THE DIVERSIFIED FARM 



Short, practical articles, notes of experience and observation, are invited from the readers of TI-IK IRRI- 

 GATION AGE who are interested in the promotion of the idea of the small diversified farm providing to the 

 fullest economical extent all of the various articles of food, clothing, etc., required by the family. 



UTILIZE THE WIND POWEB. 



BY' W. C. FITZSIMMONS. 



THE wind, like the poor man, is always with us. 

 It is often, if not generally, a source of complaint 

 against the climate. In no considerable area in 

 the United States is there a demand for more wind. 

 It is, indeed, the specially disagreeable feature of 

 nearly every climate. The cold north winds of 

 winter and the raw winds of March, as well as the 

 parching and drying winds of summer, are alike dis- 

 agreeable if not destructive. But the wind is every- 

 where, and always a source of power, and should be 

 utilized by the farmer as a helping hand. Wind- 

 mills are comparatively cheap, and many of them 

 are very effective. Great improvements have been 

 made, in appearance at least, upon the old-time 

 windmills, and a new and possibly more appropriate 

 nomenclature is now employed whereby we are intro- 

 duced to "wind engines," "aermotors," etc. Still, 

 all these improved devices are windmills, though cuts 

 of them, as seen in the advertising columns of THE 

 AGE, differ essentially from the old drawings so 

 familiar to readers of the exploits of that doughty 

 knight of the windmill, Don Quixote de la Mancha. 

 There is scarcely a farmer in the country who can 

 really afford to be without a good windmill. The 

 uses to which such a machine may be put on every 

 farm are various and may be made to yield a profit. 

 To be sure, there will be some days when the mill 

 cannot earn its keep through no fault of its own, but 

 on most farms a little attention from day to day will 

 supplement the lack of motive power, and enough 

 work may be done on breezy days to tide over a 

 "doldrum" of even several days at a time. Some 

 day soon perhaps electrical appliances will be at- 

 tached to the windmill, enabling the farmer to store 

 power as he now stores wheat or cider, to be drawn 

 upon for use whenever convenient. But the wind- 

 mill as it is at the present time is sufficient for most 

 purposes to which farmers wish to apply power thus 

 derived. Perhaps one of the most common uses to 

 which the power of the wind is applied is the pump- 

 ing of water. Raising water by hand, even from 

 shallow wells, is very hard work, and too slow a 

 process to be thought of on stock farms, or when re- 

 quired for irrigation on a farm however small. With 

 a good well, however deep, and a modern type of 

 windmill, water for household purposes, stock, and to 

 some extent for irrigation, may be easily and cheaply 

 raised. But the pumping of water is only one of the 

 valuable functions to be performed by the windmill. 

 At comparatively small cost, belts, shafts and gearing 

 may be provided whereby the power of the wind may 

 be made to turn the grindstone, move the churn, shell 

 the corn, and grind it both for the use of the family 

 and the stock, as well as to do a number of other 

 errands, such as elevating grain and baled hay for 

 storage in the barn. Cheese and cider presses may be 



operated by the same power, and fodder and wood 

 cut also. In fact, the profitable uses of the windmill 

 are many, and as users of them acquire more experi- 

 ence the long list of chores for the windmill will be 

 lengthened, while that for the boys on the farm may 

 be shortened in proportion. Like the small boy, 

 however, the windmill needs an occasional dose of 

 castor oil to keep it in condition to do its best work, 

 and this amount of attention to its needs should be 

 freely given. In short, the modern windmill affords 

 the farmer the most ready and cheapest means to 

 apply the enormous force of the wind to useful pur- 

 poses about the farmstead. It is an easy way to use 

 to the best possible advantage a waste product of 

 illimitable amount, which costs absolutely nothing to 

 produce, and which may nearly always be relied upon 

 to ease the farmer's toil, as well as that of his family, 

 while adding a hundred hitherto unknown comforts, 

 not only to the farmer and his household, but to his 

 flocks and herds also. 



THE SUNFLOWER AS A FARM CROP. 



BY JOHN TRIMBLE, SEC'Y OF THE RATIONAL GRANGE. 



THE discovery of sunflower oil as a food was an 

 accident. It being recommended to a Russian 

 farmer to prevent sickness, he tested its remedial 

 values, and then began to use it as food to his family 

 and the cake to the stock. So popular for oil and 

 food has the sunflower industry of Russia become, 

 that in 1881-2 there were 367,889 acres in cultivation ; 

 in 1886-7, 704,496 acres. Seed is of the large and 

 small varieties, the latter used for oil, the former 

 eaten the same as peanuts. A Russian farmer gives 

 the yield of seeds at 1,450 to 1,600 pounds per acre, 

 and nets the grower $28 to $31 per acre. 



An American chemist, living in St. Petersburg in 

 1868, made a compound lard, taking sunflower oil as 

 the base, which was pronounced superior to hogs' 

 lard in every respect for domestic purposes. Some 

 of this compound was sent to a food exposition in 

 Holland, and took the first prize as pure refined 

 hog's lard. He then produced, from the same oil, 

 oleomargarine, which also took a premium as 

 creamery butter. From the residuum of the oil he 

 manufactured fine washing and toilet soaps, which 

 are standard brands in Europe and South America. 

 Druggists use the refined oils in preparing lini- 

 ments, salves and hair lotions. When properly 

 treated, it is used on the most delicate machinery as 

 a lubricator. 



VALUE AS STOCK FEED. 



The annual output of all the sunflower oil mills in 

 value is estimated at $1,700,000 for the oil only. Oil 

 cake is put at $600,000. The oil cake is largely con- 

 sumed in Russia, Germany, England, Sweden, Den- 

 mark and Holland, as feed for cattle. The stock rais- 

 ers and farmers of these countries regard the oil cake 



