The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-12-08
THE FARM.

suOuiu 10 Jug IL uIy Weatu-
Ell, and be stored at once in q cool, dark
place. They are injured by exposure to
light. For late keeping a cool tenn
p%erature is Indispensable, and even a
temperature below forty degrees and
above freezing is best.
1T Is p. common error that the roots of
trees extend only as far from the trunks
rs the length of the branches ; the truth
Is that they are usually longer o. each
side than the entire height of the tree.
A tree thirty feet high forms a circle of
roots more than sixty feet in diameter.
WHILE among old breeders there
are many men of many minds concerning
the superiority of different breeds of
sheep, there are none who will not say
that any of the breeds, or their grades,
are superior to the common scrub stock
in such general use in all sections of the
country. Thoroughbred sheepare cheap,
but scrubs are always dear.
NIX a little sulphur with salt and feed
occasionally to sheep. 1t will effectually
applied to cattle troubled with lice will
soon rid them of the virmin. The sui
phur with salt repays the trouble of
keeping a supply for cattle and sheep.
Ii q mixture of n part of sulphur with
seven of salt be applied, there will be
no trouble with vermin.
The following trees are named s the
best for planting artificial forests in the
Western States: Yellow cottonwood,
making a saw log or rail cut sooner than
any other tree; Usage orange, giving
strong and lasting timber, and not
troubled by insects ; the hardy catalpa,
of quick growth and lasting timber /;
white elm and western plane tree ; black
walnut, one of the most valuable of
trees soft maple, furnishing in a short
Time a great mount OF fire wood; and
the fast-growing willows, the silver
poplar, the cotton wood, and the Lom-
hardy poplar.
A MODERATE pruning or shortening
back of eyergreens may be given late in
summer after the terminal buds have
formed, the pruned branches thickening
and becoming hardened by slightgrowth.
If done much later the trees will be
rendered somewhat more tender and not
endure winter SO well. Heavy pruning,
when required, is performed to best ad-
vantage In spring, just as growth is
commencing: Any time in the growing
season the shoots may be pinched back
for securing a compact and symmetrical
form. These rules apply to hardy, free
growing evergreens.
COMMON SALT AS MANURE
Professor j. B. Lawes, of Rothamsted,
England, writes for the american Cut
tiUdtor an article on u subject that is
now attracting considerable attention:
Common salt, equal in quantity to 334
pounds per acre., after being dissolved
in water and poured upon a sample of
the ordinary arabic soil of the farm, was
allowed to remain in contact for a week.
The column of soil was then placed in
contact with an air-pump at its base, and
water was poured in from above. 1t
was theu found hat a comparatively
small quantity of water was sufficient to
remove the whole of the salt from the
soil. In our drain gauges, at Rotham-
sted, where the soil has been kept with
ont vegetation and washed by the ordi-
nary rainfall for ten years, we find thatall
the salt originally contained in the soil
has been lost, and the amount which
now passes through in the drainage
waters Is only about equivalent to what
would be contained in the natural rain
fall, that is about twenty-four pounds.
The following table shows the average
amount of chlorine in the drainage
water passing through twenty, forty,
and sixty inches of the ordinary arabic
soil Of the farm:
20 inches. 40 inches. 60 inches.
lbs. lbs. lbs.
Chlorine as chlo-
rides per acre
per annum. ...-.1418 16 1416k
Drainage in inches. II '18 16N
At Rothamsted, therefore, it may be
said that about t~wenty-four pounds of
common salt Is deposited upon an acre
of land, every year, and if not taken up
by vegetation is entirely removed by
drainage, in an unchanged form.
With regard to the influence of salt on
vegetation, or of soda generally, although
I am in possession of a great deal OF
evidence Upon the subject, my mind is
by no means made up. That soda can
not perform the function of potash is
perfectly evident ; at the same time there
is no reason why it may not perform
some of the minor funtions of vegetation;
if it cannot decompose carbonic acid, ii
may, at any rate, perform the mental
office OF carrying away the decomposed
products, and thus leave the potash
more time to execute its more important
duties.
In the ash of the juice OF one of oul
experiments on sugar beet we found, or
an average of three years, as much sodt
per acre as would be contained in 20(
pounds of common salt. In other ex
periments where common salt wa.
literally used, not more than foul
pounds of soda were taken up it is quite
evident, therefore, that, in the absence
of any of the more important ingredient:
of plant food, soda is useless.
In the experiment to which I I'm abou
to refer, the production of sugar wa
nearly equal. being in one case SIT.
pounds, and in the other 1925 pound.
per acre. In No. 1 the manure uset
was potash, common salt, phosphates
and nitrate of soda. No. 2 received onl,
phosphates and nitrate of soda, the com
mon salt and potash being omitted
The ash in the juice Of No. / contained
1913 pounds of potash and 81 pounds o
soda: while in No. 2 the ash contained
81 pounds of potash and 70 pounds O
soda it is evident, therefore, that in No
2 more sugar Las been produced for
gwen WelSn6 Oh potaSu contaileu III III
juice than in No. J.. This will be seel
more clearly in the following table:
Potash to eacl
100 lbs Of sugar
IDS. OF
Experiment No. 1...................2
Experiment No. 2....................1 1
1t was also quite evident that the sod
was taken up in the plant as nitrate O
soda, that salt having been found in tn,
mice In the exnerimant Yhere notasl