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r - Addr communication* to Agronomist. 73 Adelalda St. West. Toronto. Storing the Potato Crop. | of the hole may bo lined with boards Storage is an important part of to protect them from the earth falling potato raising, where the crop is not '" though the earth may be braced old direct from the field. The crop back wilh P les - Fil1 tlle hole to . * hould be stored in a dry, well ventil-, height of three and a half feet with ated cellar which is perfectly dark. Potatoes, then place small logs along j>, * A L _ _ . i rrtt . 1 i 1_ - - T i 1\ i n the sides and roof. The depth of this side log and elevation in the centre of Great losses, unnecessary, occur each year from carelessness in storing the potato crop. The tubers are placed in the voof is to be loft as an air wet or comparatively warm and poorly j and no straw or rubbish whatever i ventilated cellars and piled in great I>l a d on top of the potatoes. A roof bins, giving almost ideal conditions is made with poles placed close to- for the development of the disease gether. There should be but a slight which may be in them and very favor- elevation at the centre of the roof. able conditions for healthy potatoes to develop rot. The expense of putting in a good ystem of ventilation in a cellar is ioon offset by the better condition In which the potatoes keep, and the pro- fits increase fast when they are prop- erly cared for. At any rate, a good circulation of air should be provide J When the poles for the roof are in place there should be a little hayj thrown over them to keep the soili from falling through. Tho roof should be well sodded and some of the loose! dirt which lies at the side shoveled over the sod to make a total depth of sod and earth of one foot. Then another foot of well-rotted, dry horse around the stored potatoes. Instead j manure will keep the potatoes during of piling them against the wall or en j the most severe weather. the- floor, slats should be nailed a I The natural ground heat from the ' > apart about six inches or more fun- the wall. This insures cireula- bottom keeps the temperature fairly even. In a pil this size there must be ? air behind the pil. A temper- provided three ventilators, each of be put in ulviiit. six j which is about four-by-six inches, which may be made of ordinary boards, one ventilator placed at each above the cellar-bottom with end of the pile and one in the centre. between the boards. This also ti circulation under the pile. if the piles must be made very (These should be put In when the sod ]arg, square ventilators of wood made is being put on, and made long enough of slats and running from the top to to reach out of the mulch of manure. tfc bottom of the pile should be put 1 The ventilators must be closed in very in here and there through tVe pile. 'fold weather by putting old sacks in These, with the ventilation at the sides ! them and when the weather becomes and bottom will keep the potatoes in frosty the centre one is kept closed all much better condition than if they are l ' le time. No potatoes should be di- In a solid pile. | rectly under the end ventilators, a Another good plan is to keep the 'the drip of water from them might] potatoes in large crates made with ' cause rot. A thermometer may be! lints close enough together to protect used to test the temperature. But the; the potatoes from falling out. The temperature should not go much below Ventilation between these cvatos forty degrees in a pile of this kind, assists In keeping the tubers in good If the pit is dug four or five feet long- condition. The temperature should <-! than the thirty foot, and covered be kept as near thirty-three to thirty- over, this will make an excellent place five i!'j;rTs ,',.. T[ 10 ((,,,;,,- to take out potatoes early in spring potatoes are ki-pt without free/ing :!ie without moving the remainder of the butter. Not r::y an- tlip sop,: potatoes' !> injured by bi-itig permitted to sprout: If a small quantity is to be stored during the winter, sapping up their and u ' so where drainage conditions germinating powers, but the potatoes nre n t Sood, it is advisable to exca- ere injured for eating purposes aslvate not more than six inches. Thej well. And when they are held" for i shape of the pit should be long and' spring s;,le* t the shrinkage is larger ' narrow. The potatoes should not be where they have not been cool enough, j piled too high. Good wheat straw is Tho storage room should be arranged the best litter to use over the potatoes. o that during moderate weather air' This should bo carefully laid with the) ay be let in during the night when ' general direction of the straw up and tne temperature is lowest. The ventil- j down the side of the pit and thick afcor houi i ).i> oil sod during the day- ' enough to be about six inches deep A Banker Who Kept a Cow. This is the story of a Wisconsin banker named Jost, who was not satis- fied with merely telling farmers how they should farm better, and with