By M. COVERDELL. Wt
l r 1 "
Breaking Done With Stirring of Stubble Plow.
n While two crops a reason on a piece
of ground will bring double profit,
there is, of course, a corresponding
,! double amount of vitality sapped from
the soil, and the frequent application
of a good fertilizer Is imperative, lest
the ground soon become thin and un-
I producthe.
i In the garden one may utilize for
i second and even third crops the beds
jn which early peas, beans, radishes
aDd lettuce were grown.
The same is true of the early sweet
corn. It is advisable not to plant the
' same article twice in the same spot in
succession, but rotate the products the
I came as in field rotation of crops.
A well prepared seed bed at each
. planting is almost essential, and a
(sprinkling of fine rich manure will
prove very beneficial to the growing
plants and in maintaining 60il fertility.
Sow oats as early as possible in the
! I spring, mow them for hay just a few
I days in advance of the time they would
he reaped for the grain; remove them
from the field as soon as they are suf
! flciently cured, and stack well for fu
i ture feeding purposes.
iii Then put as many teams in the field
as can be spared. Stir the ground
quickly and thoroughly, immediately
I sowing it to millet.
Usually the millet may be mown and
stacked early in September and the
' field hurriedly cultivated and sown to '
rye, which will make excellent fall
pasturage at a time when it is most
needed.
s The wheat or rye fields may be
utilized in the same manner, and be
ing somewhat earlier, are better adapt
ed to growing double crops than the
oats stubble.
The potato patch may be made to
double its profits by sowing it to mil
let, cane or kaflr corn after it has been
laid by. Sowing the ground to some
other product also wields the bene
ficial influence of keeping down the
weed pests which always bob up after
you stop plowing. the potato vines and
which, where unmolested, furnish mil
lions of seeds for propagating a rank
and troublesome growth of weeds the
next seabon, besides helping to drain
the soil of its fertility.
Or if one will dig the potatoes from
the early patch they will bring a high
price at that season, and the ground
may be sown to rape for hog pasture.
Late tomatoes, cabbages and turnips
also may be raised among the potato
vines as successfully as though they
occupied a plot by themselves.
CONVENIENT WAY TO SCALD
TOMATOES
It is a common practise to put to
matoes in a vessel of scalding water
and leave them until the skins may be
removed, then fish them out with a
fork. A better practise is to put the
fruit in a wire basket, which may be
contrived of poultry netting, if noth
ing else Is at hand, suspend the basket
in scalding water till the skin will slip
on the tomatoes, then remove and im
merse in cold water, then the skin
may be removed without burning the
i hands or mashing the fruit.
w Common Sense mmm
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the Prize Berkshire Hog.
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ri We do not believe In dosing hogs
rh0 with medicine except in serious cases.
Give plenty of range, clean pens,
clean feed, clean water and the hog
jr. will as a rule take care of itself.
p Beware of the sway-back pig, no
in? matter If all the other points are good.
Any man who persistently breeds
his gilts too young will find the quality
of his breed steadily deteriorating.
A sow that suckles a big litter of
10
hungry pigs needs a great deal of
nourishing feed, but some farmers
never seem to learn that fact.
Select your brood pigs from the
largest litters, as they are generally
better breeders and better feeders.
Mange is mainly caused by filth in
the sleeping quarters.
When the green corn comes along a
little later, do not stuff young plge
all they will eat or thumps will be the
result.
"I
A Fine Specimen.
TIME TO SELECT SEED PO
TATOES. By M. A. COVERDELL.
Don't wait until potato-digging time
to select your seed potatoes don't
wait even until the vines are dead. If
you do you are as liable to pick out
large potatoes from a small, undevel
oped hill as you are from a thrifty one.
Right now, while the vines are In
full bloom and show which are vigor
ous and productive, la the time for
marking the hills you will dig later for
seed. Small sticks driven beside the
choice hills serve this purpose very
well.
