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. Mllledtfeville, III
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