The Holly chieftain., 1899-11-17
FARMING MATTERS.
Notes From Field and Farm,

ty, New Mexico, tells local paper that
his company paid dividend of 125
per cent. last year on the full amount
of the capital stock. That is as good an
investment as any one should want.
And yet, ten or twelve years ago this
company came very near going to the
wall. and was only saved by the for
tunate purchase of n large herd of cat
tie on terms which enabled It to put
part OF them on the market ut time
when prices had risen sharply. That
pulled them out of the ditch and they
have made money ever since.
The State Veterinary Board has or
dered that all sheep which are to be
exported must be inspected before
they leave the state. Heretofore 1t has
been the custom merely TO have sheep
coming into the state inspected. the
shippers bearing the expense. This ac-
tion Is to protect other states and was
agreed upon by the State Board be-
cause 1t was earnestly requested by the
Department of Agriculture at Wash
ington. The idea is that sheep going
from this state will hereafter bring bet
ter prices because guaranteed by the
state authorities to be free from dis
ease.
The sheep now in the state of Colo
rado are mostly merinos and their
grades. A large proportion of the sheep
In southern Colorado trace back to the
Mexican base and, though this strain
of blood is not esteemed highly by
practical sheep raisers, there is no rea-
son for concealing the merits of the
Mexican sheep, their adapability to the
climate, the range and to the pioneer
m Of 81. IA
requires but very little capital to get
start with sheep of this class and by
using pure bred merino rams the flocks
may soon be graded up These sheep
are greatly improved by our present
method of handling and feeding.
A good farmer in Bent county who
knows how to keep hogs all right tells
of their winter rations as follows: mo
swine feeder should ever go without
roots. especially for winter purposes.
In winter we gather up the alfalfa
leaves and stems, n barrel full every
morning, and carry 1t to the hog house.
We fill the barrel with water and put
steam hose in and bring the feed to
boiling heat, and then mix grain with
it. We find that we can winter our
pigs and brood sows better in this way
than in any other. Aside from this,
each of our hogs during the winter re
ceives root. We are great people to
grow squash. We grow an acre or two
simply for the purpose of feeding
Pumpkins are not as good as squash.
They retain more wafer and in fatten-
ing hogs we find they will leave the
pumpkins and go for the squash"
Some farmers argue that there is no
money in 2O-cent butter fat, but that
25-cent beef pays. Let us see: At the
Minnesota experiment station six high
grade Shorthorn steers were fed and
every pound put on their carcass cost
3.4 cents. A herd of grade Holstein and
Jersey cows produced butter fat at the
same time at cost of 3 cents n pound
Every pound of beef cost A cent more
than n pound of butter fat saying
nothing of labor In either case. Deal
ers would have paid last week 40 cents
for prime beef or n profit of IL cents
a pound, while 90 cents would have
been paid for the butter fat. or a profit
of 10 cents on feed consumed by the
cows. Possibly we cannot produce
either beef or butter fat so cheaply as
In this case. If not so much the worse
for the beef, since only a slight ad-
vance in the cost would wipe out the
profit. In producing the butter fat we
have Il much wider margin upon which
to operate, and we still have the ami
NAL, which in time will make nearly as
much beef as.the steer.
1t has been shown at many expert
lne!It stations that an orchard which
is cultivated will grow more thdn one
that is not cultivated. The Illinois ex-
pertinent station officers made tests to
find the superiority, If any. of cultiya-
tion over grass. They found that with
Ben Davis apple trees the diameter of
the trunks one foot above the surface
of the soil was about twice as great In
the. case of the cultivated plat ms in
the case of that in the grass. At the
California experiment station apricot
trees during one season in the cult
waited field showed n twig growth OF
over three feet, while those in the un-
cultivated field made n growth of not
three inches. We believe that with al
falfa the debilitatng effect on growing
trees Is even more apparent, and in
this conclusion every old-time orchard
grower in Colorado who has studied
the subject will concur. Still there are
few men in this country who have
decided opinions of their own, and
'hes continue 10 Sro" aHaila uInonS
their trees.
For three years alfalfa growers of
western Kansas have been making n
thorough study of the native grass
hopper in the alfalfa fields. The hop
pers lay their eggs in the alfalfa fields
late in the fall. These are Matched the
following spring, and the young in
sects devour the sprouting alfalfa. 1t
is recommended that the alfalfa land
be disked in the early spring as soon
as the frost has left the ground in or
der to expose the eggs to destruction