1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
45 
wood is sound in most cases it will pay to restore 
them. In many orchards the trees do poorly be¬ 
cause their roots are in water-soaked soil—a soil 
that is not fit for any crop until thoroughly drained, 
A few rows of drain tiles may make out of an un¬ 
profitable orchard one of the best paying invest¬ 
ments upon the farm. If the soil is sufficiently 
dry and the trees still do not grow vigorously and 
fail to bear, it is strong evidence that the orchard 
needs to be fed. Such orchards are usually in 
grass. Aheavycoatof manure should be spread 
upon the surface, and the sod and manure turned 
under in the spring. As soon as the sods have de¬ 
cayed the land may be cross-plowed, then apply 
lime or ashes, and harrow thoroughly. Thus far 
only the underground part of the tree has been 
renovated. There are some things that may be 
done to the trunks and branches to aid the better 
growth of the trees. The old, loose bark, should 
be scraped off, thus removing the eggs and chrysa¬ 
lids of many insects. This work may be done with 
a dull field or garden hoe. To make the job com¬ 
plete, a wash made of soft soap may be applied to 
the scraped parts. The scraping and application 
of the wash should be done in early spring. The 
amount of pruning that it will be necessary to do 
depends upon the state of the tree. An open and 
well-balanced top is to be gained. It may require 
the removal of some of the large branches, and the 
shortening back of others. All large wounds or 
cut surfaces should be covered with a coat of paint. 
After all this has been doue it may be that the tree 
is of a poor variety and will need to have its top 
changed by grafting. This work should be done 
just as the buds begin to swell. If the tree is a 
large one it may be best to graft only the central 
portion of the top the first season. Grafting is 
planting a cutting in another tree iustead of the 
soil, and as great care should be taken in the selec¬ 
tion of the cions as in that of the trees in an orchard. 
The implements necessary for grafting, and the man¬ 
ner of performing the work are fully described and 
illustrated in the Notes for February, 1880, to which 
all interested in this matter are referred. It should 
be understood that grafting is not a difficult task ; 
it is within the reach of any thoughtful orchardist. 
The trees that are to be set the coming spring 
should be selected now, and the orders sent to the 
nurserymen that they may fill them properly. “Tree 
pedlers ” have a poor reputation for honesty, and 
should be left alone unless one is sure of the nur¬ 
sery that they represent. It is best to buy directly 
from reliable tree growers and, other things being 
the same, as near home as possible. Should the 
trees be frozen when they arrive, place them in a 
cool place where they may thaw slowly. The fol¬ 
lowing varieties of apples are among the best for 
general use : Early , Red Astraehau, Early Harvest, 
Golden Sweet. Autumn, Gravenstein, Maiden’s 
Blush, Porter, Duchess of Oldenburg. Winter, R. 
I. Greening, Golden Russett, Red Canada, Northern 
Spy. For Ihiars the best may embrace : Early 
Doyenne d’Ete, Manning’s Elizabeth. Summer, 
Bartlett, Clapp’s Favorite, Giffard. Autumn, Seckel, 
Duchessed’Angouleme,Doyenne Boussock. Winter, 
Lawrence, Vicar of Winkfield, and Winter Nelis. 
Many of the good varieties of peaches are local, 
but one will not go amiss with Early York, Early 
Crawford, and Old Mixon. The Early Richmond, 
Black Tartarian, and Coe’s Transparent, are among 
the leading varieties of Cherries. The Orauge 
quince is the best well known variety ; but Rea’s 
Seedling and the Champion are very promising. 
This is a good season to destroy the eggs of the 
Tent Caterpiller, as the clusters of them are more 
easily seen now that the leaves are absent. As 
they are usually glued closely to the small twigs, 
the best way is to remove them with a knife. Ma¬ 
nure may be drawn out and spread in the orchard 
at this season, and can be done most conveniently 
with a sled, it passing more easily among the trees. 
The Fruit Garden. 
