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2 THE COLBORNE EXPRESS. COLBORNE, ONT., THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, T921. Address communications to A_<oi Suitable Quarters for the Hog. Proper housing is essential in pre fltable swine production. The largest financial returns are obtained only when dry, comfortable and convenient housing conditions are provided. It ft a mistake to think the hog does not need to be protected from the Weather. Having been originally a native of comparatively warm climates, nature has not provided the hog with much in the way of protective covering. It is true it has layers of fat, when it is fat, which offer protection, but there is not the thick coat of hair or wool with which other farm animals are provided. Again, it 1» recorgnized that the best way to nd against the ravages of disease ■o provide sanitary conditions. These considerations, together with the possibility of saving much labor in a well-planned bouse over a poorly planned one, makes it important to five much thought and study to the problem of housing swine. In 1918, a swine expert, through questionaires sent to men whose names were obtained from county advisors, published a survey of one hundred and ninety-two farms in which he presented a table showing the various causes of litter losses. The average number of brood sows in the herds was fourteen. They far-Mowed an average of 7.68 pigs, and Weaned an average litter of 5.72 pigs. The total less was 24.96 per cent The ■Various causes and the percentage of the loss due to each ere given herewith: Crashed by sows .......... 29.18 Farrowed weak............ 22.84 Farrowed dead............'.. 15.88 OhlUed .................... 10.00 Haten by sows ............ Ai»rt«>d ................... 4.55 ...................,.. 3.43 Thumps ................... 178 Necrobacilloses ............. i.| Cholera .................... u Miscellaneous .............. 5.. This survey was made on farms t_ which a good many hogs were raised fis is seen by the size of the breeding herd. Undoubtedly, they are managed by men who raised hogs extensively and take better care of them than dlnarily is the case. Which fact leads us to wonder how many millions of dollars worth of nisi. 73 Adelaide St. West. Toronto hogs could be saved if hollow tile houses, equipped with proper equipment, were universally adopted. When a hundred or more pigs may be farrowed in cold midwinter in a house that is unheated, without the loss of a single pig, there is likely to be something in the construction of that house to commend itself to farmers in a region of cold winters and springs. That very thing happened, not one season merely, but several, and not on one farm only, but many, with a type of house designed by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station and named the "Iowa Hog House." Its test, not merely on the station farm but or other Iowa farms, has been so satisfactory that the station is recommending its use by farmers who want to build a substantial, permanent house for their swine. That this new type of house is so warm, even in the dead of winter, without artificial heat, is due to the fact that it is built of hollow day tile. The windows in the roof also add to the warmth of the house and especially to its sanitation. They admit sunshine, a broad belt of It eight feet wide the full length of the house, which sweeps, every nook and corner of every pen and gives every pig a sun bath at some time during the day. That makes for warmth, for physical comfort, for germ desibruction, for health and for strength. AU these things have been secured, not at a prohibitive cost, but at a cost that is well within the reach of the substantial farmer who wants to build a hog house that will stand for twenty years, or fifty or a hundred for that matter. The comfortable hog is the profitable hog. The hog that does not need to store away quantities of surplus fat to be drawn upon for warmth when the temperature falls below a < fortable degree is the hog that is ing all the feed it eats to build hard, high-priced pork. A hog is not comfortable and contented in a dark, damp, unventilated house. A hog such a house cannot return a respectable profit to the hog man. A well-built house insures well-built hogs. A poorly arranged and improperly equipped hog house may be the cause of losing a great deal of money as long as it is used. Molting hens require liberal feeding $o quickly produce a coat of new feathers ana return to laying condition. Sunflower seeds have been found of great value at that time. At least ten per cent, of beef scrap in the mash is desirable at molting time. It seems expensive to feed beef scrap to hens that are not laying, but experience proves that the sooner they are through the molt the better for the health and egg production of the flock. Growing stocks on the roosts can be protected from Ike by spraying the roosts. Teach them to roost early and it will help to prevent colds. Colds usually come from overcrowding in the corners of colony houses or brood coops. Early roosting a cause of crooked breasts but it better to have a few crooked breasts than birds with colds. liens of the American breeds fatten easily and it often pays to place them J food in good market condition, even at the j perly. present feed prices. There is no de-man ci for skinny poultry and the producer can expect little success if such birds are sold. But the hen that is bagging down with fat is not liked by the best customers. There is a happy medium that about describes the prime market fowl. the flower garden. In the first place there are the bulbs which ar< furnish the early spring posy garden. They should be planted about the middle of October. They