1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



93 



Wos require early cultivation, auJ in uiiic cases out 

 of ten, ttiis (ourse ensures a crop, wliatever the na- 

 lure of tlie season may be. The younsr corn is Just 

 now eciniini;- inl.i notice, and it is in order to devote 

 proper atlenlicn loll, .-^lir llie ^'round and destroy 

 weeds lliat nniy have (jerndiialed, and l>eep ahead ol 

 them tlirou;;liont the season. If in any Idlls tlie 

 seed did not t;ernnnate, rejilant, and wliere lliere are 

 too muny plants, tliin out lieforc tin- roots liave thrown 

 so larfje that removal will loosen tlic reinaiuin" 

 stalks. ^_^ 



Effects of Climate on Plants. 



An Ku'disli ai;rie\dtural iJa|ier says it has been 

 proved thai tlie se,-,ls of certain plants, if iralliere.l 

 ill one eliniate and sown in another, will Kernnnate 

 earlieror later and witli more or less viKor,aeeordini; 

 as the new climate is colder or warmer than the old, 

 and that a ditlerence of a lew de-nes only in lati- 

 tude will pro.luce these results, l-'or exani|ile, wheat 

 from Scotland .wwn in the south of Kn?;iand will 

 germina'c and ripen niucli earlier than wheat of ex- 

 aelly similar i|ualitv feathered in the .south and 

 planted in the same iatitndc in wbieh it was ffiown. 

 This fact is of the utmost importance to a,<;riciiltur. 

 iste. To secure early sri-owini;- i;rain crops it is only 

 necessary to lake care that the seed is leathered in a 

 colder climate than that in which it is to be .sown. 

 The same thins is noticeable amoiii; other plants, 

 and tlorists and horticulturists mifjlit take advant- 

 age of this circumstance to produce both earlier and 

 stronirer plants than they do now, without the appli- 

 ances of forciiiiif. 



Hungarian Millet. 



A treat divi'rsity of opinion exists ainona: praelical 

 farmers as to the value of the several annual yras.scs 

 commonly known as millet. This may be aeeounted 

 for iu part by the character of the soil where it is 

 {frown. All the varieties of millet are peculiarly 

 adapted to lii;ht, sandy or sandy loam soils, such as 

 will jiroducc- full crops of timothy and rcil-lop only 

 under the most favorable circumstanees. l.aud that 

 is excellent for ijrass is not the best for millet, and 

 the best millet land is not natural o-rass land. Millet 

 resembles the corn plant in its adaptation to warm 

 laud and hot weather, and for this reason we should 

 expect to find it a more jiopular cro]) on the dry, 

 sandy land borderinff our sea-coast than upon the 

 moist, •ircen hill-tops of Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and Western Massachusetls. And this we liml is the 

 ease — many farmers in the interior having scarcely 

 ever seen a patch of millet grow ing. Proti I able crops 

 of milli't presuppose land easily plowed anil capable 

 of being smoothed otf and laid down with little labor. 



HORTICULTURAL. 



Compost for Corn. 



What is the best compost to ajiply to corn was 

 discussed at an agricultural club meeting over in 

 Bucks county. One member said be had received 

 the best result from a mixture of ashes, plaster and 

 hen niamire ; phosphates he said kept the corn back; 

 dry ashes ditto. Another Ihougbt leached ashesaiid 

 plaster valuable ; another tbougbt composts did not 

 pay for putting them on; it was better to fertilize 

 the groiiial first and then get it in good order, and it 

 would need no compost, lie wet his corn and rolled 

 it in plaster before dropping. Another thought the 

 compost did more good if dropped on top of the 

 corn; the corn would come up better. William II. 

 Kicc wanted to know the ell'ects of plaster put on 

 after the corn was up. The impression prevailed 

 th.at -it did little good where lime had been used. 

 The Berks citunly fai'iners, we believe, rely most 

 upon stable manure and good tillage, and they as a 

 rule always have excellent crops, unless the season is 



unfavorable. 



