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1. The crops best suited to our soil and climate. 2. The crops best suited to our line of business. 3. The crops that will give us the most protein. 4. The crops that produce the most. 5. The crops that will keep our soil in the best condition.
1. The crops best suited to our soil and climate. Farm crops, as every child of the farm knows, are not equally adapted to all soils and climates. Cotton cannot be produced where the climate is cool and the seasons short. Timothy and blue grass are most productive on cool, limestone soils. Cowpeas demand warm, dry soils. But in spite of climatic limitations, Nature has been generous in the wide variety of forage she has given us.
Our aim should be to make the best use of what we have, to improve by selection and care those kinds best adapted to our soil and climate, and to secure, by better methods of growing and curing, the greatest yields at the least possible cost.
2. The crops best suited to our line of business. A farmer necessarily becomes more or less of a specialist; he gathers those kinds of live stock about him which he likes best and which he finds the most profitable. He should, on his farm, select for his main crops those that he can grow with the greatest pleasure and with the greatest profit.
The successful railroad manager determines by practical experience what distances his engines and crews ought to run in a day, what coal is most economical for his engines, what schedules best suit the needs of his road, what trains pay him best. These and a thousand and one other matters are settled by the special needs of his road.
Ought the man who wants to make his farm pay be less prudent and less far-sighted? Should not his past failures and his past triumphs decide his future? If he be a dairy farmer, ought he not by practical tests to settle for himself not only what crops are most at home on his land but also what crops in his circumstances yield him the largest returns in milk and butter? If swine-raising be his business, how long ought he to guess what crop on his land yields him the greatest amount of hog food? Should a colt be fed on one kind of forage when the land that produced that forage would produce twice as much equally good forage of another kind? All these questions the prudent farmer should answer promptly and in the light of wise experiments.
3. The crops that will give us the most protein. It is the farmer's business to grow all the grass and forage that his farm animals need. He ought never to be obliged to purchase a bale of forage. Moreover, he should grow mainly those crops that are rich in protein materials, for example, cowpeas, alfalfa, and clover. If such crops are produced on the farm, there will be little need of buying so much cotton-seed meal, corn, and bran for feeding purposes.
4. The crops that produce the most. We often call a crop a crop without considering how much it yields. This is a mistake. We ought to grow, when we have choice of two crops, the one that is the best and the most productive on the farm. Average corn, for instance, yields on an acre at least twice the quantity of feeding-material that timothy does.
5. The crops that will keep our soil in the best condition. A good farmer should always be thinking of how to improve his soil. He wants his land to support him and to maintain his children after he is dead.
Since cowpeas, clover, and alfalfa add atmospheric nitrogen to the soil and at the same time are the best feeding-materials, it follows that these crops should hold an important place in every system of crop-rotation. By proper rotating, by proper terracing, and by proper drainage, land may be made to retain its fertility for generations.
EXERCISE
1. Why are cowpeas, clover, and alfalfa so important to the farmer?
2. What is meant by the protein of a food?
3. Why is it better to feed the farm crops to animals on the farm rather than to sell these crops?
SECTION LXV. FARM TOOLS AND MACHINES
The drudgery of farm life is being lessened from year to year by the invention or improvement of farm tools and machines. Perhaps some of you know how tiresome was the old up-and-down churn dasher that has now generally given place to the "quick-coming" churns. The toothed, horse-drawn cultivator has nearly displaced "the man with the hoe," while the scythe, slow and back-breaking, is everywhere getting out of the way of the mowing-machine and the horserake. The old heavy, sweat-drawing grain-cradle is slinking into the backwoods, and in its place we have the horse-drawn or steam-drawn harvester that cuts and binds the grain, and even threshes and measures it at one operation. Instead of the plowman's wearily making one furrow at a time, the gang-plows of the plains cut many furrows at one time, and instead of walking the plowman rides. The shredder and husker turns the hitherto useless cornstalk into food, and at the same time husks, or shucks, the corn.
The farmer of the future must know three things well: first, what machines he can profitably use; second, how to manage these machines; third, how to care for these machines.
The machinery that makes farming so much more economical and that makes the farmer's life so much easier and more comfortable is too complicated to be put into the hands of bunglers who will soon destroy it, and it is too costly to be left in the fields or under trees to rust and rot.
If it is not convenient for every farmer to have a separate tool-house, he should at least set apart a room in his barn, or a shed for storing his tools and machines. As soon as a plow, harrow, cultivator—indeed any tool or machine—has finished its share of work for the season, it should receive whatever attention it needs to prevent rusting, and should be carefully housed.
Such care, which is neither costly nor burdensome, will add many years to the life of a machine.
SECTION LXVI. LIMING THE LAND
Occasionally, when a cook puts too much vinegar in a salad, the dish becomes so sour that it is unfit to eat. The vinegar which the cook uses belongs to a large group of compounds known as acids. The acids are common in nature. They have the power not only of making salads sour but also of making land sour. Frequently land becomes so sour from acids forming in it that it will not bear its usual crops. The acids must then be removed or the land will become useless.
The land may be soured in several ways. Whenever a large amount of vegetable matter decays in land, acids are formed, and at times sourness of the soil results. Often soils sour because they are not well drained or because, from lack of proper tillage, air cannot make its way into the soil. Sometimes all these causes may combine to produce sourness. Since most crops cannot thrive on very sour soil, the farmer must find some method of making his land sweet again.
So far as we now know, liming the land is the cheapest and surest way of overcoming the sourness. In addition to sweetening the soil by overcoming the acids, lime aids the land in other ways: it quickens the growth of helpful bacteria; it loosens stiff, heavy clay soils and thereby fits them for easier tillage; it indirectly sets free the potash and phosphoric acid so much needed by plants; and it increases the capillarity of soils.
However, too much must not be expected of lime. Often a farmer's yield is so increased after he has scattered lime over his fields that he thinks that lime alone will keep his land fertile. This belief explains the saying, "Lime enriches the father but beggars the son." The continued use of lime without other fertilization will indeed leave poor land for the son. Lime is just as necessary to plant growth as the potash and nitrogen and phosphoric acid about which we hear so much, but it cannot take the place of these plant foods. Its duty is to aid, not to displace them.
We can tell by the taste when salads are too sour; it is more difficult to find out whether land is sour. There are, however, some methods that will help to determine the sourness of the soil.
In the first place, if land is unusually sour, you can determine this fact by a simple test. Buy a pennyworth of blue litmus paper from a drug store. Mix some of the suspected soil with a little water and bury the litmus paper in the mixture. If the paper turns red the soil is sour.
