The National tribune., 1883-11-08
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Cur
Agricultural Readers.
HEALTHY APPLE ORCHARDS.

HEALTHY APPLE ORCHARDS.
Apple orchards on the rich soil of the Western
prairieS are not usually long lived and in severe
winters they suffer greatly, and are often
totally destroyed. This fatality is clearly trace
able to the over-luxurient growth of the trees,
owing to the richness and dampness of the soil,
which does not admit of thorough or proper
ripening of the yearly growths before they are
oyertaken by the severe frosts. Even when
the freeze is not sufficient to kill the tree its
vitality is impaired, and it yearly becomes more
and more susceptible to injury, so that win
ter which does not prove more than usually
cold will destroy certain trees which have stood
even q more intense cold without apparent in
jury. So that the exact degree of cold which
may be fatal to tree depends upon its vital
condition, and that again depends upon the
solldity, hardness and ripening. of its growths.
We hear good deal about iron clad trees there
by meaning that they are proof against all de-
grees of cold to which they may be subjected,
but even these sometimes succumb simply be-
cause their hardness depends upon the early
maturity of their growths and this is infiu-
enced by soil and varying conditions of climate
the latter being beyond the control Of the culti-
vator.
In regard to soil, its relations to plant growth
are, TO a certain extent, under control Water
is, after all, the controlling element in plant
culture, and failures of crops are for the most
part owing either to an excess or deficiency
Of water. 1t will not avail plant TO be sur
rounded by every other material necessary for
its growth if water is absent; and when soils
are constantly full of moisture, plants viii con-
tlnue to grow SO long as the temperature of the
air remains favorable, and it is this prolonged
growth that renders plants susceptible to injury
from severe cold
In setting trees in cold climates the hardest
good varieties should be selected then the soil
6taIra aaH frp d.
@rated and free from excess of water The trees
should also be planted high. In some cases we
have seen them set on the surface of the ground
and soil thrown in and among the roots until
they were all properly covered, thus leaving a
mound upon which the tree isseemingly planted.
Shelter from cold, drying winds has also won
derful effect in guarding against injury of fruit
trees from frost.
SHIPPING PEACHES TO ENGLAND.
The Country Gentleman states that the expert
ment of shipping peaches from Delaware to
Liverpool this season has proved the business
profitable when properly conducted. 8fr. G. A.
Cochrane, of Montreal, has invented case in
which to pack perisbable fruit for long ship
ment. and has been shipping peaches from Del
aware TO Liverpool in the Cunard steamers. He
shipped tomatoes last season with success. He
packed peaches at Clayton, Delaware, August
goth, shipped them by ordinary freight to New
They were landed in Liverpool on the night of
the Both, and were sold the next day, or eleven
days after packing in Clayton. They were IN
fine order, and brought nine dollars per case,
containing 2S8 peaches. He received three and
one-eighth cents per peach, and they cost him
laid down in Liverpool one and two-thirds cents
each. This demonstrates the practicability of
shipping perishable fruits TO long distances and
is a matter of the greatest Importance 20 fruit
growers in this country, and is an effectual an
swer to those who consider that there is danger
OF fruit growing being oyeTdone. We have
heard this expression over and over again ap-
piled TO all fruit crops, and just at present it is
applied TO the orange crops in California and
Florida. improvements in everything that tends
TO distribute commodities is better both to the
producer and consumer. The consumption is
more uniform and prices more steady and per-
maneut.
HOW TO USE SUGAR.
We are informed by chemists that there is
much waste IN sweetening properties by cook
ing sugar with acid fruits. Ordinary cane su-
gar, by the combined action of heat and free
acid, Is rapidly and easily converted into grape
or uncrystallizable sugar, which has only two
hfths the sweetening properties of cane sugar.
AS an illustration of this fact an experiment
was made by cooking 100 parts of gooseberries
and % parts of sugar in one vessel, while in
first cooked and then left to become nearly cold,
when 25 parts of sugar were added Analysis
showed that IN the first sample, in which the
sugar was cooked with the fruit, half the cane
sugar had been converted into grape sugar.
while in the sample where the sugar was not
added until the cooking of the fruit had been
completed, only one-tenth of the cane sugar was
converted into glucose: so that, in the cooking
of the sugar with the fruit, there was loss in
the sweetening of 80 per cent, while by adding
the sugar at the end of the cooking process there
was a loss OF oRly per cent. from the conver-
sion of the sugar. White sugar in clean, dry
crystals ought TO cost one-tenth more than
brown, to Offset the impurities of the brown.
TEA CULTURE IN THE SOUTH
A correspondent calls our attention to an
article taken from a New Orleans paper (which
he sends u.s. about the culture of tea. This let
ter states that Mr.. Menelas mas on his plantation
some beautifully fourishing tea plants and
that there is undoubtedly nothing needed to
cause the culture to spring to immediate
success IN Mississippi except the knowledge of
manipulating the product Mr. Henelas is QUO
ted as saying: :" We shall produce tea in this
country. That we shall become independent
of oriental Asia, and save our country from
paying il an annual tribute of thirty millions
OF dollars have not the slightest Doubt" Such
statements are made without any foundation
and are always made by those who know least
about the facts in the case. There are possibly
hundreds of families in the south who save and
collect their own tea. but it is well understood
by those who have taken the means TO inyesti-
gate the snb biect that there are several impor-
tant factors lacking in this country for success
in tea culture, the most important being want
of rain.
LEARNING CHEMISTRY.
An exchange says: Every farmer should
understand something of agricultural chem
istry and of botany. He can then tell just
what sorts of plant food his crops require, and
he need not put constituents on or in the soil
that are not going to benefit him. Feed the
plants according to their necessities this is as
essential to plants as 20 animals Animals fed
according to their necessities will thrive and
become a source of profit. Plants similarly
treated will produce similar results"
1t certainly would be of great value to the
farmer if he could feed his plants as above
stated, but the chemistry that can show Just
what plant food is of most moment at given
time. or to any kind of plant has not yet been
developed, SO that we do not know where the
farmer is to find this knowledge. His daily
and yearly observations are more instructive
than mere smattering of chemical knowledge
is ever likely to be.
PETROLEUM AS A PAINT.
4 correspondent of the Mirror and Farmer
says that crude petroleum is better than any
other material for painting all kinds of farming
implements. 1t can be applied with common