lending them money to do it with. Believing that many of his farmer customers were not getting as much money out of dairying as they should, he decided to set an example for them. The resuUs he got surprised him as much as it did the farmers. Mr. Jost is cashier of a bank in New London, Wisconsin. He bought a grade Guernsey cow, which ho nam- ed Cherry, and installed on a town lot because he had no fatm. So he had to buy all her feed and roughage, and even bedding. But he made a success of his dairy-farming, though farmless, and, being a bank cashier and used to figures, made a second success on top of that a complete record of every- thing that Cherry ato, slept ( on, and yielded. Farmers round about had a good deal of fun at his expense for a while, but one year later they were coming to get the banker's cost fig- ures. They wanted to know how he did it. There was such a demand for these figures that he printed them in a little pamphlet, and they are re- printed in ''The Banker-Farmer." Cherry made a profit of $117.83 her first year, allowing $10 fertilizer value from manure. Everything that she ate was weighed and charged against her. Her diet was varied- over two tons of mixed clover and hay, with two tons more of beets, rutabagas, cull potatoes, cull cabbage, cornstalks, wheat bran, hominy, ground oats, ground bnrley, cornmeal, oilmeal, and three different kinds of mixed feeds, along with stock conditioner, salt, and five and a- half months on rented pas- ture. Her milk was weighed daily, tested for buttorfat, nnd the milk and butterfat used in Mr. Jost's family credited to her account, at the price paid by local creameries. The bunk cashier had a regular schedule for feeding and milking Cherry, worked out by the clock. It took from a quarter past six to seven in the morning to milk and feed her, a few minutes at noon to feed and water her again, and from a quarter past six to seven in the evening for milking, feeding and bedding. Her ground feed was balanced on her milk yield for every three pounds of milk Cherry produced her owner fed her one pound of ground feed for the first nine months, then one pound! to every two pounds of milk the next] two months, and a pound to every pound nnd a half the last month. She produced 10,670 pounds of milk dur- ( ing the year, equalling 461.33 pounds | of butter, or 576.76 pounds of butter-, fat, or 5,002 quarts of milk. The Welfare of the Home .. A Canadian Product By Mary E. Ely. Preserving Eggs for Winter. The comparatively low price at which eggs havo been selling during the present summer is no indication that they will be cheap next winter. The provident housekeeper will there- fore put <lown a supply to bo used from the lato autumn until the early' spring. There are two preservatives, that have been found to be about, equally valuable for preserving eggs in good condition. Vv'ater glass, or sodium silicate, is now very generally used, but some householders dislike to handle this product and therefore se- lect lime water as the preservative material. Experiments carried on for many years at the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, and referred to in Exhibition Circular No. 42, have proved the value of this solution. It is very important that the eggs be stricly fresh and those that are stained washed clean. An ordinary crock or keg is a very suitable receptacle. Lime water suit- able for egg preservation is water carrying as much lime in solution as is possible. About one pound of lime is sufficient to saturate 70 gallons of water, a little more than is needed in practical experience because of impur- ities found in the lime. From two to three pounds of lime is about the proper amount to use for five gallons of water. The method of preparation is simply to slake the freshly burned lime with a small quantity of water and then stir the milk of lime so formed into five gallons of water. After the mixture has been kept well stirred for a fow hours it is allowed to settle. The "saturated" lime-water is drawn The Farm Women of Canada BY EARLE W. GAGE. ttmr. after a layer of earth is thrown over The custom of storing the surplus It. When the weather grows colder add , crop, not marketed direct from the mure soil; then later still another lay- field 1 , outdoors, is growing, espivi.-iily cr each of straw and soil. Before ex-; drainage conditions permit. Tu'tremc temperatures arc here a heavy j tore, say one thousand bushels, a '< -oating of clover chaff will keep the hole In the ground fourteen foot wide, from four to four and a half feet deep, and about thirty feet long, will give auffk-irnt space. The sides and ends pit dry ami free from frost danger. Where no chaff is available give the pit another coating of straw and a heavy application of dirt. One hundred pounds of gain from each 2U4 pounds of feed was the mark j et hy an Indiana farmer in growing] his spring pigs lust summer, from the' tjme they averaged .'15 pounds until j they reached 135 pounds. When I: .'il him how he lid it, this is what! .iid: ' I have learned that I can grow ^ -s inii.