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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Soil Culture
+
+Author: J. H. Walden
+
+Release Date: January 15, 2010 [EBook #30975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOIL CULTURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Giacomelli and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature
+in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Author]
+
+
+  SOIL CULTURE;
+
+  CONTAINING
+
+  A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW
+
+  OF
+
+  AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, POMOLOGY,
+  DOMESTIC ANIMALS, RURAL ECONOMY,
+  AND AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE.
+
+  BY
+
+  J. H. WALDEN, A. M.
+
+  ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  PUBLISHED BY ROBERT SEARS,
+  181 WILLIAM STREET.
+  1858.
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857,
+  BY J. H. WALDEN,
+  in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in
+  and for the Northern District of Illinois.
+
+  SAVAGE & McCREA, STEREOTYPERS, C. A. ALVORD, PRINTER,
+  13 Chambers Street, N.Y.             No. 15 Vandewater Street, N.Y.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  TO
+
+  THE PRACTICAL CULTIVATORS OF THE SOIL,
+
+  The True Lords of the Manor,
+
+  THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,
+
+  BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND,
+
+  THE AUTHOR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE TO THE READER.
+
+
+If "he who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before,
+is a benefactor of his race," he is not less so who imparts to millions
+a knowledge of the methods by which it is done.
+
+The last half century has been the era of experiments and writing on the
+cultivation of the soil. The result has been the acquisition of more
+knowledge on the subjects embraced, than the world had attained in all
+its previous history. That knowledge is scattered through many volumes
+of numerous periodicals and books, and interspersed with many theories,
+and much speculation, that can never be valuable in practice. In the
+form in which it is presented, it confuses, rather than aids, the great
+mass of cultivators. Hence the prejudice against "_book-farming_."
+Provided established facts only are presented, they are none the worse
+for being printed.
+
+The object of this volume is to condense, and present in an intelligible
+form, all important established facts in the science of soil-culture.
+The author claims originality, as to the discovery of facts and
+principles, in but few cases. During ten years of preparatory study for
+this work, he has sought the rewards of industry, in sifting out the
+certain and the useful from the hypothetical and the fanciful, and the
+results of judicious discrimination between fallacy and just reasoning,
+in support of theories. This volume is designed to be a complete manual
+for all but amateur cultivators. While it is believed that he who
+follows its directions will be certain of success, it is not intended to
+disparage the merits of other works, but to encourage and extend their
+perusal. We can not too strongly recommend to young culturists to keep
+themselves well posted in this kind of literature, and give to every
+discovery and invention in this science a fair trial; not on a large
+scale, so as to sink money in fruitless experiments, but sufficient to
+afford a sure test of their real value. To no class of men is study more
+important than to soil-culturists.
+
+It is believed that the directions here given, if followed, will save
+millions of dollars annually to that class of cultivators who can least
+afford to waste time and money in experimenting. With beginners it is
+important to be successful at first; which is impossible without
+availing themselves of the experience of others. While we thus aim to
+give our volume this exclusively practical form, and utilitarian
+character, we do not undervalue the labors of amateur cultivators. A
+meed of praise is due to those who are willing to spend time and money
+in experiments, by which great truths are evolved for the benefit of
+mankind.
+
+Perfection is not claimed for this volume. But the author hopes nothing
+will be found here that is untrue. A fear of inserting errors may have
+induced us to omit some things that may yet prove valuable. If anything
+seems to be at variance with a cultivator's observation, in a given
+locality, he will discover in our general principles on climate, soil,
+and location, that it is a natural result.
+
+_Accurate as far as we go_ has been our motto. It is hoped the form is
+most convenient. All is arranged under one alphabet, with a complete
+index. The author has consulted many intelligent cultivators and
+writers, who, without exception, approve his plan. All agree in saying
+that it is designed to fill a place not occupied by any other single
+volume in the language. It is impossible, without cumbering the volume,
+to give suitable credit to the authors and persons consulted. Suffice it
+to say, the author has carefully studied all the works mentioned in this
+volume, and availed himself of a great variety of verbal suggestions, by
+scientific and practical men. If this work shall, in any good degree,
+serve the purpose for which it is intended, it will amply reward the
+author for an amount of labor, experiment, observation, and study,
+appreciable only by few.
+
+J. H. WALDEN.
+
+NEW YORK, _January 1, 1858_.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  Apple-Worms                                                         22
+
+  Apple-Tree Borer                                                    24
+
+  Caterpillar Eggs                                                    25
+
+  Canker-Worm Moths                                                   25
+
+  Baldwin Apple                                                       34
+
+  Bellflower Apple                                                    35
+
+  Early Harvest Apple                                                 36
+
+  Spitzbergen Apple                                                   37
+
+  Rhode Island Greening                                               38
+
+  Fall Pippin                                                         39
+
+  Newtown Pippin                                                      40
+
+  Rambo Apple                                                         41
+
+  Rome Beauty                                                         42
+
+  Westfield Seek-no-further                                           43
+
+  Northern Spy                                                        44
+
+  Roxbury Russet                                                      45
+
+  Swaar Apple                                                         46
+
+  Maiden's Blush                                                      47
+
+  Barberries                                                          56
+
+  Working Bee, Queen and Drone                                        69
+
+  High-Bush Blackberry                                                83
+
+  Budding (Six Illustrations)                                         91
+
+  Cherries (Six Illustrations)                                       122
+
+  _Milking Qualities of Cows Illustrated_
+    The Flanders Cow                                                 145
+    The Selvage Cow                                                  147
+    The Curveline Cow                                                148
+    The Bicorn Cow                                                   149
+    The Demijohn Cow                                                 150
+    The Square Escutcheon Cow                                        151
+    The Lemousine Cow                                                151
+    The Horizontal Cut Cow                                           152
+    Bastards                                                         152
+
+  Cranberries                                                        156
+
+  Fig                                                                181
+
+  Cleft and Tongue Grafting                                          210
+
+  Isabella Grapes                                                    223
+
+  Catawba Grapes                                                     223
+
+  Rebecca Grapes                                                     224
+
+  Delaware Grapes                                                    225
+
+  Hedge-Pruning (4 engravings)                                       238
+
+  Ground Plan of Farm Buildings                                      252
+
+  Ground Plan of Piggery                                             253
+
+  Ground Plan of Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Fruit Garden,
+    and Grounds                                                      254
+
+  Laying out Curves Illustrated                                      255
+
+  Ground Plan of Farm-House                                          255
+
+  Summer-House                                                       256
+
+  Laborer's Cottage                                                  257
+
+  Ground Plan of Laborer's Cottage                                   257
+
+  Italian Farm-House                                                 258
+
+  Ground Plan of Italian Farm-House                                  258
+
+  Neglected Peach-Tree                                               324
+
+  Properly-Trimmed Peach-Tree                                        324
+
+  Plan of a Pear-Orchard                                             338
+
+  Bartlett Pear                                                      340
+
+  Beurr� Diel Pear                                                   341
+
+  White Doyenne Pear                                                 342
+
+  Flemish Beauty                                                     343
+
+  Seckel                                                             345
+
+  Gray Doyenne Pear                                                  346
+
+  The Curculio                                                       355
+
+  Lawrence's Favorite Plum                                           356
+
+  Imperial Gage                                                      357
+
+  Egg-Plum                                                           357
+
+  Green Gage                                                         358
+
+  Jefferson Plum                                                     358
+
+  Washington Plum                                                    359
+
+  French Merino Ram                                                  386
+
+  Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry                                       390
+
+  Strawberry Blossoms                                                397
+
+  Fan Training (Four Illustrations)                             417, 418
+
+  Horizontal Training (Two Illustrations)                            419
+
+  Conical Training (Four Illustrations)                              420
+
+
+
+
+SOIL CULTURE.
+
+
+
+
+ACCLIMATION.
+
+
+This is the art of successfully changing fruits or plants from one
+climate to another. Removal to a colder climate should be effected in
+the spring, and to a warmer one in the fall. This may be done by scions
+or seeds. By seeds is better, in all cases in which they will produce
+the same varieties. Very few imported apple or pear trees are valuable
+in this country; while our finest varieties, perfectly adapted to our
+climate, were raised from seeds of foreign fruits and their descendants.
+The same is true of the extremes of this country. Baldwin apple-trees,
+forty or fifty years old, are perfectly hardy in the colder parts of New
+England; while the same imported from warmer sections of the Union fail
+in severe winters. This fact has given many new localities the
+reputation of being poor fruit-regions. When we remove fruit-trees to a
+similar climate in a new country, they flourish well, and we call it a
+good fruit-country. Remove trees from the same nursery to a different
+climate and soil, and they are not hardy and vigorous, and we call it a
+poor fruit-country. These two localities may be equally good for fruit,
+with suitable care in acclimating the tree and preparing the soil. Thus
+the rich prairies of central Illinois are often said not to be adapted
+to fruit. Give time to raise fruits from the seed, and to apply the
+principles of acclimation, and those rich prairies will be among the
+great fruit-growing regions of the world. Two things are essential to
+successful fruit-culture, on all the alluvial soils of the Northwest:
+raise from seed, and prune closely and head-in short, and thus put back
+and strengthen the trees for the first ten years, and no more complaints
+will be heard.
+
+The peach has been gradually acclimated, until, transplanted from
+perpetual summer, it successfully endures a temperature of thirty-five
+degrees below zero. This prince of fruits will yet be successfully grown
+even beyond the northern limits of Minnesota. Many vegetables may also
+be grown in very different climates, by annually importing the seed from
+localities where they naturally flourish. Sweet potatoes are thus grown
+abundantly in Massachusetts. We wonder this subject has received so
+little attention. We commend these brief hints to the earnest
+consideration of all practical cultivators, hoping they may be of great
+value in the results to which they may lead.
+
+
+ALMONDS.
+
+Almonds are natives of several parts of Asia and Africa. They perfectly
+resemble the peach in all but the fruit. The peach and almond grow well,
+budded into each other. In France, almond-stocks are preferred for the
+peach. Their cultivation and propagation are in all respects the same as
+the peach.
+
+_Varieties._--1. Long, hard shell. This is the best for cultivation in
+western and middle states, and in all cold regions. Very ornamental.
+
+2. Common sweet. Productive in middle states, but not so good as the
+first.
+
+3. Ladies' thin shell. Fruit large, long, and sweet; the very best
+variety, but not so hardy as the first two. Grows well in warm
+locations, with slight protection in winter.
+
+4. The bitter. Large, with very ornamental leaves and blossoms. Fruit
+bitter, and yielding that deadly poison, prussic acid.
+
+5. Peach almond. So called from having a pulp equal to a poor peach. Not
+hardy in northern climates. Other varieties are named, but are of no
+consequence to the practical cultivator.
+
+6. Two varieties of ornamental almonds are very beautiful in spring--the
+large, double flowering, and the well-known dwarf flowering. But we
+regard peach-blossoms quite as ornamental, and the ripe peaches much
+more so, and so prefer to cultivate them.
+
+Almonds are extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, especially in
+Portugal, as an article of commerce. They will grow equally well in this
+country; but labor is so cheap in Europe, that American cultivators can
+not compete with it in the almond market. But every one owning land
+should cultivate a few as a family luxury.
+
+
+APPLES.
+
+The original of all our apples was the wild European crab. We have in
+this country several native crabs larger and better than the European;
+but they have not yet, as we are aware, been developed into fine apples.
+Apple-trees are hardy and long-lived, doing well for one hundred and
+fifty years. Highly-cultivated trees, however, are thought to last only
+about fifty years. An apple-tree, imported from England, produced fruit
+in Connecticut at the age of two hundred and eight years. The apple is
+the most valuable of all fruits. The peach, the best pears, the
+strawberries, and others, are all delicious in their day; but apples are
+adapted to a greater variety of uses, and are in perfection all the
+year; the earliest may be used in June, and the latest may be kept until
+that time next year. As an article of food, they are very valuable on
+account of both their nutritive and medicinal qualities. As a gentle
+laxative, they are invaluable for children, who should always be allowed
+to eat ripe apples as they please, when they can be afforded. Children
+will not long be inclined to eat ripe fruit to their injury.
+
+An almost exclusive diet of baked sweet apples and milk is recorded as
+having cured chronic cases of consumption, and other diseases caused by
+too rich food. Let dyspeptics vary the mode of preparing and using an
+apple diet, until it agrees with them, and many aggravated cases may be
+cured without medicine. It is strange how the idea has gained so much
+currency that apples, although a pleasant luxury, are not sufficiently
+nutritious for a valuable article of diet. There is no other fruit or
+vegetable in general use that contains such a proportion of nutriment.
+It has been ascertained in Germany, by a long course of experiments,
+that men will perform more labor, endure more fatigue, and be more
+healthy, on an apple diet, than on that universal indispensable for the
+poor, the potato. Apples are more valuable than potatoes for food. They
+are equally valuable as food for fowls, swine, sheep, cattle, and
+horses. Hogs have been well fattened on apples alone. Cooked with other
+vegetables, and mixed with a little ground grain or bran, they are an
+economical food for fattening pork or beef. Sweet or slightly-acid
+apples, fed to neat stock or horses, will prevent disease, and keep the
+animals in fine condition. For human food they may be cooked in a
+greater variety of ways than almost any other article. Apple-cider is
+valuable for some uses. It makes the best vinegar in general use, and,
+when well made and bottled, is better than most of our wines for
+invalids. Apple-molasses, or boiled cider, which is sweet-apple cider
+boiled down until it will not ferment, is excellent in cookery.
+Apple-butter is highly esteemed in many families. Dried apples are an
+important article of commerce. Green apples are also exported to most
+parts of the world. Notwithstanding the increased attention to their
+cultivation during the last half-century, their market value is steadily
+increasing, and doubtless will be, for the best varieties, for the next
+five hundred years.
+
+It does not cost more than five or six cents per bushel to raise apples;
+hence they are one of the most profitable crops a farmer can raise. No
+farm, therefore, is complete without a good orchard. The man who owns
+but five acres of land should have at least two acres in fruit-trees.
+
+_Soil._--Apples will succeed well on any soil that will produce good
+cabbages, potatoes, or Indian corn. Land needs as much manure and care
+for apple-trees as for potatoes. Rough hillsides and broken lands,
+unsuitable for general cultivation, may be made very valuable in
+orchards. It must be enriched, if not originally so, and kept clean
+about the trees. On no crop does good culture pay better. Many suppose
+that an apple-tree, being a great grower, will take care of itself after
+having attained a moderate size. Whoever observes the great and rapid
+growth of apple-trees must see, that, when the ground is nearly covered
+with them, they must make a great draft on the soil. To secure health
+and increased value, the deficiency must be supplied in manure and
+cultivation. The quantity and quality of the fruit depend mainly on the
+condition of the land. The kinds and proportions of manures best for an
+apple-orchard are important practical questions. We give a chemical
+analysis of the ashes of the apple-tree, which will indicate, even to
+the unlearned, the manure that will probably be needed:--
+
+_Analysis of the ash of the apple-tree._
+
+                       Sap-wood.  Heart-wood.  Bark of trunk.
+
+  Potash                 16.19      6.620        4.930
+  Soda                    3.11      7.935        3.285
+  Chloride of sodium      0.42      0.210        0.540
+  Sulphate of lime        0.05      0.526        0.637
+
+  Phosphate of peroxyde } 0.80      0.500        0.375
+    of iron             }
+  Phosphate of lime      17.50      5.210        2.425
+  Phosphate of magnesia   0.20      0.190
+  Carbonic acid          29.10     36.275       44.830
+  Lime                   18.63     37.019       51.578
+  Magnesia                8.40      6.900        0.150
+  Silicia                 0.85      0.400        0.200
+  Soluble silicia         0.80      0.300        0.400
+  Organic matter          4.60      2.450        2.100
+                        ______    _______      _______
+                        100.65    104.535      111.450
+
+This table will indicate the application of plenty of wood-ashes and
+charcoal; lime in hair, bones, horn-shavings, old plaster, common lime,
+and a little common salt. Lime and ashes, or dissolved potash, are
+indispensable on an old orchard; they will improve the fruit one half,
+both in quantity and quality.
+
+_Propagation._--This is done mainly by seeds, budding and grafting. The
+best method is by common cleft-grafting on all stocks large enough, and
+by whip or tongue grafting on all others. (See under article, Grafting.)
+
+Grafting into the sycamore is recommended by some. The scions are said
+to grow profusely, and to bear early and abundantly; but they are apt to
+be killed by cold winters. We do not recommend it. Almost everything
+does best budded or grafted into vigorous stocks of its own nature.
+Root-grafting, as it is termed,--that is, cutting up roots into pieces
+three or four inches long, and putting a scion into each--has been a
+matter of much discussion and diversity of opinion. It is certainly a
+means of most rapidly multiplying a given variety, and is therefore
+profitable to the nurseryman. For ourselves, we should prefer trees
+grafted just above, or at the ground, using the whole stock for one
+tree. We do not, however, undertake to settle this controverted point.
+Our minds are fixed against it. Others must do as they please.
+Propagation by seed is thought to be entirely uncertain, because, as is
+supposed, the seeds will not reproduce their own varieties. We consider
+this far from being an established fact.
+
+When grafts are put into large trees, high up from the ground, their
+fruit may be somewhat modified by the stock. There is also a slight
+tendency in the seeds of all grafts to return to the varieties from
+which they descended. But we believe the general rule to be, that the
+seeds of grafts, put in at the ground and standing alone, will generally
+produce the same varieties of fruit. The most prominent obstacle in the
+way of this reproduction is the presence of other varieties, which mix
+in the blossom. The planting of seeds from any mixed orchard can never
+settle this question, because they are never pure. Propagation by seeds,
+then, is an inconvenient method, only to be resorted to for purposes of
+acclimation. But it is so seldom we have a good bearing apple-tree so
+far removed from others as not to be affected by the blossoms, that we
+generally get from seeds a modification of varieties. Raising suitable
+stocks for grafting is done by planting seeds in drills thirty inches
+apart, and keeping clear of weeds until they are large enough to graft.
+The soil should be made very rich, to save time in their growth. Land
+where root-crops grew the previous year is the best. If kept clear of
+weeds, on rich, deep soil, from one to two thirds of them will be large
+enough for whip-grafting after the first year's growth. The pomice from
+the cider-mill is often planted. It is better to separate the seeds,
+and plant them with a seed-drill. They will then be in straight, narrow
+rows, allowing the cultivator and hoe to pass close by them, and thus
+save two thirds of the cost of cultivation. The question of keeping
+seeds dry or moist until planting is one of some importance. Most seeds
+are better for being kept slightly moist until planted; but with the
+apple it makes no difference. Keep apple-seeds dry and spread, as they
+are apt to heat. Freezing them is not of the slightest importance. If
+you plant pomice, put in a little lime or ashes to counteract the acid.
+For winter-grafting, pull the seedlings that are of suitable size, cut
+off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in moist sand in a
+cellar that will not freeze. After grafting, tie them up in bunches, and
+pack in tight boxes of moist sand or sawdust.
+
+_Transplanting._--This is fully treated elsewhere in this work. We give
+under each fruit only what is peculiar to that species. In mild climates
+transplant in the fall, and in cold in the spring. Spring-planting must
+never be done until the soil has become dry enough to be made fine. A
+thoroughly-pulverized soil is the great essential of successful
+transplanting. Trees for spring-planting should always be taken up
+before the commencement of vegetation. But in very wet springs, this
+occurs before the ground becomes sufficiently dry; it is then best to
+take up the trees and heel them in, and keep them until the soil is
+suitable. The place for an apple-tree should be made larger than for any
+other tree, because its roots are wide-spreading, like its branches. The
+earth should be thrown out to the depth of twenty inches, and four or
+five feet square, for an ordinary-sized tree. This, however, will not
+do on a heavy clay subsoil, for it would form a basin to hold water and
+injure the tree. A ditch, as low as the bottom of the holes, should
+extend from tree to tree, and running out of the orchard, constructed in
+the usual method of drains, and, whatever be the subsoil, the trees will
+flourish. The usual compost to manure the trees in transplanting will be
+found elsewhere. In the bottom of these places for apple-trees should be
+thrown a plenty of cobblestones, with a few sods, and a little decaying
+wood and coarse manure. We know of nothing so good under an apple-tree
+as small stones; the tree will always be the larger and thriftier for
+it. This is, in a degree, beneficial to other fruits, but peculiarly so
+to the apple.
+
+_Size for transplanting._--Small trees usually do best. Large trees are
+often transplanted with the hope of having an abundance of fruit
+earlier. This usually defeats the object. The large trees will bear a
+little fruit earlier than the small ones; but the injury by removal is
+so much greater, that the small stocky trees come into full, regular
+bearing much the soonest. From five to eight feet high is often most
+convenient for field-orchard culture. But, wherever we can take care of
+them, it is better to set out smaller trees; they will do better for
+years. A suitable drain, extending through the orchard, under each row
+of trees, will make a good orchard on low, wet land.
+
+_Trimming at the time of transplanting._--Injured roots should be
+removed as in the general directions under Transplanting. But the idea
+of cutting off most of the top is a very serious error. When large trees
+are transplanted, which must necessarily lose many of their roots in
+removal, a corresponding portion of the top must be separated; but in no
+other case. The leaves are the lungs of the tree. How shall it have
+vitality if most of them are removed? It is like destroying one lung and
+half of the other, and then expect a man to be in vigorous health. We
+have often seen the most of two years' growth of trees lost by such
+reckless pruning. If the roots are tolerably whole and sound, leave the
+top so. A peach-tree needs to be trimmed much closer when transplanted,
+because it has so many more buds to throw out leaves.
+
+_Mulching._--This is quite as beneficial to apple-trees as to all
+transplanted trees. Well done, it preserves a regularity of moisture
+that almost insures the life of the tree.
+
+_Pruning._--The tops should be kept open and exposed to the sun, the
+cross limbs cut out, and everything removed that shows decided symptoms
+of decay. The productiveness of apple-trees depends very much upon
+pruning very sparingly and judiciously. There are two ways to keep an
+open top: one is, to allow many large limbs to grow, and cut out most of
+the small ones, thus leaving a large collection of bare poles without
+anything on which the fruit can grow;--the other method is to allow few
+limbs to grow large, and keep them well covered with small twigs, which
+always bear the fruit. The latter method will produce two or three times
+as much fruit as the former.
+
+The head of an apple-tree should be formed at a height that will allow a
+team to pass around under its branches.
+
+_Distance apart._--In a full-grown orchard, that is designed to cover
+the ground, the trees should be two rods (thirty-three feet) apart.
+When it is designed always to cultivate the ground, and land is plenty,
+set them fifty or sixty feet apart. You will be likely always to have
+fine fruit, and a crop on the land beside. Our recommendation to every
+one is to set out all orchards, of whatever fruit, so as to have them
+cover the whole ground when in maturity. Among apple-trees, dwarf pears,
+peaches, or quinces, may be set, which will be profitable before the
+apples need all the ground.
+
+_Bearing years._--A cultivator may have a part of his orchard bear one
+year, and the remainder the next, or he may have them all bear every
+year. There are two reasons why a tree bears full this year and will not
+bear the next. One is, it is allowed to have such a superabundance of
+fruit to mature this year, that it has no strength to mature fruit-buds
+for the next, and hence a barren year; the other reason is, a want of
+proper culture and the specific manures for the apple. Manure highly,
+keep off the insects, cultivate well, and do not allow too much to
+remain on the trees one season, and you will have a good crop every
+year. But if one would let his trees take the natural course, but wishes
+to change the bearing year of half of his orchard, he can accomplish it
+by removing the blossoms or young fruit from a part of his trees on the
+bearing year, and those trees having no fruit to mature will put forth
+an abundance of buds for fruit the following season; thus the
+fruit-season will be changed without lessening the productiveness. Go
+through a fruit-region in what is called the non-bearing seasons, and
+you will find some orchards and some trees very full of fruit. Trees of
+the same variety in another orchard near by will have very little fruit.
+This shows that the bearing season is a matter of mere habit, in all
+except what is determined by late frosts. This fact may be turned to
+great pecuniary value, by producing an abundance of apples every year.
+
+_Plowing and pasturing._--An apple-orchard should be often plowed, but
+not too deep among the roots. When not actually under the plow, it
+should be pastured, with fowls, calves, or sheep. Swine are recommended,
+as they will eat all the apples that fall prematurely, and with them the
+worms that made them fall. But we have often seen hogs, by their rooting
+and rubbing, kill the trees. Better to pick up the apples that fall too
+early, and give them to the swine. Turkeys and hens in an orchard will
+do much to destroy the various insects. They may be removed for a short
+time when they begin to peck the ripening fruit.
+
+Orchards pastured by sheep are said not to be infested with
+caterpillars. Sheep pastured and salted under apple-trees greatly enrich
+the soil, and in those elements peculiarly beneficial.
+
+_Enemies._--There are several of these that are quite destructive, when
+not properly guarded against. Two things are necessary, and, united and
+thoroughly performed, they afford a remedy or a preventive for most of
+the depredations of all insects: 1. Keep the trees well cleared of all
+rough, loose bark, which affords so many hiding-places for insects.
+
+2. Wash the trunks and large limbs of the trees, twice between the 25th
+of May and the 15th of August, with a ley of wood-ashes or dissolved
+potash. Apple-trees will bear it strong enough to kill some of the
+finest cherries. We add another very effectual wash. Let cultivators
+choose between the two. Into two gallons of water put two quarts of
+soft-soap and one fourth pound of sulphur. If you add tobacco-juice, or
+any other very offensive article, it will be still better.
+
+_Apple-worm._--The insect that produces this worm lays its egg in the
+blossom-end of the young apple. That egg makes a worm that passes down
+about the core and ruins the fruit. Apples so affected will fall
+prematurely, and should be picked up and fed to swine. This done every
+day during their falling, which does not last a great while, will remedy
+the evil in two seasons. The worm that crawls from the fallen apple gets
+into crevices in rough bark, and spins his cocoon, in which he remains
+till the following spring.
+
+Bonfires, for a few evenings in the fore part of June, in an orchard
+infested with moths, will destroy vast numbers of them, before they have
+deposited their eggs. This can not be too strongly insisted upon.
+
+[Illustration: Apple-Worms.
+
+_a_ The young worm. _b_ The full-grown worm. _c_ The same magnified. _d_
+Cocoon. _e_ Chrysalis. _f_ Perfect insect. _g_ The same magnified. _h i_
+Passage of the worm in the fruit. _j_ Worm in the fruit. _k_ Place of
+egress.]
+
+_Bark-louse._--Dull white, oval scales, one tenth of an inch long, which
+sometimes appear on the stems of trees in vast numbers, may be destroyed
+by the wash recommended above.
+
+_Woolly aphis_--called in Europe by the misnomer, _American blight_--is
+very destructive across the water, but does not exist extensively on
+this side. It is supposed to exist, in this country, only where it has
+been introduced with imported trees. It appears as a white downy
+substance in the small forks of trees. This is composed of a large
+number of very minute woolly lice, which increase with wonderful
+rapidity. They are easily destroyed by washing with diluted sulphuric
+acid--three fourths of an ounce, by measure, from the druggist's--and
+seven and a half ounces of water, applied by a rag tied to the end of a
+stick. The operator must keep it from his clothes. After the first rain
+this is perfectly effectual.
+
+_Apple-tree borer._--This is a fleshy-white grub, found in the trunks of
+the trees. It enters at the surface of the ground where the bark is
+tender, and either girdles or thoroughly perforates the tree, causing
+its death. This is produced by a brown and white striped beetle about
+half an inch long. It does not go through its different stages annually,
+but remains a grub two or three years. It finally comes out in its
+winged state, early in June, flying in the night and laying its eggs. If
+the borers are already in the tree, they may be killed by cutting out,
+or by a steel wire thrust into their holes. But better prevent them.
+This can be done effectually by placing a small mound of ashes or lime
+around each tree early in the spring.
+
+On nursery-trees their attacks may be prevented by washing with a
+solution of potash--two pounds in eight quarts of water. As this is a
+good manure, as well as a great remedy for insects, it had better be
+used every season.
+
+[Illustration: Borer. Eggs. Beetle.]
+
+_Caterpillars_ are the product of a miller of a reddish-brown color,
+measuring about an inch and a half when flying. They deposit many eggs
+about the forks and near the extremities of young branches. These hatch
+in spring, in season for the young foliage, on which they feed
+voraciously. When neglected for two or three years, they often defoliate
+large trees. The habits of the caterpillar are favorable to their
+destruction. They weave their webs in forks of trees, and are always at
+home in rainy weather, and in the morning till nine o'clock. The remedy
+is to kill them. This is most effectually done by a sponge on the end of
+a pole, dipped in strong spirits of ammonia. Each one touched by it is
+instantly killed, and it is not difficult to reach them all. They may
+also be rubbed off with a brush or swab on the end of a pole, and
+burned. The principle is to get them off, web and all, and destroy them.
+This can always be effectually done, if attended to early in the season,
+and early in the morning. If any have been missed, and come out in
+insects to deposite more eggs, bonfires are most effectual. These
+should be made of shavings, in different parts of the orchard, and about
+the middle of June, earlier or later, according to latitude and season.
+The ends of twigs on which the eggs are laid in bunches of hundreds (see
+figure), may be cut off in the fall and destroyed. As this can be done
+with pruning-shears, it may be an economical method of destroying them.
+
+[Illustration: Caterpillar Eggs. Canker-worm Moths, Male and Female.]
+
+_Canker-worm._--The male moth has pale-ash colored wings, with a black
+dot, and is about an inch across. The female has no wings, is oval in
+form, dark-ash colored above, and gray underneath. These rise from the
+ground as early in spring as the frost is out. Some few rise in the
+fall. The females travel slowly up the body of the tree, while the
+winged males fly about to pair with them. Soon you may discover the eggs
+laid, always in rows, in forks of branches and among the young twigs.
+Every female lays nearly a hundred, and covers them over carefully with
+a transparent, waterproof glue. The eggs hatch from May 1st to June 1st,
+according to the latitude and season, and come out an ash-colored worm
+with a yellow stripe. They are very voracious, sometimes entirely
+stripping an orchard of its foliage. At the end of about four weeks
+they descend to the ground, to remain in a chrysalis state, about four
+inches below the surface, until the following spring. These worms are
+very destructive in some parts of New England, and have been already
+very annoying, as far west as Iowa. They will be likely to be
+transported all over the country on young trees. Many remedies are
+proposed, but to present them all is only to confuse. The best of
+anything is sufficient. We present two, for the benefit of two classes
+of persons. For all who have care enough to attend to it, the best
+remedy is to bind a handful of straw around the tree, two feet from the
+ground, tied on with one band, and the ends allowed to stand out from
+the tree. The females, who can not fly, but only ascend the trunk by
+crawling, will get up under the straw, and may easily be killed, by
+striking a covered mallet on the straw, and against the tree below the
+band. This should be attended to every day during the short season of
+their ascent, and all will be destroyed. Burn the straw about the last
+of May. But those who are too indolent or busy to do this often till
+their season is past, may melt India-rubber over a hot fire, and smear
+bandages of cloth or leather previously put tight around the tree. This
+will prevent the female moth from crossing and reaching the limbs. Tar
+is used, but India-rubber is better, as weather will not injure it as it
+will tar, so as to allow the moth to pass over. Put this on early and
+well, and let it remain till the last of May. But the first, the process
+of killing them, is far the best.
+
+_Gathering-and preserving._--All fruit, designed to be kept even for a
+few weeks, should be picked, and not shaken off, and laid, not dropped
+into a basket, and with equal care put into the barrels in which it is
+to be kept or transported. The barrel should be slightly shaken and
+filled entirely full. Let it stand open two days, to allow the fruit to
+sweat and throw off the excessive moisture. Then head up tight, and keep
+in a cool open shed until freezing weather; then keep where they can
+occasionally have good air, and in as cool a place as possible, without
+danger of freezing. Of all the methods of keeping apples on shelves,
+buried as potatoes, in various other articles, as chaff, sawdust, &c.,
+this is, on the whole, the best and cheapest. Wrapping the apples in
+paper before putting them into the barrels, may be an improvement.
+Apples gathered just before hard frosts, or as they are beginning to
+ripen, but before many have fallen from the trees, and packed as above,
+and the barrels laid on their sides in a good dry, dark cellar, where
+air can occasionally be admitted, can be kept in perfection from six to
+eight weeks, after the ordinary time for their decay. Apples for cider,
+or other immediate use, may be shaken off upon mats or blankets spread
+under the tree for that purpose. They are not quite so valuable, but it
+saves times in gathering.
+
+_Varieties_ are exceedingly numerous and uncertain. Cole estimates that
+two millions of varieties have been produced in the single state of
+Maine, and that thousands of kinds may there be found superior to those
+generally recommended in the fruit-books. The minute description of
+fruits is not of the least use to one out of ten thousand cultivators.
+The best pomologists differ in the names and descriptions of the various
+fruits. Some varieties have as many as twenty-five synonyms. Of what
+use, then, is the minute description of the hundred and seventy-seven
+varieties of Cole's American fruit-book, or of the vast numbers
+described by Downing, Elliott, Barry, and Hooper? The best pear we saw
+in Illinois could not be identified in Elliott's fruit-book by a
+practical fruit-grower. We had in our orchard in Ohio a single
+apple-tree, producing a large yield of one of the very best apples we
+ever saw; it was called Natural Beauty. We could not learn from the
+fruit-books what it was. We took it to an amateur cultivator of thirty
+years' experience, and he could not identify it. This is a fair view of
+the condition of the nomenclature of fruits. The London experimental
+gardens are doing much to systemize it, and the most scientific growers
+are congratulating them on their success. But it never can be any better
+than it is now. Varieties will increase more and more rapidly, and
+synonyms will be multiplied annually, and the modification of varieties
+by stocks, manures, climates, and location, will render it more and more
+confused.
+
+We can depend only upon our nurserymen to collect all improved
+varieties, and where we do not see the bearing-trees for ourselves,
+trust the nurseryman's description of the general qualities of fruit.
+Seldom, indeed, will a cultivator buy fruit-trees, and set out his
+orchard, and master the descriptions in the fruit-books, and after his
+trees come into bearing, minutely try them by all the marks to see
+whether he has been cheated, and, if so, take up the trees and put out
+others, to go the same round again, perhaps with no better success.
+Hence, if possible, let planters get trees from a nursery so near at
+hand that they may know the quality of the fruit of the trees from which
+the grafts are taken, get the most popular in their vicinity, and
+always secure a few scions from any extraordinary apple they may chance
+to taste. It is well, also, to deal only with the most honorable
+nurserymen. Remember that varieties will not do alike well in all
+localities. Many need acclimation. Every extensive cultivator should
+keep seedlings growing, with a view to new varieties, or modifications
+of old ones, adapted to his locality.
+
+We did think of describing minutely a few of the best varieties, adapted
+to the different seasons of the year. But we can see no advantage it
+would be to the great mass of cultivators, for whom this book is
+designed. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with those descriptions
+will purchase some of the best fruit-books. We shall content ourselves
+with giving the lists, recommended by the best authority, for different
+sections, followed by a general description of the _qualities_ of a few
+of the best. Downing's lists are the following:--
+
+APPLES FOR MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN STATES, RIPENING
+IN SUCCESSION.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Vandevere of New York.
+  Red Astrachan.               Jonathan.
+  Early Strawberry.            Melon.
+  Summer Rose.                 Yellow Bellflower.
+  William's Favorite.          Domine.
+  Primate.                     American Golden Russet.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Cogswell.
+  Garden Royal.                Peck's Pleasant.
+  Jefferis.                    Wagener.
+  Porter.                      Rhode Island Greening.
+  Jersey Sweet.                King of Tompkins County.
+  Large Yellow Bough.          Swaar.
+                               Baldwin.
+  Gravenstein.                 Lady Apple.
+  Maiden's Blush.              Ladies' Sweet.
+  Autumn Sweet Bough.          Red Canada.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Newtown Pippin.
+  Mother.                      Boston Russet.
+  Smokehouse.                  Northern Spy.
+  Rambo.                       Wine Sap.
+  Esopus Spitzenburg.
+
+APPLES FOR THE NORTH.
+
+  Red Astrachan.               Fameuse.
+  Early Sweet Bough.           Pomme Gris.
+  Saps of Wine or Bell's       Canada Reinette.
+    Early.                     Yellow Bellflower.
+  Golden Sweet.                Golden Ball.
+  William's Favorite.          St. Lawrence.
+  Porter.                      Jewett's Fine Red.
+  Dutchess of Oldenburgh.      Rhode Island Greening.
+  Keswick Codlin.              Baldwin.
+  Hawthornden.                 Winthrop Greening.
+  Gravenstein.                 Danvers Winter-Sweet.
+  Mother.                      Ribston Pippin.
+  Tolman Sweet.                Roxberry Russet.
+
+APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES,
+
+Made up from the contributions of twenty different cultivators, from
+five Western states.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Domine.
+  Carolina Red June.           Swaar.
+  Red Astrachan.               Westfield Seek-no-further.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Broadwell.
+  Sweet June.                  Vandevere of New York, or
+                               Newtown Spitzenburg.
+  Large Sweet Bough.           Ortly, or White Bellflower.
+  Summer Queen.                Yellow Bellflower.
+  Maiden's Blush.              White Pippin.
+  Keswick Codlin.              American Golden Russet.
+  Fall Wine.                   Herfordshire Pearmain.
+  Rambo.                       White Pearmain.
+  Belmont.                     Wine Sap.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Rawle's Janet.
+  Fameuse.                     Red Canada.
+  Jonathan.                    Willow Twig.
+  Tolman Sweet.
+
+APPLES FOR THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Nickajack.
+  Carolina Juice.              Maverack's Sweet.
+  Red Astrachan.               Batchelor or King.
+  Gravenstein.                 Buff.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Shockley.
+  Julian.                      Ben Davis.
+  Mangum.                      Hall.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Mallecarle.
+  Maiden's Blush.              Horse.
+  Summer Rose.                 Bonum.
+  Porter.                      Large Striped Pearmain.
+  Rambo.                       Rawle's Janet.
+  Large Early Bough.           Disharoon.
+  Fall Queen, or Ladies'       Meigs.
+    Favorite.                  Cullasaga.
+  Oconee Greening.             Camack's Sweet.
+
+Some varieties are included in all these lists, showing that the best
+cultivators regard some of our finest apples as adapted to all parts of
+the country. A careful comparison of Hooper's lists, as recommended by
+the best Western cultivators, whose names are there mentioned, will show
+that they name the same best varieties, with a few additions.
+
+We have carefully examined the varieties recommended by Ernst, by
+Kirtland and Elliott, by Barry, and by the national convention of
+fruit-growers, and find a general agreement on the main varieties. There
+are some differences of opinion, but they are minor. They have left out
+some of Downing's list, and added some, as a matter of course. All this
+only goes to show the established character of our main varieties. Out
+of all these, select a dozen of those named, in most of the lists, and
+you will have all that ever need be cultivated for profit. The best six
+might be still better. Yet, in your localities, you will find good ones
+not named in the books, and new ones will be constantly rising.
+
+Downing adds that "Newtown Pippin does not succeed generally at the
+West, yet in some locations they are very fine. Rhode Island Greening
+and Baldwin generally fail in many sections, while in others they are
+excellent."
+
+Now, it is contrary to all laws of vegetation and climate, that a given
+fruit should be good in one county and useless in the next, if they have
+an equal chance in each place. A suitable preparation of the soil, in
+supplying, in the specific manures, what it may lack, getting scions
+from equally healthy trees, and grafting upon healthy apple-seedling
+stocks--observing our principles of acclimation--_and not one of our
+best apples will fail, in any part of North America_.
+
+On a given parallel of latitude, a man may happen to plant a tree upon a
+fine calcareous soil, and it does well. Another chances to plant one
+upon a soil of a different character, and it does not succeed. It is
+then proclaimed that fruit succeeds well in one locality, and is useless
+in another near by and in the same latitude. The truth is, had the
+latter supplied calcareous substances to his deficient soil, as he might
+easily have done, in bones, plaster, lime, &c., the fruit would have
+done equally well in both cases. We should like to see this subject
+discussed, as it never has been in any work that has come under our
+observation. It would redeem many a section from a bad reputation for
+fruit-growing, and add much to the luxuries of thousands of our
+citizens. Apples can be successfully and profitably grown on every farm
+of arable land in North America. We present, in the following cuts, a
+few of our best apples, in their usual size and form. Some are
+contracted for the want of room on the page. We shall describe a few
+varieties, in our opinion the best of any grown in this country. These
+are all that need be cultivated, and may be adapted to all localities.
+We lay aside all technical terms in our description, which we give, not
+for purposes of identification, but to show their true value for
+profitable culture. The quality of fruit, habits of the tree, and time
+of maturity, are all that are necessary, for any practical purpose.
+
+NICKAJACK.--_Synonyms_--Wonder, Summerour.
+
+Origin, North Carolina. Tree vigorous, and a constant prolific bearer.
+Fruit large, skin yellowish, shaded land striped with crimson, and
+sprinkled with lightish dots. Yellowish flesh, fine subacid flavor.
+Tender, crisp, and juicy. Season, November to April.
+
+BALDWIN.--_Synonyms_--Late Baldwin, Woodpecker, Pecker, Steele's Red
+Winter.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Stands at the head of all apples, in the Boston market. Fruit large and
+handsome. Tree hardy, and an abundant bearer. It is of the family of
+Esopus Spitzenburg. Yellowish white flesh, crisp and beautiful flavor,
+from a mingling of the acid and saccharine. Season, from November to
+March. On some rich western soils, it is disposed to bitter rot, which
+may be easily prevented, by application to the soil of lime and potash.
+
+CANADA RED.--_Synonyms_--Old Nonsuch, Richfield Nonsuch, Steele's Red
+Winter.
+
+An old fruit in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tree not a great grower,
+but a profuse bearer. Good in Ohio, Michigan, and other Western states.
+Retains its fine flavor to the last. January to May.
+
+BELLFLOWER.--_Synonyms_--Yellow Bellflower, Lady Washington, Yellow
+Belle-fleur.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit very large, pale lemon yellow, with a blush in the sun. Subacid,
+juicy, crisp flesh. Tree vigorous, regular and excellent bearer. Season,
+November to March. Highly valuable.
+
+EARLY HARVEST.--_Synonyms_--Early French Reinette, Prince's Harvest,
+July Pippin, Yellow Harvest, Large White Juneating, Tart Bough.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The best early apple. Bright straw color. Subacid, white, tender, juicy,
+and crisp. Equally good for cooking and the dessert. Season, the whole
+month of July in central New York; earlier south, and later north, as of
+all other varieties.
+
+RED ASTRACHAN.--Brought to England from Sweden in 1816. One of the most
+beautiful apples in the whole list. Fruit very large, and very smooth
+and fair. Color deep crimson, with a little greenish yellow in the shade
+and occasionally a little russet near the stalk. Flesh white and crisp,
+rich acid flavor. Gather as soon as nearly ripe, or it will become
+mealy. Abundant bearer. July and August.
+
+ESOPUS SPITZENBURG.--_Synonym_--True Spitzenburg.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Large, fine flavored, lively red fruit. It is everywhere well known, as
+one of the very best apples ever cultivated, both for cooking and the
+desert. December to February, and often good even into April. A very
+great bearer.
+
+KING OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.--_Synonym_--King Apple.
+
+This is an abundant annual bearer. Skin rather yellowish, shaded with
+red and striped with crimson. Flesh rather coarse, but juicy and tender,
+with a very agreeable vinous aromatic flavor. One of the best. December
+and March.
+
+RHODE ISLAND GREENING.--_Synonyms_--Burlington Greening, Jersey
+Greening, Hampshire Greening.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A universal favorite, everywhere known. Acid, lively, aromatic,
+excellent alike for the dessert and kitchen. Great bearer. November to
+March. It is said to fail on some rich alluvial soils at the West. Avoid
+root grafting, and apply the specific manures, and we will warrant it
+everywhere.
+
+BONUM.--_Synonym_--Magnum Bonum.
+
+From North Carolina. Fruit large, from light to dark red. Flesh yellow,
+subacid, rich, and delicious. Tree hardy, vigorous, and an early and
+abundant bearer.
+
+AMERICAN GOLDEN RUSSET.--_Synonyms_--Sheep Nose, Golden Russet,
+Bullock's Pippin, Little Pearmain.
+
+The English Golden Russet is a variety cultivated in this country, but
+much inferior to the above. The fruit is small, but melting juicy, with
+a very pleasant flavor. It is one of the most regular and abundant
+bearers known. Tree hardy and thrifty. October to January. We know from
+raising and using it at the West, that it is one of the very best.
+
+PIPPIN, FALL.--Confounded with Holland Pippin and several other
+varieties.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A noble fruit, unsurpassed by any other autumn apple. Very large,
+equally adapted to table and kitchen. Fine yellow, when fully ripe, with
+a few dots. Flesh is white, mellow, and richly aromatic. October and
+December. A fair bearer, though not so great as many others.
+
+NEWTOWN PIPPIN.--_Synonyms_--Green Newtown Pippin, Green Winter Pippin,
+American Newtown Pippin, Petersburg Pippin.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is put down as the first of all apples. It commands the highest
+price, in the London market. It keeps long without the least shriveling
+or loss of flavor. Fruit medium size, olive green, with small gray
+specks. Flesh greenish white, juicy, crisp, and of an exceedingly
+delicious flavor. _The best keeping apple_, good for eating from
+December to May.
+
+The yellow pippin, is another variety nearly as good.
+
+PORTER.--A Massachusetts fruit, very fair; a very great bearer. Is a
+favorite in Boston. Deserves general cultivation. September and into
+October.
+
+SMOKEHOUSE.--_Synonyms_--Mill Creek Vandevere, English Vandevere.
+
+An old variety from Pennsylvania, where the original tree grew by a
+gentleman's smoke-house; hence its name. Skin yellow, shaded with
+crimson, sprinkled with large gray or brown dots. September to February.
+One of the very best for cooking.
+
+RAMBO.--_Synonyms_--Romanite, Bread and cheese apple, Seek-no-further.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is a great fall apple. Medium size, flat, yellowish white in the
+shade, and marbled with pale yellow and red in the sun, and speckled
+with large rough dots. Flesh greenish white, rich, subacid. October to
+December.
+
+CANADA REINETTE.--This has ten synonyms in Europe, which indicates its
+popularity. In this country it is known only under the above name. Fruit
+of the very largest size. A good bearer. The quality is in all respects
+good. Lively, subacid flavor. December to April, unless allowed to hang
+on the tree too long. Pick early in the fall.
+
+ROME BEAUTY.--_Synonyms_--Roman Beauty, Gillett's Seedling.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit large, yellow, ground shaded, and striped with red, and sprinkled
+with little dots. Flesh yellowish, juicy, tender, subacid. Bears every
+year a great crop of very large showy apples. It is not superior in
+flesh or flavor, but keeps and sells very well. Always must be very
+profitable, and hence very popular.
+
+AUTUMN SWEET BOUGH.--_Synonyms_--Late Bough, Fall Bough, Summer Bell
+Flower, Philadelphia Sweet.
+
+Tree very vigorous and productive. Fruit medium. Skin smooth, pale
+yellow with a few brown dots. Flesh white, tender, sweet vinous flavor.
+One of the best dessert sweet apples. August and October.
+
+WESTFIELD SEEK-NO-FURTHER.--_Synonyms_--Seek-no-further, Red Winter
+Pearmain, Connecticut Seek-no-further.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit large, pale dull red, sprinkled with obscure russety yellow dots.
+Flesh white, tender and fine-grained. On all accounts good. October to
+February according to Downing. Elliott says from December to February.
+But the doctors often disagree. So you had better eat your apples when
+they are good, whether it be October or December, or according to
+Downing, Elliott, or Hooper.
+
+RIBSTON PIPPIN.--_Synonyms_--Glory of York, Travers', Formosa Pippin,
+Rock hill's Russet.
+
+This occupies as high a place in England, as any other apple. In this
+country, two or three others, as Baldwin and Newtown Pippin, are more
+highly esteemed. This is most successfully grown in the colder parts of
+the United States and Canada. Fruit medium, deep yellow, firm, crisp;
+flavor sharp aromatic. November to April.
+
+NORTHERN SPY.--This is a new American variety, with no synonyms. It
+originated near Rochester, N. Y.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There is not a better dessert apple known. It retains its exceedingly
+pleasant juiciness, and excellent flavor from January to June. In
+western New York, they have been carried to the harvest field, in July
+in excellent condition. A fair bearer of beautiful fruit. Subacid with a
+peculiar freshness of flavor. Dark stripes of purplish red in the sun,
+but a greenish pale yellow in the shade. High culture and an open top
+for admission of the sun, affects the fruit more favorably than any
+other.
+
+ROXBURY RUSSET.--_Synonyms_--Boston Russet, Putnam Russet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+An excellent fruit, and prodigious bearer. Medium size, flesh greenish
+white, rather juicy, and subacid. Good in January, and one of the best
+in market in June.
+
+There are other russets of larger size, but much inferior. This should
+be in every collection. It is not first in richness and flavor, but it
+is superior to most in productiveness, and is one of the best keepers.
+
+LARGE YELLOW BOUGH.--_Synonyms_--Early Sweet Bough, Sweet Harvest,
+Bough.
+
+No harvest-apple equals this, except the EARLY HARVEST. Excellent for
+the dessert, but rather sweet for pies and sauce. Fruit above medium.
+Tree a moderate grower, but a profuse bearer. Flesh white and very
+tender. Very sweet and sprightly. July and August. Should have a place,
+even in a small collection.
+
+SWAAR.--One of the best American fruits. Its name in Dutch, where it
+originated on the Hudson River, means heavy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit is large, and when fully ripe, of a dead gold color, dotted with
+many brown specks. Flesh yellowish, fine grained, and tender. Flavor
+aromatic and exceedingly rich. Bears good crops. December to March.
+
+WINESAP.--This is one of the best apples for cider, and good also for
+the table and kitchen. Fruit hangs long on the tree without injury. It
+is very productive, and does well on a variety of soils. Very fine in
+the West. Yellow flesh, very firm, and high flavored. November to May.
+Deservedly, a very popular orchard variety.
+
+MAIDEN'S BLUSH.--A comparatively new variety from New Jersey. Remarkably
+beautiful. Admired as a dessert fruit, and equally good for the kitchen
+and for drying. Clear lemon yellow, with a blush cheek, sometimes a
+brilliant red cheek. Rapid growing tree, with a fine spreading head,
+bearing most abundantly. August and October.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+LADIES' SWEETING.--The finest sweet apple, for dessert in winter, that
+has yet been produced. Skin smooth and nearly covered with red, in the
+sun. Flesh is greenish white, very tender, juicy, and crisp. Without any
+shriveling or loss of flavor, it keeps till May. So good a winter and
+spring sweet apple is a desideratum in any orchard or garden.
+
+The foregoing are all that any practical cultivator will need. Most will
+select from our list, perhaps half a dozen, which will be all they wish
+to cultivate. From our descriptions, which are not designed to enable
+planters to identify the varieties, but to ascertain their qualities,
+any one can select such as he prefers. And they are so generally known,
+that there will be but little danger of getting varieties, different
+from those ordered.
+
+We subjoin, from Hooker's excellent Western Fruit-Book, the following--
+
+
+LIST OF APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES.
+
+"The following list," says Hooker, "contains a catalogue of the most
+popular varieties of apples, recommended by various pomological
+societies of the United States for the Western states." These varieties
+can be obtained of all respectable nurserymen. The list may be of use to
+some cultivators in the different states mentioned. The general
+qualities of the best of these will be found in our descriptions under
+the cuts:--
+
+_Baldwin._--Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Roxbury Russet._--Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Rhode Island Greening._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Swaar._--Ohio, Illinois, Michigan.
+
+_Esopus Spitzenburg._--Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio.
+
+_Early Harvest._--Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
+Iowa.
+
+_Sweet Bough._--Illinois, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio.
+
+_Summer Rose._--Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Fall Pippin._--Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Belmont._--Michigan, Ohio.
+
+_Golden Sweet._--Missouri.
+
+_Red Astrachan._--Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Jonathan._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+_Early Strawberry._--Ohio.
+
+_Danvers Winter Sweet._--Ohio.
+
+_American Summer Pearmain._--Illinois.
+
+_Maiden Blush._--Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Porter._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+_Gravenstein._--Ohio.
+
+_Vandevere._--Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Yellow Bellflower._--Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri,
+Illinois.
+
+_Fameuse._--Illinois.
+
+_Newtown Pippin._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Rambo._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Smokehouse._--Virginia, Indiana.
+
+_Fallawalden._--Ohio.
+
+_Golden Russet._--Ohio, Illinois.
+
+_Wine Sap._--Ohio, Illinois.
+
+_White Bellflower._--Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Holland Pippin._--Michigan, Missouri, Indiana.
+
+_Raule's Janet._--Iowa, Virginia, Illinois.
+
+_Lady Apple._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+For the value of these varieties, in the states mentioned, you have the
+authority of the best pomological societies. The several states are
+mentioned so frequently, that it will be seen that most of them are
+adapted to all the states. Attend to acclimation and manure, and guard
+against insects, and they will all flourish, in all parts of the West
+and of the Union.
+
+
+APRICOT.
+
+This is a fruit about half-way between a peach and a plum. The stone is
+like the plum, and the flesh rather more like the peach. It is esteemed,
+principally, because it comes earlier in the season than anything else
+of the kind.
+
+It is used as a dessert-fruit, for preserving, drying, and various
+purposes in cookery. It does well on plum-stock, and best in good deep,
+moist loam, manured as the peach and plum. The best varieties produce
+their like from the seed. Seedlings are more hardy than any grafted
+trees. Grafts on plums are much better than on the peach. The latter
+seldom produce good hardy, thrifty trees, although many persist in
+trying them. The apricot is a favorite tree for espalier training
+against walls and fences, in small yards, where it bears luxuriantly. It
+also makes a good handsome standard tree for open cultivation.
+
+It is as much exposed to depredations from curculio as the plum, and
+must be treated in the same way. Cultivation same as peach. It produces
+its fruit, like the peach, only on wood of the previous year's growth;
+hence it must be pruned like the peach. Especially must it be headed in
+well, to secure the best crop.
+
+_Varieties_ are quite numerous, a few of which only deserve
+cultivation. Any of the nine following varieties are good:--
+
+BROWN'S EARLY.--Yellow, with red cheek. A very productive, great grower.
+
+NEWHALL'S EARLY.--Bright-orange color, with deep-red cheek. A good
+cling-stone variety, every way worthy of cultivation.
+
+MOORPARK.--Yellow, with ruddy cheek. An enormous bearer, though of slow
+growth. It is a freestone variety of English origin, and needing a
+little protection in our colder latitudes.
+
+DUBOIS' EARLY GOLDEN.--Color, pale-orange. Very hardy and productive. In
+1846, the original tree at Fishkill, N. Y., bore ninety dollars' worth
+of fruit.
+
+LARGE EARLY.--Orange, but red in the sun. An excellent, early,
+productive variety.
+
+HEMSKIRKE.--Bright-orange, with red cheek. An English variety, vigorous
+tree, and good bearer.
+
+PEACH.--Yellow, with deep-brown on the sun-side. An excellent French
+variety.
+
+BREDA.--Deep-orange, with blush spots in the sun. A vigorous,
+productive, African variety.
+
+ROMAN.--Pale-yellow, with occasionally red dots. Good for northern
+latitudes.
+
+From these, planters may select those that best suit their localities
+and fancy. They are a little liable to be frost-bitten in the blossoms,
+as they bloom very early. Otherwise they are always very productive.
+They are ornamental, both in the leaf and in the blossom. Eaten plain,
+before thoroughly ripe, they are not healthy; otherwise, harmless and
+delicious. Every garden should have half a dozen.
+
+
+ARTICHOKE.
+
+There are two plants known by this name. The Jerusalem artichoke, so
+called, not from Jerusalem in Palestine, but a corruption of the Italian
+name which signifies the tuber-rooted sunflower. The tubers are only
+used for pickling. They make a very indigestible pickle, and the plant
+is injurious to the garden, so they had better not be raised.
+
+The artichoke proper grows something like a thistle, bearing certain
+heads, that, at a particular stage of their growth, are fine for food.
+
+The soil should be prepared as for asparagus, only fifteen inches deep
+will do well. The plot of ground should be where the water will not
+stand on it at any time in the winter, as it will on most level gardens.
+This will kill the roots. When a new bed is made with slips from old
+plants, carefully separate vigorous shoots, remove superfluous leaves,
+plant five inches deep in rows five feet apart, and two feet apart in
+the rows. Keep very clean of weeds. The first year, some pretty good,
+though not full-sized heads will be produced. Plant fresh beds each
+year, and you will have good heads from July to November. Small heads
+will grow out along the stalk like the sunflower. Remove most of these
+small ones when they are about the size of hens' eggs, and the others
+will grow large. When the scales begin to diverge, but before the
+blossoms come out, is the time to cut them for use. Lay brush over them
+to prevent suffocation, and cover with straw in winter, to protect from
+severest cold. Too much warmth, however, is more injurious than frost.
+
+Spring-dress much like asparagus. Remove from each plant all the stocks
+but two or three of the best. Those removed are good for a new bed. A
+bed, properly made, will last four or five years.
+
+To save seed, bend down a few good heads, so as to prevent water from
+standing in them; tie them to a stake, until the seed is matured. But,
+like Early York cabbage, imported seed is better. The usual way of
+serving them is, the full heads boiled. In Italy the small heads are cut
+up, with oil, salt, and pepper. This vegetable would be a valuable
+accession to American kitchen gardens.
+
+
+ASHES.
+
+Are one of the best applications to the soil, for almost all plants.
+Leeched ashes are a valuable manure, but not equal to unleached. Few
+articles about a house or farm should be saved with greater care. Be as
+choice of them as of your small change. They are worth three times as
+much on the land as they can be sold for other purposes. On corn, at
+first hoeing, they are nearly equal to plaster. On onions and vines,
+they promote the growth and keep off the insects. Sprinkle on dry, when
+plants are damp, but not too wet. Do not put wet ashes on plants, or
+water while the ashes are on. It will kill them. Mix ashes and plaster
+with other manures, and their power will be greatly increased. Mixed in
+manure of hot-beds, they accelerate the heat. On sour land they are
+equal to lime for correcting the acidity.
+
+
+ASPARAGUS.
+
+This is a universal favorite in the vegetable garden. By the application
+of sand and compost, the soil should be kept loose, to allow the sprouts
+to spring easily from the crowns. Propagation is best effected by seed,
+transplanting after one year's growth. Older roots divided and
+transplanted are of some value, but not equal to young roots, nor will
+they last as long.
+
+_Preparation of the soil_ for an asparagus-bed is most important to
+success. Dig a trench on one edge of the plat designed for the bed, and
+the length of it, eighteen inches wide and two feet deep. Put in the
+bottom one foot of good barn-yard manure, and tread down. Then spade
+eighteen inches more, by the side of and as deep as the other, throwing
+the soil upon the manure in the trench. Fill with manure and proceed as
+before, and so until the whole plat has been trenched; then wheel the
+earth from the first ditch to the other side and fill into the last
+trench, thus making all level. If there is danger that water will stand
+in the bottom, drain by a blind ditch. If this is objected to as too
+expensive, let it be remembered that such a bed, with a little annual
+top-dressing, will be good for twenty years, which is the age at which
+asparagus-plants begin to deteriorate; then a new bed should be ready to
+take its place.
+
+_Planting._--Mark the plat into beds five feet wide, leaving paths two
+feet wide between them. In each bed put four rows lengthwise, which will
+be just fifteen inches apart, and set plants fifteen inches apart in the
+row. Dig a trench six inches wide and six inches deep for each row; put
+an inch of rich mould in the bottom; set the plants on the mould, with
+the roots spread naturally, with the ends pointing a little downward. Be
+very particular about the position of the roots. Fill the trench, and
+round it up a little with well-mixed soil and fine manure. The bed is
+then perfect, and will improve for many years.
+
+_After-Culture._--In the fall, after the frost has killed the stalks,
+cut them down and burn them on the bed. Cover the bed with fine rotted
+manure, to the depth of two inches, and one half-bushel salt to each
+square rod. As soon as frost is out in spring, with a fork work the
+top-dressing into the soil to the depth of four inches, and stir the
+soil to the depth of eight inches between the rows, using care not to
+touch the crowns of the roots with the fork.
+
+_Cutting_ should never be performed until the third year. Set out the
+plants when one year old, let them grow one year in the bed, and the
+next year they will be fit to cut. Cut all the shoots at a suitable age,
+up to the last days of June. The shoots should be regularly cut just
+below the surface, when they are four or six inches high. If you are
+tempted to cut after the 25th of June, leave two or three thrifty shoots
+to each root, to grow up for seed, or you will weaken the plants, and
+they will die in winter. This is the reason why so many vacancies are
+seen in many asparagus beds. This plant may be forced in hotbeds, so as
+to yield an abundance of good shoots long before they will start in the
+open air, affording an early luxury to those who can afford it.
+
+This vegetable is equal or superior to green peas, and by taking all the
+pains recommended above, in the beginning, an abundance can be raised
+for twenty years, on the same bed, at a very trifling cost. Early
+radishes and other vegetables can be raised, between the rows, without
+any harm to the asparagus.
+
+
+BALM.
+
+This is a medicinal plant, very useful, and easily raised. A strong
+infusion of the leaves, drank freely for some time by a nervous,
+hypochondriacal person, is, perhaps, better than any other medicine. It
+is also good in flatulency and fevers.
+
+Its _propagation_ is by slips or roots. It is perennial, affording a
+supply for many years. Gather just as the blossoms are appearing, and
+dry quickly in a slow oven, or in the shade. Press and do up in white
+papers, and keep in a tight, dry drawer, until needed for use.
+
+
+BARBERRY.
+
+[Illustration: Barberries.]
+
+A prickly shrub, from five to ten feet high, growing wild in this
+country and in Europe, on poor, hard soils, or in moist situations, by
+walls, stones, or fences.
+
+Its _propagation_ is by seeds, suckers, or offshoots.
+
+This shrub is used for jellies, tarts, pickles, &c. Preserves made of
+equal parts of barberry and sweet apples, or outer-part of fine
+water-melons, are very superior. It is also one of the best shrubs for
+hedge.
+
+The bark has much of the tannin principle, and with the wood, is used
+for coloring yellow. Shrub, blossoms, and fruit, are quite ornamental,
+forming a beautiful hedge, but rather inclined to spread. Will do well
+on any land and in any situation. The discussion in New England about
+its blasting contiguous fields of grain, is about as sensible as the old
+witchcraft mania. Every garden should have two or three.
+
+
+BARLEY.
+
+Does best on land which was hoed the previous year. If properly tilled,
+such land is rich, free from weeds, and easily pulverized. Sod, plowed
+deep in the fall, rolled early in the spring, well harrowed, the seed
+sown and harrowed in, and all rolled level, will produce a good crop.
+Two bushels of seed should be sowed on an acre, unless the land be very
+rich; in that case, one half-bushel less. Essential to a good crop is
+rain about the time of heading and filling. Hence early sowing is always
+surest. In many parts of the country it is of little use to sow barley,
+unless it be gotten in VERY EARLY. In not more than one season in twelve
+can you get a good crop of barley from late sowing in all the middle and
+western states. Barley is more favorably affected than any other grain,
+by soaking twenty-four hours before sowing, and mixing with dry ashes. A
+weak solution of nitre is best for soaking the seed.
+
+_Varieties_ are two, four, and six rowed. The two-rowed grows the
+tallest, and is most conveniently harvested. It is controverted whether
+the six-rowed variety yields the largest crop to the acre. If the
+weather be dry, and the worms attack the young plants, rolling when two
+or three inches high, with a heavy roller, will save and increase the
+crop. Rolling is a great help to the harvesting, as it levels the
+surface.
+
+_Harvesting_ should always be attended to just as it turns, but by all
+means before the straw becomes dry. If it stands up, cut with cradle or
+reaper, and bind. If lodged, cut with a scythe, and cure in small cocks
+like clover. Standing until very ripe, or lying scattered until quite
+dry, is very wasteful.
+
+_Products_ are all the way from fifteen to seventy bushels to the acre,
+according to season and cultivation. Reasonable care will secure an
+average annual crop of forty-five or fifty bushels per acre, which makes
+it a profitable crop while the demand continues. It is a good crop for
+ground feed for all animals, the beards being a little troublesome when
+fed whole. The straw is one of the very best for animals. Barley
+requires the use of the land only ninety days, leaving it in good
+condition for fall-grain.
+
+_Used_ for malting, and for food for men and beasts. It makes handsome
+flour and good bread. Hulled, it is a better article of food than rice.
+
+It succeeds well on land not stiff and tenacious enough for wheat, or
+moist and cool enough for oats. If farmers should raise only for malt,
+the nation would become drunk and poor on beer, and the market would be
+ruined. But raised as food, it is one of the most profitable
+agricultural products.
+
+
+BARNS.
+
+A barn should always front the north. The yard for stock should be on
+the south side, with tight fences for protection on the east and west.
+As this is designed for winter use, it is a great saving of comfort to
+the creatures. The barn-yard should be hollowed out by excavation, until
+four or five feet lower in the centre than on the edges. The border
+should be nearly level, inclining slightly toward the centre, to allow
+the liquid in the yard to run into it for purposes of manure. The front
+of a barn should be on the summit of a small rise of ground, to allow
+water to run away from the door, to prevent mud. In hilly countries it
+is very convenient to build barns by hills, so as to allow hay and grain
+to be drawn in near the top, and be thrown down, instead of being
+pitched up. These general principles are sufficient for all ordinary
+barns. Those who are able to build expensive barns had better build them
+circular, eight or sixteen square, and one hundred feet in diameter--the
+lower part, to top of stable, of stone. Let the stable extend all around
+next to the wall, and a floor over the stable, that teams may be driven
+all around to pitch into the bays, and upon the mows and scaffolds, at
+every point. Thus teams may go round and out the door at which they
+entered. Such a floor will accommodate several teams at the same time.
+The cellar should be in the centre, surrounded by the stable. Such a
+cellar would never freeze, and would hold roots enough for one hundred
+head of cattle, which the stable would easily accommodate. Let the
+mangers be around next the cellar, for convenience of feeding. Such a
+barn would be more convenient for a dairy of one hundred cows, or for
+winter-fattening of cattle, than any other form. It would cost no more
+than many barns in western New York that are not half as convenient.
+
+
+BEANS.
+
+These are divided into two classes--pole and bush beans. They are
+subdivided into many varieties. We omit the English, or horse-bean, as
+being less valuable, for any purpose, than our well-known beans or peas.
+Pole beans are troublesome to raise, and are only grown on account of
+excellence of quality, and to have successive gatherings from the same
+vines. Pole beans are only used for horticultural purposes.
+
+_Field-Beans._--For general culture there are three varieties of
+white--small, medium, and large. Of all known beans, we prefer the
+medium white. The China bean, white with a red face, is an early
+variety. All ripen nearly at the same time. It cooks almost as soon as a
+potato, and is good for the table; but it is less productive, and less
+saleable because not wholly white. For planting among corn, as for a
+very late crop, this bean is valuable, because it matures in so short a
+time. Good beans may be raised among corn, without injury to the
+corn-crop. This can only be done when it is designed to cultivate the
+corn but one way. Many fail in attempts to grow beans among corn, by
+planting them at first hoeing. The corn, having so much the start, will
+shade the beans and nearly destroy them. But plant at the same time of
+the corn, and they will mature before the corn will shade them much, and
+not be in the way even of the ordinary crop of pumpkins. But
+double-cropping land in this way, at any time, is of very doubtful
+utility. A separate plat of ground for each crop, in nearly all cases,
+is the most economical. To raise a good crop of beans, prepare the soil
+as thoroughly as for any other crop. Beans will mature on land so poor
+and hard as to be almost worthless for other crops. But a rich, mellow
+soil is as good for beans as anything else, though not so indispensable.
+Drill in with a planter as near together as possible, and allow a
+cultivator to pass between them. One bushel to the acre on ordinary
+land, and three fourths of a bushel on very rich land, is about the
+quantity of seed requisite. Hoe and cultivate them while young. Late
+cultivation is useless--more so than on most other crops. Beans should
+not be much hilled in hoeing, and should never be worked when wet. All
+plants with a rough stalk, like the bean, potato, and vine, are greatly
+injured, sometimes ruined, by having the earth stirred around them when
+they are wet, or even damp. Beans are usually pulled; this should be
+done when the latest pods are full-grown, but not dry. Place them in
+small bunches on the ground with the roots up. If the weather be dry,
+they need not be moved until time to draw them in. If the weather be
+damp, they should be stacked loosely in small stacks around poles, and
+covered with straw on the top, to shed rain. Always haul in when very
+dry. Avoid stacking if possible, for they are always wasted rapidly by
+moving. In drawing in, keep the rack under them covered with blankets to
+save those that shell.
+
+In pulling beans, be sure and take hold below the pods, otherwise the
+pods will crack; and although no harm appears then to be done, yet, when
+they dry, every pod that has been squeezed by pulling, will turn wrong
+side out, and the contents be wasted. If your beans are part ripe and
+the remainder green, and it is necessary to pull them to save the early
+ones, or guard against frost, when the ripe ones are dry, thrash them
+lightly. This will shell all the ripe ones, and none of the green ones.
+Put the straw upon a scaffold and thrash again in winter. Thus you will
+save all, and have beautiful beans. Bean-straw should always be kept dry
+for sheep in winter; it is equal to hay.
+
+_Garden-Beans._--There are many varieties, a few of which only should be
+cultivated. Having the best, there is no object in raising an inferior
+quality.
+
+The best early string-bean is the Early Mohawk; it will stand a pretty
+smart spring-frost without injury; comes early, and is good. Early
+Yellow, Early Black, and Quaker, or dun-colored, are also early and
+good.
+
+Refugee, or Thousand-to-one, are the best string-beans known; have a
+round, crisp, full, succulent pod; come as soon as the Mohawks are out
+of the way; and are very productive. Planted in August, they are
+excellent until frost; the very best for pickling. For an early
+shell-bean we recommend the China red-face; the white kidney and
+numerous other varieties are less certain and productive.
+
+_Running Beans_ are numerous. The true Lima, very large, greenish, when
+ripe and dry, is the richest bean known; is nearly as good in winter,
+cooked in the same way, as when shelled green. They are very productive,
+continuing in blossom till killed by frost. In warm countries they grow
+for years, making a tree, or growing like a large grapevine.
+
+The London Horticultural--called also Speckled Cranberry, and Wild
+Goose--is a very rich variety. The only objection is the difficulty of
+shelling; one only can be removed at once, because of the tenderness of
+the pod. The Carolina or butter bean often passes for the Lima. It has
+similar pods, the bean is of similar shape, but always white, instead of
+greenish like the Lima, and smaller, earlier, and of inferior quality.
+The Scarlet Runner, formerly only grown as an ornament on account of its
+great profusion of scarlet blossoms continuing until frost, is a very
+productive variety; pods very large and very succulent, making an
+excellent string-bean; a rich variety when dry, but objectionable on
+account of their dark color. The Red and the White Cranberries, Dutch
+Caseknife, and many other varieties, have good qualities, but are
+inferior to those mentioned above. Beans may be forwarded in hotbeds, by
+planting on sods six inches square, put bottom-up on the hotbed, and
+covered with fine mould; plant four beans on each sod; when frost is
+gone, remove the sod in the hill beside the pole, previously set, leave
+only two pole-beans to grow in a hill; they will always produce more
+than a greater number. A shrub six feet high, with the branches on, is
+better than a pole for any running bean; nearly twice as many will grow
+on a bush as on a pole. Use a crowbar for setting poles, or drive a
+stake down first, and set poles very deep, or they will blow down and
+destroy the beans.
+
+
+BEES AND BEEHIVES.
+
+The study of the honey-bee has been pursued with interest from remote
+ages. A work on bees, by De Montfort, published at Antwerp in 1649,
+estimates the number of treatises on this subject, before his time, at
+between five and six hundred. As that was two hundred and eight years
+ago, the number has probably increased to two thousand or more. We have
+some knowledge of the character of these early works, as far back as
+Democritus, four hundred and sixty years before the Christian era. The
+great men of antiquity gave particular attention to study and writing on
+the honey-bee.--Among them we notice Aristotle, Plato, Columella, Pliny,
+and Virgil. At a later period, we have Huber, Swammerdam, Warder,
+Wildman, _&c._ In our own day, we have Huish, Miner, Quinby, Weeks,
+Richardson, Langstroth, and a host of others. For the first two thousand
+years from the date of these works, the bee was treated mainly as a
+curious insect, rather than as a source of profit and luxury to man. And
+although Palestine was eulogized as a land flowing with milk and honey,
+before the Hebrews took possession of it, yet the science of
+_bee-culture_ was wholly unknown.
+
+In the earliest attention to bees, they were supposed to originate in
+the concentrated aroma of the sweetest and most beautiful flowers.
+Virgil, and others of his time, supposed them to come from the carcasses
+of dead animals. But the remarkable experiments of Huber, sixty years
+ago, developed many facts respecting their origin and economy.
+Subsequent observers have added still more to the stock of our knowledge
+respecting these wonderful creatures. The different stages of growth,
+from the minute egg of the queen to a full grown bee, and the precise
+time occupied by each, are well established. The three classes of bees,
+in every perfect colony, and the offices of each; their mechanical skill
+in constructing the different sized and shaped cells, for honey, for
+raising drones, workers, and queens, all differing according to the
+purposes for which they are intended; the wars of the queens, and their
+sovereignty over their respective colonies; the methods by which
+working-bees will raise a young queen, when the old one is destroyed,
+out of the larvae of common bees; the peculiar construction and
+situation of the queen cells; and, above all, the royal jelly (differing
+from everything else in the hive) which they manufacture for the food of
+young queens; the manner in which they ventilate their hives by a swift
+motion of their wings, causing the buzzing noise they make in a summer
+evening; their method of repairing broken comb, and building
+fortifications, before their entrances, at certain times, to keep out
+the sphinx--all these curious matters are treated fully in many of our
+works on bees. But we must forego the pleasure of presenting these at
+length, it being our sole object to enable all who follow our
+directions, so to manage bees as to render them profitable. In preparing
+the brief directions that follow, we have most carefully studied all the
+works, American and foreign, to which we could get access. Between this
+article and the best of those works there will be found a general
+agreement, except as it respects beehives. We present views of hives,
+that we are not aware have ever been written. The original idea, or new
+principle (which consists in constructing the hive with the entrance
+near the top), was suggested to us by Samuel Pierce, Esq., of Troy, N.
+Y., who is the great American inventor of cooking-ranges and stoves. We
+have carefully considered the principle in its various relations to the
+habits of the bee, and believe it correct. To most of our late works on
+honey-bees we have one serious objection: it is, that they bear on their
+face the evidence of having been written to make money, by promoting the
+sale of some patent hive. These works all have a little in common that
+is interesting; the remainder seems designed to oppose some former
+patent and commend a new one. They thus swell their volumes to a
+troublesome and expensive size, with that which is of no use to
+practical men. A work made to fight a patent, or to sell one, can not be
+reliable. The requisites to successful bee-management are the
+following:--
+
+1. Always have large, strong swarms. Such only are able successfully to
+contend with their enemies. This is done by uniting weak swarms, or
+sending back a young, feeble swarm when it comes out (as herein after
+directed).
+
+2. Use medium-sized hives. In too large hives, bees find it difficult to
+guard their territories. They also store up more honey than they need,
+and yield less to the cultivator. The main box should be one foot square
+by fifteen inches high. Make hives of new boards; plane smooth and paint
+white on the outside. The usual direction is to leave the inside rough,
+to aid in holding up the honey, but to plane the inside edges so as to
+make close joints. We counsel to plane the inside of the hive smooth,
+and draw a fine saw lightly length wise of the boards, to make the comb
+adhere. This will be a great saving of the time of bees, when it is
+worth the most in gathering honey. They always carry out all the sawdust
+from the inside of their hives. Better save their time by planing it
+off.
+
+3. To prevent robberies among bees, when a weak colony is attacked,
+close their entrances so that but one bee can pass at once, and they
+will then take care of themselves. To prevent a disposition to pillage,
+place all your hives in actual contact, on the sides, and make a
+communication between them, but not large enough to allow bees to pass.
+This will give the same scent to the whole, and make them feel like one
+family. Bees distinguish strangers only by the smell: hence, so
+connected, they will not quarrel or pillage.
+
+4. Comb is usually regarded better for not being more than two or three
+years old. The usual theory is, that cells fill up by repeated use, and,
+becoming smaller, render the bees raised in them diminutive. This is not
+probable, as a known habit of the bee is to clean out the cells before
+reusing them. Huber demonstrated that bees raised in drone-cells (which
+are always larger than for workers) grew no larger than in their own
+natural cells. And as bees build their cells the right size at first, it
+is probable they keep them so. Quinby assures us that bees have been
+grown twenty years in the same comb, and that the last were as large as
+the first. But for other reasons, it is better to change the comb. In
+all ordinary cases, it is better to transfer the swarm to a new hive
+every third year. Many think it best to use hives composed of three
+sections, seven and a half inches deep each, screwed together with
+strips of wood on the sides, and the top screwed on that it may easily
+be removed; thick paper or muslin should be pasted around, on the
+places of intersection, to guard against enemies; the two lower sections
+only allowed to contain bees--the upper one being designed for the
+honey-boxes, to be removed. Each spring, after two years old, the lower
+section is taken out and a new one put on the top, the cover of the old
+one having been first removed. This is the old "pyramidal beehive,"
+which is the title of a treatise on bees, by P. Ducouedic, translated
+from the French and abridged by Silas Dinsmore in 1829. This has
+recently been revived and patented as a new thing. We think with Quinby,
+that these hives are too expensive and too complicated, and that the
+great mass of cultivators will succeed best with hives of simple
+construction.
+
+5. Allowing bees to swarm in their own time and way is better than all
+artificial multiplication of colonies. If there are no small trees near
+the apiary, place bushes, upon which the bees will usually light, when
+they come out. If they seem determined to go away without lighting,
+throw sand or dust among them; this produces confusion, and causes them
+to settle near. The practice of ringing bells and drumming on tin, &c.,
+is usually ridiculed; but we believe it to be useful, and that on
+philosophic principles. The object to be secured is to confuse the swarm
+and drown the voice of the queen. The bees move only with their queen;
+hence, if anything prevents them from hearing her, confusion follows,
+and the swarm lights: therefore, any noise among them may answer the
+purpose, and save the swarm.
+
+To hive bees, place them on a clean white cloth, and set the hive over
+them, raised an inch or two by blocks under the corners. It is said that
+a little sweetened water or honey, applied to the inside of the hive,
+will incline the bees to remain. The best preparation is to fasten a
+piece of new white comb on the top of the inside of the hive. This is
+done by dipping the end of a piece of comb in melted beeswax, and
+sticking it to the top. Bees should never be allowed to send off more
+than two colonies in one season. To restrict them to one is still
+better. Excessive swarming is a precursor of destruction, rather than an
+evidence (as usually regarded) of prosperity. A given number of bees
+will make far less honey in two hives than in one, unless they are so
+numerous as greatly to crowd the hive. When a late swarm comes out, take
+away the queen, and they will immediately return. Any one may easily
+find the queen: she is always in the centre of the bunch into which the
+swarm collects on lighting. If they form two or three clusters, it is
+because they have that number of queens. Then all the queens should be
+destroyed. The following cuts of the three classes of bees will enable
+one to distinguish the queen.
+
+[Illustration: Working Bee. Queen. Drone.]
+
+The queen is sometimes, but not always, larger than the common bee; but
+her body is always longer, and blackish above and yellowish underneath.
+
+To unite any two swarms together, turn the hive you wish to empty
+bottom-up, and place the one into which you would have them go on the
+top of the other, with their mouths together; then tie a cloth around,
+at the place of intersection, to prevent the egress of the bees. Gently
+rap the lower hive on all sides, near the bottom, gradually rising until
+you reach the top of the lower hive, and all the bees will go into the
+upper one.
+
+In the same way, it is easy to remove a colony into a new hive, whenever
+you think they need changing. This should be performed in the dusk of
+the evening, and need occupy no more than half an hour. The hive should
+then be put in its place. Uniting weak new swarms, may be done whenever
+they come out; but changing a swarm from an old hive to a new one should
+be performed as early as the middle of June. If moths get in, change
+hives at any time when it is warm enough for bees to work, and give them
+all the honey in their old hive. If you discover moths too late for the
+bees to build comb in a new hive, take the queen from the hive infested
+with moths, and place it where the bees will unite with another colony,
+and feed them all the honey from the deserted hive. This, or the
+destruction of the bees and saving the honey, is always necessary, when
+moth-worms are in possession, unless they are so near the bottom, that
+all the comb around them may be cut out. Bees are fond of salt. Always
+keep some on a board near them.
+
+They also need water. If a rivulet runs near the apiary, it is well. If
+not, place water in shallow pans, with pebbles in them, on which the
+bees can stand to drink. Change the water daily. It is too late to speak
+of the improvidence of killing bees, to get their honey. Use boxes of
+any size or construction you choose. In common hives, boxes should be
+attached to the sides, and not placed on the top. It is a wasteful tax
+upon the time and strength of loaded bees, to make them travel through
+the whole length of the hive, into boxes on the top. Place boxes as near
+as possible to their entrance or below that entrance. Bees should be
+kept out of the boxes until they have pretty well filled the hive, or
+they may begin to raise young bees in the boxes.
+
+_Wintering bees_ successfully, is one of the most difficult matters in
+bee-culture. Two evils are to be guarded against, dampness and
+suffocation. Excessive dampness, sometimes causes frost about the
+entrance that fills it up and suffocation ensues. Sometimes snow falls,
+or is blown over the entrance, and the bees die in a few hours for the
+want of air. Many large colonies, with plenty of honey, are thus
+destroyed. Dampness is very injurious to bees on other accounts. In a
+good bee-house there is no danger from snow, and little from dampness.
+Bees, not having honey enough for winter, should be fed in pleasant fall
+weather, after they have nearly completed the labors of the season.
+Weighing hives is unnecessary. A moderate degree of judgment will
+determine whether a swarm has a sufficient store for winter. If not,
+feed them. Never give bees dry sugar. They take up their food, as an
+elephant does water in his trunk; it, therefore, should be in a liquid
+form. Boil good sugar for ten minutes in ale or beer, leaving it about
+as thick as honey. Put it in a feed trough; which should be
+flat-bottomed.
+
+Fasten together thin slats, one fourth of an inch apart, so as to fit
+the inside of the feed trough and lie on the surface of the liquid, so
+as to rise and fall with it. Put this in a box and attach it to the
+hive, as for taking box-honey, and the bees will work it all up. Put
+out-door, it tempts other bees, and may lead to quarrels, and robbery.
+
+It is not generally known, that a good swarm of bees may be destroyed,
+by feeding them plenty of honey, early in the spring. They carry it in
+and fill up their empty cells and leave no room for raising young bees;
+hence the whole is ruined for want of inhabitants, to take the places of
+those that get destroyed, or die of age.
+
+To winter bees well, utterly exclude the light during all the cold
+weather, until it becomes so warm, that they will not get so chilled
+when out that they can not return. Intense cold is not injurious to
+bees, provided they are kept in the hive and are dry. A large swarm,
+will not eat two pounds of honey during the whole cold winter, if kept
+from the light. When tempted out, every warm day they come into the
+sunshine and empty themselves, and return to consume large quantities of
+honey. Kept in the dark, they are nearly torpid, eat but a mere trifle,
+and winter well. Whatever your hive or house, then, keep your bees
+entirely from the light, in cold weather. This is the only reason why
+bees keep so well in a dark dry cellar, or buried in the ground, with
+something around them, to preserve them from moisture, and a conductor
+through the surface, to admit fresh air. It is not because it keeps out
+the cold, but because it excludes the light, and renders the bees
+inactive. Gilmore's patent bee-house, is a great improvement on this
+account.
+
+Of the diseases of bees, such as dysentery, &c., we shall not treat. All
+that can profitably be done, to remedy these evils, is secured by salt,
+water, and properly-prepared food, as given above.
+
+But the great question in bee-culture is, How to prevent the depredation
+of the wax-moth? To this subject, much study has been given, and
+respecting it many theories have been advanced. The following
+suggestions are, to us, the most satisfactory. The miller, that
+deposites the egg, which soon changes to the worm, so destructive in the
+beehive, commences to fly about, at dark. In almost every country-house,
+they are seen about the lights in the evening. They are still during all
+the day. They are remarkably attracted by lights in the evening. Hence
+our first rule:--
+
+1. Place a teasaucer of melted lard or oil, with a piece of cotton
+flannel for a wick, in or near the apiary at dusk; light it and allow it
+to burn till near morning, expiring before daylight. This done every
+night during the month of June, will be very effectual.
+
+2. Keep grass and weeds away from the immediate vicinity of your apiary.
+Let the ground be kept clean and smooth. This destroys many of the
+hiding-places of the miller, and forces him away to spend the day. This
+precaution has many other advantages.
+
+3. Keep large strong colonies. They will be able to guard their
+territories, and contend with this and all other enemies.
+
+4. Never have any opening in a beehive near the bottom, during the
+season of millers (see Beehive). Let the openings be so small, that only
+one or two bees can pass at once. To accommodate the bees, increase the
+number of openings. Millers will seldom enter among a strong swarm, with
+such openings. All around the bottom, it should be so tight, that no
+crevice can be found, in which a miller can deposite an egg. Better
+plaster around, closely, with some substance, the place of contact
+between the hive and the board on which it stands, and keep it entirely
+tight during the time in which the millers are active.
+
+5. If, through negligence, worms have got into a hive, examine it at
+once; and if they are near the bottom only, within sight and reach, cut
+out the comb around them, and remove them from the hive. If this is not
+practicable, transfer the swarm to a new hive, or unite it with another,
+without delay.
+
+6. The great remedy for the moth is in the right construction of a
+BEEHIVE.
+
+Whatever the form of the hive you use, have the entrance within three or
+four inches of the top. Millers are afraid of bees; they will not go
+among them, unless they are in a weak, dispirited condition. They steal
+into the hive when the bees are quiet, up among the comb, or when they
+hang out in warm weather, but are still and quiet. If the hive be open
+on all sides (as is so often recommended), the miller enters on some
+side where the bees are not. Now bees are apt to go to the upper part of
+the hive and comb, and leave the lower part and entrance exposed. If the
+entrance be at the upper part, the bees will fill it and be all about
+it. A bee can easily pass through a cluster of bees, and enter or leave
+a hive; but a miller will never undertake it: this, then, will be a
+perfect safeguard against the depredations of the moth. This hive is
+better on every account. Moisture rises: in a hive open only at the
+bottom, it is likely to rise to the top of the hive and injure the bees;
+with the opening near the top it easily escapes. The objection that
+would be soonest raised to this suggestion is, that bees need a good
+circulation of fresh air, and such a hive would not favor it. To this we
+reply, a hive open near the top secures the best possible air to the
+swarm; any foul air has opportunity freely to escape. That peculiar
+humming heard in a hive in hot weather is produced by a certain motion
+of the wings of the bees, designed to expel vitiated air, and admit the
+pure, by keeping up a current. In the daytime, when the weather is hot,
+you will see a few bees near the entrance on the outside, and hear
+others within, performing this service, and, when fatigued, others take
+their place. This is one of the most wonderful things in all the habits
+and instincts of bees. They thus keep a pure atmosphere in a crowded
+hive in hot weather. Now, it would require much less fanning to expel
+bad air from a hive open at the top, than from one where all that air
+had to be forced down, through an opening at the bottom. This theory is
+sustained by the natural habits of bees in their wild state. Wild bees,
+that select their own abodes, are found in trees and crevices of rocks.
+They usually build their combs _downward_ from their entrance, and their
+abode is air-tight at the bottom; they have no air only what is admitted
+at their entrance, near the top of their dwelling, and with no current
+of air only what they choose to produce by fanning. The purest
+atmosphere in any room is where it enters and passes out at the top; in
+such a room only does the external atmosphere circulate naturally. It is
+on the same principle that bees keep better buried than in any other
+way, provided only they are kept dry. Yet they are in a place air-tight,
+except the small conductor to the atmosphere above them. The old
+"pyramidal beehive" of Ducouedic, with three sections, one above the
+other, allowing the removal of the lower one each spring, and the
+placing of a new one on the top--thus changing the comb, so that none
+shall ever be more than two years old, with the opening always within
+three or four inches of the top, is the best of the patent hives. We
+prefer plain, simple hives. The general adoption of this principle,
+whatever hives are used, would be a new era in the science of
+bee-culture. No beehive should ever be exposed to the direct rays of the
+sun in a beehouse. A hive standing alone, with a free circulation of air
+on every side, will not be seriously injured by the sun. But when the
+rays are intercepted by walls or boards, in the rear and on the sides,
+they are very disastrous. Other hints, such as clearing off
+occasionally, in all seasons except in the cold of winter, the bottom
+board, &c., are matters upon which we need not dwell. No cultivator
+would think of neglecting them. Let no one be alarmed at finding dead
+bees on the bottom when clearing out a hive; bees live only from five to
+seven months, and their places are then supplied with young ones. The
+above suggestions followed, and a little care taken in cultivating the
+fruits, grains, and grasses, that yield the best flowers for bees,
+_would secure uniform success_ in raising honey. This is one of the
+finest luxuries; and, what is a great desideratum, it is within the easy
+reach of every poor family, even, in all the rural districts of the
+land.
+
+Good honey, good vegetables, and good fruit, like rain and sunshine,
+may be the property of all. The design of this volume is to enable the
+poor and the unlearned to enjoy these things in abundance, with only
+that amount of care and labor necessary to give them a zest.
+
+
+BEETS.
+
+Of this excellent root there are quite a number of varieties.
+Mangel-Wurtzel yields most for field-culture, and is the great beet for
+feeding to domestic animals; not generally used for the table. French
+Sugar or Amber Beet is good for field-culture, both in quality and
+yield; but it is not equal to the Wurtzel. Yellow-Turnip-rooted, Early
+Blood-Turnip-rooted, Early Dwarf Blood, Early White Scarcity, and Long
+Blood, are among the leading garden varieties. Of all the beets, three
+only need be cultivated in this country--the Wurtzel for feeding, and
+the Early Blood Turnip-rooted and Long Blood for the table. The Early
+Blood is the best through the whole season, comes early, and can be
+easily kept so as to be good for the table in the spring. The Long Blood
+is later, and very much esteemed. Beets may be easily forwarded in
+hotbeds. Sow seed early, and transplant in garden as soon as the soil is
+warm enough to promote their growth. When well done, the removal retards
+their growth but little.
+
+Young beets are universally esteemed. To have them of excellent quality
+during all the winter, it is only necessary to plant on the last days of
+July. If the weather be dry, water well, so as to get them up, and they
+will attain the size and age at which they are most valued. Keep them in
+the cellar for use, as other beets. They will keep as well as old ones.
+
+_Field-Culture._--Make the soil very mellow, fifteen to eighteen inches
+deep. Soil having a little sand in its composition is always best. Even
+very sandy land is good if it be sufficiently enriched. Choose land on
+which water will not stand in a wet season. Beets endure drought better
+than extreme wet. Having made the surface perfectly mellow, and free
+from clods, weeds, and stones, sow in drills, with a machine for the
+purpose, two feet apart. This is wide enough for a small cultivator to
+pass between them. After planting, roll the surface smooth and level;
+this will greatly facilitate early cultivation. On a rough surface you
+can not cultivate small plants without destroying many of them; hence
+the necessity of straight rows and thorough rolling. The English books
+recommend planting this and other roots on ridges: for their climate it
+is good, but for ours it is bad. They have to guard against too much
+moisture, and we against drought; hence, they should plant on ridges,
+and we on an even surface. To get the largest crop, plow a deep furrow
+for each row, put in plenty of good manure, cover it with the plow and
+level the surface, and plant over the manure. When well growing, they
+should be thinned to six or eight inches in the row. Often stirring the
+earth while they are young is of great benefit. The quality and quantity
+of a root-crop depend much upon the rapidity of its growth. Slow growth
+gives harder roots of worse flavor, as well as a stinted crop.
+
+_Harvesting_ should be done just before severe frosts. They will grow
+until frost comes, however early they were planted, or whatever size
+they may have attained. They grow as rapidly after light frosts as at
+any time in the season; but very severe frosts expose them to rot during
+winter.
+
+_Preserving_ for table use is usually done by putting in boxes with
+moist sand, or the mould in which they grew. This excludes air, and, if
+kept a little moist, will preserve them perfectly. Roots are always
+better buried below frost out-door on a dry knoll, where water will not
+stand in the pits. But in cold climates it is necessary to have some in
+the cellar for winter use. The common method of burying beets, and
+turnips, and all other roots out-door, is well understood. The only
+requisites are, a dry location secured from frost, straw next the roots,
+a covering of earth, not too deep while the weather is yet mild; as it
+grows cold, put on another covering of straw, and over it a foot of
+earth; as it becomes very cold, put on a load or two of barnyard manure:
+this will save them beyond the power of the coldest winter. Vast
+quantities of roots buried outdoor are destroyed annually by frost, and
+there is no need of ever losing a bushel. You "_thought_ they would not
+freeze," is not half as good as spending two hours' time in covering, so
+that you _know_ they can not freeze. There is hardly a more provoking
+piece of carelessness, in the whole range of domestic economy, than the
+needless loss of so many edible roots by frost.
+
+_The table use_ of beets is everywhere known; their value for feeding
+animals is not duly appreciated in this country. No one who keeps
+domestic animals or fowls should fail to raise a beet-crop; it is one of
+the surest crops grown; it is never destroyed by insects, and drought
+affects it but very little. On good soil, beets produce an enormous
+weight to the acre. The lower leaves may be stripped off twice during
+the season, to feed to cows or other stock, without injury to the crop.
+Cows will give more milk for fifteen days, fed on this root alone, than
+on any other feed; they then begin to get too fat, and decline in milk:
+hence, they should be fed beets and hay or other food in about equal
+parts, on which they will do better than in any other way. Horses do
+better on equal parts of beet and hay than on ordinary hay and grain.
+Horses fed thus will fatten, needing only the addition of a little
+ground grain, when working hard. Plenty of beets, with a little other
+food, makes cows give milk as well as in summer. Raw beets cut fine,
+with a little milk, will fatten hogs as fast as boiled potatoes. All
+fowls are fond of them, chopped fine and mixed with other food. Sheep,
+also, are fond of them. They are very valuable to ewes in the spring
+when lambs come, when they especially need succulent food. The free use
+of this root by English farmers is an important reason of their great
+success in raising fine sheep and lambs. They promote the health of
+animals, and none ever tire of them. As it needs no cooking, it is the
+cheapest food of the root kind. Beets will keep longer, and in better
+condition, than any other root. They never give any disagreeable flavor
+to milk. It is considered established, now, that four pounds of beet
+equal in nourishment five pounds of carrot. Every large feeder should
+have a cellar beyond the reach of frosts, and of large dimensions,
+accessible at all times, in which to keep his roots. These beets should
+be piled up there as cord-wood, to give a free circulation of the air.
+
+In Germany, the beet-crop takes the place of much of their meadows, at
+a great saving of expense, producing remarkably fine horses, and
+fattening immense herds of cattle, which they export to France. We
+insist upon the importance of a beet-crop to every man who owns an acre
+of land and a few domestic animals, or only a cow and a few fowls.
+
+
+BENE PLANT.
+
+Introduced into the Southern states by negroes from Africa. They boil a
+handful of the seed with their allowance of Indian corn. It yields a
+larger proportion than any other plant of an excellent oil. It is
+extensively cultivated in Egypt as food for horses, and for culinary
+purposes. It is remarkable that this native of a southern clime should
+flourish well, as it does, in the Northern states. It should be
+cultivated throughout the North as a medicinal herb.
+
+A Virginia gentleman gave Thorburn & Son, seed-dealers of New York, the
+following account of its virtues: a few green leaves of the plant,
+plunged a few times in a tumbler of cold water, made it like a thin
+jelly, without taste or color. Children afflicted with summer-complaint
+drink it freely, and it is thought to be the best remedy for that
+disease ever discovered; it is believed that three thousand children
+were saved by it in Baltimore the first summer after its introduction.
+Plant in April, in the middle states, about two feet apart. When half
+grown, break off the plants, to increase the quantity of leaves. We
+recommend to all families to raise it, and try its virtues, under the
+advice of their family physicians.
+
+
+BIRDS.
+
+These are exceedingly useful in destroying insects. So of toads and
+bats. No one should ever be wantonly killed. Boys, old or young, should
+never be allowed to shoot birds, or disturb their nests, only as they
+would domestic fowls, for actual use. A wanton recklessness is exhibited
+about our cities and villages, in killing off small birds, that are of
+no use after they are dead. Living, they are valuable to every garden
+and fruit-orchard. In every state, stringent laws should be made and
+enforced against their destruction. Even the crow, without friends as he
+is, is a real blessing to the farmer: keep him from the young corn for a
+few days, as it is easy to do, and, all the rest of the year, his
+destruction of worms and insects is a great blessing. Birds, therefore,
+should be baited, fed, and tamed, as much as possible, to encourage them
+to feel at home on our premises. Having protected our small fruits, they
+claim a share, and they have not always a just view of the rights of
+property, nor do they always exhibit good judgment in dividing it. It is
+best to buy them off by feeding them with something else. If they still
+prefer the fruit, hang little bells in the trees, where they will make a
+noise; or hang pieces of tin, old looking-glass, or even shingles, by
+strings, so that they will keep in motion, and the birds will keep away.
+Images standing still are useless, as the birds often build nests in the
+pockets.
+
+
+BLACKBERRY.
+
+This berry grows wild, in great abundance, in many parts of the country.
+It has been so plentiful, especially in the newer parts, that its
+cultivation has not been much attended to until recently. Like all other
+berries, the cultivated bear the largest and best fruit.
+
+_Uses._--It is one of the finest desert berries; excellent in milk, and
+for tarts, pies, &c. Blackberries make the best vinegar for table use,
+and a wine that retains the peculiar flavor, and of a beautiful color.
+
+This berry comes in after the raspberries, and ripens long in succession
+on the same bush.
+
+[Illustration: High-bush Blackberry.]
+
+_Varieties_ of wild ones, usually found growing in the borders of fields
+and woods, are the low-bush and the high-bush. Downing gives the first
+place to the low. Our experience is, that the high is the best bearer of
+the best fruit. We have often gathered them one and one fourth inches in
+length, very black, and of delicious sweetness. The low ones that have
+come under our observation have been smaller and nearer round, and not
+nearly so sweet.
+
+The best cultivated varieties are--
+
+THE DORCHESTER--Introduced from Massachusetts, and a vigorous, large,
+regular bearer.
+
+LAWTON, OR NEW ROCHELLE.--This is the great blackberry of this country,
+by the side of which, no other, yet known, need be cultivated. It is a
+very hardy, great grower. It is an enormous bearer of such fruit that it
+commands thirty cents per quart, when other blackberries sell for ten.
+On a rather moist, heavy loam, and especially in the shade, its
+productions are truly wonderful. Continues to ripen daily for six weeks.
+
+_Propagation_ is by offshoots from the old roots, or by seeds. When by
+seeds, they should be planted in mellow soil, and where the sun will not
+shine on them between eight and five o'clock in hot weather. In
+transplanting, much care is requisite. The bark of the roots is like
+evergreens, very tender and easily broken, or injured by exposure to the
+atmosphere; hence, take up carefully, and keep covered from sun and air
+until transplanted. This is destined to become one of the
+universally-cultivated small fruits--as much so as the strawberry. The
+best manures are, wood-ashes, leaves, decayed wood, and all kinds of
+coarse litter, with stable manure well incorporated with the soil,
+before transplanting. Animal manure should not be very plentifully
+applied.
+
+We have seen in Illinois a vigorous bush, and apparently good bearer, of
+perfect fruit--a variety called _white blackberry_. The fruit was
+greenish and pleasant to the taste.
+
+
+BLACK RASPBERRY.
+
+The common wild, found by fences, especially in the margin of forests,
+in most parts of the United Sates, is very valuable for cultivation in
+gardens. Coming in after the red raspberry, and ripening in succession
+until the blackberry commences, it is highly esteemed. Cultivated with
+little animal manure, but plenty of sawdust, tan-bark, old leaves, wood,
+chips, and coarse litter, it improves very much from its wild state.
+Fruit is all borne on bushes of the previous year's growth; hence, after
+they have done bearing, cut away the old bushes. To secure the greatest
+yield on rich land, cut off the tops of the shoots rising for next
+year's fruit, when they are four or five feet high. The result will be,
+strong shoots from behind all the leaves on the upper part of the stalk,
+each of which will bear nearly as much fruit as would the whole have
+done without clipping. A dozen of these would occupy but a small place
+in a border, or by a wall. Not an American garden should be found
+without them.
+
+
+BONES.
+
+Bones are one of the most valuable manures. They yield the phosphates in
+large measure. On all land needing lime, they are very valuable. The
+heads, &c., about butchers' shops will bear a transportation of twenty
+miles to put upon meadows. Break them with the head of an axe, and pound
+them into the sod, even with the surface. They add greatly to the
+products of a meadow. Ground, they make one of the best manures of
+commerce. A cheap method for the farmer is to deposite a load of
+horse-manure, and on that a load of bones, and alternate each, till he
+has used up all his bones. Cover the last load of bones deep with
+manure. It will make a splendid hotbed, and the fermentation of the
+manure will dissolve or pulverize the bones, and the heap will become
+one mass of the most valuable manure, especially for roots and vines,
+and all vegetables requiring a rich, fine manure.
+
+
+BORECOLE, OR KALE.
+
+There are some fifteen or twenty kinds cultivated in Europe. Two only,
+the green and the brown, are desirable in this country. Cultivate as
+cabbage. In portions of the middle states they will stand the frosts of
+winter well, without much protection; further north, they need
+protection with a little brush and straw during severe frosts. Those
+grown on rather hard land are better for winter; being less succulent,
+they endure cold better. Cut them off for use whenever you choose. They
+do not head like cabbage; they have full bunches of curled leaves. Cut
+off so as to include all, not over eight inches long. In winter, after
+having been pretty well exposed to the frost, they are very fine. Set
+out the stumps early in spring, and they will yield a profusion of
+delicious sprouts. This would be a valuable addition to many of our
+kitchen gardens.
+
+
+BROCCOLI.
+
+This may be regarded as a late flowering species of cauliflower. It
+should be planted and treated as cabbage, and fine heads will be
+formed, in the middle states, in October: at the South much earlier,
+according to latitude. Take up in November, and preserve as cabbage, and
+good ones may be had in winter. To prevent ravages of insects, mix ashes
+in the soil when transplanting, or fresh loam or earth from a new field;
+or trench deep, so as to throw up several inches of subsoil, which had
+not before been disturbed.
+
+To save seed, transplant some of the best in spring; break off all the
+lower sprouts, allowing only a few of the best centre ones to grow. Tie
+them to stakes, to prevent destruction by storms. Be sure to have
+nothing else of the cabbage kind near your seed broccoli.
+
+
+BROOM CORN.
+
+Cultivated like other corn, only that this is more generally planted in
+drills. Three feet apart, and six inches in the drill, it yields more
+weight of better corn to the acre than to have it nearer. The great
+fault in raising this crop is getting it too thick. The finest-looking
+brush is of corn cut while yet so green that the seed is useless. But
+the brush is stronger, and will make better brooms for wear, when the
+corn is allowed to stand until the seed is hard, though not till the
+brush is dry. The land should be rich. This is a hard, exhausting crop
+for the soil. To harvest, bend down, two feet from the ground, two rows,
+allowing them so to fall across each other as to expose all the heads.
+Cut off the heads, with six or eight inches of the stalk, and place them
+on top of the bent rows to dry. In a week, in dry weather, they will be
+well cured, and should be then spread thin, under cover, in plenty of
+air. There is no worse article to heat and mould. In large crops, they
+usually take off the seed before curing; it is much lighter to handle,
+and less bulky. It may be done then, or in winter, as you prefer. The
+seed is removed on a cylinder eighteen inches long, and two and a half
+feet in diameter, having two hundred wrought nails with their points
+projecting. It is turned by a crank, like a fanning mill. The corn is
+held in a convenient handful, like flax on a hatchel. Where large
+quantities are to be cleaned of the seed, power is used to turn the
+machine. Ground or boiled, the seed makes good feed for most animals.
+Dry, it has too hard a shell. Fowls, with access to plenty of gravel, do
+well on it. Broom-corn is not a very profitable crop, except to those
+who manufacture their own corn into brooms. There is much labor about
+it, and considerable hazard of injuring the crop, by the inexperienced;
+hence, young farmers had, generally, better let it alone. There are two
+varieties--they may be forms of growth, from peculiar habits of
+culture--one, short, with a large, stiff brush running up through the
+middle, with short branches to the top, called pine-top: it is of no
+value;--the other is a long, fine brush, the middle being no coarser
+than the outside. It should be planted with a seed-drill, to make the
+rows straight and narrow for the convenience of cultivation. Harrowing
+with a span of horses, with a =V= drag, one front tooth out,
+as soon as the corn is up, is beneficial to the crop.
+
+
+BRUSSELS SPROUTS.
+
+This is a species of cabbage. A long stem runs up, on which grow
+numerous cabbage-heads in miniature. The centre head is small and of
+little use, and the large leaves drop off early. It will grow among
+almost anything else, without injury to either. It is raised from seed
+like cabbage, and cultivated in all respects the same. Eighteen inches
+apart each way is a proper distance, as the plant spreads but little.
+Good, either as a cabbage, or when very small, as greens. They are good
+even after very hard frosts. By forwarding in hotbed in the spring, and
+by planting late ones for winter, they may be had most of the year. If
+they are disposed to run to seed too early, it may be prevented by
+pulling up, and setting out again in the shade. Save seed as from
+cabbage, but use great caution that they are not near enough to receive
+the farina from any of the rest of the cabbage-tribe.
+
+
+BUCKTHORN.
+
+This is the most valuable of the thorn tribe, for hedge, in this
+country. It never suffers from those enemies that destroy so much of the
+hawthorn. This is also used for dyeing and for medicine.
+
+
+BUCKWHEAT.
+
+This will grow well on almost any soil; even that too poor for most
+other crops will yield very good buckwheat--though rich land is better
+for this, as for all other crops. The heat of summer is apt to blast it
+when filling; hence, in the middle states, it is not best to sow it
+until into July. It fills well in cool, moist weather, and is quite a
+sure crop if sowed at the right time. On poor land, one bushel of seed
+is required for an acre, while half a bushel is sufficient on rich land,
+where stalks grow large.
+
+The blossoms yield to the honey-bee very large quantities of honey, much
+inferior to that made of white clover; it may be readily distinguished
+in the comb by its dark color and peculiar flavor. Ground, it is good
+for most animals, and for fowls unground, mixed with other grain. It
+remains long in land; but it is a weed easily killed with the hoe; or a
+farmer may set apart a small field for an annual crop, keeping up the
+land by the application of three pecks of plaster per acre each year. It
+is very popular as human food, and always made into pancakes. The free
+use of it is said to promote eruptive diseases. The India buckwheat is
+more productive, but of poorer quality. The bran is the best article
+known to mix with horse-manure and spade into radish beds, to promote
+growth and kill worms.
+
+
+BUDDING.
+
+This is usually given under the article on peaches. But, as it is a
+general subject, it should be in a separate article, reserving what is
+peculiar to the different fruits to be noticed under their respective
+heads.
+
+[Illustration: Budding.]
+
+Budding small trees should usually be performed very near the ground,
+and on a smooth place. Any sharp pocket-knife will do; but a regular
+budding knife, now for sale in most hardware-stores, is preferable. Cut
+through the bark in the form of a horizontal crescent (_a_ in the cut).
+Split the bark down from the cut three fourths of an inch, and, with the
+ivory-end of the knife, raise the corners and edges of the bark. Select
+a vigorous shoot of this year's growth, but having buds well
+matured--select a bud that bids fairest to be a leaf-bud, as
+blossom-buds will fail--insert the knife half an inch below the bud, and
+cut upward in a straight line, severing the bark and a thin piece of the
+wood to one half inch above the bud, and let the knife run out: you
+then have a bud ready for insertion (_c_ in cut). The English method is
+to remove the wood from the bud before inserting it; this is attended
+with danger to the vitality of the bud, and is, therefore, less certain
+of success, and it is no better when it does succeed. Hence, American
+authorities favor inserting the bud with the wood remaining. Insert the
+lower end of this slip between the two edges of the bark, passing the
+bud down between those edges, until the top of the slip comes below the
+horizontal cut, and remaining contiguous to it. If the bud slip be too
+long, after it is sufficiently pressed down, cut off the top so as to
+make a good fit with the bark above the cut (_b_ in cut). The lower end
+of the bud will have raised the split bark a little more to make room
+for itself, and thus will set very close to the stalk. Tie the bud in
+with a soft ligature; commence at the bottom of the split, and wind
+closely until the whole wound is covered, leaving only the bud exposed
+(_d_ in cut). It is more convenient to commence at the top, but it is
+less certain to confine the slip opposite the bud in close contact with
+the stalk: this is indispensable to success. We have often seen buds
+adhere well at the bottom, but stand out from the stalk, and thus be
+ruined.
+
+_Preparation of Buds._--Take thrifty, vigorous shoots of this year's
+growth, with well-matured buds; cut off the leaves one half inch from
+the stalks (_e_ in cut); wrap them in moist moss or grass, or put them
+in sawdust, or bury them one foot in the ground.
+
+_Bands._--The best yet known is the inside bark of the linden or
+American basswood. In June, when the bark slips easily, strip it from
+the tree, remove the coarse outside, immerse the inside bark in water
+for twenty days; the fibres will then easily separate, and become soft
+and pliable as satin ribbon. Cut it into convenient lengths, say one
+foot, and lay them away in a dry state, in which they will keep for
+years. This will afford good ties for many uses, such as bandages of
+vegetables for market, &c. Matting that comes around Russia iron and
+furniture does very well for bands; woollen yarn and candle-wicking are
+also used; but the bass-bark is best. After ten days the bands should be
+loosened and retied; then, if the bud is dried, it is spoiled, and the
+tree should be rebudded in another place; at the end of three weeks, if
+the bud adheres firmly, remove the band entirely. Better not bud on the
+south side; it is liable to injury in winter. In the spring, after the
+swelling of buds, but before the appearance of leaves, cut off the top
+four inches above the bud; when the bud grows, tie the tender shoot to
+the stalk (growing bud in cut, _f_). In July, cut the wood off even with
+the base of the bud and slanting up smoothly.
+
+_Causes of Failure._--If you insert a blossom-bud you will get no shoot,
+although the bud may adhere well. If scions cut for buds remain two
+hours in the sun with the leaves on, in a hot day, they will all be
+spoiled. The leaves draw the moisture from the bud, and soon ruin it.
+Cut the leaves off at once. If you use buds from a scion not fully
+grown, very few of them will live; they must be matured. If the top of
+the branch selected be growing and very tender, use no buds near the top
+of it. If in raising the bark to make room for the bud, you injure the
+soft substance between the bark and the wood, the bud will not adhere.
+If the bud be not brought in close contact with the stalk and firmly
+confined there, it will not grow. With reasonable caution on these
+points, not more than one in fifty need fail.
+
+_Time for Budding._--This varies with the season. In the latitude of
+central New York, in a dry season, when everything matures early, bud
+peaches from the 15th to the 25th of August--plums, &c., earlier. In wet
+and great growing seasons, the first ten days in September are best.
+Much budding is lost on account of having been done so late as to allow
+no time for the buds to adhere before the tree stops growing for the
+season. If budding is performed too early, the stalk grows too much over
+the bud, and it gums and dies. It is utterly useless to bud when the
+bark is with difficulty loosened; it is always a failure.
+
+
+BUSHES.
+
+The growth of bushes over pastures, along fences, and in the streets,
+shows a great want of thrift, and an unpardonable carelessness in a
+farmer. In pastures, so far from being harmless, they take so much from
+the soil as to materially injure the quality and quantity of the grass.
+The only truly effectual method of destroying noxious shrubs, is by
+grubbing them up with a mattock. Frequent cutting of bushes inclining to
+spread only increases the difficulty, by giving strength and extension
+to the roots. Cutting bushes thoroughly in August, in a wet season, and
+applying manure and plaster to promote the growth of grass, will
+sometimes quite effectually destroy them. Larger trees, as the sweet
+locust, that are troublesome on account of sprouting out from the
+roots, when cut down, are effectually killed by girdling two feet from
+the ground, and allowing to stand one year. The tree, roots, and all,
+are sure to die.
+
+
+BUTTER.
+
+Raising the cream, churning, working, and preserving, are the points in
+successful butter-making. To raise cream, milk may be set in tin, wood,
+or cast-iron dishes. The best are iron, tinned over on the inside. Tin
+is better than wood, only on account of its being more easily kept
+clean. No one can ever make good butter without keeping everything about
+the dairy perfectly clean and sweet. Milk should never stand more than
+three inches deep in the pans, to raise the best and most cream. It
+should be set in an airy room, containing nothing else. Butter and milk
+will collect and retain the flavor of any other substance near them,
+more readily than anything else; hence, milk set in a cellar containing
+onions, or in a room with new cheese, makes butter highly flavored with
+those articles.
+
+_Temperature_ is an important matter. It should be regular, at from
+fifty to fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. It is sometimes
+difficult to be exact in this matter, but come as near it as possible.
+This can be well regulated in a good cool cellar, into which air can be
+plentifully admitted at pleasure. Those who are so situated that their
+milk-house can stand over a spring, with pure water running over its
+stone floor, are favored. Those who will take pains to lay ice in their
+milk-rooms, in very warm weather, will find it pay largely in the
+quality and quantity of their butter. Those who will not follow either
+of the above directions, must be content to make less butter, and of
+rather inferior quality, out of the same quantity of milk.
+
+_Skimming_ should be attended to when the milk has soured just enough to
+have a little of it curdle on the bottom of the pan. If it should nearly
+all curdle, it would not be a serious injury, unless it should become
+old. If you have not conveniences for keeping milk sufficiently warm in
+cold weather, place it over the stove at once, when drawn, and give it a
+scalding heat, and the cream will rise in a much shorter space of time,
+and more plentifully. Milk should be strained and set as soon as
+possible after being drawn from the cow, and with the least possible
+agitation. The unpleasant flavor imparted to milk from the food of the
+cows, such as turnips or leeks, may be at once removed by adding to the
+milk, before straining, one eighth of its quantity of boiling water; or
+two ounces of nitre boiled in one quart of water and bottled, and a
+small teacupful put in twelve quarts of milk, will answer the same
+purpose.
+
+_Milking_ should be performed with great care. Experiments have
+demonstrated that the last drawn from a cow yields from six to sixteen
+times as large a quantity of better cream than that first drawn.
+Careless milking will make the quantity of butter less, and the quality
+inferior, while it dries up the cows. There are probably millions of
+cows now in the United States that are indifferent milkers from this
+very cause. Quick and clean milking, from the time they first came in,
+would have made them worth twice as much, for butter and milk, as they
+are now. Always milk as quickly as possible, and without stopping, after
+you commence, and as nearly as possible at the same hour of the day.
+Leaving a teacupful, or even half that quantity, in milking each cow,
+will very materially lessen the products of the dairy, and seriously
+injure the cows for future use. Great milkers will yield considerable
+more by having it drawn three times per day. The quantity of milk given
+by a cow will never injure her, provided she be well fed. As it takes
+food to make meat, so it does also to make milk; you can never get
+something for nothing. The best breeds of swine, cattle, or fowls, can
+not be fattened without being well fed: so the best cows will never give
+large messes of milk unless they are largely fed.
+
+_Churning._--This is entirely a mechanical process. The agitation of the
+cream dashes the oily globules in the cream against each other, and they
+remain together and grow larger, until the butter is, what the dairy
+woman calls, gathered. The butter in the milk, when drawn from the cow,
+is the same as when on the table, only it is in the milk in the form of
+very small globes: churning brings them together. The object then to be
+secured, by any form of a churn, is agitation, or dashing and beating
+together.
+
+_Temperature of the Cream_ should be from sixty to sixty-five
+degrees--perhaps sixty-two is best. This had better always be determined
+by a thermometer immersed in it.
+
+Many churns have been invented and patented; and every new one is, of
+course, the best. A cylinder is usually preferred as the best form for a
+churn, and the churning is performed by turning a crank. An oblong
+square box is far better than a cylinder. In churning in a cylinder, it
+may often occur that the cream moves round in a body with the dasher,
+and so is but slightly agitated. But change that cylinder into an oblong
+square, and the cream is so dashed against the corners of the box that a
+most rapid agitation is the result, and the churning is finished in a
+short space of time.
+
+Any person of a little mechanical genius can construct a churn, equal to
+any in use, and at a trifling expense. It is well to make a churn
+double, leaving an inch between the two, into which cold or warm water
+can be poured, to regulate the temperature of the cream. This would be a
+great saving of time and patience in churning. Those who use the
+old-fashioned churns with dashes can most conveniently warm or cool
+their cream, by placing the churn containing it in a tub of cold or
+boiling water, as the case may require, until it comes to the
+temperature of sixty or seventy degrees.
+
+To make butter of extra quality for the fair, or for a luxury on your
+own table, set only one third of the milk, and that the last drawn from
+the cow. The Scotch, so celebrated for making butter of more marrowy
+richness than any other, first let the calves draw half or two thirds of
+the milk, and then take the remainder. This makes the finest butter in
+the world.
+
+_Preserving Butter_ depends upon the treatment immediately after
+churning. Success depends upon getting the buttermilk all out, and
+putting in all the salt you put in at all, immediately--say within ten
+minutes after churning. Some accomplish this by washing, and others by
+working it, being much opposed to putting in a drop of water. Those who
+use water in their butter, and those who do not, are equally confident
+of the superiority of their own method. But all good butter-makers
+agree, that the less you work butter, and still remove all the milk, the
+better it will be; and the more you are obliged to work it, the more
+gluey, and therefore the poorer the quality. Very good butter is made by
+immediately working all the milk out and salting thoroughly--working the
+salt into every part, without the use of water.
+
+_Working over_ butter, the next day after churning, should be nothing
+more than nicely forming it into rolls, without any further working or
+any more salt. An error, that spoils more butter than any other, is that
+of doing very little with butter when it first comes out of the churn,
+because it must be gone through with the next day. Many do not know why
+their butter has different colors in the same mass--some white, and some
+quite yellow, and all shades between. The reason always is, putting in
+the salt immediately on churning, but neglecting to incorporate that
+salt into every part of the mass equally: thus, where there is most salt
+there will be one color, and where less, another. Another evil is, when
+the salt is thus put in carelessly, while much buttermilk remains, that
+salt dissolves; and when the butter is worked over the next day, the
+salt is mostly worked out, with the milk or water left in, the previous
+day. The addition of more salt then will not save it. It has received an
+injury, by retaining the milk or water for twenty-four hours, from which
+no future treatment will enable it to recover. We recommend washing as
+preferable; it has the following advantages: it cools butter quickly in
+warm weather, bringing it at once into a situation to be properly worked
+and salted. The buttermilk is also removed more speedily than in any
+other way; this is a great object. It removes the milk with less
+working, and consequently with less injury, than the other method. These
+three advantages, cooling in hot weather, expelling the milk in the
+shortest time, and working the butter the least, lead us to prefer using
+water, by one hundred per cent. We have for years used butter that has
+been made in this way, and never tasted better. Butter made in this way
+in summer will keep well till next summer, to our certain knowledge.
+Immediately after churning, pour off all the milk and put in half a
+pailful of water, more or less according to quantity; agitate the whole
+with the dasher, and pour off the water. Repeat this once or twice until
+the water runs off clear, without any coloring from the milk, and nearly
+all the buttermilk is out; this can all be done in five minutes after
+churning. Press out the very little water that will remain, and put in
+all the salt the butter will require, and work it thoroughly into every
+part. All this need occupy no more than ten minutes, and the butter is
+set away for putting up in rolls, or packing down in jars the next day.
+Such butter would keep tied up in a bag, and hung in a good airy place.
+Best to put it down in a jar, packed close; put a cloth over top, and
+cover with half an inch of fine salt. The only difficulty in keeping
+butter grows out of failure to get out all the milk, and thoroughly salt
+every particle, within fifteen minutes after churning. Speedy removal of
+buttermilk and water, and speedy salting, will make any butter keep.
+
+This subject is so important, as good butter is such a luxury on every
+table, that we recapitulate the essentials of good butter making:--
+
+1. Keep everything sweet and clean, and well dried in the sun.
+
+2. Milk the cows, as nearly as possible, at the same hour, and draw the
+milk very quickly and very clean.
+
+3. Set the milk, in pans three inches deep, in good air, removed from
+anything that might give it an unpleasant flavor, and where it will be
+at a temperature of fifty to sixty degrees.
+
+4. Churn the cream at a temperature of sixty-two degrees.
+
+5. Get out the buttermilk, and salt thoroughly within fifteen minutes
+after churning, either with water or without, as you prefer. Mix the
+salt thoroughly in every particle. Put up in balls, or pack closely in
+jars the next day.
+
+6. Remember to work the butter as little as possible in removing the
+milk; the more it is worked, the more will it be like salve or oil, and
+the poorer the quality: hence, it is better to wash it with cold water,
+because you can wash out the buttermilk with much less working of the
+butter.
+
+7. To make the best possible quality of butter, use only one third of
+the milk of the cows at each milking, and that the last drawn.
+
+8. In the winter, when cream does not get sufficiently sour, put in a
+little lemon-juice or calves' rennet. If too white, put in a little of
+the juice of carrot to give it a yellow hue.
+
+
+BUTTERNUT.
+
+This is a rich, pleasant nut, but contains rather too much oil for
+health. The oil, obtained by compression, is fine for clocks, &c.
+
+The root, like the branches, are wide-spreading, and hence injurious to
+the land about them. Two or three trees on some corner not desired for
+cultivation, or in the street, will be sufficient. A rough piece of
+ground, not suitable for cultivation, might be occupied by an orchard of
+butternut-trees, and be profitable for market and as a family luxury.
+The bark is often used as a coloring substance.
+
+
+CABBAGE.
+
+The best catalogues of seeds enumerate over twenty varieties, beside the
+cauliflowers, borecoles, &c. A few are superior, and should, therefore,
+be cultivated to the exclusion of the others.
+
+EARLY YORK is best for early use. It is earlier than any other, and with
+proper treatment nearly every plant will form a small, compact, solid
+head, tender, and of delicious flavor. No garden is complete without it.
+
+EARLY DUTCH, AND EARLY SUGARLOAF, come next in season to the Early York,
+producing much larger heads.
+
+LARGE YORK is a good variety, maturing later than the preceding, and
+before the late drumheads.
+
+Large Drumhead, Late Drumhead, or Large Flat Dutch, are the best for
+winter and spring use. There are many varieties under these names, so
+that cultivators often get disappointed in purchasing seeds. It is now
+difficult to describe cabbages intelligibly. Every worthless hybrid goes
+under some excellent name.
+
+A Dutch cabbage, with a short stem and very small at the ground, is the
+best with which we are acquainted. Of this variety (the seed of which
+was brought from Germany), we have raised solid heads, larger than a
+half bushel, while others called good, standing by their side, did not
+grow to more than half that size. This variety may be distinguished by
+the purple on the top of the grown head, and by the decided purple of
+the young plants, resembling the Red Dutch, though not of quite so deep
+a color.
+
+RED DUTCH, having a very hard, small head, deep purple throughout, is
+the very best for pickling; every garden should have a few. They are
+also good for ordinary purposes.
+
+GREEN CURLED SAVOY, when well grown, is a good variety.
+
+The _Imperial_, the _Russian_, Large Scotch for feeding, and others, are
+enumerated and described, but are inferior to the above. It is useless
+to endeavor to grow cabbages on any but the best of soil. Plant corn on
+poor land, and it will mature and yield a small crop. Plant cabbages on
+similar soil, and you will get nothing but a few leaves for cattle.
+Therefore, if your land designed for cabbages be not already very rich,
+put a load of stable-manure on each square rod. Cabbages are a very
+exhausting crop. The soil should be worked fully eighteen inches deep,
+and have manure well mixed with the whole. The best preparation we ever
+made was by double-plowing--not subsoiling, but plowing twice with
+similar plows: put on a good coat of manure, and plow with two teams in
+the same furrow, one plow gauged so as to turn a light furrow, and the
+other a very deep one, throwing it out of the bottom of the first; when
+the first plow comes round, it will throw the light furrow into the
+bottom of the deep one. This repeated over the whole plot will stir the
+soil sixteen or eighteen inches deep, and put from four to six inches of
+the top, manure and all, in the bottom, under the other. We have done
+this admirably with one plow, changing the gauge of the clevis every
+time round, and going twice in a furrow: this is the best way for those
+who use but one team in plowing; it is worth much more than the
+additional time required in plowing. Enrich the surface a little with
+fine manure, and you have land in the best possible condition for
+cabbages. This is a fine preparation for onions and other garden
+vegetables, and for all kinds of berries. Subsoiling is good, but
+double-plowing is better in all cases, where you can afford to enrich
+the surface, after this deep plowing.
+
+The alluvial soils of the West need no enriching after double-plowing.
+Land so level, or having so hard a subsoil as to allow water to stand on
+it in a wet season, is not good for cabbages. They also suffer more than
+most crops from drought. One of the most important offices of plenty of
+manure is its control of the moisture. Land well manured does not so
+soon feel the effects of drought. One of the best means of preserving
+moisture about the roots of cabbages, is to put a little manure in the
+bottom of the holes when transplanting; put it six inches below the
+surface. Manure from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; it is
+in the best condition about the time for transplanting cabbages. It is
+then very wet, and has a wonderful power of retaining the moisture.
+Manure from the blacksmith-shop, containing hoof-parings, &c., is very
+good. If the manure be too dry, pour in water and cover immediately. Set
+the plant in the soil, over the manure, the roots extending down into
+it, with a little fine mould mixed in it, and it will retain moisture
+through a severe drought; no further watering will be necessary, and not
+one out of twenty-five of all your plants will fail to make a good head.
+In climates subject to drought in summer, cabbages should be set out
+earlier; they require more time in dry weather than in wet. Should they
+incline to crack open from too rapid growth, raise them a little, and
+push them down again; this will break some roots, and so loosen the
+remainder that the growth will be checked and the heads saved. Winter
+cabbages should be allowed to stand in the ground as long as possible,
+without danger of freezing in. The question of transplanting, and of
+sowing the seed in the places where they are designed to head, has been
+much controverted. We have succeeded well in both ways, but prefer
+transplanting; it gives opportunity to stir the ground deep, and keep
+down weeds, and thus preserve moisture until summer, when it is time to
+transplant; it also makes shorter, smaller, and straighter stems, which
+is favorable to a larger growth of heads. Sow seed on poor land; the
+plants will be straighter, more hardy, and less affected by insects.
+Seed for early spring cabbages should be sown on poor soil in September
+or October; if inclined to get too forward, transplant, once or twice;
+late in fall, set them close together, lay poles in forks of limbs put
+down for the purpose, and cover with straw, as a protection from severe
+frost; the poles are to prevent the covering from lying on the plants.
+
+_Preserving_, for winter or spring use, is best done by plowing a furrow
+on land where water will not stand, and placing the heads in the furrow
+with the roots up. Cover with earth from three to six inches deep,
+letting the roots protrude. The large leaves will convey all the water
+off from the heads, and they will come out as fresh and good as in the
+fall. If you wish some, more easily accessible, for winter use, set them
+in the cellar in a small trench, in which a little water should be kept,
+and they will not only be preserved fresh, but will grow all winter, if
+the cellar be free from frost. They are also well preserved put in
+trenches eighteen inches deep, out door, with a little good soil in the
+bottom, and protected with poles and straw as directed for winter
+plants. Cabbages that have scarcely any heads in the fall, so treated,
+will grow all winter, and come out good, tender, fresh heads in spring.
+
+_Transplanting._--This is usually done in wet weather: if it be so wet
+as to render the soil muddy by stirring, it injures the plants. This may
+be successfully done in dry weather, not excessively hot. Have a basin
+of water, in which dip the root and shake it, so as to wash off all the
+earth from the seed-bed that adheres to it. Put the plant in its place
+at once, and the soil in which it is to grow takes hold of the roots
+readily, and nearly every one will live. Transplant with your hand, a
+transplanting trowel, a stick, or a dibble made of a spade-handle, one
+foot long, sharpened off abruptly, and the eye left on for a handle. Put
+the plant in its place, thrust the dibble down at a sharp angle with the
+plant, and below it, and move it up to it. The soil will thus be pressed
+close around the roots, leaving no open space, and the plant will grow.
+Do not leave the roots so long that they will be doubled up in
+transplanting--better cut off the ends.
+
+Large cabbages should be three feet apart each way, and in perfectly
+straight rows; this saves expense in cultivating, as it can be done with
+a horse. The usual objections of farmers to gardening, on account of the
+time required to hoe and weed, would be remedied by planting in long,
+straight rows, at suitable distances apart, to allow the free use of
+horse, cultivator, and plow, in cultivating; thus, beets, carrots,
+cabbages, onions, &c., are almost as easily raised as corn. An easy
+method of raising good cabbages is on greensward. Put on a good dressing
+of manure, plow once and turn over handsomely, roll level, and harrow
+very mellow on the top, without disturbing the turf below; make places
+for planting seeds at the bottom of the turf; a little stirring of the
+surface, and destruction of the few weeds that will grow, will be all
+the further care necessary. The roots will extend under the sod in the
+manure below it, and will there find plenty of moisture, even when the
+surface is quite dry, and will grow profusely.
+
+_Seed._--Nothing is more difficult in cabbage culture than raising pure
+seed; nothing hybridizes worse, and in nothing else is the effect worse.
+It must not be raised in the same garden with anything else of the
+cabbage or turnip kind; they will mix in the blossoms, and the worse
+will prevail. Raise seeds only from the best heads, and only one
+variety; break off all the lower shoots, allowing only a few of the best
+to mature. Seeds raised from stumps, from which the head has been
+removed for use, will incline the leaves to grow down, as we often see,
+instead of closing up into heads.
+
+
+CALVES.
+
+The best method of raising calves is of much importance. It controls the
+value and beauty of grown cattle. Stint the growth of a calf, and when
+he is old he will not recover from it. Much attention has been paid to
+the breed of cattle, and some are very highly recommended. It is true
+that the breed of stock has much to do with its excellence. It is
+equally true that the care taken with calves and young cattle, has quite
+as much to do with it. We can take any common breed, and by great care
+in raising, have quite as good cattle, for market or use, as can
+another, who has the best breed in the world, but keeps them
+indifferently. But good breeds and good keeping make splendid animals,
+and will constantly improve them. The old adage, "Anything worth doing
+at all, is worth doing well" is nowhere more true, than in the care of
+calves. We shall not pause to present the various and contradictory
+methods of raising calves, that are presented in the numerous books, on
+the subject, that have come under our observation. Hay-tea, various
+preparations of linseed-meal, oilcake-meal, oatmeal, and every variety
+of ground feed, sometimes mixed up with gin, or some kind of cheap
+spirits (for the purpose of keeping calves quiet), are recommended. The
+discussion of the merits of these, would be of no practical benefit to
+our readers.
+
+The following brief directions are sufficient:--
+
+1. Seldom raise late calves. Their place is in the butcher's shop, after
+they are five weeks old.
+
+2. Raise only those calves that are well formed. Straight back, small
+neck, not very tall, and a good expression of countenance, are the best
+marks.
+
+3. Let every calf suck its dam two days. It is for the health of the
+calf and the good of the cow.
+
+4. To fatten a calf, let it suck one half the milk for two weeks, three
+fourths the third, and the whole the fourth. Continue it another week,
+and the veal will be better. But we think it preferable to take calves
+off from the cow after two days. Feed them the milk warm from the cow,
+and give them some warm food at noon. Feed three times a day, they will
+fatten faster. It also gives opportunity to put oatmeal in their food
+after the second week, which will improve the veal, and give you a
+little milk, if you desire it. Our first method is easier, and our last
+better, for fattening calves.
+
+5. To raise calves for stock, take them from the cows after the second
+day. Feed them half the milk (if the cow gives a reasonable quantity)
+for the first two weeks. Begin then to put in a little oatmeal. After
+two weeks more, give one fourth of the milk, and increase the quantity
+of meal. When the calf is eight or ten weeks old, feed it only on meal
+and such skimmed milk, sour milk, or buttermilk, as you may have to
+spare. This is the course when the object is to save milk. If not, let
+the calf have the whole, with such addition of meal as you think
+desirable. The easiest way to raise calves, when you do not desire the
+milk for the family or dairy, is to let them run with the cows and have
+all the milk when they please.
+
+Others let them suck a part of the milk, and feed them with meal, &c.,
+besides. This is difficult. If you milk your own share first, you will
+leave much less for the calf than you suppose. If he gets his portion
+first, he will be sure to get a part of yours also. This can only be
+well done by allowing the calf to suck all the udders, but not clean.
+The remainder, being the last of the milk will make the best of butter.
+But it is difficult to regulate it as you please, and more difficult to
+feed a calf properly, that sucks, than one that depends wholly upon what
+you feed him. Hence it is preferable to feed all your calves, whether
+for veal or stock. A little oilcake pulverized is a valuable addition.
+Indian-meal and the coarse flour of wheat are good for calves, but not
+equal to oatmeal. Good calves have been raised on gruels made of these
+meals, without any milk after the first two weeks.
+
+6. In winter, feed chopped roots and meal, mixed with plenty of hay and
+pure water, and always from a month old give salt twice a week.
+
+7. If calves are inclined to purge or scour, as the farmers call it, put
+a little rennet in their food. If they are costive, put in a little
+melted lard, or some kind of inoffensive oil. These will prove effectual
+remedies.
+
+There is, however, very little danger of disease, to calves, well,
+regularly, and properly fed, as above.
+
+Fat calves are not apt to have lice. But should such a thing occur,
+washing in tobacco-water is a speedy and perfect remedy.
+
+8. During cold nights in fall, and all of the first winter, calves
+should be shut up in a warm dry place. Keep them curried clean.
+
+The cold and wet of the first winter are very injurious. After they are
+a year old they will give very little trouble. The great difficulty with
+calves is a want of enough to eat. They should not only be kept
+growing, but fat, all the first year. They will then make fine,
+healthy, and profitable animals.
+
+Chalk or dry yellow loam, placed within their reach is very useful. They
+will eat of it, enough to correct the excessive acidity of their
+stomachs. The operation of changing calves into oxen, should be
+performed before they are twenty days old. It will then be only slightly
+injurious.
+
+
+CANS.
+
+These are much used for preserving fruits and vegetables. There are a
+number of patent articles said to work well. They are, in our opinion,
+more expensive, and more likely to fail in inexperienced hands, than
+those that an ordinary tinman can readily make. The best invention for
+general use is that that is most simple. Cans should be made in
+cylindrical form, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you wish to preserve, and should contain about two quarts. Fill
+the cans and solder on the top, leaving an opening as large as a
+pin-head, from which steam may escape. Set the cans in water nearly to
+their tops, and gradually increase the heat under them until the water
+begins to boil. Take out the cans, drop solder on the opening, and all
+will be air-tight. This operation requires at least three hours, as the
+heating must be moderate. You may preserve in glass bottles, filling and
+putting in a cork very tight, and well tied, and gradually heating as
+above; this will require four hours, as glass will be in danger of
+bursting by too rapid heating. But for tomatoes, or anything that you
+have no objection to boiling and seasoning before preserving, the best
+way is to prepare and cook as for the table, putting in only pepper and
+salt, and fill cans while the mass is boiling, and, with a sealing-wax
+that you can get at any druggist's laid around the orifice, place the
+cover upon it; the heat will melt the wax, and when it cools, the cover
+will be fastened, and all will be air-tight. This will require no
+process of slow boiling. Set the cans or bottles in a cool cellar, and
+whatever they contain may be taken out, at the end of a year, as good as
+when put in. The last method is the best and most simple of all. The
+whole principle of preserving is to make the cans air-tight.
+
+
+CARROTS.
+
+These are cultivated for the table, and for food for animals. Boiled and
+pickled, or eaten with an ordinary boiled dish, they are esteemed. They
+are really excellent in soups. As a root for animals, they are very
+valuable. They are often preferred to beets;--this is a mistake--four
+pounds of beet are equal to five pounds of carrot for feeding to
+domestic animals. Work the soil for carrots very deep, make it very rich
+with stable manure, with a mixture of lime; harrow fine and mellow, and
+roll entirely smooth. Plant with a seed-sower, that the rows may be
+straight; rows two feet apart will allow a horse and small cultivator to
+pass between them. Planted one foot apart, and cultivated with a horse,
+and a cultivator that will take three rows at once, they will yield much
+more to the acre, and may be cultivated at a moderate expense,
+exceeding but a little that of ordinary field-crops. Sow as early as
+convenient, as the longer time they have, the larger will be the
+product. They grow until hard frosts, whenever you may sow them. There
+are several varieties, but the Long Orange is the only one that it is
+ever best to grow; it is richer than the white, and yields as well: the
+earlier sorts are no better, as the carrot may be used at any stage of
+its growth. They should be kept in the ground as long as it is safe.
+They will stand hard frosts, but, if too much frozen, they are inclined
+to rot in winter. Dig in fair weather, dry in the sun, and keep dry. It
+is the best of all root crops, except the beet. All animals will eat it
+freely, while they have to acquire a taste for the beet.
+
+
+CAULIFLOWER.
+
+The two varieties known in this country are the English and the
+French--distinguished, also, as early and late. The French only is
+suitable for cultivation here; especially in the colder regions, as it
+is earlier. This is cultivated in every way like cabbage. In several
+respects it is preferable to cabbage; it has a more pleasant flavor, and
+is more easy of digestion. It is excellent for pickling. Seeds may be
+raised in the same way, and with the same precautions, as cabbage; but
+it is generally imported.
+
+
+CELERY.
+
+This is one of the finest of our table vegetables, eaten raw with salt,
+or in soups. Sow seed, early in spring, in open ground; or sow in
+hotbeds, if you wish it very early. When the plants are six inches high,
+they should be transplanted in trenches eighteen inches deep, containing
+six inches of well-rotted manure or compost. This should be well
+watered, and fine mould mixed with it, and the plants placed in it eight
+inches apart. The trenches should be from four to six feet apart. If the
+weather be warm and sun bright at the time of transplanting, a board
+laid lengthwise over the top of the trench will afford perfect
+protection. As the plants grow, draw the earth up to them, not allowing
+it to separate the leaves; do this two or three times during the season,
+and the stalks will be beautifully bleached. Heavy loam is much better
+than sand.
+
+_Preserving_ for winter is best done by taking up late in the fall,
+cutting the small roots off, and rounding down to a point the large
+root, removing the coarse, useless leaves, and placing in a trench at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, so that six inches of the upper end of the
+leaves will be above the surface. Cover with soil and place poles over,
+and cover with straw, and in a very cold climate cover with earth. Keep
+out the water. The end can be opened to take it out whenever you please,
+and it will be as fresh as in the fall. This is better than the methods
+of keeping in the cellar; it is more certain, and keeps the celery in
+perfect condition.
+
+
+CHEESE.
+
+The methods of cheese-making differ materially in different countries,
+and in different parts of the same country. It is also so much a matter
+of experience and observation, that we recommend to beginners to visit
+cheese-dairies, and get instructions from practical makers. But we give
+the following more general outlines, leaving our readers to learn all
+further details as recommended above.
+
+Rennet, or the calf's stomach, is used, as nature's agent to turn the
+milk, or to curdle it without having it sour. There are many fanciful
+ways of preparing the rennet, putting in sweet herbs, &c. But the
+ordinary plain method is quite sufficient--which is, to steep it in cold
+salt water. The milk should be set at once on coming from the cow.
+Setting it too hot, or cooling it with cold water, inclines the cheese
+to heave. Too much rennet gives it a strong, unpleasant smell and taste.
+Break the curd as fine as possible with the hand or dish, or better with
+a regular cheese-knife with three blades. This is especially important
+in making large cheeses; small ones need less care in this respect. If
+the curd be too soft, scald it with very hot whey or water; if it be
+hard, use a little more than blood-warm whey: it should stand a few
+minutes in this whey and then be separated, and the curd put into the
+cheese-hoop, making it heaped full, and pressed hard with the hand.
+Spread a cloth over it, and turn it out. Wash the hoop and put back the
+cheese, with the cloth between the curd and the hoop, and put it in the
+press. After a few hours take it out, wash the cloth and put it again
+around the cheese, and return it to the press. After seven or eight
+hours more take it out again, pare off the edges if they need it, and
+rub salt all over it--as much as it will take in: this is the best way
+of salting cheese; the moisture in it at this stage will cause it to
+absorb just about as much salt as will be agreeable. Return it to the
+press in the hoop without the cloth; let it stand in the press over
+night; in the morning turn it in the hoop, and continue it in the press
+until the next morning. Place it upon the shelf in the cheese-room, and
+turn it every day, or at least every other day. If the weather be hot,
+the doors and windows of the cheese-room should be shut; if cool, they
+should be open to admit air.
+
+_Color._--The richest is supposed to be about that of beeswax. This is
+produced by annotta, or otter, rubbed into the milk at the time of
+setting, when warm from the cow--or, if the milk has stood till cold,
+after it has been warmed. Cold milk must, before setting, be warmed to
+about blood or milk heat. This coloring process has no virtue but in its
+influence on the looks of the cheese. Sage cheese is colored by the
+juice of pounded sage-leaves put into the fine curd before it is put in
+the hoop; this is the reason of its appearing in streaks, as it would
+not do if put into the milk, like the annotta. When the cheese is ten
+days old, it should be soaked in cold whey until the rind becomes soft,
+and then scraped smooth with a case-knife; then rinse, and wipe and dry
+it, and return it to the cheese-room, and turn it often until dry enough
+for market. Rich cheeses are apt to spread in warm weather; this is
+prevented by sewing them in common cheap cotton, exactly fitting.
+
+_Skippers._--Some persons are very fond of skippery cheese. But few,
+however, like meat and milk together, especially if the meat be alive:
+hence, to remove skippers from cheese into which they have intruded is
+quite desirable. The following method is effectual:--wrap up the cheese
+in thin paper, through which moisture will readily strike; dig a hole
+two feet deep in pure earth, and bury the cheese;--in thirty-six hours
+every skipper will be on the outside; brush them off and keep the cheese
+from the flies, and you will have no further trouble. A mixture of
+Spanish brown and butter, rubbed on the outside of a cheese, frequently
+gives that yellow coating so often witnessed, and exerts some influence
+in preserving it. The rank and putrid taste sometimes observed in cheese
+may be prevented by putting a spoonful of salt in the bottom of each
+pan, before straining the milk; it will also preserve the milk in hot
+weather, and give more curd.
+
+An English cheese called "Stilton cheese," from the name of the place
+most celebrated for making it, is a superior article, made in the
+following way: put the cream of the night's milk with the morning's
+milk; remove the curd with the least possible disturbance, and without
+breaking; drain and gradually dry it in a sieve; compress it gradually
+until it becomes firm; put it in a wooden hop on a board, to dry
+gradually; it should be often turned between binders, top and bottom, to
+be tightened as the cheese grows smaller. This makes the finest cheese
+known. As the size makes no difference, it can be made by a person
+having but one cow.
+
+To preserve cheese, keep it from flies, and in a place not so damp as to
+cause mould. Of cheese-pressers there is a great variety: each maker
+will select the one which he considers best or most convenient, within
+his reach. In some places, as on the Western Reserve, in Ohio, one
+establishment makes all the cheese for the neighborhood, buying the curd
+from all the families around. In such places they have their own
+methods, which they have understood by all their customers.
+
+
+CHERRY.
+
+Cherries are among our first luxuries in the line of fruits. We have
+cultivated varieties, ripening in succession throughout the cherry
+season. There is no necessity for cultivating the common red and very
+acid cherry, except in climates too vigorous for the more tender
+cultivated varieties. The cherry is an ornamental tree, making a
+beautiful shade, besides the luxury of its fruit. It is one of the most
+suitable trees we have for the roadside;--it ought to be extensively
+planted by the highways throughout all our rural districts, as it is in
+some parts of Europe. In northern Germany the highways are avenues,
+shaded with cherry-trees for distances of fifty or sixty miles together:
+these trees have been planted by direction of the princes, and afford
+shade and refreshment to the weary pedestrian, who is always at liberty
+to eat as much of the fruit as he pleases; this is eminently worthy of
+imitation in our own country.
+
+Extremes of cold and heat are not favorable to the cherry: hence, cool
+places must be selected in hot countries, and warm locations in cold
+regions. Very much, however, can be done by acclimation; it will,
+probably, yet naturalize the cherry throughout the continent. A deep
+and moderately rich loam is the best soil for the cherry; very rich soil
+causes too rapid growth, which makes the tree tender. It will bear more
+moisture than the grape or peach, and requires less than the apple or
+pear. It will endure very dry situations tolerably well, while in very
+wet ones it will soon perish.
+
+_Propagation_ is generally by budding small trees near the ground. The
+best stocks are those raised from the seeds of the common black Mazzard.
+It makes a more thrifty tree than any other. The tree grows very large,
+and bears an abundance of medium black fruit, smallest at the blossom
+end, and having seeds very large in proportion to the size of the fruit.
+In White's Gardening for the South, it is stated that the common Morello
+of that region does better, by far, for seedling stocks for budding,
+than the Mazzard. Use, then, the Mazzard for the North, and the Mahaleb
+or common Morello for the South. Pick them when ripe; let them stand two
+or three days, till the pulp decays enough to separate easily from the
+seed by washing. Immediately plant the seeds in rows where you wish them
+to grow; this is better than keeping them over winter in sand, as a
+little neglect in spring will spoil them, they are so tender, when they
+begin to germinate. Keep them clean of weeds. The next spring, set them
+in rows ten inches or a foot apart, placing the different sizes by
+themselves, that large ones need not overshadow small ones and prevent
+their growth. In the following August, or on the last of July, bud them
+near the ground. The stocks are to be headed back the following spring,
+and the bud will make five or six feet of growth the same season. The
+cherry-tree seldom needs pruning, further than to pinch off any little
+shoots that may come out in a wrong place (and they will be very few),
+and cut away dead branches. Any removal of large limbs will produce gum,
+which is apt to end in decay, and finally in the death of the tree.
+Whatever pruning you must do, do it in the hottest summer weather, and
+the wounds will dry and prevent the exudation of gum. Trees are
+generally trained horizontally. Some, however, are trained as espaliers
+against walls, and in fan shape. When once the form is perfected (as
+given under Training), nothing is necessary but to cut off--twice in
+each season, about six weeks apart, in the most growing time--all other
+shoots that come out within four inches of their base. New shoots will
+be constantly springing, and the tree will keep its shape and bear
+excellent fruit. Trees so trained are usually in warm locations, and
+where they can be easily protected in winter; hence, this is adapted to
+the finer and more tender varieties. The varieties of cherries are
+numerous, and rapidly increasing. They are less distinguishable than
+most other fruits. We shall only present a few of the best, and give
+only their general qualities, without any effort to enable our readers
+to identify varieties. (See our remarks on the nomenclature of apples.)
+
+Downing, in 1846, recommended the following, as choice and hardy,
+adapted to the middle states:--
+
+  1. Black Tartarean.
+  2. Black Eagle.
+  3. Early White Heart.
+  4. Downton.
+  5. Downer's Late.
+  6. Manning's Mottled.
+  7. Flesh-color'd Bigarreau
+  8. Elton.
+  9. Belle de Choisy.
+  10. May Duke.
+  11. Kentish.
+  12. Knight's Early Black.
+
+The National Convention of Fruit-growers recommend the following as the
+best for the whole country:--
+
+  1. May Duke.
+  2. Black Tartarean.
+  3. Black Eagle.
+  4. Bigarreau.
+  5. Knight's Early Black.
+  6. Downer.
+  7. Elton.
+  8. Downton.
+
+We recommend the following as all that need be cultivated for profit.
+They are adapted alike to the field and the garden. We omit the
+synonyms, and give only the predominant color. The figures in the cuts
+refer to our numbers in the list:--
+
+    Name.                           Color.                        Time.
+  1.  Rockport Bigarreau,           red.                        June 1st.
+  2.  Knight's Early Black,         black.                      June 5th.
+  3.  Black Tartarean,              purplish.                   June 15th.
+  4.  Kirtland's Mary,              marbled, light-red.         June, July.
+  5.  Delicate,                     amber-yellow.               June 25th.
+  6.  Late Bigarreau,               deep-yellow.                June 30th.
+  7.  Late Duke,                    dark-red.                   Aug. 10th.
+  8.  Cleveland Bigarreau,          red.                        June 10th.
+  9.  American Heart,               pale.                       June 1st.
+  10. Napoleon,                     purplish-black.             July 5th.
+
+The time is that of their greatest perfection, but varies with latitude
+and location.
+
+We know none better than the foregoing. In the long lists of the
+fruit-books, there are others of great excellence, some of which are
+hardly distinguishable from our list. We recommend to all cultivators to
+procure the best in their localities, under the advice of the best
+pomologists in their vicinity. Such men as Barry will be consulted for
+the latitude of Western New York; Elliott and Kirtland for Cleveland,
+Ohio; Cole and others for New England and Canada; Hooker and other
+great fruit-growers of Southern Ohio, &c., &c. These gentlemen, like all
+scientific men, are happy to communicate their knowledge for the benefit
+of others.
+
+[Illustration: Cherries--Natural Size and Shape. (See page 121.)]
+
+We see no reason for cultivating more than ten or twelve varieties; and,
+as the above are productive and excellent, including all desirable
+colors and qualities, and ripening through the whole cherry season, we
+know not what more would be profitable to the cultivator. If you wish
+more for the sake of variety, your nurseryman will name them, and show
+the quality of each, that renders it "_the best_ that ever was," until
+you will become tired of hearing, and more weary of paying for them.
+
+Decayed wood, spent tanbark, and forest-leaves, are good for the cherry.
+In removing and transplanting, be careful not to injure the roots, or
+expose them to sun and air, as they are so tender, that a degree of
+exposure that would be little felt by the apple or peach tree will
+destroy the cherry. If you are going to keep a cherry-tree out of the
+ground half an hour, throw a damp mat, or damp straw, over the roots,
+and you will save disappointment. The rich alluvial soils of the West
+are regarded unfavorable to the cherry. We know from observation and
+experience that the common red cherry does exceedingly well there, while
+the best cultivated are apt to suffer much from the winters. One reason
+is, the common cherry is a slow-going, hardy tree, while the cultivated
+is more thrifty, and therefore more tender. We give the following as a
+_sure method_ of raising the cultivated cherries in great perfection on
+all the rich prairies of the West. It is all included in dry locations,
+root-pruning, and slight heading-in:--
+
+1. Dry locations. It is known that the rich alluvial soils of the West
+are remarkable for retaining water in winter. On level, and even high
+prairie land, water will stand in winter, and thoroughly saturate the
+soil and freeze up. This is very destructive to the tender, porous root
+of the cherry-tree. How shall such locations be made dry, and these
+evils prevented? By carting on gravel and sand. Put two or three loads
+of sand or gravel, or both, in the shape of a slight mound, for each
+cherry-tree. There should first be a slight excavation, that the sand
+and gravel may be about half below the level of the surrounding soil,
+and half above it: this will so elevate the tree that no water can stand
+around it, and none can stand in the gravel and sand below it. The
+freezing of such soil will not be injurious to the roots of the tree.
+
+2. Root-pruning is to prevent too rapid growth. Such growth is always
+more tender and susceptible of injury from sudden and severe freezing.
+(See Root-pruning.)
+
+3. Heading-in puts back the growth and throws the sap into the lateral
+twigs, thus maturing the wood already grown, instead of producing new
+wood, so young and tender that it will die in winter and spread decay
+through the whole tree. Heading-in, with the cherry, must only be done
+with small twigs. Cultivators will see at a glance that this method will
+certainly succeed in all the West and Southwest.
+
+It is considered difficult to raise cherries at the South; the hot sun
+destroys the trees. Plant in the coolest situations, where there is a
+little shade from other trees, though not too near, or from buildings;
+cut them back, so as to cause shoots near the ground, and then head-in
+as the peach, so as to keep the whole covered with leaves, to shade the
+trunk and large limbs, and perfect success will crown your efforts. But
+in all cutting-back and heading-in of cherry-trees, remove the limbs
+when very small.
+
+
+CHARCOAL.
+
+There are but few who realize the value of charcoal applied to the soil.
+Whoever will observe fields where coal has been burned, will see that
+grass or grain about the bed of the former pits, will be earlier and
+much more luxuriant than in any other portion of the field. This
+difference is discernible for twenty years. It is the best known agent
+for absorbing any noxious matter in the soil or in the moisture about
+the roots of the trees. No peach-tree should be planted without a few
+quarts of pulverized charcoal in the soil. This would also prove highly
+beneficial to cherry-trees on land where they might be exposed to too
+much moisture. Its color also renders it an excellent application to the
+surface of hills of vines. It is quite effectual against the ravages of
+insects, and so absorbs the rays of the sun as to promote a rapid growth
+of the plants.
+
+
+CHESTNUTS
+
+Are among our best nuts, if not allowed to get too dry. When dried hard
+they are rather indigestible. The tree grows well in most parts of the
+United States, provided the soil be light sand or dry gravel. If the
+soil be not suitable, every man may have a half-dozen chestnut-trees, at
+a trifling expense. Haul ten or fifteen loads of sand upon a square rod,
+and plant a tree in it, and it will flourish well. Five or six trees
+would afford the children in a family a great luxury, annually. The
+blossoms appear so very late, that they are seldom cut off by the frost.
+The second growth chestnut-tree is also decidedly ornamental.
+
+
+CIDER.
+
+The usual careless way of making cider, in which is used all kinds of
+apples, even frozen and decayed ones, and without any reference to their
+ripeness; without straining, and neglecting all means of regulating the
+fermentation, is too well known. This is the more general practice
+throughout the country; but it makes cider only fit for vinegar,
+although it is used for general purposes. We give the most approved
+method of making and keeping cider, that is better for invalids than any
+of our adulterated wines (and this is the character of nearly all our
+imported wines). Our domestic wines, and bottled cider, should take the
+place of all others.
+
+Select apples best suited for cider, and gather them at the commencement
+of hard frosts. Let them lie a few days, until they become ripe and
+soft. Then throw out all decayed and immature fruit. Grind fine and
+uniform. Let the pulp remain in the vat two days. It will increase the
+saccharine principle and improve the color. Put into the press in dry
+straw, and strain the juice into clean casks. Place the casks in an open
+shed or cellar, if it be cold weather, give plenty of air and leave the
+bung out. As the froth works out of the bung, fill up every day or two,
+with some of the same pressing kept for the purpose. In three weeks or
+less this rising will cease, and the bung should be put in loose, and
+after three days driven in tight. Leave a small vent-hole near the bung.
+In a cool cellar the fermentation will cease in two days. This is known
+by the clearness of the liquor, the thick scum that rises, and the
+cessation of the escape of air.
+
+Draw off the clear cider into a clean cask. If it remains quiet it may
+stand till spring. A gill of fine charcoal added to a barrel will secure
+this end, and prevent fermentation from going too far. But if a scum
+collects on the surface, and the fermentation continues, rack it off
+again at once. Then drive the vent-spile tight. Rack it off again in
+early spring. If not perfectly clear, dissolve three quarters of an
+ounce of isinglass in cider, and put it in the barrel, and it will soon
+be perfectly fine. Bottle between this and the last of May. Fill the
+bottles within an inch of the bottom of the cork, and allow them to
+stand an hour, then drive the cork. Lay them in dry sand, in boxes in a
+cool cellar, and the cider will improve by age, and is better for the
+sick than imported wines.
+
+
+CITRONS
+
+Are only used for preserving. Their appearance and growth resemble in
+all respects the watermelon. Planted near the latter, they utterly ruin
+them, making them more citron than melon. They are injurious to most
+other contiguous vines. They are to be planted and cultivated like the
+watermelon. Are very fine preserved; but we think the outside (removing
+the rind) of a watermelon better, and should not regret to know, that
+not another citron was ever to be raised.
+
+
+CLOVER.
+
+The only varieties successfully cultivated in this country, are the red
+and the white. Red clovers are divided into large, medium, and small.
+The white is all alike. The long-rooted clover of Hungary is an
+excellent productive variety, enduring successfully almost any degree of
+drought. But in all the colder parts of this country it winter-kills so
+badly as to render it unprofitable. Clover makes good pastures, being
+nutritious, and early and rapid growing. Red-clover makes fair hay,
+though inferior to timothy or red-top. White clover is unsuitable for
+hay; it shrinks so much in drying, that it is very unproductive. It is
+the best of all grasses for sheep pasture, and its blossoms afford in
+abundance the best of honey. Red clover plowed in, even when full-grown,
+is an excellent fertilizer. It begins to be regarded, in western New
+York, as productive of the weevil, so destructive to wheat. Further
+observation is necessary to settle this question.
+
+Red-clover hay is too dusty for horses, and too wasteful for cattle. The
+stalks are so large a proportion, and so slightly nutritious, that it is
+unprofitable even as cut-feed. It is best to cultivate clover mainly for
+pastures and as a fertilizer. Sowing clover and timothy together for hay
+is much practised. The first year it will be nearly all clover, and the
+second year mostly timothy. But sown together, they are not good for
+hay, because they do not mature within ten or fifteen days of the same
+time. But, for those who are determined to make hay out of red clover,
+the following directions for curing may be valuable: mow when dry,
+spread at once, and let it wilt thoroughly; then put up into small
+cocks, not rolled, but one fork full _laid_ upon another until high
+enough;--it will then shed water; but when rolled up, water will run
+down through. Let it stand till thoroughly dried, and then draw into the
+barn; it will be bright and sweet. Another method is to cut when free
+from dew or rain, spread even, and allow it to wilt, and the leaves and
+smaller parts to dry; then draw into the barn, putting alternate loads
+of clover and dry straw into the mow, salting the clover very lightly.
+The clover is sometimes put in when quite green, and salted sufficiently
+to preserve it. It is injurious to cattle, by compelling them to eat
+more salt than they need. Cattle will eat but little salt in winter,
+when it stands within their reach; too much salt in hay compels them to
+eat more, which engenders disease. Clover cured as above makes the best
+possible clover-hay, if great care be used to prevent excessive salting.
+
+Saving clover-seed is a matter of considerable importance. The large red
+clover is too late a variety to produce seed on a second crop the same
+season, as do the medium and small. The first growth must be allowed to
+ripen. Cut when the heads are generally dead, but before it has begun to
+shell. The medium and small red clovers will produce a good crop of seed
+from second growth, if it be not too dry, immediately after mowing. Cut
+when the heads generally are dry, rake into small winrows at once, and
+soon put it in small bunches and let it stand until very dry, and then
+draw in. Raking and stirring after it becomes dry will waste one half of
+it.
+
+
+COFFEE BEAN.
+
+This grows in a pod somewhat resembling the pea; easily raised, as other
+beans; and is very productive. Browned and ground, it is used as a
+substitute for coffee. By many persons it is much esteemed. If this and
+the orange carrot were adopted extensively, instead of coffee, it would
+afford a great relief to the health, as well as the pockets, of the
+American people.
+
+
+CORN.
+
+This is the most valuable of all American products of the soil, not
+excepting wheat or cotton. It is used for human food all over the world.
+And there is no domestic animal or fowl, whose habits require grain,
+whether whole or ground, that is not fond of it. It is easily raised,
+and is a sure and abundant crop, in all latitudes south of forty-six
+degrees north. The varieties are few, and principally local. The soil
+can not be made too rich for corn. It should be planted in rows each
+way, to allow cultivating both ways with a horse. The distance of rows
+apart has been a subject of some differences of opinion; there is a
+disposition to crowd it too near together. In western New York, where
+much attention has been given to it, the usual distance is three and one
+half feet each way; others plant four feet apart. On all land we have
+ever seen, we believe four feet apart each way, with four or five stalks
+in a hill, will produce the largest yield. It lets in the sun
+sufficiently around every hill, and the proportion of ears to the stalks
+will be larger than in any other distance. Planting with a span of
+horses, and a planter on which a man can ride and plant two rows at
+once, is the easiest and most expeditious. We can not too strongly
+recommend harrowing corn as soon as it comes out of the ground. It
+increases the crop, and saves much expense in cultivating. All planters
+should know that Indian corn is one of those plants which will come to
+maturity at a certain age, whether it be large or small; hence, anything
+that will increase the growth while young will add to the product. Corn
+neglected when small receives, thereby, an injury from which it will
+never recover; after-hoeing may help it, but never can fully restore it.
+If there are small weeds, the harrowing will destroy them, and give all
+the strength of the soil to the young corn; if there are no weeds, the
+effect of the harrowing will be to give the young plants twice as large
+a growth in the first two weeks as they would make without it. Harrow
+with a =V= drag, with the front tooth out, that the remaining
+teeth may go each side of the row. Use two horses, allowing the row to
+stand between them; let the harrow-teeth run as near the corn as
+possible. Never plant corn until the soil has become warm enough to make
+it come up quickly and grow rapidly. If you feed corn to cattle whole,
+feed it with the husks on, as it will compel them to chew it better,
+and will thus be a great saving. Crib corn only when very dry, and avoid
+the Western and Southern method of leaving cribs uncovered; the corn
+thus becomes less valuable for any use. A little plaster or wood-ashes
+applied to corn on first coming up, and again when six inches high, will
+abundantly repay cost and labor;--it will pay even on the prairie-lands
+of the West, and is quite essential on the poorer soils of the East and
+North. It had better never be neglected. The crop will weigh more to the
+acre, by allowing it to stand as it grew, until thoroughly dry. The next
+larger crop is when the stalks are cut off above the ear (called
+topping) after it has become glazed. Still a little less will be the
+product when it is cut up at the ground, while the leaves are yet quite
+green. The two latter methods are adapted for the purpose of saving
+fodder in good condition for cattle. Intelligent farmers regard the
+fodder of much more value than the decrease in the weight of the grain.
+Corn thus cut up, and fed without husking, is the best possible way for
+winter-fattening cattle on a large scale, and where corn is abundant. To
+save the whole, swine should follow the cattle, changing yards once a
+week.
+
+Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before
+frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the
+average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will
+improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib
+at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best
+ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before
+all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed
+twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before planting, is
+recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand.
+Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time;
+but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there
+occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that
+their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this
+is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply.
+The difficulty is not (as we have often heard asserted) from the intense
+cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather
+after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect,
+with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall
+was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly
+soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter
+destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no
+degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the
+seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed,
+given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most
+profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow
+land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable
+for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry
+weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is
+better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with
+ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved
+in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The
+tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.
+
+
+COTTON.
+
+No product of the soil is more useful than this. To this country alone
+we give the highest value to Indian corn. But, in usefulness to the
+whole world, corn must yield the palm to cotton. It employs more hands
+and capital in manufacturing, and enters more largely into the clothing
+of mankind, than any other article. The history of cotton and the
+cotton-gin, and of the manufacture of cotton goods, is exceedingly
+interesting. The eminence of Great Britain as the first commercial
+nation of the world is due, in no small degree, to her cotton
+manufactures. And the influence of this great staple American product
+upon all the interests of this country, social and political, civil and
+religious, is universally felt and acknowledged. The cotton-fields of
+the South, at certain stages of growth, and especially when in bloom,
+present scenes of beauty unsurpassed by any other growing crop. It does
+not come within our design in this work to give a very extended view of
+cotton culture. This business in the United States is confined
+principally to a particular class of men, known as planters. They
+cultivate it on a large scale, having the control of large means. Such
+men seek knowledge of those of their own class, and would hardly
+condescend to listen to an essay on their peculiar business, written by
+a Northern man, not experienced in planting. And yet an article, not
+covering more than ten pages of this volume, might be written,
+condensing in a clear manner all that is established in this branch of
+American industry, as found in the publications of the South. Such an
+article, well written, by a man who would be regarded good authority,
+would be of vast pecuniary value to the South. Whoever carefully reads
+Southern agricultural papers, and "TURNER'S COTTON-PLANTER'S MANUAL,"
+will see a great conflict of opinions on the subject, and yet a
+presentation of many facts, that one thoroughly conversant with soil
+culture in general would see to be true and important. The embodiment of
+these facts and principles in a brief, plain article that would be
+received and practised, would add value to the annual cotton crop, that
+would be counted by millions. What better service can some Southern
+gentleman do for his own chosen and favorite region than to write such
+an article? We give the following brief view of the whole subject, not
+presuming to teach cotton-planters what they are supposed to understand
+much better than we do, but to throw out some thoughts that may be
+suggestive of improvements that others may mature and carry out, and to
+lead young men, just commencing the business of planting, to look about
+and see if they may not make some improvements upon what they behold
+around them. This will not fail of being interesting to Northern men,
+most of whom know nothing of the cotton-plant, or the modes of its
+cultivation. It is interesting, too, that some of the most essential
+points are in perfect accordance with the great principles of soil
+culture throughout the world.
+
+There are three species of cotton: tree-cotton, shrub-cotton, and
+herbaceous cotton. The tree-cotton is cultivated to considerable extent
+in northern Africa, and produces a fair staple of cotton for commerce;
+being produced on trees from ten to twenty-five feet high, it is not so
+easily gathered. The shrub-cotton is cultivated in various parts of the
+world, particularly in Asia and South America. Growing in the form of
+small bushes, it is convenient, and the staple is fair. But these are
+both inferior to the herbaceous cotton. This is an herb growing
+annually, like corn, a number of feet in height, more or less according
+to soil and season, and producing the best known cotton. Under these
+species there are many varieties: we need speak only of the varieties of
+herbaceous cotton. Writers vary in their estimates of varieties; some
+say there are eight, and others put them as high as one hundred. This is
+a question of no practical moment. The sea-island cotton, called also
+"long staple" on account of its very long silky fibres, is the finest
+cotton known. Its name arose from the fact of its production in greatest
+perfection on the low, sandy islands near the coasts of some of the
+Southern states. It does well on low land near the seashore. The
+saltness and humidity of such locations seem peculiarly favorable to its
+greatest perfection. It yields about half as much as the "short staple"
+called Mexican and Petit gulf cotton, and known in commerce as upland
+cotton. But the sea-island, or long staple, sells for three or four
+times as much per pound, and, hence, is most profitable to the planter,
+in all regions where it will flourish well. The Mexican is very
+productive on most soils, and is easily gathered and prepared for
+market. There are quite a number of other varieties; as, banana, Vick's
+hundred-seed, Pitt's prolific, multibolus, mammoth, sugar-loaf, &c., &c.
+The sugar-loaf is highly commended, as are some of the others named.
+They have had quite a run among seed-sellers. Most of these varieties
+are the improved Mexican. It is well to get seed frequently from a
+distance; but any extravagant prices are unwise. Improvement of
+cotton-seed is an important part of its most profitable culture. While
+much said about it by interested parties is doubtless mere humbug, yet
+there is great importance to be attached to improvement of seed. This is
+true of all agricultural products, and no less so of cotton than of
+others. Two things only are essential to constant improvement in
+cotton-seed--_selection_ and _care_. Select from the best quality,
+producing the largest yield, and maturing early; pick it before much
+rain has fallen on it after ripening; dry it thoroughly before ginning,
+and dry it very thoroughly after it is clear of the fibre, before
+putting it in bulk. Cotton-seed, without extra care in drying, has
+moisture enough to make it heat in bulk, by which its germinating power
+is greatly impaired. It is this, and the effects of fall rains, that
+causes seed to trouble planters so seriously by not coming up: this
+makes it difficult to obtain good even stands, and causes much loss by
+diminished crops. Care in these respects would add many pounds to the
+acre in most cotton-fields of the land.
+
+_Preparing the Soil for Planting._--On all land not having a porous
+subsoil, plow very deep; it gives opportunity for the long tap-root of
+the plant to penetrate deep, and guard against excessive drought. The
+usual custom is to lay the ground into beds, elevated a little in the
+middle, and a depression between them, in which excessive moisture may
+run off; also to increase the action of the sun and air. The surface of
+the soil to be planted should be made very fine and smooth. This is true
+of everything planted--it should be in finely-pulverized soil; it comes
+up more readily and evenly. Soil left in coarse lumps or particles gives
+the air too much action on the germinating seeds and young plants, and
+retards and stints their growth. Deep plowing guards alike against too
+much or too little moisture. Too much water has room to sink away from
+the surface and allow it to dry speedily. It also forms a sort of
+reservoir to hold water for use in a drought. The seed should be planted
+in as straight a line as possible, from three and a half to five and a
+half feet apart one way, and from fourteen to twenty-five inches the
+other, according to the quality of the land, and the growth of the
+variety planted. Rich lands will not bear the plants so close as the
+poor. Many are great losers by not securing plants enough on the ground.
+Straight lines greatly facilitate culture, as it can mostly be done with
+the plow or cultivator. Turning land over deep, just before planting, is
+the best known remedy for the cut-worm; it is said to put them back
+until the plants grow beyond their reach. The best planters generally
+cover with a piece of plank drawn over the furrow in which the seed is
+dropped. It would be far better to roll it, as some few planters do; the
+effect on the early vegetation of the seed and rapid growth of the young
+plant would be very great, on the general principles given on "Rolling."
+The object of cultivation is to keep down the grass, which is the great
+enemy of the cotton. Plowing the last thing before planting aids this,
+by giving the cotton quite as early a start as the weeds or grass.
+Cultivate early, and the grass will be easily covered and killed. Always
+plant when it will come up speedily and grow rapidly; this is better
+than very early planting, and certainly much better than very late. Thin
+out to one in a place, as early as the plants are out of danger of
+dying. Gathering should commence as soon as bolls enough are in right
+condition to allow a hand to gather forty pounds per day. It is better
+and cheaper than to risk the injury from rains after the crop is ripe.
+
+MANURES.--Perhaps this is, at the present time, the greatest question
+for cotton-planters. The application of all the most approved principles
+and agents of fertilization would do more for the interests of the
+cotton crop than anything else. Cotton-plantations are sometimes said to
+run down so as to render it necessary to abandon portions of the land,
+and select new. Instead of this, land may not only be kept up with
+proper manuring, but made to yield larger crops from year to year. The
+following analysis of the ash of the cotton-plant will indicate the
+wants of the soil in which it grows:--
+
+  1. Potash                29.58
+  2. Lime                  24.34
+  3. Magnesia               3.73
+  4. Chloride               0.65
+  5. Phosphoric acid       34.92
+  6. Sulphuric acid         3.54
+  7. Silica                 3.24
+                           ----
+                           100.00
+
+This analysis shows that the soil for cotton needs much lime, bones or
+bone-dust, and wood-ashes, besides the ordinary barn-yard and compost
+manures. All the preparations and applications of manures specified in
+this work, under the head of "Manures," are applicable to cotton. The
+usual recommendations of rotation in crops is, perhaps, more important
+in cotton culture than anywhere else. Judicious fallowing, on principles
+adapted to a Southern climate, is another great means of keeping up and
+improving the land. This is also the only effectual means of guarding
+against the numerous enemies and diseases of the cotton-plant. The
+health of the plants is secured, and they are made to outstrip their
+enemies only by the fertility and fine tilth of the soil in which they
+grow. This is confirmed on every hand by the correspondence of the most
+intelligent planters of the South. Let cotton-growers go into a thorough
+system of fertilization of their soils, and attend personally to the
+improvement of their cotton-seed, by selection, as recommended above,
+and the result will be an addition of one eighth, or one fourth, to the
+products of cotton in the United States, without adding another acre to
+the area under cultivation. When this comes to be understood, men of
+small means will cultivate a little cotton by their own individual
+labor, as the poorer men do corn and other agricultural products, and
+thus improve their condition. The above suggestions are the conclusions
+to which we come, from a thorough examination of what has been published
+to the world on this subject. We recommend the careful perusal of "The
+Cotton-Planter's Manual," by Turner (published by Saxton and Co., New
+York), and increased attention to the subject, by the intelligent,
+educated, and practical men with whom the cotton-growing regions abound.
+
+
+COWS.
+
+The cow occupies the first place among domestic animals, in value to the
+American people, not excepting even the horse. From the original stock,
+still kept as a curiosity on the grounds of some English noblemen,
+cattle have been greatly improved by care in breeding and feeding. Those
+wild animals are still beautiful, but only about one third of the weight
+of the ordinary improved cattle, and not more than one fourth that of
+the _most improved_. Improving the breed of cattle is a subject by
+itself, demanding a separate treatise. It is not to be expected that we
+should go into it at length in a work like this. But so much depends
+upon the cow, that we can hardly write an article on her without giving
+those general principles that lie at the foundation of all improvement
+in cattle. The few suggestions that follow, if heeded, would be worth
+many times the value of this book to any farmer not already familiar
+with the facts. The cow affects all other stock in two ways; first, the
+form of calves, and consequently of grown cattle, is affected as much by
+the cow as by the bull. The quality and quantity of her milk, also, has
+a great influence upon the early growth of all neat stock. Cattle are
+usually named from their horns, as "short horns," &c. It is a means of
+distinction, like a name, but not expressive of quality. The leading
+marks of a good cow are, medium height for her weight, small neck,
+straight and wide back, wide breast--giving room for healthy action of
+the lungs--heavy hind-quarters, and soft skin with fine hair, skin
+yellowish, with much dandruff above the bag behind. A smart countenance
+is also expressive of good qualities; there is as much difference in the
+eyes and expression of cattle as of men. Select only such cows to raise
+stock from, and allow them to go to no bull that has not good marks, and
+is not of a superior form. Another important matter is to avoid
+breeding in and in. This is injurious in all domestic animals and
+fowls. Always have the cow and the bull from different regions:
+attention to this would constantly improve any breed we have, and by
+improving the size of cattle, and milking qualities of cows, would add
+vast amounts to the wealth of farmers, without the necessity of
+purchasing, at a great price, any of the high-bred cattle. We have
+observed, in our article on calves, that abundant feeding during the
+first year has much to do with the excellence of stock. Unite with these
+regularity in feeding, watering, and salting, keeping dry and warm in
+stormy, cold weather, and well curried and clean, and a farmer's stock
+will be much more profitable to him. But this brief mention of the
+general principles must suffice, while we give all the further space we
+can occupy with this article to--
+
+THE INFALLIBLE MARKS OF THE MILKING QUALITIES OF COWS.--M. Francis
+Guenon, of France, has published a treatise, in which he shows, by
+external marks alone, the quality and quantity of milk of any cow, and
+the length of time she will continue to give milk. These marks are so
+plain, that they are applicable to calves but a few weeks old, as well
+as to cows. Whoever will take a little pains to understand this, can
+know, when he proposes to buy a cow, how much milk she will give, with
+proper feed and treatment, the quality of her milk, and the length of
+time she will give milk after having been gotten with calf. If the
+farmer has heifer-calves, some of which he proposes to send to the
+butcher and others to raise, he may know which will make poor milkers,
+and which good ones, and raise the good and kill the poor. Thus, he may
+see a calf that his neighbor is going to slaughter, and, from these
+external marks, he may discover that it would make one of the best
+milking cows of the neighborhood; it would then pay to buy and raise it,
+though he might have to kill and throw away his own, which he could see
+would make a poor cow if raised. Thus, all extraordinary milkers would
+be raised, and all poor ones be slaughtered: this alone would improve
+the whole stock of the country twenty-five per cent. in as many years.
+Attention has been called to this, in the most emphatic manner, by _The
+New York Tribune_--a paper that always takes a deep interest in whatever
+will advance the great industrial interests of the whole people--and
+yet, this announcement will be new to a vast number of farmers into
+whose hands this volume will fall. To many it will be utterly
+incredible, especially when we inform them that the indications are,
+mainly, the growth of the hair, on the cow behind, from the roots of the
+teats upward. "Impossible!" many a practical, common-sense man will say.
+But that same man will acknowledge that a bull has a different color,
+different neck, and different horns, left in his natural state, from
+those he would exhibit if altered to an ox. Why is it not equally
+credible that the growth of the hair, &c., should be affected by the
+secretion and flow of the milk on that part of the system where those
+operations are principally carried on? But, aside from all reasonings on
+the subject, the fact is certain, and whoever may read this article may
+test its correctness, as applied to his own cows or those of his
+neighbor. The great agriculturists of France (and it is no mean
+agricultural country) have tested it, under the direction of the
+agricultural societies, and pronounced it entirely certain. This was
+followed by an award, by the French government, of a pension of three
+thousand francs per annum to Guenon, as a benefactor of the people by
+the discovery he had made. The same has been amply tested in this
+country, with the same certain results. It now only remains for every
+farmer to test it for himself, and avail himself of the profits that
+will arise from it. Guenon divides cows into eight classes, and has
+eight orders under each class, making sixty-four cows, of which he has
+cuts in his work. He also adds what he calls a bastard-cow in each
+class, making seventy-two in all. Now, to master all these nice
+distinctions in his classes and orders would be tedious, and nearly
+useless. Efforts at this would tend to confusion. We desire to give the
+indications in a brief manner, with a very few cuts; and yet, we would
+hope to be much better understood by the masses than we believe Guenon
+to be. We claim no credit; Guenon is the discoverer, and we only
+promulgate his discovery in the plainest language we can command; and if
+we can reach the ear of the American farmers, and call their attention
+to this, we shall not have labored in vain.
+
+The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the
+gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon. The following
+cuts show the marks of all of Guenon's eight classes, the first and the
+last in each class. The intermediate ones are in regular gradation from
+the first to the eighth order. Each class is divided into high, medium,
+and low, yielding milk somewhat in proportion to their size. We give the
+quantity of milk which the large cows will yield. This also supposes
+cows to be well fed on suitable food. Smaller cows of the same class and
+order, or those that are poorly cared for and fed, will, of course, give
+less.
+
+The names of all these eight classes are entirely arbitrary--they mean
+nothing. M. Guenon adopted them on account of the shape of the
+escutcheon, or from the name of the place from which the cows came. But
+cows with these peculiar marks are found among all breeds, in all
+countries, and of all colors, sizes, and ages. These marks are certain,
+except the variations that are caused by extra care or neglect.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 1. FIRST CLASS. Fig. 2.
+
+_Order_ 1. FLANDERS COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair,
+growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it
+blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the
+region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs
+just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and
+extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they
+generally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by
+hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds
+them (E, E, in fig. 1). The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon
+is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff,
+detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give
+about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before
+getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large
+quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with
+calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This,
+however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time
+of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual
+diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the
+eighth.
+
+Cows of this order (fig. 2), or with the marks you see in the drawing,
+will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best
+state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with
+calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in
+Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better
+than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different
+from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any
+one can at once see that they belong to this class;--and the comparative
+size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the
+above. In the intermediate grades, the spots (E, E, fig. 1) are smaller,
+and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight
+changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general
+outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in
+each class is about from two and a half to three or three and a half
+quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a
+calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell,
+within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow or heifer. The only
+chance for mistake is in the case of bastard-cows, which rapidly dry up
+on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 3. SECOND CLASS. Fig. 4.
+
+_Order_ 1. SELVAGE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+In this class, the shape of the escutcheon is entirely distinct, so that
+no one will confound it with the first. The gradations are the same as
+in the preceding, only this class, all through, is inferior to the
+other. The first (fig. 3) will give only twenty or twenty-one quarts,
+and the poorest only four quarts. This escutcheon is formed by ascending
+hair, but with a very different outline from the first class; it has the
+same spots above the hind teats as the first, formed by descending
+hair. In the lower orders these disappear--first one, then one small
+one, and then none at all--and as they descend, similar spots appear,
+formed in the same way, on one or both sides of the vulva (F, fig. 3).
+The skin of the inside surface of the thigh is yellowish. The time of
+giving milk--viz., eight months gone with calf, or as long as you
+continue to milk them--is the same as in the first class. The last order
+(fig. 4) of this class give very little milk after getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 5. THIRD CLASS. Fig. 6.
+
+_Order_ 1. CURVELINE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+This escutcheon is easily distinguished from the others, by its outline
+figure. The spots on the bag above the hind teats are formed as in the
+preceding, and as gradually disappear in the lower orders. In those
+orders there is a slight difference in the outline, but its general form
+is the same. The first of this class (fig. 5) yields twenty or
+twenty-one quarts a day, and gives milk till within a month of calving.
+The last order of the class (fig. 6) gives only three and a half quarts,
+and goes dry on getting with calf. The intermediate gradations between
+the first and eighth orders are the same as in the preceding classes.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 7. FOURTH CLASS. Fig. 8.
+
+_Order_ 1. BICORN COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+These escutcheons are unmistakably diverse from either of the others;
+gradations, from first to eighth orders, the same. The first order in
+this class (fig. 7) will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk until
+eight months with calf. The dandruff which detaches from the skin within
+the escutcheon of the first order is yellowish or copperish color. The
+two marks on the sides of the vulva are narrow streaks of ascending
+hair, not in the general mark. The last order of the class (fig. 8)
+gives three and a half quarts only a day, and goes dry when with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 9. FIFTH CLASS. Fig. 10.
+
+_Order_ 1. DEMIJOHN COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+Here is another general mark, easily distinguishable from all the others
+by its outline. The first order (fig. 9) will give eighteen quarts a
+day, and give milk eight months, or within a month of calving. Yellowish
+skin; delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, as in the higher
+orders of all the preceding classes. The eighth order of this class
+(fig. 10) will give only two and a half quarts per day, and none after
+conceiving anew. The gradation from first to eighth order is regular, as
+in the others.
+
+
+SIXTH CLASS.
+
+Yield of first order (fig. 11) eighteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin within the escutcheon same color, bag equally delicate, and
+hair fine, as in all the first orders. Eighth order (fig. 12) yields
+about two quarts per day, and dries up on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 11. Fig. 12.
+
+_Order_ 1. SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 13. SEVENTH CLASS. Fig. 14.
+
+_Order_ 1. LIMOUSINE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+First order in this class (fig. 13) gives fifteen quarts; time, eight
+months. The skin, bag, and hair, same as in the higher orders in all the
+classes. The eighth order (fig. 14) will yield two and a half quarts per
+day, and dry up when with calf.
+
+
+EIGHTH CLASS.
+
+First order (fig. 15) will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats
+far apart. The eighth order (fig. 16) yields two and a half quarts a
+day, and dries up on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 15. Fig. 16.
+
+_Order_ 1. HORIZONTAL CUT COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose
+escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class:
+these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become
+familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may
+be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows,
+and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the
+bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of
+ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19.]
+
+In the FLANDERS COW (fig. 17) there are two bastards; one distinguished
+by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles
+up, like beards on a head of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the
+genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and
+descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the
+FLANDERS COW is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair,
+about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large
+cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair
+within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of
+this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the
+escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no
+dandruff.
+
+Bastards of the SELVAGE COW are known by two oval patches of ascending
+hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an
+inch and a half wide (fig. 18). The larger the spot, and the coarser the
+hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.
+
+Bastards of the CURVELINE COW are known by the size of spots of hair on
+each side of the vulva (fig. 18). When they are of four or five inches
+by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate
+bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly
+on getting with calf.
+
+Bastards of the BICORN COW are indicated precisely as in the
+preceding--by _the size_ of the spots of ascending hair, above the
+escutcheon and by the sides of the vulva (F, F, fig. 18).
+
+Bastards of the DEMIJOHN COW are distinguished precisely as the two
+preceding--_size of the streaks_ (fig. 18).
+
+The SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the
+right of the vulva (fig. 19). When that ascending hair is coarse and
+bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.
+
+LIMOUSINE COWS show their bastards precisely as do the CURVELINE and
+BICORN, by the size of the ascending streaks of hair, on the right and
+left of the vulva. (Fig. 19.)
+
+Bastards of the HORIZONTAL CUT COWS have no escutcheon whatever. By this
+they are always known.
+
+Some bastards are good milkers until they get with calf, and then very
+soon dry up. Others are poor milkers. Those with coarse hair and but
+little of it, in the escutcheon, give poor, watery milk. Those of fine,
+thick hair will give good milk.
+
+BULLS have escutcheons of the same shape as the cows, but on a smaller
+scale. Whenever there are streaks of descending hair bristling up among
+the ascending hair of the escutcheon, rendering it quite irregular and
+rough in its appearance, the animal is regarded as a bastard. Never put
+a cow to any bull that has not a regular, well-defined, and smooth
+escutcheon. This is as fully as we have room to go into M. Guenon's
+details. We fear this will fall into the hands of many who will not take
+the pains to master even these distinctions. To those who will, we trust
+they will be found plain, and certain in their results. From all this,
+one thing is certain, and that is of immense value to the farmer: it is,
+that on general principles, without remembering the exact figure of one
+of the indications above given, or one of the arbitrary terms it has
+been necessary to use, any man can tell the quality and quantity of milk
+a cow will give, and the time she will give milk, with sufficient
+accuracy to buy no cow and raise no heifer that will not be a
+profitable dairy cow, if that is what he desires. The rules by which
+these things may be known are the following:
+
+No cow, of any class, is ever a good milker, that has not a large
+surface of hair growing upward from the teats and covering the inner
+surface of the thighs, and extending up toward or to the tail.
+
+No cow that is destitute of this mark, or only has a very small one, is
+ever a good milker. Every cow having a scanty growth of coarse hair in
+the above mark will only give poor, watery milk; and every cow having a
+thick growth of fine hair on the escutcheon, or surface where it
+ascends, and considerable dandruff, will always give good rich milk, and
+be good for butter and cheese.
+
+Every cow on which this mark is small will give but little milk, and dry
+up soon after getting with calf, and is not fit to be kept.
+
+Observe these brief rules, and milk your cows _at certain hours every
+day_--milk _very quickly_, without stopping, and _very clean_, not
+leaving a drop--and you never will have a poor cow on your farm, and at
+least twenty-five per cent. will be added to the value of the ordinary
+dairy, that is made up of cows purchased or raised in the usual,
+hap-hazard way.
+
+If your cows' udders swell after calving, wash them in aconite made weak
+with water; it is very good for taking out inflammation. Other common
+remedies are known. If your cow or other creature gets choked, pour into
+the throat half a pint, at least, of oil; and by rubbing the neck, the
+obstruction will probably move up or down. Curry your cows as thoroughly
+as you do your horses; and if they ever chance to get lousy, wash them
+in a decoction of tobacco.
+
+
+CRANBERRY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is native in the northern parts of both hemispheres. In England and
+on the continents of Europe and Asia, native cranberries are inferior,
+in size and quality, to the American. Our own have also been greatly
+improved by cultivation. They have become an important article of
+commerce, and find a ready sale, at high prices, in all the leading
+markets of the country. Their successful cultivation, therefore,
+deserves attention, as really as that of other fruits. Mr. B. Eastwood
+has written a volume on the subject, which probably contains all the
+facts already established, together with many opinions of scientific and
+practical cultivators. The work is valuable, but much less so than it
+would have been, had the author put into a few pages the important
+facts, and left out all speculations and diversities of opinion. The
+objection to most of this kind of literature is the intermixture of
+facts and valuable suggestions with so much that is not only useless,
+but absolutely pernicious, by the confusion it creates. We think the
+following directions for the cultivation of the cranberry are complete,
+according to our present knowledge:--
+
+_Soil._--It is universally agreed that _beach sand_ is the best. Not
+from the beach of the ocean barely, but of lakes, ponds, or rivers.
+There is no evidence that any saline quality that may be in sand from
+the beach of the sea, is particularly useful. It is the cleanness of the
+sand, on which account it is less calculated to promote a growth of
+weeds, and allows a free passage of moisture toward the surface. Hence
+white sand is preferable, and the cleaner the better. Whoever has a
+moist meadow in the soil of which there is considerable sand has a good
+place for a cranberry bed. If you have not a sand meadow, select a plat
+of ground as moist as any you have, upon which water will not stand
+unless you confine it there, and draw on sand to the depth of four or
+six inches, having first removed any grass or break-turf, that may be in
+danger of coming up as weeds to choke the vines. If you make the ground
+mellow below and then put on the sand, you will have a bed that will
+give you but little further trouble. Peat soils will do, if you take off
+the top and expose to the weather, frosts and rains, one year before
+planting. The first year, peat will dry and crack, so as to destroy
+young cranberry vines. But after one winter's frost, it becomes
+pulverized and will not again bake. Hence it is next to sand for a
+cranberry bed.
+
+_Situation._--The shore of a body of water, or of a small pond is best,
+if it be not too much exposed to violent action of wind and waves. Land
+that retains much moisture within a foot of the surface, but which does
+not become stagnant, is very valuable. The bottoms of small ponds that
+can be drained off are very good. Any land that can be flowed with water
+at pleasure is good. By flooding, the blossoms are kept back till late
+spring frosts are gone. Any upland can be prepared as above. But if it
+be a very dry soil it must have a liberal supply of water during dry
+weather, or success may not be expected.
+
+_Planting._--There are several methods. Sod planting consists in
+preparing the land and then cutting out square sods containing vines,
+and setting them at the distances apart, you desire. This was the
+general method; but it is objectionable, on account of the weeds that
+will grow out of the sod and choke the vines. This method is improved by
+tearing away the sod, leaving the roots naked, and then planting.
+Another method is to cut off a vigorous shoot, and plant the middle of
+it, with each end protruding from the soil two or three inches apart.
+Roots will come out by all the leaves that are buried, and promote the
+springing of many new vines, and thus the early matting of the bed which
+is very desirable.
+
+Others take short slips and thrust four or five of them together down
+into the soil as they do slips of currant bushes, thus making a hill of
+as many plants. And yet another method is, to cut up the vines into
+pieces of two or three inches in length, and broad cast them on mellow
+soil, and harrow them in as wheat--Others bury the short pieces in
+drills. In either case they will soon mat the whole ground, if the land
+be not weedy. The best plan for small beds is probably the middle
+planting.
+
+Distances apart depend upon your design in cultivating. If your soil is
+such that so many weeds will grow as to require cultivating with a
+horse, or much hoeing, four feet one way and two the other is the best.
+Better have land so well covered with clean sand, that very few weeds
+will grow and no cultivation be needed. Then set vines one foot apart
+and very soon the whole ground will be perfectly matted and will need
+very little care for years. For two or three years pull out the weeds by
+hand, and the ground will be covered and need nothing more.
+
+_Varieties._--There are three principal ones of the lowland species. The
+bell, the bugle, and the cherry cranberries. These are named from their
+shape. Probably the cherry is the best, being the size, shape, and color
+of the cultivated red cherries. There has recently been discovered an
+upland variety, on the shores of Lake Superior, that bids fair to be as
+hardy and productive as the common currant. On all poor, hard, and even
+very dry uplands, it does remarkably well. It grows extensively in the
+northern part of the British provinces. The fruit is smaller than the
+other varieties but is delicious, beautiful in color, and very abundant.
+It will probably be one of our great and universal luxuries.
+
+_Healthy and Unhealthy Plants._--By this cultivators denote those that
+bear well and those that do not. And yet the unhealthy, or those that
+bear the least, are the larger, greener-leaved, and rapid-growing
+varieties. It is difficult to describe them so that an unpractised eye
+would know them from each other. The best way to be sure of getting the
+right kind is to purchase of a man you can trust, or visit the beds when
+the fruit is in perfection and witness where the crop is abundant, mark
+it, and let it remain until you are ready to plant. This is always best
+done in the spring, or from May 15th to June 15th.
+
+_Gathering_--is performed by hand, or with a cranberry-rake.
+Hand-picking is best for the vines, but is more expensive. If a rake be
+used, it will draw out some small runners and retard the growth of young
+vines. But it is such a saving of expense, it had better be used, and
+always drawn the same way. The fruit should be cleared of leaves and
+decayed berries; and if intended for a near market, be packed dry in
+barrels. If to be transported far, put them in small casks, say
+half-barrels, with good water. They may thus be carried around the globe
+in good condition. To keep well they should not be exposed to fall
+frosts, and should not be picked before ripe. A little practice, and at
+first on a small scale, may enable American cultivators of the soil,
+generally, to have good cranberry beds. Much of the practical part of
+this can only be learned by experience. The above suggestions will save
+much loss and discouragement.
+
+_Enemies_--are worms that attack the leaves, and another species that
+attack the berries. There are only two remedies proposed, viz., fire and
+water. If you can flood your beds you will destroy them. If not, take a
+time not very dry so as to endanger burning the roots, and burn over
+your cranberry-beds, so as to consume all the vines. Next season new
+vines will grow up free from worms.
+
+
+CUCUMBERS.
+
+There are quite a number of varieties. But a few only deserve attention.
+The best, for all uses, is the Early Cluster, a great bearer of firm,
+tender, brittle fruit. Early Frame, Long White, Turkey, and Long Green
+Turkey, are rather beautiful, but not prolific varieties. Long Prickly,
+is very good for pickles, and fills a cask rapidly, but is by no means
+so pleasant as the Early Cluster. The Short Prickly and White Spined are
+considerably used. The West India or small Gherkin is used only for
+pickling, and is considered fine. But we regard all these inferior to
+the Early Cluster.
+
+_Soil_ should be made very rich with compost and vegetable mould, with a
+liberal application of sand. All vines do better in a sandy soil. Plant
+in the open air only after the weather has become quite warm. An effort
+to get early cucumbers by early out-door planting is usually a failure;
+seeds decay, or having come up, after a long while, they grow slowly,
+and vines and fruit are apt to be imperfect. Six feet apart, each way,
+is the best distance; and after the plants get out of the way of
+insects, and become well established, two vines in each hill is better
+than more: the fruit will be better and more abundant, and they will
+bear much longer than when vines are left to grow very thick. They need
+water in dry weather (see Watering). The first week in July is the best
+time to plant for pickling. In a warm, dry climate, cucumbers do better
+a little shaded, but not too much. Planted among young fruit-trees, or
+in alternate rows with corn, they do well. If allowed to run up bushes
+like peas, they produce more and better fruit. Forcing for an early crop
+is often done, by digging a hole in the ground, two feet deep and two
+feet square, and filling with hot manure, stamped down well, and covered
+with six inches of fine mould. Put around a frame and cover with glass,
+at an angle of thirty-five degrees to the sun. Plant one hundred seeds
+on the two feet square; when they come up, put two plants in a pot, set
+in a regular hotbed, and keep well watered and aired until the weather
+be warm enough to transplant in the open air; then remove from the pots
+without breaking the ball of earth, and plant six feet apart. Four
+plants left in the original hill will bear earlier than those that have
+been removed. To get a large quantity of very early ones, plant a
+corresponding number of hills, with the two feet of manure, as above;
+whenever the weather becomes hot, they will need to be well watered, or
+they will dry up. All cucumber-plants forced should have the main runner
+cut off, after the second rough leaf appears; this brings fruit earlier
+and twice as abundant. On transplanting cucumbers, or any other vines,
+cover them wholly from the sun for three days, or, if the weather be
+dry, for a whole week. We once thought melons and cucumbers very
+difficult to transplant successfully; but we ascertained the only
+difficulty to be, the want of sufficient water and shade. When roots and
+soil were so dry that the dirt all fell off, we have transplanted with
+perfect success; but for a week the plants appeared to be ruined. We
+kept them covered and well watered, and they revived and made a great
+crop, much earlier than seeds planted at the same time. Protection of
+plants from insects has been a subject of much study and many
+experiments. Ashes and lime, and various decoctions and offensive
+mixtures, have been recommended. We discard them all, as both
+troublesome and ineffectual. Our experience is, most decidedly, in favor
+of fencing each hill, of all vines, to keep off insects. A box a foot
+square and fifteen inches high, the lower edge set in the soil, will
+usually prove effectual. Put over a pane of glass, and it will be more
+sure, and increase the warmth and consequently the growth of the plants.
+Put millinet over the boxes, instead of glass, and not a hill will be
+lost. If a cutworm chances to be fenced in, he will show himself by
+cutting off a plant. Search him out and kill him, and all will be safe.
+Such boxes, well taken care of, will last for ten years. This, then, is
+a cheap as well as effectual method.
+
+Cucumbers are a cooling, healthy article of diet, used in reasonable
+quantities. They should be sliced into cold water, taken out, and put in
+sharp vinegar with pepper and salt. Ripe cucumbers make one of the best
+of pickles: for directions in making, we refer to the cook-books. If you
+have room near your back door for one large hill of cucumbers, you may
+obtain a remarkable growth. Dig down deep enough to set in an old
+barrel, with head and bottom out, leaving the top even with the surface.
+Fill with manure from the stable, well trod down. In fine rich mould,
+around on the outside of the barrel, plant twenty or thirty
+cucumber-seeds. Put a pail of water in the barrel every day. The water
+comes up through the soil to the roots of the plants, bringing with it
+the stimulus of the manure, and the effect is wonderful. A large barrel
+has been filled with pickles from one such hill. If bushes be put up to
+support the vines, it is still better. Neglect to pour in water, and
+they will dry up; but continue to water them, and they will bear till
+frost in autumn.
+
+
+CURRANTS.
+
+These are among the very best of all the small fruits; immensely
+productive in all locations, and adapted to a great variety of uses, and
+hang long on the bushes after ripening.
+
+There is quite a number of varieties, some of which are probably the
+mere result of cultivation of others well known. The common red is too
+well known to need description--very acid, and always remarkably
+productive, in all soils and situations. The size and quality of the
+fruit are affected by location and culture. The native currants, as
+found in the north of Europe, are small and inferior; but all excellent
+modern varieties have sprung from them by cultivation. In working these
+important changes, the Dutch and French gardeners have been the chief
+agents: hence our names, Red and White Dutch currants.
+
+The common red and the common white are still cultivated in the great
+majority of American gardens; and yet, they are not worthy to be named
+with the White Dutch and the Red Dutch, which may easily be obtained by
+every cultivator. These two varieties are all that ever need be
+cultivated. Long lists of currants are described in many of the
+fruit-books; the result, as in all such cases, is confusion and loss to
+the mass of growers. We will not even give the list. The common red and
+the white currants are greatly improved by cultivation. But the Dutch
+have longer bunches, of larger fruit, the lower ones in the stem holding
+their size much better than common currants; the stems are usually full
+and perfect, and the fruit less acid and more pleasant.
+
+A new, strong-growing variety, called the "cherry currant" on account of
+its large size, is now considerably grown. A few bushes for variety, and
+for their beautiful appearance, may be well enough; but it is not a very
+good bearer, and therefore is not so profitable as the Dutch.
+
+The Attractor is a new French variety, said to be valuable. Knight's
+Early Red has the single virtue of ripening a few days earlier than the
+others. The Victoria is perhaps the latest of all currants, hanging on
+the bushes fully two weeks longer than others. The White Grape, the Red
+Grape, and the Transparent, are all good and beautiful. The utilitarian
+will cultivate the Red Dutch and the White Dutch as his main crop, with
+two or three of the others for a variety. The amateur will get all the
+varieties, and amuse himself by comparing their qualities, and trying
+his skill at modifying them. As these efforts have resulted, in past
+time, in the production of our best varieties, so they may, in future,
+in something far better than we yet have. There is no probability that
+any of our fruits have reached the acme of perfection.
+
+The common black, or English black currant has long been cultivated. A
+jam made of it is valuable for sore throat. The highest medical
+authority pronounces black currant wine the best, in many cases of
+sickness, of any wine known. The Black Naples possesses the same
+virtues, and being a much larger fruit, and more productive, should take
+the place of the English black, and exclude it from all gardens.
+
+_Cultivation._--Currant-bushes should be set four feet apart each way,
+and the whole ground thoroughly mulched; it keeps down all weeds and
+grass, saving all further labor in cultivation, and greatly increases
+the size and quantity of the fruit. On nothing does mulching pay better.
+(See article Mulching.)
+
+Any good garden-soil is suitable for currants. On the north side of a
+wall or building, or in the shade of trees, they will be considerably
+later. The same effect may be produced by covering bushes a part of the
+time with blankets or mats. Some are retarded by this means, so as to be
+in perfection after others are gone: thus, the currant that naturally
+comes to perfection about midsummer is preserved on the bushes until
+October.
+
+Many cultivate currants in the tree form; allowing no sprouts from the
+roots, and no branches within a foot or two of the ground. This object
+is secured by cutting from the slip you are to plant, from which to
+raise a bush, all the lower buds to within two or three of the top, and
+then pinching off at once all shoots that may start out of the stem
+below; this makes beautiful little shrubs, but the top is apt to be
+broken off by the wind, and they must be replaced by new ones every four
+or five years. Downing strongly recommends it, but we can not do so. Let
+bushes grow in the natural way, removing all old, decaying branches, and
+all suckers that rise too far from the parent-bush, and keep the
+clusters of bushes and leaves thin enough to allow the sun free access,
+and prevent continued moisture in wet weather, which will rot the
+fruit, and you will find it the cheapest and best. We have seen quite as
+large and as fine fruit grow on such bushes, that we knew to be more
+than twenty years old, as we ever saw of the same variety when
+cultivated in the tree form.
+
+
+DAIRY.
+
+For cheese, the dairy should contain three rooms: one for setting the
+milk, with suitable boilers, &c.; next, a press-room, in which the
+cheese should be salted, as given under article _Cheese_; the third, a
+store-room. In all climates a cheese-house should be made as tight as
+possible;--thick stone walls are best; windows should be on two sides,
+north and west, but not on opposite sides, so as to create a draught:
+this is no better for cheese or butter, and is always dangerous to the
+operator. Let all persons who would enjoy good health avoid a draught of
+air as they would an arrow. If your cheese-house can be shaded on the
+east, south, and west, by trees, and have only a northern exposure, it
+will aid you much in guarding against extremes of heat and cold. Windows
+should be fitted closely, and covered with wire-cloth on the outside, so
+as to exclude all flies.
+
+A dairy for butter needs but two rooms, and a cool, dry cellar, with
+windows in north and west. The first room should be for setting and
+skimming the milk, and the other for churning and working the butter,
+and scalding and cleaning the utensils. If your milk-room can be a
+spring-house with stone-floor, and a little water passing over it, you
+will find it a great benefit. The shade, situation of windows, avoiding
+a current, &c., should be the same as in the cheese-dairy.
+
+To prevent the taste of turnips or other food of cows in milk and
+butter, put one quart of hot water into eight quarts of the milk just
+drawn from the cow, and strain it at once. It has been recently
+declared, by intelligent farmers, that if you feed the turnips to cows
+immediately after milking, the next milking, twelve hours after feeding
+the roots, will be free from their taste or odor. The easiest remedy is
+the boiling water.
+
+
+DECLENSION OF FRUITS.
+
+That there are instances of decided decline in the quality of fruits is
+certain. But on the causes of those changes pomologists do not agree.
+One theory is, that fruits, like animals and vegetables of former ages,
+may decline and finally become extinct. Should this theory be
+established, the declension would be so gradual that a century would
+make no perceptible change. But we do not credit the theory, even as
+applied to former geological periods in the history of our globe. The
+changes of past ages, as revealed in geology, have been brought about,
+not gradually, but by great convulsions of nature, such as volcanoes, or
+the deluge, that resulted in the destruction of the old order of things,
+and in a new creation.
+
+The true theory of this declension of varieties of fruits, is, that it
+is the result of repeated budding upon unhealthy stocks, and of neglect
+and improper cultivation. Apply the specific manures--that is, those
+particularly demanded by a given fruit--prune properly, mulch well, and
+bud or graft only on healthy seedling stocks of the same kind, and,
+instead of declension, we may expect our best fruits to improve
+constantly, in quality and quantity.
+
+
+DILL.
+
+An herb, native in the south of Europe, and on the Cape of Good Hope. It
+is grown, particularly at the South, as a medicinal herb. The leaves are
+sometimes used for culinary purposes; but it is principally cultivated
+for its sharp aromatic seed, used for flatulence and colic in infants,
+and put into pickled cucumbers to heighten the flavor. The seeds may be
+sown early in the spring, or at the time of ripening. A light soil is
+best. Clear of weeds, and thin in the rows, are the conditions of
+success.
+
+
+DRAINS.
+
+Drains are of two kinds--under-drains and surface-drains. The latter are
+simply open ditches to carry off surface-water, that might otherwise
+stand long enough to destroy the prospective crop. These are frequently
+useful along at the foot of hills, when they should be proportioned to
+the extent of the surface above them. They are also very useful on low,
+level meadow-lands. Properly constructed, they will reclaim low swamps,
+and make them excellent land. Millions of acres of land in the United
+States, as good as any we have, are lying useless, and spreading
+pestilence around, that by this simple method of ditching might be
+turned to most profitable account. The direction of these drains should
+be determined by the shape of the land to be drained by them--straight
+whenever they will answer the purpose, but crooked when they will do
+better. On low and very level land, they should be not more than five
+rods apart; they should be three times as wide at the top as they are at
+the bottom, and as deep as the width at the top; made so slanting, the
+sides will not fall in;--they should be so shaped as to allow only a
+very gentle flow of the water: if it flows too rapidly, it will wash
+down the sides, and obstruct the ditch, and waste the land. Excavations
+for under-draining are made in the same way, only the top need not be so
+much wider than the bottom; it would be a waste of labor in excavating a
+useless quantity of earth. There are four methods of filling up the
+ditch, viz., with brush; with small stones thrown in promiscuously; with
+a throat laid in the bottom and filled with small stones; and with a
+throat made of tile from the pottery. In all cases, that with which the
+ditch is filled must not come so near the surface as to be reached by
+the plow. Brush, put in green and covered with straw or leaves, will
+answer a good purpose for several years, and may be used where small
+stones can not easily be obtained. The tile is more expensive than
+either of the others, and not so good as the stones; it is so tight that
+the water does not enter it so readily; and if by any chance dirt gets
+into the throat, it obstructs it, and there is no other channel through
+which the water can pass off. Small stones thrown in promiscuously
+serve a good purpose for a long time, if they be covered with straw or
+cornstalks before the earth is put in. But the best method is to make a
+throat, six inches square, in the bottom of the drain, laying the large
+stones over the top of it, and filling in the small stones above, and
+covering with straw;--the water will find its way into the throat
+through the numerous openings; and if the throat should ever be filled,
+the water could still pass off between the small stones above. Such
+drains will last many years, and add one half to the products of all wet
+springy land. The earth over the new drain should be six inches higher
+than the surface of the field, that, when well settled, it may be level.
+Leave no places open for surface-water to run in; that would soon fill
+up and ruin a drain. Drains made to carry off spring-water are often
+useless by being in a wrong location. Springs come out near the foot of
+rising ground. Just where they come out should be the location of the
+drain, which would then carry off the water and prevent it from
+saturating and chilling the soil in the field below. Many persons locate
+their ditch down in the centre of the wet level below the rise of
+ground; this is of no use to the surface above, to the point where the
+water springs. Locate the drain just at the point where the land begins
+to be unduly wet. On very wet, level land, a small drain may also be
+needed below the first and main one. The cost of a covered drain as
+described above will be from fifty to seventy-five cents per rod, and an
+uncovered one will cost from twenty to thirty cents. When you have low
+swamps to drain, you can realize more than the cost of draining, by
+carting the excavations upon other land, or into the barnyard as
+material for compost. Perhaps no expenditure, on land needing it, pays
+so well as thorough draining. It is important, for all fruit-orchards on
+low land, to put a drain through under each row of trees: it is
+indispensable to cherries, and highly favorable to all other fruits.
+
+
+DUCKS.
+
+There are a number of varieties, the wild Black Spanish, the
+Canvass-Back, and the ordinary little duck of the farmyard, are all
+good. The common duck is the only one we recommend for the American
+poultry-yard. A close pasture, including a rivulet, or a small stream of
+water, affords facilities for raising ducks at a cheap rate. From one
+hundred to one thousand ducks may be raised in such an enclosure of an
+acre or two, quite profitably. If there is plenty of grass, they will
+still need a little grain. In the winter the cheapest feed is beets or
+potatoes cut fine, with a very little grain. Each duck, well kept, will
+lay from fifty to one hundred eggs, larger than hen's eggs, and about as
+good for cooking purposes. They may be picked as geese, for live
+feathers, though not quite so frequently. The feathers will nearly pay
+for keeping, leaving the eggs and increase as profit.
+
+
+DWARFING.
+
+This has some advantages in its application to fruit-trees. It will
+enable the cultivator to raise more fruit on a small plat of ground, to
+get fruit much earlier than from standard trees, and sometimes, with
+high cultivation, the fruit will be larger. Dwarfing is done by grafting
+into small slow-growing stocks. Almost all fruits have such kinds.
+Grafting into other stocks, as the pear into the foreign quince, is a
+very effectual method. The Paradise stock for the apple, the Canada and
+other slow-growing stocks for the plum, the dwarf wild cherry of Europe
+and the Mahaleb for cherries. Dwarfs produced by grafting upon other
+stocks are short-lived, compared with standards of the same varieties.
+They should only be used to economize room, to test varieties, and
+produce fruit while standards are coming into bearing.
+
+Better and much longer-lived dwarfs may be produced by frequent
+transplanting, thorough trimming of the roots, and repeated heading-in.
+The fruit on such dwarfs must be well thinned out when young, or it will
+be smaller than is natural. The effect of heading in is to cause the sap
+to mature an abundance of fruit-buds. This will tax the tree too much,
+unless they be well thinned out. Root-pruning is an effectual method of
+dwarfing (see Pruning). Dwarfing by root-pruning, repeated
+transplanting, and thorough heading-in, will not render the trees very
+short-lived, and in many situations it is profitable. The same is true
+of the dwarf pear on the quince. All other dwarfing is more for the
+amateur than the utilitarian.
+
+
+EARLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
+
+Are often considered a great luxury, and always command a high price.
+Early vegetables are secured by hotbeds and the various methods of
+forcing, as given under the different species. Early fruits are obtained
+by dwarfing, as given on that subject. Location, soil, and mode of
+cultivation, also, have much to do with it. Warm location,
+finely-pulverized soil, often stirred and kept moist, will materially
+shorten the time of the maturity of fruits and vegetables. Seeds
+imported from the North, where seasons are shorter, will mature earlier.
+Another means of hastening maturity is to plant successively, from year
+to year, the very first that ripens; this tends to dwarf in proportion
+as the time of maturity is hastened. In this way such dwarfs as the
+little Canada corn, that will mature at the South in six weeks, have
+been produced. Various early plants, as tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, and
+egg-plants, may be started in boxes or flower-pots in the house. Planted
+in February here, or in January in the South, they will grow as well as
+house-plants, and acquire considerable size before it is time to place
+them in the open ground. This is convenient for those who have no
+hotbeds. They must be kept from frost, and occasionally set out in a
+warm day to harden, and they will do well.
+
+
+EGG PLANT.
+
+The white is merely ornamental. The large purple is one of the greatest
+luxuries of the vegetable garden. Plant seeds in hotbed at the time of
+planting tomatoes or peppers. Set out in land made very rich with
+stable-manure and decayed forest-leaves, two feet and a half apart each
+way. Kept clean, and earthed up a little, and the bugs kept off while
+the plants are small, they will produce an abundance of fruit. There are
+two varieties of the purple--_large prickly-stem purple_, growing
+sometimes eight inches in diameter; and the _long purple_, bearing
+smaller, long fruit, but a large quantity, and considerably earlier than
+the large. Many do not like them at first; but after tasting a few
+times, almost all persons become very fond of them. If not properly
+cooked, they are not at all palatable. Although it belongs to the
+cook-book, yet, to save this excellent plant from condemnation, we give
+a recipe for cooking it. It is fit for use from one third grown, until
+the seeds begin to turn. Without paring, cut the fruit into slices one
+third of an inch thick; put it in a little water with plenty of salt,
+and let it stand over night, or six hours at least; take it out, and fry
+very soft and brown in butter or fresh lard--if not fried soft and
+brown, it is disagreeable. Salt, ashes, and bonedust, or superphosphate
+of lime, are the best manures, as more than two thirds of the fruit is
+made up of potash, soda, and phosphates, as shown by chemical analysis.
+
+
+EGGS.
+
+Of the quality of eggs you can always judge correctly by looking at them
+toward the light: if they are translucent they are good; if they look
+dark they are old--or you may get a chicken, when you only paid for an
+egg.
+
+Many methods for preserving eggs are recommended. Packed away in fine
+salt they will keep, but, like salt meat, have not the same flavor as
+fresh. Set them on their small ends in a tight cask, and fill it with
+pure lime-water, and they will keep, but it changes their flavor. This,
+however, is a very common method. The best way known to us, is to pack
+fresh eggs down in Indian meal, allowing no two to touch each other.
+Keep very dry in a cool cellar, and they will remain for months
+unchanged.
+
+
+ELDERBERRY.
+
+This is a healthy berry, dried and used for making pies, especially
+mixed with some other fruit. The blossoms are much used as medicine for
+small children. The common sweet elder is the only kind cultivated. The
+earlier red are offensive and poisonous. They are easily grown on rough
+waste land, or in any situation you prefer. Of this berry is made a
+wine, superior in flavor and effect to any port wine now to be obtained
+in market; it has had the preference among the best judges in the
+country;--it is fast coming into notice and cultivation. The wine is so
+entirely superior to the poisonous substances of that name in commerce,
+that it would be well for every neighborhood to make enough for their
+sick. The process is sure and easily intelligible to all. (See article
+Wine.)
+
+
+ENDIVE.
+
+This is a well-known winter-lettuce. Sow from July to September,
+according to latitude. It should come into maturity at the time of the
+first smart frosts. To get beautiful, white, tender bunches, they should
+be tied up when the leaves are about six inches long. When frost comes,
+protect by covering. In very cold climates, place it in the cellar, with
+the roots in moist earth, and it will keep for a long time. It will not
+be extensively used in this country for soups and stews, as it is in
+Europe; and but few of the American people care much about
+winter-lettuce. This is the best variety of lettuce, except for those
+who have hot-houses and attend to winter-gardening. They will prefer the
+other finer varieties. There are two varieties of endive cultivated in
+this country: _green curled_, which is the most common, and used
+principally as a salad; the _broad-leaved_, or Batavian, has thicker
+leaves and large heads, and is principally used in stews and soups.
+Still another variety, called _succory_, which is used to some extent in
+Europe as a winter-salad, but is cultivated mainly for the root. It is
+dried and ground to mix with coffee: some consider it quite as good.
+This is more cultivated at the South than at the North--their winters
+are much better adapted to it. The medicinal virtues of this plant are
+nearly equal to those of the dandelion. When it is bleached, by tying or
+earthing up, the bitterness is removed, and the taste is pleasant; this
+must be done when the plants are dry, or they will rot. Plant them in a
+sunny place and in a light soil.
+
+
+FEEDING ANIMALS.
+
+Feed as nearly as possible at the same hours. All creatures do much
+better for being so fed. Do not feed domestic animals too much: animals
+will be more healthy, grow faster, and fatten better, by being fed
+almost, but not quite as much as they will eat. Giving food to lie by
+them is poor economy; always let them eat it all up, and desire a little
+more;--at the same time, let it be remembered that creatures kept very
+poorly for a considerable time, especially while young, will never fully
+recover from it. This is often done under the idea of keeping them
+cheap, but it is dear keeping. They never can make as fine animals
+afterward.
+
+All grains and vegetables, except beets and turnips, are better for
+being boiled or steamed. The increased value is much more than the cost
+of cooking, provided persons are not so careless as to allow food to be
+injured by standing after cooking. Cooking is supposed to add one fourth
+to the value of food. Grinding dry grains adds nearly as much to their
+value, as feed for animals, as cooking. If you neither grind nor boil
+hard grain for feed, it will pay well to soak it somewhat soft before
+feeding. Variety of food is as pleasant and healthy for animals as for
+men.
+
+
+FENCES.
+
+These are matters of great importance to the farmers of the whole
+country, but especially to those on the prairies of the west.
+
+In all localities where stone can be obtained from the fields or quarry,
+the best and cheapest fence is a stone wall. If the stones are flat,
+make the wall two feet thick at bottom, and one at top, five feet high.
+If the stones are very irregular the wall should be thicker. Stone walls
+should have transverse rows of shingles, boards, or split sticks, about
+half an inch thick, laid in the wall at suitable distances. If stones
+are quite flat three rows are desirable, one two, the next three, and
+the other four feet from the ground. If the wall is made of rough stones
+it will require one more course of sticks, leaving them only a foot
+apart. The sticks should be of such lengths as to come out just even
+with the wall, on each side. The lower courses will be longer than the
+upper ones. These sticks are to keep the wall from falling down. Dig a
+ditch one foot deep, two feet from the wall, and throw the earth
+excavated up against the wall, and the water will run off and prevent
+heaving by frost, and such a wall will need the merest trifle of
+attention during a generation, and will last for centuries. A cord of
+stones will make one rod. We can not too strongly recommend this kind of
+fence, in all places where stones can be obtained reasonably. The pieces
+of wood laid in a wall, will keep well for thirty years, when they will
+need replacing. Next to stone is a good board fence. Well made and of
+good materials, it is durable and always in its place. Hence it is a
+cheap fence.
+
+Of the various styles of picket, and other fancy fences for front yards,
+&c., it is more the province of the architect or the mechanic to treat.
+Styles vary and are constantly increasing in number. The great point to
+be secured in all such, to render them most durable, is to have the
+smallest possible points of contact. A picket fence with horizontal base
+should never have the pickets standing on the base board. They should be
+separated, from one quarter to one half an inch. A good style for
+villages, is a cap, water tight, and wide enough to cover the ends of
+the posts and pickets with a neat little cornice. It looks well and is
+very durable.
+
+In all localities where timber is not too valuable, a cheap and
+substantial fence is made of split rails. The crooked rail-fence, with
+stakes and riders, is well known. Also that with upright stakes and
+caps, which is decidedly preferable. It will stand much longer, and the
+stakes are out of the way. No farmer should ever risk his crop with a
+rail-fence without stakes. But the best of all rail-fences, is that made
+of posts and rails. The rails are put in as bars, but so firmly that the
+fence can not be taken down, without commencing at the end. Where cedar
+or locust posts, and oak or cedar rails can be obtained, a fence may be
+made that will not get out of repair for twenty-five years. No creature
+can tear it down, for human hands can not take it down without tools, or
+without commencing at the end. This is considered expensive. But as the
+farmer may prepare his posts and rails in winter, and it will require no
+attention to keep it up, and is very durable and perfectly effectual
+against cattle, it is an economical fence. For hedges, see that
+article.
