The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-05-23
AGRICULTURE.

WASA COAAAC SuAAVC WAuC VSACAC RCA4oA
Know you not that some need more heat
than others, that some need more water
than others, and that some must actually
be shaded while others are summed If
you love flowers and desire to raise them,
study their differences and conditions.
ENCOURAGE the little wrens by build.
ing suitable boxes for them They are
Invaluable as insect destroyers.
FRUIT is regulator of the system. It
will keep the blood in order, the bowels
regular and tone up the stomach.
AMONG the most successful farmers the
sulky breaking ploughs are now being
largely used in the place of the ordinary
two-horse plough. With one of them a
man and three horses may easily do the
work of two men and four horses with the
common ploughs.
ScABBY PoTAToEs. Refuse stems of
tobacco, cut up fine and distributed in
the hills when planting, are recommended
as remedy. They are considered good
fertilizer as well as insect preventive.
PYRETHRUM or Persian insect powder
is now used extensively to destroy cab
bage worms, and, in fact, all other kinds
of insects on plants. Add two table
spoonsful of the powder to one gallon of
water, and sprinkle once week. 1t is
also recommended to rid fowls of vermin.
The 600 tea plants transferred from ex-
Commissioner LeDuc's experimental farm
at Summerville, S. c., to Enterprise, Fla,
are reported to be doing finely The col
ored people of Florida look with amaze
ment on the plants. 1t is believed that
the soil and climate of Florida are partic-
ularly well suited for the tea plant.
CANE sugar is two and half times
as sweet as grape sugar, and the resem-
blance between them is very close In
cooking the cane sugar may be changed
to grape sugar, and when fruit is to be
cooked the sugar should be added after
the fruit is done, instead of mixing both
fruit and sugar before placing them on the
fire.
HUNGARIAN GRAss.-It belongs to
warm countries, stands drought, and
grows shallow in the soil. Very rich soil
will grow it amazingly thick, and we
have seen it cover the surface almost SOL
idly with seeds. The fourth of an acre
made rich, will feed all the poultry on
the place for months, besides having fur
nished good grazing for the mich COW.
Swiss cattle are usually above the
medium size, with square, compact bodies
and large heads, and are noted for the ex-
treme richness of their milk, although the
quantity is not large. Both oxen and
cows are worked on the farms, and are
kindly treated by their owners and are
very docile. They have shapely, muscu-
lar limbs and are very hardy. 1t is an
almost universal custom to have bell
attached to the neck. At the cattle fairs
handsomely-wrought bells, weighing from
fifteen to twenty pounds each, are offered
as prizes, which are hung in the stalls of
the successful animals The product of
the dairy are the leading sources of in
come in that country.
FARM MAcHINERY.-The prodigious
grain crops of the North are due to the
use of improved farm machinery. Ma
chinery takes the place of hand laborers,
and as vastly reduces expenses as it
vastly increases production. What the
South needs is to take out the stumps and
use improved machinery. Labor will
then be less expensive, and both area and
yield much greater.
PRIDE OF INDIA.-China-tree berries
will come up with as much certainty as
grain, and may be planted in rows in the
the same way, just when and how wanted,
without any after transplanting or culti
walton. At three to four years old, if in
rich soil, they will make good fence posts,
lasting about as long as any other wood.
The tree rapidly improves the soil where
it grows with fruit and foliage, and all
our old hills, and poor waste fields should
be covered with them. Sheep will also
feed upon the berries, but we know OF
how pro6tably. ~
SUB-IRRIGATIoN.-T Hamilton and
Earl system of irrigation, that of con-
Quoting the water to plants under ground,
instead Of the old way on the surface, is
coming more into practice, and promises
more economical results. Pipes are now
made of concrete by a moving machine,
and appertures properly guarded are
arranged to leak out water near the plants.
ORANGE ScALEs.-Recent notes from
Prot. Riley's chronological labors con-
tain one from IL G. Hubbard, of Fla,
who thinks he has observed how scale
insects are transferred from one tree to
another. He found that the scales would
mount upon the backs of the small beetle
which feeds upon them, and of course
would be carried away by the fight of
the beetle; and again by the shrike or
butcher bird, called in Florida, cat-bird,
which impales its victims upon thorns,
thus tramping about among the scales
on one tree, taking fight and wiping its
bill upon another, &c. but we don't