This insures seed that will propa
gate sturdy plants next season. And
remember, both large and Bmall pota
toes from a strong hill may be plant
ed; but any size, either small or large
from a puny hill never!
Use the same care and judgment in
the selection of your seed potatoes
that you do in selecting other seeds
and you will find it a little time very
profitably spent.
FLOATING FEATHERS
It Is odd the strange markings we
get when crossing most of the varie
ties of fow ls known. Crossing the male
of one breed with the hens of another
has. In every instance I have known,
produce a differently marked chick
from that of the chicks produced by
crossing the hens of -the first breed
with the males of the second. For in
stance, crossing a Barred rock male
with a hen of a certain game breed,
you get all barred chicks, but cross
the rooster of this game breed to
Barred Rock hens, and you get all
black. Sometimes in crossing one of
our other common breeds with that
of another will produce penciled fowls
If the rooster of first breed 1b mated
with second, and spotted rooster of
second breed is mated with hens of
the first. Not only this, but the shape
of the first may be bulky, while that
of tin second is long and gangly.
Ducks, too, show strange markings
when crossed, sometimes the cross
looking exactly as some of our oddly
marked ducks that, as far as we know,
do not enter at all into the past breed
ing of either cross. Once, in mating
a black top-knot rooster with a
white hen, breed of each then un
known to me, I produced a white fowl
showing but one black spot, the top
knot eliminated. I used these chicks
male and female, and interbred them.
Result, always a white chick with a
black spot somewhere on ita coat
never twice In same place.
Some people like to line breed, but
scarcely know how to begin Line
breeding proper Is simply starting
with, say, a finely marked hen of the
standard breed required, and a male
of same requirement, neither In any
way related, both picked from vigor
ous flocks. In second year, the pullets
of this mating are bred back to their
sire, and the best marked and nearest
to the standard cockerel, back to the
mother. This should be kept up until
the fourth year, each year breeding
back the last-year stock selected as
your breeders to this first pair should
they live so long, and usually they
will If cared for aright. After the
fourth year you have now two distinct
lines from which you can select your
breeders at will, keeping of course
the breeders well marked so that you
may mate as far out as it is possible
to in the relationship This is for small
yards. Should the farmer start line
breeding, with plenty of room at his
command for separate pens and yards,
he can start in with from five to ten
hens and males as a beginning From
the breeding stock hatched in this
graded flock he should make a special
ty of breeding Btock of both sexes for
sale
Protelna, which Is a product of soy
beans, is now taking the place of meat
in many western poultry yards. Soy
beans are rich in protein. People
often ask what are the meat foods
used in the poultry business? How
must I feed them, and how often?
Well, there are meat scraps, which
' may bp flesh or liver-boiled and cut
1 in small bits. Some of it Is horse
1 meat, some the bits of meat left about
any beef shop pork, beef, mutton.
Some of it again is the refuse of chick
ens about the poultry killing houses.
Next is meat meal, dried blood, dried
fish, fresh cut hone, skim and butter
milk. Meat scraps contain highest
per cent of protein. Some poultry
keepers feed the animal foodB, unless
it may be milk, but three times a
week, giving each fowl two table
spoonfuls at a meal. Others give this
amount, or half, every day in the
mash Milk can safely be fed every
day. Some poultry keepers, going in
heavily for winter eggs, keep meat
scrap in hoppers always before the
hens I, M. S
Some farmers still sneer at science
In agriculture. They ought to be
made to continue plowing with a
crooked stick, cutting their grain with
a sickle and threshing with cattle, as
people did before science took a hand
in farm work.
We have seen fine corn growing be
tween the rows of early potatoes alter
they had been laid by.
THE COLONY HOG HOUSE.
By J. W. GRIFFIN.
One of the best ways to use scrap
lumber is to build hog houses out of
1L If there Is no lumber lying around
in the way it will pay to buy new, even
at the present high prices, and build
the hog houses.
