The record-union., 1896-07-12
FARM AND ORCHARD.
Feeding Of Sorghum OF Kafr Corn to
Cattle.
Orchard Flowing Pruning Fruit Trees
Ammonia as 4 Tree Wash
Corn in Flower Pots.

from feeding Egyptian corn to cattle
and horses? Just why this is sometimes
fatal to stock has been a puzzle for
many years in all countries where the
plant is grown. T. d. Coburn, of the
Kansas Board of Agriculture, has given
the subject attention, and in letter
to the Breeders Gazette he says:
According to my observation there
appears pretty good evidence to estab-
lish either side of the case preferred "a
to second growth sorghum. One thing
is certain many cattle have died with
in an hour, or even half an hour, after
being given access to growing second
growth sorghum or kafir corn, their
owners finding to their sorrow that
these were as deadly as the didn't
know wit-was-loaded' gun. On the
other hand there are apparently just
as many owners who will testify that
they have raised sorghum for years,
and their cattle have had free access
to it in we'll nigh all its various stages
and conditions, only to thrive and wax
fat. Sometimes it kills and some
times it doesn't. Why it kills or why it
doesn't kill no fellow has yet found
out
"A Mississippi man. after twenty
years experience and losing more or
less stock, says: I do not believe 1T
poisonous in any stage of its growth,
yet If hungry cattle are allowed to go
into a sorghum patch and eat their
fill at any stage of it's growth, either
ripe or unripe cane, early in the spring
or late in the fall, they will be as dead
a tha pravarbia al door 11ail in from folJr
to eight hours
"A Nebraska man writes: October
7th and Sth we had quite a frost. A
neighbor turned his stock on the sor
ghum ON the Sth Ten or fifteen min
utes later ten or fifteen of his cows
were dead After few mouthfuls they
commenced to stagger and tumble as
if poisoned.
Another man says: We have fed
sorghum to cattle at any and all stages
of growth-frst growth, second growth
and FROST -bitten-and always with ap-
parent benefit except once. This ex-
ception was with yearling sucking
calf. When the sorghum was about
knee-high, arnfuls of it were given to
the calf, beginning in the morning. At
l O'Clock it had symptom Of bloat and
at 4 O'Clock was dead
Il never heard Of any losses by cattle
pasturing on first-growth sorghum, nor
from eating the second growth after it
was cured. / would have no particular
fears of the latter; but as to the green
stuff, / have seen enough to convince
me of its being bad medicine some-
times-in fact, many times. l suspect
nf Jo ri
from turning hungry cattle, wholly un-
accustomed to it, where they eat too
much and too ravenously, especially
after a frost or about the season of
frosts."
What Mr.. Coburn says about frost
is probably true. but It does not ac-
count for the EMBELLISHMENTS of the
feed. Bad results have been reported
in California in midsummer, probably
two or three months away from any
frost. The evil is probably due to
gorging by cattle unaccustomed to it,
as cattle are apt to do when suddenly
given fresh green stuff. If the sorghum
is wilted for day in the sun, or if it
is fed sparingly in connection with dry
feed until the animals get over their
ravenous appetite for it, we would not
apprehend trouble. +
ORCHARD FLOWING.
T. G. Yeomans of Walworth, N Y, a
fruit grower of much prominence gives
the Country Gentleman his idea of
orchard plowing. which will be read
with interest by Californians In plow-
irg an orchard, he says, it is desirable
to avoid the common and almost uni
versal practice of turning back burrows
to the rows of trees, for once or twice
this can be done without immediate
apparent injury, but it is better to avoid
it entirely from the beginning. Neither
a back furrow nor dead furrow should
occur at a row Of trees in any orchard; ;
the latter especially should not be toll
Grated.
The common practice of starting to
plow an orchard by turning a back fur
row to each row of trees seems to be
about the only plan suggested to the
common OPERATOR and this gives as
many dead burrows as there are rows in
the orchard, and each successive plow-
ing on the same plan renders the sur
face more uneven, the valleys deeper
and the ridges higher. An easy plan to
avoid these difficulties is shown in the
following manner of blowing:
Suppose an orchard having fifteen
spaces between rows of trees is to be
ploWed. Begin with a back furrow in
the middle of the third space and plow
five spaces; then start in the middle of
the thirteenth space with a back fur
row and plow five spaces, when there
will be five spaces remaining Plow
around this to the finish, and the only
dead furrow in the field will be in the
center of the eighth space.
If the orchard has twelve spaces to
plow, start in the middle of the third
space with a back furrow and plow five
spaces and go around the other part of
seven spaces, finishing at a dead furrow
in the middle of the ninth space When
the orchard is to be plowed again, start
with a back furr0w at former dead
furrow, and thus reverse the former or
der of blowing.
Any number of spaces in an orchard
can readily be divided into lands SO as
to contain an odd number of spaces,
thus, ) and 8, and 8, 3 and ), 5 and
7. On general principles, it is best not
to have a large number of dead furrows
in field
PRUNING APRICOT TREES.
Summer pruning of apricot trees is a
practice followed pretty generally in the
larger apricot growing portions OF Cali
fornia. AS soon as the fruit is gathered
the trees are headed back severely and
surplus shoots thinned from the inside.
tits claimed that the next seasons fruit
buds will ripen better, and observation
has shown that the trees will not be as
liable to gum treated in this way as
they would when pruned heavily in the
winter or spring. In any case where ap-
ricnf trees are rrome to gum ard 4fie.