THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



13 



Clippings. 



Jl U our desire to make thfse so full and varied that every 

 reader of The Fabm and Garden, even though he takes 

 no other paper ran feel in a measure acquainted with alt 

 Ihe leading publications. 



JVom '' PouUry World," Hartford, Ct. 



A POINT IK INCUBATION. 

 In pulling thH ej^gs in the drawer, put the large end up. 

 I^y the thermometer on the eggs, tbe bulb lying be- 

 tween and touching the eggs. Have the other end of the 

 thermometer a liule the highest. Let me impress on 

 you the imporiance of keeping the thermometer ou the 

 ■eggs, and the egg that the thermometer touches must be 

 fertile. You want to get the heat of the fertile eggs, and 

 mot of the egg chamber. The difference between a ther- 

 mometer lying on the eggs, but the bulb not touching a 

 fertile one. and one where the bulb does touch a fertile 

 egg, is several degrees and ri*,'ht here, Is, I think, the 

 cause of a good many failures with incubators. 



castor oil bean (Ricinus Communis or Palma Chrlati) is 

 sufflcienc to clear any garden of an acre or less, for the 

 season.if properly dropped in their runs, which Is simply 

 to thrust the forednger into the mole hill, and then drop 

 a bean there, which he will be sure to eat next time he 

 comes along; at the same time covering up the hole 

 made by the finger, with a bit of earth, chip, stone or 

 clod, so as to make the run tight as before, and keep out 

 the light. This plan I have found effectual in all gardens 

 where 1 have tried it. It is not quite so satisfactory in 

 grass lands, because it is often hard to find all their runs 

 in the grass. Also, in planting corn in fields where this 

 pest abounds, if a seed be dropped occasionally in the 

 hill along with the corn, the mole will eat the bean in 

 preference to the corn, and as sure as he eats it that is 

 the last of him. If this plan be adopted when the moles 

 first begin to run, which is generally after the garden is 

 made and nicely planted, they are easily got rid of, and 

 no trap of any kind need ever be introduced into the 

 garden. This saves much time, labor and annoyance. 



J!Yom "Iowa Homestead," Df.% Mohiex. Iowa. 



We noticed a farmer, a few days ago, loading two 

 large brood sows in a wagon. He had no shute. and 

 ihey had to be lifted in by main force. The yard was 

 full of other sows with young litters. And yet with some 

 help he did it without a squeal or the least excitement 

 In the yard. An ordinary man would have caught them 

 and lifted them in, and every mother would have been 

 «xciled, and perhaps a half dozen sucklings trampled to 

 death in the melee. Instead he coaxed them into a box- 

 etall. then placed a large crate In the door, to which they 

 went readily, and then lifted the crate with some help, 

 and emptied them Into the wagon, where they lay down 

 as quift and contented as if under their favorite tree In 

 the pasture 



Fr&m " Western Plmmnan," Molinr, III. 



Suppose you pay ?1 W per day for help, and a good 

 shovel costs an equal amount; but you retain the old one 

 because you think It too good to throw away, although 

 the man in only capable of doing three-fourths of a day's 

 -work with it. How much have you made in ten days by 

 the saving? Suppose a new lioe costs sixty cents, .lel 

 you put the same man to work with the old one with 

 jphich he can do three-fourth of a day's work. How 

 piuch have you saved in ten days? An old rusty hoe 

 *,viU quite frequently' cause a difTerence of a fourth of our 

 labor. There Is no rule of labor or economy abo\it a 

 !arm that pays so large a per cent, on the investment as 

 Jliat of taking care of, and keeping In order the tools we 

 york with. A few minutes will suffice to clean off a hoe 

 then we put It cside, and Instead of getting heavy with 

 dist ,and accumulated earth, it will get brighter and 

 »righter with constant use, and be a pleasure to handle 

 iistead of an extra burden and hindrance. This is a 

 (trong argument in favor of good Implements. 



Vrom" Canadian IlorlifulturUt." .St. Catherines, Onf. 

 EXPERIMENTS WITH CELERY. 

 One of the most popular, perhaps, with the exception 

 of lettuce, the most popular of salad plants, is celery. It 

 b not many years ago when celery-growing was one of 

 the mysteries of gardening, so far as current opinion 

 went, and the carefully-grown plantings were trans- 

 ferred to deep trenches at the bottom of which much 

 manure had been spaded, while a laborious process of 

 earthing up was successively pursued. Market gar- 

 deners, however, who are usually the first to iniroduco 

 new processes of growmg, on account of the compeliti»jii 

 they have to meet, found that the celery grown upon the 

 surface and earthed up once for all at the latter part 

 of the season, furnished profitable results, and this 

 latter method seems now mainly the one pursued ibr 

 commercial purposes. In the private garden, however 

 the trenching is in many cases continued, and it, there 

 fore, seenieed to us desirable to know Hie conipaia- 

 tive merits of these two methods, for if surface planting 

 is equal in Its product to the trench planting, it is far to 

 be preferred ou account of the less labor involved. 



