ISlt-' 



(JLKAXIXCS IN HICK C'Ul/rUltl':. 



339 



worU. and imr asi)irati(ms ami plans lici't' in 

 lliisworKi of (iiiis. jiu a litllc onisiilc of family 

 rt'lations ami family lies, rrrliaps we can not. 

 all of us. i-iimb to the siiiiiliial level where 

 Miiiler stands, and .s7(/i/ lliere. I add the last, 

 because one of my irieat weaUiiesj-es is to slip 

 down so (piii'l<ly. almost immediately after I 

 have In en lifted up. Here ai'e some exliaets 

 that I iiKide from tun of our aiiiiculiuial papers 

 in n'ir;iid to what lias been done, and the needs 

 in n>frard to tho work. The first comes from the 

 (^(iinitnj (iciitleiiKtn of March :il: 



An appeal for prompt and lilieral asslslance is 

 issued l)y the Hussiaii Katiiine Kelief C'oniinittee 

 (John W. Hoyt, Ciiairmaii, 7,i2 Fimrteeiitli St., 

 Wushiii^'toii', and desi-rves iinuiediale atteiitiiin. 

 Every newspaper is aslied to uif^o upon the atten- 

 tion (if its rea<leis tlie fads— 



That ilie fanniie. so vast and dire, is not alone, 

 but is suppleinenied by the frei'zinjr cold of a tei'- 

 rilile winter, and l)ythe distresses whicii come in 

 tlie train of attending pestilenci' which luaj', if not 

 Soon checked, sweep over many other lands as well. 



That tlie famine is there to stay, even until after 

 the conung harvest, unless banished l)y tlu^ ben(>- 

 factions of those in otiier and more favored lands. 



That the Russian .eovertuuent is exciting'- itself 

 heroically foi' the rescue of tlu' peopU-. botli bj- a 

 niuniticence worlliy of a .trieat nation and l)y the 

 sacrifices of those who administer the public affairs. 



Tliat tiie extent of the famine is so great, and tlie 

 revenues of tlie g-overnment liave been so far 

 ♦•rippled by ri-peated and widespread failuies of 

 the crops, that there is need of help from othei' 

 fi-iendly countries — help immediate, lilieral, and 

 persistent 



That, the rest of Europe having- also been impov- 

 erished, the bulk of .sujiplies must come from 

 America, so wonderfully blessed with bountiful 

 crops tlie past season that she can send shipload 

 after shipload of food without perceptible drain 

 upon her ine-xhaustible stores. 



And liere is what the Rurtil Xeio-Yorker of 

 April :.'o has to say: 



Philadelphia w;is the flr.st to send a shipload of 

 flour to the relief of the starving Russians, and the 

 steamer Indiana's cargo was received at Lilian with 

 public rejoicings and hearij- thanks. TUt; Minne- 

 apolis millers sent the next cargo through New 

 York, and this is still at sea. The Pliiladelpjiaiis 

 have almost c imp'etud another sluploait, and the 

 Western millers will send another also in a fi'W 

 weeks. Millers, farmers, and oihers all over the 

 country are geneiovisiy joining in the goi d work, 

 and probably a dozen or more cargoes in all will be 

 donated. Of course, this will be a Goiisend to a 

 comparatively few. but would hardly beamomh- 

 ful among the millions in Uisliess. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



everitt's man-weight cultivatok and 

 iuiekd's wkkder. 



What do you think of Everitt's Man- weight 

 cultivator and seed-drill? Is it not bad for the 

 man's breast? Can you recommend it for rather 

 stiff clay loam? Do you like Breed's weeder? 



Ahixandria. Va. A. Ja.mii:so.n. 



