Various - Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.

V >> Various >> Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884.

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INSECTS.

Prof. Forbes gave a learned and scientific dissertation on contagious
diseases of insects, and a number of germinal diseases, and experimental
and successful attempts to kill them. The Professor showed that nausea
is contagious and may be transferred by diseased worms, and that
therefore the spread of disease in worms would considerably lessen the
danger to plants and fruits from their inroads. These facts, said the
Professor, give us reason to hope that we have discovered another means
of defense from destructive insects.

Mr. Earle will try pyrethrum next season for the tarnished bug. Prof.
Budd gave a brief sketch of latest methods of killing off noxious
insects as followed by J.N. Dixon, of the State of Iowa, one of the
greatest fruit farmers in that State or in the Northwest. He destroys
the insect by sprinkling the trees with water diluted with arsenic,
using one pound of white arsenic to 200 gallons of water. This has
proven a great success and is not at all expensive. Some members
objected to the use of arsenic on account of its poisonous properties.
London-purple or Paris-green were recommended by some. Some members did
not like to have hogs running in their orchards; others found them a
benefit if but few were permitted. They did a good work. If the orchard
is overstocked with them they do harm. They root about the trees and rub
against them. It is not an uncommon thing for them to kill the trees in
the course of a couple of years.

FRUIT COMMITTEES.

Dr. Schroeder, member of the committee on pear culture, made no formal
report, but in brief remarks urged the general planting and raising of
the kind of fruit as being profitable and productive. Mr. Samuel
Edwards, of Mendota, chairman of committee on currants, read a very
interesting report on currants and gooseberries, in which it appeared
that the cultivation of this fruit was neglected and was on the decline.
Dr. A.L. Small, of Kankakee, made a report on plums, in which he
recommended the general planting of this fruit, he making a specialty of
plum trees, and regarded the plum as a fruit that was coming more in
demand and popular, and one that readily adapts itself to the many kinds
of climates and soils.

Mr. Weir also read a paper on plums and plum culture. He recommended the
Chickasaw because it is hardy and not liable to have its blossoms
injured by a late spring, like many fruits. He named the Newman and Wild
Goose among other so-called seedlings that were very good. He expressed
the opinion that there was but one distinct species of plum in the
United States.

FLORICULTURE.

Mrs. Mary J. Barnard, of Manteno, from the committee on floriculture,
strongly urged the cultivation of house-plants, not only as beautifiers,
but to give the most pleasant occupation to every lady of the family.
She referred to the earlier flowers of summer especially--the crocus,
snow-drop, lily of the valley, tulips. Next to these came the annuals;
with little trouble these could be had for months. The wild flowers of
the prairies were spoken of, and she suggested that we should obtain
seed of the flowers and raise such as we wish. The paper was a good one
and was well received. Mr. Baller, a florist of Bloomington, said that
of late the demand for plants had fallen off. The reason given was that
there was an increased general knowledge among the people. At the
present, the chief demands are for hot-house, cut flowers, and
monthlies. The reason given for the falling off of the demand for plants
was the fact that plants were more easily raised since the introduction
of base-burners. This, he thought, could be still further increased by
having a double sash, and the building of bay windows on the south and
east of the houses. He reported, however, that there was still a good
market for hot-house flowers among the rich for decorating purposes,
funerals, etc.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER will, from time to time, consider other
papers and discussions at this meeting, for there was much more of
interest said and done than can be condensed into a simple running
report. We advise farmers to send one dollar to the Secretary and
receive therefor a copy of the Transactions when issued.

A SHORT SERMON ON A LONG TEXT.

The text will be found in Leviticus 16: 21-22-23; but whether its
application can be found is uncertain. Horticulturists are prone to find
scape-goats to carry their sins of omission and commission; and they
load these--a great burden--upon them, and send them off to be lost in
the wilderness. Providence is most usually chosen by them for this
purpose. Most of their mistakes and failures--sins, let us call
them--are ascribed to Providence; and He is expected to carry the
burden. But I strongly urge they remain our own after all.

