davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
About Strawberries, Etc.

T. w., Waterbury, VT, writes =" have
twenty rods of ground which 1 am think
ing of eventually setting to strawberries.
1t is now in grass. do not know whether
l can make it remunerative or not; am
not accustomed to the business, and wish
to ask few questions.
l. Could l pillow the ground in the spring
and plant beans and get them out of the
way to set plants this present season
raised from plants set this spring Would
the upturned sods be hindrance
Q. Would you turn under coat of ma
nure this spring and then put another coat
on the plowed surface? Would it be too
rich for beans? Perhaps some other crop
would be better; please suggest.
8. What do you realize per quart for your
berries Do you have home market, or
do you send them away? Do you, or not,
furnish or obtain baskets to send them
off in
A. How many quarts do you average
on square rod?
5. wish to ask you what you think Of
the Russian Mulberry.
REPLY BY AGRICULTURAL EDIToR.-
l. Yes, you could plant an early bean, like
the improved Yellow Eye, and get them
off soon enough. But we should not set
the strawberry plants until spring. They
will winter better where they grew, and
spring.set strawberries do full as well as
those set in the fall. OF course there will
be no fruit Cor ought not to beg for the
first year, anyway. We set in the spring,
after the flower stalks have grown out an
inch or 80, and break them all off to pre-
vent fruiting. Every berry you get the
first year costs you pint the next year.
2. We should put all the manure on the
plowed surface. The sod is enough to &c
to the bottom. A fair dressing narrowed
in will not make it too rich for beans. In
the fall put on more manure, and work i,
in. In the spring, before setting the
plants, put on twenty-five bushels of ashel
to the acre and work it in. Then SOW or
one thousand pounds of ground bone. ant
work that in, and then set the plants, II
rows five feet apart, and one foot apart ii
the row and let them run. You canno
get ground too rich for strawberries. Thu
plot selected should be where the snow lie
we'll in the winter. Mulch alone will no
save strawberries from winter-killing il
our climate.
8. Prices vary according to the CROP
same as potatoes. We have sold at HON
I for twenty-five cents quart, and have de
| livered them in Montpelier for twelve an
3 one.half cents. Last year we got thrice
t cents for our whole crop at home, excer
D one crate sent to a friend. They ar
9 picked in quart baskets and these basket
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

IT is often, indeed almost always, used as
reason why we should have our children
taught Latin and Greek that the knowl-
edge of those languages will make them
better masters of English. But facts are
against this. The chief fault found in
the new version of the New Testament is
that its English is not idiomatic yet it
is the work of the greatest classic al
scholars of England and America. A
writer in the Atlantic Monthly says that
at Harvard college nine-tenths of the
English exercises submitted to the pro-
lessor of rhetoric are faulty in spelling,
grammar and construction, and he adds :
al venture to assert that the journeyman
printers of our land write more Huently
and dramatically, on the average, than
the seniors in our universities. Why
Not because they know Greek and Latin
and mental philosophy; solely because
the handling of English is their daily
work."
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
About an Apple Orchard.

S. b. Blodgett, Lower Cabot, writes
81 wish 30 buy few apple trees, but do
not know just what kind to get. Should
like few fall but more winter varieties,
about twenty in all. My soil is warm
loan inclined to sand, with an east cant.
1 have one Tolman Sweet that was put
out thirty years ago or more, and is a
large and thrifty tree, so conclude that
any kind that will do as we'll as that vari-
ETY. will succeed with me. l would like
Just such variety as you would choose
yourself to set in this locality. Do you
consider an east can't better than any
other for fruit trees ?"
REPLY.-Our list for Mr.. Blodgett's
locality would be two Duchess of Olden-
burgh. two Red Astrachan, one Northern
Sweet, five Fameuse and ten Wealthy.
Send to L. M. Macomber, North Ferris.
burgh, VT, for them, and you will get
good trees at fair price. An east cant
is as good as any for an orchard, probably
the best; but there are good orchards on
all slopes. The objection to southwest
cant is the effect of the sun in winter, but
this is obviated by setting the trees with
slant of ten or twelve degrees towards
the sun at two o'clock. In this way the
sun strikes the stem of the tree more OBJ
liquely when it is at the hottest, and the
top shades it some, even in winter.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

