CROOK OOUXTY JOURNAL
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FOWLS OPEN DOOR OF HOUSE
Tilting Platform Arranged So That
Hans May Liberate Thamaalvaa
by Stepping en It
Tim following I one of the almpleat
method of enabling Ill-tin to open the
iM'iihcuiBo do,r t tlie morning, there
by relieving their owner of Hie Diw
ally of rUlng ut daybreak to let them
out. The linir of the IicnIiouhb la
hinged at Hut top, ao Unit It opetia out
ward, anil the lower edge ratchet
ugHlimt the floor, ao Unit It cannot
awing Inward, Near the lower edge
on the ouUlde a' cord In attached,
which puaxea upwurd over two small
pulley bunging from a beam. The
ullicr end of the cord aupport tin
ran weighted with alone, so an to be
Jut heavy enough to pull the door
open und keep It ao. On the floor of
the lietihouKe, right In front of the
door, la a tilting plutfonn, with a book
In the front edge, which fit an eye
arrowed Into the door. The door tun
therefore do linked ut night by catch
ing the book In the eye, and the pull
of the cord agiilimt the door on the
oulHlde him the effect of making the
hook hold awurely. When the own
er baa locked the door In the evening,
after the heua have gone to rooat, be
prlnklea a few grnlua of feed on the
outnnrd end of the tilting plutforui,
which la now In a horizontal position,
und leave tho henhonae hy (he large
door, which be lock behind him. On
the following morning, the Brut hen
which Jump upon the platform to
pick lit the feed tilt tho plutforjn,
releasing the hook from the eye; and
the weighted cmi nn the outHlde pulla
Hena Unlock Poultry Houie Door by
Stepping on Tilting Platform.
the door open. A knot In the cord,
made to catch In the pulley, will pre
vent wrenching at the hinge. L.
IlUKsiikof, nrooklyn, N. Y., In Popu
lar Mechanic Magazine. I
POULTRY IN PUREBRED CLASS
Entry of Peafowla Received From
South Dakota Farmer Also -Turkey,
Ducka and Geeae.
The flr.it peafowl have been en
tered In the "Hetter Sires Itettcr
Stock" cnismlo of the agricultural
college, the United State depart
ment of agriculture, and co-operating
agencies. The entry conies from
Itutte county, S. I)., and the owner
I J. h. Jone. Ho I using purebred
dire In breeding horse, cattle, swine
and poultry. Among his poultry be
records a peacock and two peahen,
also a liberal number of turkeys,
geese and ducks.- The cnmpnlgn nl
rendy Is giving valuable facts and fig
ures regarding the classes of live
stock most commonly kept together
on farms.
COLONY HOUSES BENEFICIAL
Poultryman Enabled to Place Growing
Stock on Clean Ground Reducing
Dlseaaa Dangera.
Colony houses permit the poultry
man to place his growing stock on
clean ground each year and this re
duce the danger of disease which Is
present when young stock is railed on
the same soil over which the old birds
huve been ranging for many years.
ARRANGE TO PRESERVE EGGS
Those Gathered In April and May May
Be Put In Waterglaaa and
, Saved for Winter.
Snve eggs during April and May for
winter use by preserving In water
glass. MI nine qunrts of water, boiled
and cooled, with one quart of water
glass, rince tlie solution In a five-gallon
jar. Will preserve 15 dozen eggs.
Store In cool place for winter use.
FEED SUPPLY FOR CHICKENS
Grow Oats, Vetch and Rape for Sum
mer Us Cabbage and Mangel
Beeta Good for Winter,
rireen feed Is excellent for poultry
and can be substituted fo.- a, consid
erable amount of tne grain ration.
