Differences op Opinion Balanced by Common Sense.—

BemarJcs.

The author has observed for over fifty years, being at this writing November

1884, nearly 68 years old, that in almost every attempted improvement, the -ax-

DR. CEASE'S RECIPES.

!?78

perimenters go from one extreme to the other

;

then, as it used to be the cus-

tom to put 3 or 3 pieces of the seed-end of potatoes into a hill which would

have from, perhaps, 4 to 6 eyes to a piece, they now come down to two pieces

Now let common sense come in and make

only, with only one eye to a piece.

5 eyes, or stalks, to stand in each hill, and I will guarantee, all things

it 3 to

being equal, as to richness of soil, proper cultivation, etc., the best results will

be obtained. I have seen the statement of a writer, that one stalk of corn only

to a hill, would give more corn to the acre than a larger number but I say

that soil that will not nourish three or four stalks to the hill is not as rich as it

;

<?*

ight to be,

and can be made.

The same will hold good also, with potatoes.

"Hilling," or Level Cultivation, "Which?—It is equally a

cc needed fact, of late years, that laud which is fit for potatoes, at all, that is,

d' Y, rich soil, it is best to cultivate without hilling, which allows the rainfall

tc settle about the roots and ensures also, larger and better potatoes than when

" \iilled up," which certainly turns the water away as water has always run

^ wn hill, and no doubt, will still continue to do the same.

Remarks. The " successful farmer" that we started this department with,

2.

;

—

only needs to see a point, when his common sense at once adopts it.

p'ling condensed facts are all he needs upon the subject referred to

Potato Bugs Beaten. — A farmer of Goguac

1.

The fore-

Prairie, near Battle

Creek, Mich., gives to the Inter-Ocean, his plan of not only beating the potato

bags, but also getting remarkably fine and large potatoes, 1st by harrowing

his ground to make the surface very loose and fine, then 3d, marking off, and

dropping his potatoes on the surface, putting no dirt over them, but covering

trith straw, to the depth of a foot, which retains the moisture in the soil, and

so far beats the bugs, that what few may get on to them above the straw, have

never iniured them, and the next best thing is, he gets large and clean potatoes

byfsimply pitching over the straw and picking up the crop, besides saving the

Those having straw will do well to try it.

t^me otherwise spent in cultivation.

2.

Bugs Kept Entirely from Potatoes.

Another man, of Janes-

Wis., who had ten years' experience in Colorado, from which the "bug"

started, claims entire success over them, by simply planting two or three flax-

ville.

soeds in each hill, the bugs not attacking his potatoes at all, while his neighbors without the flax, were overrun with them. If as simple a thing as this

will "beat the bugs," 'tis better than Paris green or hand-gathering.

Certainly

ten years was long enough to test it.

Seed Corn, Melons, Cucumbers, etc.— Selecting and Saving

to Have the Best Results.—To have the best seed com, go through the

field and select and mark with red chalk the long, well-filled ears, and as soon

as the husks begin to turn, gather them, and braid into traces and hang in a dry

cool place. When to be planted break off the tip one-fourth the length of the

ear, and throw among the corn for feed; the

same with two or three rows of

the ill-shaped kernels at the butt; for it is a well established fact that the corn

What has been

fionj the butt ripens earlier than from the tip-end of the ear.

AGRICULTURAL.

779

many times proved need not be done again, unless it be for one's own satisfaction.

Take all the advantage possible in selecting wheat, or other grain, to

use the plumpest and heaviest berries; and it would also be well to save that

for seed from parts of the field that ripen the earliest, to get the best results.

II.

Melon, Squashes, Cucumbers, Beans, Peas, and all seeds possible,

should be kept in the pulp or shell till wanted for sowing, whenever possible.

Select the earliest, full, medium sized melons, cucumbers, etc., growing three

or four feet from the hill, and put stakes by them before you begin to pick for

Let them ripen and rot down upon the vines; then put a piece

of board under each one, mashing down to break the rind, so the juice will

dry out and when dry, cut off from the vine, and also cut off one-fourth of

use or market.

