The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-01-25
OUR RURAL TOPICS.


Some Practical Suggestions for Our Agri-
cultural Readers.
Before the hurrying time for Spring work
comes farmers should make their arrangements
for making better garden than they had Iast
year Examine the eatalogs Of seedsmen, which
are easily procured now, and send in the orders
early. You will find ia the catslogs some nov
elites in varieties. and also some kinds of plants
that have long been cultivated, but which you,
making list late in the Spring. have always
neglected. These are often as easily grown as
are the beets. lettuce, cabbage. cucumber and
squash that are the chief staples IN farmers
gardens. One of the surest ways to increase
the attractiveness of farm life is to increase
the variety of vegetable foods to be had on the
farmers table. 1t is discredita fact that
the city resident can usually get 8 better
variety Of all kinds of vegetables, such as every
farmer can grow. than can the average farmer
This ought not to be So Now is the time to
begin preparations for better supply OF garden
vegetables the coming year. If this be one Of
the New Year resolutions, and If it be lived up
to, the man making it will be healthier and,
physically at least, happier than ever before
There is some work required to make good
garden that needs to be done early. The old
garden is not nearly large enough, and It is hard
to get piece Of ordinary farm land rich enough
to produce good garden-truck the first season.
Take piece that was heavily MANFRED last
year for corn or potatoes. Cover it with stable
manure, and if this has been turned in the heap
two or three times, so as to expose all parts Of
Z IN ha -
time the piece can be plowed in Spring the
soluble parts Of this manure will be washed
down into the soil. When it is plowed turn
the furrow just deep enough to bring to the
surface the manure plowed under the previous
Spring. II will work among the upturned soil
and make an excellent seed bed, though il Is
always best for garden vegetables planted early
to use some nitrate of soda placed very near
the seed.-Amsrican Cultivation
Few people know how easily sweet pOtatos,
can be dried, even in the sun, and how handy
and useful the dried potatoes are At best
sweet potatoes are q troublesome crop to keep,
but when dried or cured in an eyaporator
they are really no trouble to keep and are
always at hand for use on the table at short
notice. They should be sliced and then eyapo-
rated. Then to use them they are soak ed, to
restore the eyaporated moisture, and then baked
IN pans, as the fresh ones often are. They are
an admirable article for buildings and pies. For
this purpose it would be better to grind them
into meal and put up in packages with direc-
tions for making buildings. Put up in this way
it ought not TO be much trouble to create a mar
ket for the dried sweet potatoes. If an eyapo-
rating plant would but undertake the putting III
Of the sweet-potato meal in packages tie arti-
Gle would sell well. Grocerymen are slow to
take hold of such products in the crude evspo-
rated state, but in such packages, with few
attractive handbills and lot of recipes for
making the many delicious preparations that
can be made from sweet potatoes, market could
soon be made from product that eastern North
Carolina can supply in limitless quantities.
Who will start this enterprise7- W r. Massey,
N. C. Experiment Station.
Where the soil freezes aud thaWs through thu
Winter months clover frequently is failure on
lay soils by reason of being killed. The clay
holds water so tenaciously that freezing dis
,uTbs it much more than it does loamy land,
throwing the long tap root of the clover plant
almost out of the ground. The clay probably
leeds the fertilizing influence of the clover
wen more than loamy soil would and the
iificulty of getting good stand of it makes
erious drawback to profitable cultivation. In
uch case all efforts to produce crops had bet
er be put aside until thorough system Of
lrainsge has been established. Then, when the
and has been prepared so that it can relieve
tself at once of all surplus and deleterious
moisture, clover may be put in successfully,
nd, followed by other crops to make use Of the
ertility supplied by the clover, the land will
DON abundantly repay the extra outlay for
rainsge. Many fields which are now a con-
tant loss and vexation may be made the most
roftable on the farm by this method.
Poultry keeping when the business is proD-
rly conducted and with an eye mainly to egg
reduction, is extremely profitable Expert
rents in feeding and computing the value Of
ggs show that if no estimate is made for labor
ne dozen eggs can be produced at cost of
bout six cents for food, or about half a ceutan
yg. If all the food consumed by the fowls
ent directly to egg production the profit would
ways be very good but much depends upon
neither the hens convert this food into eggs.
esh. or to the support of their bodies; but
hen the feeding is properly conducted the
rOft procured is satisfactory one. Another
ct which should also be considered, is that
hen eggs are marketed they carry from tbs
rm but little of the nutritious elements Of
le soil in proportion to their value
One of the most common errors in breeding
the use of grade sires This is true with all
asses of stock. Because the animal is of good
ock and possesses individual merit one con-
udes that it is as good as thoroughbred, and
10 results are usually unsatisfactory, and gen.
ally so much so that it rarely proves profit
lie. Neither will it do to take an inferior
imal and use for breeding simply because Z
Is good pedigree. although it is preferable to
q an inferior animal with good pedigree
an a scrub.
The Cause of It.
Ind