Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1907 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

Spinach for Hnrliei. -—Burly sown spinach should be ready to cut In October. Watch the market -Ami rush It in. A heavy freeze “will' iruln the growth already made. — 1 The Collard. ~’ T ’~ „ - The southern collard Is the surest -and safest vegetable product known to the gardener, and there is a market Xcr collards In every town containing -business men who were country boys.— r Texas Fnrtr and Ranch. Tickle Grass. The stand of wild barley, or tickle .grass, as it is sometimes called, Is fully up to If not better than the stand last season, says a farmer In lowa Homestead. The acreage has increas•ed, and no doubt there will be many tickled people when the crop is harvested. Women and Dairy Work. The lady manager of a dairy makes a point of getting her milk only from farms that are under medical’ supervision, and carried on exactly as they would be were they directly supervised by her. Then the vital part of preparing the milk for delivery to the public she Is able to give her undivided attention. And one can be quite sure that Instead of the pernicious system of adding drugs to it to make It keep in hot weather, she will use the infinitely more hygienic, If more troublesome, method of pasteurizing it.—Woman’s Life. Two Fine Strawberries. One of the best of the newer strawberries is the Senator Dunlap, says an 'Ohio man in American Cultivator. It Is a very early kind and keeps in bearing long enough to be classed also as a midseason variety. It is as reliable and productive as the Haverland and has a good color and pleasant flavor. The Dunlap and a good late kind like the Granville make a fine team for tn; strawberry grower. An important practical point is to put on straw ■enough for mulch and winter, protectkn to last until the bearing season keep“the berries-dean.

Succeaa of Khnrkol. About four years ago the Depart•ment of Agriculture began a systematic distribution of the Kliarkof wheat, and extensive trials of this variety in cooperation with the State experiment stations. It 1* the hardiest winter -wheat yet grown In this country and Is now thoroughly established. JBy Its use the area in which winter wheat can be successfully cultivated "has been much extended to the northward and westward, particularly in Nebraska and lowa, while a considerable amount Is now grown in South Dakota and Southern Minnesota. It will be •conservative to state that, wherever this wheat has been Introduced, the yield per acre Is being Increased on an .average of five bushels.

Horae and Dob Meat. In 1906 there were slaughtered for food in the Kingdom of Saxony 12,922 horses nnd 3,736 dogs. This was an Increase of 224 horses and 133 dogs over the year 1905. In the whole empire In 1906, according to the Southern Farm Magazine, there were slaughtered for food 182,000 horses, and it la estimated that about 7,000 dogs go Into food in the empire annually. "Horseflesh is very generally advertised in the German newspapers,' esjwrially in those of the large Industrial centers.” says United States Consul Ifft, "and most German cities have at least one market which makes it a specialty. claiming for it a higher percentage of nouftnhment than that of either beef. veal, mutton or pork. *• Neither Is It unusual to find advertisements of dog meat or for the purchase of dogs for slaughter. Nor is it passible to rend the German newspapers for any length of time without coming to the conclusion that a great tnasy dogs are killed and eaten that do not give up their lives under official Inspection. \ “News Items detailing the arrest, trial, conviction and punishment by •fine or Imprisonment of men charged with killing and eating dogs that belonged to others, sometimes valuable animals or cherished household pets, are not Infrequent.”

nitter Milk. Abnormal flavors (n milk anil milk products may tic due to n number of -causes, as It Is well known that certain weeds eaten by cows Impart a characteristic flavor to the n.ilk. Wild oulon •or garlic Is a noticeable Instance. A recent bulletin of the Ontario Experiment Station gives some Interesting observations on hittci* milk. In this case, however, the bitter flavor was canned by a form of yeast rather than by bacteria. Numerous cheese factories Is Ontario were annoyed by the

development of a bitter flavor in milk and curd. From a sample of such curd a yeast-like micro-organism designated Torula amara, or bitter torula, was isolated. This yeast, when separated from all other micro-orgahlsms and added to milk which had been rendered sterile by heat, produced the characteristic bitter flavor. Cultures of the torula were added to milk, and the cheese and butter manufactured from it also possessed the bitter taste. In preventing such troubles as bitter milk, proper care of the milk is essential. Milk cans and all other uten-sils-should be thoroughly washed and sterilized by heat, the milking should

be done under the most favorable conditions for lessening contamination, the milk should be-cooled promptly, and guarded as carefully as possible from all known sources of Infection. A Farmers’ bulletin of the Department of Agriculture contains suggestions for the care and handling of milk which, if followed, may be expected to lessen or prevent such troubles as arise from the growth of undesirable forms of micro-organisms in milk. This bulletin may be had free on .application to the department at Washington. The Art of Plowing;. There is an art in plowing. In other words, there is a way to do the work and get the best results, and there is a way that will be quite the opposite. On the ground that does not need furrows for drainage, plow from the center, and to the center alternately, and in this way keep the field free from furrows and ridges, especially at the corners. S. B. Hartman, an experienced farmer, says he has seen fields having the soil so plowed away along the lines running from center of field to outside cornel’s by continually throwing furrows toward the outside of the field, that crops would hardly grow on a strip 8 or 10 feet wide, while much good soil was piled in a ridge along the fences where little use could be made of it except to grow briars and weeds. Starting the field in the center a few times will correct this. Some attempt to correct the ridges along the fences by plowing lands along each side. This throws the furrow from the fence, but creates a ridge along the back furrow and does not fill the low places at the comers.

By doing a little measuring before starting to plow, and occasionally while the plowing is in progress to see that all sides and corners are kept equal distances from the fence, almost any shape of lot can be plowed from the center. The furrows left from the last plowing will also help in plowing from the center. It is better to plow rather shallow In case the soil is dry, in the spring, than to plow deeper, say 7 or 8 inches. But it is best not to turn up too much subsoil excepting where It is intended to fertilize heavily, or where it is intended to get the surface soil deeper than that already on the field. Plowing is not so simple an operation as would appear, and It is surprising how few fanners are really good plowmen..

Winter-Made Bntter. You cannot produce flrst-clasg winter butter unless you chum often. To churn every other day js better than once in three days, while to put it off to every fourth day is execrable practice. And yet a vast amount of butter manufactured on the latter plan is marketed every winter, much to the disgust of the dairy trade. It Is found primarily in country stores, where it has been exchanged by small dairymen at a second-rate price for groceries. i JThe tradesmen ship It In lots to the city market, where all the way through, whether it ends in the larder of a baker or on the table of the poor workingman. It Is classed as Inferior and sells for a low price. And yet the original material from which this butter was made was as good as that which is employed In turning out the 25 and 30-cent article. The inferiority of quality and consequent loss to dairymen follows, because they Ignore the right principles of butter making. Suppose that a farmer, after raising a fine crop of potatoes and digging them, should allow the tubers to lie a day or two in the sun before storing them in the root cellars. Could he expect to sell the green, bitter vegetables for full market quotations? Certainly not, and even the most obtuse are thoroughly well aware of this fact

And yet, those who use common sense in this respect, with Inconceivable folly, will spoil good cream and butter by wanton neglect, as outlined above. It Is pretty costly neglect, too, as It forfeits from 8 to 10 cents on every pound of Inferior butter. This could all be obviated by churning cream when It* is fresh and pure, l. e, slightly matured, but not blttefT and manufacturing It Into batter according to modern principles. Cream should all be seep red, from the milk In at least twenty-four hours, ,and churned within the next twentyfour v This can be done usually by keeping it at a temperature of between 00 and TO degrees. It is where cream la kept at near 40'degrees, and for several days,' that It develops that bitter flavor ruinous to butter quality.— George XL Newell.