If It pays to take care of the little
pigs when the butcher'a Btuff Is bring
ing four and five cents a pound, it it
doubly profitable when they are eight
or ten cents.
We have ten Duroc Jersey brood
sows and ten colony houses, built and
fenced off, as shown in the drawing.
These houses were built out of lum
ber that came out of an old frame
building once used as a saw mill.
We bought the old mill, the frame of
which was 33 feet wide, 100 feet long
Colony Hog House.
and two stories high; all the framing
timbers were ae good as when put in
the building. The scrap lumber we
worked into the hog houses and the
frame and the best lumber we used In
building an up-to-date feed barn.
NEIGHBORLY SUGGESTIONS
We are apt to have many pleasant
days now and some of them may be
devoted to mending fences. The
fencing is often an index to the char
acter of the farm.
Don't think you can cheat nature by
planting small, poor seed potatoes
You can't do it. If you want good, big,
smooth tubers you must plant seed of
that kind
If the farmer would cultivate the
garden better, and thus save some of
the money he spends at the store,
articles he could easily grow, his field
products would come nearer being
clear profit than under his present
system.
If a neighbor has had sickness or
bad luck In any way and his work 1b
behind, we can get a good deal of
heart-warmth by giving him a hand
now and then.
It is a great mistake to send unripe
beef cattle to market. They will not
ripen on the road, like California fruit.
The most successful feeders of beef
cattle are the ones who have made
the most correct interpretation of the
laws of nature.
A piece of copper wire Is much bet
ter than a string for keeping the gar
den rows straight, ae there is no
stretching.
The man who feels that he is bigger
than his job Is generally mistaken If
he were ho would quickly get a job
that would fit him.
Crop rotation belongs to any system
which seeks to bettor the soil.
A man's work lives after him. The
man who ends hie career on a farm
that he has improved in productivity
and appearance leaves a suitable
monument.
Thorn hedges are not good fences
for Bheep to run against. They will
lie up close to them in the middle of
the day, and when they go away they
v. ill leave a lot of wool behind them.
The flies are here now thick. They
dig the life out of the cows too if you
do not spray them off. A rig for doing
that will not cost much It Is far
more expensive not to have one than
I It Is to Invest a little that way
The morning Is the best time to
spray the cowb Do it just after milk
ing when you are ready to turn the
cattle out.
Work right along while you do work
Rut don't make too long days. Get
around before sundown. You want
some time to rest and take it easy
I before the work of another day
Why should not eggs and for that
matter all other farm products be
sold by the pound? The farmer would
always get a square deal in that way.
Too much guesswork and lumping of
1 things sold from the farm.
There Is no feed that is more di
gestible than gluten feed, but If too
much Is fed It makes soft butter.
From two to four pounds a day may
be fed without fear of thiB.
If stable manure Is spread with a
manure spreader on the meadow, It
will show very good results, for a
very thin coat, and what the hay
crop does not use will be in the soli
for the succeeding corn crop.
A good rotation for mixed farming
is wheat, clover, meadow one year;
cow pasture for one year, corn, oats
This makes a six-year rotation. Where
there are permanent pastures on the
farm, one year can be cut out by not
pasturing the clover the second year.
A farmer's boy who Is born rich
may succeed, but he has a hard Job
ahead of him.
1
B Tkkp only the MONEY MAKERS llfcW I I
The man who has made two blades
of grass grow where but one grew be
fore haa been looked upon as a public
benefactor. But the man who has suc
ceeded in producing one blade at lees
cost worked out a more complex prob
lem. Increased production does not al
ways bring increased profit. Increased
profits from the dairy business muBt
In a measure come from more eco
nomical production.
To reduce the coet of production we
must have cows that by their breeding
and Individuality are adapted to our
needs. For the butter and cream pro
ducing dairy the Jersey and Guernsey
cows have a certain advantage be
cause of the character of their milk,
which contains a higher percentage
of butter fat.
