a rt. J■£ KUKAL NEW'VUixivivK 
507 
1912. 
SORGHUM FODDER FOR STOCK. 
I notice on page 343 the inquiry of 
\V. E. W., Traverse City, Mich., about 
sorghum cane for fodder. Having had 
some experience in raising, feeding and 
marketing it, I venture to advise W. E. 
W. In the first place you want an early 
variety; second, a variety that does not 
easily blow over; third, a variety with a 
great leaf system. I use Early Orange 
and have never seen a better variety 
for fodder. It is also a favorite here 
for sorghum syrup at the factory, which 
makes up about 2,500 acres every Fall. 
This Early Orange will ripen seed in 
about 90 days from planting. I would 
advise W. E. W. to plant any variety 
so as to ripen seed at first frost, be¬ 
cause you must cut it the next day 
after. This is very important for best 
results. Second, cut when seed turns 
hard, but always cut the next day after 
frost if it gets caught. I always guess 
it will frost October 15, and plant ac¬ 
cordingly July 15. Be sure to plant 
thick enough to grow small stalks 
(about the size of a lead pencil or a 
trifle larger.) Do not put less than 200 
pounds seed per acre. I will repeat 
this—200 pounds seed per acre. Ar¬ 
range your grain drill to put it in rows 
24 inches wide. Open the feed clear 
out. Go over the rows twice if neces¬ 
sary. Get 200 pounds seed on one 
acre. Now you need never cultivate 
this crop, and your ground will be ab¬ 
solutely free from weeds when you 
harvest it. These rows 24 inches wide 
you can cut with corn binder and put 
in shocks of 20 bundles as soon as cut. 
Tie the shocks at the top at once, no 
matter how green it is, or how wet with 
dew. The shocks will drain out and not 
mold. I would not put over 20 bundles 
in each shock. If you have no corn 
binder, hire one. Get a corn binder if 
it is possible. If not possible to harvest 
with a corn binder, put the seed in with 
grain drill, all feeds open, making a 
row every eight inches. Put on 200 
pounds of clean seed (or a little more), 
but never cover over one inch. 
Be sure to put this cane fodder on 
the poorest sandy or clay land you 
have. Never put any manure or fertil¬ 
izer on land to grow sorghum, for 
syrup or for fodder. Do not plant cane 
fodder on ground full of nitrogen. It 
causes the fodder to be weak stalks, 
and it falls down of its own weight; 
besides its thin, watery, sour sap is not 
relished by any animals. Plant on the 
thinnest land you have, so as just to 
escape frost. This is very important, 
as it cures in cool weather, and retains 
the green color of the fodder just as it 
went into the shock. Planted as above 
directed ought to produce 15 to 30 bush¬ 
els of seed per acre. Never store this 
fodder by laying the bundles horizontal¬ 
ly, as it will surely heat. Stand the 
bundles on end, and if necessary on top 
of each other. Do not make large bun¬ 
dles, as you probably cannot lift them, 
and they might heat if bound tight Do 
not be afraid to shock as soon as cut 
and be sure to tie each shock before you 
leave it. This fodder is greatly relished 
by all animals, and is especially valuable 
to fatten an animal out of condition or 
wormy. It is fine for stock cattle, but 
too rich in sugar for a milch cow, which 
will get fat but lessen in milk flow. 
Do not feed more than will be eaten 
up clean each feed. Feed with seed on, 
or cut it off if you are afraid it is too 
much grain. This fodder and seed will 
fatten hogs rapidly. 
If harvested and fed as directed there 
is absolutely no waste. This will make 
from 12 to 20 tons green per acre, or 
five to eight tons when cured in the 
shock. The writer has sold as high as 
nine tons per acre of well-cured fodder, 
and after feeding, and selling hundreds 
of tons to the local horse and mule mar¬ 
ket, which feeds and handles from 500 
to 3,000 head every Winter, I have yet 
to hear of the first case of any ill re¬ 
sults of feeding corn fodder. Of course 
do not feed if moldy. There is no for¬ 
age plant grown in this country that 
will make the tons per acre of first- 
class feed, and so sure a crop, wet or 
dry, and so easily handled, with no waste 
m feeding, as cane fodder in bundles. 
