The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1872-07-20
Agricultural Items,

| much as they will the corn and pota-
toes. Clean up the unhealthy trees.
wash them III a strong decoction of
soft soap, remove the sod, the grass
and weeds Tor ten feet around. and give
your land a good dressing with barn
manure, and your trees will soon begin
TO thrive, and when you get a good
| blossom, fruit can be secured by grid
ing. This is a strange but sure thing.
l have tired 1t four years, and with de-
cided success In 1868, while residing
IN Boston, Mass. | had q good apple
orchard, but not having much fruit, |
| resolved to try girdling which | heard
recommended. / selected five good
| sized, healthy trees, of different vari-
cites, and, when in blow, girdled large
limb on each side with nv pen-knife.
cutting a narrow channel clear through
the bark. The result was the oirdled
limbs had doubled the fruit to be
found on any other parts of the
trees, and the apples were more than
| double III value, as they were much
| larger and smoother. The next year
1861 repeated the experiment on five
other trees. The result was not so fav
orable, but the effects were equally de-
clslve. The experiment was also made
| the same season on DR. Grooves farm,
IN Bolton, with the same success. In
1870, ! girdled AL my trees which had
a good blow, but before the crop ma
tured | sold my place and removed to
Vineland but ! learn that the apple
crop on that orchard was the largest it
was ever known to produce. / have
| small apple orchard of young, thrifty
trees in Vlueland. Last spring, when
In blow, | girdled every tree in the
trunk which had good blossom, and
the fruit hung on with great tenaclty,
and was large and fair. The philoso-
ply of this is; The insects sting the
fruit 1T becomes slcklv, loses hold on
the tree and drops. The sap goes up
the woody fibre of the trct III the spring
and 1t returns in the bark but need
not till autumn. By girdling, you cut
OFT the return of the sap to the ground,
AMI the result Is, the tree has more vi
tality to nourish and hold on to its
wounded fruit, aud carry it through to
maturity. The channel should be
small but half the size of a pipe stem.
1t Will then be sure to heal during the
summer.
How TO GET GOOD RAsPBERRIEs. Com
paratlvely few people ever eat a good
raspberry. To have this delicious fruit
IN perfection you must raise it in your
own garden and take little pains with
1T. We do not now propose to go into
the general subject ofplanting, pruning,
and managing raspberries, but simply
to throw out few hints that NAV be of
practical value at the present time
Raspberrles require very rich land, and
| 1T Is not too late to fork In some well
rotted manure between the rows. If
this cannot be obtained SOW about three
| pounds OF some good artificial manure
to the square rod, and work it into the
| soil with a pronged hoe a spade
should never be used among raspber-
RES. Keep the ground as clean and
mellow as possible. Weeds PUMP up
| large quantities of water out of the
soil. Suffer none to grow. And recol-
| lect IL at a raspberry sucker that is not
needed Is simply a weed, and should be
| treated accordingly. You want four
strong suckers to each plant to form
canes for next year. All the rest, unless
needed to form new beds should be
| killed as soon as they show themselves.
/
! ing large, delicious raspbelries. As
! dry weather approaches, the land hav-
| ing been repeatedly stirred to kill weeds,
mulch the ground thlckly with the clip
pings of the lawn or other material, to
prevent the evaporation of moisture.
! The beauty of a Dahlia stalk is in its
mass of blooms from the ground up
ward, and for back grounds they should
have the leader stopped at about two
| feet high 1t viii then throw out lateral
| branches and new leader These
| again should be stopped at one foot, by
| punching the ends, and SO continue un-
tll blooming time For bedding the
plants should be stopped at ten inches,
and again the new leader at six inches,
and the lateral or side branches be
! bent and pegged down TO the ground
around the main stem as they grow.
\ correspondent says: How shall
we renOvate old feathers and also clean
| old ticts2 This inquiry have seen in
the papers. My way is this In June
when the weather portends a heavy
! shower of rain | lay tho feather tick on
/ the lawn or green grass and smooth it
ov Z evenly. One half hours heavy
rain will clean one side of badly soiled
/ tick, unless there be grease spots. In
/ this case [ take Il pail of hot suds,
pour 1t on the spots, brush them and let
the rain rinse it out. | then turn it over
and serve the other side the same If
! the shower happens to be of short du-
ration, | put the bed out in the next
rain. Tie dry the bed, lay up the itch
on slat-work, clean rails or something
of the kind. If the feathers are muck
wet, SO much the better. When driving
shake up, beat with light rods, turn
often, pick up Jumps, if there be any.
When the bed is dry, the tick will be
clean, and feathers almost as good as
new. Some of our beds have been used
! thirty years. | have laid them in ram
every summer; they are now clear and
| good. 1t takes but a short time to dry
/ the bed. but when it is dry to appear
auces, it is not fit to sleep on, but
should be laId on an empty bcdstead a
month or more, with the windows up.
/ This caution may be unnecessary, as
no wise head sleeps on feathers in
summer
As for labor, | had rather clean five
! beds III the rain than one in the man
ner generally recommended that j. by
| pouring the feathers from the tick on
Il sheet III an empty room (when there
IS no empty room IN the house,) wash
ING the tick, stirring up feathers thor
| oughly, returning to the tick, and lay