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THE GARDEN.

HAJVD-BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

HOW TO WRITE;

A New Pocket Manual of Composition and Letter "Writing, with Hints on
Penmanship and Writing Materials, and Practical Eules for Literary Com-
position, Newspaper Writing, Punctuation, and Proof Correcting, etc., etc.
Price, paper, oO c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

HOW TO TALK

A New Pocket Manttal of Conversation and Debate, with Directions for Ac-
qui ing a Grammatical and Graceful Style ; with more than Five Hundred
Common Mistakes Corrected. Price, paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

HOW TO BEHAVE;

A New Pocket Manttal of Republican Etiquette, and Guide to Correct Per-
sonal Habits ; with Eules for Debating Societies and Deliberative Assemblies.
Price, paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

HOW TO DO BUSINESS;

A New Pocket Manual of Practical Affairs and Guide to Success in Life ;
with a Collection of Business Forms, and a Dictionary of Commercial Terms.
Price, paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

THE GARDEN;

^ New Pocket Manual of Practical Horticulture ; or How to Cultivate "Veg-
etables, Fruits, and Flowers. With a Chapter ou Ornamental Trees and
Shrubs. Price, paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

In Preparation.

THE FARM;

A New Pocket Manual of Practical Agriculture. Paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 c.

THE HOUSE;

New Pocket Manual of Ptural Architecture. Paper, 30 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS:

A New Pocket Manual of Cattle, Horse, and Sheep Husbandry, etc., etc.
Price, paper, 80 c. ; cloth, 50 cents.

Sent to any Post- Office by Return Mail, on Receipt of the Price.

RURAL HAA'-D-BOOKS.—JVo. I

THE GARDEN:

A POCKET MANUAL

OP

OR, HOW TO CULTIVATE

YEGETABLES, FRUITS, AND FLOWERS.

EMBRACING

AN EXPOSITION OF THE NATURE AND ACTION OF SOILS AND MANUEES AND THB
STETJCTtTRE AND GKOWTH OF PLANTS ; DIRECTIONS FOR THE FORMING A
GARDEN ; DESCRIPTION OF IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES ; INSTRUC-
TIONS FOR SOWING, TRANSPLANTING, BURDING, GRAFTING, AND
CULTIVATING VEGETABLES, FRUITS, AND FLO^rtEES ;

WITH A CHAPTER ON

BY THE AUTHOR OF

"HOW TO WEITE," "HOW TO BEHAVE," Etc.

Gardening was the primitive employment of the first man ; and the first of men, among his
descendants, have ever been attached to that occupation. Indeed, we can hardly form an Idea
of human felicity, lu which a garden is not one of its most prominent characteristics.— T. G.

Fessenden.

Fowler and Wells, Publishers,

No. 308 BEOADWAT.

1858.

loll

ENTSBKD, ACCORDINa TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1858, BY

FOWLEE AND WELLS,

XN THE CLERE S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITEB
STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW TORE.

Datikr and BoBKiiTS, Stereot>-per8.
113 Nassau Street, New York.

PREFACE.

There are many excellent works on Gardening in the English
language ; but there seemed to be room and a demand for
another. No other work fills just the place that this is intended
to fill — no other quite meets the popular want which we have
aimed to satisfy in this.

We saw the need of a small, cheap work, embracing not only
brief, simple, and easily understood directions for the cultivation
of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, but also a succinct exposition
of the theory of horticulture, as deduced from the nature of
soils and manures, and the laws of vegetable life and growth ;
to give the reader something to fall back upon, whenever the
practical instructions, which can not be adapted to every change
of circumstances, shall fail ^o furnish a sufficient guide. How
well we have succeeded in meeting this need we leave the reader
to judge. We will only say, that our little book has been care-
fully prepared, and combines the results of experience, observa-
tion, and study. In preparing it, we have aimed simply at use-
fulness, and have made no effort for the attainment of any
further originality than the end in view required. We are neces-
sarily placed under heavy obligations to our predecessors in the
walks of horticultural literature ; but what we have derived from
them has, in most cases, been re-written, and so modified, to
adapt it to our purpose, that formal credit has, except in a few

yi Peeface.

instances, been impracticable. Among the numerous works con-
sulted, we take pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness for
valuable aid to each and all of the following :

^Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening.
*'Mrs. Loudon's Gardening for Ladies

Delamer's Kitchen Garden.
' ' Flower Garden.

Neill's Gardener's Companion.
<'Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener.

Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener.

Every Lady Her Own Flower Gardener.

Barry's Fruit Garden.
^Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees.
«'Jaques' Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

Tucker's Annual Eegister.

Farm and Garden Essays.

Thorburn's Descriptive Catalogues.
^'White's Gardening for the South.

Horticulturist.

Country Gentleman.
^Southern Cultivator.

Allen's American Farm Book.

Boussingault's Economic Rurale.

Downing' s Landscape Gardening.
<^Lindley's Theory of Horticulture.

Gray's Botanical Text-Book.
<^'Darby's Botany of the Southern States.

To the works marked thus {■■'■') we are under special obligations,
either for matter derived from them, or for valuable facts or sug-
gestions made more indirectly available.

Trusting that this little manual will be found worthy of a
measure of the favor with which his previous humble attempts
at usefulness has been received, the author now submits it to the
judgment of the great Public.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

The Gardenof Eden— History of Gardening— Attractions— No Fruits like Our
Own— Gardening favorable to Health— The Science of Horticulture— Object
of this Work— How to Use it Page 9-11

L— STRUCTURE AND GROWTH OF PLANTS.

Germination— Conditions Essential to Germination— Time Eequired— The
Process— The Eoot— How Eoots Grow— Functions of the Root— Kinds
of Eoots — The Stem-Structure— Uses— Leaves— Structure and Functions —
Flowers and their Structure— Fruit— Growth and Eipening— The Food of
Plants— State in which it must be Taken up— Conditions Essential to Growth
—"Warmth, Moisture, Food, Air, Light 13-29

n.— SOILS AND MANURES.

Classification of Soils— Heavy Soils— Light Soils— Loamy Soils— Calcareous
Soils — Marley Soils— Vegetable Mold— Alluvial Soils— Subsoils— Improve-
ment of Soils— Manures— Theory of Manures— Composts 30-40

in.— FORMATION OF A GARDEN.

Situation— Exposure — Size and Shape — Laying Out— Fencing— Hedges— Prep-
aration of the Soil— Draining— Trenching— Subsoil Plowing 41-i6

IV.— IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES.

The Various Implements Eequired— Care of Implements— Fixtures— The
Walled Pit— Hoi Beds— Trellises— Eustic Structures 46-50

v.— HORTICULTURAL PROCESSES.

Stirring the Soil -Applying Manures— Forcing— S'^ wing Seeds— Transplanting
—Watering— Hoeing— Protection from Frost -Mulching— Destroying In-
sects-Saving Seeds — Eotation of Crops — Propagation— Suckers — Layers —
Cuttings — Slips— Budding -Grafting - Pruning— Training 51-73

viij Contents.

VI.— THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

Esculent Eoots— The Legumes -The Cabbage Family— Spinaceous Plants—
Asparaginous Plants— Esculent Bulbs— Salad Plants— The Cucumber Family
— The Pumpkin Family— Miscellaneous— Sweet Herbs 73-110

VII.— THE FRUIT GARDEN.

The Apple— Origin— Varieties— Diflaculty of Selecting— List of Summer Ap-
ples—Autumn Apples— "Winter Apples — Crab Apples— Culture— Gathering
and Preserving— The Pear— Lists of Pears— The Quince— Varieties— The
Peach, with Lists of Varieties— The Nectarine— The Apricot— The Cherry —
The Olive— The Orange— The Lemon— The Grape— The Currant— The
Gooseberry— The Easpberry— The Blackberry— The Strawberry— The Fig—
The Pomegranate— The Mulberry 111-142

Vin.— THE FLOWER GARDEN.

Uses of Flowers— A Word to the Ladies— How to become Healthy and Strong
-Implements for Ladies' Use— Laying Out a Flower Garden— Arrangement
of Plants— Climbing Plants— Shrubs and Trees— General Directions— Lists
of Flowering Plants and Shrubs— Hardy Annuals— Hardy Biennials— Hardy
Perennials— Tuberous Eooted Plants— Bulbous Eooted Plants— Flowering
Shrubs— Climbers and Creepers 143-156

IX.— ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS.

General Hints— Picturesqueness-Pruning— American Trees — Transplanting
— Lists of Trees— Large Trees— Deciduous and Evergreen— Small Trees and
Shrubs— Hedge Plants 157-161

APPENDIX.

The Bearing Tear— Cause of Diminished Fertility— Eemoving Large Trees-
New Varieties of the Potato— Luxuries of a Fruit Garden— Hyacinths in
Glasses— Eoses for Pot-Culture 162-164

INTRODUCTION

It is written that God placed the first man in a garden to dress
and to keep it ; and that woman was there created as a help
meet for him. That garden was the primitive paradise ; and to
this day, a tastefully planned, judiciously planted, and well-kept
garden has, still lingering about it, many of the charms we are
wont to attribute to the original Eden. To the true lover of rural
life it seems, in the fullness of its summer beauty, to be indeed
almost a Paradise Regained.

Gardens are frequently mentioned in ancient writings, both
sacred and profane, but little is told us either of their productions
or their cultivation.

At the close of the Roman commonwealth the catalogue of
cultivated fruits had become considerable, and the principles of
pruning and grafting were understood and practiced. With the
decline of the empire, horticulture, in common with other useful
arts, seems to have declined, and to have revived only when
learning arose from the slumber of the dark ages. Since that
time, it has kept pace with the general improvement of society.
England, France, and Belgium have taken the lead in modern
horticultural progress. The United States will not long remain
behind.

It would be interesting to trace, at considerable length, the
1*

X Introduction.

history of gardening, and show how, both as an art and as a science,
it has been perfected, step by step, by means of study, observation,
and experiment ; but our limits will not permit this course, and
we must refer the inquiring reader to " Loudon's Encyclopedia of
Gardening," the most thorough and complete work on the sub-
ject in the English language. It is, however, too large and
expensive to be generally accessible, except in public libraries.

Gardening, the earliest employment of man, is also the most
attractive. It is Emerson, we think, who says, that after work-
ing in one's garden, nothing else seems worth doing. Here we
seem to come into close communion with Nature, and to co-
operate with her in adorning and enriching the earth. To plant
one's seeds, to await hopefully their germination, to watch the
daily development of the tender plant, to protect it from the
encroachments of weeds and the attacks of insects, to loosen the
soil around it, to care for it, watch over it, and rejoice in its
growth and fruitage, and finally to enjoy the fruits of one's labors
in the ripened harvest — what mere sensuous pleasm-e can be
greater? The market affords no such pears, apples, peaches, or
plums as grow on the trees we have with our own hands grafted
and pruned. Our own squashes and melons are sweeter than any
that oirr money could buy ; and no potatoes, or cabbages, or
turnips are like ours !

And health flows to us from the garden in two broad streams.
One has its source in the invigorating out-door exercise it calls for
and renders so delightful, and the other in the wholesome food
which it furnishes to take the place of much less desirable ali-
ments which would otherwise be supplied by the butcher and the
grocer.

A taste for horticulture is almost universal in this country, and,
as land is abundant and cheap, and the facilities for obtaining it
great, very few outside of our cities and large towns are debarred
from gratifying it, to a greater or less extent.

I X T K O D U C T I O X . XI

But a knowledge of the science of horticulture Ls far from being
co-extensive with the practice of the art, and a truly satisfactory-
degree of success is only occasionally attained. A rich soil and a
genial climate conspire to render the rudest and most empirical
cultivation, under favorable circumstances, moderately produc-
tive. Plodding industry, however blindly applied, is looked upon
with favor by all-loving Nature ; but her richest gifts are reserved
for united science and skill. In the cultivation of the earth, as
in every other department of human effort, *' knowledge is
power."

