Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1907 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Apples tliat are being stored for winter cannot be handled too carefully. Dry-cornstalks make very poor feed for cattle, but used In the silo In proper condition, they are valuable. Where too large a proportion of the farm is kept under plow the soil soon becomes impoverished and unproductive. The young stock should be given plenty of good bright hay and some bran "t and middlings to keep them growing and make good bone. What a splendid thing It is that the tastes of men vary so much, If every- | body liked the same breed of hogs, for example, and the same breed of cattle and horses, wthat a monotonous showing It would be at our big fairs. The man wlio likes the Berkshlres has little use for the Poland China or the Duroc, and vice versa, and each has his followers. On the farm there should be a place for everything. If all the minutes wasted searching for tools that are t hurriedly wap ted fpr use could be computed they would amount Into hours, * and even days, In the course of a.year. A convenient place for every tool, from n mowing machine to a screwdriver, would save much often the case that tools must be pur- ~ chased because those used the year before have been placed where they cannot be found.

■ Points in Dairying. It Is claimed that dairying exhausts the soil unless considerable food materials are brought on the farm, which Is a fact easily sustained, but hundreds of dairymen produce upon their farms all the food required for their cattle. The farm may not be as liable to loss of fertility by dairying as when It Is devoted exclusively to tbo growing cereals, but It can be exhausted of certain elements, which are carried away tn the milk sold, and which are not returned In the manure. Milk Is a complete food, being rich in nitrogen and mineral matter. This Is derived from the food, whether it be grass or grain, ■ end milk is as much a product as any other substance'that leaves the farm. It is nothing more nor less than the changed fopn of the food consumed, and as milk can only be produced from food, It Is the result of the conversion of one Into another of a more concentrated and salable character. When the food Is converted Into milk much of [ the nitrogen, phosphates and potash pass Into the milk. The manure also ' consists of a proportion of the foods, but the larger proportion of the valu- . able elements of food must of necessity assist to create milk, and the fact

Is also demonstrated that, while we may be blessed with an abundance of manure, the value depends upon Its quality and not upon the bulk. Live. Stock Quality. Every farmer should possess a knowledge of the qualifications of his stock. Public tests of celebrated dairy cows may be of but little value'“to the average farmer, as he does'Sot practice the modes of feeding during such tests, nor give the same care and management to his stock. But the tests are valuable, as indicating what an animal can be forced to do If the conditions essential to success are Complied with. The farmer’s business Is to discover what are the conditions essential to success. He may have the examples of others as guides, which will materlalt ly assist him, but there are conditions, however, peculiar to his own circumstances, to which ho must conform, and tn which no one can assist him. His soil, climate, buildings, water, shade, quality of pasture, method of feeding and kinds of foods used are*all Important facto® to be considered. So far as the denial of the utility of public tests Ik concerned the fact remains that they serve as lights in the direction of which all must steer. It signifies nothing that the product of the cow rtiay apparently exceed the nutritive value Df the food consumed, but the figures / point unerringly to the possible realization of the objects sought, and, though the high-pressure public tests may be of the kind not approved of by the farmer, yet they open up to him a wide Bold for reflection, and teach him that, while he may not hope to equal such, yet he must also test his stock, If he Is to succeed, without regard to capacity. la-ftartt.- - - - The general principles of heredity formulated by Mendel give much promise In the way of crop Improvement through more systematic methods of breeding. It Is believed by many biologists, says Harper’s Magazine, that Mendel’s law offers In part it solution to some'of the perplexing problems in plant and animal Improvement It Is too early, however, to predict what benefits can reasonably be expected from Its application. This law at- *

