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: The Corn Crop.
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T. H. Mason , in an address to
farmers' institute workers , said : Any
, n. of our ordinary soils will grow corn
i' successfully , except very bard clays ,
that are deficient in humus. More
over , it is a gross feeder , and will
make use of a liberal quantity of
manure. Corn should bo the clearing
up crop of the rotation , but as it 1s
verJ often handled it is the dirtiest
crop. If the land is full of weed
seeds , liberally manured , and cultlva-
tion stopped when the corn is a
couple of feet high , we get a great
. quantity of weeds and a small crop
of corn.
to Two system or cultivation are com
mOlly practised in the corn belt. One
t is to plow very late in the fall , ma-
: nure in the winter and spring , then
gang plow or disc in May , malting a
shallow seed bed. There are two advantages -
vantages gained by following this
-11 plan : ( a ) By the late plowing the cut
WOI"ns are lellIed. Some years these
insects I are very destructive , especial-
: 1- : ; sad. ( b ) The moisture accumu-
' lat.1d by the winter snow and rain
is conserved and held for the , growth
of the crop during the summer-a
very important matter these dry sea-
sons. The other system practised is
to avoid plowing in the faIl. Let the
grass and clover get a good start and
leave the plowing as late as possible ,
say , after the middle of May. Then
put on full force and plow as quickly
as possible about four and one-half
inches deep and roll down ; then
thoroughly work , to get a good seed
. ; ; bed , and plant as soon as possible.
i This system is very often followed
on very heavy soils , and the advan-
tages claimed are that the soil is ren-
dered more pliable and mellow by the
fermentation of the green stuff and
roots turned under , and that it does
I not become heavy and sodden , as it
sometimes does when plowed in the .
. fall.
Planting in hills has several important -
im-I
portant advantages over the drills :
(1) ( ) The crop of grain is a little 1 I
larger. (2) ( ) There is better exposure
to the sun , and a freer circulation of
air , thus hastening maturity , and giving
ing better quality. (3) ( ) There is a
decided advantage in cutting where
corn binder is used. (4) ( ) Last and
. greatest , a much more thorough cult -
t tivation can be given , 'cleaning the
land with the least expense and do-
ing away almost entirely with hand
cultivation. Plant at from 3 feet 6
inches to 4 feet each way , according
to variety. As soon as planted , if
land is in suitable shape , harrow
thoroughly , and give a stroke of the
harrow every two or three days until
corn is up , then start the weeder ,
f and do not bo horrified if i it does
coyer up some corn and tear out a
( few plants. You will never miss them
at harvest time. Keep we.oder going
u:1til corn is one and one - half feet
high , then cultivate deeply at first ,
but very shallow later , as long as you
can possibly get through without too
much damage. Do not cultivate more
than two inches deep after corn is
three feet high , or you will destroy
" . the shallow feeding roots and injure
. .hthe crop. When you have nothing
t
else to do , cultivate corn. One of our
oldest and most successful corn - grow .
ers told me that he counted a boy
and horse worth at least $2 per day
in the corn field.
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Potato Fertilizer.
Most of our farmers in the West are
not in the habit of using any kind of
fertilizer for their potato field except
such as is made on the farm. Yet
more and more commercial fertilizers
are coming to be used. ' It Is , there'
fore , advisable to consider a few
poInts on the requirements of potatoes
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as to fertilizers. The potato crop runs
all the way from nothing to 600 bush-
els per acre , though the latter figure
is very unusual. It is assumed that
a crop of. 300 bushels is about as large
II one as' we can hope to raise per
acro. A crop of that magnitude will
remove from the soil about 55 pounds
of nitrogen , 25 pounds of phosphoric
acid and 85 pounds of potash. It Is
certain that the potato does best In a
soil well supplied with all kinds of
plant food. If we try to put back only
the amount of plant food the potato is
likely to yield wo will be unable to
place all of it where the roots of the
plants w111 get it ; for the reason that
all of the ground may not he fed over
by the plants and there is also much
fertlllty locked up in the clods that
exist on every clayey soil. Then , too ,
the weeds that get a good start of the
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crop , when they are allowed to do so ,
\ take up.1llh. of the available plant
: up . 1l\lh. . t.he. .av.ailable.
food and loci It up 111 their own lOaves
and stems. Of course It gets back into -
to the soil when the weeds decay , but
that Is months after the fertility has
been taken out of a condition where
it may be reached by the roots of
the potato plants. It is therefore nec-
essary to have much more plant food
within reach than can be figured upon
to enter into the formation of the
crop.
