84 
GARDEN AND FARM NEws 
TH Indiana Horticultural Society, in 
making practical effort to encourage the 
commercial fruit industry of the state, is 
setting an example to many other societies. 
It codperates with the farmers’ short course 
at Purdue University, offering cash pre- 
miums at a fruit show which is held during 
the course. The fruit business of Indiana 
is still to be developed. 
a 
The thorns (Crategus) of Southern Mich- 
igan form the subject of a monograph 
by Professor C. S. Sargent of the Arnold 
Arboretum. It is published as part of 
a report of the State Board of Geological 
Survey for 1906. There are forty-five 
species described. Southern Michigan forms 
the western extension of the richest Crate- 
gus region and contains more species than 
any other section. 
a 
The bulb trade reports indicate that daffo- 
dils have proved to be more and more popular 
with the American amateur each succeeding 
year. Certain it is that last fall the sales 
were much greater than in previous years 
and brought better prices. With regard 
to other bulbs, the tendency would seem to 
be a somewhat lessened demand for tulips, 
with an increased interest in the Dutch ~ 
hyacinths. It may-be significant that there 
have been more marked improvements of 
late with daffodils and hyacinths than with 
tulips. 
77) 
A farmer sometimes does not really know 
the sizes of certain fields or how many acres 
they contain, though it is very desirable that 
he should, as otherwise he cannot measure 
seed or manure for it, nor can he tell how 
much time it will take to plow, harrow, or 
cultivate it. A good cotton cord, the size 
of a plow line, should be kept for a measur- 
ing line. To make one, buy seventy feet of 
cotton cord, fasten a ring at each end and 
make these rings exactly sixty-six feet apart. 
This is four rods. ‘Tie a piece of red cloth 
in the centre. One acre of ground will be 
the length of four of these cords and two 
and one-half cords wide, equal to 16 x 10 
rods, making 160 square rods to the acre. 
77) 
In the East the spring and fall months 
compete with each other for the title of the 
best planting season, but there are certain 
marked limitations to both. Especially true 
is it that in a winter such as we have just 
passed we can expect an unwonted boom 
of fall planting. A careful gardener should 
not be deceived by the unusual clemency 
of the recent late fall and winter. Along 
the Pacific Coast November and December 
are the most favored time on account of the 
rains helping to establish the plant before 
the dry season sets in. In the East a mild 
winter — that is, one when the soil remains 
moist — favors fall planting. In nearly 
all arid sections, it is the general cxperience 
that spring planting gives the best resuits. 
The whole thing is thus purely a matter of 
adjustment to climatic conditions. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
As we are preparing for the crops of 
1908, it is not without interest for us to con- 
sider the big fact that the returns of the 
farmer in 1907 were the largest on record. 
The year closed with an expert value of over 
two millions above the record of any pre- 
vious December. 
2) 
For the benefit of the small gardener who 
does not always want to apply his fertilizer 
by the acre, the following ratio of amounts 
will be helpful. One thousand pounds 
per acre means that 1 pound will serve for 
44 square feet and 1 ounce for 2.7 square 
feet. If x ounce is distributed over 5 square 
feet, it is equivalent to 1 pound to 87 square 
feet, or 500 pounds per acre. 
v7] 
If an amateur gardener, a collector of 
plants, succeeds in gathering together some 
representative collection and plants them in a 
rented garden, may he legitimately remove 
those plants from the grounds when he quits 
the premises? We should be glad to have 
facts — not opinions—as to the practice 
upon the point in various sections of the 
country. Do you know of any court decis- 
ions that bear on this case? If so, write 
to the editor. 
i) 
“Western sawmills report that there is 
danger of a scarcity of barrels during the 
coming season, especially if the apple crop 
is above the average. This might be a 
pretty serious matter, but “forewarned 
is forearmed” and the demand for fancy 
fruit boxes being steadily on the increase, 
it is quite possible that the combination of 
conditions will really act to the benefit of 
the producer. You can get more money 
from apples in boxes than you can from the 
same quantity in barrels. 
72) 
Too many Southern farmers grow too 
much cotton. In many cases farmers devote 
themselves to cotton and are buying hay, 
for instance, at anywhere from fifteen to 
twenty-five dollars a ton, when it might be 
grown on the premises for about five dollars. 
There is a good deal more in farm manage- 
ment than some people think, and we urge 
the inexperienced farmer, who is not getting 
what he thinks he ought to get out of his land 
toapply to the Farm Management Investi- 
gations, Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 
72) 
Professor E. T. Hart, of the University of 
Wisconsin, describes a new milk test that 
gives the casein content which, therefore, 
has particular reference to cheese making. 
In the Hart test, a quantity of milk is put 
into a tube with chloroform and acetic acid 
thoroughly mixed. The tubeis then revolved, 
as in the Babcock, test 2,000 revolutions a 
minute for eight minutes. This distributes 
the ingredients so that the chloroform and 
the fat in solution are at one end and clear 
water and the milk solids on the top. The 
casein is found in a white mass between 
these two and may be measured by the scale 
marked on the tube. 
Marcu, 
A corn husking record of seventy-five 
bushels in four hours and eight minutes has 
just been made byanTowaman. He evidently 
did not take advantage of the red ears! 
v2) 
The advantage of rotation is emphasized 
in a recent bulletin of the Department of 
Agriculture, the specific example being a 
South Carolina farm which eight years ago 
did not produce more than a quarter of a 
bale of cotton to the acre with 250 pounds 
of fertilizer. By changing the crops and 
methods of management, using only stable 
manure as fertilizer, this same land now 
yields somewhat more than fifty dollars an 
acre. 
77) 
A Western office of the Government Seed 
Testing Bureau has been established at the 
Nebraska Agricultural Station, Lincoln, 
Neb. This branch was started in order to 
give quicker reports on samples of seed in 
that section of the country, as the time 
required in sending samples by mail to 
Washington has frequently caused serious 
delay. 
a 
The “‘good roads without money” move- 
ment that has by means of the King Split 
Log Road drag converted the slough holes 
of the “corn belt” roads into model turn- 
pikes is extending to the Eastern states, 
where most roads are either very good or 
very bad. Mr. King is arranging with the 
various state boards of agriculture to give 
a series of practical demonstrations of the 
use of his device on Eastern roads where 
the success of road dragging is more doubt- 
ful because of sand and rocks. 
a 
A recent movement among farm women 
has for its slogan, “Fix up, John, and look 
your best.” “Think of living all your life 
with a man who never dresses up,” writes 
one heartbroken farm wife. The mail order 
houses may soon look for an active market ” 
in “biled” shirts and gray spats as soon as 
the committee on proper attire decides 
whether one should wear an opera hat and 
evening clothes or a frock coat when arising 
before daylight to cradle buckwheat with 
the dew on it. Why isn’t this a good chance 
for the men folks to get together and say 
what they honestly think about those blue 
Mother Hubbard wrappers? 
a 
The annual meeting and exhibition of 
the American Rose Society takes place March 
25th, 26th, and 27th in Chicago. It is the 
first time that this organization has gone to 
the West, and there is every indication that 
the exhibition will be little short of marvel- 
ous. In June, the society returns to the 
East again and, as the guest of the Horti- 
cultural Society of New York, will hold with 
that organization a June exhibition of summer 
hardy roses in the New York Botanical 
Garden. The exact date for the exhibition 
will be announced in due season. Amateurs 
interested in roses would do well to take 
membership in the American Rose Society and 
help develop a real American rose culture. 
1908 - 