To increase and extend a knowledge of the theory and practice
of gardening is the object of the following pages, in which we
have given due attention to both branches of the subject. The
former is almost entirely ignored in most popular works on hor-
ticultjire ; they being nearly restricted to details of practice.
These, though highly useful and even essential to the novice, are
liable to lead him frequently astray, miless he is guided in their
application by a knowledge of the principles on which they are
founded.

The theoretical jjart of our work is necessarily brief, but will be
found a useful auxiliary to the practical directions which follow.
Carefully studied, thoroughly mastered, and constantly applied,
it will be of more value to the reader than a heavy volume imper-
fectly understood and confusedly remembered. We would by no
means, however, discourage those who have the leisure and dis-
position from pursuing the subject further.

NOTICE TO THE READER.

In making use of the practical directions given in this work,
the reader should bear in mind that it was written in southern
New York, and that where no other place or latitude is men-
tioned, in designating the time for planting seeds, etc. , about 40°
N., with a very slight elevation above the sea, is to be under-
stood. Allowance must be made for situation north or south of
this, and also for elevation of site, soil, aspect, exposure, and the
general character of the season.

Our directions must also, of necessity, be subject to many
modifications, in other respects, by soil, situation, and climate ;
but if the reader will study the general principles of horticulture,
even in our brief and imperfect exposition of them, in the first
part of this work, and exercise a little sound judgment, he will
readily overcome the obstacles presented by local and temporary
circumstances.

In giving the names of the varieties of fruits, we have followed
Downing, as the best American authority ; although he occasion-
ally differs from the American Pomological Society.

THE GARDEN.

I.

STKUCTURE AND GROWTH OP PLANTS,

With what increased sstlsfaction are the common processes of manuring or transplanting
carried on, to say nothing of the more delicate operations of budding, grafting, and propagating
by layers, etc., when we are acquainted with the structure of the plants we are endeavoring to
control, nd comprehend the why and the wherefore of every step we pursue. — A. J. Downing.

I.-GEEMINATION.

VERY perfect and matured seed contains the
germ of a new plant of the species to which
it owes its own existence. If you separate
the two lobes of a bean, or other seed of a
similar character, you will discover, pressed
between them at the undivided or stem end,
or side, a minute kernel or bud. This, though a
mere point, as it were, contains the rudiments of two
or more undeveloped leaves, united by a solid or undi-
vided portion, called, in the language of botany, the
radicle^ and constitutes an embryo plant, holding within
itself all the elements of vegetable life. The commencement
of the vital action which produces the development of this
embryo is called germination.

The conditions essential to germination are the presence of
moisture^ warmth^ and oxygen gas.

In the absence of moisture, no effect toward germination is
produced by the presence of warmth and oxygen, or any other
gas. Moisture and oxygen gas, without warmth, are equally

14:

The Gakden.

inefficacious; and so are moisture and warmth in the absence of
the oxygen ; for seeds will not germinate in a vacuum, nor in
distilled or recently boiled water.

Moisture is necessary to soften and expand the various parts,
to dissolve soluble matter, and to establish a sort of circulation.
The embryo seems also to have the power of decomposing
water; and it is probable that a portion of the oxygen required
is obtained in this way. The rest must come from the air ; for
it is found that a communication with the atmosphere is abso-
lutely essential to perfect germination. The effect of heat ap-
pears to be to set the vital principle in action, to expand the
air in the numerous microscopic cavities of the seed, and to
produce distension of all the organic parts. The degree of
heat required varies with different species. The common
chickweed will germinate at a temperature but little above the
freezing-point, while the seeds of many tropical plants require
a heat of from 90° to 110° (Fahrenheit) to call them into
action. "Wheat, rye, and barley will germinate at 44°. A

degree of heat vary-
ing from 113° to
167° is capable of
destroying the vital-
ity of the various
grains, beans, peas,
etc. Direct light,
so essential to sub-
sequent vegetation,
is unfavorable to
germination.

The time required
for germination is
very different in dif-
ferent species of
plants. Much also
depends upon soil,

TOUUO RADTSn, SUOV/INQ SEKD-LEAVB3. CUmatC, dCgrCO 01

Stkuctuee and Growth. 15

moisture, etc. Under favorable circumstances, wheat, rye,
oats, and millet will germinate in one day ; bean, turnip, radish,
and mustard in three days ; lettuce in four days ; melon, cucum-
ber, squash, and pumpkin in five days ; barley in seven ; cabbage
in ten ; parsley in fifteen ; almond, peach, and peony in one
year, and hawthorn in two years.

The time that seeds will retain their vitality also difiers in
different species, but in all cases depends partly upon the degree
in which they are excluded from the action of moisture and
light. Kidney-beans, peas, and carrot, parsnep, and rhubarb
seeds are generally considered as losing their vitality at the end
of one year, but will sometimes germinate after being kept
much longer.

These facts have important bearings upon the subject of
horticulture, and should be constantly borne in mind ; and
especially is it requisite that the essential conditions of germi-
nation be held in remembrance. A failure to germinate is
doubtless often attributed to bad seeds, when the fault is en-
tirely in the planting. It must be perfectly evident that if your
seeds are insufiiciently covered in a light, dry soil, they will
lack the first essential of germination, and will be liable to
wither and perish for want of moisture. This is why light
soils should be pressed together and upon the seed in planting,
either by means of a roller or otherwise. Seeds buried too
deeply, or covered with a heavy, dense soil, pressed too closely
upon them, fail to germinate for want of communication with
the atmosphere. If there be not sufficient warmth in the soil
at the time of planting, and it remain cold for a considerable
time thereafter, the seeds just as surely perish. Eemember the
conditions of germination — moisture, warmth, and oxygen gas
(or air containing oxygen).

Germination being established by the action of moisture and
warmth, and maintained by the oxygen of the atmosphere, all
parts of the embryo enlarge, and new parts are formed at the
expense of a saccharine or sugary secretion, which the germinat-
ing seed possesses the power of forming. With the assistance

16 The Garden.

of tMs substance, the root or radicle, at first a mere rounded
cone, extends and pierces the earth in search of food, while
the other extremity elongates in the opposite direction, bringing
the cotyledons^ or seed-leaves (except when these remain per-
manently in the ground, as in the pea, wheat, rye, etc.), and
the rudimentary leaves and stem, to the surface of the soil.
The process of germination is now completed — the plant is
born.

II.— THE BOOT.

The root, the stem, and the leaves are called the fundamental
organs of plants. Of them vegetables essentially consist ; and
the various organs known by other names are really but repeti-
tions, under more or less modified forms, of these essential parts.

Germination, as we have seen, pushes the root downward
into the earth, where, extending ly the addition of new matter
to its pointy it soon enters upon the exercise of its function —
the absorption of the crude food- of the plant from the soil.
This is carried up through the stem into the leaves, to be di-
gested or assimilated, and returned to the stem and root, and
used in the formation of new branches, leaves, and rootlets, as
well as for increasing the length and size of those already
formed. The more a plant grows, therefore, the more are the
means of growth multiplied.

As the roots are extended by the addition of new matter to
the extreme points, these points are exceedingly delicate and
easily injured. It is mainly through them^ too^ that absorption
tal^es place. It is readily seen, therefore, why the careless or
unskillful removal of plants from the earth, for the purpose of
transplanting, by destroying the delicate points of the roots, or
spongelets^ as they are called, always checks so greatly their
growth, and often destroys their life.

Their peculiar mode of growth admirably adapt roots to
pierce the earth and insinuate themselves into the minutest
crevices. Thus they pass on from place to place in search of
fresh pasturage, shifting their mouths, although their bodies
remain stationary.

Stkucture and Gkowth. 17

Roots seem to possess a principle akin to instinct, which
guides them in their search for food ; for they invariably extend
themselves most rapidly and widely in the du-ection of the
richest soil. If a strawberry plant be set in a sandy soil, defi-
cient in nutritive matters, and rich earth placed on one side of
it, the roots will immediately seek the fertile spot, although at
first nowhere in contact with it. A decaying bone or a piece
of rotten wood will in the same way be sought out by the
roots of a plant requiring the nutritive elements it may contain ;
and such objects are often found completely covered by a net-
work of minute rootlets.

The roots of plants have, to a certain extent, the power of
selecting their food. In general, they absorb only those sub-
stances which are needed to develop and perfect their various
parts. Thus, if a pea and a grain of wheat be planted side by
side, and made to grow under the same circumstances, the
wheat plant will absorb silex (in solution) from the earth, while
the pea will absorb none. This power of selection, however,
does not enable the roots of plants to reject, under all circum-
stances, any deleterious agents which may be brought in con-
tact with them; and it is a curious circumstance that sub-
stances which are fatal to man are equally so to plants, and in
nearly the same way.

In addition to their principal ofiice, as feeding organs, the
roots of plants are believed to be, to some extent, organs o#
excretion, throwing off any superfluous or deleterious matter
which may have been imbibed either by themselves or by the
leaves. They also possess the power of accumulating a store
of sap, upon which the plant may draw in time of need.
Striking examples of the last-named property are furnished by
the turnip, the beet, the carrot, and other plants of the same
class.

In general, roots do not produce buds, and are therefore
incapable of multiplying the plant to which they belong ; but
to this rule there are many exceptions, some species having
the power, under certain circumstances, of forming what are

18

The Garden.

called adventitious buds. In such cases tliej may be employed
for the purposes of propagation.

Eoots are not inactive during the winter, as many suppose,
except while actually frozen, but are perpetually extracting food
from the earth, and storing it up for the next season's use. A
long, mild winter is there-
fore favorable to the vege-
tation of the succeeding
spring.

Roots are of various
kinds. In reference to
their duration, they are
classed as annual^ Men-
■nial, and perennial. An
annual root lives but a bpindleroot.
single year. It is always fibrous^ or composed of numerous
branches or rootlets. Biennial roots are those of plants which
do not blossom till the second year, at the end of which they
perish. They are thickened ov fleshy, and of various shapes —
conical, as in the carrot ; spindle-shaped, as in the radish ; tur-

FIBROTJS BOOT.

TUBEROUS BOOT.

CREEPING BOOT.

nip-shaped, clustered, i^iberous, etc. Perennial roots are those
which, like the roots of trees and woody plants, and some
others, survive from year to year indefinitely.

A tuber, of which the potato is the best example, is not
strictly a root, but a modification of the stem, running beneath

Stkucttjee and Growth. 19

the surface of the soil, and having buds (eyes) embedded in a
cellular substance, consisting principallj of starch.

JBulhs, whether formed in the earth, as is generally the case,
or on the summit of the stem, as in the top or tree onion, are
simply leaf-buds inclosed in scales or concentric layers.

III.— THE STEM.

As soon as the root enters upon the performance of its proper
function, the stem begins to extend itself upward, and the pri-
mary leaf-bud, attracting to itself the food procured for it, and
a part of the nutritive matter stored up in the seed-leaves, ex-
pands, and the two or more parts or leaves of which it is
composed separate, and begin to manifest their distinctive
features.

The stem is at first composed entirely of cellular tissue,
possessing neither strength nor tenacity ; but at the moment
that the first rudiment of a leaf appears upon its growing point,
the formation of woody matter commences. It consists of tough
fibers of extreme fineness, which take 'their rise in the leaves,
and thence pass downward through the cellular tissue and are
incorporated with the latter, giving it the necessary strength
and flexibility. In trees and shrubs these fibers combine
intimately with each other, and form what is properly called
wood; but in herbaceous and annual plants they constitute a
lax fibrous matter. The woody matter thus plunged, as it
were, into the cellular tissue, forms within the circumference
of the stem a tubular partition, separating it into two parts —
the bark and the pith. This gives us, in perennial stems, the
three general divisions of pith, wood, and bark.

