Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1905 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

' 'Jf Spring-trimmed trees produce the most suckers. Wasteful feeding may mean too much or too little. One way to Increase the' profits In farming is to reduce the cost of production. * In a rotation clover should come before corn or potatoes if the best results are obtained. In feeding sheep for the market they should be pushed after they have been well started; keeping them at a standstill Is unprofitable.

Feed horses well while working, but lessen the amount of grain on idle days. Serious results come from the neglect of this. Feed according to the work done. Plants to be kept in pots or tubs and needing more sun, should be given a larger size just as the fresh growth is about to be made, generally early in the spring. In six months wheat will shrink in bulk two quarts to the bushel, or 6 per cent It therefore follows that 94 cents a bushel In August, just after wheat is threshed, is equal to $1 in the following February. For working horses, too much corn, corn meal or grain, given while they are hot, will founder them, as will water. After a hasl day let the horses stand an hour or so until they cool off, before feeding them or giving them drink.

After you have killed a chicken take a pair of shears and cut the feathers off within half an inch of the skin. The feathers saved in this way are much nicer than they are after the chicken has been scalded, and besides there are no sharp ends to stick through your pillow cushion. Milking hard, vicious cows, driving balky horses or riding a mean saddle will produce more .profanity than any other thing on the farm. Farmers who pray should be more carefuj of the kind of stock they keep for the hired man to work with. Put such stock on the market or send them to the butcher. Moulting is something that comes annually in the lifetime of every fowl and requires a great deal of strength, and when the work of three months is crowded into one-half that time there is a loss of energy that will be very hard to be regained. By an early moult the fowls may begin to lay eggs in the fall, which means eggs all winter. ’ ( It is claimed that if all the manurs from one cow could be saved, with out loss of liquids or solids, provided the food given is of the best quality, the cost of the cow would be reduced every year, as the land would produce more each season. Two cows could not cat the food off a piece of land that now supplies only one, if all the refuse from the cow could bo returned to the plot, but the manure must bo carefully managed and be made from varied foods.

It should be kept constantly in mind that damaged grain, mouldy feed, sour swill or®, brewers’ slops should never be given to pigs. The custom that is so prevalent among farmers of feeding garbage because it Is cheap will surely cost too much in the end. Farmers have been known to lose many of their hogs when they were of a size to net them a handsome profit, whose death has been traced directly to the feeding of garbage. For young and growing swine nitrogenous foods, such as milk and waste products of the dairy, peas, and shorts are blood and muscle-forming food and should constitute the bulk of the rations. Signs of 111-Health of Cattle. Symptoms of unhealthiness in cattle which may be seen without handling are: An anima! keeping away by itself, if accustomed to go with others, and perhaps standing with its back arched. N ot stretching Itself on being quietly raised when lying down. Hair standing on end, or staring, having a harsh, dry, dirty, dull appearance. Absence of lick marks on the skin. Saliva flowing from the mouth. Not feeding or chewing the cud for any length of time. Thin condition of the body. Blown out by gas forming through fermentation and stoppage of digestion of the food. Hollow sides consequent from want of food. Quick breathing or a cough. Peculiarity of movement of head and limbs.

Broilers or Roasters. Some poultry farmers claim that they can make more money in raising roasting fowls for market than they can with broilers. On the other hand there are poultrymen who say the profits are decidedly in favor of broilers. Much depends upon the markets. In some sections of the country broilers would have very little sale, while in other sections there is a great call .for them. Where the market is fav-

orable to roasting fowls, say four to six pounds in weight, it is more profitable to raise the latter, as the extra pounds hi weight over the first two cost considerably less, on account of the gain being quickly made. Where It is’possible both broilers and roasters should be raised, so as to fit till classes of trade.—Home Monthly.

Vetch and Rye to Plow Under. The hardiest of fall cover crops la winter vetch. It is better than crimson clover in the North, because it is sure to live over winter and make plenty of growth in the early spring if plowed under. The high cost of the seed prevents most farmers from sowing it clear, but fifteen to thirty pounds sowed with one bushel of rye makes an excellent mixture for orchard land, and the cost will not be out of reach. The ground should be made about as mellow as for sowing clover, as the seed is small. After harrowing well, the ground should be rolled and seed sown, covered with brush or smoothing harrow and rolled again. The seed weighs about sixty pounds to the bushel, Ibence half a bushel of vetch to a bushel of rye is all right. If the crop is allowed to go to seed, It will continue Itself on the same land, and this plan is practiced by orchardlsts in some localities, but it is not the rule in this section. Massachusetts Ploughman.

Guarantee on Feeding Stuff. Purchasers should not think that the fact that a feeding stuff has a guarantee tag attached to It necessarily Insures its being of good quality. One should read the guarantees. For example, among, the cottonseed meals which were found on our market there was one which contained but 20.25 per cent of protein, while good cottonseed meals which are unadulterated and hence do not contain excessive amounts of hulls usually contain from 41 per cent to 43 per cent of protein. .It would appear as if some consumers so utterly disregard the guarantees on the bags that even if a sample of cottonseed meal were guaranteed to contain but approximately 25 per cent of protein they would buy it just as readily and pay as great a price or possibly within a dollar as much per ton as if it were guaranteed to contain 43 per cent of protein.—Rhode Island Experiment Station.

Fertilizing Fruit Trees. One of the essentials for the successful growing of an orchard is the presence of an abundance of plant food, and we see many orchards sadly in need of renewed fertility. There are few soils here in this State that will not be benefited by an application of manure after the trees come into bearing, and if the land is heavily cropped it will generally be desirable when the trees are two or three years old. From fifteen to twenty loads to the acre applied broadcast once In two years will provide foed for the growth of the trees. If the trees alone are to be manured it will not be desirable to cover all the land with manure until the trees have reached the age of ten or twelve years. The amount used should depend on the size of the trees and should be placed over a circle with a diameter about twice that of the heads of the trees. The banking of the manure about the trunks is unwise, as the feeding roots are for the most part several feet away. Upon bearing trees it is generally as well to leave a considerable space about the trunks without manure, and it is 'better to have the entire amount outside the circle of the branches than to have it packed about the trees.

Incrcased Interest in Sheep Keepinsr. More than one of our Western exchanges have ujentioned the desire of farmers in the section to go into sheep keeping. One of them states that the parties who tiave applied to the office of that paper within tho past three months to -know where they cou!d obtain sheep on shares, would have taken not less than ten thousand head if they could have found them. They were used to handling sheep, had land and buildings for them, but had not money io buy such flocks us they wanted. Another paper states that a large share oT the sheep offered for sale at that market are culled over for desirable ewes of any age before any can be taken for slaughter. We have lately heard that in some sections of New England the small fanners are watching for chances to purchase small flocks of sheep of from a. dozen to a hundred, according to their means of purchasing or keeping them. This is all as it should be, and we say let the good work go on! But remember that all sheep are not equally good for the farmer. We believe the day of the large mutton sheep has come and that of the M«rinos has gone by for New England farmers, unless they can raise thoroughbred Merinos to sell in Australia as some Vermont breeders do. The fairs are good places to learn who has good sheep, but a first-prize sheep is not always the best to breed from as he may carry too much faL—Amexir can Cultivator.