Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1908 — FARM AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM AND GARDEN

If the boy Is mechanically Inclined oee that he has good tools to work with. The practice of wintering over stock has kept many a man poor. It’s a poor policy to keep over inferior stuff. Having an extra lantern globe on hand will sometimes save any one the trouble of stumbling around in the dark doing chores. A change In feed Is more than apt to afTect the milk giving of the cow. However wise the change it Is apt to reduce the flow until the cow gets thoroughly accustomed to the new ration. Owing to the high price of feed and the comparatively low price of hogs the Inexperienced feeder is liable to go out of the hog raising business only to buy brood sows at a rise when conditions are righted. One’s dignity does not depend on the profession he follows. No one can tell ,me that dignity cannot be surrounded by a wire fence or a willow hedge as well as by a stone or granite wall, or a bank cage railing. * c With all the talk about corn Improvement that is going on dally over the platform and through the press, It is said that to the two billion bushels grown in 1900 there has been added an Increase of only forty million bushels in the last six years. The figures seem a trifle sarcastic.

Sleighing is productive of more colds and pneumonia among horses than anything else, unless your horse is hardened up for It be careful about driving too fast. A speed clip against a cold wind Is dangerous. It Is better to let the other fellow beat you to town a few minutes than to hurt your horse trying to outdrive him.

In Colorado the State statute provides that all cheese shall be marked with a stencil brand that the purchaser may tell whether It Is a cream or skimmed milk product. Cheese which has over thirty-five per cent butter fat In its composition may be labeled cream cheese, while that which contains less than thirty-five per cent is skimmed milk cheese, but the law is Ignored. Everybody wants country boys. If you don’t Relieve It, stop to think of how often you have seen advertisements calling for this great resource of the country. Uncle Sam wants them. The telegraph college and business school wants them. The big corporation is constantly In the market for them. Still the farm needs them the worst, yet Is doing the least to hold than.

Slopping hogs In winter Is not altogether a joke. You have to feed carefully or the troughs get terribly bunged up. Your hogs may be going after their slop vigorously and cleaning everything up when a cold, stormy time will put tbelr appetites out of business. The next time you feed yon may discover that the troughs are heaping to start with. All In all, the weather haa a good deal to do with one’s feeding methods.

Movable Heahouae. Here in Newport County, R. 1., the most successful ben men bouse their birds In small movable buildings. We have learned by experience to build small, cheap bouses of cull lumber on skids. Place them 25 to 50 feet apart In rows, and move them as often as need be a few feet on to clean ground, says a writer In Rural New Yorker. The grass and weeds will spring up and purify the ground long before It will be time ttr cover It again. Cement blocks may be cheap for a permanent building, but I can see but Xew situations where it would be best to use them for henhouses. The Feedlas of Dobs. “No dog kept indoors, and, indeed, very few outside, should be fed on 1 meat; nor should be be fed from the table at meal times, as he will soon become a nuisance, especially when there are visitors. If he Is always fed at the conclusion of a certain meal — dinner, for Instance—he will wait patiently until the prescribed time. It Is a good plan to feed after one’s mid-day , meal, giving plenty of green vegetables, braid and potatoes, with a very few scraps of finely cut meat, the whole well mixed and some gravy poured over it If two meals are given, one should be at breakfast time and one ta the evening. One should consist of only a little oatmeal and milk, or a piece of dry dog biacult. v “At no time should the dog hare more than he will eat, and If be leaves anything on bis plate except the pattern, his allowance should be reduced or a meal omitted.” —Suburban Life Winter Varssf. ' ~~ v The question of winter forage and pasturage Is one of the greatest Importance in the Southern States, and Carletrtn R. Bail, of tb« Bureau of Plant industry, was sent by the Do-

partment of Agriculture early In .the past year to make an investigation in several of the Gulf States. In his report Mr. Ball says, amongst other things: "The production of Southern hay has been a question long under discussion. The amount produced and the yield per acre have both Increased steadily and encouragingly- during the laßt few years. On every hand It Is admitted that it Is both possible and necessary to raise all that is needed for home consumption. Alfalfa, Bermuda grass, Johnson grass, crab grass and cowpeas furnish an abundance of hay of the very beat quality. This hay can be produced much more cheaply than an equal quality can be shipped In from Northern and Western States. With better transportation facilities and an Increasing demand, the production will become more and more profitable. At the same time, with hay raised on the home plantations, and hence cheaply" and readily available, larger quantities are being used In feeding the plantation stock.”