The Holstein and Ayrshire cows are
compelled to elaborate more solids to
produce the same amount of fat. This
Is a breed characteristic.
On the other hand the Holstein and
Ayrshire cows can produce milk solids
more economically and are better fit
ted for the production of cheeBe and
market milk.
Within the dairy breeds we find
greater difference between individual
cows than between the breeds. We
are keeping too many cows. We do
not know how much they produce nor
how much they eat. Some pay a profit
and some are eating up the profits
made by the others. It takes the
profits from the good cows to balance
the loss from the poor cowe.
The first step toward reaching the
cost of production is weighing and
testing the milk from each cow in the
herd often enough to keep a good line
on what she is producing.
Weighing the milk for one day each
week and testing it once each month
will give practically the same results
as weighing and testing each milking
By taking these weekly and month
ly records and making a yearly aver
age It ie easy to determine how much
milk and butter each cow has pro
duced for the year.
This is but one-half the question
Some cows are fairly large producers
Others may produce less milk or but
ter, yet be more economical producers.
A light feeder may digest her food
WHERE EASTER LILIES GROW
By A. D. DART.
Lying somewhat south of the gulf
stream, and six hundred miles or so
off the Atlantic coast from Charleston
S. C , is a group of several hundred
islands known as the Bermudas.
Storms seem to have been responsi
ble for our early knowledge of these
beautiful islands, which unlike most
sections of the habitable globe, have
never known a war.
Mark Twain once wrote of the place,
'it is heaven, but hell to get there.'
For many years England used the
Islands for a convict colony, but as
the misuse of such a beautiful spot
became apparent, the Idea was aban
doned, and as many of the convicts
who chose to remain were granted
pardons, and portions of land allotted
to each one with which to make a
fre6h start. Many of the descendants
still own and cultivate extensive lily
and onion farms.
Today one can ride for miles along
the country roads between fields of
pure white flowers, growing in such
profusion (especially during April
when the blossoms are at their best)
that the ground is not visible Just
masses of white and green.
There are over two hundred farms,
some of which ere 30 to 40 acres, de
voted exclusively to lily growing.
Both tourists and natives grow very
tired of the heavy perfume of the
flowers, which is often noticeable a
mile away
The fragrance of a bunch of lilies,
delicately scenting a room or church,
la very different from the overpower
ing perfume exhaled from a large lily
farm There can be too much of a
good thing, for the odor of the onion,
still raised there to some extent, often
brings a welcome change
The natives are quite resigned to
the heavy perfume, knowing that, acre
for acre, growing the lily Is three or
four times as profitable as raising
onions, potatoes or fruit.
It is believed that lily bulbs were
first brought to this country' from
Japan, by a man named Harris, to
which country they had been brought
from their ancient native home, China.
The Bermuda lily Is known as lllium
harrisee.
The original lily Is probably the old
est of all known flowers, and also Is
the only flowering plant that hau no
poor kin.
TO KEEP CIDER SWEET
One good way to keep cider Bweet is
to follow the same general plan used
in canning vegetables, bring it to a
boil, skim off the top and then bottle
It tightly and keep it in a cool place.
Where one hae facilities fur bottling
and w iring the cork, cider can be kept
sweet in this way for a considerable
length of time. On the farm, of course,
this is not practical, but If the cider
ia boiled, bottled and then tightly
corked and kept In a cool place it will
remain sweet for quite a while. Some
folks use ordinary Mason fruit Jars
and report Buccess.
I
perfectly and be an economical pro
ducer. We should keep a record of
each cow's feed one day each week
and its market value in connection
with the weighing and testing of the
milk
This will show what a pound of milk
or butter cost3 from each cow In the
herd.
Sell the cows that produce butter for
25 cents per pound and keep all that
produce a pound for 15 cents The
scales, the Babcock test and pencil
and paper will assist in weeding out
the unprofitable cows from the herd
STORING MANURE FOR THE
GARDEN.
