Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-06-04
TCULTU

vegetables may NC put III Wiz tdpio ct-
cry day. 1t is true, it takes a little
more labor, and care, and watchfulness
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 a 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-five 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 p~ropensities, while so
many more, perhaps, are ignorant Of
their usefulness. To the latter class it
may be interesting to know that toads
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 loo,-and
the insects are supposed to be having it
all their own way. English gardeners
understood these facts 50 well, that
toads are purchased ut so much a dozen
and turned loose, and the best of it is,
that the toads generally stay at home,
so hat the gardener is not troubled with
buying his toads owe again every few
days.
The toad can be tanned, and will even
learn to know cts 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.
Toads can be made very useful about
the house, and will 90 not a 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.-New York Tribune.
SAVE THE BIRDS While 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
further than the hill Of corr that has
been destroyed, or the few cherries Ina:
have been eaten, and the wasting Of
and shot, and the time misem-
in the shooting, is the result.
This destruction of the little guardians
IF our fields and crops,-guardians, not
lestroyers,-is the result of our ignor.
OF their habits, and consequently
Of the benefit they are to us. II may
De we'll doubted if q bird was ever yet
killed upon a farm without damaging,
some extent, the farmer, and yet the
men and boys often arm themselves
and go forth on their murderous mis-
,ioE of shooting everything in the shape
Of a bird Of which their eyes catch a
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
is plotted on many farms. The
caterpillar and the apple moth is a
piece of diet for the downy
wooopecker and the chickadee.
The ~leaf-curlipg 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 wei. the back part of the beak
have been found lined with aphides,
some of thcm still alive, and that the
stomach was filed with the Juice of the
crushed nee, ana WIN what the micro
scope showed to be their EGGS. And thus
we shall find, almost without exception,
that the birds are our friends and not
our enemies. Az 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
plants u~ndisturbed. Some years ago
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 a