Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1904 — FARMERS CORNER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMERS CORNER

Beautifying the Farm Home. This is a matter which receives little consideration on the average farm. With every possibility for making their homes the most beautiful, so far as Immediate surroundings are concerned, farmers are apt to do little or nothing toward this end. The United States Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin, NO. 185, devoted to the subject of beautifying the home grounds. It Is filled with timely suggestions as to the use of shrubs and flowers, and also contains working plans for laying out the grounds about the home. It gives some valuable suggestions on the maintenance of the greensward. This bulletin can be obtained by writing the department. True It is that the average farmer has little time for what he is Inclined to call “fussing” with flower beds and the like. Nevertheless, It would pay him to find a little tlmd to devote to this subject of pleasant home grounds. Almost every woman takes a keen delight in flowers. Often her flower beds are the only recreation which the farmer’s wife has. Too often these are hidden at the back iff the house. Comparatively seldom are ornamental shrubs to be found on the farm. These things rightly combined can go far toward making the home attractive, mot only to its Inmates, but to everyone that passes. The labor Involved will be comparatively Insignificant when the results obtained are considered. Home is, or should be, the most beautiful place on earth. Why not avail yourself of nature’s joyfully given co-operation In beautifying its immediate surroundings? Here is a subject to Interest every member of the household. Have a well-kept lawn, "ho matter how small. The front yard is not needed for a hay crop. Plant trees, shrubs and flowers. Beautiful surroundings have an ethical value in Influencing the home life. Good Milking Stool. J. C. Matthews describes a device for a milking stool which he likes very much and has used for some time. Take two boards, one 20x9 Inches and

the other 16x10 Inches, four pieces of 2x4 four Inches long for legs. Fasten two of these legs to the longest board and the other two use to join the upper board to the lower board. Cut a half circle in the upper board to fit the milk pall, as shown In the device. The pail rests on the lower board and Is thus kept clean." Planting Corn Wide Apart. 1 This is the idea of a writer in the County Gentleman: So far as my observation goes, farigv-s general lyjiave, thelrcOfU v iose. One of the principal reasons is to avoid extra plowing, since many furrows are required for wide rows. A little thought will show that if corn be planted in seven-foot drills and in four-foot prills, so as to give the same number of stalks in each per acre, the stalks in the seven-foot drills will have much more loose earth to root In than the stalks of the four-foot drills, because wide rows admit of much more thorough cultivation than narrow rows, and this extra quantity of loose earth thus produced will tell. A suitable narrow plow should be run several times in the bottoms of the drills, thus constructing loose beds for the corn; this is an important feature and should not be omitted. From one to two tons per acre, of properly balanced stable manure may be applied in the drills and well mixed with the soil. It is well known that stable manure contains an excess of nitrogen. Consequently If the manure be applied In Its natural state there will be a waste of nitrogen, which is the most costly element of fertility. Make Cottolene at Home. A lady in Michigan Farmer says: I noticed a request in the Farmer of April 9 for a recipe for making cottolene, and as I have made it for some time, I will send my way, which I think is very nice. I use no other shortening except butter or cream. I use it for everything anyone would use lard for, and think it far superior and much healthier. It makes splendid doughnuts. Get a can of best cotton-seed oil. Then we buy the very best beef suet, the thickest and best we can get, and try it out ourselves, so we know just what kind of suet we are using. When it is tried out I use oil and suet In making be sure to heat them pp together or it is liable to drain a little. I bad some do tuis, and I knew I had pot been so particular about heating It I think ten pounds of suet before It Is tried will make sufficient for one gallon of oil, perhaps more, I always measure mine after It Is tried. Salaoda for Dairy Vessels. As a labor saving material, try aalooda la cleaning milk Jan, crocks and

