The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-10-29


/ only know he loved me once
He does not love me now!'
Marian Douglass, in March Atlanticl
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Hanging Baskets.
Hanging baskets for plants are made
OF different materials, and in a great
variety of forms. Some are formed of
wire, others of clay, and ornamented
with fancy mouldings, etc. Very pref
ty baskets in rustic style are made by
covering the outside of wooden bowl
with fantastic knots and roots; this
makes a pleasing basket, but we know
of none so desirable as the old style of
semi-gobular wire basket, when prop
erly filled.
10 fill wire basket, first obtain some
of the green moss to be found on the
lower portion of the trunks of trees in
almost any shady piece of woods. This
is to be used as to a lining to the bas-
ket, turning the green side out, and en-
tircly covering the inside of the wire
form with the moss Before filing the
basket with soil, place handful of
charcoal or gravel in the bottom, which
will hold the moisture. Fill the basket
with rich, loose loan, such as will not
harden by frequent waterings. Plants
that are peculiarly suitable for hanging
baskets are quite numerous, and from
them selection may be made that
will please the most exacting taste. 1t
is 4 mistake to crowd too many plants
in basket; if they grow they will soon
become root-bound, stunted, and look
sickly. If the hanging basket be of
the ordinary size, one large and choice
plant placed in the centre with few
graceful vines to droop over the edges,
will have better effect when estab-
lishcd and growing, than if it were
crowded with plants at the time of
filling. Hanging baskets being con-
stantly suspended, they are exposed to
draughts of air from all sides, and the
soil is soon dried out. Hence careful
watching is necessary in order to pre-
vent the contents from becoming too
dry. If the moss appears to be dry,
take the basket down and dip it once
or twice in pail of water: this is bet
ter than sprinkling from wateringpot.
In filling hanging baskets, or vases of
any kind, we invariably cover the sur
face of the soil with the same green
moss used, for lining, which, while it
adds materially to the pleasing appear
ance of the whole, prevents the soil
from drying out or becoming baked on
the surface. If the surface Of the soil
in pots be covered with moss of this
kind, especially in summer, moisture
will be retained, and watering be re-
quired much less frequently.
Agriculturist.
The Mystery of Seeds.
The Massachusetts Ploughman ex-
plains to its readers why when pine
forest is cut off it comes with Seeding
oaks. A pine forest, it says, is
probably better adapted to the pre-
servation of the acorn through the
winter than any other place, and the
moisture in the spring, together with
shade, is just what the preserved
acorn requires to make it sprout, and
to encourage the young tree to grow:
so when, by any chance, an acorn is
dropped in pine forest, it is very sure
to grow and make an oak tree. 1t is
we'll known that pine forest is an ex-
ccllent place for the squirrels to make
their home, and what is more natural
than that they should bring home,
acorns, though they arc required to 90
long distances for them; and would it
not be very unatural if they did not
often drop some of them from their
overloaded pouches when frightened
by some passing animal, or fired at by
some thoughtless gunner? Thus one
by one the seed is dropped year after
year by squirrels, and probably birds,
by natural process, with seed that is
perhaps brought a half-mile or more.
After the little oaks begin to grow
that they make but little progress.
The tree that comes from the seed two
years before the pine is cut, is almost
as large as the one that came from the
seed twenty years before. For twenty
five or more years the little oaks are
thus accommodating, and all are patiently
waiting for the pines to be cut, that
they may have the help of the light and
sunshine.
But this explanation of the Plough
man will not suffice in all cases, nor
have we ever seen any satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION of the fact tnat a space of
ground cleared off in forest miles
away from open fields will at once
spring up with a great variety of plants
to which the place before had been an
entire stranger. The tirewccd. the
blackberry, dandelions, grasses, and
the common weeds or the field and
garden will thus put in an appearance
as though the ground had been ex-
prcssly prepared for the purpose. The
common theory that the seeds are
transported to these distant points by
birds or winds, and that they may lie
latent in the ground for many years
before the proper conditions arrive for
termination and growth seems
plausible enough, but we have never
seen any proof of it.
Fall Feeding.
If stock are to enter winter quarters