Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1907 — FARM GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM GARDEN

Buttermilk Is given but little value on dairy farms, and where there are pigs they are allowed, the whole of the buttermilk. It is W very nourishing drink In the summer for farm help, and Is also excellent as an additional food for poultry of all kinds. Kerosene Is fatal to all kinds of Insects, and for that reason it is frequently used as a preventive of damage by the cabbage worm. An objection to Its use Is that the kerosene Impregnates the cabbage with its odor. The remedy Is therefore as obnoxious as the work of the cabbage worm. _ A handful of sawdust sprinkled with carbolic acid and thrown in the nest box will prevent vermin. The sawdust so treated can be also scattered In the stalls and pn the floors of stables, and flies and insects of all kinds will be less troublesome. Crude petroleum will be found excellent as a liniment for sores, and will also assist In keeping vermin away.

Bacteria In Milk Bottles. The host of bacteria that may lurk in p supposedly clean milk bottle has been the subject of investigation by the Wisconsin Experiment Station. Bottles ■which had been steamed for thirty seconds were found to contain relatively few bacteria, possibly 15,000 to a bottle. However, when the steam was allowed to condense and the water so produced to remain In the bottle at room temperatures for possibly twenty-four hours, the number of bacteria multiplied enormously and varied from 2,000,000 to say 4,000,000. In a series of steamed bottles exposed to the air for twenty-four hours but containing no condensed water the number of bacteria averaged 800,000 per bottle, while in a slmlllar series which had undergone the same treatment In all respects except they were' covered ■with a clean linen cloth, averaged about the same as freshly steamed bottles, all- of which shows the very great importance of keeping milk bottles, either empty or full, very carefully covered.^

Growing; Potatoes by Mulching-. It. A, Emerson, of the Nebraska Experiment Station, says: “Seven years' experience has shown mulching to be a fairly satisfactory way of growing potatoes on a small scale. A straw mulch has generally increased the yield over that secured from the very best cultivation. The quality of the product has not been hurt, except under very wet conditions. Tubers grown under, a litter mulch have been better for seed than others. Mulclilng Is practicable only when the mulchmaterlal Mnbeobta4nefl verr etrennly. The cost of spreading the mulch Is greater than the cost of good cultivation. Any coarse material can be used for a mulch. Old hay or straw, or even coarse stable litter, can be used if free from grain and weed seeds. The mulch should be about, four inches deep, and Is best spread Just before the plants appear, the ground.haring beep first harrowed once or twice after planting. Rather large seed pieces give better results than small ones where potatoes are to be mulched, since they give the plants the strength required to force tlieir way np through ffae straw. The seed pieces should be planted turn or three inches deep, and the hills can be as close together as 18x18 inches or 12x24 Indies.”

System on the Farm. Does things on time and in good time. Is the screw that never gets loose. Does away with eOess work. Provides a place for everything and keeps everything In Its place. Makes a crooked way straight. Sees there Is one or the other product of the field, bnruyard, dairy, or garden marketed every week. By Its very presence, generates habits of Industry and punctuality. Never wastes anything; but markets the by-products, sklm-milk, surplus fruits and vegetables. Spends money In farming, but little In farms. Stops the leaks and losses. ,Markets the farm product In good shape and season. Has the winter quarters ready when cold weather approaches and provides soiling crops when pastures get short. Maintains a rotation of crops. Is the lubricant that makes the farm work go smoothly. Watches each form operation with tlie keen eye of the merchant or manufacturer who wisely follows up each move to it? finish In the profit or loss column of JR* ledger. Is but another name for prudent foresight which looks far ahead, keeps an eye on the present and profits by the past. « V ChlekM **•■ or Sorehead la Pomltry. Chicken pox Is said by an Alabama bulletin to cause more mortality among

