The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-03-17
THE FARM AND HOME.
THERE'S DANCER OFCRoW-
ING CLOVER TOO EARLY.
Advice Of a Missouri Farmer Ducks
Without Ponds - Balanced RAJ
tlOns-Shecp-Farm Notes
and Home Hints.
Sow Clover EARLY.

Sow Clover Early.
Writing of his experience at the
farmers Institutes in Missouri, L. B.
Terry said in regard to the above:
Let me give some points from Mr.
Patterson's practice. He is an old
man, OF long experience, as well as q
very progressive and successful man.
he says: ssSOw the clover seed early,
every time; early in February in this
latitude. No danger of getting it in
200 early. Sown in the fall it Injuries
the wheat. l have never met with
failure from early sowing. l clip my
stubble in the fall, and keep weeds
down and keep stock Off, and
let the young clover grow"
Mr.. T. is q dairyman, and
this is the way he talks to the
farmers at the institute: ..There are
three things you want to do-make a
living, lay up a little money, and i'm
prove your farms. You get from $50
to 200 pounds of butter from COW.
and sell it at from ten to twenty-five
cents pound, and that is living
Get better COWS and take better care
Of them, make them warm and com
Portable and feed properly, and get
100 pounds more butter per cow,
have it always fine. send it to the
cities. and get twenty-seven cents, as
| do. and that is not only living but
making money; and if you save the
manure with care, and follow good
rotation with clover, and buy some
bran. or Oil meal to feed with your
corn. as you should, your farms will
be gaining in fertility instead of
slowly running down." Solid truth,
my friends, and the same line of rea-
soning may be applied to cattle
keeping. While can give
the substance of friend Patterson's
talks, it is simply impossible
to report his peculiar style of
getting in fine hits. will try just
one: eff cow is mean, and kicks,
why you don't need to be mean, too
Perhaps some readers may get an
idea of some of the farming here,
from a quotation from one paper read
last night: The Western farmer
IL.
to buy more land, to work more hours
On, to raise more corn, etc. If he
owned the world he would want to
rent a patch outside for corn" This
may seem little severe. but one
spread-out farmer last night. told the
writer, in the institute, that he (my-
self had no ambition, or he never
would be content with so acres. The
hen that tries to cover so eggs may
not come out any butter, after all her
ambition and worry, than one whose
ambition is to hatch each and every
one out of one dozen eggs.
Ducks Without Ponds.
1t was once supposed that ducks
could not be raised without ponds of
water, but they arc now kept in
brooders SKI feet square, with yards
5x16 feet GOO in each yard). until
they are eight or ten weeks old. when
fthey are ready for market. Ducks
are profitable if sold as soon as they
reach four pounds weight, or five
pounds at the highest, as they will
retain rapid growth and increase for
all the food they may consume up to
that age. After that time they do
not pay except to keep few, unless
they have pond and grass run.
If raised under hens. keep the hen
and young ducks in little coops and
runs, away from water. In fact, until
the ducks are feathered, they should
be given drinking water in manner.
only to allow of their getting their
beaks wet, for contrary to the old
saying that "wet weather is splendid
for young ducks, nothing is SO fatal
to them as dampness Very cold
drinking water will cause them to
have cramps, hence it should be tepid.
Feed them, after they are twenty
four hours old. on a mixture of
mashed potatoes, which may be
thickened with ground grain (com-
posed Of equal parts of corn meal,
ground oats and middlings), and give
them all the milk they can drink.
Scald all the food for the first two
| weeks. After they are three days
old, give them meat, chopped fine,
Cor ground meat), mixed in their
food three times week. Chopped
grass, cabbage, vegetable tops, clover
hay chopped and stepped in water, or
any kind of green food may be given
literally. After second week
cooked turnips and ground grain will
answer, with a little ground meat.
Feed four times a day until they 90
to market.
If raised in incubators feed them
in little troughs,- to avoid fouling the
food. They require plenty Of heat in
the brooding at first, but after they
are four weeks old, can do we'll with
out it. Give them plenty of drinking
water always, and let it be clean.
From January l to May l is only
eighteen weeks. and as the ducks
must lay enough eggs for Matching,
little time will be lost in that di
| rcction. Then the ducks may have
to be dieted to get them into proper
condition, as many make the mistake
of feeding them too much grain, thus
having them too fat. If this is the
case the best course to pursue is to
feed them only once day for a week,
late in the evening. on some bulky
food, such as cooked turnips with a
small allowance of bran. Plenty of
water should be supplied, however,
and skinned milk freely given. At