The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-12
FARM NOTES.

AS turnipS will now be put in, those
who wish to grow fair crops should
bear in mind that those varieties
which grow above the ground are
best for heavy soils, and only the
light, loose, sandy soils should be used
for such as grow beneath the surface.
The green coverinE or so-called
moss which accumulates on plant
pots Is always injurious to the plant.
"A bright pot makes healtay plant"
is the gardeners rule. This green
covering is an alga, a plant closely
related to the seaweeds. 1t acts in
much the same way lis glazing would
act in stopping the pores of the pot
and allowing no circulation OF air. 1t
should be scrubbed off as often as it
appears with sand and water.
An authority on silk culture says
that most of the failures result from
undue haste to realize. The mulberry
leaf, he says. is slow to ripen. Until
the tree is five years old its leaves do
not contain, either in quantity or quail
ity, sufficient silk-forming material
for profitable results. He is convinced
that it would be better for the
health Of the tree and the silkworms
if not a leaf were stripped until its
tenth year.
Mixed husbandry is the only sure
way to success in farming Repeated
cropping with a single cereal Will
bring waste of the plant-food ele-
ments in the soil that will. in the
end, so reduce the yield as to entail
certain loss upon the landowner.
This fact will 40 more toward forcing
the DalrymplcS to cut up'and dispose
OF their immense land areas than any
thing else though they may not now
see it in that light.-New York Times.
The practice OF washing sheep be-
fore shearing is entirely useless, as
buyers fully understand such things,
and make but little allowance there
for. They deduct the dirt from the
price of the wool in all cases, and also
estimate for the oil. AS washing the
sheep at shearing time merely whitens
the outer parts without really clean
ing the clip, the time and labor 50 de-
voted is costly. The texture and
length is the most important consid-
Grafton.
The first year vines should be prun-
ed according to their strength. If
strong and well ripened they may be
left longer than if weak and imma-
ture. The main object is to get all
buds started into growth from the
bottom of the vine, as upon this de-
ponds plentiful supply of fruiting
spurs. When the vines are to be
grown on the spur system leave two
or three eyes to start where the spurs
are intended to begin. There is no
danger of getting this many to start
if the wood is anything like ripened
at all American Garden.
An excellent way OF speedily fertil-
iZing land is 10y blowing under some
heavy gr, en- crop; inthiS way the sur
face soil is enriched, not only by the
elements which the crop derived from
the air but also by mineral and yeget-
able matters which were brought up
by it from the subSoil. The best
plants adapted for green manuring
are those which derive their support
principally from the air, which grow
rapidly, which cover the ground well
and whose roots penetrate deep and
extensively throughout the
soil.-N. Y. Farmer.
Ewes will produce larger and better
lambs. says writer, if they are in
good, plump condition at the time of
If not in fair condition
they should be gaining and kept inn
proving until they reach the desired
condition they win not breed well
when loaded with fat. Those having
lost their lambs or failed to breed are |
liable to become too fat to become
sure breeders. When this is the case
they should be placed on short pasture |
so us to reduce their weight. The |
use of valuable ewes is sometimes
lost for year or two by allowing |
them to become filled with fat. Such
ewes are valuable their inclination to
requires guarding that it may not I'M
pair their prolilicacy.
A writer in the Cincinnati Gazette
says: There is scarcely i farmer who
Ices not plant a larger acreage than
he can prelitably attend to, and the
result is that three acres hardly crop
,ut so much as one ought to, and we
rear of twenty, thirty or forty BUSH
is of corn to the acre where it ought
% be sixty to one hundred bushels,
md If the time spent ON twenty acres
vas spent on ten, and the manure
Iribbled on twenty were judiciollsly
lsed on the ten, there would be ten
lcres to putin grass, set to enriching
Itself and at the same time making
plendid pasturage for Il half score of
earrings, besides realizing fully as
much corn as in the old-style-way,
nd instead of blowing the corn only
wO or three times we had better
low it six times Now, | know
thereof | speak. During drouth ]
everal years ago certain farmer
ade his boys plow the corn seven
ines that summer, and while the l
eighbor's cribs were very lean that J
e;lr his crop was the largest ever
altered on that farm"
An Orange Ridge, Fla, correspond s