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r • " * * n" • - * ( , * _ % ^ >. v. *r?*n -swr: & ?; t '1* ' ' t. * *> • * * i * 1 "i Hv^-f /V^ y • 'T" •* r*<'7"'t| *\V, 'w y '* \ | 1 m LANGSHAN FOWLS. MANURING LAND OR CROPS. V :'. • 3:-.: InltaTi Aspect* by American Cultivator*. As the country grows older there is al­ ways increasing tendency to apply spe­ cial manures for each crop, rather than to fertilize the soil for all purposes and allow each crop to take what it needs. The tendency is very strong in grain farming, to which commercial and mineral fertilizers are best adapted. Vegetables need large amounts of nitro­ gen, which cannot well be held in the soil unless it has a plentiful supply of vegetable matter. In that case the soil must be made permanently fertile. With a sufficient supply of commercial phos­ phate, potash and nitrogen, good crops of wheat, oats and barley can be grown on poor laud, and after they are off the land will be little if any richer for the manure applied. If this policy of an­ nual manuring for each grain crop be continued, it Will soon require larger supplies of fertilizers, and after a few years so much mineral manure will be needed to produce the old time crop that the expense cannot be afforded. The only permanent farming is that which provides not merely for maintain­ ing but for increasing the fertility of the soil. It is not possible, practically, to keep soil in the same condition as to fer­ tility. It must either grow worse or improve. If the management be such as to cause the land to grow poorer, it is hardly possible for any success in crop­ ping to make farming profitable. For one reason large crops are not grown that way. If the soil gets barely enough fertility to make a crop, it is usually poor and unprofitable. The system which increases fertility necessarily im­ proves the yields each year. It also puts the soil in such mechanical condition that it is less likely to be injured by droughts or excessive rainfall. It is possible lor land to be made rich enough so that it may be cropped a long series of years and still show the affects of former heavy manuring. We refer to soil that has good natural fertility and has a clay subsoil. On such land there is no leaching away of mineral fer­ tilizers. If it has been made rich once and is frequently seeded with clover, an ordinary four years' rotation scarcely seems to exhaust it and probably does not. The clover gets from the subsoil and from the atmosphere more than it takes from the surface soil. Indeed usually the wasting of clover leaves, when a crop is mowed for hay, returns more to the soil than the plant has taken from it. This may not be true of the mineral plant food, though a good deal of this in the clover plant comes from the subsoil. But it is more than true of nitrogen, the highest priced element in the manure pile. About all of this that the clover plant contains, especially in its later growth, comes from the atmosphere. By sowing clover and using commercial fer­ tilizers to supplement it the best results both for crop and land can be secured. That will pay much better than using stable manure and commercial fertilizers in a system wjiich regards the crop each year as the only thing to be considered. Cellar Wintering of Bees. In a paper read before an association of Iowa beekeepers a member who fa­ vors wintering bees in the cellar said that as soon as the winter set in in ear­ nest he carried his colonies into the cel­ lar--leaving the caps of the hives in the beeyard--and tiered* up the hives ac­ cording to the number of hives to occu­ py a~ given space. As regards ventila­ tion he said: 1 next attend to the matter of thor­ ough upward ventilation. I open at least one-third of the top of the hive, leaving the cluster of bees absolutely exposed. In this lies the secret of successful cellar wintering. The moisture from the bees ascends to the top of the hive, and if the hive is tight condenses there and runs back upon the cluster of bees and upon the comb, resulting in dampness, mold and death to the colony. The bees will not fly out if kept in a dark part of the cellar. As to the temperature of the cellar, 1 would say that I strive to avoid too high a temperature. I prefer the mercury at all times slightly under 50 degrees. My cellar is s:mply a hole in the ground un­ der my house, the water nearly always oozing in at one side and working out by way of the drain. In this cellar I have wintered bees every winter for 25 years and with marked success. After the bees have been placed in the cellar and the hives ventilated as I have indicated they should not be molested until taken out in the spring and placed upon the summer stands. Facta About Corn Fodder. The old idea that all the virtue of the corn fodder was contained in its leaves and the small part of the stalk above the ear used to be quite prevalent. It was the notion that gave rise to the practice of topping corn. Late analyses of the different portions of the stalk show that the upper part is less nutritive than the butts. That also is the verdict of the cow. Watch how she eats a whole cornstalk. Invariably