Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-13

fruit regions of California are suited to
the production of little else than fruits
hence it is fruits or nothing. If that
same condition existed in this section of
Texas, fruit growing here would doubt
less go at once into a regular boom, and
the signs'of the times would seem to in
dictate that it Will soon do so anyway. 1t
don t take the people long to discover
what crop pays best. But even %supposing
that we can grow nan crops that will
pay as good returns as fruits, there still
must be an extensive development of our
fruit industry sooner or later, owing to
the fact that there is an Unborn variation
in the tastes of men. The man whose
tastes lead him TO prefer genealogical
pursuits to those of any other character,
will grow fruits if he finds a place where
he can make that business a success.
THE TRENCH SYSTEM FOR SWEET PoTA-
TOES.
Most of the great Irish potato prize
crops that we read about were raised by
what is known as the ''trench system -
1t is doubtless a very good system for
that crop, and we, through ten years of
experience, have found it equally as well
adapted to the sweet potato. For all
open and well drained lands, such, for
instance, as the light post-oak lands of
Texas, where the sweet potato attains
to its highest perfection, the trench sys-
tenn has, in our opinion, many advant-
ages over my other that could be re-
sorted to.
Our plan of trenohing for the sweet
potato consists in blowing out a trench
where the potato row is to be, by running
to and fro with a turn pillow until we have
worked down to the depth of ten or
twelve inches. In the trench so made
we place our manure, if we are to use
any, after which we level the soil back,
first having placed a small stob at each
end to mark the center of the trench.
No matter how good the land, the
sweet potato ought to have some kline of
~decomposed vegetable matter in the row
TO prevent packing. If stable or lot
is used this will supply the vege-
table matter (humus). If not, then any
well-rotted vegetable matter may be
made to answer the purpose.
Stretch a line from stob to stob and put
out the draws or vines along 1t in the
usual way. The after culture is ex-
tremely simple-nothing needed other
han to keep down weeds and grass and
stir the surface after rains to prevent
baking, There must be no deep culture.
When the vines have taken possession of
the surface no further culture is needed,
of course.
The great advantage of this system lies
in its preventing that drying out that is
apt TO injure the crop planted on the old
plan, in hills or ridges. By it we seldom
fail of getting from 200 to 800 bushels of
good potatoes TO the acre, and we
have often done this when our neigh
bors, who planted in ridges, did
not make fifty bushels to the acre.
This system of sweet potato culture is
now being quite generally adopted by the
farmers of Georgia. It ought to come
into universal practice, n doubtless
will. eventually. A few of the old-style
''ridgers'' may hold back for a time
yet. All who cultivate well-drained
land ought to ask themselves what the
ridging is for, anyway. No man living
can give any good reason for planting
sweet potatoes on a ridge, unless it
should be that his and is naturally wet,
and such land is never suited to sweet
potatoes under any association Of cir
cumstances.
NOT ADAPTED TO GRAPES.
Mr.. E. W. Kirkpatrick, writing of
Texas to the southern horticultural