83 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



It can lie made by dissolving the sal soda, 

 "borax and ammonia, in a few quarts of water, 

 then pouring it into about 25 quarts of com- 

 mon home-made ley and soap grease, stirring- 

 it thoroughly to mix it well. 



It is chiefly valuable as a washing soap. 



To use it, the clothes must be put to soak the 

 night before washing, in a hot suds, and cover- 

 ed over closely with a thick blanket or some- 

 thing of the kind to keep them w,arm all night 

 Wring them out in the morning, stirring and 

 squeezing them pretty well in the suds ; put 

 them into a strong suds and boil them 15 or 20 

 minutes; take them out into a tub of water, 

 wring them from this, stirring and squeezing 

 them, to get out the suds and dirt ; look over 

 the wrists and dirtiest places and articles, they 

 will need perhaps a little rubbing on the board ; 

 rinse them well in another water and hang 

 them "out. A little rubbing will make sure 

 work. The saving of labor in the use of this 

 soap is very great. Its cleansing power is 

 searching, leaving the articles very white. It 

 does no injury to the clotnes. We speak from 

 the experience of several families who have 

 used it for years and would not give it up if 

 their clothes could be washed for nothing in 

 the old way. It saves the wear of .hard rub- 

 bing upon the clothes which is fully equal to 

 the wear of using. The cost of this soap is, 

 trifling. u 



For Washing. 



Cut into small pieces a pound of bar soap ; 

 put it into a tin pan or iron pot, with one quart 

 water. Keep it hot, but not boiling, till the 

 soap is dissolved, and stir in two large spoon- 

 fuls of powdered borax. When cool, it will 

 again harden, and you will have double the 

 quantity of soap, and better for washing all 

 kinds of clothes. The labor of rubbing is very 

 much diminished. Four spoonfuls of borax 

 added to each gallon of soft soap, when first 

 made, will greatly improve the soap for wash- 

 ing, and also prevent its eating the hands, as 

 new soap is apt to do. — Prairie Farmer. 



From the Michigan Farmer. 



On Cutting off Large Limbs from Fruit 

 Trees. 



Mr. Editor: — I am induced to write you, 

 more to elicit inquiry and reflection, than to 

 urge any reasons or discovery of my own, and 

 I am reminded to do so, from having seen my 

 neighbors doing what I fancy to be a very 

 ■wrong thing ; I may be mistaken, and partly, 

 therefore, I write. 



I allude to the almost universal practice of 

 sawing otf indiscriminately, large and small 

 limbs from apple and other fruit trees. I think 

 our orchardists do not furbid it, in fact I do not 

 know, but they encourage it. My own orchard 

 has been trimmed of large limbs, and grafted 



in large limbs (which is the same thing in ef- 

 fect) very much. My examination and reflec- 

 tion lead me to the conclusion, that no limb 

 should be cut from a tree, which will not grow 

 over in three to five years ; for the reason that 

 the season cracks of the cut end wall admit wa- 

 ter which will percolate to, and down the centre 

 of the tree, and cause a premature decay and 

 death. It is well known, that forest trees hav- 

 ing had limbs violently broken off soon decay ; 

 hence the natural thinning of the forest. It is 

 also well known to pine lumber men, that de- 

 fects in that valuable tree, the pine, are caused 

 by the violent breaking of limbs, causing water 

 to run in as soon as the end begins to decay, 

 unless it first grows over, rotting down fre- 

 quently to the root, and also up, usually about 

 half the distance. The natural age of a heal- 

 thy apple tree is at least one hundred years ; 

 and I think the average age of our shockingly 

 bad trimmed orchards will not exceed thirty 

 years. The difference is the magnitude of the 

 evil, if it be one. Yours, &c, 



J. L. Kelsey. 

 Washington, April 27, 1857. 



REMARKS. 



Pomologists, and well informed fruit grow- 

 ers, universally deprecate the practice of cut- 

 ting off large limbs from fruit trees. It is only 

 esteemed allowable, when it becomes necessary 

 to change the tops of large trees ; where a bad- 

 ly placed limb has been suffered to remain till 

 it becomes a serious injury to the tree; or 

 where a worse wound is threatened from the 

 splitting down of a branch. 



A healthy, vigorous tree will usually survive 

 the shock of such amputations, even when 

 rudely done ; but in order to be sure not to 

 leave any weak points consequent upon the ex- 

 cision, several small branches should be remo- 

 ved, if possible, instead of one large one, thus 

 providing for the earlier healing of the wounds. 



Large trees, when left to themselves for a 

 few years, usually become crowded with bran- 

 ches, shading the interior, causing the death of 

 the central branches, and seriously injuring the 

 quality of the fruit ; in- such cases a thorough 

 pruning is indispensable; but after cutting out 

 the crossing branches so far as to secure the 

 necessary openness of centre, it is better to 

 cut bach, rather than trim up the leaders ; thus 

 strengthening the central growth, and keeping 

 up a suitable proportion of bearing wood 

 throughout the entire head of the tree, instead 

 of running out long, lean branches, bearing- 

 only at their extremities. 



The same, or a similar process, but applied 

 with greater severity, is also employed to in- 

 duce the production of new wood where trees 

 have become stunted from age, overbearing, or 

 neglect ; in this case, however, it should be as- 

 sisted by the thorough culture and manuring of 

 the soil as far as the roots extend. 



The best time for regrafting old trees . is pro- 