am satisfied that good commercial fer
tilizer generally pays. have certainly
doubled my money invested in Bradley's,
Bowker's and Quinnipiac the first season,
beside leaving the soil much improved,
while last year two and half tons of
Crocker's Buffalo phosphate did me hardly
any good. 1 do not think it paid for the
trouble of applying. Now what gusran-
tee have we for honest dealing2 Honor
and self-interest have never been sufficient
to prevent men from cheating. Our state
law may have some lettering influence,
but remedy at the end OF lawsuit has
not much attraction to the average
farmer, or much terror for the average
swindler. We want some efficient plan
for avoiding imposition-we want to
know that we are going to get precisely
what we pay for. We can only be sure
of this by having each lot of a moderate
quantity-say carload-examined by
chemist. The analysis of three samples
of particular brand for the whole state,
as required by statute, proves but little.
just here is where the proverbial want of
cooperation among farmers comes in. If
enough neighbors to take carload would
combine and buy on guaranteed stand
ard, and subject to the analysis of relia-
BILE chemist, they would be sure of the
quality of their goods, and at the same
time get them cheaper than from agents
and retail dealers.
u. G. HUNT. BrooksYille. Vt.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

use of heterogeneous manures very neces-
sary upon most FERNS the nitrogen pro-
duces rank growth of leaves and is very
expensive, but does not seem to improve
the crop of grain or fruit; it is not only
expensive, but very soluble and volatile,
and to obtain the best results from its use
should be applied at several times during
the growing season nitrate of soda APP
piled in the fall was worthless, being all
washed away before spring. heterogeneous
manures may be necessary for market
gardeners, or for special crops, but he
thought they were not very essential in
general farming. The market gardener
must use stable manure on land constantly
worked, to insure a good mechanical con-
dition, which the general farmer secures
by blowing under sod"
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

are packed in bushel (thirty-two quartz
crates. The express company returns the
crates free.
4. Five thousand quarts to the acre is
fair yield. We have done better, and
more times much worse. Twelve thousand,
and even fifteen thousand, quarts have
been reported.
s. We have had the Russian Mulberry
two years. 1t seems quite hardy. We
should have said, in answer to the first
question, that sod ground is apt to be in
tested with the big, white, red-headed
grub of the dor bug, or June bug, as some
call it. When this is the case, it is a
waste of time and money to set straw
berries there. The best fun these grubs
have is to gnsw the roots off as fast as
you can set them. If the blowing is
we'll done the sod will not make any
trouble. Use a cultivator for working in
the dressings for the strawberries.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

FARMERS, as a rule, are too liable to
neglect their poultry and let them shift
for themselves, and as result their
poultry yard is generally composed of old
hens or late-hatched pullets, or both
and even if one of the old hens should
bring off an early brood, little neglect
during the cold, wet weather of early
spring will generally prove fatal to the
tender chicks. A little experience will
soon show that one cannot afford to neg
lect his poultry, for there is no animal on
the farm that feels the effect of careless
management SO quick as laying hen
and take lot of hens in good laying con.
dition, even of some of the best improved
breeds, and little neglect on the part of
the keeper will soon shut off the supply
of eggs.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

The agricultural editor of the Man
chester IN. H.) Mirror and Farmer is a
practical man with level head. Quoting
the Ploughman in the sap-sucker's praise,
he says: "This sounds very well, but
woodpeckers do kill trees. Not only
apple trees, but the tops of forest trees
They attack the thriftiest trees in the Or
chard and the smoothest places on the
trees. Some orchardists think they are
after the sap to drink, and some think
they want the inside bark to eat. Close
observation indicates that both are cor.
rect. A bird eagerly in search of insects
would not stand on one tree and poke his
bill into the same set of holes just
through the thin bark ten hours day
for a week."
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

