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Show IFAJtM AND GARDEN. MATTEnS OP INTEREST TO AQITICULTUnlSTS. ' Cp-to-Il inula About ml-Illation ml-Illation i,r li toll ml ll.lcl. ThrKie llnrtlriitture, Vlllcultiira soil riortcbllnr A bant flints, Clarence 11. Norton, writing In the I Kansas Farmer, expresses sotno excel- lent thoughts on clod crushing. Wo mako the follow Ire extracts-Tho extracts-Tho condition of the soil, and the season of 1S97. havo been great financial finan-cial drawbacks to Kansas fnrmeri, yet, if they ttudy the conditions carefully. it may, In the future be of advantage to them In the tint plnco tho winter waa more open than uaual, and the ground did not freeze as much as in-ual, in-ual, and tho cattle that grated tho corn talk fields nil winter punched up the fresh soil In great shape, and tho complaint com-plaint against the cloddy condition of I the aoll Is general and louder tbin usual. All this complaint results b-cauio b-cauio the cattle sink a little deeper than usual Into tho soil Not n slnglo year passe but what tho cattle will inako the enmo amount of clods, only wo do not see them, and wo are una- , aro of their pretence The coming Inleuilve farmer will notcr nllow any stock, except sheep, to run In his stalk tlelds-ln fact, thero will be no alnlk fields, as tho fodder will be all cut up nd hnuled off to bo fed. Tho farmer who thinks ho Is n careful man, much more careful than his neighbor, will not allow his cattle In bis stalk field, except when the aoll Is dry, while his neighbor will not nllow them In tho Held ccry da, wet or dry, ami farmer No, 1 thinks he Is much wiser than farmer No, 2, and ho has a great pity for his Ignorant neighbor who feeds his sulks wet or dry, alike. When the soil Is wet tho cattlo slump down deep Into the soil, and a clod Is raaJo below tho bottom of the hoof-print, hoof-print, Just the same as n clod of wood Is formed In front of the square paint of a cut nail that Is bclng'drhcn Into a board As this clod Is punched down deep Into tho soil It will be on top of tho soil Just as soon as tho soil Is turned over by tho plow and the farm- f r can rcduco the clods by his machine, a or If not. they will bo up where naluro 1 can gradually dlssolto them by tho action of heat, cold and moisture. When tho sail Is dry, or only a little d damp Just at tho top, the careful farm- er does not hesitate to pasture bis atalk 3 Held, and when the soil Is In this con- I dltlon a thin clod Is formed Just under tho hoof-prlut, but It Is near the sur- face of the soli, and when the soil Is j turned over with tho plow this thin f clod Is turned down out of sight Into the bottom of tho furrow, and Is never -. scon by the farmer again He makes j n perfect seed-bed of tho surface of his 1 ! freshly-plowed soil, but does not seo I tho clods and air spaces that rest on ; ' tho bottom of the furrows where the !' root tono Is. A dry pressed brick Is made by using perfectly dry earth I pressed together by heavy pressure, and a clod Is made the same way !A wet or mud brick Is made by applying ap-plying a smaller pressure to a wot soil. :. , The difference Is not between the i ' moisture In tho aoll, but Is simply a 1 , difference of pressure applied, hence a clod made In wet soil will bo thicker ' , than one made In dry aoll, and never I Is a dry soil exempt from clods except i when the pressure Is kept off. Hence, j the careful farmer makes Just aa many clods as his careless neighbor. The ,i only difference Is that one's clods are I not quite so thick as the other's, and , j that the careless man will have his II clods on top after plowing, where the ill rains can dlttolte tbem, or where the I clod-cruthlng machinery can destroy J I them, whllo the careful man, wno l thinks be la so much superior to his K neighbor, will have Just aa many clods ,B but not so thick one, and he will hide a bis clods from sight and put them 1 j down Into the root tone, where they i B will be protected from all breaking up, IB and they will never be destroyed by I any machinery that Is made, nor by nature's elements, until they are again I put on the surfaco a year later by the plow. Now, which would you rather R have, the clods on top, whero they can B be broken up or down In the root tone, II .., thv sre fully protected and K where they chest the iuui bionm, ju.i as much as It they were so many stones? The great remedy for this evil Is to not allow cattle to graze the stalk