The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-08-15

at a price so much higher. in proportion,
that they may be used with profit. 1t Is,
of course, understood that only the best
fruit Is packed in these special boxes. 1t
will pay any fruit grower, regardless of
his location If within reasonable distance
of a city market, to try the plan sug-
gested, with both apples and pears.
2Seasonable Poultry Work.
Bear in mind that while the hens and
more, than during the winter. they will
have no particular liking for the old box
of coal ashes in which they wallowed all
winter. The ideal umIner dust box is a
few square feet Of spaded-up garden soil
located in a spot where the fowls will do
no harm to vegetation, yet where the
soil will be a little moist and loamy. Have
1t where the sun will shine on it so that
it will be quite dry on the surface and for
several inches deep. If the dust box must
be kept in the house or undo cover fill it
with road dust, mixing a little lime In 1t
with a shovelful of coal ashes that have
been sifted. Keep watch closely of the
growing pullets remembering only such
as are hardy, free from disease and who
are passing through the summer In a
thrifty condition should be kept for the
laying pens and for possible breeding the
next spring. Nothing is easier than to
send the flock down hill by breeding from
stock that Is not hardy; this applies quite
as much to the best bred stock as the
common strains. Stock not fitted to car
ry through the winter as layers and for
spring breeding, should be fattened for
the market provided they are free from
disease.
The Question of Worn Out Farms.
!" Most farmers are familiar with farms
that are considered worn out; that is, by
constant cropping the fertility of the soil
has become exhausted and the annual APP
plications Of fertilizer do not seem to
have the desired effect. "A we are be-
coming more familiar with the chemistry
of the soil we are beginning to realize that
the old plan Of applying fertilizers for the
sole purpose of making the crop that Is
on the ground, is a wrong one. 1t is be-
ing seen that the soil must have, in adj
dition to what plant food is needed by
the crop, sufficient fertilizer to make good
or more than make good what is taken
from the soil by the growing crop. Thus
IL a plant uses five pounds Of ~phosphoric
acid from the soil in order to attain per-
lection and maturity, it will oe necessary
to apply to the soil a sufficient quantity
OF fertilizer which will furnish phosphoric
acid, to give the plant what 1t needs and
enough more so nat the soil will be able
another year to grow another crop with
l II6 ASlp VI III AA1AASAs al IAAS way
the fertility OF the soil is kept up and
lie fertilizers are applied in accordance
with the needs of the soil, which is i'm
portant, 1t Is next to impossible to wear
out the soil by cropping, provided, always.
the soil has any virtue in the beginning.
The farmer should study his soil and by
experiments with combinations Of ferti-
lizers find out what is lacking. If this
can be done and the want filled the worn
out farm, SO called, can be made to again
grow profitable crops.
Treating Worn Out Meadows.
On many. farms there are meadows
which have grown weedy and which need
fertilizing to a greater or less extent In
order to max them paying. lands. 1t is
too often the custom when aSmeadow runs
out to turn it into a pasture field, relying
upon the %droppings left by the stock te
grow sufficient grass to make the helc
pay fairly well as pasture. This is 9
mistake, for it would be far more profit.
able to reflt the land for hay. Such mead
ows should be plowed now, before thu
weeds go to seed and should be frequently
worked during the summer to get 1t u
shape for seed to be sown In the fall. A
good way to treat such a meadow aftel
summer tilling would be to apply SONS
\ commercial, fertilizer In the late summer
the quantity depending upon the condi
4 lloH u TIE Soil, dItu Al LIS cdtly d:So
to winter rye which should be plowed un
der in the spring and the ground httet
for corn. Give the corn thorough cultur'
during the summer, sowing. a cover crol
of some kind with the last cultivation o
the corn, this crop to be turned unde
in the spring following when the seeding
to grass may be done. In this way on
lays the foundation for another meadov
that will give good returns.
The FavoroI!e Fowls.
II The illustration this week shows a COG
and hen, from photograph, Of the ne1
;a breed Of fowls recently introduced fror
a I7ro /, co q md lSpor7,& faSI IN xorp11aEg MS Thne