Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-06-17
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Hints About Work.


The cold, backward spring has helped
the weeds more than tho corn, and o
good crop can only be expected through
thorough cultivation. To choose the
proper implement is very important; o
pillow goes too deep, and Injuries the
roots; while cultivator that slips over
tho hard spots, only half does the work.
The surface must be we'll worked and
kept loose and mellow. As soon az the
rows can be seen, cultivation should be-
gin, and then the advantage OF having
the rows perfectly straight will be mani
fest, for in straight rows the cultivator
can be spread so as to cut close to the
plants by going once only in row.
Thorough and frequent use OF the cul.
tivator will save hand labor; no farmer
can afford to hand hoe his corn crop
nowadays.
Early planting almost assures safe
crop OF potatoes. BY planting early the
crop will be out of the way of the second
brood of the Colorado beetles. A
farmer should always be independent OF
markets, and he may be 80, to a great
extent, by feeding what he cannot sell.
Potatoes fed to pigs the past season
have been worth fifty cents per bushel,
and although this is exceptional, on ac-
count OF the high price of pork, it is
rarely the case that twenty-five cents a
bushel cannot be made out OF potatoes
by feeding them.
The Colorado beetle is most to be
dreaded when in the larsa state. It
then eats voraciously, and isvery numer-
Gus the perfect insect eats also, but
there are not SO many of them. The
whole secret of safety is in being pre-
pared for them, and not only brush
them off the vines into pan, but have
paris green in readiness for tho larvae.
Small quantities should be hand picked.
1t should be borne in mind that the
Larvae of the lady bugs are useful, and
not to be destroyed; they are long and
narrow, very active, load colored, with
bright spots, and quite unlike the larvn
of the Colorado beetle. The pupw of
the lady bug, attached to the vines,
should also be spared; they have been
mistaken for the larvm of the Colorado
insect, and many have picked them off ;
they are perfectly dormant.
Beans are crop that gives good profit
when well managed. 1t is a poor plan to
plant it upon ground that will grow
nothing else. On good, clean land, q
corn stubble, or a newly plowed clover
sod, beans should yield twenty to
thirty bushels per acre. They yield
best when drilled in rows thirty inches
apart, and two to three inches apart in
the rows, but we find this gives most
work in pulling them. A planter will
drop and cover six acres day with
single beans, three inches apart, or four
beans every ten inches. -Agriculturist.
Spades and Forks.
Farmers do most of their soil lifting
with the pillow; but those who garden
have to use the spade considerably; but
the knowledge that the spade has been
in q great measure superseded by the
fork has not Travelled near as much as it
ought to have done. We see many a
ono "digging garden" and preparing
for spring, spade in hand, utterly un-
conscious that with modern digging
fork he can do as much in day, and
with far less fatigue, what with an old
fashioned spade it would take him two
days to do. In the use of fork there
is no digging to do. The tines run into
the earth by tho downward descent of
the fork in the operators hands alone;
and in throwing over and leveling, a
single blow of the tines is enough to pull
verize and make level surface.
Some say their land is too light; that
the earth passes through, and they CAN
not take up forkful; but in this case
work it when it is little wet. Even
sandy ground can be dug with fork, if
the proper time is chosen for it. OF
course, the spade can never be abandon
ed. There will always be some ground
that is very weedy or full of roots, which
sharp edge like that of a spade will be
necessary to sever, and in digging up
trees and garden vegetables nothing can
replace the spade in handiness; but there
are a number of instances in garden
work where digging fork can come
into very great labor saving.
Worms on Grapevincs.
If the worms are slightly hairy, cream
colored, spotted with black and marked
with orange along the sides, forming a
loop IN walking, syringe the vines with
ammonical liquor diluted with water
by experiment on some useless plant
with tender foliage, ascertain the least
amount of dilution which will not prove
injurious to the vines. If the worms
are OF blush green color, dotted with
black tubercles, have ten legs, are about
an inch long and form a loop in walking,
dust with helleboro powder or with lime
Scatter newly slaked lime around the
vines whom the worms drop. Other
wise syringe the vines and dust with
lime, OR syringe with limo water. A
single pair of sparrows, it is calculated,
will destroy 5000 worms week.
w. II. White, in an article contributed
to the Country Gentleman, says of the
practice of changing crops: "Experi.
ence in the production of an article
gives one the advantage of quite a per-
centage in profit over the inexperienced.
with the same article, and this should
be borne in mind when the question of
substituting any other article of culture
comes up" And again: "My own ex-
perience and observation teach that the
farmer who, if he makes change in the
leading crop produced, makes that
change gradual, meets with better sue
cess than he who invests his whole en-
ergies and resources at once. By that
course he gains experience at only small
cost, even when he does not succeed"
Education.