The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1880-04-07
AGRICULTURAL

for wood, and in summer for fruit.
Green colored apples show their
imperfections more than red ones,
and do not sell as readily.
To prepare ground for small fruits
manure 1t az though you intended
raising 100 bushels of corn to the
acre.
Mr.. Wick thinks it does fruit trees
far more good to 9hin the fruit than
to mulch the trees. II secures bet
ter crops.
In planting trees, the most profit
able are the very early and very late
sorts. This rule applies to all fruit
planting for market.
A stock keeper reports curing
many bad warts on cattle and horses,
during several years, by application
to each of zone good daub of tar"
Two bushels of blue grass seed TO
the acre is the usual amount sown.
If the seed be good it will grow, if
sown in dry time of the year, but
the best time is early in the Spring.
In selecting buds for scions, 1t is
generally thought best to take from
the top branches to get rapid growth,
and from the intermediate branches
TO get early fruitiug. This is by no
means an infallible rule, however.
Flowing should be done only when
the soil will crumble loosely; when
the Flow smears the upturned sur
face, the soil will be injured. While
earliness and forehandedness are
commendable, one should make
haste with caution.
Few know how easy it Ia to propa-
gate most shrubs by root-cnt,ings.
Roots the size Of pen-holder are
the best. Cut these into pieces an
inch long, and plant them about an
inch deep in cold frame, and they
will be six inches high and ready to
plant by the time the garden plat is
ready.
TO bring young fruit trees for
ward rapidly they should be trans
planted at least three times, with
careful and judicious root pruning.
Grapevines, and especially straw,
berry plants, are greatly improved
by this means. The roots love the
fresh soil of the new home, while
cutting their roots causes them to
send out lateral branches and thick
en- up.
The Connecticut experiment sta
tion is about commencing series of
experiments for testing thoroughly
the different methods Of setting
milk to obtain the best results as to
cream, and, if possible, TO arrive at a
definite conclusion, so that the
butter-makers may have sufficient
data to enable them to work with
some degree of certainty in the pro-
dHction OF butter.
The finest manure is made BY
turning the heap over twice. Begin
at each end Of the pile, and throw off
the manure TO distance of three
feet, building up the new heaps, and
placing the coursest manure in the
centre. Then proceed until two
heaps are made. These will soon
heat, and month or so afterward
tbs process may be reversed and the
two heaps made into one again.
Speaking of pruning, an exchange
saas: Trim moderately every year,
but not heavily oftener than once in
three years. Pruning may be done
at any time when the days are warm;
cut of no limbs that are over an
inch in diameter. If you do not
understand pruning yourself, have II
done by competent person, but do
not send an ignorant hired man into
your orchard to cut and hew at will.
In selecting towering plants, and
especially shrubs, to ornament
grounds with, it should be horne in
mind that ANIMALS, which bloom but
once year, make all their how In
the Spring, when most other plants
are in bloom, and are lost ia the
multitude of beauty. Monthly
bloomers give many times the pleas
ure, and do not look like worthless
and scrawny bushes the rest of the
season.
Few farmers give proper attention
to their fowls. One serious error
we cannot overlook, is their habit
ual earelessness Ia keeping fowls
until they attain an age that defes
mastication If cooked. Now there
are some general rules in the man
agement of poultry that it would be