The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-09-26
HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

main shoot IL the highest lett ON the
tree. The more vigorously young tree
is pruned in fall or winter the stronger
growth of wood it will make next year,
and the concentration of sap in a few
large shoots will prevent fruiting. The
only pruning that can promote fruitful
ness is that done while the tree is in leaf,
and this result is effected by checking
the vigor of its growth.
1t is a good plan to use the summer
made manure as a top dressing for the
poor places in wheat fields. A very little
fertilizer goes great away in such cases.
In our experience, when the ground is
dry, little damage is done to wheat by
driving over it with loaded manure wag-
ons having broad tires that do not cut in
deeply. If only ordinary wheels are
used, defer drawing until the surface is
frozen so ii will bear load, or wait still
later and draw on the snow with sled.
In this case some marks should be put
up beforehand to show where the ma
nure had better be spread.
1t is not often that careful farmer
will allow sows to breed so as to drop
their pigs late in the fall. 1t costs more
to winter such pigs than they are worth,
as it is almost impossible, however we'll
fed and housed, to keep them from be-
ing stunted. But the pigs need not be
wholly lost. Probably the best use of
them is to fatten rapidly and sell for
roasters about holiday time. Roast pig
is better liked by many than roast tur-
key, and if it were offered generally in
fall and early winter, it is probably the
best use to which pigs dropped at this
untimely season can be put.
The future shape, productiveness and
value of an orchard depend mainly on
the way it is pruned while young 1t
requires knowledge of the habit of
growth of different varieties to know
how to prune them to advantage. A lit
tie pruning while the tree is small sets it
to growing in the right shape, and avoids
the need Of saving off large limbs later,
which can never be done without inf1ict-
ing wounds likely to destroy the vitality
of the tree. 1t is in pruning, more even
than in anything else, that little done
at the right time saves the necessity for
doing much more afterwards.
Although hops can be grown from seed,
this is not the usual way of propagating
them. The best time to plant hops is in
the spring, as early as the ground can
dDOuJ
eight feet apart and the sets planted in
these at about the same distance. Each
set has two eyes, is planted about an
inch deep and pressed firmly down.
The first year a hill of corn may be
planted each way between the hops, but
the second year the entire ground is to be
kept we'll cultivated. Where the hop louse
has not made its appearance the crop is
generally very profitable one.
Many farmers who have practiced the
| plan recommend cutting corn fodder and
piling it in small cocks to cure. In a
large stack the heating of so much wet
material would certainly prove injurious
but in small-sized cocks the fermentation
is just enough to furnish heat to dry
them out. 1t also softens the stalks,
which are eaten with less waste than
those set up in stacks and dried by ex-
posture to the air. Rain does not pene-
trate these cocks to any great extent.
Farmers have often noted that the dam
pened stalks kept in mows, even when
slightly moldy, were eaten cleaner than
those thoroughly dried.
/. Roots of all kinds are better kept in
pits than in cellars, where they are ex.
posed to currents of air. Some earth
should be mixed with them to fill up the
spaces, and thus prevent the evaporation
that usually makes them dry and taste.
less before spring. Beets and potatoes
are more easily injured by freezing thar
other roots and require double or triple
covering to exclude cold. Turnips, ruta
bagas, carrots and parsnips will all beal
a temperature nearly or quite down K
the freezing point, provided they are il
contact with the soil. Parnips with
slight covering of the part of the roots
above the surface may be left in the
ground until spring without injury, anC
even with benefit. The freezing makes
them better favored than they will be i
dug in the fall.
Several trials in recent years hav,
shown that the pine leaves-or needles
as they are called-from our common
pine forests are valuable, or can be mad,
so, as fertilizer for potatoes on sand,
soil. If the prejudice against sawdus
from resinous woods in general can b,
removed and vegetable matters gathered
and applied to the soil with less regarC
to its origin and more for its effects. it il
quite likely that many farmers would
find in the fine forests and groves a val
liable addition to their scant supply O
bedding and at the same time furnish
the much-needed vegetable matter. On,
man raked up the pine leaves with wha
decayed vegetable matter there was un
der them and mixed the mass with linn
and let it be in pile few weeks anC
then used it for potatoes with goo,