The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-05-11
OUR RURAL TOPICS,
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers

half feet apart in the row and half OF them
transplanted after the second year.
Canes on vines planted in the Spring may DO
| cut down almost to the ground without injury
| to the plant. Raspberries must be cultivated
the first two years, and after that they may be
mulcbed. In their wild state raspberries supply
themselves with mulch, bat by our system OF
cultivation they are deprived of the canes and
leaves, so these must be supplied by covering
the ground around the vines with straw or
other mulch. This mulch not only supplies
food for The plants, but keeps down the weeds.
1t is best never to cultivate after the second
year, as many of the small roots will be broken
and the yield lessened.
convenient trelis can be made by setting
posts 10 to Is feet apart the full length of the
row and stretching plain wire between them.
Some prefer to clip the vines, az to make
them support themselves without the trellis.
Vines properly started will last number of
years If the soil is kept moist by deep mulch.
Berry Culture for Profit
Fine manure raked or cultivated in near
the surface will add fertility to the soil and
make your plants grow.
Keep the ground moist and mellow by fire.
quent cultivation it warns the soil in early
spring ana retains the moisture near bno
face in the heat of Summer
An application of hard wood ashes will supply
the soil with potash, SO necessary in the berry
garden.
If any plants have failed to grow, set new
ones 10 their place at once. A large percent
age of labor is often lost by this neglect, and
profits for several seasons reduced.
Potatoes may be placed between most berry
rows the first season, but never corn nor any
crop to shade the ground,
The size and quality of berries may be i'm
proved by severe pruning of laterals in the
early Spring.
Currants were much injured by the borer
last season. As soon as the leaves start, the
affected canes are easily discovered, aud should
be cut out and burned at once. About June
the egg is laid. AS Matched, the young
borer eats its way into the cane, and remains
until the following season.
Picking, packing and marketing are impor-
tant factors in the growing of berries for profit.
The grower should understand at once that
choice berries are always in demand, Mt good
prices. and the market is never overstocked;
That poor berries seldom sell well, and the
market is easily overstocked;
That it costs just as much to raise poor ber-
| ries;
That it costs as much to pick and pack poor
berries; that freight and express charges are
/ just as high on poor berries; hence there is
| profit only in growing the best for market.
Berry boxes, picking-ca and shipping
cases should be ready before the hurry of the
season begins.
| Clean, well-mads packages. neatly stenciled
| on the sides with name and residence, soon
/ become your trademark y; let it also be
guarantee of good berries honestly packed.
Never allow stems, leaves, imperfect or I'M
| ripe berries in the box.
Handle carefully.
Always have uniform quality throughout,
and the boxes well filed.
Berries carry better if boxes are rounding
| full.
| Never offer poor berries for sale; never use
poor or inferior package. If il becomes neces-
/. sary to sell poor berries, send to good commits
| sion house. but never place your stencil On the
| package.
Let markets DO as near as possible, and to
regular customers.
1t you would have good markets for your
berries, always deal honestly with your Gus
tomers.-COHntJy Gentleman.
Fruit Notes.
Few pears keep as well in Winter as apples,
but there are several sorts that will keep late
| if properly treated. Among these are the
Lawrence. Beurre dAnjOu. Easter Beurre, and
| Winter Nells. They must be kept in cold
| place, and as near a freezing temperature as
| possible. Many farmers could arrange places
| To store them (apples also) in rooms within
| rooms upstairs, and the aid of oil lamps would
1
! keep out the frost on cold nights.
One of the greatest drawbacks in fruit Gull
| ture is the disinclinaton Of the grower to study
/ into the needs of his business. The average
man reared on the farm seems to hate to think,
or to do anything outside of routine. Fruit
! growing is easy TO one who knows how and
| will use his knowledge.
| Trees having thrifty growth are less liable
| to the attacks of disease and insects than most
others An exception may be found in the case
| of rapidly growing pear trees, which are some
| times suddenly stricken with fire. blight. But
| as a rule, keep the trees growing if you care to
| see them Succeed-and NEST people do wish
| that.
| Few men need an education as much as the
| fruit grower. The more he knows of botany,
mincralogy, chemistry, entomology and other
| sciences relating TO his business the better his
| chances for success In addition he needs
| practical training rs to planting and pruning,
| the chemical nature of fertilizers, the best
methods for applying fertilizers. and, besides,
business training for the successful sale of his
| crops. In this age aud day he can get such an
education at less cost than ever before and if
| the young man aiming to be fruit grower
does not do it he has himself chiefly to blame.
How to Feed OIL Cake.
| Oil cake is the by-product of Iinseed oil, and
consists of the bulls and other solid parts
| Under the old process the oil is squeezed out by
heated plates and the solids pressed into fiat
cakes. These have to be broken or ground up
| before feeding.
| Under the new process the oil is extracted by
| means of benZne or naphtha, and the by-prod-
| net is sold in the form of meal, tho seed having
| been ground up. By the old process more oil
! is left in the cake, and for fattening cattle
many feeders prefer it. On the other hand,
many dairymen object to the old-process cake
as containing too much oil for a butter food.
| They say it tends to make the butter fat,
greasy, soft, and white. The same objection is
made to the new process, but not to the same
extent. because there is less oil left in the meal.
Neither tho cake nor the meal should ever
| form more than one-tenth of the meal ration
for butter. Two pounds day is as much as
should ever be fed Jersey COW, and one pound
| is better for most cows 1t is q laxative, and
exceedingly valuable in combination with cot
| t0nmeal or cOTnmeal.
The best way to feed any meal Is to sprinkle
/ and mix it over and through hay that has been
cut fine, say inch, and moisten. Every
barn should have a mixing box in the
feeding room.-JerSey Bulletin.
| Turning Sheep to Pasture.
The grass should always, ii possible, be al
| lowed fair start before the sheep are turned
on it for the Summer. Sheep bite close to the
! ground, and their cup-shaped teeth enable
| them to scoop out the crown Of plant with
destructive effect. If the heart of a young
| plant is cut out too closely it experiences a
| serious setback and it will be long time be-