THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



The manner of gathering corn must depend to 

 a great extent upon the locality. Thns the Con- 

 necticut or Pennsylvania farmer will gather his 

 corn with mncii greater care than will his Illinois 

 or \ehrasl<a brother. When a New England 

 man comes West and begins to gather his corn in 

 baskets, which he empties in the wagon when 

 full, he is sure to be laughed at by his neighbors, 

 and the next season lie drives his two-horse 

 wagon over a row wliile lie husks two rows at 

 one side and his hand two rows at the other, and 

 a boy brings up tlie rear, gathering the ears on 

 the stalks knocked down by the wagon. To one 

 not accustomed to it, tliis apjiears to be a waste- 

 Jul way of gathering corn ; but not necessarily so. 

 When the horses are allowed to eat as they go 

 along, corn is wasted, for they will shell off mueli 

 which falls to the ground and is spoiled before 

 the hogs are turned into the field. But if the 

 horses are muzzled, there is no waste, and in no 

 other way can corn be gathered so rajiidly. 



In no way does locality more affect the manner 

 of gathering corn than in the modes of .saving the 

 stover. How carefully is this gathered and saved 

 in some localities, and yet the corn-grower of the 

 West does not consider the stover to be corn at 

 all. O short sighted men! when will you learn 

 that you are wasting gold ? The Western farmer 

 raises corn for the ears ; the stover he considers to 

 be a necessary evil. In some sections a fodder 

 shock is almost, if not quite, a curiosity. After 

 the corn is gathered the cattle and hogs .are turned 

 into the field to pasture the stover ; and as the 

 work of gathering is continued until late, and the 

 stock cannot be admitted until the field is done, 

 often all the animals find are damaged stalks. 

 Long before the blades have been blown to the 

 ground by the winds or dashed down by the rains ; 

 the husks have browned, then bleached, and now 

 are almost rotten; even the upper parts of the 

 stalks, which the cattle would have eaten, are 

 broken off and rotten, covered with mud on the 

 ground. The injury to the land liy the tramping 

 of the stock over it when soft, frequently more 

 than destroys the profits from the dry, indigesti- 

 ble, damaged feed. Fed with clover or callow- 

 seed meal, a pound of corn fodder equals in feed- 

 ing value a pound of timothy hay. Then, how 

 great is the waste ? T.ake, for instance, Illinois, 

 the State that leads in the production of corn. It 

 boasts of an annual crop of 200,000,000 bushels of 

 shelled corn ; but nothing is said of the 16,000,- 

 000,000 pounds, or 8,000,000 tons of stover prod- 

 uced along with it, for that is almost altogether 

 wasted. This stover, rightly fed, would winter 

 4,000,000 steers, weighing one thousand pounds. 

 Ng wonder we say the times are hard and that 

 the profits of our farming are small. It will be a 

 happy day for us when "gathering corn" in- 

 cludes gathering the stover, and when the fodder 

 is as carefully saved as the ears are now. 



NUTS FOB WINTER EVBNIN08. 



The title suggests something much enjoyed by 

 boys and older persons. We wonder how many 

 nut trees are growing upon the reader's farm — 

 if he is fortunate to own one, or upon his father's 

 farm, should the reader chance to be of the 

 masculine gender^ and has a father who hiis a 

 farm. But the girls and women folk need not 

 stop reading at this point with the thought that 

 these lines are written only for men and boys. 

 Nut trees grow for all, and if we mistake not, 

 this idea is in the minds of the village lads when 

 they, bags in hand, make their pilgrimages to 

 the neighboring forests, and even the trees in the 

 open fields. By their nut trees mauy a farmer 

 learns to know the village boys. 



This all goes to show one important fact, viz. : 

 That nuts are much .sought after, and are highly 

 prized when once obtained. How many kinds 

 of nut trees have we in the United 'States? 

