The Portland daily press., 1879-06-09
AGRICULTURAL.
What to Plant.

not expect 10 get rlcn very last He reali-
yes that his business, like all others that are
safe, is slow one, and he is content if il
yields him good living and at the end of the
year puts small balance on the right side
HIS nrst care is to provide comfortable sup
port Tor himself and family, and, this being
so, he ought to plan his work so as to secure
from ms soil all that it is capable of produc-
lug which will be demanded by his table,
he should plant what he expects to eat. In
other words, he should raise his own bread
meat and vegetables and fruit. If he does
this, he need not handle great deal of money
in order to beindependent.
There has been fallacious notion abroad
during the past few years,-that a farmer
could buy his wheat and his corn and some
other farm products cheaper than he could
raise them. 1t is high time this idea was
discarded, for it is most delusive and danger
Gus. When the owner of an AK factory can
not make axes as cheap as he can buy them,
ne mad better quit the business; and when
farmer owns soil adapted to wheat and corn
cannot raise enough of these for his own use,
he had better sell out and go West. There
may be few farmers who devote themselves
to specialties, such as producing milk, who
can make it profitable to buy Western grain,
but, as rule, many man who has a good
farm can only make the ends meet by produc-
ing his own bread-stuffs. We do not argue
wheat and corn to compete in the markets
with the products of the parties, but that he
cannot afford to buy them for his own use:
and this is so evident that it seems to require
little argument
Just imagine farmer who after harvesting
is over next fall can say, 81 have enough to
1atten lAy beef and pork and carry me round
to next year. have wheat enough to make
all the flour we shall use in twelve months.
have potatoes, cabbages, beets, and all sorts
OF vegetables beyond the possible demands
OF our table. | have beef and pork and NUT
ton, and poultry enough to supply us with
meat, and fruit enough and TO spare Ex-
cept groceries and clothing, which are cheap,
have nothing to buy this winter;;' and
compare him with man who says: "Well
have got good crop of potatoes and oats
have hay enough to winter the stock, but I
have got to buy all the -four we need and all
the meal we use, and beets, onions and that
kind of garden-sauce, if we have any, and for
the life of me Idon't see where the money to
pay for them is coming FROM"
Even if farmer could get as much money
by raising one kind of produce as all the
kinds he might raise would bring, it would
still be better to plant and SOW with a view
to producing all he needs, for the marketing
of produce involves hard work, considerable
expense, and one or more profits which
are saved when it is consumed on the
farm where it is raised. So we think that in
deciding what to plant and SOW this spring,
farmer should first consider whathe is like
ly to need next fall and winter, and Law his
plans SO as to have as little to buy as posi-
Bile. When it comes to raising surplus for
market, he can calculate closer as to prob
able cost and prices and have more regard to
the character of his soil.-Mirror Dc Fdrmer
Advantages Of Summer Pruning.
Perhaps the want of care to fruit trees, es-
peclally to young apple and pear trees is no.
where more noticeable than in neglect of
proper pruning. Young trees set in good
situations are left to themselves, and in a
few years have superabundance of wood,
80 much so, indeed, that they bear little or
no fruit at an age when they should be a
source OF profit; or they have a large and I'M
balanced top which can only be put in prop
er shape by saw and knife, to the injury of
the tree. And this could all be avoided by
attention to summer pruning, often without
the use OF pruning tools, in the early period
of the growth of the trees. 1t is not unfre-
quently the case that one finds healthy, we'll
grown fruit trees that have been kept in
shape wholly by the use of the thumb and
finger, brushing off the buds here, and short
ening in or removing the branches there
having been the only pruning the trees have
received. When trees have been left to
grow as they have pleased for number of
years, and then are taken in hand with saw
and pruning knife, it is not an easy matter
to make good shaped trees of them, while
tne severe cutting off of the large branches
often gives the tree such shock as it is a
long time in recovering from.
NOW the better mode, in fact the only.true
way, is ito summer prune gently while the
tree is young, and then keep it within easy
control, and make of it just such tree as
you WISH. A sharp pocket-knife is better
than the thumb and finger, and is the only
pruning implement ever needed. Clip off
the ends of the side shoots, and where two
are inclined to grow near together or in the
same direction, or to cross each other in
such way that they would interfere with
one another when they become large and in
this way shape the top of the tree at will.
This shortening of the shoots also checks
the sap, and by this means fruit buds are
developed, whereas without it the branches
would only grow leaves for long time
The caller fruitfulness of the tree is there
fore induced, and profit sooner obtained.
Not only this, the leading shoots make
vigorous growth, and are better enabled to
Withstand the cold of winter, than where
from an excess of woody growth full devel-
opment is not attained This delightful
work OF summer pruning-for it is delight
full, it is not labor, but pastime, making
one acquainted with his trees, which he
learns to love-should be kept in hand con-
stantly through the season, and the top of
the tree shaped at will.-American Cult
GATOR.
Acclimating Plants.
There is widespread belief that plants
from southern ATTITUDES, may by removal
north, and cultivation through course of
years, at last acquire sufficient hardness to
stand the climate. Such, however, is not
the TACT. There is no well authenticated rec
ord to show that century of cultivation
will SO modify the nature of plant, as to in
crease its power of withstanding climate
changes, and especially frost.
In England many perennial plants will
stand out OF doors during winter that would,
in the West, perish with the first cold snap.
Yet we can grow very many varieties of an
nual fruits, as the melon, cucumber, toma-
to, eggplant, and other tropical ANIMALS,
that in England can only be raised by artif-
cially conserving the summer heat.
Neither the plants that will stand Eng
lands winters, warmer than ours, nor those
which take kindly to our summer tempera-
tnre, much warmer and more persistent than
that of England, will stand lower temnera-
ture in England or America than will be
Dorne In their native wilds. In fact as we
have heretofore stated, certain classes of
plants have our own zero, so to speak: that
is, each are capable of withstanding certain
temperature, below which they freeze, and
also degree of heat, which if exceeded,
they perish. 1t is the same with seeds; the
seeds OF species of plants terminate at differ
ent temperatures. Wherever the plants or
seeds be placed, their natural limit as to tenn
perature may not be exceeded.
The potato has been quoted, and so has
Indian corn, to show the adaptability of spe-
cies to climate and temperature. Yet
wherever they be planted, certain average
temperature must be sustained, else they
will not ripen. White frost kills certain
plants in every case whether in the North or
South. The killing is only to be avoided,
wnen certain and fixed condition of the
atmosphere causes the frost to be drawn ont
without destroying the tissue of the plant
The sweet potato and the eoo=nlant is lillod