Potatoes need much nitrogen In the
first part of the season when the vines
are making rapid growth. Unless we
have a large amount of foliage we can-
not hope to have good-sized tubers ;
for the material that is to form the
tubers must be elaborated in the
leaves and stems of the plants them-
selves. Not only must there be much
nitrogen in the soil , but it must bo in
a water soluble form. Plants do not
cat , they drink , and they can drink in
the nitrogen only when it Is soluble
After the leaves and the stems have
made their growth the demand is for
phosphoric acid and potash. The
farmer that does not know the an
alysis of his soils but feels that he
needs to put on some commercial fertilizer .
tilizer should select one that carries
about 3 per cent of nitrogen , 5 per
cent of phosphorIc acid and 4 per cent
of IJotash. It has been found that the
potato does best wIth an abundant
supply of phosphorIc acid even far in
excess of the amount removed by the
crop.
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Interest In Alfalfa.
The interest in alfalfa seems always
on the incrense. Ten years ago the
farmers of Kansas were discussing
whether or not they could grow this
crop , while now the same discussion
is being carried on in the states far to
the cast and north. Alfalfa was first
introduced into this country by the
monks who settled on the coast of
California in the early part of the
last century. They doubtless brought
it from South America , where it had
been grown for at least 100 years be-
fore Its Introduction into California.
It is claimed that It worked Its way
eastward overland , but this may be
doubted to some extent , as It is certain -
tain that it was grown In the Southern - I
ern Atlantic states a generation ago , I
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in a tentative way. But that most of
the spread has been from the California .
fornia fields seems certain , the plantations -
tations fallowing the lines of railway
over the mountains and through the
arid deserts of ArIzona and Now Mox-
ico. It has now become the great
hay crop of the semi . arid region.
Alfalfa was looked upon as a plant
adapted to the dry sunny climates II I
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only , but It is now coming to be con I
sidered a cosmopolitan plant of great
range of growth. It is certain that
where It has been grown ill large
quantities it has enormously increased
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the productivity of the land and In.
creased the number of live stacIe that
can be carried on each acre. The
ranchmen of the West are now using
immense quantities of alfalfa in , the
winter feeding of stock being pre
pared for marlmt.
A separator should be washed : every
time it Is used. The advice of some
separator agents to the contrary helps
to bring separators Into dlsreputo.
LIME STOCK
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Waste of Grain In Feeding.
That AmerIcans waste grain in
feeding will bo a statement readily
accepted by most men that know any
thing about our methods of fattening
steors. 'Vo have but to compare our
methods with those of the beef malc
ers on the other side of the Atlantic
to be convinced that for generations
we have been feeding to our steers
altogether , too much grain , when
viewed from the economic standpoint.
'fo be sure wo try to save some of
this grain and do save some of It by
having hogs follow the cattle , but even
then the waste is enormous In a
great many instances cattle are not
followed by hogs at all and , in other
cases disease comes and takes 00 : the
hogs. In still others , the number
of hogs following the steers is entire
ly inadequate to pick up the corn that
passes through the steers undigested.
It has been the practice in the so
called corn belt to feed the steers all
the corn they could eat without regard -
gard to their requirements. The grain
was shoveled In , and the steers usu
ally had enough and to sare. } In
other cases it was thrown out into the
feed lot , and what the steer did not
eat was trampled under foot. On investigation -
yestigation , it is found that our stock-
men have been feeding from 20 to 25
pounds of corn per day , and in some
cases this amount has reached 30 and
even 35 pounds. Think of it , half a
bushel or corn fed each steer per
day !
Across the water ten pounds or
corn per day is regarded a very heavy
ration , and more often the amount is
between G and 8 pounds. Yet who
ever found fault with the quality of
BrItish beef when produced on the
frames of the beef breeds ? It is evident -
dent that our farmers should greatly
reduce the amount of grain feed , and
with our most progressive feeders this
is being done. The rising price or
corn has called attention to the mat-
ter as nothing else could have done.
Wo have passed out of the era of 10-
cent corn , and can no longer afford to
feed more than is necessar ' . It is altogether -
together probable that the usual ration
can be reduced one-half without the
quality of beef suffering , provided the
rest of-the ration is succulent. With
the use of silage and alfalfa it is now
possible to do this. Had the corn
been saved that has been wasted In
the last few years , our farming com-
munittes would not have run short of
corn two years ago and been corn-
polled to send their cattle to market ]
in a half-fat condition.
