Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-12-06
Farm Ind ORCHARD.
TWO SIDES TO THE SPRAYING CUES
TIoN-UsEFUL PLANTS.
How TO Feed Stock When il is Up for
Fattening-How to Judge WOOL
Young Pigs-Fsrm Notes.

A Mercer county (N.J correspondent
of the Rural Neg YORKER writes; There
are two sides to the question of spraying
trees to preserve the fruit. 1t is as yet
something of an experiment. While the
advocates of the practice can give er-
amples of apparently great benefits de-
rived from it, its opponents can point to
failures of sprayed trees to bear well and
to great crops where no insecticide had
beeu used. There can be no donbt that
all leaf-esting enemies of our fruit trees
can be destroyed by spraying, If it is
effectually done. The number of applica-
tions will necessarily depend very much
on the amount of rainfall, and the kind
of insect one may wish to kill, and also on
the thoroughness of the spraying and the
immediate surroundings. For instance, il
we spray for the tent caterpillar, but neg
lect the wild cherry and some other trees,
we must expect 10 have to spray often and
not always quite satisfactorily. For the
curculio we must spray almost before the
leaves start in the spring, and if it rains
the work will have TO be repeated. The
codling moth is at work very soon after
the blossoms falls or before, and continues
busy for some days. Spraying for the
scab is long and somewhat expensive
operation for late varieties, and in sum-
mers like the past here, to make the work
thorough, it should be done, on an
average, every ten days. 1t is
hard TO get it done as the ma
.jority of farm hands and fruit-growers
look on it as a humbug, and they think it
will make no difference how much it may
be sighted. 1t took some time to teach
farmers how to kill the potato beetles.
'The success Of spraying for the apple
and pear scab is not so obvious as that of
spraying for the potato beetle. 1t may not
be deemed mark Of much courage to
practice what ones neighbors laugh at,
but it takes some nerve. There is no
doubt that the codling moth can be killed.
and it is to be hoped that the curculio can
also, by the use of arsenical poisons.
There is reason for thinking that the cop
per solution is beneficial in preventing the
scab and also that the destruction of the
cedar balls is preventive of the rust The
main reason why orchardists do not spray
is that, as rule, they raise grain, and
when spring comes help from some cause
or other is not plentiful. Oats have to be
sowed and corn planted; rainy days come
and horses are scare, and attention to the
fruit trees is put off from one day to
another, and finally they are given over as
among the things that must be neglected
Spraying, therefore, will be left undone
almost always unless especial provision
has been made for the work. The injury
is not apparent until it is TOO late to pre-
vent 1t. In fact, the years in which the
work pays best are those 10 which the
fruit-grower thinks he has no fruit to
spray. / would advisd all orchardists to
get an inexpensive foroe-pump before
spring opens, along with some London
purple, carbonate of copper and ammonia,
and spray all the trees which time will
permit, and keep spraying for the scab
after every heavy rain until the fruit is fit
for gathering, or, in case of most trees,
until August LIST. Last spring we failed to
order our ammonia early enough, and
after we had sent for it we did not get it
for week, and the delay started our
orchard on the road to failure"
USEFUL PLANTS.
A correspondent of the St. Louis Globe
Democrat says: MANY of the homely
plants about us, the existence of which we
are rather inclined to resent than appre-
ciate, have important places in the great
scheme of nature, and supply man with
unsupported medicine or food, or rid him of
vermin or disease. Among these the
common willow tree, it has. been proven
by great German authority, is a success
ful agent in purifying water and keeping
it clear and wholesome. If this Is doubted, |
place willow twig which has not vet |
begun to sprout in bottle of water, and |
put it away for eight or nine days, beside |
another bottle containing only water, and |
at the end of the time mentioned, in the |
first bottle will be found shoots and root |
lets in clear water, while the second will |
contain putrefying water Swamps and
morasses have been robbed of their miasma |
by the planting of willows thickly in their
vicinity. The root of the common elder, |
if boiled in quart of water till about a |
pint is left, and taken once n day, will |
cure dropsy The writer has known of |
most hopeless cases being benefited and |
finally cured by this simple remedy. Cab
bage leaves, in cases Of scalding or burns,
are most soothing, and will aIlay inham-
nation. Tea made of the sassafras root
will, ii taken in time, resolve a boil, and
copiously drunk prevent another coming.
This it does by cooling and purifying the
blood.
"As a diuretic asparagus has no supe-
rior, and at such health resorts as Aix-les.
Bains it forms an important part of the
cure Of rheumatic patients, chose diet is
chiefly Of that vegetable the cultivation !
of which in all seasons is a regular indus
try Of the people about. Sorrel combined
in soup with other herbs is an excellent
thing for the weak and nervous. The
onion is vgsryv rich in those alkaline ele-
1nenis which counteract the poison OF
rheumatic govt, and if eaten Just before
retiring will often be found to cure in
somnia. If slowly stewed in weak broth
and eaten with pepper, butter and salt
while warm, it is an admirable article for
invalids Persons of studious or sedentary
habits, also, win find it of service The
Objectionable odor left on the breath can
be destroyed by taking a spoonful of strong
coffee without milk. Celery is good for
sleeplessness, and is recommended BY |
French physicians as nerYine. The once
despised weed, mullen, is now valuable |
remedy in lung troubles, and little wild |
plant found in the extreme Southern
states, and known as uuli = blood, aud
which is doubtless a kind of wild poppy, |
yields a narcotic physicians say will ulti-
mately supersede morphia and laudanum,
as it possesses the strength of both with
out the i'll after effects of those things. As
time goes on accident and research will
still further develop the wise purposes for
which even the homeliest plant was c-... I
ated. In the meantime, those th,r have
been proven good deserve q. o,sce in every
garden"
HOW TO FEED STOCK.
About the end of the year is the time
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