The National tribune., 1888-02-09
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
1TsEcr-PowDER PLANT.

]
| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Last Winter
| offered to distribute seeds of the nsect-powder
plant among your readers. A great many took
advantage of my offer, and 1 hope they all had
| good success with the seed, as it should find q
| place in every garden. The long Winter even
ings are here aud nothing to do, and in order
| to have something to occupy me and give others
a chance TO try this plant, l viii say my offer
is still open. 1t was to send one paper for three
cents, or 10 to one address for Is cents. For the
| benefit of new readers will say great many
| persons use Dalmatian insect powder, or Buhach,
| in destroying cabbage worms, plant lice feas
ants, and in fact ali insect pests of household,
| field, orchard, garden and conservatory. Yet
| comparatively few know that they can grow
| this plant and make their own powder. 1t is
as harmless to animal and plant life as ii is de-
structlye to that of the insects; so no one need
fear of having children or animals poisoned by
| it. Each paper has directions for growing and
making the poWder.-FRAEK MURPHY, DON
nelsviIle, o.
CULTURE OF CROPS.
| II is g Well-knoTn fact in the culture Of
| crops that as one crop follows another with
| special benefit, so one crop may be grown with
another with advantage in point of yield Thus
we know that wheat following clover or peas
corn following clover, oats following potatoes
/ or grass, may all grow with greater vigor than
| when following any other crop. It is also
| equally true that two crops mixed viii often
yield as much as each crop separately. Oats
and peas, for instance or barley and tares, corn
and Southern COW peas, corn and pumpkins
beans or turnips, grow very well together, and
one yields crop without interfering with the
| other And as this is true, it is equally so that
| the various grasses flourish well in company
belng-so to speak-sociable in their character,
and aiding one another to resist adverse cir
! eumstanees. Some that are fbrous- rooted pro-
| tect the bulbous-rooted ones; the weak gain
shelter from the strong and the total crop is
not only larger than from any one, but it main
| talns its hold upon the ground permanently.
laking advantage OF the bare fact, it is mat
! Ter OF experiment TO find the varieties that are
best suited for the purpose desired.
VARIETY OF GRASSES.
There ia large variety of grasses in Gull
| hvation, SO many in fact as to astonish the
| farmer who has never sown any one kind but
/ timothy in conjunction with clover Orchard
grass is an exceedingly valuable grass and
when grown alone has been 1eurishing az we'll
| as ever after 10 years of continuous growth
| Kentucky blue grass ia the best pasture grass
| for permanence and feeding value, and the old
| meadows of Kentucky, which never felt the
plow, bear testimony to it's permanenee, while
the noted horses and cattle fed upon them
prove its nutritiye value. Some grasses are of
early growth, some later, and one of these is
recuperating while the other is being eaten
down. English blue grass is one of the ear
hest to afford pasture; orchard grass is next,
then follows red clover, then timothy, tall oat-
| grass, red-top, and white clover. Some grasses,
| as fowl meadow grass, meadow fescue and red
! top, with alsike clover, succeed upon moist
lands and others, as orchard grass, timothy and
| oat-grass do better on dry soils. Hence one
| can easily suit his mixture to the land and SO
hit every point he aims at at once.
NorRs
In the agricultural districts of Russia the
women do two-thirds of the field work.
- 1t requires about peck of seed to stock
an acre in sorghum If it be grown in drills four
feet apart
= The State of New York feeds and fattens
more sheep for the s1ambles than any other Of
| the big sheep-raising5 States.
- The same land that under ordinary cuIti-
walton viii produce small crop Of Indian
corn, wiz yield q very large crop if water in
| supplied to it as needed.
| = The most profitable piece of fruit land for
| its size in the United States is said to be the
| Speer & CHM Grove, near Sanford, Fla. 1t COM
prlses AZ acres and this years yield of lines
sold for $12, 600
- British exchanges report unusually large
| shipments of Irish and Scotch potatoes destined
| for American ports The regular steamers
| from Clyde have been delivering cargoes which
have sold in New York at remuheratiye prices
At convention of the peach growers of
Delaware and Maryland at Dover, Del, it was
decided to ask the Legislatures of those States
to enact laws compelling growers to destroy all
| trees affected by the yellows as soon as symp-
| toms Of the disease appear.
- In the production of potatoes, the United
States stands fourth in the list, the value OF
our country's crop being $73, 800, $50. Russia
stands first with $685. 900, the German En-
| plre second with s283, $50, 900, and Austria
| Hungary third with $15S. $40, AS.
| "A Canadian farmer, who has followed the
!! practice Of top-dressing his wheat in the Fall
| as protection during the Winter, says he much
| prefers Well-rotted manure, spread thin to
| that freshly made. He believes the applics-
| ton OF the mulch largely increases his yield of
| wheat, because of the protection and the fer
/! tiIlzing properties of the manure.
| - The inhabitants Of Halls Corners, near
| Geneva n. T., raise good many fowls. Just
before Christmas dealers went there, and In two
days paid out over 81, 500 to the farmers for
poultry. One Massachusetts, firm bought .S7g
turkeys, that weighed 20, AS pounds, and cost
| $2,247 Twelve thousand pounds Of chickens
| were sold, 1900 pounds of geese, and as many
| ducks.
- The Russian apples arc proving more and
| more popular, because Of their hardness but
no fruit that is propagsted continuously by
| grating viii long remain hardy. 1t is not the
| severity OF a Winter that kills most of our
| frat trees, but the sharp changes to which our
| climate IS moro addicted. The constitution Of
| the tree is weakened by continuous root graft
| ing. We must resort To sowing seed aud raising
wildings Those apples which kill quickly on
nursery stock are hardy when grated high on
native stock.
A Sham Exposed.