The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-08-05
ORCHARD AND GARDEN NOTES,
PROTECTION AaArSgr DROUGHT.

we nave lOnR DttH CDuNluCcu hlhu ~
gardening land ultimately in farminI
also) we may carry our crops aafel.
through the most prolonged droughts
without artificial irrigation, and eacl
succeeding season strengthens tho con
%viction. There is always moistur,
enough in the sub.soil, and nature ha
provided means to pump it up. Th'
conditions required are depth and por
BUSINESS Of soil. A gentleman who hat
farmed in California, in n OF the hot
test valleys, where excessive drought
prevailed, returning to New England
had a strong curiosity TO see what eilec
California climate and cultivation woult
have on New England soil. In 1873, hi
desire was pratilied, and he reports
in the New England Farmer, that from
tho middle OF May to the middle o
July, 1873, eastern Massachusetts hat
a good specimen of California weather
The average yield Of early potatoes wa
very light, and he grew, with the as
sisfanco of that dry spell, the best crol
OF Early Rose potatoes that had eVel
been grown on the farm. $50 be ready
TO meet n spell Of California weather,
and give it the hearty welcome due an
old FRIEND" no says, 81 plant potatoes
in rows four feet four inches apart, OF
four rows to the rod potatoes one foot
apart in the row; this gives three feet
and four inches OF ground for the pota.
toes to feed on, and n foot for them
to drink from. The drinking ground was
kept moist through the drought, by
cultivating it regularly once q week;
The land is a sandy loan ; q well would
need to be fifteen or twenty feet deep
TO give lasting water. When l planted
the potatoes, knowing there was an
abundant supply OF water within twenty
feet of the surface, | thought | could
draw from that supply, by the laws OF
capillary attraction, water enough to
growa good crop of potatoes without
any rain. I could not see why the laws
of attraction should not operate in
Massachusetts, as we'll as in California,
Il they had an opportunity. The result
proved that they will. When the rain
on the 18th of July, the potatoes
we're neither dry nor hungry, the vines
covered the ground and were as green
and healthy looking all through the
drought as any | ever saw"
THE SILK FLOWER TREE.
Oae Of the most beautiful ornamental
We have here is the silk. flower tree
(AWizza ,julibriSsin), sometimes, but
enormously, called mimosa. 1t is of
Asiatic origin, We believe, and was in
troduced by the patent office depart.
ment, Washington, in 1880. As our
nurserymen do not seem TO have taken
hold of it, it has been but little dis.
seminated. We have never seen a tree
outside of Charleston, and there are
%comparati Tely few of them here. We
know th3re are a few, however, in other
parts of the south. The silk.hower tree
is hardy, we believe, ever as far north
rs Maryland, md We call attention to it
with the hope that it will be given the
place it well deserves on every southern
homestead. 1t is a spreading, tropical
looking tree, with graceful branches
and elegant feathery (6ipinnate) foliage,
somewhat like that of the sensitive
plant (Aiin'OSa pudica), though much
The leaves are not sensitive to
the touch, like those of the mimosa,
but they are quito sensitive to moisture,
themselves closely at sunset, and
opening again at snniisein the morning.
In the spring, when covered with silky
flowers, it presents n truly magnificent
appearance an6 it continues to bloom
throughout tho whole summer. The
flowers arc fragrant, and are 90 attract
We to humming birds that the tree has
sometimes been called "the humming
bird tree" We moy rs we'll say that
We know nc n who bas seeds or plants
or sale, but we hope that some public.
individuals, who have these
roes, will save seeds next fall, and dis
ributo them, as widely as possible,
mong those who feel an interest in the
rnamenting of their homes. We have
a single tree, not yet old enough
/, bloom.
AZURE IN GARDENING AND TRUCK
FARMING.
Mr.. Hardaway, in his paper on
arket gardening, read before the
State Agricultural society, at
s last meeting, said that to succeed in
Using fine vegetables, manure must be
sed lavishly. 'Last spring." he adds,
a I farmer friend came to look at my
and after wondering at the
~uantity and size OF the vegetables, he
articuiarly admired a very large bed of
and said Il put two wheel
arrows full of manure on such n bed
{ turnips, and they look like dwarfs
ompared with yours He was amazed
'hen / Informed him / had put fifty.
w~heelbarrows of anu on that
bed. It is astonishing how much
ne acre car DO made to produce. As
luch as oighty-two tons of beets have
cen gathered from n acre." Nh.
w. Gift is said to have raised
no thousand bushels of turnips to the
ere, for the Memphis market, and it is
ated in IL of the northern agricul-
lral journals that five hundred bushels
IRISH potatoes were raised on one
re. Seven thousand cabbages can be
grown upon one acre. Mr.. Greg
y, a well known market gardener and
,edsman, at Marblehead, Massachu-
tits, has sold in the Boston market as
uch as thirty-four tons of squashes
or acre, and as high as one hundred
nd forty dollars per ton, the usual
price being about thirty. five
ollars per ton, being one thousand one
undred and ninety dollars per acre.
lr. Gregory also says it is not uncom-
ION for the gardeners near him to raise
'om seven hundred to nine hundred
ushels onions per acre, and prices
encrally average about two dollars
nd fifty cents per barrel. This is the ]
'sult OF the intensive system of manur-
49,. MIR. Peter Henderson, the great
larket gardener, puts rs much as one
IN guano to the acre, and sells as much
J one thousand dollars per acre.
THE LEMON GROVES IN DANGER.
A malady which threatens great loss
owners OF lemon plantations, nature
Iys, has attacked the lemon plant, the
rigin of which is believed to be the
cultivation of the fruit, which
"a taken p1ooa Iurino Al, I,,t f.