+
+
+FENNEL.
+
+This is a hardy perennial plant of Southern Europe, and belongs to both
+the culinary and the medicinal departments. It grows well on almost any
+soil, and is propagated by seeds, offshoots, or by parting the roots. It
+is much inclined to spread. A few roots, kept within reasonable bounds,
+are enough for a family. It is much used in Europe for soups, salads,
+and garnishes. The Italians treat it as celery. In this country it is
+mostly used medicinally. It is stimulant and carminative. Very
+beneficial to children in cases of flatulency and colic.
+
+
+FIGS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This fruit is native in the warmer parts of Asia: hence, the cold
+winters of the Middle, Northern, and Western states, and of Canada,
+would destroy the trees in the open air without protection. But as the
+trees are low-growing shrubs, they may easily be protected either in
+cellars, greenhouses, or the open air, and uncovered or planted out in
+the beginning of warm weather. Frequent removals and transplantings
+injure the fig less than any other fruit, and our summers are long
+enough to produce large crops of excellent figs. In New England they are
+raised in tubs, set out of the cellar in spring, and produce largely.
+South of Virginia, the fig is hardy, and may be cultivated with profit
+in the open air. The best method of raising all kinds of fruit, in
+climates where the winters are too cold for them, is to build a wall
+twelve feet high on one side, and six feet on the other, with the ends
+closed, and cover it with glass facing the south. This should only be
+kept warm enough to prevent freezing, which would require only a small
+outlay. Men of moderate means might thus have oranges, lemons, figs,
+&c., of their own raising. In all except our coldest latitudes, such
+fruits might be raised at a profit.
+
+_Soil._--The best is a deep, rich loam, with a dry subsoil.
+
+_Propagation_ is by layers and cuttings. The latter should be taken off
+in the spring, be of last year's growth, with half an inch of the
+previous year's growth: they take root better.
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and names uncertain. White, in his Gardening
+for the South, says, some of the best varieties are not in the books, or
+so imperfectly described that they can not be recognised. This is true
+of all the fruits, and hence our decision, in this work, not to attempt
+to describe fruits with a view to their identification. As this fruit is
+more for the South than the North, we give the whole of White's list, as
+being adapted to those regions:--
+
+1, Brunswick; 2, Brown Turkey; 3, Brown Ischia; 4, Small Brown Ischia;
+5, Black Genoa; 6, Celestial; 7, Common Blue; 8, Round White, Common
+White, Lemon Fig; 9, White Genoa, White Italian; 10, Nerii; 11,
+Pregussatta; 12, Allicant; 13, Black Ischia; 14, White Ischia. These,
+with a few others, are those described in most of our fruit-books. The
+catalogue of the London Horticultural Society enumerates forty-two
+varieties. Only a few of them have been introduced into this country.
+Any of these varieties are good at the South. The five following are the
+most hardy, and, being in all respects good, are all we need in our more
+northern latitudes:--
+
+1. _Brunswick._--Very hardy, productive, and excellent.
+
+2. _Brown Turkey._--The very hardiest, and one of the most regular and
+abundant bearers.
+
+3. _Black Ischia._--Bears an abundance of medium-sized, excellent fruit,
+very dark-colored.
+
+4. _Nerii._--Said to be the richest fig in Britain: from an acid mixture
+in its flavor, it is exceedingly delicious.
+
+5. _Celestial._--This may be the "Malta" of Downing. Under whatever
+name, though small, it is one of the very best figs grown in this
+country.
+
+For forcing under glass, the best are the Allicant and Marseilles. With
+care, the first three of the above list may be raised in the Middle
+states, without removal in winter. Any variety may be protected by
+bending and tying down the branches, and covering with four inches of
+soil. Below Philadelphia, a little straw will be a sufficient
+protection.
+
+Dried figs are an important article of import into this country; yet
+they might be raised as plentifully and profitably in the Southern
+states. Prune only to keep the tree low and regular. The fig-tree is a
+great and regular bearer, only when the wood makes too strong a growth,
+as it is somewhat apt to do. The remedy is _root-pruning_. Cut off, on
+the first of November, the roots to half the length of the branches from
+the tree, and occasionally shorten the branches a little, and the fruit
+will be abundant, and not fall off. The ripening of the fruit may be
+hastened and perfected by putting a drop of oil in the blossom-end of
+each fig. This is done by dipping the end of a straw in oil, and then
+putting it into the end of the fruit. This is extensively practised in
+France. Compost, containing a pretty liberal proportion of lime, is the
+best manure for the fig.
+
+
+FISH.
+
+The cultivation of fish is attracting much attention in this country and
+in Europe. The study and experiments of scientific and practical men
+have established important facts upon this subject. Fish may be
+successfully cultivated wherever water can be conveniently obtained. The
+creeks, ponds, and small rivers of our land may be well stocked with
+fish. Fish may be raised as a source of profit and luxury, with as much
+ease and certainty, and at a much less expense than fowls. This is so
+important to the whole people, that it demands the earnest attention of
+our state authorities, as it has engaged that of the government of
+France. The species of fish best adapted to artificial culture, in
+particular climates and in different kinds of water, have been
+ascertained. A man may know what fish to put in his waters, as well as
+what crops to put on his land, or what stocks on his farm.
+
+The following brief synopsis of the best methods of cultivation will be
+sufficient to insure success. The first requisite is suitable water for
+hatching eggs that have been artificially fecundated, and for the
+occupancy of fish of different ages, and for different species of fish.
+Fish of different ages are much inclined to destroy each other for food;
+and hence, in order to multiply them most rapidly, they should be kept
+in separate ponds until considerably grown, when they will take care of
+themselves. A spring sending forth a rivulet of clear water, and not
+subject to overflow in freshets, is the best location. Clear, cool water
+is essential to the trout, while some other fish will do well in warm
+and even roily water. The rivulet running from the spring should be made
+to form a succession of ponds, three or four in number. These ponds
+should be connected with flumes made of plank. If the space they must
+occupy be small, make the flumes zigzag, to increase their length. Put
+across those flumes, once in four or five feet, a piece of plank half as
+high as the sides of the flume, with a notch cut in the centre of the
+top, that the fish may easily pass over: this will afford a succession
+of little falls, in which the trout very much delights. These different
+ponds are for the occupancy of fish of different ages, one age only
+inhabiting one pond. The flumes should have four inches of fine and
+coarse gravel in the bottom, making the most perfect spawning-ground.
+Although you would not wish the female-trout to deposite her eggs in the
+natural way, but will extrude them by the hand (as hereinafter
+directed), yet they must have these natural conveniences, or they will
+not incline to spawn at all. At the upper end of each of these flumes
+separating the ponds, there should be a gate of wire-cloth, to prevent
+the passage of the fish from one pond to the other; also one at the
+outlet of the lower pond, to prevent egress of the fish. These must all
+be so arranged that freshets will not connect them all together. When
+trout are about to spawn in their natural waters, they select a gravelly
+margin, and remove, from a circle of about one foot or two feet in
+diameter, all the sediment, leaving only clean gravel, among which they
+deposite their eggs, where they are hatched. They want running water of
+three or four inches in depth for this purpose. A male and female occupy
+each nest. If left to themselves, they will gradually increase; but so
+many of their eggs fail of being fecundated, and so many are destroyed
+before they hatch, by enemies, and by the collection of sediment in the
+nest, that the number of young fish is small compared with the whole
+number of eggs deposited. Artificial spawning, fecundation, and
+hatching, are far more productive. The process is simple and easy: when
+the female-fish first begins to deposite her eggs, catch her with a
+small net. It can not be done with bait, for fish will bite nothing at
+the time of spawning. We recollect, often when a boy, of trying to catch
+trout out of the brooks in October, where we could see large, beautiful
+fish, lying lazily in the places from which we had caught many in the
+summer, and put our bait carefully on every side of them, and they would
+not bite. Then we knew not the cause: since studying the habits of fish,
+we have learned that they never will bite while spawning; with trout,
+this is done from the 1st to the 15th of October, some few spawning till
+the last of November. Having caught two fish, male and female, take the
+female in one hand, and press her abdomen gently with the other hand,
+gradually moving it downward, and the eggs will be easily extruded, and
+should fall into an earthen vessel of pure water. Then take the
+male-fish, and go through the same process, which will press out the
+spermatic fluid, which should be allowed to fall into the same vessel
+with the eggs; stir up the whole together, and, after it has stood
+fifteen minutes, pour off the water, put in more and stir it up, and let
+it stand as before. This having been done three times, the eggs will be
+thoroughly fecundated, and are ready to be deposited in the nests for
+hatching. If the fish are caught before the time of beginning to spawn,
+the eggs and the spermatic fluid will not be mature, and will be only
+extruded by hard pressing, and failing to be fecundated, the eggs will
+perish. The fluid from one male will fecundate the eggs of half a dozen
+females. These eggs may be hatched in the flumes described above, though
+hatching-boxes are preferable. The old fish can be returned to the
+water, and may live many years and produce thousands of fish. These
+fish, carefully treated and fed, will become so tame as to eat out of
+your hand, like the "Naiad Queen" of Professors Ackley and Garlick, of
+Cleveland, Ohio. Among all the hatching apparatus we have seen
+described, we regard that of the above professors at Cleveland the best.
+To these gentlemen the country is much indebted for the knowledge
+derived from their zeal and success in fish culture. At the head of a
+spring they built a house eight by twelve feet; in the end of the house
+toward the spring they made a tank four feet wide, eight feet long, and
+two feet deep; this was made of plank. Water enters the tank through a
+hole near the top, and escapes through a similar one at the other end,
+and is received into a series of ten successive boxes, each one a little
+lower than the preceding one. These boxes were eighteen inches long,
+eight inches wide, and six inches deep. These were filled to the depth
+of two inches with clean sand and gravel. The impregnated eggs were
+scattered among the gravel, care being exercised not to have them in
+piles or masses. Clean water is necessary, as the sediment deposited by
+impure water is very destructive to the eggs. If it be seen to be
+collecting, it should be removed by agitating the water with a
+goose-quill or soft brush, and allowing it to run off; continue this
+till it runs clear. But there is a method of preventing impurities in
+spring-water, that will be always effectual: just around on the upper
+side of the spring make a tight fence two feet high, and it will turn
+aside, and cause to run around the spring, all the water that may flow
+down the rise above in time of rains. The house being near the head,
+there will not water enough get into the spring, in any storm, to roil
+the water. On the side of the boxes where the water escapes should be
+wire-cloth, so fine as not to allow the eggs to pass through. Such an
+apparatus will be perfect. This great care is only necessary for trout.
+All other fish worthy of cultivation, will only need spawning-beds on
+the margin of their pond. A convenient hatching apparatus is a number of
+wicker-baskets, fine enough not to allow the eggs to pass through, set
+in a flume of clear running water.
+
+The method of Gehen and Remy, the great fish-cultivators of France,
+whose efforts and discoveries have contributed more to this science than
+those of any, if not of all other men, was to place the eggs in
+zinc-boxes of about one foot in diameter, having a lid over them--the
+top and sides of the boxes pierced with small holes, smooth on the
+inside; these boxes were partly filled with clean sand and gravel, and
+set in clear running water. M. Costa's method, at the college of France,
+is to arrange boxes in the form of steps, the top one being supplied
+with water by a fountain, and that passing from one to the other through
+all the series, and the eggs placed on willow-hurdles instead of gravel.
+
+Another very simple method may be arranged in the house. It is a
+reservoir--a barrel or cask--set perhaps two and a half feet from the
+floor, and a little hatching trough a few inches lower, into which water
+gradually runs through a faucet, from the reservoir. This water running
+through the hatching-box, escapes into a tub a little below. Whatever
+plan be adopted, great care is necessary in preventing sediment from
+depositing. Cleanliness is a principal condition of success. The eggs of
+the trout thus fecundated and deposited in October or November will
+hatch in the spring. Young trout need no feeding for a month after
+leaving the egg. There is a small bladder or vesicle under the fore part
+of the body, when they first come out, from which they derive their
+sustenance. After this disappears, or at the end of about a month, they
+should be fed, in very small quantities. Too much will leave a portion
+to decay on the bottom and injure the water. The best possible food
+(except the angle-worm) is lean flesh of animals, boiled and hashed fine
+for the young fish. The flesh of other kinds of fish, when they are
+plenty and not very valuable, would be very good. These young fish
+should be kept in the first pond until a year old. Then let them into
+the second pond, closing the gate after them, to make room for another
+brood in the first pond. The next year let them into the third, and
+those into the second that are now in the first, and so on till the
+fourth. In the last pond, those of different ages will all be large
+enough to take care of themselves. But sometimes a trout two years old
+is said to swallow one a year old. But when they get to be three or four
+years old, this sort of cannibalism ceases. These principles can be
+carried out in small streams, by constructing gates to keep sections
+separate, and by forming banks and waste ways for water, with wire gates
+so high, that the water will not overflow in freshets, and carry the
+fish away. In taking trout use angle-worms or the fly. A fine
+light-colored small line is best. They are very shy. The following is a
+list of other fish, beside the trout, that are well worthy of
+cultivation:--
+
+_Black Bass._--When full grown, this fish is from twelve to eighteen
+inches in length. One of the better fish for the table, and profitable
+to raise in a pond covering not less than half an acre. Chub, being a
+very prolific little fish, may be kept in the same pond as food for the
+black bass and other large fish. They are very fond of them. Minnows are
+the best bait for these fish, though they will bite a trolling hook of
+any ordinary kind. You may raise them as given for the trout above, or
+allow them to deposite their eggs in spawn beds of their own selection
+in their pond. They will do well in water less pure than is demanded for
+the trout.
+
+_White Bass._--Not so large as the black bass. Seldom weighs more than
+two pounds. One of the best for food. Thrives well in small ponds.
+Requires the same treatment as the preceding. Spawns in May and hatches
+soon. Easily caught, as he is a great biter, at almost any bait.
+
+_Grass Bass or Roach._--One of the most beautiful of the bass kind, and
+as a panfish highly esteemed. It prefers sluggish water, and hence is
+well adapted to small artificial ponds. Spawns in May. May be treated as
+the preceding. Bites the angle-worm well, and several other kinds of
+bait.
+
+_Rock Bass._--A small fish seldom reaching a pound in weight, but is
+fine and very easily raised in small ponds of any kind of water. Spawns
+in May and may be treated in all respects as the rest of the bass
+family, only it will flourish well in quite small ponds.
+
+_Pickerel._--Is one of the best of fish, weighs from three to fifteen
+pounds. Suitable only for large ponds. Spawns early in the spring in the
+marshy edges of sluggish water. The eggs may be procured and treated as
+the trout, only cold running water is not necessary. Best caught by
+trolling. It is not a good fish to raise with others, as it is apt to
+eat them up.
+
+_Yellow Perch._--Is everywhere well known as a beautiful little
+fresh-water fish, and good for the table, at all seasons when the water
+is cool. Perfectly hardy and adapted to sluggish waters, it is one of
+the best for artificial ponds. Treat like all the preceding; or allowed
+to take its own course in the pond, it will increase rapidly.
+
+_Sun-Fish._--Rarely weighs more than half a pound, but is a good
+pan-fish. This and the grass bass and yellow perch may be put together
+in the same pond.
+
+_Eels._--May be cultivated with great success in almost any water. But
+we are so prejudiced against them, never consenting to taste one, that
+we can not speak in their favor. Of the methods of introducing fish into
+our rivers and creeks, from which they have nearly all been taken by the
+fishermen, it is not our design to treat. That subject may be found
+fully presented in treatises on fish culture, and should command the
+immediate attention of the authorities in all the states.
+
+We have here given all that is necessary to success among the masses all
+over the land. There is hardly a township in the United States or
+British provinces, where good fish-ponds might not be constructed so as
+to be a source of profit and luxury to the inhabitants.
+
+Fish are so certainly and easily raised, that the practice of
+cultivating them should be universally adopted.
+
+Transporting fish alive is somewhat hazardous, especially if they be of
+considerable size. The difficulty is greatly lessened by keeping ice in
+the water with the fish. Change water twice a day and keep ice in it,
+and you may safely transport fish around the globe. Eggs of fish are
+best transported in boxes six inches square, filled with alternate
+layers of sand and eggs scattered over. When full, make quite wet, and
+fasten on the cover. Other methods are adopted which will be easily
+learned of those engaged in the trade.
+
+
+FLAX.
+
+Change the seed every season. This will greatly increase the quantity,
+and improve the quality. In nothing else is it more important. In
+Ireland, the great flax-growing country of the world, they always sow
+foreign seed when it can be procured. American seed is preferred, and
+brings the highest price. Experiments with different seeds, on varieties
+of soils, are much needed. Changing from all the soils and latitudes of
+our country would be useful. The general rule, however, as with all
+seeds, is to change from colder to warmer regions.
+
+_Soils._--The best are strong alluvial soils. Any soil good for a garden
+is good for flax. As much clay as will allow soil soon to become dry and
+easily to be made mellow, is desirable; black loam, with hard, poor
+clay-subsoil, is also good. Mellow, friable soils are not more important
+to any other crop than to flax. Land must not be worked when too wet.
+The land should be rich from a previous year's manuring. Salt, lime,
+ashes, and plaster, are good applications to flax after it has come up.
+On light soil with bad tillage, when the flax was so poor that the
+cultivator was about to plow it up, the application of three bushels of
+plaster, in the morning when the dew was on, produced a larger yield of
+better flax from an acre than adjoining growers got from two acres of
+their best land.
+
+
+FLOWERS.
+
+Floriculture is an employment appropriate to all classes, ages, and
+conditions. No yard connected with a dwelling is complete without a
+flower-bed. The cultivation of flowers is eminently promotive of health,
+refinement of manners, and good taste. Constant familiarity with the
+most exquisite beauties of nature must refine the feelings and produce
+gentleness of spirit. Association with flowers should be a part of every
+child's education. Their cultivation is suitable for children and young
+ladies in all the walks of life.
+
+House-plants, and bouquets in sick-rooms, are injurious; their influence
+on the atmosphere of the rooms is unhealthy. But the cultivation of
+flowers in the garden or yard is in every way beneficial. We earnestly
+recommend increased attention to flowers by the whole American people.
+The necessary limits of our article will allow us to do but little more
+than to call attention to the subject. Those who become interested will
+seek information from some of the numerous works devoted exclusively to
+ornamental flowers.
+
+Flowers should be planted on rather level land, that the rains may not
+wash off the seeds and fine mould. Choose a southern or eastern exposure
+whenever practicable. Avoid, as much as possible, planting in the shade.
+
+_Soil_--Should be a deep, rich mould, neither too wet nor too dry, and
+should be enriched with a little compost, every year.
+
+_Sowing the Seeds_ is a most important matter in cultivating flowers.
+Many fail to come up, solely on account of improper planting. The seeds
+of most flowers are very fine and delicate. Planted in coarse earth,
+they will not vegetate; planted near the surface in a dry time, they
+usually perish. It is best to cover all small flower-seeds, by sifting
+fine mould upon them; and if the weather does not do it, use artificial
+means to keep the soil suitably moist until the seeds are fairly up.
+Stir the soil gently often, and keep out all weeds. It is always best to
+plant the seeds in rows or hills, with small stakes to indicate their
+location; you can then stir the ground freely without destroying them.
+Flowers usually need more watering than most other plants. The usual
+application of water to the leaves by using a sprinkler is injurious; it
+may be better than no watering at all, but is the worst way to apply
+water. Make a basin in the soil near the plants, and fill it with water.
+The selection of suitable varieties for a small flower-garden is quite
+important. We shall only mention a brief list. Those who would make this
+more of a study, are recommended to study "_Breck's Book of Flowers_,"
+which is quite as complete for American cultivators as anything we have.
+The principal divisions are, bulbous flowering roots, flowering shrubs,
+and flowering herbs--annual, biennial, and perennial--the first
+blossoming and dying the year they are sown; the second blossoming and
+dying the second year, without having blossomed the first; the last
+blossoming, and the top dying down and coming up the next spring, for a
+series of years.
+
+_Bulbous Flowering Roots._--These need considerable sand in their soil.
+They should be taken up after the foliage is all dead, and if they are
+hardy, put the soil in good condition, and dry the bulbs and reset them,
+and let them remain through the winter. They may need slight protection,
+by spreading coarse straw, manure, or forest-leaves over them late in
+the fall; but all the more tender bulbs do better kept in sand until
+early spring. The best list with which we are acquainted, for a small
+garden, is the following: the well-known lilies, the tulips, gladiolas,
+hyacinths, Feraria tigrida, crocus, narcissus, and jonquils.
+
+_Flowering Shrubs._--The following is a select small list: Roses, as
+large a variety as you please, out of the hundreds known; flowering
+almond, Indigo shrub, wahoo or fire-shrub, the mountain-ash, althea,
+snowball, lilac, fringe-tree, snow-drop, double-flowering peach,
+Siberian crab, the smoke-tree, or French tree, or Venitian sumach,
+honeysuckle, double-flowering cherry.
+
+The list of beautiful herbaceous flowers is very lengthy. We give only a
+few of those most easily raised, and most showy; the list is designed
+only to aid the inquiries of those who are unacquainted with them:
+superb amaranth, tri-colored amaranth, China and German astors--the
+latter are very beautiful--Canterbury bell, carnation pinks (great
+variety), chrysanthemum (many varieties and splendid until very late in
+autumn), morning glory or convolvulus, japonicas, Cupid's car, dahlias,
+dwarf bush, morning bride or fading beauty, fox-glove, golden coreopsis
+(we have raised a variety that proved biennial, which was superb all the
+season), ice-plant, larkspur, passion-flower, peony, sweet pea, pinks,
+sweet-williams, annual China pink, polyanthus (a great beauty), hyacinth
+bean, scarlet-runner bean, poppy, portalucca, nasturtium, marigolds
+(especially the large double French, and the velvet variegated),
+martineau, cypress vine.
+
+
+FOWLS.
+
+We are glad to believe that _the hen mania_, that has prevailed so
+extensively during the last fifteen or twenty years, has considerably
+abated. After all the extravagant notions about the profits of hens
+shall have passed away, the truth will be seen to be about the
+following: Every farmer who has considerable waste grain about, and
+plenty more to supply the deficiency when the fowls shall have gathered
+up all the scatterings, had better keep a hundred hens. If he has sand
+and gravel, and wheat-bran and lime for shells, within their reach, and
+plenty of fresh water, they will do well, without much further care, in
+mild weather. In cold weather in winter, keep not more than forty hens
+together, in a tight, warm place, well ventilated; give them their usual
+food, with burnt bones pounded fine and mixed with mush, given warm,
+with occasionally a little animal food and boiled vegetables, and they
+will lay more than in summer. They will lay all winter without being
+inclined to set. Every family, who will treat them as above, may
+profitably keep one or two dozen through the winter. Most persons who
+undertake, with a few acres of land, to keep fowls as a business, will
+lose by it. A few only of the most experienced and careful can make
+money by it. It may be cheapest for some persons to raise a few chickens
+for their own use, although they cost them more than the market-price,
+though it would not be best to raise chickens in that way to sell. "But
+some one raised the chickens in market for the market-price, and why not
+I?" Because, they raised a few that got fat on waste grain, and you must
+buy grain for yours, and give more for it than you can get for your
+chickens. Whoever would make money by raising fowls on a large scale,
+must first serve some kind of an apprenticeship at it, as in all other
+business. Get this experience, and learn by experiment the cheapest and
+most profitable food, and keep from five hundred to a thousand fowls,
+and a reasonable though not large profit may be realized. For
+store-fowls, boiled vegetables and beets cut very fine, with a little
+meal mixed in, are a good and cheap feed. When keeping fowls out-door in
+warm weather, keep no more than fifty together, and them on not less
+than one fourth of an acre of land. The expensive hen-houses and
+artificial nests are mostly humbugs. Have many places of concealment
+about, where they can make their nests as they please. When a hen begins
+to set, remove her, nest and all, to a yard to which layers have no
+access, and you need have no difficulty with her. Set a hen near the
+ground, in a dry place, on fifteen fresh eggs, all put under her at
+once, and they will hatch about the same time at the end of twenty days.
+Old hens, of the common kind, are best to set. Let them have their own
+way in everything but running in the wet with their young chickens--and
+that they will not be much inclined to do if they are well fed. Much is
+said about the diseases of fowls and their remedies. We have very little
+confidence in any of it. Sick chickens will die _unless they get well_.
+Time spent in doctoring them does not generally pay. Wormwood and tansy,
+growing, or gathered and scattered, or steeped and sprinkled about the
+premises occupied by hens, will protect them from small vermin. Never
+give them anything salt or sour, unless it be sour milk. The eggs of
+ducks, turkeys, or geese, may be hatched under hens. Time, thirty days.
+Hence, if put under with hens' eggs, they must be set ten days earlier,
+that they may all hatch at once. Fattening chickens may be well done in
+six days, by feeding rice, boiled rather soft in sweet skimmed milk, fed
+plentifully three times a day. Feed these in pans, well cleaned before
+each meal, and give only what they will eat up at once, and desire a
+very little more. Put a little pounded charcoal within their reach, and
+a little rice-water, milk, or clear water. This makes the most beautiful
+meal at a low price. Never feed a chicken for sixteen or twenty-four
+hours before killing it.
+
+_Varieties or Breeds._--This has been matter of much speculation. The
+result has been (what was probably a main object) the sale of many fowls
+and eggs at exorbitant prices. When chickens have sold at fifty dollars
+per pair, and eggs at six dollars a dozen, some persons must have made
+money, while others lost it. Yet, there is some choice in the breed of
+hens. The kind makes less difference, as far as flesh is concerned, than
+is usually imagined. It requires about a given quantity of grain to make
+a certain amount of flesh. Large fowls give us much larger weight of
+flesh than small ones, but they also eat a much larger quantity of
+grain. Large fowls are certainly large eaters. The three best layers are
+the black Polands, the Malayas, and the Shanghaes. Half-bloods, by
+crossing with the common fowl, are better for this country than either
+of the above, pure. Fowls are generally improved by frequent crossing.
+The best we have ever had, for their flesh, we produced by putting a
+black Poland rooster with common hens; they grew larger than either, and
+their flesh was very fine. Shanghaes and half-blood Shanghaes have
+proved permanently the best layers we have ever had. Early pullets make
+great fall and winter layers, and late chickens are great layers in the
+spring, when older ones wish to set.
+
+Ducks we have considered in a separate article. We shall do the same
+with turkeys. Killing, dressing, and preparing all fowls for market,
+will be treated under the head of "Poultry." Geese will also be
+considered in another place. We should give drawings of aviaries, but we
+consider these generally worse than useless, as they are usually
+constructed. An airy place for summer, and a warm room for winter, poles
+with _rough bark_ on for roosts, and plenty of feed and water, sand,
+gravel, and lime, will give abundant success.
+
+
+FRUIT.
+
+The value of fruit is not fully appreciated in this country. As an
+article of diet nothing is more natural and healthy. The Creator gave
+this to man for food, when human nature, physically, was in its normal
+condition. And why meats have since been allowed, I know not, unless it
+be the reason why Moses allowed divorce in certain cases, although it
+was not so in the beginning, viz., the hardness of their hearts. Why the
+stomach, upon the healthy condition of which all physical, mental, and
+moral functions so materially depend, should be made the receptacle of
+dead animals, and especially those so long dead, as much of the meat
+offered in market, it would puzzle a philosopher to tell.
+
+But we will not write an elaborate article on the healthfulness of a
+diet composed mainly of milk, fruits, and vegetables. Suffice it to say
+that experience and observation, as well as analysis and physiology,
+unite in demonstrating that ripe fruits contain virtues, that go far
+toward preventing the ordinary diseases of men. They are good, plain or
+cooked, and for sick or well persons, except in extreme cases. They
+regulate the bowels and control the secretions, better than any other
+article of food. They are so highly nutritious, that they sustain nature
+under arduous toil, better than either meat, fine bread, or the Irish
+potato. With proper care the fruits are cheaper than any other article
+of food. They can be raised cheaper than corn or potatoes. They may be
+enjoyed all the year, are profitable for market, and for food for
+animals.
+
+
+FRUITFULNESS.
+
+_Inducing it in Fruit-Trees._--Fruit-trees often grow luxuriantly, but
+bear no fruit, or very little. In nearly all cases the evil may be
+remedied. One remedy is shortening in. This is done by cutting off half
+the present year's growth in July. This checks the tendency of the sap
+to promote so large a growth, and forces it to mature blossom-buds for
+the next season. Another effectual means is to bend down all the
+principal branches and tie them down. This has a great influence in
+checking excessive growth and forming fruit-buds. Frequent transplanting
+has a tendency also to induce fruitfulness. Root pruning is one of _the
+best means_ of securing this object. Lay bare the upper roots and cut
+off all the larger ones two feet from the tree. This will check
+excessive formation of wood and foliage, render the wood firm, and the
+organic matter of the sap will form abundance of fruit-buds. These
+methods will produce fruit in abundance on nineteen twentieths of barren
+or poor-bearing fruit-trees.
+
+
+GARDEN.
+
+The garden has been the most delightful abode of man ever since his
+creation, before and since the fall. One of the most pleasant pastimes,
+for ladies and children, is gardening. The flower, vegetable, and fruit
+departments are all pleasant and healthful.
+
+_Situation_ of a garden is important. This varies with climates. In a
+cold country the warmest exposures are best, and in a hot climate select
+the coolest. A garden combining both is the best possible. The warmest
+exposure is good for early vegetables, and the cooler and more shady for
+the main crop. Much can be done to regulate this by fences and
+buildings. They will be warm and early on one side, and cool and late on
+the other.
+
+_Soil._--A rich loam is always best. To convert stiff clay, or light
+sand and gravel, into a good loam, is an easy matter on so small a plat
+as is usually devoted to a garden. Draw an abundance of sand on
+clay-ground, plow deep and mix well, and one winter's frost will so
+pulverize the whole that it will be in excellent condition. In warm
+climates, the incorporation of the sand with the clay is effected by
+frequent plowing and rains. On sand and gravel draw plenty of clay and
+loam, if it can be easily procured; thus it is easy to form a good
+friable, retentive loam, adapted to every variety of soil-culture.
+Decayed wood and forest-leaves are excellent for garden-soils. Manure
+well; but remember that it is possible to overfeed the soil of a garden,
+so as to render it unproductive. Deep plowing or spading is very
+important; it is the best possible remedy for excessive drought or
+unusual rains. The water will not stand on the surface when it first
+falls, and will be retained long in the soil for the use of the plants.
+The soil should be very mellow. Plowing or spading too early, in hope of
+getting earlier vegetables, is often a failure. The earlier the better,
+if you can pulverize the soil; otherwise not. Plowing when covered with
+a heavy dew, or when it rains gently, is equal to a good coat of manure.
+A garden should be on level land well drained; if much inclined, rains
+will wash off the best of the soil, and destroy many seeds and plants.
+No weeds should be allowed to grow to any considerable size in a garden.
+Early and frequent hoeings are important to success. Directions for the
+cultivation of each garden vegetable and fruit are given under each of
+those articles respectively. Methods of gardening at the South and the
+North vary but little in the main articles. At the North we have to
+guard against too much cool weather, and at the South against too much
+heat. Some vegetables that need planting on ridges in the North, to
+obtain more sun and heat, should be planted on level land at the South,
+to guard against too much heat and drought. Besides this, the main
+difference is in the time of planting, which varies more or less with
+every degree of latitude, or every five hundred feet of elevation. Have
+no fruit-trees in your vegetable or fruit garden, unless it may be a few
+dwarf-pears on the quince-stock, and these had better be by themselves.
+
+The plan of a garden is a matter of taste, and depends much upon its
+size and necessary situation. We prefer ornamental shrubs in front of
+the house, the flowers adjoining it and passing the windows of those
+rooms that are constantly occupied, and the fruit-department in the
+rear of the flowers, while the vegetable-garden should be at the right
+or left of the fruit, and in the rear of the kitchen. On the other side
+of the house should be the larger fruit-trees, extending back as far as
+the fruit and vegetable garden, and in the rear of it, the
+carriage-house and other out-buildings. The best fence is of good
+wrought iron, sharp and strong enough to exclude all intruders. When
+this can not be afforded, a good hedge, made of the plants best adapted
+to hedges in your latitude, is preferred; next to this a good tight
+board-fence.
+
+All fruit-gardens should have alleys, eight or ten feet wide, within
+four rods of each other, to afford space for carting on manures, &c. A
+vegetable-garden of one acre should have such an alley through the
+centre each way, with a place in the end, opposite the entrance, to turn
+around a summer-house, arbor, or tool-house. One rod from the fence, on
+all sides, should be an alley four or five feet wide; other small alleys
+as convenience or taste may require. The usual way is to sink the alleys
+three or four inches below the level of the beds, and cover with gravel,
+tanbark, shells, &c. We strongly recommend raising the alleys in their
+middle, at least four inches above the surface of the beds. The paths
+are always neater, and the moisture is retained for the use of the
+plants. Excessive rains can be allowed to pass off. This making alleys
+low sluice-ways for water is a great mistake in yards and gardens.
+
+
+GARLIC.
+
+This is a hardy perennial plant, from the south of Europe, and has been
+in cultivation, as a garden vegetable, for hundreds of years. It is
+cultivated as the onion, and needs much ashes, bonedust, and lime, in
+the soil. It is much esteemed in some countries, in soups. It is but
+little used in the United States: it is used at the South as a medicinal
+herb. We know of no important use of garlic for which onions will not
+answer as well, and therefore do not recommend garlic as an American
+garden vegetable. Those who wish to cultivate it will pursue the same
+course as in raising onions from sets. This will always be successful.
+
+
+GATHERING FRUITS.
+
+This is almost as important as proper cultivation. This is especially
+true of the pear. Many cultivators raise inferior pears from trees of
+the very best varieties, for want of a correct knowledge of the best
+methods of gathering, preserving, and ripening the fruit. Complete
+directions will be found under each fruit.
+
+
+GEESE.
+
+Farmers usually are opposed to keeping geese, believing them to destroy
+more than they are worth. If you have a suitable place to keep them,
+they may be profitable. They should have a pasture with a fence they can
+not pass, enclosing a spring, pond, or stream. They do better to have a
+little grain the year round. This, with plenty of grass in summer and
+cut roots in winter, will keep them in fine condition. The feathers will
+pay the cost of keeping, leaving the increase and feathers of the young
+as profit. On an acre or two, one hundred geese may be kept, and if the
+proportion of males and females be right, they will yield a profit of
+two dollars each.
+
+
+GOOSEBERRY.
+
+This is a native of the north of Europe and Asia, from which all our
+fine varieties have been produced by cultivation. Our own native
+varieties are not known to have produced any very desirable ones.
+Probably the zeal of the Lancashire weavers, in England, will surpass
+all that Americans will do for the next century in gooseberry culture.
+They publish a small book annually, giving an account of new varieties.
+The last catalogue of the London Horticultural Society mentions one
+hundred and forty-nine varieties, as worthy of cultivation. A few only
+should receive attention among us. Gooseberries delight in cool and
+rather moist situations. They do not flourish so naturally south of
+Philadelphia; though they grow well in all the mountainous regions, and
+may produce fair fruit in many cool, moist situations. Deep mulching is
+very beneficial; it preserves the moisture, and protects from excessive
+heat. The land must be trenched and manured deep. In November, cut out
+one half of the top, both old and new wood, and a good crop of fine
+fruit may be expected each year, for five or six years, when new bushes
+should take the place of old ones. Propagate by cuttings of the last
+growth. Cut out all the eyes, below the surface, when planted. Plant six
+inches deep in loam, in the shade. Press the soil close around them. To
+prevent mildew, it is recommended to sprinkle lime or flour of sulphur
+over the foliage and flowers, or young fruit. The fruit-books recommend
+the best varieties, and very open tops, as not exposed to mildew. We
+recommend spreading dry straw, or fine charcoal, on the surface under
+the bushes, as a perfect remedy, if the top be not left too thick. There
+is no necessity for mildew on gooseberries. The fall is much the best
+season for trimming, though early spring will do. Varieties are divided
+into red, green, white, and yellow. These are subdivided into hundreds
+of others, with names entirely arbitrary. The following are the best
+varieties, generally cultivated in this country:--
+
+1. _Houghton's Seedling._--Flavor, superior; skin, thin and tender;
+color, reddish-brown. Prodigious grower and bearer--none better known.
+Free from mildew. Native of Massachusetts.
+
+2. _Red Warrington._--Later and larger than the preceding; hangs long on
+the bush without cracking, and improves in flavor.
+
+3. _Woodward's Whitesmith_--is one of the best of the white varieties.
+
+4. _Cleworth's White Lion._--Large and late; excellent.
+
+5. _Collier's Jolly Angler_--is a good green gooseberry; fruit large,
+excellent, and late.
+
+6. _Early Green Hairy._--Very early; rather small; prolific.
+
+7. _Buerdsill's Duckwing_--is a good, late, yellow gooseberry; large
+fruit, and a fine-growing bush.
+
+8. _Prophets Rockwood._--Very large fruit of excellent quality, ripening
+quite early.
+
+The foregoing list, giving two of each of the four colors, and early and
+late, are all, we think, that need be cultivated. Many more varieties,
+nearly equalling the above, may be selected; but we are not aware that
+any improvement would be made. Downing gives the following list for a
+garden:--
+
+_Red._--Red Warrington, Companion, Crown Bob, London, Houghton's
+Seedling.
+
+_Yellow._--Leader, Yellow Ball, Catharine, Gunner.
+
+_White._--Woodward's Whitesmith, Freedom, Taylor's Bright Venus, Tally
+Ho, Sheba Queen.
+
+_Green._--Pitmaston Green Gage, Thumper, Jolly Angler, Massey's Heart of
+oak, Parkinson's Laurel.
+
+Thus you have Downing's authority; his list includes most of those we
+have recommended above. The varieties are less important than in most
+fruits, provided only you get the large varieties of English gooseberry.
+Proper cultivation will insure success. Whoever cultivates, only
+tolerably well, the Houghton Seedling, will be sure to raise good
+berries, free from mildew.
+
+
+GRAFTING.
+
+This is one of the leading methods of obtaining such fruits as we wish,
+on stocks of such habits of growth and degrees of hardiness, as we may
+desire. The stock will control, in some degree, the growth of the scion,
+but leave the fruit mainly to its habits on its original tree. The
+advantages of grafting are principally the following:--
+
+Good varieties may be propagated very rapidly. A single tree may produce
+a thousand annually, for a series of years. Large trees of worthless
+fruit may be changed into any variety we please, and in a very short
+time bear abundantly. Fruits not easily multiplied in any other way, can
+be rapidly increased by grafting. Early bearing of seedlings can be
+secured by grafting on bearing trees.
+
+Tender and exotic varieties may be acclimated by grafting into
+indigenous stocks. Fruit can be raised on an uncongenial soil, by
+grafting into stocks adapted to that soil. Several varieties may be
+produced on the same tree, for ornament or economy of room. Dwarfs of
+any variety may be produced by grafting on dwarf stocks, and we may thus
+grow many trees on a small space. A slow-growing variety may be made to
+form a large top, by grafting into large vigorous-growing stocks. We are
+enabled to carry varieties to any part of the world, at a cheap rate, as
+the scions, properly done up, may safely be carried around the globe.
+
+_Time of Grafting._--Grafts may be made to live, put in in any month of
+the year, but the beginning of the opening of the buds in spring, is the
+preferable season. Stone fruits should be budded; and all fruits may be
+made to do well budded. Budding is usually only practised on small
+trees, while grafting may be performed on trees of any size.
+
+_Cutting and preserving Scions._--Mature shoots of the previous year's
+growth are best. Those of the year before will also do. They may be cut
+at any time from November to time of setting. Perhaps the month of
+February is best. They may be well preserved in moist sawdust in tight
+boxes. The more there are together the better they will keep. They keep
+better by being cut a little below the beginning of the last year's
+growth, but it is more injurious to the tree. They may be kept well in
+fine sand, moist and cool. Too much moisture is always injurious. Put
+the lower ends in shallow water, and they will look very fine, but not
+one of them will live. Scions cut in the fall and buried six inches deep
+in yellow loam or fine sand, will keep well till next spring. There are
+several methods of grafting only two of which deserve particular
+attention. These are cleft-grafting and tongue or splice grafting, see
+figures.
+
+[Illustration: Cleft-Grafting.]
+
+[Illustration: Tongue-Grafting.]
+
+_Cleft-Grafting_ is performed in most cases, when scions are grafted
+upon stocks much larger than themselves. It is too well known to need
+particular description. Tools should be sharp, and it should be
+performed before the bark slips so easily as to be started by splitting
+the stock. It endangers the growth of the scions. The requisite to
+success in all grafting, is to have some point of actual contact,
+between the inside barks of both the scion and the stock. This is more
+certainly secured by causing the scion to stand at a slight angle with
+the stock.
+
+_Tongue-Grafting_ is generally used in grafting on small
+stocks--seedlings or roots. With a sharp knife, cut off the scion
+slanting down, and the stock slanting up, split each in the centre, and
+push one in to the other until the barks meet, and wind with thick paper
+or thin muslin, with grafting wax on one side. This is generally used in
+root-grafting. The question of root-grafting has excited considerable
+discussion recently. Many suppose it to produce unhealthy trees, and
+that retaining the variety is less certain than by other modes.
+Root-grafting is a cheap and rapid means of multiplying trees, and hence
+is greatly prized by nursery men. Practical cultivators of Illinois have
+assured us, that it is impossible to produce good Rhode Island greenings
+in that state, by root-grafting--that they will not produce the same
+variety. We see no principle upon which they should fail, but will not
+undertake to settle this important question. For ourselves we prefer to
+use one whole stock for each tree, cutting it off at the ground and
+grafting there.
+
+_Grafting Composition or Wax._--One part beef's tallow, two parts
+beeswax, and four parts rosin, make the best. Harder or softer, it is
+liable to be injured by the weather. Warm weather will melt it, and cold
+will crack it. Melt these together and pour them into cold water, and
+pull and work as shoemaker's wax. When using, it is to be kept in cool
+or warm water, as the weather may demand. In its application, it is to
+be pressed closely over all the wound made by sawing and splitting the
+limb, and close around the scions, so as to exclude air and water. Clay
+is often used for grafting, but is not equal to wax. You can use
+grafting tools, invented especially for the purpose, or a common saw,
+mallet, knife, and wedge.
+
+
+GRAPES.
+
+Those cultivated so extensively in Europe were natives of
+Persia--showing that they may be acclimated far from their native home.
+Foreign grapes are not suitable for out-door culture in this country,
+except a very few varieties, which do well in the Southern states. The
+native grapes of this country have produced some excellent varieties,
+which are now in general cultivation. Others are beginning to attract
+notice, and seedlings will probably multiply rapidly, and great
+improvements in our native grapes may be expected. The subject of
+grape-culture deserves greatly-increased attention. To all palates the
+grape is delicious; it is not only one of the most palatable articles of
+diet, but is more highly medicinal than any other fruit. It is the
+natural source of pure wine. Pure wine made of grapes is only to be
+procured, in this country, by domestic manufacture. Probably not one out
+of a thousand gallons of imported wines, sold as pure, contains a drop
+of the juice of the grape;--they are manufactured of poisonous drugs and
+ardent spirits--generally common whiskey. A French chemist discovered a
+method of imitating fermented liquor without fermentation, and distilled
+spirits without distillation. His process has been published in this
+country in book form, and by subscription; and while those books are
+unknown in the bookstores, they are generally possessed by prominent
+liquor dealers;--and the practice of those secret arts is terribly
+dangerous to the community. Antecedent to this chemical manufacture of
+poisonous liquors, such a disease as _delirium tremens_ was unknown.
+Thus the Frenchman's discovery filled the liquor-sellers' pockets with
+cash, and the land with mourning, over frequent deaths by a disease, the
+horror of which is equalled only by hydrophobia. In self-defence, all
+should give up the use of everything purporting to be imported wines or
+liquors. Wine should not be used as a common beverage by the healthy.
+The best medical authority in the world has pronounced it absolutely
+injurious. But in many cases of sickness, especially in convalescence
+from fevers, it is one of the very best articles that can be used;
+hence, a pure article, of domestic manufacture, should be accessible to
+all the sick. (See our article on "Wine.") The luxury of good grapes can
+be enjoyed by every family in the land who have a yard twenty feet
+square. In the cities, almost every house may have a grapevine or two
+where nothing else would grow. Allow a vine to run up trellis-work in
+the rear of the house, and over the roof of a wing, or rear-part, raised
+two feet above the roof, supported by a rack. In such situations they
+will bear better than elsewhere, will be out of the way, and decidedly
+ornamental. In such small yards, from five to twenty-five bushels have
+often grown in a season. Some climates and soils are much better suited
+to grape-culture than others. But we have varieties that will flourish
+wherever Indian corn will mature.
+
+_Location._--For vineyards, the sides of hills are usually chosen,
+sometimes for the purpose of a warm exposure, but generally to secure
+the most perfect drainage. A northern exposure is preferable for all
+varieties adapted to the climate. To mature late varieties, choose a
+southern or eastern exposure.
+
+_Soil._--Gravelly, with a little sand, on a dry subsoil, is preferable,
+though good grapes may be grown upon any land upon which water will not
+stand. Grapes always need much lime. If the vineyard is not located on
+calcareous soil, lime must be liberally supplied, especially for
+wine-making. A dry subsoil, or thorough draining, is indispensable to
+successful grape-culture. We prefer level land, wherever thorough
+draining is practicable.
+
+_Propagation._--Choice grapes are propagated by grafts, layers, or
+cuttings. New ones are produced from seeds. The more kinds that are
+cultivated together, the greater will be the varieties raised from their
+seeds, by cross-fertilization in the blossoms. A small grape crossed
+with a large one, or an early with a late one, or two of different
+flavors, will produce mediums between them. Seeds should be cleaned, and
+planted in the fall, or kept in sand till spring. In the fall, cover up
+the young vines. The second or third year, the young vines should be set
+in the places where they are designed to remain. By efforts to get new
+varieties, we may adapt them to every latitude, from the gulf of Mexico
+to Pembina.
+
+_Layers._--These produce large vines and abundance of fruit earlier than
+any other method of propagation. Put down old wood in May or early June,
+and new wood a month later; fasten down with pegs having a hook to hold
+the vine, and cover up with earth; they will take root freely at the
+joints, and may be removed in autumn or spring. If you put down wood too
+late, or do not keep it covered with moist earth, it will fail;
+otherwise it is always sure.
+
+_Cuttings_--may be from any wood you have to spare, and should be about
+a foot long, having two buds. Plant at an angle of forty-five degrees,
+one bud and two thirds of the cutting under the soil. A little shade and
+moisture will cause nearly all to grow. A little grafting-wax on the top
+will aid the growth, by preventing evaporation. The cutting, so buried
+as to have the top bud half an inch under fine mould, is said to be
+surer. Cuttings should be made late in fall, or early in winter, and
+preserved as scions for grafting. Cuttings made in the spring are less
+sure to grow, and their removal is much more injurious to the vine.
+Vines raised from cuttings may be transplanted when one or two years
+old.
+
+_Grafting_--should be performed after the leaves are well developed in
+the spring. The sap becomes thick, which aids the process. Remove the
+earth, and saw off the vine two or three inches below the surface. Graft
+with scions of the previous year's growth, but well matured, and apply
+cement, to keep the sap from coming out. Cover all but the top bud. In
+stocks an inch in diameter put two scions. Very few need fail.
+
+_Budding_--maybe done as in other cases, but always after the leaves are
+well developed, to avoid bleeding. These modes of propagation stand in
+the following order in point of preference, the best being named first:
+layers, cuttings, grafting, budding.
+
+_Culture and Manure._--Land prepared by deep subsoil plowing, highly
+manured and cultivated the previous season in a root-crop, is the best
+for a vineyard. The trenches for the rows should be spaded twenty
+inches deep, and a part of the surface-soil put in the bottom. After
+planting the vines, stir the ground often and keep clear of weeds. At
+first, stir the soil deep; but, as the roots extend, avoid working among
+them, and never disturb the roots with a plow. Mulching preserves the
+soil in a moist, loose condition, and is a good preventive of mildew. In
+many instances it is said to have doubled the crop. Common
+animal-manures are good for young vines, and in preparing the soil, but
+are rather too stimulating for bearing vines, often injuring the fruit.
+Ashes and cinders from the smith's forge, wood-ashes, charcoal,
+soapsuds, bones and bonedust, lime, and forest and grape leaves and
+trimmings, carefully dug into the soil around the vines, are all very
+good. A liberal supply of suitable manures will keep the vines in a
+healthy condition, and preserve the fruit from disease and decay. This,
+with judicious pruning, will render the grape-crop regular and sure.
+
+_Vineyards_--should be in rows five feet apart, with vines four feet
+apart in the row. Layers of one, and cuttings of two years' growth, will
+bear the second year, and very plentifully the third year. A good
+vineyard in the latitude of Cincinnati yields about one hundred and
+fifty bushels of grapes per acre, making four hundred gallons of wine.
+The average yield of wine per acre, throughout the country, is estimated
+at two hundred gallons.
+
+_Training under Glass._--By this means the fine foreign varieties may be
+brought to perfection in our high latitudes. With most of the best
+kinds, this can be done by solar heat alone. A house covered with glass
+at an angle of forty-five degrees, facing the south, will answer the
+purpose. With a slight artificial heat, the finest varieties may be
+perfected, and others forwarded, so as to have fine grapes at most
+seasons of the year. The vines are planted on the outside of the
+grapehouse, and allowed to pass in through an aperture two feet from the
+ground, and are trained up near the glass on the inside. Protect the
+roots in winter by a covering of coarse straw manure. Wind the vines on
+the inside with straw, lay them down on the ground in the grape-house,
+and keep it closed during the winter. A house one hundred feet long and
+twenty-five feet wide, filled mainly with Black Hamburg, with a few
+other choice varieties, would afford a great luxury, and prove a
+profitable investment. From one such house, near a large city, a careful
+cultivator may realize a thousand dollars per annum. Native and even
+hardy varieties are often greatly improved by cultivation under glass,
+or by a little protection in winter.
+
+The Isabella grape is hardy and productive in western New York. In 1856,
+we noticed a vine that had been laid down in a dry place and covered
+slightly with earth, in autumn; the fruit was more abundant, and one
+fourth larger, than that on a similar vine by its side that had remained
+on the trellis during winter: this shows the value of protection even to
+hardy vines.
+
+_Training._--There are many methods, and the question of preference
+depends upon the location of the vines, the space they may occupy, and
+the taste of the cultivator. There are four principal systems--the cane
+or renewal system, spur system, fan-training, and spiral or hoop
+training.
+
+The renewal system we prefer for trellises. Put posts firmly in the
+ground eight feet apart, allowing them to be seven feet above ground
+after they are set; put slats of wood or wire across these, a foot
+apart, commencing a foot above the ground. Set vines eight feet apart;
+let the vines be composed of two branches, coming out near the ground:
+these can be formed by cutting off a young vine near the ground, and
+training two of the shoots that will spring from the bottom. These two
+vines should be bent down in opposite directions, and tied horizontally
+to the lower slat of the trellis; cut these off, so as to have them meet
+similar vines from the next root; upright shoots from these will extend
+to the top of the trellis, and it is then covered, and the work is
+complete. After these upright canes have borne, cut off every alternate
+one, two or three inches from its base, and train up the strongest shoot
+for a bearer next year: thus cut off and train new alternate ones every
+year, and the vine will be constantly renewing, and be in the most
+productive state; keep the vines clipped at the top of the trellis, and
+the sap will mature strong buds for next year's fruit. We regard this
+the most effectual of all training. The principle of renewal can be
+applied to any form of vine, and eminently promotes fruitfulness. Many
+complain that their vines, though liberally pruned, do not bear well.
+The difficulty may be that the new wood is principally removed, while
+the old is left to throw out strong-growing shoots, bearing abundance of
+foliage and little fruit. More of the old wood removed, and more of the
+young saved, would have produced less vines and much more fruit.
+
+_Pruning_--is the most important part of successful grape-culture.
+Mistakes on this subject are very injurious. Let vines grow in their own
+way, and you will have much wood and foliage, and very little, poor
+fruit. Some cut off the shoots in summer just above the fruit, and
+remove most of the leaves around it to expose the fruit to the sun. This
+often proves to be a ruinous mistake; the sap ascends to the leaves, and
+there amalgamates with what they absorb from the atmosphere, and thus
+forms food for the vine and fruit. It is the leaves, and not the fruit,
+which need the sun: the leaves are the lungs, upon the action of which
+the life and health of the fruit depend. Blight of the leaves destroys
+the fruit, and a frequent repetition of it destroys the vine.
+Grape-vines should not be pruned at all until three years old, as it
+retards the growth of the roots, and thus weakens the vines. Older vines
+should be freely pruned in November or December; pruned in winter they
+_may_ bleed in the spring, and pruned in the spring they _certainly_
+will bleed. Tender vines, not protected, may have an excess of wood left
+in the fall to allow for what may perish in winter; in this case, cut
+away the dead and surplus wood in spring, but never until the leaves are
+well developed, so as to prevent bleeding. Necessary summer-pruning is
+of much importance. Remove no leaves, except the ends of branches, that
+have already made as much wood as they can mature. In the Middle states
+this should be done about the last of July, and at the South a month
+earlier. Weak lateral branches, that bear no fruit, may be removed, but
+not all of them, for it is on the wood of this year's growth that the
+fruit will be found the following season. Old wood does not send out
+wood in spring that will bear fruit the same season; that wood will bear
+fruit next season if allowed to remain. Whoever observes will notice
+that grapes grow on young shoots of the same season; but they are
+shoots from wood of the previous year's growth, and not from old wood.
+Many suppose if they trim their vines very closely, as the old vines
+send forth abundance of new wood, and it is new wood on which the fruit
+grows, of course they will have abundance of grapes; and they are
+disappointed by a failure. The explanation of the whole is, fruit grows
+on new wood, from wood of previous year's growth, and not from old
+vines; hence, in lessening a vine, remove old wood. This is the renewal
+system, whatever the form of the vine, and is the whole secret of
+successful pruning. This accounts for the great success of the Germans
+in producing such quantities of grapes on low vines. In their best
+vineyards, they do not allow their vines to grow more than six or seven
+feet high, and yet they produce abundantly for many years. They so prune
+as to have plenty of last year's wood for the production of fruit the
+current season; after this has borne fruit, they remove it to make room
+for the young wood that will produce the next season. This principle is
+applicable to vines of any shape or size you may choose to form. The
+removal, in summer, of excessive growth, and shortening the ends of
+those you design to retain, throws the strength of the vine into the
+fruit, and to perfect the wood already formed. Liberal fall-pruning is
+necessary to induce the formation of new wood the next season, for
+bearing the following year. Parts that grow late do not mature
+sufficiently to bear fruit the next season; hence, cut off the ends in
+summer, and let what remains have the benefit of all the sap.
+
+_Reduction of Fruit._--The grape is disposed to excessive bearing, which
+weakens the vine, and injures the quality of the fruit. Liberal pruning
+in autumn does much to remedy this evil, by not leaving room for an
+excessive amount of fruit: hence, when you have a plenty of
+fruit-bearing wood, cut off the ends, so as to leave spurs with two
+buds, or at the most only four; when too much fruit sets, remove it very
+early, before the juices of the vine have been wasted upon it. A vine
+cut or wounded in spring will bleed profusely. Sheet India-rubber, or
+two or three thicknesses of a bladder, wet and bound closely around, may
+prevent the bleeding.
+
+_Mildew_--is very destructive in confined locations, without a good
+circulation of air. Sulphur and quicklime, separate or combined, dug
+into the soil around the vines, is a preventive. Straw or litter of any
+kind, spread thick under the vines, is, perhaps, the best remedy--the
+action of it is in every way beneficial.
+
+_Insects._--The rosebug, spanworm, great greenworm, and many other
+insects, infest grapevines, and do much injury. The large worms are most
+easily destroyed by hand; the small insects by flour-of-sulphur, or by
+snuff, sprinkled over profusely when the vines are wet. The various
+applications recommended in this work for the destruction of insects,
+are useful on the grapevine. The principle is to apply something
+offensive to the insects, without being injurious to the vines.
+
+_Preserving Grapes._--Packed in sawdust or wheat-bran, always thoroughly
+dried by heat, they will keep well until spring. Another method is
+packing them in cotton-batting or wadding (the latter is best); or put
+them in baskets holding no more than four or five quarts, cover tight
+with cotton, and hang up in a cool, airy place, and they will long
+remain in good condition. In shallow boxes, six inches deep, put a sheet
+of wadding, and on it a layer of bunches of grapes, not allowed to
+touch each other; on the top of the grapes put another sheet of cotton,
+and then another layer of grapes, and so the third, covering the last
+with cotton, and put the cover on tight, and keep in a cool place. This
+is the most successful method.
+
+A new method is to suspend hoops by three cords, like a baby-jumper, and
+hang the bunches of grapes all around it, as near as possible without
+touching, on little wire hooks, passing through the lower ends of the
+clusters, allowing the stem end to be suspended, and the grapes hang
+away from each other, and if the place be not damp enough to mould them,
+and not dry enough to cause them to shrivel, they keep exceedingly well.
+It requires more care and judgment, than the other methods. A very cool
+situation, without freezing, is essential in all cases. It is also
+necessary to remove all broken or immature grapes, from the clusters you
+would preserve.
+
+_Varieties_ are very numerous, and their nomenclature is confused, as
+that of other fruits. It is utterly useless to cultivate foreign grapes
+in the open air in this country. They succeed very imperfectly, even in
+the Southern states. But for cultivation under glass, they are
+preferable to any of our own. The following foreign grapes are preferred
+in this country:--
+
+Black Prince, White Muscat, White Constantia, White Muscadine, White
+Sweet-water, Early White Muscat, Black Cluster, Black Hamburg. The
+latter is the best of all foreign grapes for cultivation under glass. It
+is very delicious, a great bearer, of very large clusters. It requires
+only solar heat to bring it to perfection.
+
+_Native Grapes._--Of these we now have a large number, many of which are
+valuable. We call attention only to a very few of the best. The
+_Isabella_ as a table luxury is hardly surpassed. In the Eastern,
+Middle, and Western states, it is generally hardy and prolific. In
+northern Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, it does not ripen well. The
+seasons are too short. It also feels somewhat the severity of the
+weather, on the western prairies. It is also apt to decay at the South.
+For all other parts it is one of the very best. It is an enormous
+bearer, one vine having been known to produce more than ten bushels, in
+a single year.
+
+[Illustration: The Isabella Grape.]
+
+[Illustration: The Catawba Grape.]
+
+Next is the _Catawba_, better for wine, more vinous but not so sweet as
+the Isabella, ripens two or three weeks later, and hence not so good in
+high latitudes.
+
+_The Rebecca Grape._--This is a comparatively new variety, of great
+promise. White like the Sweet-water, flavor very fine, vine hardy and
+productive.
+
+_The Diana_ is a small delicious grape, excellent flavor for the
+dessert, and ripens two weeks earlier than the Isabella. Hence good for
+northern latitudes.
+
+_The Concord._--Large, showy, of good but not the best flavor, and
+ripens with the Diana. Should be cultivated at the North.
+
+_The York Madeira_ is similar to the Isabella, smaller and a few days
+earlier.
+
+[Illustration: The Rebecca Grape.]
+
+[Illustration: The Delaware Grape.]
+
+_The Delaware_ is a small brown grape, excellent and hardy. Ripens quite
+as early as the Isabella. Best outdoor grape, in many localities.
+
+_The Canadian Chief._--One of the very best grapes for Canada.
+
+_Canby's August._--Very fine; considered better for the table than the
+Isabella, ripens ten days earlier, and as it is a good bearer, it should
+be generally cultivated.
+
+_The Ohio Grape_ is a good variety, beginning to attract much notice.
+
+_The Scuppernong_ is the best of all grapes, for general cultivation at
+the South. It is never affected by the rot. Not easily raised from
+cuttings. Layers are better. It does best trained on an arbor.
+
+The soil and climate of the South are well adapted to the grape, even
+the finer varieties that do not flourish well at the North. They are,
+however, seriously affected by the rot, an evil incident to the heat and
+humidity of the climate. It being very warm, the dews and rains incline
+the fruit to decay. We think the evil may be prevented by two very
+simple means: Keep the vines very open, that they may dry very soon
+after rain; and train them to trellises, from six to ten feet high, and
+over the top put a coping of boards, in the shape of a roof, extending
+eighteen inches on each side of the trellis. It will prevent the rain
+and heavy dews from falling on the grapes, and is said to preserve them
+perfectly. This arrangement is about equal, in a warm climate, to cold
+graperies at the north. We recommend increased attention to this great
+luxury, in all parts of the country. Seedlings will arise, adapted to
+every locality on the continent.
+
+
+GRASSES.
+
+There is a great number of varieties, adapted to cultivation in some
+countries and climates, but not suitable for American culture. On the
+comparative value of different grasses there is a diversity of opinions.
+The best course for the practical farmer is, having the best and surest,
+therewith to be content. Sir John Sinclair says there are two hundred
+and fifteen grasses cultivated in Great Britain. We shall notice a very
+few of them, with a view to their comparative value:--
+
+1. _Sweet-scented Vernal Grass._--Small growth; yield of hay light. For
+pastures it is very early, and grows quickly after being cropped, and is
+excellent for milch-cows; grows well on almost any soil, but most
+naturally on high, well-drained meadows. It grows in great abundance in
+Massachusetts.
+
+2. _Meadow Foxtail._--Early like the preceding, but more productive and
+more nutritious. It is one of the five or six kinds usually sown
+together in English pastures; best for sheep and horses.
+
+3. _Rough Cocksfoot._--_Orchard-grass_ of the United States; cows are
+fond of it. In England it is taking the place of clovers and rye-grass.
+About Philadelphia it is supplanting timothy. It is earlier, and
+therefore better to mix with clover for hay, as they mature at the same
+time; grows well in the shade, and on both loams and sands; springs
+rapidly after being cropped. Colonel Powell, one of the best American
+farmers, says it produces more pasture than any other grass he has seen
+in this country. Two bushels of seed are sown on an acre.
+
+4. _Tall Oat-Grass._--A valuable grass, deserving increased attention.
+It will produce three crops in a season; grows four or five feet high,
+and should be cut for hay when in blossom. Of all grasses, it is the
+earliest and best for green fodder.
+
+5. _Tall Fescue._--Cut in blossom, it contains more nutriment than any
+other known grass. Grows well by the sides of ditches, and is well
+adapted to wet bogs, as, by its rapid growth, it keeps down coarse,
+noxious grass and weeds.
+
+6. _Rye Grass._--This is extensively cultivated in Scotland and in the
+north of England. It is mixed with clover. Respecting its comparative
+value there is a diversity of opinion. Some do not speak well of it.
+
+7. _Red Clover and White Clover._--See article "Clover."
+
+8. _Lucern._--This yields much more green feed at a single crop than any
+other grass. For soiling cattle it is one of the best, and may be cut
+twice as often as red clover. This makes a good crop, soon after time
+for planting corn. Common corn or pop-corn, and later, Stowell's
+evergreen sweet corn, are the best for soiling cattle; but for early
+soiling, use lucern, or some other quick-growing, large grass. Lucern
+needs clean land, or cultivation at first, as young plants are tender.
+The tap-root runs down very deep; hence, hard clay or wet soils are not
+favorable. It stands the cold, in latitudes forty to forty-five degrees
+in this country, better than red clover.
+
+9. _Long-rooted Clover._--This is a Hungarian variety--biennial, but
+resows itself several years in succession, on good, clean land. Its
+yield of hay and seed is abundant. Needs a deep, dry soil, and stands a
+drought better than any other grass. To plow in as a fertilizer, or for
+soiling cattle, it is valuable, wherever it will flourish.
+
+10. _Sain-Foin._--Adapted to calcareous or chalky soils; considered one
+of the best plants ever introduced into England; but in New England it
+proves almost a failure--it requires more cool moisture and less frost.
+
+11. _Timothy._--In England, _Meadow Cats'-tail_, and in New England,
+_Herd's-grass_. This is the most valuable of all the grasses, and
+wherever it will thrive well, should never be superseded by anything
+else for hay. It should be cut when the seed has begun to harden, but
+before it begins to shell, and never in the blossom. Let every farmer
+remember that timothy, cut in the seed, contains twice as much nutriment
+as when cut in the blossom; hence, it is not worth more than half as
+much for hay, sown among clover, as when sown by itself, as it must be
+cut too early, to avoid losing the clover.
+
+12. _Red Top._--We can not find this described in agricultural books;
+but we have been familiar with it for thirty-five years, and can not
+find a New York or New England farmer who does not know it well and
+prize it highly. For low, moist, rich meadows, the red top is the best
+for hay of any known grass. It yields abundantly, and may be cut at any
+time, from July to last of September. The hay is better for cattle than
+timothy. Many intelligent gentlemen insist that it is the most healthy
+hay for horses.
+
+After all that has been written on the various grasses, we regard it
+best for farmers throughout the continent to cultivate only the
+following:--
+
+For early pastures, _vernal grass_ and _meadow foxtail_; pastures
+through the season, _white clover_, _cocks-foot_, _meadow foxtail_, _red
+clover_, and _timothy_; for lowland pastures, _red top_ and _tall
+fescue_; for hay, _timothy_, _red top_, _orchard grass_, and _tall
+fescue_; for the shade of fruit-trees, _orchard grass_; to be plowed in
+as fertilizers, _red clover_ and _white clover_, for soiling cattle,
+_tall oat-grass_ and _lucern_.
+
+Time of sowing grass-seed is important. Some prefer the fall, and others
+the spring. Fall sowing should be very early or very late. Early sowing
+will give the young plants strength to endure the frosts of winter,
+which would kill late sown; but sow so late that it will not vegetate
+until spring, and it will come up early and get out of the way of the
+droughts of summer. Grass-seed sown late in the spring will always fail,
+except when followed by a very wet season. Sow timothy with fall grain,
+or late in the fall, or on a light snow toward the close of winter. Do
+not sow clover in the fall, as the young plants will generally fail in
+the cold winter;--sow it on the last light snow of winter, and it will
+always succeed. Roll the land in spring on which you have sown
+grass-seed in the last of winter; it will benefit the grain, and cause
+the grass-seed to catch well, and get an earlier and more rapid growth.
+Let all who would not lose their seed and labor, remember that
+grass-seed not sown so as to form good roots, before the frosts of
+winter or the drought of summer, will be lost; the plants will be
+killed. Timothy-seed sown in the fall, one peck to the acre, will
+produce a good crop the next season.
+
+
+GREENHOUSE.
+
+Greenhouses vary as much in style and cost as dwellings. The simplest is
+any tight enclosure, covered with a glass roof at an angle of forty-five
+degrees, facing the south, and kept warm by artificial heat. The
+temperature is not allowed to be lower than forty nor higher than
+seventy degrees of Fahrenheit; this will keep plants growing and make
+them blossom, and affords a good place for starting plants to be
+transplanted to out-door hotbeds, and finally to the vegetable garden,
+after frosts are over. There is but one main danger in greenhouse
+culture, and that is obviated by a little care: it is, allowing the air
+to become too much heated for the health of the plants; they require but
+little heat, but need it regularly. Some greenhouses are warmed by
+stoves, and serve a good purpose; others have a stove set in a flue
+which is built in the wall, gradually rising until it has passed around
+two or three sides of the building. Place three or four sheet-iron pans
+over this flue, at different points, and keep them filled with water;
+the fire in the flue will heat the water, and impart both warmth and
+humidity to the atmosphere, which is very favorable to the health and
+growth of plants. Such a house is favorable to the growth of tender
+exotic fruits and plants. A similar house without any artificial heat
+affords an excellent place for the cultivation of the finest varieties
+of foreign grapes.
+
+
+GYPSUM, OR PLASTER OF PARIS.
+
+The fertilizing properties of this article were discovered by a German
+laborer in a quarry, who observed the increased luxuriance of the grass
+by his path, when the dust fell from his shoes and clothes. This led to
+experiments which demonstrated its fertilizing power. With the
+protracted controversies on gypsum we have nothing to do; certain
+important facts are established which are valuable to agriculturists.
+
+Gypsum is valuable as an application to the soil, at from three fourths
+to one and a quarter bushels to the acre. On poor land, for a flax crop
+three bushels per acre, applied after the plants were up, and when wet,
+produced a great crop. It should be applied only once in two years, or
+in very small quantities every year. Applied as a top-dressing, it will
+do no good until a considerable quantity of rain has fallen upon it. If
+it be applied in the spring, and the summer prove a dry one, its
+greatest effect will be felt the next season. Its most marked effects
+are on poor soils; on land already rich it seems to produce but little
+effect; on dry, sandy or gravelly soils, it will increase a clover crop
+from one fourth to two thirds; sowed among clover and immediately plowed
+in, it acts powerfully. Plants of large leaves feel its influence much
+more than those with small ones, hence its excellence on clover,
+potatoes, and vines. Some soils contain enough plaster already: the
+farmer must determine by analysis or experiment. On the compost heap it
+is valuable in small quantities; it is also useful on all long, coarse,
+or fresh manures of the previous winter. Seeds rolled in it before
+planting vegetate sooner and stronger. Mixed with an equal quantity of
+ashes and a little lime, and applied to any crop immediately after
+hoeing, or when just coming up, it adds materially to its growth. It is
+better to apply it twice--on first coming up, and immediately after
+first hoeing; small quantities are best;--it will ten times repay the
+cost and labor. Upland pastures and meadows, except clay soils, are
+greatly benefited by it. A time-saving method of sowing plaster on
+fields of grass or grain, is to sow out of a wagon driven slowly through
+the field, the driver being guided by his former tracks, while two men
+sow out of the wagon. It is customary to put plaster and ashes, mixed,
+around the hills of corn, or throw it upon the plants. Sown on the field
+of hoed or hill crops, its effects are much greater than when only put
+on the hill. It should be sown equally over the whole ground.
+
+
+HARROWING.
+
+The very liberal use of the harrow is one of the principal requisites of
+successful farming. No other single tool does so much to pulverize the
+soil, as the harrow. A full crop can only be raised on a fine mellow
+soil. Seeds planted in soil left coarse and uneven, will vegetate
+unevenly, grow unequally, ripen at different times, and produce unequal
+quantities. Many farmers insist that it is a mere notion, without
+reason, to harrow land four or five times, and roll it once or twice.
+Not one in five hundred believes in the full utility of such a thorough
+working of the soil. Coarse lumpy soils expose the seeds and roots of
+young plants to drought, and to too strong action of the atmosphere.
+(See article on _Rolling_.)
+
+Harrow sandy and sod land whenever you please. If you work any other
+soil when very wet, it will not recover from the effects of it during
+the whole season. Harrow land the first time the same way it was plowed.
+
+The form of a harrow is of no importance, except avoiding the butterfly
+drag, that seldom works well. The square harrow with thirty teeth is
+usually preferred. Every farmer should have a =V= drag also.
+
+Corn, potatoes, peas, and other crops that are planted in straight rows,
+should be harrowed just after coming up, with a =V= drag, drawn by two
+horses. The front teeth should be taken out that the row may pass
+between the teeth, as well as between the horses.
+
+Such a cultivation will do more good than any other single subsequent
+one. It stirs the whole surface, pulverizing the soil, keeps it mellow
+and moist, and destroys the weeds, and all at the best possible time,
+for the benefit of the crop. No other form of cultivation is so good for
+a young crop. Try two acres, one in the usual way, and the other by
+harrowing, as we recommend, when it first comes up, and you will never
+after neglect harrowing all your hoed crops.
+
+
+HAY.
+
+Farmers differ in their modes of making and preserving hay. The
+following directions for timothy and clover, are applicable to all
+grasses suitable for hay, as they are all divided into two classes,
+broad-leaved, and the fine-leaved, or grasses proper. The principles
+involved in these directions may be considered comparatively well
+settled, and they are sufficient for all purposes. Cut clover when half
+the blossoms are dried, and the other half in full bloom. Cut later, the
+stalks are so dried, that they are of much less value. Cut earlier, it
+is so immature, as to be of small value for hay. In case of great growth
+and lodging down, clover may be cut earlier, as it is better to save hay
+of less value, than to lose the whole. To cure clover for hay, spread it
+evenly, immediately after the scythe, let it thoroughly wilt, but not
+dry. Rake it up, before any of the leaves are dry so as to break, and
+put it in small cocks, such as a man can pitch upon a cart at once or
+twice with a fork. This should be _laid_ on and not _rolled_ up from a
+winrow. In the former case it will shed nearly all the water, and the
+latter method suffers the rain to run down through the whole.
+
+Unless the weather be very wet, clover will cure in this way, without
+opening until time to haul it in, and will retain its beautiful green
+color, almost equal to that of England and Germany, cured in the shade,
+which, at two or three years old, appears almost as bright as though not
+cured at all. If the weather be quite wet, cut clover when free from dew
+or rain, wilt it at once, and draw it in, put as much as possible in
+thin layers on scaffolds, and under cover, to cure in the shade. Put the
+remainder in alternate layers with equal quantities of dry straw, with
+one peck of salt to a ton. A ton may bear half a bushel of salt, less is
+better, and more is injurious to stock, by compelling them to eat too
+much salt. The most beautiful and palatable clover hay is that cured in
+the shade, on scaffolds and afterward mowed away.
+
+Timothy should never be cut, until the seed is far enough advanced to
+grow. Careful experiments have shown that cut in the blossom, the hay
+will contain only about one half as much nutriment, as when cut in the
+full-grown seed, but before it commences shelling. Cure as clover, but
+in twice as large cocks, and never salt, unless compelled to draw in
+when damp or too green.
+
+
+HEDGE.
+
+The question of fencing in this country, so much of which is prairie,
+and in other parts of which there is such a wanton waste of timber,
+gives great importance to successful hedging. The same plants are not
+equally good for hedge in all parts of the country. There are but few
+plants suitable for hedges in our climate.
+
+_The Osage Orange_--is the best, in all latitudes where it will
+flourish. It has no diseases or enemies by which it will be destroyed,
+except too cold winters. Of Southern origin, yet it flourishes in many
+places at the North. In cold localities, where there is but little snow,
+it suffers much until three or four years old. It is being extensively
+introduced into central and northern Illinois, where unusually cold
+winters destroy vast quantities of young plants, and kill the tops of
+much old hedge. It is still insisted that it will succeed; but we
+consider it too uncertain, and consequently too expensive, for general
+fencing in such climates. The roots and lower parts of the plants may be
+preserved, however, by setting them out for a hedge on level ground,
+instead of ridges as usual, and plowing a furrow three feet from each
+side of the row, to drain off surplus water. Mulch thoroughly in the
+fall, and thus protect from frost until they have been set in the hedge
+for three years, and they may succeed and make a good live fence. To
+raise the plants, soak the seeds thoroughly, and, at the usual time of
+corn-planting, plant in straight rows, and keep clean of weeds. Set out
+in hedge the following spring. The soil of the hedge-row should be deep,
+mellow, and moderately, not excessively rich. Too rich soil makes a
+larger growth, of spongy and more tender wood. Plants should have a
+portion of the tap-root cut off, and be planted a foot apart in the row.
+
+_The Hawthorn_--will never be extensively cultivated for live fence in
+this country, being subject to borers, as destructive as in fruit-trees.
+
+_The Virginia Thorn_--is equally uncertain.
+
+_The Buck Thorn_--after fifteen years' trial, in New England, bids fair
+to answer every purpose for American live fence: it is easily
+propagated, of rapid growth, very hardy, thickens up well at the bottom,
+and is exempt from the depredations of insects. It may yet prove the
+great American hedge-shrub.
+
+_The Newcastle Thorn_--cultivated in New England, is much more
+beautiful, and promises to rival the buck thorn, but has not been
+sufficiently tested to settle its claims. Much is anticipated from it.
+
+[Illustration: Shearing down young hedges.]
+
+[Illustration: Properly-trimmed hedge (end view).]
+
+[Illustration: Badly-trimmed hedge (end view).]
+
+[Illustration: Neglected hedge (side view).]
+
+There are plants well adapted to hedge at the South, which are too
+tender for the North. In White's Gardening for the South, we have the
+following given as hedge-shrubs, adapted to that region: Osage Orange,
+Pyracanth, Cherokee, and single White Macartney roses. The Macartney,
+being an evergreen thorn, and said to make as close a hedge as the Osage
+Orange and much more beautiful, is quite a favorite at the South. They
+usually train the rose-shrubs for hedge on some kind of paling or wire
+fence. They render some of them impenetrable even by rabbits or
+sparrows; this is done by layers, and trimming twice a year, commencing
+after the first three months' growth. Pruning is the most important
+matter in the whole business of hedging. A hedge set out ever so well,
+and composed of the best variety of plants, if left in the weeds,
+without proper care in trimming, will be nearly useless. A well-trimmed
+hedge around a fruit-orchard will keep out all fruit-thieves. The great
+difficulty is the _unwillingness_ of cultivators to cut off, so short
+and so frequently, _the fine growth_.
+
+Shear off the first year's growth (_a_) within three inches of the
+ground (_b_). Cut the vigorous shoots that will rise from this shearing,
+four inches higher, about the middle of July, and similar and successive
+cuttings, each a little longer, in the two following years; these will
+bring the hedge to a proper height. The form of trimming shown in end
+view of properly-trimmed hedge, protects the bottom from shade by too
+much foliage on the top: the effects of that shade are seen in neglected
+hedge in the cut.
+
+
+HEMP.
+
+This is one of the staple articles of American agriculture. It is much
+cultivated in Kentucky and other contiguous states. Its market value is
+so fluctuating that many farmers are giving up its cultivation. The
+substance of these directions is taken from an elaborate article from
+the pen of the honorable Henry Clay. Had not the length of that article
+rendered it inconsistent with the plan of this volume, we should have
+given it to the American people as it came from the hand of their
+greatest statesman, who was so eminently American in all his sentiments
+and labors.
+
+_Preparation of the Soil_--should be as thorough as for flax;--this can
+not be too strongly insisted on. Much is lost by neglect, under the
+mistaken notion that hemp will do about as well on coarse, hard land.
+Plants for seeds should be sown in drills four feet apart, and separate
+from that designed only for the lint. The stalks should be allowed to
+stand about eight inches apart in the rows. Plants are male and female,
+distinguished in the blossoms. When the farina from the blossoms on the
+male plants (the female plants do not blossom) has generally fallen,
+pull up the male plants, leaving only the females to mature. Cut the
+seed-plants after the first hard frost, and carry in wet, so as to avoid
+loss by shelling. Seed is easily separated by a common flail. After the
+seeds are thrashed out, they should be spread thin, and thoroughly
+dried, or their vegetative power will be destroyed by heat or decay.
+They should be spread to be kept for the next spring's planting, and not
+be kept in large bulk. Their vegetation is very uncertain after they are
+a year old. Sow hemp for lint broadcast, when the weather has become
+warm enough for corn-planting. Opinions vary as to the quantity of seed,
+from one bushel to two and a half bushels per acre. Probably a bushel
+and a peck is best. Plowing in the seed is good on old land; rolling is
+also useful. If it gets up six inches high, so that the leaves cover the
+ground well, few crops are less effected by the vicissitudes of the
+weather. Some sow a part of their hemp at different times, that it may
+not all ripen at once and crowd them in their labor. Cutting it ten days
+before it is ripe, or allowing it to stand two weeks after, will not
+materially injure it. Hemp is pulled or cut. Cutting, as near the ground
+as possible, is the better method. The plants are spread even on the
+ground and cured; bound up in convenient handfuls and shocked up, and
+bound around the top as corn. It is an improvement to shake off the
+leaves well before shocking up. If stacked after a while, and allowed to
+remain for a year, the improvement in the lint is worth more than the
+loss of time. There are two methods of rotting--dew-rotting,
+=and= water-rotting--one by spreading out on grass-land, and the other by
+immersing in water; the latter is much the preferable mode. The question
+of sufficient rotting is determined by trial. Hemp is broken and cleaned
+like flax. The stalks need to be well aired and dried in the sun to
+facilitate the operation. Extremes in price have been from three to
+eight dollars per hundred pounds: five dollars renders it a very
+profitable crop. Thorough rotting, good cleaning, and neat order, are
+the conditions of obtaining the first market price. An acre produces
+from six hundred to one thousand pounds of lint--an average of about one
+hundred pounds to each foot of height of the stalks. Hemp exhausts the
+soil but a mere trifle, if at all; the seventeenth successive crop on
+the same land having proved the best. Nothing leaves the land in better
+condition for other crops; it kills all the weeds, and leaves the
+surface smooth and even.
+
+
+HOEING.
+
+Much depends upon the proper and timely use of the hoe. Never let weeds
+press you; hoe at proper times, and you never will have any large weeds.
+As soon as vegetables are up, so that you can do it safely, hoe them.
+The more frequent the hoeing while plants are young, the larger will be
+the crop. Premium crops are always hoed very frequently. Hoeing
+cabbages, corn, and similar smooth plants, when it rains slightly, is
+nearly equal to a coat of manure. But beans, potatoes, and vines, and
+whatever has a rough stalk, are much injured by stirring the ground
+about them while they are wet, or even much damp. We have known
+promising crops of vines nearly destroyed by hoeing when wet. Hoeing
+near the roots of vines after they have formed runners one or two feet
+long, will also nearly ruin them;--the same is true of onions: hoe near
+them, cutting off the lateral roots, and you will lessen the crop one
+half. In hoeing, make no high hills except for sweet potatoes. High
+hilling up originated in England, where their cool, humid, cloudy
+atmosphere demands it, to secure more warmth. In this country we have to
+guard more against drought and heat.
+
+
+HOPS.
+
+These are native in this country, being found, growing spontaneously, by
+many of our rivers. There are four or five varieties, but no preference
+has been given to any particular one. Moist, sandy loam is the best
+soil, though good hops may be grown in abundance on any land suitable
+for corn or potatoes. Plow the land quite deep in autumn; in the spring,
+harrow the same way it was plowed. Spread evenly over the surface
+sixteen cords of manure to the acre, if your soil be of ordinary
+richness; cross-plow as deep as the first plowing; furrow out as for
+potatoes, four feet apart each way. Plant hops in every other hill of
+every other row, making them eight feet apart each way. Plant all the
+remaining hills with potatoes. Four cuttings of running roots of hops
+should be planted in each hill. Many hop-yards are unproductive on
+account of being too thick;--less than eight feet each way deprives the
+vines of suitable air and sun, and prevents plowing them with ease. The
+first year, they only need to be kept clean of weeds by hoeing them with
+the potatoes. In the fall of the first year, to prevent injury from hard
+frosts, put a large shovelful of good manure on the top of each hill.
+Each spring, before the hops are opened, spread on each acre eight cords
+of manure; coarse straw manure is preferable. Plow both ways at first
+hoeing. They require three hoeings, the last when in full bloom in the
+beginning of August. Open the hops every spring by the middle of May; at
+the South, by the last of April. This is done by making four furrows
+between the rows, turning them from the hills; the earth is then removed
+from the roots with a hoe, and all the running roots cut in with a sharp
+knife within two inches of the main roots. The tops of the main roots
+must also be cut in, and covered with earth two inches deep. Set the
+poles on the first springing of the vines; never have more than two
+poles in a hill, or more than two vines on a pole, and no pole more than
+sixteen feet high. Neglect this root-pruning, and multiply poles and
+crowd them with vines, and you will get very few hops. Select the most
+thrifty vines for the poles, and destroy all the others. Watch them
+during the summer, that they do not blow down from the poles. They must
+be picked as soon as they are ripe, and before frosts. The best
+picking-box is a wooden bin made of light boards, nine feet long, three
+feet wide, and two and a half feet deep; the poles are laid across this,
+and the hops picked into it by hand. In gathering hops, cut the vines
+two feet from the ground, that bleeding may not injure the roots.
+
+_Curing_ is the most important matter in hop-growing. Hops would all be
+of one quality, and bring the first price, if equally well cured. The
+following description (with slight abbreviation) of the process of
+curing, by William Blanchard, Esq., is, perhaps, as complete as anything
+that can be obtained. Much depends upon having a well-constructed kiln.
+For the convenience of putting the hops on the kiln, a side hill is
+generally chosen for its situation; it should be a dry situation. It
+should be dug out the same bigness at the bottom as at the top; the side
+walls laid up perpendicularly, and filled in solid with stone to give it
+a tunnel form: twelve feet square at the top, two feet square at the
+bottom, and at least eight feet deep, is deemed a convenient size. On
+the top of the walls sills are laid, having joists let into them, as for
+laying a floor, on which laths, about one and a half inches wide, are
+nailed, leaving open spaces between them three fourths of an inch, over
+which a thin linen cloth is spread and nailed at the edges to the sills.
+A board about twelve inches wide is set up on each side of the kiln, on
+the inner edge of the sill, to form a bin to receive the hops. Fifty
+pounds, after they are dry, is all such a kiln will hold at once. The
+larger the stones made use of in the construction of the kiln the
+better, as it will give a more steady and dense heat. The inside of the
+kiln should be well plastered with mortar to make it air-tight. Charcoal
+is the best fuel. Heat the kiln well before putting on the hops; keep a
+steady and regular heat while drying. Hops must not remain in bulk long
+after being picked, as they will heat and spoil. Do not stir them while
+drying. After they are thoroughly dry, remove them into a dry room, and
+lay in heaps, and not stir unless they are gathering dampness that will
+change their color; then spread them. This will only occur when they
+have not been properly dried. They are bagged by laying cloth into a
+box, so made that it can be removed, and give opportunity to sew up the
+bag while in the press. The hops are pressed in by a screw. In bulk they
+will sweat a little, which will begin to subside in about eight days, at
+which time they should be bagged. If they sweat much and begin to change
+their color, they must be dried before bagging. The best size for bags
+is about two hundred and fifty pounds' weight, in a bag about five feet
+long. Common tow-cloth or Russia-hemp bags are best. Extensive
+hop-growers build houses over the kiln, that they may be able to use
+them in wet weather. In this case, keep the doors open as much as
+possible without letting in the rain. Dried without sufficient air,
+their color is changed, and their quality and market-value injured.
+These houses are made much larger than the kiln, in many instances, for
+the convenience of storing and bagging the hops when dry; in this case,
+tight partitions should separate the storerooms from the kiln, to avoid
+dampness from the drying hops.
+
+The form of manuring recommended is contrary to the old practice of
+putting a little manure only in the hill: that practice exposed vines to
+decay and destruction by worms, and this does not; our system also
+produces hops equal to new land.
+
+
+HORSE.
+
+This noble animal is in general use, and everywhere highly prized. By
+the last census, we see that there are two thirds as many horses as cows
+in the United States--4,335,358 horses, and over six millions of cows.
+But, valuable as is the horse, he suffers much ill treatment and neglect
+from his master. To give a history of the horse, the various breeds of
+different countries, and the efforts to improve them, would be
+interesting, did it fall within the limits of our design. The patronage
+of the kings and nobility of England has done much to elevate the horse
+to his present standard of excellence. It has now become the custom for
+intelligent gentlemen in rural districts, in all enlightened countries,
+to give much attention to the improvement of horses. Unfortunately, some
+of that enthusiasm is perverted to the channel of horse-racing, a
+practice alike injurious to horses and the morals of men. A few brief
+hints are all we have space for, where a volume would be interesting and
+useful. The farmer should exercise constant care to improve the breed of
+his horses: it pays best to raise good horses. This depends upon the
+qualities of the dam and sire, and upon proper feed and care. This is a
+subject that farmers should carefully study from books and from their
+own observation. The most important matter in raising horses, is care in
+working and feeding. Nineteen out of twenty of all sick horses are made
+so by bad treatment. The prevention of disease is better than cure.
+Steady, and even hard work, will not injure a horse that is well and
+regularly fed. But a few moments of crowding a horse's speed, or of an
+unnatural strain on his strength, may ruin him. Let it always be
+remembered that it is speed, and not heavy loads, that most injures a
+horse. A mile an hour too fast will soon run down your horse. A horse
+fed with grain, or watered, when warm, is liable to be foundered; and if
+not so fed as actually to be foundered, he will gradually grow stiff.
+Horses are liable to take cold by any unreasonable exposure to the
+weather, in the same circumstances as men, and the effects on health and
+comfort are very similar. A horse having become warm by driving, should
+never stand a minute without a blanket. When a man goes from a heated
+room, or in a perspiration, into inclement weather, he takes cold the
+moment the cold or storm strikes him: in a few moments the effects on
+the pores of the body are such that there is no particular exposure. It
+is so with a horse. He takes cold when you are only going to allow him
+to "stand but a minute," and during that time you leave him uncovered.
+
+If you are under the necessity of doing an unusual day's work with a
+horse, do not feed him heavily on that day. Unusual feed the day before
+and the day after will do him good; but on the day of excessive work it
+injures him. Never feed horses too much; they will often eat one third
+more than is good for their health. Keep the bottom of the trough in
+which you feed your horses grain, plastered over with a mixture of equal
+parts of salt and ashes, that they may eat a little of it when they
+please. When the water of your horse becomes thick and yellowish, or
+whitish, give him a piece of rosin as large as a walnut, pulverized and
+put in his grain. If a horse has the heaves, give him no hay or oats;
+corn, ground or soaked, should be his only grain, and green corn-fodder
+in summer, and cornstalks, cut fine, with a little warm water on them,
+mixed with meal, should constitute his only food. All except a few of
+the most confirmed and long-standing cases of heaves are _entirely
+relieved_ by this course of feeding, and that relief is permanent as
+long as the feed is continued, and it frequently effects a cure so
+radical that the disease will not return on a change of food. To bring
+up horses that have had hard usage and poor feed, and to secure growth
+in colts, feed them milk. The milk of a butter-dairy is not more
+profitably used in any other way, than fed to horses and colts. Give
+them no water for two or three days, and they will readily learn to
+drink all the sour, thick milk you will give them. Colts will grow
+faster on milk than on any other food.
+
+Horses should be often rubbed down and kept clean, and when put in the
+stable wet, they should be rubbed dry. It is very essential to the
+health of a horse that he have pure air. Stables in this country are
+usually airy enough. But if the stable be tight, it should be well
+ventilated. The gases from a wet stable floor are injurious.
+Disinfecting agents are good remedies; a little plaster-of-Paris spread
+over a stable-floor is very useful. These brief directions, followed,
+will prevent most of the diseases to which horses are subject; or in
+case a horse be attacked, he will have the disease lightly, as temperate
+men do epidemics.
+
+
+HORSERADISH.
+
+This is regarded a healthy condiment, especially in the spring of the
+year. Grated, with a little vinegar, it may be eaten with any food you
+choose. Small shavings of the root are esteemed in mangoes. When steeped
+in vinegar for two weeks, it is said effectually to remove freckles from
+the face. Any pieces of the roots will grow in any good garden-soil.
+Larger and better roots may be produced, by trenching the bed two feet
+deep, and putting in the bottom, ten inches of good manure, and planting
+selected roots, about six inches deep.
+
+
+HOTBEDS.
+
+These are designed to force an early growth of plants. It is done by the
+use of solar heat, and that arising from fermenting manures, combined.
+The following directions for constructing and managing hotbeds will
+enable every one to be successful. Nail boards on pieces of scantling
+placed in the inside corners, in the form of a box, sixteen feet long
+and six feet wide; make it three and a half feet high on the back-side,
+and two feet high in front, facing the sun; nail a piece of board across
+the middle, let in at the top, to prevent the box from spreading when
+filled. Fill that with good, fresh horse-manure, with but little straw;
+tread it down firmly. Put over the whole, sashes made with cross-pieces
+but one way, and filled with glass, lapped half an inch, like shingles
+on a roof, to carry off the rain; putty in the glass lightly, or it may
+adhere to fresh-painted frames; let the frames be halved on their edges,
+so as to lap and be tight; put these over the filled hotbed, perfectly
+fitted all around, and enough of them to cover the whole bed; in two or
+three days the manure will become pretty warm, when it should be
+covered, four inches deep, with rich mould, sheltered for the purpose
+the previous fall, and the seeds planted. When the plants come up, see
+that they are kept sufficiently moist, and not have the hot sun pour
+upon them intensely, and they will grow rapidly; when too warm, they
+should be partly covered with mats, and the frames raised to let in air.
+Put small wedges between the sash and the boards, which will let in
+sufficient air. Keep it closed when the air is cold, and covered with
+mats when the sun is too hot. Plants are often destroyed by
+over-heating. When in danger of freezing, cover closely with mats or
+straw, or both. We have had plants growing in such a bed when the
+thermometer stood eight degrees below zero. If the heat of the manure
+subsides too early, pack fresh horse-manure all around the outside of
+the box, and as it heats it will communicate warmth to the inside of the
+bed. As plants grow up, transplant a part to a fresh bed, so as to give
+all a chance to grow stocky and strong. Almost everything that grows in
+the garden may be forwarded greatly in the hotbed. Vines, beets,
+tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, egg-plants, celery, beans, corn, and
+potatoes, may be obtained much earlier by this means. Those that are
+injured most by transplanting should be planted in the hotbed, on
+inverted sods, or grass turfs, six inches square, which can be removed
+with the growing plants on them, without seriously disturbing the
+roots. Plenty of shade and moisture on transplanting will save the most
+tender plants, and they will speedily recover. Make a hotbed of any size
+you may desire on the same principle. The boards and frames will last
+many years, with proper care, and occasional supply of a broken light of
+glass. Into such sash, broken glass of any size can be put, by cutting
+it to a proper width in one direction, no matter how far the points lap.
+
+
+HOUSES.
+
+It is not our design to give an extended view of rural architecture. But
+this work can not be complete without a brief notice of farm-buildings,
+and a few plans for such buildings, adapted to the wants of those
+possessing limited means. We hope these directions and plans will prove
+important aids in getting up cheap, yet convenient and beautiful,
+country residences, especially in all the newer parts of the country.
+Our reading on rural architecture, and an extensive observation in many
+states of the Union, have made us acquainted with nothing, combining
+beauty, cheapness, and utility, better than the following.
+
+The scale at the bottom will enable any mechanic to determine the size
+of each of these buildings, and their relation to each other. They can,
+on the same general plan, be made of any dimensions, to suit the wishes
+of the proprietor.
+
+The wagon-house in the range is forty feet long, affording ample shelter
+for all kinds of vehicles, connected by a covered way with the
+horse-stables and barn-floor.
+
+[Illustration: Range of Farm-Buildings.]
+
+A lean-to is built on the north side of the wagon-house, in which is a
+tool-house opening into it, and a stable for eight milch-cows, that will
+thus be convenient for winter-milking; these cows are fed from the loft
+over the wagon-house. The barn is thirty by forty feet, with floor in
+the middle and bay on each side: this can be driven into on one side and
+out on the other. From the floor is a covered way to cattle and horse
+stables, and into the wagon and tool house, without going outdoor.
+
+_The Piggery._--Large and small swine do not do so well together; hence,
+the larger ones are to occupy the feeding-pen and bed on the right (in
+the cut), those of medium size on the left, and the smaller ones in the
+rear. The dimensions and relative size of apartments can be determined
+from the plan.
+
+The other buildings sufficiently explain themselves in the cut.
+
+[Illustration: Ground-plan of Piggery.]
+
+With this range of buildings, let a farmer do his own thrashing, with a
+small horse-power, and thrash a part at a time during the winter,
+keeping the straw in an apartment in the bay, dry for litter, and for
+cut feed for cattle and horses, and it will be the best and most
+economical method of thrashing and keeping stock. Every farmer should do
+at least a part of his thrashing in this way, during the winter, for the
+benefit of fresh straw, &c.
+
+_Country Residence._--This includes the range of buildings given
+opposite, their distance from the house, and all the parts of a complete
+residence, with all the comforts and conveniences that can be crowded
+into such a space, and at a very reasonable expense. Three fourths of an
+acre are devoted to the ornamental grounds; except the walks and small
+flower-beds, it is all green turf. Plowed very deep and thoroughly
+enriched, the trees are set out, and all then made very level, and one
+and a half bushels grass-seed sown on it and brushed in very smooth.
+This soon makes a very thick green turf, to be cut every ten days during
+the most growing season, and less frequently as the season advances. The
+trees, for a few years, need careful working around and mulching. The
+gravel carriage-road is twelve feet wide, and winding around shrubbery,
+it leads to the carriage-house in the range of buildings. The foot-walks
+are five feet wide. The curves in the walks may be accurately laid out
+in the following manner. Determine the general position by a few points
+measured off. Lay a pole upon the ground, in the direction of the walk;
+stick a peg in the ground at the first end and at its middle; move the
+pole round a little, leaving the middle the same,--then stick a peg at
+its end, and move it forward--moving it forward and round equally, each
+time, by measurement. A longer or shorter curve is made by a greater or
+less side-movement of the pole. In a regular curve, the movements are
+the same; but in going from a shorter to a longer, or from a longer to a
+shorter curve, the side-measurement must increase or diminish regularly.
+
+[Illustration: Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Grounds, and
+Fruit-Gardens.]
+
+[Illustration: Laying out Curves.]
+
+[Illustration: First floor.]
+
+[Illustration: Chambers.]
+
+The following cuts show the plan of the house: three principal rooms and
+a bed-room below, and four rooms above. The hall extends through the
+house, affording good ventilation in summer, and entrance to each room,
+without passing through another. The chimney in the centre economizes
+heat. This small and cheap house affords more conveniences than most
+large ones. One of the finest things about such a house is a good
+cellar. For a farm-house, the cellar should be under the whole; make it
+eight feet deep, gravel and water lime made smooth on the bottom,
+flagging under the bottom of the wall extending out a foot, the wall
+above ground built double, the inside four inches thick, with brick,
+with a space of two inches, and outside stone wall a foot thick. The
+windows should be double and well fitted, the inside one hung on hinges;
+the outside one to be removed in spring, and its place supplied with a
+well-fitted frame, covered with wire-cloth to admit air and exclude
+intruders during summer. This will not freeze, and never need banking.
+No rat can enter, for they always work close to the wall, and coming to
+the projecting flat stone at the bottom, they give it up. On one side of
+the cellar, under the kitchen, make a large rain-water cistern, with a
+pump in the kitchen and a faucet in the cellar, and the whole
+arrangement is perfect. If the farm be large, you will need some of the
+good, but cheap houses described in the following part of this article,
+where your men will live and board themselves, which is always the best
+and cheapest way. An open view from the house in the country residence
+extends to the summer-house (_b_) on the right. This is one of the
+neatest cheap summer-houses that can be made. The following directions
+for making it may be useful. Set eight cedar posts, six inches in
+diameter, in the ground, in a circle; saw them off even at the top, and
+connect them by plank nailed on their tops. Make an eight-sided roof of
+boards; nail lath from post to post, forming lattice-work, leaving a
+space between two posts for a door. Put a seat around on the inside.
+Leave all the materials except the seat unplaned, and cover with a white
+or brown wash, and it need not cost more than five or six dollars, and,
+covered with vines of some kind, it will be ornamental.
+
+[Illustration: Summer-house.]
+
+[Illustration: Laborer's Cottage.]
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Laborer's Cottage.]
+
+This form of a cheap house is convenient and pleasant. Built of
+four-inch scantling, the plates and sills being connected only by the
+upright plank, and the wings thoroughly bracing the upright posts; when
+lumber is cheap, it may be built for one hundred and fifty or two
+hundred dollars, with cellar, well, and cistern. Occasional whitewash is
+as good as paint. With cellar under the whole, filled in with brick, and
+having blinds, it may cost three hundred and fifty dollars. The plan of
+the house sufficiently explains itself.
+
+The next cut illustrates a neat country-house, for a family who think
+more of neatness, comfort, and intellectual pursuits, than of mere
+ornament, and may serve the purpose of a farmhouse, or the residence of
+a retired or professional gentleman. It has the unconstrained air of
+the Italian style, without a rigid adherence to any rules, and may
+therefore be altered or added to without destroying its effect.
+
+[Illustration: Italian Farmhouse.]
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Italian Farm House.]
+
+The plan is intelligible without explanation. Built in a plain way, the
+four large rooms not larger than fifteen by seventeen, and ten feet
+high, plain in its finish, it would cost about sixteen hundred dollars
+complete. It may go up from that, according to size and height of rooms,
+and style of finish, to three thousand dollars. It then makes as good a
+house as any person ever need to occupy, out of great cities.
+
+
+HYBRIDS.
+
+Although this subject has received far too little attention, yet our
+limits will only allow us to mention a few facts, of the most practical
+moment.
+
+Plants hybridize only through their blossoms. This can only occur in
+plants of similarity, in nature and habits. Squashes and pumpkins
+planted near each other mix badly, and the poorer will prevail.
+Varieties of corn mix at considerable distances, by the falling of
+pollen from the tassel upon the silk of another variety. Watermelons are
+always ruined by being planted near citrons. The seeds from melons so
+grown will not produce one good melon. How far watermelons and
+muskmelons, or squashes with melons, will hybridize, is uncertain. By
+planting nutmeg muskmelons with the common roughskinned variety, we have
+produced a kind about half way between them, that was of great
+excellence. Two kinds of cabbage or turnip seed should never be raised
+in the same garden. Cabbage and turnip seed raised near together is
+valueless. In strawberries, different plants are essential to each
+other, the quality of the fruit being determined by the plant
+fertilized, and not by the fertilizer. This subject is further treated
+under articles on different plants.
+
+
+INARCHING.
+
+This is a method of effecting a union of trees or branches, while both
+retain their hold in the ground. Shave off a little wood from each, and
+put them together, fitting closely, so that the barks will meet, as in
+grafting; tie firmly, and cover with wax. When they have got well to
+growing, cut off the top of the old one, and after a while cut the new
+one from the ground. When you have a tree that it is difficult to
+propagate in the usual way, you may transplant it to a thrifty stock.
+Vigorous branches may by this means be transferred to old, poor-bearing,
+or slow-growing trees. So also may a tree be prolonged beyond its
+ordinary age, as the pear on the quince, by inarching young shoots. We
+can only recommend this to the curious experimenter, who has little else
+to do.
+
+
+INSECTS.
+
+These are the natural enemies of fruits and plants; and to prevent their
+depredations requires much care. There is no universal remedy. Birds and
+young fowls--especially ducks and chickens--are useful in a garden. The
+ducks must not be kept there too long. They will appropriate a little to
+their own use, but will save much more for the proprietor. Insects have
+their peculiar tastes for particular fruits and plants, of which we have
+treated, under those heads, respectively. Success in many branches of
+horticulture and pomology, depends upon attention to the habits of
+insects. The most general remedy is to wash trees or plants with a
+strong decoction of some offensive herb, or with whale-oil soapsuds.
+Tobacco is very useful for this purpose.
+
+
+IRON FILINGS.
+
+It has been ascertained by analysis, that iron enters largely into the
+composition of the pear. Iron filings spread under them, or worked into
+the soil, increases the growth of pear-trees, and improves the quality
+of the fruit.
+
+
+IRRIGATION.
+
+This is one of the most important matters, that can engage the attention
+of agriculturists of the present day. A stream of water that may be
+caused to flow gently over a field, or different parts of a farm, at
+pleasure, is a mine of wealth. Plants receive their food from the air
+and water. We shall discuss this more fully when treating of manures. A
+poor, porous, sandy, or gravelly soil usually produces a fine crop, in a
+wet season. That is an addition to the soil of nothing but water. Hence
+all springs and streams can be turned to great account, on a farm or
+garden. Watering gardens by hand or with a garden-pump, will often pay
+better than any other expenditure on the land. Employing a man, in a dry
+season, to spend his whole time in watering five acres of garden, of
+berries and vegetables, as cabbages, vines, onions, and potatoes, will
+pay a very large profit. Strawberries will bear twice as much and twice
+as long, for daily watering, after they begin to bud for blossoms, until
+the fruit is gone. It is a necessary caution not to water irregularly,
+and only occasionally, in a dry season. Better not commence than to
+leave off, or neglect it in a dry time, before a rain. Read further in
+our article on "Watering."
+
+
+LABELS.
+
+It is important, on many accounts, to have fruit-trees and shrubs well
+labelled. Many labels have been invented. We prefer Cole's, as given in
+his Fruit Book, to any other. Take a piece of sound pine or other soft
+wood, whittle two sides smooth, leaving one wider than the other, with a
+sharp corner between them. For one, cut one notch in the edge, and so up
+to four, four notches for four. For five, cut across the narrow side.
+For ten cut across the wide side, and a notch for every ten up to forty.
+For fifty, cut obliquely across the narrow side, and for one hundred cut
+obliquely across the wide side. Keep the names in a book, with numbers
+corresponding with the notches or numbers on the labels.
+
+Fasten these to trees, loosely, by a small copper or brass wire.
+Transported to any distance, exposed to any weather, or buried in the
+ground, they will not be obliterated. Pieces of sheet lead, tin, or
+zinc, cut wide at one end, and written on with a sharp awl, and narrow
+at the other end, to be bent around a limb, will answer a pretty good
+purpose. Any soft wood, made smooth, and a little white paint applied,
+and written on with a good pencil, will preserve the mark for a long
+time. Fasten with small wire. There are many labels, but we know none
+preferable to the above. By all means make labels accurate and
+permanent. Otherwise great losses may occur by budding or grafting from
+wrong varieties.
+
+
+LANDSCAPE GARDENS.
+
+These deserve much more attention than they receive in this country. On
+most farms land enough is lying waste, to make a picturesque landscape,
+at a small expense. Trees planted, weeds destroyed, grass cultivated,
+and paths made, according to the most approved rules of carelessness,
+would secure this object. With a wealthy man, the omission of such a
+park about his dwelling is hardly pardonable. Landscape gardening is an
+extensive subject. We can only give a few of the most general simple
+rules, that may be practised, without the possession of very large
+means.
+
+1. Place the house some distance from the main street.
+
+2. Make the carriage-way leading to the house, at least twelve feet
+wide, and do not allow it to extend in a straight line, but in gentle
+curves, around clusters of trees and plats of grass, apparently
+rendering the curves necessary.
+
+3. Have no large trees directly in front of the house.
+
+4. Plant trees of the thickest and greenest foliage near the house, and
+those of more open tops at a greater distance. Standard pear, and
+handsome cherry trees, do well planted among the forest trees. Clusters
+of them, at suitable distances, are not only beautiful, but they bear
+exceedingly well. They are well protected by the forest trees, and
+standing alone are injured less by insects.
+
+5. Never set trees in a landscape garden, in straight rows, nor trees
+of similar size and form together. Nature never does so.
+
+6. Let none of the walks be straight lines, but curves, meandering among
+trees and grass. If there be any water in the vicinity, let there be an
+open space, giving a fair view of it from the house. If you have a
+stream, make rustic bridges over it, the plainer the better. Here and
+there have rustic arbors. Attached to all this should be three other
+gardens, one of flowers, another of vegetables, and the third of fruits.
+These three should never grow together. Fruit-trees ruin vegetables and
+injure flowers. And flowers in a vegetable garden are mere weeds. A
+separate plat for each is the correct rule, both for beauty and profit.
+All this need require but little time and expense. All landholders can,
+at a moderate cost, live amid scenes of perpetual beauty, while the rich
+may spend as much money in this way as they choose.
+
+
+LAYERING.
+
+This is a method of propagation, by bending down a branch, and fastening
+it under the soil, leaving the upper end projecting, until it takes
+root. Cut half way through the branch so as to raise the top, and fasten
+it at the point where it is cut, in a trench, with a stick thrust into
+the ground over it nearly horizontally, or with a stick having a hook
+made by cutting off a limb. Cover well with soil, and mulch it, and
+water when dry. This done in the spring, in August the branch will be
+well rooted, and may be cut away from the parent stalk. This is
+important in any tree or shrub (like the snowball), difficult to
+propagate by slips or grafting.
+
+
+LAYING IN TREES.
+
+Dig a trench where water will not stand, and lay the trees in at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, and cover the roots and lower part, very
+closely, with earth. In this way they may be well preserved through the
+winter, if buried so deep that the tap-root will not freeze, which is
+always injurious to trees that have been removed from their original
+soil. Such freezing is always destructive to trees out of the ground.
+Small trees and seedlings may be covered entirely, to be kept through
+the winter. Put coarse straw manure on the earth, over trees large
+enough for setting, that are to be preserved heeled in during winter;
+and straw or corn-fodder over the tops, during the coldest weather, and
+they will come out perfect in the spring.
+
+If not ready to set out your trees at once, you may preserve them in
+perfect condition to very late in spring, in this way, by raising them
+once, to check vegetation, and putting them back, and shading their
+stems and mulching the roots, after the commencement of warm weather.
+Trees may thus be preserved in better condition for transplanting than
+those left in the nursery, and they will make a larger growth the first
+season.
+
+
+LEEKS.
+
+These are said to be natives of Switzerland. We think this doubtful, as
+they are an article of daily food in Egypt, and were so highly esteemed
+there, centuries ago, as to become an object of worship. They are used
+as a pot-herb, to give a flavor to soups and stews. They are not
+bulbous, like onions, but have a long stem, which is principally used.
+They are transplanted very deep, so as to obtain a long white neck. The
+ends of the roots are to be cut off when transplanted, and they should
+be set in rows a foot apart, and from four to six inches in the row.
+There are several varieties, distinguished mainly by the width of the
+leaves,--the _Flanders_ (or _narrow-leafed_), the _Scotch_, and the
+_Broad London_.
+
+We know no use of leeks for which onions would not be equally good, and,
+hence, do not recommend their cultivation.
+
+
+LEMON.
+
+This is the finest acid fruit grown, and belongs to warm climates; but
+by getting good budded trees from the South, and setting in
+glass-houses, protected from severe frosts, we may grow lemons in
+abundance at the North.
+
+By a system of acclimation and protection, we anticipate seeing oranges
+and other Southern fruits grown at the North as a domestic luxury, and
+perhaps at a profit for market. The houses necessary for protection may
+be worth more for other purposes than their cost and care, without
+interfering with their use for orange and lemon culture.
+
+
+LETTUCE.
+
+The varieties are numerous, and most of them do well on very rich land,
+well hoed. Only two kinds of summer-lettuce need be cultivated--the
+_ice-head lettuce_, and the _brown_. The ice-head has a very thick and
+tender leaf, continuing to be excellent up to midsummer, from one
+sowing; and if not allowed to stand nearer together than six inches, it
+will produce fine heads. The brown lettuce is very large and very good.
+There are other, earlier kinds, and many others that form large heads.
+But we can get the above kinds early, by sowing in a hotbed and
+transplanting; or by sowing so as to have plants get of considerable
+size in the fall, and protect by covering in winter. These will be
+suitable for the table early in the spring. Lettuce does better for
+transplanting; it forms larger heads than in the original bed, and is a
+little later. Make the soil very rich with stable-manure. Lettuce is
+more affected by the quality of the soil than most other vegetables.
+This is a pleasant and healthy article of food, in spring and early
+summer.
+
+
+LICORICE.
+
+This is a hardy plant from Southern Europe. The root in substance, or
+the extracted dried juice, is much used. Needs a deep, rich soil. It is
+propagated by cuttings of roots set out in deeply-trenched land, in rows
+three feet apart, and one foot in the row. Small vegetables may be grown
+among the plants the first year; afterward keep clear of weeds, and
+manure every autumn. At the end of the third year, after the leaves are
+dead, take up the roots and dry them thoroughly. This does well at the
+South. A few roots are sufficient for a family, and the demand will not
+be sufficient to require its culture very extensively as an article of
+commerce. The low price of labor in Southern Europe enables them to
+supply the demand cheaper than can be afforded in this country.
+
+
+LIME.
+
+This is a valuable application to the soil. For wheat it is very
+important, except on soil containing a large proportion of calcareous
+matter. Usually air-slaked, and applied as a top-dressing, or plowed or
+harrowed in, its effects are important. On moist, sour land, producing
+wild grass, it corrects the acidity, introduces other grass, and
+prepares the soil for cultivation. On hard, stiff lands, it has a
+tendency to make them friable, and keep them in a mellow condition, thus
+saving more than its cost, in the labor of cultivation. Very valuable
+in a compost heap. So much may be applied as to burn the soil and prove
+injurious. It will not do as a substitute for everything else. See
+further on "Manures."
+
+
+LIME.
+
+A fruit resembling the lemon, growing in the same climate, but of
+smaller size. It is used for the same purposes as the lemon, but is not
+so valuable. Preserved green, it is highly esteemed. It is cultivated as
+the orange and lemon, needing the same protection in cold climates. To
+preserve all these from destruction by insects, wash them in a strong
+decoction of bitter or offensive herbs, or with whale-oil soap-suds;
+tobacco is very effectual. These remedies are useful on all fruit-trees.
+
+
+LOCATION.
+
+This is important to everything we cultivate. But, as everything can not
+have the best location, we should study it with reference to those
+things most affected by it, especially fruits. Fruits escape late frosts
+when growing near rills or small brooks. Orchards near the shores of
+bodies of water--as on Lake Erie about Cleveland, Ohio--bear luxuriantly
+when all fruit a few miles back is cut off by late frosts. On the
+summits of hills, fruits escape late frosts, when they are all cut off
+in the valleys below. On the Ohio river above Cincinnati, peaches are
+very liable to destruction by late frosts. We have seen them all frozen
+through in one night, and turned black the next day, in the month of
+May, after they had grown to the size of marrowfat-peas. One season,
+when there were no peaches in any other locality within a hundred miles,
+we knew an orchard, on a Kentucky hill, so high and steep, that it took
+miles of winding around the hill, to ascend it with a team. Those trees
+were perfectly loaded with peaches, that sold on the tree at four
+dollars per bushel, and in Cincinnati market at seven to eight dollars.
+In Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, there are such hills, that may be
+turned to more valuable account than any of the rest of their land, that
+are not now considered good for anything--even for sheep-pastures. The
+same is true in the hilly parts of all the states. Good fruit of some
+kind will grow on them all, every year.
+
+
+LOCUST-TREES.
+
+It will soon be a great object with American farmers to cultivate
+locust-trees, in all locations to which they are adapted. Even in this
+new world, we shall soon be dependent on cultivated timber for
+fence-posts, railroad-ties, and building purposes. Our native forests
+are rapidly disappearing, while demand for timber is as rapidly
+increasing. Probably no other tree is so profitable for cultivation in
+this country as the locust. It is of rapid growth, and hard and durable,
+and adapted to many uses. The second-growth locust is not so durable as
+the native forest-tree, as found in parts of Ohio; but, cut at a
+suitable age and at the right season of the year, it is as durable as
+white cedar, and much more valuable. The profits of the culture would be
+great. An acre of locust-trees fifteen or twenty years old would be
+worth fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. The expense of growing
+it, aside from the use of the land, would be trifling. The grove would
+afford a good place for fowls, while the blossoms would be nearly equal
+to white clover for honey. The limbs would make excellent wood, and the
+ground would need no planting for a second growth. Fortunate will be the
+men on the prairies of the West, and along the railroads and rivers of
+the land, who shall early plant fields of locust. The profits of it will
+greatly exceed the increase in the value of the land.
+
+
+MANURES.
+
+Soils, manures, and preparing the soil--plowing, harrowing, &c.--are the
+three great subjects in any good agricultural work. We shall treat this
+subject under the following divisions:--
+
+1. The substances of which manures are composed.
+
+2. Preparation and saving of manures.
+
+3. Time and modes of application.
+
+4. The principles of their action upon plants.
+
+Manures are of two classes--called putrescent and fossil. The putrescent
+are composed of decayed, or decaying, vegetable and animal substances.
+The fossil are those dug from the earth, as lime, marl, and gypsum. All
+vegetable substances not useful for other purposes are valuable for
+manure. Rotten wood, leaves, straw, and all the vegetable parts of
+stable manure, and any spoiled vegetables or grain, are all valuable. At
+the South, their immense quantities of cotton-seed are a mine of wealth,
+if properly prepared and applied as manure. Animal manures consist of
+the animal parts of stable manure, dry and liquid, parts of bones,
+brine, spoiled meat, kitchen slops, soapsuds, and all dead animals. In
+decaying, these substances all pass through a process of fermentation.
+Left exposed without suitable care, they become unhealthy and offensive.
+It is probable that a large share of the diseases suffered in the rural
+districts are caused by these impurities; and the impossibility of
+keeping large cities free from these substances is the cause of their
+increased mortality. In the country, a little timely caution and labor,
+in removing these substances and regulating their fermentation, would
+save much sickness; while the labor would pay a larger per-cent. profit
+than any other performed on the soil. No manures should be allowed to
+ferment, or decay, without being mixed or covered with enough common
+earth, sand, peat, or muck, to retain all the gases and exhalations of
+such putrescence. The smallest quantity that will answer is one load of
+earth to two of the decaying substances. The proportions reversed would
+be better: put one bushel of lime to two loads, two quarts of ground
+plaster, and half a bushel of ashes, and you have the very best compost
+heap. The following are brief general rules for the preparation of
+manures. It is always most economical to feed cattle in the stable or
+under cover, and never have manure exposed to the weather. But if cattle
+must be fed outdoor, let them be fed in a yard, lowest in the centre,
+that the liquids and washings may run into the centre, and be absorbed
+by straw and litter. Put manure on the land, or into heaps for compost,
+before very warm weather. Always feed sheep under cover, and keep their
+manure from rain; heap it together with earth in the spring, or apply it
+to the soil at once. Manure thrown out of a stable should be kept under
+cover, out of the rain, and not allowed to heat in winter; its best
+qualities are evaporated by fermentation in the yard. Manures often
+rained on in winter, or left in large piles without intermixture of
+earth, lime, plaster, and ashes, will ferment and waste. Construct your
+stables so that the liquid manure will run into a vat filled with earth;
+muck is best. Experiments have shown that the liquid manures are at
+least one sixth better than the solid. A gentleman dug a pit, thirty-six
+feet square and four feet deep, and walled it in on all sides. He filled
+his vat from a cultivated field, and so constructed his sewers from the
+stables adjoining that the urine saturated the whole. He kept fourteen
+head of cattle there for five months, allowing none but the liquid part
+of the manure to pass into the vat. He spread forty loads of this on an
+acre. For ten years he tried equal quantities of this and well rotted
+and prepared stable-manure, side by side, in the same field, and
+obtained great crops; but in no stage of their growth could he see that
+crops on the land manured from the stable were any better than those
+that had received only the soil from the vat. The latter were quite as
+good as the former. The contents of his vat manured seven acres, or half
+an acre to each creature stabled. The result is proof that one cow
+discharges urine sufficient in five months to manure abundantly half an
+acre of land. Save the solid manure equally well, and a cow will make
+manure enough, in five or six months, to increase a crop sufficiently to
+pay for herself. It is certainly safe to say, that a careful man can
+make the manure of a cow pay for her body every year. Is not this an
+important branch of farming operations? Few pay sufficient attention to
+it. Fowls should roost where their droppings may be mixed with common
+garden soil or loam. The manure from each fowl, carefully saved and
+judiciously applied, will pay for its body twice a year. The hogstye may
+be very productive of manure, one fourth better than that from the
+stable. Connected with your hogpen, have a yard fifteen feet square for
+every five hogs; let that yard have no floor. Throw the straw out of
+their sleeping-room frequently to make room for new; throw into the
+yard, also, all sorts of weeds, refuse vegetables, corn-husks, peapods,
+&c.; also the dirt that will naturally accumulate in the backyard of a
+dwelling, including sawdust, fine chips, cleanings of cellars, scrapings
+of ditches, and occasionally a load of loam, muck, or clay--and six
+loads of manure to each hog may be made, that will prove far better than
+any stable manure; it has been known to produce fifty bushels of corn to
+the acre, when stable-manure produced but forty bushels. Old wood,
+brush, and chips, should never be allowed to remain on uncultivated,
+useless land. Wood throws out the same amount of heat in decaying as it
+does when consumed as fuel. The action of that heat on the soil is
+highly beneficial, retaining it long in a mellow state: hence, all wood,
+too old to be of value for any other purpose, should be put in heaps,
+covered up till decomposed, and then applied to the soil, as other
+manures. For potatoes or vines, but especially melons, it is preferable
+to any other manure. Nothing is so good for muskmelons as old chips
+from the woodyard. Leaves of fruit and forest trees are also very good;
+blood and offal of animals, hair, hoofs, bones, horns, refuse feathers,
+woollen rags, mud from sewers, rivers, roads, swamps, or ponds, turf,
+ashes, old brine, soapsuds, all kinds of fish, oyster and clam
+shells--all are valuable, and no part of them should ever be thrown away
+or wasted; they are all good in compost heaps, or applied directly to
+the soil. Bones are best ground, but may be used whole, pounded, or
+chemically dissolved, or mixed with alternate layers of fresh
+horse-manure, they will be decomposed by the fermentation of the manure
+(see "Bones"). Perhaps there is as much imprudence in wasting manures as
+in any part of American domestic economy. One who leaves his stock
+without care, and so exposed to the weather as to lose half of them and
+injure the others, is not fit to be a farmer; yet, many waste manure
+that would produce plants for man and beast, of far more value than the
+loss of stock complained of, and yet no one notices it--it is a matter
+of course, exciting no surprise. Wastefulness in a family, if it be of
+bread, flour, or meat, is considered wicked and impoverishing; while ten
+times that amount may be wasted in manures, that would enrich the soil,
+and excite little or no disapprobation. We hope the agricultural
+periodicals will keep this subject before the people, until these mines
+of wealth will no longer be neglected or wasted.
+
+_Application of Manures_ is a subject that has been much discussed, and
+respecting which, intelligent agriculturists differ materially. Some
+apply them extensively as a top-dressing for grass lands. This does much
+good, but probably one half of their virtues is lost by washing rains,
+and by evaporation. A better way is not to keep land down in grass long
+at a time, and, when under the plow, manure thoroughly. We knew a piece
+of light land that annually produced half a ton of hay per acre. The
+owner plowed it up, raised a crop, put a moderate quantity of
+stable-manure, and ten loads of leached ashes to the acre. We saw it in
+haying time, the third season after it had been manured and subsoiled
+and seeded down, and they were then taking fully three tons of timothy
+hay from an acre, which was the quantity it had yielded three years in
+succession, without any top-dressing. If a top-dressing of manure is to
+be applied, harrow the land quite thoroughly, and always apply the
+manure in the fall--it is worth twice as much as when applied in the
+spring. The rains and snows of winter cause it to sink into the soil,
+while the heat of spring and summer evaporate it. A mixture of plaster,
+lime, ashes, and a very little salt, sowed on meadows, immediately after
+haying, secures a good growth of feed, much sooner than it will come on
+other meadows. It also increases, quite considerably, the hay crop of
+the following season. It is a universal rule not to allow manure to lie
+long on the surface to which it is applied, before plowing in. Place
+manure in heaps, as large as will be convenient for spreading, and
+spread it just before the plow. Never spread manure one day to be plowed
+in the next. When manuring in the hill, have the planters follow the
+manure-cart. In manuring potatoes in the hill, drop the potatoes, and
+put the manure on them and cover at once. In a dry season, the yield
+will be double that of those planted in the usual way. For fall grains,
+plow in the manure, just before sowing the seed. This is better than
+plowing it in under the sod. If the land be not sod land, and you can
+plow the manure in only deep enough to cover it, and then, just before
+sowing the seed, plow again very deep, the effect is excellent. Apply
+manure to land in the fall, or just after harvest, and plow it in, let
+the land remain till spring, and then plow deep, and you get the best
+possible effect. On an onion crop, manure does the most good on the
+surface. On those raised from sets, or on any onions, after they get
+large enough to give room, put fine manure enough to keep down all
+weeds, and it will double the crop.
+
+Gypsum is better sowed than in any other way. Mixed with a little lime
+and salt, or wood-ashes and salt, the effect on corn is better than from
+either alone. To hoed crops apply these articles twice, and always by
+sowing, and not by putting it around or upon the hills; the effect is
+much greater sowed, besides the labor that is saved. In applying guano,
+do not allow it to come in contact with the plants, as it is apt to
+destroy them.
+
+It only remains to consider the principles on which manure acts upon
+soils, and produces growth in plants. The action of manure on the soil,
+by which it is enabled to retain and appropriate moisture, constitutes
+its main, if not its whole benefit. It may afford a stimulus to the
+roots of plants. Even the specific manures, that are supposed to supply
+organic matter to particular plants, may impart their benefits by their
+action upon the air and water. Facts are certainly at hand to show that
+the great and leading benefits of manures are in their control of
+moisture, and where that control is not needed, plants get a great
+growth on what we call poor soil. No manures, either fossil or
+putrescent, afford any considerable food for plants. Vegetation
+receives its growth mainly from water and from the atmosphere. Facts in
+support of this theory are abundant.
+
+A trial was made to ascertain whence comes the matter of which a tree is
+composed. A quantity of kiln-dried earth was weighed and then put into a
+tight vessel. A willow shrub was also weighed and planted in that earth,
+and the vessel covered with perforated tin to keep out the dust; for a
+year and a half it was supplied only with pure water. The tree was then
+taken out, and found, by weight, to have gained one hundred and sixty
+pounds. The earth was then kiln-dried, as before, and weighed, and its
+weight was found to be only two ounces less than it was a year and a
+half before, when it was deposited there. The tree, then, must have
+received its growth, not from the soil, but from the water or the
+atmosphere, or both.
+
+Another fact: take a load of manure, dry it thoroughly, and weigh it.
+Then moisten it and apply it to the soil, and it will increase the
+weight of vegetation from ten to thirty or forty times its own weight
+when dry, and yet most of that manure may still be found in the soil.
+Hence it can only feed plants in a very limited degree. Its action must
+be on air and water, or the control it gives the soil over those
+elements.
+
+It is also matter of common observation that soil well manured, will
+continue moist for a long time after similar land by its side, but which
+has not been manured, is dried up. Hard coarse soils dry up very
+quickly, while soft, mellow, and friable ones will endure a long
+drought. The gases and moisture generated by the decomposition of
+manures produce this mellow state. Hence the necessity of having that
+decomposition take place under the soil, or of plowing in the manure.
+
+Another important fact bearing on this question is, that what are
+regarded very poor soils, such as light sandy or gravelly land, will
+produce good crops in a season remarkable for the frequency of showers.
+On such soils crops are from twice to four times as large, in a wet
+season as in a dry, and yet there is an addition of nothing but
+moisture, and in such a manner, as not to have it stand and become
+stagnant among the roots of the plants.
+
+Yet another evidence is in the strength of clay soils. A hard clay is
+very unproductive. But so disintegrated that plants can grow in it, it
+produces a great crop. This is because clay is of so close a texture,
+that when mixed with manure, turf, sand, or muck, although friable, it
+retains more moisture, than sand or ordinary loam. This is the reason of
+the superior fertility of land annually overflowed with water, as Egypt
+in the vicinity of the Nile. It is not that the Nile brings down
+deposites from the mountains of the Moon, so rich above all that is in
+the valleys below. The entire weight of all that a river deposites on
+ten acres would not equal in weight the increased vegetation of a single
+acre. The cause of the increased fertility is the fact that the deposite
+is so fine that it prevents rapid evaporation, and thus causes the soil
+to retain moisture for the large growth, and maturity of the plants.
+
+One more evidence is found on our sandy pine plains. Our common
+forest-trees, as beech, maple, elm, or linden, will not flourish there.
+Such land will produce comparatively no corn, oats, or wheat. But rye
+that stands drought better than any other grain, grows tolerably well.
+But such plains always produce an enormous growth of pine timber, hardly
+equalled in the number of cords to the acre, by the heaviest-timbered
+land of the river bottoms. Why is this? Does a maple need so much more
+food than a pine, or is it in the habits of the trees? It is not in the
+richness or poverty of the soil, but in the adaptation of the trees to
+reach and appropriate moisture. The roots of the maple and beech, spread
+out near the surface of the ground. And it being a light, porous, sandy
+soil, it does not retain moisture enough to promote their growth. But
+whoever notices a pine-tree that has been turned up from the roots by
+the wind, will see that the roots run down almost perpendicularly ten or
+fifteen feet into the sand. There they find plenty of moisture and hence
+their great growth. This principle explains the comparative
+productiveness of all soils.
+
+A soil composed of light muck, or a kind of peet-soil, will dry up soon.
+There is nothing to prevent rapid evaporation; hence it is always
+unproductive, for want of suitable moisture. Mix with it clay, to render
+its texture more firm, and it will retain the moisture, and be very
+productive. Clay alone is too solid to retain moisture; it runs off, as
+from a brick. Mix sand with it, and it becomes mellow, and retains
+moisture, and produces great growth. Sand allows so free and rapid an
+evaporation that it is unproductive. We say it leaches and is hungry,
+and so it is, because it has little power to retain water. Our manures
+do it good, only as they are calculated to aid it in controlling
+moisture. If we apply a light manure as we would to clay, it is
+comparatively useless; it adds no firmness to the texture of the soil,
+and hence does not increase its capacity for controlling water. On such
+land, the only good that manure does, is while decomposition is taking
+place in the soil, it renders it more moist, and hence more productive.
+Apply clay to such a soil, and it will increase its firmness and
+consequent capacity of retaining and appropriating moisture, and thus
+render it highly valuable. Dry straw manure is sometimes said to dry up
+land, and ruin crops. So of turf in a dry season. In a wet season they
+greatly increase the growth of crops. Now they contain just as much food
+for plants in one season as another. Hence a soil too easily impervious
+to the atmosphere, will be a poor soil, that is, will produce poorly,
+simply because it has no power to retain the necessary moisture.
+
+We suppose these facts and reasons to establish our theory, that the
+principal benefit of manures, and of mixing different soils, is in the
+control they give over the moisture and the atmosphere. Hence the
+greatly increased crop of clover from the application of three quarters
+of a bushel of plaster to an acre. The increased weight of clover on
+five square rods, would outweigh the plaster applied, and still that
+plaster remains, in almost its full weight, on the soil. This principle
+explains the benefit of mulching trees, plants, or vegetables. This is
+the best means of preserving trees, the first year after transplanting,
+and of securing a great growth, of any kind of shrubs or plants. This
+may be done with common straw or leaves. Now wherein is their utility?
+Not in the nourishment they afford the plants, but in the fact that
+mulching so covers the surface as to prevent rapid evaporation. In such
+cases, it is the more abundant moisture that secures the greater
+growth.
+
+Hence the first study of a soil culturist should be to ascertain how he
+shall so mix and manage the materials at his command, as to cause them
+to retain moisture for the longest time, without leaving water to stand
+about the roots of his plants. On this depends the whole importance of
+deep plowing and ditching. On this theory we may also account for the
+fact that certain plants prefer a certain kind of manure to all others.
+It is that those plants act in a certain manner on the soil requiring a
+specific action of manure to enable it to appropriate moisture and tax
+the atmosphere for their growth. This theory explains why too much
+manure is bad. Not because we give too much food to plants, but because
+excess of manure dries up the land. But whatever theory we adopt, we all
+agree in the utility of fertilizers. And the experience of practical
+farmers is of more value in aiding us to reach right conclusions, than
+all chemical essays on the subject that have ever been written.
+
+
+MARL.
+
+This is one of the best distributed and most universal fertilizers. Marl
+proper contains nearly equal proportions of clay and lime. Sand-marl is
+spoken of, in which sand and lime are the main ingredients. Clay-marls
+are to be applied to sandy and gravelly soils, and sand-marls to clayey
+soils. Shell-marls are very valuable, and seldom contain clay. Marls may
+easily be known, even by those not at all acquainted with chemistry.
+Apply any mineral acid, or even very strong vinegar, and if it be a
+marl, an effervescence will at once be observed: this effect is
+produced by acid upon lime.
+
+
+MARJORUM.
+
+There are two varieties in cultivation--the _sweet_, an annual herb; and
+the _winter_, a hardy perennial. They are grown and used as summer
+savory--used green, or dried for winter. They give a sweet, aromatic
+flavor to soups, stews, and dressings. The cultivation is, in all
+respects, like other garden-herbs of the kind, whether for medicinal or
+culinary purposes.
+
+
+MELONS.
+
+There are two species--musk and water melons--which are subdivided into
+many varieties of each. These are among the most delicious of all the
+products of the garden. A little use makes all persons very fond of
+them. The climate of the Middle and Southern states is well adapted to
+raising melons; much better than the same latitudes in Europe. The
+following brief directions will insure success in their cultivation. A
+light, rich soil is always desirable. There should always be a little
+sand in the composition of soil for melons. If not there naturally,
+supply it; it will always pay. The warm sands of Long Island and New
+Jersey are the best possible for melons, especially for water-melons. It
+may be well to trench deep for the hills, and mix in a little
+well-rotted manure, and cover it with fine mould. A quantity of manure,
+left in bulk under the hills, will dry them up at the worst possible
+time. When you plant only a few in a garden, mulch your musk-melons with
+chips or sawdust from the wood-yard, or leaves and decayed wood from
+the forest, and you will get a great growth. They will grow luxuriantly
+in a pile of chips, with a little soil, in a door-yard, where hardly any
+other plant would flourish. The water-melon does best in almost pure
+sand, if it be enriched with liquid or some other of the finer manures.
+Plant musk-melons six feet apart, and water-melons nine feet each way.
+When the plants become established, never leave more than two or three
+in a hill. The product will be greatly increased in number and size, by
+picking off the end bud of the first runners when they show their
+blossom-buds; this causes them to throw out many strong lateral vines,
+which will produce abundantly. The attacks of striped bugs, so well
+known as the enemies of vines, and also of the black fleas, or hoppers
+(very minute, but quite destructive to tender vines when first up), may
+be prevented (says Downing) by sprinkling near the plants a little
+guano. As but a small portion of cultivators will have it, or can obtain
+it, we recommend to put many seeds in a hill, to provide for the
+depredations of the bugs, and sprinkle offensive articles around them.
+These will not always be effectual. We have recommended elsewhere to
+fence each hill, as the most effectual method. A box, with gauze or a
+pane of glass over the top, is a certain remedy in every case; it also
+greatly promotes the growth of the young vines. This is equally
+effectual against the cutworm and all other insects; and, as the boxes
+will last a dozen years or so, we should use them if we had ten acres of
+melons. But by early and late planting, and watchfulness, and
+replanting, you will succeed without protection. An excessive quantity
+of stable-manure does not increase the growth, especially of
+water-melons. Plaster, bonedust, and ashes, are good applications;
+hog-manure is the best of all. The seeds should be soaked two days, and
+planted an inch deep on broad hills, raised in the centre four inches
+above the level of the bed, that water may not stand around them;
+planted low, they sometimes perish in a few hours in a hot sun, after a
+rain. Hoe them often, but never when they are wet, and never hoe near
+them after they have commenced running; the roots spread, about as much
+as the vines, and hoeing deep near them cuts off the roots, and
+materially injures them. Many a promising plat of melons has been ruined
+by stirring the soil when they were wet, and hoeing around them after
+they had begun to run. In walking among melons, great harm is done by
+stepping on the ends of vines. No one should be allowed among melons but
+the one who hoes or picks them. Many are lost by drought, after great
+care. We have often used an effectual remedy; it consists in turning up
+the vines, if they have begun to run before the drought, and putting
+around each hill from a peck to half a bushel of wet, well rotted
+manure; that from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; and hoe
+from a distance between the hills, and cover the manure an inch or two
+deep with fine mould, lay down the vines, and saturate the hill with
+water, and they will hardly get dry again during the season. A little
+judicious watering will give you a great crop in the most severe
+drought.
+
+_Varieties of the Musk-melon._--These are numerous, and the nomenclature
+uncertain. The London Horticultural Society's catalogue enumerates
+seventy. Most of them are of no use to any one. Two or three of the best
+are sufficient. There are three general classes of musk-melons--the
+_green-fleshed_, as the citron and nutmeg; _yellow-fleshed_, as the
+cantelope, or long yellow; and _Persian melon_. The last is the finest
+of all, but is too tender for general cultivation with us, requiring
+much care and very warm seasons. The yellow-fleshed are very large, but
+much inferior in quality to either of the others. The green-fleshed are
+_the_ musk-melons for this whole country. The nutmeg has long been
+celebrated; but, it being much smaller than the citron, and in no way
+superior in quality, we think the latter the best for all American
+gardens.
+
+The following are enumerated in "White's Gardening for the South," as
+adapted to the latitude of the Southern states: _Christiana_,
+_Beechwood_, _Hoosainee_, _Sweet Ispahan_, _Pineapple_, _Cassabar_,
+_Netted Citron_, and _Rock_. These are doubtless all fine, and would do
+well at the North, with suitable care and protection. Downing's
+catalogue is nearly the same, with a very few additions.
+
+_Varieties of Water-melons_--are also numerous, and names uncertain. The
+best varieties, however, are well known. The most choice are the
+following: _Imperial_, _Carolina_, _Black Spanish_, _Mountain-Sprout_,
+_Mountain-Sweet_, _Apple-seeded_, and _Ice-cream_. The following
+excellent water-melons all originated in South Carolina: _Souter_;
+_Clarendon_, or _dark-speckled_; _Bradford_, very dark-green, with
+stripes mottled and streaked with green; _Ravenscroft_, and _Odell's
+large white_. There is a fine little melon, called the orange-melon,
+because the flesh and skin separate like an orange. These varieties will
+all do well with care. To preserve any one of them, it must be grown at
+some distance from other varieties. All water-melons should be far
+removed from citrons, which resemble them, raised only for preserving.
+They always ruin the next generation of water-melons. Different
+varieties of musk-melons planted together produce hybrids, partaking of
+the qualities of both, and are often very fine. We raised a cross
+between the yellow-fleshed cantelope and the nutmeg, which was
+excellent.
+
+Seeds of most vines are better for being two or three years old, as they
+produce less vines, but more fruit. Melons are a luxury that should grow
+in every garden, and the state should enact severe laws against stealing
+them, making the punishment no less than fine and imprisonment.
+
+
+MILLET.
+
+This is a species of grain, partaking much of the nature of a large
+grass. Sowed thin, it produces a good yield. The seed is excellent for
+fowls. Ground, it is good for keeping or fattening all domestic animals.
+It is about equal to Indian corn for bread. Cut while green, but when
+nearly ripe, it is a good substitute for hay, producing a much larger
+quantity per acre. All animals prefer millet, cut in the milk, to hay.
+It is a less profitable crop for grain, on account of the irregularity
+of its ripening, and its extreme liability to shell, when dry. It must
+be cut as soon as the seed begins to harden. It also attracts swarms of
+birds, which are exceedingly fond of the seed. About three tons per acre
+is an average crop on tolerably good land. From one to three pecks of
+seed to the acre are sown broadcast. When sown in drills and cultivated,
+it grows very large, and requires only four quarts of seed per acre. It
+will make good fodder sown at any time from April to July. Its more
+extensive cultivation for fodder is recommended.
+
+
+MINT.
+
+This genus of plants comprises twenty-four species. Those usually
+cultivated in gardens are three, _Peppermint_, _Spearmint_, and
+_Pennyroyal mint_. All mints are propagated by the same methods. Parting
+the roots, offset young plants, and cuttings from the stalks. Spearmint
+and peppermint like a moist and even wet soil. Pennyroyal does better in
+a rich loam. Plants come into use the same season they are set. Set the
+plants eight inches apart, and on beds four feet wide, leaving a path
+two feet between them. In field culture, for the oils and essences,
+place them two feet apart, for the convenience of going between the rows
+with a horse. Thus cultivation becomes easy. They should be cut in full
+blossom, and dried in small bunches in the shade, but better by
+artificial heat, like hops. They should be cut when dry. For domestic
+uses, dry quickly, and pulverize, and put away in tight glass bottles.
+They will retain all their strength, keep free from dust, and always be
+ready for use. The same is true of all the herbs for domestic use. As a
+field crop, mints are profitable.
+
+
+MULBERRY.
+
+There are three varieties cultivated in this country. We place them in
+the order of their qualities:--
+
+1. _The Johnson._--A new variety, thus described by Kirtland: "Fruit
+very large; oblong cylindric; blackish, subacid, and of mild and
+agreeable flavor. Growth of wood strong."
+
+2. _The Black Mulberry._--An Asiatic variety, rather tender for the
+North, though it succeeds tolerably well in some parts of New England.
+Fruit large and delicious; tree low and spreading. Easily cultivated on
+almost any soil. Propagated by seeds, layers, cuttings, or roots.
+
+3. _The Red Mulberry._--A native of this country. Fruit small and
+pleasant, but inferior to the two preceding.
+
+
+MULCHING.
+
+This is placing around plants or trees, coarse manure or litter of any
+kind, to keep down weeds, and prevent too rapid evaporation of moisture.
+All straw, corn stalks, old weeds or stubble, forest leaves, seaweeds,
+old wood, sawdust, old tanbark, chips, &c., are good for mulching. Any
+tree taken up and planted with reasonable care, and well mulched and
+watered, will live. One of fifty need not die. Cover the loose earth
+deep enough to prevent the springing of weeds. Put a little earth on the
+outer edge of the manure, leaving it dishing about the tree. Fill that
+occasionally with water, and you will get a good growth, even in a dry
+season.
+
+Plant gooseberries or currants, and mulch the whole ground between the
+bushes, and give them no other cultivation, and the berries will grow
+nearly twice as large as the same varieties standing neglected, to grow
+up to weeds, in the usual way. Mulching with clean, dry straw, or with
+charcoal, is a preventive of mildew. It is the easiest method of taking
+care of strawberries after they are in blossom; the vines will bear much
+more and finer fruit, and it will be clean and neat. Mulching vines is a
+great means of insuring a crop. Every crop that can be mulched will be
+greatly benefited by it; hence, all the straw and litter that can be
+saved is money in the pocket; for mulching alone, it is worth five times
+as much as it can be sold for. Burning or in any way destroying cobs,
+cornstalks, stubble, old straw, or decaying wood, is extravagant
+wastefulness.
+
+
+MUSHROOMS
+
+Are vegetables growing up in old pastures, or on land mulched and the
+straw partly covered with soil. They are also cultivated in beds for the
+purpose. Picked at the right stage, they are a fine article of diet,
+almost equalling oysters. The use of the wild ones, however, is attended
+with some danger, for the want of knowledge of the varieties, or of the
+difference between the genuine mushroom, and the toadstools that so much
+resemble them.
+
+Persons have been poisoned unto death by eating toadstools instead of
+mushrooms. When of middle size, mushrooms are distinguished by the fine
+pink or flesh color of their gills, and by their pleasant smell. In a
+more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate color; they are
+then apt to be confounded with injurious kinds. The toadstool that most
+resembles the true mushroom is slimy to the touch, and rather
+disagreeable to the smell. The noxious kind grows in the borders of
+woods, while the mushroom only grows in the open field. It is better,
+however, not to eat them unless gathered by a practised hand, so as to
+be sure of no mistake. With the help of one accustomed to gathering
+them, you will learn in a few moments, so as to be accurate and safe.
+
+_Mushroom Beds._--Prepare a bed in the corner of the hothouse, or, in
+the absence of that, in a warm, dry cellar. The first of October is the
+best time. Make the bed four feet wide, and as long as you require. It
+should be one foot high perpendicularly at the edges, and sloping toward
+the middle; it should be of horse-manure, well forked, and put in
+compact and even, so as to settle all alike. Cover it with long straw,
+to preserve heat and the exhalations that would rise. At the end of ten
+days, the heat will be such as to allow you to remove the straw, and put
+an inch of good mould over the top of the bed. On this put the spawn or
+seed of the mushroom, in rows of six inches apart. The spawn are white
+fibres, found in old pastures, where mushrooms grow, or in old spent
+hotbeds, and sometimes under old stable floors. The warmth of the bed
+will produce mushrooms plentifully for a considerable time. If the
+production diminishes and nearly ceases, it may be renewed by removing
+the mould, and putting on good horse-manure to the depth of twelve
+inches, and covering and planting as before, and the production will be
+plentiful for a number of weeks.
+
+
+MUSTARD.
+
+There are two kinds cultivated, the black and the white, annuals, and
+natives of Great Britain. The white mustard is cultivated in this
+country principally for greens, and sometimes for a small salad like the
+cress. It may be sown at any time from opening of spring to the
+beginning of autumn. But sown in hot weather, the bed must be shaded.
+The Spaniards prefer the white mustard for grinding for table use,
+because of its mildness and its whiter flour. White mustard-seed, being
+much larger than the black, is preferred for mangoes, and all pickling
+purposes.
+
+Black mustard is cultivated principally in the field, for the mills. It
+is there ground, and makes the well known condiment found on most
+tables.
+
+Sow in March or April, broadcast on land tolerably free from weeds, and
+if you get it too thick, hoe up a part. In July or August, you may get a
+good crop. Cradle it as wheat, before ripe enough to shell.
+
+Mustard used in various ways is medicinal. It is one of the safest and
+most speedy emetics. Stir up a table-spoonful of the flour and drink it.
+Follow it with repeated draughts of warm water, and in half an hour, you
+will have gone through all the stages of a thorough emetic, without
+having been weakened by it.
+
+
+NASTURTIUM.
+
+This annual plant, found in most gardens, is too well known to need
+description. Were it not so common, its flowers, that appear in great
+profusion, from early summer till destroyed by frost, would be regarded
+very beautiful. Its main use is for pickles. Its green berries are
+nearly equal to capers for that purpose. It grows well on any good
+garden soil; bears more berries on less vines, planted on land not too
+rich. Single vines four feet apart, on rich land, do best.
+
+
+NECTARINE.
+
+This is only a fine variety of the peach, having a smooth skin. Downing
+gives instances of its return to the peach, and others of the production
+of nectarines and peaches on the same limb. The appearance of the tree
+is hardly distinguishable from the peach. It is one of the most
+beautiful of dessert fruits: it has no down on the skin, being entirely
+smooth and beautiful, like waxwork. Its smooth skin exposes it to the
+ravages of the curculio. It is longer-lived on plum-stocks, but is more
+generally budded on the peach. It is usually productive wherever peaches
+flourish, if not destroyed by the curculio. It is even more important
+than in the peach to head-in the trees often, to produce good large
+fruit.
+
+_Varieties_--are divided into freestone and clingstone, with quite a
+number in each class. We give only a few of those most esteemed.
+
+_Boston._--Freestone, American seedling; hardy and productive; color
+deep-yellow, with a bright-red cheek. Time, September 1st.
+
+_Due du Telliers._--Freestone, pale-green, with a marbled reddish cheek;
+flesh whitish, inclining to green; very fine; a great bearer of rather
+large fruit. Time, last of August.
+
+_Hunt's Tawny._--Very fine and early; a great bearer; tree hardy; color,
+pale-orange, with a dark-red cheek, with many russety specks. Time,
+forepart of August.
+
+_Pitmaston Orange._--A fine yellow nectarine, maturing the last of
+August.
+
+_The Early Violet_--is an old French variety, everywhere esteemed; it
+has sixteen synonyms; fruit high-flavored. Time, last of August.
+
+_Newington._--A good clingstone; an English variety that has long been
+cultivated; it has many synonyms; the color dark-red when exposed. Time,
+10th of September.
+
+_Newington Early_--Is one of the best, earlier, larger, and better, than
+the preceding; ripens first of September. The same varieties are
+excellent for the South, where they ripen considerably earlier. The
+following selection of choice, hardy nectarines for a small garden, is
+from Downing:--
+
+Early Violet, Elruge, Hardwicke Seedling, Hunt's Tawny, Boston, Roman,
+and New White.
+
+
+NEW FRUITS.
+
+That these are constantly appearing, is a matter of common observation;
+but the manner of their production has given rise to much diversity of
+opinion. The theory that they are the results of replanting, from the
+seeds of successive generations of the same tree, is called the Van
+Mons' theory, after Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium, who devoted many years of
+close study and application to the improvement of fruit, especially of
+pears, by this method. His directions may be briefly summed up as
+follows. Plant seeds from any good variety of fruit; let those seedlings
+stand without grafting, until they bear. Take the first fruit from the
+best of those seedlings, and plant it and produce other seedlings, and
+so on. The peach and plum are said to reach a high state of excellence
+in the third generation, while the pear requires the fifth. Seeds from
+old trees are said to have a great tendency to return to their wild
+origin, while those of young, improving trees will more generally
+produce a better fruit. The seeds from a graft from a young tree does
+not produce a better than itself. The succession must be of seedlings.
+This theory requires long practice, and is exposed to interruptions by
+the crosses that will necessarily occur between different trees in
+blossom. And we have in so many cases had a fruit of great perfection
+arise from a single planting of seed from some known variety, that we
+must conclude the improvement to be produced by some other principle
+than that of the Van Mons' theory. The evidence is in favor of the
+opinion that new varieties of fruit arise from cross-fertilization in
+the blossoms of different kinds, and that the improvement of the
+qualities of any given variety is the result of cultivation. Some of the
+best plums we have are known to have been the product of fertilizing the
+blossoms of one tree from the pollen of another; this is constantly
+taking place with our fruits, and is consequent upon our mixed orchards.
+Let this be attended to artificially, by covering branches with gauze,
+to prevent the fertilization by bees and winds, and make the cross
+between any two varieties you choose, and the results may prove highly
+beneficial. The amateur cultivator may render essential service to
+pomology by this practice. We know that all our choice fruits have come
+from those not fit for use. It is not improved cultivation of the old,
+barely, but the production of new varieties. The subject of further
+improvement, therefore, demands careful study and practice. The seeds of
+established varieties, planted at once without drying, will often
+reproduce the same. We are not certain but they generally would, if not
+affected by blossoms of contiguous trees.
+
+
+NURSERY.
+
+Of this subject we can only give the general outlines. This department
+of soil-culture is so distinct, that the few who engage in it as a
+business are expected to make it an especial study. In a work like this,
+it is only desirable to give those general principles that will enable
+the cultivator of the soil to raise such trees as he may desire on his
+own premises. These directions may be considered reliable, and, as far
+as they go, are applicable to all nurseries.
+
+_Location._--This is the first point demanding attention. If a piece of
+land containing a variety of soils can be selected, it will prove
+beneficial, as different trees require different soils for their
+greatest perfection. A situation through which a rivulet may run, or in
+which a pond may be constructed, fed by a spring or hydrant, is of great
+value for watering. The situation of the nursery, as it respects shade
+or exposure, is also important. Trees should generally be as much
+exposed to the elements, in the nursery, as they will be when
+transplanted in the orchard. Trees removed from shaded situations to the
+open field will be stinted in growth for some time, and may be
+permanently injured. Never allow your nursery to be shaded by large
+trees. Bearing trees, designed to show the quality of your fruit, should
+occupy a place by themselves.
+
+_Soil._--A theory that has had many adherents is that trees raised on
+poorer and harder land than that they will occupy in the orchard, will
+grow more vigorously, and do better, than those transplanted from better
+to worse soil. Thus, trees have often been preferred from high, hard
+hills, to transplant in good loam or alluvium. On the same principle, a
+calf or colt should be more healthy, and make a better creature, for
+having been nearly starved for the first year or two. Neither of these
+is true. Give fruit-trees as great a growth as possible while young,
+without producing too tender and spongy wood for cold winters. It is
+only desirable to check the early growth of fruit-trees on the rich
+prairies of the West, and that should be done, not by the poverty of the
+soil, but by root-pruning or heading-in; this prevents a spongy, tender
+growth, that is apt to be injured by their trying winds. Trees that are
+brought from a colder to a warmer region, always do better.
+
+_Preparation of the Soil._--It should be made quite rich with
+stable-manure, lime, and wood-ashes, and cultivated in a root-crop the
+previous year--any roots except potatoes. Those left in the ground will
+come up so early and vigorous in the spring, that you can not eradicate
+them without destroying many of your young seedlings. The land should be
+worked very deep by subsoiling, or better with double-plowing, by which
+the manure and top-soil are put in the bottom. As manure always works
+up, the effect will be excellent. Buckwheat is good to precede a
+nursery; it shades the ground so densely as to protect it from the
+scorching sun, and effectually destroy all weeds. Trees planted on land
+prepared by double-plowing (see our article on "Plowing") will make one
+third greater growth, in a given time, than those on land prepared in
+the ordinary way. In double-plowing, if the subsoil be very poor, it
+will be necessary to give a top-dressing of well-rotted manure, worked
+in with a cultivator. Thorough draining is also very essential to a
+nursery.
+
+_Time of Planting._--The general practice is to plant in the fall, at
+any time before the ground freezes. The better way is to keep seeds in
+moist sand, or dry and spread thin, until spring, and plant as early as
+the ground will allow. Freezing apple-seeds is of no use. Hard-shelled
+seeds had better be frozen, to open the stones and give them an
+opportunity to germinate. The advantage of spring-planting is, the
+ground can be put in much better condition, and the seeds will start
+quite as early as the weeds, and much labor may be saved in tending.
+
+_Method of Planting._--Plant with a drill that will run about an inch
+deep, putting the seeds in straight rows, not more than an inch wide,
+and two and a half feet apart; this will allow the use of a small horse
+and cultivator, which will destroy nearly all the weeds. Use a
+potato-fork or hoe, across the rows, among the seedlings, and very
+little weeding will be necessary. It is not more than one fourth of the
+ordinary work to keep a nursery clean in this way. Two thirds of those
+thus planted and cultivated will be large enough for root-grafting the
+first season, and for cleft-grafting the second. When your seedlings are
+six inches high, if you thoroughly mulch them with fine straw or manure,
+you will be troubled with no more weeds, and your trees will get a
+strong growth.
+
+For root-grafting, pull up those of suitable size very late in the fall,
+cut off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in boxes, in moist
+sand, and keep in a cellar that does not freeze; graft in winter, and
+repack them in the boxes with moist sand, sawdust, or moss, and keep
+them until time to transplant in spring. They should not be wet, but
+only slightly moist. In the spring, plant them in rows three feet apart,
+and ten inches in the row. The second year, if they are not wanted in
+market, they should be taken up and reset, in rows four feet apart, and
+two feet in the row. Cut off the ends of large roots, to encourage the
+growth of numerous fibrous roots. Large nursery-trees, that have not
+been transplanted, are of little value for the orchard, being nearly
+destitute of fibrous roots. But large trees, even of bearing size, when
+transplanted in the orchard, do quite as well as small ones, provided
+they have been several times transplanted in the nursery. This produces
+many fibrous roots, upon which the health and life of the tree depend.
+
+In many regions, great care must be taken to prevent destruction of
+young trees by snow-drifts. This is done by selecting locations, and by
+constructing or removing fences, to allow the snow to blow off; treading
+it down as it falls is also very useful, both in protecting the trees
+from breaking down by the settling of drifts in a thaw, and from the
+depredations of mice under the snow.
+
+Trees should be taken up from the nursery with the least possible injury
+to the roots. Do not leave them exposed to the air for an hour, not even
+in a cloudy day. It is an easy matter to cover the roots with mats,
+straw, or earth. Protect also from frosts; many trees are ruined by
+exposure to air and frost, of which the nurseryman is very careful in
+all other respects. For transportation, they should be closely packed in
+moist straw, and wound in straw or mats, firmly tied and kept moist.
+Trees, cared for and packed in this way, may be transported thousands of
+miles, and kept for two months, without injury.
+
+
+NUTS.
+
+More attention to the cultivation of nuts, would add materially to our
+domestic luxuries. There are so many nuts in market, that are the
+spontaneous productions of other countries, or raised where labor is
+cheap, that we can not afford to raise them as an article of commerce.
+But a few trees of the various kinds, would be a great addition to every
+country residence. We could always be certain that our nuts were fresh
+and good. A small piece of ground devoted to nuts, and occupied by
+fowls, would be pleasant and profitable. English walnuts do well here.
+We have varieties of hickory nuts, native in this country, which, to our
+taste, are not surpassed by any other. Chestnuts are easily grown here
+(see our directions elsewhere in this volume). Butternuts, filberts,
+peanuts (growing in the ground like potatoes), and even our little
+forest beechnuts, are easily raised.
+
+The dwarf chestnut of the Middle and Southern states is decidedly
+ornamental in a fruit garden. Its qualities are in all respects like the
+common chestnut, only the fruit is but half the size, and the tree grows
+from five to ten feet high. In all our landscape gardens, and in all
+places where we retain forest trees for ornamental purposes, it is
+better to cultivate trees that will bear good nuts. The varieties of
+nut-bearing trees, interspersed with evergreens, make a beautiful
+appearance.
+
+
+OAKS.
+
+Raising oak-timber, on a large scale, will soon be demanded in this
+country. In some sections we have immense quantities of native oaks; but
+they are fast disappearing, and the present expense of transporting the
+timber, to places where it is needed, is much greater than would be the
+cost of raising it. A million of acres of oaks ought to be planted
+within the next five years. A crop of white oak, of only twenty-five
+years' growth, would be very valuable; and twenty-five or fifty acres,
+of forty years' growth, would be worth a handsome fortune, especially in
+the West. On all the bluffs in the West they grow well, and on the
+prairies they will do even better, after they have been cultivated a few
+years. The application of a little common salt on rich alluvial soils,
+is a great advantage in growing timber.
+
+Preserve acorns in moist sand during winter, and plant in the spring, in
+rows six feet apart, to give opportunity for other crops among them for
+a year or two, to encourage good cultivation. Plant a foot apart in the
+row, that, in thinning out, good straight trees may be left; at three or
+four years old, thin to four feet in the rows; afterward, only remove as
+appears absolutely necessary. Trim straight and smooth. The question of
+transplanting is important. Shall we plant thick, as in a nursery, and
+then transplant, or shall we plant where they are to grow? In
+fruit-trees, the object is to get a low, full, and spreading top, of
+horizontal branches, that will bear much fruit. This is eminently
+promoted by transplanting, root-pruning, and heading-in. But in raising
+timber, the object is to get trees of long, straight bodies, with the
+fewest possible low branches. Such are the native trees of the forest.
+This is best promoted by planting thick, never transplanting, and
+keeping all the lower limbs well trimmed off. These directions are for
+raising timber on good tillable land. Such groves may be good for
+pastures, and for poultry-yards, for a long time. Beside this, we have
+large areas of rough land, that will not soon be brought into
+cultivation for other purposes. Fine timber may be grown on such land,
+with no care but trimming.
+
+
+OATS.
+
+This is one of the great staple agricultural products of all regions,
+sufficiently moist and cool for their successful growth. Oatmeal makes
+the most wholesome bread ever eaten by man. For all horses, except those
+having the heaves, oats are the best grain; to such horses they should
+never be fed--corn, soaked or ground, is best. They are valuable for all
+domestic animals and fowls.
+
+_Varieties._--These are numerous. Those called side-oats yield the
+largest crops: but of these there are several varieties. The genuine
+_Siberian_ oats are tall, heavy, dark-colored side-oats, the most
+productive of any known. _Swedish_ oats, and other new varieties, are
+coming into notice; most of these are the Siberian, under other names,
+and perhaps slightly modified by location and culture. The barley-oats,
+Scotch oats, and those usually cultivated, will yield only about two
+thirds as much per acre as the true Siberian; the same difference is
+apparent in the growth of straw. Oats will produce something on poor
+land, with bad tillage, but repay thorough fertilization and tillage as
+well as most other crops. Enrich the land, work it deep and thoroughly,
+and roll after harrowing. Moist, cool situations are much preferable for
+oats: hence, success in warm climates depends upon very early sowing.
+Oats sowed as late as the first of July, in latitude forty-two and
+further north, will mature; yet, all late oats, even with large straw
+and handsome heads, will be found to be only from one half to two thirds
+filled in proportion to the lateness of sowing. The entire _profits_ of
+an oat-crop depend upon _early sowing_.
+
+Harvest as soon as the grain begins to harden, and the straw to turn
+yellow. Allowed to get quite ripe, they shell badly, and the straw
+becomes useless, except for manure. Cut with reaper or cradle, and bind:
+all grain so cut is more easily handled, thrashed, and fed. Mow no grain
+that is not so lodged down that a cradle or reaper can not be used. The
+straw of oats cut quite green is nearly as good as hay.
+
+
+OKRA.
+
+A valuable garden plant, easily propagated by seeds. It is excellent in
+cookery, as a sauce. Its ripe seeds, used as coffee, very much resemble
+the genuine article. The green pods are much used in the West Indies, in
+soups and pickles. Plant at the usual time of corn-planting, in rows
+four feet apart, two or three seeds in a place, eight inches apart in
+the row; leave but one in a place after they get a few inches high, and
+hoe as peas, and the crop will be abundant.
+
+
+OLIVES.
+
+These are natives of Asia, but have, beyond date, been extensively
+cultivated in Southern Europe. Olive-oil is an important article of
+commerce in most countries. Its use in all kinds of cookery, in
+countries where it flourishes, renders olives as important, to the mass
+of the people, as cows are in New England. It should be a staple product
+of the Southern states, to which it is eminently adapted. It is hardy
+further north than the orange. With protection, it may be cultivated,
+with the orange and lemon, all over the country. Olive-trees attain a
+greater age than any other fruit-tree. An Italian olive-plantation, near
+Terni, is believed to have stood since the days of Pliny. Once set out,
+the trees require very little attention, and they flourish well on the
+most rocky lands, that are utterly useless for any other purpose.
+Calcareous soils are most favorable to their growth. They are propagated
+by suckers, seeds, or by little eggs that grow on the main stalk, and
+are easily detached by a knife, and planted as potatoes or corn. Olives
+will bear at four or five years from the seed; they bear with great
+regularity, and yield fifteen or twenty pounds of oil per annum to each
+tree. There are several varieties. Plantations now growing at the South
+are very promising.
+
+
+ONIONS.
+
+Of this well-known garden vegetable there are quite a number of
+varieties.
+
+1. _The Large Red._--One of the most valuable.
+
+2. _The Yellow._--Large and profitable, keeping better than any other.
+
+3. _The Silver-skin._--The handsomest variety, excellent for pickling,
+brings the highest price of all, but is not quite so good a keeper as
+the red or yellow, and does not yield as well.
+
+4. _The White Portugal._--A larger white onion, often taken for the true
+silver-skin. It is a good variety. The preceding are all raised from the
+black seed, growing on the top.
+
+5. _The Egg Onion._--So called from its size and shape. On good rich
+soil, the average size may be that of a goose-egg, which it resembles in
+form. It is of a pale-red color, and more mild in flavor than any other.
+They are usually raised by sowing the black seed, very thick, to form
+sets for next year. Those sets, put out early, will form large onions
+for early market, that will sell more readily than any other offered.
+
+6. _The Top Onion._--So called because the seed consists of small
+onions, growing on the top of the stalks, in place of the black seed of
+other onions. These are good for early use, grow large, but are poor
+keepers.
+
+7. _The Hill or Potato Onion_.--Of these there are several kinds, most
+of which are unworthy of cultivation. The _Large English_ is the only
+valuable variety. The small onions, for sets, grow in the ground from
+the same roots, by the side of the main onion. Some of these grow large
+enough for cooking. The main onion is the earliest known, grows large,
+and has a mild, pleasant flavor;--they will mature at a certain season,
+whatever time you plant them; hence, they must be planted very early to
+produce a good crop. We have planted them on good ground so late as to
+get little more than the seed. They are fine for summer and fall use,
+but keep poorly. The foregoing are all that are necessary. They can all
+be brought forward by early planting of sets raised the previous season,
+by sowing the black seed so thick that they can not grow larger than
+peas, or small cherries.
+
+Good sandy loam and black muck are the best soils for onions. Any good
+garden soil may be made to produce large crops; good, well rotted
+stable-manure and leached ashes are the best. The theory of shallow
+plowing, and treading down onion-beds is incorrect. The roots of onions
+are numerous and long. The land should be well-manured, double-plowed,
+and thoroughly pulverized. The only objection to a very mellow onion-bed
+is the difficulty of getting the seed up: this is obviated by rolling
+after sowing, which packs the mould around the seed, so as to retain
+moisture and insure vegetation. Fine manure, mixed in the surface of the
+soil for onions, is highly beneficial; on no other crop does manure on
+the surface do so much good. Mulching the whole bed, as soon as the
+plants are large enough, is in the highest degree beneficial, both in
+promoting growth, and keeping down weeds. An onion-bed must be made very
+smooth and level, to favor very early hoeing, without destroying the
+small plants. All root-crops that come up small, are tended with less
+than half the expense, if the surface be made very smooth and level.
+Never divide your onion-ground into small beds, but sow the longest way,
+in straight narrow rows, eighteen inches apart, for convenience of
+weeding and hoeing. Cultivate while very young, and work the soil toward
+the rows, so as to hill up the plants; this should be removed after they
+begin to form large bulbs. Breaking down the tops to induce them to
+bottom, is a fallacy: it will lessen the crop. Rich soil, deep plowing,
+thorough pulverizing, early sowing, and frequent hoeings, will insure
+success. Our system of double-plowing is the best for this crop. They
+will do equally well, some say improve, for twenty years on the same
+bed. Work the tops into the soil where the plants grow. Let the rows be
+very narrow and very straight, and you will save half the ordinary
+expense of cultivation.
+
+_To gather and preserve well_, you should house them when very dry. A
+day's exposure to a warm autumn sun is very beneficial. Keep them in an
+open barn or shed until there is danger of frost. A warm, damp cellar
+always ruins them; keep them through winter in the coolest dry place
+possible, without severe freezing. Once freezing is not injurious, but
+frequent freezing and thawing ruins them. They are very finely preserved
+braided into strings and hung in a cool, dry room.
+
+
+ORANGES.
+
+This name covers a variety of species of the same general habits. It
+flourishes well on the coast of Florida, and all along the gulf of
+Mexico. It will stand considerable freezing, if protected from sudden
+thawing. In southern Europe, they are grown abundantly by being
+protected by a shed of boards. They may become perfectly hardy, as far
+north as Philadelphia. And by a thorough system of acclimation, and a
+little winter protection, they may be grown abundantly, in every state
+of the Union. The great enemy of the orange-tree is the scaled insect.
+It has been very destructive in Florida. A certain remedy is said to
+have been discovered in the _camomile_. Cultivate the plant under
+orange-trees, and it will prevent their attacks. The herb hung up in
+the trees, or the tree and foliage syringed with a decoction of it, will
+effectually destroy these insects. The orange is long-lived. A tree
+called "The Grand Bourbon" at Versailles was planted in 1421, and now,
+being 437 years old, is "one of the largest and finest trees in France."
+There are several varieties mentioned in the fruit books. The common
+Sweet Orange, the Maltese, the Blood Red--very fine with red flesh. The
+Mandarin Orange, an excellent little fruit from China. The St. Michael's
+is described as the finest of all oranges, and the tree the best bearer.
+Oranges are propagated by budding, and cultivated much in the same way
+as the peach.
+
+
+ORCHARDS.
+
+An orchard is a plat of ground, large or small, occupied by trees for
+the purpose of bearing fruit. The main directions for orchard culture,
+are given under the respective fruits. Any soil good for vegetables or
+grains, is suitable for orchards. Any land where excessive moisture will
+not stand, to the injury of the trees, may be adapted to any of the
+fruits. Set pears on the heaviest land, peaches on the lightest, and the
+other fruits on the intermediate qualities. Although peaches will do
+quite well on light soil, yet they do better on a rich deep loam, or
+alluvium. When it is desirable to set out an orchard on land originally
+too wet, a blind ditch must pass under each row, extending out of the
+orchard, and the place where each tree is to stand, should be raised a
+foot above the level around it.
+
+_The aspect_ is also important. A southern or eastern exposure is
+preferable, in all latitudes where the transitions from summer to
+winter, and from winter to summer are so sudden as to allow but little
+alternate thawing and freezing. This would therefore be the rule in high
+latitudes. In climates of long changeable springs, a northern or western
+exposure is better. Trees may be made to start and blossom later in the
+spring by snow and ice about them, well pressed down in winter, and
+covered with straw. This will prevent the first warm weather from
+starting the leaves and blossoms, and cause them to be a little later,
+but surer and better.
+
+_Subsoiling_ ground for an orchard, is of great importance. Plant two
+orchards, one on land that has been subsoiled very deep, and the other
+upon that plowed in the ordinary way, and for ten years the difference
+will be discernable, as far as you can distinguish the trees in the two
+orchards.
+
+_Manures_ of all kinds, are good for orchards, except coarse stable
+manure, which should be composted. A bushel of fine charcoal, thoroughly
+mixed in the soil in which you set a fruit-tree, will exert a very
+beneficial influence, for a dozen years.
+
+Orchards should be cultivated every alternate three successive years,
+and the rest of the time be kept in grass. Just about the trees, the
+ground should be kept loose, and free from weeds and grass. This may be
+done by spading and hoeing, but better by thorough mulching.
+
+_Distances apart._--Apples thirty-three feet. Pears twenty feet. Peaches
+and plums, sixteen feet. Pruning, destroying insects, and all other
+matters bearing on successful fruit growing, are treated under the
+several fruits.
+
+
+OXEN.
+
+Every farmer who can afford to keep two teams, should have a pair of
+oxen. For many uses on a farm, they are preferable to horses; especially
+for clearing up new land. Oxen to be most valuable, should be large,
+well matched, ruly, and not very fat. They should be kept in good heart,
+by the quality of their food. Fast walking is one of the best qualities
+in both horses and oxen, for all working purposes, provided they are
+judiciously used and not overloaded. Well built, strong animals are best
+for work. Working oxen should be turned out for beef, at eight or nine
+years old.
+
+_To break oxen well_, commence when they are very young. Put calves into
+yokes frequently, until they will readily yield to your wishes. Yoke
+them often, and tie their tails together to prevent them from turning
+the yoke and injuring themselves. If left without training, until they
+are three or four years old, they will improve every opportunity to run
+away, to the danger and damage of proprietor and driver. It is quite an
+art to learn oxen to back a load. Place them before a vehicle, in a
+locality descending in the rear. As it rolls down hill, they will easily
+learn to follow, backward. Then try them on level ground. Then accustom
+them to back up hill, and finally to back a load, almost as heavy as
+they can draw.
+
+Breaking vicious animals is always best done by gentleness. We have
+known vicious horses whipped severely, and in every way treated harshly,
+and finally given up as useless. We have seen those same horses, in
+other hands, brought to be regular, gentle, and safe, as could be
+desired, by mild means, without a blow or harsh word. Oxen should be
+driven in a low tone of voice, and without much use of the goad. The
+usual manner of driving, by whipping and bawling, to the annoyance of
+the whole neighborhood, and until the driver becomes hoarse with his
+perpetual screams, is one of the most pernicious habits on a farm. Oxen
+will grow lazy and insensible under threat, or scream, or goad. Driven
+in a low tone of voice, without confusion by rapid commands, and no whoa
+put in, unless you wish them to stand still, oxen may be made more
+useful on a farm than horses. Their gears are cheap and never in the
+way. They can draw more and in worse places than horses, and it costs
+less to keep them. The various methods of drawing with head or horns, in
+vogue in other countries, need not be discussed here, as the American
+people will not probably change their yoke and bows for any other
+method.
+
+Feed oxen, as other animals, regularly, both in time and quantity. Curry
+them often and thoroughly. It improves their looks, health, and temper,
+and attaches them to their owner.
+
+
+PARSLEY.
+
+This is a hardy biennial, highly prized as a garnish, and as a pot-herb
+for flavoring soups and boiled dishes. The large-rooted variety is used
+for the table, as carrots or parsnips. The principal varieties are--the
+_double-curled_, the _dwarf-curled_, the _Siberian_ (single, very hardy,
+and fine-flavored), the _Hamburgh_ (large-rooted, used as an edible
+root). The double-curled is well known, easily obtained, and suitable
+for all purposes. Those who desire the roots instead of parsnips, &c.,
+should cultivate the Hamburgh or large-rooted. It needs the same
+treatment as beets. Seed should always be of the previous year's growth,
+or it may not vegetate. It is four or five weeks in coming up, unless it
+be soaked twelve hours in a little sulphur-water, when it will vegetate
+in two weeks. By cutting the leaves close, even, and regular, a
+succession of fine leaves may be had for a whole year from the same
+plants, when they will go to seed, and new ones should take their place.
+In cold climates they should be covered in winter with straw or litter.
+The Siberian is cultivated in the field, sown with grass or the small
+grains. It is said to prevent the disease called "_the rot_" in sheep,
+and is good for surfeited horses. The large-rooted should not be sowed
+in an excessively rich soil, as it produces an undue proportion of tops.
+
+
+PARSNIPS.
+
+English authors speak of but one variety of this root in cultivation in
+England. The French have three--the _Coquaine_, the _Lisbonaise_, and
+the _Siam_. The first runs down, in rich mellow soil, to the depth of
+four feet, and grows from six to sixteen inches in circumference; the
+Lisbonaise is shorter and larger round; the Siam is smaller than the
+others, of a yellowish color, and of excellent quality. We are not aware
+that our little hollow-crown carrot, so early and good, is included in
+the French varieties. We cultivate only the hollow-crown, and a common
+large variety; both are good for the table, and as food for animals.
+They need a light, deep, rich soil. A sandy loam is best, as for all
+roots. Seed kept over one season seldom vegetates. Should be soaked a
+day or two, and sown in straight rows, covered an inch deep, and the
+rows slightly rolled. It is much better, with this and the carrot, to
+sow radish-seed in the same rows. They come up so soon that they protect
+the parsnips and carrots from too hot a sun while tender, and also serve
+to mark the rows, so that they may be hoed early, without danger of
+destroying the young plants. Parsnips may be grown many years on the
+same bed without deterioration, provided a little decomposed manure or
+compost be annually added. Fresh manure is good if it be buried a foot
+deep. The yield will be greater if thinned to eight inches apart. Rows
+two feet apart, and the plants six inches in the row, are most suitable
+in field-culture. They will grow till frost comes, and are better for
+the table, when allowed to stand in the ground through the winter. They
+may be dug and preserved as other roots. Parsnips contain more sugar
+than any other edible root, and are therefore worth more per bushel for
+food. All domestic animals and fowls fatten on them very rapidly, and
+their flesh is peculiarly pleasant. Fed to cows, they increase the
+quantity of milk, and impart a beautiful color and agreeable flavor to
+the butter. It is superior to the beet, that we have so highly
+recommended elsewhere, in all respects except one--it is less easily
+tended and harvested. Still, they should be cultivated on every farm
+where cattle, hogs, or fowls, are kept.
+
+
+PASTURES.
+
+These are very important to all who keep domestic animals. The following
+brief directions for successful pasturing are essential. It is very poor
+economy to have all your pasture-lands in one field, or to put all your
+animals together. Pasture fields in rotation, two weeks each, allowing
+rest and growth for six weeks: first horned cattle, next horses, then
+sheep. Horses feed closer than cattle, and sheep closer than horses;
+each also eats something that the others do not relish. Pasturing land
+with sheep thickens the grass on the ground. For the kinds of grass
+preferable for pastures, see our article on _Grasses_. Plaster sown on
+pastures containing clover, materially increases their growth. A little
+lime, plaster, and common salt, sown on any pasture, will prove very
+beneficial. Streams or springs in pastures double their value. The idea
+that creatures need no water when feeding on green grass is a mistake.
+Every pasture without a spring or stream should have a well. Cattle in a
+pasture in warm weather need shade. It is usual to advise the growth of
+trees in the borders, or scattered over the whole field. Sheds are much
+better. Trees absorb the moisture, stint the growth of the grass, and
+injure its quality. A pasture containing many trees is not worth more
+than half price; it will keep about half as much stock, and keep them
+poorly. Bushes, which so often occupy pastures, should be grubbed up,
+and by all means destroyed; so should all thistles, briers, and large
+weeds. Hogs and geese should be kept in no pastures but their own. Never
+turn into pastures when the ground is very soft and wet, in the spring;
+the tread of the creatures will destroy much of the turf. Creatures in
+pasture should be salted twice a week. The age of grass, to make the
+best feed for animals, is often mistaken: most suppose that young and
+tender grass is preferable; this is far from correct. Grass that is
+headed out, and in which the seed has begun to mature, is far more
+nutritious, as every farmer can ascertain by easy experiments. Tall
+grass, approaching maturity, will fatten cattle much faster than the
+most tender young growth. Pasturing land enriches it. It is well to mow
+pastures and pasture meadows occasionally, though few meadows and
+pastures should lie long without plowing. Top-dressings of manure, on
+all grass-lands, are valuable; better applied in the fall than in the
+spring; evaporation is less, and it has opportunity to soak into the
+soil.
+
+
+PEAS.
+
+These are sown in the field and garden. As a field-crop, peas and oats
+are sown together, and make good ground or soaked feed for horses, or
+for fattening animals. Early peas and large marrowfats are frequently
+sown broadcast on rich, clean land, near large cities, to produce green
+peas for market. It does not pay as well as to sow in rows three feet
+apart, and cultivate with a horse. All peas, for picking while green,
+are more convenient when bushed. They may produce nearly as well when
+allowed to grow in the natural way, but can not be picked as easily, and
+the second crop is less, and inferior, from the injury to the vines by
+the first picking. Early Kent peas (the best early variety) mature so
+nearly at the same time that the vines may be pulled up at once. All
+other peas had better be bushed, that they may be easily picked, and
+that the later ones may mature. Bushes need not be set so close as
+usual. A good bush, put firmly in the ground, to enable it to resist the
+wind, once in two and a half feet, is quite sufficient. Those clinging
+to the bushes will hold up the others. To bush peas in this way is but
+little work, and pays well. It is often said that stable-manure does no
+good on pea-ground---that peas are neither better nor more abundant for
+its use. We think this utterly a mistake. We have often raised twice the
+quantity on a row well manured, that grew on another row by its side,
+where no manure had been applied. If peas be sowed thick on
+thoroughly-manured land, the crop will be small: it is from this fact
+that the idea has gained currency. They are generally planted too thick
+on rich land. Peas planted six inches deep will produce nearly twice as
+much as those covered but an inch. Plowing in peas and leveling the
+surface is one of the best methods of planting. To get an early crop in
+a cold climate, they may be forced in hotbeds, or planted in a warm
+exposure, very early, and protected by covering, when the weather is
+cold. At the South, it is best to plant so as to secure a considerable
+growth in the fall, and protect by covering with straw during cold
+weather.
+
+The only known remedy for the bugs that are so common in peas, is late
+sowing. In latitude forty-two, peas sown as late as the 10th of June
+will have no bugs. Bugs in seed-peas may be killed by putting the peas
+into hot water for a quarter of a minute; plant immediately, and they
+will come up sooner and do well. Seed imported from the more northern
+parts of Canada have no bugs; it is probably owing to the lateness of
+the season of their growth. But late peas are often much injured by
+mildew; this is supposed to be caused by too little moisture in the
+ground, and too much and too cool in the atmosphere, in dew or rain.
+Liberal watering then would prevent it.
+
+_Varieties_--are numerous. Two are quite sufficient. _Early Kent_ the
+earliest we have ever been able to obtain, ripen nearly all at once;
+moderate bearers, but of the very best quality. This variety of pea is
+the only garden vegetable with which we are acquainted that produces
+more and better fruit for being sowed quite thick. The other variety
+that we recommend is the _large Marrowfat_. These should not stand
+nearer together, on rich land, than three or four inches, and always be
+bushed. There are many other varieties of both late and early peas, but
+we regard them inferior to these. White's "Gardening for the South"
+mentions Landreth's Extra Early, Prince Albert, Cedo-Nulli, Fairbank's
+Champion, Knight's tall Marrow, and New Mammoth. Whoever wishes a
+greater variety can get any of these under new names. The large blue
+Imperial is a rich pea, like many of the dwarfs, both of the large and
+small, but is very unproductive. We advise all to select the best they
+can find, and plant but two kinds, late and early.
+
+Plant at intervals to get a succession of crops. But very late peas, in
+our dry climate, amount to but little, without almost daily watering.
+
+
+PEACH.
+
+This native of Persia is one of the most healthy and
+universally-favorite fruits. In its native state, it was hardly suitable
+for eating, resembling an almond more than our present fine peaches.
+Perhaps no other fruit exhibits so wide a difference in the products of
+seeds from the same tree. All the fine varieties are what we call chance
+products of seeds, not one out of a thousand of which deserved further
+cultivation. The prevailing opinion is, that planting the seeds is not a
+certain method of propagating a given variety; hence the general
+practice of budding (which see). Others assert that there are permanent
+varieties, that usually produce the same from the seed, when not allowed
+to mix in the blossoms. Some prefer to raise the trees for their
+peach-orchards from seed, thinking them longer-lived and more healthy.
+Whole peaches planted when taken from the tree, or the pits planted
+before having become dry, are said to be much more certain to produce
+the same fruit. We know an instance in which the fruit of an early
+Crawford peach, thus planted, could not be distinguished from those that
+grew on a budded tree in the same orchard. One of the difficulties in
+reproducing the same from seed, is the great difficulty in getting the
+seed of any variety pure. We everywhere have so many varieties of
+fruit-trees in the same orchard, that the seeds of no one can be pure;
+they mix in the blossoms. On this account, the surest method of
+perpetuating a variety is by budding. This tree is of rapid growth,
+often bearing the third year from the seed, and producing abundantly the
+fifth. The peach-tree is often called thrifty when its growth is very
+luxuriant, but tender and unhealthy, perishing in the following winter.
+A moderate, steady, hardy growth is most profitable. The following
+directions, though brief, are complete:--
+
+_Raising Seedlings._--Dry the pits in the shade; put them away till the
+last of winter; then soak them two days in water, and spread them on
+some place in the garden where water will not stand, and cover them an
+inch deep with wet sand, and leave them to freeze. When about time to
+plant them (which is early corn-planting time), take them up and select
+all those that are opened by the frost, and that are beginning to
+germinate, and plant in rows four feet apart and one foot in the row.
+These will grow and be ready for budding considerably earlier than those
+not opened by frost. Crack the others on a wooden block, by striking
+their side-edge with a hammer; you thus avoid injury to the germ that is
+endangered by striking the end. Plant these in rows like the others, but
+only six inches apart in the row, as they will not all germinate. Plant
+them on rich soil covering an inch or two deep. Keep them clear of
+weeds, and they will be ready for budding from August 15th to September
+10th, according to latitude or season. In a dry season, when everything
+matures early, budding must not be deferred as long as in a wet season.
+
+For full directions for budding, see our article on that subject.
+
+_Transplanting._--Perhaps no other fruit-tree suffers so much from
+transplanting when too large. This should always be done, after one
+year's growth, from the bud. The best time for transplanting is the
+spring in northern latitudes subject to hard frosts, and in autumn in
+warmer climates.
+
+_Soil and Location._--All intelligent fruit-growers are aware that these
+exert a great influence upon the size, quality, and quantity, of all
+varieties of fruits. An accurate description of a variety in one climate
+will not always identify it in another. Some few varieties are nearly
+permanent and universal, but most are adapted to particular localities,
+and need a process of acclimation to adapt them to other soils and
+situations. Light sandy soils are usually regarded best for the peach:
+it is only so because nineteen out of twenty cultivators will not take
+pains to suitably prepare other soils. Some of the best peaches we have
+ever seen grew on the richest Illinois prairie, and others on the
+limestone bluffs of the Ohio river. Thorough drainage is indispensable
+for the peach, on all but very light, porous soils: with such drainage,
+peaches will do best on soil best adapted to growing corn and potatoes.
+Bones, bonedust, lime, ashes, stable-manure, and charcoal, are the best
+applications to the soil of a peach-orchard. Whoever grows peaches
+should put at least half a bushel of fine charcoal in the earth in which
+he sets each tree. Mix it well with the soil, and the tree will grow
+better, and the fruit be larger and finer, for a dozen years. Any good
+soil, well drained and manured with these articles, will produce great
+crops of peaches. For the location of peach-orchards, see our general
+remarks on "Location of Fruit-trees." But we would repeat here the
+direction to choose a northern exposure, in climates subject to late
+frosts. Elevations are always favorable, as are also the shores of all
+bodies of water. In our remarks on location, we have shown by facts the
+great value of hills, so high as to be useless for any other purpose.
+Between Pittsburgh and the mouth of the Ohio river, there are enough
+high elevations, now useless, to supply all the cities within fifty
+miles of the rivers, down to New Orleans, with the best of peaches every
+year. In no year will they ever be cut off by frost on those hills. Warm
+exposures, with a little winter protection, will secure good peaches in
+climates not adapted to them. In some parts of France, they grow large
+quantities for market by training them against walls, where they do not
+flourish in the open field. By this practice, and by enclosures and
+acclimation, the growth of this excellent fruit may be extended to the
+coldest parts of the United States.
+
+_Transplanting_--should be performed with care, as in the case of all
+other fruit-trees. Every injured root should be cut off smooth from the
+under side, slanting out from the tree. Leave the roots, as nearly as
+possible, in the position in which they were before. Set the tree an
+inch lower than it stood in the nursery; it saves the danger of the
+roots getting uncovered, and of too strong action of the atmosphere on
+the roots, in a soil so loose. The opposite is often recommended, viz.,
+to allow the tree in its new location to stand an inch or two higher
+than before; but we are sure, from repeated trials, that it is wrong.
+Shake the fine earth as closely around the roots as possible, mulch
+well, and pour on a pailful of tepid water, if it be rather a dry time,
+and the tree will be sure to live and make a good growth the first year.
+When a peach-tree is transplanted, after one year's growth from the bud,
+it should have the top cut off within eighteen inches or two feet of the
+ground, and all the limbs cut off at half their length. This will
+induce the formation of a full, large head. A low, full-branching head
+is always best on a peach-tree.
+
+_Pruning_ is perhaps the most important matter in successful peach
+culture. The fruit is borne wholly on wood of the previous year's
+growth. Hence a tree that has the most of that growth, in a mature
+state, and properly situated, will bear the most and the finest fruit. A
+tree left to its natural state, with no pruning but of a few of the
+lower limbs from the main trunk, will soon exhibit a collection of long
+naked limbs, without foliage, except near their extremities (see the cut
+overleaf). In this case fruit will be too thick on what little bearing
+wood there is, and it should be thinned. But very few cultivators even
+attend to that. The fruit is consequently small, and it weakens the
+growth of the young wood above, for next year's fruiting, and thus tree
+and fruit are perpetually deteriorating.
+
+Observe a shoot of young peachwood, you will see near its base,
+leaf-buds. On the middle there are many blossom-buds, and on the top,
+leaf-buds again. The tendency of sap is to the extremity. Hence the
+upper leaf-buds will put out at once. And for their growth, and the
+maturity of the excessive fruit on the middle, the power of the sap is
+so far exhausted, that the leaf-buds at the base do not grow. Hence when
+the fruit is removed, nothing is left below the terminal shoots, but a
+bare pole. This is the condition in which we find most peach-trees.
+
+For this there is a certain preventive. It consists in shortening in, by
+cutting off in the month of September, from a third to a half of the
+current season's growth. If the top be large, cut off one half the
+length of the new wood. If it be less vigorous and rank, and you fear
+you will not have room for a fair crop of peaches, cut off but one
+third. This heading-in is sometimes recommended to be done in the
+spring. For forming a head in a young tree the spring is better. But to
+mature the wood, and increase the quantity, and improve the quality of
+the fruit, September is much the best.
+
+Such shortening in early in September, directs the sap to maturing the
+wood, already formed and developing fruit-buds, instead of promoting the
+growth of an undue quantity of young and tender wood, to be destroyed by
+the winter, or to hinder the growth of the fruit of the next season.
+This heading-in process, with these young shoots, is most easily
+performed with pruning shears, with wooden handles, of a length suited
+to the height of the tree.
+
+[Illustration: Neglected Peach-Tree.]
+
+[Illustration: Properly-trimmed Peach-Tree.]
+
+But a work to precede this annual shortening-in, is the original
+formation of a head to a peach-tree. Take a tree a year old from the
+bud, and cut it down to within two and a half feet from the ground.
+Below that numerous strong shoots will come out. Select three vigorous
+ones and let them grow as they please, carefully pinching off all the
+rest. In the fall you will have a tree of three good strong branches. In
+the next spring cut off these three branches, one half. Below these
+cuts, branches will start freely. Select one vigorous shoot to continue
+the limb, and another to form a new branch. Check the growth of the
+shoots below, by cutting off their ends, but do not rub them off, as
+they will form fruit branches. At the close of the season you will have
+a tree with six main branches, and some small ones for fruit, on the
+older wood. Repeat this process the third year, and you have a tree with
+twelve main branches, and plenty smaller ones for fruit. All these small
+branches on the old wood, should be shortened in half their length, to
+cause the leaf-buds near their base to start, so as to produce large
+numbers of young shoots. Continue this as long as you please, and make
+just as large a head and just such a form as you may wish, being careful
+only to control the shape of the top so as to let the sun and air freely
+into every part.
+
+Trees thus trained may be planted thick enough to allow four hundred to
+stand on an acre, and will bear an abundance of the finest fruit, and
+all low enough to be easily picked. This method of training is much
+better than allowing the tree to shoot out on all sides from the ground:
+in that case, the branches are apt to split down and perish. This system
+of heading-in freely every year, preserves the life and health of the
+tree remarkably. Many of the finest peach-trees in France are from
+thirty to sixty years old, and some a hundred. We may, in this country,
+have peach-trees live fifty years, in the most healthy bearing
+condition. By trimming in this way, and carrying out fully this system,
+some have thrifty-looking peach-trees, more than a foot in diameter,
+bearing the very best of fruit. It is sheer neglect that causes our
+peach-orchards to perish after having borne from three to six years. Let
+every man who plants a peach-tree remember, that this system of
+training will make his tree live long, be healthy, grow vigorously, and
+bear abundantly.
+
+_Diseases_ of peach-trees have been a matter of much speculation. The
+result is, that the hope of the peach-grower is mainly in preventives.
+
+_The Yellows_ is usually regarded as a disease. Imagination has invented
+many causes of this evil. Some suppose it to be produced by small
+insects; others that it is in the seed. Again, it is ascribed to the
+atmosphere. It has been supposed to be propagated in many ways--by
+trimming a healthy tree with a knife that had been used on a diseased
+one; by contagion in the atmostphere, as the measles or small-pox; by
+impregnation from the pollen, through the agency of winds or bees; by
+the migration of small insects; or by planting diseased seeds, or
+budding from diseased trees. This great diversity of opinion leaves room
+to doubt whether the yellows in peach-trees be a disease at all, or only
+a symptom of general decay. The symptoms, as given in all the
+fruit-books, are only such as would be natural from decay and death of
+the tree, from any cause whatever. This may result from neglect to
+supply the soil with suitable manures, and to trim trees properly, and
+especially from over-bearing. This view of the case is more probable,
+from the fact that none pretend to have found a remedy. All advise to
+remove the tree thus affected at once, root and branch. We have seen the
+following treatment of such trees tried with marked success. Cut off a
+large share of the top, as when you would renew an old, neglected tree;
+lay the large roots bare, making a sort of basin around the body of the
+tree, and pour in three pailfuls of _boiling_ water: the tree will
+start anew and do well. This is an excellent application to an old,
+failing peach-tree. The sure preventive of the yellows is, planting
+seeds of healthy trees, budding from the most vigorous, heading-in well,
+supplying appropriate manures, and general good cultivation.
+
+_Curled Leaves_ is another evil among peach-trees, occurring before the
+leaves are fully grown, and causing them to fall off after two or three
+weeks. Other leaves will put out, but the fruit is destroyed, and the
+general health of the tree injured. Elliott says the curl of the leaf is
+produced by the punctures of small insects. One kind of curled leaf is,
+but not this. But we have no doubt that Barry's theory is the correct
+one, viz., that it is the effect of sudden changes of the weather. We
+have noticed the curled leaf in orchards where the trees were so close
+together as to guard each other. On the side where the cold wind struck
+them, we noticed they were badly affected; while on the warm side, and
+in the centre where they were protected by the others, they exhibited
+very few signs of the curl. In western New York, unusual cold east winds
+always produce the curled leaves, on trees much exposed: hence, the only
+remedy is the best protection you can give, by location, &c.
+
+_Mildew_ is a minute fungus growing on the ends of tender shoots of
+certain varieties, checking their growth, and producing other bad
+effects. Syringe the trees with a weak solution of nitre, one ounce in a
+gallon of water, which will destroy the fungus and invigorate the tree.
+
+_The Borer_ has been the great enemy of the peach-tree, since about the
+close of the last century. The female insect, that produces the worms,
+deposites her eggs under rough bark, near the surface of the ground.
+This is done mostly in July, but occasionally from June to October. The
+eggs are laid in small punctures, and covered with a greenish glue; in a
+few days they come out, a small white worm, and eat through the bark
+where it is tender, just at, or a little below, the surface of the
+ground; they eat under the bark, between that and the wood, and,
+consuming a little of each, they frequently girdle the tree; as they
+grow larger, they perforate the solid wood; when about a year old, they
+make a cocoon just below the surface of the ground, change into a
+chrysalis state, and shortly come out a winged insect, to deposite fresh
+eggs. But the practical part of all this is the _remedy_: keep the
+ground clean around the trees, and rub off frequently all the rough
+bark; place around each tree half a peck of air-slaked lime, and the
+borer will not attack it. This should be placed there on the first of
+May, and be spread over the ground on the first of October; refuse
+tobacco-stems, from the cigar-makers, or any other offensive substance,
+as hen-manure, salt and ashes, &c., will answer the same purpose. We
+should recommend the annual cultivation of a small piece of ground in
+tobacco, for use around peach-trees. We have found it very successful
+against the borer, and it is an excellent manure; applied two or three
+times during the season, it proves a perfect remedy, and is in no way
+injurious, as an excessive quantity of lime might be.
+
+_Leaf Insects._--There are several varieties, which cause the leaves to
+curl and prematurely fall. This kind of curled leaf differs from the one
+described as the result of sudden changes and cold wind; that appears
+general wherever the cold wind strikes the tree, while this only affects
+a few leaves occasionally, and those surrounded by healthy leaves. The
+remedy is to syringe them with offensive mixtures, as tobacco-juice, or
+sprinkle them when wet with fine, air-slaked lime.
+
+_Varieties._--Their name is legion, and they are rapidly increasing, and
+their synonyms multiplying. A singular fact, in most of our fruit-books,
+is a minute description of useless kinds, and such descriptions of those
+that they call good, as not one in ten thousand cultivators will ever
+try to master--they are worse than useless, except to an occasional
+amateur cultivator.
+
+Elliott, in his fruit-book, divides peaches into three classes: the
+first is for general cultivation; under this class he describes
+thirty-one varieties, with ninety-eight synonyms. His second class is
+for amateur cultivators, and includes sixty-nine varieties, with
+eighty-four synonyms. His third class, which he says are unworthy of
+further cultivation, describes fifty-four varieties, with seventy-seven
+synonyms. Cole gives sixty-five varieties, minutely described, and many
+of them pronounced worthless. In Hooker's Western Fruit-Book, we have
+some eighty varieties, only a few of which are regarded worthy of
+cultivation. Downing gives us one hundred and thirty-three varieties,
+with about four hundred synonyms. In all these works the descriptions
+are minute. The varieties of serrated leaves, the glandless, and some
+having globose glands on the leaves, and others with reniform glands.
+Then we have the color of the fruit in the shade and in the sun, which
+will, of course, vary with every degree of sun or shade. We submit the
+opinion that those books would have possessed much more value, had they
+only described the best mode of cultivating peaches, without having
+mentioned a single variety, thus leaving each cultivator to select the
+best he could find. Had they given a plain description of ten, or
+certainly of not more than fifteen varieties, those books would have
+been far more valuable _for the people_. We give a small list, including
+all we think it best to cultivate. Perhaps confining our selection to
+half a dozen varieties would be a further improvement:--
+
+1. The first of all peaches is _Crawford's Early_. This is an early,
+sure, and great bearer, of the most beautiful, large fruit;--a
+good-flavored, juicy peach, though not the very richest. It is, on the
+whole, the very best peach in all parts of the country. Time, from July
+15th to September 1st. Freestone.
+
+2. _Crawford's Late_ is very large and handsome; uniformly productive,
+though not nearly so good a bearer as Crawford's Early. Ripens last of
+September and in October. Fair quality, and always handsome; freestone;
+excellent for market.
+
+3. _Columbia._--Origin, New Jersey. It is a thoroughly-tested variety,
+raised and described by Mr. Cox, who wrote one of the earliest and best
+American fruit-books. Fine specimens were exhibited in 1856, grown in
+Covington, Ky. Excellent in all parts of the United States. Freestone.
+
+4. _George the Fourth._--A large, delicious, freestone peach, an
+American seedling from Mr. Gill, Broad street, New York. The National
+Pomological Society have decided the tree to be so healthy and
+productive as to adapt it to all localities in this country. It has
+twenty-five synonyms.
+
+5. _Early York._--Freestone; the best, and first really good, early
+peach. Time July at Cincinnati, and August at Cleveland. Time of
+ripening of all varieties varies with latitude, location, and season.
+
+6. _Grass Mignonne._--A foreign variety, a great favorite in France, in
+the time of Louis XIV. Very rich freestone, flourishing in all climates
+from Boston south. The high repute in which it has long been held is
+seen in its thirty synonyms. One of the best, when you can obtain the
+genuine. Time, August.
+
+7. _Honest John._--A large, beautiful, delicious, freestone variety.
+Highly prized as a late peach, maturing from the middle to the last of
+October. Indispensable in even a small selection.
+
+8. _Malacatune._--A very popular American freestone peach, derived from
+a Spanish, and is the parent of the Crawford peaches, both early and
+late.
+
+9. _Morris White._--Everywhere well known; a good bearer; best for
+preserving at the North; a good dessert peach South.
+
+10. _Morris Red Rare-ripe._--A favorite, freestone, July peach. The tree
+is healthy and a great bearer.
+
+11. _Old Mixon._--Should be found in all gardens and orchards; it is of
+excellent quality and ripens at a time when few good peaches are to be
+had; it endures spring-frosts better than any other variety; profitable.
+
+12. _Old Mixon Cling._--One of the most delicious early clingstones.
+Deserves a place in all gardens.
+
+13. _Monstrous Cling._--Not the best quality, but profitable for market
+on account of its great size.
+
+14. _Heath Cling._--Very good South and West. Wrapped in paper and laid
+in a cool room, it will keep longer than any other variety. Tree hardy
+and often produces when others fail. Excellent for preserving, and when
+quite ripe, is superior as a dessert fruit.
+
+15. _Blood Cling._--A well-known peach, excellent for pickling and
+preserving. It sometimes measures twelve inches in circumference. The
+old French Blood Cling is smaller. Many of these varieties will be found
+under other names. You will have to depend upon your nursery-man to give
+you the best he has, and be careful to bud from any choice variety you
+may happen to taste. Difficulties and disappointments will always attend
+efforts to get desired varieties.
+
+
+PEAR.
+
+The pear is a native of Europe and Asia, and, in its natural state, is
+quite as unfit for the table as the crab-apple. Cultivation has given it
+a degree of excellence that places it in the first rank among
+dessert-fruits. No other American fruit commands so high a price. New
+varieties are obtained by seedlings, and are propagated by grafting and
+budding: the latter is generally preferred. Root-grafting of pears is to
+be avoided; the trees will be less vigorous and healthy. The difficulty
+of raising pear-seedlings has induced an extensive use of suckers, to
+the great injury of pear-culture. Fruit-growers are nearly unanimous in
+discarding suckers as stocks for grafting. The difficulty in raising
+seedling pear-trees is the failure of the seeds to vegetate. A remedy
+for this is, never to allow the seeds to become dry, after being taken
+from the fruit, until they are planted. Keep them in moist sand until
+time to plant them in the spring, or plant as soon as taken from the
+fruit. The spring is the best time for planting, as the ground can be
+put in better condition, rendering after-culture much more easy. The
+pear will succeed well on any good soil, well supplied with suitable
+fertilizers. The best manures for the pear are, lime in small
+quantities, wood-ashes, bones, potash dissolved, and applied in rotten
+wood, leaves, and muck, with a little stable-manure and
+iron-filings--iron is very essential in the soil for the pear-tree. In
+all soils moderately supplied with these articles, all pear-trees
+grafted on seedling-stocks, and those that flourish on the foreign
+quince, will do well. A good yellow loam is most natural; light sandy or
+gravelly land is unfavorable. It is better to cart two or three loads of
+suitable soil for each tree on such land. The practice of budding or
+grafting on apple-stocks, on crab-apples, and on the mountain-ash,
+should be utterly discarded. For producing early fruit, quince-stocks
+and root-pruning are recommended.
+
+Setting out pear-trees properly is of very great importance. The
+requisites are, to have the ground in good condition, from manure on the
+crop of the last season, and thoroughly subsoiled and drained.
+Pear-trees delight in rather heavy land, if it be well drained; but
+water, standing in the soil about them, is utterly ruinous. Pear-trees,
+well transplanted on moderately rich land, well subsoiled and well
+drained, will almost always succeed. By observing the following brief
+directions, any cultivator may have just such shaped tops on his
+pear-trees as he desires. Cut short any shoots that are too vigorous,
+that those around them may get their share of the sap, and thus be
+enabled to make a proportionate growth. After trees have come into
+bearing, symmetry in the form of their heads may be promoted by
+pinching off all the fruit on the weak branches, and allowing all on the
+strong ones to mature.
+
+Those two simple methods, removing the fruit from too vigorous shoots,
+and cutting in others, half or two-thirds their length, will enable one
+to form just such heads as he pleases, and will prove the best
+preventives of diseases.
+
+_Diseases._--There are many insects that infest pear-orchards, in the
+same manner as they do apples, and are to be destroyed in the same way.
+The slugs on the leaves are often quite annoying. These are worms,
+nearly half an inch long, olive-colored, and tapering from head to tail,
+like a tadpole. Ashes or quicklime, sprinkled over the leaves when they
+are wet with dew or rain, is an effectual remedy.
+
+_Insect-Blight._--This has been confounded with the frozen-sap blight,
+though they are very different. In early summer, when the shoots are in
+most vigorous growth, you will notice that the leaves on the ends of
+branches turn brown, and very soon die and become black. This is caused
+by a worm from an egg, deposited just behind or below a bud, by an
+insect. The egg hatches, and the worm perforates the bark into the wood,
+and commits his depredations there, preventing the healthy flow of the
+sap, which kills the twig above. Soon after the shoot dies, the worm
+comes out in the form of a winged insect, and seeks a location to
+deposite its eggs, preparatory to new depredations. The remedy is to cut
+off the shoots affected at once, and burn them. The insect-blight does
+not affect the tree far below the location of the worm. Watch your trees
+closely, and cut off all affected parts as soon as they appear, and burn
+them immediately, and you will soon destroy all the insects. But very
+soon after the appearance of the blight they leave the limb; hence a
+little delay will render your efforts useless. These insects often
+commit the same depredations on apple and quince-trees. We had an
+orchard in Ohio seriously affected by them. We know no remedy but
+destruction as above.
+
+_The Frozen-Sap Blight_ is a much more serious difficulty. Its nature
+and origin are now pretty well settled. In every tree there are two
+currents of sap: one passes up through the outer wood, to be digested by
+the leaves; the other passing down in the inner bark, deposites new
+wood, to increase the size of the tree. Now, in a late growth of this
+kind of wood, the process is rapidly going on, at the approach of cold
+weather, and the descending sap is suddenly frozen, in this tender bark
+and growing wood. This sudden freezing poisons the sap, and renders the
+tree diseased. The blight will show itself, in its worst form, in the
+most rapid growing season of early summer, though the disease commenced
+with the severe frosts of the previous autumn. Its presence may be known
+by a thick, clammy sap, that will exude in winter or spring pruning, and
+in the discoloration of the inner bark and peth of the branches. On
+limbs badly affected on one side, the bark will turn black and shrivel
+up. But its effects in the death of the branches only occur when the
+growth of the tree demands the rapid descent of the sap: then the
+poisoned sap which was arrested the previous fall, in its downward
+passage, is diluted and sent through the tree; and when it is abundant,
+the whole tree is poisoned and destroyed in a few days; in others more
+slightly affected, it only destroys a limb or a small portion of the
+top. Another effect of this fall-freezing of sap and growing wood, is
+to rupture the sap-vessels, and thus prevent the inner bark from
+performing its functions. This theory is so well established, that an
+intelligent observer can predict, in the fall, a blight-season the
+following summer. If the summer be cool, and the fall warm and damp,
+closed by sudden cold, the blight will be troublesome the next season,
+because the plentiful downward flow of sap, and rapid growth of wood,
+were arrested by sudden freezing. If the summer is favorable, and the
+wood matures well before cold weather, the blight will not appear. This
+is of the utmost practical moment to the pear-culturist. Anything in
+soil, situation, or pruning, that favors early maturity of wood, will
+serve as a preventive of blight; hence, cool, moist situations are not
+favorable in climates subject to sudden and severe cold weather in
+autumn. Root-pruning and heading-in, which always induce early maturity
+of wood, are of vast importance; they will, almost always, prevent
+frozen-sap blight. If, in spite of you, your pear-trees will make a late
+luxuriant growth, cut off one half of the most vigorous shoots before
+hard freezing, and you will check the flow of sap, by removing the
+leaves and shoots that control it, and save your trees. If blight makes
+its appearance, cut off at once all the parts affected. The effects will
+be visible in the wood and inner bark, far below the external apparent
+injury. Remove the whole injured part, or it will poison the rest of the
+tree. When this frozen sap is extensive, it poisons and destroys the
+whole tree; when slight, the tree often wholly recovers. If a spot of
+black, shrivelled bark appears, shave it off, deep enough to remove the
+affected parts, and cover the wound with grafting-wax. Remove all
+affected limbs. These are the only remedies. But the practice of
+pruning both roots and branches will prove a certain preventive. A tree
+growing in grass, where it grows more slowly, and matures earlier in the
+season, will escape this blight; while one growing in very rich garden
+soil, and continuing to grow until cold weather, will suffer severely.
+The effects on orchards, in different soils and localities everywhere,
+confirm this theory. A little care then will prevent this evil, which
+has sometimes been so great as to discourage attempts at raising pears.
+In some localities, some of the finer varieties of pears, as the
+virgalieu, are ruined by cracking on the trees before ripening.
+Applications of ashes, salt, charcoal, iron-filings, and clay on light
+lands, will remedy this evil.
+
+_Distances apart._--All fruit-trees had better occupy as little ground
+as is consistent with a healthy vigorous growth. They are manured and
+well cultivated, at a much less expense. The trees protect each other
+against inclement weather. The fruit is more easily harvested. And it is
+a great saving of land, as nothing else can be profitably grown in an
+orchard of large fruit-trees. The two kinds of pear-trees, dwarf and
+standard, may be planted together closely and be profitable for early
+and abundant bearing. The plan given on the next page of a pear-orchard,
+recommended in Cole's Fruit Book, is the best we have seen.
+
+In the plan the trees on pear-stocks, designed for standards, occupy the
+large black spots where the lines intersect. They are thirty-three feet
+apart. The small spots indicate the position of dwarf-trees on quince
+stocks. Of these there are three on each square rod. An acre then would
+have forty standard trees, and four hundred and eighty dwarfs. The
+latter will come into early bearing, and be profitable, long before the
+former will produce any fruit. This will induce and repay thorough
+cultivation. They should be headed in, and finally removed, as the
+standards need more room. One acre carefully cultivated in this way,
+will afford an income sufficient for the support of a small family.
+
+[Illustration: Plan of a Pear-Orchard.]
+
+_Gathering and Preserving._--Most fruits are better when allowed fully
+to ripen on the tree. But with pears, the reverse is true; most of them
+need to be ripened in the house, and some of them, as much as possible,
+excluded from the light. Gather when matured, and when a few of the
+wormy full-grown ones begin to fall, but while they adhere somewhat
+firmly to the tree. Barrel or box them tight, or put them in drawers in
+a cool dry place. About the time for them to become soft, put them in a
+room, with a temperature comfortable for a sitting-room, and you will
+soon have them in their greatest perfection. They do better in a warm
+room, wrapped in paper or cotton. A few only ripen well on the trees.
+Those ripened in the house keep much longer and better.
+
+_Varieties._--The London Horticultural Society have proved seven hundred
+varieties, from different parts of the world, in their experimental
+garden. Cole speaks of eight hundred and Elliott of twelve hundred
+varieties. There are now probably more than three thousand growing in
+this country. Many seedlings, not known beyond the neighborhood where
+they originated, may be among our very best. From six to ten varieties
+are all that need be cultivated. We present the following list, advising
+cultivators to select five or six to suit their own tastes and
+circumstances, and cultivate no more. We do not give the usual
+descriptions of the varieties selected. The mass of cultivators, for
+whom this work is specially intended, will never learn and test the
+descriptions. They will depend upon their nursery-man, and bud and graft
+from those they have tasted.
+
+We give their names and some of their synonyms, their adaptation to
+quince or pear stocks, their manner of growth, and time of maturity.
+These will enable the culturist to select whatever best suits his taste;
+adapted to quince or pear stocks; for the table or kitchen; for summer,
+fall, or winter use, and for home or the market.
+
+BELLE LUCRATIVE.--_Fondante d' Automne, Seigneur d' Esperin._ Tree of
+moderate growth, but a great bearer. A fine variety, on quince or pear,
+better perhaps on the pear stock. Season, last of September.
+
+BEURR� EASTER with fifteen synonyms that few would ever read. Best on
+quince. Requires a warm soil and considerable care in ripening, when it
+proves one of the best. Its season--from January to May--makes it very
+desirable. Large, yellowish-green, with russet spots.
+
+[Illustration: Bartlett.]
+
+BARTLETT.--_William's, William's Bon Chretien, Poire Guilliaume_. Tree,
+a vigorous grower, and a regular, early, good bearer, of long, handsome,
+perfectly-formed fruit; on the quince or pear stock. Time, August and
+September.
+
+[Illustration: Beurr� Diel.]
+
+BEURR� DIEL.--_Diel_, _Diel's Butterbirne_, _Dorothee Royale_, _Grosse
+Dorothee_, _Beurr� Royale_, _Des Trois Tours_, _De Melon_, _Melon de
+Kops_, _Beurr� Magnifique_, _Beurr� Incomparable_. Grows well on quince
+or pear, but perhaps does best on quince. Large, beautiful, luscious
+fruit. Season, October to last of November.
+
+[Illustration: White Doyenne.]
+
+WHITE DOYENNE.--_Virgalieu._ Tree vigorous and hardy on pear or quince.
+Everywhere esteemed as one of the very best. Needs care in supplying
+proper manure and clay on light soils, to prevent the fruit from
+cracking. September to November. If we could have but one we should
+choose this.
+
+COLUMBIA.--_Columbian Virgalieu._ Native of New York, bearing
+abundantly, a uniformly smooth, fair, large fruit. Color, fine golden
+yellow, dotted with gray. Season, December and January.
+
+[Illustration: Flemish Beauty.]
+
+FLEMISH BEAUTY.--_Belle de Flanders, &c._ This is a large, beautiful,
+and delicious pear. One of the finest in its season, but does not last
+long. Ripens last of September. Very fine on the quince, and is
+excellent on the rich prairie-lands of the West. Deserves increased
+attention.
+
+BEURR� D'AREMBERG.--_Duc d'Aremberg, and eight other synonyms._ Tree
+very hardy, does well on the pear stock, and bears early, annually, and
+abundantly. A very fine foreign variety. The fruit hangs on the tree
+well, and may be ripened at will from December to February, by placing
+in a warm room, when you would ripen them.
+
+BUFFUM.--A native of Rhode Island, and very successful wherever grown. A
+great bearer of handsome fruit, though not of the best quality. It is,
+however, an excellent orchard pear. Fruit, medium size, ripening in
+September.
+
+LOUISE BONNE OF JERSEY.--_William the Fourth_, and three other useless
+foreign synonyms. Not surpassed, on the quince. Tree very vigorous,
+producing a great abundance of large fruit. Season, October.
+
+MADELEINE.--_Magdalen_, _Citron des Carmes_. This bears an abundance of
+small but delicious fruit. Is valuable also on account of its
+season--the last half of July. Good on pear or quince. Must be checked
+in its growth, on very rich land, or it will be subject to the frozen
+sap-blight.
+
+ONONDAGA.--American origin. Equally good on pear or quince. Large,
+hardy, and very productive tree. The fruit is very large, fine golden
+yellow when ripe. Excellent for market. Season, October and November.
+
+POUND PEAR.--_Winter Belle_, and twelve other synonyms, which are
+unimportant. This is the great winter-pear for cooking. The tree is a
+very vigorous grower and great bearer. A very profitable orchard
+variety. December to March.
+
+PRINCE'S ST. GERMAIN.--_New St. Germain_, _Brown's St. Germain_. Hardy
+and productive. Good keeper, ripening as easily and as well as an apple.
+December to March.
+
+[Illustration: Seckel.]
+
+SECKEL.--There are a number of synonyms, but it is always known by this
+name. Tree is small, but a good and regular bearer of small excellent
+fruit. Time in warm climates, September and October.
+
+STEVEN'S GENESEE.--_Stephen's Genesee_, _Guernsey_. Desirable for all
+orchards and gardens, on quince or pear. Fine grower and very
+productive. Fruit large and excellent. Elliott says "even the wind-falls
+are very fine."
+
+VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.--Eight synonyms, but it will hardly be mistaken by
+nursery-men. Does well on quince. It is thrifty and very productive of
+fruit of second quality. Yet it is generally profitable. November to
+January.
+
+WINTER NELLIS.--Its six foreign synonyms are of no consequence. This is
+the best of all winter-pears, grown on quince or pear. Exceedingly well
+adapted to the rich western prairies. An early and great bearer.
+November to January 15.
+
+[Illustration: Gray Doyenne.]
+
+GRAY DOYENNE.--A superior October pear. Tree hardy and productive on
+both pear or quince. Partakes much of the excellence of the White
+Doyenne.
+
+From these you can select five or six just adapted to your wishes. The
+diversity of views, of the merits of different varieties of pears,
+arises mainly from the influence of location, soil, and culture. The
+established known varieties, may be grown in great perfection anywhere,
+with suitable care. At the West they _must be root-pruned_ and
+_headed-in_ until they are ten years old, after which they will be hardy
+and productive. If allowed to grow as fast as they will incline to, on
+alluvial soils, when they are exposed to severe winters, they will
+disappoint growers. With care they will be sure and profitable.
+
+
+PEPPERS.
+
+The red peppers, cultivated in this country, are used for pickling, for
+pepper-sauce, as a condiment for food, and as a domestic medicine.
+
+_Varieties_--are named principally from their shape. The _large
+squash-pepper_ is best for green pickles, on account of its size and
+tenderness. The _Cayenne_, a small, long variety, much resembling the
+original from which it is named, is very pungent, used mostly for
+pepper-sauce. Grind, not very fine, any of the varieties, and they are
+useful on any food of a cold nature and not easily digestible. They are
+all good for medicinal purposes. The capsicum needs a dry, warm soil,
+with exposure to the sun. Plants should stand two feet apart each way;
+as they are slow growers, they should be started in an early hotbed.
+Many will ripen during summer, and may be gathered. In the fall, when
+frost comes, the vines will be covered with blossoms and with peppers of
+all sizes. Fall-grown green ones, strung on a thread, and hung in a
+warm, dry room, will ripen finely. They are very hardy, and may be
+transplanted without injury. Hen-manure is best for them.
+
+
+PEPPERGRASS.
+
+This is a variety of cress, of quick growth, used as lettuce. On a rich,
+finely-pulverized soil, sow the seeds in drills, fifteen inches apart,
+and cover very lightly. Sow thick and water in dry weather. For use, cut
+the tops while they are very tender. A second crop will grow, but
+inferior to the first. The water-cress, growing spontaneously by rills
+and springs, is a kind of wild peppergrass, and is by some persons more
+esteemed than the garden variety. We prefer early lettuce to cresses or
+peppergrass, and see no reason for their cultivation, but their rapid
+growth.
+
+
+PLOWING.
+
+This is one of the most important matters in soil-culture. When, how,
+and how much, shall we plow? are the three questions involving the
+whole. When should plowing be done? As it respects wet or dry, plow
+sandy or gravelly land whenever you are ready. It will neither be hard
+when dry, nor injured by being plowed when very wet. Good loams may be
+plowed at all times except when excessively wet. Clays can only be
+worked profitably when neither excessively wet or dry. Plowing land in a
+warm rain is almost equal to a coat of manure. Plowing in a light snow
+in the spring will injure it the whole season. We have noticed a marked
+difference in corn growing but a rod apart, on land where snow was
+plowed in, and the other plowed two or three days later, after the snow
+was gone; this difference was noticeable in the rows throughout the
+entire field. Spring or fall plowing is a question that has been much
+discussed. Sod-land is better plowed in the fall. The action of winter
+rains and frosts on the turf is beneficial. The same is true of land
+trenched deep, where much of the hard, poor subsoil is brought to the
+surface: it is benefited by winter exposure. Other cultivated fields are
+injured by fall-plowing, unless it be very early. All stubble-land is
+much benefited by being plowed as soon as the grain is taken off. The
+weeds and stubble, plowed under, will be decomposed by the warm weather
+and rains, and benefit the soil almost as much as an ordinary coat of
+manure. Plowed late, such action does not take place, and the surface is
+injured by winter-exposure: hence, do all the _early_ fall-plowing
+possible, but plow nothing _late_ in the fall but sod-land.
+
+How shall we plow? All land should be subsoiled, except that having a
+light, porous subsoil; one deep plowing on such land is sufficient.
+Subsoiling is done by using two teams at once--one with a common plow,
+running deep, and the other with a subsoil-plow with no mould-board, and
+which will, consequently, stir and disintegrate the earth to the depth
+at which it runs, without throwing it to the surface. The next
+surface-furrow will cover up this loosened subsoil. In this way, land
+may be plowed eighteen inches deep, to the great benefit of any crop
+grown on it. If the surface be well manured, this method of plowing will
+place the manure between the first furrow and the subsoil, and increase
+its value. Such plowing is very valuable on land for young fruit-trees.
