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THE FLESHEBTON ADVANCE. FARMING In this department each week will be given general information to farmers and stockmen. No attempt will be made to criticize the work already being done by Canadian farmers; but an effort will be made to present to the farmers of the country summarized information contained in government reports, and the actual experiences of men and women who have achieved success in farming by following modern methods. Farmers who have found new "wrinkles" or have made a success in any special line of agriculture are invited to send short letters to this paper giving their experiences, or criticizing any of the information contained in theses columns. I "Tli Wg to tlw Itot Is Tlini fli» Stomach" Vegetable Growing OUOTJMBERS. Cucumbers are grown iu Outario ^o a great extent for pii-kling factories. Several acres are ot'teu grown profit- ably by one man when he is in a posi- tion to secure competent pickers throughout the season. Market gar- deners as a general rule grow a limi- ted quantity of cucumbers, usually considering them as a crop of second- ary importance as a money-maker. They are easily grown and on good soils large yields are received. This crop is handled in two ways: first for early market and second for main crop purposes. For the very early market the seeds are sown iu the greenhouse or hotbed some five or six weeks before it is time for transplanting in the field. The seeds are usually sown in pots or quart berry boxes which are filled with good loamy soil or pieces of soda. Seven or eight seeds are usu- ally sown in each pot or basket, and a pane of glass placed over to induce germination. The two healthiest look- ing plants are left in the box, the weaker ones being destroyed. This leaves but two plants to a box. These are kept in a warm atmosphere, given plenty of light and forced along in order to secure strong, healthy plants by May 24th to June 5th. Transplanting. These plants may be carefully trans- planted into rich garden soil in a spot where they will receive plenty of warm sunlight, or into new hotbeds allowing two plants to one sash. These should be planted about two feet apart in the row, in rows four or five feet apart, and as much as possible of the soil from the pot or berry box should be left on the roots so that there will be plenty of good soil to keep the plant growing until the roots spread out. Sou. The cucumber will grow in any rich garden soil. Best results are usually secured in a good sandy loam, manure. This crop is one which responds readily to heavy applications of man- ure. Large quantities of well rotted manure can be applied broadcast or directly in the furrow during the ploughing operations. It is advisable to use well rotted manure when pos- sible. Planting Seed. The main crop if cucumbers is al- ways grown from seed planted in hills or drills. It is not generally supposed that best results are obtained from planting the seed in hiHs or mounds, though this seems to be the most general practice in this Prov- ince. Successful growers plant seven to eight seeds at a depth of one and a half inches, making the hole with the hoe usually. These drills are five feet apart each way. Planting seeds as soon after all danger of frosts in the spring will give best results. In grow- ing for the pickle factory an easy method of planting is to use an ordin- ary seed drill. Sow in rows six feet apart and thin plants to eight and twelve inches apart with a hoe. Cultivation. These plants should be cultivated carefully so as not to disturb vines, and often during the earlier stage with a horse scufEler. On patches where space will permit they are cultivated both ways. They should also be hand-hoed to keep down the weeds. It is a good plan to draw some of the soil up around the stems when young to induce heavy root growth and to keep away the insects. When vines become too large for horse cultivation the weeds should be pulled out by hand or hoed out to keep the patch entirely free from weeds. Flcknng. Cucumbers should oe cut off from the vine leaving about one-quarter inch of stem on the fruit. They should be picked just as often as the market demands so as not to have a large number of over-ripe cucumbers. For pickling purposes it will be found necessary to go over the patch at least every other day. Shipping. Cucumbers are usually shipped in 11- quart baskets or smaU crates. HOBSE-BADISH. Horse-radish is a crop which is not grown to any great extent in Ontario. Very few vegetable growers produce any, and only a tew kitclieu garilens liave a root or two of this crop. The vegetable