Modern Farm Methods
As Applied in the South.
Notes of Interest to Planter,
Fruit Grower and Stockman
Some Remedies For Cabbage
At the last meeting of our
ers’ Union some one asked what
do for an insect that was eating
bage, but could not be found.
reply was, that it was a bug
burrowed in the soil when not
ing; and there was no remedy
thorough cultivation preceded
thorough preparation of the soil
fore planting time. Another
ber said to try sprinkling the
and ground around them, with a
lution of saltpetre, using two
spoons of powdered saltpetre to
pail of water. He also gave this
a preventative of the ravages of
beetle that so often injures
melon and cucumber plants. It
not kill, perhaps, but drives
the bug, which answers the same
pose. Sometimes a second
tion is necessary.
Saltpetre and water are said to
good for cabbage worms.
sprinkling ashes or garden dust on
the cabbage while the dew is on will
kill the worms; but the surest
edy is a teaspoonful of Paris green to
forty tablespoons of flour, sprinkled
qn the cabbage while damp with
Or use Paris green in solution
led on later in the day. Many
afraid to use Paris green, because
Is poison; but the growth of cab¬
bage is from the inside, and the rem¬
edy is applied to what later becomes
the loose outside leaves and
Injure any one. Should any enter
the inner part of the head, the first
good rain would wash it all away;
or the washing when the cabbage is
prepared for table renders it perfect¬
ly harmless.—Progressive Farmer.
Lettuce Growing Wrinkles.
A combination method of indoor
and outdoor lettuce culture that
sometimes works nicely is starting
head lettuce in the greenhouse, hot¬
bed or cold frame and transplanting
to the open as soon as the weather is
favorable. Not only do we thus get
earlier lettuce, hut the development
of head lettuce seems to he very fine
under these conditions. Deacon, Big
Boston, May King, Black Seeded Ten
nlsball. Market Gardener’s Private
Stock, Iceberg and Improved Hanson
are varieties suitable for this corn
I %
of*
!
Grand Rapids Lettuce Plant.
[Growth in pot for transplanting to
bench or box.]
bination culture. The last two are
curly leaved varieties, but under
proper cultural conditions form good
heads. The plants are started in the
greenhouse, transplanted into flats
and hardened off in the cold frames.
They are then set in the open ground
in rows fifteen inches apart anu about
ten inches apart in the row'.
Another wrinkle in the growing of
early lettuce is to grow the plants in
pots until about the size of that
shown in the figure and then trans¬
planted to flats, in which the plants
are grown to maturity or at least sala¬
ble size.—New York Witness.
How to Avoid Red Rugs.
Red bugs t called also chigoe, chig
re, jigger and several other names)
are frequently given as a reason why
chickens hatched late in spring can¬
not be grown successfully in the
South. , These little mites can be
avoided without great trouble, so
that chicken raisers can have success
with late hatched chicks if they will.
When the little birds run among all
sorts of green things, the red hugs
get on them and burrow into the
flesh, causing trouble that for small
chicks is far more serious than when
the bugs burrow into the flesh of
man. A cure is troublesome at the
best, and the necessity of a cure
is not infrequently a serious matter,
By keeping the pests off the chicks,
all trouble is avoided.
How can they be kept off? If
the chicks are constantly on bare
ground, there will be no chance for
the bugs to get on them. One sue
cessful poultryman makes it a prac
ties to fence in his small chicks un
der fruit trees, the ground being
plowed or spaded till there is not a
spear of grass anywhere. It becomes
necessary then, of course, to supply
enough green feed, both for the
icks and their mothers. This par
■<u’ poultryman keeps each hen
In a coop, with provisions for the
little fellows to run In and out as
they like. They soon learn where
their own mothers are, and there is
very little likelihood of any cross
hen having the chance to peck the
chicks of other hens.
