The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-07-07
FARM NOTES.

trees whose roots are exposed to the full
says of the summer sun.
THE Gardener's Chronicle thinks a solution
of London purple sprayed over fruit trees,
just as the fruit is forming, will prove a
security against the codling moth and
canker worm.
A LIBERAL dressing of woodashes will
renovate an unthrifty orchard most won
derfully. Bonedust and crushed oyster
shells can also be applied and beneficial
results will soon become apparent.
CRUDE, unfermented manure and much
moisture tends to produce soft, rapid
growth in young trees that continues late
in the season, rendering them liable to in
jury from severe cold. :
EVERY plantation in the South, large and
small should raise the cattle, horses,
mules, sheep and hogs necessary for its
own use and consumption. This will be
done sooner or later.
ONE great mistake in pig-breeding Is in
having the breeding stock too young-in
breeding the sows too young, before they
have become well grown and matured, and
also in buying young breeding sows instead
Of full-grown ones.
DRYING potatoes is an industry in Roch-
ester, N. Y. The potatoes are sliced, put
in a steam box for few minutes to keep
the starch in and then dried. When de-
sired for use they are soaked before cook
ing.
Now that more accurate information of
the condition of cattle on the plains is af-
forded by the annual "round ups" the
sosses from the severity of last winter are
reported to be considerably below the ear
lier estimates.
THE chief solid fat found in butter is the
principal ingredient in palm oil, while the
chief liquid fat abounds in olive oil and
the soluble aromatic oils which give such
an aroma to butter and make its gilt edge
value, are found abundantly in the cocoa
nut
HUNGARIAN grass is totally useless for
| green manuring On land so poor as to
need this kind of help this grass would not
grow six inches high. Buckwheat would
do far better. Hungarian grass will not
stand two cuttings; after one cutting its
! growth Is very slow and weak.
A NATURAL condition Of poultry is lousi-
ness, but there need be no trouble in keep
ing them free from lice. Use tobacco stems
or refuse leaves, or tobacconists' cuttings
freely in the nests, putting them about
four inches deep in them; let lice be ever
so thick, in very short time they will all
be gone from the boxes.
A NEWLY vanished carriage is liable to
spot To prevent this, some wash the car
riage two or three times in clean cold water,
applied with sponge instead of using
hose this will help harden the surface,
and prevent it, to some extent, from being
injured by the mud or water getting
splashed on it.
TwENTY-rHREE thousand females are en-
gagged in farming operations on their own
account in England. This is right they
have in common the world over. Rough
hands and berry brown faces may be the
result, but independence and financial sue
cess go with these, and so in q measure
compensate for them.
BUcKwHEAT may be made profitable
upon a piece of rough or newly cleared
ground. No other crop is so effective in
mellowing rough, cloddy land. The seed
in northern localities should be sown be-
fore July L.; otherwise early frosts may
catch the crops. Grass and clover NAV
sometimes be sown successfully with buck
wheat.
On FLAT lands the best way is to plant
corn three and half feet apart each way,
so that the cultivator can be run both
ways. By this method one man with a
horse may take care of forty acres, though
it will have to be done without using the
hoe. The use of the hoe can only be made
profitable upon vegetables, and must be
dispensed with there whenever pos.
sible.
UNsLAcKED lime is not fit for fowls; in
fact, il 1t is taken into the crop in any but
the smallest quantity, it would be sure to
infame the lining membrane, and might
cause death. 1t is quite likely that the
gangrene of the crop in some fowls is thu:
caused. When fowls have plenty o.
pounded or burned bone they need nc
lime, the bone containing sufficient FOL
their use.
ANTS do not destroy trees. The ants are
after the lice which are hurting the trees
These lice exude sweet substance which
attracts the ants, and the ants do no harm
To get rid of the lice, make a solution o
whale oil soap, and add to pailfu
one drachm of carbolic acid. Syringe o
spray this on the under side of the leaves
and it will either kill or drive away tn
lice, and the ants will be seen no more.
WHEAT lodges because of excessiv
growth of stem from superintendent nitro
, genous manure and deficiency of minera
a matter; the weakness of the stem is cause
9 by too rank and succulent growth. Whe
:. fresh barn-yard manure is applied to whea
literally lime should be used at the sam
time; this mineral matter supplies the ms
terial for stifening the stem. Salt is use
for the same purpose.
COARSE corn meal, mashed potatoes an
bran, well mixed and given twice day,
an excellent feed for young ducks. The
will eat whole corn at about four weeE
old, but it should not be their sole food
A grass run is indispensable. They d
good service among the bugs and slugs i
the garden. With plenty of shade and
good grass range they will not require an
great supply of water.
AN INDIANA farmer tried four differel
fertilizers for melons-poultry dropping
well-rotted COW manure, barnyard manur
and old bones (gathered upon the farm an
reduced by placing them in alternat
layers with ashes the previous year,, mi:
ing all literally in the different hill
which were eight feet apart each way, an
he says: "Such crop of melons as can
from the hills that had the bone dust
never saw before"
], EvERaREENs thrive best on sandy sol
:. but they will grow on any kind of soil.
9. moderately damp, light ssndy loan is be
a. for nearly all the evergreen trees, and
:. mixture of swamp muck is agreeable
= them. Some evergreens, as balsam frs ar
hemlock, thrive very well on low, W
\ ground, and in the shade, but none of the
1 grow to their finest shape unless expose