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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1907)
14 THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT js ; . MARCn 28, 1907. Garden and Fruit By L. O. WILLIAMS, University Place. Tree riantlnK. The season for tree planting Ip again at hand. The time when everybody has the fever for planting. Virtually there seems to be no "closed season" for planting nowadays, since there is hard ly a month in the year but what some varieties of trees and of certain forms may be safely planted. We have been accustomed of later years to see the tree wagons carrying great large trees one or two at a time from the;for est to the planting ground during the winter. This is the best season of the year for such heavy planting; but for the smaller trees, or what are known as nursery trees, the spring time Ls the bast season of the year for their plant ing. . One sees so many trees being planted each spring that the wonder is often expressed, "What becomes of all the trees? Why does not the land become overrun with trees?" These iuestions are more easily dis posed of by saying that more than two thirds of the trees planted each year never arrive at a stage of usefulness. I useflie above estimates advisedly, and I believe they are conservative. Some horticultural authorities place, the per cent of practical loss,of trees planted much higher than this. Profes sor Bailey of Cornell university, who is recognized""as one of our foremost au thorities in horticulture, in discussing this question a few years ago placed' the per cent of loss at about 75. I do not remember the exact figures. Why is this heavy lass? Why this large per cent of loss and waste? That it la largely waste Is due to the fact that the greatest cause of loss is because of the carelessness of the planter. I think that we may safely place the loss caused by careless plant ers at fully one-half of the total loss. Tack of proper care for the trees after they reach the ulanter, such as expos ure of the roots to sun or wind before planting, the. neglect to place the roots in proper shape and soil; the failure to cut back half or more of .the last year's growth of top; the neglect through the summer to cultivate or mulch the newly planted trees, or to water them during critical times of drouth; all these and other minor eauises combine to produce this heavy loss. Other causes of loss are chargeable largely to the nurserymen and agents who grow and sell the trees to the planter.- Trees are often badly handi capped in their struggle for life at transplanting because of a poor root system, as developed In the nursery, or because of "stubbing" the roots In digging the trt-es. Again, trees are of ten injured In the nursery by the win ter just previous to their removal. The trees that are thus injured in the nur sery should never be sent out and are not knowingly sold by any honest nur seryman. The Affnt' Share of Blame. Then there "is the tree agent, who sells and delivers the trees, who should bo held responsible for a share of the loss. His first and greatest fault Is in selling you stock that is not hardy or otherwise adapted to your soil and climate, and his second point for In dictment is in his careless method of delivery, Including the baling or box ing of the trees at the nursery. The agent also is usually an impractical fel low who will give advice for caring for the trees that is unsound. His sys tem of deliveries in the fall with the heeling in of the trees over winter are often prolific causes of failure. Again, the agent is often to blame for the carelessness of the planter. It comes about In this way: The planter gives the agent an order for trees at a price that is generally double what they should be sold for at the nursery; the trees are delivered, the planter pays the bill: the fclzo of the bale of tres and the amount of money required to pay for them being so out of propor tion, the pUrrter begins to feel that he Is beaten. He then bi -conies mad or in different towards the trees, loses faith lit their mowing, kicks them aside for a while, and then when the planting Is f'one it H with nuch Indifference ns to preclude a final failure. And the mora! teaching of this experience with the u-nt .v ho ii Ul be to wend the planter dire, t t the nursery fur hi tree., Ilorr nsi) When to Plant. And now I come to what ! had In mind at nrsi-of telling you how and when to plant trees. It often aeom mip-rt1uo!iH to the practical tree pUiit.T to give spicule directions fur printout tree, for 'we reason that urjone who knows enough to plant a hill i'f bean or corn ahouM, have cmmti sen enough tu plant a trea rffhMy. Thrr la, liowwer. an evi dent lack of good tree sense, as I would cill It, on the part of amateur planters. For their benefit I would say: treat the tree you are planting with as much consideration as