12! 



THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



^OL. IV., 3>ro. ■VIII- 



The Fiirm and Garden is piMUhed at 725 Fil- 

 bert Street, P/iiludelphia, Penna. It is mailed to 

 subseri.herx from the 25th to the last day of the 

 vionth /ireccding date of issue. The subseription 

 price is 50 cents a year, but it is sent in dabs of 4 

 or more at 25 cents a year. 



but he keeps at his work all day long, without 

 looking up, and throws a liig shovuHiil of dirt out 

 of the ditch every time. There is not a man that 

 we know of, whether Irish, Dnteh or American, 

 who can dig more ditclj, in ten working houi's, 

 than this little fellow. 

 Work steady and keep your shovel well Jilted. 



Potatoes will probablj' be scarce and dear before 

 the uew crop comes to market ; and the earliest 

 of that crop will be in good demand and catch the 

 bitj price, mind that. 



It is just as easy to raise 4011 bushels to the acre, 

 as 1.50, and much more profitable. All you want 

 is to know how. Joseph's new book, " Money in 

 Potatoes," which Ls advertised in The P'.vkx .\nd 

 Garden, tells the whole story. 



If yon will read and remember the followinrj 

 note it will save you disappointment, and keep us 

 from having to read some comjilaininy letters: — 



If we have received a letter from you, a receipt 

 is filled out and mailed immediately after your 

 money is taken from the letter. The next thing 

 ilone with your letter is to order the prem,ium {if 

 you arc enlilled to one). Our premiums are or- 

 dered from reliable growers or publishers in vari- 

 ous sections of the country. In no case will 

 premiums be received until at least Ten days after 

 this has reached you. In cases where bulbs and t 

 plants are ordered, they will not be sent until the \ 

 weather is suitable. If you have ordered a paper 

 with ours, it must he ordered from office of publi- 

 cation, which will oocaslon a few days' delay. 

 The receipt of a copy of any paper ordererl 

 through us is proof that we have correctly turned 

 your money over to the publishers. Should you 

 miss any future numbers, write to office of paper, 

 not to ns.' Do not complain before you have time 

 to receive the papers or premiums. lie sure to 

 complain if, after a reasonable time has elapsed, 

 you are not correctly served in every particular. 

 ' W'e are not in business for a day or year, (intl do 

 not propose to have the ill-will of any one through ; purest exlraeled honey goes begging in our city 

 neglect or injustice oyi our part. Remember this, -' 



Rich soil, heavy seeding, and close planting, 

 will enable you to raise big crops of Early Ohio, 

 Sunrise, Gem, and all other sorts of the Rose 

 type. 



Our vocabulary has no words strong enough to 

 condemn in lit language such "scientilic pleas- 

 antries " as the one which appeared lately in the 

 New York .Vrfj/ fjiif/ /?j-p/v-.vA-, and has since been 

 going the rounds through the American press. 

 The article is given prominence by the flaring 

 head lines—" Human Ingenuity to do away with 

 the Work of the Bees," and describes an imagin- 

 ary and utterly impossible method of manufac- 

 turing ciiinli iioney artiliclally altogether with- 

 out help of the bees. While .\merlcan beekeepers \ 

 have l>een and are still working earnestly to find ; 

 a market for their priiduie, wiille even now the ! 



We shall be asked where strawberry plants ran 

 be had. We iiave none for sale. We refer you to 

 advertisers whose cards will be found in our col- 

 umns. They will supply you at reasonable pri- 

 ces. When- you see an advertisement in our 

 paper you can send your money to the advertiser 

 without fear of fraud. We keep a paper for 

 honest people, pnd have no place for frauds. Do 

 ii,ot be afraid to send money to any of our adver- 

 tisers for strawberry plants. Always write your 

 name and address plainly, and you will get an 

 answer from them. Tlie.\- are r.jliable business 

 men, aiad havegood reputations, well established. 



If you see anything in the Farm and Gardes 

 you do not understand, write and ask us about 

 it. It is your jjaper, and we want to keep it so. 

 We befieve it our duty to make the paper inter- 

 esting to you. We answer all inquiries without 

 charge, but we do ask you to send questions, on 

 any subject, on a separate slip of paper. They 

 will then have our immediate attention. If 

 ini.xed up with lousiness letters, we cannot find 

 time to look for them. We are willing to oblige 

 you. Send your questions along. 



