I7C 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[November, 



doing this work ahead much vexation may be 

 saved. Cut back the tops of the trees well 

 before setting out. To many this looks like 

 considerable work, but if it is it will prove 

 profitable work, far more so than to perform 

 the work carelessly and leave the trees and 

 your work, besides a year's loss in obtaining 

 a supply of fruit; all things considered, it 

 pays to take pains to do the work well at the 

 start.—/. JV. Shepard in City and Country. 



A QUERIST IN A FRUIT GARDEN. 

 How can I best fill out vacancies in rasp- 

 berry and strawberry rows caused by plants 

 dying from the effects of drouth ? 



With strawberries peraiit the plants that 

 survive to make new plants, and take up the 

 new plants with a mass of earth about the 

 roots in September, and plant where vacan- 

 cies occur. Or, better, train the runners into 

 quart baskets or small pots, and transplant 

 from these when well rooted. With black 

 raspberries, layer the youngjcanes as soon as 

 long enough, and transplant these young 

 plants next spring where vacancies occur, 

 after the tips of the young plants have grown 

 an inch or two, leaving earth about the roots. 

 With red raspberries fill vacancies now with 

 gn:een sucker plants that have sprung up about 

 old plants about your place. Do not order 

 green plants as they will not often endure 

 shipment. Remove the leaves on planting. 



Is it necessary to remove blossoms from 

 newly set strawberries ? 



If set early, and the weather continues 

 moist, the plants may come through in good 

 condition, bearing fruit the first season. But 

 if a drouth occurs after planting, the plants 

 might perish from the drain upon their vitality 

 in attempting to produce fruit before becom- 

 ing established. I have known plantations to 

 be saved in such cases by removing every 

 blossom and green berry. 



What is the best plan for carrying plants 

 through a drouth V 



I never water them. As ordinarily done, 

 watering is detrimental. 1 mulch each plant 

 with muck or sawdust, or in the field with 

 loose fine earth. Even where the soil in the 

 row has become hard this mulch of fine earth 

 often saves the plants through a long drouth, 

 if the spaces between the rows are cultivated 

 frequently. 



When is the best time to head black rasp- 

 berries and blackberries ? 



If you wish to grow without stakes (the ap- 

 proved method) pinch off the tips of the young 

 canes as soon as they get about two feet high. 

 If you wait until the canes are four or five 

 feet high and then cut off a foot or more, you 

 check growth and lose some of the best buds. 

 I cut back the bearing canes of red raspber- 

 ries, and shortening in side branches early in 

 the spring, securing more and better fruit than 

 if the entire canes were left on and giving 

 better opportunity for the pickers to move 

 about without ')rcaking off the ripe berries. 

 Is summer pruning of tlie grape advisable ? 

 Grape growers thin grapes by pulling off 

 surplus buds and shoots and shortening-in 

 canes, allowing but three or four bunches to 

 each cane, when the trellis is well covered. If 

 left to itself the grapevine sets twice as many 

 clusters as it can bring to perfection. If a 

 large part of the clusters are removed early 



those remaining will be much larger, will 

 ripen earlier and be of better quality and the 

 vitality of the vine be perpetuated. 



How long is it profitable to allow straw- 

 berries, raspberries, etc., to grow on the same 

 soil without renewing ? 



Some varieties run out much sooner than 

 others. Ordinarily three years with straw- 

 berries, five with blackberries and currants is 

 the extent, though many are profitable mucli 

 longer, and strawberries might continue an 

 existence for a lifetime. The better the cul- 

 ture, and the richer 'and better drained the 

 soil, the longer the plant endures. Where 

 land is very high-priced strawberries are only 

 allowed to remain long enough to produce one 

 crop. Where land is cheaper there is no 

 limit to the ingenuity that may be applied to 

 keeping the beds renewed and productive 

 year after year, keeping in view the fact that 

 the young plants possess the most vigor. 



Are large fruits as profitable as small fruits' 



As a rule they are not. Our small fruits 

 seldom fail to give a crop, while the pears, 

 apples, peaches and plums often hav^e their 

 barren years. But the trees require less at- 

 tention than plants and vines, and we do not 

 feel the loss of a crop so seriously from them. 

 While engaged in the business one should de- 

 sire to grow the large fruits as well as the 

 small. 



Does fancy fruit growing pay ? 



No. If growing fruit as a business you 

 must learn'the cheapest method of producing 

 it. It pays to fertilize well, to give good cul- 

 ture, to offer in attractive style in market, 

 and to raise the best varieties, but there is a 

 limit to high culture, and to everything con- 

 nected with the business. Every man must 

 be his own judge as to when he has reached 

 this limit. Some men can grow fruit at half 

 the cost of others. Some men can manufac- 

 ture shoes for less than others. Good com- 

 mon sense carries a man a long way toward 

 success in this country.— CTiar/es A. Oreen in 

 N. Y. Tribune. 



GOOD OCTOBER CROPS. 

