Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-08

protected, if of tender lind, BY layine
down. Protection can be furnished oy
corn-aalks and the like set among them
When grown the ola-fashioned way, the
tender kinds are laid down, covered with
soil and thus secured from frost.
The black-cap kinds are similar, so far a
growing from young wood is concerned
but they are far more luxurious in growth
For home or garden growth, it Is good
plan to have them Chamber over the back
fence, where they take up but little room
besides this, they cover up boards In SUM
mer with living green.
Blackberries are ordinarily rough, ugly
growing customers. 1t is good plan te
let them grow over an old fence, or on
rails put up for that purpose. The same
general methods of growth pertain to it as
to the raspberry-tke crop comes from the
past years growth and the old canes need
cutting away. Neither of them is neat
subject for small garden culture, treat them
how you will. They may often be dis.
posed of as suggested above.-1he Prairie
Former.
That orchards should fail and become
extinct in less than ten years is something
that has engaged the attention of leading
horticulturists very earnestly, and to learn
the causes and to attempt to apply rene.
dies has led to many experiments of value
This season the blight of the pear tree
has been greater than at any previous
year, and the extremely wet weather Of
the spring is ascribed as the cause, there
being an undue proportion of sap in the
trees. The pear tree becomes more sub
ject to blight when it is forced in growth
Whether the constant production of new
and tender wood invites an attack oil
blight, or whether the hardness of the
tree is injured by forced growth, is as YET
uncertain, but the fact remains that more
blight has prevailed this year than usual
1t is not due to the frost that the pear
and peach crops failed IN this section, but
to too much rain. The soil was constantly
wet in the spring, and so remained until
late in the year. The peach tree will not
thrive in wet soil, and if the trees dc
not begin to fail hereafter it will be on ac-
count of good undertakings, provided
the grower did not neglect that precaution
and allow too much water to remain near
the surface. Trees that did not bear have
made wonderful growth of wood in many
cases, and are full of sap, as much as five
and six feet of new wood having grown on
some peach trees. Such trees will not &c
through the winter as safely as those that
have made less growth, and it is not GER.
tain that heavy growth this year will add
to larger crop next season.
To preserve peach trees and renew them
as they begin to fail has been successfully
accomplished by that well-known fruit.
grower, Robert s. Emory of Chestertown
Nd, who has nearly 100000 trees of diff
ferent kinds. He has kept peach trees in
bearing for thirty years. His plan is to
remove one-third of the tree each year
1t is well known thai the fruit on the
peach tree is borne on the new wood and
higher up on the branches as the trees
grow. The wood grown this year will give
the peaches of next year. When the fruit
begins to grow near the top one-third OF
the tree is cut off and new branches al.
lowed to shoot out and grow.
The next year another third is cut off,
and the succeeding year the other third.
By this time the wood on the first third
will begin to bear, and by the next season
the tree will have a complete new top.
Nothing seems to benefit the peach tree
like vigorous cutting back, and if the
trunk is carefully protected against the
borer the tree can, by vigorous pruning, be
made to bear for many years; but if not so
treated it soon ceases to be productive. 1t
is not well to force the trees too much, but
good cultivation is matter that should
never be Observation-Disclosures Record.
GoPHERs LIKE IT.
The discovery of any remedy which is
sure death to gophers or squirrels is of the
very greatest utility to the people. A
Santa Cruz gentleman, who had been
greatly annoyed by gophers, found, after
many experiments, the following to be a
sure remedy: He takes fve-gallon can,
cuts the top of, puts in little cold water
and inserts stick of phosphorus. Hot
mot boiling) water is then gradually
poured in and is stirred with a stick until
the can is full. The water should be just
hot enough to melt the phosphorus gradu-
ally. AS soon as the phosphorus is melted,
the water is briskly stirred, while two
pounds of sugar are added. Cornmeal and
-four. half and half, is then added, sufficient
to make a stiff batter. Stirring is con-
tinued while wheat is put in until the bat
ter is quite stiff Fifteen to twenty drops
of oil of rhodium is put in at the same
time as the wheat. The water will be alb
sorbed by the grain and the mass will be-
come hard. Pieces, the size of hickory
nut, are Clipped off as desired and put in
the main runs of the gophers. The odor
will attract the rodents from long dis
lance and the least nibble is sure death.
One piece is sufficient to destroy an entire
Fruit Grotuer.
wNTERING HoRsE-RApIsH.
Horse-radish is a perfectly hardy herba-
ceous plant, often growing by the wayside
as an outcast from cultivation. Hence,
any protection given is not because it is
tender, but because winters in the North,
when the ground is frozen, viii not per-
nit it TO be dug from the open ground
when wanted.
1t is now, in certain localities, grown in
enormous quantities by market gardeners
and sold to pickle and sauce men to be
ground up and mixed with vinegar for use
as sauce for meat, fish, etc. The sale and
the working up of the crop begin in the
fall and last all the winter. In hot weather
the material sours; hence it is difficult to
get it in this State in summer. 1t is dug in
the fall and wintered either in cold cellars
or out of doors in pits as of old for pota-
toes, and marketed as the dealer calls for it.
For home use, to keep it is simple
enough. Any cold place where it will not
grow is all that is required. Simply bury
it in soil to prevent growth. Not great
deal of radish is wanted in any event;
hence dozen or two of good sticks will
likely answer for any family. 1t can be