"SoUTH CAROLINA phosphate rock,
finely ground and treated with sulphuric
acid, forms large part of many fertilizers.
This material is called acid phosphate.
Bone is used to supply phosphoric acid
only to comparatively small extent" So
says the Homestead, but it forgets to say
that, though the phosphate rock does not
cost the makers over So per ton, ground,
the price they charge for the fertilizer is
based upon the cost of ground bone, cost
ing three times as much as ground phos.
phate rock. The difference makes fancy
profit which farmers should have the
benefit of.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

The HOMESTEAD recommends cheap
fertilizer" the materials of which cost
1924 per ton, and its estimated value /"
(atexperiment station rates) $20.52. Why
isn't it just as well to buy fertilizer that
analyses $41,04 and costs $4S 1t is
just the same thing, with saving of one
half on freight. What we need is fer
tilizer that costs the farmer 1914 and will
anslyse Cat experiment station prices)
$4S. That's what the English farmers get.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
The Black Knot, Etc.

E. L. M. writes from Williamstown,
Vermont "I have been trying for
number of years to get some tame cherry
and blue and white plum trees to grow
ing, but every year they are attacked with
black knot. Is there any way to prevent
it ? have put salt around the roots, which
seemed TO keep it off for short time.
Will shoots that come up from the roots
of blue and white plum trees bear good
fruit When should plum stones be
planted to have them grow? 1 have tried
a number of times in the fall, but have
never succeeded"
REPLY BY AGRICULTURAL EDIToR-
The black knot is contagious fungous
disease, frequent upon the wild bird
cherry, and spreading from them, and
from other affected trees, to sound ones.
To get rid of it, first destroy (by burning)
all affected wild trees in the vicinity.
Then set young trees brought from an
unaffected neighborhood. Watch them
carefully, and when you see unnatural
swellings begin to appear upon the limbs,
remove all the affected limbs by cut
some distance below the disease, and
burn them. Downing says the white va
rieties are less easily infected than the
blue Sound, unaffected trees can be had,
we believe, from the nursery of L. M.
Macomber, North Ferrisburgh, Vt. Salt
is an excellent manure for plum trees and,
by keeping them thrifty, enables them
to some extent to resist the contagion.
Shoots (suckers) from plum trees that
were themselves grown from suckers of
good seedlings will yield the same fruit.
But suckers from budded or grated trees
will be uncertain in quality. The com.
mon "Damson plums, being usually
propagated from suckers, generally come
true, and the same is the case with the
common pie cherry. But nursery trees of
named sorts are almost always grated or
budded on Seeding roots, which are like
all seedlings, uncertain till we let them
bear. Sometimes you get very good
one from seed; more times you don't.
Plum stones should be planted in the
fall. When they are taken from fully
ripened fruit, grown on healthy trees that
are not over-bearing, most of them will
grow. Plant one inch deep just before the
ground freezes, and spread on the row a
layer of fine manure An inch thick. Often,
if not watched, the cut-worms will destroy
the young plants just as they are breaking
the soil, and the inexperienced planter
thinks the seed was bad. The seed should
be buried in the ground as soon as taken
from the fruit, the spot marked, and when
ready to plant them take them up and
transfer them to the prepared drill, drop
ping them one or two inches apart. Plums
do best in pretty rich heavy soil. Cherries
do best in light soil that is not very rich
Hardly ever do both succeed well in the
same garden, especially the finer sorts
The best plums for Vermont are LON
bard, Bradshaw, Mclaughlin, Smiths
Orleans, Yellow Egg, Princes Yellow
Gage. OF cherries the harder sorts are
Early Richmond, May Duke, Late Kent
ish {" Pie Cherry y, Late Duke, English
Morello, Refine Hortense, Lieb, Kentish
Ostheim. The Lieb and Ostheim are
"iron clad" but the trees are yet scarce
and hard to get.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
,Men, entertainments.
Three PecuIiarities

popularity Of Hoods Sarsaparllla, which
Is obvious to all, is one hundred doses one
dollar, - an unanswerablc argument as to
strength and economy. If you are sick, try
this excellent medicine; 1t has given health
and happiness to many, and you may reason
ably expect 1t will to you The cures effected
by Hoods Sarsaparlla speak volumes in its
praise, and are constantly adding to its in
fluence. No better evidence of its worth IL
needed, than its enormous sale. An article
without merit cannot attain the popular de-
mahd of this medicine.
az have frequently tested Hoods Sarsapa-
rilla, and know it to be an article OF merit"
NJ. Bixby, Holland, Mass.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

