The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-12-30
horticulture.

The acid OF AL fruits has Its value
/ ia purifying the system, and 1t
| sboaaId be the duty OF every farmer
to provide for his family all the
standard fruits shat he can possibly
cultivate. Peaches, grapes ana straw
berries should not he negl rcted-
| Without reference ut all to some of
| the newer varieties which most
farmers have not heard of, or at least
have not Lested, there are sorts which
| he can easily get in Isis own vicinity
which have been known for mary
years, and which will answer every
purpose.
| Without question the strawberry is
a very deslFable fruit to have on the
farm, but to have it i'll perfection re-
| Quirea "a little more care than most
farmers are willing TO give, and yet
| il only requires n good variety Of
| berry, a little good soil we'll enriched,
| and Il little cultivation given at the
! pro per time, 10 have tins most de-
| iIghtfUI 1rUit in abundance III the
| spring. If iarmers could only be-
| brought u realize the fact that
! strawberries have "a medicinal value,
like nearly all other fruits, they
might give more attention TO their
| cultivation.
| Ample Trees are slow in coming into
| bearing, aud n crop ut peach trees
! will 1--we tneir shorter lie, bear sew
| erAl crops Ol truIi ami he out ~ the
way before apple. trees, planteSs 40
| feet apart each way, Will greatly
crowd them. This close setting ~hIle
! young ben, fits both kinds oi trees.
| The apple trees shade the peach trees
from severe winds, and hold 1n|re
snow around the roots. The peach
| tees, if the sOjl Is as rich as IL Should
| be. check the apple tree growth and
induce carrier fruItiulueSs. Even
with the aid OF the apple Ure,1s the
peaches sold will often pay the cost
of the wIOie orchard before single
bushei of apples Is ready Tor market,
causing the farmer To wish that all
the trees had b-en peach, iU stead of
merely filling in with Jhis fruit as
one OF secondary Importance.
There Is 40 question Out thst Il
very large proportion OF our orch
ards, after being planted, taken care
of aud brought into Il thrifty state OF
bearing, often fall OF greatly and fail
to yield profitable returns from eau
IS independent of insects and fun
goids. There il no doubt that large
number of orchards have not paid III
the past, do not pay III the present,
and in all probability will not pay III
the future. Tue leading ana most
common cause is starvation, for IT is
not too much to say that the average
farmer, who either plants out an Orcn-
ard for himself or buys u farm with
one already planted, afterwards goes
on treating the land rs though that
orchard did not exist, cropping IL
with wheat, oats, rye, ETC., IN rota-
! tion, or want of rotation, until the
wobd er is, not that the trees do not
bear satisfactory crops, but that they
are alive at all.
For onion growing the soil should
he thoroughly plowed and well har-
| rOwed Just previous TO sowing zee a.
! II the soil is not rich it DhouId be
well fertiliZed. Finely ground bone
| (oone dusG il q spleudid fertiliH yer Tor
onions, or for anything else. n thou
sand pounds of it, with the same
quantity OF rotted Out not Ieached)
| ashes, lightly narrowed in before
sowing seed, is - good application for
medium SOIL. After the onions have
started to growing any good fertilizer,
| tnp-dressed along the rows and hoed
IN from time 30 time, VIII be adVanta-
geoCs. Que hundred and fifty to two
hundred pounds of nitrate of soda,
applied after the crop ia started, Is Il
very profitable application usually.
Have the rows two feet apart. Five
to six pounds Of good seed will in
sure "a stand. Sow in very shall oW
drills and run a roller along the rows
If the soil is rich and cultivated 1T Is
not necessary to tnlu To any set dls-
tauCe. We have known as many as a
dozen goOd-sized onions to mature in
the space OF foot. Do not let the
seeds fall i'm bunches. hut SOW thinly
and evenly, aud little thinning will be
necessary. The use of sets is not to
be commended, except to grow on
ions for early use-tO be used green
mostly.
Some years ago tried number of
experiments in packing fruits and
vegetables in bran chatf and sand for
winter storage, with a view, of
cour-e, of promoting their keeping
qualities. In "a nus shell, my expert
ence led me to the following conclu-
rions: Such vegetables as beets,
English turnipS and carrots keep
much letter when kept in clean, dry
sand, beets particularly. Apples
packed in perfectly dry buckwheat
chafI' or bran seemed rather less in
, clined 10 decay than those in bins or
barrels, but the difference was so
slight that / do not con ider the bene-
fit worth the extra bother. Such
long-keepiug aPp'es'ss Baldwins and
, Northern Spies are best packed when
/ dry in clean barrels, double headed,
> and kept at as low temperature as
, possible without freezing.