WINDFALLS. 



123 



planted. This spring I shall need to clover again, as I 

 have been able to apply a good dressing of stable 

 manure broadcast over the orchard. — N. J. Shepherd, 

 Alissouri . 



Rerredies for Overproduction. — We hear many 

 complaints from growers of peas, tomatoes, table corn, 

 etc., of low prices caused by overproduction, but we 

 think a change in the practice of planting too much at 

 one time, and in growing varieties of better quality, 

 would increase the consumption and insure better 

 prices. Growers in Camden county commence plant- 

 ing peas in February, and each one plants all he can, 

 as early as possible. Although the planting of the early 

 crop extends over two or three weeks, that planted first 

 does not grow much until the weather is warmer, and 

 the whole crop comes on the market in one week. And, 

 as the consumers can not eat them as rapidly as they 

 are picked, the market is overstocked and the price sud- 

 denly falls. If the planting of the same quantity can 

 be extended over a period three or four times as long, 

 so as to give the consumers more time to eat them, it 

 would to some extent remedy the loss. But a still bet- 

 ter remedy is to improve the quality, and this applies to 

 all vegetables and fruits as well. The practice of mar- 

 ket gardeners to plant for early and heavy yields is so 

 general that seedsmen designate their different varieties 

 as for the home garden, or table, and for market gar- 

 dens, or shipping, meaning that certain varieties are 

 tender and delicious, and others come early, are good 

 croppers, or will stand "knocking about in shipping. 

 And by this practice the great body of consumers never 

 get the more delicious, tender, and healthful food. 

 But, if by chance they get a taste of the better varieties, 

 they will have them, and pay a fair price. Of course 

 we gardeners teach what we have learned from history, 

 both sacred and profane, that the very highest physical, 

 mental and moral development is only attained by feed- 

 ing on vegetables and fruits ; but to sustain our position 

 we must furnish such varieties, and under such condi- 

 tions, as to be readily digested and assimilated We 

 cannot expect to sleep calmly after eating of a ferocious, 

 bellowing bull, or to slumber peacefully after eating 

 hard stale peas ; or to meet our friends without grunt- 

 ing after eating of a fat hog ; or to look sweet to those 

 we meet after a dinner of tough vegetables and sour 

 fruits. We are like what we feed upon, and whether 

 we are flesh-eating savages, morose and sullen, with 

 sour faces, or peaceful, cheerful and moral men and 

 women, will largely depend on what quality of vege- 

 tables and fruits are grown. And whether we garden- 

 ers get a fair compensation for our labor will largely 

 depend on what practice we pursue. — R. Bingham, 

 Camden C,>., X. J. 



Letter from Central Southern Iowa. — Midway upon 

 the line which separates Iowa from Missouri, the land 

 rises to more than six hundred feet above Burlington 

 or Council Bluffs. This has a marked influence upon 

 the natural vegetation and upon the cultivated products 

 of the soil. At Burlington there are plenty of pecan 



trees, thrifty, large, and fruit bearing. Here 1 have 

 tried in vain to raise one. Along the Des Moines and 

 Skunk rivers, as well as in the woods of the smaller 

 streams, are found the sugar maple, the Kentucky cof- 

 fee tree, the red-bud, the butternut, and below Bur- 

 lington, the sassafras. Not one of these are native to 

 this divide. A difference is also noticeable in the indi- 

 genous fauna. Here there are millions of pocket-goph- 

 ers ; along the eastern river counties they are compara- 

 tively scarce. We have here and there in the river 

 banks the beaver ; there none are found. In the spring 

 or fall we see but few waterfowl flying overhead, they 

 seeming to prefer following the troughs of the larger 

 streams. There is, however, an abundance of wild 

 fruits, such as strawberries, cherries, crab-apples and 

 plums. Hickorynuts and walnuts abound along the 

 water courses, and are of large size and excellent 

 quality, and hazelnut bushes cover thousands of acres 

 where the woods abut upon the prairie. Among flow- 

 ers native with us on the prairie are the wild rose, the 

 perennial fragrant phlox, the compass plant or rosin- 

 weed, the common and dog-toothed violets, which in 

 spring cover all our poor points in a delightful manner. 

 But on warm days let no one be careless while gather- 

 ing bouquets of johnny jump-ups, for these same poor 

 points are the favorite haunts of rattlesnakes, which as 

 yet are far from being exterminated. Last harvest as 

 many as fifteen were killed within a quarter of a mile 

 of where I am now writing. However, they are not 

 nearly so numerous as they were a few years ago, for 

 which we cannot be too thankful. I will say, however, 

 that having lived here since I was a boy — and that was 

 before there were many settlements — I have never 

 known of but one person killed by snake bite, and that 

 death was the result of carelessness. Upon this water- 

 shed of the state the small fruits of the temperate zones 

 flourish wonderfully. The gooseberry grows wild by 

 the side of every old stump in the woods. In the gar- 

 dens the cultivated sorts thrive equally well, and, so 

 far as my observation and experience go, they are free 

 from mildew. The currant is at home with us, and 

 the chewinks and brown thrushes think there are no 

 hunting-grounds equal to our raspberry patches. I 

 have never known an entire failure of the cherry crop, 

 and as a rule the trees bear abundantly every season. 

 The place to study our ornithology is in the cherry 

 trees during the season of ripe fruit. Scarcely two rods 

 from my kitchen porch is a row of these trees, and I 

 have often watched my visitors. To my positive knowl- 

 edge there are a score of species which delight in sour 

 cherries. We cannot raise a sweet cherry here, nor 

 any of the varieties called sub-acid, such as the Wood. 

 But for Early Richmond, English Morello and the 

 Kent varieties we cannot be surpassed. I never inter- 

 rupted the birds but once, and have been ashamed of 

 that ever since. I have discovered a better plan than 

 to kill them. Plant a row of mulberry trees, and use 

 our native sorts, for no other kinds are worth cultivat- 

 ing with us. To them add a number of service bushes. 



