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Top Grafting Old Trees.
I think the subject of top-grafting Is
one that has been too much overlooked .
A . looked , said Herman Behrens before
a meeting of apple growers. Top-
grafting when clearly understood and
properly applied Is one of the most
helpful means for Improving old or
hards.- - It must be borne in mind
. that the great majority of orchards
in this part of the country planted a
scorn of years ago did not receive the
careful attention and foresight of the
' orchards planted during the past few
years. It would be a comparatively
easy matter to find Instances where
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the owners of such orchards would
be ready to cut down the trees and
plow up the orchards. An Indifference
, to proper attention and care the trees
should have received has allowed
many fungous diseases and other obstructions -
structions to the growth of trees to
become prevalent ; In fact , to seem- .
. . . . - Ingly gain the mastering hand. Now If I
, the apple growers knew more about
top-grafting they could step In and
use this method to the best advantage
In such cases. There are different
methods In top grafting. Some like
to cut off one limb of the tree and
then insert the graft. Where there
are three strong , well preserved limbs
it would require three years to perfect
such grafting. 1\Iy plan would be to
graft all limbs on the tree whether
there are three or (01.\1' main limbs at
one time and let the case rest for one
year. It on close examination one
year after graft has been made It
Is found to bo growing : then
would saw oft each limb where i ,
. ' the graft has made its proper effect.
; ' . ' In case the graft , which Is something
like vaccination , had not struck into
the me and sap of the limb , I would
regraft and walt patiently for the best
results.
A Plum Orchard Village.
One day some years ago all enterprising .
prislng resident of the village of Syracuse .
cuse , 0. , brought a Damson plum tree
home with him and planted It.-In his
own front yard , says : Country Life In
America. It grew and thrived and
In good time bore fruit. It was good
fruit and he planted more along his
' ) garden fence from sprouts that came
up from the first tree. They also soon
\ bore fine plums. By this time his
\ neighbors had their attention attracted
't to his modest plum orchard. They
, bought his surplus plums and begged
K sprouts from about his trees , thus exemplifying -
' empUfylng the spirit of the boys who
desire to cast their lines In productive
pools. "
t It was found that the locality was
comparatively free from two annoying
plum pests-black knot and Insects--
' and the great bend of the river seemed
. . . to protect the fruit from late frosts .
so that two full crops every three
. years might be expected with reason. :
able certainty. The result was that :
I. plum growing spread from lot fa lot
, and from street to alloy until the Industry .
; dustry amounted almost to u. crazo.
The markets grew and expanded , how-
ever , and there never was any
difficulty In disposing of the crops at
good prices. When other localities
had crops Syracuse had to be content
' "With the ruling prices In the general
.1 : irkcts , but when other places failed
Syracuse made her own prices.
+ Ten years ago the leading producer
of apples was Ohio , while Michigan
stood second and Kentucky third. Of
late years a good many other states
have planted heavily , and It is doubt-
ful what state now ranks first. Among
the states that have planted many
millions of apple trees during the last
few years are Virginia , New York ,
Pennsylvania , Illinois and Missouri.
' Virginia has produced over 8,000,000
' , bushels of peaches in ODe year.
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Margin In Sheep Feeding.
Pmbf. W. J. Kennedy , In a bulletin of
the Iowa Station , says :
Farmers throughout the central
states annually feed and finish for
market thousands of sheep. During
the past decade a great many farmers
have adopted the policy of purchasing
western lambs and yearlings during
the months of September , October , November -
vember and December , with the in-
tentlon of feeding them from sixty to
one hundred and twenty days , depending .
Ing upon the condition at lambs , markets .
kets , etc. , and then selling them at an
advance in price sufficient to return a
nice profit OIl the investment.
