iA-VV^V"?. vS^ Bti^o-v I'-O-v. T. V O ' ■>.^-\A,'^^,-^ ^\' ;'^.-^,-tA,^>,>^^,^7-0 y.vAA.v •M3>'^ ■■' Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92400001 9772 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Fruits, Flowers and Farming. BY HENEY WAKD BEECHEE. NEW YORK: DERBY & JACKSON 119 NASSAU STREET. 1859. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, hy HBNKY WAED BISECHEB, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United Statee, for the Southern District of New Tork, OEO.-BtreSEi,!. ± Co., SoMBKTiLLE & BaoraBB, Frinters. Binders. PREFATORY. No one of our readers will be half so curious to know what this book contains as the author himself. For it is more than twelve ^ years since these pieces were begun, and it is more than ten years since we have looked at them. The publishers have taken the trouble to dig them out from what we supposed to be their lasting burial-place, in the columns of the Western Farmer and Ga/rdemer, and they have gope through the press without our own revision. It is now twenty years since we settled at Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana, a place then of four, and now of twemty- five thousand inhabitants. At that time, and for years afterward, there was not, within our knowledge, any other than political newspapers in the State — ^no educational journals, no agricultural op family papers. The Indiama Journal at length proposed to introduce an agricultural department, the matter of which should every month be printed, in magazine form, under the title, Indiana Fa/rmer amd Gardemr, which was afterward changed to the more comprehensive title, Westeirn Farmer amd Ga/rdenesr. iii IT PEKFATOET. It may be of some service to the yomig, as showing how valuable the fragments of time may become, if mention is made of the way in which we became preparfed to edit this journal. The continued taxation of daily preaching, extending through months, and once through eighteen consecutive months, without the exception of a stogie day, began to wear upon the nerves, and made it necessary for us to seek some relaxation. Accordingly we used, after each week- night's preaching, to drive the sermon out Of our heads by some alterative reading. In the State Library were Loudon's works — ^his encyclo- pedias of Horticulture, of A^culture, and of Architecttffe, We fell upon them, and, for years, almost monopolized them. In our little one-story cottage, after the day's work was done, we porei over these monuments of an almost incredi- ble industry, and' read, we suppose, not only every line, but much of it, many times over ; until, at length, we had a topogrfiphical knowledge of many of the fine EnglisIT estates — quite as intmiate, we dare say, as was possessed by many of their truant owners. There was something exceedingly pleasant, and is yet, in the studying over mere catalogues of flowers, trees, fruits, etc. A seedsman's list, a nurseryman's., catalogue, are more fascinating to us than any story. In this way, through several years, we ^aduajly accumulated materials and became familiar with facts and principles, which paved the way for our editorial labors. LinSLey's Horticulture and Gray's Structural Botany came in as constant companions. And when, at length, through a friend's liberality, we be- PEBFATOET. ▼ came the recipients of the London Ga/rdeim's Chronick, edited by Prof. Lindley, our treasures were inestimable. Many hundred times have we lain awake for hours, unable to throw off the excitement of preaching, and beguiling the time with imaginary visits to the Chiswick Garden, to the more than oriental magnificence of the Dlike of Devon- shire's grounds at Chatsworth. We have had long discus- sions, in that little bedroom at Indianapolis, with Van Mons about pears, with Yibert about roses, with Thompson and Knight of froits and theories- of vegetable life, and with Loudon about everything tmder the heavens in the horticultural world. This employment of waste hours not only answered a purpose of soothing excited nerves then, but brought us into such relations to the material world, that, we speak with entire moderation, when we say that aU the estates ' of the richest duke, in England could not have given us half the ' pleasure which we have derived from pastures, waysidoB, and unoccupied prairies. If, when the readers of this book shall have finished it, they shall say, that these papers, well enough for the cir- cumstances in which they originally appeared, have no such merit as to justify their republication in a book form, we beg leave to teU them that their judgment is not original. It is just what we thought ourselves 1 But Publishers are willful, and must be obeyed I HENRY WARD BEECHER. Bdookltn, Jime 1, 1869. CONTENTS. PAGE PFelimlnai?; 9 Our Creed 10 Alman&c for the Year 11 Educated Farmers ^.. 20^ An Acre gf Words about J^ker....... 'iS Farmer'a Library 27 Nine Mistakes 29 Agricultural Societies 80 Shiftless Tricks...,. 83 Electro Culture ,...., 8G Single Crop Farming 39 Improved Breeds of Hogs and Cattle. 41 Absorbent Qualities of Flour 44 Portrait of an Anti-Book Farmer 46 Good Breeds of Cows 50 Cutting and Curing Grass 53 Country and City 55 Lime upon Wheat 66 Culture of Hops 68 White OloTer .• 60 Plowing Com :, ...:.i. 61 Clean out your Cellars 64 When is Haying over ? 66 Laying down Land to Grass 67 Theory of Manure 71 Fodder for Cattle - T8 The Science of Bad^utter 76 Oineinnati, the Queen City , . 79 Care of Animals in Winter 88, 166 Winter Nights for Seading 85 Feathers 85 Nail up your Bugs , 87 Ashes andth^ir Use 90 Hard Times 92 Gypsum 93 AccUmatlng.a Plow 93 Scour your Plows Bright 95 Plow tiU it is Dry and Plow till it is Wet. 96 Stirring the Soil.! 97 Subsoil Plowing 98 Fire-Blight and Winter Tilling 99 Winter Talk 101 -*' Shut your Mouth " 108 Spring Work on the Farm 104 Spring Work in the Garden 107, 214 FairWork in the Garden 112 Guarding Cherry-trees trom Cold 118 Shade Trees 114, 174 A Plea for Health and Floriculture.. 117 Keeping Toung Pigs in Winter 120 Sweet Potatoes 121 Management of Bottom Lands 121 OultiTation of Wheat.... 124 Pleasures of Hordculture 136 Practical Use of Leaves .' 187 Spring Work for Public-spirited Men . 140 Farmers and Farm Scenes in the West. 142 Ornamental Shrubs 146 Gooseberries 149 Pulling off Potato Blossoms 151 Blading and Topping Corn 152 Maple Sugar 153 Lettuce 159 Geolo^cal Definitions 160 Draining Wet Lands 103 .Oh dearl shall we ever be done Lying ? . 164 ■Deep Planting 167 Com and Millet for Fodder 167 Tm CONTENTS. FACE Seed Saving '..". 168 Ehubarb ,.■.•• 1™' ^^"8 Peas 172 Hot-beds 175 Original Recipes 176 Cooking Vegetables 173 Farmers, take a Hint 182 Mijclng Paint and Laying it on .... . . . 184 Garden Weeds .....; 189 Lucerne..... < 191 Family (Jovernment -. ^. 192 List of Flowers, Seeds, and Fruits. . . . 193 Garden Seeds 196 Farmers* Gardens 199 Early Cays of Spring 201 Parlor Flowers 202. A Salt Becipe 203 Culture of Celery 204 Sun-flower Seed 212 Rich and Poor Land 216 Getting ready for Winter 217 Esculent Vegetables 219 Field Root Crops 225 Cultfvation of Fruit-trees 226 A List of Choice Fruits 233 ThB Nursery Business 241 Tlie Breeding of Fruits 244 Pruning Orchards 249 Slitting the Bark of Trees 252 Bownlng^s Fruits of America 254 Letter from A. J. Bo\^nlng. .- 261 Attention to Orchards 266 Wine and Horticulture , . '; 268 Do Varieties of Fruit Run oat ? 271 Strawberries 275, 2&1, 286 Raspberries, Gooseberries, Currants . . 286 Spring Work in the Orchard 289 Grapes and Grape Vines 294, 205 -PAGB Autumnal Management of Fruit-trees . 296 Pears Grafted upon the Apple Stock . 298 Seedlings from Budded Peaches 800 Care of Peach-trees 803 Renovating Peach-trees 804 An Apologue or Apple-logue 306 Select List of Apples 307 Origin of some varieties of Fruit 323 The Quince 825 Cutting and Keeping Grafts 326 Frost Blight. 827 Seedling Fruits 329 Time for Pruning 832 Plums and their Enemies 835 Hoot Grafting 339 Blight and Insects 841 Apples for Hogs.. 846 The Flower Oardeoi ; , 847 Preparation of Seed for Sowing, ; — 3oi Sowing Flower Seeds— Transplanting. 303 Parlor Flantsand Flowers in Winter '. 854 Protecting Plants in Winter 801 To Preserve Dahlia Roots 302 Hedges 363 Watecitag Trees, etc 865 Labels for Trees , 866 Transplanting Evergreens 867 Flowers, Ladies and Angels .:...,'..': 368 Ilortictiltural Curiosities : ^ . . . . 360 The Corfl Crop 873 Potato Crop :,!.?. 333 Potting Cardcn Plants for Winter Use 390 Mary Howitt'« Use of Flower^ ; 891 What are Flowers good for 302 The Blight in the Fear-tree , 393 Progress of Horticulture in Indiana. . 411 Browne's Poultry Yard 417 Close of the Year -. . ... 420 PLAIN Airo PLEASANT TALK FRUIT, FLOWERS MD FARimG. PRELIMINARY. We understand very veil that every region must fashion its system of agriculture upon the nature of its soil, its cli- mate, etc. The principles , of agriculture may be alike in eveiy zone, hut the processes depend upon circumstances. It would be folly for a nev country, 'without commerce, to imitate an old country with- an active commerce ; it would be folly, where land is cheap, abundant, and naturally fer- tile, to adopt the habits of those who are stinted in lands, who have a redundant population, and who find a market for even the weeds which are indigenous to the soil. The husbandry of Holland is suited to a wet soil, and of Eng- land to a humid atmosphere and a very even annual tem- perature. But our soil is sijbject to extreme wet in spring and dryness in surhmer, to severe cold and intense heat. A farm whose bottom-lands are r^invigorated by yearly inun- dations, may thrive -under an exacting husbandry that would exhaust an upland farm in a few years. Modes of agricul- ture must be suited to circumstances. Nevertheless, the experiments and discoveries and practices of every land are worth our careful attention. We do not import cldthe&— 8 10 PLAIN AHD PLEASANT TALK but we do doth, to be made up to suit our own habits aad wants. The two extremes of husbandry are, the adoption of every novelty and every experiment indiscriminately,, and the rejection of eveiy new thing and every improvement, as indiscriminately. Wisdom consists in " proving all things and holding fast that which is good." "We do not advocate large -outlays for expensive machines^-^for fancy cattle, for every new thing that turns up. But when, after full triaf, it is ascertained -what are the best farm horses, the ■ best breed of cattle, the best mUch cows, the most profitable breed of hogs and sheep, and the most skillful routine of cultivation, we think our farmers ought to profit by the knowledge. It is never a good economy to have poor things when you can just as well have the best. _This, then, i| OUR CREED. We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation. We believe that soil loves to eat, as well as its owner, and ought, therefore, to be manured. We believe in large crops which leave the -land better than they found it — ^making both the farmer and the farm rich at once. ■ We believe in going to the bottom of things and; there- fore, in deep plowing, and enough of it. All the better it with a sub-soil plow; We believe that every farm, should own a good farmer. We believe that the best fertilizer of any soil, is a spirit of industry, enterprise, and intelligence — ^without this, lime and gypsum, bones and green manure, marl and guano will be of little use. We believe in good fences, good bams, good farmhouses, good stock, good orchards, and children enough to gather the fruit. We believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a spin. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWBKS AND FARMING. 11 ning-piano, a clean cupboard, a clean dairy, and a clean con- science. We -firmly disbelieve in farmers that will not improve; in farms that grow poorer every year ; in starveling cattle ; in fanners' boys turning into clerks a;nd merchants; in farmers' daughters unwilling to worfe, and in all farmers ashamed -of their vocation, or who drink whisky till honest people are ashamed of them. ALMANAC FOR. THE YEAR. 1. Work fob January. — If you have done as you Ought to have done, you have a snug ioeJiouse, with double walls, the space between which is filled with nou-oondncting sub- stances, as pulverized charcoal, or- dried saw-dust, or tan- bark, which are mentioned in the order of their value. Cut your blocks of ice of a size and shape with reference to close packing. Cover over thickly with clean straw when the stock of ice is all in. Look out not to lose all your chance in waiting for a better one ; sometimes careful folks mean to have such glorious ice, that an open winter cheats . them out of any at all. Warmth. — The best fir© in winter is made up of exercise, and the poorest, of whiak^. He that keeps warm on liquor is like a man who pulls his house to pieces to feed the fire place. The prudent and temperate use of liquor is to let it alone. If you don't touch it, it certainly won't hurt yoti ; he that says there is no danger, boasts that he is soQiething more than other, men. The way to summer your cattle well is to winter them well ; and half the secret of good -wmtering is to keep them warm. Animal heat is generated in proporticm to the abun- dance and excellence of their food. Exposure to the coM air withdraws heat rapidly, and of course makes more food 12 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK necessary to re-supply it, just as an open door makes it necessary to have more -wood in the stove. If your stock run down in the winter and come out lean and feeble, all the summer will not fully bring them up again. 2. WoEK FOE Febkuaey. — Get out rails,'both for present use, and for the fence which you expect to Jay in March and April. Cut, haul and stack up near your house a good sup- ply oi firewood; no matter if the forest is within ten .rods of your door, your wife ought to have her wood chopped and dried ready for use. I^ook at every fence upon the place ; see if the corners of your raU fences are rotting down ; if some rails have not broken; if pig-holes- have not been made ; if boys and cattle have not thrown down top- rails; and in short, put your fences inta proper repair. Of course your tools wiE now be overhauled ; those, with steel blades should be thoroughly cleansed when laid adde in the fall, and if you rub a little oil over them and hang them up, all the better. Repair all that are out of order. These things and all your ordinary woi-k, may be done, and still leave you leisure for^ reading. You should have good books and good papers, and read them carefully for your own sake and for your children's. . A man who brings up a family of ignorant children, cheats his children of their rights, and cheats his country of its rights; it is therefore a crime. . • : Gabden WoKE.-^If there be no snow on the ground, the gardens may be cleared of all rubbish, manure hauled and stacked carefully ; and if you have a clay soil, and can- catch the -ground without frost for a few days, it will mel- ' low and ameliorate it to spade it up, leaving it in lumps and heaps, through which the frost may thoroughly penetrate. It is time to prepare your hot-bed, if you design having early plants in your garden. .. 3 . Work foe Maech. — ^Begin the year by thorough, depp plowing, where your fields are in good order for it. De- pend upon it, that deep plowing is the only good plowing. ABOUT FKUITS, TLOWEES AND I" ARMING. 13 Tour first crop , generally, will tell you so. But if the sub- soilis such that the first crop is rather poor, a year's expo- sure of the land will ameliorate it so that your second crop will remunerate all expenses of time and labor laid out in deep plowing., No fai-mer should be without a sub- soil plow who has got his lands clear of stumps and roots. Take especial care of cows now just coming in with calf. See that those which are heavy are carefully handled, weU. fed, and wai-mly sheltered. Mares with foal should be ten- derly Ujsed, exercised a little, but not put to hard or strain- ing work. iTie condition of the mother will -to a great extent ^det&rmirie the condition of the offspring. Cows, mares, Sows, ewes, etc. etc., should be kept in a hearty con- dition, without being fat. . Ojechaed. — ^Do not trouble your trees with premature pruning. Let the axe, and knife, and saw alone. Loosen the dirt or sod around and .heneath your trees. The best manure for your trees is fresh mold, or forest soil and lime in the proportion of about, one part to ten. Take soft soap, dilute it with urine, serub your trees with it plentifully, having, first scraped off all rough^bark. , If you wouldVork easily always, never let your work drive you; 4. Work fok April. — Gather from your bam the loose hay seed, and sow it upon your wheat fields ; it will give good pasturage after harvest, and make fine stuff for plow- ing under. Push forward your plowing, but look well to the teams; as cattle and horses are like men, unable in early spring -to endure severe labor all at once. Your spring wheat should be got in ; barley is a better crop, usu- ally, than rye. The middle and last of the month will keep you in the corn-field. Plow deep— plow thoroughly ; and after planting, give the plow ho rest, if you wish good corn. ' , . , YoiOTG Animals.— Tou will now begin to have plenty of calves, oolts, pigs, and lambs. If you mean to have pro- 14 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Stable pork, you ought to push jovar pigs from the Tjirth. Look carefidly after your lambs ; see that the mothers are well cared for ; have dry and warm peas for any that are feeble. A little tenderness to the lambs will be well repaid by and by. Gaeden. — Your lettuce may be transplanted from the hot-bed the middle and last of this month. A foot apart is none too much, if you wish head-lettuce. Sow your main supplies of radishes, cabbage, tomatoes^ etc. Get your pie-plant seed in early as possible ; also carrots, pars- nips, and salsify or oyster-plant; " Prune your gooseberries, currants, and raspberry bushes. GrapeS, which' were not laid in last fall should be pruned and laid in early in March ; but if neglected then, let them be till the leaves are large as the palm of your hand. Look out or worms' nest's, aftd destroy them promptly. 5. Work foe Mat. — ^Ybur whole force will be required in this month. If the season has been late or wet, you still have your com to plant. Pastures will be ready for your stock; remember to salt your stock every weelk. Weeds will now do their best to take your crops. Tour potato crop should be put in, as there wiU be little danger of frost. After the 15th, ysu may put out sweet potato slips. If you have not grass-land for pasturage, try for one season the system of soiling, i. e. keeping up your cattle ia the yard or home-lot, and cutting green-fodder for them every day.' An acre "or two of corn, so-\vn broad-cast, or oats and millet, should be tried. Above all other things, if you have warm, deep sandy loam, put in an acre of lucerne. During the last of this month, and at the beginning of the next, pruning may be done. K the limbs be large, cover the stump with a coat of paint, wax, grafting clay, or anything thiat will exclude air and Wet. The garden wUl require extra labor in all this month. After the 15th, tender bulbs and tubers may be planted, dahliasj amarylEses, ttlbercBes, etc. Peas will require brush; ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING. 15 all your plants from the hot-bed should by this time be well a growing in open air. Roses will be showing their buds. If large roses of a favorite sort are required, more than half the buds should be taken off, and the whole strength of the •plant be given to the remainder. The soil for this best of all flowers, cannot be too. rich, nor too deep. 6, WoEK FOE JuBB.-^May, June, and September are the dcdry months. The best butter and the best cheese are usually made in these months. If you are not neat, you do not know how to make cheese or butter. TJncleanliness affects.not only the looks, but the quality of butter. Broad, shallow glass pans are the best, but the most expensive; In the^e milk seldom turns sour in summer thunder-storms. Tin pan« are good, but unless the dairy-woman is scrupu^ lously neat, the seams will be filled with residuum of milk and become very foul, giving a flavor to each successive panful. The principal requisites for prime butter are, good cows, good pasture for them, clean pans, cool, airy cellars, clean churns. Let the cream be churned before it is sour or bitter ; and when the butter comes, at least three thorough workings will be necessary to drive out all the butter-milk. Gaedbn. — ^Transplant flowers; destroy all weeds; get out cabbages; more lettucfe; get ready celery trenches; , layer favorite roses, vines, etc. ; examine and remove from the peach-tree root, the grub which is destroying them. Sow salt imder plum-trees — put on a coat two inches thick. Transplant. fl^owers ; biid roses with fine kinds; see that large , plants are tied neatly, to fi-ames or stakes. Every morning examine your beds of cabbage, etc., for cut-worms, and destroy them if found ; plant succedsjon crops of peas, corn, radishes, lettuce, etc. 7. "WoEK FOE JuLY.-^Great difference of practice and opinion exists as to the methods and time of harvesting. Some cut their grass while the dew is on it ; others cut it le PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK when perfectly jdry, and say- that if so cut it need not be spread; "but will dry in the swath in one or two days. As to the Ume of 'Cutting grass, we should avoid both ex- tremes of very early or very late. Just before the seed of timothy IS ripe, is, upon the whole, the best time for this best of grasses for the scythe. Clover should be cut ^yhen in full blossom ; instead of spreading, the best farmers make it iuto small cooks and leave it there to cure, which it wiU do without shrivelling or losiug its color. ., Garden Wokk. — As soon as your roses are done bloom- ing,vif you wish to increase them, take the young shoots, and about eight inches from the ground, cut, ,below an eye, half through, and then, slit upward an inch or two through the pith; put a bit of chip in to keep the slit open; bend down the branch and cover the portion thus operated on. with an inch or two of earth and put a brick updn it. It will soon send out roots, and by October may be separated from the parent plant. Quinces, goosebej-ries, and almost all shrubs which branch near' the ground, mav be propagated in this way. StiU keep down weedjs. Sow suc- cessive crops of corn, peas and salads, for fall use. Begin to gather such seeds as ripen early. Take up tulips-, hya- cinths, etc., as soon as the tops wither. ' 8. Work foe Ausust. — If during this hot month you will clear out fence corners, and cut off vexatious intruders, the sun will do aU it can to help you kill them. If your A^^heat is troubled with the weevil^ thrash it out and leave it in the , chaff. It will raise a heat fatal to its enemy without injur- ing- itself. Every former should have a little nursery row of apple, pear, peach and plums of his own raising. Plant the seed ; when a year old, transplant in^o rows eight inches apart in the row and two feet between the rows. ■ During July, August, and September, you may bud, thern with choice sorts, remembering Xh&t a, Jvrst^ate fruit will live just as easily as a worthless soft. This is a good month to sow down fallow fields to grass. Plough tljiOTOughly^— harrow ABOTJT FBtrrrs, flowees akd faemhig. 17 till the earth is fine ; be liberal of seed, and cover in with a harrow and not with a bush, which drags the seeds into heaps, or carries them in hollows. The early part of the month should be improved by all who wish to put in a crop of buck-wheat or turnips. If your pastures are getting short, let your milch cows have something every night in the yard. Corn, sown broadcast, would now render admirable service. If you have neglected to raise your bulbs, lose no time now. Take cuttings from roses and put in small pots, invert a glass over them ; in two or three weeks they will take root, and by the next spring make good plants. Gather flower seeds as soon as they ripen. 9. WoEE JFOE Septembee. — You should finish seeding your wheat grounds in this month. If sown too early, it is liable to suffer from the fly ; if too late, from rust. Those who sow acres by the hundred, inust sow early and late both. But -moderate fields should be seeded by the mid- dle of this, month. In preparing the land, if the surfeee does not naturally drain itself, it should be, so plowed as to turn the water into.fiirrows between each land. Standing water, and; yet more, ice upon it, being fatal to it. See that your cattle are brought into good condition for winter- ing. Fall transplanting may be performed from the middle of this month ; take, off every fea/— re-set, and stake. By the latter part of the month, or early in October, ac@3|rdi0g to the season, it will be necessary to raise andpot ■ such plants as you intend to keep in the house ; to raise and place in a dry and frost-proof room , your dahlias, tube- roses, aruaryllis, tigridia, gladioli, and such other tender bulbs as you inayhave. Let your seed be gathered, carefully put away where it will contract no moisture. Go over your grounds and examine all your labels, lest the storms which are approaching Should destroy them. Sow in some warm an^ ^gltered" part of your garden, early in this month, for spring use, spinage, corn salad, lettuce, etc. 18 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK As soon as tiie.leaTes fall, take cuttings from currant bushes and grapes, and plant them out in rows. They will start' off and grow earlier by some six weeks, the next season- Fill in your celery trenches every ten days. 10. WoEKFOE OcTOMEE. — Push foTward your hogs as fast as possible. If they have had a good clover range in the summer, they will be ready to start off vigorously from the moment that you begin to put them upon com. See that good paths are made in every direction from your house ; and be sure to have walks through your bam-yards raised so high as never to be muddy. Your cattle-yaidfi should slope toward the centre in such a way that horses and cat- tle need not wade knee deep in going m and out. Frosts wUl now begin to strip your trees and stop the growth of garden shrubs, and all your' preparatioiis should be made for protecting tender trees and shrubs. For cherry and pear-trees, especially, you should provide good covering for their ti-unk, until they have grown quite large. A good bundle of corn-stalks set round the body so as to keep out the sun, but not the air, will answer every purpoaew For beds of .China and tea, and dwarf roses, we advise a covering of three inches of hal&rotted manure. Cover this with leaves about six inches. Moss is better, if you will take the trouble to collect it ; an d straw will do if you have neither mosS' nor leaves. Half cover the J)aft that remains exposed, with fine binish, or pine branches. For single plants, drive a stake by their side, and %ip the plant to it;, wind loosely about it a wisp of straw or roll of bass matting, or cloth, so as to exclude the sun and not the air. The mn, and not the cold, usually destroys plants. 11. WoEK FOE NovEMBEE.— During this month, if the ground is not locked by frost, you may plow stiff, tenacious clay soils to great advantage. .By being broken up, and subjected to the keen frosts, your soil will become mellow and tender. See that every provision is made for shelter- ABOUT TKOTTS, FLOWERS AND PAEMING. 19 iiig your cattle and horses ; be sure that your sheep are not obliged to lie out in drenching rains. In the Gaeoen see that your asparagus bed is dressed if neglected last month. House all your brush, poles, stakes^ frames, etc., which will be fit for use another season. If your tulips,, hyacinths, etc. have not been planted, you had better reserve them for spring, as they will be liable, to rot in the ground if planted so late in the year. Cover with brush, or leaves, or straw, your lettuce, spinage, and other salad plants designed for spring use. If tender plants, roseSj Tines, etc., -have been left unprotected, cover as directed last month. If you have no cold frame for half- hardy plants, they may be laid in by the heels, i. e., taken up, and the roots laid into a trench, the tops sloping at an angle. of a,bout twenty degrees, and then covered with earth. The SOU shoufd cover about half the stem. It is, now a good season for cutting grafts. , Take them from the outside of the middle of the tree ; let them be done up in small packages, and set up endwise in the cellar, and covered with about half-dry sand. Roots may be taken from pear and apple-trees, and packed in the same way for root-grafting. li. Decbmbee. — The year is about to close. Look back upon your toil. In what respect will your year's labor bear an appfpyal when calmly examined ? Can you honestly acquit yourself of indolenfj© and carelessness ? and as honestly take credit for enterprise, activity^ and a desire for improve- ment? Your barns are full^your granary is heavy with grain — the year's bounty has followed a year's labor, and if you Jiave the- heart of a man you will not forget the source whence your blessings have come. You have perhaps done well by your stock, and in so far as the body is concerned, for your children ; but what have you done for their educa- tion.? "V'^'hat have you done to promote popular education ? Are you doing anything to make your neighborhood bet- ter.? What good newspapers do you provide for your fam- 20 PLAIN A3ST) PLEASAUT TALK ily? Do you -lay out as much money for books as you do for tobacco ? In looking fox-ward to the next year, yoti ought to mark out your personal course by good resolu- tions, and your business course by a definite plan of opera^ tions. It would be well if a fermer should know before- hand everything he means to do ; and afterwards-, if he has kept such an account that you can' tell anything that you have done. ■ Sleighing for the young and gay, and warm fire-sides for the agedj are what are now most thought of. Those who are best provided with the comforts of life should remem- ber their less favored brethren. EDUCATED FARMERS. It is time for those who do not beliere ignorance to be a blessing, to move in behalf of common schools. Many teachers are not practised even in the rudiments of the spelling-book ; and as for reading, they stninable along the sentences, like a drunken man on a rough road. Their ^^ hand-write," as they felicitously style the hieroglyphics, would be a match for OhampoUion, even if he did decipher the Egyptian inscriptions. But a more detestable fact is, that sometimes their morals ^re bad; they are intemperate, coarse, and ill-tempered; and wholly unfit to inspire the minds of the pupils with one generous or pure sentimtent. We do not mean to characterize the body of the com- mon schoolmasters by these remarks ; but that any -con- siderable portion of them should be such, is a disgraceful evidence of the low state of, education. Farmers and mechanics ! this is a subject which comes home to you. Crafty politicians are constantly calling you the bone and sinew of the land ; and you may depend upon it that you will never be anything else but bone and sinew ABOUT PEUITS, PLOTTKES AND FAEMIKQ. 21 without education. There is a law of God in this' matter. That class of men who make the most and best use of their heads, will, in foot, be the most influential, will stand high- est, whatever the theories and speeches may say. This is a " nature of things " which cannot be dodged, nor got over. Whatever class bestow great pains upon the cultivation of their minds will stand high. If farmers and mechanics feel themselves to be as good as other people, it all may be true ; tor" ffo'odness is one thing and int'dMgenee is another. If they think that they have just as much mind as other classes, that may be true ;• but can you use it as well? Lawyers, and physicians, and clergymenj and literary men,, make the discipline of their intellect a constant study. They read inore, think more, write more than the laboring classes. -The difference between the educated and unedu- cated portions of society is a real difference. KTow a proud and lazy fellow, may rail and swear at this, and have his labor for his pains. There is only one way really to get over it, and that is tOi rear up a generation of well educated, thinking, reading farmers and mechanics. Your.skiU and industry are felt ; and they put you, in these respects, ahead of any other class. Just^as soon as your heads are felt, as muctt as your hands are, that will bring you to the top. Many of our best farmers are men of great natural shrewdness 5 but when -they were young they "had no chance for learning." They feel the loss, -and they are giv- ing their children the best education they can. Farmers' sons constitute three-fifbhs of the educated class. But the thing is, that they are not- -educated as /armers. When they begin to study they-lsave the farm. They do not ex- pect to return to it. The idea of fending a boy • to the school, the academy, and the college, and then let him go back to farming, is regarded as a mere waste of time and money. You see how it is even among yourselves. If a boy has an education, you expect him to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a preacher. You tacitly admit that a farmer 22 PLAIN AND PLEA8ANT TALK dofes not need suclji an education ; and if you think so, you cannot blame others if they follow your example. There is no reason why men of the very highest educa- tion should not go to a farm for their living. If a son of mine were brought up on purpose to be a farmer, if that was the calling which he preferred, I still would educate him, if he had common sense to begin with. He would be as much bett.er for it as a farmer, as he would as- a lawyer; There is no reason why a thoroughly scientific' education should not be given to every farmer and to every mechanic. A beginning must be made at the common school. Every neighborhood ought to have one. But they do not grow . of themselves, like toad-stools. And no decent man TdU teach school on wages which, a canal boy, or a hostler would turn up his nose at. You may as well put your mone^ into the fire as to send it to a "make-believe" teacher — a great noodle-head, who teaches school becau,g©he is fit for nothing else ! Lay out to get a good teaeJier. Be willing to pay enough to make it worth while for " smart " men to become your teachers. And when your boys show an awakening taste, for books, see that they have good histories, travels, and scientific tracts and treatises. Above all,' do not let a boy get a notion that if he is educated, he must,- of course, quit the farm. Let him get an education that he may make a letter farmer. I do not despair of yet Seeing a genera- tion of honest politicians. Educated farmers and educated mechanics, who are in good circumstances, and do not need office for u stepport, nor mstke pof fes a trade, will stand the best- chance for honesty. But the Lord deliver us from the political honesty of t6nth-rate lawyers, vagabond doc- tors, ba,wfing preachers, and bankrupt clerks, turned into' patriotic politicians I ABOUT FRtriTS, FLOWEBS AND EAEMINS. 23 AN ACRE OF WORDS ABOUT AKER. , OiXR spelling aare according to Welister's former method* —^aher, has attracted no little attention, in a small way, both far and near. It is -^-ery difficult to fix on any rule for any- thing in our lianguage. ■ Etymology is chiefly useful in settling the primitive significatitm, and is, or ought to be, scarcely at all authoritative in orthography. Where two languages are very different, it is absurd to attempt the forms of the one in the other. la respect to idiom, no one dreams of transferring it from one to another. ' Oftentimes it is equally absurd to transfer mere literation, as in the Greek-blooded word Phthisic for Tisic, or as Walker would have spelled it, Phthisic^ / Who rebels because demesne, as it is written in our best authors until within a little time, is now spelled domain ? We see no reason why Anglicized words should, against all our nations of sound, retain a cumbrous foreign spelling. Words adopted into a lan- guage by the ear, which are spoken before they are written, generally confixrm, on being written, to our modes of spelling. But words introduced first by the eye, as they are written, for a long time wear the original spelling. Thus some foreign words are speUed by one method, and some by another. Custom is usually regarded as determinate, in the matter of speUing, pronunciation, idiom, purity, etc. But, in respect to spelEng, custom is not long the same. If one will examine our literature from the time of Henry "VTII., he will find a constant succession of changes in spelling, both for good and for bad. i"has been generally substituted for F, as in Lyhwyse, aocordynge, heyng, certayne. Sir Thomas More wrote fiym, thynge^, desyer, myndes. Skel- ton, the Poet Laureat, has centendyously, dyd, advysynge hyU, etCi, etc, * Two-Tplume edition, imperial octaTO. 24 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK There has, too, and wisely, been a constant tendency to drop all unsovnded- letters. What earthly.nse is there of lug^g along letters which are entirely mute ? In old but classic authors we have Godde djdde, nowe, whiohe, pulle, beste, siich«, couerte (court) beetwene, begunwe, etc. Within our own memory the final k is lopped off from, words where it had a perfect sinecure, as in music*, etc- " JKanH kam it," -does not look any more odd to our eyes than our. spelling would have looked to those who wrote one hundred years ago. If it be asked why we do not spell every word by the same rule that we do some; we reply, that violent, and sudden changes in languages are impracticable : and as in everything else, are not desirable. We are glad to see spelling simpMed, and shall move along just as fast as we can do it with a reasonable prospect of carrying the public. It is not a matter of conscience ; we have no necessity laid upon us to reform tl;e language ; no call to be literal martyrs ; it is a matter of convenience and taste, to be done or omitted as one pleases. It would be more inconvenient to stand alone with all writers against us, for the sake of spelling consistently, than to speU foolishly and super- fluously in conformity to inveterate practice. Therefore, for the sake of company, we still spell quite absurdly. It is called inconsistent ; and by men, too, who spell trough, cough, enough, though, through, bought, six dis- similar soimds (oM, ow, oa, o, uf, off), by the same com- bination of letters ! If consistency be the question, every English writer that ever lived, is a mere, bundle of incon- sistencies. Every continental living language, and the dead classic languages, have thrown in their contributions, and our tongue comprises the scraps, odds and ends, of all lands, with all the diverse peculiarities ctf each language more or less retained. Under such circumstances, when no man writes a sentence without spelling inconsistently, it is quite ridiculous to oppose a simplification of spelling, be- ABOUT FRUITS, FXOWBES AND FAEMING. 25 cause we cannot do, at once, what it is only practicable to do gradually. As fast as the publi? is able to bear it, we shall be glad to reduce all cumbrous spelling to a consistent simplioity. An acquaintance declares, that the derivation of akbe from the Latin and Greek, is "without the least, foundation in the words as used in the Greek and Latin and in the Eng- lish, and built entirely on the resemblance of sounds," etc. The" facts are the other way. In the Greek, and in the Latin, it meant simply a field, an open, cultivated spot. Kow, this was the meaning of the word in English, until it was by statutes limited to a particular quantity (31 Ed. III. ; 5 Ed. I., 24 ; Henry VIII., as quoted by Webster) and this is the meaning yet, of the word in German (acker) Swedish (acker) Dutch (akkev). There is, therefore, ample founda- tion in the use of the word; and the sound our friend gives up. In almost all the languages of the Teutonic famUy, of_ which ours is one, the word is stiU spelled with k; and so it is in the Asiatic languages, from- which, probably, both the Teutonic and the Greek, alike borrowed it. The spelling acre, as also centre, theatre we, probably, derived from the French ; to which language we owe the emasculation of many a noble Saxon word. In the Ifew England Farmer our orthographical sins are thus set in order before us : "The Western Farmer and Gardiner^ is an excellent journaI=— very. It has only one feature that we "dislike, viz.— it spells ACEB a-h-er I We are somewhat' surprised at Bro. Beecher, who usually evinces such good taste, as well as such good sense, should adopt such an ugly-looking substitute for an old word of so much better appearance, although supported in it by the priice of lexicogra- phers. . "^-A-e-r/ Wheugh! Bro. editors, hoot at it till it 2 26 PLAIK AND PLEASANT TAIK shaU become obselete. In Todd's, Johnson's^and Walker's, and "Worcester's dictionaries, fud is spelled f&wd, as the most correct way. This is odd enough and Ijad enough— but it is hardly so unsightly as aAer." Nothiag becomes obsolete until it has been ia vogue. But pass that : what a sight will the hooting confraternity present! I imagine Maine Farmer Hohnes — a plump, short, dapper gentleman, giving a long howl, that sounds so ludicrous, that he draws back from the open window to laugh. Our more sober Breok performs the euphonious duty with such conscientious heartiness, that up starts the man of Buckwheat from his (mis-spelled) Plow^Aman's chair, as also does the Cultivator Cole — a^trio not practiced to sing together. The uproar reaches Albany, and sur- prises him of the Cultivator, who hoots supplementary, with such voice as he happens, in his surprise, to have on hand. Next, toward the west, Dr. Lee shall give a scien- tific roar or hoot such as wUl make his laboratory jar again. Down across the lake the hootiag (not hw/iting) chorus goes (what will the sailors think is to pay !) to Elliot of the yard-long-named Magazine, who, hoarse with lake fogs and winds, shall put in so bass a hoot, that Wight and Wright of the Prairie Farmer will howl of mere fright, if for no- thing else. Audacious men ! we utterly defy you I We shall pass by the whole crowing brood of Polands, Dorkings and what-not; and raise a breed of genuine owls, to be our champions in this dire necessity. We say, peremptorily, that we will not bet on any match between hooting birds and hooting editors. But our serious opinion is, tha,t, in grave solemnity of looks, and in professional hooting, a half dozen weU-trained owls wiU beat the whole of you. However, we are open to conviction. < ABOUT FEtriTS, FL0WEE8 AND TAEMING. 27 FARMERS' LIBRARY. It is of the highest importance that farmers should pos- sess reading habits; and that they should bring up their children to a love of books. Every fkrmer shoffld have a hbrary ; it may, at first, be small j but it should be select. As soon as a farmer is beforehand enough to own an acre, he is prosperous enough to begrti a library. It is said by many, books iponH make money. Yes they mil. To-be- sure, their best efiiect is the production of intelligence in the reader ; but a man well informed in his own business is just the man to make money. Who ever thought of making money by buying grindstones and whetstones ? ' But they sharpen the scythe, and sickle, and the axe, and- they pro- duce money. Books are grindstones and whetstones for a man's mind. Many are unwilling to buy a treatise upon the disease of the horse, although there are several which wiUjjrewewi most of the evils which affect this noble animal. In the West, the horse is used, in town and country, by almost every man. But very few profess to know how he should be treated ! And, of those who think they are wise, how many have any kno^edge except of a few nostrums for sickness? The horse, in man's service, is living in an entirely artificial state. He takes care of himself if left wUd. But living in stables, laboring every month of the year in harness, and under the saddle, not selecting his own food, but fed at the will of his master, his own instincts become of little use, and he is dependent entirely on the mercy and knowledge of those whos^ slave he is. It ought not to be thought unreasonable to say that every man who is willing to own a horse, ought to be willing to know how to manage him, in the stable and out of it. There is no work in the English language containing more, or better instructions than* Stew- * A Treatise on the management of horses in relation to stabling, groomr ing, feeding, watering, and working: published byA.O.Moore&Oo., N. Y. 28 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK art's Stable Economy. It should be read by the farmer ; and just as much by every man, of whatever calling, who uses a horse, or owns one. It is of standard authority' in England. Mn Stewart has long been a professor in veterinary institutes. Every man ought to know how to treat a sick horse. Sup- pose a horse to betaken siek on a journey; most frequently the driver is the only one at hand' to prescribe. If you are at a tavern, of what use, generally speaking, are the brag- ging pretensions of those that crowd around you ? Stop- ping for a night at a wretched hole of a tavern, one of my horses, at night feU sick. I knew ho more tha{i a child what to do ; the landlord (ah me ! I shall never forget him 1) was equally ignorant and much more indifferent. A big, bragging, "English booby was the only one pretending to know what to do ; and to him I yielded the animal. After sundry manipulations — punching him in the loins ; pulling at his ears, etc. — he rolled up a wad of hair from his tail, and crammed it down the horse's throat! presuming, I suppose, that the hair would find its way back to the place it came from, and so pilot the disease out! I inwardly resolved never to go another journey until in possession of the best remedies for the attacks common to horses on the road. Preparing Cuttengs in the Fall. — Cuttings of the currant, gooseberry, and grape are better if cut immedi- ately on the Ml of the leaf, plunged into moist sand two- thirds of their length, and placed in a cellar. If nature is as propitious to others as she has been to us, the cuttings wiU be found in the sprmg with the granulations completed at the lower end, and the roots just ready to push ; and on being planted out, they grow off immediately, forming dur- ing the season well established plants. ABOUT EEITITS, FLOWBES AND PAEMIITG. 29 NINE MISTAKES. In so far as instruction is concerned, I esteem my mis- takes to be more valuable than my successful ejBbrts. They excite to attention and investigation with great emphasis. I will record a few. 1. One mistake, which I record once for all, as it will probably occur every year, has been the attempting of more than I could do well. The ardor of spring, in spite of expe- rience, lays out a larger garden, than can be well tended aU summer. 2. In selecting the largest lima beans for seed, I obtained most luxuriant vines, but fewer pods. If the season were ■longer these vines would ultimately be most profitable ; but their vigor gives a growth too rampant for our latitude. If planjted for a screen, however, the rankest growers are the best. 3. Of three successive plantings of com, for table use, the first was the best, then the second, and the third very poor. I hoed and thinned the first planting myself, and. thorough- ly ; the second, I left to a Dutchman, directing him how to do it ; the third, I left to him without directions. 4. I bought a stock of roses in the fcdt of the year. AU the loss of wintering came on me. If purchased in the spring, the nurserymen loses, if there is loss. 5. I planted the silver-leaved abele {I'opulus alba) in a rich sandy loam ; in which it made more wood than it could ripen. The tree was top-heavy, and required constant stak- ing. A poorer soil should have been selected. • 6. I planted abundantly of flower-seeds— just before a drought. I neither covered the earth with mats, nor watered it — supposing that the seeds would come up after the first rain. But, in a cheerless and barren garden, I have learned that heat will kill planted seeds, and that he who will be sure of flowers should not depend upon only one planting. 30 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 1. In the fall of 1843, 1 took up the bulbs of tuberoses, and -wintered them safely upon the top of book-cases in a warm study. Having a better and larger stock in 1S44, 1 ■would fain be yet more careful, and packed them in dry sand, and put them in a closet beyond the reach of frost. On opening them in the spring aU were rotted save about half a dozen. Hereafter, I shall try the book-case. 8. We are told that glazed or painted flower-pots are not desirable, because, refusing a passage to superfluous moist- ure, they leave the roots to become sodden. In small stove-heated parlors, the evaporation is so great that glazed or painted flower-pots are best, because the danger is of dryness rather than dampness in all plants growing in sandy loams or composts. 9. I have resolved every summer for three years, tcicut pea-brush during the winter and stack it in the shed; and every summer following, not having kept the vow, I have lacked pea-brush, being too busy to get it when it was needed, I have allowed the crop to suffer. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. Many county societies were formed in 1836 and for some years flourished ; few of them, we believe, exist now. We hope that the day has come for them to revive ; and, that the experience of the past may not be lost, it is well to record the reasons why these county societies declined. 1. Just after their birth, came on the fatal years of ficti- tious prosperity ; when every man expected a railroad on one side of his farm and a canal on the other — and when everybody was about to be exceedingly rich ; not by legiti- mate 'business ; not by producing wealth ; but by the rise of property. Now the wealth of a farming community is always to arise from! the products of the farm. Whatever ABOUT FEUITS, BliOWEBS AND FAKMING. 81 ■withdraws attention from assiduous cultivation, or plants the hope of gain in other sources than in the herds, the dauy, the graia and the grass field, wiU, eventually, insure disappointment and even poverty, as many of our farmers can testify. It would be difficult for those who had not seen it, to imagine the fervent, sanguine, exulting, state of ■mind with which the whole community, at the time we speak of, looked for the wealth. Farms were to quadruple in value ; pork was to be cashed at enormous prices ; grain and grass, stock and fruit, were to swell the golden tide ; and, for once, the world was to see great riches from little labor. Carelessness, waste, rashness, and incredible pre- sumption were the result. Societies for the promotion of a careful and patient cultivation of the soil could not long be thought worthy of attention in a community which ex- pected to be rich by a dexterous bargain, by one lucky spec- ulation, by town lots, and shares, and that mysterious hum- bug — the rise of property. 2. Succeeding such days came the opposite extreme. Everybody was poor and expected to be poorer. There was no money and no market. Hogs were hardly salable, grain a drug, and all produce unavailable. N'othing was brisk but debt and debt coUecting. Men were discouraged. Said they, " if one can sell no^hiag, there is no use in rais- ing anything ; twenty bushels an acre is as good as forty, when one can't sell or use it." Schools languished, public spirit died, business was totally deranged, and agricultural societies became extinct with the downfall of other useful institutions. 3. There were some things in the management of the societies which embarrassed them independently of these other causes. There was too much talk and pretension — wind work ; the offices were taken for the honor — patient endurance of drudgery, which somebody must bear, was shirked oflE". Men took little pains between the meetings ; everything was to be done at the time of meeting ; and, of 33 PT.ATTT AND PLEASANT TALK course, half done. This led to dissatisfaction. The mis- takes of carelessness were attributed to partiality or preju- dice. Some dropped off; others relaxed; and, when the excitement was gone, few cared to take the dull but real and necessary business. 4. Notwithstanding all these things, the county societies did a great deal of good. A skiLLful farmer told me, that in the county, where he resided, there was hardly a con- siderable farmer who did njot try a few acres, at least, to see what he could do ; and even many renters exhibited specimens of fine cultivation. More attention was paid to every part of the farm ; 'and, for a time, everything felt the impulse. •■ A few words to those who may embark again ia this good cause. « 1. It is best to begin as you can hold out. A great meet- ing, a vast roU of by-laws, a regiment of officers, a parade of speeches, these make a fine meeting, and that's all. Let a few stanch friends to improvement put their heads and hands together, without show or noise ; begin at the little end, and hold fest what is gaiaed. 2, In choosing officers, societies almost invariably steer upon one rock on which thousands have split. There is a desire to put great men into offices, to get their influence. In a mere public meeting of a day, this is well enough ; but in a society which is to exist by efficient labor, it is suicide. Such men like to be puffed and published as presidents, chairmen, etc., etc., but that ends the matter. They go away and are not seen again till the next annual meeting, when, lo ! a resurrection takes place ; and they flame again, a whole year's zeal exhibited in one. day. It is best to select officers, who are well broken, of a good strain of blood, and who puU steadily, on hard ground, in the mud, over bridging, or upon turnpikes. In this way we may not have quite so large a show, but we shall have a steadily growing and efficient society. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AJSTD FAEMINQ, 33 3. In the award of premiums, more or less of dJssatisfac-_ tion will always be felt. A man who has worked a whole year for a premium cannot be expected to lose it without some pain. Premiums should be awarded with great care, T\ 'th scrupulous impartiality, and every effort made by the leading, substantial farmers to soothe and keep down every- thing like bitterness and faction, in consequence of disap- pointment. 4. It is indispensable that ^agricultural papers should go hand in hand with agricultural societies. We will venture to say, that no society wiU long exist prosperously, which does not have a reading .membership ; and that a society can hardly fail to prosper if its members are regular readers of agricultural papers. SHIFTLESS TRICKS, • To let the cattle fodder themselves at the stack ; they puU out and trample more than they eat. They eat till the edge of appetite is gone, and then daintily pick the choice pajts ; the residue, being coarse and refuse, they wiU not afterwards touch. To sell half a stack of hay and leave the lower half open to rain and snow. In feeding out, a hay knife should be used on the stack ; in selUng, either dispose of the whole, or re- move that which is left to a shed or barn. It is a shiftless trick to lie about stores and groceries, arguing with men that you have no time, in a new country^ for nice farming — for making good fences; for smooth meadows without a stump ; for draining wet patches which disfigure fine fields. To raise your own frogs in your own yard ; to pennit, year after year, a dirty, stinking, mantled puddle to stand before your fence in the street. 2* 84 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK To plant orchards, and aUow your cattle to eat the trees up. When gnawed down, to save your money, by trying to nurse the stubs into good trees, instead of getting fresh ones from the nursery. To allo-w an orchard to have blank spaces, where trees have died, and when the living trees begin to bear, to wake up and put young whips in the vacant spots. It is very shiftless to buUd your barnyard so that every ram shall Arain it ; to build, your privy and dig your well close together ; to build a privy of more than seven feet square — some shiftless folks have it of the size of the whole yard ; to set it in the most exposed spot on the premises ; to set it at the very far end of the garden, for the pleasure of traversing mud-puddles and labyrinths of wet weeds in rainy days. It is a dirty trick to make bread without washing one's hands after cleaning fish or chickens; to use an apron for a handkerchief; tc^use a veteran handkerchief just from the wars for an apron ; to use milk-pans alternately for wash- bowls and milk. To wash dishes and baby Unen in the same tub, either alternately or altogether ; to chew snuff while you are cooking, for sometimes food wiH chance to be too highly spiced. We have a distinct but unutterable remem- brance of a cud of tobacco in a dish of hashed pork — ^but it was before we were married ! A lady of our acquaintance, at a boarding-house, excited some fears among her friends, by foaming at the mouth, of madness. In eating a hash (made, doubtless, of every scrap from the table, not consumed the day before), she found herself blessed wit' a mouthful of hard soap, which only lathered the more, tffemore she washed at it. It is a filthy thing to comlb one's hair in a small kitchen in the intervals of cooking the breakfast; to use the bread trough for a cradle — a thing which we have undoubtedly seen; to put trunks, boxes, baskets,- with sundry other utensils under the bed where you keep the cake for company ; we ABOUT VRXJTCB, TLOWBES AND PAEMHTG. 35 have seen a dexterous housewife whip the bed-spread aside, and bring forth, not what we feared, but a loaf-cake ! It is a dirty trick to wash children's eyes in the pudding dish ; not that the sore eyes, but subsequent puddiugs, wiS not be benefited; to wipe dishes and spoons on a hand- towel ; to wrap warm bread in a dirty table-cloth ; to make and mold bread on a table innocent of washing for weeks ; to use dirty table-clothes for sheets, a practice of which we have had experimental knowledge, once at least in our lives. The standing plea of aU slatterns and slovens is, that " everybody must eat a peck of dirt before they die." A peck? that would be a mercy, a mere mouthftil, in com- parison of cooked cart-loads of dirt which is to be eaten in steamboats, canal-boats, taverns, mansions, huts and hovels. Tobacco Teicks. — It is a filthy trick to use it at all ; and it puts an end to all our affected squeamishness at the Chinese taste, in eating rats, cats, and bird's nests. It is a filthy trick to l6t the exquisite juice of tobacco trickle down the corners of one's mouth' ; or lie in splashes on one's coat, or bosom ; to squirt the juice all over a clean floor, or upon a carpet, or baptismally to sprinkle a proud pair of andirons the refulgent glory of the much-scouring housewife.. It is a vile economy to lay up for re-mastica- tion a half-chewed cud ; to pocket a half-smoked cigar ; and finally to be-drench one's self with tobacco juice, to so be-smoke one's clothes that a man can be scented as far off as a whale-ship can be smelt at sea. It is a shiftless trick to snuff a candle with your fingers, or your wife's best scissors, to throw the snuff, on the car- pet, or on the polished floor, and then to extiaguish it by treading on it ! To borrow a choice book; to read it with unwashed hands, that have been used in the charcoal bin, and finally to return it daubed on every leaf with nose-blood spots, tobacco spatter, and dirty finger-marks — ^this is a vile trick ! 36 PLAIN AND PLEASAHT TAIK It is not altogether cleanly to use one's knife to scrape .boots, to cut harness, to skin cats, to cut tobacco, and then to out apples which other people are to eat. It is an unthrifty trick to'bi-ing in eggs from the barn in one's coat pocket, and then to sit down on them. It is a jBlthy trick to borrow of or lenld for others' UBe, a tooth-brush, or a tooth-pick ; to pick one's teeth at table with a fork, or a jack-knife ; to put your hat upon the din- ner table among the dishes ; to spit generously into the fire, or at it, while the hearth is covered with food set to warm; for sometimes a man hits what he don't aim at. It is an unmannerly trick to neglect the scraper outside the door, but to be scrupulous in cleaning your feet after you get inside, on the carpet, rug, or andirons ; to bring your drenched umbrella into the entry, where a black puddle may leave to the housewife melancholy evidlnce that you have been there. It is soul-trying for a neat dairy woman to see her "man" watering the horse out *of her mUk-bucket ; or filtering horse-medicine through her milk-strainer; or feeding hia hogs ^ith her water-pail ; or, after barn-work, to set the well-bucket outside the curb and wash his hands out of it. ELECTRO-CULTURE. A FEW years ago, all the world was agog about electri- city applied to vegetation. Sanguine persons grew red in the face with excitement, and enterprising schemers hoped to supersede aU past processes of culture by this magical fluid. Things were to be made to grow not only as fast as lightning but by lightning. Those mischievous bolts which had played their dangerous pranks with chimneys, oaks, and towers, were to be regularly harnessed and set to work in the field like horses or oxen. Many of our readers ABOUT PEtnrS, FLOWEES AND rAEMING. 37 will recoUect how widely the agricultural papers copied the glowing accounts brought from over the seas; and nobody was afraid of anything except of not belieTing enough. Well, the lightning has been too smart for them; and the whole pack which opened loud on the scent, are now heard just as loud on the back track. It usually takes two fool- ings to satisfy the public. They first swing to an extreme folly of injudicious admiration, and them vibrate to the op- posite extreme of disgust. Everybody was fever-hot with morus multicaulis ; and then they went into chills about it. Durham stock brought almost their weight in silver at one time, and then could hardly be sold at butchers' prices. Berkshire hogs were all the rage, and now are in great and unmerited contempt. The guano fever sent hundreds of ships Brdung-hunting all over the earth : and lucky were they who espied a precious heap of excrement. How little did the penguins and sea gulls of the Pacific imagine, that their unconscious observance 'of the laws of nature was one day to figure so largely on the British Ex- change, and to raise such a bustle in chemical labor- atories I We believed but few of these accounts of electricity, because we perceived nothing which could be regarded as settled. And nqjv, we are far from sympathizing with the recantations and apostasies from the electric faith. Like all other things driven to extremes, we shall by and by see it settle upon a middle point. Editors are not without blame for these actions and re- actions. Many of our best agricultural papers are con- nected with agricultural warehouses which deal largely in all articles for which there is an agricultural demand. Without the slightest intention of deception, nay, with a desire to act cautiously, such pecuniary interest may sen- sibly afi'ect the judgment of sanguine editors. But the wish to issue a spicy paper, ftdl of life and surprise, inclines 38 PLAIN AUB PLBASANT TAIK an editor to publisli whatever is new, without a scrutiny of its truth. With a few honorable exceptions of standard periodicskls, we scarcely take an agricultural paper which does not contain most absurd stories gravely indited with- out a word of comment. Now, it seems to us that agri- cultural papers ought not to be the common sewers of news, ftiU of waste and refuse matter ; but registers of rigid facts and scientific expositors of the principles deducible from fiicts. Farmers are at fault also in the matter. An editor who depends for his support upon 'the proceeds of his paper, must be a man of rare independence if he can shield himself from the selfish influence of those who are his best supporters. Men that have a novelty, a new and precious jewel of a flower, a heavy stock of nursery commodities, or large herds of fancy stock, sheep or swine, can afibrd to circulate widely and praise any paper that will circiflate widely and praise their special interest. A sanguine editor inditing a eulogistic article, with a red-hot specula- tor whispering at each ear, will be very likely to lead many simple farmers astray. Such articles, copied by newspapers, spread the infection beyond the circle of subscribers. Far- mers that take, and farmers that do not take the paper will be deceived. Now, let husbandmen give to their agricultural papers such a support as shall leave the editors free from tempta- tions to listen to interested persons ; let them contribute so freely of their observations that editors will not have to draw upon their imagination for facts, and the agricultm-al press wiU become sober, stable, accurate, and so, pro- fitable. ABOUT PBUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 39 SINGLE-CROP FARMING. It is extensiyely the practice of large farmers, to put their whole force upon one staple article ; a style of farm- ing as ftiU of risk, as it would be to invest a whole fortune in one kind of property. At the South, we have cotton plantations ; nothing but cotton is raised. If the market and the season happen to be propitious, enormous i profits are made. If markets, or the planting or picking season are adverse, the year is lost ; for it was staked on one article ; all the risks of the year, instead of being distributed, were concentrated. Another plantation cultivates sugar exclusively ; and the ambitious planter has his pockets fixll or empty, according to chances which he cannot foresee, calculate, or overrule. At the North, some farmers put in nothing but wheat ; others, nothing but com. One relies on the hay crop ; another makes or loses a year's profits on cattle. In each case, if the staple raised happens to hit, in every respect profits roU in Uke a flood. But such operations leave no m(argin for those casualties, and annual changes, which are inevitable. Ireland, relying upon the potato as a support for a large mass of its poverty-stricken people, is visited with famine if this crop is shaken. The failure of the grain crop, in Eng- land, strikes panic into the whole nation. A perfect system of agriculture should have in itself, a balancing power. There should be such a distribution of crops that a farmer may have four or five chances instead of one. To be sure, a farmer cannot drive so large a bus- iness — cut such a swath — where five small or moderate operations take the place of a single great one. Five years of moderate profits are better than one gaining year, and four years to eat it up. A farmer has 160 acres — sixty are i'l wood : of the one hundred cleared acres, say twenty are used for home lots, pasture, com, etc., and eighty are in 40 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK wheat. The fall may be bad for planting, the spring may be bad, the fly may take the crop or the rust may strike it ; escaping all these, the -weevil may damage it ; and, after all this, it may not bring a justifying price when got to mar- ket. Is it wise for a man to put his yearly support or gains upon one crop and that one crop depending upon six or seven contingencies? If there is a large crop and high prices, he makes largely. Eighty acres at thirty bushels the acre yields 2,400 bushels, worth, say, seventy cents, or $1,680 gross receipts. Elated beyond measure, the lucky fellow buys some forty acres more of cleared land, reduces his pasture, shaves off a portion from his meadow, plants a few acres only of corn, and puts every inch he can command into wheat ; a good operation if he can find guaranty for as good seasons and as good market as before. But there are at least ten chances against for one in favor. A farm which depends for its profit on butter, cheese, fruit, timber, cattle, hogs, corn, wheat, potatoes, flax, etc., makes, perhaps, but a little on each crop ; but the rains that come in djrops are useful, while those that come in tor- rents and raise freshets, leave great mischief behind. Ticks on Sheep. — ^A clergyman, who was early ia life a regular-built shepherd, after the old-fashioned style, living with his flock, requests us to call the attention of all interested in sheep, to the prevention of ticks adopted " in the place he came from." A trough, large enough to hold a sheep, was filled with a decoction of tobacco; as soon as the sheep are sheared, they are plunged all over in, except the nose and mouth (these organs being sacred to chewers and snuff- ers). The lambs are treated in the same way, and a world of trouble to the owner and yet more to the flock, is saved by this nauseous bath. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWBES AND PABMING. 41. IMPROVED BREEDS OF HOGS AND CATTLE. No farmer ever owns a fine animal without being proud of it. Yet, the same man will have an inveterate prejudice against what are called improved breeds. The "fancy" prices which have been extravagantly paid, the miserable failure which some have made in attempting to stock their fkrm with foreign breeds, together with a suspicion of whatever is new, and a lack of enterprise, have deterred many farmers from seeking a better stock than the common run. It is in this way that speculators, besides ruinmg themselves, which is of no great consequence, seriously retard the progress of enlightened husbandry. . Let us take a plain and practical view of the matter. 1. Every man who has had anything to do with cattle, horses and swine, knows very weU what a difiference there is between different animals, in respect to size, form, and aptitude to fatten. Among twenty steers therfe will be a few that without any reason that the owngr can see, out-grow and out-fatten all the rest. A lot of fifty hogs gathered up from one neighborhood, will naturally divide itself into three sorts, those which fatten witfc remarkable rapidity and on little food; those that eat voraciously without taking on fat; and those that lie between these two extremes and are not- remarkable in one way or the other. Every man that buys a horse knows that some horses re- quire as much again food as others to keep them fat. 2. It is equally true that these qualities can be trans- mitted, by careful breeding, from parent to offspring; until the qualities heoomejixecl in the breed. A particular strain of blood, is then said to be established. By this pro- cess, English breeders of stock, with the greatest persever- ance and with admirable skill, have established several truly improved breeds. It is not mere beauty of form that has been gained, although this has been eminently attained ; but also all those qualities which make an ox valuable for 42 PLAIN AKD PLEASAUT TALK > the yoJee or for the hnife ; all that makes a cow good at the paU and afterwiards for the hutcher ; all that makes a hog valuable in flesh and fat. It is a mistake to suppose that the improved breeds have been formed to please gen- tlemen farmers and amateur fanciers. They have been per- fected with an eye mainly to their profitoibleness to the far- mer — ^the real farmer. Nor are they the stock for large farmers and rich proprietors alone. They are more peculiarly suited to farmers of small or moderate means than to any other ; a rich farmer can aiTord to keep poor stock, if anybody can ; but a small farmer is badly off indeed if the little that he has is poor. 3. No class of farmers are more interested in having good stock of all kinds than western farmers. Pork and beef constitute, probably, three-fifths of their exports. It is of the last importance that they should possess animals from which can be made the utmost profit. It is as much more profitable for an Indiana farmer to drive the very best cat- tle, as it is for a Massachusetts farmer. If improved breeds are found on the Mohawk to be vastly more profitable than common stock, they will be found to be just the same on the Wabash. It does not follow, either, because we have more corn than we can feed, or more grass ;and hay than can be used, that we can make up for inferior quality by the greater quantity of cattle kept. A western farmer inay winter a himdred head of cattle without positive loss, when a New York iarmer would sink money by it. But that is not the question. Suppose two herds, of a hundred each, of four year olds, preparing for the shambles. They eat the same amount of grain, and hay or grass. But when weighing- time comes, one herd averages a fourth heavier than the other, and this is clear profit. With no more food, and no more labor, and no longer time in fattening, they yield the owner a fourth more profit. Three men start a hundred hogs apiece for market. ABOUT FETTITS, rtO-VTBES AOTJ PABMING. 43 The first lot is of the true land-shark breed, and will average, say one hundred and twenty-five pounds; the second lot are of a better breed, and will average two hun- dred pounds; the third hundred are of a choice breed and average three hundred pounds. If the market happen to be heavy, the first lot can hardly be sold ; the second lot seUs moderately well, the third lot goes promptly and at a shade higher price. Now what is the dijfference of profit ? If pork is selling for two dollars the hundred, the first hun- dred hogs bring two hundred and fifty doUars. The second, four hundred dollars; and the third, six hundred doUars. That is, a difference of breeds makes a difference in profit, feeding and labor being the same in both cases, between the first and last lot, of three hundred and fifty doUars. But it will be more than this, for hogs averaging three hundred pounds win command twenty-five cents in the hundred more than those weighing a hundred and twenty-five pounds.^ The price which a farmer will get, then, fot his hundred acres of com, depends upon what his hogs can do for him. One sort of hogs can make up a fourth more fat than others, and ano- ther can make up BtUl a fourth more than these. If yOu owned a mill, which of two millers would you choose — ^the one who could make forty pounds of flour to the bushel, or the one who could make forty-five — ^the quality being equally good ? Of two acres of land, which would you choose — the one which would yield fifteen bushels of wheat, or the one which, with the same cultivation, would yield thirty? Our farmers are willing enough to hunt for good lands ; but why, on the same reasons, should they not hunt for the best breeds of cows, cattle hogs, and horses ? 4. As to the different varieties which are cried up, we have no interest in urging one more than another upon the public. It is all one to us whether Hereford, Devon, or Durham, prevail ; Wobum, Byfield or Berkshire. All that we ask is that farmers should aim to procure the best. Their 44 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK own experience must determine whicli that is. One kind will suit one range of land better than another. Beginning with moderation, a shrewd farmer will soon be able to teU whether any particular breed will suit his farm. We presume that all farmers work for the sake of profit : wo urge an improvement of stock simply on the ground of its profitableness . ABSORBENT QUALITIES OF FLOUR. It has long been known that flour gains in weight on being made up into bread. The English act of Parliantent allowed 280 lbs. (a sack) of flour to make 320 lbs. of bread. But in fact it makes a much greater weight than this. The average per cent, of water, in English flour, naturally, according to Johnson, is 15 per cent. But good Enghsh and French wheat bread, according to the same author, con- tains 44 per cent, of water ; i. e. twenty-eight pounds are absorbed in making. By this estimate, 280 lbs. would gain nearly seventy-four povnds, while the act of Parliament allows otAj forty poimds. It is understood that American wheat absorbs more water than English ; and that United States southern wheat, absorbs more than northern. It is also true that good wheat gains more in baking than poor wheat, and old flour, more than new. It is not good because it takes up water ; but good flour has that property, and poor has not ; and absorption is, therefore, an evidence oT quahty. This absorption of water is in part mechanical and in part chemical. The difference between these may be illus- trated ; a bushel measure of shelled com will admit a great quantity of water into its open spaces ; it stands between the kernels. When water is thrown upon lime, it does not ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMESTG. .45 exist between the pirtioles, but combines with them. Flour absorbs water ia both ways. Absorption, mechanically, depends upon the coarseness of flour, either from the character of its growth, or from the manner of its grinding. The want of light and heat, in unfavorable climates, or in bad seasons, induces sluggish and imperfect action. The juices are but partially digested and assimilated. Many vegetable constituents exist, in conse- quence, in smaller quantities, or in a crude state. In such cases the texture is porous and spongy. Grinding breaks down the organized form without altering the essential nature of the texture. It would seem, if this be true, that grain, ripened under unfavorable influences would absorb less rather than more water, since the watery particles, from the want of rapid digestion and excretion, remain in the grain. But after grain is cut, and put to dry, a literal evaporation takes place ; the water is, in a measure, exhaled. We are not to suppose that a mechanical absorption pre- dominates. By far the greatest proportion of water is sup- posed to combine with the ingredients of the flour — starch, gluten, etc., — chemically. And as flour is rich in starch and gluten, it will have the power of taking water into com- bination. It has been supposed that the absorbing power of flour depended mainly upon its gluten. But Johnson holds the position in doubt. Whereas, Webster (of Eng- land) states that it is with the starch, principally, that water combines. The per cent, of starch, sugar, and gluten, etc., in wheat, depends on the soil and climate ; — on the soil, because it must derive from it, originally, the elements of its existence ; on climate, because these elements require a certain temperature and quantity of Ught for their perfect elaboration. It is on this account, that the wheat of southern Europe is better than that of England ; that that of Egypt is superior to the Italian. In each case there is a superioiity of climate which- produces the most perfect ela- boration of all the elements of wheat. 46 PLAIN AST) TLBASANT TALK PORTRAIT OF AN ANTI-BOOK-FARMER. Whenever our anti-book-farmers can show us better crops at a less expense, better flocks, and better farms, and better owners on tbem, than book-farmers can, we shall become converts to their doctrines. But, as yet, we cannot see how intelligence in a farmer, should injure his crops. Nor what difference it makes whether a farmer gets his ideas from a sheet of paper, or from a neighbor's mouth, or from his own experience, so that he only gets good, practi- cal, sound ideas. A farmer never objects to receive politi- cal information from newspapers ; he is quite willing to learn the state of markets from newspapers, and as willing to gain religious notions from reading, and historical know- ledge, and all sorts of information except that which relates to his business. He will go over and hear a neighbor tell how he prepares his wheat-lands, how he selects and puts in his seed, how he deals with his grounds in spring, in har- vest and after harvest-time; but if that neighbor should write it all down careftdly and put it into paper, it's all poison ! it's book-farming I " Strange such a, difference there should be 'Twixt tweedledum, and tweedledee." If I raise a head of lettuce surpassing aU that has been seen hereabouts, every good farmer that loves a salad would send for a httle seed, and ask, as he took it, " How do you contrive to raise such monstrous heads ? you must have some secret about it." But if my way were written down and printed, he would not touch it. " Poh, it's bookish I" Now let us inquire in what States land is the best man- aged, yields the most with the least cost, where are the best sheep, the best cattle, the best hogs, the best wheat ? It win be foimd to be in those States having the most agri- cultural societies and the most widely-disseminated agricul- tural papers. ABOUT PEXnTS, FL0WBE8 AJSID PAIIMING. 47 What is there in agriculture tliat requires a man to be ignorant if he •will be skillfiil ? Or why may every other class of men learn by readiag except the farmer ? Mecha- nics have their journals ; commercial men have their papers; religious men, theirs; politicians, theirs; there are magazines and journals for the arts, for science, for educa- tion, and why not for that grand pursuit on which aM these stand? "We really could never understand why farmers should not wish to have their vocation on a lev^el with others ; why they should feel proud to have no paper, while every other pursuit is fond of having one. Those who are prejudiced against, book-farming are either good farmers, misioformed of the design of agricul- tural papers, or poor farmers •who only treat this subject as they do all others, with blundering ignorance. First, the good farmers ; there are in every county many industrious, hard-working men, who know that they cannot afford to risk anything upon wild experiments. They have a growing family to support, taxes to pay, lands perhaps on which purchase money is due, or they are straining every nerve to make their crops build a barn, that the barn may hold their crops. They suppose an agricultural paper to be stuffed fuU of wild fancies, expensive experiments, big stories made up by men who know of no farming except parlor-farming. They would, doubtless, be surprised to learn that ninety- nine parts in a hundred of the contents of agricultural papers are written by hard-working practical farmers! that the editor's business is not to foist absurd stories upon credulous readers, but to sift stories, to scrutinize accounts, to obtain whatever has been abundantly proved to be feet, and to reject all that is suspected to be mere fanciftil theory. Such papers are designed to prevent imposition; to kiU off pretenders by exposing them ; to search out from practical men whatever they have found out, and to publish it for the beneJSt of their brethren all over the Union; to spread before the laboring classes such sound, well-approved scien- 43 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK tific knowledge as shall throw light upon every operation of the farm, the orchard and the garden. The other class who rail at book-farming ought to be excused, for they do not treat book-farming any worse than they do their own farming ; indeed, not half so bad. They rate the paper with their. tongue ; but cruelly abuse their ground, for twelve months in the year with both hands. I will draw the portrait of a genuine anti-book-farmer d{ this last Bort. He plows three inches deep lest he should turn up the poison that, in his estimation, lies below ; his wheat-land is plowed so as to keep as much water on it as possible ; he BOWS two bushels to the acre and reaps ten, so that it takes a fifth of his crop to seed Ms ground; his corn-land has never any help from him, but bears just what it pleases, which is from thirty to thirty-five bushels by measurement, though he brags that it is fifty or sixty. His hogs, if not remarkable for fattening qualities, would beat old Eclipse at a quarter-race ; and were the man not prejudiced against deep plowing, his hogs would work his grounds better with their prodigious snouts than he does with his jack-knife- plow. His meadow-lands yield him from three-quarters of a ton to a whole ton of hay, which is regularly spoiled in curing, regularly left out for a month, very irregularly stacked up, and left for the cattle to puU out at their pleas- ure, and half-eat and half-trample underfoot. His horses would excite the avarice of an anatomist in search of osteo- logical specimens, aiid returning from their range of pasture they are walking herbariums, bearing specimens in their mane and tail of every weed that bears a bur or cockle. But oh, the cows ! If held up in a bright day to the sun, don't you think they would be semi-transparent? But he tells us that good milkers are always poor I His cows get what Providence sends them, and very little beside, except in winter, then they have_ a half-peck of corn on ears a foot long thrown to them, and they afford lively spectacles of ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEES AND PAEMING. 