growers claim they cannot secure a market which will be worth vliilo, and the kitchen gardener classes iuir.se -radish more as a weed than a vegetable. As a consequence, practi- cally 80 per cent, of horse-radish used in Ontario is imported. Sou. Horse-radish thrives best on a clean, well-drained loamy soil of some deptli. Good results are never received on shallow soils or wet ones. Planting. This crop is grown from cuttings from old roots. These should be straight; not gnarled and rough. They should Ije five to six inches long and end. These are planted in early spring the size of a lead pencil at the toy by means of a dibber, 10 to 12 inches apart iu rows o feet apart. The sets should bo flat on top and pointed on the bottom, and should be set straight up in the row and covered with three- quarter inch of soil, or iu a shallow plow furrow being covered to the same extent. Cucumbers can be grown iu between alternate rows during the first year of growth. Cultivate the same as for carrots or parsnips. Harvesting. In the fall of the second year the roots should be plowed or dug out, all side roots trimmed off for the next crop, the leaves trimmed off, and long straight roots washed preparatory to selling. These can be stored in cool cellars if desired, and should be covered with moist sand when possible. The roots can also be left in the soil over winter aud dug the following spring. The side roots which have been trim- med off' should be stored in moist sand over winter or until used. Horse-radish should be taken out of the ground every two years, not allowed to grow year after year, or considerable trouble in subsequent crops will come from small roots left in the ground, as they will spread and become trouble- some as a weed. Some growers do not replant every two years, however, sim- ply depending on the small roots left in the soil in the fall for the next crop. All shoots in between the rows are destroyed. Horse-radish roots should be long, fairly thick, and with but few side roots. Such quality can be secured only iu rich, well-manured soils which have been cultivated to considerable depth. Storing. Horse-radish may be kept satisfac- torily iu bulk in a cool, darkened eel- I lar. It must not become dried out. I Why Should a Newspaper Give Free Publicity In Its Columns ? Philadelphia Paper Tells of the Dozens of Re- quests Which Every Newspaper Receives Daily to Print Free Something Which Will Help Somebody Else, But Not the Paper. EUROPEAN CORN BORER AND OTHER BORING CAT£KFILI.AItS WHICH MAY BE MISTAKEN FOB IT. Ill certain sections of the ^astern I'nited States the notorious European Corn Borer lias become estiibiished, aud iu view of the grave danger of this serious foreign pest being brought into Canada, the Entomological Brani-li oi' the Uomiuiou Uepartmtnt of Agricul- ture have issued a special circular deal- ing svith this insect and others which bore in corn aud whicli may be mis- taken for it. This has been prepared by Mr. Arthur Gibson, Chief of tlie Division of Field Crop and Gar 'en In- sectB. It comprices 14 pages and has seven illustrations. A limited edition only of this circular has been print. u -Vgricultural workers and others spec iully interested may obtain copies free of charge on application to the Publi- cations Braucb, Department of Agri- culture, Ottawa. PIGEONS AS MONEY MAKERS. Opportunities for Yotmg Polk to Earn a Tidy Sum. The backyard poultry keeper can iiardly hope for success with turkeys, geese, ducks or guineas, but for those who have lofts over a garage, stable or coal shed, the opportunity for squab raising is well worth considering. A space six feet square and higli enough for a person to stand erect will accomodate eight to ten pairs of pigeons for s(|uab breeding, the poultry specialists say. The birds mate and begin breeding when six or seven iniinths old. The male shares with the hen the duty of incubation. The young liatch in about seventeen days. At four weeks old the average squabs will weigh about three-quarters of a pound. ^ A good pair of breeders will produce six or seven more pairs of sipiabs ;i year. As many .as eleven pairs of s(|uai)s have been produce by one pair in a year. When production is high the female lays and begins incubation wliilo she iias younj; still in the nest, leaving the care of them to her mate. To stiffen the running board of the Ford car bolt the ends of an old iron bed rail just behind the front fender.. Long hooks are next eonnected to the center of the rail and to the frame of the car. POISONOUS WEEDS. Tiie old saying that "One man's meat is another man's poison" appears to be true in the case of different kinds of live stock. It is a fact that some plants wliicli poison horses are not injurious to cattle or sheep, and some which cause loss among cattle and sheep are not eaten by swine and liorses. In Buiietin Xo. 39, Second Series of the Experimental Farms, ' ' I'riniicipal Poisonous Plants of Can- ada," by Miss Faith Pyles, B..