Our advertisers are well pleased with the Farm 

 AN'D fjAKDEN, and say it pays them well. We 

 are glad of it. We are also glad that our readers 

 say t)ur advertisers do all they pi-omise. We 

 hope all who write to them will say that the 

 I'akm and Garden has confidence in them, and 

 that you hope your business acquaintance will 

 prove satisfactory . W'e want all to do right. 

 We like a square business. 



GDIIIOI^IAIj (©OMMBNIP. 



April. -'The early bird catches the big worm." 



The real hai-d work and the hurry now begins. 

 Satisfactory results of o\n- farming operations 

 can hardly lie expected unless the work of the 

 pliintin!/ season Is perforiMid ilioroughly and in 

 time. 



The wise farmer, who is attij- the big profits, 

 like the bird after the big worm, prai^lces " early 

 to bed and early to rise," at least in this hurry- 

 ing time. 



hv feeds Ills teams early, so as to give them 

 sutlicient t Ime to miustlcate their food before they 

 are hitched up. 



He knows their condition and does not exact 

 more work of thorn than they are able to per- 

 form. 



He takes and allows sufficient rest at noon, 

 knowing that it doi-s not pay to hurry his men 

 and teams back t^ the field lus soon as they have 

 swallowed a few niouthluls. 



He draws ui>on the land, every load of manure 

 that he can rake and scrape together. 



He knows that early-sown oats, like early birds, 

 have the best chances. 



He harrows early and late, and twice, where 

 his less wise neighbor harrows but once. 



A sharp plow point makes ea,sy plowing, saves 

 horse-power and often a heap of profane language. 



No family can afford to do Without strawber- 

 ries. Eit her fresh or canned, they are the most de- 

 licious sauce ; nor do we despi.se them in the form 

 of strawberry shortcake. The well-tcwlo farmer 

 cjm iilant a number of different kinds and try all 

 the new .sorts. The poor farmer bad better jilant 

 the old reliable "Wilson," unless he knows— 

 from his own e.xperierice — that some other kind 

 will suit him better. 



Never discard a variety of small fruit, nor vege- 

 table, nor potato, which gives satisfaction, for an 

 untried new one, no matter who says that it is 

 better. 



The Farm and Garden, now more than a year 

 ago, fired ofl' the first shot in the battle, which 

 has been raging ever since, over the question 

 whether the fruit of a pistillate variety of straw 



markets on account of the glucose scare, thegreat 

 city papers try to nnike all these efforts come to 

 naught and to nnike the consumer afraid of the 

 most natural, most delicious and most whole- 

 some sweet, in the shape of <*omb lioiu'>'. 



This siwalled scientilic plea,santry is nothing 

 hut a willul and malicious lie, and one which 

 strikes a fatal blow at the interests of the .\nui- 

 ican beekeeper. The great newspapers refuse to 

 yield to the demands of interested parties for a 

 l>roper correction. The damage seems to be 

 well-nigh Irreparable, for the agricultural press 

 does not reach the honey consumer in the cities, 

 among ,whom a press so hostile to agricultural 

 Interests chiefly circulates. 



I,et us say, however, that both lnvenl^>r and 

 pnl)llsher of such infernal lies deserve a good, 

 long term of free board and lodging In the peni- 

 tentiary. 



The New England Homestead obser\-e8 that 

 "less money hius been spent on expensive Oiita- 

 logues by the seed trade this year," and that "on 

 the whole, the catalogues are sonrewhat less ex- 

 aggerated In their statements than formerly." 

 We were pleased to see that our labors in behalf 

 of such a reform, thanks to the hearty co-opera- 

 lion of the best part of the agricultural papers, 

 have not been in vain. The intelligent farmer 

 denianiled the reform and seedsmen hadtoyield. 



We don't Intend to stop here. The farmer and 

 seed buyer Is entitled to still greater concessions. 

 We want the plain unvarnished truth and with- 

 out high coloring, cither. 



Now the wholesale rates of seeds. In general, 

 are very low, and with a saving of expense in 

 the get-up of advertising material, seed dealers 

 should put dowu their prices correspondingly. 



Many ask us if seeds, plants, and other articles 

 can be sent by mail. We answer yes, and cheaply, 

 too. A pound can be sent by mail all over the 



I Union for sixteen cents, or one cent an ounce. 



I No packages heavier than four pounds are 

 allowed to go by niail. By express we can send 

 anything. 



(irain Is low, and likely to remain so. We say 

 feed the grain to stock. Well-fatted stock sells 

 high, and you will find it pays better to fatten 

 stock at pi'esent prices, and sell it, than to sell 

 corn. .\ wise farmer will sell meat when corn i.** 

 cheap. One or the other always pays the better. 



