The National tribune., 1896-05-21
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions FOX Our
Agricultural Readers
Tomnfn Cnlfnre.


Thorough preparation of the soil is the
prime secret Of successful tomato culture,
and IT IS much cheaper and better 10 do the
necessary and deep cultivation before the
plants are set, says Garden and Forest.
Where the ground is well prepared aud
the plants we'll grown there is no advantage
In putting them out TIL the conditions are
favorable for rapid growth.
Give the plant but little water, barely
enough to prevent willing, for four or We
days before, and liberal watering two or
three hours before setting. In putting out
the plants be careful to save as many of the
roots as possible, and to get them into the
ground in a natural position without being
kinked CT crowded together, and, if it is
practicable to do So soak the ground about
the plant after setting; but if this is done
care should be taken to draw some dry earth
over the wet soil, so as to prevent its baking
and cracking. A few days after the plants
are set stir the surface soil with q hoe or
rake, and repeat this every few days as long
as the size of the plants will permit.
If the preparation Of the ground has been
cultivation, which would do more harm than
good. If a smaller quantity of extra-fins
frnit is preferred to larger yield of that
which is simply good, it will be better to
stake off or trellis the plants. For this pur-
pose nothing is better than four twO-inch
square stakes, about six feet long, driven
into the ground in square of about Is
inches around the plants. From four to
six branches are allowed to grow up within
the space inelOsed, the others being removed
rs they appear, and are held therein by
strings around the stakes, kept in place by
occasional tacks. Except in very heavy and
wet soils, more satisfactory results will be-
secured from unpruned plants which are al
lowed to rest on the ground.
Males in Laying Pens.
The advice is very commonly given by
modern poultry writers that where eggs are
wanted for the table simply, and not for
breeding purposes, keeping a male in the
flock is not only useless, but positive dis
advantage, the reason assigned usually being
that the eggs will keep longer if no male is
kept in the pen. The reason ia doubtless a
good one, but it is not the only one. series
OF experiments covering the point, UNDER
taken at the New York Experiment Station,
made it very eonelusivly appear that where
hens were kept without male, eggs were
produced at about 30 per cent less cost
than in exactly similar pens where cocks and
cockerels were kept. In some cases. too,
the production of eggs was nearly a third
larger in pens where no males were kept
than in others of precisely the same kind,
managed in the same way, except that the
presence of the male was permitted. Keep
ing males in laying pens, therefore, except
where fertile eggs are wanted for Matching, is
mistake in variety of ways. The eggs
are produced less economically, they are
liable to be fewer in number, and they are
not as good keepers.
Grass Under Trees.
Under some circumstances grass appears to
grow better under trees than it does when
exposed to the full blaze of the Summers
sun. In young orchard, and especially one
that Is plOwed every year, the tree roots
near the surface are cut off by the annual
cultivation. This leaves several inches
of soil in (which shallOw-rooted grass plants
thrive. But in orchards that have long been
uncuitivated, tree roots will be found very
near the surface, ready to take in the rain
fail, even of very light showers. In such
circumstances it is impossible for grass to
thrive, and much less for the deeper-roOted
clover to do so. In any event, the grass
BAOUn III tHo SllddC Will Hdfc less uubEILlOu
than that which has abundant sunlight. In
pasturing an orchard some extra ioOd should
always be given, not only for the benefit of
the trees, but to supplement the deficiencies
of the pasture.
Farm Notes.
Blaek-knot on cherries and plums should
be cut out and burned as soon as discovered.
Spraying is a remedy.
One ounce of hellebore dissolved in Eve
gallons of water is a remedy for currant and
cabbage-worms. Insect powder is also good.
The Vermont Experiment Station tested
the terminating power of many samples of
cabbage, caulihower, tomato and pepper
seed received from the leading seedsmen of
America. Fifty seeds of each sample were
tested, and the smallest number to germi-
nate was IL and the largest 49, the average
being q fraction over 50.
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