If the state undertakes the education
of the children of the people, as it does
in this country, the working men have a
right to claim for their children the best
education the state can give; that is, such
an education as will in the largest meas.
ure possible fit them for the work and
experience of their life. The people of our
country, without exception or distinction
of classes, need more knowledge and bet
ter education.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

PRESIDENT ELIOT of Harvard has pub
licly asserted that only one thing is es-
sential to culture, and that one thing is
mastery of the mother tongue, such as
should be attainable in our public schools.
If we mark the sense of the word essential,
and remember that other knowledge is
important and all knowledge desirable,
the truth of Mr.. Eliot's statement must
be admitted. The Greeks studied no lit
erature beside their own. The French,
among moderns, present to a remarkable
degree the same self-sufficing character
istic. When European and American cul-
ture was in its early stages, an extreme
love and admiration for the ancient
classics was natural. But now it is child
ish, and in the schools where it is still
maintained it is great hindrance to cul.
ture, by preventing the mastery of the
mother tongue.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

The superior qualities of Hoods Sarsapa-
rilla are secured by three pecullarites viz.
First. The combination of remedial agents
used.
Second = The proportion in which they
are mixed.
Third. - The process by which the active
medicinal properties are secured.
These are peculiar to Hoods Sarsaparilla.
and are unlike any other. The result of these
pecuiarties Is a medicine of unusual strength,
which effects cures hitherto unknown. A
trial, or even n glance at the article, inspires
confidence, because it bears unquestionable
Indication of a thorough understanding on the
part of those who originated it.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

THE MASSACHUSETTS, HORTICULTURAL
SOCIETY had debate on fertilizers the
other day. John B. Moore OF Concord,
an extensive and successful farmer, gar
dener and fruit grower, said, speaking of
commercial fertilizers: "He believed
farmers should 90 their own mixing. 1t is
not an easy matter to dissolve bones, but
they can be bought ground, and also
Carolina phosphate; he did not think the
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
AarirnMnraL.
t. u. HOsKINs. Newport. VT. Editor.

ALL history shows that the many have
never done wrong to the few, but the few
have often done wrong to the many. All
legislation by the people has been more
than fair, it has been dangerously liberal
to the few. History acquaints us with no
instance to the contrary.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

REPLY.-Write to Burt & Henshaw,
154 State street, Boston, for all fertilizer
materials. Send cash by registered letter
for your order. Undoubtedly it is the
best way, generally, to feed such sub
stances as cotton seed and linseed meals
and use the manure. If the urine is all
saved, there will be bat little loss of
nitrogen-but then, how rarely it is all
saved Nevertheless, cotton seed meal is
as cheap source of nitrogen as you can
mix in fertilizer, especially when it is
already on hand. For corn, where half
dressing of stable manure is used, no
nitrogen need to be added, when the object
is mainly crop of grain. For fodder we
should use some nitrogen, as it gives
heavy growth of stalk and leaf, even when
it fails to increase the grain. Those
farmers who use manure with fertilizer
on land that is not helped by ashes, can
grow good corn with plain acid phos-
phate in the hill, or the same value of
ground phosphate rock. Where ashes
is necessary, the bone and ashes compound
is the very best thing in the hill, but don't
let il come in contact Dah the seed.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