49 animated corn and cob-c»uBliers — ^never mind, they yield, on an average, three quarts of milk a-day I and that milk yields varieties of butter quite astonishing. His farm' never grows any better, in many respects it gets annually worse. After ten years' work on a good soil, while his neighbors have grown rich, he is just where he started, only his house is dirtier, his fences more tottering, his soil poorer, his pride and his ignorance greater. And when, at last, he sells out to a Pennsylvanian that reads the Farmers' Cabinet, or to some New Yorker with his Cultivator packed up carefully as if it were gold, or to a Yankee with his New England Farmer, he goes off to Missouii, thanking Heaven that Ae's not a book-farmer ! Unquestionably, there are two sides to this question, and both of them extremes, and therefore both of them deficient in science and in common sense. If men were made accord- ing to our notions, there should not be a BiUy one aUve ; but it is otherwise ordei;ed, and there is no department of human lif^ in which we do not find weak and foolish men. This is true of farming as much as of any other calling. But no one dreams of setting down the vocation of agri- culture because, like every other, it has its proportion of stupid men. Why then should agricultural writers, as a cl^ss, be sum- marily rejected because some of them are visionary? Are we not to be allowed our share of fools as well as every other department of life ? We insist on our rights. A book or a paper never proposes to take the place of a farmer's judgment. Not to read at aU is bad enough ; but to read, and swallow everything without reflection, or dis- crimination, this is even worse. Such a one is not a book- headed but a block-headed farmer. Papers are designed to assist. Those who read them must select, modify, and act accordmg to their own native^ judgment. So used, papers answer a double purpose ; they convey a great amount of valuable practical information, and then they stir 3 50 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK up the reader to habits of thought ; they make him more inquisitive, more observiag, more reasoning, and, therefore, more reasonable. ISTow, as to the contents of agricultural papers, whose fault is it if they are not practioal? Who are the prac- tical men ? who are daily conversant with just the things a cultivator most needs to know? who is stumbling upon difficulties, or discovering some escape from them ? who is it that knows so much about gardens, orchards, farms, cattle, grains and grasses ? Why, the very men who wonH write a word for the paper that they read^ and then com- plain that there is nothing practical in it. Yes there is. There is practical evidence that men are more willing to be helped than to help others ; and also that men sometimes blame' others for things of which they theraselvea» are chiefly blameworthy. GOOD BREEDS OF COWS. Theee is hardly one thing which conduces more to the comfort of a family than a good cow. A family well sup- plied* with rich milk twice a day cannot have poor fare ; for, besides the use of pure milk by itself, there is no article, except flour, which enters into so many forms of cooking. Next in importance to the family, are the relations of the cow to the dairy ; we say next to the family, for it is more important that there should be good cows for private fami- lies than that dairies should have them. All the dairy herds might be destroyed, and if each family has its cow, the loss would be. bearable. But take from families their one cow, and all the dairies in the land could not compen- sate. The question of a good breed of nulch cows is important, then, to the whole community ; to the dairymen of course ; ABOUT FETTITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMTNG. , 51 but yet more to the families of laborers, mechanics, mer- chants, etc. Everybody knows that it costs no more to keep a good cow than a poor one. But what is the use in talking so when good ones are not to be had ? or to be had only at a price which not one in fifty can afford ? But so far as we are concerned, and so far as ninety-nine in a hundred are con- cerned, of what use are these accounts except to make us dissatisfied with our poor old cow without enabling us to get a better ? It was all right to publish them, but the sight of such facts reminded us of the low estate of our milk cows, and of the woeful carelessness- of farmers about im- proArimg their stoek. It is high time that farmers should endeavor to pro- cure a good milk breed. It is well known that horses and oxen are almost bred to order ; if a fore shoulder is too slight, a breeder crosses so that in the next generation it comes out right ; if the animal is too small he is enlarged ; if too large he is condensed ; if the back is too long, the leg too heavy, the muscle too spare, the head heavily or clumsily put on, the breeder has skill, in a great measure, to remedy the evUs. Why then should it not be thought both possible and worth while to breed for good milking properties ? ' The least trouble, not the best stock, seems to be the question with most. The discouragement of debt, the low prices of aU farm products, the habits of"arrant carelessness which naturally belong to large farms, of rich lands, re- moved from a ready market, and on which there is more than enough for home use, and much waste of the surplus because a poor sale for it ; these things are the causes why but little attention is paid to good stock. To be sure, in speculating times, large prices have been paid for animals of repute. And now, if fancy prices could be reaHzed, there are thousands who would beg, borrow, or steal enough to rush madly into the raising of unproved breeds. Even 52 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK fi'om such extravagance much collateral advantage restilts. Many, doubtless, are disappointed,, as they expected angelic cattle, and got nothing but flesh and blood ; those who are the most furious in one extreme, revolt to the other, and are as careless and neglectful this year, asthey were cattle- mad the last year. But, some good, notwithstanding, re- mains. Good breeds have been brought in. Good blood will run longer in g6od stock, than perseverance, often, will in their owners. Here and there a man holds on. His stock improves. His neighbor's herds are gradually lea;vened. By and by particular counties grow famous for their fine stock. The farmers feel some pride in it; and now the thing begins to work rightly. When once the best stock, of any kind, is a matter of hearty personal pride with the farmer, over and above the mere price of theis in market, then there will be constant and solid improve- ment. These remarks, applying to stock generally, are peculiarly applicable to the subject of milch cows with which we set out. Dahlias. — ^It is necessary to give your plants a strong support, for, in good seasons, they grow so thriftily, that rains and winds break down the branches even when the main stalk is strongly staked. Those who are willing to be at the trouble, should put three stakes so as to leave the stem in the middle. Take a pliant withe, or small hoop, and encircle the stakes at the top, the middle, and also about a foot from the ground. In this way the branches will lean on the hoops, and not be liable to split off; a few weeks' growth will cover and conceal the stakes and hoops, leav- mg to the eye only a mass of foliage, apparently, self-sus- tained. ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND VAIOHSQ. 53 CUTTING AND CURING GRASS. The question when grass ought to be cut, it seems to us, is to he answered by the purposes to which we mean to put it. Do we wish it for the seed, or for the stem ? Are we anxious to obtain the greatest weight from an acre ? or are we desirous of gaining the largest amount with the least exhaustion of the soil ? 1. If one, regardless of soil, wishes the greatest weight to an acre, let the grass ripen. It will have become per- fectly developed ; its juices will have perfected the solid matter, and less loss will ensue in curing. But the stem will be comparatively hard, and without nutriment. 2. Do we desire, without particular regard to economy, the most nntricious food for animals ? The grass should ripen and only the upper part of the stem and the head should be fed out ; for, while the buts will be hard and juiceless, the grain and husk and neighboring parts will have received, in a concentrated form, the height of the plant's juices. Chemistry has recently shown that plants prepare in themselves, the fatty matter which is afterward laid on the bones of the cattle. This fatty substance Ues not in the grain, but the husk. Johnston, the agricultural chemist, says : " This fact of the existeiice of more fat in the husk than in the ianer~part of the grain, explains what often seems inexplicable to the practical man, why bran, namely, which appears to contain little or no nourishing substance, should yet fatten pigs and other full grown animals when fed to them in sufficient quantity, along with their other food." If, for example, a horse is to be trained, it has long been the practice (though hitherto the reason was not understood) to give \the racers, the huntei-, etc., only the top joint and head of hay. Now the principle on which a trained horse is fed, is to give the most solid nourishment in the most compact form — 54 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK throwing as little unnutricious food as possible into the stomach consistently with a proper distension of it. This feet also explains the value of old hay which has been well oui-ed and well kept. It is known that freshly -gathered nuts are not so oUy as those which are old. AH seeds perfect their oil after being thoroughly ripened by keeping. The seed of old hay wiU be richer in fatty matter, then, than new. 3. The most palatable hay for cattle is that which is cut before it ripens its seed. If the farmer has enough grain to feed with, he can afford to cut his grass early. Its want of nutiiment will be made up by feeding grain, and his stock will relish their food better than if it had grown hard with age before cutting. , 4. But for general pwposes, grass should be cut when just out of flower.. This is a compromise between the two extremes. It combines the two advantages of juicine8s''of stem and richness of grain more nearly than any other. The stem will be cut whUe yet in juice, and the seed wUl continue to fill and ripen after it has been cut. This is well known in respect to wheat, and the best farmers cut it before it is dead ripe. The want of barns to store it, the want of markets in which to sell it, the want of profit in raisiog it, and lastly, the want of thrift ia making it, has caused thousands of tons of hay to be most wretchedly put up — curing as it is sarcastically called ; cured, probably, on the principle of the following story : A physician in England went out with the gamekeeper to hunt ; covey after covey was started, into which the doctor fired with a strange want of pro- fessional skill, without killing anything. The gamekeeper at length lost patience, and snatching the gun, said : " Let me take it, I'U doctor them." " What do you mean, sir, by doctoring them ?'? " Why, kill them, to be sure." Thus, we think, grass is too often doctored. ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWBES AND PAEMING. 55 COUNTRY AND CITY. A woETHT friend recently said to me: "A gentlemen of observation from one of our principal cities of the West, stated to- me,' that in point of fact, almost all the leading men of the cities were from the country, and had been raised farmers' sons. The reasons seemed to me quite obvious. The vigorous health, patient industry, thorough economy, and hard thinking necessary to success, are the product of the country and but seldom of the town or city. A large part of the best merit and talent of the country doubtless remains upon' and adorns our farms. Another portion is drawn by a spirit for enterprise of a different kind to our towns. When they enter they find an active competition that brings out their best efforts.. Success on their part takes away the necessity of effort on the part of their children ; and the next result is, that their children become reduced in means and merit, and every element of success, and are driven to some refuge in vice or petty em- ployment. It is therefore the duty of the man who has been successful in town, to retire to the country again that his children, who are to succeed him, may partake, as far as possible, of his advantages!" The facts stated we believe are undoubted ; the business men — merchants, lawyers, physicians, and clergymen of large cities are, to a large degree, drawn from the country. And there is a system of cirGulation, if the facts could be well made out, worth attention. In travelling, one day last year, the rain drove us into a country tavern, where a fat man of some fifty years of age' was waiting to entertain us with a dish of philosophy (of which, considering our accom- modations, we had special need). But we were led to notice one part of his remarks: "You see, sir, everything comes round in about four generations. First comes the enterprising and hard-working fellow who gets the money ; then his children begin to live in style ; but their parenta' 66 PLAIN AND PI,BASANT TALK example and stamina keep them pretty well np ; but their children begin to run down ; in their hands the property is wasted and they die poor ; and the fourth race begin in pov- erty, and work upward agaia." Now, if our fat and some- what dogmatical friend has reasoned aright, there is a de- generating and rejuvenatiag process going on ia society, having a period of about four or five years. We give the theory for what it may be worth. LIME UPON WHEAT. Lime is used either to prepare the seed for germination, or to prepare the soil for the better growth of the seed. This latter operation it does, either by adding itself as a new ingredient, or by acting chemically upon the ingre- dients already in the soil. When lime is applied to the seed (the seed being moist) the oxygen of the water, combining with carbon of the seed, forms carbonic acid ; which, having a powerful affin- ity for lime, unites with it, forming a carbonate of lime. The escape of a portion of its carbon constitutes the natu- - ral preparation of a seed for growth ; but why, chemists have not been able to explain. Air-slaked lime, is lime which has combined with carbonic acid existing in the atmosphere. XJnbumt limestone is a carbonate of lime ; air-slaked lime is the same, and they do not materially differ. Air-slaked lime, having no longer an affinity for carbonic acid, withdraws none from the grain to which it may be applied ; and in nothing helps the germi- nating process. Our readers will therefore see the rea- son why wheat does not sprout any quicker when it ia limed, than when it is not. Precisely the same thing is true of other substances applied to grains. Magnesia, existing naturally as a carbonate, like lime, has its carbonic ABOUT FETJITS, TLOWBES AND PABMING. 51 acid expelled by strong heat, and in that state applied to seeds, will assist the germination. If exposed to the air it atti-aots carbonic acid and becomes again a carbonate, and useless to seeds. , Where lime is employed upon the soil, it is either as a mere article of vegetable food, or, as a chemical agent, to change the condition of other ingredients of the soil. All good soils contain lime ; of ninety-four differei^ cultivated soils in Rhode Island, analyzed by Professor G. T. Jackson, eighty-nine contained lime. KufSn, in his essay on calcare- ous manures, says, after a large induction of fact, " that all soils natarally poor, are certainly destitute of calcareous earth." When there exists in the soil, already, enough lime for the wants of vegetation, the addition of more wiU pro- duce no effect upon the crop. New lands, and old land not run down, and naturally rich in lime, may require none. But lime is applied not alone as food directly offered to vegetation, but to act upon and change the soil itself. It neutralizes free acids which exist in the soil. This is done with quick-lime or air-slaked ; the first combining directly with the acid — ^the second by liberating its carbonic acid and then combining with the acid of the soil, leaving the carbonic acid to be food for plants. It is very well known by those accustomed to use peaty substances for manures, and meadow mud, that they will rather injure than benefit soils, until their acid has been neutralized. Lime decomposes vegetable fibre, and reduces tough lig- neous substances, to a consideration in which- they can be appropriated by plants. For this purpose quick-lime should be used and may be applied at the rate of fi:om twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. Lime enters into combination with sand or sUex, forming a substance different from either of them. Even strong clays will be found to contain much silex ; and lime, by com- bining with it, makes the soil friable or crumbling. 3* 58 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK CULTURE OF HOPS. We shall state such facts as are within our reach, Jmd leave each one to make his own calculations. The Hop Plant. — ^The hop belongs to the natural order, Urticese, or the nettle and hemp family. Its root is peren- nial ; its stem annual, twining to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet. They bear male and female flowers on different plants, and the female is the only one used for planting. Soil. — Rich, friable clay, and hearty loams, and vege- table molds are the best soils. A wet subsoUis fatal to their health. Any rich, light, dry (but not droughty) soil suits them. A large crop may be obtained from our rich allu- vions, or bottom lands ; but although uplands yield a 4ess crop, the quality is regarded as decidedly superior. A wet clay subsoil is not good. Planting. — Plants- are set out in rows six to eight feet apart and six to -eight feet from hill to lull in the row. Rooted plants, but more frequently cuttings from old plants are employed ; five or six being planted to the hill. Poles from fifteen to twenty feet in length are placed to each hiU. In England from three to six and even eight are placed to each hill. But three is about the average number. Haevest. — No crop is more variable than this ; the yield per acre ranging according to the season from 300 to 2,000 lbs. On rich bottom lands 2,000 lbs. may be not unfre- quently raised ; but on an average, from 700 to 1,000 lbs. may be reckoned. The plants bloom in July and are ready for harvest by the first of September. It is necessary to gather them promptly, as they soon deteriorate if allowed to remain after they are ripe. As soon as gathered they are kiln- dried, then placed from ten days to two weeks to cool, and, finally, they are baled for market. Geneeal Considebations. — ^A plantation wiU last in full ABOUT PBUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 59 vigor for ten years, and then will decline, but gradually, for ten more, when it is to be broken up. Fifteen years, per- haps, is the average duratibn of the hop plantations. They exhaust the soU, withdrawing much and returning little to it. Hops vary exceedingly in price in different years, not only on account of the varying supply arising from the uncertainty of yield, but from the quality of the article in different years. The average price in the United States is not far from sixteen cents per pound. Sometimes they rise to thirty, forty, and even fifty cents per pound. From the moment of sprouting, in the spring, imtU the hop is ready for the kiln, they are liable to disaster from insects or disease. Nowhere has more experience been had in their cultivation than in England. Brown says, " they are" exposed to more diseases , than any other plant with which we are acquainted, and the trade offei-s greater room for speculation than any other exercised within the British dominions." Parkinson, with a quaint play upon the word hop, says, " the hop is said to be a plant very properly named, as there is never any certainty in cultivating it." If the crop is to be plapted largely, it would seem plain, from the foregoing, that one should have capital enough to be able to bear some losses, at least, at first. For ordinary cultivators, if the experiment is to be made, it would be better to begin with a small plantation at first, embarking more largely as knowledge and skill increase, and as experience determines its profitableness. Geapb Vines should be trimmed before the sap begins to rise, else, they will bleed, to their great injury. If it be neglected till the sap is in motion, let the cultivator wait till the leaves are about the size of a dollar ; then cutting may be performed without iiyury. 60 PLAIN AMD PtBASAUT TALK WHITE CLOVER. We are inclined to suppose that the excellences of white clover have not heen enough esteemed among our farmers; indeed, they have adopted a, few grasses as special favorites upon whom all favors are lavished, and the rest are totally or very nearly rejected. In regions where dairies abound, and where, therefore, the subject of pasturage is of vital interest, those grasses are sown which spring early in the year and continue late ; which grow quickly, abundantly, and shoot again rapidly after being cropped ; which are nutritious ; which tend to produce milk, and impart to it high flavor. If any one grass possessed aU these properties, i^ would be perfect; and, for pastures, all others might be rejected. As i15 is, several grasses must conspire to form a sward possessed of these diverse excellences. In this joint result white clover bears no mean place. It is, on congenial soils, of vigorous growth, . eminently conducive to the production of milk, and' milk of fine flavor. These are its peculiar virtues- Besides these, it possesses in common with other pasture plants, hardiness, tenacity of life, nutritiousness for beef- cattle. Thaer, the most eminent practical, and scientific cultivator of his day, says : " It is certainly the most gene- rally approved of all plants that are cultivated for this (pasture) purpose." Sinclair, whose authority in grasses will not be disputed, says : " nor does it form a good pas- ture when sown by itself. . . but, combined with other grasses, it is a valuable plant." Great quantities of seed are annually sown in England by the best farmers. Fessen- den, of New England, says, ',' it does not contain as much nutritive matter as red clover ; yet its value as a pasture- grass is universally admitted." This is the experience of Germany, England, and New England. Has experience determined that these good qualities are suppressed in western pastures? Or is there such a prejudice against it ABOUT TEUITS, FLOWBES AITO IfAEMING. 61 on account of its prying, intrusive disposition in arable lands, that our farmers are unwilling to give it a chance ? PLOWING CORN. Mant farmers, because their fathers did so before them, plow their com lands very shallow before planting; but make up for it in deep plowing while dressing the corn- crop. Why is corn plowed at all ? 1. To DESTEOT Weeds. — ^In this climate if a plow is not kept lively in the early part of the season, weeds wiE com- pletely take the crop. The soil is like a table full of food. Every man who sits down to it makes it less. Every weed eats up a part of the soil, and takes away, needlessly, so much from the corn. But it is not merely the nutritive ingredients which are extracted — ^but what, on some soils, in some seasons, is even worse — ^weeds drink up the moist- ure. There are many soils which could afford to lose much mineral and vegetable substance without lessening the sup- ply for com ; but, in this climate, in ordinary seasons, no sou can afford to squander its moisture. But a corn crop is often put in to act as a cleanser of the sou when it has become foul. This end can only be answered by a rigid persecution and destruction of the weeds throughout the whole growing season. Some farmers, strangely enough, wUl deal thoroughly with their fields, but aUow the edges and fence rows to swarm with weeds that luxuriate and ripen seed which the winds scatter all over the field. This is as if a man should busy himself all day long, in driving hogs out of his field, but leave all the holes open where they broke in. The soU should be thoroughly worked. 2. To PKEVENT Detwess. — Nothing is wider of the truth^ than letting com alone in dry weather for fear of " firing " 62 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK. it. If the plow begins early, and is kept going, no di-oughl likely to occur ia our climate can do much injury; espe- cially if the ground has been broken up deep before plant- ing. ' Where the atmosphere is very dry, very hot and windy, the evaporation of moisture from the plant, and from the surface of the soil, is excessive. A hill of com will exhale many pounds of moisture in a day. There is no remedy for excessive exhalation from plants; but this renders it yet more necessary that a supply should be kept up at the roots. If the soil therefore, is permitted to evaporate from its surface, the double draught upon its moisture — ^through the plant, and from the surface — ^wUl soon exhaust its water. Everybody knows that if a board or cloth be put upon the ground, in dry weather, the earth under it will remain moist — ^its aqueons particles being checked in their pass- age upward. If a shovelful of fine manure be laid in a heap upon a spot of ground, the same efiect wUl be pro- duced. Gardeners are accustomed to cover the earth about shrubs with an inch or two of fine sand ; experience teach- ing them that it preserves the moisture of the soU. Now, if the soU, instead of being covered with sand, or light manure, be itself pulverized, the same effect wiU be pro- duced — and for reasons which will appear. When the soil is compact the moisture ascends from particle to particle without obstruction. Every crevice which separates the particles of earth, checks the passage of the moisture. This may be more readUy seen in an analogous case — ^the transmission of heat. Take two -naU-rods, lay the end of one in the fire ; divide the other into inch" pieces and lay them in a row from the fire, each piece touching the other. The transmission of heat in the rod made up of pieces will be checked at each point of division, while the uncut rod will heat rapidly. On this principle, an iron chain two feet long, with one end thrust into fire, will not transmit heat ABOUT PKUITS, FLOWEES AND PAEMING. 63 through its length near so soon as a solid bar of the same length. If this reasoning be true, and experience bears it out, the plow should be kept running in dry times to save a crop from drought. But if the fanner has neglected his corn, waiting for rain, and begins to plow after his ground is vei?y diy, and plows deep, ' breaking the roots of his corn, the crop will be " fired ;" for, in this case, besides the evaporation from the leaves and the dryness of the soil, he commences breaking the roots by which the crop drinks what little water there may be left for it. Of course it despairs when it is attacked on one side by the heat, and on the other by the foolish farmer, and underneath by a treacherously dry soil. Begin, then, early, and plow often, and you may defy dry summers and cram your crib with hearty crops of corn. Beeakistg the Roots. — Many farmers study to break the roots of their corn. We have heard them boast of ripping them up with a big plow tUl they clogged it up like bundles of yarn. It is done by some because others do it ; thpse who attempt to reason, say, that if a root be broken it immediately puts out many more from the point of break- age ; and the practice of root-pruning fruit-trees is cited, to show that the fruitfulness of a plant is increased by reducing the root and checking the growth of the wood. It is not true that the fruitfulness of a tree is increased by root-pruning, but, it is made to yield its fruit earlier. It is a device to bring trees rapidly into bearing. A pear-tree (grafted) requires from five to eight years before it is matured enough to commence bearing. By mutilation of root, bending of branches, or by a poor gravelly -soil, the tree is partially forbidden to grow, and obliged to ripen its wood and fit it for fruit-bearing. But had it grown to its natural size, it would then have borne even more fi-uit than when dwarfed. No such practice is required upon annual plants, whose 64 PLAIN AND PLBASANT TALK ripening is not delayed through years, but which come up and ripen and die within the hmits of a single season. They need no artificial treatment to accelerate the fruiting, because it ordinarily makes no difference whether the corn crop comes iq September or October, It is better to select varieties of com which ripen within the limits of the season natural to the region where it is planted. Then there will be no occasion to break roots, or to a,pply any other arti- ficial and violent process to accelerate maturation. CLEAN OUT YOUR CELLARS. I SPEAK to those who have cellars. If not already done, thoroughly purge this subterranean story of your house. Every decayed onion, cabbage stump, potato vine or tuber, turnip, parsnip, carrot, and aU the dirt they have made, all straw and rubbish, rake them up and out with them. The cellar is no place for them at any time of year*. If you still retain a few potatoes for table use, let them be picked over and all decayed ones removed. One of the best housewives of our acquaintance, greeted us not long since, with an invi- tation to come and see her cellar : " I have swept down every cobweb, whitewashed the walls, swept up the floor, and sowed it with salt." Decayed vegetable matter is a fei-tUe cause of disease, and there is enough of it out of doors, in this country, without heaping it up in the cellar for the special purpose, it would almost seem, of breeding fevers. Whitewash the walls, for lime purifies as well as beautifies. Rake down -the cobwebs, they are the infallible marks of a slattern. Ev6ry spider that iS allowed to peer out of his corner in a house, up-stairs or down, undisturbed, points his long black leg in thanksgiving at the house- wife, " Hurra for folks that are not too particular." Old ABOnr FEUITS, FLOWBES AND FAEMING, 65 legends represent witches as addicted to riding brooms. I wisli that many women would get bewitched enough to do this, something more than they do. Down cellar, then, with your broom. Look now ; the window is perfectly covered ; there is a great sprawling gaunt spider in the comer and half a dozen empty bugs hung up like scalps to commemorate his triumphs ; next to him is a great over- swollen potbellied fellow — ^for all the world he looks like a huge glutton ; then there is a sharp, nimble, enterprising spider, below him, who has just opened an office and is keen for business, preparing to inherit, like many other fellows, his neighbor's custom, who, having got rich frau- dulently, wiU soon burst ; there, too, are several pale and shadowy spiders, who look as if the cobwebs had kept them from the light until they had become quite sallow and emaciated ; then there are severalfcttle roimd, shining-black, pestilent fellows, whose legs are so long in proportion to their bodies, that they make one think of a little potato vrith yard-long sprouts all over it. I say nothing of crab- spiders on the window-sDl, who, Uke metaphysicians, run backward just as easy as forwards. Just look, too, my dear madam, at the various patterns of their webs. Here is one from' point to point resembling a sheet-like shelf of dusty botton, and running like a tunnel, into a knot holfe, where stands the venomous old fellow waiting for flies, like a usu- rer •\ PLEASANT TALK. It is for the sake of being roused ; it is to be stimulated ; it is, in plain language, to have the first exhilarations of drunkenness that laboring men drink, will drink, and have always drank eider, beer, wine, and brandy. The result of affording wine in abundance to such people as ours, will be to prepare them for a stronger drink just as soon as wine, by frequent use, is no longer stimulating enough. Wine will play jackal to brandy for the rich, and to whisky for the poor. We have some facts on hand touching this popular wine-drinking, which, if necessary, w6 shaU employ at another time. Meanwhile, we are glad to see grape-cul- ture spreading for the production of table-grapes ; for the manufacture of wine, in so far as a supply of pure wine is needed for medicinal purposes. Further than that, we are opposed to wine-making. And as to cheating whisky out of its authority over " the dear people " by the blandish- ments of hock and champagne, or redeeming our barley and cornfields from the abominable persecutions Of the brew-tub and the stiU, by the conservative energy or evan- gelizations of grape juice, we shall believe it when we see it ; and we shall just as soon expect to see fire putting out fire and frost melting ice, as one degree of alcoholic stimu- lus curing a higher one. To PEESBEVE Gaedbn Sticks. — ^It is desirable when one has prepared good sticks for supporting carnations, roses, dahlias, etc., to preserve them from year to year. The following preparation will make them last a man's lifetime : When they are freshly made, allow them to become tho- roughly dry ; then soak them in linseed oil for some time, say two or three days. When taken out let them stand to dry till the oil is perfectly soaked ia ; then paint with two coats of verdigris paint. No wet can then penetrate. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWKES AND PAEMINQ. 83 CARE OF ANIMALS IN WINTER. The wisest man has said that " the righteous man regard- eth the life of his beast ; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." If any one is at a loss to know the meaning of the latter part, he cannot have made good use of his eyes. Lean cattle, leaner horses, anatomical speci- mens of cows, half fed, dirty, drenched by every rain, and pierced by every winter wind, these are an excellent com- ment on the passa'ge. It is time for every merciful man to make provision for every dumb animal which is dependent upon him. Cows should be provided with a comfortable stable at night. No feeding will be a substitute for good shelter, JBoth the quantity and quality of the milk will depend upon bodily comfort in respect to warmth and nutritious food. Such as are becoming heavy with calf should be specially cared for. Many farmers let their cow? shift for themselves as soon as their milk dries away. But the health of the coming calf and the ability of the cow to supply it, and her owner, copiously with milk depend on the condition in which she is kept during the period of gestation. CattU should have a good shed provided for them„ under which they may be dry and sheltered from winds. It is the curse of western farming that cattle and fodder are so plenty that it is hardly a loss to waste both. Where the amount of stock is too great for comfortable home-quarters, and they are wintered in a stock field, there should be places of resort for them, so high as to remain dry, well turfed with blue-grass, and sheltered wit) cheap sheds, or by belts of forest. Sheep should receive special attention. They abhor \ et. They should be permitted to keep their fleece dry, and t t eat their food in a dry 'stable. The flock should be sorted. The bucks and wethers by themselves, the ewes by them- selves ; lambs and weak sheep in another division ; and a 84 PLAIN ASD PLEASANT TALK fourth compartment should never be wanting for the sick, where they may he nursed and medically treated, Morse§ are more apt to be taken care of than cattle. But even they are often more indebted for existence to a stubborn tenacity of life, than to the care of their keepers. The horse is a more dainty feeder than ruminating animals. He should be supplied with a better article of hay; Ms gra,in should never be dirty or musty. Hardy farm-horses may even rough out the winter with- out blanketing or any other care than is necessary to sup- ply good food and enough of it. But carriage horses, and those highly prized for the saddle — aristocratic horses — should be more carefully groomed. It is not wise to blan- ket a horse at all, unless it can be aJ/voays done. K he is liable to change hands ; to be off on journeys under cir- cumstances in which he cannot be blanketed at night, it wiU be better not to begin it. Winter is a good time to kUl off spirited horses. They are easily run down by a smashing sleigh-ride pace. Boys and girls, buzzing jn a double sleigh like a hive of bees, think that the horses enjoy themselves, at the exhilarating pace of six or eight mUes an hour, as much as tkey do. But this is not ordinarily the worst of it. The horse stands out, after a trip of ten or fifteen miles, at a post for an hour or two until thoroughly chilled ; then home he races, and goes into the stable, steaming with sweat, to stand without blankets aU night. Horses catch cold as much as men do. And a horse-cold is 'just as bad as a human cold. As there has been some difficulty, in the construction of fanning miUs, to gain a strong enough current of wind, we would advise the builders of them to study the construction of a good stable. ABOUT PEDITS, PLOWEES A3ST) I"A3tMXNG. 85 WINTER NIGHTS FOR READING. As the winter is a season of comparative leisure, it is the time for farmers to study. It-is a good time for them to make themselves acquainted -with the nature of soils, of . manures, of vegetable organization — or structural botany. Farmers are liable to rely wholly upon their own experi- ence, and to despise science. Book-men are apt to rely on scientific theories, and nothing upon practice. If these two tendencies would only court and marry each other, what a hopeful family would they rear ! How nice it woujd look to see ia the papers : Maeeied. — ^By Philosophical Wisdom, Esq., Mr. Prac- tical Experience, to Miss Sober Science. [We will stand godfather to aU the children.] FEATHERS. The quality of leathers depends on their strength, elasti- city and cleanness ; and these, agaia, depend upon the condi- tion of the bird, its health, food, and the time of plucking its feathers. Down is the term applied to under-feathers — most abundant in water fowl, and in those especially which live in cold latitudes, being designed to protect them from wet and cold. The eider-down, from the eider-duck, is of the most repute. It is brought from extreme northern latitudes, and is used for coverings to beds, rather than for beds themselves, as, by being slept upon, it loses its elasti- city. Poultry feathers, as those of turkeys, ducks, and chick- ens, if assorted and the coarse ones rejected, afford very good beds ; but they are not so elastic as geese-feathers. 86 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Everybody knows that live -v geese-feathers are the best. Every one does not think of the reason; which, as it is the key to the art of having good feathers, we shall propound. So long as a bird is alive, the feathers are as much an object of nutrition as the flesh, the bones, or any other part of the body. When dead, put them into hot water to make the feathers come easy. In pulling, take out large handfuls at a time, so as to have scraps of meat and shreds of skin adhere to the quill; let them lie for several days in wet heaps to ferment a little. Then dry them suddenly by violent heat, cram them into the bed-tick, and jump on, and if you have not an odorous bed, and, in a month or two, a bedful of visitors seeking food, then there is no truth in the laws of nature. ' The ca/re of beds is not understood, often, by even good housewives. When a bed is freshly made it often smells strong. Constant airing, will, if the feathers are good, and only new, remove the scent. A bed in constant use should be invariably beaten and shaken up daily, to enable the feathers to retain their elasti-- city. It should lie after it is shaken up, for two or three hours a day, in a well ventilated room. The human body is con- stantly giving oflF a perspiration ; and at night more than usual, from the relaxed condition of the skin. The bed will become foul from this cause if not weU aired. If the bed is in a room which cannot be spared for such a length of time, it should be put out to air two ftdl days in the week. In airing beds, the , sun should never shine directly upon them. It is air, not heat, that they need. We have seen beds lying on a roof where the direct and reflected rays of the sun had ftiU power, and the feathers, without doubt, were stewing, and the oU in the quiU becoming rancid ; so ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAEMING. 81 that the bed smells worse after its roasting than before. Ahoays air beds in the shade, and, if possible, in cool and windy days. And now, if any of our attentive housewife- readers, and we have not a few, are disposed to reward us for all this^idvice, let them give us a bed to sleep on, when we next visit them, made of growing feathers, from live and healthy geese, carefully picked, well cured, daily shaken up and thoroughly aired ; and if we do not dream that the owner is an angel, it will be because we are too much occu- pied in sound sleeping. NAIL UP YOUR BUGS. "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by masters of assemblies." — Solomon. After a great pother about canker worms, peach-tree worms, and cither audacious robber-worms; after smoke, salt, tar, and tansy, bands of wool, cups of oil, lime, ashes, and surgery have been set forth as remedies, to the confu- sion of those who have tried them bootlessly, it now appears that we are about to nail the rascals. The Boston Cultiva- tor, contains an article " On Destroying Insects on Trees," from which we quote : " I did not intend to give it publicity until I had ftilly tested it, but as the ravages are very extensive in the West, I cannot delay giving you the experiment, hoping that some of your western readers may now give it a fair trial and report the result. I will give one case which may induce the experiment wherever the evil is felt. In conver- sation with a friend in Newburyport, Dr. Watson, last fall, I mentioned the experiment; he invited me to his garden, where last year a fruit-tree was infested with the 88 PLAIN XSD PLEASAMT TAIK nests of caterpillar or canker-worms, as were his neighbors' trees ; he showed me a board nailed for convenience of a clothes-line upon on& of the large limbs of the tree; he said he noticed a little while afterward that the nests on that limb dried up, and the worms disappeared, though the cause did not then occur to him though apparent as it will be to any scientific mind. " Drive carefully well home, so that the bark wiU heal over a, few headless cast iron, nails, say some six or eight, size and number according to the size of the tree, in a ring around its body, a foot or two above the ground. The oxidation of the iron by the sap, will evolve anunonia, which will, of course, with the rising sap, impregnate every part of the foliage, and prove to the delicate palate of the patient, a nostrum, which wiU. soon become, as in many cases of larger animals, the real panacea for ftie Uls of life, via Tomb. I think if the ladies should drive some small iron brads into some limbs of any plant infested with any insect, they would find it a good and safe remedy, and I imagine in any case, instead of injury, the ammonia will be found particularly invigorating. Let it be tried upon a limb of any tree, where there is a vigorous nest of cater- pillars, and watch it for a week or ten days, and I think the result will pay for the naUs." Let our farmers take their hammers and nails and start for the orchard ; if th^ see a bug on the tree, drive a nail, and he is a bug no more ! If they see a worm, in with a nail, and the "ammonia evolved" wiU finish his functions ! The Southern Planter is out vdth a backer to the Boston Oultivator : " A singular fact, and one worthy of being recorded, was mentioned to us a few days since by Mr. Alexander Duke, of Albemarle. He stated that whilst on a visit to a neigh- bor, his attention waa called to a large peach orchard, every tree in which had been totally desti'oyed by the ravages oi ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWBES AUD FARMING. 69 the ■worm, with the exception of three, and these three were probably the most thrifty and flourishing peach-trees he ever saw. The only cause of their superiority known to his host, was an experiment made in consequence of observing that those parts of worm-eaten timber into which nails had been driven, were generally sound ; when his trees were about a year old he had selected three of them and driven a tenpenny nail through the body, as near the ground as pos- sible ; whilst the balance of his orchard has gradually failed, and finally yielded entirely to the ravages of the worms, these three trees, selected at random, treated precisely in the same manner, with the exception of the nailing, had always been vigorous and healthy, fiimishing him at that very period with the greatest profusion of the most luscious fruit. It is supposed that the salts of iron afforded by the nail are offensive to the worm, whilst they are harm- less, or perhaps even beneficial to the tree." We do not wish to interrupt any experiments which the enterprising may choose to make. To be sure we regard the facts with some incredulity, and the chemical explana- tions with something of the mirthM superadded to unbelief. But if nails are an antidote to worms — a real vermifuge — let them be administered, whatever may be the explana^ tions; whether they are an electric battery, giving the insects a little domestic, vegetable lightning, or whether they afford "salts of iron" to physic them, or "evolve ammonia " in such potent, pungent strength that vermicular nostrils are unable to endure it ! While one is fairly engaged in a campaign of experi- ments, we heartily hope that war will be carried to the very territory of ignorance, and we will propound several other important questions of fact and theory, which, if settled, win crown somebody's brow with laurels. ^ It is said that hanging a scythe in a plum-tree, or an iron hoop, or horse shoes, will insure a crop of plums. This ought to be investigated. 90 PLAIN Airo PLEASANT TALK It is said that pear-trees that are unfi-uitful, may be made to bear, by digging, under them, cutting the tap root, and burying a black eat there. We do not know as it makes any difference as to the sex of the cat, though we should, if trying it, rather prefer the male cat. Lastly, that we may contribute our mite to the advance- ment of science, we will state that, in our youth, we were informed, that, if we would go into the wood-house once a day and rub our hands with a chip, without thinking of red /oaj's tail, the warts would all go off. "We have no doubt that it would have been successful, but every time we tried the experiment, whisk came the red fox's tail into our head •md spoilt the whole affair. But might this not cure warts on trees ? ASHtS AND THEIR USE. Some soils contaia already the chemical ingredients which wood ashes supply. If lime be applied to a calcareous soil, It win do no good; there was no want of lime there before; if potash be added to a soil ah-eady abounding in it, no effect will be seen ia the crops. Ashes contain Ume and potash (phosphate of lime and silioate of potash). If a soil is naturally rich in these, the addition of ashes would be useless. Such cases show the true benefits of a really scientific knowledge of soils and manures. Every plant that grows takes out of the soU certain qualities. Wheat, among other things, extracts largely of its potash; Indian com abstracts but little ; potatoes extract phosphate of mag- nesia, etc. A chemist would say, at once, apply that kind of manure which is rich in the peculiar property extracted by your wheat, corn, or potatoes 1 What manure is that' Here again science must help. It analyzes manures — gives the farmer the choice among them. The soil being known. ABOUT FEtnrS, FLOWERS AND PAEMING. 91 the properties required by different crops being known — the farmer applies that manure which contains what the soil lacks. Experiments have seemed to show, that, for purposes of tillage, leached ashes are just as good as the wnleached. So that housewives may have all the use of their ashes for soap, and then employ them in the garden. Leached ashes become better by being exposed for some time in the air, absorbing from the atmosphere fertilizing qualities (car- bonic acid ?) So valuable are ashes regarded in Europe, that they are frequently hauled by farmers from twenty miles' distance — and on Long Island they bring eight cents a bushel. The ashes of different kinds of wood are of very unequal value — ^that of the oak the least, and that of beech the most valuable. The latter wood constitutes two-thirds of the fire-wood of this region, and the ashes are therefore the very best. A coat of ashes may be laid, in the spring, over the whole garden and spaded in with the barnyard manure. They may be dug in about gooseberry and curi-ant bushes. They are excellent about the trunks of fruit-trees, spread- ing the old each year, and renewing the deposit. They may be thinly spread over the grass-plat in the dooryard, as -they will give vigor and deeper color and strength to the grass. We have usually added about one shovelful of ashes to every tmenty in making a compost for flowers, roses, shrubs, etc. Ashes are peculiarly good for all kinds of melon, squash, and cucumber viaes. This is well known to those who raise watermelons on burnt fields, on old charcoal pits, etc. We have seen statements of cucumbers being planted upon a peck of pure, leached ashes, in a hole in the ground, and thriving with great vigor. The ashes of vines show a great amount of potash ; and as wood ashes afford this s^b- ©2 FLAW AND PLKASANT TALK stance abundantly, its use would seem to be indicated by theory as well as confirmed by experiment. Lastly, whenever ground is liable to suffer severely from drought, we would advise a liberal use of ashes and salt. HARD TIMES. What are called hard times produce very different effects on different individuals. Some are made more industrious, and some more indolent ; some grow frugal and careful, others careless and desperate; some never appear so honest as when brought to the pinch, but many men seem honest until they are brought to the trial, and then give way. Hard times are gradually passing away. As a community, are we better or worse off than before ? A few particulars may help us to form some judgment. Fewer goods are bought at the store, and more are man- ufiictured at home ; spinning-wheels and looms have renewed their youth — and so have our mothers, who, after along disuse, may now be seen working as inerrilyat them, as they used to do when they spun and wove their wedding furnishings — although they have not now any such rosy hope to quicken their aged fingers. Men have been obliged to rely more upon their own ingenuity — ^for want of money to pay the carpenter, the blacksmith, the shoe- maker, etc. Old clothes, old tools have been made to serve an additional campaign. The leisure of dull times has been improved extensively in setting out orchards, and we hope this practice will be continued in busy times. No one has, during the pressure, suffered for food, raiment, or shelter. Indeed, it is supposed that not a pound less of sugar, tea. and coffee, has been used by the farmers than hitherto. Probably the quantity has increased. ABOUT FBUITS, TLOWEES AND PAKMXyG. 93 Debts have been gradually contracted or discharged. Men have seen the end of speculations to be sudden disaster — and (of all things on earth) speculation-farming has received its reward. Men contented with small gains — ^in- dustrious, frugal, and prudent men — ^have suffered almost nothing. Gypsum. — "Time and practice" have ascertained the droumstances under -which gypsum should be applied. As a reason why, after repeated applications, it no longer benefits, Prof. Liebig says, " when we increase the crop of hay in a meadow by means of gypsum, we remove a greater quantity of potash with the hay, than can, under ordinary circumstances, be restored. Hence it happens that, after the lapse of several years, the crops of grass on lands manured with gypawm, diminish, owing to the deficiency of potash." In such a case, if spent ashes were employed either ia connection or alternately with gypsum — ^potash would be resupplied from the ashes. ACCLIMATING A PLOW. The other day- we were riding past a large fe,rm, and were much gratified at a -device of the owner for the preser- vation of his tools. A good plow, apparently new in the spring, had been left in one comer of the field, standing in the fiirrow, just where, four months before, the boy had finished his stint. Probably the timber needed seasoning — it was certainly getting.it. Perhaps it was left out for acclimation. May-be the farmer left it there to save time in the hurry of the spring-work, in dragging it from the 94 PLAIN AJSro PLKASANT TALK shed. Perhaps he covered the share to keep it from the elements, and save it from rusting. Or, again, perhaps he is troubled with neighbors that borrow, and had left it where it would be convenient for theuj. He might, at least, have built a little shed over it. Can any one tell what a farmer leaves a plow out a whole season for ? It is barely possible that he was an Irishman, and had planted for a spring crop of plows. After we got to sleep that night, we dreamed a dream. We went into that man's bam ; boards were kicked oflf, partitions were half broken down, racks broken, floor a foot deep with manure, hay trampled under foot and wasted, grain squandered. The wagon had, not been hauled under the shed, though it was raining. The harness was scattered about— hames in one place, the breeching in anotjjier — ^the lines were used for halters. "We went to the house. A shed stood hard by, in which a family wagon was kept for wife and daughters to go to town in. The hens had appro- priated it as a roost, and however plain it was once, it was ornamented now, inside and out. (Here, by the way, let it be remembered that hen-dung is the best manure for melons, squashes, cucumbers, etc.) We peeped into the smoke- house, but of all the " fixings " that we ever saw 1 A Chinese Museum is nothing to it. Onions, soap-grease, squashes, hogs' bristles, soap, old iron, kettles, a broken spinning- wheel, a churn, a grindstone, bacon, hams, washing tubs, a barrel of salt, bones with the meat half cut off, scraps of leather, dirty bags, a chest of Indian meal, old boots, smoked sausages, the ashes and brands that remained since the last " smoke," stumps of brooms, half a barrel of rotten apples, together with rats, bacon bugs, earwigs, sowbugs, and other vermin which collect in damp dirt. We started for the house ; the window near the door had twelve lights, two of wood, two of hats, four of paper, one of a bunch of rags, one of a piUow, and the rest of glass. Under it stood several cooking pots, and several that were not for ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWBB8 AUD FAEMING. 95 cooking. As we were meditating whether to enter, such a squall arose from a quarrelling man and woman, that we awoke — and lo ! it was a dream. So that the man who left his plow out all the season, may live in the neatest house in the county, for aU that we know ; only, was it not strange that we should have dreamed all this from just seeing a plow left out in the furrow. SCOUR YOUR PLOWS BRIGHT! Faemees may be surprised to. know that their crops wiU depend a good deal on the color of the plows ! yet so it is. Bright plows are found to produce much better crops than any other. It may be electricity, or magic for aught we know ; we merely state the fact, leaving others to acooxint for it. But very much depends upon the manner of doing it, for merely scrubbing it by hand with emery or sand is not the thing — it must be scoured by the soil. It is/ found that the subsoil scours it better for wheat, than the top soil — ^for a plow kept bright by very deep plowing affords bet- ter wheat than a plow brightened by the surface of the soil. It is the same with com. In respect to this last crop, if you will keep your plow bright as a mirror until the com is in the milk, you wiU find that it will have a wonderM effect. We appeal to every good farmer if he ever knew a rusty plow to be accompanied with good crops ? Iron rust on a plow- share is poisonous to com. A young farmer of about twenty years of age said to us the other day : " If anybody wants me, he must come to my corn-field ; I live there — ^I am at it aU the time — ^I have harrowed my corn once, plowed five times, and gone over it with the hoe once." " Yeg," said his old father, who seemed, justly, quite proud of his son — " keep your plows 96 PLADSr AMD PLEASAUT TAT.K agoing if you want to fetch corn. I never let the ground settle on the top ; if it is beaten down by rain, or begins to look a kind of rusty on the surface, I pitch into it, and keep it as mealy as flour, The^feot is our farmers raise more com than they can tend, they can't go over the corn more than once or twice, and that'll never do, and I guess I'll show old Bffly R that it's so." Some ambitious farmers are pleased to " lay by" the com very early ; but it is not wise ; for the grass is always more forward to grow about this season than any other ; and the ground wiU become very foul where com is too early laid by, and, what is more to the purpose, a great deal of the nourishment of a crop is derived from the air and dew con- veyed to the roots. This can be done only when the snr&ce is kept thoroughly open. PLOW TILL \T IS DRY, AND PLOW TILL IT IS WET. Speaking of corn, a very intelligent gentleman remarked : " Well, by a five minutes' talk, I made Mr. produce the best crop he ever had on a certain field." He was look- ing over the fence where his com was, at a flat field, upon furrows full of water ; as I came by he said : " Well, I shall never get a crop off this piece of land ; it's going just as it always does when I plant here." I told him of an old man in Indiana, who was a good, farmer, to whom I once said when at his house one morning : "Deafenbaugh, how is it that you always have- good com when no one else gets a half crop ?" " Why," said he, " when it is wet I plow it tUl it is cky, and when it is dry Jpiow it till it is wet." The man to whom I told this anecdote, says our inform- ant, tried the practice, and gained a fine crop. ABOUT FEUITS, rLOWEES AND FARMING. 97 , Now the principle is good. Our Dutch friend would not, we suppose, plow a stiff clay in a wet condition, unless, pos- sibly, to strike a channel throijgh the middle between rows. But the gist of the story lies in this — cwistant cultivation. Stir, atir, stie the ground. STIRRING THE SOIL. Next to deep plowing we should urge the advantage of continually stirring the surface of the soil. It peoduces Cleanlini;ss. — ^Weeds in a growing crop are witnesses which no good farmer can afford to have testi- fying against him. When seed is sown broad-caist, weeding cannot be performed. In Europe, where labor is cheap and children plenty, acres of wheat and such-like crops are weeded by hand. Our only chance is to clear out every field, to be sown broad-east, by a thorough previous culture. In aU crops which are drilled, or planted in rows, the hoe, or plow, or cultivator, should be kept in lively use through the season. This practice should begin early, that weeds and grass may not get a start, for often, if they do, it is nearly impossible to keep them down, especially if the season is a wet ope. But there are yet some important reasons for constantly stirring the soil among growing crops. No matter how thoroughly the earth was pulverized when the seed was put in, one or two rains will, except in very sandy loam, beat it down compactly. This crust is injurious in prevent- ing the ingress of moisture. But that which is the most material of all is, that it excludes the air. It is well known that the air affords much nourishment to vegetation ; But, perhaps, it is not as well known, that it supplies it by the root as well as by the leaf. K any one wishes to try the 5 98 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK experiment, and -we have done it time and again, let two patches in' a garden be treated in all respects alike, except in this — let one be hoed or jraked every two or three days and the other not at all, or but once in the season. The resrlt will satisfy any man better than a paper argu- ment. Indeed, we have found it impossible (in a garden) to perfect some vegetables without constantly stirring the soil. While these advantages are gained, it is not to be for- gotten that, in dry seasons, a thorough pulverization of the sm-face, wiU prevent the evaporation of the moisture in the earth and prevent deleterious eflfects of the drought. SUBSOIL PLOWING. Onb of the great improvements of the age is the adoption in husbandry of the subsoil plow; or, as it is called in Eng- land, Deanstonizing system, from Mr. Smith, of Dean- stone, who first brought the implement into general notice. They are designed to foUow in the furrow of a common plow, and pulverize without bringing up the soil for eight or ten inches deeper. In ordinary soils two yoke of oxen wOl work it with ease, plowing from an acre to an acre and a quarter a day. The use of this plow will renovate old bottom-lands, the surface of which has been exhausted by shallow plowing and continual cropping. It brings up from, below fresh material, which the atmosphere speedily prepares for crops. Old fields, a long time in grass, are very much benefited. Constant plowing at about the same depth will often form a hard under-floor by the action of the plow, through which neither roots nor rain can well penetrate ; subsoiling wiU relieve a field thus conditioned. Soils lying upon clay or hard compact gravel are opened ABOlXr FRiriTS, PLOWBES AND FAEMING. flO and remarkably improved by the process. The wet, level, beech-lands ■would be gre'atly benefited by deep plowing in the faO, of the yea/r, subjecting the earth, to a consider- able depth, to the action of the frosts, rains', etc., and, giving a downward drain for superfluous moisture. Although we have incidentally alluded to the benefits of subsoiling, they deserve a separate and individual enume- ration. 1. In very deep molds or loams it brings up a supply of soil which has not been exhausted by the roots. 2. In soils whose fertility is dependent upon the constant decomposition of mineral substances, subsoil plowing is advantageous by briaging up the disintegrated particles of 'root, and exposing them to a more rapid change by con- tact with atmospheric agents. 3. Subsoiling guards both against too much and too little moisture in the soU. - If there is more water than the soil can absorb, it sinks through the-pulverized imder-soU. If summer droughts exhaust the moisture of the surface they cannot reach the subsoil, which aflEbrds abundant pasture to the roots. FIRE-BLIGHT AND WINTER KILLING. These are two entirely different processes. The Fire Slight (of the middle and western States), is a disease of the circulatory system, induced by a freezing of the sap while tJie tree is in a growing and excitable state. It always must occur before the leaves are shed in the autumn- Winter-klUing is of two kinds — resulting from severe cold, and from untimely heat. The loss of tender shrubs, roses, etc., at least, before they are fully established," and of half- hardy fruit-trees, is occasioned by the winter sun shining warmly upon them while frozeij, and suddenly thawing 100 PLAIN Airo PiEASANT TALK them. The point of death is usually near the surface of the ground, where the under-ground bark and upper bark come together. Whole orchards are destroyed in this way ; and, if examined, the bark may be found sprung off from the wood. This may occur at any time during the winter. We are in doubt whether the winter-stored sap exists in a state to be affected by the expansion of the freezing fluids of the tree. If the expansion of congelation did produce the effect, it should have been more general, for there are fluids ia every part of the trunk — aU congeal or expand — and the bursting of the trunk in one place would not relieve the contiguous portions. We should expect, Lf this were the cause, that the tree would explode, rather than split. Capt; Bach, when wintering near Great Slave Ciake, about 63° north latitude, experienced a cold of 70° below zero. Nor could any fire raise it in the house more than 12° above zero. Mathematical instrument cases, and boxes of seasoned fir, spht in pieces by the cold. Could it have been the sap in seasoned fir wood which split them by its expansion in congealing ? We quote a paragraph from Loudon — " The history of frosts fiirnishes very extraordinary facts. The trees are often scorched and burnt up, as with the most excessive heat, in consequence of the separation of the water from the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost in 1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, and other trees, were miserably split and cleft, so that they might be seen through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises like the explosion of fire-arms." We don't exactly know whether to take the first part as Loudon's explanation of the facts in the second. There can b,e no doubt that the nature of the summer's growth, very much determines the power of a tree to resist the severity of winter. When there is but an imperfect ripening in a cold and backward season, the tissues formed ABOUT VRTSIT8, FLOWEBS AND PAEMTSTG. 101 will be feeble, and the juices stored ia them thin. Now the power to resist cold, among other things, is in propor- tion to the viscidity of the fluids in a plant. It is highly desirable that the chemical researches which have revolutionized the art of cultivation, should be pushed into the morbid anatomy of vegetation. A close, exact analysis of aU the substances in an -injured condition, will save a vast deal of bootless ingenuity and fanciftil specu- lation. WINTER TALK. Do nOUNG PIGS IN WINTER. Theeb is both negligence, and mistake, in the way of win- tering pigs. I am not talking to those whose manner of keeping stock is, to let stock take care of themselves ; but to farmers who mean to be careful. Hogs should be sorted. The little ones will,- otherwise, be cheated at the trough, and overlaid and smothered in the sleeping-heap. There should not be too many in one inclosure ; especially young pigs should not sleep in crowds ; for, although they sleep warmer, they will suffer on that very account. Lying in piles, they get sweaty ; the skin is much more sensitive to the cold, and coming out in the morning reaking and smok- ing, the keen air pierces them. In this way, young pigs die off through the winter by being too warm at night. If you have the land-shark and alligator breed, however, you should crowd these together, for the more they die off the better for the farmer. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMTNG. 12] SWEET POTATOES. Although out practice has been more extensive, and is more skillful, in eating sweet potatoes than in raising them, we yet adventure some remarks : No root can live and grow without food from the leaf; if the tops be permitted to root, so much nutriment is subtracted from the tubers as is diverted to these new roots. Those who are best skilled in their cultivation, raise their vines up so as to detadi the roots, but do not twist them round the hill ; which, by crush- ing or covering the leaves, would render the vines unhealthy. As to vines of the OuourMtacce, their fruit not being under ground, it is not necessary that such an amount of pre- pared sap should go to the root as if tubers were formed. There is, in such vines, a great liabUity to disease and' injury near the hill. The vines shrink and dry near the base ; and however flourishing the running end may other- wise be^ it is destroyed. If roots are secured at several points along the vine, we remove the chances of its prema- turely dying, without withdrawing any sap necessary for the maturation of its fruit. MANAGEMENT OF BOTTOM-LANDS. Almost every kind of soil requires a management of its own. That proper for clays, and that proper for bottom- lands, cannot be interchanged. Bottom lands are usually composed largely of vegetable matter and sand ; and are therefore light, and easy to work ; yet, as they are now managed, they admit a less variety of crops than the tougher and more unmanageable clay lands. BoTTOM-LAHDS FOE CoKN. — Our com-lands, strictly so called, consist of rich intervales and river bottoms. On these com is raised year after year, without manuring, fal- 6 122 PLAIV AND PLEASANT TALK lowing, clovt;r, or any change ; but one constant, successive corn, corn, corn. It is supposed that corn may he had for an indefinite period, so fa'r as mere exhaustion of the soil is concerned, if the right course is pursued. Some of the best farmers in this region hog their com lands. Sagging, is turning the hogs in upon the ripe corn, and letting them harvest it ia their own way. The saving of labor of gath- ering the com and feeding it out is very great. Some sin- gle farmers fetten from one to five hundred head of hogs ; but if this number were fed by hand and the grain gath- ered for them it would require a force which would eat up the profits. When the fatting hogs have eaten off the field (temporary fences divide large fields into inclosures of con- venient size) they are turned into another, and the stock- hogs for another year, are let in to glean and root fer the waste and trampled com. In this way nothing is lost. This method takes very little off from the land; for the droppings of the hogs returns a great amount of food for the soil ; and the corn stalks being burned or turned under, the land continues ia good heart. Land being hogged will be free from cfat-worms ; for the continual rooting of the stock-hogs, which continues until the ground freezes, throws up the eggs or insect to be destroyed by the winter. This method of cultivation is peculiarly suited to large farms, where extensive tracts of ground are kept under the plow. But in the course of eight or ten years, this ;^rocess ren- ders the soil extremely light. The action of frost upon it, after the hogs have snout-plowed it, leaves it in the spring as light and dry as an ash-heap. The corn wiU still grow as well, but every high wind will throw it dovni; the soU has not tenacity enough to hold up its crop. Clovering has been resorted to by some good farmers as a remedy ; but' without pretending to know certainly, we suspect that clover wiU. not fuUy answer the object. Clover on hard soils, separates the particles and renders the ground ABOUT FEDITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 123 lighter, and adds vegetable matter to its composition. This is not what bottom land needs. It is too light, and rich enough in vegetable matter. We believe a better course wiU be found in putting hot- tom-lands to small grain. To be sure, there are difSculties in the way of this ; but good farming is nothing but a com- promise of difficulties. If the month of May be cold and backward, wheat will do well and yield freely. But if the spring is forward. May' warm and wet, the grain will run rank, break down when the head begins to fill, and, of course, the berry, however plump and well it might have looked in the milk, will, after it falls, for want of nourish- ment, light, and air, shrink and shrivel. But even in such springs, might not an over rankness be prevented by pastur- ing the grain ; or even mowing it, when, as it sometimes happens, it gets ahead of what cattle are put upon it. But, at the worst, the grain is not lost; for if it lodges, and is spoiled for the sickle, hogs may be turned upon it and they will thrive weU. B,ut now comes the advantage of small grain to the soil, which wiU be the same whether the crop is reaped or hogged. The straw or stubble, in either case, remains upon the ground. This should not be plowed in, but bii/rned, and the ashes plowed under. To do this a strip of eight feet should be plowed about the whole field ; and fire put to it, on every. side at once, so that it may burn to- wards the centre ; for fire, driven across a field, would leap many feet of open space at a fence. The more stubble the better, and the more weeds the better. The ashes wiU give to the SOU just what it lacks, cohesion or firmness, and moisture. For, to make a dry soil moist, requires some substance to be added, which, having an afiinity for mois- ture, shall attract and retain it. This is the nature of wood or straw ashes. A gentleman who wUl recognize in the above much of his own practical experience, mentioned to us a singular feet in corroboration of this reasoning. Hav- 124 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK ing a very heavy wheat or oat stubble on a bottom-land field, which made it very hard for the plow, he burned it over ; but a smart thunder-storm coming suddenly up, the fire was extinguished, leaving about five acres in the middle of the piece, unburned. The whole field was then plowed. It was found that the soil in the part burned over was more firm, and moist, all the ensuing summer ; and the com more even, and darker colored, than that upon the five acres which escaped the fire, and whose stubble had been plowed in. At all events, there can be no doubt that wood-ashes would be very advantageous to bottom lands. And we are persuaded that such soUs may be kept in wheat and com for any length of time, if thus managed. In conclusion, corn your bottom-lands till they are too light, hogging instead of harvesting them; then put in wheat or oats> leave the stubble long, bum it over, and put it into wheat again, or to com, as the case may be. CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. Thebe are two opinions which' will prevent any attempt to improve the cultivation of wheat, or, indeed, of anything else. ■ The first is the opinion that, what are called wheat- lands, yield enough at any rate : the second is the opinion of those who own a soil not naturally good for wheat, that there is no use in trying to raise much to the acre. "We suppose that wheat will not average more than twelve bush- els to the acre, as it is now cultivated in some parts. At that rate, and with too low prices, it is not worth cultiva- tion for commercial purposes. The cost of seed, of labor in preparing the soO, putting in the crop, harvesting, thresh- ing, and carrying it to market, is greater than the value of the crop. At fifty cents a bushel, and twelve bushels to the ABOUT PEtriTS, FLOWEB8 AND FAEMING. 125 aorej the farmer gets six dollars, which certainly doeS not cover the worth of his time and the interest on his land. Is it possible, then, at an expense within the means of ordinary fanners, to hring a double or treble crop of wheat ? If nature has set limits to the produce of this grain to the acre, and if our farmers have come up to that limit, there is no use in their trying to do any better. But if their crop is four fold behind what it ought to be, they will feel courage to reach out for a better mode of Cultivation. Vegetables collect food from the atmosphere, and from the soU ; and different plants select different articles of food from the soU, just as different birds, beasts, insects, etc., require different food. One class of plants draws potash largely from the soU, as turnips, potatoes, the stalk of corn, etc. Another class requires lime, in great measure, as tobacco, pea straw, etc. Liebig partially classifies plants according to the principal food which they require ; as silica plants, lime plants, potash plants, etc. Every plant being composed of certain chemical elements, requires for its perfection a soil containing those elements. Thus chemistry has shown, by exact analysis, that good meadow hay contains the following elements : SUioa (sand), lime (as a phosphate, a sulphate, and a carbonate, i. e. lime combined with phosphoric, sulphuric, and carbonic acids), potash (as a chloride, and a sulphate), magnesia, iron, and soda. Whatever soil is rich in these will be productive of The grain of wheat (in distinction from the straw) con- tains, and of course requires from the soU, sulphates of pot- ash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, etc. Any vegetable, in its proper latitude, will flourish in a soil which wUl yield it an abundance of food ; and decline in a soU which is barren of the proper nutritive ingredients. A practical, scientific knowledge of these fundamental facts, will give an intelligent farmer, in grain-growing lati- tudes, almost unlimited power over his crops. A good 126 PLAIN AKD PLBASAMT TALK cook knows what things are required for bread ; Jie selects these materials, compounds them to definite proportions — adding, if any one is deficient ; subtracting, if any one is m excess. Raising a crop is a species of slow cooking. Here is a compound of such materials (called wheat) to be made. Nature agrees to knead them together, and produce the grain, if the farmer will supply the materials. To do this he must understand what these materials are. Suppose a cook perceiving that the bread was wretched, did not know exactly what wa^the matter ; and should add, salt, or flour, or yeast, or water at hap-hazard ? Yet that is exactly what midtitudes of farmers do. They find that their fields yield a smaU crop of wheat. -They do not know what the matter is. Is the soil deficient in lime, or sand, or clay ? Is mag- nesia or potash lacking ? Perhaps the^ do not even know that these things are requisite to this crop. "The land must be manured." Now, manure on an impracticable soil, is medicine. Of course if the farmer prescribes, he must tell what medicine, i. e. what manure. Is it vegetable mat- ter or phosphates ? alumina or silica ? Suppose a doctor says : " Tou are sick and must take medicine," without knowing what the disease is, or what the appropriate remedy ; and so should pull out a handful of whatever there was in his saddle-bags and dose the wretch ? That's the way farming goes on. " The ten acre lot wants manure." To the' barn yard he goes, takes the dung heap, plows it under, and gets an enormous crop of — straw. Nitrogenous manure was not what the soil wanted. He has added materials which existed in abundance already; but those elements, from the want of which his crop suffered, have not been given it. The land is sicker than it was before. It languishes for want of one element, it suffers from a sur- feit of another. We are prepared to sustain these observa- tions by a reference to authentic facts. Massachusetts, a few years ago, was not a wheat-growing State. Cautious farmers had given up the crop, because ABOUT FEUTTS, FLOWEES AISTD FAEMLSTG. IS'? neither soil nor climate was supposed to favor it. How then have hoth soil and climate Leen persuaded to relent, and permit from twenty to forty bushels to grow to the acre? It was no accident, and no series of blind but lucky blunders, that effected the change. It was thinking that did it. It was a change wrought ty science. Elliot (in Con- necticut), Deane (both clergymen), Dexter, Lowell, Fes- senden, and many others, all men of science, were pioneers. Agricultural surveys, geological surveys, and skillful chemi- cal analyses of the soil and its products have been made for, now, a series of years. A Hitchcock, a Dana, a Jackson have applied science to agriculture. Pamphlets, books, and widely circulated newspapers have diffused this knowledge. Agricultural societies, state and county ; farmers' meetings for discussion, such as are held every winter in Boston, have awakened the mind of farmers, and by learning to treat their soils skillfully, good wfieat is raised in large quantities on soils naturally very averse to wheat. The average crop of wheat in great Britain is twenty-six bushels to the acre, but forty and fifty are common to good farmers ; sixty, seventy, and even eighty have been raised by great care. In the whole United States it will not average much more than fifteen. A comparison of the two countries will show a corresponding inferiority on our part in the application of science to agriculture. Scotland, formerly, hardly raised wheat. Since the formation of the Highland Agricultural Society in Scotland, wheat has averaged fifty-one bushels to the acre ! — JEllsworth's Report for 1844, p. 16. . Lord Hardwicke stated, in a speech before the Royal Agricultural Society of England, that fine Suffolk wheat had produced seventy-six bushels per acre; and another and improved variety had yielded eighty-two bushels per acre ! This was the result of " book farming " in a country where anti-book farmers raise twetlty-six bushels to the acre. 128 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Those very operations which farmers call ^practical, and upon -which they rely in decrying "book farming" were first made known by science, and through the writings of scientific men. These views have an immediate and practical bearing on the cultivation of wheat in the Western States. Hitherto the want of enough cleared land has led farm- ers to put in wheat among the com, and halj' put if in at that. Others have plowed their fallows, or their grass lands, so early in the season, that rains and settling have made it hard again by seed-time. Then, without stirring it, the grain has been thrown (away) upon it, and half har- rowed in and left to its fate. Equally bad has been the system of late single plowing. Others have given their grain no soil to bed their roots in'; a scra,tohed surface receives the grain ; its roots, like the steward, cannot dig, and so get no hold ; and are either winter killed, or subsist upon the scanty food of ^he three or four inches of top soU. With some single exceptions, wheat cannot be said to have been cultivated! yet. The two great operations in render- ing soil productive of wheat, are either the development of the materials already in the soil/ or, the addition to the soil of properties which are wanting. Much land yielding only twelve- or fifteen bushels, by a better preparation would, just as easily, yield thirty. Let us suppose that a common plo-wing of four or five inches, . precedes sowing. Out of this superficial soil the- wheat is to draw its food. Constant cropping has, perhaps, already diminished its abundance. Then wheat is rattk in stem, short in the head, and light in the kernel. But below there is a bed of materials untouched. The subsoil, if brought up, exposed to the am.eliorating influence of the ele- ments, -will furnish in great abundance the elements required. The simple operation of deep and thorough plo-wing will, often, be enough to increase the crop one-half. Deep plowing gives S. place for the roots, which will not be ABOUT PEUITS, PLOWEES AND PAEMDiTG. 129 apt to heave out in winter ; it saves the wheat from drought, it -gives the nourishment of twice the quantity of soil to the crop. Five acres may ,Tbecome ten by enlarging the soil down- ward. These remarks are desultory ; and, while we intend to continue writing on the subject, we say to such as may be getting ready for the wheat-sowing, plow deeply and thoroughly ; unlike corn, wheat can only be plowed once, and that at the beginning. It should be thoroughly done, then, once for all. Wheat lands ought to be so farmed as to grow better from year to year ; certainly, they ought to hold their own. Lands may be kept in heart by the adoption of a rotation suited to each particular soil ; or, if frequent wheat crops are raised, by fallows or manuring. It is a fact that in this neighborhood farms in the hands of careful men are yielding better crops of wheat every year ; while multitudes of far- mers think themselves fortunate in twelve or fifteen bushels to the acre, there is another ola^s who expect twenty-five or thirty bushels, and in good seasons get it. This is encou- raging. As our lands get older we may look for yet better things. Some farmers put in from 100 to 800, and even 1,000 acres of wheat. The native qualities of the soil are relied upon for the crop. To manure or clover such a body of land is impossible with any capital at the command of its owners. But with us, each owner of a quarter section puts in from ten to twenty acres, and it lies within Ids means to dress this quantity of land to a high degree. Soils fit foe Wheat. — A vegetable mold cannot yield wheat, because it does not contain, and therefore cannot afford to the crop, silicate of potash, or phosphate of mag- nesia ; the first of which gives strength to the stem, and the second of which is necessary to the grain. On such soil wheat may grow as a grass, but not as a grain. A mere sand will not yield wheat ; because wheat re- quires, and such soils do not contain, soda, magnesia, and especially silicate of potash. 