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GLEANINGS i.N BEK CULTURE. 



Mar 1 



veranda or porch, with rubber curtains to 

 keep off storms, is still better. 



When your feet are too cold to go to sleep 

 at once, don't go to bed in a warm room on 

 that account, but warm them up with a soap- 

 stone, rubber bag of hot water, or the time- 

 honored liatiron wrapped in a woolen cloth. 

 The cool pure air will soon give you animal 

 heat enough, and then be sure to get the 

 hot things out of the way or they will make 

 your feet sore and tender. 



In regard to brooders here in South Flori- 

 da, I suppose 1 should say this is my first ex- 

 perience with brooders of any kind except 

 some very rude home-made ones; and, for 

 aught 1 know, there may be others having 

 the good features of this one. With favor- 

 able weather no brooder of any sort is very 

 much needed after the chicks are a week or 

 ten days old 



The entire poultry business has recently 

 been almost revolutionized by the discovery 

 that cloth curtains are ever so much better 

 than tight glass windows, no matter how 

 cold the weather is; and, just of late, stables 

 for horses and cattle are found to be very 

 much better than tight structures with glass 

 windows. If you are ready and willing to 

 take "the breath of life" as a free gift from 

 God's own hand, look out that you do not, 

 sleeping or waking, stay very long where 

 you are obliged to breathe the same air over 

 and over again. 



In answer to many kind inquiries in regai'd 

 to the sister threatened with the "great white 

 plague," I am glad to tell you that our ef- 

 forts, through a kind Providence, seem to 

 have, at least for a time, warded off the de- 

 stroyer. Here is what she has just written 

 me: 



Dear Brother:— We are now in tlie worst storm we 

 have had this winter, This is the first day I have 

 been unahle to go over to see the folks across the 

 way. I ventured over yesterday, hut tumbled into a 

 snowbank before I got home. I am feeling quile well, 

 and very happy to think I perhaps can stay right here 

 all winter. Sarah. 



Manistee, Mich., Feb. 1. 



CRIMSON CLOVER IN TENNESSEE. 



We clip the following from the Ohio Farm- 

 er for Feb. 1: 



We have experimented considerably in the last two 

 years with crimson clover, and find from our experi- 

 ments that this forage-plant bids fair to prove most 

 valuable to us. Its hardiness and ability to attain a 

 good growth during the winter and early spring make 

 it very valuable to us as a green-manuring crop, as 

 well as a winter and spring pasture. One point in its 

 favor is the cheapness of seed. We bought seed only 

 for an experimental test. We now clip the heads and 

 save our own seed at very little expense. We sow it 

 and winter oats together for a winter pasture, and 

 find that it has no superior for this purpose. Ten to 

 twelve pounds of clover and three pecks of oats gives 

 us the best results. It should be sown as early as 

 possible when sown for pasturage, so that it will at- 

 tain a good growth before severe weather. We have 

 sown the above on land near our chicken-yard and got 

 paying returns by so doing. The chickens are very 

 fond of it, also of the growing oats. By mixing them 

 we are able to secure an abundance of green feed 

 for the flock the entire winter. 



We have experimented largely with it in connection 

 with second crop potatoes, and find that we can rely 

 on it here. By sowing it alone at the rate of 15 to 18 

 lbs. per acre, or with rye, 10 to 12 lbs. to three pecks 



of rye, we are always able to secure an ideal stand of 

 each, which makes a very fine growth. This forms 

 an excellent winter covering for what would have 

 been naked soil. It also holds the surface soil, tbus 

 preventing surface washing. In the spring we also 

 have a splendid crop of green manure to turn under. 



We also find it very valuable as a winter crop for 

 j'oung orchards. By sowing it with rye we are sure 

 of one winter crop for our orchards, and are almost 

 sure to secure the two on the same soil at the same 

 time. We have experimented with it in cotton land, 

 sowing it at the last plowing of cotton. Where the 

 land has been well cultivated we usually get a good 

 stand from this sowing. Some of our largest cotton- 

 growers in this section claim that it has no equal for 

 the purpose. One of the most progressive farmers \i 

 our county claims that he can grow cotton several 

 years in succession on the same land, and sow crim- 

 son clover at the last plowing and leave his soil more 

 fertile each year. 



We have tried it with cow peas after wheat and oat 

 harvest, and find the result gratifying. For this pur- 

 pose 15 lbs. of crimson-clover seed and one bushel of 

 peas gives us splendid results. We cut the peavines 

 for hay when necessary, and still have a floe winter 

 covering for our soil. We find the clover makes a 

 better growth when sown alone. Iq sowing it with 

 peas we find it best to sow only one bushf 1 of peas per 

 acre. We sowed it and peas together for an experi- 

 mental test in some corn land, and found the result so 

 pleasing that we shall sow it extensively in our corn 

 land in the future. By sowing it and cow peas to- 

 gether at the last working of the corn, we find we are 

 not only able to grow a grain crop but also two for- 

 age crops on our soil at the same time. From the 

 peavines we have often gathered peas that were worth 

 more than the corn crop, also leaving- a large amount 

 of nitrogen and humus for the soil in the decaying 

 vines. •- y mixing crimson clover seed at the rate of 

 12 to 15 lbs. per acre, and one bushel of peas, we have 

 found that we can secure a vigorous growth that pre- 

 vents surface washing, also furnishing an abundance 

 of green manure to be turned under in the spring. 



From close observation and experience I offer the 

 following to those who are contemplating growing 

 crimson clover: Do not expect to secure a stand un- 

 le>s sown in well-prepared soil. You can not grow it 

 successfully on land that has a sandy subsoil — or at 

 least we can not. We get better results when sown 

 with oats, rye. or cow peas than when sown alone. — 

 W. C. Crook, Hendeison Co., Tenn. 



While the above is all right for Tennessee, 

 some of it needs some modification for Ohio. 

 We have never failed in getting it to winter 

 over here and in Northern Michigan when 

 sown in July or August. With good ground 

 and favorable weather we have also had 

 good success when sown in September. It 

 must get root enough to stand the freezing 

 and thawing in clay soils. So far as I know, 

 it also succeds when sown with buckwheat. 

 After the buckwheat is harvested, or killed 

 by frost, the clover comes on beautifully. 



Temperance. 



We copy the following from the outside 

 cover of the American Issue for Feb. 8, and 

 hope it will bring a hearty amen from every 

 reader of Gleanings: 



A religion that leaves the saloon undisturbed, unat- 

 tacked. is not worthy to be called after the name of 

 Jesus Christ. Again have we reached a time in the 

 march of Christ down the centuries when, if these 

 should hold their peace, the very stones will immedi- 

 ately cry out. This ethical wave against the saloon 

 has come like a hurricane upon the deck of a pirate 

 ship There is but one explanatioa — Jesus Christ is 

 walking across the American continent. Every place 

 where his holy foot is lifted leaves a dry soot; and its 

 meaning is, the liQiior-traJfic must and shall he destroy- 

 ed. Christ is the source. The saloon must die. — 

 Clinton N. Howard, before Bochester. y. Y., minisfers' 

 meeting, Jawiary, IMS, 



