The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-12-09
THE FARM.

AMI
PorAToEs should be dug in dry wealth
er, and be stored at once in a cool dark
place. They are injured by exposure to
light. For late keeping a cool tenn
perature is indispensable, and even a
temperature below forty degrees and
above freezing Is best.
III Is common error that the roots of
trees extend only as far from the trunks
as the length of the branches the truth
Is that they are usually longer on each
side than the entire height of the tree
A tree thirty feet high forms 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 ethdes,
are superior to the common scrub stock
in such general use IN ali sections of the
country. Thoroughbred sheepare cheap,
but scrubs are always dear.
MIX little sulphur with salt and feed
occasionally to sheep. 1t VIII effectually
destroy sheep ticks. The same remedy
applied to cattle troubled with lice viii
soon rid them of the virmin. The sui
phur with salt repays the trouble of
keeping n supply for cattle and sheep
If mixture of one part of sulphurwlth
seven OF salt be applied, there viii be
no trouble with vermin.
THE following trees are named as 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 aud 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 3 short
time great amount of fire wood; and
the fast-growing willows, the silver
poplar, the cotton wood, and the Lom-
hardy poplar.
4 MODERATE pruning or Shortening
back of evergreens may be givenlate III
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 adj
vantage IN spring, Just as growth Is
commencing All AiAlAt III tAAt SAbhA INK
season the shoots may be punched back
Tor securing a compact and symmetrical
form. These rules apply TO hardy free
growing evergreens.
COMMON SALT AS MANURE
Professor J. B. Lawes, of Rothansted,
England. writes for the .AnlsricQH CIT
tiu1tor an article on 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 q sample of
the ordinary arabic soil of the farm, was
allowed TO remain IN contact for 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 then found that a comparatively
small quantity of water was sufficient to
remove the whole of the salt from the
soil. In our drain gauges, at Roham-
sted, where the soil has been kept with
out vegetation and washed by thecrdi-
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 driinage
water passing through twenty, forty.
and sixty inches of the ordinary lrable
soil of the farm
20 inches. 40 inches. 6Oinches.
lbs. lbs. bs.
Chlorine as chic
rides per
per annum. .... .1413 is AZ
Drainage IN inches. II Is 16$5
At Rothamsted. therefore. it may be
said that about twenty-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
L am in possession of n great dea of
evidence upon the subject, my mind is
Ivy 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 earbonic acid, it
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 our
experiments on sugar beet we found, on
an average of three years, as much soda
per acre as would be contained in 200
pounds of common salt. In other ex-
periments where common salt was
literally used, not more than four
pounds of soda were taken up it Is quite
evident, therefore, that, in the absence
of any of the more important ingredients
of plant food, soda Is useless.
In the experiment TO which am about
to refer, the production of sugar was
nearly equal. being in one case 5.174
pounds, and In the other /, 925 pounds
per acre. In No. 1 the manure used
was potash, common salt, phosphates,
and nitrate of soda. No. received only
phosphates and nitrate of soda, the CON-
mon salt and potash being omitted.
The ash in the juice of No. l contained
123 pounds of potash and 81 pounds of
soda; while in No. the ash contained
81 pounds of potash and 70 pounds of
soda it is evident, therefore, that in No.
2 more sugar has been produced for
given weight of potash contained in the
juice than in No. l. This will be seen
more clearly in the following table;
Potash to each
100 lbs Of sugar.
ioA or
Experiment No. 1.............2
Experiment No. 2........--.-.---...1 II
1t was also quite evident that the soda
was taken up in the plant as nitrate of