Many sheep feeders claim that one
year with another when sheep or
lambs arc fed on grain and hay that
the feeder must have a margIn of at
least one cent per pound between the
buying and selling price to warrant a
profit. In other words , lambs or sheep
purchased at four cents per pound
must be sold for at least five cents
I per pound when finished In order that .
the feeder may make sheep feeding a
paying business. A careful study of
the cost of producing gains on sheep
and lambs at this and other stations
would indicate that a margin of one ,
cent per pound between the buying
and selling price is not always neces-
sary. In summarizing the results of
five trials at Wisconsin , Minnesota
and Michigan stations where corn and
hay were used , valuing hay at eigbt I
dollars per ton and corn at thlrty-
three cents per bushel , each pound of
gain was made at a cost of four and
one.halt cents. At this station gains
have been made on grass and corn at .
a cost of less than two cents per
pound , in which Instance the sheep
could have been sold without any advance .
vance over the buying price and a nice
profit realized. Some of the things ,
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which have an important bearing on I
this matter are the price of feed stuffs ,
age ot animals , season of the year
when feeding Is done , etc. When feed
is low In price the feeder can work
on a small margin and vice versa.
Lambs can be bandIed on a much
closer margin than yearlings or older
sheep , due . to the fact that the younger I
the animal the better It can utilize I ,
Its teed , thus more economical gains :
arc made" Lambs purchased In the
neighborhood of the feeder can be fed
on a narrower margin than those purchased .
chased at some distant point as the
freight charges must always be con-
sldered. The season of the year also
has an Important bearing on the mat-
ter , and as wlll be noted later in this
bulletin , more economical gains can
be made during the summer months
on grass alone and grass and grain
than can be made during the fall and
winter months on grain and hay.
Fine Stock for Japan.
Tokuja Hashimoto and S. Tchll of
Japan are in Chicago preparing to ship
to their native land , for breeding purposes .
poses , sixteen high-bred cattle and
eleven blooded hogs purchased In this
country. The consignment Includes
two blooded shorthorn bulls from the
farm of Frank O. Lowden at Oregon ,
Ill. Mr. Hashlmolo did not care to
say from what port the shipment
would be made. Cattle and hogs , he
said , are not contraband of war , but
one could not tell what the Russians
might do. Mr. Hashimoto Is a wealthy
dairy farmer In his own country , and
most of the cattle are for himself , the
balance for other dairymen and farm-
erSt .
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Weeds cannot be allowed to groW
if a good crop of anything Is expect-
ed. They absorb moisture and prevent -
vent ' the roots at the food plants from
getting it. As water Is the conveyor
of the food of the plants , this Is a
great drawback. The more succulent !
the weeds the more do they ; interfere .
fere with the growing ot plants that
are raised for the use ot man.
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Poultry Meat Profitable.
Poultry meat is always healthful
and always profitable to produce. It
takes at least two years to getho
steer to the point where the meat
may be marketed , but the meat oC the
fowl Is ready for market five months
or earlier after birth of the bird. The
money invested in the operation Is
qUickly turned. The present inclina- I
lion of the market for meat Is upwards - !
wards , and this Is as true at poultry I
meat as of any other. The advantage .
tage in the production of poultry meat
is that It is always marketable and
can ho sold in small quantities. It
can be retailed out little by little ,
that is , bird by bird , while 1\ thousand .
sand pounds of beef must bo .qulcldy
marketed ] 01' it wlll spoil. Life Is the
great preserver , and a thousand
pounds of live chicken has an immense .
mense advantage over a thousand
pounds of beef when demand is slow
and uncertain.
The Slate Turkey. .
This is a variety that Is not extensively .
tenslvely bred. It Is supposed to be
the result of a cross between the
white and the blaclt. The foundation
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Sltite. Turkey Hen.
color is ashy or slaty blue throughout ,
spotted with blaele. The less of this
spotting the purer the bird Is sup
posed to be. The old toms reach
a weight of 27 pounds In many cases
and the hens usually attain u. weight
or 12 pounds. The real value of this
bird for market has not been determined .
termlned , and It may possess in It
qualities that are not now apparent.
Whitewashing With a SpraYlir.
There are nozzles on the market
that make It possible to apply the
whitewash to the country house without ! .
out the use ot a brush. The construction .
tlon of buildings at the Columbian Exposition .
position was an object lesson to the
general public as to how whitewashing .
Ing can be done on the wholesale.
