USA > Michigan > Ionia County > Ionia County, Michigan, rural directory, 1917 > Part 22
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WHALE-OIL, SOAP SOLUTION .- Dissolve one pound of whale-oil soap in a gallon
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of hot water, and dilute with about six gallons of cold water. This is a good application for aphis (lice) on trees or plants. For oyster-shell or scurvy scale use this spray in May or June or when the tiny scale lice are moving about on the bark.
TOBACCO TEA .- Place five pounds of tobacco stems in a water-tight vessel, and cover them with three gallons of hot water. Allow to stand several hours; dilute the liquor by adding about seven gallons of water. Strain and ap- ply. Good for lice.
LIME-SULPHUR MIXTURE. - Slake twenty-two pounds of fresh lump lime in the vessel in which the mixture is to be boiled, using only enough water to cover the lime. Add seventeen pounds of sulphur (flowers or powdered), hav- ing previously mixed it in a paste with water. Then boil the mixture for about an hour in about ten gallons of water, using an iron but not a copper vessel: Next add enough more water to make, in all, fifty gallons. Strain through wire sieve or netting, and apply while mixture is still warm. A good, high- pressure pump is essential to satisfac- tory work. Coat every particle of the tree. This is the standard . San Jose scale remedy, although some orchardists prefer to use the soluble oil sprays now on the market.
PYRETHRUM, OR PERSIAN INSECT POW- DER .- It may be dusted on with a pow- der bellows when the plants are wet; or one ounce of it may be steeped in one gallon of hot water, and sprayed on the plants at any time. It is often used on flowers, in greenhouses, on vegeta- bles, etc.
BISULPHIDE OF CARBON .- This is used to kill weevils in beans and peas, etc. It comes in liquid form and may be had Of druggists. When exposed to the air it quickly vaporizes into a poisonous and explosive gas which is heavier than air and which will destroy all insect life. (Caution .- Do not inhale the vapor, and allow no lights near.)
Tobacco stems, tobacco dust, kainit, soot, freshly-slaked lime, dust, etc., are often used as insect preventives-in the soil around plants to keep away grubs, worms and maggots, or dusted on to discourage the visits of cucumber bugs etc. (Note .- The first four are excel lent fertilizers as well as insect pre- ventives.)
Crows and blackbirds frequently pull up planted corn. The best preventive is to tar the seed, as follows: Put the seed into a pail and pour on enough warm water to cover it. Add a tea- spoonful of coal-tar to a peck, and stir well. Throw the seed out on a sieve or in a basket to drain, and then stir in a few handfuls of land plaster (gyp- sum), or air-slaked lime.
A NEW FUNGICIDE .- Some orchard- ists are now using the following self- boiled lime-sulphur spray, instead of Bordeaux, claiming that it is less liable to spot or burn fruit and foliage: Put . eight pounds of unslaked lump lime in a barrel; add enough water to cover. When the lime begins to heat, throw in eight pounds of flowers of sulphur. Constantly stir and gradually pour on more water until the lime is all slaked; then add the rest of the water to cool the mixture. About fifty gallons of water, in all, are required. Strain. Two pounds of arsenate of lead may be added, if desired, to the finished mixture, which then becomes a com- bined fungicide and insecticide, and may be used in the same manner as advised for Bordeaux-arsenate of lead. (Special note .- The self-boiled mixture is not the same as the lime-sulphur advised for San Jose . scale, which is too strong for trees in foliage.)
If you do not care to bother with making spraying mixtures at home, they can be purchased, already prepared, of seedsmen. For only a few trees or plants, the extra cost of these factory mixtures is not great.
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Concrete
Concrete is made by mixing together Portland cement, sand and stone (or gravel). Various proportions of each are used, depending upon the use to which the concrete is put. About half an hour after mixing these materials together, the mass begins to stiffen, · until, in from half a day to a day, it be- comes so hard that you cannot dent it with the hand. By a month the mass is hard as stone-indeed, harder than most stones. The best way to buy cement is in cloth sacks. Manufacturers charge more for cement in cloth sacks, but allow a rebate for the return of the empty sacks. A bag of cement weighs 95 pounds, and four such bags make a barrel of 380 pounds.
