Agriruttural & r.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 281, 3 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agriruttural & r.

BRIEF NOTES.

Too many fowls have to depend upon the contents of the wash-tub for drinking-water. The dirty soap-suds will be sure to cause disease. Give the hens pure water. The New York Tribune gives good advice when it says : “ Cut down the garden to the smallest space consistent with the needs of the family. Then take good care of it."

Horseradish should be dug out in the fall, and on no account should it be left over for another season. If this is done, the main root will become partially rotten, and assume such a woody texture as to render it entirely unfit for use.

Never try to stimulate man, or bird, or beast. A hen filled with “ egg-producer," or a cow given more food than she can digest, will go like a man kept on whiskey. There will be brilliant feverish work for a time, and then a grand collapse. Some persons always insist on planting the crowns of horseradish instead of sets, but it is not advisable for anyone to do this, as it not only destroys the most valuable part of the roots, but the crowns produce only a mass of rootlets that are only fit for use as sets for another season’s planting, At a recent poultry meeting, well reported in the Ploughman , the general opinion seemed to be that the color of an egg, as well as its quality, depends upon the food given to the hen. Corn will give a darker yolk than oats. Lobsters color the egg almost red. Green food will color eggs. Onions and sulphur will give their characteristic tastes. A good judge can tell from the taste of the egg what his fowls have been eating. Just as certain food makes poor butter, ho some foods produce inferior eggs.

A NEW VEGETABLE

We expect that every year -will bring a number of new varieties of well-known vegetables. Indeed, it would be a poor year if the English seed-growers did not give us at least half a dozen new peas or new names, but to have an entirely new vegetable added to the list is something noteworthy. The fact that this novelty is offered by the house of world-wide fame, Vilmorin-Andrieux and Co., of Paris, indicates that the new plant has some merit. The plant in question is Stachys affiinis , which is a native of North Africa ; it belongs to the mint family, and, what is unusual in that family, produces fleshy, tuberous roots, which are the edible portion. The tubers are dressed like string beans, or fried in the form of fritters, and are said to make an excellent pickle. When freshly dug the tubers are pearly white, but upon exposure to the air they become blackened; hence it is advised to dig them only as wanted for use, or if dug in advance to keep them covered with earth. Stachys affinis is the botanical name, and we are given “ Choro-Gi” as a synonym, probably the name by which it is known in its native country. The plant is said to be very hardy, and to produce abundantly without special cultivation. Whether this will be a useful addition to our list-of vegetables can only be ascertained by trial in various parts of the country; at present it looks as if it would be an amateur’s or “ fancy" vegetable rather than a regular crop for market. — American Agriculturist for May,