;

the blow-end and throw it away.

When properly dry, put away in the pulp

wanted for planting. Seed thus kept sprouts quicker and is more vio-orous

in growth, and using only the stem-end seeds, insures an earlier ripening, the

same as with corn, which has been well-proved many times. Even garden

till

seeds are better when the stalks are nicely dry to put paper around them, to

save scattering seeds and allow them to remain in the plant till wanted to sow

or plant, as above. Of course all seeds must be secured from the ravages of

their lovers, rats

and mice.

"Weight, Pounds per Bushel of Grain, and Most Articles in

Common

Use.— Shelled corn, 56 lbs. corn iu the ear, 70; wheat, 60; buckwheat, 52; rye, 56; oats, 33; barley, -48; onions, 57; potatoes, Irish, 60; sweet,

;

55; turnips, 55; beans, white, 60; castor, 46; clover seed, 60; timothy seed, 45;

flax seed, 56;

hemp seed, 44; dried peaches, 33; dried apples, 24

50; fine, 55; corn meal, 48; bran, 20; plastering hair, dry, 8;

i. e.

;

salt, coarse,

lime, "quick,"

unslacked, 80; stone coal, 80.

Fruit Trees, Right Soil For, How to Plant.—I.

If the soil where an orchard is designed to be set out

is

The Soil.—

not rich, it should be

made so before setting out, by deep culture and plenty of barn-yard manure,

well worked in with the previous crops.

II.

How TO Plant a Tree. — Dig the hole two or three inches deeper

than needed; loosen up the bottom by pick, if needed, a few inches; then put in

the last inch or two actual surface soil, and place the tree upon it, spreading out the roots level with their starting point at the tree, and work the fine

soil,

surface soil in among them, to leave no vaenncies, keeping the fine fibres all in

their natural directions and completely covered with the soil, packing the dirt

as tightly as you can with the hand only, setting so that about four inches of

dirt shall be above the roots; and this is to be sprinkled on in a fine state, being

very careful that no one steps upon this loose soil, nor even to pat it, or pack

it with the shovel; then it will settle naturally and evenly, not incline the tree

more to one side than the other; and the first rain will have a chance to fiU

any possible crevices under the roots, in the settling of the loose soil. After a

rain or two, mulch if you have suitable coarse manure for the purpose.— C!??^

^nsedfrom F. B. Elliott in the Cleveland Herald.

DR. CHASE'S RECIPES.

780

2.

Fruit Trees.—Trimming, Best Time, etc.

—The best time to

trim any fruit, or other trees, or vines, is to pinch off the buds or sprouts when

you see one is growing where you don't want it if too large to rub or pinch

off, use the pocket knife; and although in July or August is considered the

best time for trimming, yet branches not exceeding half an inch in diameter

;

may be trimmed off at any time when the sap is not frozen.

Still R. N.

Handy, in Green's Fruit-Grower, says:

"That the best time to trim apple trees is from June to August, as the

wounds then heal over much quicker and better than in the winter months."

Good authority or corroboration.

And the time to trim apple trees, is the

time for all fruit trees.

But Large Branches, if they ever have to be removed, but will not

have to be if properly trimmed from the beginning, should be trimmed off in

February or ]\Iarch, so the wound will become dry before spring growth commences; and I would always cover a large wound with tallow, well rubbed in,

or a coat of grafting- wax, no matter what time of year the trimming was

done.

T. T. Lyon, of Coldwater, in the Michigan Farmer,

tells

his brother

farmers that "in case of very thrifty, non-bearing trees," a thorough trimming

in July or August will check wood-growth and encourage fruiting the next

season.

Mantiring and Oare of Orchards.—If the soil was, or has been

1.

made rich before putting out an orchard, and mulching was done properly

after setting out, whether it was fall or spring planting, and the mulch, coarse

manure or litter was put on to extend beyond the extremities of the roots, as it

always should, no further manuring will be needed for two or three years only

as may be needed for such crops as are raised upon the ground after that a

good, thorough manuring again over the whole surface. It is deemed of more

importance to mulch well soon after spring planting than fall, to prevent drying out the moisture from the loose dirt by the heat of summer, while in the

north, snow generally protects over winter; but 'tis best to do it within two or

three weeks after planting, if no mice are in the field, and if mice, the snow must

;

be kept well tramped down around the trees, and if the tramping extends out

over the mulching, 'tis likely to kill any mice nesting therein.