It is important that your stock of cement be kept in a dry place. Once wet, it becomes hard and lumpy, and in such condition is useless. If, how- ever, the lumps are caused by pressure in the storehouse, the cement may be used with safety. Lumps thus formed can be easily broken by a blow from the back of a shovel.
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In storing cement, throw wooden blocks on the floor. Place boards over them and pile the cement on the boards, covering the pile with a canvas or a piece of roofing paper. Never, under any circumstances, keep cement on the bare ground, or pile it directly against the outside walls of the building.
Do not use very fine sand. If there is a large quantity of fine sand handy, obtain a coarse sand and mix the two sands together in equal parts; this mix- ture is as good as coarse sand alone.
Sometimes fine sand must be used, be- cause no other can be obtained; but in such an event an additional amount of cement must be used-sometimes as much as double the amount ordinarily required. For example, in such a case, instead of using a concrete 1 part ce- ment, 21/2 parts sand and 5 parts stone, use a concrete 1 part cement, 11/4 parts sand and 21/2 parts stone.
Besides being coarse, the sand should be clean. The presence of dirt in the sand is easily ascertained by rubbing a little in the palm of the hand. If a little is emptied into a pail of water, the presence of dirt will be shown by the' discoloration of the water. This can be discovered also by filling a fruit jar to the depth of 4 inches with sand and then adding water until it is within
an inch of the top. After the jar has - been well shaken, the contents should be allowed to settle for a couple of hours. The sand will sink to the bottom, but the mud, which can be easily recognized by its color, will form a distinct layer on top of the sand, and above both will be a clear depth of water. If the layer of mud is more than one-half inch in thickness, the sand should not be used unless it is first washed.
To wash sand build a loose board platform from 10 to 15 feet long, with one end a foot higher than the other. On the lower end and on the sides nail a board 2 by 6 inches on edge to hold the sand. Spread the sand over this platform in a layer three or four inches thick, and wash it with a hose. The washing should be started at the high end and the water allowed to run through the sand and over the 2-by-6- inch piece at the bottom. A small quantity of clay or loam does not injure the sand, but any amount over 5 per cent. does.
. Great care should be used in the selection of the stone or gravel. The pebbles should be closely inspected to see that there is no clay on their sur- face. A layer of such clay prevents the "binding" of the cement. If neces- sary, stone or gravel may be washed in the same way as above described for sand. Dust may be left in the crushed stone without fear of its inter- fering with the strength of the cement, but care should be taken to see that such dust is distributed evenly through the whole mass, and when dust is found in stone, slightly less sand should be used than ordinarily. As to the size of stone or gravel, this must be de- termined by the form of construction contemplated. For foundations or any large thick structure, use anything from 1/2 to 21/2 inches in diameter. For this. walls use 14 to 1-inch stone. The best results are obtained by the use of a mixture of sizes graded from small to large. By this means the spaces be- tween the stones or pebbles are reduced and a more compact concrete is ob- tained. Moreover, this method makes it possible to get along with less sand and less cement.
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Water for concrete should be clean and free from strong acids and alkalies. It may be readily stored ir a barrel
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beside the mixing board and placed on the concrete with a bucket.
If you are at all in doubt about the purity of the water that you contemplate using, it would be well to make up a block of concrete as a test, and see whether the cement "sets" properly.
For. ordinary work a very satisfac- tory concrete mixture is 1 part of Port- land cement, 21/2 parts of clean sharp sand, 5 parts of broken stone. In heavy foundation work, the quantity of cement can be considerably less. The important thing is to have the sand and cement thoroughly mixed, and to use only clean sand. Use only as much water as necessary. It is not well to work con- crete in freezing weather.
