Middletown transcript., 1907-04-13
FARM NEWS AND VIEWS
The Early Fruits and Vegetables. April
Hints

Inc Early fruits ana vegetables. ApTIl
Hints
Ground intended for onions should be
plowed as early as the weather will per.
nit, as the onion crop is the first TO go in.
One method of producing onions is to SOW
the seeds in hotbeds and transplate the
small bulbs later. The seeds may be sown
in the hotbeds in January or February.
By thus growing them there is saving
of time and less difficulty with weeds. If
preferred, the onion sets may be procured
Of seedsmen. In fact, onion sets should
now be in the ground Plant the sets in
rows, placing them four inches apart in
the rows. The rows may be sufficiently
wide to permit of the use of wheel hoe.
1t is important to keep the grass from
between the onions as well as to have the
space between the rows clean. Onions
can endure frost, and will start to grow
almost as soon as planted.
Young celery plants should be started
early. Sow the seed in rows, one foot
apart, and transplant when the plants are
three inches high, placing them four
inches apart in the row., The soil for cell
cry should be veryrich, and also rather
moist than dry. A special liquid f3rtili-
zer for celery is soapsuds, but an abun-
dance of manure or mixed fertilizer
shonId also be used. 1t is very import
ant that the rows be kept clean and the
plants watered during dry period.
A cattle breeder, who has experimental
in various modes of feeding, states that
he estimated the cost of the food accord
ing to the value of the land and the crop,
and with bunch OF steers on pasture,
from May to September, he cleared Sc 80
an acre. As no labor was required, the
steers securing the food from the pasture,
the gain was an addition to that which
tile pastures give ordinarily, while the
manure is also AN item of profit.
This spring has been very backward, SO
far as planting seeds of tender crops are
concerned. The ground is hardly warm
enough for melons, beans. squashes and
sweet corn, and should the nights remain
cold such plants will make but little
growth after they appear above ground.
Nothing will be gained by setting out
plants of tomatoes, peppers, etc., from
the hotbed until the weather is fairly
warm.
Weeds in the pastures should not be al
lowed. Cattle consume certain kinds
when the young plants are appearing,
and assist in destroying them, but other
kinds will be rejected aud go to seed.
Sheep destroy many weeds, but where
weeds are uneaten by animals they should
be removed by hand.
Any farmer can try the experiment of
inoculating the soil with the necessary
bacteria for promoting the growth of
crop Should the soil seem unadapted to
clover it will be found OF advantage to
procure a few bushels of earth from
field upon which grow luxuriant crop
Of clover, broadcasting the earth over the
field and seeding to clover, the possibility
being that good stand of clover will be
obtained.
Pyrethrum is well established as an in
sect powder. 1t is cheap and very effec-
tual. At the experiment station at Am
hert, Mass, they mixed a tablespoonful
Of the powder in a pailful of equal parts
Of water and buttermilk, and sprinkled
it on currants, potatoes and other plants
INJECTED with bugs and worms. The
buttennilk makes the powder stick to
the plants, and in about half an hour the
insects get good supply of it, curl, drop
to the ground and die.
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