The record-union., 1899-05-11


and a considerable amount of work II
they hope to make it commercially sue
cessful On the other hand, the rails
ing OF pigeons IN this mild climate does
not entail anything like SO much labor
and expense as 1T does in the East.
Eggs are exceptionally high in the
East just now. AS a rule, they are
quoted in New York at prices ranging
from S1a to 91a cents dozen in April,
but at present they are quoted at liz
and Il cents, and it is not expected that
there will soon be any drop.
THE WATER QUESTION.
G. P. Hall, in Fruit World: How
much water does a tree need? Some OF
them need more than they get, and it
is all moonshine to talk about watering
ten acres with a three-quarter-in inch
MAN. for where it is attempted the
trees are poor stunted objects of pity
Treating a tree in this way is about
like telling your boy, who is thirsty
for a good drink of milk, to drink all he
wants-that there's plenty down cellar
in a cup. But there can be excess of
watering. 1 could find ranches where
the owner is in the habit of pouring
en- 100000 gallons per acre. j. Nj.
johnson, Chula Vista, measured water
he put on the Tuition tract, and found
$4,000 gallons to the acre, or to sew
enty-five trees to the acre, 933 gallons
to the tree. This amount of water will
make the land about a foot to two
feet of soil above the adobe subsidy so
saturated you could not walk over it,
They were five-year-old bearing trees
Three irrigations of this character
would be sufficient. One hundred and
twenty-five gallons per month on some
soils will keep the tree alive, but you
cannot expect much fruit. DR.. Ham
mond Spring Valley. has on exhibit
ton in the Chamber of Commerce
cluster of eleven fine lemons taken
from a tree that has had no irrigation
for two years, but of course it is sit
uated so that it must get a sub-fow
from adjacent irrigation. Give the
trees sufficient to keep them thrifty and
bearing. Lack of water makes the lit
tie stunted trees feel like Emperor B II
did when Dewey said to the meddle-
some German Admiral that he could
buy flags like the. one which was fly
ing on the German ship by the yard at
80 cents per yard. 1t is all bosh to talk
about raising trees without sufficient
water to solve the elements in the soil
the tree must feed on This does not
mean constant saturation, but contin-.
uous dampness, so the tree has enough
moisture to supply the drain Of evap-
grafton. A saturated soil gives the
tree sour digestion and premature
death. AS in most other things the
conservative plan is the best. Steer
between the evils of killing your trees
by hard drink or furnishing them to see
how little they will exist on
FINE GRAIN FIELDS.
Winters Express: We drove across
the country to Woodland the first of
this week and were very much gratified
at the prospects of a big grain crop.
Net only is everything growing to per-
lection but the acreage lis very large.
On account of the partial and total
failures of many fields sown to grain to
produce a crop that could be harvested
last year they were virtually in a con-
dition of summer fallow, so this season
there is a much smaller acreage. lying
idle than usual and the county is al
most big grain field. Grain is SO well
advanced that it does not seem pos
sible for anything to prevent an I'M
commonly successful harvest. While
more moisture would not be harmful
unless it came in the shape of a heavy
storm, if there is not another drop of
rain there will be no regrets. Hay, of
course, is also in fine shape, and many
| fields have already been harvested.
A VEGETABLE EXPLOSIVE
| Montreal Witness: A very curious
fruit has been discovered growing wild
in Batavia, and a. sample has been sent
4 to a. French professor of botany at
| Paris. 1t appears to be a species Of
bean, resem bling a cigar, both in form
and color, though only about an inch
! in length. But it has a peculiar char
acteristic which renders it a very
unique and interesting object, and this
is the exceedingly energetic manner in
which it scatters its seeds. If one of
these little fruits be thrown into a basin
of water it will rest quietly on the sur
/ face for from two to five minutes, then
/ it will explode, its violence hurting most
of its contents into the air with noise
and splash for all the world like small
| torpedo. 1t is hardly necessary to say
! that this phenomenon is caused by the
I pressure of the elastic substances of its
/ interior overcoming the resistance of its
! hard outer shell.
The fruit usually splits open length
wise. If plucked before maturity and
! allowed to ripen in a warm spot it
opens gradually from apex to base.
making, as it were, a pair of diverg-
ing horns starting from the same point
If left to ripen on the plant, since the
process is quicker and the internal
moisture greater the opening is sudden
and accompanied with a slight noise,
though this is much less than that
which takes place when it has been
placed in water In this case the dry
but porous tissue of the surface of
the fruit quickly absorbs the LIQUID,
especially at the grooves caused by the
| Junction of the two valves or outer
shells of the fruit The internal tissue.
being very elastic, exerts upon the lat
ter tension which soon results in the
violent bursting already described. The
curious property of explosion is given
49,