The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-12-08
OUR Farm BUDGET.
Hints and suggestions for December Work
on the Farm.
lAmerican AgriculturaIist.

The days grow shorter and reach their
shortest duration, while the evenings are
longer and longer. The time is favorable
for looking backward i'm thought. Fore
! thoughts are good in their time, but after
thoughts, though often less honored. are
worth great deal more for shaping the fu-
ture,
ACCOUNT OF STocK.-The last few days of
this month and often the first week of the
next, if indeed longer time is not needed,
are spent by all careful storekeepers and
shopkeepers, and business men, in taking
account of stock" The goods are over
hauled and examined and an accu-
rate list made out, of all arti-
cles, oftentimes with the cost and
the selling price, or the cost and the present
value, compared in adjoining columns
Thus the balance for the year can be accu-
rately made out Farmers ought to do
something of this kind. 1t is not difficult
and if they do not plan to do 1t now, Christ
mas will pass and the New Year will begin
before they do il, and then it will be put
over until another year. 1t is very easy to
catalogue horses, cattle, sheep, swine and
other live stock, and to set fair price upon
them. 1t is not difficult to estimate the
amount of fodder; and the bushels grain and
roots are already, in most cases,
accurately known. But farmers
wealth lies in good part in labor
expended, which will bear fruit another
year, and in the far off future, and no esti-
mate of the proprietOr's business standing
will be q Just one which does not take into
account such items as these; Twenty acres
sOwed to wheat and grass, dressed with
eighteen loads of manure TO the acre-say at
a cost for labor, seed and manure, of 500.
100 rods strip fence at Sl2j, the former
being placed in the account of stock"-the
latter in the expense account" the
same as interest on investments"
insurance" repairs" painting" etc
VIII it make fatter beeves?
VIII ii make better wheat and corn? will ii
make more milk and butter? Perhaps not;
and yet it probably will help to do all
these. The farmer will see, after the sec
ond year: whether or not he is advanc-
ing > where he may make important
savings; s. what branches of his business
pays best, which cost the least labor. and
make the best returns. The nearer farm
can be conducted upon sound business
principles the better for the farmer.
LIVE STocK.-As the season advances the
live stock require increased attention; not
only are they more directly dependent upon
our care, but they are subject to discomforts
from exposure, which seriously interfere
with the profit of keeping them. OF ell our
domestic animals the pig is the most sensi-
tive TO exposure to rough weather. poultry
next, in this order: fowls, ducks, geese, and
turkeys the last often doing better when
exposed than ii sheltered Next to fowls,
cows, then, working oxen and young cattle;
next horses, which are used, unused horses
and sheep OF these last the long-wool
breeds are the most sensitive to cold storms
and snow, but close-heeced breeds will stand
almost any amount of cold if they have
enough to eat. sheds to gounder, and shelter
from driving storms of rain and snow
Horses, If well-ted usually feel bright and
lively in winter, and young horses are, for
this very reason, more easily trained than
when the weather and running at pasture
makes them dull Whenever horses are
used so as to warm them up at all, blanket
them as soon as they stand still, if only for
two or three minutes. Those two or three
minutes are sometimes enough to give a
chill, which may end in pneumonia or other
serious troubles. Grooming saves feed and
also promotes health in horses and should
never be neglected. 1t will probably pay
even 70 groom boarding horses and it will
certainly pay the owners to stipulate that
their horses should be groomed daily.
Blankets, except mere busters" are worse
than useless in stables; they make the horse
tender and more likely to take cold when
brought in hot. Litter very freely if you
have the material; straw, leaves, swamp
hay, etc.
CELERY.-Celery, while in trenches for the
winter, should not be allowed to freeze hard
"a moderate fleeing does no harm. The
hay or straw for covering should be at hand
when needed. As soon as the winter fairly
sets in, the covering which until then was
slight, should be made about one foot i'm
thickness. Celery in boxes. in the cellar, is
more apt to suffer from heat than cold. The
boxes, about nine inches wide, are made of
old stuff, and as long as convenient. Set
the celery in them as in trenches. The
boxes should be placed their own width
apart, thus avoiding a solid mass of celery,
which would heat and decay. The cellar
should be as near the freezing point as pos
sible.
PIGs.-Nearly double the feed will be re-
quired to keep pigs from going back, after
really cold weather comes on-say when the
ground freezes. 1t is then best to kill at
once. Every farmer ought to be able to kill
and cut up his own pigs Butchers are
often very rough and brutal. This is not
necessary. Many farmer who kills his own
pigs does so because he wants the Job kindly
and humanity done Heactually thrusts the
knife if he loved the victim Feed soaked
corn, that is, corn which is covered with as
much boiling water as it will take up in
twenty-four hours. This is better for either
fattening or store pigs than coarse meal,
unless the latter be thoroughly cooked.
PoULTRY-Hens will lay up to Christmas,
If they have warm quarters. manure
shed, where mixed manure throws off con-
siderable warmth, and which is closed in
but we'll ventilated, is an excellent place for
fowls. They are kept warm and comfort
able, their dr1ppings are all saved, going to
enrich the manure, and they keep on lay
ing often all winter. At noon feed. in
open weather. soft food-that is, boiled po-
tatoes mixed with bran and corn meal, or
something of the kind; at night give good
feed of whole grain, throwing down enough
TO toll them off the roosts for an early
breakfast. unless thereby you will he feed
ing an army of rats all night. In snowy and
frozen weather. feed three times a day, and
give only what they will run after each
meal
Mich Cows These ought to be well fed,
and cleaned by card and brush daily, il
possible, otherwise twice a week. They
should be MIXED up 10 within four weeks
of calving 1t is great temptation to dry
/ off "A cow So as to save the labor IF milking
and not alone will hired men do this. but
/ the farmers themselves generally do it, and
think that they save a good deal in feed and
/ labor. while, in reality, with young cows,
they impart a habit OF going dry early,
which will last them as long as they live.
| The better milcn cows are fed the better re-
turn they give, but feed judiciously.
TESTING Cows-Upon not a few of the
best dairy farms-and yet, perhaps, it would
be truthful to say upon few such farms.
the milk given by each cow is weighed at
each milking, and once in a while, as her turn
I Of htaft ~.