Road & Farm Improvement.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3617, 9 January 1906, Page 4

Road & Farm Improvement.

A GOOD FLOOD GATP. 01M That Will star 1» y ■ ■ ' Arottttd end Turn Stoek teom Adjol&iaf Fluid*. Those who have large ditches oi Oireelca running through their farms wre dftsirous of getting a good, serviceable dood-g-rts. one that will stay In place all times of j , und turn stock frond ; ' ■ «• ' '■ The oldftiabioned tioo* r .. a . by the toj SO U foot log, was ohvayr ’bring pushed open by hogs am’, calves, uiiit’ss staked down, an<i then the first H-avy freshet Vu eurfe to burst it fr r ’ ; ts fastenings and carry it --i-own stream. The gate shov-, in c - be made upon -any faim, am! in place will take hare or itr-V.f. . •■•• o posts are aet near the outer banks of the chan-

nelj aft oak log ten to fourteen inche* in dlaijaftter is fashioned like a windlaM attached to the posts, as •hownCJ'n illustration, with clam? band* made from heavy iron and fastened with lag screws to posts, The roller’ is then bored full of two-inch auger holes, the desired distance •part, to receive the pickets, which are split from, tough oak. A weight shown at A completes the job. Thii V weight i« intended to keep the gate always in an upright position, and should be placed upstream, i. e., above ■the flcod-gate. When heavy freshets •re in evidence, the force of the watei raises the weight and a! nws ea-jy passage of water, driftwood, etc., and aa the water subsides tin; weight settlei back, leaving the gate in proper position, where hogs cannot root it out BOr other stock tre was;; into adjoining fields. The i.. . T Ihe made to correspond with height and weight of gate. If the weight be too heavy, so that the force of current does not open it, saw n piece off of weight, On’y actual teat will determine this I> In the illustration is the surface lint of the water.—George W. Brown, in Ohio .farmer.

PHILIPPINE HOADS.

i lllltn Dollars to li>« Spoat Ml flw lajiATcmeot ot liiuiUts at art Haar Manila,

T3m Philippine commission has appropriated $1,000,C00 for the improvement of the roads in the island of Luxon. II this sum be wisely and economically expended in constructing highways connecting important towns, bo as to enable the inhabitants to have easy communication with each other, oven during the rainy season, it will have a beneficial effect upon the people of the territory 1 through which the roads pass probably greater than could have been secured by any other expenditure.

The Spaniards did not seem to regard a road aa necessary or even desirable unless It would serve a military purpose. The railway from Manila to Dagupan gave them ample means of transporting troops, ammunition and stores between those places, and beyond Dagl- - they built a fine, broad macadamoized boulevard as fur as Vigan. Thera is a similar highway across tlh« island near its southern extremity. Generally speaking, however, Luzon hao no roads, sxcept these two, that can b« traveled by a vehicle in th* rainy aeaand ?»w of them are navigable on horseback.. Naturally the Filipinos do not stray fer from their home villages, and news as well a* merchandise dbes net circulate freely. It is no uncommon thing to find « variety of dialect* spoken by the natives in traversing 30 or 40 miles, and this diversity of language has been perpetuated by th* di£3OulMea in tbs way of travel.

Already a start ha» been mads by tbs United States officers in Manila, where the streets have been greatly Improved, and thia feature of American progress has been one the most popular of any introduced by our people. Tbsts seems to be a noticeable connection between the means of communication of a country and i ts progress toward civilization. Bodily motion appear# to stimulate movement meant ally and apirltually. If, therefore, the sl,- ‘ 000,000 just appropriat ed for good roads tn Luzon le devoted to the making of satisfactory highways and is not partly diverted into the pockets of shiftless or dishonest contractors who give no equivalent therefor, it is probable that, whatever may be the ultimate fate of the island, future generations of Filipino* will applaud the first legislative act of the American commission as one of th* wisest steps it could have taken. —Oblckgo Record. ,

