The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-05-10

times daily. 1t will be a little trouble but
it will pay well to wash every drinking
vessel daily with scalding water and let
it dry out in the sun before it is used again
for water for the chicks.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR FARM?
1t Is safe to say that in no other profess
sion, for farming is a profession II properly
carried on, are there so few practitioners
who understand the Fundamental prin-
ciples of their work as among farmers.
We call in q physician and feel that If he
cannot tell us pretty nearly the
trouble is with the patient that he does
not understand his business. We give a
case to q lawyer and if he makes q mess
of it we feel, and rightly, that he Is not up
in his profession. We of the farm have a
poor crop under normal weather conditions
and guess at the whyfor. If we pillow and
SOW we hope the soil will bring a certain
return; If it does not, how many of us can
tell why. The truth Of the matter is we
plow and SOW without much regard to why
we do it and with still less regard Of what
our soil needs are and if we have supplied
them. If every soil worker in the country
could take a course of one year in prac-
teal soil chemistry there would be such a
change in farming operations and results
as would startle the world. We read and
see many agricultural successes and in
each and every case we would find, If we
investigated, that the owner Of the farm
was well acquainted with it; as well
acquainted with the case as the successful
lawyer is who wins a case before the bar.
Why not begin to study the farm? 1t sure
ly will pay.
GREEN FOOD FOR SWINE.
If the swine are not on the range AMI
hence without access to green food during
the summer they should be supplied with
it in the pens if one would have them
thrive. Make 1t q business to pull up
weeds for a half hour daily and cart them
to the pig pen; any weed that is not poi
sonous will do the swine good and they
will eat them grecdily. Change the diet a
little occasionally by giving them some
grass or any vegetable tops from the gar
den. Do not give them a great lot OF
green stuff one day, SO much that they
waste a portion of it, and none for a
week, but let them nave all they will eat
up clean and give It to them several times
a week. Give them also all the fresh wa
ter they want with a shady corner and
you will find that these inexpensive thing
Will make the food given them count for
much more than it would otherwise.
SUMMER WATER FOR cows.
When one has a pasture through which
a stream runs he considers himself fortu-
nate SO far as the water/question Is con-
cerned, but there is much danger in such
a situation unless one is sure Of the stream
for a considerable distance before the wa
ter reaches his pasture. What is the
stream used for by those who have access
to it before 1t reaches you. If you do not
know it is a good plan to find out before
the cows are permitted to drink from it.
After all there is nothing like water from
q good well SO located that it cannot be-
come Contaminated in any way; true, it
take time to get the water out and to the
COWS or the cows to the water, but it is
usually time well spent. Do not work on
the plan that the COWS can drink all the
water they need at morning and night
hence can go without it between these per-
iods. Probably they can, but did you ever
count the effect on the milk pail?
CURING ALFALFA FOR HAY.
Many farmers who nave had their first
experience with alfalfa have had some
difficulty in curing the hay; they treat 1t
as they do timothy or other grasses and
find it loses much Of its virtue cured in
this manner; as a matter of fact such q
process is not curing. but drying and al
falfa will not stand drying. The best
plan Of curing 1t which has yet been tried
is 10 rake the alfalfa into winrows as soon
as 1t can be handled to advantage; It is
then cooked up into small cocks and COW
cred with the regulation muslin hay caps
which have weights at the corners. In
this way It cures perfectly If left for five
or six lays and then taken out allowed to
dry in the sun for half a day and then
carted to the barn. This plan holds The
color in the alfalfa and cures the plant
perfectly without drying it out. If those
who have had trouble with the curing of
alfalfa Will try this plan there will be no
trouble in curing the hay SO as to retain
its full value.
COMFORT FOR HEN AND CHICKS.
1t Is a cruel plan which shuts off the
air almost entirely from the hen with a