The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-04-17
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers.
THE CARROT.

THE CARROT.
The carrot has been cultivated from remote
times as an eseulent it was known to the an
clients. 1t is a well-known and esteemed vege-
table, entering into the composition OF various
culinary dishes. 1t contains from six to eight
per cent. of sugar. A transverse section of a
carrot will show two parts of different colors.
The outside rind is usually most highly coiored,
and is tender and nutritious; the interior, or
heart, is more or less fibrous and msipid IN
taste; therefore, the value of the root depends
upon the relative proportions OF these parts,
and the root with the smallest proportion of
center is the most valuable Further improve
ment in carrots will tend to increase the exter-
nal rind and decrease the fbrous center. There
are numerous varieties of the carrot in cult
walton; these are generally divided into two
classes, distinguished as long or field carrots,
and short, horn, or garden carrots. The latter
are preferred for culinary uses, and the larger
and coarser kinds are preferred for livestock.
One bushel of carrots and one bushel of oats,
given in alternate meals, are said to be of equal
value with two bushels of oats alone. They
arc also very beneficial to the health of animals
and are more nourishing than turnips The
soil best suited to carrots is a light sandy
loan. 1t is useless to attempt to grow good
carrots unless the soil is deep and well loosened
up, SO that no resistance may be offered to the
downward growth of the roots. The seeds
should be sown thinly in shallow drills They
are furnished with hair-like appendages which
cause them to adhere and renders them difficult
| of separation in sowing. This is overcome by
first sleeping them for brief time in water,
and afterwards rubbing them apart in dry sand.
The drills may be from eighteen inches to
three feet apart, according to the variety thin
ming the plants from six inches to twelve
inches apart will also depend upon the variety,
the larger kinds requiring the most space.
They require careful treatment in hoeing and
keeping clear of weeds when young but when
they get well supplied with leaves they grow
rapidly. The roots can be kept for months in
a cool, dry place, especially if they are packed
away in dry sand.
TREES FOR sMALL-sIZED LAWNS
1t is mischievous error too frequently per-
! petrated to plant large growing trees close to
dwellings and other kinds of buildings Al
though trees and shrubs are chief decorative
| ornaments of place, they become disagreeable
when in wrong positions, and when closely
massed around a habitation they prevent the
sanitary effects of direct sunlight and the
healthy action of winds upon the building
/ and its immediate surroundings, and damp,
unhealthy atmosphere is consequently engen-
| dered. Small groups or beds of some of the
| choicest Towering shrubs may be placed on the
! lawn near the house; but close-surrounding
| thcket even of lowgrowing plants will sensi-
/ bly, exclude the cool breezes of a summer
/ evening. A circular bed ten or twelve feet in
| diameter filled with the evergreen Mahonia,
! or with yucca flamentosa can safely be intro
duced even OH very small fronts. Lawns are
| frequently overplanted in fact this is COM
mon mistake made by young planters and it
/ is especially annoying, as the trees grow up, to
| find that they are of the largest-sized kinds,
and that they must either be removed, defaced
| by constant trimming to keep them low, or
oil korA
medium-sized trees for lawn planting the fol-
| lowing may be noted OF the naples, the field
maple deer campestre), striped barked deer
PennsgtrGaicula), Japan maple (Aeer patnaatuBl
and many others of Japan origin. The Judas
tree (Cercis Canadeasis) and the dogwood Coslus
florida are native plants Of great beauty both
in foliage and flowers. The red and white
ouble-aowering varieties of the horse-chestnut
are well fitted for ornament, but their close,
! dense tops unfit them for planting near the
| house The KGlreateria pa1iieuLdtG is an airy
] looking medium sized tree. Magnolia cOnspicuG,
H. LeNne, and IL. Soulangeaaa are deciduous
species of this fine family. The tamarisk,
although of spreading growth. is an early flow
ering plant of much beauty. The snoWdrOp
tree, or silver bell Halesa tetrdpteraj, the fringe
tree {Chioaaathus VirgiHiea), the witeh-hazel,
| lHamdmelis Tirgiaica1, the hop tree Ptelea tri-
Jfolata) the buffalo berry (Shepherdia argentea),
and Styrar Japonica are all suited for planting
/ as low growing trees.
GRAZING AND soILING.
II COWS must Craze, they should have pas
lures on which the feed is plenty, and accessible
with the least possible amount of labor. But
it is not profitable to have cows subsist entirely
| by grazing. especially where land has much
| value, because 1t requires so great an area TO
support them. There is no way in which
ground yields so little food as in pasturing.
The surface may be covered ever so thickly
with grass, yet produce but little food, because
the growth is SO frequently interrupted and
put back by the injury done by constant crop
ping. As much food will grow ON one acre
where it is allowed to grow without molesta-
ton as will grow on three acres when mutila-
ted by being bitten off every few days, the
circumstances being in other respects the same
| The costliness of The grazing system was well
illustrated by the statement of a practical
farmer recently in a farmers club. He said
when he began farming, a few years ago, on
100 acres, he cultivated forty acres, and had
sixty acres in meadow and pasture, and found
it difficult TO keep stock equal to twelve cows
He has now adopted the plan of cultivation
and gathering the food for his stock, and as
consequence he has reduced his grass land
to thirty acres, and finds no difficulty in keep
ing the equivalent of thirty-six COWS, and has
seventy acres of land to cultivate instead Of
forty.-Ndti0RaL Lire-Stock Journal, Chicago.
NARROWING GRAIN CROPS IN SPRING.
The question may well be asked, Why dc
farmers consider it necessary to cultivate corn
potatoes and some other crops while they are
growing, and do not cultivate wheat rye OF
oats? We know of no reason why the latter
would not be as much benefited by surface
culture as the former. In fact, there are many
farmers who make practice of narrowing
over their wheat and rye fields in spring when
the soil becomes sufficiently hard for the ope
ration to be properly performed. The best
kind Of harr0ws for this purpose are those Will
sloping teeth; these break up and loosen the
soil without dragging the plants cut by the
roots. Instances have been noted where spring
narrowing has added many bushels to the
! yield when compared with portions of the
field which had not been disturbed. 1t is
good practice, when putting in winter wheat
and rye, not to harrow too finely over the seed
at that season. When the surface Is thickly
studded with clods, the young plants are pro
tected from the cold dry winds, and when th,
clods break down by freezing and thawing
they furnish fine covering to the exposed
roots, and if slnoothed over with harrow be
fore the spring growth advances the crop vii
be sensibly increased
SEED CORN.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
For fifteen years there has not been season
so bad for ripening corn as that of 1888. 1t i
estimated that the State of Wisconsin alone
conditions prevail in most corn growing States