The pith consists entirely of cellular tissue, gorged at first
with the nourishing juices of the plant, but afterward becom-
ing empty and dry.

The wood consists of the proper woody fiber, interwoven
with and bound together by thin plates or layers of cellular
tissue, passing horizontally across it, and forming what are
caUed the silver grain in maple, oak, etc. They represent the

20

The Garden.

horizontal system of the wood — in botanical language, the
medullary rays.

The larlc consists originally of cellular tissue alone, but after-
ward the inner portion next the wood has the woody tissue
formed in it, and becomes the libei\ or fibrous inner bark.

Whenever a stem is wounded, it is the cellular or horizontal
system Avhich forms granulations that eventually coalesce into
masses, within which the woody tissue is subsequently devel-
oped, and the communication between the two sides of an inci-
sion effected. In cuttings, the callus which forms at the end
placed in the ground is tlie cellular or horizontal system pre-
paring for the woody fibers, which are to pass downward in
the form of roots.

The description m'C have given of the structure of a stem
applies to all plants whoso woody matter is augmented annually
by external additions below tlio liber, and which are called exo-
gensy or outside growers. All the trees and shrubs of the
United States, except the few palms of our Southern confines,
belong to this class. In the palms, which belong to the class
of endogem^ or inside
growers, the woody
matter is augmented
annually by internal
additions to their cen-
ter, thus constantly
BxoGKN. pushing the woody

growth of former years to their circumference. The stem of
the asparagus exhibits a similar structure in an herb. In endo-
gens, the cellular and fibrous systems are all mixed together,
their mode of growth not requiring the same arrangement of
parts as exists in the cxogcns.

Stems, during their growth, form on their surfaces minute
vital points, each of which becomes, or may become, a leaf-
bud, capable of forming another stem or branch like that on
which it is found. These buds appear immediately above the
point of union between the leaf and the stem, and are not.

^vI3P

ENDOGEN.

Structure and Growth. 21

under ordinary circumstances, found anywlicro else. Tlicy
occasionally, however, appear on other parts, when they aro
called (as when found on the roots) adventitious buds. It
is by means of the leaf-buds that a cutting is capable of pro-
ducing a new individual like that from which it was taken.
Leaf-buds are also capable, under fitting cir-
cumstances, of growing when separated from
the parent branch. In some cases they are
planted in the earth, when they put forth roots,
and thereby sustain an independent existence.
In others they are inserted below the bark
of a kindred species, ,and, forming new wood,
adhere to that on which they arc placed.

The principal functions of the stem (aside
from its continual multiplication of itself by buds.

means of buds) are the su[)port of the leaves and the convey-
ance and distribution of the sap. In trees, the sap or crude
food procured by the roots rises principally through the newer
wood ; but the assimilated sap returns from the leaves in tho
newest bark, or liher, whence it is horizontally diffused, through
the medullary rays, into the sai)-wood and other living parts.
It is in the bark, therefore, and not in the wood, that we must
look for the proper juices of a plant.

IV.— LEAVES.

A leaf, as defined by Dr. Lindley, is an appendage of the
stem of a plant having one or more leaf-buds in its axil, or
point of union with the stem. In some cases no leaf-buds aro
visible, but they are present, nevertheless, although latent, and
may be developed by favorable conditions.

A complete leaf consists of the lamina, or blade, and tho
petiole, or leaf-stalk. In some leaves the petiole is wanting,
the lamina resting immediately upon the stem, and in others
there is no proper blade, the whole organ being cylindrical or
stalk-like.

Considered in reference to their structure, it may bo said

22 The Garden.

leaves are extensions of the green layer of the bark (which,
where no proper leaves exist, fulfills their function) expanded
into thin lamina and strengthened by woody fibers connected
with the liber^ or inner bark, and with the wood. These woody
fibers form their frame- work, and afford, at the same time, by
their microscopic ramifications, a complete and beautiful system
of veins. The leaf, therefore, like the stem, consists of two
distinct parts, the cellular and the woody. The cellular por-
tion is not the structureless, pulpy mass which it appears to be
to the naked eye, but presents a regular and beautiful arrange-
ment of cells. The woody part forming the veins, and having,
as we have seen, a double origin, is arranged in two layers ; the
upper, arising from the wood, and conveying the ascending
sap to every part of the leaf, and the lower, connected with
the liber^ and establishing a communication with the bark, by
means of which the assimilated juices pass downward. En-
casing the whole of this wonderfully beautiful apparatus is the
epidermis^ or skin, pierced by numerous invisible pores or holes,
called stomates, through which the plant breathes and per-
spires.

It would be interesting, in connection with the foregoing
brief outline of the structure of the leaf, to give some account
of the different forms of leaves, their various modifications,
and their systematic and beautiful arrangement on the stem ;
but as the practical ends we have in view do not require us to
pursue the subject further in this direction, we must forego it.

Leaves have been called the lungs of plants. They are
something more than this, being not only organs of respiration,
but of perspiration and digestion also. They are, at the same
time, stomach, lungs, and skin. They receive the crude sap
from the roots through the stem, and, by means of exposure to
air and light, the decomposition of water and carbonic acid,
and the throwing off of superfluous moisture, condense it and
change it into organizable matter — the true food of plants.
This elaborated sap is sent immediately downward, to serve for
the nourishment of every part.

Structuke and Gkowth. 23

The nutrition of a plant depending upon its leaves, tlie former
may be destroyed by simply destroying its foliage. In general,
it does not immediately die, because it has the power of putting
forth new leaves, which come into action and supply imper-
fectly the places of those removed ; but if it be deprived of
these essential organs during the entire season, its power of
producing them ceases, and all functions are suspended.

v.— FLOWEKS AND FEUIT.

A flower is that part of a plant which is formed for the pur-
pose of reproducing its species by means of seeds. Fruit is
the seed, or the seed and its pericarp^ or covering. The peri-
carp includes whatever goes to make up the seed-vessel,
whether it be a mere thin husk, a hard, bone-like shell, or a
soft, fleshy pulp.

Anatomically considered, the parts of a flower are merely
modified leaves, the whole forming a very short branch.
What causes a plant to convert some of its leaf-buds into
flowers, by fashioning the leaves into calyx, corolla, stamens^
and pistils, while other buds become ordinary, branches, it is
not essential to our purpose to explain. It is pretty clear,
however, that tlieir productioji depends upon the presence in
the plant of a sufficient quantity of secreted matter, fit for
their maintenance when produced. If it happen, then, that,
from any cause, there be not, at the usual time of flowering,
any store of nutritive juices beyond what is required for the
production of leaves and the growth of the stem, no flower-
buds are put forth. This is illustrated in the failure of fruit-
trees to bear at all the season next succeeding one in which an
excessive crop has been produced.* Sometimes flowers are
produced, but, the supply of nutriment proving insufficient,
they drop ofl^ without producing fruit.

Lindley syllogistically says: "A flower being a kind of
branch, as has been already shown, and the fruit being an ad-

* See Appendix, A

24 The Garden.

vanced stage of the flower, it follows that a fruit is also a kind
of branch." It has certainly the same organic connection with
the plant as other branches, and, like them, requires to be sup-
plied with food, without which it must perish.

So long as a fruit retains its original green, foliaceous char-
acter, it is capable of performing, partially at least, the func-
tions of a leaf, decomposing carbonic acid, etc. A portion of
the food required for its maturation may therefore be derived,
by its own action, from the air ; but the greater part must be
prepared by the leaves from material furnished by the roots.
This shows the necessity of the healthy and regular action of
the leaves and roots in perfecting fruit, and the importance of
fruit being placed near the leaves, so that it can readily attract
the required nutriment from them. If you remove all the
leaves from a branch containing fruit, you stop the growth of
the latter almost as effectually as by separating it from the
stem.

The juices furnished by the leaves undergo further altera-
tions by the vital forces of the fruit itself, and this alteration
varies according to the species. The fruit of the peach is
sweet, but there is no perceptible sweetness in its leaves ; and
the fruit of the fig is sweet and nutritious, while the leaves of
that plant are acrid and deleterious.

Among the principal immediate causes of the changes which
occur in the secretions of fruits are heat and light. Fruits
produced in warm seasons are always much sweeter than those
which are matured in cold ones ; and the products of hot cli-
mates abound in sugar, while in those of cold climates acidity
prevails.

The ripening of fruit is hastened by dryness, and retarded
by an excess of moisture.

Seeds are affected by all the circumstances which affect the
fruit, which is created primarily for their nutrition and preser-
vation. The fruit attracts organizable matter from the leaves,
and the seeds attract it from the fruit. The better the fruit,
therefore, the more perfect are the seeds.

Stkuctuee and Growth. 25

All seeds will not equally produce vigorous plants ; but the
healthiness of the seedling will correspond with that of the
seed from which it sprang. Where vigor is required, the
plumpest and heaviest seeds should be selected.

A seed always produces a plant of the same species as that
from which it was derived, but is not certain to reproduce any
peculiarity that may have existed in its paren^. For instance,
the seed of a Green Gage plum wiU grow into a new individual
of the plum species, but it is not certain, or even likely, to pro-
duce the variety known as the Green Gage. The variety must
be propagated in some other way.

YI.— THE FOOD OF PLANTS.

The gardener should know precisely what substances plants
require for their growth and the matm'ation of their fruit —
that is, their natural food. This is ascertained by analysis.
When we have learned of what plants are composed, we know
what their food must necessarily contain.

The constituents of plants, as shown by analysis, are of two
kinds, organic and inorganic. Only the organic constituents,
however, are universally indispensable. These are oxygen,
hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, which make up at least from
eighty-eight to ninety-nine per cent, of every vegetable sub-
stance. The hiorganic constituents, which are essential to the
perfection of any but the lowest grade of plants, consist mainly
of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silex, sulphur, and
phosphorus.

Now, where and how are the different kinds of food which
plants require obtained ? Mainly, no doubt, from the soU, and
by means of the roots, which, we have seen, are the proper
feeding organs. The air mny, however (and evidently does, in
some cases, as in the epijjliytes^ or air-plants), either directly or
indirectly, supply aU the organic elements.

But whether derived from the earth or from the air, the
vlanfs nourishment is icholly received either in tJie gaseous or
the liquid, form ; for the leaves can imbibe air or vapor only

2

26 The Garden.

while the tissue of the rootlets is especially adapted to absorb
liquids, and is incapable of talcing in solid matter^ however
minutely divided. Let these facts be borne in mind while pre-
paring your soils and manures.

The oxygen and hydrogen required by plants is probably de-
rived principally from water.

The nitrogen is obtained mostly by the decomposition of
ammonia (hartshorn), a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen,
always produced when any animal and almost any vegetable
substance decays. It is dissolved in water, absorbed by porous
substances in the soil, and thus furnished to the roots of plants.

The source of the carbon, which forms much the larger por-
tion of the bulk of plants, is still to be sought. Carbon itself
is a solid, absolutely insoluble in water, and therefore not avail-
able. The chief, if not the only fluid composed of carbon,
naturally presented to the plant, is that of carbonic acid gas,
which consists of carbon united with oxygen. This gas makes
up, on the average, one two-thousandth of the atmosphere,
from which it may be directly absorbed by the leaves; but,
being freely soluble in water, up to a certain point, it must be
carried down by the rain and imbibed by the roots. The car-
bonic acid of the atmosphere is, therefore, the great source of
carbon for vegetation. Carbonic acid is also produced in small
quantities by the action of manures in the soil.

The carbonic acid absorbed is decomposed in the leaves by
the action of solar light; the carbon being retained and the
oxygen thrown off — beautifully reversing the process of animal
respiration, and thus preserving the proper balance in the
atmosphere.

