1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
89 
make all the difference between a full litter 
of pigs and a loss of a large share, or even all. 
After the pigs have grown to feed from the 
trough, they should all have an equal chance 
as far as may be. In an ordinary trough, 
“the weakest go to the wall,” in fact are 
crowded out. To prevent this, a trough as 
shown in figure 4, may be made. The pigs 
Fig. 4.—A TROUGH FOR FEEDING PIGS. 
can feed from both sides, and are kept from 
pushing each other very far, by the braces 
which pass from the center-board to the sides 
of the trough.March and April chicks 
are veiy profitable, and brooding hens should 
be set at once. The nests should be clean and 
soft; by applying kerosene in the comers of 
of the box, or strewing a small handful of 
Flowers of Sulphur among the straw of the 
nest, comparatively few insects will trouble 
the chickens—not enough to do much injury. 
Orchard and Garden Work for March. 
Two extremes are to be avoided by all work¬ 
ers of the soil: being always too far ahead of 
the season, and always just a little behind it. 
Never work the soil when it is so wet as to 
be sticky, as it will afterwards dry into a 
hard mass—and on the other hand work upon 
it should begin so soon as dry enough. Let 
the cultivator’s motto in early spring be: 
“ Make haste slowly.” No fixed date can be 
given for the sowing and planting of the 
various crops, so much depends upon the sea¬ 
son, location, and many other modifying cir¬ 
cumstances : “As soon as the ground can be 
worked,” is as near as we can come to a rule 
for the early sowing, etc., and the rest must 
be left to the judgment of the cultivator. 
This means early spring and no unnecessary 
delay. The second period of planting is 
“ when the soil is well warmed,” and as In¬ 
dian com is the most widely grown crop re¬ 
quiring this condition, the time for planting 
all similarly tender, subtropical crops is 
known as “corn-planting time,” which is 
pretty well ascertained for each locality.... 
At this season we have many letters of in¬ 
quiry as to the best implements, seeds, etc., 
where they can be obtained, and their price. 
If it is concerning some new or special thing 
sold only by a single dealer or firm, we answer 
to that effect; otherwise the writer is directed 
to our advertising columns in which the no¬ 
tices of implement dealers, seedsmen, etc., 
appear. For seeds, implements, trees, plants, 
and other articles ordinarily found in the 
trade, we do not recommend one dealer in 
preference to another, and we advise all, other 
things being equal, to buy of those nearest 
home. The fact that a dealer’s name is among 
our advertisers is an indication that we would 
©rder of him if we wished to purchase what 
he had for sale. We repeat the advice so 
frequently given to order early, no matter 
what it may be. ' This will insure earlier and 
better attention. Whan the stock of any 
article runs low it may not be so good as at 
first, especially is this true of trees, plants, etc. 
©rcliard and Nursery. 
Whoever would plant an orchard properly, 
should first determine to give up the land to 
the trees, and decide that whatever shall be 
done to it shall be done for the benefit of the 
trees alone, and not for any secondary crop 
whatever. The land upon which an orchard 
is to be planted this spring should have been 
made ready last fall, but if this was not done 
our advice is to delay planting until the land 
can be properly prepared. It is better for 
the trees to remain heeled-in for several 
weeks than to set them hurriedly in holes, as 
if they were posts. ‘ 1 Heeling-in ” is an ab¬ 
breviation of the old gardening term of “ lay¬ 
ing in by the heels,” and means a temporary 
covering of the roots with earth. Open a 
ditch in a place where water will not stand 
and as much sheltered from the winds as 
possible ; if convenient let it run north and 
south ; in this, place the trees inclined about 
45 degrees or less, so that they may shade 
one another, and as they are put in, have fine 
rhellow soil well worked in among the roots 
so that no cavities are left. Be careful to see 
to the labels ; if there are many of a kind 
separate the varieties by a stake. See to it 
that the trees are put in in such a manner 
that there will be no doubt about the identity 
of the varieties when they are taken out. 
The soil for the orchard should be manured, 
plowed, and harrowed as if for a crop of com. 
As the amount of absorbing or root surface 
has been greatly reduced by the taking up of 
the trees, no matter how carefully, the 
evaporating or leaf surface should also be 
diminished. Recollect that every bud is an 
undeveloped leafy branch, and every bud re¬ 
moved takes off many leaves. Before the 
trees are planted this evaporating surface 
must be lessened by cutting back the branches. 
