Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1907 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

More husky young men die from over-exertion on the football field than In the harvest field. Keep the old sow as long as she continues to give you a good litter. Do not turp her off simply because she Isold.

All animals thrive best when fed at regular Intervals and given each time no more than they will readily consume.— ' . j*-' Bran Is a good deal better feed for fattening steers that most farmers understand. When you can buy It at a low price, try It Those who have to buy hay may console themselves by recalling that in the spring of 1870 hay sold In New York at S4O to S4B per ton. The proportion of profit is usually greater where small numbers of stock are handled than otherwise. That’s where the small farmer comes in.

The udder of the ewe suffering from garget should be well bathed with very warm water, to which has been added an ounce of cooking soda, and after bathing it should be well nibbed with an embrocation composed of lard and turpentine. Barley as a feed for live stock is much commoner In European countries than It is in tbe United States. In this country it is confined more largely to States of the Pacific slope. Byproducts left from the breweries are usually used as stock feed. Barley is a crop that can be raised In a great many different climates and is surer of maturing a crop than some other of the small grains.

Care of Turkeyu, At the Manitoba Station an experiment was made as to the gains -by turkeys confined in pens, as compared with those that ran at large. Those in pens were given all they would eat clean of a mixture of wheat, oats and barley, 2:1:1. In the morning the grain was fed the turkeys which were not but in the evening it was fed whole. It was noted that the turkeys were apparently more fond of oats than of the other grains, so toward the end of the fattening period the proportion of this grain was increased. A little grain was fed the turkeys which wore not confined In addition to the food which they could gather. The five turkeys in pens weighed On an average, 6.55 pounds each at the beginning of the test. During the forty-two days of the feeding period the average gain was 4.06 pounds, 6 pounds of grain being eaten per pound of gain. The turkeys running at large also weighed at the beginning of the test 6.55 pounds each, and made an average gain of 1.85 pounds. On both cases the greatest gains were made during the first three weeks of the period. It Is stated that the penned turkeys when dressed shrank 5 per cent less than those running at large and that they were plumper and were in every way more inviting In appearance.

Funarua Growth on Grains. Smut Is annoying to fanners, as It not only causes loss, nut compels one to cease using the seed from bis crop, which may be of some valuable variety. So damaging has been smut on all kinds of grain that tbe United States Agricultural Department has issued several special bulletins on the subject. The loss of grain from smut in this country Is very large, and yet tbe matter has received but comparatively little attention. Smut Is caused by minute parasitic fungi, the spores, or seedllke bodies, which form the black, dusty mass that takes tbe place of tbe kernels, or the entire head. These spores are very minute, and are easily blown about, often t« the kernel before it Is planted, and when such kernels sprout the spores also germinate and send delicate threads Into tbe young seedlings. These threads follow the growth of the plant, fill the head as soon as formed, and there develop a mass of spores Instead of kernels. This black mass 1* so well known as to be recognized by every farmer who has grown grain, but many farmers may not be aware of the fact that every ear of corn containing amut la a menace to the grata crop of next year. All such stalks should be cut out and burned on the first sign of smut, and where oats, barley, wheat or any small grain la affected" seriously It will sometimes pay to mow the crop and burn it

■wt M Click Food. In a recent report of experiments In feeding chicks, tbe Rhode Island Experiment , - The U«e 0 f the proper yroportlon of animal food v*«u nay » handsome profit through decreased nK-Wallty and Increased weight of the chicks. In feedlag, bear In mind that ehteka In a

state of nature spend practically all of their working hours In search of food, and that they do not fill their crops in ten minutes every two hours. Feeding should be, as far as the time of the attendant renders profitable, a continuous process, but by no means a continuous gorge: The experiment which led up to this conclusion was with an incubator hatch of 219 chicks. These were prated Into lots of about fifty each hnd placed In similar brooders. For thirty days all conditions were kept alike except rations. Pen A was fed a balance ration of grains, meats and green food. The chicks grew and thrived, and not one chick showed symptoms of digestive disorder. The deaths amounted to 3.9 per cent. In Pen B all animal food was withheld.; the deaths were 9.5 per cent, of which 75 per cent had bow-el trouble. Pen O w-as fed on grain alone, all animal food -and all green food being omitted from the ration; the deaths were 32.7 per cent, of which 96.5 per cent showed digestive trouble. In Pen D all grain food was omitted; the deaths of chicks were 63.7 per cent,, of which 85.8 per cent showed bowel trouble. All the living chicks were weighed at the close of the test, and Pen A showed the greatest average w-elghts for all breeds.

How to Exterminate Hen Mlfen. Some years ago our henhouse was badly Infested with red lice. I will give my way Of getting rid of them, for I think ft is a good one; at least, it proved successful. We began by pulling out the old roost, which was nailed against the wall, and then whitewashed the walls and nests. We poured some kerosene on the cracks around the nests. The kerosene will run along the cracks and kill all the lice It gets on. The floor w-as covered with sand. We then put up a hanging roost by taking some lath and nailing one end to the gelling and fastened another lath that is to be used as the roost to the other end with a wire. After yon have the roost up, dust tbe chickens with powder to destroy the lice that are on them. This banging roost Is very Important. Have It far enough away from the walls so that the chickens, when on It, will not touch the walls, and do not let any chickens roost on the neat or anywhere else. The red lice do not breed on the chickens, as the large gray or white lice do. They lay their eggs In the cracks around the roost and nests. Most of them leave the chickens In the morning and go on them again at night. In this way you can quickly get rid of all the red lice. Even if you only make the roost you can get rid of the lice, for they cannot get on the chickens at night. But It will take two or three months before they will all starve, for they live on one another. If the coop Is full of red lice the chickens look sickly. Do not set any hens in places where there are red, jlee. Mote them after dark to a nest where you wish them to set. They generally set well this way If ybtj keep the nest dark for a day or twd. The large gray or white lice never leave the hens. Dusting with powder is about as good as anything to kill them. —Miss Matilda M. Sharbaugh.

Soil Mulching. . The soil is protected by mulching, not only because mulching assists in retaining moisture by preventing evaporation, but also because the covering supplies moisture In dry seasons by capillary attraction of the soil, which gradually brings up moisture at a time when It is’ most needed. There are many conflicting opinions and theories regarding the effects of mulching, although many of the difficulties may be traced to the materials used for the purpose. In Its consideration some of the leading horticulturists maintain that dry earth Is the proper material of nse, It being cheap and more easily applied. If the material used be manure, the labor of spreading and removing It Is often greater, than the value of the crop. A coating two Inches upon one acre amounts to about 800 loads, which may cost from $25 to SSO In labor alone, and this sum Is still further Increased If 'the manure la worked Into the soli, while coarser material, such ns straw, leaves and cornstalks, must be applied and afterward entirely removed In order to allow of cultivation. It Is claimed In favor of dry earth that It Is an excellent nonconductor and holds between ita particles a large volume of air, which not only prevents an attack of frost to a certain extent, but retards loss of moisture and beat. Every rain, however, compacts the covering of earth, forces out the air and lessens the utility of the earth as a mulch. To avoid this, the farmer must resort to frequent cultivation by stirring up tho soil. If Is due 16 Its service as a mulch that dry earth Is capable of mitigating the effects of drought by being frequently loosened by a cultivator, and for a long time this fact. In connection with cultivation, was not properly considered ; but the value of cultivation la due to the entrance of air Into the soil, which Is not only of Itself a mulch, bat assists In hastening chemical action and the preparation of plant food, while the constant working of the soil destroys weeds that would deprive thn growing plants of food and moisture.