There should be a Fruit Garden on every farm 
for the profit, health, and enjoyment that it brings, 
where well cared for—yielding a succession of fruits 
from early strawberry time until the latest grapes 
arc gone. It is our desire that all who have no 
garden for small fruits may resolve to prepare the 
ground and plant one the coming spring. The soil 
for a Fruit Garden should be rich, deep, and mel¬ 
low, and above all thoroughly drained should it be 
naturally wet. There is nothing better than well 
rotted stable manure for enriching a garden soil. 
The list of Strawberries that may be planted is a 
long one and has been added to from year to year. 
Charles Downing, Seth Boyden, Monarch of the 
West, and Sharpless are all reliable. The Bidwell 
has proved excellent, and the Manchester is a 
promising new sort. On heavy soils the Jucunda 
and Triomphe de Gand do well. Among Raspber¬ 
ries are the Cutlibert, Patrician, and Herstine. The 
Mammouth Cluster and Gregg are among the best 
Black-caps for general use. For Blackberries the 
Kittatinny and Snyder are the best. The Versailles, 
Red Dutch, and White Grape lead in the Currants. 
It is difficult to select from the long list of excel¬ 
lent grapes ; Concord, Wilder, Brighton, Eumelan, 
Delaware, and Niagara give a good variety. 
Tlte Flo^ver Garden and Fawn. 
There is not much outside work in this depart¬ 
ment during the winter season. Heavy snows fre¬ 
quently come this month, and the evergreens must 
be looked to, and the snow removed while it is 
fresh, before it breaks down the limbs. When the 
snow is deep it will need to be shovelled away from 
the long lower limbs. This is a good time for 
making all plans for new paths, flower beds, etc., 
and if they are extensive it is well to draw up a 
map of them. The seeds for the flower garden 
should be selected, and those for the earliest 
growth may be sown in window boxes, and after¬ 
wards transplanted to the garden. 
The Kitchen and Market Garden. 
The mild weather that has prevailed is unfavor¬ 
able to the keeping of plants in cold frames, which 
have thus far required the sashes on for but a few 
days. Beyond providing thorough ventilation, and 
shading when necessary, the gardener can do but 
little to counteract the warm weather that tends 
to force the plants into growth. Hot-beds will 
soon be needed in the Southern States. As a gen¬ 
eral rule, a hot-bed should be started about six 
weeks before it is time to set the plants in the open 
ground. A hot-hed is a cold frame with a layer of 
manure added below the seed-bed, to furnish heat 
for the forcing of the plants. The materials needed 
are the frame, sashes, and manure. The usual size 
of sash is 3 by 6 feet, with five rows of 6 by 8-inch 
glass, set in bars which run lengthwise. The frame 
is built of rough boards set in a pit, and extends 
above the surface of the ground, a foot at the rear, 
and 4 to 6 inches in front. Slats pass from front to 
the rear across the top of the frame where the edges 
of the sashes meet, to hold them in place. The 
manure may be all from the stable, or mixed with 
leaves. It should be in a heating state, and put in 
in layers, and well beaten or tramped down. A 
layer of six inches of rich soil is put on the manure, 
in which the seeds are sown. The heat for the first 
few days will be too intense for the seeds, and they 
must not be put in until the temperature is not 
above 80°. Many prefer to sow the seeds in flat 
boxes or wooden trays about two inches deep. 
When these boxes are used, the soil over the ma¬ 
nure need not be more than 2 or 3 inches deep, 
and the boxes are set upon this. The hot-bed will 
need watching after it is sown that the temperature 
may be kept as near 75° as possible. This may re¬ 
quire the tilting up of the sashes when the weather 
is warm, and closing during nights and cold spells. 
Besides this the plants must be watered, the soil 
stirred between the rows, and the plants properly 
thinned. Plants for the vegetable garden may be 
started on a small scale in the kitchen windows. 