In the second place, the leguminous crops are fond of lime. Clover and vetch remove so much lime from the soil that they are often called lime plants. If clover and vetch refuse to grow on land on which they formerly flourished, it is generally, though not always, a sign that the land needs lime.
In the third place, when water grasses and certain weeds spring up on land, that land is usually acid, and lime will be helpful. Moreover, fields adjoining land on which cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, or gallberries are growing wild, may always be suspected of more or less sourness.
Four forms of lime are used on land. These, each called by different names, are as follows:
First, quicklime, which is also called burnt lime, caustic lime, builders' lime, rock lime, and unslaked lime.
Second, air-slaked lime, which is also known as carbonate of lime, agricultural lime, marl, and limestone.
Third, water-slaked, or hydrated, lime.
Fourth, land plaster, or gypsum. This form of lime is known to the chemists as sulphate of lime. Do not forget that this last form is never to be used on sour lands. We shall therefore not consider it further.
Air-slaked lime is simply quicklime which has taken from the air a gas called carbon dioxide. This is the same gas that you breathe out from your lungs.
Water-slaked lime is quicklime to which water has been added. In other words, both of these are merely weakened forms of quicklime. One hundred pounds of quicklime is equal in richness to 132 pounds of water-slaked lime and to 178 pounds of air-slaked lime. These figures should be remembered by a farmer when he is buying lime. If he can buy a fair grade of quicklime delivered at his railway station for $5.00 a ton, he cannot afford to pay more than $3.75 a ton for water-slaked lime, nor more than $2.75 for air-slaked lime of equal grade. Quicklime should always be slaked before it is applied to the soil.
As a rule lime should be spread broadcast and then harrowed or disked thoroughly into the soil. This is best done after the ground has been plowed. For pastures or meadows air-slaked lime is used as a top-dressing. When air-slaked lime is used it may be spread broadcast in the spring; the other forms should be applied in the fall or in the early winter.
SECTION LXVII. BIRDS
What do birds do in the world? is an important question for us to think about. First, we must gain by observation and by personal acquaintance with the living birds a knowledge of their work and their way of doing it. In getting this knowledge, let us also consider what we can do for our birds to render their work as complete and effective as possible.
Think of what the birds are doing on every farm, in every garden, and about every home in the land. Think of the millions of beautiful wings, of the graceful and attractive figures, of the cunning nests, and of the singing throats! Do you think that the whole service of the birds is to be beautiful, to sing charmingly, and to rear their little ones? By no means is this their chief service to man. Aside from these services the greatest work of birds is to destroy insects. It is one of the wise provisions of nature that many of the most brilliantly winged and most enchanting songsters are our most practical friends.
Not all birds feed on insects and animals; but even those that eat but a small amount of insect food may still destroy insects that would have damaged fruit and crops much more than the birds themselves do.
As to their food, birds are divided into three general classes. First, those that live wholly or almost wholly on insects. These are called insectivorous birds. Chief among these are the warblers, cuckoos, swallows, martins, flycatchers, nighthawks, whippoorwills, swifts, and humming-birds. We cannot have too many of these birds. They should be encouraged and protected. They should be supplied with shelter and water.
Birds of the second class feed by preference on fruits, nuts, and grain. The bluebird, robin, wood thrush, mocking-bird, catbird, chickadee, cedar-bird, meadow lark, oriole, jay, crow, and woodpecker belong to this group. These birds never fail to perform a service for us by devouring many weed seeds.
The third class is known as the hard-billed birds. It includes those birds which live principally on seeds and grain—the canary, goldfinch, sparrow, and some others.
Birds that come early, like the bluebird, robin, and redwing, are of special service in destroying insects before the insects lay their eggs for the season.
The robins on the lawn search out the caterpillars and cutworms. The chipping sparrow and the wren in the shrubbery look out for all kinds of insects. They watch over the orchard and feed freely on the enemies of the apple and other fruit trees. The trunks of these trees are often attacked by borers, which gnaw holes in the bark and wood, and often cause the death of the trees. The woodpeckers hunt for these appetizing borers and by means of their barbed tongues bring them from their hiding-places. On the outside of the bark of the trunk and branches the bark lice work. These are devoured by the nuthatches, creepers, and chickadees.
During the winter the bark is the hiding-place for hibernating insects, which, like plant lice, feed in summer on the leaves. Throughout the winter a single chickadee will destroy great numbers of the eggs of the cankerworm moth and of the plant louse. The blackbirds, meadow larks, crows, quail, and sparrows are the great protectors of the meadow and field crops. These birds feed on the army worms and cutworms that do so much injury to the young shoots; they also destroy the chinch bug and the grasshopper, both of which feed on cultivated plants.
A count of all the different kinds of animals shows that insects make up nine tenths of them. Hence it is easy to see that if something did not check their increase they would soon almost overrun the earth. Our forests and orchards furnish homes and breeding-places for most of these insects. Suppose the injurious insects were allowed to multiply unchecked in the forests, their numbers would so increase that they would invade our fields and create as much terror among the farmers as they did in Pharaoh's Egypt. The birds are the only direct friends man has to destroy these harmful insects. What benefactors, then, these little feathered neighbors are!
It has been estimated that a bird will devour thirty insects daily. Even in a widely extended forest region a very few birds to the acre, if they kept up this rate, would daily destroy many bushels of insects that would play havoc with the neighboring orchards and fields.
Do not imagine, however, that to destroy insects is the only use of birds. The day is far more delightful when the birds sing, and when we see them flit in and out, giving us a glimpse now and then of their pretty coats and quaint ways. By giving them a home we can surround ourselves with many birds, sweet of song and brilliant of plumage.
If the birds felt that man were a friend and not a foe, they would often turn to him for protection. During times of severe storm, extreme drought, or scarcity of food, if the birds were sufficiently tamed to come to man as their friend, as they do in rare cases now, a little food and shelter might tide them over the hard time and their service afterwards would repay the outlay a thousandfold. If the boys in your families would build bird-houses about the house and barn and in shade trees, they might save yearly a great number of birds. In building these places of shelter and comfort, due care must be taken to keep them clear of English sparrows and out of the reach of cats and bird-dogs.
Whatever we do to attract the birds to make homes on the premises must be done at the right time and in the right way. Think out carefully what materials to provide for them. Bits of string, linen, cotton, yarn, tow and other waste material, all help to induce a pair to build in the garden.
It is an interesting study—the preparation of homes for the birds. Trees may be pruned to make inviting crotches. A tangled, overgrown corner in the garden will invite some birds to nest.