\., ob- tainable free upon application to tiie Publications Branch, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, a list of plants which do injury to the various classes of animals is given. The bulletin, whicli is prepared for live stock ownersi gives informiition regarding poisonous plants and enables the farmer to dis- tinuish the most harmful species in his neighborhood so that he nia.v be able to avoid pasturing animals "U in- fested areas until the danger is past. The yearly loss due to plant poisoning is known to be on the increase, but the amount of the loss is uot ascertain- able because many fatalities are attrib- uted to other causes through liick of icuowledge of poisonous plants. EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. Almost every farmer in Canada is in- terested in some phase of the agricul- tural work carried on by the Dominion Kxperimental Farms System both at Ottawa and on the twenty branch farms distributed between the Atlantic aud the Pacific. The work covered on tiiese farms includes investigations with live stock, field crops, fruit grow- ing, tobacco, bees, poultry and, in fact, all branches of agriculture adapted to Canadian conditions. The report of tlie Dominion Experimental Farms for the Fiscal Year, 1919, is obtainable from the Publications Braucb, Depart- ment of Agriculture, Ottawa. This re- port records many valuable aud inter- esting experiments that are under way. Among these are experiments in feed- ing live stock for market, and summer and winter experiments in fattening swine; the Bee Division gives a pre- liminary report of its experiments with two queens in one hive, and in the Division of Economic Fibre Production the variety tes*' and the prairie flax straw experiments are outlined. Throughout this publication there are many valuable conclusions stated which are based on the experimental work conducted at these farms. Wore Philadelphia to pay at com- mercial rates for all the free advertis- ing which the newspapers now con- tribute gratis, the annual outlay for that item would exceed the whole cost of the police department. There is never a single copy of those papers printed on any day of the year which does not contain from one to twenty items, either so-called news or editorial, that is a gratuity handed out for the common welfare and from whicli tho paper directly or indirectly received a penny of profit. Tlie people of this city never expect a sliipyar<l to do anything but build sliips. A locomotive plant has done its duty when it constructs railway engines. A hat factory, flour mill, ciotliing factory, bank, store, trolley road aud telephone id uot reckoned upon to give its time, service or capi- tal for boosting any enterprise except- ing its own. TJut a newspaper has dozens of ro- quests every day to print or to urge, to condemn or damn, to beg or promote oiiiething of which the owner of the paper, derives no financial benefit. He is expected to employ liis capital in ;liat way for the common welfare. A newspaper has but two common sources of income. One is from the sale of the paper and the other from tiie sale of the advertising space. Wiiatever in a paper does not attract readers to buy is not a profitable thing for the owner financially. Whatever in a paper takes up space where an advertisement might be print- ed is a direct and immediate loss. Very little of what is called "civic boost- ing" ever brings to a newspaper a single reader. Certainly no begging proposition does. Somebody always requires 'relief," so it seems, and the papers are expected to print columns of appeals, but no liersons would ever think of buying a newspaper just to read an article ask- uig him to contribute money to some- one 6,000 miles away. An account of a prize fight, baseball game, murder, election, elopement in liigh social circles, a horse race, a battle or a hot debate in Congress, would sell papers. Readers would buy to see that sort of thing. Yet the Philadelphia papers give daily many columns of space on white paper that costs them dearly to the boosting or begging or promoting propositions. And let Philadelphans remember that such is not the case everywhere. The Journal which for a century and a quarter has been regarded iu all parts of the world as the greatest newspaper published is the Loudon