+There is another method, which we denominate double-plowing, which is
+more beneficial than ordinary subsoiling: it is performed by two common
+plows, one following in the furrow of the other; the first furrow need
+not be very deep--let the furrow in the bottom of the first be as deep
+as possible, and thrown out upon the surface; the next furrow will throw
+the surface and manure into the bottom of the deep furrow; the next
+furrow will cover this surface-soil and manure very deep, and, as manure
+always works up, it will impregnate the whole. This, for
+garden-vegetables, berries, nurseries, or young orchards, is the best
+form of plowing that we have ever tried. It may be done with one team,
+by simply changing the gauge of the clevis every time round, gauging it
+light for the first furrow, and deep for the second. We once prepared a
+plat in this way with one team, on which cabbages made a remarkable
+growth, even in a dry season. Still a farther improvement would be a
+light coat of fine manure on the surface. All furrows, in every
+description of plowing, should be near enough together to move the
+whole, leaving no hard places between them. The usual "cut and cover"
+system, to get over a large area in a day, is miserable economy. The
+more evenly and flatly land can be turned over in plowing, the better it
+will be; it retards the growth of weeds, and secures a better action
+upon substances plowed under. An exception to deep plowing is in
+breaking up the original prairies of the West: they have to be broken
+with plows kept sharp as a knife, and not more than two inches deep. The
+grass then dies and the sod rots. But plowed deep, the grass comes up
+through the turf, and will prove troublesome for two or three years. It
+must also be broken at a certain season of the year, to insure success.
+It may be profitably done for two months after the grass gets a good
+start in the spring.
+
+_How much_ is it best to plow land? Once double-plowed, or thoroughly
+subsoiled, and well turned over, is better than more. Land once plowed
+so as to disintegrate the whole to the depth of the furrow, will produce
+more, and require less care, than the same would do if cross-plowed once
+or twice. Excessive plowing is a positive injury. All land should be
+broken up once in three or four years, and not kept longer than that
+under the plow at one time. Some farmers keep land perpetually in grass,
+refusing to have a plow touch it on any condition. They see wrong
+tillage produce barrenness. But by this practice they are great losers;
+they never get over one half the hay or pasturage that could be obtained
+by frequent tillage and manuring, and a rotation of crops.
+
+
+PLUM.
+
+This is one of our best fruits, but suffers more from enemies than any
+other.
+
+_Propagation_ is by seeds or layers, budding or grafting. Seeds from
+trees not exposed to mixture with other varieties in the blossom, will
+produce the same; hence, this is the best method of propagating a given
+variety, standing alone. But, for most situations, budding is preferable
+to any other method. This should be performed earlier than on the peach.
+The plum matures earlier, and hence should be budded about the last of
+July, or first of August. Bud on the north side of the tree to avoid
+the hot sun; and tie more tightly than in budding other trees. Bud
+plum-trees the second year from the seed. Grafting should be resorted to
+only when buds have failed, and there is a prospect that the trees will
+be too large for budding another season. The common wild plums make good
+stocks, if grafted at the ground. Thoroughly mulch all newly-grafted
+plum-trees. Root-grafting will succeed, but should never be practised.
+In all grafting of plums, put the graft in at the surface of the ground,
+and cover with sawdust or mould, leaving but one bud on the graft
+exposed.
+
+_Soil._--All soils are good for the plum, provided they be thoroughly
+drained, and properly fertilized.
+
+Hard soils are recommended as being almost proof against the curculio.
+That a soil affording a rather hard, smooth surface, will afford less
+burrows for curculio, and consequently lessen their ravages, is no doubt
+true. But it is not a perfect remedy, and, on other accounts, such a
+soil is no better. A good firm loam is best. Plums will do well also on
+light land, but are more exposed to injury from the curculio.
+
+_Transplanting._--The plum being perfectly hardy, we recommend
+transplanting in autumn. Shorten in the top, cut off considerable of the
+tap-root, and the ends of the long roots, transplant well, and mulch so
+thoroughly as to prevent too strong action of the frost on the roots,
+and they will start early and do well. Twelve feet apart for small
+varieties, and twenty feet for larger growers, are the distances usually
+recommended. We think a rod apart each way will do well for all
+varieties.
+
+_Pruning._--Once started in a regular growth, in such a shape as you
+desire, no further pruning will be necessary but occasionally
+heading-in a too luxuriant shoot, and removing diseased and cross limbs.
+On rich Western lands, and in warm Southern climes, young plum-trees
+must be root-pruned and headed-in, or they will be unfruitful and
+unhealthy. Root-pruning should be done in August, in the following
+manner. In case of a tree ten feet high, take a sharp spade, and in a
+circle around the tree, two feet from the trunk (making the circle four
+feet in diameter), cut off all the roots within reach. In smaller trees,
+make the circle smaller, and in larger ones, larger. At the same time,
+shorten in the current year's growth, by cutting off one half the length
+of all the principal shoots; this will give vigor, symmetry, and
+fruitfulness, and prove a valuable preventive of disease. Plum-trees
+should always have good, clean cultivation.
+
+_Manures_ from the stable and slaughter-house, with wood-ashes, lime,
+and plenty of salt, are the best for the plum. The following analysis,
+by Richardson, of the fruit of the plum, will aid the culturist in his
+selection of manures:--
+
+  Potash            59.21
+  Soda                .54
+  Lime              10.04
+  Magnesia           5.46
+  Sulphuric acid     3.83
+  Silicic acid       2.36
+  Phosphoric acid   12.26
+  Phosphate of iron  6.04
+
+Hence, as wood-ashes contains much potash, and as this is the largest
+ingredient in the plum, it must be the best application to the soil for
+this fruit. Bones, dissolved in sulphuric acid, would also be very
+valuable. Bones, bonedust, salt, wood-ashes, and barnyard manure, with a
+little lime, will be all that will be necessary.
+
+_Diseases._--In most northern latitudes, the black wart, or knot, is
+fatal to many plum-trees. It is less prevalent at the South: its origin
+is not known. Many theories respecting it are put forth by different
+cultivators; they are unsatisfactory, and their enumeration here would
+be useless. It may be either the result of general ill health in the
+tree, from budding on suckers and unhealthy stocks, and a want of proper
+elements in the soil, or of improper circulation of sap, caused by the
+roots absorbing more than the leaves can digest. In the latter case,
+root-pruning and heading-in would be an effectual preventive. In the
+former, supply suitable manures, and give good cultivation. In every
+case, remove at once all affected parts, and wash the wounds and whole
+tree, and drench the soil under it, with copperas-water--one ounce of
+copperas to two gallons of water. This is stated to be a complete
+remedy.
+
+_Defoliation_ of seedlings and bearing trees often occurs in July and
+August. Land well supplied with the manures recommended, especially
+wood-ashes, salt, and the copperas-water, has not been known to produce
+trees that drop their leaves.
+
+_Decay of the Fruit_ is another serious evil. Professor Kirtland and
+others suppose it to be a species of fungus. Poverty of soil, and wet
+weather, may be the cause. If the season be unusually wet, thin the
+fruit, so that no two plums shall touch each other. Keep the soil
+properly manured, and spread charcoal or straw under the tree, and you
+will generally be able to preserve your fruit.
+
+_The Curculio_ is the great enemy of the plum, and frequently of all
+smooth-skinned fruits, as the grape, nectarine, &c.
+
+[Illustration: (1) Curculio, in the beetle-form, life-size. (2) Its
+assumed form when disturbed or shaken from the tree. (3) Larva, or worm,
+as found in the fallen fruit. (4) Pupa, or chrysalis state, in which it
+lives in the ground.]
+
+Many remedies are proposed: making pavements, or keeping the ground hard
+and smooth, under the trees; pasturing swine and keeping fowls in the
+plum-orchard; syringing the whole tops of the trees four or five times
+with lime and salt water, or lime and sulphur-water--the proportions are
+not material, provided it be not excessively strong. It is recommended
+to apply with a garden-syringe. But, as few cultivators will have that
+instrument, they may sprinkle the mixture on the trees in any way most
+convenient. Salt, worked into the soil under plum-trees, is said to
+destroy this insect in its pupa state. At any rate, the salt is a good
+manure for the plum-tree. We know a remedy for the ravages of the
+curculio, unfailing in all seasons and localities--that is, to kill
+them: spread a cloth under the tree, and with a mallet having a head,
+covered with India-rubber or cloth that it may not injure the bark,
+strike the body and large limbs sudden blows, which will so jar them as
+to cause the insects to fall upon the cloth, and you can then burn them.
+Do this five or six times in the season, commencing when the fruit
+begins to set, and continuing till it becomes nearly full-grown. This is
+best done in the cool of the morning, while the insects are still; their
+habits of fear and quiet, when there is a noise about, are greatly in
+favor of their destruction by this method. This is somewhat laborious,
+but is a sure remedy, and will pay well in all plum-orchards, large or
+small. After two or three years of this treatment, there will be few or
+none of those insects left.
+
+_Uses_ of the plum are various. The fine varieties, well ripened, are a
+good dessert-fruit; for sweetmeats and tarts they are much esteemed;
+they are one of the better and more wholesome dried fruits. The foreign
+ones are called prunes, and are an article of commerce. With a little
+care, we can raise much better prunes than the imported. Like all
+fruits, they are better for quick drying by artificial heat. The French
+prunes, the process of drying which is minutely described by Downing in
+his fruit-book, are no better than our best varieties, quickly dried by
+artificial heat in a dry house, or moderately-heated oven. All dried
+fruit is much better for having become perfectly ripe before picking. It
+is a great mistake to suppose unripe fruit will be good dried.
+
+[Illustration: Lawrence's Favorite.]
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and many of them ought to be forgotten, as is
+the case with all other fruits. We give a small list, containing all the
+good qualities of the whole:--
+
+_Bleecker's Gage._--A hardy tree and sure bearer. Time, August.
+
+[Illustration: Imperial Gage.]
+
+[Illustration: Egg.]
+
+_Imperial Gage._--This is an American variety. It is of a lightish-green
+color, and excellent flavor. Season, July at the South, and September at
+the North.
+
+_Egg._--The above cut represents one of the egg-plums, of excellent
+quality in all respects. There are many of this name.
+
+_Lawrence's Favorite._--This is a fine plum, of the gage family. It was
+raised from the seed of the green gage; its qualities are seldom
+surpassed.
+
+_Washington._--This is a very good plum for high latitudes. At the South
+it is too dry.
+
+[Illustration: Green Gage.]
+
+[Illustration: Jefferson.]
+
+_Green Gage._--With fifteen synonyms. Excellent.
+
+_Jefferson._--One of the very best. Time, last of August.
+
+_Denniston's Purple, or Red._--Vigorous grower and very productive.
+Time, August 20.
+
+_Madison._--A hardy, productive, and excellent October plum.
+
+The foregoing varieties, with the little black damson-plum, so hardy and
+productive, and so much esteemed for preserving, will answer all needful
+purposes. You will find long lists in the fruit-books. Some of them are
+the above varieties, under different names. Procure four or five of the
+best you can find in your vicinity, and cultivate them, and you will
+need no others.
+
+[Illustration: Washington.]
+
+
+POMEGRANATE.
+
+This is one of the most delicious and beautiful of all the
+dessert-fruits. Native in China, and much cultivated in Southern Europe.
+It will do quite well as far north as the Ohio river. Trained as an
+espalier, with protection of straw or mats, it will do tolerably well
+throughout the Middle states. The fruit is about as large as an ordinary
+apple, and has a tough, orange-colored skin, with a beautiful red cheek.
+The tree is of low growth. Blossoms are highly ornamental, as is also
+the fruit, during all the season. It is cultivated as the orange.
+
+There are several varieties: the _sweet-fruited_, the _sub-acid_, and
+the _wild_ or _acid-fruited_. The first is the best, and the second the
+one most cultivated in this country; the latter yields a very pleasant
+acid, making an excellent sirup. Pomegranates should be extensively
+cultivated at the South, and form an important article of commerce for
+Northern cities.
+
+
+POTATO.
+
+This is far the most valuable of all esculent roots; supposed to be a
+native of South America. It is called the Irish potato, because it was
+grown extensively first in Ireland. It was first planted on the estate
+of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1602. It was introduced into England in 1694.
+It has been represented as having been introduced into England from
+Virginia as early as 1586, but attracted no attention, and for two
+centuries formed no considerable part of British agriculture. It has
+become naturalized in all temperate regions, and in many locations in
+high latitudes. In tropical climates, it flourishes on the mountains, at
+an elevation sufficient to secure a cool atmosphere. Cool moist regions,
+as Ireland and the northern parts of the United States, are most
+favorable for potatoes. In warm climates the potato grows less
+luxuriantly, yields much less, and is liable to be ruined by a second
+growth. In the latitude of southern Ohio, a severe drought, while the
+tubers are small, followed by considerable rain, causes the young
+potatoes to sprout, and send up fresh shoots, and often make a very
+luxuriant growth of tops, to the complete ruin of the tubers. This is
+called second growth. In cooler climates this second growth simply makes
+prongs on the tubers, thus injuring the appearance and quality, but
+increasing the crop. The only preventive is watering regularly in a dry
+time. This can be done advantageously in a garden, and on a small scale.
+In field culture, when second growth occurs, dig your potatoes at once,
+if they are large enough to be of much use. If not they will all be
+lost.
+
+_Propagation_ is by annually planting the tubers. No mixture of sorts
+ever takes place from planting different varieties together. This can
+only be done in the blossoms, and will consequently appear in young
+seedlings. To raise good potatoes, always plant ripe seed, and the
+largest and best, and leave them whole. Selecting small potatoes for
+seed, and cutting them up, and planting mere eyes and pearings as some
+do, has done much to injure the health, quality, and quantity of yield
+of the potato. Selecting the poorest for seed, will run out anything we
+grow in the soil. _New varieties_ have been multiplying within the past
+few years from seed. Some gentlemen are raising varieties by thousands.
+Not more than one out of a thousand prove truly valuable. The quality of
+a new variety can not be established earlier than the fifth year. Many
+that promised well at first proved worthless.
+
+To raise from seed, gather the balls after they have matured, hang them
+in a dry place till they become quite soft, when separate the seeds and
+dry them as others, and plant as early as the temperature of the soil
+favors vegetation. Chance varieties from seed of balls left to decay in
+the fall, as tomatoes, are recorded. Probably our present best varieties
+had such an origin. Raising new varieties requires much care and
+patience. Keep each one separate, plant only the best, and then you
+must wait four or five years to determine whether, out of a thousand,
+you have one good variety.
+
+_Varieties._--These are numerous. Those best adapted to one locality,
+are often inferior in another. That excellent potato, the Carter, so
+firm in New England and western New York, is ill-shapen and inferior in
+many localities in Illinois. The Neshannock or common Mercer produces a
+larger yield in Illinois than in the Eastern states, but of a slightly
+inferior quality. Most seeds do better transported from a colder to a
+warmer climate, but with the potato the reverse is true. The best
+potatoes of Ireland are usually inferior in the warmer latitudes of this
+country. In ordering potatoes for seed it is better to describe the
+quality than to order by the name. We omit any list, of even the best
+varieties. They are known by different names, and are not equally good
+in all localities. And all varieties are scattered over the whole
+country, very soon, by dealers, and through the agency of agricultural
+societies and periodicals. Different varieties should be kept separate,
+as they look better for market, and no two will cook in precisely the
+same time.
+
+_Plant the large potatoes and plant them whole._ From a small eye or a
+small potato to the largest they will vegetate equally well. And in a
+wet, cool season, the small seed will produce nearly as good a crop as
+the large. But the large seed matures earlier, and in a dry season
+produces a much larger crop. The moisture in a large potato decaying in
+the hill, is of great use to the growing plants, in a dry season. It is
+also generally conceded that potatoes growing from cut seed are more
+liable to be affected by the rot.
+
+_Quantity of seed per acre._--The practices of farmers vary from five
+to twenty bushels. It takes a less number of bushels per acre when the
+seed is cut. The quantity is also affected by the size of the seed, the
+larger the potatoes the more will it take to seed an acre.
+
+Plentiful, but not excessive, seeding is best. It is a universal fact
+that you can never get something for nothing. Hence light seeding will
+bring a light yield. We think it best to put one good-sized potato in a
+place and make the rows three feet apart each way. We think they yield
+better than at any other distances or in any other way. We have often
+tried drills, and found them more trouble, with no greater yield. The
+soil should be disintegrated to the depth of sixteen inches and the
+potatoes planted four inches deep, and cultivated with subsoil plow, and
+other suitable tools, in a manner to leave the surface nearly flat.
+Hilling up potatoes never does any good. We advise always to harrow the
+crop, as soon as they begin to appear through the soil.
+
+_Soil._--Any good rich garden soil is good for this crop, provided it be
+well drained. Potatoes like moisture, but are ruined by having water
+stand in the soil. New land and newly broken-up old pastures are best.
+
+_Manures._--All the usual fertilizers are good for potatoes, but
+especially ashes and plaster. The application above all others, for
+potatoes, is potash. Dissolve it in water, making it quite weak, and
+saturate your other manures with it, and the effect will always be
+marked. The tops contain a great deal of potash, and should always be
+plowed in and decay in the soil where they grow, otherwise they will
+rapidly exhaust the land. It is supposed that nothing will do more to
+restore the former vigor and health of the potato than a liberal
+application of potash in the soil in which they grow. The crop will be
+much increased in a dry season by manuring in the hill, dropping the
+potato first and putting the manure on the top of it.
+
+_Gathering and Preserving._--The usual hand-digging with hoe or
+potato-fork are well known, and do well when the crop is not large. But
+for those who grow potatoes for market, it is better to employ the plow
+in digging. Modern inventions for this purpose can everywhere be found
+in the agricultural warehouses. Potatoes are well preserved in a good
+cool cellar, in boxes or barrels; and are better for being covered with
+moist sand. The usual method of burying them outdoor is effectual and
+safe, if they be covered beyond the reach of frost, and have a small
+airhole at the apex, filled with straw.
+
+_The Potato Disease._--This is altogether atmospherical. A new piece of
+land was cleared for potatoes. In the middle was a close muck, on a
+coarse, gravelly subsoil. In the lowest place a ditch was dug, to carry
+off the superabundance of water; from that ditch the coarse gravel was
+thrown out on one side, and suffered to remain at considerable depth.
+Only two or three rods distant, on one side the plat extended over a
+knoll of loose sand. Potatoes were planted, from the same seed, at the
+same time, and in the same manner, on these three kinds of land, side by
+side. They were all tended alike, needing little hoeing or care, the
+land being new. The rot prevailed badly that season. On digging the
+potatoes, it was found that in the coarse gravel, where the air could
+circulate almost as freely as in a pile of stove-wood, all the potatoes
+were rotten: on the muck, which was unlike a peat-bog, very fine and
+tight, almost impervious to the atmosphere, they were nearly all sound;
+on the sand, which was quite open, but tighter than the gravel, part
+were decayed and the rest sound. Their condition was graduated entirely
+by the condition of the soil. It is an apparent objection to this
+theory, that when the rot prevails, the best potatoes are raised on
+light, sandy soils. It is said that they are open to the action of air.
+To this it is replied, that whether they rot or not, in sandy soils,
+depends on the kind of sand. On some sand they rot very badly, on others
+hardly at all. Sandy soils differ very materially: some are almost pure
+silex; while others are filled with a fine dust, and, although
+apparently loose, are much more nearly impervious to the air than
+heavier soils; on the former, nearly all will decay, and on the latter,
+most will be preserved.
+
+Look at the immense potato crops near Rochester, N. Y., on sandy land.
+We have personally examined it, and find it to be filled with dust, that
+excludes the air, and saves the potato from rot. Why, then, is a heavy
+clay useless for potatoes? Is not clay a very tight soil? Unbroken it
+is; but, when plowed, it is always left in larger particles than other
+land--it is but seldom pulverized. The spaces between the particles are
+all open to the free action of the air; hence, instead of being close,
+it is one of the most open of all our soils. This confirms the theory.
+
+The influence of manuring land is still another confirmation. We are
+directed not to manure our land for potatoes when the disease prevails.
+It is said we can raise no sound potatoes on rich land when the rot is
+abroad. This is an error. The richness of the soil does not promote the
+disease; but if any kind of manure be applied that, from its bulk and
+coarseness, keeps the soil open to the air, the potatoes will rot. But
+fertilize to the highest extent, in any way that does not make the soil
+too open, and let in the air, and the crop will be greatly increased
+with perfect safety. Thus, this theory, like every truth, perfectly fits
+in all its bearings.
+
+There is, then, no perfect remedy for the disease but in the power of
+Him who can purify the atmosphere. Numerous remedies and preventives
+have been recommended, by those who suppose they have tried them with
+success. But in other localities and soils, all their remedies have
+failed, as will all others that will yet be discovered. A careful
+examination of the texture of the soils, upon the principles here
+indicated, and a repetition of their experiments, will show the
+discoverers that their success depended upon their soils, while others
+failed in using the same remedies on other soils. The practical uses of
+this theory are obvious. When the disease is abroad, we should select
+soil that excludes, as much as possible, the atmosphere, and plant
+_deep_; on all land not liable to have water stand on the subsoil. Do
+not be deceived into the belief that all sandy land will bear good
+potatoes, in the seasons when the disease prevails. The worst rot we
+ever had was in 1855, on very sandy land. This year (1857) we have
+witnessed the worst rot in open sand and gravel. Add to this, great care
+in preserving the health of the tubers. Plant very early, only whole
+potatoes, and of mature growth, thoroughly ripe; apply a little salt and
+lime, plaster rather plentifully, and potash, or plenty of
+wood-ashes--and you will succeed in the worst of seasons.
+
+
+PRESERVING FRUITS, &c.
+
+The essentials in preserving fruits, berries, and vegetables, during the
+whole year, are, a total exclusion from atmospheric action, and, in some
+vegetables, a strong action of heat. We have a variety of patent cans,
+and several processes are recommended. The patent cans serve a good
+purpose, but, for general use, are inferior to those ordinarily made by
+the tinman. The patent articles are only good for one year, and are used
+with greater difficulty by the unskilful. The ordinary tin cans, made in
+the form of a cylinder, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you would preserve, will last ten years, with careful usage,
+and they are so simple that no mistakes need be made. It is usually
+recommended to solder on the cover, which is simply a square piece of
+tin large enough to cover the orifice. Soldering may be best for those
+cans that are to be transported a long distance, but it is troublesome,
+and is entirely unnecessary for domestic use. A little sealing-wax,
+which any apothecary can make at a cheap rate, laid on the top of the
+can when hot, will melt, and the cover placed upon it will adhere and
+cause it to be air-tight. All articles that do not part with their aroma
+by being cooked, may be perfectly preserved in such cans, by putting
+them in when boiling, seasoned to your taste, and putting on the covers
+at once. The cans should be full, and set in a cool place, and the
+articles will remain in a perfect state for a year. The finest articles
+of fruit, as peaches and strawberries, may be preserved so as to retain
+all their peculiar aroma, by putting them into such cans, filled with a
+sirup of pure sugar, and placing the cans so filled in a kettle of
+water, and raising it to a boiling heat, and then putting on the cover
+as above; the heat expels the air, and the cover and wax keep it out.
+Stone jugs are used for the same purposes, but are not sufficiently
+tight to keep out the air, unless well painted after having become cold.
+Wide-mouthed glass bottles are excellent. But, in using glass or stone
+ware, the corks must be put in and tied at the commencement, leaving a
+small aperture for the escape of steam, and the process of raising the
+water to a boiling heat must be gradual, requiring three or four hours,
+or the bottles will be broken by sudden expansion. Make the corks
+air-tight by covering with sealing-wax on taking from the boiling water.
+Some vegetables, as peas, beans, cauliflowers, &c., need considerable
+boiling, in order to perfect preservation. Tin cans may stand in the
+water and boil an hour or two, if you choose, and then be sealed. The
+bottles should be corked tight, have the cork tied in, and then be
+immersed and boil for an hour: take them out, and dip the cork and mouth
+of the bottles in sealing-wax, and all will be safe.
+
+By one of these processes, exclusion of the atmosphere and thorough
+boiling, we may preserve any fruit or vegetable, so as to have an
+abundance, nearly as good as the fresh in its season, the whole year,
+and that at a trifling expense. All fruits and vegetables may also be
+preserved by drying. By being properly dried, the original aroma can be
+mostly retained. The essentials in properly drying are artificial heat
+and free circulation of the air about the drying articles. Fruit dried
+in the sun is not nearly so fine as that dried by artificial heat. An
+oven from which bread has just been taken is suitable for this purpose;
+but a dry-house is better. A tight room, with a stove in the bottom, and
+the fruit in shallow drawers, put in from the outside, serves a good
+purpose. Construct the room so as to give a draft, the heated air
+passing out at the top, and the process of drying will be greatly
+facilitated, and the more rapid the process, without cooking the fruit,
+the better will be its quality. This process is applicable to all kinds
+of vegetables. Roots, as beets, carrots, parsnips, or potatoes, should
+be sliced before drying. The object in drying the latter articles would
+be to afford the luxury of good vegetables for armies and ships' crews,
+in distant regions, and in climates where they are not grown. Milk can
+be condensed and preserved for a long time, and, being greatly reduced
+in quantity, it is easily transported. It is not generally known in the
+country that Mr. Gail Borden, of New York, has invented a method of
+condensing milk, fresh from the cow, so that it will perfectly retain
+all its excellences, including the cream, and by being sealed up in tin
+cans, as above, may be kept for many months. The milk and the process of
+condensation have been scientifically examined by the New York Academy
+of Medicine, and pronounced perfect, and of great value to the world. We
+have used the condensed milk, which was more than a month old; it had
+been kept in a tin can without sealing and without ice, but in a cool
+place. It was sweet and good, differing in no respect from fresh milk
+from the cow, except that the heat employed in condensing it gave it the
+taste of boiled milk. If kept in a warm place, and exposed to the
+atmosphere, it may sour nearly as soon as other milk: but it may be
+sealed up and kept cool so as to be good for a long time. The
+condensation is accomplished by simple evaporation of the watery part,
+in pans in vacuo. No substance whatever is put into the milk. Four
+gallons of fresh milk are condensed into one. When wanted for use, the
+quantity desired is put into twice the quantity of water, which makes
+good cream for coffee; or one part to four of water makes good new milk;
+and one part to five or six makes a better milk than that usually sold
+in cities. Steamers now lay in a supply for a voyage to Liverpool and
+return, and on arrival in New York, the milk is as good as when taken on
+board. The advantages will be numerous. Such milk will be among regular
+supplies for armies and navies, and for all shipping to distant
+countries. All cities and villages may have pure, cheap milk, as the
+condensation will render transportation so cheap that milk can be sent
+from any part of the country where it is most plenty and cheapest. The
+process is patented, but will be granted to others at reasonable rates,
+by Borden & Co.; and eventually it will become general, when farmers can
+condense and lay by, in the season when it is abundant, milk for use in
+the winter, when cows are dry. This will make milk abundant at all
+seasons of the year, and plenty wherever we choose to carry it. It will
+also save the lives of thousands of children, in cities, that are fed on
+unwholesome milk or poisonous mixtures. There is no temptation to
+adulterate such milk, for the process of condensation is cheaper than
+any mixture that could be passed.
+
+Preserving hams is effectually done by either of the following methods.
+After well curing and smoking, sew them up in a bag of cotton cloth,
+fitting closely, and dip them into a tub of lime-whitewash, nearly as
+thick as cream, and hang up in a cool room. This is a good method,
+though they will sometimes mould. The other process, and the one we most
+recommend, is to put well cured and smoked hams in a cask, or box, with
+very fine charcoal; put in a layer of charcoal, and then one of hams;
+cover with another layer of coal and then of hams, and so on, until the
+cask is full, or all your hams are deposited. No mould will appear, and
+no insect will touch them. This method is perfect.
+
+Another process, involving the same principles as the preceding, is to
+wrap the hams in muslin, and bury them in salt. The muslin keeps the
+salt from striking in, and the salt prevents mould and insects.
+
+
+PUMPKIN.
+
+There are some five or six varieties in cultivation. Loudon says six,
+and Russell's catalogue has five. The number is increasing, and names
+becoming uncertain. Certain varieties are called pumpkins by some, and
+squashes by others. The large yellow Connecticut, or Yankee pumpkin, is
+best for all uses. The large cheese pumpkin is good at the South and
+West. The mammoth that has weighed as high as two hundred and thirty
+pounds, is a squash, more ornamental than useful. The seven years'
+pumpkin is a great keeper. It has doubtless been kept through several
+years without decay. Pumpkins will grow on any good rich soil, but best
+on new land, and in a wet season. Do best alone, but will grow well
+among corn and better with potatoes. A good crop of pumpkins can seldom
+be raised, two years in succession, on the same land. Care in saving
+seed is very important. The spot on the end that was originally covered
+by the blossom, varies much in dimensions, on pumpkins of the same size.
+Seeds from those having small blossom-marks, bear very few, and from
+those having large ones, produce abundantly.
+
+They are good fall and winter feed for most animals. They will cause
+hogs to grow rapidly, if boiled with roots, and mixed with a little
+grain. Fed raw to milch cows and fattening cattle, they are valuable.
+Learn a horse to eat them raw, and if his work be not too hard, he will
+fatten on them. They may be preserved in a dry cellar, in a warm room as
+sweet potatoes, or in a mow of hay or straw, that will not freeze
+through. But for family use they are better stewed green, and dried.
+
+
+QUINCE.
+
+This fruit, with its uses, for drying, cooking, marmalades, flavors to
+tarts and pies made of other fruits, and for preserving as a sweetmeat,
+is well known and highly esteemed.
+
+The quince is rather a shrub than a tree. It should be set ten feet
+apart each way, in deep, rich soil. It needs little pruning, except
+removing dead or cross branches, and cutting off and burning at once,
+twigs affected with the insect-blight, as mentioned under pears. The
+soil should be manured every year, by working-in a top-dressing of fine
+manure, including a little salt.
+
+_Propagation_--is by seeds, buds, or cuttings. Budding does very well.
+Seedlings are not always true to the varieties. Cuttings, put out early
+and a little in the shade, nearly all take. This is the best and easiest
+method of propagation.
+
+There are several varieties; the _apple-shaped_, _pear-shaped_, and the
+_Portugal_, are the principal.
+
+The apple-shaped, or orange quince (and perhaps the large-fruited may be
+the same) is, on the whole, the best of all. Early, a great bearer, and
+excellent for all uses. The pear-shaped is smaller, harder, and later.
+It may be kept longer in a green state, and therefore be carried much
+farther. The only reason for cultivating it would be its lateness and
+its keeping qualities. The Portugal quince is the finest fruit of all,
+but is such a shy bearer as to be unprofitable. The _Rea quince_ is a
+seedling raised by Mr. Joseph Rea, of Greene county, New York, and is
+pronounced by Downing "an acquisition." The fruit is very handsome, and
+one third larger than the common apple or orange quince. The tree is
+thrifty, hardy, and productive. It is a valuable modification of the
+apple-shaped or orange quince, superior to the original. Such varieties
+may be multiplied and improved, by new seedlings and high cultivation.
+
+
+RABBITS.
+
+To prevent rabbits and mice from girdling fruit-trees in winter, is very
+important to fruit-growers. The meadow-mouse is very destructive to
+young trees, under cover of snow. Rabbits will girdle trees after the
+green foliage on which they delight to feed is gone. Take four quarts of
+fresh-slaked lime, the same quantity of fresh cows' dung, two quarts of
+salt, and a handful of flour of sulphur; mix all together, with just
+enough water to bring it to the consistency of thick paint. At the
+commencement of cold weather, paint the trunks of the trees two feet
+high with this mixture, and not a tree will suffer from rabbits or
+mice. Treading own the snow does good, but it is very troublesome, and
+not a perfect remedy. Experience has never known the foregoing wash to
+fail.
+
+
+RADISH.
+
+This is a well-known root, eaten only raw, and when young and tender. A
+rich sandy soil is best. Like most turnips, the roots are more tender
+and perfect when grown in rather cool weather; hence, those grown in
+early spring are better than a summer growth. They do well in an early
+hotbed.
+
+The _Scarlet_ and _White Turnip-rooted_ are fine for early use. They are
+always small, but fair, and very early.
+
+The _Scarlet Short-top_ comes next, and is a very fine variety. These
+may be had through the whole season, by sowing at proper intervals;
+hence, others are unnecessary. Other good varieties are the _Summer_, or
+_Long White Naples_; _Long Salmon_, a large, gray radish, not generally
+described in the books (a splendid variety in southern Ohio); and the
+_Black Spanish_ for fall and winter use. This grows large like a turnip,
+and is preserved in the same way. The best method of guarding against
+worms is to take equal quantities of fresh horse-manure and
+buckwheat-bran, and mix and spade them into the bed. Active fermentation
+follows, and toadstools will grow up within forty-eight hours, when you
+should spade up the bed again and sow the seed; they will grow very
+quickly, be very tender, and entirely free from worms.
+
+Radish-seed is sown with slow-vegetating seeds, as carrots, beets,
+parsnips, &c. The radishes mark the rows, so that they may be cleared of
+weeds, and the ground stirred before the plants would otherwise be
+discernible, and also shade the germinating seeds and the young plants
+from destruction from a hot sun. The radishes may be pulled out when the
+main crop needs the ground and sun. For this purpose the scarlet
+short-top variety is used, because the long root loosens the soil in
+pulling; and as the crown stands so much above the surface, they may be
+crushed down with a small roller, and thus destroyed without the labor
+of pulling. Sowing radish-seed among root-crops, and cultivating early
+with a root-cleaner, an acre of roots can be raised with about the same
+labor as an acre of corn.
+
+
+RASPBERRY.
+
+The common black raspberry we have noticed elsewhere as one of the most
+profitable in cultivation. The other varieties, worthy of general
+cultivation, are the Franconia, the Fastollf, the red, and the white or
+yellow Antwerp. Any good garden-soil is suitable for raspberries. It
+should be worked deep, and have decayed wood and leaves mixed with
+barnyard manure and wood-ashes. In all but very cold latitudes,
+raspberries should be planted where they may be a little shaded. None of
+the finer old varieties produce a good crop of fruit without
+winter-protection. The canes may live without it, but will bear but
+little fruit. The best method of protection is to bend down the canes at
+the beginning of winter, before the ground freezes, and cover them
+lightly, with the soil around them. They should first have some
+well-rotted manure put around the canes. Stools should be four feet
+apart, and have about five or six canes in a stool. Cut away the rest.
+The best of all manures for raspberries is said to be spent tan-bark.
+Put it around in the fall to the depth of two inches; work it into the
+soil in the spring, and put around fresh tan-bark, to the same depth.
+
+The varieties for general cultivation are few. The common black is one
+of the best. The common wild American red, native in all the Middle and
+Eastern states, is greatly improved by cultivation. As it is perfectly
+hardy, and a great and early bearer, it should have a place in every
+collection. The Franconia is a fine fruit, and, among those generally
+cultivated, occupies the first place. The yellow Antwerp is
+fine-flavored and good-sized, but too soft for a general market-berry.
+The same is true of the Fastollf. The red Antwerp is good, but quite
+inferior to the new red Antwerp, or Hudson River Antwerp. The Ohio
+Evergreen is a new variety, hardy, prolific, and a long bearer, fine
+fruit in considerable quantities having been picked on the 1st of
+November. On this account, it should be in every garden. There are two
+kinds of red raspberries brought to notice by Mr. Lewis P. Allen, of
+Black Rock, N. Y., that deserve extensive cultivation, if they warrant
+his recommendation. Mr. Allen says he has cultivated them for a number
+of years, and, with no winter protection, they have borne a large crop
+of excellent fruit every year, pronounced by dealers in Buffalo market
+superior to any other variety. Should these varieties prove equally good
+elsewhere, they deserve a place in every garden in the land.
+
+
+RHUBARB.
+
+There are several varieties of rhubarb now in cultivation.
+
+_The Victoria, Mammoth, and Scotch Hybrid_, all of which (if they be
+really distinct) are fine and large, under proper culture. There is much
+of the old inferior kind, which generally affords only small short
+leaves, and which is of no value, compared with the large varieties. The
+method of growing is very simple, and yet the value of the plant depends
+mainly on right cultivation.
+
+Propagation is by seeds, or by dividing the roots. By seed is
+preferable. The idea that the largest kinds will not produce seed is
+incorrect. We raised four or five quarts of seed from a single plant of
+the largest variety, in one season. Young plants are suitable for
+transplanting after the first year's growth. They should be set three
+feet apart each way. The soil should be thoroughly enriched and trenched
+two feet deep, with plenty of well-rotted manure in the bottom, and
+mixed in all the soil. Plant the crowns two or three inches below the
+surface to allow stirring the ground in the spring, without injury.
+After this they will only want enriching with well-rotted manure in
+rather liberal quantities, worked in with a fork in the fall or spring.
+Covering up with manure in the fall is good. Those who raise the largest
+leaves, lay bare the crowns in spring, and with a sharp knife, remove
+all the smaller crown-buds. The leaves will be greatly reduced in
+number, but increased in size. We have often seen a single stem of a
+leaf that weighed a full pound.
+
+The roots live many years. We know a single root, in St. Lawrence
+county, N. Y., from which we ate pies and tarts twenty-two years ago,
+and which is now so vigorous as to yield more than a supply for two
+families through the season. The only care it has ever had, has been
+liberal supplies of well-rotted manure. The seed stocks have generally
+been broken off. They should always be, unless you wish to raise seed,
+then save one or two of the strongest. New crowns come out on the sides,
+from year to year, until each plant will cover a considerable space. The
+one mentioned, as being twenty-two years old, has never been moved
+during the whole time. It is not the giant kind, but the leaves are
+large and long. Rhubarb has a better flavor and requires much less
+sugar, by blanching. This is best done by placing an old barrel, without
+a bottom, over the hill as it begins to grow. The leaves will grow long,
+with white tender stems. Use it when the leaves are half or full grown,
+as you please.
+
+
+RICE.
+
+This, in its value to the world as an article of food, is next to Indian
+corn. It is the main article of diet for one third of the human race. It
+is produced only in certain parts of the world, and its cultivation is
+so simple and easy, and so much a department of agriculture by itself,
+that we omit directions for growing it. The ravages of the rice-weevil,
+so destructive to rice lying in bulk, are prevented by the application
+of common salt, at the rate of half a pound to the bushel.
+
+
+ROCKS.
+
+We frequently find, on some of our best land, large boulders, very hard,
+and too large to be removed, with any team we can command, and which
+would be in the way, in any place to which we might remove them. The
+best way to get rid of them, when it can be afforded, is to burn or
+blast them into pieces small enough to be easily handled. When this can
+not be afforded, the best method is to make an excavation by the side of
+them, deep enough to let them sink below the reach of the plow, and
+allow them to fall in, being careful not to get caught by them.
+
+
+ROLLER.
+
+This is quite as indispensable to good farming and gardening as any
+other tool. It serves a great variety of useful purposes. The first is
+to pulverize soils. No man can get a full crop on a soil not made fine
+on the surface, however rich that soil may be. It is often the case that
+land needs rolling two or three times before the last harrowing and
+sowing the seed. Another purpose is, on all light soils, to place the
+soil close around the seeds after they have been covered. When this is
+not done, seeds will vegetate very unevenly, and, in dry weather, some
+of them not at all. Another advantage of rolling a field-crop is the
+greater facility and economy with which it can be harvested. It makes a
+level, smooth surface, sinking small stones out of the way of the scythe
+or reaper. Rolling makes grass-seed catch, when sown with a spring-crop.
+All beds of small seeds--as onions, beets, carrots, parsnips,
+&c.--should be rolled after planting. It will so smooth the surface,
+that hoeing and cultivating can be done without injury to the plants.
+The rows are also much more easily seen while the plants are young. Any
+crop will grow better and larger by not being too much exposed to the
+action of the atmosphere on its roots. When the soil is coarse, part of
+the seeds and roots are greatly exposed to the action of the atmosphere,
+and this exposure is very irregular. The roller so crushes the lumps and
+fills up the openings in the soil as to cause the atmosphere to act
+regularly on the whole crop. Few farmers stop to think that the pressure
+of the atmosphere on their soils is fifteen pounds' weight on every
+square inch, and that, hence, the air must penetrate to a considerable
+depth into the soil; and where the soil is coarse, the air enters too
+freely, and acts too powerfully for the good of the plants. Rollers are
+made of wood, iron, or freestone. For most purposes, wood is best. A log
+made true and even, or, better, narrow plank nailed on cylindrical ends,
+are the usual forms. From eighteen inches to three feet in diameter is
+the better size. Iron or stone rollers, in sections, are best for
+pulverizing soil disposed to cake from being annually overflowed with
+water, or from other causes.
+
+
+ROOT CROPS.
+
+It is important that American farmers learn to attach much greater
+importance to the culture of roots. The potato is the best of all roots
+for feeding; but, as the yield has become so light in most localities,
+and the demand for it for human food has so greatly increased, it will
+no longer be grown extensively as food for animals. Farmers must,
+therefore, turn their attention to beets, carrots, and parsnips.
+Reasonable tillage will produce one thousand bushels to the acre of
+beets and carrots, and two hundred more of parsnips. These roots, raw or
+cooked, are valuable for all domestic animals. A horse will do better on
+part oats and part carrots, or beets, than upon clear oats. For milch
+cows, young stock, and fattening cattle, and for sheep and fowls, they
+are highly valuable. With the facilities now enjoyed, they may be raised
+at a cheap rate. Plant scarlet short-top radish-seed in the rows, to
+shade the vegetating seed and young plants, and to mark the rows, to
+facilitate clearing and stirring the ground, while the plants are very
+young, and using the most approved root-cleaners, and the same amount of
+food can not be grown at the same price in any other crops.
+
+
+SAFFRON.
+
+This is a well-known medicinal herb, as easily grown as a bean or
+sunflower. It is principally used in eruptive diseases, to induce
+moisture of the skin and keep the eruption out. Sow in any good soil, in
+rows eighteen inches apart, and keep clean of weeds. When in full bloom,
+the flowers are gathered and dried.
+
+
+SAGE.
+
+This is a hardy garden-herb, easily grown. Its value for medicinal and
+culinary purposes is well known. It is propagated by seeds, or by
+dividing the roots. With suitable protection in winter, roots will live
+for a number of years, bearing seed after the first.
+
+_Varieties_ are, the _red_, the _broad-leaved_, the _green_, and the
+_small-leaved green_. The red is most used for culinary purposes, and
+the broad-leaved is most medicinal. All the varieties may be used for
+the same purposes. Any garden-soil, not decidedly wet, is suitable for
+sage. Raise new plants once in three or four years. Plants may be
+renovated, by certain culture and care, but it is better to grow new
+ones. Cut the leaves two or three times in the season, and dry quickly,
+and put away in paper bags; or, better, pulverize and cork up in glass
+bottles. This is the best method of preserving all herbs for domestic
+use.
+
+
+SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.
+
+This is a hardy biennial vegetable, resembling a small parsnip, and as
+easily grown. When properly cooked, its flavor resembles the oyster,
+whence its name. Sow and cultivate as parsnips or carrots. It is
+suitable for use from November to May. It is better for being allowed to
+remain in the ground until wanted for use, though it may be well kept,
+in moist sand in the cellar. Care is necessary in saving seed as it
+shells and blows away like thistle seed, as soon as ripe. It must be
+sown quite thick, on account of its proneness not to vegetate. It should
+be more extensively cultivated.
+
+
+SCRAPING LAND.
+
+This is a process needed only on land that has not been under
+cultivation long enough to become level. All new land has many knolls of
+greater or less size. As soon as the roots are out sufficiently to allow
+it, the knolls should be plowed and leveled with a common scraper. Most
+farmers neglect it as injurious to the soil, and too expensive. But when
+we consider that rough land never gets well plowed, and that the gradual
+wearing away of the knolls will continue their unproductiveness for a
+number of years, it will be seen that the cheapest way is to plow and
+scrape the land level at once, and thoroughly manure the places from
+which the soil has been scraped.
+
+
+SEEDS.
+
+The best of everything should be saved for seed. Peas, beans, corn,
+tomatoes, &c., should not be gathered promiscuously, finally preserving
+the last that matures, for seed. Leave some of the finest and earliest
+stocks, and from them save seed, not from the first or the last that
+matures, but from the earliest that grows large and fair. Save
+tomato-seed from those that grow largest, but near the root. Gather all
+seeds as soon as mature, as remaining exposed to the weather is
+unfavorable to vegetation. Dry in a warm place in the shade, but not too
+near a stove or fire. Keep in paper bags, hung in a dry airy place,
+beyond the reach of mice.
+
+Trying the quality of seeds is important, as it may save loss and
+disappointment, from sowing seeds that will not vegetate. A little
+cotton wool or moss in a tumbler containing a little water, and placed
+in a warm room, will afford a good means of testing seeds. Seeds placed
+on that wool, will vegetate sooner than they would do in the soil. But a
+more speedy, and generally sure method, is by putting a few seeds on the
+top of a hot stove. If they are good they will crack like corn in
+parching; otherwise they will burn without noise, and with very little
+motion. The improvement or declension of fruits, grains, and vegetables,
+depend very materially upon the manner of gathering and preserving
+seeds. Gather promiscuously and late, and keep without care, and rapid
+declension will be the result. Gather the earliest and best, and plant
+only the very best of that saved, and constant improvement will be
+secured.
+
+
+SHEEP.
+
+These are the most profitable of all domestic animals. The original cost
+is trifling, and the expense of raising and keeping is so light, and the
+sale of meat, tallow, hide, and wool, is so ready, that sheep-growing is
+always profitable. So important has this always been considered, that in
+all ages of the world, there have been shepherds, whose sole business it
+has been to tend their flocks. Were the flesh of sheep and lambs more
+extensively substituted for that of swine, in this country, it would be
+equally healthy and economical. American farmers do not attach to
+sheep-growing half the importance it deserves. We recommend a thorough
+study of the subject, in the use of the facilities afforded by the
+writings of practical men. We can only give the outlines of the subject
+in a work like this. A theory has been scientifically established by
+Peter A. Brown LL. D. of Philadelphia, in which it is shown that all
+sheep are divided into two species, Hair-bearing and Wool-bearing. These
+species crossed, produce sheep that bear both wool and hair, as the two
+never change. The hair makes blankets that will not shrink. The wool is
+good for making fulled cloth. Blankets made from the fleeces of sheep
+that are the product of the cross of these two species, will shrink in
+some places and not in others, just as the hair or wool prevails. It is
+also true that the hair-bearing sheep delight in low, moist situations
+and sea-breezes, while the wool-bearing sheep does best on high, airy,
+and dry land. These fleeces all pass as wool, but the microscope shows a
+marked and permanent difference, and one can easily learn to distinguish
+it at once, by the touch and with the naked eye. This is thrown out here
+to induce a thorough examination of the whole subject. There are three
+staples of wool, short, three inches long, middling, five inches, and
+long, eight inches. Varieties of sheep are numerous. We shall only
+mention a few. The question of the best breeds has been warmly
+controverted. We have no disposition to try to settle it. The question
+of the best variety must depend upon locality and design. If the wool is
+the object, then the Vermont Merino for the North, and the pure Saxony
+for the South, are evidently the best. If located near large cities,
+where the flesh is the main object, then the large-bodied, long-wooled
+breeds are much preferable. Among those much esteemed we note the
+following:--
+
+The _Cotswold_ mature young, and the flesh will vary in weight from
+fifteen to thirty pounds per quarter. The _New Leicester_ is less hardy
+than the Cotswold, but heavier, weighing from twenty-four to thirty-six
+pounds per quarter. The _Teeswater sheep_, improved by a cross with the
+Leicester, is considered valuable. The _Bampton_ is one of the very best
+grown in England. Fat ewes average twenty pounds per quarter, and
+wethers from thirty to thirty-five pounds. The _Sussex_, _Hampshire,
+and Shropshire_ varieties of the Down sheep, are all highly esteemed.
+The _Leicester_ are very valuable. An ordinary fleece weighs from three
+to five pounds. Mr. Joseph Beers of New Jersey had one that sheared
+thirteen pounds at one time, and the live weight of the sheep was 378
+pounds.
+
+There are _French_, _Silesian_, and _Spanish Merinoes_, much esteemed in
+Vermont and elsewhere. The average weight of a flock of ewes of French
+merinoes after shearing was 103 pounds. Their fleeces averaged twelve
+pounds and eight ounces. The fleece of one buck of the same flock
+weighed twenty pounds and twelve ounces.
+
+[Illustration: The French Merino Ram.]
+
+The _Silesian Merinoes_ are smaller, but produce beautiful fleeces. In a
+flock of nineteen ewes, the average weight of fleece was seven pounds
+and ten ounces, and that of the buck weighed ten and a half pounds.
+
+A large flock of _Spanish Merinoes_ yielded an average of a little over
+five pounds of well-washed wool. All these varieties are valuable for
+wool. The wool of the pure Saxony sheep, however, is best.
+
+The _Tartar sheep_, called also Shanghae and Broadtail, is a
+recently-imported breed, of great promise for mutton. Their fleece is a
+fine silky hair, making fine blankets that will not shrink, but not good
+for fulled cloths. The ewes are remarkably prolific, producing sometimes
+five lambs at a time, and often twice a year. One ewe bore seven lambs
+in one year, all living and being healthy. The flesh is of the highest
+quality. This may stand at the head of all our sheep as a market animal.
+The cross of this with our common sheep has proved fine. They need to be
+further tested in this country. A new kind of sheep has also been
+imported from Africa, within a few years; a variety unknown to
+naturalists, but having some points in common with the Tartar sheep.
+
+_Diseases of Sheep._--There are several that have been very troublesome,
+but which experience has enabled us to cure. _Scours_ is often very
+injurious. A little common soot from the chimney, or pulverized
+charcoal, is a sure remedy. Mix it with water, not so thick as to make
+it difficult to swallow, and give a teaspoonful every two hours, and
+relief will soon be experienced.
+
+_Water in the head_ is a disease caused by long exposure to wet and
+cold. This is prevented by a small blanket on the back of the sheep. The
+wool on the backs of sheep will be seen to be often parted, exposing the
+skin. Water falling on the back will penetrate the wool and run down,
+and wet and chill the whole body. A small cotton blanket, fifteen inches
+wide, and long enough to reach from the neck to the tail, fastened to
+its place by tying to the wool, and painted on the outside, will cause
+all the water to run off, saving the health of the sheep, and causing
+him to require less food. In the cold, wet season, every sheep should
+have such a blanket; they would cost three or four cents each, and be
+worth many times their cost in the saving of feed for the animals. The
+more comfortable an animal is, the less food will he require. Applying
+tar above the noses of sheep at shearing, that they may be compelled to
+smell it and eat a little for a long time, is considered favorable to
+their general health, and a preventive of rot.
+
+The foot-rot, in cattle, sheep, and hogs, is a prevalent disease. Boys
+walking the path, barefoot, where such diseased animals frequently pass,
+may contract the disease. This is always cured by washing in blue
+vitriol. Most cases are cured by one application, and the most confirmed
+by two or three. Make a narrow passage, where only one animal can pass
+at once. Put in a trough twelve feet long, twelve inches wide, and as
+many deep. Put in that fifty pounds of blue vitriol and fill with water,
+throwing a little straw over the top. Cause the diseased animals to pass
+through that, and they will be cured. This is thought to be an
+invariable remedy. If sheep do not appear healthy on lowland pasture,
+give them small quantities of fine charcoal and salt, and they will be
+as healthy as on the hills. A little salt for sheep is useful during the
+whole year. The health of sheep is injured more in fall than at any
+other season; they are very apt to be neglected at the beginning of
+winter. They grow poor rapidly when their green feed first fails; a
+little hay and grain and a few roots then will keep them up, prevent
+disease, and make it less expensive to keep them through the winter.
+Feed in racks or troughs, when they can not get their food under foot,
+and as far as practicable, under shelter, and in a warm place. It is
+much cheaper, and keeps the sheep much more healthy. They should have
+fresh water, where they can drink, two or three times a day. Salt, mixed
+with wood-ashes and pulverized charcoal, should also be constantly
+within their reach. A few beets, carrots, or parsnips, are always
+valuable. Some green feed is very essential for ewes, for some time
+before the yeaning season. Corn is good for fattening sheep; but, for
+increasing the wool, it is not half as valuable as beans. Good
+bean-straw is better than hay. Corn-fodder is excellent. The product of
+one and a half acres of land, sowed with corn, will winter, in fine
+condition, one hundred sheep--the corn sowed the 20th of June, and cut
+up after it has begun to lose its weight slightly, and shocked up
+closely, bound round the top with straw, and then allowed to stand till
+wanted for feeding. To have healthy sheep, do not use a ram under two,
+or over six or seven years old, and raise no lambs from unhealthy ewes
+or rams. The expense of keeping sheep, as all other animals, is much
+less when they are kept warm. Much feed is wasted in keeping up animal
+heat, which would be saved by warm quarters.
+
+Sheep-manure is better than any other, except that of fowls. No other
+parts with its qualities by exposure so slowly. Some farmers save all
+labor of carting and spreading sheep-manure, by having movable wire
+fences, and putting their sheep on one acre for a few days, and then
+removing to another. One hundred sheep may thus be made to manure an
+acre of land in ten days, better than any ordinary dressing of other
+manure. We should prefer carefully collecting and saving it under cover,
+mixed with muck or loam, and apply where and when we choose. Keeping a
+suitable number of sheep on a farm is very important in keeping up the
+farm. A farm devoted to grain or vegetables, without a suitable number
+of animals, usually runs down.
+
+The time when lambs should be allowed to come is important. We much
+prefer letting them come when they please, if we have warm quarters, and
+can take a little extra care of them. This will give a larger growth,
+and furnish large lambs for market, at a season of the year when they
+are most desired, and bring the greatest price. For those who will not
+take the necessary pains, let them come when the weather has become warm
+and grass plenty. Sometimes a ewe loses her lamb, and you wish her to
+raise one of another ewe's, that has two. To make a ewe own another's
+lamb, take off the skin of her dead lamb, and bind it on to the other
+lamb, and she will smell it and own the lamb; after which the skin may
+be removed.
+
+Sheep-culture is a subject to which farmers should give increased
+attention, until the average weight of sheep in the United States shall
+become one third greater than at present, and until there shall be ten
+sheep to one of all we have at present.
+
+
+SHEPHERDIA OR BUFFALO BERRY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is an ornamental shrub, growing from six to fifteen feet high,
+bearing a roundish red fruit, much esteemed for preserves. Trees are of
+two kinds, male and female, one bearing staminate and the other
+pistillate flowers. Hence no fruit can be grown without setting out the
+trees in pairs from six to fifteen feet apart. If you set out only two,
+and they chance to be of the same kind, you will get no fruit.
+
+
+SOILS.
+
+The nature and management of soils must be measurably understood by any
+one who would be a thorough cultivator. The productive power of a soil
+depends much upon the character of the subsoil. A gravelly subsoil is,
+on the whole, the best. A thin soil lying on a cold clay subsoil--the
+hardpan of the East, and the crowfish clay of the West--however rich it
+may be, will be unproductive; while the same soil, on a gravelly
+subsoil, would produce abundantly. The best soils, for all purposes, are
+the brown or hazel-colored. Plowed in wet weather, they do not make
+mortar, and in dry weather they will not break in clods. Dark-mixed and
+russet moulds are considered the next best. The worst are the dark-gray
+or ash-colored. The deep-black alluvial soils of the Western prairies
+are an exception to all other soils, possessing, under proper treatment,
+great powers of production. Soils do not, to any considerable extent,
+afford food for plants. A willow-tree has been known to gain one hundred
+and fifty pounds' weight, without exhausting more than two or three
+ounces of the soil, and even that might have been wasted in drying and
+weighing.
+
+In our article on manures, we have shown that it is the texture of
+soils, and their power to control moisture and heat, that renders them
+productive: hence, no soil can be poor that is stirred deep and kept in
+a friable condition, without being too open and porous; and no soil can
+be good that is hard and not retentive of moisture, without having water
+stand upon it. Hence, the great secret of successful farming, is, such a
+mixture of the soils, and of fertilizers with the soil, as shall keep it
+friable and moist, and such thorough drainage as will prevent water from
+standing so as to become stagnant, and to unduly chill the roots of
+growing plants. Nature has provided, near at hand, all that is essential
+to productiveness; all that is necessary is to properly mix them. We do
+not believe that there is an acre of land now under cultivation in the
+United States, in a latitude where corn will grow, on which we can not
+raise a hundred bushels of shelled Indian corn, without applying
+anything but what may be raised out of that soil, and procured in the
+shape of manure by animals in consuming that product. The poorest farm
+in America may be brought up to a state of great fertility, without
+applying one dollar's worth of any foreign substance. Plow _deep_, turn
+under all the green substances possible, and feed out the products on
+the farm and apply the manure, and mix opposite soils, that may be found
+in different localities. Three years will secure great productiveness,
+and the same course will increase its value, from year to year, without
+cost. Three things only are essential to convert poor land into the
+best; deep and thorough stirring and pulverization, suitable draining,
+and thorough mixture of soils of different qualities, and the
+incorporation of such animal and vegetable substances as can be produced
+on the land itself. We would not declare against foreign manures, but
+insist that the necessary ingredients are found, or may be manufactured
+near at hand. The philosophy of deep plowing and thorough pulverization
+is obvious. A fine soil will retain and appropriate moisture in an
+eminent degree, on the principle of capillary attraction, or as a sponge
+or a piece of loaf sugar will take up water. There is also room for
+excess of water to sink away from the surface, and return again when
+needed. It also affords room for the roots of plants. Such a soil also
+receives moisture from the atmosphere. The atmosphere also contains much
+water, and more in the heat of summer than at any other time. The air
+also, with a constant pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch,
+enters to a considerable depth into the soil, and the deeper it is
+stirred, and the more thoroughly it is pulverized, the more it will
+enter. In coming in contact with the cool moisture below, it is
+condensed and waters the soil, on the principle that a pitcher of cold
+water in a warm room has large drops of water on the outside; that water
+is a mere condensation of moisture in the atmosphere. The cool subsoil
+acts in the same way upon the atmosphere at night. A deeply
+disintegrated soil, also, seldom washes by rain. Shallow-plowed and
+coarse land sends off the water after a slight rain, while deep-plowed
+and thoroughly pulverized land retains it. The philosophy of manures
+involves the same principles. All the fertilizers act upon soils in such
+a manner as to render them fine, and open an immense surface to the
+action of the atmosphere, and form large reservoirs for moisture through
+their innumerable fine pores. Draining is to carry off an excess of
+water that would stand on an unfavorable subsoil. That water, on
+undrained land, causes two evils; it stagnates and renders plants
+unhealthy, and it is too cool, rendering land what we call cold. Thus,
+the deeper you plow land, and the finer you make it, the warmer it will
+be, and the more perfectly it will control moisture. Mixing soils by
+subsoiling, trenching, and deep plowing, and by carting on foreign
+substances, is wholly on this principle. Sand that drifts about with the
+wind is too light to retain moisture, and needs clay carted on. By this
+means the poorest white sand has often been converted into the most
+productive soil. Definite rules for this mixture of soils can not be
+safely given. The rules must differ in different localities and
+circumstances; it must, therefore, be determined by experiment.
+Analyzing soils is sometimes of use, but usually has too much importance
+attached. We do not advise farmers to study it. Let them try
+applications and mixtures, at first on a small scale: they will soon
+learn what is best on their farms, and may then proceed without loss.
+Some lands are of such a character that the carting on, and suitably
+mixing, the substances in which they are deficient, may cost as much as
+it did to clear the land of its original forest; but it will pay well
+for a long series of years. So well are we persuaded of the utility and
+correctness of these brief hints, that, in selecting a farm, we should
+regard the location more than the quality of the soil. The latter we
+could mend easily; while we should find it difficult to move our farm to
+a more favorable location. Poor land near a city or large town, or on
+some great thoroughfare, we should much prefer to good land far removed
+from market, or in an unpleasant location.
+
+
+SPINAGE, OR SPINACH.
+
+Both these names are correct; the former is the general one among
+Americans. This plant is used in soups, but more generally boiled alone
+and served as greens. In the spring of the year, this is one of the most
+wholesome vegetables. By sowing at different times, we may have it at
+any season of the year, but it is more tender and succulent in the
+spring. The male and female flowers are produced on separate plants. The
+male blossoms are in long, terminal spikes, and the female in clusters,
+close at the stalk, on each joint.
+
+_Varieties_--The two best are the _broad_, or _summer_, and the
+_prickly_, or _fall_. There are three others--the _English Patience
+Dock_, the _Holland_, or _Lamb's Quarter_, and the _New Zealand_. The
+first two are sufficient. Sow in August and September for winter and
+spring use, and in spring for summer. Sow in rich soil, in drills
+eighteen inches apart. Thin to three inches in the row, and when large
+enough for use, remove every other one, leaving them six inches apart.
+To raise seed, have male plants at convenient distances, say one in two
+or three feet. When they have done blossoming, remove the male plants,
+giving all the room to the others, for perfecting the seed. Success
+depends upon very rich soil and plenty of moisture.
+
+
+SQUASH.
+
+There are several varieties of both summer and winter squashes. All the
+summer varieties have a hard shell, when matured. They are usually eaten
+entire, outside, seeds and all, while young and tender, from one quarter
+to almost full grown. They are also used as a fall and winter squash,
+rejecting the shell and that portion of the inside which contains the
+seeds. The _Summer Crookneck_, and _Summer Scolloped_, both _white_ and
+_yellow_, are the principal summer squashes. The finest is the _White
+Scolloped_. The best winter varieties are the _Acorn_, _Valparaiso_,
+_Winter Crookneck_, and _Vegetable Marrow_ or _Sweet Potato squash_. The
+latter is the best known.
+
+Cultivate as melons, but leave only two plants in a hill. They do best
+on new land. Varieties should be grown far apart, and far removed from
+pumpkins, as they mix very easily, and at a great distance. Bugs eat
+them worse than any other garden vegetable. The only sure remedy is the
+box covered with gauze or glass. As they are great runners, they do
+better with their ends clipped off. Used as a vegetable for the table,
+and in the same manner as pumpkins, for pies.
+
+
+STRAWBERRY.
+
+None of our small fruits are more esteemed, or more easily raised, and
+yet none more frequently fails. Failures always result from
+carelessness, or the want of a little knowledge of the best methods of
+cultivation. We omit much that might be said of the history and uses of
+the strawberry, and confine ourselves to a few brief directions, which,
+if strictly followed, will render every cultivator uniformly successful.
+No one need ever fail of growing a good crop of strawberries. In 1857,
+we saw plats of strawberries in Illinois, in the cultivation of which
+much money had been expended, and which were remarkably promising when
+in blossom, but which did not yield the cultivators five dollars' worth
+of fruit. In the language of the proprietors, "they blasted."
+Strawberries never blast; but, for the want of fertilizers at suitable
+distances, they may not fill. There are but three causes of
+failure--want of fertilizers, excessive drought, and allowing the vines
+to become too thick. Of most of our best varieties, the blossoms are of
+two kinds--pistillate and staminate, or male and female--and they are
+essential to each other. The pistillate plants bear the fruit, and the
+staminates are the fertilizers, without which the pistillates will be
+fruitless. There are three kinds of blossom--pistillate, staminate, and
+perfect, as seen in the cut.
+
+[Illustration: 1. Perfect blossom. 2. Staminate blossom. 3. Pistillate
+blossom.]
+
+The first (1) is perfect; that is, has both the stamens and pistils well
+developed: this will produce a fair crop of fruit, without the presence
+of any other variety. The second (2) has the stamens large, while the
+pistils (the apparently small green strawberry in the centre) are not
+sufficiently developed to produce fruit: such plants seldom bear more
+than a few imperfectly-formed berries. The third (3) has pistils in
+abundance, but is destitute of stamens, and hence, will not bear alone.
+The two latter are to be placed near each other, to render them
+productive; they may be readily distinguished when in blossom. It is
+always safe to cultivate the hermaphrodite plants; that is, those
+producing perfect blossoms; but the pistillates and staminates, in due
+proportions, produce the largest crops, and finer fruit.
+
+_Soil._--Much has been said against high fertilization with animal
+manures, and in favor of vegetable mould only. We feel entirely
+satisfied that the largest crops of strawberries are grown on land
+highly manured with common barnyard manure. To plant and manure a
+strawberry-bed, begin on one side, and dig a trench eighteen inches deep
+(from two to three feet is much better) and as wide; put six inches of
+common manure in the bottom; dig another trench as deep, and place the
+soil upon the manure in the first trench; fill the last with manure as
+the first, and so on over the whole plat. Manure the surface lightly
+with very fine manure and wood-ashes.
+
+_Transplanting_ is usually better in the month of August. If done at
+that season, and it be not too dry, the plants will get such a growth
+the same season as to produce quite a good crop of fruit the next
+season. Planted as early in the spring as it will do to stir the soil,
+they are more sure to grow and yield a very few berries the first
+season, and very abundantly the next. If you would cultivate in hills,
+put them two feet apart each way; if otherwise, two feet one way, and
+one foot the other. Cut off the roots to two or three inches in length,
+and remove all the dead leaves; dip them in mud, which is a great means
+of causing them to grow; and set them in fine mould, the crown one inch
+below the level of the soil around, and leave it in a slight basin, and
+water it, unless the weather be damp. Many plants are lost from not
+being set low enough to escape drought. The basin will hold water, and
+nearly every plant will grow; excessive water will destroy them. Set out
+three or four rows of pistillate plants, and then one of the staminates,
+or fertilizers. Some set them out in beds and allow them to cover the
+whole ground, and cultivate by spading up the bed in alternate sections
+of eighteen inches or two feet each year, turning under, in the spring,
+that portion that bore fruit the previous season--which has long been
+recommended by good authority. This was the lamented Downing's method.
+We think rows preferable for this reason. The young plants formed by the
+runners are less vigorous after the first; hence, the tendency is to
+deterioration by this mode of culture. And this method does not afford
+so good an opportunity for stirring the soil around the plants as
+planting in rows; this stirring the soil is a great means of protecting
+from drought, and securing the most vigorous growth. Deep subsoiling
+between the rows early in the spring, or after fruiting, is valuable;
+hence, we always advise to cultivate in hills two feet apart each way,
+and renew them after they have borne two, or at most three crops.
+
+Hermaphrodites are best for cultivation in beds. Many strawberry-beds do
+well the first year of their bearing, but are almost useless afterward.
+The cultivator says they all run to vines. In such cases, they overlook
+the fact that the staminate plants grow altogether the fastest, because
+their strength goes to support foliage in the absence of fruit, while
+bearing vines require much of their strength to mature the fruit; hence,
+if they are allowed to run together the second, or at most the third
+year, the fertilizers will monopolize the ground and prevent fruiting.
+This is the greatest cause of failure of a crop, next to a want of both
+kinds of plants. This is the origin of fears of having land too rich. It
+is said it all runs to vines without fruit; this is because the wrong
+vines have intruded--the staminates have overcome the pistillates. We
+reject the whole theory of the luxuriance of the vines preventing the
+production of fruit. The larger the vines the more fruit, provided only
+the vines are bearers, and not too thick: hence this invariable
+rule--_always have fertilizers within five feet, and never allow the two
+kinds to run together._ Manures should be applied in August, well spaded
+in. Applying in the spring to increase the crop for that season, is like
+feeding chickens in the morning to fatten them for dinner--it is too
+late. Fertilizing in August is a good preparation for a large crop for
+the next season. Strawberry-vines, in all freezing climates, should be
+covered, late in the fall, with forest-leaves or straw, to protect from
+the severity of winter, and enrich the land by what can be dug into the
+soil in spring. Rotten wood, fine chips, sawdust, &c., are all good for
+a fall top-dressing. After well hoeing and weeding in spring, until
+blossom-buds appear, just before the blossoms open, cover the bed
+thoroughly with spent tanbark, sawdust, or fine straw. This will keep
+down weeds, preserve moisture in the soil, enrich the ground, and
+protect the fruit from injury by rains, and in part from worms and
+insects. This should never be omitted.
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and, from the ease with which they are raised
+from seed, will rapidly increase; it is so frequent to have blossoms
+fertilized by pollen from several different varieties. Some of the most
+marked varieties are known in different parts of the country by very
+different names; hence, we advise cultivators to select the best in
+their locality. Every valuable variety is soon scattered over the
+country. The following are good:--
+
+_Burr's New Pine._--Originated at Columbus, Ohio, in 1856. Hardy,
+vigorous, and quite productive; very early; tender for market, but
+superior for a private garden.
+
+_Western Queen._--Originated at Cleveland, Ohio, by Professor J. P.
+Kirtland, 1849. Very hardy and productive; larger than the Hudson or the
+Willey; good for market; bears carriage well.
+
+_Longworth's Prolific._--Origin, Cincinnati, 1848. Regular, sure, full
+bearer of large, delicious fruit; good for market; an independent
+bearer.
+
+_M'Avoy's Superior._--Cincinnati, 1848. Received one-hundred-dollar
+prize from the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in 1851. Exceedingly
+large; hardy; female or pistillate flowers; needs fertilizers, and then
+is one of the best ever grown; rather tender for carriage, though it is
+extensively sold in Western markets.
+
+_Jenney's Seedling._--Valuable for ripening late; fruit large and
+regular; very productive, 3,200 quarts having been gathered from three
+quarters of an acre.
+
+_Hovey's Seedling._--Elliott puts it in his second class; but we can not
+avoid the conviction that it is one of the best that ever has been
+raised. It is pistillate, but with fertilizers it yields immense crops,
+of very fine large fruit. Boston Pine is one of the best fertilizers for
+the Hovey Seedling.
+
+_Hudson Bay._--A hardy and late variety, highly esteemed.
+
+_Pyramidal Chilian._--Hermaphrodite, highly valued.
+
+_Crimson Cone._--An old variety, quite early, and something of a
+favorite in Eastern markets.
+
+_Peabody's New Hautbois._--Originated in Columbus, Georgia, by Charles
+A. Peabody. Said to bear more degrees of heat and cold than any other
+variety. Very vigorous, fruit of the largest size, very many of the
+berries measuring seven inches in circumference. Flesh firm, sweet, and
+of a delicious pine-apple flavor. Rich, deep crimson. It may be seen in
+full size in the patent office report on agriculture for 1856. If this
+new fruit sustains its recommendations, it will prove the best of all
+strawberries.
+
+Downing describes over one hundred varieties. We repeat our
+recommendation to select the best you can find near home. The following
+rules will insure success:
+
+1. Make the ground very rich.
+
+2. Put fertilizers within five feet of each other, and never allow
+different kinds to run together.
+
+3. Cover the ground two inches deep with tan-bark, sawdust, or fine
+straw, just before the blossoms open; tan-bark is best.
+
+4. Never allow the vines to become very thick, but thin them out.
+
+5. Water every day from the appearance of the blossoms until done
+gathering the fruit; this increases the crop largely, and, at the South,
+has continued the vines in bearing until November. Daily watering will
+prolong the bearing season greatly in all climates, and greatly increase
+the crop.
+
+6. Protect in winter by a slight covering of forest-leaves, coarse
+straw, or cornstalks.
+
+7. To get a late crop, keep the vines covered deep with straw. You can
+retard their maturity two weeks, and daily watering will prolong it for
+weeks.
+
+8. Apply, twice in the fall and once in the spring, a solution of
+potash, one pound in two pails of water, or two pounds in a barrel of
+water in which stable-manure has been soaked.
+
+9. The best general applications to the soil, in preparing the bed, are
+lime, charcoal, and wood-ashes--one part of lime to two of ashes and
+three of charcoal. The application of wood-ashes will render less
+dissolved potash necessary.
+
+These nine rules, strictly observed, will render every cultivator
+successful in all climates and localities.
+
+
+SUGAR.
+
+There have, until recently, been but two general sources of our supply
+of sugar--the sugar-cane of the South, and the sugar-maple of the North.
+Beet-sugar will not be extensively manufactured in this country. We now
+have added the Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, and the Imphee, or African
+sugar-cane, adapted to the North and the South, flourishing wherever
+Indian corn will grow, and raised as easily and surely, and much in the
+same way. Of the methods of making sugar from the old sugar-cane of the
+South, we need give no account. It is not an article of general domestic
+manufacture. It is made on a large scale on plantations, and is in
+itself simple, and easily learned by the few who become sugar-planters.
+
+The process of manufacturing sugar from the maple-tree is very simple
+and everywhere known. It is to be regretted that our sugar-maples are
+being so extensively destroyed, and that those we pretend to keep for
+sugar-orchards are so unmercifully hacked up, in the process of
+extracting the sap. To so tap the trees as to do them the least possible
+injury, is a matter of much importance. Whether it should be done by
+boring and plugging up with green maple-wood after the season is over,
+or be done by cutting a small gash with an axe and leaving open, has
+been a disputed point. Many prefer the axe, and think the tree will be
+less blackened in the wood, and will last longer, provided it be
+judiciously performed. Cut a small, smooth gash; one year tap the tree
+low, and another high, and on alternate sides; scatter the wounds, made
+from year to year, as much as possible. Another process of tapping is
+now most popular with all who have tried it. Bore into the tree half an
+inch, with a bit not larger than an inch, slanting slightly up, that
+standing sap or water may not blacken the wood. Make the spout out of
+hoop-iron one and a fourth inches wide; cut the iron, with a cold
+chisel, into pieces four inches long; grind one end sharp; lay the
+pieces over a semicircular groove in a stick of hard wood, and place an
+iron rod on it lengthwise over the groove--slight blows with a hammer
+will bend it. These can be driven into the bark, below the hole made by
+the bit. They need not extend to the wood, and hence make no wound at
+all. If the wound dries before the season is over, deepen it a little by
+boring again, or by taking out a small piece with a gouge. This process
+will injure the trees less than any other. The spouts will be cheaper
+than wooden ones, and may last twenty years. Always hang buckets on
+wrought nails, that may be drawn out. Buckets made of tin, to hold three
+or four gallons, need cost only about twenty-five cents each, and, with
+good care, may last twenty years. A crook in the wire of the rim will
+make a good place to hang upon the nail. A hole bored in the ear of
+other buckets will answer the same purpose. In all windy situations, the
+bucket must be near the end of the spout, or much will be lost by being
+blown over by the wind. Great care to keep all vessels used, clean and
+sweet, and not burn the sugar in finishing it, will enable any one to
+succeed in making good maple-sugar. The various forms in which it is put
+up, and the manner of draining, are familiar to all makers. It is only
+necessary to add, that there are few small farms on which the
+sugar-maple will grow, where there might not be raised two or three
+hundred maples, within fifteen or twenty years, that would add greatly
+to the beauty, comfort, and value of the farm. On the highway as
+shade-trees, or on the side of lots, they would be very ornamental and
+profitable, without doing injury. We can not too strongly recommend
+raising sugar-maples. Always cultivate trees that will bear fruit, yield
+sugar, or be good for timber.
+
+Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, is raised much as Indian corn--only, it
+will bear some ten or twelve stalks in a hill, instead of three or four.
+In all parts of our continent, it produces enormous crops of stalks. The
+trials thus far indicate, that the quantity of saccharine matter it
+contains is not quite equal to that of the common sugar-cane; but, with
+the necessary facilities for manufacturing, it makes quite as good sugar
+and as fine sirups as the other cane. Suitable machinery, that need not
+be expensive, owned by a neighborhood of farmers, may enable all
+Northern men, where other cane will not grow, to make their own sugar
+cheaper than to buy. But it will be made probably by large
+establishments as other sugar. We give no method of making it. The
+subject is so new, that every method of manufacture finds its way into
+all the newspapers, and what might appear the best to-day would be
+quite antiquated to-morrow. We have seen as fine sugars and sirups, of
+all the different grades, made from this new cane, as any others we have
+ever tasted. The question is settled that imphee and sorgho will make
+good sugar in abundance. A few years will place such sugars among the
+great staple products of the country.
+
+
+SUMMER-SAVORY.
+
+This is a hardy annual, raised from seed on any good soil, with no care
+but keeping free from weeds. The seed is small, and may not vegetate
+well in dry, warm weather, without a little shade or regular watering.
+Its use for culinary and medicinal purposes is well known. Gather and
+dry when nearly ripe. Keep in paper bags, or pulverize and put in glass
+bottles. For the benefit of persons who keep those sprightly pets called
+fleas, we mention the fact that dry summer-savory leaves, put in the
+straw beds, will expel those insects.
+
+
+SUNFLOWER.
+
+This large, hardy, annual plant would be considered very beautiful, were
+it not so common. Three quarts of clear, beautiful oil are expressed
+from a bushel of the seed, in the same way as linseed-oil. The seed, in
+small quantities, is good for fowls. It may be grown with less labor
+than corn.
+
+
+SWEET POTATO.
+
+This is a Southern plant, but is now being acclimated in Northern
+latitudes. Good sweet potatoes are now grown in the colder parts of
+Vermont, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. There are many varieties, and they
+are increasing by seedlings. Not long since, they were said to bear no
+seed; but recently, in different parts of the country, seeds have been
+found, and new varieties grown from them. Certain varieties are best in
+different localities. They will always find their way through growers of
+plants. The process of growing is simple, but must be carefully followed
+to insure success. Plant the seed potatoes in a moderate hotbed, at the
+time when grass begins to start freely. Keep well watered, and do not
+allow them to get too warm. An hour's over-heating will cause them all
+to decay. The heat, when it begins to rise too high, is at once checked
+by a thorough drenching with cold water: if too low, the heat is raised
+by a tight cover, in a warm sun, and by watering with warm water. Water
+them every day after they are up. The sprouts, when six inches high, are
+pulled off from the potato, and set out as cabbage-plants; this should
+be done as soon as all danger of frost has ceased. The same potatoes
+will sprout as many times as they are pulled off.
+
+Sweet potatoes need much sun and warmth; they are, therefore, planted on
+round hills, or, better, on ridges, which may be principally thrown up
+with a plow, and made from a foot to eighteen inches high. Set the
+plants in the top, about fifteen inches or two feet apart; keep clear of
+weeds, making the hill or ridge a little larger by each hoeing. The
+tops, being long running vines, will soon cover the ground. They produce
+better tubers for throwing the vines, in a twist, up over the top of the
+rows. They will take root at each joint of vine, when undisturbed, which
+roots will draw from the main tuber. These roots would be as good and
+large as any, if they had time: hence, at the South, one half of the
+crop is grown from sets, from cuttings of the ends of the early-planted
+vines. At the North, where seasons are short, these joints must be
+prevented--by throwing up, as above, or loosening--from taking root. The
+tubers will need all the strength; the plant and tuber are tender, and a
+little frost will kill the vines and cause the potatoes to decay. They
+may be kept for use until January by packing, when dug in a warm day, in
+the soil in which they grew;--kept through winter, packed in straw or
+chaff, in boxes that will contain about two or three bushels each, and
+kept in a room with a fire: the room should be at a temperature of from
+forty to sixty degrees; fifty-five is best, though seventy will not
+destroy them; more or less will cause them to decay. The boxes may be
+placed one upon another, but should be left open, that their moisture
+may evaporate. Dry sand (kiln-dried), sifted over and close among them,
+will preserve them. Free circulation of air is indispensable. It is
+usually cheapest to buy the plants of those who make a business of
+raising them. They are very hardy--may be transported one thousand miles
+and do just as well. To transplant with perfect safety in a dry time,
+after the plant has been put in its place, pour in a pint of water, and
+cover it with a little dry soil to prevent baking--and not one out of
+fifty will perish.
+
+These few brief directions will enable any one to be successful wherever
+corn will grow. A new variety has just been brought into Alabama from
+Peru, that is pronounced superior to all others; a prodigious bearer,
+even on poor sandy land, and far more hardy than other varieties, the
+root retaining its excellence as it came out of the ground till the
+following May.
+
+
+SWINE.
+
+Hogs are evil in their propensities, mischievous and filthy in their
+habits, and yet profitable to the farmer. Every farmer should keep a few
+in proportion to the refuse grain and various slops that his
+establishment may afford. Buying hogs and then purchasing grain on which
+to fatten them in the usual way is the poorest economy. Such pork is
+often made to cost from twelve to twenty cents per pound.
+
+There are many breeds of swine highly recommended. Some of the varieties
+of the Chinese are the most prolific and have the greatest tendency to
+fattening of any known. They have formed the basis of the great
+improvements in the breeds in Great Britain. Farmers will be able to
+select the best breed from their own knowledge and observation, better
+than from any directions we can give them. Every new variety will be
+introduced by dealers, and farmers must be cautious how they accept
+their representations.
+
+_Age of Swine for Pork._--It is most profitable and least troublesome,
+to keep over winter, no swine but breeding sows, to have pigs early in
+spring, to kill in autumn. Of any of the good breeds, they can be made
+to weigh from 300 to 350 pounds, by the proper time for killing. The
+practice of keeping swine till eighteen or twenty-four months old, and
+only fattening them late in the fall and beginning of winter, is very
+unprofitable. It is best to give pigs about what they will eat, from the
+time of beginning to feed them until they are slaughtered. This is in
+every way most economical. It secures fattening in the hot weather in
+summer, when pork can be made faster and cheaper than at any other time.
+Many farmers begin to fatten their pork, after the season in which it
+can most rapidly and cheaply be done.
+
+Hogs having been kept poor, on being fed freely for fattening, become
+cloyed, and much time is lost, while those that always have had what
+they would eat, of good wholesome food, always have a good appetite for
+as much as they need, and not root over and injure more.
+
+_Food for Swine._--They do better shut up in a pen, but where they can
+get access to the ground. All edible roots are good and all the grains.
+But grain should be ground or soaked. It pays well to cook all food for
+swine. Boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, and parsnips, are all good.
+Ground feed should be mixed with cooked vegetables. The disposition that
+swine have to root deep in the ground, indicates the want of something,
+not found in sufficient quantities in their ordinary food. Numerous
+experiments show that that deficiency is abundantly supplied by having
+charcoal within their reach. The stories of fattening pork wholly on
+charcoal, which we find in the books, we do not credit. But that small
+quantities of it are uniformly healthy for swine, is an established
+fact. The question of sour food has many respectable advocates.
+Cultivators and writers take different sides of the question, based as
+they say upon their carefully-tried and noted experiments, one affirming
+that fermented food is superior, and others that it has done his hogs
+positive injury. This discrepancy grows out of not carefully
+distinguishing the different kinds of fermentation, the sweet, the
+vinous, the acid, and the putrid. The first makes excellent food, the
+second will do quite well, the third is injurious, and the last
+absolutely poisonous. As it requires much care and observation to get
+this right, and mistakes are easy, it is best to take the sure method,
+give them food in a natural state, ground, and either cooked or fed raw.
+Either will make good pork at a reasonable cost, but cooked food is
+preferable.
+
+Sows are prevented from destroying their young by quiet, plenty of food,
+and little animal food, and but a very little straw in a dry pen, or
+washing the pig's backs with a strong decoction of aloes.
+
+
+TOBACCO.
+
+This is a plant abhorred by everything but man and the tobacco-worm. Its
+use for chewing and snuffing is happily becoming more and more offensive
+to refined society, and we hope it may, after a long struggle, go out of
+use. For those who will cultivate it as an article of commerce, the
+following brief directions are sufficient. Burn over a small bed, on
+which sow the seed early in March. When the leaves are as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, transplant them in deep, rich soil, or on new land,
+in rows three feet apart each way, or four feet one way and two the
+other. Tend as cabbage. It is necessary, twice in the season, to
+destroy, by hand, the large green worms that feed on this plant. When
+the plants are from two and a half to three and a half feet high,
+according to the richness of the soil on which they grow, pick out the
+head or blossom-buds, except in the few plants you would have go to
+seed. Pinch off also the suckers, or shoots behind the leaves, as they
+come out. When the leaves are full grown and begin to ripen, which is
+known by the small, dusky spots appearing on the leaves, cut up the
+stalks and lay them down singly to wilt; when they are thoroughly
+wilted, lay them together, that they may sweat for forty-eight hours,
+then hang them up in a tolerably tight room to dry--hang across poles,
+one on each side. A sharp stick put through the but of the stalks and
+laid over the pole, leaving one stalk on each side, is a very good
+method. When it becomes well dried, pick off the leaves, and tie the
+stems together in small bunches, and pack away in hogsheads or boxes, in
+a dry place.
+
+We recommend to every agriculturist to cultivate a little tobacco--not
+for himself or others to chew, snuff, or smoke, but to use in destroying
+insects. A strong decoction, used in washing animals, will destroy lice
+on horses and cattle, and ticks on sheep. Tobacco-water applied to
+plants, or trees, will effectually destroy all insects with which they
+may be infested. Boil tobacco-stems or stalks, or the refuse-tobacco of
+the cigar-makers, until you make a strong decoction, and apply with a
+syringe, or in any other way, and it will prove more effectual than
+anything else known. Tobacco-stems, stalks, or leaves, laid around
+peach-trees in the month of May, will protect them from the attacks of
+the borer. This is also a good manure for peach-trees.
+
+
+TOMATO.
+
+This vegetable is well known, and has recently come to be generally
+esteemed. It can always be grown without failure, and more easily and at
+one fourth of the cost of potatoes. Its use for cooking, eating raw,
+and pickling in various forms, is known to all. There are several
+varieties. The best of all is the large red--not the largest, but the
+smooth ones: although smaller, they contain more, and are much more
+conveniently used, than the very large rough or scolloped variety. The
+large yellow are less liable to decay on the vines, and have less of the
+tomato taste. The small plum-tomato, both red and yellow, and the pear
+or bell-shaped, are good for preserving as a common sweetmeat, and for
+pickling whole. They should be started in early hotbed--in February in
+the Middle States--and transplanted after frosts are over, in rows eight
+feet apart each way. That distance will leave none too much room for
+letting in the sun and for the convenience of picking. They will mature
+on the poorest land; but the amount of the crop is graduated altogether
+by the richness of the soil, and the care given them. They will produce
+frequently a bushel to a vine, lying on the ground. But they ripen
+better, and as the vines are not injured by picking the early ones, they
+will produce more, by being trained up. A few sticks to hold them up at
+first, and let them break down over them later, is of no use. Train
+them, and tie up all the principal bunches, and they will be greatly
+benefited thereby. Tied to slats, or any board fence, in a kind of
+fan-training form, they do very well. In all cities and villages, enough
+for a large family can be grown on twenty-five feet of board-fence,
+exposed to the southern or eastern sun, and not occupy the ground a
+single foot from the fence. Drive in nails, and tie up the branches as
+they grow. Removing some of the branches and leaves, and letting in the
+sun, or placing the fruit on a shingle or stone, hastens its ripening.
+
+
+TOOLS.
+
+It is no part of our design to go into any general description of
+agricultural implements. There are constant changes and improvements,
+and they are introduced at once to the whole country by the inventors or
+dealers. We also wish to avoid all participation in the controversies
+respecting the merits of various new inventions. We have several forms
+of cultivators, horse-hoes, subsoil-plows, drills, seed-sowers,
+land-diggers, and drainers, various formed plows, root-cleaners,
+corn-planters, &c., &c. These possess different degrees of merit; all
+have their day, and will be superseded by others, in the general
+advancement that marks the science of soil-culture. We strongly
+recommend the use of the best tools, especially subsoil-plows,
+seed-planters, and root-cleaners. Always have a tool-house, as much as
+you do a kitchen. Use the best tools; never lay them down but in their
+proper place; and always clean them before putting them away. Keep all
+the wood-work of tools well painted, and the iron and steel in a
+condition, by the application of oil and otherwise, to prevent rust.
+Good tools facilitate and cheapen cultivation, and increase the yield of
+crops, Money paid out for such tools is well expended.
+
+
+TRAINING.
+
+This is a matter that has received much attention from all
+fruit-growers. The influence of different modes of training and pruning
+is very great on the bearing qualities of trees. The peculiarities
+demanded by the various fruit-trees, vines, and bushes, are given under
+these articles respectively. We give here only some general principles.
+The health, beauty, and profit, of most fruit-trees depend upon
+judicious pruning and training. The following are the general objects:--
+
+1. To secure regular growth and prevent deformities, and thus promote
+the health of trees.
+
+2. To secure a sufficient number of fruit-bearing shoots, and in right
+locations, and to throw sufficient sap into those shoots to enable them
+to mature the fruit. With a certain amount of pruning, you may double
+the quantity of fruit, or destroy half that the trees would have
+produced if not trained at all. One half of the fruit of any orchard
+depends upon correct pruning. It also has a great influence upon the
+quality of fruit. The cherry is almost the only fruit-tree that throws
+out nearly the right number of branches, and in the right places. It
+needs a very little direction while young, and afterward only the
+removal of decaying branches. The quince needs considerable trimming at
+first; but, the head once formed, it will need very little
+after-pruning. Next comes the plum, needing, perhaps, a little more
+pruning than the cherry or quince, but much less than the other fruits.
+The plum is apt to throw out strong branches, in some directions, quite
+out of proportion with the rest of the top. Such need shortening in, to
+distribute the sap equally through the tree, and thus produce a
+symmetrical form. This is all the trimming necessary. The roots of a
+plum-tree are usually stronger than the top, and absorb more than the
+leaves can digest; hence some of its diseases. The natural remedy would
+be root-pruning, and leaving the top in its natural state, except
+shortening-in the disproportioned branches. Removing much of the top of
+a plum-tree would ordinarily prove injurious. The apple needs
+considerable pruning, but not of the spurs and side-twigs which bear the
+fruit, but of limbs that grow too thick, and of disproportioned
+luxuriance. (See under Apple.) So the pear must be often slightly pruned
+to check the too vigorous growth and encourage the too tardy. The peach
+must be so pruned as to prevent the long bare poles so often seen, and
+to secure annually the growth of a large number of shoots for next
+year's bearing, and to check the flow of the sap by cutting off the ends
+of the growing young shoots, so as to cause the formation on each, of a
+few vigorous fruit-buds. Peach-trees, so pruned, will be healthy and do
+well for fifty years, and produce a larger number of better peaches than
+will grow on trees left in the usual way. By a system of pruning that
+will equalize the growth and strength, the bearing will be general on
+all the branches of the tree. This will make the fruit more abundant and
+of better quality. The following six principles--first stated by M.
+Dubreuil, of France, and since presented to the American people in
+Barry's "Fruit-Garden," and still later in Elliott's "Fruit-Book"--will
+guide any attentive cultivator into the correct method of pruning and
+training:--
+
+1. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, depends, in a great measure,
+upon the equal distribution of sap in all its branches.
+
+2. The sap acts with greater force, and produces more vigorous growth on
+a branch pruned short than on one pruned long.
+
+3. The sap, tending always to the extremities, causes the terminal
+shoots to push with more vigor than the laterals.
+
+4. The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it
+will be to produce fruit-buds.
+
+5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap for the nourishment of the tree,
+and to aid in the formation of fruit-buds. Therefore, trees deprived of
+their foliage are liable to perish, and they are injured in proportion
+to their defoliation.
+
+6. When the buds of any shoot or branch do not develop before the age of
+two years, they can only be forced into activity by very close pruning;
+and this will often fail, especially in the peach.
+
+Observe the foregoing, and never cut large limbs from any tree, except
+in grafting an old tree (and then only graft a part of the top in one
+year, especially in the pear), and of old, neglected peach-trees, to
+renew the top, and any careful cultivator can raise an orchard of
+healthy, beautiful, and profitable trees. There are different forms of
+training that have gone the rounds of the fruit-books, that are nearly
+all more fanciful than useful. There are four forms of fan-training, and
+several of horizontal and conical. The following only are useful:--
+
+_Fan-Training._--A tree but one year from the graft, or bud, is planted
+and headed down to within four buds of the ground, the buds so situated
+as to throw out two shoots on each side (see fan-training, first stage).
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 1st stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 2d stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 3d stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, Complete.]
+
+The following season, the two upper shoots are to be cut back to three
+buds, so as throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side. The
+two lower shoots are to be cut back to two buds, so as to throw out one
+leading shoot, and one shoot on the upper side. In this second stage,
+you will have a tree with five leading shoots on each side (see cut,
+fan-training, 2d stage). These shoots form the future tree, and should
+neither be shortened in, nor allowed to bear fruit this year.
+
+Each shoot should now be allowed to produce three shoots, one leading
+one, and two others on the upper side, one near the bottom, and the
+other half way up the stem. All others should be pinched off when they
+first appear. At the end of the third year you will have the appearance
+in the cut (Fan-training, third stage). After this it may bear fruit,
+but not too much, as a young tree so trained, is disposed to
+over-bearing. These shoots, except the leading ones, should be shortened
+back; but to what length depends upon the vigor of the tree. This is to
+be continued and extended as the grower may choose, always preventing
+the top from becoming too dense, and the shoot too long for a proper
+flow of sap, and maturity of fruit-buds. A good form, though slightly
+irregular, is seen in the cut (Fan-training, complete). Such trees
+trained against walls, or better, on trellis-work, are beautiful and
+very productive.
+
+[Illustration: Horizontal Training, first stage.]
+
+_Horizontal Training_ is another form contributing to fruitfulness, by
+regulating the flow of the sap. This is done by preserving an upright
+leader with lateral shoots at regular distances. To secure this, such
+shoots as you wish to train must be tied in a horizontal position, and
+all others pinched off on first appearance.
+
+[Illustration: Horizontal Training, fourth year.]
+
+The process is simple and easy, continued as long as you please. Head in
+the shoots of these lateral branches to two or three buds and they will
+bear abundantly. As the growth increases, remove all that are not in the
+right places, and train all you spare, as before. In the fourth year,
+you will have trees of the appearance in the cut (Horizontal Training,
+fourth year).
+
+_Conical Training._--The Quenouille (pronounced _kenoole_) of the
+French, is the best of all forms of training, especially for the pear.
+To produce conical standards, plant young trees four or five feet high,
+and after the first year's growth, head back the top, and cut in the
+side branches, as in the cut (Progressive stages of conical training).
+
+[Illustration: Progressive stages of Conical Training.]
+
+[Illustration: Conical Training complete.]
+
+The next season several tiers of side branches will shoot out. The
+lowest should be left about eighteen inches from the ground, and by
+pinching off a part, others may be made to grow, at such distances as
+you may desire. At the end of the second year, the leader is headed back
+to increase the growth of the side shoots. The laterals will constantly
+increase, and you must save only a sufficient number. The third or
+fourth year, the lateral branches may be bent down and tied to stakes.
+The branches must be tied down from year to year, and the top so
+shortened in as to prevent too vigorous growth, and throw the sap into
+the laterals. This may be continued until the tree will exhibit the
+appearance in the cut (conical training complete). When the tree has
+become thoroughly formed it will retain its shape without keeping the
+branches tied. The fan and horizontal training are valuable for fruits
+that need winter protection, and they are also very ornamental, and
+enable us to cultivate much fruit on a small place. All these forms of
+training increase largely the productiveness of fruit-trees. It is
+recommended for all small gardens and yards, and will pay in growing
+fruit for market.
+
+
+TRANSPLANTING.
+
+Trees should be transplanted in spring in cold climates, and in autumn
+in warm regions. The top should be lessened about as much as the roots
+have been by removal. Cutting off so large a part of the top as we often
+see is greatly injurious. Trees frequently lose one or two years'
+growth, by being excessively trimmed when transplanted. The leaves are
+the lungs of the tree, and how can it grow if they are mostly removed?
+All injured roots should be cut off smoothly on the lower side, slant
+out from the tree, and just above the point of injury. Places for the
+trees should be prepared as given under the different fruits and the
+trees set firmly in them an inch lower than they stood in the nursery.
+The great point is to get the fine mould very close around all the
+roots, leaving them in the most natural position. Trees dipped in a
+bucket of soil or clay and water, thick enough to form a coat like
+paint, just at the time of transplanting, are said to be less liable to
+die. Every transplanted tree should have a stake, and be thoroughly
+mulched. Trees properly transplanted will grow much faster, and bear a
+year or two earlier, than those that have been carelessly set out. For
+further remarks on this important matter, see under the different
+fruits.
+
+
+TURNIP.
+
+This is one of the great root crops of England, and to considerable
+extent in this country, for feeding purposes. We think it should be
+displaced, mostly, by beets, carrots, and parsnips. They are more
+nutritious, as easily raised, and more conveniently fed. The Rutabaga is
+a productive variety, and possesses a good deal of nutriment. The
+essentials in raising good turnips of most varieties, are very rich
+soil, worked deep, and finely pulverized. They should stand in rows two
+feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows. They may be mainly tended
+with a small cultivator or root-cleaner.
+
+English turnips are extensively grown as a second crop on wheat stubble,
+&c. The soil is highly enriched and the seed sown in rows to allow
+cultivation. The best method, however, is to turn over old greensward
+say June 1, and yard cattle or sheep on it till July 10, and then harrow
+thoroughly, and sow the seed broadcast. The yield will usually be large,
+and they will need very little weeding. If it is not convenient to yard
+cattle on the turnip-ground, apply fifteen double wagon loads of fine
+manure with a few bushels of lime to the acre, and the crop will be
+large. The usual time of sowing turnips is from the 10th to the 25th of
+July. We think the yield is larger when sown by the middle of June. The
+only way to get good early turnips is to sow them very early. The flat,
+or common field turnip, is easily grown on new land, or on any rich soil
+tolerably free from weeds and not infested with worms.
+
+
+WHEAT.
+
+This is the most highly esteemed of all grains, and has more enemies,
+and is more affected in its growth by the weather, than any other. It
+has engaged more attention in the study and writings of agriculturists
+than all other cereals. The outlines only of the results of the vast
+field of investigation and experiment on wheat-growing can be presented
+here. There are doubts respecting the origin of wheat. The more general
+and probable theory is, that it is the product of the cultivation, for a
+series of years, of a species of grass called �gilops. This is
+indigenous on the shores of the Mediterranean, in those countries which,
+from time immemorial, have been the sources of our wheat. No one has
+ever found wild wheat in any country; it would be as strange as a wild
+cabbage or turnip. But the practical question is, How can wheat be most
+surely and profitably grown? The first requisite is a suitable soil. A
+clay or limestone soil is usually considered best, as there is much lime
+in wheat-bran. Such soil is better than light sand, or some of the
+poorer loams. But the large yields of wheat on the Western prairies, and
+on the rich alluvial soils of California river-bottoms, shows that the
+best of wheat may grow on other than clay lands. The truth of the matter
+respecting soils for wheat, is, that any soil good for corn, potatoes,
+or a garden, may, with proper tillage, produce the best of wheat.
+Experience in England, and in all the old countries on the continent of
+Europe, shows us that old land may be made to yield as large crops of
+wheat as the virgin soil of the New World. The production of wheat at
+suitable intervals, for a century, on the same land, need not lessen its
+power to produce good wheat in large quantities. Wheat is a plant
+demanding a rich soil, worked deep, and not too wet: these three things
+will produce a good crop on any land. We say to all farmers, raise wheat
+on any land that you can afford to prepare. First, if your land has not
+a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and
+becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat. Drainage is
+hardly more essential to any other crop than this. Next, plow deep.
+Subsoiling, on most lands, is very important to wheat. Manure highly,
+and put the manure between the soil and the subsoil: this attracts the
+roots deep into the soil, which is the greatest protection against
+winter-killing, and the effects of excessive drought. Render the surface
+of the soil as fine as possible. A finely-pulverized soil is as
+essential for wheat as for onions. Coarse lumpy soils are so open to the
+action of the atmosphere as to render the growth unequal, and cause the
+roots of the plant to grow too near the surface, for dry weather or the
+cold of winter. Always apply lime to wheat-lands, unless it be a
+limestone soil--not too much at once, but a few bushels to the acre
+annually. On no other crop do wood-ashes and dissolved potash, applied
+in the coarse manures, pay so well as on wheat. Sowing the seed is next
+in importance. The three questions in sowing are the manner, the depth,
+and the quantity. Shall it be drilled or sowed broadcast? Broadcast
+sowing requires more seed, and is liable to be less evenly covered;
+hence, we should prefer drilling. The depth of the seed is to be
+determined by the texture of the soil. Careful experiments have shown,
+that on clay land there is no perceptible difference in the growth of
+the plants, at any of the stages, in seed sown at any depth, from a
+slight covering to three or four inches. At a greater depth, it comes up
+less regularly, and in every way is in a worse condition. But on a light
+soil, it is, no doubt, best to plant it from four to six inches deep. On
+very loose soils, as muck land and alluvial soils, the roots of the
+plants grow too near the surface, and are exposed to being thrown out by
+winter frosts, and destroyed. The remedy is deep sowing and thorough
+rolling. The quantity of seed now more generally sown is from five pecks
+to two bushels per acre. Rich land will not bear so much seed as the
+poorer. It will grow so thick as to render the straw tender, and expose
+it to lodge and ruin the crop. Wheat tillers, or thickens up at the
+bottom, making many stalks from a single seed, quite as much as any
+other grain; hence, we believe that if it be sown at a proper time on
+very rich land, three pecks to the acre would be better than more. Such
+sowing would make more vigorous plants, with much stronger roots, which
+would withstand cold and unfavorable weather better than any other. We
+should still more strongly recommend another form of sowing, practised
+by some European cultivators with great success: it is, to drill in
+wheat, in rows two feet apart, and give it a spring cultivation; this
+gives great strength to the plants, destroys the weeds, promotes rapid
+growth by stirring the soil, and favors tillering, so that the rows will
+meet, and give a great growth. We doubt not this will yet be extensively
+adopted in this country. All wheat-land had better be rolled after
+sowing, and light lands, with a very heavy roller. Light sandy land,
+having a little clay mixed in as recommended under soils, well manured,
+the seed planted six inches deep, and the whole rolled with a heavy
+roller, will bear great crops of wheat.
+
+As it respects fall or spring wheat, no positive directions can be
+given, adapted to all climates. In many localities it is of little use
+to sow winter wheat, as it is very uncertain. In other localities winter
+wheat almost always succeeds best. This question then must be determined
+by circumstances. The time of sowing winter wheat varies in different
+climates, according as it may be exposed to depredations of worms and
+insects in the fall. Farmers are not liable to mistake in this matter.
+Spring wheat, in all climates, should be sowed very early. It is hardly
+possible in all the Middle and Northern states to prepare the ground in
+spring, and get in wheat in suitable season.
+
+The yield of a crop of spring wheat, depends materially upon the growth
+in the cool and moist weather of spring, when it spreads and its roots
+get a strong hold before the hot weather, that hurries up the stalks
+and ears to maturity. Hence plow in the fall, and harrow in the wheat,
+as early as possible, in the spring.
+
+_The varieties_ of wheat are numerous and uncertain. In the state of
+Maine, an intelligent cultivator, in 1856, recommended Java wheat as
+having a very stiff straw, and producing a very heavy yield. The
+Mediterranean wheat is also a favorite variety. Club wheat has also had
+a great run, and is now very popular at the West. But of varieties no
+one can be confident. We notice in the discussions of the best
+agriculturists of England and Scotland, that they have doubts of the
+proper names of some of the best varieties. In a certain rich part of
+Illinois we know an unusually popular wheat, sold at high prices for
+seed, under the name of _mud club_, as being much better than the
+ordinary club. We happened to learn that it was nothing but common club
+wheat, sown on rather low ground, where it happened to grow very fair
+that season. It is only occasionally that such tricks are successfully
+played, but it is true that many varieties are the result of extra good
+or chance cultivation. The celebrated Chidham wheat, named from a place
+where it was successfully grown, was also called Hedge wheat, because a
+head found growing in a hedge was supposed to be the origin of it. Now
+it is not probable that that head was the only one of the kind in all
+the country, and it would by no means be identified in all localities.
+And as all wheat is the result of the cultivation of the �gilops or some
+other wild grass, it shows us that varieties may be produced by
+cultivation. Great importance is therefore to be attached to frequently
+changing seed; especially bringing it from colder into warmer climates,
+and changing from one soil to a very different one. Thus seed raised on
+hard hills is highly valuable for alluvial soils. Thus the efforts to
+introduce so many new varieties from the dominions of the sultan, will
+prove of vast advantage to wheat culture in America. So let us be
+constantly importing the best from Great Britain and the British
+provinces and from California, and all the extremes of our own country.
+Such wheats are worth more for seeds than others, but any extravagant
+prices for seed wheat, under the idea of almost miraculous powers of
+production, are unwise.
+
+It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as
+some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through
+the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best
+time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned
+yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily
+mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is
+heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than
+when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. Drying in good
+shocks is far better than drying before cut. Some have gone to extremes
+in early cutting, and harvested their wheat while in the milk, and
+suffered serious loss in its weight. We sometimes have rain in harvest,
+which causes all the wheat in a large region to grow before getting it
+dry enough to house. A remedy is, to go right on and cut your wheat,
+rain or shine, and put it up, without binding, in large cocks of from
+three to five bushels, packing together as close as possible, however
+wet, and cover the centre with a bundle of wheat to shed rain. It will
+dry out without growing; and, although the straw will be somewhat
+mouldy, the grain will be perfectly good, even when it has been so wet
+as to make the top of the shocks perfectly green with grown wheat. This
+process is of great value in a wet season. To prepare seed-wheat for
+sowing, soak it for a day or two in very strong brine; skim off all that
+rises; remove the grain from the brine, and while wet, sift on
+fresh-slaked lime until it slightly coats the whole grain; put on a
+little plaster to render the sowing more pleasant to the hand. Wheat
+will lie in this condition for days without injury. So prepared, it will
+exhibit a marked superiority in the growing crop.
+
+_Enemies_ of wheat are numerous, and various remedies are proposed. The
+wire-worm is sometimes very destructive. Wheat planted with a drill,
+with a heavy cast-iron roller behind each tooth, will not suffer by
+them; they will only work in the mellow ground between the drills. Drive
+over a field of wheat exposed to injury from wire-worms with a common
+ox-cart, and you will notice a marked difference; wherever the
+cartwheel passed over, the wheat remains unharmed by the wire-worm,
+while on either side much of it will be destroyed. But the wheat-midge,
+or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in
+some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so
+early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This
+is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land.
+Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured.
+But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry
+seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of
+the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. Burning
+the chaff at thrashing is useless for this purpose. The worm has
+entered the ground to remain for the winter, before the wheat is
+harvested. We know of but one way to kill the weevil, and that is, by
+insect lamps or torches in the field in the evening. The flies are
+inactive until evening, when, from dusk till eight or nine o'clock, they
+deposite their eggs in the blossoms and chaff of the wheat. Now, it is
+ascertained that this fly, like many other insects, will fly several
+rods to a light. Twenty-five torches at equal distances, in a ten-acre
+lot of wheat, would be near enough. Nearly all the flies in a field
+would fly to them in half an hour. These need be lighted only on
+pleasant evenings, as weevils will not work in wind or rain, and they
+only commit their depredations during the time the wheat is in blossom.
+Let twenty-five racks, or holders of some kind, be put up on ten acres
+of wheat, and have pitch-pine put in them and ignited, after the manner
+of night fishermen, and let this be done a few nights, during the
+blossoming season of wheat, and the fly will be destroyed and the crop
+saved, in the worst weevil-season that ever occurred. In the absence of
+pitch-pine, some other light can be devised--as, balls of rags dipped in
+turpentine and sulphur, as in a torchlight procession. Something can be
+devised that will burn brilliantly for an hour: this will not cost fifty
+cents an acre, during the weevil-season, and will prove almost a perfect
+remedy.
+
+Rust in wheat is only avoided by getting your wheat to maturity before
+the rust strikes it. If it is nearly mature, and the rust strikes it,
+cut it and shock it up in the shortest time possible.
+
+Wheat is a great subject in agriculture, on which many volumes have been
+written, and on which it is customary to write long articles. We trust
+the recapitulation of what we have said, in the following brief rules,
+is more valuable to the practical wheat-culturist than any large volume
+could be. Analyses of wheat-bran and straw, the philosophy of rust in
+wheat, the length, size, and color of the weevil, and the great
+diversity of opinions on wheat-growing, are not what practical men
+regard. The one question is, How can I grow wheat surely and profitably?
+The following rules answer this important question, rendering failure
+unnecessary:--
+
+1. Make your soil very rich, putting the manure as deep as convenient.
+Apply lime, wood-ashes, and potash, the latter dissolved and applied to
+your coarse manure.
+
+2. Under-drain thoroughly all wheat-land, except that on a dry subsoil.
+
+3. Plow deep and subsoil all wheat-lands, except those on a gravelly or
+sandy bottom.
+
+4. Plant wheat from two to six inches deep, according to the texture of
+the soil--deepest on the lightest soil. Roll after sowing, and roll
+light lands with a heavy roller.
+
+5. Always get your wheat in early, and in a finely-pulverized soil, and
+be careful not to seed too heavy.
+
+6. Sow seed that has not long been grown in your vicinity, and steep it
+two days, before sowing, in a brine, with as much salt as the water will
+dissolve, sifting fine, fresh lime over the wet grain, after removing it
+from the brine; put on, also, plaster-of-Paris or wood-ashes.
+
+7. Harvest wheat before the straw becomes dry, or the grain hard.
+
+8. Destroy weevil by lights in the field, on the pleasant evenings
+during the blossoming season.
+
+
+WHORTLEBERRY.
+
+Of this excellent berry there are several varieties, distinguished by
+the height of the bushes, or by the color of the fruit. The main
+divisions are, the _Swamp_ and the _Plain Whortleberries_. The swamp
+variety has been transferred to gardens, in Michigan, and has proved
+valuable. The shrub attains considerable size, producing fruit more
+surely and regularly than in its wild state, and of an improved quality
+and larger size. It may be grown as well as currants all over the
+country. The small plain variety is usually found on sandy plains, and
+is a great bearer of fruit everywhere highly prized. It may be
+transferred to all our gardens, by making a bed of sand six inches or a
+foot deep, or it may be so acclimated as to grow well in any good garden
+soil, and become a universal luxury. We recommend it as a standing fruit
+for all gardens.
+
+
+WILLOW.
+
+The cultivation of willow for osier-work is pursued to some extent in
+this country, and might be greatly increased. At one fourth the present
+prices, it would pay as well as any other branch of agriculture. Some
+varieties will grow on land of little value for other purposes, and all
+on any good land. Willows will take care of themselves after the second
+or third year. The more usual method of planting is of slips, ten inches
+long, set in mellow ground about eight inches deep, in straight rows
+four or six feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows--except the green
+willow, which is put two feet apart in the row. They should be kept
+clear of weeds for the first two years. The osiers are to be cut when
+the bark will peel somewhat easily, and may be put through a machine for
+the purpose, invented by J. Colby, of Jonesville, Vermont, at the rate
+of two tons per day, removing all the bark, without injuring the wood.
+Different opinions prevail respecting the varieties most profitable for
+cultivation; they vary in different localities. The manufacture of
+willow-ware will increase with the increased production of osiers, and
+the consequent reduction of their cost.
+
+
+WINE.
+
+We have elsewhere stated that our only hope for pure wine in this
+country is in domestic manufacture. We shall here give two recipes that
+will insure better articles than are now offered under the name of
+imported wines.
+
+_Currant Wine._--This, as usually manufactured, is a mere cordial,
+rather than a wine. The following recipe gathered from the _Working
+Farmer_, is all that need be desired, on making wine from currants,
+cherries, and most berries, that are not too sweet. Take clean ripe
+currants and pass them between two rollers, or in some other way, crush
+them, put them in a strong bag, and under a screw or weight, and the
+juice will be easily expressed. To each quart of this juice, add three
+pounds of _double-refined_ loaf sugar (no other sugar will do) and water
+enough to make a gallon. Or in a cask that will hold thirty gallons, put
+thirty quarts of the juice, ninety pounds of the sugar, and fill to the
+bung with water. Put in the bung and roll the cask until you can not
+hear the sugar moving on the inside of the barrel, when it will all be
+dissolved. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar of very even
+temperature, and leave the bung out to allow fermentation. This will
+commence in two or three days and continue for a few weeks. Its presence
+may be known by a slight noise like that of soda water, which may be
+heard by placing the ear at the bung hole. When this ceases drive the
+bung tight and let it stand six months, when the wine may be drawn off
+and bottled, and will be perfectly clear and not too sweet. No alcohol
+should be added. Putting in brandies or other spirituous liquors
+prevents the fermentation of wine, leaving the mixture a mere cordial.
+The use of any but double-refined sugar is always injurious, and yet
+many will persist in using it, because it is cheaper. The reason for
+discarding, for wine-making, all but double-refined sugar, may be easily
+understood. Common sugar contains one half of one per cent. of gum, that
+becomes fetid on being dissolved in water. The quantity of this gum in
+the sugar, for a barrel of wine, is considerable--enough to give a bad
+flavor to the wine. This is avoided by using double-refined sugar, which
+contains no gum. This recipe is equally good for cherry wine.
+
+The following recipe for making _Elderberry Wine_, produces an article
+that the best judges in New York and elsewhere have pronounced equal to
+any imported wine. Its excellence has made quite a market for
+elderberries in New York. These berries are so easily grown, and the
+wine so excellent, that their growth will be encouraged throughout the
+country. It is not only an exceedingly palatable wine, but is better
+for the sick, than any other known.
+
+To every quart of the berries, put a quart of water and boil for half an
+hour. Bruise them from the skin and strain, and to every gallon of the
+juice add three pounds of _double-refined_ sugar and one quarter of an
+ounce of cream of tartar and boil for half an hour. Take a clean cask
+and put in it one pound of raisins to every three gallons of the wine,
+and a slice of toasted bread covered over with good yeast. When the wine
+has become quite cool, put it into the cask, and place it in a room of
+even temperature to ferment. When the fermentation has fully ceased, put
+the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol of any kind will be necessary.
+Any one following this recipe _exactly_, will be surprised at the
+excellence of the wine that will be the result.
+
+Of _Grape Wines_, there are several varieties, whose peculiarities are
+determined mainly by the process of manufacturing. A full treatment of
+the subject would require a volume. The following brief directions will
+insure success in making the most desirable grape wines:
+
+1. Let the grapes become thoroughly ripe before gathering, to increase
+their saccharine qualities and make a stronger wine. All fruits make
+much better wine for being fully ripe. Cut the bunches with a sharp
+knife and move carefully to avoid bruising. Spread them in a dry shade
+to evaporate excessive moisture.
+
+2. Assort the grapes before using, removing all decayed, green, or
+broken ones, using only perfect berries.
+
+3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a
+cider-mill. "_Treading the wine vat_" was the ancient method of mashing
+the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.
+
+4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a
+cider-press.
+
+5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to
+twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to
+the length of time the pomace stands.
+
+6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let
+the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called
+"fermenting in the skin."
+
+7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the
+better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a
+cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than
+sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.
+
+Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in
+melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole.
+Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days
+or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the
+cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other
+substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They
+are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation,
+may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second
+fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled
+until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the
+glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being
+occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this
+fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their
+sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.
+
+Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and is drawn off and
+bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs
+fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue,
+charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &c. The best of these substances is
+charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the
+foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an
+ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs--more
+or less according to the state of the wine.
+
+_Rhine Wine_ of Germany may be made as follows:--
+
+Take good Catawba or Isabella grapes, and pound or grind them so as to
+crush every seed and leave them in that state for twenty-four hours.
+Fumigate the cask by burning strips of muslin dipped in sulphur as in
+the preceding recipe. Strain or press out the juice into the cask
+filling it and keeping it _entirely full_, that impurities may run out
+of the bung, during fermentation. In the spring prepare another cask in
+the same way and rack it off into that. When a year old bottle it and it
+is fit for use.
+
+Sweeter wines than any of the above are made by adding sugar to the must
+before fermentation. It should be _double-refined_ sugar, and still it
+is an adulteration.
+
+
+WOODLANDS.
+
+One of the greatest errors of American farmers is their neglect to
+cultivate groves of trees for woodlands, in all suitable places. Our
+primeval forests have been wantonly destroyed, and the country is not
+yet old enough to feel the full force of neglecting to replenish them,
+by new groves, in suitable localities. On the points of hills, rough
+stony places, sides of steep hills, ravines that can not be cultivated,
+and by the side of all the highways of the land, trees should be
+cultivated: in some places fruit-trees, but in most places forest-trees.
+The advantages would be manifold; they would afford shade for cattle,
+groves for birds, which would destroy the worms; they would break off
+the cold winds from crops, cattle, fruit-orchards, and dwellings; would
+greatly enrich the soil by their annual foliage, afford abundance of
+fuel at the cheapest rates, give much good timber, provide for fine
+maple-sugar, and be the greatest ornaments of the rural districts. Only
+think of the comfort and beauty of fifty miles square, in which not a
+street could be found which had not trees on each side, not more than
+twelve feet apart. When such trees should become twenty years old, the
+pedestrian or the carriage could move all day in the shade, listening to
+the music of the birds, and inhaling the aroma of the foliage or
+flowers. To every owner or occupant of the soil we say, plant trees.
+
+
+POULTRY.
+
+Fattening and preparing poultry for the market are important items in
+rural economy. Plenty of sweet food and pure water given at regular
+times, and the fowls not allowed to wander, are the requisites of
+successful fattening. The best feed for fattening fowls is oat-meal.
+Next to this is corn-meal. Three things are essential in food for
+fattening animals, flesh-forming, fat-forming, and heat-producing
+substances. Of all the grains ordinarily fed, oat-meal contains these in
+the best proportions, and next to this comes yellow Indian corn meal.
+Fat is good, but must be given in a hard form as in mutton or beef
+suet. Rice boiled in sweet milk, fed for a day or two before killing
+fowls is said to render the flesh of a white delicate color.
+
+At least one third of the value of poultry in the market depends upon
+properly preparing and transporting it.
+
+1. Do not feed fowls at all for twenty-four hours before killing them.
+
+2. Kill by cutting the jugular vein with a sharp pen-knife, just under
+the sides of the head, and hang them up to bleed.
+
+3. Pick carefully and very clean, without tearing the skin, and without
+scalding. Singe slightly if need be. Dip in hot water for three or four
+seconds and in cold water half a minute.
+
+4. Do not open the breast at all, but remove the entrails from the hind
+opening, leaving the gizzard in its place. Put no water in but wipe out
+the blood with a dry cloth. Leaving the entrails in is injurious,
+tending to sour the meat and taint it with their flavor.
+
+5. Do not allow your poultry to freeze by any means. For transporting to
+a distant market, pack in shallow boxes never containing over three
+hundred pounds each and in clean straw without chaff or dust, and in
+such a manner that no two fowls will touch each other.
+
+6. Geese and ducks look better with the heads cut off. But all fowls
+having their heads removed must have the skin drawn down and tightly
+tied over the end of the neck bone. This will preserve them well and
+give a good appearance.
+
+To preserve fowls for a long time in a perfectly sweet condition for
+family use, fill them half full or more with pulverized charcoal, which
+will act as an absorbent and prevent every particle of taint.
+
+
+
+AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS.
+
+The following list of Agricultural Periodicals embraces all that have
+come to our knowledge. In a subsequent edition we shall endeavor to
+render the list more complete, and give the special design of each, with
+the frequency of publication, form, price, editor's and publisher's
+names, etc.
+
+NAME OF PAPER. PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
+
+  American Farmers' Magazine   _New York City._
+  American Farmer   _Baltimore, Md._
+  Alabama Planter   _Mobile, Ala._
+  American Agriculturist   _New York City._
+  Canadian Agriculturist   _Toronto, C. W._
+  Cultivator   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Cotton Planter   _Montgomery, Ala._
+  Cultivator   _Columbus, Ohio._
+  Cultivator   _Boston, Mass._
+  California Farmer   _San Francisco, Cal._
+  Country Gentleman   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Farmer and Planter   _Pendleton, S. C._
+  Granite Farmer   _Manchester, N. H._
+  Genesee Farmer   _Rochester, N. Y._
+  Horticulturist   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Homestead   _Hartford, Ct._
+  Journal of Agriculture   _Chicago, Ill._
+  Maine Farmer   _Augusta, Me._
+  Michigan Farmer   _Detroit, Mich._
+  Magazine of Horticulture   _Boston, Mass._
+  Massachusetts Ploughman   _Boston, Mass._
+  New England Farmer   _Boston, Mass._
+  New Jersey Farmer   _Trenton, N. J._
+  North Carolina Planter   _Raleigh, N. C._
+  Ohio Valley Farmer   _Cincinnati, Ohio._
+  Ohio Farmer   _Cleveland, Ohio._
+  Prairie Farmer   _Chicago, Ill._
+  Rural New Yorker   _Rochester, N. Y._
+  Rural Southerner   _Ellicott's Mills, Md._
+  Rural American   _Utica, N. Y._
+  Southern Planter   _Richmond, Va._
+  Southern Cultivator   _Augusta, Ga._
+  Southern Homestead   _Nashville, Tenn._
+  Valley Farmer   _St. Louis, Mo._
+  Vermont Stock Journal   _Middlebury, Vt._
+  Wisconsin Farmer   _Madison, Wisc._
+  Working Farmer   _New York City._
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+  Acclimation; 9
+  Agricultural Periodicals, List of; 440
+  Almonds; 10
+  Animals, Rules for feeding; 178
+  Apples; 12
+  Apple-Tree Wood, Analysis of; 14
+  Apple-Worm, Remedy for; 22
+  Apricot; 50
+  Artichoke; 52
+  Ashes; 53
+  Asparagus; 54
+  Atmosphere, Important Auxiliary in the Growth of Plants; 278
+
+  Balm; 56
+  Barberry; 56
+  Barley; 57
+  Barns; 59
+  Bean, Coffee; 130
+  Beans; 60
+  Bees and Beehives; 64
+  Beets; 77
+  Bene Plant; 81
+  Berries, Preservation of; 367
+  Birds useful in destroying Insects; 82
+  Blackberry; 83
+  Black Currant; 165
+  Black Raspberry; 85
+  Board Fences; 179
+  Bones, their Value as a Fertilizer; 85, 275
+  Borden's Milk Condensation; 369
+  Borecale; 86
+  Borer, Preventive and Remedy for; 23
+  Breck's Book of Flowers; 195
+  Breeding in, Deteriorating Effects of; 142
+  Broccoli; 86
+  Broom-Corn; 87
+  Brussels Sprouts; 89
+  Buckthorn; 89
+  Buckwheat; 90
+  Budding; 91
+  Buffalo Berry; 390
+  Bulbous Flowering Roots; 195
+  Bushes, Eradication of Noxious; 94
+  Butter; 95
+  Butter Dairy; 167
+  Butter-Making, Essential Rules for; 100
+  Butternuts; 102
+
+  Cabbage; 102
+  Calves; 108
+  Canker-Worm, Remedy for; 25
+  Cans; 111, 367
+  Carrots; 112
+  Caterpillars, how destroyed; 24
+  Cauliflower; 113
+  Celery; 114
+  Charcoal; 125
+  Cheese; 115
+  Cheese-House; 167
+  Cherries; 118
+  Chestnuts; 125
+  Chickens; 197-199
+  Churn, Best Form of; 98
+  Churning, Brief Rules for; 97
+  Cider; 126
+  Citron; 127
+  Cleft-Grafting; 210
+  Clover; 128, 235
+  Coffee Bean; 130
+  Colts, Milk from the Dairy Excellent food for; 248
+  Conical Training; 420
+  Corn; 131
+  Corn, Broom; 87
+  Cottage, Economical Plan of a Laborer's; 257
+  Cotton; 134
+  Cotton Plant, Analysis of; 139
+  Country Residence, Plan of; 255
+  Cows; 140
+  Cranberry; 156
+  Cucumber; 161
+  Curculio on Plum-Trees, Unfailing Remedy for; 355
+  Currants; 164
+  Currants, Black; 165
+  Currant Wine, Recipe for making; 433
+
+  Dairy; 167
+  Declension of Fruits, Cause of and Remedy for; 168
+  Dill; 169
+  Downing's List of Gooseberries; 208
+  Drains; 170
+  Ducks; 172
+  Dwarfing Fruit-Trees, Process of; 173
+
+  Early Fruits and Vegetables, how produced; 174
+  Eastern States, Varieties of Apples adapted to; 20
+  Eastwood's Work on Cranberry Culture; 156
+  Egg Plant; 175
+  Eggs, how to test and preserve them; 176
+  Elderberry; 176
+  Elderberry Wine, a Recipe for Making; 434
+  Endive; 177
+
+  Fan Training of Trees; 417
+  Farm-Buildings; 251
+  Feeding Animals; 178
+  Fences; 179
+  Fennel; 181
+  Figs; 181
+  Fish; 184
+  Flax; 192
+  Flowering Shrubs; 195
+  Flowers; 193
+  Foot-Paths, Circular, how laid out; 254
+  Foot-Rot in Animals, Remedy for; 388
+  Forest Trees; 437
+  Fowls; 196
+  Fruit; 200
+  Fruits, Declension of; 168
+  Fruits, Early, how produced; 174
+  Fruits, Preservation of; 367
+  Fruits, Manner of Gathering; 205
+  Fruit-Trees, Location of; 269
+  Fruit-Trees, how to induce Productiveness in; 201
+
+  Garden; 202
+  Garlic; 205
+  Gathering Fruits; 205
+  Geese; 205
+  Gooseberry; 206
+  Grafting; 208
+  Grafting-Wax, how made; 211
+  Grapes; 212
+  Grape-Wine, Method of making; 435
+  Grasses; 227
+  Greenhouse; 231
+  Guano, Care requisite in the Application of; 277
+  Guenon's Treatise on the Milking Qualities of Cows; 142
+  Gypsum; 232, 247
+
+  Hams, Preservation of; 370
+  Harrowing; 233
+  Hay, making and preserving of; 234
+  Hedge; 236
+  Hedge-Pruning; 238
+  Hedges, Shrubs suitable for the Formation of; 57, 89, 236-238
+  Hemp; 239
+  Hens; 196
+  Herbaceous Flowers; 196
+  Hive, Proper Construction of; 74
+  Hoeing; 241
+  Hogs; 409
+  Hogstye, Plan of; 252
+  Hogstye, Manure from the; 274
+  Hops; 242
+  Hops, Method of curing; 244
+  Horizontal Training; 419
+  Horse; 246
+  Horseradish; 249
+  Hotbeds; 249
+  Hothouse; 231
+  Houses; 251
+  Hybrids; 259
+
+
+  Inarching; 259
+  Insects; 260
+  Iron-Filings, Beneficial to Pear-Trees 261
+  Irrigation; 261
+  Italian Farmhouse, Plan of; 228
+
+
+  Kale; 86
+
+
+  Labels for Fruit-Trees; 202
+  Laborer's Cottage, Plan of; 257
+  Landscape Gardens; 263
+  Lawton Blackberry; 84
+  Layering; 264
+  Laying in Trees; 265
+  Leeks; 266
+  Lemon; 266
+  Lettuce; 267
+  Licorice; 268
+  Lime, Value of as a Fertilizer; 268
+  Limes; 269
+  Liquid Manures, Value of; 273
+  Location; 269
+  Locust-Trees; 270
+
+
+  Manures; 271
+  Maple-Trees, Best Method of tapping; 404
+  Marjorum; 283
+  Marl; 282
+  Melons; 283
+  Mice, Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373
+  Milk, Condensation and Preservation of; 369
+  Milking Qualities of Cows, Infallible Marks of; 142-155
+  Milking, Rules for; 96, 155
+  Milk, Value of for Horses; 248
+  Millet; 287
+  Mint; 288
+  Moisture, Retention of, leading Benefit of Manure; 277
+  Mulberry; 289
+  Mulching; 289
+  Mushrooms; 290
+  Muskmelons; 283
+  Mustard; 292
+
+
+  Nasturtium; 293
+  Nectarine; 293
+  New Fruits; 295
+  New Rochelle (Lawton) Blackberry 84
+  Northern States, Varieties of Apples suitable for; 30
+  Nursery; 296
+  Nuts; 300
+
+
+  Oaks; 301
+  Oats; 303
+  Okra; 304
+  Olives; 304
+  Onions; 305
+  Oranges; 308
+  Orchards; 309
+  Orchards, Favorable Locations for; 269
+  Osage Orange; 236
+  Oxen; 311
+
+
+  Parsley; 312
+  Parsnips; 313
+  Pastures; 315
+  Peas; 316
+  Peach;; 319
+  Pear;; 332
+  Pear-Orchard, Plan of; 337
+  Pennyroyal Mint; 288
+  Peppers; 347
+  Peppergrass; 348
+  Peppermint; 288
+  Picket Fences; 180
+  Piggery, Plan of; 252
+  Plaster of Paris; 232
+  Plowing; 348
+  Plum; 351
+  Plum, Analysis of; 353
+  Pomegranate; 359
+  Potato; 360
+  Potato-Rot, Cause of and Remedy for; 364
+  Potato, Sweet; 406
+  Poultry; 438
+  Preserving Fruits and Vegetables 367
+  Protection of Trees for Transplanting 265, 300
+  Prunes, Domestic; 356
+  Pruning and Training; 414
+  Pruning Peach-Trees; 323
+  Pumpkin; 371
+
+
+  Quince; 372
+
+
+  Rabbits, a Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373
+  Radish; 374
+  Rail Fences; 180
+  Raspberry; 375
+  Raspberry, Black; 85
+  Rennet, how prepared; 115
+  Rhubarb; 377
+  Rice; 378
+  Rocks, Methods of removing; 379
+  Rollers; 379
+  Root Crops; 380
+  Root-Pruning, Method of; 353
+
+
+  Saffron; 381
+  Sage; 381
+  Salsify or Vegetable Oyster; 382
+  Scraping Land; 382
+  Seeds; 383
+  Shade-Trees; 437
+  Sheep; 384
+  Sheep-Manure, Value of; 389
+  Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry; 390
+  Skippers in Cheese; 117
+  Soils; 391
+  Sorgho, or Chinese Sugarcane; 405
+  South, Apples adapted to the Climate of the; 31
+  Spearmint; 288
+  Spinage or Spinach; 394
+  Squash; 395
+  Stable; 59
+  Stilton Cheese, Method of Making; 117
+  Strawberry; 396
+  Subsoil Plowing; 349
+  Succory; 177
+  Sugar; 403
+  Summer-House, Plan of; 256
+  Summer Savory; 406
+  Sunflower; 406
+  Sweet Potato; 406
+  Swine; 409
+
+
+  Tobacco; 411
+  Tomato; 412
+  Tongue-Grafting; 211
+  Tools; 414
+  Training and Pruning; 414
+  Transplanting; 421
+  Turnip; 422
+
+
+  Van Mon's Theory of the Production of New Fruits; 295
+  Vegetables, Early; 174
+  Vegetable Oyster; 382
+  Vineyards; 213, 216
+
+
+  Wagon-House; 251
+  Walls, Stone; 179
+  Watering Gardens in Dry Seasons, Benefits of; 261
+  Watermelons; 283
+  Wax-Moth, Protection against; 73
+  Weevil, or Wheat Midge, Remedy for; 430
+  Western States, Varieties of Apples suitable for the; 30, 48
+  Wheat; 423
+  White Blackberry; 84
+  Whortleberry; 432
+  Willow; 432
+  Wine; 433
+  Wines, Adulteration of Imported; 212
+  Winter Lettuce; 177
+  Wood-Ashes, Value of as a Manure; 53
+  Woodlands; 437
+  Woolly Aphis, Remedy for; 23
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AGRICULTURAL BOOKS,
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+A. O. MOORE,
+
+(LATE C. M. SAXTON & CO.)
+
+140 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK,
+
+_And sent by mail to any part of the United States on receipt of the
+price._
+
+   1 American Farmers' Encyclopedia. A work of great value           $4 00
+   2 Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor                                       1 00
+   3 Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse                       2 00
+   4   Do.    do.           do.          do.   colored plates         4 00
+   5 Dadd's American Cattle Doctor                                    1 00
+   6 The Stable Book                                                  1 00
+   7 The Horse's Foot, and how to keep it sound; paper 25 cts., cloth   50
+   8 Bridgeman's Gardener's Assistant                                 1 50
+   9 Bridgeman's Florist's Guide, half cloth 50 cts., cloth             60
+  10 Bridgeman's Gardener's Instructor, half cloth 50 cts., cloth       60
+  11 Bridgeman's Fruit Cultivator, half cloth 50 cts., cloth            60
+  12 Field's Hand-Book of Pear Culture                                  60
+  13 Cole's American Fruit Book                                         50
+  14 Cole's American Veterinarian                                       50
+  15 Buist's American Flower Garden Directory                         1 25
+  16 Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener                                    75
+  17 Browne's American Bird Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth               50
+  18 Dana's Muck Manual, cloth                                        1 00
+  19 Dana's Prize Essay on Manures                                      25
+  20 Stockhardt's Chemical Field Lectures                             1 00
+  21 Norton's Scientific and Practical Agriculture                      60
+  22 Johnston's Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry (for Schools)       25
+  23 Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology        1 00
+  24 Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology        1 25
+  25 Downing's Landscape Gardening                                    3 50
+  26 Fessenden's Complete Farmer and Gardener                         1 25
+  27 Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener                              50
+  28 Nash's Progressive Farmer                                          60
+  29 Richardson's Domestic Fowls                                        25
+  30 Richardson on the Horse                                            25
+  31 Richardson on the Hog                                              25
+  32 Richardson on the Pests of the Farm                                25
+  33 Richardson on the Hive and Honey Bee                               25
+  34 Milburn and Stevens on the Cow and Dairy Husbandry                 25
+  35 Skinner's Elements of Agriculture                                  25
+  36 Topham's Chemistry Made Easy                                       25
+  37 Breck's Book of Flowers                                          1 00
+  38 Leuchar's Hot Houses and Green Houses                            1 25
+  39 Chinese Sugar Cane and Sugar Making                                25
+  40 Turner's Cotton Planter's Manual                                 1 00
+  41 Allen on the Culture of the Grape                                1 00
+  42 Allen's Diseases of Domestic Animals                               75
+  43 Allen's American Farm Book                                       1 00
+  44 Allen's Rural Architecture                                       1 25
+  45 Pardee on the Strawberry                                           60
+  46 Peddar's Farmer's Land Measurer                                    50
+  47 Phelp's Bee-keeper's Chart                                         25
+  48 Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows; paper 38 cts., cloth              60
+  49 Domestic and Ornamental Poultry, plain $1.00, colored plates     2 00
+  50 Randall's Sheep Husbandry                                        1 25
+  51 Youatt, Randall, and Skinner's Shepherd's Own Book               2 00
+  52 Youatt on the Breed and Management of Sheep                        75
+  53 Youatt on the Horse                                              1 25
+  54 Youatt, Martin, and Stevens, on Cattle                           1 25
+  55 Youatt and Martin on the Hog                                       75
+  56 Barry's Fruit Garden                                             1 25
+  57 Munn's Practical Land Drainer                                      50
+  58 Stephens' Book of the Farm, complete, 450 illustrations          4 00
+  59 The American Architect, or Plans for Country Dwellings           6 00
+  60 Thaer, Shaw, and Johnson's Principles of Agriculture             2 00
+  61 Smith's Landscape Gardening, Parks, and Pleasure Grounds         1 25
+  62 Weeks on the Bee: paper 25 cts., cloth                             50
+  63 Wilson on Cultivation of Flax                                      25
+  64 Miner's American Bee-keeper's Manual                             1 00
+  65 Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-keeping                                1 00
+  66 Cottage and Farm Bee-keeper                                        50
+  67 Elliott's American Fruit Grower's Guide                          1 25
+  68 The American Florist's Guide                                       75
+  69 Hyde on the Chinese Sugar Cane, paper                              25
+  70 Every Lady her own Flower Gardener; paper 25 cts., cloth           50
+  71 The Rose Culturist; paper 25 cts., cloth                           50
+  72 History of Morgan Horses                                         1 00
+  73 Moore's Rural Hand Books, 4 vols.                                5 00
+  74 Rabbit Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth                               50
+  75 Reemelin's Vine-Dresser's Manual                                   50
+  76 Neill's Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Gardener's Companion        1 00
+  77 Browne's American Poultry Yard                                   1 00
+  78 Browne's Field Book of Manures                                   1 25
+  79 Hooper's Dog and Gun                                               50
+  80 Skilful Housewife; paper 25 cts., cloth                            50
+  81 Chorlton's Grape Grower's Guide                                    60
+  82 Sorgho and Imphee, Sugar Plants                                  1 00
+  83 White's Gardening for the South                                  1 25
+  84 Eastwood on the Cranberry                                          50
+  85 Persoz on the Culture of the Vine                                  25
+  86 Boussingault's Rural Economy                                     1 25
+  87 Thompson's Food of Animals; paper 50 cts., cloth                   75
+  88 Richardson on Dogs; paper 25 cts., cloth                           50
+  89 Liebig's Familiar Letters to Farmers                               50
+  90 Cobbett's American Gardener                                        50
+  91 Waring's Elements of Agriculture                                   75
+  92 Blake's Farmer at Home                                           1 25
+  93 Rural Essays                                                     3 00
+  94 Fish Culture                                                     1 00
+  95 Flint on Grasses                                                 1 25
+  96 Warder's Hedges and Evergreens                                   1 00
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Soil Culture
+
+Author: J. H. Walden
+
+Release Date: January 15, 2010 [EBook #30975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOIL CULTURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Giacomelli and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature
+in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;">
+<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="362" height="550" alt="" title="portrait of author" />
+
+</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+  <h1>SOIL CULTURE;</h1>
+
+  <h4>CONTAINING<br />
+
+  A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW<br />
+
+  OF<br />
+
+  AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, POMOLOGY,<br />
+  DOMESTIC ANIMALS, RURAL ECONOMY,<br />
+  AND AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE.</h4>
+
+  <h4>BY</h4>
+
+  <h2>J. H. WALDEN, A. M.</h2>
+
+  <h4>ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS</h4>
+
+ <p class="center">NEW YORK:<br />
+  PUBLISHED BY ROBERT SEARS,<br />
+  181 WILLIAM STREET.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>1858.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="center">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857,
+<span class="smcap">By</span> J. H. WALDEN,
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the
+Northern District of Illinois.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">SAVAGE &amp; McCREA, STEREOTYPERS, C. A. ALVORD, <span class="smcap">Printer</span>,<br />
+13 Chambers Street, N.Y.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  No. 15 Vandewater Street, N.Y.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><br /><br />
+TO<br />
+<br />
+THE PRACTICAL CULTIVATORS OF THE SOIL,</h3>
+<h2>
+The True Lords of the Manor,</h2>
+
+<h3>
+THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,<br />
+<br />
+BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 16em;">The Author</span>.<br /><br /></h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFATORY_NOTE_TO_THE_READER" id="PREFATORY_NOTE_TO_THE_READER"></a>PREFATORY NOTE TO THE READER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>If "he who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before,
+is a benefactor of his race," he is not less so who imparts to millions
+a knowledge of the methods by which it is done.</p>
+
+<p>The last half century has been the era of experiments and writing on the
+cultivation of the soil. The result has been the acquisition of more
+knowledge on the subjects embraced, than the world had attained in all
+its previous history. That knowledge is scattered through many volumes
+of numerous periodicals and books, and interspersed with many theories,
+and much speculation, that can never be valuable in practice. In the
+form in which it is presented, it confuses, rather than aids, the great
+mass of cultivators. Hence the prejudice against "<i>book-farming</i>."
+Provided established facts only are presented, they are none the worse
+for being printed.</p>
+
+<p>The object of this volume is to condense, and present in an intelligible
+form, all important established facts in the science of soil-culture.
+The author claims originality, as to the discovery of facts and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>principles, in but few cases. During ten years of preparatory study for
+this work, he has sought the rewards of industry, in sifting out the
+certain and the useful from the hypothetical and the fanciful, and the
+results of judicious discrimination between fallacy and just reasoning,
+in support of theories. This volume is designed to be a complete manual
+for all but amateur cultivators. While it is believed that he who
+follows its directions will be certain of success, it is not intended to
+disparage the merits of other works, but to encourage and extend their
+perusal. We can not too strongly recommend to young culturists to keep
+themselves well posted in this kind of literature, and give to every
+discovery and invention in this science a fair trial; not on a large
+scale, so as to sink money in fruitless experiments, but sufficient to
+afford a sure test of their real value. To no class of men is study more
+important than to soil-culturists.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that the directions here given, if followed, will save
+millions of dollars annually to that class of cultivators who can least
+afford to waste time and money in experimenting. With beginners it is
+important to be successful at first; which is impossible without
+availing themselves of the experience of others. While we thus aim to
+give our volume this exclusively practical form, and utilitarian
+character, we do not undervalue the labors of amateur cultivators. A
+meed of praise is due to those who are willing to spend time and money
+in experiments, by which great truths are evolved for the benefit of
+mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Perfection is not claimed for this volume. But the author hopes nothing
+will be found here that is untrue. A fear of inserting errors may have
+induced us to omit some things that may yet prove valuable. If anything
+seems to be at variance with a cultivator's observation, in a given
+locality, he will discover in our general principles on climate, soil,
+and location, that it is a natural result.</p>
+
+<p><i>Accurate as far as we go</i> has been our motto. It is hoped the form is
+most convenient. All is arranged under one alphabet, with a complete
+index. The author has consulted many intelligent cultivators and
+writers, who, without exception, approve his plan. All agree in saying
+that it is designed to fill a place not occupied by any other single
+volume in the language. It is impossible, without cumbering the volume,
+to give suitable credit to the authors and persons consulted. Suffice it
+to say, the author has carefully studied all the works mentioned in this
+volume, and availed himself of a great variety of verbal suggestions, by
+scientific and practical men. If this work shall, in any good degree,
+serve the purpose for which it is intended, it will amply reward the
+author for an amount of labor, experiment, observation, and study,
+appreciable only by few.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">J. H. Walden</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 2em;">New York</span>, <i>January 1, 1858</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS">
+<tr><td align="left"> &nbsp;</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Apple-Worms</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_22'>22</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Apple-Tree Borer</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Caterpillar Eggs</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Canker-Worm Moths</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Baldwin Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Bellflower Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_35'>35</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Early Harvest Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Spitzbergen Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rhode Island Greening</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Pippin</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Newtown Pippin</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rambo Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rome Beauty</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Westfield Seek-no-further</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Northern Spy</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Roxbury Russet</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_45'>45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Swaar Apple</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Maiden's Blush</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_47'>47</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Barberries</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Working Bee, Queen and Drone</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">High-Bush Blackberry</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Budding (Six Illustrations)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cherries (Six Illustrations)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><i>Milking Qualities of Cows Illustrated</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Flanders Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_145'>145</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Selvage Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Curveline Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_148'>148</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Bicorn Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Demijohn Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Square Escutcheon Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Lemousine Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Horizontal Cut Cow</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bastards</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cranberries</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fig</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cleft and Tongue Grafting</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Isabella Grapes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Catawba Grapes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rebecca Grapes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Delaware Grapes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Hedge-Pruning (4 engravings)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_238'>238</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Farm Buildings</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_252'>252</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Piggery</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Fruit Garden, and Grounds</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Laying out Curves Illustrated</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_255'>255</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Farm-House</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_255'>255</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Summer-House</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Laborer's Cottage</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Laborer's Cottage</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Italian Farm-House</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ground Plan of Italian Farm-House</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Neglected Peach-Tree</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_324'>324</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Properly-Trimmed Peach-Tree</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_324'>324</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Plan of a Pear-Orchard</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_338'>338</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Bartlett Pear</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_340'>340</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Beurr� Diel Pear</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_341'>341</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">White Doyenne Pear</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_342'>342</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Flemish Beauty</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_343'>343</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Seckel</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_345'>345</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gray Doyenne Pear</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_346'>346</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">The Curculio</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_355'>355</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lawrence's Favorite Plum</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_356'>356</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Imperial Gage</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_357'>357</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Egg-Plum</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_357'>357</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Green Gage</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_358'>358</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Jefferson Plum</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_358'>358</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Washington Plum</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_359'>359</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">French Merino Ram</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_386'>386</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_390'>390</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Strawberry Blossoms</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_397'>397</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fan Training (Four Illustrations)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Horizontal Training (Two Illustrations)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_419'>419</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Conical Training (Four Illustrations)</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_420'>420</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><br /><a name="SOIL_CULTURE" id="SOIL_CULTURE"></a>SOIL CULTURE.<br /><br /></h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="ACCLIMATION" id="ACCLIMATION"></a>ACCLIMATION.</h4>
+
+
+<p>This is the art of successfully changing fruits or plants from one
+climate to another. Removal to a colder climate should be effected in
+the spring, and to a warmer one in the fall. This may be done by scions
+or seeds. By seeds is better, in all cases in which they will produce
+the same varieties. Very few imported apple or pear trees are valuable
+in this country; while our finest varieties, perfectly adapted to our
+climate, were raised from seeds of foreign fruits and their descendants.
+The same is true of the extremes of this country. Baldwin apple-trees,
+forty or fifty years old, are perfectly hardy in the colder parts of New
+England; while the same imported from warmer sections of the Union fail
+in severe winters. This fact has given many new localities the
+reputation of being poor fruit-regions. When we remove fruit-trees to a
+similar climate in a new country, they flourish well, and we call it a
+good fruit-country. Remove trees from the same nursery to a different
+climate and soil, and they are not hardy and vigorous, and we call it a
+poor fruit-country. These two localities may be equally good for fruit,
+with suit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>able care in acclimating the tree and preparing the soil. Thus
+the rich prairies of central Illinois are often said not to be adapted
+to fruit. Give time to raise fruits from the seed, and to apply the
+principles of acclimation, and those rich prairies will be among the
+great fruit-growing regions of the world. Two things are essential to
+successful fruit-culture, on all the alluvial soils of the Northwest:
+raise from seed, and prune closely and head-in short, and thus put back
+and strengthen the trees for the first ten years, and no more complaints
+will be heard.</p>
+
+<p>The peach has been gradually acclimated, until, transplanted from
+perpetual summer, it successfully endures a temperature of thirty-five
+degrees below zero. This prince of fruits will yet be successfully grown
+even beyond the northern limits of Minnesota. Many vegetables may also
+be grown in very different climates, by annually importing the seed from
+localities where they naturally flourish. Sweet potatoes are thus grown
+abundantly in Massachusetts. We wonder this subject has received so
+little attention. We commend these brief hints to the earnest
+consideration of all practical cultivators, hoping they may be of great
+value in the results to which they may lead.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ALMONDS.</h4>
+
+<p>Almonds are natives of several parts of Asia and Africa. They perfectly
+resemble the peach in all but the fruit. The peach and almond grow well,
+budded into each other. In France, almond-stocks are pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>ferred for the
+peach. Their cultivation and propagation are in all respects the same as
+the peach.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;1. Long, hard shell. This is the best for cultivation in
+western and middle states, and in all cold regions. Very ornamental.</p>
+
+<p>2. Common sweet. Productive in middle states, but not so good as the
+first.</p>
+
+<p>3. Ladies' thin shell. Fruit large, long, and sweet; the very best
+variety, but not so hardy as the first two. Grows well in warm
+locations, with slight protection in winter.</p>
+
+<p>4. The bitter. Large, with very ornamental leaves and blossoms. Fruit
+bitter, and yielding that deadly poison, prussic acid.</p>
+
+<p>5. Peach almond. So called from having a pulp equal to a poor peach. Not
+hardy in northern climates. Other varieties are named, but are of no
+consequence to the practical cultivator.</p>
+
+<p>6. Two varieties of ornamental almonds are very beautiful in spring&mdash;the
+large, double flowering, and the well-known dwarf flowering. But we
+regard peach-blossoms quite as ornamental, and the ripe peaches much
+more so, and so prefer to cultivate them.</p>
+
+<p>Almonds are extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, especially in
+Portugal, as an article of commerce. They will grow equally well in this
+country; but labor is so cheap in Europe, that American cultivators can
+not compete with it in the almond market. But every one owning land
+should cultivate a few as a family luxury.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>APPLES.</h4>
+
+<p>The original of all our apples was the wild European crab. We have in
+this country several native crabs larger and better than the European;
+but they have not yet, as we are aware, been developed into fine apples.
+Apple-trees are hardy and long-lived, doing well for one hundred and
+fifty years. Highly-cultivated trees, however, are thought to last only
+about fifty years. An apple-tree, imported from England, produced fruit
+in Connecticut at the age of two hundred and eight years. The apple is
+the most valuable of all fruits. The peach, the best pears, the
+strawberries, and others, are all delicious in their day; but apples are
+adapted to a greater variety of uses, and are in perfection all the
+year; the earliest may be used in June, and the latest may be kept until
+that time next year. As an article of food, they are very valuable on
+account of both their nutritive and medicinal qualities. As a gentle
+laxative, they are invaluable for children, who should always be allowed
+to eat ripe apples as they please, when they can be afforded. Children
+will not long be inclined to eat ripe fruit to their injury.</p>
+
+<p>An almost exclusive diet of baked sweet apples and milk is recorded as
+having cured chronic cases of consumption, and other diseases caused by
+too rich food. Let dyspeptics vary the mode of preparing and using an
+apple diet, until it agrees with them, and many aggravated cases may be
+cured without medicine. It is strange how the idea has gained so much
+currency that apples, although a pleasant luxury, are not suffi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>ciently
+nutritious for a valuable article of diet. There is no other fruit or
+vegetable in general use that contains such a proportion of nutriment.
+It has been ascertained in Germany, by a long course of experiments,
+that men will perform more labor, endure more fatigue, and be more
+healthy, on an apple diet, than on that universal indispensable for the
+poor, the potato. Apples are more valuable than potatoes for food. They
+are equally valuable as food for fowls, swine, sheep, cattle, and
+horses. Hogs have been well fattened on apples alone. Cooked with other
+vegetables, and mixed with a little ground grain or bran, they are an
+economical food for fattening pork or beef. Sweet or slightly-acid
+apples, fed to neat stock or horses, will prevent disease, and keep the
+animals in fine condition. For human food they may be cooked in a
+greater variety of ways than almost any other article. Apple-cider is
+valuable for some uses. It makes the best vinegar in general use, and,
+when well made and bottled, is better than most of our wines for
+invalids. Apple-molasses, or boiled cider, which is sweet-apple cider
+boiled down until it will not ferment, is excellent in cookery.
+Apple-butter is highly esteemed in many families. Dried apples are an
+important article of commerce. Green apples are also exported to most
+parts of the world. Notwithstanding the increased attention to their
+cultivation during the last half-century, their market value is steadily
+increasing, and doubtless will be, for the best varieties, for the next
+five hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>It does not cost more than five or six cents per bushel to raise apples;
+hence they are one of the most profitable crops a farmer can raise. No
+farm, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>fore, is complete without a good orchard. The man who owns
+but five acres of land should have at least two acres in fruit-trees.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;Apples will succeed well on any soil that will produce good
+cabbages, potatoes, or Indian corn. Land needs as much manure and care
+for apple-trees as for potatoes. Rough hillsides and broken lands,
+unsuitable for general cultivation, may be made very valuable in
+orchards. It must be enriched, if not originally so, and kept clean
+about the trees. On no crop does good culture pay better. Many suppose
+that an apple-tree, being a great grower, will take care of itself after
+having attained a moderate size. Whoever observes the great and rapid
+growth of apple-trees must see, that, when the ground is nearly covered
+with them, they must make a great draft on the soil. To secure health
+and increased value, the deficiency must be supplied in manure and
+cultivation. The quantity and quality of the fruit depend mainly on the
+condition of the land. The kinds and proportions of manures best for an
+apple-orchard are important practical questions. We give a chemical
+analysis of the ashes of the apple-tree, which will indicate, even to
+the unlearned, the manure that will probably be needed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Analysis of the ash of the apple-tree.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="70%" cellspacing="0" summary="Analysis of the ash of the apple-tree.">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">Sap-wood.</td><td align="right">Heart-wood.</td><td align="right">Bark of trunk.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Potash</td><td align="right">16.19</td><td align="right">6.620</td><td align="right">4.930</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Soda</td><td align="right">3.11</td><td align="right">7.935</td><td align="right">3.285</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Chloride of sodium</td><td align="right">0.42</td><td align="right">0.210</td><td align="right">0.540</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sulphate of lime</td><td align="right">0.05</td><td align="right">0.526</td><td align="right">0.637</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Phosphate of peroxyde of iron</td><td align="right">0.80</td><td align="right">0.500</td><td align="right">0.375</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Phosphate of lime</td><td align="right">17.50</td><td align="right">5.210</td><td align="right">2.425</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Phosphate of magnesia</td><td align="right">0.20</td><td align="right">0.190</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Carbonic acid</td><td align="right">29.10</td><td align="right">36.275</td><td align="right">44.830</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lime</td><td align="right">18.63</td><td align="right">37.019</td><td align="right">51.578</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Magnesia</td><td align="right">8.40</td><td align="right">6.900</td><td align="right">0.150</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Silicia</td><td align="right">0.85</td><td align="right">0.400</td><td align="right">0.200</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Soluble silicia</td><td align="right">0.80</td><td align="right">0.300</td><td align="right">0.400</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Organic matter</td><td align="right">4.60</td><td align="right">2.450</td><td align="right">2.100</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">100.65</td><td align="right">104.535</td><td align="right">111.450</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>This table will indicate the application of plenty of wood-ashes and
+charcoal; lime in hair, bones, horn-shavings, old plaster, common lime,
+and a little common salt. Lime and ashes, or dissolved potash, are
+indispensable on an old orchard; they will improve the fruit one half,
+both in quantity and quality.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation.</i>&mdash;This is done mainly by seeds, budding and grafting. The
+best method is by common cleft-grafting on all stocks large enough, and
+by whip or tongue grafting on all others. (See under article, Grafting.)</p>
+
+<p>Grafting into the sycamore is recommended by some. The scions are said
+to grow profusely, and to bear early and abundantly; but they are apt to
+be killed by cold winters. We do not recommend it. Almost everything
+does best budded or grafted into vigorous stocks of its own nature.
+Root-grafting, as it is termed,&mdash;that is, cutting up roots into pieces
+three or four inches long, and putting a scion into each&mdash;has been a
+matter of much discussion and diversity of opinion. It is certainly a
+means of most rapidly multiplying a given variety, and is therefore
+profitable to the nurseryman. For ourselves, we should prefer trees
+grafted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> just above, or at the ground, using the whole stock for one
+tree. We do not, however, undertake to settle this controverted point.
+Our minds are fixed against it. Others must do as they please.
+Propagation by seed is thought to be entirely uncertain, because, as is
+supposed, the seeds will not reproduce their own varieties. We consider
+this far from being an established fact.</p>
+
+<p>When grafts are put into large trees, high up from the ground, their
+fruit may be somewhat modified by the stock. There is also a slight
+tendency in the seeds of all grafts to return to the varieties from
+which they descended. But we believe the general rule to be, that the
+seeds of grafts, put in at the ground and standing alone, will generally
+produce the same varieties of fruit. The most prominent obstacle in the
+way of this reproduction is the presence of other varieties, which mix
+in the blossom. The planting of seeds from any mixed orchard can never
+settle this question, because they are never pure. Propagation by seeds,
+then, is an inconvenient method, only to be resorted to for purposes of
+acclimation. But it is so seldom we have a good bearing apple-tree so
+far removed from others as not to be affected by the blossoms, that we
+generally get from seeds a modification of varieties. Raising suitable
+stocks for grafting is done by planting seeds in drills thirty inches
+apart, and keeping clear of weeds until they are large enough to graft.
+The soil should be made very rich, to save time in their growth. Land
+where root-crops grew the previous year is the best. If kept clear of
+weeds, on rich, deep soil, from one to two thirds of them will be large
+enough for whip-grafting after the first year's growth. The pomice from
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> cider-mill is often planted. It is better to separate the seeds,
+and plant them with a seed-drill. They will then be in straight, narrow
+rows, allowing the cultivator and hoe to pass close by them, and thus
+save two thirds of the cost of cultivation. The question of keeping
+seeds dry or moist until planting is one of some importance. Most seeds
+are better for being kept slightly moist until planted; but with the
+apple it makes no difference. Keep apple-seeds dry and spread, as they
+are apt to heat. Freezing them is not of the slightest importance. If
+you plant pomice, put in a little lime or ashes to counteract the acid.
+For winter-grafting, pull the seedlings that are of suitable size, cut
+off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in moist sand in a
+cellar that will not freeze. After grafting, tie them up in bunches, and
+pack in tight boxes of moist sand or sawdust.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting.</i>&mdash;This is fully treated elsewhere in this work. We give
+under each fruit only what is peculiar to that species. In mild climates
+transplant in the fall, and in cold in the spring. Spring-planting must
+never be done until the soil has become dry enough to be made fine. A
+thoroughly-pulverized soil is the great essential of successful
+transplanting. Trees for spring-planting should always be taken up
+before the commencement of vegetation. But in very wet springs, this
+occurs before the ground becomes sufficiently dry; it is then best to
+take up the trees and heel them in, and keep them until the soil is
+suitable. The place for an apple-tree should be made larger than for any
+other tree, because its roots are wide-spreading, like its branches. The
+earth should be thrown out to the depth of twenty inches, and four or
+five feet square,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> for an ordinary-sized tree. This, however, will not
+do on a heavy clay subsoil, for it would form a basin to hold water and
+injure the tree. A ditch, as low as the bottom of the holes, should
+extend from tree to tree, and running out of the orchard, constructed in
+the usual method of drains, and, whatever be the subsoil, the trees will
+flourish. The usual compost to manure the trees in transplanting will be
+found elsewhere. In the bottom of these places for apple-trees should be
+thrown a plenty of cobblestones, with a few sods, and a little decaying
+wood and coarse manure. We know of nothing so good under an apple-tree
+as small stones; the tree will always be the larger and thriftier for
+it. This is, in a degree, beneficial to other fruits, but peculiarly so
+to the apple.</p>
+
+<p><i>Size for transplanting.</i>&mdash;Small trees usually do best. Large trees are
+often transplanted with the hope of having an abundance of fruit
+earlier. This usually defeats the object. The large trees will bear a
+little fruit earlier than the small ones; but the injury by removal is
+so much greater, that the small stocky trees come into full, regular
+bearing much the soonest. From five to eight feet high is often most
+convenient for field-orchard culture. But, wherever we can take care of
+them, it is better to set out smaller trees; they will do better for
+years. A suitable drain, extending through the orchard, under each row
+of trees, will make a good orchard on low, wet land.</p>
+
+<p><i>Trimming at the time of transplanting.</i>&mdash;Injured roots should be
+removed as in the general directions under Transplanting. But the idea
+of cutting off most of the top is a very serious error. When large trees
+are transplanted, which must necessarily lose many of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> roots in
+removal, a corresponding portion of the top must be separated; but in no
+other case. The leaves are the lungs of the tree. How shall it have
+vitality if most of them are removed? It is like destroying one lung and
+half of the other, and then expect a man to be in vigorous health. We
+have often seen the most of two years' growth of trees lost by such
+reckless pruning. If the roots are tolerably whole and sound, leave the
+top so. A peach-tree needs to be trimmed much closer when transplanted,
+because it has so many more buds to throw out leaves.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mulching.</i>&mdash;This is quite as beneficial to apple-trees as to all
+transplanted trees. Well done, it preserves a regularity of moisture
+that almost insures the life of the tree.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pruning.</i>&mdash;The tops should be kept open and exposed to the sun, the
+cross limbs cut out, and everything removed that shows decided symptoms
+of decay. The productiveness of apple-trees depends very much upon
+pruning very sparingly and judiciously. There are two ways to keep an
+open top: one is, to allow many large limbs to grow, and cut out most of
+the small ones, thus leaving a large collection of bare poles without
+anything on which the fruit can grow;&mdash;the other method is to allow few
+limbs to grow large, and keep them well covered with small twigs, which
+always bear the fruit. The latter method will produce two or three times
+as much fruit as the former.</p>
+
+<p>The head of an apple-tree should be formed at a height that will allow a
+team to pass around under its branches.</p>
+
+<p><i>Distance apart.</i>&mdash;In a full-grown orchard, that is designed to cover
+the ground, the trees should be two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> rods (thirty-three feet) apart.
+When it is designed always to cultivate the ground, and land is plenty,
+set them fifty or sixty feet apart. You will be likely always to have
+fine fruit, and a crop on the land beside. Our recommendation to every
+one is to set out all orchards, of whatever fruit, so as to have them
+cover the whole ground when in maturity. Among apple-trees, dwarf pears,
+peaches, or quinces, may be set, which will be profitable before the
+apples need all the ground.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bearing years.</i>&mdash;A cultivator may have a part of his orchard bear one
+year, and the remainder the next, or he may have them all bear every
+year. There are two reasons why a tree bears full this year and will not
+bear the next. One is, it is allowed to have such a superabundance of
+fruit to mature this year, that it has no strength to mature fruit-buds
+for the next, and hence a barren year; the other reason is, a want of
+proper culture and the specific manures for the apple. Manure highly,
+keep off the insects, cultivate well, and do not allow too much to
+remain on the trees one season, and you will have a good crop every
+year. But if one would let his trees take the natural course, but wishes
+to change the bearing year of half of his orchard, he can accomplish it
+by removing the blossoms or young fruit from a part of his trees on the
+bearing year, and those trees having no fruit to mature will put forth
+an abundance of buds for fruit the following season; thus the
+fruit-season will be changed without lessening the productiveness. Go
+through a fruit-region in what is called the non-bearing seasons, and
+you will find some orchards and some trees very full of fruit. Trees of
+the same variety in another orchard near by will have very little fruit.
+This shows that the bearing season<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> is a matter of mere habit, in all
+except what is determined by late frosts. This fact may be turned to
+great pecuniary value, by producing an abundance of apples every year.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plowing and pasturing.</i>&mdash;An apple-orchard should be often plowed, but
+not too deep among the roots. When not actually under the plow, it
+should be pastured, with fowls, calves, or sheep. Swine are recommended,
+as they will eat all the apples that fall prematurely, and with them the
+worms that made them fall. But we have often seen hogs, by their rooting
+and rubbing, kill the trees. Better to pick up the apples that fall too
+early, and give them to the swine. Turkeys and hens in an orchard will
+do much to destroy the various insects. They may be removed for a short
+time when they begin to peck the ripening fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Orchards pastured by sheep are said not to be infested with
+caterpillars. Sheep pastured and salted under apple-trees greatly enrich
+the soil, and in those elements peculiarly beneficial.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>&mdash;There are several of these that are quite destructive, when
+not properly guarded against. Two things are necessary, and, united and
+thoroughly performed, they afford a remedy or a preventive for most of
+the depredations of all insects: 1. Keep the trees well cleared of all
+rough, loose bark, which affords so many hiding-places for insects.</p>
+
+<p>2. Wash the trunks and large limbs of the trees, twice between the 25th
+of May and the 15th of August, with a ley of wood-ashes or dissolved
+potash. Apple-trees will bear it strong enough to kill some of the
+finest cherries. We add another very effectual wash. Let cultivators
+choose between the two. Into two gal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>lons of water put two quarts of
+soft-soap and one fourth pound of sulphur. If you add tobacco-juice, or
+any other very offensive article, it will be still better.</p>
+
+<p><i>Apple-worm.</i>&mdash;The insect that produces this worm lays its egg in the
+blossom-end of the young apple. That egg makes a worm that passes down
+about the core and ruins the fruit. Apples so affected will fall
+prematurely, and should be picked up and fed to swine. This done every
+day during their falling, which does not last a great while, will remedy
+the evil in two seasons. The worm that crawls from the fallen apple gets
+into crevices in rough bark, and spins his cocoon, in which he remains
+till the following spring.</p>
+
+<p>Bonfires, for a few evenings in the fore part of June, in an orchard
+infested with moths, will destroy vast numbers of them, before they have
+deposited their eggs. This can not be too strongly insisted upon.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-026.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="Apple-Worms.
+
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Apple-Worms.
+
+<i>a</i> The young worm. <i>b</i> The full-grown worm. <i>c</i> The same magnified. <i>d</i>
+Cocoon. <i>e</i> Chrysalis.<br /><i>f</i> Perfect insect. <i>g</i> The same magnified. <i>h</i> i
+Passage of the worm in the fruit. <i>j</i> Worm in the fruit. <i>k</i> Place of
+egress.</span>
+</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Bark-louse.</i>&mdash;Dull white, oval scales, one tenth of an inch long, which
+sometimes appear on the stems of trees in vast numbers, may be destroyed
+by the wash recommended above.</p>
+
+<p><i>Woolly aphis</i>&mdash;called in Europe by the misnomer, <i>American blight</i>&mdash;is
+very destructive across the water, but does not exist extensively on
+this side. It is supposed to exist, in this country, only where it has
+been introduced with imported trees. It appears as a white downy
+substance in the small forks of trees. This is composed of a large
+number of very minute woolly lice, which increase with wonderful
+rapidity. They are easily destroyed by washing with diluted sulphuric
+acid&mdash;three fourths of an ounce, by measure, from the druggist's&mdash;and
+seven and a half ounces of water, applied by a rag tied to the end of a
+stick. The operator must keep it from his clothes. After the first rain
+this is perfectly effectual.</p>
+
+<p><i>Apple-tree borer.</i>&mdash;This is a fleshy-white grub, found in the trunks of
+the trees. It enters at the surface of the ground where the bark is
+tender, and either girdles or thoroughly perforates the tree, causing
+its death. This is produced by a brown and white striped beetle about
+half an inch long. It does not go through its different stages annually,
+but remains a grub two or three years. It finally comes out in its
+winged state, early in June, flying in the night and laying its eggs. If
+the borers are already in the tree, they may be killed by cutting out,
+or by a steel wire thrust into their holes. But better prevent them.
+This can be done effectually by placing a small mound of ashes or lime
+around each tree early in the spring.</p>
+
+<p>On nursery-trees their attacks may be prevented by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> washing with a
+solution of potash&mdash;two pounds in eight quarts of water. As this is a
+good manure, as well as a great remedy for insects, it had better be
+used every season.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-028.jpg" width="600" height="318" alt="Borer. Eggs. Beetle." title="" />
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="500px;" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td><span class="caption">Borer,</span></td><td><span class="caption">Eggs.</span></td><td><span class="caption">Beetle.</span></td></tr></table>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>Caterpillars</i> are the product of a miller of a reddish-brown color,
+measuring about an inch and a half when flying. They deposit many eggs
+about the forks and near the extremities of young branches. These hatch
+in spring, in season for the young foliage, on which they feed
+voraciously. When neglected for two or three years, they often defoliate
+large trees. The habits of the caterpillar are favorable to their
+destruction. They weave their webs in forks of trees, and are always at
+home in rainy weather, and in the morning till nine o'clock. The remedy
+is to kill them. This is most effectually done by a sponge on the end of
+a pole, dipped in strong spirits of ammonia. Each one touched by it is
+instantly killed, and it is not difficult to reach them all. They may
+also be rubbed off with a brush or swab on the end of a pole, and
+burned. The principle is to get them off, web and all, and destroy them.
+This can always be effectually done, if attended to early in the season,
+and early in the morning. If any have been missed, and come out in
+insects to deposite more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> eggs, bonfires are most effectual. These
+should be made of shavings, in different parts of the orchard, and about
+the middle of June, earlier or later, according to latitude and season.
+The ends of twigs on which the eggs are laid in bunches of hundreds (see
+figure), may be cut off in the fall and destroyed. As this can be done
+with pruning-shears, it may be an economical method of destroying them.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-029.jpg" width="500" height="251" alt="Caterpillar Eggs. Canker-worm Moths, Male and Female." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Caterpillar Eggs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Canker-worm Moths, Male and Female.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Canker-worm.</i>&mdash;The male moth has pale-ash colored wings, with a black
+dot, and is about an inch across. The female has no wings, is oval in
+form, dark-ash colored above, and gray underneath. These rise from the
+ground as early in spring as the frost is out. Some few rise in the
+fall. The females travel slowly up the body of the tree, while the
+winged males fly about to pair with them. Soon you may discover the eggs
+laid, always in rows, in forks of branches and among the young twigs.
+Every female lays nearly a hundred, and covers them over carefully with
+a transparent, waterproof glue. The eggs hatch from May 1st to June 1st,
+according to the latitude and season, and come out an ash-colored worm
+with a yellow stripe. They are very voracious, sometimes entirely
+stripping an orchard of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> its foliage. At the end of about four weeks
+they descend to the ground, to remain in a chrysalis state, about four
+inches below the surface, until the following spring. These worms are
+very destructive in some parts of New England, and have been already
+very annoying, as far west as Iowa. They will be likely to be
+transported all over the country on young trees. Many remedies are
+proposed, but to present them all is only to confuse. The best of
+anything is sufficient. We present two, for the benefit of two classes
+of persons. For all who have care enough to attend to it, the best
+remedy is to bind a handful of straw around the tree, two feet from the
+ground, tied on with one band, and the ends allowed to stand out from
+the tree. The females, who can not fly, but only ascend the trunk by
+crawling, will get up under the straw, and may easily be killed, by
+striking a covered mallet on the straw, and against the tree below the
+band. This should be attended to every day during the short season of
+their ascent, and all will be destroyed. Burn the straw about the last
+of May. But those who are too indolent or busy to do this often till
+their season is past, may melt India-rubber over a hot fire, and smear
+bandages of cloth or leather previously put tight around the tree. This
+will prevent the female moth from crossing and reaching the limbs. Tar
+is used, but India-rubber is better, as weather will not injure it as it
+will tar, so as to allow the moth to pass over. Put this on early and
+well, and let it remain till the last of May. But the first, the process
+of killing them, is far the best.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gathering-and preserving.</i>&mdash;All fruit, designed to be kept even for a
+few weeks, should be picked, and not shaken off, and laid, not dropped
+into a basket, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> with equal care put into the barrels in which it is
+to be kept or transported. The barrel should be slightly shaken and
+filled entirely full. Let it stand open two days, to allow the fruit to
+sweat and throw off the excessive moisture. Then head up tight, and keep
+in a cool open shed until freezing weather; then keep where they can
+occasionally have good air, and in as cool a place as possible, without
+danger of freezing. Of all the methods of keeping apples on shelves,
+buried as potatoes, in various other articles, as chaff, sawdust, &amp;c.,
+this is, on the whole, the best and cheapest. Wrapping the apples in
+paper before putting them into the barrels, may be an improvement.
+Apples gathered just before hard frosts, or as they are beginning to
+ripen, but before many have fallen from the trees, and packed as above,
+and the barrels laid on their sides in a good dry, dark cellar, where
+air can occasionally be admitted, can be kept in perfection from six to
+eight weeks, after the ordinary time for their decay. Apples for cider,
+or other immediate use, may be shaken off upon mats or blankets spread
+under the tree for that purpose. They are not quite so valuable, but it
+saves times in gathering.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are exceedingly numerous and uncertain. Cole estimates that
+two millions of varieties have been produced in the single state of
+Maine, and that thousands of kinds may there be found superior to those
+generally recommended in the fruit-books. The minute description of
+fruits is not of the least use to one out of ten thousand cultivators.
+The best pomologists differ in the names and descriptions of the various
+fruits. Some varieties have as many as twenty-five synonyms. Of what
+use, then, is the minute description of the hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> and seventy-seven
+varieties of Cole's American fruit-book, or of the vast numbers
+described by Downing, Elliott, Barry, and Hooper? The best pear we saw
+in Illinois could not be identified in Elliott's fruit-book by a
+practical fruit-grower. We had in our orchard in Ohio a single
+apple-tree, producing a large yield of one of the very best apples we
+ever saw; it was called Natural Beauty. We could not learn from the
+fruit-books what it was. We took it to an amateur cultivator of thirty
+years' experience, and he could not identify it. This is a fair view of
+the condition of the nomenclature of fruits. The London experimental
+gardens are doing much to systemize it, and the most scientific growers
+are congratulating them on their success. But it never can be any better
+than it is now. Varieties will increase more and more rapidly, and
+synonyms will be multiplied annually, and the modification of varieties
+by stocks, manures, climates, and location, will render it more and more
+confused.</p>
+
+<p>We can depend only upon our nurserymen to collect all improved
+varieties, and where we do not see the bearing-trees for ourselves,
+trust the nurseryman's description of the general qualities of fruit.
+Seldom, indeed, will a cultivator buy fruit-trees, and set out his
+orchard, and master the descriptions in the fruit-books, and after his
+trees come into bearing, minutely try them by all the marks to see
+whether he has been cheated, and, if so, take up the trees and put out
+others, to go the same round again, perhaps with no better success.
+Hence, if possible, let planters get trees from a nursery so near at
+hand that they may know the quality of the fruit of the trees from which
+the grafts are taken, get the most popular in their vicinity, and
+always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> secure a few scions from any extraordinary apple they may chance
+to taste. It is well, also, to deal only with the most honorable
+nurserymen. Remember that varieties will not do alike well in all
+localities. Many need acclimation. Every extensive cultivator should
+keep seedlings growing, with a view to new varieties, or modifications
+of old ones, adapted to his locality.</p>
+
+<p>We did think of describing minutely a few of the best varieties, adapted
+to the different seasons of the year. But we can see no advantage it
+would be to the great mass of cultivators, for whom this book is
+designed. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with those descriptions
+will purchase some of the best fruit-books. We shall content ourselves
+with giving the lists, recommended by the best authority, for different
+sections, followed by a general description of the <i>qualities</i> of a few
+of the best. Downing's lists are the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+<h4>APPLES FOR MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN STATES, RIPENING
+IN SUCCESSION.</h4>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="APPLES FOR MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN STATES, RIPENING
+IN SUCCESSION">
+<tr><td align="left">Early Harvest.</td><td align="left">Vandevere of New York.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Red Astrachan.</td><td align="left">Jonathan.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Early Strawberry.</td><td align="left">Melon.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Summer Rose.</td><td align="left">Yellow Bellflower.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">William's Favorite.</td><td align="left">Domine.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Primate.</td><td align="left">American Golden Russet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Summer Pearmain.</td><td align="left">Cogswell.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Garden Royal.</td><td align="left">Peck's Pleasant.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Jefferis.</td><td align="left">Wagener.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Porter.</td><td align="left">Rhode Island Greening.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Jersey Sweet.</td><td align="left">King of Tompkins County.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Large Yellow Bough.</td><td align="left">Swaar.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gravenstein.</td><td align="left">Lady Apple.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Maiden's Blush.</td><td align="left">Ladies' Sweet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Autumn Sweet Bough.</td><td align="left">Red Canada.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Pippin.</td><td align="left">Newtown Pippin.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Mother.</td><td align="left">Boston Russet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Smokehouse.</td><td align="left">Northern Spy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rambo.</td><td align="left">Wine Sap.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Esopus Spitzenburg.</td><td align="left">Baldwin.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<h4>APPLES FOR THE NORTH.</h4>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="APPLES FOR THE NORTH.">
+<tr><td align="left">Red Astrachan.</td><td align="left">Fameuse.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Early Sweet Bough.</td><td align="left">Pomme Gris.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Saps of Wine or Bell's Early.</td><td align="left">Canada Reinette.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Golden Sweet.</td><td align="left">Golden Ball.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">William's Favorite.</td><td align="left">St. Lawrence.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Porter.</td><td align="left">Jewett's Fine Red.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dutchess of Oldenburgh.</td><td align="left">Rhode Island Greening.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Keswick Codlin.</td><td align="left">Baldwin.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Hawthornden.</td><td align="left">Winthrop Greening.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gravenstein.</td><td align="left">Danvers Winter-Sweet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Mother.</td><td align="left">Ribston Pippin.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Tolman Sweet.</td><td align="left">Roxberry Russet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Yellow Bellflower.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<h4>APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES,</h4>
+
+<p class="center">Made up from the contributions of twenty different cultivators, from
+five Western states.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES">
+<tr><td align="left">Early Harvest.</td><td align="left">Domine.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Carolina Red June.</td><td align="left">Swaar.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Red Astrachan.</td><td align="left">Westfield Seek-no-further.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Summer Pearmain.</td><td align="left">Broadwell.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sweet June.</td><td align="left">Vandevere of New York, or Newtown Spitzenburg.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Large Sweet Bough.</td><td align="left">Ortly, or White Bellflower.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Summer Queen.</td><td align="left">Yellow Bellflower.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Maiden's Blush.</td><td align="left">White Pippin.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Keswick Codlin.</td><td align="left">American Golden Russet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Wine.</td><td align="left">Herfordshire Pearmain.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rambo.</td><td align="left">White Pearmain.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Belmont.</td><td align="left">Wine Sap.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Pippin.</td><td align="left">Rawle's Janet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fameuse.</td><td align="left">Red Canada.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Jonathan.</td><td align="left">Willow Twig.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Tolman Sweet.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<h4>APPLES FOR THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.</h4>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="APPLES FOR THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.">
+<tr><td align="left">Early Harvest.</td><td align="left">Nickajack.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Carolina Juice.</td><td align="left">Maverack's Sweet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Red Astrachan.</td><td align="left">Batchelor or King.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gravenstein.</td><td align="left">Buff.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Summer Pearmain.</td><td align="left">Shockley.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Julian.</td><td align="left">Ben Davis.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Mangum.</td><td align="left">Hall.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Pippin.</td><td align="left">Mallecarle.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Maiden's Blush.</td><td align="left">Horse.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Summer Rose.</td><td align="left">Bonum.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Porter.</td><td align="left">Large Striped Pearmain.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rambo.</td><td align="left">Rawle's Janet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Large Early Bough.</td><td align="left">Disharoon.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fall Queen, or Ladies' Favorite.</td><td align="left">Meigs.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Oconee Greening.</td><td align="left">Camack's Sweet.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cullasaga.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<p>Some varieties are included in all these lists, showing that the best
+cultivators regard some of our finest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> apples as adapted to all parts of
+the country. A careful comparison of Hooper's lists, as recommended by
+the best Western cultivators, whose names are there mentioned, will show
+that they name the same best varieties, with a few additions.</p>
+
+<p>We have carefully examined the varieties recommended by Ernst, by
+Kirtland and Elliott, by Barry, and by the national convention of
+fruit-growers, and find a general agreement on the main varieties. There
+are some differences of opinion, but they are minor. They have left out
+some of Downing's list, and added some, as a matter of course. All this
+only goes to show the established character of our main varieties. Out
+of all these, select a dozen of those named, in most of the lists, and
+you will have all that ever need be cultivated for profit. The best six
+might be still better. Yet, in your localities, you will find good ones
+not named in the books, and new ones will be constantly rising.</p>
+
+<p>Downing adds that "Newtown Pippin does not succeed generally at the
+West, yet in some locations they are very fine. Rhode Island Greening
+and Baldwin generally fail in many sections, while in others they are
+excellent."</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is contrary to all laws of vegetation and climate, that a given
+fruit should be good in one county and useless in the next, if they have
+an equal chance in each place. A suitable preparation of the soil, in
+supplying, in the specific manures, what it may lack, getting scions
+from equally healthy trees, and grafting upon healthy apple-seedling
+stocks&mdash;observing our principles of acclimation&mdash;<i>and not one of our
+best apples will fail, in any part of North America</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On a given parallel of latitude, a man may happen to plant a tree upon a
+fine calcareous soil, and it does well. Another chances to plant one
+upon a soil of a different character, and it does not succeed. It is
+then proclaimed that fruit succeeds well in one locality, and is useless
+in another near by and in the same latitude. The truth is, had the
+latter supplied calcareous substances to his deficient soil, as he might
+easily have done, in bones, plaster, lime, &amp;c., the fruit would have
+done equally well in both cases. We should like to see this subject
+discussed, as it never has been in any work that has come under our
+observation. It would redeem many a section from a bad reputation for
+fruit-growing, and add much to the luxuries of thousands of our
+citizens. Apples can be successfully and profitably grown on every farm
+of arable land in North America. We present, in the following cuts, a
+few of our best apples, in their usual size and form. Some are
+contracted for the want of room on the page. We shall describe a few
+varieties, in our opinion the best of any grown in this country. These
+are all that need be cultivated, and may be adapted to all localities.
+We lay aside all technical terms in our description, which we give, not
+for purposes of identification, but to show their true value for
+profitable culture. The quality of fruit, habits of the tree, and time
+of maturity, are all that are necessary, for any practical purpose.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Nickajack</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Wonder, Summerour.</p>
+
+<p>Origin, North Carolina. Tree vigorous, and a constant prolific bearer.
+Fruit large, skin yellowish, shaded land striped with crimson, and
+sprinkled with lightish dots. Yellowish flesh, fine subacid flavor.
+Tender, crisp, and juicy. Season, November to April.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Baldwin</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Late Baldwin, Woodpecker, Pecker, Steele's Red
+Winter.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-038.jpg" width="400" height="363" alt="" title="Baldwin" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Stands at the head of all apples, in the Boston market. Fruit large and
+handsome. Tree hardy, and an abundant bearer. It is of the family of
+Esopus Spitzenburg. Yellowish white flesh, crisp and beautiful flavor,
+from a mingling of the acid and saccharine. Season, from November to
+March. On some rich western soils, it is disposed to bitter rot, which
+may be easily prevented, by application to the soil of lime and potash.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Canada Red</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Old Nonsuch, Richfield Nonsuch, Steele's Red
+Winter.</p>
+
+<p>An old fruit in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> not a great grower,
+but a profuse bearer. Good in Ohio, Michigan, and other Western states.
+Retains its fine flavor to the last. January to May.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bellflower.</span>&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Yellow Bellflower, Lady Washington, Yellow
+Belle-fleur.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;">
+<img src="images/ill-039.jpg" width="385" height="400" alt="" title="Bellflower" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Fruit very large, pale lemon yellow, with a blush in the sun. Subacid,
+juicy, crisp flesh. Tree vigorous, regular and excellent bearer. Season,
+November to March. Highly valuable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early Harvest</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Early French Reinette, Prince's Harvest,
+July Pippin, Yellow Harvest, Large White Juneating, Tart Bough.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="400" height="337" alt="" title="Early Harvest" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The best early apple. Bright straw color. Subacid, white, tender, juicy,
+and crisp. Equally good for cooking and the dessert. Season, the whole
+month of July in central New York; earlier south, and later north, as of
+all other varieties.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Red Astrachan</span>.&mdash;Brought to England from Sweden in 1816. One of the most
+beautiful apples in the whole list. Fruit very large, and very smooth
+and fair. Color deep crimson, with a little greenish yellow in the shade
+and occasionally a little russet near the stalk. Flesh white and crisp,
+rich acid flavor. Gather as soon as nearly ripe, or it will become
+mealy. Abundant bearer. July and August.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Esopus Spitzenburg</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonym</i>&mdash;True Spitzenburg.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-041.jpg" width="400" height="381" alt="" title="Esopus Spitzenburg" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Large, fine flavored, lively red fruit. It is everywhere well known, as
+one of the very best apples ever cultivated, both for cooking and the
+desert. December to February, and often good even into April. A very
+great bearer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">King of Tompkins County</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonym</i>&mdash;King Apple.</p>
+
+<p>This is an abundant annual bearer. Skin rather yellowish, shaded with
+red and striped with crimson. Flesh rather coarse, but juicy and tender,
+with a very agreeable vinous aromatic flavor. One of the best. December
+and March.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Rhode Island Greening</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Burlington Greening, Jersey
+Greening, Hampshire Greening.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-042.jpg" width="400" height="307" alt="" title="Rhode Island Greening" />
+</div>
+
+<p>A universal favorite, everywhere known. Acid, lively, aromatic,
+excellent alike for the dessert and kitchen. Great bearer. November to
+March. It is said to fail on some rich alluvial soils at the West. Avoid
+root grafting, and apply the specific manures, and we will warrant it
+everywhere.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bonum</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonym</i>&mdash;Magnum Bonum.</p>
+
+<p>From North Carolina. Fruit large, from light to dark red. Flesh yellow,
+subacid, rich, and delicious. Tree hardy, vigorous, and an early and
+abundant bearer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">American Golden Russet</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Sheep Nose, Golden Russet,
+Bullock's Pippin, Little Pearmain.</p>
+
+<p>The English Golden Russet is a variety cultivated in this country, but
+much inferior to the above. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> fruit is small, but melting juicy, with
+a very pleasant flavor. It is one of the most regular and abundant
+bearers known. Tree hardy and thrifty. October to January. We know from
+raising and using it at the West, that it is one of the very best.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pippin, Fall</span>.&mdash;Confounded with Holland Pippin and several other
+varieties.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-043.jpg" width="400" height="384" alt="" title="Pippin, Fall" />
+</div>
+
+<p>A noble fruit, unsurpassed by any other autumn apple. Very large,
+equally adapted to table and kitchen. Fine yellow, when fully ripe, with
+a few dots. Flesh is white, mellow, and richly aromatic. October and
+December. A fair bearer, though not so great as many others.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Newtown Pippin</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Green Newtown Pippin, Green Winter Pippin,
+American Newtown Pippin, Petersburg Pippin.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="400" height="336" alt="" title="Newtown Pippin" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is put down as the first of all apples. It commands the highest
+price, in the London market. It keeps long without the least shriveling
+or loss of flavor. Fruit medium size, olive green, with small gray
+specks. Flesh greenish white, juicy, crisp, and of an exceedingly
+delicious flavor. <i>The best keeping apple</i>, good for eating from
+December to May.</p>
+
+<p>The yellow pippin, is another variety nearly as good.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Porter</span>.&mdash;A Massachusetts fruit, very fair; a very great bearer. Is a
+favorite in Boston. Deserves general cultivation. September and into
+October.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Smokehouse</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Mill Creek Vandevere, English Vandevere.</p>
+
+<p>An old variety from Pennsylvania, where the original<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> tree grew by a
+gentleman's smoke-house; hence its name. Skin yellow, shaded with
+crimson, sprinkled with large gray or brown dots. September to February.
+One of the very best for cooking.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Rambo</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Romanite, Bread and cheese apple, Seek-no-further.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-045.jpg" width="400" height="313" alt="" title="Rambo" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is a great fall apple. Medium size, flat, yellowish white in the
+shade, and marbled with pale yellow and red in the sun, and speckled
+with large rough dots. Flesh greenish white, rich, subacid. October to
+December.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Canada Reinette</span>.&mdash;This has ten synonyms in Europe, which indicates its
+popularity. In this country it is known only under the above name. Fruit
+of the very largest size. A good bearer. The quality is in all respects
+good. Lively, subacid flavor. December to April, unless allowed to hang
+on the tree too long. Pick early in the fall.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Rome Beauty.</span>&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Roman Beauty, Gillett's Seedling.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-046.jpg" width="400" height="345" alt="" title="Rome Beauty" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Fruit large, yellow, ground shaded, and striped with red, and sprinkled
+with little dots. Flesh yellowish, juicy, tender, subacid. Bears every
+year a great crop of very large showy apples. It is not superior in
+flesh or flavor, but keeps and sells very well. Always must be very
+profitable, and hence very popular.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Autumn Sweet Bough.</span>&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Late Bough, Fall Bough, Summer Bell
+Flower, Philadelphia Sweet.</p>
+
+<p>Tree very vigorous and productive. Fruit medium. Skin smooth, pale
+yellow with a few brown dots. Flesh white, tender, sweet vinous flavor.
+One of the best dessert sweet apples. August and October.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Westfield Seek-no-further.</span>&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Seek-no-further, Red Winter
+Pearmain, Connecticut Seek-no-further.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-047.jpg" width="400" height="365" alt="" title="Westfield Seek-no-further" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Fruit large, pale dull red, sprinkled with obscure russety yellow dots.
+Flesh white, tender and fine-grained. On all accounts good. October to
+February according to Downing. Elliott says from December to February.
+But the doctors often disagree. So you had better eat your apples when
+they are good, whether it be October or December, or according to
+Downing, Elliott, or Hooper.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ribston Pippin.</span>&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Glory of York, Travers', Formosa Pippin,
+Rock hill's Russet.</p>
+
+<p>This occupies as high a place in England, as any other apple. In this
+country, two or three others, as Baldwin and Newtown Pippin, are more
+highly es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>teemed. This is most successfully grown in the colder parts of
+the United States and Canada. Fruit medium, deep yellow, firm, crisp;
+flavor sharp aromatic. November to April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Northern Spy.</span>&mdash;This is a new American variety, with no synonyms. It
+originated near Rochester, N. Y.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-048.jpg" width="400" height="337" alt="" title="Northern Spy" />
+</div>
+
+<p>There is not a better dessert apple known. It retains its exceedingly
+pleasant juiciness, and excellent flavor from January to June. In
+western New York, they have been carried to the harvest field, in July
+in excellent condition. A fair bearer of beautiful fruit. Subacid with a
+peculiar freshness of flavor. Dark stripes of purplish red in the sun,
+but a greenish pale yellow in the shade. High culture and an open top
+for admission of the sun, affects the fruit more favorably than any
+other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Roxbury Russet</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Boston Russet, Putnam Russet.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-049.jpg" width="400" height="312" alt="" title="Roxbury Russet" />
+</div>
+
+<p>An excellent fruit, and prodigious bearer. Medium size, flesh greenish
+white, rather juicy, and subacid. Good in January, and one of the best
+in market in June.</p>
+
+<p>There are other russets of larger size, but much inferior. This should
+be in every collection. It is not first in richness and flavor, but it
+is superior to most in productiveness, and is one of the best keepers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Large Yellow Bough</span>.&mdash;<i>Synonyms</i>&mdash;Early Sweet Bough, Sweet Harvest,
+Bough.</p>
+
+<p>No harvest-apple equals this, except the <span class="smcap">Early Harvest</span>. Excellent for
+the dessert, but rather sweet for pies and sauce. Fruit above medium.
+Tree a moderate grower, but a profuse bearer. Flesh white and very
+tender. Very sweet and sprightly. July and August. Should have a place,
+even in a small collection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Swaar</span>.&mdash;One of the best American fruits. Its name in Dutch, where it
+originated on the Hudson River, means heavy.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-050.jpg" width="400" height="358" alt="" title="Swaar" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Fruit is large, and when fully ripe, of a dead gold color, dotted with
+many brown specks. Flesh yellowish, fine grained, and tender. Flavor
+aromatic and exceedingly rich. Bears good crops. December to March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Winesap</span>.&mdash;This is one of the best apples for cider, and good also for
+the table and kitchen. Fruit hangs long on the tree without injury. It
+is very productive, and does well on a variety of soils. Very fine in
+the West. Yellow flesh, very firm, and high flavored. November to May.
+Deservedly, a very popular orchard variety.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maiden's Blush</span>.&mdash;A comparatively new variety from New Jersey. Remarkably
+beautiful. Admired as a dessert fruit, and equally good for the kitchen
+and for drying. Clear lemon yellow, with a blush cheek, sometimes a
+brilliant red cheek. Rapid growing tree, with a fine spreading head,
+bearing most abundantly. August and October.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-051.jpg" width="400" height="350" alt="" title="Maiden&#39;s Blush" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ladies' Sweeting</span>.&mdash;The finest sweet apple, for dessert in winter, that
+has yet been produced. Skin smooth and nearly covered with red, in the
+sun. Flesh is greenish white, very tender, juicy, and crisp. Without any
+shriveling or loss of flavor, it keeps till May. So good a winter and
+spring sweet apple is a desideratum in any orchard or garden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The foregoing are all that any practical cultivator will need. Most will
+select from our list, perhaps half a dozen, which will be all they wish
+to cultivate. From our descriptions, which are not designed to enable
+planters to identify the varieties, but to ascertain their qualities,
+any one can select such as he prefers. And they are so generally known,
+that there will be but little danger of getting varieties, different
+from those ordered.</p>
+
+<p>We subjoin, from Hooker's excellent Western Fruit-Book, the following&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<h4>LIST OF APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES.</h4>
+
+<p>"The following list," says Hooker, "contains a catalogue of the most
+popular varieties of apples, recommended by various pomological
+societies of the United States for the Western states." These varieties
+can be obtained of all respectable nurserymen. The list may be of use to
+some cultivators in the different states mentioned. The general
+qualities of the best of these will be found in our descriptions under
+the cuts:&mdash;</p>
+
+<ul class="none"><li><i>Baldwin.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Roxbury Russet.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Rhode Island Greening.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Swaar.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Illinois, Michigan.</li>
+
+<li><i>Esopus Spitzenburg.</i>&mdash;Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>Early Harvest.</i>&mdash;Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa.</li>
+
+<li><i>Sweet Bough.</i>&mdash;Illinois, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></li>
+
+<li><i>Summer Rose.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Fall Pippin.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Belmont.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>Golden Sweet.</i>&mdash;Missouri.</li>
+
+<li><i>Red Astrachan.</i>&mdash;Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Jonathan.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri.</li>
+
+<li><i>Early Strawberry.</i>&mdash;Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>Danvers Winter Sweet.</i>&mdash;Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>American Summer Pearmain.</i>&mdash;Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Maiden Blush.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Porter.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri.</li>
+
+<li><i>Gravenstein.</i>&mdash;Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>Vandevere.</i>&mdash;Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Yellow Bellflower.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri,
+Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Fameuse.</i>&mdash;Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Newtown Pippin.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Rambo.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Smokehouse.</i>&mdash;Virginia, Indiana.</li>
+
+<li><i>Fallawalden.</i>&mdash;Ohio.</li>
+
+<li><i>Golden Russet.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Wine Sap.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>White Bellflower.</i>&mdash;Missouri, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Holland Pippin.</i>&mdash;Michigan, Missouri, Indiana.</li>
+
+<li><i>Raule's Janet.</i>&mdash;Iowa, Virginia, Illinois.</li>
+
+<li><i>Lady Apple.</i>&mdash;Ohio, Missouri.</li></ul>
+
+
+<p>For the value of these varieties, in the states mentioned, you have the
+authority of the best pomological societies. The several states are
+mentioned so fre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>quently, that it will be seen that most of them are
+adapted to all the states. Attend to acclimation and manure, and guard
+against insects, and they will all flourish, in all parts of the West
+and of the Union.</p>
+
+
+<h4>APRICOT.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a fruit about half-way between a peach and a plum. The stone is
+like the plum, and the flesh rather more like the peach. It is esteemed,
+principally, because it comes earlier in the season than anything else
+of the kind.</p>
+
+<p>It is used as a dessert-fruit, for preserving, drying, and various
+purposes in cookery. It does well on plum-stock, and best in good deep,
+moist loam, manured as the peach and plum. The best varieties produce
+their like from the seed. Seedlings are more hardy than any grafted
+trees. Grafts on plums are much better than on the peach. The latter
+seldom produce good hardy, thrifty trees, although many persist in
+trying them. The apricot is a favorite tree for espalier training
+against walls and fences, in small yards, where it bears luxuriantly. It
+also makes a good handsome standard tree for open cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>It is as much exposed to depredations from curculio as the plum, and
+must be treated in the same way. Cultivation same as peach. It produces
+its fruit, like the peach, only on wood of the previous year's growth;
+hence it must be pruned like the peach. Especially must it be headed in
+well, to secure the best crop.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are quite numerous, a few of which only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> deserve
+cultivation. Any of the nine following varieties are good:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Brown's Early</span>.&mdash;Yellow, with red cheek. A very productive, great grower.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Newhall's Early</span>.&mdash;Bright-orange color, with deep-red cheek. A good
+cling-stone variety, every way worthy of cultivation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Moorpark</span>.&mdash;Yellow, with ruddy cheek. An enormous bearer, though of slow
+growth. It is a freestone variety of English origin, and needing a
+little protection in our colder latitudes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dubois' Early Golden</span>.&mdash;Color, pale-orange. Very hardy and productive. In
+1846, the original tree at Fishkill, N. Y., bore ninety dollars' worth
+of fruit.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Large Early</span>.&mdash;Orange, but red in the sun. An excellent, early,
+productive variety.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hemskirke</span>.&mdash;Bright-orange, with red cheek. An English variety, vigorous
+tree, and good bearer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peach</span>.&mdash;Yellow, with deep-brown on the sun-side. An excellent French
+variety.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Breda</span>.&mdash;Deep-orange, with blush spots in the sun. A vigorous,
+productive, African variety.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Roman</span>.&mdash;Pale-yellow, with occasionally red dots. Good for northern
+latitudes.</p>
+
+<p>From these, planters may select those that best suit their localities
+and fancy. They are a little liable to be frost-bitten in the blossoms,
+as they bloom very early. Otherwise they are always very productive.
+They are ornamental, both in the leaf and in the blossom. Eaten plain,
+before thoroughly ripe, they are not healthy; otherwise, harmless and
+delicious. Every garden should have half a dozen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>ARTICHOKE.</h4>
+
+<p>There are two plants known by this name. The Jerusalem artichoke, so
+called, not from Jerusalem in Palestine, but a corruption of the Italian
+name which signifies the tuber-rooted sunflower. The tubers are only
+used for pickling. They make a very indigestible pickle, and the plant
+is injurious to the garden, so they had better not be raised.</p>
+
+<p>The artichoke proper grows something like a thistle, bearing certain
+heads, that, at a particular stage of their growth, are fine for food.</p>
+
+<p>The soil should be prepared as for asparagus, only fifteen inches deep
+will do well. The plot of ground should be where the water will not
+stand on it at any time in the winter, as it will on most level gardens.
+This will kill the roots. When a new bed is made with slips from old
+plants, carefully separate vigorous shoots, remove superfluous leaves,
+plant five inches deep in rows five feet apart, and two feet apart in
+the rows. Keep very clean of weeds. The first year, some pretty good,
+though not full-sized heads will be produced. Plant fresh beds each
+year, and you will have good heads from July to November. Small heads
+will grow out along the stalk like the sunflower. Remove most of these
+small ones when they are about the size of hens' eggs, and the others
+will grow large. When the scales begin to diverge, but before the
+blossoms come out, is the time to cut them for use. Lay brush over them
+to prevent suffocation, and cover with straw in winter, to protect from
+severest cold. Too much warmth, however, is more injurious than frost.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Spring-dress much like asparagus. Remove from each plant all the stocks
+but two or three of the best. Those removed are good for a new bed. A
+bed, properly made, will last four or five years.</p>
+
+<p>To save seed, bend down a few good heads, so as to prevent water from
+standing in them; tie them to a stake, until the seed is matured. But,
+like Early York cabbage, imported seed is better. The usual way of
+serving them is, the full heads boiled. In Italy the small heads are cut
+up, with oil, salt, and pepper. This vegetable would be a valuable
+accession to American kitchen gardens.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ASHES.</h4>
+
+<p>Are one of the best applications to the soil, for almost all plants.
+Leeched ashes are a valuable manure, but not equal to unleached. Few
+articles about a house or farm should be saved with greater care. Be as
+choice of them as of your small change. They are worth three times as
+much on the land as they can be sold for other purposes. On corn, at
+first hoeing, they are nearly equal to plaster. On onions and vines,
+they promote the growth and keep off the insects. Sprinkle on dry, when
+plants are damp, but not too wet. Do not put wet ashes on plants, or
+water while the ashes are on. It will kill them. Mix ashes and plaster
+with other manures, and their power will be greatly increased. Mixed in
+manure of hot-beds, they accelerate the heat. On sour land they are
+equal to lime for correcting the acidity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>ASPARAGUS.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a universal favorite in the vegetable garden. By the application
+of sand and compost, the soil should be kept loose, to allow the sprouts
+to spring easily from the crowns. Propagation is best effected by seed,
+transplanting after one year's growth. Older roots divided and
+transplanted are of some value, but not equal to young roots, nor will
+they last as long.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preparation of the soil</i> for an asparagus-bed is most important to
+success. Dig a trench on one edge of the plat designed for the bed, and
+the length of it, eighteen inches wide and two feet deep. Put in the
+bottom one foot of good barn-yard manure, and tread down. Then spade
+eighteen inches more, by the side of and as deep as the other, throwing
+the soil upon the manure in the trench. Fill with manure and proceed as
+before, and so until the whole plat has been trenched; then wheel the
+earth from the first ditch to the other side and fill into the last
+trench, thus making all level. If there is danger that water will stand
+in the bottom, drain by a blind ditch. If this is objected to as too
+expensive, let it be remembered that such a bed, with a little annual
+top-dressing, will be good for twenty years, which is the age at which
+asparagus-plants begin to deteriorate; then a new bed should be ready to
+take its place.</p>
+
+<p><i>Planting.</i>&mdash;Mark the plat into beds five feet wide, leaving paths two
+feet wide between them. In each bed put four rows lengthwise, which will
+be just fifteen inches apart, and set plants fifteen inches apart in the
+row. Dig a trench six inches wide and six inches deep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> for each row; put
+an inch of rich mould in the bottom; set the plants on the mould, with
+the roots spread naturally, with the ends pointing a little downward. Be
+very particular about the position of the roots. Fill the trench, and
+round it up a little with well-mixed soil and fine manure. The bed is
+then perfect, and will improve for many years.</p>
+
+<p><i>After-Culture.</i>&mdash;In the fall, after the frost has killed the stalks,
+cut them down and burn them on the bed. Cover the bed with fine rotted
+manure, to the depth of two inches, and one half-bushel salt to each
+square rod. As soon as frost is out in spring, with a fork work the
+top-dressing into the soil to the depth of four inches, and stir the
+soil to the depth of eight inches between the rows, using care not to
+touch the crowns of the roots with the fork.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cutting</i> should never be performed until the third year. Set out the
+plants when one year old, let them grow one year in the bed, and the
+next year they will be fit to cut. Cut all the shoots at a suitable age,
+up to the last days of June. The shoots should be regularly cut just
+below the surface, when they are four or six inches high. If you are
+tempted to cut after the 25th of June, leave two or three thrifty shoots
+to each root, to grow up for seed, or you will weaken the plants, and
+they will die in winter. This is the reason why so many vacancies are
+seen in many asparagus beds. This plant may be forced in hotbeds, so as
+to yield an abundance of good shoots long before they will start in the
+open air, affording an early luxury to those who can afford it.</p>
+
+<p>This vegetable is equal or superior to green peas, and by taking all the
+pains recommended above, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> the beginning, an abundance can be raised
+for twenty years, on the same bed, at a very trifling cost. Early
+radishes and other vegetables can be raised, between the rows, without
+any harm to the asparagus.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BALM.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a medicinal plant, very useful, and easily raised. A strong
+infusion of the leaves, drank freely for some time by a nervous,
+hypochondriacal person, is, perhaps, better than any other medicine. It
+is also good in flatulency and fevers.</p>
+
+<p>Its <i>propagation</i> is by slips or roots. It is perennial, affording a
+supply for many years. Gather just as the blossoms are appearing, and
+dry quickly in a slow oven, or in the shade. Press and do up in white
+papers, and keep in a tight, dry drawer, until needed for use.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BARBERRY.</h4>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 109px;">
+<img src="images/ill-060.jpg" width="109" height="250" alt="Barberries." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Barberries.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><br />A prickly shrub, from five to ten feet high, growing wild in this
+country and in Europe, on poor, hard soils, or in moist situations, by
+walls, stones, or fences.</p>
+
+<p>Its <i>propagation</i> is by seeds, suckers, or offshoots.</p>
+
+<p>This shrub is used for jellies, tarts, pickles, &amp;c. Preserves made of
+equal parts of barberry and sweet apples, or outer-part of fine
+water-melons, are very superior. It is also one of the best shrubs for
+hedge.</p>
+
+<p>The bark has much of the tannin principle, and with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> the wood, is used
+for coloring yellow. Shrub, blossoms, and fruit, are quite ornamental,
+forming a beautiful hedge, but rather inclined to spread. Will do well
+on any land and in any situation. The discussion in New England about
+its blasting contiguous fields of grain, is about as sensible as the old
+witchcraft mania. Every garden should have two or three.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BARLEY.</h4>
+
+<p>Does best on land which was hoed the previous year. If properly tilled,
+such land is rich, free from weeds, and easily pulverized. Sod, plowed
+deep in the fall, rolled early in the spring, well harrowed, the seed
+sown and harrowed in, and all rolled level, will produce a good crop.
+Two bushels of seed should be sowed on an acre, unless the land be very
+rich; in that case, one half-bushel less. Essential to a good crop is
+rain about the time of heading and filling. Hence early sowing is always
+surest. In many parts of the country it is of little use to sow barley,
+unless it be gotten in <span class="smcap">VERY EARLY</span>. In not more than one season in twelve
+can you get a good crop of barley from late sowing in all the middle and
+western states. Barley is more favorably affected than any other grain,
+by soaking twenty-four hours before sowing, and mixing with dry ashes. A
+weak solution of nitre is best for soaking the seed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are two, four, and six rowed. The two-rowed grows the
+tallest, and is most conveniently harvested. It is controverted whether
+the six-rowed variety yields the largest crop to the acre. If the
+weather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> be dry, and the worms attack the young plants, rolling when two
+or three inches high, with a heavy roller, will save and increase the
+crop. Rolling is a great help to the harvesting, as it levels the
+surface.</p>
+
+<p><i>Harvesting</i> should always be attended to just as it turns, but by all
+means before the straw becomes dry. If it stands up, cut with cradle or
+reaper, and bind. If lodged, cut with a scythe, and cure in small cocks
+like clover. Standing until very ripe, or lying scattered until quite
+dry, is very wasteful.</p>
+
+<p><i>Products</i> are all the way from fifteen to seventy bushels to the acre,
+according to season and cultivation. Reasonable care will secure an
+average annual crop of forty-five or fifty bushels per acre, which makes
+it a profitable crop while the demand continues. It is a good crop for
+ground feed for all animals, the beards being a little troublesome when
+fed whole. The straw is one of the very best for animals. Barley
+requires the use of the land only ninety days, leaving it in good
+condition for fall-grain.</p>
+
+<p><i>Used</i> for malting, and for food for men and beasts. It makes handsome
+flour and good bread. Hulled, it is a better article of food than rice.</p>
+
+<p>It succeeds well on land not stiff and tenacious enough for wheat, or
+moist and cool enough for oats. If farmers should raise only for malt,
+the nation would become drunk and poor on beer, and the market would be
+ruined. But raised as food, it is one of the most profitable
+agricultural products.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BARNS.</h4>
+
+<p>A barn should always front the north. The yard for stock should be on
+the south side, with tight fences for protection on the east and west.
+As this is designed for winter use, it is a great saving of comfort to
+the creatures. The barn-yard should be hollowed out by excavation, until
+four or five feet lower in the centre than on the edges. The border
+should be nearly level, inclining slightly toward the centre, to allow
+the liquid in the yard to run into it for purposes of manure. The front
+of a barn should be on the summit of a small rise of ground, to allow
+water to run away from the door, to prevent mud. In hilly countries it
+is very convenient to build barns by hills, so as to allow hay and grain
+to be drawn in near the top, and be thrown down, instead of being
+pitched up. These general principles are sufficient for all ordinary
+barns. Those who are able to build expensive barns had better build them
+circular, eight or sixteen square, and one hundred feet in diameter&mdash;the
+lower part, to top of stable, of stone. Let the stable extend all around
+next to the wall, and a floor over the stable, that teams may be driven
+all around to pitch into the bays, and upon the mows and scaffolds, at
+every point. Thus teams may go round and out the door at which they
+entered. Such a floor will accommodate several teams at the same time.
+The cellar should be in the centre, surrounded by the stable. Such a
+cellar would never freeze, and would hold roots enough for one hundred
+head of cattle, which the stable would easily accommodate. Let the
+mangers be around next the cellar, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> convenience of feeding. Such a
+barn would be more convenient for a dairy of one hundred cows, or for
+winter-fattening of cattle, than any other form. It would cost no more
+than many barns in western New York that are not half as convenient.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BEANS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are divided into two classes&mdash;pole and bush beans. They are
+subdivided into many varieties. We omit the English, or horse-bean, as
+being less valuable, for any purpose, than our well-known beans or peas.
+Pole beans are troublesome to raise, and are only grown on account of
+excellence of quality, and to have successive gatherings from the same
+vines. Pole beans are only used for horticultural purposes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field-Beans.</i>&mdash;For general culture there are three varieties of
+white&mdash;small, medium, and large. Of all known beans, we prefer the
+medium white. The China bean, white with a red face, is an early
+variety. All ripen nearly at the same time. It cooks almost as soon as a
+potato, and is good for the table; but it is less productive, and less
+saleable because not wholly white. For planting among corn, as for a
+very late crop, this bean is valuable, because it matures in so short a
+time. Good beans may be raised among corn, without injury to the
+corn-crop. This can only be done when it is designed to cultivate the
+corn but one way. Many fail in attempts to grow beans among corn, by
+planting them at first hoeing. The corn, having so much the start, will
+shade the beans and nearly destroy them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> But plant at the same time of
+the corn, and they will mature before the corn will shade them much, and
+not be in the way even of the ordinary crop of pumpkins. But
+double-cropping land in this way, at any time, is of very doubtful
+utility. A separate plat of ground for each crop, in nearly all cases,
+is the most economical. To raise a good crop of beans, prepare the soil
+as thoroughly as for any other crop. Beans will mature on land so poor
+and hard as to be almost worthless for other crops. But a rich, mellow
+soil is as good for beans as anything else, though not so indispensable.
+Drill in with a planter as near together as possible, and allow a
+cultivator to pass between them. One bushel to the acre on ordinary
+land, and three fourths of a bushel on very rich land, is about the
+quantity of seed requisite. Hoe and cultivate them while young. Late
+cultivation is useless&mdash;more so than on most other crops. Beans should
+not be much hilled in hoeing, and should never be worked when wet. All
+plants with a rough stalk, like the bean, potato, and vine, are greatly
+injured, sometimes ruined, by having the earth stirred around them when
+they are wet, or even damp. Beans are usually pulled; this should be
+done when the latest pods are full-grown, but not dry. Place them in
+small bunches on the ground with the roots up. If the weather be dry,
+they need not be moved until time to draw them in. If the weather be
+damp, they should be stacked loosely in small stacks around poles, and
+covered with straw on the top, to shed rain. Always haul in when very
+dry. Avoid stacking if possible, for they are always wasted rapidly by
+moving. In drawing in, keep the rack under them covered with blankets to
+save those that shell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In pulling beans, be sure and take hold below the pods, otherwise the
+pods will crack; and although no harm appears then to be done, yet, when
+they dry, every pod that has been squeezed by pulling, will turn wrong
+side out, and the contents be wasted. If your beans are part ripe and
+the remainder green, and it is necessary to pull them to save the early
+ones, or guard against frost, when the ripe ones are dry, thrash them
+lightly. This will shell all the ripe ones, and none of the green ones.
+Put the straw upon a scaffold and thrash again in winter. Thus you will
+save all, and have beautiful beans. Bean-straw should always be kept dry
+for sheep in winter; it is equal to hay.</p>
+
+<p><i>Garden-Beans.</i>&mdash;There are many varieties, a few of which only should be
+cultivated. Having the best, there is no object in raising an inferior
+quality.</p>
+
+<p>The best early string-bean is the Early Mohawk; it will stand a pretty
+smart spring-frost without injury; comes early, and is good. Early
+Yellow, Early Black, and Quaker, or dun-colored, are also early and
+good.</p>
+
+<p>Refugee, or Thousand-to-one, are the best string-beans known; have a
+round, crisp, full, succulent pod; come as soon as the Mohawks are out
+of the way; and are very productive. Planted in August, they are
+excellent until frost; the very best for pickling. For an early
+shell-bean we recommend the China red-face; the white kidney and
+numerous other varieties are less certain and productive.</p>
+
+<p><i>Running Beans</i> are numerous. The true Lima, very large, greenish, when
+ripe and dry, is the richest bean known; is nearly as good in winter,
+cooked in the same way, as when shelled green. They are very productive,
+continuing in blossom till killed by frost.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> In warm countries they grow
+for years, making a tree, or growing like a large grapevine.</p>
+
+<p>The London Horticultural&mdash;called also Speckled Cranberry, and Wild
+Goose&mdash;is a very rich variety. The only objection is the difficulty of
+shelling; one only can be removed at once, because of the tenderness of
+the pod. The Carolina or butter bean often passes for the Lima. It has
+similar pods, the bean is of similar shape, but always white, instead of
+greenish like the Lima, and smaller, earlier, and of inferior quality.
+The Scarlet Runner, formerly only grown as an ornament on account of its
+great profusion of scarlet blossoms continuing until frost, is a very
+productive variety; pods very large and very succulent, making an
+excellent string-bean; a rich variety when dry, but objectionable on
+account of their dark color. The Red and the White Cranberries, Dutch
+Caseknife, and many other varieties, have good qualities, but are
+inferior to those mentioned above. Beans may be forwarded in hotbeds, by
+planting on sods six inches square, put bottom-up on the hotbed, and
+covered with fine mould; plant four beans on each sod; when frost is
+gone, remove the sod in the hill beside the pole, previously set, leave
+only two pole-beans to grow in a hill; they will always produce more
+than a greater number. A shrub six feet high, with the branches on, is
+better than a pole for any running bean; nearly twice as many will grow
+on a bush as on a pole. Use a crowbar for setting poles, or drive a
+stake down first, and set poles very deep, or they will blow down and
+destroy the beans.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BEES AND BEEHIVES.</h4>
+
+<p>The study of the honey-bee has been pursued with interest from remote
+ages. A work on bees, by De Montfort, published at Antwerp in 1649,
+estimates the number of treatises on this subject, before his time, at
+between five and six hundred. As that was two hundred and eight years
+ago, the number has probably increased to two thousand or more. We have
+some knowledge of the character of these early works, as far back as
+Democritus, four hundred and sixty years before the Christian era. The
+great men of antiquity gave particular attention to study and writing on
+the honey-bee.&mdash;Among them we notice Aristotle, Plato, Columella, Pliny,
+and Virgil. At a later period, we have Huber, Swammerdam, Warder,
+Wildman, <i>&amp;c.</i> In our own day, we have Huish, Miner, Quinby, Weeks,
+Richardson, Langstroth, and a host of others. For the first two thousand
+years from the date of these works, the bee was treated mainly as a
+curious insect, rather than as a source of profit and luxury to man. And
+although Palestine was eulogized as a land flowing with milk and honey,
+before the Hebrews took possession of it, yet the science of
+<i>bee-culture</i> was wholly unknown.</p>
+
+<p>In the earliest attention to bees, they were supposed to originate in
+the concentrated aroma of the sweetest and most beautiful flowers.
+Virgil, and others of his time, supposed them to come from the carcasses
+of dead animals. But the remarkable experiments of Huber, sixty years
+ago, developed many facts respecting their origin and economy.
+Subsequent observers have added still more to the stock of our knowledge
+respecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> these wonderful creatures. The different stages of growth,
+from the minute egg of the queen to a full grown bee, and the precise
+time occupied by each, are well established. The three classes of bees,
+in every perfect colony, and the offices of each; their mechanical skill
+in constructing the different sized and shaped cells, for honey, for
+raising drones, workers, and queens, all differing according to the
+purposes for which they are intended; the wars of the queens, and their
+sovereignty over their respective colonies; the methods by which
+working-bees will raise a young queen, when the old one is destroyed,
+out of the larvae of common bees; the peculiar construction and
+situation of the queen cells; and, above all, the royal jelly (differing
+from everything else in the hive) which they manufacture for the food of
+young queens; the manner in which they ventilate their hives by a swift
+motion of their wings, causing the buzzing noise they make in a summer
+evening; their method of repairing broken comb, and building
+fortifications, before their entrances, at certain times, to keep out
+the sphinx&mdash;all these curious matters are treated fully in many of our
+works on bees. But we must forego the pleasure of presenting these at
+length, it being our sole object to enable all who follow our
+directions, so to manage bees as to render them profitable. In preparing
+the brief directions that follow, we have most carefully studied all the
+works, American and foreign, to which we could get access. Between this
+article and the best of those works there will be found a general
+agreement, except as it respects beehives. We present views of hives,
+that we are not aware have ever been written. The original idea, or new
+principle (which consists in constructing the hive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> with the entrance
+near the top), was suggested to us by Samuel Pierce, Esq., of Troy, N.
+Y., who is the great American inventor of cooking-ranges and stoves. We
+have carefully considered the principle in its various relations to the
+habits of the bee, and believe it correct. To most of our late works on
+honey-bees we have one serious objection: it is, that they bear on their
+face the evidence of having been written to make money, by promoting the
+sale of some patent hive. These works all have a little in common that
+is interesting; the remainder seems designed to oppose some former
+patent and commend a new one. They thus swell their volumes to a
+troublesome and expensive size, with that which is of no use to
+practical men. A work made to fight a patent, or to sell one, can not be
+reliable. The requisites to successful bee-management are the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Always have large, strong swarms. Such only are able successfully to
+contend with their enemies. This is done by uniting weak swarms, or
+sending back a young, feeble swarm when it comes out (as herein after
+directed).</p>
+
+<p>2. Use medium-sized hives. In too large hives, bees find it difficult to
+guard their territories. They also store up more honey than they need,
+and yield less to the cultivator. The main box should be one foot square
+by fifteen inches high. Make hives of new boards; plane smooth and paint
+white on the outside. The usual direction is to leave the inside rough,
+to aid in holding up the honey, but to plane the inside edges so as to
+make close joints. We counsel to plane the inside of the hive smooth,
+and draw a fine saw lightly length wise of the boards, to make the comb
+adhere. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> will be a great saving of the time of bees, when it is
+worth the most in gathering honey. They always carry out all the sawdust
+from the inside of their hives. Better save their time by planing it
+off.</p>
+
+<p>3. To prevent robberies among bees, when a weak colony is attacked,
+close their entrances so that but one bee can pass at once, and they
+will then take care of themselves. To prevent a disposition to pillage,
+place all your hives in actual contact, on the sides, and make a
+communication between them, but not large enough to allow bees to pass.
