The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-05-23
PARM AND GARDEN.
WHAT A CLUB LEARNED.

members had learned ct the meetings:
We have learned to stay on our farms
| and attend to our own business. We
have learned to summer fallow with q
good crop of corn; to take off two crops
in place of one, at double the profit
members of this club are doing it-4O
bushels of barley and 80 bushels Of wheat
to follow, to the acre. We have learned
that straw is worth from % to $40 per
ton that phosphates and commercial fer
tilizers have been of great benefit in some
localities, and in others worthless but q
good sod, barnyard manure, and the wood
ashes are true friends of the farmer,
when rightly applied. We have learned
to please the eye rather than the tastes
We have lost thousands of dollars in try
ing to please the taste, hereafter We will
try to get it back by pleasing the eye.
We learned from a discussion of the
water question, that to put weod ashes in
bag and put it into our cisterns will pu-
rify the water; also, that the germs OF
disease which are thrown into the cess
pools of city or country, sink into the
ground and are carried long distances in
veins of water, which is one great cause
OF spreading typhold fever.
THINNING AND PACKING FRUIT.
Marshall P. Wilder says: The impor-
tance of properly thinning out fruit trees
when bearing redundant crops is more
and more apparent. To produce fruit
that commands good price in market
has become an absolute necessity. This
is seen especially in that intended for ex-
portation, apples of good size, fair, and
properly packed. commanding in the Eng
lish market fully doubly the price of
those which had not received such care.
POTATOES FROM SPROUTS.
Potato growing has been the object of
a curious experiment just completed in
England. A pound of early potatoes
was taken and allowed to spirit (sprout)
freely. From each potato a spirit was
broken, and potatoes and spirits were
then planted in separate rows. Both
grew well, and the following is the result
of the experiment From the spirits, which
weighed in all half an ounce, FIVE pounds
five ounces of sound potatoes have been
obtained, and from the pound of potatoes
five pounds four ounces, showing slight
balance in favor of the spirits. The spirit
potatoes were the more regular in shape,
the earlier in growth.
PRESERVING POTATOES.
Preserving potatoes for the table in
summer, by slightly heating the surface
and thus destrying the eyes, was recently
suggested in the Neao England Farmer
as method worthy of experiment. Mr..
j. G. Adams, Green county, Pa, writes
to the New York Tribune that the plan
is practiced in his county to a considera-
BILE extent. The eyes are destroyed by
simply pouring scalding water over the
tubers, which are Immediately dried and
put away, when they will keep indefi-
nitely." Mr.. Adams says he knows
whereof he speaks, for being engaged in
the grocery business he has bought and
sold potatoes treated by this process re-
peatedly. 1t is not too late for house
keepers to give the germ-destroying pro-
cess trial the present season.
CROWD IN THE SWEET POTATOES AND PEAS.
Farmers should turn the wet spring to
as good account as possible, and should
have potatoe ridges thrown up seasonably.
Plant as many rows of sweet potatoes as
possible at the earliest date possible And,
if possible, dig out tank in a rayine near
the potatoe patch that may cath water
from any shower, and hold it in drouth.
Have water barrel on a slide, with a
good opening to dip water out with a
small bucket, and plant vines without
waiting for showers. Half pint OF water
to hill will start the vine to growing,
and a barrel of water, 40 gallons, will
start over 600 slips. Two persons, with
a tank close by, in one day, should set
out at least an acre, and water every plant.
In June fill every corn row with clav
peas. This will enrich the land, make
food for stable use in winter for fattening
the hogs, and make hay for stock, and will
not decrease the yield of corn to the
amount of a bushel. Field peas, potatoes,
and oats, are convenient crops that may
be crowded in and forced through in
almost any kind of season. And this
can all be turned into pork, and money,
and milk, butter, beef, horse and mule
flesh, etc.
RooT-PRUNING CORN TO INCREASE THE
YIELD.
]. III. Moore. writes from Arkansas: /
have long doubted the feasibility of this,
and l fully believe the proper way to cul-
tivate corn is entirely q surface cultiva-
ton. But can we keep the crop clean in
wet weather? Nature put the long roots
there for purpose, and | always thought
that nature was better farmer than man.
The best crop ever made (94 bushels
per acre) was never plowed more than
two inches deep. The work was done
with side harrows and sweeps. In 1879
ruined a crop by deep plowing just before
the drouth set in, and this year did the
same. The fact is, cultivating corn is all
chance. Sometimes few days difference
in planting will make or mar the crop.
This year have thirteen acres of land
that was planted about June 10. About
one-half will make about twenty bushels
per acre-the other half not peck-all
caused by ten days difference in breaking
the land.
FEED THE HAY FIRST.
The Dublin Farmscr claims that full
feed of hay to horses, following the feed
ing of concentrated food, is wasteful, for
the reason that it crowds the first out of
the stomach before digestion has been ae-
complished. And 40, in order to procure
the best results, hay should be fed first
and the concentrated food afterwards /;
which leaves it to become fully digested,
with no danger of being crowded away or
out of the performance of its desired pur-
pose.