The mineral matters which form the inorganic constituents
of plants are all either soluble in water, or in the acids or alka-
lies mixed with it, and are therefore readily absorbed by the
roots.

The following analysis of wheat will give the reader an idea
of the principal mineral constituents of plants generally, as to
the number of their elements; their proportion will vary

Stetjctuke and Growth. 27

greatlj in different species. The wheat (the entire plant, in-
cluding the seed) in 1,000 lbs. gave 11| lbs. of ashes, composed
as follows :

Potash 2.25 [ Silica 4.00

Soda 2.40 Sulphuric acid 50

Lime 96 Phosphoric acid 40

Magnesia 90 Chlorine 10

Alumina 26 | Iron, a trace.

An analysis of perfected plants of the same species, although
growing in very different soils, will give the same proportion ;
while different species, although growing in the same soil, will
give very different proportions, showing that plants require
definite quantities of the inorganic elements in order to perfect
growth, and that in soil that does not yield these elements an
imperfect growth only can be obtained.

These facts lie at the foundation of rotation of crops and
manuring. When any given plant has exhausted the soil of
the soluble elements requisite for its growth, another plant
requiring different elements, or the same in different propor-
tions, may grow luxuriantly and in perfection in the same soil.
Generally the grasses, such as wheat, rye, oats, etc., require
large quantities of silica ; peas, clover, and tobacco, much lime ;
turnips, beets, and sweet potatoes, potash and soda. The stalk
and fruit often require different elements in different proportions.
Both of course must be supplied. These elements might exist
in the soil, but not in a soluble condition, and of course yield
no benefit to the plant.*

VII.— CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL TO GPvOWTH.

All the conditions essential to growth have already been
either specially explained or incidentally mentioned ; but it may
be useful briefly to recapitulate :

1. Warmth. — Without this, fts we have seen, the latent
powers of vegetable life can not be called into action. It is

* See Appendix, B, and also " The Farm," for more on this point.

28 Tiie'Garden.

not less essential to tlieir continued activity. Although many
plants will live at a temperature much below the freezing-point,
yet no plant is able to grow unless the temperature is above
32°, for physical reasons which require no explanation. A
temperature permanently much higher than a plant requires for
its healthy growth over-excites, enfeebles, and finally destroys it.

2. Moisture. — Moisture is obviously essential, both because
water itself in its pure state furnishes two of the essential ele-
ments which enter into the composition of all plants, and
because it constitutes the medium through which the other
substances required are conveyed into the roots. Excessive
moisture, however, is destructive to most plants. It is a great
point in horticulture to determine the degree of moisture most
congenial to a given species, under given circumstances. As a
general rule, the plant should ie most abundantly supplied with
moisture when it begins to grow^ and the quantity gradually
diminished as it approaches maturity. However, as one effect
of excessive moisture is to keep the newly-formed parts of a
plant tender and succulent, those the leaves or roots of which
(as in the case of lettuce, radishes, etc.) are to be eaten un-
cooked, should be constantly supplied with moisture. Excess
of moisture will also cause strawberries and other fruits to
swell beyond their natural size ; but their flavor is diminished
in the same proportion.

8. Food. — A plant can no more live without food than a
human being can. Deficiency of food dwarfs it, and prevents
perfect development; and it must not be forgotten that the
presence in the soil of the nutritive elements is of no avail so
long as they remain in an insolulle condition. It is only in a
gaseous or liquid form (allow us to repeat) that plants are ca-
pable of receiving their food.

4. Air. — Plants breathe (in their way), and must therefore
have air. Much of their nourishment is derived either ' imme-
diately or remotely from it.

5. Light. — It is by the aid of solar light alone that the leaves
can properly perform their grand function — the assimilation of

8tbtjctuke and GKOWTn. 29

the crude sap furnished them by the roots. It is only under
the influence of light that they decompose the carbonic acid
gas from which the large proportion of carbon they require is
obtained. It is to light also that they owe their green color.
In the dark this coloring matter is not formed, potatoes and
other vegetables kept in cellars throwing out white stems and
leaves. Some plants, however, require less light than others,
and flourish in shady places. When we wish to blanch a plant,
as in the case of celery, we exclude the light.*

* For a further elucidation of the various subjects discussed in the foregoing
pages, see Lindley's "Theory of Horticulture," Gray's "Botanical Text-
Book," Boussingault's '^ Econmnie Burale," and Darby's "Botany of the
Southern States," to all of which, and especially to the first-named, we have
been indebted in the preparation of this chapter.

30 The Garden,

11.

SOILS AND MANURES.

The soil should be good to the depth of two feet, and any necessary deepening beyond this,
by manures or otherwise, should not be neglected.— iVetH.

L— CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS.

E are accustomed to recognize three prim-
itive earths — silex (which includes sand
and gravel), claj, and lime. These, to-
gether with decayed vegetable and animal
matter, enter more or less into the compo-
sition of all soils. On the relative propor-
tion of these ingredients and their texture, or degree
of fineness or coarseness, depends mainly the character
of each variety.

Soils may first be considered in two grand divisions
— heavy and light, the former being characterized by
a predominance of clay, and the latter by an excess of sand or
gravel.

1. Heavy Soils. — The heavy or clayey soils are also known
as wet and cold, from their strong affinity for water. In dry
weather, however, they are liable to bake, or become hard and
brick-like. They are difficult to work, and, till much modified
by art and labor, generally unproductive.

2. LigTit Soils. — The light or sandy and gravelly soils are
denominated dry and warm, because they permit the water to
pass readily through them. They are subject to drouth, and
have the further disadvantage of allowing a large proportion
of the manure applied to them to pass through into the sub-
soil. They are easy to work, and crops can be brought to per-
fection much earlier on them than on clayey soils.

Soils and Manures. 31

These grand classes of soils, running into each other by
imperceptible gradations, and being variously modified, may be
considered as embracing every variety found on the face of the
globe.

3. Loamy Soils. — A mixture of from fifteen to sixty per
cent, of sand with clay forms a loamy soil. If the sand do not
exceed thirty per cent., it is called a clay loam; more than
thirty per cent.lconstitutes it a sandy loam.

4. Calcareous Soils. — Calcareous soils are those in which
lime, exceeding twenty per cent., becomes the distinguishing
constituent. Calcareous soils may be either calcareous clays,
calcareous sands, or calcareous loams, according to the propor-
tions of sand or clay which may be present in them.

6. Marly Soils. — Soils containing lime, but in which the
proportion does not exceed twenty per cent., are sometimes
called marly.

6. Vegetalle Molds, — When decayed vegetable matter exists
in so great proportion as to give the predominant character to
a soil, it receives the name of vegetable mold. Vegetable
molds are of various kinds, and may be either clayey, sandy, or
loamy, according to the predominant character of the earthy
admixtures.

7. Alluvial Soils. — AUmdal soils are such as have been
formed by the washings of streams. They are generally loamy,
and very fertUe.

Besides their principal component parts, every soil must
contain, in greater or less quantities, all the elements which
enter into the composition of vegetables. They may have cer-
tain substances which are not necessary to vegetable life, and
such as are necessary may be in excess ; yet to sustain a healthy,
prolific vegetation, they must hold, and in a form fitted to its
support, silex,, alumina^ carlonate of lime, sulphate of lime,
potash, soda, magnesia, sulphur, phosphorus, oxyd of iron-,
manganese, chlorine, and probably iodine. These are called
the inorganic or earthy pai'ts of soils. In addition to these,
fertile soils must contain carlon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydro-

82 The Garden.

gen^ which are called organic parts of soils, from their great
preponderance in vegetables and animals.

For gai'dening purposes, a loamy soil, composed of nearly
equal proportions of clay, sand, and lime, and enriched by de-
posits of decayed animal and vegetable matter, is perhaps the
best; but a sandy loam similarly enriched is good. Very
heavy and very light soils are objectionable ; but the latter less
so, since it may be much more easily improved.

Subsoils. — The productiveness of a soil depends to a con-
siderable extent upon the subsoil or bed on which it rests,
which may be either clayey, sandy, gravelly, or calcareous. A
clayey subsoU is unfavorable, as it renders the soil wet and cold.
Loose and leachy subsoils, consisting mainly of gravel or sand,
are also undesirable, on account of the facility with which
moisture and the soluble portions of manures escape into them.
Calcareous subsoils are considered best.

II.— IMPEOVEMENT OF SOILS.

As the original soil of one's garden can not always be a
matter of choice, the garden being properly situated near the
house, and the house depending for its location upon other cir-
cumstances besides the soU, it becomes important to know how
to improve it if it happen to be of an undesirable character.

In order to set yourself about the work of improvement with
a reasonable prospect of success, you should have a clear com-
prehension of the end to be attained. "What, then, are the
qualities desirable in a garden soil ?

A garden soil should be loamy, rich in all the elements essen-
tial to the gi'owth of plants, sufficiently light and friable to be
easily cultivated, and to allow the roots to penetrate it in every
direction, and at the same time suflSciently adhesive to retain
moisture and the soluble portions of manures till they may be
required by the growing plant.

Improvement of Clayey Soils. — If it be a clayey soU with
which you have to do, you will probably, in the first place,
find it too wet. The only effectual remedy for this defect is

Soils and Manuees. 33

tliorougli nnderdraining. This not only draws off the surplus
water, but opens the soil to the action of the atmosphere,
which, in its passage through it, imparts its nutritive gases, and
helps to warm and disintegrate it. Deep trenching will aid in
the process of draining.*

Having thoroughly drained your plot, you should next give
your attention to improving the texture of the soil in other
ways. The natural remedy for their too dense and adhesive
character seems to be sand ; but to produce the desired effect
large quantities are required — so large that the improvement
in that way of large tracts of land is considered impracticable.
In treating a small garden, however, the expense of the appli-
cation may often be disregarded.

Lime is a valuable auxiliary in the improvement of clayey
soils, forming, with their ingredients, chemical combinations,
whereby their extreme tenacity is broken up, and adding, at
the same time, an element of fertility, in which they may be
deficient. Gypsum, or plaster of Paris, has the same effect in
a still more powerful degree. Ashes, coarse vegetable manures,
straw, corn-stalks, leaves, chips, etc., are also very useful, as
they add new materials, and also help to separate the particles
of the original soil.

In cold climates, clayey soils should be plowed or dug in the
faU, the action of the frost and snow tending to break them up
and destroy the adhesion of their particles. In the South,
where there is little frost, and frequent and copious rains occur
during the winter, this course is injurious rather than beneficial.

The frequent working of clayey soils with plow, harrow,
spade, or hoe, if done when they are not too wet, wiU greatly
improve them.

A persevering application of the various means we have
indicated, will gradually bring the heaviest clay soil into the
proper loamy consistency for horticultural purposes.

A loamy soil resting upon a clayey subsoil Bhould in general

For a chapter on Draining, see " The Farm."
2*

34: TheGarden.

be underdrained ; but if the stratum of clay be shallow, trench-
ing or subsoil plowing will answer a good purpose.

Improvement of Sandy Soils. — If your plot be sandy, its
improvement, though equally necessary, is less difficult. The
defects of sandy soils, as we have seen, are lack of adhesive-
ness, want of affinity for water, and a leachy character, which
permits the escape of manures. Clay is the principal remedy
indicated, and a few loads, well incorporated with the original
soil, will have an astonishing effect in improving a sandy gar-
den. The required tenacity is thus very readily imparted.

Lime is scarcely less valuable for application to sandy than
to clayey soils ; for while it separates the latter, it renders the
former more adhesive. Gypsum, ashes, and clay marls are
also exceedingly useful. To these applications should be added
the frequent use of a heavy roller.