 Where do they grow? How can thev be more 

 abundantly produced? The leading" group of 

 nut bearing trees is the hickories, which com- 

 prise the genus Carya. The name Carya is from 

 the Greek, meaning walnut. All the members 

 of this genus have compound leaves, with an odd 

 leaflet. The flowers are of two kinds ; one 

 kind, the male, is in long, pendent clusters, and 

 the other, the female, which remain and develop 

 into nuts. Mr. Faller, in his recent book on 

 "Practical Forestry," describes eight species of 

 Caryas. The Shell-bark, or Shag-bark, hickory 

 (Carya Alba) has the upper three leaflets of each 

 leaf larger than the others. The nut is white, 

 four-angled, with a sharp point at the apex. The 

 kernel within the thin shell is very sweet and 

 excellent. This is a favorite nut among boys and 

 other persons. The common name. Shag-bark, 

 is given to this tree because the outer bark is 

 hard, and separates into strips that remain 

 attached only by the middle portion. This tree 

 furnishes a superior timber, used in making 

 various implements where strength and dura- 



bility are all important. It grows throughout 

 the Northern states, as far west as Nebraska, and 

 south to Northern Georgia. There is a Western 

 Shell-bark {C. Sulcata) sometimes called Thick 

 Shell-bark Hickory, which is more common 

 we.st of the .\.lleghenies than east of them. The 

 nuts are large, but the kernals are small in pro- 

 portion to the size of the shell. 



The White-heart Hickory (C. Tormer Sosa) 

 has the lower surface of the young leaves downy. 

 The nuts are variable, those from some trees 

 being sweet, while others are worthless. This 

 tree is tall and slender, with bark not splitting 

 ofi"; it grows in most parts of the tree-bearing 

 regions of the United States. 



The Pecan nut {C. Oiiva^formus) is a most 

 interesting tree, highly prized for their .size and 

 quality. There are many varieties, but the nuts 

 usually assume the olive shape^ as indicated in 

 the scientific name. This is a Southern and 

 Western tree, being partial to the river bottoms. 

 This tree can doubtless be cultivated in many 

 localities where it has not been introduced. Tlie 

 wood is very valuable. 



The Pig nut (C. Porcina) has a pear-shaped or 

 oval nut, with a thin hook and a filter kernel. 

 It is a large tree, with smooth bark, in many 

 respects it is similar to the White-heart Hickory, 

 and is common to the same regions. We cannot 

 recommend the cultivation of this for its nuts. 



The Bitter nut (C Amara) has a globular nut, 

 with a thin husk, and intensely bitter kernel. 

 This is a small tree, common in low land from 

 Canada to tlie (!iulf States. 



The Water-hickory '( 6'. AqVAxtica) is closely 

 related to the last, with nearly the same charac- 

 teristics. 



The Nutmeg Hickory {C. Myristicce/ormus) has 

 a nut shaped like the nutmeg, and is found in 

 the low lands of the Southern states. 



The Chestnut belongs to another genus from 

 the hickory nuts, viz. : Caslanea, which is 

 rejiresented in this country by the chestnut 

 proper [C. Vesca, variety Americana), and the 

 Dwarf chestnut or Chinquapin (C Puviilax). 

 The excellence of the chestnut as a nut cannot 

 be too highly prized, and the tree is a most 

 valuable one for timber. The wood is coarse 

 grained, strong, and durable, and is extensively 

 used in furniture making. The chestnut is found 

 from Maine to Michigan, and south and west to 

 Arkansas. It is a fine tree, which grows tall ami 

 straight in the forest, and low with a much 

 branched top in the open field. The Chinquapin 

 has round nuts, only one in a burr, and is a small 

 tree, growing on sandy ridges from Pennsylvania 

 to the Gulfs. 



The genus Juglans contains two important 

 nut bearing species, viz. : The Butter nut 

 (J. Cineria), and the Black Walnut (J. Nigra). 

 The oblong, clammy nuts of the Butter nut are 

 familiar to most country people in all the North- 

 ern states. The wood is light and durable. The 

 fruit of the Black Walnut is large and spherical, 

 with a thick shell and strong flavored kernel. 

 The wood is of a rich brown color, hard, suscep- 

 tible of a fine polish, and largely employed in 

 cabinet work. This is a fine tree, worthy of 

 vastly more attention than it now receives. It is 

 widely distributed throughout the United States. 



We hope to follow this brief summary of our 

 nut-bearing trees, with methods of their propa- 

 gation and culture. If we had more nut trees it 

 would not be so difficult to keep the boys on the 

 farm. Carya. 