There the buildings were white.
washed very rapidly by means of
streams of whitewash thrown on the
buildings but In spray sufficiently tine I
to penetrate all the cracks ] and crannies . :
nles and yet not to be wasteful. Our
poultry houses need .to be frequently
whitewashed and It would doubtless
pay to have a sprayer for this purpose
If for no other , If such a one can be
obtained for a few dollars. Men that
have fruit orchards large enough lo
warrant them in having spraying apparatus -
paratus will find It an easy matter
to give the Inside or the poultry house
a treatment frequently.
Eggs are finished products. Unlike
most other products of the farm , they
are ready to go to market as soon as
dropped. The buyer wants them In
their natural state and no other.
In the greasing of any kind of
fowls for body lice It Is only necessary .
sary to use lard. The mixing of
kerosene with It Is not necessary and
Is hard on the skin of fowls.
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Poultry raising Is popular for = the
reason that it may be entered on by
people of small capital or by people
of no capital.
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Home.Grown Sugar Beet Seed. .
A bulletin oC the United ' States Department -
partment ot Agriculture says :
It is believed that the average sugar.-
content of beets In this country can
be Increased 2 to 3 per cent when we
shall have developed n higher strain
of beets through home"grown seed.
On account of the hlghor vitality of
the germ , these experiments Indicate
that wo shall have a race ot beets
more vigorous from the start.
In the production ot beets for a , factory -
tory , the vitality of the seed as shown
by germination 13 an Important factor.
It is the first evidence of the probable
yield of the crop. that the grower looks
for. Everything depends upon the
stand. It la desired that a beet shall
fill every place in the row provided
for It. It Is evident that it every
third beet is missing there will be onlY
two-thirds of 1\ stand of plants ma-
tm'cd al the harvest. If the rows are
18 Inches apart and the hoots Bland 8
inches apart in the row , there will be
312 beets to the row , and 138 2.3 rows
to the acre. If every beet Is in Us
place there will bo 43,264 beets to the
acre. If these beets average bno
pound , thcre will bo 43,264 pounds to
the acre , equal to 21.63 tons. If the
beets average two pounds , which Is
more nearly the usual size , we will
have ] 43.26 tons per acre. This shows
the possible tonnage per acre when
all conditions are . favorable and wo
have a perfect stand. Vitality of seed
Is u. strong factor In reaching this
ideal.
The plants should start out strong ,
vigorous and healthful. They must
send down their taproots vigorously ,
and send out their laterals quickly ;
this enables them to entrench themselves -
selves early In the soil. Plants are
like an1lnalo. Vigor In youth prom-
Iscs much for healthful maturity.
Strong vitality or germinating power
of the seed Indicates this early vigor ,
which will enable the plants to with-
stand diseases , pests and drought.
The number of sprouting germs In a
given number of beet balls and the
vigor and rapidity at germination are
the tests of this vitality. Home-grown
seed has shown a higher germinating
power in a shorter time than th0961'
selected from ordinary imported seed.
From these facts It would appear that
we are entitled to anticipate n. higher -
yield of beets from the use of home-
grown highly developed beet seed.
The extraction of refined sugar in
this country averages 11 per cent ,
or 220 pounds of refined sugar to a
ton of beets. The factory pays the
farmer for this sugar ' 2.27 per hundredweight -
drcdweight while It Is still In the
bect. If the factory could extract 18
per cent of sugar on account of our
perfecting u. strain of beets witb'
higher sugar content and purity
through bome-grown seed , a ton of
beets would yield 40 pounds more su-
gar , worth at the factory $ L80. Thl
alone would give the factory 36 per
cent profit upon the Investment of $6
per ton for beets. This seems quite
possible. Homo-grown seed to-day offers .
fers the moat encouraging prospect of
Insuring the future growth and pros-
perity of the beet sugar Industry.
Exercising Show Horsn.
In time fitting of show horses exercise -
cise Is of considerable Importance. A
little mistake In this may make u good
deal of difference when an animal
comes Into the show ring. It Is one
thing to exercise an animal In cool
weather , but a very different thing to
exercise him In hot , weather. The
horse owner that tells his man to give
the horse just so much exercise u. day ;
needs also to specify that in the hot
days or summer that exercise Is to be
in the early morning while the temperature -
perature Is comparatively low.
The profit on the feed put Into the
cow depends very much on the cow.
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