The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-04-11
Experimental,
A Practical Letter.

Afriend in the lower part Of the
State in January wrote us the fol-
lowing letter, and as it Will be seen,
closed up by saying, "throw it III
YOUR waste basket" No such thing;
We publish it with pleasure, and
wish we had weekly just such let
ters to publish from those who can
ST., we'll narrate their experience,
Farmers are curious people.
Many OF them read nothing, most
If them write nothing, and the ma
,0rity Of them believe nothing that
ether men tell them about farming.
We kuowhundreds of Intelligentfar-
mers in South Carolina who can en-
terrain one for hours ut a time talk
ing about the farm and farm eXpe-
renee: but precious few do we know,
uho have even made use of the
columns of Il paper to give their
knowledge to their fellows.
This IS all wrong. Every far
mer who has knowledge, or who
wants to learn, should put his
thoughts in print if the op%portunl-
TT offers, and thus lend a hand to-
wards enIightening others. Such
men will be welcome in Il col
umns, and we again invite them TO
follow the example OF him who
wrote the following practical let
ter.
Iwrotc you once before in reference
to cabbage worms. Nothing | used
had any effect on them, and they
nearly ruined my earliest plants. 1t
was impossible to pick them, lis they
were in Iegions. \ latter lot OF
plants did not suffer as much and
are now headed up. | see in the
American Agriculturist the state
ment that w@ter nearly at a boil
ing heat will destroy them and not
injure the plant.
About Chufas. Twill pay to
plant them and raise hogs. turned
twtnty-one hogs on not a quite d
fourth of an acre, from which seed
had been also saved. They had as
much as they could eat for ten days
aut then they had not finished the
patch. An acre will fatten twenty
4o.s. That is If they were IN any
thing like fair condition before. 1t
would not fatten twenty hogs OF
bones. ! have already killed elgh-
teen hogs and have o nine ready
to Kill as soon is this severe wealth
er passes over. Having started only
ttree years ago with two pigs given
to NE, | have crossed my stock on
LuIl blooded Berkshire and have Il
beautiful lot Of pigs for another
year. | plant Irish potatoes, sweet
potatoes, watermclons and Il large
vegetable garden. And having an
abundance Of everything OF the
kind, cook all the surplus for hogs
except watermclons, and feed and
pen every hog and pig every night.
You have been writing about
grapes. This winter two years ago
bought Of Mr. p. j. Berkmans,
Augusta, Ca, four Concords, four
DelawareS, four Richmonds anu
four C~Iintons, one-year old rooted
outings. liz NtilNoloo plAN
wares trained up on single stakes,
one cane only being allowed to grow
to each root until about five feet
high; then | let them branch. Last
winter | cut them close, leaving
one eye to each vigorous limb, anc
Iran a four-wire trellis from one
end to the other of each row.
the vines on each row being tel
feet apart. and lis the shoots grew
last spring trained them on the
wires, except the heaviest frulteC
shoots, which | ripped.
Oh the Concords each vine bore
from twenty to twenty-five buncheJ
Of as pretty and as rich grapes
very large clusters, as you woulC
care to see; the lowest number Q
lunches on Il vine being twenty an(
the highest twenty five. Many o
the shoots grew last year over TWEEN
iy feet, and after trimming oil.
quantity Of vines my trelils IS full
and every cutting is planted.
The Delawares are evidently NOR
delicate; only three of my vine
bore last summer, treated eNacti
Ike Concord, aud not more tina
laIt the amount Of mulches. LII