USA > Michigan > Branch County > Branch County, Michigan, directory, 1919 > Part 31
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Prevention is sometimes better than cure. Where possible to do it, use con- crete for floors, foundations, etc. The additional cost of thus making buildings rat-proof is slight as compared to the advantages. With cement even an old cellar may be made proof against these pests.
Rats are expensive, they are destroy- ers of property. They are a menace to health, carrying in their fur disease germs; they are transmitters of plagues, a general nuisance-biff the rat!
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BRANCH COUNTY
Grafting and Budding
The Art of Grafting
When in the spring the sap begins to move in the stock, be ready; this occurs early in the plum and cherry, and later in the pear and apple. Do the grafting, if possible, on a mild day during showery weather. The necessary tools are a chisel, or a thick-bladed knife or a grafting iron (with which to split open the stock after it is sawed off smoothly with a fine-tooth saw), a hammer or mallet to aid the splitting process, a very sharp knife to trim the scions, and a supply of good grafting wax. Saw off a branch at the desired point, split the stock a little way down, and insert a scion at each outer edge-taking care that the inner bark of the scion fits
snugly and exactly against the inner bark of the stock. This-together with the exclusion of air and moisture until a union results-constitutes the secret of success.
Trim the scions to a long edge, as shown in the picture; insert them ac- curately ; the wedge should be a trifle thicker on the side which comes in con- tact with the stock's bark. Lastly, apply grafting wax with a brush. Each scion should be long enough to have two or three buds, with the lower one placed as shown. The "spring" of the cleft holds the scion securely in place, and therefore tying should be unnecessary. If both scions in a cleft grow, one may later be cut away.
When grafting large trees it is best not to cut away too much of the tree at once; therefore, a few secondary branches should be left untouched, and
these, after the scions are thriftily grow- ing, can gradually be cut away the fol- lowing years. Or, part of a tree can be thus top-grafted one year and the re- mainder the next. Many a worthless tree has thus been entirely changed.
You can't graft a pear or an apple on a cherry or plum tree, or vice versa. The stone fruits and the pomaceous fruits are separate families and refuse to intermarry.
Judge Biggle likes to make his graft- ing wax this way: One pound of resin, one-half pound of beeswax, and one- quarter pound of tallow, melted together. Keep in an iron pot; heat for use when wanted. He says: "It is best to use scions which were cut very early this spring or last fall ;. they can be kept in moist sawdust or sand."
Common putty may be used for graft- ing wax, and is much cheaper; put it on good and thick and fill all cavities smoothly. Then take cloth, tear it in strips, wind it around the putty and tie it with string. Many fruit men say they have better luck with putty than with wax.
Bridge Grafting
Rabbits have seriously injured fruit trees in many orchards by girdling. When the girdle is only three or four inches wide the tree may be saved by bridge grafting. Trees with large patches of bark removed entirely around the trunk cannot be successfully treated, though those not too badly injured may be saved by special treatment.
Bridge grafting should be done in early spring, scions from healthy trees being selected from twigs produced last season. The torn edges of the wound should be cut off smoothly, and all badly loosened bark removed. The scion should be cut half or three-quarters of an inch longer than the wound, and the ends of the scions pointed.
The scion may then be inserted under the edge of the bark, care being taken to have the cut on the scion made rather slanting, to give considerable space for it to unite with the bark of the tree.
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Several of these scions should be put in around the tree at intervals of not more than one and one-half inches. (See illustration). On small trees, three or four scions will be sufficient.
It is a good practice to paint over the wound areas with white lead, and they may further be protected by binding with cloth. Care should be taken, however, to see that the twine that holds the cloth is not so tight as to girdle the newly-set scions. After the scions have become firmly established, the cloth may be removed.
The scions will continue to increase in size, and as they approach each other the union of one scion to the other may be accomplished by shaving the sides of the scions. In time the entire girdle area may be entirely healed over in this way.
SCION
WOUND
GRAFT
In some cases, bridge grafting will not be necessary. If the inner bark has not been removed by the rabbits, the tree may be saved by immediately protecting the girdled area before it has had time to dry out, by wrapping with cloth which has been treated with grafting wax. The inner bark will then form an outer bark, without serious injury. Where it can be used, this method is better than bridge grafting. Trees on which the bark has been removed along the sides and not entirely around the trunk, will be benefited by painting the wound. Be- fore this is done, however, the rough edges of the bark should be removed so as to facilitate healing.
