Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1874 — FARM AND HOUSEHOLD. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

—California produced4,ooo,ooo oranges last year. —Virginia tomatoes have more taste than Bermuda ones. . —The New England hay crop is much above the average this year. —Nearly all tropical fruits can be sue cessfully cultivated in Florida. • —“ Every tree is subject to disease,” said a speaker in a fruit-growers’ convention. —“ What ailment can you find on an oak?-” asked the chairman. “A-corn!” wit's the triumphant reply. —The average of all crops this year will probably vastly exceed that of any previous year in the United States. —An Illinois father punishes his refractory sons by making them hoe corn at night, each one carrying a lantern. —A Bay City (Mich,) butcher recently exhibited two Durham cattle in the stieetsof that city which weighed 4,550 pounds. —Too often are leaves gathered into piles and burned in the front of gentlemen’s places, when, if they would transfer them to the stable for bedding, they would make them more acceptable so the stock than straw or any coarse hay litter, besides the manure made by their use is worth one-eighth more than that from straw or hay litter. —ls we wish for eggs wc must take good case of the hens. Change the food frequently; in winter give them warm, pure water twice a day, pound up oyster or clam shells and give lean meat, though fat will do. Cheek meat can be hall at the butcher’s for five cents per pound. If hens arc cared for in the manner described the common breed arc aS good as any. —lt must not be forgotten that soils undergo exhaustion by continued cropping, and it is important that the tiller of the soil should maintain its fertility. It is not necessary to define precisely the chemical or mechanical condition of the soil, nor to define what exhaustion means or to explain how it was brought about; it is enough to know that cropping exhausts the land and that it ceases to give a full return unless means be taken to restore fertility; and the fertile quality must be maintained by what is called cultivation digging, manuring, subsoiling, draining, when necessary, and keeping the land clean. —Every fruit tree should be examined early in the season for the boring pests. Examine the tree near the ground. If a borer is at work spots may be seen in the bark where the pest is forcing the litter out through a small Title. In some trees where there are borers you will see a rough-looking slit or crack in the bark about an inch and a quarter long, with the borings or sawdust protruding. This sawdust is a sure sign of destruction within. There are generally four grubs in each place. They must be dug out, at whatever sacrifice of bark and patience, or the tree is ruined. Cut into the tree about an inch above the wound and carry the knife downward, removing a strip of bark to the bottom of the scar.