6* 130 PLAIN AND PLBASANT TALK All clays contain potash, which is indispensable to wheat, but they may be deficient in soda, in magnesia, and in other alkalies. A calcareous clky-loam may be regarded as the best soil' for wheat. And when it does not exist ia a natural state, all the additions in the form of manure should be with reference to the formation of such a soil. If the land be light and sandy, clay, and marl, and wood ashes should be added, together with barnyard manure ; if the soil is a tenacious clay, it should be warified and mellowed by- sand and manure ; if it is deficient in Ume, lime in substance, or in marl must be given ; vegetable molds, if heavily dressed with wood-ashes and lime, may be brought to pro- duce wheati ' To PEKPABB THE Gkound. — This Operation dejgpnds upon the condition of the soil. But, in all cases, the deepest plowing is the best. The roots of wheat, if un- checked, will extend more than_^«e feet. Stiff, tough, soils, unbroken for years, and especially if much trampledfby cattle, will require strong teams. Oxen are better than horses to break up with. It has been said, that a yoke of cattle draw a plbw deeper, naturally, than a span of horses. They are certainly better fitted for dull, dead, heavy pulling. And if oxen have been well trained they will do as much plowing in a seaSon as horses, and come out of the work in better condition. Fallow lands should be broken up early in summer, as soon as corn planting is over ; about midsummer plow again ; and the last time early in September to prepare for seed. A grass or clover lay * may be plowed under deeply at * The word lay, or ley, is only a different way of spelling Ua, the old English word for field, not used except in poetry or by farmers ; and it is one, among many instances, of old Saxon English words being pre- served among the agricultural population long after they have ceased to be generally used. ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMnSTG. 131 midsummer, .and not disturbed till sowing-time ; and the fall plowing should not disturb the inverted sod. When wheat is to be sown on wheat again, as large a part of the straw should be left in the harvest-field as pos- sible. This is to be plowed under ; but, if it can be done without endangering the fences, it would be better to burn it over / the ashes will contain all the valuable salts. On this point we extract the following note appended by the editor oi IAebig''s Agricultural Chemistry. " In some parts of the grand-duchy of Hesse, where wood is scarce and dear, it is customary for the common people to club together and buUd baking-ovens, which are heated with straw instead of wood. The ashes of this straw are carefully collected and sold every year at very>high prices. The farmers there have found by experience that the ashes of straw form the very best manure for wheat ; although it exerts no influence on the growth of fallow-crops (potatoes or the leguminosse, for example). The stem of wheat grown in this way possesses an uncommon strength. The cause of the favorable action of these ashes will be apparent,, when it is considered that all corn-plants require silicate of potash ; and that the ashes of straw consist almost entirely of this compound. But this procedure does not depend upon theoretical reasonings ; it has been abundantly substantiated by the practice of English cultivators. We find on page 333 of the " British Husbandry, " an admirable work published under the superintendence of the Society for the DiflFusion of Useful Knowledge, the following statement : " The ashes of burnt straw have also been found benefi- cial by many kitelhgent practical farmers, from some of whose experiments we select the following instances. Advantage was taken of a fine day to fire the stubble of an oat-field soon"1after harvest, the precaution having been pre- viously taken of sweeping round the boundary to prevent injury to the hedges. The operation was easUy performed. 132 PLAIN- AND PLEASANT TALK by simply applying a light to windward, and it completely destroyed every weed that grew, leaving the surface com- pletely covered with ashes ; and the following crop, which was wheat, produced full five quarters per acre. This excited further experiment, the result of which was, that in the following season, the stubble having been partly plowed in according to the common practice, and partly bumed> and the land sown with wheat, the crop produced eight bushels per acre more on that portion which had -been burned, than on that which had been plowed in. The same experiment was repeated, on different occasions, with similar results ; and a following crop of oats having been laid down with seeds, the clover was found perfectly healthy, while that portion on which the burning of the stubble had been omitted, was choked with weeds.. It must, however, be recollected, that if intended to have a decided effect, the stubble must be left of a considerable length, which wiU occasion a material deficiency of farm- yard manure; though the advantages wiU be gained of saviag the cost of moving the stubs, the seeds of weeds and insects will be considerably destroyed, and the land will be left unimpeded for the operation of the plow. " On the wolds of Lincolnshire, the practice of not only burning the stubble, but even the straw of threshed grain, has been carried, in many cases, to the extent of four to six loads per acre ; and, as it is described in the report of the county, has been attended, in aU • those instances, with very decidedly good effect. It is even said to have been found superior, in some comparative trials, to yard-dung, in the respective rate of five tons of straw to ten of manure !" We frequently ride past immense piles of wheat straw, encumbering the yard or field where it was threshed ; and never without thinking upon t&e unthriftiness of 9, farmer who ignorantly takes everything off his wheat land, re- turns nothing to it, and is content with annually diminish- ing crops; ABOUT FETJITS, FLOWERS AKD TAEMnSTG. 133 Selection of Seeds. — The varieties of wheat, already- very numeroiiie, are constantly increasing. No farmer should be satisfied, with anything short of the beat kind of wheat. Suppose an expense of many dollars to have been incurred in procuring a new kind, if it yield only two bushels more to the acre than an old sort, it will more than pay for itself in the first harvest field. It should be observed that diflferent soUs require' different varieties ; and every farmer should select, after trial, the kind which agrees best with his land. A standard wheat should be hardy, strong in the straw; not easy to shell and waste, prolific, thin in the bran, white in flour, and the flour rich in starch and gluten. The earliness or lateness of a variety affects its liability to dis- ease. Much may be done by every -farmer to secure a variety suited to his soil from his own fields. Let a watchful eye observe every remarkable head of wheat — a very early one, a very long head, any which have an unusual sized grain, or is distinguished for any excellent property. By gather- ing, planting separately, and then culling again, each farmer may improve his own wheat ten fold. Indeed it has been in this way that several improved varieties have been procured. Of spring wheat, the most valuable kinds are, Italian Spring Wheat ; bearded, red berry, white chaff, head long, bran thick, flour of fair quality. Tea or Siberian Bald ; bright straw, not long; berry white, bald; flour good; extensively cultivated in New England and northern part of New York. Valuable variety. Black Sea Wheat. — White chaff, bearded, berry red, long and heavy, bran thick, flour inferior. Ripens very early, and seldom rusts or mildews. The following are also the spring varieties. Egyptian Wild Goose or California. — ^Large and branching head, bearded, berry small, bran thick, flour coarse and yellow, 134 PLAIK AND PLEASANT TALK ripens late, and subject to rust. Although branching, it is not productive. There is a winter variety also. Hock Whe]J)ject, imagine that we are indebted to cane-sugar for o.ir main supply, and that maple-sugar is a petty neighhor- hood matter, not worth the figures employed to represent it, we propose to spend some space in stating the truth on this matter. We will exhibit, 1, the amount produced; 2, the proper way of manufacturing it ; 3, the proper treat- ment of sugar-tree groves. We shall confine our statistics to the most miportant Northern and Western States. 1. Kew York produces annually 10,048,109 lbs. 2. Ohio 6,363,386 " 3. Termont 4,647,934 " 4. Indiana 3,'72'7,795 " 5. Pennaylvania 2,266,'765 " 6. New Hampshire 1,162,368 " 1. Virginia 1,641,833 " 8. Kentucky 1,377,835 " 9. Michigan 1,329,784 " Total of nine States 22,464,799 " Residue thus — add for Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin 2,030,863 " 24,496,662 " Something- should be subtracted for beet-root and corn- stalk-sugar. But on the other hand, the statistics are so much below the truth on maple-sugar, that the deficiency may be set off against beet-root and cornstalk-sugar. That the figures do not 'more than represent the amount of maple-sugar produced in these States may be presumed from one case. Indiana is set down at 3,727,795; but in the four counties of Washington, Warrick, Posey and Har- rison, no account seems to have been taken of this article. 1S4 rL.UJfr AiND PLEASANT TAIS. In Marion county, four of the first sugar-making townsliips, Warren, Lawrence, Centre and Franklin, are not reckoned. If we suppose these four townships to average as much as tihe others in Marion county, they produced 11,6i8 lbs., and instead of putting Marion county down at 97,064 it should be 1T4,T12 lbs. It is apparent from this case, that in Indiana the estimate is far ibeloTy the truth ; and if it is Jialf as much so io the other eight States enumerated,* trlma 23,464, 799 is not nwm than a fair expression of the maple-sugar alone. Lou^na is the first sugar-growing State in the Union. Her produce, by the statistics of 1840, was 119,94'7,720, or nearly one hundred and twenty mUlion pounds. The States of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South CaroMna and Flo- rida,, together, add only 645,281 pounds more. • Cane-sugar in the TTnited States 120,593,001 lbs. Maple " " " 24,496,652 " Thns about one-sixth of the sugar made annually in the United States is made from the maple4ree.f It is to be * .Dr. J. C. Jackson puts Vermont at 6,000,000 lbs. per annum, whUe the census only gives about 4,000,000. f The data of these calculations, it must be confessed, are very uncer- tain, and conclusions drawn from them as to the relative amounts of sugar produced in different States, are to be regarded, at the very best, as problematical. We extract the following remarks from an article in the Western Literary Jowrnal, from the pen of Charles Cist, an able sta- tistical writer : " It is not my purpose to go into an extended notice of the errors in the statistics connected with the census of 1840. A few examples will serve to show their character and extent. In the article of hemp, Ohio is stated to produce 9,080 tons, and Indiana 8,605 — either equal nearly to the pro- duct of Kentucky, which is reported at 9,992 tons, and almost equal, when united, to Missouri, to which 18,010 tons are given as the aggregate. Virginia is stated to raise 25,594 tons, almost equal to both Kentucky and Missouri, which are given as above at 28,00:2 tons. Now the indis- putable fact is, that Kentucky and Missouri produce more than hemp all the rest of the United States, and ten times as much as either Ohio, Indiana ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWBES AND FAEMING. 155 * remembered too that in Louisiana it is the staple, wMle at the Noi-th maple-sugar has never been manuifactured with any considerable skUl, or regarded as a regular crop, but only a temporary device of economy. Now it only needs to be understood that maple-sugar may be made so as to have the flavor of the best cane-sugar, and that it may, at a tri- fling expefise, be refined to white sugar, and the manufac- ture of it will become more general, more skUlful, and may, in a little, time, entirely supersede the necessity of im- porting cane-sugar. Indiana stands fourth in the rank of maple-sugar making States. Her annual product is at least fowr miMion povnds, which, at six cents the pound amounts to $160,000 per annum. A little exertion would quickly run up the annual value of her home-made sugar to half a million dollars. Maple-sugar now only brings about two-thirds the price or Virginia, which three States are made to raise 50 per centum more than those two great hemp-produoing States. " The sugar of Louisiana is given at 119,94'7,'720 lbs., equal to 120,000 hhds., 160 per cent, more than has been published in New Orleans, as the highest product of the five consecutive years, including and preceding 1840. "Put what is this to the wholesale figure-dealing which returns 8,160,949 tons of hay, as the product of New York for that article ! a quantity sufBcient to winter all the horses and mules in the United States. "Other errors of great magnitude might be pointed out; such as making the tobacco product of Virginia 11,000 hhds., when her inspec- tion records show 65,000 hhds., thrown into market as the crop of that year. Who believes that 12,233 lbs. pitch, rosin and turpentine, or the tenth part of that quantity, were m^inufactured in Louisiana in 1840, or that New York produced 10,093,991 Iba. maple-sugar in a single year, or twenty such statements equally absurd, which I might take from the returns ?" Mr. Cist will find in the appendix to Dr. Jackson's Knal Report on the Geology of New Hampshire, a statement, that Vermont makes 6,000,0r'O pounds of sugar annually. If this be 80, we may, without extravagance, suppose that New York reaches 10,000,000 lbs. So far as we have colla- teral means of judging, the amount of maple-sugar is under-e,ia.i^i in the census of 1840. 158 PLAIK AUD PLEASANT TALK of New Orleans. The feult is in the manufacturing of it. The saccharine principle of the ccme and tree are exactly/ the same. If the same care were employed in their man- facture they would be indistinguishable ; and maple-sugar would be as salable as New Orleans, and if afforded at a less price, might supplant it in the market. The average quantity of sugar consumed in England by each individual is about thirty pounds per annum. Maple-Sugak Makikg. — Greater care must be taken in collecting the sap. Old, and half-decayed wooden- troughs, with a liberal infusion of leaves, dirt, etc., impart great impurity to the water. Rain-water, decayed vegeta- ble matter, etc., add chemical ingredients to the sap, trou- blesome to extract, and injuiing the quality if not removed. The expense of clean vessels may be a little more, but iWth care, it could be more than made up in the quality of the sugar. Many are now using earthen-crocks. These are cheap, easily cleaned, and every way desirable, with the single exception of breakage. But if wood-troughs . are used, let them be kept scrupulously clean. The kettles should' be scoured thoroughly before use,' and kept constantly clean. If rusty, or foul, or coated with burnt sugar, neither the color nor flavor can be perfect. Vinegar and sand have been used by experienced sugar- makers to scour the kettles with. It is best to have, at least, three to a range. All vegetable juices contain acids, and acids resist the process of crystallization. Dr. J. C Jackson* directs the one-measiired ounce (one- fourth of a gill) of pure lime-water to be added to every gallon of sap. This neutralizes the acid, and not only faci- litates the granulation, but gives sugar in a free state, now too generally acid and deliquescent, besides being charged * Appendix to final Report on tlie Geology and Mineralogy of New Hampshire, page 361. This admirable Eeport is an able exposition of the benefit of public State surveys. ABOUT FEtriTS, FLOWBES AHD FAEMING. IS'T with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes a black color with tea. The process of making a pure white sugar is simple and unexpensive. The lime added to the sap, combining with the peculiar acid of the maple, forms a neutral salt ; this salt is found to be easily soluble in alcohol. Dr. Jackson recommends the following process. Procure sheet-iron cones, with an aperture at the small end or apex — ^let them be coated with white-lead and boiled linseed-oil, and thoroughly dried, so that no part can come oflf. [We do not know why earthen cones, unglazed and painted, would not answer equally well, besides being much cheaper.] Let the sugar be put into these cones, stopping the hole in the lower end until it is entirely cool. Then remove the stopper, and pour upon the base a quantity of strong whisky or fourth-proof rum * — allow this to filtrate through until the sugar is white. When the loaf is dried it will be pure white sugar, with the exception of the alcohol. To get rid of this, dissolve the sugar in pure boUing hot-water, and let it evaporate until it is dense enough to crystallize. Then put it again into the cone-moulds and let it harden. The dribblets which come away from the cone while the whisky is draining, may be used for making vinegar. It is sometimes the case that whisky would, if freely used in a sugar camp, go off in a wrong direction, benefiting neither the sugar nor the sugar-maker. If, on this account, any prefer another mode, let them make a saturated solution of loaf-sugar, and pour it in place of the whisky upon the base of the cones. Although the sugar will not be quite as white, the drainings wiU form an excellent molasses, whereas the drainings by the former method are good only for vinegar. * If those who drink whisky would pour it on to the sugar in the refin- ing cones, instead of upon Sugar in tumblers, it would refine them aa much as it does the sugar ; performing two Taluable processes at once. 158 PLAIN AMD PLEAS AJSri? TALK Caee of Sugar Oechajebs. — ^It is grievous to witness the waste committed upon valuable groves of sugar-trees. If the special object was to destroy them, it could hardly foe better reached than by the methods now employed. The holes are carelessly made, amd often the abominable practice is seen of cutting channels in the tree with an axe. The man who will murder his trees in this tomahawk and scalping-knife manner, is just the man that JEsop meant when he made the fable of a fellow who killed his goose to gict at once all the golden eggs. With good care, and allowing them .oocasionajly $ year of rest, a sugar-grove may last for centuries. As soon as possible get your sugar-tree grove laid down to grass, clear out' underbrush, thin out timber and useless trees. Trees in open land make about six pomMs of sugar, and forest trees only about Jvur pounds to the season. As the maple is peculiarly rich in potash (four- fifths of potash exported is made from sugar-maple), it is evident that it requires that substance in the soE. Upon this account we should advise a liberal use of wood-ashes upon the soil of sugar-groves. Tapping Teees. — ^Two taps are usually enough — ^never more than thj-ee. For though as many as twenty-four have been inserted at once without k illin g the tree, regard ought to be had to the use of the tree through a long series of years. At first bore about two inches ; after ten or twelve days remove the tap and go one or two inches deeper. By this method more sap will be obtained than by going down to the colored wood at first. We state upon the authority of William Tripure, a Shaker of Canterbury, If.H., that about seven pounds of sugar may be made from a barrel of twenty gallons, or four pounds the tree for forest trees ; and two men and one boy will tend a thousand trees, making 4,000 pounds of sugar. We would recommend the setting of pasture-lands, and road-sides of the ferm with sugar-maple trees. Their ABOUT FEurrs, floweks and Fleming. 159 growth is rapid, and no tree combines more valuable pro- perties. It is a beautiful shade-tree, it is excellent for fuel, it is much used for manufacturing purposes, its ashes are valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are twenty -seven species of the maple known, twelve of them are iadigenoua to this continent. All of these have a sacha- riae sap, but only two, to a degree sufficient for practical purposes, viz., Acer saceharimim or the common sugar- maple, and Acer nigrum or the black sugar-maple. The sap of these contains about half as much sugar as the juice of the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap contains, on an average, 3,451 grains of sugar ; and one gallon of cane-juice (in Jamaica), average? V,pOO grains of sugar. But the cane is subject to the necessity of annual and careful cultivation, and its manufacture is comparatively expensive and difficult. Whereas the maple is a permanent tree, requii-es no cultivation, may be raised on the borders of farnas without taking up ground, and its sap is easily con- vertible into sugar, and, if carefully made, into sugar as good as cane-sugar can be. Add to the above considera- tions that the sugar-making period is a time of comparative leisure with the farmer, and the motives for attention to this subject of domestic sugar-making seem to be complete. LETTTJCBi. — ^Those who wish fine head lettuce should pre- pare a rich, mellow bed of light soil ; tough and compact soil will not give them any growth. In transplanting, let there be at least one foot between each plant. Stir the ground often. If it is very dry weather, water at evening copiously, if you water at all; but the hoe is the only watering-pot for a garden, if thereby the soil is kept loose and fine. We have raised heads nearly as large as a drum- head cabbage by this method, very biittle, sweet and tender withal. 160 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TAIS GEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS. Many terms, in general use among scientific men, and usually employed ia agricultural works, are obscure to young readers. For their sakes we will explain some of them ; and shall not be angry if old men profit by the explanation. Soil. — ^The surface-earth, of whatever ingredients it may be composed. It may be a clay-soil, a sand-soU, a calcareous soil, as the surface is composed of clay, or sand, or clay strongly mixed with lime, etc. Subsoil. — ^The earth lying below the ordinary depth to which the plow or spade penetrate. Sometimes it has hardened by the running of the plow over it for a series of years ; then it is called pan, as hard-pan, clay-pan, Stc. It is sometimes of the same nature as the top-soil, as in clay- lands; in others it is a different earth; as when a coarse gravel ' underlies vegetable mold, or when clay lies beneath sandy soil. Subsoil Plowing. — In ordinary plowing, the share runs from five to seven inches deep. A plow has been con- structed (called subsoil plow), to foUow in the furrow, and break up from six to eight inches deeper — so that the whole plowing penetrates from ten to sixteen inches. Subsoil Plow. — A plow having a narrow " double share, or a small share on each side of the coulter, and no mold- board." It i^ designed to break up and soften the subsoil, but not 4)0 bring it up to the top. Mold. — ^A soil in which decayed vegetable matter largely predominates over earths. Thus, leaf-mold is soil principally composed of rotten leaves ; dimg-mold, of dung reduced to a fine powdery matter; heath-mold, a black vegetable soil found in heath-lands; peat-mold, forest-mold, garden-mold, etc. Loam. — Clay, or any of the primitive earths, reduced to a mellow, friable state by intermixture of sand, or vegeta- ABOUT SBUITS, PLOWEES AND FAEMINQ. 161 ble matter, is called loam. Clay lands well manured with sand, dung, or muck, are turned, gradually, to a loam. AEGnxACEOxrs. — From the Latin {argillaceus,) soil prin- cipally composed of clay. Alumina oe Alumine. — Generally employed to signify pwe clay. It is, chemically speaking, a metallic oxide ; aluminium is the metallic base, and is an elementary sub- stance. It is generally known that ,the diamond is pure carbon (charcoal is carbon in an impure state), but it is not as generally known that the ruby and the sapphire, " two of the most be^tiful gems with which we are acquainted, are composed almost solely of alumina," or pure clay in a crys. tallized state. SiLicious. — ^An earth composed largely of silex. Silex or silica is considered to be a primitive earth constituting flint, and containing most kinds of sands, and sandstones, etc. China or porcelain, ware is formed from silica and alumina united, i. e. from silicious sand and clay. Caloaeeous. — A soil into the composition of which Ume enters largely. Limestone lands are calcareous. Pure clay manured freely with marl becomes calcareous, for marl is, mostly, clay and carbonate of Ume. Alluvial. — Strictly speaking, alluvium or our alluvial soil, is a soil formed by causes yet in existence. Thus a bottom-land is formed by the wash of a river. It is usually a mixture of decayed vegetable matter and sand. Diluvial. — A diluvial soU or deposit is one formed by causes no longer in existence. Thus a deposit by a deluge is termed diluvial. The word is derived from the Latiu (diluvium), signifying a deluge. The terms argillaceous, calcareous, silicious, alluvial and diluvial are constantly employed in all works which treat of husbandry. Fkiable. — ^A friable soil is one which crumbles easily. Clay is adhesive, or in common language clammy: leaf- 163 PLAIN AND PLHASAIIT TAiK mold is friable, or crumbling. Clay becomes friable when, by exposure to air or frost, or by addition of sand, vegeta- ble matter, etc., it is tboroughly mellowed. DRAINING WET LANDS. Befoeb many years there will be thousands of acres pierced with drams. But the inducements to it which ]}jp,fee it wise in ]EngIand and New England do not yet, generally, e^cist in the "West. The expense of draining one acre would buy two. Bfany farmers have already more arable land than they can till to advantg,ge. Land redeemed fi-pni glough would pot pay for itself in msny years. J3ut although a general introduction of draining would not be wise, there are many cases in which, to a limited extent, it should be prg,ctised. Lands lying near to cities are sufilciently valuable, and the market for farming pro- ducts sure enough, to justify the reclaiming of wet pieces of Ig^nd. On smaU farms of forty and eighty acres, sur- rounded by high-priced lands, not easily procured for enlarg- ing his farni if the owner should wish it, draining might be employed with advantage. A man with a small farm can c0ori expenses fpr high -cultivation whicli would break a large farm&r. ■Some tim.es a large pieadow or arable field is marred by a wet slash through the middle of it; a farmer would not begrudge the labor of draining for the sake of having his favorite field without a blemish. Sometimes farms are intersected by wet lands, vhich piake the passage fi-om one part of the farm to another difficult at all times, and almost impassable at some seasons of the year. Draining might be resorte4 to in sufsh a case, not so much for the sake ol the land reclainied, as for the convenience of the whole farm. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEBS AND PAEMING. 163 We know pieces of wet, peaty meadow land lying close by the farm-house, the only drawback to the beauty of the place. A good farmer would wish to recover such a spot for the same reason that he would prefer a handsome house to a homely one — a fine horse over a coarse-looking animal — a sightly fence, rather than a clumsy one. There is much strong land — ^but high, flat, and cold — which is wet through all the spring, resisting seed till long after other portions of the farm are at work, and which would, but for this back- wardness, be regarded as the best land, If without great expense, such land could be cared, few fiirmers would mind the trouble or labor. There are three kinds of draining which may be employed according to circumstances — subsoil-plowing, fiirrow-drain- ing and ditch-draining. When a soil is underbound by a compact, impervious subsoil, all the rain or melting snow is retained in the soU until it can exhale and evaporate. For the subsoil acts like a water-tight floor, or the bottom of a tub. Subsoil-plowing, by thoroughly working through this under crust, gives a downward passage to the moisture ; water sinks as it does in sandy loams. Nor will such treat- ment be less useful to prevent the injury of summer drou^t ; for the depth of soU affords a harbor for roots from whence they can draw moisture when the top-soil is dry as ashes. But thSre is a limit put to this treatment by the amount of clay contained in the subsoil. It has been experiment- ally ascertained in England, that when the soU contains as high as forty-three per cent, of alumina (clay) sub- soil-plowing is useless, because the clay soon coalesces and is as impervious as ever. In such oases, if the land has a slight inclination in any direction, furrow-draining may, in some measure, relieve it. The ground is marked out in ' lands as for sowing grain and plowed with back-furrows, throwing the earth toward the centre. The rain and snow will run to either side, and flow off by the channels left between each strip. This treatment does not relieve the 164 VLATH AXD PLEASAlfT TATJv land; to any great extent, of water contained in it, but acts as a preventive, by carrying off the rain and snow before they are absorbed. O DEAR ! SHALL WE EVER BE DONE LYING P An honest old gentleman, in telling ns his troubles, gave great prominence to the necessity he was frequently under of disappointing his customers, whose work could not be finished as soon as he had promised. After explaining the difficulty, he looked up with great earnestness, and ex- claimed, " dear ! shall we ever be done with this lying ■*" We have often wondered ourselves whether such a con- summation would ever take place. " Tour boots shall be done on Saturday night without fail." Nevertheless, you have to go to church with gaping shoes for want of them, " Your coat shall be sent home by nine o'clock on Satur- day night ;" and you get it, in fact, the Wednesday after. " Will you lend me your wheel-barrow ? I will return it to- night." Tou wait for it till next week, and then send for it. My carpenter solemnly agreed to finish my house by November; but it was July before I could get the key. My wood was to be split on Saturday afternoon — enough for the Sabbath ; so it was — but I had to do it. My money was to be paid me the next week ; and then, next week ; and then, next week — and then, as soon as he could get it ; he did get it and spent it ; and then it should be paid when he got it again — he got it again, and paid another debt because the man treated him more savagely than I would. The strength laid out in running for this money, if it had been economically applied to labor, would, nearly, have earned the whole debt. The fellow never paid me at last ; but Death came along, and he paid him ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 165 promptly. "O dear! shall we ever get done with this lying ?" It is one of the few domestic manufactures which need no protection, and flourishes without benefit either to the producer or consumer. CARE OF STOCK IN WINTER. Perhaps no better sign of careftd husbandry can be found than in the attention paid to brute animals. We always expect a thriftless fellow to neglect and abuse his stock. When we see them well cared for, we always judge the owner to be a good farmer. Cattle ranging out often have had good picking, and if partly fed at the rack, will come out in the spring weU-conditioned. Where hay and grain are a drug, we suppose that all cautions about wasting them will be laughed at. Care and economy are not the peculiar features of western farming ; profusion and easi- ness are the more characteristic. But there are some points of attention to which every farmer should give heed. CuEANnsTG THE Stable. — ^Whcn cattle lie out, this trouble is saved in their case. But it is almost universally the prac- tice to let the manure accumulate in stables for horses from autumn to spring, and sometimes from year to year, until its quantity compels its removal. This is all weU enough for the sake of the manure — ^it is sheltered, and its strength preserved. But it is at the expense of the horse. The con- centrated effluvia is bad ; and lying down upon manure, night after night, causes the skin to break out in blotches ; and sometimes the whole ham is affected so much that the hair comes off, and the skin is inflamed and covered with running sores. The ammonia of urine (which abounds in 166 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK ■ horse manure), is caustic, and acts upon the skin like a blis- ter upon the human flesh. If Providence had ordained that a sore should break out on the owner, for every one on his stock occasioned by his negligence, animals would have a much better time than they now do. Cows WITH Calf. — Especial attention should be paid to these. As they grow heavy, toward spring, they should not be chased by horses or dogs, or beaten by unmannerly boys and men. Their food should be abundant and nutri- cious. A cow brought to calving in spring in a very thin and lean condition will not recover through the whole sum- mer, no matter how carefully tended. The cow, the calf, and your own profit in both, require that you should bring your cows to the spring in first-rate condition. If you have roots, feed them; but if not, give a slop of shorts, meal,jand flax-seed cake. This last ingredient is eminently service- able in laying on flesh. Milking Cows. — Let them be mUked regularly without regard to weather. A careless girl will, if not watched, milk irregularly, and what is worse, leave the cow imstript. The morning work presses, or the cold pincheSj or she is in haste, at night, to go a visiting, or some one of a hundred other reasons tempt her, to milk out the full flow, and leave the strippings. A cow so abused will be injured, in a short time, so much, that aU the care in the world will not bring her back again. See that stock are treated with gentleness and p-'.tiencei It is a shame to abuse a kind and docile animal, and it is useless to thrash those that are not so. In either case, kind- ness is the best policy. A man who is brutal to cattle is more of a beast than they are. We have seen many a man who, if he had two more legs, would not fetch the prce of a stock-hog. ABOUT FKUrtS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 161 DEEP PLANTING. We saw recently a potato which grew at the depth of twenty-five feet below the surface of the earth. This is an extraordinary depth. Few thiags planted at that depth would vegetate. The fact in tins case is unquestionable. The top was terminated by a cluster of blossoms, and the potatoes were of the size of small hickory-nuts. P. S. Another fact, which like to have been omitted in this account, is, that it grew at the bottom of an open weU. CORN AND MILLET FOR FODDER. The practice of sowing grains for fodder has been prac- tised with great success. Millet is sown in May, June, or July, at the rate of three pecks of seed- to the acre. It is, usually, ready for the scythe in about ninety days. Thick sowing is best. Cut when the grain is fairly out of the ftiilk, and cure it like hay. Four tons is a fair yield — two tons is a small crop. Ikdian Coen should be sown broadcast at the rate of four to five bushels to the acre. Corn belongs to the tribe of grasses. Cultivating it for the grain, in rows, with every stimulant of. air, light, and manure, develops the stalk almost to aitree form. When sown for fodder, the object should be to produce it, as nearly as possible, like a grctss. Thick sowing wiU tend to do it, and each stalk being small and tender, the crop will be easily masticated by cattle. By good management six or eight tons may be cut to the acre — cutting twice in the season. The first movdng should be about the period of silMng. The next, whenever the shoots have grown again to a proper size. If but one mowing is intended, it should be permitted to stand a week 168 PLAIN AND PLBASAUT TALK or two later than wlien two crops are to be taken. For, all plants prepare tlie most of nutritious juices at the period of their fruiting. Indian com is the richest in saccharine matter at about the time its grain is turning from a milky to a mealy state. Cattle wiU. eat either of the above grains, treated like a grass crop, with great avidity ; and every one knows that it is desirable to giye them a change of food through the winter. SEED SAVING. The seeds of cucumber, melon, etc., are better, at any rate, when four of five years old than when fresh ; and wo have well authenticated instances of seeds retaining their vitality much longer than this. There is no fixed period during which seeds wUl keep. There is no reason to sup- pose that they would lose their vitality in any assignable number' of years if the proper conditions were observed. De Candolle says that M. Gerardin raised kidney beans, obtained from Tournefort's herbarium, which were at least a hundred years old ; but beans left to the chances of the atmosphere are not good the second year, and hardly worth planting in the third. Professor Lindley raised raspberry plants from seed not less than sixteen or seventeen hundred years old. Multitudes of other instances might be given. In reply to the first question, it may, then, be ssijd, that the length of time through which seeds wiU keep depends upon the method of preserving them. We do not suppose it to be essential to inclose apple, pear, and quince seeds in earth for the purpose of preserv- ing their vitality during a single winter. But if exposed to the air, the rind becomes so hard and rigid as to make germination very difficult from mere mechanical reasons. The moisture of the soil keeps the covering in a tender ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWEKS AND FAEMING. 169 state, and it is easily ruptured by the expansion of the seed. The shell of peach, plum, and other stone-fruit seeds ■would form, if left to dry and harden, a yet more hopeless prison, K kept for two years, the most stone-fruit pips, it is to be presumed, would not germinate. Some, how- ever, would have vigor enough to grow even then. We have forgotten who it was, but believe it to have been a reliable person, recently mentioned the fact, that a peach or apricot stone was for several years kept as a child's play- thing ; but upon beLag planted, grew, and is now a healthy tree. Such cases are, however, rare. The intercourse between Great Britain and her distant colonies, and the various expeditions fitted out from her shores for purposes of botanical research and for the acquisi- tion of new plants from distant regions, have made the sub- ject of seed-saving at sea a matter of much experiment. In general, the conditions of preservation are three ; a low temperature, dryness, and exclusion of air. But it often happens, that aU these cannot be had, and then a choice must be made between them. Heat and moisture win either germinate the seeds or corrupt them. In long voyages, and in warm regions, moisture contained in the seed, if in a close bottle, is sufficient to destroy the seed. Glass bottles have therefore been rejected. Seeds for long voyages, or for long preservation, are thoroughly ripened and thoroughly dried ; but dried without raising the tempe- rature of the air, as this would impair their vitality. They are then wrapped in coarse paper, and put, loosely, in a coarse canvas bag, and hung up in a cool and airy' place. In this way seeds wiU be as nearly secure from heat and moisture — ^their two worst enemies — as may be. It is pro- bable that some seeds have but a short period of vitality under any circumstances of preservation. Seeds contain- ing much oilj are peculiarly liable to spoil. Liudley sug- gests that the oil becomes rancid. 8 ItO PLAIN AND PLBASANT TALK The preservation of seeds from one season to another, for home use, is ndt difficult, and may he described in three sentences:, ripen them well, dry them thoroughly, and keep them aired and cool. RHUBARB. Rhtibaeb or pieplant is becoming as indispensable to the garden as com, or potatoes, or tomatoes. No family should be without it. It comes in after winter apples are gone and before green apples come in again for tarts. By a little attention it may be had from the last of March through the whole summer. Indeed, it may be, had through the whole year. The root contains within itself all the nourishment required to develop the leaves and stalks at first, without any other aid than warmth and mois- ture. If then it be lifted late in the fall or during open weather in winter, and pnt in large pots, naU kegs, boxes, etc., put in a warm room, or cellar, it will soon send up a supply of leaves. It is not even necessary that there should be much light, for the want of it only makes the stem whiter and of a milder acid. The roots thus used may either be thrown away, or set out again and not used until they have recovered, which will be in about one summer. For early spring use, select a warm spot in the garden, and late in the fall dig in around your roots a good supply of rotten manure. Cover them with coarse manure, straw, or litter. As soon as the frost comes out of the ground, knock out the ends of a barrel and put one over each plant from which you propose to gain an early supply. Put a quantity of coarse manure around the outside of the bar- rel to maintain the warmth, and, in cold nights and during cold rains, lay a board over the open top. Thus treated, you may have tarta in March. But the main supply of this ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 171 wholesome plant is to arise from open cultivation. The roots may be gained from seed or from diviaon of old roots. Eastern writers recommend sowing the seed in autumn; but in the West spring sowings have vegetated much better than an autumnal planting. In April sow the seed in deep mellow andrioh beds. Keep the plants free from weeds and in a growiag state during the summer. They may require a little shading during the hottest days of sum- mer. The next sprin'g we transplant them to a trial-bed ; for, it is to be remembered, that the seed does not neces- sarily give a plant like its parent. Let them be set two feet apart every way, and during the season it can be seen which are the largest and best ; these are to be raised in the fall, divided and transplanted, and the rest thrown away- Out of a hundred plants, not more than two or three may be worth keeping. In the spring of 1842 we planted seed obtained in N'ew York, for the Victoria Rhubarb (a new kind), which had been imported but a few months. Of fifty plants only three proved worth keeping — one of these for its earliness and the others for size. When you have secured roots from which you wish to form a bed for your main supply, divide them either in the fall or spring into as many pieces as there are buds on the crown, each piece having, of course, a bud. The smallest slice of root will live, although a large portion is preferable. Do not be too timid in dividing ; the plant is exceedingly tenacious of life — it can hardly be killed. We have had roots lying in the open air for weeks, and when replanted growing with undiminished vigor. Every one who has, for a single season, tended a garden, knows what dock is, and how tenacious of life, so much so, as to make it quite a trouble. The rhubarb is a full-blooded vegetable brother, belonging to the same family of plants. This plant thrives most luxuriantly in a rich, sandy loam ; the earth should be spaded and mellowed to at least twenty inches depth. We prepare ground for it as follows : Mark 172 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK out the row with a line, throw out the top earth on one side; throw out a iuU spade depth of subsoil upon the other side. Throw back the top dirt, mixing it freely with well rotted manure. Now put in the soil which was taken from the bottom of the trench ; as this is compara- tively poor — mix it largely with manure. We make rows four feet apart, and set the plants three feet apart in the row. Veiy little care is needed in after cultivation. The large leaves will shade the ground and check weeds. A good supply of fresh manure, well dug in once a year, wiU keep the plants in heart and health for a long time. PEAS. Peas should be planted among the earliest of seeds. They are a hardy vegetable, and wiU bear severe frosts in the spring without injury. A light, sandy soil is the best. If manured, let only the most thoroughly rotted be used. Two sorts of peas are suflBoient for all ordinary purposes — one early kind, and one for the later and main supply. The number of kinds advertised by seedsmen is very great, and every year adds to the new varieties. Many of them are of little value, and many, hitherto esteemed, are supplanted by better ones. The Early "Warwick and Cedo Nulli are fine early peas, unsurpassed till the Prince Albert appeared. This is now esteemed the earliest of peas, ripening at Boston in fifty-three days from the time of sowing, and in England in forty-two days. We hope to be able, soon, to have this variety for distribution. Early peas are seldom of high flavor; none that we ever raised are comparable to the larger and later peas, and it is, therefore, except for market purposes, not desirable to plant very largely of early sorts. Of late peas we have, after trying many sorts, fallen back ABOUT PKtnTS, FLOWERS AND TAKIIING. 173 upon the old-fashioned Marrowfat, and now raise it exclu- sively. It win be fit for the table in from seventy to eighty days after planting. KnighVs tall marrowfat is recom- mended in Hovey's Magazine (a standard authority), as of " delicious quality and producing throughout the whole sea- son." We have never had an opportunity of proving it. We prefer buying our seed to raising it. In this region the pearbug pierces every seed-pea, and, although the germ is not usually destroyed by this depredator, the seed is weakened, and the certainty of growth very much dimin- ished. If one must plant buggy peas, let them have seced- ing water poured upon them and turned off again imme- diately. The bug will be destroyed and the pea not injured. When peas are up they require but one or two hoeings, as they soon shade the ground so as to prevent weeds from growing. They should be well supplied with brush, strong- ly set in the ground. When peas are allowed to fall over, they become mildewed and rot. This also happens when the rows are planted so near together as to prevent free circulation of air. When large quantities of peas are desired they should be sown broad-cast, at the rate of about three bushels to the acre — ^more rather than less. It leaves the land in fine tilth, smothering all weeds. Thirty bushels to the acre is a fair crop ; but eighty-four, and eighty-eight, have been taken. Autumn-planted Onions. — Onions for seed should be planted in October ; and, like their more brDliant, but less perfumed, friends of the tulip and hyacinth connections, they will thoroughly root themselves during the autumn and mild winter weather, and be ready for early work, the moment the frost rises from the ground. 174 PLAUr AND PLEASANT TAIiK PLANT SHADE-TREES. Wb ■would suggest to the editors of newspapers the pro- priety of establishing in their columns a permanent agricul- tural department. We are much pleased to see that many excellent papers are doing itj and that others insert occa- sional articles. Great advantage caimot fail to accrue to our town and rural population by putting into their hands every week, able articles from practical farmers and gar- deners upon the various topics of agriculture and horticul- ture. Let every paper urge the setting out of shade-trees in our villages. It is greatly to be desired, that all our towns should be filled with elms, maples, ashes, locusts, etc. The cultivation of fruit may be much encouraged and pro- moted by a frequent republication of articles on that sub- ject. The gardens and conservatories of a few very wealthy gentlemen do not constitute a horticultural community. They are of great use in the procuration and cultivation of new varieties of plants, and in testing important matters by expensive experiments. But affluent men and their pleas- ure groimds are to horticulture, what universities are to common schools ; that State is best educated whose whole population are the most thoroughly trained ; and that is the horticultural State, ail of whose villages, towns, farms, and gardens, are in the highest state of cultivation. Our desire is to diffuse a love for rural affairs, husbandry, and horticulture among the whole mass of the community. Weeds in Alleys. — It is said that weeds may be entirely destroyed for years by copious watering with a solution of lime and ^sulphur in boiling-hot water. This, if effectual, wiU be highly important to such as have garden gravel walks, pavements, etc.,, through which grass and weeds grow up. AB0T3T PEUITS, PLOWEES AND ^'AKHIKG. 1Y5 H O T - B E D S . After a little practice any one can make and manage a simple hot-bed. For a common family one twelve by four feet will be large enough, and nine by four will answer for a small family. Frame. — The frame should be made of two-inch stuff (piae or poplar). The back must be as high again as the front, in order to give the right inchnation to the sash. The ends should be nailed fast to corner posts, say four inches square. The back and front are to be attached to those parts by iron bolts, which may he screwed or unscrewed at pleasure. The frame may be taken to pieces, if so made, and put away during the season it is not in use. A frame twelve by four, will take four sash of three feet wide, the other sized frame will take three sash. Where the sash meet, a piece of wood three inches broad and two thick, should be let in from back to front, for the sash to run upon, and it may be allowed to extend back for two feet beyond the body of the frame. Three coats of paint should be put on the outside and inside of the frame, and then, with good care, it will last twenty years. Mark out the ground six inches larger every way than your frame. Dig it out a foot deep. Take fresh, strong horse-dung. Shake it up and mbc it thoroughly. Lay it into the bed evenly, beating it do-wn with the back of the fork, tut never treading it. Raise the bed three feet above the surface, making the thickness in all four feet. In a week's time this will have settled six or eight inches. We have for the sake of a gentler and longer continued heat, laid alternate layers of manure and tan-bark, and thus far it has done well with us. Put on the frame and sash and let it stand tiU. the heat begins to raise, which wiU be two or three days. Then raise the sash to let the steam pass off. In about four days take off the frame, put on about six inches of light, good soil, evenly, aU over the 1^6 PLAIN Aim) PLEASANT TAXK bed ; replace the fifame, and in a day thereafter it will be ready for seed» Cabbage, cauMo-wer, tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, together ynth. savory herbs, as sweet marjoram, sweet basil, thyme, sage, lavender, etc., etc. may be sown in driUs in the soil prepared as above. It is difficult to give, on paper, the directions for the care of the bed. The greatest dangers of all, are that of hwrning the plants by excessive heat, or of damping them off, by too little air. These evils must be guarded against by the admission of as much air as possible. In njild days let the sash be partly open all day, and in very cold days, endeavor to procure a half hour even, at mid-day, for raising the sash and airing the plants. As they grow up, if crowded, they should be thinned out, so as not to run up spindling. • ORIGINAL RECIPES. When we say original, we don't mean that no one ever employed the same recipes, but only this, that we have obtained them, not from books, but from good and skillful housewives. Epicuke's Coen bread. — ^TJpon two quarts of sifted com.- meal, pour just enough boiling water to scald it thoroughly ; if too much water is use^ it will be heavy. Stir it thoroughly, let it get cold ; then rub in a piece of butter as large as a hen's egg, together with two teaspoonfuls of fine salt ; beat four eggs thoroughly, and they will be all the better if the whites and yolks are beaten separately, add them to the meal and mix thoroughly. Next, add a pint of sour cream, or butter-mUk, or sour milk (which stand in the order of their value). Dissolve two teapoonfuls of saleratus in hot water, and stir it in. Put it in buttered pans and bake it. ABOUT FETTITS, PL0WEK8 AND PAEMING. 1^7 In winter, it may be mixed over night and in that case, the eggs and saleratus should not be put in until morning. When ready for the oven, the mixture ought to be about as thin as good mush, and if not, more cream should be added. If you are not an epicure already, you vdll be in danger of becoming one, if you eat much of this corn cake — provided it is well mcide. Sugar Gingbe-beead. — To three-quarters of a pound of butter and not quite a pint of finely rolled brown sugar, add a great spoonful of ginger, and a little cinnamon and nutmeg ; beat these up to a foam ; beat four eggs thoroughly and add and mix weU, with the butter and sugar. Add a tea- cup of rich cream, a great spoonful of saleratus dissolved in hot water. Stir in sifted flour as long as it can be worked. Pound and knead the dough very thoroughly. RoU out quite thin, cut into small cakes, bake in a quick oven. They will be hard, but tender and crisp. HoosiEE Biscuit. — ^Add a teaspoonful of salt to a pint of new milk, warm from the cow. Stir in flour until it becomes a stiff batter ; add two great spoonfuls of lively brewer's yeast ; put it in a warm place and let it rise just as much as it wiU. When well raised, stir in a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved ia hot water. Beat up three eggs (two will answer), stir with the batter, and add flour untU it becomes tolerable stiff dough ; knead it thoroughly, set it by the fire until it begias to rise, then roll out, cut to biscuit form, put in pans, cover it over with a thick cloth, set by the fire until it rises • again, then bake in a quick oven. If well made, no directions wiU be needed for eating. As all families are not provided with scales and weights, referring to the ingredients generally used in cakes and pastry, we subjoin a list of weights and measures. 8* lYS PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK WEIGHT AND MEASURE. Wheat flour one pound is one quart. Indian meal one pound two ounces, is one quart. Butter, when soft one pound one ounce, is one quart. Loaf-sugar, broken, one pound is one qun rt. White sugar, powdered, one pound one ounce, is one quart. Best brown sugar one pound two ounces, is one quart. Eggs ten eggs' are one pound. LIQUID UEASUKE. Sixteen large tablespoonfuls are half a pint Eight large tablespoonfuls are one gill. Four large tablespoonfuls are half a gill. A common sized tumber holds half a pint. A common sized wine glass holds half a gill. AUowiag for accidental differences in the quality, fresh- ness, dryness, and moisture of the articles, we believe this comparison be;);ween weight and measure to be as nearly correct as possible. COOKING VEGETABLES. While we believe meat to be necessary to laboring men, we are equally sure that it is used to excess ; for persons of a sedentary habit, vegetable diet is supposed to. be much more wholesome, because much less stimulating than meat. Whatever shall make vegetables more relishful will extend their popular use, and therefore any simple recipe for cooking them is a public good. The following are taken fresh from the kitchen, and we will vouch for their being good, although there may be other ways still better. 1. Geebns. — ^The articles employed for greens are numer- ous ; we merely mention the following : — sprouts of turnip ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWBES AND FAEMING. 179 and cabbage, dandelions, lamb's quarters, red-rooted plantain, cowslip, •wild pepper-grass, purslain, young beet- tops, lettuce, and spinage — the best of all greens. In gathering plantain, care must be taken to select only the red-rooted, the white being thought poisonous. With the exception of spinage, all these should be boiled in salted water, or in water with a piece of salt pork, for half an hour, then taken out, drained, and served up with butter gravy. Spinage is boUed, as above, for half an hour, then taken out, thoroughly drained, put into a skillet with cream,^ butter and pepper, and if need be, a little more salt. Place it over the fire and stir it up with a knife all the time it simmers, until it becomes a paste. About five minutes are enough for this last process — then dish and serve it. 2. AsPAEAGUs. — ^Asparagus should never be cut below the surface of the ground, although books and papers, almost universally, direct to the contrary. The white part of the stem is always tough and inedible. Let it spring up about six or eight inches and then cut it at the surface of the ground. Lay it in the pan or kettle in which it is to be cooked, and sprinkle salt over it. Pour boiling water over it, until it is just covered ; boil from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, according to the age of the asparagus. Have two or three nicely toasted slices of bread in the dish which is to go to the table ; lay the asparagus upon the toast, putting first sweet butter and pepper upon it according to your taste ; lastly pour over it the liquor in which it was boiled. Many throw away the water in which it was cooked and substitute cream and butter, but thereby the finest flavor of the vegetable is thrown away and lost. 8. Beets. — ^WhUe young, beets may be boiled tops and aE ; as the tops get tough the root alone is boiled in salted water until tender, viz. from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half, according to the size of the beet. Quarter or slice them if large, and add fresh sweet butter .ind pepper. 180 PLAIN ANV PLEASAITT TAIK 4. Peas. — ^No vegetable depends more for its excellence upon good cooking than peas. Have them freshly gathered and shelled, hut never wash them. If they are not per- fectly clean, roll them in a dry cloth ; hut even this is sel- dom required, and then only through carelessness. Pour them dry into the cooking dish, and put as much salt over them as is required, then pour on boiling water enough to cover them ; boU them fifteen minutes if they are young ; no pea is -fit to cook which requires more than half an hour's boiling. When done, put to a quart of peas three great table- spoonfuls of butter, and pepper to your taste. Put aU the water to them in which they were boiled. The great mis- takes in cooking peas are in cooking too long, and in de- luging thein with water. String or snap beans are cooked like peas, only they require longer boiling. 5. Corn should be boiled in salted water from twenty to thirty minutes, according to its age ; if boiled longer it becomes hard and loses its flavor. We have given in the Western Farmer and Gardener, p. 231, a recipe for corn and beans, but as all may not see that periodical, we extract the substance of it. We, give directions for a mess sufficient for a family of six or seven. To about half a pound of salt pork put three quarts of cold water ; let it boil. Now cut off three quarts of green com from the cobs, set the com aside and put the eobs to boil with the pork, as they wiQ add much to the richness of the mixture. When the pork has boiled, say half an hour, remove the cobs and put in one quart of freshly-gathered, green, shelled beans ; boil again for fifteen minutes ; then add the three quarts of corn and let it boil another fifteen minutes. Now tum the whole out into a dish, add five or six large spoonfols of butter, season it with pepper to your taste, and with salt also, if the salt of the pork has not proved sufficient. If the liquor has boiled away, it wiU be ABorrr feuits, tlowees and eaeming. 181 ■ necessary to add a little more to it before taking it away from the fire, as this is an essential part of the affair. 6. Salsify oe Otstee-plaht. — ^This vegetable is raised exactly as are carrots and parsnips. Like the latter — ^they require a little frostiag before their flavor is ftdly devel- oped. They should be scraped and washed (but not soaked in vinegar, as English cooks direct, to extract a bitter taste, which they do not contmn), and sliced ; sprinkle enough Bait upon them to season them, pour on just enough boiling water to cover them ; boil till perfectly tender, which wiU be, say fifteen minutes. Put butter and pepper to them ; stir up a' little flour in cream to make a thin paste and pour in enough lo thicken a httle the water in which they were boiled. Dish with or without toasted bread, as may suit the taste. 7. Tomatoes. — The recipe which we gave in the Farm&r and Gardener has been universally copied, and, we believe, has beguiled thousands to the love of tomatoes. It has been introduced to cook-books under the name of " Indiana Recipe for Cooking Tomatoes." 8. Onions should be boiled for half an hour in salted water, then drained, put into sweet milk, boDed again for five or ten minutes, seasoned with butter, pepper and salt, and served up. 9. Pie-plant. — ^This important vegetable — ^among the earliest, the most wholesome, and of the easiest culture — should be found in every garden, and served up on every table during the spring and early summer. To prepare it for use, strip off the skin, slice it thin, put into a dish with a few spoonfuls of boiling water, just enough to keep from sticking, for its own juice wiU afford liquid enough after it is cooked. Boil until it is perfectly tender, stirring it con- stantly. If the plant is good and the fire quick, it ought to be boiled in five minutes. Stir in all the sugar needed while it is in a scalding state. A little nutmeg or lemon 182 PLAIN- ASTD PtBASANT TALK peel, put in while it is hot, improves the flavor. "When cool, it may be used for tarts, or pies, with or without upper crust ; it also makes a better a^?e-sauoe than apples do themselves. 10. Egg-plaut. — Boil iu salted water a few minutes ; cut slices, put a little salt between each slice, and let them lie for half an hour. Then fry them in butter or lard until they are brown. 11. Caxtliflowee and Beoccoli. — ^The only difference between these, so far as the cook is concerned, is La color. Take off the outside leaves and soak them for an hour in salted water. Pour boiling water to them and boil for about twenty minutes. Serve them up with butter and pepper. The Savoy cabbages are next in delicacy of flavor to the cauliflower, and may be cooked ia the same way. FARMERS, TAKE A HINT. It is very surprising to see how slow men are to take a hint. The frost destroys about half the bloom on the fruit- trees ; everybody prognosticates the loss of fruit ; instead of that, the half that remains is larger, fairer, and higher flavored than usual ; and the trees instead of being ex- hausted, are ready for another crop the next year. Why don't the owner take the hint and thin out his fruit every bearing year ? But no ; the next season sees his orchard overloaded, fruit small, and not weU formed ; yet he always boasts of that flrst-mentioned crop without profiting by the lesson it teaches. We heard a man saying, " the best crop of celery I ever saw, was raised by old John , on a spot of ground where the wash from the barn-yard ran into it after every hard shower." Did he take the hint, and convey such ABOUT TEUITS, FLOWERS ABTD FAEMING. 183 liquid manure in trendies to his garden? Not at all; he bragged about that wonderful crop of celery, but would not take the hint. We knew a case where a farmer BubsoUed a field and raised crops in consequence which were the admiration of the neighborhood ; and for years the field showed the advantage of deep handling. But we could not learn that a single farmer in the neighborhood took the hint. The man who acted thus wisely, sold his farm and his successor pur- sued the old way of surface-scratchiug. A stanch farmer complained to us of his soil as too' loose and light ; we mentioned ashes as worth trying ; " well, now you mention it, I believe it wUl do good. I bought a part of my faim fi'om a man who was a wonderful feUow to save up ashes, and around his cabin it lay in heaps. I took away the house and ordered the ashes to be scattered, and to this day I notice that when the plow runs along through that spot, the ground turns up moist and close-grained." It is strange that he never took the hint ! There are thou- sands of bushels of ashes lying not far from his farm about an old soap and candle factory with which he might have dressed his whole farm. A farmer gets a splendid crop of corn or grain from off a grass or clover lay. Does he take the hint ? Does he adopt the system which shall allow him eveiy year just such a sward to put his grain on ? No, he hates book- farming, and scientific farming, and "this notion of rota- tion ;" and jogs on the old way. A few years ago our farmers got roundly into debt ; and they have worried and sweat under it, till some of them have grown greyer, and added not a few wrinkles to their face. Do they take the hmt ? Are they not pitching into debt again ? A few years ago mules commanded a high price ; every- body raised mules forthwith; the market of course was glutted ; the price fell ; everybody quit the business ; mar- 184 PLAIN ANB PLEASAHT TAIK kets became empty and the price rose ; a few men who had stu(Jk to the business pushed in their droves and made money ; and now everybody is raising mules again. The same game is played every four or five years with pork ; men make when pork is scarce, but few farmers have stock on hand. They instantly rush into the business, flood the country with hogs and get almost nothing for them. Why don't men take the hint ? A moderate stock all the time, makes more money than that system which has none when the price is high and too many when the price is low. Because one year, the wheat crop has been very large and fine, and the price low, not half so much wiU be put in another year. Those who are wise, foreseeing this fact and sowing largely, wiU, if the season favors wheat, reap a hand- some profit. * Auctioneers tell us that a " wink is as good as a word." We give both, and hope our readers will take the hint. MIXING PAINT, AND LAYING IT ON. It is convenient, and oftentimes, on the score of economy, necessary for persons (who have not been apprenticed to the trade), to do their own painting. To enable such to practise with success, we propose giving a few hints. EESPECTHfG THE AETICLBS USED, White Lead. — ^This is extensively manufactured in all of our principal cities. Low priced leads are always adulterated by chaik, or, as it is called in its prepared state, whiting. It is sometimes so largely mixed with this, as to be worthless, and every one has observed houses, painted for a year or so, from which the paint rubs oflf like whitewash, in ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWBES AND PAEMING. 185 consequence of the use of adulterated lead. The poorest lead is sold without any brand. The common article is branded as No. 1, with the maker's name. The best article is branded with the maker's name, as Puee, or Sttpbeioe. It is the best economy always to use the pure lead. Oil. — ^Linseed oil is that usually employed in paintiog. It contains a large amount of fatty substance and of other impurity, which should be separated from it before it is used. ITiis is to be done by boiling. For outside work, the oil should dhoays be boiled, no matter what the painter says about it. Great care should be taken in doing this. Let the kettle be set out of doors, the heat be increased gradually, but never enough to produce violent boiling, as the oil wiU expand, run over, and take fire, when nothing can save it, or the house either, oftentimes, if you have been foolish enough to do it within doors. As fast as impurities rise to the surface, skim them off — ^when the oil has a clear look, slack off the fire and let the oil cool ; care- fully turn off the clear portion, leaving the sediment undis- turbed. Detees. — Substances used to make paint dry quickly are called Dryers. For light work sugar of lead is the best ; for colored paint, litharge and red lead are employed. Spirits of turpentine is used for the same purpose. Litharge and red lead are usually boiled in with the oil at the rate of about a quarter of a pound of litharge to a gallon of oil. MixniTG AND Laying On. — ^Paint is purchased in kegs, containing twenty-five pounds of lead ground in oil, and ready for mixing. The kegs themselves make excellent paint-pots. The lead is to be mixed according to the work to be done. If paint is laid on in heavy coats it wiU crack and peel off. If several thin coats are successively laid on, it forms a solid body. The first coat is called priming. The lead is made quite thin with oil for priming. Before laying it on, let the work be cleaned, all dust and dirt be 186 PLADT Airo PLEASANT TALK removed. The surface is then covered evenly with paiiit, and allowed to dry thoroughly. Secostd CpAT. — Let nail-holes, cracks, etc., be filled with putty; for colored painting, red-lead putty is the best. The paint should be mixed to the thickness of thin cream, and laid on evenly, but not in too great quantities. In nice work, after this coat has thoroughly dried, it should be rubbed down with pumice-stone or fine sand-paper. The third coat is to be laid on as was the second. Three coats, at least, are required for good painting. Four or five will be still better. Paint mixed with boiled oil usually has a glossy appear- ance. If it is desired to increase this, small portions of varnish are added. This is usually confined to outside work. In cities the glossy surface of paint, is dis-esteemed for inside work ; and instead, a /tatted white is laid on. This is produced by mixing the lead for the last coat with tur- pentine instead of oil, by which a duU white is made. Flatted colors are not susceptible of being cleaned by wash- ing more that once or twice, whereas common paint will endure washing, if careMly performed, for years. If paint- ing is well done, and the paint is of the best materials, it ought to last twenty years. But the trash too often daubed upon buildings, does not last five years. White will keep its color bestJbr outside work. Some tint is thought to be more agreeable for inside work. Much judgment is required in preparing colored or tinted paints; and verbal directions cannot well be given for it in any moderate space. The usual pigments employed in making up the tints most in fashion, are for grey — white lead, Prussian blue, ivory black, and lake, or Venetian red ; for pea and sea greens — white, Prussian blue, and yellow ; for olive green — ^white, Prussian blue, umber, and yellow ochre ; for fawn color — burned terra sienna, umber, and white. ABOTJT FEUIIH, FLOWEES AND PAEMING. ISY We add two recipes taken from an English work, for a cheap paint for iaside walls. " MixK Paint. — ^A paint has been used on the Continent with success, made from TnUh and lime, that dries quicker than oil paint, and has no smell. It is made in the follow- ing manner : Take fresh curds and bruise the lumps on a grinding-stone, or in an earthen pan, or mortar, with a spa- tula or strong spoon. Then put them into a pot with an equal quantity of lime, well slacked with water, to make it just thick enough to be kneaded. Stir this mixture without adding more water, and a white-colored fluid will soon be obtained, which will serve as a parat. It may be laid on with a brush with as much ease us varnish, and it dries very speedily. It must, however, be used the same day it is made, for if kept till next d^y it will be too thick : conse- quently no more must be mixed up at one time than can be laid on in a ^ay. If any color be required, any of the ochres, as yellow ochre, or red ochre, or umber, may be mixed with it in any proportion. Prussian blue would be changed by the lime. Two coats of this paint will be suffi- cient, and when quite dry it may be polished with a piece of woollen cloth, or similar substance, and it wiU. become as bright as varnish. It wiU only do for inside work ; but it will last longer if varnished over with white of egg after it has been polished." " The following recipe for milk paint is given in 'Smith's Art of House Painting:' Take of skimmed milk nearly two quarts; of fresh-slaked lime about six ounces and a half; of linseed oil four ounces, and of whiting three pounds ; put the lime into a stone vessel, and pour upon it a sufficient quantity of milk to form a mixture resembling thin cream ; then add the oil, a little at a time, stirring it with a small spatula ; the remaining milk is then to be added, and lastly the whiting. The milk must on no account be sour. Slake the hme by dipping the pieces 188 PLilN AUD PLEASAST TAIS in water, ont of whicli it is to be immediately taken, and left to slake in the air. For fine white paint the oU of caraway is best, because colorless ; but with ochres the com- monest oils may be used. The oil when mixed with the milk and lime entirely disappears, and is totally dissolved by the lime, forming a calcareous soap. The whiting or ochre is to be gently crumbled on the surface of the fluid, which it gradually imbibes, and at last sinks : at this period it must be well stirred in. This paint may be colored like distemper or size-color, with levigated charcoal, yellow ochre, etc., and used ill the same manner. The quantity here prescribed is sufficient to cover twenty-seven square yards with the first coat, and it will cost about three halfpence a yard. The same paint will do for outdoor work by the addition of two ounces of slaked lime,* two ounces of linseed oU, and two ounces of white Burgundy pitch : the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat with the oil, and then added to the smooth mixture of , the milk and lime. In cold weather it must be mixed warm, to facilitate its incorporation with the milk." "We add several recipes of various convenient kinds of paint to be employed in particular situations, and for special purposes. " A coating to preserve wood in damp situations may be made by beating twelve pounds of resin in a mortar, and adding to it three pounds of sulphur and twelve pints of whale oil. This mixture must then be melted over afire, and stirred well while it is melting. Ochre of any required color, ground in oil, may be put to it. This composition must be laid on hot, and when the first coat is dry, which will be in two or three days, a second coat may be given ; and a third, if necessary." " Gas tar, with yellow ochre, makes a very cheap and durable green paint for iron raUs and coarse woodwork." ABODT FE0ITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 189 " Composition to lay on a hoa/rded building, to resist the weather and likewise fire. — Take one measure of fine sand, two measures of wood-ashes well sifted, three of slaked lime ground up with oil, and mix them together; lay this on with a brush, the first coat thin, the second thick. This adheres so strongly to the boards covered with it, that it resists an iron tool, and the action of fire, and is impene- trable by water." " A flexible paint for -canvas is made by stirring into fifty-six pounds of common oil paint a solution of soap lye, made of half a pound of soap and three pounds of water : it must be used while warm." " A black coloring for garden walls may be made by mixing quicklime, lampblack, a little copperas, and hot water." GARDEN WEEDS. After hot weather sets in many are naturally iaolined to relax their garden labors ; they have eaten their salads, their radishes and peas ; their beans and corn require but little attention, and as for the rest, it is left to the company of weeds, n Weeds. — If the garden be thoroughly ' hoed twice or three times, the labor of keeping down weeds the rest of the summer will be small. It is best to go over a compartment first with the hoe, to cut off weeds and loosen the soil, then with a rake go over it again, levelling and smoothing the surface, and collecting the weeds into heaps, which should be wheeled to the manure-corner and left to decay. In raking, tread backward so that your tracks will be covered by the rake, and the bed left even. Among the most vexatious weeds may be mentioned the purslain {JPortulacoa oleracea), commonly called pussly. It comes in May and lasts through, the summer. One plant 190 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK bears seed enough for a whole acre. It is very tenacious of life. The least hit of root sprouts again, and when rooted up, if a single fibre touches the soil, it starts off in full vigor. When boiled it furnishes a very palatable article of " greens." We go over the ground with a hoe, then rake it into heaps and wheel it to the barn-yard. Hogs are fond of it, and it is said to fatten them well. It is somewhat amusing to those who are vexed at its insuper- able intrusiveness and its inevitable vigor, to hear English garden-books speaking of it as " somewhat tender," of rais- ing it on hot-beds, of drilling it in the open garden, of watering it in dry weather thrice a week, and cutting it careftdly so that it may sprout again ! Cut it as you please, gentlejmen I rake it-into aUeys, let an August sun scorch it, and if there is so much as a handful of dirt thrown at^t, no ' fear but that it will sprout again. It is a vegetable type of immortality. The Jamestown weed (called jimpsum), the Spanish needle, lamb's-quarters, etc., are easily eradicated for the season by one or two hoeings. The grasses which infest gardens, spreading into a cultivated ground from the grass-plat, or brought in with manure, are easily weeded out if plucked ^hile small ; but if left, the long spreading- roots tear up tender plants along with them. It is said that if no seeds were brought into the land by wind or manure, or growth, the stock of weeds might be eradicated in eight years. But so long as comers and fence edges are reserved as weed-nurseries, to furnish an annual supply of seed, no one need fear that gardening will become too easy from want of work. We know of but two reasons for letting weeds grow to any size. In a large garden, when all the ground is not to be planted at once, the reserved portions may be suffered to sprout all the weeds, and when six or eight inches high, if turned under, they wiU furnish good manure. Again, when cut-worms are very numerous, when tomatoes and cabbages have been set out on a clean compartment, we ABOUT TEmTS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING. 191 have lost from a half to two-thirds of the plants. If the weeds are kept down just about the hill, and permitted to grow for a few weeks, between the rows, although it has a very slovenly look, it will save the cabbages, etc., by giving ample foot to the cut-worm. When the plants grow tough in the stem the weeds may be lightly spaded in, and the surface levelled with a rake. LUCERNE. This admirable plant is not so well known as it should be. It resembles a clover, and is used for green food for cattle, for which it is peculiarly adapted both by its nutriciousness and its endurance of repeated cuttings. Care must be taken to put it upon the right soil and it will bear mowing four or five times a year, and will last for ten years — with care five years more ! The eoU for it is a deep, a very deep vegetable loam, which drains itself perfectly and yet with- out becoming dry. It has a fusiform root, which, as the plant grows older, extends downward from four to six feet. The subsoil is regarded by Flemish farmers as of more importance than the surface soil. A stiflF, cold, clay, a wet and springy soil ; a hard, cold, wet subsoil of any sort, is unfavorable to it. It should therefore be tried on warm, dry, and rich soils, than which none are better than our sandy alluvions or bottom lands. During its first year it requires some care, to keep down weeds, as it is easily smothered ; but when once established it rules the soil in defiance of anything. If the ground is very clean, it may be sown broadcast ; but it is always safer and often necessary to driU it. Authors vary as to the quantity of seed required per acre, Von Thaer says six to eight pounds, while his French editor says from sixteen to eighteen. "We 192 PLAIN AHD PLBASANT TALK suppose that from ten to twelve pounds will be a fair amount. When the plants are well established they will be improved by severe harrowing every spring, a sharp har- row being used until the field looks as if it were plowed. ' Lucerne has been tried by a few cultivators in the West, but by more in the East, with gresit success, and it has this peculiar excellence, that, thanks to its very long roots, it withstands our severest droughts ; indeed our hottest and dryest summers are those which it seems to delight in. FAMILY GOVERNMENT. " WnLiAM I Stop that noise, I say — won't you stop ! Stop, I teU you, or I'll slap your mouth." William bawls a little louder. " William, I teU you ! ain't you going to stop ? Stop I say ! If you don't stop I'll whip you, sure." William goes up a fifth, and beats time with his heels. " I never saw such a child ! — he's got temper enough for a whole town ; I'm sure he didn't get it from me. Why don't you be stiU ! Whist. Wh-i-st. Come, come, be still, won't you ? Stop, stop, stop, I say ! Don't you see this — don't you see this stick ? See here now," (cuts the air with the stick). William, more fiirious, kicks very manfully at his mother —grows redder in the face, lets out the last note, and begins to reel, and shake, and twist, in a most spiteftd manner. '' Come, WUliam ! come dear— that's a darling— naughty William! come, that's a good boy; donty cry, p-o-o-r, little fellow; sant ab-o-o-s-e you, sail eh! Ma's ittle man, want a piece of sooger ? Ma's little boy got cramp, p-o-o-r little sick boy," etc., etc. About fkuits, flowebs asd faeming. 193 William wipes up, and miads, and eats his sugar, and stops. After Scutoi. — The minister is present, and very nice talk is going on upon the necessity of governing children. "Too true," says mamma, "some people will give up to their children, and it ruias them — every child should be governed. But then it won't do to carry it too far ; if one whips aU the time it will break a child's spirit. One ought to mix kindness and .firmness together in managing children." " I think so," said^the preacher ; " firmness first and then kindness." " Yes, sir, that's my practice exactly." CATALOGUE OF FLOWERS, SEEDS, AND FRUITS. We have received from different directions catalogues of seeds, flowers, and fruits. . Instead of a mere mention of them, we shall employ them as texts for some remarks on the departments to which they belong. The kinds, and varieties of the same kind of vegetables advertised are satisfactory. Then there is evidence that the easily besetting sin of seed establishments has been resisted and very much overcome, viz. : a prodigal multiplication of varieties. Now we do not wish to tie down a seedsman to only one variety of cucumber — one pea — one bean ; for there is great advantage in having many varieties of the same vegetable. Some love mUd radishes, and some love the full peppery taste ; as both qualities cannot exist ia the same variety it is desirable to have two. But some radishes which do admirably in the spring and early summer, lose their good qualities if planted in summer. We therefore seek and find a summer variety. This again fails for late 9 194 PIAIH AlTD PLEASANT TALK autumnal use, and we procure a (so called) winter sort. We need one pea for its earJiness : but early fruit seldom has size or a high flavor ; we desire other varieties, there- fore, for flavor, even ' though, in giving them a longer period to perfect their juices, we have a late pea. But some men raise peas for market, and cannot afford to raise a pea merely because fine-flavored, unless also it is prolific. Then, once more, market peas must be raised, usually as a Jidd- pea, and sown broadcast. Some peas stand up stronger than others, and these are of course preferred. Now, as we cannot find any vegetable that combines all the qualities of earliness, size, flavor, and adaptation to variety of soil and diversity of cultivation, we come as near to it as possible, by gaining varieties, in which some one or more of these qualities are better developed than in any others. Th« rea- sons for multiplying varieties afford a rule, by which they may be limited. ( The fact thd,t a seed is a variety different from aU others is no good reason for retaining or cultivating it ; it must, in SOME respects, surpass others now in use, or it only encum- bers the garden. What is the use of ten varieties of peas ripening at the same time of one size, and differing from each other in not one assignable particular ? When a cata- logue eamaerdXes fifty varieties of cabbage, or pea, or bean, .are we to believe that each of the fifty has a virtue peculiar to itself? If not, if two-thirds of them have no merit which is not found, and found in a higher degree, in the one-third they have no business to be retained. Let the one-third, stand and the rest be erased. We regard a very fat catalogue as we do a very fat man — air the worse for its obesity. In comparing catalogues, we are not left as much without an authoritative standard of judgment, in respect to a proper extension of the nunriber of varieties, as might at first appear. English gardening has been carried to such a degree of excellence, -both as an art and as a science, that we may regard the deliberate judgment of the best gar- ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 195 deners as law on this subject. When Loudon published his invaluable " Encyclopedia of Gardening," he was peraaitted by the London Horticultural Society to avail himself of the services of the distinguished Monro in. the department of culinary vegetables. Let us compare the catalogues of three first rate seedsmen as it respects a multiplication of varieties, with Mr. Monro's selections : f r .