Philippine Forest Upon the rccommer. ion of the war department the agri._iat.uraJ department is preparing an order setting apart as foreet reserves the Island of KCmUon, which is north of the island of Panay; also the island of Pauilnni, which Is one of the extreme group of (h« Jolo inlands of the Philippine group* Officers of the army who hare been lures ligating the inland* hare - found that these are the richest land* in the world for rubber trees, and it is the intention of the Washington authorities to hare the trees preserved v ?' ' "

tt« Xhez .«**> *-•»** ,

r ?« » wMMprwa popt*» fWf»* alee against cow beef, and we suspect that the doctors are rery largely responsible for if. Yet we have so often ea ten tender and sweet cow beef that our experience long ago taught us that its quality was much more dependent on the way it had been fattened than it was on the age of J ' .z cow. But it is nevert.lv ’true, saye American Cultivator, that it is more difficult to fatten an old cow, or an old animal of any kind, than it is to fatten young animals. As. the teeth begin to fail, the food is not so well masticated as it used to be, and as a consequence digestion is retarded. The presence of undigested food in the stomach create® fever, and in this diseased condition not only does the animal fatten less rapidly, but what flesh it puts on is less lender and sweet than it should be. The common practice of fattening cows with corn, end milking them so long as they can be milked, helps to make poor beef. The water and fat that go Into the milk are both much needed in the beef to make it as good as it should be. A cow properly fattened should be given as much succulent food as she will eat, and at first be fed with bran or meal rather sparingly. If she is very thin in flesh her beef may be made,all the better, provided this condition does not show the impairment of her digestive organs. When a cow is fattened that when you begin feeding her is little more than skin and bones, with enough flesh to hold them together, it stands to reason that most of the flesh and fat you can put on her by three or four months good feeding will be new flesh and fat, and just as good as if put on a two-year-old heifer. The bodily system is being constantly changed by th« small veins which run through the flesh, and which are always carrying ofl waste matter, and replacing it with new. The old saying used to be that the living body is wholly renewed every Acven years. But scientists are now agreed that most parts of it are renewed much quicker than this, as anyone may see by the rapid healing of a cut or bruise when air and the germa it contains are excluded from it. ,

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

It's th* Best Business In WWok «

Farmer Can Engage. ' Dairying as a distinct industry is OH6 which contributes as much of real benefit to a community as any that can be named. It is a business in which the individual, independent farmer can engage, or a number can join in a cooperative enterprise. The poor man with but few acres, the renter and the widow Vidth a family of small children to sup port,, ciin with one or more cows maka advantageous disposition on the farm of the ordinary crops of the small farm or garden patch, receiving in return from the cows a perfect food for the family, and from the surplus, produce food articles of commercial value. Thus, while it is a business in which capital can be invested on a comparatively large scale, using costly machinery and employing highly skilled labor and great executive ability, it can also be, and to a very great extent is, one of small individual investment, but aggregating an enormous sum. And, differing from almost any other line of labor, the small dairy man or woman can, with intelligence and inexpensive, rude appliances, produce an article which will equal In quality that produced from the herds of 100 or more cows, or in cooperative creameries.—Western Plowman.

DEVICE FOR MILKING.

If Applied to the Pall* It Will SeeUß* Good Resalt*. Slovenly milking is often to be accounted for by th© small size of the pail’s top. A good deal of the milk will persist in running down the outside. To make easier milking, have a top

made as shown in the cut. The flaring sides will catch the stream of milk and conduct it into the pail. It will be well to tie a piece of muslin over the bottom of this top piece, thus straining the milk a« it goes into the pail. Let thia flaring piece just fit into the top of the pail. —American Agriculturist.

Keep Cow* at Their Best. When a cow falls off in the flow of her milk she may, by judicious management, be brought back to her average quantity, but the time lost can never be recovered, and there will always, in such cases, be an additional cost for food that will not give a return for the outlay. The time to make the cow pay is when she is at her best, and it should be the aim to keep her there as long ns it is possible to do so. —Dakota Field and Farm. ' A Creditable Showing. A Chautauqua county (N. Y.) man has 13 cows which he claims produced 82,745 pounds of milk between April 12 and December 13, 1897. That is equal to 6,365 pounds of milk per cow during the eight months. This is probably about five times the weight of the cows. At the low price of 60 cents a hundred pounds for the milk the product of each cow was worth $38.19, showing a very fair profit on the cost of keeping the