The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-04-15
AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

stop the cultivation of hoed crops too
soon and allow the weeds to gain pos
session of the soil. Cultivate early and
often should be the rule for corn.
KEEPING GRAPES. lady has dis
covered that grapes packed in granulated
sugar will keep fresh longer than when
packed in sawdust, and, as the sugar Is
not injured, expense will not prove an
objection.
ONIONS An old gardener says in the
Detroit Tribune, with regard to cult
waiting onions, that if care is taken to
draw away the earth gradually from the
bulbs until they are quite uncovered,
and only the fbrous roots are in the
earth, you will never have scullions, but
very large, sound onions.
GRAPES VINES. for vines can
be made or repaired cheaper and more
conveniently now than in spring. Lo-
Gust is the most durable wood; red ches-
nut and chesnut rank next. Where To-
Gust is scarce pieces three feet long may
be sunk two and half feet in the ground
and uprights of pine or other timber
uailed to them.
SALT TOR LAND. Salt should not be
apple to such lands as border on the
sea or are in any way affected by the
spray of the ocean. Coarse salt should
be mixed with the compost heap and
not applied directly to the plants. AS
paragus, naturally a native of the sea-
shore, viii require large quantities OF
salt This should only be applied, how
ever, when the shoots are growing. At
any other time it will injure the roots.
Used on the beds about the end of May
it will help to kill weeds and grasses.
STRAWBERRIES IN THE CrrY.-The fol-
lowing novel suggestion is from the
Fruit Recorder. and is one that might
be carried out with little trouble and ex-
pense: "How many OF our city readers
might have fresh, fragrant strawberries
and other dainties, with but little care
or trouble! But, say some, the rain
water would be filled with dirt No, not
if properly grown-that is, by setting the
pots or boxes holding the plants in pans
or boxes that are water tight. Fifty
plants Of strawberries would give fam
lily of four to five persons nice dish
daily for two weeks. Fifty pots of an
nuals like petunias, balsams, etc. would
make show that would DE beautiful and
well repay all trouble. Try it, readers. -
ORCHARD NOTES. is commonly the
case that the orchard is cropped year
after year until the diminished yield
shows that something must be done. The
proper way is to give moderate manur-
ing annually; stable manure put on In
the fall and plowed in, or in small or
chards forked in, may be alternated with
ashes or lime on other years. Clover to
be pastured by hogs, and afterward
plowed under, is one of the best fertiliz-
ers. Trees of forced growth are more
tender than others and SO suffer more
from sudden changes of climate. For
this reason too high cultivation is as bad
as not enough. Heading back and root
pruning are the best methods of restor-
ing barren trees Wood ashes is the best
fertilizer for trees, vines and bushes.
Prune apple-trees so as to give them a
low, well-balanced top. One such tree
is worth several tall, irregular trees.
| Peach orchards shouldhave dry, fertile
soil on Northern or Western slope.
! LATE EVERGREEN Corn "A trust
worthy writer in the Rural Nev Yorker
plants his evergreen sweet corn in the
following way: The soil is sandy gravel,
naturally warm, and of moderate fertil-
ity; i'll fact, not rich enough to produce
satisfactory crops without manure, which
did not have in sufficient supply to feel
sure of n full crop. Consequently pur-
chased little superphosphate to give
the corn the benefit of its effects (if any
in its earliest growth AS the crop of
field corn was planted, having little
manure yet in the cattle yard, we scraped
together what we could and spread it on
the plot to be planted to sweet corn for
green fodder. The piece had wheat
grown on it the year before, the ground
having been plowed in the fall and re-
plowed in the spring before applying
the yard manure, also after the manure
was applied. The reason why plowed
so many times was that q part of the
piece had an abundance of quack grass
on it, and / wished to destroy that if
possible. Everything was now ready to
plant corn on the 25th of May, the plot
having been narrowed and marked. We
then put about tablespoonful of the
superphosphate at each crossing of the
marks, covering it slightly with mellow
soil and planted the corn on the places
thus prepared.
PROFIT AND Loss WITH POULTRY
sensible writer says that the direct profit
OF loss with stock of any kind whatever
comes from the feeding resorted to. If
proper food has been given, at regular
intervals, in sufficient quantity, profit is
the natural result, while haphazard man.
agement results disastrously. In the
feeding and management of poultry
there is more lax discipline than with
any other kind of stock. There is far
too much corn, in different forms, fed to
breeding poultry, and to layers to Sc
cure the best results, for corn has q great
tendency to produce fat, which is not
desirable where plenty of eggs are ex-
pected, Che fat forming so thickly on and
around the ovaries and other organs as
to cffectually prevent the fowls from lay
ing In cold weather, warmth and heat
are necessary, and feeding corn moder-
ately to the laying hens is not so OBJ
jectionable as it is during the warm
summer months, while over fat fowls arc
mora liobla M disease and ailments thnn