Where a sandy soil rests upon a clayey subsoil, as is not un-
frequently the case, it may be greatly improved by trenching
or deep plowing, by means of which a portion of the subsoil
is thrown up and mixed with the surface soil.

Sandy soils, modified as we have indicated, being warm,
quick, and easy of cultivation, are the best in the world for
tap-rooted plants and bulbs, and for the production of early
crops of almost every kind.

Gravelly soils resemble sandy soils in their characteristic
defects, and require similar treatment ; but they are less desir-
able, and require greater modifications to adapt them to gar-
dening purposes.

The other soils named require similar treatment in proportion
as they approach the clayey or sandy character.

Depth of Soil. — The soil of most gardens (except on the
alluvial bottoms of the "West) requires improvement in depth
quite as much as in any other particular. In no part of your
garden should you be satisfied with less than two feet of good,
friable soil, easily permeable by the roots of plants. A stiU
greater depth is desirable, especially in the fruit department.
Few who have not had their attention specially drawn to the

Soils and Manures. 35

subject are aware how deeply the roots of some species of
plants penetrate, when permitted by a proper state of the soil.
The roots of a strawberry plant are said to have been traced
Jixie feet in a deep, rich soil.

Trenching and subsoil plowing are the processes by which
the depth of soil is increased. The former is an expensive
process, but, in gardening, a remunerative one; the latter is
much cheaper, and, where it can be applied, serves a good
purpose.

Trenching, or subsoil plowing, is positively essential where
the summers are long and dry, as in portions of the Southern
States. Mr. White, in his "Gardening for the South," says
very truly that there is no point of greater importance than
this. "Poor ground, deeply moved," he adds, "is better than
rich land with shallow tillage ; and when the ground has been
once prepared in this way, it will feel the benefit forever after.
Increasing the depth of the soil in this mode is, to all intents
and purposes, increasing the size of your garden ; for one fourth
of an acre thus prepared will yield, in a dry season, as much
as an acre will with shallow tillage, and the growth of plants
in good seasons will be fully doubled."

Trenching should be performed in the fall, and any coarse
manures you may wish to apply dug in at the time. For a
description of the process of trenching, see Chapter III.

Color of Soils. — The color of a soil has an important relation
to its capacity for heat and moisture, and consequently to its
adaptedness for horticultural purposes. Dark-colored earths,
all other things being equal, are the best.

Old Gardens. — Some old and small gardens are in a very
bad state from excess of nutritive matters, or rather from the
unavailable state in which these matters exist in the soil, which,
instead of consisting of friable mold, presents only a black,
shining substance, known to chemists as humic acid. This is
the product of manures saturated with stagnant water, and is
the result of excessive manuring, frequent watering, and lack
of drainage, ^o condition can be more unfavorable to the

36 TheGakden.

growth of plants than this, and if they gi'ow at all in snch soil
they will be gross, pungent, and unwholesome. The remedy is
trenching, underdraining, and the application of lime, gypsum,
ashes, etc.
Further means of improving soils will be treated of in the

III.— MANURES.

If your soil be either wholly or partially deficient in any of
the constituents of plants, these constituents must be supplied
by adding to it substances which contain them. The substances
thus added are called manures, which, in the broadest sense of
the word, embrace everything which, being added to the soil,
promotes directly or indirectly the growth of plants.

Manures directly assist the growth of plants either by enter-
ing into their composition, or by absorbing moisture and nutri-
tive gases from the atmosphere, and holding them for their use.
Indirectly, manures assist the growth of jjlants by destroying
vermin or weeds, by decomposing the soil and rendering its
elements available, by protecting vegetation from sudden
changes of temperature, or by improving the texture of the
soil. They are divided into two classes^organic and inorganic.
The former embraces ordinai^y vegetable and animal substances,
and the latter mineral substances.

Organic Manures.— ThQ principal organic manures are the
dung of animals, human excrements, urine, flesh, blood, fish,
swamp-muck, sea- weed, and decayed leaves, hay, straw, and
wood. Guano, though an animal product, contains so large a
proportion of salts, and is so deficient in the characteristics of
recent animal matter that it is generally classed with the inor-
ganic maniires. '■

InorganU Manures. — The principal inorganic manures are
ashes, lime, the marls, gypsum, bones, salt, charcoal, soo-t, and
guano.

Theory of Manures. — The kind of manure which will prove
most useful in a given instance must be determined by refer-

Soils and Manures. 37

ence to several circumstances — the chemical composition and
mechanical texture of the soil, the character of the climate or
season, and the kind of crop to be produced. The manures
most generally applicable are those composed of substances
which directly enter into and are essential to the growth of
plants.

The fertihtj of a forest is not only maintained but increased
by the constant decay of its leaves, branches, and trunks,
which returns to the earth not only the nutritive matter origin-
ally drawn from it, but also much that has been supplied by
the atmosphere. This manure is just what the trees need — it
keeps good the supply of the elements essential to their growth.
So the parts of any plant decayed and rendered soluble are tlie
best manure for its species. But the products of our gardens
are mainly taken from them, and used as food. Every particle
not thus made use of should be returned, mixed with other
vegetable and animal matter, in the form of compost. For the
rest, stable manures (of which the dung of the horse is the best)
should be relied on as the grand staples.

All the ordinarily cultivated plants, as has already been
stated, contain potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silica,
iron, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen,
and hydrogen. The four substances last named may, as we
have seen, be derived either immediately or remotely from the
air ; but they are all essentials of a fertile soil, and, to perpetu-
ate, its fertility under cultivation, must be supplied in the form
of manures.

Stable Manure. — Common stable manure contains potash,
soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, silica, oxyd of iron, sulphur,
phosphorus, chlorine, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen.
Lime exists both as a carbonate and as a phosphate, potash as
a muriate and a sulphate, and soda as a carbonate. A compari-
son* of this list of chemical substances with those enumerated
in the preceding paragraph as the essentials of a fertile soil,
will at once show the value of stable manure. Every part of
it has been formed from vegetable substances, and it has only

38 The Gakden.

to be rendered friable and soluble to enter again into tbeir
composition. As plants can not, it will be remembered, absorb
manures in a gross or solid form, tbe last point is an important
one, and of universal application.

Night Soil. — Human excrements, composted with, cbarcoal-
dust, ashes, turf, loam, etc., form a most powerful fertilizer.
Quicklime should never be mixed with night-soil, for while it
neutralizes the odor, it also expels its fertilizing qualities. .^

The Bung of Foicls. — The dung of fowls contains the essen-
tial qualities of guano, and is next to night-soil in value. It
should be kept dry, or else mixed at once with a compost which
will retain all the volatile and soluble matters which it contains.

Other Organic Manures. — Dead animals, blood, -butchers'
offal, fish, hair, bristles, hay, straw, leaves, sea-weed muck,
rich turf, the refuse from the kitchen, and the slops from the
chamber are all of great value as materials for a compost.

Ashes. — If any dried vegetable product be burned, the incom-
bustible substance remaining behind is called the ash or ashes.
This, though generally less than one tenth of its substance, is
all that the plant necessarily derived from the soil. The sub-
stances expelled are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen.
They return to the air, fi-om which they were either immedi-
ately or remotely derived. The ashes of vegetables, then, fur-
nish just the inorganic elements required for their growth.
Their value as a manure is evident, and it is astonishing that
any person with a garden or a farm can allow a spoonful of
them to be wasted. Leached ashes contain all the elements of
the unleached, but are somewhat less valuable from having lost
a portion of their potash and soda. Coal ashes, though inferior
to wood ashes, are still very valuable as manure.

Lime. — We have already spoken of the value of lime in im-
proving the texture of soils. It also condenses and retains the
volatile gases brought in contact with it by the air and rains,
and converts the insoluble matters of the soil into available food
for plants, besides entering itself directly into the composition
of nearly all vegetation.

w

Soils and Mantjees. 39

27ie Marls. — Marls are composed of carbonate of lime mixed
with clay, sand, loam, and frequently with phosphate and sul-
phate of lime and potash, and are valuable as manures in pro-
portion to the lime and potash they contain.

Guano. — This substance is composed of the dung, food, and
carcasses of sea-birds which have been accumulating for ages on
some of the islands of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Of its
value as a manure there can be no doubt. There is much
fraud in its sale, however, and if great caution be not exercised,
an adulterated article may be jjalmed off upon you. It must
never, in a fresh state, come in direct contact with the seeds or
roots of plants, as it is certain to destroy their vitality.

Other Inorganic Manures. — Common salt is valuable in small
quantities for garden use. On account of its great affinity for
water, it attracts the dews and atmospheric vapors, and is
therefore a preventive of drouth. It is also useful in destroy-
ing worms, slugs, and larvse. Old plaster, broken bricks, bones,
charcoal, soot, and even broken glass, are useful as manures, and
should be carefully saved and applied.

Having said so much of the various manures, we must repeat,
in order to impress it upon the reader's mind, that our principal
reliance should be upon stable manure (with which we would
include that from the pig-sty) and the composts formed of
home-made materials, according to directions we are about to
give. The special manures most likely to be requhed by soils
in general are lime, phosphate of lime, and potash.

Co7)iposts. — In or near the garden, and in some out-of-sight
corner, there should be at all times a compost heap for receiving
aU kinds of rubbish that,can have the least value as manure.

Make a shallow excavation of sufiicient size, and a little
lower at one end than at the other, forming A\dth the earth
thrown out a small embankment all around it. Into this throw
green weeds, the sweepings of the yard, the refuse of vegeta-
bles, leaves, decayed vegetable matter of aU kinds, woolen rags,
old plaster, charcoal-dnst, soot, soap-suds, brine, slops from the
kitchen and chambers, etc. The heap should be dug over occa-

/O The GapwDen.

sionally, adding a little ashes and lime. Animal manures
should be composted in a separate heap, to which ashes and
lime should not be added, as they would do harm by setting
free the ammonia. In the latter case, charcoal-dust, plaster of
Paris, and vegetable mold, leaves, turf, or swamp-muck should
be used.

One who has never tried the experiment of carefully hus-
banding the elements of fertility which accumulate about a
house, yard, and garden will be astonished at the annual amount
and value of the compost which may, with very little trouble,
be thus manufactured. Try it.*

* For a more complete exposition of tlie whole subject of Soils aud Ma-
nures, see " The Farm."

Formation of a Gaeden. 41

III.

FORMATION OF A GARDEN.

Nothing conduces more to the successful completion of any piece of work than a good begin-
ning.— A. Nanne.

I.-SITUATION".

S it is desirable, if not absolutely necessary,
' that the garden should be placed near the
house, the situation of which must be de-
termined, in part, at least, by independent
considerations, our range for the selection
of a plot is generally quite limited. But it
is well to know what kind of a situation is best, that
we may exercise understandingly any liberty of choice
that may be allowed us.

For early crops a southeastern exposure, with a slight
inclination, is best, as it receives the full benefit of the
morning sun. If sheltered on the north and northwest by
higher grounds or by trees or high walls, so much the better.
In warm climates, however, a northwestern exposure is better
for many garden crops.

In selecting a situation for a garden, reference should also be
had to soil. If this be originally good, the expense of making
it so, artificially, will be saved, and only ordinary manuring
required. Diversity of soils and exposures are also desirable
combinations of advantages. Proximity to water is important,
but very low grounds are, if possible, to be avoided.

II.-SIZE AND SHAPE.

The size of a garden will naturally depend mainly upon the
wants, tastes, and means of its owner. An acre is not too
much, but one half or even one fourth of an acre, weU ma-

42 TheGarden.

nured and skillfully cultivated, will furnish vegetables and fruits
sufficient for the use of a small fomily. If you can consist-
ently appropriate an acre or more for the purpose of a garden,
do not be content with less. You will find a ready market for
its surplus products, and at high prices, too, unless you happen
to be situated at a great distance from any city or large town.

