The Osceola times., 1880-03-13
FACTS FOR FARMERS.
Extirpating the Wild Carrot-Catching x
Hawks-Soil and Fertilizer Notes.
ExTIRPATING THE WILD CARROT.


ExTIRPATING THE WILD CARROT.
d. NJ, writing from GAINESVILLE, n. Y,
to the Country Gentleman, gives his ex-
"Thistlcs, quack, or couch grass and
daises are not to be compared to it when
once it gets possession of the ground.
II kills out all grass, and the seeds are so
light that they are waited by the wind
in every direction, About eight years
ago few plants made their appearance
in front of my premises, and soon some
appeared in adjoining fields. They
spread so rapidly that | made up my
mind to commence war upon them i'm
mediately. After heavy rain | pulled
them up by the roots. In two or three
weeks had new crop to pull, but as
fast as any blossomed | pulled them.
The second year they appeared about as
thick as the first, but now, after six or
eight years labor, ! can pull all on my
farm in one hour. But the question may
be asked WHY | have not extirpated
themf 1t is because my neighbors allow
some plants to ripen on adjoining land,
and the wind brings the seed upon mine.
Ii is verv annoying for any one who has
taken pains to rid his premises of weeds
to find foul seeds or thistles. carrots and
daises brought upon MS premises bv
winds. ! wish that the same law that
compels farmers to take care of uuruly
animals could be enforced in regard to
foul weeds. Large fields and fewer cross
fences will save good many hours la
Dor in cutting bushes and weeds. think
the time is coming in our, Eastern States
when the arabic land will be in one field
and the pasture land in another"
CATCHING HAWKS
A writer in the Practical Farmer SAYS i,
Some one recently asked Fanny Field
and others how to keep hawks from car
rying off chickens. My plan is to catch
the hawks, Being much annoyed by
them, | set steel trap on top of pole
'set upright In the ground, and have
caught the last year seventeen hawks
and five OWLS Set the trap on pole six
or seven feet high in the open field, one
or two hundred rods from the house. No
bait needed. Traps | use cost 80 cents
apiece. Iwish all farmers would try this.
have no doubt that farmers lose annu-
ally S5 each from hawks aud owls, to say
nothing about the destruction Of quail
and partridges and other game. At first
glance this seems a small matter, but i'm
the aggregate it is thousands of dollars"
SOIL AND FERTILIZER.
A great deal depends upon the condi-
ton of the soil upon which we apply fer
tilizers. If there is a sufiiciency in the
soil as compared with other fertilizers,
then we have no perceptible increase of
crop, however large a quantity we may
have applied, but if there is a deficiency
in that one element alone, by the appli-
cation of only small quantity, we shall
have a large crop as the result This is
what causes such wide difference in
the results with special fertilizers and also
causes such waste in their application.
We frequently apply half ton of a spe-
cial fertilizer where aquarter would pro-
duce as good results. Sometimes we ap-
ply fertilizer which, on coming in con-
tact with another element, produces a
compound entirely insouble, and so
our fertilizer is rendered worthless, and
our money lost by ignorance of chemi-
cal facts.
NOTES.
The best potatoes, grown under favor
able circumstances, contain 20 per cent,
of starch; poor ones, about 10 per cent.
Ar recent potato show in England,
where nearly 400 plates were shown,
a large number were of American vgrie-
ties.
GREAT quantities of tobacco are raised
in Russia, the seed from which il is
grown being obtained chiefly from this
county.
IT is said that one bushel of beets added
to nine bushels of apples makes cider
richer and of superior flavor to that
made of apples alone.
ENGLISH authorities state that out of
every five loaves of bread eaten in Eng
land in 1850, three must come from the
United States and Russia.
IF only six substantial farmers in
town are agreed, they can organize and
sustain club which will put new life
into the agricultural and social culture
of that town.
A GERMAN farmer says that he values
tobacco stems for manure "about the
same per cord as stable dung straw soaked
in urine and dried would be much the
Dame."