davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
j. p. STEELE, EDITOR.

q money product, will, as a rule, be found
prosperous even in hard times He has been
visiting the farmers Institutes of his state
for considerable length of time, and in
not one of them has he met with farmer
of this kind who was complaining. The fam
lily with full supply of fruits, vegetables,
poultry and dairy products, meats and bread
stuffs supplied by the farm, and which has
a little surplus of each to dispose of
to pay bills, can live easily and comfortably
on small farm, and will not need to culti-
vate a great breadth to meet expenses, Tor
these can be kept down to low limit. 1t is
not the acres we cultivate nor even the
bushels of grain or bales of cotton produced,
that determine the profits of farming, but
the cost of production and the wisdom en-
ployed in feeding and selling our products
to best advantage. Ordinarily the large
farm, while it looks like and really is big
hing, does not bring in greater clear re-
turns that the small farm, owing to the fact
that the cost of running it is SO great. Com
paratively few really large farmers get
rich OF course the very small farmer
could not be expected to speedily grow
rich, but he may make a comfortable living
and lay up something for rainy day. But
farmers do get rich sometimes, and If you
study the matter closely you will find that
most of these are what might be termed
medium farmers-men cultivating medium
sized acreage and doing it well.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
ON WATERING SHADE TREES.

Many persons water their shade and
street trees by prodding under them at
the base with crow-bar and then pouring
water into the hole. Do you consider this
crow-bar work of any particular advan-
tage2 What is your notion of the best way
of watering shade trees anyway, where the
grounds are not under regular irrigation2
Tarrant county, Tex TRINITY.
We cannot think that the hole made with
the crow-bar does any particular good, un-
less it should be in the case of tree newly
set, with 10 extended roots. You might
get the water well under the tree by this
means, but since it has no feeders imme-
diately around the base the water could be
of no particular advantage.
A very common way of watering yard
trees in many localities is to dig up the
earth on radius of three or four feet i'm
mediately around the base and pour all the
water there Now, within or under that
dug-up space is, in all probability, not one
feeder-root, particularly if tie tree is an
old one several years set. The large roots
running out from the base Of the tree do not
take up moisture, or plant food of any
character, for that matter. To apply
moisture to them with that expectation
would be exactly the same as applying it to
the trunk of the tree above ground. You
may observe that this kind of watering
appears to do the tree some good, but the
good, if any, comes from the small amount
that soaks out through the hard ground to
where the feeders or small rootlets are
located at the ends Of the large roots. All
the feeders calculated to take up anything
for the benefit of the tree are so located
they are on the immediate ends of the fine
rootlets.
The correct way of watering tree is
found in applying the water some consid-
cradle distance out from the base. Let US
suppose that your tree is twenty feet high;
in that case its feeders would begin to have
a location from six to ten feet out from the
base-many of them, in some species, would
be thirty or forty feet out. To water the
tree. then, loosen the surface soil in cir
Gle around the tree, say ten feet out and
four or five feet wide. Wet this circle
thoroughly and you will be surprised to see
how soon the tree will show the effects of
it, for the water will go direct to many of
the feeders. Never burden yourself by
digging around the base unless you desire
to do so merely for ornamental purposes.
Don't waste your water around the base,
for it can do very little good there. True,
cross-roots may have located few feeders
near the base, but this would be q matter
Of mere accident-the natural place for the
feeders is further out Attempting to water
a tree by merely applying water to its
large roots is little like would be pouring
water into mans boots to relieve his thirst.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
A NAVY BEAN FAILURE.