[My good fiieiid. the great trouble with both 

 of these implements is. that the average gar- 

 dener does not very often have the land or the 

 kind of soil suitable forsuch machines; and an- 

 other thing, the ground must not be too wet 

 nor too dry. What I mean by " too dry " is, 

 that if the cultivation has been neglected at the 

 right time until the soil tjecoines baked, neither 

 of these machines will be practicable; at the 

 same time, by the use of these machines we 

 ought to be able to keep our ground soft and 

 mellow, unless we have too much rain, ruder- 

 draining the ground thoroughly is a great help; 

 in fact, it is really a necessity. Ridging the 



gi-ound up ill winter lime to let the fi-osl work 

 at it is anotliei- great liil|): and we have been so 

 much annoyed i bis spring by having our gi-miiid 

 too wet to woik that I have liegiiu to think se- 

 riously of plowing it in the fall when it is in 

 propel- trim, then throwing it up in lidges and 

 plan! ing our eaily stulV in tlie tops of the ridges, 



l(>veling them down slightly with son f these 



tools. One of the best crojis of potatoes that I 

 ever raised was worked eniirely with a Hi-ei^d's 

 weeder. It was never touched w ith a ho«! at all. 

 Hut this was on out- best ci-eek-boltom ground 

 that is slightly loamy. But this same pii-ce of 

 ground this spiing has been too wet to work for 

 a whole mouth. Everitt's ciillivatoi- is too poor- 

 ly mad(^ to stand wear and tear: at least, the 

 one he .scuit us pulled to pieces so much that we 

 have become disgusted with it. I think he 

 ought to furnish us (and. in fact, everybody else 

 who has om^ of his poorly made nuichines) a 

 new one free of charge. He evidently, how- 

 ever, does not think so, foi- I have written him 

 about it, and he simply said they made them 

 better now, without any offer to jnake good our 

 lo.ss. Later. — He has, since the above was in 

 type, olfered to send new parts.] 



THE TltOIIBI.E WITJJ KA.SI'BEItRIES; AESO SOME- 

 THING ABOUT SQUASH-BUGS. 



A. I. Root complained that raspberries do not 

 thrive as they used to. I wish that he would 

 see whether the trouble is not from fungus or 

 the root- borer, and report in the garden depart- 

 ment. The injury is a serious one with us. I 

 should also be pleased if Mr. Root would exper- 

 iment with a hot-water spray for squash-bugs, 

 and perhaps other Insects. Jthaspi-oved useful 

 in "ome cases. L. Williams. 



Delavau, Wis.. April 7. 



[1 am inclined to think you are partly right, 

 my friend. Examination shows adeadnessof 

 the roots, although I do not see any traces of 

 the borer. Our new plantation, put out last 

 spi-ing. made a very poor growth during the 

 fore part of the season; but in the fall the vines 

 did pretty fairly, and seem to promise now to 

 glow with vigor. In regaid to the hot-water 

 spray for squash-bugs, even if it succeeded per- 

 fectly it would be too much labor. With us 

 they fri'quently come in droves within an hour; 

 and in just a few hours the vines are destroyed 

 or very mucli injured: so you see it would take 

 constant watching. With the wire-screen bug- 

 protectors, however, whi-n they are once cover- 

 ed up. all troutile is at an end for. jierhaps, a 

 couple of weeks. I am inclined to think now 

 that plenty of tobacco dust will also do thi; bus- 

 iness'; but instead of a little sprinkling, it wants 

 a wliole shovelful: and as the shovelful is worth 

 all it costs, for manui-e. in localities whei-e this 

 dust can be had at a low price it will probably 

 be the cheap»!St remedy for our insect-enemies 

 on vines. The strong odor of the tobacco re- 

 mains for a long while, even after the vines are 

 so large as to crowd against the wire-cloth 

 covers.] 



THE AMEBIC AN I'EAKL ONION. 



You say the Pearl onion has wintered again 

 with you. It did not with me. I got a quart of 

 you and planted tbem Sept. 15th. so that they 

 mad(! a good growth: but there are not more 

 than a dozen left, and they were mulched with 

 hay. Potato onions, planted the same day, 

 about half winteied: planted Oct. l.'ith, one 

 month later, all w intered. I sliall try again, 

 but plant so that they won"t grow any in the 

 fall. Irish potatoes winter all right in the 

 ground here, not over two or three inches deep, 

 and we had hard freezes for this country — 4° 

 above zero. You are right about the Hall 