like rich soil but must have a layer of sand, gravel, stone or broken tile under them so that they will have good drainage. An ideal setting is a shallow layer of Last Days With the Garden. It is a great protection against ir sects and diseases to rotate the crops and not plant them in the same place in successive years. A protective measure against sects is deep fall plowing. Many of the garden pests winter in the ground and are killed when they are plowed ^p and exposed to the cold. The plowing also works against the weeds, such as the mustards, will retain their vitality even after they have been buried in the ground for many years and sprout readily when brought tip again to the surface but many others die from one year's burial. In Hi garden which has been kept free ftf weeds from frost to frost--not ;|ost through the growing season of i#ome of the vegetables--fall plowed, ,»nd the crops rotated there should be ;Very little injury from insects or ;«ase and very little trouble with ■pweds. The fall plowing will also jfcelp to mellow the soil and make it rtoore workable. J If you are counting on having a bot-r cold frame next spring, now i time to prepare it. The pit jould be dug and the inside of it fE, ulched. Also cover some of the dirt its-ide with a heavy straw mulch manure so that it will be avail-i for use in the spring when the of the ground is frozen. The le can be built now or in the win-if you think you will have more i for indoor work then. There is still much ia be done layer of rich loam for the roots, and some coarse stuff under that for drainage. Then there are the window boxes which are to brighten up your home through the long gray months of the winter. They should be very i fully prepared. Remember that these plants will have to live and bloom under abnormal and unfavorable ditions, and they should be given every advantage. The earth should sometimes | be very carefully prepared. One f° quarter of very thoroughly rotted manure, and the rest equals parts of leaf mold and sand makes a bination which will furnish all the ecessiary and will drain pro-Heavier soil will not drain well and is apt to sour. Some coa: gravel or stone in the bottom of pots and boxes will help. The bottom of the container should always be perforated, for water should never be allowed to stand in it. If there pan under the box or pot there should be some stones or other supports it to keep the container above the Breaking a Horse to Ride. It is well to break the horse to drive single and double. This will make him quieter to ride. Horses usually buck through fear. In breaking one to ride, take plenty of time and do not frighten him. Put on the saddle and lead him around until he becomes accustomed to it. Do not have the girth too tight, horse may 'be tied up for a time and later turned into a paddock with the Next accustom the horse to being mounted, getting on and off a number of times. The assistant should have lead rope tied1 around the horse's neck and run through the rings of a snaffle-bit. If the horse attempts to play up, punish him with a jerk on the bit. Let the assistant lead the horse around with rider until the horse familiar with the weight on his back, then dismiss the assistant. If the. horse becomes rebellious, pull his head' sharply to one side; do not let him get! it down. The first few rides should' be in a small inclosure. The gaits should be taught separately. The first few rides should be the walk; next teach the trot, and then the canter. Spurs should not be used until the horse is well broken. Avoid Overloading Your Truck. A man I know, who owns a 200-acre farm, bought a three-ton motor-truck some time ago. Everything went well for six weeks after he began using the truck. Then something happened. One day, shortly after harvest, he loaded i of wheat on his truck, putting on a high pair of side boards to hold the load, and started to market. About half-way to market, coasting down a long hill, in which there was a sharp turn, something snapped, and the truck plunged into the embankment at the side of the road. The driver was seriously hurt, the truck was badly smashed up, and the wheat was scattered' so widely that very little of it could be saved. That man, when he got out of the hospital, did what most men under similar circumstances would have done. He resolved never again to overload his truck above its rated capacity. "I've learned my le "The truck manufacturers told me how much the truck would safely carry, and the capacity was stamped on the truck, just as freight-car builders mark the capacity on the cars they build. But I thought I'd save trips getting my wheat to market, when blooiel I'll never overload again." A possible accident is only reason for loading a motor-truck up to its rated capacity, and no more. That is enough of a reason there is the other reasan of shorter life of trucks thus abused. Any well-made truck will last for a long time, if it is not overloaded, and if the operator keeps it in repairs and operates it wisely. But the man who overloads is generally guilty of other charges-- reekless or careless driving, and little attention to the upkeep of the truck. And no truck can suffer abuse for long) it's the same principle as working your teams day in and day out, without currying them, without doctoring their ailments, exposing them tc all sorts of risks on slippery pavements, straining them to pull heavy loads in soft spongy places, and score of other evils. A truck is r so well fitted as a horse, to stand such abuses, for the horse has in itself the power to adapt itself i abuse. Not so with trucks. There is a third reason for loading trucks only to capacity, and that the effect on the roads. Heavy trucks, loaded only to capacity, wear