Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1874-04-09
Farm, Garden and Household.
Orchard Management.

Orchard Management.
To realize the best results from an
orchard, we should be careful in the
selection of varieties; and well-drainea
location should be chosen on which to
plant the trees. The distance between
the rows should not be so small as to
preclude the trees from obtaining their
full bearing capacity, and to make it
difficult to gather the fruit. Neither
should there be too much space.
Twenty-four feet each way has been our
practice of setting trees, and we find it
suitable distance. If the land is low
and fiat, the land between the rows
should be plowed toward the tree, so as
to have the dead furrow in the center,
to allow the water to pass off freely.
All the sprouts should be kept from the
base of the trees, but we have not found
it advisable to prune out the heads, as
it lessons the capacity for fruitfulness
and induces the growth of water
sprouts.
All of the fallen fruit should be gath
cred and made into vinegar, as the
profits OF the orchards are considerably
increased from this source. All fruit
should be carefully hand-picked and
that in tended for market should be as
sorted and put in clean packages.
Watering Horses Just After Eating.
At recent meeting of the Formatine
Agricultural Association of Scotland,
Mr.. Cassie, V. s., of New Machar, in
paper relating to this subject, truly
stated that full drink of water imme-
diately after being fed should never be
allowed to horses. When water is
drunk by them, the bulk of it goes di-
rectly to the large intestines, and little
of it is retained in their stomachs. In
passing through them, however, the
water carries considerable quantities of
their contents to where it lodges in the
intestines. If, then, the contents of
horses stomachs are washed out of
them before they are digested, they are
in a manner lost, no nourishment being
derived from them. As was we'll known,
the horse had very small stomach, and
experiments had often been tried which
went to prove what he had said. In
Edinburgh, old horses had been fed
with split peas, and then supplied with
water Immediately before being killed.
It was found that the water had carried
the peas from fifty to sixty feet into the
intestines, where no digestion took
place at all.
Ragged Meadow.
When land is seeded with grass in
some parts and bare in others, we know
of no better way to get it all into turf,
than to save what there is and mend the
naked places. Spread some fine, we'll
rotted manure evenly over the bare
spots, and brush or mix with. the top
soil by using fine harrow. Then SOW
grass seeds-red clover, four quarts
orchard grass, eight quarts; blue grass,
four quarts, and one quart of white
clover to the acre. First mix the seeds
thoroughly, then SOW, and follow with
the roller. A bushel of spring rye to
the acre along with these seeds would
give shade and protection from the suns
heat. Do this work thoroughly, as soon
as the ground is settled, and when the
plants are fairly up SOW gypsum Cplas-
teri, at the rate of one or two bushels
per acre, being governed in this by the
price and quality, and it will be strange
If you do not secure the desired result.
How to Poison MoIes.
Put some shelled corn in a vessel,
with water enough to cover it, and
stIychnine in proportion to the amount
of corn-about a thimbleful to a
quart of corn is sufficient. Mix we'll
and let stand twenty-four hours then
put three or four grains in place in
their holes. Where there are trees or
stumps it is best to put it around them,
as they work around them more than
elsewhere. The best time for attending
to this is February and March. They
commence operations the first warm
spells in the spring, and if they are not
attended to before corn is planted it is
too late. You can generally find the
mole at the very spot where you put
the corn, or near by, by tearing up the
hole; very often they die at the spot.
Breaking Up n Setting Hen.
A friend Of eurs told us the other day
how his wife cures hens of setting f; and
as it is very novel way, we will repeat
it for the benefit of others who are
bothered with inveterate old settlers.
This lady had hen that was bound to
set ; the lady was bound she should
lot. She would shut up the old hen
one day, and when released, back she
would go to her setting, Patience
finally gave out. Picking up some
splinters from the chip-yard (some four
or five inches long,, she bound them
firmly to the hens legs, leaving only
the hip joints in working order. Bid
dy was outwitted like the old Dutch
mans hen, she would have to set stand
ing up.
Sheep I'm Orchards.
A correspondent says: "For many
years it has been my custom to pasture
orchards with sheep at all seasons ex-
cepting the spring, when the bark is
very loose upon the trees. The COM
mon impression, l am aware, is against
my practice. For number of years l
pastured only lambs and very old sheep,
but now any but old rams in young or
chards they will sometimes injure
small trees rubbing with their horns.
Fine wooled sheep, as the spanish and
Saxon, are much less inclined to injure
trees or anything else than coarse
wooled sheep.