APRIL 24 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
267 
^krkttltural 
CARE OF APPLE TREES. 
If it was convenient, it would decide a 
question about cultivating orchards if Mr. 
John W. Prey would sow his orchard in 
white clover, blue grass and any fine, good 
grazing grass for sheep, and graze it with 
sheep and calves ; for as all the magnificent 
and profitable orchards in England are grazed 
with animals that will not injure the bark, 
&c., and they do woP, 1 cannot but think i 
this orchard would prosper right away or at 
any rate by the time the droppings and urine 
from the animals would take effect. Iu the 
heat of summer the animals would remain a 
good deal in the shade ami t hus a good doal 
of assistance would bo given to the trees. , 
The stock should be enough to graze very 
short, and if the soil has been impoverished ! 
by cropping, it would be well to feed the 
sheep and calves with oil-cake, as manure | 
from animals eating oil-cake is richer than j 
front other food eaten by such animals. 
When orchards arc ; n coarse grass, such as 
timothy, orchard grass, or red clover, and ! 
are mowed for hay, the grass does as much [ 
or more harm than grain, corn, &c. ; but 
when grazed and the grasses are similar to 
the fine, thick-set, natural grasses in English 
orchards, it seems that Mr. Prey's orchard 
would prosper. American orchard < in grass 
are seldom or almost never grazed as they 
should be; or I believe there would he no 
doubt about that being the only proper 
management of the soil in orchards. I have 
heard that the orchards in the Island of 
Jersey arc grazed by cows, their heads being 
fixed by some contrivance so that they can¬ 
not reach the apples ; and I have known 
two Instances in the United States where 
orchards of about twenty years’ growth im¬ 
proved by being grazed : but they were not 
stocked with sheep or the effect would have 
been more deoided. Sheep are a great im¬ 
provement to land, ami If wintered and given 
hay and some stronger food, they will. I be¬ 
lieve, make the trees bear, and if some year¬ 
ling calves are put in, too, in the summer, 1 
think the grass and the trees would Uourish 
beyond any expectation. As for pruning, il' 
cutting wood out once begins it must be 
continued ; but I am not competent to give 
an opinion, therefore will only say it is done 
in gardens where apple trees grow .some¬ 
times, and they are ofteu trained to grow on 
each side of walks ; but in orchards generally 
trees are unmolested; they grow much 
slower, as does all wood, and last corre- ’ 
spondingly longer. a. «r. f. 
-. 
OSAGE ORANGE HEDGE. 
Mr. S. Andrews, Edgewuod, Ill., whose 
experience qualifies him to give instructions, 
tells the American Farm Journal how to 
plant an Osage Orange Hedge as follows: 
Prepare the hedge row in the fall by plowing 
a strip of land not less than eight feet, iu j 
width, finishing in the middle with a deep j 
dead-furrow. In the spring plow again, 
commencing in the middle and back-fun ow¬ 
ing. Tins will leave tbe ground level. If the 
land is flat, plow again, beginning In the 
middle, so as to throw np a ridge. Treat all 
low, wet places in this way, taking especial 
care to make a high, dry ridge across ravines 
and water-courses, and if necessary, put in a 
spout for the water to run through. The 
ground being thus ready, stake out the hedge 
row and set the plants with a hoe. Begin¬ 
ning at one end, hoe out a hole for the first 
plant; lay it at an angle of about forty-five 
degrees, lengthwise of the row; draw the 
dirt onto it from where the next plant is to 
be set. This will make a place for the next 
plant, and so on to the end of the fence line, 
setting them ten inches apart. A man, with 
a boy to handle the plants, can set them very 
rapidly in this manner. This leaning of the 
plants lengthwise of the row, has the effect 
to greatly thicken the hedge at the hottom— 
a great consideration where hogs are to be 
kept. The next spring replace all missing 
ones with extra good plants; cultivate 
thoroughly, and allow to grow undisturbed 
for three years. In the spring of the fourth 
year, trim off all horizontal branches, and 
plash (lop) close to tue ground, laying as flat 
aspossibleiengthwisc. Thefourthsummer’s 
growth will make a hedge which no ordinary 
stock will care to attempt to get over or 
through. The trimmings should on no ac¬ 
count be left scattered about over the ground, 
or on the hedge, as it makes a very untidy 
appearance, but should be gathered and 
burned, thus saving barefooted school-chil¬ 
dren the forturing pain of many a festering 
thorn. 
