12 



THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



"V^OL. I"V^-, Is. o- "V^I- 



CONTCNTS OF THIS NUMBER. 



Page 1.— Holsieiu Bull— Netherland Prince. How to 

 Kt'ep the Boys on tbe Farm. 



Page 2.— Long anJ Rotten Manure. How lo Make a 

 Cheap Cistern. Golden Opportunities in 

 the l^omh. The Steam Engine un the Farm. 



Page 3.— Seedlings and Xew Vaiielies. The Lawson 



Pear.' 

 Page 4.— Cooper's Market Apple. Peach Yellows. Ap- 



pVs; Changes of Varieties by Soil and 



Climate. 

 Page 5.— The Le Conte Pear. The Pear Blight. 

 Page 6. —Our Flower Garden. 

 Page 7.— Our Flower Garden (continued). 

 Page 8.-^Leaks in the Stable. Quality Depends Upon 



Feed. 

 Page 9.— Egg Food and Condition Pi»wders. Marketing 



Eggs and Fowls in Wiiitfr. Leghorns as 



Winter Layers. 

 Page 10.— Spring is Coming. Food HuUnes The Hive 



of Wisdom. 

 Page 11.— Odds and aids. 

 Page 12.— Editorial Comment. 

 Page 13.— Clippings. 

 Page 14.— Correspondence. 

 Page I.j.— Now the Day.s are Longer. 

 Page 16.— A Collection. 



GDIIPOI^IALi ^OMMENIF. 



We shall isxue a larf/e edition of our April num- 

 ber, wh irfi will be spccifilli/ (U'voted to strawberries and 

 Strawherri/ culture. Wr br/icve all our old subscH/j- 

 er.s will tikf the April tnunher, and ur tdsuknmo .7Ur 

 netr mibsi-rihers will. Wr shall Irll tdl abofU how to 

 grow brrrirs, how to pick, shifj, anil stil. The kinds 

 to plant, varieties, sort of noit suitfible for ber^ries. 

 IT nr to prolonij the berrf/ season /or sir u-cek,H, irifh 

 lar(/c anil fine brrries. Rest /rrtilizers, and how to 

 apply thent. How to mulch, and hmr it a^Tccts ber- 

 ries. Strau-berrj/ rust an'l di.srasrs. Strawbcrr_i/ in- 

 sects and hou^ to fight tlinit. Whether tft sft berries 

 in hills or matted rtnrs. /'Ywls abtnd strawberries. 

 We believe the April uumtier will be ax n-e intcutl to 

 make it, veri/ jtnjuilar <fud valuable. We shall make 

 the berry number oraefietd, ami as usual, to the 

 point; not filled wifh eh a (T, as is now too Cffmmon to 

 see in sione /ar>n Journals. In a word, we sh»dl 

 make the berry uuinber } north to any one more than 

 fi/ull year's subscriftfi'oi. Ordvr early. J^end us 

 cixd)8 US /ant as possible, so j/on will not miss a single 

 number. We are im-retisinf/ our eircuUUion so fast 

 that wc cannot supjtfy bark numbers, 



February. The days have (irown in length, 

 and the fanner's cares in number and import- 

 ance. The Inng ovcninirs of Deceniher and Janu- 

 ary have not ix-fii spent in vain. The careful 

 hu.sbandmjin has liarvested his annual corp of 

 knowletli/e and stored it safely in his memory for 

 future use. His plans are well matured and 

 ready for speedy execution when the time eomes. 

 He knows now exactly k7i«/ to plant and where to 

 plant if. 



He looks up his seed corn, sorts and tests it. 



He carefully cleans his seed grain, as spring 

 wheat, <»ats, barluy, etc., and puts it safely away. 



If his nci*rhbor has better seed grain than lie 

 himself, he Ituys what lie needs and draws it al 

 once, while the work is less crowding. 



He makes out a list of the trees, grape vines, 

 strawberry and rasplterry and other small fruit 

 plants which he Intends to set ovit, and orders 

 them without delay, and directly from the near- 

 est reliable nurseryman. 



He makes up his mind to have a better garden 

 than ever before. [The readers of The Fakm 

 as:d Garden do not compel their hard working 

 ■wives to get along without vegetables, unless 

 they raise them thentsdves]. 



He examines his stock of garden seeds, keeps 

 what is good and reliable and throws away what 

 is poor; and wliat lie has to buy, he orders at 

 once. 



He makes and saves all the manure he can. 



He inspectshis tools and implements, wjigons, 

 harnesses, ac., and repairs and mends where 

 nteded. 



He takes good care of his stock, and sees to it, 

 that horses and i-ows are well sheltered, fed well, 

 ettrried well and in proi)er condition, the former 

 for a good spring's work, and the latter for a good 

 flow of milk. 



He engages his hired help in good season. 