An article of yours on navy bean culture
for Texas moves me to report our poor sue
cess with the crop the present year in the
Illinois colony of this region. We each
planted small patch Of navy beans, put
ting in and cultivating about as you direct.
The vines have made most remarkable
growth, blooming freely, but there are very
few pods. They are still growing, but the
prospect for good crop Of beans is
extremely poor. Possibly the soil was too
rich for them. In Illinois thin land was
always considered best Tor Yankee beans.
AL our other bunch beans have yielded fine
crops. Shall plant again in September.
WALTER u. BENTLEY.
Thornberry, Clay county, Tex.
Doubtless the failure is due to some local
cause, and you may have it in your notion
that the soil was possibly too rich. The
same conditions favoring the crop in Illinois
would be very apt to favor it in Texas
Our reason for believing your bad success
has been due to some strictly local cause is
based upon the fact that we have had
numerous letters from Texans reporting
the navy bean frst-class success with
them
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
HOG CHOLERA.

There is comparatively little hog cholera
in Texas, still, now that hog production is
getting on a regular boom with us, due
largely to our great packing house at Fort
Worth, letters often come TO hand asking
for full particulars with reference to the
disease.
About the best authority we could refer
to, for them, is DR.. Salmon of Washington.
D. c. For may years he made special
study of hog cholera under the United
States government, which, of course, put
him in a position to learn all there was to
be learned in the premises. His report, al
ready published, says the history of the dis
ease can be traced back to 1898, but the ex-
act date of its appearance in this country is
not known. It was found prevailing in
widely-separated states in 1856. Since
that time it has gradually spread to every
state in the Union. The prevailing belief
among scientists is that it was originally an
importation from Europe. We now pro-
coed to give in condensed form about all the
facts concerning the disease that DR.. Sal
mons long investigations have established:
l. Hog cholera, so-called, is a contagious
and infectious disease, and may be con-
tracted by healthy hog from a diseased
one, or from infected premises, and the con-
tagion may be carried from farm to farm
in various ways.
2. 1t is bacterial disease, the germ hay
ing been first accurately figured and de-
scribed in 1885, and studied almost con-
stautly since that time.
g. The germ is readily cultivated in va
rious media, is transmissible to other ami
mails than hogs, from which it may be re-
transmitted to hogs and produce a fatal
form of the disease.
4. Other diseases are sometimes mistaken
for true hog cholera. There is fatal dis
ease lnucn like it, known as Swine plague"
trough entirely different 1t is also germ
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
WORTH OF THE COW,

In late public address the Hon. James
Wilson of Iowa remarked that where men
farm for dear life the cow should stand out
tions. She is the farmers best friend.
Whenever he is harassed with debt, or
whenever he is struggling to make good
start in life, it is the COW that comes to his
assistance, paying of his mortgages in the
one case and placing him upon the high
road to fortune and independence upon the
other Her capacities for good are almost
unlimited, and in no other direction can the
farmer so surely improve his condition as
in developing and cultivating these capaci-
ties to the highest degree. Those who keep
cows, and as many of them as circum-
stances will permit, and take pains to have
them of good quality, maintaining them in
a style favorable to their thrift, will find
them not only an agency to which man
can resort to save himself when misfortune
presses and all else fails to bring relief, but
that they are q sure means of advancing
the farmers prosperity at every stage of
its progress. But the COWS seldom have a
W SLOW NudG luts Cdn anu "
what a degree they are capable Of
contributing to the fortunes of their own
ers. Upon large number of farms they
are not maintained in sufficient numbers to
fully accomplish their mission, and on a
vast majority they are of the common, un-
improved sorts to whose development no
effort has been given, and which are inca
pable of realizing for their owners one-half
the profit which could be secured from
highly improved animals. And this is
largely inexcusable in these days, when the
improved breeds are selling at such reason
able prices that every farmer can afford the
means to replace his present inferior stock
with that Of better character, or at least
secure crosses with which to grade up to a
higher point the stock he already has. If
the average COW in her present estate is
worthy of the good things said of her, what
words of praise would do her sufficient
honor, if all the cows in the country were
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
BARREL CUCUMBER cULrURE.