she grasps it Liy the middle, doubles it up and chews both ways, rejecting the tassels and the extreme butts. These last are hard and need to be cut or crushed to^make their nutritive matter digestible. The late experiments made by the North Carolina station show that while the blades contain only 11 per cent of the total digestible matter of the entire plant, 64 percent of the leaves them­ selves is digestible, while 66 per cent of the stalks below the ears is digestible and 72 per cent of the husks. The husks must, however, be kept moist in some way in order to make them digest easily. If they dry up entirely, they become of little value, and are therefore murh bet­ ter preserved in the silo than by any form of dry cnriilikF ean With Experience Elprcuw Hiion Concerning This Variety. thern Cultivator correspondent as follows in relation to the Lang­ shans; We like the Langshan. The more ex­ perience we have with them the better we like them. The Black Langshans, we mean. We never had any experi­ ence with the white variety. We be­ lieve that the hen that lays best is the hen that pays best. That is our motto, and we measure the value of our poultry by the egg test. Now, the Langshan hen is a good layer, and that is why we like her. She pays her board and more too. We may be mis­ taken. but it is our belief, based on ex­ perience, that the Langshan is the best layer of all the feather legged breeds. The Cochins and the Brahmas do not lay for us like the Langshans do. Our friends say the same thing. Everybody who lias thjm says the Langshan hens ate good wmter layers. Such is our experience. They are good spring, summer and fall layers too. Kept side by side in small yards ana treated and fed just alike, seven Lang­ shan hems have laid for us twice i|s nniriy eggs as seven Light Brahma hens during the last six months. On the farm, whore they have plenty of range and foraging ground alike, we find the Langsh ms laying more eggs than the Brahmas or Cochins. Langshans are large, but ac­ tive. Their black plumage is beautiful, but it goes against them as market fowls. It doesn't hurt their laying quali­ ties any, however. In the south the Langshan is popular and thrives. Likewise the Game fowL To tone up a farm flock composed large­ ly of Game hens a Langshan cock would work wonders. The Langshan, large, fierce and active; the spirited Game hen, tough and* hardy, would produce a prog­ eny hard to beat for practical purposes- good layers, good table fowls, of large size and weight. W@ advocate pure breeds straight, but times are hard, and money Is scarce. . A Langshan cross, as suggested, would improve the farm flock greatly. • The Seed End of Potatoes. The question whether the seed end of potatoes should be removed before the seed is planted has long been mooted among potato growers, most of them have decided that the seed end should be removed, or rather that the potato should be so cut as to give each set one to three good eyes or buds. If the whole potatoes are planted, many varieties having a multitude of seed eyes will send out far too many shoots. These will crowd each other like so many weeds, and agreat amount of very small potatoes will be the result. Varieties of potatoes that have but few eyes, and especially those that are very strong growers, will do better with whole seed. The crowding in this case increases the number of po­ tatoes, and they will nearly all grow to marketable size. If they had a less number of shoots, the potatoes would be fewer and grow rough, pronged and on- wieldly in size and shape. The Wisconsin station has been experi­ menting with potatoes, with results that do not agree with the conclusions of practical eastern farmers. It finds that the whole potato with the seed end left on gave not only a larger yield of mercan­ tile potatoes, but a larger yield altogether than the potato did where the seed end was removed. The Early Rose and Snow Flake potatoes were the kinds chosen for experiment. American Cultivator thinks that the result might have been more fa­ vorable for the cut potato if some stronger growing varieties had been chosen to ex­ periment with. Saving; Corn From Weevil*. An Arkansas correspondent of the Shreveport Times gives a simple plan for keeping weevils out of corn which he de­ clares is effective. He builds log cribs with perfectly tight floors and the open­ ings between the logs chinked and daubed with mud, so as to exclude light and air. The door should be made to fit tightly. The corn should be thrown in over the top after the crib is filled even with the door. After the crib is filled to within two or three feet of the top cover the corn with fodder or straw two, three or four feet deep. The main object is to keep the corn in the crib as dark as possible, and to accomplish this it is well enough to close the gable ends. Weevil will not attack corn thus stored. The few weevils in field corn before it was gathered will do no damage worth mentioning after the corn is thus stored, and when winter comes they all die, and no more weevils will ever bother the crib if kept tight and dark. Remember the main thing is to