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VOL. XXXI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OCT. 31, 1896.
NO. 44
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
How'Do You Crib Your Co~n?   And
How Do You Hanlle And Bave
Fodder Tor Water?
X
l.t Premium. A perfect crib is one in
which the corn will cure quickly, one
that will exclnde rats and mice, also rain
and snow. I have jist such a crib. It
has been in use seven years, I don't know
how I could improve It. It holds upwards
of 600 bnshels, and so far as I know ijt is
built on entirely new principals. Before
I describe it let me say that no crib was
ever built in combination with a wagon
shed, or other buildings, that kept out
rats and mice. It must stand alone. I
wish to describe my crib minutely, so
others may know how to build. It is 16
teet long and nine feet wide, outside dimensions; and is set on 12 cedar posts, in
three rows, four under each long side and
four through the middle, equally spaced.
These posts aro set two feet in tbe ground
and rise IC inches above ground, they are
round aud nicely tapered at the top to 3M
inches. Upon each of these posts is an
inverted oheap tin wash basin painted
Inside and out, My Bills are made of 8x2
Inch plank set up edgeways; tbey are
simply spiked together, and rest upon
the inverted pans.. On the inside and at
the lower edge ol the two.;_long silig,..i;
' Spl_£e_r4X*_! 'itich'scantlllbg^ 'upon "which
rest my joists. The joists are 8x2 inches,
they are cut down to five inches at the
ends, and the 4x2 inch are cut out one
inch, which brings the joists on a level
with sills. Each joists is yoked to the
sill by a piece ot light hoop iron which
passes aronnd the sill, and is nailed to
-the upper and lower edges of the joists
which keeps the building from spreading, The floor is sufficient to keep .the
end sills from spreading. I used 4x2
studing, (always putting the spring inside) sutting out two inches at the lower
end, and spike to the sill, so they stand
flush with the outside of the sill. The
front studdings are nine feet long, and
the rear studdings eight feet long, giving
one foot pitch to the roof. Four by two
scantling is spiked on top of studding for
plates, and 4x2 studding are used for rafters. The building is then sided with the
drop, siding the same as a house. A good
sized tight battened door is put in one
end, which should be to the south or west
if convenient, and hung on three heavy
hinges. A receiving door is 14 feet long,
made of drop siding, is hung on four large
strap hinges at top ot front side, in which
to shovel in the corn. The floor joists
and the four inside walls are then stripped
with lath. On the floor there is one inch
space between the lath, and on the walls
there is 1% inch space. The crib is then
sheeted with dressed lumber, and a steel
roof put on and painted. A portable inside lath door with six inch open space at
bottom, to get corn ont, is set in and the
crib filled with clean, shucked, assorted
corn. Now we have a draft from below
passing up through the corn, and a free
circulation of air around all its side between the siding and lath. The crib being wide fills slowly; the receiving door
and the end door being left open during
the cribbing process; consequently the
corn can be put in in any condition, any
it cures as fast as the crib is filled. I
have finished cutting corn on Saturday
and began shucking the next Monday,
and put corn In wet from rains,and in the
seven years use not one ear or one grain,
has spoiled. And from this crib I have
taken seed corn, and it germinated and
grew Jnst as well as though it had been
kiln dried?—Ed. As to saving the fodder
I tie it np in bundles with tarred twine as
I shuck, putting three shocks of corn in
one of bundled fodder; fodder shonld be
housed as fast as shucked.
Marshall Co. Wm. R. Davis.
21 Premium —I am not quite ready to
gather my corn yet. I am busy getting
in some cntup corn, so I can sow rye on
the ground for pasture. I intend to sow
a mixture of grass seed with the rye and
leave the field in pasture. I intend to
gather my corn as soon as I can get my
rye sowed.
I gather my corn and throw it In piles
in the field, and then follow with the
wagon and pick it up. I thjrow it on the
barn floor and shuck it out in the winter
as I get time; feed what I can till spring
and move the rest to the crib. I do not
move my corn to the crib in the fall, because it is not mouse proof, and I have
plenty of room in tho barn and it is just
as haudy to feed. We cut'up 20 acres of
corn this fal), four acres of which was
Stowell's Evergreen, planted from 4 to 6
inches apart for cow feed. I cut it up
when it was a little green and put it in
small shocks and sowed my wheat while
it cured.. I am making, chop feed from it
now, for'my cows; X .have a Dick feed
cutterand cut it three-fourth of an inch
long, and mix* bran with it, and my cows
eat stalks and all. The rest of my corn I
treat in the same manner, except the
sugar corn, I cut the corn with the fodder and my field corn I shuck off beforo I
run It through the cutting box" I want
my cut up corn in the dry before Christmas.   ;    ; ',.'■'•',. A Farmer., -r
Corydon.**;, ]*;
' 'V_<_>.