down roads; but most of the damage is du< to overloading the trucks, and to reckless driving. If drivers can not learn to avoid these evils, laws will eventu. ally make them do so. Possibly, more good farm trucks have been knocked to pieces than their allotted time because of overloading, than because of any otf thing. The railroad people have learned that it is "throwing it the door, and shoveling it out at the windows" to overload their carj. When will truck users learn the son? By Earle W. Gaoe sacrifice, and which we use for belt power, such as silo filling. Accord-! ingly we bought a small tractor, with | A six.thousand mi]e tour of Canaxla with a suspici(>us eye, and its support-two plow bottoms, and have used it convlnce3 me that that coantry not.;ers among the farmers were all too only has the world's greatest farmers'i few. Adventures in the same direc-co-operative organization, but that ititicn had had a bad record in Canada, has attained man-size proportions, j But the initial difficulties were overwrites Earl W. Gage, of Michigan. It come, success brought friends, and the work in spring, when the strain <™ Tractor Experience. "In Farmers We Trust" When we purchased our tractor we id on hand a stationary gasoline _________ engine which we did not care to United Grain Growers of Canada, World's Greatest Union only for plowing, pulverizing, similar work. We also use it for * hoisting hay in the barn i has ' attained "man-size proportions, j But the i The tractor permits us to rush the Earl w Gage> of Michigan. ft Lome, sue, is past experimental uncertainty, and | company gradually established i "trust with teeth in it," i the horses is heaviest. To illustrate: One spring, for one reason or an-; middleman testified to me who _ other, we found ourselves with sixty befm t out of buslnesg b it. acres of corn unplanted, and the I - ■ ,_ .. , _ , _ T . ., , planting season pretty nearly over. I . The United Grain Growers, Limited, We have about ninety acres of drained; includes sixty thousand active mem-marsh, which is a little late in getting: bers and twenty thousand associate into condition. So we took our own' members, a total of eighty thousand tractor, and my son-in-law brought Producers and consumers This mem-his tractor, and the two machines were; bershlP lncJludea <>ne *n *hr<* £ farm run full blast until' the corn was in.! owners and tenants of Manitoba, Sas-Withcut the tractors, we would have' J»tchewan and Alberta. The company lost at least two weeks, which means! aA Pfd up capitalization of abou. much to us, as we are always in §3.000,000, with reserve fundr -* danger of an early frost. The crop Sheep Keep Weeds Down. Sheep eat more weeds than any other class of livestock, except goats. Sheep will eat ninety per cent, of all troublesome weeds. They will destroy weeds in pastures, in grain fields and corn fields after harvesting, and clear the fence rows. However, sheep not such scavengers that they thrive on refuse and weeds alone, order to get sheep to eat leaves shrubs, the tenderer grasses must be scarce. Goats are better adapted to clearing brush land than are sheep. Some farmers consider sheep necessary just as a means of controlling weeds. of silage corn which those two weeks probably saved for us would have paid1 the first cost and operating expenses of both tractors for two years. When our stationary engine wear-out, or we can sell it to advantage, we will use a tractor for belt power, but I do not believe that a tractor largei than a three-plow bottom tractor would be economical under our condi tions, or the conditions in vogue o the average dairy farm. For two years' work we paid only about $50 for overhauling, and the tractor is today in excellent condition. It depends largely upon the care a tractor receives. I know of cases where a machine was ruined the first week because of insufficient oil, and the bearings burned out. The inexperienced operator will also forget to use enough water; he may even allow the radiator to become dry. It is also necessary to keep the transmission well greased. Our tractor burns kerosene, and this fuel smudges the spark plugs badly. It is our practice to clean the plugs every morning to insure good ignition during the day. When the tractor is not in use, it is well sheltered and under roof.--W. F. Now Is the Time to Dehorn stock. Hog down corn. Select seed-corn. Start a flock of sheep. Market fat hogs and "grass cattle." Cull all hens that do not lay, but lie. Attend fairs and county club contests. Build fall and winter vegetable storage. Locate your supply of pedigreed seed wheat for planting this fall, also of j^^-^^hsply of formaldehyde ififer ^i^-che whlfat to prevent smut. To protect my roses during winter I cut them back quite short, take an empty box, fill it with leaves and turn it over the bushes. This protects them from cold, as well as mice. I never lose a bush. To control black-knot on plum tree3, prune out the knots before the spores ' of the disease have a chance ture. An annual inspection of the | has been equally < trees and the removal and destructio of all the knots in the fall is the mo; satisfactory method to follow. $2,000,000, while the assets are more than $12,000,000, and pay their owners a dividend of from eight to ten per cent, on the stock investment, beside setting aside a reserve fund at the close of each season. A Gigantic Enterprise. Nearly seven hundred country elevators are operated' by the combine in the three provinces of Western Canada, two large private elevators at the head of the Great Lakes. The Dominion government has a series of elevators, government owned, so that these farmers are able to store each season, without speculative aid, a major portion of their crop. They are