keep the corn in the dark. Things That Are Told. The old fashioned way of leaving a few husks on the ear of corn and hang­ ing up by them is a good way. An en­ terprising Yankee has invented a wire eye screw to turn into the pith at the butts and then string on a small wire and hang them up. Any one can cut short pieces of wire and bend into such form as will make them stay in the cob and hang up the same way. The great point is to get the corn for seed dry and keep it dry. Meehan explains in his Monthly that the chief advantage of salt as a manure is in attracting moisture from the at­ mosphere. Therefore it is an admirable help to fertility in soils that are likely to become comparatively dry. In heavy, wet soils salt is worse than useless. . Director Sanborn, in some station tests, has made it appear that a rather large ration of grain for w orkhorses is an eco­ nomical one. Fall harrowed wheat is much more apt to winter kill, especially if harrow­ ing is done just before winter sets in. Harrowing in the spring mellows the soil at a time when it stinmlates the growth of the root, and this, with the in­ jury to the leaf, causes the wheat to till­ er. It will do this most effectually if the wheat has been top dressed with ma­ nure during fall or winter, says The .American Cultivator. /" THE NEXT STEP FORWARD. DOGS FOR USE IN WAR H0W THEY ARE TRAINED JIM A LIT­ TLE TOWN IN AUSTRIA. Silk Kuii Ci«mu will Rave to Be Steril­ ized »r I'HKtearixed. The next step Air ward for the wide awake dairyman aid milk dealer will be the sterilizing of all milk and cream be­ fore it is sold to tpe consumer. Public opinion will demand it, and those who be,sin the practice first will reap the most benefit pecuniarily. As to the proce» itself of pasteurizing, a correspondent of Hoard's Dairyman writes: Whether the creaming is done in a Cooley creamer or by a separator, the treatment will be j ist the same, only I! am confident that ti.®re cream would be ; gained by a separator than by any deep setting at $2 decrees for only 12 hours. Also, using a separator, as we do here, it is perfectly sate in iie hottest weath­ er to use both night's snilk (having been cooled to below TO depws) and morn- in^a milk mixed and parated together. As soon as the cream I as. run from the separator into conimoi shotgun cans. 20 inches by 8 inches, ti'ese are set in a hot Winter tank or tub, ii which the wa­ ter always inust be deeper than the crejpim in the cans, and tin water be kept at a temperature from about 170 to 180 degrees F. The cream cans, being only about two-thirds full, will swim safely. 7 While heating, stir cream rather con­ stantly to avoid overheating of the part nearest the water. Use foe stirring a dasher somewhat like the on? used in old fashioned dash churns, but made of tin and having no holes in the dashing plate on the end. Be sure to have this dasher substantially made that it m&y not leak in the handle, thereby letting milk or cream into the seam where it will soon decay and cans® rain of your cream, 1 mention this apparently needless precau­ tion, as 1 have seen by experience how easily such a leak will occur and can hardly be noticed before it has caused mischief. If constantly stirred, the cream may be safely heated to 160 degrees. The high­ er it is heated the better it keeps. When heated higher, it will begin to get the cooked taste, which is objectionable, but it will keep still longer and stand more exposure when heated nearer the boiling point, and also when kept longer at a high temperature. As soon as cream is heated to 160 degrees, cool it down in cold water, again stirring constantly. To save ice use first naturally cold water, such as you may have from welt ox spring; then put coolers in ice water and cool down to 50 degrees. Thus treated you can ship your creau with absolute safety in jacketed cans any reasonable distance. If the cream on arrival at its destination is cooled again to below 60 degrees, it will keep sweet for 24 hours at least even without freezing. The pasteurized cream not only keeps from souring, but it keepsits flavor perfectly fresh for several days. We have rim our ice cream parlor in this city this summer and have constant­ ly used pasteurized cream, and ice cream three dajs old, and even allowed to melt, was as fresh in flavor as when made. From cream not pasteurized it may keep sweet, but will get an old taste. Other creameries have tried my method with perfect success. What is here stated for cream holds good also for whole and skimmed milk. We have now a pasteurizing appa­ ratus on the way from Germany, and as soon as I have tested the same I shall give my opinion. Those handling large quantities of milk and cream for sale will need an apparatus, but in handh ag only a few hundred gallons daily my way of using common coolers answers the pur pose very well.