The examiner., 1888-03-03
ing the places of the striking K. of L. rail-
road men at st. Louis and other places.
He will hardly repeat that eulogy now.
LIFE AND WORK ON THE FARM
Practical Points for Connecticut
People.
Agriculture and Horticulture I'm our
Own State.

Agriculture ana horticulture In our
Own State.
BYJ H. HALE OF SOUTH GLASTONBURY.
Frem the Hartford Courar tt
The seed catalogues are even more interest
ing than ever this season and should be studied
by all owning a garden. Make plans early
and purchase your seeds month before you
want them. Then the scotsman has more
time to fill the order correctly and you will
have them on hand ready for the earliest
planting. Don't expend all your money on
Novelties" and yet be progressive; try in a
small way the new things, year by year as
they come out. If they prove to be of real
value tell your neighbors of them, or mention
it at the Grange Or Farmers club, and, in
the same way, If they prove not to be as good
as some old standard sorts, don't keep it to
yourself, but let the public know of it, and
thus encourage the dissemination of valuable
new varieties and discourage those that are
worthless.
Here is a man, with twenty-eight bushels
of Welcome oats in his harm that were grown
last season ON oss-third of an acre, laughing
at his neighbor, for sending out of the state
fancy price, when they could have been had
at home for half the money. Far
mer No. 1, had good thing, but did not adj
vertise it, either in the field last summer, or
sequently he lost sale and his neighbor is
out the extra price paid.
Iceis such farm necessity of late years,
especially where the deep can system of set
ting milk is practiced, that the supply does
not always hold out as late as wanted in the
fall, and, even though the ice house was well
filled up month ago, it's not too late now to
spend few days in stocking up good pile
on, tI,o r1.x oSf Sid of nf he
outbuildings; covering it with three feet or
more of old hay and with q few boards ON top
to turn off water. A good supply may be had
up to about the first of July; after which
draw ON the regular supply that has been
more securely packed.
In making plans for the coming seasons
work, consult the boys They doubtless have
some thoughts CLEANED from last seasons ex-
perience that viii be of help to you and it
will tend to develop their powers of observa-
tion if they see that it can be put to practical
use.
It's well to indulge in little judicious lazi-
ness and not get up too early, especially at
this season of the year. Turning the whole
house upside down two or three hours before
daylight, does not necessarily mean an enter
prising or successful farmer, as some seem to
imagine. The most successful and happy
take reasonable time for rest and recreation
and thus develop mind and body in a way
that they may be used to best advantage
when required.
The grape vines should have been pruned
early in November, and laid down and
protected in some way during the winter, for
even our most hardy vines are more or less
injured each winter unless protected. If not
pruned last fall, it should be done at once, or
before the sap begins to move in March.
How to prune is q matter of considerable
difference of opinion and there is one rule
that is equally applicable to the proper
pruning of all the varieties. Some do best by
squirting back upon old wood, while others
do best where only the best new wood of last
seasons growth is left for fruiting canes
The strong growers of the Lobruscd
species Concord, Hartford, Martha, etc., will
as general thing fruit best on the laterals
of the young canes of last summers growth
and the same is true of the more vigorous
of the HybridS, while Norton's Virginia,
Eumelan, and others of the AeStiUGLiS
class fruit best on spurs from two or
three years-old canes, and, if these spurs are
from lateral canes rather than from main
stems, SO much the better. The weaker
growing varieties such as Catawba, Iona,
Delaware, Rebecca, ETC., produce abundantly
from the main canes. Short arms from these
with four to six eyes VIII give the best results.
Yet each vine will require somewhat different
treatment, according to its position, vigor, or
local surroundings, remembering that close
and careful annual pruning is absolutely
necessary to secure fine clusters of perfect
grapes.
II strawberry bed was not mulched
last fall, this is to remind you that no harm
has been done, as the real value of mulch
is not to keep the plants from freezing but
to keep them from thawing out every warm
day in early spring, which expands the sur
face soil lifting the plants with it, and often
breaking off the roots that are in the frozen
ground below. Pine boughs, or fine brush of
any kind viii answer just as well as old hay,
straw, leaves, or coarse manure, but will
have to be removed as the growing season be-
gins; while the latter, il not put ON too
thickly, may be left on, as the new growth
will push up through it. Thus it will serve
as a summer mulch to keep the fruit clean
and the ground moist Now mulch at
once right on top of the snow and ice.
Grange Notes.