■ t is the only way to handle cane fod¬ 
der. ^ Sown broadcast, it is the lazy 
man’s way to try to produce “something 
for nothing,” and at last he has “noth¬ 
ing” but bleached and moldy manure. 
This is the experience of the! writer for 
six years. geo. purdy. 
Bourbon Co., Kan. 
RAISING PIGS WITHOUT MILK. 
My experience last year in raising a 
pair of pigs without milk may be of help 
to W. O., as noted in Hope Farm Notes. 
Two small pigs, grade Chester White, 
came March 11; they were born Febru¬ 
ary 2, and had all the milk they wanted 
at farm they came from. Not having 
any milk to use for that purpose, I 
fed a slop of mixed feed (bran and 
middlings) three times a day, made up 
with hot water so as to be warm, and 
thin—they grew rapidly and food of 
same kind was increased as they were 
able to consume more. No cornmeal 
was fed at any time. They had the 
waste from the house and garden during 
the Summer and Fall, all the apples 
they could eat were picked up from 
ground under trees daily. Weeds, leaves 
and anything to make compost heap was 
placed in pen. In November they 
weighed nearly 250 pounds each, and 
the cost of mixed feed that had been 
fed, to December, was $14.45. As they 
were sows and were to be kept for 
breeding they were mated in that 
month, November—but if designed for 
meat, were in just the shape, being long 
and rangy’, to feed corn for fattening. 
Intending to breed them, this grain was 
omitted from the start in the Spring, 
although in the Fall they had the sur¬ 
plus sweet corn ears from the garden, 
and some field corn, cut stalks and ears 
and thrown in the pen. When oppor¬ 
tunity offered without interfering with 
other work, sods from the edge of gar¬ 
den, leaves from the roadway, weeds 
from garden and barnyard were piled 
in the pen. At present time I have a 
compost heap 20 feet long, four feet 
deep, 10 feet wide, all ready for the 
garden, that these two sows have 
worked over, so that the value of this 
is more than the grain consumed. I 
have raised calves also without milk, 
and with good success, using calf meal 
and mixed feed. At all times, no mat¬ 
ter how warm the weather, the slop 
for the pigs has always been warm, 
never was it fed cold. A little fine char¬ 
coal is mixed with slop each day and 
salt also used at same time. 
Massachusetts. Horace b. paricer. 
SOWS THAT EAT TIGS. 
I do not know what causes sows to eat 
their pigs; I have one that is a fine type 
of the breed she represents, and is regis¬ 
tered, that eats part of her family every 
time she has a litter of pigs. As she is 
a prolific breeder, having 12 to 16 pigs in 
a litter, I stand it, for she generally raises 
10 pigs. The only thing to do with such a 
sow is to have a few pounds of fat salt 
pork sliced up and feed her all she will 
eat of it as soon as she has her pigs. The 
pig-eating sow that I have is the mother 
of my herd of sows, and is the only one 
that I ever had that would eat her young. 
Sometimes I think perhaps it may be that 
the sow that eats her pigs does not get salt 
enough, for salt pork stops her actions. 
Massachusetts. r.ouis a. holt. 
I have been raising hogs for 27 years, 
and I never had a sow that would eat her 
own pigs, not even after they were dead, 
so I can only tell how I feed my own 
sows. Corn is a poor food for a brood 
sow; if fed in any amount trouble is sure 
to follow. I use 100 pounds of middlings 
(have used mostly rye this Winter), 50 of 
fine bran, and 25 of *cornmeal, mixed to¬ 
gether. I give about two quarts of this 
in about 10 quarts of separator milk 
warmed with hot water. Some sows re¬ 
quire more than others, so no fixed rate 
can be laid down, but I feed them enough 
so they are content. I keep them in good 
condition, not nearly fat enough to kill; 
always handle them and keep them gentle. 
They always have a free run out of doors 
when the weather is suitable; a good dry 
bed to sleep in. Green feed is all right in 
its way, but do not try to make a sow 
live on it. Meat scraps are a good feed 
for a hen. but not for a brood sow. In 
short, handle her as you would a good cow 
to get a good mess of milk, and I do not 
think you would have any trouble with her 
eating her pigs. c. e. barnes. 
New York. 
