THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



211 



same throughout, and which was prepared for this 

 crop in the same way at the same time, and the same 

 cultivation given to both. When the pubsoiled land 

 was planted to beets the other was in grass. A portion 

 of the field that was siibsoiled and planted to beets 

 four years in succession did not have as good a stand 

 of corn as on the surface-plowed land, but this can be 

 traced to the exhaustion of the soil by four years' suc- 

 cessive cropping with beets. 



IIoiv to Pack Apples. Country shippers and 

 packers of apples should make it a point to pack their 

 fruit honestly, says the Trade Bulletin, that is, to have 

 the fruit run alike all through the barrel. Do not 

 endeavor to cause deception by placing good, sound, 

 large fruit on the top and bottom of the barrel, and fill 

 in the middle with alot of gnarly, wormy and decayed 

 fruit. It does not pay. The deception is easily de- 

 tected upon investigation, and merchants do not care 

 to have fraud practiced upon them, neither do they 

 care to practice it upon their customers. 



Full regulation-sized barrels should be used. Take 

 the barrel, one head out, nail the hoops, and break off 

 the ends of the nails on the inside; place a layer or tier 

 of apples, good and uniform size, smooth, bright, 

 healthy, as closely as possible, stems downward, on 

 the lower end, then fill up, a basket full at a time, 

 throwing out small, wormy, gnarly and windfall apples, 

 and shaking the barrel well after each deposit until it 

 is full two inches above the rim; place the head 

 squarely on the apples and with a screw or lever press 

 force it into place and nail securely. Turn over the 

 barrel and mark name of apple with red or black lead, 

 or pencil. Bear in mind that to be shipped safely, 

 fruit must be packed tight, to prevent rattling or bruis- 

 ing. 



Many Eggs. According to the census, the United 

 States produced 457,000,000 dozens of eggs in 1879 and 

 817,000,000 dozens in 1889. These figures are prob- 

 ably under the mark. Add to this the value of the 

 poultry raised, and it is not at all improbable that the 

 annual income derived from poultry is nearly, if not 

 quite as much as that derived from the wheat crop, or 

 about $300,000,000. This immense sum, according to 

 Secretary Morton, is only sufficient to give the wives 

 of American farmers a little pin money. 



Relate Your Experience. Much valuable ex- 

 perience goes to waste every year because it is not re- 

 ported to the agricultural press and thus made the 

 property of all intelligent readers. Farming is by no 

 means an exact science. Like medicine, it is the growth 

 of centuries of experience and the experience of farm- 

 ers under similar conditions, climates, soils and circum- 

 stances is worth far more than the experience of farm- 

 ers not similarly circumstanced. Let us have an ex- 

 perience meeting every week from now on. 



The Gum Disease. This seems to be a crack- 

 ing of the bark, and an exudation of the gum, which 

 sooner or later affects the bark underneath and kills 

 the tree. No remedy has yet been found for this, 

 and the recommendation is to dig them out. One 

 phase of the trouble is that the trees, thus affected are 

 the most inveterate fruit bearers. When a tree has 

 borne no fruit for several seasons, it can usually be 

 forced to throw its strength into fruit formation by 

 checking its growth by pruning the roots, etc. 



Saltpeter in Cornstalks. The fine white 

 crystals which are sometimes seen in the butts of corn- 

 stalks thrown on rich land have been found to be 

 nitrate of potassium or saltpeter. For a number of 

 years a few Kansas cattle have mysteriously died from 

 apparent poison. Dr. W. S. Mayo, of the State Experi- 

 ment station, investigated some of the cases, and found 

 that there was eo much natural saltpeter that the cat- 

 tle were poisoned by it. In one case green fodder 

 grown upon an old hog yard was fed. The butts were 

 so full of the crystals that they would burn like a fuse. 

 In another case the dried fodder from an old cattle 

 corral proved fatal. In a third case the stalks were 

 grown on the ordinarily rich prairie soil. It would be 

 well to examine all corn fodder for the white saltpeter 

 crystals, and test some with a lighted match in a safe 

 place. The leaves do little or no harm, but the cattle 

 get the saltpeter by eating the stalks clean. 



Humane Dehorning. Not only humanity but 

 good financial policy demands that dehorning be done 

 with as little pain to the animals as possible. The 

 evidence is conclusive that if the work is properly 

 done and proper attention is given to the animals 

 afterward, that they experience little pain or incon- 

 venience, not missing a feed, nor does the milk-flow 

 of cows perceptibly diminish. On the other hand, 

 quite a number of cattle die from the effects of cruel 

 methods and after neglect. No one should attempt to 

 dehorn animals until lie has assisted some one that 

 does the work properly, and he should be careful to 

 provide himself with the proper tools and appliances. 



Root Knots. This disease of orchard trees is one 

 causing much concern in California. The knots are 

 about the size of a hen's egg, and are found on the 

 roots of prune, apricot, almond and peach trees. The 

 Experiment Stations of the University, at Berkeley, the 

 Stanford University, and Cornell University are work- 

 ing on the matter, but none of the scientists are able 

 to say whether the disease is the result of fungus or 

 insects. One remedy recommended is to cut the 

 knot off with a knife and apply common salt to the 

 cut. 



Floriculture in California. The late well- 

 known and eminent horticulturist and seedman, 

 Peter Henderson, said: "I am certain that Cali- 

 fornia before fifty years will be the great seed and 

 bulb-growing country of the world. You have, the 

 exact conditions of climate necessary to grow seeds, 

 and I would advise you to at once begin systemati- 

 cally." Quite a business in this line is being worked 

 up round Santa Barbara. There is scarcely a branch 

 of floriculture that a live, intelligent woman with a 

 love for the work could not succeed in, provided she 

 has the pluck and determination. 



Digestive Apparatus of Fowls. Fowls 

 swallow their food, broken or not, and it enters the 

 crop or first stomach and remains in it until it has- 

 become softened more or less, when a small quantity 

 at a time, just as grain runs into a grist mill, .is 

 forced into the gizzard among the grit. The gizzard is 

 a strong muscular stomach, and it is at work night 

 and day when there is grist to grind, similar ^ to 

 bellows, contracting and expanding, and thus forcing 

 the grit into the grain and triturating the whole mass,, 

 after which it is in a suituable condition to be quickly 

 digested. 



