Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-03-09
FARMERS COLUMN.
THE PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIE-
TIES OF POTATO SEED.
The Exercise of Horses-Cucumbers
Grownin Bottles for Picking Pur-
poses-The Milking of Cows
at Regular Intervals.

II ~ CldlIllttl illtI dDbul - NOitil VI
dogs have killed $4,000 worth OF sheep
in Michigan the past year.
Owing to the failure of the rice crop in
Corea the government has prohibited the
expectation of other cereals.
Use no stable manure on young peach
trees. \ mixture OF some kind of min
eral fertilizers is better. Experiments
have shown mari to be excellent fOr
peach trees.
As a rule, all summer pruning checks
growth, and by producing maturity OF
wood and fruit buds, induces fruitlulness.
All winter and early spring pruning Ia
vOrs growth, that is, causes more eN-
uberant growth in the parts remaining.
The horses should be exercised daily.
If kept standing in the stable they be
come changed in disposition. The gent
lest of horses become shy if confined too
long. Exercise hardens the muscles and
keeps the horse in good condition for
spring work.
Young pigs will usually commence to
eat when about three weeks old, and the
more attractive the portion put within
their reach the quicker they will learn to
make a full feed. If they can have lit
tie fresh milk at the start so much the
better, but by common consent skim
milk is counted sufficient to meet plggy's
notion. With milk as Il starter they will
soon take to slop made OF mill feed.
A lady who claims to have twenty
wears experience offers this recipe for
keeping eggs. Take good fresh eggs and
rub them over with lard, thus closing the
pores of the she'll Then put a layer OF
oats or bran in box and Il layer Of eggs,
setting them on the small end and not
allowing them to touch each other, sep
arating them by oats or bran. In this
way fill the box and the eggs will keep
fresh.
The Wheatland (Cal.) -Four Corners"
saws Great progress is shown by the
farmers of the foothills between here and
Grass Valley. 1t seems as though they
had lust awakened to the fact that their
land is no longer fit for chicken and
sheep ranches only, on which they are
to gain their livelihood by doing as little
as possible but that they are fit for some
thing more; they are the home OF the
olive, fig and other fruits, which, il
worked properly, will bring in large reve-
nues.
The Oviedo (Fla.) Chronicle says
that a firm there are about to engage in a
novel enterprise i'll connection with their
vegetable garden. They are taking glass
bottles and training cucumber vines,
when they are ready to bloom, to grow
cucumbers inside the bottles, so that
when the vegetable is full grown it will
be much larger than the neck of the bot
tie. They will then take and pickle
them, and will have the surprising thing
of having picked cucumbers in bottles
with necks much smaller than the pick
les.
A pOultrv-raiser tells that when he cuts
Il chickens wing he gets some one to
hold the bird, then he takes the wing
and stretches it out, and with sharp
knife he commences near the body, leav-
ing three or four of the quill feathers next
the Dody without cutting, and cuts all the
rest except three or four at the tip end.
That will take the wind out Of their sails
and prevent flying. The feathers left at
the tip of the wing enables the hen to
keep her eggs in place if you let her sit,
and when the wing is shut up it does not
disfigure her.
The following is the way to grow new
varieties from potato seed The seed
balls of potatoes contain a large quantity
of small seeds which are separated from
the balls when these are dry by rubbing.
The seeds may then be kept easily as
other seeds, in dry place until the
spring, when they are sown in bed at
ter all danger of frost has passed. The
first crop will be small, some no larger
than peas and up to walnuts are larger in
size. These are kept over in the usual
manner and planted out in the next
spring, producing potatoes OF the ordinary
size, but all differing considerably in ap-
pearance.
1t is held that ''in order to secure the
best returns. COWS should be MIXED at
regular hours, and the day should be di-
yided evenly, in order not to make the
time between milkings too long. When
the flow is quite heavy it is better to
milk three times day. In the case of a
COW giving full flow OF milk, with but
little variation in the amount from day to
dav, the natural impression would be
that the secretion Of milk through the
twenty-four hours would be as regular
and uniform as the products of successive
days; but there is reason for believing
that the variation in the rate of secretion
between milkings is large, and that it is
bv far most rapid while milking is being
done.
After mixing soil with the manure,
ahout half and half. it should be drawn
around the plants so as to cover the
stems to the same height as formerly, but
no higher. (It is mistake to draw soil
around the stems of plants with view
of forcing roots from parts where nature
never intended there should be any.
Even when transplanted the stems OF no
kind Of plants should be set deeper in the
soil than they originally crew. Thus ar
ranged, the manure will act far better
than it would if left in body, which ls
mainly attributable to the fact that the
soil is rendered porous by mixing the
manure Herewith, thus permitting the
carbonic acid gas OF the atmosphere more
readily to penetrate to the roots OF the
plantS. Said gas being an important ele-
ment in the production of plants, the soil
should be well stirred soon alter each
rain. thus preventing the formation OF a
crust. The mixing of soil with the ma
nure will prevent plants from firing in
time of dry weather, thus obviating the
usual bad effects OF fresh manure when
used in body In fact, unrooted manure
mixed with soil possesses all the advant-
ages of well-rooted, and, being far prefer
able in procuring an early stand, its use
is recommended for the purpose afore-
said.