— ^ 



More Pollen Needed. 

 The Western Hiii'al tells of a man who plants, 

 two or three weeks after the corn is planted, a new 

 hill of corn every fifteenth row each way. And this 

 is the reason : 'If the weather becomes dry after till- 

 ing time the silk and the tassel both become dry and 

 dead. In this condition, if it become sea.sonable, the 

 silk revives and renews lis giowtli,but the tassels do 

 not recover. Then, for want of |jollen, the new silk 

 is unable to fill the ollice for which it was designed. 

 The pollen from the rcplant;*d corn is then n^ady to 

 sujiply the silk, and the filling is coin]ileted. He says 

 nearly all the aborli\'e eai's, so common in all corn 

 crops, are cased by the want of pollen, and be had 

 known ears to double their size in this second lilliiig. 



Stacking and Feeding. 

 ■ W. Doyle, of Uratiot, Wisconsin, writes, giving his 

 methml of earing for straw ; 



Straw with us is the principal article of food for 

 cattle in winter, and it bceomes necessary as a 

 matter of e<'onomy to make the inost of it. As the 

 thrashing season comes some time before we feed, 

 the straw should be well slacked and picked U)i, as 

 iu Llie case of hay, and a good fence built about it 

 for its preservation. Many farmers allow swine to 

 get at the straw stack. This is a niLserable practice, 

 for the straw is wasted and made unwholesome lor 

 winter use. I feed it out with a great deal of care, 

 as 1 would hay, and thus utilize it all. 



Blackberry Culture. 



.As we are appioai'hing tlii^ blackberr-y season it 

 will do no harm to lellccl on bow great and bow 

 rapid has been the imprnvemeiil of Ibis fruit. 

 Thirty years ago there is no mention of it in any 

 nursery catalogue, and the wild fruit of the hedges 

 was all that was in use. These at best were dry, 

 seedy things; Iml they served some good purpose in 

 pudiiing-makiiiLS and now and then in pies and tarts. 

 This is about the position Hie blackberry occupies in 

 English fruil-ealing ; and to this day they, naturally 

 unaware of the rapid jirogress we have lu.ade, 

 wonder al our taste in admiring such things. 



But the discovery of the " .New Kochidlc," a wild 

 sport from the. common high bush blackberry, at 

 New'Hocbclle, New York, gave the whole class a 

 start, (looil varieties are now "as plentiful as 

 lilackberries," and new ones are appearing every 

 vcar. It is singular, though, that aJI the new ones 

 arc chance seedlings, found wild, as the first good 

 one, the New Hoehelle was, and, indeed, few if any 

 are yet superior to it. 



fiiit even Uiih and the best of them, whichever one's 

 taste may decide Hie best one to be, is very much 

 improved by good culture; and conversely, very 

 niueli injured by bad. Almost yearly we are told 

 that this or that variety is "not hardy," Just as if 

 we were speaking of some exotic plant, forgetting 

 that the original plant was perhaps found in our 

 neighborhood's neglected feneecorner, where it had 

 been growing many years, 'and never thought of 

 giving way to the liereest winter's wind. Why 

 should a plant, hardy in nature, become tender when 

 planted in our gardens^ There can be but one 

 answer: Our sysleins of culture are not favorable 

 to hardiness. In what |iarticular respect is our cul- 

 ture defective ? 



There can be little doubt that the injury to the 

 roots, wbicli our system of culture entails, must be 

 injurious. In a wild state the blackberry has a few 

 ereeiiiiig roots that run near the surface and collect 

 the food. The hoeing and cleaning necessary iu 

 garden culture keeps these roots in continual dis- 

 turbance. It is well known to cultivators of peach 

 orchards that the slirrinir of the soil has to be aban- 

 doned iu summer, otherwise the disturbance of the 

 roots results in ill-ripened wood, and the peach buds 

 and even peach wood is easily destroyed. It is just 

 this way willi the blackberry ; and it is worse in field 

 culture than in t'ardcii culture, because theeultivator 

 goes ilee]ier, and by so much more is it an injury. 

