Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1901 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. Some Dp-to-Date Hints About Cultivation of the Soil and Yields Thereof — Horticulture, Viticulture and FloricuL. tare. Horticultural Observations. Winter is a good time to attack the pear blight. Investigations have shown that the disease remains over in the diseased branches, the organisms ready to begin again their work" in the early spring. The branches that are dead should all be cut off and burned and any branches that have been cast down by the wind should also be included in the collection. In fact, it pays to give the orchard a thorough cleaning, either in fall or early spring. Burn up all rubbish. The orchard should then be carefully Inspected to make sure that all the infected branches have been cut off. Thorough work in this matter will make it easy to keep the trouble in check next year. At the recent horticultural convention held at Champaign, Illinois, there was a most excellent exhibition of fruit. One feature of the exhibit was a display by' experiment station. This consisted of all the varieties of apples, pedrs, etc., grown on the experiment farm, and was for educational purposes only. About 150 plates were shown, each piled with fruit. Near each plate was a printed card, giving the name, in large letters, of the fruit, and below the name, the time of ripening and keeping. It gave the students of pomology a chance to study the varieties, such as he seldom finds. As the exhibit was not made for the purpose of securing a prize, the arrangement could be made to best advantage and in comparative order. It is a plan that can be followed to advantage by other institutions. • • • Indications point to the development of peach orchards in many points in the great Alleghany chain of mountains. Much of that country is as wild to-day as it was the day it was discovered by Europeans. The woodman has found little use for it, on account of the great difficulty of removing the trees after they were cut. The farmer has found little use for it, the ground only being devoted to farming in the portions easiest to cultivate. But it has long been known as a region adapted to fruit and where wild fruit grew in great abundance. Little by little the peach orchards have encroached on this wild domain. The fruit has been found to be of the best —fine in flavor, large In size and well colored. Moreover, most of the region is within easy railroad communications of the best markets.

Tb« Races of Corn. Prof. A,. S. Hitchcock, of the Kansas Experiment station, has recently sent out a summary of his investigations into the races of corn. He says: Indian corn has been in cultivation by the native races of America for an indefinite period. It probably .originated from a wild form somewhere on the Mexican plateau. Botanists usually refer all our forms to one species, Zea Mays, with several well-marked subspecies on races. There are five important races of corn grown in the United States on a commercial scale: 1. Dent Corn. A part of the starch in the grain is of a close, hard texture. This is called the horny endosperm and is found along the sides of the kernel, while the softer portion, or starchy endosperm, is found in the center, extending to the summit. In drying the center shrinks more than the rest and hence leaves a dent at the apex of the grain. Dent corns are the common field varieties grown in the corn belt and are almost the only kind exported. There are various colors, white, yellow and mottled (calico), being the most common. There are also red and blue varieties. Three hundred and twenty-three varieties are described. 2. Sweet Corn. These are chiefly found in gardens, but it is grown on a commercial scale for canning purposes, and some of the large sorts are grown for fodder. The first variety cultivated was obtained from the Indians, New England, in 1779. In 1854 there were ten varieties. Now there are sixty-three. Corn as a vegetable is practically unknown outside the United States. 3. Flint. The horny endosperm entirely surrounds the starchy, and hence the grain is smooth at maturity. Color various. Many varieties have eight rows and hence are known as eightrowed corn. Flint corn can be grown much farther north than the dent corn, since it matures earlier, hence it is the prevailing form in Canada and the northern United States. Since it is the common corn of New England it is often called Yankee corn. 4. Pop-corn. These resemble the flint corns, but differ in the ability to “pop’’ when heated. This phenomenon depends upon the fact that the starch is in the form of horny endosperm and the moisture present can not easily escape, but finally explodes, turning the grain inside out. Pop-corn seems to be the least modified from the original type. There are twenty-five varieties. 5. Soft Corns. In these the starch is all in the form of starchy endosperm. It seems to have been common among the Indians of the southwest. Some of the blue Squaw corns belong to this race. Brazilian flour corn, sold by seedsmen, is a soft corn. There is no dent in these varieties. Besides the above there is a pod corn grown as a curiosity, in which each kernel is enclosed in a husk; and some ornamental varieties derived from the