I notice in recent issue of the Fort
Worth GAZETTE your article on cucumber
culture in barrels, and was rather surprised
to find you making sport of the method 1
am in favor of barrel cucumber culture, and
can give you method that, if correctly re-
sorted to, will pay 1000 per cent over the old
method, for either cucumbers, gherkins,
melons or squashes. Get tight barrel.
which fill half full of good and well rotted
| compost. Sink the barrel about twelve inches
into the garden soil, having first bored into
the bottom o. the barrel equi-distant around
near the edge six two-inch holes. Plant six
hills of, say cucumbers, about two feet from
the barrel opposite the holes. Fill the bar
rel with water and the job is finished.
Capillary attraction and percolation does
the work for the plants. Refill the barrel
about every ten days, and can assure you
that the yield will be enormous. Ihave seen
this tried on a small scale-why not work
as well on a large scale9
Center, Tex WILLIAM R. LONG.
If our correspondent will refer back to
our article mentioned, he will find that the
barrel culture of cucumbers there touched
upon, proposed planting the cucumbers d.
rectly in the barrels. 1t did not even rec
ommend holes in the bottoms of the barrels
for drainage. OF course it could not be
made to work, for the soil in the barrels
would soon become sour, and hence poison
Gus to plants. But the method suggested
by our correspondent, as above, is good
one, as we know from having tried some
thing like it ourself. 1t is simply irriga-
ton and liquid manuring at the same time.
Our plan differed little from his. We
bored only three holes in the barrel, not in
the bottom, but in the sides Just above the
head, and planted only three hills of cucum-
bers, two feet out We think six hills
would crowd the plants too much. The
bottom of the barrel we filed to the depth
of six inches with very coarse gravel to
prevent the manure from packing into and
clogging up the holes. Straw or other
vegetable litter should never be used in
stead of the gravel, as it would eventually
become acid. Above the gravel we placed,
to within one foot of the top of the barrel,
entirely welI-rotted stable manure. Over
each hole outside, we placed gallon of
coarse grave. or pebbles to favor the escape
of the liquids. Every fourth day we filled
the barrel anew with water. The result
was very good.
Our CORES pondent mentions re6lling his
barrel every ten days. If by this he means
renewing the compost that often, we think
his method would be rather troublesome,
and if lie means reflling with water only
we think his refillings would be too Ear
apart for a very dry season.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16

fruits in California is Mr.. A Furnas of FL
Nodena, in that state. In recent article
contributed to the Indiana Farmer he says
evaporated fruits are rare in California.
Sun-dried fruit is the rule Place the fruit
on scaffolds in the sunshine and let nature
do the work But all fruits intended for
commerce are bleached-they wouldn't go
without
The bleaching is done with burning sui
phur, and before the fruit is dried. If
done after drying the fruit would smell of
the sulphur, but being done before, all the
fumes of sulphur escape during the dying
process.
Where operations are conducted on q
large scale it will be necessary to have built
small, tight house IN which to place the
cut fruit for exposure to the sulphur
fumes, but for work on q comparatively
small scale bleaching arrangement that
will answer every purpose may be easily
and cheaply provided. Mr.. Furnas adds
with reference to cheap arrangement for
bleaching fruits:
1 might say that any box or barrel, in
which the fumes of sulphur can be confined
on the fresh-cut fruit for thirty or forty
minutes will bleach it sufficiently.
First as to the tray on which the fruits
are dried. This is three feet long and
twenty-four inches wide. The bottom is
nailed to an end piece an inch thick, and an
inch and half wide, and the tray is ready
for fruit. The sides are of thin stuff like
the bottom. When the trays have been
filed with cut fruit they are piled cris-
cross one atop of another as high as de-
sired, the pile being placed over an eXca-
walton in the ground, sufficiently deep to ad-
nit of the burning OF the sulphur, which
can be done on shovel full of Goals.
A box sufficient to cover the pile of trays
is turned over them fitting closely to the
ground, and with small handful of sulphur
on the live Goals, the bleaching will be COM
plete il due time.
l am well aware that some one will ask
''exactly'' what amount of sulphur to
given amount of fruit. l do not know of
any invariable precise rule. The black
smith cannot tell to 4 second how long 1t
will take to heat his iron, or just exactly
how much coal it will require. His expert
ence and judgment are brought in requisi-
ton and thus he is enabled to '.strike while
the iron is hot" $50 Slow at first, sui
phur light rather than too heavy, and you
will soon be able to strike the happy medium
for good bleaching, which will be mani
tested in the color of the fruit.
Another reason why out-of-door dried
fruit should be first bleached (sulphured)
lies in the fact that there is always a spe-
cies of fly ready TO take advantage of its
exposure to deposit eggs uponit, which will
soon hatch worms ard give US worIny fruit
But this sulphur bath renders it entirely
distasteful TO all manner of insects, so they
give it wide berth and there are no worms.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
ON DRYING PEACHES.