Wrens, bluebirds, chickadees, martins, and some other varieties are all glad to set up housekeeping in man-made houses. The proper size for a bird-room is easily remembered. Give each room six square inches of floor space and make it eight inches high. Old, weathered boards should be used; or, if paint is employed, a dull color to resemble an old tree-trunk will be most inviting. A single opening near the top should be made two inches in diameter for the larger birds; but if the house is to be headquarters for the wren, a one-inch opening is quite large enough, and the small door serves all the better to keep out English sparrows.
The barn attic should be turned over to the swallows. Small holes may be cut high up in the gables and left open during the time that the swallows remain with us. They will more than pay for shelter by the good work they do in ridding the barn of flies, gnats, and mosquitoes.
SECTION LXVIII. FARMING ON DRY LANDS
Almost in the center of the western half of our continent there is a vast area in which very little rain falls. This section includes nearly three hundred million acres of land. It stretches from Canada on the north into Texas on the south, and from the Missouri River (including the Dakotas and western Minnesota) on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west. In this great area farming has to be done with little water. This sort of farming is therefore called "dry-farming."
The soil in this section is as a rule very fertile. Therefore the difference between farming in this dry belt and farming in most of the other sections of our country is a difference mainly due to a lack of moisture.
As water is so scarce in this region two things are of the utmost importance: first, to save all the rain as it falls; second, to save all the water after it has fallen. To save the falling rain it is necessary for the ground to be in such a condition that none of the much-needed rain may run off. Every drop should go into the soil. Hence the farmer should never allow his top soil to harden into a crust. Such a crust will keep the rain from sinking into the thirsty soil. Moreover the soil should be deeply plowed. The deeper the soil the more water it can hold. The land should also be kept as porous as possible, for water enters a porous soil freely. The addition of humus in the form of vegetable manures will keep the soil in the porous condition needed. Second, after the water has entered the soil it is important to hold it there so that it may supply the growing crops. If the land is allowed to remain untilled after a rain or during a hot spell, the water in it will evaporate too rapidly and thus the soil, like a well, will go dry too soon. To prevent this the top soil should be stirred frequently with a disk or smoothing harrow. This stirring will form a mulch of dry soil on the surface, and this will hold the water. Other forms of mulch have been suggested, but the soil mulch is the only practical one. It must be borne in mind that this surface cultivation must be regularly kept up if the moisture is to be retained.
Some experiments in wheat-growing have shown how readily water might be saved if plowing were done at the right time. Wheat sowed on land that was plowed as soon as the summer crops were taken off yielded a very much larger return than wheat sowed on land that remained untilled for some time after the summer crops were gathered. This difference in yield on lands of the same fertility was due to the fact that the early plowing enabled the land to take up a sufficient quantity of moisture.
In addition to a vigilant catching and saving of water, the farmer in these dry climates must give his land the same careful attention that lands in other regions need. The seed-bed should be most carefully prepared. It should be deep, porous, and excellent in tilth. During the growing season all crops should be frequently cultivated. The harrow, the cultivator, and the plow should be kept busy. The soil should be kept abundantly supplied with humus.
Some crops need a little different management in dry-farming. Corn, for example, does best when it is listed; that is, planted so that it will come up three or four inches beneath the surface. If planted in this way, it roots better, stands up better, and requires less work.
Just as breeders study what animals are best for their climates, so farmers in the dry belt should study what crops are best suited to their lands. Some crops, like the sorghums and Kafir corn, are peculiarly at home in scantily watered lands. Others do not thrive. Experience is the only sure guide to the proper selection.
To sum up, then, farmers can grow good crops in these lands only when four things are done: first, the land must be thoroughly tilled so that water can freely enter the soil; second, the land must be frequently cultivated so that the water will be kept in the soil; third, the crops must be properly rotated so as to use to best advantage the food and water supply; fourth, humus must be freely supplied so as to keep the soil in the best possible condition.
SECTION LXIX. IRRIGATION
Irrigation is the name given to the plan of supplying water in large quantities to growing crops. Since the dawn of history this practice has been more or less followed in Asia, in Africa, and in Europe. The Spanish settlers in the southwestern part of America were probably the first to introduce this custom into our country. In New Mexico there is an irrigating trench that has been in constant use for three hundred years.
The most common source of water for irrigating purposes is a river or a smaller stream. Artesian wells are used in some parts of the country. Windmills are sometimes used when only a small supply of water is needed. Engines, hydraulic rams, and water-wheels are also employed. The water-wheel is one of the oldest and one of the most useful methods of raising water from streams. There are thousands of these in use in the dry regions of the West. Small buckets are fastened to a large wheel, which is turned by the current of a stream. As the wheel turns, the buckets are filled, raised, and then emptied into a trough called a flume. The water flows through the flume into the irrigating ditches, which distribute it as it is needed in the fields. In some parts of California and other comparatively dry sections, wells are sunk in or near the beds of underground streams, and then the water is pumped into ditches which convey it to the fields to be irrigated.
Engines are often used for pumping water from streams and transferring it to ditches or canals. The canals distribute the water over the land or over the growing crops.
None of these methods, however, can be used for watering very large areas of land. Hence, as the value of farm lands increased other methods were sought. Shrewd men began to turn longing eyes on the wide stretches of barren land in the West. They knew that these waste lands, seemingly so unfertile, would become most fruitful as soon as water was turned on them. Could water enough be found? New plans to pen up floods of water were prepared, and immense sums were spent in carrying out these plans. Enormous dams of cemented stone were thrown across the gorges in the foothills of the mountains. Behind these solid dams the water from the rains and the melting snow of the mountains was backed for miles, and was at once ready to change barrenness into fruitfulness. The stored water is led by means of main canals and cross ditches wherever it is needed, and countless acres have been brought under cultivation.
Water is generally applied either by making furrows for its passage through the fields or by flooding the land. The latter plan is the cheaper, but it can be used only on level lands. Where the land is somewhat irregular a checking system, as it is called, is used to distribute the water. It is taken from check to check until the entire field has been irrigated.
The furrow method is usually employed for fruits and for farm and garden crops. In many places the grass and grain crops are now supplied with water by furrows instead of by flooding.
Irrigated lands should be carefully and thoroughly tilled. The water for irrigation is costly, and should be made to go as far as possible. Good tillage saves the water. Moreover, all cultivated crops like corn, potatoes, and orchard and truck crops ought to be cultivated frequently to save the moisture, to keep the soil in fit condition, and to aid the bacteria in the soil. It was a wise farmer who said, "One does not need to grow crops many years in order to learn that nothing can take the place of stirring the soil."
METHODS OF IRRIGATING CROPS
Tree fruits. Water is conducted through very narrow furrows from three to five feet apart, and allowed to sink about four feet deep, and to spread under the ground. Then the supply is cut off. The object is to wet the soil deeply, and then by tillage to hold the moisture in the soil.
