Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1906 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Some men are both hoggish and mulish; they squeal and kick at everything. As the hog pastures began to fail, the farmer is fortunate who has a patch of sowed corn to cut up and feed to thehogs. Smut on corn increases from spores and the way ta. preyent spreading o.f this trouble is to get the smut before the spores ripen and blow away. Skunks, minks and disreputable bl•peds are the chief enemies of the poultry raiser, and experience is likely to convince him that a well'loaded shotgun is the best weapon to use in all three cases. Mate up your, fowls early, for occasionally one of the hens will want to sit during the latter part of winter, and It is a nice thing to have some eggs ready in order to hatch some chicks early in the spring. The census report shows that there are in the United* States this year 3,404,061 mules, valued at $334,680,520. This is an increase during the past three years in the number of mules of 675,973, with an Increase in valuation of $36,827,193. Cutting up corn Is hard work, but ■when “the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock" tliereMs a feeling that the country is safe.. There Is so much good feed in fodder that the stock breeder can scarcely afford to let it go to waste. It is a most difficult thing to interest a man in the alfalfa business by showing him illustrations of plans and in writing articles about its production. The best way is to show him the plants growing. He should see the whole process—seeing is believing.

Dressed fowls and fresh eggs are constantly in demand, at fair prices, and farmers who are naturally good salesmen will find it advantageous to run retail routes, weekly. People in the cities are willing to pay good prices for something they know is fresh. A new disease among goats has been discovered and described by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. It is contagious and is called “takosis.” Thus far it has been found only in the northern and eastern states, where the climate is quite humid. The natural range for Angoras is a dry region. Do not let the high price of pork induce you to sacrifice the tried and trusty brood sow. She will come handy ■when next year’s crop of pigs is wanted. On the other hand, this is a good year to realize on those dames that fool away their time and your money in raising a pair of ordinary twins. Look at the peaches that ripen in the bright sunshine and see the perfect coloring and freedom from rot; then look at those hanging In dense shade and notice that they ripen later, are more subject to rot, and are partially covered with little black fungus spots. Great Is sunshine as a fruit perfecter and fungicide. South of latitude 38, turnips may be left in the patch to make early “greens” for the first spring weather. Where pine" grows, a common usage is to cover the turnips before freezing with a thick cover of pine branches. These do not prevent freezing, but seem to insure an earlier crop of greens than can be had from those left uncovered. A farmer lad married a neighborhood school teacher,'who was a tdwn girl. She undertook to cook some'rlce after marriage, and filled the pot witb rice. When It began to swell she had to place it in two pots. Soon the swelling proceeded until all the cooking vessels she had were full of rice. She went out and flagged her husband to come to the bouse before the swelling rice would push out.the kitchen windows. Never in the history of Improvefl agriculture did there exist such a necessity for choice clover seed as at this very time. More farms are seeded to foul weeds by the Introduction of really poor seed than In almost any other way. It will pay every man to buy a small magnifying glass and look at the seed he buys. He should buy the best and Insist on getting it Buy only a seed test Buy seed like buying gold dust The Goose Plant. The goose plant Is a native of Guatemala, and its name Is truly descriptive. Its bud has the perfect shape of a goose, with head and neck proudly artyhed as if floating In the water. The average length of a bud Is 10 Inches, tt bursts Into bloom the breast opens, -showing a delicate, cone-shaped orifice,

lined with a rich purple, velvety surface, exquisite In coloring and tracing. In bloom It- resembles an enormous leaf It has a long, string-llke tail 2 feet tt inches in length. In some respects it resembles the night-blooming cereus. XV hat Causes Smut in Corn? Last year my corn was about 5 per cent smut, says J. N. Francis, of Nebraska. This year one-half of 1 per cent will cover the loss from that source. Why it is different I have been unable to figure out. Last year I wrote to the Nebraska experiment station for information on the subject. Professor Lyon replied that no investigation on the subject had been made. He believed smut remained in the ground, from year to year, and could be prevented by rotation of crops. I have never followed corn with corn, so that could not make the difference in my Case. I examined two of .my neighbors’ cornfields, both on ground that was in corn last year. They have no more smut than I have. Last spring I treated part of. my seed corn with a solution of one pound of formaldehyde to forty gallons of water, the formula for wheat smut. I see no difference between the corn from the treated and that from the untreated seed. Sometime ago I read an article written by a farmer who says he cleaned his corn of smut by being careful to pick no seed corn from near where a smutted ear had grown. He believed smut to be carried from year to year on the grain. Perhaps the weather has something to do with it Last year was a wet corn season; this year the season has been a dry one. Smut has been increasing in my corn for several years until this year, which is the first year I have noticed a decrease.

Cruelty in Ship pi ng Fowls. It is almost revolting to- those who dislike cruelty to dumb animals to witness the conditions existing at a place where fow'ls are sold in coops on commission. Load after load of coops arrive on the hottest days, with the poor birds packed in them almost as closely as sardines in a box; There may be a cup of water at some point in the coop, but the majority of the birds don’t know of its existence and couldn’t reach it if they endeavored to do so on account of‘the congested condition of the eoop. Not one in a dozen coops arriving in market indicates for the shipper one spark of mercy or sympathy for the birds. Many of them will be dead on arrival and what with the excessive heat of the atmosphere, the animal heat of their own bodies and the fatigue and fright attending the journey, there is quite naturally a loss of weiglit In those that are so fortunate as to survive. These same farmers hurl maledictions upon the head of the commission merchant because he deducts for “shrinkage” in weight in his remittance. They apparently Ignore the fact that they alone are responsible for the deduction, because they have allowed to exist, the conditions which led up to the shrinkage. By crowding the fowls, the shipper really Is extravagant, even though he does lessen his shipping expenses somewhat; for, nine times out of ten, it will not only result in the loss of some of his birds, but also causes the ■ dealer to sacrifice the remainder at a low price in order to avoid further loss.—Agricultural Epitomlst.

Alfalfa. Experts have said that alfalfa would only grow in certain soils and in certain climates, but it has proven adaptability to nearly all climates and almost all soils. There are but two soli conditions that seem reliably against the growth of alfalfa. The one is a soil constantly wet; the other is where there is too much acidity. The latter may be remedied by an application of lime and the other will require drainage. There are thousands of farms, however, where there is no (icldity and the drainage is perfect that will not produce alfalfa .without first having supplied to their soil the alfalfa bacteria, without which the crop will fall, ’{'his Is so well proven that it Is regarded as an established fact, and farmers are admonished to look well to It before undertaking to produce alfalfa. Where the land Is barren of these bacteria, alfalfa seed will Indeed, germinate and grow rapidly for awhile, but the plants will soon become weak and turn yellow and eventually die, having perished for the want of the life giving element supplied by the bacteria. This element Is tbe nitrogen always universally present In the atmosphere, but not always present In tbe soli. Indeed, nitrogen may be present In the soil and If the alfalfa bacteria be lacking the alfalfa plants will not thrive. The reason for this Is that the roots of alfalfa are themselves without power to gather and store nitrogen from the air, but the bacteria, working In connection with the roots, will gather, secrete and store up nitrogen from the air In quantities so great as to provide not only for the alfalfa growing, but abundant supplies for succeeding crops. This interesting truth about alfalfa bacteria Is known and appneclated by scientists, but no man can tell with certainty without scientific process where such tjacterla exist or where they are absents—Agricultural Epltomlst ’