Sanitary precaution makes it ad¬
visable to move the coops about to
fresh ground frequently, also to stir
the soil all over the enclosure to get
the droppings und>r the earth. A
small wheel, hoe, or push plow will
turn the mellow earth over two
inches deep quickly and easily. In
order that the chicks may have some¬
thing to do, which will prevent them
from getting into mischief, grain may
be worked into the soil for them to
scratch out. They will soon learn
to do the work and will enjoy it.
Indeed, they will be so eager to get
at it if they are kept as hungry as
they should bfc, that they will get in
the way when the grain is being
worked into the soil. The enclosure
should not be too small for the num¬
ber of chicks it contains, or they
will not have room to exercise suffi¬
ciently and the earth may get so
filthy as to be positively poisonous.
Will not some reader report what
his or her experience is in manag¬
ing the red bug evil among poultry?
—Chas. M. Scherer.
Around tin? Farm.
Steer clear of notions in farming.
What does that mean? Just this:
Have nothing to do with Belgian
hares. Leave the ginseng fad qjit.
There is nothing in them for the
everyday farmer. Same way about
frog culture, raising skunks and all
that sort of thing. Be enterprising,
but let it be along lines of legitimate
farming.
There is a lot of talk all the time
about the best ways of keeping up the
fertility of our lands. The best way
that anybody ever has thought out
is to keep stock. Good, old-fashioned
barnyard manure is the most natural
fertilizer in the world. The more
we can get of it the better off we will
be.
Keep a steady hand on the whea$
crop. Do not be influenced very
greatly by the fluctuations in the
market. Plan to grow a good piece
next year. It will all be needed and
will bring a fair price.
Prices for pork have been high
and will be again. That means that
I we should get in large crops of corn
this spring. Plan for it, work for it.
How? By making your soil rich, by
plowing the very best you can, by
borough cultivation, by using first
class seed and by caring for the crop
after it is on the way.
Some men never think of bringing
in a pail of water at their own homes.
They will go away to somebody else's
home and do lots of little chores
and smile all the time. Isn’t your
wife just as thankful for these little
attentions as your neighbor’s wife
is?
I see our friend Jones never fails
to go to town twice a week to help
save the country at the grocery store
congress. Meanwhile his sheep crawl
through the bottom wire fence and
have a good time among the corfi
stalks he is too busy to husk out.—•
Home and Farm.
Killing Cut Worms and Potato Bugs.
A correspondent asks how to kill
cutworms, If the garden had been
plowed at intervals during winter,
the cutworm larvae would have been
exposed and killed and there would
have beeu no cutworms this spring.
Wheat bran moistened with syrup
and arsenic acid, made into little
balls and laid about on the ground,
will attract them by the sweetness.
and poison them, Air-slacked lime
will kill them, but injure the plants.
To apply the lime. Set a tin can or
paper cone over the plant to pro¬
tect it, put a circle of lime complete¬
ly around, remove the can or paper
cone cover next plant, apply lime,
etc. It is not so tedious as it seems.
Several ask how to kill potato
bugs. One pound of Paris green to
two hundred barrels of water, ap
ply with a spraying machine; or.
one pound of Paris green to twenty
five pounds of flour thoroughly mixed
and sifted on the plants from a thin
muslin sack while the dew is on, is
a safe remedy. If one has a small
patch in the garden, use in propor
tion of one tablespoon of Paris
green to forty tablespoons of flour,
Sometimes it is necessary to repeat in
a week or ten days. Do not wait un¬
til potato vines are half-eaten up
before applying. Begin as soon as
the bugs begin. Partly destroyed
vines mean an injured and lessened
crop.—Progressive Farmer.
----
There are 40,000 lakes in N*w
foucdlacd.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME
SURROUNDINGS ATTRACTIVE.
Study These Practical Plans and Suggestions and Use
• Them on Your Home Grounds—Your Outlay of Time
and Money Will Not Be Large, While the Returns in
Happiness and Satisfaction With Your Home Will Be
a Thousand Fold.