- i ^ I- >f ^^ •^; a i i <■> a u m U Ik n hj 2 15 10 2 6 5 8 9 22 10 IS T 20 15 24 8 "li" Breck Prince IT ?fi 8 9 80 •49 4T 61 60 Mr. Monro names nineteen kinds of peas only, instead oi forty-seven : twenty-two kinds of beans rastead of sixty- one / seven varieties of turnip instead of twenty-two^ or, worse yet, thirty ; fourteen sorts of lettuce, instead oi fifty- two. To the uninitiated a catalogue may look meagre with only eight kinds of lettuce instead oi fifty ; fifteen beans instead of sixty-one^ etc., but these corpulent catalogues make meagre pockets, except in the case of the seedsman. A much greater latitude of varieties is allowable in a nursery catalogue than in a seedsman's list. But ia even these there ig a disposition to extravagance which needs to be cor- rected. Where the disproportion of knowledge between the buyers and seller is so great as it- is, and for some time, must be, in horticultural matters, it becomes nurserymen and seedsmen who are honest (and we have many such, and they are increasing) — ^those who regard their busiaess as an honorable branch of science., as well as a proper means of 'livelihood, and who hope to gain a high rejputation., even 196 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK more than they do wealth, it heoomes such to render the lists SELECT ; and while the nionstrously bloated catalogues of boasting and avaricious men continue to perplex and de- ceive -the unwaiy, let all intelligent cultivators sustain those who rely on the qitality rather than quantity of their articles. GARDEN SEEDS. Good seeds are the very first requisite for a good garden ; soil and culture cannot make good crops out of bad seed. 1. As a general rule, buy yow seeds. The reasons for it are so many and so good, that you wiU Certainly do it, unless economy prevent ; but it is better to economize else-, where. In the first place, seed-raising is a delicate business ; and, for many reasons, will be better done by those who make it their -business, than by those who do not. A reputable seedsman never dreams of raising, himself, all the seeds which he sells. For example, one sort of seed is let out to a farmer who contracts to raise it in a given soil and man- ner, and at a distance from all other seeds. One man raises the beet seed— another man, very often hundreds of nules distant, another sort. Peas are sent to Vermont and to Canada, where the pearbug does not infest them. Some seeds, for whick this climate is not favQrable, are imported from Italy, from Guernsey— just as flowering bulbs are from Holland. We suppose this to be true of Landreth, Thorn- burn, Prince, Breck, Risley, etc. In cases where seeds are raised upon the premises of the seedsman, they are put on different parts of the farm, as far apart as possible. These precautions are indispensable to the procuration of the best seeds of esculent vegetables. Species of the same genus, with open flowers, are so easily crossed, that, if ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWBBS AND PAEMING, 197 grown contiguously, they cannot be kept pure. AH cucwrhi- taceous plants, such as squashes, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc., will mix and degenerate if planted even in the same garden. Let any one who wishes to see how it is ^one-, watch the bee covering itself with golden pollen as it searches for honey in the cells of the flower, and darting off to another, mingling the fertilizing powder of the two. In a single morning, cucumbers will be mixed with each other, and with canteloupes; squashes wiU be crossed, and in the next generation will show it. Where the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea, bean, etc., by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their poUen. I I have never known pure beet seed raised in a private gar- den which had more than the~ single kind in it — or when another garden was near which had other sorts. We prefer, generally, northern seeds to those raised elsewhere. A mere change of soil and climate is often advantageous to seeds. But besides this, greater care and skill are usually employed at the north in producing sound and safe seeds. - We can recommend, from repeated trials, the seeds of Risley, Chatauque county, N". T., and of Mr. Breck-of Boston. Landreth of Philadelphia has a high reputation, but we have been unfortmiate in using his seeds — very probably from lack of skill. We shall try them again next summer. Our early York cabbages proved to be trifling flower seeds — ^Lima beans were the white Dutch runners. Not one of five of their peas vegetated. The beets were not good seed, and the variety (blood beet) not pure. The experience of others, at this point, is like ours. , Unless, more care is tak«n in that establishment their seeds wUl lose all credit. Their lettuce seed has always proved good, and such others as are easy to raise. 2. We insert a table, exhibiting the years which different seeds will retain their vitality. 198 PLAIN AND FI^BABANT TAI.K TIME THAT SEEDS WILL KEEP. TEARS, Asparagus 4 or 13 Balm 2 Basil 1 or 3 Beans 1 or 2 Beets 8 or 10 2 6or8 Carrot". 1 or 7 Celery 6 or 8 Corn 2 or S Cress 2 Cucumber 8 or 10 Caraway 4 Fennel 5 Garlic 3 Leek 3 or 4 Lettuce S or 4 Mangel Wurtzel 8 or 10 TBIBB. Marjoram ^ . . . 4 Melon... 8 or 10 Mustard 3 or 4 Nasturtium 2 or 3 Onion 3 Parsley , 6 or 6 Parsnip 1 Pea 2 or 8 Pumpkin 8 or 10 Pepper B or 6 Badish 6 or 8 Bue 3 Buta Baga 4 Salsify 2 Savory 3 or 4 Spinage 8 or 4 Squash 8 Or 10 Turnip 3 or 4 Some seeds retain their power of germination to an astonishing length of time, as will appear from facts stated by Prof. Lindley : " Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken from the Pyramids having germinated, melons have been known to grow at the age of 40 years, kidney beans at 100, sensitive-plant at 60, rye at 40 ; and there are now grow- ing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberry plants raised from seeds 1600 or 1700 years old." (See " Introduction to Botany," ed. 3, p. 358.) But in selecting seeds, fresh ones should be had if pos- sible. Where, however, the vegetable is cultivated for the sake of its flower, or its fruit, it is sometimes better to select old seed. Thus balsamines (the touch-mp-not) and the cucumber, squash and melon tribe do bstter on seeds three or four years old; for fresh seeds produce plants whose growth will be too luxuriant for producing fruit; whereas from old seed, the plants have less vigor of growth but a greater tendency to fruit welL ABOUT FETJITS, FLOWBKS AND B-AKMING. 199 FARMER'S GARDENS. Faembes are apt to have very inferior gardens. The plea is, that in the spring they have no time ; the farm crops are of more importance. In consequence of such a decision, no garden will be had unless the housewife is willing to be gardenwife too. At her importlinity at length one horse is put to the plow and the garden is broken up — say four inches deep. Possibly the boy is allowed to throw up the beds, but very often even this is left to woman's hand. She has to hunt up seed ; peppers are pulled off from the ceiling and eviscerated ; drawers are ransacked for the bag of ra- dish seed or the paper of lettuce seed ; the old broken pitcher is taken from its long seclusion on the top of the cupboard and emptied of its beans and peas ; withal a few flower seeds are added to grace the stock — ^four o'clocks, poppies, marigolds, and touch-me-nots. Our gardenwife is not so admirable for lily hands or fair face, or fairy form. She cannot walk over dewy flowers without crushiag them, as can a true heroine ; for her specific gravity gives evidence of a good constitution, health and habits. Her praise is, that in a new country where woman unques- tionably suffers the most of hardships, she is cheerful, con- tented, industrious, enterprising, and, like women the world over, seeks to draw around herself objects of taste and beauty to decorate and cheer her husband's and her child- ren's home ; and, if necessary, to do it by the field-labor of her own hands. "We could not forbear saying so much of the meritorious gardener of more than half the rural gar- dens in the West. The seeds all mustered, she may be seen, after the break- fast things are all done up, busy. with spade and hoe, hiding her treasures. And thus she does it. First a liberal suit of onion beds — savory vegetables' to the tongue and most unsavory to the nose-^-making it almost impossible for these respectable, neighbors to live together in peace, one or 200 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Other of them being in bad odor with the other. ISText, a seed-bed full of cabbages — significant to the imagination of cold-slaw, sourcrout, etc. A. good row of peas, and a few hills of running beans are added. The alleys are ruffled with bush beans ; a few early potatoes, some corn for roast- ing-ears, with a slender bed for beets, complete the stock of esculents. But sage, and summer savory, and thyme, and rue, and sweet marjoram, tansy, boneset and wormwood are attended to ; a part for stuffing ducks and chickens — and the others for curing those who have been too much stuffed with them. The garden yields in due time its first fruits ; the potatoes come and go, the com is early plucked, lettuce shoots up its seed-stalk, peas render their tribute and grow sere, beans rattle in the pod, and before August her work is done and her garden forsaken except a small retinue of flowers, which are nursed to the last. Weeds now make up for lost time, and in a few weeks a we.edy forest hides every trace of cultivation. This is not a fancy sketch ; we have been -far from drawing a picture from the worst specimens ; it is a fair average case. Our business is, not to quarrel with the farmer, but to suggest a better plan for his garden. "We saw the plan stated some years ago ; where, we have forgotten, but think well of it. It is simply this : let the garden be an oblong — say three times as long as it is broad— and cultivate it with the plow. Instead of having beds, let all seeds be planted in . rows running the whole length of the garden. For example, begin with one row of beets — or more if wanted; next a row or rows of carrots, parsnips, cabbages, potatoes, corn, and all about three feet apart. The same system should be followed for small fruits — currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc. — and it wiU have this advan- tage ov6r common gardens, that the bushes wiU have sun and air on all sides, and be more -fruitful and more healthy for it. The whole garden, thus arranged, can bfe kept in order with very little labor. A single-horse plow will dress ABOUT FEUrrS, PLOWEES AND FAEMING. 201 between the rows of the whole garden in a very little time and save all hand-hoeing. The hand-weeding in the row may be performed by women or children. In large towns ground is scarce and labor abundant. G.irdens, therefore, are properly laid out for economy of space. In the country the reverse is true ; land is abundant but labor scarce and dear ; of course gardens should be laid out not to save room, but to economize labor. The plan suggested will save labor, improve the garden, and take from the wife the drudgery of the spade and hoe. EARLY DAYS OF SPRING. If the soil be thrown up during the open weather into ridges, an immense number of insects will be unburrowed and destroyed; stiff clayey soils will be rendered more crumbling and mellow by exposure to frost. If advantage is taken of the weather to haul manure, let it be slacked up, and ,a little earth thrown over it, else the volatile and most valuable portions will escape. Ashes" may be spread over the garden ; a small portion of refuse salt will benefit the ground, and may be sown now. Clear the ground of all vines, stalks, haulm. If you have flowering bulbs, cover slightly with coarse manure — they wiU not be so much tried by the changes of temperature and moisture, and will flower stronger for it. Bright, dry days afford a fine time for going to the woods and cutting poles for your beans, stakes for your trees and dahlias, brush for peas, etc. "While you are about it, coUect moss from old logs, and put away in the barn or shed to cover the ground in summer where roses and shrubs have been newly set out, and require to be kept moist. If not done before, put two or three forks full of coarse green manure about tender shrubs 202 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK — Noisette and China roses. Freezing and thawing at the crown of the roots, destroys them oftener than anything else. On mUd days when the earth is open, sow lettuce seed in a warm corner, beat it gently with the back of the shovel, and cover it slightly with fiiae earth or old crumbling manure. You will have lettuce ten days earlier for your trouble. Pepper-grass and radishes may be sowed in like manner. It®" Let alone- the knife and saw. Your vines and trees win not be benefited by any pruning at this season. PARLOR FLOWERS. Watbe freely such as are in pots, while in blossom. The flower stalks will be apt to shoot up taller and weaker than in the garden, and wiU require rods to support them. Let the rod be thrust down about two inches from the cen- tre of the flower, and attach the flower stem to it by one or two ligaments. Flowers in small stove rooms can be kept in health with extreme diflBoulty. The heat forces their growth, or injures the leaves. They should be washed oflf once a week (either on a mUd day out of doors, or in a warm room within, if the weather be severe), as the dust settles upon the leaf, and stops up the stomata (mouths) by which the leaf perspires and breathes. If green aphides iofest them, put a pan of coals beneath the stand, and throw on a half-handful of coarse tobacco. In half an hour every insect will tumble off. Let such as lie on the surface of the earth be removed or crushed, as they will else revive. ?\ants should have fresh air every day. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND PAEmNG. 203 A SALT RECIPE. There is a great fashion, now-ardays, in all papers, to set forth useful recipes for every imaginable purpose. Every newspaper has its weekly budget of recipes. Our magazines have a page of original recipes ; and, before long, why should not the North American Review, or the Edinburgh Meview come out with their quarterly bill of fare reciped in fuU ? So practical is our nineteenth cen- tury, that our literary men and women feel it to be a solemn duty to indite novel recipes for cooking, seasoning, remov- ing stains, curing diseases, etc. ; and why not? If one can invent a sonnet, an elegy, or worse yet, a poem, and thus draw people's brains a wool-gathering in the regions of imagination, ought they not to atone for their license by an invention equally substantial for the body? Miss Leslie writes a beautiful story, and a recipe for manipulating lobsters. Miss Martineau writes travels, political econo- mies and suggestions on plum pudding. Mrs. Sigourney tunes her lyre with a hand most redolent of pies, cakes and gingerbread. Such is the aspect of culinary affairs, and the rights of women, that the day seems at hand when no learning will sustain a man, and no accotaplishments a woman, who does not understand the art and mystery of cooking. It wiU be the duty of some future Heyne to give accurate recipes for all the feasts of Homer's heroes, the ingredients of aU the Horacian drinking-bouts — the dishes of Virgil's fine feUows, as well as the minor matters of armor, language, manners, and customs ; and a good lexi- con, Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, must contain clearly written recipes for all the dishes used by the people whose lan- guage it sets forth. We have been led into this grand prairie of reflections by a recipe found in a country paper, which unquestionably is salty. " Indian Baked Pudding. — Indian pudding is good and wholesome, baked. Scald a quart of milk, and stir in seven 204 PtAIN AUD PLBASAKT TALK table spoonfuls of salt, a tea-cupM of molasses, and a great spooaful of ginger, or sifted cinnamon. Bake three or four hours. If you want whey you must he sure and pour in a little cold milk, after it is all mixed. Try it." If Misses- Leslie, Childs, etc., refuse to mother such a recipe, with no Indian meal in it, but seven mortal spoon- fuls of salt, then we will consider it as emanating from Lot's wife. We are sure if one should eat many such puddings, he would speedily come to her estate. CULTURE OF CELERY. ^ Wb know of no vegetable which requires more care and skill in its cultivation, from beginning to end, than celery- An inexperiened hand wiU be apt to faU ia planting his seed, fail in preparing the trenches, and fail in earthing up the plants and bleaching them. And yet, celery is so generally a favorite that every family desires it, and every gardener is willing to cultivate it. Seed Sowing. — ^The seed is exceedingly slow in germi- nation, and, if not assisted artificially, wiU lie three and sometimes four weeks without sprouting. We soak the seed in water, (a' solution of oxalic acid would be much better), for twenty-four hours : turn off the water, and then a;dd and stir up a few handfuls of sand, well moistened, and let the seed stand in a stove room or other warm place, for two or three days. The sand wiU now be nearly dry ; if it be not, add dry sand to it until it is perfectly powdery, and can be sown without falling in lumps. Besides hasten- ing its germination, mixing- the seed with sand ena- bles the operator to sow it with greater facility and evenness. Select a shaded spot, let the earth be rich, rather inclined to moisture, and perfectly mellow. Sow ABOUT I'ETJITS, PLOWEES ANB FAEMING. 205 the seed broadcast, and cover very thinly by sifting over it finely pulverized mold. Beat the bed gently with the hack of the spade to settle the earth firmly about the seed. Don't fear that the seed mil be troubled by beating ; every seed should have the earth pressed to it by a smart stroke of the hoe, hand, spade, or by the pressure of a roller. • If the weather is exceedingly warm and dry, cover your seed-bed with matting or old carpet, to retain the moisture. When up let them be well weeded, until they are six inches high, when they are to be removed to the trench foj: blanching. FiEST Teansplanting. — The process here detailed maybe whoUy omitted by those who are obliged to economize time and labor. But those who wish to do the very best that can be done — ^who wish to avoid spindling, weak plants, and secure strong and vigorous ones — transplant their celery to a level bed of very rich soil, placing the plants four inches apart every way. They are cultivated here for about five weeks, when they will have attained a robust habit, or, technically, they wiU have became stocky — ^for which purpose they were thus transplanted. Cbleet Teenches. — ^Dig your trenches about eighteen inches wide, and one foot deep, laying a shovelful of dirt alternately on each side of the trench, that it may be con- veniently drawn in on both sides when you earth up. K you are favored with a very deep and rich loamy soil, such as often abounds in Western gardens, you will need little or no manure. But usually about four inches of vegetable mold and very thoroughly rotted manui-e, should be placed in the bottom of the trench and gdntly spaded in. No part of the culture is more critical than manuring.' If the soil is slow, poor, and stingy, the celery will be dwarfish, tough and strong. On the other hand, if you employ new, rank, fiery manure, although you will have a vigorous growth, the stalks will be hollow, watery, coarse and flavor- less. Let the manure be very thoroughly decayed and mixed half and half with leaf or vegetable mold, ' 206 PLAIIT AND PLEASANT TALK Setj the plants five inches apart, water them freely with a fine rosed watering pot, and, if the sun is fierce, cover the trenches daily from ten a.m. tUl evening with boards/ In about a week they wiU begin to grow and will need no more shading. Letthem alone, except to weed, until the plants are from twelve to "fifteen inches high — at which time they are to be earthed up. Eaething Up. — ^In dry weather, with a short, hand-hoe, draw in the earth gently from each side and bring it up carefully to the stalk. The soil must be kept out of the plant, and it is best for the first and perhaps the second time of earthing, to gather up the leaves in the left hand, and holding them together, to draw the earth about them. FiU in about once in two weeks, and always when the pumts are dry. When the trench is fuU, the process is still to go on, and at the close of the season your plants will be exactly reversed — instead of standing in a trench they will top out from a high ridge. Saving Celery in "Wintee. — ^Three ways may be men- tioned. Letting it stand in the trench — in which case it should be covered with long straw and boards so laid over it that it will be protected from the wet, which is supposed to be more prejudicial to it than mere cold. The Boston market gardeners dig it late in autumn, trim oif the fibrous roots, cut off the top, lay it for two days in an airy shed, turning it, say twice a day, and then pack it in layers of perfectly dry sand, in a barrel. After laying two days to air it goes into the barrel much wilted, but regains its plumpness, and comes out as fresh as fi•om^the trench. Lastly, it may be put in rows on the cellar bottom, with- out trimming, and earth heaped up about it. Set a plank at an angle of forty-five degrees and bank up the earth against it, set a row of roots and cover them with dirt, then another row and so on. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND PAEMING. 207 Solid celery is not a particular variety — any celery is solid when properly grown — and if grown too rankly the most solid celery in the world will be hollow. We have seen it recommended to water the trenches once or twice during the season with a weak brine of salt and water. Besides the fertilizing effect of salt, it wUl have the effect of retaining moisture in the soil, and what is of yet more moment, it destroys the parasitical fungus (Piiooinca Seraclei) which attacks and rusts the plant, and probably would, also, guard it against a maggot which is apt to infest and very much injure it. There is an insect, which, in very dry weather, is apt to stiag the leaf and cause it to wilt. While the dew is m in the morning, sift lime over the plants once or twice, and it wiU check the fly. If any think these directions too minute and the process vexatious, they are at liberty to try a cheaper method — and may, once in a whUe, succeed. But a certain crop, year by year, cannot be expected without exact and very careful cultivation. We have learned this by sorrowful expe- rience. The main crop of celery need not be placed in the trenches until the middle of July or the first of August. It's greatest growth wiU be in the fall months. Seedling Trees. — Many trees which are entirely hardy when grown, are very tender during the first and second winters. Cover them with straw, refuse garden gatherings, leaves, etc. Sometimes it is best to raise them and lay them in hy the heels, by which those gardeners designate the operation of laying trees in trenches or excavations, and covering the roots and a considerable portion of the stems. This will not be extra labor in aU cases when the young trees are to be reset. At any rate, the second year in nursery rows. 208 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK CULTURE OF PIE-PLANT. Beginners should in all cases, if possible, obtain a supply of plants, from a proved sort, by dividing the root. Raising from seed is an after, and an amateur practice. The first object with every man is to supply his family with this esculent, and not to experiment with new sorts. Let "him buy or beg from garden or nursery, enough buds to estab- lish a bed, of some kind already known to be good. The best season of the year for dividing the root is in the spring ; the next best is in late autumn ; and the worst in midsummer — as we have abundantly ascertained by experr- ment. The reason is plain. Like bulbs,- and tubers, the I'oot of the pierplant stores up in itself during one season, a supply of organizable matter enough to enable -it to start oif the next season, without any dependence upon the soil. Dahlias, potatoes, onions, turnips, cabbages, etc., it is well known, are able to grow for a considerable time, in the spring, without any connection with the soU; being sustained by that supply which they had treasured up within themselves the previous autumn. When this is exhausted, they will die, if they have not been put in con- nection with food from without. When pie-plant is divided in the spring, it is full of the material of life, and a bud cut off from the main root with a portion of the root attached, has a supply of food until new roots are emitted, which in good soil and weather will be in^ about a week. There is the same vitality in autumn, and the only reason why it is not so good for transplanting as spring, is the risk that the buds and roots will rot off during the winter. A uniform winter wUl scarcely injure one in a hundred, but constant changes, freezing and thawing, will weaken, if not destroy many of them. When, however, it is necessary to divide and transplant in the fall, cover the bed full four inches deep with coarse, strong manure. Although great care will enable one to transplant a section of the root in mid- ABOUT FKUITS, TLOWEES AND FARMING. 209 summer, yet we have found that when no more attention is paid than in spring, nine plants are lost out of ten. The reason is obvious. There is no reserved treasure of sap in the root in summer, such as gives it vitality in spring or autumn. If for any reason we must take up a root in summer, let every possible fibre be saved, the plant well watered and sheltered until it begins to grow again. Raising fkom Sbed. — The origination of new varieties of fruits, flowers arid .esculent vegetables is one of the greatest rewards of gardening. Almost every seed of the pie-plant wUl produce a variety. We have thought our- selves repaid for trouble if one in fifty seedling plants were worth saving. It requires a fuU two years' trial to improve a sort. Of fifty plants, say twenty-five may be rejected peremptorily the first season, the petioles being mere wires. Of the other twenty-five, one or two'will give great promise, and the others wiQ be doubtful. Let them be transplanted in the spring of the second season, into very mellow, rich, deep loam, full three feet apart every way, and here they may stand until the owner is fully satisfied, by the trial of one or more seasons, which are good and which inferior. In marking seedling plants, the cultivator should bear in mind that there are two kinds required, viz. a very early sort, and one for the later and main supply. If a plant has smaU stalks, and is late too, reject it of course. If it be very early, it may be valuable even if quite small. Some sorts are fit for plucking five or six weeks before others ; we have a variety which comes forward almost the moment the frost leaves the gi-ound in the spring, or in warm speUs in winter. In selecting a late sort from your seedlings, several qualities must be consulted. The plant should manifest an indisposition to go to seed ; should be apt. to throw out an abundance of leaves, to supply those taken off; the petioles should be large ; the meat rich and substantial. There is great difference between one sort and another in the 210 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK amount of sugar required, in the delicacy of flavor, and in the property of stewing to a pulp, without wasting away. A good variety of pie-plant, then, should be a vigorous grower, prolific, large in the stalk, not apt to flower, of a sprightly acid without any earthy or woody taste, not stew- ing away more than one-third when cooked, and not requir- ing too much sugar. We have observed in our trials that seedlings having smooth leaves, with the upper surface varnished and glossy, are seldom good ; while every plant which we have thought worth keeping, had the upper surface of its leaves of a deep, dull, lack-lustre green. FoEMATioN, OF A Bed. — Select a strong and rich loam ■ Let it be spaded full two feet deep. If the subsoil has never been worked, and is clay, or gravel, a large supply of old manure should be mixed with it. Our working-method is this: Mark off the square, begin on one side, lay out a full spadeful of the top-soil clear across the bed ; lay four or five inches of manure in the trench, and then spade it down a full twelve inches deep ; beginning again by the side of the first trench, put the top-soil of the second into the first ; add manure and spade as before ; and so across the bed. The suiface-soU thrown out of the first trench may be wheeled down and put into the last one. This process will leave the bed much higher than it was ; let it stand one "or two weeks to settle. K the bed is prepared in autumn it will be better, and in the spring it may be half-spaded again before planting. Mark out, by line, rows three feet apart, and set your plants in the rows three feet from plant to plant,- if of the large kind, and two feet, if of the small. Very large varieties require four feet every way.- The buds should be left just below the surface of t^e soil. Aftek Cdltube. — ^Through the summer keep the surface mellow and free from weeds. In the fall of the year, when the leaves show signs of falling, form a compost heap of ABOUT rETJITS, ITiOWEES AND PAEMING, 211 fine charcoal, if you can get it from blacksmith's or else- where, vegetable mold, ashes, and very old manure. Spread and spade in a good coat of this, spading lightly near to the plants and deeply between th^m. When frost destroys the tops wholly, cover the bed with coarse, strong manure about four inches deep, smooth it down, and let it remain thus. The next spring stir the surface smartly with a rake, and no further care will be required except to pluck out any weeds that grow through the summer. Gatheking. — Leaves are constantly springing from the centre. Of course the fuU-grown ones will be on the out- side. These should be harvested, leaving the inside ones to mature. By going regularly over your bed, and taking in turn the outside leaves, a bed maybe used till July with- out the slightest injury. Other fruit, after that time, usually displaces pie-plant and leaves it to rest the remainder of the year. The leaf-stalks should not be cut off. Slide the hand down as near as possible to the root, and give the stalk a backward and sidewise wrench and it will be detached at a joint or articulation, and no stump wiU be left to rot and injure the root — we usually cut off the leaves on the spot, leaving them about the root, both for shade to the ground and for manure. Pbeseeve toub Pot-Plants. — We warn ladies having pot-plants designed for winter-wear, to be prudent before hand, or some frosty night will cut every tender plant left out, and then prudence will be good for nothing. Every one who pretends to keep parlor plants should own a thermometer. If at sundown or at nine o'clock it stands anywhere near forty degrees, your plants are in danger.- Sometimes it wiU fall, in one night, from fifty degrees to below thirty-two degrees, which last is the freezing point. Sl2 PLADT AUD PLBASAilT TAIK SUN-FLOWER SEED. To some extent this is likely to become a profitable crop. Medium lands will yield, op an average, fifty bushels; while first-rate lands wUl yield from seventy to a hundred bushels. Mode of Ctjltivation. — ^The ground is prepared in aU respects as for a corn crop, and the seed sown in drills four feet apart — one plant to every eighteen inches ia the drill. It is to be plowed and tended in all respects like a crop of com. Haevesting. — ^As the heads ripen, they are gathered, laid on a bam floor and threshed with a flail. The seed shells very easUy. i Use. — The seed may be employed in fattening ho^, feed- ing poultry, etc., and for this last purpose it is better than grain. But the seed is more valuable at the oil-mill than elsewhere. It will yield a gallon to the bushel without trouble ; and by careful working, more than this. Hemp yields one and a fourth gallons to the bushel, and flax-seed one and a half by ordinary pressure ; but two gallons under the hydraulic press. The oil has, as yet,' no established market price. It will range from seventy cents to a dollar, according as its value shall be established as an article for lamps and for painters' use. But at seventy cents a gallon for oil, the seed would command fifty-five cents a bushel, which is a much higher price than can be had for corn. It is stated, but upon how sufficient proof we know not, that sun-flower oil is excellent for burning in lamps. It has also been tried by our painters to some extent; and for inside work, it is said to be as good as linseed oil. Mr. Hannaman, who- has kindly put us in possession of these facts, says, that the oil resembles an animal, rather than a vegetable oil; that it has not the varnish properties of the linseed oil. We suppose by varnish is meant, ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEBS AND PAEMING. 213 the albumen and mucilage ■which are found in vegetable oils. The foUowing analysis of hemp-seed, and flax-seed, or as it is called in England lint or linseed, will show the proportions of various ingredients ki one hundred parts. Hemp-seed. Linseed. (BucholE.) (Leo Meier.) Oil, 19.1 11.3 Husk, etc 38.3 44.4 Woody fibre and starch, 5.0 1.5 Sugar, etc 1.6 1&.8 Gum, 9.0 1.1 Soluble albumen (Casein ?) 24.'7 16.1 Insoluble do r- S.I Wax and resin, 1.6 8.1 Loss, 0.7 S.O 100 100 The existence of impurities in oil, such as mucilage, albu- men, gum, etc., which increase its value to the painter, dimin- ishes its value for the lamp, since these substances crust or cloy the wick, and prevent a clear flame^ All oils may, therefore, the less excellent they are for painting, be regarded as the more valuable for burning. Mope-seed is extensively raised in Europe, chiefly in Flanders, for its oU, and is much used for burning. Ten quarts may be extracted from a bushel of seed. We append a table represent- ing the richness of various seeds, etc., in oil. Oil per cent. Linseed (flax) 11 to 22 Hemp-seed, .' 14 to 25 Rape-seed, 40 to 10 Poppy-seed, , 36 to 83 White mustard-seed 36 to 48 Black mustard-seed, IB Swedish turnip-seed, '. 34 Sun-flower seed, 16 Walnut kernels 40 to 70 214 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Hazel-nut kernels, 60 Beech-nut kernels 16 to lY Plum-stone do 33 Sweet almond kernels, 40 to 84 Bitter do. do 28 to 46 APRIL GARDEN-WORK. EvEKT one will now he at work in the garden. A few suggestions may make your garden better. Plowing Gardens. — We do not Uke the practice except when the garden is large, and the owner unaMe to meet the expense of spading. But if you must plow, let that be well done. Those contemptible little one-horse ploTW, with which most gardens are plowed, should be discarded., The best plowing will be too shallow, but these spindUng little plows, drawn by a little meagre horse, will skim over your ground, averaging from three to four inches deep, and pre- paring your soil to receive the utmost possible detriment from summer droughts. What chance have young roots, or the finer fibres of plants, to penetrate more than a few inches of surface-soil ? Persons come to our garden and wonder why some vegetables flourish so well, while they never have luck with them, " It must be a difference of soil." No, it is the diflerence of working it. Give your vegetables a chance to descend eighteen or twenty inches if they incline to it, and you will have no more .trouble. A large plow should be used, and you should stand- by and see that it is put in to the beam. A garden soil is usually mellow, and a plow can go to its full depth without hurtiug the horses. Spading. — This mode of working the ground will always be employed by those ambitious of having a Jirst-rate gar- den. Indeed, where there is much shrubbery and perma- nent beds, as of asparagus, pie-plant, strawberry, and plant- ABOUT FBUITS, PIOWEES AND TAEMING. 215 ations of currants, raspberries, etc., spading is the oidy method which can be employed. SpADmo Sheubbert. — Let very fine manure be spread about roses, honeysuckles, and ornamental shrubs (where they are not standing in a grass-lawn). Beginning at the plant, with great care turn over the soil one or two inches deep, yet so as not to injure the fibres ; gradually deepen the stroke of your spade as you go out from the plant ; at two feet from the shrub you may put in the spade half its depth, and at three feet to its full depth. You wiU of course cut many roots, but they wiU very soon re-form and send out fibres, and by the manure spaded in, be supplied with abundant nourishment for the season. Spading Flowbe Beds. — This requires a practised hand. There is danger of wounding and displacing clumps of flower-roots, or of filling the crowns with dirt, or of leaving the surface uneven, and the edges ragged. If there is a skillful gardener to be had, hire it done, and watch while he performs, for any man who has seen a thing done in a garden once, ought to be ashamed if he cannot himself do it afterwards. Spading Vegetable Beds. — ^Asparagus, pie-plant, straw- berries, etc., require enriching every year, and to have, the manure forked or spaded in. It is easy to perform this upon strawberries, and a spade is preferable. A three or four-pronged fork is better, for asparagus and pie-plant. Be careful not to tear or cut the crowns of the plants. N"o material injury ensues from chpping the side fibres, in the spring; in summer, when a plant requires all its mouths to supply sap for its extended surface of lea^ it is not wise to cut the roots or fibres at all, but only to keep the surface mellow and friable. Deep Spading. — Ames' garden-spades measure twelve inches in length of blade. In a good soil the foot may gain one or two additional inches by a good thrust. Thus the soil is mellowed to the depth of fourteen inches. This will 216 PLAIN Airo PLBASAlirT TALK do very ■well ; but if you aspire to do the very best, another course must be first pursued. The first spadeful must be thrown out, and a second depth gained, and then the top soil returned. This is comparatively slow and laborious, but it need not be done more than orice ia five years, and by dividing the garden into sections, and performiag this thorough-spading on one of the sections each year, the pro- cess win. be foimd, practically, less burdensome than it seems to be. GETTING POOR ON RICH LAND AND RICH ON POOR LAND. A CLOSE observer of men and things told us the follow- ing little history, which we hope will plow very deeply into the attention of all who plow very shallow in their soils. Two brothers settled together in county. One of them on a cold, ugly, clay soil, covered with black-jack oak, not one of which was large enough to make a half dozen rails. This man would never drive any but large, powerful, Conastoga horses, some seventeen hands high. He always put three horses to a large plow, and plunged it in some ten inches deep. This deep ■ plowing he invariably practised and cultivated thoroughly, afterward. He raised Tiis seventy bushels of corn to the acre. This man Had a brother about six miles off, settled on a rich "White River bottom-land farm —and while a black- jack clay soil yielded seventy bushels to the acre, this fine bottom-land would not average fifty. One brother was steadily growing rich on poor land, and the other steadily growing poor on rich land. One day the bottom-land brother came down to see the black-jack oak farmer, and they began to talk about their crops and farms, as finrmers are very apt to do. ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWEKS AND FAKMING. 217 "How is it," said the first, "that you manage on this poor soil to beat me in crops ?" They reply was " I woek my Icmd.'''' That was it, exactly. Some men have such rich land that they won't work it ; and they never get a step beyond where they began. They rely on the soU, not on labor, or skill, or care. Some men expect their lahds to work, and some men expect to wokk theik land ; — and th at is just the difiference between a good and a bad farm er. When we had written thus fe,r, and read it to our infor- mant, he said, " three years ago I travelled again through that section, and the only good farm I saw was this very one of which you have just written. AU the others were desolate — fences down — cabins abandoned, the settlers dis- couraged and moved off. I thought I saw the same old stable door, hanging by one hinge, that used to disgust me ten years before ; and I saw no change except for the worse in the whole county, with the single exception of this one farm." GETTING READY FOR WINTER. HAUii tanbark and bank up around the house to insure a warm cellar. Cellar windows should be kept open through the day, and closed after the nights begin to freeze, as late in the season as possible. See that dry walks are prepared from the house to aU the out-houses. Do not be stingy of your materials; make 'the paths high and rounding^ so as to insure dryness, especially about the barn. See that stones, gravel, or timber are laid so as to be out of the way of cat- tle's feet, and just in the waly of your own. We have seen swamp-barn-yards, before going into which a prudent man would choose to make his will. Mud on the shoes from roads and fields is all well enough ; but mud from one's own 10 218 PLAIN ASH PLEASANT TALK yards, shows that the owner has not fixed up as he ought to have done. * If your stables are old, examine the floor ; or some night may let a horse through, to come out lame for life. If you have a dirt floor, see that it is carefully laid, and remember that if it be inclined either way, it should be from the rack and not toward it. Let your wagons, carts, plows, etc., be repaired during the fall and winter, and not be left till spring. See that your shingles are aU sound on the house, barn, and shed. The leak which you have allowed to drop, drop, drop aU summer has at last taken off a yard or two of plaster, and it is time now to put on a shingle or two. There is another leak or two that must be stopped. That pocket of yours which has let out dime after dime for hquor, the hole getting bigger and bigger every year, now is the time to sow it up, or it will rip yow up. A pocket is "a small place, to be sure, but we have seen barns, cattle, and acre after acre slip through a hole in it which, at first, was only large enough to let sixpence through. See that all your tools have a safe and dry standing- place; hoes rakes, scythes, sickles, yokes, spades, shovels, chains, pins, harrows, plows, carts, and sleds, axes, mattocks, hammers, and everything, but your geese and ducks, should be kept from wet and snow. If you have no stables for your cdttle, you should have good sheds provided, opening to the south. Even when cattle ate allowed to run through the stock-fields, there ought to be in some warm place an ample shed to which they can resort during wet and cold weather ; and one suffi- ciently «nug can be made without calling in the carpenter or buying lumber. ABOUT FEUITS, FLQWBES AND FAEMING 219 ESCULENT VEGETABLES. We mention some of the more common kinds of garden escxdent vegetables, to point out the best kinds, and give some hints for their cultivation. If more vegetables were raised and eaten in the place of meat, there would be fewer diseases, and less expense for medicine than is now the case among those who eat so heartily and liberally of the fat of the land. Beet. — ^The turnip-rooted blood beet should be sown for the earliest crop ; the long blood beet for the late crop, and for winter use. The blood beet is the proper garden beet. The scareity, the sugar beets (so called), white, yeUow, and red, are inferior for table use. Every year we see accounts of new varieties, which are seldom mentioned a second time, while these old standard sorts hold their own from year to year. We see people runniug around among their neighbors for See^seed, careless whether it is early or late, coarse fleshed or fine grained, sweet or insipid. It is just as easy aad cheap to have the best seed of the best kiads, as to have refiise seed of worthless kiads. Lately, a variety introduced from France, called Bassano, has at- tracted attention and commendation.* It»is early, tender, and sweet. If you attempt to raise your own seed, let only one sort stand in the garden ; otherwise bees and other iasects will mix them, and the purity of the variety will be * A new variety called tne Bassano has been recently introduced into France, aind extensively cijUivated ; aad it Is sud to be found in all the markets from Venice to Genoa, in the month of June. It is remarkable for the form of the root, which is flattened like a turnip. The skin is red, the fleal' white, veined with rose. It is very tender, very delicate, preserving its rose colored rings after cooking, and from two to two and a half inches in diameter. This description is from the Bon Jardi- nier for 1841. The edition for 1842 states that this variety is highly esteemed in the north of Italy, and that it is, in fact, one of the best kinds for the table. — Hovey'a Magazine. 220 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK lost. We very seldom see an unmixed vai-iety in common gardens, imless seed have been bought from good seeds- men. The best seed is a small black seed about the size of a pin head, enveloped in a ragged, rough, two or three lobed husk. Every seeming seed planted, then, is a mere envel- ope of two or more seeds, and two or three plants come up, very much to the surprise of the inexperienced, for each husk.- When a little advanced, they are to be thinned out to one in a place. We prefer planting very early, and in rows eight inches apart and at about one inch distant in the row. As the plants begin to gain size they make very delicate greens; and for this purpose are to be boiled, leaf, root, and all. Continue to thin out until one is left for every six inches f§r full growth. Every year a great ado is made about monstrous beets — twenty and thirty pounders. There is no objection to these giants, unless they beget an idea that size is the test of merit. For Aable-use, medium sized fruits and vegetables are every way preferable ; a beet should never be larger than a goose-egg. It is equally f»oUsh to suppose that laige, coarse-grained vegetables^ whether potatoes, beets, parsnips, ruta bagas, or anything else, are as good for stock, though not so palat- able to men. Tq be sure they fiU up. But that which is nutriment to man is nutriment to beast ; a vegetable which is rank and watery is no better for my cow than for us. It is not the bulk but the quality that measiires the fitness of articles for food. Paesnip; — ^This vegetable is, to those who are fond of it, very desiraJWe, as coming in at a time when other things are failing. For, although the parsnip attains its size by autumn, yet its flavor seems to depend upon its receiving a IDretty good frosting. It may be dug at open spells through the winter and early in the spring. It gives one of the ABOUT FEUrrS, FL0WEK8 AND TAEMING. 221 first indications of returning warmth, and its green leaves- are among the first which cheer the garden. On this ac- count it must be dug early in the spring and housed, or it will spoU by growth. We know of no diflference in varieties. The Ghiernsey, is not a different sort from the common, but only the com- mon sort, very highly cultivated in that island, where it sometimes grows to a length of four feet. The hollow- crowned and Siam are mentioned in English catalogues, as fine fleshed and flavored, but we have never been able to obtain seed of them. The parsnip {JPastinacea satiiid) is a native of Great Britain and is found wild by the road-sides, delighting par- ticularly in calcareous soils. It has hitherto been supposed that the seed would not retain its germinating power more than one year, but Mr. Mendenhall states tha* he has raised freely from four year old seed. The parsnip is much sown as a field crop at the east, yielding 1,000 bushels, on good land, to the acre. They are invaluable 'both to cows and horses. The quantity and quality «f milk in cows is improved ; and no farmer with whom bwtter-making is a considerable object of interest, should be vritbout a root crop — ^beet, carrot, or ruta baga. Cabrot. {Daiucus earota). — This is a native .of G-reat Britain. The early horn and Altringham are the best varieties sold by our seedsmen. Beside their use upon the table, they are largely and deservedly cultivated in the field for stock. A horse becomes more fond of them than of oats, and they do liot, like the potato, require boiling before feed ing out. A thousand bushels may be raised to the acre. The premium of the New York Agricultural Society for the year 1844, was to a crop of 1,059 bushels the acre. The seed should be new each year, as jt will not come well even the second year, and not at all if kept yet longer. ' ' ^ Radish. — ^Every garden has its bed of radVhes, and they 222 PLAIN Ain> PLBASAUT TAT.K are among the first spring gifts. They will grow in any soU, but not in all equally well. A mellow sandy loam is best ; or rather that soil is best which will grow them the quickest. If they are a long time in growing, they are tough and stringy. It is said that a compost of the follow- ing materials will produce them very early and finely. Take equal parts of buckwheat bran and fresh horse-dung, dig them in plentifully into the soU where you iatend to sow. Within two days a plentiful crop of toadstools will start up. Spade them under, and sow your seed, and the radishes will come forward rapidly, and be tender and free fi-om worms. The short-top scarlet, is .the best for spring planting. It is so named, because, from its rapid growth the top is yet small when the root is fit for the table. There is a white and red turnip-rooted variety, also good for spring' use. The turnip-rooted kinds have not only the shape, but some- thing of the sweetness and fiavor of the turnip, and are by some preferred to all others. For summer planting, there is a yellow turnip-rooted sort and the summer white. For fall and early winter, the white and black Spanish are planted. When radishes are sown broadcast, it must be very thinly, for if at all crowded they run to top, and refuse to form edible roots. For our own use, we sow on the edges of beds, devoted to onions, beets, etc., and thrust each seed down with the finger. The radish {Maphanus sativus) is a native of China, and was introduced to England before 1584. Saisift, oe Vegetable Otsteb. — ^We esteem this to be a much better root for table use than either the parsnip or carrot. It is cultivated in aU. respects as these crops are. Some have been skeptical as to their possessing an oyster flavor. They seldom attain the true taste imtil, hke the parsnip, they have been well frosted. But if dug up dur- ing spells in winter and early in the spring, and cooked by an orthodox formula, they are strikingly like the oyster. ABOTJT FBUITS, FLOWBES AST) PAEMING. 223 We have just consulted the oracle of our kitchen, and give forth the following method of cooking it: First, oblige your husband to raise a good supply of them. When you have obtained them, scrape off the outside skin — cut the root lengthwise into thin slices — put them into' a spider and iust cover with hot water. Let them boil until a fork wiU pass through them easily. Without turning off the water, season them with butter, pepper, and salt, and sprinkle in a little flour — enough to thicken the liquor slightly. Then eat them. The success of this gustatory deception depends, more than anything else, upon the skiU in seasoning. If well done they are not merely an apology, but they are a very excel- lent substitute for the shell-fish himself; a thousand times better than pickled can-oysters — those arrant libels upon all that is dear in the remembrance of a live oyster. Every one may save seed for himself, as it will not, lEweU. cultivated, degenerate. It is a biennial, and roots may either be set out, or left standing xhere they were planted. When the seed begins to fesCther out it must be immediately gathered, or like the dandelion or thistle, it will be blown away by the wind. This vegetable should be much more extensively cultivated than it is. ' Beans. — ^There are three kinds — ^English dwarf, kidney dwarf or string, and the pole beans. The first kind, so far as our experience has gone, are coarser than the others, and, in our hot and dry summers, are yety difficult to raise. Of kidney or bush beans, there is a long catalogue of sorts. ' The Mohawh is good for its hardiness, enduring spring frosts with comparative impunity. The red-specMed valentine is highly commended. But after a trial of some twenty kinds, we are entirely contented with one — the China red-eye. It is early, hardy, very prolific, and weU flavored. Of the pole beans, one sort, the Idma, might supersede all others were it a little earlier. It is immensely prolific ; 224 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK its flavor unrivalled, and nearly the same in tlie dry bean as when cooked in its green state, a quality which has never, we believe, been found in any other variety. To supply the deficiency of this variety in earliness, we know of none equal to the JBbrticultural. With these two kinds one has no need of any other. Pole beans will not bear frost, and are among the last seeds to be planted, seldom before the last of April. The bush-bean may precede them a fortnight. The English dwarf ( Viciafaba) is a native of Egypt ; but has been cultivated in England from time immemorial, and, it is supposed, was introduced by the Romans. The kidney dwarf {I'haseolus vulgaris) is a native of India, and was introduced into England about the year 1591. The pole bean {Phaseohts multifloris) is a native of South America, and was introduced to England in 1633. Pole beans are not strictly annuals. In a climate where the winter does not destroy them they bear again the second year, and we believe' yet longer. Gov. Pinney, of Liberia, on the African coast, stated in a lecture, speak- ing of the vegetable productions of that region, that the bean was a permanent vine like the grape, bearing its crops from year to year without replanting. The bush bean is strictly an annual. If the pole bean were protected in the ground, or raised and put away like sweet potatoes, dahlias, etc., in the cellar and replanted in the spring it would bear again the second season. Perhaps an earher crop of beans might thus be secured. The bean crop, by field culture, is not to be overlooked. Great quantitiesof dried beans are consumed by famihes, by the army and in the navy, and they always bear a good price, when they are well grown and well cured. They are excellent for sheep, not from their fattening properties, but for improving their fleece. Analysis has shown them to be rich in those properties which are " wool-gatheiing." ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMDiTG. 225 FIELD ROOT CROPS. Feom mid-winter, and especially Jms< before spring opens, beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, ruta baga, and mangel wurtzel are of the highest utility. After months of dry fodder, and of slops thickened with corn-meal, cattle need — their stomach, their blood need — a change of diet ; and none can be better than roots. At the East it is no longer a de- batable question — root crops are as regularly laid in as grain or grass crops. The chief difficulty at the East, in introducLag " new-fangled notions," arises from the regular routine habits of farmers and their settled aversion to change from old ways. Very little of this spirit exists at the West. There the very essence of life is change. The population have broken up from old homesteads, moved off from old States, abandoned the comforts and settled life of long tiUed agricultural districts — to come into a new country, where they have to practise new ways, live differently, and labor by new methods ; and, by consequence, the farming community of the West are remarkably free to meet and adopt agricultural improvements. But the difficulty lies in a different direction. The farmers have large farms — are ambitious of large crops, large herds of cattle, large droves of hogs, and of a style of husbandry which brings in a large pile, and aU at once ; so that the idea of good farming is large farming. Many a sturdy Kentuckian will very patiently plow, two or three times, his fifty or hundred acres of corn, and think nothing of it ; but to put in half an acre of carrots, or beets, to weed and work, to harvest and store the vexatious little crop, this seems a piddling business. Our big prairie farmers, our heavy bottom-land farmers, our stock farmers who " hog " one or two hundred acres of corn, of their own planting or of their neighbor's, they do not love little work. We know a man who lives on thirty acres of land of about a middling quality. He winters seven cows, two horses, and two pigs. He raises corn and grass 10* 228 PliAIN AND PLBASANT TALK enough for his own use, and sells none. Every year he puts in about a quarter of an acre of parsnips, or ruta baga, for winter and spring fodder. His garden in summer, and his dairy all the year round, are represented in market. He probably does not receive five dollars at once, on any one sale, through the year. We never looked into that old chest under his bed ; but we wiU venture much, that if the shrewd housewife would keep her eagle eyes off long enough to give us a chance, it would be found that this man has made, and laid up, more money in the last five years from his thirty acres, than any farmer about here from six times the amount. Our farmers have not grown rich on large and careless farming j but many are growing rich on smalt farms and careful husbandry. When the dairy shall be more thought of — ^when winter- ing stock, and fattening it, shall be more carefuUy studie(ii — we predict that our farmers will annually raise thousands of bushels of roots, and have capacious cellars under their bams to store them in. CULTIVATION OF FRUIT-TREES. Wb must give up thinking of remedies for blights and diseases of fruit-trees and seek after preventives. Amputa- tion may limit its ravages ; but surgery is not a remedy, but ' a resource after remedies fail. We must, it seems to us, look for a preventive in a wiser system of fruit cultiva- tion. To this subject we shall now speak. The effect of cultivation in changing the habits of plants is familiar to all. Incident to this artificial condition of the plant, there wiU be new diseases, vegetable vices, which, as they result from cultivation, must be regarded in every perfect system of cultivation. Where trees are grown for timber, or shade, or orna- ABOUT FEUrrS, FLOTOIES AND rAEMDTG. 227 ment, everything can be sacrificed to the production of wood and foliage. But in fruit-trees wood is nothing and fruit is everything. We push for quantity and quality of fruit ; and would not regard the wood or foliage at all, if it were not indispensable as a means of procuring fruit. That is the most skillful treatment ^f fruit-trees which involves a just compromise between the wants of the tree, and the abundance and excellence oi fruit. There is a way of gain- ing fruit by a rapid consumption of the tree ; and there is a method of gaining fruit by invigorating and prolonging the tree. Two systems of cultivation grow out of these dif- ferent methods — a natural system and an artificial system. All ouliivation is artificial, even the rudest. By natural system, then, is only meant a treatment which interferes but little with nature ; and by artificial, a system in which skill is applied to every part of the vegetable economy. For conservatories, gardens, and experimental grounds, there is no reason why an artificial system should not exist. Moral considerations restrain us from stimulating a man or a beast to procure a quick or a large return at the exp'ense of Ufe and hmb ; but in vegetable matters our jpreference or interest is the only restraint. If any reason exists for forc- ing a tree to bear young, and enormously, and after ten years' service for throwing it away, it is proper to do it. For larger show-fruit we ring a limb expecting to sacrifice the branch ; we diminish the life of the pear by putting it to a dwarf habit by violent means. If we have any suffi- ciently desirable object to accomplish, there is no reason why we should not do it. There may be as good reasons for limiting a tree to ten years as a strawberiy bed to three. There is another form of the artificial system in which there is much to censure. When fruit-trees are set in gar- dens, yards, etc., to be permanent, and long-lived, it is folly to apply to them that high-toned treatment which belongs to an artificial system as I have spoken of it above. 228 PLATS AND PLEASANT TALK Impatient of delay, the cultivator presses his trees forward by stimulating applications, or retards them by violent iQterference — ^by prunings at the root or branch, by bend- ing or binding ; everything is sacrificed for early and abun- dant bearing. Fine fruit yards, designed to last a hundred years, are served with a treatment proper only to a con- servatory or experimental garden. This high-toned system is stUl more vicious when applied to orchards and especially to pear orchards; and it seems to us that much is to be learned and much unlearned before we shall have attained a true science of pear culture. Let us consider some facts. It is well known that seedHag apple-trees are generally longer lived than grafted varieties, and obnoxious to fewer diseases. The same is true of the pear-tree. It has fre- quently been said that seedling and wilding pears were not subject to the blight. This is not true if such trees are under- going the same cultivation as grafted sorts ; it is not always true when they exist in an untutored state ; but when they are left to themselves, they certainly are less obnoxious to the blight and to disease of any kind, than are grafted and cultivated varieties. A comparison between wild and tame, between cultivated and natural, between seedling and and grafted fruit, is certainly to the advantage of seedling uncultivated fruit, in respect to the health of the tree — of course it is not in respect to quality of fruit. In connection with these facts, consider another, that seedling and wilding fruit is nearly twice as long in coming into bearing as are cultivated varieties. The seedling apple bears at from ten to fourteen years. The pear bears at from fifteen to eighteen years. But upon cultivation the grafted pear and apple bear in from five to eigjht years. It is noticeable that, although the pear as a wilding is four or five years longer in coming to a bearing state than the apple, yet, upon cultivation, they both bear at about the same age from the bud or graft. In a private letter from Robert Manning (we prisie it as among the last he ever wrote ; another, received ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AKD FARMING, 229 not long after, was dictated; but signed by his tremulous hand in letters which speak of death), he says, " Pears hear as soon as ajoples of the same age; on the quince much sooner," etc. It appears, then, that while cultivation accelerates the period of fruit-bearing and perfects the finiit, it is also accompanied with premature age and liability to diseases, we do not wish to be understood as opposing, the habit of GuMvoating fruit, or as prejudiced against grafted varieties — we are neither opposed to the one nor to the other. But we would deduce from facts, some conclusions which will enable us to perfect our fruits by a more discriminating treatment. The question will arise. Is it only by accident that habUity to disease increases, with increase of cultivation ? Is there an inherent objection in all artificial treatment ? or is there objection only to particular methods of artificial cultivar tion? Although there may be too many exceptions, to allow of our saying, that quickly-growing timber is not durable, it may be said in respect to trees of the same species, that the durability of the timber depends (among other things) on the slowness of its growth. Mountain timber is usually tougher and more lasting than champaign wood; timber growing in the great alluvial valleys of the West, is noto- riously more perishable than that grown in the parsimonious soils of the North and East. The reason does not seem obscure. In a rich soil, and under an ardent sun, not only is the growth of trees greater in any given season, than in a poor soil, but the growth is coarser and the grain coarser. But what is a coarse growth, and what is fine-grained, or coarse-grained timber ? — ^timber in which the vascular system has been greatly distended, in which sap-vessels and air-oeUs are large and coarse. Where wood is formed with great rapidity and with a super- abimdance of sap, not only wiU there be large ducts and 230 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK vessels, but the sap itself will be but imperfectly elaborated by the leaves. We may suppose that overfeeding in vege- tables is, in its effects, analogous to overfeeding in animals. The sap is but imperfectly decomposed in the leaf— it passes into the channels for elaborated sap in a partially undigested state — it deposits imperfect secretions, and the whole tissue resulting from it will partake of the defects of the proper juice.* Thus a too rapid growth not only enlarges the sap pas- sages, but forms their sides and the whole vegetable tissue of imperfect matter. This accounts, not only for the perish- ableness of quickly-grown timber, but, doubtless, for the short-lived tendency of cultivated fruit in comparison with wildings. For where the tissue is imperfectly formed, general weakness must ensue. These reasonings do not include plants which, in' their original nature, have a system of .large sap- vessels, etc., and which naturally are rapid growers, but respects only plants which have been forced to this condition by circumstances. Has this condition of the vegetable substance nothing to do with the health of a tree? Does it not very much determine its liability to disease ? — ^its excitability ? Where are trees liable to diseases of the circulation ? In England, in Kew England, where, by climate and soil, growth is slow ? — or in the Western and Middle States, where, by climate, by soil, and by vicious treatment, the growth is excessive ? This leads me to review the methods employed in rearing fruit-trees. The nursery business is a commercial business, and aims at profit.- It is the interest of nurserymen to sell largely, and to bring their trees into market in the shortest possible time from the planting of the seed and the setting of the * For the young reader it may be necessary to say, that when sap is first taken up by the roots it is called true sap ; but after it has under- gone a change in the leaves it is csObA proper jmce. ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWHES AlfTD FAEMING. 231 bud, to the sale of the tree. But independently of this, few nurserymen know, accurately, the nature of the plants which they cultivate, and stiE less the habits of each variety. Why should they, when learned pomologists are content to know as little as they ? The trees are highly cultivated and closely side-pruned. The vigor of a tree, i. e. the rapidity with which it will grow, determines its favor. Sorts which take time, and require a longer treat- ment, are regarded with disfavor. Everything is sacrificed to rapid growth and early maturity. Next, and proceeding in the same evil direction, comes the orchard cultivation. From what quarter have we, mostly, derived our opinions and practices in fruit cultiva- tion ? From French, English, and New England writers. But is the system which they pursue fit for us ? There is an opposite extreme to high cultivation ; there are evils besetting low-cultivation. In cold, wet, stiff, barren soils, and in a cool, or humid, or cloudy atmosphere, trees require stimulants. The soil needs drying, warming, manuring; and the tree requires pruning. But such a system is ruinous, where the soil is full of fiery activity, bursting out with an irrepressible fertility and a superabun- dant vegetation; where the long summer days are intensely briUiant, and the mr warm enough to ripen fruit even in the densest shade of an unpruned tree. A traveller in Lapland would require the most bracing and stimulating food ; but in New Orleans it would produce fever and death. A region, subject to all the diseases and evils of vegetable plethora, has adopted the practice of regions subject to the opposite evils-. While receiving with gratitude, at the hands of eminent foreign physiologists and cultivators, the principles, we must establish the aet of horticulture, by a practice conformable to our own cir- cumstances. A treatment which in England would only pro- duce healthful growth, in this country would pamper a tree to a luxurious fullness. Let us not be deluded by the falla- 232 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK cious appearance of our orchardfl. The evils which we have to fear are not shown forth in the early history of a tree or an orchard. On the contrary, the appearance will be flattering. The apple is a more hardy tree than the pear, and will endure greater mismanagement ; but in the long run we shall have to pay for our greedy cultivation, even in the apple fa;mily. Our pear-trees are already evincing the evils of a too luxuriant habit ; and if the West is ever to become the pear-region of America, the culture of this tree must be adapted to the peculiarities of western goU and climate. It win be borne in mind that our remarks upon the culti- vation of fruit-trees are not applicable to the processes of art employed in experimental gardens, or in climates requiring a highly artificial culture, but to gardens and open orchards of the pear and apple in the middle and Western States. Owr cLvmate and soil predispose fruit-trees to excessive growth. There is, in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and in the thickly settled portions of Missouri and Ken- tucky, very little poor soil. Limestone lands, clay lands, sandy loams and alluvions, afford not only variety of soil, but the strongest and most fertile. The forest trees of the West compared with the same species east of the AUeghany ridge, exhibit the difference of soils. Artificial processes may produce better soils, it may be, but there is not pro- bably on earth so large a body of land which is, as uniformly, deep, strong, quick, and rich in all mineral and vegetable substances. It is cultivated under a climate most congenial to vegetation, both in respect to length and tem- perature. Our spring is early. In 1835 we gathered flowers from the woods, near Cincinnati, on the 22d of February. In 1839 we gathered them at Lawrenoeburgh, in the last week of February. We find in our garden journalat IndianapoUs, latitude 39°65' north, March 11, 1840, "rose-bushes, honey-suckles, and willow trees had ABOUT FKTJITS, FLOWEES AOT> PAEMINO. 233 been in leaf for some days," and seed-sowiug had begun. In 1841, seed was sown in open ground, April Sth. In 1842, pie-plant broke ground March Sth, and aU early seed were in the ground by the 21st. In 1843, seeds were in by April 20. In 1844 ground was in a working state Feb. 23d, and seeds put in by March 1. Trees, varying according to the nature of the season, complete the _/?»•«* growth, on an average, about the 1st of September. Their second growth continues, usually, into November. In 1844 we had noisette roses pushing out terminal leaves after Christmas; but this is not a frequent occurrence. Upon an average, the middle of March and the 1st of November, nM,y be taken as the limits of the vegetable year — a period of more than seven months. During this season rains are copious, and fre- quent. Our midsummer droughts are seldom so severe upon vegetation as they seem to be in New England. During the months of June, July and August, the tempe- rature of mid-day seldom falls below 70° Fahren. and ranges between 70° and 100°, One other cause of rapid growth is to be mentioned — ^the nature of our winters. Except when the roots are frozen, they ate supposed never to be inactive. During the winter they slowly absorb materials from the soil, and fill the whole system with sap. When the winters are severe^ they are usually very long ; and the slowness of its winter action is compensated by the length of time aflEbrded to the plant. In the western States, though the winters are short, yet there is scarcely a week in which trees may not accumu- late their stores. The spring growth will be vigorous in proportion to the amount of true sap collected in the vege- table system. As the whole winter is mild enough for this process to go on, the growth of trees is rampant in spring. Thus, the quality of the soils, and the nature of the seasons — ^the mildness of winter — ^the earliness of spring and lengtfi of summer — ^its heat and great atmospheric bril- liancy, all conspire to produce very rapid and strong 234 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK growth ia herb, shrub, and tree ; and 1 repeat, as a fundar mental consideration, that our soil and season predis- pose FKijiT-TEBES TO EXCESSIVE GEOWTH. Prom tMs fact we should take our start in every process of orchard, nur- sery, and garden cultivation of fruit-trees ; and if philoso- phically employed it wiU, we wiU not say revolutionize, but materially modify the processes of cultivation peculiar to colder climates and poorer soils. In respect to esculent vegetables — cabbages, rad.ishes, celery, rhubarb, lettuce, etc., this rank and rapid growth is beneficial, since it is not the fruit but the plant which we eat. The reverse is true in fruit-trees. Observant cultivators have conformed to this indication of nature, in some things ; for instance, in the treatment of the grape. The German emigrants who settled in these parts, having been conversant with vine- dressing in Europe, were usually employed to cut and lay in the vines of such as were desirous of the best gardens. But, gradually, their practice has been rejected, and now, instead of reducing our vines to niggardly stumps, the wood is spared and laid in long. If pruning be close, the vine may be said to overflow with excess of new wood, which does not ripen well. Our remarks more especially apply to regions below 40° of north latitude. Below this line, our efforts need not be directed to the forcing of growth, for that, naturally, will be aU-sufficient. Our object must be compact and thoroughly ripened wood. These reasonings may be applied to many practices now generally in vogue. 1. It is the practice of nurserymen to force their trees by cultivation, and by pruning. It is very well known, to those conversant with the nursery business, that great grow- ers and early growers are the favorites (and, so far as an expeditious preparation of stock for sale is concerned, just- ly), that slow and tedious growers are put upon rampant growing stocks to quicken them. In some cases manures are freely applied to the soU, as directed by all writers who teach ABOUT PEUTTS, FLOWEES -tND PAEMING. 235 how to prepare ground for a nursery. But such -writers had their eye upon the soil of England or New England. The still more vicious practice of side trimming and free pruning is followed, which forces the tree to produce a great deal of wood, rather than to ripen well a little. A well- informed nurseryman ought not to look so much at the length of his trees, as to the quality of their wood. The very heau ideal of a fruit-tree for our climate is one that, while it is hardy enough to grow steadUy in cool seasons, is not excitable enough to grow rampantly in wai-m ones, and which completes its work early in the season, ripens its wood thoroughly, and goes to rest before there is danger of severe frost. Such trees may be had, by skillful breed- ing, as easily, as, by breeding, any desirable quaUty may be developed in cattle or horses. But of this hereafter. The subject of pruning will be separately treated ; but it is appropriate here to say, that every consideration should incline the nurseryman to grow his trees with side Brush from top to bottom, and by shortening these, to multiply leaves to the greatest possible, extent all over the tree. In every climate we should idolize the leaf — in which are the sources of health and abiding vigor. 2. yhe mistakes of the nursery are carried out and de- veloped by the purchaser, in the following respects — by bad selection, pernicious cultivation, and by improper pruning. First, trees are selected upon a bad principle. Men are very naturally in a hurry to see their orchards in bearing ; precocious trees, therefore, and all means of prematurity are sought. In respect to the pear, it is the popular, but incorrect, opinion that it takes a man's lifetime to bring them into fruit. Hope deferred, very naturally in such cases, makes the heart sick. But certain talismanio words found in catalogues and fruit manuals restore the courage, and you shall find the penoU mark made upon all pears, described as " of a vigorous growth," " a rampant grower," " comes early into bearing," " bears young," " a great and 236 PLAISr Aim PLEASAITT TAIK early bearer." But such as these — "not of a very vigorous growth," "does not bear young," "the growth is slow but healthy," " grows to a large size before producing fruit," — are passed by. Many farmers judge of a tree as they would timothy grass. A short-jointed, compact branch, is " stunted;'''' but a long, plump limb, like a water shoot, or a Lombardy poplar branch, is admired as a first-rate growth. Some pears have but this single virtue : they make wood in capital quantities, but very poor pears. Now our selection must proceed on different principles if our orchards are to be durable and healthy. We should mark for selection pears described as — "of a compact habit," "growth slow and healthy," " ripens its wood early and thoroughly." A tree which runs far into the fall, and makes quantities of wood more than it can thoroughly ripen, must be regarded as unsafe and undesirable. * There is another marked fault in selecting trees — a dispo- sition to get long and handsome trees with smooth stems. This principle of selection would be excellent when one goes after a bean-pole, or a cane. A fruit-tree is not usually cultivated for such uses. In the first place, it is not wise to expose the trunk of a fruit-tree to the fuU sun of our sum- mers. We have seen peach trees killed by opening the head so much as to expose the main branches to the sun. A low head, a short trunk should be sought. When land is scarce, and orchards cultivated, high trimmiog is em- ployed for the sake of convenience, not of the tree, but of its owner. And in cool and humid climates, such evUs do not attend the practice, as with us. Beside picking long shanked trees, one would suppose that a leaf below the crotch would poison the tree from the assiduity with which they are trimmed off. It ought to be laid down as a fundar mental rule with us, that a tree is benefited not hy the ammjmt of its wood, but by the extent of its leaf surface. Every effort should be used to make the length of the wood moderate, and the amount of its leaves abundant. The ABOUT FEtriTS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 237 leaf does not depend for its quality on the wood, Imt the wood takes its natwre from the leaf. Young trees ought to be grown with side brush from the roots to the fork. Water shoots from the root are to be removed, but leaves upon the trunk are to be nursed. By cutting in the brush when it tends to a long growth, it will emit side shoots, and still increase the number of leaves. Secondly. There is great evil in pruning too much. France and England have given us our notions upon prun- ing. There, their own system is wise, because it conforms to the climate and soil. But their system of pruning is to- tally uncongenial with our seasons and the habits of our trees. In England, for instance, the peach will not ripen in open grounds, except, perhaps, in the extreme southern counties. In consequence, it is trained upon walls, and its wood thinned, to let light and heat upon every part of it. It is very right to husband light and heat when it is scarce, and by opening the head of a tree to carry them to all parts of the sluggish wood. But we often have more than we want. A peach will rip5n, on the lowest limb and inside of the tree, by the mere heat of the atmosphere. Even in New England, the English system of pruning proves too free. Manning says, " From the strong growth of fruit-trees in our country and the dryness of its atmosphere, severe prun-'" ing is less necessary here than in England." We are not giving rules for pruning ; but cautions against pruning too freely. There is not a single point in fruit cultivation where more mistakes are committed than in pruning . Thirdly. Great mistakes are committed in stimulating the growth of trees by enriching the soil. Books direct (and men naturally and innocently obey), the putting of manure to young trees. We have no doubt that the time will come, when manures wOl be so thoroughly analyzed and classified, that we can employ them just as a carpenter does his tools, or the farmer his implements ; if we wish wood, we shall apply certain ingredients to the soil and have it ; 238 . PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK if we wish fruit, we shall have at hand manures which pro- mote the fruiting properties of the tree ; if we want seed, we shall have manures for it. But manures as now em- ployed, are, usually, not beneficial to orchards of young trees. A clay soil, very stiff and adhesive, may require sand and vegetable mold to render it permeable to the root ; some very barren soils may require some manure ; but the average of our farms are rich enough already, and too rich for the good of the young tree. It would be better for the orchard if it made less wood and made it better. If these directions make the prospect of fruit so distant as to discourage the planting of orchards, we will add, plant your orchard ; and if you cannot wait for its healthful -growth, plant also trees for immediate use, and serve them just as you please ; manure them, cut them, get fruij at aU hazards ; only make up your minds that they will be short- lived and liable to blight and disease. A LIST OF CHOICE FRUITS. OuB readers may desire a list of fruits, which are univer- sally admitted to be of first-rate excellence. We cannot include, of course, all that are first rate ; but we put none in that are not so. I. Apples. Bed or Carolina June. Prince's Harvest. Summer Queen. Kirkbridge White. Yellow Hoss. Sweet June. Sweet Bough. Daniel. ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 239 II. AUTUUN. Maiden's Blush. Wine. Holland Pippin. Rambo. Pall Harvey. Gravenstein. Ashmore. Porter. III. WINTER. Black. Golden Russet. Newtown Spitzenberg, Rhode Island Greening. Eubbardston Nonsuch. Vandeveer Pippin. TeUow Belle Fleur. White Belle Fleur. Michael Henry Pippin. Pryor's Red. Green Newtown Pippin. Jenetan or Rawle's Janet. Putnam Russet. II. Pbaes. I. Summer Pears, or such as ripen from the first of July to the last of August. 1. Madeleine,or Citron des Garmea. 4. Dearborn's Seedling. 2. Bloodgood. 6. Julienne. 3. Summer Francreal. 6. Williams' Bon Chretien. II. Adtumn Pears, or such as ripen from, September to the last of No vember. 1. Stevens' Genesse. 8. Belle Lucrative. 9. Henry the Fourth. 10. Washington. 11. Dunmore. 12. St. Ghislain. 13. Seckel. 14. Beurre Bosc. 15. Andrews. 16. Marie Louise. 17. Doyenne or fall butter. 18. Dix. 19. Petre. 20. Duchesse D'Angouleme. III. Winter Pears, or those which ripen during the winter and spring months. 21. Beurre Diel. 22. Hacon's Incomparable. 23. Passe Colmar. 24. Beurre Ranz. 26. Columbia. 26. Beurre D'Aremberg. 27. Van Mons Leon le Clerc. 28. Beurre Easter. 29. Ghaumontelle. 30. Glout Morceau. 31. Prince's St. Germain. 32. Winter NelJs. 240 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Those who wish only/oiw trees, may select Nos. 2, 6, 20, 26. Those who have room for eight, to the above may add 13, 23, 25, 32. Those who wish sixteen trees, to the above nay add, 1, 3, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28. III. PSAOHEB. 1. Red Magdalen. 2. Earl; Royal George. 3. Early York. 6. Apricot Peach. 7. Baltimore Rose. 8. Swalsh. 9. Noblesse. 10. Coolidge's Favorite. I. EARLY. 4. Morris' Red Rareripe. 6. Crawford's Early Melocoton. U, MEDIUM. 11. Malta. 12. Brevoort. 13. Douglass. 14. Grosse Mignoune. 16. Heath. 16. Crawford's late Melocoton. LATX. 17. Lemon Cling. 18. La Grange. IV. Apeicots. 1. Large Early. 3. Peach Apricot. 2. Breda. 4. Moorpark. V. Cheebies. 1. Bauman's May or Bigarreau de 6. Bigarrean, or Spanish Yellow. Mai. Y. Belle de Choisy. 2. Black Eagle. 8. Black Tartar!^. 3. Knight's Early Black. 9. Downer's Late. 4. May Duke. 10. Napoleon. 6. Elton. For a collection of two trees, 4, 9 ; for four trees, add 6 and 10. 1. Green Gage. 2. Jefferson. 3. Huling's Superb. 4. Coe's Golden Drop. 5. Purple Gage. VI, Plums. 6. Cruger's Scarlet. 7. Washington. 8. Bed Gage. 9. Smith's Orleans. 10. Royal de Toure. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWBES AND PAEMING. 