Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-04-06
Facts for Our Farmers.



NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
added so much the better. Such food
given in the morning, with wheat a,
night, makes a wholesome and nutri
tious food, and will induce the hens
tc lay when everything else fails.
1t will not pay to keep hens that do
not lay. They will not lay unless
properly fed, it is therefore poor econ
omy to refuse the soft food, as it is
not only easily digested and very
nOurishing but is also stimulating. A
! little ground bone, salt, and red pep
per, added to the soft food, will make
! it still better and if meat can be OBJ
| tanned it will be a valuable adjunct.
The soft food is an excellent method
for feeding many substances that
would be refused by the fowls in any
other shape. Wheat fed whole to lay
ing fowls, and screenings or cracked
wheat, fed to young chicks, have al
ways produced most desirable results
though it must be remembered that
they must not be fed in the same
quantities as corn or preparations of
corn. The tendency of wheat is to
produce a healthy growth, feed the
muscular tissues and aid materially
in causing the hens to lay often. When
fowls are stinted in their supply of
feed they become an expense, for
there is no stock that pays so poorly
l. neglected, or as we'll if extra care is
taken of them. BY extra care it Is
not meant that they should be over
fed and made fat, lazy and shiTtless
but they should have each day rea.
sonable amount of food adapted to
the season of the year.
FertiIizins Peach Trees.
The peach is somewhat sensitive to
overlooking with nitrogen or ammoni-
ate manWes. Trees grown near
barnyards shoot oUt very vigorously
at first but the tissues seem to de-
generate rapidly, forming gum peck
cts and eXdding large quantities Of
gum. The trees have been observed
by peach men to suffer from winter
killing and in extreme cases are often
killed outright. An application of
nitrate of soda, at the rate of 300
pounds an acre in one case noted by
the department Of agriculture, retard-
eG the ripening time of peaches two
weeks. Peaches regularly ripen on
the poor knobs and hilltops earlier
than in adjacent valleys or pockets
few feet away, where seepage nitro
gen effects them. The latter are al
so more subject to certain fungi.
The proximity of an old stable was,
IN one case, the cause of the fruit be-
ing belated, and while the trees and
fruit were larger, the latter was in
ferior in color and quality In a series
of tests the fruit on the trees moder,
ately supplied with nitrogen was
brighter in color sweeter and finer
in texture, and only slightly smaller.
In fact the peach is healthiest and
yields the best fruit in soils which. for
most other crops, would be considered
deficient in nitrogen.
Notes.
Ordinarily oats are not a good crop
to get stand OF clover with. They
are too rapid growers and consume
about all the moisture of the soil, Civ
ing the young clover plants little
chance to thrive just at the time
when It is most important that they
should be doing their best Then,
the oats remain on the ground for a
longer period than is good for the clio.
yer. Where a seeding CT ClCT~C is
required we believe it can best b.
gotten through the use of wheat rye
or barley as the nurse crop. In case
clover is tried with oats one can %
more sure Of success when the oats
are cut for hay somewhat before they
mature. The common red clover an
swers every requirement where a
good hay Grip is wanted, and for en-
riching the soil no clover crop is bet
ter. For permanent pasture mix
tUre of grass seed will generally prove
more satisfactory than a simple vari-
ETY. of either clover or grass.
Currants are generally propagated
by cuttings of young rips wood, seven
or eight inches long, taken Just before
freezing weather. If possible they
should be cut with a slight heel of
old wood, The cuttings should be
firmly planted in a trench, made in
moist rich soil, deep enough to hold
the cuttings, with only the top bud
above the soil They should be thor.
oughly tramped In, as some pressure
on the cutting at the bottom seems 10
be needed to start the roots. They
should be placed about six inches
apart, and slightly covered, after the
trench is filled with forest leaves or
evergreen boughs, to prevent freezing
The cut surfaces will callus during the
winter, and roots start early in the
spring. The plants need not be dis
turhed for two years, when they can
10 70 f,y,,itipy