THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



31 



pound on all beet-sugar manufactured in 

 the state unconstitutional. The act was 

 passed by the legislature of 1897. The 

 decision is the result of a mandamus 

 asked for by the Michigan Sugar Com- 

 pany of Bay City to compel the auditor 

 general to pay the bounty earned in 1898. 



HOW TO KEEP MILK SWEET. 



How to keep milk sweet without preser- 

 vation is a question that confronts every 

 dairyman. The question is only half 

 answered by some of our best dairymen, 

 and not answered at all by others. There 

 is probably no better food for the growth 

 of bacteria than milk, and once in it they 

 will develop with astonishing rapidity. 

 In the udder of the average cow there is 

 no bacteria, and to get this milk into 

 closed cans without exposing it to a great 

 number of bacteria is the heart of the 

 problem. From the time the milk leaves 

 the udder till it gets into the closed can, 

 it must run through the midst of the 

 bacteria that should not be incorporated 

 with it. At the exit from the teat it 

 encounters thousands of these minute 

 plants, unless they have been washed 

 out. Other bacteria drop from the out- 

 side of the udder has been washed. From 

 the hands of the milker fall several kinds 

 of bacteria, unless the hands have been 

 washed. Finally in the bottom and 

 seams of the pail are found still other 

 bacteria, unless the pail has been made 

 more than usually clean. By close 

 attention to all of these details, the milk 

 can be made to pas through air that is 

 comparatively free from fermentive bac- 

 teria. Wastern Creamery. 



THE DELICATE CALF. 



The stomach of a calf is delicate and 

 sensitive, and any change of feed should 

 be made gradually. Do not change from 

 whole milk to skim milk faster than a 

 pound a day, allowing from ten days to 

 two weeks for the change. Before turn- 

 ing on pasture it is better to feed a little 

 green feed and gradually incnase the 



amount until the limit of the calf is 

 reached. Otherwise the calf may suffer 

 severely from scours by the sudden 

 change to pasture. 



Don't over feed. Calves are greedy at 

 feeding time and there is often a great 

 temptation to give more milk than the 

 calf can properly handle, thus causing 

 them to scour. Over-feeding is un- 

 doubtedly the main reason why so many 

 farmers are not able to raise thrifty calves 

 on skim milk. 



Never put corn, kafir corn meal or any 

 other grain in the milk for calves. The 

 starch in the corn has to be changed to 

 grape sugar before it is digestible. This 

 change only takes place in the presence of 

 alkali, and is done chiefly by the saliva of 

 the mouth. When corn is gulped dowa 

 with the milk, the starch is not acted on 

 by the acids of the stomach, but remains 

 unchanged until it comes in contact with, 

 the alkaline secretions of the intestines. 

 With hogs the stomach is small and the 

 intestines long. This allows starchy 

 matter to be digested in the intestines 

 short. Unless the starchy matter is 

 largely digested by the saliva of the 

 mouth, complete digestion will not take 

 place in the intestines and the calf 

 scours. Exchange. 



POULTRY NOTES. 



Many of those who raise poultry and 

 endeavor to give the best of care, make a 

 practice of feeding their fowls at noon. 

 Nothing is so injurious or does more harm 

 than the giving of three meals a day. 

 It is simply a forced fattening process 

 that sooner or later brings in its train 

 every ill that can befall the flock. 

 Because three meals a day gives good 

 results at first it will be adhered to as a 

 practice and when disease appears or the 

 hens cease to lay the cause becomes a 

 mystery, the three meals never being 

 suspected. 



It used to be the habit of farmers, say? 

 the American Cultivator, to kill the 

 largest turkeys fur market, and save for 