 There is choice now, later he would have to take 

 what is left. 



He has ready (or will have soont, a full year's 

 supply of stove wood, split and corded up under 

 shelter. 



He tries to interest his children in his plans for 

 the coming season. 



Also, to lighten his wife's burden by helping 

 her in tlu^ house, particularly on churning and 

 washing days. ____^__^_^ 



The Farm Journal this month says of the 

 farmer: They try to make'goin' to meeting atone 

 for selling fifty-nine pfjunds of wheat on a Satur- 

 day, for a bushel; or stuflSng the centre of the 



barrel with wormy apples, in the middle of the 

 week." The Farm and Garden does not believe 

 anytliiug of the kind of the farmer. We believe 

 no class of men are more honest than the farmers, 

 or will give more honest weight ; and we also 

 believe that they are not the hypocrites to make 

 the church alone for the imputed dishonesty the 

 Farm Journal alleges. We know of no class who 

 are as square dealers as the farmers, and we say 

 it, and can prove it, too. that the farmer docs not 

 pack wormy apples in the middle of the barrel; 

 but the ;\gent who buys the apples from the 

 farmer and packs them himself usually does it, 

 and the farmer gets the credit of it. The farmers ; 

 may be careless, but they are h(mest. That is 

 what The Farm and Garden says, and we 

 believe it, too. 



We have entered upon an era of exceedingly 

 low prices. But if the farmer has to sell cheaply, 

 he can buy cheaply. Thousands of workingmen 

 are out of employment, and some times they and 

 their families do not know w^here the next meal 

 is to come from, while the farmer has plenty of 

 wlieat, corn, potatoes, pork, and lots of other 

 things. He ean live without pinching himself, 

 live comfortably and in hopes of better times. 

 L-^ss fortunately situated is the farmer who is 

 deeply in del)f. The capitalist takes his six or 

 more per cent whether produce is high or low. 

 The lu<-kless brother will find it necessary to cal- 

 eulate closer than ever before, curtail expenses 

 and make everything count. 



We do not advise a farmer with unencumV)ered 

 |)roperty to sliut himself up like a ground liog on 

 account of *' hard times.' Tlie general tendency 

 of farmers to avoid every expense not strictly 

 necessary, so as to be able to hold tlielr wheat 

 and other produce (or a rise, is one of the fore- 

 most causes of "hard times." When wheat — 

 higli or low— goes out of the farmer's hands, and 

 money comes in, he begins to buy and thus sets 

 the wheels of business in motion Jigaln. The 

 impetus must come from or tlirough the farmer. 



We hardly expect to see wheat mucti higher 

 right away. If you have a chance to sell at the 

 present market price, you will not gain mucli by 

 holding 



Perhaps yoti need a new wagon, a new harness, 

 or your lamlly a new supply of clothes, btiy wm- 

 while everything vt dog cheap. Your land may 

 need ditching, yovir buildings repairing; ditch 

 and repair itow, while labor is plenty. 



Kvery d<»Ilar expended in that way. helps 

 towards furnishing labor to the unemployed and 

 bread to the suirering. 



Whni tliN pnper n*>eiU In more of it<i friends fo 

 ncl a<4 aitnii-. \'«iu fhink «*iioii4eli of if to inke 

 it. niifl > oil huve inMueiice rnousli to iniliice 

 oihci'H ro <lo NO. We wiNh >oii to innke lite i-llorl. 

 it will hv vnt*y for you and oficrent service to uh. 



That fancy, patented, high-priced bee-hives are 

 essential to success, or in the least better than 

 plain movable comb-hives. 



That self-regulating incubators need no atten- 

 tion, or at least but little. 



That hens will lay eggs in cold weather, when 

 the roof leaks and wind and snow blow through 

 the cracks of the building. 



That poultry is the most profitable stock when 

 left to shift for themselves. 



Th^it you save money by setting your hens late 

 in the season, because eggs are cheap then. 



That it is right to forbid your children playing 

 checkers or other harmless games, occasionally^ 

 forgetting the old saying; 



" All work and no play 

 Makes Jack a dull boy." 



That the country is going to smash, because a» 

 Domucrat will occupy the White' House after 4th 

 of March. 



Knfdrcing the oleomargeriHe law of New York, 

 proceeds very unsatisfactorily, says the Farm 

 and Home. (Springfield, Mass.i. We are not 

 among those farmers who had justly hoped to be 

 "benefitted by this law," nor do we wonder at 

 the outcome, which we have predicted as early as 

 July last. 



Hut the law has done what our cunning legisla- 

 tors intended it should, it has appeased the anger 

 of the butter prodticer, that is all. The oleomar- 

 garine men are not hurt. At the present time, 

 farmers can hardly complain of the butter prices. 

 They are scarcely as low, proportionat-ely, as 

 other things. 