you would an animal. Look upon it as something that has real life and energy a being that is sensitive to kindness and careful treatment. Re member, too, that the roots of a tree aro much like a fish, whose natural element is water. These roots then are as sensitive to dry air as a fish they would if they could jump around like a fish does when thrown out of tne water In their efforts to get back to their natural element They will, it is true, bear more or less exposure to air, but the more nearly they are free from this ex posure the nearer they are to a suc cessful issue in transplating. One of the best and most practical ways of preventing exposure of the tree roots during the planting operation is to cover them with a coating of mud. This is called "puddling" or "dopeing," and consists of plunging the roots into a barrel or hole half filled with a mixture of earth and water. Trie next important factor in successful planting is in getting the roots well placed in a good, mellow soil, and with water enough thrown around them to thoroughly settle the soil about the roots, and also to furnish the needed moisture for starting the roots Into a new growth. If the soil is already naturally moist water may be omitted and the earth placed around the roots well by shaking the tree , and pressing firmly with the feet. All broken or bruised roots should be removed by a fresh cutting with a sharp knife before planting, and the tops should be cut back partially so as to establish a better balance of top and root. The after-care of newly planted trees must be as consistent as with your .corn or potatoes. Keep the weeds down and the soil loose on the surface by good cultivation or mulching. Potato Improvement. " The potato js our great staple vege- table. It is to our tables what corn is -to the farmers' stock yard a great staple food. We need to pay more attention to the selection of seed and to the improvement of the potato In general. Our corn improvers' asso ciation should have a complimentary association for the improvement of the potato. At present there are but a few individuals who are making any special study along this lirtW. The majority of our potato prowers are agreed as to the importance of select in good seed, and of the need for a "change" of seed each. year. Just now our attention is turned to the northern grown potatoes for our spring planting. We believe that it pays to send to Minnesota or the Da kotas if necessary to secure new seed at least every two years. Nebraska, however, has a varied enough soil and one well enough adapted to po tato growing, so that we need not send outside of our own state to se cure a change of seed. ' The north and northwestern part of our state has a soil peculiarly adapted to the potato, and we believe our growers In the south and east sections of the state could do well to purchase their seed from the growers of the former sections. The great concern of the potato growers, should be to secure good, clean seed, freo from scab, and also to have the tubers of "good form and size. If such seed can be grown within our own borders,, other things being equal, we should patronize our "home industries." - . . The Formalin Treatment. Our potato growers can also do much toward improving their potatoes by use of the formalin treatment of the seed. Formalin ls a drug that is calculated to destroy ulj germs of the scab or other fungus diseases that tend to Injure this crop. A pint of this fluid, as obtained from the druggist, mixed with twenty-five gallon or water, ls sufficient to cleans enough seed for two or three acres of potatoes. Soak the un cut tubers Jn this solutlonfor two hours, then dry them ana-cut up into uertluns f.r planting. t'uru must be had In hadllmf this drug, an it la a rank poion. Potatoes that haw been treated to It will, of courre. Ih unfit for the table. A change of soil Is quite a lmiortant an a thango of need. Land that has. pro duced two or more cropa of ptatoe In ueceion will tend to Induce cab. and no amount of formalin will Up It. Change of atoll U then needed. Positive A soda cracker should be the most nutri tious and wholesome of all foods made from wheat Comparative But ordinary soda crackers absorb moist ure, collect dust and become stale and soggy long before they jreach your table. There is however, one Superlative soda cracker at once so pure, so clean, so crisp and nourishing that it stands alone in its supreme excellence the name is Uneeda Biscuit 0 In a dust tight, moisture proof package, NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY 1L Selecting: Seed Potatoes. The importance of selecting good seed is well set forth in the following article taken from Wallace's Farmer: It will pay any farmer to watch his potatoes carefully during the growing season, and particularly in "the fall. If he does,-he will find. that a hill here and there often