Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-02-17

I Wnlle troublesome 1t pays to strain
the milk thus no matter for what pur-
pose it is used.
Feed Cookers.
Every farm on which stock is kept
should have an appliance of some kind
for cooking the food given cattle and
poultry. Not only is the warm morn
ing mash good for poultry, but cows
will be much benefited by a daily
warm meal. Hogs and lambs that are
being finished off" for market will
take on flesh less extensively if a
warm meal is part of the ration.
There are several feed cookers on the
market, all of them good and profit
able to use where many cows or hens
are kept. For a few COWS, hens or
hogs a small mason's stove of cast iron
and an iron kettle will answer the pur-
pose. The stove may be set up in a
shed OF outbuilding and be operated
at a small expense including its cost.
There is no doubt but that the use of
the cooker will save food besides add
ing much to the comfort and health of
stock.
Preparing Hogs for Market.
If hogs have been kept in good, thrift
ty condition during the summer it is
comparatively easy to fatten them
quickly and profitably after they have
been brought into pens. The old say
ing that "a hog has an appetite far
beyond it's powers of digestion" should
be printed in large type and hung
where the person who does the feed
ing will see it. More hogs are sent
to market in improper condition from
over-feeding than from under-feeding.
Two meals a day, n in the morning
and one at night, will put a fairly
thrifty hog in good condition, even if
the food is almost entirely corn. A
variety of food will materially assist
in keeping the hog in good condition
to take on fat at the finishing off
time, and the variety should always
include some green food or coarse sue
culent roughage. Hogs will stand a
few weeks. at the last. of exclusive
corn diet if they have plenty of fresh
water and clean, comfortable pens.
Watch them at feeding time ard if
they spend some time smelling over
the food before eating it they are being
over-fed. Cut down the rations Tor a
few days until they eat ravcnously,
adding charcoal OF salt TO the food oc-
casionally to aid digestion.
Late Fall Planting.
! Many of the small fruit plants that
start into growth very early in the
spring should be set out In the fall.
Currants, for example. start SO early
in the spring that growth is much
retarded if plants are set at that sea-
son.. If set well they will have a
fore the ground freezes. and if they
are strong t~wo-year-old plants they
will fruit some next season.
While many trees and plants arc
best set in the spring, ths preparation
of the soil should 10 Gsne this fall.
Flowing. narrowing and smoothing
may be done before the ground freezes,
and the soil will then be in good con-
dition for trees and plants as early
as they can be obtained in the spring.
The tendency to leave all the prepara-
tory work until the plants or trees are
at hand is wrong, for the sooner the
tree or plant is set out after it is dug
in the nursery the better it will thrive.
Plant this fall if ground, trees or plants
are ready. but at least get the soil in
condition for early spring planting, if
that is the best season for transplant
ing in your section.
Protecting the Soil.
Not all farmers yet realize that the
soil loses a certain amour of fer
tility by teaching, if allowed to remain
bare during the winter. 1t is not neces-
odly Y 81 lulO Tx oSICANilC why anu
wherefore, but the fact is beyond ques-
ton, instances being common where
soils have lost enough of n or more
of its chemical properties to Lave
grown a good crop. 1t is essential,
therefore. that some quick growing
crop be put on the land in the fall for
soil protection. 1t is late in some sec
tions for this work, but wherever there
is a possible chance to dot it with a
hope of even moderate growth before
heavy frosts. it should by all means
be done. Canada peas and oats in the
North and cow peas in the South are
good soil protectors and will keep
them from washing and teaching be-
sides adding to their fertility in nitro
gen when the growth is plowed under
in the spring. If nothing can be done,
spread over the land during fall and
winter all the manure as fast as made.
| This will do much toward protecting
as well as fertilizing the soil and save
the valuable liquid which is usually
lost when is kept in the barn
yard.
Points for Apple Growers.