3d"P_em —As to eribbii-gcot-TC hav-fti't
much to say, but when the corn is ripe
and dry I have it pulled and put in
the crib in the husk, for if it ii_
husked and cribbed, much dust will settle on it, whereas if the husk is on it will
keep the dirt. ofT. As to fodder I have a
larger barn, and I try to get in all I can
before it gets bad weather, and then when
the bad days come the corn can be
shucked and be ready to feed. If fodder
is left out in the weather too long it is
not'of much use as feed. As I husk and
stack it away I generally try to salt it
every once in a while; the stock will eat
it much better. I have a cutting box
and I cut some of my fodder, and then
enough water to make the ground feed
and corn fodder stick together, and mix
it well, and 1 have a splendid feed for the
cattle. When the weather will permit 1
feed the rest of the fodder whole to them
in the lot H. C. F.
Harrison Co.
later,  ;TJieyjt're worth a quarter now.
''? -^1 to^k'm^eigKt.steers'' an'd-13 fat i]og*\
BBVIEW.
A bunch of five hands was once helping
me get out corn on the stalk and I could
not keep up. I finally asked an old Illinois shucker to show me how he did i.t
He grabs the ear with his left hand, thumb
toward the silk. The right hand armed
with a peg grabs out (does not take hold
and pull out), about half of the shucks
and jerks them well back to the butt.
The thumb of the left band passes over
the end of the ear, sweeping off the silks
and grasping the remaining shucks, the
right hand snatches the ear out of tbe
shuck. There are really two motions;
first draw down part of the shucks then
jerk the ear and remaining shucks apart.
If the corn is just ripe to shuck one will
not often have a ribbon left I have
watched such men shuck fast You can
hardly distinguish the two motions; you
hear the "rip, rip," and see the ear fly to
the wagon.   It was a groat help to me.
A sharp freeze and drying weather put
it in such a condition. When it shucks
easy and dry this way it never molds in
the crib.
We throw a shock of fodder on benches
and tie in large armfuls with twine or
stalks. One needs to lay the bundle on
the ground and press with his knee if he
ties with twine.
We stand the bundles back in place and
tie all together. If we aimed to leave
them out long we would pat three in one.
It is so much handier to haul and put
away, and not so much waBte ot blades
and scattering stalks.
A friend near Pendleton hauls his bundles in, standing them up in a big bay.
He then lays down a floor of bundles on
top of those stood .up to walk ou again
and then stands up another course. He
says it don't mold as badly as it does if
corded in the bay. A large bulk seems to
pack so tight when corded that it will
mold a little from the moisture absorbed,
together with what dampness lt contains,
and heat a little and mold.       .
If one must leave it out it Is far better
to haul it up and either stack lt, or stand
it up in large shocks and tie. I never
could get it to stand up well against a
fence or pole it much is put together.
The tops pack closer and the butts remain fixed, and snow beds on it and you
have a frozen rotten mess.
We put a lot of bundles in the hay mow
last year by fastening ropes to the hay
fork. The patent sling fork would be a
dandy for that. .
Notes of the week.—We couldn't well
get to our "taters" till last week. It had
been so wet and "nawsty." Bnt five men
arid two teams "made Vm cry" and
they are abont all in. Our potatoes were
hardly as large as last year. They bad
rotted in black ground, though well
ditched. We put them in cellars each
kind to itself and expect a better market
can be presented, so as to illustrate the
lesson instead of the speaker.
No. 35, Nov. 7— How do yon manage
dairy stock in winter? State protection
from cold, also arrangement of mangers,
ties, gutters, handling manure, etc.
No. 36, Nov. 14—Give the feeding ration
of your dairy and state proportions of
each kind of food. Time of feeding, watering, etc.    ..
No. 37, Nov. 2'."—Do you use a si lot Why
do you or why not? How did you make
yours, size and shape, is it in'the barn or
not? '     ".-,.-,"'..'
No. 38, Nov. 28.—What did you grow to
fill It? And how was it grown and filled?
Did you ever fill with clover with success?
Do you like silage.