This is the sum of the subject in a nutshell, J 
as the result of tbe experience and observa- i 
tions of the writer since the first introduction j 
of this excellent hedge-plant, into the State of i 
Illinois, where it is now so extensively used. 
-» 4 » - 
WHITE WILLOW FOR FENCE. 
A correspondent of the Farmers’ Union 
(Minn.) says:—I have been experimenting 
with it for the last ten years, in regard to its 
utility for a live fence, and it has given entire 
satisfaction ; I have tried cuttings from 10 
inches to 5 feet in length. I have made a 
hedge from 10 inch cuttings set >1 inches 
apart in the row, that turned ail kind of 
stock at 3 years of age. I have some fence 
made of cuttings 5 feet long driven into the 
ground 10 inches, and set 0 inches apart hi 
the row, with a 2 incli strip nailed on near 
the top to hold them in place, that turned 
cattle and hegs as soon ns finished. 1 also 
made a hedge between my garden and past¬ 
ure of Uhj feet cuttings, driven into the 
ground 0 inches and 8 inches apart in the 
row, which left the fence 3 feet high. 1 
always nail a narrow strip of board 1} inches 
from the top of the stakes, to hold them in 
place until they are well rooted, I think it 
turns stock better to nail the strip a little 
down from the top of the stake ; they dread 
to encounter the “ ragged edge." 
To try the efficacy of my hedge, I planted 
a row of corn 4 feet from the hedge, while a 
large herd of cattle were allowed to run on 
the opposite side, and none ventured to break 
over the hedge. I cultivated both sides of 
this hedge the first season, and it grew about 
1 feet in hight the same year, and it is the 
nicest hedge I have on the farm, for the rea¬ 
son that, it branches out about 2 feet from 
the ground, and lias such a symmetrical 
appearance. 
-»♦» - 
ABOUT WILLOWS AND WILLOW WARE. 
IIow many kinds of Osier are grown tor 
various kinds of basket work ? Do parties 
who grow the willow usually do the nianu- 
feturing ( How much capital is required to 
ruu a regular manufactory, apart from 
growing the willow ‘ Are there any exten¬ 
sive manufacturers of willow ware iu the 
West ? Can you refer me to any bo ik or 
paper that treats of this industry at length ? 
— N. J. 11., Dps Afolni*, Iowa . 
Salix viminaU* is the variety most culti¬ 
vated and most generally used in the manu¬ 
facture of willow ware. Us straight, long 
slender branches are especially adapted for 
this purpose. Sul ix fragile* is sometimes 
cultivated for basket work, but not exten- 
tensivcly, and we think rarely in this coun¬ 
try. We have known Salix Rahi/lonica 
(Weeping Willow) to be used for this pur¬ 
pose, but it is not as valuable iu tills respect 
as Salix rlminali*. Hermans in the neigh¬ 
borhood of large cities grow and manufac¬ 
ture willow into willow ware, on a small 
scale individually'. What capital is required 
to run a regular manufactory we cannot say 
—it must, of course, depend upon the extent 
of the business and the character of the 
ware mauufacturod. We know that willow 
ware is manufactured iu the West, but 
nothing of the extent of its manufacture, 
nor by whom. We have no knowledge of 
any work that will aid our correspondent. 
-»»»-- . ■ ■ 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Pruning in California .— W. H. Nash, 
in Paoifle Rural Press, says “The idea that 
our bright California sun and clear atmos¬ 
phere render pruning an almost unnecessary 
operation, lias not only been inculcated by 
horticultural writers, bub has been acted 
upon in practice to such an extent that more 
than three-fourths of all the bearing fruit 
trees in the country are at this moment 
either lean, ill-shapen skeletons or the heads 
are perfect masses of wood, unable to yield 
more than one box of fruit in ten well ma¬ 
tured, colored and ripened. This is actually 
the case, even in what may be called, in 
comparison, well managed orchards." 
Plant Tree* in Wattle Placets on the Farm. 
—It is a feature of the spring's work which 
should not be neglected. There are on most 
farms spots which cannot be cultivated 
properly and that would be more sightly if 
covered with foliage. Plant trees thereon, 
selecting such as will grow there from 
among species that produce valuable timber. 
Japanese Law Regarding Planting Tree a. 
—We see it stated that the Japanese luw 
requires that when a person cuts down a tree 
he shall at once plant another in its place. 
That might be impracticable In all parts of 
the country, but in the older states it would 
be a veiy good practice for the farmer to 
adopt voluntarily. 
THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 
The history of the growth of the salmon, 
from the small ova or eggs, may be interest¬ 
ing in this place. Each adult female salmon 
lays from 300 to 1,000 eggs to every pound of 
her weight. In their healthy condition, the 
eggs are generally of a pinky or amber color, 
with opalescent hues, semi-transparent, and 
exceedingly pretty in their effect. Some¬ 
times, however, the eggs are very pale— 
nearly white—In color ; others, again, aie of 
a bright coral red ; but all that have a 
peculiar transparent i rides rent hue are un¬ 
mistakably healthy eggs. A tough, horny 
membrane is the " shell ” which holds the 
embryo salmon, ami preserves it from irjury. 
This external shell is exceedingly elastic ; an 
egg dropped on the floor will rebound like an 
india-rubber ball. 
For a mouth or so no change Is apparent in 
the healthy egg, as it lies in its bed of gravel 
in the running stream where it has been 
deposited by the mother, with the tempera¬ 
ture of tbe water at about forty-five degrees. 
The eyes of the fish appear in abont forty or 
fifty days ; these may ba perceived as two 
small black specks ; and in another three or 
four days, a faint red line is apparent, mu¬ 
lling round the interior of one side of t he egg 
and in the center a small red globule appears. 
The “thin red line" represents the vertebra 1 
of the fish, just forming ; and the red globule 
is a minute quantity of oil, which is destined 
to Vie absorbed by the fish after it comes out 
of the shell. 
Gradually the faint indications oflife with¬ 
in the semi-transparent shell become more 
marked till, about twenty days after the 
first upper ranee of the eyes, the fish bursts 
its prison. It now presents a most ludicrous 
appearance, with the lower side of its slender 
transparent body affixed to an oval sac which 
it carries wherever it goes. The vital organs 
of the fish can be distinctly seen ; the pulsa¬ 
tions of the heart are easily perceptible ; unci 
the rapid vibrations of the gills show that il 
is, for the first time, breathing just as an 
adult fish breathes. The empty ‘•shells,’’ 
as they float about in the water, showing the 
rent by which the young fish breaks itr 
prison-bonds, now appear like little bits of an 
India-rubber air-ball, or portions of the white 
membraue found just inside the shell of a 
hen’s egg. 
Sometimes the shell clings round the uni 
bilieal vesicle of the fish, and, as it lias m 
hands to free itself, it may be seen wriggling 
about among the gravel, endeavoring U 
escape from its uncomfortable burden. 
The fry are now “ all alive,’’ and as active 
as fish can be. Some of them w ill be found 
with their tnil* turned upward in an impudent 
manner ; others bear their bodies in a be¬ 
comingly staid longitudinal position ; while 
others, again, are strangely deformed. These 
unfortunates are unable to swim in a straight 
line, and can only turn round and round as 
on a pivot in one spot, lying all the time on 
their side, instead of swimming upright; 
and falling htdploss to the bottom as soon as 
they cease their efforts at locomotion. Tnese 
cripples generally die ; though some of them 
no doubt, arrive at maturity, as is proved by 
the instances—rare, it is true—of deformed 
salmon, with the backbone bent, and crooked 
in various ways. 
But the most curious instances of malfor¬ 
mation are the fishy “Siamese twins.” A 
double-headed creature is of frequent occur¬ 
rence in a family of baby salmon, but these 
enormities seldom survive more than three 
or four days, though instances have been 
met with of a longer term of existence being 
granted to these “ monsters.’’ 
For some time after birth, the young fish 
do not seem to grow very fast ; they art 
exceedingly active, and, though burdened 
with the umbilical vesicle, they swim swiftly 
about, rushing for a few seconds, and sud¬ 
denly falling again to the bottom of the 
stream; they aae unable to rest without 
touching the gravel. 
The young fry do not require any food for 
some time to come. The contents of the sac 
I they bear about with them serves as food for 
the first, -ix weeks of the salmon’s life. The 
poor little fish has no mother to uurse it, so 
nature has provided it with a commissariat 
of its own. This vesicle or sac contains an 
albuminous secretion similar to white of egg. 
and a small globule of oil, the whole oi 
which are gradually absorbed into the system. 
After six weeks of this self-sustaining process 
have elapsed, the outer skin of the bag 
| appears to diminish iu size, as the body of 
the fish increases, and in due course the fry 
appears as a complete miniature of an adult 
salmon. 
