Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1882 — FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND GARDEN.

Hens seldom pay ‘expense after they are three years old. In Sweden, as well as Norway, rye cakes are used by all classes as a common article of food. Alabama has over 2,000,000 acres of Government land subject to entry under the homestead and pre-emption laws. The special advantage of green manuring, or the ploughing in of green crops, is in the large amount of humus wnich the soil acquires. Corn growing is being encouraged in New England by money prizes to boys. A Rhode Island youth grew eighteen bushel on one-eighth of an acre and got a prize of SSO. Save the most from chimneys and stove-pipes. A pint of soot in a pailful of soft water will make a liquid manure of the greatest value for flowers and plants of all kinds.

Fruit trees, grape vines and busbies should have no place in a garden, as they draw nourishment from the soil, while their branches cast a damaging shade. Garden vegetables require plenty of soil for their own use. From some experiments made by Mr. Felix Masure it appears that when arable soil is very wet it throws oft more watery vapor than a sheet of free water. If the land is only • moderately moist the qualities are about equal, and if the soil is dry its evaporation is less. At the February meeting of the North American Poultry Association, after regular business, the subject of incalculation was discussed and the following ideas substantially established:

The only way to raise chickens with certainty for early markets is by the use of incubators. A good incubatbi will hatch from seventy to eighty per cent of the eggs put in it, ana people living in cities who have not room to keep hens can use incubators successfully, getting eggs from grocers or farmers near by. With special care 200 chickens may be raised to market size in a room fifteen feet square; and the business of raising poultry is particularly adapted to ladies and inflrm people, botn in city and country. Live chickens from 8 to 12 weeks old will sell in the East in April, May June, and July at from 40 to 75 cents a pound, or from $1 to $1.50 each, according to variety and condition.

As the mass of people are Ignorant of the profits of poultry raising cannot afford to buy expensive incubators, and do not know that they can make a good cheap incubator themselves, with which to hatch both early and late chickens, the following resolution was adopted: .Resolved, That the Secretary of the North American Poultry Association be authorized to inform the people through a leading newspaper in each State that plain directions and diagrams for making a good incubator, such as they can make at home at a cost of less than $5. and that willjhold 250 eggs, can be obtained by addressing our Secretary, enclosing two threecent stamps for return postage. At the next meeting the subjects how, when, and where to market poultry to obtain the highest prices will be discussed, and the results .made known to the public. J. M. Bain, Secretary N. A. P. A. New Concord, Ohio.

Nurserymen know what purchasers will not believe, that short, stocky trees are better for an orchard, more likely to live, come quicker into bearing than tall, slender trees, whether apple, peach, pear, plum or cherry. The reason is simply this: Tall trees in the nursery rows for some reason get the start, overtop and overshadow those started later, the sap of tbe tree consequently pushes its growth upward, and in ‘he foliage while the roots are long, slender and few, consequently it does not bear transplanting as well, or do as well after being transplanted, as was expected from its fine appearance in the row. Stocky trees, on the contrary, being overshadowed, make a shorter growth, with branches and foliage near the ground, with numerous short branching roots: and it is these numerous short roots that de not waste their substance in bleeding or by absorption from the soil, that cause the tree to start off in rapid growth and outstrip its slender rival, and also come quicker into profitable, bearing.

Crop reports gathered from every portion of the Northwest show that winter wheat is in excellent condition and that the area of spring wheat will be increased. Farmers in Southern Illinois and Indiana are buying corn for their own consumption, and the hog crop has been quite thoroughly marketed. Minnesota stllkhas on hand 20,060,000 bushels of wheat, and expects to false a crop, one-four th larger than last year. A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer says the Hamburgs will lay more eggs in a year than any other breed in existence, the Cochins and Brahmas make the best mothers, and the Plymouth Rocks are among the best. If not the very best, for making fowls. If you want a fowl for all purooses, take the Plymouth Bocks; if you want to get the most eggs without regard to size of fowls or eggs, take the Hamburgs, and if you want to get the most meat to sell by the pound take the Branmas and Cochins. If these deductions are the result of experience, the advice is timely ana of great importance, but it is not likely that it will be generally followed, the fact being that farmers who are not engaged in the speciality of raising fowls will continue to be satisfied with the old T-fashioned barn-yard fowl.