Small fruits. The common practice is to run water on each side of the row until the rows are soaked.
Potatoes. A thorough soaking is given the land before planting-time, and then no more than is absolutely necessary until blossoming-time. After the blossoms appear keep the soil moist until the crop ripens.
Garden crops. Any method may be employed, but the vital point is to cultivate the ground as early as it can be worked after it has been irrigated.
Meadows and alfalfa. Flooding is the most common method in use. The first irrigation comes early in the spring before growth has advanced much, and the successive waterings after the harvesting of each crop.
SECTION LXX. LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
As ours is a country in which the people rule, every boy and every girl ought to be trained to take a wide-awake interest in public affairs. This training cannot begin too early in life. A wise old man once said, "In a republic you ought to begin to train a child for good citizenship on the day of its birth."
Happy would it be for our nation if all the young people who live in the country could begin their training in good citizenship by becoming workers for these four things:
First, attractive country homes.
Second, attractive country schoolhouses and school grounds.
Third, good country schools.
Fourth, good roads.
If the thousands on thousands of pupils in our schools would become active workers for these things and continue their work through life, then, in less than half a century, life in the country would be an unending delight.
One of the problems of our day is how to keep bright, thoughtful, sociable, ambitious boys and girls contented on the farm. Every step taken to make the country home more attractive, to make the school and its grounds more enjoyable, to make the way easy to the homes of neighbors, to school, to post-office, and to church, is a step taken toward keeping on the farm the very boys and girls who are most apt to succeed there.
Not every man who lives in the country can have a showy or costly home, but as long as grass and flowers and vines and trees grow, any man who wishes can have an attractive house. Not every woman who is to spend a lifetime at the head of a rural home can have a luxuriously furnished home, but any woman who is willing to take a little trouble can have a cozy, tastefully furnished home—a home fitted with the conveniences that diminish household drudgery. Even in this day of cheap literature, all parents cannot fill their children's home with papers, magazines, and books, but by means of school and Sunday-school libraries, by means of circulating book clubs, and by a little self-denial, earnest parents can feed hungry minds just as they feed hungry bodies.
Agricultural papers that arouse the interest and quicken the thought of farm boys by discussing the best, easiest, and cheapest ways of farming; journals full of dainty suggestions for household adornment and comfort; illustrated papers and magazines that amuse and cheer every member of the family; books that rest tired bodies and open and strengthen growing minds—all of these are so cheap that the money reserved from the sale of one hog will keep a family fairly supplied for a year.
If the parents, teachers, and pupils of a school join hands, an unsightly, ill-furnished, ill-lighted, and ill-ventilated school-house can at small cost be changed into one of comfort and beauty. In many places pupils have persuaded their parents to form clubs to beautify the school grounds. Each father sends a man or a man with a plow once or twice a year to work a day on the grounds. Stumps are removed, trees trimmed, drains put in, grass sowed, flowers, shrubbery, vines, and trees planted, and the grounds tastefully laid off. Thus at scarcely noticeable money cost a rough and unsightly school ground gives place to a charming school yard. Cannot the pupils in every school in which this book is studied get their parents to form such a club, and make their school ground a silent teacher of neatness and beauty?
Life in the country will never be as attractive as it ought to be until all the roads are improved. Winter-washed roads, penning young people in their own homes for many months each year and destroying so many of the innocent pleasures of youth, build towns and cities out of the wreck of country homes. Can young people who love their country and their country homes engage in a nobler crusade than a crusade for improved highways?
APPENDIX
SPRAYING MIXTURES
FOR BITING INSECTS
DRY PARIS GREEN
Paris green 1 lb. Lime or flour 4 to 16 lb.
WET PARIS GREEN
Paris green 1/4 to 2 lb. Lime 1/4 to 1/2 lb. Water 50 gal.
FOR SOFT-BODIED SUCKING INSECTS
KEROSENE EMULSION
Hard soap (in fine shavings) 1/2 lb. Soft water 1 gal. Kerosene 2 gal.
Dissolve soap in boiling water, add kerosene to the hot water, churn with spraying pump for at least ten minutes, until the mixture changes to a creamy, then to a soft, butterlike, mass. This gives three gallons of 66-per-cent oil emulsion, which may be diluted to the strength desired. To get 15-per-cent oil emulsion add ten and one-half gallons of water.
FOR FUNGOUS DISEASES
COPPER SULPHATE
Copper sulphate 1 lb. Water 18 to 25 gal.
Use only before foliage opens, to kill wintering spores.
BORDEAUX MIXTURE
Copper sulphate (bluestone) 4 to 5 lb. Lime (good, unslaked) 5 to 6 lb. Water 50 gal.
Dissolve the copper sulphate (bluestone) in twenty-five gallons of water. Slake the lime slowly so as to get a smooth, thick cream. Never cover the lime with too much water. After thorough slaking add twenty-five gallons of water. When the lime and the bluestone have dissolved, pour the two liquids into a third vessel. Be sure that each stream mixes with the other before either enters the vessel. Strain through a coarse cloth.
Mix fresh for each time. Use for molds and fungi generally. Apply in fine spray with a good nozzle.
BORDEAUX-PARIS-GREEN MIXTURE
Ordinary Bordeaux mixture 50 gal. Paris green 4 oz. to 2 lb.
Use for both fungi and insects on apple, potato, etc.
BORDEAUX-ARSENATE-OF-LEAD MIXTURE
Ordinary Bordeaux mixture 50 gal. Arsenate of lead 2 to 3 lb.
Used for fungous and insect enemies of the potato, and of the apple when bitter rot is troublesome.
COMMERCIAL LIME-SULPHUR ARSENATE OF LEAD
Commercial lime-sulphur 1-1/2 gal. Arsenate of lead 2 to 3 lb. Water 50 gal.
Use for spraying apples.
AMMONIACAL COPPER CARBONATE
Copper carbonate 5 oz. Ammonia (26 deg. Baume) about 3 pt. Water 50 gal.
Dissolve the copper carbonate in the smallest possible amount of ammonia. This solution may be kept in stock and diluted to the proper strength as needed.
Use this instead of the Bordeaux mixture after the fruit has reached half or two thirds of the mature size. It leaves no spots as does the lime-sulphur wash or the Bordeaux mixture.
SPRAYS FOR BOTH FUNGOUS AND INSECT PESTS
HOME-MADE LIME-SULPHUR WASH
Lime 20 lb. Sulphur 15 lb. Water 50 gal.
The lime, the sulphur, and about half of the water required are boiled together for forty-five minutes in a kettle over a fire, or in a barrel or other suitable tank by steam, strained, and then diluted to 50 gallons. This is the wash regularly used against the San Jose scale. It may be substituted for Bordeaux mixture when spraying trees in the dormant state. Commercial lime-sulphur may also be used in place of this homemade wash. Use one gallon of the commercial lime-sulphur to nine gallons of water in the dormant season.
