Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1906 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

You.. can have a better garden than ever before by following proper rules. if you have a hired man who.lsfotid of milking, tie to him. He is a rare jewel, Indeed. Don’t keep milk in the barn. Build a dairy house at a distance of several rods, if possible. Decide bow much space you can give to .the things that require lots of room —corn, potatoes, cabbage and vines of the cucumber family. 1 If a. horse coughs it is probably due to dusty hay. The cleanest hay should be given the horses. Other kinds of stock Will do well on dusty hay. All breeds of sheep are by choice scavengers, but when expected to sub-. SlSt ®tirely on scavenger's fare they " return ofily scavenger’s profits. Skimmilk Is more Valuable than most people think. It only takes 3.27 pounds to equal a pound of cornmeal in feeding value for growing pigs. Give the colts plenty of exercise. Don't keep them tied up in the barn all winter long. They can stand a bit of fresh air and a little frolic every day. One pound of corn meal is equal in feeding value to 3.27 pounds of skim milk when fed to growing pigs. _ There is really more value in skim milk than we give credit for. These days when the fire is burning warm it will be a good plan to see if the insurance policy is all right, and it might be a good-plan to see that fl . ladder is convenient. Do you give your horses salt regularly or occasionally? They should have it where they can get it at any time. If you think it makes no difference, try eating without salt yourself for .a month. ’ There are two kinds of profitable farming. One is to grow and sell profitable crops and by so doing impoverish the soil, and the other is to grow equally as good crops and conduct the operations so as to keep the fertility of the soil up.

Hogs are 25 to 35 cents a hundred higher than a year ago, and don’t seem likely to be much if any lower. As things look now, pork will be made at less cost this year than last; so, on the whole, the hog business shouldn't give growers the blues. Extra clevises, singletrees, doubletrees, txdts; now when there is comparative leisure. When one gets busy and finds he could rig another team if he only had a few more clevises or singletrees, and does not have them, is the one way to insure disapi*ointment and loss. Tke-short courses at our agricultural colleges afford a splendid opportunity for the busy farm boy to gather some information along his line. Tfhe boy who wants to get information will find it there. The boy who is not looking for it could not find It If it wore at the end of his nose. Glass gives more warmth to hotbeds than any other covering, but for plants that are somewhat hardy, a light frame covering of oiled muslin is as good and Is cheaper. It can be prepared by stretching the muslin and saturating both sides with boiled linseed oil, spread evenly with a paint brush. Congressmen as a rule do not pay much attention to the lobbyist. There Is a lobby to which any citizen of the United States can belong and his influence will be respected. A stamp on a letter will make you a member of that lobby and your member will show yon respect if you tell him what you want, f The value of spraying apples has teen further established by tests in Illinois, where it was noted by actual count that twenty-two trees left unsprayed produced nineteen unbleml<hcd apples. Forty-seven dusted trees produced sixty-three unblemished fruits, while slxty-slx trees receiving liquid sprays grew 2,064 perfect speclunens. In another instance five unsprayed Wealthy apple trees ripened only eight apples without fault and eighteen dusted. trees perfected 337. wherena twelve liquid sprayed trees of the same variety bore over 2,000 spec!jnens having no commercial imperfecr|<ms. Moreover the blemished fruit on the liquid sprayed trees were less faulty than the fruit not counted per- . feet on the unsprayed or dusted tires. Care of Dairy Vtrnsll*. The great development of the use of hand separators on the farm, accompanied by sale of cream Instead of milk to the creameries, has added another difficulty to the production of good creamery butter, in that many farmers d.> not care for their separators properly. This leads to the delivery of coutan.lnated cream by some of the puirons by means of which the entire

product Is injured in quality. Bulletin No. 131, “Care of Dalny Utensils,” just Issued by the Experiment station, describe* the results obtained by the use of various systems of cleansing separators, and the necessity for rigid care in this respect Is prominently brought out. The bulletin is sent free to all applicants. Address Agricultural experiment station, Manhattan, Kan. Rations for Growing? Pio's. An inquirer asks what is the most profitable feed for pigs during the winter season, the feeds available for bls use beuig corn at 50 cents per bushel, chopped stuff and shorts at sl.lO per hundred and rye at 65 cents per bushel. He is at present feeding a straight ration of corn and asks for arguments in favor of balancing his ration with the feeds mentioned. . d" - This man will find it-impossible, says Professor Van Pelt in reply, to make a balanced ration for growing pigs by combining the feedstuffs mentioned, ■because no one of tberx contains a large enough proportion of protein to balance the carbohydrates found in the others. Assuming the rye is grown on the farm, it. would be advisable to substitute some other feedstuff in place of shorts, to supply the protein. 1 would suggest the following ration: Ten parts corii, two parts rye, one part tankage. It will be found that the above ration will not only produce greater, but more economical gains and the general health and -thrift of -the- pigs will- bemore vigorous than when com alone is fed. Tankage guaranteed to contain 60 per cent protein can be purchased from any of the leading packers, if ordered exciusivelv for feeding purposes, and will well repay its purchase. •

Feedlßß for Egs Supply. If the hens do not lay fairly well during the winter, it is because some one or more things are done which should not be done, or left undone which should have been done. It is airiexwilent plan, when the egg supply Is sho.’t during any portion of the winter, to sit down calmly and let one's mind run back over the summer; follow, in your mind, a flock of hens over the range and note how they feed; a grain here, an Insect there, a blade of grass in another place, and a worm somewhere else; will remember. do they overfeed. One of the main causes of lack of eggs during the winter, assuiplng that the fowls have a comfortable and dry house, is overfeeding, and another is lack of exercise. It is surprising how much more a hen will eat than she ought if given an opportunity, and how Tittle rhehned she is to exercise if sh» can obtain all of her needs in the way of food from the troughs. Every once in a while we try the plan of placing the hens on rather short rations, and making them bustle for these in the chaff on the floor. During such times we see that there is plenty of grit and plenty of dust boxes, and after a time It Is noticed the hen begins to look up and becomes anxious for food; the ration is then gradually increased, and then laying begins again. Keep the “summer conditions" in mind during the winter, and follow them out as nearly as possible If you would keep the hens laying.

Rural Telephones. “Don't travel, telephone,” is a good motto tor these strenuous days. The rural telephone Is a money saving, time saving and travel saving addition to the farm. It Is as valuable as any other labor saving machine. It costs time, money and horse flesh to run errands ir. the country. It is much more expensive than it is in town. In the middle and northern States there are about two hundred good outdoor working days in the year. Men are scarce, labor i.> expensive, and a farmer's time b» etqieeiany valuable during the summer season. Recent Improvements in telephones have removed the last objection to their use. and the cost is so little that no farmer can afford to do without one. In addition to its value in a business way It brings a family in close touch with town and with the neighbors. It puts the farmer nekt door to everybody nnd the social intercourse which follows Is a strong factor In promoting contentment, especially with the younger members of the family. As a protection against tramps It is the finest institution ever Invented, because the farmer's family with the phone In the house is not Isolated, but may call Instantly for help or use the phone to warn near neighbors of the approach of the-.e unpleasant visitors. The farmer can do more business with me phone in half an hour than he can do in the ordinary course of travel in the country In two or three days. When once installed in a farm house they are very seldom taken out. This a'.one Is sufficient proof of their value. In these days of progress farmers must keep abreast of the times. It Is only by doing business quickly nnd In a inis loess way that a farmer can bujtc to meet with the measure of success that an enterprising mi'4 deaervaa.—Farm and Fireside. A