How much to cut away is a matter of judg¬ 
ment, but it is safe to always cut away one- 
third of the shoots, and if the roots have 
been badly mutilated, one half or two-thirds 
may be removed to the benefit of the tree. 
The common method of setting out an orchard 
is to plant the trees in a square, but if a more 
uniform space is desired on all sides of each 
tree, what is called the Quincunx is preferable. 
Figure 1 shows this method, and each tree is 
seen to be in the center of a circle of six 
Fig. 1. —THE QUINCUNX METHOD OF PLANTING. 
other trees. First decide upon the distance 
for the trees and make an equal-sided triangle 
of light stuff with the sides of that distance. 
Place the frame at the end of the first row 
as shown in the illustration. The three cor¬ 
ners will determine the position of as many 
trees —a and b in the first row, and c in the 
second row. After laying off, and marking 
the places with stakes for a few trees, in this 
way, the rest of the orchard can be set with¬ 
out the use of the frame. Recording the 
orchard should not be omitted. Labels soon 
fall away and are not reliable, but a map or 
record of the trees by rows and numbers is 
easily and quickly made, and is permanent 
and useful. Trees that have been girdled by 
mice or rabbits will recover if a mound o£ 
earth be made to cover the wound, provided 
the inner bark is not destroyed. When the 
girdling is complete, the only hope of saving 
the tree is to insert grafts between the bark 
below and above the girdled place. Take 
Fig. 2.— A TREE SCRAPER. 
small shoots from the same tree, sharpen 
both ends, and insert them in cuts made with 
a sharp chisel above and below, bridging the 
wound ; afterwards cover with clay or graft¬ 
ing wax. Cut off any limbs of trees that have 
been broken down during the winter by ioe 
and snow, make the wound smooth and cover 
it with melted grafting wax or paint. Old 
trees may be renovated by trimming out de¬ 
caying branches, manuring the soil and scrap¬ 
ing the trunk, to remove the loose bark and 
the eggs and chrysalides of various destruc¬ 
tive insects. A convenient instrument for 
cleaning the trunks and larger branches is 
shown in figure 2. The scraper is a piece of 
steel—two sides straight and the other two 
curved—and fastened to the end of a handle 
by a large screw or headed bolt. After scrap¬ 
ing, the trees should receive a strong alkaline 
wash—there is nothing so good for this as 
home-made soft-soap, mixed with water until 
thin and applied to the trunks and branch¬ 
es with a large paint or whitewash brush. 
'rise Frnit Warden. 
The trimming of grape vines, currant and 
gooseberry bushes should have been done last 
fall; if any such work was left unfinished, at¬ 
tend to it before there is any swelling of buds. 
Repair trellises and supports for grapes, rasp¬ 
berries, etc., before the busy days come. 
Planting should be done as early as the soil 
is in good working order, that the plants may 
get well established before the hot weathar 
comes. Make the main planting of well 
established varieties, but try as many of the 
new sorts as can be afforded .... Blackber¬ 
ries and Raspberries staid very early, and 
when possible they should be set in the fall,but 
if to be planted now, do it as soon as may be. 
No fruit is to be expected the first year. The 
Kittatinny and Snyder are the leading varie¬ 
ties of Blackberries, and among the Rasp¬ 
berries the Mammoth Cluster and Gregg for 
the black, and Cuthbert (see page 106) and 
Hudson Antwerp for the red sorts .... The 
better form for currants is an open bugh 
with several stems. The ground should be 
mulched. Versailles and White Grape are 
the best generally cultivated red and white 
sorts .... No one should be without straw¬ 
berries. The method of preparing the bed 
and caring for it have been given time and 
again in the back numbers of the American 
Agriculturist. As to the best variety for the 
table for all soils and conditions the Charles 
Downing is probably not excelled. The Wil¬ 
son is still popular for market. For light 
soils Seth Boyden and Green Prolific ; Tri- 
omphe de Gand and Jucunda are best for 
heavy soils. If set this spring a good crop 
may be expected next spring ; the plants 
need one season’s growth after transplanting 
.... No one with even a small garden should 