See next receipt

also against mice, rabbits, etc.

I.

Fruit Trees— To Protect From Mice and Borers.— " M," a

correspondent of the Maine Farnur, in answer to an inquiry of one signing

himself " Novice," ( one new in any business) says he has for ten years protected his trees from mice by binding a piece of birch bark around the base of

the tree with twine, which lasts two or three years, or until the growth bursta

the twine, then a new string is to be tied on again.

II.

Bores —To Protect Against Borers. —Cover the lower end of

the bark an inch or

more with dirt.

Where birch bark is not plenty, other

barkf , or wny not tarred building-paper, as neither mice nor rabbits like the tar

AQRIGULTUBAL.

Again, he says, he has " never

781

known mice to attack trees which received a

coat of whitewash made of quick lime (unslacked lime), and applied in the fall

of the year."

Put in some soap, too, as in next.

Fruit Trees— To Protect Against Rabbits.— Dr. Hassby, in

the Western Planter, protects his trees from rabbits by a wash " made from airIII.

slacked lime and soft soap, brought to the consistency of common paint, with

common flour paste added to make it adhere.

rv. Again, it is claimed that axle-grease and lard, equal parts, well

mixed and rubbed upon young trees, protect from rabbits.

The rosin in it, no

doubt, is offensive to them, as I know the tarred paper is.

V. Mice and. Rabbits—Late Toledo Remedy Against

few days after I had prepared these items

G-irdling Trees, Improved

upon the care of fruit trees, I saw a report in the Blade of a meeting of the

Horticultural Society, of this city, horticulture having more especial reference

to garden culture, the word coming from the Latin Jiortus, a garden, and cultor,

a cultivator, as Webster's " imabridged " informs us, wherein the secretary

advised washing the lower part of the tree with the following mixture, as a

" Carbolic acid, 1 02.,

protection against mice and rabbits girdling them:

—A

mixed with strong soap-suds, 1 gal.; then diluted with 2 or 3 gals, of water."

Tbe Improvement. —In place of the "strong soapsuds," the author

good soft soap and water, not more than one gallon,

mixed with the carbolic acid, one ounce. This will give the strength of acid

that Mr. Saunders, of the Washington public grounds, uses on his trees, which

is not too strong, (see in pear blight); and it also gives a mixture more like

says, take one gallon of

Prof. Cook's, of Lansing, or Michigan Agricultural College, against bark lice,

borers, and other pests, given below, insuring according to

my best judgment,

not only an improvement, but really one of the best, if not the best application

which can be made against mice and rabbits, against the borers, and all other

pests of the trees, as it makes a wash sufficiently thick to adhere well to the

bark, leaving such a body of the mixture, too, upon the tree, that neither mice

nor rabbits will like as food, for

it

is

for this purpose they seek.

This, of

course, should be applied late in the fall, before these depredators begin their

winter's work.

See also among the receipts for sheep, a Wash to Prevent them

It will be as good against rabbits and mice as sheep.

from Barking Trees.

—

Knovrledge vs. Ignorance. Their Different Results. At the

same meeting above named, Capt. Nixon said

"As a general rule, success was the result of knowledge, failure the result

of ignorance," which agrees well with our starting point in this department.

The Successful Farmers which see. Then, as the wise man says, "Qet knowledge, and with all thy getting, get understanding," for these things eradicate

ignorance upon any and all subjects.

:

Girdled Trees by Mice or Rabbits, to Restore the Bark.—

If a tree is not girdled entirely around, make a clay mortar, and apply a good

thickness by means of cloths, and

you are safe.

A loamy soil will do, but if

—

I>R.

