Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 5, 1905 Page: 3 of 16
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OKLAHOMA FARMER, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1905.
horticulture,.
MQOimiBS ADDRESSBD TO THE PARKER WILL BB ANSWERED
IN THIS DEPARTMENT.
4U^
Sod Bound Trees.
Sod l)ound trees are not very com-
mon, but they are to be met with.
When a tree has made a good growth
and has spread out its top to cover
its feet there is little danger of its
becoming sod bound, for the branches
of the tree catch most of the sunshine
and the grass growth below is mea-
ger. Tht sod bound condition comes
when the tree is either very young or
so old that the leaves are thin and
few. The young tree that is set in
grass ground and has never obtained
a very good hold of the ground is the
one most likely to become sod bound,
which means that the roots of the
grass have taken possession of the
soil and are taking most of the plant
food and moisture. Such a tree can
be relieved only by digging out the
grass and giving its roots the entire
use of the ground.
Cool the Fruit.
Fruit should not be picked on a
warm day and put immediately into
cold storage or into cars for ship-
ment. It should be put into some
place where it will have a chance to
cool off and permit the latent heat
to work out. Putting fruit into close
cars where no refrigeration is pro-
vided is a fruitful source of trouble
in the shipping of fruit. The heat
in the fruit causes rapid spoiling, es-
pecially with fruit that is of short
keeping quality, like some of the ap-
ples that ripen in the summer. If
the nights are cool, fruit can be
cooled off by simply leaving it over
night exposed to the air but not to
the dew. In other cases cellars are
found deep enough to have a tempera-
ture of under sixty degrees. These
can be used in such cases. In some
parts of the territory over which
this paper circulates, storage pits
have been dug into the side hills and
these may be used as storage places.
million kinds of soil and every combi-
nation is of such a character that no
one can tell just what it will do till
it is given a chance. Then comes the
great variations in rainfall, sunlight
and wind storms. These all have to be
reckoned with because they are things
that we have to face in our actual
growing of crops. PETER SMITH.
A Blighting Orchard.
A subscnoer writes: "I have an
orchard four years old that is blight-
ing very badly. I have sprayed ito
with a mixture of blue vitrol, Paris"
'Green and lime. What further can I
do for it?"
The spraying is all right but it is
of doubtful efficacy in the case of
(blight. We would, however, approve
of the spray, for a man should spray
his orchard whether he knows there
is anything the matter with it or
not. Spraying hay help keep down the
blight, and probably does, but it is
not generally considered an effective
remedy. The lime doubtless does pre-
vent the spread of the blight to some
extent by deterring bees and other
insects from visiting the tender ends
of the twigs.
Blight is produced by a fungus that
lives over winter in the live wood of
Riches in Catalpas.
Kansas City, Mo., July 3.—Out near
Hutchinson, Kan., L. W. Yaggy is
making a fortune growing catalpa
trees. His annual profits now are
62 per cent, the government placing
his dividends at 6 or 8 per cent com-
pound interest. The Catalpa King
was inspired to his work on a mam-
moth scale by the growing demand in
the west and middle west for wood.
It was wanted by telegraph, telephone
and railroad companies, wanted for
fences, bridge timber and structural
^purposes—wood which would meet
outdoor weather and resist strains of
velocity and weight. Its rapid growth,
durability, close grain, straight growth
when properl trained, freedom from
check, and light weight, render the
catalpa pre-eminently fitted to supply
the want. Its sprout growth from
stump is almost as phenomenal as
that of Jack's fabled bean stalk, the
assertion being made that there are
fine summer days when the sprouts on
the stump of a strudy root growth
will grow six inches in the twenty-
four hours; and that on good soil it
increases in diameter at the rate of
one-third of an inch annually.
The first two years the seedlings
need cultivation, but a crop of corn
'planted between the rows pays for the
cultivation of both crops. As the trees
grow and in autumn shed their leaves
a fertilizing element is added to the
soil which replaces that consumed.
The catalpa forest is self-sustaining
so far as plant food is concerned.
Its natural growth during the sec-
ond or third year is to branch in V
shape, eventually producing a crooked
trunk. But the sprout growth is
IDEAL STOCK FARM
Registered Hereford cattle ®f the Hes
iod strain, Duroc Jersey hog* and White
Plymouth chickens. Young stock of both
sexes for sale. Farm joins Norman on the
north. Phone J14
T. E. SMITH, Norman, Okla.
soil. Where only a few hills are
planted for family use a convenient
way is to fill a loose keg with cow
manure and keep water on it all the
time." This gradually leaks out and
finds it way to the hills planted around
it, serving the double purpose of sup-
plying plant food and moisture.
0 The chief enemy is cucumber beetle,
which speedily consume the young
plant if unmolested. The best remedy
is preventative in nature. Cover the
young plants with nettings of thin
muslin. It' the beetles appear, ashes,
lime, or fine road dust scattered when
the dew is on, are remedies more or
less successfully used.
For early pickles the Early Cluster
and Early Russian are most satisfac-
tory. Long Green, White Spine and
Everbearing are standard varieties of
larger ° size. Keep the small pickles
closely picked if you would have an
abundance. Growing them to large
size exhausts rapidly the vitality 01 *
the vines.
Intensive Horticulture.
We must have a more intense horti-
culture if we are to realize large prof-
its from our horticultural operations.
The more intense are our operations
the more certain will-we 'be to reap a
rich reward for our work. In the
countries that are making most out of
their horticultural enterprises the gar-
dens and orchards are living exam-
ples of intensive farming.
