The National tribune., 1885-04-23
OUR RURAL TOPICS,
Some Practical Suggestions for 0ul
Agricultural Readers

HOW TO HAVE HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE
ORCHARDS.
Trees should be worked on the hardest and
| best stocks. No stock should serve for more
than one tree. Nursery trees and orchard
! trees should grow uniformly, making a mod
| crate annual growth Of well-ripened wood. An
orchard which has been heavily MANFRED sue
| cessively for a period of years, making enor-
nous growth extending into late Autumn year
after year, is in the condition to suffer severely
| from a heavy October freeze or from very Sc
we're Winters. Therefore in growing an orchard
we should make haste slowly. and not overdo
in our feeding or culture. know an orchard
on soil so rich as to produce heavy crops of on
ions, but when seeded down to pasture the sud-
den change almost caused the growth of the
trees to cease, and decline at once began.
Again, some varieties are tender and very
susceptible to severe cold, while others will
usually stand our severest Winters. On the
occasion of a severe October breeze, which was
destructive of even hardy trees and shrubs, the
Sweet Bough apple trees were largely killed,
| even as far south as Delaware, while the Pc
| waukee and other iron clad varieties mostly
stood in the northern belt uninjured.
The geological formation of orchard land is
an important consideration, as affecting the
health of trees. For the Baldwin and other
more tender varieties gravelly loan or sandy
loan is unsafe during severe dry Winters es-
pecially in valleys. hill with stronger and
more retentive soil and under strata is par
atively safe. In the severe Winter of 1928,
when the ground froze up comparatively dry,
whole orchards of Baldwin apples in dry
soils were lost. So also were our hardy
evergreeus to considerable extent. The
cause was the unusual dryness Of the
soil and the severe cold. Cultivated crops
in apple, peach, or pear orchards, which re-
guire high manuring and late culture, there
by keeping up a strong late growth, are ex-
tremely unsafe for the trees. The immature
cambium layer cells are ruptured by freezing
and the sap vitated, often causing the bark to
turn brown and loosen from the tree. An un-
drained water-sogged soil, cold and stag
nant induces so unhealthy growth as to be
liable to speedy decay. Unsafe conditions exist
when heavy SHOWS come before the ground
freezes. In this case the ground is compare
lively warm, while the temperature above is
intensely cold. Thereafter the advent of q
warm spell brings special danger.
Leaf and twig blight often occur in orchards,
enfeebiing the trees to a greater or less extent,
and making them an easy prey to climatic
changes, as malaria sometimes attacks man,
making him an easy prey to more radical dis
eases. Now as a man of good habits often es-
SdpCc NdHSEIs 81 q tIcc Vi ScOu NlSOT
and healthy variety often succeeds where q
weaker might fall.
Excessive bearing is often fatal. A free
horse is sometimes worked to death. So may
it be with tree. This condition, with lack of
nutrition, is especially dangerous. As heavy
freight train needs q supply of coal in the
tender, SO an orchard in full bearing must be
we'll supplied with needed elements of food
An orchard bearing heavily and making no
growth is exhausting its vitality and may soon
fail.
My advice to- tree planters is this: Don't
plant on unsuitable soils. Get good trees of
hardy varieties. Secure healthy, not excessive
growth, and moderate production, remember
ing that success and safety lie between the ex-
tremes of growth and fruitage.-P. M Auqur
State Ponlologist Of Connecticut.
KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.
That animals appreciate kind treatment re-
quires no further proof than is exhibited in
every look and act of the animal itself. 1t takes
but few minutes for the temper of the master
of animals to be impaired to the animals in his
charge. If he goes to the yard with club in
hand and boisterous words and oaths in his
mouth, there will soon be connection in the
entire yard; the stronger animals will COM
mence to gouge and hook at the weaker, and
there is general spirit of anger and dissatis-
faction manifested at every point. Now the
.
dumb beasts which have been committed to bis
care and keeping isio be pitied. 1t was never
intended that though the weaker should be sub
ject to the stronger, it should be as with rod
of ron, but in the spirit of kindness.
How much plcasanter it is for the farmer to
enter his yard and have the animals confined
therein manifest show of pleasure at his ap-
proach. as though expecting a kind word or
caress, than to start away as though in expec-
tation of a harsh word or kick. Kindness pays
at all times Inspire confidence in animals:
let them know that you are their protectors,
and the willingness with which they will obey
will be very marked. Another thing: an ami
NAL or animals that repose in quiet are much
more easily kept than those that are kept in a
ment. This principle is illustrated in the case
of mich cows. Their flow OF milk may be ar
rested and very much impeded by harsh lam
guace, or kicking, or pounding, when in the
stable. 1T the best results would be obtained
by those who have stock in their charge kind
ness to them must be observed.
MEADOWS IN SPRING.
The following from the New York Times. In
regard to the injury done meadows by pastur-
ing them in the Spring. our rural friends will
do well to heed: To pasture moving meadow
in the Spring is Il folly as great as that of tho
man who killed his goose to get the eggs all at
one swoop. And yet very many farmers COM
NIT this folly. The practice is so common as to
be almost general. and yet it is to be presumed
the majority of farmers know they are commit
ting costly waste. The prevalent excuse is
that feed is short and the stock must be fed
This indicates want of good management for
other too much stock is kept, fodder has been
wasted. or adequate provision has not been
made. Ii such necessity OvercOmes prudence
and knowledge of ones best interests it
should be made ground for q better manage
ment in the future. and to enforce the improve
ment by penalty for the mistake, it would be
we'll for the farmer to buy supply of fodder
for his stock rather than injure his meadow by
Spring pasiuring.
aoTELETs.
= In laying oat garden always avoid wet
and heavy clay soil.
- Many of the most valuable portions of tia
manure are soluble in water and easily carried
off by rains. 1t should be, therefore, sheltered,
or else hauled to the fields and spread as fast as
it accumulates.
- Where stump5 are numerous and farms
small, it pays farmers to unite and Eu2 a large
stump puller. Tho expense to each would be
light, and the stumps could soon
be routed by cooperation in work and machin-
cry.
Eggs packed II well-dried ashes, and so as
not to touch each other, have been kept per-
fectly sweet for II months.
- Do not be afraid to mix sulphur aid red
pepper with a mess of warm feed for your |
chickens twice or three times a week. 1t tends |
to keep them in good health.
The bark Of the pear tree is thinner than |
hat g L. "a