-t economically during the s . .ner when I feed two or three |.. . Is of feed for each hundred l'i i-, of liveweight on good clover picture." At weaning time he was feeding a ration of par corn, wheat middlings, ind ground oaU. Tho last two feeds, In equal portions, were mixed into a thick slop with a limited amount of skim nilik. This ration was continued after weaning until the pigs reached an average weight of 45 to 50 pounds, the pigs getting all they would clean up twice a day. When they had reached the above weight, the groin ration was gradually reduced, mid ap- proximately equal parts of ear corn, ground oats, ground barley, and wheat middlings were fed from this time until new corn was available. "I did not weigh the pigs to deter- mine how much to feed them," he said. "I simply estimated their weight and fed 2 '/4 pounds of feed per 100 pounds of estimated weight. When the pigs weighed approximately 50 pounds piece, I fed about 1 ' pounds of grain per pig nach day. I gradually in- creased the amount as the pigs got heavier, maintaining the ration of 2Vfe pounds of feed per 100 pounds of j Hvo weight as nearly as possible. "Experience has shown me that I can grow my spring pigs economically by feeding a limited grain ration, pro- vided 1 have good pasture for them. I like clover pasture much better than fclun grass. Blue grass is ali rijr'it uring tlio spring months, when the growth is green and plentiful, but dur- ing the summer months it gets tough aiM woody. The pigj do not like it, nor does it furnish the protein and tninorall that aro so abundant in fresh pasture growth. Clover grows during the summer months, furnishing a con- tinuous growth of succulont, rich pas- tar*. "Thre' no profit in feeding a lim- ited grain ration to pigs during the if th |,stui-e is poor in'quul-j ity, or when there is not enough of. it to supply all the forage the pigs j will cat. When the pasture is lacking in quality or quantity, I feed a little 1 more grain; when the growth is ox-] fi-ptioiially good, I feed a little less."i This method of feeding pave him exceptionally growthy, well-grown 1 shotes by the time new corn was avail-! able, just the kind to make economical gains hogging off corn. When they] went to market at seven months of age, they had eaten only '.\;>~> pounds j of dry feed for each 100 pounds of' gain from weaning time on. This gave' him a margin of $877. (i8 on 83 head, 1 after the cost of feed had been dc- 1 ducted. Taking into account all costs! for feed, labor, equipment, etc., from the time the sows were bred in the fall of 1919 until the pigs were sold, the net profit was $600.01, or $7.30 per P"(T- With such management he will cer- tainly continue to mail money in spite of lower prices. Strong-smelling butter is caused by various things. The most common cause is exposure to vessels and rooms! that arc ill-smelling. The fat of but-] ter also goes through a process of de- composition when kept too long, when rancidity occurs. Butter that is pro- perly made, and kept free from bad odors, should keep sweet, if cool, for quite a long time, comparatively speaking. The feed has nothing to do with it, as a rule. However, when certain foods like onions, for example, are fed, the odor will be transmitted to HIP milk. The same applies ,o cabbage or green rye. The rule is to feed these just after milking. The good layer will have not less than three or four lingers" distance be- Iwcrn the ptlvio bones and the point of breast-bone; five or six fingers' distance would be still better. There should also be grind distance from the ribs on one side around to the ribs on the other side. In other words, the abdomen should be large and roomy, indicating that the hen has a large capacity for the assimilation of food an'l for the production 'of eggs. The ski'i of the ahilomen should be loose IT rb In S";:JJTS' an udder tlv.it has be.un miiked out The new attitude of womrn in gen- 1 eral towards the land and in the dc- sire so many of them evince to get back to the out-o'-doors life, has been; very noticeable since the conclusion J of the war. The past two summers, hundreds of women and girls have flocked to the farming districts and toil in the open air, and this has been attended with the most gratifying suc-| cess. The Canadian Department ofj Labor and ether organizations have been literally besieged with inquiries from women and girls who desire work on the farms, not in a domestic , capacity but in the open of the fields.; Women took up practically every pliaso of man's work during the war and in the majority of cases carried it out as \vell as her brother. When! the termination of hostilities inovitab-| ly relegated many of them to their former lives and environment, it was, a hard matter to take up the old, threads, and little wonder that many | of them, seeing their own land limited in opportunity, anil overcrowded, look-' ed across the seas to fresh green pas- tures awaiting the development