Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-07-11
FARM AND GARDEN.

Il
cheap green food for stock in winter.
The agricultural editor of the New
York Tribune recommends the thin
ming of grapes TO one bunch on a shoot.
Mr.. STEPHEN ALLEN OnNEY writes
from Virginia that his pigs show much
appreciation of an orchard grass pas
tuTe.
CALIFORNIA agriculturists are agitat-
ing the establishment of domestic man
ufactures to create a market for their
products of the soil.
SIT is q gambling crop anyway" re-
marks the Rural New Yorker in refer
ence to hop culture, and ''it is useless
to try to stop fools from rushing in
to il.
The beet was first brought from the
shores of the Tagus, and was cultivated
in gardens because of its SNOWY leaves
and dark red color of its roots, 200 years
before it was found to be edible
SCOT is one of the best manures for
house plants, and if it can be had in
| quantities large enough it is excellent
for out-of-dOor use. For the latter it is
the best mixed with one-tenth its bulk of
| salt.
A CALIFORNIA family, according to
the Pacific Rural Press, 'were danger
Ously poisoned a short time since by
eating the roots of Lima beans, which
they happened to discover are very
palatable.
''WHAT makes your buckwheat cakes
SO nice?" was asked at breakfast by
visitors to q correspondent Of the Rural
| World. After their reputation was thus
established the host explained that they
were made of -four of sorghum seed.
IT is said that the codling moth was
imported into California by means of
| fruit sent to the state for exhibition and
comparison with California fruits. The
pest has increased until its ravages are
now very alarming to horticulturists.
In setting cabbage, caulifowers, to-
matoes and other plants in gardens
where there may be cut-worms, wind
small strip Of paper around the stalk of
| the plant, SO that it will be about one
inch below the surface and two inches
| above.
Fowls will greedily eat great many
| bones If cracked fine enough SO they can
swallow them. They will eat bones of
any age, but give the preference to
fresh ones with adhering meat. Bones
with marrow in them are also q delight
| to them.
THE Massachusetts, State Agricultural
| College has now secured from the legls-
lature liberal appropriations, in accor d.
ance with the wishes of the trustees.
The farming classes are now entitled to
practical and efficient measures for their
benefit.
a CORRESPONDENT Of the Rural New
Yorker says a neighbor of his had his
orchard defoliated by the canker worm.
1t bore no fruit that year, which was the
bearing year, but the following season
it produced large crop, and the bear
ing year was permanently changed.
The best test of good farmer is the
thoroughness with which the manure Is
cleaned out from his barnYard. The odd
places where rich deposits have been ac-
cumulated for years should all be clear
ed, and if this removes more soil than
can be spared replace with sods from
the roadside, which when saturated with
manure, are the richest kind of ferti-
lizer.
IT is pretty certain that a thorough
soaking and washing Of seed corn in a
strong solution of blue stone will tend to
prevent smutty ears in the crop. Per-
haps an actual thorough cleansing in
pure water would be as efficient. It is
also evident that simply wetting seed
corn that has smut spores mixed with it
in q solution of blue stone will not in
sure a clean crop.
THERE are 43, $50 square feet in an
acre of ground, and it is easy from this
o-~calculate the number of hills or plants
required on given area. At three feet
by three feet, which is the distance COM
monty required for potatoes in hills, there
will be 4,840 hills on an acre, and if
these yield at the rate of one bushel for
twenty hills the crop will be more than
240 bushels per acre.
IT is very unsafe to prune, manure Or
cultivate pear trees very highly during
midsummer, especially if they have been
previously neglected. Any unusual
change in the habit of management
is apt to result in blight, and especially
where greater supplies of food and de-
crease of foliage go together. Manure
should be applied safely IN fall and win
! ter, and all the cultivation given should
| be earl y IN the season.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York
| Tribune takes the ground that apple
trees inclined to drop their fruit after
full poisoning can be made to bear
heavy crops by sowing land plaster over
the trees when Ill full bloom, while wet
with the morning dew, SO thoroughly
that it will touch most Of the blossoms.
He says he tried this plan ''several times
on large trees that never bore a peck
of apples; the result was too many ap-
pies.
A CORRESPONDENT Of the Ohio Farmer
gives the following about the peach tree
borer: "The beautiful blue fly, resemb-
ling wasp, which laws it's eggs just at
the surfaee-of the ground in the stem of
the trees, may be seen occasionally at
this time pursuing its allotted task. The
simplest remedy, or rather preventive Of
its attacks, is a piece of stout rapping
paper foot wide wound around the
S tenn of the tree Just above ground. a
1;E4Io dirt cbo1I9 no mn oTOI1OH tho