REMARKS: After all is said, the fact remains that it is much safer and better to prevent injury than to cure it. As we have often stated, mice and rab bits can be kept off by wrapping the tree trunks with strips of wood veneer, laths, building paper or wire screening. Of course, however, such wrappings do no good after the injury is done.
Budding
The art of budding consists in taking a bud from one tree and inserting it under the bark of some other tree. The union of the two, the bud and the stock, takes place at the edges of the bark of the inserted bud. For this reason, the bud should be inserted as soon as cut from its twig and before it has had time to dry out. The bud should also be full, plump and well matured, and cut from wood of the current season's growth. The stock should be in active growth so that the bark will slip easily.
In cutting the bud a sharp knife is required, as à clean, smooth cut is de- sirable. The knife is inserted a half inch below and brought out the same
distance above, shaving out a small wedge of wood under the bud along with the bark. This wedge is no hindrance to the union and should not be removed. The leaf is always clipped off.
To insert bud, make a T-shaped in- cision just through the bark of stock, as shown in the illustration. Raise the bark carefully without breaking it and insert the bud. Practice will give ease and dispatch to the operator. The bud must be held firmly to the stock by a bandage wound about the stock, both above and below it, being careful to leave the eye of the bud uncovered. Raffia, bast, candlewick or waxed cloth may be used for tying. In about ten days, if the bud "takes," the bandage must be removed or the stock will be strangled and its growth hindered. The work of budding is usually performed in July or August in the North, and in June in the South. When the bark peels easily, and the weather is dry and clear, is the ideal time.
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BRANCH COUNTY
MILLS & RUPLE, Real Estate BRONSON MICHIGAN
Farms and City Property For Sale Real Estate and Business Exchanges In Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana The Firm That Finds the Buyers List With Us
GEORGE R. PIERCE OLDSMOBILE AND DODGE BROS. MOTOR CARS No. 6 W. CHICAGO ST. - COLDWATER, MICH.
RAY B. PARHAM BREEDER OF Pure Bred Holstein Cattle
Chester White Swine
Blue Andalusian Chickens
Registered Percherons
BRONSON -
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MICHIGAN
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RURAL DIRECTORY
Hotbeds
There is one easy, sure way to make a hotbed, and here it is :
A hotbed is nothing more than a board-edged pit, in which there is fer- menting horse manure covered with sev- eral inches of soil. The top of the hot- bed is roofed with one or more sashes, which usually measure about 3 x 6 feet each. At night a straw or other mat is laid over the glass to keep out the cold.
SASM
CUALNO LETEL
MANURE
Hotbeds are usually made of one-inch boards. If the boards on the back of the frame are twelve inches above ground, those in front should be several inches lower, thus giving a slant to the sashes, enabling water to run off quickly.
Throw the manure into the hotbed pit in successive layers, continuously tramp- ing. Fill the pit to within four or five inches of the top of the frame on the front side. The manure will settle sev- eral inches before time for sowing the seed. Place sashes on the frame imme- diately after filling.
Tree-Pruning Hints
Spring is a good time to prune trees, unless you prefer to wait until June. The rule is that spring pruning induces wood growth and June pruning induces fruit growth. Of course, on young trees you should want only wood growth until they are good-sized and fully able to endure the strain of fruit bearing. Some growers do part of their pruning in March and part in June.
Don't prune mature trees too severely. A tree must have some place upon which to produce its fruit; otherwise it will produce water-sprouts instead of fruit.
Don't prune off a single branch unless . you know just why you are removing it and why you are removing that particu- lar branch in preference to some other.
Don't neglect to paint all large wounds. Painting will improve the ap- pearance, prevent decay, prevent evapo- ration of the tree's supply of moisture, and facilitate healing.
Above all, don't allow any man to prune your trees if his chief recom- mendation is his ability to handle an ax and a saw.
Don't prune your trees because some one else thinks they need pruning. He may not know any more about them than you do.
Don't prune your trees unless you can tell the difference between a dead and a living branch, between a bearing and a non-bearing branch, between a fruit-spur and a water-sprout, and between a fruit- bud and a leaf-bud.
Don't prune off the large limbs when equally good results can be had by re- moving a few of the smaller limbs. The large ones form the framework of the tree and are needed to support the bear- ing branches.