NOTES ON FARM AND GARDEN FOE NOVEMBER. 



By W. C. Steele, Switzerland, Florida. 



I am sure there are Golden Opportunities for 

 bee keepers in Florida; yet there are often 

 serious drawbacks. Sometimes a drouth in sum- 

 mer and fall will cut the honey crop so short 

 that instead of there being a surplus to sell, the 

 bees will require feeding to .save their lives. Our 

 winters are so warm that bees fly all through 

 the season, and there are very few honey-pro- 

 ducing flowers in bloom at -that time, they 

 require a large stock of honey in their hives 

 to carry them through. There are very few 



doing anything in that line in the State, and 

 tiiose who really understand bee keeping are 

 still more rare. 



In making hot beds for " Early Gardening," 

 if you have plenty of manure, it is a great 

 saving of time and labor not to dig a trench. 

 Build up a square pile of manure two feet larger 

 every way than the frame of your bed, being 

 carefnl to tramp it well and keep it level so that 

 it will settle down evenly. Make the depth to 

 suit the season of yiar and the crop will be 

 grown. Set the frame on the manure and put in 

 the earth just as you would into a bed made in 

 the old w.ay. Then bank up the outside of the 

 frame to the top with more manure. This is not 

 theory, but the result of years of experience, and 

 has been tested during some of the coldest 

 winters of northern Indiana. If more beds are 

 wanted they can be made along side, leaving a 

 foot or fifteen inches betwaen the frames. A 

 great deal of nonsense has been written about 

 the waste of using stable manure for hot beds. 

 Of course, if the manure "fire fiings," as it is 

 called, or burns dry and look white and mouldy 

 when forked over, there has been waste. But if 

 there is plenty of litter (straw, old hay or leaves,) 

 mixed with the manure, and the whole mass 

 soaked with water as it is tramped down, there 

 will be very little loss. When the manure is 

 hauled away it will be found to be black and 

 evenly rotted with seldom any signs of burning. 

 If in making a bed in cold weather, it is found 

 that the manure is not heating satisfactorily, by 

 using boiling water to soak the pile the heat can 

 be hastened very much. 



+ 

 I have found early onions quite as profitable 

 as beets and more so than radishes. In fact the 

 latter are very apt to be so wormy, in many 

 places, as to be unprofitalde. I have grown crops 

 of them where not one in half a dozen would be 

 salable. The easiest way to get very early 

 onions is to plant out old onions in the fall. 

 Each one will make two or more young onions 

 wliieh will usually be large enough to sell before 

 the seed stalk starts. If not, then the seed 

 stalks should be broken out as soon as they 

 appear. . 



1 think that if I were going to build a green 

 house or a propagating house in this state, I 

 should arrange for heating it artificially. There 

 are often times when it would be better than 

 depending on the sun, even 150 miles south of 

 this place, even in Orange and Volusia counties. 

 It is often cold enough to stop the growth 

 of tender plants when there is no frost, and 

 when hot-bed plants are once stunted by cold 

 they are very hard to get started again. I 

 should build the hou.se 10 feet wide with a four- 

 foot bench on each side and a two-foot path in. 

 the middle or else si.x feet wide with a four-foot 

 bench on the upper side and a two-foot path on 

 the lower. The length of the house would be 

 regulated by circumstances. The benches should 

 be two feet and a half above the path. They 

 must be made very strong to support the weight 

 of earth necessary to grow good plants. The 

 best way is to have 2x4 scantlings run the long 

 way of the bed, supported on posts and lay the 

 boards, for the bottom, across, then if one rots 

 off it is much easier to replace it than if they 

 were long and ran the other way of the bed. 

 The front and back boards should be six or eight 

 inches wide, as a depth of five to six inches of 

 earth is necessary to prevent the plants from 

 drying too easily. If I were not going to have 

 any artificial heat in the house I should not 

 make benches, but would dig ont a path two feet 

 wide by two or two and a half deep, boarding up 

 the sides to prevent them from caving in. Such 

 beds coulil be made much more easily and cheaply 

 than benches. They would not require so much 

 watering and the plants would thrive better than 

 on benches. In case of cold weather these beds 

 would not cool off as rapidly as those set up oa 

 posts. 



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