of hu- man hands and minds. Since the sign- ing of the armistice with the demob- j ili/ation of the army, or more correct- 1 ly, since the availability of transport! iiftor the return of the Canadian [ troops, women from the British Isles and elsewhere have crowded the j steamers arriving at Canadian ports,] and thousands have made the trip via New York, rather than wait months for a St. Johns or Halifax boat. Many were war brides but the greater mini- j her consisted of those for whom war ; employment had gone with the return ' of the men from the front and who, j finding themselves belonging to a class I of two million superfluous women, do-! tided to start out anew in a virgin field where their efforts were not only obviously needed but urgently sought. This movement continues unabated and every steamer sees parties of fresh-cheeked English women arriving under government auspices to find for a St. John's or Halifax boat. Many of them belonged to various Imlal- lions of the women's army, many are experienced land workers, others fol- lowed pursuits purely feminine. Groups are bound for domestic ser- vice, others to fruit sections for light land work, and still others, with lim- ited capital, are taking up small pieces of land for themselves. Groups of wo- j men go straight from the boat to linen mills and other factories, being en- gaged in the old land and brought out by the management of these indus- tries. It is a burning question in the older countries just what opportunities await w i. mon and girls in America, especially in Canada, where an organ- ! i/.ed effort is being put on to secure: this class of immigrants, much needed in a growing country. In Canada the sexes are more Hourly balanced, which offers a more expansive field to wo- men. No tribute is too great or worthy which can be paid to the pioneer wives and mothers of the Canadian agricultural regions, but as a general rule agriculture is carried out on too large and expensive a scale for wo- men to take any but a supplementary part. It is not uncommon to see a The only child, that over-protected and unprotected little soul, whose par- ents are so unintelligent in their de- sire to be intelligent, so inconsistent in their consistencies! He is an appealing child, even in his most trying moments, and a word in his defence may soothe and encourage those who at times misjudge and find him almost unbearable: "I believe all children good, If they're only understood, . Even bad ones, "pears to me, 'Sjes' as good, as they kin be!" The only child is surely sinned against rather than sinnir.g. He has much with which to contend, this lone- some child, having no legitimate vent for his social life with those of his own kind, in years and stage of de- velopment, no one who can think his thoughts, play his games and see his little viewpoint. "At evening when the lamp is lit Around the fire my parents sit, They sit at home and talk and sing And do not play at anything" sang an only child, our whimsical Robert Louis Stevenson. It is com- panionship a child craves, and an op- portunity to establish relations on his own plane with other children. Of course a little child dearly loves the undivided attention of his elders, to bo singled out as an object of at- tention, the satellite around which those loving him revolve. He is at the mercy of those persons who at time* overwhelm him with attention and af- fection as the mood seizes them, then, when the child least expects it, thrust him aside without a word. He is constantly being experimented with, and by inexperienced parents, who to follow any other profession but parenthood, the greatest one in the world, would fit themselves for it by years of study and research. A nurse can keep a child physically fit, she is trained for it. Parents should go into training, curb their selfish pleasures, and become sane, balanced, earnest, lovable, prayerful In their conduct toward this only child. Then he can build right standards of behavior and control, thus producing the mental, moral and spiritual quali- ties essential to good citizenship. A worth-while slogan provocative of thought, was released at a Child Welfare Club, "The chief business of society, to evolve parents fit for chil- dren to live with," to which we might add Froebel's illuminating words "Come let us live with our children." farmer's wife driving a (hinder at harvest while her hnsband is on an accompanying machine or shocking the grain as she cuts, but this- is oc- casional and the wife of the modern farmer finds her time well occupied in her household duties, her poultry and her superintendence of the dairy- ing. " . There are to be found, however, a few instances in which women (in one cast' a former successful London jour- nalist), make a decided success op-, prating a grain or mixed farm. Thi.