The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-06-28
FARM AND

FARM AND FIREsIDE.
PLUMs BY THE AID OF FoWLs.-Many
a time have we advised persons who de-
sired to raise plums in regions where the
plum c%urculio abounds, to plant their
trees in a yard where fowls were con-
fined in summer. We have known fine
crops to be raised under such
conditions and to encourage further ex-
periments in this direction we copy the
following from the Scientific Farmer:
Can plums be successfully grown in
the older portions of the country not
w~ithstanding the strongly ~intrenched
curculio7 My success in this direction
has far exceeded my expectations; but
it extends over SO few years that I am
not ready to give an emphatic afirma-
tive to the foregoing query. Upon my
farm was standing a large plum tree
which was annually clothed in robes of
snowy whiteness. which soon gave place
to numerous small plums. At this stage
1 was always doomed to be disappointed,
for the saucy little Turk was always ready
to nip nay hopes-if not in bud, in the
unripe fruit. Nature seemed to struggle
so against such odds in her vain efforts to
give us a crop OF fruit, that I deter
mined to help her.
l know well that fruit growers would
tell me to jar the trees and destroy the
curculio asthey were caught upon a sheet
spread beneath the tree; but n who
has a large farm to attend to would
quite likely neglect it just in the "nick
of time" and thus lose the crop.
1 therefore decided to make a trial in
another direction. About eight years ago
1 set an orchard of twenty-five plum trees,
cultivated them well for two years, and
a hen house among them. About fifty
hens were confined within the ~inclosure.
and from that time nocultivation has been
required, as the hens allow no vegetation
to grow among the trees. And now for the
result: Two years ago one tree gave a
good crop of plums last year two of them
did the same; and this season twelve to
fifteen of the trees produced crops that
entirely beggar description. Many peo-
pie came to look at them as the fruit
covered the trees, and it was the unani-
nous exclamation "Never saw such a
sight before" Branches a foot in length
were packed with plums, like grapes in
clusters. 1 fear that my indiscretionin al
lowing SO large an amount to remain and
mature has jeopardized my prospect for
a crop this coming year, for 1 think the
trees must be much exhausted after such
an effort of production, the crops being
not only numerically large but the fruit
was individually large; at least, so it
looked to me, as my eyes had never looked
upon such a sight before. In size all the
way from that of an ordinary Damson tc
a fair hens egg. Color, from nearly
white, to green, red, pink, light and
dark purple. Time of ripening, August
20 to October 20.
In production of eggs the hens pay 8
good profit, in cultivation they save
hand work, in destruction of Curculic
they have saved the plums and thus have
fulfilled their mission. l think it would
not be wise to attempt to utilize hen labol
unless they were confined, as they art
not particularly fond of Curculio, anc
probably would not destroy them if al
lowed to roam where more paiatable in
sects were to be had. l have thrown tn,
Curculio to a lot of hens; the first picket
up and dropped it, the second did like
wise, but the third come along and pu
the little fellow beyond the reach o
plums.
INSECT LAw.-It said that there is a
old law on the statute books of France
dating from 1896, which requires land
owners to destroy the caterpillars foun'
on their premises. 1t is now proposed t
extend this law 80 that it shall includ
all noxious insects of other orders. W
have commended that a similar law shoul
be passed in this country and then lazy
indolent farmers would not be permitte'
to breed all kinds of insect pests witt
IMMUNITY, but would be compelled t
clear their own fields while neighbor
were doing the same. Last year we say
acres of potatoes planted, and perhap
after c%ultivating once they were left t
their fate. The potato beetles appeared j
great numbers depositing their eggs upo
the plants, where they Matched an
passed through their various transforms
lions, reaching the beetle state by tn
time the supply of food gave out; the
they passed over neighboring fields, til
owners of which had destroyed the egg
and Larvae found upon the plants earl
in summer. But this invasion of mi
lions of full grown beetles was discou,
aging, and they gave up the fight, an
l what otherwise would have been a goo
i. crop was totally destroyed by these pest
, Under these circumstances the questio
| arises, has a man a moral right to bree
or feed pestiferous insects to invade h
. neighbors' fields and destroy the croI
!. therein? If he has no moral right to d
. this, why should we give him legal right
l A free government is all very well in il
way, but there is a possibility of givin
l too much freedom, especially when