SEED-TIME AH© HARVEST, 
13 
Spy may be kept fresh into Jane and July, as 
we have had an opportunity for testing. 
The mulberry is a profitable fruit and 
every farmer should plant one tree at least. 
They begin bearing very young, and continue 
for many years. Downing’s Everbearing is 
probably the best variety for fruiting. The 
fruit ripens unevenly and the very ripe ones are 
easily jarred or shaken from the branches. They 
are very sweet and do not require sugar to make 
them palatable. 
There is a vast difference in the flavor 
of eggs. Hens fed on clean, sound grain and 
kept on clean grass run, give much finer flavor¬ 
ed eggs than those that have access to stable and 
manure heaps, and eat all kinds of filthy food. 
Hens feeding on oily species of fish and onions, 
flavor their eggs accordingly, the same as cows 
eating onions or cabbage, or drinking offensive 
water, impart a bad taste to milk and butter. 
Jersey Cows.—Efforts to check the “boom” 
in Jersey cattle are proper enough on the part 
of any persons who feel unhappy. Twenty five 
years ago this class of stock had few admirers. 
They were so small and inferior that the eye 
accustomed to size and the judgment that based 
value upon weight alike condemned them. But^ 
against ridicule and obloquy they have steadily 
advanced in public favor, and will, doubtless, 
attain the front rank in butter-producing regions. 
Their great merit is getting to be so well known 
that they will not go down.—[The Husbandman. 
When a dealer wishes to add a knock-down 
argument to all he has said about the merits of 
the breed of fowls he has for sale, he urges that 
their flesh is of extra quality. Now there is no 
breed of fowls under the sun, the chickens of 
which, if well fed all their lives, will not be ten¬ 
der, juicy aud toothsome if killed before they are 
too old. And there is no breed that will be 
plump, tender and fit for the table unless fed 
thus. Mind, we do not say that there is no diff¬ 
erence at all in breeds, but we say that of the 
two things the breed and feeding, the latter is 
most important. 
A Police-Force of Ants.—A queer way of 
employing ants is reported by an English gentle¬ 
man who has been traveling through one of the 
provinces of China. It appears that in many 
parts of the province of Canton the orange trees 
are infested by worms, and-to rid themselves of 
these p ests the natives bring ants into the or¬ 
angeries from the neighboring hills. The ants 
are trapped ly holding the mouth of a la fi¬ 
fe ladder to their nests. They arc then placed 
among the branches of the orange trees, where 
they form colonies, and bamboo rods are laid 
from tree to tree to enable the ants to move 
throughout the orangery. 
Wb frequently see inquiries concerning 
the value of crude petroleum for painting or 
washing out-buildings, arbors, fence posts, wag¬ 
on wheels, farm implements, &c. We have 
used it and believe it an excellent article to ap¬ 
ply to any wood-work which is exposed much to 
the weather. In repainting a farm-house, where 
the old paint had fallen badly and the siding 
become much checked by the weather, we used 
a barrel of crude petroleum as a wash; applied 
with a white-wash brush ten days before re¬ 
painting. It filled the wood with oil, rendering 
the surface hard and resinous, and the new 
paint applied afterward has adhered to the wood 
much more tenaciously than did the first coating 
upon the naked wood. 
The undecayed muck and vegetable matter 
in swamps and bogs will often remain in an un- 
tillable condition for two or three years. The 
vegetable matter does not, rot. This is due to the 
presence of vegetable acids which delay decom¬ 
position. If the material be made alkaline it 
will decay speedily. The best substance for 
this purpose is quick-lime. Forty or fifty bush¬ 
els to the acre, or even more, will reduce some 
bogs to arable soil in a short time. If straw is 
to be used for manure it is best adapted to the 
purpose by spreading the ground where the 
stack is to be built thickly with quick-lime. The 
stack will soon rot down. It might also be 
advisable to spread a very little lime over the 
straw at intervals, as the stack is built up. 
Two notable instances of successful “small 
farming” in the East, are mentioned by the 
Farm Journal. One is that of E. M. Denison, 
of Albany county, N. Y., who, upon a 45-acre 
farm, made last year a net profit of $2,163.00. 
The other is that of Geo. L. Mitchell, a New 
Jersey truck farmer, whose profits from “a farm 
of less than 60 acres, a portion being timber,” 
amounted to $2,128.27. In each case, the labor 
wa-< mainly preformed by . the owner and two 
sons s° that the amount mentioned as profits 
represents the wages received for their labor, 
and the interest mi the farm investment. In the 
first case, allowing the father $25 and the sons 
each $20 per month for wages, leaves a n?t profit 
of nearly $31 per acre, or over ten per cent, 
upon a valuation $300 per acre. Mr. Mitchell, 
on his somewhat larger farm, receives ai out ten 
per cent, upon a valuation of $225 per acre. 
