Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-03-07
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
THREE hundred acres of sorghum vii

|
A COATING of shellac varnish applied
to the cut surface of pruned trees is
claimed to be q perfect protection
against bleeding and decay.
| GRATING will soon be in order. I'm
! symmetrical trees should be transformed
into symmetrical ones by grating, and
varieties that have not proved profitable
should be substituted for those that
| have.
DIR. STURTEvANT thinks that when
sorghum mills become general and the
apparatus for the manufacture of sorgh-
UNI is always at hand, some varieties of
corn will be found to furnish a paying
quantity of sugar besides bearing
! grain.
TIE following amount of seeds should
be sown per acre: Oats, two bushels;
rye, one and half to two bushels; null
let, half bushel; timothy, twelve
pounds; Alsike clover, six pounds;
mixed lawn, three bushels; turnips, one
pound.
The dandelion commonly used for
greens is much improved by cuItiva-
ton anu market gardeners find it quite
profitable. Some SOW the seed in hot
beds or cold frames in the fall, or in the
open ground in May or June, in drills
one foot apart.
ROTATION In the garden is as neces-
sary as III the field. Different kinds of
vegetables require different kinds of
food. While manuring viii help much,
it is in every way desirable to reverse
the order of planting every year. Bet
ter crops will result.
OAT meal is said to be excellent for
calves, and some are successful In feed
ing wheat shorts, but both are usually
too coarse to be drunk with safety with
milk. They should be fed dry; then
there will be little danger from overeat-
ing, which is not the case if given in the
milk.
PROF. BEssY, of the Iowa Agricultural
College, says that no application to
wheat before heading will prevent smut.
as the disease is an internal one. But
by applying caustic lime to the seed,
which has been previously well washed,
the danger from smut Will be greatly
lessened.
ALL kinds of roots in the cellar will
keep better if a little fresh dirt is thrown
over them. For beets and turnips this
is very important, these roots drying up
or becoming tough and tasteless if ex-
posed TO the air. 1t is not too late to
get some sods III the cellar during mild
days III winter.
AN eastern horticulturist warns fruit
growers against using petroleum on fruit
trees and shrubs. 1t kills all trees
around where it is pumped, he says,
and a neighboring orchard painted with
1t early one spring showed handsome
bark and fine fruit that year, but de-
clined afterward.
SORGHUM yields well on land too poor
to grow corn. This shows that the
sorghum derives more from the air, as
it's sweet juice, largely carbon, would
indicate. The soil for sorghum must,
however, be in fine filth, as it's small
seeds are more impatient of clods than
the larger corn grains.
| A CORRESPONDENT of the Fruit Re
corder says that common tobacco stems
placed on the ground around currant
bushes in the spring, before frost is out,
will keep off the currant worm, and keep
the bushes clean. The tobacco is dis
tasteful to the worms, and they will not
crawl over 1t to ascend the bushes.
/
Illinois, that has made broom corn a
speciality for thirty years. proposes to
abandon that crop and contract with
sugar works to furnish the product of
| 1000 acres of sorghum next fall. The
price is reported at So per ton, seed
panicles off, but leaves on, delivered at
| the mill.
The impossibility of furnishing good
rich grazing In pastures for COWS IN July
and August leads to the necessity Of good
feeders of steers and dairy cows to pro-
vide for those rot and dry months some
special green crops, such as corn, sor-
ghum, or other sollng crops. And now
is the time to determine and prepare for
such crops.-IoWa State Journal.
IF any one thinks he can realize
large profit from poultry without first
dividing them III such a manner as to
avoid crowding he will make mistake.
| They will do better in small families
than in large focks, and the few can be
kept with greater profit even In a small
yard, than the more numerous if the lat
rer have the run of the whole farm
Farmers Magazine.
The editor OF the Country Gentleman
| says: In our experience of laying
many miles Of tile, we have never found
the entire cost of digging and complet-
ing the drains to exceed the Increased
profit from crops in three years; and
where the owner can be on the ground
while the work is going on, to render
proper facilities, the whole cost has been
PAID for by the surplus of two years in
the crops"
The Garden Monthly says: cit has
only recently been clearly demonstrated
that dead branch on tree makes al
most as great a strain on the main plant
for moisture, as does living one. This
is one of the most important discoveries
of modern botanical science to the prac-
tical horticulturist, as by this knowledge
he can save many valuable tree. Any
dead branch, or any weak one, should at
once be cut away"
PROF. E. M. SHELTON, of the Kansas
Agricultural College, is repeating this
| UiYtor his J1Cof11I loo