Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-06-25
FARM AND GARDEN.

thty 10 ubeu DOGn IN the vegetable ana
ain the ornamental departments. The
best time to apply it is just before q
shower. For tender Towering plants it
ano, or small handful of fowl drop
pings to o gallon of water will make it
strong enough. Soapsuds may be used
in the same way.
!, FIas FOR Hoes. The San Diego
World advises greater cultivation of the
fig tree, because the fruit is good for
hog feed. An acre will fatten more
hogs than an acre of corn, and all that
1s necessary is to stick fig cutting
down, and in three or five months the
plants will bear iruiJ-three crops o
year-and in three years the tree attains
the size of twelve-year old apple tree.
The same paper says firm Of honey
raisers, the first year of their cultivation
OF bees, cleared $12, 900 on their honey
crop.
LOOK OUT FOR DRourH THIS SSusisiER
We may look out for drouth every
season, and shall seldom look altogether
in vain, but the present spring up to
this time has, in most parts Of the coun.
try, been marked by frequent rains, and
wet spring is likely to be followed by
q dry summer. "What can we do about
itP do you ask Keep the soil well
stirred and our crops vigorous by clean
cultivation: If our lands were proper
ly prepared before planting, we have
the means In cur hands of protecting our
crops against all moderate drouths. The
bad farmer suffers every year, either
from drouths or from too much moip-
ture, and, generally, from both. Such
bad luck" is sure to follow him. from
year to year, till he shall mend his ways
and learn q more rational system of
farming. RI sp.sE Ests -
eGRAssrG GARDEN WAnKs.-After hav-
ing been bothered for years by grass
and weed.grown walks, L determined to
conquer the enemy, by mastery sur
render. l therefore spaded up all my
walks, adding enough good soil to raise
them to q level with the adjoining beds /;
raked and rolled them till they were
firm and even, and then sowed them
thlckl 2 with "mixed lawn grass seed"
scratching it in with q rake, and giving
final going over with the roller, and
awaited the result. In a very few days
(not over three weeks), had the pleas
ure of walking on green velvet instead
OF gritty gravel and with the help of n
lawn mower, and an occasional cutting
down of tue edges true with sharp
spade, have had no further trouble with
my walks. Always green and pleasant
to the foot and eye, never washing,
meyer YssW sWeedy, never muddy, never wet
(being above the garden level, they are
Joy forever" and the perfection of
garden walks.-Cor. Country Gent.
PRUNING ToMAToEs.-That tomatoes
are benefited by pruning we have not
the slightest doubt, and we yearly prrc.
tlce it in our own garden. Some re.
commend and others practice cutting
off all the tops of the plants, to which
we most strongly object, as we are sat
1shed that such n course is very injuri-
GUS to the plants, as we'll as to the per
feet ripening of the fruit. As the to.
mato begins to grow, select say three or
four OF thestrongest shoots, pinch all the
others out, should there be any, by the
finger and thumb, close to the main
stem. When these four branches be.
gin to show fruit, small lateral branch
will show itself Immediately Mt the
next joint. These should be ali pinched
out as soon as they appear, letting NO
shoots grow Mt any time, but the four
main branches referred to /; by 80 doing.
whether the plants are tied to stakes OF
laid on the ground, we have ALWAYS
found that we secured larger, finer.
and at the same time heavier crop
than we could by any other process
obtains.
To DEsTRoY BUGS, ANTS, Erc.-No
insect that crawls can live under the ap.
plication of hot alum water. It will
destroy red and black ants, cockroaches,
spiders, ,chintz bugs, and all the myr.
lads OF crawling pests which infest our
houses during the heated term. Take
two pounds of alum and dissolve it in
three or four quarts of boiling water ;
let it stand on the stove until the alum
is all melted then apply it with a
crush while nearly boiling hot, to every
Joint and crevice in your closets, bed
steads, pantry shelves and the like.
Brush the crevices in the floor of the
skirting or mop boards, if you suspect
that they harber vermin. If in white
washing a ceiling, plenty of alum is
added 10 tho lime, it viii also serve to
keep insects at distance. Cockroaches
will flee the paint which has been washed
in cool alum water. Sugar barrels and
BOXES can be freed from ants by draw
ing "a wide chalk mark just around the
edge, OF. the top of them. The mark
must be unbroken, or they will creep
overSit, but q continuous chalk mark,
half&an inch in width, will set their
depredations at nanght.
WATERING PLANTS IN SUMMER-
Plants growing in the open grounu an /
fully exposed to the sun, are frequently
ruined by the very means taken to save
them-by watering in hot, dry weather.
Generally, merely the surface of the
ground is wet, and the moisture soon
evaporattes, leaving the soil dry and