The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-08-12
ORCHARD AND GARDEN NOTES.
PROTECTION AGAINST DROUGHT.

| conditions required are depth and pOr-
BUSINESS of soil. A gentleman who had
farmed in California, in one of the hot
test valleys, where excessive droughts
| prevailed, returning to New England,
| had a strong curiosity to see what effect
| California climate and cultivation would
| have on New England soil. In 1873, his
desire was gratifed, and he reports,
| in the New England Farmer, that from
| the middle of May to the middle of
July, 1873, eastern Massachusetts had
a good specimen of California weather.
The average yield OF early potatoes was
very light, and he grew, with the as
sistance OF that dry spell, the best crop
| of Early Rose potatoes that had ever
been grown on the farm. $40 be ready
to meet a spell of California weather,
and give it the hearty welcome due an
old friend" he says, 81 plant potatoes
in rows four feet four inches apart, or
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 one foot for them
| to drink from. The drinking ground was
kept moist through the drought, by
| cultivating it regularly once a week.
! The land is sandy loan a well would
need to be fifteen or twenty feet deep
to give lasting water. When planted
the potatoes, knowing there was an
| abundant supply Of water within twenty
feet of the surface, I thought could
draw from that supply, by the laws of
capillary attraction, water enough to
grow good crop of potatoes without
any rain. could not see why the laws
of attraction should not operate in
Massachusetts as well as in California,
Il they had an opportunity. The result
proved that they will. When the rain
came on the 18th of July, the potatoes
were neither dry nor hungry, the vines
covered the ground and were as green
and healthy looking ali through the
drought as any I ever saw"
THE SILK FLOWER TREE.
One of the most beautiful ornamental
trees we have here is the siIk-fower tree
| (AI6izzG .juljbTiSSin), 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 7ely few of them here. We
know there are a few, however, in other
| parts OF the south. The silk-fiower tree
is hardy, we believe, even as far north
as Maryland, and we call attention to it
with the hope that it Will be given the
place it we'll deserves on every southern
homestead. It is q spreading, tropical
looking tree, with graceful branches
and elegant feathery (bipinnate) foliage,
somewhat like that of the sensitive
plant (liin1OSa 01Idica), though much
! larger. The leaves are not sensitive to
| Aho oE
but they are quite sensitive to moisture,
closing themselves closely at sunset, and
| opening again at sunrise in the morning.
In the spring, when covered with silky
flowers, it presents a truly magnificent
| appearance and it continues to bloom
| throughout the whole summer. The
flowers are fragrant, and are so attract
i've to humming birds that the tree has
sometimes been called "the hummiDg
bird tree" We may as well say that
we know no one who has seeds or plants
for sale, but we hope that some public
spirited individuals, who have these
trees, will save seeds next fall, and dis
tribute them, as widely as possible.
among those who feel an interest in the
ornamenting of their homes. We have
only single tree, not yet old enough
to bloom.
FARMING.
Mr.. Hardaway, in his paper on
market gardening, read before the
Georgia State Agricultural society, at
its last meeting, said that to succeed in
raising fine vegetables, manure must be
used lavishly. ''Last spring." he adds,
ga farmer friend came to look at my
garden, and after wondering at the
quantity and size of the vegetables. he
particularly admired very large bed of
turnips, and said i put two wheel
barroWs full of manure on such a bed
of turnips, and they look like dwarfs
compared with yours He was amazed
when Informed him 7 had put fifty.
two wheelbarrows of manure on that
single bed. It is astonishing how much
one acre can be made to produce. As
much as eighty-two tons of beets have
been gathered from one acre" Mr..
George W. Gift is said to have raised
ono thousand bushels of turnips to the
acre, for the Memphis market, and it is
stated in one OF the northern ag1icul-
tural journals that five hundred bushels
of IRISH potatoes were raised on one
acre. Seven thousand cabbages can be
easily grown upon one acre. Mr.. Greg
DRY, well known market gardener and
scotsman, at Marblehead, Massachu-
sets, has sold in the Boston market as
much as thirty-four tons of squashes
per acre, and as high as one hundred
and forty dollars per ton, the usual
average price being about thirty-five
dollars per ton, being one thousand one
hundred and ninety dollars per acre,
Mr.. Gregory also says If is not uncom-
mon for the gardeners near him to raise
from seven hundred to nine hundred
bushels onions per acre, and prices
generally average about two dollars
and fifty cents per barrel. This is the
result of the intensive system of nanur-
ing. Mr.. Peter Henderson, the great
market gardener, puts as much as one
ton guanO to the acre, and sells as much
as one thousand dollars per acre.
THE LEMON GROVES IN DANGER.
malady which threatens great loss
to owners of lemon plantations. nature
says, has attacked the lemon plant, the
origin of which is believed TO be the
forced cultivation of the fruit. which
has taken place during the last few
years. The lemon plant is very hardy,
and infinitely easier to cultivate than
the orange, and this fact has probably
induced certain amount of careless
ness in its treatment, from which grow
ers are now suffering. The tree was
soil Of Persia, whence It has been trans
terred to various other countries, where
under different circums' ances of soil and
climate, 1t has been made largely to in
crease its yield of fruit. The disease
which has now made its appearance is
called la 8echGreSse, or dry rot, and
seizes the extremit:es of the plant,
| sometimes the roots, sometimes the
branches, whence it gradually spreads
| through the whole tree, drying up It's
| sap in its course. Hitherto attempts
have been made TO check the ravages of
| the new disease, but without success.
NUT GROWING IN CALIFORNIA.
| According to the Horticulturist,
greater attention is paid to nut growing
| In California than anywhere else in
| America, and we hear frequent mention
| of successful experiments in culture of
nut trees there than any other part OF
America. In Nevada, Cal the propIistor
of some public gardens obtained rom
France some Of the finest specimens of
-