SELF-BOILED LIME-SULPHUR WASH
The self-boiled lime-sulphur wash is a combination of lime and sulphur boiled only by the heat of the slaking lime, and is used chiefly for summer spraying on peaches, plums, cherries, etc. as a substitute for the Bordeaux mixture.
Lime 8 lb. Sulphur 6 to 8 lb. Water 50 gal.
The lime should be placed in a barrel and enough water poured on it to start it slaking and to keep the sulphur off the bottom of the barrel. The sulphur, which should first be worked through a sieve to break up the lumps, may then be added, and, finally, enough water to slake the lime into a paste. Considerable stirring is necessary to prevent caking on the bottom. After the violent boiling which accompanies the slaking of the lime is over, the mixture should be diluted ready for use, or at least enough cold water added to stop the cooking. From five to fifteen minutes are required for the process. If the hot mass is permitted to stand undiluted as a thick paste, a liquid is produced that is injurious to peach foliage and, in some cases, to apple foliage.
The mixture should be strained through a sieve of twenty meshes to the inch in order to remove the coarse particles of lime, but all the sulphur should be worked through the strainer.
GLOSSARY
To enable young readers to understand the technical words necessarily used in the text only popular definitions are given.
Abdomen: the part of an insect lying behind the thorax.
Acid: a chemical name given to many sour substances. Vinegar and lemon juice owe their sour taste to the acid in them.
Adult: a person, animal, or plant grown to full size and strength.
Ammonia (ammonium): a compound of nitrogen readily usable as a plant food. It is one of the products of decay.
Annual: a plant that bears seed during the first year of its existence and then dies.
Anther: the part of a stamen that bears the pollen.
Atmospheric nitrogen: nitrogen in the air. Great quantities of this valuable plant food are in the air; but, strange to say, most plants cannot use it directly from the air, but must take it in other forms, as nitrates, etc. The legumes are an exception, as they can use atmospheric nitrogen.
Available plant food: food in such condition that plants can use it.
Bacteria: a name applied to a number of kinds of very small living beings, some beneficial, some harmful, some disease-producing. They average about one twenty-thousandth of an inch in length.
Balanced ration: a ration made up of the proper amounts of carbohydrates, fats, and protein, as explained in text. Such a ration avoids all waste of food.
Biennial: a plant that produces seed during the second year of its existence and then dies.
Blight: a diseased condition in plants in which the whole or a part of a plant withers or dries up.
Bluestone: a chemical; copper sulphate. It is used to kill fungi, etc.
Bordeaux Mixture: a mixture invented in Bordeaux, France, to destroy disease-producing fungi.
Bud (noun): an undeveloped branch.
Bud (verb): to insert a bud from the scion upon the stock to insure better fruit.
Bud variation: occasionally one bud on a plant will produce a branch differing in some ways from the rest of the branches; this is bud variation. The shoot that is produced by bud variation is called a sport.
Calyx: the outermost row of leaves in a flower.
Cambium: the growing layer lying between the wood and the bark.
Canon: the shank bone above the fetlock in the fore and hind legs of a horse.
Carbohydrates: carbohydrates are foods free from nitrogen. They make up the largest part of all vegetables. Examples are sugar, starch, and cellulose.
Carbolic acid: a chemical often used to kill or prevent the growth of germs, bacteria, fungi, etc.
Carbon: a chemical element. Charcoal is nearly pure carbon.
Carbon disulphide: a chemical used to kill insects.
Carbonic acid gas: a gas consisting of carbon and oxygen. It is produced by breathing, and whenever carbon is burned. It is the source of the carbon in plants.
Cereal: the name given to grasses that are raised for the food contained in their seeds, such as corn, wheat, rice.
Cobalt: a poisonous chemical used to kill insects.
Cocoon: the case made by an insect to contain its larva or pupa.
Commercial fertilizer: an enriching plant food bought to improve soil.
Compact: a soil is said to be compact when the particles are closely packed.
Concentrated: when applied to food the word means that it contains much feeding value in small bulk.
Contagious: a disease is said to be contagious when it can be spread or carried from one individual to another.
Cross: the result of breeding two varieties of plant together.
Cross pollination: the pollination of a flower by pollen brought from a flower on some other plant.
Croup: the top of the hips.
Culture: the art of preparing ground for seed and raising crops by tillage.
Curb disease: a swelling on the back part of the hind leg of a horse just behind the lowest part of the hock joint. It generally causes lameness.
Curculio: a kind of beetle or weevil.
Dendrolene: a patented substance used for catching cankerworms.
Digestion: the act by which food is prepared by the juices of the body to be used by the blood.
Dormant: a word used to describe sleeping or resting bodies,—bodies not in a state of activity.
Drainage: the process by which an excess of water is removed from the land by ditches, terraces, or tiles.
Element: a substance that cannot be divided into simpler substances.
Ensilage: green foods preserved in a silo.
Evaporate: to pass off in vapor, as a fluid often does; to change from a solid or liquid state into vapor, usually by heat.
Exhaustion: the state in which strength, power, and force have been lost. When applied to land, the word means that land has lost its power to produce well.
Fermentation: a chemical change produced by bacteria, yeast, etc. A common example of fermentation is the change of cider into vinegar.
Fertility: the state of being fruitful. Land is said to be fertile when it produces well.
Fertilization: the act which follows pollination and enables a flower to produce seed.
Fetlock: the long-haired cushion on the back side of a horse's leg just above the hoof.
Fiber: any fine, slender thread or threadlike substance, as the rootlets of plants or the lint of cotton.
Filter: to purify a liquid, as water, by causing it to pass through some substance, as paper, cloth, screens, etc.
Formalin: a forty per cent solution of a chemical known as formaldehyde. Formalin is used to kill fungi, bacteria, etc.
Formula: a recipe for the making of a compound; for example, fertilizer or spraying compounds.
Fungicide: a substance used to kill or prevent the growth of fungi; for example, Bordeaux Mixture or copper sulphate.
Fungous: belonging to or caused by fungi.
Fungus (plural fungi): a low kind of plant life lacking in green color. Molds and toadstools are examples.
Germ: that from which anything springs. The term is often applied to any very small organism or living thing, particularly if it causes great effects such as disease, fermentation, etc.
Germinate: to sprout. A seed germinates when it begins to grow.
Girdle: to make a cut or groove around a limb or tree.
Glacier: an immense field or stream of ice formed in the region of constant snow and moving slowly down a slope or valley.
Globule: a small particle of matter shaped like a globe.
