The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-04-14

the climate and soil of the south suit
the semi-tropical plant; and finally
because, for some reason not well IN
derstood, two or three crops planted
ON fairly good but partially exhausted
land, resulting from repeated crops OF
corn or cotton, one or both, performs
the miracle almost of nearly compile.
tely restoring lost fertility. In some
respects castor beans do for worn
lands in warm regions, what red
clover and alfalfa do for similar land
north. but whether, as in the former
case, the deep roots of the plant, the
complete and long shading of the
ground, or the seductive power
1t has of drawing to it the infinite
small germs that make soluble nit
rogen are still matters in controversy.
Still there are difficulties in the way
of castor bean growing.
Preparation must be made to cure
the beans as fast as ripe and to keep
them from moulding afterwards, and
last but not least, the entire castor
bean plant is so deadly poison to
stock that readily eat it, the fields
where it is grown must be guarded
by strong and high fence.
HOW TO FEED PIGS.
A pig is never to young to have a
full feed. Keep him always fat and
sell when the market is favorable.
Never hold for a favorable market
after he has reached 200 pounds
weight. If the hogs are confined to a
small lot or to houses it is highly i'm
portant that they have roots or some
other bulky food to take the place of
the green food they would gather if
they had the freedom of the fields. 1t
is dangerous to feed either sorghum
seed or cotton seed to hogs. Hogs
will contract blind staggers from feed
ing on these seeds. While cotton
seed is dangerous, small quantity
of the cotton seed oil cake is beneficial.
A young pig is easily stunted, and
especially if the weather is cold, For
this reason it is very important to
provide warm, dry shelter early in
the season, and neglect to do this is
in many cases the cause of failure to
make profit from fall pigs. To feed
hogs through the winter without Sc.
curing good gain, is to keep them at
a loss, and while it is, of course, neces-
sary to winter at as low cost as pos
sible, it is not good economy to lessen
the cost at the expense of the growth.
Exchange.
RAISING MELONS.
Those who are familiar with the
cultivation of the melon family of
plants, know that their roots extend
as far from the hill as the vines, and
from the main roots laterals are
thrown out that penetrate all parts of
the soil for food. In q melon patch |
either of canteloupes or water melons, |
if the soil is loose, melon roots can be |
found, dig where you may. The roots |
of the cantaloupe requiring such a
wide range shows that the secret of
success in its cultivation is to keep |
the ground clean and well pulverized.
If the land is quite sandy it
cannot be too rich for |
but on land that has but
little sand in it and is extra fertile the |
vines of the cantaloupes will grow too
rank, and, as the melons will be too
much shaded they will lack in sweet
ness and be insipid to the taste. While
rich sandy land will make
some melons, very fertile sandy land
will make an extra crop both in guam
ity and quality. Cantaloupes need
,lean cultivation, and at least once
week after the plants are up, till large
enough to lay by. The land between
he hills should be well worked with
Dlow or cultivator. While the last
with cultivator should be
thorough, it should not be deep for
ear of breaking too many roots.
Home and Farm.
VALUE OF A TREE.
The Gardeners Chronicle tells that
resident in the suburbs of London
lad in his garden two poplar trees,
which he valued highly on account of
heir protecting him from the smoke
md dirt of passing trains on the Lon
lon and Northwestern railway. The
rees were objected to by the railway
people on the ground that their
interferred with traffic. The
,wner expressed his willingness to
horten the branches. but refused to
nut down the trees. The rail-
way people sent me and
nut down the trees. They offered
heir owner $3.50 for the damage done,
md finally rt.ised their bid to $500.
This was refused and the company
vas sued for the value of the trees.
The court assessed their value at $500
md awarded $1,000 additional dam
lges for the injury caused by their re-
noval. fla few such decisions were
'endered in this country they might
heck the high handed action of tele-
graph and telephone companies on
heir march along our highways.