TEXAS RED HYBRID BLACKBERRY. 
Disseminated by Mr. R. H. Haines, Moorestown, Burlington Co., N. J. 
NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
The following sensible ideas are found 
in the Southern World and will, we think, if 
carried out, prove as valuable in Maine as 
in Georgia:—‘ ‘Vegetables need a cool, loamy, 
moist soil deeply broken and thoroughly 
pulverized. All observant Southern gar¬ 
deners have noticed the beneficial effects 
upon the soil, produced by the very heavy 
mulch used on Irish potatoes after it is 
decomposed and incorporated with the soil. 
It darkens its color thus increasing its 
power of absorbing heat; it improves the 
mechanical condition of the soil rendering 
it more pulverulent and enabling it to bet¬ 
ter absorb and retain moisture; it adds to 
the supply of plant food in the soil what¬ 
ever the substance used for the mulch con¬ 
tains, and in a readily available form. 
Now let us learn a lesson from this obser¬ 
vation and utilize otherwise wasted mate¬ 
rial in preparing a most valuable vegetable 
compost for the garden. 
Select some convenient point readily ac¬ 
cessible from the garden and house. Dig 
out a space ten feet in diameter and two 
feet deep. Into this pit collect the weeds, 
grass, trash and scrapings of the walks in 
the garden, sweepings of the yard, scra¬ 
pings from the fence corners and occasion¬ 
ally scrapings about the horse and cow lots. 
When any considerable quantity of green 
vegetable matter is thrown into the pit 
sprinkle air-slacked lime over it paid throw 
in a layer of earth. Empty all slops from 
the house and kitchen over the heap. Throw 
the ashes and soapsuds, sweepings from the 
fowl-house—indeed all refuse matter col¬ 
lected about the premises into the heap. 
Continue this through the summer and fall. 
Before plowing the garden in winter cut 
down the heap and mingle with it a few 
sacks of high grade super-phosphate and 
spread broadcast over the soil. A large 
quantity of vegetable mold may be collected 
through the year in this way which from 
our experience with it is inferior to nothing 
we have ever applied. A quantity of good 
manure may thus be collected principally 
from substances which would otherwise be 
wasted.” 
An Ohio man has invented a grain drill 
which sows the grain upon the surface of 
the prepared ground in a row six inches 
broad and covers it by shovels which throw 
the surface soil over it, leaving an open 
furrow between the rows of wheat. His 
drill tubes are one foot apart, so that half 
the land is occupied with grain and half 
with furrows between. By this method 
he deepens the soil by placing the seed at 
the surface and then putting the surface 
soil from between the rows on top of it. 