Grow oats, vetch and rape for sum
mer use: cabbage and mangel beets
for winter. Store cabbage and beets
In a dry room or bury In a pit and
cover with straw and earth.
mm
mm
SHEEP SCABIES ERADICATED
Mora Than Tan Million Olpplnga Made
by Employaea of the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
In the work of eradicating sheep
arable from the United State em
ployee of the United Btnlea depart
ment of agriculture made more than
22 million Inspections and aupervlaed
more than tun million dipping dur
ing the Inst fiscal year. The work
woe conducted In co-operation with
stale ofllciala. No canes of sheep
scublc are now known to exist In
Montana or "N'ortti Iukota, In addi
tion to numeroua other atutea where
the disease had previously teen eradi
cated. In Idaho a apread of the In-
Sips
5!
Dipping Sheep for Scabies.
fectlon during the previous year baa
been brought under control. Sheep
cable is a disease that ha been
prevalent chiefly in the western part
of tho United States.
KEEPING CATTLE AND SWINE
it Remain to B Determined What
Art Moat Common and Bert
Paying Proposition.
The keeping of cattle and of swine
appeur to be almost Inseparable opera
tions. This fact la being brought out
In the returns of the "Hotter SI res
Better Stock" crusade of the agricul
tural colleges, the United States de
partment of agriculture and co-operating
agencies. This general practice
has long been known, but much more
definite Information is being gathered,
and the purpose Is to extend It to such
an extent aa to determine the relation
ships among all meat animals.
If nearly overy man who keeps cat
tle also keeps hogs, and If nearly every
man who keeps hogs also keeps cattle,
the Inevitable conclusion is thut the
combination pays, especially when
purebred aires are used. But it re
mains to be determined what are the
most common and the best-paying pro
portion. Tho same thing applies also
to combinations of cattle and sheep, or
swine and sheep, or cattle and sheep
and swine. One benefit of the work
will be that it will enable the man of
small personal experience to avail
himself of the wide experience of a
great number of men In working out
the combinations of meat animals that
be will carry on his farm.
ECONOMICAL FEED FOR BEEF
A 8llag Become Better Known
Feeder Will Better Appreciate)
It Feeding Value.
There is no doubt but that silage Is
an economical feed In the beef-cattle
ration and as Its value becomes better
known feeders will better appreciate
Its merits. In spite of the fact that it
Is an unbalanced feed itself, it can be
fed with one of the highly concen
trated feeds, such as oil meal or cot
tonseed meal, and makes a ration
which Is surely hard, to beat In fatten
ing cattle. i
CARE OF EWE IS IMPORTANT
Machine Through Which Lamb Will
Obtain Qualities to Enable It v
to Top Market
What Is done for the lamb Is not so
Important as the care and liberal feed
ing of the ewe. The ewe must be re
garded as the machine through which
the lamb will obtain the qualities that
will enable It to top the markets.
Live Stock
'.T&szD Notes
It la very essential that ewes should
be properly fed.
'
A self-feeder can be used to excel
lent advantage for fattening hogs and
pigs.
Better live stock aids thn breeder
both In direct returns and by giving
a locality a favorable reputatlen.
In the cold months many farmers
fall to give the stock enough salt Salt
Is a vital part of each animal's ra
ROAD
BUILDING
RAILROADS AND GOOD ROADS
Solution of Future .Transportation
Problems Seen in Hard-Surfaced
Highways of Country.
Any student of the railroad situation
must reach the conclusion that rail
road operation In America bus reached
the height of Its efllclency and hereaf
ter It will remain stationary or de
crease.
It I always possible that some rev
olutionary process will be discovered.
but the long years without marked im
provement of process Indicate that
rail road mechanics have about reached
their maximum while bureaucratic and
political control now assured will be
as deadening to all mechanical Im
provement as they will be to effective
management
Progress In transportation, there
fore, must be In other lines. Navlga-
Hon bos been heralded for some years
as a solution, but In spite of heavy
government assistance, water traffic,
even on the Great Lakes, has steadily
declined. The remedy does not appear
to rest there, at least for the present
There remain the highroads. In
thmn salvation lies, says Chicago Trib
une. The wor, which proved the utter
Incapacity of the French government:
owned railways to rise to the emer
gency, established the motor truck In
Its full majesty. What the French
railroads could not do the motor
trucks on fine French highways did.
What the highroad are In France
they must be mnde In America.