 From New .lersey especially, the land of the blaek- 

 lierrics, comes the cry of blackberry disease and 

 blackberry winter-killing, andofkinds "dyingout ;'' 

 and tbere'is no doubt the root injury is the cause of 

 it all. Some of us put blackberry plants near board 

 fences or other places where the roots can get a little 

 protection from hoc, spade or plow ; and in sucli 

 ca.scs no one ever hears of blackberry disease, or 

 winter-killed plants. They go on growing and bear- 

 ing year after year, as well as if they thought they 

 were in the old farmer's fence row, where they were 

 ouee found. 



Hut, says some one, are we then to let our black- 

 berries grow up to grass and weeds, and have the 

 whole garden look like a wilderness '. By no means. 

 We must keep the garden and farm, blackberry 

 patch ineluded, neat and clean : but remembering 

 that it is an injury to cut olf the blackberry roots, we 

 must begin to keep dowu the v\'eeds early in the 

 spring, so that there shall be no trouble in the fall ; 

 and when we do clean, cut the surface as lightly as 

 we can. — f/friuuiitoii'n. TtiUyrajth, 



Changing the Bearing Year. 



Last year apples were so abundant that. In some 

 localities they would not pay lor handling, and large 

 ipiantilics were left to decay where they fell. In view 

 of the fact that a year of excess and "low prices, is 

 Ibllowcil by scarcity and h gh prices, in<iiiiries have 

 come to us in su< h uunibers as to show that many 

 ari^ considering the. practicability of changing this 

 state of alfairs. It is an encouraging sign that farmers 

 are induced to Hiiiik about their orchard at all, tol- 

 as a general thing there is no part id' 1 heir belongings 

 so neglected as tills. Trees are set, but it is looked 

 upcm rather as a waste of land, so the orchard must 

 be cropped, and while no other part of the farm is 

 expected to do it, that occii|iicd by the orchard must 

 yield two crops. The laiise of all trouble with fruit 

 trees, whether of failure .iltogether, or occasional 

 excessive bearing, and the rest may be summed up 

 in one word — neglect. Wc now confine our remarks 

 to the present trouble and to an.swering the various 

 imiuiries about alleriiate bearing. The ap|ile tree left 

 to itself will generally bear such an abundant crop 

 that requires anotlicr year, and sometimes longer, to re- 

 cujieratc, and accumulate sullieicnl nutriment to form 

 budsaiul noiirisli another crop. This tendency is very 

 marked in some leading varieties, and as it has been 

 going on for many years, tlie habit lias become fixed, 

 and when we propagate these varieties, the young 

 trees start with that as one of their peculiarities, in 

 which they have been educated, so to speak. It is 

 well known that this leudeuey is much more marked 

 iu gome varietiea than in others, and while some uat- 



iirally fall into alternate bearing, others resist it, anil 

 will, if they have a fhir chance, give a crop of fruit 

 every year. This is a character to which little atten- 

 tion has been given by our pomologists ; they state 

 if a tree comes into bearing early, or If It is an 

 abundant or shy bearer, but its tendency to annual 

 or biennial bearing is rarely recorded, while it is one 

 of the most important i|iialilics. Variclics that nat- 

 urally bear anmially, may be converted into biennial 

 bearers by starvation ; planted, as they often arc' on 

 poor soil, and robbed of their nutriment by another 

 crop, the trees cannot get food enough to enable 

 tliem to carry eviMi a small crop every year, and they 

 are forced into alternate bearing. The praelical 

 question is, how can frees that now bear excessively 

 one year and nothing the next, be made to bear 

 moderately every year? So far as the alternate bear- 

 ing is due to the liovcrty of the soil, the remedy is 

 evident, and no doubt would be, with many varie- 

 ties, suflieient. — Aiiurieim AijribnUurM. 



The Egg Plant. 