The intensive horticulturist is the
one that has put many years of labor
on the study of soils, fetilization,
pruning, and development of varie-
ties. The ealm o horticulture is in-
finite, and the lore learnable about any
one operation of gardening or orchard-
ing is very great. We have not yet
fully learned the lessons of the ad-
vantages of pruning or how much or
how little to prune. The man that he-
comes an expert in the raising of
fruits, vegetables or flowers need not
sell his service to others, for he can
himself make a living from his own
labors.
Intensive horticulture is old in Eu-
rope but new in America. We have
a land that invites us to do extensive
rather than intensive work. But it
cannot be doubted that in most situ-
ations and in most circumstances it
is the intensive culture that pays best
here as well as in Europe.
I
The above picture shows three different types of mushrooms from which it Is
easy to distinguish the edible vegetable from toadstools. In the center figure A
shows the spawn; B stem; C sheath; D collar; E cap; F gills.
a blighted tree. In the spring there
is an exudation from the tree and this
liquid is partaken of hy bees and other
insects, which then fly to the blos-
soms of apple and other trees and
carry some of -the spores of the fun-
gus with them. Sometimes the ten-
ter shoots are visited and the spores
left on them. The tender open tis-
sues permit the blight spore to send
in a filament at the time of its germin-
ati.on and thus the disease begins,
to supply 1,500 hens with feed, and
that number would be required if one
The spores are sticky and cannot be
blown toy the wind and must be car-
ried by insects or some other moving
things. As the fungi are inside of
the wood it is easily seen that spray-
ing cannot reach the blight after it
has become settled in a tree. The
only thing that can he done is to cut
off the blighted portions, hoping to
get below the seat of the disease. The
__ dead twigs contain only dead fungi.
... The living fungi are in the live wood
Experience in Fruit Raising, joining the blighted portions. The
I do not believe that anything can parts trimmed off should be burned
take the place of experience in fruit'
raising, and for this reason I am de-
lighted at the number of practical ex-
periences tat I see constatnly in the
Farmer. Books are gdt)$ and lessons
by all kinds of' experimenters are
good, tout the actual exiperience of
the man that works out the problems
on his own soil is what counts far
most. The reason is that we have a
at once to prevent spread of possible
spores. Likewise precautions must be
taken against carrying spores from in-
fected to healthy wood,, and so it is
necessary to sterilize the knife or"
saw after every amputation. This
may toe done by using some germ-
destroying liquid. Prof. Evarts Weed
says that the cutting should toe done
a foot Ibelow the blighted wood.
straight. So the trees are cut the
third year. Surprising to relate, no
time is lost toy this, for the catalpa
matures its wood in six years; and in
the history of a decade trees cut back
the third year, consequently having a
growth of only six years, are as well
matured and as large as those undis-
turbed during that period. •
The pruning is done in winter when
men are largely unemployed. A rich,
porus loam, well sub-irrigated by na-
ture, is a necessity. Growing catalpa
is no more of a sinecure than growing
alfalfa or corn; but with favorable
conditions and eternal vigilance there
is profit in the industry.
A Summer Mulch.
The longer I garden the more do 1
become impressed with the value of
mulches for helping out on the grow-
ing of many kinds of vegetables and
fruits. 1 use every piece of paper we
have, all the grass that is cut by the
side of the road, all the sand and
ashes 1 tan get, and all the straw, and
coarse manure. This summer 1 am
using grass as a mulch on my toma-
toes. It saves work in keeping down
weeds and saves moisture. J
the
think the greatest help is in keeping
down the weeds, which grow with
great rapidity wherever the .sell is
right for the growing of any kind of
plants. I notice also -that the mulch
idea is spreading. Not more than
two weeks ago I was driving over
the country for a long distance and 1
noticed that a great many fields or
tomatoes and potatoes had been
mulched with straw. The tops were
looking in the best possible condition
and 1 am sure that the results in the
neighborhoods visited will be most ex-
cellent this year. I drove over the
same country last year and noticed
that the same kind of work was toe-
ing done. But this year there were
even more patches of these vegetatolea
covered with mulch than last year,
which means that the practice is
gaining. The wonder to me is thai
we did not think of this before.
I could not help noticing, however,
that some men are very slow in taking
advantage of a new idea. I passed
one farmer where the haystacks were
to be seen in half a doen places and
1 could tell by the color of the straw
that the stacks had been in existence
a very long time—perhaps more than
two years. How I would have liked to
have had those stacks on my farm!
They would quickly have gone to cov-
er the soil between my rows of pota-
toes and other vegetables or have
gone between the rows of my small
fruit plantation. ,
MINNIE LACKEK.
Brown County, Illinois.
Cucumbers for Profit.
There is profit in growing cucum-
bers; but, like every other money-
making business, one must not neg-
lect them. Rich soil, plenty of water,
regular picking, and warfare against
insects, are the secrets of success. As
for market, the pickle factory is the
best outlet if they ate raised in quan-
tity. Customers can be found in the
neighboring towns for a limited quan-
tity of first class fruit. Or they may
be salted or canned at home, and held
until prices have raised in the winter.
For pickling seed may be sown as
late as July. Make hills three feet
apart, and thoroughly enrich each hill
with poultry droppings or stable ma-
nure, working it well in with the
The object of fertilizing is not" only to
add needed elements to the soil but to
supplement those already there and to
make such chapiical combinations that
everything shall be available to aid the
crop.
M*nejr Making fr®m Be«s
Sparks, Okla., June 26.—J. Dunham,
general merchant of Sparks haa a novel
way.of getting the sweets of business by
having; a hive of honey bees on the up-
per corner of his store at the back part.
The bees are content and do business tha
year round. Laet year from June 1 Mr.
Dunham took out G5 or 76 pounds of hon-
ey. This year they are doing equally
well and Dunham Is happy and content
at the easy money he is making from
hia beea.
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Greer, Frank H. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 10, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 5, 1905, newspaper, July 5, 1905; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc88058/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.