not at the mercy of gamblers of the grain pit. The United Grain Growers operates a grain exporting business, with headquarters at New York City, which prior to the war was one of the largest grain exporting concerns on the continent, and during the war was considered so good as to be called over by the allied governments. It is now a leader in the grain world. This gigantic structure of teamwork has been erected in the short period of a few years, amid a field strewn with the wrecks of co-operative failures among farmers. It will transact a business of more than $100,000,-000 this season, since it will handle Canada's greatest grain crop from farm to remotest export point, conserving profit to the individual grower: This is the great combination which is being used as a pattern by the American Farm Bureau Federation in their present organization scheme in the middle west, a committee visiting Canada and studying at first hand the plan. It is estimated that it will save $35,000,000 a year in commissions alone to farmers of six central states, tp say nothing of the former speculative profits, where farmers are under the domination of grain pit barons. Development of Co-operation. On of the most remarkable de-velopn. its In Western Canada within the past decade has been the development of co-operative effort among the farmers. Although this has expressed i "through foothold. Parallel organizations were started in Saskatchewan and Alberta and met with equal success. The Saskatchewan company still maintains its special identity, but the Manitoba and Alberta institutions were amalgamated in 1916 into what is now United Grain Growers, Limited." Now Dominion-Wide. The co-operative movement is no longer confined to the prairie provinces. It is firmly established in Ontario, where the United Farmers' Cooperative Company of Ontario organized but a few years ago, increased its turnover J)y five hundred per cent, last year. The United Farmers of New Brunswick and of British Columbia are extending their co-operative activities. The dairy industry of Quebec is well organized on co-operative lines, the movement has a strong foothold in Prince Edward Mand, and a start has been made in Nova Scotia. So th« co-operative spirit has caught all Canada. "These organizations," continued Mr. Crerar, "created, developed, and directed by farmers, have demonstrated that they can safely enter the world of commerce and distribution and compete successfully with old-established business institutions. Slowly but surely the co-operative idea is making headway against the old capitalist system in Canada, and it has at last aroused a promising interest in urban communities and business centres. "Much remains to be done in the way of co-ordination and consolidation, but there is no reason why within one or two decades the whole agricultural population of Canada should not be linked up in vast co-operative organizations which will undertake all its selling, buying and distributing activities." The economic aspect of the Canadian farmers' movement is but one aspect of the new era To-day the farmers' political activities bulk even more largely in the public eye. The transi tion from economic organization* to political action was both inevitable and simple. The organized farmers-found that as long as paramount financial and manufacturing interests largely controlled and influenced the legislatures of Canada, especially the federal government at Ottawa, there, must be a definite limit to their cooperative schemes: When people have, learned to co-operate in business it is an easy transition to work together in governmental affairs. Aim of Farmers' Movement. "The ultimate aim of the farmers' movement is the improvement of civilization," advises Mr. Crerar, proved economic order and the establishment of good citizenship as an ordinary practice of life, and their organization is planned to :n parallel with the popular and rep- itself most notably which has attended the farmers' elevator companies, yet the sue pronounced garding creameries, live stock selling/ resentative institutions of the country, wool and sheep associations, cheese the municipal council, the provincial factories and stores. | legislature, and the Dominion parlia- | "The farmers' movement has now; ment. The local organizations and It is a mistake to put off plowing! reached a stage when it is definitely, clubs form an invaluable social nexus until late in the fall or early spring.' recognized as one of the most import-, for a scattered rural population. They The ground is often heavy and some- j ant factors in the national life of Can- j hold regular meetings and educative times actually too wet to plow in the j ada," advised Hon. Thomas A. Crerar, | debates; propaganda is carried on to of the frost will i late minister of agriculture and presl- j aid the movement, and efforts made fall, but the actior repair all damages, or most of it, least, if the plowing is done early. In the spring, ground should not be plowed unless it is dry. The Welfare of the Home MARTYRS AND MENACES or-aJble s By Margaret. Steel Hard familiar with the mem-nacted in Mrs. Ruggles' kitchen (The Bird's Christmas Carol) when Mrs. Ruggles, distraught and determined, struggled to implant the rules of polite behavior in the minds of her nine harum-scarum youngsters during the space of a few fleeting hours. The scene was occasioned by their almost immediate appearance at Mrs. Bird's dinner-table and their mother's terror lest they conduct themselves in too outrageous a man- A few rows of trees on the side of the prevailing winter winds will make world of difference in the comfort of the farmstead. To-day, mothers are confronted with e same problem; though in a less uke and humorous