The fins and even the scales, are now fully 
apparent. The gills can easily be perceived. 
The eye—that first sign of life in the egg ten 
weeks ago—is completely developed ; while 
a slight red spot under the pectoral fins is 
the only sign of the late symbol of baby¬ 
hood.— Chamber*’* Journal. 
— ♦ « • 
BLACK BASS IN FLORIDA, 
A correspondent of the Baltimore Sun 
tells this rather huge fish story:—South 
from Jacksonville, about two miles is Alachua 
Lake. Formerly this was a vast prairie of 
over twenty thousand acres of good grazing 
land. Iu the midst of it was a deep hole or 
land sink, of which there are a great many 
in the State, into which the waters of 
McKinstry lake, situated further north, and 
the surrounding country used to flow and 
find a subterranean outlet to the sea. A bout 
four years ago the outlet got more or less 
choked up, and the surplus water backing 
soon covered this vast tract of country, in 
which aqueous condition it has remained 
ever since, increasing and diminishing in 
area us the season varies from wet to dry. 
This lake is literally alive with fish. I have 
seen colored boys with an ordinary pole cut 
from the woods, a line not. over four feet 
long, and a fly, rudely constructed of red and 
white flannel, catch eighty pouuds of black 
bass in a couple of hours. These fish average 
from two to twelve pounds. An eight-pound 
bass is common. A few days ago a gentle¬ 
man residing in Gainsvillo caught and 
weighed on Fairbanks’scales, iu the presence 
of a number of Northern visitors here, a 
black bass weighing nineteen aud one-quarter 
pounds. Tradition says that one was caught 
here last year that weighed twenty-three 
pounds. Ail the small streams flowing into 
this lake are also full of bass. Day before 
yesterday I saw three small boys standing in 
i stream, about three feet wide, uud may be 
a foot deep, each armed wit h a piece of hoop 
iron, with which they killed, in the half hour 
l was present, eight good-sized bass. Another 
boy of the same party, with a two-bushel 
corn bag, made one haul iu the same stream 
of ten bass. 
Jcprttiffttt. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT NEBRASKA. 
Dear Rural :—What I am about to write 
may not meet tho approval of some, but I 
cannot help it. I have been in Nebraska two 
winters and two summers and have found 
the climate to be anything but what the 
Railroad Companies recommended it to be in 
their circulars. I have lived iu New York, 
Micliigau, Indiana and Iowa, and must say 
wo have the worst winters here I over saw. 
A person can endure 20 J more cold in a tim¬ 
bered country. The. winds blow almost con¬ 
tinually ; and in win ter nil the clothing a per¬ 
son may put on will not keep out the wind ; 
for the last two weeks there bus been only 
working days in which people could sow 
wheat by hand. We cannot tell what a day 
may bring forth. Nearly all signs fail here. 
It commenced to rain yesterday noon ; last 
fight it turned to snow, aud now we arehav- 
ng a storm such as no other country knows 
jut Nebraska. It is impossible to face it and 
you could not Bee 20 feet. These sudden 
storms and winds are the great drawbacks 
of Nebraska, We have great extremes. Our 
summers are most beautiful ; our soil is good. 
If people will be willing to endure the winds 
and storm- , they can make homes in Nebras¬ 
ka. When we get out plenty of timber to 
break the winds, It will, no doubt, make it 
more pleasant. Weliavc longer winters here 
than I expected . • . lizu. Feeding time, from 
15th of November to 15th of April. 
Notwithstanding the grasshoppers and all 
Other discouragements, people are flocking 
iu this spring, bound to avail themselves of 
the chance to get cheap homes. I think this 
is a healthy country, but very liable to sud¬ 
den changes. 
This has been a very severe winter ; mer¬ 
cury weut to 26° below zero ; the ground 
cracked open with the frost very deep ; near¬ 
ly all of what few potatoes there were have 
i’rozeu. Potatoes are worth SI to $2 ; flour, 
*2.25; meal, $2.25 ; bacoD, 18o. per lb.; but¬ 
ter, 30c.; lard, 20c.; eggs, 15c.; salt pork, 13c.; 
beaus, 0c. per lb.; wheat, 80c. to 90c. If the 
people get the seed, there will be a large 
amount of small grain sown this spring. We 
do not look for any “ hoppers” this season ; 
should they stay away and we have good 
crops we shall feel better next fall. 
Hastings, Nob., March 81. q. w. h. 
