Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1906 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Y Regularity in feeding and work makes loug-llved horses. Irregular feeding makes thin horses, nb matter what quantity is given. There are many reasons why you ehoiiltl dairy and none why you should not. ' * h A dairy fanner raises more grain and better grain and gets a higher price than anybody. Dehorn the calves when a few days old and the cows and bull In cool weather after flies are dead. Don’t set the hew orchard where the old one stood. Orchard grounds need rotation as well as any other •oils. Dairy animals require proper exercise, fresh air, pure water, shelter, gentle treatment, and comfort, as well •a plenty of the right feed. Overcrowding keeping constantly overstocked with a larger number than you have room, so the besetting sin of a great number of poultrymen. Cause the pigs to fear you not, especially those intended for brood bows; they should be assured that their keeper Is a kind, considerate friend. Even a hog appreciates .such a friend. Sheep cannot live on nothing, but as they eat some grasses and many weeds that cow r s do not, they will do well on pastures that are entirely Insufficient for cows. Don’t forget to salt them as often as they want it. When you want to fatten sheep, do not throw In a great volume of feed at one time; tfiey will waste it and also be disgusted with it. Give them Just enough to eat up clean and no more, iind they will stay oir their feed and fatten up fast. If you will breed part of your cows to come fresh lu the winter, you will find It profitable. A farmer who makes really good butter can sell It for 35 and 40 cents all winter to.pilvate customers. That is a positive fact and can be proven.

Give pigs succulent food and exercise, clean*...-grassy beds to sleep In, and fresh pure air to breathe, and there Is but little complain about disease. The nearer these conditions can be duplicated In winter the less disease there will be to complain of. Perhaps the best way to pick seed corn would be to go into the field with a sack over the shoulder and walking between two rows of corn and watching them botte, taking the best ears from the best stalks as they appear. This work may be done when the ears afre of medium maturity and before corn will do to crib. The asparagus bed should be mowed and the tops burned before the seeds fall, otherwise the seed will grow and overstock the bed with feeble plants. The bed should be covered for winter with a heavy coat of manure for protection, and in spring rake off the coarse part and work the rest into the soil. An apple grower says this about boxes for apples: It is easily handled and quickly packed. In the Instances of the small shipper, who may not have fruit of the different varieties enough to fill an even number of bnrrels, the box enables him to practically ail of each kind. Fruit packed in a box shows to good advantage and needs little disturbance of contents in making examination.

In France the wagons used by the merchants and farmers have wheel tires ranging from 3 to 10 inches in width, the most usual width being from 4 to 0 inches. The large freight wagons (four-wheeled) have tires rarely narrower than 0 Inches, and the rear axle Is about 12 -U> 14 inches longer than the front axle, so that the rear wheel tracks will lap the tracks made by the front wheels; and so widen the spade of roadway rolled by tlie wheels. Laying hens are very fond of ground bones. They help digest other food when they cannof get at sharp gravel, and with the strong digestive apparatus which fowls have, every part is ,made use of. The lime goes to make the shells, but If the bones have heen'only cooked and not burned they are full of material of which the egg Itself Is made. The only advantage from burning bones Is to make them break up more , easily. 1 The fowls certainly do not like them as well, nor are they sa good for them as when-broken up without burning. Home lußtluet In Cattle. There are 3,000 head of cattle running loose in the Pinal lutein of Arisen*. and they are owned by twenty men. Each animal lias a bnind ittt hip aa broad aa a bam, and crop*, bits

and underhaoks galore In fils ears. Beyond these marks of ownership he is as free as a deer, and should he so elect could wander from the Mexican border to the Canadian line without running up against a barbed wire fence. Yet such Is the simple nature of cattle that they “use” In the country w here they are born, and only the utmost stress of wind and weather will suffice to drive them away. They are “home folks” and stick to their barren canyons and water holes with all the devotion of untutored rural man. Tho calf runs with his mother and learns her ways, which become hi 3 ways. It is upon this home Instinct that tho practice of Western cattle raising rests. —Dave Coolidge, In Sunset Magazine. Show Yonr Horse. A practical horse salesman advises farmers who desire to sell horses at good prices, to cultivate the acquaintance Of the tow’n liverymen and veterinarians, by showing them a good horse from time to time. These town people will become impressed with the fact that this farmer has good stock and knows how to train and fit them for use. Never drive a poorly shod horse to town, if sales are to be encouraged. Neat shoes on the forefeet make a horse showy. A poorly groomed horse is the poorest recommendation to the horseman that can be put before a buying public. Goo«J Resalts from Molasses Feeds. A dairyman not far from. Boston expresses himself as much pleased with the new feed made of waste molasses and mixed grain. He has no ensilage and finds that the molasses feed is of a laxative nature, particularly good with a dry ration. In a feeding experiment at Fort Collius molasses from the sugar mill was utilized as a complement to corn and shorts. The molasses was mixed with water and the grain added sufficient to make a thin slop. Molasses was also put in the drinking water, which was relished greatly by the pigs, for after a time they would not drink water without it. The pigs averaged eighty-three pounds each at the time the experiment began and 212 pounds each at tire'close. They were fed—4o7- days*It required 3.3 pounds of grain and 1.8 pounds of molasses for each pound of gain. At local prices for the grain and molasses, the, cost of each pound of gain was 3.61 cents. Considering that no pasture was used, these results show a high feeding value for molasses. The pork from these hogs was very fine.—American Cultivator. Curtatus for the Poultry House. No matter how r comfortable the poultry house is ordinarily, if it has any glass in it some provision should be made for covering that glass during cold nights if the necessity arises. An excellent and a cheap way of doing this Is to provide curtains of heavy unbleached muslin, burlap or a strip of carpet. Fasten the lower end to a roller, using an old broom handle if nothing better offers, and tacking the upper edge to the window frame. Then by sewing a loop or tacking it to the toller and having a nail in the upper part of the window frame it Is easy to roll the curtain up out of the way during the day. In the event of the poultry house having a considerable expanse of glass something of this kind is absolutely essential, even in the middle sections of the country, if the fowls have large combs and wattles. An arrangement similar to this in front of the roosts saves more than one comb from becoming frosted. When a. cold night Is expected cover the floor of Lie house thickly with straw-thnt the fowls- may have something warm to walk over and peck through in the early morning before breakfast Is ready.'

The Farm Camera. Every stock breeder should own a good camera and learn how to use It to advantage. It is one of the best advertisers ever used in connection with the farm. No description of nn animal can convey such a pleasing Idea as a photograph. A few simple rules carefully observed will Insure a good picture four times out of live. The film cameras are cheap and films do not cost much, and the local photographer Is always ready to develop and make prints at reasonable . prices. One good photograph of an animal for sale would be worth more to the breeder than tha coat many, times ovgr. It Is cijstomary for breeders to cmploj' professional" photogrnphers to do the work. The expense usually Is from five to ten dollars, nnd the resfllts are'seldom satisfactory because the photographer docs not understand the points tliat the breeder wishes to emphasize. Live stock may be advertised by photography to better advantage than any other A picture used In • paper calling attention to the advertisement makes the ad stand out prominently. Successful stockmen are good advertiser*. . Those who do not advertise seldom make much money. —Field and Fireside. * ' \ e* ■ - *