The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-07-13
Treatment OF Fruit Gnrden.

Treatment of Fruit Garden.
Small fruits are very productive. 1t
is surprising how heavily blackberries
and raspberries will bear. Avoid
crowding. The tendency of these
plants is to multiply enormously. Con-
sequently where one cane should stand
there are often two to six or even
more. Do not neglect proper thin
ming aud trimming with oil the small
fruits. While it is we'll known that
very few novelties surpass older varie-
ties, all things taken into account, yet
l like to make few experiments each
season with some of the more promis-
ing of the newer sorts of fruits. Do
not invest very largely nor is it prud-
ent to buy more than few plants al
first. Every fruit grower is alweTs on
the lookout for something better so he
should not be above taxing some pains
to fully inform hisHHseif / am irving
some of fs newer plums, such as
WicE.sSH, Red June, Hale; the Red
Sgoss currant aud London rasp-
berry. 1 want to find out whether
these are actually profitable market
fruits for my purpose. Each man must
make tests for himself. He cannot de-
pend upon others, conversant with diff
ferent soils, location, condition and
markets, to decide such questions for
him. The matter is strictly personal
and individual.
For good, general, well-proven fer
tilizer for all kinds of fruits, give us
the old-fashioned mixture of flour of
bone and unleached wood ashes. This
makes perfect fertilizer, furnishing
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid.
1t produces fruit rather than excessive
growth of wood and foliage, and what
is more, gives fruits of highest quality
and most palatable. L get good color
and good flavor from this fertilizer.
The proportions may be varied to suit
different needs. l would recommend
two tons of wood ashes and one-half
ton of bone meal per acre, the mixture
to be applied broadcast and thoroughly
narrowed or cultivated into the soil.
1t is great mistake in manuring trees
to apply around the trunks. Cover
the entire surface 80 as to find feeding
roots.-M. s. Perkins, in American
Agriculturist.
The Sheep Industry In the United States.
The importance of the sheep indus
try to the United States cannot be
estimated by the mathematician. 1t
cannot be stated accurately in figures.
1t would not be fair to the sheep in
dustry to say that the maximum of its
value is represented by the number
of sheep in the country, valued at so
much per head. This arises from the
intimate relation which exists between
sheep husbandry and fertility, and be-
tween fertility and the production of
maximum crops.
In reckoning the profit on growing
sheep it is customary to place a value
on the lamb crop and on the wool, and
to deduct from that a sum represent
ing the cost of maintenance. The diff
ference between these is said to repre-
sent the profit. But that mode of
reckoning only tells half the story, for
the service rendered by each animal
in destroying weeds and in fertilizing
the soil is oftentimes fully equal to
the cash returns which it gives to the
owner.
Sheep ought to be multiplied in the
land becau ,e of their utility in de-
stroying weeds. Introduce a small
band of sheep on every farm. Give
them chance t. do the work of scay-
engers. Utilize portion of the land
every year in growing q succession of
pastures for them, and they will clean
the farm more effectively than could
be done at large outlay in destroying
weeds i'll other ways.
Some men claim ihat il is not fair to
the sheep to make Ii 4 weed destroyer;
but those who talk thus know not
whereof they speak. Sheep are not
fools in the choice of foods. They
don't eat what they don't relish, hence
if they devour weeds, it is usually be-
cause they relish them, and relish
them they will il allowed to eat them
when they are yet tender and succu-
lent. And when weeds become woody
and produce seeds sheep will gather
the seeds with great diligence when
they refuse to eat the woody stem that
produced them.
As distributors of fertility on the
farm they have never had an equal
since the world began. II is that
property in sheep which has given
rise to The tritc proverb that the sheep
has golden hoof. The abandoned
farms Of New England arc being re-
claimed by the restorative power Of
sheep. They are gradually driving
the cattle from the ranges, but this is
not matter for re .ret, since the cquili-
brium of fertility on the ranges can be
far better meintai1cl through the
growing Of sheep i.pon them then
through the growing Of cattle. AT
least half Of tho $50. O00. coo tlct is