Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-06


to be doing with ease what will show up
later as having the rudiments of injury
imbodied in it. The mucles are easily
made sore, for the same reason that a
boys muscles get sore each time, until he
gets Injured to it, that he plays a game of
ball. One of the least damaging results
is the early appearance of wind puffs,
more easily brought out on some young
horses than on others. because the tenden-
cy to anything else-is inherited. 1t is
quite possible for a young horse to get
an atrophy (sweeny) of one or of both
shoulders. There are others deeper seated
that can not be seen, and important, par
thy because of being hidden. Therefore,
if the young horse be put early to work,
the work should be of that kind that
grieves relief, now and then, and, as a
rule should not be Of that sort that occurs
before the pillow.
THE GARDEN SoIL.-The ideal soil for
a garden is a mellow, sandy loan, under
laid with a subsoil that is not too open Or
porous. Such ground is termed 50 CRATE
ful' and it is not the kind of gratitude
which has been defined as "alively appre-
citation of fayors to come" which is true
of some other soils. This ideal land re-
members past favors; it retains the fer
tilizers with which it has been enriched,
and returns them in the form of good
crops until the gift is exhausted; therefore
it is a thrifty as we'll as grateful soil.
The owner can bring it up to the highest
degree of fertility, and keep it there dy
judicious management. This sandy loan
natures blending of sand and clay is a
safe bank, The manure incorporated
with it is deposit which can be drawn
against in fruit and vegetables, for it does
not leach away and disappear with one
seasons rains.
Light, thin, sandy soil, with porous
or gravelly subsoiI, is of very different
type, and requires different treatment.
1t is a spendthrifs. No matter how much
you give it one year, it very soon requires
just SO much more. You can enrich it,
but you can't keep it rich. Therefore you
must manage it as one would take care of
a spendthrift, giving what is essential at
the time, and in a way that permits as
little waste as possible. [ shall explain
this treatment more fully further on.
In the choice of garden plot you may
be restricted to a stiff, tenacious, heavy
clay. Now you have miser to deal with
a soil that retains, bnt in many cases makes
no proper use of, what it receives Skill
and good management, however, can i'm
proYe any soil, and coax luxuriaEt crops
from the most unprOpitiOus.
We will speak first of the ideal soil al
ready mentioned, and hope that the ere
, contains an area of it of suitable dimen-
sions for garden. What should be the
first step in this case? Why, to get more
> of it. A quarter of an acre can be made
, equal to half an acre. You can about
double the garden, without adding to it
, an inch of surface, by increasing the
depth of good soil. For instance, ground
has been cultivated to the depth of six or
seven inches. Try the experiment of
stirring the soil and enriching it one foot
downward or eighteen inches. or even
two feet. and see what vast differences
3 will result. With every inch you go down
making all friable and fertile, you add
just SO much more to root pasturage
, When you wish to raise a great deal, in
crease your leverage. Roots are your
: levers; when they rest againsta deep fer
tile soil they lift into the air and sun
l shine products that may we'll delight the
3 eyes and palate of the most fastidious
!. We suggest that this thorough deepening
pulverization, and enriching of the soil
' be done at the start, when the pillow can
5 be used without any distractions. If
there are stones, rocks, rOOts-anything
which prevents the treatment which a
; garden plot should receive, there is de-
cided advantage in clearing them all out
at the beginning. Last fall | saw half
acre that was swampy, and so cucumber
: ed with stones that one could walk all
over it without stepping off the rocks
5 The land was slOping, and therefore cap
able of drainage, The proprietor put
r three men to work on the lower side with
picks shovels, amp blasting tools. They
turned the soil over to the depth of eight
, aen inches, taking out every stone larger
than walnut. Eight or ten feet apart
} deep bitches were cut, and the stones, as
| as possible, placed in these. The rest
were carried away for heavy wall. You
may say it was expensive work. So it
= was; yet SO complete garden spot was
5 made that believe it would yield a fair
: interest in potatoes alone. [ relate this
instance to show what can be done. A
5 more forbidding area for a garden in its
original state could scarcely be found
5 Enough vegetables and fruit can be rails
. ed from it hereafter, with annual fertiliz-
ing, to supply large family, and it will
l improve every year under the refining
3 effects of FROST sun, and cultivation.
1t should be remembered that culture
3 does for soil what it does for people. II
mellows brings it up, and renders it cap
r able of finer products. Much, indeed, can
, be done with crude piece Of land in a
1 single year when treated with the thor
t oughness that has been suggested, and
/ some strong-growing vegetables may be
/ seen at their best during the first season
l but the more delicate vegetables thrive
3 better with successive years of cultiva-
ton. No matter how abundantly the
ground may be enriched at first, time and
3 chemical action are required to transmute
8 the fertilizers into the best forms of plant
D food and make them part of the very
soil itself. Ploughing or spading, es-
: pecially if done in late autumn, exposes
j. the mould to the beneficial action of the
air and frost, and the garden gradually
' takes on the refined, mellow, fertile char
acter which distinguishes it from the or
binary field.
In dealing with thin, sandy soil one
: has almost to reverse the principles just
given. Yet there is no cause for discour-
agement. Fine results, if not the best
L -