+This will give the same scent to the whole, and make them feel like one
+family. Bees distinguish strangers only by the smell: hence, so
+connected, they will not quarrel or pillage.</p>
+
+<p>4. Comb is usually regarded better for not being more than two or three
+years old. The usual theory is, that cells fill up by repeated use, and,
+becoming smaller, render the bees raised in them diminutive. This is not
+probable, as a known habit of the bee is to clean out the cells before
+reusing them. Huber demonstrated that bees raised in drone-cells (which
+are always larger than for workers) grew no larger than in their own
+natural cells. And as bees build their cells the right size at first, it
+is probable they keep them so. Quinby assures us that bees have been
+grown twenty years in the same comb, and that the last were as large as
+the first. But for other reasons, it is better to change the comb. In
+all ordinary cases, it is better to transfer the swarm to a new hive
+every third year. Many think it best to use hives composed of three
+sections, seven and a half inches deep each, screwed together with
+strips of wood on the sides, and the top screwed on that it may easily
+be removed; thick paper or muslin should be pasted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> around, on the
+places of intersection, to guard against enemies; the two lower sections
+only allowed to contain bees&mdash;the upper one being designed for the
+honey-boxes, to be removed. Each spring, after two years old, the lower
+section is taken out and a new one put on the top, the cover of the old
+one having been first removed. This is the old "pyramidal beehive,"
+which is the title of a treatise on bees, by P. Ducouedic, translated
+from the French and abridged by Silas Dinsmore in 1829. This has
+recently been revived and patented as a new thing. We think with Quinby,
+that these hives are too expensive and too complicated, and that the
+great mass of cultivators will succeed best with hives of simple
+construction.</p>
+
+<p>5. Allowing bees to swarm in their own time and way is better than all
+artificial multiplication of colonies. If there are no small trees near
+the apiary, place bushes, upon which the bees will usually light, when
+they come out. If they seem determined to go away without lighting,
+throw sand or dust among them; this produces confusion, and causes them
+to settle near. The practice of ringing bells and drumming on tin, &amp;c.,
+is usually ridiculed; but we believe it to be useful, and that on
+philosophic principles. The object to be secured is to confuse the swarm
+and drown the voice of the queen. The bees move only with their queen;
+hence, if anything prevents them from hearing her, confusion follows,
+and the swarm lights: therefore, any noise among them may answer the
+purpose, and save the swarm.</p>
+
+<p>To hive bees, place them on a clean white cloth, and set the hive over
+them, raised an inch or two by blocks under the corners. It is said that
+a little sweetened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> water or honey, applied to the inside of the hive,
+will incline the bees to remain. The best preparation is to fasten a
+piece of new white comb on the top of the inside of the hive. This is
+done by dipping the end of a piece of comb in melted beeswax, and
+sticking it to the top. Bees should never be allowed to send off more
+than two colonies in one season. To restrict them to one is still
+better. Excessive swarming is a precursor of destruction, rather than an
+evidence (as usually regarded) of prosperity. A given number of bees
+will make far less honey in two hives than in one, unless they are so
+numerous as greatly to crowd the hive. When a late swarm comes out, take
+away the queen, and they will immediately return. Any one may easily
+find the queen: she is always in the centre of the bunch into which the
+swarm collects on lighting. If they form two or three clusters, it is
+because they have that number of queens. Then all the queens should be
+destroyed. The following cuts of the three classes of bees will enable
+one to distinguish the queen.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-073.jpg" width="500" height="380" alt="Working Bee. Queen. Drone." title="" />
+
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="40%" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td><span class="caption">Working Bee.</span></td><td><span class="caption">Queen.</span></td><td><span class="caption">Drone.</span></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The queen is sometimes, but not always, larger than the common bee; but
+her body is always longer, and blackish above and yellowish underneath.</p>
+
+<p>To unite any two swarms together, turn the hive you wish to empty
+bottom-up, and place the one into which you would have them go on the
+top of the other, with their mouths together; then tie a cloth around,
+at the place of intersection, to prevent the egress of the bees. Gently
+rap the lower hive on all sides, near the bottom, gradually rising until
+you reach the top of the lower hive, and all the bees will go into the
+upper one.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way, it is easy to remove a colony into a new hive, whenever
+you think they need changing. This should be performed in the dusk of
+the evening, and need occupy no more than half an hour. The hive should
+then be put in its place. Uniting weak new swarms, may be done whenever
+they come out; but changing a swarm from an old hive to a new one should
+be performed as early as the middle of June. If moths get in, change
+hives at any time when it is warm enough for bees to work, and give them
+all the honey in their old hive. If you discover moths too late for the
+bees to build comb in a new hive, take the queen from the hive infested
+with moths, and place it where the bees will unite with another colony,
+and feed them all the honey from the deserted hive. This, or the
+destruction of the bees and saving the honey, is always necessary, when
+moth-worms are in possession, unless they are so near the bottom, that
+all the comb around them may be cut out. Bees are fond of salt. Always
+keep some on a board near them.</p>
+
+<p>They also need water. If a rivulet runs near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> apiary, it is well. If
+not, place water in shallow pans, with pebbles in them, on which the
+bees can stand to drink. Change the water daily. It is too late to speak
+of the improvidence of killing bees, to get their honey. Use boxes of
+any size or construction you choose. In common hives, boxes should be
+attached to the sides, and not placed on the top. It is a wasteful tax
+upon the time and strength of loaded bees, to make them travel through
+the whole length of the hive, into boxes on the top. Place boxes as near
+as possible to their entrance or below that entrance. Bees should be
+kept out of the boxes until they have pretty well filled the hive, or
+they may begin to raise young bees in the boxes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Wintering bees</i> successfully, is one of the most difficult matters in
+bee-culture. Two evils are to be guarded against, dampness and
+suffocation. Excessive dampness, sometimes causes frost about the
+entrance that fills it up and suffocation ensues. Sometimes snow falls,
+or is blown over the entrance, and the bees die in a few hours for the
+want of air. Many large colonies, with plenty of honey, are thus
+destroyed. Dampness is very injurious to bees on other accounts. In a
+good bee-house there is no danger from snow, and little from dampness.
+Bees, not having honey enough for winter, should be fed in pleasant fall
+weather, after they have nearly completed the labors of the season.
+Weighing hives is unnecessary. A moderate degree of judgment will
+determine whether a swarm has a sufficient store for winter. If not,
+feed them. Never give bees dry sugar. They take up their food, as an
+elephant does water in his trunk; it, therefore, should be in a liquid
+form. Boil good sugar for ten minutes in ale or beer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> leaving it about
+as thick as honey. Put it in a feed trough; which should be
+flat-bottomed.</p>
+
+<p>Fasten together thin slats, one fourth of an inch apart, so as to fit
+the inside of the feed trough and lie on the surface of the liquid, so
+as to rise and fall with it. Put this in a box and attach it to the
+hive, as for taking box-honey, and the bees will work it all up. Put
+out-door, it tempts other bees, and may lead to quarrels, and robbery.</p>
+
+<p>It is not generally known, that a good swarm of bees may be destroyed,
+by feeding them plenty of honey, early in the spring. They carry it in
+and fill up their empty cells and leave no room for raising young bees;
+hence the whole is ruined for want of inhabitants, to take the places of
+those that get destroyed, or die of age.</p>
+
+<p>To winter bees well, utterly exclude the light during all the cold
+weather, until it becomes so warm, that they will not get so chilled
+when out that they can not return. Intense cold is not injurious to
+bees, provided they are kept in the hive and are dry. A large swarm,
+will not eat two pounds of honey during the whole cold winter, if kept
+from the light. When tempted out, every warm day they come into the
+sunshine and empty themselves, and return to consume large quantities of
+honey. Kept in the dark, they are nearly torpid, eat but a mere trifle,
+and winter well. Whatever your hive or house, then, keep your bees
+entirely from the light, in cold weather. This is the only reason why
+bees keep so well in a dark dry cellar, or buried in the ground, with
+something around them, to preserve them from moisture, and a conductor
+through the surface, to admit fresh air. It is not because it keeps out
+the cold, but because it excludes the light, and renders the bees
+inactive. Gil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>more's patent bee-house, is a great improvement on this
+account.</p>
+
+<p>Of the diseases of bees, such as dysentery, &amp;c., we shall not treat. All
+that can profitably be done, to remedy these evils, is secured by salt,
+water, and properly-prepared food, as given above.</p>
+
+<p>But the great question in bee-culture is, How to prevent the depredation
+of the wax-moth? To this subject, much study has been given, and
+respecting it many theories have been advanced. The following
+suggestions are, to us, the most satisfactory. The miller, that
+deposites the egg, which soon changes to the worm, so destructive in the
+beehive, commences to fly about, at dark. In almost every country-house,
+they are seen about the lights in the evening. They are still during all
+the day. They are remarkably attracted by lights in the evening. Hence
+our first rule:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Place a teasaucer of melted lard or oil, with a piece of cotton
+flannel for a wick, in or near the apiary at dusk; light it and allow it
+to burn till near morning, expiring before daylight. This done every
+night during the month of June, will be very effectual.</p>
+
+<p>2. Keep grass and weeds away from the immediate vicinity of your apiary.
+Let the ground be kept clean and smooth. This destroys many of the
+hiding-places of the miller, and forces him away to spend the day. This
+precaution has many other advantages.</p>
+
+<p>3. Keep large strong colonies. They will be able to guard their
+territories, and contend with this and all other enemies.</p>
+
+<p>4. Never have any opening in a beehive near the bottom, during the
+season of millers (see Beehive). Let the openings be so small, that only
+one or two bees<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> can pass at once. To accommodate the bees, increase the
+number of openings. Millers will seldom enter among a strong swarm, with
+such openings. All around the bottom, it should be so tight, that no
+crevice can be found, in which a miller can deposite an egg. Better
+plaster around, closely, with some substance, the place of contact
+between the hive and the board on which it stands, and keep it entirely
+tight during the time in which the millers are active.</p>
+
+<p>5. If, through negligence, worms have got into a hive, examine it at
+once; and if they are near the bottom only, within sight and reach, cut
+out the comb around them, and remove them from the hive. If this is not
+practicable, transfer the swarm to a new hive, or unite it with another,
+without delay.</p>
+
+<p>6. The great remedy for the moth is in the right construction of a
+<span class="smcap">BEEHIVE</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the form of the hive you use, have the entrance within three or
+four inches of the top. Millers are afraid of bees; they will not go
+among them, unless they are in a weak, dispirited condition. They steal
+into the hive when the bees are quiet, up among the comb, or when they
+hang out in warm weather, but are still and quiet. If the hive be open
+on all sides (as is so often recommended), the miller enters on some
+side where the bees are not. Now bees are apt to go to the upper part of
+the hive and comb, and leave the lower part and entrance exposed. If the
+entrance be at the upper part, the bees will fill it and be all about
+it. A bee can easily pass through a cluster of bees, and enter or leave
+a hive; but a miller will never undertake it: this, then, will be a
+perfect safeguard against the depredations of the moth. This hive is
+better on every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> account. Moisture rises: in a hive open only at the
+bottom, it is likely to rise to the top of the hive and injure the bees;
+with the opening near the top it easily escapes. The objection that
+would be soonest raised to this suggestion is, that bees need a good
+circulation of fresh air, and such a hive would not favor it. To this we
+reply, a hive open near the top secures the best possible air to the
+swarm; any foul air has opportunity freely to escape. That peculiar
+humming heard in a hive in hot weather is produced by a certain motion
+of the wings of the bees, designed to expel vitiated air, and admit the
+pure, by keeping up a current. In the daytime, when the weather is hot,
+you will see a few bees near the entrance on the outside, and hear
+others within, performing this service, and, when fatigued, others take
+their place. This is one of the most wonderful things in all the habits
+and instincts of bees. They thus keep a pure atmosphere in a crowded
+hive in hot weather. Now, it would require much less fanning to expel
+bad air from a hive open at the top, than from one where all that air
+had to be forced down, through an opening at the bottom. This theory is
+sustained by the natural habits of bees in their wild state. Wild bees,
+that select their own abodes, are found in trees and crevices of rocks.
+They usually build their combs <i>downward</i> from their entrance, and their
+abode is air-tight at the bottom; they have no air only what is admitted
+at their entrance, near the top of their dwelling, and with no current
+of air only what they choose to produce by fanning. The purest
+atmosphere in any room is where it enters and passes out at the top; in
+such a room only does the external atmosphere circulate naturally. It is
+on the same principle that bees<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> keep better buried than in any other
+way, provided only they are kept dry. Yet they are in a place air-tight,
+except the small conductor to the atmosphere above them. The old
+"pyramidal beehive" of Ducouedic, with three sections, one above the
+other, allowing the removal of the lower one each spring, and the
+placing of a new one on the top&mdash;thus changing the comb, so that none
+shall ever be more than two years old, with the opening always within
+three or four inches of the top, is the best of the patent hives. We
+prefer plain, simple hives. The general adoption of this principle,
+whatever hives are used, would be a new era in the science of
+bee-culture. No beehive should ever be exposed to the direct rays of the
+sun in a beehouse. A hive standing alone, with a free circulation of air
+on every side, will not be seriously injured by the sun. But when the
+rays are intercepted by walls or boards, in the rear and on the sides,
+they are very disastrous. Other hints, such as clearing off
+occasionally, in all seasons except in the cold of winter, the bottom
+board, &amp;c., are matters upon which we need not dwell. No cultivator
+would think of neglecting them. Let no one be alarmed at finding dead
+bees on the bottom when clearing out a hive; bees live only from five to
+seven months, and their places are then supplied with young ones. The
+above suggestions followed, and a little care taken in cultivating the
+fruits, grains, and grasses, that yield the best flowers for bees,
+<i>would secure uniform success</i> in raising honey. This is one of the
+finest luxuries; and, what is a great desideratum, it is within the easy
+reach of every poor family, even, in all the rural districts of the
+land.</p>
+
+<p>Good honey, good vegetables, and good fruit, like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> rain and sunshine,
+may be the property of all. The design of this volume is to enable the
+poor and the unlearned to enjoy these things in abundance, with only
+that amount of care and labor necessary to give them a zest.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BEETS.</h4>
+
+<p>Of this excellent root there are quite a number of varieties.
+Mangel-Wurtzel yields most for field-culture, and is the great beet for
+feeding to domestic animals; not generally used for the table. French
+Sugar or Amber Beet is good for field-culture, both in quality and
+yield; but it is not equal to the Wurtzel. Yellow-Turnip-rooted, Early
+Blood-Turnip-rooted, Early Dwarf Blood, Early White Scarcity, and Long
+Blood, are among the leading garden varieties. Of all the beets, three
+only need be cultivated in this country&mdash;the Wurtzel for feeding, and
+the Early Blood Turnip-rooted and Long Blood for the table. The Early
+Blood is the best through the whole season, comes early, and can be
+easily kept so as to be good for the table in the spring. The Long Blood
+is later, and very much esteemed. Beets may be easily forwarded in
+hotbeds. Sow seed early, and transplant in garden as soon as the soil is
+warm enough to promote their growth. When well done, the removal retards
+their growth but little.</p>
+
+<p>Young beets are universally esteemed. To have them of excellent quality
+during all the winter, it is only necessary to plant on the last days of
+July. If the weather be dry, water well, so as to get them up,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and they
+will attain the size and age at which they are most valued. Keep them in
+the cellar for use, as other beets. They will keep as well as old ones.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field-Culture.</i>&mdash;Make the soil very mellow, fifteen to eighteen inches
+deep. Soil having a little sand in its composition is always best. Even
+very sandy land is good if it be sufficiently enriched. Choose land on
+which water will not stand in a wet season. Beets endure drought better
+than extreme wet. Having made the surface perfectly mellow, and free
+from clods, weeds, and stones, sow in drills, with a machine for the
+purpose, two feet apart. This is wide enough for a small cultivator to
+pass between them. After planting, roll the surface smooth and level;
+this will greatly facilitate early cultivation. On a rough surface you
+can not cultivate small plants without destroying many of them; hence
+the necessity of straight rows and thorough rolling. The English books
+recommend planting this and other roots on ridges: for their climate it
+is good, but for ours it is bad. They have to guard against too much
+moisture, and we against drought; hence, they should plant on ridges,
+and we on an even surface. To get the largest crop, plow a deep furrow
+for each row, put in plenty of good manure, cover it with the plow and
+level the surface, and plant over the manure. When well growing, they
+should be thinned to six or eight inches in the row. Often stirring the
+earth while they are young is of great benefit. The quality and quantity
+of a root-crop depend much upon the rapidity of its growth. Slow growth
+gives harder roots of worse flavor, as well as a stinted crop.</p>
+
+<p><i>Harvesting</i> should be done just before severe frosts. They will grow
+until frost comes, however early they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> were planted, or whatever size
+they may have attained. They grow as rapidly after light frosts as at
+any time in the season; but very severe frosts expose them to rot during
+winter.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preserving</i> for table use is usually done by putting in boxes with
+moist sand, or the mould in which they grew. This excludes air, and, if
+kept a little moist, will preserve them perfectly. Roots are always
+better buried below frost out-door on a dry knoll, where water will not
+stand in the pits. But in cold climates it is necessary to have some in
+the cellar for winter use. The common method of burying beets, and
+turnips, and all other roots out-door, is well understood. The only
+requisites are, a dry location secured from frost, straw next the roots,
+a covering of earth, not too deep while the weather is yet mild; as it
+grows cold, put on another covering of straw, and over it a foot of
+earth; as it becomes very cold, put on a load or two of barnyard manure:
+this will save them beyond the power of the coldest winter. Vast
+quantities of roots buried outdoor are destroyed annually by frost, and
+there is no need of ever losing a bushel. You "<i>thought</i> they would not
+freeze," is not half as good as spending two hours' time in covering, so
+that you <i>know</i> they can not freeze. There is hardly a more provoking
+piece of carelessness, in the whole range of domestic economy, than the
+needless loss of so many edible roots by frost.</p>
+
+<p><i>The table use</i> of beets is everywhere known; their value for feeding
+animals is not duly appreciated in this country. No one who keeps
+domestic animals or fowls should fail to raise a beet-crop; it is one of
+the surest crops grown; it is never destroyed by insects, and drought
+affects it but very little. On good soil,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> beets produce an enormous
+weight to the acre. The lower leaves may be stripped off twice during
+the season, to feed to cows or other stock, without injury to the crop.
+Cows will give more milk for fifteen days, fed on this root alone, than
+on any other feed; they then begin to get too fat, and decline in milk:
+hence, they should be fed beets and hay or other food in about equal
+parts, on which they will do better than in any other way. Horses do
+better on equal parts of beet and hay than on ordinary hay and grain.
+Horses fed thus will fatten, needing only the addition of a little
+ground grain, when working hard. Plenty of beets, with a little other
+food, makes cows give milk as well as in summer. Raw beets cut fine,
+with a little milk, will fatten hogs as fast as boiled potatoes. All
+fowls are fond of them, chopped fine and mixed with other food. Sheep,
+also, are fond of them. They are very valuable to ewes in the spring
+when lambs come, when they especially need succulent food. The free use
+of this root by English farmers is an important reason of their great
+success in raising fine sheep and lambs. They promote the health of
+animals, and none ever tire of them. As it needs no cooking, it is the
+cheapest food of the root kind. Beets will keep longer, and in better
+condition, than any other root. They never give any disagreeable flavor
+to milk. It is considered established, now, that four pounds of beet
+equal in nourishment five pounds of carrot. Every large feeder should
+have a cellar beyond the reach of frosts, and of large dimensions,
+accessible at all times, in which to keep his roots. These beets should
+be piled up there as cord-wood, to give a free circulation of the air.</p>
+
+<p>In Germany, the beet-crop takes the place of much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> of their meadows, at
+a great saving of expense, producing remarkably fine horses, and
+fattening immense herds of cattle, which they export to France. We
+insist upon the importance of a beet-crop to every man who owns an acre
+of land and a few domestic animals, or only a cow and a few fowls.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BENE PLANT.</h4>
+
+<p>Introduced into the Southern states by negroes from Africa. They boil a
+handful of the seed with their allowance of Indian corn. It yields a
+larger proportion than any other plant of an excellent oil. It is
+extensively cultivated in Egypt as food for horses, and for culinary
+purposes. It is remarkable that this native of a southern clime should
+flourish well, as it does, in the Northern states. It should be
+cultivated throughout the North as a medicinal herb.</p>
+
+<p>A Virginia gentleman gave Thorburn &amp; Son, seed-dealers of New York, the
+following account of its virtues: a few green leaves of the plant,
+plunged a few times in a tumbler of cold water, made it like a thin
+jelly, without taste or color. Children afflicted with summer-complaint
+drink it freely, and it is thought to be the best remedy for that
+disease ever discovered; it is believed that three thousand children
+were saved by it in Baltimore the first summer after its introduction.
+Plant in April, in the middle states, about two feet apart. When half
+grown, break off the plants, to increase the quantity of leaves. We
+recommend to all families to raise it, and try its virtues, under the
+advice of their family physicians.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BIRDS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are exceedingly useful in destroying insects. So of toads and
+bats. No one should ever be wantonly killed. Boys, old or young, should
+never be allowed to shoot birds, or disturb their nests, only as they
+would domestic fowls, for actual use. A wanton recklessness is exhibited
+about our cities and villages, in killing off small birds, that are of
+no use after they are dead. Living, they are valuable to every garden
+and fruit-orchard. In every state, stringent laws should be made and
+enforced against their destruction. Even the crow, without friends as he
+is, is a real blessing to the farmer: keep him from the young corn for a
+few days, as it is easy to do, and, all the rest of the year, his
+destruction of worms and insects is a great blessing. Birds, therefore,
+should be baited, fed, and tamed, as much as possible, to encourage them
+to feel at home on our premises. Having protected our small fruits, they
+claim a share, and they have not always a just view of the rights of
+property, nor do they always exhibit good judgment in dividing it. It is
+best to buy them off by feeding them with something else. If they still
+prefer the fruit, hang little bells in the trees, where they will make a
+noise; or hang pieces of tin, old looking-glass, or even shingles, by
+strings, so that they will keep in motion, and the birds will keep away.
+Images standing still are useless, as the birds often build nests in the
+pockets.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BLACKBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>This berry grows wild, in great abundance, in many parts of the country.
+It has been so plentiful, especially in the newer parts, that its
+cultivation has not been much attended to until recently. Like all other
+berries, the cultivated bear the largest and best fruit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Uses.</i>&mdash;It is one of the finest desert berries; excellent in milk, and
+for tarts, pies, &amp;c. Blackberries make the best vinegar for table use,
+and a wine that retains the peculiar flavor, and of a beautiful color.</p>
+
+<p>This berry comes in after the raspberries, and ripens long in succession
+on the same bush.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 193px;">
+<img src="images/ill-087.jpg" width="193" height="350" alt="High-bush Blackberry." title="" />
+<span class="caption">High-bush Blackberry.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> of wild ones, usually found growing in the borders of fields
+and woods, are the low-bush and the high-bush. Downing gives the first
+place to the low. Our experience is, that the high is the best bearer of
+the best fruit. We have often gathered them one and one fourth inches in
+length, very black, and of delicious sweetness. The low ones that have
+come under our observation have been smaller and nearer round, and not
+nearly so sweet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The best cultivated varieties are&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Dorchester</span>&mdash;Introduced from Massachusetts, and a vigorous, large,
+regular bearer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lawton, or New Rochelle</span>.&mdash;This is the great blackberry of this country,
+by the side of which, no other, yet known, need be cultivated. It is a
+very hardy, great grower. It is an enormous bearer of such fruit that it
+commands thirty cents per quart, when other blackberries sell for ten.
+On a rather moist, heavy loam, and especially in the shade, its
+productions are truly wonderful. Continues to ripen daily for six weeks.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i> is by offshoots from the old roots, or by seeds. When by
+seeds, they should be planted in mellow soil, and where the sun will not
+shine on them between eight and five o'clock in hot weather. In
+transplanting, much care is requisite. The bark of the roots is like
+evergreens, very tender and easily broken, or injured by exposure to the
+atmosphere; hence, take up carefully, and keep covered from sun and air
+until transplanted. This is destined to become one of the
+universally-cultivated small fruits&mdash;as much so as the strawberry. The
+best manures are, wood-ashes, leaves, decayed wood, and all kinds of
+coarse litter, with stable manure well incorporated with the soil,
+before transplanting. Animal manure should not be very plentifully
+applied.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen in Illinois a vigorous bush, and apparently good bearer, of
+perfect fruit&mdash;a variety called <i>white blackberry</i>. The fruit was
+greenish and pleasant to the taste.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BLACK RASPBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>The common wild, found by fences, especially in the margin of forests,
+in most parts of the United Sates, is very valuable for cultivation in
+gardens. Coming in after the red raspberry, and ripening in succession
+until the blackberry commences, it is highly esteemed. Cultivated with
+little animal manure, but plenty of sawdust, tan-bark, old leaves, wood,
+chips, and coarse litter, it improves very much from its wild state.
+Fruit is all borne on bushes of the previous year's growth; hence, after
+they have done bearing, cut away the old bushes. To secure the greatest
+yield on rich land, cut off the tops of the shoots rising for next
+year's fruit, when they are four or five feet high. The result will be,
+strong shoots from behind all the leaves on the upper part of the stalk,
+each of which will bear nearly as much fruit as would the whole have
+done without clipping. A dozen of these would occupy but a small place
+in a border, or by a wall. Not an American garden should be found
+without them.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BONES.</h4>
+
+<p>Bones are one of the most valuable manures. They yield the phosphates in
+large measure. On all land needing lime, they are very valuable. The
+heads, &amp;c., about butchers' shops will bear a transportation of twenty
+miles to put upon meadows. Break them with the head of an axe, and pound
+them into the sod, even with the surface. They add greatly to the
+products of a meadow. Ground, they make one of the best manures of
+commerce. A cheap method for the farmer is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> deposite a load of
+horse-manure, and on that a load of bones, and alternate each, till he
+has used up all his bones. Cover the last load of bones deep with
+manure. It will make a splendid hotbed, and the fermentation of the
+manure will dissolve or pulverize the bones, and the heap will become
+one mass of the most valuable manure, especially for roots and vines,
+and all vegetables requiring a rich, fine manure.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BORECOLE, OR KALE.</h4>
+
+<p>There are some fifteen or twenty kinds cultivated in Europe. Two only,
+the green and the brown, are desirable in this country. Cultivate as
+cabbage. In portions of the middle states they will stand the frosts of
+winter well, without much protection; further north, they need
+protection with a little brush and straw during severe frosts. Those
+grown on rather hard land are better for winter; being less succulent,
+they endure cold better. Cut them off for use whenever you choose. They
+do not head like cabbage; they have full bunches of curled leaves. Cut
+off so as to include all, not over eight inches long. In winter, after
+having been pretty well exposed to the frost, they are very fine. Set
+out the stumps early in spring, and they will yield a profusion of
+delicious sprouts. This would be a valuable addition to many of our
+kitchen gardens.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BROCCOLI.</h4>
+
+<p>This may be regarded as a late flowering species of cauliflower. It
+should be planted and treated as cab<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>bage, and fine heads will be
+formed, in the middle states, in October: at the South much earlier,
+according to latitude. Take up in November, and preserve as cabbage, and
+good ones may be had in winter. To prevent ravages of insects, mix ashes
+in the soil when transplanting, or fresh loam or earth from a new field;
+or trench deep, so as to throw up several inches of subsoil, which had
+not before been disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>To save seed, transplant some of the best in spring; break off all the
+lower sprouts, allowing only a few of the best centre ones to grow. Tie
+them to stakes, to prevent destruction by storms. Be sure to have
+nothing else of the cabbage kind near your seed broccoli.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BROOM CORN.</h4>
+
+<p>Cultivated like other corn, only that this is more generally planted in
+drills. Three feet apart, and six inches in the drill, it yields more
+weight of better corn to the acre than to have it nearer. The great
+fault in raising this crop is getting it too thick. The finest-looking
+brush is of corn cut while yet so green that the seed is useless. But
+the brush is stronger, and will make better brooms for wear, when the
+corn is allowed to stand until the seed is hard, though not till the
+brush is dry. The land should be rich. This is a hard, exhausting crop
+for the soil. To harvest, bend down, two feet from the ground, two rows,
+allowing them so to fall across each other as to expose all the heads.
+Cut off the heads, with six or eight inches of the stalk, and place them
+on top of the bent rows to dry. In a week, in dry weather, they will be
+well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> cured, and should be then spread thin, under cover, in plenty of
+air. There is no worse article to heat and mould. In large crops, they
+usually take off the seed before curing; it is much lighter to handle,
+and less bulky. It may be done then, or in winter, as you prefer. The
+seed is removed on a cylinder eighteen inches long, and two and a half
+feet in diameter, having two hundred wrought nails with their points
+projecting. It is turned by a crank, like a fanning mill. The corn is
+held in a convenient handful, like flax on a hatchel. Where large
+quantities are to be cleaned of the seed, power is used to turn the
+machine. Ground or boiled, the seed makes good feed for most animals.
+Dry, it has too hard a shell. Fowls, with access to plenty of gravel, do
+well on it. Broom-corn is not a very profitable crop, except to those
+who manufacture their own corn into brooms. There is much labor about
+it, and considerable hazard of injuring the crop, by the inexperienced;
+hence, young farmers had, generally, better let it alone. There are two
+varieties&mdash;they may be forms of growth, from peculiar habits of
+culture&mdash;one, short, with a large, stiff brush running up through the
+middle, with short branches to the top, called pine-top: it is of no
+value;&mdash;the other is a long, fine brush, the middle being no coarser
+than the outside. It should be planted with a seed-drill, to make the
+rows straight and narrow for the convenience of cultivation. Harrowing
+with a span of horses, with a <big>V</big> drag, one front tooth out,
+as soon as the corn is up, is beneficial to the crop.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BRUSSELS SPROUTS.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a species of cabbage. A long stem runs up, on which grow
+numerous cabbage-heads in miniature. The centre head is small and of
+little use, and the large leaves drop off early. It will grow among
+almost anything else, without injury to either. It is raised from seed
+like cabbage, and cultivated in all respects the same. Eighteen inches
+apart each way is a proper distance, as the plant spreads but little.
+Good, either as a cabbage, or when very small, as greens. They are good
+even after very hard frosts. By forwarding in hotbed in the spring, and
+by planting late ones for winter, they may be had most of the year. If
+they are disposed to run to seed too early, it may be prevented by
+pulling up, and setting out again in the shade. Save seed as from
+cabbage, but use great caution that they are not near enough to receive
+the farina from any of the rest of the cabbage-tribe.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BUCKTHORN.</h4>
+
+<p>This is the most valuable of the thorn tribe, for hedge, in this
+country. It never suffers from those enemies that destroy so much of the
+hawthorn. This is also used for dyeing and for medicine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BUCKWHEAT.</h4>
+
+<p>This will grow well on almost any soil; even that too poor for most
+other crops will yield very good buckwheat&mdash;though rich land is better
+for this, as for all other crops. The heat of summer is apt to blast it
+when filling; hence, in the middle states, it is not best to sow it
+until into July. It fills well in cool, moist weather, and is quite a
+sure crop if sowed at the right time. On poor land, one bushel of seed
+is required for an acre, while half a bushel is sufficient on rich land,
+where stalks grow large.</p>
+
+<p>The blossoms yield to the honey-bee very large quantities of honey, much
+inferior to that made of white clover; it may be readily distinguished
+in the comb by its dark color and peculiar flavor. Ground, it is good
+for most animals, and for fowls unground, mixed with other grain. It
+remains long in land; but it is a weed easily killed with the hoe; or a
+farmer may set apart a small field for an annual crop, keeping up the
+land by the application of three pecks of plaster per acre each year. It
+is very popular as human food, and always made into pancakes. The free
+use of it is said to promote eruptive diseases. The India buckwheat is
+more productive, but of poorer quality. The bran is the best article
+known to mix with horse-manure and spade into radish beds, to promote
+growth and kill worms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BUDDING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is usually given under the article on peaches. But, as it is a
+general subject, it should be in a separate article, reserving what is
+peculiar to the different fruits to be noticed under their respective
+heads.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-095.jpg" width="600" height="342" alt="Budding." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Budding.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Budding small trees should usually be performed very near the ground,
+and on a smooth place. Any sharp pocket-knife will do; but a regular
+budding knife, now for sale in most hardware-stores, is preferable. Cut
+through the bark in the form of a horizontal crescent (<i>a</i> in the cut).
+Split the bark down from the cut three fourths of an inch, and, with the
+ivory-end of the knife, raise the corners and edges of the bark. Select
+a vigorous shoot of this year's growth, but having buds well
+matured&mdash;select a bud that bids fairest to be a leaf-bud, as
+blossom-buds will fail&mdash;insert the knife half an inch below the bud, and
+cut upward in a straight line, severing the bark and a thin piece of the
+wood to one half inch above the bud, and let the knife run out:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> you
+then have a bud ready for insertion (<i>c</i> in cut). The English method is
+to remove the wood from the bud before inserting it; this is attended
+with danger to the vitality of the bud, and is, therefore, less certain
+of success, and it is no better when it does succeed. Hence, American
+authorities favor inserting the bud with the wood remaining. Insert the
+lower end of this slip between the two edges of the bark, passing the
+bud down between those edges, until the top of the slip comes below the
+horizontal cut, and remaining contiguous to it. If the bud slip be too
+long, after it is sufficiently pressed down, cut off the top so as to
+make a good fit with the bark above the cut (<i>b</i> in cut). The lower end
+of the bud will have raised the split bark a little more to make room
+for itself, and thus will set very close to the stalk. Tie the bud in
+with a soft ligature; commence at the bottom of the split, and wind
+closely until the whole wound is covered, leaving only the bud exposed
+(<i>d</i> in cut). It is more convenient to commence at the top, but it is
+less certain to confine the slip opposite the bud in close contact with
+the stalk: this is indispensable to success. We have often seen buds
+adhere well at the bottom, but stand out from the stalk, and thus be
+ruined.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preparation of Buds.</i>&mdash;Take thrifty, vigorous shoots of this year's
+growth, with well-matured buds; cut off the leaves one half inch from
+the stalks (<i>e</i> in cut); wrap them in moist moss or grass, or put them
+in sawdust, or bury them one foot in the ground.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bands.</i>&mdash;The best yet known is the inside bark of the linden or
+American basswood. In June, when the bark slips easily, strip it from
+the tree, remove the coarse outside, immerse the inside bark in water
+for twenty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> days; the fibres will then easily separate, and become soft
+and pliable as satin ribbon. Cut it into convenient lengths, say one
+foot, and lay them away in a dry state, in which they will keep for
+years. This will afford good ties for many uses, such as bandages of
+vegetables for market, &amp;c. Matting that comes around Russia iron and
+furniture does very well for bands; woollen yarn and candle-wicking are
+also used; but the bass-bark is best. After ten days the bands should be
+loosened and retied; then, if the bud is dried, it is spoiled, and the
+tree should be rebudded in another place; at the end of three weeks, if
+the bud adheres firmly, remove the band entirely. Better not bud on the
+south side; it is liable to injury in winter. In the spring, after the
+swelling of buds, but before the appearance of leaves, cut off the top
+four inches above the bud; when the bud grows, tie the tender shoot to
+the stalk (growing bud in cut, <i>f</i>). In July, cut the wood off even with
+the base of the bud and slanting up smoothly.</p>
+
+<p><i>Causes of Failure.</i>&mdash;If you insert a blossom-bud you will get no shoot,
+although the bud may adhere well. If scions cut for buds remain two
+hours in the sun with the leaves on, in a hot day, they will all be
+spoiled. The leaves draw the moisture from the bud, and soon ruin it.
+Cut the leaves off at once. If you use buds from a scion not fully
+grown, very few of them will live; they must be matured. If the top of
+the branch selected be growing and very tender, use no buds near the top
+of it. If in raising the bark to make room for the bud, you injure the
+soft substance between the bark and the wood, the bud will not adhere.
+If the bud be not brought in close contact with the stalk and firmly
+confined there, it will not grow. With rea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>sonable caution on these
+points, not more than one in fifty need fail.</p>
+
+<p><i>Time for Budding.</i>&mdash;This varies with the season. In the latitude of
+central New York, in a dry season, when everything matures early, bud
+peaches from the 15th to the 25th of August&mdash;plums, &amp;c., earlier. In wet
+and great growing seasons, the first ten days in September are best.
+Much budding is lost on account of having been done so late as to allow
+no time for the buds to adhere before the tree stops growing for the
+season. If budding is performed too early, the stalk grows too much over
+the bud, and it gums and dies. It is utterly useless to bud when the
+bark is with difficulty loosened; it is always a failure.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BUSHES.</h4>
+
+<p>The growth of bushes over pastures, along fences, and in the streets,
+shows a great want of thrift, and an unpardonable carelessness in a
+farmer. In pastures, so far from being harmless, they take so much from
+the soil as to materially injure the quality and quantity of the grass.
+The only truly effectual method of destroying noxious shrubs, is by
+grubbing them up with a mattock. Frequent cutting of bushes inclining to
+spread only increases the difficulty, by giving strength and extension
+to the roots. Cutting bushes thoroughly in August, in a wet season, and
+applying manure and plaster to promote the growth of grass, will
+sometimes quite effectually destroy them. Larger trees, as the sweet
+locust, that are troublesome on account of sprout<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>ing out from the
+roots, when cut down, are effectually killed by girdling two feet from
+the ground, and allowing to stand one year. The tree, roots, and all,
+are sure to die.</p>
+
+
+<h4>BUTTER.</h4>
+
+<p>Raising the cream, churning, working, and preserving, are the points in
+successful butter-making. To raise cream, milk may be set in tin, wood,
+or cast-iron dishes. The best are iron, tinned over on the inside. Tin
+is better than wood, only on account of its being more easily kept
+clean. No one can ever make good butter without keeping everything about
+the dairy perfectly clean and sweet. Milk should never stand more than
+three inches deep in the pans, to raise the best and most cream. It
+should be set in an airy room, containing nothing else. Butter and milk
+will collect and retain the flavor of any other substance near them,
+more readily than anything else; hence, milk set in a cellar containing
+onions, or in a room with new cheese, makes butter highly flavored with
+those articles.</p>
+
+<p><i>Temperature</i> is an important matter. It should be regular, at from
+fifty to fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. It is sometimes
+difficult to be exact in this matter, but come as near it as possible.
+This can be well regulated in a good cool cellar, into which air can be
+plentifully admitted at pleasure. Those who are so situated that their
+milk-house can stand over a spring, with pure water running over its
+stone floor, are favored. Those who will take pains to lay ice in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> their
+milk-rooms, in very warm weather, will find it pay largely in the
+quality and quantity of their butter. Those who will not follow either
+of the above directions, must be content to make less butter, and of
+rather inferior quality, out of the same quantity of milk.</p>
+
+<p><i>Skimming</i> should be attended to when the milk has soured just enough to
+have a little of it curdle on the bottom of the pan. If it should nearly
+all curdle, it would not be a serious injury, unless it should become
+old. If you have not conveniences for keeping milk sufficiently warm in
+cold weather, place it over the stove at once, when drawn, and give it a
+scalding heat, and the cream will rise in a much shorter space of time,
+and more plentifully. Milk should be strained and set as soon as
+possible after being drawn from the cow, and with the least possible
+agitation. The unpleasant flavor imparted to milk from the food of the
+cows, such as turnips or leeks, may be at once removed by adding to the
+milk, before straining, one eighth of its quantity of boiling water; or
+two ounces of nitre boiled in one quart of water and bottled, and a
+small teacupful put in twelve quarts of milk, will answer the same
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p><i>Milking</i> should be performed with great care. Experiments have
+demonstrated that the last drawn from a cow yields from six to sixteen
+times as large a quantity of better cream than that first drawn.
+Careless milking will make the quantity of butter less, and the quality
+inferior, while it dries up the cows. There are probably millions of
+cows now in the United States that are indifferent milkers from this
+very cause. Quick and clean milking, from the time they first came in,
+would have made them worth twice as much, for butter and milk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> as they
+are now. Always milk as quickly as possible, and without stopping, after
+you commence, and as nearly as possible at the same hour of the day.
+Leaving a teacupful, or even half that quantity, in milking each cow,
+will very materially lessen the products of the dairy, and seriously
+injure the cows for future use. Great milkers will yield considerable
+more by having it drawn three times per day. The quantity of milk given
+by a cow will never injure her, provided she be well fed. As it takes
+food to make meat, so it does also to make milk; you can never get
+something for nothing. The best breeds of swine, cattle, or fowls, can
+not be fattened without being well fed: so the best cows will never give
+large messes of milk unless they are largely fed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Churning.</i>&mdash;This is entirely a mechanical process. The agitation of the
+cream dashes the oily globules in the cream against each other, and they
+remain together and grow larger, until the butter is, what the dairy
+woman calls, gathered. The butter in the milk, when drawn from the cow,
+is the same as when on the table, only it is in the milk in the form of
+very small globes: churning brings them together. The object then to be
+secured, by any form of a churn, is agitation, or dashing and beating
+together.</p>
+
+<p><i>Temperature of the Cream</i> should be from sixty to sixty-five
+degrees&mdash;perhaps sixty-two is best. This had better always be determined
+by a thermometer immersed in it.</p>
+
+<p>Many churns have been invented and patented; and every new one is, of
+course, the best. A cylinder is usually preferred as the best form for a
+churn, and the churning is performed by turning a crank. An oblong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+square box is far better than a cylinder. In churning in a cylinder, it
+may often occur that the cream moves round in a body with the dasher,
+and so is but slightly agitated. But change that cylinder into an oblong
+square, and the cream is so dashed against the corners of the box that a
+most rapid agitation is the result, and the churning is finished in a
+short space of time.</p>
+
+<p>Any person of a little mechanical genius can construct a churn, equal to
+any in use, and at a trifling expense. It is well to make a churn
+double, leaving an inch between the two, into which cold or warm water
+can be poured, to regulate the temperature of the cream. This would be a
+great saving of time and patience in churning. Those who use the
+old-fashioned churns with dashes can most conveniently warm or cool
+their cream, by placing the churn containing it in a tub of cold or
+boiling water, as the case may require, until it comes to the
+temperature of sixty or seventy degrees.</p>
+
+<p>To make butter of extra quality for the fair, or for a luxury on your
+own table, set only one third of the milk, and that the last drawn from
+the cow. The Scotch, so celebrated for making butter of more marrowy
+richness than any other, first let the calves draw half or two thirds of
+the milk, and then take the remainder. This makes the finest butter in
+the world.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preserving Butter</i> depends upon the treatment immediately after
+churning. Success depends upon getting the buttermilk all out, and
+putting in all the salt you put in at all, immediately&mdash;say within ten
+minutes after churning. Some accomplish this by washing, and others by
+working it, being much opposed to putting in a drop of water. Those who
+use water in their butter, and those who do not, are equally confident
+of the su<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>periority of their own method. But all good butter-makers
+agree, that the less you work butter, and still remove all the milk, the
+better it will be; and the more you are obliged to work it, the more
+gluey, and therefore the poorer the quality. Very good butter is made by
+immediately working all the milk out and salting thoroughly&mdash;working the
+salt into every part, without the use of water.</p>
+
+<p><i>Working over</i> butter, the next day after churning, should be nothing
+more than nicely forming it into rolls, without any further working or
+any more salt. An error, that spoils more butter than any other, is that
+of doing very little with butter when it first comes out of the churn,
+because it must be gone through with the next day. Many do not know why
+their butter has different colors in the same mass&mdash;some white, and some
+quite yellow, and all shades between. The reason always is, putting in
+the salt immediately on churning, but neglecting to incorporate that
+salt into every part of the mass equally: thus, where there is most salt
+there will be one color, and where less, another. Another evil is, when
+the salt is thus put in carelessly, while much buttermilk remains, that
+salt dissolves; and when the butter is worked over the next day, the
+salt is mostly worked out, with the milk or water left in, the previous
+day. The addition of more salt then will not save it. It has received an
+injury, by retaining the milk or water for twenty-four hours, from which
+no future treatment will enable it to recover. We recommend washing as
+preferable; it has the following advantages: it cools butter quickly in
+warm weather, bringing it at once into a situation to be properly worked
+and salted. The buttermilk is also removed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> more speedily than in any
+other way; this is a great object. It removes the milk with less
+working, and consequently with less injury, than the other method. These
+three advantages, cooling in hot weather, expelling the milk in the
+shortest time, and working the butter the least, lead us to prefer using
+water, by one hundred per cent. We have for years used butter that has
+been made in this way, and never tasted better. Butter made in this way
+in summer will keep well till next summer, to our certain knowledge.
+Immediately after churning, pour off all the milk and put in half a
+pailful of water, more or less according to quantity; agitate the whole
+with the dasher, and pour off the water. Repeat this once or twice until
+the water runs off clear, without any coloring from the milk, and nearly
+all the buttermilk is out; this can all be done in five minutes after
+churning. Press out the very little water that will remain, and put in
+all the salt the butter will require, and work it thoroughly into every
+part. All this need occupy no more than ten minutes, and the butter is
+set away for putting up in rolls, or packing down in jars the next day.
+Such butter would keep tied up in a bag, and hung in a good airy place.
+Best to put it down in a jar, packed close; put a cloth over top, and
+cover with half an inch of fine salt. The only difficulty in keeping
+butter grows out of failure to get out all the milk, and thoroughly salt
+every particle, within fifteen minutes after churning. Speedy removal of
+buttermilk and water, and speedy salting, will make any butter keep.</p>
+
+<p>This subject is so important, as good butter is such a luxury on every
+table, that we recapitulate the essentials of good butter making:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Keep everything sweet and clean, and well dried in the sun.</p>
+
+<p>2. Milk the cows, as nearly as possible, at the same hour, and draw the
+milk very quickly and very clean.</p>
+
+<p>3. Set the milk, in pans three inches deep, in good air, removed from
+anything that might give it an unpleasant flavor, and where it will be
+at a temperature of fifty to sixty degrees.</p>
+
+<p>4. Churn the cream at a temperature of sixty-two degrees.</p>
+
+<p>5. Get out the buttermilk, and salt thoroughly within fifteen minutes
+after churning, either with water or without, as you prefer. Mix the
+salt thoroughly in every particle. Put up in balls, or pack closely in
+jars the next day.</p>
+
+<p>6. Remember to work the butter as little as possible in removing the
+milk; the more it is worked, the more will it be like salve or oil, and
+the poorer the quality: hence, it is better to wash it with cold water,
+because you can wash out the buttermilk with much less working of the
+butter.</p>
+
+<p>7. To make the best possible quality of butter, use only one third of
+the milk of the cows at each milking, and that the last drawn.</p>
+
+<p>8. In the winter, when cream does not get sufficiently sour, put in a
+little lemon-juice or calves' rennet. If too white, put in a little of
+the juice of carrot to give it a yellow hue.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>BUTTERNUT.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a rich, pleasant nut, but contains rather too much oil for
+health. The oil, obtained by compression, is fine for clocks, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The root, like the branches, are wide-spreading, and hence injurious to
+the land about them. Two or three trees on some corner not desired for
+cultivation, or in the street, will be sufficient. A rough piece of
+ground, not suitable for cultivation, might be occupied by an orchard of
+butternut-trees, and be profitable for market and as a family luxury.
+The bark is often used as a coloring substance.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CABBAGE.</h4>
+
+<p>The best catalogues of seeds enumerate over twenty varieties, beside the
+cauliflowers, borecoles, &amp;c. A few are superior, and should, therefore,
+be cultivated to the exclusion of the others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early York</span> is best for early use. It is earlier than any other, and with
+proper treatment nearly every plant will form a small, compact, solid
+head, tender, and of delicious flavor. No garden is complete without it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Early Dutch, and Early Sugarloaf</span>, come next in season to the Early York,
+producing much larger heads.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Large York</span> is a good variety, maturing later than the preceding, and
+before the late drumheads.</p>
+
+<p>Large Drumhead, Late Drumhead, or Large Flat Dutch, are the best for
+winter and spring use. There are many varieties under these names, so
+that cultivators often get disappointed in purchasing seeds. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> is now
+difficult to describe cabbages intelligibly. Every worthless hybrid goes
+under some excellent name.</p>
+
+<p>A Dutch cabbage, with a short stem and very small at the ground, is the
+best with which we are acquainted. Of this variety (the seed of which
+was brought from Germany), we have raised solid heads, larger than a
+half bushel, while others called good, standing by their side, did not
+grow to more than half that size. This variety may be distinguished by
+the purple on the top of the grown head, and by the decided purple of
+the young plants, resembling the Red Dutch, though not of quite so deep
+a color.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Red Dutch</span>, having a very hard, small head, deep purple throughout, is
+the very best for pickling; every garden should have a few. They are
+also good for ordinary purposes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Green Curled Savoy</span>, when well grown, is a good variety.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Imperial</i>, the <i>Russian</i>, Large Scotch for feeding, and others, are
+enumerated and described, but are inferior to the above. It is useless
+to endeavor to grow cabbages on any but the best of soil. Plant corn on
+poor land, and it will mature and yield a small crop. Plant cabbages on
+similar soil, and you will get nothing but a few leaves for cattle.
+Therefore, if your land designed for cabbages be not already very rich,
+put a load of stable-manure on each square rod. Cabbages are a very
+exhausting crop. The soil should be worked fully eighteen inches deep,
+and have manure well mixed with the whole. The best preparation we ever
+made was by double-plowing&mdash;not subsoiling, but plowing twice with
+similar plows: put on a good coat of manure, and plow with two teams in
+the same furrow, one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> plow gauged so as to turn a light furrow, and the
+other a very deep one, throwing it out of the bottom of the first; when
+the first plow comes round, it will throw the light furrow into the
+bottom of the deep one. This repeated over the whole plot will stir the
+soil sixteen or eighteen inches deep, and put from four to six inches of
+the top, manure and all, in the bottom, under the other. We have done
+this admirably with one plow, changing the gauge of the clevis every
+time round, and going twice in a furrow: this is the best way for those
+who use but one team in plowing; it is worth much more than the
+additional time required in plowing. Enrich the surface a little with
+fine manure, and you have land in the best possible condition for
+cabbages. This is a fine preparation for onions and other garden
+vegetables, and for all kinds of berries. Subsoiling is good, but
+double-plowing is better in all cases, where you can afford to enrich
+the surface, after this deep plowing.</p>
+
+<p>The alluvial soils of the West need no enriching after double-plowing.
+Land so level, or having so hard a subsoil as to allow water to stand on
+it in a wet season, is not good for cabbages. They also suffer more than
+most crops from drought. One of the most important offices of plenty of
+manure is its control of the moisture. Land well manured does not so
+soon feel the effects of drought. One of the best means of preserving
+moisture about the roots of cabbages, is to put a little manure in the
+bottom of the holes when transplanting; put it six inches below the
+surface. Manure from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; it is
+in the best condition about the time for transplanting cabbages. It is
+then very wet, and has a wonderful power of retaining the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> moisture.
+Manure from the blacksmith-shop, containing hoof-parings, &amp;c., is very
+good. If the manure be too dry, pour in water and cover immediately. Set
+the plant in the soil, over the manure, the roots extending down into
+it, with a little fine mould mixed in it, and it will retain moisture
+through a severe drought; no further watering will be necessary, and not
+one out of twenty-five of all your plants will fail to make a good head.
+In climates subject to drought in summer, cabbages should be set out
+earlier; they require more time in dry weather than in wet. Should they
+incline to crack open from too rapid growth, raise them a little, and
+push them down again; this will break some roots, and so loosen the
+remainder that the growth will be checked and the heads saved. Winter
+cabbages should be allowed to stand in the ground as long as possible,
+without danger of freezing in. The question of transplanting, and of
+sowing the seed in the places where they are designed to head, has been
+much controverted. We have succeeded well in both ways, but prefer
+transplanting; it gives opportunity to stir the ground deep, and keep
+down weeds, and thus preserve moisture until summer, when it is time to
+transplant; it also makes shorter, smaller, and straighter stems, which
+is favorable to a larger growth of heads. Sow seed on poor land; the
+plants will be straighter, more hardy, and less affected by insects.
+Seed for early spring cabbages should be sown on poor soil in September
+or October; if inclined to get too forward, transplant, once or twice;
+late in fall, set them close together, lay poles in forks of limbs put
+down for the purpose, and cover with straw, as a protection from severe
+frost; the poles are to prevent the covering from lying on the plants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Preserving</i>, for winter or spring use, is best done by plowing a furrow
+on land where water will not stand, and placing the heads in the furrow
+with the roots up. Cover with earth from three to six inches deep,
+letting the roots protrude. The large leaves will convey all the water
+off from the heads, and they will come out as fresh and good as in the
+fall. If you wish some, more easily accessible, for winter use, set them
+in the cellar in a small trench, in which a little water should be kept,
+and they will not only be preserved fresh, but will grow all winter, if
+the cellar be free from frost. They are also well preserved put in
+trenches eighteen inches deep, out door, with a little good soil in the
+bottom, and protected with poles and straw as directed for winter
+plants. Cabbages that have scarcely any heads in the fall, so treated,
+will grow all winter, and come out good, tender, fresh heads in spring.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting.</i>&mdash;This is usually done in wet weather: if it be so wet
+as to render the soil muddy by stirring, it injures the plants. This may
+be successfully done in dry weather, not excessively hot. Have a basin
+of water, in which dip the root and shake it, so as to wash off all the
+earth from the seed-bed that adheres to it. Put the plant in its place
+at once, and the soil in which it is to grow takes hold of the roots
+readily, and nearly every one will live. Transplant with your hand, a
+transplanting trowel, a stick, or a dibble made of a spade-handle, one
+foot long, sharpened off abruptly, and the eye left on for a handle. Put
+the plant in its place, thrust the dibble down at a sharp angle with the
+plant, and below it, and move it up to it. The soil will thus be pressed
+close around the roots, leaving no open space, and the plant will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> grow.
+Do not leave the roots so long that they will be doubled up in
+transplanting&mdash;better cut off the ends.</p>
+
+<p>Large cabbages should be three feet apart each way, and in perfectly
+straight rows; this saves expense in cultivating, as it can be done with
+a horse. The usual objections of farmers to gardening, on account of the
+time required to hoe and weed, would be remedied by planting in long,
+straight rows, at suitable distances apart, to allow the free use of
+horse, cultivator, and plow, in cultivating; thus, beets, carrots,
+cabbages, onions, &amp;c., are almost as easily raised as corn. An easy
+method of raising good cabbages is on greensward. Put on a good dressing
+of manure, plow once and turn over handsomely, roll level, and harrow
+very mellow on the top, without disturbing the turf below; make places
+for planting seeds at the bottom of the turf; a little stirring of the
+surface, and destruction of the few weeds that will grow, will be all
+the further care necessary. The roots will extend under the sod in the
+manure below it, and will there find plenty of moisture, even when the
+surface is quite dry, and will grow profusely.</p>
+
+<p><i>Seed.</i>&mdash;Nothing is more difficult in cabbage culture than raising pure
+seed; nothing hybridizes worse, and in nothing else is the effect worse.
+It must not be raised in the same garden with anything else of the
+cabbage or turnip kind; they will mix in the blossoms, and the worse
+will prevail. Raise seeds only from the best heads, and only one
+variety; break off all the lower shoots, allowing only a few of the best
+to mature. Seeds raised from stumps, from which the head has been
+removed for use, will incline the leaves to grow down, as we often see,
+instead of closing up into heads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>CALVES.</h4>
+
+<p>The best method of raising calves is of much importance. It controls the
+value and beauty of grown cattle. Stint the growth of a calf, and when
+he is old he will not recover from it. Much attention has been paid to
+the breed of cattle, and some are very highly recommended. It is true
+that the breed of stock has much to do with its excellence. It is
+equally true that the care taken with calves and young cattle, has quite
+as much to do with it. We can take any common breed, and by great care
+in raising, have quite as good cattle, for market or use, as can
+another, who has the best breed in the world, but keeps them
+indifferently. But good breeds and good keeping make splendid animals,
+and will constantly improve them. The old adage, "Anything worth doing
+at all, is worth doing well" is nowhere more true, than in the care of
+calves. We shall not pause to present the various and contradictory
+methods of raising calves, that are presented in the numerous books, on
+the subject, that have come under our observation. Hay-tea, various
+preparations of linseed-meal, oilcake-meal, oatmeal, and every variety
+of ground feed, sometimes mixed up with gin, or some kind of cheap
+spirits (for the purpose of keeping calves quiet), are recommended. The
+discussion of the merits of these, would be of no practical benefit to
+our readers.</p>
+
+<p>The following brief directions are sufficient:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Seldom raise late calves. Their place is in the butcher's shop, after
+they are five weeks old.</p>
+
+<p>2. Raise only those calves that are well formed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> Straight back, small
+neck, not very tall, and a good expression of countenance, are the best
+marks.</p>
+
+<p>3. Let every calf suck its dam two days. It is for the health of the
+calf and the good of the cow.</p>
+
+<p>4. To fatten a calf, let it suck one half the milk for two weeks, three
+fourths the third, and the whole the fourth. Continue it another week,
+and the veal will be better. But we think it preferable to take calves
+off from the cow after two days. Feed them the milk warm from the cow,
+and give them some warm food at noon. Feed three times a day, they will
+fatten faster. It also gives opportunity to put oatmeal in their food
+after the second week, which will improve the veal, and give you a
+little milk, if you desire it. Our first method is easier, and our last
+better, for fattening calves.</p>
+
+<p>5. To raise calves for stock, take them from the cows after the second
+day. Feed them half the milk (if the cow gives a reasonable quantity)
+for the first two weeks. Begin then to put in a little oatmeal. After
+two weeks more, give one fourth of the milk, and increase the quantity
+of meal. When the calf is eight or ten weeks old, feed it only on meal
+and such skimmed milk, sour milk, or buttermilk, as you may have to
+spare. This is the course when the object is to save milk. If not, let
+the calf have the whole, with such addition of meal as you think
+desirable. The easiest way to raise calves, when you do not desire the
+milk for the family or dairy, is to let them run with the cows and have
+all the milk when they please.</p>
+
+<p>Others let them suck a part of the milk, and feed them with meal, &amp;c.,
+besides. This is difficult. If you milk your own share first, you will
+leave much less for the calf than you suppose. If he gets his portion
+first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> he will be sure to get a part of yours also. This can only be
+well done by allowing the calf to suck all the udders, but not clean.
+The remainder, being the last of the milk will make the best of butter.
+But it is difficult to regulate it as you please, and more difficult to
+feed a calf properly, that sucks, than one that depends wholly upon what
+you feed him. Hence it is preferable to feed all your calves, whether
+for veal or stock. A little oilcake pulverized is a valuable addition.
+Indian-meal and the coarse flour of wheat are good for calves, but not
+equal to oatmeal. Good calves have been raised on gruels made of these
+meals, without any milk after the first two weeks.</p>
+
+<p>6. In winter, feed chopped roots and meal, mixed with plenty of hay and
+pure water, and always from a month old give salt twice a week.</p>
+
+<p>7. If calves are inclined to purge or scour, as the farmers call it, put
+a little rennet in their food. If they are costive, put in a little
+melted lard, or some kind of inoffensive oil. These will prove effectual
+remedies.</p>
+
+<p>There is, however, very little danger of disease, to calves, well,
+regularly, and properly fed, as above.</p>
+
+<p>Fat calves are not apt to have lice. But should such a thing occur,
+washing in tobacco-water is a speedy and perfect remedy.</p>
+
+<p>8. During cold nights in fall, and all of the first winter, calves
+should be shut up in a warm dry place. Keep them curried clean.</p>
+
+<p>The cold and wet of the first winter are very injurious. After they are
+a year old they will give very little trouble. The great difficulty with
+calves is a want of enough to eat. They should not only be kept
+growing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> but fat, all the first year. They will then make fine,
+healthy, and profitable animals.</p>
+
+<p>Chalk or dry yellow loam, placed within their reach is very useful. They
+will eat of it, enough to correct the excessive acidity of their
+stomachs. The operation of changing calves into oxen, should be
+performed before they are twenty days old. It will then be only slightly
+injurious.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CANS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are much used for preserving fruits and vegetables. There are a
+number of patent articles said to work well. They are, in our opinion,
+more expensive, and more likely to fail in inexperienced hands, than
+those that an ordinary tinman can readily make. The best invention for
+general use is that that is most simple. Cans should be made in
+cylindrical form, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you wish to preserve, and should contain about two quarts. Fill
+the cans and solder on the top, leaving an opening as large as a
+pin-head, from which steam may escape. Set the cans in water nearly to
+their tops, and gradually increase the heat under them until the water
+begins to boil. Take out the cans, drop solder on the opening, and all
+will be air-tight. This operation requires at least three hours, as the
+heating must be moderate. You may preserve in glass bottles, filling and
+putting in a cork very tight, and well tied, and gradually heating as
+above; this will require four hours, as glass will be in danger of
+bursting by too rapid heating. But for tomatoes, or anything that you
+have no objection to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> boiling and seasoning before preserving, the best
+way is to prepare and cook as for the table, putting in only pepper and
+salt, and fill cans while the mass is boiling, and, with a sealing-wax
+that you can get at any druggist's laid around the orifice, place the
+cover upon it; the heat will melt the wax, and when it cools, the cover
+will be fastened, and all will be air-tight. This will require no
+process of slow boiling. Set the cans or bottles in a cool cellar, and
+whatever they contain may be taken out, at the end of a year, as good as
+when put in. The last method is the best and most simple of all. The
+whole principle of preserving is to make the cans air-tight.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CARROTS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are cultivated for the table, and for food for animals. Boiled and
+pickled, or eaten with an ordinary boiled dish, they are esteemed. They
+are really excellent in soups. As a root for animals, they are very
+valuable. They are often preferred to beets;&mdash;this is a mistake&mdash;four
+pounds of beet are equal to five pounds of carrot for feeding to
+domestic animals. Work the soil for carrots very deep, make it very rich
+with stable manure, with a mixture of lime; harrow fine and mellow, and
+roll entirely smooth. Plant with a seed-sower, that the rows may be
+straight; rows two feet apart will allow a horse and small cultivator to
+pass between them. Planted one foot apart, and cultivated with a horse,
+and a cultivator that will take three rows at once, they will yield much
+more to the acre, and may be cultivated at a moderate expense,
+exceed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>ing but a little that of ordinary field-crops. Sow as early as
+convenient, as the longer time they have, the larger will be the
+product. They grow until hard frosts, whenever you may sow them. There
+are several varieties, but the Long Orange is the only one that it is
+ever best to grow; it is richer than the white, and yields as well: the
+earlier sorts are no better, as the carrot may be used at any stage of
+its growth. They should be kept in the ground as long as it is safe.
+They will stand hard frosts, but, if too much frozen, they are inclined
+to rot in winter. Dig in fair weather, dry in the sun, and keep dry. It
+is the best of all root crops, except the beet. All animals will eat it
+freely, while they have to acquire a taste for the beet.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CAULIFLOWER.</h4>
+
+<p>The two varieties known in this country are the English and the
+French&mdash;distinguished, also, as early and late. The French only is
+suitable for cultivation here; especially in the colder regions, as it
+is earlier. This is cultivated in every way like cabbage. In several
+respects it is preferable to cabbage; it has a more pleasant flavor, and
+is more easy of digestion. It is excellent for pickling. Seeds may be
+raised in the same way, and with the same precautions, as cabbage; but
+it is generally imported.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>CELERY.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the finest of our table vegetables, eaten raw with salt,
+or in soups. Sow seed, early in spring, in open ground; or sow in
+hotbeds, if you wish it very early. When the plants are six inches high,
+they should be transplanted in trenches eighteen inches deep, containing
+six inches of well-rotted manure or compost. This should be well
+watered, and fine mould mixed with it, and the plants placed in it eight
+inches apart. The trenches should be from four to six feet apart. If the
+weather be warm and sun bright at the time of transplanting, a board
+laid lengthwise over the top of the trench will afford perfect
+protection. As the plants grow, draw the earth up to them, not allowing
+it to separate the leaves; do this two or three times during the season,
+and the stalks will be beautifully bleached. Heavy loam is much better
+than sand.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preserving</i> for winter is best done by taking up late in the fall,
+cutting the small roots off, and rounding down to a point the large
+root, removing the coarse, useless leaves, and placing in a trench at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, so that six inches of the upper end of the
+leaves will be above the surface. Cover with soil and place poles over,
+and cover with straw, and in a very cold climate cover with earth. Keep
+out the water. The end can be opened to take it out whenever you please,
+and it will be as fresh as in the fall. This is better than the methods
+of keeping in the cellar; it is more certain, and keeps the celery in
+perfect condition.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>CHEESE.</h4>
+
+<p>The methods of cheese-making differ materially in different countries,
+and in different parts of the same country. It is also so much a matter
+of experience and observation, that we recommend to beginners to visit
+cheese-dairies, and get instructions from practical makers. But we give
+the following more general outlines, leaving our readers to learn all
+further details as recommended above.</p>
+
+<p>Rennet, or the calf's stomach, is used, as nature's agent to turn the
+milk, or to curdle it without having it sour. There are many fanciful
+ways of preparing the rennet, putting in sweet herbs, &amp;c. But the
+ordinary plain method is quite sufficient&mdash;which is, to steep it in cold
+salt water. The milk should be set at once on coming from the cow.
+Setting it too hot, or cooling it with cold water, inclines the cheese
+to heave. Too much rennet gives it a strong, unpleasant smell and taste.
+Break the curd as fine as possible with the hand or dish, or better with
+a regular cheese-knife with three blades. This is especially important
+in making large cheeses; small ones need less care in this respect. If
+the curd be too soft, scald it with very hot whey or water; if it be
+hard, use a little more than blood-warm whey: it should stand a few
+minutes in this whey and then be separated, and the curd put into the
+cheese-hoop, making it heaped full, and pressed hard with the hand.
+Spread a cloth over it, and turn it out. Wash the hoop and put back the
+cheese, with the cloth between the curd and the hoop, and put it in the
+press. After a few hours take it out, wash the cloth and put it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> again
+around the cheese, and return it to the press. After seven or eight
+hours more take it out again, pare off the edges if they need it, and
+rub salt all over it&mdash;as much as it will take in: this is the best way
+of salting cheese; the moisture in it at this stage will cause it to
+absorb just about as much salt as will be agreeable. Return it to the
+press in the hoop without the cloth; let it stand in the press over
+night; in the morning turn it in the hoop, and continue it in the press
+until the next morning. Place it upon the shelf in the cheese-room, and
+turn it every day, or at least every other day. If the weather be hot,
+the doors and windows of the cheese-room should be shut; if cool, they
+should be open to admit air.</p>
+
+<p><i>Color.</i>&mdash;The richest is supposed to be about that of beeswax. This is
+produced by annotta, or otter, rubbed into the milk at the time of
+setting, when warm from the cow&mdash;or, if the milk has stood till cold,
+after it has been warmed. Cold milk must, before setting, be warmed to
+about blood or milk heat. This coloring process has no virtue but in its
+influence on the looks of the cheese. Sage cheese is colored by the
+juice of pounded sage-leaves put into the fine curd before it is put in
+the hoop; this is the reason of its appearing in streaks, as it would
+not do if put into the milk, like the annotta. When the cheese is ten
+days old, it should be soaked in cold whey until the rind becomes soft,
+and then scraped smooth with a case-knife; then rinse, and wipe and dry
+it, and return it to the cheese-room, and turn it often until dry enough
+for market. Rich cheeses are apt to spread in warm weather; this is
+prevented by sewing them in common cheap cotton, exactly fitting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Skippers.</i>&mdash;Some persons are very fond of skippery cheese. But few,
+however, like meat and milk together, especially if the meat be alive:
+hence, to remove skippers from cheese into which they have intruded is
+quite desirable. The following method is effectual:&mdash;wrap up the cheese
+in thin paper, through which moisture will readily strike; dig a hole
+two feet deep in pure earth, and bury the cheese;&mdash;in thirty-six hours
+every skipper will be on the outside; brush them off and keep the cheese
+from the flies, and you will have no further trouble. A mixture of
+Spanish brown and butter, rubbed on the outside of a cheese, frequently
+gives that yellow coating so often witnessed, and exerts some influence
+in preserving it. The rank and putrid taste sometimes observed in cheese
+may be prevented by putting a spoonful of salt in the bottom of each
+pan, before straining the milk; it will also preserve the milk in hot
+weather, and give more curd.</p>
+
+<p>An English cheese called "Stilton cheese," from the name of the place
+most celebrated for making it, is a superior article, made in the
+following way: put the cream of the night's milk with the morning's
+milk; remove the curd with the least possible disturbance, and without
+breaking; drain and gradually dry it in a sieve; compress it gradually
+until it becomes firm; put it in a wooden hop on a board, to dry
+gradually; it should be often turned between binders, top and bottom, to
+be tightened as the cheese grows smaller. This makes the finest cheese
+known. As the size makes no difference, it can be made by a person
+having but one cow.</p>
+
+<p>To preserve cheese, keep it from flies, and in a place not so damp as to
+cause mould. Of cheese-pressers there is a great variety: each maker
+will select the one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> which he considers best or most convenient, within
+his reach. In some places, as on the Western Reserve, in Ohio, one
+establishment makes all the cheese for the neighborhood, buying the curd
+from all the families around. In such places they have their own
+methods, which they have understood by all their customers.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CHERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>Cherries are among our first luxuries in the line of fruits. We have
+cultivated varieties, ripening in succession throughout the cherry
+season. There is no necessity for cultivating the common red and very
+acid cherry, except in climates too vigorous for the more tender
+cultivated varieties. The cherry is an ornamental tree, making a
+beautiful shade, besides the luxury of its fruit. It is one of the most
+suitable trees we have for the roadside;&mdash;it ought to be extensively
+planted by the highways throughout all our rural districts, as it is in
+some parts of Europe. In northern Germany the highways are avenues,
+shaded with cherry-trees for distances of fifty or sixty miles together:
+these trees have been planted by direction of the princes, and afford
+shade and refreshment to the weary pedestrian, who is always at liberty
+to eat as much of the fruit as he pleases; this is eminently worthy of
+imitation in our own country.</p>
+
+<p>Extremes of cold and heat are not favorable to the cherry: hence, cool
+places must be selected in hot countries, and warm locations in cold
+regions. Very much, however, can be done by acclimation; it will,
+probably, yet naturalize the cherry throughout the con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>tinent. A deep
+and moderately rich loam is the best soil for the cherry; very rich soil
+causes too rapid growth, which makes the tree tender. It will bear more
+moisture than the grape or peach, and requires less than the apple or
+pear. It will endure very dry situations tolerably well, while in very
+wet ones it will soon perish.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i> is generally by budding small trees near the ground. The
+best stocks are those raised from the seeds of the common black Mazzard.
+It makes a more thrifty tree than any other. The tree grows very large,
+and bears an abundance of medium black fruit, smallest at the blossom
+end, and having seeds very large in proportion to the size of the fruit.
+In White's Gardening for the South, it is stated that the common Morello
+of that region does better, by far, for seedling stocks for budding,
+than the Mazzard. Use, then, the Mazzard for the North, and the Mahaleb
+or common Morello for the South. Pick them when ripe; let them stand two
+or three days, till the pulp decays enough to separate easily from the
+seed by washing. Immediately plant the seeds in rows where you wish them
+to grow; this is better than keeping them over winter in sand, as a
+little neglect in spring will spoil them, they are so tender, when they
+begin to germinate. Keep them clean of weeds. The next spring, set them
+in rows ten inches or a foot apart, placing the different sizes by
+themselves, that large ones need not overshadow small ones and prevent
+their growth. In the following August, or on the last of July, bud them
+near the ground. The stocks are to be headed back the following spring,
+and the bud will make five or six feet of growth the same season. The
+cherry-tree seldom needs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> pruning, further than to pinch off any little
+shoots that may come out in a wrong place (and they will be very few),
+and cut away dead branches. Any removal of large limbs will produce gum,
+which is apt to end in decay, and finally in the death of the tree.
+Whatever pruning you must do, do it in the hottest summer weather, and
+the wounds will dry and prevent the exudation of gum. Trees are
+generally trained horizontally. Some, however, are trained as espaliers
+against walls, and in fan shape. When once the form is perfected (as
+given under Training), nothing is necessary but to cut off&mdash;twice in
+each season, about six weeks apart, in the most growing time&mdash;all other
+shoots that come out within four inches of their base. New shoots will
+be constantly springing, and the tree will keep its shape and bear
+excellent fruit. Trees so trained are usually in warm locations, and
+where they can be easily protected in winter; hence, this is adapted to
+the finer and more tender varieties. The varieties of cherries are
+numerous, and rapidly increasing. They are less distinguishable than
+most other fruits. We shall only present a few of the best, and give
+only their general qualities, without any effort to enable our readers
+to identify varieties. (See our remarks on the nomenclature of apples.)</p>
+
+<p>Downing, in 1846, recommended the following, as choice and hardy,
+adapted to the middle states:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1. Black Tartarean.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2. Black Eagle.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3. Early White Heart.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">4. Downton.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">5. Downer's Late.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">6. Manning's Mottled.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">7. Flesh-color'd Bigarreau</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">8. Elton.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">9. Belle de Choisy.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">10. May Duke.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">11. Kentish.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">12. Knight's Early Black.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The National Convention of Fruit-growers recommend the following as the
+best for the whole country:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1. May Duke.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2. Black Tartarean.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3. Black Eagle.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">4. Bigarreau.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">5. Knight's Early Black.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">6. Downer.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">7. Elton.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">8. Downton.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We recommend the following as all that need be cultivated for profit.
+They are adapted alike to the field and the garden. We omit the
+synonyms, and give only the predominant color. The figures in the cuts
+refer to our numbers in the list:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="all that need be cultivated for profit">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">Name.</td><td align="left">Color.</td><td align="left">Time.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">1.</td><td align="left">Rockport Bigarreau,</td><td align="left">red.</td><td align="left">June 1st.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">2.</td><td align="left">Knight's Early Black,</td><td align="left">black.</td><td align="left">June 5th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">3.</td><td align="left">Black Tartarean,</td><td align="left">purplish.</td><td align="left">June 15th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">4.</td><td align="left">Kirtland's Mary,</td><td align="left">marbled, light-red.</td><td align="left">June, July.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">5.</td><td align="left">Delicate,</td><td align="left">amber-yellow.</td><td align="left">June 25th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">6.</td><td align="left">Late Bigarreau,</td><td align="left">deep-yellow.</td><td align="left">June 30th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">7.</td><td align="left">Late Duke,</td><td align="left">dark-red.</td><td align="left">Aug. 10th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">8.</td><td align="left">Cleveland Bigarreau,</td><td align="left">red.</td><td align="left">June 10th.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">9.</td><td align="left">American Heart,</td><td align="left">pale.</td><td align="left">June 1st.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">10.</td><td align="left">Napoleon,</td><td align="left">purplish-black.</td><td align="left">July 5th.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 434px;">
+<img src="images/ill-126.jpg" width="434" height="650" alt="Cherries--Natural size and shape. (See Page 121)" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Cherries--Natural size and shape. (See Page 121)</span>
+</div>
+<p>The time is that of their greatest perfection, but varies with latitude
+and location.</p>
+
+<p>We know none better than the foregoing. In the long lists of the
+fruit-books, there are others of great excellence, some of which are
+hardly distinguishable from our list. We recommend to all cultivators to
+procure the best in their localities, under the advice of the best
+pomologists in their vicinity. Such men as Barry will be consulted for
+the latitude of Western New York; Elliott and Kirtland for Cleveland,
+Ohio; Cole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> and others for New England and Canada; Hooker and other
+great fruit-growers of Southern Ohio, &amp;c., &amp;c. These gentlemen, like all
+scientific men, are happy to communicate their knowledge for the benefit
+of others.</p>
+
+
+<p>We see no reason for cultivating more than ten or twelve varieties; and,
+as the above are productive and excellent, including all desirable
+colors and qualities, and ripening through the whole cherry season, we
+know not what more would be profitable to the cultivator. If you wish
+more for the sake of variety, your nurseryman will name them, and show
+the quality of each, that renders it "<i>the best</i> that ever was," until
+you will become tired of hearing, and more weary of paying for them.</p>
+
+<p>Decayed wood, spent tanbark, and forest-leaves, are good for the cherry.
+In removing and transplanting, be careful not to injure the roots, or
+expose them to sun and air, as they are so tender, that a degree of
+exposure that would be little felt by the apple or peach tree will
+destroy the cherry. If you are going to keep a cherry-tree out of the
+ground half an hour, throw a damp mat, or damp straw, over the roots,
+and you will save disappointment. The rich alluvial soils of the West
+are regarded unfavorable to the cherry. We know from observation and
+experience that the common red cherry does exceedingly well there, while
+the best cultivated are apt to suffer much from the winters. One reason
+is, the common cherry is a slow-going, hardy tree, while the cultivated
+is more thrifty, and therefore more tender. We give the following as a
+<i>sure method</i> of raising the cultivated cherries in great perfection on
+all the rich prairies of the West. It is all included in dry locations,
+root-pruning, and slight heading-in:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Dry locations. It is known that the rich alluvial soils of the West
+are remarkable for retaining water in winter. On level, and even high
+prairie land, water will stand in winter, and thoroughly saturate the
+soil and freeze up. This is very destructive to the tender, porous root
+of the cherry-tree. How shall such locations be made dry, and these
+evils prevented? By carting on gravel and sand. Put two or three loads
+of sand or gravel, or both, in the shape of a slight mound, for each
+cherry-tree. There should first be a slight excavation, that the sand
+and gravel may be about half below the level of the surrounding soil,
+and half above it: this will so elevate the tree that no water can stand
+around it, and none can stand in the gravel and sand below it. The
+freezing of such soil will not be injurious to the roots of the tree.</p>
+
+<p>2. Root-pruning is to prevent too rapid growth. Such growth is always
+more tender and susceptible of injury from sudden and severe freezing.
+(See Root-pruning.)</p>
+
+<p>3. Heading-in puts back the growth and throws the sap into the lateral
+twigs, thus maturing the wood already grown, instead of producing new
+wood, so young and tender that it will die in winter and spread decay
+through the whole tree. Heading-in, with the cherry, must only be done
+with small twigs. Cultivators will see at a glance that this method will
+certainly succeed in all the West and Southwest.</p>
+
+<p>It is considered difficult to raise cherries at the South; the hot sun
+destroys the trees. Plant in the coolest situations, where there is a
+little shade from other trees, though not too near, or from buildings;
+cut them back, so as to cause shoots near the ground,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> and then head-in
+as the peach, so as to keep the whole covered with leaves, to shade the
+trunk and large limbs, and perfect success will crown your efforts. But
+in all cutting-back and heading-in of cherry-trees, remove the limbs
+when very small.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CHARCOAL.</h4>
+
+<p>There are but few who realize the value of charcoal applied to the soil.
+Whoever will observe fields where coal has been burned, will see that
+grass or grain about the bed of the former pits, will be earlier and
+much more luxuriant than in any other portion of the field. This
+difference is discernible for twenty years. It is the best known agent
+for absorbing any noxious matter in the soil or in the moisture about
+the roots of the trees. No peach-tree should be planted without a few
+quarts of pulverized charcoal in the soil. This would also prove highly
+beneficial to cherry-trees on land where they might be exposed to too
+much moisture. Its color also renders it an excellent application to the
+surface of hills of vines. It is quite effectual against the ravages of
+insects, and so absorbs the rays of the sun as to promote a rapid growth
+of the plants.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CHESTNUTS</h4>
+
+<p>Are among our best nuts, if not allowed to get too dry. When dried hard
+they are rather indigestible. The tree grows well in most parts of the
+United States, pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>vided the soil be light sand or dry gravel. If the
+soil be not suitable, every man may have a half-dozen chestnut-trees, at
+a trifling expense. Haul ten or fifteen loads of sand upon a square rod,
+and plant a tree in it, and it will flourish well. Five or six trees
+would afford the children in a family a great luxury, annually. The
+blossoms appear so very late, that they are seldom cut off by the frost.
+The second growth chestnut-tree is also decidedly ornamental.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CIDER.</h4>
+
+<p>The usual careless way of making cider, in which is used all kinds of
+apples, even frozen and decayed ones, and without any reference to their
+ripeness; without straining, and neglecting all means of regulating the
+fermentation, is too well known. This is the more general practice
+throughout the country; but it makes cider only fit for vinegar,
+although it is used for general purposes. We give the most approved
+method of making and keeping cider, that is better for invalids than any
+of our adulterated wines (and this is the character of nearly all our
+imported wines). Our domestic wines, and bottled cider, should take the
+place of all others.</p>
+
+<p>Select apples best suited for cider, and gather them at the commencement
+of hard frosts. Let them lie a few days, until they become ripe and
+soft. Then throw out all decayed and immature fruit. Grind fine and
+uniform. Let the pulp remain in the vat two days. It will increase the
+saccharine principle and improve the color. Put into the press in dry
+straw, and strain the juice into clean casks. Place the casks in an open
+shed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> or cellar, if it be cold weather, give plenty of air and leave the
+bung out. As the froth works out of the bung, fill up every day or two,
+with some of the same pressing kept for the purpose. In three weeks or
+less this rising will cease, and the bung should be put in loose, and
+after three days driven in tight. Leave a small vent-hole near the bung.
+In a cool cellar the fermentation will cease in two days. This is known
+by the clearness of the liquor, the thick scum that rises, and the
+cessation of the escape of air.</p>
+
+<p>Draw off the clear cider into a clean cask. If it remains quiet it may
+stand till spring. A gill of fine charcoal added to a barrel will secure
+this end, and prevent fermentation from going too far. But if a scum
+collects on the surface, and the fermentation continues, rack it off
+again at once. Then drive the vent-spile tight. Rack it off again in
+early spring. If not perfectly clear, dissolve three quarters of an
+ounce of isinglass in cider, and put it in the barrel, and it will soon
+be perfectly fine. Bottle between this and the last of May. Fill the
+bottles within an inch of the bottom of the cork, and allow them to
+stand an hour, then drive the cork. Lay them in dry sand, in boxes in a
+cool cellar, and the cider will improve by age, and is better for the
+sick than imported wines.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CITRONS</h4>
+
+<p>Are only used for preserving. Their appearance and growth resemble in
+all respects the watermelon. Planted near the latter, they utterly ruin
+them, making them more citron than melon. They are injurious to most
+other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> contiguous vines. They are to be planted and cultivated like the
+watermelon. Are very fine preserved; but we think the outside (removing
+the rind) of a watermelon better, and should not regret to know, that
+not another citron was ever to be raised.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CLOVER.</h4>
+
+<p>The only varieties successfully cultivated in this country, are the red
+and the white. Red clovers are divided into large, medium, and small.
+The white is all alike. The long-rooted clover of Hungary is an
+excellent productive variety, enduring successfully almost any degree of
+drought. But in all the colder parts of this country it winter-kills so
+badly as to render it unprofitable. Clover makes good pastures, being
+nutritious, and early and rapid growing. Red-clover makes fair hay,
+though inferior to timothy or red-top. White clover is unsuitable for
+hay; it shrinks so much in drying, that it is very unproductive. It is
+the best of all grasses for sheep pasture, and its blossoms afford in
+abundance the best of honey. Red clover plowed in, even when full-grown,
+is an excellent fertilizer. It begins to be regarded, in western New
+York, as productive of the weevil, so destructive to wheat. Further
+observation is necessary to settle this question.</p>
+
+<p>Red-clover hay is too dusty for horses, and too wasteful for cattle. The
+stalks are so large a proportion, and so slightly nutritious, that it is
+unprofitable even as cut-feed. It is best to cultivate clover mainly for
+pastures and as a fertilizer. Sowing clover and timothy together for hay
+is much practised. The first year it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> will be nearly all clover, and the
+second year mostly timothy. But sown together, they are not good for
+hay, because they do not mature within ten or fifteen days of the same
+time. But, for those who are determined to make hay out of red clover,
+the following directions for curing may be valuable: mow when dry,
+spread at once, and let it wilt thoroughly; then put up into small
+cocks, not rolled, but one fork full <i>laid</i> upon another until high
+enough;&mdash;it will then shed water; but when rolled up, water will run
+down through. Let it stand till thoroughly dried, and then draw into the
+barn; it will be bright and sweet. Another method is to cut when free
+from dew or rain, spread even, and allow it to wilt, and the leaves and
+smaller parts to dry; then draw into the barn, putting alternate loads
+of clover and dry straw into the mow, salting the clover very lightly.
+The clover is sometimes put in when quite green, and salted sufficiently
+to preserve it. It is injurious to cattle, by compelling them to eat
+more salt than they need. Cattle will eat but little salt in winter,
+when it stands within their reach; too much salt in hay compels them to
+eat more, which engenders disease. Clover cured as above makes the best
+possible clover-hay, if great care be used to prevent excessive salting.</p>
+
+<p>Saving clover-seed is a matter of considerable importance. The large red
+clover is too late a variety to produce seed on a second crop the same
+season, as do the medium and small. The first growth must be allowed to
+ripen. Cut when the heads are generally dead, but before it has begun to
+shell. The medium and small red clovers will produce a good crop of seed
+from second growth, if it be not too dry, immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> after mowing. Cut
+when the heads generally are dry, rake into small winrows at once, and
+soon put it in small bunches and let it stand until very dry, and then
+draw in. Raking and stirring after it becomes dry will waste one half of
+it.</p>
+
+
+<h4>COFFEE BEAN.</h4>
+
+<p>This grows in a pod somewhat resembling the pea; easily raised, as other
+beans; and is very productive. Browned and ground, it is used as a
+substitute for coffee. By many persons it is much esteemed. If this and
+the orange carrot were adopted extensively, instead of coffee, it would
+afford a great relief to the health, as well as the pockets, of the
+American people.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CORN.</h4>
+
+<p>This is the most valuable of all American products of the soil, not
+excepting wheat or cotton. It is used for human food all over the world.
+And there is no domestic animal or fowl, whose habits require grain,
+whether whole or ground, that is not fond of it. It is easily raised,
+and is a sure and abundant crop, in all latitudes south of forty-six
+degrees north. The varieties are few, and principally local. The soil
+can not be made too rich for corn. It should be planted in rows each
+way, to allow cultivating both ways with a horse. The distance of rows
+apart has been a subject of some differences of opinion; there is a
+disposition to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> crowd it too near together. In western New York, where
+much attention has been given to it, the usual distance is three and one
+half feet each way; others plant four feet apart. On all land we have
+ever seen, we believe four feet apart each way, with four or five stalks
+in a hill, will produce the largest yield. It lets in the sun
+sufficiently around every hill, and the proportion of ears to the stalks
+will be larger than in any other distance. Planting with a span of
+horses, and a planter on which a man can ride and plant two rows at
+once, is the easiest and most expeditious. We can not too strongly
+recommend harrowing corn as soon as it comes out of the ground. It
+increases the crop, and saves much expense in cultivating. All planters
+should know that Indian corn is one of those plants which will come to
+maturity at a certain age, whether it be large or small; hence, anything
+that will increase the growth while young will add to the product. Corn
+neglected when small receives, thereby, an injury from which it will
+never recover; after-hoeing may help it, but never can fully restore it.
+If there are small weeds, the harrowing will destroy them, and give all
+the strength of the soil to the young corn; if there are no weeds, the
+effect of the harrowing will be to give the young plants twice as large
+a growth in the first two weeks as they would make without it. Harrow
+with a <big>V</big> drag, with the front tooth out, that the remaining
+teeth may go each side of the row. Use two horses, allowing the row to
+stand between them; let the harrow-teeth run as near the corn as
+possible. Never plant corn until the soil has become warm enough to make
+it come up quickly and grow rapidly. If you feed corn to cattle whole,
+feed it with the husks on, as it will compel them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> to chew it better,
+and will thus be a great saving. Crib corn only when very dry, and avoid
+the Western and Southern method of leaving cribs uncovered; the corn
+thus becomes less valuable for any use. A little plaster or wood-ashes
+applied to corn on first coming up, and again when six inches high, will
+abundantly repay cost and labor;&mdash;it will pay even on the prairie-lands
+of the West, and is quite essential on the poorer soils of the East and
+North. It had better never be neglected. The crop will weigh more to the
+acre, by allowing it to stand as it grew, until thoroughly dry. The next
+larger crop is when the stalks are cut off above the ear (called
+topping) after it has become glazed. Still a little less will be the
+product when it is cut up at the ground, while the leaves are yet quite
+green. The two latter methods are adapted for the purpose of saving
+fodder in good condition for cattle. Intelligent farmers regard the
+fodder of much more value than the decrease in the weight of the grain.
+Corn thus cut up, and fed without husking, is the best possible way for
+winter-fattening cattle on a large scale, and where corn is abundant. To
+save the whole, swine should follow the cattle, changing yards once a
+week.</p>
+
+<p>Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before
+frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the
+average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will
+improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib
+at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best
+ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before
+all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed
+twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> planting, is
+recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand.
+Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time;
+but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there
+occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that
+their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this
+is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply.
+The difficulty is not (as we have often heard asserted) from the intense
+cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather
+after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect,
+with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall
+was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly
+soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter
+destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no
+degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the
+seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed,
+given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most
+profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow
+land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable
+for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry
+weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is
+better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with
+ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved
+in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The
+tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>COTTON.</h4>
+
+<p>No product of the soil is more useful than this. To this country alone
+we give the highest value to Indian corn. But, in usefulness to the
+whole world, corn must yield the palm to cotton. It employs more hands
+and capital in manufacturing, and enters more largely into the clothing
+of mankind, than any other article. The history of cotton and the
+cotton-gin, and of the manufacture of cotton goods, is exceedingly
+interesting. The eminence of Great Britain as the first commercial
+nation of the world is due, in no small degree, to her cotton
+manufactures. And the influence of this great staple American product
+upon all the interests of this country, social and political, civil and
+religious, is universally felt and acknowledged. The cotton-fields of
+the South, at certain stages of growth, and especially when in bloom,
+present scenes of beauty unsurpassed by any other growing crop. It does
+not come within our design in this work to give a very extended view of
+cotton culture. This business in the United States is confined
+principally to a particular class of men, known as planters. They
+cultivate it on a large scale, having the control of large means. Such
+men seek knowledge of those of their own class, and would hardly
+condescend to listen to an essay on their peculiar business, written by
+a Northern man, not experienced in planting. And yet an article, not
+covering more than ten pages of this volume, might be written,
+condensing in a clear manner all that is established in this branch of
+American industry, as found in the publications of the South. Such an
+article, well written, by a man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> who would be regarded good authority,
+would be of vast pecuniary value to the South. Whoever carefully reads
+Southern agricultural papers, and "<span class="smcap">Turner's Cotton-Planter's Manual</span>,"
+will see a great conflict of opinions on the subject, and yet a
+presentation of many facts, that one thoroughly conversant with soil
+culture in general would see to be true and important. The embodiment of
+these facts and principles in a brief, plain article that would be
+received and practised, would add value to the annual cotton crop, that
+would be counted by millions. What better service can some Southern
+gentleman do for his own chosen and favorite region than to write such
+an article? We give the following brief view of the whole subject, not
+presuming to teach cotton-planters what they are supposed to understand
+much better than we do, but to throw out some thoughts that may be
+suggestive of improvements that others may mature and carry out, and to
+lead young men, just commencing the business of planting, to look about
+and see if they may not make some improvements upon what they behold
+around them. This will not fail of being interesting to Northern men,
+most of whom know nothing of the cotton-plant, or the modes of its
+cultivation. It is interesting, too, that some of the most essential
+points are in perfect accordance with the great principles of soil
+culture throughout the world.</p>
+
+<p>There are three species of cotton: tree-cotton, shrub-cotton, and
+herbaceous cotton. The tree-cotton is cultivated to considerable extent
+in northern Africa, and produces a fair staple of cotton for commerce;
+being produced on trees from ten to twenty-five feet high, it is not so
+easily gathered. The shrub-cotton is culti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>vated in various parts of the
+world, particularly in Asia and South America. Growing in the form of
+small bushes, it is convenient, and the staple is fair. But these are
+both inferior to the herbaceous cotton. This is an herb growing
+annually, like corn, a number of feet in height, more or less according
+to soil and season, and producing the best known cotton. Under these
+species there are many varieties: we need speak only of the varieties of
+herbaceous cotton. Writers vary in their estimates of varieties; some
+say there are eight, and others put them as high as one hundred. This is
+a question of no practical moment. The sea-island cotton, called also
+"long staple" on account of its very long silky fibres, is the finest
+cotton known. Its name arose from the fact of its production in greatest
+perfection on the low, sandy islands near the coasts of some of the
+Southern states. It does well on low land near the seashore. The
+saltness and humidity of such locations seem peculiarly favorable to its
+greatest perfection. It yields about half as much as the "short staple"
+called Mexican and Petit gulf cotton, and known in commerce as upland
+cotton. But the sea-island, or long staple, sells for three or four
+times as much per pound, and, hence, is most profitable to the planter,
+in all regions where it will flourish well. The Mexican is very
+productive on most soils, and is easily gathered and prepared for
+market. There are quite a number of other varieties; as, banana, Vick's
+hundred-seed, Pitt's prolific, multibolus, mammoth, sugar-loaf, &amp;c., &amp;c.
+The sugar-loaf is highly commended, as are some of the others named.
+They have had quite a run among seed-sellers. Most of these varieties
+are the improved Mexican. It is well to get seed frequently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> from a
+distance; but any extravagant prices are unwise. Improvement of
+cotton-seed is an important part of its most profitable culture. While
+much said about it by interested parties is doubtless mere humbug, yet
+there is great importance to be attached to improvement of seed. This is
+true of all agricultural products, and no less so of cotton than of
+others. Two things only are essential to constant improvement in
+cotton-seed&mdash;<i>selection</i> and <i>care</i>. Select from the best quality,
+producing the largest yield, and maturing early; pick it before much
+rain has fallen on it after ripening; dry it thoroughly before ginning,
+and dry it very thoroughly after it is clear of the fibre, before
+putting it in bulk. Cotton-seed, without extra care in drying, has
+moisture enough to make it heat in bulk, by which its germinating power
+is greatly impaired. It is this, and the effects of fall rains, that
+causes seed to trouble planters so seriously by not coming up: this
+makes it difficult to obtain good even stands, and causes much loss by
+diminished crops. Care in these respects would add many pounds to the
+acre in most cotton-fields of the land.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preparing the Soil for Planting.</i>&mdash;On all land not having a porous
+subsoil, plow very deep; it gives opportunity for the long tap-root of
+the plant to penetrate deep, and guard against excessive drought. The
+usual custom is to lay the ground into beds, elevated a little in the
+middle, and a depression between them, in which excessive moisture may
+run off; also to increase the action of the sun and air. The surface of
+the soil to be planted should be made very fine and smooth. This is true
+of everything planted&mdash;it should be in finely-pulverized soil; it comes
+up more readily and evenly. Soil left in coarse lumps or particles gives
+the air too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> much action on the germinating seeds and young plants, and
+retards and stints their growth. Deep plowing guards alike against too
+much or too little moisture. Too much water has room to sink away from
+the surface and allow it to dry speedily. It also forms a sort of
+reservoir to hold water for use in a drought. The seed should be planted
+in as straight a line as possible, from three and a half to five and a
+half feet apart one way, and from fourteen to twenty-five inches the
+other, according to the quality of the land, and the growth of the
+variety planted. Rich lands will not bear the plants so close as the
+poor. Many are great losers by not securing plants enough on the ground.
+Straight lines greatly facilitate culture, as it can mostly be done with
+the plow or cultivator. Turning land over deep, just before planting, is
+the best known remedy for the cut-worm; it is said to put them back
+until the plants grow beyond their reach. The best planters generally
+cover with a piece of plank drawn over the furrow in which the seed is
+dropped. It would be far better to roll it, as some few planters do; the
+effect on the early vegetation of the seed and rapid growth of the young
+plant would be very great, on the general principles given on "Rolling."
+The object of cultivation is to keep down the grass, which is the great
+enemy of the cotton. Plowing the last thing before planting aids this,
+by giving the cotton quite as early a start as the weeds or grass.
+Cultivate early, and the grass will be easily covered and killed. Always
+plant when it will come up speedily and grow rapidly; this is better
+than very early planting, and certainly much better than very late. Thin
+out to one in a place, as early as the plants are out of danger of
+dying. Gathering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> should commence as soon as bolls enough are in right
+condition to allow a hand to gather forty pounds per day. It is better
+and cheaper than to risk the injury from rains after the crop is ripe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Manures</span>.&mdash;Perhaps this is, at the present time, the greatest question
+for cotton-planters. The application of all the most approved principles
+and agents of fertilization would do more for the interests of the
+cotton crop than anything else. Cotton-plantations are sometimes said to
+run down so as to render it necessary to abandon portions of the land,
+and select new. Instead of this, land may not only be kept up with
+proper manuring, but made to yield larger crops from year to year. The
+following analysis of the ash of the cotton-plant will indicate the
+wants of the soil in which it grows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="30%" cellspacing="0" summary="Manures">
+<tr><td align="left">1. Potash</td><td align="right">29.58</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">2. Lime</td><td align="right">24.34</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">3. Magnesia</td><td align="right">3.73</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">4. Chloride</td><td align="right">0.65</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">5. Phosphoric acid</td><td align="right">34.92</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">6. Sulphuric acid</td><td align="right">3.54</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">7. Silica</td><td align="right">3.24</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">100.00</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>This analysis shows that the soil for cotton needs much lime, bones or
+bone-dust, and wood-ashes, besides the ordinary barn-yard and compost
+manures. All the preparations and applications of manures specified in
+this work, under the head of "Manures," are applicable to cotton. The
+usual recommendations of rotation in crops is, perhaps, more important
+in cotton culture than anywhere else. Judicious fallowing, on principles
+adapted to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Southern climate, is another great means of keeping up and
+improving the land. This is also the only effectual means of guarding
+against the numerous enemies and diseases of the cotton-plant. The
+health of the plants is secured, and they are made to outstrip their
+enemies only by the fertility and fine tilth of the soil in which they
+grow. This is confirmed on every hand by the correspondence of the most
+intelligent planters of the South. Let cotton-growers go into a thorough
+system of fertilization of their soils, and attend personally to the
+improvement of their cotton-seed, by selection, as recommended above,
+and the result will be an addition of one eighth, or one fourth, to the
+products of cotton in the United States, without adding another acre to
+the area under cultivation. When this comes to be understood, men of
+small means will cultivate a little cotton by their own individual
+labor, as the poorer men do corn and other agricultural products, and
+thus improve their condition. The above suggestions are the conclusions
+to which we come, from a thorough examination of what has been published
+to the world on this subject. We recommend the careful perusal of "The
+Cotton-Planter's Manual," by Turner (published by Saxton and Co., New
+York), and increased attention to the subject, by the intelligent,
+educated, and practical men with whom the cotton-growing regions abound.</p>
+
+
+<h4>COWS.</h4>
+
+<p>The cow occupies the first place among domestic animals, in value to the
+American people, not excepting even the horse. From the original stock,
+still kept as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> a curiosity on the grounds of some English noblemen,
+cattle have been greatly improved by care in breeding and feeding. Those
+wild animals are still beautiful, but only about one third of the weight
+of the ordinary improved cattle, and not more than one fourth that of
+the <i>most improved</i>. Improving the breed of cattle is a subject by
+itself, demanding a separate treatise. It is not to be expected that we
+should go into it at length in a work like this. But so much depends
+upon the cow, that we can hardly write an article on her without giving
+those general principles that lie at the foundation of all improvement
+in cattle. The few suggestions that follow, if heeded, would be worth
+many times the value of this book to any farmer not already familiar
+with the facts. The cow affects all other stock in two ways; first, the
+form of calves, and consequently of grown cattle, is affected as much by
+the cow as by the bull. The quality and quantity of her milk, also, has
+a great influence upon the early growth of all neat stock. Cattle are
+usually named from their horns, as "short horns," &amp;c. It is a means of
+distinction, like a name, but not expressive of quality. The leading
+marks of a good cow are, medium height for her weight, small neck,
+straight and wide back, wide breast&mdash;giving room for healthy action of
+the lungs&mdash;heavy hind-quarters, and soft skin with fine hair, skin
+yellowish, with much dandruff above the bag behind. A smart countenance
+is also expressive of good qualities; there is as much difference in the
+eyes and expression of cattle as of men. Select only such cows to raise
+stock from, and allow them to go to no bull that has not good marks, and
+is not of a superior form. Another important matter is to avoid
+breeding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> in and in. This is injurious in all domestic animals and
+fowls. Always have the cow and the bull from different regions:
+attention to this would constantly improve any breed we have, and by
+improving the size of cattle, and milking qualities of cows, would add
+vast amounts to the wealth of farmers, without the necessity of
+purchasing, at a great price, any of the high-bred cattle. We have
+observed, in our article on calves, that abundant feeding during the
+first year has much to do with the excellence of stock. Unite with these
+regularity in feeding, watering, and salting, keeping dry and warm in
+stormy, cold weather, and well curried and clean, and a farmer's stock
+will be much more profitable to him. But this brief mention of the
+general principles must suffice, while we give all the further space we
+can occupy with this article to&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Infallible Marks of the Milking Qualities of Cows</span>.&mdash;M. Francis
+Guenon, of France, has published a treatise, in which he shows, by
+external marks alone, the quality and quantity of milk of any cow, and
+the length of time she will continue to give milk. These marks are so
+plain, that they are applicable to calves but a few weeks old, as well
+as to cows. Whoever will take a little pains to understand this, can
+know, when he proposes to buy a cow, how much milk she will give, with
+proper feed and treatment, the quality of her milk, and the length of
+time she will give milk after having been gotten with calf. If the
+farmer has heifer-calves, some of which he proposes to send to the
+butcher and others to raise, he may know which will make poor milkers,
+and which good ones, and raise the good and kill the poor. Thus, he may
+see a calf that his neighbor is going to slaughter, and, from these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+external marks, he may discover that it would make one of the best
+milking cows of the neighborhood; it would then pay to buy and raise it,
+though he might have to kill and throw away his own, which he could see
+would make a poor cow if raised. Thus, all extraordinary milkers would
+be raised, and all poor ones be slaughtered: this alone would improve
+the whole stock of the country twenty-five per cent. in as many years.
+Attention has been called to this, in the most emphatic manner, by <i>The
+New York Tribune</i>&mdash;a paper that always takes a deep interest in whatever
+will advance the great industrial interests of the whole people&mdash;and
+yet, this announcement will be new to a vast number of farmers into
+whose hands this volume will fall. To many it will be utterly
+incredible, especially when we inform them that the indications are,
+mainly, the growth of the hair, on the cow behind, from the roots of the
+teats upward. "Impossible!" many a practical, common-sense man will say.
+But that same man will acknowledge that a bull has a different color,
+different neck, and different horns, left in his natural state, from
+those he would exhibit if altered to an ox. Why is it not equally
+credible that the growth of the hair, &amp;c., should be affected by the
+secretion and flow of the milk on that part of the system where those
+operations are principally carried on? But, aside from all reasonings on
+the subject, the fact is certain, and whoever may read this article may
+test its correctness, as applied to his own cows or those of his
+neighbor. The great agriculturists of France (and it is no mean
+agricultural country) have tested it, under the direction of the
+agricultural societies, and pronounced it entirely certain. This was
+followed by an award, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> the French government, of a pension of three
+thousand francs per annum to Guenon, as a benefactor of the people by
+the discovery he had made. The same has been amply tested in this
+country, with the same certain results. It now only remains for every
+farmer to test it for himself, and avail himself of the profits that
+will arise from it. Guenon divides cows into eight classes, and has
+eight orders under each class, making sixty-four cows, of which he has
+cuts in his work. He also adds what he calls a bastard-cow in each
+class, making seventy-two in all. Now, to master all these nice
+distinctions in his classes and orders would be tedious, and nearly
+useless. Efforts at this would tend to confusion. We desire to give the
+indications in a brief manner, with a very few cuts; and yet, we would
+hope to be much better understood by the masses than we believe Guenon
+to be. We claim no credit; Guenon is the discoverer, and we only
+promulgate his discovery in the plainest language we can command; and if
+we can reach the ear of the American farmers, and call their attention
+to this, we shall not have labored in vain.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the
+gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon. The following
+cuts show the marks of all of Guenon's eight classes, the first and the
+last in each class. The intermediate ones are in regular gradation from
+the first to the eighth order. Each class is divided into high, medium,
+and low, yielding milk somewhat in proportion to their size. We give the
+quantity of milk which the large cows will yield. This also supposes
+cows to be well fed on suitable food. Smaller cows of the same class and
+order, or those that are poorly cared for and fed, will, of course, give
+less.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The names of all these eight classes are entirely arbitrary&mdash;they mean
+nothing. M. Guenon adopted them on account of the shape of the
+escutcheon, or from the name of the place from which the cows came. But
+cows with these peculiar marks are found among all breeds, in all
+countries, and of all colors, sizes, and ages. These marks are certain,
+except the variations that are caused by extra care or neglect.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<span class="caption">Fig. 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FIRST CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 2.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-149.jpg" width="650" height="430" alt="Fig. 1. FIRST CLASS." title="" />
+
+
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Flanders Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair,
+growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it
+blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the
+region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs
+just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and
+extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they
+gene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>rally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by
+hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds
+them (<span class="smcap">E</span>, <span class="smcap">E</span>, in fig. 1). The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon
+is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff,
+detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give
+about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before
+getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large
+quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with
+calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This,
+however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time
+of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual
+diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the
+eighth.</p>
+
+<p>Cows of this order (fig. 2), or with the marks you see in the drawing,
+will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best
+state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with
+calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in
+Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better
+than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different
+from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any
+one can at once see that they belong to this class;&mdash;and the comparative
+size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the
+above. In the intermediate grades, the spots (<span class="smcap">E</span>, <span class="smcap">E</span>, fig. 1) are smaller,
+and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight
+changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general
+outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in
+each class is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> about from two and a half to three or three and a half
+quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a
+calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell,
+within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow or heifer. The only
+chance for mistake is in the case of bastard-cows, which rapidly dry up
+on getting with calf.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SECOND CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 4.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-151.jpg" width="650" height="519" alt="Fig. 3. SECOND CLASS. Fig. 4.
+
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Selvage Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In this class, the shape of the escutcheon is entirely distinct, so that
+no one will confound it with the first. The gradations are the same as
+in the preceding, only this class, all through, is inferior to the
+other. The first (fig. 3) will give only twenty or twenty-one quarts,
+and the poorest only four quarts. This escutcheon is formed by ascending
+hair, but with a very different outline from the first class; it has the
+same spots above the hind teats as the first, formed by descending
+hair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> In the lower orders these disappear&mdash;first one, then one small
+one, and then none at all&mdash;and as they descend, similar spots appear,
+formed in the same way, on one or both sides of the vulva (<span class="smcap">F</span>, fig. 3).
+The skin of the inside surface of the thigh is yellowish. The time of
+giving milk&mdash;viz., eight months gone with calf, or as long as you
+continue to milk them&mdash;is the same as in the first class. The last order
+(fig. 4) of this class give very little milk after getting with calf.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; THIRD CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 6.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-152.jpg" width="650" height="526" alt="Fig. 5. THIRD CLASS. Fig. 6.
+" title="" />
+
+
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Curveline Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This escutcheon is easily distinguished from the others, by its outline
+figure. The spots on the bag above the hind teats are formed as in the
+preceding, and as gradually disappear in the lower orders. In those
+orders there is a slight difference in the outline, but its general form
+is the same. The first of this class (fig. 5) yields twenty or
+twenty-one quarts a day, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> gives milk till within a month of calving.
+The last order of the class (fig. 6) gives only three and a half quarts,
+and goes dry on getting with calf. The intermediate gradations between
+the first and eighth orders are the same as in the preceding classes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FOURTH CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 8.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-153.jpg" width="650" height="518" alt="Fig. 7. FOURTH CLASS. Fig. 8.
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bicorn Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>These escutcheons are unmistakably diverse from either of the others;
+gradations, from first to eighth orders, the same. The first order in
+this class (fig. 7) will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk until
+eight months with calf. The dandruff which detaches from the skin within
+the escutcheon of the first order is yellowish or copperish color. The
+two marks on the sides of the vulva are narrow streaks of ascending
+hair, not in the general mark. The last order of the class (fig. 8)
+gives three and a half quarts only a day, and goes dry when with calf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 9.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FIFTH CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 10.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-154.jpg" width="650" height="509" alt="Fig. 9. FIFTH CLASS. Fig. 10.
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Demijohn Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Here is another general mark, easily distinguishable from all the others
+by its outline. The first order (fig. 9) will give eighteen quarts a
+day, and give milk eight months, or within a month of calving. Yellowish
+skin; delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, as in the higher
+orders of all the preceding classes. The eighth order of this class
+(fig. 10) will give only two and a half quarts per day, and none after
+conceiving anew. The gradation from first to eighth order is regular, as
+in the others.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SIXTH CLASS.</h4>
+
+<p>Yield of first order (fig. 11) eighteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin within the escutcheon same color, bag equally delicate, and
+hair fine, as in all the first orders. Eighth order (fig. 12) yields
+about two quarts per day, and dries up on getting with calf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<span class="caption">Fig. 11.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 12.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-155.jpg" width="600" height="251" alt="Order 1. Square Escutcheon Cow. Order 8." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Square Escutcheon Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 13.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SEVENTH CLASS.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 14.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-155b.jpg" width="600" height="252" alt="Fig. 13. SEVENTH CLASS. Fig. 14.
+
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Limousine Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>First order in this class (fig. 13) gives fifteen quarts; time, eight
+months. The skin, bag, and hair, same as in the higher orders in all the
+classes. The eighth order (fig. 14) will yield two and a half quarts per
+day, and dry up when with calf.</p>
+
+
+<h4>EIGHTH CLASS.</h4>
+
+<p>First order (fig. 15) will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats
+far apart. The eighth order (fig. 16) yields two and a half quarts a
+day, and dries up on getting with calf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 15.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 16.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-156.jpg" width="600" height="249" alt="Fig. 15. Fig. 16.
+" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Order 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Horizontal Cut Cow.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Order 8.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose
+escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class:
+these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become
+familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may
+be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows,
+and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the
+bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of
+ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+
+<span class="caption">Fig. 17.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 18.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fig. 19.</span>
+<img src="images/ill-156b.jpg" width="600" height="248" alt="Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19." title="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<p>In the <span class="smcap">Flanders cow</span> (fig. 17) there are two bastards; one distinguished
+by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles
+up, like beards on a head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the
+genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and
+descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the
+<span class="smcap">Flanders cow</span> is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair,
+about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large
+cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair
+within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of
+this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the
+escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no
+dandruff.</p>
+
+<p>Bastards of the <span class="smcap">SELVAGE COW</span> are known by two oval patches of ascending
+hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an
+inch and a half wide (fig. 18). The larger the spot, and the coarser the
+hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.</p>
+
+<p>Bastards of the <span class="smcap">CURVELINE COW</span> are known by the size of spots of hair on
+each side of the vulva (fig. 18). When they are of four or five inches
+by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate
+bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly
+on getting with calf.</p>
+
+<p>Bastards of the <span class="smcap">BICORN COW</span> are indicated precisely as in the
+preceding&mdash;by <i>the size</i> of the spots of ascending hair, above the
+escutcheon and by the sides of the vulva (<span class="smcap">F</span>, <span class="smcap">F</span>, fig. 18).</p>
+
+<p>Bastards of the <span class="smcap">DEMIJOHN COW</span> are distinguished precisely as the two
+preceding&mdash;<i>size of the streaks</i> (fig. 18).</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW</span> indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the
+right of the vulva (fig. 19).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> When that ascending hair is coarse and
+bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Limousine cows</span> show their bastards precisely as do the <span class="smcap">CURVELINE</span> and
+<span class="smcap">BICORN</span>, by the size of the ascending streaks of hair, on the right and
+left of the vulva. (Fig. 19.)</p>
+
+<p>Bastards of the <span class="smcap">HORIZONTAL CUT COWS</span> have no escutcheon whatever. By this
+they are always known.</p>
+
+<p>Some bastards are good milkers until they get with calf, and then very
+soon dry up. Others are poor milkers. Those with coarse hair and but
+little of it, in the escutcheon, give poor, watery milk. Those of fine,
+thick hair will give good milk.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bulls</span> have escutcheons of the same shape as the cows, but on a smaller
+scale. Whenever there are streaks of descending hair bristling up among
+the ascending hair of the escutcheon, rendering it quite irregular and
+rough in its appearance, the animal is regarded as a bastard. Never put
+a cow to any bull that has not a regular, well-defined, and smooth
+escutcheon. This is as fully as we have room to go into M. Guenon's
+details. We fear this will fall into the hands of many who will not take
+the pains to master even these distinctions. To those who will, we trust
+they will be found plain, and certain in their results. From all this,
+one thing is certain, and that is of immense value to the farmer: it is,
+that on general principles, without remembering the exact figure of one
+of the indications above given, or one of the arbitrary terms it has
+been necessary to use, any man can tell the quality and quantity of milk
+a cow will give, and the time she will give milk, with sufficient
+accuracy to buy no cow and raise no heifer that will not be a
+prof<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>itable dairy cow, if that is what he desires. The rules by which
+these things may be known are the following:</p>
+
+<p>No cow, of any class, is ever a good milker, that has not a large
+surface of hair growing upward from the teats and covering the inner
+surface of the thighs, and extending up toward or to the tail.</p>
+
+<p>No cow that is destitute of this mark, or only has a very small one, is
+ever a good milker. Every cow having a scanty growth of coarse hair in
+the above mark will only give poor, watery milk; and every cow having a
+thick growth of fine hair on the escutcheon, or surface where it
+ascends, and considerable dandruff, will always give good rich milk, and
+be good for butter and cheese.</p>
+
+<p>Every cow on which this mark is small will give but little milk, and dry
+up soon after getting with calf, and is not fit to be kept.</p>
+
+<p>Observe these brief rules, and milk your cows <i>at certain hours every
+day</i>&mdash;milk <i>very quickly</i>, without stopping, and <i>very clean</i>, not
+leaving a drop&mdash;and you never will have a poor cow on your farm, and at
+least twenty-five per cent. will be added to the value of the ordinary
+dairy, that is made up of cows purchased or raised in the usual,
+hap-hazard way.</p>
+
+<p>If your cows' udders swell after calving, wash them in aconite made weak
+with water; it is very good for taking out inflammation. Other common
+remedies are known. If your cow or other creature gets choked, pour into
+the throat half a pint, at least, of oil; and by rubbing the neck, the
+obstruction will probably move up or down. Curry your cows as thoroughly
+as you do your horses; and if they ever chance to get lousy, wash them
+in a decoction of tobacco.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>CRANBERRY.</h4>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 297px;">
+<img src="images/ill-160.jpg" width="297" height="350" alt="" title="Cranberry" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is native in the northern parts of both hemispheres. In England and
+on the continents of Europe and Asia, native cranberries are inferior,
+in size and quality, to the American. Our own have also been greatly
+improved by cultivation. They have become an important article of
+commerce, and find a ready sale, at high prices, in all the leading
+markets of the country. Their successful cultivation, therefore,
+deserves attention, as really as that of other fruits. Mr. B. Eastwood
+has written a volume on the subject, which probably contains all the
+facts already established, together with many opinions of scientific and
+practical cultivators. The work is valuable, but much less so than it
+would have been, had the author put into a few pages the important
+facts, and left out all speculations and diversities of opinion. The
+objection to most of this kind of literature is the intermixture of
+facts and valuable sug<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>gestions with so much that is not only useless,
+but absolutely pernicious, by the confusion it creates. We think the
+following directions for the cultivation of the cranberry are complete,
+according to our present knowledge:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;It is universally agreed that <i>beach sand</i> is the best. Not
+from the beach of the ocean barely, but of lakes, ponds, or rivers.
+There is no evidence that any saline quality that may be in sand from
+the beach of the sea, is particularly useful. It is the cleanness of the
+sand, on which account it is less calculated to promote a growth of
+weeds, and allows a free passage of moisture toward the surface. Hence
+white sand is preferable, and the cleaner the better. Whoever has a
+moist meadow in the soil of which there is considerable sand has a good
+place for a cranberry bed. If you have not a sand meadow, select a plat
+of ground as moist as any you have, upon which water will not stand
+unless you confine it there, and draw on sand to the depth of four or
+six inches, having first removed any grass or break-turf, that may be in
+danger of coming up as weeds to choke the vines. If you make the ground
+mellow below and then put on the sand, you will have a bed that will
+give you but little further trouble. Peat soils will do, if you take off
+the top and expose to the weather, frosts and rains, one year before
+planting. The first year, peat will dry and crack, so as to destroy
+young cranberry vines. But after one winter's frost, it becomes
+pulverized and will not again bake. Hence it is next to sand for a
+cranberry bed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Situation.</i>&mdash;The shore of a body of water, or of a small pond is best,
+if it be not too much exposed to violent action of wind and waves. Land
+that retains much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> moisture within a foot of the surface, but which does
+not become stagnant, is very valuable. The bottoms of small ponds that
+can be drained off are very good. Any land that can be flowed with water
+at pleasure is good. By flooding, the blossoms are kept back till late
+spring frosts are gone. Any upland can be prepared as above. But if it
+be a very dry soil it must have a liberal supply of water during dry
+weather, or success may not be expected.</p>
+
+<p><i>Planting.</i>&mdash;There are several methods. Sod planting consists in
+preparing the land and then cutting out square sods containing vines,
+and setting them at the distances apart, you desire. This was the
+general method; but it is objectionable, on account of the weeds that
+will grow out of the sod and choke the vines. This method is improved by
+tearing away the sod, leaving the roots naked, and then planting.
+Another method is to cut off a vigorous shoot, and plant the middle of
+it, with each end protruding from the soil two or three inches apart.
+Roots will come out by all the leaves that are buried, and promote the
+springing of many new vines, and thus the early matting of the bed which
+is very desirable.</p>
+
+<p>Others take short slips and thrust four or five of them together down
+into the soil as they do slips of currant bushes, thus making a hill of
+as many plants. And yet another method is, to cut up the vines into
+pieces of two or three inches in length, and broad cast them on mellow
+soil, and harrow them in as wheat&mdash;Others bury the short pieces in
+drills. In either case they will soon mat the whole ground, if the land
+be not weedy. The best plan for small beds is probably the middle
+planting.</p>
+
+<p>Distances apart depend upon your design in cultiva<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>ting. If your soil is
+such that so many weeds will grow as to require cultivating with a
+horse, or much hoeing, four feet one way and two the other is the best.
+Better have land so well covered with clean sand, that very few weeds
+will grow and no cultivation be needed. Then set vines one foot apart
+and very soon the whole ground will be perfectly matted and will need
+very little care for years. For two or three years pull out the weeds by
+hand, and the ground will be covered and need nothing more.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;There are three principal ones of the lowland species. The
+bell, the bugle, and the cherry cranberries. These are named from their
+shape. Probably the cherry is the best, being the size, shape, and color
+of the cultivated red cherries. There has recently been discovered an
+upland variety, on the shores of Lake Superior, that bids fair to be as
+hardy and productive as the common currant. On all poor, hard, and even
+very dry uplands, it does remarkably well. It grows extensively in the
+northern part of the British provinces. The fruit is smaller than the
+other varieties but is delicious, beautiful in color, and very abundant.
+It will probably be one of our great and universal luxuries.</p>
+
+<p><i>Healthy and Unhealthy Plants.</i>&mdash;By this cultivators denote those that
+bear well and those that do not. And yet the unhealthy, or those that
+bear the least, are the larger, greener-leaved, and rapid-growing
+varieties. It is difficult to describe them so that an unpractised eye
+would know them from each other. The best way to be sure of getting the
+right kind is to purchase of a man you can trust, or visit the beds when
+the fruit is in perfection and witness where the crop is abundant, mark
+it, and let it remain until you are ready to plant.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> This is always best
+done in the spring, or from May 15th to June 15th.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gathering</i>&mdash;is performed by hand, or with a cranberry-rake.
+Hand-picking is best for the vines, but is more expensive. If a rake be
+used, it will draw out some small runners and retard the growth of young
+vines. But it is such a saving of expense, it had better be used, and
+always drawn the same way. The fruit should be cleared of leaves and
+decayed berries; and if intended for a near market, be packed dry in
+barrels. If to be transported far, put them in small casks, say
+half-barrels, with good water. They may thus be carried around the globe
+in good condition. To keep well they should not be exposed to fall
+frosts, and should not be picked before ripe. A little practice, and at
+first on a small scale, may enable American cultivators of the soil,
+generally, to have good cranberry beds. Much of the practical part of
+this can only be learned by experience. The above suggestions will save
+much loss and discouragement.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies</i>&mdash;are worms that attack the leaves, and another species that
+attack the berries. There are only two remedies proposed, viz., fire and
+water. If you can flood your beds you will destroy them. If not, take a
+time not very dry so as to endanger burning the roots, and burn over
+your cranberry-beds, so as to consume all the vines. Next season new
+vines will grow up free from worms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>CUCUMBERS.</h4>
+
+<p>There are quite a number of varieties. But a few only deserve attention.
+The best, for all uses, is the Early Cluster, a great bearer of firm,
+tender, brittle fruit. Early Frame, Long White, Turkey, and Long Green
+Turkey, are rather beautiful, but not prolific varieties. Long Prickly,
+is very good for pickles, and fills a cask rapidly, but is by no means
+so pleasant as the Early Cluster. The Short Prickly and White Spined are
+considerably used. The West India or small Gherkin is used only for
+pickling, and is considered fine. But we regard all these inferior to
+the Early Cluster.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil</i> should be made very rich with compost and vegetable mould, with a
+liberal application of sand. All vines do better in a sandy soil. Plant
+in the open air only after the weather has become quite warm. An effort
+to get early cucumbers by early out-door planting is usually a failure;
+seeds decay, or having come up, after a long while, they grow slowly,
+and vines and fruit are apt to be imperfect. Six feet apart, each way,
+is the best distance; and after the plants get out of the way of
+insects, and become well established, two vines in each hill is better
+than more: the fruit will be better and more abundant, and they will
+bear much longer than when vines are left to grow very thick. They need
+water in dry weather (see Watering). The first week in July is the best
+time to plant for pickling. In a warm, dry climate, cucumbers do better
+a little shaded, but not too much. Planted among young fruit-trees, or
+in alternate rows with corn,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> they do well. If allowed to run up bushes
+like peas, they produce more and better fruit. Forcing for an early crop
+is often done, by digging a hole in the ground, two feet deep and two
+feet square, and filling with hot manure, stamped down well, and covered
+with six inches of fine mould. Put around a frame and cover with glass,
+at an angle of thirty-five degrees to the sun. Plant one hundred seeds
+on the two feet square; when they come up, put two plants in a pot, set
+in a regular hotbed, and keep well watered and aired until the weather
+be warm enough to transplant in the open air; then remove from the pots
+without breaking the ball of earth, and plant six feet apart. Four
+plants left in the original hill will bear earlier than those that have
+been removed. To get a large quantity of very early ones, plant a
+corresponding number of hills, with the two feet of manure, as above;
+whenever the weather becomes hot, they will need to be well watered, or
+they will dry up. All cucumber-plants forced should have the main runner
+cut off, after the second rough leaf appears; this brings fruit earlier
+and twice as abundant. On transplanting cucumbers, or any other vines,
+cover them wholly from the sun for three days, or, if the weather be
+dry, for a whole week. We once thought melons and cucumbers very
+difficult to transplant successfully; but we ascertained the only
+difficulty to be, the want of sufficient water and shade. When roots and
+soil were so dry that the dirt all fell off, we have transplanted with
+perfect success; but for a week the plants appeared to be ruined. We
+kept them covered and well watered, and they revived and made a great
+crop, much earlier than seeds planted at the same time. Protection of
+plants from insects has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> been a subject of much study and many
+experiments. Ashes and lime, and various decoctions and offensive
+mixtures, have been recommended. We discard them all, as both
+troublesome and ineffectual. Our experience is, most decidedly, in favor
+of fencing each hill, of all vines, to keep off insects. A box a foot
+square and fifteen inches high, the lower edge set in the soil, will
+usually prove effectual. Put over a pane of glass, and it will be more
+sure, and increase the warmth and consequently the growth of the plants.
+Put millinet over the boxes, instead of glass, and not a hill will be
+lost. If a cutworm chances to be fenced in, he will show himself by
+cutting off a plant. Search him out and kill him, and all will be safe.
+Such boxes, well taken care of, will last for ten years. This, then, is
+a cheap as well as effectual method.</p>
+
+<p>Cucumbers are a cooling, healthy article of diet, used in reasonable
+quantities. They should be sliced into cold water, taken out, and put in
+sharp vinegar with pepper and salt. Ripe cucumbers make one of the best
+of pickles: for directions in making, we refer to the cook-books. If you
+have room near your back door for one large hill of cucumbers, you may
+obtain a remarkable growth. Dig down deep enough to set in an old
+barrel, with head and bottom out, leaving the top even with the surface.
+Fill with manure from the stable, well trod down. In fine rich mould,
+around on the outside of the barrel, plant twenty or thirty
+cucumber-seeds. Put a pail of water in the barrel every day. The water
+comes up through the soil to the roots of the plants, bringing with it
+the stimulus of the manure, and the effect is wonderful. A large barrel
+has been filled with pickles from one such hill. If bushes be put up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> to
+support the vines, it is still better. Neglect to pour in water, and
+they will dry up; but continue to water them, and they will bear till
+frost in autumn.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CURRANTS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are among the very best of all the small fruits; immensely
+productive in all locations, and adapted to a great variety of uses, and
+hang long on the bushes after ripening.</p>
+
+<p>There is quite a number of varieties, some of which are probably the
+mere result of cultivation of others well known. The common red is too
+well known to need description&mdash;very acid, and always remarkably
+productive, in all soils and situations. The size and quality of the
+fruit are affected by location and culture. The native currants, as
+found in the north of Europe, are small and inferior; but all excellent
+modern varieties have sprung from them by cultivation. In working these
+important changes, the Dutch and French gardeners have been the chief
+agents: hence our names, Red and White Dutch currants.</p>
+
+<p>The common red and the common white are still cultivated in the great
+majority of American gardens; and yet, they are not worthy to be named
+with the White Dutch and the Red Dutch, which may easily be obtained by
+every cultivator. These two varieties are all that ever need be
+cultivated. Long lists of currants are described in many of the
+fruit-books; the result, as in all such cases, is confusion and loss to
+the mass of growers. We will not even give the list. The com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>mon red and
+the white currants are greatly improved by cultivation. But the Dutch
+have longer bunches, of larger fruit, the lower ones in the stem holding
+their size much better than common currants; the stems are usually full
+and perfect, and the fruit less acid and more pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>A new, strong-growing variety, called the "cherry currant" on account of
+its large size, is now considerably grown. A few bushes for variety, and
+for their beautiful appearance, may be well enough; but it is not a very
+good bearer, and therefore is not so profitable as the Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>The Attractor is a new French variety, said to be valuable. Knight's
+Early Red has the single virtue of ripening a few days earlier than the
+others. The Victoria is perhaps the latest of all currants, hanging on
+the bushes fully two weeks longer than others. The White Grape, the Red
+Grape, and the Transparent, are all good and beautiful. The utilitarian
+will cultivate the Red Dutch and the White Dutch as his main crop, with
+two or three of the others for a variety. The amateur will get all the
+varieties, and amuse himself by comparing their qualities, and trying
+his skill at modifying them. As these efforts have resulted, in past
+time, in the production of our best varieties, so they may, in future,
+in something far better than we yet have. There is no probability that
+any of our fruits have reached the acme of perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The common black, or English black currant has long been cultivated. A
+jam made of it is valuable for sore throat. The highest medical
+authority pronounces black currant wine the best, in many cases of
+sickness, of any wine known. The Black Naples possesses the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> same
+virtues, and being a much larger fruit, and more productive, should take
+the place of the English black, and exclude it from all gardens.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cultivation.</i>&mdash;Currant-bushes should be set four feet apart each way,
+and the whole ground thoroughly mulched; it keeps down all weeds and
+grass, saving all further labor in cultivation, and greatly increases
+the size and quantity of the fruit. On nothing does mulching pay better.
+(See article Mulching.)</p>
+
+<p>Any good garden-soil is suitable for currants. On the north side of a
+wall or building, or in the shade of trees, they will be considerably
+later. The same effect may be produced by covering bushes a part of the
+time with blankets or mats. Some are retarded by this means, so as to be
+in perfection after others are gone: thus, the currant that naturally
+comes to perfection about midsummer is preserved on the bushes until
+October.</p>
+
+<p>Many cultivate currants in the tree form; allowing no sprouts from the
+roots, and no branches within a foot or two of the ground. This object
+is secured by cutting from the slip you are to plant, from which to
+raise a bush, all the lower buds to within two or three of the top, and
+then pinching off at once all shoots that may start out of the stem
+below; this makes beautiful little shrubs, but the top is apt to be
+broken off by the wind, and they must be replaced by new ones every four
+or five years. Downing strongly recommends it, but we can not do so. Let
+bushes grow in the natural way, removing all old, decaying branches, and
+all suckers that rise too far from the parent-bush, and keep the
+clusters of bushes and leaves thin enough to allow the sun free access,
+and prevent continued moist<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>ure in wet weather, which will rot the
+fruit, and you will find it the cheapest and best. We have seen quite as
+large and as fine fruit grow on such bushes, that we knew to be more
+than twenty years old, as we ever saw of the same variety when
+cultivated in the tree form.</p>
+
+
+<h4>DAIRY.</h4>
+
+<p>For cheese, the dairy should contain three rooms: one for setting the
+milk, with suitable boilers, &amp;c.; next, a press-room, in which the
+cheese should be salted, as given under article <i>Cheese</i>; the third, a
+store-room. In all climates a cheese-house should be made as tight as
+possible;&mdash;thick stone walls are best; windows should be on two sides,
+north and west, but not on opposite sides, so as to create a draught:
+this is no better for cheese or butter, and is always dangerous to the
+operator. Let all persons who would enjoy good health avoid a draught of
+air as they would an arrow. If your cheese-house can be shaded on the
+east, south, and west, by trees, and have only a northern exposure, it
+will aid you much in guarding against extremes of heat and cold. Windows
+should be fitted closely, and covered with wire-cloth on the outside, so
+as to exclude all flies.</p>
+
+<p>A dairy for butter needs but two rooms, and a cool, dry cellar, with
+windows in north and west. The first room should be for setting and
+skimming the milk, and the other for churning and working the butter,
+and scalding and cleaning the utensils. If your milk-room can be a
+spring-house with stone-floor, and a little water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> passing over it, you
+will find it a great benefit. The shade, situation of windows, avoiding
+a current, &amp;c., should be the same as in the cheese-dairy.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent the taste of turnips or other food of cows in milk and
+butter, put one quart of hot water into eight quarts of the milk just
+drawn from the cow, and strain it at once. It has been recently
+declared, by intelligent farmers, that if you feed the turnips to cows
+immediately after milking, the next milking, twelve hours after feeding
+the roots, will be free from their taste or odor. The easiest remedy is
+the boiling water.</p>
+
+
+<h4>DECLENSION OF FRUITS.</h4>
+
+<p>That there are instances of decided decline in the quality of fruits is
+certain. But on the causes of those changes pomologists do not agree.
+One theory is, that fruits, like animals and vegetables of former ages,
+may decline and finally become extinct. Should this theory be
+established, the declension would be so gradual that a century would
+make no perceptible change. But we do not credit the theory, even as
+applied to former geological periods in the history of our globe. The
+changes of past ages, as revealed in geology, have been brought about,
+not gradually, but by great convulsions of nature, such as volcanoes, or
+the deluge, that resulted in the destruction of the old order of things,
+and in a new creation.</p>
+
+<p>The true theory of this declension of varieties of fruits, is, that it
+is the result of repeated budding upon unhealthy stocks, and of neglect
+and improper cultiva<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>tion. Apply the specific manures&mdash;that is, those
+particularly demanded by a given fruit&mdash;prune properly, mulch well, and
+bud or graft only on healthy seedling stocks of the same kind, and,
+instead of declension, we may expect our best fruits to improve
+constantly, in quality and quantity.</p>
+
+
+<h4>DILL.</h4>
+
+<p>An herb, native in the south of Europe, and on the Cape of Good Hope. It
+is grown, particularly at the South, as a medicinal herb. The leaves are
+sometimes used for culinary purposes; but it is principally cultivated
+for its sharp aromatic seed, used for flatulence and colic in infants,
+and put into pickled cucumbers to heighten the flavor. The seeds may be
+sown early in the spring, or at the time of ripening. A light soil is
+best. Clear of weeds, and thin in the rows, are the conditions of
+success.</p>
+
+
+<h4>DRAINS.</h4>
+
+<p>Drains are of two kinds&mdash;under-drains and surface-drains. The latter are
+simply open ditches to carry off surface-water, that might otherwise
+stand long enough to destroy the prospective crop. These are frequently
+useful along at the foot of hills, when they should be proportioned to
+the extent of the surface above them. They are also very useful on low,
+level meadow-lands. Properly constructed, they will reclaim low swamps,
+and make them excellent land. Millions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> of acres of land in the United
+States, as good as any we have, are lying useless, and spreading
+pestilence around, that by this simple method of ditching might be
+turned to most profitable account. The direction of these drains should
+be determined by the shape of the land to be drained by them&mdash;straight
+whenever they will answer the purpose, but crooked when they will do
+better. On low and very level land, they should be not more than five
+rods apart; they should be three times as wide at the top as they are at
+the bottom, and as deep as the width at the top; made so slanting, the
+sides will not fall in;&mdash;they should be so shaped as to allow only a
+very gentle flow of the water: if it flows too rapidly, it will wash
+down the sides, and obstruct the ditch, and waste the land. Excavations
+for under-draining are made in the same way, only the top need not be so
+much wider than the bottom; it would be a waste of labor in excavating a
+useless quantity of earth. There are four methods of filling up the
+ditch, viz., with brush; with small stones thrown in promiscuously; with
+a throat laid in the bottom and filled with small stones; and with a
+throat made of tile from the pottery. In all cases, that with which the
+ditch is filled must not come so near the surface as to be reached by
+the plow. Brush, put in green and covered with straw or leaves, will
+answer a good purpose for several years, and may be used where small
+stones can not easily be obtained. The tile is more expensive than
+either of the others, and not so good as the stones; it is so tight that
+the water does not enter it so readily; and if by any chance dirt gets
+into the throat, it obstructs it, and there is no other channel through
+which the water can pass off. Small stones thrown in promis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>cuously
+serve a good purpose for a long time, if they be covered with straw or
+cornstalks before the earth is put in. But the best method is to make a
+throat, six inches square, in the bottom of the drain, laying the large
+stones over the top of it, and filling in the small stones above, and
+covering with straw;&mdash;the water will find its way into the throat
+through the numerous openings; and if the throat should ever be filled,
+the water could still pass off between the small stones above. Such
+drains will last many years, and add one half to the products of all wet
+springy land. The earth over the new drain should be six inches higher
+than the surface of the field, that, when well settled, it may be level.
+Leave no places open for surface-water to run in; that would soon fill
+up and ruin a drain. Drains made to carry off spring-water are often
+useless by being in a wrong location. Springs come out near the foot of
+rising ground. Just where they come out should be the location of the
+drain, which would then carry off the water and prevent it from
+saturating and chilling the soil in the field below. Many persons locate
+their ditch down in the centre of the wet level below the rise of
+ground; this is of no use to the surface above, to the point where the
+water springs. Locate the drain just at the point where the land begins
+to be unduly wet. On very wet, level land, a small drain may also be
+needed below the first and main one. The cost of a covered drain as
+described above will be from fifty to seventy-five cents per rod, and an
+uncovered one will cost from twenty to thirty cents. When you have low
+swamps to drain, you can realize more than the cost of draining, by
+carting the excavations upon other land, or into the barnyard as
+material for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> compost. Perhaps no expenditure, on land needing it, pays
+so well as thorough draining. It is important, for all fruit-orchards on
+low land, to put a drain through under each row of trees: it is
+indispensable to cherries, and highly favorable to all other fruits.</p>
+
+
+<h4>DUCKS.</h4>
+
+<p>There are a number of varieties, the wild Black Spanish, the
+Canvass-Back, and the ordinary little duck of the farmyard, are all
+good. The common duck is the only one we recommend for the American
+poultry-yard. A close pasture, including a rivulet, or a small stream of
+water, affords facilities for raising ducks at a cheap rate. From one
+hundred to one thousand ducks may be raised in such an enclosure of an
+acre or two, quite profitably. If there is plenty of grass, they will
+still need a little grain. In the winter the cheapest feed is beets or
+potatoes cut fine, with a very little grain. Each duck, well kept, will
+lay from fifty to one hundred eggs, larger than hen's eggs, and about as
+good for cooking purposes. They may be picked as geese, for live
+feathers, though not quite so frequently. The feathers will nearly pay
+for keeping, leaving the eggs and increase as profit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>DWARFING.</h4>
+
+<p>This has some advantages in its application to fruit-trees. It will
+enable the cultivator to raise more fruit on a small plat of ground, to
+get fruit much earlier than from standard trees, and sometimes, with
+high cultivation, the fruit will be larger. Dwarfing is done by grafting
+into small slow-growing stocks. Almost all fruits have such kinds.
+Grafting into other stocks, as the pear into the foreign quince, is a
+very effectual method. The Paradise stock for the apple, the Canada and
+other slow-growing stocks for the plum, the dwarf wild cherry of Europe
+and the Mahaleb for cherries. Dwarfs produced by grafting upon other
+stocks are short-lived, compared with standards of the same varieties.
+They should only be used to economize room, to test varieties, and
+produce fruit while standards are coming into bearing.</p>
+
+<p>Better and much longer-lived dwarfs may be produced by frequent
+transplanting, thorough trimming of the roots, and repeated heading-in.
+The fruit on such dwarfs must be well thinned out when young, or it will
+be smaller than is natural. The effect of heading in is to cause the sap
+to mature an abundance of fruit-buds. This will tax the tree too much,
+unless they be well thinned out. Root-pruning is an effectual method of
+dwarfing (see Pruning). Dwarfing by root-pruning, repeated
+transplanting, and thorough heading-in, will not render the trees very
+short-lived, and in many situations it is profitable. The same is true
+of the dwarf pear on the quince. All other dwarfing is more for the
+amateur than the utilitarian.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>EARLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES</h4>
+
+<p>Are often considered a great luxury, and always command a high price.
+Early vegetables are secured by hotbeds and the various methods of
+forcing, as given under the different species. Early fruits are obtained
+by dwarfing, as given on that subject. Location, soil, and mode of
+cultivation, also, have much to do with it. Warm location,
+finely-pulverized soil, often stirred and kept moist, will materially
+shorten the time of the maturity of fruits and vegetables. Seeds
+imported from the North, where seasons are shorter, will mature earlier.
+Another means of hastening maturity is to plant successively, from year
+to year, the very first that ripens; this tends to dwarf in proportion
+as the time of maturity is hastened. In this way such dwarfs as the
+little Canada corn, that will mature at the South in six weeks, have
+been produced. Various early plants, as tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, and
+egg-plants, may be started in boxes or flower-pots in the house. Planted
+in February here, or in January in the South, they will grow as well as
+house-plants, and acquire considerable size before it is time to place
+them in the open ground. This is convenient for those who have no
+hotbeds. They must be kept from frost, and occasionally set out in a
+warm day to harden, and they will do well.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>EGG PLANT.</h4>
+
+<p>The white is merely ornamental. The large purple is one of the greatest
+luxuries of the vegetable garden. Plant seeds in hotbed at the time of
+planting tomatoes or peppers. Set out in land made very rich with
+stable-manure and decayed forest-leaves, two feet and a half apart each
+way. Kept clean, and earthed up a little, and the bugs kept off while
+the plants are small, they will produce an abundance of fruit. There are
+two varieties of the purple&mdash;<i>large prickly-stem purple</i>, growing
+sometimes eight inches in diameter; and the <i>long purple</i>, bearing
+smaller, long fruit, but a large quantity, and considerably earlier than
+the large. Many do not like them at first; but after tasting a few
+times, almost all persons become very fond of them. If not properly
+cooked, they are not at all palatable. Although it belongs to the
+cook-book, yet, to save this excellent plant from condemnation, we give
+a recipe for cooking it. It is fit for use from one third grown, until
+the seeds begin to turn. Without paring, cut the fruit into slices one
+third of an inch thick; put it in a little water with plenty of salt,
+and let it stand over night, or six hours at least; take it out, and fry
+very soft and brown in butter or fresh lard&mdash;if not fried soft and
+brown, it is disagreeable. Salt, ashes, and bonedust, or superphosphate
+of lime, are the best manures, as more than two thirds of the fruit is
+made up of potash, soda, and phosphates, as shown by chemical analysis.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>EGGS.</h4>
+
+<p>Of the quality of eggs you can always judge correctly by looking at them
+toward the light: if they are translucent they are good; if they look
+dark they are old&mdash;or you may get a chicken, when you only paid for an
+egg.</p>
+
+<p>Many methods for preserving eggs are recommended. Packed away in fine
+salt they will keep, but, like salt meat, have not the same flavor as
+fresh. Set them on their small ends in a tight cask, and fill it with
+pure lime-water, and they will keep, but it changes their flavor. This,
+however, is a very common method. The best way known to us, is to pack
+fresh eggs down in Indian meal, allowing no two to touch each other.
+Keep very dry in a cool cellar, and they will remain for months
+unchanged.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ELDERBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a healthy berry, dried and used for making pies, especially
+mixed with some other fruit. The blossoms are much used as medicine for
+small children. The common sweet elder is the only kind cultivated. The
+earlier red are offensive and poisonous. They are easily grown on rough
+waste land, or in any situation you prefer. Of this berry is made a
+wine, superior in flavor and effect to any port wine now to be obtained
+in market; it has had the preference among the best judges in the
+country;&mdash;it is fast coming into notice and cultivation. The wine is so
+entirely superior to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> the poisonous substances of that name in commerce,
+that it would be well for every neighborhood to make enough for their
+sick. The process is sure and easily intelligible to all. (See article
+Wine.)</p>
+
+
+<h4>ENDIVE.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a well-known winter-lettuce. Sow from July to September,
+according to latitude. It should come into maturity at the time of the
+first smart frosts. To get beautiful, white, tender bunches, they should
+be tied up when the leaves are about six inches long. When frost comes,
+protect by covering. In very cold climates, place it in the cellar, with
+the roots in moist earth, and it will keep for a long time. It will not
+be extensively used in this country for soups and stews, as it is in
+Europe; and but few of the American people care much about
+winter-lettuce. This is the best variety of lettuce, except for those
+who have hot-houses and attend to winter-gardening. They will prefer the
+other finer varieties. There are two varieties of endive cultivated in
+this country: <i>green curled</i>, which is the most common, and used
+principally as a salad; the <i>broad-leaved</i>, or Batavian, has thicker
+leaves and large heads, and is principally used in stews and soups.
+Still another variety, called <i>succory</i>, which is used to some extent in
+Europe as a winter-salad, but is cultivated mainly for the root. It is
+dried and ground to mix with coffee: some consider it quite as good.
+This is more cultivated at the South than at the North&mdash;their winters
+are much better adapted to it. The me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>dicinal virtues of this plant are
+nearly equal to those of the dandelion. When it is bleached, by tying or
+earthing up, the bitterness is removed, and the taste is pleasant; this
+must be done when the plants are dry, or they will rot. Plant them in a
+sunny place and in a light soil.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FEEDING ANIMALS.</h4>
+
+<p>Feed as nearly as possible at the same hours. All creatures do much
+better for being so fed. Do not feed domestic animals too much: animals
+will be more healthy, grow faster, and fatten better, by being fed
+almost, but not quite as much as they will eat. Giving food to lie by
+them is poor economy; always let them eat it all up, and desire a little
+more;&mdash;at the same time, let it be remembered that creatures kept very
+poorly for a considerable time, especially while young, will never fully
+recover from it. This is often done under the idea of keeping them
+cheap, but it is dear keeping. They never can make as fine animals
+afterward.</p>
+
+<p>All grains and vegetables, except beets and turnips, are better for
+being boiled or steamed. The increased value is much more than the cost
+of cooking, provided persons are not so careless as to allow food to be
+injured by standing after cooking. Cooking is supposed to add one fourth
+to the value of food. Grinding dry grains adds nearly as much to their
+value, as feed for animals, as cooking. If you neither grind nor boil
+hard grain for feed, it will pay well to soak it somewhat soft before
+feeding. Variety of food is as pleasant and healthy for animals as for
+men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>FENCES.</h4>
+
+<p>These are matters of great importance to the farmers of the whole
+country, but especially to those on the prairies of the west.</p>
+
+<p>In all localities where stone can be obtained from the fields or quarry,
+the best and cheapest fence is a stone wall. If the stones are flat,
+make the wall two feet thick at bottom, and one at top, five feet high.
+If the stones are very irregular the wall should be thicker. Stone walls
+should have transverse rows of shingles, boards, or split sticks, about
+half an inch thick, laid in the wall at suitable distances. If stones
+are quite flat three rows are desirable, one two, the next three, and
+the other four feet from the ground. If the wall is made of rough stones
+it will require one more course of sticks, leaving them only a foot
+apart. The sticks should be of such lengths as to come out just even
+with the wall, on each side. The lower courses will be longer than the
+upper ones. These sticks are to keep the wall from falling down. Dig a
+ditch one foot deep, two feet from the wall, and throw the earth
+excavated up against the wall, and the water will run off and prevent
+heaving by frost, and such a wall will need the merest trifle of
+attention during a generation, and will last for centuries. A cord of
+stones will make one rod. We can not too strongly recommend this kind of
+fence, in all places where stones can be obtained reasonably. The pieces
+of wood laid in a wall, will keep well for thirty years, when they will
+need replacing. Next to stone is a good board fence. Well made and of
+good materials, it is durable and always in its place. Hence it is a
+cheap fence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of the various styles of picket, and other fancy fences for front yards,
+&amp;c., it is more the province of the architect or the mechanic to treat.
+Styles vary and are constantly increasing in number. The great point to
+be secured in all such, to render them most durable, is to have the
+smallest possible points of contact. A picket fence with horizontal base
+should never have the pickets standing on the base board. They should be
+separated, from one quarter to one half an inch. A good style for
+villages, is a cap, water tight, and wide enough to cover the ends of
+the posts and pickets with a neat little cornice. It looks well and is
+very durable.</p>
+
+<p>In all localities where timber is not too valuable, a cheap and
+substantial fence is made of split rails. The crooked rail-fence, with
+stakes and riders, is well known. Also that with upright stakes and
+caps, which is decidedly preferable. It will stand much longer, and the
+stakes are out of the way. No farmer should ever risk his crop with a
+rail-fence without stakes. But the best of all rail-fences, is that made
+of posts and rails. The rails are put in as bars, but so firmly that the
+fence can not be taken down, without commencing at the end. Where cedar
+or locust posts, and oak or cedar rails can be obtained, a fence may be
+made that will not get out of repair for twenty-five years. No creature
+can tear it down, for human hands can not take it down without tools, or
+without commencing at the end. This is considered expensive. But as the
+farmer may prepare his posts and rails in winter, and it will require no
+attention to keep it up, and is very durable and perfectly effectual
+against cattle, it is an economical fence. For hedges, see that
+article.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>FENNEL.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy perennial plant of Southern Europe, and belongs to both
+the culinary and the medicinal departments. It grows well on almost any
+soil, and is propagated by seeds, offshoots, or by parting the roots. It
+is much inclined to spread. A few roots, kept within reasonable bounds,
+are enough for a family. It is much used in Europe for soups, salads,
+and garnishes. The Italians treat it as celery. In this country it is
+mostly used medicinally. It is stimulant and carminative. Very
+beneficial to children in cases of flatulency and colic.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FIGS.</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 226px;">
+<img src="images/ill-185.jpg" width="226" height="350" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This fruit is native in the warmer parts of Asia: hence, the cold
+winters of the Middle, Northern, and Western states, and of Canada,
+would destroy the trees in the open air without protection. But as the
+trees are low-growing shrubs, they may easily be protected either in
+cellars, greenhouses, or the open air, and uncovered or planted out in
+the beginning of warm weather. Frequent removals and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> transplantings
+injure the fig less than any other fruit, and our summers are long
+enough to produce large crops of excellent figs. In New England they are
+raised in tubs, set out of the cellar in spring, and produce largely.
+South of Virginia, the fig is hardy, and may be cultivated with profit
+in the open air. The best method of raising all kinds of fruit, in
+climates where the winters are too cold for them, is to build a wall
+twelve feet high on one side, and six feet on the other, with the ends
+closed, and cover it with glass facing the south. This should only be
+kept warm enough to prevent freezing, which would require only a small
+outlay. Men of moderate means might thus have oranges, lemons, figs,
+&amp;c., of their own raising. In all except our coldest latitudes, such
+fruits might be raised at a profit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;The best is a deep, rich loam, with a dry subsoil.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i> is by layers and cuttings. The latter should be taken off
+in the spring, be of last year's growth, with half an inch of the
+previous year's growth: they take root better.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are numerous, and names uncertain. White, in his Gardening
+for the South, says, some of the best varieties are not in the books, or
+so imperfectly described that they can not be recognised. This is true
+of all the fruits, and hence our decision, in this work, not to attempt
+to describe fruits with a view to their identification. As this fruit is
+more for the South than the North, we give the whole of White's list, as
+being adapted to those regions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1, Brunswick; 2, Brown Turkey; 3, Brown Ischia; 4, Small Brown Ischia;
+5, Black Genoa; 6, Celestial; 7, Common Blue; 8, Round White, Common
+White,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> Lemon Fig; 9, White Genoa, White Italian; 10, Nerii; 11,
+Pregussatta; 12, Allicant; 13, Black Ischia; 14, White Ischia. These,
+with a few others, are those described in most of our fruit-books. The
+catalogue of the London Horticultural Society enumerates forty-two
+varieties. Only a few of them have been introduced into this country.
+Any of these varieties are good at the South. The five following are the
+most hardy, and, being in all respects good, are all we need in our more
+northern latitudes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Brunswick.</i>&mdash;Very hardy, productive, and excellent.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Brown Turkey.</i>&mdash;The very hardiest, and one of the most regular and
+abundant bearers.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Black Ischia.</i>&mdash;Bears an abundance of medium-sized, excellent fruit,
+very dark-colored.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Nerii.</i>&mdash;Said to be the richest fig in Britain: from an acid mixture
+in its flavor, it is exceedingly delicious.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Celestial.</i>&mdash;This may be the "Malta" of Downing. Under whatever
+name, though small, it is one of the very best figs grown in this
+country.</p>
+
+<p>For forcing under glass, the best are the Allicant and Marseilles. With
+care, the first three of the above list may be raised in the Middle
+states, without removal in winter. Any variety may be protected by
+bending and tying down the branches, and covering with four inches of
+soil. Below Philadelphia, a little straw will be a sufficient
+protection.</p>
+
+<p>Dried figs are an important article of import into this country; yet
+they might be raised as plentifully and profitably in the Southern
+states. Prune only to keep the tree low and regular. The fig-tree is a
+great and regular bearer, only when the wood makes too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> strong a growth,
+as it is somewhat apt to do. The remedy is <i>root-pruning</i>. Cut off, on
+the first of November, the roots to half the length of the branches from
+the tree, and occasionally shorten the branches a little, and the fruit
+will be abundant, and not fall off. The ripening of the fruit may be
+hastened and perfected by putting a drop of oil in the blossom-end of
+each fig. This is done by dipping the end of a straw in oil, and then
+putting it into the end of the fruit. This is extensively practised in
+France. Compost, containing a pretty liberal proportion of lime, is the
+best manure for the fig.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FISH.</h4>
+
+<p>The cultivation of fish is attracting much attention in this country and
+in Europe. The study and experiments of scientific and practical men
+have established important facts upon this subject. Fish may be
+successfully cultivated wherever water can be conveniently obtained. The
+creeks, ponds, and small rivers of our land may be well stocked with
+fish. Fish may be raised as a source of profit and luxury, with as much
+ease and certainty, and at a much less expense than fowls. This is so
+important to the whole people, that it demands the earnest attention of
+our state authorities, as it has engaged that of the government of
+France. The species of fish best adapted to artificial culture, in
+particular climates and in different kinds of water, have been
+ascertained. A man may know what fish to put in his waters, as well as
+what crops to put on his land, or what stocks on his farm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The following brief synopsis of the best methods of cultivation will be
+sufficient to insure success. The first requisite is suitable water for
+hatching eggs that have been artificially fecundated, and for the
+occupancy of fish of different ages, and for different species of fish.
+Fish of different ages are much inclined to destroy each other for food;
+and hence, in order to multiply them most rapidly, they should be kept
+in separate ponds until considerably grown, when they will take care of
+themselves. A spring sending forth a rivulet of clear water, and not
+subject to overflow in freshets, is the best location. Clear, cool water
+is essential to the trout, while some other fish will do well in warm
+and even roily water. The rivulet running from the spring should be made
+to form a succession of ponds, three or four in number. These ponds
+should be connected with flumes made of plank. If the space they must
+occupy be small, make the flumes zigzag, to increase their length. Put
+across those flumes, once in four or five feet, a piece of plank half as
+high as the sides of the flume, with a notch cut in the centre of the
+top, that the fish may easily pass over: this will afford a succession
+of little falls, in which the trout very much delights. These different
+ponds are for the occupancy of fish of different ages, one age only
+inhabiting one pond. The flumes should have four inches of fine and
+coarse gravel in the bottom, making the most perfect spawning-ground.
+Although you would not wish the female-trout to deposite her eggs in the
+natural way, but will extrude them by the hand (as hereinafter
+directed), yet they must have these natural conveniences, or they will
+not incline to spawn at all. At the upper end of each of these flumes
+separating the ponds, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> should be a gate of wire-cloth, to prevent
+the passage of the fish from one pond to the other; also one at the
+outlet of the lower pond, to prevent egress of the fish. These must all
+be so arranged that freshets will not connect them all together. When
+trout are about to spawn in their natural waters, they select a gravelly
+margin, and remove, from a circle of about one foot or two feet in
+diameter, all the sediment, leaving only clean gravel, among which they
+deposite their eggs, where they are hatched. They want running water of
+three or four inches in depth for this purpose. A male and female occupy
+each nest. If left to themselves, they will gradually increase; but so
+many of their eggs fail of being fecundated, and so many are destroyed
+before they hatch, by enemies, and by the collection of sediment in the
+nest, that the number of young fish is small compared with the whole
+number of eggs deposited. Artificial spawning, fecundation, and
+hatching, are far more productive. The process is simple and easy: when
+the female-fish first begins to deposite her eggs, catch her with a
+small net. It can not be done with bait, for fish will bite nothing at
+the time of spawning. We recollect, often when a boy, of trying to catch
+trout out of the brooks in October, where we could see large, beautiful
+fish, lying lazily in the places from which we had caught many in the
+summer, and put our bait carefully on every side of them, and they would
+not bite. Then we knew not the cause: since studying the habits of fish,
+we have learned that they never will bite while spawning; with trout,
+this is done from the 1st to the 15th of October, some few spawning till
+the last of November. Having caught two fish, male and female, take the
+female in one hand, and press her abdomen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> gently with the other hand,
+gradually moving it downward, and the eggs will be easily extruded, and
+should fall into an earthen vessel of pure water. Then take the
+male-fish, and go through the same process, which will press out the
+spermatic fluid, which should be allowed to fall into the same vessel
+with the eggs; stir up the whole together, and, after it has stood
+fifteen minutes, pour off the water, put in more and stir it up, and let
+it stand as before. This having been done three times, the eggs will be
+thoroughly fecundated, and are ready to be deposited in the nests for
+hatching. If the fish are caught before the time of beginning to spawn,
+the eggs and the spermatic fluid will not be mature, and will be only
+extruded by hard pressing, and failing to be fecundated, the eggs will
+perish. The fluid from one male will fecundate the eggs of half a dozen
+females. These eggs may be hatched in the flumes described above, though
+hatching-boxes are preferable. The old fish can be returned to the
+water, and may live many years and produce thousands of fish. These
+fish, carefully treated and fed, will become so tame as to eat out of
+your hand, like the "Naiad Queen" of Professors Ackley and Garlick, of
+Cleveland, Ohio. Among all the hatching apparatus we have seen
+described, we regard that of the above professors at Cleveland the best.
+To these gentlemen the country is much indebted for the knowledge
+derived from their zeal and success in fish culture. At the head of a
+spring they built a house eight by twelve feet; in the end of the house
+toward the spring they made a tank four feet wide, eight feet long, and
+two feet deep; this was made of plank. Water enters the tank through a
+hole near the top, and escapes through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> a similar one at the other end,
+and is received into a series of ten successive boxes, each one a little
+lower than the preceding one. These boxes were eighteen inches long,
+eight inches wide, and six inches deep. These were filled to the depth
+of two inches with clean sand and gravel. The impregnated eggs were
+scattered among the gravel, care being exercised not to have them in
+piles or masses. Clean water is necessary, as the sediment deposited by
+impure water is very destructive to the eggs. If it be seen to be
+collecting, it should be removed by agitating the water with a
+goose-quill or soft brush, and allowing it to run off; continue this
+till it runs clear. But there is a method of preventing impurities in
+spring-water, that will be always effectual: just around on the upper
+side of the spring make a tight fence two feet high, and it will turn
+aside, and cause to run around the spring, all the water that may flow
+down the rise above in time of rains. The house being near the head,
+there will not water enough get into the spring, in any storm, to roil
+the water. On the side of the boxes where the water escapes should be
+wire-cloth, so fine as not to allow the eggs to pass through. Such an
+apparatus will be perfect. This great care is only necessary for trout.
+All other fish worthy of cultivation, will only need spawning-beds on
+the margin of their pond. A convenient hatching apparatus is a number of
+wicker-baskets, fine enough not to allow the eggs to pass through, set
+in a flume of clear running water.</p>
+
+<p>The method of Gehen and Remy, the great fish-cultivators of France,
+whose efforts and discoveries have contributed more to this science than
+those of any, if not of all other men, was to place the eggs in
+zinc-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>boxes of about one foot in diameter, having a lid over them&mdash;the
+top and sides of the boxes pierced with small holes, smooth on the
+inside; these boxes were partly filled with clean sand and gravel, and
+set in clear running water. M. Costa's method, at the college of France,
+is to arrange boxes in the form of steps, the top one being supplied
+with water by a fountain, and that passing from one to the other through
+all the series, and the eggs placed on willow-hurdles instead of gravel.</p>
+
+<p>Another very simple method may be arranged in the house. It is a
+reservoir&mdash;a barrel or cask&mdash;set perhaps two and a half feet from the
+floor, and a little hatching trough a few inches lower, into which water
+gradually runs through a faucet, from the reservoir. This water running
+through the hatching-box, escapes into a tub a little below. Whatever
+plan be adopted, great care is necessary in preventing sediment from
+depositing. Cleanliness is a principal condition of success. The eggs of
+the trout thus fecundated and deposited in October or November will
+hatch in the spring. Young trout need no feeding for a month after
+leaving the egg. There is a small bladder or vesicle under the fore part
+of the body, when they first come out, from which they derive their
+sustenance. After this disappears, or at the end of about a month, they
+should be fed, in very small quantities. Too much will leave a portion
+to decay on the bottom and injure the water. The best possible food
+(except the angle-worm) is lean flesh of animals, boiled and hashed fine
+for the young fish. The flesh of other kinds of fish, when they are
+plenty and not very valuable, would be very good. These young fish
+should be kept in the first pond until a year old.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Then let them into
+the second pond, closing the gate after them, to make room for another
+brood in the first pond. The next year let them into the third, and
+those into the second that are now in the first, and so on till the
+fourth. In the last pond, those of different ages will all be large
+enough to take care of themselves. But sometimes a trout two years old
+is said to swallow one a year old. But when they get to be three or four
+years old, this sort of cannibalism ceases. These principles can be
+carried out in small streams, by constructing gates to keep sections
+separate, and by forming banks and waste ways for water, with wire gates
+so high, that the water will not overflow in freshets, and carry the
+fish away. In taking trout use angle-worms or the fly. A fine
+light-colored small line is best. They are very shy. The following is a
+list of other fish, beside the trout, that are well worthy of
+cultivation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Black Bass.</i>&mdash;When full grown, this fish is from twelve to eighteen
+inches in length. One of the better fish for the table, and profitable
+to raise in a pond covering not less than half an acre. Chub, being a
+very prolific little fish, may be kept in the same pond as food for the
+black bass and other large fish. They are very fond of them. Minnows are
+the best bait for these fish, though they will bite a trolling hook of
+any ordinary kind. You may raise them as given for the trout above, or
+allow them to deposite their eggs in spawn beds of their own selection
+in their pond. They will do well in water less pure than is demanded for
+the trout.</p>
+
+<p><i>White Bass.</i>&mdash;Not so large as the black bass. Seldom weighs more than
+two pounds. One of the best for food. Thrives well in small ponds.
+Requires the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> treatment as the preceding. Spawns in May and hatches
+soon. Easily caught, as he is a great biter, at almost any bait.</p>
+
+<p><i>Grass Bass or Roach.</i>&mdash;One of the most beautiful of the bass kind, and
+as a panfish highly esteemed. It prefers sluggish water, and hence is
+well adapted to small artificial ponds. Spawns in May. May be treated as
+the preceding. Bites the angle-worm well, and several other kinds of
+bait.</p>
+
+<p><i>Rock Bass.</i>&mdash;A small fish seldom reaching a pound in weight, but is
+fine and very easily raised in small ponds of any kind of water. Spawns
+in May and may be treated in all respects as the rest of the bass
+family, only it will flourish well in quite small ponds.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pickerel.</i>&mdash;Is one of the best of fish, weighs from three to fifteen
+pounds. Suitable only for large ponds. Spawns early in the spring in the
+marshy edges of sluggish water. The eggs may be procured and treated as
+the trout, only cold running water is not necessary. Best caught by
+trolling. It is not a good fish to raise with others, as it is apt to
+eat them up.</p>
+
+<p><i>Yellow Perch.</i>&mdash;Is everywhere well known as a beautiful little
+fresh-water fish, and good for the table, at all seasons when the water
+is cool. Perfectly hardy and adapted to sluggish waters, it is one of
+the best for artificial ponds. Treat like all the preceding; or allowed
+to take its own course in the pond, it will increase rapidly.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sun-Fish.</i>&mdash;Rarely weighs more than half a pound, but is a good
+pan-fish. This and the grass bass and yellow perch may be put together
+in the same pond.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eels.</i>&mdash;May be cultivated with great success in almost any water. But
+we are so prejudiced against them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> never consenting to taste one, that
+we can not speak in their favor. Of the methods of introducing fish into
+our rivers and creeks, from which they have nearly all been taken by the
+fishermen, it is not our design to treat. That subject may be found
+fully presented in treatises on fish culture, and should command the
+immediate attention of the authorities in all the states.</p>
+
+<p>We have here given all that is necessary to success among the masses all
+over the land. There is hardly a township in the United States or
+British provinces, where good fish-ponds might not be constructed so as
+to be a source of profit and luxury to the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Fish are so certainly and easily raised, that the practice of
+cultivating them should be universally adopted.</p>
+
+<p>Transporting fish alive is somewhat hazardous, especially if they be of
+considerable size. The difficulty is greatly lessened by keeping ice in
+the water with the fish. Change water twice a day and keep ice in it,
+and you may safely transport fish around the globe. Eggs of fish are
+best transported in boxes six inches square, filled with alternate
+layers of sand and eggs scattered over. When full, make quite wet, and
+fasten on the cover. Other methods are adopted which will be easily
+learned of those engaged in the trade.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FLAX.</h4>
+
+<p>Change the seed every season. This will greatly increase the quantity,
+and improve the quality. In nothing else is it more important. In
+Ireland, the great flax-growing country of the world, they always sow
+foreign<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> seed when it can be procured. American seed is preferred, and
+brings the highest price. Experiments with different seeds, on varieties
+of soils, are much needed. Changing from all the soils and latitudes of
+our country would be useful. The general rule, however, as with all
+seeds, is to change from colder to warmer regions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soils.</i>&mdash;The best are strong alluvial soils. Any soil good for a garden
+is good for flax. As much clay as will allow soil soon to become dry and
+easily to be made mellow, is desirable; black loam, with hard, poor
+clay-subsoil, is also good. Mellow, friable soils are not more important
+to any other crop than to flax. Land must not be worked when too wet.
+The land should be rich from a previous year's manuring. Salt, lime,
+ashes, and plaster, are good applications to flax after it has come up.
+On light soil with bad tillage, when the flax was so poor that the
+cultivator was about to plow it up, the application of three bushels of
+plaster, in the morning when the dew was on, produced a larger yield of
+better flax from an acre than adjoining growers got from two acres of
+their best land.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FLOWERS.</h4>
+
+<p>Floriculture is an employment appropriate to all classes, ages, and
+conditions. No yard connected with a dwelling is complete without a
+flower-bed. The cultivation of flowers is eminently promotive of health,
+refinement of manners, and good taste. Constant familiarity with the
+most exquisite beauties of nature must refine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> the feelings and produce
+gentleness of spirit. Association with flowers should be a part of every
+child's education. Their cultivation is suitable for children and young
+ladies in all the walks of life.</p>
+
+<p>House-plants, and bouquets in sick-rooms, are injurious; their influence
+on the atmosphere of the rooms is unhealthy. But the cultivation of
+flowers in the garden or yard is in every way beneficial. We earnestly
+recommend increased attention to flowers by the whole American people.
+The necessary limits of our article will allow us to do but little more
+than to call attention to the subject. Those who become interested will
+seek information from some of the numerous works devoted exclusively to
+ornamental flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Flowers should be planted on rather level land, that the rains may not
+wash off the seeds and fine mould. Choose a southern or eastern exposure
+whenever practicable. Avoid, as much as possible, planting in the shade.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil</i>&mdash;Should be a deep, rich mould, neither too wet nor too dry, and
+should be enriched with a little compost, every year.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sowing the Seeds</i> is a most important matter in cultivating flowers.
+Many fail to come up, solely on account of improper planting. The seeds
+of most flowers are very fine and delicate. Planted in coarse earth,
+they will not vegetate; planted near the surface in a dry time, they
+usually perish. It is best to cover all small flower-seeds, by sifting
+fine mould upon them; and if the weather does not do it, use artificial
+means to keep the soil suitably moist until the seeds are fairly up.
+Stir the soil gently often, and keep out all weeds. It is always best to
+plant the seeds in rows or hills, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> small stakes to indicate their
+location; you can then stir the ground freely without destroying them.
+Flowers usually need more watering than most other plants. The usual
+application of water to the leaves by using a sprinkler is injurious; it
+may be better than no watering at all, but is the worst way to apply
+water. Make a basin in the soil near the plants, and fill it with water.
+The selection of suitable varieties for a small flower-garden is quite
+important. We shall only mention a brief list. Those who would make this
+more of a study, are recommended to study "<i>Breck's Book of Flowers</i>,"
+which is quite as complete for American cultivators as anything we have.
+The principal divisions are, bulbous flowering roots, flowering shrubs,
+and flowering herbs&mdash;annual, biennial, and perennial&mdash;the first
+blossoming and dying the year they are sown; the second blossoming and
+dying the second year, without having blossomed the first; the last
+blossoming, and the top dying down and coming up the next spring, for a
+series of years.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bulbous Flowering Roots.</i>&mdash;These need considerable sand in their soil.
+They should be taken up after the foliage is all dead, and if they are
+hardy, put the soil in good condition, and dry the bulbs and reset them,
+and let them remain through the winter. They may need slight protection,
+by spreading coarse straw, manure, or forest-leaves over them late in
+the fall; but all the more tender bulbs do better kept in sand until
+early spring. The best list with which we are acquainted, for a small
+garden, is the following: the well-known lilies, the tulips, gladiolas,
+hyacinths, Feraria tigrida, crocus, narcissus, and jonquils.</p>
+
+<p><i>Flowering Shrubs.</i>&mdash;The following is a select small<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> list: Roses, as
+large a variety as you please, out of the hundreds known; flowering
+almond, Indigo shrub, wahoo or fire-shrub, the mountain-ash, althea,
+snowball, lilac, fringe-tree, snow-drop, double-flowering peach,
+Siberian crab, the smoke-tree, or French tree, or Venitian sumach,
+honeysuckle, double-flowering cherry.</p>
+
+<p>The list of beautiful herbaceous flowers is very lengthy. We give only a
+few of those most easily raised, and most showy; the list is designed
+only to aid the inquiries of those who are unacquainted with them:
+superb amaranth, tri-colored amaranth, China and German astors&mdash;the
+latter are very beautiful&mdash;Canterbury bell, carnation pinks (great
+variety), chrysanthemum (many varieties and splendid until very late in
+autumn), morning glory or convolvulus, japonicas, Cupid's car, dahlias,
+dwarf bush, morning bride or fading beauty, fox-glove, golden coreopsis
+(we have raised a variety that proved biennial, which was superb all the
+season), ice-plant, larkspur, passion-flower, peony, sweet pea, pinks,
+sweet-williams, annual China pink, polyanthus (a great beauty), hyacinth
+bean, scarlet-runner bean, poppy, portalucca, nasturtium, marigolds
+(especially the large double French, and the velvet variegated),
+martineau, cypress vine.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FOWLS.</h4>
+
+<p>We are glad to believe that <i>the hen mania</i>, that has prevailed so
+extensively during the last fifteen or twenty years, has considerably
+abated. After all the extravagant notions about the profits of hens
+shall have passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> away, the truth will be seen to be about the
+following: Every farmer who has considerable waste grain about, and
+plenty more to supply the deficiency when the fowls shall have gathered
+up all the scatterings, had better keep a hundred hens. If he has sand
+and gravel, and wheat-bran and lime for shells, within their reach, and
+plenty of fresh water, they will do well, without much further care, in
+mild weather. In cold weather in winter, keep not more than forty hens
+together, in a tight, warm place, well ventilated; give them their usual
+food, with burnt bones pounded fine and mixed with mush, given warm,
+with occasionally a little animal food and boiled vegetables, and they
+will lay more than in summer. They will lay all winter without being
+inclined to set. Every family, who will treat them as above, may
+profitably keep one or two dozen through the winter. Most persons who
+undertake, with a few acres of land, to keep fowls as a business, will
+lose by it. A few only of the most experienced and careful can make
+money by it. It may be cheapest for some persons to raise a few chickens
+for their own use, although they cost them more than the market-price,
+though it would not be best to raise chickens in that way to sell. "But
+some one raised the chickens in market for the market-price, and why not
+I?" Because, they raised a few that got fat on waste grain, and you must
+buy grain for yours, and give more for it than you can get for your
+chickens. Whoever would make money by raising fowls on a large scale,
+must first serve some kind of an apprenticeship at it, as in all other
+business. Get this experience, and learn by experiment the cheapest and
+most profitable food, and keep from five hundred to a thousand fowls,
+and a reasonable though not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> large profit may be realized. For
+store-fowls, boiled vegetables and beets cut very fine, with a little
+meal mixed in, are a good and cheap feed. When keeping fowls out-door in
+warm weather, keep no more than fifty together, and them on not less
+than one fourth of an acre of land. The expensive hen-houses and
+artificial nests are mostly humbugs. Have many places of concealment
+about, where they can make their nests as they please. When a hen begins
+to set, remove her, nest and all, to a yard to which layers have no
+access, and you need have no difficulty with her. Set a hen near the
+ground, in a dry place, on fifteen fresh eggs, all put under her at
+once, and they will hatch about the same time at the end of twenty days.
+Old hens, of the common kind, are best to set. Let them have their own
+way in everything but running in the wet with their young chickens&mdash;and
+that they will not be much inclined to do if they are well fed. Much is
+said about the diseases of fowls and their remedies. We have very little
+confidence in any of it. Sick chickens will die <i>unless they get well</i>.
+Time spent in doctoring them does not generally pay. Wormwood and tansy,
+growing, or gathered and scattered, or steeped and sprinkled about the
+premises occupied by hens, will protect them from small vermin. Never
+give them anything salt or sour, unless it be sour milk. The eggs of
+ducks, turkeys, or geese, may be hatched under hens. Time, thirty days.
+Hence, if put under with hens' eggs, they must be set ten days earlier,
+that they may all hatch at once. Fattening chickens may be well done in
+six days, by feeding rice, boiled rather soft in sweet skimmed milk, fed
+plentifully three times a day. Feed these in pans, well cleaned before
+each meal, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> give only what they will eat up at once, and desire a
+very little more. Put a little pounded charcoal within their reach, and
+a little rice-water, milk, or clear water. This makes the most beautiful
+meal at a low price. Never feed a chicken for sixteen or twenty-four
+hours before killing it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties or Breeds.</i>&mdash;This has been matter of much speculation. The
+result has been (what was probably a main object) the sale of many fowls
+and eggs at exorbitant prices. When chickens have sold at fifty dollars
+per pair, and eggs at six dollars a dozen, some persons must have made
+money, while others lost it. Yet, there is some choice in the breed of
+hens. The kind makes less difference, as far as flesh is concerned, than
+is usually imagined. It requires about a given quantity of grain to make
+a certain amount of flesh. Large fowls give us much larger weight of
+flesh than small ones, but they also eat a much larger quantity of
+grain. Large fowls are certainly large eaters. The three best layers are
+the black Polands, the Malayas, and the Shanghaes. Half-bloods, by
+crossing with the common fowl, are better for this country than either
+of the above, pure. Fowls are generally improved by frequent crossing.
+The best we have ever had, for their flesh, we produced by putting a
+black Poland rooster with common hens; they grew larger than either, and
+their flesh was very fine. Shanghaes and half-blood Shanghaes have
+proved permanently the best layers we have ever had. Early pullets make
+great fall and winter layers, and late chickens are great layers in the
+spring, when older ones wish to set.</p>
+
+<p>Ducks we have considered in a separate article. We shall do the same
+with turkeys. Killing, dressing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> and preparing all fowls for market,
+will be treated under the head of "Poultry." Geese will also be
+considered in another place. We should give drawings of aviaries, but we
+consider these generally worse than useless, as they are usually
+constructed. An airy place for summer, and a warm room for winter, poles
+with <i>rough bark</i> on for roosts, and plenty of feed and water, sand,
+gravel, and lime, will give abundant success.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FRUIT.</h4>
+
+<p>The value of fruit is not fully appreciated in this country. As an
+article of diet nothing is more natural and healthy. The Creator gave
+this to man for food, when human nature, physically, was in its normal
+condition. And why meats have since been allowed, I know not, unless it
+be the reason why Moses allowed divorce in certain cases, although it
+was not so in the beginning, viz., the hardness of their hearts. Why the
+stomach, upon the healthy condition of which all physical, mental, and
+moral functions so materially depend, should be made the receptacle of
+dead animals, and especially those so long dead, as much of the meat
+offered in market, it would puzzle a philosopher to tell.</p>
+
+<p>But we will not write an elaborate article on the healthfulness of a
+diet composed mainly of milk, fruits, and vegetables. Suffice it to say
+that experience and observation, as well as analysis and physiology,
+unite in demonstrating that ripe fruits contain virtues, that go far
+toward preventing the ordinary diseases of men. They are good, plain or
+cooked, and for sick or well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> persons, except in extreme cases. They
+regulate the bowels and control the secretions, better than any other
+article of food. They are so highly nutritious, that they sustain nature
+under arduous toil, better than either meat, fine bread, or the Irish
+potato. With proper care the fruits are cheaper than any other article
+of food. They can be raised cheaper than corn or potatoes. They may be
+enjoyed all the year, are profitable for market, and for food for
+animals.</p>
+
+
+<h4>FRUITFULNESS.</h4>
+
+<p><i>Inducing it in Fruit-Trees.</i>&mdash;Fruit-trees often grow luxuriantly, but
+bear no fruit, or very little. In nearly all cases the evil may be
+remedied. One remedy is shortening in. This is done by cutting off half
+the present year's growth in July. This checks the tendency of the sap
+to promote so large a growth, and forces it to mature blossom-buds for
+the next season. Another effectual means is to bend down all the
+principal branches and tie them down. This has a great influence in
+checking excessive growth and forming fruit-buds. Frequent transplanting
+has a tendency also to induce fruitfulness. Root pruning is one of <i>the
+best means</i> of securing this object. Lay bare the upper roots and cut
+off all the larger ones two feet from the tree. This will check
+excessive formation of wood and foliage, render the wood firm, and the
+organic matter of the sap will form abundance of fruit-buds. These
+methods will produce fruit in abundance on nineteen twentieths of barren
+or poor-bearing fruit-trees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>GARDEN.</h4>
+
+<p>The garden has been the most delightful abode of man ever since his
+creation, before and since the fall. One of the most pleasant pastimes,
+for ladies and children, is gardening. The flower, vegetable, and fruit
+departments are all pleasant and healthful.</p>
+
+<p><i>Situation</i> of a garden is important. This varies with climates. In a
+cold country the warmest exposures are best, and in a hot climate select
+the coolest. A garden combining both is the best possible. The warmest
+exposure is good for early vegetables, and the cooler and more shady for
+the main crop. Much can be done to regulate this by fences and
+buildings. They will be warm and early on one side, and cool and late on
+the other.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;A rich loam is always best. To convert stiff clay, or light
+sand and gravel, into a good loam, is an easy matter on so small a plat
+as is usually devoted to a garden. Draw an abundance of sand on
+clay-ground, plow deep and mix well, and one winter's frost will so
+pulverize the whole that it will be in excellent condition. In warm
+climates, the incorporation of the sand with the clay is effected by
+frequent plowing and rains. On sand and gravel draw plenty of clay and
+loam, if it can be easily procured; thus it is easy to form a good
+friable, retentive loam, adapted to every variety of soil-culture.
+Decayed wood and forest-leaves are excellent for garden-soils. Manure
+well; but remember that it is possible to overfeed the soil of a garden,
+so as to render it unproductive. Deep plowing or spading is very
+important; it is the best possible remedy for ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>cessive drought or
+unusual rains. The water will not stand on the surface when it first
+falls, and will be retained long in the soil for the use of the plants.
+The soil should be very mellow. Plowing or spading too early, in hope of
+getting earlier vegetables, is often a failure. The earlier the better,
+if you can pulverize the soil; otherwise not. Plowing when covered with
+a heavy dew, or when it rains gently, is equal to a good coat of manure.
+A garden should be on level land well drained; if much inclined, rains
+will wash off the best of the soil, and destroy many seeds and plants.
+No weeds should be allowed to grow to any considerable size in a garden.
+Early and frequent hoeings are important to success. Directions for the
+cultivation of each garden vegetable and fruit are given under each of
+those articles respectively. Methods of gardening at the South and the
+North vary but little in the main articles. At the North we have to
+guard against too much cool weather, and at the South against too much
+heat. Some vegetables that need planting on ridges in the North, to
+obtain more sun and heat, should be planted on level land at the South,
+to guard against too much heat and drought. Besides this, the main
+difference is in the time of planting, which varies more or less with
+every degree of latitude, or every five hundred feet of elevation. Have
+no fruit-trees in your vegetable or fruit garden, unless it may be a few
+dwarf-pears on the quince-stock, and these had better be by themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The plan of a garden is a matter of taste, and depends much upon its
+size and necessary situation. We prefer ornamental shrubs in front of
+the house, the flowers adjoining it and passing the windows of those
+rooms that are constantly occupied, and the fruit-de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>partment in the
+rear of the flowers, while the vegetable-garden should be at the right
+or left of the fruit, and in the rear of the kitchen. On the other side
+of the house should be the larger fruit-trees, extending back as far as
+the fruit and vegetable garden, and in the rear of it, the
+carriage-house and other out-buildings. The best fence is of good
+wrought iron, sharp and strong enough to exclude all intruders. When
+this can not be afforded, a good hedge, made of the plants best adapted
+to hedges in your latitude, is preferred; next to this a good tight
+board-fence.</p>
+
+<p>All fruit-gardens should have alleys, eight or ten feet wide, within
+four rods of each other, to afford space for carting on manures, &amp;c. A
+vegetable-garden of one acre should have such an alley through the
+centre each way, with a place in the end, opposite the entrance, to turn
+around a summer-house, arbor, or tool-house. One rod from the fence, on
+all sides, should be an alley four or five feet wide; other small alleys
+as convenience or taste may require. The usual way is to sink the alleys
+three or four inches below the level of the beds, and cover with gravel,
+tanbark, shells, &amp;c. We strongly recommend raising the alleys in their
+middle, at least four inches above the surface of the beds. The paths
+are always neater, and the moisture is retained for the use of the
+plants. Excessive rains can be allowed to pass off. This making alleys
+low sluice-ways for water is a great mistake in yards and gardens.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>GARLIC.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy perennial plant, from the south of Europe, and has been
+in cultivation, as a garden vegetable, for hundreds of years. It is
+cultivated as the onion, and needs much ashes, bonedust, and lime, in
+the soil. It is much esteemed in some countries, in soups. It is but
+little used in the United States: it is used at the South as a medicinal
+herb. We know of no important use of garlic for which onions will not
+answer as well, and therefore do not recommend garlic as an American
+garden vegetable. Those who wish to cultivate it will pursue the same
+course as in raising onions from sets. This will always be successful.</p>
+
+
+<h4>GATHERING FRUITS.</h4>
+
+<p>This is almost as important as proper cultivation. This is especially
+true of the pear. Many cultivators raise inferior pears from trees of
+the very best varieties, for want of a correct knowledge of the best
+methods of gathering, preserving, and ripening the fruit. Complete
+directions will be found under each fruit.</p>
+
+
+<h4>GEESE.</h4>
+
+<p>Farmers usually are opposed to keeping geese, believing them to destroy
+more than they are worth. If you have a suitable place to keep them,
+they may be profitable. They should have a pasture with a fence they can
+not pass, enclosing a spring, pond, or stream.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> They do better to have a
+little grain the year round. This, with plenty of grass in summer and
+cut roots in winter, will keep them in fine condition. The feathers will
+pay the cost of keeping, leaving the increase and feathers of the young
+as profit. On an acre or two, one hundred geese may be kept, and if the
+proportion of males and females be right, they will yield a profit of
+two dollars each.</p>
+
+
+<h4>GOOSEBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a native of the north of Europe and Asia, from which all our
+fine varieties have been produced by cultivation. Our own native
+varieties are not known to have produced any very desirable ones.
+Probably the zeal of the Lancashire weavers, in England, will surpass
+all that Americans will do for the next century in gooseberry culture.
+They publish a small book annually, giving an account of new varieties.
+The last catalogue of the London Horticultural Society mentions one
+hundred and forty-nine varieties, as worthy of cultivation. A few only
+should receive attention among us. Gooseberries delight in cool and
+rather moist situations. They do not flourish so naturally south of
+Philadelphia; though they grow well in all the mountainous regions, and
+may produce fair fruit in many cool, moist situations. Deep mulching is
+very beneficial; it preserves the moisture, and protects from excessive
+heat. The land must be trenched and manured deep. In November, cut out
+one half of the top, both old and new wood, and a good crop of fine
+fruit may be expected each year, for five or six years, when new bushes
+should take the place of old ones. Propagate by cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>tings of the last
+growth. Cut out all the eyes, below the surface, when planted. Plant six
+inches deep in loam, in the shade. Press the soil close around them. To
+prevent mildew, it is recommended to sprinkle lime or flour of sulphur
+over the foliage and flowers, or young fruit. The fruit-books recommend
+the best varieties, and very open tops, as not exposed to mildew. We
+recommend spreading dry straw, or fine charcoal, on the surface under
+the bushes, as a perfect remedy, if the top be not left too thick. There
+is no necessity for mildew on gooseberries. The fall is much the best
+season for trimming, though early spring will do. Varieties are divided
+into red, green, white, and yellow. These are subdivided into hundreds
+of others, with names entirely arbitrary. The following are the best
+varieties, generally cultivated in this country:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Houghton's Seedling.</i>&mdash;Flavor, superior; skin, thin and tender;
+color, reddish-brown. Prodigious grower and bearer&mdash;none better known.
+Free from mildew. Native of Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Red Warrington.</i>&mdash;Later and larger than the preceding; hangs long on
+the bush without cracking, and improves in flavor.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Woodward's Whitesmith</i>&mdash;is one of the best of the white varieties.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Cleworth's White Lion.</i>&mdash;Large and late; excellent.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Collier's Jolly Angler</i>&mdash;is a good green gooseberry; fruit large,
+excellent, and late.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>Early Green Hairy.</i>&mdash;Very early; rather small; prolific.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>Buerdsill's Duckwing</i>&mdash;is a good, late, yellow gooseberry; large
+fruit, and a fine-growing bush.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Prophets Rockwood.</i>&mdash;Very large fruit of excellent quality, ripening
+quite early.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing list, giving two of each of the four colors, and early and
+late, are all, we think, that need be cultivated. Many more varieties,
+nearly equalling the above, may be selected; but we are not aware that
+any improvement would be made. Downing gives the following list for a
+garden:&nbsp;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Red.</i>&mdash;Red Warrington, Companion, Crown Bob, London, Houghton's
+Seedling.</p>
+
+<p><i>Yellow.</i>&mdash;Leader, Yellow Ball, Catharine, Gunner.</p>
+
+<p><i>White.</i>&mdash;Woodward's Whitesmith, Freedom, Taylor's Bright Venus, Tally
+Ho, Sheba Queen.</p>
+
+<p><i>Green.</i>&mdash;Pitmaston Green Gage, Thumper, Jolly Angler, Massey's Heart of
+oak, Parkinson's Laurel.</p>
+
+<p>Thus you have Downing's authority; his list includes most of those we
+have recommended above. The varieties are less important than in most
+fruits, provided only you get the large varieties of English gooseberry.
+Proper cultivation will insure success. Whoever cultivates, only
+tolerably well, the Houghton Seedling, will be sure to raise good
+berries, free from mildew.</p>
+
+
+<h4>GRAFTING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the leading methods of obtaining such fruits as we wish,
+on stocks of such habits of growth and degrees of hardiness, as we may
+desire. The stock will control, in some degree, the growth of the scion,
+but leave the fruit mainly to its habits on its original<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> tree. The
+advantages of grafting are principally the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Good varieties may be propagated very rapidly. A single tree may produce
+a thousand annually, for a series of years. Large trees of worthless
+fruit may be changed into any variety we please, and in a very short
+time bear abundantly. Fruits not easily multiplied in any other way, can
+be rapidly increased by grafting. Early bearing of seedlings can be
+secured by grafting on bearing trees.</p>
+
+<p>Tender and exotic varieties may be acclimated by grafting into
+indigenous stocks. Fruit can be raised on an uncongenial soil, by
+grafting into stocks adapted to that soil. Several varieties may be
+produced on the same tree, for ornament or economy of room. Dwarfs of
+any variety may be produced by grafting on dwarf stocks, and we may thus
+grow many trees on a small space. A slow-growing variety may be made to
+form a large top, by grafting into large vigorous-growing stocks. We are
+enabled to carry varieties to any part of the world, at a cheap rate, as
+the scions, properly done up, may safely be carried around the globe.</p>
+
+<p><i>Time of Grafting.</i>&mdash;Grafts may be made to live, put in in any month of
+the year, but the beginning of the opening of the buds in spring, is the
+preferable season. Stone fruits should be budded; and all fruits may be
+made to do well budded. Budding is usually only practised on small
+trees, while grafting may be performed on trees of any size.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cutting and preserving Scions.</i>&mdash;Mature shoots of the previous year's
+growth are best. Those of the year before will also do. They may be cut
+at any time from November to time of setting. Perhaps the month of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+February is best. They may be well preserved in moist sawdust in tight
+boxes. The more there are together the better they will keep. They keep
+better by being cut a little below the beginning of the last year's
+growth, but it is more injurious to the tree. They may be kept well in
+fine sand, moist and cool. Too much moisture is always injurious. Put
+the lower ends in shallow water, and they will look very fine, but not
+one of them will live. Scions cut in the fall and buried six inches deep
+in yellow loam or fine sand, will keep well till next spring. There are
+several methods of grafting only two of which deserve particular
+attention. These are cleft-grafting and tongue or splice grafting, see
+figures.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 253px;">
+<img src="images/ill-214.jpg" width="253" height="400" alt="Cleft-Grafting." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Cleft-Grafting.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 203px;">
+<img src="images/ill-214b.jpg" width="203" height="400" alt="Tongue-Grafting." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Tongue-Grafting.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Cleft-Grafting</i> is performed in most cases, when scions are grafted
+upon stocks much larger than themselves. It is too well known to need
+particular description. Tools should be sharp, and it should be
+performed before the bark slips so easily as to be started by splitting
+the stock. It endangers the growth of the scions. The requisite to
+success in all grafting, is to have some point of actual contact,
+between the inside barks of both the scion and the stock. This is more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+certainly secured by causing the scion to stand at a slight angle with
+the stock.</p>
+
+<p><i>Tongue-Grafting</i> is generally used in grafting on small
+stocks&mdash;seedlings or roots. With a sharp knife, cut off the scion
+slanting down, and the stock slanting up, split each in the centre, and
+push one in to the other until the barks meet, and wind with thick paper
+or thin muslin, with grafting wax on one side. This is generally used in
+root-grafting. The question of root-grafting has excited considerable
+discussion recently. Many suppose it to produce unhealthy trees, and
+that retaining the variety is less certain than by other modes.
+Root-grafting is a cheap and rapid means of multiplying trees, and hence
+is greatly prized by nursery men. Practical cultivators of Illinois have
+assured us, that it is impossible to produce good Rhode Island greenings
+in that state, by root-grafting&mdash;that they will not produce the same
+variety. We see no principle upon which they should fail, but will not
+undertake to settle this important question. For ourselves we prefer to
+use one whole stock for each tree, cutting it off at the ground and
+grafting there.</p>
+
+<p><i>Grafting Composition or Wax.</i>&mdash;One part beef's tallow, two parts
+beeswax, and four parts rosin, make the best. Harder or softer, it is
+liable to be injured by the weather. Warm weather will melt it, and cold
+will crack it. Melt these together and pour them into cold water, and
+pull and work as shoemaker's wax. When using, it is to be kept in cool
+or warm water, as the weather may demand. In its application, it is to
+be pressed closely over all the wound made by sawing and splitting the
+limb, and close around the scions, so as to exclude air and water. Clay
+is often used for grafting,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> but is not equal to wax. You can use
+grafting tools, invented especially for the purpose, or a common saw,
+mallet, knife, and wedge.</p>
+
+
+<h4>GRAPES.</h4>
+
+<p>Those cultivated so extensively in Europe were natives of
+Persia&mdash;showing that they may be acclimated far from their native home.
+Foreign grapes are not suitable for out-door culture in this country,
+except a very few varieties, which do well in the Southern states. The
+native grapes of this country have produced some excellent varieties,
+which are now in general cultivation. Others are beginning to attract
+notice, and seedlings will probably multiply rapidly, and great
+improvements in our native grapes may be expected. The subject of
+grape-culture deserves greatly-increased attention. To all palates the
+grape is delicious; it is not only one of the most palatable articles of
+diet, but is more highly medicinal than any other fruit. It is the
+natural source of pure wine. Pure wine made of grapes is only to be
+procured, in this country, by domestic manufacture. Probably not one out
+of a thousand gallons of imported wines, sold as pure, contains a drop
+of the juice of the grape;&mdash;they are manufactured of poisonous drugs and
+ardent spirits&mdash;generally common whiskey. A French chemist discovered a
+method of imitating fermented liquor without fermentation, and distilled
+spirits without distillation. His process has been published in this
+country in book form, and by subscription; and while those books are
+unknown in the bookstores, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> are generally possessed by prominent
+liquor dealers;&mdash;and the practice of those secret arts is terribly
+dangerous to the community. Antecedent to this chemical manufacture of
+poisonous liquors, such a disease as <i>delirium tremens</i> was unknown.
+Thus the Frenchman's discovery filled the liquor-sellers' pockets with
+cash, and the land with mourning, over frequent deaths by a disease, the
+horror of which is equalled only by hydrophobia. In self-defence, all
+should give up the use of everything purporting to be imported wines or
+liquors. Wine should not be used as a common beverage by the healthy.
+The best medical authority in the world has pronounced it absolutely
+injurious. But in many cases of sickness, especially in convalescence
+from fevers, it is one of the very best articles that can be used;
+hence, a pure article, of domestic manufacture, should be accessible to
+all the sick. (See our article on "Wine.") The luxury of good grapes can
+be enjoyed by every family in the land who have a yard twenty feet
+square. In the cities, almost every house may have a grapevine or two
+where nothing else would grow. Allow a vine to run up trellis-work in
+the rear of the house, and over the roof of a wing, or rear-part, raised
+two feet above the roof, supported by a rack. In such situations they
+will bear better than elsewhere, will be out of the way, and decidedly
+ornamental. In such small yards, from five to twenty-five bushels have
+often grown in a season. Some climates and soils are much better suited
+to grape-culture than others. But we have varieties that will flourish
+wherever Indian corn will mature.</p>
+
+<p><i>Location.</i>&mdash;For vineyards, the sides of hills are usually chosen,
+sometimes for the purpose of a warm exposure, but generally to secure
+the most perfect drain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>age. A northern exposure is preferable for all
+varieties adapted to the climate. To mature late varieties, choose a
+southern or eastern exposure.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;Gravelly, with a little sand, on a dry subsoil, is preferable,
+though good grapes may be grown upon any land upon which water will not
+stand. Grapes always need much lime. If the vineyard is not located on
+calcareous soil, lime must be liberally supplied, especially for
+wine-making. A dry subsoil, or thorough draining, is indispensable to
+successful grape-culture. We prefer level land, wherever thorough
+draining is practicable.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation.</i>&mdash;Choice grapes are propagated by grafts, layers, or
+cuttings. New ones are produced from seeds. The more kinds that are
+cultivated together, the greater will be the varieties raised from their
+seeds, by cross-fertilization in the blossoms. A small grape crossed
+with a large one, or an early with a late one, or two of different
+flavors, will produce mediums between them. Seeds should be cleaned, and
+planted in the fall, or kept in sand till spring. In the fall, cover up
+the young vines. The second or third year, the young vines should be set
+in the places where they are designed to remain. By efforts to get new
+varieties, we may adapt them to every latitude, from the gulf of Mexico
+to Pembina.</p>
+
+<p><i>Layers.</i>&mdash;These produce large vines and abundance of fruit earlier than
+any other method of propagation. Put down old wood in May or early June,
+and new wood a month later; fasten down with pegs having a hook to hold
+the vine, and cover up with earth; they will take root freely at the
+joints, and may be removed in autumn or spring. If you put down wood too
+late,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> or do not keep it covered with moist earth, it will fail;
+otherwise it is always sure.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cuttings</i>&mdash;may be from any wood you have to spare, and should be about
+a foot long, having two buds. Plant at an angle of forty-five degrees,
+one bud and two thirds of the cutting under the soil. A little shade and
+moisture will cause nearly all to grow. A little grafting-wax on the top
+will aid the growth, by preventing evaporation. The cutting, so buried
+as to have the top bud half an inch under fine mould, is said to be
+surer. Cuttings should be made late in fall, or early in winter, and
+preserved as scions for grafting. Cuttings made in the spring are less
+sure to grow, and their removal is much more injurious to the vine.
+Vines raised from cuttings may be transplanted when one or two years
+old.</p>
+
+<p><i>Grafting</i>&mdash;should be performed after the leaves are well developed in
+the spring. The sap becomes thick, which aids the process. Remove the
+earth, and saw off the vine two or three inches below the surface. Graft
+with scions of the previous year's growth, but well matured, and apply
+cement, to keep the sap from coming out. Cover all but the top bud. In
+stocks an inch in diameter put two scions. Very few need fail.</p>
+
+<p><i>Budding</i>&mdash;maybe done as in other cases, but always after the leaves are
+well developed, to avoid bleeding. These modes of propagation stand in
+the following order in point of preference, the best being named first:
+layers, cuttings, grafting, budding.</p>
+
+<p><i>Culture and Manure.</i>&mdash;Land prepared by deep subsoil plowing, highly
+manured and cultivated the previous season in a root-crop, is the best
+for a vineyard. The trenches for the rows should be spaded twenty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+inches deep, and a part of the surface-soil put in the bottom. After
+planting the vines, stir the ground often and keep clear of weeds. At
+first, stir the soil deep; but, as the roots extend, avoid working among
+them, and never disturb the roots with a plow. Mulching preserves the
+soil in a moist, loose condition, and is a good preventive of mildew. In
+many instances it is said to have doubled the crop. Common
+animal-manures are good for young vines, and in preparing the soil, but
+are rather too stimulating for bearing vines, often injuring the fruit.
+Ashes and cinders from the smith's forge, wood-ashes, charcoal,
+soapsuds, bones and bonedust, lime, and forest and grape leaves and
+trimmings, carefully dug into the soil around the vines, are all very
+good. A liberal supply of suitable manures will keep the vines in a
+healthy condition, and preserve the fruit from disease and decay. This,
+with judicious pruning, will render the grape-crop regular and sure.</p>
+
+<p><i>Vineyards</i>&mdash;should be in rows five feet apart, with vines four feet
+apart in the row. Layers of one, and cuttings of two years' growth, will
+bear the second year, and very plentifully the third year. A good
+vineyard in the latitude of Cincinnati yields about one hundred and
+fifty bushels of grapes per acre, making four hundred gallons of wine.
+The average yield of wine per acre, throughout the country, is estimated
+at two hundred gallons.</p>
+
+<p><i>Training under Glass.</i>&mdash;By this means the fine foreign varieties may be
+brought to perfection in our high latitudes. With most of the best
+kinds, this can be done by solar heat alone. A house covered with glass
+at an angle of forty-five degrees, facing the south, will answer the
+purpose. With a slight artificial heat,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> the finest varieties may be
+perfected, and others forwarded, so as to have fine grapes at most
+seasons of the year. The vines are planted on the outside of the
+grapehouse, and allowed to pass in through an aperture two feet from the
+ground, and are trained up near the glass on the inside. Protect the
+roots in winter by a covering of coarse straw manure. Wind the vines on
+the inside with straw, lay them down on the ground in the grape-house,
+and keep it closed during the winter. A house one hundred feet long and
+twenty-five feet wide, filled mainly with Black Hamburg, with a few
+other choice varieties, would afford a great luxury, and prove a
+profitable investment. From one such house, near a large city, a careful
+cultivator may realize a thousand dollars per annum. Native and even
+hardy varieties are often greatly improved by cultivation under glass,
+or by a little protection in winter.</p>
+
+<p>The Isabella grape is hardy and productive in western New York. In 1856,
+we noticed a vine that had been laid down in a dry place and covered
+slightly with earth, in autumn; the fruit was more abundant, and one
+fourth larger, than that on a similar vine by its side that had remained
+on the trellis during winter: this shows the value of protection even to
+hardy vines.</p>
+
+<p><i>Training.</i>&mdash;There are many methods, and the question of preference
+depends upon the location of the vines, the space they may occupy, and
+the taste of the cultivator. There are four principal systems&mdash;the cane
+or renewal system, spur system, fan-training, and spiral or hoop
+training.</p>
+
+<p>The renewal system we prefer for trellises. Put posts firmly in the
+ground eight feet apart, allowing them to be seven feet above ground
+after they are set; put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> slats of wood or wire across these, a foot
+apart, commencing a foot above the ground. Set vines eight feet apart;
+let the vines be composed of two branches, coming out near the ground:
+these can be formed by cutting off a young vine near the ground, and
+training two of the shoots that will spring from the bottom. These two
+vines should be bent down in opposite directions, and tied horizontally
+to the lower slat of the trellis; cut these off, so as to have them meet
+similar vines from the next root; upright shoots from these will extend
+to the top of the trellis, and it is then covered, and the work is
+complete. After these upright canes have borne, cut off every alternate
+one, two or three inches from its base, and train up the strongest shoot
+for a bearer next year: thus cut off and train new alternate ones every
+year, and the vine will be constantly renewing, and be in the most
+productive state; keep the vines clipped at the top of the trellis, and
+the sap will mature strong buds for next year's fruit. We regard this
+the most effectual of all training. The principle of renewal can be
+applied to any form of vine, and eminently promotes fruitfulness. Many
+complain that their vines, though liberally pruned, do not bear well.
+The difficulty may be that the new wood is principally removed, while
+the old is left to throw out strong-growing shoots, bearing abundance of
+foliage and little fruit. More of the old wood removed, and more of the
+young saved, would have produced less vines and much more fruit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pruning</i>&mdash;is the most important part of successful grape-culture.
+Mistakes on this subject are very injurious. Let vines grow in their own
+way, and you will have much wood and foliage, and very little, poor
+fruit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> Some cut off the shoots in summer just above the fruit, and
+remove most of the leaves around it to expose the fruit to the sun. This
+often proves to be a ruinous mistake; the sap ascends to the leaves, and
+there amalgamates with what they absorb from the atmosphere, and thus
+forms food for the vine and fruit. It is the leaves, and not the fruit,
+which need the sun: the leaves are the lungs, upon the action of which
+the life and health of the fruit depend. Blight of the leaves destroys
+the fruit, and a frequent repetition of it destroys the vine.
+Grape-vines should not be pruned at all until three years old, as it
+retards the growth of the roots, and thus weakens the vines. Older vines
+should be freely pruned in November or December; pruned in winter they
+<i>may</i> bleed in the spring, and pruned in the spring they <i>certainly</i>
+will bleed. Tender vines, not protected, may have an excess of wood left
+in the fall to allow for what may perish in winter; in this case, cut
+away the dead and surplus wood in spring, but never until the leaves are
+well developed, so as to prevent bleeding. Necessary summer-pruning is
+of much importance. Remove no leaves, except the ends of branches, that
+have already made as much wood as they can mature. In the Middle states
+this should be done about the last of July, and at the South a month
+earlier. Weak lateral branches, that bear no fruit, may be removed, but
+not all of them, for it is on the wood of this year's growth that the
+fruit will be found the following season. Old wood does not send out
+wood in spring that will bear fruit the same season; that wood will bear
+fruit next season if allowed to remain. Whoever observes will notice
+that grapes grow on young shoots of the same season; but they are
+shoots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> from wood of the previous year's growth, and not from old wood.
+Many suppose if they trim their vines very closely, as the old vines
+send forth abundance of new wood, and it is new wood on which the fruit
+grows, of course they will have abundance of grapes; and they are
+disappointed by a failure. The explanation of the whole is, fruit grows
+on new wood, from wood of previous year's growth, and not from old
+vines; hence, in lessening a vine, remove old wood. This is the renewal
+system, whatever the form of the vine, and is the whole secret of
+successful pruning. This accounts for the great success of the Germans
+in producing such quantities of grapes on low vines. In their best
+vineyards, they do not allow their vines to grow more than six or seven
+feet high, and yet they produce abundantly for many years. They so prune
+as to have plenty of last year's wood for the production of fruit the
+current season; after this has borne fruit, they remove it to make room
+for the young wood that will produce the next season. This principle is
+applicable to vines of any shape or size you may choose to form. The
+removal, in summer, of excessive growth, and shortening the ends of
+those you design to retain, throws the strength of the vine into the
+fruit, and to perfect the wood already formed. Liberal fall-pruning is
+necessary to induce the formation of new wood the next season, for
+bearing the following year. Parts that grow late do not mature
+sufficiently to bear fruit the next season; hence, cut off the ends in
+summer, and let what remains have the benefit of all the sap.</p>
+
+<p><i>Reduction of Fruit.</i>&mdash;The grape is disposed to excessive bearing, which
+weakens the vine, and injures the quality of the fruit. Liberal pruning
+in autumn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> does much to remedy this evil, by not leaving room for an
+excessive amount of fruit: hence, when you have a plenty of
+fruit-bearing wood, cut off the ends, so as to leave spurs with two
+buds, or at the most only four; when too much fruit sets, remove it very
+early, before the juices of the vine have been wasted upon it. A vine
+cut or wounded in spring will bleed profusely. Sheet India-rubber, or
+two or three thicknesses of a bladder, wet and bound closely around, may
+prevent the bleeding.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mildew</i>&mdash;is very destructive in confined locations, without a good
+circulation of air. Sulphur and quicklime, separate or combined, dug
+into the soil around the vines, is a preventive. Straw or litter of any
+kind, spread thick under the vines, is, perhaps, the best remedy&mdash;the
+action of it is in every way beneficial.</p>
+
+<p><i>Insects.</i>&mdash;The rosebug, spanworm, great greenworm, and many other
+insects, infest grapevines, and do much injury. The large worms are most
+easily destroyed by hand; the small insects by flour-of-sulphur, or by
+snuff, sprinkled over profusely when the vines are wet. The various
+applications recommended in this work for the destruction of insects,
+are useful on the grapevine. The principle is to apply something
+offensive to the insects, without being injurious to the vines.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preserving Grapes.</i>&mdash;Packed in sawdust or wheat-bran, always thoroughly
+dried by heat, they will keep well until spring. Another method is
+packing them in cotton-batting or wadding (the latter is best); or put
+them in baskets holding no more than four or five quarts, cover tight
+with cotton, and hang up in a cool, airy place, and they will long
+remain in good condition. In shallow boxes, six inches deep, put a sheet
+of wad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>ding, and on it a layer of bunches of grapes, not allowed to
+touch each other; on the top of the grapes put another sheet of cotton,
+and then another layer of grapes, and so the third, covering the last
+with cotton, and put the cover on tight, and keep in a cool place. This
+is the most successful method.</p>
+
+<p>A new method is to suspend hoops by three cords, like a baby-jumper, and
+hang the bunches of grapes all around it, as near as possible without
+touching, on little wire hooks, passing through the lower ends of the
+clusters, allowing the stem end to be suspended, and the grapes hang
+away from each other, and if the place be not damp enough to mould them,
+and not dry enough to cause them to shrivel, they keep exceedingly well.
+It requires more care and judgment, than the other methods. A very cool
+situation, without freezing, is essential in all cases. It is also
+necessary to remove all broken or immature grapes, from the clusters you
+would preserve.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are very numerous, and their nomenclature is confused, as
+that of other fruits. It is utterly useless to cultivate foreign grapes
+in the open air in this country. They succeed very imperfectly, even in
+the Southern states. But for cultivation under glass, they are
+preferable to any of our own. The following foreign grapes are preferred
+in this country:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Black Prince, White Muscat, White Constantia, White Muscadine, White
+Sweet-water, Early White Muscat, Black Cluster, Black Hamburg. The
+latter is the best of all foreign grapes for cultivation under glass. It
+is very delicious, a great bearer, of very large clusters. It requires
+only solar heat to bring it to perfection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Native Grapes.</i>&mdash;Of these we now have a large number, many of which are
+valuable. We call attention only to a very few of the best. The
+<i>Isabella</i> as a table luxury is hardly surpassed. In the Eastern,
+Middle, and Western states, it is generally hardy and prolific. In
+northern Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, it does not ripen well. The
+seasons are too short. It also feels somewhat the severity of the
+weather, on the western prairies. It is also apt to decay at the South.
+For all other parts it is one of the very best. It is an enormous
+bearer, one vine having been known to produce more than ten bushels, in
+a single year.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/ill-227.jpg" width="550" height="175" alt="The Isabella Grape." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Isabella Grape.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Catawba Grape.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Next is the <i>Catawba</i>, better for wine, more vinous but not so sweet as
+the Isabella, ripens two or three weeks later, and hence not so good in
+high latitudes.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Rebecca Grape.</i>&mdash;This is a comparatively new variety, of great
+promise. White like the Sweet-water, flavor very fine, vine hardy and
+productive.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Diana</i> is a small delicious grape, excellent flavor for the
+dessert, and ripens two weeks earlier than the Isabella. Hence good for
+northern latitudes.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Concord.</i>&mdash;Large, showy, of good but not the best flavor, and
+ripens with the Diana. Should be cultivated at the North.</p>
+
+<p><i>The York Madeira</i> is similar to the Isabella, smaller and a few days
+earlier.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 204px;">
+<img src="images/ill-228.jpg" width="204" height="400" alt="The Catawba Grape." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Rebecca Grape.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 308px;">
+<img src="images/ill-229.jpg" width="308" height="450" alt="The Rebecca Grape." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Delaware Grape.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>The Delaware</i> is a small brown grape, excellent and hardy. Ripens quite
+as early as the Isabella. Best outdoor grape, in many localities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Canadian Chief.</i>&mdash;One of the very best grapes for Canada.</p>
+
+<p><i>Canby's August.</i>&mdash;Very fine; considered better for the table than the
+Isabella, ripens ten days earlier, and as it is a good bearer, it should
+be generally cultivated.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Ohio Grape</i> is a good variety, beginning to attract much notice.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Scuppernong</i> is the best of all grapes, for general cultivation at
+the South. It is never affected by the rot. Not easily raised from
+cuttings. Layers are better. It does best trained on an arbor.</p>
+
+<p>The soil and climate of the South are well adapted to the grape, even
+the finer varieties that do not flourish well at the North. They are,
+however, seriously affected by the rot, an evil incident to the heat and
+humidity of the climate. It being very warm, the dews and rains incline
+the fruit to decay. We think the evil may be prevented by two very
+simple means: Keep the vines very open, that they may dry very soon
+after rain; and train them to trellises, from six to ten feet high, and
+over the top put a coping of boards, in the shape of a roof, extending
+eighteen inches on each side of the trellis. It will prevent the rain
+and heavy dews from falling on the grapes, and is said to preserve them
+perfectly. This arrangement is about equal, in a warm climate, to cold
+graperies at the north. We recommend increased attention to this great
+luxury, in all parts of the country. Seedlings will arise, adapted to
+every locality on the continent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>GRASSES.</h4>
+
+<p>There is a great number of varieties, adapted to cultivation in some
+countries and climates, but not suitable for American culture. On the
+comparative value of different grasses there is a diversity of opinions.
+The best course for the practical farmer is, having the best and surest,
+therewith to be content. Sir John Sinclair says there are two hundred
+and fifteen grasses cultivated in Great Britain. We shall notice a very
+few of them, with a view to their comparative value:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Sweet-scented Vernal Grass.</i>&mdash;Small growth; yield of hay light. For
+pastures it is very early, and grows quickly after being cropped, and is
+excellent for milch-cows; grows well on almost any soil, but most
+naturally on high, well-drained meadows. It grows in great abundance in
+Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Meadow Foxtail.</i>&mdash;Early like the preceding, but more productive and
+more nutritious. It is one of the five or six kinds usually sown
+together in English pastures; best for sheep and horses.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Rough Cocksfoot.</i>&mdash;<i>Orchard-grass</i> of the United States; cows are
+fond of it. In England it is taking the place of clovers and rye-grass.
+About Philadelphia it is supplanting timothy. It is earlier, and
+therefore better to mix with clover for hay, as they mature at the same
+time; grows well in the shade, and on both loams and sands; springs
+rapidly after being cropped. Colonel Powell, one of the best American
+farmers, says it produces more pasture than any other grass he has seen
+in this country. Two bushels of seed are sown on an acre.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Tall Oat-Grass.</i>&mdash;A valuable grass, deserving increased attention.
+It will produce three crops in a season; grows four or five feet high,
+and should be cut for hay when in blossom. Of all grasses, it is the
+earliest and best for green fodder.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Tall Fescue.</i>&mdash;Cut in blossom, it contains more nutriment than any
+other known grass. Grows well by the sides of ditches, and is well
+adapted to wet bogs, as, by its rapid growth, it keeps down coarse,
+noxious grass and weeds.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>Rye Grass.</i>&mdash;This is extensively cultivated in Scotland and in the
+north of England. It is mixed with clover. Respecting its comparative
+value there is a diversity of opinion. Some do not speak well of it.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>Red Clover and White Clover.</i>&mdash;See article "Clover."</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Lucern.</i>&mdash;This yields much more green feed at a single crop than any
+other grass. For soiling cattle it is one of the best, and may be cut
+twice as often as red clover. This makes a good crop, soon after time
+for planting corn. Common corn or pop-corn, and later, Stowell's
+evergreen sweet corn, are the best for soiling cattle; but for early
+soiling, use lucern, or some other quick-growing, large grass. Lucern
+needs clean land, or cultivation at first, as young plants are tender.
+The tap-root runs down very deep; hence, hard clay or wet soils are not
+favorable. It stands the cold, in latitudes forty to forty-five degrees
+in this country, better than red clover.</p>
+
+<p>9. <i>Long-rooted Clover.</i>&mdash;This is a Hungarian variety&mdash;biennial, but
+resows itself several years in succession, on good, clean land. Its
+yield of hay and seed is abundant. Needs a deep, dry soil, and stands a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+drought better than any other grass. To plow in as a fertilizer, or for
+soiling cattle, it is valuable, wherever it will flourish.</p>
+
+<p>10. <i>Sain-Foin.</i>&mdash;Adapted to calcareous or chalky soils; considered one
+of the best plants ever introduced into England; but in New England it
+proves almost a failure&mdash;it requires more cool moisture and less frost.</p>
+
+<p>11. <i>Timothy.</i>&mdash;In England, <i>Meadow Cats'-tail</i>, and in New England,
+<i>Herd's-grass</i>. This is the most valuable of all the grasses, and
+wherever it will thrive well, should never be superseded by anything
+else for hay. It should be cut when the seed has begun to harden, but
+before it begins to shell, and never in the blossom. Let every farmer
+remember that timothy, cut in the seed, contains twice as much nutriment
+as when cut in the blossom; hence, it is not worth more than half as
+much for hay, sown among clover, as when sown by itself, as it must be
+cut too early, to avoid losing the clover.</p>
+
+<p>12. <i>Red Top.</i>&mdash;We can not find this described in agricultural books;
+but we have been familiar with it for thirty-five years, and can not
+find a New York or New England farmer who does not know it well and
+prize it highly. For low, moist, rich meadows, the red top is the best
+for hay of any known grass. It yields abundantly, and may be cut at any
+time, from July to last of September. The hay is better for cattle than
+timothy. Many intelligent gentlemen insist that it is the most healthy
+hay for horses.</p>
+
+
+<p>After all that has been written on the various grasses, we regard it
+best for farmers throughout the continent to cultivate only the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>For early pastures, <i>vernal grass</i> and <i>meadow fox<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>tail</i>; pastures
+through the season, <i>white clover</i>, <i>cocks-foot</i>, <i>meadow foxtail</i>, <i>red
+clover</i>, and <i>timothy</i>; for lowland pastures, <i>red top</i> and <i>tall
+fescue</i>; for hay, <i>timothy</i>, <i>red top</i>, <i>orchard grass</i>, and <i>tall
+fescue</i>; for the shade of fruit-trees, <i>orchard grass</i>; to be plowed in
+as fertilizers, <i>red clover</i> and <i>white clover</i>, for soiling cattle,
+<i>tall oat-grass</i> and <i>lucern</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Time of sowing grass-seed is important. Some prefer the fall, and others
+the spring. Fall sowing should be very early or very late. Early sowing
+will give the young plants strength to endure the frosts of winter,
+which would kill late sown; but sow so late that it will not vegetate
+until spring, and it will come up early and get out of the way of the
+droughts of summer. Grass-seed sown late in the spring will always fail,
+except when followed by a very wet season. Sow timothy with fall grain,
+or late in the fall, or on a light snow toward the close of winter. Do
+not sow clover in the fall, as the young plants will generally fail in
+the cold winter;&mdash;sow it on the last light snow of winter, and it will
+always succeed. Roll the land in spring on which you have sown
+grass-seed in the last of winter; it will benefit the grain, and cause
+the grass-seed to catch well, and get an earlier and more rapid growth.
+Let all who would not lose their seed and labor, remember that
+grass-seed not sown so as to form good roots, before the frosts of
+winter or the drought of summer, will be lost; the plants will be
+killed. Timothy-seed sown in the fall, one peck to the acre, will
+produce a good crop the next season.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>GREENHOUSE.</h4>
+
+<p>Greenhouses vary as much in style and cost as dwellings. The simplest is
+any tight enclosure, covered with a glass roof at an angle of forty-five
+degrees, facing the south, and kept warm by artificial heat. The
+temperature is not allowed to be lower than forty nor higher than
+seventy degrees of Fahrenheit; this will keep plants growing and make
+them blossom, and affords a good place for starting plants to be
+transplanted to out-door hotbeds, and finally to the vegetable garden,
+after frosts are over. There is but one main danger in greenhouse
+culture, and that is obviated by a little care: it is, allowing the air
+to become too much heated for the health of the plants; they require but
+little heat, but need it regularly. Some greenhouses are warmed by
+stoves, and serve a good purpose; others have a stove set in a flue
+which is built in the wall, gradually rising until it has passed around
+two or three sides of the building. Place three or four sheet-iron pans
+over this flue, at different points, and keep them filled with water;
+the fire in the flue will heat the water, and impart both warmth and
+humidity to the atmosphere, which is very favorable to the health and
+growth of plants. Such a house is favorable to the growth of tender
+exotic fruits and plants. A similar house without any artificial heat
+affords an excellent place for the cultivation of the finest varieties
+of foreign grapes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>GYPSUM, OR PLASTER OF PARIS.</h4>
+
+<p>The fertilizing properties of this article were discovered by a German
+laborer in a quarry, who observed the increased luxuriance of the grass
+by his path, when the dust fell from his shoes and clothes. This led to
+experiments which demonstrated its fertilizing power. With the
+protracted controversies on gypsum we have nothing to do; certain
+important facts are established which are valuable to agriculturists.</p>
+
+<p>Gypsum is valuable as an application to the soil, at from three fourths
+to one and a quarter bushels to the acre. On poor land, for a flax crop
+three bushels per acre, applied after the plants were up, and when wet,
+produced a great crop. It should be applied only once in two years, or
+in very small quantities every year. Applied as a top-dressing, it will
+do no good until a considerable quantity of rain has fallen upon it. If
+it be applied in the spring, and the summer prove a dry one, its
+greatest effect will be felt the next season. Its most marked effects
+are on poor soils; on land already rich it seems to produce but little
+effect; on dry, sandy or gravelly soils, it will increase a clover crop
+from one fourth to two thirds; sowed among clover and immediately plowed
+in, it acts powerfully. Plants of large leaves feel its influence much
+more than those with small ones, hence its excellence on clover,
+potatoes, and vines. Some soils contain enough plaster already: the
+farmer must determine by analysis or experiment. On the compost heap it
+is valuable in small quantities; it is also useful on all long, coarse,
+or fresh manures of the previous winter. Seeds rolled in it before
+planting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> vegetate sooner and stronger. Mixed with an equal quantity of
+ashes and a little lime, and applied to any crop immediately after
+hoeing, or when just coming up, it adds materially to its growth. It is
+better to apply it twice&mdash;on first coming up, and immediately after
+first hoeing; small quantities are best;&mdash;it will ten times repay the
+cost and labor. Upland pastures and meadows, except clay soils, are
+greatly benefited by it. A time-saving method of sowing plaster on
+fields of grass or grain, is to sow out of a wagon driven slowly through
+the field, the driver being guided by his former tracks, while two men
+sow out of the wagon. It is customary to put plaster and ashes, mixed,
+around the hills of corn, or throw it upon the plants. Sown on the field
+of hoed or hill crops, its effects are much greater than when only put
+on the hill. It should be sown equally over the whole ground.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HARROWING.</h4>
+
+<p>The very liberal use of the harrow is one of the principal requisites of
+successful farming. No other single tool does so much to pulverize the
+soil, as the harrow. A full crop can only be raised on a fine mellow
+soil. Seeds planted in soil left coarse and uneven, will vegetate
+unevenly, grow unequally, ripen at different times, and produce unequal
+quantities. Many farmers insist that it is a mere notion, without
+reason, to harrow land four or five times, and roll it once or twice.
+Not one in five hundred believes in the full utility of such a thorough
+working of the soil. Coarse lumpy soils ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>pose the seeds and roots of
+young plants to drought, and to too strong action of the atmosphere.
