12 



THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



'Vox.. IV-, JSTo. iih:. 



T/te Farm, and Garden is published at 725 Fil- 

 bert Street, Philadelphia, Penna. It is mailed to 

 subscribers from the 'loth to the lap day of the 

 month preceding date of isstie. The subscription 

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

 or more at 25 cents a year. 



Page 1." 

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Page 5. 

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 Page 7. 

 Page 8. 

 Page 9. 



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 pase 14. 

 Page 1.5. 



Page 16.—. 



CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. 



■Portrait of Gen. Withers. Spring Table Fare. 



■Farmer's Home Garden. Killing the Cabbage 

 Worm. The Southern Fever. Cutting the 

 Seed. 



■Garden Works. Accounts with Crops. Grains 

 of Corn. Malting a Hot Bed. 



The Shannon Apple. Comment on our Straw- 

 berry Issue. 



■.\pple Geomelrids. 



■Our Flower Garden. 



■Our Flower Garden (continued). 



■Live Stock. 



■Operating Incubators. Meat for Fowls. Grow- 

 ing Shade Poultry Yard. Poultry Scratch- 

 ings. 



Air and Sun Bath. As Beautiful as You Can. 

 A Bit of Oiit-Door Life in the Sick Room. 

 Saving Mother. Recipes,. 



Odds and Ends. 



■Editorial Comment. 



Clippings. 



Correspondence. 



Growth of Y'oung Chicks. Poultry Scratch- 

 ings. 



A Collection. 



These prices include the paper named, and 

 the Farm and Garuex. 



American Agriculturist, . $l.'Jd 



Arthura Home Magazine, 1.7.T 



Breeder's tiazelte, . . . 2.^ 



Carpcnlrv and Iluilding, . 1-00 



Centurv Mac-urine. . . . 3 ft.'i 



Chicago Weekly News, . . l.'JO 

 Cultivator and Country 



Gentlemen 2.35 



Demt,rest's Monthly, . . 1.8.1 



Farmer s Magazine 50 



Farm Journal 60 



Farmer's Review 1.35 



■Golden Argosy 1.60 



Green's Fruit Grower, . . 10.55 



Harper's Magazine, . . . 3.3.> 



Home and Farm T5 



Household Mo 



New York Tribune, . . . l-'-'.'i 



Poultrv Keeper, •" 



Foultr'v World Mo 



Purdv's Fruit Recorder, . .N> 



Rural New Yodter. . . . 2.'.'.i 



Salurdav Kvening Post, . l.S.'i 



Tribune and Farmer, . . l.ift 



Vicks Monthlv l.l.'> 



Youth's Companion, $1.60 -2.I0 



youth. Be careful tvith your boys. They need 

 employment, but it must be of a light nature, 

 el.se they break down before reaching manhood. 

 And thus it is also with young colts. 



Gditpoi^ial ©ommbnt. 



^fay. A new Impulse is given to the land. Xew 

 life springs up everywhere. All of nature's forces 

 that have been dormant for a long lime, are ac- 

 tive. The skies arc cloudless, and the Helds arc 

 green. It is a ti'mc of love, of gootl will, of cheer- 

 fulness, of bright hopes. Here nature sets an 

 example iliat is worth imitating. Let the farmer 

 stop gruiitliliiig aiiout hard times, low prices, the 

 ■wcatlier. tiiiil other things, lie lias every rea.son 

 to look liiipel'uUy and clieerlully into the future. 

 With steady liand he holds the plow and turns 

 over the soil Just the way he wants it, and the 

 way that will jirove the most protttable for him 

 antl his ])urposcs. 



Let him sliow the same steadiness in other 

 matters. The great American farm has a won- 

 derously fertile soil, and prosperity cannot fail to 

 grow tiiereon, though it may periodically be cov- 

 ■ercd up by a few inches of soil, wliich must be 

 reversed, firumliliiig only serves to make a bad 

 matter worse; while with steady work you can 

 soon prepare a mellow seed Ijed, and prosperity 

 'Will l>e the result. 



May, for the more Northern States, is the chief 

 month of i>laiiting. A thorough preparation of 

 the soil is an essential factor. This, in particular. 

 Is the ca.se with potatoes. Plant them on well 

 pulverized land, four inches deep, and 'ising a 

 suHieieney of seed, which varies with the variety 

 planted, with the condition of soil, and the cost 

 of seed. 



Corn should be planted as soon as the ground 

 has "become warm ami danger from late frosts is 

 past. We strtnigl.v atlvise planting deep enough, 

 say three inches, or more, so the field can I'c har- 

 rowed in eight or ten days after planting, withi>ut 

 fear of damaging the young plants b.v the opera- 

 tion. 