MANY A GOOD FARM 
HORSE IS RUINED 
By standing in a wet,sticky 
coat of hair. Experience 
proves that the coughs, 
colds and other troubles 
that affect horses in the 
spring, can be avoided 
by clipping off the winter 
coat before the spring work 
begins. Clipping improves 
the appearance of horses, 
they bring more if offered 
for sale, they do better 
work too, because they dry 
out quick, rest well and get 
more good from their feed. 
The easiest, quickest way 
to clip is with a 
STEWART 
BallBearlngMaehlne 
It clips horses.mules and 
cows without any 
change whatever. 
About the udders and 
flanks of all cows Bhould 
be clipped every three or 
four weeks so the parts 
can be kept clean when 
milking. 
Complete 1752 
Get one from your dealer 
or send $2 and we will ship 
C.O.JD. for balance. 
Wrltt for compUtt catalogue 
Chicago Flexible Shaft Co. 
143 La Salle Avenue, CHICM0 
1 
Feed 3-D Gr 
Better Stock 
More MilkHi 
I half m< 
1 ten. Go 
eal. MJx w 
e cost an< 
Send nan 
Four time* 
an ranoh pro¬ 
tein and fat 
aa corn. One 
>re than glu¬ 
ed as beat lln- 
1th home feed, 
1 Increase re- 
le for mailing 
tatlons. 
heater, Ohio. 
Com, Hay, etc. 
--—-- lioi. unrjrj v^uu 
DEWEY BROS. CO.,Box 844 Blanc 
Oil Meal, Cotton Seed Meal, Alfalfa Meat, 
QUAUTY 0 Owl Brand Cotton Seed Meal 
41 per cent Protein Minimum. 
Feed a balanced ration. Animals need protein. 
Got onr free booklet, “Science of Feeding.” 
IT. W. BKODE & CO.Meniphis, v Tenn. 
s 300 TO *1000 A YEAR; 
a 
This is not 
mere claim. It is 
the actual experi¬ 
ence of all owners of 
Sharpies Mechanical Milkers. 
We don’t ask you to take our 
word, nor their word, for this. 
We stand ready to prove it on your 
own cows or no sale. Mr. Henry 
Fielden, Supt. Branford Farms, Groton, 
Conn., where some of the highest priced 
Guernsey cows in the world are milked with 
a Sharpies Milker, writes: 
‘‘Two men with the Sharpies Milker milk 86 cows in from fifty-seven 
minutes to an hour and a quarter. The cows take to the machine readily 
and seem much more contented than when being milked by hand. It is one 
of the most profitable investments we have ever made on this farm.” 
THE SHARPLES MECHANICAL MILKER 
has the “Teat Cup with the Upward Squeeze,” 
which pushes the blood back with each pulsa¬ 
tion, overcoming the stumbling block of all former mechanical 
milkers. It leaves the teats in a perfectly normal condition, the 
same as after hand milking. The cow is treated so gently she 
enjoys it, and fears no injury, no abuse. She stands perfectly 
contented giving down her milk more readily and more freely than 
when milked by hand. The yield is increased—your dairy profits 
grow. Read this letter from Hon. Wm. C. Sproul, Chester, Pa. 
“The Sharpies Mechanical Milker seems to be entirely comfortable to the cows; in fact 
our cows are in much better condition now than they were when the milker was started, and 
the quantity of the milk has increased about ten per cent. Altogether, I consider it about the 
most satisfactory investment about my dairy." 
Fill Out the Coupon—Send for Catalog Today 
Let us tell you how we will put a Sharpies 
Milker in your dairy and guarantee it to give 
you perfect satisfaction or no sale. We prove it does the work 
to your satisfaction. We give you ample time for trial. Send 
the coupon now for catalog. Guaranteed by a company that has been making 
high-class dairy machinery for 31 years. 
THE SHARPLES SEPARATOR CO. 
WEST CHESTER, PA C1 ^ C u g °’^' : So 2. Francisc °. Cal.; Portland, Ore.; f / 
* Dallas, Tex.; Toronto, Can.; Winnipeg, Can. ^ <<? 
The Sharpl es 
Mechanical Milker 
has few parts, is eas¬ 
ily cleaned, and pro¬ 
duces milk of the 
lowest bacterial content. It 
milks the cow cleaner^ 
than the average 
hand milker. 
X 
/ 
, /&& 