degree. Children go forth to take part In a larger group than the immediate family one, and unless we have managed wisely and surely from the very beginning, we beset with the same misgivings which Mrs. Ruggles endured; the almost certain knowledge that they may use us mortification and chagrin. It may be in the home that this realization comes. How many mothers, entertaining a caller, have suffered vexation because of the wilful demands and interruptions of an ill-behaved child? How many have experienced the disagreeable surprise of finding the habit of untidiness, incon-iderateness and inattention, over- privileges on the part of th( manufacturers, elevator companies, and other interests who between them had a large control over the markets, transportation and finance. "In 1901 the first Grain Growers' Association was formed at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, and in 1905 the The mistaken devotion which takes Grain Growers' Company was founded ited that all restriction to a with headquarters in Winnipeg. Its child's desires means deprivation, j earlv trials were many and severe; which cannot bear to see a child suf-; the Winnipeg exchange closed its fer temporary disappointment or pun- [ doors against the farmers, the banks him to develop an in- j and. business community viewed it dent of the United Grain Growers. "It elect good candidates for local offices, began in an effort at economic organ-j In the provincial field, farmers, ization in 1905 to combat what many through a working alliance with labor western farmers thought were oppres- j which may be developed and extended, monopolies and special vested j have gained control of the government of Ontario, the largest province a Canada, and in the prairie provinces their political influence is such that they can secure favorable considers -tion for any reasonable legislation which they ask for." Thus, the slogan of modern Canada is, "In farmers we trust," and the. sane and satisfactory government of distribution, including the elimination of unnecessary miSdlemen and ir ishment, a dividuality which later will sap andj ? ed profits to producers, testified to the desirability of this type of organization. Found It Worth While to Pack Light Soil. In my farming experie looked at home, become appalling I pects them to respect her rights as stumbling blocks at school. Outsiders j truly as she respects theirs, will find look upon this child with mingled in-1 herself blessedly relieved of mortifica-dignation and pity. Indignation that! tion and ehagrin and she will know the his parents have allowed things to; joy of a certain sureties® and repose come to such a pass; pity that the! which will increase her days in the child must face existence so handi-1 land of the living no matter how filled capped at the start. | they may be with maternal duties. prey upon all other individuals whom he comes in contact.' The mother who trails after her children all day, picking up mislaid playthings and articles of clothing, I appeared that we must take advantage who makes countless trips upstairs in J of every opportunity to inform our-answer to repeated calls after they se\ves on the best methods of doing are supposed to have gone to bed, who j our work. We learn much from other rises to shut doors left swinging as I farmers and from our county repre-they rush in and out, who responds j sentatives and the experiment sta-wearily and patiently to ceaseless de-, tions, but to make the greatest success mands and questions flung at her as ] we call not aUow ourselves to go to she tries to read or write, and who | sleep. t think I have learned a little has never really known a moment's I Iesson ,by accident which will mean repose during her children's waking as mWvn to my sueCess at farming hours; instead of being a martyr is a menace, for her children will become the careless, arrogant, selfish men and women of the next generation. The mother who determines that her children must abide by the standard which requires painstaking effort and responsibility, who demands the came degree of courtesy and consideration to be extended toward her as she extends to her children, who -ex- After preparing a field for rye it became necess-ary to haul across the land loads of corn for the silo. The men in driving did not keep to a narrow track and as a result a rather wide strip lof soil was thoroughly packed and when the seed was put in this soil was very firm despite the light nature of the land. Now the lessen which I learned was that when this field was harvested there was a splendid stand of rye where the soil had been thoroughly firmed and not much of a crop elsewhere. This observation set me to thinking and I concluded that if the oackina worked in a small spot it ought to work all over the field. I therewith procured one of these heavypackers and tried the plan out with very satisfactory results. A number of neighbors were recently surprised at results on a field where the packer was used and where a splendid stand of sweet clover is the result. It must be remembered, however, that it requires considerable power to pull the packer where the soil is loose. Three, and still better, four good horses are necessary to get on nicely. But it means the difference between success and failure in farming this type of land.--N.B. result of Melancholia is often bilii Lice and mites thrive only at Jj» expense of the poultry; anybody iyxi choose whether to raise vermin or chickens. The way to make money out of the production of n^l'k is to begin at home. Weed out unprofitable pro* ducers. No real business man will keep a workman in his employ a week if he is an unprofitable producer, and the cow is the dairyman's-machine, the dairyman's workman.