tins. Many of the cantankerous notions taken by milk, shown 1 in its foaming and frothing and refusal to churn, are due to the mysterious bacteria that are left in the cracks and seams of the milk vessels after they have been washed in good hot water and rinsed out Use a little salsoda In the warm wash water and these bdrmful germs are destroyed. You cannot see them, but they come there and stay there In nearly all milk vessels during the spring and summer season. Pelson them with salsoda. The Use of Lime on Land. Some of those who have lime to sell in Ohio are advertising it as a fertilizer, claiming that it is “better and * cheaper than phosphate.” The Ohio experiment station would earnestly warn all farmers against using lime aS a substitute for manure or fertilizers. . When used as an adjunct to liberal manuring or fertilizing, lime may be made to perform a most important service, but its use as a substitute for manure or fertilizer means ruin to the soil. Where clover is failing to grow, the use of lime is Indicated. For this purpose the common quick-lime Is all that is required. A very convenient form of lime is made in some parts of the State by grinding quick-lime into a coarse meal. This can be applied with the fertilizer drill or the manure spreader, using about 1,000 pounds per acre. It costs $3.50 to $4-50 per ton at the kilns. It must not be expected that lime will bring prosperity to the clover crop. In the Ohio station’s experiments lime produces very little effect on clover on unfertilized land. Manure or fertilizer must first be used before lime will produce any lasting benefit. Farmers should not be misled by the claim that certain methods of preparing lime will prevent its injurious effect If those methods do what is claimed for them, they will prolong and increase that effect and the apparent Increase of crop which follows the application of such limes will be paid for by a certain and more complete deg< aeration of the soil. Lime is not a fertilizer and its use as a fertilizer will bring ultimate loss. —Ohio Station. - Training the Chickens. - The natural instinct of fowls prompts them to roost high above the ground, not for sanitary reasons, but to be out of harm’s way, where they cannot be molested by marauders which prowl about at night, ready to pounce on them for their suppers. For this reason the young chicks soon make their war to the fence-top and from there to the tree-tops, and when once they have acquired the habit it is very hard to break them. They soon develop crooked breast bones and bumble foot, or worse still, catch cold, which in time changes to roup, and all our work is waste<l. They should be compelled to roost on the ground, in or near their coops, until they are four months old, after which they should be taught to go to the house, and for them a separate one should be built They should not be compelled to fight for places on the roost with old fowls, but should have a quiet place all by themselves. Destroying 801 l Weevil. War on the boll weevil Is being vigorously pushed. A report on the jact says: The Louisiana exp.' strayed the weevil most ingeniously. The Infested fields werg carefully inspected and - the clearly_fl&tormined. ?he cotton was Hien pulled up and burned throughout this area, leaving here and there a sentinel stalk to serve as a trop upon which scattered weevil might gather In search of food, should any escape the rigorous treatment here described. After burning the stalks, the ground was sprayed with crude oil.

A Fonr-Horse Evener. "Observing in the Hints and Devices department several methods for hitlching four horses to a plow I con-

eluded to send you my plan. It 1 consists of having three horses walk on the land, with the fourth in the furrow. Take four pieces of strap iron (wagon tire will answer), have

two made twelve Inches long and two twenty Inches long and put on in place of clevis, as shown in the sketch. This throws the four-bourse evener over fa? enough so that the third horse can walk on the land.”—Geo. Fleming, In lowa Homestead. Farm Chat. It costs less to clean up the cellar than it does to pay the doctor. It is not only unwise, but wrong to attempt to breed poultry in filthy quarters. It is the mixed farming that brings in a continuous stream of money the whole year round. In specialty farming it usually comes in chunks. On steep gro/ 1 it Is always a good plan to keep V larrowlng very close up behind th/. er to prevent washing. This is not necessary on level or gently rolling land. Not every new thing offered by nurserymen and seedsmen proves to be a good thing, but every good thing was once new. We cannot always afford to Ignore the novelties. The farmers’ dollars seem to be shining marks for speculators and grafters to seek. The whole world is after them. There are farmers who actually need comforts in their homes who Invest money in “get rich quick”’ schemes and the family suffers 1® cons*

MILKING STOOL.