Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1907 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

The prime object of cultivation is to render the soil loose and light. Farm implements should be clean when . put into winter quarters, and etored where rust will not corrupt. ; The good dairy cow in the hands of •the intelligent cowkeeper will pay the mortgage quicker than any branch of •farming. In the egg business a hen is profitable for two years only. She is a treasure as a pullet and good value as a yearling. Feeding fowls well with a variety of food is quite essential to egg production, but no amount of good feeding will compensate for bad quarters. The right quantity to be fed for the cheapest productions of flesh or milk and the maintenance of health of the •animals is the quantity they will eat tip clean every time. Corn stalks are valuable fodder for -sheep and If they are cut green and properly cured and then put through the shredder, there should be but little waste, says the Farm Journal. You “can’t have eggs without giving feed, and If food Is wholesome, give all they will eat readily. Some evenings there will-be more required than others, so no fixed amount can be settled upon. A very common cause for soft-shelled •eggs Is overfatness. When one hen persistently lays soft-shelled eggs It is best to kill and eat her; otherwise the flock may take lip the vice of egg-eat-ing.

Soils poorly drained, and so long bolding stagnant water, often In this ■way damage and finally destroy recta, thus causing the plants to Plants suffer for want of oxygen when the air cannot get to their roots. — z As a rule .birds molt later every year :so that if a hen changes her feathers •early in the autumn, it may be taken for granted that she was hatched the year previous. Again fowls get lighter in color as their years Increase. A wool grower sending wool to ma\ •het in a heavy, dirty condition, leaving anything in the fleece to make more weight, and expecting to get more money, is greatly mistaken. Buyers •estimate the value of the clip by the net yield of clean w’ool. The amount of cut bone to be fed to fowls depends on the variety of oth•er foods given and the range. Once or •twice a week Is enough in'summer and fall while the range Is good. Sometimes it is not needed at all on range. ‘Twice a week is usually enough even in the winter, and never more than three times a week. With horses continuing at high tprlces and the disposition on the part of big business houses In cities that •use teams to get matcred ones,it win pay to- raise heavyweight matched teams of any of the best breeds. Per—cherons, Belgians and Siiffolks are popular with men who want solid built, stocky teams of heavy weight. The fast walking horse is made in ■breaking the colt. He usually wants to tgo too fast and Is held down until he •comes to believe that his gait Is to be dragging walk. If the colt Is trained to walk up briskly but not trot; If he Is never allowed to trot until he is thoroughly trained to walk as fast as he can without trotting, there will be •no trouble about his walking In after life. Determining the Age of Sheep. It Is a very easy matter to tell the «ge of a sheep when once one knows how. This can be done fairly accurately by examining their teeth. Of •course, the care and management and feed modify things to soma extent, but until the sheep Is 5 years old its age •can be .very nearly estimated. At or near the age of 1 year the two middle permanent Incisors appear. These can be distinguished frpm the lamb teeth by their shape and size, the lamb teeth being smaller w..h narrower crowna At 2 years of age. or thereabouts, the ■second pair, one tooth on each side of the first pair, comes In. At 3 years of age the third pair, one tooth on each aide of the second pair, appear; and when the sheep is 4 years old It has a Tull mouth of teeth, four pairs of incisors. It Is needless to say that the ■sheep does not have incisors, front teeth, In the upper jaw. When a sheep "has a full iffouth It Is safe to say that It Is at least 4 or 5 years of age, after which Its age can only be guessed. i Neat Bojtea. In constructing nest boxes there are several poinTs that should be kept constantly In mind, writes a poultryman. 1. The box should be of such a dorm that It can be readily 'toms! and