The form of a garden, like its situation and size, must depend
upon circumstances.' For convenience in laying out and culti-
vation, a square or a parallelogram is a good shape. If the
form be a parallelogram, it is better that it should extend from
east to west than from north to south.

III.— LAYING OUT.

The fruit and kitchen garden are to be looked upon from an
economical rather than an esthetic point of view, and their
internal arrangement should be simple, and, so far as circum-
stances will permit, regular and geometrical. In laying out a
flower-garden or a lawn, however, no matter how small it may
be, there is room for the exercise of taste and the creation of
beauty ; and we will reserve our directions on that point for
the chapters devoted specially to those topics, confining our-
selves here to the fruit and kitchen departments.

Whether within the same inclosure or not, the flower-garden
will naturally be placed nearest the house. Passing through
that, we enter the kitchen department, beyond which is the
fruit-garden. It is better, however, in some cases to reverse
the order of the last two, placing the fruit department next
the flower-garden. In small gardens, too, these departments
necessarily intermingle to some extent; but this should be
avoided so far as is possible, as the trees are very detrimental
to other crops — shading the ground, injuring tender plants by
the drippings from their branches, and exhausting the soil by
means of the heavy drafts made upon it by their roots. Dwarf
pears may be admitted into the vegetable department with
comparative impunity, provided the soil is sufficiently ma-
nured to withstand the double demand thus made upon it.

Formation of a Garden. 43

A large garden should have a walk through the center, ex-
tending the whole length, with a turning place at the extremity,
and broad enough to admit a cart for bringing in the manure
and conveying the heavier crops to the cellar or other place
of storage. This walk may be crossed by another at right
angles, and both should be bordered with currant or gooseberry
bushes, or other shrubs. In small gardens these walks may be
narrow and without borders, or may be omitted altogether.
A border from four to twelve feet wide, and skirted by a walk
three or four feet wide, should run entirely around the garden.
The smaller compartments need not be separated by permanent
walks, and their arrangement must be left to be decided by the
circumstances of each case.

The only general direction that seems necessary in reference
to laying out the fruit department is, that care should be taken
to give the less hardy trees the most sheltered and warmest
position, and to so dispose the various kinds that the larger
trees shall not shade and dwarf the smaller. The fruit-garden
should have its wall-borders for the cultivation of raspberries,
blackberries, currants, gooseberries, etc. (unless these, as is
generally the case in small gardens, are transferred to the bor-
ders of the kitchen department), and its trellises and arbors
for grapevines.

IV.— FENCING.

A garden should be surrounded by a close fence, at least seven
feet high, and picketed, to prevent the entrance of thieves.
The height and closeness of the fence will increase the warmth
of the air, break the force of high winds, which might injure
tender plants and trees, and prevent, in a measure, the seeds
of weeds from being driven into it by the wind. A close board
fence, however, is an unsightly object, and a high close hedge,
so soon as it can be grown, may advantageously take its place.
The Osage Orange and, at the South, the Cherokee and single-
white Macartney roses are suitable for this purpose.

44 The Garden.

v.— peepaeation of the soil.

1. Braining. — If your soil require draining, this is tlie first
thing to be attended to. If in digging a hole two feet deep,
water be found to collect and stand in it, even during the wettest
times, you may be sure that draining is required. "No one,"
J. J. Thomas says, " who has never given draining a full and
fair trial can appreciate its importance. Yery often the soil
may be worked and planted from two to four weeks earlier in
the spring — a most important advantage for early vegetables.
Scarcely less is the benefit during the rest of the season in pre-
venting hard-baked soil in times of drouth." Do not neglect
this on account of the expense. No operation in gardening
"pays" better. A quarter of an acre weU underdrained will
be more valuable than an acre of wet, cold, tenacious, undrained
soil. Dig parallel ditches from twenty-five to thirty feet apart,
and from three to four feet deep, forming a slightly inclined
plane on the bottom, which may be from six inches to a foot
wide. These ditches may be filled to a suSicient depth with
rubble-stones or brush, and then covered with soU, if the arched
tiles or tubes of burned clay, now mostly used, can not be pro-
cured, The average expense of the best underdraining is esti-
mated at only from twelve to eighteen dollars an acre.

2. Trenching. — We have already (in Chapter II.) spoken of
the necessity of depth of soil for horticultural purposes, and
especially for the growth of trees, and of the means for deep-
ening soils naturally too shallow, as nearly all are. Trenching
is thus performed :

" At one end of the plot to bo trenched, dig with the spade
a trench three feet wide and at least two feet deep, throwing
the earth out on the side opposite to the plot. Now open an-
other trench of the same width, and put the surface spadeful
of tliis into the bottom of the former trench, and the next
spadeful upon that, until it is opened to the depth of the first
one. "When the plot is entirely trenched in this way, the last
trench will remain open, and must bo fiUed with the earth

FOKMATION OF A GaRDEN. 45

thrown out from the first one. If the subsoil be poor and
gravelly, it is better to take off the first spadeful, and then
loosen the bottom to the required depth without bringing it to
the surface. If the soil requu-e it, as it generally wiU, layers
of manure may be added to those of earth alternately."

3. Suhsoil Plowing. — The expense of trenching being great,
where the plot to be prepared is large, subsoil plowing may be
substituted, similar results in a somewhat inferior degree being
obtained. In subsoiling, a common turning plow goes first, and
the subsoil plow follows, loosening the earth to the required
depth below the bottom of the ordinary furrow, but not turn-
ing it up.

The foregoing preparatory operations being thoroughly per-
formed, we may consider the garden ready for the ordinary
processes of cultivation. Of these we shall speak in another
chapter.

46

The Garden.

IV.

IMPLEMENTS AND FIXTURES.

Next to knowledge and skill are good too\s.— The Worlcmati.

I.— IMPLEMENTS.

OU should supply yourself with good im-
plements of the various kinds essential to
the proper performance of every necessary
operation. To purchase those of an infe-
rior quality because they can be procured
at a somewhat lower price is false economy. Ex-
perience will prove them the more costly in the
end. They soon get out of repair and become
useless ; besides, in their best estate, much less
work can be accomplished with them, and that
imperfectly.

The Spade. — It is convenient to have several spades of dif-
ferent sizes, but a No. 2 of Ames' cast steel will serve for most
purposes. For the flower-garden, a lady needs a smaller and
lighter one, manufactured especially for feminine use.

The Shovel. — A shovel is necessary for loading and spreading
composts and for various other operations. The round-pointed
ones are perhaps more generally useful in a garden than the
square-bladed.

Hoes. — You need several hoes, of different sizes and shapes.
The common square draw-hoes are most used. They are of
various sizes. One of three or four and another of six or seven
inches will be found most useful. To these it is desirable to
add a pronged hoe, a thrust-lioe, and a triangular draw -hoe.
The latter is useful for digging furrows for seeds.
Ealces. — The garden rake should be of the best wrought

Implements and Fixtuees. 47

iron, with teeth about two and a half inches long and one and
a half inches apart. The handle should be from six to eight
feet long. Drill-rakes, which are very useful, if not indis-
pensable, are made of wood, with obtuselj-pointed teeth, three
or four in number, placed at a greater or less distance apart,
for sowing different seeds. In using the drill-rake a line is
stretched to guide it in making the first drill, and afterward the
first tooth is kept in the drill last made, as a guide, and thus
all the rows in a long bed can be made perfectly parallel.
Several different sizes are required.

The Trowel. — The trowel is very useful for removing plants,
with balls of earth for transplanting. It should be from five
to nine inches long, exclusive of the handle.

The Dibher. — This is a short piece of round wood, obtusely
pointed. A serviceable one may be made from an old spade
or shovel handle.

The Reel and Line. — These are essential — at least the line,
which may be used without the reel — where anything like
straight rows and regularity are desired. The reel may be
either of wood or of iron.

The Watering Pot. — One holding four gallons is the best
size. It should be made of double tin, and kept weU painted.

Garden Shears. — These are of various sizes, and are used
for clipping hedges and many other purposes. The seven and
nine-inch sizes are most convenient. There is a smaller article
made expressly for the ladies.

The Saio. — The pruning saw is from fourteen to eighteen
inches long, and is made with fine teeth and a hooked handle,
for hanging on the limb of a tree.

Knixes.—.K pruning knife of moderate size and a budding
knife wUl be essential in the fruit-garden.

Hand- Glasses. — Hand-glasses, either made of panes set in
boxes, or bell-glasses, are necessary for protecting early plants
of the tomato, egg-plant, etc.

Ladders. — A light, common ladder and a standing ladder
will be found indispensable in the fruit department.

48 The Gakdek.

Tlie Wheelbarrow. — The wheelbarrow is exceedinglj useful
in the smallest garden, and in a large one absolutely indispens-
able. It should be light, but strongly made.

Additional. — Several other implements are desirable, and in
particular cases indispensable, among which are, a crowbar., a
picTc^ a manure forlc, a garden roller, a lawn scythe, a hedge
TwoTc, vine scissors, a hand-cultivator, vine shields, an orchard-
isVs hooTc, a hand-syringe, etc.

The plow, subsoil plow, and cultivator belong rather to the
farm, and if you cultivate only a small garden, you wUl find it
more economical to pay for the occasional use of these imple-
ments than to invest money in their purchase.

Preservation of Implements. — Having procured implements
of a good quality, do not allow them to be destroyed for the
lack of a little care on your part. An implement that in the
hands of a careful and economical gardener will last and con-
tinue serviceable for ten years may be ruined in a single season
by a negligent and wasteful one.

In or near the garden should be a tool-house or a room set
apart for the purpose of storing the implements when not in
use. Carefully clean your spades, hoes, and other implements
of steel or iron, before returning them to their place. Imple-
ments of wood should be painted.

II.— FIXTUEE9, ETC.

The gardens and grounds of every rural residence of taste
should have seats, arbors, and other structures of rustic work
— ^that is, work made of the trunks and branches of trees, with
their bark on and in their natural forms. They may be cheaply
erected, and will add greatly to the out-of-door attractions.
The tool-house wo have recommended may be of this charac-
ter, and be made ornamental as well as useful.*

Pits. — What is called a sunTc pit is made by excavating the
earth and forming walls of brick, stone, or boards. These are

♦ See " The House," for designs and descriptions.

Implements and Fixtures.

49

sometimes covered with glass frames, and at other times with
mats or boards. They are mostly used for the preservation of
vegetables, such as celery, endive, lettuce, cauliflower, etc.
The walled pit is partly sunk in the ground and partly above
it. The walls are formed of brick or stone, finished with a
wooden or stone cop-
ing, and covered with
movable glazed sashes.
Of this pit Buist says :

"There is no ap-
pendage to the garden
of greater utility than
this pit. It is two feet the walled pit.

under ground and one foot above it in front, and two feet above
it at the back, and six or seven feet wide in the clear. It is
an excellent winter apartment for plants when covered with
sash and mats. Filled with very rich earth, it produces very
fine cauliflowers, which will be in use from March to May. If
filled with warm manure early in February, it wiU produce
cucumbers that will be in use from April to July, or radishes
and small salading in any quantity."

Mot Beds. — The common hot-bed frame is a bottomless box

THE HOT-BED.

of wood, with a sloping top and covered with a sash. It may
be of any length or breadth, but from four to six feet wide,
and from six to ten feet long is a good size. The sashes are
made without cross-bars, the glass overlapping like the shingles
of a house. The glass should be proportionally much smaller
than it is represented in our engraving — not larger than seven-
by-nine at most. The lap of the panes should not be over

3

50 The Garden.

half an inch. It should be bedded in soft puttj, and the sash
•well painted. The sashes should be made to slide in grooves,
so as to be conveniently moved whenever the bed may require
to be opened, either wholly or partially, to the air.* The
whole should be kept under cover when not in use. Directions
for preparing hot-beds will be found in the next chapter, under
the head of " Forcing."

