Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1905 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Much labor and expense may be saved by planning ahead. Usually all a good thrifty pig wants to develop into a good healthy porker is a fair chance. Under present conditions to make breeding and feeding a success only the strong and fully developed should be allowed to breed. Air the poultry house once a day, no matter how cold it is. Don't neglect to clean out the house every morning because "it is so cold.” No one who has not tried raising and feeding turnips to sheep can have a full appreciation of the benefits derived from this cheap food and in the increased thrift of their stock. There can be no doubt of the advantage of the English method of feeding compared with ours, if we compare their immense fat muttons with ours, and in all the feeding districts of the English provinces turnips are fed in immense quantities. If a hen is healthy and has a good appetite, nostrums cannot improve her. Eggs are not produced from powders, pills or solutions, but from the food. A healthy hen is no subject for medicines or tonics. If she is sick or drooping it is not out of place to endeavor to assist her to recover her health with a tonic, but while her comb is bright red and she scratches and works vigorously, enjoying her food and laying eggs as fast ns nature permits, the use of stimulants or tonics will not benefit her or enable her to lay another egg morV than she wotild without their use, even if they do not injure her. The home of the daffodil is in the grass; in fact, some of the prettiest species refuse to llqn more than a year or two in cultivated ground, yet in the same garden planted in the grass continue frorpjyear to year with proportionate increase. All that you require is a, grassy spot that need not be mown until midsummer. The smallest nook can be prettily adorned, and if you have an acre or two to devote to the purpose, the possibilities are immense. Planting is a simple matter of lifting the sod and underlying soil, dropping in the bulbs and replacing the sod. taking care to plant the groups in a natural or irregular way. Special Cheese Making. The fancy cheeses are in growing demand, and the industry should receive more attention. The cheese Is made in kettles now manufactured .with steam connection. The curd Is cooked at a high temperature, and a largo waste of fat takes place, which Is saved in the better equipped factories, by passing the whey through a separator, or is hand skimmed. The cheese requires from 75 to 100 days for curing* First it is put In a cellar, wltli a temperature of 05 to 70 degrees, next in n temperature of 00 to 05, and finally in a temperature not above GO. It Is a sweet-milk production, yet there are certain ferments, apparently demanded, for developing Its flavor, and especially the “eyes” for which It is noted. There Is a group of German cheeses that have as a basis of manufacture the same general principles. Tike cheeses when cured take on a peculiar flavor, for which taste must be acquired, and they are highly prized by our foreign population. The curds are dipped at a temperature of 80 degrees and placed in a draining table, the temperature being held at about 80 degrees • during the draining process.—H. E. Cook, Denmark, N. Y. The Breeding Stock. If the hens and the males to bo used for breeding purpose this spring have been properly wintered there ought to be no trouble In hatching chicks which will thrive; on the other hand, If the males have been kept half starved!' or have been so placed that they have spent the winter In fighting each other, they are not In Condition for mating. If the hens and pullets have been short on exorcise, have been overfed or underfed, have occupied damp, dark houses, they are not In condition to produce eggs which ■re lit for hatching. Turn attention to the breeding stock now and first of all see that the feeding and care of the femajo Is what It should be. Have the house comfortable, but also have plenty of ventilation and find some way to force her to take needed exercise; cut off on the corn feed and Increase the wheat and other muscle-making grains. As for the males, place them where they too may be well cared for and fed, so as to get up the greatest amount of energy and vitality before they are turned In with the hens. No work In the poultry business Is more Important than thle now, for the future of the flock may depend upon how well the breeding stock is brought up to the highest perfection. 1 Keeping Milk Records. 1 1 With feeding grains very high In price one is tempted to feed more ronghsge and less grain and unless there Is a decided falling off la the quantity of milk received la apt to Rscslts himself with tha idea (hat he

is saving money. It Is a good plan to try different combinations of rations and note results. To try them, without keeping a record of the milk, a| least by weight, is of little use. Taka a ration of, say, gluten feed, wheal bran gild oil meal. Try these ii> vary- ( Ing proportions of each, keeping tha record carefully and thus determine which Is the most profitable. Tha same-plan may be readily carried out with any other combinations of grains. Then, too, experiment with tha roughage as with the grains and sea what difference, if any, is in the results when the corn stover is cut of crushed before feeding. Also note the, difference which may result from giving rather warm water. There la more lu obtaining ( a balanced ration than simply feeding a combination 1 which some one says Is good. It may be good for his herd, bnfe by experimenting, you mrfy be able to hit on a combination which will be better for your cows, and, perhaps, at less cost A German’* Poultry Farm. The writer recently saw a successful poultry farm on which there was not a aipgle regulation poultry house. The buildings for the poultry were constructed entirely from dry goods boxes bought at a neighboring town for small sums. The larger boxes were joined together in sufficient numbers to make the main houses and the smaller boxes were' taken apart to obtain the short pieces needed, or else made up into coops for the chicks or in smaller houses for the range, op the colony plan. Each of the larger houses designed for winter occupancy was lined inside with newspapers and outside with one of the waterproof papers on the market. This is a farm where never less than 400 fowls are kept and where the poultry is raised both for the carcass market and for eggs. This shows not only what may be done without elaborate buildings, but the advantages the average farmer has over other people in his ability to grow the feed needed and with more or less in the way of buildings whtoh may be utilized at no expense. Dehorning of Cattle. Those who have had the pleasure of raising calves to the cow period without horns know how much more sensible it is to have a herd of cows without horns than a lot of animals whose horns endanger both man and beast To have a herd of cows without horns i 3 easy for the man who raises his own calves, for the work of kUling the embryo horn is simple and easy. Buy a stick of caiistlc potash at the drug store, wrap a bit of cloth around the end you are to bold in the hand, moisten the other end thoroughly and then rub It briskly on tbe spot where the embryo born may be felt. Cover all the surface, butl>e careful and not go beyond the horn or you will burn the skin of the crilf. For calves, when the horns are already through, the clipper made for the purpose is the best thing to use. Place the blades as close to the head as possible, and one cut will pare the horn off smoothly. For grown cows, either the clipper or a saw is usedt and, of course, the head of the animal must be fastened so that slip cannot move it. The operation in a sensible manner is hpmane, and only fanatics who know nothing about tbe operation claim it to be cruel. Like all operations among animals, It may be .done In a hurried, careless manner, and so become cruelty. Hen’* Teeth. “As scarce as hens’ teeth” Is a common saying, from which comes the Idea that hens have no teeth. This Is true only so far as teeth In the mouth are concerned. Hens have false teeth, and the owner of the fowls is called upon In the winter to act as dentist, says Farmers’ Review. The hen has the advantage of the human being in this. When her teeth get old slie digests them and gets a new lot. Her teeth are really very numerous and may be made out of bone, crockery, flint, quartz, and even glass. The principal thing Is to give her enough of the size she can best use. Mnny of the ailments among fowls are caused by the lack of grit In the winter time. When the ground is uncovered and not frozen, it Is comparatively easy for the fowls to find enough largesized gravel to supply the gizzard with material for tbs grinding of food that comes to It. When fowls are killed nnd the gizzards are found to be filled with a very fine, gritty material, or none at all, It may be known that there is great and imperative need for the supply of grit at once. The worst feature about it Is that the fowls begin to droop and get sick, and the farmer never mistrusts that tbe real cause of the trouble Is the lack of grit That hens’ teeth ara false, and that, In the winter, man must supply them ■bould not be lost sight of, and every person that reads this article should ask himself the question if his fowla have been fully supplied with grinding materia). 1 When toe ground fa covered with a now it may be necessary to porchaea commercial grits In the market. ->