Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1908 — FARM. ORCHARD AND GARDEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARM. ORCHARD AND GARDEN

BY F.E.TRIGG

RESISTER. ROCKFORD, lA. correspondence SOLICITED

The good will of another person may often be won just as quickly by asking a favor of him as by doing a kindness for him. Where it is possible without loss of self respect it is preferable to have the good will rather than the Hi will of a mean cur. Mnny an east and west road can be greatly improved if rows of trees skirting the highway on the south are thinned so as to let the sun shine on the road a part of the day. While the puttering and painstaking and the swift and slapdab hired man are both a trifle wearing on one’s nerves, a fellow sleeps better nights if he has the former rather than the latter on the place. The uncovering of the flowering shrubs and fruits should ,not be done until warm weather has set In for good and other vegetation has made a decided start. Then if a frost comes the chance for damage will be much less.

In nine cases out of ten the worst enemy that the farmer or gardener has is the “man with the gun” who periodically raids his premises. The only kind of dope that will reach this pest is a legal warning to keep off the premises. About the time the yard Is raked Is a pretty good time to inspect the cellar and see that decayed or decaying vegetables of all kinds are removed. It is very natural to overlook the truck in the cellar because it is largely out of sight. If the cornfield is Infested with milkweeds and morning gloties It Is about time to turn it into pasture for three or four years. The presence of these weeds may be taken as a sign that the soil needs a rest from the system of cropping which has been followed with It In preceding years. The common black crow Is a much worse enemy to the poultry man than the skunk or much maligned chicken hawk, which in spite of its name seldom raids the poultry yard. Where chickens or turkeys nest in wood lots adjoining the premises, crows will rifle the nests every chance they get. For the gardener on a small scale in the northern states it is questionable if there is a black raspberry which excels the Older. It is perfectly hardy and does not require covering of any kind, but propagates from the tip, while the fruit it bears is of large size and fine quality. Of those which require covering during the winter the Nemaha is one of the best. While a rotation of only corn and oats may result in a more desirable condition of soil than were corn to follow corn and may perhaps keep in check some pests that work Injury to the latter cereal, the fact remains that with both crops there is a constant pull from the soil and no contribution to it or re-enforcing of it, ns is the case when the clovers enter into the rotation. Because the expense of hauling a crop to market is seldom counted in the expense of producing it there does not seem to be an adequate realization of the enormous annual cost of hauling the various crops produced in this country to market. While the cost to any individual producer may not be a considerable amount, the aggregate for all producers amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars every year. The experience which some corn growers living in the northern part of the corn belt have had the past two or three years points quite conclusively to the fact that the rather small and early maturing variety of corn is a better agricultural asset than the whopping ear with shoe peg kernels that gets pinched with the frost at both ends of the season and sours on the cob after it is put into the crib. While crops of almost all kinds make a more vigorous growth in seasons that are too wet rather than those that are too dry. it is noticeable in a period of years that small grain is of a better Quality when the rather dry conditions prevail, while the root crops do better in the more moist seasons. SemitropIcal plants like the lima bean, eggplant, pepper and tomato are partial to both heat and moisture and flourish best when these conditions exist Reports originating In portions of North Carolina are to the effect that not only has the tanbark industry bad a direct and disastrous effect upon the forest reserves of the state, but that the people engaged in it grow poorer from year to year. It is pointed out by observers that the work of securing the bark gives a return of barely a day’s wages, which is not nearly so profitable as the same effort would be directed along agricultural lines.