Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-06-04
AGRICULTURE.

OUCCESSlON.-Dy plaHClng garQon
seeds every two weeks throughout the
spring and early summer, nice, fresh
vegetables may be put on the table ev-
cry day. 1t is true, it takes little
more labor, and care, and watchfulne ss
to do all this, but then it pays. Farm
ers and their wives, and their boys and
girls work hard, have hearty appetites,
deserve good things to eat, and they
can have them and enjoy them, if they
wish to; but it takes little more work.
Rural World.
In THE ORCHARD.-The Scientific Farm
er ADVISES, as the flesh of most fruits
contain much potash as well as lime, in
combination with the fruity acids, and
the seeds phosphoric acid, the appllca-
ton each year per acre of 200 to $50
pounds Of bone dust, 800 to 400 pounds
Of sulphate of potash-the latter guar
anteed to contain thirty-fve to forty
per cent. OF sulphate of potash. This
would give us seventy to eighty pounds
of potash, fifty to sixty pounds of lime
from the bones }, ten to twenty pounds
of nitrogen, and some magnesia in the
potash and the fertilizer. Such treat
ment has been found successful by fruit
growers in both this country and Eu-
rope.
TALLY SEVERAL For THE TOAD
Many gardeners already appreciate the
valuable services of the common toad,
and afford them protection for their in
sect-destroying propensities, while so
many more, perhaps, are ignorant of
their usefulness. To the latter class it
hn int 70 hot Io
live almost wholly upon slugs, cater
pillars, beetles and other insects, MAX
ing their rounds at night when the far
mer is asleep and the birds too,-and
the insects are supposed to be having it
all their own way. English gardeners
understood these facts so well, that
toads are purchased at so much a dozen
and turned loose, and the best of it is,
that the toads generally stay at home,
so that the gardener is not troubled with
buying his toads over again every few
days.
The toad can be tanned, and will even
learn to know ''its MASTER" and come
when called; the writer has not only
had such pets himself, but could give
other instances of toad-taming that
have come under his observation.
loads can be made very useful about
the house, and will Go not little good
in destroying cockroaches, flies, and
other household pests. They are some
time known to eat worms, which they
grasp by the middle with their jaws,
examining in the writhing ends of the
unfortunate articulates by means of the
front feet. Insects are seized and con-
veyed to the mouth by means of the
radidly darling tongue, which always
secures the victim as it is about to fly
or run away.-NeaU York Tribune.
SAVE THE BIRDs.-WhiIe the relent-
less war which was once waged against
birds, has been wisely tempered to
moderation, there is still too much an
tagonism to these really good friends of
the farmer. There are some who look
no further than the hill of corn that has
been destroyed, or the few cherries that
have been eaten, and the wasting of
powder and shot, and the time misem-
ployed in the shooting is the result
This destruction of the little guardians
of our fields and crops, -guardians not
destrOyers,-is the result of our ignor-
ance of their habits, and consequ emily
of the benefit they are to us. 1t may
be we'll doubted if bird was ever vet
killed upon farm without damaging,
to some extent, the farmer, and yet the
men and boys often arm themselves
and 60 forth on their murderous mis-
sion of shooting everything in the shape
of a bird Of which their eyes catch
glimpse. Perhaps a glance at the
habits of some of our birds will serve to
awaken thought and to save many of
them from the. reckless destruction
which is plotted on many farms. The
caterpillar and the apple moth is a
dainty piece of diet for the downy
woodpecker and the chickadee.
The leaf-curling caterpillar is
eagerly sought by the wren and
the cat-bird. The bobalink loves to
feast upon the canker worm, and his
stomach has often been found full of
caterpillars. Wrens and sparrows will
live wholly upon plant-lice if they can
get them. 1t is said that the threats
and eveL the back part of the beak
have been found lined with aphides, |
some of them still alive, and that the
stomach was filled with the juice of the
crushed lice, and with what the micro
scope showed to be their legs. And thus
we shall find, almost without exception,
that the birds are our friends and not
our enemies. At one time the French
people had eaten up nearly all of their
small birds, and the country was over
run with destructive insects. The birds
being gone, the insect world was left to
commit its ravages upon trees and
1cf, ,~I
the shooting of rocks was stopped in
England because the bird was to be the |
only remedy against the wire worm.
In Hungary at one time there was
bounty for killing sparrows, and when
the work Of destruction was about COM
pleted, the cockroaches and numerous
winged insects took possession of the
lowlands, and the sparrow had to be
again introduced. Frederick the Great
once ordered all the swallows killed be.
oorco tbou pi1forod his oh or,;oo IT, -