Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1904 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

Butchering Outfit. Although old time customs in butchering are to some extend passing away, hog killing is still an important performance on many farms. A simple outfit for out of door work is shown in a cut originally contributed to the Ohio Farmer. A post eight feet high has pivoted to its top a sweep fifteen feet long. This sweep has a hook on the short end nnd a rope on the long' end. The scalding barrel, cleaning bench and hanging gallows are all on the circumference of the circle made by the short end of the sweep. With thia arrangement one man at the long end of sweep can easily dip a hog

and transfer it from one place to another, as may be desired. The cut also shows a good method of heating water. A bent piece of one and a half inch iron pipe enters the barrel in two places. A fire built under this pipe soon heats the water in the barrel, as the heat causes a rapid circulation of the water in the pipe and barrel. _————- Bran, Shorts and Alfalfa. Horsemen are loud in their praises of oats as feed for working or driving horses, and oats deserve all the praise. By reason of tlie fact that they are a preferred food for horses and Scotchmen, oats are usually about the dearo/'t feed per hundred pounds uu tlie farm. Horsemen attribute this superior value of oats to the mythical substance "avenin,” which no chemist has ever yet been able to discover. They claim that it is this that puts the ginger hi man and beast which feed on oats. The Utah Experiment station, however, has found out by experiment that when a mixture of bran and shorts, half and half, can be bought at the same price per hundred pounds’ as oats, it serves the same purpose equally well, and when fed with alfalfa gives even better results, thus materially reducing the cost of feeding the horse as compared with oats. Best Corn for the North. In a test of 135 varieties of corn grown for fodder or silage at the Ontario experiment farm, New Delaware Dent and Pedriek Perfected Golden Beauty gave the greatest total yields, being twenty-four and 23.8 tons per acre, respectively. The greatest yields of husked ears were produced by Golden Leneway Dent, Snow White Dent and Black Mexican sweet corn, the yields being 4.3, 4.3 and 4.2 tons per acre, respectively. Salzer North JJakota. Compton Early nnd King Phillip. Flint varieties, and North Star Yellow Dent, a Dent variety, are recommended for central and southern Ontario. An average of four years tests from planting at different depths gave the following total yieldsr Two inches, 13.2 tons; iy 2 apd three inches each, 11.8 tons; no inch, 11.7 tons; onehalf inch, 10. G tons, and four inches, 9.8 tons. —American Cultivator. —36 H ome-Made Barrel Brooder. For our readers who are interested in brooders we give the plan of Mr. Normandin, who gives a description and illustration of a cheap brooder, he has constructed, in the Farm-Poul-try. He says: “Get a sound sugar barrel, and 2-lnch galvanized pipe enough to go through the barrel, with an elbow to fit on a cheap lamp; also a tomato can. Cut a hole in side of can to put pipe through, and a bole in the barrel to put can in snug, as most of the heat is right above the lamp. That Is tlie reason I put the can over tlie pipe. The floor can be put about G inches below the pipe. With a piece of carpet around the

barrel 1 can get beat up to 100 degrees.” By looking at the lllustratioi* mast anyone world Im> able to rnnkc one In n little, * lie. It should not cost you over a doii.ir.” Where FkeS Are Scarce Indeed. Poultrymen In Bouth Africa ahould be doing very well at the prevailing prices for fresh eggs. which are quoted nt eighty-fire cents to $1.82 per dozen, according to season. This scarcity of fresh eggs has led to a demand for condensed eggs which are made by partly drying the contents of eggs and adding sugar. In this form they run fifteen to tlie*pound and nre put up In air tight boxes. Ri|>e Cream. in the winter season-cream rises Mfiwly. and much of It falls to ripen ■■it should. The ripening is known