782

—

CHASE'S RECIPES.

on cloth in the same way, melting to

from the road. Says a correspondent of

neither, then apply grafting-wax spread

spread, covered with common mud

the Rural New Yorker,

"The bark will grow again without a scar."

Fruit Trees, to Secure Against Bark Lice Borers, etc.

1.

Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Agricultural College, Lansing,

Mich., informs the

readers of the Detroit TribuTie, that an application of soft soap to the tiees the

first

week in June, and at the same time in July, will ensure safety against the

borers

and it also exterminates the bark lice, if the rough bark is scraped off

;

to ensure the soap reaching them all.

For the

I.

Lice, the scraping may be done earlier, and the soap,

diluted only enough to apply readily as a wash, but to extend to all large

branches, and the trees will start into new life and more active growth from its

and, if done from the setting out of an orchard, there will be

no trouble from these pests.

application

little or

;

The Borer makes its appearance about the first of June and deposits

upon the bark, near the ground, and another writer says, referring

II.

its eggs

more particularly to the peach borer, " These pests can be entirely exterminated

by removing a small portion of the earth from the body of the tree near the

roots, and filling its place with a quart of soft soap.

If the borer has attacked

the tree this will kill him, and if not the soap will not injure the trees and the

borer will not get at them through the soap."

If it is good for peach trees, it is as good for apple trees, or any other.

Bands of cloth should be put around trees by the middle or last of June, to

prevent the ascending of the pest that stings the fruit, and care taken to kill

all that take

III.

"lodging " under the bands.

Fruit Trees, Plants,

etc.,

Chloride of

Lime Ensures

Against Grubs, Vermin, etc., on Trees and Plants.

Le Cultivateur,

a French journal, says:

"If chloride of lime be spread on the soil, or near plants, insects and vermin

will not be found near them," and adds

"By its means plants will easily be

protected from insect plagues by simply brushing over their stems with a solu:

tion of

it,

or sprinkling upon.

It

has often been noticed that a patch of land

which has been treated in this way remains religiously respected by grubs,

Fruit trees may

while the unprotected beds around are literally devastated.

be guarded from the attacks of grubs by attaching to their trunks pieces of

tow smeared with a mixture of hog's lard and chloride of lime, and ants and

Butterflies,

grubs already in possession will rapidly vacate their position.

again, will avoid all plants whose leaves have been sprinkled over with this

chloride of lime water."

—

Remarks and Directions. This journal does not give the strength of the

above mixture, but one ounce of the chloride to eight of lard would be plenty,

no doubt, and one-half pound of the chloride to a pail of water, enough tor

the "solution."

IV.

if They

Examination of the Trees for the Borer, and Remedy,

Have Entered the "Wood.— Prof. Cook advises "a thorough

examination of the trees in September, to ascertain whether the borer has gone

AGRICULTURAL.

783

If he has he must be followed closely with a small wire, or he

into the wood.

must be dug out with a sharp knife, making as small a cut as possible."

Remarks. It will be remembered that the borer enters the wood a little

under the soil, or very near it and if holes are cut to get them out, as above

spoken of, you should apply the soap after it, and also cover the wounds with

dirt, or with the clay mud bound on, if much above the ground, as for girdled

—

;

trees,

above.

Fruit Trees, Old, Mossy, and Diseased Bark to Rene^w.^

The old plan for mossy and diseased bark, was, to sprinkle on thoroughly of

wood ashes, but except there is moss to catch and hold the ashes, or many

crevices in the bark, the ashes would amount to but little the later plan of

scraping and applying soft soap, reduced only to allow applying with a brush,

as a wash, is quicker and better, and more destructive to caterpillars and other

destructive insects which infest the trees but, lest the soap nor the ashes may

prove sufficient in all cases, especially in pear blight, I will give the wash as

used by Wm. Saunders, of Washington, D. C, who has, or has had, charge

—

;

there, of the public grounds, as follows

:

Pear Blight, Diseased Bark, etc., Wash for.— Put stone lime, J^

bu.