Boxes similar to those that are used in hot-beds will 
serve for this purpose. Such boxes should be 
watched, watered, turned, etc., day after day. After 
the plants have grown to some size, they should be 
“pricked out” in similar boxes, to give them 
more room to make a good growth in time for set¬ 
ting out in the open ground. The boxes may be 
set out of doors when it is warm enough, but any 
neglect to bring them in as it comes on cold may 
ruin the plants. All seeds which are to be used 
should be ordered at once. Any old or doubtful 
seeds, especially those of parsnips, carrot, etc., 
cannot be relied upon after the first year. Novel¬ 
ties are offered every year, trials of these on a small 
scale are interesting, but one should never discard 
old reliable sorts and rely entirely on novelties for 
a crop. The garden tools should all be put in good 
order. A bolt tightened up, or a coat of paint, or 
petroleum, may save much more than the outlay. 
Greenhouse and Window Plants. 
The plants in-doors should be at their best during 
this month. The bulbs of the Narcissus, Hyacinth, 
etc., may be brought from the cellar and forced 
into bloom. A succession of flowers may be had 
by sowing seeds of Mignonette, Candytuft, etc. 
The sand and boxes for the propagation of the 
Verbenas, Geraniums, etc., will need to be provided 
now. The importance of securing thorough venti¬ 
lation for plants during cold weather should not be 
overlooked, and yet all undue exposure must be 
avoided. The leaving of the sashes or window 
open for a half hour when the temperature is too 
low will chill and injure the tender plants. There 
will very likely be trouble with insects. Tobacco 
water sprinkled on kills the green fly, washing 
with water drives away the red spider, the mealy 
bug must be picked off with a stick or the fingers. 
Worms in the pots are removed by turning out 
the ball of earth, when they may be easily seen. 
Durra, Dhurra, or Rice Corn, Etc. 
BY J. M. MCBRYDE, PROF. OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTI¬ 
CULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE. 
In Kansas and portions of Texas, a new cereal is 
reported to be supplanting Indian Corn. It is also 
popular in California, having been introduced 
there, so it is said, from China. It is estimated 
that in Kansas 25,000 acres were devoted to this crop 
in 1880, and the Fourth Quarterly Report of the 
Board of Agriculture of that State, just published, 
puts the crop of 1881 at 520,534 bushels, worth 
$314,787.12. Its great mfirit, and one that makes 
it invaluable for those regions, is its power of with¬ 
standing prolonged drouths. It is perhaps as re¬ 
markable for its multiplicity of names. In the 
West it is called indifferently Egyptian Corn, Rice 
Corn, and Pampas Rice. It is a native of the 
warmer portions of the Eastern Hemisphere, aud 
has been cultivated for ages in Central Asia, and 
the Nile Regions of Africa under the Arabic name 
of Durah. Webster gives no less than five different 
spellings of this word, dhurra, dhura, dura, dhoora, 
and doura. It is also written, by others, Ahoura, 
dliouro, dourali, dora, and durra. As if these were 
not enough, it has received, besides the three men¬ 
tioned above, the local names of Negro Corn, 
Guinea Corn, Negro Guinea Corn, Chocolate Corn, 
China Corn, Chicken Corn, Ivory Wheat, Tennessee 
Rice, Indian Millet, and Great Millet. 
Its scientific synonyms are almost as numerous. 
It is Holcus saccharratum of Linnaeus, Holcus sorghum 
of other early writers. Some botanists speak of it 
as Sorghum cernuum. As “Sorghum” is a “ Smith,” 
and “vulgare” a “John,” of the vegetable kingdom, 
it is not saying much for the identity of the plant 
to give it its true name, Sorghum vulgare. The 
species breaks into numberless varieties, the two 
most important being the white aud the red. The 
white, the kind mentioned in this article, is the 
great bread crop of the Soudan and other regions 
of Central Africa. English travellers familiar with 
the Arabic always speak of it as “Dhurra.” It is 
frequently mentioned by Baker in his works on the 
Nile and its tributaries. In one of these, after de¬ 
scribing the method of plautiug it in the Soudan, 
he says : “Although not as palatable as wheaten 
bread, the flour of dhurra is exceedingly nutritious, 
containing, according to Prof. Johnston’s analysis, 
111 per cent of gluten, or It per cent more than 
English wheaten flour. Thus men and beasts 
