BVic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1291 
General Farm Topics 
Auxiliary Water Supply 
We are in need of more water at the 
barns for tlie cattle, and the well gives 
out in the middle of Winter. I have 
wondered whether a cistern at the barn 
wmiild be sufficient to help out on the 
water problem. Drilling is expensive and 
we don’t always get good water at that. 
We have a never-failing^ creek. Could 
water be forced from it if ram was in¬ 
stalled? s. B. rf. 
South Byron, N. Y. 
The water supply on some of our farms 
is often a problem. A supply of good 
water is as essential as food, and in many 
locations practically the only means of 
obtaining it is by pumping from wells. 
In the case mentioned by S. B. !N. I 
would not advise a cistern. The size re¬ 
quired to store w’ater from one thaw to 
another—about the only source of sui)ply 
in Winter—would have to be large if any 
considerable number of cows were kept. 
Brof. Henry tells us in his “Fee<ls and 
Feeding” that a cow requires from 12 
to 40 gallons of water daily, depending 
upon milk flow, period of lactation, etc. 
While we are not told how many cows are 
to be supplied from this cistern, we will 
suppose a dairy of 25 head, and assume 
that they consume w'ater at an average 
of the rates given above, or 20.25 gallons 
per day each. This would mean a little 
more than 050 gallons daily for the herd. 
Changing this to cubic feet gives us 87.5 
as the space required to store a day’s sup¬ 
ply of water, and this in turn means that 
1,8.27.5 cubic feet, or a cistern six feet 
deep, 10 feet wide and 20 feet long, 
would be required to carry the dairy over 
a period of three w'ceks without other 
source of water supply. There are also 
difficulties iu satisfactory construction, 
as well as considerable cost. 
Although it is not stated how far from 
the barns the never-failing creek flows, 
nor how much water it discharges, the 
proposition looks rather attractive to me. 
The smaller sized rams work with very 
little water, and although they deliver 
only a .small stream, the size depending 
upon such conditions as distance and 
height to which water has to be forci'd. 
amount of ' feed water and fall from 
source of supply to ram, etc., still, be¬ 
cause they are always at it they will 
pump a considerable quantity during the 
24 hours. INI.v advice would be to write 
to some of the hydraulic ram companies 
advertising in the leading farm papers. 
They will send you blanks asking for the 
information regarding lift, fall, etc., men¬ 
tioned above, and upon your returning 
them properly filled out they wall advise 
you as to the suitability of a ram and 
the size for you to buy to fit your needs; 
all this without any cddigation on your 
part. The ram is a simple ’’orm of water 
pump, and if well placed should require 
very little attention. If your conditions 
will permit its use, T think it will prove 
more satisfactory than would the ci.stern. 
B. ir. s. 
Harvesting Sunflowers 
I have about one-fourth of an acre of 
sunflower.s, and a good crop. I am at a 
loss how to harvest them, and to thrash 
or to get the seed from the flowers. 
Would you give me a w'ay to gather the 
seed which is easier than to rub them 
out by hand? o. F. B. 
Hamburg, Pa. 
lit is too late in the season now to han¬ 
dle the sunflowers to best advantage. We 
harvest them the latter part of Sm>tem- 
ber, or early in October, at whicm time 
the heads are hard and the seed is right. 
If left much longer the birds will get 
most of the seed. lATth a small crop our 
plan is to go through the field with a 
sharp cornknife and cut off the heads, 
leaving on five or .six inches of the stalk. 
The heads are put in a wagon or Avheel- 
barrow and taken to a dry shelter. They 
are best cured in racks or shelves under' 
cover. These shelves may be made of 
wood, or with a bottom of fine wire. The 
object is to let the air circulate through 
and around the heads, so as to dry them 
out as quickly as possible. The seeds 
contain oil, and spoil very quickly if left 
exjmsed to the damp. As soon as they 
are fully dried we throw the heads on the 
barn floor, or on a blanket outside, and 
beat them with a heavy stick or a fork. 
