Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-04-24
PRACTICAL FARM TOPICS.

Deep planting is a frequent cause of
the seeds failure TO germinate. The
Importance of more care in this direc-
tion cannot be overestimated. Our OBJ
servation and experiments made in
planting various seeds at different
ldepths show some wonderful results.
Take, for instance. sweet corn, asd COW
Ter from o1e-half inch to five inches IN
depth The former will germinate with
out loss of five per cent. and the latter
will not grow five per cent. and exact
ratio between will he kept up. The
cause for the difference is that the CEN
ditions Of growth are not complied with
the deficit being heat which, at the
season for corn planting, cannot be fur
nished at so great depth from the sur
face. Again, corn planted in depth of
two or three inches will not make as
rapid or healthy growth as when cover
ed only half an inch, for this reason
Corn makes two sets of rOots-surtace
and underground. the one being quite as
important as the ether. The surface
roots form Just above the kernel. If
corn is planted three inches in depth, as
soon as it has used up the food that is
stored sp in the kernel growth ceases,
until a new unnatural joint is formed
at the surface, from which these aerial
roots proceed. When corn is planted in
mellow ground the hoe should never be
used, the feet alone being the be nipple
, ment that can be used for the purpose.
When the corn is dropped. with the
foot scrape sufficient soil over it to COW
er to the depth of half an inch, then
4, hat
it will get the whole weight of the bO-
dy, and if the planter weighs 250 pounds
the work will be the better done. This
same rule will apply to most other seeds.
Proper care in planting, and the too
common practice of 'buryiDg seeds, is
the differenbe between success and fail
ure in their termination and growth
Peter Henderson.
It would be shreWd man indeed who
could presume To confidently advise the
" ooi grower as to his test policy regard
ing the coming clip. The situation is,
to say the least, perplexing. On the one
hand the wool maj kets at this time are
very much depressed, the tariff is not
restored, and impOrtatiunS threaten TO
he heavy. On the other hrnd, IL looks
AS though our good woods would De
ne-ded, in spite of all this. and AS if
there must, suoUpr or later, be Il reaction
10 a better basis in prices. Tne tariff
will. we feel confident. be- restored with
In year, and not many seasons Will pass
before The business will enjoy one of
the best 'booms' IN its history. 1t is ar
gued by Eastern publications that wool
would have been still lower at this
time. had it not been for the lighter
marketing. as compared with the same
part of lSS3-and perhaps it ould. But
these same publications are so closely
identified with the manufacturing inter-
est that we who ale identified with the
growing interest are naturally suspi-
cious of their expressions. About all
that can be done is for every one 10
gather all the infcrmatiod possible on
the subject, and then draw his own con-
cfusion as to probabilities. Late rdevel-
Opments may justify representations,
but they are utterly impracticable at this
time.-StockmaD.
! A Michigan correspondent of the Fruit
Recorder has found strong alum water
an SdOooSO WI
His mode of proceeding was to dissolve
the alum in a small quantity of waller by
heating the water, and then add suffi-
cient water to make the whole three
gallons. When this was cold he put it
| into a common watering pot, having a
rose spout, and sprinkled his cabbage,
and caulifiower plants, keeping up this
sprinkling as long as any of the insects
were about, from the time that the white
butterfly hogan to lay her eggs. He says
that he watered them almost every evs-
ming, and thus kept his cabbage and
caulifiower perfectly clean. He also
tried the alum solution on his currant
bushes, and with equally successful re-
suits, and commends it for washing the
trunks of young fruit trees, for the rea-
son that it is cheap. effectual and nom
poisonous insecticide, acting instanta-
neously on the worm or caterpillar by
means of its astringency, and so con-
tracing their tissues that they cannot
breathe.