The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-12-09
over, nor perhaps SO good as some that
have been bred here.

. to propagate by cuttings" We have
not found it so, and we have grown lots
of them. 1t is the finest currant, every
way, that has been introduced.
"FREsH fruits may be safely shipped
long distances by wrapping each speci-
men in tissue paper which has been
soaked in salicylic acid. Double thick
nesses may be used for extra long
journeys and the interspaces filed
with the same material" So says Pro-
fessor Budd.
ACCORDING to late reports the north
western corn crop has been more dam
aged by premature frosts than was at
first supposed. The great amount of
wet weather is keeping corn from dry
ing out as it should, and this will pre-
vent new corn coming on the market
until it freezes dry.
"THE Ben Davis apple seems to be
as popular over the western country as
the Baldwin is in New England" says
the Cultivator, apparently unaware Of
the narrow limits of the Baldwin and
the vast area where the Ben Davis is
the leading winter market apple. Prob
ably ten times as many of the latter are
grown in the United States as of the
former.
Mr.. j. T. LovETT says that the Rus
sian apricot is the only good apricot
which he has ever been able to fruit in
his latitude in the orchard or open
field. Other varieties do well enough
in the South, but it would not pay to
plant them in northern states. The
Russian apricot succeeds anywhere
where our common fruits grow. Mr..
Lovett lives in New Jersey.
"THE English sparrow must go! Such
is the verdict of the American Ornitholo-
gists' Union" Yes, and these same or
nithologists were the very fellows who
favored their introduction and lobbied
through the laws for their protection.
We have just been reading the praise
they lavished ON the little beasts in the
Massachusetts Agricultural Report for
1861. And there are other birds, just
as bad, which they still uphold and pro-
tect.
"THE best grass for an orchard is I'M
doubtedly orchard grass with red clover,
or red clover alone. Plenty of seed
should be used. Cut when weeds make
their appearance; afterwards pasture
with hogs or sheep" So says Orchard
and Garden. But we much prefer our
common June grass, Poa pratensis. In
good soil, such as an orchard should
have, its thick, long LEAKAGE forms the
best possible bed for the fruit to fall
upon.
FARM AND GARDEN says truly:
"There is not section in this blessed
country where a fellow who knows
how to work could not make his liv-
ing in one way or another. If you fail
to do so in one place, you are only too
liable to repeat that experience in
another. If you are doing well, keep
a tight grip on it. Some people have
the unfortunate disposition not to get
along in any place; others are the
lucky owners of the faculty to live COM
fortably wherever they are"
"THE best time to prune grape-vines
is as soon as possible after the leaves
drop off in the fall. Then the cut
ends get dry during the winter, and
there is no danger of bleeding when the
sap starts in the spring." So says the
Culticator, and the direction is correct.
But if neglected in the fall, don't for
bear to prune your grape-vines in the
spring for fear of their bleeding"
1t scares novice to see the sap run
from the cut ends, but it don't hurt
the vines, or injure the crop, one bit.
How many of the farmers of YER
mont are members of school commit
tees, and how easy it would be for them
to give the preference to those teachers,
male and female, who can teach some
thing that is connected with their own
business. To make farming interest
ing to our children is the solution of
the problem, " how to keep them on
the farm" Let our common-school
teachers understand that they are ex-
pected to communicate such knowledge
or go without employment, and we shall
soon find them prepared for the task.
THE last bulletin of the Connecticut
Experiment Station gives the analysis
of home-mixed fertilizer, compounded
of dissolved bone-black, bone and blood,
sulphate of ammonia and muriate of pot
ash, purchased separately and mixed by
the purchaser, Mr.. j. j. Webb, Hamp-
den. The cost per ton was $31 .96, and
the station valuation $40.01. A sample
of another fertilizer analysed, Charter
Oak Fertilizer, the cost price of which
was $50 a ton, was found to have
valuation of only 1926 ton. This
fertilizer contained 1851 per cent of
sand and aoil IT. saams from, tb;s tbat