;

sulphur, 4 lbs. into a tight barrel, slacking the lime with hot water, to the

common white-wash, keeping the barrel covered with an old

and when to be applied, add carbolic acid yi oz. to each gal.

of the wash. He applies it early in spring to the body and large branches; but

thinks it would be better if applied later, or about the first of June, when

borers, caterpillars, etc., appear.

And if any diseased bark, he scrapes ofO

consistency of

piece of carpet ;

or cuts off all that can be done readily.

—

Remarks. This was reported to the Norfolk, Va. Horticultural Society,

and spoken of highly for pear blight by G. B. Leighton, and it has also been

recommended by others in the same favorable manner.

,

The Oermantown Telegraph, however, speaks very highly of

the ashes

process to clean off old scaly and deadened bark, and also as being destrucSo let each person please

tive to all insects infesting pear or apple trees.

himself.

But if I was going to use the ashes I should make a wash of

them, and put on, and not wait for rains to do the work, after having

sprinkled them on dry, as recommended.

—

Barren Trees, Remedy for Let it be remembered that barren soil

makes barren fruit trees. As it is not possible to grow fruit from the same

year unless a supply of manure, ashes, iime, bone-dust, and stable

manure, is properly composted, and applied every other year in sufficient quantities at least 2 to 4 bush, to each tree, according to the size, and therefore the

distance the roots extend, the larger share being out over the extremities of the

I do not mean growing sprouts

roots, where the smaller fibres or suckers are.

called suckers, but the fibers of the roots which suck up the nourishment and

thus help to make the fruit as well as add to the growth of the tree, foliage,

These roots and fibres often extend 8 to 10 feet from the tree, and at this

etc.

soil every

DR. CHASE'S RECIPES.

784

outer point is the place for tlie largest portion of the fertilizers to be spread.

Feed your fruit trees where the fibers of the roots are.

Swamp Muck, Lime and Ashes, a Valuable Manure for

Fruit Trees.

— " Lucky

is he," says a

writer, who

owns a reclaimed swamp

of mucli, for he goes ou to say, " If this is tiirown out in a heap and mixed

with lime it forms a stimulant to fruit trees which cannot harm, but ne-er fails

to invigorate in a wonderful manner, etc., to which I would say, use ashes also

with the lime, in about equal proportions, and as freely as you can afford it^

to be mixed between layers of the muck, in filling up.

In the end, to be finely

mixed before applying.

Ashes—Their Value in Orchards and Garden.— A gardener

and orchard that he

recommended, through the Rural Aew Yorker, that even the trimmings from apple trees, as soon as dry enough, with all weeds and other rubbish, be burned "for the fertilizing matter they contain."

He gives a case

where the trimmings of an orchard and the rubbish about had been burned,

and the ashes put upon the outer roots of the trees to their great advantage,

aid squashes grew in great abundance on the ground where they were burned;

aad for experiment

a hill was planted ten feet off, manured with a small

quantity of the ashes, and another with horse manure. The hill with the ashes

grew three times as great as the other, and was twice as productive." Cer-

realized the value of ashes to be so great in the garden

recently

'

'

tainly a fair test.

—

Remarks. The immortal Liebig, many years ago, pointed out the importance of potash to the soil for grain, tobacco, hemp, etc., and from this

time on, the enterprising farmer has been using it more or less, according to

and means to purchase with, etc., until now,

from South America, plaster, phosphates,

etc., all come in to give a full supply.

So fully was the editur of the Scientifto

American long ago satisfied of the importance of potash, lime, etc., for renewing the growth of old fruit trees, he gives us an experiment of his as follows.

his convenience of obtaining it,

lime, ashes, and the nitrate of soda

He says:

"Some twenty-five years ago, we treated an old hollow pippin apple tree

The hollow, to the height of 8 feet, was filled and rammed with a

compost of wood ashes, garden mould and a little waste lime. The filling was

securely fastened in by boards.

The next year the crop of sound fruit was 16

bushels from an old shell of a tree that had borne nothing of any account

for some time.

But the strangest part was what followed. For seventeeu

years after filling, the old tree continued to flourish and bear well."