The garden should not be neglected at this 

 time. 



Some early kind of sweet corn may be planted 

 long before it would be safe to plant field corn. 

 Should a late frost injure it. but little is lost, and 

 the patch can be replanted at once. 



There is no better variety of sweet corn than 

 Black Mexican. None can c<:>mpare with it in 

 tenderness; try it. Repeated plantings of tliis 

 may be made. The best variety for late use is 

 Stowell's Evergreen. 



Alsomakerepeatedplantingsof lettuce, radish, 

 peas, cabbage, etc. 



Pasture time has come again. Prepare your 

 stock for the change in their food gradually. Do 

 not turn out to pasture as long as the grass is 

 short. Do not turn .stock into new and rank 

 clover, when wet with dew. Do not leave them 

 in such clover fields too long for the first few 

 days. Working horses should not be turned out 

 into the pasture. Keep and feed them in the 

 stable. Then they will not waste their strength 

 in useless frolic, and you can find them when 

 their services are needed. 



If, however, you must pasture them, take some 

 oats, meal, or salt with you into the field, and 

 teach your horses to come to you when you call 

 them. Kindness is cheap and effective, "i'our 

 horses will not come to you If you lose your 

 temper and throw stones and sticks, and— worst 

 of all— profane language at them. Keep working 

 horses as quiet as possible, and never pasture 

 them with colts in the same field, nor is it profi- 

 table to pasture fattening stock together with 

 any other which might disturb their quietude. 

 Milch cows also do better when pasturing by 

 themselves. 



Before you pasture look at the fences in the 

 pasture lot. "i'ou will find it just lus easy now as 

 later, when thecattle have broken outand gotten 

 into mischief. Besides, the cattle soon learn 

 how to tear down a poor fence, and afterward, if 

 you build a good one, they continue to practice 

 on it. 



Now, while we think of it, do not forget that 

 the farmer's wife has faithfully discharged her 

 domestic duties during a k>ng winter. The days 

 were short, and you have had an easy time of it, 

 comparatively speaking. But there wa.s not 

 much of a let-up on your'wife's work. The daily 

 routine of her life is nearly 'he same throughout 

 the year— cooking, washing, mending, sewing, 

 cleaning house, etc. she has walked the flot>r 

 with the baby, sat up nights with the sick child- 

 ren, perhaps with yourself. 



Now you have one or two extra hands during 

 the planting sca.son, in haying and harvesting. 

 .She needs some ellieient help also. Hire the 

 washing and ironing done, if nothing more. You 

 bny all the labor-saving contrivances for your 

 own benefit. Is she provided with a washing 

 machine, clothes wringer, etc.? Do you compel 

 her to do the milking and churning? The self- 

 sacrltleing creature is so ready to help and over- 

 exert herself. Will .vou let her do it? 



She needs fresh air after the long conflnement 

 in-doors. . It is so beautiful everywhere, with the 

 trees In blossom and the birds singing. Give her 

 a chance to enjoy it. 



We find another thing in the Middle Atlantic 

 States, which strikes us as very curious. In 

 spite of all the climatic advaiittiges that these 

 States ha^'e over more Northerit States, the aver- 

 age hen has, at this writing, lAprili, laid but few 

 eggs. Northeim peftple have commenced setting 

 hens and raising chicks. No preparations ai'e 

 made to do so further South. Why not? 



Chickens, for instance in Virginia, might now 

 be large enough to be shipped to the Washington 

 and Philadelphia markets. 



Tkie practice of applying nitrogenous manures 

 to mucky soils is like carrying owls to Athens, 

 like sweetening honey with sugar, or likestimula^ 

 ting a drunken person with aichohol. The 

 homeopathic principle, siitiilin yituifibus, does not 

 hold good in this case. All soils which consist 

 largely of decayed veget.able matter— after thor- 

 ough drainage — are benefitted after manuring 

 with lime, ashes, kainit, sand, and phosphoric 

 acid. These ingredients 'Will piiv better than 

 farm-yard manures. 



Verbenas are easily grown from the seed, and 

 much more vigorous than plants from cuttings. 

 A ten-cent paper of seed will give you all the 

 plants you want for quite a large bed. It may be 

 best to start the plants in a box or pan, or they 

 maybe sown right where you want them. Wfe 

 find a bed of seedlings much more satisfactory 

 than one of such plants as are generally bought 

 of the florists. Let the good woman remember 

 this. 



Mrs. Lizzie Cotton, whose acquaintance has 

 proved to be very dear to many of our bee-keepers, 

 has found means to escape the vigilance of 

 "farmer" Atkinson's watch-dog. We see her 

 "ads." in one or the other of the more careless 

 agricultural papers, but as for an editorial en- 

 dorsement—we had thought that a thing of 

 impossibility. 