Cold Storage Without Ice
Why not have a cold storage room somewhere on the farm? Winter apples may be kept in such a place until spring, thus avoiding the necessity of market- ing the fruit at unprofitable times. A Pennsylvania farmer has such a place built in one part of his barn-a double- walled, double-doored, paper-lined space wherein he stores many hundred bushel crates of selected fruit. He says that the main essentials are to keep out heat and frost from the room. On cool nights he leaves the doors open, shut- ting them again when the sun begins to warm things up in the morning-the idea being to use cold air instead of ice for reducing the room's temperature. He aims to get the temperature in the room as low as possible without freez- ing the apples, and then hold it there. Night air is cheaper than ice, he says, and about as good.
How to Make and Use a Fireless Cooker
A saver of time, fuel and labor is the fireless cook stove, which can be made at home, absolutely without ex- pense, and, though not adapted to all kinds of cooking, answers well for food that requires long, slow cooking to soften tissues, bring out flavors and conserve the juices, such as stews, pot roasts, soups, cereals, rice, tapioca, dried fruits, vegetables, etc. It consists of a kettle of agate or tin, inclosed in a box with insulating material between them to pre- vent the heat of the kettle from escap- ing. Food brought to the boiling point over a fire, and inclosed, still boiling, continues to cook. This is the whole
principle. Choose a kettle with tight- fitting lid and a box large enough to allow six or eight inches of insulating material. Line the box, bottom, sides and hinged-on lid with stout packing paper, or several thicknesses of news- paper. Make a firm, cylindrical shape to fit easily around the kettle and fasten a circular bottom to it. This might be of asbestos paper, or paper soaked in alum water and dried. Then no matter how hot the kettle there would be no danger of scorching. Fill the bottom of the box with packing, which can be of cotton, wool, ground cork (in which im- ported grapes are packed and which grocers are usually willing to give away). Hay will answer, but does not pack so closely as these. Pack hard to a depth of three inches, place the cylinder, con- taining the kettle in the middle, and pack tightly around it, even with the top. The insulating material can be covered neatly with cloth, or a thin board with a round hole in the middle. A thick cushion will insulate the space between this and the lid, which must be fastened down tightly. If desired to cook several things at once it is best to have two or three such cookers, as the box should not be opened after the food is put in, except to reheat. Some persons prefer using a sort of double boiler, the inner kettle, containing the food, being placed in a larger one, partly filled with hot water. In this case the water in both kettles must be actually boiling. An additional vegetable can be put in the outside kettle, or water kept hot in it for dishwashing.
Ready-made cookers can be bought, but are rather expensive. Some of these will also bake and roast by means of thick disks of concrete which must be made very hot on the stove, then put under and over the kettle containing the food. The idea might be applied to the home-made cooker by heating soapstone griddles. These might be heated at the same time with a large iron pot. The meat or chicken, which should be sea- soned, can be put in a kettle, a hot disk put in the bottom of the pot, the kettle set on this; the other disk put on top, then put the lid on the pot and bury in the cooker. The pot, however, should be inclosed in asbestos paper to avoid pos- sible ignition. It would be interesting for each housekeeper to experiment and invent improvements on the central idea. The time required for cooking vegetables varies according to their age and fresh-
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IONIA COUNTY
THE IONIA DAILY SENTINEL FREDERICK M. KIDD, Editor
Published every day except Sunday. All the news of the world while it's new. Best local news. Best general news.
114 N. Depot St. Ionia, Mich.
AUTOMOBILE OWNERS TAKE NOTICE
Your Storage Batteries will freeze if not given proper care this winter. Call Wingrove Elect. Co. Expert Battery Men They will take care of your batteries until spring.
WINGROVE ELECT. CO. So. Depot St., IONIA, MICHIGAN
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ness, so only the approximate time neces- sary can be given. There is little danger of their being overdone, or at least in- jured by long cooking, and if under- done it is always possible to take out the kettle, reheat, and return to the cooker, or if needed quickly, to finish on the range.