It is sometimes stated that the fruit- growers of the Pacific slope, who pro- duce some of the finest fruit in the world, prune away "nearly half of the tops of their trees" every year. They do nothing of the kind. They remove from one-quarter to two-thirds of the annual terminal growth of the previous season. But they give their trees cul- ture that causes the trees to make a terminal growth of from two to three, and often four, feet. The average east- ern farmer gives his trees only enough care to permit the growth of four or five inches of terminal growth; and so his tree tops do not need the same treat- ment that a larger growth would require.
Trim fruit trees a little every year, rather than much in any one year. Peach trees require more pruning than most trees; at least one-half of the length of the new growth should be re- moved each season. Cherry trees re- quire the least pruning; merely cut out dead, broken or "crossed" limbs. Other trees need a judicious thinning-out and, sometimes, cutting-back. Avoid cutting so as to leave "stubs"; make neat cuts close to union.
The harder you prune the more suck- ers you will have; don't overdo a good thing.
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BRANCH COUNTY
DUOFORM DUO. PRODUCTS
Extracts
Toilet Articles
Medicines
HIGHEST QUALITY LOWEST PRICE D. B. SCRIPTER Quincy, Michigan
SMITH'S CAFE Is Best Place in Quincy to find Good Things to Eat and Drink Ice Cream with fresh Syrup, Can Goods, Candy, Tobacco and Cigars Hot Lunch at All Hours Open from 6 A. M. to 10.30 P. M. QUINCY, MICHIGAN
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DON'T FORGET THAT The Rawson Furniture Co.
Stocks a Complete Line of Furniture - Carpets - Rugs - Linoleums Window Shades - Curtain Fixtures IN FACT EVERYTHING THAT GOES WITH A FIRST- CLASS UP-TO-DATE FURNITURE STORE : .. .
Our Motto,-"The best we can get for the money." Our Location,-The large double store on West Chicago St. Our Record,-Over 30 years at this one stand and thousands of satisfied customers. Don't forget the name RAWSON Quincy, Mich.
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RURAL DIRECTORY
The Iceless Refrigerator
An inexpensive refrigerator, or milk cooler, consists of a wooden frame cov- ered with Canton flannel. Wicks made of the same material as the covering rest in a pan of water on top of the refrigerator, allowing the water to seep down the sides. When evaporation takes place the heat is taken from the inside, consequently lowering the temperature. On dry, hot days a temperature of 50 degrees can be obtained in this refriger- ator. The following description will aid in the construction of this device:
Make a screened case three and a half feet high, with the other dimensions twelve by fifteen inches. Place two mov- able shelves in the frame, twelve to fif- teen inches apart. Use a pan twelve inches square on the top to hold the water, and where the refrigerator is to be used indoors have the whole thing standing in a large pan to catch any drip. The pans and case may be painted white, allowed to dry, and then enameled.
A covering of white Canton flannel should be made to fit the frame. Have the smooth side out and fasten the cov- ering on the frame with buttons or hooks, arranged so 'that the door may be opened without unfastening them. This can be done by putting one row of hooks on the edge of the door near the latch and the other just opposite the opening, with the hem on each side ex- tending far enough to cover the crack at the edge of the door, keeping out the warm, outside air and retaining the cooled air. The covering will have to be hooked around the top edge also.
Two double strips, one-half the width of each side, should be sewed on the top of each side and allowed to extend over about three inches in the pan of water. The bottom of the covering should ex- tend to the lower edge of the case. Place
the refrigerator in a shady place where air will circulate around it freely. If buttons and buttonholes are used, the cost should not exceed eighty-five cents.
Testing Seed Corn
Every ear of corn,
whether old or new, should be tested. Now is 12. 3 the time to make the tests before the rush of spring work comes on. The 13. 5 15 "rag doll" method is the cheapest, simplest way of 4 14 6 16 testing. 7 17: Take strips of heavy, 8 18! unbleached muslin, 12 x 54 9 19: inches. Mark down the 10 20 middle lengthwise with a lead-pencil, and then crosswise every three inches, beginning twelve inches from one end and making eleven lines. Number the twenty divisions, and at the same time number twenty ears of corn to be tested. Take six grains from ear No. 1 (two from near tip, two from middle and two from near butt), no two kernels from same row, and place them on division No. 1 on the cloth, with tips of all kernels pointing the same way, crosswise of the . cloth. Place kernels from No. 2 on space No. 2, and so on for all the ears.
Next place a handful of moist sawdust on a piece of blotting paper on one end of the cloth and roll the rag around it carefully so the kernels will not be dis- placed; roll fairly compact but not too tight. Tie the "rag doll" at both ends. Soak it in lukewarm water over night, drain for half an hour, and stand it on end in a pail lined with a wet cloth --- tips of kernels pointing down. A few pieces of brick in the bottom of the pail will afford air circulation and drain- age. Fold the pail cloth-lining over the top, put a fairly heavy dry cloth over the pail, set it in a warm place, and moisten the cloths with warm water every day. In seven days, when the sprouts will be about two inches long, take the doll out and unroll carefully. Any ear whose kernels have not grown vigorously should be thrown out. Be careful to throw away the right ear.
Make six or eight "dolls"-a pailful -- at the same time. To prevent mold, scald all the cloths used,
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BRANCH COUNTY
The Bakery of Quality WHOLESALER AND RETAILER OF Bread, Rolls, Buns, Fancy Cakes & Cookies We Cater to Weddings. Parties and Social Functions CANDY, ICE CREAM, SODA, POPS, NEAR BEER CIGARS, TOBACCOS, CIGARETTES VAIL'S BAKERY
Bronson, Mich.
VAN EVERY & MILLARD
Steam, Hot Water and
Heating & Plumbing Contractors
Plumbing and
Warm Air Heating
Roofing, Eavestroughs and Lightning Rods
Pneumatic Water Supply System
BRONSON - -
- MICHIGAN
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ROY J. SHATTUCK
FURNERAL DIRECTOR
MOTOR SERVICE
PHONES: -
Office, 262-J Res. 262-W
LADY ASSISTANT COLDWATER, MICHIGAN
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RURAL DIRECTORY
How to Have Good Roads
The construction and maintenance of earth roads is a vital topic in every rural community. The most practical and successful system is that which originated with Mr. D. Ward King, and which is now in general use all over the country.
The keynote, or basis, of Mr. King's system is a simply-made road drag, fash- ioned from a split log about eight feet long, with the two parts about two and one-half feet apart. Any farmer can make one of these drags for himself, at a cost of a dollar or so-or less.
Speaking of this system, the Iowa Highway Commission says in a bulletin issued by the engineering department of Iowa State College :
"Water is the foe to good earth roads, and the whole object of earth road con- struction and maintenance is to get rid of the water and its bad effects. Three systems of drainage are needed :
"First, Tile or Sub-drainage. Wher- ever the soil is naturally wet from ground water, a line of four-inch tile should be laid to a regular grade longi- tudinally along the uphill side of the road, under the side ditch, at a denth of three to four feet.
"Second, Side Ditches. A good, big, side ditch, built to a continuous grade as determined by a road level, so that the water will not stand in it at any point, should be provided on each side of the road. The road level should be used to make sure that the ditch is built to a grade which will not leave ponds of water in the ditches after rains. "Third, Surface Drainage. Proper surface drainage, to shed the water promptly into the side ditches, should be provided by properly crowning the road, and by then keeping it hard and smooth with a King road drag. This drag is the cheapest instrument we have found for this purpose. The annual cost per mile of road treated with the King road drag, where all the time has been paid for by the hour, has not been found to exceed $2.50 to $3.00.
"We advise farmers to start using the
drag without waiting for the road offi- cers to take it up. They will be well repaid for their trouble by the saving of time and expense in using the roads, and the increase in value of their land, due to a good road in front of it.
"We also advise road officers to adopt the road drag, and to provide farmers with free materials to make them, and to hire the roads dragged where the farmer's do not themselves undertake the work. There is no possible use of the road funds known to us which will yield such great returns for so small an outlay. In fact, the outlay will be more than saved by the lessened need for the big road grader, with its great cost of operation.
"Gravel roads, when cut up an inch or two deep in continued wet weather, should be gone over at such times with a King drag, the same as an earth road."
The correct method of using the King drag is about as follows :
Begin operations at once, and do not entirely abandon the work except when ground is solidly frozen. A few min- utes' or hours' work, now and then, is better than a week's work all at once.
After each rain or wet spell drive up one wheel track and back on the other at least once, with the drag in position to throw the earth to the center. Ride on the drag. Haul at an angle of 45 degrees. Lay boards on the drag to stand on. Gradually widen the strip dragged as the road improves. To round up the road better, plow a shallow fur- row occasionally each side of the dragged strip, and spread the loose dirt toward the center.
Thus the road gradually becomes smooth, hard, and almost impervious to water. Rains run off the rounded road- bed, like water from a duck's back. By using the drag when the road is muddy (as advised) the earth packs and cements itself into a hard and nearly waterproof surface. And that is the idea, in a nutshell. 'Tis plain to see that if water can find no place to stand, no chuck-holes or ruts can develop.