I am led to these conclusions by the fact that among the many failures
in fruit culture there are some splendid successes; and that these
successes occur with those, as a rule, who are guiltless of these sins;
and that just in proportion to the magnitude of the guilt is the success
insured. In other words--that almost invariably are our failures to be
attributed to our own want of skill and our neglect--most generally the
latter. Here and there we note cases of marked success--of heavy crops
and large returns for care and labor invested. These are mostly on a
small scale; as for instance, one man produces from at the rate of 200
to 300 bushels of strawberries per acre, on a few rods of ground.
Another, his neighbor, gets about as many quarts. The conditions of soil
and climate are about the same. Now is Providence to be charged with
this disparity? Certainly not. The same care, the same intelligent
management, and the same amount of labor bestowed, would have produced
as favorable results in the one case as in the other.

And so, as to larger tracts. I hold that what my neighbor can do on a
dozen square rods, he and I both ought to be equally able to do on five
or ten, or twenty times as large a tract. But, you say, these large
yields are the results of extraordinary care. True, they are; and that
proves my theory--that extraordinary care will produce extraordinary
results. What one man can do once, he can do again and all the time; and
we all can do the same. Extraordinary care may be defined as the care
necessary to produce good results, and if that care were always applied
it would cease to be extraordinary.

I myself saw in my neighbor's field a crop of strawberries, on two rows,
which at the safest and closest calculation I could make, yielded at the
rate of over 300 bushels per acre. He had but the two rows; had given
them extraordinary care--had kept them clear of grass and weeds--and the
ground mellow--and had mulched them with forest leaves. Those two rows
were in a field of several acres in size. The same care in planting, in
cultivating, in mulching, and the whole tract would have produced
corresponding results. That same year, my crop, on soil equally as good,
reached a yield of less than one-fifth in amount. Why this difference?
Providence favored him and didn't favor me, I might say, if I felt
disposed to make a scape-goat of Providence for my misdeeds. But I do
not believe that Providence did anything of the sort. The fault was my
own; and I have no right to attempt to shift the responsibility. And it
was not want of knowledge either. We, none of us, do as well as we know
how. Our failures are mostly the results of sheer neglect. Mistakes, we
incline to call them. Let us call them sins, and repent of them; and not
endeavor to do as Aaron did, pack them off into the wilderness. When we
bring ourselves to thus correct our mistakes, our crops will be
increased threefold, and Providence will no longer be made a scape-goat
for us.

T.G.

PRUNINGS.

The strawberry was introduced into England from Flanders in 1530.

Gardeners in London, England, are always ready to buy toads. The regular
market price for them ranges from $15 to $25 per hundred.

Soap-suds are a valuable fertilizer for all forms of vegetation;
especially serviceable for small fruits, and in the fruit garden proper
will never be wasted.

An Italian claims to have discovered that by drenching the foliage of
grapevines with a solution of soda the filaments of the mildew fungus
will be shriveled, while the leaves will remain uninjured. A Wisconsin
nurseryman, however, advises the use of flowers of sulphur, which he
believes a good remedy, also, when applied to the vines and when added
to the soil surrounding them.

A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph says that he has found salt
a valuable remedy for rust on blackberry vines, and concludes: "I have
applied two or three handfuls on the surface of the ground, immediately
over the roots, when the plants were badly rusted; in two or three weeks
the disease had disappeared, and the plants had made a good growth. I
believe moderate applications of salt, sown broadcast over a blackberry
patch, would be of great benefit as a fertilizer and health renewer."

Gardener's Monthly: In the discussions on forest culture, little is said
of the willow, which forms a very interesting department. The white
willow, Salix Candida, is often used for coarse work. S. Vinnunatis and
S. Russelliana, are the most commonly used in the Eastern United States,
under the name of Osier, or basket willow, and S. Forbyana, a variety of
S. rubra, or the red willow is often used for fine work. In the Editor's
recent visit to the Northwest a number of fine species were noted which
would evidently be worth introducing for basket-making purposes.

The Germantown Telegraph says: "To grow good crops of blackberries the
soil should be good and especially deep, for the roots run down
wonderfully when possible for them to do so; and as the growing fruit
requires its greatest nourishment in the usually dry month of August, it
is an advantage to have deep soil for the roots to draw a supply from. A
deep, sandy soil will generally grow the best crop of berries, while a
clay soil tends to produce rust. Good cultivation, good soil, and a
judicious use of manure make stout and vigorous canes, with a crop of
berries in increased ratio."

