THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



153 



limbs of the oak in innumerable folds of cordage, 

 covering the oak from top to bottom, then extending 

 out to and covering two other live oaks, one to the 

 right and the other to the left of the central tree, the 

 distance between which measures at least twenty 

 paces thus making the finest picture of a true " forest 

 Laocoon'' which is, perhaps, to be seen on the Carolina 

 coast. 



The New Bordeaux, Mixture. Quicklime, 4 

 Ibs. 6 ozs. ; sulphate of copper, 4 Ibs. 6 ozs.; molasses, 

 4 Ibs. 6 ozs.; water, 22 gallons. This was suggested 

 by M. Michel Ferret at a meeting of the National 

 Agricultural Society of France, as being less liable 

 to injure, or be washed off by rain from the foliage of 

 plants, etc. 



M. Ferret's instructions for making are, "Add the 

 molasses to 13 gallons of water, then slack the lime 

 and add 4}^ gallons of water to form a milk of lime. 

 Pour this slowly into the sweetened water, stirring 

 briskly in order to mix intimately. Next, in a third 

 (wooden) vessel, dissolve the blue stone and pour this 

 into the previous mixture, stirring well. In this 

 blending of materials chemical changes are taking 

 place. When the milk of lime and sweetened solu- 

 tion are intimately mixed together, then saccharate 

 of lime is formed. Next, when to this is added the 

 solution of sulphate of copper, a double decomposi- 

 tion takes place: sulphate of lime is formed on the 

 one hand and soluble saccharate of copper on the 

 other. Saccharate of copper is only formed in pres- 

 ence of an excess of lime, and is indicated by the 

 mixture assuming a beautiful greenish tinge. This 

 renders the mixture alkaline, and the lime neutralizes 

 the acid. 



Diseased Orange Trees. A writer in the Marys- 

 ville (California) Appeal alleges that a dangerous 

 disease has attacked the splendid orange orchards of 

 the northern section of the State. It is certainly to 

 be hoped that this disease has not made great head- 

 way as yet and that prompt measures for its suppres- 

 sion be taken. The Appeal says: 



"In nearly all the orange groves throughout the 

 Northern Citrus Belt, there are a number of orange 

 trees affected with a disease known by the common 

 names of ' blight,' ' go back ' or ' wilt.' The first sign 

 exhibited by trees attacked, is a sudden wilting of the 

 leaves and in a majority of cases the entire top is af- 

 fected, which soon shrivels up and dies. This dis- 

 ease is very destructive and trees attacked by it 

 rarely ever recover; the trunk remains green and 

 fresh for a time and if the shriveled tops -are cut off, 

 new shoots will often start out lower down, but they 

 never attain any important growth as the tree event- 

 ually dies completely. 



" ' Blight ' or ' go back ' is undoubtedly a disease of 

 the roots. On taking out a number of the diseased 

 trees a few days ago the roots were found to be badly 

 decayed and gave off a sour and sickening odor. 



"The cause of the disease, or the remedy for it is 

 entirely unknown; that it is connected with excessive 

 moisture or rainfall every observer must admit; that 

 it is not caused by water alone is equally true. 1 ' 



oranges near Naples, and his practice is the one gen- 

 erally employed there as a safeguard against periods 

 of excessive cold. In autumn he scrapes away the 

 rich top soil from the roots of his trees and allows them 

 to dry, and since he irrigates his grove he at this 

 time withholds all water. The trees are then at rest, 

 except for the ripening fruit, which seems to be as 

 good as that in irrigated groves. If freezing temper- 

 ature comes, these exposed roots freeze with the 

 tree, and yet he claims their dormant condition and 

 lack of sap protects them from harm. As to the cor- 

 rectness of his theory, I am not able to pass judg- 

 ment. I only know that his trees stand with bared 

 roots all winter until there are signs of spring and 

 returning vitality and flowing sap, when applies his 

 fertilizers and throws back the soil and begins to 

 irrigate." 



The one tree lost in this grove stood in the rear of 

 his house where the waste water from the kitchen 

 reached its roots. This tree was in a growing 

 condition in the autumn, and the frost killed it. 

 My attention was called to the fact that after the 

 first frost every orange tree in his grove cast its 

 leaves, which their proprietor noted as a sign of life, 

 for trees struck by lightning or otherwise deadened 

 hold their dead foliage, apparently without the power 

 to cast it off. 



A Wise Move. The fruit growers of Grand 

 Junction, Colo., are discussing the possibility of trans- 

 porting the wasting stable manures from Leadville 

 to their valley orchards. There ought to be no ques- 

 tion about getting a railway rate that will justify it. 

 It is a fact beyond controversy that while land in its 

 natural state may be so fertile as to produce a paying 

 crop, the addition of fertilizers, judiciously, will in- 

 crease the profits greatly. For illustration, an acre 

 planted to orchard will not have cost less than 

 $100. If it should yield a net income of $25 it 

 would be a good investment and a fair profit. If by 

 the addition of $20 an acre the net return may be 

 increased to $50, as it is practically certain to be, 

 even if the whole cost of the fertilizer is charged to 

 current expense, it needs no argument to justify the 

 outlay for fertilizers. In practice the benefits are 

 found to be even greater proportionately than above 

 indicated. The acre of land which yields as an aver- 

 age return $50 an acre net is worth, allowing for all 

 contingencies, $250. If it yields but $25 it is worth 

 only $125. There are then two inducements to the 

 orchardists to fertilize the land the increased annual 

 profit, and the enhanced value. 



A Lesson from the Great Freeze. A writer 

 in Garden and Forest states that the late freeze (with 

 the single exception of one grove) killed outright all 

 the orange tree around Pass Christian, Miss. 



The owner of this grove is an intelligent Italian, 

 who is reported as saying: " My father cultivates 



The Home Market Most Important. Dr. 



Joseph Nimmo, the eminent statistician, announced 

 in a recent address at Columbia College, Washing- 

 ton, D. C., that the total value of the products of 

 labor in the United States for the year 1890, reached 

 the wholly incomprehensible amount of eighteen 

 thousand million dollars. Of this amount, only 

 $845,000,000 worth of products were exported, or only 

 4.7 per cent, of the value of the products of labor for 

 that year. From these figures it is easily seen how 

 relatively unimportant all our foreign trade is, when 

 compared to our internal commerce. As a general 

 proposition the home market is the best market, and 

 it is the interest of all soil tillers to encourage and 

 build up home industries and home markets. If we 

 take away from the total value of exports for the year 

 1890, as given above, the value of the cotton ($251,000,- 