by Its turning slightly acid without becoming bitter or in any way illflavored. Not all the cream should be put into the churning: That taken from the pans latest will not be ripened, and its butter fats will all be wasted unless they are saved by churning the buttermilk. The loss from this cause is much greater in many small dairies than those operating them suppose. The Open-Eyed Farmer. Much has been said and written of the man who “goes it blind.” He Is called a failure, and is generally regarded as a grumbler, viewing the future with doleful and pessimistic eyes. There are farmers as well as mercantile men who go it blind, and again there are innumerable farmers who continually move forward with open eyes. It is concerning the latter that we write. Everyone is glad when they come face to face with the cheerful, op--thtttstimmd-open-eyed farmer, whoTsconstantly adding to his income and who is always so busy planting or harvesting his crops that he has no time for anything except to look over broad acres and fertile fields that are all his own. The open-eyed farmer Is the independent farmer. When he rises in the morning refreshed by Nature's chief nourisher and goes forth, it is to his own fields upon which no man can intrude without his consent.

Looked at from every point of view, the standing and prestige of the American farmer is gradually increasing, and, unlike his city brother, he is not living under even a lowering cloud to cast upon him gloom and discontent.

Tlie fundamental principles, hard and constant work and thought, which mean prosperity, are never lost sight of by the open-eyed farmer. To him they bring contentment and perfect peace of mind which perinit the fullest enjoyment of life. The open-eyed farmer is not a man of nerves and excitable brain full of schemes difficult execute, which, when proven failures depress all human beings. He is calm, clearheaded, free and generous, and dwells hi an atmosphere unsuited to tlie groping, avaricious man, shut within the narrow and contracted walls of city existence. To our mind there is not another human being under the bright blue sky of heaven witli heart so cheerful, with mind so restful, and witli soul so peaceful, and who has so much satisfaction in the present and hope for tlie future, as the open-eyed, independent American farmer of today.—Farm Life. A Bandy Barrow. This barrow is designed for wheeling full baskets, or boxes of fruit or vegetables. The floor of the barrow is level when the handles are held by

the user. With the ordinary wheelbarrow the sloping floor causes the fruit to roll out \<>f the baskets or boxes, and the latter to huddle together In a heap. The exact pattern htye given need not be followed, the Idea is serviceable, and anyone can plan the form of the barrow to suit himself.—Farm and Home. To Measure nn Acre. To measure an acre, tie a ring at each etui of a rope, the distance being just GG feet between them; tie a piece of colored cloth exactly in the middle of this.- One acre of ground will be four times tlie length and two nnd onehalf times the width, or the equal of 1G rods one way and 10 rods the other, making tlie full acre IGO square rods. Keep the rope dry, so it will not stretch. A rod is 1G> z .j lineal feet. An acre is 4,840 square yards, or 43,500 square feet. To lay out an acre when one side is known, divide tlie units in the square contents by the units of the same kind in the length of tlie known aide. Thus: If she known side lie 4 rods, divide 100 by 4, and the quotient 40 will be the depth of tlie acre plot. If tlie length of the known side be 90 /eet, divide 43,500 by 90. and the quotient 48 will be the depth of an acre plot. Either of. the following measures include an acre plot: 4x40 rials; 5x32 rods; Bx2o rods; 10x10 rods; 12 rods 10 feet S& Inches square make an acre.

A Good Hacou Hog. A writer for the American Cultivator speaks well of the Jersey rod or duroc ns a bacon hog, but thinks that on account of the ability to stand ex[insure and habits It is better suited to the Western farmer, who permits his hogs to run wWd over, an extensive range, than to rhe farmers who have limited ranges and shelter their stock In bad weather. These hogs aro coarser built, thicker bristled and hardier tbau most of the other Improved breeds. . To Make the Co we Go Dry. Frequently the question is asked how to do this. An ex|»erlencod dairyman who manages a herd of cows in Pennsylvania gives his inetliod as follows. He saya: “To make a cow dry give timothy hay apd water, exercise the cow with the hatter and skip teats In milking. By this method the animal will g« dry lu six days.”

HOG KILLING CONVENIENCES.

THE RAPREL BROODER.

BARROW T. R FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.