A common practise is to manure the
garden every year, late In the fall, or
before planting in the spring, no fur
ther attention being given. This prac
tise, however, is not the best.
The manure for the garden should
be kept in a large box with a lid or so
screened that flies cannot enter it.
Manure heaps are the natural breeding ''
places of these pests and if they are I I
allowed to remain near the house, un- I V
covered, will prove a great nuisance.
A good plan is to use a very close I I I
wire screen nailed to a frame with I
hinges for the top. The manure should I ,
be spaded often on the top so that the
water from the ckmds or the sprin
kling pot may penetrate to all portions
of it.
If kept in a box a spout should be
placed in one corner, at the bottom, so
that the water may drain into a sunken
barrel. I
This will supply liquid manure
which can be used at all seasons when
! vegetables and flowers are growing.
The manure in the box should ba I
worked over once or twice a month,
working the bottom to the top so than jfl
the entire heap may rot. i
Manure may be kept in this manner
if the hoxes are placed at the farthest
point in the garden from the house,
and if surrounded with vines their
presence will never be noticed from
the dwelling.
P lT HORSES AND MULES I
I
Champion Female Shire.
Sore shoulders and balky teams are
the consequence of hard work during
the spring months unless your harness
fits properly.
Tho horse, young or old. that starts
out to farm work In the spring fat
from its winter's rest, will, in one
week of hard plowing, work off some of
thlfl flesh, and the collar that was tight
becoxnea loose, works up and down the
shoulders and thus galls are formed.
Watch the collar and unless it is fit
ting tight either use an excess pad or
a smaller collar. The latter Is always
preferable
In training a colt do not try to teach
It more than one thing at a time. If
you teach that one thing thoroughly
he will never forget it.
It is not a good plan to change a
horse's feed too often. Oats one da,
corn the next and something else the
next will aoon knock out his digestion.
A humane man will always provide
nets for his horses during fly time.
Many horses are so sensitive to pain
that flies will permanently destroy
their dispositions.
Get rid of the old and infirm stock
With hay and corn high, it will not
pay to feed stock which Is not able
to pay for Its feed.
If you can afford to do so. shoot
your old horse when he gets too old
to work, then bury him If you can
not afford to do this, try to sell him
to some one who will give him good
care lor the little service ho is able
to render.
If he is put up at auction he may
fall into the hands of some ignorant
or unprincipled person who will try
to drive him to do the work of a
younger and higher priced animal
A mare that took her owner thirty
l
miles over a rough country' road in
two hours and ten minutes, to the bed
side of his dying mother, never re
coered from the grilling, and was
put up at public auction and sold for
the pitirul price of $7 00. After such
faithful service she 6hould have been 1
tenderly cared for the rest of her life. j
We should get over the notion that
we are dependent upon breeders of 1
the old world for improved live stock.
The value of a horse depends large
ly upon his feet. No one point is
more essential than sound, well-shapen
hoofi.
Any farming community can be j
properly sized up by the quality of it9
horses.
WATCH THE HORSE'S TEETH j
If your horse shows difficulty in ;
eating or loses flesh without apparent
cause, it is time to examine the teeth. !
Wry often elongated teeth prevent a
horso from properly masticating its
food, thereby rendering it impossible
to obtain much benefit from It.
Ulcerated teeth also are a source of
great trouble and prevent a horse from
eating well Sometimes broken teeth
cut the sides of a horse's mouth and
form painful sores, which, of course,
interfere with mastication. I
It is a good plan to examine the
teeth of all horses two or three times j
a year and in the case of broken or
elongated teeth, treat them with a file. j
If the teeth of a valuable animal are
badly affected it should be treated by
a veterinary surgeon. J
We are often surprised to find that II
trouble rights itself in a short timu if
we only stop thinking about it,