Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1899 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS

THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOME. - ." 11 ’ ' 1 The Profit of Thinning Peachea-Farm Waste* May Be Turned Into PorkHow to Care for Berry Buahea Screen the Stable Window*. A New Jersey peach grower said at the recent State hortlcnltural convention in regard to thinning peaches: This portion of the w’ork of peach culture should receive much attention from the orchard owner. If too great a number of peaches are left upon the tree to ripen, one of two results must surely follow—either the fruit will be undersized and often so Inferior in quality and insipid in flavor as to render It worthless for market or else the tree will from overwork become ex.hausted and finally blight and die. The most perfect way of thinning the fruit from trees that are overloaded is to pick It off by hand, leaving it from 4 to 6 Inches apart. There must be some rule adopted to determine the quantity of fruit that we wish to remain to ripen upon the tree. This the Individual grower must largely determine for himself. When he fully realizes that a peach tree can successfully ripen only a given number of pounds of fruit—the amount varying according to the age, size and conditions of the tree—he will possess knowledge requisite for correct thinning. He must bear in mind that the profits of a peach orchard depend almost solely upon two features—the size and color of the fruit. Accuracy of grading will in the end enhance the value of the crop. Small or large peaches should be graded to a uniform size, but the small fruit will not ordinarily pay shipping expenses.

Scr«en» for -tabl- Win<’aw, The wire screens commonly used in houses to keep out flies are now so cheap that they can be profitably used in stable windows for the same purpose. But it must be remembered that the stable is itself the most common breeding place for files, in the excrement from animals in which the files deposit their eggs. Unless care is taken to gather up and remove the droppings before there is time for eggs to hatch, the window screens will serve rather to shut the flies in than to keep them out. Stables should never be built near houses, because if they are nothing can keep houses from being overrun with files. Next to the stable as a breeding place for these pests is the sink hole, where slops of all kinds are thrown to pass off through drains underneath. It is possible that where these conditions prevail, flies, though annoying, are really beneficial. Flies doubtless destroy much filth, and thus lessen the malaria which would prevail if they had not been created. But it is far better to place all decaying substances under ground, where the earth will absorb their bad odors, than to leave them n u the surface to breed flies.

Poor Early Tomaton. Any one who buys the first tomatoes that come into market must expect to find them of poor quality. All the very early tomatoes are seedy and contain little pulp or meat. In those marketed earliest this deficiency of pulp is made greater beqtuse the tomatoes are ripened off the vine. A tomato exposed to the sun colors faster off the vine than on it. but this premature ripening is at the expense of its quality. So long as the tomato retains its connection with the plant on which it grew, the leavesof the vine are taking carbon from the air and conveying it to the fruit. Late in the season when there is danger from freezing many tomato growers pull up their vines with fruit attached, and allow both to lie in some shed or barn where frost cannot get at them until the fruit is perfected. Tomatoes thus ripened are better than those plucked green from the vine and left to color in the sun. The late varieties also are apt to be more meaty and solid, with fewer seeds. These are much the best for canning, and will for this use often bring higher prices than tomatoes sell for during the height of the season. The late price is often nearly as high as the very early price in this kind of fruit. There is even a good demand late for green tomatoes to be used for pickles.

Are Ants Injuring Trees, Complaints concerning the injury done fruit trees by ants are very common, yet in about 99 cases out of 100 the ants are not doing the injury, but merely accompany other Insects which do more or less barm. Almost always when ants are found on a tree, a careful Inspection will show that it is infested with some kind of plant louse, psylla or scale insect. All of these insects excrete a sweet, sticky fluid known as honey dew, which forms a large item of food with the ants. In fact, the ants actually raise the young plant lice and care for them, so that later on they may secure the honeydew from them. In the case of many plant lice which live both on the roots and leaves of trees, the ants may often be found carrying the lice from the root up on to the trunk, if observed early in the season. Recently a man from Vermont was complaining of ants injuring his pine trees. No doubt pine trees were affected with a scale, which oc- ' curs very commonly on them, known as I the pine kermes. This gives off a sim- | liar secretion while it is still young and 1 and la attended by ants for this treason. I Very often these obscure scales, ' though doing the tree considerable injury, remain unnoticed, and the damage la laid to the account of the anta. It ia always well to destroy the ants* aests when they can be found, thus