-,l however, presupposes a good deal ofj capital to initiate the enterprise, and! such cases are very few. Kour ex- army nurses of Montreal who, evident- ly suffering from the disease of the returned soldier, thought to take ad- vantage of the soldiers' settlement act which permitted them to take sol- dier land grants for their services' overseas and make the long trek to the Spirit River district of the Pence River! country, in northern Alberta. Here! they have taken four quarter sections,! in the middle of which a cabin has been erected, and have commenced their operations with the utmost con- ! fidence of success. However, such cases are exceptional, and woman's place on the large farms of the wes- tern country is usually as a helpmate; to man, in which it must be said, there are thousands of openings. The gentler phases of farming ap- peal to women, especially the robust, sturdy out-of-doors typi , and this mode of livelihood is particularly ap- pealing to those girls who worked on the land during the war, and in the experience they gained learned to love the free, untramelled life. In British Columbia, especially in the settle., fruit areas, many women are operating small orchards or fruit farms and doing all the work entailed; themselves. In the same districts, nearj industrial centres, many women are! finding poultry raising a profitable! means of livelihood and a calling! which does not overtax their physical! strength. Still others find a source of! healthy revenue in beekeeping. In the Niagara peninsula and other fruit districts of Ontario the same conditions prevail, and here women are to be found wrestling a living in the pleasantest environments and working conditions from the easily yielding soil. Each year sees a mi- gration from the cities and towns to the orchards of the Pacific Coast pro- vince, of women and girls of every profession and calling who find pick- ing nnd packing fruit a profitable as well as pleasurable manner of spend- ing a holiday. Women of Canada may be said to have tackled most thing* and made a fair success of them, even to attain- ing cabinet rank in the provincial legislatures. In fact, the presiding officer of the British Columbia par- liament is none other than a woman, I the first in the entire British Empire' to occupy this stately and important! position. Indications arc that girls are be- coming more and more attracted to the active side of farm life, and it is significant to note that the 1920 graduating class at the Ontario Agri- cultural College included the first wo- man in Canada to take the degree of! Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture. off and poured over the eggs, previous- ly placed in a crock or water-tight barrel. As exposure to air tends to pre- cipitate the lime (as carbonate), and thus to weaken the solution, the ves- sel containing the eggs should be kept covered. The air may be excluded by] a covering of sweet oil, or by sacking] upon which a paste of lime is spread. If after a time there is any noticeable precipitation of the lime, the lime- water should be drawn or siphoned off and replaced with a further quantity newly prepared. It is important that the eggs dur- ing the whole period of preservation] be completely immersed. Water-glass as purchased at the drug store is a clear thick fluid re-! scmbllng extracted honey. In its pre-] paration the water used should be boil-j ed, and experiments havo proved that the solution is thoroughly satisfactory if made a little more than half the strength recommended on the recep- tacle in which it is sold. o Building Up the Ewe Frock. The comparatively low price at which wool has been selling during the present season should not discour- 1 age the keeping of sheep nor the care j given the flock that are to be main-' tained. Indeed, the situation affords i an opportunity to improve the existing flocks with little outlay of money. The; indications are that the low prices are! not likely to continue, more especially for the finer grades of wool, because j Canadian manufacturers are learning to use Canadian wools, which are now! sold in much better condition than! was the case some years ago before official grading was practiced. The best time to purchase ewes is soon after the lambs have been wean- ed. At that time the breeding and milking qualities can be readily ascer- tained, and besides, ample time h available for preparing the flock for the next crop of lambs. Strong, well- covered shearling ewes are seldom disappointing, and mi[?ht very well constitute at least a portion of an extensive purchase of new stock. These ewes should have the run of the stubble fields, not sown to clover or old pastures, until the end of Sep- tember, and then given access to a rape or clover field. If this green food is not plentiful, it will pay to feed a small quantity of grain to make sure the ewes are strong and thriving well , when bred. This is the secret of hav-j ing u large percentage of strong twins | dropped. It may be well, as claimed' by some, to breed from ewes them- 1 selves twins, but even so, they must be strong and thriving well to have the best results because not only will larger returns be assured, but the lambs will be