Fortunately, we have an excellent
little beginning In the middle West
The principle of hard roads has been
accepted and timid beginnings have
been made in a number of states, chief
among them Illinois. Let us under
stand, and Immediately, that what has
been done and what has been legis
lated for Is merely the thin entering
wedge of our highroad program. The
nnrrow ribbons of concrete roads laid
out by legislation will no more carry
the forthcoming auto truck traffic than
the old narrow gouge single track
railroads were able to carry the rail
road traffic which they cuused to de
velop.
It Is fortunate that we have many
agencies bullilir.g roads. The nation
will do something for the most back
ward. The stutes, however, should
m
Asp'Ralt Binder Roal
treble or quadruple all national allow
ances. In the beginning, and until the
principles of highroad truffle are gen
erally understood, It will probably be
necessary for counties and even pities
to provide the wide thoroughfares nec
essary at the points where traffic cen
ters. To Illustrate, tlie 18-foot roads which
are perhaps adequate a hundred miles
In the country are even now more con
gested ten miles out from the city
limits than are our most crowded city
streets.
BILLION DOLLARS FOR ROADS
Immense Amount to Be Spent In 1920
for Construction and Proper
Maintenance.
More than $1,000,000,000 'will be
spent this year In construction and
maintenance of roads and streets
throughout the United States, F. L.
Powers, secretary of ' the American
Road Builders' association, estimated.
HINDER SOCIAL INTERCOURSE
Suapenalon of Travel Caused by Poor
Condition of Highways In Rural
Communltlea.
Bad roads are often a handicap to
social Intercourse. Under tlie worst
road conditions all travel may be -completely
suspended. It Is not difficult
to see such conditions, but what Is
more difficult is to comprehend the
general Improved social' atmosphere
which adequately Improved road con
ditions caused, ratal fianimuultles.
V;- ir
BIG PRODUCTION OF PEACHES
Of 29,000,000 Buahala Grown In 191
California Lead With
9,669,000 Buheli,
The farm production of peaches in
1918 was M.000,000 bushels and, ac
cording to estimates. In 1919 was 80,-
000, WK) bushels. The commercial crop,
In distinction ftoin the farm produc
tion, for each of the past three year
was a follows: In 1917, 29,000,000
bushels; In 1918. 21,000,000 bushels;
In 1019, 29,000,000 bushels. ' These fig
ures are taken from a compilation
recently made for representatives of
the bureau of plant Industry, United
States department of agriculture, in
connection with a comprehensive
study of the peach Industry In the
United State and the production of
vurious districts.
It was found that 34 state have
an annual average production of more
than 100,000 bushels each, Idaho's
crop being the smallest of the 34, and
California's crop the largest. The lut-
-Peach Tree Which Are 14 Year Old.
ter's average annual production of
peaches for the five-year period 1912
1910. inclusive, was 9,609,000 bushels.
Georgia ranked second with 4.5M.O00
bushels, Arkansas third with 3,503,000
bushels, Texas fourth with 2,877.000
bushels, and Missouri fifth with 2,670,
000 bushels. While California far ex
ceeds Georgia in yield, a larger part of
the former's peach crop is used for
drying and canning, and In shipments
of fresh fruit Georgia normally leads
all other states In seasons of a good
crop.
WHY SOME TREES DON'T BEAR
Various Reason Assigned for Lack
of Fruit Weather Interferes
With Pollination.
There are many reasons why trees
do not bear fruit Some trees like th(
Jonathan produce fruit in five years
while it takes seven years for othei
varieties such as the Northern Spy
Some trees blossom, but do not bear
Spray Injury and lack of vigor of the
trees may be the causes of no fruit
High winds, cold dashing rains and
cold weather often interfere with thj
proper pollination and no fruit is tlu
result.
ARRANGE TO SPRAY ORCHARD
Boost Can Be Given 1920 Crops It
Farmer Will Work Ahead
Spraying Will Pay Big.
The old orchard can be placed upon
a paying basis and a boost can be given
the 1920 crop yields If the fnrraei
works on his orchard. Plans should
be made to have the trees sprayed.
