The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-05-02
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.


Farm Notes. ..t "
Do not plant trees deeper than is
necessary to cover the roots well. Never
place the roots in contact with manure.
Planting need not be hurried. When
trees arrive from the nursery, unpack
them, keeping q sharp eye to the labels,
and heel-in "at once.
Watering must be attended to, and
when the soil gets packed and crusted
between the rows, break it mp, or mellow
it with the finger, or pointed stick.
Grating is best done just as vegeta-
ton starts. A tree that produces poor
fruit is easily converted into profitable
tree. The operation is simple one,
and any intelligent boy can perform it.
Stakes, where trees are properly
planted, are not needed, unless in ex-
posed localities where there are strong
winds, and in such cases the orchard
should be protected by a screen Of some
quick growing trees that will serve as
wind-break. of .,- ..
Drains should be cleared of waste
matter, such as leaves, and other trash
that will interfere with the flow of water,
In digging open drains, the earth should
be thrown out upon the side opposite to
that from which the surface water comes.
1t is now that we require rapid, Wig
orous growth, to send up strong spears
from the tiilering roots. A moderate
dressing of some active fertilizer, rich
in ammonia, and With good supply of
phosphoric acid for the needs of the
grain, is precisely what is needed.
Laying out the ground may be done
in squares, the trees in rows, and oppo-
site each other, common plan for
small orchards, but where the ground is
to be used to the best advantage, the
q,sincung method is adopted, in which
each tree stands at the corner of an
equilateral triangle, and is equally dis
tant from six others.
A Silesian farmer has adopted q
method of imparting to butter an aroma
as delicate as that secured from COWS
pastured in the most fragrant meadows.
He suspends in the empty churn a calico
bag filledwith fragrant herbs, keeping the
churn carefully closed. When churn-
ing, he substitutes four smaller bags,
attaching them to the beaters of the
churn. The result is thus secured in a
perfectly legitimate and harmless man.
ner.
A correspondent states that he kept
plum tree from curculios by sprinkling
the ground under the tree with corn
meal. This induced the chickens to
scratch and search. The meal was
strewn every morning from the time the
trees blossomed until the fruit was large
enough to be out of danger. The con-
sequence was, that the fowls picked up
the curculios with the meal, and the
tree being saved from the presence of
the insects, was wonderfully fruitful.
Breeding Stock on the Farm.
In view of the market for choice stock
lately thrown open to our farmers by
the expectation of cattle and meat to
Europe, it behooves them to pay in
creased attention to the raising of su..
perior animals on the farm. A late
report on the American trade, by Pro-
fessor Sheldon, of the Cirincester Agri-
cultural College. England, after furnish
ing mass of information on the subject,
to the conclusion that, despite
some fluctuations, the dead meat trade
will rapidly increase, and that appli-
ances for its successful management will
be multiplied here and in Europe. The
profits of the traffic will be in a great
proportionate to the excellence
of the product, and the limit to the
quantity shipped will be the stowage
of vessels crossing the Atlantic,
for, owing to the falling off in our i'm
ports, the number of ships engaged in
the transatlantic trade will be too small
to afford room for large export of meat
together with other merchandise without
the freight to q figure that
will prohibit further expectation.
The experience Of many thriving
farmers all over the country, proves that
breeding them on the farm than by pur-
chasing them. More care is bestowed
in selecting the likely offsprings of tried
animals, they will go on fattening
more rapidly and uniformly than strang-
ers picked up here and there, for it
takes some time before these get ac-
quainted and become contented enough
to lay on flesh kindly in their new home;
and moreover, the tendency of prices for
young stock is upwards, and the proba-
bility is very strong that ere long it will
not pay farmers to 60 into the market
for young animals. In any case, it is, as
q rule, more profitable to breed the
stock one handles than to purchase it.
-MasSachusetts Ploughnaan.
Vinegar Making.
The apples should be crushed and the
Juice expressed and put into good tight
barrels, with the bung left out. Fer
will follow quite rapidly, and
continue for days or weeks, according
to the weather. After the the first fer
mentation ceases, draw off the cider
in order not to disturb the
sediment which will have fallen to the
bottom. Rinse out the barrel, put the
cider back, and set in a warm place,
adding pint of liquid yeast, or half
pound of yeast cakes previously DIS
solved in two quarts of water. If the
cider is rather weak, two quarts of mo-
lasses may be added to strengthen it;
but usually the cider will be strong
enough to make excellent vinegar, and
too strong; in the latter case
dilute with rain water, two, three, or
more gallons to the barrel; at the close
Of the second fermentation, the cider
will generally have become excellent
vinegar. If what is called mother of
vinegar can be obtained, small quanti-
" may be added with advantage.