+(See article on <i>Rolling</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>Harrow sandy and sod land whenever you please. If you work any other
+soil when very wet, it will not recover from the effects of it during
+the whole season. Harrow land the first time the same way it was plowed.</p>
+
+<p>The form of a harrow is of no importance, except avoiding the butterfly
+drag, that seldom works well. The square harrow with thirty teeth is
+usually preferred. Every farmer should have a <b>V</b> drag also.</p>
+
+<p>Corn, potatoes, peas, and other crops that are planted in straight rows,
+should be harrowed just after coming up, with a <b>V</b> drag, drawn by two
+horses. The front teeth should be taken out that the row may pass
+between the teeth, as well as between the horses.</p>
+
+<p>Such a cultivation will do more good than any other single subsequent
+one. It stirs the whole surface, pulverizing the soil, keeps it mellow
+and moist, and destroys the weeds, and all at the best possible time,
+for the benefit of the crop. No other form of cultivation is so good for
+a young crop. Try two acres, one in the usual way, and the other by
+harrowing, as we recommend, when it first comes up, and you will never
+after neglect harrowing all your hoed crops.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HAY.</h4>
+
+<p>Farmers differ in their modes of making and preserving hay. The
+following directions for timothy and clover, are applicable to all
+grasses suitable for hay, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> they are all divided into two classes,
+broad-leaved, and the fine-leaved, or grasses proper. The principles
+involved in these directions may be considered comparatively well
+settled, and they are sufficient for all purposes. Cut clover when half
+the blossoms are dried, and the other half in full bloom. Cut later, the
+stalks are so dried, that they are of much less value. Cut earlier, it
+is so immature, as to be of small value for hay. In case of great growth
+and lodging down, clover may be cut earlier, as it is better to save hay
+of less value, than to lose the whole. To cure clover for hay, spread it
+evenly, immediately after the scythe, let it thoroughly wilt, but not
+dry. Rake it up, before any of the leaves are dry so as to break, and
+put it in small cocks, such as a man can pitch upon a cart at once or
+twice with a fork. This should be <i>laid</i> on and not <i>rolled</i> up from a
+winrow. In the former case it will shed nearly all the water, and the
+latter method suffers the rain to run down through the whole.</p>
+
+<p>Unless the weather be very wet, clover will cure in this way, without
+opening until time to haul it in, and will retain its beautiful green
+color, almost equal to that of England and Germany, cured in the shade,
+which, at two or three years old, appears almost as bright as though not
+cured at all. If the weather be quite wet, cut clover when free from dew
+or rain, wilt it at once, and draw it in, put as much as possible in
+thin layers on scaffolds, and under cover, to cure in the shade. Put the
+remainder in alternate layers with equal quantities of dry straw, with
+one peck of salt to a ton. A ton may bear half a bushel of salt, less is
+better, and more is injurious to stock, by compelling them to eat too
+much salt. The most beautiful and palatable clover hay is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> that cured in
+the shade, on scaffolds and afterward mowed away.</p>
+
+<p>Timothy should never be cut, until the seed is far enough advanced to
+grow. Careful experiments have shown that cut in the blossom, the hay
+will contain only about one half as much nutriment, as when cut in the
+full-grown seed, but before it commences shelling. Cure as clover, but
+in twice as large cocks, and never salt, unless compelled to draw in
+when damp or too green.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HEDGE.</h4>
+
+<p>The question of fencing in this country, so much of which is prairie,
+and in other parts of which there is such a wanton waste of timber,
+gives great importance to successful hedging. The same plants are not
+equally good for hedge in all parts of the country. There are but few
+plants suitable for hedges in our climate.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Osage Orange</i>&mdash;is the best, in all latitudes where it will
+flourish. It has no diseases or enemies by which it will be destroyed,
+except too cold winters. Of Southern origin, yet it flourishes in many
+places at the North. In cold localities, where there is but little snow,
+it suffers much until three or four years old. It is being extensively
+introduced into central and northern Illinois, where unusually cold
+winters destroy vast quantities of young plants, and kill the tops of
+much old hedge. It is still insisted that it will succeed; but we
+consider it too uncertain, and consequently too expensive, for general
+fencing in such climates. The roots and lower parts of the plants may be
+preserved,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> however, by setting them out for a hedge on level ground,
+instead of ridges as usual, and plowing a furrow three feet from each
+side of the row, to drain off surplus water. Mulch thoroughly in the
+fall, and thus protect from frost until they have been set in the hedge
+for three years, and they may succeed and make a good live fence. To
+raise the plants, soak the seeds thoroughly, and, at the usual time of
+corn-planting, plant in straight rows, and keep clean of weeds. Set out
+in hedge the following spring. The soil of the hedge-row should be deep,
+mellow, and moderately, not excessively rich. Too rich soil makes a
+larger growth, of spongy and more tender wood. Plants should have a
+portion of the tap-root cut off, and be planted a foot apart in the row.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Hawthorn</i>&mdash;will never be extensively cultivated for live fence in
+this country, being subject to borers, as destructive as in fruit-trees.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Virginia Thorn</i>&mdash;is equally uncertain.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Buck Thorn</i>&mdash;after fifteen years' trial, in New England, bids fair
+to answer every purpose for American live fence: it is easily
+propagated, of rapid growth, very hardy, thickens up well at the bottom,
+and is exempt from the depredations of insects. It may yet prove the
+great American hedge-shrub.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Newcastle Thorn</i>&mdash;cultivated in New England, is much more
+beautiful, and promises to rival the buck thorn, but has not been
+sufficiently tested to settle its claims. Much is anticipated from it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/ill-242.jpg" width="650" height="516" alt="Shearing down young hedges.
+Properly-trimmed hedge (end view).Badly-trimmed hedge (end view).Neglected hedge (side view)." title="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<p>There are plants well adapted to hedge at the South, which are too
+tender for the North. In White's Gardening for the South, we have the
+following given as hedge-shrubs, adapted to that region: Osage Orange,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+Pyracanth, Cherokee, and single White Macartney roses. The Macartney,
+being an evergreen thorn, and said to make as close a hedge as the Osage
+Orange and much more beautiful, is quite a favorite at the South. They
+usually train the rose-shrubs for hedge on some kind of paling or wire
+fence. They render some of them impenetrable even by rabbits or
+sparrows; this is done by layers, and trimming twice a year, commencing
+after the first three months' growth. Pruning is the most important
+matter in the whole business of hedging. A hedge set out ever so well,
+and composed of the best variety of plants, if left in the weeds,
+without proper care in trimming, will be nearly useless. A well-trimmed
+hedge around a fruit-orchard will keep out all fruit-thieves. The great
+difficulty is the <i>unwillingness</i> of cultivators to cut off, so short
+and so frequently, <i>the fine growth</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/ill-242.jpg" width="650" height="516" alt="Shearing down young hedges.
+Properly-trimmed hedge (end view).Badly-trimmed hedge (end view).Neglected hedge (side view)." title="" />
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Shear off the first year's growth (<i>a</i>) within three inches of the
+ground (<i>b</i>). Cut the vigorous shoots that will rise from this shearing,
+four inches higher, about the middle of July, and similar and successive
+cuttings, each a little longer, in the two following years; these will
+bring the hedge to a proper height. The form of trimming shown in end
+view of properly-trimmed hedge, protects the bottom from shade by too
+much foliage on the top: the effects of that shade are seen in neglected
+hedge in the cut.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HEMP.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the staple articles of American agriculture. It is much
+cultivated in Kentucky and other contiguous states. Its market value is
+so fluctuating that many farmers are giving up its cultivation. The
+substance of these directions is taken from an elaborate article from
+the pen of the honorable Henry Clay. Had not the length of that article
+rendered it inconsistent with the plan of this volume, we should have
+given it to the American people as it came from the hand of their
+greatest statesman, who was so eminently American in all his sentiments
+and labors.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preparation of the Soil</i>&mdash;should be as thorough as for flax;&mdash;this can
+not be too strongly insisted on. Much is lost by neglect, under the
+mistaken notion that hemp will do about as well on coarse, hard land.
+Plants for seeds should be sown in drills four feet apart, and separate
+from that designed only for the lint. The stalks should be allowed to
+stand about eight inches apart in the rows. Plants are male and female,
+distin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>guished in the blossoms. When the farina from the blossoms on the
+male plants (the female plants do not blossom) has generally fallen,
+pull up the male plants, leaving only the females to mature. Cut the
+seed-plants after the first hard frost, and carry in wet, so as to avoid
+loss by shelling. Seed is easily separated by a common flail. After the
+seeds are thrashed out, they should be spread thin, and thoroughly
+dried, or their vegetative power will be destroyed by heat or decay.
+They should be spread to be kept for the next spring's planting, and not
+be kept in large bulk. Their vegetation is very uncertain after they are
+a year old. Sow hemp for lint broadcast, when the weather has become
+warm enough for corn-planting. Opinions vary as to the quantity of seed,
+from one bushel to two and a half bushels per acre. Probably a bushel
+and a peck is best. Plowing in the seed is good on old land; rolling is
+also useful. If it gets up six inches high, so that the leaves cover the
+ground well, few crops are less effected by the vicissitudes of the
+weather. Some sow a part of their hemp at different times, that it may
+not all ripen at once and crowd them in their labor. Cutting it ten days
+before it is ripe, or allowing it to stand two weeks after, will not
+materially injure it. Hemp is pulled or cut. Cutting, as near the ground
+as possible, is the better method. The plants are spread even on the
+ground and cured; bound up in convenient handfuls and shocked up, and
+bound around the top as corn. It is an improvement to shake off the
+leaves well before shocking up. If stacked after a while, and allowed to
+remain for a year, the improvement in the lint is worth more than the
+loss of time. There are two methods of rotting&mdash;dew-rotting,
+<b>and</b>water-rot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>ting&mdash;one by spreading out on grass-land, and the other by
+immersing in water; the latter is much the preferable mode. The question
+of sufficient rotting is determined by trial. Hemp is broken and cleaned
+like flax. The stalks need to be well aired and dried in the sun to
+facilitate the operation. Extremes in price have been from three to
+eight dollars per hundred pounds: five dollars renders it a very
+profitable crop. Thorough rotting, good cleaning, and neat order, are
+the conditions of obtaining the first market price. An acre produces
+from six hundred to one thousand pounds of lint&mdash;an average of about one
+hundred pounds to each foot of height of the stalks. Hemp exhausts the
+soil but a mere trifle, if at all; the seventeenth successive crop on
+the same land having proved the best. Nothing leaves the land in better
+condition for other crops; it kills all the weeds, and leaves the
+surface smooth and even.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HOEING.</h4>
+
+<p>Much depends upon the proper and timely use of the hoe. Never let weeds
+press you; hoe at proper times, and you never will have any large weeds.
+As soon as vegetables are up, so that you can do it safely, hoe them.
+The more frequent the hoeing while plants are young, the larger will be
+the crop. Premium crops are always hoed very frequently. Hoeing
+cabbages, corn, and similar smooth plants, when it rains slightly, is
+nearly equal to a coat of manure. But beans, potatoes, and vines, and
+whatever has a rough stalk, are much injured by stirring the ground
+about them while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> they are wet, or even much damp. We have known
+promising crops of vines nearly destroyed by hoeing when wet. Hoeing
+near the roots of vines after they have formed runners one or two feet
+long, will also nearly ruin them;&mdash;the same is true of onions: hoe near
+them, cutting off the lateral roots, and you will lessen the crop one
+half. In hoeing, make no high hills except for sweet potatoes. High
+hilling up originated in England, where their cool, humid, cloudy
+atmosphere demands it, to secure more warmth. In this country we have to
+guard more against drought and heat.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HOPS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are native in this country, being found, growing spontaneously, by
+many of our rivers. There are four or five varieties, but no preference
+has been given to any particular one. Moist, sandy loam is the best
+soil, though good hops may be grown in abundance on any land suitable
+for corn or potatoes. Plow the land quite deep in autumn; in the spring,
+harrow the same way it was plowed. Spread evenly over the surface
+sixteen cords of manure to the acre, if your soil be of ordinary
+richness; cross-plow as deep as the first plowing; furrow out as for
+potatoes, four feet apart each way. Plant hops in every other hill of
+every other row, making them eight feet apart each way. Plant all the
+remaining hills with potatoes. Four cuttings of running roots of hops
+should be planted in each hill. Many hop-yards are unproductive on
+account of being too thick;&mdash;less than eight feet each way deprives the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+vines of suitable air and sun, and prevents plowing them with ease. The
+first year, they only need to be kept clean of weeds by hoeing them with
+the potatoes. In the fall of the first year, to prevent injury from hard
+frosts, put a large shovelful of good manure on the top of each hill.
+Each spring, before the hops are opened, spread on each acre eight cords
+of manure; coarse straw manure is preferable. Plow both ways at first
+hoeing. They require three hoeings, the last when in full bloom in the
+beginning of August. Open the hops every spring by the middle of May; at
+the South, by the last of April. This is done by making four furrows
+between the rows, turning them from the hills; the earth is then removed
+from the roots with a hoe, and all the running roots cut in with a sharp
+knife within two inches of the main roots. The tops of the main roots
+must also be cut in, and covered with earth two inches deep. Set the
+poles on the first springing of the vines; never have more than two
+poles in a hill, or more than two vines on a pole, and no pole more than
+sixteen feet high. Neglect this root-pruning, and multiply poles and
+crowd them with vines, and you will get very few hops. Select the most
+thrifty vines for the poles, and destroy all the others. Watch them
+during the summer, that they do not blow down from the poles. They must
+be picked as soon as they are ripe, and before frosts. The best
+picking-box is a wooden bin made of light boards, nine feet long, three
+feet wide, and two and a half feet deep; the poles are laid across this,
+and the hops picked into it by hand. In gathering hops, cut the vines
+two feet from the ground, that bleeding may not injure the roots.</p>
+
+<p><i>Curing</i> is the most important matter in hop-growing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> Hops would all be
+of one quality, and bring the first price, if equally well cured. The
+following description (with slight abbreviation) of the process of
+curing, by William Blanchard, Esq., is, perhaps, as complete as anything
+that can be obtained. Much depends upon having a well-constructed kiln.
+For the convenience of putting the hops on the kiln, a side hill is
+generally chosen for its situation; it should be a dry situation. It
+should be dug out the same bigness at the bottom as at the top; the side
+walls laid up perpendicularly, and filled in solid with stone to give it
+a tunnel form: twelve feet square at the top, two feet square at the
+bottom, and at least eight feet deep, is deemed a convenient size. On
+the top of the walls sills are laid, having joists let into them, as for
+laying a floor, on which laths, about one and a half inches wide, are
+nailed, leaving open spaces between them three fourths of an inch, over
+which a thin linen cloth is spread and nailed at the edges to the sills.
+A board about twelve inches wide is set up on each side of the kiln, on
+the inner edge of the sill, to form a bin to receive the hops. Fifty
+pounds, after they are dry, is all such a kiln will hold at once. The
+larger the stones made use of in the construction of the kiln the
+better, as it will give a more steady and dense heat. The inside of the
+kiln should be well plastered with mortar to make it air-tight. Charcoal
+is the best fuel. Heat the kiln well before putting on the hops; keep a
+steady and regular heat while drying. Hops must not remain in bulk long
+after being picked, as they will heat and spoil. Do not stir them while
+drying. After they are thoroughly dry, remove them into a dry room, and
+lay in heaps, and not stir unless they are gathering damp<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>ness that will
+change their color; then spread them. This will only occur when they
+have not been properly dried. They are bagged by laying cloth into a
+box, so made that it can be removed, and give opportunity to sew up the
+bag while in the press. The hops are pressed in by a screw. In bulk they
+will sweat a little, which will begin to subside in about eight days, at
+which time they should be bagged. If they sweat much and begin to change
+their color, they must be dried before bagging. The best size for bags
+is about two hundred and fifty pounds' weight, in a bag about five feet
+long. Common tow-cloth or Russia-hemp bags are best. Extensive
+hop-growers build houses over the kiln, that they may be able to use
+them in wet weather. In this case, keep the doors open as much as
+possible without letting in the rain. Dried without sufficient air,
+their color is changed, and their quality and market-value injured.
+These houses are made much larger than the kiln, in many instances, for
+the convenience of storing and bagging the hops when dry; in this case,
+tight partitions should separate the storerooms from the kiln, to avoid
+dampness from the drying hops.</p>
+
+<p>The form of manuring recommended is contrary to the old practice of
+putting a little manure only in the hill: that practice exposed vines to
+decay and destruction by worms, and this does not; our system also
+produces hops equal to new land.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>HORSE.</h4>
+
+<p>This noble animal is in general use, and everywhere highly prized. By
+the last census, we see that there are two thirds as many horses as cows
+in the United States&mdash;4,335,358 horses, and over six millions of cows.
+But, valuable as is the horse, he suffers much ill treatment and neglect
+from his master. To give a history of the horse, the various breeds of
+different countries, and the efforts to improve them, would be
+interesting, did it fall within the limits of our design. The patronage
+of the kings and nobility of England has done much to elevate the horse
+to his present standard of excellence. It has now become the custom for
+intelligent gentlemen in rural districts, in all enlightened countries,
+to give much attention to the improvement of horses. Unfortunately, some
+of that enthusiasm is perverted to the channel of horse-racing, a
+practice alike injurious to horses and the morals of men. A few brief
+hints are all we have space for, where a volume would be interesting and
+useful. The farmer should exercise constant care to improve the breed of
+his horses: it pays best to raise good horses. This depends upon the
+qualities of the dam and sire, and upon proper feed and care. This is a
+subject that farmers should carefully study from books and from their
+own observation. The most important matter in raising horses, is care in
+working and feeding. Nineteen out of twenty of all sick horses are made
+so by bad treatment. The prevention of disease is better than cure.
+Steady, and even hard work, will not injure a horse that is well and
+regularly fed. But a few moments of crowd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>ing a horse's speed, or of an
+unnatural strain on his strength, may ruin him. Let it always be
+remembered that it is speed, and not heavy loads, that most injures a
+horse. A mile an hour too fast will soon run down your horse. A horse
+fed with grain, or watered, when warm, is liable to be foundered; and if
+not so fed as actually to be foundered, he will gradually grow stiff.
+Horses are liable to take cold by any unreasonable exposure to the
+weather, in the same circumstances as men, and the effects on health and
+comfort are very similar. A horse having become warm by driving, should
+never stand a minute without a blanket. When a man goes from a heated
+room, or in a perspiration, into inclement weather, he takes cold the
+moment the cold or storm strikes him: in a few moments the effects on
+the pores of the body are such that there is no particular exposure. It
+is so with a horse. He takes cold when you are only going to allow him
+to "stand but a minute," and during that time you leave him uncovered.</p>
+
+<p>If you are under the necessity of doing an unusual day's work with a
+horse, do not feed him heavily on that day. Unusual feed the day before
+and the day after will do him good; but on the day of excessive work it
+injures him. Never feed horses too much; they will often eat one third
+more than is good for their health. Keep the bottom of the trough in
+which you feed your horses grain, plastered over with a mixture of equal
+parts of salt and ashes, that they may eat a little of it when they
+please. When the water of your horse becomes thick and yellowish, or
+whitish, give him a piece of rosin as large as a walnut, pulverized and
+put in his grain. If a horse has the heaves,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> give him no hay or oats;
+corn, ground or soaked, should be his only grain, and green corn-fodder
+in summer, and cornstalks, cut fine, with a little warm water on them,
+mixed with meal, should constitute his only food. All except a few of
+the most confirmed and long-standing cases of heaves are <i>entirely
+relieved</i> by this course of feeding, and that relief is permanent as
+long as the feed is continued, and it frequently effects a cure so
+radical that the disease will not return on a change of food. To bring
+up horses that have had hard usage and poor feed, and to secure growth
+in colts, feed them milk. The milk of a butter-dairy is not more
+profitably used in any other way, than fed to horses and colts. Give
+them no water for two or three days, and they will readily learn to
+drink all the sour, thick milk you will give them. Colts will grow
+faster on milk than on any other food.</p>
+
+<p>Horses should be often rubbed down and kept clean, and when put in the
+stable wet, they should be rubbed dry. It is very essential to the
+health of a horse that he have pure air. Stables in this country are
+usually airy enough. But if the stable be tight, it should be well
+ventilated. The gases from a wet stable floor are injurious.
+Disinfecting agents are good remedies; a little plaster-of-Paris spread
+over a stable-floor is very useful. These brief directions, followed,
+will prevent most of the diseases to which horses are subject; or in
+case a horse be attacked, he will have the disease lightly, as temperate
+men do epidemics.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>HORSERADISH.</h4>
+
+<p>This is regarded a healthy condiment, especially in the spring of the
+year. Grated, with a little vinegar, it may be eaten with any food you
+choose. Small shavings of the root are esteemed in mangoes. When steeped
+in vinegar for two weeks, it is said effectually to remove freckles from
+the face. Any pieces of the roots will grow in any good garden-soil.
+Larger and better roots may be produced, by trenching the bed two feet
+deep, and putting in the bottom, ten inches of good manure, and planting
+selected roots, about six inches deep.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HOTBEDS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are designed to force an early growth of plants. It is done by the
+use of solar heat, and that arising from fermenting manures, combined.
+The following directions for constructing and managing hotbeds will
+enable every one to be successful. Nail boards on pieces of scantling
+placed in the inside corners, in the form of a box, sixteen feet long
+and six feet wide; make it three and a half feet high on the back-side,
+and two feet high in front, facing the sun; nail a piece of board across
+the middle, let in at the top, to prevent the box from spreading when
+filled. Fill that with good, fresh horse-manure, with but little straw;
+tread it down firmly. Put over the whole, sashes made with cross-pieces
+but one way, and filled with glass, lapped half an inch, like shingles
+on a roof,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> to carry off the rain; putty in the glass lightly, or it may
+adhere to fresh-painted frames; let the frames be halved on their edges,
+so as to lap and be tight; put these over the filled hotbed, perfectly
+fitted all around, and enough of them to cover the whole bed; in two or
+three days the manure will become pretty warm, when it should be
+covered, four inches deep, with rich mould, sheltered for the purpose
+the previous fall, and the seeds planted. When the plants come up, see
+that they are kept sufficiently moist, and not have the hot sun pour
+upon them intensely, and they will grow rapidly; when too warm, they
+should be partly covered with mats, and the frames raised to let in air.
+Put small wedges between the sash and the boards, which will let in
+sufficient air. Keep it closed when the air is cold, and covered with
+mats when the sun is too hot. Plants are often destroyed by
+over-heating. When in danger of freezing, cover closely with mats or
+straw, or both. We have had plants growing in such a bed when the
+thermometer stood eight degrees below zero. If the heat of the manure
+subsides too early, pack fresh horse-manure all around the outside of
+the box, and as it heats it will communicate warmth to the inside of the
+bed. As plants grow up, transplant a part to a fresh bed, so as to give
+all a chance to grow stocky and strong. Almost everything that grows in
+the garden may be forwarded greatly in the hotbed. Vines, beets,
+tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, egg-plants, celery, beans, corn, and
+potatoes, may be obtained much earlier by this means. Those that are
+injured most by transplanting should be planted in the hotbed, on
+inverted sods, or grass turfs, six inches square, which can be removed
+with the growing plants on them, without seriously dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>turbing the
+roots. Plenty of shade and moisture on transplanting will save the most
+tender plants, and they will speedily recover. Make a hotbed of any size
+you may desire on the same principle. The boards and frames will last
+many years, with proper care, and occasional supply of a broken light of
+glass. Into such sash, broken glass of any size can be put, by cutting
+it to a proper width in one direction, no matter how far the points lap.</p>
+
+
+<h4>HOUSES.</h4>
+
+<p>It is not our design to give an extended view of rural architecture. But
+this work can not be complete without a brief notice of farm-buildings,
+and a few plans for such buildings, adapted to the wants of those
+possessing limited means. We hope these directions and plans will prove
+important aids in getting up cheap, yet convenient and beautiful,
+country residences, especially in all the newer parts of the country.
+Our reading on rural architecture, and an extensive observation in many
+states of the Union, have made us acquainted with nothing, combining
+beauty, cheapness, and utility, better than the following.</p>
+
+<p>The scale at the bottom will enable any mechanic to determine the size
+of each of these buildings, and their relation to each other. They can,
+on the same general plan, be made of any dimensions, to suit the wishes
+of the proprietor.</p>
+
+<p>The wagon-house in the range is forty feet long, affording ample shelter
+for all kinds of vehicles, connected by a covered way with the
+horse-stables and barn-floor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 638px;">
+<img src="images/ill-256.jpg" width="638" height="650" alt="Range of Farm-Buildings." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Range of Farm-Buildings.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>A lean-to is built on the north side of the wagon-house, in which is a
+tool-house opening into it, and a stable for eight milch-cows, that will
+thus be convenient for winter-milking; these cows are fed from the loft
+over the wagon-house. The barn is thirty by forty feet, with floor in
+the middle and bay on each side: this can be driven into on one side and
+out on the other. From the floor is a covered way to cattle and horse
+stables, and into the wagon and tool house, without going outdoor.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Piggery.</i>&mdash;Large and small swine do not do so well together; hence,
+the larger ones are to occupy the feeding-pen and bed on the right (in
+the cut), those of medium size on the left, and the smaller ones in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+rear. The dimensions and relative size of apartments can be determined
+from the plan.</p>
+
+<p>The other buildings sufficiently explain themselves in the cut.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 494px;">
+<img src="images/ill-257.jpg" width="494" height="550" alt="Ground-plan of Piggery." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Ground-plan of Piggery.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>With this range of buildings, let a farmer do his own thrashing, with a
+small horse-power, and thrash a part at a time during the winter,
+keeping the straw in an apartment in the bay, dry for litter, and for
+cut feed for cattle and horses, and it will be the best and most
+economical method of thrashing and keeping stock. Every farmer should do
+at least a part of his thrashing in this way, during the winter, for the
+benefit of fresh straw, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p><i>Country Residence.</i>&mdash;This includes the range of buildings given
+opposite, their distance from the house, and all the parts of a complete
+residence, with all the comforts and conveniences that can be crowded
+into such a space, and at a very reasonable expense. Three fourths of an
+acre are devoted to the ornamental grounds; except the walks and small
+flower-beds, it is all green turf. Plowed very deep and thoroughly
+enriched, the trees are set out, and all then made very level, and one
+and a half bushels grass-seed sown on it and brushed in very smooth.
+This soon makes a very thick green turf, to be cut every ten days during
+the most growing season, and less frequently as the season advances. The
+trees, for a few years, need careful working around and mulching. The
+gravel carriage-road is twelve feet wide, and winding around shrubbery,
+it leads to the carriage-house in the range of buildings. The foot-walks
+are five feet wide. The curves in the walks may be accu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>rately laid out
+in the following manner. Determine the general position by a few points
+measured off. Lay a pole upon the ground, in the direction of the walk;
+stick a peg in the ground at the first end and at its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> middle; move the
+pole round a little, leaving the middle the same,&mdash;then stick a peg at
+its end, and move it forward&mdash;moving it forward and round equally, each
+time, by measurement. A longer or shorter curve is made by a greater or
+less side-movement of the pole. In a regular curve, the movements are
+the same; but in going from a shorter to a longer, or from a longer to a
+shorter curve, the side-measurement must increase or diminish regularly.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 477px;">
+<img src="images/ill-258.jpg" width="477" height="650" alt="Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Grounds, and
+Fruit-Gardens." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Grounds, and
+Fruit-Gardens.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/255.jpg" width="400" height="86" alt="Laying out Curves." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Laying out Curves.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/ill-259.jpg" width="650" height="241" alt="First floor." title="" />
+<span class="caption">First floor.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chambers.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 380px;">
+<img src="images/ill-260.jpg" width="380" height="400" alt="Summer-house." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Summer-house.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The following cuts show the plan of the house: three principal rooms and
+a bed-room below, and four rooms above. The hall extends through the
+house, affording good ventilation in summer, and entrance to each room,
+without passing through another. The chimney in the centre economizes
+heat. This small and cheap house affords more conveniences than most
+large ones. One of the finest things about such a house is a good
+cellar. For a farm-house, the cellar should be under the whole; make it
+eight feet deep, gravel and water lime made smooth on the bottom,
+flagging under the bottom of the wall extending out a foot, the wall
+above ground built double, the inside four inches thick, with brick,
+with a space of two inches, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> outside stone wall a foot thick. The
+windows should be double and well fitted, the inside one hung on hinges;
+the outside one to be removed in spring, and its place supplied with a
+well-fitted frame, covered with wire-cloth to admit air and exclude
+intruders during summer. This will not freeze, and never need banking.
+No rat can enter, for they always work close to the wall, and coming to
+the projecting flat stone at the bottom, they give it up. On one side of
+the cellar, under the kitchen, make a large rain-water cistern, with a
+pump in the kitchen and a faucet in the cellar, and the whole
+arrangement is perfect. If the farm be large, you will need some of the
+good, but cheap houses described in the following part of this article,
+where your men will live and board themselves, which is always the best
+and cheapest way. An open view from the house in the country residence
+extends to the summer-house (<i>b</i>) on the right. This is one of the
+neatest cheap summer-houses that can be made. The following directions
+for making it may be useful. Set eight cedar posts, six inches in
+diameter, in the ground, in a circle; saw them off even at the top, and
+connect them by plank nailed on their tops. Make an eight-sided roof of
+boards; nail lath from post to post, forming lattice-work, leaving a
+space between two posts for a door. Put a seat around on the inside.
+Leave all the materials except the seat unplaned, and cover with a white
+or brown wash, and it need not cost more than five or six dollars,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> and,
+covered with vines of some kind, it will be ornamental.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-261.jpg" width="500" height="297" alt="Laborer&#39;s Cottage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Laborer&#39;s Cottage.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-261b.jpg" width="500" height="244" alt="Plan of Laborer&#39;s Cottage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Plan of Laborer&#39;s Cottage.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This form of a cheap house is convenient and pleasant. Built of
+four-inch scantling, the plates and sills being connected only by the
+upright plank, and the wings thoroughly bracing the upright posts; when
+lumber is cheap, it may be built for one hundred and fifty or two
+hundred dollars, with cellar, well, and cistern. Occasional whitewash is
+as good as paint. With cellar under the whole, filled in with brick, and
+having blinds, it may cost three hundred and fifty dollars. The plan of
+the house sufficiently explains itself.</p>
+
+<p>The next cut illustrates a neat country-house, for a family who think
+more of neatness, comfort, and intellectual pursuits, than of mere
+ornament, and may serve the purpose of a farmhouse, or the residence of
+a retired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> or professional gentleman. It has the unconstrained air of
+the Italian style, without a rigid adherence to any rules, and may
+therefore be altered or added to without destroying its effect.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-262.jpg" width="600" height="316" alt="Italian Farmhouse." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Italian Farmhouse.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-262b.jpg" width="600" height="282" alt="Plan of Italian Farm House." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Plan of Italian Farm House.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The plan is intelligible without explanation. Built in a plain way, the
+four large rooms not larger than fifteen by seventeen, and ten feet
+high, plain in its finish, it would cost about sixteen hundred dollars
+complete. It may go up from that, according to size and height of rooms,
+and style of finish, to three thousand dollars. It then makes as good a
+house as any person ever need to occupy, out of great cities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>HYBRIDS.</h4>
+
+<p>Although this subject has received far too little attention, yet our
+limits will only allow us to mention a few facts, of the most practical
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>Plants hybridize only through their blossoms. This can only occur in
+plants of similarity, in nature and habits. Squashes and pumpkins
+planted near each other mix badly, and the poorer will prevail.
+Varieties of corn mix at considerable distances, by the falling of
+pollen from the tassel upon the silk of another variety. Watermelons are
+always ruined by being planted near citrons. The seeds from melons so
+grown will not produce one good melon. How far watermelons and
+muskmelons, or squashes with melons, will hybridize, is uncertain. By
+planting nutmeg muskmelons with the common roughskinned variety, we have
+produced a kind about half way between them, that was of great
+excellence. Two kinds of cabbage or turnip seed should never be raised
+in the same garden. Cabbage and turnip seed raised near together is
+valueless. In strawberries, different plants are essential to each
+other, the quality of the fruit being determined by the plant
+fertilized, and not by the fertilizer. This subject is further treated
+under articles on different plants.</p>
+
+
+<h4>INARCHING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a method of effecting a union of trees or branches, while both
+retain their hold in the ground. Shave off a little wood from each, and
+put them togeth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>er, fitting closely, so that the barks will meet, as in
+grafting; tie firmly, and cover with wax. When they have got well to
+growing, cut off the top of the old one, and after a while cut the new
+one from the ground. When you have a tree that it is difficult to
+propagate in the usual way, you may transplant it to a thrifty stock.
+Vigorous branches may by this means be transferred to old, poor-bearing,
+or slow-growing trees. So also may a tree be prolonged beyond its
+ordinary age, as the pear on the quince, by inarching young shoots. We
+can only recommend this to the curious experimenter, who has little else
+to do.</p>
+
+
+<h4>INSECTS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are the natural enemies of fruits and plants; and to prevent their
+depredations requires much care. There is no universal remedy. Birds and
+young fowls&mdash;especially ducks and chickens&mdash;are useful in a garden. The
+ducks must not be kept there too long. They will appropriate a little to
+their own use, but will save much more for the proprietor. Insects have
+their peculiar tastes for particular fruits and plants, of which we have
+treated, under those heads, respectively. Success in many branches of
+horticulture and pomology, depends upon attention to the habits of
+insects. The most general remedy is to wash trees or plants with a
+strong decoction of some offensive herb, or with whale-oil soapsuds.
+Tobacco is very useful for this purpose.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>IRON FILINGS.</h4>
+
+<p>It has been ascertained by analysis, that iron enters largely into the
+composition of the pear. Iron filings spread under them, or worked into
+the soil, increases the growth of pear-trees, and improves the quality
+of the fruit.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IRRIGATION.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the most important matters, that can engage the attention
+of agriculturists of the present day. A stream of water that may be
+caused to flow gently over a field, or different parts of a farm, at
+pleasure, is a mine of wealth. Plants receive their food from the air
+and water. We shall discuss this more fully when treating of manures. A
+poor, porous, sandy, or gravelly soil usually produces a fine crop, in a
+wet season. That is an addition to the soil of nothing but water. Hence
+all springs and streams can be turned to great account, on a farm or
+garden. Watering gardens by hand or with a garden-pump, will often pay
+better than any other expenditure on the land. Employing a man, in a dry
+season, to spend his whole time in watering five acres of garden, of
+berries and vegetables, as cabbages, vines, onions, and potatoes, will
+pay a very large profit. Strawberries will bear twice as much and twice
+as long, for daily watering, after they begin to bud for blossoms, until
+the fruit is gone. It is a necessary caution not to water irregularly,
+and only occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>ally, in a dry season. Better not commence than to
+leave off, or neglect it in a dry time, before a rain. Read further in
+our article on "Watering."</p>
+
+
+<h4>LABELS.</h4>
+
+<p>It is important, on many accounts, to have fruit-trees and shrubs well
+labelled. Many labels have been invented. We prefer Cole's, as given in
+his Fruit Book, to any other. Take a piece of sound pine or other soft
+wood, whittle two sides smooth, leaving one wider than the other, with a
+sharp corner between them. For one, cut one notch in the edge, and so up
+to four, four notches for four. For five, cut across the narrow side.
+For ten cut across the wide side, and a notch for every ten up to forty.
+For fifty, cut obliquely across the narrow side, and for one hundred cut
+obliquely across the wide side. Keep the names in a book, with numbers
+corresponding with the notches or numbers on the labels.</p>
+
+<p>Fasten these to trees, loosely, by a small copper or brass wire.
+Transported to any distance, exposed to any weather, or buried in the
+ground, they will not be obliterated. Pieces of sheet lead, tin, or
+zinc, cut wide at one end, and written on with a sharp awl, and narrow
+at the other end, to be bent around a limb, will answer a pretty good
+purpose. Any soft wood, made smooth, and a little white paint applied,
+and written on with a good pencil, will preserve the mark for a long
+time. Fasten with small wire. There are many labels, but we know none
+preferable to the above. By all means make labels accurate and
+permanent. Otherwise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> great losses may occur by budding or grafting from
+wrong varieties.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LANDSCAPE GARDENS.</h4>
+
+<p>These deserve much more attention than they receive in this country. On
+most farms land enough is lying waste, to make a picturesque landscape,
+at a small expense. Trees planted, weeds destroyed, grass cultivated,
+and paths made, according to the most approved rules of carelessness,
+would secure this object. With a wealthy man, the omission of such a
+park about his dwelling is hardly pardonable. Landscape gardening is an
+extensive subject. We can only give a few of the most general simple
+rules, that may be practised, without the possession of very large
+means.</p>
+
+<p>1. Place the house some distance from the main street.</p>
+
+<p>2. Make the carriage-way leading to the house, at least twelve feet
+wide, and do not allow it to extend in a straight line, but in gentle
+curves, around clusters of trees and plats of grass, apparently
+rendering the curves necessary.</p>
+
+<p>3. Have no large trees directly in front of the house.</p>
+
+<p>4. Plant trees of the thickest and greenest foliage near the house, and
+those of more open tops at a greater distance. Standard pear, and
+handsome cherry trees, do well planted among the forest trees. Clusters
+of them, at suitable distances, are not only beautiful, but they bear
+exceedingly well. They are well protected by the forest trees, and
+standing alone are injured less by insects.</p>
+
+<p>5. Never set trees in a landscape garden, in straight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> rows, nor trees
+of similar size and form together. Nature never does so.</p>
+
+<p>6. Let none of the walks be straight lines, but curves, meandering among
+trees and grass. If there be any water in the vicinity, let there be an
+open space, giving a fair view of it from the house. If you have a
+stream, make rustic bridges over it, the plainer the better. Here and
+there have rustic arbors. Attached to all this should be three other
+gardens, one of flowers, another of vegetables, and the third of fruits.
+These three should never grow together. Fruit-trees ruin vegetables and
+injure flowers. And flowers in a vegetable garden are mere weeds. A
+separate plat for each is the correct rule, both for beauty and profit.
+All this need require but little time and expense. All landholders can,
+at a moderate cost, live amid scenes of perpetual beauty, while the rich
+may spend as much money in this way as they choose.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LAYERING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a method of propagation, by bending down a branch, and fastening
+it under the soil, leaving the upper end projecting, until it takes
+root. Cut half way through the branch so as to raise the top, and fasten
+it at the point where it is cut, in a trench, with a stick thrust into
+the ground over it nearly horizontally, or with a stick having a hook
+made by cutting off a limb. Cover well with soil, and mulch it, and
+water when dry. This done in the spring, in August the branch will be
+well rooted, and may be cut away from the parent stalk.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> This is
+important in any tree or shrub (like the snowball), difficult to
+propagate by slips or grafting.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LAYING IN TREES.</h4>
+
+<p>Dig a trench where water will not stand, and lay the trees in at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, and cover the roots and lower part, very
+closely, with earth. In this way they may be well preserved through the
+winter, if buried so deep that the tap-root will not freeze, which is
+always injurious to trees that have been removed from their original
+soil. Such freezing is always destructive to trees out of the ground.
+Small trees and seedlings may be covered entirely, to be kept through
+the winter. Put coarse straw manure on the earth, over trees large
+enough for setting, that are to be preserved heeled in during winter;
+and straw or corn-fodder over the tops, during the coldest weather, and
+they will come out perfect in the spring.</p>
+
+<p>If not ready to set out your trees at once, you may preserve them in
+perfect condition to very late in spring, in this way, by raising them
+once, to check vegetation, and putting them back, and shading their
+stems and mulching the roots, after the commencement of warm weather.
+Trees may thus be preserved in better condition for transplanting than
+those left in the nursery, and they will make a larger growth the first
+season.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>LEEKS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are said to be natives of Switzerland. We think this doubtful, as
+they are an article of daily food in Egypt, and were so highly esteemed
+there, centuries ago, as to become an object of worship. They are used
+as a pot-herb, to give a flavor to soups and stews. They are not
+bulbous, like onions, but have a long stem, which is principally used.
+They are transplanted very deep, so as to obtain a long white neck. The
+ends of the roots are to be cut off when transplanted, and they should
+be set in rows a foot apart, and from four to six inches in the row.
+There are several varieties, distinguished mainly by the width of the
+leaves,&mdash;the <i>Flanders</i> (or <i>narrow-leafed</i>), the <i>Scotch</i>, and the
+<i>Broad London</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We know no use of leeks for which onions would not be equally good, and,
+hence, do not recommend their cultivation.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LEMON.</h4>
+
+<p>This is the finest acid fruit grown, and belongs to warm climates; but
+by getting good budded trees from the South, and setting in
+glass-houses, protected from severe frosts, we may grow lemons in
+abundance at the North.</p>
+
+<p>By a system of acclimation and protection, we anticipate seeing oranges
+and other Southern fruits grown at the North as a domestic luxury, and
+perhaps at a profit for market. The houses necessary for protection may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+be worth more for other purposes than their cost and care, without
+interfering with their use for orange and lemon culture.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LETTUCE.</h4>
+
+<p>The varieties are numerous, and most of them do well on very rich land,
+well hoed. Only two kinds of summer-lettuce need be cultivated&mdash;the
+<i>ice-head lettuce</i>, and the <i>brown</i>. The ice-head has a very thick and
+tender leaf, continuing to be excellent up to midsummer, from one
+sowing; and if not allowed to stand nearer together than six inches, it
+will produce fine heads. The brown lettuce is very large and very good.
+There are other, earlier kinds, and many others that form large heads.
+But we can get the above kinds early, by sowing in a hotbed and
+transplanting; or by sowing so as to have plants get of considerable
+size in the fall, and protect by covering in winter. These will be
+suitable for the table early in the spring. Lettuce does better for
+transplanting; it forms larger heads than in the original bed, and is a
+little later. Make the soil very rich with stable-manure. Lettuce is
+more affected by the quality of the soil than most other vegetables.
+This is a pleasant and healthy article of food, in spring and early
+summer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>LICORICE.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy plant from Southern Europe. The root in substance, or
+the extracted dried juice, is much used. Needs a deep, rich soil. It is
+propagated by cuttings of roots set out in deeply-trenched land, in rows
+three feet apart, and one foot in the row. Small vegetables may be grown
+among the plants the first year; afterward keep clear of weeds, and
+manure every autumn. At the end of the third year, after the leaves are
+dead, take up the roots and dry them thoroughly. This does well at the
+South. A few roots are sufficient for a family, and the demand will not
+be sufficient to require its culture very extensively as an article of
+commerce. The low price of labor in Southern Europe enables them to
+supply the demand cheaper than can be afforded in this country.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LIME.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a valuable application to the soil. For wheat it is very
+important, except on soil containing a large proportion of calcareous
+matter. Usually air-slaked, and applied as a top-dressing, or plowed or
+harrowed in, its effects are important. On moist, sour land, producing
+wild grass, it corrects the acidity, introduces other grass, and
+prepares the soil for cultivation. On hard, stiff lands, it has a
+tendency to make them friable, and keep them in a mellow condition, thus
+saving more than its cost, in the labor of cultivation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> Very valuable
+in a compost heap. So much may be applied as to burn the soil and prove
+injurious. It will not do as a substitute for everything else. See
+further on "Manures."</p>
+
+
+<h4>LIME.</h4>
+
+<p>A fruit resembling the lemon, growing in the same climate, but of
+smaller size. It is used for the same purposes as the lemon, but is not
+so valuable. Preserved green, it is highly esteemed. It is cultivated as
+the orange and lemon, needing the same protection in cold climates. To
+preserve all these from destruction by insects, wash them in a strong
+decoction of bitter or offensive herbs, or with whale-oil soap-suds;
+tobacco is very effectual. These remedies are useful on all fruit-trees.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LOCATION.</h4>
+
+<p>This is important to everything we cultivate. But, as everything can not
+have the best location, we should study it with reference to those
+things most affected by it, especially fruits. Fruits escape late frosts
+when growing near rills or small brooks. Orchards near the shores of
+bodies of water&mdash;as on Lake Erie about Cleveland, Ohio&mdash;bear luxuriantly
+when all fruit a few miles back is cut off by late frosts. On the
+summits of hills, fruits escape late frosts, when they are all cut off
+in the valleys below. On the Ohio river above Cincinnati, peaches are
+very liable to destruction by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> late frosts. We have seen them all frozen
+through in one night, and turned black the next day, in the month of
+May, after they had grown to the size of marrowfat-peas. One season,
+when there were no peaches in any other locality within a hundred miles,
+we knew an orchard, on a Kentucky hill, so high and steep, that it took
+miles of winding around the hill, to ascend it with a team. Those trees
+were perfectly loaded with peaches, that sold on the tree at four
+dollars per bushel, and in Cincinnati market at seven to eight dollars.
+In Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, there are such hills, that may be
+turned to more valuable account than any of the rest of their land, that
+are not now considered good for anything&mdash;even for sheep-pastures. The
+same is true in the hilly parts of all the states. Good fruit of some
+kind will grow on them all, every year.</p>
+
+
+<h4>LOCUST-TREES.</h4>
+
+<p>It will soon be a great object with American farmers to cultivate
+locust-trees, in all locations to which they are adapted. Even in this
+new world, we shall soon be dependent on cultivated timber for
+fence-posts, railroad-ties, and building purposes. Our native forests
+are rapidly disappearing, while demand for timber is as rapidly
+increasing. Probably no other tree is so profitable for cultivation in
+this country as the locust. It is of rapid growth, and hard and durable,
+and adapted to many uses. The second-growth locust is not so durable as
+the native forest-tree, as found in parts of Ohio; but, cut at a
+suitable age and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> right season of the year, it is as durable as
+white cedar, and much more valuable. The profits of the culture would be
+great. An acre of locust-trees fifteen or twenty years old would be
+worth fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. The expense of growing
+it, aside from the use of the land, would be trifling. The grove would
+afford a good place for fowls, while the blossoms would be nearly equal
+to white clover for honey. The limbs would make excellent wood, and the
+ground would need no planting for a second growth. Fortunate will be the
+men on the prairies of the West, and along the railroads and rivers of
+the land, who shall early plant fields of locust. The profits of it will
+greatly exceed the increase in the value of the land.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MANURES.</h4>
+
+<p>Soils, manures, and preparing the soil&mdash;plowing, harrowing, &amp;c.&mdash;are the
+three great subjects in any good agricultural work. We shall treat this
+subject under the following divisions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. The substances of which manures are composed.</p>
+
+<p>2. Preparation and saving of manures.</p>
+
+<p>3. Time and modes of application.</p>
+
+<p>4. The principles of their action upon plants.</p>
+
+<p>Manures are of two classes&mdash;called putrescent and fossil. The putrescent
+are composed of decayed, or decaying, vegetable and animal substances.
+The fossil are those dug from the earth, as lime, marl, and gypsum. All
+vegetable substances not useful for other purposes are valuable for
+manure. Rotten wood, leaves,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> straw, and all the vegetable parts of
+stable manure, and any spoiled vegetables or grain, are all valuable. At
+the South, their immense quantities of cotton-seed are a mine of wealth,
+if properly prepared and applied as manure. Animal manures consist of
+the animal parts of stable manure, dry and liquid, parts of bones,
+brine, spoiled meat, kitchen slops, soapsuds, and all dead animals. In
+decaying, these substances all pass through a process of fermentation.
+Left exposed without suitable care, they become unhealthy and offensive.
+It is probable that a large share of the diseases suffered in the rural
+districts are caused by these impurities; and the impossibility of
+keeping large cities free from these substances is the cause of their
+increased mortality. In the country, a little timely caution and labor,
+in removing these substances and regulating their fermentation, would
+save much sickness; while the labor would pay a larger per-cent. profit
+than any other performed on the soil. No manures should be allowed to
+ferment, or decay, without being mixed or covered with enough common
+earth, sand, peat, or muck, to retain all the gases and exhalations of
+such putrescence. The smallest quantity that will answer is one load of
+earth to two of the decaying substances. The proportions reversed would
+be better: put one bushel of lime to two loads, two quarts of ground
+plaster, and half a bushel of ashes, and you have the very best compost
+heap. The following are brief general rules for the preparation of
+manures. It is always most economical to feed cattle in the stable or
+under cover, and never have manure exposed to the weather. But if cattle
+must be fed outdoor, let them be fed in a yard, lowest in the centre,
+that the liquids and washings may run into the centre,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> and be absorbed
+by straw and litter. Put manure on the land, or into heaps for compost,
+before very warm weather. Always feed sheep under cover, and keep their
+manure from rain; heap it together with earth in the spring, or apply it
+to the soil at once. Manure thrown out of a stable should be kept under
+cover, out of the rain, and not allowed to heat in winter; its best
+qualities are evaporated by fermentation in the yard. Manures often
+rained on in winter, or left in large piles without intermixture of
+earth, lime, plaster, and ashes, will ferment and waste. Construct your
+stables so that the liquid manure will run into a vat filled with earth;
+muck is best. Experiments have shown that the liquid manures are at
+least one sixth better than the solid. A gentleman dug a pit, thirty-six
+feet square and four feet deep, and walled it in on all sides. He filled
+his vat from a cultivated field, and so constructed his sewers from the
+stables adjoining that the urine saturated the whole. He kept fourteen
+head of cattle there for five months, allowing none but the liquid part
+of the manure to pass into the vat. He spread forty loads of this on an
+acre. For ten years he tried equal quantities of this and well rotted
+and prepared stable-manure, side by side, in the same field, and
+obtained great crops; but in no stage of their growth could he see that
+crops on the land manured from the stable were any better than those
+that had received only the soil from the vat. The latter were quite as
+good as the former. The contents of his vat manured seven acres, or half
+an acre to each creature stabled. The result is proof that one cow
+discharges urine sufficient in five months to manure abundantly half an
+acre of land. Save the solid manure equally well, and a cow will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> make
+manure enough, in five or six months, to increase a crop sufficiently to
+pay for herself. It is certainly safe to say, that a careful man can
+make the manure of a cow pay for her body every year. Is not this an
+important branch of farming operations? Few pay sufficient attention to
+it. Fowls should roost where their droppings may be mixed with common
+garden soil or loam. The manure from each fowl, carefully saved and
+judiciously applied, will pay for its body twice a year. The hogstye may
+be very productive of manure, one fourth better than that from the
+stable. Connected with your hogpen, have a yard fifteen feet square for
+every five hogs; let that yard have no floor. Throw the straw out of
+their sleeping-room frequently to make room for new; throw into the
+yard, also, all sorts of weeds, refuse vegetables, corn-husks, peapods,
+&amp;c.; also the dirt that will naturally accumulate in the backyard of a
+dwelling, including sawdust, fine chips, cleanings of cellars, scrapings
+of ditches, and occasionally a load of loam, muck, or clay&mdash;and six
+loads of manure to each hog may be made, that will prove far better than
+any stable manure; it has been known to produce fifty bushels of corn to
+the acre, when stable-manure produced but forty bushels. Old wood,
+brush, and chips, should never be allowed to remain on uncultivated,
+useless land. Wood throws out the same amount of heat in decaying as it
+does when consumed as fuel. The action of that heat on the soil is
+highly beneficial, retaining it long in a mellow state: hence, all wood,
+too old to be of value for any other purpose, should be put in heaps,
+covered up till decomposed, and then applied to the soil, as other
+manures. For potatoes or vines, but especially melons, it is preferable
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> any other manure. Nothing is so good for muskmelons as old chips
+from the woodyard. Leaves of fruit and forest trees are also very good;
+blood and offal of animals, hair, hoofs, bones, horns, refuse feathers,
+woollen rags, mud from sewers, rivers, roads, swamps, or ponds, turf,
+ashes, old brine, soapsuds, all kinds of fish, oyster and clam
+shells&mdash;all are valuable, and no part of them should ever be thrown away
+or wasted; they are all good in compost heaps, or applied directly to
+the soil. Bones are best ground, but may be used whole, pounded, or
+chemically dissolved, or mixed with alternate layers of fresh
+horse-manure, they will be decomposed by the fermentation of the manure
+(see "Bones"). Perhaps there is as much imprudence in wasting manures as
+in any part of American domestic economy. One who leaves his stock
+without care, and so exposed to the weather as to lose half of them and
+injure the others, is not fit to be a farmer; yet, many waste manure
+that would produce plants for man and beast, of far more value than the
+loss of stock complained of, and yet no one notices it&mdash;it is a matter
+of course, exciting no surprise. Wastefulness in a family, if it be of
+bread, flour, or meat, is considered wicked and impoverishing; while ten
+times that amount may be wasted in manures, that would enrich the soil,
+and excite little or no disapprobation. We hope the agricultural
+periodicals will keep this subject before the people, until these mines
+of wealth will no longer be neglected or wasted.</p>
+
+<p><i>Application of Manures</i> is a subject that has been much discussed, and
+respecting which, intelligent agriculturists differ materially. Some
+apply them extensively as a top-dressing for grass lands. This does much
+good, but probably one half of their virtues is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> lost by washing rains,
+and by evaporation. A better way is not to keep land down in grass long
+at a time, and, when under the plow, manure thoroughly. We knew a piece
+of light land that annually produced half a ton of hay per acre. The
+owner plowed it up, raised a crop, put a moderate quantity of
+stable-manure, and ten loads of leached ashes to the acre. We saw it in
+haying time, the third season after it had been manured and subsoiled
+and seeded down, and they were then taking fully three tons of timothy
+hay from an acre, which was the quantity it had yielded three years in
+succession, without any top-dressing. If a top-dressing of manure is to
+be applied, harrow the land quite thoroughly, and always apply the
+manure in the fall&mdash;it is worth twice as much as when applied in the
+spring. The rains and snows of winter cause it to sink into the soil,
+while the heat of spring and summer evaporate it. A mixture of plaster,
+lime, ashes, and a very little salt, sowed on meadows, immediately after
+haying, secures a good growth of feed, much sooner than it will come on
+other meadows. It also increases, quite considerably, the hay crop of
+the following season. It is a universal rule not to allow manure to lie
+long on the surface to which it is applied, before plowing in. Place
+manure in heaps, as large as will be convenient for spreading, and
+spread it just before the plow. Never spread manure one day to be plowed
+in the next. When manuring in the hill, have the planters follow the
+manure-cart. In manuring potatoes in the hill, drop the potatoes, and
+put the manure on them and cover at once. In a dry season, the yield
+will be double that of those planted in the usual way. For fall grains,
+plow in the manure, just before sowing the seed. This is bet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>ter than
+plowing it in under the sod. If the land be not sod land, and you can
+plow the manure in only deep enough to cover it, and then, just before
+sowing the seed, plow again very deep, the effect is excellent. Apply
+manure to land in the fall, or just after harvest, and plow it in, let
+the land remain till spring, and then plow deep, and you get the best
+possible effect. On an onion crop, manure does the most good on the
+surface. On those raised from sets, or on any onions, after they get
+large enough to give room, put fine manure enough to keep down all
+weeds, and it will double the crop.</p>
+
+<p>Gypsum is better sowed than in any other way. Mixed with a little lime
+and salt, or wood-ashes and salt, the effect on corn is better than from
+either alone. To hoed crops apply these articles twice, and always by
+sowing, and not by putting it around or upon the hills; the effect is
+much greater sowed, besides the labor that is saved. In applying guano,
+do not allow it to come in contact with the plants, as it is apt to
+destroy them.</p>
+
+<p>It only remains to consider the principles on which manure acts upon
+soils, and produces growth in plants. The action of manure on the soil,
+by which it is enabled to retain and appropriate moisture, constitutes
+its main, if not its whole benefit. It may afford a stimulus to the
+roots of plants. Even the specific manures, that are supposed to supply
+organic matter to particular plants, may impart their benefits by their
+action upon the air and water. Facts are certainly at hand to show that
+the great and leading benefits of manures are in their control of
+moisture, and where that control is not needed, plants get a great
+growth on what we call poor soil. No manures, either fossil or
+putrescent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> afford any considerable food for plants. Vegetation
+receives its growth mainly from water and from the atmosphere. Facts in
+support of this theory are abundant.</p>
+
+<p>A trial was made to ascertain whence comes the matter of which a tree is
+composed. A quantity of kiln-dried earth was weighed and then put into a
+tight vessel. A willow shrub was also weighed and planted in that earth,
+and the vessel covered with perforated tin to keep out the dust; for a
+year and a half it was supplied only with pure water. The tree was then
+taken out, and found, by weight, to have gained one hundred and sixty
+pounds. The earth was then kiln-dried, as before, and weighed, and its
+weight was found to be only two ounces less than it was a year and a
+half before, when it was deposited there. The tree, then, must have
+received its growth, not from the soil, but from the water or the
+atmosphere, or both.</p>
+
+<p>Another fact: take a load of manure, dry it thoroughly, and weigh it.
+Then moisten it and apply it to the soil, and it will increase the
+weight of vegetation from ten to thirty or forty times its own weight
+when dry, and yet most of that manure may still be found in the soil.
+Hence it can only feed plants in a very limited degree. Its action must
+be on air and water, or the control it gives the soil over those
+elements.</p>
+
+<p>It is also matter of common observation that soil well manured, will
+continue moist for a long time after similar land by its side, but which
+has not been manured, is dried up. Hard coarse soils dry up very
+quickly, while soft, mellow, and friable ones will endure a long
+drought. The gases and moisture generated by the decomposition of
+manures produce this mellow state.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> Hence the necessity of having that
+decomposition take place under the soil, or of plowing in the manure.</p>
+
+<p>Another important fact bearing on this question is, that what are
+regarded very poor soils, such as light sandy or gravelly land, will
+produce good crops in a season remarkable for the frequency of showers.
+On such soils crops are from twice to four times as large, in a wet
+season as in a dry, and yet there is an addition of nothing but
+moisture, and in such a manner, as not to have it stand and become
+stagnant among the roots of the plants.</p>
+
+<p>Yet another evidence is in the strength of clay soils. A hard clay is
+very unproductive. But so disintegrated that plants can grow in it, it
+produces a great crop. This is because clay is of so close a texture,
+that when mixed with manure, turf, sand, or muck, although friable, it
+retains more moisture, than sand or ordinary loam. This is the reason of
+the superior fertility of land annually overflowed with water, as Egypt
+in the vicinity of the Nile. It is not that the Nile brings down
+deposites from the mountains of the Moon, so rich above all that is in
+the valleys below. The entire weight of all that a river deposites on
+ten acres would not equal in weight the increased vegetation of a single
+acre. The cause of the increased fertility is the fact that the deposite
+is so fine that it prevents rapid evaporation, and thus causes the soil
+to retain moisture for the large growth, and maturity of the plants.</p>
+
+<p>One more evidence is found on our sandy pine plains. Our common
+forest-trees, as beech, maple, elm, or linden, will not flourish there.
+Such land will produce comparatively no corn, oats, or wheat. But rye
+that stands drought better than any other grain, grows tol<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>erably well.
+But such plains always produce an enormous growth of pine timber, hardly
+equalled in the number of cords to the acre, by the heaviest-timbered
+land of the river bottoms. Why is this? Does a maple need so much more
+food than a pine, or is it in the habits of the trees? It is not in the
+richness or poverty of the soil, but in the adaptation of the trees to
+reach and appropriate moisture. The roots of the maple and beech, spread
+out near the surface of the ground. And it being a light, porous, sandy
+soil, it does not retain moisture enough to promote their growth. But
+whoever notices a pine-tree that has been turned up from the roots by
+the wind, will see that the roots run down almost perpendicularly ten or
+fifteen feet into the sand. There they find plenty of moisture and hence
+their great growth. This principle explains the comparative
+productiveness of all soils.</p>
+
+<p>A soil composed of light muck, or a kind of peet-soil, will dry up soon.
+There is nothing to prevent rapid evaporation; hence it is always
+unproductive, for want of suitable moisture. Mix with it clay, to render
+its texture more firm, and it will retain the moisture, and be very
+productive. Clay alone is too solid to retain moisture; it runs off, as
+from a brick. Mix sand with it, and it becomes mellow, and retains
+moisture, and produces great growth. Sand allows so free and rapid an
+evaporation that it is unproductive. We say it leaches and is hungry,
+and so it is, because it has little power to retain water. Our manures
+do it good, only as they are calculated to aid it in controlling
+moisture. If we apply a light manure as we would to clay, it is
+comparatively useless; it adds no firmness to the texture of the soil,
+and hence does not increase its capacity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> for controlling water. On such
+land, the only good that manure does, is while decomposition is taking
+place in the soil, it renders it more moist, and hence more productive.
+Apply clay to such a soil, and it will increase its firmness and
+consequent capacity of retaining and appropriating moisture, and thus
+render it highly valuable. Dry straw manure is sometimes said to dry up
+land, and ruin crops. So of turf in a dry season. In a wet season they
+greatly increase the growth of crops. Now they contain just as much food
+for plants in one season as another. Hence a soil too easily impervious
+to the atmosphere, will be a poor soil, that is, will produce poorly,
+simply because it has no power to retain the necessary moisture.</p>
+
+<p>We suppose these facts and reasons to establish our theory, that the
+principal benefit of manures, and of mixing different soils, is in the
+control they give over the moisture and the atmosphere. Hence the
+greatly increased crop of clover from the application of three quarters
+of a bushel of plaster to an acre. The increased weight of clover on
+five square rods, would outweigh the plaster applied, and still that
+plaster remains, in almost its full weight, on the soil. This principle
+explains the benefit of mulching trees, plants, or vegetables. This is
+the best means of preserving trees, the first year after transplanting,
+and of securing a great growth, of any kind of shrubs or plants. This
+may be done with common straw or leaves. Now wherein is their utility?
+Not in the nourishment they afford the plants, but in the fact that
+mulching so covers the surface as to prevent rapid evaporation. In such
+cases, it is the more abundant moisture that secures the greater
+growth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hence the first study of a soil culturist should be to ascertain how he
+shall so mix and manage the materials at his command, as to cause them
+to retain moisture for the longest time, without leaving water to stand
+about the roots of his plants. On this depends the whole importance of
+deep plowing and ditching. On this theory we may also account for the
+fact that certain plants prefer a certain kind of manure to all others.
+It is that those plants act in a certain manner on the soil requiring a
+specific action of manure to enable it to appropriate moisture and tax
+the atmosphere for their growth. This theory explains why too much
+manure is bad. Not because we give too much food to plants, but because
+excess of manure dries up the land. But whatever theory we adopt, we all
+agree in the utility of fertilizers. And the experience of practical
+farmers is of more value in aiding us to reach right conclusions, than
+all chemical essays on the subject that have ever been written.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MARL.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the best distributed and most universal fertilizers. Marl
+proper contains nearly equal proportions of clay and lime. Sand-marl is
+spoken of, in which sand and lime are the main ingredients. Clay-marls
+are to be applied to sandy and gravelly soils, and sand-marls to clayey
+soils. Shell-marls are very valuable, and seldom contain clay. Marls may
+easily be known, even by those not at all acquainted with chemistry.
+Apply any mineral acid, or even very strong vinegar, and if it be a
+marl, an effervescence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> will at once be observed: this effect is
+produced by acid upon lime.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MARJORUM.</h4>
+
+<p>There are two varieties in cultivation&mdash;the <i>sweet</i>, an annual herb; and
+the <i>winter</i>, a hardy perennial. They are grown and used as summer
+savory&mdash;used green, or dried for winter. They give a sweet, aromatic
+flavor to soups, stews, and dressings. The cultivation is, in all
+respects, like other garden-herbs of the kind, whether for medicinal or
+culinary purposes.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MELONS.</h4>
+
+<p>There are two species&mdash;musk and water melons&mdash;which are subdivided into
+many varieties of each. These are among the most delicious of all the
+products of the garden. A little use makes all persons very fond of
+them. The climate of the Middle and Southern states is well adapted to
+raising melons; much better than the same latitudes in Europe. The
+following brief directions will insure success in their cultivation. A
+light, rich soil is always desirable. There should always be a little
+sand in the composition of soil for melons. If not there naturally,
+supply it; it will always pay. The warm sands of Long Island and New
+Jersey are the best possible for melons, especially for water-melons. It
+may be well to trench deep for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> hills, and mix in a little
+well-rotted manure, and cover it with fine mould. A quantity of manure,
+left in bulk under the hills, will dry them up at the worst possible
+time. When you plant only a few in a garden, mulch your musk-melons with
+chips or sawdust from the wood-yard, or leaves and decayed wood from
+the forest, and you will get a great growth. They will grow luxuriantly
+in a pile of chips, with a little soil, in a door-yard, where hardly any
+other plant would flourish. The water-melon does best in almost pure
+sand, if it be enriched with liquid or some other of the finer manures.
+Plant musk-melons six feet apart, and water-melons nine feet each way.
+When the plants become established, never leave more than two or three
+in a hill. The product will be greatly increased in number and size, by
+picking off the end bud of the first runners when they show their
+blossom-buds; this causes them to throw out many strong lateral vines,
+which will produce abundantly. The attacks of striped bugs, so well
+known as the enemies of vines, and also of the black fleas, or hoppers
+(very minute, but quite destructive to tender vines when first up), may
+be prevented (says Downing) by sprinkling near the plants a little
+guano. As but a small portion of cultivators will have it, or can obtain
+it, we recommend to put many seeds in a hill, to provide for the
+depredations of the bugs, and sprinkle offensive articles around them.
+These will not always be effectual. We have recommended elsewhere to
+fence each hill, as the most effectual method. A box, with gauze or a
+pane of glass over the top, is a certain remedy in every case; it also
+greatly promotes the growth of the young vines. This is equally
+effectual against the cutworm and all other insects; and, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> boxes
+will last a dozen years or so, we should use them if we had ten acres of
+melons. But by early and late planting, and watchfulness, and
+replanting, you will succeed without protection. An excessive quantity
+of stable-manure does not increase the growth, especially of
+water-melons. Plaster, bonedust, and ashes, are good applications;
+hog-manure is the best of all. The seeds should be soaked two days, and
+planted an inch deep on broad hills, raised in the centre four inches
+above the level of the bed, that water may not stand around them;
+planted low, they sometimes perish in a few hours in a hot sun, after a
+rain. Hoe them often, but never when they are wet, and never hoe near
+them after they have commenced running; the roots spread, about as much
+as the vines, and hoeing deep near them cuts off the roots, and
+materially injures them. Many a promising plat of melons has been ruined
+by stirring the soil when they were wet, and hoeing around them after
+they had begun to run. In walking among melons, great harm is done by
+stepping on the ends of vines. No one should be allowed among melons but
+the one who hoes or picks them. Many are lost by drought, after great
+care. We have often used an effectual remedy; it consists in turning up
+the vines, if they have begun to run before the drought, and putting
+around each hill from a peck to half a bushel of wet, well rotted
+manure; that from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; and hoe
+from a distance between the hills, and cover the manure an inch or two
+deep with fine mould, lay down the vines, and saturate the hill with
+water, and they will hardly get dry again during the season. A little
+judicious watering will give you a great crop in the most severe
+drought.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties of the Musk-melon.</i>&mdash;These are numerous, and the nomenclature
+uncertain. The London Horticultural Society's catalogue enumerates
+seventy. Most of them are of no use to any one. Two or three of the best
+are sufficient. There are three general classes of musk-melons&mdash;the
+<i>green-fleshed</i>, as the citron and nutmeg; <i>yellow-fleshed</i>, as the
+cantelope, or long yellow; and <i>Persian melon</i>. The last is the finest
+of all, but is too tender for general cultivation with us, requiring
+much care and very warm seasons. The yellow-fleshed are very large, but
+much inferior in quality to either of the others. The green-fleshed are
+<i>the</i> musk-melons for this whole country. The nutmeg has long been
+celebrated; but, it being much smaller than the citron, and in no way
+superior in quality, we think the latter the best for all American
+gardens.</p>
+
+<p>The following are enumerated in "White's Gardening for the South," as
+adapted to the latitude of the Southern states: <i>Christiana</i>,
+<i>Beechwood</i>, <i>Hoosainee</i>, <i>Sweet Ispahan</i>, <i>Pineapple</i>, <i>Cassabar</i>,
+<i>Netted Citron</i>, and <i>Rock</i>. These are doubtless all fine, and would do
+well at the North, with suitable care and protection. Downing's
+catalogue is nearly the same, with a very few additions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties of Water-melons</i>&mdash;are also numerous, and names uncertain. The
+best varieties, however, are well known. The most choice are the
+following: <i>Imperial</i>, <i>Carolina</i>, <i>Black Spanish</i>, <i>Mountain-Sprout</i>,
+<i>Mountain-Sweet</i>, <i>Apple-seeded</i>, and <i>Ice-cream</i>. The following
+excellent water-melons all originated in South Carolina: <i>Souter</i>;
+<i>Clarendon</i>, or <i>dark-speckled</i>; <i>Bradford</i>, very dark-green, with
+stripes mottled and streaked with green; <i>Ravenscroft</i>, and <i>Odell's
+large white</i>. There is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> a fine little melon, called the orange-melon,
+because the flesh and skin separate like an orange. These varieties will
+all do well with care. To preserve any one of them, it must be grown at
+some distance from other varieties. All water-melons should be far
+removed from citrons, which resemble them, raised only for preserving.
+They always ruin the next generation of water-melons. Different
+varieties of musk-melons planted together produce hybrids, partaking of
+the qualities of both, and are often very fine. We raised a cross
+between the yellow-fleshed cantelope and the nutmeg, which was
+excellent.</p>
+
+<p>Seeds of most vines are better for being two or three years old, as they
+produce less vines, but more fruit. Melons are a luxury that should grow
+in every garden, and the state should enact severe laws against stealing
+them, making the punishment no less than fine and imprisonment.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MILLET.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a species of grain, partaking much of the nature of a large
+grass. Sowed thin, it produces a good yield. The seed is excellent for
+fowls. Ground, it is good for keeping or fattening all domestic animals.
+It is about equal to Indian corn for bread. Cut while green, but when
+nearly ripe, it is a good substitute for hay, producing a much larger
+quantity per acre. All animals prefer millet, cut in the milk, to hay.
+It is a less profitable crop for grain, on account of the irregularity
+of its ripening, and its extreme liability to shell, when dry. It must
+be cut as soon as the seed begins<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> to harden. It also attracts swarms of
+birds, which are exceedingly fond of the seed. About three tons per acre
+is an average crop on tolerably good land. From one to three pecks of
+seed to the acre are sown broadcast. When sown in drills and cultivated,
+it grows very large, and requires only four quarts of seed per acre. It
+will make good fodder sown at any time from April to July. Its more
+extensive cultivation for fodder is recommended.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MINT.</h4>
+
+<p>This genus of plants comprises twenty-four species. Those usually
+cultivated in gardens are three, <i>Peppermint</i>, <i>Spearmint</i>, and
+<i>Pennyroyal mint</i>. All mints are propagated by the same methods. Parting
+the roots, offset young plants, and cuttings from the stalks. Spearmint
+and peppermint like a moist and even wet soil. Pennyroyal does better in
+a rich loam. Plants come into use the same season they are set. Set the
+plants eight inches apart, and on beds four feet wide, leaving a path
+two feet between them. In field culture, for the oils and essences,
+place them two feet apart, for the convenience of going between the rows
+with a horse. Thus cultivation becomes easy. They should be cut in full
+blossom, and dried in small bunches in the shade, but better by
+artificial heat, like hops. They should be cut when dry. For domestic
+uses, dry quickly, and pulverize, and put away in tight glass bottles.
+They will retain all their strength, keep free from dust, and always be
+ready for use. The same is true of all the herbs for domestic use. As a
+field crop, mints are profitable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>MULBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>There are three varieties cultivated in this country. We place them in
+the order of their qualities:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>The Johnson.</i>&mdash;A new variety, thus described by Kirtland: "Fruit
+very large; oblong cylindric; blackish, subacid, and of mild and
+agreeable flavor. Growth of wood strong."</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Black Mulberry.</i>&mdash;An Asiatic variety, rather tender for the
+North, though it succeeds tolerably well in some parts of New England.
+Fruit large and delicious; tree low and spreading. Easily cultivated on
+almost any soil. Propagated by seeds, layers, cuttings, or roots.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>The Red Mulberry.</i>&mdash;A native of this country. Fruit small and
+pleasant, but inferior to the two preceding.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MULCHING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is placing around plants or trees, coarse manure or litter of any
+kind, to keep down weeds, and prevent too rapid evaporation of moisture.
+All straw, corn stalks, old weeds or stubble, forest leaves, seaweeds,
+old wood, sawdust, old tanbark, chips, &amp;c., are good for mulching. Any
+tree taken up and planted with reasonable care, and well mulched and
+watered, will live. One of fifty need not die. Cover the loose earth
+deep enough to prevent the springing of weeds. Put a little earth on the
+outer edge of the manure, leaving it dishing about the tree. Fill that
+occasionally with water, and you will get a good growth, even in a dry
+season.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Plant gooseberries or currants, and mulch the whole ground between the
+bushes, and give them no other cultivation, and the berries will grow
+nearly twice as large as the same varieties standing neglected, to grow
+up to weeds, in the usual way. Mulching with clean, dry straw, or with
+charcoal, is a preventive of mildew. It is the easiest method of taking
+care of strawberries after they are in blossom; the vines will bear much
+more and finer fruit, and it will be clean and neat. Mulching vines is a
+great means of insuring a crop. Every crop that can be mulched will be
+greatly benefited by it; hence, all the straw and litter that can be
+saved is money in the pocket; for mulching alone, it is worth five times
+as much as it can be sold for. Burning or in any way destroying cobs,
+cornstalks, stubble, old straw, or decaying wood, is extravagant
+wastefulness.</p>
+
+
+<h4>MUSHROOMS</h4>
+
+<p>Are vegetables growing up in old pastures, or on land mulched and the
+straw partly covered with soil. They are also cultivated in beds for the
+purpose. Picked at the right stage, they are a fine article of diet,
+almost equalling oysters. The use of the wild ones, however, is attended
+with some danger, for the want of knowledge of the varieties, or of the
+difference between the genuine mushroom, and the toadstools that so much
+resemble them.</p>
+
+<p>Persons have been poisoned unto death by eating toadstools instead of
+mushrooms. When of middle size, mushrooms are distinguished by the fine
+pink or flesh color of their gills, and by their pleasant smell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> In a
+more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate color; they are
+then apt to be confounded with injurious kinds. The toadstool that most
+resembles the true mushroom is slimy to the touch, and rather
+disagreeable to the smell. The noxious kind grows in the borders of
+woods, while the mushroom only grows in the open field. It is better,
+however, not to eat them unless gathered by a practised hand, so as to
+be sure of no mistake. With the help of one accustomed to gathering
+them, you will learn in a few moments, so as to be accurate and safe.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mushroom Beds.</i>&mdash;Prepare a bed in the corner of the hothouse, or, in
+the absence of that, in a warm, dry cellar. The first of October is the
+best time. Make the bed four feet wide, and as long as you require. It
+should be one foot high perpendicularly at the edges, and sloping toward
+the middle; it should be of horse-manure, well forked, and put in
+compact and even, so as to settle all alike. Cover it with long straw,
+to preserve heat and the exhalations that would rise. At the end of ten
+days, the heat will be such as to allow you to remove the straw, and put
+an inch of good mould over the top of the bed. On this put the spawn or
+seed of the mushroom, in rows of six inches apart. The spawn are white
+fibres, found in old pastures, where mushrooms grow, or in old spent
+hotbeds, and sometimes under old stable floors. The warmth of the bed
+will produce mushrooms plentifully for a considerable time. If the
+production diminishes and nearly ceases, it may be renewed by removing
+the mould, and putting on good horse-manure to the depth of twelve
+inches, and covering and planting as before, and the production will be
+plentiful for a number of weeks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>MUSTARD.</h4>
+
+<p>There are two kinds cultivated, the black and the white, annuals, and
+natives of Great Britain. The white mustard is cultivated in this
+country principally for greens, and sometimes for a small salad like the
+cress. It may be sown at any time from opening of spring to the
+beginning of autumn. But sown in hot weather, the bed must be shaded.
+The Spaniards prefer the white mustard for grinding for table use,
+because of its mildness and its whiter flour. White mustard-seed, being
+much larger than the black, is preferred for mangoes, and all pickling
+purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Black mustard is cultivated principally in the field, for the mills. It
+is there ground, and makes the well known condiment found on most
+tables.</p>
+
+<p>Sow in March or April, broadcast on land tolerably free from weeds, and
+if you get it too thick, hoe up a part. In July or August, you may get a
+good crop. Cradle it as wheat, before ripe enough to shell.</p>
+
+<p>Mustard used in various ways is medicinal. It is one of the safest and
+most speedy emetics. Stir up a table-spoonful of the flour and drink it.
+Follow it with repeated draughts of warm water, and in half an hour, you
+will have gone through all the stages of a thorough emetic, without
+having been weakened by it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>NASTURTIUM.</h4>
+
+<p>This annual plant, found in most gardens, is too well known to need
+description. Were it not so common, its flowers, that appear in great
+profusion, from early summer till destroyed by frost, would be regarded
+very beautiful. Its main use is for pickles. Its green berries are
+nearly equal to capers for that purpose. It grows well on any good
+garden soil; bears more berries on less vines, planted on land not too
+rich. Single vines four feet apart, on rich land, do best.</p>
+
+
+<h4>NECTARINE.</h4>
+
+<p>This is only a fine variety of the peach, having a smooth skin. Downing
+gives instances of its return to the peach, and others of the production
+of nectarines and peaches on the same limb. The appearance of the tree
+is hardly distinguishable from the peach. It is one of the most
+beautiful of dessert fruits: it has no down on the skin, being entirely
+smooth and beautiful, like waxwork. Its smooth skin exposes it to the
+ravages of the curculio. It is longer-lived on plum-stocks, but is more
+generally budded on the peach. It is usually productive wherever peaches
+flourish, if not destroyed by the curculio. It is even more important
+than in the peach to head-in the trees often, to produce good large
+fruit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i>&mdash;are divided into freestone and clingstone, with quite a
+number in each class. We give only a few of those most esteemed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Boston.</i>&mdash;Freestone, American seedling; hardy and productive; color
+deep-yellow, with a bright-red cheek. Time, September 1st.</p>
+
+<p><i>Due du Telliers.</i>&mdash;Freestone, pale-green, with a marbled reddish cheek;
+flesh whitish, inclining to green; very fine; a great bearer of rather
+large fruit. Time, last of August.</p>
+
+<p><i>Hunt's Tawny.</i>&mdash;Very fine and early; a great bearer; tree hardy; color,
+pale-orange, with a dark-red cheek, with many russety specks. Time,
+forepart of August.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pitmaston Orange.</i>&mdash;A fine yellow nectarine, maturing the last of
+August.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Early Violet</i>&mdash;is an old French variety, everywhere esteemed; it
+has sixteen synonyms; fruit high-flavored. Time, last of August.</p>
+
+<p><i>Newington.</i>&mdash;A good clingstone; an English variety that has long been
+cultivated; it has many synonyms; the color dark-red when exposed. Time,
+10th of September.</p>
+
+<p><i>Newington Early</i>&mdash;Is one of the best, earlier, larger, and better, than
+the preceding; ripens first of September. The same varieties are
+excellent for the South, where they ripen considerably earlier. The
+following selection of choice, hardy nectarines for a small garden, is
+from Downing:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Early Violet, Elruge, Hardwicke Seedling, Hunt's Tawny, Boston, Roman,
+and New White.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>NEW FRUITS.</h4>
+
+<p>That these are constantly appearing, is a matter of common observation;
+but the manner of their production has given rise to much diversity of
+opinion. The theory that they are the results of replanting, from the
+seeds of successive generations of the same tree, is called the Van
+Mons' theory, after Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium, who devoted many years of
+close study and application to the improvement of fruit, especially of
+pears, by this method. His directions may be briefly summed up as
+follows. Plant seeds from any good variety of fruit; let those seedlings
+stand without grafting, until they bear. Take the first fruit from the
+best of those seedlings, and plant it and produce other seedlings, and
+so on. The peach and plum are said to reach a high state of excellence
+in the third generation, while the pear requires the fifth. Seeds from
+old trees are said to have a great tendency to return to their wild
+origin, while those of young, improving trees will more generally
+produce a better fruit. The seeds from a graft from a young tree does
+not produce a better than itself. The succession must be of seedlings.
+This theory requires long practice, and is exposed to interruptions by
+the crosses that will necessarily occur between different trees in
+blossom. And we have in so many cases had a fruit of great perfection
+arise from a single planting of seed from some known variety, that we
+must conclude the improvement to be produced by some other principle
+than that of the Van Mons' theory. The evidence is in favor of the
+opinion that new varieties of fruit arise from cross-fertilization in
+the blos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>soms of different kinds, and that the improvement of the
+qualities of any given variety is the result of cultivation. Some of the
+best plums we have are known to have been the product of fertilizing the
+blossoms of one tree from the pollen of another; this is constantly
+taking place with our fruits, and is consequent upon our mixed orchards.
+Let this be attended to artificially, by covering branches with gauze,
+to prevent the fertilization by bees and winds, and make the cross
+between any two varieties you choose, and the results may prove highly
+beneficial. The amateur cultivator may render essential service to
+pomology by this practice. We know that all our choice fruits have come
+from those not fit for use. It is not improved cultivation of the old,
+barely, but the production of new varieties. The subject of further
+improvement, therefore, demands careful study and practice. The seeds of
+established varieties, planted at once without drying, will often
+reproduce the same. We are not certain but they generally would, if not
+affected by blossoms of contiguous trees.</p>
+
+
+<h4>NURSERY.</h4>
+
+<p>Of this subject we can only give the general outlines. This department
+of soil-culture is so distinct, that the few who engage in it as a
+business are expected to make it an especial study. In a work like this,
+it is only desirable to give those general principles that will enable
+the cultivator of the soil to raise such trees as he may desire on his
+own premises. These directions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> may be considered reliable, and, as far
+as they go, are applicable to all nurseries.</p>
+
+<p><i>Location.</i>&mdash;This is the first point demanding attention. If a piece of
+land containing a variety of soils can be selected, it will prove
+beneficial, as different trees require different soils for their
+greatest perfection. A situation through which a rivulet may run, or in
+which a pond may be constructed, fed by a spring or hydrant, is of great
+value for watering. The situation of the nursery, as it respects shade
+or exposure, is also important. Trees should generally be as much
+exposed to the elements, in the nursery, as they will be when
+transplanted in the orchard. Trees removed from shaded situations to the
+open field will be stinted in growth for some time, and may be
+permanently injured. Never allow your nursery to be shaded by large
+trees. Bearing trees, designed to show the quality of your fruit, should
+occupy a place by themselves.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;A theory that has had many adherents is that trees raised on
+poorer and harder land than that they will occupy in the orchard, will
+grow more vigorously, and do better, than those transplanted from better
+to worse soil. Thus, trees have often been preferred from high, hard
+hills, to transplant in good loam or alluvium. On the same principle, a
+calf or colt should be more healthy, and make a better creature, for
+having been nearly starved for the first year or two. Neither of these
+is true. Give fruit-trees as great a growth as possible while young,
+without producing too tender and spongy wood for cold winters. It is
+only desirable to check the early growth of fruit-trees on the rich
+prairies of the West, and that should be done, not by the poverty of the
+soil, but by root-pruning or heading-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>in; this prevents a spongy, tender
+growth, that is apt to be injured by their trying winds. Trees that are
+brought from a colder to a warmer region, always do better.</p>
+
+<p><i>Preparation of the Soil.</i>&mdash;It should be made quite rich with
+stable-manure, lime, and wood-ashes, and cultivated in a root-crop the
+previous year&mdash;any roots except potatoes. Those left in the ground will
+come up so early and vigorous in the spring, that you can not eradicate
+them without destroying many of your young seedlings. The land should be
+worked very deep by subsoiling, or better with double-plowing, by which
+the manure and top-soil are put in the bottom. As manure always works
+up, the effect will be excellent. Buckwheat is good to precede a
+nursery; it shades the ground so densely as to protect it from the
+scorching sun, and effectually destroy all weeds. Trees planted on land
+prepared by double-plowing (see our article on "Plowing") will make one
+third greater growth, in a given time, than those on land prepared in
+the ordinary way. In double-plowing, if the subsoil be very poor, it
+will be necessary to give a top-dressing of well-rotted manure, worked
+in with a cultivator. Thorough draining is also very essential to a
+nursery.</p>
+
+<p><i>Time of Planting.</i>&mdash;The general practice is to plant in the fall, at
+any time before the ground freezes. The better way is to keep seeds in
+moist sand, or dry and spread thin, until spring, and plant as early as
+the ground will allow. Freezing apple-seeds is of no use. Hard-shelled
+seeds had better be frozen, to open the stones and give them an
+opportunity to germinate. The advantage of spring-planting is, the
+ground can be put in much better condition, and the seeds will start<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+quite as early as the weeds, and much labor may be saved in tending.</p>
+
+<p><i>Method of Planting.</i>&mdash;Plant with a drill that will run about an inch
+deep, putting the seeds in straight rows, not more than an inch wide,
+and two and a half feet apart; this will allow the use of a small horse
+and cultivator, which will destroy nearly all the weeds. Use a
+potato-fork or hoe, across the rows, among the seedlings, and very
+little weeding will be necessary. It is not more than one fourth of the
+ordinary work to keep a nursery clean in this way. Two thirds of those
+thus planted and cultivated will be large enough for root-grafting the
+first season, and for cleft-grafting the second. When your seedlings are
+six inches high, if you thoroughly mulch them with fine straw or manure,
+you will be troubled with no more weeds, and your trees will get a
+strong growth.</p>
+
+<p>For root-grafting, pull up those of suitable size very late in the fall,
+cut off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in boxes, in moist
+sand, and keep in a cellar that does not freeze; graft in winter, and
+repack them in the boxes with moist sand, sawdust, or moss, and keep
+them until time to transplant in spring. They should not be wet, but
+only slightly moist. In the spring, plant them in rows three feet apart,
+and ten inches in the row. The second year, if they are not wanted in
+market, they should be taken up and reset, in rows four feet apart, and
+two feet in the row. Cut off the ends of large roots, to encourage the
+growth of numerous fibrous roots. Large nursery-trees, that have not
+been transplanted, are of little value for the orchard, being nearly
+destitute of fibrous roots. But large trees, even of bearing size, when
+transplanted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> the orchard, do quite as well as small ones, provided
+they have been several times transplanted in the nursery. This produces
+many fibrous roots, upon which the health and life of the tree depend.</p>
+
+<p>In many regions, great care must be taken to prevent destruction of
+young trees by snow-drifts. This is done by selecting locations, and by
+constructing or removing fences, to allow the snow to blow off; treading
+it down as it falls is also very useful, both in protecting the trees
+from breaking down by the settling of drifts in a thaw, and from the
+depredations of mice under the snow.</p>
+
+<p>Trees should be taken up from the nursery with the least possible injury
+to the roots. Do not leave them exposed to the air for an hour, not even
+in a cloudy day. It is an easy matter to cover the roots with mats,
+straw, or earth. Protect also from frosts; many trees are ruined by
+exposure to air and frost, of which the nurseryman is very careful in
+all other respects. For transportation, they should be closely packed in
+moist straw, and wound in straw or mats, firmly tied and kept moist.
+Trees, cared for and packed in this way, may be transported thousands of
+miles, and kept for two months, without injury.</p>
+
+
+<h4>NUTS.</h4>
+
+<p>More attention to the cultivation of nuts, would add materially to our
+domestic luxuries. There are so many nuts in market, that are the
+spontaneous productions of other countries, or raised where labor is
+cheap, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> we can not afford to raise them as an article of commerce.
+But a few trees of the various kinds, would be a great addition to every
+country residence. We could always be certain that our nuts were fresh
+and good. A small piece of ground devoted to nuts, and occupied by
+fowls, would be pleasant and profitable. English walnuts do well here.
+We have varieties of hickory nuts, native in this country, which, to our
+taste, are not surpassed by any other. Chestnuts are easily grown here
+(see our directions elsewhere in this volume). Butternuts, filberts,
+peanuts (growing in the ground like potatoes), and even our little
+forest beechnuts, are easily raised.</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf chestnut of the Middle and Southern states is decidedly
+ornamental in a fruit garden. Its qualities are in all respects like the
+common chestnut, only the fruit is but half the size, and the tree grows
+from five to ten feet high. In all our landscape gardens, and in all
+places where we retain forest trees for ornamental purposes, it is
+better to cultivate trees that will bear good nuts. The varieties of
+nut-bearing trees, interspersed with evergreens, make a beautiful
+appearance.</p>
+
+
+<h4>OAKS.</h4>
+
+<p>Raising oak-timber, on a large scale, will soon be demanded in this
+country. In some sections we have immense quantities of native oaks; but
+they are fast disappearing, and the present expense of transporting the
+timber, to places where it is needed, is much greater than would be the
+cost of raising it. A million of acres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> of oaks ought to be planted
+within the next five years. A crop of white oak, of only twenty-five
+years' growth, would be very valuable; and twenty-five or fifty acres,
+of forty years' growth, would be worth a handsome fortune, especially in
+the West. On all the bluffs in the West they grow well, and on the
+prairies they will do even better, after they have been cultivated a few
+years. The application of a little common salt on rich alluvial soils,
+is a great advantage in growing timber.</p>
+
+<p>Preserve acorns in moist sand during winter, and plant in the spring, in
+rows six feet apart, to give opportunity for other crops among them for
+a year or two, to encourage good cultivation. Plant a foot apart in the
+row, that, in thinning out, good straight trees may be left; at three or
+four years old, thin to four feet in the rows; afterward, only remove as
+appears absolutely necessary. Trim straight and smooth. The question of
+transplanting is important. Shall we plant thick, as in a nursery, and
+then transplant, or shall we plant where they are to grow? In
+fruit-trees, the object is to get a low, full, and spreading top, of
+horizontal branches, that will bear much fruit. This is eminently
+promoted by transplanting, root-pruning, and heading-in. But in raising
+timber, the object is to get trees of long, straight bodies, with the
+fewest possible low branches. Such are the native trees of the forest.
+This is best promoted by planting thick, never transplanting, and
+keeping all the lower limbs well trimmed off. These directions are for
+raising timber on good tillable land. Such groves may be good for
+pastures, and for poultry-yards, for a long time. Beside this, we have
+large areas of rough land, that will not soon be brought into
+cultivation for other purposes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Fine timber may be grown on such land,
+with no care but trimming.</p>
+
+
+<h4>OATS.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the great staple agricultural products of all regions,
+sufficiently moist and cool for their successful growth. Oatmeal makes
+the most wholesome bread ever eaten by man. For all horses, except those
+having the heaves, oats are the best grain; to such horses they should
+never be fed&mdash;corn, soaked or ground, is best. They are valuable for all
+domestic animals and fowls.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;These are numerous. Those called side-oats yield the
+largest crops: but of these there are several varieties. The genuine
+<i>Siberian</i> oats are tall, heavy, dark-colored side-oats, the most
+productive of any known. <i>Swedish</i> oats, and other new varieties, are
+coming into notice; most of these are the Siberian, under other names,
+and perhaps slightly modified by location and culture. The barley-oats,
+Scotch oats, and those usually cultivated, will yield only about two
+thirds as much per acre as the true Siberian; the same difference is
+apparent in the growth of straw. Oats will produce something on poor
+land, with bad tillage, but repay thorough fertilization and tillage as
+well as most other crops. Enrich the land, work it deep and thoroughly,
+and roll after harrowing. Moist, cool situations are much preferable for
+oats: hence, success in warm climates depends upon very early sowing.
+Oats sowed as late as the first of July, in latitude forty-two and
+further north, will mature; yet, all late oats, even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> with large straw
+and handsome heads, will be found to be only from one half to two thirds
+filled in proportion to the lateness of sowing. The entire <i>profits</i> of
+an oat-crop depend upon <i>early sowing</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Harvest as soon as the grain begins to harden, and the straw to turn
+yellow. Allowed to get quite ripe, they shell badly, and the straw
+becomes useless, except for manure. Cut with reaper or cradle, and bind:
+all grain so cut is more easily handled, thrashed, and fed. Mow no grain
+that is not so lodged down that a cradle or reaper can not be used. The
+straw of oats cut quite green is nearly as good as hay.</p>
+
+
+<h4>OKRA.</h4>
+
+<p>A valuable garden plant, easily propagated by seeds. It is excellent in
+cookery, as a sauce. Its ripe seeds, used as coffee, very much resemble
+the genuine article. The green pods are much used in the West Indies, in
+soups and pickles. Plant at the usual time of corn-planting, in rows
+four feet apart, two or three seeds in a place, eight inches apart in
+the row; leave but one in a place after they get a few inches high, and
+hoe as peas, and the crop will be abundant.</p>
+
+
+<h4>OLIVES.</h4>
+
+<p>These are natives of Asia, but have, beyond date, been extensively
+cultivated in Southern Europe. Olive-oil is an important article of
+commerce in most coun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>tries. Its use in all kinds of cookery, in
+countries where it flourishes, renders olives as important, to the mass
+of the people, as cows are in New England. It should be a staple product
+of the Southern states, to which it is eminently adapted. It is hardy
+further north than the orange. With protection, it may be cultivated,
+with the orange and lemon, all over the country. Olive-trees attain a
+greater age than any other fruit-tree. An Italian olive-plantation, near
+Terni, is believed to have stood since the days of Pliny. Once set out,
+the trees require very little attention, and they flourish well on the
+most rocky lands, that are utterly useless for any other purpose.
+Calcareous soils are most favorable to their growth. They are propagated
+by suckers, seeds, or by little eggs that grow on the main stalk, and
+are easily detached by a knife, and planted as potatoes or corn. Olives
+will bear at four or five years from the seed; they bear with great
+regularity, and yield fifteen or twenty pounds of oil per annum to each
+tree. There are several varieties. Plantations now growing at the South
+are very promising.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ONIONS.</h4>
+
+<p>Of this well-known garden vegetable there are quite a number of
+varieties.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>The Large Red.</i>&mdash;One of the most valuable.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Yellow.</i>&mdash;Large and profitable, keeping better than any other.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>The Silver-skin.</i>&mdash;The handsomest variety, excellent for pickling,
+brings the highest price of all, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> is not quite so good a keeper as
+the red or yellow, and does not yield as well.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>The White Portugal.</i>&mdash;A larger white onion, often taken for the true
+silver-skin. It is a good variety. The preceding are all raised from the
+black seed, growing on the top.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>The Egg Onion.</i>&mdash;So called from its size and shape. On good rich
+soil, the average size may be that of a goose-egg, which it resembles in
+form. It is of a pale-red color, and more mild in flavor than any other.
+They are usually raised by sowing the black seed, very thick, to form
+sets for next year. Those sets, put out early, will form large onions
+for early market, that will sell more readily than any other offered.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>The Top Onion.</i>&mdash;So called because the seed consists of small
+onions, growing on the top of the stalks, in place of the black seed of
+other onions. These are good for early use, grow large, but are poor
+keepers.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>The Hill or Potato Onion</i>.&mdash;Of these there are several kinds, most
+of which are unworthy of cultivation. The <i>Large English</i> is the only
+valuable variety. The small onions, for sets, grow in the ground from
+the same roots, by the side of the main onion. Some of these grow large
+enough for cooking. The main onion is the earliest known, grows large,
+and has a mild, pleasant flavor;&mdash;they will mature at a certain season,
+whatever time you plant them; hence, they must be planted very early to
+produce a good crop. We have planted them on good ground so late as to
+get little more than the seed. They are fine for summer and fall use,
+but keep poorly. The foregoing are all that are necessary. They can all
+be brought forward by early planting of sets raised the previous season,
+by sowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> the black seed so thick that they can not grow larger than
+peas, or small cherries.</p>
+
+<p>Good sandy loam and black muck are the best soils for onions. Any good
+garden soil may be made to produce large crops; good, well rotted
+stable-manure and leached ashes are the best. The theory of shallow
+plowing, and treading down onion-beds is incorrect. The roots of onions
+are numerous and long. The land should be well-manured, double-plowed,
+and thoroughly pulverized. The only objection to a very mellow onion-bed
+is the difficulty of getting the seed up: this is obviated by rolling
+after sowing, which packs the mould around the seed, so as to retain
+moisture and insure vegetation. Fine manure, mixed in the surface of the
+soil for onions, is highly beneficial; on no other crop does manure on
+the surface do so much good. Mulching the whole bed, as soon as the
+plants are large enough, is in the highest degree beneficial, both in
+promoting growth, and keeping down weeds. An onion-bed must be made very
+smooth and level, to favor very early hoeing, without destroying the
+small plants. All root-crops that come up small, are tended with less
+than half the expense, if the surface be made very smooth and level.
+Never divide your onion-ground into small beds, but sow the longest way,
+in straight narrow rows, eighteen inches apart, for convenience of
+weeding and hoeing. Cultivate while very young, and work the soil toward
+the rows, so as to hill up the plants; this should be removed after they
+begin to form large bulbs. Breaking down the tops to induce them to
+bottom, is a fallacy: it will lessen the crop. Rich soil, deep plowing,
+thorough pulverizing, early sowing, and frequent hoeings, will insure
+success. Our system of double-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>plowing is the best for this crop. They
+will do equally well, some say improve, for twenty years on the same
+bed. Work the tops into the soil where the plants grow. Let the rows be
+very narrow and very straight, and you will save half the ordinary
+expense of cultivation.</p>
+
+<p><i>To gather and preserve well</i>, you should house them when very dry. A
+day's exposure to a warm autumn sun is very beneficial. Keep them in an
+open barn or shed until there is danger of frost. A warm, damp cellar
+always ruins them; keep them through winter in the coolest dry place
+possible, without severe freezing. Once freezing is not injurious, but
+frequent freezing and thawing ruins them. They are very finely preserved
+braided into strings and hung in a cool, dry room.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ORANGES.</h4>
+
+<p>This name covers a variety of species of the same general habits. It
+flourishes well on the coast of Florida, and all along the gulf of
+Mexico. It will stand considerable freezing, if protected from sudden
+thawing. In southern Europe, they are grown abundantly by being
+protected by a shed of boards. They may become perfectly hardy, as far
+north as Philadelphia. And by a thorough system of acclimation, and a
+little winter protection, they may be grown abundantly, in every state
+of the Union. The great enemy of the orange-tree is the scaled insect.
+It has been very destructive in Florida. A certain remedy is said to
+have been discovered in the <i>camomile</i>. Cultivate the plant under
+orange-trees, and it will prevent their attacks. The herb hung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> up in
+the trees, or the tree and foliage syringed with a decoction of it, will
+effectually destroy these insects. The orange is long-lived. A tree
+called "The Grand Bourbon" at Versailles was planted in 1421, and now,
+being 437 years old, is "one of the largest and finest trees in France."
+There are several varieties mentioned in the fruit books. The common
+Sweet Orange, the Maltese, the Blood Red&mdash;very fine with red flesh. The
+Mandarin Orange, an excellent little fruit from China. The St. Michael's
+is described as the finest of all oranges, and the tree the best bearer.
+Oranges are propagated by budding, and cultivated much in the same way
+as the peach.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ORCHARDS.</h4>
+
+<p>An orchard is a plat of ground, large or small, occupied by trees for
+the purpose of bearing fruit. The main directions for orchard culture,
+are given under the respective fruits. Any soil good for vegetables or
+grains, is suitable for orchards. Any land where excessive moisture will
+not stand, to the injury of the trees, may be adapted to any of the
+fruits. Set pears on the heaviest land, peaches on the lightest, and the
+other fruits on the intermediate qualities. Although peaches will do
+quite well on light soil, yet they do better on a rich deep loam, or
+alluvium. When it is desirable to set out an orchard on land originally
+too wet, a blind ditch must pass under each row, extending out of the
+orchard, and the place where each tree is to stand, should be raised a
+foot above the level around it.</p>
+
+<p><i>The aspect</i> is also important. A southern or east<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>ern exposure is
+preferable, in all latitudes where the transitions from summer to
+winter, and from winter to summer are so sudden as to allow but little
+alternate thawing and freezing. This would therefore be the rule in high
+latitudes. In climates of long changeable springs, a northern or western
+exposure is better. Trees may be made to start and blossom later in the
+spring by snow and ice about them, well pressed down in winter, and
+covered with straw. This will prevent the first warm weather from
+starting the leaves and blossoms, and cause them to be a little later,
+but surer and better.</p>
+
+<p><i>Subsoiling</i> ground for an orchard, is of great importance. Plant two
+orchards, one on land that has been subsoiled very deep, and the other
+upon that plowed in the ordinary way, and for ten years the difference
+will be discernable, as far as you can distinguish the trees in the two
+orchards.</p>
+
+<p><i>Manures</i> of all kinds, are good for orchards, except coarse stable
+manure, which should be composted. A bushel of fine charcoal, thoroughly
+mixed in the soil in which you set a fruit-tree, will exert a very
+beneficial influence, for a dozen years.</p>
+
+<p>Orchards should be cultivated every alternate three successive years,
+and the rest of the time be kept in grass. Just about the trees, the
+ground should be kept loose, and free from weeds and grass. This may be
+done by spading and hoeing, but better by thorough mulching.</p>
+
+<p><i>Distances apart.</i>&mdash;Apples thirty-three feet. Pears twenty feet. Peaches
+and plums, sixteen feet. Pruning, destroying insects, and all other
+matters bearing on successful fruit growing, are treated under the
+several fruits.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>OXEN.</h4>
+
+<p>Every farmer who can afford to keep two teams, should have a pair of
+oxen. For many uses on a farm, they are preferable to horses; especially
+for clearing up new land. Oxen to be most valuable, should be large,
+well matched, ruly, and not very fat. They should be kept in good heart,
+by the quality of their food. Fast walking is one of the best qualities
+in both horses and oxen, for all working purposes, provided they are
+judiciously used and not overloaded. Well built, strong animals are best
+for work. Working oxen should be turned out for beef, at eight or nine
+years old.</p>
+
+<p><i>To break oxen well</i>, commence when they are very young. Put calves into
+yokes frequently, until they will readily yield to your wishes. Yoke
+them often, and tie their tails together to prevent them from turning
+the yoke and injuring themselves. If left without training, until they
+are three or four years old, they will improve every opportunity to run
+away, to the danger and damage of proprietor and driver. It is quite an
+art to learn oxen to back a load. Place them before a vehicle, in a
+locality descending in the rear. As it rolls down hill, they will easily
+learn to follow, backward. Then try them on level ground. Then accustom
+them to back up hill, and finally to back a load, almost as heavy as
+they can draw.</p>
+
+<p>Breaking vicious animals is always best done by gentleness. We have
+known vicious horses whipped severely, and in every way treated harshly,
+and finally given up as useless. We have seen those same horses, in
+other hands, brought to be regular, gentle, and safe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> as could be
+desired, by mild means, without a blow or harsh word. Oxen should be
+driven in a low tone of voice, and without much use of the goad. The
+usual manner of driving, by whipping and bawling, to the annoyance of
+the whole neighborhood, and until the driver becomes hoarse with his
+perpetual screams, is one of the most pernicious habits on a farm. Oxen
+will grow lazy and insensible under threat, or scream, or goad. Driven
+in a low tone of voice, without confusion by rapid commands, and no whoa
+put in, unless you wish them to stand still, oxen may be made more
+useful on a farm than horses. Their gears are cheap and never in the
+way. They can draw more and in worse places than horses, and it costs
+less to keep them. The various methods of drawing with head or horns, in
+vogue in other countries, need not be discussed here, as the American
+people will not probably change their yoke and bows for any other
+method.</p>
+
+<p>Feed oxen, as other animals, regularly, both in time and quantity. Curry
+them often and thoroughly. It improves their looks, health, and temper,
+and attaches them to their owner.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PARSLEY.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy biennial, highly prized as a garnish, and as a pot-herb
+for flavoring soups and boiled dishes. The large-rooted variety is used
+for the table, as carrots or parsnips. The principal varieties are&mdash;the
+<i>double-curled</i>, the <i>dwarf-curled</i>, the <i>Siberian</i> (single, very hardy,
+and fine-flavored), the <i>Hamburgh</i> (large-rooted, used as an edible
+root). The double-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>curled is well known, easily obtained, and suitable
+for all purposes. Those who desire the roots instead of parsnips, &amp;c.,
+should cultivate the Hamburgh or large-rooted. It needs the same
+treatment as beets. Seed should always be of the previous year's growth,
+or it may not vegetate. It is four or five weeks in coming up, unless it
+be soaked twelve hours in a little sulphur-water, when it will vegetate
+in two weeks. By cutting the leaves close, even, and regular, a
+succession of fine leaves may be had for a whole year from the same
+plants, when they will go to seed, and new ones should take their place.
+In cold climates they should be covered in winter with straw or litter.
+The Siberian is cultivated in the field, sown with grass or the small
+grains. It is said to prevent the disease called "<i>the rot</i>" in sheep,
+and is good for surfeited horses. The large-rooted should not be sowed
+in an excessively rich soil, as it produces an undue proportion of tops.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PARSNIPS.</h4>
+
+<p>English authors speak of but one variety of this root in cultivation in
+England. The French have three&mdash;the <i>Coquaine</i>, the <i>Lisbonaise</i>, and
+the <i>Siam</i>. The first runs down, in rich mellow soil, to the depth of
+four feet, and grows from six to sixteen inches in circumference; the
+Lisbonaise is shorter and larger round; the Siam is smaller than the
+others, of a yellowish color, and of excellent quality. We are not aware
+that our little hollow-crown carrot, so early and good, is included in
+the French varieties. We cultivate only the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> hollow-crown, and a common
+large variety; both are good for the table, and as food for animals.
+They need a light, deep, rich soil. A sandy loam is best, as for all
+roots. Seed kept over one season seldom vegetates. Should be soaked a
+day or two, and sown in straight rows, covered an inch deep, and the
+rows slightly rolled. It is much better, with this and the carrot, to
+sow radish-seed in the same rows. They come up so soon that they protect
+the parsnips and carrots from too hot a sun while tender, and also serve
+to mark the rows, so that they may be hoed early, without danger of
+destroying the young plants. Parsnips may be grown many years on the
+same bed without deterioration, provided a little decomposed manure or
+compost be annually added. Fresh manure is good if it be buried a foot
+deep. The yield will be greater if thinned to eight inches apart. Rows
+two feet apart, and the plants six inches in the row, are most suitable
+in field-culture. They will grow till frost comes, and are better for
+the table, when allowed to stand in the ground through the winter. They
+may be dug and preserved as other roots. Parsnips contain more sugar
+than any other edible root, and are therefore worth more per bushel for
+food. All domestic animals and fowls fatten on them very rapidly, and
+their flesh is peculiarly pleasant. Fed to cows, they increase the
+quantity of milk, and impart a beautiful color and agreeable flavor to
+the butter. It is superior to the beet, that we have so highly
+recommended elsewhere, in all respects except one&mdash;it is less easily
+tended and harvested. Still, they should be cultivated on every farm
+where cattle, hogs, or fowls, are kept.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>PASTURES.</h4>
+
+<p>These are very important to all who keep domestic animals. The following
+brief directions for successful pasturing are essential. It is very poor
+economy to have all your pasture-lands in one field, or to put all your
+animals together. Pasture fields in rotation, two weeks each, allowing
+rest and growth for six weeks: first horned cattle, next horses, then
+sheep. Horses feed closer than cattle, and sheep closer than horses;
+each also eats something that the others do not relish. Pasturing land
+with sheep thickens the grass on the ground. For the kinds of grass
+preferable for pastures, see our article on <i>Grasses</i>. Plaster sown on
+pastures containing clover, materially increases their growth. A little
+lime, plaster, and common salt, sown on any pasture, will prove very
+beneficial. Streams or springs in pastures double their value. The idea
+that creatures need no water when feeding on green grass is a mistake.
+Every pasture without a spring or stream should have a well. Cattle in a
+pasture in warm weather need shade. It is usual to advise the growth of
+trees in the borders, or scattered over the whole field. Sheds are much
+better. Trees absorb the moisture, stint the growth of the grass, and
+injure its quality. A pasture containing many trees is not worth more
+than half price; it will keep about half as much stock, and keep them
+poorly. Bushes, which so often occupy pastures, should be grubbed up,
+and by all means destroyed; so should all thistles, briers, and large
+weeds. Hogs and geese should be kept in no pastures but their own. Never
+turn into pastures when the ground is very soft and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> wet, in the spring;
+the tread of the creatures will destroy much of the turf. Creatures in
+pasture should be salted twice a week. The age of grass, to make the
+best feed for animals, is often mistaken: most suppose that young and
+tender grass is preferable; this is far from correct. Grass that is
+headed out, and in which the seed has begun to mature, is far more
+nutritious, as every farmer can ascertain by easy experiments. Tall
+grass, approaching maturity, will fatten cattle much faster than the
+most tender young growth. Pasturing land enriches it. It is well to mow
+pastures and pasture meadows occasionally, though few meadows and
+pastures should lie long without plowing. Top-dressings of manure, on
+all grass-lands, are valuable; better applied in the fall than in the
+spring; evaporation is less, and it has opportunity to soak into the
+soil.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PEAS.</h4>
+
+<p>These are sown in the field and garden. As a field-crop, peas and oats
+are sown together, and make good ground or soaked feed for horses, or
+for fattening animals. Early peas and large marrowfats are frequently
+sown broadcast on rich, clean land, near large cities, to produce green
+peas for market. It does not pay as well as to sow in rows three feet
+apart, and cultivate with a horse. All peas, for picking while green,
+are more convenient when bushed. They may produce nearly as well when
+allowed to grow in the natural way, but can not be picked as easily, and
+the second crop is less, and inferior, from the injury to the vines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> by
+the first picking. Early Kent peas (the best early variety) mature so
+nearly at the same time that the vines may be pulled up at once. All
+other peas had better be bushed, that they may be easily picked, and
+that the later ones may mature. Bushes need not be set so close as
+usual. A good bush, put firmly in the ground, to enable it to resist the
+wind, once in two and a half feet, is quite sufficient. Those clinging
+to the bushes will hold up the others. To bush peas in this way is but
+little work, and pays well. It is often said that stable-manure does no
+good on pea-ground&mdash;-that peas are neither better nor more abundant for
+its use. We think this utterly a mistake. We have often raised twice the
+quantity on a row well manured, that grew on another row by its side,
+where no manure had been applied. If peas be sowed thick on
+thoroughly-manured land, the crop will be small: it is from this fact
+that the idea has gained currency. They are generally planted too thick
+on rich land. Peas planted six inches deep will produce nearly twice as
+much as those covered but an inch. Plowing in peas and leveling the
+surface is one of the best methods of planting. To get an early crop in
+a cold climate, they may be forced in hotbeds, or planted in a warm
+exposure, very early, and protected by covering, when the weather is
+cold. At the South, it is best to plant so as to secure a considerable
+growth in the fall, and protect by covering with straw during cold
+weather.</p>
+
+<p>The only known remedy for the bugs that are so common in peas, is late
+sowing. In latitude forty-two, peas sown as late as the 10th of June
+will have no bugs. Bugs in seed-peas may be killed by putting the peas
+into hot water for a quarter of a minute; plant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> immediately, and they
+will come up sooner and do well. Seed imported from the more northern
+parts of Canada have no bugs; it is probably owing to the lateness of
+the season of their growth. But late peas are often much injured by
+mildew; this is supposed to be caused by too little moisture in the
+ground, and too much and too cool in the atmosphere, in dew or rain.
+Liberal watering then would prevent it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i>&mdash;are numerous. Two are quite sufficient. <i>Early Kent</i> the
+earliest we have ever been able to obtain, ripen nearly all at once;
+moderate bearers, but of the very best quality. This variety of pea is
+the only garden vegetable with which we are acquainted that produces
+more and better fruit for being sowed quite thick. The other variety
+that we recommend is the <i>large Marrowfat</i>. These should not stand
+nearer together, on rich land, than three or four inches, and always be
+bushed. There are many other varieties of both late and early peas, but
+we regard them inferior to these. White's "Gardening for the South"
+mentions Landreth's Extra Early, Prince Albert, Cedo-Nulli, Fairbank's
+Champion, Knight's tall Marrow, and New Mammoth. Whoever wishes a
+greater variety can get any of these under new names. The large blue
+Imperial is a rich pea, like many of the dwarfs, both of the large and
+small, but is very unproductive. We advise all to select the best they
+can find, and plant but two kinds, late and early.</p>
+
+<p>Plant at intervals to get a succession of crops. But very late peas, in
+our dry climate, amount to but little, without almost daily watering.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>PEACH.</h4>
+
+<p>This native of Persia is one of the most healthy and
+universally-favorite fruits. In its native state, it was hardly suitable
+for eating, resembling an almond more than our present fine peaches.
+Perhaps no other fruit exhibits so wide a difference in the products of
+seeds from the same tree. All the fine varieties are what we call chance
+products of seeds, not one out of a thousand of which deserved further
+cultivation. The prevailing opinion is, that planting the seeds is not a
+certain method of propagating a given variety; hence the general
+practice of budding (which see). Others assert that there are permanent
+varieties, that usually produce the same from the seed, when not allowed
+to mix in the blossoms. Some prefer to raise the trees for their
+peach-orchards from seed, thinking them longer-lived and more healthy.
+Whole peaches planted when taken from the tree, or the pits planted
+before having become dry, are said to be much more certain to produce
+the same fruit. We know an instance in which the fruit of an early
+Crawford peach, thus planted, could not be distinguished from those that
+grew on a budded tree in the same orchard. One of the difficulties in
+reproducing the same from seed, is the great difficulty in getting the
+seed of any variety pure. We everywhere have so many varieties of
+fruit-trees in the same orchard, that the seeds of no one can be pure;
+they mix in the blossoms. On this account, the surest method of
+perpetuating a variety is by budding. This tree is of rapid growth,
+often bearing the third year from the seed, and producing abundantly the
+fifth. The peach-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>tree is often called thrifty when its growth is very
+luxuriant, but tender and unhealthy, perishing in the following winter.
+A moderate, steady, hardy growth is most profitable. The following
+directions, though brief, are complete:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Raising Seedlings.</i>&mdash;Dry the pits in the shade; put them away till the
+last of winter; then soak them two days in water, and spread them on
+some place in the garden where water will not stand, and cover them an
+inch deep with wet sand, and leave them to freeze. When about time to
+plant them (which is early corn-planting time), take them up and select
+all those that are opened by the frost, and that are beginning to
+germinate, and plant in rows four feet apart and one foot in the row.
+These will grow and be ready for budding considerably earlier than those
+not opened by frost. Crack the others on a wooden block, by striking
+their side-edge with a hammer; you thus avoid injury to the germ that is
+endangered by striking the end. Plant these in rows like the others, but
+only six inches apart in the row, as they will not all germinate. Plant
+them on rich soil covering an inch or two deep. Keep them clear of
+weeds, and they will be ready for budding from August 15th to September
+10th, according to latitude or season. In a dry season, when everything
+matures early, budding must not be deferred as long as in a wet season.</p>
+
+<p>For full directions for budding, see our article on that subject.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting.</i>&mdash;Perhaps no other fruit-tree suffers so much from
+transplanting when too large. This should always be done, after one
+year's growth, from the bud. The best time for transplanting is the
+spring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> in northern latitudes subject to hard frosts, and in autumn in
+warmer climates.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil and Location.</i>&mdash;All intelligent fruit-growers are aware that these
+exert a great influence upon the size, quality, and quantity, of all
+varieties of fruits. An accurate description of a variety in one climate
+will not always identify it in another. Some few varieties are nearly
+permanent and universal, but most are adapted to particular localities,
+and need a process of acclimation to adapt them to other soils and
+situations. Light sandy soils are usually regarded best for the peach:
+it is only so because nineteen out of twenty cultivators will not take
+pains to suitably prepare other soils. Some of the best peaches we have
+ever seen grew on the richest Illinois prairie, and others on the
+limestone bluffs of the Ohio river. Thorough drainage is indispensable
+for the peach, on all but very light, porous soils: with such drainage,
+peaches will do best on soil best adapted to growing corn and potatoes.
+Bones, bonedust, lime, ashes, stable-manure, and charcoal, are the best
+applications to the soil of a peach-orchard. Whoever grows peaches
+should put at least half a bushel of fine charcoal in the earth in which
+he sets each tree. Mix it well with the soil, and the tree will grow
+better, and the fruit be larger and finer, for a dozen years. Any good
+soil, well drained and manured with these articles, will produce great
+crops of peaches. For the location of peach-orchards, see our general
+remarks on "Location of Fruit-trees." But we would repeat here the
+direction to choose a northern exposure, in climates subject to late
+frosts. Elevations are always favorable, as are also the shores of all
+bodies of water. In our remarks on location, we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> shown by facts the
+great value of hills, so high as to be useless for any other purpose.
+Between Pittsburgh and the mouth of the Ohio river, there are enough
+high elevations, now useless, to supply all the cities within fifty
+miles of the rivers, down to New Orleans, with the best of peaches every
+year. In no year will they ever be cut off by frost on those hills. Warm
+exposures, with a little winter protection, will secure good peaches in
+climates not adapted to them. In some parts of France, they grow large
+quantities for market by training them against walls, where they do not
+flourish in the open field. By this practice, and by enclosures and
+acclimation, the growth of this excellent fruit may be extended to the
+coldest parts of the United States.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting</i>&mdash;should be performed with care, as in the case of all
+other fruit-trees. Every injured root should be cut off smooth from the
+under side, slanting out from the tree. Leave the roots, as nearly as
+possible, in the position in which they were before. Set the tree an
+inch lower than it stood in the nursery; it saves the danger of the
+roots getting uncovered, and of too strong action of the atmosphere on
+the roots, in a soil so loose. The opposite is often recommended, viz.,
+to allow the tree in its new location to stand an inch or two higher
+than before; but we are sure, from repeated trials, that it is wrong.
+Shake the fine earth as closely around the roots as possible, mulch
+well, and pour on a pailful of tepid water, if it be rather a dry time,
+and the tree will be sure to live and make a good growth the first year.
+When a peach-tree is transplanted, after one year's growth from the bud,
+it should have the top cut off within eighteen inches or two feet of the
+ground, and all the limbs cut off at half their length.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> This will
+induce the formation of a full, large head. A low, full-branching head
+is always best on a peach-tree.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pruning</i> is perhaps the most important matter in successful peach
+culture. The fruit is borne wholly on wood of the previous year's
+growth. Hence a tree that has the most of that growth, in a mature
+state, and properly situated, will bear the most and the finest fruit. A
+tree left to its natural state, with no pruning but of a few of the
+lower limbs from the main trunk, will soon exhibit a collection of long
+naked limbs, without foliage, except near their extremities (see the cut
+overleaf). In this case fruit will be too thick on what little bearing
+wood there is, and it should be thinned. But very few cultivators even
+attend to that. The fruit is consequently small, and it weakens the
+growth of the young wood above, for next year's fruiting, and thus tree
+and fruit are perpetually deteriorating.</p>
+
+<p>Observe a shoot of young peachwood, you will see near its base,
+leaf-buds. On the middle there are many blossom-buds, and on the top,
+leaf-buds again. The tendency of sap is to the extremity. Hence the
+upper leaf-buds will put out at once. And for their growth, and the
+maturity of the excessive fruit on the middle, the power of the sap is
+so far exhausted, that the leaf-buds at the base do not grow. Hence when
+the fruit is removed, nothing is left below the terminal shoots, but a
+bare pole. This is the condition in which we find most peach-trees.</p>
+
+<p>For this there is a certain preventive. It consists in shortening in, by
+cutting off in the month of September, from a third to a half of the
+current season's growth. If the top be large, cut off one half the
+length of the new wood. If it be less vigorous and rank, and you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> fear
+you will not have room for a fair crop of peaches, cut off but one
+third. This heading-in is sometimes recommended to be done in the
+spring. For forming a head in a young tree the spring is better. But to
+mature the wood, and increase the quantity, and improve the quality of
+the fruit, September is much the best.</p>
+
+<p>Such shortening in early in September, directs the sap to maturing the
+wood, already formed and developing fruit-buds, instead of promoting the
+growth of an undue quantity of young and tender wood, to be destroyed by
+the winter, or to hinder the growth of the fruit of the next season.
+This heading-in process, with these young shoots, is most easily
+performed with pruning shears, with wooden handles, of a length suited
+to the height of the tree.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-328.jpg" width="600" height="223" alt="Neglected Peach-Tree." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Neglected Peach-Tree.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Properly-trimmed Peach-Tree.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>But a work to precede this annual shortening-in, is the original
+formation of a head to a peach-tree. Take a tree a year old from the
+bud, and cut it down to within two and a half feet from the ground.
+Below that numerous strong shoots will come out. Select three vigorous
+ones and let them grow as they please, carefully pinching off all the
+rest. In the fall you will have a tree of three good strong branches. In
+the next spring cut off these three branches, one half. Below these
+cuts,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> branches will start freely. Select one vigorous shoot to continue
+the limb, and another to form a new branch. Check the growth of the
+shoots below, by cutting off their ends, but do not rub them off, as
+they will form fruit branches. At the close of the season you will have
+a tree with six main branches, and some small ones for fruit, on the
+older wood. Repeat this process the third year, and you have a tree with
+twelve main branches, and plenty smaller ones for fruit. All these small
+branches on the old wood, should be shortened in half their length, to
+cause the leaf-buds near their base to start, so as to produce large
+numbers of young shoots. Continue this as long as you please, and make
+just as large a head and just such a form as you may wish, being careful
+only to control the shape of the top so as to let the sun and air freely
+into every part.</p>
+
+<p>Trees thus trained may be planted thick enough to allow four hundred to
+stand on an acre, and will bear an abundance of the finest fruit, and
+all low enough to be easily picked. This method of training is much
+better than allowing the tree to shoot out on all sides from the ground:
+in that case, the branches are apt to split down and perish. This system
+of heading-in freely every year, preserves the life and health of the
+tree remarkably. Many of the finest peach-trees in France are from
+thirty to sixty years old, and some a hundred. We may, in this country,
+have peach-trees live fifty years, in the most healthy bearing
+condition. By trimming in this way, and carrying out fully this system,
+some have thrifty-looking peach-trees, more than a foot in diameter,
+bearing the very best of fruit. It is sheer neglect that causes our
+peach-orchards to perish after having borne from three to six years. Let
+every man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> who plants a peach-tree remember, that this system of
+training will make his tree live long, be healthy, grow vigorously, and
+bear abundantly.</p>
+
+<p><i>Diseases</i> of peach-trees have been a matter of much speculation. The
+result is, that the hope of the peach-grower is mainly in preventives.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Yellows</i> is usually regarded as a disease. Imagination has invented
+many causes of this evil. Some suppose it to be produced by small
+insects; others that it is in the seed. Again, it is ascribed to the
+atmosphere. It has been supposed to be propagated in many ways&mdash;by
+trimming a healthy tree with a knife that had been used on a diseased
+one; by contagion in the atmostphere, as the measles or small-pox; by
+impregnation from the pollen, through the agency of winds or bees; by
+the migration of small insects; or by planting diseased seeds, or
+budding from diseased trees. This great diversity of opinion leaves room
+to doubt whether the yellows in peach-trees be a disease at all, or only
+a symptom of general decay. The symptoms, as given in all the
+fruit-books, are only such as would be natural from decay and death of
+the tree, from any cause whatever. This may result from neglect to
+supply the soil with suitable manures, and to trim trees properly, and
+especially from over-bearing. This view of the case is more probable,
+from the fact that none pretend to have found a remedy. All advise to
+remove the tree thus affected at once, root and branch. We have seen the
+following treatment of such trees tried with marked success. Cut off a
+large share of the top, as when you would renew an old, neglected tree;
+lay the large roots bare, making a sort of basin around the body of the
+tree, and pour in three pailfuls of <i>boiling</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> water: the tree will
+start anew and do well. This is an excellent application to an old,
+failing peach-tree. The sure preventive of the yellows is, planting
+seeds of healthy trees, budding from the most vigorous, heading-in well,
+supplying appropriate manures, and general good cultivation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Curled Leaves</i> is another evil among peach-trees, occurring before the
+leaves are fully grown, and causing them to fall off after two or three
+weeks. Other leaves will put out, but the fruit is destroyed, and the
+general health of the tree injured. Elliott says the curl of the leaf is
+produced by the punctures of small insects. One kind of curled leaf is,
+but not this. But we have no doubt that Barry's theory is the correct
+one, viz., that it is the effect of sudden changes of the weather. We
+have noticed the curled leaf in orchards where the trees were so close
+together as to guard each other. On the side where the cold wind struck
+them, we noticed they were badly affected; while on the warm side, and
+in the centre where they were protected by the others, they exhibited
+very few signs of the curl. In western New York, unusual cold east winds
+always produce the curled leaves, on trees much exposed: hence, the only
+remedy is the best protection you can give, by location, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mildew</i> is a minute fungus growing on the ends of tender shoots of
+certain varieties, checking their growth, and producing other bad
+effects. Syringe the trees with a weak solution of nitre, one ounce in a
+gallon of water, which will destroy the fungus and invigorate the tree.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Borer</i> has been the great enemy of the peach-tree, since about the
+close of the last century. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> female insect, that produces the worms,
+deposites her eggs under rough bark, near the surface of the ground.
+This is done mostly in July, but occasionally from June to October. The
+eggs are laid in small punctures, and covered with a greenish glue; in a
+few days they come out, a small white worm, and eat through the bark
+where it is tender, just at, or a little below, the surface of the
+ground; they eat under the bark, between that and the wood, and,
+consuming a little of each, they frequently girdle the tree; as they
+grow larger, they perforate the solid wood; when about a year old, they
+make a cocoon just below the surface of the ground, change into a
+chrysalis state, and shortly come out a winged insect, to deposite fresh
+eggs. But the practical part of all this is the <i>remedy</i>: keep the
+ground clean around the trees, and rub off frequently all the rough
+bark; place around each tree half a peck of air-slaked lime, and the
+borer will not attack it. This should be placed there on the first of
+May, and be spread over the ground on the first of October; refuse
+tobacco-stems, from the cigar-makers, or any other offensive substance,
+as hen-manure, salt and ashes, &amp;c., will answer the same purpose. We
+should recommend the annual cultivation of a small piece of ground in
+tobacco, for use around peach-trees. We have found it very successful
+against the borer, and it is an excellent manure; applied two or three
+times during the season, it proves a perfect remedy, and is in no way
+injurious, as an excessive quantity of lime might be.</p>
+
+<p><i>Leaf Insects.</i>&mdash;There are several varieties, which cause the leaves to
+curl and prematurely fall. This kind of curled leaf differs from the one
+described as the result of sudden changes and cold wind; that appears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
+general wherever the cold wind strikes the tree, while this only affects
+a few leaves occasionally, and those surrounded by healthy leaves. The
+remedy is to syringe them with offensive mixtures, as tobacco-juice, or
+sprinkle them when wet with fine, air-slaked lime.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;Their name is legion, and they are rapidly increasing, and
+their synonyms multiplying. A singular fact, in most of our fruit-books,
+is a minute description of useless kinds, and such descriptions of those
+that they call good, as not one in ten thousand cultivators will ever
+try to master&mdash;they are worse than useless, except to an occasional
+amateur cultivator.</p>
+
+<p>Elliott, in his fruit-book, divides peaches into three classes: the
+first is for general cultivation; under this class he describes
+thirty-one varieties, with ninety-eight synonyms. His second class is
+for amateur cultivators, and includes sixty-nine varieties, with
+eighty-four synonyms. His third class, which he says are unworthy of
+further cultivation, describes fifty-four varieties, with seventy-seven
+synonyms. Cole gives sixty-five varieties, minutely described, and many
+of them pronounced worthless. In Hooker's Western Fruit-Book, we have
+some eighty varieties, only a few of which are regarded worthy of
+cultivation. Downing gives us one hundred and thirty-three varieties,
+with about four hundred synonyms. In all these works the descriptions
+are minute. The varieties of serrated leaves, the glandless, and some
+having globose glands on the leaves, and others with reniform glands.
+Then we have the color of the fruit in the shade and in the sun, which
+will, of course, vary with every degree of sun or shade. We submit the
+opinion that those books would have possessed much more value, had they
+only described the best mode of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> cultivating peaches, without having
+mentioned a single variety, thus leaving each cultivator to select the
+best he could find. Had they given a plain description of ten, or
+certainly of not more than fifteen varieties, those books would have
+been far more valuable <i>for the people</i>. We give a small list, including
+all we think it best to cultivate. Perhaps confining our selection to
+half a dozen varieties would be a further improvement:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. The first of all peaches is <i>Crawford's Early</i>. This is an early,
+sure, and great bearer, of the most beautiful, large fruit;&mdash;a
+good-flavored, juicy peach, though not the very richest. It is, on the
+whole, the very best peach in all parts of the country. Time, from July
+15th to September 1st. Freestone.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Crawford's Late</i> is very large and handsome; uniformly productive,
+though not nearly so good a bearer as Crawford's Early. Ripens last of
+September and in October. Fair quality, and always handsome; freestone;
+excellent for market.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Columbia.</i>&mdash;Origin, New Jersey. It is a thoroughly-tested variety,
+raised and described by Mr. Cox, who wrote one of the earliest and best
+American fruit-books. Fine specimens were exhibited in 1856, grown in
+Covington, Ky. Excellent in all parts of the United States. Freestone.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>George the Fourth.</i>&mdash;A large, delicious, freestone peach, an
+American seedling from Mr. Gill, Broad street, New York. The National
+Pomological Society have decided the tree to be so healthy and
+productive as to adapt it to all localities in this country. It has
+twenty-five synonyms.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Early York.</i>&mdash;Freestone; the best, and first really good, early
+peach. Time July at Cincinnati, and Au<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>gust at Cleveland. Time of
+ripening of all varieties varies with latitude, location, and season.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>Grass Mignonne.</i>&mdash;A foreign variety, a great favorite in France, in
+the time of Louis XIV. Very rich freestone, flourishing in all climates
+from Boston south. The high repute in which it has long been held is
+seen in its thirty synonyms. One of the best, when you can obtain the
+genuine. Time, August.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>Honest John.</i>&mdash;A large, beautiful, delicious, freestone variety.
+Highly prized as a late peach, maturing from the middle to the last of
+October. Indispensable in even a small selection.</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Malacatune.</i>&mdash;A very popular American freestone peach, derived from
+a Spanish, and is the parent of the Crawford peaches, both early and
+late.</p>
+
+<p>9. <i>Morris White.</i>&mdash;Everywhere well known; a good bearer; best for
+preserving at the North; a good dessert peach South.</p>
+
+<p>10. <i>Morris Red Rare-ripe.</i>&mdash;A favorite, freestone, July peach. The tree
+is healthy and a great bearer.</p>
+
+<p>11. <i>Old Mixon.</i>&mdash;Should be found in all gardens and orchards; it is of
+excellent quality and ripens at a time when few good peaches are to be
+had; it endures spring-frosts better than any other variety; profitable.</p>
+
+<p>12. <i>Old Mixon Cling.</i>&mdash;One of the most delicious early clingstones.
+Deserves a place in all gardens.</p>
+
+<p>13. <i>Monstrous Cling.</i>&mdash;Not the best quality, but profitable for market
+on account of its great size.</p>
+
+<p>14. <i>Heath Cling.</i>&mdash;Very good South and West. Wrapped in paper and laid
+in a cool room, it will keep longer than any other variety. Tree hardy
+and often produces when others fail. Excellent for preserving, and when
+quite ripe, is superior as a dessert fruit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>15. <i>Blood Cling.</i>&mdash;A well-known peach, excellent for pickling and
+preserving. It sometimes measures twelve inches in circumference. The
+old French Blood Cling is smaller. Many of these varieties will be found
+under other names. You will have to depend upon your nursery-man to give
+you the best he has, and be careful to bud from any choice variety you
+may happen to taste. Difficulties and disappointments will always attend
+efforts to get desired varieties.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PEAR.</h4>
+
+<p>The pear is a native of Europe and Asia, and, in its natural state, is
+quite as unfit for the table as the crab-apple. Cultivation has given it
+a degree of excellence that places it in the first rank among
+dessert-fruits. No other American fruit commands so high a price. New
+varieties are obtained by seedlings, and are propagated by grafting and
+budding: the latter is generally preferred. Root-grafting of pears is to
+be avoided; the trees will be less vigorous and healthy. The difficulty
+of raising pear-seedlings has induced an extensive use of suckers, to
+the great injury of pear-culture. Fruit-growers are nearly unanimous in
+discarding suckers as stocks for grafting. The difficulty in raising
+seedling pear-trees is the failure of the seeds to vegetate. A remedy
+for this is, never to allow the seeds to become dry, after being taken
+from the fruit, until they are planted. Keep them in moist sand until
+time to plant them in the spring, or plant as soon as taken from the
+fruit. The spring is the best time for planting, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> ground can be
+put in better condition, rendering after-culture much more easy. The
+pear will succeed well on any good soil, well supplied with suitable
+fertilizers. The best manures for the pear are, lime in small
+quantities, wood-ashes, bones, potash dissolved, and applied in rotten
+wood, leaves, and muck, with a little stable-manure and
+iron-filings&mdash;iron is very essential in the soil for the pear-tree. In
+all soils moderately supplied with these articles, all pear-trees
+grafted on seedling-stocks, and those that flourish on the foreign
+quince, will do well. A good yellow loam is most natural; light sandy or
+gravelly land is unfavorable. It is better to cart two or three loads of
+suitable soil for each tree on such land. The practice of budding or
+grafting on apple-stocks, on crab-apples, and on the mountain-ash,
+should be utterly discarded. For producing early fruit, quince-stocks
+and root-pruning are recommended.</p>
+
+<p>Setting out pear-trees properly is of very great importance. The
+requisites are, to have the ground in good condition, from manure on the
+crop of the last season, and thoroughly subsoiled and drained.
+Pear-trees delight in rather heavy land, if it be well drained; but
+water, standing in the soil about them, is utterly ruinous. Pear-trees,
+well transplanted on moderately rich land, well subsoiled and well
+drained, will almost always succeed. By observing the following brief
+directions, any cultivator may have just such shaped tops on his
+pear-trees as he desires. Cut short any shoots that are too vigorous,
+that those around them may get their share of the sap, and thus be
+enabled to make a proportionate growth. After trees have come into
+bearing, symmetry in the form of their heads may be pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>moted by
+pinching off all the fruit on the weak branches, and allowing all on the
+strong ones to mature.</p>
+
+<p>Those two simple methods, removing the fruit from too vigorous shoots,
+and cutting in others, half or two-thirds their length, will enable one
+to form just such heads as he pleases, and will prove the best
+preventives of diseases.</p>
+
+<p><i>Diseases.</i>&mdash;There are many insects that infest pear-orchards, in the
+same manner as they do apples, and are to be destroyed in the same way.
+The slugs on the leaves are often quite annoying. These are worms,
+nearly half an inch long, olive-colored, and tapering from head to tail,
+like a tadpole. Ashes or quicklime, sprinkled over the leaves when they
+are wet with dew or rain, is an effectual remedy.</p>
+
+<p><i>Insect-Blight.</i>&mdash;This has been confounded with the frozen-sap blight,
+though they are very different. In early summer, when the shoots are in
+most vigorous growth, you will notice that the leaves on the ends of
+branches turn brown, and very soon die and become black. This is caused
+by a worm from an egg, deposited just behind or below a bud, by an
+insect. The egg hatches, and the worm perforates the bark into the wood,
+and commits his depredations there, preventing the healthy flow of the
+sap, which kills the twig above. Soon after the shoot dies, the worm
+comes out in the form of a winged insect, and seeks a location to
+deposite its eggs, preparatory to new depredations. The remedy is to cut
+off the shoots affected at once, and burn them. The insect-blight does
+not affect the tree far below the location of the worm. Watch your trees
+closely, and cut off all affected parts as soon as they appear, and burn
+them immediately, and you will soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> destroy all the insects. But very
+soon after the appearance of the blight they leave the limb; hence a
+little delay will render your efforts useless. These insects often
+commit the same depredations on apple and quince-trees. We had an
+orchard in Ohio seriously affected by them. We know no remedy but
+destruction as above.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Frozen-Sap Blight</i> is a much more serious difficulty. Its nature
+and origin are now pretty well settled. In every tree there are two
+currents of sap: one passes up through the outer wood, to be digested by
+the leaves; the other passing down in the inner bark, deposites new
+wood, to increase the size of the tree. Now, in a late growth of this
+kind of wood, the process is rapidly going on, at the approach of cold
+weather, and the descending sap is suddenly frozen, in this tender bark
+and growing wood. This sudden freezing poisons the sap, and renders the
+tree diseased. The blight will show itself, in its worst form, in the
+most rapid growing season of early summer, though the disease commenced
+with the severe frosts of the previous autumn. Its presence may be known
+by a thick, clammy sap, that will exude in winter or spring pruning, and
+in the discoloration of the inner bark and peth of the branches. On
+limbs badly affected on one side, the bark will turn black and shrivel
+up. But its effects in the death of the branches only occur when the
+growth of the tree demands the rapid descent of the sap: then the
+poisoned sap which was arrested the previous fall, in its downward
+passage, is diluted and sent through the tree; and when it is abundant,
+the whole tree is poisoned and destroyed in a few days; in others more
+slightly affected, it only destroys a limb or a small portion of the
+top. Another effect of this fall-freezing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> sap and growing wood, is
+to rupture the sap-vessels, and thus prevent the inner bark from
+performing its functions. This theory is so well established, that an
+intelligent observer can predict, in the fall, a blight-season the
+following summer. If the summer be cool, and the fall warm and damp,
+closed by sudden cold, the blight will be troublesome the next season,
+because the plentiful downward flow of sap, and rapid growth of wood,
+were arrested by sudden freezing. If the summer is favorable, and the
+wood matures well before cold weather, the blight will not appear. This
+is of the utmost practical moment to the pear-culturist. Anything in
+soil, situation, or pruning, that favors early maturity of wood, will
+serve as a preventive of blight; hence, cool, moist situations are not
+favorable in climates subject to sudden and severe cold weather in
+autumn. Root-pruning and heading-in, which always induce early maturity
+of wood, are of vast importance; they will, almost always, prevent
+frozen-sap blight. If, in spite of you, your pear-trees will make a late
+luxuriant growth, cut off one half of the most vigorous shoots before
+hard freezing, and you will check the flow of sap, by removing the
+leaves and shoots that control it, and save your trees. If blight makes
+its appearance, cut off at once all the parts affected. The effects will
+be visible in the wood and inner bark, far below the external apparent
+injury. Remove the whole injured part, or it will poison the rest of the
+tree. When this frozen sap is extensive, it poisons and destroys the
+whole tree; when slight, the tree often wholly recovers. If a spot of
+black, shrivelled bark appears, shave it off, deep enough to remove the
+affected parts, and cover the wound with grafting-wax. Remove all
+affected limbs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> These are the only remedies. But the practice of
+pruning both roots and branches will prove a certain preventive. A tree
+growing in grass, where it grows more slowly, and matures earlier in the
+season, will escape this blight; while one growing in very rich garden
+soil, and continuing to grow until cold weather, will suffer severely.
+The effects on orchards, in different soils and localities everywhere,
+confirm this theory. A little care then will prevent this evil, which
+has sometimes been so great as to discourage attempts at raising pears.
+In some localities, some of the finer varieties of pears, as the
+virgalieu, are ruined by cracking on the trees before ripening.
+Applications of ashes, salt, charcoal, iron-filings, and clay on light
+lands, will remedy this evil.</p>
+
+<p><i>Distances apart.</i>&mdash;All fruit-trees had better occupy as little ground
+as is consistent with a healthy vigorous growth. They are manured and
+well cultivated, at a much less expense. The trees protect each other
+against inclement weather. The fruit is more easily harvested. And it is
+a great saving of land, as nothing else can be profitably grown in an
+orchard of large fruit-trees. The two kinds of pear-trees, dwarf and
+standard, may be planted together closely and be profitable for early
+and abundant bearing. The plan given on the next page of a pear-orchard,
+recommended in Cole's Fruit Book, is the best we have seen.</p>
+
+<p>In the plan the trees on pear-stocks, designed for standards, occupy the
+large black spots where the lines intersect. They are thirty-three feet
+apart. The small spots indicate the position of dwarf-trees on quince
+stocks. Of these there are three on each square rod. An acre then would
+have forty standard trees, and four hundred and eighty dwarfs. The
+latter will come into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> early bearing, and be profitable, long before the
+former will produce any fruit. This will induce and repay thorough
+cultivation. They should be headed in, and finally removed, as the
+standards need more room. One acre carefully cultivated in this way,
+will afford an income sufficient for the support of a small family.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-342.jpg" width="600" height="389" alt="Plan of a Pear-Orchard." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Plan of a Pear-Orchard.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Gathering and Preserving.</i>&mdash;Most fruits are better when allowed fully
+to ripen on the tree. But with pears, the reverse is true; most of them
+need to be ripened in the house, and some of them, as much as possible,
+excluded from the light. Gather when matured, and when a few of the
+wormy full-grown ones begin to fall, but while they adhere somewhat
+firmly to the tree. Barrel or box them tight, or put them in drawers in
+a cool dry place. About the time for them to become soft, put them in a
+room, with a temperature comfortable for a sitting-room, and you will
+soon have them in their greatest perfection. They do better in a warm
+room, wrapped in paper or cotton. A few only ripen well on the trees.
+Those ripened in the house keep much longer and better.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;The London Horticultural Society have proved seven hundred
+varieties, from different parts of the world, in their experimental
+garden. Cole speaks of eight hundred and Elliott of twelve hundred
+varieties. There are now probably more than three thousand growing in
+this country. Many seedlings, not known beyond the neighborhood where
+they originated, may be among our very best. From six to ten varieties
+are all that need be cultivated. We present the following list, advising
+cultivators to select five or six to suit their own tastes and
+circumstances, and cultivate no more. We do not give the usual
+descriptions of the varieties selected. The mass of cultivators, for
+whom this work is specially intended, will never learn and test the
+descriptions. They will depend upon their nursery-man, and bud and graft
+from those they have tasted.</p>
+
+<p>We give their names and some of their synonyms, their adaptation to
+quince or pear stocks, their manner of growth, and time of maturity.
+These will enable the culturist to select whatever best suits his taste;
+adapted to quince or pear stocks; for the table or kitchen; for summer,
+fall, or winter use, and for home or the market.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Belle Lucrative</span>.&mdash;<i>Fondante d' Automne, Seigneur d' Esperin.</i> Tree of
+moderate growth, but a great bearer. A fine variety, on quince or pear,
+better perhaps on the pear stock. Season, last of September.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Beurr� Easter</span> with fifteen synonyms that few would ever read. Best on
+quince. Requires a warm soil and considerable care in ripening, when it
+proves one of the best. Its season&mdash;from January to May&mdash;makes it very
+desirable. Large, yellowish-green, with russet spots.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;">
+<img src="images/ill-344.jpg" width="276" height="400" alt="Bartlett." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Bartlett.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bartlett</span>.&mdash;<i>William's, William's Bon Chretien, Poire Guilliaume</i>. Tree,
+a vigorous grower, and a regular, early, good bearer, of long, handsome,
+perfectly-formed fruit; on the quince or pear stock. Time, August and
+September.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 309px;">
+<img src="images/ill-345.jpg" width="309" height="400" alt="Beurr� Diel." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Beurr� Diel.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Beurr� Diel</span>.&mdash;<i>Diel</i>, <i>Diel's Butterbirne</i>, <i>Dorothee Royale</i>, <i>Grosse
+Dorothee</i>, <i>Beurr� Royale</i>, <i>Des Trois Tours</i>, <i>De Melon</i>, <i>Melon de
+Kops</i>, <i>Beurr� Magnifique</i>, <i>Beurr� Incomparable</i>. Grows well on quince
+or pear, but perhaps does best on quince. Large, beautiful, luscious
+fruit. Season, October to last of November.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 302px;">
+<img src="images/ill-346.jpg" width="302" height="400" alt="White Doyenne." title="" />
+<span class="caption">White Doyenne.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">White Doyenne</span>.&mdash;<i>Virgalieu.</i> Tree vigorous and hardy on pear or quince.
+Everywhere esteemed as one of the very best. Needs care in supplying
+proper manure and clay on light soils, to prevent the fruit from
+cracking. September to November. If we could have but one we should
+choose this.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Columbia</span>.&mdash;<i>Columbian Virgalieu.</i> Native of New York, bearing
+abundantly, a uniformly smooth, fair, large fruit. Color, fine golden
+yellow, dotted with gray. Season, December and January.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;">
+<img src="images/ill-347.jpg" width="318" height="400" alt="Flemish Beauty." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Flemish Beauty.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Flemish Beauty</span>.&mdash;<i>Belle de Flanders, &amp;c.</i> This is a large, beautiful,
+and delicious pear. One of the finest in its season, but does not last
+long. Ripens last of September. Very fine on the quince, and is
+excellent on the rich prairie-lands of the West. Deserves increased
+attention.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Beurr� d'Aremberg</span>.&mdash;<i>Duc d'Aremberg, and eight other synonyms.</i> Tree
+very hardy, does well on the pear stock, and bears early, annually, and
+abundantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> A very fine foreign variety. The fruit hangs on the tree
+well, and may be ripened at will from December to February, by placing
+in a warm room, when you would ripen them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Buffum</span>.&mdash;A native of Rhode Island, and very successful wherever grown. A
+great bearer of handsome fruit, though not of the best quality. It is,
+however, an excellent orchard pear. Fruit, medium size, ripening in
+September.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Louise Bonne of Jersey</span>.&mdash;<i>William the Fourth</i>, and three other useless
+foreign synonyms. Not surpassed, on the quince. Tree very vigorous,
+producing a great abundance of large fruit. Season, October.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Madeleine</span>.&mdash;<i>Magdalen</i>, <i>Citron des Carmes</i>. This bears an abundance of
+small but delicious fruit. Is valuable also on account of its
+season&mdash;the last half of July. Good on pear or quince. Must be checked
+in its growth, on very rich land, or it will be subject to the frozen
+sap-blight.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Onondaga</span>.&mdash;American origin. Equally good on pear or quince. Large,
+hardy, and very productive tree. The fruit is very large, fine golden
+yellow when ripe. Excellent for market. Season, October and November.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pound Pear</span>.&mdash;<i>Winter Belle</i>, and twelve other synonyms, which are
+unimportant. This is the great winter-pear for cooking. The tree is a
+very vigorous grower and great bearer. A very profitable orchard
+variety. December to March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince's St. Germain</span>.&mdash;<i>New St. Germain</i>, <i>Brown's St. Germain</i>. Hardy
+and productive. Good keeper, ripening as easily and as well as an apple.
+December to March.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;">
+<img src="images/ill-349.jpg" width="341" height="400" alt="Seckel." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Seckel.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Seckel</span>.&mdash;There are a number of synonyms, but it is always known by this
+name. Tree is small, but a good and regular bearer of small excellent
+fruit. Time in warm climates, September and October.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Steven's Genesee</span>.&mdash;<i>Stephen's Genesee</i>, <i>Guernsey</i>. Desirable for all
+orchards and gardens, on quince or pear. Fine grower and very
+productive. Fruit large and excellent. Elliott says "even the wind-falls
+are very fine."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Vicar of Wakefield</span>.&mdash;Eight synonyms, but it will hardly be mistaken by
+nursery-men. Does well on quince. It is thrifty and very productive of
+fruit of second quality. Yet it is generally profitable. November to
+January.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Winter Nellis</span>.&mdash;Its six foreign synonyms are of no consequence. This is
+the best of all winter-pears, grown on quince or pear. Exceedingly well
+adapted to the rich western prairies. An early and great bearer.
+November to January 15.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 276px;">
+<img src="images/ill-350.jpg" width="276" height="400" alt="Gray Doyenne." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Gray Doyenne.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gray Doyenne</span>.&mdash;A superior October pear. Tree hardy and productive on
+both pear or quince. Partakes much of the excellence of the White
+Doyenne.</p>
+
+<p>From these you can select five or six just adapted to your wishes. The
+diversity of views, of the merits of different varieties of pears,
+arises mainly from the influence of location, soil, and culture. The
+established known varieties, may be grown in great perfection anywhere,
+with suitable care. At the West they <i>must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> root-pruned</i> and
+<i>headed-in</i> until they are ten years old, after which they will be hardy
+and productive. If allowed to grow as fast as they will incline to, on
+alluvial soils, when they are exposed to severe winters, they will
+disappoint growers. With care they will be sure and profitable.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PEPPERS.</h4>
+
+<p>The red peppers, cultivated in this country, are used for pickling, for
+pepper-sauce, as a condiment for food, and as a domestic medicine.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i>&mdash;are named principally from their shape. The <i>large
+squash-pepper</i> is best for green pickles, on account of its size and
+tenderness. The <i>Cayenne</i>, a small, long variety, much resembling the
+original from which it is named, is very pungent, used mostly for
+pepper-sauce. Grind, not very fine, any of the varieties, and they are
+useful on any food of a cold nature and not easily digestible. They are
+all good for medicinal purposes. The capsicum needs a dry, warm soil,
+with exposure to the sun. Plants should stand two feet apart each way;
+as they are slow growers, they should be started in an early hotbed.
+Many will ripen during summer, and may be gathered. In the fall, when
+frost comes, the vines will be covered with blossoms and with peppers of
+all sizes. Fall-grown green ones, strung on a thread, and hung in a
+warm, dry room, will ripen finely. They are very hardy, and may be
+transplanted without injury. Hen-manure is best for them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>PEPPERGRASS.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a variety of cress, of quick growth, used as lettuce. On a rich,
+finely-pulverized soil, sow the seeds in drills, fifteen inches apart,
+and cover very lightly. Sow thick and water in dry weather. For use, cut
+the tops while they are very tender. A second crop will grow, but
+inferior to the first. The water-cress, growing spontaneously by rills
+and springs, is a kind of wild peppergrass, and is by some persons more
+esteemed than the garden variety. We prefer early lettuce to cresses or
+peppergrass, and see no reason for their cultivation, but their rapid
+growth.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PLOWING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the most important matters in soil-culture. When, how,
+and how much, shall we plow? are the three questions involving the
+whole. When should plowing be done? As it respects wet or dry, plow
+sandy or gravelly land whenever you are ready. It will neither be hard
+when dry, nor injured by being plowed when very wet. Good loams may be
+plowed at all times except when excessively wet. Clays can only be
+worked profitably when neither excessively wet or dry. Plowing land in a
+warm rain is almost equal to a coat of manure. Plowing in a light snow
+in the spring will injure it the whole season. We have noticed a marked
+difference in corn growing but a rod apart, on land where snow was
+plowed in, and the other plowed two or three days later, after the snow
+was gone; this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> difference was noticeable in the rows throughout the
+entire field. Spring or fall plowing is a question that has been much
+discussed. Sod-land is better plowed in the fall. The action of winter
+rains and frosts on the turf is beneficial. The same is true of land
+trenched deep, where much of the hard, poor subsoil is brought to the
+surface: it is benefited by winter exposure. Other cultivated fields are
+injured by fall-plowing, unless it be very early. All stubble-land is
+much benefited by being plowed as soon as the grain is taken off. The
+weeds and stubble, plowed under, will be decomposed by the warm weather
+and rains, and benefit the soil almost as much as an ordinary coat of
+manure. Plowed late, such action does not take place, and the surface is
+injured by winter-exposure: hence, do all the <i>early</i> fall-plowing
+possible, but plow nothing <i>late</i> in the fall but sod-land.</p>
+
+<p>How shall we plow? All land should be subsoiled, except that having a
+light, porous subsoil; one deep plowing on such land is sufficient.
+Subsoiling is done by using two teams at once&mdash;one with a common plow,
+running deep, and the other with a subsoil-plow with no mould-board, and
+which will, consequently, stir and disintegrate the earth to the depth
+at which it runs, without throwing it to the surface. The next
+surface-furrow will cover up this loosened subsoil. In this way, land
+may be plowed eighteen inches deep, to the great benefit of any crop
+grown on it. If the surface be well manured, this method of plowing will
+place the manure between the first furrow and the subsoil, and increase
+its value. Such plowing is very valuable on land for young fruit-trees.
+There is another method, which we denominate double-plowing, which is
+more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> beneficial than ordinary subsoiling: it is performed by two common
+plows, one following in the furrow of the other; the first furrow need
+not be very deep&mdash;let the furrow in the bottom of the first be as deep
+as possible, and thrown out upon the surface; the next furrow will throw
+the surface and manure into the bottom of the deep furrow; the next
+furrow will cover this surface-soil and manure very deep, and, as manure
+always works up, it will impregnate the whole. This, for
+garden-vegetables, berries, nurseries, or young orchards, is the best
+form of plowing that we have ever tried. It may be done with one team,
+by simply changing the gauge of the clevis every time round, gauging it
+light for the first furrow, and deep for the second. We once prepared a
+plat in this way with one team, on which cabbages made a remarkable
+growth, even in a dry season. Still a farther improvement would be a
+light coat of fine manure on the surface. All furrows, in every
+description of plowing, should be near enough together to move the
+whole, leaving no hard places between them. The usual "cut and cover"
+system, to get over a large area in a day, is miserable economy. The
+more evenly and flatly land can be turned over in plowing, the better it
+will be; it retards the growth of weeds, and secures a better action
+upon substances plowed under. An exception to deep plowing is in
+breaking up the original prairies of the West: they have to be broken
+with plows kept sharp as a knife, and not more than two inches deep. The
+grass then dies and the sod rots. But plowed deep, the grass comes up
+through the turf, and will prove troublesome for two or three years. It
+must also be broken at a certain season of the year, to insure success.
+It may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> be profitably done for two months after the grass gets a good
+start in the spring.</p>
+
+<p><i>How much</i> is it best to plow land? Once double-plowed, or thoroughly
+subsoiled, and well turned over, is better than more. Land once plowed
+so as to disintegrate the whole to the depth of the furrow, will produce
+more, and require less care, than the same would do if cross-plowed once
+or twice. Excessive plowing is a positive injury. All land should be
+broken up once in three or four years, and not kept longer than that
+under the plow at one time. Some farmers keep land perpetually in grass,
+refusing to have a plow touch it on any condition. They see wrong
+tillage produce barrenness. But by this practice they are great losers;
+they never get over one half the hay or pasturage that could be obtained
+by frequent tillage and manuring, and a rotation of crops.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PLUM.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of our best fruits, but suffers more from enemies than any
+other.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i> is by seeds or layers, budding or grafting. Seeds from
+trees not exposed to mixture with other varieties in the blossom, will
+produce the same; hence, this is the best method of propagating a given
+variety, standing alone. But, for most situations, budding is preferable
+to any other method. This should be performed earlier than on the peach.
+The plum matures earlier, and hence should be budded about the last of
+July, or first of August. Bud on the north side of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> tree to avoid
+the hot sun; and tie more tightly than in budding other trees. Bud
+plum-trees the second year from the seed. Grafting should be resorted to
+only when buds have failed, and there is a prospect that the trees will
+be too large for budding another season. The common wild plums make good
+stocks, if grafted at the ground. Thoroughly mulch all newly-grafted
+plum-trees. Root-grafting will succeed, but should never be practised.
+In all grafting of plums, put the graft in at the surface of the ground,
+and cover with sawdust or mould, leaving but one bud on the graft
+exposed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;All soils are good for the plum, provided they be thoroughly
+drained, and properly fertilized.</p>
+
+<p>Hard soils are recommended as being almost proof against the curculio.
+That a soil affording a rather hard, smooth surface, will afford less
+burrows for curculio, and consequently lessen their ravages, is no doubt
+true. But it is not a perfect remedy, and, on other accounts, such a
+soil is no better. A good firm loam is best. Plums will do well also on
+light land, but are more exposed to injury from the curculio.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting.</i>&mdash;The plum being perfectly hardy, we recommend
+transplanting in autumn. Shorten in the top, cut off considerable of the
+tap-root, and the ends of the long roots, transplant well, and mulch so
+thoroughly as to prevent too strong action of the frost on the roots,
+and they will start early and do well. Twelve feet apart for small
+varieties, and twenty feet for larger growers, are the distances usually
+recommended. We think a rod apart each way will do well for all
+varieties.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pruning.</i>&mdash;Once started in a regular growth, in such a shape as you
+desire, no further pruning will be neces<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>sary but occasionally
+heading-in a too luxuriant shoot, and removing diseased and cross limbs.
+On rich Western lands, and in warm Southern climes, young plum-trees
+must be root-pruned and headed-in, or they will be unfruitful and
+unhealthy. Root-pruning should be done in August, in the following
+manner. In case of a tree ten feet high, take a sharp spade, and in a
+circle around the tree, two feet from the trunk (making the circle four
+feet in diameter), cut off all the roots within reach. In smaller trees,
+make the circle smaller, and in larger ones, larger. At the same time,
+shorten in the current year's growth, by cutting off one half the length
+of all the principal shoots; this will give vigor, symmetry, and
+fruitfulness, and prove a valuable preventive of disease. Plum-trees
+should always have good, clean cultivation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Manures</i> from the stable and slaughter-house, with wood-ashes, lime,
+and plenty of salt, are the best for the plum. The following analysis,
+by Richardson, of the fruit of the plum, will aid the culturist in his
+selection of manures:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="30%" cellspacing="0" summary="Manures">
+<tr><td align="left">Potash</td><td align="right">59.21</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Soda</td><td align="right">.54</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lime</td><td align="right">10.04</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Magnesia</td><td align="right">5.46</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sulphuric acid</td><td align="right">3.83</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Silicic acid</td><td align="right">2.36</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Phosphoric acid</td><td align="right">12.26</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Phosphate of iron</td><td align="right">6.04</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>Hence, as wood-ashes contains much potash, and as this is the largest
+ingredient in the plum, it must be the best application to the soil for
+this fruit. Bones, dissolved in sulphuric acid, would also be very
+valuable. Bones, bonedust, salt, wood-ashes, and barnyard manure, with a
+little lime, will be all that will be necessary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Diseases.</i>&mdash;In most northern latitudes, the black wart, or knot, is
+fatal to many plum-trees. It is less prevalent at the South: its origin
+is not known. Many theories respecting it are put forth by different
+cultivators; they are unsatisfactory, and their enumeration here would
+be useless. It may be either the result of general ill health in the
+tree, from budding on suckers and unhealthy stocks, and a want of proper
+elements in the soil, or of improper circulation of sap, caused by the
+roots absorbing more than the leaves can digest. In the latter case,
+root-pruning and heading-in would be an effectual preventive. In the
+former, supply suitable manures, and give good cultivation. In every
+case, remove at once all affected parts, and wash the wounds and whole
+tree, and drench the soil under it, with copperas-water&mdash;one ounce of
+copperas to two gallons of water. This is stated to be a complete
+remedy.</p>
+
+<p><i>Defoliation</i> of seedlings and bearing trees often occurs in July and
+August. Land well supplied with the manures recommended, especially
+wood-ashes, salt, and the copperas-water, has not been known to produce
+trees that drop their leaves.</p>
+
+<p><i>Decay of the Fruit</i> is another serious evil. Professor Kirtland and
+others suppose it to be a species of fungus. Poverty of soil, and wet
+weather, may be the cause. If the season be unusually wet, thin the
+fruit, so that no two plums shall touch each other. Keep the soil
+properly manured, and spread charcoal or straw under the tree, and you
+will generally be able to preserve your fruit.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Curculio</i> is the great enemy of the plum, and frequently of all
+smooth-skinned fruits, as the grape, nectarine, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>&amp;c.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-359.jpg" width="600" height="181" alt="(1) Curculio, in the beetle-form, life-size. (2) Its
+assumed form when disturbed or shaken from the tree. (3) Larva, or worm,
+as found in the fallen fruit. (4) Pupa, or chrysalis state, in which it
+lives in the ground." title="" />
+<span class="caption">(1) Curculio, in the beetle-form, life-size. (2) Its
+assumed form when disturbed or shaken from the tree.<br />(3) Larva, or worm,
+as found in the fallen fruit. (4) Pupa, or chrysalis state, in which it
+lives in the ground.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many remedies are proposed: making pavements, or keeping the ground hard
+and smooth, under the trees; pasturing swine and keeping fowls in the
+plum-orchard; syringing the whole tops of the trees four or five times
+with lime and salt water, or lime and sulphur-water&mdash;the proportions are
+not material, provided it be not excessively strong. It is recommended
+to apply with a garden-syringe. But, as few cultivators will have that
+instrument, they may sprinkle the mixture on the trees in any way most
+convenient. Salt, worked into the soil under plum-trees, is said to
+destroy this insect in its pupa state. At any rate, the salt is a good
+manure for the plum-tree. We know a remedy for the ravages of the
+curculio, unfailing in all seasons and localities&mdash;that is, to kill
+them: spread a cloth under the tree, and with a mallet having a head,
+covered with India-rubber or cloth that it may not injure the bark,
+strike the body and large limbs sudden blows, which will so jar them as
+to cause the insects to fall upon the cloth, and you can then burn them.
+Do this five or six times in the season, commencing when the fruit
+begins to set, and continuing till it becomes nearly full-grown. This is
+best done in the cool of the morning, while the insects are still; their
+habits of fear and quiet, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> there is a noise about, are greatly in
+favor of their destruction by this method. This is somewhat laborious,
+but is a sure remedy, and will pay well in all plum-orchards, large or
+small. After two or three years of this treatment, there will be few or
+none of those insects left.</p>
+
+<p><i>Uses</i> of the plum are various. The fine varieties, well ripened, are a
+good dessert-fruit; for sweetmeats and tarts they are much esteemed;
+they are one of the better and more wholesome dried fruits. The foreign
+ones are called prunes, and are an article of commerce. With a little
+care, we can raise much better prunes than the imported. Like all
+fruits, they are better for quick drying by artificial heat. The French
+prunes, the process of drying which is minutely described by Downing in
+his fruit-book, are no better than our best varieties, quickly dried by
+artificial heat in a dry house, or moderately-heated oven. All dried
+fruit is much better for having become perfectly ripe before picking. It
+is a great mistake to suppose unripe fruit will be good dried.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;">
+<img src="images/ill-360.jpg" width="353" height="400" alt="Lawrence&#39;s Favorite." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Lawrence&#39;s Favorite.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are numerous, and many of them ought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> be forgotten, as is
+the case with all other fruits. We give a small list, containing all the
+good qualities of the whole:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Bleecker's Gage.</i>&mdash;A hardy tree and sure bearer. Time, August.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-361.jpg" width="400" height="343" alt="Imperial Gage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Imperial Gage.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Egg.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>Imperial Gage.</i>&mdash;This is an American variety. It is of a lightish-green
+color, and excellent flavor. Season, July at the South, and September at
+the North.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg.</i>&mdash;The above cut represents one of the egg-plums, of excellent
+quality in all respects. There are many of this name.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lawrence's Favorite.</i>&mdash;This is a fine plum, of the gage family. It was
+raised from the seed of the green gage; its qualities are seldom
+surpassed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Washington.</i>&mdash;This is a very good plum for high latitudes. At the South
+it is too dry.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-361.jpg" width="400" height="343" alt="Green Gage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Green Gage. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Jefferson.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><i>Green Gage.</i>&mdash;With fifteen synonyms. Excellent.</p>
+
+<p><i>Jefferson.</i>&mdash;One of the very best. Time, last of August.</p>
+
+<p><i>Denniston's Purple, or Red.</i>&mdash;Vigorous grower and very productive.
+Time, August 20.</p>
+
+<p><i>Madison.</i>&mdash;A hardy, productive, and excellent October plum.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing varieties, with the little black damson-plum, so hardy and
+productive, and so much esteemed for preserving, will answer all needful
+purposes. You will find long lists in the fruit-books. Some of them are
+the above varieties, under different names. Procure four or five of the
+best you can find in your vicinity, and cultivate them, and you will
+need no others.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;">
+<img src="images/ill-363.jpg" width="322" height="400" alt="Washington." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Washington.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<h4>POMEGRANATE.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the most delicious and beautiful of all the
+dessert-fruits. Native in China, and much cultivated in Southern Europe.
+It will do quite well as far north as the Ohio river. Trained as an
+espalier, with protection of straw or mats, it will do tolerably well
+throughout the Middle states. The fruit is about as large as an ordinary
+apple, and has a tough, orange-colored skin, with a beautiful red cheek.
+The tree is of low growth. Blossoms are highly ornamental, as is also
+the fruit, during all the season. It is cultivated as the orange.</p>
+
+<p>There are several varieties: the <i>sweet-fruited</i>, the <i>sub-acid</i>, and
+the <i>wild</i> or <i>acid-fruited</i>. The first is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> best, and the second the
+one most cultivated in this country; the latter yields a very pleasant
+acid, making an excellent sirup. Pomegranates should be extensively
+cultivated at the South, and form an important article of commerce for
+Northern cities.</p>
+
+
+<h4>POTATO.</h4>
+
+<p>This is far the most valuable of all esculent roots; supposed to be a
+native of South America. It is called the Irish potato, because it was
+grown extensively first in Ireland. It was first planted on the estate
+of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1602. It was introduced into England in 1694.
+It has been represented as having been introduced into England from
+Virginia as early as 1586, but attracted no attention, and for two
+centuries formed no considerable part of British agriculture. It has
+become naturalized in all temperate regions, and in many locations in
+high latitudes. In tropical climates, it flourishes on the mountains, at
+an elevation sufficient to secure a cool atmosphere. Cool moist regions,
+as Ireland and the northern parts of the United States, are most
+favorable for potatoes. In warm climates the potato grows less
+luxuriantly, yields much less, and is liable to be ruined by a second
+growth. In the latitude of southern Ohio, a severe drought, while the
+tubers are small, followed by considerable rain, causes the young
+potatoes to sprout, and send up fresh shoots, and often make a very
+luxuriant growth of tops, to the complete ruin of the tubers. This is
+called second growth. In cooler climates this second growth simply makes
+prongs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> on the tubers, thus injuring the appearance and quality, but
+increasing the crop. The only preventive is watering regularly in a dry
+time. This can be done advantageously in a garden, and on a small scale.
+In field culture, when second growth occurs, dig your potatoes at once,
+if they are large enough to be of much use. If not they will all be
+lost.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i> is by annually planting the tubers. No mixture of sorts
+ever takes place from planting different varieties together. This can
+only be done in the blossoms, and will consequently appear in young
+seedlings. To raise good potatoes, always plant ripe seed, and the
+largest and best, and leave them whole. Selecting small potatoes for
+seed, and cutting them up, and planting mere eyes and pearings as some
+do, has done much to injure the health, quality, and quantity of yield
+of the potato. Selecting the poorest for seed, will run out anything we
+grow in the soil. <i>New varieties</i> have been multiplying within the past
+few years from seed. Some gentlemen are raising varieties by thousands.
+Not more than one out of a thousand prove truly valuable. The quality of
+a new variety can not be established earlier than the fifth year. Many
+that promised well at first proved worthless.</p>
+
+<p>To raise from seed, gather the balls after they have matured, hang them
+in a dry place till they become quite soft, when separate the seeds and
+dry them as others, and plant as early as the temperature of the soil
+favors vegetation. Chance varieties from seed of balls left to decay in
+the fall, as tomatoes, are recorded. Probably our present best varieties
+had such an origin. Raising new varieties requires much care and
+patience. Keep each one separate, plant only the best, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> you
+must wait four or five years to determine whether, out of a thousand,
+you have one good variety.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties.</i>&mdash;These are numerous. Those best adapted to one locality,
+are often inferior in another. That excellent potato, the Carter, so
+firm in New England and western New York, is ill-shapen and inferior in
+many localities in Illinois. The Neshannock or common Mercer produces a
+larger yield in Illinois than in the Eastern states, but of a slightly
+inferior quality. Most seeds do better transported from a colder to a
+warmer climate, but with the potato the reverse is true. The best
+potatoes of Ireland are usually inferior in the warmer latitudes of this
+country. In ordering potatoes for seed it is better to describe the
+quality than to order by the name. We omit any list, of even the best
+varieties. They are known by different names, and are not equally good
+in all localities. And all varieties are scattered over the whole
+country, very soon, by dealers, and through the agency of agricultural
+societies and periodicals. Different varieties should be kept separate,
+as they look better for market, and no two will cook in precisely the
+same time.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plant the large potatoes and plant them whole.</i> From a small eye or a
+small potato to the largest they will vegetate equally well. And in a
+wet, cool season, the small seed will produce nearly as good a crop as
+the large. But the large seed matures earlier, and in a dry season
+produces a much larger crop. The moisture in a large potato decaying in
+the hill, is of great use to the growing plants, in a dry season. It is
+also generally conceded that potatoes growing from cut seed are more
+liable to be affected by the rot.</p>
+
+<p><i>Quantity of seed per acre.</i>&mdash;The practices of farmers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> vary from five
+to twenty bushels. It takes a less number of bushels per acre when the
+seed is cut. The quantity is also affected by the size of the seed, the
+larger the potatoes the more will it take to seed an acre.</p>
+
+<p>Plentiful, but not excessive, seeding is best. It is a universal fact
+that you can never get something for nothing. Hence light seeding will
+bring a light yield. We think it best to put one good-sized potato in a
+place and make the rows three feet apart each way. We think they yield
+better than at any other distances or in any other way. We have often
+tried drills, and found them more trouble, with no greater yield. The
+soil should be disintegrated to the depth of sixteen inches and the
+potatoes planted four inches deep, and cultivated with subsoil plow, and
+other suitable tools, in a manner to leave the surface nearly flat.
+Hilling up potatoes never does any good. We advise always to harrow the
+crop, as soon as they begin to appear through the soil.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;Any good rich garden soil is good for this crop, provided it be
+well drained. Potatoes like moisture, but are ruined by having water
+stand in the soil. New land and newly broken-up old pastures are best.</p>
+
+<p><i>Manures.</i>&mdash;All the usual fertilizers are good for potatoes, but
+especially ashes and plaster. The application above all others, for
+potatoes, is potash. Dissolve it in water, making it quite weak, and
+saturate your other manures with it, and the effect will always be
+marked. The tops contain a great deal of potash, and should always be
+plowed in and decay in the soil where they grow, otherwise they will
+rapidly exhaust the land. It is supposed that nothing will do more to
+restore the former vigor and health of the potato than a liberal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+application of potash in the soil in which they grow. The crop will be
+much increased in a dry season by manuring in the hill, dropping the
+potato first and putting the manure on the top of it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gathering and Preserving.</i>&mdash;The usual hand-digging with hoe or
+potato-fork are well known, and do well when the crop is not large. But
+for those who grow potatoes for market, it is better to employ the plow
+in digging. Modern inventions for this purpose can everywhere be found
+in the agricultural warehouses. Potatoes are well preserved in a good
+cool cellar, in boxes or barrels; and are better for being covered with
+moist sand. The usual method of burying them outdoor is effectual and
+safe, if they be covered beyond the reach of frost, and have a small
+airhole at the apex, filled with straw.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Potato Disease.</i>&mdash;This is altogether atmospherical. A new piece of
+land was cleared for potatoes. In the middle was a close muck, on a
+coarse, gravelly subsoil. In the lowest place a ditch was dug, to carry
+off the superabundance of water; from that ditch the coarse gravel was
+thrown out on one side, and suffered to remain at considerable depth.
+Only two or three rods distant, on one side the plat extended over a
+knoll of loose sand. Potatoes were planted, from the same seed, at the
+same time, and in the same manner, on these three kinds of land, side by
+side. They were all tended alike, needing little hoeing or care, the
+land being new. The rot prevailed badly that season. On digging the
+potatoes, it was found that in the coarse gravel, where the air could
+circulate almost as freely as in a pile of stove-wood, all the potatoes
+were rotten: on the muck, which was unlike a peat-bog, very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> fine and
+tight, almost impervious to the atmosphere, they were nearly all sound;
+on the sand, which was quite open, but tighter than the gravel, part
+were decayed and the rest sound. Their condition was graduated entirely
+by the condition of the soil. It is an apparent objection to this
+theory, that when the rot prevails, the best potatoes are raised on
+light, sandy soils. It is said that they are open to the action of air.
+To this it is replied, that whether they rot or not, in sandy soils,
+depends on the kind of sand. On some sand they rot very badly, on others
+hardly at all. Sandy soils differ very materially: some are almost pure
+silex; while others are filled with a fine dust, and, although
+apparently loose, are much more nearly impervious to the air than
+heavier soils; on the former, nearly all will decay, and on the latter,
+most will be preserved.</p>
+
+<p>Look at the immense potato crops near Rochester, N. Y., on sandy land.
+We have personally examined it, and find it to be filled with dust, that
+excludes the air, and saves the potato from rot. Why, then, is a heavy
+clay useless for potatoes? Is not clay a very tight soil? Unbroken it
+is; but, when plowed, it is always left in larger particles than other
+land&mdash;it is but seldom pulverized. The spaces between the particles are
+all open to the free action of the air; hence, instead of being close,
+it is one of the most open of all our soils. This confirms the theory.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of manuring land is still another confirmation. We are
+directed not to manure our land for potatoes when the disease prevails.
+It is said we can raise no sound potatoes on rich land when the rot is
+abroad. This is an error. The richness of the soil does not promote the
+disease; but if any kind of ma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>nure be applied that, from its bulk and
+coarseness, keeps the soil open to the air, the potatoes will rot. But
+fertilize to the highest extent, in any way that does not make the soil
+too open, and let in the air, and the crop will be greatly increased
+with perfect safety. Thus, this theory, like every truth, perfectly fits
+in all its bearings.</p>
+
+<p>There is, then, no perfect remedy for the disease but in the power of
+Him who can purify the atmosphere. Numerous remedies and preventives
+have been recommended, by those who suppose they have tried them with
+success. But in other localities and soils, all their remedies have
+failed, as will all others that will yet be discovered. A careful
+examination of the texture of the soils, upon the principles here
+indicated, and a repetition of their experiments, will show the
+discoverers that their success depended upon their soils, while others
+failed in using the same remedies on other soils. The practical uses of
+this theory are obvious. When the disease is abroad, we should select
+soil that excludes, as much as possible, the atmosphere, and plant
+<i>deep</i>; on all land not liable to have water stand on the subsoil. Do
+not be deceived into the belief that all sandy land will bear good
+potatoes, in the seasons when the disease prevails. The worst rot we
+ever had was in 1855, on very sandy land. This year (1857) we have
+witnessed the worst rot in open sand and gravel. Add to this, great care
+in preserving the health of the tubers. Plant very early, only whole
+potatoes, and of mature growth, thoroughly ripe; apply a little salt and
+lime, plaster rather plentifully, and potash, or plenty of
+wood-ashes&mdash;and you will succeed in the worst of seasons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>PRESERVING FRUITS, &amp;c.</h4>
+
+<p>The essentials in preserving fruits, berries, and vegetables, during the
+whole year, are, a total exclusion from atmospheric action, and, in some
+vegetables, a strong action of heat. We have a variety of patent cans,
+and several processes are recommended. The patent cans serve a good
+purpose, but, for general use, are inferior to those ordinarily made by
+the tinman. The patent articles are only good for one year, and are used
+with greater difficulty by the unskilful. The ordinary tin cans, made in
+the form of a cylinder, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you would preserve, will last ten years, with careful usage,
+and they are so simple that no mistakes need be made. It is usually
+recommended to solder on the cover, which is simply a square piece of
+tin large enough to cover the orifice. Soldering may be best for those
+cans that are to be transported a long distance, but it is troublesome,
+and is entirely unnecessary for domestic use. A little sealing-wax,
+which any apothecary can make at a cheap rate, laid on the top of the
+can when hot, will melt, and the cover placed upon it will adhere and
+cause it to be air-tight. All articles that do not part with their aroma
+by being cooked, may be perfectly preserved in such cans, by putting
+them in when boiling, seasoned to your taste, and putting on the covers
+at once. The cans should be full, and set in a cool place, and the
+articles will remain in a perfect state for a year. The finest articles
+of fruit, as peaches and strawberries, may be preserved so as to retain
+all their peculiar aroma, by putting them into such cans, filled with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
+sirup of pure sugar, and placing the cans so filled in a kettle of
+water, and raising it to a boiling heat, and then putting on the cover
+as above; the heat expels the air, and the cover and wax keep it out.
+Stone jugs are used for the same purposes, but are not sufficiently
+tight to keep out the air, unless well painted after having become cold.
+Wide-mouthed glass bottles are excellent. But, in using glass or stone
+ware, the corks must be put in and tied at the commencement, leaving a
+small aperture for the escape of steam, and the process of raising the
+water to a boiling heat must be gradual, requiring three or four hours,
+or the bottles will be broken by sudden expansion. Make the corks
+air-tight by covering with sealing-wax on taking from the boiling water.
+Some vegetables, as peas, beans, cauliflowers, &amp;c., need considerable
+boiling, in order to perfect preservation. Tin cans may stand in the
+water and boil an hour or two, if you choose, and then be sealed. The
+bottles should be corked tight, have the cork tied in, and then be
+immersed and boil for an hour: take them out, and dip the cork and mouth
+of the bottles in sealing-wax, and all will be safe.</p>
+
+<p>By one of these processes, exclusion of the atmosphere and thorough
+boiling, we may preserve any fruit or vegetable, so as to have an
+abundance, nearly as good as the fresh in its season, the whole year,
+and that at a trifling expense. All fruits and vegetables may also be
+preserved by drying. By being properly dried, the original aroma can be
+mostly retained. The essentials in properly drying are artificial heat
+and free circulation of the air about the drying articles. Fruit dried
+in the sun is not nearly so fine as that dried by artificial heat. An
+oven from which bread has just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> been taken is suitable for this purpose;
+but a dry-house is better. A tight room, with a stove in the bottom, and
+the fruit in shallow drawers, put in from the outside, serves a good
+purpose. Construct the room so as to give a draft, the heated air
+passing out at the top, and the process of drying will be greatly
+facilitated, and the more rapid the process, without cooking the fruit,
+the better will be its quality. This process is applicable to all kinds
+of vegetables. Roots, as beets, carrots, parsnips, or potatoes, should
+be sliced before drying. The object in drying the latter articles would
+be to afford the luxury of good vegetables for armies and ships' crews,
+in distant regions, and in climates where they are not grown. Milk can
+be condensed and preserved for a long time, and, being greatly reduced
+in quantity, it is easily transported. It is not generally known in the
+country that Mr. Gail Borden, of New York, has invented a method of
+condensing milk, fresh from the cow, so that it will perfectly retain
+all its excellences, including the cream, and by being sealed up in tin
+cans, as above, may be kept for many months. The milk and the process of
+condensation have been scientifically examined by the New York Academy
+of Medicine, and pronounced perfect, and of great value to the world. We
+have used the condensed milk, which was more than a month old; it had
+been kept in a tin can without sealing and without ice, but in a cool
+place. It was sweet and good, differing in no respect from fresh milk
+from the cow, except that the heat employed in condensing it gave it the
+taste of boiled milk. If kept in a warm place, and exposed to the
+atmosphere, it may sour nearly as soon as other milk: but it may be
+sealed up and kept cool so as to be good for a long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> time. The
+condensation is accomplished by simple evaporation of the watery part,
+in pans in vacuo. No substance whatever is put into the milk. Four
+gallons of fresh milk are condensed into one. When wanted for use, the
+quantity desired is put into twice the quantity of water, which makes
+good cream for coffee; or one part to four of water makes good new milk;
+and one part to five or six makes a better milk than that usually sold
+in cities. Steamers now lay in a supply for a voyage to Liverpool and
+return, and on arrival in New York, the milk is as good as when taken on
+board. The advantages will be numerous. Such milk will be among regular
+supplies for armies and navies, and for all shipping to distant
+countries. All cities and villages may have pure, cheap milk, as the
+condensation will render transportation so cheap that milk can be sent
+from any part of the country where it is most plenty and cheapest. The
+process is patented, but will be granted to others at reasonable rates,
+by Borden &amp; Co.; and eventually it will become general, when farmers can
+condense and lay by, in the season when it is abundant, milk for use in
+the winter, when cows are dry. This will make milk abundant at all
+seasons of the year, and plenty wherever we choose to carry it. It will
+also save the lives of thousands of children, in cities, that are fed on
+unwholesome milk or poisonous mixtures. There is no temptation to
+adulterate such milk, for the process of condensation is cheaper than
+any mixture that could be passed.</p>
+
+<p>Preserving hams is effectually done by either of the following methods.
+After well curing and smoking, sew them up in a bag of cotton cloth,
+fitting closely, and dip them into a tub of lime-whitewash, nearly as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>
+thick as cream, and hang up in a cool room. This is a good method,
+though they will sometimes mould. The other process, and the one we most
+recommend, is to put well cured and smoked hams in a cask, or box, with
+very fine charcoal; put in a layer of charcoal, and then one of hams;
+cover with another layer of coal and then of hams, and so on, until the
+cask is full, or all your hams are deposited. No mould will appear, and
+no insect will touch them. This method is perfect.</p>
+
+<p>Another process, involving the same principles as the preceding, is to
+wrap the hams in muslin, and bury them in salt. The muslin keeps the
+salt from striking in, and the salt prevents mould and insects.</p>
+
+
+<h4>PUMPKIN.</h4>
+
+<p>There are some five or six varieties in cultivation. Loudon says six,
+and Russell's catalogue has five. The number is increasing, and names
+becoming uncertain. Certain varieties are called pumpkins by some, and
+squashes by others. The large yellow Connecticut, or Yankee pumpkin, is
+best for all uses. The large cheese pumpkin is good at the South and
+West. The mammoth that has weighed as high as two hundred and thirty
+pounds, is a squash, more ornamental than useful. The seven years'
+pumpkin is a great keeper. It has doubtless been kept through several
+years without decay. Pumpkins will grow on any good rich soil, but best
+on new land, and in a wet season. Do best alone, but will grow well
+among corn and better with potatoes. A good crop of pumpkins can seldom
+be raised, two years in succession, on the same land. Care in saving
+seed is very important. The spot on the end that was origi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>nally covered
+by the blossom, varies much in dimensions, on pumpkins of the same size.
+Seeds from those having small blossom-marks, bear very few, and from
+those having large ones, produce abundantly.</p>
+
+<p>They are good fall and winter feed for most animals. They will cause
+hogs to grow rapidly, if boiled with roots, and mixed with a little
+grain. Fed raw to milch cows and fattening cattle, they are valuable.
+Learn a horse to eat them raw, and if his work be not too hard, he will
+fatten on them. They may be preserved in a dry cellar, in a warm room as
+sweet potatoes, or in a mow of hay or straw, that will not freeze
+through. But for family use they are better stewed green, and dried.</p>
+
+
+<h4>QUINCE.</h4>
+
+<p>This fruit, with its uses, for drying, cooking, marmalades, flavors to
+tarts and pies made of other fruits, and for preserving as a sweetmeat,
+is well known and highly esteemed.</p>
+
+<p>The quince is rather a shrub than a tree. It should be set ten feet
+apart each way, in deep, rich soil. It needs little pruning, except
+removing dead or cross branches, and cutting off and burning at once,
+twigs affected with the insect-blight, as mentioned under pears. The
+soil should be manured every year, by working-in a top-dressing of fine
+manure, including a little salt.</p>
+
+<p><i>Propagation</i>&mdash;is by seeds, buds, or cuttings. Budding does very well.
+Seedlings are not always true to the varieties. Cuttings, put out early
+and a little in the shade, nearly all take. This is the best and easiest
+method of propagation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There are several varieties; the <i>apple-shaped</i>, <i>pear-shaped</i>, and the
+<i>Portugal</i>, are the principal.</p>
+
+<p>The apple-shaped, or orange quince (and perhaps the large-fruited may be
+the same) is, on the whole, the best of all. Early, a great bearer, and
+excellent for all uses. The pear-shaped is smaller, harder, and later.
+It may be kept longer in a green state, and therefore be carried much
+farther. The only reason for cultivating it would be its lateness and
+its keeping qualities. The Portugal quince is the finest fruit of all,
+but is such a shy bearer as to be unprofitable. The <i>Rea quince</i> is a
+seedling raised by Mr. Joseph Rea, of Greene county, New York, and is
+pronounced by Downing "an acquisition." The fruit is very handsome, and
+one third larger than the common apple or orange quince. The tree is
+thrifty, hardy, and productive. It is a valuable modification of the
+apple-shaped or orange quince, superior to the original. Such varieties
+may be multiplied and improved, by new seedlings and high cultivation.</p>
+
+
+<h4>RABBITS.</h4>
+
+<p>To prevent rabbits and mice from girdling fruit-trees in winter, is very
+important to fruit-growers. The meadow-mouse is very destructive to
+young trees, under cover of snow. Rabbits will girdle trees after the
+green foliage on which they delight to feed is gone. Take four quarts of
+fresh-slaked lime, the same quantity of fresh cows' dung, two quarts of
+salt, and a handful of flour of sulphur; mix all together, with just
+enough water to bring it to the consistency of thick paint. At the
+commencement of cold weather, paint the trunks of the trees two feet
+high with this mixture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> and not a tree will suffer from rabbits or
+mice. Treading own the snow does good, but it is very troublesome, and
+not a perfect remedy. Experience has never known the foregoing wash to
+fail.</p>
+
+
+<h4>RADISH.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a well-known root, eaten only raw, and when young and tender. A
+rich sandy soil is best. Like most turnips, the roots are more tender
+and perfect when grown in rather cool weather; hence, those grown in
+early spring are better than a summer growth. They do well in an early
+hotbed.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Scarlet</i> and <i>White Turnip-rooted</i> are fine for early use. They are
+always small, but fair, and very early.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Scarlet Short-top</i> comes next, and is a very fine variety. These
+may be had through the whole season, by sowing at proper intervals;
+hence, others are unnecessary. Other good varieties are the <i>Summer</i>, or
+<i>Long White Naples</i>; <i>Long Salmon</i>, a large, gray radish, not generally
+described in the books (a splendid variety in southern Ohio); and the
+<i>Black Spanish</i> for fall and winter use. This grows large like a turnip,
+and is preserved in the same way. The best method of guarding against
+worms is to take equal quantities of fresh horse-manure and
+buckwheat-bran, and mix and spade them into the bed. Active fermentation
+follows, and toadstools will grow up within forty-eight hours, when you
+should spade up the bed again and sow the seed; they will grow very
+quickly, be very tender, and entirely free from worms.</p>
+
+<p>Radish-seed is sown with slow-vegetating seeds, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> carrots, beets,
+parsnips, &amp;c. The radishes mark the rows, so that they may be cleared of
+weeds, and the ground stirred before the plants would otherwise be
+discernible, and also shade the germinating seeds and the young plants
+from destruction from a hot sun. The radishes may be pulled out when the
+main crop needs the ground and sun. For this purpose the scarlet
+short-top variety is used, because the long root loosens the soil in
+pulling; and as the crown stands so much above the surface, they may be
+crushed down with a small roller, and thus destroyed without the labor
+of pulling. Sowing radish-seed among root-crops, and cultivating early
+with a root-cleaner, an acre of roots can be raised with about the same
+labor as an acre of corn.</p>
+
+
+<h4>RASPBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>The common black raspberry we have noticed elsewhere as one of the most
+profitable in cultivation. The other varieties, worthy of general
+cultivation, are the Franconia, the Fastollf, the red, and the white or
+yellow Antwerp. Any good garden-soil is suitable for raspberries. It
+should be worked deep, and have decayed wood and leaves mixed with
+barnyard manure and wood-ashes. In all but very cold latitudes,
+raspberries should be planted where they may be a little shaded. None of
+the finer old varieties produce a good crop of fruit without
+winter-protection. The canes may live without it, but will bear but
+little fruit. The best method of protection is to bend down the canes at
+the beginning of winter, before the ground freezes, and cover them
+lightly, with the soil around them. They should first have some
+well-rotted manure put around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> the canes. Stools should be four feet
+apart, and have about five or six canes in a stool. Cut away the rest.
+The best of all manures for raspberries is said to be spent tan-bark.
+Put it around in the fall to the depth of two inches; work it into the
+soil in the spring, and put around fresh tan-bark, to the same depth.</p>
+
+<p>The varieties for general cultivation are few. The common black is one
+of the best. The common wild American red, native in all the Middle and
+Eastern states, is greatly improved by cultivation. As it is perfectly
+hardy, and a great and early bearer, it should have a place in every
+collection. The Franconia is a fine fruit, and, among those generally
+cultivated, occupies the first place. The yellow Antwerp is
+fine-flavored and good-sized, but too soft for a general market-berry.
+The same is true of the Fastollf. The red Antwerp is good, but quite
+inferior to the new red Antwerp, or Hudson River Antwerp. The Ohio
+Evergreen is a new variety, hardy, prolific, and a long bearer, fine
+fruit in considerable quantities having been picked on the 1st of
+November. On this account, it should be in every garden. There are two
+kinds of red raspberries brought to notice by Mr. Lewis P. Allen, of
+Black Rock, N. Y., that deserve extensive cultivation, if they warrant
+his recommendation. Mr. Allen says he has cultivated them for a number
+of years, and, with no winter protection, they have borne a large crop
+of excellent fruit every year, pronounced by dealers in Buffalo market
+superior to any other variety. Should these varieties prove equally good
+elsewhere, they deserve a place in every garden in the land.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>RHUBARB.</h4>
+
+<p>There are several varieties of rhubarb now in cultivation.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Victoria, Mammoth, and Scotch Hybrid</i>, all of which (if they be
+really distinct) are fine and large, under proper culture. There is much
+of the old inferior kind, which generally affords only small short
+leaves, and which is of no value, compared with the large varieties. The
+method of growing is very simple, and yet the value of the plant depends
+mainly on right cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>Propagation is by seeds, or by dividing the roots. By seed is
+preferable. The idea that the largest kinds will not produce seed is
+incorrect. We raised four or five quarts of seed from a single plant of
+the largest variety, in one season. Young plants are suitable for
+transplanting after the first year's growth. They should be set three
+feet apart each way. The soil should be thoroughly enriched and trenched
+two feet deep, with plenty of well-rotted manure in the bottom, and
+mixed in all the soil. Plant the crowns two or three inches below the
+surface to allow stirring the ground in the spring, without injury.
+After this they will only want enriching with well-rotted manure in
+rather liberal quantities, worked in with a fork in the fall or spring.
+Covering up with manure in the fall is good. Those who raise the largest
+leaves, lay bare the crowns in spring, and with a sharp knife, remove
+all the smaller crown-buds. The leaves will be greatly reduced in
+number, but increased in size. We have often seen a single stem of a
+leaf that weighed a full pound.</p>
+
+<p>The roots live many years. We know a single root,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> in St. Lawrence
+county, N. Y., from which we ate pies and tarts twenty-two years ago,
+and which is now so vigorous as to yield more than a supply for two
+families through the season. The only care it has ever had, has been
+liberal supplies of well-rotted manure. The seed stocks have generally
+been broken off. They should always be, unless you wish to raise seed,
+then save one or two of the strongest. New crowns come out on the sides,
+from year to year, until each plant will cover a considerable space. The
+one mentioned, as being twenty-two years old, has never been moved
+during the whole time. It is not the giant kind, but the leaves are
+large and long. Rhubarb has a better flavor and requires much less
+sugar, by blanching. This is best done by placing an old barrel, without
+a bottom, over the hill as it begins to grow. The leaves will grow long,
+with white tender stems. Use it when the leaves are half or full grown,
+as you please.</p>
+
+
+<h4>RICE.</h4>
+
+<p>This, in its value to the world as an article of food, is next to Indian
+corn. It is the main article of diet for one third of the human race. It
+is produced only in certain parts of the world, and its cultivation is
+so simple and easy, and so much a department of agriculture by itself,
+that we omit directions for growing it. The ravages of the rice-weevil,
+so destructive to rice lying in bulk, are prevented by the application
+of common salt, at the rate of half a pound to the bushel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>ROCKS.</h4>
+
+<p>We frequently find, on some of our best land, large boulders, very hard,
+and too large to be removed, with any team we can command, and which
+would be in the way, in any place to which we might remove them. The
+best way to get rid of them, when it can be afforded, is to burn or
+blast them into pieces small enough to be easily handled. When this can
+not be afforded, the best method is to make an excavation by the side of
+them, deep enough to let them sink below the reach of the plow, and
+allow them to fall in, being careful not to get caught by them.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ROLLER.</h4>
+
+<p>This is quite as indispensable to good farming and gardening as any
+other tool. It serves a great variety of useful purposes. The first is
+to pulverize soils. No man can get a full crop on a soil not made fine
+on the surface, however rich that soil may be. It is often the case that
+land needs rolling two or three times before the last harrowing and
+sowing the seed. Another purpose is, on all light soils, to place the
+soil close around the seeds after they have been covered. When this is
+not done, seeds will vegetate very unevenly, and, in dry weather, some
+of them not at all. Another advantage of rolling a field-crop is the
+greater facility and economy with which it can be harvested. It makes a
+level, smooth surface, sinking small stones out of the way of the scythe
+or reaper. Rolling makes grass-seed catch, when sown with a spring-crop.
+All beds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> of small seeds&mdash;as onions, beets, carrots, parsnips,
+&amp;c.&mdash;should be rolled after planting. It will so smooth the surface,
+that hoeing and cultivating can be done without injury to the plants.
+The rows are also much more easily seen while the plants are young. Any
+crop will grow better and larger by not being too much exposed to the
+action of the atmosphere on its roots. When the soil is coarse, part of
+the seeds and roots are greatly exposed to the action of the atmosphere,
+and this exposure is very irregular. The roller so crushes the lumps and
+fills up the openings in the soil as to cause the atmosphere to act
+regularly on the whole crop. Few farmers stop to think that the pressure
+of the atmosphere on their soils is fifteen pounds' weight on every
+square inch, and that, hence, the air must penetrate to a considerable
+depth into the soil; and where the soil is coarse, the air enters too
+freely, and acts too powerfully for the good of the plants. Rollers are
+made of wood, iron, or freestone. For most purposes, wood is best. A log
+made true and even, or, better, narrow plank nailed on cylindrical ends,
+are the usual forms. From eighteen inches to three feet in diameter is
+the better size. Iron or stone rollers, in sections, are best for
+pulverizing soil disposed to cake from being annually overflowed with
+water, or from other causes.</p>
+
+
+<h4>ROOT CROPS.</h4>
+
+<p>It is important that American farmers learn to attach much greater
+importance to the culture of roots. The potato is the best of all roots
+for feeding; but, as the yield has become so light in most localities,
+and the demand for it for human food has so greatly increased,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> it will
+no longer be grown extensively as food for animals. Farmers must,
+therefore, turn their attention to beets, carrots, and parsnips.
+Reasonable tillage will produce one thousand bushels to the acre of
+beets and carrots, and two hundred more of parsnips. These roots, raw or
+cooked, are valuable for all domestic animals. A horse will do better on
+part oats and part carrots, or beets, than upon clear oats. For milch
+cows, young stock, and fattening cattle, and for sheep and fowls, they
+are highly valuable. With the facilities now enjoyed, they may be raised
+at a cheap rate. Plant scarlet short-top radish-seed in the rows, to
+shade the vegetating seed and young plants, and to mark the rows, to
+facilitate clearing and stirring the ground, while the plants are very
+young, and using the most approved root-cleaners, and the same amount of
+food can not be grown at the same price in any other crops.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SAFFRON.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a well-known medicinal herb, as easily grown as a bean or
+sunflower. It is principally used in eruptive diseases, to induce
+moisture of the skin and keep the eruption out. Sow in any good soil, in
+rows eighteen inches apart, and keep clean of weeds. When in full bloom,
+the flowers are gathered and dried.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SAGE.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy garden-herb, easily grown. Its value for medicinal and
+culinary purposes is well known. It is propagated by seeds, or by
+dividing the roots. With suitable protection in winter, roots will live
+for a number of years, bearing seed after the first.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are, the <i>red</i>, the <i>broad-leaved</i>, the <i>green</i>, and the
+<i>small-leaved green</i>. The red is most used for culinary purposes, and
+the broad-leaved is most medicinal. All the varieties may be used for
+the same purposes. Any garden-soil, not decidedly wet, is suitable for
+sage. Raise new plants once in three or four years. Plants may be
+renovated, by certain culture and care, but it is better to grow new
+ones. Cut the leaves two or three times in the season, and dry quickly,
+and put away in paper bags; or, better, pulverize and cork up in glass
+bottles. This is the best method of preserving all herbs for domestic
+use.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy biennial vegetable, resembling a small parsnip, and as
+easily grown. When properly cooked, its flavor resembles the oyster,
+whence its name. Sow and cultivate as parsnips or carrots. It is
+suitable for use from November to May. It is better for being allowed to
+remain in the ground until wanted for use, though it may be well kept,
+in moist sand in the cellar. Care is necessary in saving seed as it
+shells and blows away like thistle seed, as soon as ripe. It must be
+sown quite thick, on account of its proneness not to vegetate. It should
+be more extensively cultivated.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SCRAPING LAND.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a process needed only on land that has not been under
+cultivation long enough to become level. All new land has many knolls of
+greater or less size. As soon as the roots are out sufficiently to allow
+it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> the knolls should be plowed and leveled with a common scraper. Most
+farmers neglect it as injurious to the soil, and too expensive. But when
+we consider that rough land never gets well plowed, and that the gradual
+wearing away of the knolls will continue their unproductiveness for a
+number of years, it will be seen that the cheapest way is to plow and
+scrape the land level at once, and thoroughly manure the places from
+which the soil has been scraped.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SEEDS.</h4>
+
+<p>The best of everything should be saved for seed. Peas, beans, corn,
+tomatoes, &amp;c., should not be gathered promiscuously, finally preserving
+the last that matures, for seed. Leave some of the finest and earliest
+stocks, and from them save seed, not from the first or the last that
+matures, but from the earliest that grows large and fair. Save
+tomato-seed from those that grow largest, but near the root. Gather all
+seeds as soon as mature, as remaining exposed to the weather is
+unfavorable to vegetation. Dry in a warm place in the shade, but not too
+near a stove or fire. Keep in paper bags, hung in a dry airy place,
+beyond the reach of mice.</p>
+
+<p>Trying the quality of seeds is important, as it may save loss and
+disappointment, from sowing seeds that will not vegetate. A little
+cotton wool or moss in a tumbler containing a little water, and placed
+in a warm room, will afford a good means of testing seeds. Seeds placed
+on that wool, will vegetate sooner than they would do in the soil. But a
+more speedy, and generally sure method, is by putting a few seeds on the
+top of a hot stove. If they are good they will crack like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> corn in
+parching; otherwise they will burn without noise, and with very little
+motion. The improvement or declension of fruits, grains, and vegetables,
+depend very materially upon the manner of gathering and preserving
+seeds. Gather promiscuously and late, and keep without care, and rapid
+declension will be the result. Gather the earliest and best, and plant
+only the very best of that saved, and constant improvement will be
+secured.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SHEEP.</h4>
+
+<p>These are the most profitable of all domestic animals. The original cost
+is trifling, and the expense of raising and keeping is so light, and the
+sale of meat, tallow, hide, and wool, is so ready, that sheep-growing is
+always profitable. So important has this always been considered, that in
+all ages of the world, there have been shepherds, whose sole business it
+has been to tend their flocks. Were the flesh of sheep and lambs more
+extensively substituted for that of swine, in this country, it would be
+equally healthy and economical. American farmers do not attach to
+sheep-growing half the importance it deserves. We recommend a thorough
+study of the subject, in the use of the facilities afforded by the
+writings of practical men. We can only give the outlines of the subject
+in a work like this. A theory has been scientifically established by
+Peter A. Brown LL. D. of Philadelphia, in which it is shown that all
+sheep are divided into two species, Hair-bearing and Wool-bearing. These
+species crossed, produce sheep that bear both wool and hair, as the two
+never change. The hair makes blankets that will not shrink. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> wool is
+good for making fulled cloth. Blankets made from the fleeces of sheep
+that are the product of the cross of these two species, will shrink in
+some places and not in others, just as the hair or wool prevails. It is
+also true that the hair-bearing sheep delight in low, moist situations
+and sea-breezes, while the wool-bearing sheep does best on high, airy,
+and dry land. These fleeces all pass as wool, but the microscope shows a
+marked and permanent difference, and one can easily learn to distinguish
+it at once, by the touch and with the naked eye. This is thrown out here
+to induce a thorough examination of the whole subject. There are three
+staples of wool, short, three inches long, middling, five inches, and
+long, eight inches. Varieties of sheep are numerous. We shall only
+mention a few. The question of the best breeds has been warmly
+controverted. We have no disposition to try to settle it. The question
+of the best variety must depend upon locality and design. If the wool is
+the object, then the Vermont Merino for the North, and the pure Saxony
+for the South, are evidently the best. If located near large cities,
+where the flesh is the main object, then the large-bodied, long-wooled
+breeds are much preferable. Among those much esteemed we note the
+following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Cotswold</i> mature young, and the flesh will vary in weight from
+fifteen to thirty pounds per quarter. The <i>New Leicester</i> is less hardy
+than the Cotswold, but heavier, weighing from twenty-four to thirty-six
+pounds per quarter. The <i>Teeswater sheep</i>, improved by a cross with the
+Leicester, is considered valuable. The <i>Bampton</i> is one of the very best
+grown in England. Fat ewes average twenty pounds per quarter, and
+wethers from thirty to thirty-five pounds. The <i>Sussex</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> <i>Hampshire,
+and Shropshire</i> varieties of the Down sheep, are all highly esteemed.
+The <i>Leicester</i> are very valuable. An ordinary fleece weighs from three
+to five pounds. Mr. Joseph Beers of New Jersey had one that sheared
+thirteen pounds at one time, and the live weight of the sheep was 378
+pounds.</p>
+
+<p>There are <i>French</i>, <i>Silesian</i>, and <i>Spanish Merinoes</i>, much esteemed in
+Vermont and elsewhere. The average weight of a flock of ewes of French
+merinoes after shearing was 103 pounds. Their fleeces averaged twelve
+pounds and eight ounces. The fleece of one buck of the same flock
+weighed twenty pounds and twelve ounces.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-390.jpg" width="500" height="337" alt="The French Merino Ram." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The French Merino Ram.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The <i>Silesian Merinoes</i> are smaller, but produce beautiful fleeces. In a
+flock of nineteen ewes, the average weight of fleece was seven pounds
+and ten ounces, and that of the buck weighed ten and a half pounds.</p>
+
+<p>A large flock of <i>Spanish Merinoes</i> yielded an average of a little over
+five pounds of well-washed wool. All these varieties are valuable for
+wool. The wool of the pure Saxony sheep, however, is best.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Tartar sheep</i>, called also Shanghae and Broadtail,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> is a
+recently-imported breed, of great promise for mutton. Their fleece is a
+fine silky hair, making fine blankets that will not shrink, but not good
+for fulled cloths. The ewes are remarkably prolific, producing sometimes
+five lambs at a time, and often twice a year. One ewe bore seven lambs
+in one year, all living and being healthy. The flesh is of the highest
+quality. This may stand at the head of all our sheep as a market animal.
+The cross of this with our common sheep has proved fine. They need to be
+further tested in this country. A new kind of sheep has also been
+imported from Africa, within a few years; a variety unknown to
+naturalists, but having some points in common with the Tartar sheep.</p>
+
+<p><i>Diseases of Sheep.</i>&mdash;There are several that have been very troublesome,
+but which experience has enabled us to cure. <i>Scours</i> is often very
+injurious. A little common soot from the chimney, or pulverized
+charcoal, is a sure remedy. Mix it with water, not so thick as to make
+it difficult to swallow, and give a teaspoonful every two hours, and
+relief will soon be experienced.</p>
+
+<p><i>Water in the head</i> is a disease caused by long exposure to wet and
+cold. This is prevented by a small blanket on the back of the sheep. The
+wool on the backs of sheep will be seen to be often parted, exposing the
+skin. Water falling on the back will penetrate the wool and run down,
+and wet and chill the whole body. A small cotton blanket, fifteen inches
+wide, and long enough to reach from the neck to the tail, fastened to
+its place by tying to the wool, and painted on the outside, will cause
+all the water to run off, saving the health of the sheep, and causing
+him to require less food. In the cold, wet season, every sheep should
+have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> such a blanket; they would cost three or four cents each, and be
+worth many times their cost in the saving of feed for the animals. The
+more comfortable an animal is, the less food will he require. Applying
+tar above the noses of sheep at shearing, that they may be compelled to
+smell it and eat a little for a long time, is considered favorable to
+their general health, and a preventive of rot.</p>
+
+<p>The foot-rot, in cattle, sheep, and hogs, is a prevalent disease. Boys
+walking the path, barefoot, where such diseased animals frequently pass,
+may contract the disease. This is always cured by washing in blue
+vitriol. Most cases are cured by one application, and the most confirmed
+by two or three. Make a narrow passage, where only one animal can pass
+at once. Put in a trough twelve feet long, twelve inches wide, and as
+many deep. Put in that fifty pounds of blue vitriol and fill with water,
+throwing a little straw over the top. Cause the diseased animals to pass
+through that, and they will be cured. This is thought to be an
+invariable remedy. If sheep do not appear healthy on lowland pasture,
+give them small quantities of fine charcoal and salt, and they will be
+as healthy as on the hills. A little salt for sheep is useful during the
+whole year. The health of sheep is injured more in fall than at any
+other season; they are very apt to be neglected at the beginning of
+winter. They grow poor rapidly when their green feed first fails; a
+little hay and grain and a few roots then will keep them up, prevent
+disease, and make it less expensive to keep them through the winter.
+Feed in racks or troughs, when they can not get their food under foot,
+and as far as practicable, under shelter, and in a warm place. It is
+much cheaper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> and keeps the sheep much more healthy. They should have
+fresh water, where they can drink, two or three times a day. Salt, mixed
+with wood-ashes and pulverized charcoal, should also be constantly
+within their reach. A few beets, carrots, or parsnips, are always
+valuable. Some green feed is very essential for ewes, for some time
+before the yeaning season. Corn is good for fattening sheep; but, for
+increasing the wool, it is not half as valuable as beans. Good
+bean-straw is better than hay. Corn-fodder is excellent. The product of
+one and a half acres of land, sowed with corn, will winter, in fine
+condition, one hundred sheep&mdash;the corn sowed the 20th of June, and cut
+up after it has begun to lose its weight slightly, and shocked up
+closely, bound round the top with straw, and then allowed to stand till
+wanted for feeding. To have healthy sheep, do not use a ram under two,
+or over six or seven years old, and raise no lambs from unhealthy ewes
+or rams. The expense of keeping sheep, as all other animals, is much
+less when they are kept warm. Much feed is wasted in keeping up animal
+heat, which would be saved by warm quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Sheep-manure is better than any other, except that of fowls. No other
+parts with its qualities by exposure so slowly. Some farmers save all
+labor of carting and spreading sheep-manure, by having movable wire
+fences, and putting their sheep on one acre for a few days, and then
+removing to another. One hundred sheep may thus be made to manure an
+acre of land in ten days, better than any ordinary dressing of other
+manure. We should prefer carefully collecting and saving it under cover,
+mixed with muck or loam, and apply where and when we choose. Keeping a
+suitable num<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>ber of sheep on a farm is very important in keeping up the
+farm. A farm devoted to grain or vegetables, without a suitable number
+of animals, usually runs down.</p>
+
+<p>The time when lambs should be allowed to come is important. We much
+prefer letting them come when they please, if we have warm quarters, and
+can take a little extra care of them. This will give a larger growth,
+and furnish large lambs for market, at a season of the year when they
+are most desired, and bring the greatest price. For those who will not
+take the necessary pains, let them come when the weather has become warm
+and grass plenty. Sometimes a ewe loses her lamb, and you wish her to
+raise one of another ewe's, that has two. To make a ewe own another's
+lamb, take off the skin of her dead lamb, and bind it on to the other
+lamb, and she will smell it and own the lamb; after which the skin may
+be removed.</p>
+
+<p>Sheep-culture is a subject to which farmers should give increased
+attention, until the average weight of sheep in the United States shall
+become one third greater than at present, and until there shall be ten
+sheep to one of all we have at present.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SHEPHERDIA OR BUFFALO BERRY.</h4>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 184px;">
+<img src="images/ill-394.jpg" width="184" height="200" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br />This is an ornamental shrub, growing from six to fifteen feet high,
+bearing a roundish red fruit, much esteemed for preserves. Trees are of
+two kinds, male and female, one bearing staminate and the other
+pistillate flowers. Hence no fruit can be grown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> without setting out the
+trees in pairs from six to fifteen feet apart. If you set out only two,
+and they chance to be of the same kind, you will get no fruit.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SOILS.</h4>
+
+<p>The nature and management of soils must be measurably understood by any
+one who would be a thorough cultivator. The productive power of a soil
+depends much upon the character of the subsoil. A gravelly subsoil is,
+on the whole, the best. A thin soil lying on a cold clay subsoil&mdash;the
+hardpan of the East, and the crowfish clay of the West&mdash;however rich it
+may be, will be unproductive; while the same soil, on a gravelly
+subsoil, would produce abundantly. The best soils, for all purposes, are
+the brown or hazel-colored. Plowed in wet weather, they do not make
+mortar, and in dry weather they will not break in clods. Dark-mixed and
+russet moulds are considered the next best. The worst are the dark-gray
+or ash-colored. The deep-black alluvial soils of the Western prairies
+are an exception to all other soils, possessing, under proper treatment,
+great powers of production. Soils do not, to any considerable extent,
+afford food for plants. A willow-tree has been known to gain one hundred
+and fifty pounds' weight, without exhausting more than two or three
+ounces of the soil, and even that might have been wasted in drying and
+weighing.</p>
+
+<p>In our article on manures, we have shown that it is the texture of
+soils, and their power to control moisture and heat, that renders them
+productive: hence, no soil can be poor that is stirred deep and kept in
+a friable condition, without being too open and porous; and no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> soil can
+be good that is hard and not retentive of moisture, without having water
+stand upon it. Hence, the great secret of successful farming, is, such a
+mixture of the soils, and of fertilizers with the soil, as shall keep it
+friable and moist, and such thorough drainage as will prevent water from
+standing so as to become stagnant, and to unduly chill the roots of
+growing plants. Nature has provided, near at hand, all that is essential
+to productiveness; all that is necessary is to properly mix them. We do
+not believe that there is an acre of land now under cultivation in the
+United States, in a latitude where corn will grow, on which we can not
+raise a hundred bushels of shelled Indian corn, without applying
+anything but what may be raised out of that soil, and procured in the
+shape of manure by animals in consuming that product. The poorest farm
+in America may be brought up to a state of great fertility, without
+applying one dollar's worth of any foreign substance. Plow <i>deep</i>, turn
+under all the green substances possible, and feed out the products on
+the farm and apply the manure, and mix opposite soils, that may be found
+in different localities. Three years will secure great productiveness,
+and the same course will increase its value, from year to year, without
+cost. Three things only are essential to convert poor land into the
+best; deep and thorough stirring and pulverization, suitable draining,
+and thorough mixture of soils of different qualities, and the
+incorporation of such animal and vegetable substances as can be produced
+on the land itself. We would not declare against foreign manures, but
+insist that the necessary ingredients are found, or may be manufactured
+near at hand. The philosophy of deep plowing and thorough pulverization<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>
+is obvious. A fine soil will retain and appropriate moisture in an
+eminent degree, on the principle of capillary attraction, or as a sponge
+or a piece of loaf sugar will take up water. There is also room for
+excess of water to sink away from the surface, and return again when
+needed. It also affords room for the roots of plants. Such a soil also
+receives moisture from the atmosphere. The atmosphere also contains much
+water, and more in the heat of summer than at any other time. The air
+also, with a constant pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch,
+enters to a considerable depth into the soil, and the deeper it is
+stirred, and the more thoroughly it is pulverized, the more it will
+enter. In coming in contact with the cool moisture below, it is
+condensed and waters the soil, on the principle that a pitcher of cold
+water in a warm room has large drops of water on the outside; that water
+is a mere condensation of moisture in the atmosphere. The cool subsoil
+acts in the same way upon the atmosphere at night. A deeply
+disintegrated soil, also, seldom washes by rain. Shallow-plowed and
+coarse land sends off the water after a slight rain, while deep-plowed
+and thoroughly pulverized land retains it. The philosophy of manures
+involves the same principles. All the fertilizers act upon soils in such
+a manner as to render them fine, and open an immense surface to the
+action of the atmosphere, and form large reservoirs for moisture through
+their innumerable fine pores. Draining is to carry off an excess of
+water that would stand on an unfavorable subsoil. That water, on
+undrained land, causes two evils; it stagnates and renders plants
+unhealthy, and it is too cool, rendering land what we call cold. Thus,
+the deeper you plow land, and the finer you make it, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> warmer it will
+be, and the more perfectly it will control moisture. Mixing soils by
+subsoiling, trenching, and deep plowing, and by carting on foreign
+substances, is wholly on this principle. Sand that drifts about with the
+wind is too light to retain moisture, and needs clay carted on. By this
+means the poorest white sand has often been converted into the most
+productive soil. Definite rules for this mixture of soils can not be
+safely given. The rules must differ in different localities and
+circumstances; it must, therefore, be determined by experiment.
+Analyzing soils is sometimes of use, but usually has too much importance
+attached. We do not advise farmers to study it. Let them try
+applications and mixtures, at first on a small scale: they will soon
+learn what is best on their farms, and may then proceed without loss.
+Some lands are of such a character that the carting on, and suitably
+mixing, the substances in which they are deficient, may cost as much as
+it did to clear the land of its original forest; but it will pay well
+for a long series of years. So well are we persuaded of the utility and
+correctness of these brief hints, that, in selecting a farm, we should
+regard the location more than the quality of the soil. The latter we
+could mend easily; while we should find it difficult to move our farm to
+a more favorable location. Poor land near a city or large town, or on
+some great thoroughfare, we should much prefer to good land far removed
+from market, or in an unpleasant location.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SPINAGE, OR SPINACH.</h4>
+
+<p>Both these names are correct; the former is the general one among
+Americans. This plant is used in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> soups, but more generally boiled alone
+and served as greens. In the spring of the year, this is one of the most
+wholesome vegetables. By sowing at different times, we may have it at
+any season of the year, but it is more tender and succulent in the
+spring. The male and female flowers are produced on separate plants. The
+male blossoms are in long, terminal spikes, and the female in clusters,
+close at the stalk, on each joint.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i>&mdash;The two best are the <i>broad</i>, or <i>summer</i>, and the
+<i>prickly</i>, or <i>fall</i>. There are three others&mdash;the <i>English Patience
+Dock</i>, the <i>Holland</i>, or <i>Lamb's Quarter</i>, and the <i>New Zealand</i>. The
+first two are sufficient. Sow in August and September for winter and
+spring use, and in spring for summer. Sow in rich soil, in drills
+eighteen inches apart. Thin to three inches in the row, and when large
+enough for use, remove every other one, leaving them six inches apart.
+To raise seed, have male plants at convenient distances, say one in two
+or three feet. When they have done blossoming, remove the male plants,
+giving all the room to the others, for perfecting the seed. Success
+depends upon very rich soil and plenty of moisture.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SQUASH.</h4>
+
+<p>There are several varieties of both summer and winter squashes. All the
+summer varieties have a hard shell, when matured. They are usually eaten
+entire, outside, seeds and all, while young and tender, from one quarter
+to almost full grown. They are also used as a fall and winter squash,
+rejecting the shell and that portion of the inside which contains the
+seeds. The <i>Summer Crookneck</i>, and <i>Summer Scolloped</i>, both <i>white</i> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>
+<i>yellow</i>, are the principal summer squashes. The finest is the <i>White
+Scolloped</i>. The best winter varieties are the <i>Acorn</i>, <i>Valparaiso</i>,
+<i>Winter Crookneck</i>, and <i>Vegetable Marrow</i> or <i>Sweet Potato squash</i>. The
+latter is the best known.</p>
+
+<p>Cultivate as melons, but leave only two plants in a hill. They do best
+on new land. Varieties should be grown far apart, and far removed from
+pumpkins, as they mix very easily, and at a great distance. Bugs eat
+them worse than any other garden vegetable. The only sure remedy is the
+box covered with gauze or glass. As they are great runners, they do
+better with their ends clipped off. Used as a vegetable for the table,
+and in the same manner as pumpkins, for pies.</p>
+
+
+<h4>STRAWBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>None of our small fruits are more esteemed, or more easily raised, and
+yet none more frequently fails. Failures always result from
+carelessness, or the want of a little knowledge of the best methods of
+cultivation. We omit much that might be said of the history and uses of
+the strawberry, and confine ourselves to a few brief directions, which,
+if strictly followed, will render every cultivator uniformly successful.
+No one need ever fail of growing a good crop of strawberries. In 1857,
+we saw plats of strawberries in Illinois, in the cultivation of which
+much money had been expended, and which were remarkably promising when
+in blossom, but which did not yield the cultivators five dollars' worth
+of fruit. In the language of the proprietors, "they blasted."
+Strawberries never blast; but, for the want of fertilizers at suitable
+distances, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> may not fill. There are but three causes of
+failure&mdash;want of fertilizers, excessive drought, and allowing the vines
+to become too thick. Of most of our best varieties, the blossoms are of
+two kinds&mdash;pistillate and staminate, or male and female&mdash;and they are
+essential to each other. The pistillate plants bear the fruit, and the
+staminates are the fertilizers, without which the pistillates will be
+fruitless. There are three kinds of blossom&mdash;pistillate, staminate, and
+perfect, as seen in the cut.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/ill-401.jpg" width="600" height="212" alt="1. Perfect blossom. 2. Staminate blossom. 3. Pistillate
+blossom." title="" />
+<span class="caption">1. Perfect blossom.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2. Staminate blossom.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3. Pistillate
+blossom.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first (1) is perfect; that is, has both the stamens and pistils well
+developed: this will produce a fair crop of fruit, without the presence
+of any other variety. The second (2) has the stamens large, while the
+pistils (the apparently small green strawberry in the centre) are not
+sufficiently developed to produce fruit: such plants seldom bear more
+than a few imperfectly-formed berries. The third (3) has pistils in
+abundance, but is destitute of stamens, and hence, will not bear alone.
