The Grit-advocate., 1903-10-23
FARMING MATTERS.

bushel OF corn represented more than
four and one-half hours OF human la
bDr, at a cost of 354 cents. while to-
day forty-one minutes OF labor produce
the same amount for l0l. cents.
The several varieties of the eucalyp-
tus tree There are about 1901 are held
by fOresters to be unequaled as a forest
cover, as windbreaks. as shade trees,
as source of timber. fuel oil, honey.
and as improvers of climate The tree
has already served more esthetic and
utilitarian purposes than all other for
est trees that have been planted on this
continent.
A detailed estimate of the year S
wheat crop throughout the world
shows a shortage of over 81 900 600
bushels. We are not the sufferers. In
France there has been the heaviest
yield ever known save for three years,
1874 1898 and 1899. the average per
acre being about twenty-one imperial
bushels. Taking Europe in general.
the years yield is estimated at lis. .833,-
030 bushels less than last year. and this
deficit will require an Importation Of
something like 326, ,l33 $3.50 bushels.
An inventive genius has contrived a
method of breaking up a setting hen.
The apparatus consists merely OF a
loop Of wire adapted to fasten to the
leg and encircle the limb in such a
manner that the fowl has freedom OF
foot in the ordinary rambles about the
barnyard in search of food. but the
moment the hen tries to locate herself
on nest she finds yawning chasm
between them. The wire loop prevents
her from bending her leg, as is neces-
sary to assume the sitting posture and
after repeated efforts to find hospita-
BILE nest she gives up the task.
A Laramie, Wyoming. correspondent
says: Messrs. Whitehouse and Palm
er. large ranch owners near Laramie.
this year tried the experiment of plant
ing Russian thistle as a forage crop.
The result proved failure owing to
the wetness of the season. 1t is
claimed that in ordinary years this
weed can be raised in large quantities
on the Laramie plains, as it tlourshes
only on extremely dry ground. Cattle
devour the plant eagerly, will eat it in
preference to other feed and grow fat
on it. Whitehouse and Palmer propose
to SOW large tract of land next season
and are confident they can raise a big
crop.
While complaining that the text
books in the common schools lead
away from the farm. DR.. John Graham
Brooks said: Look with me into an
average Massachusetts schoOlhouse. Its
arithmetic. it's geography. its penman-
ship. its bookkeeping. and its reading
book, which appeal to the imagination
of the farmers child are still domin-
ated by clerk and trading point of
view AS one listens to the teaching,
it is as if the one object were to create
discomfort with the country life, to
make every bright child hate his sur
roundings. The instruction seems TO
assume the failure of the farm life.
The inexhaustible charm and resource
Of the country have no part in this
teaching.
Any sober, reliable farm laborer in
Denmark who has saved One-tenth the
mortgage value Of the little farm he
covets-ths value not to exceed 81, 100
can buy the land by borrowing the
other nine-tenths from a government
fund. He gives a mortgage on which
he pays three per cent. After five
years he also pays one per cent. addi-
tional toward wiping out half his debt.
When this half has been paid he pays
three and half per cent. on the re-
mainder until he owns the land. A CO.
operative dairy buys his cream and re-
turns to him the skinned milk for his
hogs. The latter go to the cooperative
bacon factory, and the local branch of
cooperative egg-exporting house re-
ceives his eggs.
Mulching strawberries may be de-
layed in this country until about tha
middle of December. If the ground Is
slightly frozen it is easy to work
among the plants without doing harm
Give liberal covering of strawy man
ure three or four inches deep-enough
to thoroughly fertiliZe the ground in
the spring as the rains filter out its
substance and carry it to the roots of
the plants. 1t is well to leave the
mulch on quite late in the spring-late
enough to retard the blossoming peri
cd week or so. This may enable the
bloom to escape late spring frost. The
fine part of the manure will work down
among the plants when it is stirred up
in the spring while the coarse material
is removed or allowed to remain be-
tween the rows as mulch.
This is the time of year. says Field
and Farm. to begin thinking about the
draining of seep land, which we regret
to say is becoming more troublesome
throughout the irrigated districts. The
whole science of drainage lies in the
grade or pitch at which the tiling is
laid. Failure is more often due to the
faulty location either in surface posi-
ton. depth. or both. than to the ma
terial of which the tiles are composed.
Proper surface position and depth are
essential factors in the successful
drainage of seeped lands. Since the
source of the water is underground, its
course must be found and the drains so
located as to intercept its flow in the
most effective way. This constitutes
one of the arts bearing directly upon
the successful drainage of irrigated
lands.