--J. Moldenhower. Cow Feed In Europe. The best dairy cows in Europe are fed largely on roots--Jerseys and Gnernseys on parsnip, and those of the regions of the Baltic, whence come the Dutch and Holstein cattle, are largely feed on the beet. This succulent food fed to the dam while bearing her young not only makes the cow give more milk, but im­ presses this tendency on her nnborn progeny. This is the reason why a milk­ ing strain of cows in the hands of a poor feeder and manager will so soon degen­ erate into scrubs. If pinched by cold and lack of food in winter, or fed on dry. fattening food at that time, a cow cannot keep up to her best. •v Dairy and Creamery. Two interesting applications of solidi­ fied carbonic acid have been made in dairy work. One is to a simple process for the preservation of butter. The but­ ter is placed in an iron vessel or can pro­ vided with a pipe and tap, by means of which the carbonic acid is injected un­ der a pressure of six atmospheres, driv­ ing out the air, and in this condition the butter will remain perfectly fresh for four or five weeks or longer. In the second application the carbonic acid is forced into whey, which is thus con­ verted into an agreeable, effervescing beverage, available for use for fully six weeks. •* The Iowa experiment station finds that the loss of butter in churning, washing and working is less by ~i(f per cent in sour cream than in sweet. This seems a suffi­ cient argument in favor of letting the cream ripen before it is churned. | In some dairies and creameries--would there were more of the same kind!--the milk is sent from one department to an- < other over a little cable, thus saving the time and backs of the human workmen, i Professor Robertson says he thinks it possible in the future to make cheese , without the aid of rennet, but he cer­ tainly knows of nothing that will do it at present. There is no harm in the beef raiser's trying to get all the milk he can from his cows and make them pay their way in that line as well. But there is harm in his trying to gay that 4. bggg f&yr is jflso a dairy Y&ur R©ct week's * i /ft# Intelligence They Display I» Simply Marvelous--Hew They Hunt Out and Suc- •or the HI on:ided and Lout--Scenting an Enemy Wlicn Five Milea Away. Some 80 miles west of Vienna the lit­ tle market to v n of Wels nestles in the foothills of the Austrian Alps, which here rise in bold cliffs from the banks of the Traun. The forests of the neighborhood are too open to harbor much game, but a stranger stopping at the summer hotel of the little town might easily be led to believe that the citizens must be the most indefat igable hunters of the Aus- tro-Hungari;i?v empire. From morning till ni^lit, and sometimes till loug after dark, he may hear the echo of shots and the burking uud howling of dogs ap­ proaching the town .or dying away in the distant hills, and occasionally an­ swered from far nMd near, as if all the sportsmen of tho northern Alps had met in convention. >: - ' V " . For this is onoof the stations where Krie'gshmide-^'vriir dngs--are trained. The plan of traihiiig dogs for military purposes was firsradopted by the French garrisons in Algiers, but has since been tried with great success in Prussia, Italy and especially in Austria, where four footed messengers have for many years been taught to carry letters to the snow bound villages of the Alpine highlands. The shaggy collies used for that purpose make the best war dogs and can be trained to race in a bee line to the next military post and announce their arrival by a peculiar bark that is at once recog­ nized and answered by the shout of a sentry. They will also range a long chain of hills in quest of wounded soldiers, and either dash back to report their discov­ eries or stand guard at the side of the cripple till an ambulance party cornea near enough to be signaled by a long drawn howl. Trainers send out three or four of their shaggy pupils at once and ascertain their proficiency by all sorts of ingenious tests. Soldiers instructed to act the part of helpless cripples will hide in thickets or caverns and keep still till the dog tugs at their sleeves, when they will sit up and reward his sagacity with a piece of sausage. They then try to rise, but pretend to be too weak to walk or even to shoot, and ask the dog to call for assistance. If help is near, Collie will set up a loud howl, re­ peated at shorter and shorter intervals, till the signal is answered from the val­ ley below. If his appeals should remain unheeded, he will mount the next rock and look about as if to impress the lay of the land on his mind, and then dash off to summon help from headquarters. Should two cripples intimate their need of aid at the same time, Collie will guide the rescuing party to the hiding place of the one farthest away, and help them to pick up or somehow assist the t.He other man on their way home. Messenger dogs carry letters in a small bag wrapped around their collar and will permit only the proper officials to touch that collar. A noncommissioned officer, displaying the insignia of his rank, may venture to remove the bag, but the dog will follow him and see to it that he gets him an answer. - -1 > Private soldiers are*'si»bd Off" with a menacing growl. Persons wearing the uniform of the enemy cannot stop the messenger with anything but an ex­ tremely well aimed shot. Dogs racing along the battle front will dodge bullets by running