thoroughly disinfected. If It is movable so that it canbe taken out of doors so much the better. 2. It should be placed in a dark place, or where there Is only just sufficient light for the fowl to distinguish the nest and nest egg. . 3. There should be plenty of room on two or three sides of the nest It is a well-known fact that some hens, no matter how many vacant nests may be available, will persist in going on to a nest "already occupied. If the nest is so placed that it can be approached only from one side, when one hen is driving another from the nest there is likely to be more or less of a combat, the result of which Is often a broken egg. This, perhaps, more one -thing, leads .ta_.the„vice of . To the writer’s knowledge thehablt of egg-eating is not contracted where the nests are placed in the dark and open on two or three sides. Good Food for the Chickens. The poultry department of the Coi> nectlcut Agricultural College, managed by Professor C. K. Graham, finds 4 very successful soft food Is made up of 35 per Cent cornmeal, 30 per cent ground oats, Including hulls, 25 per cent low-grade flour, and the balance of bran. It is mixed with ckim milk to a soft dough and fed as much as will be eaten up quickly. When skim milk cannot_.be had, beef scraps and water are used, but with less satisfactory results. To get a good grade of oa t feed, Professor Graham finds it desirable to buy whole oats, and take themto the mill to-be ground, thus avoiding the excess of hulls which are found in most of the boughten feeds. Regularity in feeding, he finds, more important than commonly believed. Birds, like people, he finds, soon learn to look for meals at 'certaln hours, and thrive better if fed at the regular time. This food Is of special value in flnlsh--iDg chickens for market, causing them to put on a very fiue quality of texture of flesh desirable for the choice prlvate trade. Where the result is merely to produce most weight without regard to texture, he considers It doubtful whether any grain will give result? equal to whole corn.

Function of Salt. The Wisconsin State Experiment Station tested the effect of salt on cattle4ind.otliei- clf>mestic animals Dry cows, Doctor Babcock, of that station, found, required about three-fourths of an ounce of salt dally for maintaining their best condition, 'and a cow giving milk requires a great deal more salt than one that Is not producing milk, and it is estimated that such a - cow have, in addition to the amount a£chl<*rine in her ration, about one -ounbe of salt per day, while a very heavy milker may need still more. The function of salt in the animal economy Is pot fully known, but it Is accepted that it aids In facilitating the albuminoids of the food in passing from the digestive canal into the blood. Salt also increases circulation of the juices in the body and stimulates the ■animal to greater activity. Thus a horse at hard labor requires more salt than one not at work, and for the same reason a cow producing a large amount of milk requires more salt than one that is dry. The amount of salt required by an animal also depends to some extent upon the character of the food consumed. Such foods as potatoes, root crops and small grains are rich in potassium salts, which Increase the secretion of sodium salts (common salt) In the urine, and hence the necessity of supplying move salt when foods of that kind are used to a large extent

"Vo Measure Corn in Crib. It is usual to calculate a bushel oi ear corn in the crip as two and onehalf cubic feet in volume. In Professor C. S. Plumb’s book ou "Indian Com Culture,” he gives this rule for measuring corn in the crib: “Multiply the length, breadth and height of the crib together |n feet to obtain the cubic feet of space It contains. Multiply this product by 4, strike off the right-hand figure, and the result will be the number of shelled bushels.” It will be observed that this rule really figures two and one-half cubic feet of the ear com as equal to a bushel, says A. M. Ten Eyck In Kansas bulletin 147 on “Indian Corn.” It is only approximately correct to calculate the number of bushels of com In the crib In this way. If the corn is dry and sound, It will usually pay the seller to weigh the corn rather than to sell it by measure. If the corn is shelled, fifty-six pounds Is a legal 4 bushel, but with ear’com th# weights figured for a bushel vary according to the dryness of the com. It lB usual to allow seventy pounds of ears for a bushel of shelled com if the corn is dry and sound, but when husked and hauled from the field com often contains a high percentage of moisture, and the weight required for a bushel often varies, at husking time and during the fall and early winter from seventy-five to eighty or ninety pounds. Doubtless, also. If new com is sold in the crib by measure It would be fair to allow 5 to 10 per ceut greater volume for the measured bushel, say two and five-eights to two and thrwiauarter cubic feet