flint corn, grown for the striped or barrel leaves. The latter are usually sold under the name of Zea Japonica. The varieties of corn are very variable in size, shape, and other qualities. The late Doctor Sturtevant, an authority on corn, said: “The height of the plant is varieties and localities has been reported from eighteen inches for the golden Tom Thumb pop to thirty fee’t or more for varieties in the West Indies, and single stalks in Tennessee at twenty-two and one-half feet. I have seen ears one inch long in the pop class and sixteen inches long in the dent class. The rows in varieties may vary from eight to twenty-four or more, and in individual ears are reported from four to forty-eight. A hundred kernels of miniature pop weighed forty-six grains; of Cuzco, 1531 grains. A variety that ripens in one month is mentioned from Paraguay, and seven months is said to be required in some southern countries.’’ The tables show that the average composition of dent corn is, protein 10.3 per cent, fat, 5 per cent; flint, protein, 10.5 per cent; fat, 5 per cent; sweet, protein, 11.6 per cent; fat, 8.1 per cent. Sweet corn is thus richer In protein and fat, and correspondingly poorer in carbohydrates. At the Kansas State Agricultural College, experiments are In progress to increase the protein-content of fluid corn by crossing and selection. Any increase in the protein will greatly extend its usefulness as a feed for stock.

To Produce Hardier Planta. At the Rhode Island Experiment station they have taken up the question of frost resistance of plants, and are trying by selection to give greater hardiness to some of our commonest plants. A report by the station says: Gardeners will recall the apparent peculiarities often manifest in the behavior of plants subject to frost. Two plants of the same variety, standing side by side, may show altogether different results, the one being killed or severely injured and the other remaining practically untouched. At times these differences may be due to varying atmospheric conditions, but much of it must be the result of difference in inherent vigor and resistance of the individual plants. Is it possible in the case of tender plants, by selecting and breeding from those individuals which show greatest resistance, to develop a hardier strain? This question has been under test with garden beans. Three varieties of bush beans were planted in a hot-bed in the spring of 1899. After they were well up, the sash was removed, .exposing them to frost on a cold night. Many of the plants were killed outright, others severely hurt, while a few showed little Injury. Seed from these was saved and subjected to similar treatment in tne spring of 1900. This time an unusually hard frost occurred on the night when the sash was first removed. The temperature reported by the meteorologist of the station, as occurring in the village near by, was 28 degrees. Yet a few plants remained unharmed, others were less severely Injured and many were killed outright. Other seeds saved from the resistant plants were planted in the open ground in comparison with ordinary seeds. The plants from these have shown greater vigor in resisting cold and untoward conditions and at the present writing are decidedly in advance. The question asked at the beginning of the experiment cannot be answered for some time, but the indications now are that careful selection may produce valuable results in securing plants less subject to frost injury.

Size of Kernels of Seed Wheat. Great possibilities He in the develop, ment of seed wheat. Constant selection of the largest kernels will have a constant tendency to improve the seed and the resulting crop. Some experiments were carried on in France to determine to what extent the crop could be improved by such a selection. Though the process was carried on for only three years, the results were apparent. The experiment was tried in two directions, always selecting the largest seeds for one crop and the smallest seeds for another. At the end of thtee years the yield on the plats planted with the large seeds was very marked over the plats that had been planted with the small seeds. Also the large wheat grains had more vigor and developed much more rapidly than did the others, and the crop matured earlier. The same experimenter carried on at the same time a parallel experiment. He selected for one lot the grains that developed soonest on the heads, and for another lot selected the grains that matured latest on the heads. In three years he had two crops growing side by side, one of them maturing six days ahead of the other.

Three Claeses of Feeds. We have practically three classes of cattle feeds, (a) those lowin protein and high in carbohydrates (1:10), such as hays, straws, roots and grains, but varying in digestibility, (b) medium in protein and medium in carbohydrates (1:5), and (c) high in protein and low in carbohydrates (1:2). Recognizing, then, the difference in com position of the various feed stuffs, and knowing the uses of the protein, fat and carbohydrates in the process of nutrition, our next step would be to so combine the several feeds as to secure the several groups in such quantities and proportions as to best attain the end sought. It might be of interest in passing to note the comparative difference in the value of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid in one ton of these several feeds. The fertilizing ingredients in hays, straws, etc., have about the same value as in the grains. In the legumes they are one-half as valuable again, and in case of the concentrated feeds, from three to nearly four times as valuable as in either the grains, straws or hays.