preventing them from aiding the plant lice and scales. The plant Hee and scales may be destroyed by spraying with kerosene emulsion or whale-oil soap.—Orange Judd Farmer. Care for the Ferry Bushes. ’ After the fruit has been harvested and during the rest of the summer lathe best time to give the raspberries necessary pruning. One of the first things to do is to cut out all of the old canes. It is this year’s growth of cane that bears the fruit next year, and it is quite an item to secure a vigorous, thrifty growth. By cutting out the old canes more room is given, and the new canes can make a better growth. At the same time that the old canes are taken out, all of the small, weak or unthrifty canes should be taken out. Three or four strong, vigorous canes will yield more and better fruit than two or three times that number of small and weak canes. All canes not wanted should be treated as weeds and managed accordingly. There Is no advantage in allowing the canes that are left to grow too long. If the strength of the root can be thrown into one-half the length secured of cane a better quality of fruit may be secured. The rich shoots may be treated in the same way.—N. J. Shepherd, in Farmers' Voice. Dew a* a Fertilizer. Anyone who gets out at work on the fields early in summer will find the leaves of plants and even the surface soil wet with dew which has been deposited during the night, as the soil in spring is much colder than the air. The dew is condensed moisture in the form of steam, which has taken from the air some ammonia, and some carbonic acid gas. It is therefore softer than rain water, and also richer In manorial elements. If this dew is left uncultivated it evaporates when the sun gets up high enough to shiue on it, and all this fertility vanishes into thin air. We know farmers who get their teams out to cultivating corn and potatoes while both the soil and plants are wet with dew. They do a forenoon's work by 10 or 11 o’clock, and then take for the teams and themselves three or four hours’ nooning during the heat of the day. This is better than beginning work late, and then eating hurriedly and eating the principal meal of the day without rest in which to digest it. One of the main advantages of this plan is that it turns some dry soil over the dew, thus saving its fertilizing properties.—American Cultivator. Basswood Honey. In places where the basswood or linden tree thrives, bees make a great deal of honey from its blossoms during the short season of their continuance. This honey is distinct from that made from white clover, as it has a yellow tinge and a peculiarly rich flavor that almost everybody likes. There is a great difference in th? quality of honey, dei>endent on the blossom from which the nectar is taken. The lightcolored honey is generally reckoned best, because most of that which is dark colored has been made from buckwheat blossoms. Buckwheat honey cannot be sold for as good a price as that from clover or basswood. But it serves just as well for the winter feed of bees, and the boxes in which surplus honey is to be gathered are usually removed while the buckwheat is in blossom. Making Cherries Profitable. A great many farmers have cherry trees whose crops go unpicked except by birds and what are used in the family. Yet where there is nearribss to a canning factory or to a shipping station it is possible to make more profit from this fruit than from any other. Unlike the other small fruits the cherry tree needs no cultivation. It will succeed perhaps better in a sod than if the land around it is cultivated. The cherry tree roots deeply and never suffers from drought. The cherries should lie fully ripe before being picked, as they will not ripeu off the tree. The fruit should be gathered when quite dry, not wet with either rains or dew and with stem attached. It must be handled carefully so as not to bruise the skin or even remove the bloom from it. If the stem loosens in its connection with the fruit, that cherry should be thrown out, as it will rot and spoil the fruit next to it.

Exercios and Dictation A cow left alone and having room to move about freely will usually take all the exercise she needs and at the time she needs it. All attempts of her owner to force her to take exercise will prove not only useless but injurious. Some people hate the idea that a cow that has a full stomach requires to be driven around to work off the surplus food. That may be a partial remedy when the cow is bloated and lies down. She is then full of gas. and some motion of her body and limbs is useful to allow the gas to escape. But in any ordinary digestion, when an animal has a full stomach which is being disposed of normally, rest and sleep art beneficial rather than otherwise. Some exercise to maintain health Is necessary, but there is no danger that a well-fed cow will not take all that is good for her if let alone. She will take it when it will not distress an overloaded stomach, or an udder that is distended with milk which needs to be drawn from it V'eavine Clover. The peavine or mammoth clover has too coarse a stalk to be made good hay. and it requires so long a time to cure it that most farmers after one trial are glad to go back to the medium clover. That can be made to produce as large crops as can be cured and housed in good order, and also as large crops as is profitable to plow under. Most of the nitrogenous fertility which clover gives is wasted the following winter if the land is plowed.