The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-06-07

The first real good peaches are
 now arriving on the market. The
 predominating variety is the Greens boro and Mayflower although some .t.Carman is seen. Some varieties < seem to be much earlier than the
 average time they are supposed to ripen. There seems to be an unusual amount of rot, partly due, no doubt,
 to too much rain, because wet wealth
 CT not only induces rot, but reduces a the effectiveness of any spraying
 that may have been done to cor
 rect disease and insects. great
 deal of trouble is due to an inade- rquste program of spraying. Spray
 ing must be done, and when the sea e.son Is rainy. 1t simply means that
 more frequent spraying must ensue
 If the fruit is to be saved. People must get it out of their heads that the old plan of spraying, once in the
 fall, followed by one spraying in
 early spring, will give sufficient
 protection to fruit crops It might
 have insured crop a few years ago, but owing to the enormous increase ssof disease and insects, no two spray
 ings will accomplish the results S now. The immense loss from rotten N fruit is one of the chief factors that q contribute to the price the public must pay.
 Reason For Prices '@--- The reason for such wide vari-
 ance in prices of nearly all commodi- ties is great puzzle to a large ma 5ority of the buying public. There
 are reasons of courses, the primary one being the question of quality, but unfortunately this very factor is 1-often used to cover all sorts of meanness. Take the item of eggs; 2 one store will ask 10 to 15 cents per dozen more than prevails at oth- ? CT places, and there may be this diff ference in the quality, but when customer buys at both places for s-comparison and finds no difference
 in quality, he feels that he has been
 swindled and generally places the
 blame on the dealer. As a matter 4 of fact the dealer Is not often to
 blame. because he has paid a big
 price for the eggs. taking somebody's
 word that they were fresh and does
 not consider that he has done any athing wrong. There are many ar-
 ticles Of merchandise that you can not tell from their appearance. any
 thing about the quality Everybody is continually kicking about the re- tail prices of everything but will g7 some one tell us how to establish quality and cheapness, when the
 dealer or nid1e man is beset on
 every hand with the constantly in-
 creasng cost of doing business
 Rents and taxes have gone up, not : down.
 1 Increasing Yields z sIt Is the common belief that years ago the average farm yields were
 much greater than at present. You Y can hear people on all sides, farm
 CTS and others, making such state
 ments. People are prone to praise
 the past and criticize the present. When you examine into the govern
 ment records, you will find that for
 the past 30 years, there has been = steady increase In average yields Of f. most all staple crops. Wheat has
 increased since 1880 25 per cent, corn 10 per cent oats 24 per cent, pota- .a2toes B per cent, hay 20 per cent, cot ss.ton BE per cent. The, increase in other important crops in the vege-
 able line, have been much greater <, You may hear on all sides that the
 
 dogs. that the land will soon be out. and that insects will over wiielm the whole industry. It is not SOL of course. Farmers are becom- ss- ing educated tos the fact that they 2 @nltist fertilize with commercial fer and grow soil improving ~~pfants. if averages are to be main s~tained and they are beginning to 7 know that disease and Insects must be fought. No. the farming industry won't die.
 Questions and Answers
 c. My petunia beds, now in beau tiful bloom, are covered with little black insect. What can I spray with that won't hurt the flowers? Mrs. E.. Cullman.
 IA Spraying with soapsuds will ] often destroy the small black aphis that trouble petuna. If this don't F~do it add teaspoonfuf nicotine sul- phate to the gallon of soapy spray. -4~Q. have small patch of shall lots that seem to be through grow ling. Should they be taken up now1 F. F. D.. R. F. D. 5.
 "A. I would not take up until the .tops begin to die down and fall over. They should then be taken up and Allowed to dry thoroughly in the ~ Shade.
 1CQ. Ought sweet peas to be worked ' after they come into bloom? Mrs. N. "A. It is very beneficial to work sweet peas as long as they live. It prolonss the blooming period Work -uoftcn.
 ~ @. My sqaush bloms fall off and :. don't produce. Can this be remi- .diede Mrs. R.
 A It must be due to some insect attack, as they have more and worse :. enemies than most any garden plant Keep the plants dusted with some
 poison such as black death. 70. My chickens have been dying
 and can't figure out what the -Ttrouble is. They run in my rose gar-
 den and are we'll taken care of. What { would you suggest to do? Mrs. N.. Decatur.
 e-aA. The trouble maybe. that they : bugs, asu such gugs are very poison
 ous to chickens. Not knowing the |, symptoms I could suggest nothing , else but change their quarters. sL O. I want to send some seed to
 friends in Russia Would our gar ' der seed to we'll there? Mrs. L.
 "A Most all yarities would do, es- -pycially the early or quick maturing rs strains. Our native corns would not '4 mature in Russia. Russia needs seed
 and every one who has friends in that stricken country could not send any more badly needed thing. c. Please tell me the yield of !. sweet clover in seed to the acre, that .ia clean hulled seed? F., Marion. i. sasA. The yield varies very widely r owing to land, thickness of stand E and etc In the northwest, the yield *is around 500 pounds clean seed to