Glucose: a kind of sugar very common in plants. The sugar from grapes, honey, etc. is glucose. That from the sugar cane is not.
Gluten: a vegetable form of protein found in cereals.
Graft: to place a living branch or stem on another living stem so that it may grow there. It insures the growth of the desired kind of plant.
Granule: a little grain.
Gypsum: land plaster.
"Head back": to cut or prune a tree so as to form its head, that is, the place where the main trunk first gives off its branches.
Heredity: the resemblance of offspring to parent.
Hibernating: to pass the winter in a torpid or inactive state in close quarters.
Hock: the joint in the hind leg of quadrupeds between the leg and the shank. It corresponds to the ankle in man.
Host: the plant upon which a fungus or insect is preying.
Humus: the portion of the soil caused by the decay of animal or vegetable matter.
Hybrid: the result of breeding two different kinds of plants together.
Hydrogen: a chemical element. It is present in water and in all living things.
Individual: a single person, plant, animal, or thing of any kind.
Inoculate: to give a disease by inserting the germ that causes it in a healthy being.
Insectivorous: anything that eats insects.
Kainit: salts of potash used in making fertilizers.
Kernel: a single seed or grain, as a kernel of corn.
Kerosene emulsion: see Appendix.
Larva (plural larvae): the young or immature form of an insect.
Larval: belonging to larva.
Layer: to propagate plants by a method similar to cutting, but differing from cutting in that the young plant takes root before it is separated from the parent plant.
Legume: a plant belonging to the family of the pea, clover, and bean; that is, having a flower of similar structure.
Lichen: a kind of flowerless plant that grows on stones, trees, boards, etc.
Loam: an earthy mixture of clay and sand with organic matter.
Magnesia: an earthy white substance somewhat similar to lime.
Magnify: to make a thing larger in fact or in appearance; to enlarge the appearance of a thing so that the parts may be seen more easily.
Membrane: a thin layer or fold of animal or vegetable matter.
Mildew: a cobwebby growth of fungi on diseased or decaying things.
Mold: see mildew.
Mulch: a covering of straw, leaves, or like substances over the roots of plants to protect them from heat, drought, etc., and to preserve moisture.
Nectar: a sweetish substance in blossoms of flowers from which bees make honey.
Nitrate: a readily usable form of nitrogen. The most common nitrate is saltpeter.
Nitrogen: a chemical element, one of the most important and most expensive plant foods. It exists in fertilizers, in ammonia, in nitrates, and in organic matter.
Nodule: a little knot or bump.
Nutrient: any substance which nourishes or promotes growth.
Organic matter: substances made through the growth of plants or animals.
Ovary: the particular part of the pistil that bears the immature seed.
Ovipositor: the organ with which an insect deposits its eggs.
Oxygen: a gas present in the air and necessary to breathing.
Particle: any very small part of a body.
Perennial: living through several years. All trees are perennial.
Petal: a single leaf of the corolla.
Phosphoric acid: an important plant food occurring in bones and rock phosphates.
Pistil: the part of the blossom that contains the immature seeds.
Pollen: the powdery substance borne by the stamen of the flower. It is necessary to seed production.
Pollination: the act of carrying pollen from stamens to pistils. It is usually done by the wind or by insects.
Porosity: the state of having small openings or passages between the particles of matter.
Potash: an important part of plant foods. The chief source of potash is kainit, muriate of potash, sulphate of potash, wood ashes, and cotton-hull ashes.
Propagate: to cause plants or animals to increase in number.
Protein: the name of a group of substances containing nitrogen. It is one of the most important of feeding stuffs.
Pruning: trimming or cutting parts that are not needed or that are injurious.
Pulverize: to reduce to a dustlike state.
Pupa: an insect in the stage of its life that comes just before the adult condition.
Purity (of seed): seeds are pure when they contain only one kind of seed and no foreign matter.
Ration: a fixed daily allowance of food for an animal.
Raupenleim: a patented sticky substance used to catch the cankerworm.
Resistant: a plant is resistant to disease when it can ward off attacks of the disease; for example, some varieties of the grape are resistant to the phylloxera.
Rotation (of crops): a well-arranged succession of different crops on the same land.
Scion: a shoot, sprout, or branch taken to graft or bud upon another plant.
Seed bed: the layer of earth in which seeds are sown.
Seed selection: the careful selection of seed from particular plants with the object of keeping or increasing some desirable quality.
Seedling: a young plant just from the seed.
Sepal: one of the leaves in the calyx.
Set: a young plant for propagation.
Silo: a house or pit for packing away green food for winter use so as to exclude air and moisture.
Sire: father.
Smut: a disease of plants, particularly of cereals, which causes the plant or some part of it to become a powdery mass.
Spike: a lengthened flower cluster with stalkless flowers.
Spiracle: an air opening in the body of an insect.
Spore: a small body formed by a fungus to reproduce the fungus. It serves the same use as seeds do for flowering plants.
Spray: to apply a liquid in the form of a very fine mist by the aid of a spraying pump for the purpose of killing fungi or insects.
Stamen: the part of the flower that bears the pollen.
Stamina: endurance.
Sterilize: to destroy all the germs or spores in or on anything. Sterilizing is often done by heat or chemicals.
Stigma: the part of the pistil that receives the pollen.
Stock: the stem or main part of a tree or plant. In grafting or budding the scion is inserted upon the stock.
Stover: as used in this book the word means the dry stalks of corn from which the ears have been removed.
Subsoil: the soil under the topsoil.
Sulphur: a yellowish chemical element; brimstone.
Taproot: the main root of a plant, which runs directly down into the earth to a considerable depth without dividing.
Terrace: a ridge of earth run on a level around a slope or hillside to keep the land from washing.
Thorax: the middle part of the body of an insect. The thorax lies between the abdomen and the head.
Thermometer: an instrument for measuring heat.
Tillage: the act of preparing land for seed, and keeping the ground in a proper state for the growth of crops.
Transplant: a plant grown in a bed with a view to being removed to other soil; a technical term used by gardeners.
Tubercle: a small, wart-like growth on the roots of legumes.
Udder: the milk vessel of a cow.
Utensil: a vessel used for household purposes.
Variety: a particular kind. For example, the Winesap, Bonum, AEsop, etc., are different varieties of apples.
Ventilate: to open to the free passage of air.
Virgin soil: a soil which has never been cultivated.
Vitality (of seed): vitality is the ability to grow. Seed are of good vitality if a large per cent of them will sprout.
Weathering: the action of moisture, air, frost, etc. upon rocks.
Weed: a plant out of place. A wheat plant in a rose bed or a rose in the wheat field would be regarded as a weed, as would any plant growing in a place in which it is not wanted.