In improving the surroundings
the country home, nothing
is recommended. The original
lay in time and money need not
large and the cost of
if the scheme is a success, will
next to nothing. A very simple
ment will accord best with the
pose of the plan and the lives of
people to be benefited. Farmers
busy people and nothing that is
to interfere with the more
operations of the farm is to be
sidered.
Planning the Lawn, Grounds
Fencing.
The lawn, or houseyard, as it
called to distinguish it from the
yard, is the first consideration. It
the foundation of the whole
and on it is built the entire plan.
can be as large as the owner
but should include at least one
of ground. Grading may, or may
be necessary. Good drainage is
sential and the ground should
away from the house, at least
wards the road or towards tho
trance to the ground. It is quite
portant that the lawn he inclosed
the best results are to be secured.
Woven wire is neat and strong
will keep out poultry as well as
cattle and hogs. If the lawn or
portion of it needs seeding,
ground can be stirred in the
and oats, timothy and clover sown.
Blue grass and white clover will soon
come in if there is any growing
or they can be soxvn after the
and timothy form a sod. In spots
where there is much wear, it may
be advisable to lay sod, but this is
usually only necessary over limited
areas.
Where the residence is already
built, the question of its location is
settled and the plan must be made
to conform to it to a large extent.
In selecting a position for a new
house, it is generally best to locate it
about the centre of the grounds and
facing the main road or entrance.
The Making of a Picture.
Planting about the place calls for
considerable ingenuity, but it gives
an opportunity for a display of taste
and individuality. By following a
few general principles, no one will go
far wrong and the changes can be
easily made when desired, except in
case of trees. The object in planting
should be to make a picture. The
house is naturally the centre about
which the trees and shrubs are to be
planted to show it to best advantage.
There must be a good background. If
the background is a solid block of a
single variety, a few trees of a dif¬
ferent habit may be planted to give
variety and a more natural effect.
No trees should he planted near
enough to shade the house, as sun¬
shine must have free entrance in the
interest of health.
LOG BOOKS OF •
ROMANTIC INTEREST :
*
Ralph D. Paine is contributing to
the Outing Magazine an attractive
series of articles on “Old Salem Ships
and Sailors,” having to do with the
time when that Massachusetts town
w'as America’s busiest and most wide¬
ly known port. In the old log hooks
in tne library of Essex Institute he
found a most fertile vein of true ro¬
mance and queer fact bearing upon
the development of American com¬
merce just after the Revolution. In
a recent issue he says of this rich
source of information:
“Almost one thousand of these
logs and sea-journals are stored in
a room of the Essex Institute, com¬
prising many more than this number
of voyages made between 1750 and
1S90, a period of a century and a half
which included the most brilliant
epoch of American sea life. Priva¬
teer, sealer, whaler and merchant¬
man, there they rest, row after row
of canvas-covered books, filled w'ith
the day’s work of as fine a race of
seamen as ever sailed blue water;
from the log of the tiny schooner
Hopewell on a voyage to the West
Indies amid perils of swarming pi¬
rates and privateers, a generation
before the Revolution, down to the
log of the white-winged Mindoro, of
the Manila fleet, which squared away
her yards for the last time only fif¬
teen years ago.
“There is no other collection of
Americana which can so vividly re¬
call a vanished era and make it live
again as these hundreds upon hun¬
dreds of ancient log-books. They
are complete, final, embracing as
they do the rise, the high-tide, the
ebb an£- the vanishing of the com¬
merce of Salem, the whole story of
those vikings of deep-water enter¬
prise who dazzled the maritime
wcrlij.”
How to Arrange (he Trees For Best
Effect.
