Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1905 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

A squab is about as large at birth as it ever gets. In this regard we have plenty of squab farmers, for they are as large at the beginning as they ever get. Some of them are infinitely smaller when they have farmed a few years,than when they began. Name the farm. Select some good name that will last longer than you will. When speaking of the farm call it by name. Have the name neatly printed on all stationery and pay no attention to the gibes of some men who may be fifty years behind the times. There is no doubt but what the farmer who raises clover is the first to gain the “king row.” This is very significant. This is the day when there should be no “doubting Thomases.” It should be evidence enough when one man in a neighborhood can succeed by the aid of clover. Argentina is credited with having the greatest number of sheep in any • country in the world and of deriving the least benefit from them. This is due to negligence in their care and the prevalence of scab. Argentina possesses 19,000,000 more sheep than Australia, but the last named country exports 127 per cent more wool in spite of drought. Some farmers put their machinery away in an old leaky shed and pronounce it cared for. The roof leaks and the sides being open Invite snows and rains and fowls roost on them and sometimes such men question the propriety of sbeltereding farm tools. It always makes an implement dealer smile when he sees machinery poorly cared for. A regular article of export to Central Asia is the Ohio grapevine cutting. The vineyards of Central Asia are all offshoots from American vines, and the fruit is prized above all others in Russia proper for its delicacy and flavor. Twenty to thirty tons of American grapes to the acre is a common yield in Central Asia, and as the American vine is free from parasites, it Is being introduced everywhere the world over. In speaking of methods of conducting farm operations many fail to note the character and condition of the soli and climate. One may succeed in the pursuance of a certain method and another fail, all on account of a difference in soil conditions. In some soils it will be well to plow the ground before sowing small grain in the spring of the year; on others it may be done by discing or cultivating. Some soils are benefited by fall plowing and other soils will not permit of any but spring plowing. The man w'ho plow’s under undeeayed straw, strawy manure and heavy coatings of cornstalks should understand that his soil condition is being benefited by it. If it is, that is the method to pursue and no mistake? Feeding Plantation Mules. The ration now fed to’ mules at one of the large Louisiana sugar factories consists of eight pounds of corn and cob meal, two pounds of' cottonseed meal, eleven pounds of molasses and fifteen pounds of pea vine hay, the cost being 14.5 cents per head. It is stated that this ration has diminished the cost of feeding the mules onehalf and at the same time improved their health.

Treating Frozen Plants. If plants get frozen, as may happen with the best of care, they should be thawed out slowly by sprinkling them with cold water. In this way even badly frozen plants may be saved. Tomatoes, t-he most easily damaged of garden plants, have been restored without serious injury after being frozen stiff, by turning the hose upon them and treating the tops to a thorough bath of cold water. House plants may often be saved in the same way. But the work should be carefully done to avoid injuring the foliage. Frozen leaves should not be handled if It can be avoided. If there are many of the plants they should be placed in a cold room and the temperature gradually raised, if it is possible to do so. On no account should the plants be subjected to extremes of temperature.— Farmers' Voice. The Secretlotmr Milk. The question is frequently asked: "Is the milk secure.l at one milking present ill the udder In the form of milk, nt the time the milking begins?” In answering such an Inquiry at a dairyman's meeting, Mr. (Jlcndinning, of Manilla. Ontario, says: "Tiie udder contains a great deal more blood than It does milk. You take a large udder of n cow. Of course, it looks very much as though there was a very large quantity of milk in that udder, but if a cow happened to be shot or killed Instantly, and you took and opened her, you would find very little ndlk. Perhaps some of yon have sat down to milk a cow. mid you would get n little milk at the commencement quite easily, ami then you have said the cow failed to let down her milk. When you had ■diked out that milk that cams easily,

you practically had taken all the milk that was in the udder, and then it was not until you continued your manipulation some time that she began to let her milk dow'n again, and that was the time she commenced to secrete the milk. There was not a great deal of milk in the udder at the beginning.” Muslin in Place of Glass. Considerable interest is being taken in the use of oiled muslin in place of glass in the poultry house. There is no doubt but w’hat this can be substituted to advantage where a house has too much glass, as many of them have. For example, all of us are familiar with the poultry house front built on a slant and consisting entirely of glass and the necessary framework to hold" it. In such cases we think every other section of muslin would be an advantage. The house would still be light enough and at night would be much w’armer with a small area of glass. In the small house, where one window of moderate size furnishes the light, it would not be advisable to substitute muslin for'glass. After all, the best use for the muslin is to place it on poles and hang over the opening in the scratching shed. It keeps out the wind and cold and, with the help of a single window of glass in the side, lets In enough light to make the fowls contented and happy as they scratch through the • chaff. If one Is in a cold climate and the poultry house is lighted only by a small window, it is. an excellent plan to cut in a second window and cover the frame with a double thickness of oiled muslin. In tliis manner additional light is obtained without exposing the house to more cold. — —— ——-

Don’t Keep Old Sheep. A sheep man writes: “We once had a ewe that we bought for seven years old produce a good lamb and shear as good a fleece as the younger ones, and as she was pure bred we should have kept her longer if she had not been stolen. But we think such cases are not common, any more than cows that are profitable at twenty years old, or horses at thirty. “We think a ewe that Is four or five years old has at least reached her prime, and while she may still raise a good lamb, she begins to decrease in amount of wool, and Is more liable to sickness because of a lack of vigor, and needs more careful feeding than a younger one. We would not advise anyone who Is not well experienced in the care of sheep to buy five-year-old sheep at any price, and we would not do it ourselves unless we bought them so cheap that the lambs next spring would be worth all the flock cost us. Nor would we keep one until that age unless she was valuable as a breeder and seemed to retain vigor enough to give a good fleece each year. You would be likely to do better in paying a higher price for younger sheep, even if your capital would not buy so many.”

Spring Spraying. If San Jose scale has not yet invaded your neighborhood, trust in a kind providence and make a move, good and hard, to keep it out. If it is already there, use the same measures, but in a more superlative degree, if such a thing there can he. The San Jose scale, or louse, for it is the latter, under the scale, that does the mischief, is a sort of little Jap in the world of insect pests. Many bigger ones there are, but few more successful. The scale is most easily recognized in midsummer, when it imparts a sort of purplish tinge to the bark of the tree, but it is then very firmly intrenched and difficult to fight. Take a microscope to your apple, pear, peach and plum trees now. Just as soon as you can, especially if they look a bit rough or scurfy or seemed in any way unthrifty last season. A tree when badly infested with the San Jose scale presents a somewhat grayish appearance, ns if it were coated with ashes, but the ordinary observers would hardly notice this or realize its significance. By carefully scraping the bark with a knife blade little scales of various sizes may be found, beneath which are the soft, Jellyllke orange colored insects. Spraying in late winter or early spring before the buds open is the accepted remedy. Various solutions are used, but the (tolled lime, salt and sulphur mixture is perhaps still the cheapest and safest for the tree. Owing to the trouble of preparing that wash, however, the Geneva (N. Y.) station devised a self-boiling mixture that has met with much favor. The formula is as follows: Lime, 80 pounds; sulphur, 15 pounds; caustic soda. <1 pounds; water, 50 gallons. The sulphur Is made into a thin paste with boiling water and poured over and well distributed through the lime. Additional water is used as needed to keep the lime-sulphur material In a rather stiff paste. As soon as the lime is slaked the full amount of caustic aodn Is added and stirred until boiling cease*. Enough water is then poured in to make fifty gallons of the wash.- -J. J. Barton.