The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-11-13

wholesalers. He was well paid, in COM
missions, for his work and expense, and
the growers averaged 10 per cent more for
their roducts than in former seasons, to
say nothing of getting rid of the business
part of the transaction which was dis
tasteful to most of them. This sort of Il
combination is possible in almost every
section. Get your ~neiShbors together this
winter and talk over some similar plan to
put in operation next season.
Forcing Rhubarb in Winter.
A number of inquiries have been re-
ceived asking about the winter forcing Of
rhubard. To give the method in detail
would reQuire much space, but in brief it
is as follows. A shed or Il cellar that
can be made dark is selected and a bed
Il foot deep is made of rather light soil.
many growers using sand. About the
first Of January the roots are dug from the
field and set in the bed indoors close to-
gether and covered with several inches of
sand. Heat of some kind must be used to
OBTAIN and retain a temperature of about
GO degrees. Liquid manure is used as
soon as the roots are set AMI then the en-
tire bed is thoroughly wet. After this
the entire bed is covered with a layer two
inches thick of coarse stable manure In
two weeks or ~thereabouts the stalks will
begin TO shoot up; they will grow eighteen
inches or two feet tail and without any
leaves 10 speak of, and are then ready for
cutting. The market demand is good near
large cities, but no where else, so that one
must be properly located and nave the
proper facilities to make the crop pay.
1t is worth experimenting with on a small
scale with an idea of extending it il it
turns out well.
Fraudulent Egg Prcscrvers.
Many papers are printing an interesting
article purporting to be written by a
farmers wife in which she tells how she
preserves egg so that they can be sold
for high prices when the demand exceeds
the supply. The recipe is offered free and
tells how to mix the ingredients of lime,
water, baking soda, s%altpetre and the
mysterious and unknown "algretta Dor
acyllc.' Without the last named ingre-
dent one would simply nave lined eggs
that rarely sell for a price which would
make 1t profitable to do the work Of pre-
serving. The recipe states that "algretta
boracylic" may not be obtainable at the
drug store, in which case it will be. sent
on receipt of $3.50 for a four-ounce pack
age. The chances are that the mysterious
article is simply borax, of which four
ounces can be bought for a few cents.
Don't pay money to learn how to preserve
eggs. Several methods. have been given
IN this department and others will be
given later. All are reliable and mex
pensive and will give as good results as
can be expected from a preserved egg
which is poor enough at best.
The Winter Poultry Stock.
Under ordinary circumstances the man
with a small flock of fowls will find some
way of providing them with food even
though the supply grown during the sum
mer has turned out small, but when one
has a large number of birds to feed it is
a more serious matter. If there is likely
to be a scarcity of food for the poultry
one should go carefully through the flock
and pick out and market every bird that
is not likely to pay for her keeping in
eggs Curing the winter. This is not a
pleasant task, for many of the pullets
Will come In handy next summer. but
they should be sacrificed to the market
II their food for the winter is not to be
paid for in eggs until next summer OF
course 1t will not do to cut down the
young stock too close, especially If the
hens are two years or more Did, for the
pulletS will be the main dependence Of
next winter.
Investing Surplus Money.
In some sections the crcns for sa,.or,,
years have enabled farmers to nav Off
outstanding obligations and still have
money FOR investment. Much of this sur
Plus money will be placed in savings banks
ana considerable invested in bond and
mortgage, both good investments, as n
rule. The farm is the best investment for
any surplus cash one has and unless it
everything that will go TO helm in
increasing the profit then one has no right
TO invest his surplus funds in other ways.
Is there a field that can be drained SO as
TO materially increase It's yield? Invest
the surplus in this work. Are the cows
scrubs? Raise the standard of the herd.
me standard of the milk and butter by
investing in high bred cattle. There are
a dozen places where the surplus cash
can be placed on the average farm which
will bring an increase in profit much
greater than will come from the invest
ment of the money in any of the ways
recognized as reasonably safe.
Low Price Poultry Houses.
The poultry house that is low in price
Is not Of necessity, an inferior house for
II 1t Is built with due regard to the
economy of lumber and the work is done
by cne's self the cost may be materially
This illustration shows a house