The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-05-11
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

STRAWBERRY CULTURE--THE HILL
AND THE Row SYSTEMS. that
the strawberry season is approaching,
there will be much discussion by all who
have gardens as to the best modes of
cultivating this delicious fruit. OF late
years there has been much discussion
between the advocates of two theories
One would grow the plants in hills, cut
ting away the runners the other would
let the plant grow in mat over the beds
any way they will. But it has been
found, in the experience of the past half
a dozen years, that neither party is
quite right. There are good points in
each one and that system is found the
best which partakes of the character OF
both, without the evils which both pos
sess.
Let us look at the evils and the ad
vantages One of the good points in
the hill culture of the strawberry is that
it prevents the exhaustion of the main
plant which follows the production of
runners. 1t is found by experience that
the old plant becomes very much weak
ened-not so much by the production
OF runners as by the roots which these
runners throw out. Usually plant has
a drain on its system in forming leaves
or branches; but no sooner are these
formed than they draw from the atmos-
phere food which is returned to the
roots, and the whole plant is strengthen
ed thereby; but if aught intervenes to
prevent the return of this sustenance
drawn from the air, the plant is perma.
nently injured. So by cutting off these
runners before the young plant is form
ed at the apex of the runner, and before
it has had time to send out roots to Gre
ate diversion in the returning sap, we
prevent the exhaustion of the main
plant. Ii this the advantage of the hill
system consists. All the energies of the
plant are concentrated, and very fine
fruit is the result.
Now for the advantages of the run
ming system. The strawberry plant
likes to have the leaves and flowers in
the sun, but to have the roots cool and
shaded. This shade and cooling is we'll
afforded when the plants run as a mat
over the bed whithersoever they will.
But the struggle for food between so
many roots causes much starvation, and
d large crop of poor fruit often follows.
The best plan is not altogether the
hill system, but that which grows them
in rows-say about eighteen inches
apart. In the rows, between one anoth-
er, let them grow together as they will,
occupying width OF about six inches,
and let the space between the rows be
kept clear, and the necessary or useful
shade be afforded by laying course of
cornstalks between them. By this plan
the advantage of every system is gained;
and if not the very largest fruit, still
very good fruit, and plenty Of it, is the
result.-1h0s. Neehan.
FEEDING PoULTRY.-Onions are said
to be an admirable food for fowls or
rather adjunct to the ordinary food. If
given regularly, it is said they will pre-
vent the attacks of the more ordinary
diseases of poultry. Meat is said by
.. authorities to be an essential food for
poultry, especially in the winter, when
they cannot get the worms they pick up
in summer. Others, again, maintain
that the habit of giving meat to poultry
is productive of grave evils-the cause
of many of the worst forms of disease
which affects them. By those authori-
ties it is called an unnatural food, mas
much as the digestive organs Of the
birds are not fitted to assimilate it.
, There must, we think, be some mistake
in all this for we know of surety that
fowls do eat, when they can get it, and
, entirely of their own accord, an enor-
|, nous quantity of animal food. Here it
is not cooked the game found in
, natures garden is raw. If meat is an
unnatural food for poultry, they certain
, ly have a most unnatural appetite for it.
Throw in one lump of meat amongst a
, lot of fowls; if not literally bone of
contention, it is something vastly like it,
so eager are all to get a grab at it. We
believe the habit OF giving much food in
short space of time to poultry is bad
one. Ii you notice their habits, you will
see that the process of picking up their
, food under the ordinary, or what we call
the natural condition, is very slow one.
Grain by grain does the meal get taken,
and with the aggregate no small amount
, of sand, small pebbles, and the like, all
{ of which passing into the crop, assist di-
gestion greatly. But in the chen" mode
of feeding poultry, a great heap is
thrown down, and the birds allowed to
"peg away" at such a rate that their
crop is filled far too rapidly, and the pro-
cess of assimilation is slow, painful and
, incomplete. No wonder that so many
cases of choked craw are met with under
this treatment.
CHAPPED HANDs.-It is said that
honey is an unfailing preventive for
chapped hands. When washing the
= hands, or rather having washed them,
while they are still wet, rub on them a
little honey, and then dry them, taking
, care to leave the honey on, and not
rinse it off before drying the hands.
If the hands are sore and chapped, on
the first and second application the
honey will cause pain for about five
minutes, but if used every time the
hands are washed, the hands never chap
1t is also cure for irritation on the face
I caused by wind and cold weather