Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1907 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

A nail in time saves nine. The best method of paying for the ■farm Is to make it productive. Keep the -n eeds from securing a start ■by constant, thorough cultivation. Labor is never spent In vain when it leads to the accomplishment of good results. : To make sheep pay, keep the best sheep obtainable and give them the best keep possible. Limbs that are diseased on trees are best removed as saon ns discovered, regardless of the season or age of the trees ,-c - ■■ . . - - . • • * . _ The feeding of grain to sheep" wITT make their wool'grow faster and more -dense, and consequently a heavier fleece will be the result. Rtabh* manure is the most practical -fertilizer known, for an application of It seems the adding of both the elements of fertility and humus. - The farm products must be put in the - form in which they will command the most money and yet leave the farm In the most productive condition. Do not sell the jxmngest yearllhg stock while there are older animals that can be disposed of with equal adwantage mid which will not grow into more money; The best system of farming Is that which giveythe largest returns for tlie labor and capital invested and still, leaves the soil In condition to produce maximum crops.

When the food supply Is only suffi•cient for maintenance In an animal there is no gain In weight simply for the reason that nothing to make growth or weight has been furnished. Make a study of the herd of cows, ■select the best ones, sell the poor -ones, buy or raise more good ones, grow more cowpea and alfalfa hay for winter feeding, and make the ■cows keep you Instead of you keeping the cows. All kinds of coarse food can be ren--dered serviceable by Judicious combination of the ration. Even cut straw will be eaten if bran and oil meal are •added to it Fodder can be made acceptable to stock by preparation, nnd hay may be fed with other foods in a manner to make the whole ration very palatable. ' A cattle breeder, who has experimented in various modes of feeding, states that he estimated the cost of the flood according to the value of the land and the crop, ana with a bunch of steers on a pasture, from May to September, he cleared SO.BO an acre. As no labor was required,, the steers securing the food from the pasture, the gain was an addition to that which the pastures give ordinarily, while the manure Is -also an item of profit. It is very easy among a Jot of fowls to decide which will be the best layers. It is always the hen that has red combs and that gets up the earliest, even In cold weather. When a hen is moping and dumpish she will not lay many eggs, and those she does lay, while they may be all right while fresh for eating, are worth little or nothing for setting. If the eggs for "setting were always chosen from fowls that were themselves active nnd vigorous, ■the greatest possible improvement in ■the prolificacy of fowls would be at no ■expense whatever.

The Larveit Orchard. Where are the largest orchards In •the world? The general Imprecision la, no doubt, that they are to be found In the United States, but, according to a rfrult trade paper which ought to know they ar# at Werder, near Berlin. They ■extend without a break for “between 12,000 and 13,000 acres.'l By canal and river alone the Fruit •Growers' company sends away 48,000,■OOO pounds of apples and pears In a year. From Werder railway station an additional 12,000,000 pounds of fruit foes forth to the world. Then there is Jammnklng, for which a thousand tons -of pugar is used in a twelvemonth. The produce of the orchards of Werder has lately been advertised by a fruitgrowing: exhibition at that place. One of the features was 2,000 yards of model orchard, containing examples of the choicest sorts of fruit. It Is well to -be reminded that commercial fruit ■growing on the most up-to-date lines has made progress oversea outside Canada, the States and the antipodes. Valae of Cora Stalks. The true value of foods to the fanm--er la In the proportions of protein and ash (mineral matters) contained. < lf •sorn la exchanged for bran and bran Is

used on the farm as food for stock, there Is brought on the farm more protein than is contained in corn, as well as a larger proportion of the phosphates (bone-forming elements) than the corn contains. The manure from bran is also much more valuable than that from com, and when a fair price can be obtained for corn it may toe to the advantage of farmers to sell their corn and buy-bran for stock. When the com crop is planted the fodder should be considered as one-half the crop expected. The crop, of fodder frond a field of corn should be equal In value to the grain taken therefrom, and yet the fodder is wasted and the grain saved. In fact, if the fodder is given no better treatment than It receives" on some farms it would be cheaper to drive into the fields, pull the ears from the stalks, throw them Into a Wagon and haul direct from the field to the crib, leaving the stalks standing, than to expend labor in cutting It into shocks, with the additional work of husking the grain after the corn is shocked, as it will save labor by so doing, if the fodder is to be wasted, especially as It Is a very disagreeable task to husk the corn Im the field In cold weather.

Growing Protein Feed. Protein foods, so essential in feeding live stock, can be grown far more cheaply than they cost in the market On this subject Wallace's Farmer says: The- experience of the last thirty years has shown that a balanced ration can be grown on the farm without the purchase of any feeds protein, as, for example, bran, oil meal -or-cotton seed meal. It has shown that forty pounds of silage and eighteen pounds of good elover hay will make a fairly well balanced ration for an ordinary cow*; In other words, lliafirton of "StTfrge"will furnish:: half the ration of an average cow for fifty days; mid that an acre of good corn that >vlll yield fifty bushels to the acre will furnish from eight to twelve tons of silage. The farmer who has corn of this character and clover, or clover and timothy, or alfalfa meadow that will yield from two to three tons of hay per annum can easily figure on the number of tows he can keep on a definite number of acres during the winter season. The number of acres of pasture that will be required will depend upon the character of the pasture and the season; but usually on the care he takes of his pasture. Every dairyman who is keeping from ten to twenty cows Bhould, therefore, begin to study the silo question vfery thoroughly. This is one of the topics that should be discussed not merely at institutes, but at the firesides in every dairying community. The great obstacle In the way of the individual farmer using the silo Is not the cost of building It, which, considering its capacity, is not as great as the cost of a barn would be. It is rather, in the cost of machinery necessary to convert the corn into silage, and of the help needed at that particular time. Here Is where co-operation comes In.

Lite and Diseases of Grapes. The author of a Texas bulletin presents data covering a period of nineteen years, secured for the most part from his records of an eight-acre grape vineyard planted In 18S6-7 near Denison, Tex. The soli In this vineyard Is a light sandy soil' from C inches to 3 feet deep, with a red and yellow clay subsoil. The land has had but one application of fertilizer, consisting of a heavy coat of cotton-seed meal some twelve years ago. Data have also been collected from vineyards grown on different soils, Including “black waxy” and lime soils. In table 1 the relative longevity, health and vigor of twenty-six species of grapes grown In the vineyard at Denison are noted. The species usually found native to lime soils are distinguished from those native to sandy soils. Table 2 gives the names of each variety cultivated, the specific blood, the number of vines of each planted In 1887, nnd the number nnd percentage alive In 1905, together with notes on the coloi\ economic value and use of the fruits, and condition of the vines In 1905. The varieties are noted which have been suitable for •*blaek waxy A soils with clay subsoils, and for “black waxy” and “adobe” soils underlaid with white rock as near as two feet from the surface. The author presents data on extensive personal observations and reports secured from different experimenters in Texas on the adaptability of different varieties of grapes for the limy rolls In Texas. It is stated that ail species and varieties grow well In sandy soils wheifere carbonate of does not exceed 25 per cent of the soil. Some species will flourish In soils which contain as high as 40 to 00 per cent of lime. Varieties much subject to rot and mildew are not recommended for planting In the ham id forest region of East Texas unicss spraying with sulphate or carbonate of copper solution is thoroughly attended to. Grapes are not considered to succeed well in boggy or seepy soils on account of lata fronts and fungus diseases. ,