Wilt (of cotton): a disease of cotton in which the whole plant droops or wilts.
Withers: the ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse, at the base of the neck.
Yeast: a preparation containing the yeast plant used to make bread rise, etc.
INDEX
Acid phosphate, 23, 214, 225
Alfalfa, 28, 179, 187, 242, 244, 245, 246-248
Alfalfa root, 28
Animals, domestic, 261-292 why we feed, 290
Annual, 69, 112, 118, 260
Ant, 144, 150
Anther, 43
Apple, 42, 59, 76, 78, 83-85, 123 fire-blight of, 130
Apple-tree tent caterpillar, 161, 162
Arsenate of lead, 156, 157
Ashes, 207
Asparagus, 98
Babcock milk-tester, 304
Bacteria, 24, 127, 128, 129, 131, 133
Balanced ration, 294-295
Barley, 215-217
Beans, 95, 98
Bee, 286-290
Beehive, anti-robbing entrance of, 289
Beet, 95, 96 sugar-, 218-221
Beet sugar, 218
Beetle, 146, 148 cucumber, 102 potato, 170
Biennials, 70
Bird homes, 322
Birds, 318-323
Black knot, 140
Blackberry, 59
Blight, 106 eggplant, 103 pear and apple, 130 potato, 138, 209 tomato, 106
Bordeaux mixture, 127, 141, 142, 156, 209
Borer, peach, 163, 164
Breeding-cage, insect, 152
Buckwheat, 229-230
Bud variation, 58
Budding, 55, 81-82
Buds, 51, 59
Bug, 147
Bulbs, 109, 110, 111
Burbank, Luther, 80
Butter, 297, 300
Butterfly, 146, 148, 149
Cabbage, 93, 95, 96, 99
Cabbage worm, 165, 166
Caladium, 111
Cambium, 79, 131
Cankerworm, 159, 160
Canna, 116
Cantaloupes, 101
Cape jasmine, 110
Capillarity, 10
Carbohydrates, 291, 292, 295
Carbon, 39, 40, 291
Carbon disulphide, 169
Carbonic acid gas, 6, 317
Caterpillar, 147, 149, 161
Cattle, 270-275 beef type of, 272 dairy type of, 273 improving of, 274
Cauliflower, 91, 140
Celery, 100, 101
Cherries, 59, 81, 164
Chinch bug, 165, 167
Churn, the, 297, 299, 300
Churning, 299
Cleft grafting, 80
Clover, 187, 249-251
Club root, 140
Cocoon, 147, 148, 150, 151
Codling moth, 154, 156, 164
Cold-frame, 93-97, 101
Colostrum, 297
Consumption, germ of, 129
Corms, 111
Corn, 197-202 blossom of, 45 freezing of seed, 75 roots of, 27, 28 selection of seed, 66, 67, 68
Cotton, 180-188 resistant variety of, 132 Sea Island, 132, 182 short-stapled, 182
Cotton wilt, 142
Cotton-boll weevil, 173
Cotton-seed meal, 24, 225, 295
Cow Aberdeen Angus, 272 Galloway, 274 Holstein, 275 Jersey, 273 care of, 296 the dairy, 293-296
Cowpeas, 251-254
Cream, 297, 298
Crop-rotation, 33-37
Crops, 178-237 rotation of, 20, 33, 189, 211, 217, 219, 228 value of, per acre, 179
Cross section, 26
Crosses, 49
Cross-pollination, 48
Cucumber, 73, 101
Cucumber beetle, 102
Curculio, plum, 156
Currant, 59
Cuttings, 52, 53, 54, 55, 109
Cyclamen, 115
Dahlia, 111, 112, 116
Dairy rules, 301
Dairying, 297-301
Dendrolene, 160
Diphtheria, germ of, 129
Diseases of plants, 122-143
Domestic animals, 261-292
Drainage, benefits of, 15
Dry farming, 323-326
Ducks, 282
Eggplants, 102, 103
Ensilage, 295
Farm crops, 178-237
Farm garden, 235-237
Farm tools, 313-315
Farming on dry lands, 323-330
Fats, 291, 292, 295
Feed stuffs, 238-260 digestible nutrients in, 290-292 growing, on the farm, 309-313
Feeding animals, 290 reasons for, 290, 292
Fertilization, 45
Fertilizers, 22-24
Field insects, 144-177
Figs, 51, 59
Fire-blight, 130
Flax, 226-229
Flea-beetle, 169, 172, 209
Floriculture, 89, 108
Flower, the, 42, 43
Flower box, 112
Flower gardening, 108-121
Fly, 146, 150
Formalin, 135, 136, 138
Fowls, 282-286
Fruit mold, 126, 142
Fruit rot, 122
Fruit tree, how to raise a, 76-87
Fultz, Abraham, 65
Fungi, 125, 126, 127
Garden, 235-237
Garden insects, 165-177
Gardening, market-, 89-90
Geese, 284
Geranium, 52, 54, 109, 110
Germs, 24, 127, 129, 131, 135; see also Bacteria
Girdler, 162
Girdling, 41
Glacier, 3, 4, 5
Gladiolus, 92, 111
Gooseberries, 59
Grafting, 55, 78-81 cleft, 80 root, 79 time for, 79 tongue, 79, 80
Grafting wax, 79
Grape, 51, 53, 58, 59
Grape cutting, 54
Grape phylloxera, 157, 158
Grape pollination, 52, 53
Grasses, 238-244
Grasshopper, 148, 151
Greenhouse, 91-94
Heading back, 83
Hemp, 226-229
Hens, 282-286
Heredity, 67
Hessian fly, 170
Homes, country, 330-337
Honey dew, 167
Horse, 262-270 diagrams by which to judge, 265-269 Percheron, 264 proportions of, 270 roadster, 267
Horticulture, 89-121
Host, 126
Hotbed, 91-97
How to raise a fruit tree, 76-87
Humus, 5, 20, 21, 22, 193, 207
Husker and shredder, 201
Hybrids, 49, 50, 51, 183
Insects, cage for breeding, 152 classes of, 146 eggs of, 150 eyes of, 145 field, 144, 165 garden, 144-177 general, 144 how they feed, 146, 147 orchard, 144 parts of, 145
Irish, or white, potato, 206-209 propagation of, 56, 57
Irrigation, 326-330 method of, 330
Kafir corn, 325, 326
Kainite, 214
Kerosene emulsion, 168
Land, improvement of, 17, 21, 31, 34, 244
Landscape-gardening, 89
Larva, 147, 148
Layering, 55, 57
Legumes, 31, 207, 244-260
Lettuce, 91, 93, 95
Life in the country, 330-337
Lime, 140