This will usually knock out the .seed 
without much trouble. On a large scale 
the heads may be run through a thrash¬ 
ing machine. Rome farmers have devised 
a homemade machine for rubbing out the 
seeds. With a small crop the plan of 
beating the heads with a heavy stick is 
satisfactory. The seed should be put in 
small bags and kept in a very dry 
place. They are useful for feeding poul¬ 
try. The best plan we have found is to 
run them through a small mill and mix 
them with a dry m.'ish. about one-sixth 
of the crushed sunflower in the mixture. 
Sunflowers in Corn 
This year on one three-acre piece of 
land on the back part of the farm, corn 
w'as planted, ns the .soil was in good 
heart, a heavy crop of uncut hay being 
plowed under Last Fall. Sunflower seed 
was mixed in with the seed corn in the 
drill. This jn’oved to be a sort of crop 
insurance, for the pheasants that we are 
raising and feeding on our farm, protect¬ 
ed by game laws for the benefit of city 
sportsmen, destroyed a great deal of this 
corn as it was coming up. The sunflow¬ 
ers filled the gap. They have just been 
harvested. The long heavy rains the lat¬ 
ter part of October, followed by the high 
wind, caused most of the plants to fall 
over, and as the heads were large and 
heavy they .struck face down, although 
they should have remained standing a 
while longer to harden up. Conditions 
necessitat(!d a hasty gathering of the crop. 
There were three high-lop box loads of 
the heads as th.ey were hauled to the 
barn. I never have seen so many large 
sunflower heads together before. There 
will be, I should judge, from our pa.st ex¬ 
perience, at least 15 bushels of the seed. 
The heads have to be laid face up on the 
barn floor and left to dry out thoroughly, 
as they will mold very easily if piled up, 
or even placed two layers deep. When 
thoroughly dry they are easily shelled by 
taking a large head by the stem and giv¬ 
ing it a hard slap on the floor. The 
seeds rattle out very easily when dry. 
As ail addition to the poultry feed ration 
they are of great value. Although the 
corn remaining on that three acres gave 
an excellent yield it was so thin on the 
ground that the sunflowers turned the 
scales from loss to a good pi’ofit. e 
have raised sunflowei-s before in com, 
even when there was a good stand, but 
could not -discover that they injured the 
corn crop. H. E. COX. 
New York. 
The Rabbit Business 
I notice T. B. L., Troy, N. Y., page 
1192. wishes to know something about 
squabs and Belgian hares. I know noth¬ 
ing about squabs, but do know something 
about the rabbit business; have been at 
it for the past four years, and I do not 
w-ant any better business. I have a small 
farm of 25 acres, keep 20 to 40 breeding 
does and work the farm. Farming has 
been uphill business the past two years; I 
have .$2,500 invested and just make a liv¬ 
ing, working every day in the year. I 
keep $150 to $200 invested in rabbits 
and hutches and sell $200 to .$225 every 
year and keep my breeding stock. I have 
tried poultry and hogs; could about come 
out even. The rabbit can be kept on feed 
that hogs and poultry will not thrive on. 
They are pleasant to handle. As for the 
market, there is no end to it, and getting 
better every day. Some make money by 
selling breeding stock, and so they do 
with animals. Hogs are 17 to 19c per 
lb.; rabbits, 4 lbs. up, 25 to 28c, alive. 
Now, which is the better? There is no 
nicer meat put on the table thaii a grain- 
fed rabbit. You cannot get them to eat 
any nasty foo<l. There w-ill be a loss of 
25 per cent in the youngsters, and I be¬ 
lieve there is 50 per cent in hogs and 
poultry. We also lose a large per cent 
of our'farm crops. There is no fortune in 
the business, but you can and wdll get big 
returns for the amount and time. 
I raise the rabbits, or most of them, 
for table use; also sell some breeding 
stock. I run largely on the big Fleinish 
Giants. They must be looked after just 
as carefully as horses and cows. As for 
shipping in large lots, I have people I cjui 
send any number to I wish. Buffalo will 
use a carload a week, and New York City 
is begging for them. I shall stay with the 
rabbits as long as they will sell. The 
selling part does not wmrry me. 
New York. A. F. eieenbeeger. 
Belle, ‘Mack thinks in marrying Gladys 
he is going to get an angel. By the way 
who at the wedding is going to give her 
away?” Nell. “I could, but I won’t.” 
—Baltimore A merienv. 
Gives you more than 
your money’s worth 
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