At a cost of 60 to 70 cents each tree
can be sprayed four times. Sprayeo
orchards of good varieties will pay an
owner 8 to 20 per cent on a $1,000 acre
valuation, while unsprayed orchards as
a rule do not make good hog pastures.
CARE REQUIRED IN ORCHARD
Tree Will Not Simply Grow Up After
Having Been Planted Must Bo
Looked After.
The good home or commercial orchard-will
not just simply grow up of
Its own accord after the trees have
been planted. Care, painstaking and
Intelligent caro.are required to. bring
fruit tree to maturity and then keep
them at their best.
)RTICULTJUPAL
A place Is made more attractive,
more profitable, and more homelike by
fruit trees about it. .
,
The orchard soli should be fertile
and well drained. The best location
Is on a slope or hilltop.
Peach trees that had brown rot last
year are more susceptible to rot next
year. It depends on weather condi
tions. As soon as the trees are set out,
cut back the tops. Peaches and plums
should be headed 18 Inches from the
ground, and apples and pears SO
Inches. - -
f mh n simm
ii
USE OF GOOD CLOVER
SEED IS PROFITABLE
Farmer Should Consider Advan
tage of Crop Over Others.
Ha High Food Value aa Digeatibla
Protein and Tonnage Yield of Hay
Par Acre I Considerably
Mor Than Timothy.
Good clover aeed I a profitable In
vestment even at present high price,
according to the New Jersey state ag
ricultural college, provided It Is to be
used on wills known to produce clover.
If farmers feel that they cannot afford
to buy clover seed at present costs,
they should consider the advantages
of clover over substitute crops.
Clover hey has a high food value.
Based on the amount of digestible
protein furninhed, one ton of clover
hay Is worth $17.20 more than a ton
of timothy at the present prices of
protein stock feeds. Also, the ton
nage yield of clover per acre should
Turning Under Red Clover to Main
tain Soil Fertility and Supply Nec
essary Nitrogen.
be considerably more than of timothy.
Timothy yields but one crop a year,
while clover often makes two. There
Is enough difference to pay for the
clover seed several times over.
Clover Is of great value also In
maintaining the fertility and nitrogen
supply of the soil. Without clover or
other legume sods at frequent Inter
vals the producing power of the land
would rapidly deteriorate unless ma
nure and expensive nitrogen ferti
lizers were used In amounts practical
ly Impossible in general farming.
Where the soil has been well limed
and where Inoculation has been at
tended to, alfalfa may be substituted
for more or less of the clover In
spring seeding, but it would not be
safe to depend entirely on alfalfa
sown in this way on very many farms.
Soy-bean seed and cow-pea seed are
expensive, and these crops require ex
pensive preparation of the soil and
give much more trouble In curing.
Alaska clover seed, being only about
half, as large as red clover, will go
about twice as far and may be sub
stituted for It wholly or In part as a
measure of economy, though red clo
ver Is preferable where It succeed
The use of lime on land to be seed
ed to clover Is the best Insurance
against failure to get a stand. Lime
stone may be drilled on grain in win
ter with good results where clover Is
to be sown In spring.
MARKETING BY PARCEL POST
Not All Farm Products Lend Them
selves to Practice Saving Can
Be Made With Some.
While It may be attractive to a city
dweller to believe that he can have a
vegetable garden grown for him 100
miles or 150 miles away, place hl9
orders for the cost of a stamp, and
have the produce delivered at his door,
It should be remembered the United
States department of agriculture
points out that not all farm products
lend themselves to direct marketing
by parcel post. Usually It is Imprac
ticable to market such heavy products
as potatoes by parcel post, whereas
eggs, butter, sausage, poultry, many
vegetables, and nut meats may fre
quently be shipped with profit and at
a saving to the purchaser. In general
the greater the vnlue per pound the
more favorable Is the chance for
direct marketing.
NATURE SELF-PRUNES TREES
Pruning Is Often Paying Practice In
Farm Timber Tracts of Valuable
Small Pines.