Remarks. Thus it appears, it makes no difference whether the potash

in the ashes, with the lime, reach the tree through its roots or by absorption from the hollow of the old, rotting and decaying body. It has also

been abundantly proved that even by putting a mixture of wood and coal

ashes alone around the stems or trunks and roots of fruit trees, vines, currant and other fruit bushes, in early spring, has generally greatly benefited

as follows:

—

apples, peaches, grapes, etc., both in quality and quantity, and the trees,

shrubs, vines, etc., last and bear much longer for it.

Then, as it pays, iii

all points let it be done properly, and at the right time

"early spring."

—

AGRICULTURAL,

785

Potash—Its Value as a Manure for Fruit Trees^ Crops, Etc.,

and in "What it is Found.— The foregoing has sufficiently shown the

value of potash as a manure for orchards, so I need only say it

is

equally

and now it remains only to show in what it is

found. The fact is, nothing grows in the line of fruits nor crops, which

does not contain it, and need its return, to keep up a supply. The potash

of commerce is made from wood ashes; and grass, grain crops, and consequently all straw and weeds, leaves, barn-yard manure, roots, and fruits of all

kinds, contain it; so any one can see that all these things which have passed

the point of usefulness as food, etc., should find their way into the compost

heap or manure pile, so that at the proper time, they, with the potash they convaluable for

all

crops;

may be returned to the soU.

Pear Culture— Great Success in — Applicable to All Other

tain,

—

Fruit. A Mr. Quinn, at Newark, N. J., has a large pear orchard, in which

he had been so successful, the editor of tiie Horticulturist paid him a visit the

last of August, recently, to ascertain by what means he had been more successful than others.

He found " the standards were full to overflowing, and the

* dwarfs

" Mr. Quinn'a

so over-abundant as to need support," and continues:

success in pear culture has been due to three points only:

•'

He cultivates his orchard constantly, permits no other crop to grow

I.

between, and allows no grass nor weeds to be seen, and mulches heavily in

'

'

'

time of fruiting.

" He prunes in early summer and winter, carefully, and has thus

up an orchard of splendid shape, healthy limbs, and able to bear any

reasonable amount of fruit without strain.

II.

built

III.

"He takes especial pains with packing, always using clean, new

half-barrels, assorts into even grades, and packs solidly and handsomely."

—The foregoing points are

all of the utmost importance, in the

any fruit crop whatever, except perhaps, as apple trees are

planted considerably farther apart than pears or plums for a few years at least

Other suitable crop may be cultivated between the rows, but never to the injury

of the roots, and especially never galling the trees with the whifiletrees.

Attention to all the above points and the various items previously given, no

one need fail of being a successful horticulturist, where the market justifies

Remarks.

cultivation of

its undertaking.

Plum Trees. The Well-known Remedies Against the Cur-

—

culios, Insuring' a Pull Crop of Fruit. Ever since 1832, when an old man

by the name of David Thomas told his neighbors to "jar their plum trees and

curculios on sheets, and destroy them," a few persons have practiced this plan

and have had good crops of plums still, very many people will not take this

trouble; let all such put their chicken coops under their plum trees like Daniel

Billig does, and get crops that require propping up from their heavy loads ; or

like Peter Myers, make a pen of one length of boards under each plum tree,

and put two pigs in each pen, who also had to prop hia trees to prevent their

;

breaking down with plums.

60

These were Illinois men, and their names ^ot

DR- CHASE'S RECIPES.

786

into the papers by a report of J. D. Piper to the Horticultural Society of that

State.

A

II.

French gentleman, not many years since, had large orchards

surrounding his mansion, among them about three acres in plums, from which

although blossoming finely, he got no fruit ; he therefore fenced it up for a

chicken yard, leaving the trees for shade but the very next year he was profoundly astonished by having a very large and abundant yield of plums, actually breaking down many branches.

Old and successful fruit grower reports that to " plant tansy at

III.

;

An

the roots of the plum trees, or by hanging branches of the plant on the limbs of

you will not be annoyed with the curculio." And claims it is the most

Then why not good about other

fruit trees ?