241 For two trees, 1 and 4 ; for foiir add 2 and 1. The fol- lowing are said to be suitable for light sandy soils, on which plums usually drop their fruit : Cruger's Scarlet, Imperial Gage, Red Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, Bleeker's Gage, Blue Gage. VII. Steawbbkeibs. Early Yirginia. Hudson. Eovey's Seedling. Boss Phoenix. Xo one man can make out a list that wiU suit all ; and those who are acquainted with fruits will reject some from the above list and insert others. But it may be safely said, that he who has in his collection the above varieties, will have a collection comprising the best that are known, and without one inferior sort, although there may be many others as good ; which may be added by such as have room for them. THE NURSERY BUSINESS. Thb great interest in the cultivation of fruit which has been excited within a few years, has given rise to many nurseries to supply the demand, and every year we see the number increasing. Or rather, we see new adventurers in this line, for the failure of many and the abandonment of the business, prevents the number from becoming so great as one would suppose. We are very glad to see the art of fruit culture iacreas- ing, and we are very glad to see competent men embarking in the nursery business. But we are sorry to see the impression gaining ground that it is a business which any- body can conduct, and that every man can make money by it who knows how to graft or to bud. Let no man embark in it under such misapprehension. 11 242 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK In the first place, the tnne, and labor, and patience re- quired for a successful nursery business is much greater than any one suspects beforehand. If a man, has a large capital he may begin sales at once upon a purchased stock. But if one is to prepare his own stock for market, and this must be the case with by far the greater number of western nurserymen, it wiU require several years of expensive labor before he can realize anything. Nor even then will he be apt to receive profits which will at all meet his expectations. During these years of preparation on what is he to live ? If he has means, very well ; but let no man suppose that he can get along, especially with a family on his hands, during the early years of his nursery, if he has nothing else te de- pend upon. The mere physical labor of keeping a nursery in proper order is such as to make it no sinecure. But aU this is a less consideration than the specitl skill and vigilant care required to conduct a nursery in an hon- orable manner. Nowhere do mistakes occur more easily, and nowhere are they more provoking, both to the buyer and seUer. It is rare that assistants can be had upon whom reliance can be placed. There are men enough to plow, and grub, and clean ; but to select buds and grafiis, to work the various kinds, and plant them safely by them- selves, this, usually, must be done by the proprietor. Where a nursery is carried on by assistants, it makes almost no dif- ference how much care is used, mistakes will abound. The extent to which an error goes is not unworthy of a moment's attention. We purchased of a very highly re- spectable nurseryman, the Royal George peach. The first season many buds were distributed from it. An expert nurseryman in the vioiaity, among others, got of it. The credit of the original proprietor of the tree was such that it was thought safe to propagate at once, and thousands of trees were worked with these buds ; from him, nurserymen from neighboring counties procured scions, and now the Royal George, which has proved to be no Royal G-eorge at ABOUT TEUITS, FLOWDES AND PAEMING. 243 all, is scattered nil over the country. When a nursery con- tains from fifty to a hundred kinds of apples, thirty or forty kinds of pears, ten to twenty sorts of cherries, thirty or forty kinds of peaches, besides plums, nectarines, apricots, etc., there will be some two or three hundred separate varieties of fruit to be propagated each year, and of each sort from a hundred to a thousand or more trees, according to the business of the nursery. Two things are apparent from this view ; first, that such unremitting and sagacious vigilance is required that not every one is fit to be a nurse- ryman; and, secondly, that not every nurseryman 'is a scamp who puts upon you trees untrue to their names. No doubt there are roguish nurserymen ; no doubt, too, there are culpably careless men in this, as in all other forms of business. But no one will be so charitable to nursery- men as those who understand the difiiculties of their busi- ness ; and a mistake, and many of them, may occur in well- appointed grounds, which no care could well have pre- vented. We think this to be a business to which no man should turn, except under two conditions ; first, that he will, if he has not already, serve a faithful apprenticeship to it — ^we do not mean by regular indenture, but by practising for several years in a good nursery until the prominent essen- tial parts of the business have become practically familiar. The other condition is, that he make up his mind to see to it himself. Remedy fob Yeixow Bugs. — A gentleman informs us that he has always saved his vines by planting poppies among them. Those on one side of an alley, without pop- pies, would be entirely eaten, while those on the other side, with poppies, would not be touched. 244 PLAIN AND PLBASAiJT TALK THE BREEDING OF FRUITS. Becatjsb, as yet, no certaia rules can be laid down for the producfion of a given result by crossing flower on flower, it does not follow that there are not certaia invariable prin- ciples which govern the process. It is but a little while since breeding animals had any pretension to scientific rules. But, by careful practice and observation, the most important improvement has been attained in all the animals belonging to the farm. And if careful research and experiment do not result in absolute certainty, they will yet render the production of fine varieties of fruit, by the crossing of the old ones, a matter of much less chance than it now is. The art of cross-fertilization is being much more practised by florists than by poinologists, and for obvious reasons. What the breeder of annuals can do ia a few months requires more than as many years from him that essays to raise new fruits. Many florists' flowers, however, requu-e as long and even a longer time than apples or pears ; and it is a marvel that the phlegmatic patience of the tulip-loving Dutch Jobs shoxild not have found imitators in the orchard. If a man can wait ten years to ascertain that all his seedling bulbs are good for nothing, or at the best, that out of ten thousand, but one or two are worth keeping, surely the patience of an enthusiast in fruit ought not to snap by being drawn through such a space. Two methods for originating new varieties of fruit have been practised ; the nahural method of Van Mons, and the artificial method of Knight. Van Mons, born at Brussels in 1765, was a man of fine genius and thorough education. Although he is chiefly known as a pomologist, his labors in the nursery were only incidental to the regular occupa- tion of a public scientific life. M. Poiteau quaintly says of him that he writes " on the gravest subjects, in the midst of noise, in a company of persons who talk loudly on frivo- ABOUT PETIITS, FLOWEBS AJST) FAEMING. 245 lous subjects, and takes part in the conversation -without stopping his pen." Van Mons' theory is founded upon two physical facts : 1. !niat all seeds in a state ofnatwe can he made hy cul- tivation to va/ry from their condition, which variations may he fixed, and hecome permanent. 2. That all cultivated seeds have a tendency to retwm tc ward that natwral state frorn which they originally varied. We say toward, for he supposed that an improved fruit would never return absolutely to the original and natural type.* It was upon this last principle that Van Mons accounted fbr the feet, that as a .general thing, the seeds of fine old varieties of fruit produced only inferior kinds. Recourse could not be had therefore to seeds of improved fruit. On the other haijd, the seed of fruits absolutely wUd would produce fruits exactly like their original. If the seed of the wild pear be gotten from the wood and planted in a garden, every seed will yield only the wild pear again. But if a wUd pear be transplanted, and put under new influ- ences of soil, climate and cultivation, its fruit wiU begin to augment and improve. The change is not merely upon the size and appearance of the fruit, it afiects also the qualities of the seed. For if the seed be now planted, the difference between a wild pear, in a state of nature and the same wild pear-tree in a state of cultivation will at once appear in this, that whereas the seed of the first is constant, the seed of the second shows an inclination to vary. Here then is a starting. When once the habit of vojriation is gained, the foundation of improvement is laid. In a short time the enthusiasm of Van Mons had collected into his garden 80,000 trees upon which he was experimenting, nor can the result of his labors be better stated than in the words of M. Poiteau: " That so long as plants remain in their natural situation, they do not sensibly vary, and their seeds always produce the same; but on changiag their climate and territory 248 PLAIN AND PUBASANT TALK several among them vary, some more and others less, and when they have once departed from their natural state, they never again return to it, but are removed more and more therefrom, by successive generations, and produce, sufficiently often, distinct races, more or less durable, and that finally if these variations are even carried back to the territory of their ancestors, they will neither represent the character of their parents, or ever return to the species from whence they sprung." Accordingly, Van Mons began to sow the seeds of natural and wild fruit which were in a variable state. By aU means within his power he hastened his seedlings to show fruit. The first generation showed only poor fruit but decidedly better than the wUd. Selecting the seed of the best of these, he sowed again. From the fruit of these he sowed the third generation. From the third, a fourth ; and from the fourth, a fifth ; as far as the eighth generation. His experience showed that there was great difiierence among different species of fruit in the number of gene- rations through which they must pass before they were per- fect. The apple yielded good fruit in the fourth generar tion. Stone fruits produced perfect kinds* in the third generation. Some varieties afforded perfect fruit ni the fifth generation, wljile others go on improving to the eighth. The time required for this renovation diminished at each remove from the normal or wild state. Thus, the trees from the second sowing of the pear-seed fruited ia from ten to twelve years ; those from their seed, or of the third gene- tion in from eight to ten years ; those of the fourth genera- tion in from six to eight years ; those of the fifth genera- tion, in sir years, and those in the eight, in four years. These are the mean terms of all his experiments. To obtain perfect stone fruits, through four successive generations, from parent to son, required from twelve to fifteen years ; the apple required twenty years, and the pear. ABOUT FEUrrS, PLOWBES AOT) FAEMING. 24*? when carried only to the fifth generation, required from thirty to thirty-six years. Htbeidization, ok Knight's Method. — ^Andrew Knight, one of the most original and philosophic horticulturists that ever lived, pursued an entirely different method — that of cross-fertilization. He carefully removed the anthers from the blossoms upon which he wished to operate, so that the stigma should not receive a particle of the pollen belonging to its own flower. He then procured from the variety which he wished to cross, a portion of the poUen, and arti- ficially impregnated the prepared blossom with it. When the fruit thus produced had ripened its seeds, they were sown, and by regular process brought into bearing. The progeny were found to combine, in various degrees of excellence, the qualities of both parents. EBMAEKS ON THE TWO METHODS. 1. Both Van Mons and Knight believe'd in a degeneracy of plants ; but the degeneracy of the one system is not to be confounded with that of the other. .Knight believed that varieties had a regular period of existence ; although, as in animal life, care and skill might make essential difference in the longevity, yet they could in nowise avert the final catastrophe; a time would come, sooner or later, at which the vegetable vitality would be expended, and the variety must perish by exhaustion — ^by running out. Van Mons believed that an improved variety tended to return to its normal state — ^to its wild type ; and although he did not believe that it could ever be entirely restored to its wild state, it might go so far as to make it worthless for iisefiil purposes. Knight believed in absolute decay ; Van Mons, in retro- cession. According to Knight's theory, varieties of fruit 948 PLAIN AND PLBASAUT TAT.K cease hj the natural statute of limitation ; according to Van Mens, they only fall from grace. There can be no reasonable doubt that Van Mons held the truth, and as little, that Knight's speculations were fel- lacious. Bad cultivation wiU cause anything to run out; no plant will perfect its tissues or fruit without the soil affords it elementary materials. The so-called exhausted varieties renew their youth when transplanted into soils suitable for them. 2. Against Van Mons' method it is urged, that it enfee- bles the constitution of plants ; that, enfeebling is the very key of the process. This Mr. Downing urges with emphasis, saying that, " the Belgian method (Van Mons') gives us varieties often impaired in their health in their very origin." It is one thing to restrain the energy of a plant, and an- other to enfeeble it. It may be enfeebled until it becomes unhealthy, but rampant vigor is as really an unhealthy state as the other extreme. A tree refuses fruit and is hable to death from a coarse, open, rank growth, as much as from a languor which suppresses all growth. No ; that which we imagine Van Mons to have effected was a smaller, but more compact and fine growth. Nor are we aware that, as a matter of experience, the Belgian pears prove to be any more tender than the English. Doubtless, there are trees of a delicate and tender habit in the number, but as few, iu proportion to the great number originated, as by any other method. The two main objections to the plan are the time required, and the utter vnricertaiwty of the results. To imitate the process would require a Van Mons' patience, in which, pro- bably, he was never surpassed, and his enthusiasm, which was extraordinary even for a horticulturist, a race of beings supposed to be anything but phlegmatic. The uncertainly is such as to prevent any determinate improvement. We get, not what we may wish, but what- ever may happen to come. Nothing that art can do would ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 249 affect the size, color, hardness, or in any respect, the gene- ral character of the fruit. It is in these aspects that Knight's method must always be preferred as a practical system. "We can obtain a return for our labor in one-fifth the time ; and, what is even more important, we can regulate, before-hand, the results within certain limits. The new fruit is to be made up of the quali- ties of its parents in various proportions. We cannot deter- mine what the proportions shall be, but we can determine what parents shall be selected. Nor is it at all improbable that, when knowledge has become more exact by a longer and larger experience, the breeder of fruit may cross the varieties with nearly the same certainty of result as does the breeder of stock. It is upon this feature, the power which science has over the results to be obtained, that we look with the greatest interest ; and we urge upon scientific cultivators the duty of perfecting our fruits by judicious breeding. PRUNING ORCHARDS. The habit of early spring pruning has been handed down to us from English customs, and farmers do it because it always has been done. Besides, about this time, men have leisure, and would like to begin the season's work; and pruning seems quite a natural employment with which to introduce the labors of the year. It is not possible for America, but more emphatically for western cultivators to do worse than to pattern upon the example of British and Continental authorities in the matter of orchards and vineyards. The summers of England are moist, cool, and deficient in light. Our summers are exactly the reverse — dry, fervid, and brilliant. The stimuli of the 11* 250 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK elements with them are much below, and with us much above par. In consequence, their tre§s have but a moderate growth ; ours are inclined to excessive growth. Their whole system of open-culture, and wall-training is founded upon the necessity of husbanding all their re- sources. To avail themselves of every particle of light, they keep open the heads of their trees, so that the parsi- monious sunshine shall penetrate every part of the tree. Let this be done with us, and there are many of our trees that would be killed by the force of the sun's rays upon the naked branches in a single season, or very much enfeebled. For the same general reasons, the English reduce the quan- tity of tiearing-wood, shortening a part or wholly cutting it out, that the residue, having the whole energy of the tree concentrated upon it, may perfect its fruit. Our difficulty being an excess of vitality, this system of shortening and cutting out, would cause the tree to send out suckers from the root and trunk, and would fill the head of the tree ^^•ith rank water-shoots or gourmands. What would be thought of the people of the torrid zone should they borrow their customs of clothing from the practice of Greenland ? It would be as rational as it is for orchardists, in a land whose summers are long and of high temperature, to copy the customs of a land whose summers are prodigal of fog and rain, but penurious of heat and light. Except to remove dead, diseased or interfering branches, do not cut at all. But if pruning is to be done, wait till after corn-planting. The best time to prune is the time when healing will the quickest follow cutting. This is not in early spring, but in early summer. The elements from which new wood is pro- duced are not drawn from the rising sap, but from that which descends between the bark and ^wood. This sap, called true sap, is the upward sap after it has gone through that chemical laboratory, the leaf. Each leaf is a chemical contractor, doing up its part of the work of preparing sap ABOUT FBOTTS, S-LOWEES AND FARMING. 251 for use, as fast as it is sent up to it from the root through the interior sa.p-passages. In the leaf, the sap gives off and receives, certain properties ; and when thus elaborated, it is charged with all those elements required for the forma- tion and sustentation of every part of vegetable fabric. Descending, it gives out its various qualities, till it reaches the root ; and whatever is left then passes out iato the soil. Every man will perceive that if a tree is pruned in spring before it has a leaf out, there is no sap provided to repair the wound. A slight granulation may take place, in certain circumstances, and in some kinds of plants, from the ele- ments with which the tree was stored during the former season ; but, in point of fact, a out usually remains without change until the progress of spring puts the whole vege- table economy into action. In young and vigorous trees, this process may not seem to occasion any injury. But trees growing feeble by age wUl soon manifest the result of this injudicious practice, by blackened stumps, by cankered sores, and by decay. If one must begin to do something that looks like spring- work, let him go at a more efficient train of operations. With a good spade invert the sod for several feet from the body of the tree. With a good scraper remove all dead bark. Dilute (old) soft soap with urine ; take a stiff shoe- brush, and go to scouring the trunk and main branches. This will be labor to some purpose ; and before you have gone through a large orchard faithfully, your zeal for spring- work will have become so far tempered with knowledge, that you will be willing to let prwning alone till after corn- planting. Two exceptions or precautions should be mentioned. 1. In the use of the wash ; iiew soap is more caustic than old ; and the sediments of a soap barrel much more so than the mass of soap. Sometimes trees have been injured by applying a caustic alkali in too great strength. There is little danger of this when a tree is rough and covered with 252 PLAIN AOT) PLEASANT TALK dead bark or dirt ; but wben it is smooth and has no scurf it is more liable to suffer. Trees should not be washed in dry and warm weather. The best time is just before spring rains, or before any rain. 2. Where fruit-trees are found to have suffered from the .■winter, pruning cannot be too early, and hardly too severe. If left to grow, the heat of spring days ferments the sap and spreads blight throughout the tree ; whereas, by severe cutting, there is a chance, at least, of removing much of the injured wood. We have gone over the pear-trees in our own garden, and wherever the least affection has been dis- covered, we have cut out every particle of the last sum- mer's wood; and cut back until we reached sound and healthy wood, pith and bark. SLITTING THE BARK OF TREES. This is a practice very much followed by fruit-raisers. Downing gives his sanction to it. Mr. Pell (N. Y.), famous for his orchards, includes it as a part of his system of orchard cultivation. Men talk of trees being barh-bound, etc., and let out the bark on the same principle, we sup- pose, as mothers do the pantaloons of growing boys. We confess a prejudice against this letting out of the tucks in a tree's clothes. We do not say that there may not be cases of diseased trees in which, as a remedial process, this may be wise ; but we should as soon think of slitting the skin on a boy's legs, or on a oalfs or colt's, as a regular part of a plan of rearing them, as to slash the bark of sound and healthy trees. Ba/rh-hound ! what is that ? Does the inside of a tree grow faster than the outside ? When bark is slit, is it looser around the whole trimk than before? When granulations have filled up this artificial channel, is not the bark just as tight as it was before ? Mark, we do ABOUT FEtriTS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 253 not say that it is not a good practice ; but only that we do not yet understand what the benefit is. " Why, the bark bursts sometimes." Yes, disease may thus affect it ; and when it does, cut if " Does it do any harm?" Perhaps not ; neither would it to put a weathercock on the top of every tree ; or to bury a black cat under the roots, or to mark each tree with talis- manic signs. Is it worth while to do a thing just because it does no harm ? " But when a tree is growing too fast, does it not need it ?" Yes, if it can be shown that the bark, alburnum, etc., do not increase alike. That excitement which increases the growth of one part of a tree will, as a general fact, increase the growth of every other. In respect to the fruit and seed, doubtless, particular manures will develop special properties. But is there evidence that such a thing takes place in respect to the various tissues of the wood, bark, etc? " But if a tree be sluggish, and bound, wiU it not help it ?" Whatever excites a more vigorous circulation wiU be of advantage. Whether any supposed advantage from the knife arises in this way, we do not know. But a good scraping, or a scouring off of the whole body with sand, and then a pungent alkaline wash — (soft soap diluted with urine) would, we think, be better for bark-bound trees than the whole tribe of slits, vertical, horizontal, zig-zag, or waved. Hovet's Magazine of HoETicuLTtrEE. — We recommend all who can afford three dollars a year for a sterling monthly, beautifully got up, in the best style of Boston typography, to send to Boston for Hovey's Magazine. We give it an unqualified recommendation, and those who take it one year will be loth to part with it. 254 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK DOWNING'S FRUIT AND FRUIT-TREES OF AMERICA. Whbn a 'book is hopelessly weak or incorrect, it should be the object of criticism to exterminate it. But when a work is admitted to be, upon the whole, well done, criti- cism ought to be an assistance to it, and not a hindrance. Praise by the wholesale is better for the publisher than for the reputation of the author ; since, iu a work like Down- ing's, every pomologist knows that perfection is not attain- able, and indiscriminate eulogy iacliaes the better-read critic to rebut the praise by a fuU development of the faults. Thus on one side there is general praise and faint blame ; and on the other, faint praise and general blame. We shall, at present, confine our attention to the cata- logue of apples and pears, for all other fruits of wur zone together are not of importance equal to these ; and if an author excels in respect to these, his success will cover a multitude of sins in the treatment of small fruits, and fruits of short duration. Mr. Downing has shown good judg- ment in making out his list of varieties ; his descriptions, for the most part, seem to be from his own senses ; he has added many interesting particulars in respect to fruits not recorded before, or else scattered in isolated sentences in magazines and journals. But are his descriptions thorough and uniform ? While he has added materials to pomology, has he advanced the science by reducing such materials to a consistent form ? If we compare Mr. Downing's descriptions with those of Ken- rick, or even of Manning, he excels them in fullness. If he be compared with classic European pomologists, h^ is de- cidedly inferior, both in the conpeption of what was to be done, and in a neat, systematic method of execution. In- deed, Mr. Downing does not seem to have settled, before hand, in his mind, a formula of a description ; sometimes only three Or four characteristics are given. Downing sins in excellent company. There is not an American pome- ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FAllirTxr,. 255 logical writer who appears to have conceived, gtcu, of a .s) a- /tematio, scientific description of fruits. European authors, decidedly more explicit and minute than we are, have never reduced the descriptive part 6f the science to anything like regularity. We do not suppose that there can be such exact and constant dissimilarities- detected between variety and variety of a species, as exists between species and species of ' a genus. We do not think a description of fruits to be im- perfect, therefore, merely because it is less distinctive than a description of plants. But the more variable and obscure the points of diflference between two varieties, the more scrupulously careful must we be to seize them. Where differences are broad and uniform, science can afford to be careless, but not where they are vague and illusory. We can approximate a systematic accuracy. But it must be by making up in the number of determining circumstances, that which is wanting in the invariable distinctiveness of a few that are specific. 1. Downing's descriptions are quite i/rregidar and uneqital. Both his pears and apples are imperfect, but not alike im- perfect. The descriptions of pears are decidedly in advance of those of the apple. It would seem as if the improve- ment which he gained by practice was very easily traced in its course on his pages. Hardly two apples are described in reference to the same particulars. With respect to color of skin, size and form, eye and stem, he approaches the nearest to uniformity. But with respect to every other feature there is an utter want of regularity, which indicates not so much carelessness as the want of any settled plan or conception of a perfect scientific description. • We wiU, out of a multitude of similar cases, select a few as specimens of what we mean. Of the Pumpkin Jiussei, he says, " flesh exceedingly rich and sweet ;" but he does not speak of its texture, whether coarse or fine ; whether brittle or leathery. Porhme de JVeige — " flesh remarkably 256 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK white, very tender, juicy and good, with a slight perfume ;" but is it sweet or sour, or subacid, or astringent ? No one can tell by reading the joint descriptions of the Hed and the Yellow Ingestries what their flavor is, since it is only said that they are "juicy and high flavored" — ^but whether- the high flavored juice is sweet or sour, does not appear. These are not picked instances. They occur on almost every page of his list of apples. The Summer Sweet Pma- dise is, of course, sweet, since we are three tunes told of it, once in the title and twice in the text. The Sweet Pear- main also, is a " sweet apple " " of a very saccharine flavor." Of course it is sweet. Nos. 61, 68, 69, 74, 15, and very many more, are described without information as to their flavor except that, whatever it is, it is " brisk," or " high," or " rich" — forlorn adjectives unaffianceid to any substantive lAich they may qualify. Sometimes the health of the tree and its hardi- ness are given, and as often omitted. Some times its habit of bearing is mentioned, but oftener neglected. The color of the flesh is given in No. 82, but not in 83 ; in 84, but not in 85 ; from 86-02 inclusive, but not to the second 92, for the Bedfordshire Foundling and the Dutch Mignonne are both numbered 92. The color of the flesh is not given in 93, 97, 100, 101, 103, 110, although the intermediate numbers have it given. Why should one be minutely described, and another not all ? We should regard it an ungrateful requital for all the pleasure and profit which this volume has afforded us to hunt up and display what, to some, may seem to be mere "jots and tittles," were it not that these, in them- selves, unimportant things mark decisively the absence in the author's plan, of a style of description which pomology always needed, but now begins imperiously to demand. And we are confident that a pomological manual on the right design, is yet to be written. Our hearty wish is, that Mr. Downing's revised edition may be that manual. 2. We are led, from these remarks, to consider, by it- self, the imnerfect scale of descriptions adopted by all our ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING, 257 American pomological writers, upon which Mr, D, has not materially improved. The description of the tree is very meagre or totally neg- lected. Nothing at all is said of it in cases out of the 174 apples numbered and described. The general shape of the tree is given in but thirty-eight instances in the same number. The color of the wood is, usually, noticed in the account of pears ; but in the account of apples in not one case, we should think, in ten. The peculiar growth of the ycmng wood, in a great majority of cases, is not noticed; but more frequently in the pear than in the apple list. The least practised observer knows how striking is this feature of the face of a tree. We do not remember an instance where the buds have been employed as a characteristic. Are distinctive marks so numerous that such a one as this can be spared ? The shape, color, size, prominence, and shoulder of buds, together with their interstitial spaces, form too remarkable a portion of trees to be absolutely overlooked in a book describing the "fruits stai fruit-trees of America." Equally noticeable is the almost entire neglect of the core and seed, as identifying marks. Once in a while, as in the case of the Belle Fleur,-the Roman Stem, the Spitzen- berg, and the Pomme Royale, we are told, that the cores are hollow. But neither among pears nor apples, is the core or seed made to be of any importance. This is the more remarkable as being a decided retrocession in the art of description. Prince, wisely following continental authors, is careful in his description of pears, to give, and with some minuteness, the peculiarities of the seed. But Downing injudiciously misled by, in this respect, the decidedly bad example of British authors, has, almost without exception, neglected this noble criterion. There is not another single feature, either of fruit or fruit-trees, which we could not spare better than the core and seed. Not only may varie- 258 PLAIN AND PliBABANT TAIK ties be marked Tby their seeds, but they form, in comiection ■with the core, important elements of diagnosis of qiidlUies. A long-keeper, usually has a very small, compact core, with few seeds. A highly improved and luscious pear, not unfre- quently is wholly seedless; while fruits not far removed from the wild state abound in seeds. Whenever a system of description shall have been formed, we venture to predict that the core and seed wiU be ranked at a higher value in it than any one other element of discrimination and description. The same neglect or casual notice is bestowed upon the leaf. If anything about it is remarkable it is mentioned) not otherwise: but is there a page of any book that was ever printed, that has more reading on it than is on a leaf, if one is only taught to read it ? It, too, is not only a sign of difference but very often of qualil/y. Mr. D. haiB availed himself of this criterion in describing peaches. Is it a legible sign only in the peach orchard ? He that is ignorant of these marks, and only can tell goa fruit from another, is yet in the a b c of pomology. Who but a tyro, on importmg Goe''s Golden Drop, would not at once perceive the imposi- tion, if there was one, the moment his eye saw a bud, or its shoulder ? Van Mons learned to select stocks for his experi- ments, as well by the wood and bud in winter, as by the leaf and growth of summer. In a large bed of seedlings every experimenter ought to know by wood and leaf what to select as prognosticating good fruit, and what to reject, without waiting to see the fruit. Nurserymen of our acquaintance, without book, label, or stake, can tell every well-known variety on then- grounds. One of our acquain. tance never had a mark, label, stake, or register, of any kind upon his ground ; a culpable reliance on his ability to read tree-faces ; for, on his throwing up the business sud- denly, his successor fell into innumerable mistakes. It is just as easy for a pomologist to know the face of every variety, as for a shepherd to know the face of every sheep in his flock, or a grazier every animal of his herd. ABOUT PEXJITS, FLOWERS AND PAEMING. 259 3. Although the "Fruit and Fruit-trees of America" j)rofesses to give the process of management only for the garden and the orchard, it ought to include, and we pre- sume was designed to embrace the essential features of nursery culture. Every cultivator of fruit must be a private nurseryman ; he needs the same raformation, the same direc- tions as if he were a commercial gardener. He that designs planting an orchard ought to know the disposition of each variety of fruit-tree, that he may suit the circumstances of his soil, or provide for the peculiarities of a tree, as a farmer needs to know the peculiarities of the different breeds of hogs and cattle. With a large number of persons it would be enough to say of fruits, " superb," " extra- superb," "superlatively grand," "extra magnificent;" for such, a princdy catalogue would answer every purpose. But such as have some knowledge, and every year, we are happy to believe, the number of such increases, ask, not the author's bare eulogy, but a definite statement of all those special qualities on which such eulogy is founded. The exact taste of each variety of fruit should be studied in res- pect to soil; some, and but few, love strong clays; yet fewer thrive upon wet soils ; but some wiQ, as the Sweet or Carolina June, which does well on quite wet soUs; some refuse their gifts except upon a warm and rich sand ; some, and by far the greatest number, love a deep loam, with a subsoil moist without being wet. The buds of some varie- ties escape the vernal frosts by their hardiness; some by putting forth later than their orchard brethren. Some varieties thrive admirably by ground or root grafting, while very many, so worked, are kUled off during the first winter; some varieties, if budded, grow off with alacrity, others are dull and unwilling ; some form their tops with facility and beauty; others, like many men, are rambling, awkward, and averse to any head at all. Some sorts, put upon what stock you win, have singularly massive roots ; others have fine and slender ones. Every variety of tree has traits of 260 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK disposition peculiar to itself; and in respeet to traits pos- sessed in eommon, even these may be classified. In every description there should be, at least, an attempt at giving these various nursery peculiarities. It cannot be done, as yet, with any considerable accuracy. IVuit-trees have not yet been minutely studied. A florist can give you a thou- sand times more miaute and special information in respect to the peculiar habits and wants of his flowers, than an orchardist can of his trees. Doubtless, it is easier to do it in plants which have a short period ; whose whole life passes along before the eye every season, than in plants whose very youth outlasts ten generations of Dahlias, Pansies, Balsams, etc. But that only makes it the more important that we should be up and doing. Let no work be regarded as clas- sic which does not take into its design the most thorough enunciation of all the peculiarities of fruits, and poftiology will receive more advantage in ten years, than it could by a hundred years of rambling, unregulated, discursive descrip- tions. The abihty which Mr. D. has shown as a horticultural writer, his industry in collecting materials for this, his last work ; the skill which he has shown himself to possess in describing fruits, give the public a right to expect that he will "go on unto perfection;" and if Mr. D. will adopt a higher standard and set out with a design of a more sys- tematic description of fruits, every liberal cultivator in the land will be glad to put at his disposal whatever of minute observation he may possess. Buckwheat is a corruption rather than a translation of the Saxon word Suckwaieen, the first syllable signifying beech, the tree of that name, whose nut the kernel of the grain so much resembles in shape. The grain, therefore, might be properly called beech-wheat. ABOUT FEUITS, J-LOWEBS AlTD FAEMmG. 261 LETTER FROM A. J. DOWNING. We give below a letter from Mr. Downing, long known as an eminent pomologist and more recently yet more distinguished for Ms writings upon Horticultural matters. Although a private letter, it is of general interest, and he will, we hope, indulge the liberty taken* " H18HLAND Gaedhns, Newburoh, New Tobk, Feb. %9th, 1845. - " Mt dear Sie : . I thank you for the interesting article on horticulture in the West, which appears in the last No. of Sbvey's Magazine. " My particular object in writing you at this moment is to call your attention to the temarks you make on the 'Golden Russet,' which you call 'the prince of small apples.' From your description of this fruit it is the ' Sheep-nose,' or ' Bullock's Pippin ' of Coxe, well known here, and one of the most melting and delicious of apples. I understand from Professor Kirtland of Cleveland, that this is the apple known by the name of Golden Russet in his region. " Will you do me the favor, fbr the sake of settling the synonyms, to send me two or three cuttings of the young wood, by mail ? I can then determine in a moment. The Sheep-nose has long shoots of a peculiar d/rab color. If your apple proves the same, I think I shall cancel the title 'Sheep-nose' — (a vile name), known only in New Jersey, and substitute ' American Golden Russet ' f — ^this being its common title in New England and the West. I speak now in relation to my work on fruits, now in press. " What do you mean by the ' White Bell-flower of Coxe ?' The Detroit I have carefuUy examined, and it is quite * Mr. Downing's untimely end by drowning, is well known. f There is an English Golden Russet, distinct and quite acid. 262 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK different from the Yellow Bellflower. The Monstrous Beli- flower — the only other one Coxe describes — is a large autumn fruit, while the Detroit keeps till April ? " My work on Fruits has cost me a great deal of labor, but will stiU contain many imperfections. "When it is out of press — in about six weeks — I promise myself the plea- sure of sending it with the copy of each of my. previous works for the acceptance of your Horticultural Society. And I then hope to be favored with your criticism. Hoping an early answer to my-queries herein, " I am sincerely yours, " A. J. Downing. " H. W. Beeohbr." We should have said " Monstrous BeUflower " instead of White. The BeUflower here mentioned is the White or Green BeUflower of Indiana, the Ohio Favorite of western Ohio about Dayton, etc., the MoUow-cored Pippin of some; and it has been inquired for, at Mr. AUdredge's nursery, as the Cumberland Spice. Mr. A considered, ,from the description given, that the white BeUflower only could have been meant. But from the foUowing description of Cumberland Spice in Kenrick, from Coxe, I am inclined to think that the true Cumberland Spice may have been inquired for. " The tree is very productive ; a fine dessert fruit, large, rather oblong, contracted toward the summit ; the stalk thick and short ; of a pale yeUow color, clouded near the base ; the flesh white, tender, and fine. It ripens in autumn, and keeps tiU winter, and shrivels in its last stages." The fruit was brought to Wayne County, Indiana, by Mr. Brunson; He came from New York to Huron county, Ohio, and thence to Wayne County, Indiana. It is univej 4.B0TJX FEtriTS, FLOWBKS AND FABMING. 263 sally diSused through the eastern and central parts of Indiana, and is esteemed a first-rate apple. The tree strik- ingly resembles the Green Nevrtown Pippin, but its brush is not so small, and there is less of it, the top being rather more open. The wood is brittle, and, as the tree is a free and constant bearer, it tends to break, and is troublesome to keep in good order. Mr. Ernst and other gentlemen of Cincinnati suppose the variety to be the Detroit. We cannot say one thing or another, except that it is of the Bellflower family. The Detroit of New York is a widely different fruit, of a bright scarlet color, and we never heard of any other Detroit, until the name was applied to this apple. There is not the least doubt that the Golden Russet of the West is the Bullock Pippin and Sheep-nose of New Jersey, and we hope that the proposed name " American Golden Husset" will deliver us, for ever after, from eating any more sheep-noses. Names are of importance in classifying fruits, and there is a pleasure also in having a decorous name to a good fruit. It is amusing to look through a catalogue of singular names. The Sbss apple is popularly the Horse apple, and when, on a certain contingency a gentleman promised to eat a hoss it was not so hazardous a threat as some have imagined. The French, in naming their fruits, exercise a freedom with things human and divine, to which we occidentals are not accustomed (as, Ah Man Dieu ! Grosse Cuisse Madame, etc.), and an innocent person, recapitulating his pears, might, if overheard by neighbors understanding French, be thought very profane, or worse. There are other names which have a tendency to make the mouth water, as Onion Pear. One must have pleasing associations while eating the Toad Pear. (See Prince's Pom. Man. p. 24 and 34.) The French £on Chretien, (or Good Christian) is called in these parts the Don Gheat-em. Then, there is the Demoi- selle, the Lady's Flesh, and Love's Pear (Prince, 58, 34, 264 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK and 117) — very proper for young lovers. Then, there is the Burnt Gat ( Ghat BrusU of the French, Prince 89), which undoubtedly has a musk flavor. We have less objection to the PriesPs Pea/r {Poire de PrStre, Prince, 108). Piscatory gentlemen would always angle in our nur- series for the Trout pear (Prince 130), and if they did not get a bite, the pear would, as it is a fine variety. How did those who named pears, Louise Bonne de Jersey, or Van Mons -leon le clerc, expect common folks to hold fast to the ' true name ? But he must have a short memory indeed, who forgets the emphatic name of Ydt or Tut. But to return from our digi'ession. We give the descrip- tion of the Golden Russet from three sources, and indorse their general accuracy: GOLDEN EUSSET.— t(dB. PLUMMEE.) ' "Size. — 2 2-10 inches long; 2 7-10 inches wide. " Poem. — ^Rather smaller at the summit ; moderately flat- tened at the ends. "Pulp. — Very tender, juicy,'yellowi8h white. "CoLOE, — Deep yellow, with brown and russet clouds ; or wholly brown and russet. r. , " SuEFACE.--Nearly dull; ruffled by the confluent line- oles ; dots hardly discoverable. " Flavoe. — Sweet and delicious. " Stem. — Slender ; half to one inch long, reaching to a considerable distance beyond the verge. " Eye. — In rather contracted cavity ; closed. " Ripens in the tenth month. " It is one of our best apples, and keeps well through the winter." " Whether the Leathercoa* and the Glass apple are the same as are now known under those names, it is impossible to determine. Near Poughkeepsie, in the State of New York, the Leathercoat used to be a favorite fruit; and ABOUT FKTJITS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 265 whether it is the same as the Golden Russet, described above, I am not now able to say ; but my recollection of that apple after a lapse of twenty-three years, induces me to think it is no other than the Golden Russet ; and, indeed, Trevelyan calls it also the ' russet appell.' The Glass apple was described in a former number of ' The Orchard.' If the 'lethercott' has descended to us under the name of Golden Russet, the fine flavor of this apple would lead us to believe that it had not deteriorated, after a period of more than two centuries and a half." — West. Farm, and Gard., 1843. bullock's pippin, OB SHBBP-NOSE. — (COXE.) Golden Russet of Cineirmati. Golden Russet of the Eastern nurseries. — {Dr. Kirtland.) "Neither the size nor appearance of this fruit would attract attention ; yet it sells more readily in mar^^ets where it is known than any other apple. Its flavor is rich and pleasant, and many people consider it the best fruit of the season. In northern Ohio it matures at New- Year's, while in Cincinnati it is in perfection in November." — West. Farm, and Gard., 1841. GOLDEN KUSSBT — BULLOCK PIPPIN, OK SHBEP-NOSK. — (a. HAMPTON.) "This apple is below medium size; the skin is yellow, inclined to a russet; the flesh yellow, rich, juicy, tender and sprightly. I know of no apple more generally admired for its richness and excellent flavor than this ; commanding a high price, and ready sale, in market ; it makes very rich cider; a great and constant bearer; and keeps well tDI spring." — West. Farm, and Gatrd., 1841. We do not know another apple whose flavor and flesh 12 266 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK are so admirable. A gentleman in Ohio, on being asked for a list of a hundred trees for an orchard, replied, " set out ninety-nine Golden Russets, the other one you can ehoose for yourself." ATTENTION TO ORCHARDS. Clean out your orchards. Let ilo branches lie scattered around. If in crops, let the tillage be thorough and clean. In plowing near the tree be careful not to strike deep- enough to lacerate the small roots and fibres. An orchard should be tended with a cultivator rather than a plow, and the space immediately about the tree should be Worked with a hoe. Look to the fence corners, and grub out all bushes, briers and weeds. A fine orchard with such a ruffle around it, is like a handsome woman with dirty ears and neck. Pruning may still be performed. Those who are raising young orchards ought not to prune at any particular time between May and August, but aM along the season, as the tree needs it. If a bad branch is forming, take it out, while it is small ; if too many are starting, rub them out while so tender as to be managed without a knife and by the fingers. If an orchard is rightly educated from the first, there will seldom be a limb to be cut off larger than a little finger, and a pen-knife will be large enough for pruning. In the West there is more danger of pruning too much, than too little. The sun should never be allowed to strike the ingide branches of a fruit-tree. Many trees are thus very much weakened and even killed if the sim is violently warm. Over-pruning induces the growth of shoots at the root, along the trunk, and aU along the branches. Grub up suckers, and clear off from large and well established trees aJl side-shoots. After a tree is three inches ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEKS" AND FARMING. 267 in diameter through the stem, it may be kept entirely free of side-shoots. But young trees are much assisted in every respect, except appearance, by letting brush grow the whole length of their stem, only pinching oflFthe ends of the whips, if they grow too rampantly. In this way the leaves afford great strength to the trunk, and prevent its being spindling or weak-fibred. Scour off the dead bark, which, besides being unsight- ly, is a harbor for a great variety of insects, and affords numerous crevices for water to stand in. We have pre- viously recommended soft soap, thinned with urine to the consistence of paint, as a wash for trees ; we have seen nothing better. Meamine grafts if any have been put in. See if the -wax excludes the air entirely; rub out all shoots which threaten to overgrow and exhaust the graft ; if it is grow- ing too strongly, it must be supported, or it will blow out in some high wind. Look oxjt foe Blight. — ^All trees that have shown no indications of blight, will be safe for the season. But those Which have shown the affection may be expected to con- tinue to break out through the season. It is all important to use the knife freely ; for although there is no contagion from tree to tree, yet the diseased sap wUl, in the same tree, be conveyed from part to part over the whole fabric. But prompt pruning wiU remove the seat and source of the evU. Where a branch is affected, cut chips out of the bark along down for yards ; indeed, examine the limb entirely home to the trunk, and you may easily detect any spots which are depositories of this diseased sap, which, by its color, and whole appearance, will be identified by the most unprac- tised eye. Cut everything, below and aloft, that has this feculent sap in it, even if you take off the whole head by the trimk, and leave only a stump ; for, the stump may send new shoots ; but if the tree is spared from false tenderness you will lose it, bough, trunk, and root. 268 PLAIN AKD PLBASAUT TAIK WINE AND HORTICULTURE. " Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth hii color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.^' Now, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society appointed a committee to do just what Solomon says must not be done. Their report is a very artful document, so drawn up that the unwary would suppose that this was a mere business affair — ^passing off quite respectably. But we were not to be deceived ; we instantly saw through it ; and pencil in hand, we noted aU places in the report proper to shock a true "Washingtonian heart. Although the array of forty kinds of wine save one, did not intimidate these hitherto respectable gentlemen, it inspired them with prudence; and a German Conftnittee called in, to ferret out any foreign wines which might have been smuggled in to the confusion of the judges. The committee only darkly intimate their modus ope- randi; if they had given us a journal of their doings, made out on the spot, by some trusty clerk, what a bac- chanal mystery would have been disclosed I but they had discretion enough left to defer this until they were sober again. But Washingtonianism is abroad, and can detect all the mysteries of ebriety, however graced with authority from a Horticultural Society. We can imagine the impatience with which the bottles were preliminarily eyed — the entire moderation with which each sipped, a few first specimens ; we can see them gradually warming with their subject — tastiifg with alacrity — ^nodding at each other, squinting through the ruddy glass, smacking their too often dewy lips, or wagging their heads with more than ordinary satis- faction as a beaker of great merit made the fcicilis descen- sus amerni. Laughter interrupts sober attention to busi- ness; in vain the chairman thumps the table for order; ABOUT PRUrre, FLOWEES AND PAEMING. 269 he gets more jokes than attention. Many a sly story ia told ; some of them have visited ■wine countries and now begin long yarns thereof; the clamor of laughing, and anecdote, and criticism — ^the necessity, in consequence, of re-tasting, and tasting again to arrive at a conclusion, brought them, we doubt not, to a most lamentable conclu- sion, although the report only obscurely hints of it, as we shall see. Had any of them married into the Caudle con- nection we might have had a graphic account of their several arrivals at their homes — at what tiijie, by whose help, ia what condition, etc. The tabular report given in has evidently been studiously framed. "We suspect that if the opinions had been set down just in the order of their occurrence, they would have afforded an index of the condition of the committee as well as of the wine. But though they have mixed them up, they cannot elude our vigilance — we can pick out the chronological order. At first such opinions as these were given : " Tolerably good," " Inferior," " Poor, fermented on skins." They were critical yet ; but warming a little they express more generous sentiments ; " Good," " Very good Cape," " Very good, resembling old Madeira." The next step shows the genial advance — some were getting disputatious. " Good, considered by some better than N"o. 8, by others not so good," — they evidently had a row about it. They next advanced into the patriotic mood as is seen in the judgment of our foreign wines, "Good dry wine, but supposed to be foreign," "Inferior, a foreign wine," "Not American wine." Here the gradations of contempt are very plain. We have next, melancholy evi- dence of their progress in the necessity of a stronger body to their wines, — " Not liked, supposed to have been injured in the bottle." Why not say it right out, that it was a weak, thin wine ? Here we have it, " Good strong wine." The last record made is "Good new, not in a state for judg- ment." Does this refer to the wine or to the committee ? 270 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK To the latter we suppose ; and at this point, probably per- ceiving their condition, they laid aside their official charac- ter and made it a private, personal, and somewhat miscel- laneous affair. We see now the meaning of a sentence which follows the tabular exhibit : " The judgments pro- nounced and recorded in the foregoing table, were as nearly unanimous as can ever be expected among so many judges." The committee state in respect to western wines : "That the pure juice of the grape when judiciously managed will furnish the finest kind of winei without any addition or mixture whatever ; that no saccharine addition is necessary to give it sufficient body to keep for any length of time in this cUmate." We submit that the Reepingi properties of wine are not altogether intrinsic; but depend much upon the persons having access to them, or, as we were taught Lq school, " on time, place, and person." In our cellar American wines would doubtless have great longevity. We wish to call the attention of Mr. G-ough to the closing sentence of the repoi-t : " A taste for the wines of this region appears to be well established, since all that can be produced finds a ready market at good prices ; and the committee are of opinion, that the period is not distant when the wines of the Ohio will enjoy a celebrity equal to those of the Rhine." Here's work on hand for him. In conclusion, we respectfully suggest that the same committee be continued from year to year, as there is no use in spoiling a fresh set every year. If the specimens multiply, perhaps more help will be required — at any rate a by-law should be passed, so that there shaU be one committee-man to at least every ten bottles. ABOUT FEiriTS, FLOWEES AITO FAEMING, 2^1 DO VARIETIES OF FRUIT RUN OUT. Is there such similarity between animals and vegetables, in their organic structure, development and functions, as to make it safe to reason upon the properties of the one from the known properties of the other ? It is admitted that the lowest forms of vegetable exist- ence are extremely difficult to be distinguished from a cor- responding form of animal existence. As we approach the lower confines of the vegetable kingdom, flowers, and of course, seeds, disappear. The distinction between leaves and stem ceases ; and, at last, the stem and root are no lon- ger to be separated, and we find a mere vegetable sheet or lamina whose upper surface is leaf and whose lower surface is root. In a corresponding sphere, animal existence is re- duced to its simplest elements. Whatever resemblances there are in the lowest and rudimentary forms of vegetable and animal Ufe, it cannot be doubted that when we rise to a more perfect organization, the two kingdom be- come distinct and the structure and functions of each are in such a sense peculiar to itself, that he wiU grossly mis- conceive the truth who supposes a structure or a function to exist in a vegetable, because such structure or function exists in an animal, and vice versd. To be sure, they resem- ble in generals but they diflfer in specials. Both begin in a seminal point but the seed is not analogous ; both develop — ^but not by an analogous growth ; both require food, but the selection, the digestion and the assimilation are differ- ent. The mineral kingdom is the lowest. Out of it, by help of the sun and air, the vegetable procures its materials of growth ; in turn the vegetable kingdom is the magazine from which the animal kingdom is sustained ; to each, thus the soil contains the original elements ; the vegetable is the chemical manipulator, and the animal, the final recipient of its products. The habit of reasoning from one to the other, of giving an idea of the one by illustrations drawn from the 272 PLArv Aum plbasant tajjs. other, especially in popular writings, -will always be fruitfbl of misconceptions and mistakes. The next idea set forth in the paragraph which we review, is, the essential dissimilarity of Jyuds and seeds. The writer thinks that a plant from a seed is a new organization, but a plant from a bud or graft (which is but a developed bud) is but a continuation of a previous plant. With the exception of their integuments, a bud and a seed are the same iking. A seed is a bud prepared for one set of circumstances, and a bud is a seed prepared for another set of circumstances — it is the same embryo in different garments. The seed has been called, therefore, a "primary bud," the difference beng one of condition and not of natwe. It is manifest, then, that the plant which springs from a bud is as really a new plant as that which springs from a seed ; and it is equally true, that a seed may conveiy the weakness and diseases of its parent with as much faciUty as a bud or a graft does. ■ If the feebleness of a tree is general, its functions languid, its secretions thin, then a bud or graft wiU be feeble, — and so would be its seed ; or if a tree be thoroughly tainted with disease, the buds would not escape, nor the tree springing from them — neither would its seed, or a tree springing from it. A tree from a hud of the Doyenne pear is just as much a new tree as one from its seed. The idea which we controvert has received encourage- ment from the fact, that a bud produces a fruit like the parent tree, while, oftentimes, a seed yields only a variety of such fruit. But, it is probable that this is never the case with seeds except when they have been brought into a state of what Van Mons calls variation. In their natural and uncultivated state, seeds will reproduce their parent with as much fidelity as a bud or a graft. The liability of a variety to run out, when propagated by bud or gi'aft, is not a whit greater than when propagated by seed, in so far as the nature of the vegetable is concerned. ABOUT FBTJITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING. 273 But it is true that the conditions in which a bud grows render it liable to extrinsic ills not incidental to a plant springing from seed. A seed, eiiiitting its roots directly into the earth, is liable only to its own ills ; a bud or graft emitting roots, through the alburnum of the stock on which it is established, into the earth, is subject to the infirmities of the stock as well as to its own. Thus a healthy seed produces a healthy plant. A healthy bud may produce a feeble plant, because inoculated upon a diseased branch or stem. Instead of a limitation in their nature, there is reason to suppose that trees might flourish to an indefinite age were it not for extrinsic difficulties. A tree, unlike an animal, is not a single, simple organization, it is rather a community of plants. Every bud separately is an elementary plant, capable, if disjoined from the branch, of becoming a tree by itself. In fact, each bud emits roots, which, uniting to- gether, go down upon a common support (the trunk) and enter the earth, and are there put in connection with ap- propriate food. Every fibre of root maybe traced upward to its bud from which it issued. In process of time, the elongation of the trunk exposes it to accidents ; the branches are subject to the force of storms; in proportion as the distance from the roots increases, and the longer the passages through which the upper sap, or downward elaborated sap travels, the more liabilities are there to stoppage and injury. The reason of decline in a tree is not to be looked for in any exhaustion of vital force in the organization itself, but it is to be found in the immense surface and substance exposed to the wear and tear of the elements. It would seem, if this view be true, that no bounds can be placed to the duration of perennial plants, if, by any means, we could diminish their exposure, by reducing their expansion, by keeping them within a certain sphere of growth. Now this is exactly what is accomplished by bud- 12* 274 PLAIN A2ra> PLEASANT TALK ding. A bud, far removed on the parent stock from the root and connected with it through a long trunk, is inocu- lated upon a new stock. It now grows with a comparatively limited exposure to interruption or accident. The connec- tion with the soil is short and direct. In this manner a variety of fruit may be perpetuated to all generations, if the lams of vegetable heoMh be regairded in the process. Healthy buds, worked upon healthy stocks and planted in wholesome soil, will make healthy trees ; and from these another generation may proceed, and from these another. By a due regard to vegetable physiology, the Newtown Pippin, and the Seclde Pear, may be eaten two thousand years hence, provided, always, that expounders of prophesy will allow us the use of the earth so long for orchard purposes. A disregard of the laws of vegetable physiology ia the propagation of varieties, wUl,, CBi the other hand, rapidly deteriorate the most healthy sort. There is no clock-work in the branches of the tree, which finally runs down past aU winding up ; there is no fixed quantity of vitality, which a variety at length uses up, as a garrison does its bread. Plants renew themselves and every year have a fresh life, and, in this respect, they dif- fer essentially from aU forms of animal existence. Any one tree may wear out ; but a vairiety, never. We need not say, therefore, that we dissent from Knight's theory of natural exhaustion and from every sup- plement to it put forth since his day. Van Mons' theory of variation and the tendency of plants to return toward their original type, is to be regarded as nearer the truth. ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWBES AND FAEMING. 275 THE STRAWBERRY CONTROVERSY. No man will deny that in their cultivated state, strawber- ries are found, in respect to their blossoms, in three condi- tions : first, blossoms with stamens alone, the pistillate organs being mere rudiments ; second, blossoms with pistillate or- gans developed fully, but the stamens very imperfect, and inefficient ; third, blossoms in which staminate and pistillate organs are both about equally developed. There are two questions arising on this state of facts ; one, a question of mere vegetable physiology, viz., Is such a state of organization peculiar to this plant originally, or is it induced by cultivation ? The other question is one of eminent practical importance, viz., What eiBFect has this state of organization upon the success of cultivation ? Passing by the first question, for the present, we would say of the second that, a substantial agreement has at length, been obtained. It is on all hands conceded that staminate plants, or those possessing only stamens, and not pistillate organs, are unfruitfij. Any other opinion would now be regarded as an absurdity. It is equally well under- stood that pistillate plants, or those in which the female organs are fully, and the male organs scarcely at aU devel- oped, are unfruitful. No one would attempt to breed a herd of cattle from males exclusively, or fi-om females; and, for precisely the same reason, strawberries cannot be had from plants substantially male, or substantially female, where each are kept to themselves. But a difierence yet exists among cultivators as to the facts respecting those blossoms which contain both male and female organs, or, as they are called, perfect flowering plants. Mr. Longworth states, if we understand him, substan- tially, that perfect-flowering varieties wiU bear but moder- ate crops, and, usually, of small fruit. On the other hand. Dr. Brinkle, whose seedling straw- 276 PLAIN AJTD PLEASAI5T TAIK berries we noticed in a former article, Mr. Downing, and several other eminent cultivators adopt the contrary opin- ion, that, with care, large crops of large fruit may he obtained from perfect-flowering plants. This question is yet, then, to be settled. It is ardently to be hoped that, hereafter, we shall have less premature and positive assertion, upon unripe observa- tions, than has characterized the early stages of this con- troversy. We win take the liberty of following Mr. Hovey in his magazine, between the years 1842 and 1846, not for any pleasure that we have in the singular vicissitudes of opin- ion chronicled there, but because an eminent cultivator, writer, and editor of, hitherto, the only horticultural maga- zine in our country, has such influence and authority in forming the morals and customs of the kingdom of Horti- culture, that every free subject of this beautiful realm is interested to have its chiefs men of such accuracy that it wiU not be dangerous to take their statements. In 1842, Mr. Longworth communicated an article on the fertile and sterile characters of several varieties of straw- berries for Mr. Hovey's magazine, which Mr. H. for sub- ject-matter, indorsed. In the November number, Mr. Colt substantially advocated the sentiments of Mr. L. ; and the editor, remarking upon Mr. Colt's article, recognized dis- tinctly the existence of male and female plants. He (Mr. H.) says that, of four kinds mentioned by Mr. C. as unfruitful, two were so '■'■from the want of staminate or male plants;" and " the cause of the barrenness is thus easily explained." And he goes on to explaia divers cases upon this hypothesis ; and still more resolutely he says, that all wild strawberries have not perfect flowers ; " in a dozen or two plants which we examined last spring som,e were per- fect (the italics are ours) having both stamens and pistils ; Others, only pistils, and others, only stamens/ thus showing that the defect, mentioned by Mr. Longworth, exists in the original species." He closes by urging cultivators to set ABOUT FETnrS, FLOWERS AOTJ FARMING. 271 rows of early Virginia among the beds for the sake of im- pregnating the rest. Mr. Hovey's next formal notice ■was exactly one year from the foregoing, November, 1843, and it appears thus: "We believe it is now the generally received opinion of all intel- ligent cultivators (italics are ours again) that there is no necessity of making any distinction in regard to the sexual character of the plants when forming new beds. The idea of male and female flowers, first originated, we believe, by Mr. Longworth, of Ohio, is now considered as exploded." Such a sudden change as this was brought about, he says, by additional information received during that year by means of his correspondents, and by more experience on his own part. He says nothing of male blossoms and female blossoms, which Tie had him,self seen in wild strawberries. Mr. Hovey then assumed the theory that cultivation, good or bad, is the cause of fertile or unfertile beds of strawber- ries, and he says : " in conclusion, we think we may safely aver, that there is not the least necessity of cultivating any one strawberry near another (our italics) to insure the fer- tility of the plants, provided they are under a proper state of cultivation." Mr. Hovey now instituted experiments, which he prom- ised to publish, by which to bring the matter to the only true test ; and he, from time to time, re-promised to give the result to the public, which, thus far, we believe, he has forgotten to do. His magazine for 1844 opens, as that of 1843 closed ; and in the first number he says, " the oftener our attention is called to this subject, the more we feel confirmed in the opinon that the theory of Mr. -Longworth is entirely un- founded ; that there, is no such thing as m,ale and female plants, though certain causes may produce, as we know they have, fertile and sterile ones." Nevertheless, in the next issue but one this peremptory language is again softened down, and a doubt even appears, 278 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK when lie says, " If Mr, LongworthPs tJieory should prove true," etc. "We, among others, waited anxiously for the promised experiments ; but if published we never saw them. The subject rather died out of his magazine until August, 1845, when, in speaking of the Boston Pine, a second fine seedling of his own raising, he is seen bearing away on the other tack, if not with ciM sails set, yet with enough to give the ship headway in the right direction : " Let the causes be what they may, it is sufficient for all practical purposes, to know, that the most abimdant crops (italics ours) can be produced by planting some sort abounding in staminate flowers, in the near vicinity of those which do not possess them." P. 293. And on p. 444 he reiterates the advice to plant near the staminate varieties. In the August number for 1846, p. 309, Mr. Hovey shows himself a thorough con- vert to Mr. Longworth's views, by indorsing, in thai main, the report of the committee of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. We hope after so various a veyage, touching at so many points, that he will now abide steadfast in the truth. We look upon this as a very grave matter, not because the strawberry question is of such paramount, although it is of no inconsiderable importance ; but it is of importance whether accredited scientific magazines should be trust- worthy; whether writers or popular editors should be responsible for mistakes entirely unnecessary. We blame no man for vacillation, while yet in the process of investi- gation, nor for coming at the truth gradually, since this is the necessity of our condition to learn only by degrees, and by painful sittings. The very first requisite for a writer is, that he be worthy of trust in his statements. No man can be trusted who ventures opinions upon uninvestigated mat- tei's; who states facts with assurance which he has not really ascertained; who evinces rashness, haste, careless- ness, credulity, or fickleness in his judgments. The ques- tion of perfect or imperfect blossoms depends upon the sim- p'est exercise of eyesight. It requires no measurements, ABOUT FEUTTS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 279 no process of the laboratory, no minute dissections or nice calculations ; it requires only that a man should see what he looks at. When a boy, playing " how many fingers do I hold up," by dint of peeping from under the bandage, we managed to make very clever guesses of how many My-fiingers some roguish lassie was holding in tempting show before our ban- daged eyes ; but some folks are not half so lucky with both eyes wide open, and the stamens and.pistUs standing before them. If such a latitude is permitted to those who conduct the investigations peculiar to hoitioulture, who can confide in the publication of facts, observations or experiments ? Of what use will be journals and magazines? They become like chronometers that will not keep time ; like a compass that has lost its magnetic sensibility ; like a guide who has lost his own way, and leads his followers through brake, and morass, and thicket, into interminable wanderings. Sometimes, the consciousness of faults in ourselves, which should make us lenient toward others, only serves to pro- duce irritable fault-finding. After a comparison of opinions and facts, through a space of five years, with the most dis- tinguished cultivators. East and West, Mr. Longworth is now universally admitted to have sustained himself in aU the essential points which he first promulgated — ^not discov- ered, for he made no claims of that sort. The gardeners and the magazines of the East have, at length, adopted his practical views, after having stoutly, many of them, con- tested them. It waSj therefore, with unfeigned surprise, that we read Mr. Hovey's latest remarks in the September number of his magazine, in which, with some asperity, he roundly charges Mr. Longworth with manifold errors, and treats him with a contempt which woidd lead one, ignorant of the con- troversy, to suppose that Mr. Hovey had never made a mistake, and that Mr. Longworth had been particularly 280 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK fertile of them. Thus : " Mr. Longworth's remarks abound in so many errors and inconsistencies, that we shall expect scarcely to notice aU." " Another ^ross assertion," etc. Re- ferring to another topic, he says, " This question we, there- fore, consider as satisfactorily settled, without discussing Mr. Longworth's conflicting views ahout male and female. Keen's," etc. This somewhat tragical comedy is now nearly played out, and we have spoken a word just before the faU of the cur- tain, because, as chroniclers of events, and critics of horti- cultural literature and learning, it seemed no less than our duty. We have highly appreciated Mr, Hovey's various exertions for the promotion of the art and science of horti- culture, nor will his manifest errors and short-comings in this particular instance, disincline us to receive from, his, pen whatsoever is good. • We hope that our remarks wiU not be construed as a defence of western men or western theories, but as the defence of the truth, and of one who has truly expounded It, though, in this case, theory and its defender happen to be of western origin. Whatever errors have crept into Mr. Longworth's remarks should be faithfully expurgated; and perhaps it may be Mr. Hovey's duty to perform the lustration. K so,, courtesy would seem to require that it should be done with some consciousness, that through this whole controversy Mr. Longworth is now admitted to have been right in all essential matters ; and if, in error at all, only in minor particulars, while Mr. Hovey, iu all the con- troversy, in respect to the plainest facts, has been changing from wrong to right, from right to wrong, and from wrong back to right again. We do not think that the admirable benefits which Mr. Longworth has conferred upon the whole community by urging the improved method of culti- vating the strawberry, has been adequately appreciated. We still less like to see gratitude expressed in the shape of snarling gibes and petty cavils. ABOUT PEUITS, FLO WEES AWD FAKMING. 281 We will close these remarks by the correction of a matter which Mr. Downing states. While he assents to aU the practical aspects of Mr. Longworth's views, he dissents as to some matters of fact and philosophy, and among others, to the fact that Hovey's seedling is always and only a pis- tillate plant. He thinks that originally it had perfect flow- ers, but that after bearing twice or thrice on the same roots the plants degenerate and become either pistillate or stami- nate. He says, "Hovey's seedling strawberry, at first, was a perfect sort in its flower, but at this moment more than half the plants in this country have become pistillate." Mr. Hovey himself states the contrary on p. 112 of his magazine for 1844. He denies that there are two kinds of blossoms to his seedling, and says, " the flowers are aU of one kind, with both pistils and stamens, but the latter quite short and hidden imder the receptacle." This is the common form of all pistillate blossoms, and shows, in so far as Mr. Hovey's observations are to be trusted, that, at its starting-point and home, Hovey's seedling was, as with us it now invariably is, so far as we have ever seen it, a pistillate plant. STRAWBERRIES. DiBEcnoNS for the culture of the strawberry will vary with circumstances ; as, whether it is raised for private use, or for market. But, for whatever purpose cultivated, respect must be invariably had to the fact of staminate and pistillate flowers, or male and female. Each flower contains the rudiments of both the male and female organs. But the male organs are more or less defective in one set of plants and the female in another " and, in the Hudson and some others, it amounts to a complete separation of the sexes. In some of the male (staminate) varieties more or less of 282 PLAIN AND PLEASA3JT TALK the blossoms are also partially perfect in the female organs and will produce some fruit. " Every flower contains both the male and female organs ; and, in the white and monthly, both organs are always perfect in the same blossom, as far as my experience goes. In other kinds, the male organs are more or less defective in one set of plants, and the female in the other ; and, in the Hudson and some other varieties, it amounts to a com- plete separation of the sexes. The male organs are so defective in one set of plants, and the female in the other, that an acre of either would not produce a single fruit. In some of the male ( staminate) varieties, more or less of the blossoms are also more or less perfect in the fbmale organs, and will produce more or less fruit ; but I have never seen a female plant with the male organs sufficiently developed to produce a single perfect fruit. Hovey's seedling, anfi some others, may produce deformed berries." — Longworth.. Mr. Longworth, in consequence of this fact, always has a compartment allotted to male and one to female plants, and out of these he forms his beds, being able thus to insure a proper proportion of males to females. Mr. S. S. Jackson, a very skillful nurseryman of Cincinnati, usually, in selling plants, puts up ninety females to ten males in the hundred. "We shall now give the time and manner of planting of some of the best cultivators in the West, at the East, and in England. Mr. Jackson says :' " I plant any time from the first of April, till they are in bloom. I, one year, planted twenty- five square roods of ground ; the plants were all in bloom when set out; and the next year I picked thirty-eight bushels, and there were fuUy ten bushels left on the vines. "I plant them in this way: first plow or spade the ground ; harrow it smooth ; then strain a line on one side nine inches from the edge, and a row from twelve to fifteen ABOTJT PBUTTS, PLOWBES AND FAEMIITG. 283 inolies apart ; then move the line eighteen inches, and plant another row ; then move it three feet, and again eighteen inches — and so on till the ground is planted. I then go over and put one male plant every six feet, between the two rows. Keep them clear of weeds through the summer, and let them spread as much as they will. " In the fall dress the out-walks eighteen inches wide, which will leave the beds three feet wide ; and when it sets in cold, give them a light covering of straw ; rake it off in the spring. You may then expect a full crop. It is best to make a new bed once in two or three years." But plantations may be made through the summer, and as late as September ; of coarse, the earlier in the season the better established the plants will become before winter, and the larger the next summer's crop. Thus, a bed formed in September would bear very scantily ; while Mr. Jackson's beds, formed in the spring, produced a large crop the next season. Mr. Kenrick gives the following methods as practised by market gardeners near Boston ; the first one strikes us as being the most economical way of working strawberries, on a large scale, that we have seen : "In,, the vicinity of Boston, the following mode is often adopted. The vines are usually transplanted in August. The rows are formed from eighteen inches to two feet asunder. The runners, during the first year, are destroyed. In the second year, they are suffered to grow and fill the interval, and in the autumn of that year, the whole old rows are turned under with the spade, and the rows are thus shifted to the middle of the space. The same process is repeated every second year. " Another mode, which may be recommended generally, is to plant the strawberries in rows thirty inches asunder, and nine inches distant in the row, and suffer the vines to extend to the width of eighteen inches, leaving twelve inches' space for an alley ; or allow eighteen inches' width 284 PLAIK AND PLBASAUT TALK to the alleys, and three feet asunder to the rows ; and to form new beds every three years, or never to suffer the bed to exist over four years ; and to plant out in August in preference to spring." Dr. Bayne of Alexandria, D. C, gives his method of producing very large fruit. The peculiarity of his treatment is the use of undecomposed or green manure. Almost every other cultivator recommends weU rotted manure ; and, we are inclined to think, with the better reason. "We have found some English cultivators who agree with him ; but the most dissuade from the practice, as making plants productive of leaves rather than fruit. " To produce strawberries of extraordinary size for exhi- bition, I would recommend the following preparation : select the best soil and trench it at least two feet deep ; incorporate well with the first twelve inches an abundance of strong undecomposed manure ; pulverize and rake the ground well, then mark off the rows twelve or fifteen inches asunder, and set the plants in the rows from twelve to fifteen inches, according to the luxuriance and vigor of the variety. During the first year, the runners must be care- fully and frequently destroyed before they become rooted. By this means the stools become very vigorous and bear the most abundant crops. In the spring after the fruit is set, place around each plant a small quantity of straw, or what is much better, cover the whole surface of 3he ground one inch thick with wheat chaff. This prevents evaporation, protects the fruit from the earth, improves the flavor, and will greatly increase the size." Loudon gives Gamier's method of treating the straw- berry as an annual. It is peculiarly applicable to smaU gardens. The observations on the depth of soil required, are worthy of especial attention : " Early in August, or as soon as the gathering is over, I destroy aU my beds, and proceed immediately to trench, form, and manure them in the manner before directed, to ABOUT FEXJITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 285 receive the plants for the crop of the ensuing year, taking care to select for that purpose the strongest and best-rooted runners from the old rejected plants. If at this season the weather should be particularly hot, and the surface of the ground much parched, I defer the operation of preparing my beds and planting them till the ground is moistened by rain. Such is the simple mode of treatment which I have adopted for three successive years, and I have invariably obtained upon the same spot, a great produce of beautiiiil finiit, superior to that of every other garden in the neighbor- hood. Depth of soil I have found absolutely necessary for the growth and production of fine strawberries, and when this is not to be obtained, it is useless, in my opinion, to plant many of the best varieliies. It is not generally known, but I have ascertained the fact, that most strawberries generate roots, and strike them into the ground, nearly two feet deep in the course of one season.' The practice of renewing straT^berry plantations every year, and even of using runners of the current year for forcing, is now become very general among gardeners. Mr. Knight generally adopts this mode, and, notwithstanding the increased labor attending it, it is even adopted by some market-gardeners about London for their earliest crops. It is invariably found that by this mode the fruit not only comes larger, but somewhat earlier. It must always be recollected, how" ever, by those who intend practising it, that almost the whole of the success depends on bringing forward the earliest runners, by encouraging them to root. This is done by stirring the soil beneath them, hooking them down, or retaining them in their proper places by small stones ; or, when the object is to procure plants for forcing rooting them into small pots," 286 PLAUT ASH PLEASANT TALK RASPBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS. CuEBANTS, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, etc., are termed " Small Fruit." We will give some directions for spring-work which these require, Raspbeeeibs. — ^The sorts usually found in our gardens are rejected from all good collections as worthless. The Ant- werp, red and white, have, until lately, been regarded as the best. Two new kinds are very highly thought of — the ^anconia and the Fastolf. This last is an Eng- lish variety; was found growing on a gentleman's ground among some lime and brick rubbish — evidently a seedling — and removed to his garden. It was a number of years before it attracted attention ; but, lately, it has been much in demand and bids fair to claim a rank among the firSt, if it is not the first. A deep, rich, loamy soil which is moist^ proves best for this fruit. It prefers a half shady position. When first planted, put them four feet apart in the row, and the rows three feet from each other. In old beds cut out the last yearns hearing wood, now worthless, and also all the new shoots but four or five to a root; grub up all that have come up between the rows. Cut those which are reserved for bearing to about five feet in length, and tie them gently to a stake. Thus treated from year to year, and well manured, raspberries will return a rich reward. Steawbeeeibs. — Thenumber of kindsisimmense. Knight, late president of the London Horticultural Society, had/bwr hundred kinds in his garden, and most of them seedlings of his own raising. The. early Virginia is regarded as the best early kind. Hovey's, Warren's and Keen's seedlings are admirable sorts. Wiley's and Motter's seedlings ori- ginated in Cincinnati and are esteemed. There are many" other fine sorts which au amateur cultivator would wish, ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWBES AHD FAEMING. 