It is not worth while to use the cooker for food that takes but a short time to cook, such as corn, spinach, young peas, asparagus, etc., since the water for these must be brought to the boil anyhow, they can as well be cooked on the stove. Do not place the kettle next the flame but always have a lid under it.
POTATOES
Five minutes over fire, an hour in the box. Potatoes must not be left overtime in box or they become watery.
RICE PUDDING
Mix together in the kettle 1/2 a cupful of rice, a quart of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, 1/2 a cupful of sugar, a little salt and grated nutmeg. Boil on stove five minutes, in cooker six hours.
BREAD PUDDING
Soak 1/2 a pint of bread crumbs in a pint of milk, add a beaten egg, 2 table- spoonfuls of sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat with a spoon; heat on the stove till just short of boiling, stirring all the time. Put in the cooker an hour and serve with vanilla sauce.
CHICKEN FRICASSEE
Disjoint a chicken, roll in flour and brown in a little fat; as the pieces brown pack them in the kettle, and make some gravy in the skillet. Put this and a little water to cover the chicken. Boil twenty minutes, then put in cooker over night.
BOILED HAM
If wanted for 6 o'clock dinner, put ham weighing six pounds in kettle at 9 a. m. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil; boil briskly fifteen min- utes. Put the lid on the kettle when it begins to boil and don't take it off till it is taken out of the hay box, in which it should be put while still boil- ing. , At 2 o'clock take out, boil up again, put in a few cloves and 2 or 3 peppercorns. At 5.30 take out, skin, put in a pan, fat side up, stick in a few cloves, sprinkle slightly with sugar and plentifully with bread crumbs and bake in the oven till well done.
ONIONS
Of moderate size, boiled ten minutes on the range, should be tender after . four hours in cooker.
STRING BEANS
Cut off the strings and slice down the middle; give five minutes over the fire, four hours in cooker.
CAULIFLOWER AND YOUNG CABBAGE Five minutes over fire, five hours in cooker.
Cereals started over the fire at sup- per time and placed in the box should be ready for breakfast with just re- heating. Half a cupful of cereal poured into three cupfuls of boiling water, with a teaspoonful of salt is about the pro- portion.
A fireless cooker can be used for things to be kept cold as well as hot. Ice cream, if frozen, then packed in a kettle with ice and sunk in the box will not melt, and butter if put in it cool and hard will keep in the same condition, as the air is practically excluded.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS
Soak 2 cupfuls of beans in cold water a whole day. At supper time drain, cover with fresh water, put over the fire and simmer slowly for half an hour ; pour off the water, scrape a 1/4 pound of salt pork, cut off a slice and push it down through the beans to the bottom of the pail; score the rest and put, rind side up, in middle of the beans. Mix a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoon- ful each of sugar and molasses, just a dust of mustard, a half teaspoonful of baking soda and a cupful of boiling water. Add enough more water to come to the top of the beans. Cover, and boil ten minutes; then put in cooker. In . the morning reheat for ten minutes, re- turn to the box and about half past five in the afternoon take out, sprinkle a tablespoonful of sugar over the top, leave off the cover, put in hot oven for half an hour.
POT ROAST
Season the meat with salt and pepper, brown on all sides over a flame, and put in a stone jar, dry, no water whatever. Cover tightly. Put the jar in a kettle of hot water. Boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Place in a cooker for six hours. Even tough meat becomes tender and the juice at the bottom is very rich.
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PLANTING TABLE FOR VEGETABLES AND BERRIES
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VARIETY
For Horse Cultivation Have Rows
For Hoe or Wheel- Hoe Cultivation Have Rows
Distance Apart in the Row
Depth to Cover
1 Time to Plant in the North, Outdoors (See Foot-note)
ASPARAGUS, Seed ASPARAGUS, Plants
212 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
3 in. transplant in 1 year 1 in. 2 ft.