In front, a few trees may be set
to good advantage. Several irregu¬
lar groups with perhaps one or two
good specimens set singly will be
sufficient ordinarily. They should
not break up the expanse of green
sward, as the chief element of beauty
in a lawn is the large open space
(or spaces if the grounds are large),
but be grouped about the edge. The
breaks between these groups admit of
different views from the house and
provide a variety of aspects as it is
approached. If trees of size are al¬
ready present, they can be left in
part as a rule. If any seem out of
harmony, they should come out at
once, or be left only until others can
he started to take their places. Trees
can he selected to harmonize with the
home. Low growing trees of spread¬
ing habit match the low rambling
house, while those of upright growth
go with the buildings of greater
height. Birches, white elm, red oak,
green ash and hackberry are reliable
trees of fairly rapid growth. White
oak and hard maple are fine trees but
rather slow growing. Among the
conifers, Black Hill spruce, Austrian
pine and the white pine are very de¬
sirable, the last named being the
most valuable but the slowest to ma¬
ture.
Flowers and Shrubs and How to Place
Them.
The same general principles apply
to the planting of shrubs and flower¬
ing plants. They, of course, can be
planted close to the house as long as
they do not shade the windows and
can be made to add greatly to the
beauty of the home. About the lawn,
they appear to the best advantage in
clumps of solid or mixed species and
occupy an intermediate position be¬
tween the grass and the trees.
A portion of the shrubbery should
he selected for its winter effect. Bar¬
berry, dogwood, Japanese rose and
wahoo are desirable on this account.
All the shrubs planted should be
hardy in the locality. Many native
plants can be used and often give
better results than introduced sorts.
One of the most meritorious shrubs
known for any locality is the bridal
wreath or Spirea van nouteii. It is
beautiful in flower, graceful at all
times, healthy, f-ee from insects,
hardy and easily grown.
Many flowering plants can be
grown with little or no trouble. The
tiger lily is hardy and takes care of
itself. Perennial phlox, the peony,
Iris, etc., require little attention after
plant! tv cr A few vines often add a
touch of .idornment that nothing else
can. The native bittersweet and Vir¬
ginia creeper are good as is also the
wild grape. The clematis and crim¬
son rambler rose are flowering climb¬
ers that give good satisfaction.—E.
R. Garner, in Iowa Agriculturist.
Crane For Handling Rails.
A rapid method of handling rails
by power has been recently worked
out by T. J. Wyche, division engi¬
neer of the AVestern Pacific Railway.
Rails to be forwarded to the track
laying gang are generally handled
by hand, the work being slow and
dangerous. By Mr. Wyche’s method
the rails are lifted from the pile in
the material yard and landed upon
the flatcar, seven or eight at a time,
with a locomotive derrick or crane of
the “Big City” type, such as is com¬
monly used in railway coaling ser¬
vice or for lifting heavy castings
around the shops. The equipment can
be used with equal facility in unload¬
ing rails from car to pile.
Agricultural IVst in France.
So great have been the ravages
caused by the dodder — a leafless,
twining, parasitic plant—that a de¬
cree has been issued by the French
President prohibiting its importation
into the country. It is a veritable
agricultural scourge, attacking and
destroying hops, vines, clover, peas,
tomatoes and many other kinds of
agricultural produce. Once having
founds its way into any district, it is
most difficult to get rid of, and con¬
stitutes a permanent source of anx¬
iety to the farmer. Cutting down,
burning and poison have all been
tried with unsatisfactory results.—.
London Globe.
The Silent Winners.
Examine our list of Presidential
candidates and see how few of them
made stump speeches.
George Washington made none.
Thomas Jefferson made none.
John Adams, John Quincy Adams,
James Madison, James Monroe made
none.
Neither did Andrew Jhcksan, nor
Martin Van Buren„ nor General Har¬
rison, nor James K. Polk, nor Frank¬
lin Pierce, nor James Buchanan.—
Weekly Jeffersonian. _____ ____
ECONOMY IN NEW YORK
It is Nothing but Poverty Compar*.
tively Speaking.
Economy is nothing hut poverty in
New York, by contrast with the ab¬
normal demands that living involves
Spending 50 cents for breakfast, going
without luncheon and paying }i f,,
dinner is for r
economy a single man A
breakfast that costs 30 cents and a
dinner at 60 cents is poverty, Th»
boarding (house life is poverty; the
lodging house life is something worse,
and the ordinary life in a flat is vol
unitary servitude.
