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Show BACK MIR Interesting Pointers on Gardening Garden-ing for the City Man or Suburbanite. WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN Advice by an Expert on Agricultural Matters Raising Poultry and Fruit Rotation of Crops Ridding Lawn of Pests. By PROF. JOHN WILLARD BOLTE. When other things are equal, probably prob-ably the safest form of agriculture for the inexperienced city man to take up is a combination of poultry and fruit. The logic back of this choice Is simple, sim-ple, and, we believe, sound. Chickens will thrive and produce profitably under proper management in every section of this country. They I are hardy and stand abuse well, while ! the amateur is learning the ropes, j Small capital is required to make a start, and lhey"niultiply rapidly. In I fact, a shrewd o'd Yankee, "down in Maine," is credited with starting a successful poultry farm by borrowing a setting hen from one neighbor and a setting of eggs from another. After the chicks were hatched he kept the hen until she had laid a Betting of eggs and then returned both, thereby discharging his debts without expense. ex-pense. Any sort of well drained land will do for chickens. About all one man can look after profitably is 1,000 hens and their offspring, and he can count on a dollar profit per hen each year, in small flocks the profits often run jiuch higher per hen. Housing 1,000 bens In colony houses holding 100 oens to the pen will cost from $2,500 to $5,000, depending upon the material and the location. By scattering these houses over a ten acre tract of land there will be no need of Inside fences and the flocks will keep separate. By planting this ten acres of good apples, provided it Is located In an apple growing .region, tnd handling same according to commercial com-mercial orchard methods, one can make the land do double duty. It is known now that proper location and handling will secure a crop of apples every year. The secret is this: 1 Spray trees properly. 2 Prune trees properly. 3 Keep the ground cultivated all Bummer. 4 Pinch off all but me of the green apples from each fruit spur as e--u as they set. 5 Use heaters during late frost. Tne third item keeps the water In the soil, and the apples stay on the trees instead of blowing off. The fourth rule Is one of the most Important, Im-portant, as It evens up the strain on the tree and while the yearly crop will be smaller than the natural crop one year and larger the next. It will cost less to handle and the fruit will be much better In form, size and color, and it will bring in more "money. Such an orchard will bring in from $300 to $600 a year per acre, and the cost of handling will not exceed $75. It will take from six to ten years to bear profitably. Set the trees out In 60 foot squares. Between them set dwarf fruit trees In 50 foot squares. The dwarfs will bear quickly and are to be taken out when the large trees bear. The ground under and between the trees should be planted to a rotation rota-tion of hoed crops, like potatoes, corn, root rops, garden crops, etc. Succession of Garden Crops. Our springtime enthusiasm starts the garden off in great shape and we plant some radishes and lettuce and peas. Later on we find time to plant corn, cucumbers and tomatoes. The class of vegetables which may go into the ground very early Is likewise harvested har-vested very early. There is a big gap setween this early harvest and the :lme of green corn and red tomatoes, 'et we have to work Just as hard dur-ng dur-ng this hungry period as if we were retting a bounteous yield. Why not plan the varieties of vege-.ables vege-.ables and their planting time so as io secure a continuous and ample supply sup-ply of good, fresh green things? It's Just as easy as any other method of garden management, and it's much more satisfactory. Instead of having only half of your garden working after the early vegetables are gone, plan to put In other crops on the same ground so that the succession will be almost unbroken. The systematic rotation of farm crops is an absolute necessity, In order or-der to secure maximum yields, and to keep down pests. Various crops have entirely (Afferent effects on the soil, some taking more of one element, others oth-ers feeding heavily on another. The legumes, such as clover and alfalfa, are heavy feeders, but they possess the peculiar faculty of transferring nitrogen ni-trogen from the air to the soil, and this makes them our most valuable class of plants, without question. Garden Gar-den peas and beans belong to this 'amily. Potatoes and root crops, on the other hand, add nothing and use up a very great amount of plant food. Other plants vary in proportion and it is necessary to make frequent changes of the location of a crop In order to avoid using up all of any one element of plant food. The problem of diseases and pests is a serious ono, particularly In the east. After a certain related class of plants, like potatoes and tomatoes, have been grown on the same land for a couple of seasons, It becomes Infected In-fected with their enemies and the only way to get rid of them is to starve them out by using the land for a different dif-ferent class of plants, such as the various cucurbits cucumbers, pumpkins, pump-kins, squash, gourds and melons. It is impossible to lay down any set way in which to achieve the best results. re-sults. We all have different ideas and tastes and this department must be satisfied with calling attention to rather general principles, leaving all details to be worked out by the Individual. In-dividual. Ground which has been used for the early crops can then be planted to late corn or cucumbers. By training train-ing tomatoes and cucumbers on supports, sup-ports, a much smaller amount of ground will produce the crop: Many combinations can be worked out to fit your particular crops and the main result to be achieved is to keep all of your garden working all of the time. Move the crops around from year to year so as to give the soil a chance to recuperate. Where a number of successive plantings are desirable, as with peas, it Is an excellent plan to plant a third or fourth crop between the rows of the first crop as soon as the peas have been picked. Lawn Pests. Prompt action and thorough, intelligent intelli-gent treatment is necessary to kill lawn pests and rid your sod of these undesirable occupants. The dandelion is the most notorious of our lawn pests. The first few days of warm growing weather will bring out its glowing blossoms and no hard winter seems to diminish Us optimism or energy. There will be more of them than last year. There always are. The richer the soil and the finer the place, the more dandelions there will be. Unlike other weeds, which can be crowded out by heavily feeding the grass, the dandelion responds to such treatment even more nobly than does the grass. It is directly comparable to some of our public servants, whose extraordinary abilities could be productive pro-ductive of so much good if applied in the proper direction. True, the dandelion serves the purpose pur-pose of calling many householders out of doors Into the healing spring sunshine, sun-shine, who would otherwise stay Indoors. In-doors. Its first blossoms bring real Joy to the small boy and salad to the railroad section hand, but the man with the lawn mower loves it not Away with it. We can banish it If we will. The best method of eradicating dandelions dan-delions from sod Is to keep the grass cut closely during the dandelion season, sea-son, remove it and burn it, and spray the lawn every ten days or oftener with a solution of copperas, or sulphate sul-phate of iron, as it is more properly called. This costs about three cents a pound and can be secured from druggists or seed stores. Dissolve three-quarters of a pound in a gallon of water and spray the dandelion plants thoroughly. An ordinary sprinkling sprin-kling can will get results, but it is much better to use a sprayer that throws a very fine mist-like spray. Use it while the sun is shining on the plants. It will get practically all of the dandelion dan-delion leaves and blossoms. No damage dam-age will be done to the grass, aside from blackening the tips. Digging dandelions out is practically practical-ly impossible, but this spraying scheme is very effective. I Plantains and other weeds must be pulled and burned before they blossom. blos-som. Ants are best destroyed by pouring a little carbon bisulphide in each hole and covering It with earth so that the fumes cannot escape. The best way to kill moles is with special mole traps. Angle worms are beneficial to a lawn unless present in great numbers. Carbon bisulphide will kill them, too. Cut worms are destroyed by soaking the Infected area with a solution of arsenate of lead, one pound to a barrel bar-rel of water. Their presence is indicated indi-cated by patches of dead grass. The little white worms will be found among the grass roots. Wifey's Device. A Caney man received several letters let-ters threatening his life in case he was seen on the streets at night As a consequence he didn't venture out after sundown. Postoffice inspectors discovered that the letters had been written by the man's own' wife. It was a way she devised o keeping him home nights. Kansas City Journal. Lettuce must be grown rapidly to be good. |