281 not necessary to common gardens, where two or three choice sorts will suffice. Almost every cultivator has a way of his own in raising strawberries. In private gardens, in a soil well enriched and deeply spaded, let beds be formed about four feet wide; -upon these set three rows of hills and the plants about fifteen inches apart in the row. Pinch off oM rwnners through the season, unless they are wanted for new plants. Old beds, grown over and matted, had better be des- troyed ; but if, for any reason, it is desirable to save them, mark out lines every eighteen inches and dig alleys through the bed, by tumiag the plants under. In this way the patch will be thrown into beds of eighteen inches width. Before this is done take an iron-toothed rake and rake the bed severely. Do not be afraid of tearing the plants ; go over the whole bed thoroughly. It will seem as if scarcely a dozen plants were left, but in a few weeks your bed will be entirely covered with a strong growth. GoosBBEEEiBS. — ^This fruit is very much neglected because its merits are only little known. There are two sorts found in our gardens, the common gooseberry and English, by which name is meant a large, coarse, thick-skinned green variety. It is not generally known that there are any other cultivated sorts; and as these are inferior they are little cared for. The Lancashire (England) Nurserymen publish 300 varieties ! The select list of Mr. Thompson of the Lon- don Horticultural Society's garden comprises ffty-six varieties; the still more condensed select list of Mobert Manning (Mass.) includes twenty-eight sorts. Some of these bear fruit as large as a medium-sized plum. There are four colors, red, yellow, green andwhite ; to each color are two sizes, large and small fruits. Those who have not seen and tasted the Scotch and Lancashire varieties of the gooseberry do not know what the fruit is. In sending for them, select a trustworthy nurseryman, and request him to 288 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK send, of each color, such kinds as have proved, with him, the best ; and ia such numbers as you may wish. The gooseberry delights in three things, a very rich soil, a shady position, and a free circulation of air. If accommodated ia these respects, it wiU be free from mildew and give a sure ' and ample crop of delicious fruit. Hill-tops are the best sites. In gardens the open and airy parts should be selected; in low and confined situations they mildew. Hog manure is esteemed the best for this fruit. When the fruit begins to set, if threatened with blight, take a moderately strong lime-water (sulphur added will be all the better) or, if lime is not convenient, lye from wood ashes, and drench the bushes freely with it. A large watering-pot should be employed. Gooseberries may be in- creased from cuttings like the currant, and with the same ease. Cttebants. — ^There are very few varieties of this« fruit. Our common red and white, if well cultivated, are very good. The Large Dutch Red, and White, are much larger varieties and generally preferred in the best Eastern: gar- dens. Every farmer, if he has nothing else, has a long row of currant bushes, and gets, usually, five times as many cui^ rants as he can consume. Very few fruits have so few diseases incident to them as the currant. It is not infested with worms, its fruit is subject to no blight, it bears every year, is rarely affected either by severe winters or late frosts, and we do not remember a season in our lives w;hen there was not, at least, a partial currant crop. We advise those who are careful in such matters to train their currants to a tree form / let a cutting be set, rub out all the buds but two or three at the top ; at about twelve or fifteen inches from the earth let the branches put out, and never permit suckers to grow, or branches to stand lower than this. The difficulty which some have found in tree currants, that they are top-heavy and require staking to prevent their being bent by winds and their own weight, arises from having -the stem too long. We have seen two ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWBES AND PAEMING. 289 feet and even more allowed. If twelve or fifteen inches be allowed, the stem, in a few years, will become strong enough to withstand winds and sustaia its own top. Thus formed they are beautiful to the eye, convenient for borders, allow a free circulation of air under and through them, are easy to work in spring or for manuring, and easy to prune, when, as should be done every year, you take out the old wood. Gooseberries wiU do better to be trained in this way, than in the bush form. The top once formed, there is no difficulty in keeping it so. If you are faithful to grub up every sucker for one season you will have few to plague you after that. Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries and Currants ought to be found in every farmer's garden. The trouble of cultivation is slight and the return of wholesome fi.-uit very great. One woman can, for the most part, bestow all the attention which they need. SPRING-WORK IN THE ORCHARD. 1. Thbeb is a great deal more pruning done than is need- ful or healthful. Our hot summers and strong groivth of wood make every leaf on the tree precious. Dead limbs should be taken out. Where the tree is really tangled with wood, thin out. Where branches are rubbing across- each other severely, take off one of them. Grub up every water- sprout from the roots. If you can avoid it, do not use them for trees, for the tree thus obtained wUl inherit the same propensity of sending up water-shoots. Sometimes, in scarcity of stock, they are used rather than to have none, but it is then only a lesser of two evils. 2. Time op PETrj>mG. — ^There is a bad pi-actice abroad of pruning before the leaves are out. English books direct to 13 290 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK prune in February, and we suspect that the custom sprang up at the East from the old country example. It is not safe for us to follow the specific processes of Great Britain or the Continent. OuE own wdl settled experience is to he our rule of praetice. There is no better month in the year to prime, thorn that month in which the tree is making the most wood. It is plaia that the sooner a wound heals the better ; and equally plain, that a tree which is growing will heal a wound quicker than an inactive tree. AU the matter which goes to form wood, or to form the granulations by which a cut heals, comes from the downward current of sap, or sap which has been elaborated in the leaf. Of course when the tree has the most leaves, and the leaves are preparing the greatest quantity of proper juice or elaborated ■ sap, that is the time for pruning, because the time for healing. *In this climate we have preferred the last of May for spring prim- ing, and the last of August for summer pruning — ^the exact week varying as the season is forward or backward. 3. Instead of Peuning at this baelt pbeiod, let Trees BB THOEOUGHLT ScEAPED AND ScouEED. — A three-sided scraper, such as butchers use to clean their blocks with, or any convenient implement, may be applied to the trunk and large branches with force sufficient to take off the dry, dead bark. Only this is to be removed. , Take soft soap and reduce it by urine to the consistence of paint. With a stiff shoe-brush rub the whole trunk and the limbs as far up as is practicable. The bark will grow smooth and glossy; insect eggs will be entirely destroyed ; all moss and fungous vegetation removed, and the bark stimulated and made healthier. This is bbttbe than ant whitewash, and just as convenient. 4. Lime is better used as follows : remove the earth from the trunk, and put ^about half a peck to each tree. Every spring, spread and dig in the old lime, and put new in its place. Unleached ashes are good to be dug in around a ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEBS AN1> FAEMING. 291 tree. If your soil is calcareous, full of lime, these applica- tions are not needful. Thoroughly rotted manure, or better yet, black vegetable mold may be dug in liberally, and ■will supply the soil with nutriment, and the roots wiU find their way in with great facility. ~ 5. When a tree is manured, remember that the endsxnxlj of the roots take up nourishment, and that the ends of the roots are not found close by the trunk. We often see heaps of manure pUed about the trunk, and the ends of the roots are three yards or more distant from it. You might as well put your fodder down at your cattle's hind legs, and wonder that they did not get fat on it. Treat your trees as you do your stock — put their food where their mouths are. Youug oechaeds are better without stimu- lating manure. Let the soU be mellowed, and then give the trees their own time, and if they do not bear quite as soon, they wiU live longer and be less subject to disease. MIRACLES IN FRUITS. When a traveller was relating, in Cowper's presence, some prodigious marvels, the poet smiled somewhat incredu- lously, "Well, sir, don't you believe me? I saw it with my own eyes." " Oh, certainly, I believe it if you saw it, but I would not if I had seen it myself." Even so we feel about the thousand iand one physiological fooleries which run the monthly rounds of the papers. How on earth do inen suppose a fruit to receive its char- acteristic quality? Is it from the root, trunk, pith, bark, branch, or leaf? One would think that it made no differ- ence which. We have long supposed that the leaf digested the sap, returned it to the passages of distribution to be employed in the formation of fruit, wood, tissue, etc. Is this the function of the leaf? or have recent investigations^ 292 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK explodedtHs doctrine ? K not, it will be apparent that all grafting of scions together, cannot change the quality of fruit, unless the leaves are also amalgamated. Is a red, green, yellow, and -white fruit, sweet, sour, or bitter, he put upon the same tree, each will maintain its characteristics ; beodlUse, each bud or scion has its own peculiar leaves, from whose laboratory the fruit is sweetened or acidulated and colored with all its hues. To be sure, fruits are affected by the stock on which they are put ; but their characteristic elements are not altered, but only pushed along in the same line^and made more perfect. There is no doubt that trees indulge, occasionally, in rare antics. A sober apple-tree wiU sometimes let down its dig- nity, in what gardeners call a " sport," e. g. a sweet apple' may grow on a sour tree, and vice versd. An apple may on one side be sweet and on the other sour. But, id" such cases, the same general law is seen governing yet. We all know that great changes of temperament occur in men. A nervous teraperament often becomes abdominal, and a little, wiiy, fussy, peevish, minikin, becomes a round, plump, rosy, corpulent spot of good nature. Similar changes may occur, through disease, or the peculiarity of the season, or from unknovm causes, in the structure of the leaves of a branch, and then the fruit will follow the change of the leaf. But the fruit itself digests still further the elaborated sap sent to it from the leaf. If, then, from any hidden causes, the fruit should in part change its structure, the juices elaborated would be altered. If stamens and pistUs may change to petals, if petals may change to leaves, if leaves may extend to branches, we know of no reason why the whole or the half of. a fruit may not, also, alter its structure ; and with its peculiarity of function, also, of course, the charac- ter of the fruit. "While then we are not skeptical of " mon- sters," " marvels," " sports," " singularities," we think we can tjace the original law through all the transmuta- tions. ABOUT PEUrrS, PLOWEES AND FAEMrSTG. 293 PROTECTING THE ROOTS OF FRUIT-TREES. CuLTivATOES are frequently urged in Horticultural papers to cover the roots of the peach-trees with heaps of snow, etc., that they may be retarded in the spring, and escape injury from ^ate frosts upon their blossoms. This direction takes it for granted that the warmth of the ground starts the root, and the root starts the sap, and the sap wakes up the dormant branch. By covering the soil and keeping it back, the whole tree is supposed to be secured. But, unfortunately for this process, the motion of the sap is first in the beanchbs, and last in the roots. Light and heat, exerted upon the branches for any considerable length of time, produce a high state of excitabihty ; the sap begins to move toward the bud, its place is supplied by a portion lower down, and so on until the whole column of sap through the trunk is in motion, and last of aU in the koot. But suppose warm, spring days, with a temperature of from sixty degrees to sixty-five degrees, have produced a vigor- ous motion of the sap m the branches and trunk, while the root, (thanks to snow and ice piled over it to keep it frozen), is dormant, what wUl result? The sap already within the tree will be exhausted, the root iviU supply none, the light and heat still push on the development of bud and leaf and the tree will exhaust itself and die- We not long since observed a remarkable confirmation ot these reasonings. A gentleman of our acquaintance, in reading these unskilfuU directions to cover the peach-tree root, opened trenches about his trees, and filled them with snow, heaping bountifully also all about the trees. The next spring, long after his trees should have .been at work, the snow held the root fast ; the buds swelled and burst, lingered, shrivelled and died — and the trees too. This might have been prognosticated. There are partial methods of protecting the peach from too early develop- ment, but they all have respect to the protection of the 294 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK limbs. If the branches can be coyeved during the random and prematurely hot days of spring, the tree -n-ill not suffer. High, and cool-aired aspects, north hill-sides, northern sides of houses, bams, etc., will answer this purpose. When it can be afforded, long boards may be set up upon the east and south sides of choice trees, upon a frame slightly made and easily removed. The reason why more damage has not been done by covering peach-tree roots, than has occurred, is, that the ground has been superficially frozen, and many of the roots extending deeper and laterally beyond the congealed por- tions, have afforded a supply of sap after a motion had been imparted to it in the branches. PRUNING GRAPE VINES. All -know that after the sap begins to flow in the spring, a vine, if cut, will bleed. It seems that at this early period of its development the sap vessels have no power of con- traction. Many suppose that the same state of things con- tinues throughout the growing season, and are afraid to cut their vines. But after the vine has begun to grow freely (when the leaves, for example, are as large as the palm of one's hand), a wound very soon contracts, bleeds little or none, and heals over as in a tree. Any pruning which is necessary upon the old wound may, therefore, be fearlessly performed. Some inexpert cultivators, in order to let the sun fall upon the grapes, plupk off the leaves; hoping thus to pro- cure sweeter grapes. This is the very way to have acid fruit. Where is the sugar prepared for the cluster but in these very leaves which are taken off? Without leaves, the sap which flows into the cluster has undergone but ABOUT FECITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING. 295 imperfectly those chemical changes on which the fruit depends. Every leaf in the neighborhood of the fruit is precious. MILDEW ON GRAPES. Mant permit the fruit of the vmes to perish before their eyes from the ravages of mildew, ignorant that an effectual remedy is within their reach. It is simply to dust the branches with flowers of sulphur. It is best done whOe. the dew is on. When vines are trained upon the sides of a house or fence, it is well to whitewash the surfaces on which they are fastened with a wash in which flowers of sulphur has been largely mixed. It is recommended by some cultivators to employ such a whitewash for the wood of the vine, covering aU the main stems with it ; but all these methods result in the one thing — ^the application of sulphur as a remedy for mildew. HOW TO OBTAIN GRAPE VINES. Gbajtiitg is only practised on the vine for special rea- sons, and we have never had occasion to try it. We shall speak of a better mode of obtaining vines. The best method of " getting a start " of grape vine's is, by the employment of cuttings. These maybe planted immediately after the sprang pruning of established vines. But cuttings of native grapes are as well planted in the, fall. The granulation, from which the roots spring, will form during the winter, and the cuttings, starting early in the spiing, will make good growth the first year. Cuttings 296 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK are the best, because they can be procured easily, abun- dantly, and cheaply ; they will bear carriage to any dis- tance, are exceedingly tenacious of life, and they make thriftier plants. Cuttings may be set, either where they are to remain, in which, case several should be set, to allow for failures, and only the strongest finally retained ; or, they may be set in nursery rows, eight inches apart. Cuttings should be inserted about eight inches deep, and have two eyes or buds above the surface. The two buds are merely precautionary ; that if one fails the other may sprout ; one only, and that the strongest, should finally be permitted to grow. An old and skillful cultivator of the vine says that cut- tings are the best of all modes of securing a supply of vines. "For my part I am for scions without roots, after many experiments. All the advantage the one .with roots has over the other, is that they are more sure to Uve ; but they will not in general, make as thrifty plants." — J. J. Dufour. This only objection to cuttings — ^that a part of them fail to root — ^is of little practical importance, as they are easily obtained in any quantity. AUTUMNAL MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT-TREES. Oechaedists and cultivators of garden-fruit will have need of all their skill to prepare tender fruit-trees for win- ter. It is the misfortune, alike of the English summers, and of ours in the West, that trees do not properly ripen their wood. But in Great Britain it is from the want of enough, and in America, from too much summer. Our long and hot summers give two or three separate growths to fruit-trees, and the last one is usually in progress at a period so late ABOUT PBUITS, FLOWEES AND FABMING. 297 that severe frests and freezings overtake the tree while yet in an excitable state, pushing new wood, and with a top quite unripened for severe frosty handling. The year 1845 furnished a fine type of western summers. The spring came in very properly, and at so late a period th.at the usual frosts, after the expansion of leaves, were avoided. The summer opened warmly and continued with almost unvarying heat throughout. At the same time there were frequent and copious rains. By this statement the average temperature of June was 11°, and the rain 6' inches; of July, average noon heat 80°, rain 3;^ inches ; of August, average noon heat 80°, rain 5J inches. Nights were exceedingly warm. The day repeatedly opened and closed at 80°. Our thermometer on the north of our house, in a shady yard, stood for eight and ten days together between 94° and 100°, t^vioe attaining the latter height. Under such stimulus our pear, apple and plum-trees, made their first growth by the first of July. They soon started into a second growth, which wound up during the last of August and the first of September, plum-trees entirely shedding their leaves and standing as bare as in Jan- uary. Let orchards be examined when frosts begin to occur, and every side-shoot, sucker or wat&r-sprout, cut cleanly out. These succulent, raw sprouts are the brefedingrspots of disease. Cold-blight invariably manifests itself in them in the most positive form. Garden trees, choice pears, and stone-fruits, should, in fiddition to this operation, if still in growth at the last of September, receive a fall pruning. From the first to the mid- dle of October, according to the season, cut oflF two-thirds of the new growth, or back to strong, ripe wood. It is weU known that the newest buds, near the extremity of young wood, are the most sensitive and apt to break and grow, whereas the buds near the base of a branch are dormant. 13* 298 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK It is the repose of the older buds which makes fall pruning, if performed with judgment, so valuable. Because it forces the tree to expend its energies in ripening its wood instead of making more, and it also tends to induce fruitfulness by changing leaf-buds to fruit-buds. The great art of fall pruning is to relieve the tree of its crude wood mthout causing its dormant buds to break. If performed too early, or if but the tips of the fine wood are removed, the new buds may break and side-shoots issue, leaving the tree worse off than before. Young trees just coming into bearing should have then- trunks protected. That there is a change in the economy of a tree when it begins to bear is plain ; and experience seems to teach that trees are peculiarly tender at the time of this change, since they are far more apt to die when coming to fruit, than either before or afterward. Cherry- trees and pear-trees should have brush, or corn-stalks, or straw, or matting, as is most convenient, so placed from the ground to the branches, as to exclude the sun with- out excluding air. An hour's attention may save much regret. PEARS GRAFTED UPON THE APPLE STOCK. We do not think the pear does so well in any other way as on its own root. But it has been found extremely difS- cult to obtain the requisite stock. Pear-seeds are scarce. When obtained, the seedlings have proved intractable, and left the nurseryman oftentimes in the lurch. The first and best substitute for pear-stock, is the root of the pear — great quantities may be obtained when removing pear-trees in the autumn from the nursery, and also without any injury to the trees, roots may be taken from old bearing-trees. AfeOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AITD FARMING. 299 These are to be grafted in the manner already described in our pages. Next to this, the quince stock is to be chosen. The pear is dwarfed upon it. In other words, the two p,re but imperfectly suited to each other, and the scion does not develop according to its original nature. But this very dwarfing adds something to the good qualities of the fruit, affords trees so smaU that, at eight feet apart, they make beautiful linings to a walk or border, and, morever, brings the pear to its fruit several years earlier than if it were on its own bottom. But on the other hand, the pear on quince is comparatively short-lived. The white-thorn has been tried as a stock and not without success, but it is hardly to be used except in extremities. Last, and worst of all, comes the apple. The scion grows as vigorously upon the apple as upon a stock of its own species, and we do not know that the fruit deteriorates. But the trees seem to have no constitution.. After a few bearings they seem struck with irremediable weakness, and soon run down and die. Nurserymen ought not, therefore, to graft the pear upon the apple. To do so, if advised of the fore- going facts, cannot be honest. Our attention has been called to the subject by some painM experience of our own. Nbshanoc Potato. — ^This potato (pronounced JKesha- noc), was raised from the seed about the year 1800, by John GUkey, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He -called it Ifeshanoc, from a creek near to which he lived. It was called by some, Mercer, from the county in which it was raised. It is extensively cultivated, and deserves to be. Mr. Gilkey was an Irishman — of course a judge of good potatoes. 300 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK SEEDLINGS FROM BUDDED PEACHES. Me. Nicholas Longwoeth inquires: "Will the pit of the budded peach produce the same fruit as the bud, or as the stoak, or a mixture of the two?" And he also says, "I have never fairly tested the question, but my experience led me to believe that the budded pit produced the same fruit as the original stock." So far as this question can be determined (independently of experiment) upon the known laws of the vegetable king- dom, we say that it will not produce fruit like that of the original stock ; nor will it, on the other hand, with any cer- tainty, reproduce the budded kind. If the pit of a budded variety takes after the stock, we must very much change our theory of the office of leaves, and perhaps of the bark. At present, the received- and orthodox teaching is, that the sap from the root is crude and undigested untU it has received in the leaf a chemical change. Until then, the sap does not materially influence the vegetable tissue, nor form new substance, or affect the fruit. But after its elaboration in the leaf, a returning cur- rent of prepared sap (similar in its functions to arterial blood), sets downward, distributing to every part of the vegetable economy the properties . required by each. The sap arising from the root, does not touch the channel of fruit until it has been chemically changed; and the differ- ence exhibited in the fruit of one tree compared with another, arises, primarily from the nature of the sap which it receives ; the sap receives its qualities by a digestion in the leaf* In all cases, then, we suppose the leaf to deter- mine the nature of the fruit (and the root in no case, and the trunk in no case), since the stem is, so far as sap is con- cerned, but a bundle of canals for its passage — a mere high- * The fruit itself still further elaborates the sap, else a peach would be as acrid as the juice of the peach leaf. - ABOTTT FKUITS, FLOWERS AOT) FARMING. 301 •way for transmission — and not like tiie leaf, a laboratory for its preparation ! * We may be reminded that a stock, in point of fact, does influence the fruit. It is indisputable that pears are changed on quince roots. The WilMnson, grafted upon the quince, is smaller, more prolific, higher flavored, and of a brighter red cheek than if grafted on the pear. The Duchesse d'An- gquleme is larger and better on the quince than on its own roots. But what is the influence in this case ? When a free- grower is put upon a slow-grower, the point of jtmction becomes a point of comparative obstrifction to the return- sap. It is only a wholesome process of ringing, or decor- tication. Lindley says : " When pears are worked upon the wild species, apples upon crabs, and peaches upon peaches, the scion is, in regard to fertility, exactly in the same state as if it had not been grafted at all: while, on the other hand, a great increase of fertility, is the result of grafting pears upon quinces, peaches upon plums, apples upon the thorn, and the hke. In these cases, the food absorbed from the earth by the root of the stock is communicated slowly." And * Loudon (Bnoyolopsedia of Gardening, p. 448), has the following remarks: - " The bark is the medium in which the proper juices of the plant, in their descent from the leaves, are finally elaborated and brought to the state which is peculiar to the species. From the bark these juices are communicated to the medullary rays, to be by them deposited in the tissue of the wood. The character of timber, therefore, depends chiefly upon the influence of the bark: and hence it is that the wood formed above a graft never partakes, in the slightest degree, of the nature of the wood below it. The bark, when young and green, like the leaves, is supposed, like them, to elaborate the sap, and hence may be considered as the universal leaf of a plant. These views corroborate the reasoning above, although Loudon extends the functions of the leaf to the bark. We have not been able, in our limited range of books, to find any other authority for this state- ment, respecting the " young and green bark." 302 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TXLK Manning adds : " No other influence have we ever noticed exercised by the scion upon the stock." But if, after all, it can be shown by actual trial, that the pits of budded peaches do ffo book to the fruit of the stock, why we must receive it, in spite of all theory ; for, (and some would do well to heed the maxim), facts must rule our theories, and not theories our fact. But we may properly put any fects seeming to contravene the received theory of the functions of plants in producing fruit, upon their oath, and refuse them, imless they are unquestionable and relevant. Suppose a budded peach not to yield a fruit at all like the bud, suppose it to resemble the fruit of the stock, it does not follow that the stock influenced the fruit to such a change. Mr. Longworth knows how freely some peaches " sport," and that all peaches may be made to do it. If a Melacatune be budded upon a Red Rareripe, and the Melar catune pit shows a fruit resembling the Red Rareripe, it must be shown that the blossom had not been crossed by the busy offices of flies, bees, etc., with the poUen of con- tiguous Red Rareripe-trees. When a tree is even solitary, it does not foUow that a change in fruit which shall make it resemble the stock more than the graft, results from the force of the. stock on the grafted fruit, for seedlings of grafted fruit are, notoriously often, base and degenerate ; and the resemblance might be accidental, for seedlings of different origin are often strik- ingly alike. While we are aware of no facts which justify Mr. Long- worth's suspicion, that the pits of budded varieties produce kinds like the stock on which the bud was put, we have facts enough showing that "budded pits" produce their own kind. It may be added that thoroughly ripe peaches are less inclined to " sport " than those which are partially green. ABOUT FEUirS, FLOWBES AND FAEAUNG. 303 CARE OF PEACH-TREES. Take a light hoe and remove the earth from the trunk of your trees. If there are worms there you may detect them from the gum ■which has exuded, or by the channels which they have made in the bark, or if hy neither of these, by the discoloration of the bark in spots. Scrape the bark gently with the back of a knife, and you can easUy detect the traces of worms if any are there. Cut freely and boldly both ways along their track so as to lay bare the channel in its whole length — ^remove the worm, and the bark will very soon heal. Sometimes four, six, and even more wiU be found in one tree. The ashes of stone coal, blacksmiths' cinders, wood ashes, lime, the refuse stems of tobacco, plant- ing tansy around the trunk, these, and dozens of other remedies are proposed. For our own part we rely solely on our jack-knife. In March or April, and then again in August or September, according to the season, we search the trunk thoroughly. We can attend to twenty trees in an hour or two ; and when eating freely of delicious peaches we never had a qualm of regret for having so spent the time. We have practised sowing salt under fruit-trees with decided advantage. If one pound of saltpetre be added to every six pounds of salt, it will be yet better. We sow enough to make the ground look moderately white, and prefer to do it in wet weather. The most salable butter, quality being equal, is that which is neatest done up. There is a great deal in the looks of a thing. You'll always find it so. 304 PLAIN Am> PLEASANT TALK RENOVATING PEACH-TREES. The peach-tree inclines to thicken at the top, the small' inside branches die, and are removed hy every neat cultiva- tor. As the branches shoot up, this tree is disposed to abandon its lower branches, and, like the vine, to bear on the wood the farthest from the root, i. e. the young and new wood. In a few years the tree has a long-necked trunk, sometimes several of them; whUe the weight of foliage and fruit is situated so as to act like a power applied to a lever ; and as the fruit grows heavy, or a storm occurs, the tree is broken down. "We have practised the following method with success. In the month of July we saw off the top of one half of the tree, leaving about ten or twelve feet of stem, measuring from the ground. New shoots will now put out along the whole trunk ; a part of these slfould be rubbed off, according to the judgment of the cultivator, leaving such as will give symmetry to the tree, and form a head low down. The second year, these branches will bear fruit, and the other side may then be treated in the same way. This new head will require little meddling with for about four years. At this time, or whenever the tree is outrun- ning itself, the same process is to be renewed. But this time the tree will be composed of a multitude of smaller branches, instead of two or three main ones as at first. Some of these should be wholly cut out, and the wound smeared with a residuum of paint, or a thick white paint, or grafting wax, or anything that will exclude the air while the cut is granulating. The others are to be cut within, say, five inches of the old, original wood — ^leaving, thus, a stem of mere stumps. If the branches are taken entirely off, leaving only the oldest wood, the buds which would break from it would not be as healthy or vigorous as those which wUl spring from the stumps of the later branches. Probably twenty or thirty whips will come to each stump ; ABOUT PKUITS, FLOWEES AlO) PAEMHTG. 305 these should from day to day be reduced in number, until, at last, all are removed but one, and that one should, if pos- sible, spring from the nearest point where the stump joins the old stem. When this new branch is obtained and fairly established, remove the stump with a fine saw, so as to leave the new branch, as nearly as possible, in the place of the old one. We remove the whips from a stump gradu- ally in order to give the tree the advantage of their leaves as long as it can be done without interfering with the branch or branches which we are training out. This method is to the peach what pruning is to the grape. The tree is kept in hand instead of sprawling abroad, a prey to its own weight and to storms ; there is always a plenty of young wood for the fruit, which can be easily reached when one thins out, or gathers for use. One of our trees taught us this method of its own, accord in the summer of 1843. The weight of fruit was so great that we applied a prop to the middle of the branch ; in a few days the branch broke short off at the point of the prop. It so happened that the three main Umbs on one side of the tree acted in this manner. Tha,t same fall a strong growth of new wood shot out, and the next season I had on that side as fine a top as ever I had on any peach-tree. Etebt farmer who expects his wife to make good butter, after- furnishing her with some good, well-fed milk cows, should provide her with good milk-pans — ^large and shallow, so as to present a large surface for the cream to rise on, and enough of them to hold all her milk, and allow it to remain undisturbed long enough for all the cream to rise. These pans should be nicely washed every time the milk is emp- tied out of them, and always be clear and bright when fiUed. 306 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK AN APOLOGUE OR APPLE-LOGUE.- Two men planted out each one hundred apple-trees. In six or seven years they began to bear. One had spared no pains to bring his orchard into the highest condition. He had constantly cultivated the soil about them, scraped off the rough bark, washed them with urinated soap, picked off every worm and nursed them as if they had been child- ren. The other, pursuing a cheaper plan, simply let his trees alone ; but the moss, and canker-worms took his place and attended to them every year. When the orchards began to bear, the careful man had the best fruit, and the careless man covered his folly by cursing the nursery-man for selling him poor trees. In a year or two the careful man had two bushels to the other's one from each tree. Not to be outdone, the latter determined to have aS many apples as the former, and set out another hundred trees. By and by, when they bore, the other orchard had so im- proved that it produced twice as many yet ; another huu- dred trees were therefore planted. In process of time the first orchard of one hundred trees still sent more fruit to market than the three hundred trees of the careless man, who now gave up and dedared that he never did have luck, and it was of no use to try on, his soil to raise good fruit. 1. When a man is too shiftless to take good care of two horses, he buys two more,, and gets from the four what he might get from two. 2. A farmer who picks up a cow simply because it is not an ox, and is, nominally, lactiferous, and then lets the crea- ture work for a living, very soon buys a second, and a third, and a fourth, and gets from them all, what he should have had from one good one, 3. A farmer had one hundred acres. Instead of getting seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre, he gets forty and makes it up by cultivating twice as many acres ; instead of thirty bushes of wheat he gets twelve, and puts in acres ABOUT FKUrrS, FLOWEES AND FAEMITiTG. 307 enough to make up ; instead of making one hundred acres do the work of three hundred, he buys more land, and allows three hundred to do only the work of one hundred. 4. A young woman, with a httle pains, can have three times as many clothes as she needs, and then not look so weU as a humble neighbor who has not half her wardrobe ; wherefore, we close with some proverbs made for the occa- sion: Active little is better than lazy much. Carefulness is richer than abundance. Large farming is not always good farming, and small &nning is often the largest. SELECT LIST OF APPLES. It is impossible to frame a list of apples which will suit ivery cultivator. Men's taste in fruits is widely dififerent. The deUcacy and mildness of flavor which some admire, is to others mere insipidity. The sharp acid, and coarse grain and strong flavor which disgust many palates, are with others the very marks of a first-rate apple. The object of the cultivator in planting an orchard, whether for his own use, for a horns market, for exportation, for cider-making, or for stock-feeding, will very materially vary his selection. The soil on which an orchard is to be planted should also determine the use of many varieties, which are admirable only when well suited in their locality. Regard is to be had to climate, since some of the finest fruits in one latitude entirely betray our expectations in another. The hardiness and health of difierent varieties ought to be more an object of attention than hitherto. As in building, so in planting an orchard, a mistake lasts for a century, and a bad tree in a good orchard is like bad tim- ber in a good mansion. 308 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK However select, then, a list may be, every cultivator must exercise his own judgment in adaptiog it to his own circumstances. STJMMER APPLES. 1. Carolina JtnsnE. — This is identical with the Red June of the principal nurseries ; but many inferior varieties scat- tered through the country, called Red June, are to be dis- criminated from it. The tree is upright with slender wood, which, when loaded with fruit, droops like a willow. It is a healthy tree, ripens its wood early in the fall, and is not subject to frost-blight. It comes early into bearing, is productive and bears every year. The fruit is of medium size though specimens grow large ; the flavor is sprightly, subaffid, the flesh tender. It has flourished well on sand-loams, common clays, and on strong limestone clay. Ripens from the first to the twentieth of July. A valuable market fruit. Four trees, in one county, sent eighty dollars^ worth to mar- ket in one season. Not mentioned by eastern writers, nor fbund in eastern catalogues, but described at the West by Hampton and Plummer, and found in Ohio and Indiana nurseries. 2. SwBET JuNB. — ^Tree upright, wood moderately strong ; , ripens its wood early in fall ; not subject to frost-blight ; flourishes on all soils, even if quite wet ; bears very young, often while in nursery rows ; bears every year and abun- dantly. The frjiit is of medium size ; color a pale yellow ; form globular ; flavor sweet and pleasant. Ripens at same time as the Carolina June. 3. KiKKBBiDGE Whitb. — Not found in any catalogues but those of "Western nurseries. Tree upright, wood strong and stubbed ; grows slow while young, but vigor- ously when fully estabUshed; ripens its wood early in autumn; not subject to frost-blight; bears moderately ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWEES AND FARMING, 309 young, and is very productive. Its fruit ripens in succes- sion for six weeks from first of July to middle of August, and is peculiarly valuable on that account ; color nearly white ; it is largest at base and tapers regularly to the eye, and is ribbed ; flavor, nuld, pleasant acid ; flesh melting, and, if fully ripe breaks to pieces in falling to the ground. 4. Prince's Haevest. — Maiming pronounces this "the earliest apple worthy of cultivation." It may be in Massa- chusetts, but it is preceded by many at the "West. Man- ning's description is good. " The form is flat, of medium size ; the skin, when per- fectly ripe, is of a beautifully bright straw color ; the flesh tender and sprightly; if gathered before they are fuUy ripe, it has too much acidity. The finest fruits are those which drop ripe from the tree ; the branches make very acute angles, by which it is readily distinguished from most other trees in the orchard ; it bears young. Ripe early in July." Our nurserymen regard it as a shy bearer. 5. SuMMBE Queen. — ^Extensively cultivated in the West under the name of Orcmge Apple. The tree is spreading ; a rapid ^ower ; not subject to frost-blight ; wood moder- ately strong ; comes late into bearing; productive when the tree is fully grown, according to the books, but in this region with some exceptions has proved tabe a poor bearer. Fruit large, yellow, striped with red; flesh, breaking; flavor strong, and not delicate. 6. Sweet Bough. — ^Two varieties of this name are cul- tivated in the West — Coxe's and Mount's. Coxe's sweet bough, is that of the books and catalogues. Ripens at the same time ; not quite so high in flavor. Coxe's trees are large limbed and spreading ; bearing on the point of the limbs, and are shy bearers ; Mount's variety is of upright growth ; bears on spurs along the branches ; is a good bearer and ripens from middle of July to August. 310 PLAIN AlfD PLEASANT TALK " A Tariety under the name of Philadelphia Jennetting is known in Trumbull County, Ohio. It ripens two weeks later than the common kind, otherwise it is not essentially diflferent."— 2V. J. P. Kirtland. 1. SiTMMEK Pbaemain. — There seem to be two varieties of this name cultivated in Ohio and Indiana. (1.) That of Coxe, which is the one generally cultivated, and deservedly popular. " The fruit-buds seem to be unusually hardy, and often resist the impression of late spring frosts, while others are killed. In 1834, when our fruits were universally cut off by that destriictive agent, a tree of the summer pearmain and another of the Vandeveer, matured a dozen or two apples, while not another tree in an orchard containing over five hundred, bore a soUtary fruit. It is worthy of more extensive cultivation." — Dr. Kirtland, • (2.) A variety evidently allied to Coxe's, but all things con- ^dered a more desirable variety. The fruit resembles Coxe's, but is larger ; the flavor is the same, but not quite as high ; Coxe's is oblong ; this variety is Vandeveer pippin shape ; color the same, and the period of ripening, viz., July and August. The trees are very distinct; Coxe's is upright, this is spreadrag ; Coxe's of a slender growth, and stinted habit, and is hard to bring forward in the nursery ; this has a vigorous growth, and strong wood, and strikingly resem- bles the Vandeveer pippin-tree. It bears early and abun- dantly in all soils. This second variety was brought, by a man named Har- lan, Fayette County, Indiana, from South Carolina, where it is extensively cultivated. . 8. Daniel. — ^The tree is upright, nearly pear-tr PLEASANT TALK on all soils ; bears very young, largely, and every year. Fruit large on young, and medium-sized on old trees ; deep yellow ground covered witli red, and russet about the stem ; tender, melting, very juicy, high-flavored, sweet, with a spicy dash of subacid. One of the richest cooking apples ; one of the most desirable for drying, resembling dried pears. Where known, it is worth, dried, a dollar and a half a bushel, when other apples command but seventy- five cents. Ripens first of September and has passed its prime by November. Eastern writers call it a winter apple, and Kenrick gives October to March as its season ; but, in the West, it seldom sees the first winter month. Takes by graft and bud pretty well ; does well grafted upon the root ; favorable for nursery purposes. 12. HoLLAijB Pippnf. — ^Tree large and spreading; strong growth; wood short and stubbed, healthy^ bears m.oderately young ; they are averse to heavy clay and wet soils ; on light, dry, rich, sandy soUs bears largely, and of high color and flavor; bears every other year. Fruit large, very bright yellow, tender, juicy, subacid. The pulp in the mouth becomes rather viscid, as if the fruit were mucilaginous, which is agreeable or otherwise according to the taste of the eater. It is sometimes, but rarely, water- cored. Ripens in October and November ; will keep later, but apt to lose in flavor. Good for drying, but usually sold green, being a very marketable firuit. Not a good tree for nurserymen ; not willing to come if grafted on the root ; does well by crown-grafting ; moderately well by budding, the eye being apt to put out simply a spur, which can seldom be forced into a branch if permitted to harden. 13. Rambo. — ^This apple is known in New Jersey by the names of Romanite, Seek-no-further, and Bread and Cheese. The first two names belong to entirely different apples. The rambo is not to be confounded with the Bam- bours, of which there are several varieties. Tree upright, ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 313 and the most vigorous growth of all trees cultivated in the West ; the easiest of all to bud with, a bud seldom misses, and makes extraordinary growth the first season ; it may well be called the nurseryman's favorite ; bears very young, abundantly every year, good on all soils. Fruit medium size, yellow ground with red stripes and the whole over- laid with a bloom, like a plum ; tender, juicy, melting, sub- acid, rich ; it has a peculiarity of ripening ; it begins at the skin and ripens -toward the core ; often soft and seemingly ripe on the outside while the inside is yet hard. Ripens from October to December. One of the best of aU fruits. 14. Golden Russet. — ^This admirable apple is put in the list of fall fruits, because, though it wiU keep through the winter, it ripens in November, and sometimes even in October. Tree, strong grower, upright, compact top- healthy, grows late in fall and therefore subject to winter- killing ; will grow on all soils, but delights in rich sandy loams, oh which it bears larger and finer fruit. Fruit small, rather oblong ; color yellow, slight red next to the sun ; although called russet, there is but a trace of it on the fruit of healthy trees ; tender, melting, spicy, very juicy ; in flavor it resembles the St. Michael's pear (Doyenn6) more nearly than any other apple. This fruit is the most popular of aU late, fall, or early winter apples, atid deservedly, and should be put at the head of the list. A gentleman near Belfre, Ohio, being applied to for a list of apples to furnish an orchard of a thousand trees for marketing purposes, rephed, " Take nine hundred and ninety-nine golden russets, and the rest you can choose to suit yourself" For nursery purposes it is rather a backward apple ; the buds apt to faU, which occasions much resetting. It will not do well grafted on the root, being tender and always largely winter-killed when so wrought. They graft kindly on well established stocks. 14 314 PLAIN AOT) PLEASANT TALK If a larger list "of fall apples is desired, we reeommend the Fall Harvey, Gravenstein,' Lyscom, Porter, Red Ingestrie, Yellow do. The Asljmore is a desirable fruit — difficult to raise in the nursery, and therefore avoided, hut the fruit is fine. The Ross Nonpareil is a very admirahle fall fruit of Irish origiii. The list of autumn apples is very large and continually augmenting. But fall apples are, ordinarily, less desirable than any others ; not from inferior quality, but because they ripen at the season of the year when peaches and pears are in their glory. WUNTiSE APPLES. 15. Gloeia Mtjndi or Monstrous Pippin. Tree,«one of the most upright, top close, and resembling the pear. "Wood medium sized, healthy, vigorous growth, wood ripens early, not subject to frost-blight ; Tsears on moderately young trees. It works well from the bud, and also extremely well grafted on roots, and grows straight and finely for nursery purposes. Fruit very large, green, changes when dead-ripe to a yellowish white. Flavor mild, subacid ; flesh melting and spicy. Ripens in November, at the same time with the Golden Russet, but wiU not keep as long. A native. 16. Black Apple. — ^Tree low, spreading, and round topped ; wood of medium vigor, healthy, ripens early, and not subject to frost-blight. Grafts on the root kindly ; not so favorable for budding as the No. 15 ; bears remarkably young, and abundantly to a fault. Fruit medium sized; color very dark red, almost black, with grey rusty spots about the stem ; flesh tender, breaking ; moderately juicy, flavor rather sweet, though not a real sweet apple. No apple would stand fairer as an early winter fruit, were it not for a peculiar, dry, raw taste, somewhat resembling the ABOUT FEOTTS, BO-OWEBS AND TAEMING. 315 taate of uncooked corn meal. Ripens fl"om November to January. It is a native. 11. Newton Spitzbnbueg. — ^Tree, not large, upright but not compact, top open ; wood of medium size and vigor of growth; healthy, ripens early, and yet, now and then, it takes the frost-blight ; bears moderately young, every other year, very abundantly ; grafts well on the root, buds only moderately well, good for nursery handling. Fruit, vary- ing much in size, but often large, flesh melting, juicy ; flavor rich, spicy, subacid ; ripens from November to January. 18. Rhode Island Greening. — ^Ti-ee large, very spread- ing and drooping, grows vigorously, healthy, ripens early, not subject to frost-blight; bud takes well; but, whether grafted on the root, or budded, it will plague the nursery- man by its disposition to spread and twist about like a quince bush. It should be budded on strong stocks at the height at which the top is to be formed; but it always overgrows the stock. Fruit very large, color green' with cloudy spots dotted with pin-point black specks ; flesh breaking, tender and juicy : flavor mild, rich, subacid ; a very popular fruit. Ripens from November to January. 19. Htjbbakdston Nonesuch. — Admirable in nursery; works well on root or by bud. We give Downing's des- cription, as it has not fruited in this region. "A fine, large, early winter fruit, which originated in the town of Hubbardston, Mass., and is of first rate quality. The tree is a vigorous grower, forming a handsome branch- ing head, and bears very large crops. It is worthy of extensive orchard culture. " Fruit large, roundish-oblong, much narrower near the eye. Skin smooth, striped with splashes, and irregular broken stripes of pale and bright red, which nearly cover a yellowish, ground. The calyx open, and the stalk short, in a russeted hollow. Flesh yellow, juicy, and tender, with an agreeable mingling of sweetness and acidity in its flavor. October to January." S16 PLAIN AND PLHA9ANT TALK 20, MiNisTEE. — ^We give Manning's description : " This fine apple originated in Rowley, Mass. The size is- large, the form oblong like the Bellflower, tapering to the eye, with broad ridges the whole length of the fruit ; the fitkin a light greenish yeEow, striped with bright red, but the red seldom extends to the eye; flesh yellow, light, high flavored and excellent. This is one of the very finest apples which New England has produced. It ripens from Ifovem- ber to February^ and deserves a place in every collection of fruits, however small. This apple received its present name from the circumstance of the late Rev. Dr. Spring, of Newburyport, having ptyrchased the first fruit brought to market." 21. Vabtdebvebe Pippin. — Tree large, one of the most vigorous, spreading, but not drooping; ripens its wood late, occasionally touched with frost-blight and liable to burst at the surfece of the ground during the winter. Bears young, every year, and very abundantly. Ends well, grafts well on the root, grows off strongly, forms a top readily, and will please nurserymen. Fruit large, more uni- formly of one size aU over the tree than any in the orchard ; shape of fruit flat ; color, red stripes on a yellow, russety ground. Flesh coarse, gritty; flavor strong, penetrating, without aroma ; December to March. This fruit is remark- able for having almost every good quality of tree and fruit and being notwithstanding a third-rate apple. The tree' is hardy, its bloom, from peculiar hardiness, escapes injury from frost, and even a second set of blossoms put out, though feeble ones, if the first are destroyed. The fruit is comely, cooks admirably, keeps weU ; but a certain sharp- ness and coarseness will always make it but a second or third-rate fruit. No tree is sought by farmers in this region, with more avidity. Its origin is doubtful. Bran- son, of Wayne County, brought it to Indiana, and all our nurseries trace their stock to his. It was carried for the first time to New Jersey, by Quakers visiting that region, A.BOUT FBtriTa, ffLOWEKS AND FAEMING. 31V from his orchard. It should have been mentioned, that it holds its age remarkably well, very old trees producing as largely, and as fair, sound fruit as when young. 22. Yellow Belle Flette, oe Bellplowee. — ^Tree spreads and droops more than any tree, of the orchard, the Newark pippin, perhaps, excepted; wood very slender and whip-like, healthy, ripens early, not subject to frost- blight, grafts well on the root, but is rather tender during the first winter when so worked ; buds well, but from its drooping, sprawling habits, is hard to form into a top. Bears moderately young (not so yomig as the white) ; abun- dantly. Flesh melting and tender and juicy ; ' flavor fine and delicate rather than high; color deep yellow when ripe ; ripens from December to March. One of the most deservedly popular of winter apples and always salable in all markets. 23. White Belle Fleue. — ^This apple is cultivated in Ohio under the names of SoUow-eored Pippin, Ohio favorite, and, by the Cincinnati pomologists, of Detroit. It is also the Gumierland Spice and Monstrous JBeOflower of Coxe. It was taken to the West by Brunson of Wayne County, Indiana, and thence disseminated in every direc- tion ; and it may be called the BeUflower of Indiana, since it and not the yeUow, predominates in 'all orchards, The yellow, how«ver, within five years, has been largely distributed. Tree, medium sized, spreading ; wood stronger than the yellow belle fleur, healthy, ripens its wood early, but liable to after-growth in warm falls, and therefore sub- ject to frost-blight. The tree, from its habit of growth, more liable to split and break under a full crop than any tree of the orchard. One of the youngest bearers in the nursery ; fruitful to a fault. Grafted on the root it kills off in winter ; buds well and forms a top without difficulty. Fruit above mediuin and sometimes very large; color, greenish white, and, in some seasons with a blush on the Bunny side; flesh breaking at first, but when fully ripe. 318 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK melting and juicy ; flavor mild and delicate. It is not apt to cloy, and more can he eaten than of almost any variety. Ripe from Decemlier to March, 24. Baldwin. — Works -well in nursery by root or bud, and is fine for nurserymen. Top forms easily. Not up- right, as Downing says, but a round, spreading top. We give Downing's description : "The Baldwin stands at the head of New England apples, and is unquestionably a first-rate fruit in all respects. It is a native of Massachusetts, and is more largely culti- vated for the Boston market than any other sort. It bears most abundantly, and we have had the satisfaction of raising larger, more beautiful, and highly favored speci- mens here, than we ever saw in its native region. The Baldwin, in fiavor and general characteristics, evidently belongs to the same family as Esopus Spitzenburg, and deserves its extensive popularity. " Fruit large, roundish, and narrowing a little to the eye. Skin yellow in the shade, but nearly covered and striped with crimson, red, and orange, in the sun ; dotted with a few large russet dots, and with radiating streaks of russet about the stalk. Calyx closed, set in a rather narrow plaited basin. Stalk half to three fourths of an inch long, rather slender for so large a fruit, planted in an even, moderately deep cavity. Flesh yellowish white, crisp, with that agreeable mingling of the saccharine and acid which constitutes a rich, high flavor. The tree is a vigorous, upright grower, and bears most abundantly. Ripe from November to March, but attains its greatest perfection in January." 25. MiCHAJBL Hbnet Pippin. — ^Tree upright, with a round-shaped top ; wood strong, rather slow grower, ripens its main growth of wood early, but liable to fresh growth in warm, wet falls ; bears very young, every other year abundantly and not a single apple in the next year. Should not be grafted on the root ; and it is rather troublesome ABOUT FJRUITS, PLOWBES AND FARMING. 319 when Tjudded, from a disposition to make dwarf spnr- like branches, rather than upright limbs. Fruit medium- sized, long, large about the base, sharpening toward the eye ; color green, clouded and black speckled; flesh tender, melting; flavor rich, incliaed to sweet, and very fine. Ripens from December to March. 26. Red Sweet Pippin. — Tree handsome, round-topped, but rather spreading ; wood strong, and vigorous growth, ripens early ; tree very healthy, apt to grow with very smooth bark afibrdiiig little shelter for insects ; bears young, every year and abundantly. Works well ia the nursery either by grafting on the root, or by budding. Fruit medium size iDcliaing to large ; color red with grey stripes on the shaded side ; flesh breaking and firm ; flavor sweet and rich. It bakes well, is good for pies, eats well, and its kitchen and table qualities combined make it a desirable fruit. Ripe from December to AprU. 11. Petoe's Red. — Tree upright; wood slow growing, slender, and the branches full of smaU wood, healthy, not subject to frost-blight; comes very late into bearing, requiring ten or twelve years for full bearing ; bears only moderate crops; every year. Difficult to work in the nursery, but does better by grafting on the root than by budding. Fruit above medium size ; color, red dotted with white specks ; the whole surface covered with slight bloom ; flesh melting ; flavor very rich and high, and by some thought to be even richer than the golden russet. If this apple only grew on the Vanderveer pippin tree, it would require nothing more to render it perfect. Ripens from December to March. Its keeping properties are more in danger from the teeth than from ordinary decay. A very salable and popular apple, which, when once had, none would consent to lose. It is unknown in New England and New York except by description ; and is not even described by Downing, and but little more than mentioned by Ken- rick. 320 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 28. Geeen Newtown Pippin.— Tree spreading, wood slender and slow growing ; ripens early, making it often troublesome for nurserymen to procure buds fit for late work; not subject to frost-blight. The tree requires vigor- ous cultivation to redeem it from a feeble growth ; the bark is inclined to crack on the branches and scale up, and when once roughened it is dif&cult ever again to make them smooth. Late coming into bearing, bears abundantly every other year. They should never be grafted on the root ; they should be budded on strong healthy stocks and high up in order to do -well. Fruit large, green, changing to yellow when dead-ripe ; flesh firm, breaking ; flavor very rich. Ripe from February to May. This apple is culti- vated in extraordinary abundance at the East both for home and foreign markets. They sell in London, at six- pence a piece. The farm of R. L. Pell contains 2,000 bear- ing trees of this variety ; a note descriptive of which we give from Downing : " One of the finest orchards in America is that of Pell- ham farm, at Esopus, on the Hudson. It is no less remark- able for the beauty and high flavor of its fruit, than the constant productiveness of trees. The proprietor, R. L. Pell, Esq., has kindly furnished us with some notes of his experi- ments on fruit-trees, and we subjoin the following highly interesting one on the apple. "'For several years _past, I have been experiment- ing on the apple, having an orchard of 2,000 bearing Newtown Pippin-trees. I found it very unprofitable to wait for what is termed the 'bearing year,' and it has been my aim to assist nature, bo as to enable the trees to bear every year. I have noticed that from the excessive productiveness of this tree, it requires the inter- mediate year to recover itself — to extract from the earth and the atmosphere the materials to enable it to produce again. This it is not able to do, unassisted by art, while it is loaded with fruit, and the intervening year is lost ; if, ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWBES AND FARMING. 321 however, the tree is supplied with proper food it will bear every year ; at least such has been the result of my experi- ments. Three years ago, in April, I scraped all the rough bark jfrom the stems of several thousand trees in my orchards, and washed all the trunks and limbs within reach with soft soap ; trimmed out aU the branches that crossed each other early in June, and painted the wounded part with white lead, to exclude moisture and prevent decay. I then, in the .latter part of the same month, slit the bark by running a sharp-pointed knife from the ground to the ffrst set of limbs, which prevents the tree from becoming bark- bound, and gives the young wood an opportunity of ex- panding. In July I placed one peck of oyster-sheU lime under each tree, and left it piled about the trunk imtil November, during which time the drought was excessive. In November the lime was dug in thoroughly. The follow- ing year I collected from these trees 1,Y00 barrels of fruit, part of which was sold in New York for four, and others ia London for nine dollars per barrel. The cider made from the refuse, delivered at the mill two days after its manufac- ture, I sold for three dollars and three-quarters per barrel ot thirty-two gallons, exclusive of the barrel. In October I manured these trees with stable manure in which the ammonia had been fixed, and covered this immediately with earth. The succeeding autumn they were literally benduig to the ground with the finest fruit I ever saw, while the other trees in my orchard not so treated were quite barren, the last season having been their bearing year. I am now placing round each tree one peck of charcoal dust, and pro- pose in the spring to cover it from the compost heap. " ' My soil is a strong, deep, sandy loam on a gravelly subsoil. I cultivate my orchard grounds as if there were no trees on them, and raise grain of every kind except rye, which grain is so very injurious' that I believe three suc- cessive crops of it would destroy any orchard younger than twenty years. I raised last year in an orchard containing 14* 322 PLAHT ASjy PLEASANT TALK twenty acres, trees eighteen years old, a crop of Indian corn which averaged 140 bushels of ears to the acre.' " 29. Rawlb's Janbt, OB Jennettibtg. — Tree round topped, a little spreading and handsome. Wood strong, slow growth, short jointed, and the healthiest, perhaps, of aU orchard trees. Does not bear young ; but when estab- lished, a great bearer every year, unless overloaded, when it rests a year. It is the finest of all apples to graft on the root, and should be always so propagated in the nursery ; if budded, it being a late starter in spring, the stock will put out its branches before the bud, and make great trou- ble. Fruit medium sized ; color green striped with red ; roundish but inclined to sharpen toward the eye; flesh white, meltiQg, very juicy; flavor mild and delicate. Ripens from February to May. This is, and deserves to be, an exceedingly popular apple in all the West. The tree is remarkably healthy ; it blooms ten days later than other varieties, and therefore seldom loses a crop by spring frost ; but the bloom is very sensitive to frost if overtaken ; the fruit is very relishful ; keeps as well as the Newtown Pippin, and by many, and by this writer among the number, is much preferred to that noted variety. It has the peculiar excel- lence of enduring frost without material injury ; a property which has enabled cultivators to save thousands of bushels of fruit which by sudden and early cold had been severely frosted. The reason that the Cockle-bur, that great pest on tarms, cannot be destroyed by being out ofi" once a year, is that nature has provided for its propagation by bestowing on it seed vessels which ripen at two different times of the year. This will be found to be the case on careful examination. — Western Farmer and Gardener. ABOUT IfEtriTS, PIO'WBES AND FAEMING. 323 ORIGIN OF SOME VARIETIES OF FRUIT. The history of our fine fruits has many curious points of interest to the zealous pomologist. It is made up of skUl,- felicitous blunders, disooyeries, and profitable acci- dents. The Flemish pears, with which so large a portion of the calendar of new pears is fiUed, were the products of scienti- fic efibrts. - In like manner, many of the finest fruits ori- ginated by Knight, were by a scientific, although a diflferent, process. On the other hand it would be difficult to find fruits superior 'to those in the making of which only Nature had a hand. The Duchesse d'' Angoulkne, a pear without a rival, in its season, was found in 1815, growing wild in a hedge, near Angers, in the department of Maine et Loire, France. The Washington, one of our finest native pears, was likewise discovered in a thorn hedge, at Naaman's creek, Delaware, by Gen. Robertson. He was removing a fence on his farm about forty-five years ago; he found the young tree nearly grown. The Lewis is a native of Massachusetts. Mr. Do^Jmer, of JDorchester, a critical judge of fruits, was acquainted with the original tree ten years before he thought it worth a place in his garden. He visited it three times, and was each time disinclined to cultivate it ; it was not until he had seen a tree taken from it, growing in cultivated ground, that he adopted it. It now ranks among the finest native pears. Dearborn^ s Seedling was discovered by General Dearborn , in a cluster of syringas and rose bushes, forming a part of a border to an avenue. Pears seem to have great fondness for hedges, borders, etc. The discoverer attempted to remove the tree, then, apparently, about five years old, to his nursery for a stock; but digging two feet deep, and finding no root but the tap root, he feared that deplanting 324 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK might kill it. It was left to grow, and has proved to be one of the first-class pears. Downer'' s late cherry^ was a stock in the nursery row, and several times budded with other kinds; the buds always faOing, the tree was allowed to fruit, and proved one of the best, if not the best, of late cherries. KnighPs Black Eagle was raised from the seed of the Bigarreau fertilized by the May Duke. When it bore, the fruit was so inferior that the London Horticultural Society peremptorily rejected it. Mr. Knight determined to head the tree down and graft into it other sorts. But he had given the tree to a daughter, with whom it was a favorite, and she refused to have it sacrificed. Each ye^r, subse- quently, showed an improvement in the fruit ; and now it stands in the first class of cherries. This is one among many instances, which show that young seedliags &> not exhibit the true qualities of the fruit for several years after they come to bearing. The JRed-cheek Melocoton peach was accidentally obtained by the late Wm. Prince, Flushing, Long Island. He had budded the Kennedy's Caroline upon a stock, and below the point of inoculation a branch of the original stock had shot up into bearing. Sending a servant to gather the budded fruit, he was surprised by his bringing, and, as he declared, from this tree, a free-stone peach. On examining, he found the cause as stated above, and was. so much pleased with the new kind that he cultivated it. The best stocik a man can invest in, is the stock of a farm ; the best shares are plow-shares ; and the best banks are the fertile banks of the rural stream : the more these are broken the better dividends they pay. ABOUT PEXJTTS, rLO"VrEES AND PAEMING. 325 THE QUINCE. We have nothing to say that has not been well said by Downing, in his most interesting chapter on the Quince. His Fruit and Fruit Trees of America, by the way, is beyond all question the best pomological manual, all things considered, which has appeared at home or abroad. To return to the quince; we marvel that so few trees have found a place in our collections of fruit. Quinces bear transportation, and wiU, upon an average, bring two doUars a bushel. They seU extravagantly high every year, and yet no one seems to take the hint. Our favorite -mode of increasing the quince, is by layers. The tree being low and inclined to be bushy, there is always an abundance of suitable wood to lay down. Twenty or thirty or even more rooted plants may be obtained in a single season ; and the layers throw out^such a profusion of roots that the only difficulty wiU be to separate each plant with its roots from the tough and matted abundance which will be found to have fiUed the soil. If laid down in the spring, they may be removed by midsummer, a cool and moist day being chosen, and the plants shaded until they start again to growing. If this is done, a second set of layers may be put down to remain over fall and winter and be removed the next spring. Trees intended for the^ fruit-compartment of the garden should be trained to a single stem, when they will make a low and not altogether unsymmetrical tree ; at any rate, a tree much more convenient than the quince hush which we usually find in our garden corners. Where the seed is to be planted, they should be prepared; they are covered with a thick mucilaginous matter which restrains their quick germination. Let them be put into- water for twelve hours, and the water will become nearly as thick as paste. Pour it off and repeat the operation until they are nearly clean; mix them with sand and sow them immediately. 326 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK CUTTING AND KEEPING GRAFTS. Mant experienced oroiardists suppose tlie best time for cutting grafts to be immediately on the fall of the leaf in autumn. Grafts should be cut in mild weather, when the wood is entirely fi-ee from frost. Select the outside limbs and the last year's growth of wood. Too much care cannot be observed in keeping the varie- ties separate. Tie np in bundles and mark the names of each kind as soon as cut. A moment's carefulness may save years of vexation. When the grafts are to be used at home, it is well to lay them in the cellar where frost will not reach them, and slightly cover them, so that they shall not evaporate the moisture which they contain. Too much wet injures them. Half-dry sand is as good as anything, and if packed in ^n old nail-keg and put in a cool place, they wUl require no ftirther attention until it is time to use them. When grafts are to be sent to a considerable distance^ they should be oareftilly wrapped in moist cloth, with folds enough to exclude the air entirely. For convenience of carrying they may be packed, in this condition, in a box, and the space fiUed in with cotton-wool, chaff, bran, or any similar substance. It is stated by some, that grafts taken from the lower limbs of trees wiU produce fruit the soonest ; while those from the middle and top and from the upright shoots wiU make trees of the finest form. We confess a slight preju- dice against the lower hmbs of trees, as it was thience that " switches " were cut in the mischievous days of our youth, wherewith to apply Solomon's doctrine of discipline. Whether they wiU make upright trees, we cannot say ; but they are supposed to have a tendency to make upright ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FABMING. 327 FROST-BLIGHT. It is a matter of great importance that all cultivators of fruit unite in making observations on this subject, and that it may be done with some unity of purpose. 1. Let the examiner select trees upon which are seen small water-shoots, that have evidently grown late in the fall. Usually, a tuft of withered leaves wiU indicate them. Examine also all the 'Dew wood which retains terminal leaves or is winter-k-illed at the tips. 2. The pith will be, in apples, an iron-rust color, and in pears greenish black or pepper color ; the inner skin will be discolored, and the wood of a greenishj waxy appearance. On cutting down to the point where these shoots unite with the branch or trunk, the diseased sap will be found to have discolored the whole neighborhood. In many cases which we have examined, half the trunk is affected. We exam- ined a bearing pear-tree, which to the eye has not one sign of unhealthiness, but which, on cutting, is found to be affected throughout, and will, undoubtedly, die in spring. 3. liet a comparison be instituted between trees in differ- ent? circumstances. Is there any difference between slow-growing varieties and those which grow rapidly ? Is there any difference between trees in cold, northern aspects, whose sap, in autumn, would not be likely to be excited, and those with southern aspects ? Is there a difference between trees upon a fat clay or rank loam of any kind, and those upon a warm, dry, sandy loam. It is supposed that any causes which produce a coarse, watery, flabby tissue in a tree, predispose it to injury by frost, and thus to the blight ; and that the fine- ness and firmness of texture of trees growing in a sand- loam on a gravelly subsoil give them great power of endur- ance. 328 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 4. Let trees which are found to be in an injured condi- tion be marked and examiaed again as follows : (1.) At the breaking up of winter, to see if any change of condition has taken place. (2.) At the breaking of the bud into leaf. (3.) At the full development of leaf and when the down- ward current of sap is begun. 5. It is a matter of great importance to ascertain whether the character of the season which follows such frost-injuries as have befallen fruit-trees in this region, modifies the dis- ease. Some think that blight will follow without regard to the ensuing season ; others suppose that a d/ry, and warm season will very much prevent the mischief; but that a moist and warm spring and summer, will give it a fatal development. It is ardently to be hoped that accurate observations wUl be made, and upon a large scale. We presume that it need not be added that the exaot truth of facts hs the first step toward any sound explanation ; and that our object should be to find out facts, and then, afterward, to deduce principles. Boiling Potatoes. — Not one housekeeper out of ten knows how to boil potatoes properly. Here is an Irish method, one of the best we know. Clean wash the potatoes and leave the skin on ; then bring the water to a boil and throw them in. As soon as boiled soft enough for a fork to be easily thrust through them, dash some cold water into the pot, let the potatoes remain two minutes, and then pour off the water. This done, half remove the pot-lid, and let the potatoes remain over a slow fire till the steam is evapo- rated ; then peel and set them on the table in an open dish. Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, will always be sweet, dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it keeps the steam in, and makes them soft and watery. ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AlTD PAEMniTG. 329 SEEDLING FRUITS. AiiEEADT the varieties of hardy fruits have become so numerous, that not only can they not all be cultivated, but the mere list of names is too bulky to be printed. Down- ing's book gives a list of 181 apples. The London Horti- cultural Society's Catalogue, expurgated at that, gives 900 kinds of apples, and 1,500 have been tested in the Society's gardens. Manning's experimental grounds and nursery at the time of his death, contained 1,000 named varieties of the pear ! Swollen as is the list, there are scores annually added ; many under the advice of scientific bodies; many have popular approbation; many from the partialities of some parental nurseryman ; and many come in, as evil came into this world, no one can tell how. It has become necessary, therefore, to exclude many from the catalogue, and especially necessary that none should enter without the very best passport. In the main, one set of tests will serve, both for receiving and expurgating ; for no matter how long a fruit has been on the list, it should be ejected if, being out, its qualities would not gain it a fresh admission. There are no hereditary rights, or rights of occupancy, in pomological lists. "fltles, rank, antiquity, pedigree and other merciful means of compensating a want of personal merit, may do for men but not for apples. A very glorious pomological reforma- tion broke out in the London Horticultural Society's gar- dens at Chiswick, and that Luther of the orchard, Mr. Thompson, has abolished an astonishing number of sine- cures, and reformed, if not worthless rotten boroughs, very worthless apples and pears. The Society's first catalogue issued in 1826. Its third catalogue was published in De- cember of 1842. The~ experience of the intervening six- teen years led to the total rejection from their list, on the ground of inferiority, or as synonyms, of 600 varieties of apples; 139 of cherries; 200 of gooseberries ; 82 of grapes, 330 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 80 of Strawberries ; 150 of peaches ; 200 of pears ; and 150 of plums. Only twenty-eight peaches are allowed to stand ; and only twenty-six strawberries out of the hundreds that were proved. We have no similar society in the United States whose authority would be generally acknowledged. Our only resource is the diffusion of the very best fruits that every neighborhood may have a standard of compari- son by the reduction of experience to the form of rules. Although it is difficult to lay down general rules on this subject, there are three which may be mentioned. 1. ITo fruit should be admitted to the list and none retained upon it, which is decidedly poor. — One would sup- pose this truism to be superfluous as a rule. But it is only necessary to go out into seedling orchards in any neighbor- hood to find small, tough, and flavorless apples, which hold their place alongside of orchards fiUed with choice grafted fruit. 2. Ko seedling fruit should be added to the list, which is in no respect better than those of the same period of ripening of/ready cultivated. — It is not enough that an apple is nearly or quite as good as another favorite ap- ple. It must be as good ia flavor, and better in some of its habits. 3. In testing the merits of fruit, an estimate should be ■ the result of a consideration of aM the habits, jointly , of the tree and of the fruit. — It is in the application of this rule that great experience and judgment are required: This will be plain, if one considers how many essential particu- lars enter into a first-rate fruit beside mere flavor. Of two fruits equal in flavor, one may surpass the other in tenderness of flesh, in juiciness, in delicacy of skin, and in size. It is rare that any single fruit combines all these excellences, and therefore it is that we retain several vari- eties, among which such properties are distributed. There are many fruits which, having good substance and flavor, derive their value from some single peculiarity. ABOUT TEUITS, PLOWBES AJSTD FARMING. 331 Thus a fruit may be no better thaa many others, hut the tree, blooming very late in spring, is seldom overtaken by prowling and irregular frosts. Some of our best fruits have stingy bearing-trees, or trees of very tender and delicate habit ; and we are obliged to tolerate more hardy and pro- lific trees with fruit somewhat inferior. A few fruits are retained on the list because they have the singular property of being uninjured by frosts, and others because, though not remarkable for flavor, they are endless keepers, of both which properties the Rawle's Jen- netting is an example. In fruits designed for market, beauty and abundance must be allowed to supersede mere excellence of flavor. Some very rich fruits are borne in such a parsimonious way that none but amateurs can afford tree-room. Nor are we to overlook nursery qualifications ; for, of two fruits equally good, preference should be given to that which will work the kindliest in the nursery. Some wUI bear grafting on the rootj some will not ; some take well by budding, and grow off promptly and with force; others are duU and slugglish, and often reluctant to form the new partnership. While then it wiU always be to the nursery- man's interest to work such kinds as he can sell the most of — ^he has a right, in so far as he directs the public judg- ment of his neighborhood, to give a preference, among equal fruits, to such as work the surest and strongest. It is as much the interest of the purchaser and the public to have the freest growing sorts, as it is the nurseryman's interest. Thus, if another Seckle pear could be found grow- ing on the tree of WUliams' Bon Chrkien, it ought to sxip- plant the old Seckle tree, which, in spite of its incomparable fruit, is a vexatious thing to manage ; and, as often in the case of other and fairer fruit, makes one wonder how such amiable and beautiful daughters ever had such a surly and crusty old father. A pomological censor must also have regard to varieties 332 PLAIN AUD PLEASAIJT TALK of taste among men, and to commercial qualities of fruit, and to its adaptation to soil and climate. No one man has a right to make his tongue the monarch over other people's tongues. Therefore, for instance, it is none of our business, if a rugged mouth chooses to roll a slice of the austere Vanderveer pippin, like sin, as a sweet morsel under his tongue. The mild delicacy of an apple, which fills our mouths with admiration, would be mere insi- pidity to aU who are favored with leather mouths. So that there must be toleration even among apple-mongers. Nor are the humbler tests of cooking to be overlooked. Some fruits are good eaters and poor cookers ; some cook well but are villainous to the taste when raw ; some wiU stew to a fine flavor and sweetness without sugar, and some have remarkable j elly properties. But after the largest allow- ance is made for taste, hardiness, keeping, prolific beaqng, color, size, texture, season, adaptation to soils, etc., etc., there will be found, we think, a large number of tenants in our nurserymen's catalogues, upon whom should be instantly served a writ of ejectment. TIME FOR PRUNING. We do not believe in severe pruning at any time. If a man has the education of his orchard from the start, it is an utter abomination to leave his trees in such a condition as to require it. If, however, one comes into possession of a much abused orchard, or of a seedling orchard; or, if a single tree is to be changed, or an old tree is to be headed back for health's sake, then it may be necessary to prune with a free hand. But in such cases, the change should not be attempted in one season, but divided between two. There is, we suppose, a critical time in which pruning will injure the tree. It is after the sap is in full motion, the ABOUT FEtflTS, PLO"VfEfiS AND FARMING. 