When trees are properly spaced, na
ture "self prunes" the lower branches.
But In farm timber ,tracts of small
pines and with valuable kinds of trees,
pruning Is often a paying practice,
sfly forestry specialists of the United
States department of agriculture, If
It Is done during the slack time of
winter.
SEED HOUSES ARE RELIABLE
Occasionally Concern Found That Can
not Resist Temptation of
Mixing Grades.
The majority of the seed houses are
reliable and trustworthy, but occasion
ally a concern cannot resist the temp
tation of mixing common, Inferior and
good seed together and selling It as
first-class grade.
9 V jr.
ANGORAS CLEAR
UP UNDERBRUSH
Success Has Attended Raising
of Goats in Ozarks.
VALUABLE IH SEVERAL WAYS
Whit Growing Mohair and Producing
Kid Animal Ar Preparing Way
for Grass, Cattle and Sheep
Flock.
(Prepared by the United BUtei Depart
ment of Agriculture.)
The success which ha attended the
raising of Angora goats In the rugged
Ozark country of southwestern Mis
souri has suggested to specialists that
it might be equally profitable to place
such herds on many other wild tracts,
particularly those which' have been
cut over, because these goats are prov
ing of great help in clearing away
underbrush. While growing mohair
and producing kids, the Angoras In
the Ozarks are also trimming down
the brush, manuring the hills, and
preparing the way, for grass, cattle,
and sheep.
Hired to Clean Up Land.
Some owners of brush lands, not
wishing to Invest in goats, have paid
goat owners from 50 to 75 cents per
animal per season to clear the land
for them. Thus the herd owners, by
renting out their goats, have received
good returns for their browsing In
stead of having to pay feed bills.
In addition to the rental Income,
good Angora nannies, when properly
cared for, are returning an average of
3 to 3 pounds of mohair and are
bearing- a goodly number of kids.
Well-bred, thrifty wethers, bucks and
young goats are keeping the average
of mohair clip up to about 3 pounds.
With mohair selling from 50 to 75 -cents
a pound and. kids valued at $3
to $4 per bead, each rented nannle
returns from $5 to $7 per year, gross.
Tim Required to Clean Up. ,
According to reports secured by a
representative of the state college of
agriculture in Missouri, the number
of Angoras required to clear an acre
Goats Cleaning Out Weed Patch.
of land varies from 2 to 5 depending
on the density and size of the brush.
Two years of constant browsing with
this number of goats results in ab
solute destruction of practically all
underbrush. In some cases the ani
mals have suffered from continuous
browsing in dense undergrowth for
too long a period and some goat men
are finding It advisable to provide a
better range where their animals can
feed part of the time.
CRACKS IN CONCRETE ROADS
Usually Caused by Insufficient Drain,
age or Improper Preparation
of Subgrade.
Concrete roads sometimes crack.
This Is usually caused by Insufficient
drainage or Improper preparation of
the subgrade. Cracks are ao detri
ment to the road If properly filled with
tar and given attention from time to
time to keep such filling In place. The
cracks act as expansion Joints, opening
slightly In cool and closing In warm
weather. They have no effect upon
the wearing qualities of the pavement
surface.
GIVE LAYING HENS EXERCISE
Keep Fowls Confined During Inclem-.
ent Weather and Make Them
. Scratch for Their Feed.
The laying heus must have exercise.
This does not necessarily mean that
the hens must have the run of the
premises. Exercise can be provided byi
feeding the grain feed in litter If;
enough is used. Eight to tea inches of
chaff and straw is not too much. This
will make it unnecessary for the hena
to be out In bad weather.
COWPEA EXTENSIVELY GROWN
Legume Is Utilized for Soil Improve
ment and Feeding Purposes
In Many States.
Probably the most extensively grown
bean Is called "cowpea," although It:.
Is strictly a pod bearer. It Is utilized
all over the southern and central
states for soli Improvement and feed
ing purposes, and no farmer ever was
known to plant too many acres in this
great legume.
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