Piom " Poultry Keeper," Chicago, PI. 



"WHY THEY DIE IN THE SHELL. 

 From the investigations we have made, and with the 

 co-operation of those who are operating Incubators, we 

 have become inclined to the opinion that one of the 

 difficulties of artificial hatching is that tht temperature 

 is kept too high about the nineteenth or twentieth day. 

 Some of the best results have been secured wher the 

 heat was maintained at lOiO and even at 106° at time of 

 hatching, but later trials show that at the start the heat 

 should be rather high, about 105o, and then allowed 

 gradually to reduce to 102^. When the heat Is high, the 

 moisture should be supplied plentifully, -w the greater 

 the temperature the more moisture required to saturate 

 the air in the egg drawer. Should the heat be high about 

 the time of hatching, a fever is created, and the chick 

 becomes exhausted by reason of the heat, the lack of 

 oxygen, and insufficient moisture. Too much or too 

 little heat causes the chicks to come out weak, and as 

 the chick lor the first ten days is not easily killed, either 

 by high heat or other causes, after the second week the 

 moisture must be amply provided, the eggs cooled well 

 every day. the heat kept at 102O, and the turning done 

 promptly twice a day. 



second. The winner had, previous to the race, been 

 tried at two miles with a couple of thoroughbreds that 

 ranked but little above selling platers, and they beat 

 him nearly half a mile. This race shows conclusively 

 that the much-vaunted speed of the Arab exists only in 

 the imagination of people whose enthusiasm ran away 

 with their judgment, and that however valuable he may 

 be for saddle and work purposes, he is not a race horse 

 In the sense that the word is now used. 



From "American AgriciUturist." New Ymk. 



I admit for argument sake that even the cur has his 

 legitimate uses on the farm, and It Ls not quite the Itiir 

 thing to exterminate him because he is the greatest hin- 

 drance to sheep raising. The most devoted dog fancier 

 and breeder of pups, must admit that he is a dangerous 

 animal to have around, and that the owner of a dog, of 

 whatever degree, ought to guard the public against the 

 evils of bis running at large, and be held to strict respon- 

 sibility for the damages to his neighbor. In many ways 

 the dog is a heavy tax to his owner, and a terrible nuis- 

 ance in the community. Every farmer having room for 

 sheep, and wishing to raise them, wants legislation 

 against dogs before embarking In this business. Statis- 

 tics show in part the thousands and tens of thousanc's of 

 sheep killed by dogs in every wool-growing State, but 

 cannot show the loss to this industry, because of the mul- 

 titude of farmers who fear to raise sheep on account of 

 this annual slaughter. It is one of the most profitable 

 and helpful branches of agriculture in all the older 

 States. Supplying lambs and sheep to butchers pays 

 abundantly, and wool is a good crop to raise at long dis- 

 tances from market. There is nothing like sheep to 

 keep down brush and briars, and to improve the quan- 

 tity and quality of the grasses. Many farms now grow- 

 ing to brush in all the Eastern States, might be made 

 profitable If only the dogs were out of the way. 



From "Ptyultry Kreper," Chicago, III. 



A SECOND INCUBATOR TRIAL. 

 We lately gave the experience of Mr. A. H. Craig, 

 Caldwell, Wis., with his incubator, and we now present 

 a statement of the second trial made by him, written toi 

 the Sentinel, MilwauKee.ir. which he says: 'I set it with 

 200 eggs, or 100 White Leghorn and 100 Brown Leghorn 

 eggs. After ten days I applied an egg tester and found 

 seventeen Brown and fifteen White not fertile. This 

 left eighty-three and eighty-five respectively. From 

 the eighty-three Browns I hatched seventy-five chicks, 

 all but four of which are now in fine promise. The 

 eighty-five Whites gave thirty -two chicks. I cannot 

 account for the difference in hatching unless my treat- 

 ment of the Whiles gives the reason, which was that 

 some little complaint had come to me that the shells oi 

 this variety were quite tender. To obviate this, I fed 

 heavily on shell-producing food and the chicks could 

 not break their shells. Fifty of these eggs were filled 

 with matured chicks, but they could not get out. This 

 partial failure requires some experimenting for the 

 future, which my next trial may prove. Some writers 

 or experts claim such failures due to the toughness oj 

 the shell caused by too much wetting ; others say failure 

 Is due to the eggs being kept too dry. I shall try both 

 next time, and also a little scheme of my own. I might 

 mention a little trial of seven eggs of the Partridge 

 Cochin variety, whicn were tested between trial No. 1 

 and No. 2. After No. 1 had been set ten days, seven 

 eggs were put in to experiment on. These were taken 

 out and handled three limes a day, and, when replaced, 

 were put m another part of the Incubator After No. 1 

 ha<l been cleared, and No. 2 was nicely under way, seven 

 chicks hatched and are doing nicely. Here again Is a 

 contradiction. Writers tell us we must not handle the 

 eggs very much, as an oily substance from the hands 

 will fill the pores of the egg shell, and prevent air from 

 keeping life Inside. Now, for one, I do not believe 

 handling eggs will hurt them, for certainly, if it did, 

 these seven could not have stood the severe lest given 

 them. If this incubator business is not getting stale. I 

 will report my next experiment. The oil for experi- 

 ment No. 2 cost sixty-five cents. In a former communi- 

 cation I staled that I would make a new machine to 

 hold 1200 eggs, but as I could not supply the demand 

 and have to spare, I concluded to wait until next spring. 



