The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-07-18

Farmers are now generally asserting
TO the opinion that all swamp lands and
level clay land should be tile drained if
it is cultivated.
1t is good plan to pinch off the later
blooms of the tomato plant, as this will
hasten the maturity of the fruit already
set and increase its size.
Never gather berries while wet with
dew or rain. Much fruit is ruined by
being gathered too early in the morning,
especially in hot, sultry weather.
Carbolic soap, literally applied two or
three times, at intervals of so many days,
will, it is claimed, entirely destroy lice
on hogs. 1t is also good plan to mix
little sulphur with their feed at the same
time.
One acre of we'll cured meadow hay
Will keep COW five or six months; she
Will require on an average about three
acres of pasture for her summer support.
One acre on the soiling system will sup
port her all the year round.
The earth should not be drawn toward
bean plants in hoeing, nor should any
cultivation be attempted while the leaves
are wet with dew or rain. If dirt touches
the leaves it will rust or rot them. No
hoeing should be done after the beans
have blossomed.
Geraniums are special favorites for
bedders, as they are so free Towering;
with every shade of pink, crimson, scar
let and white. Their only drawback is
their lack of perfume, which can be sup
piled by edging their beds with mignon-
cite or sweet alyssum, or with plants of
purple and white heliotropes.
Turpentine has so strong an odor that
it will prevent depredations of most in
sects, and on q small scale is one of the
best applications that can be made. A
corn-cob dipped in turpentine will keep
cucumber and squash bugs from the
hill to which it is applied If hung in
plum trees it will prevent attacks of the
curculio,
One cause of the deterioration of swine
IS that sows are allowed to breed too
early. If a sow has her first pigs at fif-
teen months it is early enough. Then if
a good mother and good mixer she
should be kept as breeder till four, five,
or even six years old. Her pigs will
steadily increase in value, and the litters
will also be larger than the first one.
Beans are one of the crops for which
it would be thought that salt was not
needed. But an old farmer informs us
that little sprinkled on the rows of
beans just as the plants are coming up
makes them more vigorous and greatly
increases the profusion of pods. The
salt probably acts on the soil. releasing
plant food that would otherwise remain
inert.
The practice of placing lime or ashes
around peach trees, to exclude the grub,
is partly effectual, but the most certain
remedy is to remove portion of the
earth from the base of the stem, and dig
out the grubs with the point of knife,
carefully following the hole till the in
sect is found. The eggs are commonly
laid in the bark from carly summer till
August.
Bees love high temperatures, but in
midsummer the combined heat of the
sun and their own warmth is too much
for them, as is shown by their gathering
on the outside of the hives. But it IS
only at midday that this heat is too great.
Mornings and most nights it is Just right
Hence dense shade all the day long does
more harm than good. A projecting board
to protect from the midday sun, leaving
the hive exposed mornings and afternoons
is the best kind of shade.