The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-02-12
THE FARM AND HOME.
WORKING AT LESS COST OF
TIME AND STRENGTH.
Find the Best Way to Do o Thin e.
Mixed Feed f. tho Bsst for Sheep.
Cucumber Bugs--SwIne Notes
and Home Hints.


best advantage, at the least cost of
time and strength. and 80 that it will
be done effectually and not need to he
repeated soon again because notright-
ly done. There Is often push OF
work on the farm when every hour
counts, and the farmer who, for the
want OF planning loses an hour now
and then, soon gets behind with his
work, and often this means extra ex-
pense and heavy loss There is usu-
ally best way to do thing, and we
ought to find this way; note how our
neighbors do o thing. and If they have
a better way than ours adopt it. Let
me illustrate this by some practical
examples, writes Waldo +. Brown in
the Ohio Farmer. A majority OF my
neighbors allow their potatoes to be
overrun with weeds, 50 that at Dig
ging time they must NOW the plot to
find the rows. There is a'theory that
you must not disturb the potatoes after
the vines fall over and the weeds are
allowed TO grow, and the result is u.s.
ually that the yield is cut short to
some extent by the weeds, and al
ways that the labor OF digging is
largely increased; and the land filed
with weed seed to give trouble in the
future.
Then in handling the potato crop,
1t is surprising how many farmers
follow the old, slow method They
pick the potatoes up, large and small
together. until they have wagon
full, and drive to the house and assert
in the wagon as they carry them into
the cellar and it will take two men a
full quarter OF day to unload q
wagon in this way. The man who
has found the best way provides sacks,
and drops them at such distances
apart that one will always be conven-
inent to the one picking up potatoes;
he furnishes light baskets or pals to
pick up in, so that the picker can hold
the bag easily while he empties the
potatoes into it Only the first class
merchantable tubers are put into the
sacks, the small and cut ones being
thrown in small piles about twenty
feet apart oas ne can easily throw ten
feet ahead and as far behind. But
one bushel is put in q sack, for they
should be light to handle, and you do
not want to lose time tying and unity
ing them. Two men, after they are
put in sacks will load o wagon with
pota4ooe in Iaao thop ton Yniprtaa ond
can unload almost as rapidly.
II large crop is grown,
1t Is often necessary to store
them for short time before market
ing, and often you will see them piled
up in the field and covered with straw.
This involves picking them up by
hand when the time comes for rehaul-
ing, and also the risk Of a heavy rain
wettlng them through, or the wind
blowing off the straw, leaves some of
them exposed to the SUM- or possibly
q cold night freezes some OF them.
Frequently there Is more or less chaff
In the straw. or it is dry and breaks.
and gets mixed through the pile, max
ing 1t slow and disagreeable work to
handle them. Potatoes stored tenn
porarily should always be put on
smooth floor SO that they can be han
ding with a shovel and they should
be thoroughly protected from the
light. II there Is suitable place in
the barn or other outbuilding, in
which to store them, a cheap board
shed may be temporarily erected in
field. II straw is used to cover them
spread large sheets over them first
: and put the straw on the sheets; this
will prevent it from getting mixed
through them Corn fodder bound
in medium sized bundles can be used
, to cover them so as to exclude the
light and II it is put on in the morn
ing, when it is damp and taken off
on damp day. there will be no dan
ger OF any broken blades getting
among the potatoes. For handling
potatoes use a coal shovel. A scoop
/, shovel with the edges turned up will
cut more or less OF them, but q coal
t shovel. with blade fourteen inches
, wide, II carefully used will not cut
| them at all, and you can lift bushel
: in three or four shovelfuls. In fact
cost considered, have no one imple-
ment on my farm that | praise more
than a shovel of this kind to handle
sawdust or chat. to clean out
the stable, or shovel up grain, or tur-
' nipS or clean up the loose manure in
the barnyard. or spread fine manure
4 from the wagon; it is the best tool
\ have / would not be without one il
a had to buy new one every six months,
Y but they are strongly made and think
: the one now have has been in use
\ more than six years, and looks now
l as though 1t might last as much
q longer.
pass a large garden almost daily,
a in which perhaps hundred sash are
e used for early vegetables About the
s first OF July the use Of the beds was
/. abandoned for the season, and they
. have been allowed to grow wilder
) ness OF weeds. which have matured
s seed and filed the soil used in the
d hot beds so full that 1t will require
many days OF tedious labor next sea-
Y son to keep the hot-beds clean. II
2 they had been taken In time all these
: weeds could have been destroyed in
o half day by one man. before they
a had made single seed; but the work
a was neglected, and now there will be
:. . a,hk Nth xyaada for vaapa fo onraa