From " Gardeners' Monthly," Philadelphia. 



HOW TO GET RID OF MOLES. 



The ground mole has been for a long lime a constant 

 source of annoyance to gardeners and farmei-s. and the 

 question has often been asked, ■ is there no way of get- 

 ting rid of this pest without the tedious process of trap- 

 ping it?" Which at best is only a partial relief. To 

 this question I answer, yes. The remedy I have known 

 for many years, and I wish to give the public the benefit 

 of it throuirh the columns of the Gardener's Mmtthly. 

 Like everythine else that is given i; rat is. perhaps some 

 will be found to den v or contradii-t the good effect of i his 

 remedv, but I challence contradiction and demand a 

 fair test from the public. One pint of the seed of the 



From^BreetUrs Gazette," Chicago, HI. 

 THE ARAB HORSE. 

 For a number of years the belief has been prevalent 

 among people who have given the matter of breeding 

 race-horses but cursory attention, that the Arab horse 

 was nearly, if not quite, the equal in point of speed of 

 the thoroughbred runner, and Ihey have always main- 

 tained in the most dogmatic manner that when it came 

 so the question of endurance the " fleet footed courser of 

 the desert," as the novelist delights to call the Arab, was 

 far and away the superior of any other member of the 

 equine family. As a matter of fact there has been a 

 vast amount of nonsense written about the Arab. The 

 late A. Keene Richards, of Kentucky, tested the matter 

 in the most thorough manner, making several trips to 

 the Arabian deserts and paying long prices for the best 

 specimens of the breed that money could purchase. The 

 stallions thus secured were mated with thoroughbred 

 mares, and the mares bred to thoroughbred stallions. 

 The costly experiments made by Mr. Richards were 

 total failures. In England a Mr. Blunt has long held 

 views similar to those of Mr. Richards, and he too spent 

 money freely In testing the theories which on their face 

 seemed so plausible. Finally he induced ihe stewards 

 of the Newmarket meeting to arrange a stake for Arab 

 horses, and the same was run not long ago, the distance 

 being two miles. There were eight starters, the winner 

 being a three-year old that carried 108 pounds: an aged 

 horse that had won a number of races In India being 



From " Ttie Drugman." 



POISONOUS PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 



There are many plants whose leaves, flowers, and 

 seeds contain virulent poisons, which every one should 

 know, so as to avoid them and keep children from them. 



Buttercups possess a poisonous property, which disap- 

 pears when the flowers are dried in hay; no cow will 

 feed upon them while In blossom. So caustic are the 

 petals that they will sometimes inflame the skin of len- 

 der fingers. Every child should he cautioned against 

 eating them : Indeed, it is desirable to caution children 

 against tasting the petals of any flowers, or putting 

 leaves Into their mouth, except those known to be 

 harmless. 



Theoleander contains a deadly poison in ils leaves and 

 flowers, and is said to be a dangerous plant for the parlor 

 or dining room. The flowers and berries of the wild 

 bryony possess a powerful purgative ; and red berries, 

 which attract children, have proved fatal. The seed of 

 the laburnum and catalpa tree should be kept from 

 children, and there is a poisonous property in their bark. 

 The seeds of the yellow and the rough-podded vetches 

 vfill produce nausea and severe headache. 



Fool's parsley has tuberous roots, which have been 

 mistaken for turnips, and produced a fatal efffect an hour 

 at^er they were eaten. 



Meadow hemlock is said to be the hemlock which 

 Socrates drank; it kills by its intense action on the 

 nerves, producing insensibility and palsy of the arms 

 and legs, and Is a most dangerous drug except in skillful 

 hands. In August it Is found in every field, by the sea 

 shore and near mountain tops, in full bloom, and ladiea 

 and children gather ila large clusters of tiny white 

 flowers in quantities, without the least idea of their 

 poisonous qualities. The water hemlock, or cow bane, 

 resembles parsnips, and has been eaten for them with 

 deadly effects. 



The water dropwort resembles celery when not in 

 flower, and its roots are also similar to those of the 

 parsnip, but they contain a virulent poison, producing 

 convulsions, which end in death in a short time. The 

 fine-leaved water dropwort and the common dropwort 

 are also dangerous weeds. 



The bulbsof the dafTodilB were once mistaken for leeka 

 'and boiled in soup, with very di.-astmns effects, making 

 the whole household Intensely nauseated, and the chil- 

 dren did not recover from their effects for several daya. 



