Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-06-30

Every crop raised on the farm
should help to put the soil into better
condition. This is the purpose and
aim of rotation in crops.
Good stables, well-lighted, well-ven-
tilated, and arranged with view to
the comfort of the cows quartered
there are some of the requisites to a
good dairy farm.
A farm without pasture land means
that little if any stock is kept, and
where this is true it is safe to con-
clude that the land is being run down,
rather than built up, unless lots of ma
nure is bought and hauled upon the
land.
Now is the time to attend to the YER
min in the hen house If you have not
looked to it before. A fight begun this
late in the season is better than no
fight at all. It will be hard one, but
you must conquer if you do not want
the vermin to eat up all your profits.
How many farmers go to the ex-
pense of setting out an orchard, TAX
ing up valuable land by so doing and
who then expect that the orchard is
going to run itself without further
care or attention from him. What
folly. Plant trees and then cultivate
them as you do your other crops.
Never let the sod get thin on the
pasture land for this always means
the decrease of the root systems OF
the plants and decrease in their abil-
ity to penetrate the soil in search of
plant food. When sod becomes so thin
that the hoof of the animal will break
through it in wet weather, 1T has
reached a state of exhaustion that re-
quires attention.
1t is always best to feed the calves
by hand because one knows just what
they are getting and how muchI 1t is
really not such terrible task to feed
dozen calves, but it is quite nuis-
ance to go through the motion just
for one or two. Perhaps a great many
dairymen who object to raising calves
for their own herds would change
their minds if they should practice it
in Wholesale way.
Any old method is a poor way to
handle the calf The most successful
.dairymen allow the animal to suck the
COW for the first two or three days,
then feed the whole milk until about
two weeks old, then gradually skim
the milk. If the calf is healthy and
worth raising at all, It will do well
on skim milk alone, at this age. At
two or three weeks old, place little
whole corn and oats before it, which
it will sooon learn to eat, also hay and
silage. Keep the calf in thrifty con-
dition, for once run down it is hard
to get back to normal condition again,
and during that time it has lots of
good growth.
Do not let the soil form a crust.
1t is at such times that the evapora-
ton of the moisture is very rapid.
Run the cultivator through the corn
to prevent this condition, and the
oftener it is cultivated the better the
crop will do. Such cultivation puts a
fine dust mulch upon the surface
which effectually prevents evapora-
ton except at very slow rate. Any
one that has examined a well-cultivat-
ed field has been struck by the dry
ness of the surface, and only a few
inches below it was almost wet
enough to make mud balls. After
every rain it is necessary to break up
the crust that forms. In this way
moisture enough may be accumulated
to tide over the period when it is
needed most. A little shower often
does considerable damage by destroy
ing the dust mulch, and it should
be restored as soon as possible.
AS a pasture for Sows and young
pigs, alfalfa proves wonderfully
helpful ration for milk-making in the
SOW and for growth in pigs. Expert
mentS have shown that pigs make bet
ter growth when the dam is fed con-
siderable alfalfa than those from sows
fed the best of commercial rations,
but with no alfalfa. OF two sets OF
pigs, one fed clover, rape and soaked
corn, and the other with access to al
falfa in lieu of clover and rape, those
having alfalfa seemed to grow the
more rapidly. For brood sows, it is
a most valuable food, either as hay,
a soiling crop, or as pasture. The
filters of such sows are generally
large and vigorous and the dams have
a strong flow of nutritious milk. Al
falfa meal in slop may be used with
profit where the hay is not to be OBJ
tanned. 1t is also claimed that sows
fed on alfalfa during pregnancy will
not devour their young, its mineral
elements seeming to satisfy the appe-
tite of the SOW, while contributing to