It our friends will write as soon as you
can on any of these topics, your copy will
be filed away and be ready when the
topic is published. E. H. Collins.
to market Thursday in one car. Hogi.
were "booming" and sold at $3 45; cattle
were "off" and brought $4 25. One heifer,
the fattest, prettiest animal I had brought
only $3 50. That made me sick or mad, as
you may choose. I won't never, never
fatten a heifer again. One can, however,
take long yearling heifers and feed
strong till next spring and turn
off and not find so much difference
in price between them and steers.
The cattle shrank 112)4 pounds apiece,
from 1 p. m, to the next day noon, riding
less than 20 miles, all dehorned and raised
together. One reason for the large
shrinkage was tbat they drank out of the
creek all summer and wouldn't touch water in their troughs at the yards.
The whole load brought $562 06 which I
ordered forwarded to a bank. I never
carry mnch money, lt is foolish to have
the stuff about your person or home; you
just invite the criminal class to cut your
throat, and offer a premium for doing bo.
A neighbor joining my place sold 16
steers last week, weighing about 1,700
pounds at $4 25, with $5 dock making bim
over $1,000.
Ot course our cattle cost ns something,
bnt I want to get two lessons out of
these sales.
lst. That we often see pasture and especially corn stalks going to waste, or
more often see good land lie in a thicket
of worthless timber, that might furnish
pasture, when a few steers or sheep
would gladly make some money out of it
if given a chance.
2d. Two years and a half ago I bought
my wife a fine bicycle worth $125 lt is
now worth say $25. At the same date I
paid $80 for the above eight steers and
with light expense they brought $462. I
borrowed the steer money and paid eight
per cent interest on it up to the present
date. But a new buggy or horse or anything that goes down hill rapidly after
purchase is a luxury. It may be useful
and a blessing but one should remember
that he must be able to own lt. While
one may even go in debt for tile or clearing or good stock, if he is fixed to make
the most of them and feels that it isa
safe investment.
I often read my reviews to my wife. A
woman's intuition is good help. She Just
now said: "O! those farm notes seem too
personal and egotistical, .why not write
about general topics?" Well, I said,
there surely is a lessen in  them It they
Wheat on the Pacific Coast.
Editors I_u.i___.__ _-__k__i_*.
A great rise has taken place In the
price bf wheat in the Pacific Northwest,
and substantial gains bave also been
made in oats and barley. Since September lst, wheat has made a net gain of 30
cents a bushel at Portland and throughout the Willametta valley, Eastern Oregon and the great Palouse country of
Idaho and Washington. Wheat ie usually the same price in Portland asAt Chi-,,
cago, but bur'market Sere'is' at* present-
better than there, the price of Willamette
valley yesterday being 78 cents per
bushel, or nearly six cents higher than
in Chicago. Twenty-two ship loads of
wheat ot this years crop, aggregating
over 1,500,000 bushels, have cleared from
the port of Portland for foreign points to
date, which is estimated to bo 10 per cent
of the total yield, leaving 90 per cent yet
to go,or for home milling demands, which
are large, as there is a rapidly increasing
flour, fruit and lumber trade with China
and Japan. Fortunately the bulk" of the
crop was still unsold In farmers' hands
when the rise came, and they are getting
the benefit, for at present prices there is
a large profit, as our climate is such that
wheat can be raised for many cents a
bushel less, and the yield per acre will
average nearly twice as large year by
year, as in the East. The resnlt is improved times and a promising future for
agricultural interests, and general good
feeling among the farmers.
Warm, sunshiny weather has prevailed
since September 1st. Summer fallowed
land is already green with the young
wheat plant, and farmers will now devote
their attention to planting and seeding
stubble land. D. K. M.
Portland, Oregon, Oct. 22,1890.
The Fairs.
.Vincennes Fair.—The annual fair of tho
Knox County Agricultural Society was
held on their beautiful grounds near the
city of Vincennes last week. The attendance was very good, and the displays In
the Woman's and Agricultural department were flrst class. The exhibit of cattle was light, while the display of hogs
and sheep was very flne. This, no doubt,
is due to the energy of its superintendent
Ed Polk, of Freelandsville, who is always
on the alert to have a good exhibit in his
department. The weather was all that
could be asked.
POSTAL 0ABD OOBBESPONDENOE.
Laportb County, Oct. 23 —We had our
first snow Oct 17th and 18th; snowed
about 8 or 9 inches in all, but about half
melted as soon as it fell. Tho next aft-
ternoon we had a little rain. Corn ls being husked and cribbed and is a fine cop;
good yield and good quality; times rather
dull; the political pot boiling at a lively
rat»- Mrs, B. A. Davis,
_tl***r**
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