Trellises. — Every garden should have one or more trellises
for vines. They are of different kinds to adapt them to differ-
ent situations and purposes. The posts should be made of some
durable wood. Eed cedar is the best. Under the head of the
grape we shall describe the construction of the trellises required
for their support. Designs for ornamental trellis-work may bo
found in " The House."

* Instead of the sashes for covering the frames, the following mode, called
the German plan, may perhaps be adopted with advantage ; but we have not
tried it :

" Take white cotton cloth, of a close texture, stretch, and nail it on frames
of any size you wish ; take two ounces of lime-water, four ounces of linseed
oil, one of white of eggs, two ounces of yellow of eggs ; mix the lime and oil
with very gentle heat, beat the eggs separately, and mix them with the former ;
spread this mixture with a paint-brush over the colton, allowing each coat to
dry before applying another, until they become water-proof. The following
are the advantages this shade possesses over glass ones : 1. The cost being
hardly one fourth. 2. Repairs are easily and cheaply made. 3. The light.
They do not require watering ; no matter how intense the heat of the sun, the
plants are never struck down or burned, or checked in growth, neither do they
grow up long, sick, and weakly, as they do under glass, and still there is
abundance of light. 4. The heat arising entirely from below is more equable
and temperate, which is a great object. The vapor rising from the manure
and earth is condensed by the cool air passing over the surface of the shade,
and stands in drops upon the inside, and, therefore, the plants do not require
as frequent watering. If the frames or stretchers are made large, they should
be intersected by cross-bars about a foot square to support the cloth. These
articles are just the thing for bringing forward melons, tomatoes, flower-seeds,
etc., in season for transplanting."

HOETICTILTUEAL PROCESSES.

51

V.

HORTICULTUBAL PROCESSES.

Every operation In gardening depends for its complete and universal success upon a knowl-
edge of the structure of plants, the nature of soils and manures, and the laws of vegetable
life and growth.— ilf. Le Jardinier.

L-STIEEING THE SOIL.

HE attentive reader of the foregoing chap-
ters will not require to be told that a thor-
ough stirring and pulverizing of the soil, as
one of the first operations in gardening, is
absolutely essential to any high degree of
success in the steps -which follow. His
knowledge of the structure of roots and the nature
of their food has prepared him to appreciate the im-
portance of the mechanical division of soils. He
knows that the ground must be readily permeable by
the tender rootlets, pervious to moisture and air, and
60 broken up that the water, acids, and alkalies penetrating it
may efficiently act upon its soluble parts.

Spading is the most effectual method of stirring the soil,
but, where the plow can be advantageously used, will hardly
" pay" in this country. In small gardens, and in portions of
all gardens, spading is the only practicable operation. "What-
ever the means used, let the work be thorouglily done. Down-
ing says: "If I had to preach a sermon on horticulture, I
should take this for my text — 'Stir the soil.' "

II.-APPLYING MANUEES.

As the roots of plants usually penetrate every part of the
soil of a garden, manures^ as a general rule, should he as tJior-

52 The Garden.

ougJily mixed as possible with every part. Where the ground
is to be plowed, thej are generally spread upon the surface,
and turned in by that process. In special cases, as will be
seen further on, manuring in the hill or drill is advisable.
Manures are also sometimes applied as top-dressings — that is,
are spread upon the surface and not dug in. Vegetable and
animal manures for common garden use should be thoroughly
rotted and finely pulverized.

III.-FOECING.

Every garden should have one or more hot-beds for for-
warding early tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, radishes, let-
tuce, etc. "We have described the hot-bed frame in Chapter
IV. The bed itself should be composed of stable manure and
leaves, and must be not less than three feet deep. The manure
should be first thrown in a heap to ferment, and worked over
several times, adding water if it should become dry or musty.
Sometimes the bed is made on the surface of the ground, and at
o'thers an excavation ten or twelve inches deep is made, in order
to give the bed a less inconvenient elevation above the general
surface. The manure and leaves should be spread evenly in
layers, and pressed down. The bed should be at least six
inches larger every way than the frame which is to cover it,
and slope slightly toward the south. When neatly finished,
put on the frame, close the sash, and keep all tight till the heat
rises and steam appears on the glass. So soon as the heat
rises, give the bed air at noon, or the warmest part of the day,
but keep it carefully closed the rest of the time. In three or
four days you may cover the surface with from four to six
inches of fine, rich garden mold, and so soon as this is warmed
through, the bed is ready for use. The seed may be sowed in
drills, but, for facility of transplanting and to secure an un-
checked growth, it is better to sow them in small pots, which
are to be i)lunged in the mold. Sprinkle gently with water of
the same temperature as the bed. When the plants appear
they should have the air every day in which the weather will

HOETICTLTUKAL PROCESSES. 53

permit. Open the bed also to warm, gentle rains, but keep it
carefully closed against cold or heavy storms. At night keep
it well covered with matting or stravr. Transplant as soon as
danger from frost will permit.

In the South this forcing process may be commenced early
in the winter, but at the North not till February or March,
according to the latitude and the season.

lY.— SOWING SEEDS.

The first thing to be attended to in seed-sowing is the prep-
aration of the bed by thorouglily pulverizing the soil ; and the
smaller the seeds the more finely should the earth be pulver-
ized. The soil should be freshly stirred and moist, but not too
wet. The depth at which seeds should be buried varies with
species and with the state of the soil. The objects are to ex-
clude the light and secure suflicient moisture for the purposes
of germination. The latter object requires large seeds, other
things being equal, to be covered more deeply than small ones.
If seeds are covered too deeply, unnecessary impediments are
thrown in the way of the ascending shoots ; and germination
may be prevented altogether by the exclusion of the air.
Most garden seeds are sown in drills. The earth should be
pressed upon them with more or less force, according to the
nature of the soil, in order to secure the necessary degree of
compactness to retain the moisture and to support the plant
after germination. Specific directions, where they are required,
will be given under the name of each plant.

v.— TKANSPLANTING.
In transplanting, the principal points to be attended to are —
care in taking up, to avoid injuring the tender extremities of
the roots, through which, as we have seen, the plant receives
its nourishment ; planting firmly, to give it a secure hold of
the soil ; shading, when necessary, to prevent the evaporation
from its leaves being greater than the plant, in its enfeebled
state, can support ; and watering, that it may not lack moist-

54: ' TheGaeden.

ure. Moist weather should also, if possible, be chosen for
performing the operation.

As a general rule, in transplanting, the coUar of the root
should not be buried. Cabbages, balsams, and some other
annuals, which throw out roots above the collar, furnish ex-
ceptions ; also pears on quince stocks, which must be set so as
to bring the place where the scion is inserted below the surface
of the soil.

The operation of transplanting herbaceous plants should
always be performed with a trowel, removing a little baU of
earth with the plant. A damp, cloudy day, an evening, or
just before a shower, is a favorable time.

Tap-rooted plants are transplanted with great difficulty, and,
if the operation be attempted, should be taken up with a con-
siderable ball of earth.

In transplanting trees much depends upon the knowledge
and skill exercised. Thousands of fine trees are lost every
year through the ignorance and carelessness of transplanters.

In taking up a tree or shrub for transplanting, be careful to
injure the roots as little as possible. But in all cases the roots
wiU be maimed more or less. The feeding power of the tree
is to the same extent decreased, and it will not be able to sus-
tain the draft made upon it by the stem and~leaves. These
must be diminished correspondingly by heading back or short-
ening. In preparing a place for the reception of the tree, avoid,
if possible, the sites of old trees. Dig a hole considerably
larger than the clump of the tree's roots, and from fifteen to
twenty inches deep, placing the sods, if in sward land, in one
heap, the soil in another, and the subsoil in a third. The hole
should be filled with a mixture of the soil, subsoil, and rich,
black loam, or well-rotted compost manure, to the height
where it is proper to place the tree. With the hand or spade,
shape the soil for the roots into the form of a little cone, on
which to set the hollow in the center of the clump of roots.
If this is done some weeks, or even months, before setting the
tree, it will be all the better.

HORTICULTUKAL PROCESSES. 65

If tlie ground be drj, or if the roots have been much exposed
to the air since the tree was taken up, soak the roots and the
lower part of the trunk in water twelve or twenty-four hours.
Cut off all bruised and broken ends of roots smoothly with a
knife, and shorten-in the longest, so that the clump of roots
may have a somewhat circular form. In cutting a root, always
enter the knife upon the under side, and bring it out, with a.
slope, to the upper side, so that the fibers which may shoot oat
from the edges of the cut shall strike downward into the
ground, instead of upward, as they would were the cut made
as it commonly is.

TTith good, rich soil fill up under, among, around, and above
the roots, straightening them out with the fingers, and placing
them in a fan-like and natural position, being very cautious not
to leave any, even small, hollow places among them. If the
root is one-sided, make the most you can of the weaker part.
At this stage of the work, if you have patience, it is an ex-
cellent plan to make a circular dam around the edge of
the hole, and keep it full of water for a half hour or more.
In setting evergreens, this, by some, is deemed almost indis-
pensable, unless the ground is quite moist. Next, put in a little
more earth, pressing it around the tree with the foot. After
this, throw on an inch or so of loose earth, and the work is
done.

Another mode of filling up around the trees, called mudding-
in, has proved very successful. Make the circular dam around
the tree first, or as soon as it is needed, then let one person
slowly sift the soil into the hole upon the roots, while another
constantly pours in water, thus keeping the earth in a thin,
muddy state.

Very large trees are most successfully transplanted by re-
moving them with large baUs of frozen earth in mid-winter,
and placing them at once in a hole previously prepared to
receive them.*

* See Appendix, C.

56 The Garden.

The fundamental principle to be generally observed in trans-
planting is to head back the top of the tree in proportion to
the loss of root that it has sustained by being removed.

Some fruit-trees may be moved much more easily than
others. Downing arranges them with reference to this point
in the following order : Plums, quinces, apples, pears, peaches,
nectarines, apricots, and, last and most difficult, cherries. It
is an invariable rule, that tlie larger the tree the less the chances
of success. In the northern parts of the United States smaU
trees should always be set in the spring.

Medium-sized trees — say five to ten feet high — may be set
equally well either in the autumn or spring. Trees of large
size should be moved late in autumn, in the winter, or quite
early in the spring.

The evergreen tribe are, however, best planted out just as
their buds begin to swell in the spring; but they are some-
times successfully set in autumn, and also during the last of
May and first of June. If their roots are exposed to dry,
out of the ground, they are almost certain to die.

VI.— WATERING.

"Watering, like every other operation in gardening, has its
rules, founded on the general principles laid down in our first
and second chapters. The most important points to be remem-
bered are : 1. That on the nature of the plant, the stage of
its growth, and the dryness or dampness of the atmosphere
depends the quantity of water required; 2. That the soil
should never be saturated with water, too much moisture
proving injurious as well as too little; 3. That the water
should not be applied at the base of the stem, as it is through
the extremities of the rootlets mainly that it must be taken up,
and these, except in tap-rooted plants, are at a greater or less
distance from the original starting-point ; 4. That in summer,
the proper time for watering plants is evening, but that in
colder weather it is better to water them at mid-day ; 5. That
rain water is better than well or spring water, and that when

HOETICULTUIJAL PROCESSES. 57

the latter is used it should be exposed to the air for some time
before applying it ; 6, That the water should never be colder
than the plants to be watered.

VIL— HOEING.

The necessity for stirring the soil before planting has been
already shown. As soon as the plants are well above ground
it should be stirred again. In field culture, and to some extent
in large gardens, this is done with the plow and cultivator.
Where these can not go, the hoe must be faithfully applied.
The soil can not le stirred too often.

