232 
Garden and Farm News 
| PENIS of producing a net gain of $2.56 
for every apple tree you have, or over 
two bushels of fruit! Just one thing, was 
responsible for this—spraying. If you want 
particulars, ask the Nebraska experiment 
station. Or, if you want the best possible 
outfit for home use, write the Readers’ 
Service Department. 
oa 
Do you have any rocky land in an ex- 
posed situation which is unfit for farming? 
Why not grow chestnut oak on it? You 
can sell the bark for tanning material and 
always have a coppice without the bother 
of raising plants from seed. The old 
stumps make a good growth of sprouts. 
For particulars, write the Forest Service, 
Washington, D.C. Ask for Circular 135. 
a 
A pound of English walnuts at twenty 
cents is a better bargain than a pound of 
porterhouse steak at twenty-five cents, as 
it will produce about 20 per cent. more 
in weight of food material and energy. 
Pecans make an even better showing. Pro- 
fessor Close thinks that both ought to 
become staple articles of food instead of 
mere luxuries, and believes the commercial 
culture of these nuts is possible as far north 
as Maryland. This is considerably in 
advance of popular opinion. 
7] 
What is your opinion of a man who would 
like to throw an advertisement on the face 
of Niagara Falls by searchlight? He was 
willing to pay $1,000 a week for the privilege. 
Thank heaven for the “moral wave” which 
defeated such a project and thank the 
American Civic Association for “busting” 
this magic lantern scheme: Do you hate 
billboards? Better join the association now. 
Your three dollars will do more and better 
fighting now than $25 would five years ago. 
Write to the secretary, North American 
Building, Philadelphia, and ask him whether 
the association is one of the regular mutual 
admiration societies which never does any- 
thing except a dull annual report and an 
indigestible annual dinner. Ask him if 
the association has ever done anything 
really important. ‘Then see what happens! 
a 
About 2,500 acres have been planted 
to forest crops in the six New England 
States this year by private citizens. This 
has been done on abandoned farms, which 
still comprise 10 per cent. of the total area of 
Massachusetts, while even little Rhode 
Island has 228 abandoned farms. One 
owner in Massachusetts, who started a 
white pine plantation of 63 acres this year, 
expects to plant 50 acres annually for the 
next ten years. White pine is, of course, 
the species most generally planted, but other 
species which are being used more and more 
are Norway spruce, for timber and pulp- 
wood; chestnut, for telegraph poles, posts, 
ties, and lumber; red oak, for piles and 
ties; black locust, for fence posts; and 
sugar maple for a variety of products. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
A rust-proof asparagus would be a 
mighty good thing. Anyone who lives 
in a region where the rust has ruined field 
after field of asparagus should keep his 
eyes open for a resistent plant. He might 
be able to sell it to some seedsman for 
a good round sum. 
v7) 
Forest experiment stations will soon be 
established in a number of the National 
Forest states of the West according to plans 
which have just been completed by the 
United States Forest Service. These new 
stations will be comparable to the agricul- 
tural experiment stations. 
As a first step an experiment station 
has already been established on the Coconino 
National Forest in the Southwest, with 
headquarters at Flagstaff, Arizona. It is 
the intention ultimately to have at least 
one experiment station in each of the silvi- 
cultural regions of the West. 
One of the most important parts of the 
work of the new experiment stations will 
be the maintenance of model forests typical 
of the region. 
At the Coconino station, one of the 
first problems to be taken up will be the 
reproduction of western yellow pine and 
the causes of its success and failure. This 
is by far the most valuable tree in the South- 
west but in many cases it does not form a 
satisfactory second growth. ‘The study will 
be carried on largely by means of sample 
plots, which will be laid out for future 
observation to determine the effects of 
grazing, of the different methods of cutting 
and disposing of the brush, and of other 
factors on the success of reproduction. 
The Poinsettia 
Te poinsettia is probably the showiest 
red “flower” during the Christmas 
holidays. The spectacular portion is com- 
posed of bracts, the true flowers being minute 
and clustered in the centres of the whorl 
of red leaves. 
It is impractical to keep the poinsettia 
over from one Christmas to another without 
a greenhouse, as the best plants can be raised 
only by making cuttings every year. After 
the plant has ceased to flower it should be 
rested until late spring. Put it away in 
the cellar and give it very little water. 
In late spring it will give a liberal supply 
of cuttings if furnished with heat and mois- 
ture. These cuttings should be placed on 
a shelf for several days until the milky juice 
has run away, otherwise they will not root 
easily. 
Enlarge this picture five times, paint the leaves 
scarlet and you havea picture of the poinsettia 
DECEMBER, 1908 
During the summer the plants can be 
put into pots and plunged outdoors in the 
garden. 
Pennsylvania. W. EE 
A Tidy Little Date Farm 
HAT are we coming to when the 
“Great American Desert” begins 
to preach intensive farming! ‘Yet Ber- 
muda grass alone may ultimately drive us 
to it,” says R. H. Forbes of Arizona. “It 
is practically impossible to resist the 
encroachments of this grass on a large farm 
with unintensive crops, because of the 
relatively large expense in fighting it. It 
costs about $2.50 an acre a year to keep 
an alfalfa field free of Bermuda grass. 
Crops which are not cultivable for any 
considerable period of time and which do 
not densely shade the ground, even during 
a short growing period, are seriously ques- 
tionable for this region. But on a small 
farm intensively cultivated, the destruction 
of Bermuda grass is but an incident in the 
tillage of profitable crops.” 
The special reasons why Arizona should 
go into intensive farming are first, a growing 
season beginning ‘early in February and 
second, the great variety of quick-maturing 
crops available. 
Think of $800 profit from a “ play farm” 
of less than five acres devoted to vegetables! 
Why not have a tidy little date farm of seven 
acres—enough to support a family of five 
This was enough to support a family of five. 
The cash capital was only $127. And this 
profit was made the very first year, with 
land covered by saltweed and creosote 
bushes. Moreover, the big profit is still 
to come, for these vegetables were raised 
between young date trees. The whole 
farm is seven acres and eventually the 
dates will support the family. This is 
near Yuma. : 
Contrast this profit of $160 an acre with 
the paltry $12.21 an acre which is averaged 
by 110 acres of barley on a typical big-scale 
farm near by! If you wish to know just 
how the Yuma family managed, write to 
the Arizona Experiment Station at Tucson 
for Bulletin 57. 
ce ee 