fields, but when they are grated the surface of the soil should be thoroughly thorough-ly tarn up by n cutaway harrow, or repeated re-peated disking, before the plow Isiisod, to that the toll that la turned down to make the loot tone will be perfectly free from clods. If the careless farmer farm-er Is satisfied he has a clod reducing machine that will thoroughly reduce any ami all surface clods when properly prop-erly used, be Is nut so careless n farmer farm-er as our neighbors may. In their Ignorance, Ig-norance, have called him, while, on tho other hand, tho man who thinks he Is careful, who plows clods down deep Into the toll and leasee them thero for a year. Is really a very slovenly slov-enly farmer, and Is yearly cutting off the plant food from tho root tone, nnd It would be belter If bo never plowed his land at nil I Tn flrttw Vl,,lls Mnrrrfttrtlllr. One all-Important Item In the culture cul-ture of violets Is ventilation. They mutt have fresh air and plenty of It at all timet, Hood v entllallon Is easily secured by placing blocks under tho ends of the Msh They will require careful watching during the bright sunny days, to precnt tho temperature tempera-ture from rising too high. Tho nearer It can be kept at from fifty-flvo to sixty degrees during the blooming season sea-son the better. Cooler temperaturo beforo tlmo for blooming will be necessary. nec-essary. Durlne secro winter weather It will bo necessary to cover tho eash with manure, atrawy litter or old car-peta car-peta to keep out tho cold. Theso coverings cov-erings should not remain on during the daytime, unlets It teems necessary As to watering tho groncr will have to uso somo Judgment. Violets mutt never ho allowed to dry out, nnd require re-quire considerable water. Allow plenty plen-ty of water, but avoid dally soaking, whether needed or not. It Is rather a difficult matter to grow violets in the bouse, the hot dry heat of the ordinary ordi-nary living-room being disastrous to tho health of tho plant, Woman's Homo Companion. OtrrreiMtlm, It you havo a hen to die suddenly, or your flock quits laying, you nro at once told that you are overfeeding, that you should discontinue this and that, and feed some other diets. Now, aa a matter of fact, strictly speaking, there Is no such thing ns overfeeding poultry. It Is not how much you feed that Injures tho hen, but the way you feed It. A poorly-fed hen Is a poor egg producer. It Is food that makes bens lay, and If fed properly too much cannot can-not be given. Wo are told that a very fat hen will not lay, which Is most certainly true, but a hen fed aa the should bo will not get fat, Hens should be gradually supplied with food during the day. so that when night cornea on their hunger Is entirely appeased. ap-peased. No matter what you feed, make tbem work for It, and eat It lowly. Mako thorn scratch for all grain and keep them busy from morning morn-ing till night, and you will find that thero will be no overfed bens In your flock. Homo and I'arm, New Zealand's l'rnirn Meat Trail. Tho American stockmen ore directly Interested In tho froxen meat trade that distant countries are building up with tho European markets. Our own trade Is bound to be affected to a considerable con-siderable oxtent, though up to thlt time we havo not greatly felt the competition. com-petition. The United States consul In New Zealand reports that the frozen meat Industry of that colony bat developed de-veloped with extraordinary rapidity, and has attained such magnitude as to make Ita projectors proul. It was atarted by New Zealandera In 188:, who farmed the original freezing companies com-panies Ita present dimensions have been attained by private enterprise alone, nnd to this enterprise the magnificent mag-nificent fleet of steamers now engaged In thla trade between New Zealand and England owe, In a great measure, their existence It can hardly be said that the Introduction of frozen meat Into the London market from Australasia bad advanced beyond an experimental stage until about 1681, during which year about 17,000 tar-casses tar-casses of frozen mutton were shipped to London from Australia, and also a limited amount of beef It Is said menl reached London In good condition, condi-tion, tho other perla being described as Irregular In condition and unsatisfactory. unsatis-factory. In ISM two shipments of frozen meat were made from New Zealand, m' prising about 9,000 carcasses, which reached their destination In