333 vegetable system impleted, but before the pores and sap passages have acquired a contractile power. Thus, if a grape is pruned when the buds begin to swell, the wood does not contract, and the vine bleeds to excess. But if pruned after the leaves are as large as the palm of the hand, no injury ensues from cutting, for now the sap pas- sages contract and close speedily. Thus if a tree be handled before or after this period, it does not suffer ; but if pruned at this critical state of the wood, it wni bleed, the stump part will becorhe diseased, probably from the relaxed state of the woody tissue, and canker will ensue — a word indicating, we presume, simply a state of decay, covered by or accompanied with, some sort of ftmgus growth. Pruning before this critical time, is sometimes the most convenient. But if it be a question, at which of the two periods is the tree in a state to suffer the least, and to recover the soonest, we say, after it is in full leaf and weU Orgrowing, viz. the last of May and the first of June. The wood has then a contractile force, does not bleed ; the tree is making new wood with great energy, and has therefore a fuU supply of organizable matter with which promptly to heal the wound. Mr. O. V. Hill thus speaks in the JBoston Cultivator : " Fruit growers at the present day, are generally of the opinion, that the proper time for pruning is the - last of ■ May or early in June, when the tree is in ftill leaf and in a vigorous, growing state. This, on many accounts, appears to be the most suitable season, as the wounds heal much more rapidly, the tree throws out less suckers, canker is avoided and the sap circulates freely to every part of the tree ; but there are some objections to pruning in the early part of summer, which I do not recollect to have seen noticed. Any one who is familiar with vegetable physi- ology is aware that there is a new layer of wood and a new layer of bark deposited every year, and that m June this 334 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK process is in active operation ; the newly-forming wood and bark are then consequently in a tender and imperfect state, and very susceptible to injury. Standing in the forks of the branches as it is sometimes necessary to do in pruning, will frequently separate the bark and wood, especially in young trees at this season. In grafting late in the season, this is frequently the case ; sometimes where the ladder is placed against a branch it will remove the bark ; and in sawing, unless the saw runs very clear, and the teeth are fine, the same results will fbUow; if pruning is done in June, it should be performed with the greatest cau- tion." The New York Farmer and Mechanic, commenting on the above, says: "The best time for pruning apple-trees is, as yet, we believe, undetermined by the most experienced orchar^sts, but we are of opinion that the early part of June is, for reasons above given by Mr. Hill, to be preferred. The objection arising fi-om the fear of injuring the bark of the tree can easily be obviated by having the operator use moccasins instead of shoes, and surrounding the upper round of the latter with straw or flannel." Downing says : " We should especially avoid pruning at that period in spring when the buds are swelling, and the sap is in ftiU fl^ow, as the loss of sap by bleeding is very injurious to most trees, and, in some, brings on a serious and incurable can- ker in the hmbs. " There are advantages and disadvantages attending all seasons of pruning, but our own experience has led us to believe that, practically, a fortnight before midsummer is by far the best season, on the whole, for pruning in the northern and middle States. "Wounds made at this season heal over freely and rapidly ; it is the most favorable time to judge of the shape and balance of the head, and to see at a glance which branches require removal ; and all the stock ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEES AND FABMING. 335 of organizable matter in the tree is directed to the branches that remain." Some of the western States are so much earlier than that of New York, that early Jmie wiU be equivalent to the time specified by Downing. We have now fortified the opinion which we heretofore expressed, by good authority, and by what seems to us good reasons. As it is, however, with some, yet a debated question, we shaU carefully insert the experience of any man for or against our position. PLUMS AND THEIR ENEMIES. MuLTiTtrDES of men have had plum-trees, and every year, for ten years, have seen the fruit promise fair at first and then prematurely drop, without knowing the reason. Even well-informed men have said to us that it arose from some defect in the tree, from too much gum, from a worm at the root, etc. The plum-tree is very hardy ; is less subject to disease than most fruit-trees; its fruit is highly prized; and the varieties of it are numerous and many of them delicious. By a proper selection of trees a succession of fruit may be had from July to November. The trees are usually sure and enormous bearers, every year. With so many good qualities the cultivation of the plum is well-nigh prohibited, as a garden or orchard fi-uit, by the valor of one little bug I The Ourculio (a very hardy fellow, with a constitution yet unimpaired by such a name as Rhynohcenus Nenuphar /) is a small beetle, about a quarter of an inch long, which attacks the plums almost as soon as the fruit has set. They seek this, and almost all smooth-skinned fruits, as a place of deposit for their eggs. Many of the facts which we shaU 336 FT, Am AND PtEASANT TALK naarate, were mentioned to us by Mr. Payne of Madison, who has closely and curiously observed this depredator. An incision is first made, of semicircular form, by a little rostra or lancet which he carries in his head for this very purpose. After the opening is made, the curculio deposits an egg therein ; then changing positions again, it carefully, with its fore legs, secures the egg in its nidus, and pats the skin under the edge of which its treasure is hidden, with repeated and careful efforts of its feet. Where fruit abounds it deposits, usually, but one to a plum. But we have had trees, just beginning to bear, whose few plums were scari- fied all over. The egg hatches to a worm, and this feeds on the plum, causing it prematurely to fall ; the insect issuing from it, enters the ground, to undergo its transformations, and soon to reappear, a beetle, ready for fresh mischief-making pro- pagation. The climate of the West is entirely glorious for all man- ner of insects. They can put the East to shame iu the mat- ter of aphides, cockroaches, cutworms, army and wire- worms, ciireuKos, peach-worms, grubs, etc., etc. There are many questions relating to the history of insects, about which eastern writers are in doubt, not at aU doubtful with us. 1. Do the larvae remain in the ground all the residue of the summer, and come forth only in the ensuiag spring ? In cold latitudes it may be so. Harris says, that they undergo their transformation in twenty days. Downing admits this of a few stragglers. But the main supply of bugs, he thinks, remains all summer and until spring, in the ground. But with us the curculio is not exclusively an early summer insect. It is found, in its appropriate haunts, through the whole warm season. Mr. Payne put plums containing the worms into a glass, and in eleven days obtained fuU-grbwn curcnlios. In cool regions they pro- bably have but an anijual generation; but in warm and ABOUT PKurrs, flowers ajstd fabming. 337 long summers, in the West, they reproduce often in each season. 2. The mode of ascent has been a matter of doubt. J. J. Thomas, in the Fruit Qulturist says : " It has the power of using its wings in flying ; but whether it crawls up the tree or ascends by flight, appears not to be certainly ascer- tained." Downing admits that it flies, but says, "How far this insect flies is yet a disputed point, some cultivators affirm- ing that it scarcely goes further than a single tree, and others believing that it flies over a whole ndghbot- hood." Kenrick says : " They crawl up trees," and he quotes an author as saying : " That of two trees standing so near each other as to touch, the fruit of one has been destroyed and the other has escaped ; so little and so reluctantly do these insects incline to use their wings." Dr. James Tilton says, in the " Domestic Encyclopedia," that " they appear very reluctant to use their wings, and perhaps never employ them but when necessity compels them to migrate." It is true that the curculio, in cold and chiEy weather, is disiQchned to fly ; but give it a right murderously hot day, and "jMcGregor's on his native heath again." Just before a thunder storm, in summer, in a stDl, sultry, sweltering day, they may be seen flying among the trees as blithely as any house-fly ; alightiag on your arm, or hand, and spring- ing off agam as nimbly as a flea. / All remedies founded on the idea of their crawling pre- ferences will be signal failures. Troughs about trees, bats of wool, bandages of aU kinds about the trunk to impede the ascent will be found as useful as would high fences to keep crows from a cornfield, or birds from the garden. All remedies for this pest succeed to a chattn where the curculio does not abound ; and almost every one of them fails in places really infested them. In cities, and in country places which are fer removed 15 -338 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK from all orchards or gardens, the crops may be saved. It is not difficult to defend a tree against all the cnrculios that are bred upon it. Pavements ; hard-roUed gravel ; gather- ing up, daUy, the fallen plums and destroying them ; the application of salt, and many other remedies may succeed ■where the curculio from other gardens or orchards cannot easily migrate to supply the trees with a fresh brood. Trees iu cities, and in retired places, on this account, often bear plenteously. But of what use is it to destroy five hundred larvae, if twice that number of emigrants, from some other quarter, are anxious, the next spring, to squat upon your trees, or to enter them, in land-office style, most nefariously? AH remedies founded on the destruction of the larvae will be totally useless if your trees can be reached from some infected point abroad, as we have found to our sorrcfw. In our own experience, and in that of other amateur-cultivators of fruit, the pavement, salt, and all have been " love's labor lost." But in the experience of others, in climates where the curculio does not abound, or in secluded situations, they have proved effectual. The remedies to be employed, in ordinary cases, must be such as win constantly molest the insect at his work. Inclosures, in which swine root, and rub against the trees ; lanes, where cattle resort, to rub off their hair in spring, to shade themselves in summer — these are the best situations. In yards and gardens plum-trees should be placed upon the most frequented paths ; close to the well, by the kitchen door, near the wood-house, so that, as often as possible, they may be jarred in passing and repassing. Where a few trees stand apart in the garden, it is said that, daUy, morning and evening, by spreading a sheet under them, and giving the tree a sudden and violent blow with a mallet, the insects will drop and may then be gathered and destroyed. This should be performed while it is cool, as then, only, the curculio is somewhat torpid. II ABOUT I-BUITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING. 339 this course is pursued, a block should be put upon the tree, to receive the stroke, with a bit of carpet or some soft pad to it, that the bark may not be injured. A white sheet should be spread under the tree to catch the falling robber. A few trees will suffice for a private family, and the fruit must be earned by careful watchfulness. Those who are too indolent, or careless, or indifferent to the luxury to bestow the requisite attention through the months of May and June, may spare themselves the trouble of planting plum-trees. Plum orchards are not to be thought of. Although the curculio chiefly delights in the plum, it scruples at no fruit. It may be found upon peaches, cher- ries, nectarines, apricots, gooseberries and cuxrants. ROOT GRAFTING. While nothing can be done out of doors in the nursery, the process of root grafting may be carried on, and the stock be ready for settiag as soon as the groimds are open in spring. When this method of grafting is employed with discretion, it greatly aids the nurseryman. It is a resource in case he cannot procure stocks to bud or graft upon ; it makes finer and handsomer trees ; and it can be carried on at a season of leisure; and the scions, being early in the ground, have a longer season of growth by two months than buds, or ordinary grafts. Although any healthy root with some fibres will answer to graft upon, yet experienced nurserymen prefer the tap roots of young seedling stocks. Those who have apple and pear stocks which are to be removed, should employ the open weather of winter to raise them. The tap roots may 340 PLAIN AND Pi;EiASANT TALK be taken for grafting purposes and tte stocks put away in cellars, or buried in the ground. We do not know that there is any difference in favor of the root of one variety over another ; but it will not do to propagate every variety of fruit by this method. Experi- ence has shown that some sorts do better by root grafting than in any other way; but other kinds are very apt to be winter-kiUed ; and some varieties have such a straggling habit of glt)Wth, that it would be extremely difficult to train them to a good head ; and such sorts, therefore, require to be budded or grafted high up on good stocks. The roots' being washed, are cut into four or five iach pieces J. and the scions prepared as for ordinary grafting. Splice, or tongue grafting is the most Convenient method. WooUen yarn, cut to ten or twelve inches' length, is wound around it closely at the point of junction. Let the grafting wax be kept in a melted state, by being put in a pan, over a few coals. Holding the work over the pan, with a spoon pour a portion of the liquid all over the yam ; it hardens immediately, and the whole may be set in rows in a box and covered above the point of union with moist sand, and kept in a cellar till it is time to turn them out in the spring. Thi! cherry, plum, pear and apple trees, in a diseased condition, will often throw up numerous and thrifty sprouts that will offer to an inexperienced cultivator invit- ing temptations to multiply his stock at a rapid rate with little labor. If he be deceived by these appearances, and propagate his valuable kinds upon these diseased growths, his efforts will ultimately result in his disappoint- ment. ABOUT FBOTTB, W,OWKBS AND V-LKICISQ. 341 BLIGHT AND INSECTS. In an article on employing suckers of fruit-trees for stocks, which we shall copy, Dr. Kirtland says : " The practice of graitimg and budding pears upon this quality of stocks has extended a diseased action, a kind of canker among our pear orchards, that has, in some instances, been mistaken for blight, a disease that has its origin in the depredations of a minute coleopterous insect, which has been (Satisfactorily described h\ all its stages of transforma- tion by Dr. Harris, and other Massachusetts entomologists." That the fire-blight is, to any considerable extent any- where, but especially at the West, occasioned by an insects- is an idea, we believe, totally unsupported by facts. That some injury has been done by the soolytuspyri, the investi- gations of Mr. Lowell and Professoi' Peck leave no room to doubt. But we are not satisfied that, even in these cases, they were the cause of the blight, but only an accidental concomitant. Did Mr. Lowell or Piofessor Peck always find this beetle upon blighted trees? Was it found in every blighted limb ? Did not blight t\ccur without these insects? Has any one of New England since found the blight to proceed from the gnawings of this beetle ? Has any one foimd this beetle before the blight occurred at its mischievous work, or is it only after the blight is seen that the beetle is found ? If the scolytus pyri has been fovmd •only after the tree is thoroughly affected, there is reason to suppose that it did not come until after the disease had pre- pared the way for it. We are seriously skeptical of this alleged cause. What- ever may be true of the blight at the East, the blight in the West is unquestionably not an effect of the scolytus pyri. We have examined with the utmost pains, multitudes of trees in all soils — several of our shrewdest nurserymen have searched year by year, and we have, unfortunately, had too much opportunity and too many subjects, and yet no insect 342 PLAIN AUD PtBASANT TALK or insect-track has been detected, escept those which have attacked the tree in consequence of the blight. To be sure, we can find bugs, black, brown, green and grey, but the mere presence of an insect is nothing, though with many, it seems enough, when a tree is blighted, if a bug is found on it, to determine the parentage of the mis- chief. Nor do the published accounts of insects, found on blighted trees, increase our respect for this theory. The observations seem to have been not thorough enough, and not carefully made, and the reasonings even less philo- sophical. Men have searched for a theory rather than for the mere fects in the case. But by far the greatest num- ber of those who write, give no evidence of relying upon any observations which they have themselves made, but go back perpetually to the old precedents, Mr. LoweU and Professor Peck, without being at any pains, to verify tjjem. Has Dr. Kirtland ever found the scolytus pyri ? Has he ever, in time of extensive blight, found it under such cir- cumstances as to satisfy his mind that it was the real cause of fire-blight ? or does he rest satisfied that blight is occa^ sioned by an insect simply because so it is set down in good books ? The canker may be mistaken for blight by those who have not been acquainted with either ; but surely, no one who has ever attentively examined one real case of fire- blight would ever mistake it for anything else, or anything else for it. The insect theory we regard as whoUy untenable except, for special, local, peculiar ravages which are not properly blights. The blight is a disease of the cirmclation. It affects every tissue of the plant. It is not a disease from exhaustion of sap by the suction of aphides, as Dr. Mosher, of Cincinnati, supposed, for the trees have a plethora rather than scarcity of sap ; it lacerates the sap-vessels, bursts the bark, flows down the branches, and dries ia globules upon the trunk. On cutting the tree, if the bH^t is yet new, the texture of the alburnum wiU be found to resemble what ABOUT rEUITS, FLOWEES AOTJ PAEMING. 343 is called a water-core in the apple, its color is of a dirty greenisli hue, soon changing by exposure to brown and black. But if the blight is old, the wood is of a dingy white, the alburnum colored like iron rust, and the bark of a brownish black. These appearances are incompatible with any idea of exhaustion by the gnawing of the scolytus pyri, or the suction of aphides, which would result in mere shrink- ing of parts, dryness and death. If insects have a hand in the mischief, it is by the secretion of poison, of which fact, we have never seen the trace of proof, although it has often been suggested, and is by some empyrically asserted. To our minds the insect-poison-theory is imaginary. It is entirely convenient to refer every excrescence, or shrinking of parts, every watery suffusion, wart, discoloration, crump- ling leaf, wilting, etc., to poison, and still more convenient to find the insect so atomic that it cannot he foimd, and thus to heap the multiform sins of the orchard on the scape-goat of a hypothetical insect. As to electricity, as no one knows anything about this elemental sprite, his out-gbings or in-comings, we are like to have acted over again all the caprices of witch-times, when elves and gnomes out up every prank imaginable, and when aay prank, which was cut up, of course was performed by them. Everybody is agog about electricity. But we respectfully suggest that, it is one thing to ascertain facts by cautious, guarded experiments or careful observation, and quite another to set down everything, which one does not know what else to do with, to electricity, simply because it may he so for aught that we know to the contrary. People reason somewhat in this wise ; electricity performs a vast number of very mysterious operations, therefore, every operation which is mysterious is performed by elec- tricity. We believe electricity to have something to do with it, only because it seems to have concern with every living, growing thing. We believe that the blight is, in aU cases, the effect of ?44: PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK frost upon the sap. "We have, until recently, supposed it to arise from autumnal freezing, wMe the tree is in full growth. "We are now incUned to suppose that severe freez- ing and sudden thawing at any time, autumn, winter or spring, when the sap is in m,otion, will result in blight. The blight of 1844 was from the freezing of growing trees in the autumn of J 843, and the premonitory stages were clearly discernible in the tree during the whole winter months before it broke out in its last malignant form. "When a warm winter allows continuous motion of sap, and sudden, severe freezing with rapid thawing occurs, we suppose it to cause a variety of blight. "We are maMng investigations on this head, but are not yet prepared to speak with certainty. "When a sudden violent freezing overtakes growing trees in spring,- with rapid thaws, it, we suppose, results in a blight resembling the autumn-caused blight. We are diligently searching into this whole matter, and hope to throw some light upon it. But now comes the question.' "What is it that makes some trees so obnoxious to this evU while others escape ? "Why are some orchards generally affected, and contiguous orchards entirely saved ? It is very plain that the blight occurs, as a general disease, in some seasons more than in others, because it depends upon the peculiar condition of the season, the time and degree of frosts. But it does not seem so clear why, when these conditions are favorable to blight, one tree should suffer, and the next in the row should not ; why one orchard should be depopulated, and another in the same town not touched. "We think that light win be afforded on this point by a consideration of the textwe of trees. "When trees are rapidly gi-own by stimulating manures, or upon ' strong clay loams, or from any other cause, the wood is coarse, the passages enlarged, the tissue loose and spongy. The tree passes a great volume of sap — it is but imperfectly elaborated (as is seen by the late period to ABOUT FEOTTS, FLOWEBB AND FARMING. 345 which such trees defer the hearing of fruit), and the tissues formed by it are correspondingly imperfect in wholesome- nesB, compactness, and solidity of parts. The tree is bloated — is dropsical. On gravelly soils, or loams with a gravelly subsoil, or on any kind of soil, which gives a slow and thorough growth, the wood is fine, close and perfect; the vessels are not expanded, their sides are firmer, less sensitive to sudden changes of temperature, and when exposed to them better able to resist them. Whatever soU produces rank or coarse wood, a flabby tissue will be subject to blights. Whatever soil induces a fine-grained, compact fibre, and vigorous tissue, will be free from blight, The same is true of the various methods of cultivation ; those who drive their trees, who aim chiefly at a rapid and strong growth, will give their trees a con- dition requisite for blight. Those who pursue a more cau- tious, a slower method, and look to the quality rather than the quantity of their wood, will be comparatively free from blight. To be sure, there may be seasons so extreme that blight will occur in the most healthy tree ; so disease wiU occur in the most temperate men; yet temperance, conformity to the laws of nature, is the rule of health, and nonconformity the preparation for disease. Meanwhile, will those who are unfortunate enough to have a good opportunity for observing, examine — 1. The soil and subsoil of blighted trees? 2. The habit of the tree, as to rankness of growth? 3. The character of the cultivation which has been em- ployed ? 4. In short, the relative condition of orchards and trees which have escaped or been blighted, as to fineness and closeness, and health of texture. It is high time that this matter should be minutely inyestigated. It is the opjpro- hriwm cultorum. 15* 346 PLAIN ASD PLBASANT TALK APPLES FOR HOGS. Faembes are afraid of sour apples ; if stock have ordy sour fruit they are injured ; but let both sweet and sour grow in the orchard, and experience has determined that they will, of theniselves, eat the due proportion of each. Cattle and hogs are as fond of variety in fruit as men are. In raising potatoes, pumpkins, apples, etc., for animals, it is frequently supposed that the larger and ranker the growth the better ; that, at any rate, cattle fare as well on coarse- grained vegetables as on others. But a rank, coarse, watery vegetable is no better for an ox than for a man. The nutritious principle is the same to man or beast. A fine- fleshed, highly nutritious apple or potato is as much better for stock as it is for man. If a variety is not fit for men, it is not worth while to cultivate it at all. Cattle show them- selves t6 be of this opinion when left to range ; they avoid coarse, rough herbage, and pick the sweetest and highest flavored. Let the best sorts of apples, be planted for stock. If one has a seedling orchard which it would be worth while to graft over for human use, let not its poor, miserable fruit be fed to hogs; let it be grafted over even if one means to use it for stock. Polling off Potato Flowees. — ^The man who makes his potato-ground feed flowers, prevents it feeding his children. Every ounce of matter consumed by the flowers is so much taken from the consumption of the family. To EBSTOEB an exhausted, or rather tired field, it should be sown in grass, and stock fed upon it during the winter months. Hogs fattened upon tired land enrich it very much. ABOUT PE0ITS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 347 THE FLOWER GARDEN. Spring Flowbeing-Buibs. — ^When crocus, hyacinths, narcissus, tulips, have done flowering, let the seed stalks he cut down, as the ripening of the seed severely taxes and exhausts the powers of a plant. Some persons are accus- tomed, after the bulbs have flowered, to cut off the tops, as if to do the most mischief possible. The success of the next year's flowering will depend very much on the care given to your beds now. Many bulbs, as the ttdip, form entirely new bulbs ; and others, as the hyacinth, form the flower bud for the next season. The leaf is the indispensable means of doing this ; in it are perfected the juices which are returned and deposited ia the root. If the bed is left to be choked with weeds, and your bulbs robbed of nutriment, or if the soil is left compact, or if there is too much moisture, or on the other hand, too little, the bud or bulb for the next year wiU be weakened. A very deep bed, or a sandy soil, will sufficiently prevent the effects of too much water. The surface should be mellowed by the hand, and tho- roughly weeded. The most careful cultivators raise their bulbs every year. The ca/reful at least every third year. The oareless let them alone and wonder, from year to. year, why their bulbs do so poorly — " The moles must eat them, or, worms probably injure them ;" but the worst worm ia a flower=garden is careless indolence. When bulbs are raised, it should not be done until the leaves are diy. Gladiolus. — ^We are surprised that this fine soldier-like plant is not more extensively employed to adorn gardens, yards, and lawns. A few varieties only are found in our gardens. Great attention has been given in Europe, espe- cially in Belgium, to raising new varieties, and many mag- nificent kinds are now found in European collections which, so far as we know, are not to be had for love or money ia 348 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK America. The bulb, or rather corm,* increases very rapidly, and by a little attention one may obtain from a few, a very large gupply. They may be planted with good effect in rows, in clumps, and in beds, but not singly. A sandy log-m, weU mixed with leaf-mold, is their delight. We usually remove the top soil, and then take out and reject about twelve inches of the subsoil, making in all about twenty inches' depth ; return the top earth, together with enough compost of leaf-mold, sand, and thoroughly decayed jnanure, to fiU it ; plant about four inches deep, measu.ring from the top of the corm. Wh.en your plants ^re growing, examine every day ; if you see a sawdust-like matter about them, they need attention. On searching, a perforation wiU be found in the stem. With a penknife slit the stem .down from the hole until you reach the worm which paused the mischief. If this course is not properlj^pur- Bued, you will lose stem and root. With a thin strip of bass matting, or a bit of green ribbon, the stem may be tied and fastened to a rod for support. In door-yards, and in the scanty grounds of city yards, clumps often or fifteen gladioli would have a very beautiful appearance, especially if dif- ferent varieties, instead of being mixed, should be planted in separate ]Dat contiguous patches. Tuberose. — ^The beauty of its pure, white florets, but especially the delightful odor of this fragrant flower, has rendered it a favorite wherever it is known. It is very * Bulbs are of two kinds : those which have a number of coats, or skins, one within the other, like the hyacinth, which are called tunicated bulbs ; those which consist of a number of scales, only attached to the. base, like the lily ; but what a^e called corms, are only a solid mass of feouleiit matter, and which modern botaniata do not allow to be bulbs but (sail underground stems. Corms do not require taking up so often as bulbs ; and when they are intended to remain for several years in the ground, they, should be planted from four to six inches deep at first ; as every year a new corm will form above the old one ; and thus, if planted too near the surface, the corm, in a few years, will be pushed out of the ground. — Lcmdon. ABOUT PEUITS, PLOWEES AND FAEMHSTG. 349 tender to frost, and must not be planted out until about the first of May, It is to be treated like the glaidiolus. Its efiect is heightened by being put in a half shade, where its pure white is relieved by a green background. The flower stem rises from two to three feet and requires a rod to sus- tain it. The fragrance is so powerful that a few plants wiU, at evening, scent a whole garden; a circumstance well known to owners of pleasure gardens, who render their grounds very delightful by dispersing these, and other odo- riferous flowers, in various parts of their grounds, thus loading the dewy evening air with delicious perfume. They may be planted in ten-inch pots and sunk in the ground until they have begun to blossom, when the pots may be raised and conveyed to the parlor or veranda. A single plant wiU sometimes make a room disagreeable by its exces- sive odor. The roots are imported to. England from Italy, as that climate is too humid and cool too perfect them for flower- ing. But, in our soil and climate, we have found no difS- culty in raising, from off-sets, the finest possible bulbs. No yard or garden should be without tuberoses. PLAinrs ref Pots. — It is better when one has ground at hand, to turn out plants which have been housed through the winter into the open garden. Roses, geraniums, azaleas, cape jasmins, fuchsias, etc., wiU be wonderfully invigorated by such treatment, The tea and Bengal roses can hardly be brought to perfection in pots, and those who have only seen the penurious growth and diminished and sparse blossoms in the parlor have no idea of the beauty of these roses. We usually excavate a place two feet square and two feet deep for each rose, filling it with sandy loam very highly enriched with leaf-mold and decayed manure. The trouble will be repaid four fold ; for nature has never made a plant that forgets to be grateful for attention. In turning out plants, put the left hand in such a way upon the top as that the stem shall come between the 350 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK second and third finger, then invert the pot and give the bottom of it two or three sharp 'raps, when the pot will come off: If the plant is in a lively, growing state, and the outside of the ball of earth is covered with fine, white^ new roots, it will be best to put the ball into the ground with- out disturbing the roots at all. But if the plant is not grow- ing, the earth may be carefully worked out from the roots with the hands, taking care to break the fibres as little as possible. Spread out the roots as much as possible in every direction, and cover with fine earth. Rose bushes will need attention soon, as worms and bugs begin their depredations. When the number of bushes is limited, hand-picking every day or two is best, for a large collection one must resort to more general methods. Drench your shrubs, which aphides and worms infest, with soapsuds, made of two pounds of whale-oil soap to»fijfteen gallons of water. This is by far the most effioaeious — the only efficacious — course for destroying insects. As flower-seeds come up, see that they are well weeded, and if crowded, thin them out. We would recommend the cultivation of some old-fashioned flowers. Nothing is more showy than a bed of poppies of mixed colors. Holyhocks are becoming very great favorites, and we saw recently flowers as magni¢, and as well worth having, as any dahlia. The varieties of lupine should be sought for, and for those who have seen nothing but the white and bljie lupines we make an extract from Mrs. Loudon's "Com- panion to the Flower Garden " — an admirable work, which, though professedly written for ladies, may be used with profit by everybody who cultivates a garden. "LuPiNus. — Legwminosm. — The Lupine. A genus of herbaceous annuals and perennials which contain some of our most beautiful border flowers : yellow, blue, white, and pink lupines are among the oldest border annuals; Ii. nanus is a beautiful little annual, with dark blue flowers, a native of California, and requiring the usual treatment of Cali- ABOUT FEtriTS, FLOWEES AND FAEMLNG, 351 fornia annuals. L. mutahilis and Gruicshankii are splen- did plants, growing to the height of four or five feet, and branching like miniature trees. It. Folyphyllus and its varieties are perennials, and they are splendid and vigorous- growing plants, with spikes of flowers from one foot to eighteen inches in length ; JL. nootkatensis is a handsome dwarf perennial, and L. a/rboreus, when trained against a wall, wUl attain six feet in height, and in sheltered situations it will grow with equal vigor trained as a bush tied to a stake; L. kttifolius is a" perennial from California, with very long spikes of blue flowers. AU the species will thrive in common garden soil ; the annuals are propagated by seed sown in February or March, and the perennials by division of the roots." PREPARATION OF SEED FOR SOWING. Many persons suppose that when seeds have been select- ed, nothing is necessary but to put them into the ground just as they are. A careful preparation of seed, both for field or garden use, wiU add much to the success of a planting. 1. AssoBTiNG Sebds. — In every lot of seed there are many imperfect ones ; some are insectiferous, some are un- ripe, some are the extreme terminal seeds, small and weak, some are very often a little moldy. In some way all de- fective seeds should be removed. Then it should be remembered, that the soundest and largest seeds will produce plants of a corresponding vigor, and that by planting only the healthiest, the variety is kept pure — or even improved. For garden use hand picking will suffice. We pour our com on a table, and select only the kernels which are plump and large, rejecting any which show an intermixture of 352 PLADI AND PLEASAjNT TALK other varieties. Beet seed requires careftil winno'wiBg, nearly one-fourth, as they are usually sold, being unfit for planting. Peas are more uniform in size and quality, and require but little selection. Melons, squashes, and cucum- bers should be cuUed, or better yet, be put into water ; only those which sink promptly should be used, the swimming and floating ones being light and trashy. Beans are apt to be imperfect. We have usually found occasion to rejeqt fuU one-third of every quart, for seedsmen are apt to put in every seed that grows, whether they will ever grow again or not. There is no dishonesty certainly in this ; but if one would habitually screen or select, and put up only the very choicest, he would ultimately get a higher price, and secure for his seed a universal demand. 2. Soaking Seeds. — Some seeds will not germiaate for a long period, unless they are artificially brought forward. Locust seeds are scalded before planting. Peas are scalded to tUl the bug, when thus inhabited. The cypress vine seed require soaking to induce a quick germination. Celery seed is very sluggish unless soaked. Seeds are often steeped in prepared liquids to force their growth. Old seeds, whose powers of germination are much diminished, are made to vegetate by being put into a weak solution of oxalic acid. Wheat is pickled in salt brine, then rolled in lime, as a preventive of smut. Corn is protected from worms by copperas water ; and peas are put into train oil to guard them from moles and mice. Tanner's oU, and a solution of saltpetre are often used ; the first for turnip-seed, to protect them from a destructive insect ; and the latter for all seeds, as a stimu- lant to their growth and to guard against worms and bugs. Some excitement was made in Scotland, not long ago, by the great efiects alleged to have been produced by so pre- paring seeds that they would contain in or on themselves all those fei-tilizing qualities usually looked for in the soil. It is possible, by employing chemical mixtures, or coatings, to ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 353 make the seed germinate with great vigor, and to establish itself strongly ; but we do not suppose any process can be made to reach beyond this. No mere soaking or coating can extend its influence through the whole growth of the crop. When seeds are soaked they anticipate the weeds in com- ing up, especially seeds planted in May and June, and this is a very important object, as crops are, often, almost smoth- ered with weeds before they are large enough Jo be weeded. SOWING FLOWER SEEDS— TRANSPLANTING. Mant flower-seeds require no more skill in planting than do peas or beans, for they are as large and as easily ger- minated. But veiy many are small, and some extremely small, and if planted too deeply, they will not shoot, or win shoot very feebly. Select a free-working and rich piece of ground — a sandy loam is best, and a stifiF clay the worst — let it be spaded deeply, incorporating very thoroughly-rotted manure, i. e. manure full two years old and which will crumble in the hand as fine as sand. With a fine-toothed rake reduce every lump and bring the surface to the finest state of pulveriza- tion. If the seed is very small, it had better be mixed with a little sand, or dry soil, to increase the bulk. The sowing will be easier and more equal. Scatter the seed upon the bed ; then with the hands or a fine garden sieve, sift fresh and mellow earth upon it from a quarter to half an inch in depth. To bring' the earth compactly about the seed, spat the bed with moderate strokes with the back of a spade. If the weather is very dry, water the bed at evening with a watering-pot — ^to pour it from a paU or cup would wash up the surface. Keep the plants from weeds, and when they are one or two inches high, they may be trans- 354 PLAIN AKD PLEASANT TALK planted to the places where they are to stand. Balsams, larkspurs, poppies, and, indeed, most flowers do hetter by- being transplanted. The operation checks the luxuriance of the plant, and increases its tendency to flower. Sometimes seeds are planted where they are to remain; the treatment is precisely the same as before, except they are thinned out instead of transplanted. No mistake is more frequent, among inexperienced gardeners, than that of suffering too many plants to stand together. One is re- luctant to puU up fine thriving plants ; or he does not reflect that what may seem room enough while the plant is young, will be very scanty when it is grown. There is much taste to be displayed in arranging flowers Ln a garden so that proper colors shall be contrasted. It is important that proper colors should be matched hi a gar- den, as oa, a dress. , PARLOR-PLANTS AND FLOWERS IN WINTER. The treatment of house plants is very little understood, although the practice of keeping shrubs and flowers during the winter is almost universal. It is important that the physiological principles on which success depends should be familiarly understood; and then cultivators can apply them with success m all the varying circumstances in which they may be called to act. Two objects are proposed in taking plants into the house — either simple protection, or the development of their foliage and flowers, during the winter. The same treat- ment will not do for both objects. Indeed, the greatest number of persons of our acquaintance, treat their winter plants, from which they desire flowers, as if they only wished to preserve them till spring ; and the consequence is, that they have very little enjoyment in their favorites. ABOUT FRUITS, B^OWBES AND FARMING. 355 HOUSE PLANTS DESIGNED SIMPLY TO STAIO) OVER. Tender roses, azaleas, cape jasmins, crape myrtles, or- anges, lemons, figs, oleanders, may be kept in a light cellar if frost never penetrates it. If kept in parlors, the foUowing are the most essential points to be observed. The thermometer should never be permitted to rise above sixty degrees or sixty-five degrees ; nor at night to sink below forty degrees. Although plants will not be frost-bitten until the mercury falls to thirty-two degrees, yet the chiU of a temperature below forty degrees win often be as mischievous to tender plants as frost itself. Excessive heat, particularly a dry stove heat, will destroy the leaves almost as certainly as frost. We have seen plants languishing in a temperature^ of seventy degrees (it often rising ten degrees higher), while the owners wondered what could ail the plants, for they were sure that they kept the room warm enough ! Next, great care should be taken not to overwater. Plants which are not growing require very little water. If given, the roots become sogged, or rotten, and the whole plant is enfeebled. Water should never be suffered to stand in the saucers ; nor be given, always, when the top-soil is dry. Let the earth be stirred, and when the interior of the ball is becoming dry, give it a copious supply; let it drain through thoroughly, and turn off what falls into the saucer. PLANTS DESIGNED FOE WINTER FLOWERING. It is to be remembered that the winter is naturally the season of rest for plants. All plants require to lie dormant during some portion of the year. Tou cannot cheat them out of it. If they are pushed the whole year they become eichausted and worthless. Here lies the most common error of plant-keepers. K you mean to have roses, bloondng geraniums, etc., in winter, you must, artificially, change 35g PtAIN AND PLEASANT TAXK their season of rest. Plants ■which flower in summer must rest in whiter ; those which are to flower in winter must rest either in summer or autumn. It is not, usually, worth while to take into the house for flowering purposes any shrub which has been in fuU bloom during the summer or autumn. Sel^ot and pot the wished-for flowers during sum- mer ; place them in a shaded position facing the north, give very Httle water, and then keep theRi quiet. Their ener- gies wiU thus be sayed for winter. When taken into the house, the four essential points of attention are light, moisture, temperature, and cleanliness. 1. Light, — ^The functions of the le9,ves cannot be health- ftiUy carried on without light. If there be too little, the sap is imperfectly elaborated, and returns from the leaves to the body in 9- crude, undigested state. The growth will be coarse, watery, and brittle ; and that ripeness whi*h must precede flowers and fruit cannot be attained. The sprawl- ing, spindling, white-colored, long-jointed, plants, of which some persons are unwisely proud, are, often the result of too little light' and too much water. The pots should be turned around every day, unless when the light strikes down from above, or from windows on each side ; other- wise, they wilj grow out of shape by bending toward the light. 2. MoiSTUEE. — ^Different species of plants require differ- ent quantities of water. What are termed aquatics, of which the €aUa u^hiopica, is a specimen, require great abundance of it. Yet it should be often changed even in the case of aquatics. But roses, geraniums, etc., and the common house plants require the soil to be moist, rather than wet. As a general rule it may be said that every pot should have one-sixth part of its depth fiUed with coarse pebbles, as a drainage, before the plants are potted. This gives aU superfluous moisture a free passage out. Plants should be watered by exawmation and not by tiyne. They require various quantities of moisture, according to their ABOUT j'KtnTdj ftXr^Etle an*' FjIkming. i5'J activity, and the period of their gf oTvth. Let the earth be ■well stirred, and if it is becoming dry on the inside, give water. Never water by dribblets — a Spoonftil to-day, another to-morrow. In this way the outside will become bound, and the inside remain dry. Grive a copious watering, so that the- whole baU shall be soaked ; then let it drain off, and that which comes into the saucer be poured off. But^ in whatever way one prefers to give water, the thing to be gained is a full supply of moisture to every part of the roots, and yet not so much as to have it stand about them. Manure-water may be employed with great benefit every second or third watering. For this purpose we have never found anything of value equal to guano. Besides water to the root, plants are almost as much benefited by water on the leafcr-but of this we shall speak under the head of 3. Tempbeatpeb. — Sudden and violent changes of tem- perature are almost as trying to plants as to animals and men. At the same time, a moderate change of tempera- ture is very desirable. Thus, in nature, there is a marked and uniform variation at night from the temperature of the day. At night, the room should be gradually lowered in temperature to from forty-five degrees to fifty degrees, while through the day it ranges from fifty-five degrees to seventy degrees. Too much, and too sudden heat wiU destroy tender leaves almost as surely as frost. It should also be remembered that the leaves of plants are constantly exhal- ing moisture during the day. If in too warm an atmos- phere, or in one which is too dry, this perspiration becomes excessive and weakens the plant. If the room be stove- heated, a basin of water should be put on the stove to sup- ply moisture to the air by evaporation. Sprinkling the leaves, a kind of artificial dew, is also beneficial, on this account. The air should be changed as often as possible. Every warm and sunny day should be improved to let in fresh air upon these vegetable breathers. 358 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 4. Olbanlhsteiss. — ^This is an important element of health as TveU as of beauty. . Animal-tmcleanliness is first to be removed. If ground-worms have been incorporated with the dirt, give a dose or two of lime-water to the soil. Next aphides or green-hoe will appear upon the leaves and stems. Tobacco smoke will soon stupefy them and cause them to tumble upon the shelves or surface of the soU, whence they are to be carefully brushed, or crushed. If one has but a few plants, put them in a group on the floor; put four chairs around them and cover with an old blanket, forming a sort of tent. Set a dish of coals within, and throw on a handful of tobacco leaves. Fifteen minutes' smoking will destroy any decent aphis. If a larger coU-eotion is on hand, let the dish or dishes be placed under the stands. When the destruction is completed, let the parlor be weU ventilated, unless, fair lady, y-ou have an inveterate smoker for a husband ; in which case you may have become used to the nuisance. The insects which infest large collections of green-houses, are fiiUy treated of in horticultural books of directions. Dust will settle every day upon the leaves, and choke up the perspiring pores. The leaves should be kept free by gentle wiping, or by washing. White Clotee is an important grass on flourishing old meadows. It grows very thick at the bottom of the other grass, although in a good season it will grow to the height of from twelve to sixteen inches. I have seen it in low spots completely covered for weeks together. Therefore land which produces abundant crops of grass, would require extensive draining for grain, and seeing that plowing such land destroys its life, it is far better to keep it in grass con- tinually. ABOUT PEOTTS, PLOWBES AND FAEMIVQ. 359 PARLOR FLOWERS AND PLANTS IN WINTER.-(ulr«. 2.) Thbeb are so few who care enough for flowers to trouble themselves with them during the winter, that it seems almost unkind to criticise the imperfections of those who do. But it is very plain that, for the most part, skill and knowledge do not keep pace with good taste. Not to point out defects to those who are anxious to improve would be the real.unkiadness. There are two objects for which plants are kept over. Plants are housed for the sake of their verdure and bloom during the vdnter ; or, simply to protect them from the frosts. Our first criticism is, that these two separate objects are, to a great extent, improperly tmited. Tables and window-stands are crowded with plants which ought to be in the cellar or in a pit. Plants which have bloomed through the summer will rest during the winter. To remove them from the heat and dust of the parlor — to place them in a dry, light, warm cellar, will certainly conduce to their entire rest, and the parlor wiU lose no grace by the removal of. ragged stems, falling leaves, and flowerless branches. When a large quantity of plants are to be pro- tected, and cellar room is wantiug, a pit may be prepared with little expense. Dig a place eight or ten feet square, in a dry exposure. The depth may be from five to sis feet. Let the surface of this chamber be curbed about with a plank frame, the top of which should slope to the south at an inclination of about three inches to the foot. This may be covered with plank except in the middle, where two sash may be placed. The outside of the plank may be banked up with earth, and if light brush or haulm be placed upon the top, in severe weather, it wiU be aU the better. The inside may be provided with shelves on every side for the pots, and thus hundreds of plants may be eflfectually protected. During severe freezing weather the sash should be covered with mats, old carpet, straw or anything of the 860 PtAfi? AlO* tMABAJiT *ALK kind ; and in ver^ cold weather this should not he removed during the daytime : for if the plants have been touched •#ith frost, the admission of light will destroy or maim them, whereas, if kept" in darkness, they wiU suffer little or no injury. Several families may unite in the esJpeihse of form- ing a cold-pit and thus fill It with plants at a smaQ expense and very little incorivenienee to each. Fery little if any water should be given to plants thxfs at rest. Even where pla,nts are wanted tO bloolii in the parlor late in the winter, it is often better to let them spend the fore- part of the winter in the cellar or pit. Our second Criticism: respects th6 clia/raclt&r' of W^ter col- lections; The most noticeable error is the straflge crdwd of plants often huddled together", as if the excellence of a coUectit>n consisted in the number of things brought together. •Every- thing that the florist sees in other collections has been pro- cured, as if it would be an unpardonable negligence not to have what others have. Hence we sometimes' see scores of plants, verf different in their habits, requiring widely different conditions of growth, reduced to one regimen, viz, a place near the window, so much Water a day, and one turning round. This summary procedure, of course, soon results in a vegetable Falstaff^s regiment ; some plants being long, sprawMg, gaflglihg, some dormant and dumpy ; some sheddihg their leaves and going to rest with unripe wood, some mildewed, a few faintly struggling to show here and there a bewUderfed bldstom. In Such a collection the eye is pained by the entire want of Sympathy arising from jumbhiig together the most dissimilar kinds ; from the want of robust health, and from the entire disappearance of that, vivid freshness and sfjrlgh'tliness of growth, com- pact while' it is rapid, which gives a' chann to well man- aged plants. AH plants wMch are not gr^Tvin:^, op for whosb growth your parlors are not suitable, should be put into the cellar ABOUT FEUrrS, ri-OWEES AND FAEMING. 361- and should there be allowed to stand over in a state of rest. According to your accommodations, select a feivo vigorous, symmetrical, hearty, healthy plants for the window. One plant well tended, wiU afford you more pleasure than twen- ty, half-nurtured. In our dwellings, one has to make his way between two extremes in the best manner that Jie can. Without a stove our thin-walled houses are cold as an ice-house, and a frosty night sends sad dismay among our favorites. Then, on the other hand, if we have a stove, the air is apt to be parched, and unwholesome, fit for ^^.ta^manders, fiit and torpid cats and dozing , grandmothers. There is not much choice be- tween an ice-house and an oven. There can be no such thin^ cw flair al health without fresh air and -mough of it. Th|a must be procured by frequent ventilation. PROTECTING PLANTS IN WINTER. Veet many shrubs, vines, roses, etc., usually regarded as tender, may yet be safely left standing in the garden if properly protected. The neck of plants, i.e. that part at which the roots and steiri come together, requires tliorough jprotection; both because it is the most •Render (as some say), and because it is at this point, that freezing and sudden tiiawing must occur. The black soil absorbing heat rapidly, the neck of a plant wiU be first and most affected by the morning sun ; and this is the reason, we think, rather than any special tenderness of parts, why plants are killed »t the crown of the root. Let the ground be well covered with leaves or with coarse manure, and let it come up three or four inches high on the stem. It is better to have the top strawy, rather than dark colored manure. 16 362 PLAIN- AND PLEASANT TALK It is the sun, and not the frost, that, for the most part, kills the stems of half-hardy, plants. Protection is often, therefore, only thorough shading. The Eengal tea;, and noisette roses are left out at Philadelphia and at Cincin- nati without detriment. Drive a stake by the side of the plant,- a^d drawing tip the branches to it, cover them with straw; or 'bafeB-nif4|;ting wrapped around them.' Kegs, barrels, boxes, et6., rflaT be turned over such as are Titit tob high and will su:fficieii0y protect them. Air-holes shouM be bOred in barrels, etc., and the north side is the hesis for the ptirpose. Grrape vines whidi need protection fehould- be loosened from- the trellis or wall, pruned, laid do-wTi on the ground and earth thro-wn over them three or fotif inCheig deep. Isabella and Catawba gi-ape-^fies will need no protetftion. TO PRESERVE DAHLIA . RQ^TS,^ ThB least frost destroys these roots. In warm and damp cellars they rot. Very many perso-hs have no- cellars at all (a very-fi^qu^nt' destitution at the West) ; others are so small and moist, as to be unfit (our own, for inslfkrice)';-^ and the extreme variations of teniperature durtti^ ti'e a^y and night make sitting-rooms and their closets very unsafe places for them.' The labor of pacTcing them in ^and is hot great to those' wht^ have it f e^y or men to "pr|jciire it'; but to ladies, and yspefclaByto'^ many in towns and '.Cities who are enthusiastic cultivators of flowers, but grievously vexed ■with- poverty "Bl' pocket, this plan is inconvenient. Why Eday not dahlias be kept in the soil? "We think there is not the least doubt that they can be protected from frost and heat. Every one knows that in spading up in the spring the dahlia beds of the previous year, largfeSeo^ tions of the tubers, which had broken off when the niain ABOUT FBTJITS, PLOWBES AOT) paSming. 363 roots were removed, are found in a fresh and sound condi- tion. Let a pit be dug say two feet deep, the roots carefully disposed in it, covered with soil, and the whole protected by coarse litter, straw, etc. "We do not advise any to ad- venture their whole stock in this manner; but we design to select the inferior sorts from our stock and treat them thug ; and if successful, we shMl, another yeap, try our whole stock. HEDGES. 1, Where abedge is properly made and Carefully trim- med, it is the most beautiful fence that can be made ; and, as an ol^ect of beiauiy, it jnay be well to form hedges in a wood country ; but as a mode of general fencing we deem it totally inappropriate to the condition of a country abound- ing in timber. The labor of setting and tending it until it is estabhshed, is tenfold more than is required for a timber fence; a hedge requires from five to eight years for its establishment ; and every year of this time it must be ioeU tended ; when grown, it requires annUaV shearing ; which, on a long line of fence, is a labor t6 which f&w farmers wfll submit for the sake of ajopearances. It is liable to get but of order by disease, or the death pf particular parts ; and, if neglected a few years, it becomes ragged, a covert fol" vermin and ttrischievous animals. In yards, gardtas, and lawns, he^es shtiuld be grown for ornament, and to serve as screens, ahd backgrouiids. Upon the estates of the aflluent where inoney is less valu- able to the owner than decorations, hedges should be estab- lished. Hedges may also be economical in a prairie coun- try; the labor and eipeitse 6f making and keeping may be less than would be the cbst of timber ; but on farms in a 364 FLXtS iMB PLEASANT TALK woodland district thej axe to be regarded as a luxury,/ and like all luxuries, they are expensive. 2. The white thorn will do very well for hedges if care- fully tended. The usual materials &r hedges, at the 'East, are the English white thorn (cratoBgus oxycantha), the buckthorn (rhamtms c^tkm'tieus),,Me'Wcastle thorn {ora- toBgas enis-ffalli), honey locust (ffleelitfe&iu triactmthos), red cedar (Jwiipm-ui Virginianeu), the Washington or Vir- ginia thorn (cratog'MS corc?af a). The Osage orange {maclwra aurantiaca) has been high- ly recommended ; it is eminently beautiful, and if proved to be good for hedging, should be employed. Privet makes a sightly hedge, but is thomless. Th6 Washington thorn is employed in this neighborhood byAai-on Aldredge;*it, is very beautiful ; jyill require eight gr ten ' years to give it maturity, , .. . ,; 3. When the thorn is used, the berries should be gath-, , ered and mashed, ia the fall, and tl\e seed exposed, mjxed with moist' sand, to the frost of winter. In jihe spring they sbojjld be sown in nursery rows, £|iid at a year old, they should.be transplanted. A reserve of plants .should, be kept in the nursery to. supply vacancies which may occur. The ground should be thoroughly and deeply pulverized by plowing (spading would be much better) and the plants set about six inches apart. The ground sJiQuld be k^pt entirely free from weeds j this tnay be done wa profitable manner by pl3.nting bush, beans on each side,. the tending of '^hich will keep the hex, Shwtlifli of Boston, ■ gives the following brief but excellent directiops : " Prepare your land in the best manner ; use suitable plarjtp of thrifty growth, the older the, better ;• assort and accom- modate to the different kinds of so|l.; preserve all tt^ roots, but crop the tops, leaving only few buds ; keep a few in your nursery ; .set them sloping to the north, and leaye ^^^ groBioid a little cpncave, aibout the roots; keep them clear ABOUT FEUTTS, FLOWBKS AND PAEMING. 365 of grass and weeds, and add a little eartli to the roots at each hoeing ; clear away the leaves at autumn ; trim the side branches carefully, and leave the main stems to nature till they are six feet high, then crop off the tops to the height you mean to have your hedge. It will look like a wedge with the sharp end upwards, and will exhibit a most beautiful appearance." WATERING TREES, ETC. We have observed many persons copiously watering young trees and garden plants. 1. In many oases much water is a positive injury. The roots draw up a larger supply of liquid than there is vigor in the tree to digest or appropriate. In such cases the tissue is enfeebled, the roots decay, and the tree perishes in the trying heats of July and August. 2. It often happens that wetting the tree itself is much better than watering the root. Take a watering-pot and drench the leaves, and limbs and trunk, several times in a day. In a small tree a large bunch of cotton or rags may be put in the crotch and saturated with water. It will gra- dually trickle down the stem, and also evaporate, keeping the leaves in a moist medium. This trouble is worth while in case of rare trees difficult to be obtained. A tree per- spires as really as an animal or a man. Every leaf is for- nbhed with stomata or pores, the number and size of which determine the amount of perspiration. Of course, as they vary in different plants, there is a corresponding difference in the amount whioh they perspire. Plants which grow in exposed situations, scorched by the sun, have a structure which admits but slight perspiration, while those which grow in the shade and in moist places perspire copiously. It is upon this state of facts that watering the tree itself 366 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK is benefieial. The exhalation from the leaf is diminished, and sap retained within the tree. Beside this, the leaf afl.d young green bark absorb some moisture. 5. Where watering is resorted to it should not be upon the surface j especially is this injurious in clay soils. The moisture is immediately exhaled,: mA. the sun toisdeaiSvthe ■ wet earth into a crust, nearly as impervious to light, and air and moisture, as if it were sheet-iron. Let a sUght trench be opened, and after the water has sunk -away^ replace the earth and pulverize it. In th« way no baking wUl take place. 4. But the best method of watering "by the foot, is that which is technically denominated mulching. Cover the ' surface of the ground beneath thje tree or shrub with three or four itches' thiokjiess of coarse, ' strawy manure. If watered through this the earth will Jiot bake; the nwisture will not evaporate; the root will be shielded from the sijn, and enriched by the infiltration of the juices of the manure. LABELS FOR TREES. It is oi great importance for every fermer to preserve the names of Ms fruit-trees ; and no g,matear eialtivator- should think himself worthy ©f a name whose garden and fruit ground is not registered and labelled. It is best in every case to have a frnit-book, in which should be entered the name of, each tree, its place, time of planting, from whom obtained, how old it was from the graft or bud, when set out, its size, xsbadition, etc. Sftolp^ bo£)k, kept in the house, is a sure and permanent record of the names of your fruit-trees. Besid.© this, each tree should have a laid attached to it. For, in pstssing through an oichai'd or fruit garden, it is desirable to know ABOTJT PEUITS, FLOWERS .AND FAEMING. 367 the .names ^f .trees ,mtji,?>i^ the inconvenience of carrying your, book under your arm. The labels are for, dsaly use ; the booji keeps a permanent record,, so that if a label be lost the name of the tree does not go with it. jl is quite pro- "S'oHng to examine a friend's premises without being able to learn the name of a , single, tree. Beside^ every cultivator should know the najpes of hi§ trees as well as of Jhis cattle ; o|herwise they will get local aamesj aad tbe same fruit have a new name in each orchard. TRANSPLANTfNG EVERGREENS. . The general impression that evergreens , are very difficult to triansplant is not well founded if one will observe a few directions.' The best time for transplanting is when the tips begin to show fresh growth in. spring. This is exactly the reverse of directions in English books, which, denounce spring, and enjoin iaH transplanting — in. the climate of Eng- land,, doubtless with good reason ; and it is a good illustra- tion of the caution necessary' before imitating, in our climate, the most skillful fbi'eigu practices. ■ it Mend informs us that be has always totally lost all his iall transplantings ; not saving ten ,iiji ,a hundred ; and other men say they have had^RMlar experience, and it is a settled fact that fall pansplcmting of miergreens is bad pracitice. ' 27ie best method of removing is to lift the plant with, as many roots and fibres ais possible. More care should be psed in this respect than in the removal of fruit-trees; ind^eed, there is llttlfe J^i?k when good roots are obtained and kept in a moist condition. , In planting, the most successful ! ■ i-i-^erators that we. have seen, mix about half and half com- 368. PLAIN AND PUBASASTT TALK mon soil and old rotten wood from the forests, filling it in carefully about the roots and covering the surface ■with sub- stances.^ which will prevent too much evaporation of mois- ture, as litter, decayed wood, sods grass side down, etc., etc. The old wood employed should be thoroughly decom- posed ; and that of the hackberiy, maple, and beech are preferred. The decayed wood of the black walnut and oak do not seem congenial to plants. ,. When large trees are to be removed it is often done with success in the winter^ by opening a trench about the tree and pelTjiitting the ball of earth to freeze pretty thoroughly. The tree is then undenniaed and upon a sledge easily removed to its destination. The hole for its reception" should have been dug while the ground was unfrozen, and it will be necessary to wait xintjl it thaWs before it can%gain be filled in about the tree. FLOWERS, LADIES, AND ANGELS. If ladles wish to get into the very best company pos- sible, we do not know of any. pleasanter way than is detailed in this beautifiil sprat fi-fmi a German poet : A flower do but place near thy window glass, And through it ho image of etil ^all pass. Abroad must thou go f . on thy white boBodl wear A nosegay, and doubt not an angel is there ; Forget not to w»tej.at break of the day The lilies, and thou shalt be fairer than they ; Place a rose near thy bed nightly sentry to keep, And angels shall rock thee on roses to sleep. And pray what will happen if a genM^inan does all this? For one, we have a persoiial curiosity to know ; for we do ABOUT FEUITS, FLOAVEES AND FARMING. 369 all these things and a good many more. If any other angels have hovered about us than angelic flowers, we make an especial request to them not, hereafter, to be so "shy about it. Our natural eye would ' delight to behold in veritable substance aJl the flower-spirits which our ideality spies lurking in our garden^blossoms. » > ^ HORTICULTURAL CURIOSITrES. Mfi. HbVET, editor of the magazine which bears his name, had occasion during the year 1844 to visit Europe; for pro- fessional objects ; " not the least was that of giving some account of the condition of gardening in that country; from whose wtoks, whose practice, aad experience, our x)wn cul- tivators have derived so much knowledge." We cul from the several numbers already published in his migazine, the most interesting facts. Rhododendeons. — Speaking of the Liverpool botanical gardens, he say's : " The principal dumps were filled with rhododendrons of varioug kip.ds, which do remarkably well; the climate, froin its humidity, seems to suit them, and most of the plants were clothed with branches from the base to the top. R. aitaclerense we saw six feet high ; how fine must be its numerous clusters of splendid rosy blossoms! Prom the time we entered this garden, where we first saw the rhodo- dendrops in .abundance, until we returned home, , we were constantly impressed with the importance which this shrub is destined to hold in our gardens. Although a native of our woods and forests, it is scarcely known out of our native habitats ; yet ^abroad we see it the first ornament of the garden. By hybridization, and the production of an immenae number of seedlings, during the last fifteen years, it has been increased in splendor, until it now alrnost equals 16* 370 PiAlN AND PUIASAKT TALK its tender, feut goisgeous eagtern sisters. How long shall our gardaas be deficient in this g^re%t ornament ?" FcraHSiAS, oe Lames' Eabde^b.: — ^Nothiiig willbe. raore surprising to those who have cultivated this beautiful .plant, and thought it well grown if a foot ^gh, and 'brillig.et if a dozen blossoms showed at wee,: than the Aagppeggt size atid flowering of Fuchsias ag seen ia England. At the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Mr. Hovey saw the Fuchsias globosa' major, Tip#ards of twenty feet highj the stem, at the base, being two inches through ! Its drooping ' T)ranohes were clothed- with thousands of flowers ; another "variety, "called Youngii grand^flora was also, twen!ty,&et high, -and equally strong, with innumerable flowers: this plant was only seven years old. It is almost impossible for those who have never seen specimens more than fpur^ or five feet high, to imagine the great ,i|)6a)itiy. of such gigantic plants ; notwithstanding their size they were well grown, being of symmetrical shape, and with vigorous and, healthy foliage; they were planted in very large tubs, about two feet deep and -two feet in diameter, , "The splendid F.fidgens and corymbifiora we also saw here upward of ten' feet high, and fuH of their showy flowers;" - -. ... '•-,,,,, - , , The Kegenst's park Garden ,, occasions the following remarks: - ■ ' , , , ,, , "Micksm globosa was, perhaps, as beautiful fis. anything which we saw for this subject. There is an opinion pre- valent that fuchsia^ in our "climate do not do well in the open border; but we suspect such an idea! has been pre- maturely formed without experience, for we recollect seeing in the garden of Mr. Johnson, of Lynn, tharee years ago, plants, which were then io, profuse bloom, and had been so all summer, turned out of the pots into the soil; tho; proba- bility is that the plants haye not been abundant enough to give a fair trial. As they are easily propagated, and may be sold almost as cheap aa ^ef)je»as, we,,hp,pe« to heai: of ABOUT PEUlTS. FLOWBES AND FAEMING'. 871 experiments being tried to test their capability of enduring our ■warm sun." " At Chiswick Mr. Hovey ea-w the original tree of Wil- liams' Bon Chretien pear (the Bartlett of Boston gardens). It was hale and healthy. Tuups. — Mr. H. visited Mr. G-room, at Clapham; "pre- parations were making for planting out the great collection of tulips in October. For this flower Mr. Groom is famous ; he has raised several very splendid seedlings, some of which are priced as high as^ve hundred dolMrsj and a great num- ber at one hundred dollars eadi (£21 sterling). It would seem to those - who -know Httle- of the tulip ^that this was something of a tulip mania ; but the tuUp is-a most gorgeous flower, and when once a love for it takes possession of the amateftrj and he obtains a knowledge of its properties, there is scarce anything he would not sacrifice to obtain the choicest kinds. In England, there are many collections valued at tbonsands of pounds. In this country the tulip is but Httle valued, and, a bed of the most common kind attracts nearly as many admirers as one of the choicest and high-priced flowers." DwAKP Peae-teees.^ — "The garden is laid out" with numerous walks, and the borders of them were fiUed with bearing trees. They were from six to ten feet high, trained in pyramidal form, and many of them full of fruit. This mode of growing trees appears to be universally adopted around Paris; we scarcely saw a standard tree. The advantages of the pyramidal or quenouille forni are, that, in gardens of. mioderate extent only, a collection of two or three hundred kinds- may be cultivated; they occupy but little room, being placed about six feet apart, and being pruned in, they do not throw sufficient shade to injure any- thing growing- near them. They afl5)rd greater facilities for examining the fruit while growing, and for picking it when ripe; the trees are not so much shaken by high winds, and the large kind of pears do not so easily blow off ; the 372 PLAIN AND. PLEASANT TALK facilities for making observations upon the wood and leaves, are also greater; and, as regards appearance alone, they are, when well managed, far more beautiful than Standards. To those who wish t6 plant out large quantities for orchard cultivation, they %-ould not, of course, be- recommended ; but. for the garden, the pyramidal form should be adopted." " . Alpine Steawbbbet. — This variety is especially yalu- able from its propensity to bear all the summer. At the gardens of the Luxembourg, Paris, Mr. Hovey says: . , -■ " The Alpine strawberry is cultivated very extengiv^y for the supply of the royal tabltes throv^hout the whole summer and autumn, and one-quarter was devoted to this fruit ; the plants were set ■ Out in long rows, with alternate plantations of dahlias, which were now in most profuse bloom j a great many of them were the J^ancyeortg,- which are greatly admired and extensively cultivated in and around Paris. One of the finest we saw was the Beauty of England, purple tipped with white; and every flower distiiictly marked. The strawberries are set out in August. or September, and the following season produce abundantly ; or they may be raised froni seed in the spring, and planted out to bear a crop in the autunoHi A moist soil Etnd half shady aspect is most favorable, and, -in our climate, to expect success, such, a locality should be selected if possible ; an abundance of fruit may theji be expected. The best berries were as large as the . finest "Woods we generally see in our market. We recommend aU who love this dehcious fruit to try the experiment X)f their cultivation. Such pro- fusion as we saw them exposed forsale in the caf^s of Paris, shows that there can be no great difficulty in the Way, of success,'? ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 373 THE CORN CROP. The valleys of the "West are regarded as the corn-fields of, the world, and the people seem to regard the crop of corn as the foundation crop. Lately wheat is becoming a rival, particularly in the northern part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Our real object, is, not to theorize,-^to teach " book farming"-7-but to lay before prac- tical men practical results, to inform them of what has been done. We give on page 382 the method of cultivating the potato as eniployed by eminent and suocessfal cultivators. We here present the modes of cultivating corn which have produced the largest crops. W. d. Young's- Method. — -Mr. Young is a Kentucky farmer, and raised 1.95 bushels of shelled corn to the acre. When this was first published it quite staggered the faith of eastern farmers. This roused the zeal of Kentucky, and the Dollar Farmer sets forth the manner, and adds a series of explanations, all of Which Ive give. We must say, that such a depth, fer seed on stiif soils — on any soil except the lightest and mellowest, and on these, in a cbol or rainy Spring, would not be proper. Neither could planting be done in March in the latitudes of Indiana unless in the southern part, and then oiily in early seasons. That Mr. Young did produce 195 bushels to. the acre, we feel just as certain as that we now hold a pen in our hand. It was measured by as respectable gentlemen as any in Jessamine County — gentlemen appointed for the purpose by the Jes- samirfe Agricultural Society. And let it be.' remembered that this was no first experiment on a single acre. The corn was planted and cultivated according to the method loiig adopted by Mr. Young, and his whole crop was pro- nounced equal' to the. five acres measured. This extraordi- nary crop was produced in 1840, a year very favorable to corn ; but we are told by Mr. Young that in the dryest years he does not get less than 100 bushels to the acre. 31 4: iPLAm AND PLEASANT TALK Here then is not " book fanning," but a method of oultivar tion practised for years by a plain, practical, but intelligent farmer. Here then is actual experience ftfr a course of years, the very thing the farmer says be must have before he can be convinced ! But, reader, are you convinced ? No. Touc&n not get round the experience, provided it was experience, and you will take a short way o^f evading the matter by sim- ply saying that you don't believe a word of the whole story. Strange as it may seem, these worthy farmers that go so strong for fasts and experience, and who yet deny all facts and all experience that do not tally with their own notions— these very farmers are fond of argtiing, a'hd like mightily to have the reason or rationale of things explained; and many a one of them will- yield to the theory who will. not yield to a fact. Well, then, let us look ilrto the theory of Mr. Y.'s practice. Hear hirn : k ' ■ " My universal rule is, to plow my: com land the fali pre- ceding the spring when I jilant ; and as early in the spring as possible, I cross-plow as deep as circumstances will pfer- mit ; and as soon as this is done, I commence choking off — the first way with my large plows, and- the second with my smaH ones; the checks three feet by three^- admitting of working the land both ways. And then I pf^nt my corn from the 20th to the 25th of March — a rule to which I adhere with scrupulous exactness ; planting from eight to twelye grains in each hill, covering the -same from.ybM*" to six inches cleep, greatly preferring the latter depth! So soon as my corn is up of sufficient height, I start the large har- row directly over the rov/s, alloxping a h"orse to walk each side ; harrowing the way the corn was planted ; and on land prepared as above and harrowed as directed, the hoe- ing part will be so completely performed by this process, that it will satisfy the most skeptical. Then, allowing the corn thus harrowed, to remain a fe\v days, I start my small plow with the bar next the cOrn-j and so nicely wiH tl4s be done, that when a row is thus' plowed, so completely will ABOUT PEUITS, PLOWBES AND FAEMIN-G. 376. jihe mtermediate spaces, HUs, etc., be lapped in by the loose earth, occasioned by this system of close plowing, as to render any other work useless for a time. I thin to four stalks upon a hill, never having to transplant, the, _second plowing being performed with the moldboard toward the rows of corn; and so rapid has been the growth of the corn between the first and second plowingSj that this is per- ioimed with ease ; and when ia this stage, I consider my crop safe — ^my general rule being, n^ver to plow my corn more than four times, and harrow once. My practice is, to put a field in jjorn two successive years, then grass it, and let it lie eight years — a rule from, which I never deviate. JSTow, I do not pretend that the labor bestowed upon a'sod- field to put it in a state of thorough cultivation, does not meet with a fair equivalent frojn one crop ; but I presume no fai-mer will doubt when I- say the second year's crop &0m sod land is better than the first, with not more than one Eialf the labor. The best system of farming is to produce the greatest aniouht of profit from the smallest amount of labor." How whkt are the essentials of this method ? Fir-st — Fertility of soil, kept up by his system of manur- ing and grass, of which we shall aot speak. --Sectind — ^Early planting. In consequence of this, the corn "matures before the dry season commences, and every farmer kAows that plenty of rain will make a good Crop of com in almost any.aoil. They aU know that the essential tiling for corn is rain, and there, is generally plenty of rain till about the 1st of July. Mr. Young might plant his com considerably later and have .it eome up as early, and grow ofi" more rapidly, by soaking it in a solution of saltpetre. Thus woTJld the effect of frost and chiUy mornings be in a .degree avoided, while we feel confident, from our own expe- rience, all injury from the but- worm would be avoided. Third— Close planting. Every farmer must. know that to produce the heaviest possible crop, a 6eirtain number of stalks must be upon the ground. It is often observed that 376 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK the great sin of American agriculture is too thin sowing. Grass is nearly always sowed too thin, and the sanje is true of small grain. In England they sow fottr and five and sometimes six bushels of oats to the acre 5 in this country generally not more than a bushel or a bushel and a half. Hence in England they yidd three or four times as heavy as in this country'; while in this country we never heai; of an extraordinary crop where less than three or four bushels to the' acre were sown, 'Now, we venture to affirm that no v^ry large corn 'crop was ever grown imless it was planted more than usually thick. In the crop of George W. "Wil- liams, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, the corn was planted in rows two feet apart, with a stalk every foot in the rows. This crop produced 167 bushels to- the acre. But thete is another important advantage -of close planting. The corn very soon becomes so dense "that the ground is shaded, and the growth of the grass is prevented, and the moisture retained in the soil. By this method of cultivation, no grass is ever allowed to absorb the moisture from, the «arth, or to take up.the nutritious gases which ought to-be appro- priated exclusively to the corn. Fourth — Deep planting. This probably .operates favor- ably by giving the roots a. bedding where the soU is always . moist. Another advantage may be that the roots are thus not so liable to be broken by the plow^ in cultivation. But it must be here noted, that by Mr, Young's methed, the corn is "laid by" before the roots are so extended aa to be liable . to much injury from the plow. Fifth and last — ^It will be observed that, by Mr, Young's method, the soil is kept very friable and loose, and that to a considerable depth, ' This may be considered the all- essential point in husbandry. One of the chief advantages of all manures is, so to divide the soil that the atmos- phere, from which plants derive their principal nutri- ment, may freely penetrate to the roots of tJhe plants. In such a loose soil, too, it is well known that much less rain is ABOUT FEtrrrs, tlowees and vjim/asG. 377 requisite than in a stiff, cold, close soil. For this reason, gravely sand, or sawdust is often the best manure that can be put upon a stiff soil. In the fall of the year, Mr. Young turns down very deep a thick-rooted sod of eight years' standing. The vegetable matter in the sod will obviously keep the soil very loose for a year or two by mechanical division, as well as by the slow" fermentation of this matter in the soil. But this is not all. The soil is deeply broken up before planting ;- it is harrowed thoroughly as soon as the" corn comes up,' and then there is a rapid succession of plowing, until the ground is shaded by the corn, and plow- , ing is no longer possible or necessary. No doubt the plow is preferable to the hand-hoe or cultivator in the case of Mr. Young ; for it makes the soil loose to a greater depth, and we have already explained that, according to his method^ the roots of tb* com are not exposed to injury froni the plow. We append to this account of Mr, Young's method, that of several other cultivators, and are indebted for them to the Western farmer and Quwrdian. In Mr. MUler's account the reader wiU observe tbe depth of planting in a stiff clay. Mb. SuTrosr's Mejehod. — Mr. James M. Sutton, of St. George, Delaware, who raised upon seventy-nine acres 6,284 bushels of corn, and who gives an accurate and detailed account of the condition and cultivation of each field, m>akes this remark in relation to the use of the plow : " In order to test the advantage of the cultivator over the plow, for tilUiig com, he had five rows in this field that he lapped the furrow to, with a plow, previous to going over it the last time with the cultivator. He soon dis- covered that the growth of these five rows ;feU short, in height, of those; adjacent, and yielded onerfifth less com. " Thei'e is no doubt, but the. true mode of tilling com, espeeiially where sod-ground is used, is to plow deep, and use nothing but the fellow and flake-harrow for its cultiva- tion. By not distuibing the sod plowed down, it remains 378 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK there as a reservoir of moisture, and an exhilarating prin- ciple throughout the season, to the growth of the e&xh.P Upoa Mr. Sutton's report of his crop,, Judge Buel adds the following : • : , " The management vhioh led to the extraordinary 'Pro- duct of corn, should be deeply impressed- upon the mind of every corn-grower. 