The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-07-09

From time to time 1 have urged the
Importance of farmers saving their
own seed as far as practicable. To
save seed for every thing planted on
the farm and garden would be neither
!, practicable nor profitable, but by far
the greater portion of the seed used
could and should be saved from the
home grown crops. This applies par
ticularly to corn, cotton and small
grain. When good variety has been
secured it can be kept up to its original
standard and often improved by the
exercise of little Judgment and labor,
and the return will be profitable.
The common practice is to wait I'M
til planting time comes round and then
go to crib or cotton seed bin and take
what first comes to hand, or when
small seed is to be sown the farmer
takes such seed as may be left after
selling all he could spare, and that
often left in position best calculated
to impair, if not destroy, its vital
force. This is the time to
begin to save corn and oats for next
seasons planting. Seed corn should
be saved in the field and selected while
in the glazing stage, or sooner. This
is necessary to secure the earliest form
ing ears. Early maturity is of the first
Importance. The field should be Wis
tied and the earliest and best devel
oped ears, twins, if possible, should be
tagged with some high colored rag 80
as to be distinguishable when the
crop is mature. When gathering time
comes these selected ears should be
put into box or other receptacle be-
hind the wagon and stored in a dry
place for future use. The extra labor
is little and the gain large,
In saving oats for seed the case is
little different, but quite as practical
BILE. In most oat fields there is a very
decided difference in, the quality of the
crop, according to the character of the
soil or other conditions. At harvest
time the best sections of the crop
should be saved apart from the bal
ance and either stacked by them.
lives or placed at top or bottom
of the stack and when the threshing
is done these selected oats should be
stored in safe place for seed. Even
when this precaution has been taken
it will pay to run the oats through a
tanning mill before sowing. This will
remove all light and small grain, as
we'll as millions of weed seeds.
No seed runs out" sooner than cot
ton, as it is mainly fertilzed by insects
which roam from field to field and
carry with them the pollen from every
blossom they touch, and leave a por-
ton on every plant visited. This pro
duces cross fertilization to such an ex-
tent as to often completely change the
character of the plant grown from the
seed. And so it came to pass that
wise and careful selection of bolls will
give an improved cotton, while the in
discriminate planting of seed picked
as it grows Will result in speedy de
terioration of the plant. Just so with
everything else. Select your seed; 1t
will pay.
PLANT TREES.
The old adage used to be, "plant for
YOUR heirs.n This is all fooilshness,
saws G. A. Green in his Fruit Grower.
PLANT for yourself and you will be
sure to get crops of fruit il you take
proper care of the trees" | heard re-
Gently OF an old gentleman who plant
ed an orchard and was laughed at by
his friends for his foolishness in plant
ing at his time OF life with a view to
getting any OF the fruit.
They told him he would never see
an apple or pear or plum; that he was
only planting for future generations.
Now, this old gentleman has harvested
six crops from this orchard and he
is a hale and healthy old man, bidding
fair to harvest six to fifteen or twenty
more crops before he dies. 1t is sur
prising how rapidly trees grow when
they get foothold in the soil.
They grow while we are sleeping,
while we are travelling; il we are sick
or disabled, the trees keep pushing
on. The first year l moved to our
farm | planted an orchard
and ornamental trees about the
grounds. l am often surprised
as look back upon the haste of NOV
ing and getting settled the first year,
that SO much planting should have
been done. That was only few
years ago. Now the orchard and
Vineyard are of bearing age. Each year
l am surprised by the growth they are
making. Let no one be deferred from
planting from the reason that he Is
old. Plant and have hope for the tU-
ture. 1t is selfshness to dread that
YOU will not get the full benefit OF
these paintings Should you pass
away the benefits will accrue to 9TH
ers. but the chances are many in favor
of your enjoying the harvest your
self.
WEEDS.
AS two things can occupy the
same space at the same time, so the
roots of cultivated plant can not
feed on ground already occupied by
those of a weed. And the larger the
weed the larger its roots and the more
plant food it will consume to the detri-
ment of rivals. 1t therefore follows
that the right time to Kill
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