good condition. con-dition. A small quantity of beet and about 10.000 carcasses of mutton were shipped to Hngland from New Zealand, while only one-half that omount waa shipped from Australia In 1SS2 the entire shipment of meats amounted to 1,707.128. This amount had Increased In 1896 to 123.S7C.6II pounds. This whole business depends on tho cooling or freetlng plants that have been Invented during the Inst two decades. de-cades. l)y meant of these machines the nlr Is reduced to, say, 70 degree below zero, and at this temperaturo the meat la quickly frozen Tho aleamcrt that enrry tho meats also havo cooling cool-ing planta that enable them to keep down tho temperature of tho air In the holda of the vessels to a point whero tho meat remains permonenlly frozen. The possibilities of these planta are so great that n cargo of meats could be carried several times around the orld without detriment to Ita quality. It will thus be seen that the frown meat trado of the countries In tho southern hemisphere Is bound to develop. Tho hopo Is that tho ratio of consumption of meats In the Huropean markets will continue to Increuso as rapidly at tho supplies. Horticulture In I'ulille ftrliools. It seems that the) time haa come when tho ngrlcullural press of tho country should begin to systemmntlcally agitato agi-tato tho question of teaching tho elements ele-ments of agriculture and horticulture In the country schools Tho tlmo wat when the principles of agriculture were not well underttood. by oveu tho belt farmers, nnd no textbook na available avail-able for use In such achoolt Hut the past few )ears hao completely revolutionized revo-lutionized tho subject, and now there nro seicral oxrcllent elementary workt on that subject well adapted to country school work. It la safo to say that two-thirds two-thirds of tho pupils who attend our country schools will atny upon tho farm, and audi being the case. It It right that the course In tuch school! bo to thaped at to bo belt adapted to their nceda. Much of tho work there i , UAiiuooa Slltzr. J t On thlt pago we Illustrate, two In- day are a large, long-wooted variety rl- Dartmoor sheep with tho Leicester, dlvlduals of the Dartmoor breed of vallng In tlzo tho Cotswold, Lincoln and Llncolnt and do not slvo tho id k sheep. The Live Stock Handbook tayt and llomney Marali breodt. They are of a forest or mountain race ' l'srm. S of them: Tho Dartmoor sheep o. to- tho result nt crossing the original era' Itevlew. taken up. It of far lest use to tbem than would bo the study of agriculture Tho Higher Header" the "Advanced Grammar" or the "Completo Orography" Orogra-phy" can well bo given less time, and agriculture bo given a place upon tho common school course; at least for those who chooso to take It. Agriculture It little more than the applying of natural laws. In other words the farmer ateers nature Into such courses ns give the best results And the sooner ho lenrns tho laws of nature and how to best apply them to his needs the better for him. The Ideal that are Impressed upon the young mind nro the onct that stay cloiett by us through life Much complaint li beard that our common school courses are not practical; that pupils usually como out of them without knowing much of the subjects that they are taught In school. The complaint Is well founded and the reason Is that they have little chance to practically apply In every day life what li taught them In school Dut this need not bo true of agriculture for Its principles prin-ciples could bo observed working and put Into dally use at home. I am an earnest advocate of the teaching of the principles of agriculture In our country coun-try schools Let ut hear from otheri on the tubject IJ. M. Vaughan, In Karmen' Itevlew. Many Varieties of 1'lgcons The following fol-lowing varieties of pigeons appear In the last premium list of tho Iloston pigeon show. Carriers, pouters, pigmy poutert, barbs, tumblers, thort-fare tumblers, Intlde tumblert, long-faco clean-leg tumblers, long-faco bald or beard tumblers, saddle tumblers, muffled muf-fled beard tumblers, muffled barred tumblers, Jacobtncs, owls, Afrhan owls, Chinese owlt, trumpeters, fan-tails, fan-tails, oriental, frills, Mondlnettea, sv tlnettes, bluettes, sllvercttes, turbl-teens, turbl-teens, turblts, magpies, awallows, fairy swallows, dragoons, nuns, archangels, tipplers and homers Each of these varieties va-rieties Is divided into several classes, I'vUtiU m urr.wc'L.'xtirorig; rn |