1, The. ground vras well dunged with LONG manure ; 2, it w;as planted on a grass lay, one deep plowing 5 3, it was well pulveraed? with the harrow;, 4, the plow was not msed in the after-culture, nor the corn hilled,' but the cultivator only used; 5, ,the sod was not disturbed, nor the manure tarnfed to th^ sut!&ce; ®n4 6, the corn was cut at the ground when it was fiit to top. Thes© are the points which we have repeatedly urged in treating of the culture of this crop ; and' their correctness is put beyond question by this Jiotable result. . Tlie^alue of Ume and maii are well Ulustrated in the second experiment." Mr. Charles H. Tomlinson, of Schenectady, N. Y., in giv- ing an account of his experience s^ya : " The two last years' com has been raaged in the fbillow- iag manner, on the Mohawk Flats near this city- -K in grass, the land is plowed and well harrowed, lengthwise of the furrow, without disturbing the sward. The ground is th«n prepared for planting, by being marked out two, and a half feet one way and three feet the other. The last season, the field was rolled after being planj;ed, with evid^t benefit, as it made it' level. When the com is-, three inches 4iigh, the cultivator is passed through both ways ; and twice afterward it is used in the same manner,; no hUls are made, ■bat the grouaid is kept level;: Neither hand-hoe nor plow are used, after the corn is planted, ■ Fields manured -with coarse manure have been tUled in .the same manner. 0orn tilled in this way is as clean of weeds as when tilled in the usual way : it is no more Uable to be blown down, and the produce equally good. It saves a great deal of hard labor, which is an expensive item in the usual' culture of corn. ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING-. 379 Last October, tep. rods were measured out in two different places, in a corn-field, on grass land^the one yielding ten, the other nine, bushels of ears. In one corn-field, after the last dressing in July, timothy and clover-seed were sown, and in the £^,11 the grass appeared to have taken as well as it has done in adjoining fields where it had been sown with oats." Upon which Judge Buel again remarks: " All, or nearly all, the accounts we have published of great products of Indian corn, agree in two particulars, viz. iu not using the plow in the culture, and in not earthing, or but very slightly, the hUls. These results go to demonstrate, that the entire roots are essential to the vigor of the crops, and to enable them to perform their functiorts as nature designed, mu$t be near the surface. If the roots are severed with the plow, in dressing the crop, the plants are deprived of a portion of their nourishment ; and if they are buried deep by hilling, the plant is partially exhausted in throwing out a new set near the surface, where alone they can perform all their ofiices. There is another material advantage in this mode of cultivating the com crop — ^it saves a vast deal of manual labor." The preceding considerations justify us in recommending, that in the management of the Indian corn crop, the fol- lowing rules be observed, or at least partially, so far as to test their correctness. 1. That the corn harrow and cultivator be substituted for the plow in the culture of the crop. 2. That the plants be not hilled, or but slightly so — this not to prevent the soil being often stirred and kept clean, and, 3. That in harvesting, the crop be cut at the ground as soon as the grain is glazed. Again, in reference to the system of level cultivation of corn. Judge Buel remarks : " The experience of the last two years has been sufficient to admonish us, that without due precaution, our crops of 380 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK Indian com -will not pay for the labor bestowed on the cul- ture; and yet, that where due attention has' been' paid to soil, manure, seed and harvesting, the retufh has been boflntifUl, notwithstanding bad seasons. Having been uni- formly successful in the culture of this crop, we feel justified in repeating some leadicig'directions'far its manage- ment." " ArTEE-CDiTtTEE. — Ih this the plow should not be used if the 'com harrow and cultivator can be had, and if used, should not be suffered to penetrate the soil more than two or three inches. The plow tears the roots, turns up and wastes the manure, and increases the injuries of drought. The main object is to extirpate weeds, and to keep the surface mellow and open, that the heat, air and moisture may ^xei-t better their kind influences upon the vegetable matter id the sbU, in converting it into autriment for the crop, At the first dressing with the haud-hoe, the *pftttits are reduced to four, or three, in a hill, the surfece is broken among the plants, the weeds carefully extirpated, and alit- tle fresh mold gathered to the^hUl. At the second dres^sin^, a like process is observed, taking care that the 'eai;thitig shall not exceed one inch and a half, that the hill "be bfoad and flat, and that the earth for this purpose be not taken from one place, but gathered from the snrface between the rows, where it has been' loosened by the cultivator." HP, MILLliE'B METHOD. ." Geoeoexdwn X EoAps, Kent Co., Md. " I ha,ve just finished measuring the com that grew this year on a lot of mine of five and a half acres, and have measured 105i barrels and one bushel of ears, making 103 bushels of corn per acre. The following is the manner in which I pfepared the ground,- etc. The soit is a stiff" clay j and bne and a half acres of said lot was in clgver last year, ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 381 the balance in wheat. I put 265 two-horse cart loads of barn-yard manure on it: the manure was coarse, made out of straw, corn-tops and husks, hauled into the yard in January and February, and hauled out in March and April, conse- quently was very little rotted. I spread it regularly and plowed it down with a large concave plow, seven inches deep. I then harrowed it twice the same way it was plowed. I then had the rows marked out with a small plow, three feet ten inches wide, and one and a half inches deep. I planted my com from eighteen to twenty-two inches apart, and covered it with hoes: just drawing the furrows over the com, which covered it one and a half inches below the sur- face. When the corn was four inches high, I harrowed it, and thinned it to two stalks in the hill : in about two weeks after harrowing, I cultivated it : about the 15th of June I cultivated it again, which was all the tillage I gave it. We fern^ers of the eastern shore coxmt our com by the thousand : I had 38,640 hills on my lot, and I think my com would have been better had I planted earlier : I did not plant until the last of April. I think the planting of com shallow and working it with the cultivator is much the best way, especially on clover lay. Mb. Hopkins' Method. — " Soil and Culture. — ^The soil is a warm sandy loam. It was plowed deep in the autumn. About the first of May, I carried on, and spread all over the ground, about thirty loads of stable and barn-yard unfermented manure, then roUed and harrowed the ground well, being careful not to disturb the sod, which was timo- thy, and mown the summer preceding ; and on the 9th and loth of May planted the same, two and a half feet between the rows, and fifteen inches between the hills. It was dressed with ashes when it made its appearance above ground. On the 10th June commenced weeding and thin- ning, leaving from two to four of the best spears in each hiU, the whole averaging about three spears in a hill. After this I ashed it again, using in all about ten bushels of good 382 PLAIN AND PliEASANT TAIK. unleaohed house ashes! On the 10th of, July commenced hoeing, and at the same time took off all the suckers— put no more about the hills than we took from them, hut care- fully cleaned Out all the weeds froin the' hills. The seed was prepared by simply wetting it with warm water, and rolling it in plaster. ' " Hae VESTING. — ^The corn was otit up on th« J 8th Sep- tember at the 'groiind, and shocked in small shocks ; and on the 9th of October it was housed and husked, and subse- quently threshed and measured. " PeSduct. — ^Ninety-nine bushels of first-rate corn,pvith- out even a nubbin, of soft or poor grain, owing to the fact, probably, that ' there were no suckers on which to grow them." POTATO CROP. The potato crop has never beto as much attended to in this region as in New York, ahd New England. We believe, however, that its value is becoming appar^t, aiid that potatoes will be produced to a much greater extent than hilierto. Reserving some remarks of our own to a future number, we insett the methods of cultivation, em- ployed by eminent cultivators. SpitebeeiSs Method o* OteravanoN'.^^" Be careful," says he^ " to procure some good sets; that is, tonpiob aqwamtity of the best kind of potatoes perfectly sound and of a toler- ably large size ; these are to be prepared for planting by cutting eaieh toot into two, three or more pieOes, 'minding particularly that each piece be furnished with at least one or two eyes, which is sufficient. Being thus prepated, they are to be planted in rows not less tham eighteen inehes dis- tant : if they are to be plowed between, they must not be ABOUT DPKUITS, FLOWEES AND PAtSmNG. 383 less than three feet, and if four' feet apart the more eligible. " The best method I haye found by experience is to make a trench either -with the spade or plow, about five inches deep, and put IpBg dung or Straw at the bottom, laying the sets on it at their proper distatioes,- which is from 9 to 12 inches apart, covering them with mold. 'They must be kept clean from wieeds." Mk! KuiifiHT's Plan.— " He recommends the planting of whole petatijes, and fhose only wWch are of fine medium size — ^none to be of less weight than four ounces. The early sorts, and, indeed, all which seldom attain a greater height than two feet, are to be planted about four or five inches apart in the rows, centre froitt teeaWe-, the crown ends u|)ward, the rows to be from 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet asunder. The late potatoes, which produce a haulm above 3 feet in height, are to be planted S or 6 inches apa,rt, centre from ccsQtrfe, in' rows 4 at S feet astaider. The potatoes to pointiHorth and ftduth-and to be well manured." Mackenzie's Plaw, — " Work the ground until it is com- pletely reduced and free from root weeds. Three plowings, with frequent harrowings and rollings, are necessary in both cases,, before the land is in a suitable condition. When this is accomplished, form the drills;, place' the manure in the drills, plant above it, reverse the drills for covering it and the seed, then harrow the drills in length. " It is not advantageous to cut the seed into small dips ; for the BtrM3gth of the stem at the outset depeadstiu direct proportion to the vigor and power of tbe.seed-plant. The seed-plant, therefore, ©tight to be large, rarely smaller than the fourth ^art of the potato; and if the seed is of small size, one half of the potato may be profitably used; At all events, rather err in giviiig over large seed than in making it too small; because, by the first error, no great loss can ever be sustained; whereas, by the other, a feeble and late crop may be the consequence. When the seed is properly 384 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK cut, it requires from ten to twelve hundred weight of ' pota^ toes, from 12J to 15 bushels, where the rows are at 27 inches distance ; hut this generally depends greatly upon the size of the potatoes used ; if they are large a greater weight may be required; but the extra quality will be .abundantly repaid by the superiority of the crop, which large seed usually produces. Plant eariy in May." Babn0m's Plan. — "Plow deep and pulverize well by thoroughly harroMTng; manure with compost, decomposed vegetables or barnyard manure; the latter preferable. When coarse or raw manure is used it must be spread and plowed in immediately. Stiff clay soil should always be plowed the fall previous. Lay your land in drills 27 iaches apart, with a Small plow, calculated for ■tumuig a deepj nar- row furrow running north and south ; lay on the bottom of the drills 2 in^eS of well-rotted barnyard manure, «r its equi'^alent, then drop your potaitoes^ if of the common size, or what is more important, if they retain the usual quan- tity of eyes — if more, they should be cut to prevent too many stalks shooting up together : put a single potato in the drills or trenches 10 inches apart, the first should remain uncovered imtil the second one is deposited, to place them diagonally in the drills, which wiU. afford more space between the potatoes one way, than if laid at right angles in the rows. The covering may be performed with a hoe, first hauling in the furrow raised on each side the drUl, then cteefiilly take from the centre of the space the soil to finish the covering to the depth of 3i or 4 mches ; by takiag the earth from the centre of the space on either side to the width of 3 inches, it wffl leave a drain of € inches in the centre of the space and a hiU of 14 inches ia width gently descending from the drill to the drain, the width and depth of the drill will be sufficient to protect the plant against any injurious effects of a 'scorching sun or drenching rain. The drains in the centre will at all times be found sufiicient to pass off the surplus water. ABOUT FEFITS, FLOWBES AND FAEMING. 385 " When the plairt makes its appearance above the surfece, the following mixture may be used : for each -acre take 1 bushel of plaster and 2 bushels of good ashes, and sow it broadcast as even as possible ; a moist day is preferable for tbis operation — ^for want of it, a still evening wUl do. " The operation of hilling should be performed once and once only during the season; if repeated after tiie potatoe is formed it will cause young shoots to spring up, which retards the growth of' the potatoe and diminishes its size. If weeds spring up at any time they should be kept down by the hand" or hoe, which can be done without disturbing the growth of the stalk. " My manner of hoeing or hiUing is not to baul in the earth from the space between the hiUs or rows, but to bring on fresh earth sufficient to raise the hiU arojmd the plant l\ or 2 inches; in a wet season the lesser quantity will be suffi- cient, in a dry one the larger will not be found too much. Thf substance for this purpose may consist of the scrapings of ditehes or filthy streets, or the earth from a barnyard that requires levelling : where convenient, it may be .taken from swamps, marshes, the beds and banks of rivers or small sluggish streams at low water. If, planted on a clay soil, fresh loam taken at any depth from the surface, even if it partakes, largely of fine sfind, will be found an excellent top- dressLBg. If planted on a loamy soil, the earth taken from clay pits, clay or slaty soil will answer a valuable purpose ; in fact, there are but few farms in the country but what may be furnished with some suitable substance for top- dressing, if sought for. The hoeing and hilling,may be per- formed with facility by the aid of a horse and eart, the horse travelling in the centre of a space between^ the drills, the cart-wheels occupying the two adjoining ones, thereby -avoiding any disturbance or injury to the growing plants." Mr. "Banium^s< method has-attracted gz'eat attention, from the fact that he actually raised from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels 17 286 PLAIN AND PLEASAJST TAIK RASPBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS. CuEEANTs, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, etc., are termed " Small Fruit." We will give some directions for spring-work which these require. Raspbeekies. — The sorts usually foimd in our gardens are rejected from all good collections as worthless. The Ant- werp, red and white, have, until lately, been regarded as the best. Two new kinds are very highly thought of — the Franoonia and the Fastolf. This last is an Eng- lish variety; was found growing on a gentleman's ground among some lime and brick rubbish — evidently a seedling — and removed to his garden. It was a number of years before it attracted attention ; but, lately, it has been much in demand and bids feir to claim a rank among the fi»Bt, if it is not the first. A deep, rich, loamy soil which is moist^ proves best for this fruit. It prefers a half shady position. When first planted, put them four feet apart in the row, and the rows three feet from each other. In old beds cut out the last yearns hea/ring wood, now worthless, and also all the new shoots but four or five to a root; grub up all that have come up between the rows. Cut those which are reserved for bearing to about five feet in length, and tie them gently to a stake. Thus treated from year to year, and well manured, raspberries will return a rich reward. Steawbeeeies. — Thenumber of kindsisimmense. Knight, late president of the London Horticultural Society, had/owr hundred kinds in his garden, and most of them seedlings of his own raising. The. early Virginia is regarded as the best early kind. Hovey's, Warren's and Keen's seedlings are admirable sorts. Wiley's and Motter's seedlings ori- ginated iQ Cincinnati and are esteemed. There are many" other fine sorts which an amateur cultivator would wish, ABOUT FEUirS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 287 not necessary to common gardens, where two or three choice sorts will suffice. Almost every cultivator has a way of his own in raising strawberries. In private gardens, in a soil well enriched and deeply spaded, let beds be formed about four feet wide; 4ipon these set three rows of hills and the plants about fifteen inches apart in the row. Pinch off all runners through the season, unless they are wanted for new plants. Old beds, grown over and matted, had better be des- troyed ; but if, for any reason, it is desirable to save them, mark out lines every eighteen inches and dig alleys through the bed, by turning the plants under. In this way the patch will be thrown into beds of eighteen inches width. Before this is done take an iron-toothed rake and rake the bed severely. Do not be a&aid of tearing the plants ; go over the whole bed thoroughly. It wiU seem as if scarcely a dozen plants were left, but in a few weeks your bed wiU be entirely covered with a strong growth. GoosEBEEKiBS. — ^This fruit is very much neglected because its merits are only little known. There are two sorts found in our gardens, the common gooseberry and English, by which name is meant a large, coarse, thick-skinned green variety. It is not generally known that there are any other cultivated sorts ; and as these are inferior they are little cared for. The Lancashire (England) Nurserymen publish 300 varieties ! The select list of Mr. Thompson of the Lon- don Horticultural Society's garden comprises fifty-six varieties; the still more condensed select list of Robert Manning (Mass.) includes twenty-eight sorts. Some of these bear fruit as large as a medium-sized plum. There are four colors, red, yellow, green and white; to each color are two sizes, large and small fruits. Those who have not seen and tasted the Scotch and Lancashire varieties of the gooseberry do not know what the fruit is. In sending for them, select a trustworthy nurseryman, and request him to 388 PLAIN AlfD PLEASANT TALK will cover two drills by going once up and once down tho field; if the single mold-board plow is used, it will of course cover but one drill by the same operation. When your ground is thus gone over, your land will all be in high drills, and can rest so for about one week, when you must take a two-horse harrow, and harrow your drills across, leaving your field as level as before your drills were opened. There is no danger, as some would suppose, of disturbing your seed. " In a few days, when you can see your plants distinctly above ground, from one end of your drills to the other, you must take your one-horse plow, and go up and down each drUl, running the land side of your plow as close to the plant on each side as you safely can, throwing the earth away from it, which operation will leave your field in raised drills between your plants. In a few days after this you take your double mold-board plow, and go down the centre of the blank drills, covering all your plants nearly out of sight, observiug as you go along that the weight of earth is thrown against, and not on, the plants. Then, in some days after, when your plants are well over the top of your drills, take your souffle, an implement not unlike your cul- tivator in this country, and for which the cultivator can be substituted, and go over your whole field between the drills, giving the earth a good stirring, and not be afraid of encroaching a little at each side on the drill. At this ptago, a boy should follow the scuffle, and pull up any weeds that appear on the top or sides of the drills. In a few days after this, when your plants are strong and well up, you go down the centre between the drills, with your double mold- board plow, the wings well apart, and throw the earth well up to the plants. This must sometimes finish the cultiva- tion, if the vines have spread and are closed too much, but generally the vines will allow it, and the crop be much benefited by one more scuffling ; but this time take par- ticular care not to disturb the drill at the bottom, as the ABOUT PEtrrrs, flowees and faeming. 389 bulbs are now forming and spreading; then gently nm your double mold-hoard plow through the -whole field again, narrowing the wings of it, which will have the effect of adding the earth, and compressing it to the bottom of the driU, where the bulbs are fonning, rather than throwing it up to the stalk at top, where there is sufficient already. This finishes the cultivation, " To prepare the seed you must select well-shaped, even potatoes, not too small nor too large. Cut them, leaving one good eye at least to every set ; prepare them from two to three weeks at least, before you plant ; and each day, as you cut, roll your sets in pulverized lime, and spread them on the bam floor to dry : when dry, heap them in a corner till taken out to plant. If this plan is pursued, and the ground selected and prepared as directed,; you may rest satisfied that so sure as the laws of nature are iuvariable, and that like effects follow like causes, as sure will a good and sound crop of potatoes be produced in this climate with no vari- ation in the result, except what may be occasioned by the vicissitudes of the season. " Ten tons of potatoes, two thousand two hundred and forty pounds to the ton, is considered, a fair crop in Ire- land, Twelve tons an extra one — equal- to three hundred and seventy bushels the first, and four hundred and forty- four bushels the second, allowing sixty pounds to the bushel, which I have found to be about the average weight of a bushel here, I have grown four crops of potatoes in this country, in two different situations and latitudes (six acres the smallest quantity cultivated any season). Each crop was treated ia every particular as here described, and in three instances out of the four, I got a little over four hundred measured bushels to the acre. The fourth crop was only about three hundred and fifty bushels to the acre, caused by the peculiarity of the season, which pro- duced an almost entire failure with my neighbors, under their management," 390 PLAm AND PLEASANT TALK POTTING GARDEN PLANTS FOR WINTER USE. Roses, geraniums, chrysanthemums. Cape jasmms, etc., which have been put into the garden borders, should be prepared for removal to the parlor for winter, before frost, else the plants will not be established in the pots when rem.oved to the parlor, and will thrive but poorly. Select the pot which is to receive each plant, draw a cir- cle about the plant of the size of the pot, then thrust a sharp spade down so as to cut all the roots at the line of the circle described. Let the plant remain, watering it tho- roughly j and if it droops, let it be sheltered from the sun. In a few days new roots will begin to form withia the ball of earth described by the circle, and in three or four weeks that baU may be carefully lifted, placed in the pot for which it was measured, and it wUl go on growing as if nothmg had happened to it. If one waits tiU frost, then digs up the plant without a previous preparation of its roots, it will of- tentimes not recover from the violence during the winter. But by the method suggested above, roses, etc., will go on growing and blooming through the winter. Theee are many who suppose it necessary to leave the second growth of grass undisturbed, to rot on the ground, in order to preserve the fertility of old meadows in grass where top dressing with manure is noj resorted to. But such management is oftentimes extremely hurtful, and the injury is proportioned to the amount left untrodden and unfed. If the amount left standing, or laying- loose upon the surface, be considerable, it makes a harbor for mice, which will, under cover of the old grass, intersect the sur- face of the land with paths innumerable, from which they cut all the grass that comes in their way. ABOUT FEtnTS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING 391 MARY HOWITTS USE OF FLOWERS. Hebe is another of those beautiful gems which can never be brought to the light too often. And when more appro- priately than in the middle of our spring-time, whUe burst- ing buds and fragrant blossoms are delighting eyery sense ? God might have made the earth bring forth Enough for great aAd small, The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, "Without a flower at all. We might have had enough, enough For every want of ourg. For luxury, medicine, arid toil. And yet have had no flowers. The ore within the mountain .mine Eequireth none to grow. Nor does it need the lotus flower To make the river flow. The clouds might give abundant rain, The nightly dews might fall. And the herb that keepeth life in man, Might yet have drunk them all. Then wherefore, wherefore were they made. And dyed with rainbow light, ' 'All fashioned with supremest grace, Upspringing day ajid night ? Springing in valleys green and low. And on the mountains high. And in the silent wilderness. Where no man passeth by ? Our outward life requires them not. Then wherefore had they birth? To minister delight to man — To beautify the earth. 892 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK To comfort man, to whisper hope Vteiie'er his faith is dim, For whoso careth for the flowers, Will much more care for Him. WHAT ARE FLOWERS GOOD FOR P " I HAVE said and written a great deal to my countrymen about the cultivation of flowers, ornamental gardening, and rural embellishments ; and I would read them a homily on the subject every day of every remaining year of my life, if I thought it would induce them to make this a matter of particular, attention and care. When a man asks me, what is the use of shrubs and flowers, my first impulse is always, to look under his hat and see the length of his ears. I am heartily sick of measuring everything by a standard*of mere utility and profit ; and as heartily do I pity the man, who can see no good in life but in the pecuniary gain, or in the,mere animal indulgences of eating "and drinking." — Colman^s Agricultural Tour. We protest against the sauciness of the italicized line. Mr. Colman never feels any such impulse ; and if he does, he ought to suspect his own ears. Nothing is more prepos- terous than interflageUations among men on the matter of Kkes and dislikes. Every man selects Jiis ruling passion, and scoffs at such as do not grow enthusiastic with him. A market gardener rails at a florist for fol-de-rol trifles ; and the florist looks at the length of the fellow's ears who has, nothing but turnips, onions, and cabages; while a big Miami farmer, who puts in his five-hundred-acre corn-patch, by way of summer amusement, regards both as small affairs. We find no fault .with those who possess a super-ardent, enthusiasm for flowers ; but when they throw it in other people's faces, and call them brutes and asses, for not liking pretty flowers, we think the thing has been carried quite far enough. We love good manners along with pretty flowers. ABOUT WRvrrrs, flowees and farming. 393 THE BLIGHT IN THE PEAR-TREE.* ITS CAUSE AND A EEMEDT FOE IT. The year 1844 will long be remember e,d for the exten- sive ravages of that disease hitherto denominated_/f?*e-6?z^Ai?. Beginning at the Atlantic coast, we have heard of it in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indi- ana, and as far as Tennessee ; and it is probable that it has been felt in every fruit-growing State in the Union where the season of 1843 was the same as that west of the Alle- ghany range, namely, cold in spring, dry throughout the summer, and a wet and warm fall, with early and sudden winter. In Indiana and Ohio the blight has prevailed to such an extent as to spread dismay among cultivators ; destroying entire collections— taking half the trees in large orchards — affecting both young and old trees, whether grafted or seedings in soils of every kind. Many have seen the labor and fond hope of years cut off, in one season, by an invisible destroyer, against which none could guard ; because, in the conflicting opinions, none were certain whether the disease was atmospheric, insect or chemical. I shall now proceed to describe that blight known in the western States (without pretending to identify it with the blight known in New York and New England), to examine the theories proposed for its causation, and to present what now seems to me the true cause. I. Desceiption. — ^Although the signs of it, as will appear in the sequel, may be detected long before the leaves put out in the spruig, yet its full effects do not begin to appear until May,' or if the spring be backward, imtil June. On the wood of the last year wiR be found a point where the * Eead before the Indiana Horticultural Society, and communicated by Mr Beeoher to Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, December, 1844. " 1'7* 394 PL-AESr AND PLEASANT TALK bark is either dead and dry, or else at the same point the bark -will be puffed, softened, or sappy with thickened sap — these two appearances indicating only different degrees of the same blight. Wherever the bark is dead and dry, the limb ■will flourish above it, make new .wood, ripen its, fruit, but perish the ensuing winter. In the other case, as soon as the circulation of the sap becomes active, the point described shows signs of disease, the leaf turns to a darker brown than is natural to its ordinary decay, being nearly black, and the wood perishes. The disease, at first, blights the terminal portions of the branch ; but the affection spreads gradually downward, and sometimes affects the whole trunk. The time from the first appearance of the blight to that in which any affected part dies, is various ; sometimes' two or three weeks — some- times a day only; and sometimes, but rarely, even a few hours consummate the disease. On dissecting the branch, the wood is of a dirty, brown- ish, yellow color ; the sap thick and unctuous, of a sour disagreeable odor, like that of a fermented watermelon, on the tops of potato vines after they have been frosted. In still, moist days, where the blight is extensive in an orchkrd, this odor fills the air, and is disagreeably perceptible at some distance from the trees. Sometimes the bark bursts, the sap exudes, and runs down', turning black ; and its acridity will destroy vegeta- tion on which it may drop, and shoots, at a distance from the trunk, upon which the rain washes this ichoi', wiU soon perish. When we come to treat of the cause of this dis- ease, it wiU be important to remember this malignancy of the fluids. We are carefully to distinguish. these appearances, pecu- liar to what I suppose ought to be called tointer-blight, from another and a summer-blight. In this last, the leaf is affected at first in spots; gradually the whole leaf turns russet color and drops. Along the wood may be seen the hard- ABOUT PEUITS, PLOWEES AND FAEMINQ. 395 ened trail as of a slimy insect,- of an ash color. The wood suffers very little by this summer-Wight, and sometimes none. The winter-blight is found on almost all kinds of trees. This summer it has affected the apple, the pear, the jpeach, the' quince, the English hawthorn, privet, black birch, Spanish chestnut, elder, and calycanthus. I enume- rate the most of these kinds on ' the authority of J. PI. James, of Urbana, Ohio, and C. "W. Elliott, of Cincinnati, having observed it myself only on fruit-trees. n. Theories. — A variety of theories exist as to the causes of this disease. Some are mere imaginations ; some are only ingenious ; and some so near to what I suppose to be the truth, that it is hardly possible to imagine how the discovery was not made. ■ The injury is done in the fall, but is not seen till spring or summer, or even the next fall. Thus, six months or a year intervene between the cause and the effect — a sufficient reason for the difficulty of detecting the origin of the evil; 1. Some have alleged that the rays of the sun, passing through vapors which arise about the trees, concentrate upon the branches, and destroy them by the literal energy of fire. "Were this true, the young and tender shoots would suffer first and most ; all peai:-trees would suffer alike ; all moist and hot summers would be affected with bli^t ; her- baceous plants would suffer more than ligneous : all of which results are contrary to facts. 2. Some have supposed the soil to contain deleterious substances, or to be wanting in properties necessary to health. But in either case such a cause of the blight ap- pears untrue, when we consider that trees suffer in all soils, rich or poor; that, in the same soil, one tree is blighted and the next tree escapes; that they will flourish for twenty years and then blight ; that a tree partially diseased recov- ers, and thrives for ten or more years without recurrence of blight. 3. It has been attributed to violent and sudden change^ 396 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK of temperature in the air and of moisture in the earth; to sudden change from sward to high tillage ; and the result is stated to be an "overplus" of sap, or a "surfeit." All these causes occur every year; hut the blight does not every year follow them. Changes of temperature, and vio- lent changes in the condition of the soil, may be allied with the true cause. But when only these things exist, no blight follows. 4. Others have attributed the disease to over-stimulation by high manuiing, or constant tillage ; and it has been said that covering the roots with stones and rubbish, or lay- ing th-e orchard down to grass, would- prevent the evil. Facts warrant no such conclusions, linear-trees in Gibson County, Indiana, on a clay soU, with blue slaty subsoil, were affected this year more severely than any of which we have heard. Pears in southern parts of this State, on red clay, where the ground had long been neglected, suf- fered as much as along the rich bottom lands of the Wa^ bash about Vincennes. If there was any difference it was in favor of the richest land. About MooresvUle, Morgan County, Indiana, pears have been generally affected, and those in grass lands as Tnuah as those in open soUs. Aside from these facts, it is well "known that pear-trees do not blight in those seasons when they make the rankest growth more than in others. They will thrive rampantly for years, no evil arising from their luxuriance, and then suddenly die of blight. 5. It has been supposed by a few to be the effect of age, the disease beginning on old varieties, and propagated upon new varieties by contagion. Were this the true cause, we should expect it to be most frequently developed in those pear regions where old varieties most abound. But this disease seems to be so little known in England, that Lou. don, in his elaborate Encyclopedia of Gardening, does not even mention it. Mr. Manning's statement wiU be given further on, to the same purport. ABOUT FEUITS, PLOWEKS AND PAEMING. 397 6. Insect theory: The confidence with which eastern cultivators pronounce the cause to be an insect, has in part served to cover up singular discrepancies in the separate statements in respect to the ravages, and even the species of thi^ destroyer. , The Genesee Farmer of July, 1843, says, " the cause of the disease was for many years a mat- ter of dispute, and is so still by some persons ; but the mar jority are now fully convinced that it is the work of an insect (acolytuspyri). T. W. Harris, in his work on insects, speaks of the minuteness and obscure habits of this insect, as "reasons why it has eluded the researches of those per- sons who disbelieve in its existence as the cause of the blasting of the limbs of the pear-tree." Dr. Harris evi- dently supposed, until so late as 1843, that this insect in- fested only \!siQ pear-tree ; for he says, "the discovery of the blight-beetle in the limbs of the apple-tree, is a new fact in natural history ; but it is easily accounted for, be- cause this tree belongs not only to the same natural group, but also to the same genus as the pear-tree. It is not, therefore, surprising, that both the pear and the apple-tree should occasionally be attacked by the same insect." [See an article in the Massachusetts Ploughman, summer of 1843, quoted in Genesee Farmer, July, 1843.] This insect is said to eat through the alburnum, the hard wood, and even a part of the pith, and to destroy the branch by separation of part from part, as a saw would_ On these facts, which there is no room to question, we make two remarks. 1st. That the blight thus produced is limited, and proba^ bly sectional or local. No account has met my eye which leads me to suppose that any considerable injury has been done by it. Mr. Manning, of Salem, Mass., in the second edition of his " Book of Flowers," states that he has never " had any trees affected by it"— the blight. Yet his garden and nursery has existed for twenty years, and contained : immense numbers of trees. 398 FLXm AST) PLEASANT TALK 2d. It- is very plain that neither Mr, Lowell, originally, nor Dr. Harris, nor any who describe the Wight as caused by the blight-beetle,, had any notion of that disease which passes by the same name in the middle and western States. The blight ,bf the scolytus pyri is a mere girdling of the branches — a mechanical separation of parts ; and no men- tion is made of the most striking facts incident to the great blight — ^the viscid unctuous sap ; the bursting of the bark, through which it issues; and its poisonous effects on the young shoots upon which it drops. We do not doubt the insect-blight ; but we are sure that it is not owr blight. We feel very confident, also, that this blight, which from its devastations may be called the great blight, has been felt ia "Sew England, in. connection with the insect- blight, and confounded with it, and the effects of two dif- ferent causes happening to appear in conjunction, have been attributed to one, and the least influential cause. The writer in Fessenden's American Gardener (Mr. Low- ell?) says of the blight, "it is sometimes so 'rapid in its progress, that in a few hours jfrom its first appearance the whole tree wiU appear to be mortally diseased." This is not insect-blight ; for did the blight-beetle eat so suddenly around the whole trunk? Now here is a striking appear- ance of the great blight, confounded with the minor blight, as we think will appear in the sequel. This theory has stood in the way of a discovery of the true cause of the great blight; for every cultivator has gone in search of insects ; they have been found in great plenty, and in great variety of species, and their harmless presence accused with all the mischief of the season. A writer in the Farmer''s Advocate, Jamestown, N. C, dis- cerned the fire-blight, and traced it to " small, red, pellucid insects, briskly moving from place to place on the bra;nches." This is not the scolytus pyri of Prof. Peck and Dr. Harris. Dr. Mosher, of Cincinnati,- in a letter published in the Farmer and Ga/rdener for June, .1844, describes a third ABOUT rKUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAEMING. 899 insect — " very minute brown-colored aphides, snugly secreted in the axilla of every leaf on several small branches ; . . . most of them were busily engaged with their proboscis inserted through the tender cuticle of this part of the petiole of the leaf, feasting upon the vital Juices of the tree. The leaves being thus deprived of the necessary sap for nourish- ment and elaboration soon perished, ^ . . while all that part of the branch and trunk below, dependent upon the elabo- rated sap of the deadened leaves above, shrunk, turned black, and dried up," p. 261. Lindley, in his work on Sorticulture, p. 42-46, has de- tailed experiments illustrating vegetable perspiration, from which we may form an idea of the amount of fluid which these " very minute brown-colored aphides " would have to drink. A gunflower, three and a half feet high, perspired in a very warm day thirty ounces — nearly two pounds ; on another day, twenty ounces. Taking the old rule, " a pint a pOupd," nearly a quart of fluid was exhaled by a sun- flower in twelve hours; and the vessels were still inflated with a fresh supply drawn from the roots. Admitting that the leaves of a fruit-tree have a less current of sap than a sunflower or a grape-vine, yet in the months of May and June, the amount of sap to be exhausted by these very minute brown aphides, would be so great, that if they' drank" it so suddenly as to cause a tree to die in a day^ they would surely augment in bulk enough to be discovered without a lens. If some one had accounted for the low water in the Mississippi, in the summer of 1843, by saying that buffaloes had drank up all the upper Missouri, and cut off the supply, we should be at a loss which most to pity, the faith of the narrator, or the probable condition of the buffaloes after their feat of imbibition. But the.most curious results /o^foio these feats of suction. The limbs and trunk below shrink and turn black, for want of that elaborated sap extracted by the aphides. And yet every year we perform artificially this very operation in 400 PLAIN AMD PLEASANT TALK ringing or decortication of branches, for the purpose of accelerating maturation or improTing the fruit. Every year the saw takes off a third, a half, and sometimes more, of a living tree ; and the effect is to produce new shoots, not death. Is an operation which can be safely performed by man, deadly when performed by an insect ? Dr. Masher did not detect the insects without extreme searvch, and then only in colonies, on healthy branches. Do whole trees wither in a day by the mere suction of such insects ? Had they been supposed to poison the fluids, the theory would be less exceptionable, since poisons in minute quantities may be very malignant. While we admit a limited mischief of insects, they can never be the cause of the prevalent blight of the middle and western States — such a blight as prevailed in and around Cincinnati in the summer of 1844 — nor of that blight which prevailed in 1832. The blight-beetle, after most careful search and dissection, has not been found, nor any trace or passage of it. Dr. Mosher's insect may be set aside without further remark. I think that further observation v?ill confirm the follow- ing conclusions : 1. Insects are frequently found feeding in various ways upon blighted trees, or on trees which afterward become so. 2. Trees are fatally blighted on which no insects are dis- cerned feeding — ^neither aphides nor scolytus pyri. 3. Multitudes of trees have such insects on them as are in other cases supposed to cause the blight, without a sign of blight following. This has been the case in our own garden. in. Cause op the Blight. — ^The Indiana Horticultural Society, early in the summer of 1844, appointed a committee to collect and investigate facts on the Fire-Blight. While serving on this committee, and inquiring in all the pear- growing regions, we learned that Reuben Reagan, of Putnam County, Ind., was in possession of much information, and ABOUT PBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 401 supposed himself to have discovered the cause of this evil ; and to him we are indehted for a fii-st suggestion of the cause. Mr. Keagan has for more than twelve years past suspected that this disease originated in the fall previous to the sum- mer on which it declares itsel£ During the last winter Mr. Reagan predicted the blight,' and in his pear-orchards he marked the trees that would suffer, and pointed to the spot which would he the seat of the disease ; and his prognostications were strictly verified. After gathering from him aU the information which a limited time would allow, we ohtained from Aaron. AUdredge, of Indianapolis, a nurseryman of great skill, and possessed of careful, cautious hahits of observation, much corroborative informa- tion ; and particularly a tabular account of the biight for nine years past in his nursery and orchard. The spring of 1843 opened early, but cold and wet, until the last of May. The summer was both dry and cool, and trees made very little growth -of new wood. Toward autumn, however, the drought ceased, copious rains satu- rated the ground, and warm weather started all trees into vigorous, though late, growth. At this time, while we hoped for a long fall and a late winter, on the contrary we were surprised by an early and sudiien winter, and with unusual severity at the very beginning. In the West, much com was ruined and more damaged ; and hundreds of bushels of apples were caught on the trees and spoiled — one cultivatoi^ alone losing five hundred bushels. Caught in this early winter, what was the condition of fl'uit-trees ? They were making rapid growth, every part in a state of excite- ment, the wood unripe, the passages of ascent and descent impleted with sap. In this condition, the fluids were sud- denly frozen — the growth instantly checked ; and the whole tree, from a state of great excitability, was, by one shock, rudely forced into a state of rest. Warm suns, foi a time, followed severe nights. '^Vhat would be the effect of this freezing and sudden thawing upon the fluids and 402 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK their vessels? We have been able tO' find so little written upon vegetable morbid anatomy (pixibably from the want of access to books), that we can give but an imperfect account of the derangement produced upon the circulating fluids by congelation. We cannot state the specific changes jDro- duced by cold upon the ascending sap, or on the cambium, nor upon the elaborated descending current. There is rea- son to suppose that the two latter only suffer, and probably only the last. That freezing an^ thawing decompose the coloring matter of plants is known ; but what other decom- position, if any, is effected, we know not. The effect of con- gelation upon the descending sap of pear and apple-trees, is to turn it to a viscid, unctuous state. It assumes a reddish brown Color ; becomes black by exposure to the air ; is poisonous to vegetables even when applied upon the leaf. Whether in some measure this follows all degrees of'*con- gelation, or otily under certain conditions, we have no means of knowing. The effect of freezing and thawing upon the tissues and sap-vessels 'is better known. Congelation is accompanied with expansion ; the tender vessels are either burst or lace- rated ; the excitability of the parts is impaired or destroyed ; the air is expelled from the aSriferous cavities,' and forced into the passages for fl.uids ; and lastly, the tubes for the conveyance of fluids are obstructing by a thickening of their sides.* The fruit-trees, in the fall of 1843, were then brought into a morbid state — the sap thickened and dis- eased ; the passages lacferated, obstructed^ and probably, in many instances burst. The sap elaborated, and now pass- ing down in an injured state, would descend slowly, by reason of its inspissation, the torpidity of the parts, and the injured condition of the vessels. The grosser parts, natu- rally the most sluggish, would tend to lodge and gradually collect at the junction of fruit-spurs, the forks of branches, * Lindley's Horticulture, p. 81-82. ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 403 or wherever the condition of the sap-vessels favored a lodg- ment. In some cases the passages are wholly obstructed ; in others, only in part. At length the spring approaches. In early pruning, the cultivator will find, in those trees which wiU ere long deve- lop blight, that the knife is followed by an unctuous sap, and that the liber is of a greenish yellow color. These will he the first signs, and the practised eye may detect them long before a leaf is put forth. When the season is advanced sufficiently to excite the tree to action, the sap wUl, as usual, ascend by the albur- num, which has probably been bnt little injured ; the leaf puts out, and no outward sign of disease appears ; nor will it appear until the leaf prepares the downward current. May, June and Jnly, are the months when the growth is most rapid, and when the tree requires the most elaborate sap ; and in these months the blighfis fully developed. When the descending fluid reaches the point where, in the previous fall, a total obstruction had taken place, it is as effectually stopped as if the branch were girdled. For the sap which had lodged there would, by the winds and sun, be entirely dried. This would not be the case if the sap was good and the vitality of the wood unimpaired; but where the sap and vessels are-both diseased, the sun affects the branch on the tree just as it would if severed and lying on the ground. There will, therefore, be found on the tree, branches with spots where the bark is dead and shrunk away below the level of the surrounding bark; and at these points the current downward is wholly stopped. Only the outward part,' however, is dead, while the albur- num, or sap-wood, is but partially injured. Through the alburnum, then, the sap from the roots passes up, enters the leaf, and men are astonished to see a branch, seemingly dead in the middle, growing thriftily at its extremity. No insect-theory can account for this case ; yet it is perfectly plain and simple when we consider that there are two cur- 404 PLAUJ ASD PLEASAISTT TALK rents of sap, one of which may be destroyed, and the other for a limited time go on. The blight, under this aspect, is nothing but ringing or deoortication, effected by diseased sap, destroying the parts in which it lodges, and then itself drying up. The branch wUl grow, fruit will set, and frequently become larger and finer flavored than usual. But in a second class of cases, the downward current comes to a point where the diseased sap had effected only a partial lodgment. The vitality of the neighboring parts was preserved, and the diseased fluids have been undried by wind or sun, and remain more or less inspissated. The descending current meets and takes up more or less of this diseased matter, according to the particular condition of the sap. Wherever the elaborated sap passes, after touching this diseased region, it will carry its poison along witfe it down the trunk, and, by the lateral vessels, in toward the pith. We may suppose that a violence which would destroy the health of the outer parts, would, to some degree, rup- ture the inner sap-vessels. By this, or by some unknown way, the diseased sap is taken into the inner,* upward cur- rent, and goes into the general circulation. If it be in a diluted state, or in small quantities, languor and decline will be the result ; if in large quantities, and concentrated, the branch will die suddenly, and the odor of it will be that of frost-bitten vegetation. All the different degrees of mor- tality result from the quantity and quality of the diseased sap which is taken into circulation. In conclusion, then, where, in one class of cases, the feculent matter was, in the fall, so virulent as to destroy the parts where it lodged, and was then dried by exposure to wind and sun, the branch above wUl live, even through the summer, but perish the next winter ; and the spring afterward, standing bare amid green branches, the cultivator may suppose the branch to * See Lindley, p. 32. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 405 have blighted that spring, although the cause of death was seated eighteen months before. When, in the other class of cases, the diseased sap is less virulent in the fall, but probably growing -worse through the spring, a worse blight ensues, and a more sudden mortality. We will mention some proofs of the truth of this explana- tion. 1. The two great blight years throughout the region of Indianapolis, 1832 and 1844, were preceded by a summer and fall such as we have described. In the autumns of both 1831 and 1843, the orchards were overtaken by a sudden freeze while in a fresh-growing state ; and in both cases the consequence was excessive destruction the ensuing spring and summer. 2. In consequence of this diagnosis, it has been found practicable to predict the blight six months before its devel- opment. The statement of this fact, on paper, may seem a small measure of proof; but it would weigh much with any candid man to be told, by an experienced nurseryman, this is such a fall as will make blight ; to be taken, during the winter into the orchard, and told, this tree has been struck at the junction of these branches ; that tree is not at all affected ; this tree will die entirely the next season ; this tree will go first on this side, etc., and to find, afterward, the prediction verified. 3. This leads us to state separately, the fact, that, after such a fall, blighted-trees may be ascertained during the process of late winter or early spring pruning. In pruning before the sap begins to rise freely, no sap should follow the knife in a healthy tree. But in trees which have been affected with blight, a sticky, viscid sap exudes from the wound. 4. Trees which Tipen their wood and leaves early, are seldom affected. This ought to elicit careful observation; for, if found true, it wiU be an important element in deter- mining the value of varieties of the pear in the middle and 406 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK ■western States, where the late and warm autumns render orchards more liable to winter blight than New England orchards. An Orange Bergamot, grafted upon an. apple stock, had about run out ; it made a small and feeble growth, and cast its leaves in the summer of 1843, long before frost. It escaped the blight entirely ; while young trees, and of the same kind (we believe), standing about it, and growing vig- orously till the freeze, perished the next season. I have before me a list of more than fifty varieties, growing in the orchard of Aaron AUdredge, of Indianapolis, and their history since 1836 ; and so far as it can be ascertained, late-grow- ing varieties are the ones, in every case, subject to blight ; and of those which have always escaped, the most part are known to ripen leaf and wood early. 5. Wherever artificial causes have either prodticed or prevented a growth so late as to be overtaken by a frepze, blight has, respectively, been feli or avoided. Out of 200 pear-trees, only four escaped in 1'832, in the orchard of Mr. Reagan. These four had, the previous spring, been trans- planted, and had made little or no growth during summer or fall. If, however, they had recovered themselves, dur- ing the summer, so as to grow in the autumn, transplant- ing would have had just the other effect ; as was the case in a row of pear-trees, transplanted by Mr. AUdredge in 1843. They stood stUl through ihe summer and made growth in the fall — ^were frozen — and in 1844 manifested severe blight, Mr. AUdredge's orchard affords another instructive fact. Having a row of the St. Michael pear (of which any cultivator might have been proud), standing close by his stable, he was accustomed, in the summer of 1843, to throw out, now. and then, manure about them, to force their growtb. Under this stimulus they were making excessive growth when winter-struck. Of all his orchard, they suffered, the ensuing summer, the most severely,. Of twenty-two trees twelve were affected by the blight, and eight entirely killed. Of seventeen trees of the Bell pear, ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FAEMING, 407 eleven suffered, but none were killed. AU in this region know the vigorous habit of this tree. Of eight Crassane Bergamot (a late grower), five were affected and two killed. In an orchard of 325 trees of 79 varieties, one in seven blighted, 25 were totally destroyed. Although a minute observation was not made on each tree, yet, as a general fact, those which suffered were trees of a full habit and of a late growth. 6. Mr. "White, a nurseryman near Mooresville, Morgan County, Indiana, in an orchard of from 150 to 200 trees, had not a single case of the blight in the year 1844, though all around him its ravages were felt. ■ What were the facts in this case ? His orchard is planted on a mound-like piece of ground ; is high, of a sandy, gravelly soil : earlier by a week than nursery soils in this county ; and in the summer of 1843 his trees grew through the summer; wound up and shed their leaves early in the fall, and during the warm spell made no second growth. The orchard, then, that escaped, was one on such a soil as insured an earl^ growth, so that the winter fell upon ripened wood. 7. It may be objected, that if the blight began in the new and growing wood, it would appear there ; whereas the seat of the evil, i. e. the place where the bark is diseased or dead, is lower down and on old wood. Certainly, it should be; for the returning sap falls some ways down before it effects a lodgment. 8. It might be said that spring-frosts might produce this disease. But in the spring of 1834, in the last of May, after the forest-trees were in full leaf, there came frost so severe as to cut every leaf; and to this day the dead tops of the beech attest the power of the frost. But no blight occurred that year in orchard, garden or nursery. 9. It may be asked why forest-trees do not suffer. To some extent they do. But usually the dense shade pre- serves the moisture of the soil, and favors an equal growth during the spring and summer ; so that the excitability of 408 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK. the tree is spent before autumn, and it is going to rest when frost strikes it. 10. It may. he inquired why fall-growing shruhs are not always blighted, since many kinds are invariably caught by the frost in a growing state. We reply, first, that we are not to say that eoery tree or shrub suffers from cold in the same manner. We assert it of fruit-trees because it has been observed; it must be asserted of other trees only when, ascertained. We reply more particularly, that a mere frost is not sup- posed to do the injury. The conditions under which blight is supposed to originate are, a growing state of the tree, a sudden /j-eeae, and sudden thawing. We would here add, that many things are yet to be ascertained before this theory can be considered as settled ; as the actual state of the sap after congelation, ascertained by experiment ; the condition of sap-vessels, as ascertained by dissection ; whether. the congelation, or the thawing, or both, produce the mischief; whether the character of the season following the faU-injury may not materially modify the malignancy of the disease ; seasons that are hot, moist and cloudy, propagating the evil ; and others dry, and cool, restraining growth and the dsease. It is to be hoped that these points will be carefully investigated, not by conjec- ture, but by scientific processes. 11. We have heard it objected, that trees grafted in the spring l&light in the graft during the summer. If the..s«oc4 had been affected in the fall, blight would arise from it ; if the scion had, in common with the tree from which it was cut, been injured, blight must arise from it. Blight is frequently caused in the nursery ; and the cul- tivator, who has brought trees from a distance, and with much- expense, has scarcely planted them before they show blight and die. 12. It is objected, that while only a single branch is at first affected, the evE is imparted to the whole tree ; not ABOUT IVBtrmS, 5'I,OWEKS ANB FARMING. 409 only to tne wood of the last year, but to the old branches. We reply, that if a single branch only should be affected by fall-foost, and be so severely affected as to become a reposi- tory of much malignant fluid, it might gradually enter the system of the whole tree, through the circulation. This fact shows, why cutting is a partial remedy ; every diseased branch removed, removes so much poison ; it shows also why cutting from bdow the seat of the disease (as if to fall below the haunt of a sijpposed insect), is beneficial. The further the cut is made from that point where the sap has clogged the passages, the less of it will remain to enter the circulation. 13. Trees of great vigor of constitution, in whose system but little poison exists, may succeed after a while in reject- ing the evil, and recover. Where much enifcers the system, the tree must die ; and with a suddenness proportioned to the amount of poison circulated. 14. A rich and dry soil would be likely to promote early growth, and the tree would finish its work in time ; but a rich and moist soil, by forcing the growth, would prepare the tree. for blight; so that rich soils may prevent or pre- pare for the blight, and the difference will be the difference of the respective soils in producing an early instead of a late growth. rV, RiEMEDY. — So long as the blight was believed to be of insect origin, it appeared totally irremediable. Kthe fore- going reasoning be found correct, it wiU be plsun that the scourge can ordy be occasional ; that it may be in a degree prevented ; and to some extent remedied where it exists. 1. We should begin by selecting for pear orchards a warm, light, rich, dry and early soU.. This will secure an early growth and ripe wood before winter sets in. 2. So soon as observation has determined what kinds are naturally early growers and early ripeners of wood, such should be selected; as they will be least likely to come under those conditions in which blight occurs. 18 410 PLAIN AND PLBABANT TALK 3. Wherever orchards are already planted ; or where a choice in soils cannot be had, the cultivator may Tmow by the last of August or September, whether a faU-growth is to be expected. To prevent it, we suggest immediate root- pruning. This will benefit the tree at any rate, and wUl probably, by immediately restraining growth, prevent blight. 4. "Whenever blight has occurred, we know of no remedy but free and early cutting. In some cases it will remove all diseased matter ; in some it will alleviate only ; but in bad blight, there is neither in this, nor in anything else that we are aware of, any remedy. There are two additional subjects, ■with which we shall close this paper, 1. This blight is not to be confounded with winter-hill- ing. In the winter of either 1837 or 1838, in March a deep snow fell (in the region of Indianapolis) and was immediately followed by brilliant sun. Thousands of nursery-trees per- ished in consequence, but without putting out leaves, or lingering. It is a familiar fact to orchardists, that severe cold, followed by warm suns, produce a bursting of the bark along the trunk ; but usually at the surface of the ground. 2. "We call the attention of cultivators to the disease of the peach-tree, called " The Yellows." "We have not spoken of it as the same disease as the blight in the pear and the apple, only because we did not wish to embarrass this sub- ject by too many issues. "We will only say, that it is the opinion of the most intelligent cultivators among* us, that the yellows are nothing but the development of the blight according to the peculiar habits of the peach-tree. "We'men- tion it, that observation may be directed to the facts. ABOUT FEUItS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 411 PROGRESS OF HORTICULTURE IN INDIANA.* I AM induced to send you some remarks upon Horticul- tural matters, from observing your disposition to. make your magazkie not merely a record of specific processes, and a register of plants and fruits, but also a chronicle of the yearly progress and condition of the Horticultural art. I should be glad if I could in any degree thus repay the pleas- ure which others have given me through your numbers, by reciprocal efforts. The Indiana Horticultural State fair is held annually, on the 4th and 5th of October. Experience has shown that it should be earlier ; for, although a better assortment of late fruits, in which, hitherto, we have chiefly excelled, is se- cured, it is at the- expense of small fruits and flowers. The floral exhibition was meagre — ^the frost having already visit- ed and despoiled our gardens. The chief attraction, as, in an agricultural community, it must long continue to be, was the exhibition of fruit. My recollection of Xew England fruits, after an absence of more than ten years, is not dis- tinct ; but my impression is, that so fine a collection of fruits Gonld scarcely be shown there. The luxuriance of the peach, the plum, the pear and the apple, is such, in this region, as to afford the most perfect possible specimens. The vigor of fruit-trees, in such a soil and under a heaven so conge- nial, produces fruits which are very large without being coarse-fleshed ; the flavor concentrated, and the color very high. It is the constant remark of emigrants from the East, that our apples surpass those to which they have been accustomed. Many fruits which I remember in Connecticut as light-colored, appear with us abnost refulgent. All sum- mer and early fall apples were gone before our exhibition ; but between seventy and a hundred varieties of winter ap- * A letter published in Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, February, 1845. 41%' piiATNi Am> Fu^ai&^nr TAi/E pies were exhibited. We never expect to see finer. Our most popular -winter apples are : Tejlow BeDflo-wer ; White BeMower (called Detroit by the gentlemen of Cincinnati Horticultural Society — ^but for reasons which are not satisfac- tory to my mind. What has become of the White BeMower of Goxe, if this is not it?) Newtown Spitzenberg, exceed- ingly fine with us ; CanBeld, Jennetting or Neverfail, escap- ing spring frosts by late blossoming, very hardy, a great bearer every year ; the fruit comes into eating in February, is tender, juicy, mild and sprightly, and preferred with us to the Green Newtown pippin— keeping fuU as well, bearing better, the pulp much more manageable ia the mouth, and the apple has the peculiar property of bearing frosts, and even freezing, without material injury; Green Newtown pippin ; Michael Henry pippin (very fine) ; Pryor's Red, ia flavor resembling the New England Seek-no-further ; Golden Russet, the prince of small apples, and resembling a fine butter-peaj- more nearly than any apple in our orchards — an enormous bearer ; some limbs exhibited were clustered with fr^it, more like bunches of grapes than apples ; Milam, favorite early winter ; Rambo, the same. But the apple, most universally cultivated is the Vandervere pippin, only a second or third-rate table apple, but having other qualities which quite ravish the hearts of our farmers. The tree is remarkably vigorous and healthy ; it almost never fails in a crop ; when aU others miss, the Vandervere pippin hits; the fruit, which is very large and comely, is a late winter fruit — yet sweUs so quickly as to be the first and best summer cooking apple. If its flesh (which is coarse) were fine, and its (too sharp) fiavor equalled that of the Golden Russet, it would stand without a rival, or near neighbor, at the very head of the list of winter apples. As it is, it is a first-rate tree, bearing a seeond-rate apple. A hybrid between it and the Golden Russet, or Newtown Spitzenberg, appropri- ating the virtues of both, would leave little more to be hoped for or wished. The Baldwin has never come up to ABOUT TRUITS, FLOWEES AJST) PAEMING. 413 its eastern reputation with us ; the Rhode Island Greeniug is eaten for the sake of " auld lang syne ;» the Roxbury russet is not yet ia bearing— instead of it several false varieties have'been presented at our esiiibitions. AU the classic apples of your orchards are planted here, but are yet on probation. Nothing can exhibit better the folly of trusting to aeedL- ling orchards for fruit, for a main supply, than our experi- ence in this matter. The early settlers could not bring trees from Kentucky, Virginia or Pennsylvania — and, as the next resort, brought and planted seeds of popular ap- ples. A later population found no nurseries to supply the awakening demand for fruit-trees, and resorted also to plant- ing seed. That which, at first, sprang from necessity, has been continued from habit, and from an erroneous opinion that seedling fruit was better than grafted. An immense number of seedling trees are found in our State. Since the Indiana Horticultural Society began to collect specimens of these, more than one hundred and fifty varieties have been sent up for inspection. Our rule is to reject every apple ■ which, the habits of the tree and the quality of its fruit being considered, has a superior or equal already in cultiva- tion. Of all the number presented, not six have vindicated their claims to a name or a place — and not more than three will probably be known ten years hence. While, then, we encourage cultivators to raise seedlings experimentally, it is the clearest folly to reject the established varieties and trust to inferior seedling orchards. From facts which I have collected there has been planted, during the past year, in this State, at least one hundred thousand apple-trees. Every year the demand increases. It is supposed that the next year will surpass this by at le'ast twenty-five thousand. In connection with apple orchards, our farmers are increasingly zealous in pear cultivation. We are fortunate in having secured to our nurseries not only the most ap- proved old varieties, but the choicest new pears of British, 414 PLA.I1J ANB PIiEASANT TALK Continental or American origin. A few years ago to each one hundred apple-trees, our nurseries sold, perhaps, two pear-trees; now they sell at least twenty to a hundred. Very large pear orchwrds are established, and iu some in- stances are now begimning to bear. I purchased Williams's Bon Chretien in our market last fall for seventy-five cents the busheL This pear, with the St. Michael's, Beurr^ Diel, Beurr6 d'Arember^, Passe Cohnar, Duchesse d'AngouMme^ Seckel, and Marie Louise, are the most widely diffused^ and aU of them regularly at our exhibitions. Every year enar bles us to test other varieties. The Passe Colmar and Beurr^.d'Aremberg have done exoeedkigly well-— a branch of the latter, about eighteen iaches in length, was exhib- ited at our Fair, bearing over twenty pears, none of which were smaller than a turkey's egg. The demand for pear- trees, this year, has been such that our nurseries have not been able to answer it— and they are swept almost entirely clean. I may as well mention here that, beside many more neighborhood nurseries, there are in this State eighteen which are large and skiUfully conducted. The extraordiaary cheapness of trees fevors their general cultivation. Apple-trees, not under ten feet high, amd finely grown, sell at ten, and pears at twenty cents ; and in some nurseries, apples may be had at six cents. This price, it should be recollected, is in a community where corn briugs from twelve to twenty cents only, a bushel ; wheat sells from forty-five to fifty ; hay at five dollars the ton. During the season of 1843-'44, apples of the finest sorts (Jennetting, green Newtown pippin, etc.), sold at my door, as late as April, for twemty-five cents a bushel. — and duU at that. This winter they command thirty-seven cents. Attention is in- creasingly turned to the cultivation of apples for exporta- tion. Our inland orchards will soon find an outlet, both to the Ohio River by railroad, and the Lakes by canal. The effects of such a deluge of fruit is worthy of some specula- tion. It will diminish the price but increase the profit of ABOUT TEmrS, IXOWEBS ANIT FAliitlNG. 415 &mt. An analogous case is seen in the penny-postage sys- tem of England. Fruit will become more generally and largely an article, not of luxury, but of daily and ordinary diet. It wiH find its way down to the poorest table— and the quantity/ consumed will make up in profit to the dealer, what is lost in lessening its price. A few years and the apple crop will be a matter of reckoning by farmers and speculators, just as is now, the potato crop, the wheat crop, the pork, etc. Nor wUl it create a home market alone. By care it may be exported with such feciUty, that the world win receive it as a part of its diet. It will, ia this respect, foUow the history of grains and edible roots,- and from a local and limited use, the apple and the pear wiU become articles of universal demand. The reasons of such an opinion are few and simple. It is a fruit always palat- able — and as such, will be welcome to .mankind whatever their tastes, if it can be brought within- their reach. The western States wiU, before many years, be forested with orchards. The fruit bears exportation kindly. Thus there will be a sttpply/ a possibility of distributing it by com- merce, to meet a taste already existing. These views may seem fancifiil — ^may prove so ; but they are analo^cal. Nor, if I inherit my three score years and ten, do I expect to die, until the apple crop of the United States shall sur- pass the potato crop in value, both for man and beast. It has the double quality of palatableness, raw or cooked — it is 2, permanent crop, not requiring annual planting — and it produces more bushels to the acre than com, wheat, or, on an average, than potatoes. The calculations may be made, allowing an average of fifteen bushels to a tree. The same reasoning is true of the pear ; it and the apple, are to hold a place yet, as universal eatables — a fruit-grain, not known ia their past history. K not another tree should be set in this county (Marion County), in ten years the annual crop of apples will be 200,000 bushels. But "Wayne County has double our number of trees ; suppose, however, the ninety 416 PLAIN ANT) PLEASANT TALK. counties of Indiana to have only 25 trees to a quarter sec- tion of land, *. e. to each 160 acres, the crop, of fifteen bush- els a tree, would be nearly two miUions'. The past year has greatly increased the cultivation of small fruits in the State. Strawberries are found in ahnost every garden, and of select sorts. None among them all is more popular — or more deservedly so — ^than Hovey's Seed- ling. We have a native white strawberry, removed from our meadows to our gardens, which produces fruit of supe- rior fragrance and flavor. The crop is not large — but con- tinues gradually ripening for many weeks. The blackberry is introduced to the garden among us. The fruit sells at our market for from three to five cents — profit is not there- fore the motive for cultivating it, but improvement. I have a white variety. " What color is a Stoe^-berry when it is green ? " We used to say red., but now we have ripe hlcffah- berries which are white., and green 5ZacA;-berries which are red. Assorted gooseberries and the new raspberries, Fran- conia and Fastolflf are finding their way into our gardens. The Antwerps we have long had in abundance. If next spring I can produce rhubarb weighiag two' pounds to the stalk, shall I have surpassed you ? I have a seedling which last year, without good cultivation, produced petioles weigh- ing from eighteen to twenty ounces. My wrist is not very delicate, and yet it is much smaller in girth than they were. In no department is there more decided advance among our citizens than in floriculture. In all our rising towns, , yards and gardens are to be found choicely stocked. AU hardy bulbs are now sought after. Ornamental shrubs are taken from our forests, or imported from abroad, in great variety. Altheas, rose acacia, jasmin, calycanthus, snow- berry, snowball, sumach, syringas, spicewood, shepherdia, dogwood, redwood, and other hardy shrubs abound. The rose is an especial favorite. The Bengal, Tea and Noisettes bear our winters in the open garden with but slight protec- tion. The Bourbon and Remontantes will, however, drive ABOUT msmrs, rtjawEss and faeming, 417 out all old and ordinary varieties. The gardens of this town would afford about sixtp varieties of roses, wMoh, would be reckoned first rate in Boston or Philadelphia. While New England suffered under a season of drought, on this side of the mountains the season was uncommonly fine — scarcely a week elapsed without copious showers, and gardens remadaed moist the whole season. Fruits ripened from two to three weeks eajrUer than usual. In conse- quence of this, winter fruits are rapidly deca^fing. To-day is Christmas, the weather is springvlike-r— no snow — ^the ther- mometer this morning, forty degrees,. My Noisettes retain their terminal leaves green ; and in the southwaifd-lookiBig dells of the woods, grasses and herbs are yet of a vivid ^een. Birds are still here — ^three this morning were sing- ing on the trees in my yard. There are some curious feot* ia the early history of horticulture ia this region, which I meaat to have included ia. this communication ; but insen- sibly I have, already, prolonged it beyond, I fear, a conve- nient space for your magazine. I yield it to you for cut- ting, carving, suppressmg, or whatever other operation will fit it for your puipose. BROWNE'S AMERICAN POULTRY YARD.* Let no man turn up his contemptuous nose at this Trea- tise until he has traced the manifold relations of eggs and capons to cake, company, and civilization. Banish the barn- yard, and the universal aldermanhood would shrink and grow lean; cup-cakes and sponge-cakes, omelets, whips and legionary confections, would become mere dreams of re- membrance. Every friend of the trendier, every notable housewMe, * Published by A. 0. Moore & Co., New York. Price |1 00. 418 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK complacently glorious amidst stacks of praised and devoured cake, has an interest in this book. There is, therefore, a certain interest which every civilized community should take in the progress of the great art of fowl-breeding. There are striking analogies, also, which should be noticed by every comparative psychologist. The doctrine of trans- migration has some of its strongest proofs in the Kingdom of Poultry. The glowing comb, the haughty carriage, the resplendent tail-feathers, and ostentatious crowing of the lord of the barn-yard creation, reveals to the sagacious reasoner either the origin or destination of many other "lords of creation." Nor can one mistake the resemblances traceable in the gentler sex of hens. Some there are industrious only in scratching, and cackling, but nervous, gadding, restless; never content at home, never so happy as when at worltfin a new-made garden, and sagacious always of the very spots which are most precious in the owner's eyes. Are these the types of human busybodies, or are these resemblances only accidental? Others are discreet, domestic, proMc» usefiil and happy hens, human and feathered. Many there are neglectful. Some fowls are laborious egg-layers, but poor setters ; others disdain the pains of laying, but are quite willing of a leisure summer's month to set awhile upon other eggs. In the management, too, of their &.milies, can any can- did man resist the evidence of resemblances and affiliations between hens and humanity? Here a hen walks forth from her nest with but a single chick ; the whole farm is too small for her anxious spirit. On this one precious pledge she bestows more clucking, more research and scratching, than a discreet old matron of many broods would upon five annual generations ! And after all, what is the little brat good for — ^lazy. and worked for, but never taught to work, it lives a few months petted and spoiled — dies of neglect, or is anatomized by some science-loving ABOUT PEtriTS, PLOWjEKS AND FARMING. 419 weasel! Other, and unnatural hens there are, to whom the vast brood of peeping, chirping chicks is but a burden. They seem to have thoughts of their own, and are per- plexed and interrupted by the cares needful for their household. Could we pry into the secrets of this race, doubtless there would be found to be literary mothers, too busy for the general good to havie much time for special duties. We cannot stop now to draw out these analogies, so well worthy the study of mental philosophers ; else we should exhibit the distinctions of rank, race, and culture, in this interesting kingdom. There are nice questions of pedigree, there are points in relation to feathers and top- knots, combs and spurs, tail-feathers and wing-feathers, neck-hackles and toes, which are worthy the attention of any Calhoun of the barn-yard. The more savory but homely considerations of fattening, slaying, dressing, sell- ing, stuffing,, cooking, carving, distributing, eating and digestion, must be left to our readers' own reflections. Meanwhile, any man that owns a hen, or has a coop in prospect, may buy this book, certain of his money's worth. Book-farming and book-fowling are better than nothing. REFLECTIONS ON THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.* The labor of another year has passed beyond our reach. We can alter nothing, and the past is of no use to us except 'as a lesson for the future. The soil that the plow ripped up, in the spring, has yielded its harvest, its work is closed, its fruits garnered. The tree whose boughs grew green when the singing of birds proclaimed that spring was come, has ripened its fruit, perfected its growth, its store is gathered, and its leaves are lying beneath it, and slowly * A.D. 1845. 420 PI.AZN' AUTO FLSASANT TALE. returning to the earth from which they sprang. Only here and there, on a bright morning, do we see one of those birds which, a few months ago, buHded their nest, watched their young, or taught the nestluigs how to fly — young and old, with their grace of motion and sweet notes, are gone to a fidrer clime. These changes one cannot help noticing ; and no meditative mind can avoid many thoughts which flow out of them. Where are the harvests garnered whidi grew in the soil of the human heart ? What thoughts and generous purposes have been ripened and stored up like fruit, and what ones have fallen and perished like leaves ? Our vernal orchards never stood, within our remembrance, in such a glory of bloom ; yet when the fruit should have set, most of the blossoms proved vain. And how many good purposes and fair resolutions have so perished within us I Have we, like the trees which we love and care -for, made growth, of root and branch ? Everything in nature has gradually assumed a preparation for winter. Those frosts and that ice which would have sent such mischief upon the leaves of summer, now lie, without harm, upon orchard and garden. Are we ripe and ready, too, for such a winter as adversity brings upon men ? THE END,