Year: 1873

True Way to Water Trees.

 If trees standing in grass ground are watered, the surface around about the body, for three or four feet in each di- rection, should be covered with mulch of some sort to retard evaporation. It will be labor lost to water trees on the lawn without exercising this precaution, as the water will disappear before a hundredth part of it has reached the roots. Straw, hay, lawn-grass, weeds, shavings or tan-bark will make an ex- cellent mulch. Spread the mulch three or four inches deep, pour two or three pallfuls of water around each tree, and the water will permeate the entire soil, keep 1t damp, and supply the moisture which the tree must have or die. If the soil is in tillable condition, draw the earth away from the tree to the depth of one or two inches, pour in two or three pails of water, and return the mellow earth, which will keep the sur face from baking. Yet mulch is far preferable to the latter mode.

 When the soil appears nearly dry to the touch, the roots cannot possibly de- rive the needed supply of water to keep the leaves and branches from injury during the rapid evaporation which is going oil all night and day. When the atmosphere is as dry and hot as the air in huge lumber-kiln, it will have the moisture in every tree and plant and the moisture of our bodies, even, eff 1t (the hot air) has to take it (the mois- ture) out of the hide" Hence, we must drink, and the roots of the trees and plants must be supplied with water or they wither and die.

 A great many persons scatter the grass from their lawns and the weeds from their gardens in the highway, which is bad horticulture in many re- spects. If they would spread such grass and weeds around their growing flowers or around any garden vegetable, the mulch would save the labor of carrying many hogsheads of water to supply the plants with the necessary moisture, and covering would keep the weeds down, and save vast deal of manual labor, and the crops would be heavier.

 How to Dress a Sheep.

 It may be of interest to some of our country readers to learn how to dress 8 sheep properly, because 8 great deal of flavor depends on how this operation is performed. We give directions how to avoid this i'll flavor, which arises from the absorption by the meat of the gases from the intestines, which, as the out side of the carcass cools. cannot escape, and are, therefore, absorbed by the flesh. There is simple remedy. As soon as the animal is dead, let the hide be slit up from the brisket to the tail, and to the knees, by & quick motion of 8 sharp pointed knife inserted beneath the skin. Strip the skin from the belly and the ribs and legs, so that it will be out of the way of the intestines. Then open the sheep immediately and disem- bowel it. All this ought to be the work of about one minute or two, or if it oc- cupies five there will not be sufficient time for the carcass to cool sufficiently to cause any unpleasant taste. Then proceed to strip the skin from the back of the carcass. A sheep should be killed by thrusting a sharp knife through the neck, back of the wind-pipe, without touching it, however, but cut ling the arteries and soon as the knife ts inserted it should be twisted round as if make round hole; there will then be no mistake made in cutting the arteries, and the death of the animal will be comparatively painless and rap- d.-Genttenaan's Magdzane.

 The Hay Crop.

 There are farmers who believe it a good plan to sandwich old straw or old hay between the rather green hay as it is stored in barns. We have tried 1t many times and find that 1t certainly improves the old hay or straw to do so, and does no harm to the new crop. It is, in some sense, a real benefit to the new hay, because 1t absorbs the surplus moisture it may contain and prevents incipient decomposition by heating. Where the hay crop is short, as it is in many localities, and there are ( i'd straw stacks left in good condition, it is not & bad practice by any means, if the farmer has any apprehension that his forage is going to be inadequate co meet the wants of the stock he intends to winter. -Ecchange.

 Spiced Tomatoes.

 To four pounds of large red tomatoes take two pounds of good brown sugar, a pint of cider vinegar, half an ounce of cloves, and half an ounce of stick cinna- mon. Stew all together in a preserving kettle, over slow fire, until the toma- toes are nearly cooked. Take them out and put them on dishes to cool, letting the syrup go on simmering slowly. When the tomatoes are cold return them to the syrup, and finish cooking. Let them become cold before putting them into the jars. The syrup must be boiled down until thick as molasses, and poured cold over the tomatoes. Tie them down with bladder or waxed pa per.

 Letting Cider Remain i'm Pomace.

 A correspondent says: To obtain good cider the expressed juice must re- main a short time with the pomace, which has been crushed or bruised, not cut, as is done by most patent cider mills. The old mills bruised the apples, the new ones cut them. We found fifty years ago that with the advantage we then had of the old-fashioned mills il was better to grind or crush the apples and then let the pomace remain in the trough at least ten or twelve hours, and if the weather was cool, let it remain tWenty-four hours