Whitewash for Stables.
Whitewash is a most important arti-
clo in the keeping clean of the stables
A coat costs so little that it may be
given jrequently. Probably the best I
kind to use is that employed by the I
United States government. That It' '
will stick is obvious from the fact that
it is used on all the lighthouses , where
it iA constantly exposed to the rain
and spray of t J waves. The formula
for malting this is as follows : Slack
about ono.half bushel of unslncked
lime with boiling water , keeping It
covered during the process. Strain It
and add one peck of salt dissolved In
warm water ; three pounds of ground
rice put in boiling water and boiled to
a thin paste ; one.half pound Spanish
whiting , and one pound clear glue dis-
nolved in warm water. Mix these
well together and let the mixture
utand for several days. Keep the wash
thus prepared in a kettle or portable
\urnace , and when used put It on as
hot as possible. This will answer for
either wood , brick or stone , and keeps
its luster for a long time.
It Is a mistake o assume that grain
runs out. It It does It la because it Is
not properly selected. Running out so-
called Is frequently the resuh ot deterioration -
terioration of the land.
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Buying Cheese Milk by Test.
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Many of the cheese factories are
now purchasing their milk by the
Babcock test , and all should come to
that point. The old system Is fruitful
or fraud. When a man has to brIng
to the factory only so much milk by
weight there is every Inducement to
add water to It or to take Homo of the
cream from It. If ho is too honest to
do that , the thing that naturally ap-
peals to his reason Is that ho should
buy and breed up cows that give a.
large amount of milk without regard
to the fat such milk contains. All
this is based on the old idea that rich
mUle was different from poor milk
only in the amount or butterfat It con
tained. But this has boon demon-
strated to bo a mistake. Rich mille
is not only rich In butterfat , but is
also rIch In solids , and the solids are
in somewhat regular proportion to the
fat. Professor E. H. FarrIngton says
that for every pound of butterfat contained -
tamed in a hundred pounds of milk
2.6 pounds of cheese can bo made.
Tints , mill ; : with three per cent fat in
It would make cheese that would
weigh 7.8 pounds , while if the butterfat -
fat amounted to four pounds In 100
pounds of milk , that Is , was what wo
call 4 per cent milk , the amount or
cheese mndo would bo 10.4 pounds.
Professor FarrIngton Is an export In
these matters and his figures are prob-
ably as accurate as can be obtained.
They demonstrate the advisability of
buying by the test even for cheese
malting. Moreover this encourages the
increase of the amount of fat in tIll
milk and this is advisable , as the richer -
or the cheese the bettor the quality , .
other things being equal.
National Filled Cheese Law
A dozen years ago the men that
were making tIlled cheese had so far
destroyed the reputation of our cheese
that wo tt ere no longer able to hold
the trade we had with Great BrItain.
Tire Canadians , with their prohibitive
laws respecting the malting of filled
cheese , took the English market from
us.f'hat started the Americans to
demanding a national law regulating
time manufacture of filled cheese , and
the law aslwd for was IJassed. It so
greatly restricted the malting of filled
cheese and its sale in our markets
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that filled cheese almost instantly became -
came a thing of the past , and now
most of the consumers of cheese in
this country would not know the
meaning of the words "fillod cheese. "
But since the passage of the law the
makers of this kind of product have
found a ready market for the stuff in
England and have continued to send
It thithor. As soon as the AmerIcan
public found out that they did not
have to buy filled cheese under some
other name thor stopped buying it at
all.
Some time ago the manufacturers
of filled cheese in Illinois brought suit
against the government to recover a
large sum of money that has been
paid to the revenue officials , the manufacturers -
ufacturers claiming that the law was
unconstitutional. The lawyers of the
filled cheese makers claimed that the
payment of one cent per pound was a
violation of the provision of the fed-
oral constitution that prevented the
imposition of an export tax. After a
long consideration of the matter , the
Supreme Court of the United States
has handed down a decision to the
effect that the tax ! is legal.
It Is well to leave the cover of the
can ajar while the milk is cooling ,
provided the air around the can is
pure ; but if it Is foul the cover should
bo kept on Ught.
If a man does not want to take
time to wash his cows before they .
arc milked , rubbing the udders with
a damp cloth will do some good , and
is not a time - wasting oY'leratfon.
