298    THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



badly for growth and fruit. Two years of cul- order to do justice to myself,
the toad,*and the
tivation has repaired the damage in a measure. strawberry bed?          
        V. F.
The last season I had a large crop of fruit and,  KEAzxo=, June 26, 1803.
good thrifty growth of tree.  I believe it an    The Color and Culture of
Apple.
error to manure young trees very highly. I
                                                Aipples, this year, here,
are more deeply
have lost many, as I think, by forcing too rap- tinged than we ever knew
them before. The
id a growth.               H. B. HAWLEY.     sun does this. Not more pictured
are the leaves
sWLD, Wis.                                 of autumn. The same principle
(the sun) re-
                                             fines the flavor and the grain
of the fruit.
            umanity vs. Tombs.               It is a positive pleasure to
walk in an or-
                                             chard-limbs bending down with
fruit that ac-
  Ma. EDI'OL:-I only cultivate the soil to tually seems to flame, or is blood
red, and shiny
                                             as a shell or ivory. Then there
is a golden
the extent of a good sized garden, yet am an yellow-" Touch me not!"
it almost says.
attentive reader of the FALAxa.  I like its And the great sphere, like a
pumpkin, coarse
practical features. It will do well enough for and rough, as if the bark
of the tree had been
                                             been extracted to it. And then
it is sweet to
journals at the east, where there are a great hear the little folks, holding
such spheres with
number of fancy as well as theoretical farm- both hands, call them "cheese
brooks." They
ers, to publish long essays upon different sub- always pick for the biggest
apples.
                                                Careful pruning, with good
judgment, does
jects connected with agriculture; but here in much towards bringing such
fruit.  Growth
the west we are a go-ahead people, in a new  checked when too thrifty; trees
fed when re-
                                              tarded; this is what is wanted.
Liquid ma-
country, and what we want is practical know nure is the readiest.  Holes
should be made
edge, derived from experience among ourselves, by a long, thin tined fork
in different places
of the best methods of planting, growing, har- under the tree, and the liquid
poured over.
                                              The effect is instantaneous.
vesting and marketing our orops.               A good way is to mulch with
manure. In
  The subject of my inquiry-for I regret to this case coarse manure is best,
providing al-
say I have uothing to impart-is a very small ways it is not new, not raw.
 I have known
                                              manure fresh from the stable
to kill apple trees
one, yet I have no doubt there are remedies where soil was leachy. Otherwise,
if the top-
known to your readers, which, if made public, soil retains its fertility,
puncture the ground.
                                            . The heavy rains will fill the
punctures with the
 wi be of interest to others as well as myselfjuices, and you will have your
mulch besides.
 I have a large bed of Albany Seedling Straw-   uilching of some sort seems
indispensable.
 berries which is now glowing with ruddy fruit. But avoid a too heavy growth
of fruit for sub-
                                              stantial bearing. To this end,
thin out both
 I have a great annoyance in the shape of toads. fruit and foliage-foliage
if there is lack of
 They are fond of strawberries, and notwitb- quantity (of fruit); fruit if
there is excess of
 standing I have carefully removed them several number.
                                                Sometimes lime, ashes, bones,
or some ether
 times, still they find their way back again.  fertilizer, will make a tree
bear. I have known
   The question arises, what am I to do with the carcasses of a few dead
lamcs, buried in
                                              different places under the
tree, do this ; not
 these "grave and reverend seigniors?"  To immediately, the carcasses
must first be decom-
 see one of the largest sucking his strawberry posed.  They should be buried
two or three
 reminds me of the old Turk, smoking in silence yards from the bole of the
tree, with a few
                                              inches of soil on them.  This
will give the
 his chibouk. Again, if I attempt to treat them  heat a chance.  Old or mature
trees alone
 harshly,  am reminded very forcibly of the should be treated in this way.
They will stand
 foolish lics told to and believed by me when a more abuse, and thrive better
under good treat-
                                              ment. A young tree is a tender
thing, like
 child, that if I hurt the toads the cows would most young things.-Cor. Valley
Farmer.
 give bloody milk.
   I have no doubt but that they are useful in         Want of Small Birds.
 eating flies and vermin and inhaling poisonous  The want of small birds
is felt in England



exhalations; still they are in my strawberry as well as elsewhere, caused
by a wanton ana
           bed a nuisance.                 ~~~~wicked destruction of them.
The following is
bed a nuisance. Will some of your kind read- a letter which appeared in a
late number of
ers tell me how I am to act in the premises in the London TiYes:



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