Crops of 1007. Despite the fact that the cereal crop yield of the United States for 1907 la itelow that of the previous year, the money return on the 1907 crops promises to equal, If not exceed, that of 1906. This statement is contained in a bulletin issued by Bradstreet’s: “Owing to the very cold and backward spring season, only hay, sugar and rice crops promise greater yields than those of last year. The bulletin says in part: “While the aggregate cereal yield, six crops being Included, Is 15 per cent smaller than a year ago, a counterbalance to the falling off in crop production is found In the generally higher level of prices of the leading cereals, guaranteeing that the producer at least will derive some compensation alike from the smaller’yields, the amount of the old or 1906 erops left over, and the Improved exp<4pinquiry, particularly for our wheat and flour, caused by less satisfactory harvests abroad. The price of wheat last week was 22 per cent higher than a year ago, while corn was 18 per cent higher. From this It may be gathered that'the present money returns on these crops is better than at the outset of the cereal year, and the prospects are that taken as a whole, this year’s cereal crops will yield fully as touch, If not more, than they did a year ago. “Following Is an estimate of the yields of the leading crops for 1907, showing the per cent gain or loss from 1906:

Per cent gatnorloM yields. from 1900. Corn, bo 2,553,732,000 Dec. 12.7 Winter wheat, bu.. 409,500,000 Dec. 17.0 Spring wheat, bu... 216,007,000 Dec. 10.7 Total wheat, bu... 023,567,000 Dec. 14.9 Oats, bushels 741,521,000 Dec. 23.1 Barley, bushels ... 147,192,000 Dec. 17.4 Rye, bu 31,560,000 Dec. 5.4 Buckwheat, bo. ... 13,911,000 Dec. 4.0 Total, six leading cereals 4,113,489.000 Dec. 13.5 Flaxseed, bu. 25,420,000 Dec. .2 Potatoes, bu. ..... 292,427,000 Dec. 5.2 Tobacco, lba. 045.210,000 Dec. 5.4 Hay, tons 60,706,000 Inc. 5.4 Bice, bu. TV. 21,412,000 Inc. 20.2 Sugar, tons 1,387,000 lac. 9.0 Cotton, bales ..... 11,500,000 Dec. A 0

A Simple W my te Hslce Cfceeee. The making of cheese is a very simple process, and almost any one can turn out a good article with little practice. I will give a method by which any one con make cheSe successfully. Take evening’s milk and strain it into some dean vessel and let it stand cool place until morning. Evening’s milk should be warmed to about 96 degrees before adding morning's milk. A good way to warm It Is to set a pall of boiling water into the milk. Prepare the rennet by soaking in one gallon of warm water tor twenty-four hours before using. Add as much salt as it will dissolve, strain, let It settle and it is ready for use.

Use a tableapoonful for each three gallons of milk. If It Is much over half an hour coming Increase the quantity, if much leaa decrease It As soon as it is well curdled take a knife and cut the curd Into blocks so that the whey can escape. As soon as the whey Is mostly out of the curd take a has_k* and place a cloth In It so as to receive the curd. the curd hardens to strain off the whey. Chop rhe curd fine, add salt—l ounce to each five pounds of curd—and it is ready for the press. Put the curd In a tiu hoop made like a peck measure without a bottom. It is a good idea to have two sizes, as the amount of curd will differ at times. Almost any one with a few tools aud a little Ingenuity can construct a press that will answer the purpose very well. A simple way Is to mortise a beam Into a post so that it can work up or down, and hang a weight tflHCpe outer end of the beam. The hoop with the curd In it should be turned or reversed every bright or ten hours. From eighteen to twenty-four hours is generally long enough to press a cheese. Now comes the curing period, which requires considerable care and attention. The cheese when taken from the press should be rubbed with lard and a bandage of new msails pinned loosely around It The cheese must be greased every day. Do not remove tbs’bandage, but apply tbs grease on It In from four to firs weeks the cheese should be reedy for home one or markat. —J. VL Smith.