+The two latter are to be placed near each other, to render them
+productive; they may be readily distinguished when in blossom. It is
+always safe to cultivate the hermaphrodite plants; that is, those
+producing perfect blossoms; but the pistillates and staminates, in due
+proportions, produce the largest crops, and finer fruit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Soil.</i>&mdash;Much has been said against high fertilization<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> with animal
+manures, and in favor of vegetable mould only. We feel entirely
+satisfied that the largest crops of strawberries are grown on land
+highly manured with common barnyard manure. To plant and manure a
+strawberry-bed, begin on one side, and dig a trench eighteen inches deep
+(from two to three feet is much better) and as wide; put six inches of
+common manure in the bottom; dig another trench as deep, and place the
+soil upon the manure in the first trench; fill the last with manure as
+the first, and so on over the whole plat. Manure the surface lightly
+with very fine manure and wood-ashes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Transplanting</i> is usually better in the month of August. If done at
+that season, and it be not too dry, the plants will get such a growth
+the same season as to produce quite a good crop of fruit the next
+season. Planted as early in the spring as it will do to stir the soil,
+they are more sure to grow and yield a very few berries the first
+season, and very abundantly the next. If you would cultivate in hills,
+put them two feet apart each way; if otherwise, two feet one way, and
+one foot the other. Cut off the roots to two or three inches in length,
+and remove all the dead leaves; dip them in mud, which is a great means
+of causing them to grow; and set them in fine mould, the crown one inch
+below the level of the soil around, and leave it in a slight basin, and
+water it, unless the weather be damp. Many plants are lost from not
+being set low enough to escape drought. The basin will hold water, and
+nearly every plant will grow; excessive water will destroy them. Set out
+three or four rows of pistillate plants, and then one of the staminates,
+or fertilizers. Some set them out in beds and allow them to cover the
+whole ground,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> and cultivate by spading up the bed in alternate sections
+of eighteen inches or two feet each year, turning under, in the spring,
+that portion that bore fruit the previous season&mdash;which has long been
+recommended by good authority. This was the lamented Downing's method.
+We think rows preferable for this reason. The young plants formed by the
+runners are less vigorous after the first; hence, the tendency is to
+deterioration by this mode of culture. And this method does not afford
+so good an opportunity for stirring the soil around the plants as
+planting in rows; this stirring the soil is a great means of protecting
+from drought, and securing the most vigorous growth. Deep subsoiling
+between the rows early in the spring, or after fruiting, is valuable;
+hence, we always advise to cultivate in hills two feet apart each way,
+and renew them after they have borne two, or at most three crops.</p>
+
+<p>Hermaphrodites are best for cultivation in beds. Many strawberry-beds do
+well the first year of their bearing, but are almost useless afterward.
+The cultivator says they all run to vines. In such cases, they overlook
+the fact that the staminate plants grow altogether the fastest, because
+their strength goes to support foliage in the absence of fruit, while
+bearing vines require much of their strength to mature the fruit; hence,
+if they are allowed to run together the second, or at most the third
+year, the fertilizers will monopolize the ground and prevent fruiting.
+This is the greatest cause of failure of a crop, next to a want of both
+kinds of plants. This is the origin of fears of having land too rich. It
+is said it all runs to vines without fruit; this is because the wrong
+vines have intruded&mdash;the staminates have overcome the pistillates. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>
+reject the whole theory of the luxuriance of the vines preventing the
+production of fruit. The larger the vines the more fruit, provided only
+the vines are bearers, and not too thick: hence this invariable
+rule&mdash;<i>always have fertilizers within five feet, and never allow the two
+kinds to run together.</i> Manures should be applied in August, well spaded
+in. Applying in the spring to increase the crop for that season, is like
+feeding chickens in the morning to fatten them for dinner&mdash;it is too
+late. Fertilizing in August is a good preparation for a large crop for
+the next season. Strawberry-vines, in all freezing climates, should be
+covered, late in the fall, with forest-leaves or straw, to protect from
+the severity of winter, and enrich the land by what can be dug into the
+soil in spring. Rotten wood, fine chips, sawdust, &amp;c., are all good for
+a fall top-dressing. After well hoeing and weeding in spring, until
+blossom-buds appear, just before the blossoms open, cover the bed
+thoroughly with spent tanbark, sawdust, or fine straw. This will keep
+down weeds, preserve moisture in the soil, enrich the ground, and
+protect the fruit from injury by rains, and in part from worms and
+insects. This should never be omitted.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varieties</i> are numerous, and, from the ease with which they are raised
+from seed, will rapidly increase; it is so frequent to have blossoms
+fertilized by pollen from several different varieties. Some of the most
+marked varieties are known in different parts of the country by very
+different names; hence, we advise cultivators to select the best in
+their locality. Every valuable variety is soon scattered over the
+country. The following are good:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Burr's New Pine.</i>&mdash;Originated at Columbus, Ohio,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> in 1856. Hardy,
+vigorous, and quite productive; very early; tender for market, but
+superior for a private garden.</p>
+
+<p><i>Western Queen.</i>&mdash;Originated at Cleveland, Ohio, by Professor J. P.
+Kirtland, 1849. Very hardy and productive; larger than the Hudson or the
+Willey; good for market; bears carriage well.</p>
+
+<p><i>Longworth's Prolific.</i>&mdash;Origin, Cincinnati, 1848. Regular, sure, full
+bearer of large, delicious fruit; good for market; an independent
+bearer.</p>
+
+<p><i>M'Avoy's Superior.</i>&mdash;Cincinnati, 1848. Received one-hundred-dollar
+prize from the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in 1851. Exceedingly
+large; hardy; female or pistillate flowers; needs fertilizers, and then
+is one of the best ever grown; rather tender for carriage, though it is
+extensively sold in Western markets.</p>
+
+<p><i>Jenney's Seedling.</i>&mdash;Valuable for ripening late; fruit large and
+regular; very productive, 3,200 quarts having been gathered from three
+quarters of an acre.</p>
+
+<p><i>Hovey's Seedling.</i>&mdash;Elliott puts it in his second class; but we can not
+avoid the conviction that it is one of the best that ever has been
+raised. It is pistillate, but with fertilizers it yields immense crops,
+of very fine large fruit. Boston Pine is one of the best fertilizers for
+the Hovey Seedling.</p>
+
+<p><i>Hudson Bay.</i>&mdash;A hardy and late variety, highly esteemed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pyramidal Chilian.</i>&mdash;Hermaphrodite, highly valued.</p>
+
+<p><i>Crimson Cone.</i>&mdash;An old variety, quite early, and something of a
+favorite in Eastern markets.</p>
+
+<p><i>Peabody's New Hautbois.</i>&mdash;Originated in Columbus, Georgia, by Charles
+A. Peabody. Said to bear more degrees of heat and cold than any other
+variety. Very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> vigorous, fruit of the largest size, very many of the
+berries measuring seven inches in circumference. Flesh firm, sweet, and
+of a delicious pine-apple flavor. Rich, deep crimson. It may be seen in
+full size in the patent office report on agriculture for 1856. If this
+new fruit sustains its recommendations, it will prove the best of all
+strawberries.</p>
+
+<p>Downing describes over one hundred varieties. We repeat our
+recommendation to select the best you can find near home. The following
+rules will insure success:</p>
+
+<p>1. Make the ground very rich.</p>
+
+<p>2. Put fertilizers within five feet of each other, and never allow
+different kinds to run together.</p>
+
+<p>3. Cover the ground two inches deep with tan-bark, sawdust, or fine
+straw, just before the blossoms open; tan-bark is best.</p>
+
+<p>4. Never allow the vines to become very thick, but thin them out.</p>
+
+<p>5. Water every day from the appearance of the blossoms until done
+gathering the fruit; this increases the crop largely, and, at the South,
+has continued the vines in bearing until November. Daily watering will
+prolong the bearing season greatly in all climates, and greatly increase
+the crop.</p>
+
+<p>6. Protect in winter by a slight covering of forest-leaves, coarse
+straw, or cornstalks.</p>
+
+<p>7. To get a late crop, keep the vines covered deep with straw. You can
+retard their maturity two weeks, and daily watering will prolong it for
+weeks.</p>
+
+<p>8. Apply, twice in the fall and once in the spring, a solution of
+potash, one pound in two pails of water, or two pounds in a barrel of
+water in which stable-manure has been soaked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>9. The best general applications to the soil, in preparing the bed, are
+lime, charcoal, and wood-ashes&mdash;one part of lime to two of ashes and
+three of charcoal. The application of wood-ashes will render less
+dissolved potash necessary.</p>
+
+<p>These nine rules, strictly observed, will render every cultivator
+successful in all climates and localities.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SUGAR.</h4>
+
+<p>There have, until recently, been but two general sources of our supply
+of sugar&mdash;the sugar-cane of the South, and the sugar-maple of the North.
+Beet-sugar will not be extensively manufactured in this country. We now
+have added the Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, and the Imphee, or African
+sugar-cane, adapted to the North and the South, flourishing wherever
+Indian corn will grow, and raised as easily and surely, and much in the
+same way. Of the methods of making sugar from the old sugar-cane of the
+South, we need give no account. It is not an article of general domestic
+manufacture. It is made on a large scale on plantations, and is in
+itself simple, and easily learned by the few who become sugar-planters.</p>
+
+<p>The process of manufacturing sugar from the maple-tree is very simple
+and everywhere known. It is to be regretted that our sugar-maples are
+being so extensively destroyed, and that those we pretend to keep for
+sugar-orchards are so unmercifully hacked up, in the process of
+extracting the sap. To so tap the trees as to do them the least possible
+injury, is a matter of much importance. Whether it should be done by
+boring and plugging up with green maple-wood after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> the season is over,
+or be done by cutting a small gash with an axe and leaving open, has
+been a disputed point. Many prefer the axe, and think the tree will be
+less blackened in the wood, and will last longer, provided it be
+judiciously performed. Cut a small, smooth gash; one year tap the tree
+low, and another high, and on alternate sides; scatter the wounds, made
+from year to year, as much as possible. Another process of tapping is
+now most popular with all who have tried it. Bore into the tree half an
+inch, with a bit not larger than an inch, slanting slightly up, that
+standing sap or water may not blacken the wood. Make the spout out of
+hoop-iron one and a fourth inches wide; cut the iron, with a cold
+chisel, into pieces four inches long; grind one end sharp; lay the
+pieces over a semicircular groove in a stick of hard wood, and place an
+iron rod on it lengthwise over the groove&mdash;slight blows with a hammer
+will bend it. These can be driven into the bark, below the hole made by
+the bit. They need not extend to the wood, and hence make no wound at
+all. If the wound dries before the season is over, deepen it a little by
+boring again, or by taking out a small piece with a gouge. This process
+will injure the trees less than any other. The spouts will be cheaper
+than wooden ones, and may last twenty years. Always hang buckets on
+wrought nails, that may be drawn out. Buckets made of tin, to hold three
+or four gallons, need cost only about twenty-five cents each, and, with
+good care, may last twenty years. A crook in the wire of the rim will
+make a good place to hang upon the nail. A hole bored in the ear of
+other buckets will answer the same purpose. In all windy situations, the
+bucket must be near the end of the spout, or much will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> be lost by being
+blown over by the wind. Great care to keep all vessels used, clean and
+sweet, and not burn the sugar in finishing it, will enable any one to
+succeed in making good maple-sugar. The various forms in which it is put
+up, and the manner of draining, are familiar to all makers. It is only
+necessary to add, that there are few small farms on which the
+sugar-maple will grow, where there might not be raised two or three
+hundred maples, within fifteen or twenty years, that would add greatly
+to the beauty, comfort, and value of the farm. On the highway as
+shade-trees, or on the side of lots, they would be very ornamental and
+profitable, without doing injury. We can not too strongly recommend
+raising sugar-maples. Always cultivate trees that will bear fruit, yield
+sugar, or be good for timber.</p>
+
+<p>Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, is raised much as Indian corn&mdash;only, it
+will bear some ten or twelve stalks in a hill, instead of three or four.
+In all parts of our continent, it produces enormous crops of stalks. The
+trials thus far indicate, that the quantity of saccharine matter it
+contains is not quite equal to that of the common sugar-cane; but, with
+the necessary facilities for manufacturing, it makes quite as good sugar
+and as fine sirups as the other cane. Suitable machinery, that need not
+be expensive, owned by a neighborhood of farmers, may enable all
+Northern men, where other cane will not grow, to make their own sugar
+cheaper than to buy. But it will be made probably by large
+establishments as other sugar. We give no method of making it. The
+subject is so new, that every method of manufacture finds its way into
+all the newspapers, and what might appear the best to-day would be
+quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> antiquated to-morrow. We have seen as fine sugars and sirups, of
+all the different grades, made from this new cane, as any others we have
+ever tasted. The question is settled that imphee and sorgho will make
+good sugar in abundance. A few years will place such sugars among the
+great staple products of the country.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SUMMER-SAVORY.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a hardy annual, raised from seed on any good soil, with no care
+but keeping free from weeds. The seed is small, and may not vegetate
+well in dry, warm weather, without a little shade or regular watering.
+Its use for culinary and medicinal purposes is well known. Gather and
+dry when nearly ripe. Keep in paper bags, or pulverize and put in glass
+bottles. For the benefit of persons who keep those sprightly pets called
+fleas, we mention the fact that dry summer-savory leaves, put in the
+straw beds, will expel those insects.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SUNFLOWER.</h4>
+
+<p>This large, hardy, annual plant would be considered very beautiful, were
+it not so common. Three quarts of clear, beautiful oil are expressed
+from a bushel of the seed, in the same way as linseed-oil. The seed, in
+small quantities, is good for fowls. It may be grown with less labor
+than corn.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SWEET POTATO.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a Southern plant, but is now being acclimated in Northern
+latitudes. Good sweet potatoes are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> now grown in the colder parts of
+Vermont, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. There are many varieties, and they
+are increasing by seedlings. Not long since, they were said to bear no
+seed; but recently, in different parts of the country, seeds have been
+found, and new varieties grown from them. Certain varieties are best in
+different localities. They will always find their way through growers of
+plants. The process of growing is simple, but must be carefully followed
+to insure success. Plant the seed potatoes in a moderate hotbed, at the
+time when grass begins to start freely. Keep well watered, and do not
+allow them to get too warm. An hour's over-heating will cause them all
+to decay. The heat, when it begins to rise too high, is at once checked
+by a thorough drenching with cold water: if too low, the heat is raised
+by a tight cover, in a warm sun, and by watering with warm water. Water
+them every day after they are up. The sprouts, when six inches high, are
+pulled off from the potato, and set out as cabbage-plants; this should
+be done as soon as all danger of frost has ceased. The same potatoes
+will sprout as many times as they are pulled off.</p>
+
+<p>Sweet potatoes need much sun and warmth; they are, therefore, planted on
+round hills, or, better, on ridges, which may be principally thrown up
+with a plow, and made from a foot to eighteen inches high. Set the
+plants in the top, about fifteen inches or two feet apart; keep clear of
+weeds, making the hill or ridge a little larger by each hoeing. The
+tops, being long running vines, will soon cover the ground. They produce
+better tubers for throwing the vines, in a twist, up over the top of the
+rows. They will take root at each joint of vine, when undisturbed, which
+roots will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> draw from the main tuber. These roots would be as good and
+large as any, if they had time: hence, at the South, one half of the
+crop is grown from sets, from cuttings of the ends of the early-planted
+vines. At the North, where seasons are short, these joints must be
+prevented&mdash;by throwing up, as above, or loosening&mdash;from taking root. The
+tubers will need all the strength; the plant and tuber are tender, and a
+little frost will kill the vines and cause the potatoes to decay. They
+may be kept for use until January by packing, when dug in a warm day, in
+the soil in which they grew;&mdash;kept through winter, packed in straw or
+chaff, in boxes that will contain about two or three bushels each, and
+kept in a room with a fire: the room should be at a temperature of from
+forty to sixty degrees; fifty-five is best, though seventy will not
+destroy them; more or less will cause them to decay. The boxes may be
+placed one upon another, but should be left open, that their moisture
+may evaporate. Dry sand (kiln-dried), sifted over and close among them,
+will preserve them. Free circulation of air is indispensable. It is
+usually cheapest to buy the plants of those who make a business of
+raising them. They are very hardy&mdash;may be transported one thousand miles
+and do just as well. To transplant with perfect safety in a dry time,
+after the plant has been put in its place, pour in a pint of water, and
+cover it with a little dry soil to prevent baking&mdash;and not one out of
+fifty will perish.</p>
+
+<p>These few brief directions will enable any one to be successful wherever
+corn will grow. A new variety has just been brought into Alabama from
+Peru, that is pronounced superior to all others; a prodigious bearer,
+even on poor sandy land, and far more hardy than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> other varieties, the
+root retaining its excellence as it came out of the ground till the
+following May.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SWINE.</h4>
+
+<p>Hogs are evil in their propensities, mischievous and filthy in their
+habits, and yet profitable to the farmer. Every farmer should keep a few
+in proportion to the refuse grain and various slops that his
+establishment may afford. Buying hogs and then purchasing grain on which
+to fatten them in the usual way is the poorest economy. Such pork is
+often made to cost from twelve to twenty cents per pound.</p>
+
+<p>There are many breeds of swine highly recommended. Some of the varieties
+of the Chinese are the most prolific and have the greatest tendency to
+fattening of any known. They have formed the basis of the great
+improvements in the breeds in Great Britain. Farmers will be able to
+select the best breed from their own knowledge and observation, better
+than from any directions we can give them. Every new variety will be
+introduced by dealers, and farmers must be cautious how they accept
+their representations.</p>
+
+<p><i>Age of Swine for Pork.</i>&mdash;It is most profitable and least troublesome,
+to keep over winter, no swine but breeding sows, to have pigs early in
+spring, to kill in autumn. Of any of the good breeds, they can be made
+to weigh from 300 to 350 pounds, by the proper time for killing. The
+practice of keeping swine till eighteen or twenty-four months old, and
+only fattening them late in the fall and beginning of winter, is very
+unprofitable. It is best to give pigs about what they will eat, from the
+time of beginning to feed them until they are slaugh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span>tered. This is in
+every way most economical. It secures fattening in the hot weather in
+summer, when pork can be made faster and cheaper than at any other time.
+Many farmers begin to fatten their pork, after the season in which it
+can most rapidly and cheaply be done.</p>
+
+<p>Hogs having been kept poor, on being fed freely for fattening, become
+cloyed, and much time is lost, while those that always have had what
+they would eat, of good wholesome food, always have a good appetite for
+as much as they need, and not root over and injure more.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food for Swine.</i>&mdash;They do better shut up in a pen, but where they can
+get access to the ground. All edible roots are good and all the grains.
+But grain should be ground or soaked. It pays well to cook all food for
+swine. Boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, and parsnips, are all good.
+Ground feed should be mixed with cooked vegetables. The disposition that
+swine have to root deep in the ground, indicates the want of something,
+not found in sufficient quantities in their ordinary food. Numerous
+experiments show that that deficiency is abundantly supplied by having
+charcoal within their reach. The stories of fattening pork wholly on
+charcoal, which we find in the books, we do not credit. But that small
+quantities of it are uniformly healthy for swine, is an established
+fact. The question of sour food has many respectable advocates.
+Cultivators and writers take different sides of the question, based as
+they say upon their carefully-tried and noted experiments, one affirming
+that fermented food is superior, and others that it has done his hogs
+positive injury. This discrepancy grows out of not carefully
+distinguishing the different kinds of fermentation, the sweet, the
+vinous, the acid, and the putrid. The first makes ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span>cellent food, the
+second will do quite well, the third is injurious, and the last
+absolutely poisonous. As it requires much care and observation to get
+this right, and mistakes are easy, it is best to take the sure method,
+give them food in a natural state, ground, and either cooked or fed raw.
+Either will make good pork at a reasonable cost, but cooked food is
+preferable.</p>
+
+<p>Sows are prevented from destroying their young by quiet, plenty of food,
+and little animal food, and but a very little straw in a dry pen, or
+washing the pig's backs with a strong decoction of aloes.</p>
+
+
+<h4>TOBACCO.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a plant abhorred by everything but man and the tobacco-worm. Its
+use for chewing and snuffing is happily becoming more and more offensive
+to refined society, and we hope it may, after a long struggle, go out of
+use. For those who will cultivate it as an article of commerce, the
+following brief directions are sufficient. Burn over a small bed, on
+which sow the seed early in March. When the leaves are as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, transplant them in deep, rich soil, or on new land,
+in rows three feet apart each way, or four feet one way and two the
+other. Tend as cabbage. It is necessary, twice in the season, to
+destroy, by hand, the large green worms that feed on this plant. When
+the plants are from two and a half to three and a half feet high,
+according to the richness of the soil on which they grow, pick out the
+head or blossom-buds, except in the few plants you would have go to
+seed. Pinch off also the suckers, or shoots behind the leaves, as they
+come out. When the leaves are full grown and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> begin to ripen, which is
+known by the small, dusky spots appearing on the leaves, cut up the
+stalks and lay them down singly to wilt; when they are thoroughly
+wilted, lay them together, that they may sweat for forty-eight hours,
+then hang them up in a tolerably tight room to dry&mdash;hang across poles,
+one on each side. A sharp stick put through the but of the stalks and
+laid over the pole, leaving one stalk on each side, is a very good
+method. When it becomes well dried, pick off the leaves, and tie the
+stems together in small bunches, and pack away in hogsheads or boxes, in
+a dry place.</p>
+
+<p>We recommend to every agriculturist to cultivate a little tobacco&mdash;not
+for himself or others to chew, snuff, or smoke, but to use in destroying
+insects. A strong decoction, used in washing animals, will destroy lice
+on horses and cattle, and ticks on sheep. Tobacco-water applied to
+plants, or trees, will effectually destroy all insects with which they
+may be infested. Boil tobacco-stems or stalks, or the refuse-tobacco of
+the cigar-makers, until you make a strong decoction, and apply with a
+syringe, or in any other way, and it will prove more effectual than
+anything else known. Tobacco-stems, stalks, or leaves, laid around
+peach-trees in the month of May, will protect them from the attacks of
+the borer. This is also a good manure for peach-trees.</p>
+
+
+<h4>TOMATO.</h4>
+
+<p>This vegetable is well known, and has recently come to be generally
+esteemed. It can always be grown without failure, and more easily and at
+one fourth of the cost of potatoes. Its use for cooking, eating raw,
+and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> pickling in various forms, is known to all. There are several
+varieties. The best of all is the large red&mdash;not the largest, but the
+smooth ones: although smaller, they contain more, and are much more
+conveniently used, than the very large rough or scolloped variety. The
+large yellow are less liable to decay on the vines, and have less of the
+tomato taste. The small plum-tomato, both red and yellow, and the pear
+or bell-shaped, are good for preserving as a common sweetmeat, and for
+pickling whole. They should be started in early hotbed&mdash;in February in
+the Middle States&mdash;and transplanted after frosts are over, in rows eight
+feet apart each way. That distance will leave none too much room for
+letting in the sun and for the convenience of picking. They will mature
+on the poorest land; but the amount of the crop is graduated altogether
+by the richness of the soil, and the care given them. They will produce
+frequently a bushel to a vine, lying on the ground. But they ripen
+better, and as the vines are not injured by picking the early ones, they
+will produce more, by being trained up. A few sticks to hold them up at
+first, and let them break down over them later, is of no use. Train
+them, and tie up all the principal bunches, and they will be greatly
+benefited thereby. Tied to slats, or any board fence, in a kind of
+fan-training form, they do very well. In all cities and villages, enough
+for a large family can be grown on twenty-five feet of board-fence,
+exposed to the southern or eastern sun, and not occupy the ground a
+single foot from the fence. Drive in nails, and tie up the branches as
+they grow. Removing some of the branches and leaves, and letting in the
+sun, or placing the fruit on a shingle or stone, hastens its ripening.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>TOOLS.</h4>
+
+<p>It is no part of our design to go into any general description of
+agricultural implements. There are constant changes and improvements,
+and they are introduced at once to the whole country by the inventors or
+dealers. We also wish to avoid all participation in the controversies
+respecting the merits of various new inventions. We have several forms
+of cultivators, horse-hoes, subsoil-plows, drills, seed-sowers,
+land-diggers, and drainers, various formed plows, root-cleaners,
+corn-planters, &amp;c., &amp;c. These possess different degrees of merit; all
+have their day, and will be superseded by others, in the general
+advancement that marks the science of soil-culture. We strongly
+recommend the use of the best tools, especially subsoil-plows,
+seed-planters, and root-cleaners. Always have a tool-house, as much as
+you do a kitchen. Use the best tools; never lay them down but in their
+proper place; and always clean them before putting them away. Keep all
+the wood-work of tools well painted, and the iron and steel in a
+condition, by the application of oil and otherwise, to prevent rust.
+Good tools facilitate and cheapen cultivation, and increase the yield of
+crops, Money paid out for such tools is well expended.</p>
+
+
+<h4>TRAINING.</h4>
+
+<p>This is a matter that has received much attention from all
+fruit-growers. The influence of different modes of training and pruning
+is very great on the bearing qualities of trees. The peculiarities
+demanded by the various fruit-trees, vines, and bushes, are given under
+these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> articles respectively. We give here only some general principles.
+The health, beauty, and profit, of most fruit-trees depend upon
+judicious pruning and training. The following are the general objects:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. To secure regular growth and prevent deformities, and thus promote
+the health of trees.</p>
+
+<p>2. To secure a sufficient number of fruit-bearing shoots, and in right
+locations, and to throw sufficient sap into those shoots to enable them
+to mature the fruit. With a certain amount of pruning, you may double
+the quantity of fruit, or destroy half that the trees would have
+produced if not trained at all. One half of the fruit of any orchard
+depends upon correct pruning. It also has a great influence upon the
+quality of fruit. The cherry is almost the only fruit-tree that throws
+out nearly the right number of branches, and in the right places. It
+needs a very little direction while young, and afterward only the
+removal of decaying branches. The quince needs considerable trimming at
+first; but, the head once formed, it will need very little
+after-pruning. Next comes the plum, needing, perhaps, a little more
+pruning than the cherry or quince, but much less than the other fruits.
+The plum is apt to throw out strong branches, in some directions, quite
+out of proportion with the rest of the top. Such need shortening in, to
+distribute the sap equally through the tree, and thus produce a
+symmetrical form. This is all the trimming necessary. The roots of a
+plum-tree are usually stronger than the top, and absorb more than the
+leaves can digest; hence some of its diseases. The natural remedy would
+be root-pruning, and leaving the top in its natural state, except
+shortening-in the disproportioned branches. Removing much of the top of
+a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> plum-tree would ordinarily prove injurious. The apple needs
+considerable pruning, but not of the spurs and side-twigs which bear the
+fruit, but of limbs that grow too thick, and of disproportioned
+luxuriance. (See under Apple.) So the pear must be often slightly pruned
+to check the too vigorous growth and encourage the too tardy. The peach
+must be so pruned as to prevent the long bare poles so often seen, and
+to secure annually the growth of a large number of shoots for next
+year's bearing, and to check the flow of the sap by cutting off the ends
+of the growing young shoots, so as to cause the formation on each, of a
+few vigorous fruit-buds. Peach-trees, so pruned, will be healthy and do
+well for fifty years, and produce a larger number of better peaches than
+will grow on trees left in the usual way. By a system of pruning that
+will equalize the growth and strength, the bearing will be general on
+all the branches of the tree. This will make the fruit more abundant and
+of better quality. The following six principles&mdash;first stated by M.
+Dubreuil, of France, and since presented to the American people in
+Barry's "Fruit-Garden," and still later in Elliott's "Fruit-Book"&mdash;will
+guide any attentive cultivator into the correct method of pruning and
+training:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, depends, in a great measure,
+upon the equal distribution of sap in all its branches.</p>
+
+<p>2. The sap acts with greater force, and produces more vigorous growth on
+a branch pruned short than on one pruned long.</p>
+
+<p>3. The sap, tending always to the extremities, causes the terminal
+shoots to push with more vigor than the laterals.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it
+will be to produce fruit-buds.</p>
+
+<p>5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap for the nourishment of the tree,
+and to aid in the formation of fruit-buds. Therefore, trees deprived of
+their foliage are liable to perish, and they are injured in proportion
+to their defoliation.</p>
+
+<p>6. When the buds of any shoot or branch do not develop before the age of
+two years, they can only be forced into activity by very close pruning;
+and this will often fail, especially in the peach.</p>
+
+<p>Observe the foregoing, and never cut large limbs from any tree, except
+in grafting an old tree (and then only graft a part of the top in one
+year, especially in the pear), and of old, neglected peach-trees, to
+renew the top, and any careful cultivator can raise an orchard of
+healthy, beautiful, and profitable trees. There are different forms of
+training that have gone the rounds of the fruit-books, that are nearly
+all more fanciful than useful. There are four forms of fan-training, and
+several of horizontal and conical. The following only are useful:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Fan-Training.</i>&mdash;A tree but one year from the graft, or bud, is planted
+and headed down to within four buds of the ground, the buds so situated
+as to throw out two shoots on each side (see fan-training, first stage).</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/ill-421.jpg" width="550" height="166" alt="Fan-training, 1st stage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Fan-training, 1st stage.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fan-training, 2d stage.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;">
+<img src="images/ill-422b.jpg" width="550" height="276" alt="Fan-training, 3d stage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Fan-training, 3d stage.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-422.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Fan-training, Complete." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Fan-training, Complete.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The following season, the two upper shoots are to be cut back to three
+buds, so as throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side. The
+two lower shoots are to be cut back to two buds, so as to throw out one
+leading shoot, and one shoot on the upper side. In this second stage,
+you will have a tree with five leading shoots on each side (see cut,
+fan-training, 2d stage). These shoots form the future tree, and should
+neither be shortened in, nor allowed to bear fruit this year.</p>
+
+<p>Each shoot should now be allowed to produce three shoots, one leading
+one, and two others on the upper side, one near the bottom, and the
+other half way up the stem. All others should be pinched off when they
+first appear. At the end of the third year you will have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> the appearance
+in the cut (Fan-training, third stage). After this it may bear fruit,
+but not too much, as a young tree so trained, is disposed to
+over-bearing. These shoots, except the leading ones, should be shortened
+back; but to what length depends upon the vigor of the tree. This is to
+be continued and extended as the grower may choose, always preventing
+the top from becoming too dense, and the shoot too long for a proper
+flow of sap, and maturity of fruit-buds. A good form, though slightly
+irregular, is seen in the cut (Fan-training, complete). Such trees
+trained against walls, or better, on trellis-work, are beautiful and
+very productive.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/ill-423b.jpg" width="400" height="244" alt="Horizontal Training, " title="" />
+<span class="caption">Horizontal Training, first stage.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill-423.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="Horizontal Training, first stage." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Horizontal Training, fourth year. </span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Horizontal Training</i> is another form contributing to fruitfulness, by
+regulating the flow of the sap. This is done by preserving an upright
+leader with lateral shoots at regular distances. To secure this, such
+shoots as you wish to train must be tied in a horizontal position, and
+all others pinched off on first appearance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The process is simple and easy, continued as long as you please. Head in
+the shoots of these lateral branches to two or three buds and they will
+bear abundantly. As the growth increases, remove all that are not in the
+right places, and train all you spare, as before. In the fourth year,
+you will have trees of the appearance in the cut (Horizontal Training,
+fourth year).</p>
+
+<p><i>Conical Training.</i>&mdash;The Quenouille (pronounced <i>kenoole</i>) of the
+French, is the best of all forms of training, especially for the pear.
+To produce conical standards, plant young trees four or five feet high,
+and after the first year's growth, head back the top, and cut in the
+side branches, as in the cut (Progressive stages of conical training).</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/ill-424.jpg" width="650" height="500" alt="Progressive stages of Conical Training." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Progressive stages of Conical Training.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Conical Training complete.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p>The next season several tiers of side branches will shoot out. The
+lowest should be left about eighteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> inches from the ground, and by
+pinching off a part, others may be made to grow, at such distances as
+you may desire. At the end of the second year, the leader is headed back
+to increase the growth of the side shoots. The laterals will constantly
+increase, and you must save only a sufficient number. The third or
+fourth year, the lateral branches may be bent down and tied to stakes.
+The branches must be tied down from year to year, and the top so
+shortened in as to prevent too vigorous growth, and throw the sap into
+the laterals. This may be continued until the tree will exhibit the
+appearance in the cut (conical training complete). When the tree has
+become thoroughly formed it will retain its shape without keeping the
+branches tied. The fan and horizontal training are valuable for fruits
+that need winter protection, and they are also very ornamental, and
+enable us to cultivate much fruit on a small place. All these forms of
+training increase largely the productiveness of fruit-trees. It is
+recommended for all small gardens and yards, and will pay in growing
+fruit for market.</p>
+
+
+<h4>TRANSPLANTING.</h4>
+
+<p>Trees should be transplanted in spring in cold climates, and in autumn
+in warm regions. The top should be lessened about as much as the roots
+have been by removal. Cutting off so large a part of the top as we often
+see is greatly injurious. Trees frequently lose one or two years'
+growth, by being excessively trimmed when transplanted. The leaves are
+the lungs of the tree, and how can it grow if they are mostly removed?
+All injured roots should be cut off smoothly on the lower<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> side, slant
+out from the tree, and just above the point of injury. Places for the
+trees should be prepared as given under the different fruits and the
+trees set firmly in them an inch lower than they stood in the nursery.
+The great point is to get the fine mould very close around all the
+roots, leaving them in the most natural position. Trees dipped in a
+bucket of soil or clay and water, thick enough to form a coat like
+paint, just at the time of transplanting, are said to be less liable to
+die. Every transplanted tree should have a stake, and be thoroughly
+mulched. Trees properly transplanted will grow much faster, and bear a
+year or two earlier, than those that have been carelessly set out. For
+further remarks on this important matter, see under the different
+fruits.</p>
+
+
+<h4>TURNIP.</h4>
+
+<p>This is one of the great root crops of England, and to considerable
+extent in this country, for feeding purposes. We think it should be
+displaced, mostly, by beets, carrots, and parsnips. They are more
+nutritious, as easily raised, and more conveniently fed. The Rutabaga is
+a productive variety, and possesses a good deal of nutriment. The
+essentials in raising good turnips of most varieties, are very rich
+soil, worked deep, and finely pulverized. They should stand in rows two
+feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows. They may be mainly tended
+with a small cultivator or root-cleaner.</p>
+
+<p>English turnips are extensively grown as a second crop on wheat stubble,
+&amp;c. The soil is highly enriched and the seed sown in rows to allow
+cultivation. The best method, however, is to turn over old greensward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>
+say June 1, and yard cattle or sheep on it till July 10, and then harrow
+thoroughly, and sow the seed broadcast. The yield will usually be large,
+and they will need very little weeding. If it is not convenient to yard
+cattle on the turnip-ground, apply fifteen double wagon loads of fine
+manure with a few bushels of lime to the acre, and the crop will be
+large. The usual time of sowing turnips is from the 10th to the 25th of
+July. We think the yield is larger when sown by the middle of June. The
+only way to get good early turnips is to sow them very early. The flat,
+or common field turnip, is easily grown on new land, or on any rich soil
+tolerably free from weeds and not infested with worms.</p>
+
+
+<h4>WHEAT.</h4>
+
+<p>This is the most highly esteemed of all grains, and has more enemies,
+and is more affected in its growth by the weather, than any other. It
+has engaged more attention in the study and writings of agriculturists
+than all other cereals. The outlines only of the results of the vast
+field of investigation and experiment on wheat-growing can be presented
+here. There are doubts respecting the origin of wheat. The more general
+and probable theory is, that it is the product of the cultivation, for a
+series of years, of a species of grass called �gilops. This is
+indigenous on the shores of the Mediterranean, in those countries which,
+from time immemorial, have been the sources of our wheat. No one has
+ever found wild wheat in any country; it would be as strange as a wild
+cabbage or turnip. But the practical question is, How can wheat be most
+surely and profitably grown? The first requisite is a suit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>able soil. A
+clay or limestone soil is usually considered best, as there is much lime
+in wheat-bran. Such soil is better than light sand, or some of the
+poorer loams. But the large yields of wheat on the Western prairies, and
+on the rich alluvial soils of California river-bottoms, shows that the
+best of wheat may grow on other than clay lands. The truth of the matter
+respecting soils for wheat, is, that any soil good for corn, potatoes,
+or a garden, may, with proper tillage, produce the best of wheat.
+Experience in England, and in all the old countries on the continent of
+Europe, shows us that old land may be made to yield as large crops of
+wheat as the virgin soil of the New World. The production of wheat at
+suitable intervals, for a century, on the same land, need not lessen its
+power to produce good wheat in large quantities. Wheat is a plant
+demanding a rich soil, worked deep, and not too wet: these three things
+will produce a good crop on any land. We say to all farmers, raise wheat
+on any land that you can afford to prepare. First, if your land has not
+a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and
+becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat. Drainage is
+hardly more essential to any other crop than this. Next, plow deep.
+Subsoiling, on most lands, is very important to wheat. Manure highly,
+and put the manure between the soil and the subsoil: this attracts the
+roots deep into the soil, which is the greatest protection against
+winter-killing, and the effects of excessive drought. Render the surface
+of the soil as fine as possible. A finely-pulverized soil is as
+essential for wheat as for onions. Coarse lumpy soils are so open to the
+action of the atmosphere as to render the growth unequal, and cause the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>
+roots of the plant to grow too near the surface, for dry weather or the
+cold of winter. Always apply lime to wheat-lands, unless it be a
+limestone soil&mdash;not too much at once, but a few bushels to the acre
+annually. On no other crop do wood-ashes and dissolved potash, applied
+in the coarse manures, pay so well as on wheat. Sowing the seed is next
+in importance. The three questions in sowing are the manner, the depth,
+and the quantity. Shall it be drilled or sowed broadcast? Broadcast
+sowing requires more seed, and is liable to be less evenly covered;
+hence, we should prefer drilling. The depth of the seed is to be
+determined by the texture of the soil. Careful experiments have shown,
+that on clay land there is no perceptible difference in the growth of
+the plants, at any of the stages, in seed sown at any depth, from a
+slight covering to three or four inches. At a greater depth, it comes up
+less regularly, and in every way is in a worse condition. But on a light
+soil, it is, no doubt, best to plant it from four to six inches deep. On
+very loose soils, as muck land and alluvial soils, the roots of the
+plants grow too near the surface, and are exposed to being thrown out by
+winter frosts, and destroyed. The remedy is deep sowing and thorough
+rolling. The quantity of seed now more generally sown is from five pecks
+to two bushels per acre. Rich land will not bear so much seed as the
+poorer. It will grow so thick as to render the straw tender, and expose
+it to lodge and ruin the crop. Wheat tillers, or thickens up at the
+bottom, making many stalks from a single seed, quite as much as any
+other grain; hence, we believe that if it be sown at a proper time on
+very rich land, three pecks to the acre would be better than more. Such
+sowing would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> make more vigorous plants, with much stronger roots, which
+would withstand cold and unfavorable weather better than any other. We
+should still more strongly recommend another form of sowing, practised
+by some European cultivators with great success: it is, to drill in
+wheat, in rows two feet apart, and give it a spring cultivation; this
+gives great strength to the plants, destroys the weeds, promotes rapid
+growth by stirring the soil, and favors tillering, so that the rows will
+meet, and give a great growth. We doubt not this will yet be extensively
+adopted in this country. All wheat-land had better be rolled after
+sowing, and light lands, with a very heavy roller. Light sandy land,
+having a little clay mixed in as recommended under soils, well manured,
+the seed planted six inches deep, and the whole rolled with a heavy
+roller, will bear great crops of wheat.</p>
+
+<p>As it respects fall or spring wheat, no positive directions can be
+given, adapted to all climates. In many localities it is of little use
+to sow winter wheat, as it is very uncertain. In other localities winter
+wheat almost always succeeds best. This question then must be determined
+by circumstances. The time of sowing winter wheat varies in different
+climates, according as it may be exposed to depredations of worms and
+insects in the fall. Farmers are not liable to mistake in this matter.
+Spring wheat, in all climates, should be sowed very early. It is hardly
+possible in all the Middle and Northern states to prepare the ground in
+spring, and get in wheat in suitable season.</p>
+
+<p>The yield of a crop of spring wheat, depends materially upon the growth
+in the cool and moist weather of spring, when it spreads and its roots
+get a strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> hold before the hot weather, that hurries up the stalks
+and ears to maturity. Hence plow in the fall, and harrow in the wheat,
+as early as possible, in the spring.</p>
+
+<p><i>The varieties</i> of wheat are numerous and uncertain. In the state of
+Maine, an intelligent cultivator, in 1856, recommended Java wheat as
+having a very stiff straw, and producing a very heavy yield. The
+Mediterranean wheat is also a favorite variety. Club wheat has also had
+a great run, and is now very popular at the West. But of varieties no
+one can be confident. We notice in the discussions of the best
+agriculturists of England and Scotland, that they have doubts of the
+proper names of some of the best varieties. In a certain rich part of
+Illinois we know an unusually popular wheat, sold at high prices for
+seed, under the name of <i>mud club</i>, as being much better than the
+ordinary club. We happened to learn that it was nothing but common club
+wheat, sown on rather low ground, where it happened to grow very fair
+that season. It is only occasionally that such tricks are successfully
+played, but it is true that many varieties are the result of extra good
+or chance cultivation. The celebrated Chidham wheat, named from a place
+where it was successfully grown, was also called Hedge wheat, because a
+head found growing in a hedge was supposed to be the origin of it. Now
+it is not probable that that head was the only one of the kind in all
+the country, and it would by no means be identified in all localities.
+And as all wheat is the result of the cultivation of the �gilops or some
+other wild grass, it shows us that varieties may be produced by
+cultivation. Great importance is therefore to be attached to frequently
+changing seed; especially bringing it from colder into warmer climates,
+and changing from one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> soil to a very different one. Thus seed raised on
+hard hills is highly valuable for alluvial soils. Thus the efforts to
+introduce so many new varieties from the dominions of the sultan, will
+prove of vast advantage to wheat culture in America. So let us be
+constantly importing the best from Great Britain and the British
+provinces and from California, and all the extremes of our own country.
+Such wheats are worth more for seeds than others, but any extravagant
+prices for seed wheat, under the idea of almost miraculous powers of
+production, are unwise.</p>
+
+<p>It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as
+some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through
+the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best
+time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned
+yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily
+mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is
+heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than
+when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. Drying in good
+shocks is far better than drying before cut. Some have gone to extremes
+in early cutting, and harvested their wheat while in the milk, and
+suffered serious loss in its weight. We sometimes have rain in harvest,
+which causes all the wheat in a large region to grow before getting it
+dry enough to house. A remedy is, to go right on and cut your wheat,
+rain or shine, and put it up, without binding, in large cocks of from
+three to five bushels, packing together as close as possible, however
+wet, and cover the centre with a bundle of wheat to shed rain. It will
+dry out without growing; and, although the straw will be somewhat
+mouldy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> the grain will be perfectly good, even when it has been so wet
+as to make the top of the shocks perfectly green with grown wheat. This
+process is of great value in a wet season. To prepare seed-wheat for
+sowing, soak it for a day or two in very strong brine; skim off all that
+rises; remove the grain from the brine, and while wet, sift on
+fresh-slaked lime until it slightly coats the whole grain; put on a
+little plaster to render the sowing more pleasant to the hand. Wheat
+will lie in this condition for days without injury. So prepared, it will
+exhibit a marked superiority in the growing crop.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies</i> of wheat are numerous, and various remedies are proposed. The
+wire-worm is sometimes very destructive. Wheat planted with a drill,
+with a heavy cast-iron roller behind each tooth, will not suffer by
+them; they will only work in the mellow ground between the drills. Drive
+over a field of wheat exposed to injury from wire-worms with a common
+ox-cart, and you will notice a marked difference; wherever the
+cartwheel passed over, the wheat remains unharmed by the wire-worm,
+while on either side much of it will be destroyed. But the wheat-midge,
+or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in
+some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so
+early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This
+is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land.
+Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured.
+But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry
+seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of
+the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. Burning
+the chaff at thrashing is useless for this pur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span>pose. The worm has
+entered the ground to remain for the winter, before the wheat is
+harvested. We know of but one way to kill the weevil, and that is, by
+insect lamps or torches in the field in the evening. The flies are
+inactive until evening, when, from dusk till eight or nine o'clock, they
+deposite their eggs in the blossoms and chaff of the wheat. Now, it is
+ascertained that this fly, like many other insects, will fly several
+rods to a light. Twenty-five torches at equal distances, in a ten-acre
+lot of wheat, would be near enough. Nearly all the flies in a field
+would fly to them in half an hour. These need be lighted only on
+pleasant evenings, as weevils will not work in wind or rain, and they
+only commit their depredations during the time the wheat is in blossom.
+Let twenty-five racks, or holders of some kind, be put up on ten acres
+of wheat, and have pitch-pine put in them and ignited, after the manner
+of night fishermen, and let this be done a few nights, during the
+blossoming season of wheat, and the fly will be destroyed and the crop
+saved, in the worst weevil-season that ever occurred. In the absence of
+pitch-pine, some other light can be devised&mdash;as, balls of rags dipped in
+turpentine and sulphur, as in a torchlight procession. Something can be
+devised that will burn brilliantly for an hour: this will not cost fifty
+cents an acre, during the weevil-season, and will prove almost a perfect
+remedy.</p>
+
+<p>Rust in wheat is only avoided by getting your wheat to maturity before
+the rust strikes it. If it is nearly mature, and the rust strikes it,
+cut it and shock it up in the shortest time possible.</p>
+
+<p>Wheat is a great subject in agriculture, on which many volumes have been
+written, and on which it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> customary to write long articles. We trust
+the recapitulation of what we have said, in the following brief rules,
+is more valuable to the practical wheat-culturist than any large volume
+could be. Analyses of wheat-bran and straw, the philosophy of rust in
+wheat, the length, size, and color of the weevil, and the great
+diversity of opinions on wheat-growing, are not what practical men
+regard. The one question is, How can I grow wheat surely and profitably?
+The following rules answer this important question, rendering failure
+unnecessary:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. Make your soil very rich, putting the manure as deep as convenient.
+Apply lime, wood-ashes, and potash, the latter dissolved and applied to
+your coarse manure.</p>
+
+<p>2. Under-drain thoroughly all wheat-land, except that on a dry subsoil.</p>
+
+<p>3. Plow deep and subsoil all wheat-lands, except those on a gravelly or
+sandy bottom.</p>
+
+<p>4. Plant wheat from two to six inches deep, according to the texture of
+the soil&mdash;deepest on the lightest soil. Roll after sowing, and roll
+light lands with a heavy roller.</p>
+
+<p>5. Always get your wheat in early, and in a finely-pulverized soil, and
+be careful not to seed too heavy.</p>
+
+<p>6. Sow seed that has not long been grown in your vicinity, and steep it
+two days, before sowing, in a brine, with as much salt as the water will
+dissolve, sifting fine, fresh lime over the wet grain, after removing it
+from the brine; put on, also, plaster-of-Paris or wood-ashes.</p>
+
+<p>7. Harvest wheat before the straw becomes dry, or the grain hard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>8. Destroy weevil by lights in the field, on the pleasant evenings
+during the blossoming season.</p>
+
+
+<h4>WHORTLEBERRY.</h4>
+
+<p>Of this excellent berry there are several varieties, distinguished by
+the height of the bushes, or by the color of the fruit. The main
+divisions are, the <i>Swamp</i> and the <i>Plain Whortleberries</i>. The swamp
+variety has been transferred to gardens, in Michigan, and has proved
+valuable. The shrub attains considerable size, producing fruit more
+surely and regularly than in its wild state, and of an improved quality
+and larger size. It may be grown as well as currants all over the
+country. The small plain variety is usually found on sandy plains, and
+is a great bearer of fruit everywhere highly prized. It may be
+transferred to all our gardens, by making a bed of sand six inches or a
+foot deep, or it may be so acclimated as to grow well in any good garden
+soil, and become a universal luxury. We recommend it as a standing fruit
+for all gardens.</p>
+
+
+<h4>WILLOW.</h4>
+
+<p>The cultivation of willow for osier-work is pursued to some extent in
+this country, and might be greatly increased. At one fourth the present
+prices, it would pay as well as any other branch of agriculture. Some
+varieties will grow on land of little value for other purposes, and all
+on any good land. Willows will take care of themselves after the second
+or third year. The more usual method of planting is of slips, ten inches
+long, set in mellow ground about eight inches deep, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> straight rows
+four or six feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows&mdash;except the green
+willow, which is put two feet apart in the row. They should be kept
+clear of weeds for the first two years. The osiers are to be cut when
+the bark will peel somewhat easily, and may be put through a machine for
+the purpose, invented by J. Colby, of Jonesville, Vermont, at the rate
+of two tons per day, removing all the bark, without injuring the wood.
+Different opinions prevail respecting the varieties most profitable for
+cultivation; they vary in different localities. The manufacture of
+willow-ware will increase with the increased production of osiers, and
+the consequent reduction of their cost.</p>
+
+
+<h4>WINE.</h4>
+
+<p>We have elsewhere stated that our only hope for pure wine in this
+country is in domestic manufacture. We shall here give two recipes that
+will insure better articles than are now offered under the name of
+imported wines.</p>
+
+<p><i>Currant Wine.</i>&mdash;This, as usually manufactured, is a mere cordial,
+rather than a wine. The following recipe gathered from the <i>Working
+Farmer</i>, is all that need be desired, on making wine from currants,
+cherries, and most berries, that are not too sweet. Take clean ripe
+currants and pass them between two rollers, or in some other way, crush
+them, put them in a strong bag, and under a screw or weight, and the
+juice will be easily expressed. To each quart of this juice, add three
+pounds of <i>double-refined</i> loaf sugar (no other sugar will do) and water
+enough to make a gallon. Or in a cask that will hold thirty gallons, put
+thirty quarts of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> juice, ninety pounds of the sugar, and fill to the
+bung with water. Put in the bung and roll the cask until you can not
+hear the sugar moving on the inside of the barrel, when it will all be
+dissolved. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar of very even
+temperature, and leave the bung out to allow fermentation. This will
+commence in two or three days and continue for a few weeks. Its presence
+may be known by a slight noise like that of soda water, which may be
+heard by placing the ear at the bung hole. When this ceases drive the
+bung tight and let it stand six months, when the wine may be drawn off
+and bottled, and will be perfectly clear and not too sweet. No alcohol
+should be added. Putting in brandies or other spirituous liquors
+prevents the fermentation of wine, leaving the mixture a mere cordial.
+The use of any but double-refined sugar is always injurious, and yet
+many will persist in using it, because it is cheaper. The reason for
+discarding, for wine-making, all but double-refined sugar, may be easily
+understood. Common sugar contains one half of one per cent. of gum, that
+becomes fetid on being dissolved in water. The quantity of this gum in
+the sugar, for a barrel of wine, is considerable&mdash;enough to give a bad
+flavor to the wine. This is avoided by using double-refined sugar, which
+contains no gum. This recipe is equally good for cherry wine.</p>
+
+<p>The following recipe for making <i>Elderberry Wine</i>, produces an article
+that the best judges in New York and elsewhere have pronounced equal to
+any imported wine. Its excellence has made quite a market for
+elderberries in New York. These berries are so easily grown, and the
+wine so excellent, that their growth will be encouraged throughout the
+country. It is not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> an exceedingly palatable wine, but is better
+for the sick, than any other known.</p>
+
+<p>To every quart of the berries, put a quart of water and boil for half an
+hour. Bruise them from the skin and strain, and to every gallon of the
+juice add three pounds of <i>double-refined</i> sugar and one quarter of an
+ounce of cream of tartar and boil for half an hour. Take a clean cask
+and put in it one pound of raisins to every three gallons of the wine,
+and a slice of toasted bread covered over with good yeast. When the wine
+has become quite cool, put it into the cask, and place it in a room of
+even temperature to ferment. When the fermentation has fully ceased, put
+the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol of any kind will be necessary.
+Any one following this recipe <i>exactly</i>, will be surprised at the
+excellence of the wine that will be the result.</p>
+
+<p>Of <i>Grape Wines</i>, there are several varieties, whose peculiarities are
+determined mainly by the process of manufacturing. A full treatment of
+the subject would require a volume. The following brief directions will
+insure success in making the most desirable grape wines:</p>
+
+<p>1. Let the grapes become thoroughly ripe before gathering, to increase
+their saccharine qualities and make a stronger wine. All fruits make
+much better wine for being fully ripe. Cut the bunches with a sharp
+knife and move carefully to avoid bruising. Spread them in a dry shade
+to evaporate excessive moisture.</p>
+
+<p>2. Assort the grapes before using, removing all decayed, green, or
+broken ones, using only perfect berries.</p>
+
+<p>3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a
+cider-mill. "<i>Treading the wine vat</i>" was the ancient method of mashing
+the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a
+cider-press.</p>
+
+<p>5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to
+twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to
+the length of time the pomace stands.</p>
+
+<p>6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let
+the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called
+"fermenting in the skin."</p>
+
+<p>7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the
+better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a
+cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than
+sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.</p>
+
+<p>Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in
+melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole.
+Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days
+or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the
+cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other
+substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They
+are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation,
+may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second
+fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled
+until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the
+glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being
+occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this
+fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their
+sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> is drawn off and
+bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs
+fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue,
+charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &amp;c. The best of these substances is
+charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the
+foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an
+ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs&mdash;more
+or less according to the state of the wine.</p>
+
+<p><i>Rhine Wine</i> of Germany may be made as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Take good Catawba or Isabella grapes, and pound or grind them so as to
+crush every seed and leave them in that state for twenty-four hours.
+Fumigate the cask by burning strips of muslin dipped in sulphur as in
+the preceding recipe. Strain or press out the juice into the cask
+filling it and keeping it <i>entirely full</i>, that impurities may run out
+of the bung, during fermentation. In the spring prepare another cask in
+the same way and rack it off into that. When a year old bottle it and it
+is fit for use.</p>
+
+<p>Sweeter wines than any of the above are made by adding sugar to the must
+before fermentation. It should be <i>double-refined</i> sugar, and still it
+is an adulteration.</p>
+
+
+<h4>WOODLANDS.</h4>
+
+<p>One of the greatest errors of American farmers is their neglect to
+cultivate groves of trees for woodlands, in all suitable places. Our
+primeval forests have been wantonly destroyed, and the country is not
+yet old enough to feel the full force of neglecting to replenish them,
+by new groves, in suitable localities. On the points of hills, rough
+stony places, sides of steep hills,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> ravines that can not be cultivated,
+and by the side of all the highways of the land, trees should be
+cultivated: in some places fruit-trees, but in most places forest-trees.
+The advantages would be manifold; they would afford shade for cattle,
+groves for birds, which would destroy the worms; they would break off
+the cold winds from crops, cattle, fruit-orchards, and dwellings; would
+greatly enrich the soil by their annual foliage, afford abundance of
+fuel at the cheapest rates, give much good timber, provide for fine
+maple-sugar, and be the greatest ornaments of the rural districts. Only
+think of the comfort and beauty of fifty miles square, in which not a
+street could be found which had not trees on each side, not more than
+twelve feet apart. When such trees should become twenty years old, the
+pedestrian or the carriage could move all day in the shade, listening to
+the music of the birds, and inhaling the aroma of the foliage or
+flowers. To every owner or occupant of the soil we say, plant trees.</p>
+
+
+<h4>POULTRY.</h4>
+
+<p>Fattening and preparing poultry for the market are important items in
+rural economy. Plenty of sweet food and pure water given at regular
+times, and the fowls not allowed to wander, are the requisites of
+successful fattening. The best feed for fattening fowls is oat-meal.
+Next to this is corn-meal. Three things are essential in food for
+fattening animals, flesh-forming, fat-forming, and heat-producing
+substances. Of all the grains ordinarily fed, oat-meal contains these in
+the best proportions, and next to this comes yellow Indian corn meal.
+Fat is good, but must be given in a hard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> form as in mutton or beef
+suet. Rice boiled in sweet milk, fed for a day or two before killing
+fowls is said to render the flesh of a white delicate color.</p>
+
+<p>At least one third of the value of poultry in the market depends upon
+properly preparing and transporting it.</p>
+
+<p>1. Do not feed fowls at all for twenty-four hours before killing them.</p>
+
+<p>2. Kill by cutting the jugular vein with a sharp pen-knife, just under
+the sides of the head, and hang them up to bleed.</p>
+
+<p>3. Pick carefully and very clean, without tearing the skin, and without
+scalding. Singe slightly if need be. Dip in hot water for three or four
+seconds and in cold water half a minute.</p>
+
+<p>4. Do not open the breast at all, but remove the entrails from the hind
+opening, leaving the gizzard in its place. Put no water in but wipe out
+the blood with a dry cloth. Leaving the entrails in is injurious,
+tending to sour the meat and taint it with their flavor.</p>
+
+<p>5. Do not allow your poultry to freeze by any means. For transporting to
+a distant market, pack in shallow boxes never containing over three
+hundred pounds each and in clean straw without chaff or dust, and in
+such a manner that no two fowls will touch each other.</p>
+
+<p>6. Geese and ducks look better with the heads cut off. But all fowls
+having their heads removed must have the skin drawn down and tightly
+tied over the end of the neck bone. This will preserve them well and
+give a good appearance.</p>
+
+<p>To preserve fowls for a long time in a perfectly sweet condition for
+family use, fill them half full or more with pulverized charcoal, which
+will act as an absorbent and prevent every particle of taint.</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p>
+
+<h4>AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS.</h4>
+
+<p>The following list of Agricultural Periodicals embraces all that have
+come to our knowledge. In a subsequent edition we shall endeavor to
+render the list more complete, and give the special design of each, with
+the frequency of publication, form, price, editor's and publisher's
+names, etc.</p>
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS">
+<tr><th>NAME OF PAPER.</th><th>PLACE OF PUBLICATION.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Farmers' Magazine</td><td align="left"><i>New York City.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Baltimore, Md.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Alabama Planter</td><td align="left"><i>Mobile, Ala.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">American Agriculturist</td><td align="left"><i>New York City.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Canadian Agriculturist</td><td align="left"><i>Toronto, C. W.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cultivator</td><td align="left"><i>Albany, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cotton Planter</td><td align="left"><i>Montgomery, Ala.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cultivator</td><td align="left"><i>Columbus, Ohio.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Cultivator</td><td align="left"><i>Boston, Mass.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">California Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>San Francisco, Cal.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Country Gentleman</td><td align="left"><i>Albany, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Farmer and Planter</td><td align="left"><i>Pendleton, S. C.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Granite Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Manchester, N. H.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Genesee Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Rochester, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Horticulturist</td><td align="left"><i>Albany, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Homestead</td><td align="left"><i>Hartford, Ct.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Journal of Agriculture</td><td align="left"><i>Chicago, Ill.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Maine Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Augusta, Me.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Michigan Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Detroit, Mich.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Magazine of Horticulture</td><td align="left"><i>Boston, Mass.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Massachusetts Ploughman</td><td align="left"><i>Boston, Mass.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">New England Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Boston, Mass.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">New Jersey Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Trenton, N. J.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">North Carolina Planter</td><td align="left"><i>Raleigh, N. C.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ohio Valley Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Cincinnati, Ohio.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Ohio Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Cleveland, Ohio.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Prairie Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Chicago, Ill.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rural New Yorker</td><td align="left"><i>Rochester, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rural Southerner</td><td align="left"><i>Ellicott's Mills, Md.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Rural American</td><td align="left"><i>Utica, N. Y.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Southern Planter</td><td align="left"><i>Richmond, Va.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Southern Cultivator</td><td align="left"><i>Augusta, Ga.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Southern Homestead</td><td align="left"><i>Nashville, Tenn.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Valley Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>St. Louis, Mo.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Vermont Stock Journal</td><td align="left"><i>Middlebury, Vt.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Wisconsin Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>Madison, Wisc.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Working Farmer</td><td align="left"><i>New York City.</i></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<ul class="none"><li>Acclimation; <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></li>
+<li>Agricultural Periodicals, List of; <a href='#Page_440'>440</a></li>
+<li>Almonds; <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></li>
+<li>Animals, Rules for feeding; <a href='#Page_178'>178</a></li>
+<li>Apples; <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li>
+<li>Apple-Tree Wood, Analysis of; <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></li>
+<li>Apple-Worm, Remedy for; <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li>
+<li>Apricot; <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
+<li>Artichoke; <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
+<li>Ashes; <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
+<li>Asparagus; <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li>
+<li>Atmosphere, Important Auxiliary in the Growth of Plants; <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Balm; <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li>
+<li>Barberry; <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li>
+<li>Barley; <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li>
+<li>Barns; <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
+<li>Bean, Coffee; <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li>
+<li>Beans; <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li>
+<li>Bees and Beehives; <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li>
+<li>Beets; <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li>
+<li>Bene Plant; <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></li>
+<li>Berries, Preservation of; <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li>
+<li>Birds useful in destroying Insects; <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li>
+<li>Blackberry; <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li>
+<li>Black Currant; <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li>
+<li>Black Raspberry; <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
+<li>Board Fences; <a href='#Page_179'>179</a></li>
+<li>Bones, their Value as a Fertilizer; <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a></li>
+<li>Borden's Milk Condensation; <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li>
+<li>Borecale; <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li>
+<li>Borer, Preventive and Remedy for; <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li>
+<li>Breck's Book of Flowers; <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li>
+<li>Breeding in, Deteriorating Effects of; <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li>
+<li>Broccoli; <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li>
+<li>Broom-Corn; <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
+<li>Brussels Sprouts; <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li>
+<li>Buckthorn; <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li>
+<li>Buckwheat; <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li>
+<li>Budding; <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li>
+<li>Buffalo Berry; <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li>
+<li>Bulbous Flowering Roots; <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li>
+<li>Bushes, Eradication of Noxious; <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li>
+<li>Butter; <a href='#Page_95'>95</a></li>
+<li>Butter Dairy; <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li>
+<li>Butter-Making, Essential Rules for; <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li>
+<li>Butternuts; <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Cabbage; <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></li>
+<li>Calves; <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li>
+<li>Canker-Worm, Remedy for; <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></li>
+<li>Cans; <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li>
+<li>Carrots; <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li>
+<li>Caterpillars, how destroyed; <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li>
+<li>Cauliflower; <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li>
+<li>Celery; <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li>
+<li>Charcoal; <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li>
+<li>Cheese; <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li>
+<li>Cheese-House; <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li>
+<li>Cherries; <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></li>
+<li>Chestnuts; <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li>
+<li>Chickens; <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>-<a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li>
+<li>Churn, Best Form of; <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li>
+<li>Churning, Brief Rules for; <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li>
+<li>Cider; <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li>
+<li>Citron; <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li>
+<li>Cleft-Grafting; <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li>
+<li>Clover; <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li>
+<li>Coffee Bean; <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li>
+<li>Colts, Milk from the Dairy Excellent food for; <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li>
+<li>Conical Training; <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li>
+<li>Corn; <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li>
+<li>Corn, Broom; <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
+<li>Cottage, Economical Plan of a Laborer's; <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li>
+<li>Cotton; <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li>
+<li>Cotton Plant, Analysis of; <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></li>
+<li>Country Residence, Plan of; <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></li>
+<li>Cows; <a href='#Page_140'>140</a></li>
+<li>Cranberry; <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li>
+<li>Cucumber; <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li>
+<li>Curculio on Plum-Trees, Unfailing Remedy for; <a href='#Page_355'>355</a></li>
+<li>Currants; <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li>
+<li>Currants, Black; <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li>
+<li>Currant Wine, Recipe for making; <a href='#Page_433'>433</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Dairy; <a href='#Page_167'>167</a></li>
+<li>Declension of Fruits, Cause of and Remedy for; <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li>
+<li>Dill; <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></li>
+<li>Downing's List of Gooseberries; <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li>
+<li>Drains; <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></li>
+<li>Ducks; <a href='#Page_172'>172</a></li>
+<li>Dwarfing Fruit-Trees, Process of; <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Early Fruits and Vegetables, how produced; <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
+<li>Eastern States, Varieties of Apples adapted to; <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
+<li>Eastwood's Work on Cranberry Culture; <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li>
+<li>Egg Plant; <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li>
+<li>Eggs, how to test and preserve them; <a href='#Page_176'>176</a></li>
+<li>Elderberry; <a href='#Page_176'>176</a></li>
+<li>Elderberry Wine, a Recipe for Making; <a href='#Page_434'>434</a></li>
+<li>Endive; <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Fan Training of Trees; <a href='#Page_417'>417</a></li>
+<li>Farm-Buildings; <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></li>
+<li>Feeding Animals; <a href='#Page_178'>178</a></li>
+<li>Fences; <a href='#Page_179'>179</a></li>
+<li>Fennel; <a href='#Page_181'>181</a></li>
+<li>Figs; <a href='#Page_181'>181</a></li>
+<li>Fish; <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li>
+<li>Flax; <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li>
+<li>Flowering Shrubs; <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li>
+<li>Flowers; <a href='#Page_193'>193</a></li>
+<li>Foot-Paths, Circular, how laid out; <a href='#Page_254'>254</a></li>
+<li>Foot-Rot in Animals, Remedy for; <a href='#Page_388'>388</a></li>
+<li>Forest Trees; <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li>
+<li>Fowls; <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li>
+<li>Fruit; <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
+<li>Fruits, Declension of; <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li>
+<li>Fruits, Early, how produced; <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
+<li>Fruits, Preservation of; <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li>
+<li>Fruits, Manner of Gathering; <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li>
+<li>Fruit-Trees, Location of; <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li>
+<li>Fruit-Trees, how to induce Productiveness in; <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Garden; <a href='#Page_202'>202</a></li>
+<li>Garlic; <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li>
+<li>Gathering Fruits; <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li>
+<li>Geese; <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li>
+<li>Gooseberry; <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li>
+<li>Grafting; <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li>
+<li>Grafting-Wax, how made; <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li>
+<li>Grapes; <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li>
+<li>Grape-Wine, Method of making; <a href='#Page_435'>435</a></li>
+<li>Grasses; <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
+<li>Greenhouse; <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li>
+<li>Guano, Care requisite in the Application of; <a href='#Page_277'>277</a></li>
+<li>Guenon's Treatise on the Milking Qualities of Cows; <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></li>
+<li>Gypsum; <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li><li>Hams, Preservation of; <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li>
+<li>Harrowing; <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li>
+<li>Hay, making and preserving of; <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li>
+<li>Hedge; <a href='#Page_236'>236</a></li>
+<li>Hedge-Pruning; <a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li>
+<li>Hedges, Shrubs suitable for the Formation of; <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>-<a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li>
+<li>Hemp; <a href='#Page_239'>239</a></li>
+<li>Hens; <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li>
+<li>Herbaceous Flowers; <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li>
+<li>Hive, Proper Construction of; <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li>
+<li>Hoeing; <a href='#Page_241'>241</a></li>
+<li>Hogs; <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li>
+<li>Hogstye, Plan of; <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li>
+<li>Hogstye, Manure from the; <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li>
+<li>Hops; <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li>
+<li>Hops, Method of curing; <a href='#Page_244'>244</a></li>
+<li>Horizontal Training; <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li>
+<li>Horse; <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li>
+<li>Horseradish; <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li>
+<li>Hotbeds; <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li>
+<li>Hothouse; <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li>
+<li>Houses; <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></li>
+<li>Hybrids; <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Inarching; <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></li>
+<li>Insects; <a href='#Page_260'>260</a></li>
+<li>Iron-Filings, Beneficial to Pear-Trees <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
+<li>Irrigation; <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
+<li>Italian Farmhouse, Plan of;   <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Kale; <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Labels for Fruit-Trees; <a href='#Page_202'>202</a></li>
+<li>Laborer's Cottage, Plan of; <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li>
+<li>Landscape Gardens; <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li>
+<li>Lawton Blackberry; <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li>
+<li>Layering; <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li>
+<li>Laying in Trees; <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li>
+<li>Leeks; <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li>
+<li>Lemon; <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li>
+<li>Lettuce; <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li>
+<li>Licorice; <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li>
+<li>Lime, Value of as a Fertilizer; <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li>
+<li>Limes; <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li>
+<li>Liquid Manures, Value of; <a href='#Page_273'>273</a></li>
+<li>Location; <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li>
+<li>Locust-Trees; <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Manures; <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li>
+<li>Maple-Trees, Best Method of tapping; <a href='#Page_404'>404</a></li>
+<li>Marjorum; <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li>
+<li>Marl; <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li>
+<li>Melons; <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li>
+<li>Mice, Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li>
+<li>Milk, Condensation and Preservation of;  <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li>
+<li>Milking Qualities of Cows, Infallible Marks of; <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>-<a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li>
+<li>Milking, Rules for; <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li>
+<li>Milk, Value of for Horses; <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li>
+<li>Millet; <a href='#Page_287'>287</a></li>
+<li>Mint; <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li>
+<li>Moisture, Retention of, leading Benefit of Manure; <a href='#Page_277'>277</a></li>
+<li>Mulberry; <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li>
+<li>Mulching; <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li>
+<li>Mushrooms; <a href='#Page_290'>290</a></li>
+<li>Muskmelons; <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li>
+<li>Mustard; <a href='#Page_292'>292</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Nasturtium; <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li>
+<li>Nectarine; <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li>
+<li>New Fruits; <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li>
+<li>New Rochelle (Lawton) Blackberry <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li>
+<li>Northern States, Varieties of Apples suitable for; <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li>
+<li>Nursery; <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li>
+<li>Nuts; <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Oaks; <a href='#Page_301'>301</a></li>
+<li>Oats; <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li>
+<li>Okra; <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li>
+<li>Olives; <a href='#Page_304'>304</a></li>
+<li>Onions; <a href='#Page_305'>305</a></li>
+<li>Oranges; <a href='#Page_308'>308</a></li>
+<li>Orchards; <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li>
+<li>Orchards, Favorable Locations for; <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li>
+<li>Osage Orange; <a href='#Page_236'>236</a></li>
+<li>Oxen; <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Parsley; <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li>
+<li>Parsnips; <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li>
+<li>Pastures; <a href='#Page_315'>315</a></li>
+<li>Peas; <a href='#Page_316'>316</a></li>
+<li>Peach;  <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li>
+<li>Pear;  <a href='#Page_332'>332</a></li>
+<li>Pear-Orchard, Plan of; <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li>
+<li>Pennyroyal Mint; <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li>
+<li>Peppers; <a href='#Page_347'>347</a></li>
+<li>Peppergrass; <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li>
+<li>Peppermint; <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li>
+<li>Picket Fences; <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li>
+<li>Piggery, Plan of; <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li>
+<li>Plaster of Paris; <a href='#Page_232'>232</a></li>
+<li>Plowing; <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li>
+<li>Plum; <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li>
+<li>Plum, Analysis of; <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li>
+<li>Pomegranate; <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li>
+<li>Potato; <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li>
+<li>Potato-Rot, Cause of and Remedy for; <a href='#Page_364'>364</a></li>
+<li>Potato, Sweet; <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li>
+<li>Poultry; <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li>
+<li>Preserving Fruits and Vegetables <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li>
+<li>Protection of Trees for Transplanting <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li>
+<li>Prunes, Domestic; <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li>
+<li>Pruning and Training; <a href='#Page_414'>414</a></li>
+<li>Pruning Peach-Trees; <a href='#Page_323'>323</a></li>
+<li>Pumpkin;  <a href='#Page_371'>371</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Quince; <a href='#Page_372'>372</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Rabbits, a Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; <a href='#Page_373'>373</a></li>
+<li>Radish; <a href='#Page_374'>374</a></li>
+<li>Rail Fences; <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li>
+<li>Raspberry; <a href='#Page_375'>375</a></li>
+<li>Raspberry, Black; <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
+<li>Rennet, how prepared; <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li>
+<li>Rhubarb; <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li>
+<li>Rice; <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li>
+<li>Rocks, Methods of removing; <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li>
+<li>Rollers; <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li>
+<li>Root Crops; <a href='#Page_380'>380</a></li>
+<li>Root-Pruning, Method of; <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Saffron; <a href='#Page_381'>381</a></li>
+<li>Sage; <a href='#Page_381'>381</a></li>
+<li>Salsify or Vegetable Oyster; <a href='#Page_382'>382</a></li>
+<li>Scraping Land; <a href='#Page_382'>382</a></li>
+<li>Seeds; <a href='#Page_383'>383</a></li>
+<li>Shade-Trees; <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li>
+<li>Sheep; <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li>
+<li>Sheep-Manure, Value of; <a href='#Page_389'>389</a></li>
+<li>Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry; <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li>
+<li>Skippers in Cheese; <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li>
+<li>Soils; <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li>
+<li>Sorgho, or Chinese Sugarcane; <a href='#Page_405'>405</a></li>
+<li>South, Apples adapted to the Climate of the; <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></li>
+<li>Spearmint; <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li>
+<li>Spinage or Spinach; <a href='#Page_394'>394</a></li>
+<li>Squash; <a href='#Page_395'>395</a></li>
+<li>Stable; <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
+<li>Stilton Cheese, Method of Making; <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li>
+<li>Strawberry; <a href='#Page_396'>396</a></li>
+<li>Subsoil Plowing; <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li>
+<li>Succory; <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li>
+<li>Sugar; <a href='#Page_403'>403</a></li>
+<li>Summer-House, Plan of; <a href='#Page_256'>256</a></li>
+<li>Summer Savory; <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li>
+<li>Sunflower; <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li>
+<li>Sweet Potato; <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li>
+<li>Swine; <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Tobacco; <a href='#Page_411'>411</a></li>
+<li>Tomato; <a href='#Page_412'>412</a></li>
+<li>Tongue-Grafting; <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li>
+<li>Tools; <a href='#Page_414'>414</a></li>
+<li>Training and Pruning; <a href='#Page_414'>414</a></li>
+<li>Transplanting; <a href='#Page_421'>421</a></li>
+<li>Turnip; <a href='#Page_422'>422</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Van Mon's Theory of the Production of New Fruits; <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li>
+<li>Vegetables, Early; <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
+<li>Vegetable Oyster; <a href='#Page_382'>382</a></li>
+<li>Vineyards; <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li><li>&nbsp;</li>
+<li>Wagon-House; <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></li>
+<li>Walls, Stone; <a href='#Page_179'>179</a></li>
+<li>Watering Gardens in Dry Seasons, Benefits of; <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
+<li>Watermelons; <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li>
+<li>Wax-Moth, Protection against; <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li>
+<li>Weevil, or Wheat Midge, Remedy for; <a href='#Page_430'>430</a></li>
+<li>Western States, Varieties of Apples suitable for the; <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li>
+<li>Wheat; <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li>
+<li>White Blackberry; <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li>
+<li>Whortleberry; <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li>
+<li>Willow; <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li>
+<li>Wine; <a href='#Page_433'>433</a></li>
+<li>Wines, Adulteration of Imported; <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li>
+<li>Winter Lettuce; <a href='#Page_177'>177</a></li>
+<li>Wood-Ashes, Value of as a Manure; <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
+<li>Woodlands; <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li>
+<li>Woolly Aphis, Remedy for; <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li></ul>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+<h4>AGRICULTURAL BOOKS,</h4>
+
+<h4>PUBLISHED BY</h4>
+
+<h4>A. O. MOORE,</h4>
+
+<p class="center">(LATE C. M. SAXTON &amp; CO.)</p>
+
+<p class="center">140 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>And sent by mail to any part of the United States on receipt of the
+price.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left"> 1</td><td align="left">American Farmers' Encyclopedia. A work of great value</td><td align="right">$4 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 2</td><td align="left">Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 3</td><td align="left">Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse</td><td align="right">2 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 4</td><td align="left">Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse-colored plates</td><td align="right">4 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 5</td><td align="left">Dadd's American Cattle Doctor</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 6</td><td align="left">The Stable Book</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 7</td><td align="left">The Horse's Foot, and how to keep it sound; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 8</td><td align="left">Bridgeman's Gardener's Assistant</td><td align="right">1 50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> 9</td><td align="left">Bridgeman's Florist's Guide, half cloth 50 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">10</td><td align="left">Bridgeman's Gardener's Instructor, half cloth 50 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">11</td><td align="left">Bridgeman's Fruit Cultivator, half cloth 50 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">12</td><td align="left">Field's Hand-Book of Pear Culture</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">13</td><td align="left">Cole's American Fruit Book</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">14</td><td align="left">Cole's American Veterinarian</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">15</td><td align="left">Buist's American Flower Garden Directory</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">16</td><td align="left">Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">17</td><td align="left">Browne's American Bird Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">18</td><td align="left">Dana's Muck Manual, cloth</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">19</td><td align="left">Dana's Prize Essay on Manures</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">20</td><td align="left">Stockhardt's Chemical Field Lectures</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">21</td><td align="left">Norton's Scientific and Practical Agriculture</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">22</td><td align="left">Johnston's Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry (for Schools)</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">23</td><td align="left">Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">24</td><td align="left">Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">25</td><td align="left">Downing's Landscape Gardening</td><td align="right">3 50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">26</td><td align="left">Fessenden's Complete Farmer and Gardener</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">27</td><td align="left">Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">28</td><td align="left">Nash's Progressive Farmer</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">29</td><td align="left">Richardson's Domestic Fowls</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">30</td><td align="left">Richardson on the Horse</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">31</td><td align="left">Richardson on the Hog</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">32</td><td align="left">Richardson on the Pests of the Farm</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">33</td><td align="left">Richardson on the Hive and Honey Bee</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">34</td><td align="left">Milburn and Stevens on the Cow and Dairy Husbandry</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">35</td><td align="left">Skinner's Elements of Agriculture</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">36</td><td align="left">Topham's Chemistry Made Easy</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">37</td><td align="left">Breck's Book of Flowers</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">38</td><td align="left">Leuchar's Hot Houses and Green Houses</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">39</td><td align="left">Chinese Sugar Cane and Sugar Making</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">40</td><td align="left">Turner's Cotton Planter's Manual</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">41</td><td align="left">Allen on the Culture of the Grape</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">42</td><td align="left">Allen's Diseases of Domestic Animals</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">43</td><td align="left">Allen's American Farm Book</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">44</td><td align="left">Allen's Rural Architecture</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">45</td><td align="left">Pardee on the Strawberry</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">46</td><td align="left">Peddar's Farmer's Land Measurer</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">47</td><td align="left">Phelp's Bee-keeper's Chart</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">48</td><td align="left">Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows; paper 38 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">49</td><td align="left">Domestic and Ornamental Poultry, plain $1.00, colored plates</td><td align="right">2 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">50</td><td align="left">Randall's Sheep Husbandry</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">51</td><td align="left">Youatt, Randall, and Skinner's Shepherd's Own Book</td><td align="right">2 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">52</td><td align="left">Youatt on the Breed and Management of Sheep</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">53</td><td align="left">Youatt on the Horse</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">54</td><td align="left">Youatt, Martin, and Stevens, on Cattle</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">55</td><td align="left">Youatt and Martin on the Hog</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">56</td><td align="left">Barry's Fruit Garden</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">57</td><td align="left">Munn's Practical Land Drainer</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">58</td><td align="left">Stephens' Book of the Farm, complete, 450 illustrations</td><td align="right">4 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">59</td><td align="left">The American Architect, or Plans for Country Dwellings</td><td align="right">6 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">60</td><td align="left">Thaer, Shaw, and Johnson's Principles of Agriculture</td><td align="right">2 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">61</td><td align="left">Smith's Landscape Gardening, Parks, and Pleasure Grounds</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">62</td><td align="left">Weeks on the Bee: paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">63</td><td align="left">Wilson on Cultivation of Flax</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">64</td><td align="left">Miner's American Bee-keeper's Manual</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">65</td><td align="left">Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-keeping</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">66</td><td align="left">Cottage and Farm Bee-keeper</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">67</td><td align="left">Elliott's American Fruit Grower's Guide</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">68</td><td align="left">The American Florist's Guide</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">69</td><td align="left">Hyde on the Chinese Sugar Cane, paper</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">70</td><td align="left">Every Lady her own Flower Gardener; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">71</td><td align="left">The Rose Culturist; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">72</td><td align="left">History of Morgan Horses</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">73</td><td align="left">Moore's Rural Hand Books, 4 vols.</td><td align="right">5 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">74</td><td align="left">Rabbit Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">75</td><td align="left">Reemelin's Vine-Dresser's Manual</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">76</td><td align="left">Neill's Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Gardener's Companion</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">77</td><td align="left">Browne's American Poultry Yard</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">78</td><td align="left">Browne's Field Book of Manures</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">79</td><td align="left">Hooper's Dog and Gun</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">80</td><td align="left">Skilful Housewife; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">81</td><td align="left">Chorlton's Grape Grower's Guide</td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">82</td><td align="left">Sorgho and Imphee, Sugar Plants</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">83</td><td align="left">White's Gardening for the South</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">84</td><td align="left">Eastwood on the Cranberry</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">85</td><td align="left">Persoz on the Culture of the Vine</td><td align="right">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">86</td><td align="left">Boussingault's Rural Economy</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">87</td><td align="left">Thompson's Food of Animals; paper 50 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">88</td><td align="left">Richardson on Dogs; paper 25 cts., cloth</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">89</td><td align="left">Liebig's Familiar Letters to Farmers</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">90</td><td align="left">Cobbett's American Gardener</td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">91</td><td align="left">Waring's Elements of Agriculture</td><td align="right">75</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">92</td><td align="left">Blake's Farmer at Home</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">93</td><td align="left">Rural Essays</td><td align="right">3 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">94</td><td align="left">Fish Culture</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">95</td><td align="left">Flint on Grasses</td><td align="right">1 25</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">96</td><td align="left">Warder's Hedges and Evergreens</td><td align="right">1 00</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOIL CULTURE ***
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,12585 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Soil Culture
+
+Author: J. H. Walden
+
+Release Date: January 15, 2010 [EBook #30975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOIL CULTURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Giacomelli and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature
+in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Author]
+
+
+  SOIL CULTURE;
+
+  CONTAINING
+
+  A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW
+
+  OF
+
+  AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, POMOLOGY,
+  DOMESTIC ANIMALS, RURAL ECONOMY,
+  AND AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE.
+
+  BY
+
+  J. H. WALDEN, A. M.
+
+  ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  PUBLISHED BY ROBERT SEARS,
+  181 WILLIAM STREET.
+  1858.
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857,
+  BY J. H. WALDEN,
+  in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in
+  and for the Northern District of Illinois.
+
+  SAVAGE & McCREA, STEREOTYPERS, C. A. ALVORD, PRINTER,
+  13 Chambers Street, N.Y.             No. 15 Vandewater Street, N.Y.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  TO
+
+  THE PRACTICAL CULTIVATORS OF THE SOIL,
+
+  The True Lords of the Manor,
+
+  THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,
+
+  BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND,
+
+  THE AUTHOR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE TO THE READER.
+
+
+If "he who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before,
+is a benefactor of his race," he is not less so who imparts to millions
+a knowledge of the methods by which it is done.
+
+The last half century has been the era of experiments and writing on the
+cultivation of the soil. The result has been the acquisition of more
+knowledge on the subjects embraced, than the world had attained in all
+its previous history. That knowledge is scattered through many volumes
+of numerous periodicals and books, and interspersed with many theories,
+and much speculation, that can never be valuable in practice. In the
+form in which it is presented, it confuses, rather than aids, the great
+mass of cultivators. Hence the prejudice against "_book-farming_."
+Provided established facts only are presented, they are none the worse
+for being printed.
+
+The object of this volume is to condense, and present in an intelligible
+form, all important established facts in the science of soil-culture.
+The author claims originality, as to the discovery of facts and
+principles, in but few cases. During ten years of preparatory study for
+this work, he has sought the rewards of industry, in sifting out the
+certain and the useful from the hypothetical and the fanciful, and the
+results of judicious discrimination between fallacy and just reasoning,
+in support of theories. This volume is designed to be a complete manual
+for all but amateur cultivators. While it is believed that he who
+follows its directions will be certain of success, it is not intended to
+disparage the merits of other works, but to encourage and extend their
+perusal. We can not too strongly recommend to young culturists to keep
+themselves well posted in this kind of literature, and give to every
+discovery and invention in this science a fair trial; not on a large
+scale, so as to sink money in fruitless experiments, but sufficient to
+afford a sure test of their real value. To no class of men is study more
+important than to soil-culturists.
+
+It is believed that the directions here given, if followed, will save
+millions of dollars annually to that class of cultivators who can least
+afford to waste time and money in experimenting. With beginners it is
+important to be successful at first; which is impossible without
+availing themselves of the experience of others. While we thus aim to
+give our volume this exclusively practical form, and utilitarian
+character, we do not undervalue the labors of amateur cultivators. A
+meed of praise is due to those who are willing to spend time and money
+in experiments, by which great truths are evolved for the benefit of
+mankind.
+
+Perfection is not claimed for this volume. But the author hopes nothing
+will be found here that is untrue. A fear of inserting errors may have
+induced us to omit some things that may yet prove valuable. If anything
+seems to be at variance with a cultivator's observation, in a given
+locality, he will discover in our general principles on climate, soil,
+and location, that it is a natural result.
+
+_Accurate as far as we go_ has been our motto. It is hoped the form is
+most convenient. All is arranged under one alphabet, with a complete
+index. The author has consulted many intelligent cultivators and
+writers, who, without exception, approve his plan. All agree in saying
+that it is designed to fill a place not occupied by any other single
+volume in the language. It is impossible, without cumbering the volume,
+to give suitable credit to the authors and persons consulted. Suffice it
+to say, the author has carefully studied all the works mentioned in this
+volume, and availed himself of a great variety of verbal suggestions, by
+scientific and practical men. If this work shall, in any good degree,
+serve the purpose for which it is intended, it will amply reward the
+author for an amount of labor, experiment, observation, and study,
+appreciable only by few.
+
+J. H. WALDEN.
+
+NEW YORK, _January 1, 1858_.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  Apple-Worms                                                         22
+
+  Apple-Tree Borer                                                    24
+
+  Caterpillar Eggs                                                    25
+
+  Canker-Worm Moths                                                   25
+
+  Baldwin Apple                                                       34
+
+  Bellflower Apple                                                    35
+
+  Early Harvest Apple                                                 36
+
+  Spitzbergen Apple                                                   37
+
+  Rhode Island Greening                                               38
+
+  Fall Pippin                                                         39
+
+  Newtown Pippin                                                      40
+
+  Rambo Apple                                                         41
+
+  Rome Beauty                                                         42
+
+  Westfield Seek-no-further                                           43
+
+  Northern Spy                                                        44
+
+  Roxbury Russet                                                      45
+
+  Swaar Apple                                                         46
+
+  Maiden's Blush                                                      47
+
+  Barberries                                                          56
+
+  Working Bee, Queen and Drone                                        69
+
+  High-Bush Blackberry                                                83
+
+  Budding (Six Illustrations)                                         91
+
+  Cherries (Six Illustrations)                                       122
+
+  _Milking Qualities of Cows Illustrated_
+    The Flanders Cow                                                 145
+    The Selvage Cow                                                  147
+    The Curveline Cow                                                148
+    The Bicorn Cow                                                   149
+    The Demijohn Cow                                                 150
+    The Square Escutcheon Cow                                        151
+    The Lemousine Cow                                                151
+    The Horizontal Cut Cow                                           152
+    Bastards                                                         152
+
+  Cranberries                                                        156
+
+  Fig                                                                181
+
+  Cleft and Tongue Grafting                                          210
+
+  Isabella Grapes                                                    223
+
+  Catawba Grapes                                                     223
+
+  Rebecca Grapes                                                     224
+
+  Delaware Grapes                                                    225
+
+  Hedge-Pruning (4 engravings)                                       238
+
+  Ground Plan of Farm Buildings                                      252
+
+  Ground Plan of Piggery                                             253
+
+  Ground Plan of Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Fruit Garden,
+    and Grounds                                                      254
+
+  Laying out Curves Illustrated                                      255
+
+  Ground Plan of Farm-House                                          255
+
+  Summer-House                                                       256
+
+  Laborer's Cottage                                                  257
+
+  Ground Plan of Laborer's Cottage                                   257
+
+  Italian Farm-House                                                 258
+
+  Ground Plan of Italian Farm-House                                  258
+
+  Neglected Peach-Tree                                               324
+
+  Properly-Trimmed Peach-Tree                                        324
+
+  Plan of a Pear-Orchard                                             338
+
+  Bartlett Pear                                                      340
+
+  Beurre Diel Pear                                                   341
+
+  White Doyenne Pear                                                 342
+
+  Flemish Beauty                                                     343
+
+  Seckel                                                             345
+
+  Gray Doyenne Pear                                                  346
+
+  The Curculio                                                       355
+
+  Lawrence's Favorite Plum                                           356
+
+  Imperial Gage                                                      357
+
+  Egg-Plum                                                           357
+
+  Green Gage                                                         358
+
+  Jefferson Plum                                                     358
+
+  Washington Plum                                                    359
+
+  French Merino Ram                                                  386
+
+  Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry                                       390
+
+  Strawberry Blossoms                                                397
+
+  Fan Training (Four Illustrations)                             417, 418
+
+  Horizontal Training (Two Illustrations)                            419
+
+  Conical Training (Four Illustrations)                              420
+
+
+
+
+SOIL CULTURE.
+
+
+
+
+ACCLIMATION.
+
+
+This is the art of successfully changing fruits or plants from one
+climate to another. Removal to a colder climate should be effected in
+the spring, and to a warmer one in the fall. This may be done by scions
+or seeds. By seeds is better, in all cases in which they will produce
+the same varieties. Very few imported apple or pear trees are valuable
+in this country; while our finest varieties, perfectly adapted to our
+climate, were raised from seeds of foreign fruits and their descendants.
+The same is true of the extremes of this country. Baldwin apple-trees,
+forty or fifty years old, are perfectly hardy in the colder parts of New
+England; while the same imported from warmer sections of the Union fail
+in severe winters. This fact has given many new localities the
+reputation of being poor fruit-regions. When we remove fruit-trees to a
+similar climate in a new country, they flourish well, and we call it a
+good fruit-country. Remove trees from the same nursery to a different
+climate and soil, and they are not hardy and vigorous, and we call it a
+poor fruit-country. These two localities may be equally good for fruit,
+with suitable care in acclimating the tree and preparing the soil. Thus
+the rich prairies of central Illinois are often said not to be adapted
+to fruit. Give time to raise fruits from the seed, and to apply the
+principles of acclimation, and those rich prairies will be among the
+great fruit-growing regions of the world. Two things are essential to
+successful fruit-culture, on all the alluvial soils of the Northwest:
+raise from seed, and prune closely and head-in short, and thus put back
+and strengthen the trees for the first ten years, and no more complaints
+will be heard.
+
+The peach has been gradually acclimated, until, transplanted from
+perpetual summer, it successfully endures a temperature of thirty-five
+degrees below zero. This prince of fruits will yet be successfully grown
+even beyond the northern limits of Minnesota. Many vegetables may also
+be grown in very different climates, by annually importing the seed from
+localities where they naturally flourish. Sweet potatoes are thus grown
+abundantly in Massachusetts. We wonder this subject has received so
+little attention. We commend these brief hints to the earnest
+consideration of all practical cultivators, hoping they may be of great
+value in the results to which they may lead.
+
+
+ALMONDS.
+
+Almonds are natives of several parts of Asia and Africa. They perfectly
+resemble the peach in all but the fruit. The peach and almond grow well,
+budded into each other. In France, almond-stocks are preferred for the
+peach. Their cultivation and propagation are in all respects the same as
+the peach.
+
+_Varieties._--1. Long, hard shell. This is the best for cultivation in
+western and middle states, and in all cold regions. Very ornamental.
+
+2. Common sweet. Productive in middle states, but not so good as the
+first.
+
+3. Ladies' thin shell. Fruit large, long, and sweet; the very best
+variety, but not so hardy as the first two. Grows well in warm
+locations, with slight protection in winter.
+
+4. The bitter. Large, with very ornamental leaves and blossoms. Fruit
+bitter, and yielding that deadly poison, prussic acid.
+
+5. Peach almond. So called from having a pulp equal to a poor peach. Not
+hardy in northern climates. Other varieties are named, but are of no
+consequence to the practical cultivator.
+
+6. Two varieties of ornamental almonds are very beautiful in spring--the
+large, double flowering, and the well-known dwarf flowering. But we
+regard peach-blossoms quite as ornamental, and the ripe peaches much
+more so, and so prefer to cultivate them.
+
+Almonds are extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, especially in
+Portugal, as an article of commerce. They will grow equally well in this
+country; but labor is so cheap in Europe, that American cultivators can
+not compete with it in the almond market. But every one owning land
+should cultivate a few as a family luxury.
+
+
+APPLES.
+
+The original of all our apples was the wild European crab. We have in
+this country several native crabs larger and better than the European;
+but they have not yet, as we are aware, been developed into fine apples.
+Apple-trees are hardy and long-lived, doing well for one hundred and
+fifty years. Highly-cultivated trees, however, are thought to last only
+about fifty years. An apple-tree, imported from England, produced fruit
+in Connecticut at the age of two hundred and eight years. The apple is
+the most valuable of all fruits. The peach, the best pears, the
+strawberries, and others, are all delicious in their day; but apples are
+adapted to a greater variety of uses, and are in perfection all the
+year; the earliest may be used in June, and the latest may be kept until
+that time next year. As an article of food, they are very valuable on
+account of both their nutritive and medicinal qualities. As a gentle
+laxative, they are invaluable for children, who should always be allowed
+to eat ripe apples as they please, when they can be afforded. Children
+will not long be inclined to eat ripe fruit to their injury.
+
+An almost exclusive diet of baked sweet apples and milk is recorded as
+having cured chronic cases of consumption, and other diseases caused by
+too rich food. Let dyspeptics vary the mode of preparing and using an
+apple diet, until it agrees with them, and many aggravated cases may be
+cured without medicine. It is strange how the idea has gained so much
+currency that apples, although a pleasant luxury, are not sufficiently
+nutritious for a valuable article of diet. There is no other fruit or
+vegetable in general use that contains such a proportion of nutriment.
+It has been ascertained in Germany, by a long course of experiments,
+that men will perform more labor, endure more fatigue, and be more
+healthy, on an apple diet, than on that universal indispensable for the
+poor, the potato. Apples are more valuable than potatoes for food. They
+are equally valuable as food for fowls, swine, sheep, cattle, and
+horses. Hogs have been well fattened on apples alone. Cooked with other
+vegetables, and mixed with a little ground grain or bran, they are an
+economical food for fattening pork or beef. Sweet or slightly-acid
+apples, fed to neat stock or horses, will prevent disease, and keep the
+animals in fine condition. For human food they may be cooked in a
+greater variety of ways than almost any other article. Apple-cider is
+valuable for some uses. It makes the best vinegar in general use, and,
+when well made and bottled, is better than most of our wines for
+invalids. Apple-molasses, or boiled cider, which is sweet-apple cider
+boiled down until it will not ferment, is excellent in cookery.
+Apple-butter is highly esteemed in many families. Dried apples are an
+important article of commerce. Green apples are also exported to most
+parts of the world. Notwithstanding the increased attention to their
+cultivation during the last half-century, their market value is steadily
+increasing, and doubtless will be, for the best varieties, for the next
+five hundred years.
+
+It does not cost more than five or six cents per bushel to raise apples;
+hence they are one of the most profitable crops a farmer can raise. No
+farm, therefore, is complete without a good orchard. The man who owns
+but five acres of land should have at least two acres in fruit-trees.
+
+_Soil._--Apples will succeed well on any soil that will produce good
+cabbages, potatoes, or Indian corn. Land needs as much manure and care
+for apple-trees as for potatoes. Rough hillsides and broken lands,
+unsuitable for general cultivation, may be made very valuable in
+orchards. It must be enriched, if not originally so, and kept clean
+about the trees. On no crop does good culture pay better. Many suppose
+that an apple-tree, being a great grower, will take care of itself after
+having attained a moderate size. Whoever observes the great and rapid
+growth of apple-trees must see, that, when the ground is nearly covered
+with them, they must make a great draft on the soil. To secure health
+and increased value, the deficiency must be supplied in manure and
+cultivation. The quantity and quality of the fruit depend mainly on the
+condition of the land. The kinds and proportions of manures best for an
+apple-orchard are important practical questions. We give a chemical
+analysis of the ashes of the apple-tree, which will indicate, even to
+the unlearned, the manure that will probably be needed:--
+
+_Analysis of the ash of the apple-tree._
+
+                       Sap-wood.  Heart-wood.  Bark of trunk.
+
+  Potash                 16.19      6.620        4.930
+  Soda                    3.11      7.935        3.285
+  Chloride of sodium      0.42      0.210        0.540
+  Sulphate of lime        0.05      0.526        0.637
+
+  Phosphate of peroxyde } 0.80      0.500        0.375
+    of iron             }
+  Phosphate of lime      17.50      5.210        2.425
+  Phosphate of magnesia   0.20      0.190
+  Carbonic acid          29.10     36.275       44.830
+  Lime                   18.63     37.019       51.578
+  Magnesia                8.40      6.900        0.150
+  Silicia                 0.85      0.400        0.200
+  Soluble silicia         0.80      0.300        0.400
+  Organic matter          4.60      2.450        2.100
+                        ______    _______      _______
+                        100.65    104.535      111.450
+
+This table will indicate the application of plenty of wood-ashes and
+charcoal; lime in hair, bones, horn-shavings, old plaster, common lime,
+and a little common salt. Lime and ashes, or dissolved potash, are
+indispensable on an old orchard; they will improve the fruit one half,
+both in quantity and quality.
+
+_Propagation._--This is done mainly by seeds, budding and grafting. The
+best method is by common cleft-grafting on all stocks large enough, and
+by whip or tongue grafting on all others. (See under article, Grafting.)
+
+Grafting into the sycamore is recommended by some. The scions are said
+to grow profusely, and to bear early and abundantly; but they are apt to
+be killed by cold winters. We do not recommend it. Almost everything
+does best budded or grafted into vigorous stocks of its own nature.
+Root-grafting, as it is termed,--that is, cutting up roots into pieces
+three or four inches long, and putting a scion into each--has been a
+matter of much discussion and diversity of opinion. It is certainly a
+means of most rapidly multiplying a given variety, and is therefore
+profitable to the nurseryman. For ourselves, we should prefer trees
+grafted just above, or at the ground, using the whole stock for one
+tree. We do not, however, undertake to settle this controverted point.
+Our minds are fixed against it. Others must do as they please.
+Propagation by seed is thought to be entirely uncertain, because, as is
+supposed, the seeds will not reproduce their own varieties. We consider
+this far from being an established fact.
+
+When grafts are put into large trees, high up from the ground, their
+fruit may be somewhat modified by the stock. There is also a slight
+tendency in the seeds of all grafts to return to the varieties from
+which they descended. But we believe the general rule to be, that the
+seeds of grafts, put in at the ground and standing alone, will generally
+produce the same varieties of fruit. The most prominent obstacle in the
+way of this reproduction is the presence of other varieties, which mix
+in the blossom. The planting of seeds from any mixed orchard can never
+settle this question, because they are never pure. Propagation by seeds,
+then, is an inconvenient method, only to be resorted to for purposes of
+acclimation. But it is so seldom we have a good bearing apple-tree so
+far removed from others as not to be affected by the blossoms, that we
+generally get from seeds a modification of varieties. Raising suitable
+stocks for grafting is done by planting seeds in drills thirty inches
+apart, and keeping clear of weeds until they are large enough to graft.
+The soil should be made very rich, to save time in their growth. Land
+where root-crops grew the previous year is the best. If kept clear of
+weeds, on rich, deep soil, from one to two thirds of them will be large
+enough for whip-grafting after the first year's growth. The pomice from
+the cider-mill is often planted. It is better to separate the seeds,
+and plant them with a seed-drill. They will then be in straight, narrow
+rows, allowing the cultivator and hoe to pass close by them, and thus
+save two thirds of the cost of cultivation. The question of keeping
+seeds dry or moist until planting is one of some importance. Most seeds
+are better for being kept slightly moist until planted; but with the
+apple it makes no difference. Keep apple-seeds dry and spread, as they
+are apt to heat. Freezing them is not of the slightest importance. If
+you plant pomice, put in a little lime or ashes to counteract the acid.
+For winter-grafting, pull the seedlings that are of suitable size, cut
+off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in moist sand in a
+cellar that will not freeze. After grafting, tie them up in bunches, and
+pack in tight boxes of moist sand or sawdust.
+
+_Transplanting._--This is fully treated elsewhere in this work. We give
+under each fruit only what is peculiar to that species. In mild climates
+transplant in the fall, and in cold in the spring. Spring-planting must
+never be done until the soil has become dry enough to be made fine. A
+thoroughly-pulverized soil is the great essential of successful
+transplanting. Trees for spring-planting should always be taken up
+before the commencement of vegetation. But in very wet springs, this
+occurs before the ground becomes sufficiently dry; it is then best to
+take up the trees and heel them in, and keep them until the soil is
+suitable. The place for an apple-tree should be made larger than for any
+other tree, because its roots are wide-spreading, like its branches. The
+earth should be thrown out to the depth of twenty inches, and four or
+five feet square, for an ordinary-sized tree. This, however, will not
+do on a heavy clay subsoil, for it would form a basin to hold water and
+injure the tree. A ditch, as low as the bottom of the holes, should
+extend from tree to tree, and running out of the orchard, constructed in
+the usual method of drains, and, whatever be the subsoil, the trees will
+flourish. The usual compost to manure the trees in transplanting will be
+found elsewhere. In the bottom of these places for apple-trees should be
+thrown a plenty of cobblestones, with a few sods, and a little decaying
+wood and coarse manure. We know of nothing so good under an apple-tree
+as small stones; the tree will always be the larger and thriftier for
+it. This is, in a degree, beneficial to other fruits, but peculiarly so
+to the apple.
+
+_Size for transplanting._--Small trees usually do best. Large trees are
+often transplanted with the hope of having an abundance of fruit
+earlier. This usually defeats the object. The large trees will bear a
+little fruit earlier than the small ones; but the injury by removal is
+so much greater, that the small stocky trees come into full, regular
+bearing much the soonest. From five to eight feet high is often most
+convenient for field-orchard culture. But, wherever we can take care of
+them, it is better to set out smaller trees; they will do better for
+years. A suitable drain, extending through the orchard, under each row
+of trees, will make a good orchard on low, wet land.
+
+_Trimming at the time of transplanting._--Injured roots should be
+removed as in the general directions under Transplanting. But the idea
+of cutting off most of the top is a very serious error. When large trees
+are transplanted, which must necessarily lose many of their roots in
+removal, a corresponding portion of the top must be separated; but in no
+other case. The leaves are the lungs of the tree. How shall it have
+vitality if most of them are removed? It is like destroying one lung and
+half of the other, and then expect a man to be in vigorous health. We
+have often seen the most of two years' growth of trees lost by such
+reckless pruning. If the roots are tolerably whole and sound, leave the
+top so. A peach-tree needs to be trimmed much closer when transplanted,
+because it has so many more buds to throw out leaves.
+
+_Mulching._--This is quite as beneficial to apple-trees as to all
+transplanted trees. Well done, it preserves a regularity of moisture
+that almost insures the life of the tree.
+
+_Pruning._--The tops should be kept open and exposed to the sun, the
+cross limbs cut out, and everything removed that shows decided symptoms
+of decay. The productiveness of apple-trees depends very much upon
+pruning very sparingly and judiciously. There are two ways to keep an
+open top: one is, to allow many large limbs to grow, and cut out most of
+the small ones, thus leaving a large collection of bare poles without
+anything on which the fruit can grow;--the other method is to allow few
+limbs to grow large, and keep them well covered with small twigs, which
+always bear the fruit. The latter method will produce two or three times
+as much fruit as the former.
+
+The head of an apple-tree should be formed at a height that will allow a
+team to pass around under its branches.
+
+_Distance apart._--In a full-grown orchard, that is designed to cover
+the ground, the trees should be two rods (thirty-three feet) apart.
+When it is designed always to cultivate the ground, and land is plenty,
+set them fifty or sixty feet apart. You will be likely always to have
+fine fruit, and a crop on the land beside. Our recommendation to every
+one is to set out all orchards, of whatever fruit, so as to have them
+cover the whole ground when in maturity. Among apple-trees, dwarf pears,
+peaches, or quinces, may be set, which will be profitable before the
+apples need all the ground.
+
+_Bearing years._--A cultivator may have a part of his orchard bear one
+year, and the remainder the next, or he may have them all bear every
+year. There are two reasons why a tree bears full this year and will not
+bear the next. One is, it is allowed to have such a superabundance of
+fruit to mature this year, that it has no strength to mature fruit-buds
+for the next, and hence a barren year; the other reason is, a want of
+proper culture and the specific manures for the apple. Manure highly,
+keep off the insects, cultivate well, and do not allow too much to
+remain on the trees one season, and you will have a good crop every
+year. But if one would let his trees take the natural course, but wishes
+to change the bearing year of half of his orchard, he can accomplish it
+by removing the blossoms or young fruit from a part of his trees on the
+bearing year, and those trees having no fruit to mature will put forth
+an abundance of buds for fruit the following season; thus the
+fruit-season will be changed without lessening the productiveness. Go
+through a fruit-region in what is called the non-bearing seasons, and
+you will find some orchards and some trees very full of fruit. Trees of
+the same variety in another orchard near by will have very little fruit.
+This shows that the bearing season is a matter of mere habit, in all
+except what is determined by late frosts. This fact may be turned to
+great pecuniary value, by producing an abundance of apples every year.
+
+_Plowing and pasturing._--An apple-orchard should be often plowed, but
+not too deep among the roots. When not actually under the plow, it
+should be pastured, with fowls, calves, or sheep. Swine are recommended,
+as they will eat all the apples that fall prematurely, and with them the
+worms that made them fall. But we have often seen hogs, by their rooting
+and rubbing, kill the trees. Better to pick up the apples that fall too
+early, and give them to the swine. Turkeys and hens in an orchard will
+do much to destroy the various insects. They may be removed for a short
+time when they begin to peck the ripening fruit.
+
+Orchards pastured by sheep are said not to be infested with
+caterpillars. Sheep pastured and salted under apple-trees greatly enrich
+the soil, and in those elements peculiarly beneficial.
+
+_Enemies._--There are several of these that are quite destructive, when
+not properly guarded against. Two things are necessary, and, united and
+thoroughly performed, they afford a remedy or a preventive for most of
+the depredations of all insects: 1. Keep the trees well cleared of all
+rough, loose bark, which affords so many hiding-places for insects.
+
+2. Wash the trunks and large limbs of the trees, twice between the 25th
+of May and the 15th of August, with a ley of wood-ashes or dissolved
+potash. Apple-trees will bear it strong enough to kill some of the
+finest cherries. We add another very effectual wash. Let cultivators
+choose between the two. Into two gallons of water put two quarts of
+soft-soap and one fourth pound of sulphur. If you add tobacco-juice, or
+any other very offensive article, it will be still better.
+
+_Apple-worm._--The insect that produces this worm lays its egg in the
+blossom-end of the young apple. That egg makes a worm that passes down
+about the core and ruins the fruit. Apples so affected will fall
+prematurely, and should be picked up and fed to swine. This done every
+day during their falling, which does not last a great while, will remedy
+the evil in two seasons. The worm that crawls from the fallen apple gets
+into crevices in rough bark, and spins his cocoon, in which he remains
+till the following spring.
+
+Bonfires, for a few evenings in the fore part of June, in an orchard
+infested with moths, will destroy vast numbers of them, before they have
+deposited their eggs. This can not be too strongly insisted upon.
+
+[Illustration: Apple-Worms.
+
+_a_ The young worm. _b_ The full-grown worm. _c_ The same magnified. _d_
+Cocoon. _e_ Chrysalis. _f_ Perfect insect. _g_ The same magnified. _h i_
+Passage of the worm in the fruit. _j_ Worm in the fruit. _k_ Place of
+egress.]
+
+_Bark-louse._--Dull white, oval scales, one tenth of an inch long, which
+sometimes appear on the stems of trees in vast numbers, may be destroyed
+by the wash recommended above.
+
+_Woolly aphis_--called in Europe by the misnomer, _American blight_--is
+very destructive across the water, but does not exist extensively on
+this side. It is supposed to exist, in this country, only where it has
+been introduced with imported trees. It appears as a white downy
+substance in the small forks of trees. This is composed of a large
+number of very minute woolly lice, which increase with wonderful
+rapidity. They are easily destroyed by washing with diluted sulphuric
+acid--three fourths of an ounce, by measure, from the druggist's--and
+seven and a half ounces of water, applied by a rag tied to the end of a
+stick. The operator must keep it from his clothes. After the first rain
+this is perfectly effectual.
+
+_Apple-tree borer._--This is a fleshy-white grub, found in the trunks of
+the trees. It enters at the surface of the ground where the bark is
+tender, and either girdles or thoroughly perforates the tree, causing
+its death. This is produced by a brown and white striped beetle about
+half an inch long. It does not go through its different stages annually,
+but remains a grub two or three years. It finally comes out in its
+winged state, early in June, flying in the night and laying its eggs. If
+the borers are already in the tree, they may be killed by cutting out,
+or by a steel wire thrust into their holes. But better prevent them.
+This can be done effectually by placing a small mound of ashes or lime
+around each tree early in the spring.
+
+On nursery-trees their attacks may be prevented by washing with a
+solution of potash--two pounds in eight quarts of water. As this is a
+good manure, as well as a great remedy for insects, it had better be
+used every season.
+
+[Illustration: Borer. Eggs. Beetle.]
+
+_Caterpillars_ are the product of a miller of a reddish-brown color,
+measuring about an inch and a half when flying. They deposit many eggs
+about the forks and near the extremities of young branches. These hatch
+in spring, in season for the young foliage, on which they feed
+voraciously. When neglected for two or three years, they often defoliate
+large trees. The habits of the caterpillar are favorable to their
+destruction. They weave their webs in forks of trees, and are always at
+home in rainy weather, and in the morning till nine o'clock. The remedy
+is to kill them. This is most effectually done by a sponge on the end of
+a pole, dipped in strong spirits of ammonia. Each one touched by it is
+instantly killed, and it is not difficult to reach them all. They may
+also be rubbed off with a brush or swab on the end of a pole, and
+burned. The principle is to get them off, web and all, and destroy them.
+This can always be effectually done, if attended to early in the season,
+and early in the morning. If any have been missed, and come out in
+insects to deposite more eggs, bonfires are most effectual. These
+should be made of shavings, in different parts of the orchard, and about
+the middle of June, earlier or later, according to latitude and season.
+The ends of twigs on which the eggs are laid in bunches of hundreds (see
+figure), may be cut off in the fall and destroyed. As this can be done
+with pruning-shears, it may be an economical method of destroying them.
+
+[Illustration: Caterpillar Eggs. Canker-worm Moths, Male and Female.]
+
+_Canker-worm._--The male moth has pale-ash colored wings, with a black
+dot, and is about an inch across. The female has no wings, is oval in
+form, dark-ash colored above, and gray underneath. These rise from the
+ground as early in spring as the frost is out. Some few rise in the
+fall. The females travel slowly up the body of the tree, while the
+winged males fly about to pair with them. Soon you may discover the eggs
+laid, always in rows, in forks of branches and among the young twigs.
+Every female lays nearly a hundred, and covers them over carefully with
+a transparent, waterproof glue. The eggs hatch from May 1st to June 1st,
+according to the latitude and season, and come out an ash-colored worm
+with a yellow stripe. They are very voracious, sometimes entirely
+stripping an orchard of its foliage. At the end of about four weeks
+they descend to the ground, to remain in a chrysalis state, about four
+inches below the surface, until the following spring. These worms are
+very destructive in some parts of New England, and have been already
+very annoying, as far west as Iowa. They will be likely to be
+transported all over the country on young trees. Many remedies are
+proposed, but to present them all is only to confuse. The best of
+anything is sufficient. We present two, for the benefit of two classes
+of persons. For all who have care enough to attend to it, the best
+remedy is to bind a handful of straw around the tree, two feet from the
+ground, tied on with one band, and the ends allowed to stand out from
+the tree. The females, who can not fly, but only ascend the trunk by
+crawling, will get up under the straw, and may easily be killed, by
+striking a covered mallet on the straw, and against the tree below the
+band. This should be attended to every day during the short season of
+their ascent, and all will be destroyed. Burn the straw about the last
+of May. But those who are too indolent or busy to do this often till
+their season is past, may melt India-rubber over a hot fire, and smear
+bandages of cloth or leather previously put tight around the tree. This
+will prevent the female moth from crossing and reaching the limbs. Tar
+is used, but India-rubber is better, as weather will not injure it as it
+will tar, so as to allow the moth to pass over. Put this on early and
+well, and let it remain till the last of May. But the first, the process
+of killing them, is far the best.
+
+_Gathering-and preserving._--All fruit, designed to be kept even for a
+few weeks, should be picked, and not shaken off, and laid, not dropped
+into a basket, and with equal care put into the barrels in which it is
+to be kept or transported. The barrel should be slightly shaken and
+filled entirely full. Let it stand open two days, to allow the fruit to
+sweat and throw off the excessive moisture. Then head up tight, and keep
+in a cool open shed until freezing weather; then keep where they can
+occasionally have good air, and in as cool a place as possible, without
+danger of freezing. Of all the methods of keeping apples on shelves,
+buried as potatoes, in various other articles, as chaff, sawdust, &c.,
+this is, on the whole, the best and cheapest. Wrapping the apples in
+paper before putting them into the barrels, may be an improvement.
+Apples gathered just before hard frosts, or as they are beginning to
+ripen, but before many have fallen from the trees, and packed as above,
+and the barrels laid on their sides in a good dry, dark cellar, where
+air can occasionally be admitted, can be kept in perfection from six to
+eight weeks, after the ordinary time for their decay. Apples for cider,
+or other immediate use, may be shaken off upon mats or blankets spread
+under the tree for that purpose. They are not quite so valuable, but it
+saves times in gathering.
+
+_Varieties_ are exceedingly numerous and uncertain. Cole estimates that
+two millions of varieties have been produced in the single state of
+Maine, and that thousands of kinds may there be found superior to those
+generally recommended in the fruit-books. The minute description of
+fruits is not of the least use to one out of ten thousand cultivators.
+The best pomologists differ in the names and descriptions of the various
+fruits. Some varieties have as many as twenty-five synonyms. Of what
+use, then, is the minute description of the hundred and seventy-seven
+varieties of Cole's American fruit-book, or of the vast numbers
+described by Downing, Elliott, Barry, and Hooper? The best pear we saw
+in Illinois could not be identified in Elliott's fruit-book by a
+practical fruit-grower. We had in our orchard in Ohio a single
+apple-tree, producing a large yield of one of the very best apples we
+ever saw; it was called Natural Beauty. We could not learn from the
+fruit-books what it was. We took it to an amateur cultivator of thirty
+years' experience, and he could not identify it. This is a fair view of
+the condition of the nomenclature of fruits. The London experimental
+gardens are doing much to systemize it, and the most scientific growers
+are congratulating them on their success. But it never can be any better
+than it is now. Varieties will increase more and more rapidly, and
+synonyms will be multiplied annually, and the modification of varieties
+by stocks, manures, climates, and location, will render it more and more
+confused.
+
+We can depend only upon our nurserymen to collect all improved
+varieties, and where we do not see the bearing-trees for ourselves,
+trust the nurseryman's description of the general qualities of fruit.
+Seldom, indeed, will a cultivator buy fruit-trees, and set out his
+orchard, and master the descriptions in the fruit-books, and after his
+trees come into bearing, minutely try them by all the marks to see
+whether he has been cheated, and, if so, take up the trees and put out
+others, to go the same round again, perhaps with no better success.
+Hence, if possible, let planters get trees from a nursery so near at
+hand that they may know the quality of the fruit of the trees from which
+the grafts are taken, get the most popular in their vicinity, and
+always secure a few scions from any extraordinary apple they may chance
+to taste. It is well, also, to deal only with the most honorable
+nurserymen. Remember that varieties will not do alike well in all
+localities. Many need acclimation. Every extensive cultivator should
+keep seedlings growing, with a view to new varieties, or modifications
+of old ones, adapted to his locality.
+
+We did think of describing minutely a few of the best varieties, adapted
+to the different seasons of the year. But we can see no advantage it
+would be to the great mass of cultivators, for whom this book is
+designed. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with those descriptions
+will purchase some of the best fruit-books. We shall content ourselves
+with giving the lists, recommended by the best authority, for different
+sections, followed by a general description of the _qualities_ of a few
+of the best. Downing's lists are the following:--
+
+APPLES FOR MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN STATES, RIPENING
+IN SUCCESSION.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Vandevere of New York.
+  Red Astrachan.               Jonathan.
+  Early Strawberry.            Melon.
+  Summer Rose.                 Yellow Bellflower.
+  William's Favorite.          Domine.
+  Primate.                     American Golden Russet.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Cogswell.
+  Garden Royal.                Peck's Pleasant.
+  Jefferis.                    Wagener.
+  Porter.                      Rhode Island Greening.
+  Jersey Sweet.                King of Tompkins County.
+  Large Yellow Bough.          Swaar.
+                               Baldwin.
+  Gravenstein.                 Lady Apple.
+  Maiden's Blush.              Ladies' Sweet.
+  Autumn Sweet Bough.          Red Canada.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Newtown Pippin.
+  Mother.                      Boston Russet.
+  Smokehouse.                  Northern Spy.
+  Rambo.                       Wine Sap.
+  Esopus Spitzenburg.
+
+APPLES FOR THE NORTH.
+
+  Red Astrachan.               Fameuse.
+  Early Sweet Bough.           Pomme Gris.
+  Saps of Wine or Bell's       Canada Reinette.
+    Early.                     Yellow Bellflower.
+  Golden Sweet.                Golden Ball.
+  William's Favorite.          St. Lawrence.
+  Porter.                      Jewett's Fine Red.
+  Dutchess of Oldenburgh.      Rhode Island Greening.
+  Keswick Codlin.              Baldwin.
+  Hawthornden.                 Winthrop Greening.
+  Gravenstein.                 Danvers Winter-Sweet.
+  Mother.                      Ribston Pippin.
+  Tolman Sweet.                Roxberry Russet.
+
+APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES,
+
+Made up from the contributions of twenty different cultivators, from
+five Western states.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Domine.
+  Carolina Red June.           Swaar.
+  Red Astrachan.               Westfield Seek-no-further.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Broadwell.
+  Sweet June.                  Vandevere of New York, or
+                               Newtown Spitzenburg.
+  Large Sweet Bough.           Ortly, or White Bellflower.
+  Summer Queen.                Yellow Bellflower.
+  Maiden's Blush.              White Pippin.
+  Keswick Codlin.              American Golden Russet.
+  Fall Wine.                   Herfordshire Pearmain.
+  Rambo.                       White Pearmain.
+  Belmont.                     Wine Sap.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Rawle's Janet.
+  Fameuse.                     Red Canada.
+  Jonathan.                    Willow Twig.
+  Tolman Sweet.
+
+APPLES FOR THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST.
+
+  Early Harvest.               Nickajack.
+  Carolina Juice.              Maverack's Sweet.
+  Red Astrachan.               Batchelor or King.
+  Gravenstein.                 Buff.
+  American Summer Pearmain.    Shockley.
+  Julian.                      Ben Davis.
+  Mangum.                      Hall.
+  Fall Pippin.                 Mallecarle.
+  Maiden's Blush.              Horse.
+  Summer Rose.                 Bonum.
+  Porter.                      Large Striped Pearmain.
+  Rambo.                       Rawle's Janet.
+  Large Early Bough.           Disharoon.
+  Fall Queen, or Ladies'       Meigs.
+    Favorite.                  Cullasaga.
+  Oconee Greening.             Camack's Sweet.
+
+Some varieties are included in all these lists, showing that the best
+cultivators regard some of our finest apples as adapted to all parts of
+the country. A careful comparison of Hooper's lists, as recommended by
+the best Western cultivators, whose names are there mentioned, will show
+that they name the same best varieties, with a few additions.
+
+We have carefully examined the varieties recommended by Ernst, by
+Kirtland and Elliott, by Barry, and by the national convention of
+fruit-growers, and find a general agreement on the main varieties. There
+are some differences of opinion, but they are minor. They have left out
+some of Downing's list, and added some, as a matter of course. All this
+only goes to show the established character of our main varieties. Out
+of all these, select a dozen of those named, in most of the lists, and
+you will have all that ever need be cultivated for profit. The best six
+might be still better. Yet, in your localities, you will find good ones
+not named in the books, and new ones will be constantly rising.
+
+Downing adds that "Newtown Pippin does not succeed generally at the
+West, yet in some locations they are very fine. Rhode Island Greening
+and Baldwin generally fail in many sections, while in others they are
+excellent."
+
+Now, it is contrary to all laws of vegetation and climate, that a given
+fruit should be good in one county and useless in the next, if they have
+an equal chance in each place. A suitable preparation of the soil, in
+supplying, in the specific manures, what it may lack, getting scions
+from equally healthy trees, and grafting upon healthy apple-seedling
+stocks--observing our principles of acclimation--_and not one of our
+best apples will fail, in any part of North America_.
+
+On a given parallel of latitude, a man may happen to plant a tree upon a
+fine calcareous soil, and it does well. Another chances to plant one
+upon a soil of a different character, and it does not succeed. It is
+then proclaimed that fruit succeeds well in one locality, and is useless
+in another near by and in the same latitude. The truth is, had the
+latter supplied calcareous substances to his deficient soil, as he might
+easily have done, in bones, plaster, lime, &c., the fruit would have
+done equally well in both cases. We should like to see this subject
+discussed, as it never has been in any work that has come under our
+observation. It would redeem many a section from a bad reputation for
+fruit-growing, and add much to the luxuries of thousands of our
+citizens. Apples can be successfully and profitably grown on every farm
+of arable land in North America. We present, in the following cuts, a
+few of our best apples, in their usual size and form. Some are
+contracted for the want of room on the page. We shall describe a few
+varieties, in our opinion the best of any grown in this country. These
+are all that need be cultivated, and may be adapted to all localities.
+We lay aside all technical terms in our description, which we give, not
+for purposes of identification, but to show their true value for
+profitable culture. The quality of fruit, habits of the tree, and time
+of maturity, are all that are necessary, for any practical purpose.
+
+NICKAJACK.--_Synonyms_--Wonder, Summerour.
+
+Origin, North Carolina. Tree vigorous, and a constant prolific bearer.
+Fruit large, skin yellowish, shaded land striped with crimson, and
+sprinkled with lightish dots. Yellowish flesh, fine subacid flavor.
+Tender, crisp, and juicy. Season, November to April.
+
+BALDWIN.--_Synonyms_--Late Baldwin, Woodpecker, Pecker, Steele's Red
+Winter.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Stands at the head of all apples, in the Boston market. Fruit large and
+handsome. Tree hardy, and an abundant bearer. It is of the family of
+Esopus Spitzenburg. Yellowish white flesh, crisp and beautiful flavor,
+from a mingling of the acid and saccharine. Season, from November to
+March. On some rich western soils, it is disposed to bitter rot, which
+may be easily prevented, by application to the soil of lime and potash.
+
+CANADA RED.--_Synonyms_--Old Nonsuch, Richfield Nonsuch, Steele's Red
+Winter.
+
+An old fruit in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tree not a great grower,
+but a profuse bearer. Good in Ohio, Michigan, and other Western states.
+Retains its fine flavor to the last. January to May.
+
+BELLFLOWER.--_Synonyms_--Yellow Bellflower, Lady Washington, Yellow
+Belle-fleur.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit very large, pale lemon yellow, with a blush in the sun. Subacid,
+juicy, crisp flesh. Tree vigorous, regular and excellent bearer. Season,
+November to March. Highly valuable.
+
+EARLY HARVEST.--_Synonyms_--Early French Reinette, Prince's Harvest,
+July Pippin, Yellow Harvest, Large White Juneating, Tart Bough.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The best early apple. Bright straw color. Subacid, white, tender, juicy,
+and crisp. Equally good for cooking and the dessert. Season, the whole
+month of July in central New York; earlier south, and later north, as of
+all other varieties.
+
+RED ASTRACHAN.--Brought to England from Sweden in 1816. One of the most
+beautiful apples in the whole list. Fruit very large, and very smooth
+and fair. Color deep crimson, with a little greenish yellow in the shade
+and occasionally a little russet near the stalk. Flesh white and crisp,
+rich acid flavor. Gather as soon as nearly ripe, or it will become
+mealy. Abundant bearer. July and August.
+
+ESOPUS SPITZENBURG.--_Synonym_--True Spitzenburg.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Large, fine flavored, lively red fruit. It is everywhere well known, as
+one of the very best apples ever cultivated, both for cooking and the
+desert. December to February, and often good even into April. A very
+great bearer.
+
+KING OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.--_Synonym_--King Apple.
+
+This is an abundant annual bearer. Skin rather yellowish, shaded with
+red and striped with crimson. Flesh rather coarse, but juicy and tender,
+with a very agreeable vinous aromatic flavor. One of the best. December
+and March.
+
+RHODE ISLAND GREENING.--_Synonyms_--Burlington Greening, Jersey
+Greening, Hampshire Greening.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A universal favorite, everywhere known. Acid, lively, aromatic,
+excellent alike for the dessert and kitchen. Great bearer. November to
+March. It is said to fail on some rich alluvial soils at the West. Avoid
+root grafting, and apply the specific manures, and we will warrant it
+everywhere.
+
+BONUM.--_Synonym_--Magnum Bonum.
+
+From North Carolina. Fruit large, from light to dark red. Flesh yellow,
+subacid, rich, and delicious. Tree hardy, vigorous, and an early and
+abundant bearer.
+
+AMERICAN GOLDEN RUSSET.--_Synonyms_--Sheep Nose, Golden Russet,
+Bullock's Pippin, Little Pearmain.
+
+The English Golden Russet is a variety cultivated in this country, but
+much inferior to the above. The fruit is small, but melting juicy, with
+a very pleasant flavor. It is one of the most regular and abundant
+bearers known. Tree hardy and thrifty. October to January. We know from
+raising and using it at the West, that it is one of the very best.
+
+PIPPIN, FALL.--Confounded with Holland Pippin and several other
+varieties.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A noble fruit, unsurpassed by any other autumn apple. Very large,
+equally adapted to table and kitchen. Fine yellow, when fully ripe, with
+a few dots. Flesh is white, mellow, and richly aromatic. October and
+December. A fair bearer, though not so great as many others.
+
+NEWTOWN PIPPIN.--_Synonyms_--Green Newtown Pippin, Green Winter Pippin,
+American Newtown Pippin, Petersburg Pippin.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is put down as the first of all apples. It commands the highest
+price, in the London market. It keeps long without the least shriveling
+or loss of flavor. Fruit medium size, olive green, with small gray
+specks. Flesh greenish white, juicy, crisp, and of an exceedingly
+delicious flavor. _The best keeping apple_, good for eating from
+December to May.
+
+The yellow pippin, is another variety nearly as good.
+
+PORTER.--A Massachusetts fruit, very fair; a very great bearer. Is a
+favorite in Boston. Deserves general cultivation. September and into
+October.
+
+SMOKEHOUSE.--_Synonyms_--Mill Creek Vandevere, English Vandevere.
+
+An old variety from Pennsylvania, where the original tree grew by a
+gentleman's smoke-house; hence its name. Skin yellow, shaded with
+crimson, sprinkled with large gray or brown dots. September to February.
+One of the very best for cooking.
+
+RAMBO.--_Synonyms_--Romanite, Bread and cheese apple, Seek-no-further.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is a great fall apple. Medium size, flat, yellowish white in the
+shade, and marbled with pale yellow and red in the sun, and speckled
+with large rough dots. Flesh greenish white, rich, subacid. October to
+December.
+
+CANADA REINETTE.--This has ten synonyms in Europe, which indicates its
+popularity. In this country it is known only under the above name. Fruit
+of the very largest size. A good bearer. The quality is in all respects
+good. Lively, subacid flavor. December to April, unless allowed to hang
+on the tree too long. Pick early in the fall.
+
+ROME BEAUTY.--_Synonyms_--Roman Beauty, Gillett's Seedling.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit large, yellow, ground shaded, and striped with red, and sprinkled
+with little dots. Flesh yellowish, juicy, tender, subacid. Bears every
+year a great crop of very large showy apples. It is not superior in
+flesh or flavor, but keeps and sells very well. Always must be very
+profitable, and hence very popular.
+
+AUTUMN SWEET BOUGH.--_Synonyms_--Late Bough, Fall Bough, Summer Bell
+Flower, Philadelphia Sweet.
+
+Tree very vigorous and productive. Fruit medium. Skin smooth, pale
+yellow with a few brown dots. Flesh white, tender, sweet vinous flavor.
+One of the best dessert sweet apples. August and October.
+
+WESTFIELD SEEK-NO-FURTHER.--_Synonyms_--Seek-no-further, Red Winter
+Pearmain, Connecticut Seek-no-further.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit large, pale dull red, sprinkled with obscure russety yellow dots.
+Flesh white, tender and fine-grained. On all accounts good. October to
+February according to Downing. Elliott says from December to February.
+But the doctors often disagree. So you had better eat your apples when
+they are good, whether it be October or December, or according to
+Downing, Elliott, or Hooper.
+
+RIBSTON PIPPIN.--_Synonyms_--Glory of York, Travers', Formosa Pippin,
+Rock hill's Russet.
+
+This occupies as high a place in England, as any other apple. In this
+country, two or three others, as Baldwin and Newtown Pippin, are more
+highly esteemed. This is most successfully grown in the colder parts of
+the United States and Canada. Fruit medium, deep yellow, firm, crisp;
+flavor sharp aromatic. November to April.
+
+NORTHERN SPY.--This is a new American variety, with no synonyms. It
+originated near Rochester, N. Y.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There is not a better dessert apple known. It retains its exceedingly
+pleasant juiciness, and excellent flavor from January to June. In
+western New York, they have been carried to the harvest field, in July
+in excellent condition. A fair bearer of beautiful fruit. Subacid with a
+peculiar freshness of flavor. Dark stripes of purplish red in the sun,
+but a greenish pale yellow in the shade. High culture and an open top
+for admission of the sun, affects the fruit more favorably than any
+other.
+
+ROXBURY RUSSET.--_Synonyms_--Boston Russet, Putnam Russet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+An excellent fruit, and prodigious bearer. Medium size, flesh greenish
+white, rather juicy, and subacid. Good in January, and one of the best
+in market in June.
+
+There are other russets of larger size, but much inferior. This should
+be in every collection. It is not first in richness and flavor, but it
+is superior to most in productiveness, and is one of the best keepers.
+
+LARGE YELLOW BOUGH.--_Synonyms_--Early Sweet Bough, Sweet Harvest,
+Bough.
+
+No harvest-apple equals this, except the EARLY HARVEST. Excellent for
+the dessert, but rather sweet for pies and sauce. Fruit above medium.
+Tree a moderate grower, but a profuse bearer. Flesh white and very
+tender. Very sweet and sprightly. July and August. Should have a place,
+even in a small collection.
+
+SWAAR.--One of the best American fruits. Its name in Dutch, where it
+originated on the Hudson River, means heavy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Fruit is large, and when fully ripe, of a dead gold color, dotted with
+many brown specks. Flesh yellowish, fine grained, and tender. Flavor
+aromatic and exceedingly rich. Bears good crops. December to March.
+
+WINESAP.--This is one of the best apples for cider, and good also for
+the table and kitchen. Fruit hangs long on the tree without injury. It
+is very productive, and does well on a variety of soils. Very fine in
+the West. Yellow flesh, very firm, and high flavored. November to May.
+Deservedly, a very popular orchard variety.
+
+MAIDEN'S BLUSH.--A comparatively new variety from New Jersey. Remarkably
+beautiful. Admired as a dessert fruit, and equally good for the kitchen
+and for drying. Clear lemon yellow, with a blush cheek, sometimes a
+brilliant red cheek. Rapid growing tree, with a fine spreading head,
+bearing most abundantly. August and October.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+LADIES' SWEETING.--The finest sweet apple, for dessert in winter, that
+has yet been produced. Skin smooth and nearly covered with red, in the
+sun. Flesh is greenish white, very tender, juicy, and crisp. Without any
+shriveling or loss of flavor, it keeps till May. So good a winter and
+spring sweet apple is a desideratum in any orchard or garden.
+
+The foregoing are all that any practical cultivator will need. Most will
+select from our list, perhaps half a dozen, which will be all they wish
+to cultivate. From our descriptions, which are not designed to enable
+planters to identify the varieties, but to ascertain their qualities,
+any one can select such as he prefers. And they are so generally known,
+that there will be but little danger of getting varieties, different
+from those ordered.
+
+We subjoin, from Hooker's excellent Western Fruit-Book, the following--
+
+
+LIST OF APPLES FOR THE WESTERN STATES.
+
+"The following list," says Hooker, "contains a catalogue of the most
+popular varieties of apples, recommended by various pomological
+societies of the United States for the Western states." These varieties
+can be obtained of all respectable nurserymen. The list may be of use to
+some cultivators in the different states mentioned. The general
+qualities of the best of these will be found in our descriptions under
+the cuts:--
+
+_Baldwin._--Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Roxbury Russet._--Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Rhode Island Greening._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Swaar._--Ohio, Illinois, Michigan.
+
+_Esopus Spitzenburg._--Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio.
+
+_Early Harvest._--Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
+Iowa.
+
+_Sweet Bough._--Illinois, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio.
+
+_Summer Rose._--Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Fall Pippin._--Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Belmont._--Michigan, Ohio.
+
+_Golden Sweet._--Missouri.
+
+_Red Astrachan._--Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Jonathan._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+_Early Strawberry._--Ohio.
+
+_Danvers Winter Sweet._--Ohio.
+
+_American Summer Pearmain._--Illinois.
+
+_Maiden Blush._--Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Porter._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+_Gravenstein._--Ohio.
+
+_Vandevere._--Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Yellow Bellflower._--Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri,
+Illinois.
+
+_Fameuse._--Illinois.
+
+_Newtown Pippin._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Rambo._--Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois.
+
+_Smokehouse._--Virginia, Indiana.
+
+_Fallawalden._--Ohio.
+
+_Golden Russet._--Ohio, Illinois.
+
+_Wine Sap._--Ohio, Illinois.
+
+_White Bellflower._--Missouri, Illinois.
+
+_Holland Pippin._--Michigan, Missouri, Indiana.
+
+_Raule's Janet._--Iowa, Virginia, Illinois.
+
+_Lady Apple._--Ohio, Missouri.
+
+For the value of these varieties, in the states mentioned, you have the
+authority of the best pomological societies. The several states are
+mentioned so frequently, that it will be seen that most of them are
+adapted to all the states. Attend to acclimation and manure, and guard
+against insects, and they will all flourish, in all parts of the West
+and of the Union.
+
+
+APRICOT.
+
+This is a fruit about half-way between a peach and a plum. The stone is
+like the plum, and the flesh rather more like the peach. It is esteemed,
+principally, because it comes earlier in the season than anything else
+of the kind.
+
+It is used as a dessert-fruit, for preserving, drying, and various
+purposes in cookery. It does well on plum-stock, and best in good deep,
+moist loam, manured as the peach and plum. The best varieties produce
+their like from the seed. Seedlings are more hardy than any grafted
+trees. Grafts on plums are much better than on the peach. The latter
+seldom produce good hardy, thrifty trees, although many persist in
+trying them. The apricot is a favorite tree for espalier training
+against walls and fences, in small yards, where it bears luxuriantly. It
+also makes a good handsome standard tree for open cultivation.
+
+It is as much exposed to depredations from curculio as the plum, and
+must be treated in the same way. Cultivation same as peach. It produces
+its fruit, like the peach, only on wood of the previous year's growth;
+hence it must be pruned like the peach. Especially must it be headed in
+well, to secure the best crop.
+
+_Varieties_ are quite numerous, a few of which only deserve
+cultivation. Any of the nine following varieties are good:--
+
+BROWN'S EARLY.--Yellow, with red cheek. A very productive, great grower.
+
+NEWHALL'S EARLY.--Bright-orange color, with deep-red cheek. A good
+cling-stone variety, every way worthy of cultivation.
+
+MOORPARK.--Yellow, with ruddy cheek. An enormous bearer, though of slow
+growth. It is a freestone variety of English origin, and needing a
+little protection in our colder latitudes.
+
+DUBOIS' EARLY GOLDEN.--Color, pale-orange. Very hardy and productive. In
+1846, the original tree at Fishkill, N. Y., bore ninety dollars' worth
+of fruit.
+
+LARGE EARLY.--Orange, but red in the sun. An excellent, early,
+productive variety.
+
+HEMSKIRKE.--Bright-orange, with red cheek. An English variety, vigorous
+tree, and good bearer.
+
+PEACH.--Yellow, with deep-brown on the sun-side. An excellent French
+variety.
+
+BREDA.--Deep-orange, with blush spots in the sun. A vigorous,
+productive, African variety.
+
+ROMAN.--Pale-yellow, with occasionally red dots. Good for northern
+latitudes.
+
+From these, planters may select those that best suit their localities
+and fancy. They are a little liable to be frost-bitten in the blossoms,
+as they bloom very early. Otherwise they are always very productive.
+They are ornamental, both in the leaf and in the blossom. Eaten plain,
+before thoroughly ripe, they are not healthy; otherwise, harmless and
+delicious. Every garden should have half a dozen.
+
+
+ARTICHOKE.
+
+There are two plants known by this name. The Jerusalem artichoke, so
+called, not from Jerusalem in Palestine, but a corruption of the Italian
+name which signifies the tuber-rooted sunflower. The tubers are only
+used for pickling. They make a very indigestible pickle, and the plant
+is injurious to the garden, so they had better not be raised.
+
+The artichoke proper grows something like a thistle, bearing certain
+heads, that, at a particular stage of their growth, are fine for food.
+
+The soil should be prepared as for asparagus, only fifteen inches deep
+will do well. The plot of ground should be where the water will not
+stand on it at any time in the winter, as it will on most level gardens.
+This will kill the roots. When a new bed is made with slips from old
+plants, carefully separate vigorous shoots, remove superfluous leaves,
+plant five inches deep in rows five feet apart, and two feet apart in
+the rows. Keep very clean of weeds. The first year, some pretty good,
+though not full-sized heads will be produced. Plant fresh beds each
+year, and you will have good heads from July to November. Small heads
+will grow out along the stalk like the sunflower. Remove most of these
+small ones when they are about the size of hens' eggs, and the others
+will grow large. When the scales begin to diverge, but before the
+blossoms come out, is the time to cut them for use. Lay brush over them
+to prevent suffocation, and cover with straw in winter, to protect from
+severest cold. Too much warmth, however, is more injurious than frost.
+
+Spring-dress much like asparagus. Remove from each plant all the stocks
+but two or three of the best. Those removed are good for a new bed. A
+bed, properly made, will last four or five years.
+
+To save seed, bend down a few good heads, so as to prevent water from
+standing in them; tie them to a stake, until the seed is matured. But,
+like Early York cabbage, imported seed is better. The usual way of
+serving them is, the full heads boiled. In Italy the small heads are cut
+up, with oil, salt, and pepper. This vegetable would be a valuable
+accession to American kitchen gardens.
+
+
+ASHES.
+
+Are one of the best applications to the soil, for almost all plants.
+Leeched ashes are a valuable manure, but not equal to unleached. Few
+articles about a house or farm should be saved with greater care. Be as
+choice of them as of your small change. They are worth three times as
+much on the land as they can be sold for other purposes. On corn, at
+first hoeing, they are nearly equal to plaster. On onions and vines,
+they promote the growth and keep off the insects. Sprinkle on dry, when
+plants are damp, but not too wet. Do not put wet ashes on plants, or
+water while the ashes are on. It will kill them. Mix ashes and plaster
+with other manures, and their power will be greatly increased. Mixed in
+manure of hot-beds, they accelerate the heat. On sour land they are
+equal to lime for correcting the acidity.
+
+
+ASPARAGUS.
+
+This is a universal favorite in the vegetable garden. By the application
+of sand and compost, the soil should be kept loose, to allow the sprouts
+to spring easily from the crowns. Propagation is best effected by seed,
+transplanting after one year's growth. Older roots divided and
+transplanted are of some value, but not equal to young roots, nor will
+they last as long.
+
+_Preparation of the soil_ for an asparagus-bed is most important to
+success. Dig a trench on one edge of the plat designed for the bed, and
+the length of it, eighteen inches wide and two feet deep. Put in the
+bottom one foot of good barn-yard manure, and tread down. Then spade
+eighteen inches more, by the side of and as deep as the other, throwing
+the soil upon the manure in the trench. Fill with manure and proceed as
+before, and so until the whole plat has been trenched; then wheel the
+earth from the first ditch to the other side and fill into the last
+trench, thus making all level. If there is danger that water will stand
+in the bottom, drain by a blind ditch. If this is objected to as too
+expensive, let it be remembered that such a bed, with a little annual
+top-dressing, will be good for twenty years, which is the age at which
+asparagus-plants begin to deteriorate; then a new bed should be ready to
+take its place.
+
+_Planting._--Mark the plat into beds five feet wide, leaving paths two
+feet wide between them. In each bed put four rows lengthwise, which will
+be just fifteen inches apart, and set plants fifteen inches apart in the
+row. Dig a trench six inches wide and six inches deep for each row; put
+an inch of rich mould in the bottom; set the plants on the mould, with
+the roots spread naturally, with the ends pointing a little downward. Be
+very particular about the position of the roots. Fill the trench, and
+round it up a little with well-mixed soil and fine manure. The bed is
+then perfect, and will improve for many years.
+
+_After-Culture._--In the fall, after the frost has killed the stalks,
+cut them down and burn them on the bed. Cover the bed with fine rotted
+manure, to the depth of two inches, and one half-bushel salt to each
+square rod. As soon as frost is out in spring, with a fork work the
+top-dressing into the soil to the depth of four inches, and stir the
+soil to the depth of eight inches between the rows, using care not to
+touch the crowns of the roots with the fork.
+
+_Cutting_ should never be performed until the third year. Set out the
+plants when one year old, let them grow one year in the bed, and the
+next year they will be fit to cut. Cut all the shoots at a suitable age,
+up to the last days of June. The shoots should be regularly cut just
+below the surface, when they are four or six inches high. If you are
+tempted to cut after the 25th of June, leave two or three thrifty shoots
+to each root, to grow up for seed, or you will weaken the plants, and
+they will die in winter. This is the reason why so many vacancies are
+seen in many asparagus beds. This plant may be forced in hotbeds, so as
+to yield an abundance of good shoots long before they will start in the
+open air, affording an early luxury to those who can afford it.
+
+This vegetable is equal or superior to green peas, and by taking all the
+pains recommended above, in the beginning, an abundance can be raised
+for twenty years, on the same bed, at a very trifling cost. Early
+radishes and other vegetables can be raised, between the rows, without
+any harm to the asparagus.
+
+
+BALM.
+
+This is a medicinal plant, very useful, and easily raised. A strong
+infusion of the leaves, drank freely for some time by a nervous,
+hypochondriacal person, is, perhaps, better than any other medicine. It
+is also good in flatulency and fevers.
+
+Its _propagation_ is by slips or roots. It is perennial, affording a
+supply for many years. Gather just as the blossoms are appearing, and
+dry quickly in a slow oven, or in the shade. Press and do up in white
+papers, and keep in a tight, dry drawer, until needed for use.
+
+
+BARBERRY.
+
+[Illustration: Barberries.]
+
+A prickly shrub, from five to ten feet high, growing wild in this
+country and in Europe, on poor, hard soils, or in moist situations, by
+walls, stones, or fences.
+
+Its _propagation_ is by seeds, suckers, or offshoots.
+
+This shrub is used for jellies, tarts, pickles, &c. Preserves made of
+equal parts of barberry and sweet apples, or outer-part of fine
+water-melons, are very superior. It is also one of the best shrubs for
+hedge.
+
+The bark has much of the tannin principle, and with the wood, is used
+for coloring yellow. Shrub, blossoms, and fruit, are quite ornamental,
+forming a beautiful hedge, but rather inclined to spread. Will do well
+on any land and in any situation. The discussion in New England about
+its blasting contiguous fields of grain, is about as sensible as the old
+witchcraft mania. Every garden should have two or three.
+
+
+BARLEY.
+
+Does best on land which was hoed the previous year. If properly tilled,
+such land is rich, free from weeds, and easily pulverized. Sod, plowed
+deep in the fall, rolled early in the spring, well harrowed, the seed
+sown and harrowed in, and all rolled level, will produce a good crop.
+Two bushels of seed should be sowed on an acre, unless the land be very
+rich; in that case, one half-bushel less. Essential to a good crop is
+rain about the time of heading and filling. Hence early sowing is always
+surest. In many parts of the country it is of little use to sow barley,
+unless it be gotten in VERY EARLY. In not more than one season in twelve
+can you get a good crop of barley from late sowing in all the middle and
+western states. Barley is more favorably affected than any other grain,
+by soaking twenty-four hours before sowing, and mixing with dry ashes. A
+weak solution of nitre is best for soaking the seed.
+
+_Varieties_ are two, four, and six rowed. The two-rowed grows the
+tallest, and is most conveniently harvested. It is controverted whether
+the six-rowed variety yields the largest crop to the acre. If the
+weather be dry, and the worms attack the young plants, rolling when two
+or three inches high, with a heavy roller, will save and increase the
+crop. Rolling is a great help to the harvesting, as it levels the
+surface.
+
+_Harvesting_ should always be attended to just as it turns, but by all
+means before the straw becomes dry. If it stands up, cut with cradle or
+reaper, and bind. If lodged, cut with a scythe, and cure in small cocks
+like clover. Standing until very ripe, or lying scattered until quite
+dry, is very wasteful.
+
+_Products_ are all the way from fifteen to seventy bushels to the acre,
+according to season and cultivation. Reasonable care will secure an
+average annual crop of forty-five or fifty bushels per acre, which makes
+it a profitable crop while the demand continues. It is a good crop for
+ground feed for all animals, the beards being a little troublesome when
+fed whole. The straw is one of the very best for animals. Barley
+requires the use of the land only ninety days, leaving it in good
+condition for fall-grain.
+
+_Used_ for malting, and for food for men and beasts. It makes handsome
+flour and good bread. Hulled, it is a better article of food than rice.
+
+It succeeds well on land not stiff and tenacious enough for wheat, or
+moist and cool enough for oats. If farmers should raise only for malt,
+the nation would become drunk and poor on beer, and the market would be
+ruined. But raised as food, it is one of the most profitable
+agricultural products.
+
+
+BARNS.
+
+A barn should always front the north. The yard for stock should be on
+the south side, with tight fences for protection on the east and west.
+As this is designed for winter use, it is a great saving of comfort to
+the creatures. The barn-yard should be hollowed out by excavation, until
+four or five feet lower in the centre than on the edges. The border
+should be nearly level, inclining slightly toward the centre, to allow
+the liquid in the yard to run into it for purposes of manure. The front
+of a barn should be on the summit of a small rise of ground, to allow
+water to run away from the door, to prevent mud. In hilly countries it
+is very convenient to build barns by hills, so as to allow hay and grain
+to be drawn in near the top, and be thrown down, instead of being
+pitched up. These general principles are sufficient for all ordinary
+barns. Those who are able to build expensive barns had better build them
+circular, eight or sixteen square, and one hundred feet in diameter--the
+lower part, to top of stable, of stone. Let the stable extend all around
+next to the wall, and a floor over the stable, that teams may be driven
+all around to pitch into the bays, and upon the mows and scaffolds, at
+every point. Thus teams may go round and out the door at which they
+entered. Such a floor will accommodate several teams at the same time.
+The cellar should be in the centre, surrounded by the stable. Such a
+cellar would never freeze, and would hold roots enough for one hundred
+head of cattle, which the stable would easily accommodate. Let the
+mangers be around next the cellar, for convenience of feeding. Such a
+barn would be more convenient for a dairy of one hundred cows, or for
+winter-fattening of cattle, than any other form. It would cost no more
+than many barns in western New York that are not half as convenient.
+
+
+BEANS.
+
+These are divided into two classes--pole and bush beans. They are
+subdivided into many varieties. We omit the English, or horse-bean, as
+being less valuable, for any purpose, than our well-known beans or peas.
+Pole beans are troublesome to raise, and are only grown on account of
+excellence of quality, and to have successive gatherings from the same
+vines. Pole beans are only used for horticultural purposes.
+
+_Field-Beans._--For general culture there are three varieties of
+white--small, medium, and large. Of all known beans, we prefer the
+medium white. The China bean, white with a red face, is an early
+variety. All ripen nearly at the same time. It cooks almost as soon as a
+potato, and is good for the table; but it is less productive, and less
+saleable because not wholly white. For planting among corn, as for a
+very late crop, this bean is valuable, because it matures in so short a
+time. Good beans may be raised among corn, without injury to the
+corn-crop. This can only be done when it is designed to cultivate the
+corn but one way. Many fail in attempts to grow beans among corn, by
+planting them at first hoeing. The corn, having so much the start, will
+shade the beans and nearly destroy them. But plant at the same time of
+the corn, and they will mature before the corn will shade them much, and
+not be in the way even of the ordinary crop of pumpkins. But
+double-cropping land in this way, at any time, is of very doubtful
+utility. A separate plat of ground for each crop, in nearly all cases,
+is the most economical. To raise a good crop of beans, prepare the soil
+as thoroughly as for any other crop. Beans will mature on land so poor
+and hard as to be almost worthless for other crops. But a rich, mellow
+soil is as good for beans as anything else, though not so indispensable.
+Drill in with a planter as near together as possible, and allow a
+cultivator to pass between them. One bushel to the acre on ordinary
+land, and three fourths of a bushel on very rich land, is about the
+quantity of seed requisite. Hoe and cultivate them while young. Late
+cultivation is useless--more so than on most other crops. Beans should
+not be much hilled in hoeing, and should never be worked when wet. All
+plants with a rough stalk, like the bean, potato, and vine, are greatly
+injured, sometimes ruined, by having the earth stirred around them when
+they are wet, or even damp. Beans are usually pulled; this should be
+done when the latest pods are full-grown, but not dry. Place them in
+small bunches on the ground with the roots up. If the weather be dry,
+they need not be moved until time to draw them in. If the weather be
+damp, they should be stacked loosely in small stacks around poles, and
+covered with straw on the top, to shed rain. Always haul in when very
+dry. Avoid stacking if possible, for they are always wasted rapidly by
+moving. In drawing in, keep the rack under them covered with blankets to
+save those that shell.
+
+In pulling beans, be sure and take hold below the pods, otherwise the
+pods will crack; and although no harm appears then to be done, yet, when
+they dry, every pod that has been squeezed by pulling, will turn wrong
+side out, and the contents be wasted. If your beans are part ripe and
+the remainder green, and it is necessary to pull them to save the early
+ones, or guard against frost, when the ripe ones are dry, thrash them
+lightly. This will shell all the ripe ones, and none of the green ones.
+Put the straw upon a scaffold and thrash again in winter. Thus you will
+save all, and have beautiful beans. Bean-straw should always be kept dry
+for sheep in winter; it is equal to hay.
+
+_Garden-Beans._--There are many varieties, a few of which only should be
+cultivated. Having the best, there is no object in raising an inferior
+quality.
+
+The best early string-bean is the Early Mohawk; it will stand a pretty
+smart spring-frost without injury; comes early, and is good. Early
+Yellow, Early Black, and Quaker, or dun-colored, are also early and
+good.
+
+Refugee, or Thousand-to-one, are the best string-beans known; have a
+round, crisp, full, succulent pod; come as soon as the Mohawks are out
+of the way; and are very productive. Planted in August, they are
+excellent until frost; the very best for pickling. For an early
+shell-bean we recommend the China red-face; the white kidney and
+numerous other varieties are less certain and productive.
+
+_Running Beans_ are numerous. The true Lima, very large, greenish, when
+ripe and dry, is the richest bean known; is nearly as good in winter,
+cooked in the same way, as when shelled green. They are very productive,
+continuing in blossom till killed by frost. In warm countries they grow
+for years, making a tree, or growing like a large grapevine.
+
+The London Horticultural--called also Speckled Cranberry, and Wild
+Goose--is a very rich variety. The only objection is the difficulty of
+shelling; one only can be removed at once, because of the tenderness of
+the pod. The Carolina or butter bean often passes for the Lima. It has
+similar pods, the bean is of similar shape, but always white, instead of
+greenish like the Lima, and smaller, earlier, and of inferior quality.
+The Scarlet Runner, formerly only grown as an ornament on account of its
+great profusion of scarlet blossoms continuing until frost, is a very
+productive variety; pods very large and very succulent, making an
+excellent string-bean; a rich variety when dry, but objectionable on
+account of their dark color. The Red and the White Cranberries, Dutch
+Caseknife, and many other varieties, have good qualities, but are
+inferior to those mentioned above. Beans may be forwarded in hotbeds, by
+planting on sods six inches square, put bottom-up on the hotbed, and
+covered with fine mould; plant four beans on each sod; when frost is
+gone, remove the sod in the hill beside the pole, previously set, leave
+only two pole-beans to grow in a hill; they will always produce more
+than a greater number. A shrub six feet high, with the branches on, is
+better than a pole for any running bean; nearly twice as many will grow
+on a bush as on a pole. Use a crowbar for setting poles, or drive a
+stake down first, and set poles very deep, or they will blow down and
+destroy the beans.
+
+
+BEES AND BEEHIVES.
+
+The study of the honey-bee has been pursued with interest from remote
+ages. A work on bees, by De Montfort, published at Antwerp in 1649,
+estimates the number of treatises on this subject, before his time, at
+between five and six hundred. As that was two hundred and eight years
+ago, the number has probably increased to two thousand or more. We have
+some knowledge of the character of these early works, as far back as
+Democritus, four hundred and sixty years before the Christian era. The
+great men of antiquity gave particular attention to study and writing on
+the honey-bee.--Among them we notice Aristotle, Plato, Columella, Pliny,
+and Virgil. At a later period, we have Huber, Swammerdam, Warder,
+Wildman, _&c._ In our own day, we have Huish, Miner, Quinby, Weeks,
+Richardson, Langstroth, and a host of others. For the first two thousand
+years from the date of these works, the bee was treated mainly as a
+curious insect, rather than as a source of profit and luxury to man. And
+although Palestine was eulogized as a land flowing with milk and honey,
+before the Hebrews took possession of it, yet the science of
+_bee-culture_ was wholly unknown.
+
+In the earliest attention to bees, they were supposed to originate in
+the concentrated aroma of the sweetest and most beautiful flowers.
+Virgil, and others of his time, supposed them to come from the carcasses
+of dead animals. But the remarkable experiments of Huber, sixty years
+ago, developed many facts respecting their origin and economy.
+Subsequent observers have added still more to the stock of our knowledge
+respecting these wonderful creatures. The different stages of growth,
+from the minute egg of the queen to a full grown bee, and the precise
+time occupied by each, are well established. The three classes of bees,
+in every perfect colony, and the offices of each; their mechanical skill
+in constructing the different sized and shaped cells, for honey, for
+raising drones, workers, and queens, all differing according to the
+purposes for which they are intended; the wars of the queens, and their
+sovereignty over their respective colonies; the methods by which
+working-bees will raise a young queen, when the old one is destroyed,
+out of the larvae of common bees; the peculiar construction and
+situation of the queen cells; and, above all, the royal jelly (differing
+from everything else in the hive) which they manufacture for the food of
+young queens; the manner in which they ventilate their hives by a swift
+motion of their wings, causing the buzzing noise they make in a summer
+evening; their method of repairing broken comb, and building
+fortifications, before their entrances, at certain times, to keep out
+the sphinx--all these curious matters are treated fully in many of our
+works on bees. But we must forego the pleasure of presenting these at
+length, it being our sole object to enable all who follow our
+directions, so to manage bees as to render them profitable. In preparing
+the brief directions that follow, we have most carefully studied all the
+works, American and foreign, to which we could get access. Between this
+article and the best of those works there will be found a general
+agreement, except as it respects beehives. We present views of hives,
+that we are not aware have ever been written. The original idea, or new
+principle (which consists in constructing the hive with the entrance
+near the top), was suggested to us by Samuel Pierce, Esq., of Troy, N.
+Y., who is the great American inventor of cooking-ranges and stoves. We
+have carefully considered the principle in its various relations to the
+habits of the bee, and believe it correct. To most of our late works on
+honey-bees we have one serious objection: it is, that they bear on their
+face the evidence of having been written to make money, by promoting the
+sale of some patent hive. These works all have a little in common that
+is interesting; the remainder seems designed to oppose some former
+patent and commend a new one. They thus swell their volumes to a
+troublesome and expensive size, with that which is of no use to
+practical men. A work made to fight a patent, or to sell one, can not be
+reliable. The requisites to successful bee-management are the
+following:--
+
+1. Always have large, strong swarms. Such only are able successfully to
+contend with their enemies. This is done by uniting weak swarms, or
+sending back a young, feeble swarm when it comes out (as herein after
+directed).
+
+2. Use medium-sized hives. In too large hives, bees find it difficult to
+guard their territories. They also store up more honey than they need,
+and yield less to the cultivator. The main box should be one foot square
+by fifteen inches high. Make hives of new boards; plane smooth and paint
+white on the outside. The usual direction is to leave the inside rough,
+to aid in holding up the honey, but to plane the inside edges so as to
+make close joints. We counsel to plane the inside of the hive smooth,
+and draw a fine saw lightly length wise of the boards, to make the comb
+adhere. This will be a great saving of the time of bees, when it is
+worth the most in gathering honey. They always carry out all the sawdust
+from the inside of their hives. Better save their time by planing it
+off.
+
+3. To prevent robberies among bees, when a weak colony is attacked,
+close their entrances so that but one bee can pass at once, and they
+will then take care of themselves. To prevent a disposition to pillage,
+place all your hives in actual contact, on the sides, and make a
+communication between them, but not large enough to allow bees to pass.
+This will give the same scent to the whole, and make them feel like one
+family. Bees distinguish strangers only by the smell: hence, so
+connected, they will not quarrel or pillage.
+
+4. Comb is usually regarded better for not being more than two or three
+years old. The usual theory is, that cells fill up by repeated use, and,
+becoming smaller, render the bees raised in them diminutive. This is not
+probable, as a known habit of the bee is to clean out the cells before
+reusing them. Huber demonstrated that bees raised in drone-cells (which
+are always larger than for workers) grew no larger than in their own
+natural cells. And as bees build their cells the right size at first, it
+is probable they keep them so. Quinby assures us that bees have been
+grown twenty years in the same comb, and that the last were as large as
+the first. But for other reasons, it is better to change the comb. In
+all ordinary cases, it is better to transfer the swarm to a new hive
+every third year. Many think it best to use hives composed of three
+sections, seven and a half inches deep each, screwed together with
+strips of wood on the sides, and the top screwed on that it may easily
+be removed; thick paper or muslin should be pasted around, on the
+places of intersection, to guard against enemies; the two lower sections
+only allowed to contain bees--the upper one being designed for the
+honey-boxes, to be removed. Each spring, after two years old, the lower
+section is taken out and a new one put on the top, the cover of the old
+one having been first removed. This is the old "pyramidal beehive,"
+which is the title of a treatise on bees, by P. Ducouedic, translated
+from the French and abridged by Silas Dinsmore in 1829. This has
+recently been revived and patented as a new thing. We think with Quinby,
+that these hives are too expensive and too complicated, and that the
+great mass of cultivators will succeed best with hives of simple
+construction.
+
+5. Allowing bees to swarm in their own time and way is better than all
+artificial multiplication of colonies. If there are no small trees near
+the apiary, place bushes, upon which the bees will usually light, when
+they come out. If they seem determined to go away without lighting,
+throw sand or dust among them; this produces confusion, and causes them
+to settle near. The practice of ringing bells and drumming on tin, &c.,
+is usually ridiculed; but we believe it to be useful, and that on
+philosophic principles. The object to be secured is to confuse the swarm
+and drown the voice of the queen. The bees move only with their queen;
+hence, if anything prevents them from hearing her, confusion follows,
+and the swarm lights: therefore, any noise among them may answer the
+purpose, and save the swarm.
+
+To hive bees, place them on a clean white cloth, and set the hive over
+them, raised an inch or two by blocks under the corners. It is said that
+a little sweetened water or honey, applied to the inside of the hive,
+will incline the bees to remain. The best preparation is to fasten a
+piece of new white comb on the top of the inside of the hive. This is
+done by dipping the end of a piece of comb in melted beeswax, and
+sticking it to the top. Bees should never be allowed to send off more
+than two colonies in one season. To restrict them to one is still
+better. Excessive swarming is a precursor of destruction, rather than an
+evidence (as usually regarded) of prosperity. A given number of bees
+will make far less honey in two hives than in one, unless they are so
+numerous as greatly to crowd the hive. When a late swarm comes out, take
+away the queen, and they will immediately return. Any one may easily
+find the queen: she is always in the centre of the bunch into which the
+swarm collects on lighting. If they form two or three clusters, it is
+because they have that number of queens. Then all the queens should be
+destroyed. The following cuts of the three classes of bees will enable
+one to distinguish the queen.
+
+[Illustration: Working Bee. Queen. Drone.]
+
+The queen is sometimes, but not always, larger than the common bee; but
+her body is always longer, and blackish above and yellowish underneath.
+
+To unite any two swarms together, turn the hive you wish to empty
+bottom-up, and place the one into which you would have them go on the
+top of the other, with their mouths together; then tie a cloth around,
+at the place of intersection, to prevent the egress of the bees. Gently
+rap the lower hive on all sides, near the bottom, gradually rising until
+you reach the top of the lower hive, and all the bees will go into the
+upper one.
+
+In the same way, it is easy to remove a colony into a new hive, whenever
+you think they need changing. This should be performed in the dusk of
+the evening, and need occupy no more than half an hour. The hive should
+then be put in its place. Uniting weak new swarms, may be done whenever
+they come out; but changing a swarm from an old hive to a new one should
+be performed as early as the middle of June. If moths get in, change
+hives at any time when it is warm enough for bees to work, and give them
+all the honey in their old hive. If you discover moths too late for the
+bees to build comb in a new hive, take the queen from the hive infested
+with moths, and place it where the bees will unite with another colony,
+and feed them all the honey from the deserted hive. This, or the
+destruction of the bees and saving the honey, is always necessary, when
+moth-worms are in possession, unless they are so near the bottom, that
+all the comb around them may be cut out. Bees are fond of salt. Always
+keep some on a board near them.
+
+They also need water. If a rivulet runs near the apiary, it is well. If
+not, place water in shallow pans, with pebbles in them, on which the
+bees can stand to drink. Change the water daily. It is too late to speak
+of the improvidence of killing bees, to get their honey. Use boxes of
+any size or construction you choose. In common hives, boxes should be
+attached to the sides, and not placed on the top. It is a wasteful tax
+upon the time and strength of loaded bees, to make them travel through
+the whole length of the hive, into boxes on the top. Place boxes as near
+as possible to their entrance or below that entrance. Bees should be
+kept out of the boxes until they have pretty well filled the hive, or
+they may begin to raise young bees in the boxes.
+
+_Wintering bees_ successfully, is one of the most difficult matters in
+bee-culture. Two evils are to be guarded against, dampness and
+suffocation. Excessive dampness, sometimes causes frost about the
+entrance that fills it up and suffocation ensues. Sometimes snow falls,
+or is blown over the entrance, and the bees die in a few hours for the
+want of air. Many large colonies, with plenty of honey, are thus
+destroyed. Dampness is very injurious to bees on other accounts. In a
+good bee-house there is no danger from snow, and little from dampness.
+Bees, not having honey enough for winter, should be fed in pleasant fall
+weather, after they have nearly completed the labors of the season.
+Weighing hives is unnecessary. A moderate degree of judgment will
+determine whether a swarm has a sufficient store for winter. If not,
+feed them. Never give bees dry sugar. They take up their food, as an
+elephant does water in his trunk; it, therefore, should be in a liquid
+form. Boil good sugar for ten minutes in ale or beer, leaving it about
+as thick as honey. Put it in a feed trough; which should be
+flat-bottomed.
+
+Fasten together thin slats, one fourth of an inch apart, so as to fit
+the inside of the feed trough and lie on the surface of the liquid, so
+as to rise and fall with it. Put this in a box and attach it to the
+hive, as for taking box-honey, and the bees will work it all up. Put
+out-door, it tempts other bees, and may lead to quarrels, and robbery.
+
+It is not generally known, that a good swarm of bees may be destroyed,
+by feeding them plenty of honey, early in the spring. They carry it in
+and fill up their empty cells and leave no room for raising young bees;
+hence the whole is ruined for want of inhabitants, to take the places of
+those that get destroyed, or die of age.
+
+To winter bees well, utterly exclude the light during all the cold
+weather, until it becomes so warm, that they will not get so chilled
+when out that they can not return. Intense cold is not injurious to
+bees, provided they are kept in the hive and are dry. A large swarm,
+will not eat two pounds of honey during the whole cold winter, if kept
+from the light. When tempted out, every warm day they come into the
+sunshine and empty themselves, and return to consume large quantities of
+honey. Kept in the dark, they are nearly torpid, eat but a mere trifle,
+and winter well. Whatever your hive or house, then, keep your bees
+entirely from the light, in cold weather. This is the only reason why
+bees keep so well in a dark dry cellar, or buried in the ground, with
+something around them, to preserve them from moisture, and a conductor
+through the surface, to admit fresh air. It is not because it keeps out
+the cold, but because it excludes the light, and renders the bees
+inactive. Gilmore's patent bee-house, is a great improvement on this
+account.
+
+Of the diseases of bees, such as dysentery, &c., we shall not treat. All
+that can profitably be done, to remedy these evils, is secured by salt,
+water, and properly-prepared food, as given above.
+
+But the great question in bee-culture is, How to prevent the depredation
+of the wax-moth? To this subject, much study has been given, and
+respecting it many theories have been advanced. The following
+suggestions are, to us, the most satisfactory. The miller, that
+deposites the egg, which soon changes to the worm, so destructive in the
+beehive, commences to fly about, at dark. In almost every country-house,
+they are seen about the lights in the evening. They are still during all
+the day. They are remarkably attracted by lights in the evening. Hence
+our first rule:--
+
+1. Place a teasaucer of melted lard or oil, with a piece of cotton
+flannel for a wick, in or near the apiary at dusk; light it and allow it
+to burn till near morning, expiring before daylight. This done every
+night during the month of June, will be very effectual.
+
+2. Keep grass and weeds away from the immediate vicinity of your apiary.
+Let the ground be kept clean and smooth. This destroys many of the
+hiding-places of the miller, and forces him away to spend the day. This
+precaution has many other advantages.
+
+3. Keep large strong colonies. They will be able to guard their
+territories, and contend with this and all other enemies.
+
+4. Never have any opening in a beehive near the bottom, during the
+season of millers (see Beehive). Let the openings be so small, that only
+one or two bees can pass at once. To accommodate the bees, increase the
+number of openings. Millers will seldom enter among a strong swarm, with
+such openings. All around the bottom, it should be so tight, that no
+crevice can be found, in which a miller can deposite an egg. Better
+plaster around, closely, with some substance, the place of contact
+between the hive and the board on which it stands, and keep it entirely
+tight during the time in which the millers are active.
+
+5. If, through negligence, worms have got into a hive, examine it at
+once; and if they are near the bottom only, within sight and reach, cut
+out the comb around them, and remove them from the hive. If this is not
+practicable, transfer the swarm to a new hive, or unite it with another,
+without delay.
+
+6. The great remedy for the moth is in the right construction of a
+BEEHIVE.
+
+Whatever the form of the hive you use, have the entrance within three or
+four inches of the top. Millers are afraid of bees; they will not go
+among them, unless they are in a weak, dispirited condition. They steal
+into the hive when the bees are quiet, up among the comb, or when they
+hang out in warm weather, but are still and quiet. If the hive be open
+on all sides (as is so often recommended), the miller enters on some
+side where the bees are not. Now bees are apt to go to the upper part of
+the hive and comb, and leave the lower part and entrance exposed. If the
+entrance be at the upper part, the bees will fill it and be all about
+it. A bee can easily pass through a cluster of bees, and enter or leave
+a hive; but a miller will never undertake it: this, then, will be a
+perfect safeguard against the depredations of the moth. This hive is
+better on every account. Moisture rises: in a hive open only at the
+bottom, it is likely to rise to the top of the hive and injure the bees;
+with the opening near the top it easily escapes. The objection that
+would be soonest raised to this suggestion is, that bees need a good
+circulation of fresh air, and such a hive would not favor it. To this we
+reply, a hive open near the top secures the best possible air to the
+swarm; any foul air has opportunity freely to escape. That peculiar
+humming heard in a hive in hot weather is produced by a certain motion
+of the wings of the bees, designed to expel vitiated air, and admit the
+pure, by keeping up a current. In the daytime, when the weather is hot,
+you will see a few bees near the entrance on the outside, and hear
+others within, performing this service, and, when fatigued, others take
+their place. This is one of the most wonderful things in all the habits
+and instincts of bees. They thus keep a pure atmosphere in a crowded
+hive in hot weather. Now, it would require much less fanning to expel
+bad air from a hive open at the top, than from one where all that air
+had to be forced down, through an opening at the bottom. This theory is
+sustained by the natural habits of bees in their wild state. Wild bees,
+that select their own abodes, are found in trees and crevices of rocks.
+They usually build their combs _downward_ from their entrance, and their
+abode is air-tight at the bottom; they have no air only what is admitted
+at their entrance, near the top of their dwelling, and with no current
+of air only what they choose to produce by fanning. The purest
+atmosphere in any room is where it enters and passes out at the top; in
+such a room only does the external atmosphere circulate naturally. It is
+on the same principle that bees keep better buried than in any other
+way, provided only they are kept dry. Yet they are in a place air-tight,
+except the small conductor to the atmosphere above them. The old
+"pyramidal beehive" of Ducouedic, with three sections, one above the
+other, allowing the removal of the lower one each spring, and the
+placing of a new one on the top--thus changing the comb, so that none
+shall ever be more than two years old, with the opening always within
+three or four inches of the top, is the best of the patent hives. We
+prefer plain, simple hives. The general adoption of this principle,
+whatever hives are used, would be a new era in the science of
+bee-culture. No beehive should ever be exposed to the direct rays of the
+sun in a beehouse. A hive standing alone, with a free circulation of air
+on every side, will not be seriously injured by the sun. But when the
+rays are intercepted by walls or boards, in the rear and on the sides,
+they are very disastrous. Other hints, such as clearing off
+occasionally, in all seasons except in the cold of winter, the bottom
+board, &c., are matters upon which we need not dwell. No cultivator
+would think of neglecting them. Let no one be alarmed at finding dead
+bees on the bottom when clearing out a hive; bees live only from five to
+seven months, and their places are then supplied with young ones. The
+above suggestions followed, and a little care taken in cultivating the
+fruits, grains, and grasses, that yield the best flowers for bees,
+_would secure uniform success_ in raising honey. This is one of the
+finest luxuries; and, what is a great desideratum, it is within the easy
+reach of every poor family, even, in all the rural districts of the
+land.
+
+Good honey, good vegetables, and good fruit, like rain and sunshine,
+may be the property of all. The design of this volume is to enable the
+poor and the unlearned to enjoy these things in abundance, with only
+that amount of care and labor necessary to give them a zest.
+
+
+BEETS.
+
+Of this excellent root there are quite a number of varieties.
+Mangel-Wurtzel yields most for field-culture, and is the great beet for
+feeding to domestic animals; not generally used for the table. French
+Sugar or Amber Beet is good for field-culture, both in quality and
+yield; but it is not equal to the Wurtzel. Yellow-Turnip-rooted, Early
+Blood-Turnip-rooted, Early Dwarf Blood, Early White Scarcity, and Long
+Blood, are among the leading garden varieties. Of all the beets, three
+only need be cultivated in this country--the Wurtzel for feeding, and
+the Early Blood Turnip-rooted and Long Blood for the table. The Early
+Blood is the best through the whole season, comes early, and can be
+easily kept so as to be good for the table in the spring. The Long Blood
+is later, and very much esteemed. Beets may be easily forwarded in
+hotbeds. Sow seed early, and transplant in garden as soon as the soil is
+warm enough to promote their growth. When well done, the removal retards
+their growth but little.
+
+Young beets are universally esteemed. To have them of excellent quality
+during all the winter, it is only necessary to plant on the last days of
+July. If the weather be dry, water well, so as to get them up, and they
+will attain the size and age at which they are most valued. Keep them in
+the cellar for use, as other beets. They will keep as well as old ones.
+
+_Field-Culture._--Make the soil very mellow, fifteen to eighteen inches
+deep. Soil having a little sand in its composition is always best. Even
+very sandy land is good if it be sufficiently enriched. Choose land on
+which water will not stand in a wet season. Beets endure drought better
+than extreme wet. Having made the surface perfectly mellow, and free
+from clods, weeds, and stones, sow in drills, with a machine for the
+purpose, two feet apart. This is wide enough for a small cultivator to
+pass between them. After planting, roll the surface smooth and level;
+this will greatly facilitate early cultivation. On a rough surface you
+can not cultivate small plants without destroying many of them; hence
+the necessity of straight rows and thorough rolling. The English books
+recommend planting this and other roots on ridges: for their climate it
+is good, but for ours it is bad. They have to guard against too much
+moisture, and we against drought; hence, they should plant on ridges,
+and we on an even surface. To get the largest crop, plow a deep furrow
+for each row, put in plenty of good manure, cover it with the plow and
+level the surface, and plant over the manure. When well growing, they
+should be thinned to six or eight inches in the row. Often stirring the
+earth while they are young is of great benefit. The quality and quantity
+of a root-crop depend much upon the rapidity of its growth. Slow growth
+gives harder roots of worse flavor, as well as a stinted crop.
+
+_Harvesting_ should be done just before severe frosts. They will grow
+until frost comes, however early they were planted, or whatever size
+they may have attained. They grow as rapidly after light frosts as at
+any time in the season; but very severe frosts expose them to rot during
+winter.
+
+_Preserving_ for table use is usually done by putting in boxes with
+moist sand, or the mould in which they grew. This excludes air, and, if
+kept a little moist, will preserve them perfectly. Roots are always
+better buried below frost out-door on a dry knoll, where water will not
+stand in the pits. But in cold climates it is necessary to have some in
+the cellar for winter use. The common method of burying beets, and
+turnips, and all other roots out-door, is well understood. The only
+requisites are, a dry location secured from frost, straw next the roots,
+a covering of earth, not too deep while the weather is yet mild; as it
+grows cold, put on another covering of straw, and over it a foot of
+earth; as it becomes very cold, put on a load or two of barnyard manure:
+this will save them beyond the power of the coldest winter. Vast
+quantities of roots buried outdoor are destroyed annually by frost, and
+there is no need of ever losing a bushel. You "_thought_ they would not
+freeze," is not half as good as spending two hours' time in covering, so
+that you _know_ they can not freeze. There is hardly a more provoking
+piece of carelessness, in the whole range of domestic economy, than the
+needless loss of so many edible roots by frost.
+
+_The table use_ of beets is everywhere known; their value for feeding
+animals is not duly appreciated in this country. No one who keeps
+domestic animals or fowls should fail to raise a beet-crop; it is one of
+the surest crops grown; it is never destroyed by insects, and drought
+affects it but very little. On good soil, beets produce an enormous
+weight to the acre. The lower leaves may be stripped off twice during
+the season, to feed to cows or other stock, without injury to the crop.
+Cows will give more milk for fifteen days, fed on this root alone, than
+on any other feed; they then begin to get too fat, and decline in milk:
+hence, they should be fed beets and hay or other food in about equal
+parts, on which they will do better than in any other way. Horses do
+better on equal parts of beet and hay than on ordinary hay and grain.
+Horses fed thus will fatten, needing only the addition of a little
+ground grain, when working hard. Plenty of beets, with a little other
+food, makes cows give milk as well as in summer. Raw beets cut fine,
+with a little milk, will fatten hogs as fast as boiled potatoes. All
+fowls are fond of them, chopped fine and mixed with other food. Sheep,
+also, are fond of them. They are very valuable to ewes in the spring
+when lambs come, when they especially need succulent food. The free use
+of this root by English farmers is an important reason of their great
+success in raising fine sheep and lambs. They promote the health of
+animals, and none ever tire of them. As it needs no cooking, it is the
+cheapest food of the root kind. Beets will keep longer, and in better
+condition, than any other root. They never give any disagreeable flavor
+to milk. It is considered established, now, that four pounds of beet
+equal in nourishment five pounds of carrot. Every large feeder should
+have a cellar beyond the reach of frosts, and of large dimensions,
+accessible at all times, in which to keep his roots. These beets should
+be piled up there as cord-wood, to give a free circulation of the air.
+
+In Germany, the beet-crop takes the place of much of their meadows, at
+a great saving of expense, producing remarkably fine horses, and
+fattening immense herds of cattle, which they export to France. We
+insist upon the importance of a beet-crop to every man who owns an acre
+of land and a few domestic animals, or only a cow and a few fowls.
+
+
+BENE PLANT.
+
+Introduced into the Southern states by negroes from Africa. They boil a
+handful of the seed with their allowance of Indian corn. It yields a
+larger proportion than any other plant of an excellent oil. It is
+extensively cultivated in Egypt as food for horses, and for culinary
+purposes. It is remarkable that this native of a southern clime should
+flourish well, as it does, in the Northern states. It should be
+cultivated throughout the North as a medicinal herb.
+
+A Virginia gentleman gave Thorburn & Son, seed-dealers of New York, the
+following account of its virtues: a few green leaves of the plant,
+plunged a few times in a tumbler of cold water, made it like a thin
+jelly, without taste or color. Children afflicted with summer-complaint
+drink it freely, and it is thought to be the best remedy for that
+disease ever discovered; it is believed that three thousand children
+were saved by it in Baltimore the first summer after its introduction.
+Plant in April, in the middle states, about two feet apart. When half
+grown, break off the plants, to increase the quantity of leaves. We
+recommend to all families to raise it, and try its virtues, under the
+advice of their family physicians.
+
+
+BIRDS.
+
+These are exceedingly useful in destroying insects. So of toads and
+bats. No one should ever be wantonly killed. Boys, old or young, should
+never be allowed to shoot birds, or disturb their nests, only as they
+would domestic fowls, for actual use. A wanton recklessness is exhibited
+about our cities and villages, in killing off small birds, that are of
+no use after they are dead. Living, they are valuable to every garden
+and fruit-orchard. In every state, stringent laws should be made and
+enforced against their destruction. Even the crow, without friends as he
+is, is a real blessing to the farmer: keep him from the young corn for a
+few days, as it is easy to do, and, all the rest of the year, his
+destruction of worms and insects is a great blessing. Birds, therefore,
+should be baited, fed, and tamed, as much as possible, to encourage them
+to feel at home on our premises. Having protected our small fruits, they
+claim a share, and they have not always a just view of the rights of
+property, nor do they always exhibit good judgment in dividing it. It is
+best to buy them off by feeding them with something else. If they still
+prefer the fruit, hang little bells in the trees, where they will make a
+noise; or hang pieces of tin, old looking-glass, or even shingles, by
+strings, so that they will keep in motion, and the birds will keep away.
+Images standing still are useless, as the birds often build nests in the
+pockets.
+
+
+BLACKBERRY.
+
+This berry grows wild, in great abundance, in many parts of the country.
+It has been so plentiful, especially in the newer parts, that its
+cultivation has not been much attended to until recently. Like all other
+berries, the cultivated bear the largest and best fruit.
+
+_Uses._--It is one of the finest desert berries; excellent in milk, and
+for tarts, pies, &c. Blackberries make the best vinegar for table use,
+and a wine that retains the peculiar flavor, and of a beautiful color.
+
+This berry comes in after the raspberries, and ripens long in succession
+on the same bush.
+
+[Illustration: High-bush Blackberry.]
+
+_Varieties_ of wild ones, usually found growing in the borders of fields
+and woods, are the low-bush and the high-bush. Downing gives the first
+place to the low. Our experience is, that the high is the best bearer of
+the best fruit. We have often gathered them one and one fourth inches in
+length, very black, and of delicious sweetness. The low ones that have
+come under our observation have been smaller and nearer round, and not
+nearly so sweet.
+
+The best cultivated varieties are--
+
+THE DORCHESTER--Introduced from Massachusetts, and a vigorous, large,
+regular bearer.
+
+LAWTON, OR NEW ROCHELLE.--This is the great blackberry of this country,
+by the side of which, no other, yet known, need be cultivated. It is a
+very hardy, great grower. It is an enormous bearer of such fruit that it
+commands thirty cents per quart, when other blackberries sell for ten.
+On a rather moist, heavy loam, and especially in the shade, its
+productions are truly wonderful. Continues to ripen daily for six weeks.
+
+_Propagation_ is by offshoots from the old roots, or by seeds. When by
+seeds, they should be planted in mellow soil, and where the sun will not
+shine on them between eight and five o'clock in hot weather. In
+transplanting, much care is requisite. The bark of the roots is like
+evergreens, very tender and easily broken, or injured by exposure to the
+atmosphere; hence, take up carefully, and keep covered from sun and air
+until transplanted. This is destined to become one of the
+universally-cultivated small fruits--as much so as the strawberry. The
+best manures are, wood-ashes, leaves, decayed wood, and all kinds of
+coarse litter, with stable manure well incorporated with the soil,
+before transplanting. Animal manure should not be very plentifully
+applied.
+
+We have seen in Illinois a vigorous bush, and apparently good bearer, of
+perfect fruit--a variety called _white blackberry_. The fruit was
+greenish and pleasant to the taste.
+
+
+BLACK RASPBERRY.
+
+The common wild, found by fences, especially in the margin of forests,
+in most parts of the United Sates, is very valuable for cultivation in
+gardens. Coming in after the red raspberry, and ripening in succession
+until the blackberry commences, it is highly esteemed. Cultivated with
+little animal manure, but plenty of sawdust, tan-bark, old leaves, wood,
+chips, and coarse litter, it improves very much from its wild state.
+Fruit is all borne on bushes of the previous year's growth; hence, after
+they have done bearing, cut away the old bushes. To secure the greatest
+yield on rich land, cut off the tops of the shoots rising for next
+year's fruit, when they are four or five feet high. The result will be,
+strong shoots from behind all the leaves on the upper part of the stalk,
+each of which will bear nearly as much fruit as would the whole have
+done without clipping. A dozen of these would occupy but a small place
+in a border, or by a wall. Not an American garden should be found
+without them.
+
+
+BONES.
+
+Bones are one of the most valuable manures. They yield the phosphates in
+large measure. On all land needing lime, they are very valuable. The
+heads, &c., about butchers' shops will bear a transportation of twenty
+miles to put upon meadows. Break them with the head of an axe, and pound
+them into the sod, even with the surface. They add greatly to the
+products of a meadow. Ground, they make one of the best manures of
+commerce. A cheap method for the farmer is to deposite a load of
+horse-manure, and on that a load of bones, and alternate each, till he
+has used up all his bones. Cover the last load of bones deep with
+manure. It will make a splendid hotbed, and the fermentation of the
+manure will dissolve or pulverize the bones, and the heap will become
+one mass of the most valuable manure, especially for roots and vines,
+and all vegetables requiring a rich, fine manure.
+
+
+BORECOLE, OR KALE.
+
+There are some fifteen or twenty kinds cultivated in Europe. Two only,
+the green and the brown, are desirable in this country. Cultivate as
+cabbage. In portions of the middle states they will stand the frosts of
+winter well, without much protection; further north, they need
+protection with a little brush and straw during severe frosts. Those
+grown on rather hard land are better for winter; being less succulent,
+they endure cold better. Cut them off for use whenever you choose. They
+do not head like cabbage; they have full bunches of curled leaves. Cut
+off so as to include all, not over eight inches long. In winter, after
+having been pretty well exposed to the frost, they are very fine. Set
+out the stumps early in spring, and they will yield a profusion of
+delicious sprouts. This would be a valuable addition to many of our
+kitchen gardens.
+
+
+BROCCOLI.
+
+This may be regarded as a late flowering species of cauliflower. It
+should be planted and treated as cabbage, and fine heads will be
+formed, in the middle states, in October: at the South much earlier,
+according to latitude. Take up in November, and preserve as cabbage, and
+good ones may be had in winter. To prevent ravages of insects, mix ashes
+in the soil when transplanting, or fresh loam or earth from a new field;
+or trench deep, so as to throw up several inches of subsoil, which had
+not before been disturbed.
+
+To save seed, transplant some of the best in spring; break off all the
+lower sprouts, allowing only a few of the best centre ones to grow. Tie
+them to stakes, to prevent destruction by storms. Be sure to have
+nothing else of the cabbage kind near your seed broccoli.
+
+
+BROOM CORN.
+
+Cultivated like other corn, only that this is more generally planted in
+drills. Three feet apart, and six inches in the drill, it yields more
+weight of better corn to the acre than to have it nearer. The great
+fault in raising this crop is getting it too thick. The finest-looking
+brush is of corn cut while yet so green that the seed is useless. But
+the brush is stronger, and will make better brooms for wear, when the
+corn is allowed to stand until the seed is hard, though not till the
+brush is dry. The land should be rich. This is a hard, exhausting crop
+for the soil. To harvest, bend down, two feet from the ground, two rows,
+allowing them so to fall across each other as to expose all the heads.
+Cut off the heads, with six or eight inches of the stalk, and place them
+on top of the bent rows to dry. In a week, in dry weather, they will be
+well cured, and should be then spread thin, under cover, in plenty of
+air. There is no worse article to heat and mould. In large crops, they
+usually take off the seed before curing; it is much lighter to handle,
+and less bulky. It may be done then, or in winter, as you prefer. The
+seed is removed on a cylinder eighteen inches long, and two and a half
+feet in diameter, having two hundred wrought nails with their points
+projecting. It is turned by a crank, like a fanning mill. The corn is
+held in a convenient handful, like flax on a hatchel. Where large
+quantities are to be cleaned of the seed, power is used to turn the
+machine. Ground or boiled, the seed makes good feed for most animals.
+Dry, it has too hard a shell. Fowls, with access to plenty of gravel, do
+well on it. Broom-corn is not a very profitable crop, except to those
+who manufacture their own corn into brooms. There is much labor about
+it, and considerable hazard of injuring the crop, by the inexperienced;
+hence, young farmers had, generally, better let it alone. There are two
+varieties--they may be forms of growth, from peculiar habits of
+culture--one, short, with a large, stiff brush running up through the
+middle, with short branches to the top, called pine-top: it is of no
+value;--the other is a long, fine brush, the middle being no coarser
+than the outside. It should be planted with a seed-drill, to make the
+rows straight and narrow for the convenience of cultivation. Harrowing
+with a span of horses, with a =V= drag, one front tooth out,
+as soon as the corn is up, is beneficial to the crop.
+
+
+BRUSSELS SPROUTS.
+
+This is a species of cabbage. A long stem runs up, on which grow
+numerous cabbage-heads in miniature. The centre head is small and of
+little use, and the large leaves drop off early. It will grow among
+almost anything else, without injury to either. It is raised from seed
+like cabbage, and cultivated in all respects the same. Eighteen inches
+apart each way is a proper distance, as the plant spreads but little.
+Good, either as a cabbage, or when very small, as greens. They are good
+even after very hard frosts. By forwarding in hotbed in the spring, and
+by planting late ones for winter, they may be had most of the year. If
+they are disposed to run to seed too early, it may be prevented by
+pulling up, and setting out again in the shade. Save seed as from
+cabbage, but use great caution that they are not near enough to receive
+the farina from any of the rest of the cabbage-tribe.
+
+
+BUCKTHORN.
+
+This is the most valuable of the thorn tribe, for hedge, in this
+country. It never suffers from those enemies that destroy so much of the
+hawthorn. This is also used for dyeing and for medicine.
+
+
+BUCKWHEAT.
+
+This will grow well on almost any soil; even that too poor for most
+other crops will yield very good buckwheat--though rich land is better
+for this, as for all other crops. The heat of summer is apt to blast it
+when filling; hence, in the middle states, it is not best to sow it
+until into July. It fills well in cool, moist weather, and is quite a
+sure crop if sowed at the right time. On poor land, one bushel of seed
+is required for an acre, while half a bushel is sufficient on rich land,
+where stalks grow large.
+
+The blossoms yield to the honey-bee very large quantities of honey, much
+inferior to that made of white clover; it may be readily distinguished
+in the comb by its dark color and peculiar flavor. Ground, it is good
+for most animals, and for fowls unground, mixed with other grain. It
+remains long in land; but it is a weed easily killed with the hoe; or a
+farmer may set apart a small field for an annual crop, keeping up the
+land by the application of three pecks of plaster per acre each year. It
+is very popular as human food, and always made into pancakes. The free
+use of it is said to promote eruptive diseases. The India buckwheat is
+more productive, but of poorer quality. The bran is the best article
+known to mix with horse-manure and spade into radish beds, to promote
+growth and kill worms.
+
+
+BUDDING.
+
+This is usually given under the article on peaches. But, as it is a
+general subject, it should be in a separate article, reserving what is
+peculiar to the different fruits to be noticed under their respective
+heads.
+
+[Illustration: Budding.]
+
+Budding small trees should usually be performed very near the ground,
+and on a smooth place. Any sharp pocket-knife will do; but a regular
+budding knife, now for sale in most hardware-stores, is preferable. Cut
+through the bark in the form of a horizontal crescent (_a_ in the cut).
+Split the bark down from the cut three fourths of an inch, and, with the
+ivory-end of the knife, raise the corners and edges of the bark. Select
+a vigorous shoot of this year's growth, but having buds well
+matured--select a bud that bids fairest to be a leaf-bud, as
+blossom-buds will fail--insert the knife half an inch below the bud, and
+cut upward in a straight line, severing the bark and a thin piece of the
+wood to one half inch above the bud, and let the knife run out: you
+then have a bud ready for insertion (_c_ in cut). The English method is
+to remove the wood from the bud before inserting it; this is attended
+with danger to the vitality of the bud, and is, therefore, less certain
+of success, and it is no better when it does succeed. Hence, American
+authorities favor inserting the bud with the wood remaining. Insert the
+lower end of this slip between the two edges of the bark, passing the
+bud down between those edges, until the top of the slip comes below the
+horizontal cut, and remaining contiguous to it. If the bud slip be too
+long, after it is sufficiently pressed down, cut off the top so as to
+make a good fit with the bark above the cut (_b_ in cut). The lower end
+of the bud will have raised the split bark a little more to make room
+for itself, and thus will set very close to the stalk. Tie the bud in
+with a soft ligature; commence at the bottom of the split, and wind
+closely until the whole wound is covered, leaving only the bud exposed
+(_d_ in cut). It is more convenient to commence at the top, but it is
+less certain to confine the slip opposite the bud in close contact with
+the stalk: this is indispensable to success. We have often seen buds
+adhere well at the bottom, but stand out from the stalk, and thus be
+ruined.
+
+_Preparation of Buds._--Take thrifty, vigorous shoots of this year's
+growth, with well-matured buds; cut off the leaves one half inch from
+the stalks (_e_ in cut); wrap them in moist moss or grass, or put them
+in sawdust, or bury them one foot in the ground.
+
+_Bands._--The best yet known is the inside bark of the linden or
+American basswood. In June, when the bark slips easily, strip it from
+the tree, remove the coarse outside, immerse the inside bark in water
+for twenty days; the fibres will then easily separate, and become soft
+and pliable as satin ribbon. Cut it into convenient lengths, say one
+foot, and lay them away in a dry state, in which they will keep for
+years. This will afford good ties for many uses, such as bandages of
+vegetables for market, &c. Matting that comes around Russia iron and
+furniture does very well for bands; woollen yarn and candle-wicking are
+also used; but the bass-bark is best. After ten days the bands should be
+loosened and retied; then, if the bud is dried, it is spoiled, and the
+tree should be rebudded in another place; at the end of three weeks, if
+the bud adheres firmly, remove the band entirely. Better not bud on the
+south side; it is liable to injury in winter. In the spring, after the
+swelling of buds, but before the appearance of leaves, cut off the top
+four inches above the bud; when the bud grows, tie the tender shoot to
+the stalk (growing bud in cut, _f_). In July, cut the wood off even with
+the base of the bud and slanting up smoothly.
+
+_Causes of Failure._--If you insert a blossom-bud you will get no shoot,
+although the bud may adhere well. If scions cut for buds remain two
+hours in the sun with the leaves on, in a hot day, they will all be
+spoiled. The leaves draw the moisture from the bud, and soon ruin it.
+Cut the leaves off at once. If you use buds from a scion not fully
+grown, very few of them will live; they must be matured. If the top of
+the branch selected be growing and very tender, use no buds near the top
+of it. If in raising the bark to make room for the bud, you injure the
+soft substance between the bark and the wood, the bud will not adhere.
+If the bud be not brought in close contact with the stalk and firmly
+confined there, it will not grow. With reasonable caution on these
+points, not more than one in fifty need fail.
+
+_Time for Budding._--This varies with the season. In the latitude of
+central New York, in a dry season, when everything matures early, bud
+peaches from the 15th to the 25th of August--plums, &c., earlier. In wet
+and great growing seasons, the first ten days in September are best.
+Much budding is lost on account of having been done so late as to allow
+no time for the buds to adhere before the tree stops growing for the
+season. If budding is performed too early, the stalk grows too much over
+the bud, and it gums and dies. It is utterly useless to bud when the
+bark is with difficulty loosened; it is always a failure.
+
+
+BUSHES.
+
+The growth of bushes over pastures, along fences, and in the streets,
+shows a great want of thrift, and an unpardonable carelessness in a
+farmer. In pastures, so far from being harmless, they take so much from
+the soil as to materially injure the quality and quantity of the grass.
+The only truly effectual method of destroying noxious shrubs, is by
+grubbing them up with a mattock. Frequent cutting of bushes inclining to
+spread only increases the difficulty, by giving strength and extension
+to the roots. Cutting bushes thoroughly in August, in a wet season, and
+applying manure and plaster to promote the growth of grass, will
+sometimes quite effectually destroy them. Larger trees, as the sweet
+locust, that are troublesome on account of sprouting out from the
+roots, when cut down, are effectually killed by girdling two feet from
+the ground, and allowing to stand one year. The tree, roots, and all,
+are sure to die.
+
+
+BUTTER.
+
+Raising the cream, churning, working, and preserving, are the points in
+successful butter-making. To raise cream, milk may be set in tin, wood,
+or cast-iron dishes. The best are iron, tinned over on the inside. Tin
+is better than wood, only on account of its being more easily kept
+clean. No one can ever make good butter without keeping everything about
+the dairy perfectly clean and sweet. Milk should never stand more than
+three inches deep in the pans, to raise the best and most cream. It
+should be set in an airy room, containing nothing else. Butter and milk
+will collect and retain the flavor of any other substance near them,
+more readily than anything else; hence, milk set in a cellar containing
+onions, or in a room with new cheese, makes butter highly flavored with
+those articles.
+
+_Temperature_ is an important matter. It should be regular, at from
+fifty to fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. It is sometimes
+difficult to be exact in this matter, but come as near it as possible.
+This can be well regulated in a good cool cellar, into which air can be
+plentifully admitted at pleasure. Those who are so situated that their
+milk-house can stand over a spring, with pure water running over its
+stone floor, are favored. Those who will take pains to lay ice in their
+milk-rooms, in very warm weather, will find it pay largely in the
+quality and quantity of their butter. Those who will not follow either
+of the above directions, must be content to make less butter, and of
+rather inferior quality, out of the same quantity of milk.
+
+_Skimming_ should be attended to when the milk has soured just enough to
+have a little of it curdle on the bottom of the pan. If it should nearly
+all curdle, it would not be a serious injury, unless it should become
+old. If you have not conveniences for keeping milk sufficiently warm in
+cold weather, place it over the stove at once, when drawn, and give it a
+scalding heat, and the cream will rise in a much shorter space of time,
+and more plentifully. Milk should be strained and set as soon as
+possible after being drawn from the cow, and with the least possible
+agitation. The unpleasant flavor imparted to milk from the food of the
+cows, such as turnips or leeks, may be at once removed by adding to the
+milk, before straining, one eighth of its quantity of boiling water; or
+two ounces of nitre boiled in one quart of water and bottled, and a
+small teacupful put in twelve quarts of milk, will answer the same
+purpose.
+
+_Milking_ should be performed with great care. Experiments have
+demonstrated that the last drawn from a cow yields from six to sixteen
+times as large a quantity of better cream than that first drawn.
+Careless milking will make the quantity of butter less, and the quality
+inferior, while it dries up the cows. There are probably millions of
+cows now in the United States that are indifferent milkers from this
+very cause. Quick and clean milking, from the time they first came in,
+would have made them worth twice as much, for butter and milk, as they
+are now. Always milk as quickly as possible, and without stopping, after
+you commence, and as nearly as possible at the same hour of the day.
+Leaving a teacupful, or even half that quantity, in milking each cow,
+will very materially lessen the products of the dairy, and seriously
+injure the cows for future use. Great milkers will yield considerable
+more by having it drawn three times per day. The quantity of milk given
+by a cow will never injure her, provided she be well fed. As it takes
+food to make meat, so it does also to make milk; you can never get
+something for nothing. The best breeds of swine, cattle, or fowls, can
+not be fattened without being well fed: so the best cows will never give
+large messes of milk unless they are largely fed.
+
+_Churning._--This is entirely a mechanical process. The agitation of the
+cream dashes the oily globules in the cream against each other, and they
+remain together and grow larger, until the butter is, what the dairy
+woman calls, gathered. The butter in the milk, when drawn from the cow,
+is the same as when on the table, only it is in the milk in the form of
+very small globes: churning brings them together. The object then to be
+secured, by any form of a churn, is agitation, or dashing and beating
+together.
+
+_Temperature of the Cream_ should be from sixty to sixty-five
+degrees--perhaps sixty-two is best. This had better always be determined
+by a thermometer immersed in it.
+
+Many churns have been invented and patented; and every new one is, of
+course, the best. A cylinder is usually preferred as the best form for a
+churn, and the churning is performed by turning a crank. An oblong
+square box is far better than a cylinder. In churning in a cylinder, it
+may often occur that the cream moves round in a body with the dasher,
+and so is but slightly agitated. But change that cylinder into an oblong
+square, and the cream is so dashed against the corners of the box that a
+most rapid agitation is the result, and the churning is finished in a
+short space of time.
+
+Any person of a little mechanical genius can construct a churn, equal to
+any in use, and at a trifling expense. It is well to make a churn
+double, leaving an inch between the two, into which cold or warm water
+can be poured, to regulate the temperature of the cream. This would be a
+great saving of time and patience in churning. Those who use the
+old-fashioned churns with dashes can most conveniently warm or cool
+their cream, by placing the churn containing it in a tub of cold or
+boiling water, as the case may require, until it comes to the
+temperature of sixty or seventy degrees.
+
+To make butter of extra quality for the fair, or for a luxury on your
+own table, set only one third of the milk, and that the last drawn from
+the cow. The Scotch, so celebrated for making butter of more marrowy
+richness than any other, first let the calves draw half or two thirds of
+the milk, and then take the remainder. This makes the finest butter in
+the world.
+
+_Preserving Butter_ depends upon the treatment immediately after
+churning. Success depends upon getting the buttermilk all out, and
+putting in all the salt you put in at all, immediately--say within ten
+minutes after churning. Some accomplish this by washing, and others by
+working it, being much opposed to putting in a drop of water. Those who
+use water in their butter, and those who do not, are equally confident
+of the superiority of their own method. But all good butter-makers
+agree, that the less you work butter, and still remove all the milk, the
+better it will be; and the more you are obliged to work it, the more
+gluey, and therefore the poorer the quality. Very good butter is made by
+immediately working all the milk out and salting thoroughly--working the
+salt into every part, without the use of water.
+
+_Working over_ butter, the next day after churning, should be nothing
+more than nicely forming it into rolls, without any further working or
+any more salt. An error, that spoils more butter than any other, is that
+of doing very little with butter when it first comes out of the churn,
+because it must be gone through with the next day. Many do not know why
+their butter has different colors in the same mass--some white, and some
+quite yellow, and all shades between. The reason always is, putting in
+the salt immediately on churning, but neglecting to incorporate that
+salt into every part of the mass equally: thus, where there is most salt
+there will be one color, and where less, another. Another evil is, when
+the salt is thus put in carelessly, while much buttermilk remains, that
+salt dissolves; and when the butter is worked over the next day, the
+salt is mostly worked out, with the milk or water left in, the previous
+day. The addition of more salt then will not save it. It has received an
+injury, by retaining the milk or water for twenty-four hours, from which
+no future treatment will enable it to recover. We recommend washing as
+preferable; it has the following advantages: it cools butter quickly in
+warm weather, bringing it at once into a situation to be properly worked
+and salted. The buttermilk is also removed more speedily than in any
+other way; this is a great object. It removes the milk with less
+working, and consequently with less injury, than the other method. These
+three advantages, cooling in hot weather, expelling the milk in the
+shortest time, and working the butter the least, lead us to prefer using
+water, by one hundred per cent. We have for years used butter that has
+been made in this way, and never tasted better. Butter made in this way
+in summer will keep well till next summer, to our certain knowledge.
+Immediately after churning, pour off all the milk and put in half a
+pailful of water, more or less according to quantity; agitate the whole
+with the dasher, and pour off the water. Repeat this once or twice until
+the water runs off clear, without any coloring from the milk, and nearly
+all the buttermilk is out; this can all be done in five minutes after
+churning. Press out the very little water that will remain, and put in
+all the salt the butter will require, and work it thoroughly into every
+part. All this need occupy no more than ten minutes, and the butter is
+set away for putting up in rolls, or packing down in jars the next day.
+Such butter would keep tied up in a bag, and hung in a good airy place.
+Best to put it down in a jar, packed close; put a cloth over top, and
+cover with half an inch of fine salt. The only difficulty in keeping
+butter grows out of failure to get out all the milk, and thoroughly salt
+every particle, within fifteen minutes after churning. Speedy removal of
+buttermilk and water, and speedy salting, will make any butter keep.
+
+This subject is so important, as good butter is such a luxury on every
+table, that we recapitulate the essentials of good butter making:--
+
+1. Keep everything sweet and clean, and well dried in the sun.
+
+2. Milk the cows, as nearly as possible, at the same hour, and draw the
+milk very quickly and very clean.
+
+3. Set the milk, in pans three inches deep, in good air, removed from
+anything that might give it an unpleasant flavor, and where it will be
+at a temperature of fifty to sixty degrees.
+
+4. Churn the cream at a temperature of sixty-two degrees.
+
+5. Get out the buttermilk, and salt thoroughly within fifteen minutes
+after churning, either with water or without, as you prefer. Mix the
+salt thoroughly in every particle. Put up in balls, or pack closely in
+jars the next day.
+
+6. Remember to work the butter as little as possible in removing the
+milk; the more it is worked, the more will it be like salve or oil, and
+the poorer the quality: hence, it is better to wash it with cold water,
+because you can wash out the buttermilk with much less working of the
+butter.
+
+7. To make the best possible quality of butter, use only one third of
+the milk of the cows at each milking, and that the last drawn.
+
+8. In the winter, when cream does not get sufficiently sour, put in a
+little lemon-juice or calves' rennet. If too white, put in a little of
+the juice of carrot to give it a yellow hue.
+
+
+BUTTERNUT.
+
+This is a rich, pleasant nut, but contains rather too much oil for
+health. The oil, obtained by compression, is fine for clocks, &c.
+
+The root, like the branches, are wide-spreading, and hence injurious to
+the land about them. Two or three trees on some corner not desired for
+cultivation, or in the street, will be sufficient. A rough piece of
+ground, not suitable for cultivation, might be occupied by an orchard of
+butternut-trees, and be profitable for market and as a family luxury.
+The bark is often used as a coloring substance.
+
+
+CABBAGE.
+
+The best catalogues of seeds enumerate over twenty varieties, beside the
+cauliflowers, borecoles, &c. A few are superior, and should, therefore,
+be cultivated to the exclusion of the others.
+
+EARLY YORK is best for early use. It is earlier than any other, and with
+proper treatment nearly every plant will form a small, compact, solid
+head, tender, and of delicious flavor. No garden is complete without it.
+
+EARLY DUTCH, AND EARLY SUGARLOAF, come next in season to the Early York,
+producing much larger heads.
+
+LARGE YORK is a good variety, maturing later than the preceding, and
+before the late drumheads.
+
+Large Drumhead, Late Drumhead, or Large Flat Dutch, are the best for
+winter and spring use. There are many varieties under these names, so
+that cultivators often get disappointed in purchasing seeds. It is now
+difficult to describe cabbages intelligibly. Every worthless hybrid goes
+under some excellent name.
+
+A Dutch cabbage, with a short stem and very small at the ground, is the
+best with which we are acquainted. Of this variety (the seed of which
+was brought from Germany), we have raised solid heads, larger than a
+half bushel, while others called good, standing by their side, did not
+grow to more than half that size. This variety may be distinguished by
+the purple on the top of the grown head, and by the decided purple of
+the young plants, resembling the Red Dutch, though not of quite so deep
+a color.
+
+RED DUTCH, having a very hard, small head, deep purple throughout, is
+the very best for pickling; every garden should have a few. They are
+also good for ordinary purposes.
+
+GREEN CURLED SAVOY, when well grown, is a good variety.
+
+The _Imperial_, the _Russian_, Large Scotch for feeding, and others, are
+enumerated and described, but are inferior to the above. It is useless
+to endeavor to grow cabbages on any but the best of soil. Plant corn on
+poor land, and it will mature and yield a small crop. Plant cabbages on
+similar soil, and you will get nothing but a few leaves for cattle.
+Therefore, if your land designed for cabbages be not already very rich,
+put a load of stable-manure on each square rod. Cabbages are a very
+exhausting crop. The soil should be worked fully eighteen inches deep,
+and have manure well mixed with the whole. The best preparation we ever
+made was by double-plowing--not subsoiling, but plowing twice with
+similar plows: put on a good coat of manure, and plow with two teams in
+the same furrow, one plow gauged so as to turn a light furrow, and the
+other a very deep one, throwing it out of the bottom of the first; when
+the first plow comes round, it will throw the light furrow into the
+bottom of the deep one. This repeated over the whole plot will stir the
+soil sixteen or eighteen inches deep, and put from four to six inches of
+the top, manure and all, in the bottom, under the other. We have done
+this admirably with one plow, changing the gauge of the clevis every
+time round, and going twice in a furrow: this is the best way for those
+who use but one team in plowing; it is worth much more than the
+additional time required in plowing. Enrich the surface a little with
+fine manure, and you have land in the best possible condition for
+cabbages. This is a fine preparation for onions and other garden
+vegetables, and for all kinds of berries. Subsoiling is good, but
+double-plowing is better in all cases, where you can afford to enrich
+the surface, after this deep plowing.
+
+The alluvial soils of the West need no enriching after double-plowing.
+Land so level, or having so hard a subsoil as to allow water to stand on
+it in a wet season, is not good for cabbages. They also suffer more than
+most crops from drought. One of the most important offices of plenty of
+manure is its control of the moisture. Land well manured does not so
+soon feel the effects of drought. One of the best means of preserving
+moisture about the roots of cabbages, is to put a little manure in the
+bottom of the holes when transplanting; put it six inches below the
+surface. Manure from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; it is
+in the best condition about the time for transplanting cabbages. It is
+then very wet, and has a wonderful power of retaining the moisture.
+Manure from the blacksmith-shop, containing hoof-parings, &c., is very
+good. If the manure be too dry, pour in water and cover immediately. Set
+the plant in the soil, over the manure, the roots extending down into
+it, with a little fine mould mixed in it, and it will retain moisture
+through a severe drought; no further watering will be necessary, and not
+one out of twenty-five of all your plants will fail to make a good head.
+In climates subject to drought in summer, cabbages should be set out
+earlier; they require more time in dry weather than in wet. Should they
+incline to crack open from too rapid growth, raise them a little, and
+push them down again; this will break some roots, and so loosen the
+remainder that the growth will be checked and the heads saved. Winter
+cabbages should be allowed to stand in the ground as long as possible,
+without danger of freezing in. The question of transplanting, and of
+sowing the seed in the places where they are designed to head, has been
+much controverted. We have succeeded well in both ways, but prefer
+transplanting; it gives opportunity to stir the ground deep, and keep
+down weeds, and thus preserve moisture until summer, when it is time to
+transplant; it also makes shorter, smaller, and straighter stems, which
+is favorable to a larger growth of heads. Sow seed on poor land; the
+plants will be straighter, more hardy, and less affected by insects.
+Seed for early spring cabbages should be sown on poor soil in September
+or October; if inclined to get too forward, transplant, once or twice;
+late in fall, set them close together, lay poles in forks of limbs put
+down for the purpose, and cover with straw, as a protection from severe
+frost; the poles are to prevent the covering from lying on the plants.
+
+_Preserving_, for winter or spring use, is best done by plowing a furrow
+on land where water will not stand, and placing the heads in the furrow
+with the roots up. Cover with earth from three to six inches deep,
+letting the roots protrude. The large leaves will convey all the water
+off from the heads, and they will come out as fresh and good as in the
+fall. If you wish some, more easily accessible, for winter use, set them
+in the cellar in a small trench, in which a little water should be kept,
+and they will not only be preserved fresh, but will grow all winter, if
+the cellar be free from frost. They are also well preserved put in
+trenches eighteen inches deep, out door, with a little good soil in the
+bottom, and protected with poles and straw as directed for winter
+plants. Cabbages that have scarcely any heads in the fall, so treated,
+will grow all winter, and come out good, tender, fresh heads in spring.
+
+_Transplanting._--This is usually done in wet weather: if it be so wet
+as to render the soil muddy by stirring, it injures the plants. This may
+be successfully done in dry weather, not excessively hot. Have a basin
+of water, in which dip the root and shake it, so as to wash off all the
+earth from the seed-bed that adheres to it. Put the plant in its place
+at once, and the soil in which it is to grow takes hold of the roots
+readily, and nearly every one will live. Transplant with your hand, a
+transplanting trowel, a stick, or a dibble made of a spade-handle, one
+foot long, sharpened off abruptly, and the eye left on for a handle. Put
+the plant in its place, thrust the dibble down at a sharp angle with the
+plant, and below it, and move it up to it. The soil will thus be pressed
+close around the roots, leaving no open space, and the plant will grow.
+Do not leave the roots so long that they will be doubled up in
+transplanting--better cut off the ends.
+
+Large cabbages should be three feet apart each way, and in perfectly
+straight rows; this saves expense in cultivating, as it can be done with
+a horse. The usual objections of farmers to gardening, on account of the
+time required to hoe and weed, would be remedied by planting in long,
+straight rows, at suitable distances apart, to allow the free use of
+horse, cultivator, and plow, in cultivating; thus, beets, carrots,
+cabbages, onions, &c., are almost as easily raised as corn. An easy
+method of raising good cabbages is on greensward. Put on a good dressing
+of manure, plow once and turn over handsomely, roll level, and harrow
+very mellow on the top, without disturbing the turf below; make places
+for planting seeds at the bottom of the turf; a little stirring of the
+surface, and destruction of the few weeds that will grow, will be all
+the further care necessary. The roots will extend under the sod in the
+manure below it, and will there find plenty of moisture, even when the
+surface is quite dry, and will grow profusely.
+
+_Seed._--Nothing is more difficult in cabbage culture than raising pure
+seed; nothing hybridizes worse, and in nothing else is the effect worse.
+It must not be raised in the same garden with anything else of the
+cabbage or turnip kind; they will mix in the blossoms, and the worse
+will prevail. Raise seeds only from the best heads, and only one
+variety; break off all the lower shoots, allowing only a few of the best
+to mature. Seeds raised from stumps, from which the head has been
+removed for use, will incline the leaves to grow down, as we often see,
+instead of closing up into heads.
+
+
+CALVES.
+
+The best method of raising calves is of much importance. It controls the
+value and beauty of grown cattle. Stint the growth of a calf, and when
+he is old he will not recover from it. Much attention has been paid to
+the breed of cattle, and some are very highly recommended. It is true
+that the breed of stock has much to do with its excellence. It is
+equally true that the care taken with calves and young cattle, has quite
+as much to do with it. We can take any common breed, and by great care
+in raising, have quite as good cattle, for market or use, as can
+another, who has the best breed in the world, but keeps them
+indifferently. But good breeds and good keeping make splendid animals,
+and will constantly improve them. The old adage, "Anything worth doing
+at all, is worth doing well" is nowhere more true, than in the care of
+calves. We shall not pause to present the various and contradictory
+methods of raising calves, that are presented in the numerous books, on
+the subject, that have come under our observation. Hay-tea, various
+preparations of linseed-meal, oilcake-meal, oatmeal, and every variety
+of ground feed, sometimes mixed up with gin, or some kind of cheap
+spirits (for the purpose of keeping calves quiet), are recommended. The
+discussion of the merits of these, would be of no practical benefit to
+our readers.
+
+The following brief directions are sufficient:--
+
+1. Seldom raise late calves. Their place is in the butcher's shop, after
+they are five weeks old.
+
+2. Raise only those calves that are well formed. Straight back, small
+neck, not very tall, and a good expression of countenance, are the best
+marks.
+
+3. Let every calf suck its dam two days. It is for the health of the
+calf and the good of the cow.
+
+4. To fatten a calf, let it suck one half the milk for two weeks, three
+fourths the third, and the whole the fourth. Continue it another week,
+and the veal will be better. But we think it preferable to take calves
+off from the cow after two days. Feed them the milk warm from the cow,
+and give them some warm food at noon. Feed three times a day, they will
+fatten faster. It also gives opportunity to put oatmeal in their food
+after the second week, which will improve the veal, and give you a
+little milk, if you desire it. Our first method is easier, and our last
+better, for fattening calves.
+
+5. To raise calves for stock, take them from the cows after the second
+day. Feed them half the milk (if the cow gives a reasonable quantity)
+for the first two weeks. Begin then to put in a little oatmeal. After
+two weeks more, give one fourth of the milk, and increase the quantity
+of meal. When the calf is eight or ten weeks old, feed it only on meal
+and such skimmed milk, sour milk, or buttermilk, as you may have to
+spare. This is the course when the object is to save milk. If not, let
+the calf have the whole, with such addition of meal as you think
+desirable. The easiest way to raise calves, when you do not desire the
+milk for the family or dairy, is to let them run with the cows and have
+all the milk when they please.
+
+Others let them suck a part of the milk, and feed them with meal, &c.,
+besides. This is difficult. If you milk your own share first, you will
+leave much less for the calf than you suppose. If he gets his portion
+first, he will be sure to get a part of yours also. This can only be
+well done by allowing the calf to suck all the udders, but not clean.
+The remainder, being the last of the milk will make the best of butter.
+But it is difficult to regulate it as you please, and more difficult to
+feed a calf properly, that sucks, than one that depends wholly upon what
+you feed him. Hence it is preferable to feed all your calves, whether
+for veal or stock. A little oilcake pulverized is a valuable addition.
+Indian-meal and the coarse flour of wheat are good for calves, but not
+equal to oatmeal. Good calves have been raised on gruels made of these
+meals, without any milk after the first two weeks.
+
+6. In winter, feed chopped roots and meal, mixed with plenty of hay and
+pure water, and always from a month old give salt twice a week.
+
+7. If calves are inclined to purge or scour, as the farmers call it, put
+a little rennet in their food. If they are costive, put in a little
+melted lard, or some kind of inoffensive oil. These will prove effectual
+remedies.
+
+There is, however, very little danger of disease, to calves, well,
+regularly, and properly fed, as above.
+
+Fat calves are not apt to have lice. But should such a thing occur,
+washing in tobacco-water is a speedy and perfect remedy.
+
+8. During cold nights in fall, and all of the first winter, calves
+should be shut up in a warm dry place. Keep them curried clean.
+
+The cold and wet of the first winter are very injurious. After they are
+a year old they will give very little trouble. The great difficulty with
+calves is a want of enough to eat. They should not only be kept
+growing, but fat, all the first year. They will then make fine,
+healthy, and profitable animals.
+
+Chalk or dry yellow loam, placed within their reach is very useful. They
+will eat of it, enough to correct the excessive acidity of their
+stomachs. The operation of changing calves into oxen, should be
+performed before they are twenty days old. It will then be only slightly
+injurious.
+
+
+CANS.
+
+These are much used for preserving fruits and vegetables. There are a
+number of patent articles said to work well. They are, in our opinion,
+more expensive, and more likely to fail in inexperienced hands, than
+those that an ordinary tinman can readily make. The best invention for
+general use is that that is most simple. Cans should be made in
+cylindrical form, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you wish to preserve, and should contain about two quarts. Fill
+the cans and solder on the top, leaving an opening as large as a
+pin-head, from which steam may escape. Set the cans in water nearly to
+their tops, and gradually increase the heat under them until the water
+begins to boil. Take out the cans, drop solder on the opening, and all
+will be air-tight. This operation requires at least three hours, as the
+heating must be moderate. You may preserve in glass bottles, filling and
+putting in a cork very tight, and well tied, and gradually heating as
+above; this will require four hours, as glass will be in danger of
+bursting by too rapid heating. But for tomatoes, or anything that you
+have no objection to boiling and seasoning before preserving, the best
+way is to prepare and cook as for the table, putting in only pepper and
+salt, and fill cans while the mass is boiling, and, with a sealing-wax
+that you can get at any druggist's laid around the orifice, place the
+cover upon it; the heat will melt the wax, and when it cools, the cover
+will be fastened, and all will be air-tight. This will require no
+process of slow boiling. Set the cans or bottles in a cool cellar, and
+whatever they contain may be taken out, at the end of a year, as good as
+when put in. The last method is the best and most simple of all. The
+whole principle of preserving is to make the cans air-tight.
+
+
+CARROTS.
+
+These are cultivated for the table, and for food for animals. Boiled and
+pickled, or eaten with an ordinary boiled dish, they are esteemed. They
+are really excellent in soups. As a root for animals, they are very
+valuable. They are often preferred to beets;--this is a mistake--four
+pounds of beet are equal to five pounds of carrot for feeding to
+domestic animals. Work the soil for carrots very deep, make it very rich
+with stable manure, with a mixture of lime; harrow fine and mellow, and
+roll entirely smooth. Plant with a seed-sower, that the rows may be
+straight; rows two feet apart will allow a horse and small cultivator to
+pass between them. Planted one foot apart, and cultivated with a horse,
+and a cultivator that will take three rows at once, they will yield much
+more to the acre, and may be cultivated at a moderate expense,
+exceeding but a little that of ordinary field-crops. Sow as early as
+convenient, as the longer time they have, the larger will be the
+product. They grow until hard frosts, whenever you may sow them. There
+are several varieties, but the Long Orange is the only one that it is
+ever best to grow; it is richer than the white, and yields as well: the
+earlier sorts are no better, as the carrot may be used at any stage of
+its growth. They should be kept in the ground as long as it is safe.
