Connecticut western news., 1912-03-28
FARMERS INSTITUTE
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 people would then have an opportunity to see him "up tree" He said appar- ently one of the greatest assets of this considered good farm an clement of fne scenery. He referred to the lax methods of caring for orchards. It has been said that the people of New Eng land do not grow apples-they discover them. But we are beginning to learn something about bringing back the old orchard. Severe pruning is necessary to restore an old and apparently dead apple tree to productiveness. He drew on the black board a picture of such an apple tree, and indicated where he would cut it, amputation of every branch be. ing only a short distance from the trunk. leaving only the trunk and a few blunt "horns," with no twigs or sprouts. The chief difficulty is, people do not prune their trees enough-they are afraid of taking off too much. The speaker said his father used to tell him to cut out about twice as much as he thought ought to be cut out, then send the hired man out to cut out as much more. It will require about four years for such a "dehorned" tree to bear fruit again. Much depends on the soil. It should be turned over around the trees and clover seed sown, which in turn should be plowed under. It does no good to bury manure next to the trunk of a tree-the feeding roots extend out from the trunk 15 or 20 feet and sometimes 80 feet. If a tree is entirely infested with the San Jose scale it must be cut down. A good summer spray is com. posed of three pounds of arsenate of lead to 50 gallons of water. For fertilizing the soil, per tree, use 10 pounds nitrate of soda, l5 pounds raw ground bone and 20 pounds potash. after the first year omit the nitrate of soda. [Since making his announcement Prof. Jarvis has changed his base of operation for the spraying and pruning demonstration, April 12, to the orchard of G. s. House. Ohapin vile, instead of Canaan.l
 George V. Smith gave a lengthy talk on Poultry for Profit" and upset most of the old notions of poultry raising. giving scientific reasoning for every argument. He gives the little chlcks nothing to eat until they are from 4s to 72 hours old, As nature has provided for their sustenance until they can gather muscular strength enough to soratoh a bit for themselves, and he gives them first tepid water, then charcoal, then grit or coarse sand to prepare the gizzard to grind the food. "It is cruel to feed chick before it Is 4S hours old"
 With proper housing it is as easy to get eggs in December as in June. He would not use glass in the front of his poultry house under any consideration. His houses are all open st the south. the roofs are all so built that the heat generated by the hens on the roosts is retained to form blanket" in which the birds cannot freeze. He feeds no wet mash-water and skim milk are the only drink. In December 100 hens laid 1875 eggs, and in January 1888 eggs, which he sold at 55 cents dozen. The formula for feeding poultry is as follows {: 100 pounds bran, 100 middlings, 100 alfalfa meal, 50 No. beet scrap. 25 old process hnsesd meal, bashel charcoal. pound salt. The same formula is used for the chicks, with the substitution of meat meal for the beef scraps.