chickens In that State than any othar disease. There appears to be no wellmarked distinction between chickenpox, avian diphtheria, and roup, as these terms are ordinarily used. The literature relating to the subject la carefully reviewed. A number of Inoculation tests were made with organisms obtained from cases of chicken pox. r—ltThe author concludes that the cause of the disease Is not definitely known. Some evidence Is usually presented to show that bacillus cacosmus or some species of bacterium or pseudomonas may be factors In causing the disease,

but careful experiments failed to connect either one of them with the disease as the primary eause. Chicken pox may be carried by various Insects. The period of Incubation Is from two to twenty days. Chicks from 7to 8 months of age are most susceptible, and affected birds may recover In from two to eight weeks. Mortality varies from 50 to 70 per cent. The author reports satisfactory results from the application of lodoform and tannic or boric acid upon affected parts of the throat and eyes. A large number of other antiseptics have been used with fair success. A bibliography of the subject Is given and mention Is made of the chief points to be observed Id the sanitary management of fowls.

To Make Kerosene Emulsion. Every farmer should: prepare some kerosene emulsion now and keep It on hand all the time. You will need It as spring comes on. This emulsion Is made as follows: Kerosene, two gallons; common or whale oil soap, onequarter of a pound; water, one gallon. Heat the solution of soap and add it boiling to the kerosene; then churn the mixture for ten minutes. Be sure to have the water boiling hot when you add It to the kerosene, and churn It thoroughly; otherwise yon will have trouble In making it a good emulsion, which, when made right, should have a creamy appearance. To use this stock emulsion, dilute it with 20 gallons of water and apply It with a spray pump. If j»ou are dealing with hogs and no spray pump Is at hand, put the aqhqals In a narrow chute and apply It with a common sprinkling can. Kerosene emulsion Is one of the most useful remedies against insects, especially those that suck the sap from the plants or blood from animals which they attack and which therefore cannot be combated by the use of stomach poisons like Paris green. On the other hand, different plants vary In their ability to withstand the oil, so that care must be used to make the emulsion strong enough to be fatal to the insects without hurting the plants. The chief Insect pests for which it Is used are the various species of .plant lice or aphids and the scale insects. ~— l

Insect Injuries to Wheat. Since 1901 there has been In Nebraska, according to reports Issued by the Lincoln Experiment Station, a succedsion of unusually wet springs and summers, which have respited in the prodigious increase of a number of insects detrimental to the wheat crop, and these for a time threatened to completely ruin the crop of 1904-1905. As it was, the State'suffered a loss of nearly 5,000,000 bushels of wheat at that time through the depredations of these insects, which annually destroy at least ime-tenth of the crop. Bulletin No. 9fl takes up these destructive pests, species by species, discussing their appearance, distribution and life histories, the nature of the Injury done by them, and the methods of control of each. The insects thus considered are the Hessian fly, the wheat stem-maggot, the fritflies, the wheat midge, the wheat strawworm, and wheat joint-worm, the stalk borer and the wheat louse. Pre-eminent among these Is the Hessian fly, which became so alarmingly formidable in the fall of 1904. This Insect has been present in the State since ISO 7, varying In abundance from year to year, but becoming very abundant and harmful during wet seasons. It is double brooded, and destroys the wheat by the larvae lodging between the- sheath and the stem and absorbing the plant juices. The important preventives against its attacks are late sowing, and burning of the stubble, while a rotation of crop* and the destruction of volunteer grain are strongly recommended also. Such additional methods as the direct application of poisons or repellan t», the planting of decoy strips, the plowing under of Infested wheat, pasturing, growing resistant varieties of wheat and the proper management of soil and seeding are discussed and commented upon with special reference to local conditlona

The Wheat stem-maggot has proved to be a very destructive Insect also, and the burning of waste grass lands la winter Is necessary to control It, as It Infests certain wild grasses as well as wheat Against the wbeat-midge the deep plowing of the ground after barjest and the burning of useless'chaff after threshing Is recommended. The burning of the stubble Is the most effective measure against the wheat and wheat joint-worm. The stalk-borer and wheat louse, while destructive, seem to be well controlled by tlieir natural parasites