5 or 6 in.
BEAN, String ..
21/2 ft. apart
2 ft. apart
Thin to 4 in.
2 in.
BEAN, Lima
Pole, 4 x4 ft. apart
4 x 3 ft. apart
Thin to 3 plants to a pole 1 in.
Bush, 21/2 x 11/2 ft. apart 2 x 112 ft. apart
BEET
212 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
BLACKBERRY, Plants .. 8 ft. apart
6 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in. 2 ft.
1 in.
March-April April. Or in the fall
CABBAGE and CAULI- FLOWER, Plants
212 ft. apart
2 ft. apart
16-24 in.
Early kinds, April; late kinds, June
CARROT CELERY, .Plants
212 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in. 6 in.
1/2 in.
Early crop, May; late
CORN, Sweet
4 ft. apart
Same
8-12 in.
2 in.
First sowing, early Ma: May 15
CUCUMBER
5 x 5 or 6x4 ft. apart
Same
Scatter 15 seeds in hill; 1/2 in. thin out later
CURRANT and
GOOSEBERRY, Plants . . 5 x 5 ft. apart
April. Or in the fall June 1
EGGPLANT, Plants
21/2 x 21/2 ft. apart
LETTUCE
212 ft. apart
15 x 4 ft. apart 2 x2 ft. apart 11/2-2 ft. apart Same
Thin to 6-10 in.
1/2 in.
March-April
MELON, Musk
6 x 4 ft. apart 8x8 ft. apart
Same
Scatter 15 seeds in hill ; 12 in. thin out later
1/2 in.
May 15-20
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IONIA COUNTY
March-April
3-4 ft. apart
2-3 ft. apart
crop, early July
May 15
MELON; Water
March-April March-April May 10-15 May 20-25
.... 4 ft. apart
3 ft. apart
PLANTING TABLE FOR VEGETABLES AND BERRIES-Continued
VARIETY
For Horse Cultivation Have Rows
For Hoe or Wheel- Hoe Cultivation Have Rows
Distance Apart in the Row
Depth to Cover
Time to Plant in the North, Outdoors (See Foot-note)
ONION, Seed
212 ft. apart
12-15 in. apart
Thin to 4 in.
1/2 in. 1/2 in.
March-April
PARSLEY
212 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
Thin to 6 in.
Early April
PARSNIP
21/2 ft. apart '
1 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in.
1/2 in.
March-April
PEPPER, Plants
21/2 ft. apart
2 ft. apart
20 in.
June 1
PEAS
3-4 ft. apart
21/2-3 ft. apart
Continuous row
3-5 ;11.
March-April
POTATO
3 ft. apart
2-212 ft. apart
|12-18 in.
4 in.
Early, March-April;
RADISH
21/2 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
Thin to 3 in.
1/2 in.
March-April
RHUBARB, Plants
4 ft. apart
3 ft. apart
3 ft.
2 or 3 in. March-April
RASPBERRY, Plants ...
6 ft. apart
5 ft. apart
Red, 2 ft.
Black, 212 ft.
SPINACH
21/2 ft. apart
1 ft. apart
Thin to 5 in.
1 in.
March-April (or fall)
SQUASH-PUMPKIN
8 x8 ft. (Bush Squash Same
1/2 in.
May 15-20
4 × 4)
STRAWBERRY Plants .. 4 ft. apart
3 ft. apart
15-20 in.
Have crown April. (Pot-grown plants
in August)
TOMATO, Plants
4 x 4 ft. apart
4 x 3 ft. apart
May 25-June 1
NOTE .- Planting time varies according to season and locality; dates given above are only approximate, and are based on latitude of Pennsylvania: allow about five days difference for each 100 miles north or south of this State. Do not work soil in spring while it is very wet and soggy; wait. Plants set in autumn must be well mulched with strawy manure, leaves, etc., during first winter. Successional sowings of corn, peas, etc., may be made later than the dates given.