zigzag and develop a mar­ velous talent for taking advantage of every cover, running through the high­ est grass or along the safe side of rocks and fallen trees. Picket post dogs are selected from a different breed. The half shepherd, half w olf dogs that carry letters and hunt up cripples are not entirely devoid of scent and can find their way back home in a manner not wholly explicable on the theory ef keeh eyesight. But for effi­ ciency in the role of sentries they yield the palm, to a species of deerhounds that do their best work after dark. On picket duty a well trained sentinel of that breed will scent the approach of a troop of cavalry before a man, with his ear on the ground, can hear the tram­ pling of the horses. The dog sentry will announce his discovery in a more dis­ creet way than the Scotch widow who screamed through the citadel of Luck- now when hftr "inner ear" heard the ap­ proaching bagpipe of the McGregors. Phylax on scenting danger will step up close to his uniformed companion, and after a pause of silence and keen atten­ tion will announce his suspicion by low growls, getting more frequent rather than louder, as the cause for alarm be­ comes more unmistakable. The best dogs of that breed have "chal­ lenged" cavalry from a distance of three to five miles, according to the direction of the wind, and infantry from nearly two miles. They can be trained to an­ nounce the approach of a known friend in a quite different way--viz, by leaping to and fro or crouching down and jump­ ing up by turns, but without the warn­ ing growl of the danger signal.--F. L. Oswald in Youth's Companion. Idrlll look whiter, will be elea.tier and will 4©ne with fsss labor if SANTA CLAUS SOAP !* used. The clothes will smell sweeie.rand Will last longer. SANTA CLAUS SOAP i* * pure, it cleans but does not injure t-he* fab He. I'fc does riot rou$h.n or chap thft*- t f f k n d t . ' • ,l • • • MillLw'^'rt. Do Yqu-F N , K . F A i R 8 A N K S t C O j , M ' / r s . C f i i C A C t f H ,• f V !"iK Do you need a heating or cook stove? c If so, now is the time tor buy. We have a large stock of the celebrated ACOBN & GARLAND STOVES, As well at other mftkes. Our stoves give universal satisfaction and > are worthy ot inspection. ^ The Largest Stock of Stoves in the County* We have on hand Anti-Rusting Tinware, Table Cutlery, and everything tound in a hardware store. First class new work and Kepairs in Tin, Copper and Sheet-Iron. Your trade is respectfully solicited. ^ JACOB BONSLETT, McBenry. The Bascom •v,; A Massage Stone. A "massage stone" «s coming into use in England that is made of unglazed china and provided with a sort of dorsal lump for holding in the hand and has the rubbing surface slightly ui lulated, not to say ridged. The stone is white, and even when used om recently washed skin it soon becomes darkened, showing that it squeezes a good ^leal of material from the pores.--Londo^ Letter. hit oil a def- "l Baieide. Jumpuppe--I have ji inition for a suicide. Jasper--What is it? „ Jumpuppe--A suicide ia a man who cannot bury his troubles without jury­ i n g h i m s e l f w i t h t h e m . -- Y o r ^ i l e r - ald. * 14 The above it a cut of our new Folding Machine* which ca* now be seen at work in the Plaindealer Office. Our patrons, and those needing such a machine are invited to call and seeJr at work. It is simple, easily handled, and takes such little power that you cannot notice it. The machine was put in by the Bascom Folder of Sidney, O., who have been build* ing and selling them for the past eight years, and every machine i| fully warranted for five years. If you need such a machine please write the abeve company for prices, discounts and terms, as the||\ sell the machine on the most favorable terms. Or write their Agent | Chicago Newspaper Union, Chicago; J. St F.Garret, Syracuse, N* Y.; Mather Manfg Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Marder Luse & Co.. Chicago; Benton, Waldo & Co,. Milwaukee; Wright. Barret df| Stillwell, St. Paul; Qeoctain& Son, Toronto. Canada, ?W:- THE STAFF OF MFK, |ss ^ & % JbestI t'BES ¥ Hit ,..1 "ECONOMY IS WEAI2M » The baUfB laugh, beosuee the!re~ord has b«e« brok'n. and the ree-rd at this time Sold 111 M- Henr7 since the 1st day of January, 1893, to the 1st day of Oct, 1893, * Fourteen Car Loads of Pillsbury's Best Flour. \ AND IT STILL STANDS AT THE TOP. For Sale by all the Leading Merchants, and at the Roller Mills We have a good high grade of Flour at $1 per sacb, and for the price we chatUw* comparison. Also a full Patent Flour at f 1.05, and we do not esagerate when guarantee it equal to other grades that cost more money. Try it and be convinced^ To the Farthers of VcHenry and viHnlty would eav that we are again prepared to do you*?' Feed and W ett Grinding promptly. On wheat w# will guarantee as good a return in qualilyi"^ and quant Ity aa any custom mill in the state of Illinois, and would respect fully ask when m need of any thing in tp is line to give us a trial on the above guarantee V;< ; Bran and Middlings for- Sale. When In neef of Fl«ur leave your order at the Boiler Milis and we will d* the rest. McHENRY ROLLER MILLS.