Lime-sulphur wash, 141, 142, 153, 154, 156
Liming land, 315-318
Louse, plant, 150, 151, 152, 167
Machines, farm, 313-315
Maize, 197
Manures, 20, 21-24
Maple sugar, 217
Market-gardening, 89, 90
Meadows, 240, 242
Melons, 101, 106
Mildew, 124 how to prevent, 126
Milk, 297 sours, how, 302
Milk-tester, Babcock, 304
Mineral matter, 291, 292
Moisture, 9
Mold, 123, 124, 125
Moonflower, 115
Morning-glory, 115
Moth, 148 codling, 154, 156, 164 mosquito, 150
Mulch, 12
Narcissus, 114
Nectar, 46, 47
Nitrate of soda, 24, 99, 211, 214
Nitrogen, 15, 23, 24, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 188, 246
Nitrogen-gathering crops, 15, 18, 244-260
Nodules, 36
Oats, 209-215
Oat smut, 134
Onion, 103, 104
Orchard insects, 143
Osmosis, 30
Ovary, 44
Ovipositor, 157
Paris green, 165, 209
Parsnips, 94
Pasture grasses, 238-244
Peach, 42, 59, 81, 84, 85, 87, 141, 142
Peach curl, 141, 143
Peach mold, 142
Peach mummies, 142
Peach tree, how made, 86-87
Peach-tree borer, 163, 164
Peanuts, 202-203
Pear, 44, 49, 59, 81, 130
Pear fire-blight, 130
Peas, 95, 104, 251-254
Perennials, 71, 112, 116, 118, 260
Petal, 43
Phosphoric acid, 23, 24, 186, 188, 196, 216, 244, 254
Phylloxera, 157, 158
Pipette, 305
Pistil, 43, 44
Plant, the, 25, 39
Plant disease, cause of, 122 nature of, 122 prevention of, 122, 129
Plant food, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24 from air, 39 from soil, 29 kinds of, 33
Plant louse, 150, 152, 167, 168
Plant seeding, 59, 109
Planting a tree, 76-87
Plant-propagation, 51-59 by buds, 51
Plants grown from seed, 109 from bulbs, 109
Plow, right way to, 11
Plum curculio, 156, 157
Plums, 43, 59, 81, 164
Pollen, 43, 47, 48
Pollination, 45-48 by hand, 49 cross-, 49, 50 grape, 52, 53
Potash, 23, 24, 186, 188, 196, 207, 216, 244, 246, 254
Potato, sweet, 204, 205 white, or Irish, 56, 57, 206-209
Potato beetle, 170, 209
Potato blight, 138, 209
Potato scab, 136, 205, 209
Potato seed, 56, 57
Poultry, 282-286
Prevention of plant diseases, 129, 130
Propagation of plants by buds, 58 by cuttings, 52
Protein, 212, 291, 294, 295, 297
Pruning, 83, 84-87 root, 85, 86
Pupa, 147, 150, 151
Purity of seed, 72-75
Pyrethrum powder, 165
Quince, 59
Radish, 95
Raspberry, 59
Ration, balanced, 294, 295
Ratoon, 225
Red raspberry, 59
Rice, 231-232
Roads, 332, 337
Root-hairs, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32
Root-pruning, 86
Roots, 25, 26, 27, 28
Root-tubercles, 30, 37
Rose, 109, 121, 124
Rot of fruit, 122
Rotation of crops, 8, 20, 21, 33-37, 189, 211, 217, 219, 258
Rye, 213-215
San Jose scale, 152, 153
Sap current, the, 40
Scab, 136, 209
Schoolhouses, 334
Scion, 79, 81, 82
Seed, 42
Seed purity, 72-75
Seed vitality, 72-75
Seed-germination, 74
Seed-germinator, 74
Seeding, 60, 114
Seed-selection, 56, 62, 64, 66 in the field, 56, 62, 68 of corn, 66 of cotton, 60, 61 of potatoes, 56, 57 of wheat, 64, 65
Seed-selection plat, 63, 64
Selection of seed. See Seed-selection
Sepal, 43
Sheep, 276-279
Silo, 295
Smuts, 134, 135
Soil, 1 bacteria in, 24 deepening of, 8 definition of, 1 drainage of, 14
Soil, how formed, 2, 3 how water rises in, 13 improving, 17 manuring of, 21 moisture of, 9 origin of, 1 particles of, magnified, 10 and plant, 25 retention of water by, 12 tillage of, 6 virgin, 17, 18
Sowing seed, 94
Soy beans, 256-260
Spiders, red, 121
Spiracles, 145
Spores, 123, 124, 125, 130, 135 prevention of, 130
Spraying, 137, 138, 139, 155, 156, 157, 209
Spraying outfit, 138, 155, 168, 171
Squanto, 21
Squash, 45, 95
Squash bug, 168
Stamen, 43-48
Starch, 40
Starchy food, 291
Stigma, 44-45
Stock, 79, 82
Strawberry, 45, 55, 59, 90
Style, 43
Subsoil, 1
Subsoiling, 10
Sugar, 40
Sugar plants, 217
Sugar-beet, 218-221
Sugar-cane, 221
Sugar-maple, 217
Sulphate of ammonia, 211
Sun-scald, 84
Sweet pea, 114, 115
Sweet potato, 56, 57, 111, 204-205
Swine, 279-282
Tent caterpillar, 162
Tile drain, 15, 16 benefits of, 14
Tillage, 6-9, 19, 28, 200
Timber, 232-235 enemies of, 233
Tobacco, 189-192
Tobacco worm, 170, 172
Tomato, 40, 105
Tongue grafting, 79, 80
Tools, 313
Topping tobacco, 191
Trap plant, 168
Tree, manuring of, 26
Truck crops, 98-107
Tubercle, 30, 32
Tull, Jethro, 6
Turkeys, 282
Turnip, 95
Twig girdler, 162
Typhoid fever, germ of, 129
Vetches, 255-257
Vitality of seed, 72-75
Vitamines, 298
Wasp, 146
Water, 10 absorption of, by plants, 10 retention of, by soil, 9 rise of, in soil, 13 saved by plants, 10 saved by soils, 12
Watermelons, 106
Wax, 79
Weathering, 4, 7
Weeds, 69, 74 annual, 69 biennial, 70 perennial, 71
Weevil, 169 cotton-boll, 173-177 plum, 156
Wheat, 192-197 selection of seed, 63 yield of, 64
Why feed animals, 290
Wilt cotton, 142 watermelon, 107
Window box, 118
Window-garden, 119-121
Window-gardening, 119
Worn-out land, reclaiming of, 19, 244
Yeast, 127, 128
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