The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-07-31
Farm and Household.


dition OF fresh COW manure. and poured on
Young melon viRes, is the only effectual
remedy have ever found to prevent the
rayapes of the striped beetle. Should one
application not be sufficient it should be fol-
lowed by another until the enemy becomes
nauseated and retires in disgust. Such a
liquid is great stimulan. to young plants.
To retain it about plants in sufficient guam
tity the melon hills should be made with
slight cavity in the centre. Phinne,'s mel
on is a variety easily grown ana more prolific
than many others, but the flavor cannot
compare with white seeded, ice cream or
peerless. At least that is my experience
with the three varieties on my soil. In cul-
tivating melons have noticed that the pur
est and most delicious sorts are not as robust
growers nor as productive as those in which
an infusion Of the squash or pumpkin is
perceptible, and that the striped beetle is
much more fond Of young plants of the
former than Of the latter. The striped beetle
has most discriminating taste, never dis
turbing a pumpkin plant while melon or
Hubbard squash plant is obtainable.
For the last five years have not lost
cucumber or melon vine or cabbage plant
Get barrel with few gallons OF gas tar in
it; pour water on the tar: always have 1t
ready when needed, and, when the bugs ap
pear, give them liberal drink of the tar
water from garden sprinkler or otherwise,
and If the rain washes it off and they return,
repeat the dose. 1t will also destroy the
Colorado potato beetle, an brighten the old
long potato bug worse than threshing with
brush. Five years age this summer both
kinds appeared on my late potatoes, and
i watered with tar-water. The next day all
Colorados that had not been well protected
from the sprinkling were dead, and the oth>
ers, though their name is legion, were al
gone, and have never seen one of them on
the farm since. am aware that many will
look upon this with indifference, because it
is SO cheap and simple Il remedy. Such
should always feed both their own and their
neighbours bugs as they frequently do
fChicago Tribune.
The following preparation for destroying
bugs on squash and on cucumber vines has
been successfully tried for years. Dssolv-
ing tablespoonful of saltpeter i'll pailful
Of water. Put one pint OF this around each
hill, shaping the earth so that it will not
spread much, and the thing is done. Use
more saltpetre, if you can afford it. 1t is
good for vegetables, but death to animal
life. The bugs burrow in the earth at night,
and fail to rise in the morning. 1t is also
good TO kill the grub in peach trees; only
use twice as much-say quart or TWO to
each tree. There was not a yellow or bis
tered leaf on twelve or fifteen trees to which
1t was applied last season. No danger OF
killing vegetables with it. A concentrated
solution applied to young beans makes them
grow wonderfully.
A German authority says that when let
tuce shows signs Of running to seed, ii
knife be passed through one-half OF the stem
Of the shooting head, the plant may be pre-
served good for an additional week. The
best plan we have ever known for preserving
lettuce late is to transplant twice-once
from the seed bed, pricking the plants out
four inches apart, and then transplanting in
the open ground six by twelve inches apart
as the rows begin to fill, cut out one-half the
plants, and the balance will form large, fine
heads, il the ground be rich and moist, and
they will remain we'll into the summer
[Private Farmer.
In your vegetable garden reserve room for
row Of seed plants. Every gardener or
farmer should raise his own onion, parsnip,
turnip, cabbage, satisfy and beet seed as
well as save seed from his choicest cucum-
bers, squashes, tomatoes and melons. Gath
er them in paper bags OF a size to suit the
quantity desired, and then at once label
them before storing them. The room for
seeds enough to supply the needs OF large
garden will hardly be missed, and the cult
ure is not at all Troublesome. In this way
an annual outlay of five or ten dollars is
saved and good, fresh seed made certainty.
A correspondent of the Indiana Farmer
tried four different fertilizers for melons,
poultry droppings, well-rotted COW manure,
BARNARD manure and old bones gathered
upon the farm and reduced by placing them
In alternate layers with ashes the previous
YEAR,, mixing all Literally IN the different
hills, which were eight feet apart each way,
and he says: "Such a crop OF melons as
came from the hills that had bone. dust
never saw before"
The best preventive for worms in celery
is to mix plenty of salt, SCOT, and fine lime
with the manure that is to be employed in
trenches. This should be added TO the ma
nure some weeks before it is used, during
which time it should be turned now and
then. The mixture above named also bene-
fits the growth of celery, which will lift
clean and spotIess compared with that grown
In the ordinary way.
Mr.. Hapgood, Shrewsbury, Mass, fayors
shallow setting of asparagus roots; if placed,
as some advise, eight inches below the sur
face 1t 'makes the crop one or two weeks
later" He further maintains, in the Amer
ican Cultiuator, that he has also "found that
the idea that salt is useful to this plant is
mere theory, like the trenching SYSTEM
Many of the old farmers about us use the
leaves Of the red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana)
In place Of sulphur and kerosene for Kidding
nests and memories Of lice. They say the
remedy is very effective. Perhaps perches
made Of the wood would serve the same pur-
pose.
The Scientific american says that an i'm
mediate and effective remedy for lice on
cows and other cattle, also for ticks on pigs,
ia to wash the affected parts with potato
Whitewater iE which potatoes have been
boiled.
A New Yorker is suing his wife for di-
vorce because she goes to sleep before he
does.
A Medicine Chest For Is Cents.
Perhaps no one medicine is so universally
required by everybody as good cathartic.
SWAYNE's TAR AND SARsAPARILLA PILLS
are prepared expressly to meet this necessity