stronger and more likely to live and do well, providing the treatment of the ewes continues good up to lambing time. It is of great importance that the flock be dipped before the cold wea- ] ther arrives. It is exceedingly poor] policy to feed a horde of sheep ticks j as will be the ct.se if the dipping is neglected before the housing season. The details of dipping are covered in Bulletin No. 12 of the Live Stock Branch at Ottawa. It is entitled Sheep Husbandry in Canada. A Portable Water Trough. For the movable farrowing house that most swine breeders now prefer, an excellent watering trough can be made from the end of a 50-gallon bar- rel. Each barrel will make two good ; troughs. Saw squarely through all the staves about two inches above the third hoop, thus making a trough about 10 inches deep. A circular cover is made of one-inch pine boards nailed on strong] cleats and fastened to the trough by means of thumb nuts. In the edge of this cover a semicircular opening is cut, five inches in diameter, while directly beneath this the edge of the trough is cut down flush with the top of the upper hoop. This trough is not easily upset. It keeps trash and dirt out of the water. And it keep the water cool. It is more easily made than a concrete trough, when the farrowing house is moved to a clean site. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR After Harold Dean had walked a whole mile to the home of Uncle Ike Johnson to buy a pupipy, he was some- what disappointed. Only two puppies were left, and of these the aged owner intended to keep the better one. "I'm sorry," said Uncle Ike, "but if you'd got up an hour earlier this morn- ing and had come over here as soon as you ate your breakfast, you'd have had the chance to pick the best out of three, besides the pup I'm keeping for myself. Sonny, it's the early bird that gets the worm and the early fel- low that gets what he goes after." The birds had awakened Harold that very morning. He remembered how sweetly they had sung and how he", wishing to arise, had delayed and delayed until well, an hour later he had opened his eys and found the sun fiercely greeting him and all outdoor*. Would Harold buy the lone puppy, the only one for sale ? Uncle Ike want- ed to know. There was nothing much the matter with the baby dog, just flippy ears and had markings. "Though he isn't much for beauty, 1 ' Uncle Ike said, "he's most likely smarter .than his better-looking broth- ers and sisters. The prettiest is hard- ly ever the best. Besides, what if he is Hobson's choice? He'll grow up and be a tine friend to you." Harold was puzzled. He could not figure out why Uncle Ike used those two odd words, and what the old man had in the back of his mind. "Hobson's choice?" the boy asked. "Yes," came the answer. "It's this pup right here or none." Presently Harold dug down into his pocket and brought out three fifty- cent pieces and a quarter. Now how much did he pay for the puppy? "I'll call him Hobson but make it Hob for short," he said, "if you will tell me what Hobson's choice is." Uncle Ike smiled. He shook his head from side to side. It was a secret and he couldn't tell; that is, he would say no more. "Look it up in your father's big dictionary," he called after Harold. "A fellow keeps what he gets by working for it. Now if I should Ml yon, it would most likely go in i 19 ear and straight out of the other. Look it up yourself and you will al- ways remember it." Harold carried the puppy in h ; arms, for it had kind eyes and a wii.- ning way. When he arrived at home he got an old-fashioned soup plate and filled it with milk. The new pet wig- wagged his thanks in real puppy style. A few minutes after tire wee ani- mal had dined and then dropped asleep, Harold Dean went to the stand that held 1 his father's big dictionary. He pressed the clamps and opened the big book. He turned to the fetter "H," then to "Ho," and to "Hobs" where he soon found the term he was looking for. In a corner at the bot- tom of the page he read the two words that Uncle Ike had spoken, also the small print that followed them. This is what Harold saw: "Hobson's choice: take v^hat is of- fered or nothing so called because Tobias Hobson, an English stable- keeper, required every customer to use the horse which stood nearest the door." Just at that moment Harold heard a whine and some clumsy scratching at the door. As Harold opened it the puppy toddled between his master's legs. Harold stooped, grabbed the furry fellow, and said: "You were Hobson's choice sure er.ough, the only one left, and you're Hob now and forever. How soon will you learn your name?" Hob soon learned to answer to his name and Harold was always very glad that Hob was Hobson's choice. - - . Plant a tree. You can do that much for the next generation. The oak is noted for its strength; the blue spruce for its formality; the birch for ita grace; the basswood for its ease; the evergreens for their warmth, and the woeping willow for its sadness. Bless- ed is the man who plants a tree.