The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-07-19

berry plants, so that seeds of weeds are not
brought in with yard manure after the plants
are set.
USE OF PoIsoNs FOR INSECTS.
The employment of poisonous substances for
the destruction of insects has now become
| common operation on the farm and garden.
| Paris green and London purple, both contain
ing arsenic and indeed, depending altogether
upon this deadly poison fer their efficacy, are
getting to be as common and as carelessly ham
died as salt and pepper and, although we do
not hear of many accidents resulting from the
use Of these pOisons, yet we are told by physl-
clans that many ailments have been traced to
the handling of them during the process OF
4 their application.
The following remarks are taken from
! New England paper: Mr. J.. Smith, Spring
/ field farmer, has died in consequence Of walk
4 ing with bare flet, last year, through potato
/ field, where Paris green had been used. The
! poison was communicated 10 his blood through
some slight abrasion Of the skin, and he has
/ been dying lingering death. First one toe was
! amputated, and then one leg, but all attempts
al saving his life were futile. 1t is impossible to
be too careful in the use OF this deadly poison.
! This indicates q source and method OF danger
| which few people would guard against. Every
one knows that TO swallow il would be fatal,
! but mol everyone taxes Inc 10
4 their clothes after working with the poison, or
/ take especial care to thoroughly cleanse every
/ article which has III the most remote way been
/ connected with it. 1t is just as necessary TO
/ prevent its contact with abrased skin, as it is
not to swallow 1t; both are fatal.
Comrade s. J. Evans, Eureka Springs, Ark,
| sends US the following cure for chicken cholera:
One grain of quinine for a young chicken; two
for an old fowl. In the first case it is to be
Il.
morning.
With this remedy I have just cured nine
pound Buff Cochin rooster. He was so i'll when
| ] gave him the dose that he could scarcely
walk but he crowed on the following morning.
The remedy is 10 be given in a little water or
made into pill.
FARNIYARD MANURE.
In recent number of foreign agricultural
| periodical there is a summary OF some elabcr-
ate researches on the evaporation of water from
| arabic land, and the conclusions are given that,
| whether considered as physical agent in the
| improvement Of the texture OF the soil, or
chemically, farmyard manure is the most valu-
able fertiiizing agent farmer can use, COM
pared with other substances. 1t absorbs and
retains larger quantity of rain water; it gets
rid of superfiuous water quickly; 1t attracts at
night the vapors of the atmosphere and their
valuable constituents it absorbs the solar rays
and it renders the soil more porous and adapted
for the penetration and the ramiieation of the
roots. As the dung is the principal agent in
condensing the fertilizing gases from the at
mosphere, Ii is important not 10 bury 1t too
deeply in the ground, but to see that it is well
mixed with the surface soil, or, in special cases,
that it be used on the surface as mulch.
KILLING CUT WORMS IN TOBACCO FIELDS.
A writer in the Near England Homestead finding
that the cut worms destroyed his tobacco plants
as fast as he set them, procured a basket full of
chestnut leaves which were young and tender,
and after sleeping them in water which con-
tanned one tablespoonful of Paris green TO each
gallon of water, he placed leaf over the spot
where the plants were to be set. The worms
ate holes in the leaves and lay in clusters dead,
or SO stupid that they did no further harm to
the plants which were afterwards set out, and
fine crop was harvested.
sELF-sUCKING cows.
A Pennsylvania farmer has found cayenne
pepper an eifectual preventive against cows
sucking themselves. After milking. make a
paste of the pepper with little milk and put
il on the teat. Less and less will answer after
few days, and the cow will discontinue the
habit, perhaps only temporarily at first, but if
she relapses, tie application can be renewed
until a complete cure is effected.
USE AND VALUE OF pLAsTER.
We see it stated that an experiment made
by the Michigan j Agricultural College on their
farm with sowing land plaster on grass, that two
bushels Of plaster produced over tyyo-thirds as
much increase as twenty loads of horse manure,
worth ten times as much as the plaster cost.
From this experiment il mast not, however,
be inferred that the same results would be OBJ
tanned on all kinds of soil, for all lands are not
equally benefited by the application of plaster,
though, as arnle ii IS Of great benefit TO pasture
lands and grasses Of all kinds
INDEPENDENCE
Southern Industries, progressive monthly
published a. Nashville, Tenn, gives the follow
ing advice 10 Southern planters, and it IS just
as good Tor farmers in other parts of the coun-
try: With the present price of cotton, as
grown upon the credit system, there is little or
z no profit TO the raiser, but the man who has
raised his own meat and fodder aud made his
2 own fertilizers, harvesting small surplus OF
general crops, viii have profit upon his cot
: ton crop. The very first thing to do is to get
out of the hands of the merchant who gives
long credit at ruinous rates. The obvious way
to do this is 10 raise SO much that the farm
. viii be self sustaining. If the farmer does not
, have to buy corn, nor bacon, nor fertilizers
whatever he has to sell he can sell to whom he
pleases. There is always danger in restricted
} industry. The principle of diversifcation il
almost unqualifcdly correct for an agricul-
J tuTal state; it is one which III logical ramifca
= tions goes great way beyond the question of
dollars and cents. There is great danger to
7 the morals of creditor and debtor where usury,
! in its obnoxious sense, is prevalent in a COM
munity, as there is higher standard OF honor
, where dealings are based not upon avarice on
| the one hand and necessity upon the other
but upon sound business principles.
B QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS