Show LAYING A w TILE DRAIN how the work can be done the most satisfactorily secure a tile scoop and narrow pointed and you are cutting wild grass turf keep a file near to occasionally touch up the edge watch atles in surface as you proceed cut no wider than will accommodate your leel then carefully grade bottom of the first course as it Is much aas ler to take out the inequalities now in the bottom ot scoop and the the ditch this advice when I 1 began would have been worth 50 to me says a writer in farm and home the second course need not be so wide it for literals laterals late rals and you need not cut the sides but thrust your spade in cutting lightly on one side and deeper on the other then push forward to break loose then lift out keep your scoop lying near you and when you have gone tar enough so you can teach back scoop out the crumbs before they become slushy be very precise with the spade in the last course it you strike soft soli don t even allow a halt inch va then when the crumbs are removed the floor Is almost ready to lay a perfect drain true up bottom with scoop take a two inch piece re in forced at one end and nail or bolt a foot piece on this to bold the tile tuck them into the trough and you 11 have done one thing that will be a joy forevermore in meeting obstructions it they do not throw you out of line too much cut back under the bank six or eight deot on each side and you can get around nicely without removing them A manure book is very convenient for drawing in sods in filling but on large jogs a plow with a long tree or a road grader can be used FIGHT THE RODENTS inspect the orchard frequently dur ing the winter months every man that has orchard trees should go over the orchard frequently in the winter to make sure that his trees are not being attacked by any kind of animals if every man would do that large numbers of trees would be saved often the trees are being injured under the crust of enow one man had hundreds of small trees killed in a single winter the enow lay a few inches deep and above it formed a strong crust there was much grass in the orchard and this formed the home of many field mice they h 1 I become hungry and worked their way under the crust to the trees which they proceeded to attack under the snow had the owner dug away the snow from around his trees enough to make sure they were not being attacked the mice would have been discovered at work and their mischief stopped before it had gone far on plowed land or in orchards where clean culture has been fol lowed there is little danger of this but most of the orchards are in grass and so are liable to these attacks TACKLE FOR LIFTING BARRELS try this method of handling the heavy barrel and putting in barn where a man has occasion to lift a heavy barrel either filled or empty from one floor to another or from a wagon to the sec ond floor of a building a tackle made and arranged after the method shown in the ac companying compa nying allus will be found to be a thing of great con lenience I 1 think says the correspondent of prairie farmer that the general idea Is quite clearly brought out in the sketch all that Is nee I 1 ary are two books to catch onto the chime of a barrel these hooks connected with a short rope which Is in turn connected with the tackle rope THIS AND THAT it pays to have good fences at all seasons of the year A poor old lantern Is a bad thing to go through the winter with throw it away and buy a good one fall plowing kills many injurious insects which are thus turned up to the air and the frosts it makes a great difference what variety of a plant Is grown on a farm as some yield twice as much as others there Is a great fight on between commercial fertilizers and the ma nure spreader the latter however booms to be detill spreading after finishing the fall plowing clean up the plow grease the bright parte and put it away dry so it will be ready to u la the spring WINTER BARN THOUGHTS have the comfort of live stock in mind add provide good conditions winter la a hard time tor the stock 0 the farm the best way we can fix it V hen you stop to think that naturally stock are out of door creatures roaming in the fields breathing the pure fresh air and then think how changed are the conditions when they come to be shut up in tight barna tor such a long portion of the year it becomes evident that the tendency must be toward weakness and disease so it stands us in hand to make the con dittens just as nearly like those ol 01 summer as we can that Is we should do our best to give the stock good teed teed that shall be nourishing and at the same time plenty of air that Is tree from disease germs it must be that a great deal ol 01 the sickness such as tuberculosis cornea from breathing the same air over and over again in the close stables of our country by running a board shaft from the stable very near to the floor clear up to the roof we may take a good deal of the impure air out you know that air that has been breathed once becomes heavier than it la at first there are loads of impurity in that has been used in the lunga of man or beast this settles toward the floors the shaft I 1 have spoken 0 will take that air and there being more or less of a draft through such a shaft the foul air will be lifted out while pure air will come in from be low this pure air ought not to come in so that the cattle must stand all the time in a draft the windows should be arranged so that they may furnish air without bringing a draft again these windows ought to be windows and not simply board slides good sash windows that are fitted with hinges to turn up out of the way are by far the best they let in light which Is the greatest germ destroy on the face ol 01 the earth and then cattle should be groomed every day I 1 know writes edgar L vincent in farmers voice some folks think this is a waste of time you will hear some argue that it actually harms cattle to be scratched with a currycomb it seems to me that these men do not take a very reasonable view of the matter just look at cattle that are not thus cared tor the minute they are out in the yard they begin to rub and lick and dig themselves against every fence post or anything else they can get to as it their hides were in perfect misery as I 1 have no doubt they are we ought to save our stock from this trouble by giving them a good currying every day with good feed and water with well ventilated barns and good groom ing any man can keep his stock inra healthy condition even in winter and such things pay tor the work the cows do next year will largely depend on the way they come out in the spring there never should be such a thing as spring poor spring tat Is a far better term to use EASY RUNNING grindstone one which the farmer can rig up for himself the grindstone shown in the accod lanying illustration may be made by using four pieces of 44 lumber 2 A grindstone frame feet in length as seen at A and four pieces of 44 3 feet long at B with the braces made from inch stuff the frame should be firmly put together E Is an iron rod one inch thick and 54 inches long make a bend in the rod 1 feet from one end to which a treadle Is attached to be worked with the toot this treadle Is fastened to the frame with leather hinges A grindstone wheel F Is placed on the rod at one end just inside the frame explains the prairie farmer while at the further end a wagon wheel Is fastened to the rod outside the frame A crank G can be added if desired the potato crop the potato crop la one of the best crops that any farmer can grow potatoes exhaust the land little in corn carlson with the money value of the crop the tubers are composed very largely of water and starch and the leaves and balks fall on the field and are plowed in there are few diseases that attack the potato and they can mostly be controlled by spraying only one insect ot importance has to be fought and that Is the colorado beetle it is so big and easily found that destroying it Is merely a quee alon of effort potato growing there fore seems to have less obstacles in its way than several other kinds of effort on the farm keep cellar cool the higher the temperature in tho cellar the more will the potatoes ea roots aad shrink through evaporation |