Timet. But so far as booming anything in Loudon goes, the Times might as well lie print- ed iu Tokio. It devotes but little of its resources aud capital to that sort of thing. It may be contended that it is a newspaper's legitimate business to urge aud beg aud boost. But it is no more the function of a newspaper than of :i magazine, and magazines thrive by i;iibiisliing only such articles as their oditors believe the public wishes to read. The magazine tries and does secure i-irculatiou by intersting its readers and so gets advertisements. It publishes no appeals, ueveru rges better street paving ami cleaning, does not coax people to contribute for the support of hospitals and colleges, makes no demonstration for saving babies, s^^at- ting the fly or any of those public things wliich daily newspapers are con- stantly asked to help. Kvery newspaper publsher knows that there is neither circulation nor financial gain in such a policy, yet they all do it. So the newspaper gives more of its service free than almost any other in- stitution that is not an endowed charity while at the same time it voluntarily, for what seems the public good, re- fuses to accept profitable advertsmg. Who can estimate, therefore, the sum total of such a policy, day in and day out, adhered to by our newspapers'? â€" Corn Exchange, Philadelphia. THE MOTHER-IN-IiAW IN CHIKA. When a Chinese girl is married she must wait four months before etiquette allows her to pay her first visit to her mother; but after this initiatory call it is within the bounds of social custom and propriety for her to visit the home of her parents at any time. BEADS BIBLE EVERY TEAS. George Messick, 75 years of age, a retired railroad man, has made a prac- tice of reading the Bible through, once a year, for the last twenty-five years. Usually he starts on the first of the year, and has so divided the chapters as to finish at the end of the year. RULES FOR CALF FEEDING. 1. Do not overfeed. 2. Give feed in a clean, wholesome condition. Have all utensile scrupulously regularly and in small A narrow apron fastened to the front bow of the top with upholstery tacks, arranged to hang down slightly below the edge of the windshield, will prevent the cold drafts that strike the back of the neck. APPLE TREES TO AN ACRE. To determine the number of trees per acre for any given distance multi- ply the distance between the trees in the row by the width of the row. Take tliat number and divide 43,500 by it. The resulting figures will give tlic num- ber of trees per acre. Tlie number of trees to set per acre: 16x10 feet, 170 trees: 18x18 feet, 134 tiees; liOxSO feet, 108 trees; 20x30 feet, 72 trees; 24x24 feet, 7.5 trees: 25x2.') feet, 09 trees; 30x30 feet, 49 trees; 32x32 feet, 42 trees: .36x30 feet, 33 trees; 40x40 feet, 27 trees. 3. clean. 4. Feed quantities. 5. Always feed at a temperature of 95 to 100 degrees F. Use a ther- mometer â€" do not use your finger. 6. Give the calf water to drink. 7. Be regular in everything. 8. Give the calves exercise in the open air during good weather, but do not expose them during cold, rainy weather. y. Provide clean, well lighted pens with plenty of bedding. 10. Gruel feeding may be contin- ued after the fourth month if des. rable or it may be discontinued at three months of age and the calf be put on a hay and grain ration. Thoy were rehearsing for the opera, when the conductor was nearly fright- ened out of his boots by a terrific blast from the trombone player. "What are you doing.'" roared the conductor. "I'm sorry, sir," came the reply, ' ' it was a fly on my music, but, ' ' he added, with just a touch of prefes- sional pride, "I played him!" You may make your land feed your cows, but you can't keep it up uniess your cows feed your land. The largest pin factory is in Bir- mingham, England, where something like fifty million pins are manufac- tured every working day. France has some five thousand miles of canals, which are broad and deep enough to carry barges of six feet draught and of three hundred tons bur- den. The Classified Advertisement Is the Natural Community Centre The straight-line method is i " made in Canada " idea. We i<now it is correct because of its remarkable growth. The classified advertisement is the straight-line method. Your needs are peculiar. You want something, and someone has just what you want. If you are an employer or an employee, a seller or a buyer, or if you want to make a trade, the logical, economi- cal, straight-line way is through the classified advertise- ments. A small ad. does everything possible, and often it accom- plishes the impossible. JOE MARTIN- ME SAVES A Man -Almost