On the other hand, and in consideration of the 

 general dullness, and with thousands of working 

 men unable to buy butter at present prices, the 

 propriety of even the attempt to deprive them oi 

 .i cheaper substitute, may well be questioned. 



The laws sliould be such as to enforce cleanli- 

 ness in the manufacture and honesty in the sale 

 of butter substitutes. 



Have you harvested your ice crop? If not. do 

 not fail to embrace the next opportunity. Get 

 the ice when and where you can. The colder 

 and therefore more solid, the better, of course; 

 but it's ice you want, anyway, no matter If our 

 friend of the Firm J<mrnal does say, that it's 

 temperature you want, not simply ice. A few 

 degrees, more or less, in the own temjierature ol 

 the ice, are insignificant in comparison with the 

 quantity of heat swallowed up in the melting 

 process. Not the temperature of tiie ice. but its 

 change from the solid to the liquid f<>rm, drawing 

 heat away from the surniundings, is what makes 

 it so pleasantly cool, or freezes the icecream in 

 summer. Our intelligent readers know it, and 

 they know, too, that ** iVs ice they want," 



There are about eight millions of people en- 

 gaged In agricultural pursuits in this great coun- 

 try ; yet, all the agricultural weeklies and month- 

 lies, issue less thuu twt> million copies iti the 

 aggregate. This shows that over six millions of 

 farmers and '* farm hands. * cither do not read 

 agricultural nnitter at all, or depend for their 

 information on the agricultural column of their 

 political weekly. 



Here we see one cause of the low average yield 

 of all cereals: want of knowledge and informa- 

 tion and lack of desire to obtain it. 



The cheap monthlies must be the pioneers and 

 missionaries. Here is a wide lield and plenty of 

 work for them. The Fak.m and GAitnEN, for 

 one, should enter many of those farm households 

 now found without wholesome agricultural 

 reading. 



Will not our friends and present subscribers do 

 a little missitmary work among their neighbors? 

 Introduce The Farm Axn (Jarden; make the 

 old man subscribe. We will show him how to 

 raise larger crops, do better in future, and live 

 more comfortably hereafter. 



It Is hard to make an old, poor, worn-out seed- 

 ling apple tree bear improved fruit ; a single bud 

 or .scion inserted into a young thrifty one, will 

 give us such a result in a few years. 



Reforms are more. easily brought about through 

 the cultivation and education of the coming gen- 

 eration than by preaching to the present one. 



Temperance Ajiostles and Sunday School 

 organizations are well aware that the future of 

 our country belongs to those m ho control the 

 children and the schools. And they act accord- 

 ingly, and properl.v so, too. Parents, also, should 

 not lose sight of that truth.. 



It is our aim to be useful to you, but do not 

 forget that we can give you a better paper with 

 150,000 subscribers than with half that num))6ir. 



As proof that plants, if well packed in rnoss^ 

 can be mailed safely over large distances, even 

 during our warm and dry summers, friend Wm. 

 B. Reed, of this State, told us that he mailed on 

 .Inly 14th. lsS4. to some parties in California, a 

 number of Hydrangeas, Roses, Begonias and 

 I..antanas, which reached their destination on 

 the 23d of the same month, were planted there 

 and grew right along, not showing the least ill 

 effects of the long voyage. The incident speaks 

 well for Mr. Reed's method of packing, (moss and 

 strawboard tnbesj, and likewise for Uncle Sam's 

 mailing facilities. 



Here are some more popular errors and pet 

 notions. The intelligent reader does not belie vp 

 that wood ashes or linie mixed with hen manure 

 (or other stable dung), adds to Its value, unless 

 plaster or muck is largely added also. 



That s<nnethtng is apt to turn up, unless you 

 turn it up yourself. 



That the value of a farm depends entirely on 

 the number of acres. 

 That orchard trees need no manuring. 

 That it is more profitable to buy and plant old 

 I large trees, than young, small, but thrifty ones. 

 ! That a strawberry which cost S2.00 per dozen 

 I for plants, is always better than owe costing 50 

 I cents per hundred. 



To do away with the disadvantages of both the 

 commission plan of distributing seed among 

 country merchants and aVisolute sales, Messrs. 

 r>. Landreth A Sons, have this year announced a 

 new method. Merchants who avail themselves 

 of it. are allowed to burn, at the close ofseason^ 

 all jiapcrs of seed not sold, and Landretbs will 

 furnish them the same number of dated packets 

 of new seed the folUnvin^i season. It would seem 

 as though this is a good scheme for the buyer, 

 the merchant and the seedsman. 



You want a dozen or two of early pullets, so av 

 to have them commence laying next fall. This 

 month is the time to set one or more hens. Karly 

 pullets will pay you well for all the trouble of 

 raising them. 



