CURRENT CARD EX LORE. 



503 



stage of putrefaction, poisonous elements in the form oi such as is used for fences, will be found to form a very 



bacteria are present. Whether raw or cooked, it is a neat, cheap, and efficient material for this purpose. Of 



dish that cannot be preserved. It must be used immedi- course, the meshes should be small enough entirely to 



ately. There are numerous tests, claimed to be infal- prevent horses from defacing the bark of the tree, 

 lible, for detecting the presence of these 

 poisons. For example, a mushroom is rub- 

 bed with any article of gold ; if the gold 

 discolors, the mushroom is said to be poi- 

 sonous. Another test is to dip a silver spoon 

 into a kettle of boiling mushrooms. In ca^e 

 this immersion blackens the spoon, a simi- 

 lar verdict is pronounced. These tests are 

 very unreliable. The only sure means of 

 prevention against using poisonous mush- 

 rooms, is to learn the characteristic distinc- 

 tion of the comparatively rare, poisonous 

 mushrooms, and to use none but those that 

 are distinctly recognized as being harmless. 

 — Popular SciC7ice iVcius. 



Irrigation in Utah. — From an ordinar\- 

 city water-ditch two to five rows of garden 



vegetables are watered at a time. When Irrigation from a Boxed Ditch. 

 the ground is very dry, enough water must 



be turned into each row to flush it through. Allowing Scarred and bent tree-trunks though sometimes pictur- 



the water to run for five minutes in a row wets the ground esque are not desirable \\ere. — U'!iliam Saunders in 



very well, and from 10 to 15 minutes soaks the soil like a Report of Dcpartmcrit of Agriculture. 



very heavy rain. A garden to be easily irrigated must Plowing Under Green Crops. — In a warm climate 



be leveled and prepared for the purpose. The object is and a sandy soil no green crop should ever be plowed 



to have just sufficient slant for the water to run slowly under in hot weather. Keep peas or clover growing, and 



through the rows. Head-ditches across the garden, from the nitrate machine at work until tall. The peas lose 



50 to 100 or more feet apart, help much to control the nothing by dying on the land, except water, and are 



water and flush it through the rows of vegetables. Where storing fertility as long as they are alive. Plowed under 



there is naturally too much slant to the land, so that the in fall when dead and dry, nothing but good can ensue. 



water would run too fast to But plowing under a heavy growth of clover or other 

 soak in the soil, head-ditches green plant-growth in midsummer is to say the least a 

 are run diagonally across, or risky matter. When necessary to plow a sod in mid- 

 straight down, and the rows summer, graze it short or mow it before plowing. A coat 

 planted so as to be as nearly of lime after plowing will be of advantage. Clover will 

 level as practicable. This add nitrogen to the soil, but it must be supplied with the 

 permits irrigation even on a other elements of fertility to do so eflectually. Use 

 hillside. — American Agri- liberal applications of fertilizers abounding in phosphoric 

 eulturist. acid and potash to promote a heavy growth of the reno- 

 Wire Guard for City vating crop, be it peas, clover or other legumes, and de- 

 Trees. City trees require pend upon these for the production of the sale crop — 



protection. Horses will nib- F- ^^^>ssey in Practical Parmer. 

 ble and deface them, and Rooting Strawberries on Turf. — My mode of layer- 

 malicious persons will slice ing has been to get some good fibrous turf from two to 

 the bark with kni\es and three inches thick, and cut it into squares about four 

 hatchets, so that it is neces- inches in diameter. The man who layers takes a num- 

 sary to provide some kind of ber of these in a basket with some short wooden pegs and 

 safeguard against these dep- a trowel. Holes are made near the strawberry-runners 

 redations. As soon, there- to allow the squares of turf to drop in level with the 

 fore, as the wooden boxes ground, and a runner is pegged on the center of each, 

 by which the trees should be The turf is used upside down, and as there is generally a 

 protected during the first good deal of foliage about the strawberries at that time, 

 Wire Guard. three or four years after be- it is astonishing how little the runners suffer from drouth. 



ing set out can be removed. The roots penetrate the turf in a very short time, and 



it will be prudent to inclose the stem of the trees for six if it is soaked in manure-water before being used, the 



feet in height by a wire guard. Woven-wire netting, roots will quickly take pessession without entering the 