Please give US through your excellent de-
partment of the Fort Worth GAZETTE some
information on drying peaches after the
plan pursued by the fruit dryers of Cali
fornia. We know all about drying peaches
in the old way, but the old-fashioned, black
looking fruit would not take on the market
nowadays. I suppose some kind of evap-
orator will be necessary, and we would like
to have you describe the best one to be had
at reasonable figures, letting US know
where it might be bought and at what
price. c. o. CHoPLEY.
If you know all about drying peaches on
the old plan you know it all No evaporator
is needed in the dry atmosphere of Texas
evaporaters are not used in California. An
evaporator is necessary only in such humid
regions as one finds in the lower states east
of the Mississippi river, and northward.
One of the old plans of drying peaches
was to dry them entire, leaving the seed in,
but that plan is not practiced now-such
fruit would not sell well on any market
Beyond this there is nothing new in drying
fruits, unless it should be that peaches, ap-
pies and the like are sliced thinner than
used to be the style. You speak of black
ouG tuCIC uCcu NO uOuC u
this. The light color of modern dried fruit
is due to process entirely outside of the
drying-it is bleached. Than to bleach
fruits nothing could be more simple-any
one can bleach fruits who desires to do so,
and it is entirely necessary in case of dried
fruits put up for market. Then aside from
having it in the prevailing fashion there are
other good reasons why dried fruits
should be put through the bleaching pro-
cess, as we shall presently show.
One of the best authorities ON drying
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
ABOUT OUR BLACK LANDS.

In discussing the merits of the black
lands of Texas q friend and myself have
agreed to disagree. He contends that the
superior productiveness of these lands is
owing TO the more moist nature of their
soils, while [ am arguing that they are OF d
cold, dry nature, and therefore owe their
productiveness entirely to the very large
amount of plant food which they contain.
Please settle the question for us through
THE GAZETTE. G. HARDWICK,
Grayson County, Tex.
Our decision is that YOU are both mainly
correct; or, in other words, both Of your
arguments put together tell about the
whole story. In the recently published
government report on irrigation in the
United States Professor Robert 7. Hill
says the soils of Texas which most rapidly
drink up the rains that fall upon them are
the sandy soils, and next to them come the
chalky soils, such as make up what we call
the grand prairie formation. While these
soils would appear entirely dry soon after
a moderate shower of rain, the black
waxey prairies, where there is much clay
in the structure, would remain wet and
muddy for many days, all due to different
degrees of pOrosity-page 217. This would
seem to make it plain that our black lands
hold moisture longer than do most other
Texas lands. Then, as to fertility, it is
well understood tLat, as a great body,
these black lands are the richest lands in
the state.
All clay lands are considered more or less
cold. Sandy lands are classed as the
warmest lands, and clay lands are regarded
as colder than these in proportion to the
greater per cent of clay contained in their
makeup.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
THE PECAN AGAIN.