tempts to reduce to a mathematical basis the characteristic of the progenj of plants and animals; a certain per centage having the individual charae teristles of 1 each parent, and a certain percentage the blended character lstlcs of both parents. It is not toe much to expect that the proposed law, With modifications, will do much tc place tie science of plant breeding upon a rational basis. In the case of corn, careful selections of seed has resulted in the production of plants which have a tendency to produce an additional ear, thereby increasing the yield 10 to 25 pei cent. Also ears of larger size land more'uniform character are secured by breeding and selecting the seed dorn. One of the best examples of the 1 Improvement of a ( crop by—selection ‘jand breeding is the sugar beet, wMch ( hae been developed from the common stock of garden beets that contiln only a small amount of saccharine materia] and are unsuitable fur the manufacture of sugar, until high-grade beets containing 10 to 18 per cent of sugar -are scctuefl. -——. v ; ~ Incubator Chicken*. In * a bulletin last spring by Prof. Gowell, of the Maine station, the writer says: Where an' appetizing bran mash was once given hot and the hens gorged on it, became fat, laid Boftshelled eggs and learned to eat them up, now the same materials were kept before them all the time in dry form, and while they ate-what they needed and used the time necessary to grind coarser feed In making eggs,- they were not overfed. This, combination =ls 200 pounds wheat bran, 100 each of cornmeal, linseed, gluten, middlings and meat scrap. Bight quarts whole grains are given dally.

The hens are kept In pens with three sides built of double walls filled with sawdust, fourth, facing the south, having two windows and a space 10x3 feet that Is open all day and closed at night -by canvas door. A warm bedroom Is built, the floor being raided three feet from the floor of the pen; here the birds roost at night and are shut In with another canvas door. Ventilators at the top furnish air. Conditions are ideal, no dampness anywhere, and the hens have vigor and vitality. Eggs are more meaty and hatch* better. ■ Chicks are fed grit first, then small, fluid grains and a dry mash, very similar to that furnished the hens.

Cockerels are separated at ten weeks, fed a moist, appealing mn«h mwi ready for xnnrkot" at twelve weeks. Pullets are then accustomed to their brooder houses and then let out on the range, troughs of the dry grains being always near, clean water also available. Work at the experiment station poultry plant Is progressing well. About 500 chicks have been hatched and twelve incubators of 860-egg capacity are being .run at full capacity. The colony brooder houses have been made ready for the young chicks, and with a continuation of good weather It Is expected that this spring’s work will be very successful. About 2,000 birds will bo reared this spring.

Value of Compost. At the North Louisiana Experiment Station, Calhoun, La., the following results were obtained. The land, normally, would produce one-fourth bale of cotton, and seven to ten bushels of cbm.* By the annual application of' thirty bushels per acre of a compost, composed of stable manure, cotton seed, acid phosphate and loam, this yield has been increased from one-fourth to one and one-half bale of cotton apd fifty to sixty bushels of corn. The annual expense of applying this compost amounted to a little over $V per acre. Build a shed of any kind, out of old material for a root. It It leaks some, all the better. Spread on the ground In a layer ten Inches thick ten bushels of stable manure, wetting thoroughly. Over this scatter 100 pounds of acid phosphate; then follow with another laser of manure and phosphate, etc.; continue these alternate layers until all material Is used up, or until the pile has become Inconveniently high; then cover the pile, berm top and sides! with four Inches of forest mold or good loam, taken from the fence corners. If stable manure or mold are not available, use straw, leaves or any waste material, even weeds. Be Bui'S and wet all thoroughly. After the heap has stood from four to sls weeks It should then be worked over and well mixed. This Is best done by beginning at ono end aud cutting it down vertically, throwing the material In a pile behind. Wet again and cover again with loam. It will be ready for use In three or four weeks.

The above proportions are for use with cotton. Where It Is desired for corn the quantity of phosphate can be reduced; use only fifty pounds Instead of 100 to each layer. Thirty bushels or one two-horse wagon load, per acr4 of this compost will produce very marked resultß. When this quantity Is used It la best applied In the drill, Just prior to planting. If preferred, the rows can marked off, the compost distributed In this furrow and then bed It Be careful, however, not to bury It too deep. It Is safe to estimate that this quantity of inch a compost will more than doable the crop am poor land the first year.