shows wonderful blight resistance: while hills around are af fected with both early and late blight, he will find an occasional hill that seems to be blight-proof. Mark such hills and take your seed from them the next year. Although we grow potatoes only for use on the farm, we have watched this for some time, and notice a recent report from the Ohio experi ment station which should be interest ing to every man who grows potatoes, whether in a large way or in a small way. In 1907 Mr. C. W. Waid, of that sta tion, selected the ten best hills out of one hundred, and from this stock he has grown three crops, also selecting seed from another hundred hills sorted in bulk at the same, time. The average yield of the three plots- the seed of which was . hill selected is 25 per cent greater than from the seed not hill selected, although the seed in the lat ter case was carefully selected from the bulk amount. In other words, by rejecting nine hills out of ten and planting the ten best in a hundred he has increased his crop 25 per cent. Any farmer can do that, and in a short time have seed potatoes to sell to his neigh bors at a good round price. Mr. Waid noticed that in one case seed from selected hills yielded 40 per cent more than from the ordinary stock simply because they did not blight as the others did. All the labor that was involved was simply to go to the fields before the vines died, mark the ones that were most resistant and dig these hills sep arately for seed. It will pay the farm er who raises potatoes only for home use to do this, and. it ls certainly ex ceedingly Important for the man who grows potatoes for sale. Selecting from the hill or from the field often makes the difference between profit and loss, success and failure. The Worth -of the Potato ICye. Thlii nrltcle we copy from Wallace's Farmer and we know the writer to be a very practical and studious potato growerTo raise a crop of potatoes from his own seed every year and make ijt pay pne must fiudy the nature of the plant, lie must gather knowledge from experimentation in the field. It Is well to keer a record, because he will learn from his mistakes as well as from hla 8UeceHes. It ha leen gup)MKfd that the reasons why the eyes from the point of the potato ure more easily Incited Into growth In becaune they are more perfectly matured. J regard this an Impossible, as they ure the youngest of the eyes. It seems more likely that the causa is that the extremity of 'the potato la not bo rt(x ax the root, and consequently lesa able to resist the de composing; Influence of light, air, and immature. The potato must tkHympoc before It can reproduce. The. youngest potato eye on the bud end, being lesa perfectly organised, decay aoonest, and eoneiucntly grown eurlleat and with tho urea lout vigor. Tj eye at the extremity of the potato produce the earliest crop, and those who wish early potatoes should take advantage of this. In one experiment I conducted with two varieties of potatoes, the first var iety yielded 217 pounds of potatoes wfen planted with seed from the bud end, while when planted - with seed from the seed end they yielded only 170 pounds. With the second variety, which was Early Ohio, I get a yeild of 270 pounds from seed of the bud end and 177 pounds from seed from the seed end. ARNOLD MARTIN, " DuBois, Nebraska PERSONALITIES. Chief Justice Fulller apparently wishes it to be known that he has no intention of resigning in order to mak8 room for Mr. Taft. The chief justice recently gave a dinner, at which both the president and Mr. Taft were pres ent. Mr. Fuller showed his guests a new portrait of himself ad remarked that it" made him look young. "Not a day younger that the original," said Mr. Taft, gracefully. - "Thank you," said the chief justice, adding with what looked like just a trifle of emphasis: "I never felt better in my life." Senator Piatt was recently asked by Senator Carter of Montana as to how he stood In reference to the reception of Reed Smoot, the mormon senator. Senator Piatt narowed his eyes in an appreciative, crafty glance and re plied: "To tell the truth, I was just waiting to salute our colleague from Utah, for I tell you, Tom Carter. It's my private opinion that it takes a mighty smart man to be a mormon without complications." Count Bellestrem. the president A the reichistag, is one of the most in fluential men in the dominion of the kaiser. He has been spoken of as tho "Uncle Joe Cannon".of Germany. Well liked by all classes, he is thoroughly admired for his brilliant success as a politician. Some people have imagined they heard Opportunity knocking and have opened the door only to let in trouble. PURE HONEY From Producer to Consumer One or more 0-lb. cans, $".00 each. Four or more 10-lb. cans, $100 each. Address: Also Apiary'Supplits. F, A. SNELL, Catalogu s Free. 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