+They will stand hard frosts, but, if too much frozen, they are inclined
+to rot in winter. Dig in fair weather, dry in the sun, and keep dry. It
+is the best of all root crops, except the beet. All animals will eat it
+freely, while they have to acquire a taste for the beet.
+
+
+CAULIFLOWER.
+
+The two varieties known in this country are the English and the
+French--distinguished, also, as early and late. The French only is
+suitable for cultivation here; especially in the colder regions, as it
+is earlier. This is cultivated in every way like cabbage. In several
+respects it is preferable to cabbage; it has a more pleasant flavor, and
+is more easy of digestion. It is excellent for pickling. Seeds may be
+raised in the same way, and with the same precautions, as cabbage; but
+it is generally imported.
+
+
+CELERY.
+
+This is one of the finest of our table vegetables, eaten raw with salt,
+or in soups. Sow seed, early in spring, in open ground; or sow in
+hotbeds, if you wish it very early. When the plants are six inches high,
+they should be transplanted in trenches eighteen inches deep, containing
+six inches of well-rotted manure or compost. This should be well
+watered, and fine mould mixed with it, and the plants placed in it eight
+inches apart. The trenches should be from four to six feet apart. If the
+weather be warm and sun bright at the time of transplanting, a board
+laid lengthwise over the top of the trench will afford perfect
+protection. As the plants grow, draw the earth up to them, not allowing
+it to separate the leaves; do this two or three times during the season,
+and the stalks will be beautifully bleached. Heavy loam is much better
+than sand.
+
+_Preserving_ for winter is best done by taking up late in the fall,
+cutting the small roots off, and rounding down to a point the large
+root, removing the coarse, useless leaves, and placing in a trench at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, so that six inches of the upper end of the
+leaves will be above the surface. Cover with soil and place poles over,
+and cover with straw, and in a very cold climate cover with earth. Keep
+out the water. The end can be opened to take it out whenever you please,
+and it will be as fresh as in the fall. This is better than the methods
+of keeping in the cellar; it is more certain, and keeps the celery in
+perfect condition.
+
+
+CHEESE.
+
+The methods of cheese-making differ materially in different countries,
+and in different parts of the same country. It is also so much a matter
+of experience and observation, that we recommend to beginners to visit
+cheese-dairies, and get instructions from practical makers. But we give
+the following more general outlines, leaving our readers to learn all
+further details as recommended above.
+
+Rennet, or the calf's stomach, is used, as nature's agent to turn the
+milk, or to curdle it without having it sour. There are many fanciful
+ways of preparing the rennet, putting in sweet herbs, &c. But the
+ordinary plain method is quite sufficient--which is, to steep it in cold
+salt water. The milk should be set at once on coming from the cow.
+Setting it too hot, or cooling it with cold water, inclines the cheese
+to heave. Too much rennet gives it a strong, unpleasant smell and taste.
+Break the curd as fine as possible with the hand or dish, or better with
+a regular cheese-knife with three blades. This is especially important
+in making large cheeses; small ones need less care in this respect. If
+the curd be too soft, scald it with very hot whey or water; if it be
+hard, use a little more than blood-warm whey: it should stand a few
+minutes in this whey and then be separated, and the curd put into the
+cheese-hoop, making it heaped full, and pressed hard with the hand.
+Spread a cloth over it, and turn it out. Wash the hoop and put back the
+cheese, with the cloth between the curd and the hoop, and put it in the
+press. After a few hours take it out, wash the cloth and put it again
+around the cheese, and return it to the press. After seven or eight
+hours more take it out again, pare off the edges if they need it, and
+rub salt all over it--as much as it will take in: this is the best way
+of salting cheese; the moisture in it at this stage will cause it to
+absorb just about as much salt as will be agreeable. Return it to the
+press in the hoop without the cloth; let it stand in the press over
+night; in the morning turn it in the hoop, and continue it in the press
+until the next morning. Place it upon the shelf in the cheese-room, and
+turn it every day, or at least every other day. If the weather be hot,
+the doors and windows of the cheese-room should be shut; if cool, they
+should be open to admit air.
+
+_Color._--The richest is supposed to be about that of beeswax. This is
+produced by annotta, or otter, rubbed into the milk at the time of
+setting, when warm from the cow--or, if the milk has stood till cold,
+after it has been warmed. Cold milk must, before setting, be warmed to
+about blood or milk heat. This coloring process has no virtue but in its
+influence on the looks of the cheese. Sage cheese is colored by the
+juice of pounded sage-leaves put into the fine curd before it is put in
+the hoop; this is the reason of its appearing in streaks, as it would
+not do if put into the milk, like the annotta. When the cheese is ten
+days old, it should be soaked in cold whey until the rind becomes soft,
+and then scraped smooth with a case-knife; then rinse, and wipe and dry
+it, and return it to the cheese-room, and turn it often until dry enough
+for market. Rich cheeses are apt to spread in warm weather; this is
+prevented by sewing them in common cheap cotton, exactly fitting.
+
+_Skippers._--Some persons are very fond of skippery cheese. But few,
+however, like meat and milk together, especially if the meat be alive:
+hence, to remove skippers from cheese into which they have intruded is
+quite desirable. The following method is effectual:--wrap up the cheese
+in thin paper, through which moisture will readily strike; dig a hole
+two feet deep in pure earth, and bury the cheese;--in thirty-six hours
+every skipper will be on the outside; brush them off and keep the cheese
+from the flies, and you will have no further trouble. A mixture of
+Spanish brown and butter, rubbed on the outside of a cheese, frequently
+gives that yellow coating so often witnessed, and exerts some influence
+in preserving it. The rank and putrid taste sometimes observed in cheese
+may be prevented by putting a spoonful of salt in the bottom of each
+pan, before straining the milk; it will also preserve the milk in hot
+weather, and give more curd.
+
+An English cheese called "Stilton cheese," from the name of the place
+most celebrated for making it, is a superior article, made in the
+following way: put the cream of the night's milk with the morning's
+milk; remove the curd with the least possible disturbance, and without
+breaking; drain and gradually dry it in a sieve; compress it gradually
+until it becomes firm; put it in a wooden hop on a board, to dry
+gradually; it should be often turned between binders, top and bottom, to
+be tightened as the cheese grows smaller. This makes the finest cheese
+known. As the size makes no difference, it can be made by a person
+having but one cow.
+
+To preserve cheese, keep it from flies, and in a place not so damp as to
+cause mould. Of cheese-pressers there is a great variety: each maker
+will select the one which he considers best or most convenient, within
+his reach. In some places, as on the Western Reserve, in Ohio, one
+establishment makes all the cheese for the neighborhood, buying the curd
+from all the families around. In such places they have their own
+methods, which they have understood by all their customers.
+
+
+CHERRY.
+
+Cherries are among our first luxuries in the line of fruits. We have
+cultivated varieties, ripening in succession throughout the cherry
+season. There is no necessity for cultivating the common red and very
+acid cherry, except in climates too vigorous for the more tender
+cultivated varieties. The cherry is an ornamental tree, making a
+beautiful shade, besides the luxury of its fruit. It is one of the most
+suitable trees we have for the roadside;--it ought to be extensively
+planted by the highways throughout all our rural districts, as it is in
+some parts of Europe. In northern Germany the highways are avenues,
+shaded with cherry-trees for distances of fifty or sixty miles together:
+these trees have been planted by direction of the princes, and afford
+shade and refreshment to the weary pedestrian, who is always at liberty
+to eat as much of the fruit as he pleases; this is eminently worthy of
+imitation in our own country.
+
+Extremes of cold and heat are not favorable to the cherry: hence, cool
+places must be selected in hot countries, and warm locations in cold
+regions. Very much, however, can be done by acclimation; it will,
+probably, yet naturalize the cherry throughout the continent. A deep
+and moderately rich loam is the best soil for the cherry; very rich soil
+causes too rapid growth, which makes the tree tender. It will bear more
+moisture than the grape or peach, and requires less than the apple or
+pear. It will endure very dry situations tolerably well, while in very
+wet ones it will soon perish.
+
+_Propagation_ is generally by budding small trees near the ground. The
+best stocks are those raised from the seeds of the common black Mazzard.
+It makes a more thrifty tree than any other. The tree grows very large,
+and bears an abundance of medium black fruit, smallest at the blossom
+end, and having seeds very large in proportion to the size of the fruit.
+In White's Gardening for the South, it is stated that the common Morello
+of that region does better, by far, for seedling stocks for budding,
+than the Mazzard. Use, then, the Mazzard for the North, and the Mahaleb
+or common Morello for the South. Pick them when ripe; let them stand two
+or three days, till the pulp decays enough to separate easily from the
+seed by washing. Immediately plant the seeds in rows where you wish them
+to grow; this is better than keeping them over winter in sand, as a
+little neglect in spring will spoil them, they are so tender, when they
+begin to germinate. Keep them clean of weeds. The next spring, set them
+in rows ten inches or a foot apart, placing the different sizes by
+themselves, that large ones need not overshadow small ones and prevent
+their growth. In the following August, or on the last of July, bud them
+near the ground. The stocks are to be headed back the following spring,
+and the bud will make five or six feet of growth the same season. The
+cherry-tree seldom needs pruning, further than to pinch off any little
+shoots that may come out in a wrong place (and they will be very few),
+and cut away dead branches. Any removal of large limbs will produce gum,
+which is apt to end in decay, and finally in the death of the tree.
+Whatever pruning you must do, do it in the hottest summer weather, and
+the wounds will dry and prevent the exudation of gum. Trees are
+generally trained horizontally. Some, however, are trained as espaliers
+against walls, and in fan shape. When once the form is perfected (as
+given under Training), nothing is necessary but to cut off--twice in
+each season, about six weeks apart, in the most growing time--all other
+shoots that come out within four inches of their base. New shoots will
+be constantly springing, and the tree will keep its shape and bear
+excellent fruit. Trees so trained are usually in warm locations, and
+where they can be easily protected in winter; hence, this is adapted to
+the finer and more tender varieties. The varieties of cherries are
+numerous, and rapidly increasing. They are less distinguishable than
+most other fruits. We shall only present a few of the best, and give
+only their general qualities, without any effort to enable our readers
+to identify varieties. (See our remarks on the nomenclature of apples.)
+
+Downing, in 1846, recommended the following, as choice and hardy,
+adapted to the middle states:--
+
+  1. Black Tartarean.
+  2. Black Eagle.
+  3. Early White Heart.
+  4. Downton.
+  5. Downer's Late.
+  6. Manning's Mottled.
+  7. Flesh-color'd Bigarreau
+  8. Elton.
+  9. Belle de Choisy.
+  10. May Duke.
+  11. Kentish.
+  12. Knight's Early Black.
+
+The National Convention of Fruit-growers recommend the following as the
+best for the whole country:--
+
+  1. May Duke.
+  2. Black Tartarean.
+  3. Black Eagle.
+  4. Bigarreau.
+  5. Knight's Early Black.
+  6. Downer.
+  7. Elton.
+  8. Downton.
+
+We recommend the following as all that need be cultivated for profit.
+They are adapted alike to the field and the garden. We omit the
+synonyms, and give only the predominant color. The figures in the cuts
+refer to our numbers in the list:--
+
+    Name.                           Color.                        Time.
+  1.  Rockport Bigarreau,           red.                        June 1st.
+  2.  Knight's Early Black,         black.                      June 5th.
+  3.  Black Tartarean,              purplish.                   June 15th.
+  4.  Kirtland's Mary,              marbled, light-red.         June, July.
+  5.  Delicate,                     amber-yellow.               June 25th.
+  6.  Late Bigarreau,               deep-yellow.                June 30th.
+  7.  Late Duke,                    dark-red.                   Aug. 10th.
+  8.  Cleveland Bigarreau,          red.                        June 10th.
+  9.  American Heart,               pale.                       June 1st.
+  10. Napoleon,                     purplish-black.             July 5th.
+
+The time is that of their greatest perfection, but varies with latitude
+and location.
+
+We know none better than the foregoing. In the long lists of the
+fruit-books, there are others of great excellence, some of which are
+hardly distinguishable from our list. We recommend to all cultivators to
+procure the best in their localities, under the advice of the best
+pomologists in their vicinity. Such men as Barry will be consulted for
+the latitude of Western New York; Elliott and Kirtland for Cleveland,
+Ohio; Cole and others for New England and Canada; Hooker and other
+great fruit-growers of Southern Ohio, &c., &c. These gentlemen, like all
+scientific men, are happy to communicate their knowledge for the benefit
+of others.
+
+[Illustration: Cherries--Natural Size and Shape. (See page 121.)]
+
+We see no reason for cultivating more than ten or twelve varieties; and,
+as the above are productive and excellent, including all desirable
+colors and qualities, and ripening through the whole cherry season, we
+know not what more would be profitable to the cultivator. If you wish
+more for the sake of variety, your nurseryman will name them, and show
+the quality of each, that renders it "_the best_ that ever was," until
+you will become tired of hearing, and more weary of paying for them.
+
+Decayed wood, spent tanbark, and forest-leaves, are good for the cherry.
+In removing and transplanting, be careful not to injure the roots, or
+expose them to sun and air, as they are so tender, that a degree of
+exposure that would be little felt by the apple or peach tree will
+destroy the cherry. If you are going to keep a cherry-tree out of the
+ground half an hour, throw a damp mat, or damp straw, over the roots,
+and you will save disappointment. The rich alluvial soils of the West
+are regarded unfavorable to the cherry. We know from observation and
+experience that the common red cherry does exceedingly well there, while
+the best cultivated are apt to suffer much from the winters. One reason
+is, the common cherry is a slow-going, hardy tree, while the cultivated
+is more thrifty, and therefore more tender. We give the following as a
+_sure method_ of raising the cultivated cherries in great perfection on
+all the rich prairies of the West. It is all included in dry locations,
+root-pruning, and slight heading-in:--
+
+1. Dry locations. It is known that the rich alluvial soils of the West
+are remarkable for retaining water in winter. On level, and even high
+prairie land, water will stand in winter, and thoroughly saturate the
+soil and freeze up. This is very destructive to the tender, porous root
+of the cherry-tree. How shall such locations be made dry, and these
+evils prevented? By carting on gravel and sand. Put two or three loads
+of sand or gravel, or both, in the shape of a slight mound, for each
+cherry-tree. There should first be a slight excavation, that the sand
+and gravel may be about half below the level of the surrounding soil,
+and half above it: this will so elevate the tree that no water can stand
+around it, and none can stand in the gravel and sand below it. The
+freezing of such soil will not be injurious to the roots of the tree.
+
+2. Root-pruning is to prevent too rapid growth. Such growth is always
+more tender and susceptible of injury from sudden and severe freezing.
+(See Root-pruning.)
+
+3. Heading-in puts back the growth and throws the sap into the lateral
+twigs, thus maturing the wood already grown, instead of producing new
+wood, so young and tender that it will die in winter and spread decay
+through the whole tree. Heading-in, with the cherry, must only be done
+with small twigs. Cultivators will see at a glance that this method will
+certainly succeed in all the West and Southwest.
+
+It is considered difficult to raise cherries at the South; the hot sun
+destroys the trees. Plant in the coolest situations, where there is a
+little shade from other trees, though not too near, or from buildings;
+cut them back, so as to cause shoots near the ground, and then head-in
+as the peach, so as to keep the whole covered with leaves, to shade the
+trunk and large limbs, and perfect success will crown your efforts. But
+in all cutting-back and heading-in of cherry-trees, remove the limbs
+when very small.
+
+
+CHARCOAL.
+
+There are but few who realize the value of charcoal applied to the soil.
+Whoever will observe fields where coal has been burned, will see that
+grass or grain about the bed of the former pits, will be earlier and
+much more luxuriant than in any other portion of the field. This
+difference is discernible for twenty years. It is the best known agent
+for absorbing any noxious matter in the soil or in the moisture about
+the roots of the trees. No peach-tree should be planted without a few
+quarts of pulverized charcoal in the soil. This would also prove highly
+beneficial to cherry-trees on land where they might be exposed to too
+much moisture. Its color also renders it an excellent application to the
+surface of hills of vines. It is quite effectual against the ravages of
+insects, and so absorbs the rays of the sun as to promote a rapid growth
+of the plants.
+
+
+CHESTNUTS
+
+Are among our best nuts, if not allowed to get too dry. When dried hard
+they are rather indigestible. The tree grows well in most parts of the
+United States, provided the soil be light sand or dry gravel. If the
+soil be not suitable, every man may have a half-dozen chestnut-trees, at
+a trifling expense. Haul ten or fifteen loads of sand upon a square rod,
+and plant a tree in it, and it will flourish well. Five or six trees
+would afford the children in a family a great luxury, annually. The
+blossoms appear so very late, that they are seldom cut off by the frost.
+The second growth chestnut-tree is also decidedly ornamental.
+
+
+CIDER.
+
+The usual careless way of making cider, in which is used all kinds of
+apples, even frozen and decayed ones, and without any reference to their
+ripeness; without straining, and neglecting all means of regulating the
+fermentation, is too well known. This is the more general practice
+throughout the country; but it makes cider only fit for vinegar,
+although it is used for general purposes. We give the most approved
+method of making and keeping cider, that is better for invalids than any
+of our adulterated wines (and this is the character of nearly all our
+imported wines). Our domestic wines, and bottled cider, should take the
+place of all others.
+
+Select apples best suited for cider, and gather them at the commencement
+of hard frosts. Let them lie a few days, until they become ripe and
+soft. Then throw out all decayed and immature fruit. Grind fine and
+uniform. Let the pulp remain in the vat two days. It will increase the
+saccharine principle and improve the color. Put into the press in dry
+straw, and strain the juice into clean casks. Place the casks in an open
+shed or cellar, if it be cold weather, give plenty of air and leave the
+bung out. As the froth works out of the bung, fill up every day or two,
+with some of the same pressing kept for the purpose. In three weeks or
+less this rising will cease, and the bung should be put in loose, and
+after three days driven in tight. Leave a small vent-hole near the bung.
+In a cool cellar the fermentation will cease in two days. This is known
+by the clearness of the liquor, the thick scum that rises, and the
+cessation of the escape of air.
+
+Draw off the clear cider into a clean cask. If it remains quiet it may
+stand till spring. A gill of fine charcoal added to a barrel will secure
+this end, and prevent fermentation from going too far. But if a scum
+collects on the surface, and the fermentation continues, rack it off
+again at once. Then drive the vent-spile tight. Rack it off again in
+early spring. If not perfectly clear, dissolve three quarters of an
+ounce of isinglass in cider, and put it in the barrel, and it will soon
+be perfectly fine. Bottle between this and the last of May. Fill the
+bottles within an inch of the bottom of the cork, and allow them to
+stand an hour, then drive the cork. Lay them in dry sand, in boxes in a
+cool cellar, and the cider will improve by age, and is better for the
+sick than imported wines.
+
+
+CITRONS
+
+Are only used for preserving. Their appearance and growth resemble in
+all respects the watermelon. Planted near the latter, they utterly ruin
+them, making them more citron than melon. They are injurious to most
+other contiguous vines. They are to be planted and cultivated like the
+watermelon. Are very fine preserved; but we think the outside (removing
+the rind) of a watermelon better, and should not regret to know, that
+not another citron was ever to be raised.
+
+
+CLOVER.
+
+The only varieties successfully cultivated in this country, are the red
+and the white. Red clovers are divided into large, medium, and small.
+The white is all alike. The long-rooted clover of Hungary is an
+excellent productive variety, enduring successfully almost any degree of
+drought. But in all the colder parts of this country it winter-kills so
+badly as to render it unprofitable. Clover makes good pastures, being
+nutritious, and early and rapid growing. Red-clover makes fair hay,
+though inferior to timothy or red-top. White clover is unsuitable for
+hay; it shrinks so much in drying, that it is very unproductive. It is
+the best of all grasses for sheep pasture, and its blossoms afford in
+abundance the best of honey. Red clover plowed in, even when full-grown,
+is an excellent fertilizer. It begins to be regarded, in western New
+York, as productive of the weevil, so destructive to wheat. Further
+observation is necessary to settle this question.
+
+Red-clover hay is too dusty for horses, and too wasteful for cattle. The
+stalks are so large a proportion, and so slightly nutritious, that it is
+unprofitable even as cut-feed. It is best to cultivate clover mainly for
+pastures and as a fertilizer. Sowing clover and timothy together for hay
+is much practised. The first year it will be nearly all clover, and the
+second year mostly timothy. But sown together, they are not good for
+hay, because they do not mature within ten or fifteen days of the same
+time. But, for those who are determined to make hay out of red clover,
+the following directions for curing may be valuable: mow when dry,
+spread at once, and let it wilt thoroughly; then put up into small
+cocks, not rolled, but one fork full _laid_ upon another until high
+enough;--it will then shed water; but when rolled up, water will run
+down through. Let it stand till thoroughly dried, and then draw into the
+barn; it will be bright and sweet. Another method is to cut when free
+from dew or rain, spread even, and allow it to wilt, and the leaves and
+smaller parts to dry; then draw into the barn, putting alternate loads
+of clover and dry straw into the mow, salting the clover very lightly.
+The clover is sometimes put in when quite green, and salted sufficiently
+to preserve it. It is injurious to cattle, by compelling them to eat
+more salt than they need. Cattle will eat but little salt in winter,
+when it stands within their reach; too much salt in hay compels them to
+eat more, which engenders disease. Clover cured as above makes the best
+possible clover-hay, if great care be used to prevent excessive salting.
+
+Saving clover-seed is a matter of considerable importance. The large red
+clover is too late a variety to produce seed on a second crop the same
+season, as do the medium and small. The first growth must be allowed to
+ripen. Cut when the heads are generally dead, but before it has begun to
+shell. The medium and small red clovers will produce a good crop of seed
+from second growth, if it be not too dry, immediately after mowing. Cut
+when the heads generally are dry, rake into small winrows at once, and
+soon put it in small bunches and let it stand until very dry, and then
+draw in. Raking and stirring after it becomes dry will waste one half of
+it.
+
+
+COFFEE BEAN.
+
+This grows in a pod somewhat resembling the pea; easily raised, as other
+beans; and is very productive. Browned and ground, it is used as a
+substitute for coffee. By many persons it is much esteemed. If this and
+the orange carrot were adopted extensively, instead of coffee, it would
+afford a great relief to the health, as well as the pockets, of the
+American people.
+
+
+CORN.
+
+This is the most valuable of all American products of the soil, not
+excepting wheat or cotton. It is used for human food all over the world.
+And there is no domestic animal or fowl, whose habits require grain,
+whether whole or ground, that is not fond of it. It is easily raised,
+and is a sure and abundant crop, in all latitudes south of forty-six
+degrees north. The varieties are few, and principally local. The soil
+can not be made too rich for corn. It should be planted in rows each
+way, to allow cultivating both ways with a horse. The distance of rows
+apart has been a subject of some differences of opinion; there is a
+disposition to crowd it too near together. In western New York, where
+much attention has been given to it, the usual distance is three and one
+half feet each way; others plant four feet apart. On all land we have
+ever seen, we believe four feet apart each way, with four or five stalks
+in a hill, will produce the largest yield. It lets in the sun
+sufficiently around every hill, and the proportion of ears to the stalks
+will be larger than in any other distance. Planting with a span of
+horses, and a planter on which a man can ride and plant two rows at
+once, is the easiest and most expeditious. We can not too strongly
+recommend harrowing corn as soon as it comes out of the ground. It
+increases the crop, and saves much expense in cultivating. All planters
+should know that Indian corn is one of those plants which will come to
+maturity at a certain age, whether it be large or small; hence, anything
+that will increase the growth while young will add to the product. Corn
+neglected when small receives, thereby, an injury from which it will
+never recover; after-hoeing may help it, but never can fully restore it.
+If there are small weeds, the harrowing will destroy them, and give all
+the strength of the soil to the young corn; if there are no weeds, the
+effect of the harrowing will be to give the young plants twice as large
+a growth in the first two weeks as they would make without it. Harrow
+with a =V= drag, with the front tooth out, that the remaining
+teeth may go each side of the row. Use two horses, allowing the row to
+stand between them; let the harrow-teeth run as near the corn as
+possible. Never plant corn until the soil has become warm enough to make
+it come up quickly and grow rapidly. If you feed corn to cattle whole,
+feed it with the husks on, as it will compel them to chew it better,
+and will thus be a great saving. Crib corn only when very dry, and avoid
+the Western and Southern method of leaving cribs uncovered; the corn
+thus becomes less valuable for any use. A little plaster or wood-ashes
+applied to corn on first coming up, and again when six inches high, will
+abundantly repay cost and labor;--it will pay even on the prairie-lands
+of the West, and is quite essential on the poorer soils of the East and
+North. It had better never be neglected. The crop will weigh more to the
+acre, by allowing it to stand as it grew, until thoroughly dry. The next
+larger crop is when the stalks are cut off above the ear (called
+topping) after it has become glazed. Still a little less will be the
+product when it is cut up at the ground, while the leaves are yet quite
+green. The two latter methods are adapted for the purpose of saving
+fodder in good condition for cattle. Intelligent farmers regard the
+fodder of much more value than the decrease in the weight of the grain.
+Corn thus cut up, and fed without husking, is the best possible way for
+winter-fattening cattle on a large scale, and where corn is abundant. To
+save the whole, swine should follow the cattle, changing yards once a
+week.
+
+Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before
+frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the
+average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will
+improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib
+at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best
+ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before
+all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed
+twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before planting, is
+recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand.
+Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time;
+but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there
+occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that
+their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this
+is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply.
+The difficulty is not (as we have often heard asserted) from the intense
+cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather
+after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect,
+with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall
+was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly
+soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter
+destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no
+degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the
+seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed,
+given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most
+profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow
+land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable
+for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry
+weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is
+better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with
+ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved
+in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The
+tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.
+
+
+COTTON.
+
+No product of the soil is more useful than this. To this country alone
+we give the highest value to Indian corn. But, in usefulness to the
+whole world, corn must yield the palm to cotton. It employs more hands
+and capital in manufacturing, and enters more largely into the clothing
+of mankind, than any other article. The history of cotton and the
+cotton-gin, and of the manufacture of cotton goods, is exceedingly
+interesting. The eminence of Great Britain as the first commercial
+nation of the world is due, in no small degree, to her cotton
+manufactures. And the influence of this great staple American product
+upon all the interests of this country, social and political, civil and
+religious, is universally felt and acknowledged. The cotton-fields of
+the South, at certain stages of growth, and especially when in bloom,
+present scenes of beauty unsurpassed by any other growing crop. It does
+not come within our design in this work to give a very extended view of
+cotton culture. This business in the United States is confined
+principally to a particular class of men, known as planters. They
+cultivate it on a large scale, having the control of large means. Such
+men seek knowledge of those of their own class, and would hardly
+condescend to listen to an essay on their peculiar business, written by
+a Northern man, not experienced in planting. And yet an article, not
+covering more than ten pages of this volume, might be written,
+condensing in a clear manner all that is established in this branch of
+American industry, as found in the publications of the South. Such an
+article, well written, by a man who would be regarded good authority,
+would be of vast pecuniary value to the South. Whoever carefully reads
+Southern agricultural papers, and "TURNER'S COTTON-PLANTER'S MANUAL,"
+will see a great conflict of opinions on the subject, and yet a
+presentation of many facts, that one thoroughly conversant with soil
+culture in general would see to be true and important. The embodiment of
+these facts and principles in a brief, plain article that would be
+received and practised, would add value to the annual cotton crop, that
+would be counted by millions. What better service can some Southern
+gentleman do for his own chosen and favorite region than to write such
+an article? We give the following brief view of the whole subject, not
+presuming to teach cotton-planters what they are supposed to understand
+much better than we do, but to throw out some thoughts that may be
+suggestive of improvements that others may mature and carry out, and to
+lead young men, just commencing the business of planting, to look about
+and see if they may not make some improvements upon what they behold
+around them. This will not fail of being interesting to Northern men,
+most of whom know nothing of the cotton-plant, or the modes of its
+cultivation. It is interesting, too, that some of the most essential
+points are in perfect accordance with the great principles of soil
+culture throughout the world.
+
+There are three species of cotton: tree-cotton, shrub-cotton, and
+herbaceous cotton. The tree-cotton is cultivated to considerable extent
+in northern Africa, and produces a fair staple of cotton for commerce;
+being produced on trees from ten to twenty-five feet high, it is not so
+easily gathered. The shrub-cotton is cultivated in various parts of the
+world, particularly in Asia and South America. Growing in the form of
+small bushes, it is convenient, and the staple is fair. But these are
+both inferior to the herbaceous cotton. This is an herb growing
+annually, like corn, a number of feet in height, more or less according
+to soil and season, and producing the best known cotton. Under these
+species there are many varieties: we need speak only of the varieties of
+herbaceous cotton. Writers vary in their estimates of varieties; some
+say there are eight, and others put them as high as one hundred. This is
+a question of no practical moment. The sea-island cotton, called also
+"long staple" on account of its very long silky fibres, is the finest
+cotton known. Its name arose from the fact of its production in greatest
+perfection on the low, sandy islands near the coasts of some of the
+Southern states. It does well on low land near the seashore. The
+saltness and humidity of such locations seem peculiarly favorable to its
+greatest perfection. It yields about half as much as the "short staple"
+called Mexican and Petit gulf cotton, and known in commerce as upland
+cotton. But the sea-island, or long staple, sells for three or four
+times as much per pound, and, hence, is most profitable to the planter,
+in all regions where it will flourish well. The Mexican is very
+productive on most soils, and is easily gathered and prepared for
+market. There are quite a number of other varieties; as, banana, Vick's
+hundred-seed, Pitt's prolific, multibolus, mammoth, sugar-loaf, &c., &c.
+The sugar-loaf is highly commended, as are some of the others named.
+They have had quite a run among seed-sellers. Most of these varieties
+are the improved Mexican. It is well to get seed frequently from a
+distance; but any extravagant prices are unwise. Improvement of
+cotton-seed is an important part of its most profitable culture. While
+much said about it by interested parties is doubtless mere humbug, yet
+there is great importance to be attached to improvement of seed. This is
+true of all agricultural products, and no less so of cotton than of
+others. Two things only are essential to constant improvement in
+cotton-seed--_selection_ and _care_. Select from the best quality,
+producing the largest yield, and maturing early; pick it before much
+rain has fallen on it after ripening; dry it thoroughly before ginning,
+and dry it very thoroughly after it is clear of the fibre, before
+putting it in bulk. Cotton-seed, without extra care in drying, has
+moisture enough to make it heat in bulk, by which its germinating power
+is greatly impaired. It is this, and the effects of fall rains, that
+causes seed to trouble planters so seriously by not coming up: this
+makes it difficult to obtain good even stands, and causes much loss by
+diminished crops. Care in these respects would add many pounds to the
+acre in most cotton-fields of the land.
+
+_Preparing the Soil for Planting._--On all land not having a porous
+subsoil, plow very deep; it gives opportunity for the long tap-root of
+the plant to penetrate deep, and guard against excessive drought. The
+usual custom is to lay the ground into beds, elevated a little in the
+middle, and a depression between them, in which excessive moisture may
+run off; also to increase the action of the sun and air. The surface of
+the soil to be planted should be made very fine and smooth. This is true
+of everything planted--it should be in finely-pulverized soil; it comes
+up more readily and evenly. Soil left in coarse lumps or particles gives
+the air too much action on the germinating seeds and young plants, and
+retards and stints their growth. Deep plowing guards alike against too
+much or too little moisture. Too much water has room to sink away from
+the surface and allow it to dry speedily. It also forms a sort of
+reservoir to hold water for use in a drought. The seed should be planted
+in as straight a line as possible, from three and a half to five and a
+half feet apart one way, and from fourteen to twenty-five inches the
+other, according to the quality of the land, and the growth of the
+variety planted. Rich lands will not bear the plants so close as the
+poor. Many are great losers by not securing plants enough on the ground.
+Straight lines greatly facilitate culture, as it can mostly be done with
+the plow or cultivator. Turning land over deep, just before planting, is
+the best known remedy for the cut-worm; it is said to put them back
+until the plants grow beyond their reach. The best planters generally
+cover with a piece of plank drawn over the furrow in which the seed is
+dropped. It would be far better to roll it, as some few planters do; the
+effect on the early vegetation of the seed and rapid growth of the young
+plant would be very great, on the general principles given on "Rolling."
+The object of cultivation is to keep down the grass, which is the great
+enemy of the cotton. Plowing the last thing before planting aids this,
+by giving the cotton quite as early a start as the weeds or grass.
+Cultivate early, and the grass will be easily covered and killed. Always
+plant when it will come up speedily and grow rapidly; this is better
+than very early planting, and certainly much better than very late. Thin
+out to one in a place, as early as the plants are out of danger of
+dying. Gathering should commence as soon as bolls enough are in right
+condition to allow a hand to gather forty pounds per day. It is better
+and cheaper than to risk the injury from rains after the crop is ripe.
+
+MANURES.--Perhaps this is, at the present time, the greatest question
+for cotton-planters. The application of all the most approved principles
+and agents of fertilization would do more for the interests of the
+cotton crop than anything else. Cotton-plantations are sometimes said to
+run down so as to render it necessary to abandon portions of the land,
+and select new. Instead of this, land may not only be kept up with
+proper manuring, but made to yield larger crops from year to year. The
+following analysis of the ash of the cotton-plant will indicate the
+wants of the soil in which it grows:--
+
+  1. Potash                29.58
+  2. Lime                  24.34
+  3. Magnesia               3.73
+  4. Chloride               0.65
+  5. Phosphoric acid       34.92
+  6. Sulphuric acid         3.54
+  7. Silica                 3.24
+                           ----
+                           100.00
+
+This analysis shows that the soil for cotton needs much lime, bones or
+bone-dust, and wood-ashes, besides the ordinary barn-yard and compost
+manures. All the preparations and applications of manures specified in
+this work, under the head of "Manures," are applicable to cotton. The
+usual recommendations of rotation in crops is, perhaps, more important
+in cotton culture than anywhere else. Judicious fallowing, on principles
+adapted to a Southern climate, is another great means of keeping up and
+improving the land. This is also the only effectual means of guarding
+against the numerous enemies and diseases of the cotton-plant. The
+health of the plants is secured, and they are made to outstrip their
+enemies only by the fertility and fine tilth of the soil in which they
+grow. This is confirmed on every hand by the correspondence of the most
+intelligent planters of the South. Let cotton-growers go into a thorough
+system of fertilization of their soils, and attend personally to the
+improvement of their cotton-seed, by selection, as recommended above,
+and the result will be an addition of one eighth, or one fourth, to the
+products of cotton in the United States, without adding another acre to
+the area under cultivation. When this comes to be understood, men of
+small means will cultivate a little cotton by their own individual
+labor, as the poorer men do corn and other agricultural products, and
+thus improve their condition. The above suggestions are the conclusions
+to which we come, from a thorough examination of what has been published
+to the world on this subject. We recommend the careful perusal of "The
+Cotton-Planter's Manual," by Turner (published by Saxton and Co., New
+York), and increased attention to the subject, by the intelligent,
+educated, and practical men with whom the cotton-growing regions abound.
+
+
+COWS.
+
+The cow occupies the first place among domestic animals, in value to the
+American people, not excepting even the horse. From the original stock,
+still kept as a curiosity on the grounds of some English noblemen,
+cattle have been greatly improved by care in breeding and feeding. Those
+wild animals are still beautiful, but only about one third of the weight
+of the ordinary improved cattle, and not more than one fourth that of
+the _most improved_. Improving the breed of cattle is a subject by
+itself, demanding a separate treatise. It is not to be expected that we
+should go into it at length in a work like this. But so much depends
+upon the cow, that we can hardly write an article on her without giving
+those general principles that lie at the foundation of all improvement
+in cattle. The few suggestions that follow, if heeded, would be worth
+many times the value of this book to any farmer not already familiar
+with the facts. The cow affects all other stock in two ways; first, the
+form of calves, and consequently of grown cattle, is affected as much by
+the cow as by the bull. The quality and quantity of her milk, also, has
+a great influence upon the early growth of all neat stock. Cattle are
+usually named from their horns, as "short horns," &c. It is a means of
+distinction, like a name, but not expressive of quality. The leading
+marks of a good cow are, medium height for her weight, small neck,
+straight and wide back, wide breast--giving room for healthy action of
+the lungs--heavy hind-quarters, and soft skin with fine hair, skin
+yellowish, with much dandruff above the bag behind. A smart countenance
+is also expressive of good qualities; there is as much difference in the
+eyes and expression of cattle as of men. Select only such cows to raise
+stock from, and allow them to go to no bull that has not good marks, and
+is not of a superior form. Another important matter is to avoid
+breeding in and in. This is injurious in all domestic animals and
+fowls. Always have the cow and the bull from different regions:
+attention to this would constantly improve any breed we have, and by
+improving the size of cattle, and milking qualities of cows, would add
+vast amounts to the wealth of farmers, without the necessity of
+purchasing, at a great price, any of the high-bred cattle. We have
+observed, in our article on calves, that abundant feeding during the
+first year has much to do with the excellence of stock. Unite with these
+regularity in feeding, watering, and salting, keeping dry and warm in
+stormy, cold weather, and well curried and clean, and a farmer's stock
+will be much more profitable to him. But this brief mention of the
+general principles must suffice, while we give all the further space we
+can occupy with this article to--
+
+THE INFALLIBLE MARKS OF THE MILKING QUALITIES OF COWS.--M. Francis
+Guenon, of France, has published a treatise, in which he shows, by
+external marks alone, the quality and quantity of milk of any cow, and
+the length of time she will continue to give milk. These marks are so
+plain, that they are applicable to calves but a few weeks old, as well
+as to cows. Whoever will take a little pains to understand this, can
+know, when he proposes to buy a cow, how much milk she will give, with
+proper feed and treatment, the quality of her milk, and the length of
+time she will give milk after having been gotten with calf. If the
+farmer has heifer-calves, some of which he proposes to send to the
+butcher and others to raise, he may know which will make poor milkers,
+and which good ones, and raise the good and kill the poor. Thus, he may
+see a calf that his neighbor is going to slaughter, and, from these
+external marks, he may discover that it would make one of the best
+milking cows of the neighborhood; it would then pay to buy and raise it,
+though he might have to kill and throw away his own, which he could see
+would make a poor cow if raised. Thus, all extraordinary milkers would
+be raised, and all poor ones be slaughtered: this alone would improve
+the whole stock of the country twenty-five per cent. in as many years.
+Attention has been called to this, in the most emphatic manner, by _The
+New York Tribune_--a paper that always takes a deep interest in whatever
+will advance the great industrial interests of the whole people--and
+yet, this announcement will be new to a vast number of farmers into
+whose hands this volume will fall. To many it will be utterly
+incredible, especially when we inform them that the indications are,
+mainly, the growth of the hair, on the cow behind, from the roots of the
+teats upward. "Impossible!" many a practical, common-sense man will say.
+But that same man will acknowledge that a bull has a different color,
+different neck, and different horns, left in his natural state, from
+those he would exhibit if altered to an ox. Why is it not equally
+credible that the growth of the hair, &c., should be affected by the
+secretion and flow of the milk on that part of the system where those
+operations are principally carried on? But, aside from all reasonings on
+the subject, the fact is certain, and whoever may read this article may
+test its correctness, as applied to his own cows or those of his
+neighbor. The great agriculturists of France (and it is no mean
+agricultural country) have tested it, under the direction of the
+agricultural societies, and pronounced it entirely certain. This was
+followed by an award, by the French government, of a pension of three
+thousand francs per annum to Guenon, as a benefactor of the people by
+the discovery he had made. The same has been amply tested in this
+country, with the same certain results. It now only remains for every
+farmer to test it for himself, and avail himself of the profits that
+will arise from it. Guenon divides cows into eight classes, and has
+eight orders under each class, making sixty-four cows, of which he has
+cuts in his work. He also adds what he calls a bastard-cow in each
+class, making seventy-two in all. Now, to master all these nice
+distinctions in his classes and orders would be tedious, and nearly
+useless. Efforts at this would tend to confusion. We desire to give the
+indications in a brief manner, with a very few cuts; and yet, we would
+hope to be much better understood by the masses than we believe Guenon
+to be. We claim no credit; Guenon is the discoverer, and we only
+promulgate his discovery in the plainest language we can command; and if
+we can reach the ear of the American farmers, and call their attention
+to this, we shall not have labored in vain.
+
+The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the
+gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon. The following
+cuts show the marks of all of Guenon's eight classes, the first and the
+last in each class. The intermediate ones are in regular gradation from
+the first to the eighth order. Each class is divided into high, medium,
+and low, yielding milk somewhat in proportion to their size. We give the
+quantity of milk which the large cows will yield. This also supposes
+cows to be well fed on suitable food. Smaller cows of the same class and
+order, or those that are poorly cared for and fed, will, of course, give
+less.
+
+The names of all these eight classes are entirely arbitrary--they mean
+nothing. M. Guenon adopted them on account of the shape of the
+escutcheon, or from the name of the place from which the cows came. But
+cows with these peculiar marks are found among all breeds, in all
+countries, and of all colors, sizes, and ages. These marks are certain,
+except the variations that are caused by extra care or neglect.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 1. FIRST CLASS. Fig. 2.
+
+_Order_ 1. FLANDERS COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair,
+growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it
+blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the
+region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs
+just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and
+extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they
+generally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by
+hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds
+them (E, E, in fig. 1). The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon
+is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff,
+detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give
+about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before
+getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large
+quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with
+calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This,
+however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time
+of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual
+diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the
+eighth.
+
+Cows of this order (fig. 2), or with the marks you see in the drawing,
+will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best
+state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with
+calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in
+Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better
+than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different
+from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any
+one can at once see that they belong to this class;--and the comparative
+size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the
+above. In the intermediate grades, the spots (E, E, fig. 1) are smaller,
+and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight
+changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general
+outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in
+each class is about from two and a half to three or three and a half
+quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a
+calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell,
+within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow or heifer. The only
+chance for mistake is in the case of bastard-cows, which rapidly dry up
+on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 3. SECOND CLASS. Fig. 4.
+
+_Order_ 1. SELVAGE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+In this class, the shape of the escutcheon is entirely distinct, so that
+no one will confound it with the first. The gradations are the same as
+in the preceding, only this class, all through, is inferior to the
+other. The first (fig. 3) will give only twenty or twenty-one quarts,
+and the poorest only four quarts. This escutcheon is formed by ascending
+hair, but with a very different outline from the first class; it has the
+same spots above the hind teats as the first, formed by descending
+hair. In the lower orders these disappear--first one, then one small
+one, and then none at all--and as they descend, similar spots appear,
+formed in the same way, on one or both sides of the vulva (F, fig. 3).
+The skin of the inside surface of the thigh is yellowish. The time of
+giving milk--viz., eight months gone with calf, or as long as you
+continue to milk them--is the same as in the first class. The last order
+(fig. 4) of this class give very little milk after getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 5. THIRD CLASS. Fig. 6.
+
+_Order_ 1. CURVELINE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+This escutcheon is easily distinguished from the others, by its outline
+figure. The spots on the bag above the hind teats are formed as in the
+preceding, and as gradually disappear in the lower orders. In those
+orders there is a slight difference in the outline, but its general form
+is the same. The first of this class (fig. 5) yields twenty or
+twenty-one quarts a day, and gives milk till within a month of calving.
+The last order of the class (fig. 6) gives only three and a half quarts,
+and goes dry on getting with calf. The intermediate gradations between
+the first and eighth orders are the same as in the preceding classes.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 7. FOURTH CLASS. Fig. 8.
+
+_Order_ 1. BICORN COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+These escutcheons are unmistakably diverse from either of the others;
+gradations, from first to eighth orders, the same. The first order in
+this class (fig. 7) will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk until
+eight months with calf. The dandruff which detaches from the skin within
+the escutcheon of the first order is yellowish or copperish color. The
+two marks on the sides of the vulva are narrow streaks of ascending
+hair, not in the general mark. The last order of the class (fig. 8)
+gives three and a half quarts only a day, and goes dry when with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 9. FIFTH CLASS. Fig. 10.
+
+_Order_ 1. DEMIJOHN COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+Here is another general mark, easily distinguishable from all the others
+by its outline. The first order (fig. 9) will give eighteen quarts a
+day, and give milk eight months, or within a month of calving. Yellowish
+skin; delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, as in the higher
+orders of all the preceding classes. The eighth order of this class
+(fig. 10) will give only two and a half quarts per day, and none after
+conceiving anew. The gradation from first to eighth order is regular, as
+in the others.
+
+
+SIXTH CLASS.
+
+Yield of first order (fig. 11) eighteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin within the escutcheon same color, bag equally delicate, and
+hair fine, as in all the first orders. Eighth order (fig. 12) yields
+about two quarts per day, and dries up on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 11. Fig. 12.
+
+_Order_ 1. SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 13. SEVENTH CLASS. Fig. 14.
+
+_Order_ 1. LIMOUSINE COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+First order in this class (fig. 13) gives fifteen quarts; time, eight
+months. The skin, bag, and hair, same as in the higher orders in all the
+classes. The eighth order (fig. 14) will yield two and a half quarts per
+day, and dry up when with calf.
+
+
+EIGHTH CLASS.
+
+First order (fig. 15) will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight
+months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats
+far apart. The eighth order (fig. 16) yields two and a half quarts a
+day, and dries up on getting with calf.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 15. Fig. 16.
+
+_Order_ 1. HORIZONTAL CUT COW. _Order_ 8.]
+
+Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose
+escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class:
+these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become
+familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may
+be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows,
+and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the
+bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of
+ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19.]
+
+In the FLANDERS COW (fig. 17) there are two bastards; one distinguished
+by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles
+up, like beards on a head of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the
+genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and
+descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the
+FLANDERS COW is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair,
+about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large
+cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair
+within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of
+this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the
+escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no
+dandruff.
+
+Bastards of the SELVAGE COW are known by two oval patches of ascending
+hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an
+inch and a half wide (fig. 18). The larger the spot, and the coarser the
+hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.
+
+Bastards of the CURVELINE COW are known by the size of spots of hair on
+each side of the vulva (fig. 18). When they are of four or five inches
+by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate
+bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly
+on getting with calf.
+
+Bastards of the BICORN COW are indicated precisely as in the
+preceding--by _the size_ of the spots of ascending hair, above the
+escutcheon and by the sides of the vulva (F, F, fig. 18).
+
+Bastards of the DEMIJOHN COW are distinguished precisely as the two
+preceding--_size of the streaks_ (fig. 18).
+
+The SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the
+right of the vulva (fig. 19). When that ascending hair is coarse and
+bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.
+
+LIMOUSINE COWS show their bastards precisely as do the CURVELINE and
+BICORN, by the size of the ascending streaks of hair, on the right and
+left of the vulva. (Fig. 19.)
+
+Bastards of the HORIZONTAL CUT COWS have no escutcheon whatever. By this
+they are always known.
+
+Some bastards are good milkers until they get with calf, and then very
+soon dry up. Others are poor milkers. Those with coarse hair and but
+little of it, in the escutcheon, give poor, watery milk. Those of fine,
+thick hair will give good milk.
+
+BULLS have escutcheons of the same shape as the cows, but on a smaller
+scale. Whenever there are streaks of descending hair bristling up among
+the ascending hair of the escutcheon, rendering it quite irregular and
+rough in its appearance, the animal is regarded as a bastard. Never put
+a cow to any bull that has not a regular, well-defined, and smooth
+escutcheon. This is as fully as we have room to go into M. Guenon's
+details. We fear this will fall into the hands of many who will not take
+the pains to master even these distinctions. To those who will, we trust
+they will be found plain, and certain in their results. From all this,
+one thing is certain, and that is of immense value to the farmer: it is,
+that on general principles, without remembering the exact figure of one
+of the indications above given, or one of the arbitrary terms it has
+been necessary to use, any man can tell the quality and quantity of milk
+a cow will give, and the time she will give milk, with sufficient
+accuracy to buy no cow and raise no heifer that will not be a
+profitable dairy cow, if that is what he desires. The rules by which
+these things may be known are the following:
+
+No cow, of any class, is ever a good milker, that has not a large
+surface of hair growing upward from the teats and covering the inner
+surface of the thighs, and extending up toward or to the tail.
+
+No cow that is destitute of this mark, or only has a very small one, is
+ever a good milker. Every cow having a scanty growth of coarse hair in
+the above mark will only give poor, watery milk; and every cow having a
+thick growth of fine hair on the escutcheon, or surface where it
+ascends, and considerable dandruff, will always give good rich milk, and
+be good for butter and cheese.
+
+Every cow on which this mark is small will give but little milk, and dry
+up soon after getting with calf, and is not fit to be kept.
+
+Observe these brief rules, and milk your cows _at certain hours every
+day_--milk _very quickly_, without stopping, and _very clean_, not
+leaving a drop--and you never will have a poor cow on your farm, and at
+least twenty-five per cent. will be added to the value of the ordinary
+dairy, that is made up of cows purchased or raised in the usual,
+hap-hazard way.
+
+If your cows' udders swell after calving, wash them in aconite made weak
+with water; it is very good for taking out inflammation. Other common
+remedies are known. If your cow or other creature gets choked, pour into
+the throat half a pint, at least, of oil; and by rubbing the neck, the
+obstruction will probably move up or down. Curry your cows as thoroughly
+as you do your horses; and if they ever chance to get lousy, wash them
+in a decoction of tobacco.
+
+
+CRANBERRY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is native in the northern parts of both hemispheres. In England and
+on the continents of Europe and Asia, native cranberries are inferior,
+in size and quality, to the American. Our own have also been greatly
+improved by cultivation. They have become an important article of
+commerce, and find a ready sale, at high prices, in all the leading
+markets of the country. Their successful cultivation, therefore,
+deserves attention, as really as that of other fruits. Mr. B. Eastwood
+has written a volume on the subject, which probably contains all the
+facts already established, together with many opinions of scientific and
+practical cultivators. The work is valuable, but much less so than it
+would have been, had the author put into a few pages the important
+facts, and left out all speculations and diversities of opinion. The
+objection to most of this kind of literature is the intermixture of
+facts and valuable suggestions with so much that is not only useless,
+but absolutely pernicious, by the confusion it creates. We think the
+following directions for the cultivation of the cranberry are complete,
+according to our present knowledge:--
+
+_Soil._--It is universally agreed that _beach sand_ is the best. Not
+from the beach of the ocean barely, but of lakes, ponds, or rivers.
+There is no evidence that any saline quality that may be in sand from
+the beach of the sea, is particularly useful. It is the cleanness of the
+sand, on which account it is less calculated to promote a growth of
+weeds, and allows a free passage of moisture toward the surface. Hence
+white sand is preferable, and the cleaner the better. Whoever has a
+moist meadow in the soil of which there is considerable sand has a good
+place for a cranberry bed. If you have not a sand meadow, select a plat
+of ground as moist as any you have, upon which water will not stand
+unless you confine it there, and draw on sand to the depth of four or
+six inches, having first removed any grass or break-turf, that may be in
+danger of coming up as weeds to choke the vines. If you make the ground
+mellow below and then put on the sand, you will have a bed that will
+give you but little further trouble. Peat soils will do, if you take off
+the top and expose to the weather, frosts and rains, one year before
+planting. The first year, peat will dry and crack, so as to destroy
+young cranberry vines. But after one winter's frost, it becomes
+pulverized and will not again bake. Hence it is next to sand for a
+cranberry bed.
+
+_Situation._--The shore of a body of water, or of a small pond is best,
+if it be not too much exposed to violent action of wind and waves. Land
+that retains much moisture within a foot of the surface, but which does
+not become stagnant, is very valuable. The bottoms of small ponds that
+can be drained off are very good. Any land that can be flowed with water
+at pleasure is good. By flooding, the blossoms are kept back till late
+spring frosts are gone. Any upland can be prepared as above. But if it
+be a very dry soil it must have a liberal supply of water during dry
+weather, or success may not be expected.
+
+_Planting._--There are several methods. Sod planting consists in
+preparing the land and then cutting out square sods containing vines,
+and setting them at the distances apart, you desire. This was the
+general method; but it is objectionable, on account of the weeds that
+will grow out of the sod and choke the vines. This method is improved by
+tearing away the sod, leaving the roots naked, and then planting.
+Another method is to cut off a vigorous shoot, and plant the middle of
+it, with each end protruding from the soil two or three inches apart.
+Roots will come out by all the leaves that are buried, and promote the
+springing of many new vines, and thus the early matting of the bed which
+is very desirable.
+
+Others take short slips and thrust four or five of them together down
+into the soil as they do slips of currant bushes, thus making a hill of
+as many plants. And yet another method is, to cut up the vines into
+pieces of two or three inches in length, and broad cast them on mellow
+soil, and harrow them in as wheat--Others bury the short pieces in
+drills. In either case they will soon mat the whole ground, if the land
+be not weedy. The best plan for small beds is probably the middle
+planting.
+
+Distances apart depend upon your design in cultivating. If your soil is
+such that so many weeds will grow as to require cultivating with a
+horse, or much hoeing, four feet one way and two the other is the best.
+Better have land so well covered with clean sand, that very few weeds
+will grow and no cultivation be needed. Then set vines one foot apart
+and very soon the whole ground will be perfectly matted and will need
+very little care for years. For two or three years pull out the weeds by
+hand, and the ground will be covered and need nothing more.
+
+_Varieties._--There are three principal ones of the lowland species. The
+bell, the bugle, and the cherry cranberries. These are named from their
+shape. Probably the cherry is the best, being the size, shape, and color
+of the cultivated red cherries. There has recently been discovered an
+upland variety, on the shores of Lake Superior, that bids fair to be as
+hardy and productive as the common currant. On all poor, hard, and even
+very dry uplands, it does remarkably well. It grows extensively in the
+northern part of the British provinces. The fruit is smaller than the
+other varieties but is delicious, beautiful in color, and very abundant.
+It will probably be one of our great and universal luxuries.
+
+_Healthy and Unhealthy Plants._--By this cultivators denote those that
+bear well and those that do not. And yet the unhealthy, or those that
+bear the least, are the larger, greener-leaved, and rapid-growing
+varieties. It is difficult to describe them so that an unpractised eye
+would know them from each other. The best way to be sure of getting the
+right kind is to purchase of a man you can trust, or visit the beds when
+the fruit is in perfection and witness where the crop is abundant, mark
+it, and let it remain until you are ready to plant. This is always best
+done in the spring, or from May 15th to June 15th.
+
+_Gathering_--is performed by hand, or with a cranberry-rake.
+Hand-picking is best for the vines, but is more expensive. If a rake be
+used, it will draw out some small runners and retard the growth of young
+vines. But it is such a saving of expense, it had better be used, and
+always drawn the same way. The fruit should be cleared of leaves and
+decayed berries; and if intended for a near market, be packed dry in
+barrels. If to be transported far, put them in small casks, say
+half-barrels, with good water. They may thus be carried around the globe
+in good condition. To keep well they should not be exposed to fall
+frosts, and should not be picked before ripe. A little practice, and at
+first on a small scale, may enable American cultivators of the soil,
+generally, to have good cranberry beds. Much of the practical part of
+this can only be learned by experience. The above suggestions will save
+much loss and discouragement.
+
+_Enemies_--are worms that attack the leaves, and another species that
+attack the berries. There are only two remedies proposed, viz., fire and
+water. If you can flood your beds you will destroy them. If not, take a
+time not very dry so as to endanger burning the roots, and burn over
+your cranberry-beds, so as to consume all the vines. Next season new
+vines will grow up free from worms.
+
+
+CUCUMBERS.
+
+There are quite a number of varieties. But a few only deserve attention.
+The best, for all uses, is the Early Cluster, a great bearer of firm,
+tender, brittle fruit. Early Frame, Long White, Turkey, and Long Green
+Turkey, are rather beautiful, but not prolific varieties. Long Prickly,
+is very good for pickles, and fills a cask rapidly, but is by no means
+so pleasant as the Early Cluster. The Short Prickly and White Spined are
+considerably used. The West India or small Gherkin is used only for
+pickling, and is considered fine. But we regard all these inferior to
+the Early Cluster.
+
+_Soil_ should be made very rich with compost and vegetable mould, with a
+liberal application of sand. All vines do better in a sandy soil. Plant
+in the open air only after the weather has become quite warm. An effort
+to get early cucumbers by early out-door planting is usually a failure;
+seeds decay, or having come up, after a long while, they grow slowly,
+and vines and fruit are apt to be imperfect. Six feet apart, each way,
+is the best distance; and after the plants get out of the way of
+insects, and become well established, two vines in each hill is better
+than more: the fruit will be better and more abundant, and they will
+bear much longer than when vines are left to grow very thick. They need
+water in dry weather (see Watering). The first week in July is the best
+time to plant for pickling. In a warm, dry climate, cucumbers do better
+a little shaded, but not too much. Planted among young fruit-trees, or
+in alternate rows with corn, they do well. If allowed to run up bushes
+like peas, they produce more and better fruit. Forcing for an early crop
+is often done, by digging a hole in the ground, two feet deep and two
+feet square, and filling with hot manure, stamped down well, and covered
+with six inches of fine mould. Put around a frame and cover with glass,
+at an angle of thirty-five degrees to the sun. Plant one hundred seeds
+on the two feet square; when they come up, put two plants in a pot, set
+in a regular hotbed, and keep well watered and aired until the weather
+be warm enough to transplant in the open air; then remove from the pots
+without breaking the ball of earth, and plant six feet apart. Four
+plants left in the original hill will bear earlier than those that have
+been removed. To get a large quantity of very early ones, plant a
+corresponding number of hills, with the two feet of manure, as above;
+whenever the weather becomes hot, they will need to be well watered, or
+they will dry up. All cucumber-plants forced should have the main runner
+cut off, after the second rough leaf appears; this brings fruit earlier
+and twice as abundant. On transplanting cucumbers, or any other vines,
+cover them wholly from the sun for three days, or, if the weather be
+dry, for a whole week. We once thought melons and cucumbers very
+difficult to transplant successfully; but we ascertained the only
+difficulty to be, the want of sufficient water and shade. When roots and
+soil were so dry that the dirt all fell off, we have transplanted with
+perfect success; but for a week the plants appeared to be ruined. We
+kept them covered and well watered, and they revived and made a great
+crop, much earlier than seeds planted at the same time. Protection of
+plants from insects has been a subject of much study and many
+experiments. Ashes and lime, and various decoctions and offensive
+mixtures, have been recommended. We discard them all, as both
+troublesome and ineffectual. Our experience is, most decidedly, in favor
+of fencing each hill, of all vines, to keep off insects. A box a foot
+square and fifteen inches high, the lower edge set in the soil, will
+usually prove effectual. Put over a pane of glass, and it will be more
+sure, and increase the warmth and consequently the growth of the plants.
+Put millinet over the boxes, instead of glass, and not a hill will be
+lost. If a cutworm chances to be fenced in, he will show himself by
+cutting off a plant. Search him out and kill him, and all will be safe.
+Such boxes, well taken care of, will last for ten years. This, then, is
+a cheap as well as effectual method.
+
+Cucumbers are a cooling, healthy article of diet, used in reasonable
+quantities. They should be sliced into cold water, taken out, and put in
+sharp vinegar with pepper and salt. Ripe cucumbers make one of the best
+of pickles: for directions in making, we refer to the cook-books. If you
+have room near your back door for one large hill of cucumbers, you may
+obtain a remarkable growth. Dig down deep enough to set in an old
+barrel, with head and bottom out, leaving the top even with the surface.
+Fill with manure from the stable, well trod down. In fine rich mould,
+around on the outside of the barrel, plant twenty or thirty
+cucumber-seeds. Put a pail of water in the barrel every day. The water
+comes up through the soil to the roots of the plants, bringing with it
+the stimulus of the manure, and the effect is wonderful. A large barrel
+has been filled with pickles from one such hill. If bushes be put up to
+support the vines, it is still better. Neglect to pour in water, and
+they will dry up; but continue to water them, and they will bear till
+frost in autumn.
+
+
+CURRANTS.
+
+These are among the very best of all the small fruits; immensely
+productive in all locations, and adapted to a great variety of uses, and
+hang long on the bushes after ripening.
+
+There is quite a number of varieties, some of which are probably the
+mere result of cultivation of others well known. The common red is too
+well known to need description--very acid, and always remarkably
+productive, in all soils and situations. The size and quality of the
+fruit are affected by location and culture. The native currants, as
+found in the north of Europe, are small and inferior; but all excellent
+modern varieties have sprung from them by cultivation. In working these
+important changes, the Dutch and French gardeners have been the chief
+agents: hence our names, Red and White Dutch currants.
+
+The common red and the common white are still cultivated in the great
+majority of American gardens; and yet, they are not worthy to be named
+with the White Dutch and the Red Dutch, which may easily be obtained by
+every cultivator. These two varieties are all that ever need be
+cultivated. Long lists of currants are described in many of the
+fruit-books; the result, as in all such cases, is confusion and loss to
+the mass of growers. We will not even give the list. The common red and
+the white currants are greatly improved by cultivation. But the Dutch
+have longer bunches, of larger fruit, the lower ones in the stem holding
+their size much better than common currants; the stems are usually full
+and perfect, and the fruit less acid and more pleasant.
+
+A new, strong-growing variety, called the "cherry currant" on account of
+its large size, is now considerably grown. A few bushes for variety, and
+for their beautiful appearance, may be well enough; but it is not a very
+good bearer, and therefore is not so profitable as the Dutch.
+
+The Attractor is a new French variety, said to be valuable. Knight's
+Early Red has the single virtue of ripening a few days earlier than the
+others. The Victoria is perhaps the latest of all currants, hanging on
+the bushes fully two weeks longer than others. The White Grape, the Red
+Grape, and the Transparent, are all good and beautiful. The utilitarian
+will cultivate the Red Dutch and the White Dutch as his main crop, with
+two or three of the others for a variety. The amateur will get all the
+varieties, and amuse himself by comparing their qualities, and trying
+his skill at modifying them. As these efforts have resulted, in past
+time, in the production of our best varieties, so they may, in future,
+in something far better than we yet have. There is no probability that
+any of our fruits have reached the acme of perfection.
+
+The common black, or English black currant has long been cultivated. A
+jam made of it is valuable for sore throat. The highest medical
+authority pronounces black currant wine the best, in many cases of
+sickness, of any wine known. The Black Naples possesses the same
+virtues, and being a much larger fruit, and more productive, should take
+the place of the English black, and exclude it from all gardens.
+
+_Cultivation._--Currant-bushes should be set four feet apart each way,
+and the whole ground thoroughly mulched; it keeps down all weeds and
+grass, saving all further labor in cultivation, and greatly increases
+the size and quantity of the fruit. On nothing does mulching pay better.
+(See article Mulching.)
+
+Any good garden-soil is suitable for currants. On the north side of a
+wall or building, or in the shade of trees, they will be considerably
+later. The same effect may be produced by covering bushes a part of the
+time with blankets or mats. Some are retarded by this means, so as to be
+in perfection after others are gone: thus, the currant that naturally
+comes to perfection about midsummer is preserved on the bushes until
+October.
+
+Many cultivate currants in the tree form; allowing no sprouts from the
+roots, and no branches within a foot or two of the ground. This object
+is secured by cutting from the slip you are to plant, from which to
+raise a bush, all the lower buds to within two or three of the top, and
+then pinching off at once all shoots that may start out of the stem
+below; this makes beautiful little shrubs, but the top is apt to be
+broken off by the wind, and they must be replaced by new ones every four
+or five years. Downing strongly recommends it, but we can not do so. Let
+bushes grow in the natural way, removing all old, decaying branches, and
+all suckers that rise too far from the parent-bush, and keep the
+clusters of bushes and leaves thin enough to allow the sun free access,
+and prevent continued moisture in wet weather, which will rot the
+fruit, and you will find it the cheapest and best. We have seen quite as
+large and as fine fruit grow on such bushes, that we knew to be more
+than twenty years old, as we ever saw of the same variety when
+cultivated in the tree form.
+
+
+DAIRY.
+
+For cheese, the dairy should contain three rooms: one for setting the
+milk, with suitable boilers, &c.; next, a press-room, in which the
+cheese should be salted, as given under article _Cheese_; the third, a
+store-room. In all climates a cheese-house should be made as tight as
+possible;--thick stone walls are best; windows should be on two sides,
+north and west, but not on opposite sides, so as to create a draught:
+this is no better for cheese or butter, and is always dangerous to the
+operator. Let all persons who would enjoy good health avoid a draught of
+air as they would an arrow. If your cheese-house can be shaded on the
+east, south, and west, by trees, and have only a northern exposure, it
+will aid you much in guarding against extremes of heat and cold. Windows
+should be fitted closely, and covered with wire-cloth on the outside, so
+as to exclude all flies.
+
+A dairy for butter needs but two rooms, and a cool, dry cellar, with
+windows in north and west. The first room should be for setting and
+skimming the milk, and the other for churning and working the butter,
+and scalding and cleaning the utensils. If your milk-room can be a
+spring-house with stone-floor, and a little water passing over it, you
+will find it a great benefit. The shade, situation of windows, avoiding
+a current, &c., should be the same as in the cheese-dairy.
+
+To prevent the taste of turnips or other food of cows in milk and
+butter, put one quart of hot water into eight quarts of the milk just
+drawn from the cow, and strain it at once. It has been recently
+declared, by intelligent farmers, that if you feed the turnips to cows
+immediately after milking, the next milking, twelve hours after feeding
+the roots, will be free from their taste or odor. The easiest remedy is
+the boiling water.
+
+
+DECLENSION OF FRUITS.
+
+That there are instances of decided decline in the quality of fruits is
+certain. But on the causes of those changes pomologists do not agree.
+One theory is, that fruits, like animals and vegetables of former ages,
+may decline and finally become extinct. Should this theory be
+established, the declension would be so gradual that a century would
+make no perceptible change. But we do not credit the theory, even as
+applied to former geological periods in the history of our globe. The
+changes of past ages, as revealed in geology, have been brought about,
+not gradually, but by great convulsions of nature, such as volcanoes, or
+the deluge, that resulted in the destruction of the old order of things,
+and in a new creation.
+
+The true theory of this declension of varieties of fruits, is, that it
+is the result of repeated budding upon unhealthy stocks, and of neglect
+and improper cultivation. Apply the specific manures--that is, those
+particularly demanded by a given fruit--prune properly, mulch well, and
+bud or graft only on healthy seedling stocks of the same kind, and,
+instead of declension, we may expect our best fruits to improve
+constantly, in quality and quantity.
+
+
+DILL.
+
+An herb, native in the south of Europe, and on the Cape of Good Hope. It
+is grown, particularly at the South, as a medicinal herb. The leaves are
+sometimes used for culinary purposes; but it is principally cultivated
+for its sharp aromatic seed, used for flatulence and colic in infants,
+and put into pickled cucumbers to heighten the flavor. The seeds may be
+sown early in the spring, or at the time of ripening. A light soil is
+best. Clear of weeds, and thin in the rows, are the conditions of
+success.
+
+
+DRAINS.
+
+Drains are of two kinds--under-drains and surface-drains. The latter are
+simply open ditches to carry off surface-water, that might otherwise
+stand long enough to destroy the prospective crop. These are frequently
+useful along at the foot of hills, when they should be proportioned to
+the extent of the surface above them. They are also very useful on low,
+level meadow-lands. Properly constructed, they will reclaim low swamps,
+and make them excellent land. Millions of acres of land in the United
+States, as good as any we have, are lying useless, and spreading
+pestilence around, that by this simple method of ditching might be
+turned to most profitable account. The direction of these drains should
+be determined by the shape of the land to be drained by them--straight
+whenever they will answer the purpose, but crooked when they will do
+better. On low and very level land, they should be not more than five
+rods apart; they should be three times as wide at the top as they are at
+the bottom, and as deep as the width at the top; made so slanting, the
+sides will not fall in;--they should be so shaped as to allow only a
+very gentle flow of the water: if it flows too rapidly, it will wash
+down the sides, and obstruct the ditch, and waste the land. Excavations
+for under-draining are made in the same way, only the top need not be so
+much wider than the bottom; it would be a waste of labor in excavating a
+useless quantity of earth. There are four methods of filling up the
+ditch, viz., with brush; with small stones thrown in promiscuously; with
+a throat laid in the bottom and filled with small stones; and with a
+throat made of tile from the pottery. In all cases, that with which the
+ditch is filled must not come so near the surface as to be reached by
+the plow. Brush, put in green and covered with straw or leaves, will
+answer a good purpose for several years, and may be used where small
+stones can not easily be obtained. The tile is more expensive than
+either of the others, and not so good as the stones; it is so tight that
+the water does not enter it so readily; and if by any chance dirt gets
+into the throat, it obstructs it, and there is no other channel through
+which the water can pass off. Small stones thrown in promiscuously
+serve a good purpose for a long time, if they be covered with straw or
+cornstalks before the earth is put in. But the best method is to make a
+throat, six inches square, in the bottom of the drain, laying the large
+stones over the top of it, and filling in the small stones above, and
+covering with straw;--the water will find its way into the throat
+through the numerous openings; and if the throat should ever be filled,
+the water could still pass off between the small stones above. Such
+drains will last many years, and add one half to the products of all wet
+springy land. The earth over the new drain should be six inches higher
+than the surface of the field, that, when well settled, it may be level.
+Leave no places open for surface-water to run in; that would soon fill
+up and ruin a drain. Drains made to carry off spring-water are often
+useless by being in a wrong location. Springs come out near the foot of
+rising ground. Just where they come out should be the location of the
+drain, which would then carry off the water and prevent it from
+saturating and chilling the soil in the field below. Many persons locate
+their ditch down in the centre of the wet level below the rise of
+ground; this is of no use to the surface above, to the point where the
+water springs. Locate the drain just at the point where the land begins
+to be unduly wet. On very wet, level land, a small drain may also be
+needed below the first and main one. The cost of a covered drain as
+described above will be from fifty to seventy-five cents per rod, and an
+uncovered one will cost from twenty to thirty cents. When you have low
+swamps to drain, you can realize more than the cost of draining, by
+carting the excavations upon other land, or into the barnyard as
+material for compost. Perhaps no expenditure, on land needing it, pays
+so well as thorough draining. It is important, for all fruit-orchards on
+low land, to put a drain through under each row of trees: it is
+indispensable to cherries, and highly favorable to all other fruits.
+
+
+DUCKS.
+
+There are a number of varieties, the wild Black Spanish, the
+Canvass-Back, and the ordinary little duck of the farmyard, are all
+good. The common duck is the only one we recommend for the American
+poultry-yard. A close pasture, including a rivulet, or a small stream of
+water, affords facilities for raising ducks at a cheap rate. From one
+hundred to one thousand ducks may be raised in such an enclosure of an
+acre or two, quite profitably. If there is plenty of grass, they will
+still need a little grain. In the winter the cheapest feed is beets or
+potatoes cut fine, with a very little grain. Each duck, well kept, will
+lay from fifty to one hundred eggs, larger than hen's eggs, and about as
+good for cooking purposes. They may be picked as geese, for live
+feathers, though not quite so frequently. The feathers will nearly pay
+for keeping, leaving the eggs and increase as profit.
+
+
+DWARFING.
+
+This has some advantages in its application to fruit-trees. It will
+enable the cultivator to raise more fruit on a small plat of ground, to
+get fruit much earlier than from standard trees, and sometimes, with
+high cultivation, the fruit will be larger. Dwarfing is done by grafting
+into small slow-growing stocks. Almost all fruits have such kinds.
+Grafting into other stocks, as the pear into the foreign quince, is a
+very effectual method. The Paradise stock for the apple, the Canada and
+other slow-growing stocks for the plum, the dwarf wild cherry of Europe
+and the Mahaleb for cherries. Dwarfs produced by grafting upon other
+stocks are short-lived, compared with standards of the same varieties.
+They should only be used to economize room, to test varieties, and
+produce fruit while standards are coming into bearing.
+
+Better and much longer-lived dwarfs may be produced by frequent
+transplanting, thorough trimming of the roots, and repeated heading-in.
+The fruit on such dwarfs must be well thinned out when young, or it will
+be smaller than is natural. The effect of heading in is to cause the sap
+to mature an abundance of fruit-buds. This will tax the tree too much,
+unless they be well thinned out. Root-pruning is an effectual method of
+dwarfing (see Pruning). Dwarfing by root-pruning, repeated
+transplanting, and thorough heading-in, will not render the trees very
+short-lived, and in many situations it is profitable. The same is true
+of the dwarf pear on the quince. All other dwarfing is more for the
+amateur than the utilitarian.
+
+
+EARLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
+
+Are often considered a great luxury, and always command a high price.
+Early vegetables are secured by hotbeds and the various methods of
+forcing, as given under the different species. Early fruits are obtained
+by dwarfing, as given on that subject. Location, soil, and mode of
+cultivation, also, have much to do with it. Warm location,
+finely-pulverized soil, often stirred and kept moist, will materially
+shorten the time of the maturity of fruits and vegetables. Seeds
+imported from the North, where seasons are shorter, will mature earlier.
+Another means of hastening maturity is to plant successively, from year
+to year, the very first that ripens; this tends to dwarf in proportion
+as the time of maturity is hastened. In this way such dwarfs as the
+little Canada corn, that will mature at the South in six weeks, have
+been produced. Various early plants, as tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, and
+egg-plants, may be started in boxes or flower-pots in the house. Planted
+in February here, or in January in the South, they will grow as well as
+house-plants, and acquire considerable size before it is time to place
+them in the open ground. This is convenient for those who have no
+hotbeds. They must be kept from frost, and occasionally set out in a
+warm day to harden, and they will do well.
+
+
+EGG PLANT.
+
+The white is merely ornamental. The large purple is one of the greatest
+luxuries of the vegetable garden. Plant seeds in hotbed at the time of
+planting tomatoes or peppers. Set out in land made very rich with
+stable-manure and decayed forest-leaves, two feet and a half apart each
+way. Kept clean, and earthed up a little, and the bugs kept off while
+the plants are small, they will produce an abundance of fruit. There are
+two varieties of the purple--_large prickly-stem purple_, growing
+sometimes eight inches in diameter; and the _long purple_, bearing
+smaller, long fruit, but a large quantity, and considerably earlier than
+the large. Many do not like them at first; but after tasting a few
+times, almost all persons become very fond of them. If not properly
+cooked, they are not at all palatable. Although it belongs to the
+cook-book, yet, to save this excellent plant from condemnation, we give
+a recipe for cooking it. It is fit for use from one third grown, until
+the seeds begin to turn. Without paring, cut the fruit into slices one
+third of an inch thick; put it in a little water with plenty of salt,
+and let it stand over night, or six hours at least; take it out, and fry
+very soft and brown in butter or fresh lard--if not fried soft and
+brown, it is disagreeable. Salt, ashes, and bonedust, or superphosphate
+of lime, are the best manures, as more than two thirds of the fruit is
+made up of potash, soda, and phosphates, as shown by chemical analysis.
+
+
+EGGS.
+
+Of the quality of eggs you can always judge correctly by looking at them
+toward the light: if they are translucent they are good; if they look
+dark they are old--or you may get a chicken, when you only paid for an
+egg.
+
+Many methods for preserving eggs are recommended. Packed away in fine
+salt they will keep, but, like salt meat, have not the same flavor as
+fresh. Set them on their small ends in a tight cask, and fill it with
+pure lime-water, and they will keep, but it changes their flavor. This,
+however, is a very common method. The best way known to us, is to pack
+fresh eggs down in Indian meal, allowing no two to touch each other.
+Keep very dry in a cool cellar, and they will remain for months
+unchanged.
+
+
+ELDERBERRY.
+
+This is a healthy berry, dried and used for making pies, especially
+mixed with some other fruit. The blossoms are much used as medicine for
+small children. The common sweet elder is the only kind cultivated. The
+earlier red are offensive and poisonous. They are easily grown on rough
+waste land, or in any situation you prefer. Of this berry is made a
+wine, superior in flavor and effect to any port wine now to be obtained
+in market; it has had the preference among the best judges in the
+country;--it is fast coming into notice and cultivation. The wine is so
+entirely superior to the poisonous substances of that name in commerce,
+that it would be well for every neighborhood to make enough for their
+sick. The process is sure and easily intelligible to all. (See article
+Wine.)
+
+
+ENDIVE.
+
+This is a well-known winter-lettuce. Sow from July to September,
+according to latitude. It should come into maturity at the time of the
+first smart frosts. To get beautiful, white, tender bunches, they should
+be tied up when the leaves are about six inches long. When frost comes,
+protect by covering. In very cold climates, place it in the cellar, with
+the roots in moist earth, and it will keep for a long time. It will not
+be extensively used in this country for soups and stews, as it is in
+Europe; and but few of the American people care much about
+winter-lettuce. This is the best variety of lettuce, except for those
+who have hot-houses and attend to winter-gardening. They will prefer the
+other finer varieties. There are two varieties of endive cultivated in
+this country: _green curled_, which is the most common, and used
+principally as a salad; the _broad-leaved_, or Batavian, has thicker
+leaves and large heads, and is principally used in stews and soups.
+Still another variety, called _succory_, which is used to some extent in
+Europe as a winter-salad, but is cultivated mainly for the root. It is
+dried and ground to mix with coffee: some consider it quite as good.
+This is more cultivated at the South than at the North--their winters
+are much better adapted to it. The medicinal virtues of this plant are
+nearly equal to those of the dandelion. When it is bleached, by tying or
+earthing up, the bitterness is removed, and the taste is pleasant; this
+must be done when the plants are dry, or they will rot. Plant them in a
+sunny place and in a light soil.
+
+
+FEEDING ANIMALS.
+
+Feed as nearly as possible at the same hours. All creatures do much
+better for being so fed. Do not feed domestic animals too much: animals
+will be more healthy, grow faster, and fatten better, by being fed
+almost, but not quite as much as they will eat. Giving food to lie by
+them is poor economy; always let them eat it all up, and desire a little
+more;--at the same time, let it be remembered that creatures kept very
+poorly for a considerable time, especially while young, will never fully
+recover from it. This is often done under the idea of keeping them
+cheap, but it is dear keeping. They never can make as fine animals
+afterward.
+
+All grains and vegetables, except beets and turnips, are better for
+being boiled or steamed. The increased value is much more than the cost
+of cooking, provided persons are not so careless as to allow food to be
+injured by standing after cooking. Cooking is supposed to add one fourth
+to the value of food. Grinding dry grains adds nearly as much to their
+value, as feed for animals, as cooking. If you neither grind nor boil
+hard grain for feed, it will pay well to soak it somewhat soft before
+feeding. Variety of food is as pleasant and healthy for animals as for
+men.
+
+
+FENCES.
+
+These are matters of great importance to the farmers of the whole
+country, but especially to those on the prairies of the west.
+
+In all localities where stone can be obtained from the fields or quarry,
+the best and cheapest fence is a stone wall. If the stones are flat,
+make the wall two feet thick at bottom, and one at top, five feet high.
+If the stones are very irregular the wall should be thicker. Stone walls
+should have transverse rows of shingles, boards, or split sticks, about
+half an inch thick, laid in the wall at suitable distances. If stones
+are quite flat three rows are desirable, one two, the next three, and
+the other four feet from the ground. If the wall is made of rough stones
+it will require one more course of sticks, leaving them only a foot
+apart. The sticks should be of such lengths as to come out just even
+with the wall, on each side. The lower courses will be longer than the
+upper ones. These sticks are to keep the wall from falling down. Dig a
+ditch one foot deep, two feet from the wall, and throw the earth
+excavated up against the wall, and the water will run off and prevent
+heaving by frost, and such a wall will need the merest trifle of
+attention during a generation, and will last for centuries. A cord of
+stones will make one rod. We can not too strongly recommend this kind of
+fence, in all places where stones can be obtained reasonably. The pieces
+of wood laid in a wall, will keep well for thirty years, when they will
+need replacing. Next to stone is a good board fence. Well made and of
+good materials, it is durable and always in its place. Hence it is a
+cheap fence.
+
+Of the various styles of picket, and other fancy fences for front yards,
+&c., it is more the province of the architect or the mechanic to treat.
+Styles vary and are constantly increasing in number. The great point to
+be secured in all such, to render them most durable, is to have the
+smallest possible points of contact. A picket fence with horizontal base
+should never have the pickets standing on the base board. They should be
+separated, from one quarter to one half an inch. A good style for
+villages, is a cap, water tight, and wide enough to cover the ends of
+the posts and pickets with a neat little cornice. It looks well and is
+very durable.
+
+In all localities where timber is not too valuable, a cheap and
+substantial fence is made of split rails. The crooked rail-fence, with
+stakes and riders, is well known. Also that with upright stakes and
+caps, which is decidedly preferable. It will stand much longer, and the
+stakes are out of the way. No farmer should ever risk his crop with a
+rail-fence without stakes. But the best of all rail-fences, is that made
+of posts and rails. The rails are put in as bars, but so firmly that the
+fence can not be taken down, without commencing at the end. Where cedar
+or locust posts, and oak or cedar rails can be obtained, a fence may be
+made that will not get out of repair for twenty-five years. No creature
+can tear it down, for human hands can not take it down without tools, or
+without commencing at the end. This is considered expensive. But as the
+farmer may prepare his posts and rails in winter, and it will require no
+attention to keep it up, and is very durable and perfectly effectual
+against cattle, it is an economical fence. For hedges, see that
+article.
+
+
+FENNEL.
+
+This is a hardy perennial plant of Southern Europe, and belongs to both
+the culinary and the medicinal departments. It grows well on almost any
+soil, and is propagated by seeds, offshoots, or by parting the roots. It
+is much inclined to spread. A few roots, kept within reasonable bounds,
+are enough for a family. It is much used in Europe for soups, salads,
+and garnishes. The Italians treat it as celery. In this country it is
+mostly used medicinally. It is stimulant and carminative. Very
+beneficial to children in cases of flatulency and colic.
+
+
+FIGS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This fruit is native in the warmer parts of Asia: hence, the cold
+winters of the Middle, Northern, and Western states, and of Canada,
+would destroy the trees in the open air without protection. But as the
+trees are low-growing shrubs, they may easily be protected either in
+cellars, greenhouses, or the open air, and uncovered or planted out in
+the beginning of warm weather. Frequent removals and transplantings
+injure the fig less than any other fruit, and our summers are long
+enough to produce large crops of excellent figs. In New England they are
+raised in tubs, set out of the cellar in spring, and produce largely.
+South of Virginia, the fig is hardy, and may be cultivated with profit
+in the open air. The best method of raising all kinds of fruit, in
+climates where the winters are too cold for them, is to build a wall
+twelve feet high on one side, and six feet on the other, with the ends
+closed, and cover it with glass facing the south. This should only be
+kept warm enough to prevent freezing, which would require only a small
+outlay. Men of moderate means might thus have oranges, lemons, figs,
+&c., of their own raising. In all except our coldest latitudes, such
+fruits might be raised at a profit.
+
+_Soil._--The best is a deep, rich loam, with a dry subsoil.
+
+_Propagation_ is by layers and cuttings. The latter should be taken off
+in the spring, be of last year's growth, with half an inch of the
+previous year's growth: they take root better.
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and names uncertain. White, in his Gardening
+for the South, says, some of the best varieties are not in the books, or
+so imperfectly described that they can not be recognised. This is true
+of all the fruits, and hence our decision, in this work, not to attempt
+to describe fruits with a view to their identification. As this fruit is
+more for the South than the North, we give the whole of White's list, as
+being adapted to those regions:--
+
+1, Brunswick; 2, Brown Turkey; 3, Brown Ischia; 4, Small Brown Ischia;
+5, Black Genoa; 6, Celestial; 7, Common Blue; 8, Round White, Common
+White, Lemon Fig; 9, White Genoa, White Italian; 10, Nerii; 11,
+Pregussatta; 12, Allicant; 13, Black Ischia; 14, White Ischia. These,
+with a few others, are those described in most of our fruit-books. The
+catalogue of the London Horticultural Society enumerates forty-two
+varieties. Only a few of them have been introduced into this country.
+Any of these varieties are good at the South. The five following are the
+most hardy, and, being in all respects good, are all we need in our more
+northern latitudes:--
+
+1. _Brunswick._--Very hardy, productive, and excellent.
+
+2. _Brown Turkey._--The very hardiest, and one of the most regular and
+abundant bearers.
+
+3. _Black Ischia._--Bears an abundance of medium-sized, excellent fruit,
+very dark-colored.
+
+4. _Nerii._--Said to be the richest fig in Britain: from an acid mixture
+in its flavor, it is exceedingly delicious.
+
+5. _Celestial._--This may be the "Malta" of Downing. Under whatever
+name, though small, it is one of the very best figs grown in this
+country.
+
+For forcing under glass, the best are the Allicant and Marseilles. With
+care, the first three of the above list may be raised in the Middle
+states, without removal in winter. Any variety may be protected by
+bending and tying down the branches, and covering with four inches of
+soil. Below Philadelphia, a little straw will be a sufficient
+protection.
+
+Dried figs are an important article of import into this country; yet
+they might be raised as plentifully and profitably in the Southern
+states. Prune only to keep the tree low and regular. The fig-tree is a
+great and regular bearer, only when the wood makes too strong a growth,
+as it is somewhat apt to do. The remedy is _root-pruning_. Cut off, on
+the first of November, the roots to half the length of the branches from
+the tree, and occasionally shorten the branches a little, and the fruit
+will be abundant, and not fall off. The ripening of the fruit may be
+hastened and perfected by putting a drop of oil in the blossom-end of
+each fig. This is done by dipping the end of a straw in oil, and then
+putting it into the end of the fruit. This is extensively practised in
+France. Compost, containing a pretty liberal proportion of lime, is the
+best manure for the fig.
+
+
+FISH.
+
+The cultivation of fish is attracting much attention in this country and
+in Europe. The study and experiments of scientific and practical men
+have established important facts upon this subject. Fish may be
+successfully cultivated wherever water can be conveniently obtained. The
+creeks, ponds, and small rivers of our land may be well stocked with
+fish. Fish may be raised as a source of profit and luxury, with as much
+ease and certainty, and at a much less expense than fowls. This is so
+important to the whole people, that it demands the earnest attention of
+our state authorities, as it has engaged that of the government of
+France. The species of fish best adapted to artificial culture, in
+particular climates and in different kinds of water, have been
+ascertained. A man may know what fish to put in his waters, as well as
+what crops to put on his land, or what stocks on his farm.
+
+The following brief synopsis of the best methods of cultivation will be
+sufficient to insure success. The first requisite is suitable water for
+hatching eggs that have been artificially fecundated, and for the
+occupancy of fish of different ages, and for different species of fish.
+Fish of different ages are much inclined to destroy each other for food;
+and hence, in order to multiply them most rapidly, they should be kept
+in separate ponds until considerably grown, when they will take care of
+themselves. A spring sending forth a rivulet of clear water, and not
+subject to overflow in freshets, is the best location. Clear, cool water
+is essential to the trout, while some other fish will do well in warm
+and even roily water. The rivulet running from the spring should be made
+to form a succession of ponds, three or four in number. These ponds
+should be connected with flumes made of plank. If the space they must
+occupy be small, make the flumes zigzag, to increase their length. Put
+across those flumes, once in four or five feet, a piece of plank half as
+high as the sides of the flume, with a notch cut in the centre of the
+top, that the fish may easily pass over: this will afford a succession
+of little falls, in which the trout very much delights. These different
+ponds are for the occupancy of fish of different ages, one age only
+inhabiting one pond. The flumes should have four inches of fine and
+coarse gravel in the bottom, making the most perfect spawning-ground.
+Although you would not wish the female-trout to deposite her eggs in the
+natural way, but will extrude them by the hand (as hereinafter
+directed), yet they must have these natural conveniences, or they will
+not incline to spawn at all. At the upper end of each of these flumes
+separating the ponds, there should be a gate of wire-cloth, to prevent
+the passage of the fish from one pond to the other; also one at the
+outlet of the lower pond, to prevent egress of the fish. These must all
+be so arranged that freshets will not connect them all together. When
+trout are about to spawn in their natural waters, they select a gravelly
+margin, and remove, from a circle of about one foot or two feet in
+diameter, all the sediment, leaving only clean gravel, among which they
+deposite their eggs, where they are hatched. They want running water of
+three or four inches in depth for this purpose. A male and female occupy
+each nest. If left to themselves, they will gradually increase; but so
+many of their eggs fail of being fecundated, and so many are destroyed
+before they hatch, by enemies, and by the collection of sediment in the
+nest, that the number of young fish is small compared with the whole
+number of eggs deposited. Artificial spawning, fecundation, and
+hatching, are far more productive. The process is simple and easy: when
+the female-fish first begins to deposite her eggs, catch her with a
+small net. It can not be done with bait, for fish will bite nothing at
+the time of spawning. We recollect, often when a boy, of trying to catch
+trout out of the brooks in October, where we could see large, beautiful
+fish, lying lazily in the places from which we had caught many in the
+summer, and put our bait carefully on every side of them, and they would
+not bite. Then we knew not the cause: since studying the habits of fish,
+we have learned that they never will bite while spawning; with trout,
+this is done from the 1st to the 15th of October, some few spawning till
+the last of November. Having caught two fish, male and female, take the
+female in one hand, and press her abdomen gently with the other hand,
+gradually moving it downward, and the eggs will be easily extruded, and
+should fall into an earthen vessel of pure water. Then take the
+male-fish, and go through the same process, which will press out the
+spermatic fluid, which should be allowed to fall into the same vessel
+with the eggs; stir up the whole together, and, after it has stood
+fifteen minutes, pour off the water, put in more and stir it up, and let
+it stand as before. This having been done three times, the eggs will be
+thoroughly fecundated, and are ready to be deposited in the nests for
+hatching. If the fish are caught before the time of beginning to spawn,
+the eggs and the spermatic fluid will not be mature, and will be only
+extruded by hard pressing, and failing to be fecundated, the eggs will
+perish. The fluid from one male will fecundate the eggs of half a dozen
+females. These eggs may be hatched in the flumes described above, though
+hatching-boxes are preferable. The old fish can be returned to the
+water, and may live many years and produce thousands of fish. These
+fish, carefully treated and fed, will become so tame as to eat out of
+your hand, like the "Naiad Queen" of Professors Ackley and Garlick, of
+Cleveland, Ohio. Among all the hatching apparatus we have seen
+described, we regard that of the above professors at Cleveland the best.
+To these gentlemen the country is much indebted for the knowledge
+derived from their zeal and success in fish culture. At the head of a
+spring they built a house eight by twelve feet; in the end of the house
+toward the spring they made a tank four feet wide, eight feet long, and
+two feet deep; this was made of plank. Water enters the tank through a
+hole near the top, and escapes through a similar one at the other end,
+and is received into a series of ten successive boxes, each one a little
+lower than the preceding one. These boxes were eighteen inches long,
+eight inches wide, and six inches deep. These were filled to the depth
+of two inches with clean sand and gravel. The impregnated eggs were
+scattered among the gravel, care being exercised not to have them in
+piles or masses. Clean water is necessary, as the sediment deposited by
+impure water is very destructive to the eggs. If it be seen to be
+collecting, it should be removed by agitating the water with a
+goose-quill or soft brush, and allowing it to run off; continue this
+till it runs clear. But there is a method of preventing impurities in
+spring-water, that will be always effectual: just around on the upper
+side of the spring make a tight fence two feet high, and it will turn
+aside, and cause to run around the spring, all the water that may flow
+down the rise above in time of rains. The house being near the head,
+there will not water enough get into the spring, in any storm, to roil
+the water. On the side of the boxes where the water escapes should be
+wire-cloth, so fine as not to allow the eggs to pass through. Such an
+apparatus will be perfect. This great care is only necessary for trout.
+All other fish worthy of cultivation, will only need spawning-beds on
+the margin of their pond. A convenient hatching apparatus is a number of
+wicker-baskets, fine enough not to allow the eggs to pass through, set
+in a flume of clear running water.
+
+The method of Gehen and Remy, the great fish-cultivators of France,
+whose efforts and discoveries have contributed more to this science than
+those of any, if not of all other men, was to place the eggs in
+zinc-boxes of about one foot in diameter, having a lid over them--the
+top and sides of the boxes pierced with small holes, smooth on the
+inside; these boxes were partly filled with clean sand and gravel, and
+set in clear running water. M. Costa's method, at the college of France,
+is to arrange boxes in the form of steps, the top one being supplied
+with water by a fountain, and that passing from one to the other through
+all the series, and the eggs placed on willow-hurdles instead of gravel.
+
+Another very simple method may be arranged in the house. It is a
+reservoir--a barrel or cask--set perhaps two and a half feet from the
+floor, and a little hatching trough a few inches lower, into which water
+gradually runs through a faucet, from the reservoir. This water running
+through the hatching-box, escapes into a tub a little below. Whatever
+plan be adopted, great care is necessary in preventing sediment from
+depositing. Cleanliness is a principal condition of success. The eggs of
+the trout thus fecundated and deposited in October or November will
+hatch in the spring. Young trout need no feeding for a month after
+leaving the egg. There is a small bladder or vesicle under the fore part
+of the body, when they first come out, from which they derive their
+sustenance. After this disappears, or at the end of about a month, they
+should be fed, in very small quantities. Too much will leave a portion
+to decay on the bottom and injure the water. The best possible food
+(except the angle-worm) is lean flesh of animals, boiled and hashed fine
+for the young fish. The flesh of other kinds of fish, when they are
+plenty and not very valuable, would be very good. These young fish
+should be kept in the first pond until a year old. Then let them into
+the second pond, closing the gate after them, to make room for another
+brood in the first pond. The next year let them into the third, and
+those into the second that are now in the first, and so on till the
+fourth. In the last pond, those of different ages will all be large
+enough to take care of themselves. But sometimes a trout two years old
+is said to swallow one a year old. But when they get to be three or four
+years old, this sort of cannibalism ceases. These principles can be
+carried out in small streams, by constructing gates to keep sections
+separate, and by forming banks and waste ways for water, with wire gates
+so high, that the water will not overflow in freshets, and carry the
+fish away. In taking trout use angle-worms or the fly. A fine
+light-colored small line is best. They are very shy. The following is a
+list of other fish, beside the trout, that are well worthy of
+cultivation:--
+
+_Black Bass._--When full grown, this fish is from twelve to eighteen
+inches in length. One of the better fish for the table, and profitable
+to raise in a pond covering not less than half an acre. Chub, being a
+very prolific little fish, may be kept in the same pond as food for the
+black bass and other large fish. They are very fond of them. Minnows are
+the best bait for these fish, though they will bite a trolling hook of
+any ordinary kind. You may raise them as given for the trout above, or
+allow them to deposite their eggs in spawn beds of their own selection
+in their pond. They will do well in water less pure than is demanded for
+the trout.
+
+_White Bass._--Not so large as the black bass. Seldom weighs more than
+two pounds. One of the best for food. Thrives well in small ponds.
+Requires the same treatment as the preceding. Spawns in May and hatches
+soon. Easily caught, as he is a great biter, at almost any bait.
+
+_Grass Bass or Roach._--One of the most beautiful of the bass kind, and
+as a panfish highly esteemed. It prefers sluggish water, and hence is
+well adapted to small artificial ponds. Spawns in May. May be treated as
+the preceding. Bites the angle-worm well, and several other kinds of
+bait.
+
+_Rock Bass._--A small fish seldom reaching a pound in weight, but is
+fine and very easily raised in small ponds of any kind of water. Spawns
+in May and may be treated in all respects as the rest of the bass
+family, only it will flourish well in quite small ponds.
+
+_Pickerel._--Is one of the best of fish, weighs from three to fifteen
+pounds. Suitable only for large ponds. Spawns early in the spring in the
+marshy edges of sluggish water. The eggs may be procured and treated as
+the trout, only cold running water is not necessary. Best caught by
+trolling. It is not a good fish to raise with others, as it is apt to
+eat them up.
+
+_Yellow Perch._--Is everywhere well known as a beautiful little
+fresh-water fish, and good for the table, at all seasons when the water
+is cool. Perfectly hardy and adapted to sluggish waters, it is one of
+the best for artificial ponds. Treat like all the preceding; or allowed
+to take its own course in the pond, it will increase rapidly.
+
+_Sun-Fish._--Rarely weighs more than half a pound, but is a good
+pan-fish. This and the grass bass and yellow perch may be put together
+in the same pond.
+
+_Eels._--May be cultivated with great success in almost any water. But
+we are so prejudiced against them, never consenting to taste one, that
+we can not speak in their favor. Of the methods of introducing fish into
+our rivers and creeks, from which they have nearly all been taken by the
+fishermen, it is not our design to treat. That subject may be found
+fully presented in treatises on fish culture, and should command the
+immediate attention of the authorities in all the states.
+
+We have here given all that is necessary to success among the masses all
+over the land. There is hardly a township in the United States or
+British provinces, where good fish-ponds might not be constructed so as
+to be a source of profit and luxury to the inhabitants.
+
+Fish are so certainly and easily raised, that the practice of
+cultivating them should be universally adopted.
+
+Transporting fish alive is somewhat hazardous, especially if they be of
+considerable size. The difficulty is greatly lessened by keeping ice in
+the water with the fish. Change water twice a day and keep ice in it,
+and you may safely transport fish around the globe. Eggs of fish are
+best transported in boxes six inches square, filled with alternate
+layers of sand and eggs scattered over. When full, make quite wet, and
+fasten on the cover. Other methods are adopted which will be easily
+learned of those engaged in the trade.
+
+
+FLAX.
+
+Change the seed every season. This will greatly increase the quantity,
+and improve the quality. In nothing else is it more important. In
+Ireland, the great flax-growing country of the world, they always sow
+foreign seed when it can be procured. American seed is preferred, and
+brings the highest price. Experiments with different seeds, on varieties
+of soils, are much needed. Changing from all the soils and latitudes of
+our country would be useful. The general rule, however, as with all
+seeds, is to change from colder to warmer regions.
+
+_Soils._--The best are strong alluvial soils. Any soil good for a garden
+is good for flax. As much clay as will allow soil soon to become dry and
+easily to be made mellow, is desirable; black loam, with hard, poor
+clay-subsoil, is also good. Mellow, friable soils are not more important
+to any other crop than to flax. Land must not be worked when too wet.
+The land should be rich from a previous year's manuring. Salt, lime,
+ashes, and plaster, are good applications to flax after it has come up.
+On light soil with bad tillage, when the flax was so poor that the
+cultivator was about to plow it up, the application of three bushels of
+plaster, in the morning when the dew was on, produced a larger yield of
+better flax from an acre than adjoining growers got from two acres of
+their best land.
+
+
+FLOWERS.
+
+Floriculture is an employment appropriate to all classes, ages, and
+conditions. No yard connected with a dwelling is complete without a
+flower-bed. The cultivation of flowers is eminently promotive of health,
+refinement of manners, and good taste. Constant familiarity with the
+most exquisite beauties of nature must refine the feelings and produce
+gentleness of spirit. Association with flowers should be a part of every
+child's education. Their cultivation is suitable for children and young
+ladies in all the walks of life.
+
+House-plants, and bouquets in sick-rooms, are injurious; their influence
+on the atmosphere of the rooms is unhealthy. But the cultivation of
+flowers in the garden or yard is in every way beneficial. We earnestly
+recommend increased attention to flowers by the whole American people.
+The necessary limits of our article will allow us to do but little more
+than to call attention to the subject. Those who become interested will
+seek information from some of the numerous works devoted exclusively to
+ornamental flowers.
+
+Flowers should be planted on rather level land, that the rains may not
+wash off the seeds and fine mould. Choose a southern or eastern exposure
+whenever practicable. Avoid, as much as possible, planting in the shade.
+
+_Soil_--Should be a deep, rich mould, neither too wet nor too dry, and
+should be enriched with a little compost, every year.
+
+_Sowing the Seeds_ is a most important matter in cultivating flowers.
+Many fail to come up, solely on account of improper planting. The seeds
+of most flowers are very fine and delicate. Planted in coarse earth,
+they will not vegetate; planted near the surface in a dry time, they
+usually perish. It is best to cover all small flower-seeds, by sifting
+fine mould upon them; and if the weather does not do it, use artificial
+means to keep the soil suitably moist until the seeds are fairly up.
+Stir the soil gently often, and keep out all weeds. It is always best to
+plant the seeds in rows or hills, with small stakes to indicate their
+location; you can then stir the ground freely without destroying them.
+Flowers usually need more watering than most other plants. The usual
+application of water to the leaves by using a sprinkler is injurious; it
+may be better than no watering at all, but is the worst way to apply
+water. Make a basin in the soil near the plants, and fill it with water.
+The selection of suitable varieties for a small flower-garden is quite
+important. We shall only mention a brief list. Those who would make this
+more of a study, are recommended to study "_Breck's Book of Flowers_,"
+which is quite as complete for American cultivators as anything we have.
+The principal divisions are, bulbous flowering roots, flowering shrubs,
+and flowering herbs--annual, biennial, and perennial--the first
+blossoming and dying the year they are sown; the second blossoming and
+dying the second year, without having blossomed the first; the last
+blossoming, and the top dying down and coming up the next spring, for a
+series of years.
+
+_Bulbous Flowering Roots._--These need considerable sand in their soil.
+They should be taken up after the foliage is all dead, and if they are
+hardy, put the soil in good condition, and dry the bulbs and reset them,
+and let them remain through the winter. They may need slight protection,
+by spreading coarse straw, manure, or forest-leaves over them late in
+the fall; but all the more tender bulbs do better kept in sand until
+early spring. The best list with which we are acquainted, for a small
+garden, is the following: the well-known lilies, the tulips, gladiolas,
+hyacinths, Feraria tigrida, crocus, narcissus, and jonquils.
+
+_Flowering Shrubs._--The following is a select small list: Roses, as
+large a variety as you please, out of the hundreds known; flowering
+almond, Indigo shrub, wahoo or fire-shrub, the mountain-ash, althea,
+snowball, lilac, fringe-tree, snow-drop, double-flowering peach,
+Siberian crab, the smoke-tree, or French tree, or Venitian sumach,
+honeysuckle, double-flowering cherry.
+
+The list of beautiful herbaceous flowers is very lengthy. We give only a
+few of those most easily raised, and most showy; the list is designed
+only to aid the inquiries of those who are unacquainted with them:
+superb amaranth, tri-colored amaranth, China and German astors--the
+latter are very beautiful--Canterbury bell, carnation pinks (great
+variety), chrysanthemum (many varieties and splendid until very late in
+autumn), morning glory or convolvulus, japonicas, Cupid's car, dahlias,
+dwarf bush, morning bride or fading beauty, fox-glove, golden coreopsis
+(we have raised a variety that proved biennial, which was superb all the
+season), ice-plant, larkspur, passion-flower, peony, sweet pea, pinks,
+sweet-williams, annual China pink, polyanthus (a great beauty), hyacinth
+bean, scarlet-runner bean, poppy, portalucca, nasturtium, marigolds
+(especially the large double French, and the velvet variegated),
+martineau, cypress vine.
+
+
+FOWLS.
+
+We are glad to believe that _the hen mania_, that has prevailed so
+extensively during the last fifteen or twenty years, has considerably
+abated. After all the extravagant notions about the profits of hens
+shall have passed away, the truth will be seen to be about the
+following: Every farmer who has considerable waste grain about, and
+plenty more to supply the deficiency when the fowls shall have gathered
+up all the scatterings, had better keep a hundred hens. If he has sand
+and gravel, and wheat-bran and lime for shells, within their reach, and
+plenty of fresh water, they will do well, without much further care, in
+mild weather. In cold weather in winter, keep not more than forty hens
+together, in a tight, warm place, well ventilated; give them their usual
+food, with burnt bones pounded fine and mixed with mush, given warm,
+with occasionally a little animal food and boiled vegetables, and they
+will lay more than in summer. They will lay all winter without being
+inclined to set. Every family, who will treat them as above, may
+profitably keep one or two dozen through the winter. Most persons who
+undertake, with a few acres of land, to keep fowls as a business, will
+lose by it. A few only of the most experienced and careful can make
+money by it. It may be cheapest for some persons to raise a few chickens
+for their own use, although they cost them more than the market-price,
+though it would not be best to raise chickens in that way to sell. "But
+some one raised the chickens in market for the market-price, and why not
+I?" Because, they raised a few that got fat on waste grain, and you must
+buy grain for yours, and give more for it than you can get for your
+chickens. Whoever would make money by raising fowls on a large scale,
+must first serve some kind of an apprenticeship at it, as in all other
+business. Get this experience, and learn by experiment the cheapest and
+most profitable food, and keep from five hundred to a thousand fowls,
+and a reasonable though not large profit may be realized. For
+store-fowls, boiled vegetables and beets cut very fine, with a little
+meal mixed in, are a good and cheap feed. When keeping fowls out-door in
+warm weather, keep no more than fifty together, and them on not less
+than one fourth of an acre of land. The expensive hen-houses and
+artificial nests are mostly humbugs. Have many places of concealment
+about, where they can make their nests as they please. When a hen begins
+to set, remove her, nest and all, to a yard to which layers have no
+access, and you need have no difficulty with her. Set a hen near the
+ground, in a dry place, on fifteen fresh eggs, all put under her at
+once, and they will hatch about the same time at the end of twenty days.
+Old hens, of the common kind, are best to set. Let them have their own
+way in everything but running in the wet with their young chickens--and
+that they will not be much inclined to do if they are well fed. Much is
+said about the diseases of fowls and their remedies. We have very little
+confidence in any of it. Sick chickens will die _unless they get well_.
+Time spent in doctoring them does not generally pay. Wormwood and tansy,
+growing, or gathered and scattered, or steeped and sprinkled about the
+premises occupied by hens, will protect them from small vermin. Never
+give them anything salt or sour, unless it be sour milk. The eggs of
+ducks, turkeys, or geese, may be hatched under hens. Time, thirty days.
+Hence, if put under with hens' eggs, they must be set ten days earlier,
+that they may all hatch at once. Fattening chickens may be well done in
+six days, by feeding rice, boiled rather soft in sweet skimmed milk, fed
+plentifully three times a day. Feed these in pans, well cleaned before
+each meal, and give only what they will eat up at once, and desire a
+very little more. Put a little pounded charcoal within their reach, and
+a little rice-water, milk, or clear water. This makes the most beautiful
+meal at a low price. Never feed a chicken for sixteen or twenty-four
+hours before killing it.
+
+_Varieties or Breeds._--This has been matter of much speculation. The
+result has been (what was probably a main object) the sale of many fowls
+and eggs at exorbitant prices. When chickens have sold at fifty dollars
+per pair, and eggs at six dollars a dozen, some persons must have made
+money, while others lost it. Yet, there is some choice in the breed of
+hens. The kind makes less difference, as far as flesh is concerned, than
+is usually imagined. It requires about a given quantity of grain to make
+a certain amount of flesh. Large fowls give us much larger weight of
+flesh than small ones, but they also eat a much larger quantity of
+grain. Large fowls are certainly large eaters. The three best layers are
+the black Polands, the Malayas, and the Shanghaes. Half-bloods, by
+crossing with the common fowl, are better for this country than either
+of the above, pure. Fowls are generally improved by frequent crossing.
+The best we have ever had, for their flesh, we produced by putting a
+black Poland rooster with common hens; they grew larger than either, and
+their flesh was very fine. Shanghaes and half-blood Shanghaes have
+proved permanently the best layers we have ever had. Early pullets make
+great fall and winter layers, and late chickens are great layers in the
+spring, when older ones wish to set.
+
+Ducks we have considered in a separate article. We shall do the same
+with turkeys. Killing, dressing, and preparing all fowls for market,
+will be treated under the head of "Poultry." Geese will also be
+considered in another place. We should give drawings of aviaries, but we
+consider these generally worse than useless, as they are usually
+constructed. An airy place for summer, and a warm room for winter, poles
+with _rough bark_ on for roosts, and plenty of feed and water, sand,
+gravel, and lime, will give abundant success.
+
+
+FRUIT.
+
+The value of fruit is not fully appreciated in this country. As an
+article of diet nothing is more natural and healthy. The Creator gave
+this to man for food, when human nature, physically, was in its normal
+condition. And why meats have since been allowed, I know not, unless it
+be the reason why Moses allowed divorce in certain cases, although it
+was not so in the beginning, viz., the hardness of their hearts. Why the
+stomach, upon the healthy condition of which all physical, mental, and
+moral functions so materially depend, should be made the receptacle of
+dead animals, and especially those so long dead, as much of the meat
+offered in market, it would puzzle a philosopher to tell.
+
+But we will not write an elaborate article on the healthfulness of a
+diet composed mainly of milk, fruits, and vegetables. Suffice it to say
+that experience and observation, as well as analysis and physiology,
+unite in demonstrating that ripe fruits contain virtues, that go far
+toward preventing the ordinary diseases of men. They are good, plain or
+cooked, and for sick or well persons, except in extreme cases. They
+regulate the bowels and control the secretions, better than any other
+article of food. They are so highly nutritious, that they sustain nature
+under arduous toil, better than either meat, fine bread, or the Irish
+potato. With proper care the fruits are cheaper than any other article
+of food. They can be raised cheaper than corn or potatoes. They may be
+enjoyed all the year, are profitable for market, and for food for
+animals.
+
+
+FRUITFULNESS.
+
+_Inducing it in Fruit-Trees._--Fruit-trees often grow luxuriantly, but
+bear no fruit, or very little. In nearly all cases the evil may be
+remedied. One remedy is shortening in. This is done by cutting off half
+the present year's growth in July. This checks the tendency of the sap
+to promote so large a growth, and forces it to mature blossom-buds for
+the next season. Another effectual means is to bend down all the
+principal branches and tie them down. This has a great influence in
+checking excessive growth and forming fruit-buds. Frequent transplanting
+has a tendency also to induce fruitfulness. Root pruning is one of _the
+best means_ of securing this object. Lay bare the upper roots and cut
+off all the larger ones two feet from the tree. This will check
+excessive formation of wood and foliage, render the wood firm, and the
+organic matter of the sap will form abundance of fruit-buds. These
+methods will produce fruit in abundance on nineteen twentieths of barren
+or poor-bearing fruit-trees.
+
+
+GARDEN.
+
+The garden has been the most delightful abode of man ever since his
+creation, before and since the fall. One of the most pleasant pastimes,
+for ladies and children, is gardening. The flower, vegetable, and fruit
+departments are all pleasant and healthful.
+
+_Situation_ of a garden is important. This varies with climates. In a
+cold country the warmest exposures are best, and in a hot climate select
+the coolest. A garden combining both is the best possible. The warmest
+exposure is good for early vegetables, and the cooler and more shady for
+the main crop. Much can be done to regulate this by fences and
+buildings. They will be warm and early on one side, and cool and late on
+the other.
+
+_Soil._--A rich loam is always best. To convert stiff clay, or light
+sand and gravel, into a good loam, is an easy matter on so small a plat
+as is usually devoted to a garden. Draw an abundance of sand on
+clay-ground, plow deep and mix well, and one winter's frost will so
+pulverize the whole that it will be in excellent condition. In warm
+climates, the incorporation of the sand with the clay is effected by
+frequent plowing and rains. On sand and gravel draw plenty of clay and
+loam, if it can be easily procured; thus it is easy to form a good
+friable, retentive loam, adapted to every variety of soil-culture.
+Decayed wood and forest-leaves are excellent for garden-soils. Manure
+well; but remember that it is possible to overfeed the soil of a garden,
+so as to render it unproductive. Deep plowing or spading is very
+important; it is the best possible remedy for excessive drought or
+unusual rains. The water will not stand on the surface when it first
+falls, and will be retained long in the soil for the use of the plants.
+The soil should be very mellow. Plowing or spading too early, in hope of
+getting earlier vegetables, is often a failure. The earlier the better,
+if you can pulverize the soil; otherwise not. Plowing when covered with
+a heavy dew, or when it rains gently, is equal to a good coat of manure.
+A garden should be on level land well drained; if much inclined, rains
+will wash off the best of the soil, and destroy many seeds and plants.
+No weeds should be allowed to grow to any considerable size in a garden.
+Early and frequent hoeings are important to success. Directions for the
+cultivation of each garden vegetable and fruit are given under each of
+those articles respectively. Methods of gardening at the South and the
+North vary but little in the main articles. At the North we have to
+guard against too much cool weather, and at the South against too much
+heat. Some vegetables that need planting on ridges in the North, to
+obtain more sun and heat, should be planted on level land at the South,
+to guard against too much heat and drought. Besides this, the main
+difference is in the time of planting, which varies more or less with
+every degree of latitude, or every five hundred feet of elevation. Have
+no fruit-trees in your vegetable or fruit garden, unless it may be a few
+dwarf-pears on the quince-stock, and these had better be by themselves.
+
+The plan of a garden is a matter of taste, and depends much upon its
+size and necessary situation. We prefer ornamental shrubs in front of
+the house, the flowers adjoining it and passing the windows of those
+rooms that are constantly occupied, and the fruit-department in the
+rear of the flowers, while the vegetable-garden should be at the right
+or left of the fruit, and in the rear of the kitchen. On the other side
+of the house should be the larger fruit-trees, extending back as far as
+the fruit and vegetable garden, and in the rear of it, the
+carriage-house and other out-buildings. The best fence is of good
+wrought iron, sharp and strong enough to exclude all intruders. When
+this can not be afforded, a good hedge, made of the plants best adapted
+to hedges in your latitude, is preferred; next to this a good tight
+board-fence.
+
+All fruit-gardens should have alleys, eight or ten feet wide, within
+four rods of each other, to afford space for carting on manures, &c. A
+vegetable-garden of one acre should have such an alley through the
+centre each way, with a place in the end, opposite the entrance, to turn
+around a summer-house, arbor, or tool-house. One rod from the fence, on
+all sides, should be an alley four or five feet wide; other small alleys
+as convenience or taste may require. The usual way is to sink the alleys
+three or four inches below the level of the beds, and cover with gravel,
+tanbark, shells, &c. We strongly recommend raising the alleys in their
+middle, at least four inches above the surface of the beds. The paths
+are always neater, and the moisture is retained for the use of the
+plants. Excessive rains can be allowed to pass off. This making alleys
+low sluice-ways for water is a great mistake in yards and gardens.
+
+
+GARLIC.
+
+This is a hardy perennial plant, from the south of Europe, and has been
+in cultivation, as a garden vegetable, for hundreds of years. It is
+cultivated as the onion, and needs much ashes, bonedust, and lime, in
+the soil. It is much esteemed in some countries, in soups. It is but
+little used in the United States: it is used at the South as a medicinal
+herb. We know of no important use of garlic for which onions will not
+answer as well, and therefore do not recommend garlic as an American
+garden vegetable. Those who wish to cultivate it will pursue the same
+course as in raising onions from sets. This will always be successful.
+
+
+GATHERING FRUITS.
+
+This is almost as important as proper cultivation. This is especially
+true of the pear. Many cultivators raise inferior pears from trees of
+the very best varieties, for want of a correct knowledge of the best
+methods of gathering, preserving, and ripening the fruit. Complete
+directions will be found under each fruit.
+
+
+GEESE.
+
+Farmers usually are opposed to keeping geese, believing them to destroy
+more than they are worth. If you have a suitable place to keep them,
+they may be profitable. They should have a pasture with a fence they can
+not pass, enclosing a spring, pond, or stream. They do better to have a
+little grain the year round. This, with plenty of grass in summer and
+cut roots in winter, will keep them in fine condition. The feathers will
+pay the cost of keeping, leaving the increase and feathers of the young
+as profit. On an acre or two, one hundred geese may be kept, and if the
+proportion of males and females be right, they will yield a profit of
+two dollars each.
+
+
+GOOSEBERRY.
+
+This is a native of the north of Europe and Asia, from which all our
+fine varieties have been produced by cultivation. Our own native
+varieties are not known to have produced any very desirable ones.
+Probably the zeal of the Lancashire weavers, in England, will surpass
+all that Americans will do for the next century in gooseberry culture.
+They publish a small book annually, giving an account of new varieties.
+The last catalogue of the London Horticultural Society mentions one
+hundred and forty-nine varieties, as worthy of cultivation. A few only
+should receive attention among us. Gooseberries delight in cool and
+rather moist situations. They do not flourish so naturally south of
+Philadelphia; though they grow well in all the mountainous regions, and
+may produce fair fruit in many cool, moist situations. Deep mulching is
+very beneficial; it preserves the moisture, and protects from excessive
+heat. The land must be trenched and manured deep. In November, cut out
+one half of the top, both old and new wood, and a good crop of fine
+fruit may be expected each year, for five or six years, when new bushes
+should take the place of old ones. Propagate by cuttings of the last
+growth. Cut out all the eyes, below the surface, when planted. Plant six
+inches deep in loam, in the shade. Press the soil close around them. To
+prevent mildew, it is recommended to sprinkle lime or flour of sulphur
+over the foliage and flowers, or young fruit. The fruit-books recommend
+the best varieties, and very open tops, as not exposed to mildew. We
+recommend spreading dry straw, or fine charcoal, on the surface under
+the bushes, as a perfect remedy, if the top be not left too thick. There
+is no necessity for mildew on gooseberries. The fall is much the best
+season for trimming, though early spring will do. Varieties are divided
+into red, green, white, and yellow. These are subdivided into hundreds
+of others, with names entirely arbitrary. The following are the best
+varieties, generally cultivated in this country:--
+
+1. _Houghton's Seedling._--Flavor, superior; skin, thin and tender;
+color, reddish-brown. Prodigious grower and bearer--none better known.
+Free from mildew. Native of Massachusetts.
+
+2. _Red Warrington._--Later and larger than the preceding; hangs long on
+the bush without cracking, and improves in flavor.
+
+3. _Woodward's Whitesmith_--is one of the best of the white varieties.
+
+4. _Cleworth's White Lion._--Large and late; excellent.
+
+5. _Collier's Jolly Angler_--is a good green gooseberry; fruit large,
+excellent, and late.
+
+6. _Early Green Hairy._--Very early; rather small; prolific.
+
+7. _Buerdsill's Duckwing_--is a good, late, yellow gooseberry; large
+fruit, and a fine-growing bush.
+
+8. _Prophets Rockwood._--Very large fruit of excellent quality, ripening
+quite early.
+
+The foregoing list, giving two of each of the four colors, and early and
+late, are all, we think, that need be cultivated. Many more varieties,
+nearly equalling the above, may be selected; but we are not aware that
+any improvement would be made. Downing gives the following list for a
+garden:--
+
+_Red._--Red Warrington, Companion, Crown Bob, London, Houghton's
+Seedling.
+
+_Yellow._--Leader, Yellow Ball, Catharine, Gunner.
+
+_White._--Woodward's Whitesmith, Freedom, Taylor's Bright Venus, Tally
+Ho, Sheba Queen.
+
+_Green._--Pitmaston Green Gage, Thumper, Jolly Angler, Massey's Heart of
+oak, Parkinson's Laurel.
+
+Thus you have Downing's authority; his list includes most of those we
+have recommended above. The varieties are less important than in most
+fruits, provided only you get the large varieties of English gooseberry.
+Proper cultivation will insure success. Whoever cultivates, only
+tolerably well, the Houghton Seedling, will be sure to raise good
+berries, free from mildew.
+
+
+GRAFTING.
+
+This is one of the leading methods of obtaining such fruits as we wish,
+on stocks of such habits of growth and degrees of hardiness, as we may
+desire. The stock will control, in some degree, the growth of the scion,
+but leave the fruit mainly to its habits on its original tree. The
+advantages of grafting are principally the following:--
+
+Good varieties may be propagated very rapidly. A single tree may produce
+a thousand annually, for a series of years. Large trees of worthless
+fruit may be changed into any variety we please, and in a very short
+time bear abundantly. Fruits not easily multiplied in any other way, can
+be rapidly increased by grafting. Early bearing of seedlings can be
+secured by grafting on bearing trees.
+
+Tender and exotic varieties may be acclimated by grafting into
+indigenous stocks. Fruit can be raised on an uncongenial soil, by
+grafting into stocks adapted to that soil. Several varieties may be
+produced on the same tree, for ornament or economy of room. Dwarfs of
+any variety may be produced by grafting on dwarf stocks, and we may thus
+grow many trees on a small space. A slow-growing variety may be made to
+form a large top, by grafting into large vigorous-growing stocks. We are
+enabled to carry varieties to any part of the world, at a cheap rate, as
+the scions, properly done up, may safely be carried around the globe.
+
+_Time of Grafting._--Grafts may be made to live, put in in any month of
+the year, but the beginning of the opening of the buds in spring, is the
+preferable season. Stone fruits should be budded; and all fruits may be
+made to do well budded. Budding is usually only practised on small
+trees, while grafting may be performed on trees of any size.
+
+_Cutting and preserving Scions._--Mature shoots of the previous year's
+growth are best. Those of the year before will also do. They may be cut
+at any time from November to time of setting. Perhaps the month of
+February is best. They may be well preserved in moist sawdust in tight
+boxes. The more there are together the better they will keep. They keep
+better by being cut a little below the beginning of the last year's
+growth, but it is more injurious to the tree. They may be kept well in
+fine sand, moist and cool. Too much moisture is always injurious. Put
+the lower ends in shallow water, and they will look very fine, but not
+one of them will live. Scions cut in the fall and buried six inches deep
+in yellow loam or fine sand, will keep well till next spring. There are
+several methods of grafting only two of which deserve particular
+attention. These are cleft-grafting and tongue or splice grafting, see
+figures.
+
+[Illustration: Cleft-Grafting.]
+
+[Illustration: Tongue-Grafting.]
+
+_Cleft-Grafting_ is performed in most cases, when scions are grafted
+upon stocks much larger than themselves. It is too well known to need
+particular description. Tools should be sharp, and it should be
+performed before the bark slips so easily as to be started by splitting
+the stock. It endangers the growth of the scions. The requisite to
+success in all grafting, is to have some point of actual contact,
+between the inside barks of both the scion and the stock. This is more
+certainly secured by causing the scion to stand at a slight angle with
+the stock.
+
+_Tongue-Grafting_ is generally used in grafting on small
+stocks--seedlings or roots. With a sharp knife, cut off the scion
+slanting down, and the stock slanting up, split each in the centre, and
+push one in to the other until the barks meet, and wind with thick paper
+or thin muslin, with grafting wax on one side. This is generally used in
+root-grafting. The question of root-grafting has excited considerable
+discussion recently. Many suppose it to produce unhealthy trees, and
+that retaining the variety is less certain than by other modes.
+Root-grafting is a cheap and rapid means of multiplying trees, and hence
+is greatly prized by nursery men. Practical cultivators of Illinois have
+assured us, that it is impossible to produce good Rhode Island greenings
+in that state, by root-grafting--that they will not produce the same
+variety. We see no principle upon which they should fail, but will not
+undertake to settle this important question. For ourselves we prefer to
+use one whole stock for each tree, cutting it off at the ground and
+grafting there.
+
+_Grafting Composition or Wax._--One part beef's tallow, two parts
+beeswax, and four parts rosin, make the best. Harder or softer, it is
+liable to be injured by the weather. Warm weather will melt it, and cold
+will crack it. Melt these together and pour them into cold water, and
+pull and work as shoemaker's wax. When using, it is to be kept in cool
+or warm water, as the weather may demand. In its application, it is to
+be pressed closely over all the wound made by sawing and splitting the
+limb, and close around the scions, so as to exclude air and water. Clay
+is often used for grafting, but is not equal to wax. You can use
+grafting tools, invented especially for the purpose, or a common saw,
+mallet, knife, and wedge.
+
+
+GRAPES.
+
+Those cultivated so extensively in Europe were natives of
+Persia--showing that they may be acclimated far from their native home.
+Foreign grapes are not suitable for out-door culture in this country,
+except a very few varieties, which do well in the Southern states. The
+native grapes of this country have produced some excellent varieties,
+which are now in general cultivation. Others are beginning to attract
+notice, and seedlings will probably multiply rapidly, and great
+improvements in our native grapes may be expected. The subject of
+grape-culture deserves greatly-increased attention. To all palates the
+grape is delicious; it is not only one of the most palatable articles of
+diet, but is more highly medicinal than any other fruit. It is the
+natural source of pure wine. Pure wine made of grapes is only to be
+procured, in this country, by domestic manufacture. Probably not one out
+of a thousand gallons of imported wines, sold as pure, contains a drop
+of the juice of the grape;--they are manufactured of poisonous drugs and
+ardent spirits--generally common whiskey. A French chemist discovered a
+method of imitating fermented liquor without fermentation, and distilled
+spirits without distillation. His process has been published in this
+country in book form, and by subscription; and while those books are
+unknown in the bookstores, they are generally possessed by prominent
+liquor dealers;--and the practice of those secret arts is terribly
+dangerous to the community. Antecedent to this chemical manufacture of
+poisonous liquors, such a disease as _delirium tremens_ was unknown.
+Thus the Frenchman's discovery filled the liquor-sellers' pockets with
+cash, and the land with mourning, over frequent deaths by a disease, the
+horror of which is equalled only by hydrophobia. In self-defence, all
+should give up the use of everything purporting to be imported wines or
+liquors. Wine should not be used as a common beverage by the healthy.
+The best medical authority in the world has pronounced it absolutely
+injurious. But in many cases of sickness, especially in convalescence
+from fevers, it is one of the very best articles that can be used;
+hence, a pure article, of domestic manufacture, should be accessible to
+all the sick. (See our article on "Wine.") The luxury of good grapes can
+be enjoyed by every family in the land who have a yard twenty feet
+square. In the cities, almost every house may have a grapevine or two
+where nothing else would grow. Allow a vine to run up trellis-work in
+the rear of the house, and over the roof of a wing, or rear-part, raised
+two feet above the roof, supported by a rack. In such situations they
+will bear better than elsewhere, will be out of the way, and decidedly
+ornamental. In such small yards, from five to twenty-five bushels have
+often grown in a season. Some climates and soils are much better suited
+to grape-culture than others. But we have varieties that will flourish
+wherever Indian corn will mature.
+
+_Location._--For vineyards, the sides of hills are usually chosen,
+sometimes for the purpose of a warm exposure, but generally to secure
+the most perfect drainage. A northern exposure is preferable for all
+varieties adapted to the climate. To mature late varieties, choose a
+southern or eastern exposure.
+
+_Soil._--Gravelly, with a little sand, on a dry subsoil, is preferable,
+though good grapes may be grown upon any land upon which water will not
+stand. Grapes always need much lime. If the vineyard is not located on
+calcareous soil, lime must be liberally supplied, especially for
+wine-making. A dry subsoil, or thorough draining, is indispensable to
+successful grape-culture. We prefer level land, wherever thorough
+draining is practicable.
+
+_Propagation._--Choice grapes are propagated by grafts, layers, or
+cuttings. New ones are produced from seeds. The more kinds that are
+cultivated together, the greater will be the varieties raised from their
+seeds, by cross-fertilization in the blossoms. A small grape crossed
+with a large one, or an early with a late one, or two of different
+flavors, will produce mediums between them. Seeds should be cleaned, and
+planted in the fall, or kept in sand till spring. In the fall, cover up
+the young vines. The second or third year, the young vines should be set
+in the places where they are designed to remain. By efforts to get new
+varieties, we may adapt them to every latitude, from the gulf of Mexico
+to Pembina.
+
+_Layers._--These produce large vines and abundance of fruit earlier than
+any other method of propagation. Put down old wood in May or early June,
+and new wood a month later; fasten down with pegs having a hook to hold
+the vine, and cover up with earth; they will take root freely at the
+joints, and may be removed in autumn or spring. If you put down wood too
+late, or do not keep it covered with moist earth, it will fail;
+otherwise it is always sure.
+
+_Cuttings_--may be from any wood you have to spare, and should be about
+a foot long, having two buds. Plant at an angle of forty-five degrees,
+one bud and two thirds of the cutting under the soil. A little shade and
+moisture will cause nearly all to grow. A little grafting-wax on the top
+will aid the growth, by preventing evaporation. The cutting, so buried
+as to have the top bud half an inch under fine mould, is said to be
+surer. Cuttings should be made late in fall, or early in winter, and
+preserved as scions for grafting. Cuttings made in the spring are less
+sure to grow, and their removal is much more injurious to the vine.
+Vines raised from cuttings may be transplanted when one or two years
+old.
+
+_Grafting_--should be performed after the leaves are well developed in
+the spring. The sap becomes thick, which aids the process. Remove the
+earth, and saw off the vine two or three inches below the surface. Graft
+with scions of the previous year's growth, but well matured, and apply
+cement, to keep the sap from coming out. Cover all but the top bud. In
+stocks an inch in diameter put two scions. Very few need fail.
+
+_Budding_--maybe done as in other cases, but always after the leaves are
+well developed, to avoid bleeding. These modes of propagation stand in
+the following order in point of preference, the best being named first:
+layers, cuttings, grafting, budding.
+
+_Culture and Manure._--Land prepared by deep subsoil plowing, highly
+manured and cultivated the previous season in a root-crop, is the best
+for a vineyard. The trenches for the rows should be spaded twenty
+inches deep, and a part of the surface-soil put in the bottom. After
+planting the vines, stir the ground often and keep clear of weeds. At
+first, stir the soil deep; but, as the roots extend, avoid working among
+them, and never disturb the roots with a plow. Mulching preserves the
+soil in a moist, loose condition, and is a good preventive of mildew. In
+many instances it is said to have doubled the crop. Common
+animal-manures are good for young vines, and in preparing the soil, but
+are rather too stimulating for bearing vines, often injuring the fruit.
+Ashes and cinders from the smith's forge, wood-ashes, charcoal,
+soapsuds, bones and bonedust, lime, and forest and grape leaves and
+trimmings, carefully dug into the soil around the vines, are all very
+good. A liberal supply of suitable manures will keep the vines in a
+healthy condition, and preserve the fruit from disease and decay. This,
+with judicious pruning, will render the grape-crop regular and sure.
+
+_Vineyards_--should be in rows five feet apart, with vines four feet
+apart in the row. Layers of one, and cuttings of two years' growth, will
+bear the second year, and very plentifully the third year. A good
+vineyard in the latitude of Cincinnati yields about one hundred and
+fifty bushels of grapes per acre, making four hundred gallons of wine.
+The average yield of wine per acre, throughout the country, is estimated
+at two hundred gallons.
+
+_Training under Glass._--By this means the fine foreign varieties may be
+brought to perfection in our high latitudes. With most of the best
+kinds, this can be done by solar heat alone. A house covered with glass
+at an angle of forty-five degrees, facing the south, will answer the
+purpose. With a slight artificial heat, the finest varieties may be
+perfected, and others forwarded, so as to have fine grapes at most
+seasons of the year. The vines are planted on the outside of the
+grapehouse, and allowed to pass in through an aperture two feet from the
+ground, and are trained up near the glass on the inside. Protect the
+roots in winter by a covering of coarse straw manure. Wind the vines on
+the inside with straw, lay them down on the ground in the grape-house,
+and keep it closed during the winter. A house one hundred feet long and
+twenty-five feet wide, filled mainly with Black Hamburg, with a few
+other choice varieties, would afford a great luxury, and prove a
+profitable investment. From one such house, near a large city, a careful
+cultivator may realize a thousand dollars per annum. Native and even
+hardy varieties are often greatly improved by cultivation under glass,
+or by a little protection in winter.
+
+The Isabella grape is hardy and productive in western New York. In 1856,
+we noticed a vine that had been laid down in a dry place and covered
+slightly with earth, in autumn; the fruit was more abundant, and one
+fourth larger, than that on a similar vine by its side that had remained
+on the trellis during winter: this shows the value of protection even to
+hardy vines.
+
+_Training._--There are many methods, and the question of preference
+depends upon the location of the vines, the space they may occupy, and
+the taste of the cultivator. There are four principal systems--the cane
+or renewal system, spur system, fan-training, and spiral or hoop
+training.
+
+The renewal system we prefer for trellises. Put posts firmly in the
+ground eight feet apart, allowing them to be seven feet above ground
+after they are set; put slats of wood or wire across these, a foot
+apart, commencing a foot above the ground. Set vines eight feet apart;
+let the vines be composed of two branches, coming out near the ground:
+these can be formed by cutting off a young vine near the ground, and
+training two of the shoots that will spring from the bottom. These two
+vines should be bent down in opposite directions, and tied horizontally
+to the lower slat of the trellis; cut these off, so as to have them meet
+similar vines from the next root; upright shoots from these will extend
+to the top of the trellis, and it is then covered, and the work is
+complete. After these upright canes have borne, cut off every alternate
+one, two or three inches from its base, and train up the strongest shoot
+for a bearer next year: thus cut off and train new alternate ones every
+year, and the vine will be constantly renewing, and be in the most
+productive state; keep the vines clipped at the top of the trellis, and
+the sap will mature strong buds for next year's fruit. We regard this
+the most effectual of all training. The principle of renewal can be
+applied to any form of vine, and eminently promotes fruitfulness. Many
+complain that their vines, though liberally pruned, do not bear well.
+The difficulty may be that the new wood is principally removed, while
+the old is left to throw out strong-growing shoots, bearing abundance of
+foliage and little fruit. More of the old wood removed, and more of the
+young saved, would have produced less vines and much more fruit.
+
+_Pruning_--is the most important part of successful grape-culture.
+Mistakes on this subject are very injurious. Let vines grow in their own
+way, and you will have much wood and foliage, and very little, poor
+fruit. Some cut off the shoots in summer just above the fruit, and
+remove most of the leaves around it to expose the fruit to the sun. This
+often proves to be a ruinous mistake; the sap ascends to the leaves, and
+there amalgamates with what they absorb from the atmosphere, and thus
+forms food for the vine and fruit. It is the leaves, and not the fruit,
+which need the sun: the leaves are the lungs, upon the action of which
+the life and health of the fruit depend. Blight of the leaves destroys
+the fruit, and a frequent repetition of it destroys the vine.
+Grape-vines should not be pruned at all until three years old, as it
+retards the growth of the roots, and thus weakens the vines. Older vines
+should be freely pruned in November or December; pruned in winter they
+_may_ bleed in the spring, and pruned in the spring they _certainly_
+will bleed. Tender vines, not protected, may have an excess of wood left
+in the fall to allow for what may perish in winter; in this case, cut
+away the dead and surplus wood in spring, but never until the leaves are
+well developed, so as to prevent bleeding. Necessary summer-pruning is
+of much importance. Remove no leaves, except the ends of branches, that
+have already made as much wood as they can mature. In the Middle states
+this should be done about the last of July, and at the South a month
+earlier. Weak lateral branches, that bear no fruit, may be removed, but
+not all of them, for it is on the wood of this year's growth that the
+fruit will be found the following season. Old wood does not send out
+wood in spring that will bear fruit the same season; that wood will bear
+fruit next season if allowed to remain. Whoever observes will notice
+that grapes grow on young shoots of the same season; but they are
+shoots from wood of the previous year's growth, and not from old wood.
+Many suppose if they trim their vines very closely, as the old vines
+send forth abundance of new wood, and it is new wood on which the fruit
+grows, of course they will have abundance of grapes; and they are
+disappointed by a failure. The explanation of the whole is, fruit grows
+on new wood, from wood of previous year's growth, and not from old
+vines; hence, in lessening a vine, remove old wood. This is the renewal
+system, whatever the form of the vine, and is the whole secret of
+successful pruning. This accounts for the great success of the Germans
+in producing such quantities of grapes on low vines. In their best
+vineyards, they do not allow their vines to grow more than six or seven
+feet high, and yet they produce abundantly for many years. They so prune
+as to have plenty of last year's wood for the production of fruit the
+current season; after this has borne fruit, they remove it to make room
+for the young wood that will produce the next season. This principle is
+applicable to vines of any shape or size you may choose to form. The
+removal, in summer, of excessive growth, and shortening the ends of
+those you design to retain, throws the strength of the vine into the
+fruit, and to perfect the wood already formed. Liberal fall-pruning is
+necessary to induce the formation of new wood the next season, for
+bearing the following year. Parts that grow late do not mature
+sufficiently to bear fruit the next season; hence, cut off the ends in
+summer, and let what remains have the benefit of all the sap.
+
+_Reduction of Fruit._--The grape is disposed to excessive bearing, which
+weakens the vine, and injures the quality of the fruit. Liberal pruning
+in autumn does much to remedy this evil, by not leaving room for an
+excessive amount of fruit: hence, when you have a plenty of
+fruit-bearing wood, cut off the ends, so as to leave spurs with two
+buds, or at the most only four; when too much fruit sets, remove it very
+early, before the juices of the vine have been wasted upon it. A vine
+cut or wounded in spring will bleed profusely. Sheet India-rubber, or
+two or three thicknesses of a bladder, wet and bound closely around, may
+prevent the bleeding.
+
+_Mildew_--is very destructive in confined locations, without a good
+circulation of air. Sulphur and quicklime, separate or combined, dug
+into the soil around the vines, is a preventive. Straw or litter of any
+kind, spread thick under the vines, is, perhaps, the best remedy--the
+action of it is in every way beneficial.
+
+_Insects._--The rosebug, spanworm, great greenworm, and many other
+insects, infest grapevines, and do much injury. The large worms are most
+easily destroyed by hand; the small insects by flour-of-sulphur, or by
+snuff, sprinkled over profusely when the vines are wet. The various
+applications recommended in this work for the destruction of insects,
+are useful on the grapevine. The principle is to apply something
+offensive to the insects, without being injurious to the vines.
+
+_Preserving Grapes._--Packed in sawdust or wheat-bran, always thoroughly
+dried by heat, they will keep well until spring. Another method is
+packing them in cotton-batting or wadding (the latter is best); or put
+them in baskets holding no more than four or five quarts, cover tight
+with cotton, and hang up in a cool, airy place, and they will long
+remain in good condition. In shallow boxes, six inches deep, put a sheet
+of wadding, and on it a layer of bunches of grapes, not allowed to
+touch each other; on the top of the grapes put another sheet of cotton,
+and then another layer of grapes, and so the third, covering the last
+with cotton, and put the cover on tight, and keep in a cool place. This
+is the most successful method.
+
+A new method is to suspend hoops by three cords, like a baby-jumper, and
+hang the bunches of grapes all around it, as near as possible without
+touching, on little wire hooks, passing through the lower ends of the
+clusters, allowing the stem end to be suspended, and the grapes hang
+away from each other, and if the place be not damp enough to mould them,
+and not dry enough to cause them to shrivel, they keep exceedingly well.
+It requires more care and judgment, than the other methods. A very cool
+situation, without freezing, is essential in all cases. It is also
+necessary to remove all broken or immature grapes, from the clusters you
+would preserve.
+
+_Varieties_ are very numerous, and their nomenclature is confused, as
+that of other fruits. It is utterly useless to cultivate foreign grapes
+in the open air in this country. They succeed very imperfectly, even in
+the Southern states. But for cultivation under glass, they are
+preferable to any of our own. The following foreign grapes are preferred
+in this country:--
+
+Black Prince, White Muscat, White Constantia, White Muscadine, White
+Sweet-water, Early White Muscat, Black Cluster, Black Hamburg. The
+latter is the best of all foreign grapes for cultivation under glass. It
+is very delicious, a great bearer, of very large clusters. It requires
+only solar heat to bring it to perfection.
+
+_Native Grapes._--Of these we now have a large number, many of which are
+valuable. We call attention only to a very few of the best. The
+_Isabella_ as a table luxury is hardly surpassed. In the Eastern,
+Middle, and Western states, it is generally hardy and prolific. In
+northern Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, it does not ripen well. The
+seasons are too short. It also feels somewhat the severity of the
+weather, on the western prairies. It is also apt to decay at the South.
+For all other parts it is one of the very best. It is an enormous
+bearer, one vine having been known to produce more than ten bushels, in
+a single year.
+
+[Illustration: The Isabella Grape.]
+
+[Illustration: The Catawba Grape.]
+
+Next is the _Catawba_, better for wine, more vinous but not so sweet as
+the Isabella, ripens two or three weeks later, and hence not so good in
+high latitudes.
+
+_The Rebecca Grape._--This is a comparatively new variety, of great
+promise. White like the Sweet-water, flavor very fine, vine hardy and
+productive.
+
+_The Diana_ is a small delicious grape, excellent flavor for the
+dessert, and ripens two weeks earlier than the Isabella. Hence good for
+northern latitudes.
+
+_The Concord._--Large, showy, of good but not the best flavor, and
+ripens with the Diana. Should be cultivated at the North.
+
+_The York Madeira_ is similar to the Isabella, smaller and a few days
+earlier.
+
+[Illustration: The Rebecca Grape.]
+
+[Illustration: The Delaware Grape.]
+
+_The Delaware_ is a small brown grape, excellent and hardy. Ripens quite
+as early as the Isabella. Best outdoor grape, in many localities.
+
+_The Canadian Chief._--One of the very best grapes for Canada.
+
+_Canby's August._--Very fine; considered better for the table than the
+Isabella, ripens ten days earlier, and as it is a good bearer, it should
+be generally cultivated.
+
+_The Ohio Grape_ is a good variety, beginning to attract much notice.
+
+_The Scuppernong_ is the best of all grapes, for general cultivation at
+the South. It is never affected by the rot. Not easily raised from
+cuttings. Layers are better. It does best trained on an arbor.
+
+The soil and climate of the South are well adapted to the grape, even
+the finer varieties that do not flourish well at the North. They are,
+however, seriously affected by the rot, an evil incident to the heat and
+humidity of the climate. It being very warm, the dews and rains incline
+the fruit to decay. We think the evil may be prevented by two very
+simple means: Keep the vines very open, that they may dry very soon
+after rain; and train them to trellises, from six to ten feet high, and
+over the top put a coping of boards, in the shape of a roof, extending
+eighteen inches on each side of the trellis. It will prevent the rain
+and heavy dews from falling on the grapes, and is said to preserve them
+perfectly. This arrangement is about equal, in a warm climate, to cold
+graperies at the north. We recommend increased attention to this great
+luxury, in all parts of the country. Seedlings will arise, adapted to
+every locality on the continent.
+
+
+GRASSES.
+
+There is a great number of varieties, adapted to cultivation in some
+countries and climates, but not suitable for American culture. On the
+comparative value of different grasses there is a diversity of opinions.
+The best course for the practical farmer is, having the best and surest,
+therewith to be content. Sir John Sinclair says there are two hundred
+and fifteen grasses cultivated in Great Britain. We shall notice a very
+few of them, with a view to their comparative value:--
+
+1. _Sweet-scented Vernal Grass._--Small growth; yield of hay light. For
+pastures it is very early, and grows quickly after being cropped, and is
+excellent for milch-cows; grows well on almost any soil, but most
+naturally on high, well-drained meadows. It grows in great abundance in
+Massachusetts.
+
+2. _Meadow Foxtail._--Early like the preceding, but more productive and
+more nutritious. It is one of the five or six kinds usually sown
+together in English pastures; best for sheep and horses.
+
+3. _Rough Cocksfoot._--_Orchard-grass_ of the United States; cows are
+fond of it. In England it is taking the place of clovers and rye-grass.
+About Philadelphia it is supplanting timothy. It is earlier, and
+therefore better to mix with clover for hay, as they mature at the same
+time; grows well in the shade, and on both loams and sands; springs
+rapidly after being cropped. Colonel Powell, one of the best American
+farmers, says it produces more pasture than any other grass he has seen
+in this country. Two bushels of seed are sown on an acre.
+
+4. _Tall Oat-Grass._--A valuable grass, deserving increased attention.
+It will produce three crops in a season; grows four or five feet high,
+and should be cut for hay when in blossom. Of all grasses, it is the
+earliest and best for green fodder.
+
+5. _Tall Fescue._--Cut in blossom, it contains more nutriment than any
+other known grass. Grows well by the sides of ditches, and is well
+adapted to wet bogs, as, by its rapid growth, it keeps down coarse,
+noxious grass and weeds.
+
+6. _Rye Grass._--This is extensively cultivated in Scotland and in the
+north of England. It is mixed with clover. Respecting its comparative
+value there is a diversity of opinion. Some do not speak well of it.
+
+7. _Red Clover and White Clover._--See article "Clover."
+
+8. _Lucern._--This yields much more green feed at a single crop than any
+other grass. For soiling cattle it is one of the best, and may be cut
+twice as often as red clover. This makes a good crop, soon after time
+for planting corn. Common corn or pop-corn, and later, Stowell's
+evergreen sweet corn, are the best for soiling cattle; but for early
+soiling, use lucern, or some other quick-growing, large grass. Lucern
+needs clean land, or cultivation at first, as young plants are tender.
+The tap-root runs down very deep; hence, hard clay or wet soils are not
+favorable. It stands the cold, in latitudes forty to forty-five degrees
+in this country, better than red clover.
+
+9. _Long-rooted Clover._--This is a Hungarian variety--biennial, but
+resows itself several years in succession, on good, clean land. Its
+yield of hay and seed is abundant. Needs a deep, dry soil, and stands a
+drought better than any other grass. To plow in as a fertilizer, or for
+soiling cattle, it is valuable, wherever it will flourish.
+
+10. _Sain-Foin._--Adapted to calcareous or chalky soils; considered one
+of the best plants ever introduced into England; but in New England it
+proves almost a failure--it requires more cool moisture and less frost.
+
+11. _Timothy._--In England, _Meadow Cats'-tail_, and in New England,
+_Herd's-grass_. This is the most valuable of all the grasses, and
+wherever it will thrive well, should never be superseded by anything
+else for hay. It should be cut when the seed has begun to harden, but
+before it begins to shell, and never in the blossom. Let every farmer
+remember that timothy, cut in the seed, contains twice as much nutriment
+as when cut in the blossom; hence, it is not worth more than half as
+much for hay, sown among clover, as when sown by itself, as it must be
+cut too early, to avoid losing the clover.
+
+12. _Red Top._--We can not find this described in agricultural books;
+but we have been familiar with it for thirty-five years, and can not
+find a New York or New England farmer who does not know it well and
+prize it highly. For low, moist, rich meadows, the red top is the best
+for hay of any known grass. It yields abundantly, and may be cut at any
+time, from July to last of September. The hay is better for cattle than
+timothy. Many intelligent gentlemen insist that it is the most healthy
+hay for horses.
+
+After all that has been written on the various grasses, we regard it
+best for farmers throughout the continent to cultivate only the
+following:--
+
+For early pastures, _vernal grass_ and _meadow foxtail_; pastures
+through the season, _white clover_, _cocks-foot_, _meadow foxtail_, _red
+clover_, and _timothy_; for lowland pastures, _red top_ and _tall
+fescue_; for hay, _timothy_, _red top_, _orchard grass_, and _tall
+fescue_; for the shade of fruit-trees, _orchard grass_; to be plowed in
+as fertilizers, _red clover_ and _white clover_, for soiling cattle,
+_tall oat-grass_ and _lucern_.
+
+Time of sowing grass-seed is important. Some prefer the fall, and others
+the spring. Fall sowing should be very early or very late. Early sowing
+will give the young plants strength to endure the frosts of winter,
+which would kill late sown; but sow so late that it will not vegetate
+until spring, and it will come up early and get out of the way of the
+droughts of summer. Grass-seed sown late in the spring will always fail,
+except when followed by a very wet season. Sow timothy with fall grain,
+or late in the fall, or on a light snow toward the close of winter. Do
+not sow clover in the fall, as the young plants will generally fail in
+the cold winter;--sow it on the last light snow of winter, and it will
+always succeed. Roll the land in spring on which you have sown
+grass-seed in the last of winter; it will benefit the grain, and cause
+the grass-seed to catch well, and get an earlier and more rapid growth.
+Let all who would not lose their seed and labor, remember that
+grass-seed not sown so as to form good roots, before the frosts of
+winter or the drought of summer, will be lost; the plants will be
+killed. Timothy-seed sown in the fall, one peck to the acre, will
+produce a good crop the next season.
+
+
+GREENHOUSE.
+
+Greenhouses vary as much in style and cost as dwellings. The simplest is
+any tight enclosure, covered with a glass roof at an angle of forty-five
+degrees, facing the south, and kept warm by artificial heat. The
+temperature is not allowed to be lower than forty nor higher than
+seventy degrees of Fahrenheit; this will keep plants growing and make
+them blossom, and affords a good place for starting plants to be
+transplanted to out-door hotbeds, and finally to the vegetable garden,
+after frosts are over. There is but one main danger in greenhouse
+culture, and that is obviated by a little care: it is, allowing the air
+to become too much heated for the health of the plants; they require but
+little heat, but need it regularly. Some greenhouses are warmed by
+stoves, and serve a good purpose; others have a stove set in a flue
+which is built in the wall, gradually rising until it has passed around
+two or three sides of the building. Place three or four sheet-iron pans
+over this flue, at different points, and keep them filled with water;
+the fire in the flue will heat the water, and impart both warmth and
+humidity to the atmosphere, which is very favorable to the health and
+growth of plants. Such a house is favorable to the growth of tender
+exotic fruits and plants. A similar house without any artificial heat
+affords an excellent place for the cultivation of the finest varieties
+of foreign grapes.
+
+
+GYPSUM, OR PLASTER OF PARIS.
+
+The fertilizing properties of this article were discovered by a German
+laborer in a quarry, who observed the increased luxuriance of the grass
+by his path, when the dust fell from his shoes and clothes. This led to
+experiments which demonstrated its fertilizing power. With the
+protracted controversies on gypsum we have nothing to do; certain
+important facts are established which are valuable to agriculturists.
+
+Gypsum is valuable as an application to the soil, at from three fourths
+to one and a quarter bushels to the acre. On poor land, for a flax crop
+three bushels per acre, applied after the plants were up, and when wet,
+produced a great crop. It should be applied only once in two years, or
+in very small quantities every year. Applied as a top-dressing, it will
+do no good until a considerable quantity of rain has fallen upon it. If
+it be applied in the spring, and the summer prove a dry one, its
+greatest effect will be felt the next season. Its most marked effects
+are on poor soils; on land already rich it seems to produce but little
+effect; on dry, sandy or gravelly soils, it will increase a clover crop
+from one fourth to two thirds; sowed among clover and immediately plowed
+in, it acts powerfully. Plants of large leaves feel its influence much
+more than those with small ones, hence its excellence on clover,
+potatoes, and vines. Some soils contain enough plaster already: the
+farmer must determine by analysis or experiment. On the compost heap it
+is valuable in small quantities; it is also useful on all long, coarse,
+or fresh manures of the previous winter. Seeds rolled in it before
+planting vegetate sooner and stronger. Mixed with an equal quantity of
+ashes and a little lime, and applied to any crop immediately after
+hoeing, or when just coming up, it adds materially to its growth. It is
+better to apply it twice--on first coming up, and immediately after
+first hoeing; small quantities are best;--it will ten times repay the
+cost and labor. Upland pastures and meadows, except clay soils, are
+greatly benefited by it. A time-saving method of sowing plaster on
+fields of grass or grain, is to sow out of a wagon driven slowly through
+the field, the driver being guided by his former tracks, while two men
+sow out of the wagon. It is customary to put plaster and ashes, mixed,
+around the hills of corn, or throw it upon the plants. Sown on the field
+of hoed or hill crops, its effects are much greater than when only put
+on the hill. It should be sown equally over the whole ground.
+
+
+HARROWING.
+
+The very liberal use of the harrow is one of the principal requisites of
+successful farming. No other single tool does so much to pulverize the
+soil, as the harrow. A full crop can only be raised on a fine mellow
+soil. Seeds planted in soil left coarse and uneven, will vegetate
+unevenly, grow unequally, ripen at different times, and produce unequal
+quantities. Many farmers insist that it is a mere notion, without
+reason, to harrow land four or five times, and roll it once or twice.
+Not one in five hundred believes in the full utility of such a thorough
+working of the soil. Coarse lumpy soils expose the seeds and roots of
+young plants to drought, and to too strong action of the atmosphere.
+(See article on _Rolling_.)
+
+Harrow sandy and sod land whenever you please. If you work any other
+soil when very wet, it will not recover from the effects of it during
+the whole season. Harrow land the first time the same way it was plowed.
+
+The form of a harrow is of no importance, except avoiding the butterfly
+drag, that seldom works well. The square harrow with thirty teeth is
+usually preferred. Every farmer should have a =V= drag also.
+
+Corn, potatoes, peas, and other crops that are planted in straight rows,
+should be harrowed just after coming up, with a =V= drag, drawn by two
+horses. The front teeth should be taken out that the row may pass
+between the teeth, as well as between the horses.
+
+Such a cultivation will do more good than any other single subsequent
+one. It stirs the whole surface, pulverizing the soil, keeps it mellow
+and moist, and destroys the weeds, and all at the best possible time,
+for the benefit of the crop. No other form of cultivation is so good for
+a young crop. Try two acres, one in the usual way, and the other by
+harrowing, as we recommend, when it first comes up, and you will never
+after neglect harrowing all your hoed crops.
+
+
+HAY.
+
+Farmers differ in their modes of making and preserving hay. The
+following directions for timothy and clover, are applicable to all
+grasses suitable for hay, as they are all divided into two classes,
+broad-leaved, and the fine-leaved, or grasses proper. The principles
+involved in these directions may be considered comparatively well
+settled, and they are sufficient for all purposes. Cut clover when half
+the blossoms are dried, and the other half in full bloom. Cut later, the
+stalks are so dried, that they are of much less value. Cut earlier, it
+is so immature, as to be of small value for hay. In case of great growth
+and lodging down, clover may be cut earlier, as it is better to save hay
+of less value, than to lose the whole. To cure clover for hay, spread it
+evenly, immediately after the scythe, let it thoroughly wilt, but not
+dry. Rake it up, before any of the leaves are dry so as to break, and
+put it in small cocks, such as a man can pitch upon a cart at once or
+twice with a fork. This should be _laid_ on and not _rolled_ up from a
+winrow. In the former case it will shed nearly all the water, and the
+latter method suffers the rain to run down through the whole.
+
+Unless the weather be very wet, clover will cure in this way, without
+opening until time to haul it in, and will retain its beautiful green
+color, almost equal to that of England and Germany, cured in the shade,
+which, at two or three years old, appears almost as bright as though not
+cured at all. If the weather be quite wet, cut clover when free from dew
+or rain, wilt it at once, and draw it in, put as much as possible in
+thin layers on scaffolds, and under cover, to cure in the shade. Put the
+remainder in alternate layers with equal quantities of dry straw, with
+one peck of salt to a ton. A ton may bear half a bushel of salt, less is
+better, and more is injurious to stock, by compelling them to eat too
+much salt. The most beautiful and palatable clover hay is that cured in
+the shade, on scaffolds and afterward mowed away.
+
+Timothy should never be cut, until the seed is far enough advanced to
+grow. Careful experiments have shown that cut in the blossom, the hay
+will contain only about one half as much nutriment, as when cut in the
+full-grown seed, but before it commences shelling. Cure as clover, but
+in twice as large cocks, and never salt, unless compelled to draw in
+when damp or too green.
+
+
+HEDGE.
+
+The question of fencing in this country, so much of which is prairie,
+and in other parts of which there is such a wanton waste of timber,
+gives great importance to successful hedging. The same plants are not
+equally good for hedge in all parts of the country. There are but few
+plants suitable for hedges in our climate.
+
+_The Osage Orange_--is the best, in all latitudes where it will
+flourish. It has no diseases or enemies by which it will be destroyed,
+except too cold winters. Of Southern origin, yet it flourishes in many
+places at the North. In cold localities, where there is but little snow,
+it suffers much until three or four years old. It is being extensively
+introduced into central and northern Illinois, where unusually cold
+winters destroy vast quantities of young plants, and kill the tops of
+much old hedge. It is still insisted that it will succeed; but we
+consider it too uncertain, and consequently too expensive, for general
+fencing in such climates. The roots and lower parts of the plants may be
+preserved, however, by setting them out for a hedge on level ground,
+instead of ridges as usual, and plowing a furrow three feet from each
+side of the row, to drain off surplus water. Mulch thoroughly in the
+fall, and thus protect from frost until they have been set in the hedge
+for three years, and they may succeed and make a good live fence. To
+raise the plants, soak the seeds thoroughly, and, at the usual time of
+corn-planting, plant in straight rows, and keep clean of weeds. Set out
+in hedge the following spring. The soil of the hedge-row should be deep,
+mellow, and moderately, not excessively rich. Too rich soil makes a
+larger growth, of spongy and more tender wood. Plants should have a
+portion of the tap-root cut off, and be planted a foot apart in the row.
+
+_The Hawthorn_--will never be extensively cultivated for live fence in
+this country, being subject to borers, as destructive as in fruit-trees.
+
+_The Virginia Thorn_--is equally uncertain.
+
+_The Buck Thorn_--after fifteen years' trial, in New England, bids fair
+to answer every purpose for American live fence: it is easily
+propagated, of rapid growth, very hardy, thickens up well at the bottom,
+and is exempt from the depredations of insects. It may yet prove the
+great American hedge-shrub.
+
+_The Newcastle Thorn_--cultivated in New England, is much more
+beautiful, and promises to rival the buck thorn, but has not been
+sufficiently tested to settle its claims. Much is anticipated from it.
+
+[Illustration: Shearing down young hedges.]
+
+[Illustration: Properly-trimmed hedge (end view).]
+
+[Illustration: Badly-trimmed hedge (end view).]
+
+[Illustration: Neglected hedge (side view).]
+
+There are plants well adapted to hedge at the South, which are too
+tender for the North. In White's Gardening for the South, we have the
+following given as hedge-shrubs, adapted to that region: Osage Orange,
+Pyracanth, Cherokee, and single White Macartney roses. The Macartney,
+being an evergreen thorn, and said to make as close a hedge as the Osage
+Orange and much more beautiful, is quite a favorite at the South. They
+usually train the rose-shrubs for hedge on some kind of paling or wire
+fence. They render some of them impenetrable even by rabbits or
+sparrows; this is done by layers, and trimming twice a year, commencing
+after the first three months' growth. Pruning is the most important
+matter in the whole business of hedging. A hedge set out ever so well,
+and composed of the best variety of plants, if left in the weeds,
+without proper care in trimming, will be nearly useless. A well-trimmed
+hedge around a fruit-orchard will keep out all fruit-thieves. The great
+difficulty is the _unwillingness_ of cultivators to cut off, so short
+and so frequently, _the fine growth_.
+
+Shear off the first year's growth (_a_) within three inches of the
+ground (_b_). Cut the vigorous shoots that will rise from this shearing,
+four inches higher, about the middle of July, and similar and successive
+cuttings, each a little longer, in the two following years; these will
+bring the hedge to a proper height. The form of trimming shown in end
+view of properly-trimmed hedge, protects the bottom from shade by too
+much foliage on the top: the effects of that shade are seen in neglected
+hedge in the cut.
+
+
+HEMP.
+
+This is one of the staple articles of American agriculture. It is much
+cultivated in Kentucky and other contiguous states. Its market value is
+so fluctuating that many farmers are giving up its cultivation. The
+substance of these directions is taken from an elaborate article from
+the pen of the honorable Henry Clay. Had not the length of that article
+rendered it inconsistent with the plan of this volume, we should have
+given it to the American people as it came from the hand of their
+greatest statesman, who was so eminently American in all his sentiments
+and labors.
+
+_Preparation of the Soil_--should be as thorough as for flax;--this can
+not be too strongly insisted on. Much is lost by neglect, under the
+mistaken notion that hemp will do about as well on coarse, hard land.
+Plants for seeds should be sown in drills four feet apart, and separate
+from that designed only for the lint. The stalks should be allowed to
+stand about eight inches apart in the rows. Plants are male and female,
+distinguished in the blossoms. When the farina from the blossoms on the
+male plants (the female plants do not blossom) has generally fallen,
+pull up the male plants, leaving only the females to mature. Cut the
+seed-plants after the first hard frost, and carry in wet, so as to avoid
+loss by shelling. Seed is easily separated by a common flail. After the
+seeds are thrashed out, they should be spread thin, and thoroughly
+dried, or their vegetative power will be destroyed by heat or decay.
+They should be spread to be kept for the next spring's planting, and not
+be kept in large bulk. Their vegetation is very uncertain after they are
+a year old. Sow hemp for lint broadcast, when the weather has become
+warm enough for corn-planting. Opinions vary as to the quantity of seed,
+from one bushel to two and a half bushels per acre. Probably a bushel
+and a peck is best. Plowing in the seed is good on old land; rolling is
+also useful. If it gets up six inches high, so that the leaves cover the
+ground well, few crops are less effected by the vicissitudes of the
+weather. Some sow a part of their hemp at different times, that it may
+not all ripen at once and crowd them in their labor. Cutting it ten days
+before it is ripe, or allowing it to stand two weeks after, will not
+materially injure it. Hemp is pulled or cut. Cutting, as near the ground
+as possible, is the better method. The plants are spread even on the
+ground and cured; bound up in convenient handfuls and shocked up, and
+bound around the top as corn. It is an improvement to shake off the
+leaves well before shocking up. If stacked after a while, and allowed to
+remain for a year, the improvement in the lint is worth more than the
+loss of time. There are two methods of rotting--dew-rotting,
+=and= water-rotting--one by spreading out on grass-land, and the other by
+immersing in water; the latter is much the preferable mode. The question
+of sufficient rotting is determined by trial. Hemp is broken and cleaned
+like flax. The stalks need to be well aired and dried in the sun to
+facilitate the operation. Extremes in price have been from three to
+eight dollars per hundred pounds: five dollars renders it a very
+profitable crop. Thorough rotting, good cleaning, and neat order, are
+the conditions of obtaining the first market price. An acre produces
+from six hundred to one thousand pounds of lint--an average of about one
+hundred pounds to each foot of height of the stalks. Hemp exhausts the
+soil but a mere trifle, if at all; the seventeenth successive crop on
+the same land having proved the best. Nothing leaves the land in better
+condition for other crops; it kills all the weeds, and leaves the
+surface smooth and even.
+
+
+HOEING.
+
+Much depends upon the proper and timely use of the hoe. Never let weeds
+press you; hoe at proper times, and you never will have any large weeds.
+As soon as vegetables are up, so that you can do it safely, hoe them.
+The more frequent the hoeing while plants are young, the larger will be
+the crop. Premium crops are always hoed very frequently. Hoeing
+cabbages, corn, and similar smooth plants, when it rains slightly, is
+nearly equal to a coat of manure. But beans, potatoes, and vines, and
+whatever has a rough stalk, are much injured by stirring the ground
+about them while they are wet, or even much damp. We have known
+promising crops of vines nearly destroyed by hoeing when wet. Hoeing
+near the roots of vines after they have formed runners one or two feet
+long, will also nearly ruin them;--the same is true of onions: hoe near
+them, cutting off the lateral roots, and you will lessen the crop one
+half. In hoeing, make no high hills except for sweet potatoes. High
+hilling up originated in England, where their cool, humid, cloudy
+atmosphere demands it, to secure more warmth. In this country we have to
+guard more against drought and heat.
+
+
+HOPS.
+
+These are native in this country, being found, growing spontaneously, by
+many of our rivers. There are four or five varieties, but no preference
+has been given to any particular one. Moist, sandy loam is the best
+soil, though good hops may be grown in abundance on any land suitable
+for corn or potatoes. Plow the land quite deep in autumn; in the spring,
+harrow the same way it was plowed. Spread evenly over the surface
+sixteen cords of manure to the acre, if your soil be of ordinary
+richness; cross-plow as deep as the first plowing; furrow out as for
+potatoes, four feet apart each way. Plant hops in every other hill of
+every other row, making them eight feet apart each way. Plant all the
+remaining hills with potatoes. Four cuttings of running roots of hops
+should be planted in each hill. Many hop-yards are unproductive on
+account of being too thick;--less than eight feet each way deprives the
+vines of suitable air and sun, and prevents plowing them with ease. The
+first year, they only need to be kept clean of weeds by hoeing them with
+the potatoes. In the fall of the first year, to prevent injury from hard
+frosts, put a large shovelful of good manure on the top of each hill.
+Each spring, before the hops are opened, spread on each acre eight cords
+of manure; coarse straw manure is preferable. Plow both ways at first
+hoeing. They require three hoeings, the last when in full bloom in the
+beginning of August. Open the hops every spring by the middle of May; at
+the South, by the last of April. This is done by making four furrows
+between the rows, turning them from the hills; the earth is then removed
+from the roots with a hoe, and all the running roots cut in with a sharp
+knife within two inches of the main roots. The tops of the main roots
+must also be cut in, and covered with earth two inches deep. Set the
+poles on the first springing of the vines; never have more than two
+poles in a hill, or more than two vines on a pole, and no pole more than
+sixteen feet high. Neglect this root-pruning, and multiply poles and
+crowd them with vines, and you will get very few hops. Select the most
+thrifty vines for the poles, and destroy all the others. Watch them
+during the summer, that they do not blow down from the poles. They must
+be picked as soon as they are ripe, and before frosts. The best
+picking-box is a wooden bin made of light boards, nine feet long, three
+feet wide, and two and a half feet deep; the poles are laid across this,
+and the hops picked into it by hand. In gathering hops, cut the vines
+two feet from the ground, that bleeding may not injure the roots.
+
+_Curing_ is the most important matter in hop-growing. Hops would all be
+of one quality, and bring the first price, if equally well cured. The
+following description (with slight abbreviation) of the process of
+curing, by William Blanchard, Esq., is, perhaps, as complete as anything
+that can be obtained. Much depends upon having a well-constructed kiln.
+For the convenience of putting the hops on the kiln, a side hill is
+generally chosen for its situation; it should be a dry situation. It
+should be dug out the same bigness at the bottom as at the top; the side
+walls laid up perpendicularly, and filled in solid with stone to give it
+a tunnel form: twelve feet square at the top, two feet square at the
+bottom, and at least eight feet deep, is deemed a convenient size. On
+the top of the walls sills are laid, having joists let into them, as for
+laying a floor, on which laths, about one and a half inches wide, are
+nailed, leaving open spaces between them three fourths of an inch, over
+which a thin linen cloth is spread and nailed at the edges to the sills.
+A board about twelve inches wide is set up on each side of the kiln, on
+the inner edge of the sill, to form a bin to receive the hops. Fifty
+pounds, after they are dry, is all such a kiln will hold at once. The
+larger the stones made use of in the construction of the kiln the
+better, as it will give a more steady and dense heat. The inside of the
+kiln should be well plastered with mortar to make it air-tight. Charcoal
+is the best fuel. Heat the kiln well before putting on the hops; keep a
+steady and regular heat while drying. Hops must not remain in bulk long
+after being picked, as they will heat and spoil. Do not stir them while
+drying. After they are thoroughly dry, remove them into a dry room, and
+lay in heaps, and not stir unless they are gathering dampness that will
+change their color; then spread them. This will only occur when they
+have not been properly dried. They are bagged by laying cloth into a
+box, so made that it can be removed, and give opportunity to sew up the
+bag while in the press. The hops are pressed in by a screw. In bulk they
+will sweat a little, which will begin to subside in about eight days, at
+which time they should be bagged. If they sweat much and begin to change
+their color, they must be dried before bagging. The best size for bags
+is about two hundred and fifty pounds' weight, in a bag about five feet
+long. Common tow-cloth or Russia-hemp bags are best. Extensive
+hop-growers build houses over the kiln, that they may be able to use
+them in wet weather. In this case, keep the doors open as much as
+possible without letting in the rain. Dried without sufficient air,
+their color is changed, and their quality and market-value injured.
+These houses are made much larger than the kiln, in many instances, for
+the convenience of storing and bagging the hops when dry; in this case,
+tight partitions should separate the storerooms from the kiln, to avoid
+dampness from the drying hops.
+
+The form of manuring recommended is contrary to the old practice of
+putting a little manure only in the hill: that practice exposed vines to
+decay and destruction by worms, and this does not; our system also
+produces hops equal to new land.
+
+
+HORSE.
+
+This noble animal is in general use, and everywhere highly prized. By
+the last census, we see that there are two thirds as many horses as cows
+in the United States--4,335,358 horses, and over six millions of cows.
+But, valuable as is the horse, he suffers much ill treatment and neglect
+from his master. To give a history of the horse, the various breeds of
+different countries, and the efforts to improve them, would be
+interesting, did it fall within the limits of our design. The patronage
+of the kings and nobility of England has done much to elevate the horse
+to his present standard of excellence. It has now become the custom for
+intelligent gentlemen in rural districts, in all enlightened countries,
+to give much attention to the improvement of horses. Unfortunately, some
+of that enthusiasm is perverted to the channel of horse-racing, a
+practice alike injurious to horses and the morals of men. A few brief
+hints are all we have space for, where a volume would be interesting and
+useful. The farmer should exercise constant care to improve the breed of
+his horses: it pays best to raise good horses. This depends upon the
+qualities of the dam and sire, and upon proper feed and care. This is a
+subject that farmers should carefully study from books and from their
+own observation. The most important matter in raising horses, is care in
+working and feeding. Nineteen out of twenty of all sick horses are made
+so by bad treatment. The prevention of disease is better than cure.
+Steady, and even hard work, will not injure a horse that is well and
+regularly fed. But a few moments of crowding a horse's speed, or of an
+unnatural strain on his strength, may ruin him. Let it always be
+remembered that it is speed, and not heavy loads, that most injures a
+horse. A mile an hour too fast will soon run down your horse. A horse
+fed with grain, or watered, when warm, is liable to be foundered; and if
+not so fed as actually to be foundered, he will gradually grow stiff.
+Horses are liable to take cold by any unreasonable exposure to the
+weather, in the same circumstances as men, and the effects on health and
+comfort are very similar. A horse having become warm by driving, should
+never stand a minute without a blanket. When a man goes from a heated
+room, or in a perspiration, into inclement weather, he takes cold the
+moment the cold or storm strikes him: in a few moments the effects on
+the pores of the body are such that there is no particular exposure. It
+is so with a horse. He takes cold when you are only going to allow him
+to "stand but a minute," and during that time you leave him uncovered.
+
+If you are under the necessity of doing an unusual day's work with a
+horse, do not feed him heavily on that day. Unusual feed the day before
+and the day after will do him good; but on the day of excessive work it
+injures him. Never feed horses too much; they will often eat one third
+more than is good for their health. Keep the bottom of the trough in
+which you feed your horses grain, plastered over with a mixture of equal
+parts of salt and ashes, that they may eat a little of it when they
+please. When the water of your horse becomes thick and yellowish, or
+whitish, give him a piece of rosin as large as a walnut, pulverized and
+put in his grain. If a horse has the heaves, give him no hay or oats;
+corn, ground or soaked, should be his only grain, and green corn-fodder
+in summer, and cornstalks, cut fine, with a little warm water on them,
+mixed with meal, should constitute his only food. All except a few of
+the most confirmed and long-standing cases of heaves are _entirely
+relieved_ by this course of feeding, and that relief is permanent as
+long as the feed is continued, and it frequently effects a cure so
+radical that the disease will not return on a change of food. To bring
+up horses that have had hard usage and poor feed, and to secure growth
+in colts, feed them milk. The milk of a butter-dairy is not more
+profitably used in any other way, than fed to horses and colts. Give
+them no water for two or three days, and they will readily learn to
+drink all the sour, thick milk you will give them. Colts will grow
+faster on milk than on any other food.
+
+Horses should be often rubbed down and kept clean, and when put in the
+stable wet, they should be rubbed dry. It is very essential to the
+health of a horse that he have pure air. Stables in this country are
+usually airy enough. But if the stable be tight, it should be well
+ventilated. The gases from a wet stable floor are injurious.
+Disinfecting agents are good remedies; a little plaster-of-Paris spread
+over a stable-floor is very useful. These brief directions, followed,
+will prevent most of the diseases to which horses are subject; or in
+case a horse be attacked, he will have the disease lightly, as temperate
+men do epidemics.
+
+
+HORSERADISH.
+
+This is regarded a healthy condiment, especially in the spring of the
+year. Grated, with a little vinegar, it may be eaten with any food you
+choose. Small shavings of the root are esteemed in mangoes. When steeped
+in vinegar for two weeks, it is said effectually to remove freckles from
+the face. Any pieces of the roots will grow in any good garden-soil.
+Larger and better roots may be produced, by trenching the bed two feet
+deep, and putting in the bottom, ten inches of good manure, and planting
+selected roots, about six inches deep.
+
+
+HOTBEDS.
+
+These are designed to force an early growth of plants. It is done by the
+use of solar heat, and that arising from fermenting manures, combined.
+The following directions for constructing and managing hotbeds will
+enable every one to be successful. Nail boards on pieces of scantling
+placed in the inside corners, in the form of a box, sixteen feet long
+and six feet wide; make it three and a half feet high on the back-side,
+and two feet high in front, facing the sun; nail a piece of board across
+the middle, let in at the top, to prevent the box from spreading when
+filled. Fill that with good, fresh horse-manure, with but little straw;
+tread it down firmly. Put over the whole, sashes made with cross-pieces
+but one way, and filled with glass, lapped half an inch, like shingles
+on a roof, to carry off the rain; putty in the glass lightly, or it may
+adhere to fresh-painted frames; let the frames be halved on their edges,
+so as to lap and be tight; put these over the filled hotbed, perfectly
+fitted all around, and enough of them to cover the whole bed; in two or
+three days the manure will become pretty warm, when it should be
+covered, four inches deep, with rich mould, sheltered for the purpose
+the previous fall, and the seeds planted. When the plants come up, see
+that they are kept sufficiently moist, and not have the hot sun pour
+upon them intensely, and they will grow rapidly; when too warm, they
+should be partly covered with mats, and the frames raised to let in air.
+Put small wedges between the sash and the boards, which will let in
+sufficient air. Keep it closed when the air is cold, and covered with
+mats when the sun is too hot. Plants are often destroyed by
+over-heating. When in danger of freezing, cover closely with mats or
+straw, or both. We have had plants growing in such a bed when the
+thermometer stood eight degrees below zero. If the heat of the manure
+subsides too early, pack fresh horse-manure all around the outside of
+the box, and as it heats it will communicate warmth to the inside of the
+bed. As plants grow up, transplant a part to a fresh bed, so as to give
+all a chance to grow stocky and strong. Almost everything that grows in
+the garden may be forwarded greatly in the hotbed. Vines, beets,
+tomatoes, cabbages, peppers, egg-plants, celery, beans, corn, and
+potatoes, may be obtained much earlier by this means. Those that are
+injured most by transplanting should be planted in the hotbed, on
+inverted sods, or grass turfs, six inches square, which can be removed
+with the growing plants on them, without seriously disturbing the
+roots. Plenty of shade and moisture on transplanting will save the most
+tender plants, and they will speedily recover. Make a hotbed of any size
+you may desire on the same principle. The boards and frames will last
+many years, with proper care, and occasional supply of a broken light of
+glass. Into such sash, broken glass of any size can be put, by cutting
+it to a proper width in one direction, no matter how far the points lap.
+
+
+HOUSES.
+
+It is not our design to give an extended view of rural architecture. But
+this work can not be complete without a brief notice of farm-buildings,
+and a few plans for such buildings, adapted to the wants of those
+possessing limited means. We hope these directions and plans will prove
+important aids in getting up cheap, yet convenient and beautiful,
+country residences, especially in all the newer parts of the country.
+Our reading on rural architecture, and an extensive observation in many
+states of the Union, have made us acquainted with nothing, combining
+beauty, cheapness, and utility, better than the following.
+
+The scale at the bottom will enable any mechanic to determine the size
+of each of these buildings, and their relation to each other. They can,
+on the same general plan, be made of any dimensions, to suit the wishes
+of the proprietor.
+
+The wagon-house in the range is forty feet long, affording ample shelter
+for all kinds of vehicles, connected by a covered way with the
+horse-stables and barn-floor.
+
+[Illustration: Range of Farm-Buildings.]
+
+A lean-to is built on the north side of the wagon-house, in which is a
+tool-house opening into it, and a stable for eight milch-cows, that will
+thus be convenient for winter-milking; these cows are fed from the loft
+over the wagon-house. The barn is thirty by forty feet, with floor in
+the middle and bay on each side: this can be driven into on one side and
+out on the other. From the floor is a covered way to cattle and horse
+stables, and into the wagon and tool house, without going outdoor.
+
+_The Piggery._--Large and small swine do not do so well together; hence,
+the larger ones are to occupy the feeding-pen and bed on the right (in
+the cut), those of medium size on the left, and the smaller ones in the
+rear. The dimensions and relative size of apartments can be determined
+from the plan.
+
+The other buildings sufficiently explain themselves in the cut.
+
+[Illustration: Ground-plan of Piggery.]
+
+With this range of buildings, let a farmer do his own thrashing, with a
+small horse-power, and thrash a part at a time during the winter,
+keeping the straw in an apartment in the bay, dry for litter, and for
+cut feed for cattle and horses, and it will be the best and most
+economical method of thrashing and keeping stock. Every farmer should do
+at least a part of his thrashing in this way, during the winter, for the
+benefit of fresh straw, &c.
+
+_Country Residence._--This includes the range of buildings given
+opposite, their distance from the house, and all the parts of a complete
+residence, with all the comforts and conveniences that can be crowded
+into such a space, and at a very reasonable expense. Three fourths of an
+acre are devoted to the ornamental grounds; except the walks and small
+flower-beds, it is all green turf. Plowed very deep and thoroughly
+enriched, the trees are set out, and all then made very level, and one
+and a half bushels grass-seed sown on it and brushed in very smooth.
+This soon makes a very thick green turf, to be cut every ten days during
+the most growing season, and less frequently as the season advances. The
+trees, for a few years, need careful working around and mulching. The
+gravel carriage-road is twelve feet wide, and winding around shrubbery,
+it leads to the carriage-house in the range of buildings. The foot-walks
+are five feet wide. The curves in the walks may be accurately laid out
+in the following manner. Determine the general position by a few points
+measured off. Lay a pole upon the ground, in the direction of the walk;
+stick a peg in the ground at the first end and at its middle; move the
+pole round a little, leaving the middle the same,--then stick a peg at
+its end, and move it forward--moving it forward and round equally, each
+time, by measurement. A longer or shorter curve is made by a greater or
+less side-movement of the pole. In a regular curve, the movements are
+the same; but in going from a shorter to a longer, or from a longer to a
+shorter curve, the side-measurement must increase or diminish regularly.
+
+[Illustration: Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Grounds, and
+Fruit-Gardens.]
+
+[Illustration: Laying out Curves.]
+
+[Illustration: First floor.]
+
+[Illustration: Chambers.]
+
+The following cuts show the plan of the house: three principal rooms and
+a bed-room below, and four rooms above. The hall extends through the
+house, affording good ventilation in summer, and entrance to each room,
+without passing through another. The chimney in the centre economizes
+heat. This small and cheap house affords more conveniences than most
+large ones. One of the finest things about such a house is a good
+cellar. For a farm-house, the cellar should be under the whole; make it
+eight feet deep, gravel and water lime made smooth on the bottom,
+flagging under the bottom of the wall extending out a foot, the wall
+above ground built double, the inside four inches thick, with brick,
+with a space of two inches, and outside stone wall a foot thick. The
+windows should be double and well fitted, the inside one hung on hinges;
+the outside one to be removed in spring, and its place supplied with a
+well-fitted frame, covered with wire-cloth to admit air and exclude
+intruders during summer. This will not freeze, and never need banking.
+No rat can enter, for they always work close to the wall, and coming to
+the projecting flat stone at the bottom, they give it up. On one side of
+the cellar, under the kitchen, make a large rain-water cistern, with a
+pump in the kitchen and a faucet in the cellar, and the whole
+arrangement is perfect. If the farm be large, you will need some of the
+good, but cheap houses described in the following part of this article,
+where your men will live and board themselves, which is always the best
+and cheapest way. An open view from the house in the country residence
+extends to the summer-house (_b_) on the right. This is one of the
+neatest cheap summer-houses that can be made. The following directions
+for making it may be useful. Set eight cedar posts, six inches in
+diameter, in the ground, in a circle; saw them off even at the top, and
+connect them by plank nailed on their tops. Make an eight-sided roof of
+boards; nail lath from post to post, forming lattice-work, leaving a
+space between two posts for a door. Put a seat around on the inside.
+Leave all the materials except the seat unplaned, and cover with a white
+or brown wash, and it need not cost more than five or six dollars, and,
+covered with vines of some kind, it will be ornamental.
+
+[Illustration: Summer-house.]
+
+[Illustration: Laborer's Cottage.]
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Laborer's Cottage.]
+
+This form of a cheap house is convenient and pleasant. Built of
+four-inch scantling, the plates and sills being connected only by the
+upright plank, and the wings thoroughly bracing the upright posts; when
+lumber is cheap, it may be built for one hundred and fifty or two
+hundred dollars, with cellar, well, and cistern. Occasional whitewash is
+as good as paint. With cellar under the whole, filled in with brick, and
+having blinds, it may cost three hundred and fifty dollars. The plan of
+the house sufficiently explains itself.
+
+The next cut illustrates a neat country-house, for a family who think
+more of neatness, comfort, and intellectual pursuits, than of mere
+ornament, and may serve the purpose of a farmhouse, or the residence of
+a retired or professional gentleman. It has the unconstrained air of
+the Italian style, without a rigid adherence to any rules, and may
+therefore be altered or added to without destroying its effect.
+
+[Illustration: Italian Farmhouse.]
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Italian Farm House.]
+
+The plan is intelligible without explanation. Built in a plain way, the
+four large rooms not larger than fifteen by seventeen, and ten feet
+high, plain in its finish, it would cost about sixteen hundred dollars
+complete. It may go up from that, according to size and height of rooms,
+and style of finish, to three thousand dollars. It then makes as good a
+house as any person ever need to occupy, out of great cities.
+
+
+HYBRIDS.
+
+Although this subject has received far too little attention, yet our
+limits will only allow us to mention a few facts, of the most practical
+moment.
+
+Plants hybridize only through their blossoms. This can only occur in
+plants of similarity, in nature and habits. Squashes and pumpkins
+planted near each other mix badly, and the poorer will prevail.
+Varieties of corn mix at considerable distances, by the falling of
+pollen from the tassel upon the silk of another variety. Watermelons are
+always ruined by being planted near citrons. The seeds from melons so
+grown will not produce one good melon. How far watermelons and
+muskmelons, or squashes with melons, will hybridize, is uncertain. By
+planting nutmeg muskmelons with the common roughskinned variety, we have
+produced a kind about half way between them, that was of great
+excellence. Two kinds of cabbage or turnip seed should never be raised
+in the same garden. Cabbage and turnip seed raised near together is
+valueless. In strawberries, different plants are essential to each
+other, the quality of the fruit being determined by the plant
+fertilized, and not by the fertilizer. This subject is further treated
+under articles on different plants.
+
+
+INARCHING.
+
+This is a method of effecting a union of trees or branches, while both
+retain their hold in the ground. Shave off a little wood from each, and
+put them together, fitting closely, so that the barks will meet, as in
+grafting; tie firmly, and cover with wax. When they have got well to
+growing, cut off the top of the old one, and after a while cut the new
+one from the ground. When you have a tree that it is difficult to
+propagate in the usual way, you may transplant it to a thrifty stock.
+Vigorous branches may by this means be transferred to old, poor-bearing,
+or slow-growing trees. So also may a tree be prolonged beyond its
+ordinary age, as the pear on the quince, by inarching young shoots. We
+can only recommend this to the curious experimenter, who has little else
+to do.
+
+
+INSECTS.
+
+These are the natural enemies of fruits and plants; and to prevent their
+depredations requires much care. There is no universal remedy. Birds and
+young fowls--especially ducks and chickens--are useful in a garden. The
+ducks must not be kept there too long. They will appropriate a little to
+their own use, but will save much more for the proprietor. Insects have
+their peculiar tastes for particular fruits and plants, of which we have
+treated, under those heads, respectively. Success in many branches of
+horticulture and pomology, depends upon attention to the habits of
+insects. The most general remedy is to wash trees or plants with a
+strong decoction of some offensive herb, or with whale-oil soapsuds.
+Tobacco is very useful for this purpose.
+
+
+IRON FILINGS.
+
+It has been ascertained by analysis, that iron enters largely into the
+composition of the pear. Iron filings spread under them, or worked into
+the soil, increases the growth of pear-trees, and improves the quality
+of the fruit.
+
+
+IRRIGATION.
+
+This is one of the most important matters, that can engage the attention
+of agriculturists of the present day. A stream of water that may be
+caused to flow gently over a field, or different parts of a farm, at
+pleasure, is a mine of wealth. Plants receive their food from the air
+and water. We shall discuss this more fully when treating of manures. A
+poor, porous, sandy, or gravelly soil usually produces a fine crop, in a
+wet season. That is an addition to the soil of nothing but water. Hence
+all springs and streams can be turned to great account, on a farm or
+garden. Watering gardens by hand or with a garden-pump, will often pay
+better than any other expenditure on the land. Employing a man, in a dry
+season, to spend his whole time in watering five acres of garden, of
+berries and vegetables, as cabbages, vines, onions, and potatoes, will
+pay a very large profit. Strawberries will bear twice as much and twice
+as long, for daily watering, after they begin to bud for blossoms, until
+the fruit is gone. It is a necessary caution not to water irregularly,
+and only occasionally, in a dry season. Better not commence than to
+leave off, or neglect it in a dry time, before a rain. Read further in
+our article on "Watering."
+
+
+LABELS.
+
+It is important, on many accounts, to have fruit-trees and shrubs well
+labelled. Many labels have been invented. We prefer Cole's, as given in
+his Fruit Book, to any other. Take a piece of sound pine or other soft
+wood, whittle two sides smooth, leaving one wider than the other, with a
+sharp corner between them. For one, cut one notch in the edge, and so up
+to four, four notches for four. For five, cut across the narrow side.
+For ten cut across the wide side, and a notch for every ten up to forty.
+For fifty, cut obliquely across the narrow side, and for one hundred cut
+obliquely across the wide side. Keep the names in a book, with numbers
+corresponding with the notches or numbers on the labels.
+
+Fasten these to trees, loosely, by a small copper or brass wire.
+Transported to any distance, exposed to any weather, or buried in the
+ground, they will not be obliterated. Pieces of sheet lead, tin, or
+zinc, cut wide at one end, and written on with a sharp awl, and narrow
+at the other end, to be bent around a limb, will answer a pretty good
+purpose. Any soft wood, made smooth, and a little white paint applied,
+and written on with a good pencil, will preserve the mark for a long
+time. Fasten with small wire. There are many labels, but we know none
+preferable to the above. By all means make labels accurate and
+permanent. Otherwise great losses may occur by budding or grafting from
+wrong varieties.
+
+
+LANDSCAPE GARDENS.
+
+These deserve much more attention than they receive in this country. On
+most farms land enough is lying waste, to make a picturesque landscape,
+at a small expense. Trees planted, weeds destroyed, grass cultivated,
+and paths made, according to the most approved rules of carelessness,
+would secure this object. With a wealthy man, the omission of such a
+park about his dwelling is hardly pardonable. Landscape gardening is an
+extensive subject. We can only give a few of the most general simple
+rules, that may be practised, without the possession of very large
+means.
+
+1. Place the house some distance from the main street.
+
+2. Make the carriage-way leading to the house, at least twelve feet
+wide, and do not allow it to extend in a straight line, but in gentle
+curves, around clusters of trees and plats of grass, apparently
+rendering the curves necessary.
+
+3. Have no large trees directly in front of the house.
+
+4. Plant trees of the thickest and greenest foliage near the house, and
+those of more open tops at a greater distance. Standard pear, and
+handsome cherry trees, do well planted among the forest trees. Clusters
+of them, at suitable distances, are not only beautiful, but they bear
+exceedingly well. They are well protected by the forest trees, and
+standing alone are injured less by insects.
+
+5. Never set trees in a landscape garden, in straight rows, nor trees
+of similar size and form together. Nature never does so.
+
+6. Let none of the walks be straight lines, but curves, meandering among
+trees and grass. If there be any water in the vicinity, let there be an
+open space, giving a fair view of it from the house. If you have a
+stream, make rustic bridges over it, the plainer the better. Here and
+there have rustic arbors. Attached to all this should be three other
+gardens, one of flowers, another of vegetables, and the third of fruits.
+These three should never grow together. Fruit-trees ruin vegetables and
+injure flowers. And flowers in a vegetable garden are mere weeds. A
+separate plat for each is the correct rule, both for beauty and profit.
+All this need require but little time and expense. All landholders can,
+at a moderate cost, live amid scenes of perpetual beauty, while the rich
+may spend as much money in this way as they choose.
+
+
+LAYERING.
+
+This is a method of propagation, by bending down a branch, and fastening
+it under the soil, leaving the upper end projecting, until it takes
+root. Cut half way through the branch so as to raise the top, and fasten
+it at the point where it is cut, in a trench, with a stick thrust into
+the ground over it nearly horizontally, or with a stick having a hook
+made by cutting off a limb. Cover well with soil, and mulch it, and
+water when dry. This done in the spring, in August the branch will be
+well rooted, and may be cut away from the parent stalk. This is
+important in any tree or shrub (like the snowball), difficult to
+propagate by slips or grafting.
+
+
+LAYING IN TREES.
+
+Dig a trench where water will not stand, and lay the trees in at an
+angle of forty-five degrees, and cover the roots and lower part, very
+closely, with earth. In this way they may be well preserved through the
+winter, if buried so deep that the tap-root will not freeze, which is
+always injurious to trees that have been removed from their original
+soil. Such freezing is always destructive to trees out of the ground.
+Small trees and seedlings may be covered entirely, to be kept through
+the winter. Put coarse straw manure on the earth, over trees large
+enough for setting, that are to be preserved heeled in during winter;
+and straw or corn-fodder over the tops, during the coldest weather, and
+they will come out perfect in the spring.
+
+If not ready to set out your trees at once, you may preserve them in
+perfect condition to very late in spring, in this way, by raising them
+once, to check vegetation, and putting them back, and shading their
+stems and mulching the roots, after the commencement of warm weather.
+Trees may thus be preserved in better condition for transplanting than
+those left in the nursery, and they will make a larger growth the first
+season.
+
+
+LEEKS.
+
+These are said to be natives of Switzerland. We think this doubtful, as
+they are an article of daily food in Egypt, and were so highly esteemed
+there, centuries ago, as to become an object of worship. They are used
+as a pot-herb, to give a flavor to soups and stews. They are not
+bulbous, like onions, but have a long stem, which is principally used.
+They are transplanted very deep, so as to obtain a long white neck. The
+ends of the roots are to be cut off when transplanted, and they should
+be set in rows a foot apart, and from four to six inches in the row.
+There are several varieties, distinguished mainly by the width of the
+leaves,--the _Flanders_ (or _narrow-leafed_), the _Scotch_, and the
+_Broad London_.
+
+We know no use of leeks for which onions would not be equally good, and,
+hence, do not recommend their cultivation.
+
+
+LEMON.
+
+This is the finest acid fruit grown, and belongs to warm climates; but
+by getting good budded trees from the South, and setting in
+glass-houses, protected from severe frosts, we may grow lemons in
+abundance at the North.
+
+By a system of acclimation and protection, we anticipate seeing oranges
+and other Southern fruits grown at the North as a domestic luxury, and
+perhaps at a profit for market. The houses necessary for protection may
+be worth more for other purposes than their cost and care, without
+interfering with their use for orange and lemon culture.
+
+
+LETTUCE.
+
+The varieties are numerous, and most of them do well on very rich land,
+well hoed. Only two kinds of summer-lettuce need be cultivated--the
+_ice-head lettuce_, and the _brown_. The ice-head has a very thick and
+tender leaf, continuing to be excellent up to midsummer, from one
+sowing; and if not allowed to stand nearer together than six inches, it
+will produce fine heads. The brown lettuce is very large and very good.
+There are other, earlier kinds, and many others that form large heads.
+But we can get the above kinds early, by sowing in a hotbed and
+transplanting; or by sowing so as to have plants get of considerable
+size in the fall, and protect by covering in winter. These will be
+suitable for the table early in the spring. Lettuce does better for
+transplanting; it forms larger heads than in the original bed, and is a
+little later. Make the soil very rich with stable-manure. Lettuce is
+more affected by the quality of the soil than most other vegetables.
+This is a pleasant and healthy article of food, in spring and early
+summer.
+
+
+LICORICE.
+
+This is a hardy plant from Southern Europe. The root in substance, or
+the extracted dried juice, is much used. Needs a deep, rich soil. It is
+propagated by cuttings of roots set out in deeply-trenched land, in rows
+three feet apart, and one foot in the row. Small vegetables may be grown
+among the plants the first year; afterward keep clear of weeds, and
+manure every autumn. At the end of the third year, after the leaves are
+dead, take up the roots and dry them thoroughly. This does well at the
+South. A few roots are sufficient for a family, and the demand will not
+be sufficient to require its culture very extensively as an article of
+commerce. The low price of labor in Southern Europe enables them to
+supply the demand cheaper than can be afforded in this country.
+
+
+LIME.
+
+This is a valuable application to the soil. For wheat it is very
+important, except on soil containing a large proportion of calcareous
+matter. Usually air-slaked, and applied as a top-dressing, or plowed or
+harrowed in, its effects are important. On moist, sour land, producing
+wild grass, it corrects the acidity, introduces other grass, and
+prepares the soil for cultivation. On hard, stiff lands, it has a
+tendency to make them friable, and keep them in a mellow condition, thus
+saving more than its cost, in the labor of cultivation. Very valuable
+in a compost heap. So much may be applied as to burn the soil and prove
+injurious. It will not do as a substitute for everything else. See
+further on "Manures."
+
+
+LIME.
+
+A fruit resembling the lemon, growing in the same climate, but of
+smaller size. It is used for the same purposes as the lemon, but is not
+so valuable. Preserved green, it is highly esteemed. It is cultivated as
+the orange and lemon, needing the same protection in cold climates. To
+preserve all these from destruction by insects, wash them in a strong
+decoction of bitter or offensive herbs, or with whale-oil soap-suds;
+tobacco is very effectual. These remedies are useful on all fruit-trees.
+
+
+LOCATION.
+
+This is important to everything we cultivate. But, as everything can not
+have the best location, we should study it with reference to those
+things most affected by it, especially fruits. Fruits escape late frosts
+when growing near rills or small brooks. Orchards near the shores of
+bodies of water--as on Lake Erie about Cleveland, Ohio--bear luxuriantly
+when all fruit a few miles back is cut off by late frosts. On the
+summits of hills, fruits escape late frosts, when they are all cut off
+in the valleys below. On the Ohio river above Cincinnati, peaches are
+very liable to destruction by late frosts. We have seen them all frozen
+through in one night, and turned black the next day, in the month of
+May, after they had grown to the size of marrowfat-peas. One season,
+when there were no peaches in any other locality within a hundred miles,
+we knew an orchard, on a Kentucky hill, so high and steep, that it took
+miles of winding around the hill, to ascend it with a team. Those trees
+were perfectly loaded with peaches, that sold on the tree at four
+dollars per bushel, and in Cincinnati market at seven to eight dollars.
+In Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, there are such hills, that may be
+turned to more valuable account than any of the rest of their land, that
+are not now considered good for anything--even for sheep-pastures. The
+same is true in the hilly parts of all the states. Good fruit of some
+kind will grow on them all, every year.
+
+
+LOCUST-TREES.
+
+It will soon be a great object with American farmers to cultivate
+locust-trees, in all locations to which they are adapted. Even in this
+new world, we shall soon be dependent on cultivated timber for
+fence-posts, railroad-ties, and building purposes. Our native forests
+are rapidly disappearing, while demand for timber is as rapidly
+increasing. Probably no other tree is so profitable for cultivation in
+this country as the locust. It is of rapid growth, and hard and durable,
+and adapted to many uses. The second-growth locust is not so durable as
+the native forest-tree, as found in parts of Ohio; but, cut at a
+suitable age and at the right season of the year, it is as durable as
+white cedar, and much more valuable. The profits of the culture would be
+great. An acre of locust-trees fifteen or twenty years old would be
+worth fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. The expense of growing
+it, aside from the use of the land, would be trifling. The grove would
+afford a good place for fowls, while the blossoms would be nearly equal
+to white clover for honey. The limbs would make excellent wood, and the
+ground would need no planting for a second growth. Fortunate will be the
+men on the prairies of the West, and along the railroads and rivers of
+the land, who shall early plant fields of locust. The profits of it will
+greatly exceed the increase in the value of the land.
+
+
+MANURES.
+
+Soils, manures, and preparing the soil--plowing, harrowing, &c.--are the
+three great subjects in any good agricultural work. We shall treat this
+subject under the following divisions:--
+
+1. The substances of which manures are composed.
+
+2. Preparation and saving of manures.
+
+3. Time and modes of application.
+
+4. The principles of their action upon plants.
+
+Manures are of two classes--called putrescent and fossil. The putrescent
+are composed of decayed, or decaying, vegetable and animal substances.
+The fossil are those dug from the earth, as lime, marl, and gypsum. All
+vegetable substances not useful for other purposes are valuable for
+manure. Rotten wood, leaves, straw, and all the vegetable parts of
+stable manure, and any spoiled vegetables or grain, are all valuable. At
+the South, their immense quantities of cotton-seed are a mine of wealth,
+if properly prepared and applied as manure. Animal manures consist of
+the animal parts of stable manure, dry and liquid, parts of bones,
+brine, spoiled meat, kitchen slops, soapsuds, and all dead animals. In
+decaying, these substances all pass through a process of fermentation.
+Left exposed without suitable care, they become unhealthy and offensive.
+It is probable that a large share of the diseases suffered in the rural
+districts are caused by these impurities; and the impossibility of
+keeping large cities free from these substances is the cause of their
+increased mortality. In the country, a little timely caution and labor,
+in removing these substances and regulating their fermentation, would
+save much sickness; while the labor would pay a larger per-cent. profit
+than any other performed on the soil. No manures should be allowed to
+ferment, or decay, without being mixed or covered with enough common
+earth, sand, peat, or muck, to retain all the gases and exhalations of
+such putrescence. The smallest quantity that will answer is one load of
+earth to two of the decaying substances. The proportions reversed would
+be better: put one bushel of lime to two loads, two quarts of ground
+plaster, and half a bushel of ashes, and you have the very best compost
+heap. The following are brief general rules for the preparation of
+manures. It is always most economical to feed cattle in the stable or
+under cover, and never have manure exposed to the weather. But if cattle
+must be fed outdoor, let them be fed in a yard, lowest in the centre,
+that the liquids and washings may run into the centre, and be absorbed
+by straw and litter. Put manure on the land, or into heaps for compost,
+before very warm weather. Always feed sheep under cover, and keep their
+manure from rain; heap it together with earth in the spring, or apply it
+to the soil at once. Manure thrown out of a stable should be kept under
+cover, out of the rain, and not allowed to heat in winter; its best
+qualities are evaporated by fermentation in the yard. Manures often
+rained on in winter, or left in large piles without intermixture of
+earth, lime, plaster, and ashes, will ferment and waste. Construct your
+stables so that the liquid manure will run into a vat filled with earth;
+muck is best. Experiments have shown that the liquid manures are at
+least one sixth better than the solid. A gentleman dug a pit, thirty-six
+feet square and four feet deep, and walled it in on all sides. He filled
+his vat from a cultivated field, and so constructed his sewers from the
+stables adjoining that the urine saturated the whole. He kept fourteen
+head of cattle there for five months, allowing none but the liquid part
+of the manure to pass into the vat. He spread forty loads of this on an
+acre. For ten years he tried equal quantities of this and well rotted
+and prepared stable-manure, side by side, in the same field, and
+obtained great crops; but in no stage of their growth could he see that
+crops on the land manured from the stable were any better than those
+that had received only the soil from the vat. The latter were quite as
+good as the former. The contents of his vat manured seven acres, or half
+an acre to each creature stabled. The result is proof that one cow
+discharges urine sufficient in five months to manure abundantly half an
+acre of land. Save the solid manure equally well, and a cow will make
+manure enough, in five or six months, to increase a crop sufficiently to
+pay for herself. It is certainly safe to say, that a careful man can
+make the manure of a cow pay for her body every year. Is not this an
+important branch of farming operations? Few pay sufficient attention to
+it. Fowls should roost where their droppings may be mixed with common
+garden soil or loam. The manure from each fowl, carefully saved and
+judiciously applied, will pay for its body twice a year. The hogstye may
+be very productive of manure, one fourth better than that from the
+stable. Connected with your hogpen, have a yard fifteen feet square for
+every five hogs; let that yard have no floor. Throw the straw out of
+their sleeping-room frequently to make room for new; throw into the
+yard, also, all sorts of weeds, refuse vegetables, corn-husks, peapods,
+&c.; also the dirt that will naturally accumulate in the backyard of a
+dwelling, including sawdust, fine chips, cleanings of cellars, scrapings
+of ditches, and occasionally a load of loam, muck, or clay--and six
+loads of manure to each hog may be made, that will prove far better than
+any stable manure; it has been known to produce fifty bushels of corn to
+the acre, when stable-manure produced but forty bushels. Old wood,
+brush, and chips, should never be allowed to remain on uncultivated,
+useless land. Wood throws out the same amount of heat in decaying as it
+does when consumed as fuel. The action of that heat on the soil is
+highly beneficial, retaining it long in a mellow state: hence, all wood,
+too old to be of value for any other purpose, should be put in heaps,
+covered up till decomposed, and then applied to the soil, as other
+manures. For potatoes or vines, but especially melons, it is preferable
+to any other manure. Nothing is so good for muskmelons as old chips
+from the woodyard. Leaves of fruit and forest trees are also very good;
+blood and offal of animals, hair, hoofs, bones, horns, refuse feathers,
+woollen rags, mud from sewers, rivers, roads, swamps, or ponds, turf,
+ashes, old brine, soapsuds, all kinds of fish, oyster and clam
+shells--all are valuable, and no part of them should ever be thrown away
+or wasted; they are all good in compost heaps, or applied directly to
+the soil. Bones are best ground, but may be used whole, pounded, or
+chemically dissolved, or mixed with alternate layers of fresh
+horse-manure, they will be decomposed by the fermentation of the manure
+(see "Bones"). Perhaps there is as much imprudence in wasting manures as
+in any part of American domestic economy. One who leaves his stock
+without care, and so exposed to the weather as to lose half of them and
+injure the others, is not fit to be a farmer; yet, many waste manure
+that would produce plants for man and beast, of far more value than the
+loss of stock complained of, and yet no one notices it--it is a matter
+of course, exciting no surprise. Wastefulness in a family, if it be of
+bread, flour, or meat, is considered wicked and impoverishing; while ten
+times that amount may be wasted in manures, that would enrich the soil,
+and excite little or no disapprobation. We hope the agricultural
+periodicals will keep this subject before the people, until these mines
+of wealth will no longer be neglected or wasted.
+
+_Application of Manures_ is a subject that has been much discussed, and
+respecting which, intelligent agriculturists differ materially. Some
+apply them extensively as a top-dressing for grass lands. This does much
+good, but probably one half of their virtues is lost by washing rains,
+and by evaporation. A better way is not to keep land down in grass long
+at a time, and, when under the plow, manure thoroughly. We knew a piece
+of light land that annually produced half a ton of hay per acre. The
+owner plowed it up, raised a crop, put a moderate quantity of
+stable-manure, and ten loads of leached ashes to the acre. We saw it in
+haying time, the third season after it had been manured and subsoiled
+and seeded down, and they were then taking fully three tons of timothy
+hay from an acre, which was the quantity it had yielded three years in
+succession, without any top-dressing. If a top-dressing of manure is to
+be applied, harrow the land quite thoroughly, and always apply the
+manure in the fall--it is worth twice as much as when applied in the
+spring. The rains and snows of winter cause it to sink into the soil,
+while the heat of spring and summer evaporate it. A mixture of plaster,
+lime, ashes, and a very little salt, sowed on meadows, immediately after
+haying, secures a good growth of feed, much sooner than it will come on
+other meadows. It also increases, quite considerably, the hay crop of
+the following season. It is a universal rule not to allow manure to lie
+long on the surface to which it is applied, before plowing in. Place
+manure in heaps, as large as will be convenient for spreading, and
+spread it just before the plow. Never spread manure one day to be plowed
+in the next. When manuring in the hill, have the planters follow the
+manure-cart. In manuring potatoes in the hill, drop the potatoes, and
+put the manure on them and cover at once. In a dry season, the yield
+will be double that of those planted in the usual way. For fall grains,
+plow in the manure, just before sowing the seed. This is better than
+plowing it in under the sod. If the land be not sod land, and you can
+plow the manure in only deep enough to cover it, and then, just before
+sowing the seed, plow again very deep, the effect is excellent. Apply
+manure to land in the fall, or just after harvest, and plow it in, let
+the land remain till spring, and then plow deep, and you get the best
+possible effect. On an onion crop, manure does the most good on the
+surface. On those raised from sets, or on any onions, after they get
+large enough to give room, put fine manure enough to keep down all
+weeds, and it will double the crop.
+
+Gypsum is better sowed than in any other way. Mixed with a little lime
+and salt, or wood-ashes and salt, the effect on corn is better than from
+either alone. To hoed crops apply these articles twice, and always by
+sowing, and not by putting it around or upon the hills; the effect is
+much greater sowed, besides the labor that is saved. In applying guano,
+do not allow it to come in contact with the plants, as it is apt to
+destroy them.
+
+It only remains to consider the principles on which manure acts upon
+soils, and produces growth in plants. The action of manure on the soil,
+by which it is enabled to retain and appropriate moisture, constitutes
+its main, if not its whole benefit. It may afford a stimulus to the
+roots of plants. Even the specific manures, that are supposed to supply
+organic matter to particular plants, may impart their benefits by their
+action upon the air and water. Facts are certainly at hand to show that
+the great and leading benefits of manures are in their control of
+moisture, and where that control is not needed, plants get a great
+growth on what we call poor soil. No manures, either fossil or
+putrescent, afford any considerable food for plants. Vegetation
+receives its growth mainly from water and from the atmosphere. Facts in
+support of this theory are abundant.
+
+A trial was made to ascertain whence comes the matter of which a tree is
+composed. A quantity of kiln-dried earth was weighed and then put into a
+tight vessel. A willow shrub was also weighed and planted in that earth,
+and the vessel covered with perforated tin to keep out the dust; for a
+year and a half it was supplied only with pure water. The tree was then
+taken out, and found, by weight, to have gained one hundred and sixty
+pounds. The earth was then kiln-dried, as before, and weighed, and its
+weight was found to be only two ounces less than it was a year and a
+half before, when it was deposited there. The tree, then, must have
+received its growth, not from the soil, but from the water or the
+atmosphere, or both.
+
+Another fact: take a load of manure, dry it thoroughly, and weigh it.
+Then moisten it and apply it to the soil, and it will increase the
+weight of vegetation from ten to thirty or forty times its own weight
+when dry, and yet most of that manure may still be found in the soil.
+Hence it can only feed plants in a very limited degree. Its action must
+be on air and water, or the control it gives the soil over those
+elements.
+
+It is also matter of common observation that soil well manured, will
+continue moist for a long time after similar land by its side, but which
+has not been manured, is dried up. Hard coarse soils dry up very
+quickly, while soft, mellow, and friable ones will endure a long
+drought. The gases and moisture generated by the decomposition of
+manures produce this mellow state. Hence the necessity of having that
+decomposition take place under the soil, or of plowing in the manure.
+
+Another important fact bearing on this question is, that what are
+regarded very poor soils, such as light sandy or gravelly land, will
+produce good crops in a season remarkable for the frequency of showers.
+On such soils crops are from twice to four times as large, in a wet
+season as in a dry, and yet there is an addition of nothing but
+moisture, and in such a manner, as not to have it stand and become
+stagnant among the roots of the plants.
+
+Yet another evidence is in the strength of clay soils. A hard clay is
+very unproductive. But so disintegrated that plants can grow in it, it
+produces a great crop. This is because clay is of so close a texture,
+that when mixed with manure, turf, sand, or muck, although friable, it
+retains more moisture, than sand or ordinary loam. This is the reason of
+the superior fertility of land annually overflowed with water, as Egypt
+in the vicinity of the Nile. It is not that the Nile brings down
+deposites from the mountains of the Moon, so rich above all that is in
+the valleys below. The entire weight of all that a river deposites on
+ten acres would not equal in weight the increased vegetation of a single
+acre. The cause of the increased fertility is the fact that the deposite
+is so fine that it prevents rapid evaporation, and thus causes the soil
+to retain moisture for the large growth, and maturity of the plants.
+
+One more evidence is found on our sandy pine plains. Our common
+forest-trees, as beech, maple, elm, or linden, will not flourish there.
+Such land will produce comparatively no corn, oats, or wheat. But rye
+that stands drought better than any other grain, grows tolerably well.
+But such plains always produce an enormous growth of pine timber, hardly
+equalled in the number of cords to the acre, by the heaviest-timbered
+land of the river bottoms. Why is this? Does a maple need so much more
+food than a pine, or is it in the habits of the trees? It is not in the
+richness or poverty of the soil, but in the adaptation of the trees to
+reach and appropriate moisture. The roots of the maple and beech, spread
+out near the surface of the ground. And it being a light, porous, sandy
+soil, it does not retain moisture enough to promote their growth. But
+whoever notices a pine-tree that has been turned up from the roots by
+the wind, will see that the roots run down almost perpendicularly ten or
+fifteen feet into the sand. There they find plenty of moisture and hence
+their great growth. This principle explains the comparative
+productiveness of all soils.
+
+A soil composed of light muck, or a kind of peet-soil, will dry up soon.
+There is nothing to prevent rapid evaporation; hence it is always
+unproductive, for want of suitable moisture. Mix with it clay, to render
+its texture more firm, and it will retain the moisture, and be very
+productive. Clay alone is too solid to retain moisture; it runs off, as
+from a brick. Mix sand with it, and it becomes mellow, and retains
+moisture, and produces great growth. Sand allows so free and rapid an
+evaporation that it is unproductive. We say it leaches and is hungry,
+and so it is, because it has little power to retain water. Our manures
+do it good, only as they are calculated to aid it in controlling
+moisture. If we apply a light manure as we would to clay, it is
+comparatively useless; it adds no firmness to the texture of the soil,
+and hence does not increase its capacity for controlling water. On such
+land, the only good that manure does, is while decomposition is taking
+place in the soil, it renders it more moist, and hence more productive.
+Apply clay to such a soil, and it will increase its firmness and
+consequent capacity of retaining and appropriating moisture, and thus
+render it highly valuable. Dry straw manure is sometimes said to dry up
+land, and ruin crops. So of turf in a dry season. In a wet season they
+greatly increase the growth of crops. Now they contain just as much food
+for plants in one season as another. Hence a soil too easily impervious
+to the atmosphere, will be a poor soil, that is, will produce poorly,
+simply because it has no power to retain the necessary moisture.
+
+We suppose these facts and reasons to establish our theory, that the
+principal benefit of manures, and of mixing different soils, is in the
+control they give over the moisture and the atmosphere. Hence the
+greatly increased crop of clover from the application of three quarters
+of a bushel of plaster to an acre. The increased weight of clover on
+five square rods, would outweigh the plaster applied, and still that
+plaster remains, in almost its full weight, on the soil. This principle
+explains the benefit of mulching trees, plants, or vegetables. This is
+the best means of preserving trees, the first year after transplanting,
+and of securing a great growth, of any kind of shrubs or plants. This
+may be done with common straw or leaves. Now wherein is their utility?
+Not in the nourishment they afford the plants, but in the fact that
+mulching so covers the surface as to prevent rapid evaporation. In such
+cases, it is the more abundant moisture that secures the greater
+growth.
+
+Hence the first study of a soil culturist should be to ascertain how he
+shall so mix and manage the materials at his command, as to cause them
+to retain moisture for the longest time, without leaving water to stand
+about the roots of his plants. On this depends the whole importance of
+deep plowing and ditching. On this theory we may also account for the
+fact that certain plants prefer a certain kind of manure to all others.
+It is that those plants act in a certain manner on the soil requiring a
+specific action of manure to enable it to appropriate moisture and tax
+the atmosphere for their growth. This theory explains why too much
+manure is bad. Not because we give too much food to plants, but because
+excess of manure dries up the land. But whatever theory we adopt, we all
+agree in the utility of fertilizers. And the experience of practical
+farmers is of more value in aiding us to reach right conclusions, than
+all chemical essays on the subject that have ever been written.
+
+
+MARL.
+
+This is one of the best distributed and most universal fertilizers. Marl
+proper contains nearly equal proportions of clay and lime. Sand-marl is
+spoken of, in which sand and lime are the main ingredients. Clay-marls
+are to be applied to sandy and gravelly soils, and sand-marls to clayey
+soils. Shell-marls are very valuable, and seldom contain clay. Marls may
+easily be known, even by those not at all acquainted with chemistry.
+Apply any mineral acid, or even very strong vinegar, and if it be a
+marl, an effervescence will at once be observed: this effect is
+produced by acid upon lime.
+
+
+MARJORUM.
+
+There are two varieties in cultivation--the _sweet_, an annual herb; and
+the _winter_, a hardy perennial. They are grown and used as summer
+savory--used green, or dried for winter. They give a sweet, aromatic
+flavor to soups, stews, and dressings. The cultivation is, in all
+respects, like other garden-herbs of the kind, whether for medicinal or
+culinary purposes.
+
+
+MELONS.
+
+There are two species--musk and water melons--which are subdivided into
+many varieties of each. These are among the most delicious of all the
+products of the garden. A little use makes all persons very fond of
+them. The climate of the Middle and Southern states is well adapted to
+raising melons; much better than the same latitudes in Europe. The
+following brief directions will insure success in their cultivation. A
+light, rich soil is always desirable. There should always be a little
+sand in the composition of soil for melons. If not there naturally,
+supply it; it will always pay. The warm sands of Long Island and New
+Jersey are the best possible for melons, especially for water-melons. It
+may be well to trench deep for the hills, and mix in a little
+well-rotted manure, and cover it with fine mould. A quantity of manure,
+left in bulk under the hills, will dry them up at the worst possible
+time. When you plant only a few in a garden, mulch your musk-melons with
+chips or sawdust from the wood-yard, or leaves and decayed wood from
+the forest, and you will get a great growth. They will grow luxuriantly
+in a pile of chips, with a little soil, in a door-yard, where hardly any
+other plant would flourish. The water-melon does best in almost pure
+sand, if it be enriched with liquid or some other of the finer manures.
+Plant musk-melons six feet apart, and water-melons nine feet each way.
+When the plants become established, never leave more than two or three
+in a hill. The product will be greatly increased in number and size, by
+picking off the end bud of the first runners when they show their
+blossom-buds; this causes them to throw out many strong lateral vines,
+which will produce abundantly. The attacks of striped bugs, so well
+known as the enemies of vines, and also of the black fleas, or hoppers
+(very minute, but quite destructive to tender vines when first up), may
+be prevented (says Downing) by sprinkling near the plants a little
+guano. As but a small portion of cultivators will have it, or can obtain
+it, we recommend to put many seeds in a hill, to provide for the
+depredations of the bugs, and sprinkle offensive articles around them.
+These will not always be effectual. We have recommended elsewhere to
+fence each hill, as the most effectual method. A box, with gauze or a
+pane of glass over the top, is a certain remedy in every case; it also
+greatly promotes the growth of the young vines. This is equally
+effectual against the cutworm and all other insects; and, as the boxes
+will last a dozen years or so, we should use them if we had ten acres of
+melons. But by early and late planting, and watchfulness, and
+replanting, you will succeed without protection. An excessive quantity
+of stable-manure does not increase the growth, especially of
+water-melons. Plaster, bonedust, and ashes, are good applications;
+hog-manure is the best of all. The seeds should be soaked two days, and
+planted an inch deep on broad hills, raised in the centre four inches
+above the level of the bed, that water may not stand around them;
+planted low, they sometimes perish in a few hours in a hot sun, after a
+rain. Hoe them often, but never when they are wet, and never hoe near
+them after they have commenced running; the roots spread, about as much
+as the vines, and hoeing deep near them cuts off the roots, and
+materially injures them. Many a promising plat of melons has been ruined
+by stirring the soil when they were wet, and hoeing around them after
+they had begun to run. In walking among melons, great harm is done by
+stepping on the ends of vines. No one should be allowed among melons but
+the one who hoes or picks them. Many are lost by drought, after great
+care. We have often used an effectual remedy; it consists in turning up
+the vines, if they have begun to run before the drought, and putting
+around each hill from a peck to half a bushel of wet, well rotted
+manure; that from a spent hotbed is excellent for this purpose; and hoe
+from a distance between the hills, and cover the manure an inch or two
+deep with fine mould, lay down the vines, and saturate the hill with
+water, and they will hardly get dry again during the season. A little
+judicious watering will give you a great crop in the most severe
+drought.
+
+_Varieties of the Musk-melon._--These are numerous, and the nomenclature
+uncertain. The London Horticultural Society's catalogue enumerates
+seventy. Most of them are of no use to any one. Two or three of the best
+are sufficient. There are three general classes of musk-melons--the
+_green-fleshed_, as the citron and nutmeg; _yellow-fleshed_, as the
+cantelope, or long yellow; and _Persian melon_. The last is the finest
+of all, but is too tender for general cultivation with us, requiring
+much care and very warm seasons. The yellow-fleshed are very large, but
+much inferior in quality to either of the others. The green-fleshed are
+_the_ musk-melons for this whole country. The nutmeg has long been
+celebrated; but, it being much smaller than the citron, and in no way
+superior in quality, we think the latter the best for all American
+gardens.
+
+The following are enumerated in "White's Gardening for the South," as
+adapted to the latitude of the Southern states: _Christiana_,
+_Beechwood_, _Hoosainee_, _Sweet Ispahan_, _Pineapple_, _Cassabar_,
+_Netted Citron_, and _Rock_. These are doubtless all fine, and would do
+well at the North, with suitable care and protection. Downing's
+catalogue is nearly the same, with a very few additions.
