Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-02-23
FOB THE FARMER.
THE CARE OF FRUIT AND ORNA
MENTAL TREES.
Introduction of the Tomato Eggplant
The Management of Seed Pota-
toes-The Amount of Food
Necessary for Hogs

| largest C0TnCrlO on earGn. lC Is 4OI
feet long, twelve feet wide and twelve
feet high.
Grows have become so abundant in
Maine that it is estimated they cost
the State 100000 year in corn, po-
tatoes, young chickens, fruit, grain
and the like. The next legislature will
be asked to gi e bounty of ten cents
for every dead crow.
A New Jersey farmer has succeeded
in raising in the rich soil of the Hack
ensack bottom the genuine white
yam, or "buneato" OF Cuba, and he
predicts that in a few years this de-
licious vegetable, grown across the
North river, will be as common in the
New York market as the Syuthern
sweet Potato now is.
New Zealand, according to a recent
writer, is splendidly endowed coup-
try. Besides such natural curi0sities
as boiling lakes of sulphur, smoking
volcanoes, snow-clad peaks and mag
ni6cent waterfalls, it has splendid vir-
gin forests of rare and useful woods,
great fields of coal, iron, copper, gold
silver, etc, all awaiting the capitalist
and workman.
Taking the amount of food require d
to make a pound of grain on swine
weighing thirty-five pounds, 33 per
cent more food is required by swine
weighing seventy pounds, Ia per cent
more by swine weighing 125 pounds,
IS per cent more by swine weighing
IT'S pounds, % per cent more by swine
weighing 220 pounds, 55 per cent
more by swine weighing 270 pounds.
and 81 per cent more by swine weigh
ing 325 pounds.
Overhaul your store of seeds and
throw away those of doubtful vitality.
There are but few seeds that are not
good at the end of two years, while
the average are good at the end OF
four or five, and squashes, melons and
all of that family, last almost indef-
inately. Onions, parsnips and car
rots are The seeds which growers are
the most particular about. Those who
supply tn } market with crops should
put their dependence on varieties
| known to be marketable.
The management of seed potatoes
/ is one of the most important arts OF
the potato grower. The chief point
is to prevent them fr m sorouting
and for this purpose low tempera-
ture as near to the freezing point as is
possible without touching it is desira-
BILE. Nearly everywhere farmers find
that the late varieties of potatoes are
more productive than the early ones.
Is not this partly due to the fact that
early varieties have been injured by
sprouting, while late varieties are less
liable to this injury!
The buyers of fruit and ornamental
trees can hardly be too careful in get
ting stock grown on land free from
quack. The fine underground roots
of this pest are often mixed among
those Of fruit trees, and once planted
are difficult 10 get rid Of. Whenever
quack grass appears for the first time
on a farm it is usually in the orchard,
and has been introduced by the pur-
chase of trees without careful exam
ination to see that quack is not mixed
with their roots.
Everybody knows how difficult it is
to prevent the water from freezing
during very cold weather. Tin will
rust, wooden troughs become Shiny,
and earthenware crack from the ice
formed on the water. To obviate
these difficulties, give water three
times a day. Use vessels that only
permit the birds to get their beaks
wet, so as to avoid freezing their wat
ties, which results when they get wet,
and give warm water three times a
day. They will soon learn to look for
it at regular periods, and it will invig-
crate them. By the time the water is
somewhat cool all will have drank,
when the surplus should be thrown
out and the vessel left empty.
The tomato eggplant has the gen.
eral appearance of common egg
plant, while its fruit, when ripe, re-
sembles a medium sized, ribbed to-
mato. Its skin is very glossy and
bright red, much like that of a cayenne
pepper. The history of the plant is
that the year before last single spec
linen of it came up among large
number of black Pekin egg g-plants,
growing in southern New Jersey. The
flesh of the fruit is very solid and dry,
apparently unfit for use, but as a
curiosity and ornament the plant is
worthy of trial by those in search of
unusual novelties. The cultivation
of the plant is the same as that OF the
egg plant.
What is the best feed to give a
horse that is run down in strength
and flesh? The Massachusetts, Plow-
man says: II you cannot get pastur-
age, feed your horse fresh-cut grIss or
clover hay, with few oats, say four
to six quArts daily, and give him
gentle work or exercise so as to keep
his appetite and digestion good. As
he gains strength you can substitute
corn meal mixed with cut hay for one
or two rations daily, using not over
four quarts a day. Corn-meal alone
is pot so safe a grain for horses as
oats; most cases of collie are to be
traced to iniudicious use of corn-meal !;
but horses fatten rapidly on it, and it
is cheaper than oats. To make 1t
safe article of diet we would advise
mixing it with the same bulk of wheat
bran or feeding in connection with