Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-10-25
FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO
AGRICULTURALIS
Some Up to Date Hints About Cultiyn-
ton of the Soil and Yields Thereof
Horticulture yiticulture and Flori-
culture.
Preparing for Winter.

After harvest it is we'll to turn ones
thoughts toward the long, cold win
ter ahead and figure" on what prep
arations will be necessary to carry
the live stock comfortably through.
The provision of an adequate supply
OF proper food is of first Importance
and calculations should at once be
made as to the amount required. The
home supply of such things as hay,
fodder, corn and oats is usually am
pie, but other foods are necessary and
by commencing early to think about
such things it will often be possible to
save many dollar, before a rise in
price takes place. Every owner of
stock can afford to sell off a portion
OF his ear corn, and with the proceeds
purchase bran, shorts, middlings and
oil meal, but in many districts where
grain is taken to the mill the "grist"
is got in trade and usually is a better
sample than the commercial stuffs.
Oil meal is not yet commonly used on
the average farm, but is becoming
rapidly and rightly popular, for surely
we can better afford to feed it at home
than send the bulk of it abroad to be
bought greedily at high prices by the
men that feed steers against our cheap
meat. In this country of the
golden grain-maize or Indian corn
along with such ample supplies of
prairie hay and corn fodder, there is
surely rich supply of carbonaceous
foods, and our stock needs such sup
plies for the long fight against cold;
but we do not feed sufficient amount
OF heterogeneous food to finely finish
prime beef, pork or mutton. Our
foreign neigh bors use our corn in
large quantities, but the American
food they prize most is the oil cake
that comes from the linseed oil and
cottonseed oil mills and they pay
prices that are really astonishing. The
FARMERS REVIEW would strongly ad-
wise its readers to substitute portion
OF oil meal or ground cake in the usual
ration for animals that are being fin
ished for the Christmas markets, and
such food need cost no more than the
old ration, if the cost of the ration be
properly figured, as but one part of
the oil meal will be needed to seven
parts of carbonaceous food, such as
corn. When laying in supply of
such foods it is also well to take pre-
cautions against waste of good feed
ing material due to poor shelter for the
stock; for one of the most serious
leaks in farm economy is that in the
barn that lets in drafts and so causes
w c a nj r.
should be understood that good venti-
lation-plenty Of fresh air--never re-
tards fattening when animals are tied
up indoors, for such air is needed to
supply all the other forces that unite
in the assimilation of food and forma-
ton of flesh and fat; the hot non
oxygenized atmosphere of an over
crowded barn is also detrimental, as it
causes animals to sweat, drink large
quantities of water, and in other ways
fail to thrive. See, then, that the
stables are well ventilated, vet free
from drafts, and depend upon it that
they will be warm enough when full
OF cattle, and that too much warmth
is decidedly detrimental. Another
point to remember in preparing for
winter is the water supply, which an
nually is source of trouble upon thou
sands of farms. We need give little
advice, but merely remind our readers
how absurd it is to have to water hun
dreds of cattle from a common we'll
and hand pump or have the water
pipes exposed so that they are con-
stantlv freezing up and bursting.