 The department of agriculture at Washing- 

 ton, reports that the October returns of corn 

 average higher for condition than in the past 

 five years, but not so high as in any of the 

 remarkable corn years from 1875 to 1879 in- 

 clusive. The general average is 93, which is 

 very nearly an average of any series of ten 

 years, and indicates about twenty-six bushels 

 per acre on a breadth approximating 70,000,- 

 000 acres. The region between the Mississippi 

 and the Rocky Mountain slopes again presents 

 the highests figures, which in every state rise 

 a little above the normal standard of full 

 condition. No state east of the Mississippi 

 returns condition as high as lUO. The lowest 

 figures are 73 in West Virginia ; Ohio, 74 ; 

 Louisiana, 74 ; Texas, 80 ; South Carolina, 

 83. The reduction was caused by drought. 

 Thera is complaint of drought in the Ohio 

 Valley and in the Atlantic and Gulf states. 

 but not sufficiently severe to reduce seriously 

 the yield. The early planted is everywhere 

 matured. Late plantings in the Southern 

 states have sufi"e»ed for want of summer rains, 

 and will be light and not well filled. Very 

 little injury has been done by frosts. There 

 was frost in Vermont on the 25th of August, 



and in several border states about the middle 

 of September, with slight injury to late corn. 

 Damage by chinch bugs and other insects has 

 been slight. 



The wheat crop will exceed that of last year 

 by about 100,000,000 bushels. Thrashing is 

 slow and late, with results thus far confirm- 

 ing tlie indications of former reports. The 

 yield per acre will average about I35 bushels. 

 The quality of the present wheat crop is gen- 

 erally very good, especially in the Eastern 

 and Middle States, in the western slope of the 

 Alleghenies, Michigan, Wisconsin and Min- 

 nesota. Some depreciation in quality is noted 

 in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kan- 

 sas. Tlie average for the entire breadth is 96. 



The indicated yield of rye is about 12 bush- 

 els per acre. The quality is superior. 



The yield of oats is a little above average, 

 yielding about 27 bushels per acre and mak- 

 ing a crop approximating .570,000,000 bushels 

 of good quality. 



The barley crop make a yield of nearly 23 

 bushels per acre and a product exceeding 

 50,000,000 bushels of average quality. 



The condition of buckwheat averages 87, 

 indicating a crop slightly under an average. 



The condition of the potato crop is repre- 

 sented by 88, which is five points lower than 

 in October of last year. It is two points 

 lower than in 1879 and 1882, and the same as 

 in 1880. 



The October returns of cotton indicate a 

 reduction of nearly 8 points in the average 

 condition from 82.5 to 74.7, as the result of a 

 continued drought in arresting development 

 and destroying vitality of the plants. The 

 prospect of a top crop is reduced to a mini- 

 mum. Drought has been general and its 

 effect manifest in ever State. Of ten succes- 

 sive crops only two have averaged lower con- 

 dition in October. These were 1881 and 1883, 

 when the averages were 66 and 68 respective- 

 ly. The average was 68 in the great crop year 

 of 1S82. The State averages are as follows : 

 Virginia, 81 ; North Carolina, 79 ; South 

 Carolina, 80 ; Georgia, 79 ; Florida, 84 ; Ala- 

 bama, 74 ; Mississippi, 76 ; Louisiana, 77 ; 

 Texas, 62 ; Arkansas, 76, and Tennessee, 85. 

 The returns of local estimates of yield per 

 acre in fractions of bales indicate an average 

 rate of yield of 36-100 of bale per acre. 



BUILDING FARM HOUSES. 



First.— The site must be chosen where the 

 cellar will be perfectly dry or can be made so 

 by easy and thorough drainage; where the 

 house can be sheltered from the northwest 

 winds and be open to the east and south, and 

 where the surfiice water will flow away in all 

 directions, leaving the foundations quite free. 



Second. —The water supply must be ample 

 and perfectly pure, and be brought so close to 

 the house as to be easily reached. 



Third. — The necessary outbuildings should 

 be located conveniently for access, but with 

 perfect safety as regards drainage, that the 

 water supply shall not be contaminated. 



Fourth.— The kitchen should be the piv- 

 otal point of the establishment, around 

 whicli the rest of the house may be grouped 

 with regard to convenience and comfort. It 

 should be large, well lighted, face the east, 

 have a high ceiling and be provided with a 

 I range, water-back with boiler, a sink provided 



