains. Wheat stored in Michigan elevators lost from 5 to 16 per cent during winder. A lot of corn vpry ; heavy and little dry at the time of storing lost 30 per cent in weight by February. Tests made in other States have shown shrinkages of 10 to 16 per cent. One lot of corn that was gathered at .the time of year when it was well glazed, but containing as large an amount of water as possible and passed in a State fair competition, shrank about 40 per cent. Oats shrink little, but are recorded to have lost about 4 per cent in weight during a winter. —St. Louis Republic.

Roughage for Stock, While both horses and cattle are sometimes troubled with a throat difficulty that needs the attention of a veterinarian, in the majority of cases it will be found that that trouble is due almost wholly to the feeding of dusty hay. Horses are much given to this acute throat trouble in connection with sneezing, which will stop almost immediately if the hay is well moistened before being fed. It is a good plan, if lujy is fed In a manger instead of a rack, to sprinkle a little water in the bottom of the manger each time before feeding and then moisten the hay. Do the same when the hay is fed to cattle. It is a good plan to wet the corn stover also, for while there is less difct in it z than in hay there is enough to trouble the cattle; besides, the wet fodder is always more palatable.

The Farmer’s Wife. Don’t make a hired man of her. A woman on a farm has no more place tn drudgery than she has in the city. The duties of any home are sufficient for The wife. No woman can be a wife, a herder of cattle and swine, a milkmaid and do the general chores about the house. No woman ought to submit to such work; and no man will allow it. lie who does so can scarcely be called a man. Women wear out fast enough In the general course of life, and just because they happen to live on a farm it is no reason why they should enter into a life of slavery.— Exchange.

Cultivation of Oats. At Cornell University oats were sown broadcast, in the usual manner, the yield per acre being thirty-seven bushels. On another plot the oats were drilled in, fifteen inches apart, the hand-wheel hoe being used to work between the rows. This may appear to some as giving a large share of labor in that manner, but as the yield on the drilled and worked plot was sixty-one bushels per acre the method is worthy of attention. A man with a wheel hoe can go over a large piece of ground in a day, and it is possible that the method wifi pay.

A Dairy Pointer. The Toronto Globe says a Canadian 'farmer who kept twenty-four cows and two hired men tested his cows with the Babcock test, and found (hat eight were unprofitable. He disposed of them and let one hired man go, and at the,end of the year found that he had made as much money from the sixteen as from'the twenty-four. Now he has got down to twelve good cows, and expects as much from them as he made from twice that number. New he can Increase up to his original number as fast as he can find or grow good cows and Increase his profits.

Migration of Dr. Howard, the new secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Selente, writing of the manner in which seeds are carried to great distances by birds, recited an experiment Darwin which had a curious result. Adhering to the leg of a Wounded patridge, Darwin found a ball of earth weighing O’.j ounces. From the seeds contained in this ball he raised thirty-two plants, belonging to five distinct species.

ShreddinK Fodder. The fodder shredder is doing good work in one respect, anti that Is In reducing the number of shocks of corn that stand -In the Held all winter. As the shredder husks the corn and sjireds it at the same time, farmers find that It Is more comfortable to haul the fodder to the barn that; to stand out In the fields to husk the corn and then waste the fodder.*

Vutue of Corncob*. .Corncobs are exceedingly rich In jioUish. containing over 2.3 per cent (In the ushl, and are worth saving. They are not available, however, unless burnt and the ashes saved. On farms where heavy crops of corn are -grown tlie amount of potash that could bo saved by burning the cobs Is consequently very large.

MILKING APPARATUS.

CRATE, PLOW AND MOVABLE HURDLE.

READY FOR MARKET