Indiana correspondent Orange County Farmer: I have had a good deal of
experience in propagating currants. I always plant my currant cuttings
in the fall as soon as the leaves fall off. They will make durable roots
two to four inches long the same fall, while the buds remain dormant.
They will make double the growth the next season if set in the fall, and
they should be set in ground that will not heave them out by the effects
of frost and should be covered just before winter sets in with coarse
litter. Remove the covering early in the spring and examine the cuttings
to see if any of them hove, and if so, press them down again. Should
they heave up an inch or more, if well pressed down, they will start and
make better growth than cuttings set in the spring. In either case,
however, the cuttings should always be made in the fall.

A Rural New Yorker correspondent gets down to the real art of grape
eating. Hear him tell how to manipulate the fruit: No! the man who holds
the grape between his thumb and dexter finger and squeezes or shoots the
pulp into his throat, does not know how to enjoy the fruit, and is not
likely to appreciate the good qualities of a fine grape. Let the berries
follow each other into the mouth in rapid succession until three or four
are taken, while with each insertion the teeth are brought together upon
the seeds without breaking them. The acid of the pulp is thus freed to
mingle with the saccharine juice next the skin, and a slight
manipulation by the tongue separates the seeds and skins from the
delicious winey juices; after this has tickled the palate, skins and
seeds may be ejected together. Close to the skin lies a large part of
the good flavor of the grape.

On the subject of protecting trees from mice, R.W. Rogers, in Ohio
Farmer says: "As the season is near at hand when farmers will have to
look to the protection of their young fruit trees from ground mice, I
send you my method if you deem it worthy of publishing. It is as
follows: Take old tin fruit cans, put them on the fire until the parts
that are soldered have become heated, when they will come apart. Take
the body of the can and encircle it around the tree, letting the sides
lap each other, and press firmly in the ground before it has become
frozen. The mice coming in contact with the tin will turn them in
another direction. It is far better than mounding up or tramping snow
about them. Most any farmer can gather up enough for a good sized
orchard, and make them pay compound interest, which otherwise would be a
nuisance or pitched out of the back window."

FLORICULTURE.

Gleanings by an Old Florist.

ARTIFICIAL MANURES AND OTHER MATTERS.

The successful raisers of many kinds of flowers use, more or less, some
kind of what might be called artificial stimulants other than the
ordinary manuring of the soil at the time the plant is set out, whether
it be in pot culture or in the open benches. This is no new thing under
the sun; not a few who have been in the habit, and found great results,
have tried to keep a monopoly, and have been more or less close-mouthed
in the matter. Perhaps one of the oldest forms of this feeding extra
stimulants to their pets was in the form of liquid manure made from
various materials, as horse, sheep, cow, and other manures. They are
sometimes prepared with ever so much mystery in the matter of quantity,
time of preparation, quantity given, etc., all of which was supposed to
have its influence. Of one thing, however, there was certain, tangible
evidence that many of these persons managed, if for exhibition, to carry
off the best premiums; and if for the market were pretty sure to command
the best prices, and what is more, obtain the greater results
financially.

Soot, guano, ammonia, and in later years, material obtained from the
immense slaughter-houses, such as blood and other offal in a highly
concentrated form, find, perhaps, nowadays, more advocates; principally
because the first-mentioned list contains articles that give off very
offensive odors while being applied, so that the more fastidious are
loath to use them. What may not be very offensive to the plodding
florist would be highly so to the more refined, or when the general
public comes more into contact with the crops while being so applied. In
almost all of the cases where the ingredients mentioned are used they
are diluted with a large quantity of water, except in the case of the
droppings of the animals; the latter are often used by florists in the
form of a very heavy mulch, depending upon the ordinary watering to
carry down to the roots such parts of the dressing as would dissolve in
the water, and thus give extra stimulant, and at a time when it would do
the most good, because, ordinarily, the more water necessary the greater
the growth going on, and vice versa, if plants are in a state of rest,
either from a finished growth or from lowness of temperature, but little
water would be needed, and but little benefit from the mulch, except
such as undoubtedly arises from the ammonia itself in the manure
permeating the atmosphere, which again, however, would be the most
active when heavy watering was necessary, simply because of the high and
humid temperature.