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BRANCH COUNTY
JOS. R. WATSON
REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE FARMS, DWELLINGS AND VACANT LOTS FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE Telephone 212 12 West Chicago St.
Coldwater, Michigan
PETRO COSCORELLY Ice Cream & Confectionery QUINCY MICHIGAN -
LULU M. MOORE General Merchandise
R. D. 3
QUINCY, MICH.
PONTIAC KORNDYKE
HOLSTEINS
Flint Hengerveld DeKol ORION CHIEF
DUROC HOGS
MAPE- WALCREST FARMS Pure Bred Stock SATISFACTION GUARANTEED Call on G. B. HOOPINGARNER BRONSON Phone MICHIGAN H. C. HOOPINGARNER COLDWATER Phone 021 MICHIGAN
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RURAL DIRECTORY
The Babcock Milk Test
When a man begins to think of testing his cows and keeping a record of them, he is getting on higher ground. With- out recording the length of time a cow is in milk, her total milk production and its fat contents, no man is able to build up a great and paying herd. The use of the Babcock milk-testing machine may be learned by anybody. It is a centrifugal machine which holds an- nealed glass bottles that are carefully gauged and with measurements marked on their necks. The process was in- vented by Prof. S. M. Babcock, who gave it to the world without patenting it to make money for himself, and it has made millions of dollars for dairy- men.
To test milk, first carefully stir it from the bottom up, or pour it from pail to pail, but do not churn it. This is to mix it well and so get a true sample. As soon as it is quiet, suck up into the milk pipette more than enough to cover the mark, 17.5 cubic centimeters (c.c.), cap the end with the finger and slowly let the milk drip out until its upper level agrees with the mark. Then pipe it into one of the bottles of the ma- chine, where it will be safe from change, if needful, for a week.
If the test is to be made at once, pipe in a similar amount of sulphuric acid, taking care not to get it on the hands or clothes, as it is a powerful acid. When putting it into the milk, let it flow down the inside of the bottle and not run directly into the milk, as this will blacken or burn the curd and prevent a clear reading. Acid and milk should be at 60 degrees temperature to produce clear readings. Buy acid with a specific gravity of about 1.82. As soon as the acid is added, take the bottle by the neck and gently swirl the contents until they are thoroughly mixed. The curd must
be fully dissolved. Then close the ma- chine and whirl the samples for five minutes at a speed of 700 to 1,200 revolu- tions per minute. Next, fill each bottle to the base of the neck with hot water and whirl for two minutes more. Then fill to about the seven per cent. mark and repeat the whirling for two minutes. The measuring of the fat must be made while the sample is hot. Measure from the top of the curved upper level. If the fat extends from 0 to 4 in the neck there is just four per cent. fat, or four pounds of fat in 100 pounds of the milk. If it should run from 2 to 7, the amount is five per cent. The scale is graduated so that tenths of pounds are as easily read as full pounds. A little practice with the machine will readily make any boy an expert in its use.
When testing milk it must not be forgotten that the fat contents do not measure the exact butter production. For instance, if milk is four per cent. fats it should make about four and one- half pounds of butter, because in all but- ter there is some water, salt and minute parts of other things like ash. If there was no loss in churning and the over- run were just sixteen per cent. (the law forbids it to be more), the amount would be four and sixty-four one-hundreths pounds. The buttermaker who is getting but 109 or 110 pounds of butter from 100 pounds of fats is not doing as well as he should. The loss of fats in the churning should never exceed one and one-half per cent. in the buttermilk, and may be less.
Any dairyman who does not own and operate a good Babcock milk tester and keep records of all of his individual cows, should not complain if his purse tells him that "farming doesn't pay," for in all untested herds are cows that eat up the profits which should go to the owner.
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Troublesome Pests
Hessian Fly
Frequent warnings to speed the plow in order that the food supply shall not suffer, may induce some to begin seeding the winter wheat shortly after small grain is harvested, or immediately after the corn is removed and placed in the silo. And that is just why the bug editor is inclined to say, "wait a while."
It is only by waiting that the crop can be made secure against the ravages of the Hessian fly, an insect which causes more damage to the wheat crop in the United States than any other insect pest. During seasons when the fly is especially abundant, hundreds of thousands of acres of wheat are either totally de- stroyed or so badly injured that the yield is reduced fifty to seventy-five per cent. Money losses run far up into the millions.
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