Storing Apples. This U a subject upon which few think alike. The fundamental question, “is storing profitable," can be answered in as many ways as there are lots to store. My own opinion is, that is the years go by storing will increase, but profits thereby will decrease. The mere fact of so many cold storage houses being available will tend to make apples worth more money in the fall or at picking time and less in the spring. This will no doubt be a good thing for the producer if not for the storer of apples. It is to be hoped that more discrimination will be shown in the matter of storage of apples. Too many poor apples are stored, and the knowledge of this is taken advantage of by certain cold storage men to the disadvantage of the holders. Cold storage used with judgment is one of the best aids of the fruit grower and dealer, but used as it often is, for storing bruised or windfall or poorly packed fruit, it is worse than useless; it is a detriment In general put no apples in cold storage (unless in rare cases for temporary preservation) except those varieties that would keep fairly well in ordinary storage. A soft apple which would be all right to sell within a day or two after arrival is sometimes absolutely ruined by cold storage, and a temperature which will keep a Baldwin or Ben Davis for months will sometimes bake a Duchess or a ripe Snow apple as effectually as a week of hot weather. The lack of variation in the treatment of different varieties of apples and even of the same varieties under different conditions will explain many a puzzling lack of keeping quality in apples in cold storage. Cold storage is as yet only in its infancy and there is no doubt in my mind that the time will come, and is not so very f ar distant, when almost any apples properly picked and packed can be kept from one to two years in perfect condition and without shrinkage. The problem of liquified air will no doubt be an important one, and electricity is already in use in one plant in Chicago. The cooling agent In most common use Is ammonia, but carbonic acid gas is now being tested with good results, and its freedom from odor and from danger in case of fire, may make it a formidable rival of ammonia. It also is in use in one Chicago plant in connection with electricity and is doing good .work.—Benjamin Newhall.

Spreading Manure Upon the Snow. An early and heavy snow fall, while tending to diminish natural losses of plant food, Is apt to favor artificial losses. It is apt to deter the farmer from hauling out his manure supply. Too many farmers hold to the mistaken notion that spreading manure upon the snow is a wasteful practice, that much of its value is lost by leaching and by running off of the surface in the spring. They point to darkened snows, to discolored waters and to greener meadows at the base of the hillsides as proof of these losses. It is probably true that some loss occurs in this way, but it *s less than is usually supposed. Those who are frightened by this, however, should study the barn losses, should know that, as ordinarily kept, manure deteriorates more in the barn cellar or in the manure heap than it uoes in the field; that it is better for manure to leach on the soil it is meant to fertilize than in proximity to the barn and the family well; that it will ferment less outdoors than it will indoors; that, in short, experiment and experience alike show that the housing of manure in the winter for spring hauling is seldom better and generally worse than spreading it upon the snow as fast as it is made. Some will be lost if spread; more, however, wm In<lt if kept at the barn; and the spring’s work will be just so much the further behind. Experiment station bulletins preach this doctrine, institute speakers propound it, and farmers are yearly practicing it more extensively. It is the modern notion, and the right one. The winter manuring of a steep sidehill may not be advisable; but moderate slopes or level pieces of not too leachy land may be safely fertilized any day in the year except Sunday.—Vermont Experiment Station Bunetin. Value of Feeds. The animal must have a certain amount of feed to produce heat and energy, and this can be more cheaply secured from carbohydrates. Protein is necessary to replace the wastes of the body, ..to form flesh and to enable milk-producing animals to give maximum and continuous milk yields. Special use of carbohydrates: The carbohydrates, besides being the principal source of heat and energy, serve as the chief source of fat Special use of fat: Experiments have proved that fat yields two and odehalf times as much heat as the carbohydrates. Animal , fat is also formed from the fat of the feed, but as a rule not directly; i. e., the fat molecule is more or less pulled to pieces and reconstructed. The lives of none of our farm animals can be sustained by protein, fat, carbohydrates or ash alone; and yet protein, carbohydrates and ash of the feed are all absolutely necessary to sustain life and produce growth. Experiments proving the above facts teach us that for the securing of specific ends, such as the production of flesh, fat or milk, tuese several groups of substances as found Jn our various agricultural plants should not for economical reasons be fed hap-hazard, but rather In reasonably definite proportions, depending upon the end sought It is calculated that the cotton crop of the south this season will yield |500,000,000 in cotton and seed and 9100,000,000 worth of oil. Some people speak only to deceive and listen only to betray.