Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-12-13
THE FARM.

opoeTNe many slender canes not having
more than half the diameter of the
stronger ones; these must be cut close
to the parent stock. Then cut off the
stronger canes at the point where they
begin to decrease in diameter. This
point Is generally from three to six feet
from the terminal bud, and may be
known from the fainter color of the wood
and immatured leaves. This done, and
the vine is pruned.-D1tchess Farmer.
We often wonder why farmers in this
country do not use the cart more; it is
far more handy for loading and dump
ing manure, soil, roots, etc, than the
especially to unload A cart can be
quickly loaded and dumped, and only
requires one good horse to draw It, In
England carts are in constant use, being
very popular in the harvest field We
are glad to see that dumping wagons
are employed on many of our farms.
This loading manure from barn yard,
and hauling it by wagon a few hundred
yards, to be unloaded fork-full by fork
full, is a waste of time and labor, of
both man and beast.-Rudl World.
KEEPING FRUITS FREsH.-The cause of
the decay of fruits is principally due to
atmospheric influence thereon. If we
can keep the air from the fruit. We can
keep it fresh for longer or shorter
time, according as it is more or less i'm
perfectly isolated One plan for &C
complishing this end, is to mix one
ounce of beeswax to each pound of tai
low and of rosin used; melt in suita-
bic vessel, over a slow fire, being careful
that it does not infame. Rub each fruit
with pulverized chalk, and dip in the
mixture, when heated to about 140o,
hold the fruit until the film sets, and
then pack, where they may remain as
cool as possible. The same formula is
also an excellent preservative for eggs.
REPLANTING IN ORCHARDs.-Manyp eo-
pie, after planting young orchard, fail
to replace the trees which may become
unhealthy or die from being badly
planted, or from other causes which
often occur, and the orchard grows up
with uncovered spaces, giving a general
air of unthrift; for such persons are as
a rule, those who give the least subse-
quent care to their trees. Replant as
soon as possible after you find the ne
cessity for it. Give good care and atten-
ton to the trees, at least such care as
you would give to other valuable crops,
and the result will be, in nine cases out
of ten. you will receive as much money
from the farm orchard as from other
average crops. If the replanted trees
are given special care, they will usually
"catch up and become of equal size
with the original planting.
SEED PoTAToES.-The transactions of
the Australian Agricultural Society
would seem to show that the product of
potatoes, large and small, were pretty
much the same there as Otherwheres.
A writer therein experimenting with
potatoes received from England, says:
/ selected two of the finest, which
weighed l pound 2 ounces, and these
were cut up so as to make Is sets. In
a row next to them planted similar
number, cut from the same weight of
these potatoes, but all small in size; in
fact, such as are usually used as seed
potatoes. / dug up the crop, and found
that the two large potatoes produced 9
pounds II ounces, while the produce of
the smaller seed was only 6 pounds. But
the most remarkable part of the expert
ment was, that amongst the produce of
the large seed there was hardly a small
potato; while the produce of the smaller
consisted of a great many small tubers,
and scarcely any large. If a calcula-
ton be made on this basis, it will be
seen that l cwt. of large potatoes would
produce over 6 cwt. of a salable crop,
while the same weight Of small seed
would produce only cwt. Of crop,
large proportion Of which would be
only Of use as pigs food.
A CHEAP BEE HoUsE.-A correspond
ent of the american Bee Journal writes
the following description of a cheap
winter house:
Two years ago I was without a proper
bee house, and not having a great
amount of capital to invest, | studied
upon the subject, and the result is the
construction of a house upon the fol-
lowing plan:
We first dug down about four feet in
to the ground place that could be
drained, and removed the earth from a
space eighteen by twelve feet. We put
six posts, ten feet long, on each side,
and united by girths, seven feet from
the floor. We covered the whole inte-
rior with matched boards, and filled in
on the outside with the dirt removed
from the interior. AS we dug down four
feet, the three feet above ground was
built up with stone and dirt, making
thickness of four feet all around. The
space directly over the bee room was
filled in with sawdust l foot thick. To
the projecting ends of the posts we
built a roof that covers all; it covers
space of about 30x20 feet. In the cen
ter there is ventilator; there is but
one entrance, with double doors. We
have wintered eighty swarms in it sue
cessfully, and use it during the summer
for extracting, and in which to store
honey during the hot weather. 1t is
delightful place in which to work, being
" charming and cool"
The outlay in cash on our house did
not exceed So. We have, in addition
to our wintering-room. loft in which
to store various utensils. 1t is well to
have such-a house built early in the
season, that all moisture may dry out
before storing the bees therein. A
house on the same plan can be made
much smaller for small apiaries. We
think house Sx12 would accommodate
seventy-five swarms, but it is well not
to crowd too many into one room.