THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



241 



peatedly demonstrated it, but also by the eagerness 

 manifested by the average dealer to buy mixed lots, 

 for he well knows that he can, as a rule, get this class 

 of stock enough cheaper so that he can make a good 

 profit by sorting them up and filling orders. It is a 

 rule which applies with as m uch force to farm produce 

 as to morals, viz., that the inferior is much more apt 

 to drag down the superior than is the superior to im- 

 prove and elevate the inferior when they are associated 

 together. One of the most surprising things is that 

 farmers' wives will allow a huckster to go into their 

 flocks and pick out the best and leave the poorest. 

 They should do their own sorting, and then let the 

 buyer take it or leave it, just as he chooses. In dress- 

 ing stock great care should be taken to put the stock 

 in the condition which will render it most salable 

 when it gets to market. 



Winter Dairying. If winter dairying is not 

 practiced, a change to that, either wholly or largely, 

 will materially increase the profits. In perfecting this 

 change a special preparation is necessary. A warm, 

 well-ventilated stable, if not already provided, will be 

 the first essential. An abundance of the various kinds 

 of milk-producing food should also be provided for 

 the support and well-being of the herd. For this pur- 

 pose nothing is better than a good quality of hay 

 (clover or alfalfa being the best) and good corn ensil- 

 age for roughage, with bran, cornmeal, oat and pea 

 meal, and cottonseed meal in connection. With these 

 facilities, and a fair lot of cows and a careful man to 

 attend to them, the dollars will come in for all extra 

 outlay. With winter dairying the cows will remain dry 

 during August, while the feed is short, and through 

 the worst season for handling dairy products, instead 

 of February and March, and will give the dairymen 

 the best portion of the year for making butter, and 

 fair prices. The calves dropped in September or 

 October will be well started by winter, will escape 

 the worst part of the year for flies and heat, and will 

 be in good shape to turn to grass by the following 

 spring. 



No Over Supply of Good Horses. Notwith- 

 standing electric power, good horses are always de- 

 sirable, and will in the near future bring better prices 

 than now. Farmers will understand what they need, 

 and for a while, perhaps, the supply will be short of 

 the demand, but the price will again settle to a fair 

 compensation for the trouble and risk in raising good 

 horses. Good family horses will always be in de- 

 mand in the cities and in the prosperous villages. 

 Electric cars may carry men to business and women 

 to their shopping, but there is a demand in hours not 

 spent in business for a carriage horse to supply a need 

 felt by almost every well-to-do family that may have 

 a restful airing in the country or in the parks and 

 suburbs of the cities. Farmers would do well to turn 

 their attention to raising horses to supply this want. 

 Horses should be raised of the best blood, not for the 

 turf, but for the carriage, and as much care should be 

 taken in their training for this purpose as is necessary 

 to good conditioned, quiet, trusty horses suited to driv- 

 ing through all the bustle and noises of the city. 



Surj/ing Potatoes. Select a place with good 

 surface drainage away from where the pile is to be 

 made. It is all the better if on north side of trees or 

 buildings, so as to be sheltered from south winds. 

 Make a pile on top of ground, about three and a half 

 feet wide, and as long as you please, and pile up as 

 high as you can on this base. A long, narrow pile is 

 better than a round one of considerable size. It will 



cool down quicker. Put seed potatoes in cellar until 

 ground gets cooler than cellar, just before winter. 

 Then when it is cold, near freezing, draw them out. 

 First put over a layer of straw, say what will pack 

 down to four inches, then about four inches of earth. 

 Wait for this earth to freeze a little. Then put on an- 

 other layer of straw and eight to twelve inches of earth 

 well topped out. The straw should be put on with 

 care, so as to shed water, same as you would top out a 

 stack of hay. The two air-spaces in the two layers of 

 straw make freezing impossible; at any rate, we have 

 never lost a tuber, and we have kept many bushels of 

 seed in this way. Late in winter cover the pile with 

 about three feet of straw mulch, when the earth on 

 the pile is frozen deeply. This will keep the frost in 

 and the potatoes will not sprout so soon. Your 

 greened potatoes are all right for seed. 



Feeding Potatoes. The value of potatoes as 

 food for cattle has for some time past been a subject 

 for consideration by the French Ministry of Agricul- 

 ture. M. Gerard has just issued a detailed account of 

 a second series of experiments. The only addition to 

 potatoes was straw to begin with and hay afterward. 

 The results fully confirmed those of the first trials, 

 showing a diet of potatoes to be very economical in 

 the production of meat, cooked tubers having again 

 proved superior to raw ones. The plan pursued was 

 to boil or steam the potatoes, mixing them afterward 

 with straw or hay chaff, adding a little salt, and leav- 

 ing the mass for twenty-four hours to ferment slightly 

 before using it. In addition, a little loose hay was 

 given. The average daily ration of a bullock in three 

 meals was 10.5 pounds of potatoes, six and a half 

 pounds of hay chaff and thirteen pounds of loose hay. 

 For a sheep it was five and one-half pounds of pota- 

 toes, a little less than three-fourths pound of hay chaff 

 and one and one-third pounds of loose hay. 



SorgJiuma Good Product. Mr. George Stew- 

 art, of Crow's Landing, Gal., is looking into the matter 

 of sorghum raising says the Newman Tribune. This 

 year he sowed ten acres to sorghum seed and, taking 

 into consideration the fact that it was an experiment 

 with him, and further that no especial cultivation or 

 care was given it, raised a fairly good crop. 



Hope for Wheat Growers. J. A. Filcher, sec- 

 retary of the California State Board of Trade, does 

 not take the despondent view of wheat-growing that 

 has been widely held and confidently proclaimed. It 

 has been the opinion of many that the wheat area of 

 the world is only partially developed, and that the 

 yield of the future from new fields will make the 

 supply so great that wheat-growing will no longer be 

 profitable. But Mr. Filcher holds that the maximum 

 yield of the world has practically been reached, and 

 that growers need not fear a greatly increased crop 

 from any country in the world. 



As to Cheese. The purpose of cutting the curd, 

 in cheese-making, is to facilitate the escape of the 

 whey. Before adding the rennet in cheese-making, 

 stir in the coloring matter, first diluting it with water. 



Fall Plowing. The effects of fall plowing are 

 not only shown on the land and the next year's crop, 

 but it is less exhaustive and wearing on the team. In 

 the fall the horses are in the best condition for work 

 and their muscles are in the condition which only 

 constant exercise produces. 