Henry Dickson, wholesale grocer, and pro-
prietor of Dlcksons Opera House, Kenton, o.,
writes "My wife has been troubled with in
digestion, and her blood has been in poor
condition. She has used several bottles of
Hoods Sarsaparilla, and it has been great
benefit to her."
For the last twelve or fifteen years have
been sufferer from a milk leg; was almost
helpless, and could walk only on level floor.
Hoods Sarsaparilla has certainly made me
all over new, and cured me of my lameness.
] feel twenty years younger than 1 did"
Harriet Vim, Burnham, Me.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

"My little girl was afflicted with scrofula.
SO virulent was the disease, that her neck had
been lanced ten times. At the time she began
to take Hoods Sarsaparilla, there was q very
large bunch on her face. This we ex-
pected to open with the lancet; but to our
surprise the bunch began to shrink, and now
it has entirely disappeared. Baby is in good
flesh; sores all gone; her appetite is good,
and she seems as well as any child"
William II. Conant, Lyme Centre, N. II.
Attest; L live neighbor to Mr.. and Mrs.
Conant, and have always known them. The
above statement is true. Theodore Balch.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
Questions Answered.

j. G. Trow, Wolcott, Vermont, writes
al wish to know where to buy ground
phosphate rock. Can it be bought un-
groundP They are putting in machinery,
about five miles from my place, for grind
ing bones, and thought l could get the
rock ground there. Would it not be more
profitable to feed the cotton seed meal and
apply the manure, or does it lose most
of the nitrogen in passing through the
cattle r am young farmer and want
to learn all | can"
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
Scrofula

Hoods Sarsaparilla will cure, when in the
power of medicine, Scrofula, Salt Rheum,
Dyspepsia, Headache, Constipation, Bilious
ness, General Debility, Pains in the Back,
Kidney Complaint, Catarrh, Female Weak
ness, Cancerous Humors, Humors of the
Face, Rngworm, Pmples Syphilitc Alice
tions, Ulcers, Sores, Tumors, Soald Head,
and all diseases arising from an impure
state or low condition of the blood.
appetite poor, bowels all out of order,
scrofulous sores on my face and back. L COM
menced taking Hoods Sarsaparilla, and with
three bottles my sores healed and l am at
business again." j. Amberg, Chicago, Ill.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16
Purify Your Blood

Hoods Sarsaparilla is made of sarsaparilla,
dandelion, mandrake, cherry bark, iva ursi,
dock, and other valuable medicinal agents
long and favorably known for their power in
graduating disease and purifying the blood
A Druggist says; 1t is fortunate to have
preparation like Hoods Sarsaparila, that you
can recommend to your customers, confident
it will suit Them
If you are suffering from Scrofula, Salt
Rheum, Catarrh, Dyspepsia, or any blood dis
ease, and are DESTROYS of more information
regarding the value of Hoods Sarsaparilla,
we shall be glad to send you book containing
a few of the wonderful cures effected.
The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-04-16

Sold by all druggists. 81; six for So. Made
only by G. l. HOOD s. CO., Lowell, Mass.
100 Doses One Dollar.
St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-06
Passenger Rate Decentralization.
Especial Telegram to the Globe /

CHICAGO, Sept. 5.-The Trunk line passenger
situation is approaching crisis and to-day some
decisive action will be taken. For some time
the Vanderbilt lines have been in possession of
what they considered positive evidence that the
Pennsylvania lines selling first class tickets
from Chicago to New York at SIC when
the regular rate is $50. 1t is said that a very
high official of the latter system admitted yester-
day that his agents had been authorized to do so
in order to meet the competition of other lines.
AS long as the weaker lines only were guilty of
the Irregularities the Vanderbilt people were sat
isfed with the commission method of retalia-
ton, but when the Fort Wayne began to protect
itself by reducing rates over the counter, they
felt compelled to do likewise. A meeting of the
Vanderbilt general passenger agents was held
yesterday, at which they agreed to recommend
to their presidents that the example set by the
Fort Wayne be followed not to inaugurate any
aggressive warfare, but in a conservative manner
to take care of patronage which they regard as
particularly their own. Such recommendation
will be sent to the presidents tomorrow.