You have been giving US readers Of THE
GAZETTE much valuable information con-
corning the pecan. The way you are able
to write about it, proving up everything
you say, is almost enough to make one con-
clude that you had done nothing all your
life other than study the pecan. Your
evinced willingness to respond to all in
quiries with reference to the matter has
given me the assurance to ask you few
questions.
1. read in the papers of thin-shell
pecans. and thick-shell pecans, and paper
shell pecans, and hard-shell pecans, and
soft-sheil pecanS. Are all of these differ
cnt varietiesl If so. how are we to dis
tinguish one variety from the other?
2. also read OF pecan orchards and
pecan groves. Are these something i5fer-
ent. If so, what is the difference If not,
which is most correct, grove or orcharda
= Weatherford, Tex.
There are but TWO kinds Of pecans-thick
shells and thin shells. These might, of
course, be divided into various marked va
rieties, though we are not sure that they
are as yet. Paper-shells and soft-shells are
simply incorrect descriptions. We have
never yet see pecan that had softer or
more papery sell than was common to all
other pecans. You may get hold of So
called soft-shell pecan and crush it easily
with the hands, but this comes simply Of
the fact that the shell is extremely thin.
If you examine that shell closely you will
find it composed Of exactly the same ma
terial, put together in the same way, as the
thick-shelled pecan. Precisely the same
NAV be said Of the so-called paper-shell
pecan. If any difference, the thin shell,
what there is of it, is really frmer than the
thick shell
Quite number Of people writing about
pecsns speak Of pecan orchards, but they
have no kind of authority for doing SO.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
HELP THE DEW,

The Rural Messenger says dew is Of the
greatest consequence to crops not under IT.
rigation, especially in time of drouth. Pin
deed it is the life of the crop at such Cine,
and since the farmer has it withi& his
power to materially help the dew along in
its good work he should be ever profbt to
do so.
One of the greatest helps to dew lies in
shallow surface tillage; that is, making all
the surface loose and fine. This not only
acts as mulch to plants, arrestlng evapora-
ton during the day, but it also forms de-
posting place for moisture in the night.
No land with tillable crop upon it should
be allowed to cake on the surface. Dew
will collect in finely and freshly pulverized
soil when it would not do so on crusted
soil.
Land that was deeply broken in spring,
and is protected now by mulch of fine
dirt on the surface, will yield moisture
freely from below and receive dew freely
at night, and between the two the crop will
be supplied with about all the moisture it
requires until it reaches the seeding or
caring stage, when rain is desirable.
To promote dew, then, keep the surface
clean of grass and as fine as you can make
it. Do not disturb the roots of the crops in
hot, dry weather Work upon the surface
and let the roots alone.
OF cousre this refers to the crop while
growing and vet under culture. When a
crop is finished to the '1aying-by" there is
little chance of doing more for it, yet in this
case if the surface soil could be pulverized
SO often as it evinced disposition to cake
the crop would be greatly the gamer SO
long as it stood in need of moisture.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16

Webster says Of the orchard, that it is ssan
inclosure or assemblsge of fruit trees; es-
pecially Of apples, peaches, pears or cheAr
ries; rarely Of nut-bearing trees" This
ought to settle it that an assemblage of Pc
rs "a group of trees smaller than fores..
and without underwood, planted. or grow
ing naturally as if arranged by art, and
very generally attaining their full proper.
tons" This clearly lets in an assemblage
of pecan trees as grove. ''Pecan grove
is evidently the correct term to use.
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

This department is devoted to answering
such questions as may be asked by our sub
scribers which may be Of general information.
Inquiries Of personal character that require an
swer by mail should always have stamp IN
closed. Please give full name and post0fice
address in addition to any such signature as
Subscriber" or "A. G. d, not for publication,
if against the will Of the writer, but to admit OF
direct communication should such thing be
deemed necessary. Address as directed at head
Of this page
Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-16
THE SMALL FARM.

MIR. Waldo r. Brown, the well known
Ohio writer Of sound agricultural lftera-
ture, says the man who manages a small
farm, first, to supply his family all that he
possibly can for their support and comfort,
and then chooses wisely some abecialty for