People know what trouble Hicy have with the Co- 

 lorado potato beetle in tbeir potato grounds, and the 

 newspapers arc full of the story ; but notliinir is said 

 of the egg plant, which is troubled by the same in- 

 sect quite as much, and for which there is much less 

 remedy. 



Tlie"iK)tato we can protect from the beetle well 

 enough by the use of Paris green. The tuber we eat, 

 and what we do to the stalks have little to do with 

 the parts under the ground. We jKiison the beetle 

 and there is no danger from such poisonous use. But 

 itis not safe to recomnicml Paris green for the de- 

 struction of the beetle on the egg plant, or on any 

 vegetable where the part used grows above the 

 ground, as the arsenic of the Paris green may attach 

 t^o it, and dangerous consequences ensue ; and thus 

 we are not able to use this remedy, so cheap and so 

 cIlecLual in the case of the jiotato. .SodifBcull has it 

 been to raise egg plants, on account of the beetle, 

 that large numbers of amateurs who generally have 

 a few for their own use had none last year. The only 

 remedy so far found is to iiick the pcntn from the 

 jilaiil ; but where (Uily a few are required it is found 

 elieaiier to buy what are needed than to grow them. 

 So far as we can learn the ebeajiest plan to iirotecl 

 them is to have frames made corerrd n'ith }uos:/nito 

 iifttiui). Tliis is'not lieavy enouv;h to exclude light 

 and air and interfere with the health of the plant, 

 but it is quite sullieient to keep olf the beetles. The 

 frames need not be costly— indeed liooiis from small 

 barrels or kegs will do around wbieh to tack the net. 



As generally from six to a dozen [liants are enough 

 for ordinary gardens, it is no great task to make 

 tlie.se nets, and as no work is needed after the plants 

 are once covered, the work costs but very little more 

 than a lot of Paris green would do. To those who 

 like egg-plants well enough to be willing to go to a 

 little trouble to get them, this little hint may perhaps 

 be of some service. — Oernuintotnt Tdiyra^ih. 



Don't Omit the Turnips. 



Turnips arc a profitable crop, if grown on rich 

 land. Five hundred bushels to the acre are often 

 grown at a cost of about .^l.'>, including gathering 

 and putting tliem in a cellar, root house, or burying 

 them, niakin^- tlie co.st only three cents a bushel. 

 Some varieties may be sown in July, the flat variety 

 in particular, which is frequently sown among corn, 

 immeiliately after the la.-^t hoeing. Care should be 

 taken not to sow the seed too thick, as Hiinning out 

 is not generally practiced wlieii grown in this way ; 

 nor is any weeding done. Tliis is decidedly the 

 cheapest way that a crop of turnips can be grown. 

 Cover the seed by a brush drag drawn between the 

 rows of corn. Some farmers object to growing tur- 

 nips to feed to cows, on account id' giving the milk 

 an unpleasant flavor; but this is obviated by feeding 

 the turnips, either when milking in the morning, or 

 innfiediately after milking, and no bad tlaviu- is iin- 

 |iartcil to the evening's milk. 



Potatoes to be a Profitable Crop for 1877. 



This esculent has become by habit almost indispen- 

 sable. Few families fail to have it on tlic tabic al 

 least once a day, however lii!,'li the price. Last sum- 

 mer's drouth si) diminished the yield, that there is 

 now a scarcity In many iilaecs. The Colorailo Beetle 

 spread so widely, to the very edge of the Atlantic, 

 last season, that very many farmers are afraid to 

 plant largely this ytar, and the present prospect is 

 llial there will be a small crop, and consequently 

 high jn-ices. Those, thi'rcforc, who |iiodiicc a good 

 crop, will be likely to find it unusually profitable. 

 A little extra care will enable anyone to successfully 

 light oH'the beetle, no matter how abundant.— ,4me)'- 

 ii-ait Affricutturist. 



. -^ 



Hot-Beds. 



The Fruit Urci^rdcr thinks the best manure for 

 liot-beds Is a mixture of forest leaves and stable 

 manure; and that the best way to olitain this mix- 

 ture is to use leaves to litter the stables in winter. 