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level with ground
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late, May-June
Early spring
IONIA COUNTY
DISEASES OF SHEEP
If sheep are given proper care and feed, and are not exposed to sudden changes, the liability of disease is ma- terially reduced. For the average sheep that becomes sick, and you do not know how to doctor, the best way is to let nature take its course. Unless the symptoms are very evident and the rem- edies well known, doctoring sheep is ex- pensive and often unsatisfactory.
In handling and treating sick animals, use common sense. Do not try to make them eat, but let them be quiet. Do not begin to pour medicine down them the first time you see there is something wrong, but look to the cause and remove it, if it is in the feed or care. If the animal does not then return to feed, study closely the symptoms, and give such treatment as the latter seem to warrant. The common ailments of sheep are comparatively few, but severe cases of many of them are very fatal.
›In giving medicine to sheep, the easi- est way to hold the sheep is to set it on its. rump, placing the sheep between your legs and holding the head by plac- ing the first two fingers of the left hand in the roof of the animal's mouth, thus leaving the right hand to hold the spoon or bottle. Except where the medicine is given clear, in one or two tablespoon- fuls, the best method is to have a long, small-necked bottle in which to put the medicine, and put in the mouth, taking care to have the opening well to the back of the mouth so that the sheep can not hold the tongue over the opening. Give large doses with great care, pouring slowly to avoid choking. Be careful not to choke by pouring into the windpipe. In giving castor oil with a spoon, dip the spoon in water just before using.
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INTERNAL DISEASES. .
CHOKING .- Generally caused by too fast eating of oats or roots, which lodge in the gullet. Set the animal on its rump, stretch the neck and throw the head back, and pour a cupful of water down the throat. In more severe cases. use three or four tablespoonfuls of melted lard. If neither of these furnish relief, take a piece of small rubber hose, or a very small, pliable and smooth stick, push it carefully down the gullet,
and dislodge the obstacle. Keep close to the lower side of the neck, so as not to disturb the windpipe.
In passing hose to relieve choke, keep neck perfectly straight. Have animal held firmly by good assistants. Use great care to avoid wounding throat.
BLOATING .- Caused by overeating of soft, green feed, such as young clover, alfalfa, rape, and the like. For slight cases, put all the pine tar possible on the nose and mouth; also fasten a small stick in the mouth, like a bridle bit, to keep it open to allow the gas to escape. In more severe cases, give two teaspoon- fuls of bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in warm water. If relief does not fol- low, repeat in about ten minutes. Hold- ing salt pork in the mouth will often relieve. In all of these cases, keep the animal in motion, so as to facilitate the escape of gas. If none of these reme- dies act and the animal becomes worse, tapping must be resorted to. This is done by making a small insertion with a sharp knife, at a point on the left side equidistant from the end of the last short rib and the backbone, on the paunch. Better than a knife is a trocar with shield. This is a sharp blade in a tube, and when the puncture is made the shield is left in the opening, allow- the gas to escape. This shield should be removed as soon as the animal is out of danger. Sheep trocar and canula can be secured from any veterinary in- strument maker.
FOUNDERING. - Generally caused by overeating ; for instance, securing access to grain bin accidentally, or being kept from feed twenty-four hours or. longer, and then allowed to eat as much as they please. As soon as found, give one-half teacupful of castor oil and keep well exercised. If bloating sets in, re- lieve by ordinary methods. Founder- ing is very dangerous, and death often results, in spite of any remedy.
CONSTIPATION-In lambs, often occurs when one to seven years old. Relieve by an injection, with a small syringe, of lukewarm soapsuds into the rectum. Another good injection is glycerine. one ounce to warm water one pint. In older sheep, sometimes due to heavy feeding,
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especially of corn and dry feed without any laxative foods; also due to lack of exercise. Two to four tablespoonfuls of castor oil will relieve; if no passage of bowels in twenty-four hours, repeat and increase the dose by one-half.
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