" Lizzie" has been exposed as an old fraud. Her 

 high-priced model bee-hive is a very *»iri'/ nioilel, 

 and n full-sized hive, made after this pallrrii, is no 

 better than any common, movable comb- hive. 

 She has for many years swindled the gullible 

 bee-keepers so persistently that even her sex was 

 questioned. Has she now turned over a new 

 leaf? Has she become honest? The change is 

 almost loo sudden. Let our friends steer clear of 

 her. 



Nor should the farmer's wife be deprived of the 

 enjoyments that flowers can give. She appreci- 

 ates the beautiful. It cheers her and keeps up 

 her spirits in the dry routine o( kitchen lite. She 

 wants flowers. Her nature demands them. Help 

 her to lix up a nice lied of Geraniums, or Phlox, 

 or Verbenas, or Coleus in the front yard. It 

 makes home attractive and helps to make the 

 children appreciate farm-life. 



/s'iiiiilin similibiis.' The beautiful for the beauti- 

 ful ; and a faithl'ul wife, no matter how plain she 

 may be. as long as she does her duty as well as 

 the average farmer's wife, is a beautiful creature, 

 and deserves appreciation. 



To manufacture by h.and the envelopes which 

 are used in this counlry would require the hibor 

 of a quarter of a million of men. The last cen- 

 sus shows that but 1204 persons were employed 

 In the manul'acture of that article. We see 

 herein the superiority of ingenuity over mere 

 mechanical labor, and the reason why America 

 and her inventive skill can successfully compete 

 with the "pauper labor " of Europe, and why 

 the American manulacturer can aflord to pay 

 better wages than his foreign rival. 



Young boys and colts should not be put to very 

 bard work. We know many .voung men suffer- 

 ing with some of the infirmities of old jige in 

 consequence of having been forced to exert all 

 their strength in pulling and lilting in c«rly 



What splendid orchards and what abundance 

 of fine fruit the .Southern farmer might have if 

 he but knew how to treat his trees! It is very 

 sclilom th.at we have seen a Southern orchard 

 that was not covered with a growth of weeds 

 threeor four feet high. Part of the lower branches 

 of the trees, peach as well as apple, lay upon the 

 ground, and are hidden by the weed growth. 

 Trees luave never— or hardly ever — been trimmed. 

 Many of the branches were brolvcn. and left 

 where they fell. It is a perfect chaos. .Many 

 farmers do not wish to take off the superfious 

 limbs, for fear of losing the fruit that will grow 

 on them. Inferior fruit must be the result Of this 

 false economy. 



The neglect to trim the young trees, and the 

 lack of the knowledge, "how to do it," which is 

 veri/ general, is at the bottom of all this mischief. 

 If you have yr>ung trees, one or two years from 

 the setting, do not fail to trim tliem judiciously, 

 and in such manner, that they will develop into 

 a desirable shape. Not more than three or four 

 branches should be left on the body, and these 

 higher or lo\(er, according as you wish the tops 

 of .vour trees high or low. 



Always cultivate a young orchard. Afterwards 

 seed to clover or other grasses, and pasture with 

 sheep or hogs. 



Tltorough preparation of the soil, anrl liberal 

 feeding, together with good seed, will insure 

 success in growing cereals, every time. Bear this 

 in mind. 



Have you given due attention to tiiat question 

 of " co-operation '' in the dairy business? Would 

 it not pay the farmers of your neighborhood to 

 establish a central gilt-edged butler manufac- 

 tory? Will you not consider the advantages of 

 that proposition, and confer with your neighbors 

 tibout it ? 



A number of our correspondents have been so 

 well plea.sed with our " First Annual Str-awberry 

 Number," that we have been obliged to print a 

 numljer of extra copies of that issue. We can 

 now funish them for .5 cents each to all who are 

 intei'csted in this fruit. 



We have been so well pleased with the success 

 of our special number devoted to strawberries, 

 and so surprised at the interest it has excited, 

 that we have planned a series of special issues. 

 The first three of these which we now announce 

 are August, Sheep— the breeds, meth*>ds of 

 care, clippings, with a review of the jnices of 

 wool, etc. It will be illustrated with a number 

 of fine cuts, and contain more useful information 

 than many books devoted entirely to the subject. 



We are asked to name a good fertilizer for 

 roses. Soot is to be recommended as a top- 

 dressing. For roses in fiower-pots, we know 

 of nothing better than a mulch of moss, which 

 was sprinkled with Food for Flowers iBowker'sl 

 or bone-dust. A few drops of ammonia mixed 

 with the water used for them is also good. 

 Watch the aphis on roses and verbenas. E.x- 

 posure to tobacco smoke will kill the pest. 



