The record-union., 1891-11-25
FARM And ORCHARD.
Selecting, Planting and Pruning
Apricot Trees.
Eggs and the Sitting Hens-CIeaning
the y-House-Preserve Your
Farm Machfnery-NIaking Manure
in Winter.

The soil for an apricot orchard should
be deep, warm. rich, alluvial loan, and
well under-drained. Apricots should not
be planted on cold adobe or heavy soil.
A windy location is no detriment to their
success, provided other conditions are IA
vorable. The tree in its growth enjoys
windy situation; while other varieties of
deciduous fruit trees lean from the wind,
the apricot leans to the wind.
Selection of trees.-This is an import
ant part of the consideration The trees
should be grown naturally without un-
due forcing by irrigation, thus securing a
healthy, natural growth, carrying good,
strong roots. This class of trees trans
plant with greater success than trees
grown and forced by irrigation. Two
year-old trees are admissible. One-year-
old trees are the best and will give the
most satisfactory results. A full success
has in some rare instances been made in
planting trees, but generally speaking
the experiment of planting them in or
chard form has proved a failure. The
proper care and management of an or
chard of dormant buds is not generally
understood. Nurserymen and pomolo-
glsts of many years of experience in
the whole, after the results of the plant
ing of this class of trees the last two
seasons, they cannot be recommended for
future planting. Plant good one-year-
old trees, and ii not obtainable, contract
for the dormant bud, but allow them to
remain In nursery year before planting.
Planting.-The most important pointin
planting in this State is to plant early.
Late planting usually does not prove a
success. January, February and March
are the three best months to set
deciduous fruit trees. February is the
best month of the year April planting
has never been success and should be
discouraged. Twenty-four by twenty
four feet is a proper distance to plant the
apricot orchard; the holes to receive the
trees in good, friable loan should be dug
eighteen inches by two feet; in adobe or
stiff clay soil three or four feet is not a
waste of labor. Pare all broken or
bruised roots with a sharp knife and
plant as deep as the trees were in the
nursery, never more than one or two
inches deeper than they grew. Place the
top soil in the bottom of the hole and
press the soil firmly around and upon the
roots while filing the soil around the
trees. Should the locality be windy, tie
the tree to stake until the roots have
made a growth sufficient to anchor the
tree firmly in the earth.
Pruning. When planting the trees out
cut them back severely. Never leave the
stem more than two feet long. Then let
them alone until the seasons growth is
completed and fully mature Then
shorten in the branches to eighteen
inches or two feet, cut out all interfering
branches that cross each other and re-
move all supertiuOuS, small tWigs. En-
deayor to bring the tree into an even
balanced shape, making a nice, symmet-
rical, handsome top to the tree The
I-A
growth one-half to two-thirds and re-
move, as in the previous year, all undeS
Slrable wood. The tree is now eStab-
lshed and ready for future business.
After the tree comes into full bearing the
pruning should be done immediately
after the fruit is gathered. Shorten in the
current years growth one-half, and look
out for unruly branches and remove
them.-Thomas a. Carey, before the Po-
mological Society OF Southern California.
EGGS AND THE SITTING HEN.
A common result of poultry keeping is
to throw the delicate egg producing me-
chanism out of gear. Eggs are produced
from what is called surplus food; that is,
food beyond that needed for the susie
nance of the fowl. Some people knowing
this overfeed their birds, while others
keep them barely alive and wonder why
they get no eggs.
Excess of certain foods causes the ova
to be produced too rapidly. In the nat
ural course of events, only one ovum
should be produced in twenty-four hours
and for five or six successive DAYS. If
two ova are produced in one day of
twenty-four hours, various eccentricities
results. Sometimes two pass into the owl
duct together and double-yelked egg re-
suit. Occasionally two perfect chickens
may be hatched from one of these, but
usually only one. Sometimes the one is
possessed OF abnormal parts, as surplus
of legs or wings. Another irregularity
from the same cause is the production of
one egg within another. The oviduct
being irritated, contracting in front OF the
perfectly formed egg instead of behind it,
forced 1t back until 1t met another yelll,
when the two Joined company and passed
down the oviduct together.
Soft eggs result from too fattening food
and too little exercise. the oVGm passing
down the oviduct too rapidly for the
secretions to be made. None Of these ir-
Irregularities are to be met with in wild
birds, and in others only when kept in
confinement and overfed. There are no
functions which suffer so much from con-
finement as those pertaining to the pro-
duction of eggs. A hen that has begun TO
lay will go on until the whole clutch has
been completed, even though the condi-
tions of its existence are changed mean
while. This is why hens kept in small
quarters, as in city yards, viii lay one
season and then cease. Those who can
only afford such accommodations should
get pullets just beginning to lay and dis
pose of them as soon as the first lot o.
eggs has been produced. When hen
has laid its first clutch il is no longer tc
be regarded as even second-class table
bird.
The egg is composed of the yelk, the
chalaza, or cords for holding it in proper
position, and successive layers of white
A.4l
covering all is the shell. In packing eggs
for Matching some roll each in one paper
turning it over and over in the process
There is no more effectual way than this
of rendering an egg unfertile. An egg
may be violently shaken and no harm re
suit, but by turning it over and over The
chalaZa becomes twisted. For packing
basket is better than box, in having
handle and in affording more air, anC
hay is to be preferred to sawdust, mas
much as the latter is apt 10 become Il har
dened mass by Earring and the eggs be
come either broken or injured.
The shell of an egg is really in three
parts, the exterior, the interior, and be
tween them a structure of many-sidet
blocks, so arranged as TO resist pressure
As Matching proceeds the inner surfac;
gives way, then the little blocks drop on
and the outer shell becomes so fragile a
to be easily broken by the picking OF tn
chicks. The difference discernibie in tn
various sorts of eggs is not SO much Gu
to the various kinds of birds by which
they were produced, as by the condition
of the individual birds producing them
In regard to size the yelks of all are abou
the same size, the difference lying in tn
amount of albumen surrounding tn
yelk and the size of the air chamber
When the oVa are produced too rap
idly it sometimes happens that a bloc,
vessel bursts and little clot of bloc,
passing down the oviduct with the yell
T. ~ -, IN