The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-11-13
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

AGRICULTURAL NOTES.
ANOTHER enemy to wheat-grOwing is
reported in the shape of a weed some
what resembling cookie. In some parts
of the East it has become so abundant
as to cause serious alarm, especially so
in North Carolina, where it springs up
simultaneously with the grain, and near
ly smothers it. The people have given
it the name of g Dutch cOckle'
IT is the opinion of Prof A. r. Grote,
expressed at the recent meeting of the
chronological Club at Saratoga, that
the damage done by the employment of
Paris-green is greater than that done by
the potato-bug This conclusion Prof
Grote has reached after careful study
of the effects of Paris-green agricultur-
ally employed. He has found cases of
the poisoning, by this agent, of horses,
cattle, sheep, poultry, and even human
beings.
BACON AND BEEF.-Col. Curtis, in
the New York Tribune, advocates that
farmers use bacon in place of pork, and
instead of selling their pork at 81 per
! hundred and using the money to buy
beef at 10 and u cents per pound he
chooses to make his pork into bacon
and make it the staple family meat.
! Well grown pigs at six months are nice
! for bacon, and it may be cured in the
same way as hams. 1t is always ready
for use, and is a treat for any meal.
NOVEL THUMB-POTs.-L. W. F.
LeavenwOrth, Kans., writes to the New
| York Times: " We often read of thumb
pots for plants. Now, an egg-shell is
very inexpensive one, and answers its
purpose well; break one end little
larger than you do the other, making
simply a small hole; then fill with
earth, and if you wish to put plants in
them, set in a box the height of the
shell; fill the spaces with earth; the
plants start splendidly, and can be
taken out and handled very easily. As
the shell is much lighter than pots, they
are more desirable for shipping; fill the
spaces with moss, or any light sub
stance used for that purpose.
How TO WATER HORsEs.-In cold
weather give one pailful at time three
times a day. This is enough unless you
are working them regularly; then give
them little more, but not to exceed
four pailfuls a day. In warm weather
when they are brought in, first sponge
out the mouth and nOstrilS well with
cold water. After few spOngings they
will wait for it to be done. Then give
them not to exceed a pailful apiece, and
after feeding give one more pailful be-
fore you commence work. Don't let
them 90 without long enough to make
them want more than this. If allowed,
a thirsty horse, when warm, will drink
| too much. A common 12-quart pail is
the size referred to above.
GOOD CULTIVATION PAYs.-A good
soil rarely fails, even in a poor season,
] of 1.ltY1 a
labor expended upon it in the cultiva-
ton of any crop adapted to it. The idea
that the number of acres in crops indi-
Gates the farmers income must be aban-
dOned, and the number of bushels per
acre must be looked for instead. There
is certainly less profit in blowing fifty
acres to raise 1000 bushels of grain,
than in blowing twenty-five TO grow the
same amount, and trusting to good sea-
sons for fair crops will not be thought
of by the improved farmer. A rich,
well cultivated soil will usually make
fair returns in what we call bad or I'M
favorable seasons. What the farmer on
a poor soil would call a good season sell
dom Valley Farmer.
HOEING CABBAGES.-An old farmer
once informed US that he once tried an
experiment to prove the advantage of
keeping the soil well stirred among his
cabbages. He and his hired man were
engaged in Il contest which should have
the best crop He hOed his once a
week all summer, and yet the hired
mans cabbages grew best, for which
he could not account, as he never saw
him at work among them. But acct
dentally he found out the secret. The
man rose every morning at O'Clock,
and did the hOeing before sunrise, when
no one saw him. He hoed them, not
once a week, but six times in the week.
This experiment shows the Importance
of planting the crop where a narrow cul-
tivatOr drawn by a horse can be readily
run, and the work done rapidly, often,
and at little cost of labor. Country
Gentleman.
THE most frequent cause of rotting of
potatoes in pits or cellars is putting
them away before they are thoroughly
dry and well ripened. The safest way
to manage them is to cover them from
the sun while digging, as the heating is
injurious. Then when well dried in the
field, remove them to dry, airy barn
floor and scatter them on a straw bed a
few inches thick and air them thorough
". If the doors are opened for
this purpose, the tubers must
be kept from the light by covering OF
straw. When it is dangerous to keep
them longer in this way, they may be
removed to the cellar and kept in bar
rels or bins with ventilating holes OF
spaces made in them. Potatoes thus
cured viii not sprout readily until the
spring arrives -R1Irdl Nelc Yorker.
SEVERE PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES
Ordinarily trees that are large enough
to produce a crop of fruit should be
very lightly pruned. If two branches
interfere, one of them should be re-
moved SO as to give the other sufficient
room. So, too, branches that are in
jured from OveTbearing, or other causes,
should be cut off. But if a well
shaped top was formed when the tree
was young, it should not be removed
without special cause. Occasionally,
however, an old fruit tree, more es-
pecially peach tree, may be made to
" renew its youth - by very severe
pruning. Old peach trees are often
rendered thrifty and productive by cut
ting off most of the large limbs within
a few inches of the trunk The effect
of this g heroic treatment " is to cause
the production of new branches, which
grow to a size to produce fruit in re-
markabiy short time. When treating a
tree in this manner IT is well to follow
the injunction given in the scriptures
about certain barrenfig tree Chicago
Times.
A JUDGE in California, finding it i'm
possible to get a Chinese witness to COM
prehend the nature of Christian oath,
has consented TO administer the heather
ceremony of the Celestials, a live rooster
being beheaded in the presence of the
Court. 1t was all about whether Mr..
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