Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1905 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

The more litter in the manure, the slower the process of decomposition. But few plants will thrive in a wet soli. A good drain is sometimes better than manure. Don’t feed too many of so-called poultry foods. Some are good and some are not. A short-legged, short-bodied sheep is often heavier and will produce more than one that looks considerably larger. The sheepman who has a nice patch of rape upon which to turn his flock need not worry becatfse the pastures are giving out. In nearly all calks animals In low flesh are more liable to disease than when in fine bodily condition, and it costs more to keep them. In mixed farming there is enough going to waste oin every farm to almost maintain a flock of sheep, which would be lost without them. When the fowls are confined a bunch of wheat or oats hung up about two feet from the ground will help to give them exercise in securing the grain. Sheep require food to sustain life and make growth as well as other animals. If the pasture is getting short, supplement with something else. (let t!ie first sowing of sweet peas into the earth as soon as the frost is out. Cover four or five inches deep. C'olii weather after planting will not hurt them. If tlie rhubarb is run out or more plants are wanted it can bo propagated by divi iing the old roots. Each eye or loud when broken apart with a root attached forms,a plant. On many farms a 200-egg incubator could be used to good advantage during tlie winter in hatching out early broilers for the spring market and early pullets for early fall and winter laying. It’s “trouble” to look after a flock of poultry during winter in the way It should lie iloiie-*-but It pays. A dozen eggs in winter is worth about three times as much as In April or May. For tlie good of tlie lawn some gardeners soalter fertilizer or bone meal on tlie last light snowfall, or a light dressing of manure left on through the spring rains will disfigure the lawn only for a short time and can then be raked off. — Every farmer should have enough prldi In bis operations to conduct them Si) each passerby will make remarks of commendation as lie passes along. The farm surroundings ought to be such as to call out the exclamation, ‘*l*ll bet a good farmer lives here!” Tlie better the quality of tlie manure tlie less tlie cost of Dandling. Bulk does not give quality, and this is especially the case with manure. To have and to handle great quantities of unrotted. coarse, bulky material cost Uie labor of both men and teams. Sheep are necessary on some farms in order to save much of the waste materials. sheep will eat many plants that other animals will not touch. It may not lie profitable for some farmers to' kt’cp large flocks of sheep, but a dozen sheep will cost almost nothing. The same may be said of one or two pigs, which give a profit because they consume materials that would otherwise go to the manure heap, but too many sheep or pigs may make tlie item of labor too costly to allow of a profit, -er Doctor Mayo of the Kansas Agricultural College states that he lias received the present spring quite a number of reports of what seem to lie clear cases of young pigs and other animals dying ns a result of eating young cockleluu's. He says that the young burs are very poisonous at certain periods of growth, mostly when they are in the two leaved stage, causing Inflammation of the stomach and intestines, but cannot throw nny< light on tlie nature of the poison, lie does not hold out much hope of successful treatment after the poison has once entered the system, but suggests that perhaps raw linseed oil might he help ful. Age to Breed Sows. The age at which to breed young sows depends on tlie maturity more than age. says American Agriculturist. A gilt that has been properly handled will weigh 200 pounds or more at eight months and ought to raise a good litter of pigs If bred then. When n young sow has only a few pigs or Is a poor milker or a careless mother, (die should be sent to the meat barrel at once. But if she Is a goal milker and attentive to her young, she should be tried again, for the second llttey will usually be larger than the first. If her second litter shows Increased •umbers and the first one developed

Into good hogs, she might be retained for a breeder until a better sow can be obtained. Apple for Cold Climates. Throughout the cold flections of the Northwest the pioneers brought varieties of apples from the Bast, and found none that were entirely adapted to the new conditions. The severity of tlie climate of the prairie States was so much different from the conditions of the East that most of the varieties were too tender. Without many varieties that seem to be worthy of planting In this cold section, many of the horticulturists turned their attention to European countries, and especially to the prairie regions of Russia, where conditions seem to be similar to this region. In tlie early seventies and eighties, large importations of apples were made and of tills large list of varieties that have been widely disseminated throughout the cold regions of tlie Northwest, but few are worthy of planting. Among this list can be mentioned a fall variety known as the Eongfield. It Is one of the most hardy and productive sorts of the Russian collection. It is of medium size, roundish, slightly conical in form, with a yellow surface and a bright red blush on tlie sunny side. The flesh is tender, white and very juicy. Tlie flavor is slightly subacid, and quality good. The tree is a strong grower and has a tendency to overbear. The fmit should lie carefully thinned each year, so that it would not be undersize and too poor for the market. Caring for the Horse. Tlie horse, like a person,, requires frequent large drafts of water. But if allowed to drink all tire cold water lie wants when lie is heated he may drink too much and bring on a fatal spell of colic. Again. Watering should be done awhile before feeding and not for some time afterward, or the quantity taken may so weaken the digestive juices as to prevent their proper operation. A horse, if he be used to violent exercise, will stand a lot of It in hot. weather without injury. But whether he be usdd to it or not, be should be Closely watched, and when there are signs that indicate his getting too warm stop him. .fust a simple sweat is no, sure sign that a horse is getting too warm. But when a horse lathers much and breathes hurriedly and with great effort it is time to stop. Always turn his head to the wind if possible when stopping. You have no idea how much good it seems to do if you have never tried it. If there is a time when it is more usual than at any other time to overheat horses, it is when driving hurriedly to got in out of a rain. Then it is time, too, when probably much the most damage is done. It may not lie so immediately apparent, but those who attend driving horses soon notice tlie difference. The trouble comes not so much from overheating ns from cooling off too quickly. Often tlie storm will be so close that the team will be bitched, hot and sweaty, to he drenched in tlie rain and chilled by the wind. A few such experiences will so affect the stoutest horses as to render him unfit for use on account of rheumatism, stiff joints and other ailments caused by taking cold. Heredity n Big Factor. . The : > re-tnlts of experiments undertaken at the Rhode Island agricultural station for the purpose of determining the influence of selection in increasing the)number of ears of sweet corn per stalk are in harmony with the general law which seems to prevail throughout the plant world—that It Is the characteristics of the parent which produced the seed that.are likely to be perpetuated rather than the characteristics indicated by the position or type of the individual seed Itself. A small potato from a productive hill affords more desirable seed than n large potato from an unproductive hill. Seed from a late garden tomato produced by a plant which ripened tlie majority of its fruits early is likely to produce earlier bearing plants than seed taken from an earlier ripened fruit from a plant which ripens most of its fruit late. So with corn, the character of the plant from which the seed came Is of much more Importance than the point on that plant from which It came. Since tills question has been nnswered in reference to sweet corn the selection from lower ears has been abandoned at the station, and henceforth the i>lan will lie simply to select the best seed from stalks which bear the largest number of oars. This line of selection, whereby the number of cars Is Increased, seems to promise more for the grower of silage corn than for the market gardener who grows sweet corn to market on the ear, The Increase in number of ears Is due to thp production of ear ben ring suckers to a greater extent than to an Increase of ears on the main stalk. The real point at Issue so far as grain Is concerned is whether such a stalk produces a larger weight of kernels than does an ordinary on* currying one or two ears.