Wethlnk after carefully readingour strawberry 

 I number, any person can raise fine berries. ^ The 

 Farm and Garden is the first agricultui'al'jour- 

 nal to give so full a treatise on strawberry grow- 

 ing in a single number, or we may say, in a year, 

 and at so low a cost that all can profit by it. This 

 i number Is as full of information on strawberry- 

 I growing as many books that sell for one dollar. 

 I Readers we want, and will publish the best and 

 cheapest paper that can be found. Give us your 

 ' aid by extending our circulation. Do we not 

 merit and deserve it 1 



There should be a proper balance between the 

 price of produce and the price of labor. If every- 

 thing gets chcaijcr, labor cannot keep its former 

 price. Were it true, that high wages are the 

 necessary consequence of a high tariff, the farmer 

 would be compelled to fight iigainst that taritf. 

 High wages for fai-m hands, eat up what little 

 margin may be left in the production of 

 cereals. He cannot afford to pay higher wages 

 than are in just proportion to the prices of other 

 things. 



Remember that it does not pay to plow land 

 for oats, on which you cannot expect, with some 

 reasonable degree of certainty, at least 30 or .'Jo 



Now Is a good time to buy. If you want land, 

 you can have It cheap ; If you want to hire labor, 

 labor is plenty. Buy now, if you are able; but 

 do not think of selling a good place now. Hold 

 on to it lor a while. Prices now have an upward 

 tendency. 



The great majority of farmers' cling to their 

 respective parties like the bug to the potato vine, 

 no matter, if nothing is left but the bare, dirty 

 stalk. They will have very little influence in the 

 management of the national household, aa long 

 as they submit to being led like sheep by their 

 political bosses and flock masters. 



Our readers are too intelligent to submit to It; 

 but there are millions of farmers who do, and 

 who read no agricultural paper at all. United 

 action and hearty co-operation will accomplish 

 what single efforts can not. 



berry is influenced by the variety which furnishes I bushels per acre. Do not cultivate land that is 



the pollen, or not. The doctors and " wise men of 

 the East" still disagree about it. 



The next fruiting season may bring us a settle- 

 ment of the vexing question. A number of 

 prominent horticulturists propose to test the 

 matter thoroughly and scientifically. 



We believe thai the majority of growers for 



too poor to grow profitable crops. Such soil needs 

 " doctoring," and the sooner you doctor it, the 

 better. Grow and plow under some green crop, 

 such as buckwheat, peas, or clover. Sow to rye 

 in the fall and seed to clover; not forgetting the 

 application of a few hundred pounds of phos- 

 phate. In short, increase Its capacity the best 



market, will continue to grow the old Wilson for I way you can. 



a main ci-op, and use it as a fertilizing variety for 

 other sorts like Crescent seedling and others. 



A slow but steady pull, often accomplishes 

 more than spasmodic, though exhausting exer- 

 tions. We know a little hump-backed Irishman, 

 who seems to be the personification of slowness ; 



We call attention to our strawberry articles. 

 We believe you will find they contain more prac- 

 tl<'al ideas than any work on strawberry culture. 

 Wi> do all this for your benefit, hoping you will 

 try the suggestions we recommend, and will be 

 successful. We are always glad to learn that our 

 labors are fruitful to our readers. 



"We boldly announce that we are in favor of 

 the entii-e abolition of the Department and the 

 saving of the money now sciuandered, or of reoi'- 

 ganizing it on some ctHumtjii-sense basis, com- 

 mensurate to the importance of the agricultural 

 interests." So says the Jturat Xcu> y'orker in a 

 recent issue. W'e have often called our readers' 

 attention to the uselessness of the Governmental 

 seeds-shop, and asked our agricultural contem- 

 poraries to help us to lift the nuisanceout of ex- 

 istence. 



Some of the State experimental Stations have 

 done a hundred-fold more good to the farmer, 

 and at one-tenth the cost, than the Agricultural 

 Department. Let us have " something or noth- 

 ing;" either a department worthy of the name, 



or none at all. _^ 



If we may believe the farni .Tournnl, "old seed 



grower and seed planters say that beet and onion 



seed will grow up to five or seven years old." 



It Is to be hoped that the ingenious editor of the 



Farm Journal will come into possession of that 



j "experimental farm," which he so frequently 



I mentions, before long. After a little practical 



I experience with onion seed, he would hardly put 



such nonsense about it before his readers. 