+
+_Varieties of Water-melons_--are also numerous, and names uncertain. The
+best varieties, however, are well known. The most choice are the
+following: _Imperial_, _Carolina_, _Black Spanish_, _Mountain-Sprout_,
+_Mountain-Sweet_, _Apple-seeded_, and _Ice-cream_. The following
+excellent water-melons all originated in South Carolina: _Souter_;
+_Clarendon_, or _dark-speckled_; _Bradford_, very dark-green, with
+stripes mottled and streaked with green; _Ravenscroft_, and _Odell's
+large white_. There is a fine little melon, called the orange-melon,
+because the flesh and skin separate like an orange. These varieties will
+all do well with care. To preserve any one of them, it must be grown at
+some distance from other varieties. All water-melons should be far
+removed from citrons, which resemble them, raised only for preserving.
+They always ruin the next generation of water-melons. Different
+varieties of musk-melons planted together produce hybrids, partaking of
+the qualities of both, and are often very fine. We raised a cross
+between the yellow-fleshed cantelope and the nutmeg, which was
+excellent.
+
+Seeds of most vines are better for being two or three years old, as they
+produce less vines, but more fruit. Melons are a luxury that should grow
+in every garden, and the state should enact severe laws against stealing
+them, making the punishment no less than fine and imprisonment.
+
+
+MILLET.
+
+This is a species of grain, partaking much of the nature of a large
+grass. Sowed thin, it produces a good yield. The seed is excellent for
+fowls. Ground, it is good for keeping or fattening all domestic animals.
+It is about equal to Indian corn for bread. Cut while green, but when
+nearly ripe, it is a good substitute for hay, producing a much larger
+quantity per acre. All animals prefer millet, cut in the milk, to hay.
+It is a less profitable crop for grain, on account of the irregularity
+of its ripening, and its extreme liability to shell, when dry. It must
+be cut as soon as the seed begins to harden. It also attracts swarms of
+birds, which are exceedingly fond of the seed. About three tons per acre
+is an average crop on tolerably good land. From one to three pecks of
+seed to the acre are sown broadcast. When sown in drills and cultivated,
+it grows very large, and requires only four quarts of seed per acre. It
+will make good fodder sown at any time from April to July. Its more
+extensive cultivation for fodder is recommended.
+
+
+MINT.
+
+This genus of plants comprises twenty-four species. Those usually
+cultivated in gardens are three, _Peppermint_, _Spearmint_, and
+_Pennyroyal mint_. All mints are propagated by the same methods. Parting
+the roots, offset young plants, and cuttings from the stalks. Spearmint
+and peppermint like a moist and even wet soil. Pennyroyal does better in
+a rich loam. Plants come into use the same season they are set. Set the
+plants eight inches apart, and on beds four feet wide, leaving a path
+two feet between them. In field culture, for the oils and essences,
+place them two feet apart, for the convenience of going between the rows
+with a horse. Thus cultivation becomes easy. They should be cut in full
+blossom, and dried in small bunches in the shade, but better by
+artificial heat, like hops. They should be cut when dry. For domestic
+uses, dry quickly, and pulverize, and put away in tight glass bottles.
+They will retain all their strength, keep free from dust, and always be
+ready for use. The same is true of all the herbs for domestic use. As a
+field crop, mints are profitable.
+
+
+MULBERRY.
+
+There are three varieties cultivated in this country. We place them in
+the order of their qualities:--
+
+1. _The Johnson._--A new variety, thus described by Kirtland: "Fruit
+very large; oblong cylindric; blackish, subacid, and of mild and
+agreeable flavor. Growth of wood strong."
+
+2. _The Black Mulberry._--An Asiatic variety, rather tender for the
+North, though it succeeds tolerably well in some parts of New England.
+Fruit large and delicious; tree low and spreading. Easily cultivated on
+almost any soil. Propagated by seeds, layers, cuttings, or roots.
+
+3. _The Red Mulberry._--A native of this country. Fruit small and
+pleasant, but inferior to the two preceding.
+
+
+MULCHING.
+
+This is placing around plants or trees, coarse manure or litter of any
+kind, to keep down weeds, and prevent too rapid evaporation of moisture.
+All straw, corn stalks, old weeds or stubble, forest leaves, seaweeds,
+old wood, sawdust, old tanbark, chips, &c., are good for mulching. Any
+tree taken up and planted with reasonable care, and well mulched and
+watered, will live. One of fifty need not die. Cover the loose earth
+deep enough to prevent the springing of weeds. Put a little earth on the
+outer edge of the manure, leaving it dishing about the tree. Fill that
+occasionally with water, and you will get a good growth, even in a dry
+season.
+
+Plant gooseberries or currants, and mulch the whole ground between the
+bushes, and give them no other cultivation, and the berries will grow
+nearly twice as large as the same varieties standing neglected, to grow
+up to weeds, in the usual way. Mulching with clean, dry straw, or with
+charcoal, is a preventive of mildew. It is the easiest method of taking
+care of strawberries after they are in blossom; the vines will bear much
+more and finer fruit, and it will be clean and neat. Mulching vines is a
+great means of insuring a crop. Every crop that can be mulched will be
+greatly benefited by it; hence, all the straw and litter that can be
+saved is money in the pocket; for mulching alone, it is worth five times
+as much as it can be sold for. Burning or in any way destroying cobs,
+cornstalks, stubble, old straw, or decaying wood, is extravagant
+wastefulness.
+
+
+MUSHROOMS
+
+Are vegetables growing up in old pastures, or on land mulched and the
+straw partly covered with soil. They are also cultivated in beds for the
+purpose. Picked at the right stage, they are a fine article of diet,
+almost equalling oysters. The use of the wild ones, however, is attended
+with some danger, for the want of knowledge of the varieties, or of the
+difference between the genuine mushroom, and the toadstools that so much
+resemble them.
+
+Persons have been poisoned unto death by eating toadstools instead of
+mushrooms. When of middle size, mushrooms are distinguished by the fine
+pink or flesh color of their gills, and by their pleasant smell. In a
+more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate color; they are
+then apt to be confounded with injurious kinds. The toadstool that most
+resembles the true mushroom is slimy to the touch, and rather
+disagreeable to the smell. The noxious kind grows in the borders of
+woods, while the mushroom only grows in the open field. It is better,
+however, not to eat them unless gathered by a practised hand, so as to
+be sure of no mistake. With the help of one accustomed to gathering
+them, you will learn in a few moments, so as to be accurate and safe.
+
+_Mushroom Beds._--Prepare a bed in the corner of the hothouse, or, in
+the absence of that, in a warm, dry cellar. The first of October is the
+best time. Make the bed four feet wide, and as long as you require. It
+should be one foot high perpendicularly at the edges, and sloping toward
+the middle; it should be of horse-manure, well forked, and put in
+compact and even, so as to settle all alike. Cover it with long straw,
+to preserve heat and the exhalations that would rise. At the end of ten
+days, the heat will be such as to allow you to remove the straw, and put
+an inch of good mould over the top of the bed. On this put the spawn or
+seed of the mushroom, in rows of six inches apart. The spawn are white
+fibres, found in old pastures, where mushrooms grow, or in old spent
+hotbeds, and sometimes under old stable floors. The warmth of the bed
+will produce mushrooms plentifully for a considerable time. If the
+production diminishes and nearly ceases, it may be renewed by removing
+the mould, and putting on good horse-manure to the depth of twelve
+inches, and covering and planting as before, and the production will be
+plentiful for a number of weeks.
+
+
+MUSTARD.
+
+There are two kinds cultivated, the black and the white, annuals, and
+natives of Great Britain. The white mustard is cultivated in this
+country principally for greens, and sometimes for a small salad like the
+cress. It may be sown at any time from opening of spring to the
+beginning of autumn. But sown in hot weather, the bed must be shaded.
+The Spaniards prefer the white mustard for grinding for table use,
+because of its mildness and its whiter flour. White mustard-seed, being
+much larger than the black, is preferred for mangoes, and all pickling
+purposes.
+
+Black mustard is cultivated principally in the field, for the mills. It
+is there ground, and makes the well known condiment found on most
+tables.
+
+Sow in March or April, broadcast on land tolerably free from weeds, and
+if you get it too thick, hoe up a part. In July or August, you may get a
+good crop. Cradle it as wheat, before ripe enough to shell.
+
+Mustard used in various ways is medicinal. It is one of the safest and
+most speedy emetics. Stir up a table-spoonful of the flour and drink it.
+Follow it with repeated draughts of warm water, and in half an hour, you
+will have gone through all the stages of a thorough emetic, without
+having been weakened by it.
+
+
+NASTURTIUM.
+
+This annual plant, found in most gardens, is too well known to need
+description. Were it not so common, its flowers, that appear in great
+profusion, from early summer till destroyed by frost, would be regarded
+very beautiful. Its main use is for pickles. Its green berries are
+nearly equal to capers for that purpose. It grows well on any good
+garden soil; bears more berries on less vines, planted on land not too
+rich. Single vines four feet apart, on rich land, do best.
+
+
+NECTARINE.
+
+This is only a fine variety of the peach, having a smooth skin. Downing
+gives instances of its return to the peach, and others of the production
+of nectarines and peaches on the same limb. The appearance of the tree
+is hardly distinguishable from the peach. It is one of the most
+beautiful of dessert fruits: it has no down on the skin, being entirely
+smooth and beautiful, like waxwork. Its smooth skin exposes it to the
+ravages of the curculio. It is longer-lived on plum-stocks, but is more
+generally budded on the peach. It is usually productive wherever peaches
+flourish, if not destroyed by the curculio. It is even more important
+than in the peach to head-in the trees often, to produce good large
+fruit.
+
+_Varieties_--are divided into freestone and clingstone, with quite a
+number in each class. We give only a few of those most esteemed.
+
+_Boston._--Freestone, American seedling; hardy and productive; color
+deep-yellow, with a bright-red cheek. Time, September 1st.
+
+_Due du Telliers._--Freestone, pale-green, with a marbled reddish cheek;
+flesh whitish, inclining to green; very fine; a great bearer of rather
+large fruit. Time, last of August.
+
+_Hunt's Tawny._--Very fine and early; a great bearer; tree hardy; color,
+pale-orange, with a dark-red cheek, with many russety specks. Time,
+forepart of August.
+
+_Pitmaston Orange._--A fine yellow nectarine, maturing the last of
+August.
+
+_The Early Violet_--is an old French variety, everywhere esteemed; it
+has sixteen synonyms; fruit high-flavored. Time, last of August.
+
+_Newington._--A good clingstone; an English variety that has long been
+cultivated; it has many synonyms; the color dark-red when exposed. Time,
+10th of September.
+
+_Newington Early_--Is one of the best, earlier, larger, and better, than
+the preceding; ripens first of September. The same varieties are
+excellent for the South, where they ripen considerably earlier. The
+following selection of choice, hardy nectarines for a small garden, is
+from Downing:--
+
+Early Violet, Elruge, Hardwicke Seedling, Hunt's Tawny, Boston, Roman,
+and New White.
+
+
+NEW FRUITS.
+
+That these are constantly appearing, is a matter of common observation;
+but the manner of their production has given rise to much diversity of
+opinion. The theory that they are the results of replanting, from the
+seeds of successive generations of the same tree, is called the Van
+Mons' theory, after Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium, who devoted many years of
+close study and application to the improvement of fruit, especially of
+pears, by this method. His directions may be briefly summed up as
+follows. Plant seeds from any good variety of fruit; let those seedlings
+stand without grafting, until they bear. Take the first fruit from the
+best of those seedlings, and plant it and produce other seedlings, and
+so on. The peach and plum are said to reach a high state of excellence
+in the third generation, while the pear requires the fifth. Seeds from
+old trees are said to have a great tendency to return to their wild
+origin, while those of young, improving trees will more generally
+produce a better fruit. The seeds from a graft from a young tree does
+not produce a better than itself. The succession must be of seedlings.
+This theory requires long practice, and is exposed to interruptions by
+the crosses that will necessarily occur between different trees in
+blossom. And we have in so many cases had a fruit of great perfection
+arise from a single planting of seed from some known variety, that we
+must conclude the improvement to be produced by some other principle
+than that of the Van Mons' theory. The evidence is in favor of the
+opinion that new varieties of fruit arise from cross-fertilization in
+the blossoms of different kinds, and that the improvement of the
+qualities of any given variety is the result of cultivation. Some of the
+best plums we have are known to have been the product of fertilizing the
+blossoms of one tree from the pollen of another; this is constantly
+taking place with our fruits, and is consequent upon our mixed orchards.
+Let this be attended to artificially, by covering branches with gauze,
+to prevent the fertilization by bees and winds, and make the cross
+between any two varieties you choose, and the results may prove highly
+beneficial. The amateur cultivator may render essential service to
+pomology by this practice. We know that all our choice fruits have come
+from those not fit for use. It is not improved cultivation of the old,
+barely, but the production of new varieties. The subject of further
+improvement, therefore, demands careful study and practice. The seeds of
+established varieties, planted at once without drying, will often
+reproduce the same. We are not certain but they generally would, if not
+affected by blossoms of contiguous trees.
+
+
+NURSERY.
+
+Of this subject we can only give the general outlines. This department
+of soil-culture is so distinct, that the few who engage in it as a
+business are expected to make it an especial study. In a work like this,
+it is only desirable to give those general principles that will enable
+the cultivator of the soil to raise such trees as he may desire on his
+own premises. These directions may be considered reliable, and, as far
+as they go, are applicable to all nurseries.
+
+_Location._--This is the first point demanding attention. If a piece of
+land containing a variety of soils can be selected, it will prove
+beneficial, as different trees require different soils for their
+greatest perfection. A situation through which a rivulet may run, or in
+which a pond may be constructed, fed by a spring or hydrant, is of great
+value for watering. The situation of the nursery, as it respects shade
+or exposure, is also important. Trees should generally be as much
+exposed to the elements, in the nursery, as they will be when
+transplanted in the orchard. Trees removed from shaded situations to the
+open field will be stinted in growth for some time, and may be
+permanently injured. Never allow your nursery to be shaded by large
+trees. Bearing trees, designed to show the quality of your fruit, should
+occupy a place by themselves.
+
+_Soil._--A theory that has had many adherents is that trees raised on
+poorer and harder land than that they will occupy in the orchard, will
+grow more vigorously, and do better, than those transplanted from better
+to worse soil. Thus, trees have often been preferred from high, hard
+hills, to transplant in good loam or alluvium. On the same principle, a
+calf or colt should be more healthy, and make a better creature, for
+having been nearly starved for the first year or two. Neither of these
+is true. Give fruit-trees as great a growth as possible while young,
+without producing too tender and spongy wood for cold winters. It is
+only desirable to check the early growth of fruit-trees on the rich
+prairies of the West, and that should be done, not by the poverty of the
+soil, but by root-pruning or heading-in; this prevents a spongy, tender
+growth, that is apt to be injured by their trying winds. Trees that are
+brought from a colder to a warmer region, always do better.
+
+_Preparation of the Soil._--It should be made quite rich with
+stable-manure, lime, and wood-ashes, and cultivated in a root-crop the
+previous year--any roots except potatoes. Those left in the ground will
+come up so early and vigorous in the spring, that you can not eradicate
+them without destroying many of your young seedlings. The land should be
+worked very deep by subsoiling, or better with double-plowing, by which
+the manure and top-soil are put in the bottom. As manure always works
+up, the effect will be excellent. Buckwheat is good to precede a
+nursery; it shades the ground so densely as to protect it from the
+scorching sun, and effectually destroy all weeds. Trees planted on land
+prepared by double-plowing (see our article on "Plowing") will make one
+third greater growth, in a given time, than those on land prepared in
+the ordinary way. In double-plowing, if the subsoil be very poor, it
+will be necessary to give a top-dressing of well-rotted manure, worked
+in with a cultivator. Thorough draining is also very essential to a
+nursery.
+
+_Time of Planting._--The general practice is to plant in the fall, at
+any time before the ground freezes. The better way is to keep seeds in
+moist sand, or dry and spread thin, until spring, and plant as early as
+the ground will allow. Freezing apple-seeds is of no use. Hard-shelled
+seeds had better be frozen, to open the stones and give them an
+opportunity to germinate. The advantage of spring-planting is, the
+ground can be put in much better condition, and the seeds will start
+quite as early as the weeds, and much labor may be saved in tending.
+
+_Method of Planting._--Plant with a drill that will run about an inch
+deep, putting the seeds in straight rows, not more than an inch wide,
+and two and a half feet apart; this will allow the use of a small horse
+and cultivator, which will destroy nearly all the weeds. Use a
+potato-fork or hoe, across the rows, among the seedlings, and very
+little weeding will be necessary. It is not more than one fourth of the
+ordinary work to keep a nursery clean in this way. Two thirds of those
+thus planted and cultivated will be large enough for root-grafting the
+first season, and for cleft-grafting the second. When your seedlings are
+six inches high, if you thoroughly mulch them with fine straw or manure,
+you will be troubled with no more weeds, and your trees will get a
+strong growth.
+
+For root-grafting, pull up those of suitable size very late in the fall,
+cut off the tops eight inches from the root, and pack in boxes, in moist
+sand, and keep in a cellar that does not freeze; graft in winter, and
+repack them in the boxes with moist sand, sawdust, or moss, and keep
+them until time to transplant in spring. They should not be wet, but
+only slightly moist. In the spring, plant them in rows three feet apart,
+and ten inches in the row. The second year, if they are not wanted in
+market, they should be taken up and reset, in rows four feet apart, and
+two feet in the row. Cut off the ends of large roots, to encourage the
+growth of numerous fibrous roots. Large nursery-trees, that have not
+been transplanted, are of little value for the orchard, being nearly
+destitute of fibrous roots. But large trees, even of bearing size, when
+transplanted in the orchard, do quite as well as small ones, provided
+they have been several times transplanted in the nursery. This produces
+many fibrous roots, upon which the health and life of the tree depend.
+
+In many regions, great care must be taken to prevent destruction of
+young trees by snow-drifts. This is done by selecting locations, and by
+constructing or removing fences, to allow the snow to blow off; treading
+it down as it falls is also very useful, both in protecting the trees
+from breaking down by the settling of drifts in a thaw, and from the
+depredations of mice under the snow.
+
+Trees should be taken up from the nursery with the least possible injury
+to the roots. Do not leave them exposed to the air for an hour, not even
+in a cloudy day. It is an easy matter to cover the roots with mats,
+straw, or earth. Protect also from frosts; many trees are ruined by
+exposure to air and frost, of which the nurseryman is very careful in
+all other respects. For transportation, they should be closely packed in
+moist straw, and wound in straw or mats, firmly tied and kept moist.
+Trees, cared for and packed in this way, may be transported thousands of
+miles, and kept for two months, without injury.
+
+
+NUTS.
+
+More attention to the cultivation of nuts, would add materially to our
+domestic luxuries. There are so many nuts in market, that are the
+spontaneous productions of other countries, or raised where labor is
+cheap, that we can not afford to raise them as an article of commerce.
+But a few trees of the various kinds, would be a great addition to every
+country residence. We could always be certain that our nuts were fresh
+and good. A small piece of ground devoted to nuts, and occupied by
+fowls, would be pleasant and profitable. English walnuts do well here.
+We have varieties of hickory nuts, native in this country, which, to our
+taste, are not surpassed by any other. Chestnuts are easily grown here
+(see our directions elsewhere in this volume). Butternuts, filberts,
+peanuts (growing in the ground like potatoes), and even our little
+forest beechnuts, are easily raised.
+
+The dwarf chestnut of the Middle and Southern states is decidedly
+ornamental in a fruit garden. Its qualities are in all respects like the
+common chestnut, only the fruit is but half the size, and the tree grows
+from five to ten feet high. In all our landscape gardens, and in all
+places where we retain forest trees for ornamental purposes, it is
+better to cultivate trees that will bear good nuts. The varieties of
+nut-bearing trees, interspersed with evergreens, make a beautiful
+appearance.
+
+
+OAKS.
+
+Raising oak-timber, on a large scale, will soon be demanded in this
+country. In some sections we have immense quantities of native oaks; but
+they are fast disappearing, and the present expense of transporting the
+timber, to places where it is needed, is much greater than would be the
+cost of raising it. A million of acres of oaks ought to be planted
+within the next five years. A crop of white oak, of only twenty-five
+years' growth, would be very valuable; and twenty-five or fifty acres,
+of forty years' growth, would be worth a handsome fortune, especially in
+the West. On all the bluffs in the West they grow well, and on the
+prairies they will do even better, after they have been cultivated a few
+years. The application of a little common salt on rich alluvial soils,
+is a great advantage in growing timber.
+
+Preserve acorns in moist sand during winter, and plant in the spring, in
+rows six feet apart, to give opportunity for other crops among them for
+a year or two, to encourage good cultivation. Plant a foot apart in the
+row, that, in thinning out, good straight trees may be left; at three or
+four years old, thin to four feet in the rows; afterward, only remove as
+appears absolutely necessary. Trim straight and smooth. The question of
+transplanting is important. Shall we plant thick, as in a nursery, and
+then transplant, or shall we plant where they are to grow? In
+fruit-trees, the object is to get a low, full, and spreading top, of
+horizontal branches, that will bear much fruit. This is eminently
+promoted by transplanting, root-pruning, and heading-in. But in raising
+timber, the object is to get trees of long, straight bodies, with the
+fewest possible low branches. Such are the native trees of the forest.
+This is best promoted by planting thick, never transplanting, and
+keeping all the lower limbs well trimmed off. These directions are for
+raising timber on good tillable land. Such groves may be good for
+pastures, and for poultry-yards, for a long time. Beside this, we have
+large areas of rough land, that will not soon be brought into
+cultivation for other purposes. Fine timber may be grown on such land,
+with no care but trimming.
+
+
+OATS.
+
+This is one of the great staple agricultural products of all regions,
+sufficiently moist and cool for their successful growth. Oatmeal makes
+the most wholesome bread ever eaten by man. For all horses, except those
+having the heaves, oats are the best grain; to such horses they should
+never be fed--corn, soaked or ground, is best. They are valuable for all
+domestic animals and fowls.
+
+_Varieties._--These are numerous. Those called side-oats yield the
+largest crops: but of these there are several varieties. The genuine
+_Siberian_ oats are tall, heavy, dark-colored side-oats, the most
+productive of any known. _Swedish_ oats, and other new varieties, are
+coming into notice; most of these are the Siberian, under other names,
+and perhaps slightly modified by location and culture. The barley-oats,
+Scotch oats, and those usually cultivated, will yield only about two
+thirds as much per acre as the true Siberian; the same difference is
+apparent in the growth of straw. Oats will produce something on poor
+land, with bad tillage, but repay thorough fertilization and tillage as
+well as most other crops. Enrich the land, work it deep and thoroughly,
+and roll after harrowing. Moist, cool situations are much preferable for
+oats: hence, success in warm climates depends upon very early sowing.
+Oats sowed as late as the first of July, in latitude forty-two and
+further north, will mature; yet, all late oats, even with large straw
+and handsome heads, will be found to be only from one half to two thirds
+filled in proportion to the lateness of sowing. The entire _profits_ of
+an oat-crop depend upon _early sowing_.
+
+Harvest as soon as the grain begins to harden, and the straw to turn
+yellow. Allowed to get quite ripe, they shell badly, and the straw
+becomes useless, except for manure. Cut with reaper or cradle, and bind:
+all grain so cut is more easily handled, thrashed, and fed. Mow no grain
+that is not so lodged down that a cradle or reaper can not be used. The
+straw of oats cut quite green is nearly as good as hay.
+
+
+OKRA.
+
+A valuable garden plant, easily propagated by seeds. It is excellent in
+cookery, as a sauce. Its ripe seeds, used as coffee, very much resemble
+the genuine article. The green pods are much used in the West Indies, in
+soups and pickles. Plant at the usual time of corn-planting, in rows
+four feet apart, two or three seeds in a place, eight inches apart in
+the row; leave but one in a place after they get a few inches high, and
+hoe as peas, and the crop will be abundant.
+
+
+OLIVES.
+
+These are natives of Asia, but have, beyond date, been extensively
+cultivated in Southern Europe. Olive-oil is an important article of
+commerce in most countries. Its use in all kinds of cookery, in
+countries where it flourishes, renders olives as important, to the mass
+of the people, as cows are in New England. It should be a staple product
+of the Southern states, to which it is eminently adapted. It is hardy
+further north than the orange. With protection, it may be cultivated,
+with the orange and lemon, all over the country. Olive-trees attain a
+greater age than any other fruit-tree. An Italian olive-plantation, near
+Terni, is believed to have stood since the days of Pliny. Once set out,
+the trees require very little attention, and they flourish well on the
+most rocky lands, that are utterly useless for any other purpose.
+Calcareous soils are most favorable to their growth. They are propagated
+by suckers, seeds, or by little eggs that grow on the main stalk, and
+are easily detached by a knife, and planted as potatoes or corn. Olives
+will bear at four or five years from the seed; they bear with great
+regularity, and yield fifteen or twenty pounds of oil per annum to each
+tree. There are several varieties. Plantations now growing at the South
+are very promising.
+
+
+ONIONS.
+
+Of this well-known garden vegetable there are quite a number of
+varieties.
+
+1. _The Large Red._--One of the most valuable.
+
+2. _The Yellow._--Large and profitable, keeping better than any other.
+
+3. _The Silver-skin._--The handsomest variety, excellent for pickling,
+brings the highest price of all, but is not quite so good a keeper as
+the red or yellow, and does not yield as well.
+
+4. _The White Portugal._--A larger white onion, often taken for the true
+silver-skin. It is a good variety. The preceding are all raised from the
+black seed, growing on the top.
+
+5. _The Egg Onion._--So called from its size and shape. On good rich
+soil, the average size may be that of a goose-egg, which it resembles in
+form. It is of a pale-red color, and more mild in flavor than any other.
+They are usually raised by sowing the black seed, very thick, to form
+sets for next year. Those sets, put out early, will form large onions
+for early market, that will sell more readily than any other offered.
+
+6. _The Top Onion._--So called because the seed consists of small
+onions, growing on the top of the stalks, in place of the black seed of
+other onions. These are good for early use, grow large, but are poor
+keepers.
+
+7. _The Hill or Potato Onion_.--Of these there are several kinds, most
+of which are unworthy of cultivation. The _Large English_ is the only
+valuable variety. The small onions, for sets, grow in the ground from
+the same roots, by the side of the main onion. Some of these grow large
+enough for cooking. The main onion is the earliest known, grows large,
+and has a mild, pleasant flavor;--they will mature at a certain season,
+whatever time you plant them; hence, they must be planted very early to
+produce a good crop. We have planted them on good ground so late as to
+get little more than the seed. They are fine for summer and fall use,
+but keep poorly. The foregoing are all that are necessary. They can all
+be brought forward by early planting of sets raised the previous season,
+by sowing the black seed so thick that they can not grow larger than
+peas, or small cherries.
+
+Good sandy loam and black muck are the best soils for onions. Any good
+garden soil may be made to produce large crops; good, well rotted
+stable-manure and leached ashes are the best. The theory of shallow
+plowing, and treading down onion-beds is incorrect. The roots of onions
+are numerous and long. The land should be well-manured, double-plowed,
+and thoroughly pulverized. The only objection to a very mellow onion-bed
+is the difficulty of getting the seed up: this is obviated by rolling
+after sowing, which packs the mould around the seed, so as to retain
+moisture and insure vegetation. Fine manure, mixed in the surface of the
+soil for onions, is highly beneficial; on no other crop does manure on
+the surface do so much good. Mulching the whole bed, as soon as the
+plants are large enough, is in the highest degree beneficial, both in
+promoting growth, and keeping down weeds. An onion-bed must be made very
+smooth and level, to favor very early hoeing, without destroying the
+small plants. All root-crops that come up small, are tended with less
+than half the expense, if the surface be made very smooth and level.
+Never divide your onion-ground into small beds, but sow the longest way,
+in straight narrow rows, eighteen inches apart, for convenience of
+weeding and hoeing. Cultivate while very young, and work the soil toward
+the rows, so as to hill up the plants; this should be removed after they
+begin to form large bulbs. Breaking down the tops to induce them to
+bottom, is a fallacy: it will lessen the crop. Rich soil, deep plowing,
+thorough pulverizing, early sowing, and frequent hoeings, will insure
+success. Our system of double-plowing is the best for this crop. They
+will do equally well, some say improve, for twenty years on the same
+bed. Work the tops into the soil where the plants grow. Let the rows be
+very narrow and very straight, and you will save half the ordinary
+expense of cultivation.
+
+_To gather and preserve well_, you should house them when very dry. A
+day's exposure to a warm autumn sun is very beneficial. Keep them in an
+open barn or shed until there is danger of frost. A warm, damp cellar
+always ruins them; keep them through winter in the coolest dry place
+possible, without severe freezing. Once freezing is not injurious, but
+frequent freezing and thawing ruins them. They are very finely preserved
+braided into strings and hung in a cool, dry room.
+
+
+ORANGES.
+
+This name covers a variety of species of the same general habits. It
+flourishes well on the coast of Florida, and all along the gulf of
+Mexico. It will stand considerable freezing, if protected from sudden
+thawing. In southern Europe, they are grown abundantly by being
+protected by a shed of boards. They may become perfectly hardy, as far
+north as Philadelphia. And by a thorough system of acclimation, and a
+little winter protection, they may be grown abundantly, in every state
+of the Union. The great enemy of the orange-tree is the scaled insect.
+It has been very destructive in Florida. A certain remedy is said to
+have been discovered in the _camomile_. Cultivate the plant under
+orange-trees, and it will prevent their attacks. The herb hung up in
+the trees, or the tree and foliage syringed with a decoction of it, will
+effectually destroy these insects. The orange is long-lived. A tree
+called "The Grand Bourbon" at Versailles was planted in 1421, and now,
+being 437 years old, is "one of the largest and finest trees in France."
+There are several varieties mentioned in the fruit books. The common
+Sweet Orange, the Maltese, the Blood Red--very fine with red flesh. The
+Mandarin Orange, an excellent little fruit from China. The St. Michael's
+is described as the finest of all oranges, and the tree the best bearer.
+Oranges are propagated by budding, and cultivated much in the same way
+as the peach.
+
+
+ORCHARDS.
+
+An orchard is a plat of ground, large or small, occupied by trees for
+the purpose of bearing fruit. The main directions for orchard culture,
+are given under the respective fruits. Any soil good for vegetables or
+grains, is suitable for orchards. Any land where excessive moisture will
+not stand, to the injury of the trees, may be adapted to any of the
+fruits. Set pears on the heaviest land, peaches on the lightest, and the
+other fruits on the intermediate qualities. Although peaches will do
+quite well on light soil, yet they do better on a rich deep loam, or
+alluvium. When it is desirable to set out an orchard on land originally
+too wet, a blind ditch must pass under each row, extending out of the
+orchard, and the place where each tree is to stand, should be raised a
+foot above the level around it.
+
+_The aspect_ is also important. A southern or eastern exposure is
+preferable, in all latitudes where the transitions from summer to
+winter, and from winter to summer are so sudden as to allow but little
+alternate thawing and freezing. This would therefore be the rule in high
+latitudes. In climates of long changeable springs, a northern or western
+exposure is better. Trees may be made to start and blossom later in the
+spring by snow and ice about them, well pressed down in winter, and
+covered with straw. This will prevent the first warm weather from
+starting the leaves and blossoms, and cause them to be a little later,
+but surer and better.
+
+_Subsoiling_ ground for an orchard, is of great importance. Plant two
+orchards, one on land that has been subsoiled very deep, and the other
+upon that plowed in the ordinary way, and for ten years the difference
+will be discernable, as far as you can distinguish the trees in the two
+orchards.
+
+_Manures_ of all kinds, are good for orchards, except coarse stable
+manure, which should be composted. A bushel of fine charcoal, thoroughly
+mixed in the soil in which you set a fruit-tree, will exert a very
+beneficial influence, for a dozen years.
+
+Orchards should be cultivated every alternate three successive years,
+and the rest of the time be kept in grass. Just about the trees, the
+ground should be kept loose, and free from weeds and grass. This may be
+done by spading and hoeing, but better by thorough mulching.
+
+_Distances apart._--Apples thirty-three feet. Pears twenty feet. Peaches
+and plums, sixteen feet. Pruning, destroying insects, and all other
+matters bearing on successful fruit growing, are treated under the
+several fruits.
+
+
+OXEN.
+
+Every farmer who can afford to keep two teams, should have a pair of
+oxen. For many uses on a farm, they are preferable to horses; especially
+for clearing up new land. Oxen to be most valuable, should be large,
+well matched, ruly, and not very fat. They should be kept in good heart,
+by the quality of their food. Fast walking is one of the best qualities
+in both horses and oxen, for all working purposes, provided they are
+judiciously used and not overloaded. Well built, strong animals are best
+for work. Working oxen should be turned out for beef, at eight or nine
+years old.
+
+_To break oxen well_, commence when they are very young. Put calves into
+yokes frequently, until they will readily yield to your wishes. Yoke
+them often, and tie their tails together to prevent them from turning
+the yoke and injuring themselves. If left without training, until they
+are three or four years old, they will improve every opportunity to run
+away, to the danger and damage of proprietor and driver. It is quite an
+art to learn oxen to back a load. Place them before a vehicle, in a
+locality descending in the rear. As it rolls down hill, they will easily
+learn to follow, backward. Then try them on level ground. Then accustom
+them to back up hill, and finally to back a load, almost as heavy as
+they can draw.
+
+Breaking vicious animals is always best done by gentleness. We have
+known vicious horses whipped severely, and in every way treated harshly,
+and finally given up as useless. We have seen those same horses, in
+other hands, brought to be regular, gentle, and safe, as could be
+desired, by mild means, without a blow or harsh word. Oxen should be
+driven in a low tone of voice, and without much use of the goad. The
+usual manner of driving, by whipping and bawling, to the annoyance of
+the whole neighborhood, and until the driver becomes hoarse with his
+perpetual screams, is one of the most pernicious habits on a farm. Oxen
+will grow lazy and insensible under threat, or scream, or goad. Driven
+in a low tone of voice, without confusion by rapid commands, and no whoa
+put in, unless you wish them to stand still, oxen may be made more
+useful on a farm than horses. Their gears are cheap and never in the
+way. They can draw more and in worse places than horses, and it costs
+less to keep them. The various methods of drawing with head or horns, in
+vogue in other countries, need not be discussed here, as the American
+people will not probably change their yoke and bows for any other
+method.
+
+Feed oxen, as other animals, regularly, both in time and quantity. Curry
+them often and thoroughly. It improves their looks, health, and temper,
+and attaches them to their owner.
+
+
+PARSLEY.
+
+This is a hardy biennial, highly prized as a garnish, and as a pot-herb
+for flavoring soups and boiled dishes. The large-rooted variety is used
+for the table, as carrots or parsnips. The principal varieties are--the
+_double-curled_, the _dwarf-curled_, the _Siberian_ (single, very hardy,
+and fine-flavored), the _Hamburgh_ (large-rooted, used as an edible
+root). The double-curled is well known, easily obtained, and suitable
+for all purposes. Those who desire the roots instead of parsnips, &c.,
+should cultivate the Hamburgh or large-rooted. It needs the same
+treatment as beets. Seed should always be of the previous year's growth,
+or it may not vegetate. It is four or five weeks in coming up, unless it
+be soaked twelve hours in a little sulphur-water, when it will vegetate
+in two weeks. By cutting the leaves close, even, and regular, a
+succession of fine leaves may be had for a whole year from the same
+plants, when they will go to seed, and new ones should take their place.
+In cold climates they should be covered in winter with straw or litter.
+The Siberian is cultivated in the field, sown with grass or the small
+grains. It is said to prevent the disease called "_the rot_" in sheep,
+and is good for surfeited horses. The large-rooted should not be sowed
+in an excessively rich soil, as it produces an undue proportion of tops.
+
+
+PARSNIPS.
+
+English authors speak of but one variety of this root in cultivation in
+England. The French have three--the _Coquaine_, the _Lisbonaise_, and
+the _Siam_. The first runs down, in rich mellow soil, to the depth of
+four feet, and grows from six to sixteen inches in circumference; the
+Lisbonaise is shorter and larger round; the Siam is smaller than the
+others, of a yellowish color, and of excellent quality. We are not aware
+that our little hollow-crown carrot, so early and good, is included in
+the French varieties. We cultivate only the hollow-crown, and a common
+large variety; both are good for the table, and as food for animals.
+They need a light, deep, rich soil. A sandy loam is best, as for all
+roots. Seed kept over one season seldom vegetates. Should be soaked a
+day or two, and sown in straight rows, covered an inch deep, and the
+rows slightly rolled. It is much better, with this and the carrot, to
+sow radish-seed in the same rows. They come up so soon that they protect
+the parsnips and carrots from too hot a sun while tender, and also serve
+to mark the rows, so that they may be hoed early, without danger of
+destroying the young plants. Parsnips may be grown many years on the
+same bed without deterioration, provided a little decomposed manure or
+compost be annually added. Fresh manure is good if it be buried a foot
+deep. The yield will be greater if thinned to eight inches apart. Rows
+two feet apart, and the plants six inches in the row, are most suitable
+in field-culture. They will grow till frost comes, and are better for
+the table, when allowed to stand in the ground through the winter. They
+may be dug and preserved as other roots. Parsnips contain more sugar
+than any other edible root, and are therefore worth more per bushel for
+food. All domestic animals and fowls fatten on them very rapidly, and
+their flesh is peculiarly pleasant. Fed to cows, they increase the
+quantity of milk, and impart a beautiful color and agreeable flavor to
+the butter. It is superior to the beet, that we have so highly
+recommended elsewhere, in all respects except one--it is less easily
+tended and harvested. Still, they should be cultivated on every farm
+where cattle, hogs, or fowls, are kept.
+
+
+PASTURES.
+
+These are very important to all who keep domestic animals. The following
+brief directions for successful pasturing are essential. It is very poor
+economy to have all your pasture-lands in one field, or to put all your
+animals together. Pasture fields in rotation, two weeks each, allowing
+rest and growth for six weeks: first horned cattle, next horses, then
+sheep. Horses feed closer than cattle, and sheep closer than horses;
+each also eats something that the others do not relish. Pasturing land
+with sheep thickens the grass on the ground. For the kinds of grass
+preferable for pastures, see our article on _Grasses_. Plaster sown on
+pastures containing clover, materially increases their growth. A little
+lime, plaster, and common salt, sown on any pasture, will prove very
+beneficial. Streams or springs in pastures double their value. The idea
+that creatures need no water when feeding on green grass is a mistake.
+Every pasture without a spring or stream should have a well. Cattle in a
+pasture in warm weather need shade. It is usual to advise the growth of
+trees in the borders, or scattered over the whole field. Sheds are much
+better. Trees absorb the moisture, stint the growth of the grass, and
+injure its quality. A pasture containing many trees is not worth more
+than half price; it will keep about half as much stock, and keep them
+poorly. Bushes, which so often occupy pastures, should be grubbed up,
+and by all means destroyed; so should all thistles, briers, and large
+weeds. Hogs and geese should be kept in no pastures but their own. Never
+turn into pastures when the ground is very soft and wet, in the spring;
+the tread of the creatures will destroy much of the turf. Creatures in
+pasture should be salted twice a week. The age of grass, to make the
+best feed for animals, is often mistaken: most suppose that young and
+tender grass is preferable; this is far from correct. Grass that is
+headed out, and in which the seed has begun to mature, is far more
+nutritious, as every farmer can ascertain by easy experiments. Tall
+grass, approaching maturity, will fatten cattle much faster than the
+most tender young growth. Pasturing land enriches it. It is well to mow
+pastures and pasture meadows occasionally, though few meadows and
+pastures should lie long without plowing. Top-dressings of manure, on
+all grass-lands, are valuable; better applied in the fall than in the
+spring; evaporation is less, and it has opportunity to soak into the
+soil.
+
+
+PEAS.
+
+These are sown in the field and garden. As a field-crop, peas and oats
+are sown together, and make good ground or soaked feed for horses, or
+for fattening animals. Early peas and large marrowfats are frequently
+sown broadcast on rich, clean land, near large cities, to produce green
+peas for market. It does not pay as well as to sow in rows three feet
+apart, and cultivate with a horse. All peas, for picking while green,
+are more convenient when bushed. They may produce nearly as well when
+allowed to grow in the natural way, but can not be picked as easily, and
+the second crop is less, and inferior, from the injury to the vines by
+the first picking. Early Kent peas (the best early variety) mature so
+nearly at the same time that the vines may be pulled up at once. All
+other peas had better be bushed, that they may be easily picked, and
+that the later ones may mature. Bushes need not be set so close as
+usual. A good bush, put firmly in the ground, to enable it to resist the
+wind, once in two and a half feet, is quite sufficient. Those clinging
+to the bushes will hold up the others. To bush peas in this way is but
+little work, and pays well. It is often said that stable-manure does no
+good on pea-ground---that peas are neither better nor more abundant for
+its use. We think this utterly a mistake. We have often raised twice the
+quantity on a row well manured, that grew on another row by its side,
+where no manure had been applied. If peas be sowed thick on
+thoroughly-manured land, the crop will be small: it is from this fact
+that the idea has gained currency. They are generally planted too thick
+on rich land. Peas planted six inches deep will produce nearly twice as
+much as those covered but an inch. Plowing in peas and leveling the
+surface is one of the best methods of planting. To get an early crop in
+a cold climate, they may be forced in hotbeds, or planted in a warm
+exposure, very early, and protected by covering, when the weather is
+cold. At the South, it is best to plant so as to secure a considerable
+growth in the fall, and protect by covering with straw during cold
+weather.
+
+The only known remedy for the bugs that are so common in peas, is late
+sowing. In latitude forty-two, peas sown as late as the 10th of June
+will have no bugs. Bugs in seed-peas may be killed by putting the peas
+into hot water for a quarter of a minute; plant immediately, and they
+will come up sooner and do well. Seed imported from the more northern
+parts of Canada have no bugs; it is probably owing to the lateness of
+the season of their growth. But late peas are often much injured by
+mildew; this is supposed to be caused by too little moisture in the
+ground, and too much and too cool in the atmosphere, in dew or rain.
+Liberal watering then would prevent it.
+
+_Varieties_--are numerous. Two are quite sufficient. _Early Kent_ the
+earliest we have ever been able to obtain, ripen nearly all at once;
+moderate bearers, but of the very best quality. This variety of pea is
+the only garden vegetable with which we are acquainted that produces
+more and better fruit for being sowed quite thick. The other variety
+that we recommend is the _large Marrowfat_. These should not stand
+nearer together, on rich land, than three or four inches, and always be
+bushed. There are many other varieties of both late and early peas, but
+we regard them inferior to these. White's "Gardening for the South"
+mentions Landreth's Extra Early, Prince Albert, Cedo-Nulli, Fairbank's
+Champion, Knight's tall Marrow, and New Mammoth. Whoever wishes a
+greater variety can get any of these under new names. The large blue
+Imperial is a rich pea, like many of the dwarfs, both of the large and
+small, but is very unproductive. We advise all to select the best they
+can find, and plant but two kinds, late and early.
+
+Plant at intervals to get a succession of crops. But very late peas, in
+our dry climate, amount to but little, without almost daily watering.
+
+
+PEACH.
+
+This native of Persia is one of the most healthy and
+universally-favorite fruits. In its native state, it was hardly suitable
+for eating, resembling an almond more than our present fine peaches.
+Perhaps no other fruit exhibits so wide a difference in the products of
+seeds from the same tree. All the fine varieties are what we call chance
+products of seeds, not one out of a thousand of which deserved further
+cultivation. The prevailing opinion is, that planting the seeds is not a
+certain method of propagating a given variety; hence the general
+practice of budding (which see). Others assert that there are permanent
+varieties, that usually produce the same from the seed, when not allowed
+to mix in the blossoms. Some prefer to raise the trees for their
+peach-orchards from seed, thinking them longer-lived and more healthy.
+Whole peaches planted when taken from the tree, or the pits planted
+before having become dry, are said to be much more certain to produce
+the same fruit. We know an instance in which the fruit of an early
+Crawford peach, thus planted, could not be distinguished from those that
+grew on a budded tree in the same orchard. One of the difficulties in
+reproducing the same from seed, is the great difficulty in getting the
+seed of any variety pure. We everywhere have so many varieties of
+fruit-trees in the same orchard, that the seeds of no one can be pure;
+they mix in the blossoms. On this account, the surest method of
+perpetuating a variety is by budding. This tree is of rapid growth,
+often bearing the third year from the seed, and producing abundantly the
+fifth. The peach-tree is often called thrifty when its growth is very
+luxuriant, but tender and unhealthy, perishing in the following winter.
+A moderate, steady, hardy growth is most profitable. The following
+directions, though brief, are complete:--
+
+_Raising Seedlings._--Dry the pits in the shade; put them away till the
+last of winter; then soak them two days in water, and spread them on
+some place in the garden where water will not stand, and cover them an
+inch deep with wet sand, and leave them to freeze. When about time to
+plant them (which is early corn-planting time), take them up and select
+all those that are opened by the frost, and that are beginning to
+germinate, and plant in rows four feet apart and one foot in the row.
+These will grow and be ready for budding considerably earlier than those
+not opened by frost. Crack the others on a wooden block, by striking
+their side-edge with a hammer; you thus avoid injury to the germ that is
+endangered by striking the end. Plant these in rows like the others, but
+only six inches apart in the row, as they will not all germinate. Plant
+them on rich soil covering an inch or two deep. Keep them clear of
+weeds, and they will be ready for budding from August 15th to September
+10th, according to latitude or season. In a dry season, when everything
+matures early, budding must not be deferred as long as in a wet season.
+
+For full directions for budding, see our article on that subject.
+
+_Transplanting._--Perhaps no other fruit-tree suffers so much from
+transplanting when too large. This should always be done, after one
+year's growth, from the bud. The best time for transplanting is the
+spring in northern latitudes subject to hard frosts, and in autumn in
+warmer climates.
+
+_Soil and Location._--All intelligent fruit-growers are aware that these
+exert a great influence upon the size, quality, and quantity, of all
+varieties of fruits. An accurate description of a variety in one climate
+will not always identify it in another. Some few varieties are nearly
+permanent and universal, but most are adapted to particular localities,
+and need a process of acclimation to adapt them to other soils and
+situations. Light sandy soils are usually regarded best for the peach:
+it is only so because nineteen out of twenty cultivators will not take
+pains to suitably prepare other soils. Some of the best peaches we have
+ever seen grew on the richest Illinois prairie, and others on the
+limestone bluffs of the Ohio river. Thorough drainage is indispensable
+for the peach, on all but very light, porous soils: with such drainage,
+peaches will do best on soil best adapted to growing corn and potatoes.
+Bones, bonedust, lime, ashes, stable-manure, and charcoal, are the best
+applications to the soil of a peach-orchard. Whoever grows peaches
+should put at least half a bushel of fine charcoal in the earth in which
+he sets each tree. Mix it well with the soil, and the tree will grow
+better, and the fruit be larger and finer, for a dozen years. Any good
+soil, well drained and manured with these articles, will produce great
+crops of peaches. For the location of peach-orchards, see our general
+remarks on "Location of Fruit-trees." But we would repeat here the
+direction to choose a northern exposure, in climates subject to late
+frosts. Elevations are always favorable, as are also the shores of all
+bodies of water. In our remarks on location, we have shown by facts the
+great value of hills, so high as to be useless for any other purpose.
+Between Pittsburgh and the mouth of the Ohio river, there are enough
+high elevations, now useless, to supply all the cities within fifty
+miles of the rivers, down to New Orleans, with the best of peaches every
+year. In no year will they ever be cut off by frost on those hills. Warm
+exposures, with a little winter protection, will secure good peaches in
+climates not adapted to them. In some parts of France, they grow large
+quantities for market by training them against walls, where they do not
+flourish in the open field. By this practice, and by enclosures and
+acclimation, the growth of this excellent fruit may be extended to the
+coldest parts of the United States.
+
+_Transplanting_--should be performed with care, as in the case of all
+other fruit-trees. Every injured root should be cut off smooth from the
+under side, slanting out from the tree. Leave the roots, as nearly as
+possible, in the position in which they were before. Set the tree an
+inch lower than it stood in the nursery; it saves the danger of the
+roots getting uncovered, and of too strong action of the atmosphere on
+the roots, in a soil so loose. The opposite is often recommended, viz.,
+to allow the tree in its new location to stand an inch or two higher
+than before; but we are sure, from repeated trials, that it is wrong.
+Shake the fine earth as closely around the roots as possible, mulch
+well, and pour on a pailful of tepid water, if it be rather a dry time,
+and the tree will be sure to live and make a good growth the first year.
+When a peach-tree is transplanted, after one year's growth from the bud,
+it should have the top cut off within eighteen inches or two feet of the
+ground, and all the limbs cut off at half their length. This will
+induce the formation of a full, large head. A low, full-branching head
+is always best on a peach-tree.
+
+_Pruning_ is perhaps the most important matter in successful peach
+culture. The fruit is borne wholly on wood of the previous year's
+growth. Hence a tree that has the most of that growth, in a mature
+state, and properly situated, will bear the most and the finest fruit. A
+tree left to its natural state, with no pruning but of a few of the
+lower limbs from the main trunk, will soon exhibit a collection of long
+naked limbs, without foliage, except near their extremities (see the cut
+overleaf). In this case fruit will be too thick on what little bearing
+wood there is, and it should be thinned. But very few cultivators even
+attend to that. The fruit is consequently small, and it weakens the
+growth of the young wood above, for next year's fruiting, and thus tree
+and fruit are perpetually deteriorating.
+
+Observe a shoot of young peachwood, you will see near its base,
+leaf-buds. On the middle there are many blossom-buds, and on the top,
+leaf-buds again. The tendency of sap is to the extremity. Hence the
+upper leaf-buds will put out at once. And for their growth, and the
+maturity of the excessive fruit on the middle, the power of the sap is
+so far exhausted, that the leaf-buds at the base do not grow. Hence when
+the fruit is removed, nothing is left below the terminal shoots, but a
+bare pole. This is the condition in which we find most peach-trees.
+
+For this there is a certain preventive. It consists in shortening in, by
+cutting off in the month of September, from a third to a half of the
+current season's growth. If the top be large, cut off one half the
+length of the new wood. If it be less vigorous and rank, and you fear
+you will not have room for a fair crop of peaches, cut off but one
+third. This heading-in is sometimes recommended to be done in the
+spring. For forming a head in a young tree the spring is better. But to
+mature the wood, and increase the quantity, and improve the quality of
+the fruit, September is much the best.
+
+Such shortening in early in September, directs the sap to maturing the
+wood, already formed and developing fruit-buds, instead of promoting the
+growth of an undue quantity of young and tender wood, to be destroyed by
+the winter, or to hinder the growth of the fruit of the next season.
+This heading-in process, with these young shoots, is most easily
+performed with pruning shears, with wooden handles, of a length suited
+to the height of the tree.
+
+[Illustration: Neglected Peach-Tree.]
+
+[Illustration: Properly-trimmed Peach-Tree.]
+
+But a work to precede this annual shortening-in, is the original
+formation of a head to a peach-tree. Take a tree a year old from the
+bud, and cut it down to within two and a half feet from the ground.
+Below that numerous strong shoots will come out. Select three vigorous
+ones and let them grow as they please, carefully pinching off all the
+rest. In the fall you will have a tree of three good strong branches. In
+the next spring cut off these three branches, one half. Below these
+cuts, branches will start freely. Select one vigorous shoot to continue
+the limb, and another to form a new branch. Check the growth of the
+shoots below, by cutting off their ends, but do not rub them off, as
+they will form fruit branches. At the close of the season you will have
+a tree with six main branches, and some small ones for fruit, on the
+older wood. Repeat this process the third year, and you have a tree with
+twelve main branches, and plenty smaller ones for fruit. All these small
+branches on the old wood, should be shortened in half their length, to
+cause the leaf-buds near their base to start, so as to produce large
+numbers of young shoots. Continue this as long as you please, and make
+just as large a head and just such a form as you may wish, being careful
+only to control the shape of the top so as to let the sun and air freely
+into every part.
+
+Trees thus trained may be planted thick enough to allow four hundred to
+stand on an acre, and will bear an abundance of the finest fruit, and
+all low enough to be easily picked. This method of training is much
+better than allowing the tree to shoot out on all sides from the ground:
+in that case, the branches are apt to split down and perish. This system
+of heading-in freely every year, preserves the life and health of the
+tree remarkably. Many of the finest peach-trees in France are from
+thirty to sixty years old, and some a hundred. We may, in this country,
+have peach-trees live fifty years, in the most healthy bearing
+condition. By trimming in this way, and carrying out fully this system,
+some have thrifty-looking peach-trees, more than a foot in diameter,
+bearing the very best of fruit. It is sheer neglect that causes our
+peach-orchards to perish after having borne from three to six years. Let
+every man who plants a peach-tree remember, that this system of
+training will make his tree live long, be healthy, grow vigorously, and
+bear abundantly.
+
+_Diseases_ of peach-trees have been a matter of much speculation. The
+result is, that the hope of the peach-grower is mainly in preventives.
+
+_The Yellows_ is usually regarded as a disease. Imagination has invented
+many causes of this evil. Some suppose it to be produced by small
+insects; others that it is in the seed. Again, it is ascribed to the
+atmosphere. It has been supposed to be propagated in many ways--by
+trimming a healthy tree with a knife that had been used on a diseased
+one; by contagion in the atmostphere, as the measles or small-pox; by
+impregnation from the pollen, through the agency of winds or bees; by
+the migration of small insects; or by planting diseased seeds, or
+budding from diseased trees. This great diversity of opinion leaves room
+to doubt whether the yellows in peach-trees be a disease at all, or only
+a symptom of general decay. The symptoms, as given in all the
+fruit-books, are only such as would be natural from decay and death of
+the tree, from any cause whatever. This may result from neglect to
+supply the soil with suitable manures, and to trim trees properly, and
+especially from over-bearing. This view of the case is more probable,
+from the fact that none pretend to have found a remedy. All advise to
+remove the tree thus affected at once, root and branch. We have seen the
+following treatment of such trees tried with marked success. Cut off a
+large share of the top, as when you would renew an old, neglected tree;
+lay the large roots bare, making a sort of basin around the body of the
+tree, and pour in three pailfuls of _boiling_ water: the tree will
+start anew and do well. This is an excellent application to an old,
+failing peach-tree. The sure preventive of the yellows is, planting
+seeds of healthy trees, budding from the most vigorous, heading-in well,
+supplying appropriate manures, and general good cultivation.
+
+_Curled Leaves_ is another evil among peach-trees, occurring before the
+leaves are fully grown, and causing them to fall off after two or three
+weeks. Other leaves will put out, but the fruit is destroyed, and the
+general health of the tree injured. Elliott says the curl of the leaf is
+produced by the punctures of small insects. One kind of curled leaf is,
+but not this. But we have no doubt that Barry's theory is the correct
+one, viz., that it is the effect of sudden changes of the weather. We
+have noticed the curled leaf in orchards where the trees were so close
+together as to guard each other. On the side where the cold wind struck
+them, we noticed they were badly affected; while on the warm side, and
+in the centre where they were protected by the others, they exhibited
+very few signs of the curl. In western New York, unusual cold east winds
+always produce the curled leaves, on trees much exposed: hence, the only
+remedy is the best protection you can give, by location, &c.
+
+_Mildew_ is a minute fungus growing on the ends of tender shoots of
+certain varieties, checking their growth, and producing other bad
+effects. Syringe the trees with a weak solution of nitre, one ounce in a
+gallon of water, which will destroy the fungus and invigorate the tree.
+
+_The Borer_ has been the great enemy of the peach-tree, since about the
+close of the last century. The female insect, that produces the worms,
+deposites her eggs under rough bark, near the surface of the ground.
+This is done mostly in July, but occasionally from June to October. The
+eggs are laid in small punctures, and covered with a greenish glue; in a
+few days they come out, a small white worm, and eat through the bark
+where it is tender, just at, or a little below, the surface of the
+ground; they eat under the bark, between that and the wood, and,
+consuming a little of each, they frequently girdle the tree; as they
+grow larger, they perforate the solid wood; when about a year old, they
+make a cocoon just below the surface of the ground, change into a
+chrysalis state, and shortly come out a winged insect, to deposite fresh
+eggs. But the practical part of all this is the _remedy_: keep the
+ground clean around the trees, and rub off frequently all the rough
+bark; place around each tree half a peck of air-slaked lime, and the
+borer will not attack it. This should be placed there on the first of
+May, and be spread over the ground on the first of October; refuse
+tobacco-stems, from the cigar-makers, or any other offensive substance,
+as hen-manure, salt and ashes, &c., will answer the same purpose. We
+should recommend the annual cultivation of a small piece of ground in
+tobacco, for use around peach-trees. We have found it very successful
+against the borer, and it is an excellent manure; applied two or three
+times during the season, it proves a perfect remedy, and is in no way
+injurious, as an excessive quantity of lime might be.
+
+_Leaf Insects._--There are several varieties, which cause the leaves to
+curl and prematurely fall. This kind of curled leaf differs from the one
+described as the result of sudden changes and cold wind; that appears
+general wherever the cold wind strikes the tree, while this only affects
+a few leaves occasionally, and those surrounded by healthy leaves. The
+remedy is to syringe them with offensive mixtures, as tobacco-juice, or
+sprinkle them when wet with fine, air-slaked lime.
+
+_Varieties._--Their name is legion, and they are rapidly increasing, and
+their synonyms multiplying. A singular fact, in most of our fruit-books,
+is a minute description of useless kinds, and such descriptions of those
+that they call good, as not one in ten thousand cultivators will ever
+try to master--they are worse than useless, except to an occasional
+amateur cultivator.
+
+Elliott, in his fruit-book, divides peaches into three classes: the
+first is for general cultivation; under this class he describes
+thirty-one varieties, with ninety-eight synonyms. His second class is
+for amateur cultivators, and includes sixty-nine varieties, with
+eighty-four synonyms. His third class, which he says are unworthy of
+further cultivation, describes fifty-four varieties, with seventy-seven
+synonyms. Cole gives sixty-five varieties, minutely described, and many
+of them pronounced worthless. In Hooker's Western Fruit-Book, we have
+some eighty varieties, only a few of which are regarded worthy of
+cultivation. Downing gives us one hundred and thirty-three varieties,
+with about four hundred synonyms. In all these works the descriptions
+are minute. The varieties of serrated leaves, the glandless, and some
+having globose glands on the leaves, and others with reniform glands.
+Then we have the color of the fruit in the shade and in the sun, which
+will, of course, vary with every degree of sun or shade. We submit the
+opinion that those books would have possessed much more value, had they
+only described the best mode of cultivating peaches, without having
+mentioned a single variety, thus leaving each cultivator to select the
+best he could find. Had they given a plain description of ten, or
+certainly of not more than fifteen varieties, those books would have
+been far more valuable _for the people_. We give a small list, including
+all we think it best to cultivate. Perhaps confining our selection to
+half a dozen varieties would be a further improvement:--
+
+1. The first of all peaches is _Crawford's Early_. This is an early,
+sure, and great bearer, of the most beautiful, large fruit;--a
+good-flavored, juicy peach, though not the very richest. It is, on the
+whole, the very best peach in all parts of the country. Time, from July
+15th to September 1st. Freestone.
+
+2. _Crawford's Late_ is very large and handsome; uniformly productive,
+though not nearly so good a bearer as Crawford's Early. Ripens last of
+September and in October. Fair quality, and always handsome; freestone;
+excellent for market.
+
+3. _Columbia._--Origin, New Jersey. It is a thoroughly-tested variety,
+raised and described by Mr. Cox, who wrote one of the earliest and best
+American fruit-books. Fine specimens were exhibited in 1856, grown in
+Covington, Ky. Excellent in all parts of the United States. Freestone.
+
+4. _George the Fourth._--A large, delicious, freestone peach, an
+American seedling from Mr. Gill, Broad street, New York. The National
+Pomological Society have decided the tree to be so healthy and
+productive as to adapt it to all localities in this country. It has
+twenty-five synonyms.
+
+5. _Early York._--Freestone; the best, and first really good, early
+peach. Time July at Cincinnati, and August at Cleveland. Time of
+ripening of all varieties varies with latitude, location, and season.
+
+6. _Grass Mignonne._--A foreign variety, a great favorite in France, in
+the time of Louis XIV. Very rich freestone, flourishing in all climates
+from Boston south. The high repute in which it has long been held is
+seen in its thirty synonyms. One of the best, when you can obtain the
+genuine. Time, August.
+
+7. _Honest John._--A large, beautiful, delicious, freestone variety.
+Highly prized as a late peach, maturing from the middle to the last of
+October. Indispensable in even a small selection.
+
+8. _Malacatune._--A very popular American freestone peach, derived from
+a Spanish, and is the parent of the Crawford peaches, both early and
+late.
+
+9. _Morris White._--Everywhere well known; a good bearer; best for
+preserving at the North; a good dessert peach South.
+
+10. _Morris Red Rare-ripe._--A favorite, freestone, July peach. The tree
+is healthy and a great bearer.
+
+11. _Old Mixon._--Should be found in all gardens and orchards; it is of
+excellent quality and ripens at a time when few good peaches are to be
+had; it endures spring-frosts better than any other variety; profitable.
+
+12. _Old Mixon Cling._--One of the most delicious early clingstones.
+Deserves a place in all gardens.
+
+13. _Monstrous Cling._--Not the best quality, but profitable for market
+on account of its great size.
+
+14. _Heath Cling._--Very good South and West. Wrapped in paper and laid
+in a cool room, it will keep longer than any other variety. Tree hardy
+and often produces when others fail. Excellent for preserving, and when
+quite ripe, is superior as a dessert fruit.
+
+15. _Blood Cling._--A well-known peach, excellent for pickling and
+preserving. It sometimes measures twelve inches in circumference. The
+old French Blood Cling is smaller. Many of these varieties will be found
+under other names. You will have to depend upon your nursery-man to give
+you the best he has, and be careful to bud from any choice variety you
+may happen to taste. Difficulties and disappointments will always attend
+efforts to get desired varieties.
+
+
+PEAR.
+
+The pear is a native of Europe and Asia, and, in its natural state, is
+quite as unfit for the table as the crab-apple. Cultivation has given it
+a degree of excellence that places it in the first rank among
+dessert-fruits. No other American fruit commands so high a price. New
+varieties are obtained by seedlings, and are propagated by grafting and
+budding: the latter is generally preferred. Root-grafting of pears is to
+be avoided; the trees will be less vigorous and healthy. The difficulty
+of raising pear-seedlings has induced an extensive use of suckers, to
+the great injury of pear-culture. Fruit-growers are nearly unanimous in
+discarding suckers as stocks for grafting. The difficulty in raising
+seedling pear-trees is the failure of the seeds to vegetate. A remedy
+for this is, never to allow the seeds to become dry, after being taken
+from the fruit, until they are planted. Keep them in moist sand until
+time to plant them in the spring, or plant as soon as taken from the
+fruit. The spring is the best time for planting, as the ground can be
+put in better condition, rendering after-culture much more easy. The
+pear will succeed well on any good soil, well supplied with suitable
+fertilizers. The best manures for the pear are, lime in small
+quantities, wood-ashes, bones, potash dissolved, and applied in rotten
+wood, leaves, and muck, with a little stable-manure and
+iron-filings--iron is very essential in the soil for the pear-tree. In
+all soils moderately supplied with these articles, all pear-trees
+grafted on seedling-stocks, and those that flourish on the foreign
+quince, will do well. A good yellow loam is most natural; light sandy or
+gravelly land is unfavorable. It is better to cart two or three loads of
+suitable soil for each tree on such land. The practice of budding or
+grafting on apple-stocks, on crab-apples, and on the mountain-ash,
+should be utterly discarded. For producing early fruit, quince-stocks
+and root-pruning are recommended.
+
+Setting out pear-trees properly is of very great importance. The
+requisites are, to have the ground in good condition, from manure on the
+crop of the last season, and thoroughly subsoiled and drained.
+Pear-trees delight in rather heavy land, if it be well drained; but
+water, standing in the soil about them, is utterly ruinous. Pear-trees,
+well transplanted on moderately rich land, well subsoiled and well
+drained, will almost always succeed. By observing the following brief
+directions, any cultivator may have just such shaped tops on his
+pear-trees as he desires. Cut short any shoots that are too vigorous,
+that those around them may get their share of the sap, and thus be
+enabled to make a proportionate growth. After trees have come into
+bearing, symmetry in the form of their heads may be promoted by
+pinching off all the fruit on the weak branches, and allowing all on the
+strong ones to mature.
+
+Those two simple methods, removing the fruit from too vigorous shoots,
+and cutting in others, half or two-thirds their length, will enable one
+to form just such heads as he pleases, and will prove the best
+preventives of diseases.
+
+_Diseases._--There are many insects that infest pear-orchards, in the
+same manner as they do apples, and are to be destroyed in the same way.
+The slugs on the leaves are often quite annoying. These are worms,
+nearly half an inch long, olive-colored, and tapering from head to tail,
+like a tadpole. Ashes or quicklime, sprinkled over the leaves when they
+are wet with dew or rain, is an effectual remedy.
+
+_Insect-Blight._--This has been confounded with the frozen-sap blight,
+though they are very different. In early summer, when the shoots are in
+most vigorous growth, you will notice that the leaves on the ends of
+branches turn brown, and very soon die and become black. This is caused
+by a worm from an egg, deposited just behind or below a bud, by an
+insect. The egg hatches, and the worm perforates the bark into the wood,
+and commits his depredations there, preventing the healthy flow of the
+sap, which kills the twig above. Soon after the shoot dies, the worm
+comes out in the form of a winged insect, and seeks a location to
+deposite its eggs, preparatory to new depredations. The remedy is to cut
+off the shoots affected at once, and burn them. The insect-blight does
+not affect the tree far below the location of the worm. Watch your trees
+closely, and cut off all affected parts as soon as they appear, and burn
+them immediately, and you will soon destroy all the insects. But very
+soon after the appearance of the blight they leave the limb; hence a
+little delay will render your efforts useless. These insects often
+commit the same depredations on apple and quince-trees. We had an
+orchard in Ohio seriously affected by them. We know no remedy but
+destruction as above.
+
+_The Frozen-Sap Blight_ is a much more serious difficulty. Its nature
+and origin are now pretty well settled. In every tree there are two
+currents of sap: one passes up through the outer wood, to be digested by
+the leaves; the other passing down in the inner bark, deposites new
+wood, to increase the size of the tree. Now, in a late growth of this
+kind of wood, the process is rapidly going on, at the approach of cold
+weather, and the descending sap is suddenly frozen, in this tender bark
+and growing wood. This sudden freezing poisons the sap, and renders the
+tree diseased. The blight will show itself, in its worst form, in the
+most rapid growing season of early summer, though the disease commenced
+with the severe frosts of the previous autumn. Its presence may be known
+by a thick, clammy sap, that will exude in winter or spring pruning, and
+in the discoloration of the inner bark and peth of the branches. On
+limbs badly affected on one side, the bark will turn black and shrivel
+up. But its effects in the death of the branches only occur when the
+growth of the tree demands the rapid descent of the sap: then the
+poisoned sap which was arrested the previous fall, in its downward
+passage, is diluted and sent through the tree; and when it is abundant,
+the whole tree is poisoned and destroyed in a few days; in others more
+slightly affected, it only destroys a limb or a small portion of the
+top. Another effect of this fall-freezing of sap and growing wood, is
+to rupture the sap-vessels, and thus prevent the inner bark from
+performing its functions. This theory is so well established, that an
+intelligent observer can predict, in the fall, a blight-season the
+following summer. If the summer be cool, and the fall warm and damp,
+closed by sudden cold, the blight will be troublesome the next season,
+because the plentiful downward flow of sap, and rapid growth of wood,
+were arrested by sudden freezing. If the summer is favorable, and the
+wood matures well before cold weather, the blight will not appear. This
+is of the utmost practical moment to the pear-culturist. Anything in
+soil, situation, or pruning, that favors early maturity of wood, will
+serve as a preventive of blight; hence, cool, moist situations are not
+favorable in climates subject to sudden and severe cold weather in
+autumn. Root-pruning and heading-in, which always induce early maturity
+of wood, are of vast importance; they will, almost always, prevent
+frozen-sap blight. If, in spite of you, your pear-trees will make a late
+luxuriant growth, cut off one half of the most vigorous shoots before
+hard freezing, and you will check the flow of sap, by removing the
+leaves and shoots that control it, and save your trees. If blight makes
+its appearance, cut off at once all the parts affected. The effects will
+be visible in the wood and inner bark, far below the external apparent
+injury. Remove the whole injured part, or it will poison the rest of the
+tree. When this frozen sap is extensive, it poisons and destroys the
+whole tree; when slight, the tree often wholly recovers. If a spot of
+black, shrivelled bark appears, shave it off, deep enough to remove the
+affected parts, and cover the wound with grafting-wax. Remove all
+affected limbs. These are the only remedies. But the practice of
+pruning both roots and branches will prove a certain preventive. A tree
+growing in grass, where it grows more slowly, and matures earlier in the
+season, will escape this blight; while one growing in very rich garden
+soil, and continuing to grow until cold weather, will suffer severely.
+The effects on orchards, in different soils and localities everywhere,
+confirm this theory. A little care then will prevent this evil, which
+has sometimes been so great as to discourage attempts at raising pears.
+In some localities, some of the finer varieties of pears, as the
+virgalieu, are ruined by cracking on the trees before ripening.
+Applications of ashes, salt, charcoal, iron-filings, and clay on light
+lands, will remedy this evil.
+
+_Distances apart._--All fruit-trees had better occupy as little ground
+as is consistent with a healthy vigorous growth. They are manured and
+well cultivated, at a much less expense. The trees protect each other
+against inclement weather. The fruit is more easily harvested. And it is
+a great saving of land, as nothing else can be profitably grown in an
+orchard of large fruit-trees. The two kinds of pear-trees, dwarf and
+standard, may be planted together closely and be profitable for early
+and abundant bearing. The plan given on the next page of a pear-orchard,
+recommended in Cole's Fruit Book, is the best we have seen.
+
+In the plan the trees on pear-stocks, designed for standards, occupy the
+large black spots where the lines intersect. They are thirty-three feet
+apart. The small spots indicate the position of dwarf-trees on quince
+stocks. Of these there are three on each square rod. An acre then would
+have forty standard trees, and four hundred and eighty dwarfs. The
+latter will come into early bearing, and be profitable, long before the
+former will produce any fruit. This will induce and repay thorough
+cultivation. They should be headed in, and finally removed, as the
+standards need more room. One acre carefully cultivated in this way,
+will afford an income sufficient for the support of a small family.
+
+[Illustration: Plan of a Pear-Orchard.]
+
+_Gathering and Preserving._--Most fruits are better when allowed fully
+to ripen on the tree. But with pears, the reverse is true; most of them
+need to be ripened in the house, and some of them, as much as possible,
+excluded from the light. Gather when matured, and when a few of the
+wormy full-grown ones begin to fall, but while they adhere somewhat
+firmly to the tree. Barrel or box them tight, or put them in drawers in
+a cool dry place. About the time for them to become soft, put them in a
+room, with a temperature comfortable for a sitting-room, and you will
+soon have them in their greatest perfection. They do better in a warm
+room, wrapped in paper or cotton. A few only ripen well on the trees.
+Those ripened in the house keep much longer and better.
+
+_Varieties._--The London Horticultural Society have proved seven hundred
+varieties, from different parts of the world, in their experimental
+garden. Cole speaks of eight hundred and Elliott of twelve hundred
+varieties. There are now probably more than three thousand growing in
+this country. Many seedlings, not known beyond the neighborhood where
+they originated, may be among our very best. From six to ten varieties
+are all that need be cultivated. We present the following list, advising
+cultivators to select five or six to suit their own tastes and
+circumstances, and cultivate no more. We do not give the usual
+descriptions of the varieties selected. The mass of cultivators, for
+whom this work is specially intended, will never learn and test the
+descriptions. They will depend upon their nursery-man, and bud and graft
+from those they have tasted.
+
+We give their names and some of their synonyms, their adaptation to
+quince or pear stocks, their manner of growth, and time of maturity.
+These will enable the culturist to select whatever best suits his taste;
+adapted to quince or pear stocks; for the table or kitchen; for summer,
+fall, or winter use, and for home or the market.
+
+BELLE LUCRATIVE.--_Fondante d' Automne, Seigneur d' Esperin._ Tree of
+moderate growth, but a great bearer. A fine variety, on quince or pear,
+better perhaps on the pear stock. Season, last of September.
+
+BEURRE EASTER with fifteen synonyms that few would ever read. Best on
+quince. Requires a warm soil and considerable care in ripening, when it
+proves one of the best. Its season--from January to May--makes it very
+desirable. Large, yellowish-green, with russet spots.
+
+[Illustration: Bartlett.]
+
+BARTLETT.--_William's, William's Bon Chretien, Poire Guilliaume_. Tree,
+a vigorous grower, and a regular, early, good bearer, of long, handsome,
+perfectly-formed fruit; on the quince or pear stock. Time, August and
+September.
+
+[Illustration: Beurre Diel.]
+
+BEURRE DIEL.--_Diel_, _Diel's Butterbirne_, _Dorothee Royale_, _Grosse
+Dorothee_, _Beurre Royale_, _Des Trois Tours_, _De Melon_, _Melon de
+Kops_, _Beurre Magnifique_, _Beurre Incomparable_. Grows well on quince
+or pear, but perhaps does best on quince. Large, beautiful, luscious
+fruit. Season, October to last of November.
+
+[Illustration: White Doyenne.]
+
+WHITE DOYENNE.--_Virgalieu._ Tree vigorous and hardy on pear or quince.
+Everywhere esteemed as one of the very best. Needs care in supplying
+proper manure and clay on light soils, to prevent the fruit from
+cracking. September to November. If we could have but one we should
+choose this.
+
+COLUMBIA.--_Columbian Virgalieu._ Native of New York, bearing
+abundantly, a uniformly smooth, fair, large fruit. Color, fine golden
+yellow, dotted with gray. Season, December and January.
+
+[Illustration: Flemish Beauty.]
+
+FLEMISH BEAUTY.--_Belle de Flanders, &c._ This is a large, beautiful,
+and delicious pear. One of the finest in its season, but does not last
+long. Ripens last of September. Very fine on the quince, and is
+excellent on the rich prairie-lands of the West. Deserves increased
+attention.
+
+BEURRE D'AREMBERG.--_Duc d'Aremberg, and eight other synonyms._ Tree
+very hardy, does well on the pear stock, and bears early, annually, and
+abundantly. A very fine foreign variety. The fruit hangs on the tree
+well, and may be ripened at will from December to February, by placing
+in a warm room, when you would ripen them.
+
+BUFFUM.--A native of Rhode Island, and very successful wherever grown. A
+great bearer of handsome fruit, though not of the best quality. It is,
+however, an excellent orchard pear. Fruit, medium size, ripening in
+September.
+
+LOUISE BONNE OF JERSEY.--_William the Fourth_, and three other useless
+foreign synonyms. Not surpassed, on the quince. Tree very vigorous,
+producing a great abundance of large fruit. Season, October.
+
+MADELEINE.--_Magdalen_, _Citron des Carmes_. This bears an abundance of
+small but delicious fruit. Is valuable also on account of its
+season--the last half of July. Good on pear or quince. Must be checked
+in its growth, on very rich land, or it will be subject to the frozen
+sap-blight.
+
+ONONDAGA.--American origin. Equally good on pear or quince. Large,
+hardy, and very productive tree. The fruit is very large, fine golden
+yellow when ripe. Excellent for market. Season, October and November.
+
+POUND PEAR.--_Winter Belle_, and twelve other synonyms, which are
+unimportant. This is the great winter-pear for cooking. The tree is a
+very vigorous grower and great bearer. A very profitable orchard
+variety. December to March.
+
+PRINCE'S ST. GERMAIN.--_New St. Germain_, _Brown's St. Germain_. Hardy
+and productive. Good keeper, ripening as easily and as well as an apple.
+December to March.
+
+[Illustration: Seckel.]
+
+SECKEL.--There are a number of synonyms, but it is always known by this
+name. Tree is small, but a good and regular bearer of small excellent
+fruit. Time in warm climates, September and October.
+
+STEVEN'S GENESEE.--_Stephen's Genesee_, _Guernsey_. Desirable for all
+orchards and gardens, on quince or pear. Fine grower and very
+productive. Fruit large and excellent. Elliott says "even the wind-falls
+are very fine."
+
+VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.--Eight synonyms, but it will hardly be mistaken by
+nursery-men. Does well on quince. It is thrifty and very productive of
+fruit of second quality. Yet it is generally profitable. November to
+January.
+
+WINTER NELLIS.--Its six foreign synonyms are of no consequence. This is
+the best of all winter-pears, grown on quince or pear. Exceedingly well
+adapted to the rich western prairies. An early and great bearer.
+November to January 15.
+
+[Illustration: Gray Doyenne.]
+
+GRAY DOYENNE.--A superior October pear. Tree hardy and productive on
+both pear or quince. Partakes much of the excellence of the White
+Doyenne.
+
+From these you can select five or six just adapted to your wishes. The
+diversity of views, of the merits of different varieties of pears,
+arises mainly from the influence of location, soil, and culture. The
+established known varieties, may be grown in great perfection anywhere,
+with suitable care. At the West they _must be root-pruned_ and
+_headed-in_ until they are ten years old, after which they will be hardy
+and productive. If allowed to grow as fast as they will incline to, on
+alluvial soils, when they are exposed to severe winters, they will
+disappoint growers. With care they will be sure and profitable.
+
+
+PEPPERS.
+
+The red peppers, cultivated in this country, are used for pickling, for
+pepper-sauce, as a condiment for food, and as a domestic medicine.
+
+_Varieties_--are named principally from their shape. The _large
+squash-pepper_ is best for green pickles, on account of its size and
+tenderness. The _Cayenne_, a small, long variety, much resembling the
+original from which it is named, is very pungent, used mostly for
+pepper-sauce. Grind, not very fine, any of the varieties, and they are
+useful on any food of a cold nature and not easily digestible. They are
+all good for medicinal purposes. The capsicum needs a dry, warm soil,
+with exposure to the sun. Plants should stand two feet apart each way;
+as they are slow growers, they should be started in an early hotbed.
+Many will ripen during summer, and may be gathered. In the fall, when
+frost comes, the vines will be covered with blossoms and with peppers of
+all sizes. Fall-grown green ones, strung on a thread, and hung in a
+warm, dry room, will ripen finely. They are very hardy, and may be
+transplanted without injury. Hen-manure is best for them.
+
+
+PEPPERGRASS.
+
+This is a variety of cress, of quick growth, used as lettuce. On a rich,
+finely-pulverized soil, sow the seeds in drills, fifteen inches apart,
+and cover very lightly. Sow thick and water in dry weather. For use, cut
+the tops while they are very tender. A second crop will grow, but
+inferior to the first. The water-cress, growing spontaneously by rills
+and springs, is a kind of wild peppergrass, and is by some persons more
+esteemed than the garden variety. We prefer early lettuce to cresses or
+peppergrass, and see no reason for their cultivation, but their rapid
+growth.
+
+
+PLOWING.
+
+This is one of the most important matters in soil-culture. When, how,
+and how much, shall we plow? are the three questions involving the
+whole. When should plowing be done? As it respects wet or dry, plow
+sandy or gravelly land whenever you are ready. It will neither be hard
+when dry, nor injured by being plowed when very wet. Good loams may be
+plowed at all times except when excessively wet. Clays can only be
+worked profitably when neither excessively wet or dry. Plowing land in a
+warm rain is almost equal to a coat of manure. Plowing in a light snow
+in the spring will injure it the whole season. We have noticed a marked
+difference in corn growing but a rod apart, on land where snow was
+plowed in, and the other plowed two or three days later, after the snow
+was gone; this difference was noticeable in the rows throughout the
+entire field. Spring or fall plowing is a question that has been much
+discussed. Sod-land is better plowed in the fall. The action of winter
+rains and frosts on the turf is beneficial. The same is true of land
+trenched deep, where much of the hard, poor subsoil is brought to the
+surface: it is benefited by winter exposure. Other cultivated fields are
+injured by fall-plowing, unless it be very early. All stubble-land is
+much benefited by being plowed as soon as the grain is taken off. The
+weeds and stubble, plowed under, will be decomposed by the warm weather
+and rains, and benefit the soil almost as much as an ordinary coat of
+manure. Plowed late, such action does not take place, and the surface is
+injured by winter-exposure: hence, do all the _early_ fall-plowing
+possible, but plow nothing _late_ in the fall but sod-land.
+
+How shall we plow? All land should be subsoiled, except that having a
+light, porous subsoil; one deep plowing on such land is sufficient.
+Subsoiling is done by using two teams at once--one with a common plow,
+running deep, and the other with a subsoil-plow with no mould-board, and
+which will, consequently, stir and disintegrate the earth to the depth
+at which it runs, without throwing it to the surface. The next
+surface-furrow will cover up this loosened subsoil. In this way, land
+may be plowed eighteen inches deep, to the great benefit of any crop
+grown on it. If the surface be well manured, this method of plowing will
+place the manure between the first furrow and the subsoil, and increase
+its value. Such plowing is very valuable on land for young fruit-trees.
+There is another method, which we denominate double-plowing, which is
+more beneficial than ordinary subsoiling: it is performed by two common
+plows, one following in the furrow of the other; the first furrow need
+not be very deep--let the furrow in the bottom of the first be as deep
+as possible, and thrown out upon the surface; the next furrow will throw
+the surface and manure into the bottom of the deep furrow; the next
+furrow will cover this surface-soil and manure very deep, and, as manure
+always works up, it will impregnate the whole. This, for
+garden-vegetables, berries, nurseries, or young orchards, is the best
+form of plowing that we have ever tried. It may be done with one team,
+by simply changing the gauge of the clevis every time round, gauging it
+light for the first furrow, and deep for the second. We once prepared a
+plat in this way with one team, on which cabbages made a remarkable
+growth, even in a dry season. Still a farther improvement would be a
+light coat of fine manure on the surface. All furrows, in every
+description of plowing, should be near enough together to move the
+whole, leaving no hard places between them. The usual "cut and cover"
+system, to get over a large area in a day, is miserable economy. The
+more evenly and flatly land can be turned over in plowing, the better it
+will be; it retards the growth of weeds, and secures a better action
+upon substances plowed under. An exception to deep plowing is in
+breaking up the original prairies of the West: they have to be broken
+with plows kept sharp as a knife, and not more than two inches deep. The
+grass then dies and the sod rots. But plowed deep, the grass comes up
+through the turf, and will prove troublesome for two or three years. It
+must also be broken at a certain season of the year, to insure success.
+It may be profitably done for two months after the grass gets a good
+start in the spring.
+
+_How much_ is it best to plow land? Once double-plowed, or thoroughly
+subsoiled, and well turned over, is better than more. Land once plowed
+so as to disintegrate the whole to the depth of the furrow, will produce
+more, and require less care, than the same would do if cross-plowed once
+or twice. Excessive plowing is a positive injury. All land should be
+broken up once in three or four years, and not kept longer than that
+under the plow at one time. Some farmers keep land perpetually in grass,
+refusing to have a plow touch it on any condition. They see wrong
+tillage produce barrenness. But by this practice they are great losers;
+they never get over one half the hay or pasturage that could be obtained
+by frequent tillage and manuring, and a rotation of crops.
+
+
+PLUM.
+
+This is one of our best fruits, but suffers more from enemies than any
+other.
+
+_Propagation_ is by seeds or layers, budding or grafting. Seeds from
+trees not exposed to mixture with other varieties in the blossom, will
+produce the same; hence, this is the best method of propagating a given
+variety, standing alone. But, for most situations, budding is preferable
+to any other method. This should be performed earlier than on the peach.
+The plum matures earlier, and hence should be budded about the last of
+July, or first of August. Bud on the north side of the tree to avoid
+the hot sun; and tie more tightly than in budding other trees. Bud
+plum-trees the second year from the seed. Grafting should be resorted to
+only when buds have failed, and there is a prospect that the trees will
+be too large for budding another season. The common wild plums make good
+stocks, if grafted at the ground. Thoroughly mulch all newly-grafted
+plum-trees. Root-grafting will succeed, but should never be practised.
+In all grafting of plums, put the graft in at the surface of the ground,
+and cover with sawdust or mould, leaving but one bud on the graft
+exposed.
+
+_Soil._--All soils are good for the plum, provided they be thoroughly
+drained, and properly fertilized.
+
+Hard soils are recommended as being almost proof against the curculio.
+That a soil affording a rather hard, smooth surface, will afford less
+burrows for curculio, and consequently lessen their ravages, is no doubt
+true. But it is not a perfect remedy, and, on other accounts, such a
+soil is no better. A good firm loam is best. Plums will do well also on
+light land, but are more exposed to injury from the curculio.
+
+_Transplanting._--The plum being perfectly hardy, we recommend
+transplanting in autumn. Shorten in the top, cut off considerable of the
+tap-root, and the ends of the long roots, transplant well, and mulch so
+thoroughly as to prevent too strong action of the frost on the roots,
+and they will start early and do well. Twelve feet apart for small
+varieties, and twenty feet for larger growers, are the distances usually
+recommended. We think a rod apart each way will do well for all
+varieties.
+
+_Pruning._--Once started in a regular growth, in such a shape as you
+desire, no further pruning will be necessary but occasionally
+heading-in a too luxuriant shoot, and removing diseased and cross limbs.
+On rich Western lands, and in warm Southern climes, young plum-trees
+must be root-pruned and headed-in, or they will be unfruitful and
+unhealthy. Root-pruning should be done in August, in the following
+manner. In case of a tree ten feet high, take a sharp spade, and in a
+circle around the tree, two feet from the trunk (making the circle four
+feet in diameter), cut off all the roots within reach. In smaller trees,
+make the circle smaller, and in larger ones, larger. At the same time,
+shorten in the current year's growth, by cutting off one half the length
+of all the principal shoots; this will give vigor, symmetry, and
+fruitfulness, and prove a valuable preventive of disease. Plum-trees
+should always have good, clean cultivation.
+
+_Manures_ from the stable and slaughter-house, with wood-ashes, lime,
+and plenty of salt, are the best for the plum. The following analysis,
+by Richardson, of the fruit of the plum, will aid the culturist in his
+selection of manures:--
+
+  Potash            59.21
+  Soda                .54
+  Lime              10.04
+  Magnesia           5.46
+  Sulphuric acid     3.83
+  Silicic acid       2.36
+  Phosphoric acid   12.26
+  Phosphate of iron  6.04
+
+Hence, as wood-ashes contains much potash, and as this is the largest
+ingredient in the plum, it must be the best application to the soil for
+this fruit. Bones, dissolved in sulphuric acid, would also be very
+valuable. Bones, bonedust, salt, wood-ashes, and barnyard manure, with a
+little lime, will be all that will be necessary.
+
+_Diseases._--In most northern latitudes, the black wart, or knot, is
+fatal to many plum-trees. It is less prevalent at the South: its origin
+is not known. Many theories respecting it are put forth by different
+cultivators; they are unsatisfactory, and their enumeration here would
+be useless. It may be either the result of general ill health in the
+tree, from budding on suckers and unhealthy stocks, and a want of proper
+elements in the soil, or of improper circulation of sap, caused by the
+roots absorbing more than the leaves can digest. In the latter case,
+root-pruning and heading-in would be an effectual preventive. In the
+former, supply suitable manures, and give good cultivation. In every
+case, remove at once all affected parts, and wash the wounds and whole
+tree, and drench the soil under it, with copperas-water--one ounce of
+copperas to two gallons of water. This is stated to be a complete
+remedy.
+
+_Defoliation_ of seedlings and bearing trees often occurs in July and
+August. Land well supplied with the manures recommended, especially
+wood-ashes, salt, and the copperas-water, has not been known to produce
+trees that drop their leaves.
+
+_Decay of the Fruit_ is another serious evil. Professor Kirtland and
+others suppose it to be a species of fungus. Poverty of soil, and wet
+weather, may be the cause. If the season be unusually wet, thin the
+fruit, so that no two plums shall touch each other. Keep the soil
+properly manured, and spread charcoal or straw under the tree, and you
+will generally be able to preserve your fruit.
+
+_The Curculio_ is the great enemy of the plum, and frequently of all
+smooth-skinned fruits, as the grape, nectarine, &c.
+
+[Illustration: (1) Curculio, in the beetle-form, life-size. (2) Its
+assumed form when disturbed or shaken from the tree. (3) Larva, or worm,
+as found in the fallen fruit. (4) Pupa, or chrysalis state, in which it
+lives in the ground.]
+
+Many remedies are proposed: making pavements, or keeping the ground hard
+and smooth, under the trees; pasturing swine and keeping fowls in the
+plum-orchard; syringing the whole tops of the trees four or five times
+with lime and salt water, or lime and sulphur-water--the proportions are
+not material, provided it be not excessively strong. It is recommended
+to apply with a garden-syringe. But, as few cultivators will have that
+instrument, they may sprinkle the mixture on the trees in any way most
+convenient. Salt, worked into the soil under plum-trees, is said to
+destroy this insect in its pupa state. At any rate, the salt is a good
+manure for the plum-tree. We know a remedy for the ravages of the
+curculio, unfailing in all seasons and localities--that is, to kill
+them: spread a cloth under the tree, and with a mallet having a head,
+covered with India-rubber or cloth that it may not injure the bark,
+strike the body and large limbs sudden blows, which will so jar them as
+to cause the insects to fall upon the cloth, and you can then burn them.
+Do this five or six times in the season, commencing when the fruit
+begins to set, and continuing till it becomes nearly full-grown. This is
+best done in the cool of the morning, while the insects are still; their
+habits of fear and quiet, when there is a noise about, are greatly in
+favor of their destruction by this method. This is somewhat laborious,
+but is a sure remedy, and will pay well in all plum-orchards, large or
+small. After two or three years of this treatment, there will be few or
+none of those insects left.
+
+_Uses_ of the plum are various. The fine varieties, well ripened, are a
+good dessert-fruit; for sweetmeats and tarts they are much esteemed;
+they are one of the better and more wholesome dried fruits. The foreign
+ones are called prunes, and are an article of commerce. With a little
+care, we can raise much better prunes than the imported. Like all
+fruits, they are better for quick drying by artificial heat. The French
+prunes, the process of drying which is minutely described by Downing in
+his fruit-book, are no better than our best varieties, quickly dried by
+artificial heat in a dry house, or moderately-heated oven. All dried
+fruit is much better for having become perfectly ripe before picking. It
+is a great mistake to suppose unripe fruit will be good dried.
+
+[Illustration: Lawrence's Favorite.]
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and many of them ought to be forgotten, as is
+the case with all other fruits. We give a small list, containing all the
+good qualities of the whole:--
+
+_Bleecker's Gage._--A hardy tree and sure bearer. Time, August.
+
+[Illustration: Imperial Gage.]
+
+[Illustration: Egg.]
+
+_Imperial Gage._--This is an American variety. It is of a lightish-green
+color, and excellent flavor. Season, July at the South, and September at
+the North.
+
+_Egg._--The above cut represents one of the egg-plums, of excellent
+quality in all respects. There are many of this name.
+
+_Lawrence's Favorite._--This is a fine plum, of the gage family. It was
+raised from the seed of the green gage; its qualities are seldom
+surpassed.
+
+_Washington._--This is a very good plum for high latitudes. At the South
+it is too dry.
+
+[Illustration: Green Gage.]
+
+[Illustration: Jefferson.]
+
+_Green Gage._--With fifteen synonyms. Excellent.
+
+_Jefferson._--One of the very best. Time, last of August.
+
+_Denniston's Purple, or Red._--Vigorous grower and very productive.
+Time, August 20.
+
+_Madison._--A hardy, productive, and excellent October plum.
+
+The foregoing varieties, with the little black damson-plum, so hardy and
+productive, and so much esteemed for preserving, will answer all needful
+purposes. You will find long lists in the fruit-books. Some of them are
+the above varieties, under different names. Procure four or five of the
+best you can find in your vicinity, and cultivate them, and you will
+need no others.
+
+[Illustration: Washington.]
+
+
+POMEGRANATE.
+
+This is one of the most delicious and beautiful of all the
+dessert-fruits. Native in China, and much cultivated in Southern Europe.
+It will do quite well as far north as the Ohio river. Trained as an
+espalier, with protection of straw or mats, it will do tolerably well
+throughout the Middle states. The fruit is about as large as an ordinary
+apple, and has a tough, orange-colored skin, with a beautiful red cheek.
+The tree is of low growth. Blossoms are highly ornamental, as is also
+the fruit, during all the season. It is cultivated as the orange.
+
+There are several varieties: the _sweet-fruited_, the _sub-acid_, and
+the _wild_ or _acid-fruited_. The first is the best, and the second the
+one most cultivated in this country; the latter yields a very pleasant
+acid, making an excellent sirup. Pomegranates should be extensively
+cultivated at the South, and form an important article of commerce for
+Northern cities.
+
+
+POTATO.
+
+This is far the most valuable of all esculent roots; supposed to be a
+native of South America. It is called the Irish potato, because it was
+grown extensively first in Ireland. It was first planted on the estate
+of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1602. It was introduced into England in 1694.
+It has been represented as having been introduced into England from
+Virginia as early as 1586, but attracted no attention, and for two
+centuries formed no considerable part of British agriculture. It has
+become naturalized in all temperate regions, and in many locations in
+high latitudes. In tropical climates, it flourishes on the mountains, at
+an elevation sufficient to secure a cool atmosphere. Cool moist regions,
+as Ireland and the northern parts of the United States, are most
+favorable for potatoes. In warm climates the potato grows less
+luxuriantly, yields much less, and is liable to be ruined by a second
+growth. In the latitude of southern Ohio, a severe drought, while the
+tubers are small, followed by considerable rain, causes the young
+potatoes to sprout, and send up fresh shoots, and often make a very
+luxuriant growth of tops, to the complete ruin of the tubers. This is
+called second growth. In cooler climates this second growth simply makes
+prongs on the tubers, thus injuring the appearance and quality, but
+increasing the crop. The only preventive is watering regularly in a dry
+time. This can be done advantageously in a garden, and on a small scale.
+In field culture, when second growth occurs, dig your potatoes at once,
+if they are large enough to be of much use. If not they will all be
+lost.
+
+_Propagation_ is by annually planting the tubers. No mixture of sorts
+ever takes place from planting different varieties together. This can
+only be done in the blossoms, and will consequently appear in young
+seedlings. To raise good potatoes, always plant ripe seed, and the
+largest and best, and leave them whole. Selecting small potatoes for
+seed, and cutting them up, and planting mere eyes and pearings as some
+do, has done much to injure the health, quality, and quantity of yield
+of the potato. Selecting the poorest for seed, will run out anything we
+grow in the soil. _New varieties_ have been multiplying within the past
+few years from seed. Some gentlemen are raising varieties by thousands.
+Not more than one out of a thousand prove truly valuable. The quality of
+a new variety can not be established earlier than the fifth year. Many
+that promised well at first proved worthless.
+
+To raise from seed, gather the balls after they have matured, hang them
+in a dry place till they become quite soft, when separate the seeds and
+dry them as others, and plant as early as the temperature of the soil
+favors vegetation. Chance varieties from seed of balls left to decay in
+the fall, as tomatoes, are recorded. Probably our present best varieties
+had such an origin. Raising new varieties requires much care and
+patience. Keep each one separate, plant only the best, and then you
+must wait four or five years to determine whether, out of a thousand,
+you have one good variety.
+
+_Varieties._--These are numerous. Those best adapted to one locality,
+are often inferior in another. That excellent potato, the Carter, so
+firm in New England and western New York, is ill-shapen and inferior in
+many localities in Illinois. The Neshannock or common Mercer produces a
+larger yield in Illinois than in the Eastern states, but of a slightly
+inferior quality. Most seeds do better transported from a colder to a
+warmer climate, but with the potato the reverse is true. The best
+potatoes of Ireland are usually inferior in the warmer latitudes of this
+country. In ordering potatoes for seed it is better to describe the
+quality than to order by the name. We omit any list, of even the best
+varieties. They are known by different names, and are not equally good
+in all localities. And all varieties are scattered over the whole
+country, very soon, by dealers, and through the agency of agricultural
+societies and periodicals. Different varieties should be kept separate,
+as they look better for market, and no two will cook in precisely the
+same time.
+
+_Plant the large potatoes and plant them whole._ From a small eye or a
+small potato to the largest they will vegetate equally well. And in a
+wet, cool season, the small seed will produce nearly as good a crop as
+the large. But the large seed matures earlier, and in a dry season
+produces a much larger crop. The moisture in a large potato decaying in
+the hill, is of great use to the growing plants, in a dry season. It is
+also generally conceded that potatoes growing from cut seed are more
+liable to be affected by the rot.
+
+_Quantity of seed per acre._--The practices of farmers vary from five
+to twenty bushels. It takes a less number of bushels per acre when the
+seed is cut. The quantity is also affected by the size of the seed, the
+larger the potatoes the more will it take to seed an acre.
+
+Plentiful, but not excessive, seeding is best. It is a universal fact
+that you can never get something for nothing. Hence light seeding will
+bring a light yield. We think it best to put one good-sized potato in a
+place and make the rows three feet apart each way. We think they yield
+better than at any other distances or in any other way. We have often
+tried drills, and found them more trouble, with no greater yield. The
+soil should be disintegrated to the depth of sixteen inches and the
+potatoes planted four inches deep, and cultivated with subsoil plow, and
+other suitable tools, in a manner to leave the surface nearly flat.
+Hilling up potatoes never does any good. We advise always to harrow the
+crop, as soon as they begin to appear through the soil.
+
+_Soil._--Any good rich garden soil is good for this crop, provided it be
+well drained. Potatoes like moisture, but are ruined by having water
+stand in the soil. New land and newly broken-up old pastures are best.
+
+_Manures._--All the usual fertilizers are good for potatoes, but
+especially ashes and plaster. The application above all others, for
+potatoes, is potash. Dissolve it in water, making it quite weak, and
+saturate your other manures with it, and the effect will always be
+marked. The tops contain a great deal of potash, and should always be
+plowed in and decay in the soil where they grow, otherwise they will
+rapidly exhaust the land. It is supposed that nothing will do more to
+restore the former vigor and health of the potato than a liberal
+application of potash in the soil in which they grow. The crop will be
+much increased in a dry season by manuring in the hill, dropping the
+potato first and putting the manure on the top of it.
+
+_Gathering and Preserving._--The usual hand-digging with hoe or
+potato-fork are well known, and do well when the crop is not large. But
+for those who grow potatoes for market, it is better to employ the plow
+in digging. Modern inventions for this purpose can everywhere be found
+in the agricultural warehouses. Potatoes are well preserved in a good
+cool cellar, in boxes or barrels; and are better for being covered with
+moist sand. The usual method of burying them outdoor is effectual and
+safe, if they be covered beyond the reach of frost, and have a small
+airhole at the apex, filled with straw.
+
+_The Potato Disease._--This is altogether atmospherical. A new piece of
+land was cleared for potatoes. In the middle was a close muck, on a
+coarse, gravelly subsoil. In the lowest place a ditch was dug, to carry
+off the superabundance of water; from that ditch the coarse gravel was
+thrown out on one side, and suffered to remain at considerable depth.
+Only two or three rods distant, on one side the plat extended over a
+knoll of loose sand. Potatoes were planted, from the same seed, at the
+same time, and in the same manner, on these three kinds of land, side by
+side. They were all tended alike, needing little hoeing or care, the
+land being new. The rot prevailed badly that season. On digging the
+potatoes, it was found that in the coarse gravel, where the air could
+circulate almost as freely as in a pile of stove-wood, all the potatoes
+were rotten: on the muck, which was unlike a peat-bog, very fine and
+tight, almost impervious to the atmosphere, they were nearly all sound;
+on the sand, which was quite open, but tighter than the gravel, part
+were decayed and the rest sound. Their condition was graduated entirely
+by the condition of the soil. It is an apparent objection to this
+theory, that when the rot prevails, the best potatoes are raised on
+light, sandy soils. It is said that they are open to the action of air.
+To this it is replied, that whether they rot or not, in sandy soils,
+depends on the kind of sand. On some sand they rot very badly, on others
+hardly at all. Sandy soils differ very materially: some are almost pure
+silex; while others are filled with a fine dust, and, although
+apparently loose, are much more nearly impervious to the air than
+heavier soils; on the former, nearly all will decay, and on the latter,
+most will be preserved.
+
+Look at the immense potato crops near Rochester, N. Y., on sandy land.
+We have personally examined it, and find it to be filled with dust, that
+excludes the air, and saves the potato from rot. Why, then, is a heavy
+clay useless for potatoes? Is not clay a very tight soil? Unbroken it
+is; but, when plowed, it is always left in larger particles than other
+land--it is but seldom pulverized. The spaces between the particles are
+all open to the free action of the air; hence, instead of being close,
+it is one of the most open of all our soils. This confirms the theory.
+
+The influence of manuring land is still another confirmation. We are
+directed not to manure our land for potatoes when the disease prevails.
+It is said we can raise no sound potatoes on rich land when the rot is
+abroad. This is an error. The richness of the soil does not promote the
+disease; but if any kind of manure be applied that, from its bulk and
+coarseness, keeps the soil open to the air, the potatoes will rot. But
+fertilize to the highest extent, in any way that does not make the soil
+too open, and let in the air, and the crop will be greatly increased
+with perfect safety. Thus, this theory, like every truth, perfectly fits
+in all its bearings.
+
+There is, then, no perfect remedy for the disease but in the power of
+Him who can purify the atmosphere. Numerous remedies and preventives
+have been recommended, by those who suppose they have tried them with
+success. But in other localities and soils, all their remedies have
+failed, as will all others that will yet be discovered. A careful
+examination of the texture of the soils, upon the principles here
+indicated, and a repetition of their experiments, will show the
+discoverers that their success depended upon their soils, while others
+failed in using the same remedies on other soils. The practical uses of
+this theory are obvious. When the disease is abroad, we should select
+soil that excludes, as much as possible, the atmosphere, and plant
+_deep_; on all land not liable to have water stand on the subsoil. Do
+not be deceived into the belief that all sandy land will bear good
+potatoes, in the seasons when the disease prevails. The worst rot we
+ever had was in 1855, on very sandy land. This year (1857) we have
+witnessed the worst rot in open sand and gravel. Add to this, great care
+in preserving the health of the tubers. Plant very early, only whole
+potatoes, and of mature growth, thoroughly ripe; apply a little salt and
+lime, plaster rather plentifully, and potash, or plenty of
+wood-ashes--and you will succeed in the worst of seasons.
+
+
+PRESERVING FRUITS, &c.
+
+The essentials in preserving fruits, berries, and vegetables, during the
+whole year, are, a total exclusion from atmospheric action, and, in some
+vegetables, a strong action of heat. We have a variety of patent cans,
+and several processes are recommended. The patent cans serve a good
+purpose, but, for general use, are inferior to those ordinarily made by
+the tinman. The patent articles are only good for one year, and are used
+with greater difficulty by the unskilful. The ordinary tin cans, made in
+the form of a cylinder, with an orifice in the top large enough to admit
+whatever you would preserve, will last ten years, with careful usage,
+and they are so simple that no mistakes need be made. It is usually
+recommended to solder on the cover, which is simply a square piece of
+tin large enough to cover the orifice. Soldering may be best for those
+cans that are to be transported a long distance, but it is troublesome,
+and is entirely unnecessary for domestic use. A little sealing-wax,
+which any apothecary can make at a cheap rate, laid on the top of the
+can when hot, will melt, and the cover placed upon it will adhere and
+cause it to be air-tight. All articles that do not part with their aroma
+by being cooked, may be perfectly preserved in such cans, by putting
+them in when boiling, seasoned to your taste, and putting on the covers
+at once. The cans should be full, and set in a cool place, and the
+articles will remain in a perfect state for a year. The finest articles
+of fruit, as peaches and strawberries, may be preserved so as to retain
+all their peculiar aroma, by putting them into such cans, filled with a
+sirup of pure sugar, and placing the cans so filled in a kettle of
+water, and raising it to a boiling heat, and then putting on the cover
+as above; the heat expels the air, and the cover and wax keep it out.
+Stone jugs are used for the same purposes, but are not sufficiently
+tight to keep out the air, unless well painted after having become cold.
+Wide-mouthed glass bottles are excellent. But, in using glass or stone
+ware, the corks must be put in and tied at the commencement, leaving a
+small aperture for the escape of steam, and the process of raising the
+water to a boiling heat must be gradual, requiring three or four hours,
+or the bottles will be broken by sudden expansion. Make the corks
+air-tight by covering with sealing-wax on taking from the boiling water.
+Some vegetables, as peas, beans, cauliflowers, &c., need considerable
+boiling, in order to perfect preservation. Tin cans may stand in the
+water and boil an hour or two, if you choose, and then be sealed. The
+bottles should be corked tight, have the cork tied in, and then be
+immersed and boil for an hour: take them out, and dip the cork and mouth
+of the bottles in sealing-wax, and all will be safe.
+
+By one of these processes, exclusion of the atmosphere and thorough
+boiling, we may preserve any fruit or vegetable, so as to have an
+abundance, nearly as good as the fresh in its season, the whole year,
+and that at a trifling expense. All fruits and vegetables may also be
+preserved by drying. By being properly dried, the original aroma can be
+mostly retained. The essentials in properly drying are artificial heat
+and free circulation of the air about the drying articles. Fruit dried
+in the sun is not nearly so fine as that dried by artificial heat. An
+oven from which bread has just been taken is suitable for this purpose;
+but a dry-house is better. A tight room, with a stove in the bottom, and
+the fruit in shallow drawers, put in from the outside, serves a good
+purpose. Construct the room so as to give a draft, the heated air
+passing out at the top, and the process of drying will be greatly
+facilitated, and the more rapid the process, without cooking the fruit,
+the better will be its quality. This process is applicable to all kinds
+of vegetables. Roots, as beets, carrots, parsnips, or potatoes, should
+be sliced before drying. The object in drying the latter articles would
+be to afford the luxury of good vegetables for armies and ships' crews,
+in distant regions, and in climates where they are not grown. Milk can
+be condensed and preserved for a long time, and, being greatly reduced
+in quantity, it is easily transported. It is not generally known in the
+country that Mr. Gail Borden, of New York, has invented a method of
+condensing milk, fresh from the cow, so that it will perfectly retain
+all its excellences, including the cream, and by being sealed up in tin
+cans, as above, may be kept for many months. The milk and the process of
+condensation have been scientifically examined by the New York Academy
+of Medicine, and pronounced perfect, and of great value to the world. We
+have used the condensed milk, which was more than a month old; it had
+been kept in a tin can without sealing and without ice, but in a cool
+place. It was sweet and good, differing in no respect from fresh milk
+from the cow, except that the heat employed in condensing it gave it the
+taste of boiled milk. If kept in a warm place, and exposed to the
+atmosphere, it may sour nearly as soon as other milk: but it may be
+sealed up and kept cool so as to be good for a long time. The
+condensation is accomplished by simple evaporation of the watery part,
+in pans in vacuo. No substance whatever is put into the milk. Four
+gallons of fresh milk are condensed into one. When wanted for use, the
+quantity desired is put into twice the quantity of water, which makes
+good cream for coffee; or one part to four of water makes good new milk;
+and one part to five or six makes a better milk than that usually sold
+in cities. Steamers now lay in a supply for a voyage to Liverpool and
+return, and on arrival in New York, the milk is as good as when taken on
+board. The advantages will be numerous. Such milk will be among regular
+supplies for armies and navies, and for all shipping to distant
+countries. All cities and villages may have pure, cheap milk, as the
+condensation will render transportation so cheap that milk can be sent
+from any part of the country where it is most plenty and cheapest. The
+process is patented, but will be granted to others at reasonable rates,
+by Borden & Co.; and eventually it will become general, when farmers can
+condense and lay by, in the season when it is abundant, milk for use in
+the winter, when cows are dry. This will make milk abundant at all
+seasons of the year, and plenty wherever we choose to carry it. It will
+also save the lives of thousands of children, in cities, that are fed on
+unwholesome milk or poisonous mixtures. There is no temptation to
+adulterate such milk, for the process of condensation is cheaper than
+any mixture that could be passed.
+
+Preserving hams is effectually done by either of the following methods.
+After well curing and smoking, sew them up in a bag of cotton cloth,
+fitting closely, and dip them into a tub of lime-whitewash, nearly as
+thick as cream, and hang up in a cool room. This is a good method,
+though they will sometimes mould. The other process, and the one we most
+recommend, is to put well cured and smoked hams in a cask, or box, with
+very fine charcoal; put in a layer of charcoal, and then one of hams;
+cover with another layer of coal and then of hams, and so on, until the
+cask is full, or all your hams are deposited. No mould will appear, and
+no insect will touch them. This method is perfect.
+
+Another process, involving the same principles as the preceding, is to
+wrap the hams in muslin, and bury them in salt. The muslin keeps the
+salt from striking in, and the salt prevents mould and insects.
+
+
+PUMPKIN.
+
+There are some five or six varieties in cultivation. Loudon says six,
+and Russell's catalogue has five. The number is increasing, and names
+becoming uncertain. Certain varieties are called pumpkins by some, and
+squashes by others. The large yellow Connecticut, or Yankee pumpkin, is
+best for all uses. The large cheese pumpkin is good at the South and
+West. The mammoth that has weighed as high as two hundred and thirty
+pounds, is a squash, more ornamental than useful. The seven years'
+pumpkin is a great keeper. It has doubtless been kept through several
+years without decay. Pumpkins will grow on any good rich soil, but best
+on new land, and in a wet season. Do best alone, but will grow well
+among corn and better with potatoes. A good crop of pumpkins can seldom
+be raised, two years in succession, on the same land. Care in saving
+seed is very important. The spot on the end that was originally covered
+by the blossom, varies much in dimensions, on pumpkins of the same size.
+Seeds from those having small blossom-marks, bear very few, and from
+those having large ones, produce abundantly.
+
+They are good fall and winter feed for most animals. They will cause
+hogs to grow rapidly, if boiled with roots, and mixed with a little
+grain. Fed raw to milch cows and fattening cattle, they are valuable.
+Learn a horse to eat them raw, and if his work be not too hard, he will
+fatten on them. They may be preserved in a dry cellar, in a warm room as
+sweet potatoes, or in a mow of hay or straw, that will not freeze
+through. But for family use they are better stewed green, and dried.
+
+
+QUINCE.
+
+This fruit, with its uses, for drying, cooking, marmalades, flavors to
+tarts and pies made of other fruits, and for preserving as a sweetmeat,
+is well known and highly esteemed.
+
+The quince is rather a shrub than a tree. It should be set ten feet
+apart each way, in deep, rich soil. It needs little pruning, except
+removing dead or cross branches, and cutting off and burning at once,
+twigs affected with the insect-blight, as mentioned under pears. The
+soil should be manured every year, by working-in a top-dressing of fine
+manure, including a little salt.
+
+_Propagation_--is by seeds, buds, or cuttings. Budding does very well.
+Seedlings are not always true to the varieties. Cuttings, put out early
+and a little in the shade, nearly all take. This is the best and easiest
+method of propagation.
+
+There are several varieties; the _apple-shaped_, _pear-shaped_, and the
+_Portugal_, are the principal.
+
+The apple-shaped, or orange quince (and perhaps the large-fruited may be
+the same) is, on the whole, the best of all. Early, a great bearer, and
+excellent for all uses. The pear-shaped is smaller, harder, and later.
+It may be kept longer in a green state, and therefore be carried much
+farther. The only reason for cultivating it would be its lateness and
+its keeping qualities. The Portugal quince is the finest fruit of all,
+but is such a shy bearer as to be unprofitable. The _Rea quince_ is a
+seedling raised by Mr. Joseph Rea, of Greene county, New York, and is
+pronounced by Downing "an acquisition." The fruit is very handsome, and
+one third larger than the common apple or orange quince. The tree is
+thrifty, hardy, and productive. It is a valuable modification of the
+apple-shaped or orange quince, superior to the original. Such varieties
+may be multiplied and improved, by new seedlings and high cultivation.
+
+
+RABBITS.
+
+To prevent rabbits and mice from girdling fruit-trees in winter, is very
+important to fruit-growers. The meadow-mouse is very destructive to
+young trees, under cover of snow. Rabbits will girdle trees after the
+green foliage on which they delight to feed is gone. Take four quarts of
+fresh-slaked lime, the same quantity of fresh cows' dung, two quarts of
+salt, and a handful of flour of sulphur; mix all together, with just
+enough water to bring it to the consistency of thick paint. At the
+commencement of cold weather, paint the trunks of the trees two feet
+high with this mixture, and not a tree will suffer from rabbits or
+mice. Treading own the snow does good, but it is very troublesome, and
+not a perfect remedy. Experience has never known the foregoing wash to
+fail.
+
+
+RADISH.
+
+This is a well-known root, eaten only raw, and when young and tender. A
+rich sandy soil is best. Like most turnips, the roots are more tender
+and perfect when grown in rather cool weather; hence, those grown in
+early spring are better than a summer growth. They do well in an early
+hotbed.
+
+The _Scarlet_ and _White Turnip-rooted_ are fine for early use. They are
+always small, but fair, and very early.
+
+The _Scarlet Short-top_ comes next, and is a very fine variety. These
+may be had through the whole season, by sowing at proper intervals;
+hence, others are unnecessary. Other good varieties are the _Summer_, or
+_Long White Naples_; _Long Salmon_, a large, gray radish, not generally
+described in the books (a splendid variety in southern Ohio); and the
+_Black Spanish_ for fall and winter use. This grows large like a turnip,
+and is preserved in the same way. The best method of guarding against
+worms is to take equal quantities of fresh horse-manure and
+buckwheat-bran, and mix and spade them into the bed. Active fermentation
+follows, and toadstools will grow up within forty-eight hours, when you
+should spade up the bed again and sow the seed; they will grow very
+quickly, be very tender, and entirely free from worms.
+
+Radish-seed is sown with slow-vegetating seeds, as carrots, beets,
+parsnips, &c. The radishes mark the rows, so that they may be cleared of
+weeds, and the ground stirred before the plants would otherwise be
+discernible, and also shade the germinating seeds and the young plants
+from destruction from a hot sun. The radishes may be pulled out when the
+main crop needs the ground and sun. For this purpose the scarlet
+short-top variety is used, because the long root loosens the soil in
+pulling; and as the crown stands so much above the surface, they may be
+crushed down with a small roller, and thus destroyed without the labor
+of pulling. Sowing radish-seed among root-crops, and cultivating early
+with a root-cleaner, an acre of roots can be raised with about the same
+labor as an acre of corn.
+
+
+RASPBERRY.
+
+The common black raspberry we have noticed elsewhere as one of the most
+profitable in cultivation. The other varieties, worthy of general
+cultivation, are the Franconia, the Fastollf, the red, and the white or
+yellow Antwerp. Any good garden-soil is suitable for raspberries. It
+should be worked deep, and have decayed wood and leaves mixed with
+barnyard manure and wood-ashes. In all but very cold latitudes,
+raspberries should be planted where they may be a little shaded. None of
+the finer old varieties produce a good crop of fruit without
+winter-protection. The canes may live without it, but will bear but
+little fruit. The best method of protection is to bend down the canes at
+the beginning of winter, before the ground freezes, and cover them
+lightly, with the soil around them. They should first have some
+well-rotted manure put around the canes. Stools should be four feet
+apart, and have about five or six canes in a stool. Cut away the rest.
+The best of all manures for raspberries is said to be spent tan-bark.
+Put it around in the fall to the depth of two inches; work it into the
+soil in the spring, and put around fresh tan-bark, to the same depth.
+
+The varieties for general cultivation are few. The common black is one
+of the best. The common wild American red, native in all the Middle and
+Eastern states, is greatly improved by cultivation. As it is perfectly
+hardy, and a great and early bearer, it should have a place in every
+collection. The Franconia is a fine fruit, and, among those generally
+cultivated, occupies the first place. The yellow Antwerp is
+fine-flavored and good-sized, but too soft for a general market-berry.
+The same is true of the Fastollf. The red Antwerp is good, but quite
+inferior to the new red Antwerp, or Hudson River Antwerp. The Ohio
+Evergreen is a new variety, hardy, prolific, and a long bearer, fine
+fruit in considerable quantities having been picked on the 1st of
+November. On this account, it should be in every garden. There are two
+kinds of red raspberries brought to notice by Mr. Lewis P. Allen, of
+Black Rock, N. Y., that deserve extensive cultivation, if they warrant
+his recommendation. Mr. Allen says he has cultivated them for a number
+of years, and, with no winter protection, they have borne a large crop
+of excellent fruit every year, pronounced by dealers in Buffalo market
+superior to any other variety. Should these varieties prove equally good
+elsewhere, they deserve a place in every garden in the land.
+
+
+RHUBARB.
+
+There are several varieties of rhubarb now in cultivation.
+
+_The Victoria, Mammoth, and Scotch Hybrid_, all of which (if they be
+really distinct) are fine and large, under proper culture. There is much
+of the old inferior kind, which generally affords only small short
+leaves, and which is of no value, compared with the large varieties. The
+method of growing is very simple, and yet the value of the plant depends
+mainly on right cultivation.
+
+Propagation is by seeds, or by dividing the roots. By seed is
+preferable. The idea that the largest kinds will not produce seed is
+incorrect. We raised four or five quarts of seed from a single plant of
+the largest variety, in one season. Young plants are suitable for
+transplanting after the first year's growth. They should be set three
+feet apart each way. The soil should be thoroughly enriched and trenched
+two feet deep, with plenty of well-rotted manure in the bottom, and
+mixed in all the soil. Plant the crowns two or three inches below the
+surface to allow stirring the ground in the spring, without injury.
+After this they will only want enriching with well-rotted manure in
+rather liberal quantities, worked in with a fork in the fall or spring.
+Covering up with manure in the fall is good. Those who raise the largest
+leaves, lay bare the crowns in spring, and with a sharp knife, remove
+all the smaller crown-buds. The leaves will be greatly reduced in
+number, but increased in size. We have often seen a single stem of a
+leaf that weighed a full pound.
+
+The roots live many years. We know a single root, in St. Lawrence
+county, N. Y., from which we ate pies and tarts twenty-two years ago,
+and which is now so vigorous as to yield more than a supply for two
+families through the season. The only care it has ever had, has been
+liberal supplies of well-rotted manure. The seed stocks have generally
+been broken off. They should always be, unless you wish to raise seed,
+then save one or two of the strongest. New crowns come out on the sides,
+from year to year, until each plant will cover a considerable space. The
+one mentioned, as being twenty-two years old, has never been moved
+during the whole time. It is not the giant kind, but the leaves are
+large and long. Rhubarb has a better flavor and requires much less
+sugar, by blanching. This is best done by placing an old barrel, without
+a bottom, over the hill as it begins to grow. The leaves will grow long,
+with white tender stems. Use it when the leaves are half or full grown,
+as you please.
+
+
+RICE.
+
+This, in its value to the world as an article of food, is next to Indian
+corn. It is the main article of diet for one third of the human race. It
+is produced only in certain parts of the world, and its cultivation is
+so simple and easy, and so much a department of agriculture by itself,
+that we omit directions for growing it. The ravages of the rice-weevil,
+so destructive to rice lying in bulk, are prevented by the application
+of common salt, at the rate of half a pound to the bushel.
+
+
+ROCKS.
+
+We frequently find, on some of our best land, large boulders, very hard,
+and too large to be removed, with any team we can command, and which
+would be in the way, in any place to which we might remove them. The
+best way to get rid of them, when it can be afforded, is to burn or
+blast them into pieces small enough to be easily handled. When this can
+not be afforded, the best method is to make an excavation by the side of
+them, deep enough to let them sink below the reach of the plow, and
+allow them to fall in, being careful not to get caught by them.
+
+
+ROLLER.
+
+This is quite as indispensable to good farming and gardening as any
+other tool. It serves a great variety of useful purposes. The first is
+to pulverize soils. No man can get a full crop on a soil not made fine
+on the surface, however rich that soil may be. It is often the case that
+land needs rolling two or three times before the last harrowing and
+sowing the seed. Another purpose is, on all light soils, to place the
+soil close around the seeds after they have been covered. When this is
+not done, seeds will vegetate very unevenly, and, in dry weather, some
+of them not at all. Another advantage of rolling a field-crop is the
+greater facility and economy with which it can be harvested. It makes a
+level, smooth surface, sinking small stones out of the way of the scythe
+or reaper. Rolling makes grass-seed catch, when sown with a spring-crop.
+All beds of small seeds--as onions, beets, carrots, parsnips,
+&c.--should be rolled after planting. It will so smooth the surface,
+that hoeing and cultivating can be done without injury to the plants.
+The rows are also much more easily seen while the plants are young. Any
+crop will grow better and larger by not being too much exposed to the
+action of the atmosphere on its roots. When the soil is coarse, part of
+the seeds and roots are greatly exposed to the action of the atmosphere,
+and this exposure is very irregular. The roller so crushes the lumps and
+fills up the openings in the soil as to cause the atmosphere to act
+regularly on the whole crop. Few farmers stop to think that the pressure
+of the atmosphere on their soils is fifteen pounds' weight on every
+square inch, and that, hence, the air must penetrate to a considerable
+depth into the soil; and where the soil is coarse, the air enters too
+freely, and acts too powerfully for the good of the plants. Rollers are
+made of wood, iron, or freestone. For most purposes, wood is best. A log
+made true and even, or, better, narrow plank nailed on cylindrical ends,
+are the usual forms. From eighteen inches to three feet in diameter is
+the better size. Iron or stone rollers, in sections, are best for
+pulverizing soil disposed to cake from being annually overflowed with
+water, or from other causes.
+
+
+ROOT CROPS.
+
+It is important that American farmers learn to attach much greater
+importance to the culture of roots. The potato is the best of all roots
+for feeding; but, as the yield has become so light in most localities,
+and the demand for it for human food has so greatly increased, it will
+no longer be grown extensively as food for animals. Farmers must,
+therefore, turn their attention to beets, carrots, and parsnips.
+Reasonable tillage will produce one thousand bushels to the acre of
+beets and carrots, and two hundred more of parsnips. These roots, raw or
+cooked, are valuable for all domestic animals. A horse will do better on
+part oats and part carrots, or beets, than upon clear oats. For milch
+cows, young stock, and fattening cattle, and for sheep and fowls, they
+are highly valuable. With the facilities now enjoyed, they may be raised
+at a cheap rate. Plant scarlet short-top radish-seed in the rows, to
+shade the vegetating seed and young plants, and to mark the rows, to
+facilitate clearing and stirring the ground, while the plants are very
+young, and using the most approved root-cleaners, and the same amount of
+food can not be grown at the same price in any other crops.
+
+
+SAFFRON.
+
+This is a well-known medicinal herb, as easily grown as a bean or
+sunflower. It is principally used in eruptive diseases, to induce
+moisture of the skin and keep the eruption out. Sow in any good soil, in
+rows eighteen inches apart, and keep clean of weeds. When in full bloom,
+the flowers are gathered and dried.
+
+
+SAGE.
+
+This is a hardy garden-herb, easily grown. Its value for medicinal and
+culinary purposes is well known. It is propagated by seeds, or by
+dividing the roots. With suitable protection in winter, roots will live
+for a number of years, bearing seed after the first.
+
+_Varieties_ are, the _red_, the _broad-leaved_, the _green_, and the
+_small-leaved green_. The red is most used for culinary purposes, and
+the broad-leaved is most medicinal. All the varieties may be used for
+the same purposes. Any garden-soil, not decidedly wet, is suitable for
+sage. Raise new plants once in three or four years. Plants may be
+renovated, by certain culture and care, but it is better to grow new
+ones. Cut the leaves two or three times in the season, and dry quickly,
+and put away in paper bags; or, better, pulverize and cork up in glass
+bottles. This is the best method of preserving all herbs for domestic
+use.
+
+
+SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.
+
+This is a hardy biennial vegetable, resembling a small parsnip, and as
+easily grown. When properly cooked, its flavor resembles the oyster,
+whence its name. Sow and cultivate as parsnips or carrots. It is
+suitable for use from November to May. It is better for being allowed to
+remain in the ground until wanted for use, though it may be well kept,
+in moist sand in the cellar. Care is necessary in saving seed as it
+shells and blows away like thistle seed, as soon as ripe. It must be
+sown quite thick, on account of its proneness not to vegetate. It should
+be more extensively cultivated.
+
+
+SCRAPING LAND.
+
+This is a process needed only on land that has not been under
+cultivation long enough to become level. All new land has many knolls of
+greater or less size. As soon as the roots are out sufficiently to allow
+it, the knolls should be plowed and leveled with a common scraper. Most
+farmers neglect it as injurious to the soil, and too expensive. But when
+we consider that rough land never gets well plowed, and that the gradual
+wearing away of the knolls will continue their unproductiveness for a
+number of years, it will be seen that the cheapest way is to plow and
+scrape the land level at once, and thoroughly manure the places from
+which the soil has been scraped.
+
+
+SEEDS.
+
+The best of everything should be saved for seed. Peas, beans, corn,
+tomatoes, &c., should not be gathered promiscuously, finally preserving
+the last that matures, for seed. Leave some of the finest and earliest
+stocks, and from them save seed, not from the first or the last that
+matures, but from the earliest that grows large and fair. Save
+tomato-seed from those that grow largest, but near the root. Gather all
+seeds as soon as mature, as remaining exposed to the weather is
+unfavorable to vegetation. Dry in a warm place in the shade, but not too
+near a stove or fire. Keep in paper bags, hung in a dry airy place,
+beyond the reach of mice.
+
+Trying the quality of seeds is important, as it may save loss and
+disappointment, from sowing seeds that will not vegetate. A little
+cotton wool or moss in a tumbler containing a little water, and placed
+in a warm room, will afford a good means of testing seeds. Seeds placed
+on that wool, will vegetate sooner than they would do in the soil. But a
+more speedy, and generally sure method, is by putting a few seeds on the
+top of a hot stove. If they are good they will crack like corn in
+parching; otherwise they will burn without noise, and with very little
+motion. The improvement or declension of fruits, grains, and vegetables,
+depend very materially upon the manner of gathering and preserving
+seeds. Gather promiscuously and late, and keep without care, and rapid
+declension will be the result. Gather the earliest and best, and plant
+only the very best of that saved, and constant improvement will be
+secured.
+
+
+SHEEP.
+
+These are the most profitable of all domestic animals. The original cost
+is trifling, and the expense of raising and keeping is so light, and the
+sale of meat, tallow, hide, and wool, is so ready, that sheep-growing is
+always profitable. So important has this always been considered, that in
+all ages of the world, there have been shepherds, whose sole business it
+has been to tend their flocks. Were the flesh of sheep and lambs more
+extensively substituted for that of swine, in this country, it would be
+equally healthy and economical. American farmers do not attach to
+sheep-growing half the importance it deserves. We recommend a thorough
+study of the subject, in the use of the facilities afforded by the
+writings of practical men. We can only give the outlines of the subject
+in a work like this. A theory has been scientifically established by
+Peter A. Brown LL. D. of Philadelphia, in which it is shown that all
+sheep are divided into two species, Hair-bearing and Wool-bearing. These
+species crossed, produce sheep that bear both wool and hair, as the two
+never change. The hair makes blankets that will not shrink. The wool is
+good for making fulled cloth. Blankets made from the fleeces of sheep
+that are the product of the cross of these two species, will shrink in
+some places and not in others, just as the hair or wool prevails. It is
+also true that the hair-bearing sheep delight in low, moist situations
+and sea-breezes, while the wool-bearing sheep does best on high, airy,
+and dry land. These fleeces all pass as wool, but the microscope shows a
+marked and permanent difference, and one can easily learn to distinguish
+it at once, by the touch and with the naked eye. This is thrown out here
+to induce a thorough examination of the whole subject. There are three
+staples of wool, short, three inches long, middling, five inches, and
+long, eight inches. Varieties of sheep are numerous. We shall only
+mention a few. The question of the best breeds has been warmly
+controverted. We have no disposition to try to settle it. The question
+of the best variety must depend upon locality and design. If the wool is
+the object, then the Vermont Merino for the North, and the pure Saxony
+for the South, are evidently the best. If located near large cities,
+where the flesh is the main object, then the large-bodied, long-wooled
+breeds are much preferable. Among those much esteemed we note the
+following:--
+
+The _Cotswold_ mature young, and the flesh will vary in weight from
+fifteen to thirty pounds per quarter. The _New Leicester_ is less hardy
+than the Cotswold, but heavier, weighing from twenty-four to thirty-six
+pounds per quarter. The _Teeswater sheep_, improved by a cross with the
+Leicester, is considered valuable. The _Bampton_ is one of the very best
+grown in England. Fat ewes average twenty pounds per quarter, and
+wethers from thirty to thirty-five pounds. The _Sussex_, _Hampshire,
+and Shropshire_ varieties of the Down sheep, are all highly esteemed.
+The _Leicester_ are very valuable. An ordinary fleece weighs from three
+to five pounds. Mr. Joseph Beers of New Jersey had one that sheared
+thirteen pounds at one time, and the live weight of the sheep was 378
+pounds.
+
+There are _French_, _Silesian_, and _Spanish Merinoes_, much esteemed in
+Vermont and elsewhere. The average weight of a flock of ewes of French
+merinoes after shearing was 103 pounds. Their fleeces averaged twelve
+pounds and eight ounces. The fleece of one buck of the same flock
+weighed twenty pounds and twelve ounces.
+
+[Illustration: The French Merino Ram.]
+
+The _Silesian Merinoes_ are smaller, but produce beautiful fleeces. In a
+flock of nineteen ewes, the average weight of fleece was seven pounds
+and ten ounces, and that of the buck weighed ten and a half pounds.
+
+A large flock of _Spanish Merinoes_ yielded an average of a little over
+five pounds of well-washed wool. All these varieties are valuable for
+wool. The wool of the pure Saxony sheep, however, is best.
+
+The _Tartar sheep_, called also Shanghae and Broadtail, is a
+recently-imported breed, of great promise for mutton. Their fleece is a
+fine silky hair, making fine blankets that will not shrink, but not good
+for fulled cloths. The ewes are remarkably prolific, producing sometimes
+five lambs at a time, and often twice a year. One ewe bore seven lambs
+in one year, all living and being healthy. The flesh is of the highest
+quality. This may stand at the head of all our sheep as a market animal.
+The cross of this with our common sheep has proved fine. They need to be
+further tested in this country. A new kind of sheep has also been
+imported from Africa, within a few years; a variety unknown to
+naturalists, but having some points in common with the Tartar sheep.
+
+_Diseases of Sheep._--There are several that have been very troublesome,
+but which experience has enabled us to cure. _Scours_ is often very
+injurious. A little common soot from the chimney, or pulverized
+charcoal, is a sure remedy. Mix it with water, not so thick as to make
+it difficult to swallow, and give a teaspoonful every two hours, and
+relief will soon be experienced.
+
+_Water in the head_ is a disease caused by long exposure to wet and
+cold. This is prevented by a small blanket on the back of the sheep. The
+wool on the backs of sheep will be seen to be often parted, exposing the
+skin. Water falling on the back will penetrate the wool and run down,
+and wet and chill the whole body. A small cotton blanket, fifteen inches
+wide, and long enough to reach from the neck to the tail, fastened to
+its place by tying to the wool, and painted on the outside, will cause
+all the water to run off, saving the health of the sheep, and causing
+him to require less food. In the cold, wet season, every sheep should
+have such a blanket; they would cost three or four cents each, and be
+worth many times their cost in the saving of feed for the animals. The
+more comfortable an animal is, the less food will he require. Applying
+tar above the noses of sheep at shearing, that they may be compelled to
+smell it and eat a little for a long time, is considered favorable to
+their general health, and a preventive of rot.
+
+The foot-rot, in cattle, sheep, and hogs, is a prevalent disease. Boys
+walking the path, barefoot, where such diseased animals frequently pass,
+may contract the disease. This is always cured by washing in blue
+vitriol. Most cases are cured by one application, and the most confirmed
+by two or three. Make a narrow passage, where only one animal can pass
+at once. Put in a trough twelve feet long, twelve inches wide, and as
+many deep. Put in that fifty pounds of blue vitriol and fill with water,
+throwing a little straw over the top. Cause the diseased animals to pass
+through that, and they will be cured. This is thought to be an
+invariable remedy. If sheep do not appear healthy on lowland pasture,
+give them small quantities of fine charcoal and salt, and they will be
+as healthy as on the hills. A little salt for sheep is useful during the
+whole year. The health of sheep is injured more in fall than at any
+other season; they are very apt to be neglected at the beginning of
+winter. They grow poor rapidly when their green feed first fails; a
+little hay and grain and a few roots then will keep them up, prevent
+disease, and make it less expensive to keep them through the winter.
+Feed in racks or troughs, when they can not get their food under foot,
+and as far as practicable, under shelter, and in a warm place. It is
+much cheaper, and keeps the sheep much more healthy. They should have
+fresh water, where they can drink, two or three times a day. Salt, mixed
+with wood-ashes and pulverized charcoal, should also be constantly
+within their reach. A few beets, carrots, or parsnips, are always
+valuable. Some green feed is very essential for ewes, for some time
+before the yeaning season. Corn is good for fattening sheep; but, for
+increasing the wool, it is not half as valuable as beans. Good
+bean-straw is better than hay. Corn-fodder is excellent. The product of
+one and a half acres of land, sowed with corn, will winter, in fine
+condition, one hundred sheep--the corn sowed the 20th of June, and cut
+up after it has begun to lose its weight slightly, and shocked up
+closely, bound round the top with straw, and then allowed to stand till
+wanted for feeding. To have healthy sheep, do not use a ram under two,
+or over six or seven years old, and raise no lambs from unhealthy ewes
+or rams. The expense of keeping sheep, as all other animals, is much
+less when they are kept warm. Much feed is wasted in keeping up animal
+heat, which would be saved by warm quarters.
+
+Sheep-manure is better than any other, except that of fowls. No other
+parts with its qualities by exposure so slowly. Some farmers save all
+labor of carting and spreading sheep-manure, by having movable wire
+fences, and putting their sheep on one acre for a few days, and then
+removing to another. One hundred sheep may thus be made to manure an
+acre of land in ten days, better than any ordinary dressing of other
+manure. We should prefer carefully collecting and saving it under cover,
+mixed with muck or loam, and apply where and when we choose. Keeping a
+suitable number of sheep on a farm is very important in keeping up the
+farm. A farm devoted to grain or vegetables, without a suitable number
+of animals, usually runs down.
+
+The time when lambs should be allowed to come is important. We much
+prefer letting them come when they please, if we have warm quarters, and
+can take a little extra care of them. This will give a larger growth,
+and furnish large lambs for market, at a season of the year when they
+are most desired, and bring the greatest price. For those who will not
+take the necessary pains, let them come when the weather has become warm
+and grass plenty. Sometimes a ewe loses her lamb, and you wish her to
+raise one of another ewe's, that has two. To make a ewe own another's
+lamb, take off the skin of her dead lamb, and bind it on to the other
+lamb, and she will smell it and own the lamb; after which the skin may
+be removed.
+
+Sheep-culture is a subject to which farmers should give increased
+attention, until the average weight of sheep in the United States shall
+become one third greater than at present, and until there shall be ten
+sheep to one of all we have at present.
+
+
+SHEPHERDIA OR BUFFALO BERRY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is an ornamental shrub, growing from six to fifteen feet high,
+bearing a roundish red fruit, much esteemed for preserves. Trees are of
+two kinds, male and female, one bearing staminate and the other
+pistillate flowers. Hence no fruit can be grown without setting out the
+trees in pairs from six to fifteen feet apart. If you set out only two,
+and they chance to be of the same kind, you will get no fruit.
+
+
+SOILS.
+
+The nature and management of soils must be measurably understood by any
+one who would be a thorough cultivator. The productive power of a soil
+depends much upon the character of the subsoil. A gravelly subsoil is,
+on the whole, the best. A thin soil lying on a cold clay subsoil--the
+hardpan of the East, and the crowfish clay of the West--however rich it
+may be, will be unproductive; while the same soil, on a gravelly
+subsoil, would produce abundantly. The best soils, for all purposes, are
+the brown or hazel-colored. Plowed in wet weather, they do not make
+mortar, and in dry weather they will not break in clods. Dark-mixed and
+russet moulds are considered the next best. The worst are the dark-gray
+or ash-colored. The deep-black alluvial soils of the Western prairies
+are an exception to all other soils, possessing, under proper treatment,
+great powers of production. Soils do not, to any considerable extent,
+afford food for plants. A willow-tree has been known to gain one hundred
+and fifty pounds' weight, without exhausting more than two or three
+ounces of the soil, and even that might have been wasted in drying and
+weighing.
+
+In our article on manures, we have shown that it is the texture of
+soils, and their power to control moisture and heat, that renders them
+productive: hence, no soil can be poor that is stirred deep and kept in
+a friable condition, without being too open and porous; and no soil can
+be good that is hard and not retentive of moisture, without having water
+stand upon it. Hence, the great secret of successful farming, is, such a
+mixture of the soils, and of fertilizers with the soil, as shall keep it
+friable and moist, and such thorough drainage as will prevent water from
+standing so as to become stagnant, and to unduly chill the roots of
+growing plants. Nature has provided, near at hand, all that is essential
+to productiveness; all that is necessary is to properly mix them. We do
+not believe that there is an acre of land now under cultivation in the
+United States, in a latitude where corn will grow, on which we can not
+raise a hundred bushels of shelled Indian corn, without applying
+anything but what may be raised out of that soil, and procured in the
+shape of manure by animals in consuming that product. The poorest farm
+in America may be brought up to a state of great fertility, without
+applying one dollar's worth of any foreign substance. Plow _deep_, turn
+under all the green substances possible, and feed out the products on
+the farm and apply the manure, and mix opposite soils, that may be found
+in different localities. Three years will secure great productiveness,
+and the same course will increase its value, from year to year, without
+cost. Three things only are essential to convert poor land into the
+best; deep and thorough stirring and pulverization, suitable draining,
+and thorough mixture of soils of different qualities, and the
+incorporation of such animal and vegetable substances as can be produced
+on the land itself. We would not declare against foreign manures, but
+insist that the necessary ingredients are found, or may be manufactured
+near at hand. The philosophy of deep plowing and thorough pulverization
+is obvious. A fine soil will retain and appropriate moisture in an
+eminent degree, on the principle of capillary attraction, or as a sponge
+or a piece of loaf sugar will take up water. There is also room for
+excess of water to sink away from the surface, and return again when
+needed. It also affords room for the roots of plants. Such a soil also
+receives moisture from the atmosphere. The atmosphere also contains much
+water, and more in the heat of summer than at any other time. The air
+also, with a constant pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch,
+enters to a considerable depth into the soil, and the deeper it is
+stirred, and the more thoroughly it is pulverized, the more it will
+enter. In coming in contact with the cool moisture below, it is
+condensed and waters the soil, on the principle that a pitcher of cold
+water in a warm room has large drops of water on the outside; that water
+is a mere condensation of moisture in the atmosphere. The cool subsoil
+acts in the same way upon the atmosphere at night. A deeply
+disintegrated soil, also, seldom washes by rain. Shallow-plowed and
+coarse land sends off the water after a slight rain, while deep-plowed
+and thoroughly pulverized land retains it. The philosophy of manures
+involves the same principles. All the fertilizers act upon soils in such
+a manner as to render them fine, and open an immense surface to the
+action of the atmosphere, and form large reservoirs for moisture through
+their innumerable fine pores. Draining is to carry off an excess of
+water that would stand on an unfavorable subsoil. That water, on
+undrained land, causes two evils; it stagnates and renders plants
+unhealthy, and it is too cool, rendering land what we call cold. Thus,
+the deeper you plow land, and the finer you make it, the warmer it will
+be, and the more perfectly it will control moisture. Mixing soils by
+subsoiling, trenching, and deep plowing, and by carting on foreign
+substances, is wholly on this principle. Sand that drifts about with the
+wind is too light to retain moisture, and needs clay carted on. By this
+means the poorest white sand has often been converted into the most
+productive soil. Definite rules for this mixture of soils can not be
+safely given. The rules must differ in different localities and
+circumstances; it must, therefore, be determined by experiment.
+Analyzing soils is sometimes of use, but usually has too much importance
+attached. We do not advise farmers to study it. Let them try
+applications and mixtures, at first on a small scale: they will soon
+learn what is best on their farms, and may then proceed without loss.
+Some lands are of such a character that the carting on, and suitably
+mixing, the substances in which they are deficient, may cost as much as
+it did to clear the land of its original forest; but it will pay well
+for a long series of years. So well are we persuaded of the utility and
+correctness of these brief hints, that, in selecting a farm, we should
+regard the location more than the quality of the soil. The latter we
+could mend easily; while we should find it difficult to move our farm to
+a more favorable location. Poor land near a city or large town, or on
+some great thoroughfare, we should much prefer to good land far removed
+from market, or in an unpleasant location.
+
+
+SPINAGE, OR SPINACH.
+
+Both these names are correct; the former is the general one among
+Americans. This plant is used in soups, but more generally boiled alone
+and served as greens. In the spring of the year, this is one of the most
+wholesome vegetables. By sowing at different times, we may have it at
+any season of the year, but it is more tender and succulent in the
+spring. The male and female flowers are produced on separate plants. The
+male blossoms are in long, terminal spikes, and the female in clusters,
+close at the stalk, on each joint.
+
+_Varieties_--The two best are the _broad_, or _summer_, and the
+_prickly_, or _fall_. There are three others--the _English Patience
+Dock_, the _Holland_, or _Lamb's Quarter_, and the _New Zealand_. The
+first two are sufficient. Sow in August and September for winter and
+spring use, and in spring for summer. Sow in rich soil, in drills
+eighteen inches apart. Thin to three inches in the row, and when large
+enough for use, remove every other one, leaving them six inches apart.
+To raise seed, have male plants at convenient distances, say one in two
+or three feet. When they have done blossoming, remove the male plants,
+giving all the room to the others, for perfecting the seed. Success
+depends upon very rich soil and plenty of moisture.
+
+
+SQUASH.
+
+There are several varieties of both summer and winter squashes. All the
+summer varieties have a hard shell, when matured. They are usually eaten
+entire, outside, seeds and all, while young and tender, from one quarter
+to almost full grown. They are also used as a fall and winter squash,
+rejecting the shell and that portion of the inside which contains the
+seeds. The _Summer Crookneck_, and _Summer Scolloped_, both _white_ and
+_yellow_, are the principal summer squashes. The finest is the _White
+Scolloped_. The best winter varieties are the _Acorn_, _Valparaiso_,
+_Winter Crookneck_, and _Vegetable Marrow_ or _Sweet Potato squash_. The
+latter is the best known.
+
+Cultivate as melons, but leave only two plants in a hill. They do best
+on new land. Varieties should be grown far apart, and far removed from
+pumpkins, as they mix very easily, and at a great distance. Bugs eat
+them worse than any other garden vegetable. The only sure remedy is the
+box covered with gauze or glass. As they are great runners, they do
+better with their ends clipped off. Used as a vegetable for the table,
+and in the same manner as pumpkins, for pies.
+
+
+STRAWBERRY.
+
+None of our small fruits are more esteemed, or more easily raised, and
+yet none more frequently fails. Failures always result from
+carelessness, or the want of a little knowledge of the best methods of
+cultivation. We omit much that might be said of the history and uses of
+the strawberry, and confine ourselves to a few brief directions, which,
+if strictly followed, will render every cultivator uniformly successful.
+No one need ever fail of growing a good crop of strawberries. In 1857,
+we saw plats of strawberries in Illinois, in the cultivation of which
+much money had been expended, and which were remarkably promising when
+in blossom, but which did not yield the cultivators five dollars' worth
+of fruit. In the language of the proprietors, "they blasted."
+Strawberries never blast; but, for the want of fertilizers at suitable
+distances, they may not fill. There are but three causes of
+failure--want of fertilizers, excessive drought, and allowing the vines
+to become too thick. Of most of our best varieties, the blossoms are of
+two kinds--pistillate and staminate, or male and female--and they are
+essential to each other. The pistillate plants bear the fruit, and the
+staminates are the fertilizers, without which the pistillates will be
+fruitless. There are three kinds of blossom--pistillate, staminate, and
+perfect, as seen in the cut.
+
+[Illustration: 1. Perfect blossom. 2. Staminate blossom. 3. Pistillate
+blossom.]
+
+The first (1) is perfect; that is, has both the stamens and pistils well
+developed: this will produce a fair crop of fruit, without the presence
+of any other variety. The second (2) has the stamens large, while the
+pistils (the apparently small green strawberry in the centre) are not
+sufficiently developed to produce fruit: such plants seldom bear more
+than a few imperfectly-formed berries. The third (3) has pistils in
+abundance, but is destitute of stamens, and hence, will not bear alone.
+The two latter are to be placed near each other, to render them
+productive; they may be readily distinguished when in blossom. It is
+always safe to cultivate the hermaphrodite plants; that is, those
+producing perfect blossoms; but the pistillates and staminates, in due
+proportions, produce the largest crops, and finer fruit.
+
+_Soil._--Much has been said against high fertilization with animal
+manures, and in favor of vegetable mould only. We feel entirely
+satisfied that the largest crops of strawberries are grown on land
+highly manured with common barnyard manure. To plant and manure a
+strawberry-bed, begin on one side, and dig a trench eighteen inches deep
+(from two to three feet is much better) and as wide; put six inches of
+common manure in the bottom; dig another trench as deep, and place the
+soil upon the manure in the first trench; fill the last with manure as
+the first, and so on over the whole plat. Manure the surface lightly
+with very fine manure and wood-ashes.
+
+_Transplanting_ is usually better in the month of August. If done at
+that season, and it be not too dry, the plants will get such a growth
+the same season as to produce quite a good crop of fruit the next
+season. Planted as early in the spring as it will do to stir the soil,
+they are more sure to grow and yield a very few berries the first
+season, and very abundantly the next. If you would cultivate in hills,
+put them two feet apart each way; if otherwise, two feet one way, and
+one foot the other. Cut off the roots to two or three inches in length,
+and remove all the dead leaves; dip them in mud, which is a great means
+of causing them to grow; and set them in fine mould, the crown one inch
+below the level of the soil around, and leave it in a slight basin, and
+water it, unless the weather be damp. Many plants are lost from not
+being set low enough to escape drought. The basin will hold water, and
+nearly every plant will grow; excessive water will destroy them. Set out
+three or four rows of pistillate plants, and then one of the staminates,
+or fertilizers. Some set them out in beds and allow them to cover the
+whole ground, and cultivate by spading up the bed in alternate sections
+of eighteen inches or two feet each year, turning under, in the spring,
+that portion that bore fruit the previous season--which has long been
+recommended by good authority. This was the lamented Downing's method.
+We think rows preferable for this reason. The young plants formed by the
+runners are less vigorous after the first; hence, the tendency is to
+deterioration by this mode of culture. And this method does not afford
+so good an opportunity for stirring the soil around the plants as
+planting in rows; this stirring the soil is a great means of protecting
+from drought, and securing the most vigorous growth. Deep subsoiling
+between the rows early in the spring, or after fruiting, is valuable;
+hence, we always advise to cultivate in hills two feet apart each way,
+and renew them after they have borne two, or at most three crops.
+
+Hermaphrodites are best for cultivation in beds. Many strawberry-beds do
+well the first year of their bearing, but are almost useless afterward.
+The cultivator says they all run to vines. In such cases, they overlook
+the fact that the staminate plants grow altogether the fastest, because
+their strength goes to support foliage in the absence of fruit, while
+bearing vines require much of their strength to mature the fruit; hence,
+if they are allowed to run together the second, or at most the third
+year, the fertilizers will monopolize the ground and prevent fruiting.
+This is the greatest cause of failure of a crop, next to a want of both
+kinds of plants. This is the origin of fears of having land too rich. It
+is said it all runs to vines without fruit; this is because the wrong
+vines have intruded--the staminates have overcome the pistillates. We
+reject the whole theory of the luxuriance of the vines preventing the
+production of fruit. The larger the vines the more fruit, provided only
+the vines are bearers, and not too thick: hence this invariable
+rule--_always have fertilizers within five feet, and never allow the two
+kinds to run together._ Manures should be applied in August, well spaded
+in. Applying in the spring to increase the crop for that season, is like
+feeding chickens in the morning to fatten them for dinner--it is too
+late. Fertilizing in August is a good preparation for a large crop for
+the next season. Strawberry-vines, in all freezing climates, should be
+covered, late in the fall, with forest-leaves or straw, to protect from
+the severity of winter, and enrich the land by what can be dug into the
+soil in spring. Rotten wood, fine chips, sawdust, &c., are all good for
+a fall top-dressing. After well hoeing and weeding in spring, until
+blossom-buds appear, just before the blossoms open, cover the bed
+thoroughly with spent tanbark, sawdust, or fine straw. This will keep
+down weeds, preserve moisture in the soil, enrich the ground, and
+protect the fruit from injury by rains, and in part from worms and
+insects. This should never be omitted.
+
+_Varieties_ are numerous, and, from the ease with which they are raised
+from seed, will rapidly increase; it is so frequent to have blossoms
+fertilized by pollen from several different varieties. Some of the most
+marked varieties are known in different parts of the country by very
+different names; hence, we advise cultivators to select the best in
+their locality. Every valuable variety is soon scattered over the
+country. The following are good:--
+
+_Burr's New Pine._--Originated at Columbus, Ohio, in 1856. Hardy,
+vigorous, and quite productive; very early; tender for market, but
+superior for a private garden.
+
+_Western Queen._--Originated at Cleveland, Ohio, by Professor J. P.
+Kirtland, 1849. Very hardy and productive; larger than the Hudson or the
+Willey; good for market; bears carriage well.
+
+_Longworth's Prolific._--Origin, Cincinnati, 1848. Regular, sure, full
+bearer of large, delicious fruit; good for market; an independent
+bearer.
+
+_M'Avoy's Superior._--Cincinnati, 1848. Received one-hundred-dollar
+prize from the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in 1851. Exceedingly
+large; hardy; female or pistillate flowers; needs fertilizers, and then
+is one of the best ever grown; rather tender for carriage, though it is
+extensively sold in Western markets.
+
+_Jenney's Seedling._--Valuable for ripening late; fruit large and
+regular; very productive, 3,200 quarts having been gathered from three
+quarters of an acre.
+
+_Hovey's Seedling._--Elliott puts it in his second class; but we can not
+avoid the conviction that it is one of the best that ever has been
+raised. It is pistillate, but with fertilizers it yields immense crops,
+of very fine large fruit. Boston Pine is one of the best fertilizers for
+the Hovey Seedling.
+
+_Hudson Bay._--A hardy and late variety, highly esteemed.
+
+_Pyramidal Chilian._--Hermaphrodite, highly valued.
+
+_Crimson Cone._--An old variety, quite early, and something of a
+favorite in Eastern markets.
+
+_Peabody's New Hautbois._--Originated in Columbus, Georgia, by Charles
+A. Peabody. Said to bear more degrees of heat and cold than any other
+variety. Very vigorous, fruit of the largest size, very many of the
+berries measuring seven inches in circumference. Flesh firm, sweet, and
+of a delicious pine-apple flavor. Rich, deep crimson. It may be seen in
+full size in the patent office report on agriculture for 1856. If this
+new fruit sustains its recommendations, it will prove the best of all
+strawberries.
+
+Downing describes over one hundred varieties. We repeat our
+recommendation to select the best you can find near home. The following
+rules will insure success:
+
+1. Make the ground very rich.
+
+2. Put fertilizers within five feet of each other, and never allow
+different kinds to run together.
+
+3. Cover the ground two inches deep with tan-bark, sawdust, or fine
+straw, just before the blossoms open; tan-bark is best.
+
+4. Never allow the vines to become very thick, but thin them out.
+
+5. Water every day from the appearance of the blossoms until done
+gathering the fruit; this increases the crop largely, and, at the South,
+has continued the vines in bearing until November. Daily watering will
+prolong the bearing season greatly in all climates, and greatly increase
+the crop.
+
+6. Protect in winter by a slight covering of forest-leaves, coarse
+straw, or cornstalks.
+
+7. To get a late crop, keep the vines covered deep with straw. You can
+retard their maturity two weeks, and daily watering will prolong it for
+weeks.
+
+8. Apply, twice in the fall and once in the spring, a solution of
+potash, one pound in two pails of water, or two pounds in a barrel of
+water in which stable-manure has been soaked.
+
+9. The best general applications to the soil, in preparing the bed, are
+lime, charcoal, and wood-ashes--one part of lime to two of ashes and
+three of charcoal. The application of wood-ashes will render less
+dissolved potash necessary.
+
+These nine rules, strictly observed, will render every cultivator
+successful in all climates and localities.
+
+
+SUGAR.
+
+There have, until recently, been but two general sources of our supply
+of sugar--the sugar-cane of the South, and the sugar-maple of the North.
+Beet-sugar will not be extensively manufactured in this country. We now
+have added the Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, and the Imphee, or African
+sugar-cane, adapted to the North and the South, flourishing wherever
+Indian corn will grow, and raised as easily and surely, and much in the
+same way. Of the methods of making sugar from the old sugar-cane of the
+South, we need give no account. It is not an article of general domestic
+manufacture. It is made on a large scale on plantations, and is in
+itself simple, and easily learned by the few who become sugar-planters.
+
+The process of manufacturing sugar from the maple-tree is very simple
+and everywhere known. It is to be regretted that our sugar-maples are
+being so extensively destroyed, and that those we pretend to keep for
+sugar-orchards are so unmercifully hacked up, in the process of
+extracting the sap. To so tap the trees as to do them the least possible
+injury, is a matter of much importance. Whether it should be done by
+boring and plugging up with green maple-wood after the season is over,
+or be done by cutting a small gash with an axe and leaving open, has
+been a disputed point. Many prefer the axe, and think the tree will be
+less blackened in the wood, and will last longer, provided it be
+judiciously performed. Cut a small, smooth gash; one year tap the tree
+low, and another high, and on alternate sides; scatter the wounds, made
+from year to year, as much as possible. Another process of tapping is
+now most popular with all who have tried it. Bore into the tree half an
+inch, with a bit not larger than an inch, slanting slightly up, that
+standing sap or water may not blacken the wood. Make the spout out of
+hoop-iron one and a fourth inches wide; cut the iron, with a cold
+chisel, into pieces four inches long; grind one end sharp; lay the
+pieces over a semicircular groove in a stick of hard wood, and place an
+iron rod on it lengthwise over the groove--slight blows with a hammer
+will bend it. These can be driven into the bark, below the hole made by
+the bit. They need not extend to the wood, and hence make no wound at
+all. If the wound dries before the season is over, deepen it a little by
+boring again, or by taking out a small piece with a gouge. This process
+will injure the trees less than any other. The spouts will be cheaper
+than wooden ones, and may last twenty years. Always hang buckets on
+wrought nails, that may be drawn out. Buckets made of tin, to hold three
+or four gallons, need cost only about twenty-five cents each, and, with
+good care, may last twenty years. A crook in the wire of the rim will
+make a good place to hang upon the nail. A hole bored in the ear of
+other buckets will answer the same purpose. In all windy situations, the
+bucket must be near the end of the spout, or much will be lost by being
+blown over by the wind. Great care to keep all vessels used, clean and
+sweet, and not burn the sugar in finishing it, will enable any one to
+succeed in making good maple-sugar. The various forms in which it is put
+up, and the manner of draining, are familiar to all makers. It is only
+necessary to add, that there are few small farms on which the
+sugar-maple will grow, where there might not be raised two or three
+hundred maples, within fifteen or twenty years, that would add greatly
+to the beauty, comfort, and value of the farm. On the highway as
+shade-trees, or on the side of lots, they would be very ornamental and
+profitable, without doing injury. We can not too strongly recommend
+raising sugar-maples. Always cultivate trees that will bear fruit, yield
+sugar, or be good for timber.
+
+Sorgho, or Chinese sugar-cane, is raised much as Indian corn--only, it
+will bear some ten or twelve stalks in a hill, instead of three or four.
+In all parts of our continent, it produces enormous crops of stalks. The
+trials thus far indicate, that the quantity of saccharine matter it
+contains is not quite equal to that of the common sugar-cane; but, with
+the necessary facilities for manufacturing, it makes quite as good sugar
+and as fine sirups as the other cane. Suitable machinery, that need not
+be expensive, owned by a neighborhood of farmers, may enable all
+Northern men, where other cane will not grow, to make their own sugar
+cheaper than to buy. But it will be made probably by large
+establishments as other sugar. We give no method of making it. The
+subject is so new, that every method of manufacture finds its way into
+all the newspapers, and what might appear the best to-day would be
+quite antiquated to-morrow. We have seen as fine sugars and sirups, of
+all the different grades, made from this new cane, as any others we have
+ever tasted. The question is settled that imphee and sorgho will make
+good sugar in abundance. A few years will place such sugars among the
+great staple products of the country.
+
+
+SUMMER-SAVORY.
+
+This is a hardy annual, raised from seed on any good soil, with no care
+but keeping free from weeds. The seed is small, and may not vegetate
+well in dry, warm weather, without a little shade or regular watering.
+Its use for culinary and medicinal purposes is well known. Gather and
+dry when nearly ripe. Keep in paper bags, or pulverize and put in glass
+bottles. For the benefit of persons who keep those sprightly pets called
+fleas, we mention the fact that dry summer-savory leaves, put in the
+straw beds, will expel those insects.
+
+
+SUNFLOWER.
+
+This large, hardy, annual plant would be considered very beautiful, were
+it not so common. Three quarts of clear, beautiful oil are expressed
+from a bushel of the seed, in the same way as linseed-oil. The seed, in
+small quantities, is good for fowls. It may be grown with less labor
+than corn.
+
+
+SWEET POTATO.
+
+This is a Southern plant, but is now being acclimated in Northern
+latitudes. Good sweet potatoes are now grown in the colder parts of
+Vermont, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. There are many varieties, and they
+are increasing by seedlings. Not long since, they were said to bear no
+seed; but recently, in different parts of the country, seeds have been
+found, and new varieties grown from them. Certain varieties are best in
+different localities. They will always find their way through growers of
+plants. The process of growing is simple, but must be carefully followed
+to insure success. Plant the seed potatoes in a moderate hotbed, at the
+time when grass begins to start freely. Keep well watered, and do not
+allow them to get too warm. An hour's over-heating will cause them all
+to decay. The heat, when it begins to rise too high, is at once checked
+by a thorough drenching with cold water: if too low, the heat is raised
+by a tight cover, in a warm sun, and by watering with warm water. Water
+them every day after they are up. The sprouts, when six inches high, are
+pulled off from the potato, and set out as cabbage-plants; this should
+be done as soon as all danger of frost has ceased. The same potatoes
+will sprout as many times as they are pulled off.
+
+Sweet potatoes need much sun and warmth; they are, therefore, planted on
+round hills, or, better, on ridges, which may be principally thrown up
+with a plow, and made from a foot to eighteen inches high. Set the
+plants in the top, about fifteen inches or two feet apart; keep clear of
+weeds, making the hill or ridge a little larger by each hoeing. The
+tops, being long running vines, will soon cover the ground. They produce
+better tubers for throwing the vines, in a twist, up over the top of the
+rows. They will take root at each joint of vine, when undisturbed, which
+roots will draw from the main tuber. These roots would be as good and
+large as any, if they had time: hence, at the South, one half of the
+crop is grown from sets, from cuttings of the ends of the early-planted
+vines. At the North, where seasons are short, these joints must be
+prevented--by throwing up, as above, or loosening--from taking root. The
+tubers will need all the strength; the plant and tuber are tender, and a
+little frost will kill the vines and cause the potatoes to decay. They
+may be kept for use until January by packing, when dug in a warm day, in
+the soil in which they grew;--kept through winter, packed in straw or
+chaff, in boxes that will contain about two or three bushels each, and
+kept in a room with a fire: the room should be at a temperature of from
+forty to sixty degrees; fifty-five is best, though seventy will not
+destroy them; more or less will cause them to decay. The boxes may be
+placed one upon another, but should be left open, that their moisture
+may evaporate. Dry sand (kiln-dried), sifted over and close among them,
+will preserve them. Free circulation of air is indispensable. It is
+usually cheapest to buy the plants of those who make a business of
+raising them. They are very hardy--may be transported one thousand miles
+and do just as well. To transplant with perfect safety in a dry time,
+after the plant has been put in its place, pour in a pint of water, and
+cover it with a little dry soil to prevent baking--and not one out of
+fifty will perish.
+
+These few brief directions will enable any one to be successful wherever
+corn will grow. A new variety has just been brought into Alabama from
+Peru, that is pronounced superior to all others; a prodigious bearer,
+even on poor sandy land, and far more hardy than other varieties, the
+root retaining its excellence as it came out of the ground till the
+following May.
+
+
+SWINE.
+
+Hogs are evil in their propensities, mischievous and filthy in their
+habits, and yet profitable to the farmer. Every farmer should keep a few
+in proportion to the refuse grain and various slops that his
+establishment may afford. Buying hogs and then purchasing grain on which
+to fatten them in the usual way is the poorest economy. Such pork is
+often made to cost from twelve to twenty cents per pound.
+
+There are many breeds of swine highly recommended. Some of the varieties
+of the Chinese are the most prolific and have the greatest tendency to
+fattening of any known. They have formed the basis of the great
+improvements in the breeds in Great Britain. Farmers will be able to
+select the best breed from their own knowledge and observation, better
+than from any directions we can give them. Every new variety will be
+introduced by dealers, and farmers must be cautious how they accept
+their representations.
+
+_Age of Swine for Pork._--It is most profitable and least troublesome,
+to keep over winter, no swine but breeding sows, to have pigs early in
+spring, to kill in autumn. Of any of the good breeds, they can be made
+to weigh from 300 to 350 pounds, by the proper time for killing. The
+practice of keeping swine till eighteen or twenty-four months old, and
+only fattening them late in the fall and beginning of winter, is very
+unprofitable. It is best to give pigs about what they will eat, from the
+time of beginning to feed them until they are slaughtered. This is in
+every way most economical. It secures fattening in the hot weather in
+summer, when pork can be made faster and cheaper than at any other time.
+Many farmers begin to fatten their pork, after the season in which it
+can most rapidly and cheaply be done.
+
+Hogs having been kept poor, on being fed freely for fattening, become
+cloyed, and much time is lost, while those that always have had what
+they would eat, of good wholesome food, always have a good appetite for
+as much as they need, and not root over and injure more.
+
+_Food for Swine._--They do better shut up in a pen, but where they can
+get access to the ground. All edible roots are good and all the grains.
+But grain should be ground or soaked. It pays well to cook all food for
+swine. Boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, and parsnips, are all good.
+Ground feed should be mixed with cooked vegetables. The disposition that
+swine have to root deep in the ground, indicates the want of something,
+not found in sufficient quantities in their ordinary food. Numerous
+experiments show that that deficiency is abundantly supplied by having
+charcoal within their reach. The stories of fattening pork wholly on
+charcoal, which we find in the books, we do not credit. But that small
+quantities of it are uniformly healthy for swine, is an established
+fact. The question of sour food has many respectable advocates.
+Cultivators and writers take different sides of the question, based as
+they say upon their carefully-tried and noted experiments, one affirming
+that fermented food is superior, and others that it has done his hogs
+positive injury. This discrepancy grows out of not carefully
+distinguishing the different kinds of fermentation, the sweet, the
+vinous, the acid, and the putrid. The first makes excellent food, the
+second will do quite well, the third is injurious, and the last
+absolutely poisonous. As it requires much care and observation to get
+this right, and mistakes are easy, it is best to take the sure method,
+give them food in a natural state, ground, and either cooked or fed raw.
+Either will make good pork at a reasonable cost, but cooked food is
+preferable.
+
+Sows are prevented from destroying their young by quiet, plenty of food,
+and little animal food, and but a very little straw in a dry pen, or
+washing the pig's backs with a strong decoction of aloes.
+
+
+TOBACCO.
+
+This is a plant abhorred by everything but man and the tobacco-worm. Its
+use for chewing and snuffing is happily becoming more and more offensive
+to refined society, and we hope it may, after a long struggle, go out of
+use. For those who will cultivate it as an article of commerce, the
+following brief directions are sufficient. Burn over a small bed, on
+which sow the seed early in March. When the leaves are as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, transplant them in deep, rich soil, or on new land,
+in rows three feet apart each way, or four feet one way and two the
+other. Tend as cabbage. It is necessary, twice in the season, to
+destroy, by hand, the large green worms that feed on this plant. When
+the plants are from two and a half to three and a half feet high,
+according to the richness of the soil on which they grow, pick out the
+head or blossom-buds, except in the few plants you would have go to
+seed. Pinch off also the suckers, or shoots behind the leaves, as they
+come out. When the leaves are full grown and begin to ripen, which is
+known by the small, dusky spots appearing on the leaves, cut up the
+stalks and lay them down singly to wilt; when they are thoroughly
+wilted, lay them together, that they may sweat for forty-eight hours,
+then hang them up in a tolerably tight room to dry--hang across poles,
+one on each side. A sharp stick put through the but of the stalks and
+laid over the pole, leaving one stalk on each side, is a very good
+method. When it becomes well dried, pick off the leaves, and tie the
+stems together in small bunches, and pack away in hogsheads or boxes, in
+a dry place.
+
+We recommend to every agriculturist to cultivate a little tobacco--not
+for himself or others to chew, snuff, or smoke, but to use in destroying
+insects. A strong decoction, used in washing animals, will destroy lice
+on horses and cattle, and ticks on sheep. Tobacco-water applied to
+plants, or trees, will effectually destroy all insects with which they
+may be infested. Boil tobacco-stems or stalks, or the refuse-tobacco of
+the cigar-makers, until you make a strong decoction, and apply with a
+syringe, or in any other way, and it will prove more effectual than
+anything else known. Tobacco-stems, stalks, or leaves, laid around
+peach-trees in the month of May, will protect them from the attacks of
+the borer. This is also a good manure for peach-trees.
+
+
+TOMATO.
+
+This vegetable is well known, and has recently come to be generally
+esteemed. It can always be grown without failure, and more easily and at
+one fourth of the cost of potatoes. Its use for cooking, eating raw,
+and pickling in various forms, is known to all. There are several
+varieties. The best of all is the large red--not the largest, but the
+smooth ones: although smaller, they contain more, and are much more
+conveniently used, than the very large rough or scolloped variety. The
+large yellow are less liable to decay on the vines, and have less of the
+tomato taste. The small plum-tomato, both red and yellow, and the pear
+or bell-shaped, are good for preserving as a common sweetmeat, and for
+pickling whole. They should be started in early hotbed--in February in
+the Middle States--and transplanted after frosts are over, in rows eight
+feet apart each way. That distance will leave none too much room for
+letting in the sun and for the convenience of picking. They will mature
+on the poorest land; but the amount of the crop is graduated altogether
+by the richness of the soil, and the care given them. They will produce
+frequently a bushel to a vine, lying on the ground. But they ripen
+better, and as the vines are not injured by picking the early ones, they
+will produce more, by being trained up. A few sticks to hold them up at
+first, and let them break down over them later, is of no use. Train
+them, and tie up all the principal bunches, and they will be greatly
+benefited thereby. Tied to slats, or any board fence, in a kind of
+fan-training form, they do very well. In all cities and villages, enough
+for a large family can be grown on twenty-five feet of board-fence,
+exposed to the southern or eastern sun, and not occupy the ground a
+single foot from the fence. Drive in nails, and tie up the branches as
+they grow. Removing some of the branches and leaves, and letting in the
+sun, or placing the fruit on a shingle or stone, hastens its ripening.
+
+
+TOOLS.
+
+It is no part of our design to go into any general description of
+agricultural implements. There are constant changes and improvements,
+and they are introduced at once to the whole country by the inventors or
+dealers. We also wish to avoid all participation in the controversies
+respecting the merits of various new inventions. We have several forms
+of cultivators, horse-hoes, subsoil-plows, drills, seed-sowers,
+land-diggers, and drainers, various formed plows, root-cleaners,
+corn-planters, &c., &c. These possess different degrees of merit; all
+have their day, and will be superseded by others, in the general
+advancement that marks the science of soil-culture. We strongly
+recommend the use of the best tools, especially subsoil-plows,
+seed-planters, and root-cleaners. Always have a tool-house, as much as
+you do a kitchen. Use the best tools; never lay them down but in their
+proper place; and always clean them before putting them away. Keep all
+the wood-work of tools well painted, and the iron and steel in a
+condition, by the application of oil and otherwise, to prevent rust.
+Good tools facilitate and cheapen cultivation, and increase the yield of
+crops, Money paid out for such tools is well expended.
+
+
+TRAINING.
+
+This is a matter that has received much attention from all
+fruit-growers. The influence of different modes of training and pruning
+is very great on the bearing qualities of trees. The peculiarities
+demanded by the various fruit-trees, vines, and bushes, are given under
+these articles respectively. We give here only some general principles.
+The health, beauty, and profit, of most fruit-trees depend upon
+judicious pruning and training. The following are the general objects:--
+
+1. To secure regular growth and prevent deformities, and thus promote
+the health of trees.
+
+2. To secure a sufficient number of fruit-bearing shoots, and in right
+locations, and to throw sufficient sap into those shoots to enable them
+to mature the fruit. With a certain amount of pruning, you may double
+the quantity of fruit, or destroy half that the trees would have
+produced if not trained at all. One half of the fruit of any orchard
+depends upon correct pruning. It also has a great influence upon the
+quality of fruit. The cherry is almost the only fruit-tree that throws
+out nearly the right number of branches, and in the right places. It
+needs a very little direction while young, and afterward only the
+removal of decaying branches. The quince needs considerable trimming at
+first; but, the head once formed, it will need very little
+after-pruning. Next comes the plum, needing, perhaps, a little more
+pruning than the cherry or quince, but much less than the other fruits.
+The plum is apt to throw out strong branches, in some directions, quite
+out of proportion with the rest of the top. Such need shortening in, to
+distribute the sap equally through the tree, and thus produce a
+symmetrical form. This is all the trimming necessary. The roots of a
+plum-tree are usually stronger than the top, and absorb more than the
+leaves can digest; hence some of its diseases. The natural remedy would
+be root-pruning, and leaving the top in its natural state, except
+shortening-in the disproportioned branches. Removing much of the top of
+a plum-tree would ordinarily prove injurious. The apple needs
+considerable pruning, but not of the spurs and side-twigs which bear the
+fruit, but of limbs that grow too thick, and of disproportioned
+luxuriance. (See under Apple.) So the pear must be often slightly pruned
+to check the too vigorous growth and encourage the too tardy. The peach
+must be so pruned as to prevent the long bare poles so often seen, and
+to secure annually the growth of a large number of shoots for next
+year's bearing, and to check the flow of the sap by cutting off the ends
+of the growing young shoots, so as to cause the formation on each, of a
+few vigorous fruit-buds. Peach-trees, so pruned, will be healthy and do
+well for fifty years, and produce a larger number of better peaches than
+will grow on trees left in the usual way. By a system of pruning that
+will equalize the growth and strength, the bearing will be general on
+all the branches of the tree. This will make the fruit more abundant and
+of better quality. The following six principles--first stated by M.
+Dubreuil, of France, and since presented to the American people in
+Barry's "Fruit-Garden," and still later in Elliott's "Fruit-Book"--will
+guide any attentive cultivator into the correct method of pruning and
+training:--
+
+1. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, depends, in a great measure,
+upon the equal distribution of sap in all its branches.
+
+2. The sap acts with greater force, and produces more vigorous growth on
+a branch pruned short than on one pruned long.
+
+3. The sap, tending always to the extremities, causes the terminal
+shoots to push with more vigor than the laterals.
+
+4. The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it
+will be to produce fruit-buds.
+
+5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap for the nourishment of the tree,
+and to aid in the formation of fruit-buds. Therefore, trees deprived of
+their foliage are liable to perish, and they are injured in proportion
+to their defoliation.
+
+6. When the buds of any shoot or branch do not develop before the age of
+two years, they can only be forced into activity by very close pruning;
+and this will often fail, especially in the peach.
+
+Observe the foregoing, and never cut large limbs from any tree, except
+in grafting an old tree (and then only graft a part of the top in one
+year, especially in the pear), and of old, neglected peach-trees, to
+renew the top, and any careful cultivator can raise an orchard of
+healthy, beautiful, and profitable trees. There are different forms of
+training that have gone the rounds of the fruit-books, that are nearly
+all more fanciful than useful. There are four forms of fan-training, and
+several of horizontal and conical. The following only are useful:--
+
+_Fan-Training._--A tree but one year from the graft, or bud, is planted
+and headed down to within four buds of the ground, the buds so situated
+as to throw out two shoots on each side (see fan-training, first stage).
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 1st stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 2d stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, 3d stage.]
+
+[Illustration: Fan-training, Complete.]
+
+The following season, the two upper shoots are to be cut back to three
+buds, so as throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side. The
+two lower shoots are to be cut back to two buds, so as to throw out one
+leading shoot, and one shoot on the upper side. In this second stage,
+you will have a tree with five leading shoots on each side (see cut,
+fan-training, 2d stage). These shoots form the future tree, and should
+neither be shortened in, nor allowed to bear fruit this year.
+
+Each shoot should now be allowed to produce three shoots, one leading
+one, and two others on the upper side, one near the bottom, and the
+other half way up the stem. All others should be pinched off when they
+first appear. At the end of the third year you will have the appearance
+in the cut (Fan-training, third stage). After this it may bear fruit,
+but not too much, as a young tree so trained, is disposed to
+over-bearing. These shoots, except the leading ones, should be shortened
+back; but to what length depends upon the vigor of the tree. This is to
+be continued and extended as the grower may choose, always preventing
+the top from becoming too dense, and the shoot too long for a proper
+flow of sap, and maturity of fruit-buds. A good form, though slightly
+irregular, is seen in the cut (Fan-training, complete). Such trees
+trained against walls, or better, on trellis-work, are beautiful and
+very productive.
+
+[Illustration: Horizontal Training, first stage.]
+
+_Horizontal Training_ is another form contributing to fruitfulness, by
+regulating the flow of the sap. This is done by preserving an upright
+leader with lateral shoots at regular distances. To secure this, such
+shoots as you wish to train must be tied in a horizontal position, and
+all others pinched off on first appearance.
+
+[Illustration: Horizontal Training, fourth year.]
+
+The process is simple and easy, continued as long as you please. Head in
+the shoots of these lateral branches to two or three buds and they will
+bear abundantly. As the growth increases, remove all that are not in the
+right places, and train all you spare, as before. In the fourth year,
+you will have trees of the appearance in the cut (Horizontal Training,
+fourth year).
+
+_Conical Training._--The Quenouille (pronounced _kenoole_) of the
+French, is the best of all forms of training, especially for the pear.
+To produce conical standards, plant young trees four or five feet high,
+and after the first year's growth, head back the top, and cut in the
+side branches, as in the cut (Progressive stages of conical training).
+
+[Illustration: Progressive stages of Conical Training.]
+
+[Illustration: Conical Training complete.]
+
+The next season several tiers of side branches will shoot out. The
+lowest should be left about eighteen inches from the ground, and by
+pinching off a part, others may be made to grow, at such distances as
+you may desire. At the end of the second year, the leader is headed back
+to increase the growth of the side shoots. The laterals will constantly
+increase, and you must save only a sufficient number. The third or
+fourth year, the lateral branches may be bent down and tied to stakes.
+The branches must be tied down from year to year, and the top so
+shortened in as to prevent too vigorous growth, and throw the sap into
+the laterals. This may be continued until the tree will exhibit the
+appearance in the cut (conical training complete). When the tree has
+become thoroughly formed it will retain its shape without keeping the
+branches tied. The fan and horizontal training are valuable for fruits
+that need winter protection, and they are also very ornamental, and
+enable us to cultivate much fruit on a small place. All these forms of
+training increase largely the productiveness of fruit-trees. It is
+recommended for all small gardens and yards, and will pay in growing
+fruit for market.
+
+
+TRANSPLANTING.
+
+Trees should be transplanted in spring in cold climates, and in autumn
+in warm regions. The top should be lessened about as much as the roots
+have been by removal. Cutting off so large a part of the top as we often
+see is greatly injurious. Trees frequently lose one or two years'
+growth, by being excessively trimmed when transplanted. The leaves are
+the lungs of the tree, and how can it grow if they are mostly removed?
+All injured roots should be cut off smoothly on the lower side, slant
+out from the tree, and just above the point of injury. Places for the
+trees should be prepared as given under the different fruits and the
+trees set firmly in them an inch lower than they stood in the nursery.
+The great point is to get the fine mould very close around all the
+roots, leaving them in the most natural position. Trees dipped in a
+bucket of soil or clay and water, thick enough to form a coat like
+paint, just at the time of transplanting, are said to be less liable to
+die. Every transplanted tree should have a stake, and be thoroughly
+mulched. Trees properly transplanted will grow much faster, and bear a
+year or two earlier, than those that have been carelessly set out. For
+further remarks on this important matter, see under the different
+fruits.
+
+
+TURNIP.
+
+This is one of the great root crops of England, and to considerable
+extent in this country, for feeding purposes. We think it should be
+displaced, mostly, by beets, carrots, and parsnips. They are more
+nutritious, as easily raised, and more conveniently fed. The Rutabaga is
+a productive variety, and possesses a good deal of nutriment. The
+essentials in raising good turnips of most varieties, are very rich
+soil, worked deep, and finely pulverized. They should stand in rows two
+feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows. They may be mainly tended
+with a small cultivator or root-cleaner.
+
+English turnips are extensively grown as a second crop on wheat stubble,
+&c. The soil is highly enriched and the seed sown in rows to allow
+cultivation. The best method, however, is to turn over old greensward
+say June 1, and yard cattle or sheep on it till July 10, and then harrow
+thoroughly, and sow the seed broadcast. The yield will usually be large,
+and they will need very little weeding. If it is not convenient to yard
+cattle on the turnip-ground, apply fifteen double wagon loads of fine
+manure with a few bushels of lime to the acre, and the crop will be
+large. The usual time of sowing turnips is from the 10th to the 25th of
+July. We think the yield is larger when sown by the middle of June. The
+only way to get good early turnips is to sow them very early. The flat,
+or common field turnip, is easily grown on new land, or on any rich soil
+tolerably free from weeds and not infested with worms.
+
+
+WHEAT.
+
+This is the most highly esteemed of all grains, and has more enemies,
+and is more affected in its growth by the weather, than any other. It
+has engaged more attention in the study and writings of agriculturists
+than all other cereals. The outlines only of the results of the vast
+field of investigation and experiment on wheat-growing can be presented
+here. There are doubts respecting the origin of wheat. The more general
+and probable theory is, that it is the product of the cultivation, for a
+series of years, of a species of grass called AEgilops. This is
+indigenous on the shores of the Mediterranean, in those countries which,
+from time immemorial, have been the sources of our wheat. No one has
+ever found wild wheat in any country; it would be as strange as a wild
+cabbage or turnip. But the practical question is, How can wheat be most
+surely and profitably grown? The first requisite is a suitable soil. A
+clay or limestone soil is usually considered best, as there is much lime
+in wheat-bran. Such soil is better than light sand, or some of the
+poorer loams. But the large yields of wheat on the Western prairies, and
+on the rich alluvial soils of California river-bottoms, shows that the
+best of wheat may grow on other than clay lands. The truth of the matter
+respecting soils for wheat, is, that any soil good for corn, potatoes,
+or a garden, may, with proper tillage, produce the best of wheat.
+Experience in England, and in all the old countries on the continent of
+Europe, shows us that old land may be made to yield as large crops of
+wheat as the virgin soil of the New World. The production of wheat at
+suitable intervals, for a century, on the same land, need not lessen its
+power to produce good wheat in large quantities. Wheat is a plant
+demanding a rich soil, worked deep, and not too wet: these three things
+will produce a good crop on any land. We say to all farmers, raise wheat
+on any land that you can afford to prepare. First, if your land has not
+a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and
+becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat. Drainage is
+hardly more essential to any other crop than this. Next, plow deep.
+Subsoiling, on most lands, is very important to wheat. Manure highly,
+and put the manure between the soil and the subsoil: this attracts the
+roots deep into the soil, which is the greatest protection against
+winter-killing, and the effects of excessive drought. Render the surface
+of the soil as fine as possible. A finely-pulverized soil is as
+essential for wheat as for onions. Coarse lumpy soils are so open to the
+action of the atmosphere as to render the growth unequal, and cause the
+roots of the plant to grow too near the surface, for dry weather or the
+cold of winter. Always apply lime to wheat-lands, unless it be a
+limestone soil--not too much at once, but a few bushels to the acre
+annually. On no other crop do wood-ashes and dissolved potash, applied
+in the coarse manures, pay so well as on wheat. Sowing the seed is next
+in importance. The three questions in sowing are the manner, the depth,
+and the quantity. Shall it be drilled or sowed broadcast? Broadcast
+sowing requires more seed, and is liable to be less evenly covered;
+hence, we should prefer drilling. The depth of the seed is to be
+determined by the texture of the soil. Careful experiments have shown,
+that on clay land there is no perceptible difference in the growth of
+the plants, at any of the stages, in seed sown at any depth, from a
+slight covering to three or four inches. At a greater depth, it comes up
+less regularly, and in every way is in a worse condition. But on a light
+soil, it is, no doubt, best to plant it from four to six inches deep. On
+very loose soils, as muck land and alluvial soils, the roots of the
+plants grow too near the surface, and are exposed to being thrown out by
+winter frosts, and destroyed. The remedy is deep sowing and thorough
+rolling. The quantity of seed now more generally sown is from five pecks
+to two bushels per acre. Rich land will not bear so much seed as the
+poorer. It will grow so thick as to render the straw tender, and expose
+it to lodge and ruin the crop. Wheat tillers, or thickens up at the
+bottom, making many stalks from a single seed, quite as much as any
+other grain; hence, we believe that if it be sown at a proper time on
+very rich land, three pecks to the acre would be better than more. Such
+sowing would make more vigorous plants, with much stronger roots, which
+would withstand cold and unfavorable weather better than any other. We
+should still more strongly recommend another form of sowing, practised
+by some European cultivators with great success: it is, to drill in
+wheat, in rows two feet apart, and give it a spring cultivation; this
+gives great strength to the plants, destroys the weeds, promotes rapid
+growth by stirring the soil, and favors tillering, so that the rows will
+meet, and give a great growth. We doubt not this will yet be extensively
+adopted in this country. All wheat-land had better be rolled after
+sowing, and light lands, with a very heavy roller. Light sandy land,
+having a little clay mixed in as recommended under soils, well manured,
+the seed planted six inches deep, and the whole rolled with a heavy
+roller, will bear great crops of wheat.
+
+As it respects fall or spring wheat, no positive directions can be
+given, adapted to all climates. In many localities it is of little use
+to sow winter wheat, as it is very uncertain. In other localities winter
+wheat almost always succeeds best. This question then must be determined
+by circumstances. The time of sowing winter wheat varies in different
+climates, according as it may be exposed to depredations of worms and
+insects in the fall. Farmers are not liable to mistake in this matter.
+Spring wheat, in all climates, should be sowed very early. It is hardly
+possible in all the Middle and Northern states to prepare the ground in
+spring, and get in wheat in suitable season.
+
+The yield of a crop of spring wheat, depends materially upon the growth
+in the cool and moist weather of spring, when it spreads and its roots
+get a strong hold before the hot weather, that hurries up the stalks
+and ears to maturity. Hence plow in the fall, and harrow in the wheat,
+as early as possible, in the spring.
+
+_The varieties_ of wheat are numerous and uncertain. In the state of
+Maine, an intelligent cultivator, in 1856, recommended Java wheat as
+having a very stiff straw, and producing a very heavy yield. The
+Mediterranean wheat is also a favorite variety. Club wheat has also had
+a great run, and is now very popular at the West. But of varieties no
+one can be confident. We notice in the discussions of the best
+agriculturists of England and Scotland, that they have doubts of the
+proper names of some of the best varieties. In a certain rich part of
+Illinois we know an unusually popular wheat, sold at high prices for
+seed, under the name of _mud club_, as being much better than the
+ordinary club. We happened to learn that it was nothing but common club
+wheat, sown on rather low ground, where it happened to grow very fair
+that season. It is only occasionally that such tricks are successfully
+played, but it is true that many varieties are the result of extra good
+or chance cultivation. The celebrated Chidham wheat, named from a place
+where it was successfully grown, was also called Hedge wheat, because a
+head found growing in a hedge was supposed to be the origin of it. Now
+it is not probable that that head was the only one of the kind in all
+the country, and it would by no means be identified in all localities.
+And as all wheat is the result of the cultivation of the AEgilops or some
+other wild grass, it shows us that varieties may be produced by
+cultivation. Great importance is therefore to be attached to frequently
+changing seed; especially bringing it from colder into warmer climates,
+and changing from one soil to a very different one. Thus seed raised on
+hard hills is highly valuable for alluvial soils. Thus the efforts to
+introduce so many new varieties from the dominions of the sultan, will
+prove of vast advantage to wheat culture in America. So let us be
+constantly importing the best from Great Britain and the British
+provinces and from California, and all the extremes of our own country.
+Such wheats are worth more for seeds than others, but any extravagant
+prices for seed wheat, under the idea of almost miraculous powers of
+production, are unwise.
+
+It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as
+some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through
+the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best
+time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned
+yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily
+mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is
+heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than
+when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. Drying in good
+shocks is far better than drying before cut. Some have gone to extremes
+in early cutting, and harvested their wheat while in the milk, and
+suffered serious loss in its weight. We sometimes have rain in harvest,
+which causes all the wheat in a large region to grow before getting it
+dry enough to house. A remedy is, to go right on and cut your wheat,
+rain or shine, and put it up, without binding, in large cocks of from
+three to five bushels, packing together as close as possible, however
+wet, and cover the centre with a bundle of wheat to shed rain. It will
+dry out without growing; and, although the straw will be somewhat
+mouldy, the grain will be perfectly good, even when it has been so wet
+as to make the top of the shocks perfectly green with grown wheat. This
+process is of great value in a wet season. To prepare seed-wheat for
+sowing, soak it for a day or two in very strong brine; skim off all that
+rises; remove the grain from the brine, and while wet, sift on
+fresh-slaked lime until it slightly coats the whole grain; put on a
+little plaster to render the sowing more pleasant to the hand. Wheat
+will lie in this condition for days without injury. So prepared, it will
+exhibit a marked superiority in the growing crop.
+
+_Enemies_ of wheat are numerous, and various remedies are proposed. The
+wire-worm is sometimes very destructive. Wheat planted with a drill,
+with a heavy cast-iron roller behind each tooth, will not suffer by
+them; they will only work in the mellow ground between the drills. Drive
+over a field of wheat exposed to injury from wire-worms with a common
+ox-cart, and you will notice a marked difference; wherever the
+cartwheel passed over, the wheat remains unharmed by the wire-worm,
+while on either side much of it will be destroyed. But the wheat-midge,
+or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in
+some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so
+early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This
+is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land.
+Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured.
+But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry
+seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of
+the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. Burning
+the chaff at thrashing is useless for this purpose. The worm has
+entered the ground to remain for the winter, before the wheat is
+harvested. We know of but one way to kill the weevil, and that is, by
+insect lamps or torches in the field in the evening. The flies are
+inactive until evening, when, from dusk till eight or nine o'clock, they
+deposite their eggs in the blossoms and chaff of the wheat. Now, it is
+ascertained that this fly, like many other insects, will fly several
+rods to a light. Twenty-five torches at equal distances, in a ten-acre
+lot of wheat, would be near enough. Nearly all the flies in a field
+would fly to them in half an hour. These need be lighted only on
+pleasant evenings, as weevils will not work in wind or rain, and they
+only commit their depredations during the time the wheat is in blossom.
+Let twenty-five racks, or holders of some kind, be put up on ten acres
+of wheat, and have pitch-pine put in them and ignited, after the manner
+of night fishermen, and let this be done a few nights, during the
+blossoming season of wheat, and the fly will be destroyed and the crop
+saved, in the worst weevil-season that ever occurred. In the absence of
+pitch-pine, some other light can be devised--as, balls of rags dipped in
+turpentine and sulphur, as in a torchlight procession. Something can be
+devised that will burn brilliantly for an hour: this will not cost fifty
+cents an acre, during the weevil-season, and will prove almost a perfect
+remedy.
+
+Rust in wheat is only avoided by getting your wheat to maturity before
+the rust strikes it. If it is nearly mature, and the rust strikes it,
+cut it and shock it up in the shortest time possible.
+
+Wheat is a great subject in agriculture, on which many volumes have been
+written, and on which it is customary to write long articles. We trust
+the recapitulation of what we have said, in the following brief rules,
+is more valuable to the practical wheat-culturist than any large volume
+could be. Analyses of wheat-bran and straw, the philosophy of rust in
+wheat, the length, size, and color of the weevil, and the great
+diversity of opinions on wheat-growing, are not what practical men
+regard. The one question is, How can I grow wheat surely and profitably?
+The following rules answer this important question, rendering failure
+unnecessary:--
+
+1. Make your soil very rich, putting the manure as deep as convenient.
+Apply lime, wood-ashes, and potash, the latter dissolved and applied to
+your coarse manure.
+
+2. Under-drain thoroughly all wheat-land, except that on a dry subsoil.
+
+3. Plow deep and subsoil all wheat-lands, except those on a gravelly or
+sandy bottom.
+
+4. Plant wheat from two to six inches deep, according to the texture of
+the soil--deepest on the lightest soil. Roll after sowing, and roll
+light lands with a heavy roller.
+
+5. Always get your wheat in early, and in a finely-pulverized soil, and
+be careful not to seed too heavy.
+
+6. Sow seed that has not long been grown in your vicinity, and steep it
+two days, before sowing, in a brine, with as much salt as the water will
+dissolve, sifting fine, fresh lime over the wet grain, after removing it
+from the brine; put on, also, plaster-of-Paris or wood-ashes.
+
+7. Harvest wheat before the straw becomes dry, or the grain hard.
+
+8. Destroy weevil by lights in the field, on the pleasant evenings
+during the blossoming season.
+
+
+WHORTLEBERRY.
+
+Of this excellent berry there are several varieties, distinguished by
+the height of the bushes, or by the color of the fruit. The main
+divisions are, the _Swamp_ and the _Plain Whortleberries_. The swamp
+variety has been transferred to gardens, in Michigan, and has proved
+valuable. The shrub attains considerable size, producing fruit more
+surely and regularly than in its wild state, and of an improved quality
+and larger size. It may be grown as well as currants all over the
+country. The small plain variety is usually found on sandy plains, and
+is a great bearer of fruit everywhere highly prized. It may be
+transferred to all our gardens, by making a bed of sand six inches or a
+foot deep, or it may be so acclimated as to grow well in any good garden
+soil, and become a universal luxury. We recommend it as a standing fruit
+for all gardens.
+
+
+WILLOW.
+
+The cultivation of willow for osier-work is pursued to some extent in
+this country, and might be greatly increased. At one fourth the present
+prices, it would pay as well as any other branch of agriculture. Some
+varieties will grow on land of little value for other purposes, and all
+on any good land. Willows will take care of themselves after the second
+or third year. The more usual method of planting is of slips, ten inches
+long, set in mellow ground about eight inches deep, in straight rows
+four or six feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows--except the green
+willow, which is put two feet apart in the row. They should be kept
+clear of weeds for the first two years. The osiers are to be cut when
+the bark will peel somewhat easily, and may be put through a machine for
+the purpose, invented by J. Colby, of Jonesville, Vermont, at the rate
+of two tons per day, removing all the bark, without injuring the wood.
+Different opinions prevail respecting the varieties most profitable for
+cultivation; they vary in different localities. The manufacture of
+willow-ware will increase with the increased production of osiers, and
+the consequent reduction of their cost.
+
+
+WINE.
+
+We have elsewhere stated that our only hope for pure wine in this
+country is in domestic manufacture. We shall here give two recipes that
+will insure better articles than are now offered under the name of
+imported wines.
+
+_Currant Wine._--This, as usually manufactured, is a mere cordial,
+rather than a wine. The following recipe gathered from the _Working
+Farmer_, is all that need be desired, on making wine from currants,
+cherries, and most berries, that are not too sweet. Take clean ripe
+currants and pass them between two rollers, or in some other way, crush
+them, put them in a strong bag, and under a screw or weight, and the
+juice will be easily expressed. To each quart of this juice, add three
+pounds of _double-refined_ loaf sugar (no other sugar will do) and water
+enough to make a gallon. Or in a cask that will hold thirty gallons, put
+thirty quarts of the juice, ninety pounds of the sugar, and fill to the
+bung with water. Put in the bung and roll the cask until you can not
+hear the sugar moving on the inside of the barrel, when it will all be
+dissolved. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar of very even
+temperature, and leave the bung out to allow fermentation. This will
+commence in two or three days and continue for a few weeks. Its presence
+may be known by a slight noise like that of soda water, which may be
+heard by placing the ear at the bung hole. When this ceases drive the
+bung tight and let it stand six months, when the wine may be drawn off
+and bottled, and will be perfectly clear and not too sweet. No alcohol
+should be added. Putting in brandies or other spirituous liquors
+prevents the fermentation of wine, leaving the mixture a mere cordial.
+The use of any but double-refined sugar is always injurious, and yet
+many will persist in using it, because it is cheaper. The reason for
+discarding, for wine-making, all but double-refined sugar, may be easily
+understood. Common sugar contains one half of one per cent. of gum, that
+becomes fetid on being dissolved in water. The quantity of this gum in
+the sugar, for a barrel of wine, is considerable--enough to give a bad
+flavor to the wine. This is avoided by using double-refined sugar, which
+contains no gum. This recipe is equally good for cherry wine.
+
+The following recipe for making _Elderberry Wine_, produces an article
+that the best judges in New York and elsewhere have pronounced equal to
+any imported wine. Its excellence has made quite a market for
+elderberries in New York. These berries are so easily grown, and the
+wine so excellent, that their growth will be encouraged throughout the
+country. It is not only an exceedingly palatable wine, but is better
+for the sick, than any other known.
+
+To every quart of the berries, put a quart of water and boil for half an
+hour. Bruise them from the skin and strain, and to every gallon of the
+juice add three pounds of _double-refined_ sugar and one quarter of an
+ounce of cream of tartar and boil for half an hour. Take a clean cask
+and put in it one pound of raisins to every three gallons of the wine,
+and a slice of toasted bread covered over with good yeast. When the wine
+has become quite cool, put it into the cask, and place it in a room of
+even temperature to ferment. When the fermentation has fully ceased, put
+the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol of any kind will be necessary.
+Any one following this recipe _exactly_, will be surprised at the
+excellence of the wine that will be the result.
+
+Of _Grape Wines_, there are several varieties, whose peculiarities are
+determined mainly by the process of manufacturing. A full treatment of
+the subject would require a volume. The following brief directions will
+insure success in making the most desirable grape wines:
+
+1. Let the grapes become thoroughly ripe before gathering, to increase
+their saccharine qualities and make a stronger wine. All fruits make
+much better wine for being fully ripe. Cut the bunches with a sharp
+knife and move carefully to avoid bruising. Spread them in a dry shade
+to evaporate excessive moisture.
+
+2. Assort the grapes before using, removing all decayed, green, or
+broken ones, using only perfect berries.
+
+3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a
+cider-mill. "_Treading the wine vat_" was the ancient method of mashing
+the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.
+
+4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a
+cider-press.
+
+5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to
+twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to
+the length of time the pomace stands.
+
+6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let
+the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called
+"fermenting in the skin."
+
+7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the
+better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a
+cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than
+sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.
+
+Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in
+melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole.
+Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days
+or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the
+cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other
+substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They
+are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation,
+may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second
+fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled
+until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the
+glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being
+occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this
+fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their
+sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.
+
+Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and is drawn off and
+bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs
+fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue,
+charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &c. The best of these substances is
+charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the
+foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an
+ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs--more
+or less according to the state of the wine.
+
+_Rhine Wine_ of Germany may be made as follows:--
+
+Take good Catawba or Isabella grapes, and pound or grind them so as to
+crush every seed and leave them in that state for twenty-four hours.
+Fumigate the cask by burning strips of muslin dipped in sulphur as in
+the preceding recipe. Strain or press out the juice into the cask
+filling it and keeping it _entirely full_, that impurities may run out
+of the bung, during fermentation. In the spring prepare another cask in
+the same way and rack it off into that. When a year old bottle it and it
+is fit for use.
+
+Sweeter wines than any of the above are made by adding sugar to the must
+before fermentation. It should be _double-refined_ sugar, and still it
+is an adulteration.
+
+
+WOODLANDS.
+
+One of the greatest errors of American farmers is their neglect to
+cultivate groves of trees for woodlands, in all suitable places. Our
+primeval forests have been wantonly destroyed, and the country is not
+yet old enough to feel the full force of neglecting to replenish them,
+by new groves, in suitable localities. On the points of hills, rough
+stony places, sides of steep hills, ravines that can not be cultivated,
+and by the side of all the highways of the land, trees should be
+cultivated: in some places fruit-trees, but in most places forest-trees.
+The advantages would be manifold; they would afford shade for cattle,
+groves for birds, which would destroy the worms; they would break off
+the cold winds from crops, cattle, fruit-orchards, and dwellings; would
+greatly enrich the soil by their annual foliage, afford abundance of
+fuel at the cheapest rates, give much good timber, provide for fine
+maple-sugar, and be the greatest ornaments of the rural districts. Only
+think of the comfort and beauty of fifty miles square, in which not a
+street could be found which had not trees on each side, not more than
+twelve feet apart. When such trees should become twenty years old, the
+pedestrian or the carriage could move all day in the shade, listening to
+the music of the birds, and inhaling the aroma of the foliage or
+flowers. To every owner or occupant of the soil we say, plant trees.
+
+
+POULTRY.
+
+Fattening and preparing poultry for the market are important items in
+rural economy. Plenty of sweet food and pure water given at regular
+times, and the fowls not allowed to wander, are the requisites of
+successful fattening. The best feed for fattening fowls is oat-meal.
+Next to this is corn-meal. Three things are essential in food for
+fattening animals, flesh-forming, fat-forming, and heat-producing
+substances. Of all the grains ordinarily fed, oat-meal contains these in
+the best proportions, and next to this comes yellow Indian corn meal.
+Fat is good, but must be given in a hard form as in mutton or beef
+suet. Rice boiled in sweet milk, fed for a day or two before killing
+fowls is said to render the flesh of a white delicate color.
+
+At least one third of the value of poultry in the market depends upon
+properly preparing and transporting it.
+
+1. Do not feed fowls at all for twenty-four hours before killing them.
+
+2. Kill by cutting the jugular vein with a sharp pen-knife, just under
+the sides of the head, and hang them up to bleed.
+
+3. Pick carefully and very clean, without tearing the skin, and without
+scalding. Singe slightly if need be. Dip in hot water for three or four
+seconds and in cold water half a minute.
+
+4. Do not open the breast at all, but remove the entrails from the hind
+opening, leaving the gizzard in its place. Put no water in but wipe out
+the blood with a dry cloth. Leaving the entrails in is injurious,
+tending to sour the meat and taint it with their flavor.
+
+5. Do not allow your poultry to freeze by any means. For transporting to
+a distant market, pack in shallow boxes never containing over three
+hundred pounds each and in clean straw without chaff or dust, and in
+such a manner that no two fowls will touch each other.
+
+6. Geese and ducks look better with the heads cut off. But all fowls
+having their heads removed must have the skin drawn down and tightly
+tied over the end of the neck bone. This will preserve them well and
+give a good appearance.
+
+To preserve fowls for a long time in a perfectly sweet condition for
+family use, fill them half full or more with pulverized charcoal, which
+will act as an absorbent and prevent every particle of taint.
+
+
+
+AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS.
+
+The following list of Agricultural Periodicals embraces all that have
+come to our knowledge. In a subsequent edition we shall endeavor to
+render the list more complete, and give the special design of each, with
+the frequency of publication, form, price, editor's and publisher's
+names, etc.
+
+NAME OF PAPER. PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
+
+  American Farmers' Magazine   _New York City._
+  American Farmer   _Baltimore, Md._
+  Alabama Planter   _Mobile, Ala._
+  American Agriculturist   _New York City._
+  Canadian Agriculturist   _Toronto, C. W._
+  Cultivator   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Cotton Planter   _Montgomery, Ala._
+  Cultivator   _Columbus, Ohio._
+  Cultivator   _Boston, Mass._
+  California Farmer   _San Francisco, Cal._
+  Country Gentleman   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Farmer and Planter   _Pendleton, S. C._
+  Granite Farmer   _Manchester, N. H._
+  Genesee Farmer   _Rochester, N. Y._
+  Horticulturist   _Albany, N. Y._
+  Homestead   _Hartford, Ct._
+  Journal of Agriculture   _Chicago, Ill._
+  Maine Farmer   _Augusta, Me._
+  Michigan Farmer   _Detroit, Mich._
+  Magazine of Horticulture   _Boston, Mass._
+  Massachusetts Ploughman   _Boston, Mass._
+  New England Farmer   _Boston, Mass._
+  New Jersey Farmer   _Trenton, N. J._
+  North Carolina Planter   _Raleigh, N. C._
+  Ohio Valley Farmer   _Cincinnati, Ohio._
+  Ohio Farmer   _Cleveland, Ohio._
+  Prairie Farmer   _Chicago, Ill._
+  Rural New Yorker   _Rochester, N. Y._
+  Rural Southerner   _Ellicott's Mills, Md._
+  Rural American   _Utica, N. Y._
+  Southern Planter   _Richmond, Va._
+  Southern Cultivator   _Augusta, Ga._
+  Southern Homestead   _Nashville, Tenn._
+  Valley Farmer   _St. Louis, Mo._
+  Vermont Stock Journal   _Middlebury, Vt._
+  Wisconsin Farmer   _Madison, Wisc._
+  Working Farmer   _New York City._
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+  Acclimation; 9
+  Agricultural Periodicals, List of; 440
+  Almonds; 10
+  Animals, Rules for feeding; 178
+  Apples; 12
+  Apple-Tree Wood, Analysis of; 14
+  Apple-Worm, Remedy for; 22
+  Apricot; 50
+  Artichoke; 52
+  Ashes; 53
+  Asparagus; 54
+  Atmosphere, Important Auxiliary in the Growth of Plants; 278
+
+  Balm; 56
+  Barberry; 56
+  Barley; 57
+  Barns; 59
+  Bean, Coffee; 130
+  Beans; 60
+  Bees and Beehives; 64
+  Beets; 77
+  Bene Plant; 81
+  Berries, Preservation of; 367
+  Birds useful in destroying Insects; 82
+  Blackberry; 83
+  Black Currant; 165
+  Black Raspberry; 85
+  Board Fences; 179
+  Bones, their Value as a Fertilizer; 85, 275
+  Borden's Milk Condensation; 369
+  Borecale; 86
+  Borer, Preventive and Remedy for; 23
+  Breck's Book of Flowers; 195
+  Breeding in, Deteriorating Effects of; 142
+  Broccoli; 86
+  Broom-Corn; 87
+  Brussels Sprouts; 89
+  Buckthorn; 89
+  Buckwheat; 90
+  Budding; 91
+  Buffalo Berry; 390
+  Bulbous Flowering Roots; 195
+  Bushes, Eradication of Noxious; 94
+  Butter; 95
+  Butter Dairy; 167
+  Butter-Making, Essential Rules for; 100
+  Butternuts; 102
+
+  Cabbage; 102
+  Calves; 108
+  Canker-Worm, Remedy for; 25
+  Cans; 111, 367
+  Carrots; 112
+  Caterpillars, how destroyed; 24
+  Cauliflower; 113
+  Celery; 114
+  Charcoal; 125
+  Cheese; 115
+  Cheese-House; 167
+  Cherries; 118
+  Chestnuts; 125
+  Chickens; 197-199
+  Churn, Best Form of; 98
+  Churning, Brief Rules for; 97
+  Cider; 126
+  Citron; 127
+  Cleft-Grafting; 210
+  Clover; 128, 235
+  Coffee Bean; 130
+  Colts, Milk from the Dairy Excellent food for; 248
+  Conical Training; 420
+  Corn; 131
+  Corn, Broom; 87
+  Cottage, Economical Plan of a Laborer's; 257
+  Cotton; 134
+  Cotton Plant, Analysis of; 139
+  Country Residence, Plan of; 255
+  Cows; 140
+  Cranberry; 156
+  Cucumber; 161
+  Curculio on Plum-Trees, Unfailing Remedy for; 355
+  Currants; 164
+  Currants, Black; 165
+  Currant Wine, Recipe for making; 433
+
+  Dairy; 167
+  Declension of Fruits, Cause of and Remedy for; 168
+  Dill; 169
+  Downing's List of Gooseberries; 208
+  Drains; 170
+  Ducks; 172
+  Dwarfing Fruit-Trees, Process of; 173
+
+  Early Fruits and Vegetables, how produced; 174
+  Eastern States, Varieties of Apples adapted to; 20
+  Eastwood's Work on Cranberry Culture; 156
+  Egg Plant; 175
+  Eggs, how to test and preserve them; 176
+  Elderberry; 176
+  Elderberry Wine, a Recipe for Making; 434
+  Endive; 177
+
+  Fan Training of Trees; 417
+  Farm-Buildings; 251
+  Feeding Animals; 178
+  Fences; 179
+  Fennel; 181
+  Figs; 181
+  Fish; 184
+  Flax; 192
+  Flowering Shrubs; 195
+  Flowers; 193
+  Foot-Paths, Circular, how laid out; 254
+  Foot-Rot in Animals, Remedy for; 388
+  Forest Trees; 437
+  Fowls; 196
+  Fruit; 200
+  Fruits, Declension of; 168
+  Fruits, Early, how produced; 174
+  Fruits, Preservation of; 367
+  Fruits, Manner of Gathering; 205
+  Fruit-Trees, Location of; 269
+  Fruit-Trees, how to induce Productiveness in; 201
+
+  Garden; 202
+  Garlic; 205
+  Gathering Fruits; 205
+  Geese; 205
+  Gooseberry; 206
+  Grafting; 208
+  Grafting-Wax, how made; 211
+  Grapes; 212
+  Grape-Wine, Method of making; 435
+  Grasses; 227
+  Greenhouse; 231
+  Guano, Care requisite in the Application of; 277
+  Guenon's Treatise on the Milking Qualities of Cows; 142
+  Gypsum; 232, 247
+
+  Hams, Preservation of; 370
+  Harrowing; 233
+  Hay, making and preserving of; 234
+  Hedge; 236
+  Hedge-Pruning; 238
+  Hedges, Shrubs suitable for the Formation of; 57, 89, 236-238
+  Hemp; 239
+  Hens; 196
+  Herbaceous Flowers; 196
+  Hive, Proper Construction of; 74
+  Hoeing; 241
+  Hogs; 409
+  Hogstye, Plan of; 252
+  Hogstye, Manure from the; 274
+  Hops; 242
+  Hops, Method of curing; 244
+  Horizontal Training; 419
+  Horse; 246
+  Horseradish; 249
+  Hotbeds; 249
+  Hothouse; 231
+  Houses; 251
+  Hybrids; 259
+
+
+  Inarching; 259
+  Insects; 260
+  Iron-Filings, Beneficial to Pear-Trees 261
+  Irrigation; 261
+  Italian Farmhouse, Plan of; 228
+
+
+  Kale; 86
+
+
+  Labels for Fruit-Trees; 202
+  Laborer's Cottage, Plan of; 257
+  Landscape Gardens; 263
+  Lawton Blackberry; 84
+  Layering; 264
+  Laying in Trees; 265
+  Leeks; 266
+  Lemon; 266
+  Lettuce; 267
+  Licorice; 268
+  Lime, Value of as a Fertilizer; 268
+  Limes; 269
+  Liquid Manures, Value of; 273
+  Location; 269
+  Locust-Trees; 270
+
+
+  Manures; 271
+  Maple-Trees, Best Method of tapping; 404
+  Marjorum; 283
+  Marl; 282
+  Melons; 283
+  Mice, Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373
+  Milk, Condensation and Preservation of; 369
+  Milking Qualities of Cows, Infallible Marks of; 142-155
+  Milking, Rules for; 96, 155
+  Milk, Value of for Horses; 248
+  Millet; 287
+  Mint; 288
+  Moisture, Retention of, leading Benefit of Manure; 277
+  Mulberry; 289
+  Mulching; 289
+  Mushrooms; 290
+  Muskmelons; 283
+  Mustard; 292
+
+
+  Nasturtium; 293
+  Nectarine; 293
+  New Fruits; 295
+  New Rochelle (Lawton) Blackberry 84
+  Northern States, Varieties of Apples suitable for; 30
+  Nursery; 296
+  Nuts; 300
+
+
+  Oaks; 301
+  Oats; 303
+  Okra; 304
+  Olives; 304
+  Onions; 305
+  Oranges; 308
+  Orchards; 309
+  Orchards, Favorable Locations for; 269
+  Osage Orange; 236
+  Oxen; 311
+
+
+  Parsley; 312
+  Parsnips; 313
+  Pastures; 315
+  Peas; 316
+  Peach;; 319
+  Pear;; 332
+  Pear-Orchard, Plan of; 337
+  Pennyroyal Mint; 288
+  Peppers; 347
+  Peppergrass; 348
+  Peppermint; 288
+  Picket Fences; 180
+  Piggery, Plan of; 252
+  Plaster of Paris; 232
+  Plowing; 348
+  Plum; 351
+  Plum, Analysis of; 353
+  Pomegranate; 359
+  Potato; 360
+  Potato-Rot, Cause of and Remedy for; 364
+  Potato, Sweet; 406
+  Poultry; 438
+  Preserving Fruits and Vegetables 367
+  Protection of Trees for Transplanting 265, 300
+  Prunes, Domestic; 356
+  Pruning and Training; 414
+  Pruning Peach-Trees; 323
+  Pumpkin; 371
+
+
+  Quince; 372
+
+
+  Rabbits, a Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373
+  Radish; 374
+  Rail Fences; 180
+  Raspberry; 375
+  Raspberry, Black; 85
+  Rennet, how prepared; 115
+  Rhubarb; 377
+  Rice; 378
+  Rocks, Methods of removing; 379
+  Rollers; 379
+  Root Crops; 380
+  Root-Pruning, Method of; 353
+
+
+  Saffron; 381
+  Sage; 381
+  Salsify or Vegetable Oyster; 382
+  Scraping Land; 382
+  Seeds; 383
+  Shade-Trees; 437
+  Sheep; 384
+  Sheep-Manure, Value of; 389
+  Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry; 390
+  Skippers in Cheese; 117
+  Soils; 391
+  Sorgho, or Chinese Sugarcane; 405
+  South, Apples adapted to the Climate of the; 31
+  Spearmint; 288
+  Spinage or Spinach; 394
+  Squash; 395
+  Stable; 59
+  Stilton Cheese, Method of Making; 117
+  Strawberry; 396
+  Subsoil Plowing; 349
+  Succory; 177
+  Sugar; 403
+  Summer-House, Plan of; 256
+  Summer Savory; 406
+  Sunflower; 406
+  Sweet Potato; 406
+  Swine; 409
+
+
+  Tobacco; 411
+  Tomato; 412
+  Tongue-Grafting; 211
+  Tools; 414
+  Training and Pruning; 414
+  Transplanting; 421
+  Turnip; 422
+
+
+  Van Mon's Theory of the Production of New Fruits; 295
+  Vegetables, Early; 174
+  Vegetable Oyster; 382
+  Vineyards; 213, 216
+
+
+  Wagon-House; 251
+  Walls, Stone; 179
+  Watering Gardens in Dry Seasons, Benefits of; 261
+  Watermelons; 283
+  Wax-Moth, Protection against; 73
+  Weevil, or Wheat Midge, Remedy for; 430
+  Western States, Varieties of Apples suitable for the; 30, 48
+  Wheat; 423
+  White Blackberry; 84
+  Whortleberry; 432
+  Willow; 432
+  Wine; 433
+  Wines, Adulteration of Imported; 212
+  Winter Lettuce; 177
+  Wood-Ashes, Value of as a Manure; 53
+  Woodlands; 437
+  Woolly Aphis, Remedy for; 23
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AGRICULTURAL BOOKS,
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+A. O. MOORE,
+
+(LATE C. M. SAXTON & CO.)
+
+140 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK,
+
+_And sent by mail to any part of the United States on receipt of the
+price._
+
+   1 American Farmers' Encyclopedia. A work of great value           $4 00
+   2 Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor                                       1 00
+   3 Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse                       2 00
+   4   Do.    do.           do.          do.   colored plates         4 00
+   5 Dadd's American Cattle Doctor                                    1 00
+   6 The Stable Book                                                  1 00
+   7 The Horse's Foot, and how to keep it sound; paper 25 cts., cloth   50
+   8 Bridgeman's Gardener's Assistant                                 1 50
+   9 Bridgeman's Florist's Guide, half cloth 50 cts., cloth             60
+  10 Bridgeman's Gardener's Instructor, half cloth 50 cts., cloth       60
+  11 Bridgeman's Fruit Cultivator, half cloth 50 cts., cloth            60
+  12 Field's Hand-Book of Pear Culture                                  60
+  13 Cole's American Fruit Book                                         50
+  14 Cole's American Veterinarian                                       50
+  15 Buist's American Flower Garden Directory                         1 25
+  16 Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener                                    75
+  17 Browne's American Bird Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth               50
+  18 Dana's Muck Manual, cloth                                        1 00
+  19 Dana's Prize Essay on Manures                                      25
+  20 Stockhardt's Chemical Field Lectures                             1 00
+  21 Norton's Scientific and Practical Agriculture                      60
+  22 Johnston's Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry (for Schools)       25
+  23 Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology        1 00
+  24 Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology        1 25
+  25 Downing's Landscape Gardening                                    3 50
+  26 Fessenden's Complete Farmer and Gardener                         1 25
+  27 Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener                              50
+  28 Nash's Progressive Farmer                                          60
+  29 Richardson's Domestic Fowls                                        25
+  30 Richardson on the Horse                                            25
+  31 Richardson on the Hog                                              25
+  32 Richardson on the Pests of the Farm                                25
+  33 Richardson on the Hive and Honey Bee                               25
+  34 Milburn and Stevens on the Cow and Dairy Husbandry                 25
+  35 Skinner's Elements of Agriculture                                  25
+  36 Topham's Chemistry Made Easy                                       25
+  37 Breck's Book of Flowers                                          1 00
+  38 Leuchar's Hot Houses and Green Houses                            1 25
+  39 Chinese Sugar Cane and Sugar Making                                25
+  40 Turner's Cotton Planter's Manual                                 1 00
+  41 Allen on the Culture of the Grape                                1 00
+  42 Allen's Diseases of Domestic Animals                               75
+  43 Allen's American Farm Book                                       1 00
+  44 Allen's Rural Architecture                                       1 25
+  45 Pardee on the Strawberry                                           60
+  46 Peddar's Farmer's Land Measurer                                    50
+  47 Phelp's Bee-keeper's Chart                                         25
+  48 Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows; paper 38 cts., cloth              60
+  49 Domestic and Ornamental Poultry, plain $1.00, colored plates     2 00
+  50 Randall's Sheep Husbandry                                        1 25
+  51 Youatt, Randall, and Skinner's Shepherd's Own Book               2 00
+  52 Youatt on the Breed and Management of Sheep                        75
+  53 Youatt on the Horse                                              1 25
+  54 Youatt, Martin, and Stevens, on Cattle                           1 25
+  55 Youatt and Martin on the Hog                                       75
+  56 Barry's Fruit Garden                                             1 25
+  57 Munn's Practical Land Drainer                                      50
+  58 Stephens' Book of the Farm, complete, 450 illustrations          4 00
+  59 The American Architect, or Plans for Country Dwellings           6 00
+  60 Thaer, Shaw, and Johnson's Principles of Agriculture             2 00
+  61 Smith's Landscape Gardening, Parks, and Pleasure Grounds         1 25
+  62 Weeks on the Bee: paper 25 cts., cloth                             50
+  63 Wilson on Cultivation of Flax                                      25
+  64 Miner's American Bee-keeper's Manual                             1 00
+  65 Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-keeping                                1 00
+  66 Cottage and Farm Bee-keeper                                        50
+  67 Elliott's American Fruit Grower's Guide                          1 25
+  68 The American Florist's Guide                                       75
+  69 Hyde on the Chinese Sugar Cane, paper                              25
+  70 Every Lady her own Flower Gardener; paper 25 cts., cloth           50
+  71 The Rose Culturist; paper 25 cts., cloth                           50
+  72 History of Morgan Horses                                         1 00
+  73 Moore's Rural Hand Books, 4 vols.                                5 00
+  74 Rabbit Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth                               50
+  75 Reemelin's Vine-Dresser's Manual                                   50
+  76 Neill's Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Gardener's Companion        1 00
+  77 Browne's American Poultry Yard                                   1 00
+  78 Browne's Field Book of Manures                                   1 25
+  79 Hooper's Dog and Gun                                               50
+  80 Skilful Housewife; paper 25 cts., cloth                            50
+  81 Chorlton's Grape Grower's Guide                                    60
+  82 Sorgho and Imphee, Sugar Plants                                  1 00
+  83 White's Gardening for the South                                  1 25
+  84 Eastwood on the Cranberry                                          50
+  85 Persoz on the Culture of the Vine                                  25
+  86 Boussingault's Rural Economy                                     1 25
+  87 Thompson's Food of Animals; paper 50 cts., cloth                   75
+  88 Richardson on Dogs; paper 25 cts., cloth                           50
+  89 Liebig's Familiar Letters to Farmers                               50
+  90 Cobbett's American Gardener                                        50
+  91 Waring's Elements of Agriculture                                   75
+  92 Blake's Farmer at Home                                           1 25
+  93 Rural Essays                                                     3 00
+  94 Fish Culture                                                     1 00
+  95 Flint on Grasses                                                 1 25
+  96 Warder's Hedges and Evergreens                                   1 00
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Soil Culture, by J. H. Walden
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:54:52 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:54:52 -0700
commit	ad39750da6ec5d0bfa486fe0a74a9458048f7ac8 (patch)
tree	5479f8a5c140d83f78c94498cea375bd838c5997