For obvious reasons the votaries of window gardening will use those
giving off little or no unpleasant odors. Others again make the soil so
rich in the first instance that much less of what may be called
artificial manures are required during growth. But without some skill in
this matter it is not safe, for if much of the material is not
thoroughly decayed (which, however, has then lost most of its volatile
ingredients) it is, in the common vernacular of the gardener, too rank
to give good growth and results, whether it be in fruits, flowers, or
foliage. For example, in Henderson's horticulture he recommends, as the
best soil for potting, loam and hops. He says, "Not the least simple of
these operations is the preparation of our potting soil. We have, we may
say, only one heap--a big one it is--but it contains only two
ingredients, rotted sods, from a loamy pasture, and rotted refuse hops
from the breweries, in about the proportion of two of the sods to one of
hop. One-year-old rotted manure, if the hops cannot be obtained." It is
evident upon its face that so large a proportion as one-third of a fresh
manure or hops would be disastrous; but well rotted, and with care
otherwise in temperature and other desiderata, it would be a highly
stimulating soil. This was in 1869. We well recollect the commotion the
hop business caused in the horticultural world at the time, as Henderson
recommended it for plunging pots in, setting pots on mulching outdoors,
and almost every purpose. And did he not grow the best of stuff and
himself practice what he preached. Spent hops in this city were eagerly
sought after and used, apparently with great success, in almost every
florist's establishment as well as market garden. What before was a
nuisance to the breweries was eagerly sought after; like most things,
however, it had its day, and is now seldom seen again. We might,
however, say that its decline undoubtedly arose from its unpleasant
features, as it drew myriads of insects in its train and often emitted a
very unpleasant odor. Its great value consists in that it is the seed of
the hop plant, all seeds contributing by far the greatest value in
manures.

In the green-house the object aimed at, is the greatest possible results
from limited area. Of the atmosphere the gardener has almost absolute
control--no siroccos, biting frost, or destructive winds interfere. He
can beat nature all to pieces in growing plants faultless in shape and
in quantity of flowers, but his soil is of limited extent for the roots
to wander in. To counteract this, he can give in other forms just as
much and no more nutrition as is necessary to effect his purpose, and
here comes in this artificial supply of manurial agents.

Mr. DeVrey, the successful superintendent of Lincoln Park, uses horn
shavings. This is the cleanest and most pleasant material that we ever
recollect to have seen used for the purpose, it is the refuse in the
factories where the horns from the slaughterhouse are steamed and
manipulated into the numerous objects they are applied to, not the least
being into knife and fork handles, and the like. It is in the form of
thin shaving of half an inch to an inch in length, quite dry and light,
entirely free from odor. He takes all they make, and this year has a ton
of the material for which he pays at the rate of three cents per pound.
The method of using is simply to mix with the soil at the time of
potting, giving it, to the common eye, as oil specked all through with a
white flaky substance. Its effect is very visible in a clear, healthy
growth, given off gradually, and as it is quite common where vast
quantities of plants are required to be grown in small pots, when there
appears to be a necessity of some new stimulant, it should be given by
the amateur in a larger pot. This is done by shaking nearly all the soil
from the roots and re-potting again if possible in the same sized pots,
thus doing away with all artificial watering, and yet having healthy,
luxuriant growth all the time.

A pound of the material, which is light, will be enough for a
wheelbarrow of potting soil. After all, the question is not so much the
exact material employed of a number of similar agents, as it is with the
intelligence brought to bear so as to apply at the right time the right
quantity, and under the best possible circumstances.

EDGAR SANDERS.

SCIENTIFIC.

AM I A SCOT, OR AM I NOT?

If I should bring a wagon o'er
From Scotland to Columbia's shore,
And by successive wear and tear
The wagon soon should need repair:
Thus, when the tires are worn through,
Columbia's iron doth renew;
Likewise the fellies, hubs, and spokes
Should be replaced by Western oaks;
In course of time down goes the bed,
But here's one like it in its stead.
So bit by bit, in seven years,
All things are changed in bed and gears,
And still it seems as though it ought
To be the one from Scotland brought;
But when I think the matter o'er,
It ne'er was on a foreign shore,
And all that came across the sea
Is only its identity.

