The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-07-03
NoTELETs.


NoTELETs.
1t has been decided by some experiment.
ers that salt has the property OF fastening the
maturing OF grain crops; that wheat on salted
land VIII ripen SIX 90 ten days earlier than on
unsalted land, all other conditions being equal;
that it increases the weld from > TO 80 per
cent; that it stifIens the straw and prevents
rust and smut; that it checks, If i5 does not
entirely prevent, the ravages of the ehinch bug,
and that two barrels per acre viii injure no
grain crop. The time to SOW salt is in the
Spring.
-Tarraeon is one of the most valuable of
herbs both for use in the kitchen and in salads.
1t IS tarragon which gives that peculiar piquant
favor to ketchups and sauces, but there are
not many who know its value IN this respect
except professionals. When the leaves are
simply picked and covered with strong vine
gar, they impart most grateful favor TO it,
which makes & good sauce for cold meat, and IL
Summer creates an appetite.
No farmer would expect large ears of corn
in hill OF eight or ten stalks, bUs he viii have
that number of stems in a bill of potatoes and
then complain that his potatoes ere small. II
large potatoes are expected the number Of
stalks in each hill should be reduced to, at most
three or four.
= The ehestnut tree does not flourish we'll on
clay soils. Wherever the snbsoiI is of a reten-
tive character, the trees may do we'll for few
years but they gradually die Out 1t needs a
well-drained rocky or graVelly soil for It's best
growth and longevity.
= Poplars are not usually classed among
long-lived trees, but there is a specimen OF the
black poplar in the Botanic Garden at Dion
which is believed TO be more than 400 years
old; documentary evidence alludes to it in
1860. At the ground level the girth of the
trunk is about fifty feet and at one foot above
this it measures nearly forty feet in eircumler-
ence.
A correspondent of the Rural Press says he
cleared his poultry houses of mites, with which
it was overrun, by sprinkIing the inside with
the water in which the potatoes for the house
hold dinner had been boiled. Two applications
cleared them all out.
We sec it stated that during the recent
frost some fruit growers saved their strawberry
crop by burning brush and throwing dense
smoke over their fields. The following method
OF warding frost from trees has been successful:
A pan is heated burning hot over FIRE Over
this heated pan is suspended a large 50-gallon
perforated bowl filled with coal tar, which
slowly drops through the perforated bottom
and, striking the heated pan, ignites, giving
forth a dense smoke, which. lowering over the
trees, stands guard between frost and fruit.
= Corn for fodder may be seeded as late as
the middle of July, bat the sooner the better,
as late fodder is sometimes difficult to cure
as drilling. Even on rather poor ground. with
a dressing of 500 pounds of guano to the acre,
we have seen fine crops Of corn fodder secured.
The weeds must, of course be kept down, and
the crop cultivated TO get best results.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
I send you specimen Of Concord grapes, which,
you will see are rotting very much. Can you
suggest any remedy OF preyentiye?-W. S. T.,
Fairfax Co, Va.
Ans. We regret that we cannot help you in
this matter. The cause of this particular rot
has not been aseertained and no remedy has
been found. Those who have practiced bag
ging the punches claim that the fruis is saved
from rot; if this IS so, it would go fur TO prove
that it is produced from atmospheric causes.
Last fall saved some seed from q single-fIover-
ing daliia, and about the middle Of Apr. / sowed
them III a small box. The plants are nearly foot
in height and l would like 10 know whether they
should be kept in the box or planted IN the Hover
bed this year. When viii they fower2-Julia. Sid
Ans. Plant them out at once and they viii
commence Towering before many weeks. I'm
less the weather should be wet at the time of
planting, give them heavy watering when set
cut.
A neighbor of mine has a small plantation of
straw berries with which he Is, think, only toler
ably successful. One OF MS practices IS To NOW Ell
the leaves about midsummer and ne considers thts
am important point in strawberry culture. desire
to know ii it isl. E., Chester.
Ans 1t is not necessary, although it does but
little harm to the plants. Better, however, let
them alone.
"Rough on Itch" cures humors, eruptions,
ring-worm, letter, salt rheum, frosted feet,
chilblains.
Singing irritation, all Kidney and Urinary
complaints cured by Buchu-p aibaf 81.