Sociologists claim that the lowest
possible yearly expense for a working,
man with a wife and three children
embodying a normal standard of Hy¬
ing is $950. The statement was made
recently by the New York Depart¬
ment of Charities that the average
laborer's family in New York is ex¬
isting on about $700 a year. The
minimum rate of rent on the East
Side for tihe barest decencies is $4
a month. Coal costs from 10 to 15
cents a pail, a fabulous price when
estimated by the ton.
Yet between this poverty and ths
“economy” of the small salaried em
pioyee who is compelled to adjust his
earnings to the demands of his occu¬
pation there is small difference. We
live in New York by the oost rather
than value of things. An apple pur¬
chased on Fifth avenue costs twice as
■much a« the same apple bought on
Fourteenth street. The dollar Bowery
shirt cosits twice as much on Broad
way. This is the city where they
u pay the price.”
The self-indulgent man who spends
$300 a day has not saved his money
out of his wages. The woman who
could not manage her household for
a season on less than $75,000 is not
the daughter or the wife of a wage
earner. Economical beginners really
have no actual relation in the exist¬
ing problem of living in New- York.
What does it cost to live in New
York? More than you can ever hope
to earn in wages; and, so far as the
chances of speculation are concerned,
that infers the necessity of “pull.”
If you haven’t a “pull,” social or po¬
litical or financial, your speculative
chances are slight. Obviously this
state of restless endurance is demor¬
alizing. It undermines character.
Presently you find yourself following
the procession of people who are liv¬
ing beyond their means, because they
seem to he enjoying themselves at it.
The only way to live within your
income in New York Is to become
blind to the very extravagances and
allurements that make this the me¬
tropolis, and to sacrifice the pleasures
of temptation for the comforts of an
honorable old age.—Hair per's Weekly.
Greater New York.
It is growing more and more ap¬
parent that. New York is destined to
■he the greatest city in the world, and
we might as well admit it. The only
question is now, v*on’t it be a chore
ifor “the greatest city in the world
•to stay so ? The American climate
conduces to fickleness, and incon
staney. Having once reached the goal
nobody wants anything more to da
.with if. Therefore, let Manhattan go
a bit slow, It is getting to be “beau
tlful” in the new sense, and its squal¬
or a,r. d “early New York” look are
being pushed further and further out
of sight. That is a physical point
to its credit.—Boston-Herald.
DIFFERENT NOW.
Athlete Finds Better Training Food.
It was formerly the belief that to
become strong, athletes must eat
plenty of meat.
This is all out of date now, and
many trainers feed athletes on the
well-known food, Grape-Nuts, made
of wheat and barley, and cut the meat
down to a small portion, once a day.
“Three years ago,” writes a Mich,
man, “having become interested in
athletics, I found I would have to stop
eating pastry and some other kinds
of food.
“I got some Grape-Nuts and was
soon eating the food at every meal,
for I found that when I went on the
track, I felt more lively and active.
“Later, I began also to drink
Postum in place of coffee and the way
I gained muscle and strength on this
diet was certainly reat. On the day
0 124
of a field meet in June I weighed
pounds. On the opening of the foot¬
ball season in Sept., I weighed H lf -
I attributed my fine condition and
good work to the discontinuation of
improper food and coffee, and f he
using of Grape-Nuts and Postum,
principal diet during training season
being Grape-Nuts. never
“Before I used Grape-Nuts I
felt right in the morning—always
kind of ‘out of sorts’ with my stom
ach. But now when I rise I feel good,
and after a breakfast largely of
Grape-Nuts and cream, and a cup of ^
Postum, I feel like a new man
"There’s a Reason.” Battle
Name given by Postum . Co..
Creek, Mich. Read “ The Road t°
Wellville,” in pkgs. A new
Ever read the above letter.’
one appears from time to time, They
are genuine, true, and foil of human
Interest.