I came, a Scotchman, understand,
By choice, to live in this free land,
Wherein I've dwelt, from day to day,
'Till sixteen years have passed away.
If physiology be true,
My body has been changing too;
And though at first it did seem strange,
Yet science doth confirm the change;
And since I have the truth been taught,
I wonder If I'm now a Scot?
Since all that came across the sea
Is only my identity.

--_Wm. Taylor, in Scientific American._

PRIMITIVE NORTHWEST.

Mr. C.W. Butterfield contributes an article on the Primitive Northwest,
to last number of the American Antiquarian. He says that early in the
seventeenth century French settlements, few in number, were scattered
along the wooded shores of the river St. Lawrence in Canada. To the
westward, upon the Ottowa river, and the Georgian bay, were the homes of
Indian nations with whom these settlers had commercial relations, and
among some of whom were located Jesuit missionaries. In the year 1615,
Lake Huron was discovered. To it was given the name of the Fresh Sea
(Mer Douce). But, as yet, no white man had set foot upon any portion of
what now constitutes the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, and Eastern Minnesota. And thereafter, for nearly a score of
years this whole region remained, so far as the visitation of white men
was concerned, an undiscovered country; and such it continued down to
the year 1684. However, previous to this date, something had been
learned by the French settlers upon the St. Lawrence, of this (to them)
far off land; but the information has been obtained wholly from the
Indians. This knowledge was of necessity crude and, to a considerable
extent, uncertain. Such of it as has been preserved is properly treated
of under the following heads: First, as to what had been gleaned
concerning the physical aspects of the country; second, as to what had
been brought to light relative to the various tribes inhabiting this
region.

Previous to 1634, nothing had been learned of Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair,
or Lake Michigan although it was understood there was some kind of a
water-way connecting the Fresh Sea (Lake Huron) with Ontario. A little
knowledge had been gained of a great body of fresh water lying beyond
the "Mer Douce," "a grand lac," so called by the French--now known as
Lake Superior. The length of this superior lake with that of the Fresh
Sea (Lake Huron), the Indians declared was a journey of full thirty days
in canoes. At the outlet of the great lake was what was described by the
savages, as a considerable rapid, to which the French gave the name of
"Sault de Gaston," the present Sault St. Marie, in the St. Mary's river,
the stream, which, it is well known, flows from Lake Superior into Lake
Huron.

Accounts also had been received from the Indians prior to the year last
mentioned, of a lake of no great size, through which flowed a river
discharging its waters into the Fresh Sea (Lake Huron). These were
reports of Lake Winnebago and Fox river, in what is now the State of
Wisconsin. As the French upon the St. Lawrence had no knowledge as yet
of Lake Michigan, they imagined the location of this small lake, and its
river was beyond, and to the northwest of Lake Huron and that they
emptied into it; Green Bay into the head of which Fox river really
flows, being (like Lake Michigan) wholly unknown to them.

It had further been reported by the Indians before this date that there
was a mine of copper on an island in what has been mentioned as probably
Lake Winnebago; doubtless, however, this island should have been located
in Lake Superior. A specimen of native copper had as early as 1610, been
exhibited by an Indian to an interested Frenchman upon the St. Lawrence,
and an account given by him as to the rude method employed by the
savages in melting that metal. But other islands besides the one
containing the copper mine had been brought to the knowledge of the
French settlers. A large one southeast of the "Sault de Gaston" being
described, and two smaller ones, to the south of it. These islands were,
it is suggested, the Great Manitoulin, Drummond, and Little Manitoulin,
of the present day.

* * * * *

Dr. Leeds has said that spices were adulterated to a great extent, but
only such substances were added as were purely non-poisonous. Mustards
were never found to be pure. Vinegars were also highly adulterated.
Competent officers, who shall be specialists, should be appointed in
each State to examine manufactured and natural foods to detect
adulteration. So far these examinations have been made by college
professors. The State Boards of Health should take the matter in hand
and see that it has the proper attention.

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