One object in hoeing is the destruction of weeds. This
should be thorough — the extermination should be complete.
Spare not even the smallest. But keeping the weeds down is
not the only good result attained by hoeing. The soil is
thereby kept friable and porous, opened to the atmosphere and
the fertilizing gases, and new, fresh, and cool surface is pre-
sented for the absorption of moisture. Hoe deeply. A mere
scratching of the surface is not enough ; and do not fail to Mil
every weed.

One year's seeding makes seven years' weeding.
YIIL— PROTECTION FEOM FEOST.

Straw and leaves laid several inches deep about their roots
are very useful in protecting half-hardy plants during the win-
ter. Garden-pots, empty boxes, barrels, hand-glasses, and cold
frames should be brought into requisition in particular cases,
for the protection of early plants from spring frosts, and later
ones from those of the autumn. Common tumblers may be
used for very small plants, but they must be raised whenever
moisture accumulates.

Fruit-trees in blossom, or covered with young fruit just
formed, may be protected by keeping up smoldering, smoking
fires during the night in various parts of the garden, at the
windward side. But little fire is required, the clouds of smoke
efiectually warding off the frost. The amount of fruit which

8*

58 The Gaeden.

might often be thus saved would repay a hundred-fold the
labor and care bestowed in this way.

IX.— MULCHING.

Mulching is placing mulch ot moist litter of various kinds
upon the surface of the soil over the roots of trees, shrubs, and
herbaceous plants. Its uses are the retention of moisture, the
prevention of injury by frost, and the promotion of an equable
temperature. Strawberries thinly mulched, the crown being
uncovered, are rendered more productive and continue longer
in bearing, especially in hot, dry climates. Newly planted
fruit-trees are often greatly benefited by mulching.

X.— DESTEOTING INSECTS.

The foes against which the gardener is forced to wage a per-
petual war of extermination, though individually insignificant,
are in the aggregate most formidable. We will try to give a
few useful hints of a general character to aid the reader in this
warfare.

Sowing a garden with salt, at the rate of six or eight bushels
to the acre, will cause many insects to disappear. It should
be done in the autumn. Digging the soil in the winter, and
thus exposing it to the frost, will destroy many grubs, etc.
"Wide-mouthed bottles, partly filled with molasses and water,
and hung up in a garden, make excellent traps for the moths,
which are the parents of many destructive vermin, Mr.
Downing mentions an acquaintance who thus caught and de-
stroyed in a single season three bushels of insects, and preserved
his garden almost free from them. A bright fire of resinous
pine, tar, shavings, or any other combustible, kindled in the
garden at night, on a platform erected for the purpose, will
attract and destroy millions. Birds are among the best friends
of the gardener, and should by no means be destroyed,
although some of them may eat a few raspberries or cherries.
Toads live almost entirely upon insects, and do no harm in a
garden. Induce as many of them as possible to make it their

HOKTICULTUEAL PROCESSES. 59

home. Hens and chickens should have access whenever it
can safelj be permitted.

To drive insects away from plants various preparations are
useful. A writer in the Southern Cultivator recommends the
following :

"Put into a barrel of water a quarter of a pound of cam-
phor, in pieces of the size of a hickory nut, and let it stand a
day before using. Water your plants with this. The barrel
may be refilled many times before the camphor will have all
been dissolved. A cupful of strong lye put into the water
will add to the strength of the mixture by causing the water
to take up more camphor. Camphor is very offensive to most
insects." Tobacco-water is another efficient remedy. Lime,
charcoal-dust, ashes, soot, snuff, and sulphur sprinkled upon
plants prove a defense against most destroyers. To expel the
striped bug from cucumbers, squashes, etc., water the plants
daily with a strong decoction of quassia, made by pouring four
gallons of boiling water on four pounds of quassia, in a barrel,
and, after twelve hours, filling the barrel with water. The
intolerable squash or pumpkin bug may be thoroughly driven
off by a decoction of double strength, containing a pound of
glue to t^n gallons, to make it adhere.

The most effectual and the cheapest remedy for the striped
bug, however, consists in defending each hill of melons, cu-
cumbers, squashes, etc., by a box about fifteen inches square,
the sides being eight to ten inches high, covered with millinet
or some similar thin material.

The following recipe for making a " barrier to insects" is
given in the Gardener^ s Chronicle. It may be easily tried :

" Take of common resin 1^ lbs. ; sweet oil, 1 lb. ; place them
in a pipkin over the fire until the resin is melted ; stir the mate-
rials together, that chey may be well blended ; when cold the
substance formed, which the discoverer caUs 'rezoil,' will be
of the consistency of molasses. To use the rezoil it should be
spread with a brush upon shreds or any fitting material, and
wrapped roimd the stem of the plant ; if any support is used,

60 The Garden.

that should be brushed over also. No insect can possibly, or
will attempt to cross this barrier ; the rezoil never dries, but
always remains sticky and clammy — its action as a trap is
therefore obvious."

But, however numerous and effective the other remedies,
" eternal vigilance" can not be dispensed with in dealing with
the pests of the garden.

XI.-SAVING SEEDS.

Choose the best plants for seed — the most true to their Mnd
and the most perfectly developed ; allow the seeds to become
perfectly ripe before gathering them; gather when dry, and
especially take care that they are perfectly dry when put up ;
store them in paper bags carefully labeled, and keep them in a
dry, cool place. Great care is necessary in raising seeds to
preserve the sorts unmixed, as varieties of the same species
or similar species are almost sure to mix if planted near each
other. If you raise more than one kind of corn, or pumpkin,
or cucumber, or melon in the same garden, you can not be
sure of pure ' seed. The squashes and pumpkins may mix, or
the melons with either, the pollen of one being conveyed by
the wind, or sometimes by bees or other insects, to the pistil
of the other.

XII.— EOTATION OF CROPS.

Why rotation of crops is beneficial has been already shown,
and if the reader has forgotten, let him turn back to the first
chapter. The following is a good rotation for a given portion
of a garden :

First year, cabbages.

Second " onions.

Third " carrots, beets, or parsneps.

Fourth " potatoes or turnips.

Fifth " celery, spinach, or lettuce.

Celery is excellent to precede asparagus, onions, cauliflower?,

HOETICULTTJEAL PROCESSES. 61

or turnips ; old asparagus beds are good for carrots, potatoes,
etc, ; strawberry and raspberry beds do well for the cabbage
tribe, and the cabbage tribe may be followed by the tap-rooted
plants — carrots, beets, etc.

A large portion of every garden, even at the North, should
be made to produce two crops each season. All the space occu-
pied by early peas, beans, and potatoes can be made available
for turnips and cabbages. Turnips (English or Dutch) may also
be sown broadcast among the corn and later potatoes after the
last hoeing.

XIII.— PEOPAGATION.

There are, properly speaking, but two modes of propagating
plants — by seeds and by division. By the first the species is
perpetuated, and new varieties raised. The second mode mul-
tiplies specimens of the individual itself, with all its peculiari-
ties, which may be and generally are lost in the seed.

There are several distinct modes of propagating plants by
division, all, however, depending for their success upon the
presence of leaf-huds, each of which, as we have seen, being
capable, under favorable circumstances, of forming a distinct
and independent individual.

1. Suckers. — Some plants, such as the rose, the raspberry,
the lilac, etc., throw up suckers or sprouts from their roots.
These spring from what have been described as adventitious
buds. We have only to divide these from their parent and
transplant them in a suitable soil to secure their independent
growth. Offsets and runners are of a similar nature to the
suckers of the woody plants. The former are young bulbs
which form by the side of the old one, and merely require
breaking off and planting. The latter are shoots springing from
the collar or crown of a plant, and throwing out roots at their
joints. These have only to be separated from the parent plant
to become independent individuals. The strawberry is the
most noted example of this mode of propagation.

2. Layers. — The tendency manifested by many plants to
throw out roots from their joints early suggested to gardeners

62 The Garden.

the idea of making layers. A twig growing out of a tree, at a
point not far from the ground, is bent down, and the middle
portion of it buried just under the surface of the soil, and fast-
ened there by means of a hooked peg, or by a stone or turf
placed above it. Success is rendered more certain by checking
the downward flow of the sap. This may be accomplished by
cutting a slice off the under side of the part of the twig that is
placed under ground, or, more perfectly, by entering the knife
on the under side at this point, and splitting the twig upward
about one or two inches, fastening the split open with a little
wedge or pebble. The sap accumulating at this point induces
the throwing out of roots, and the conversion of the shoot into
a new plant. Trees or shrubs purposely headed down for
raising layers are called stools. A single quince-bush, thus
made into a stool^ and its twigs layered, is capable of producing
many finely-rooted plants in a single season. Of some kinds
of layers nearly every bud will form roots of its own.

3. Cuttings. — Cuttings are shoots removed from the parent
tree or plant without roots. The branches nearest the ground
are considered best for cuttings, as the tendency to throw out
roots is greater in them than in those more elevated. They
should be cut off just below a joint. Some species, however,
as the willow, the currant, etc., will throw out roots from any
part of the stem, and generally succeed with even the most
careless planting. The best time to take off cuttings is in No-
vember, but in a cold climate they are more likely to succeed
if kept in damp mold in a cellar, and not planted till spring.
In planting, bury them to the second joint, leaving one or two
joints above the surface of the soil. Press the earth com-
pactly about the lower end. Cuttings of delicate plants are
generally struck (rooted) in pots, and sometimes it is necessary
to cover them with a bell-glass, to prevent too rapid evaporation.

4. Slijis. — Slips are cuttings made from the root or collar of
a plant, or branches stripped off, with a small portion of the
root or stem attached. They are treated like other cuttings.
Many kinds of fruit-trees may be readily propagated by slips.

HORTICU-LTUKAL PkOC ESSES,

63

6. Budding. — Budding consists in introducing the bud of one
tree or shrub, with a portion of the bark and wood adliering
to it, below the bark of another tree or shrub. The operation
is thus performed : With a sharp budding-knife, upon a smooth
place on the side of the stock, cut a longitudinal slit an inch or
more long. Across the top of this cut a transverse slit from a
quarter to half an inch long, so that both slits, taken together,
shall resemble the letter T. Next, cut from your stick of buds
a thin slice of bark, with a little wood in the central portion
of it, entering the knife about half or three fourths of an inch
below, and bringing it out about as far above a bud. This
slice of bark and wood, taken together, is called a 'bud^ the part
of the bud which grows into a twig being technically called
its eye.

"With the ivory haft of your budding-knife, or, if you have
not such a knife, with any little wedge of wood or ivory, raise
up the corners of the slit in the stock. Taking hold of the
bud by its foot-stalk, enter it, and gently push it down to the
bottom of the incision. The eye of the bud will t
now be from one fourth to three fourths of an inch
from the transverse part of the slit. The part of the
bud, if any, projecting above this transverse slit,
should be cut off, by passing the knife through it, into
the transverse slit again, so that the upper end of the
bud and this transverse part of the slit shall make a
good joint together. Bind the bud firmly with shreds
of bass-matting, so as to cover every part of it except
the eye. Woolen yarn or corn husks will answer
when no matting is at hand. The stock (trunk or
branch) should be from an eighth of an inch to not
more than an inch in diameter.

To prepare a stick of buds for budding, take a scion
of the present season's growth, and cut off the por-
tions of each end of it containing buds that are im-
perfectly developed. ISText, cut off the leaves at a ^^°^*
pouit about in the middle of their stems or footstalks. The

64:

The Garden.

buds which are to be used lie in the angle on the upper side
of these stems.

Budding is generally performed in the summer or earlj part
of autumn. It is essential to success — 1st. That the lyarTc of
the stock should part freely from the wood^ and 2d. Thxit the
T)ud which is to he inserted should he well ripened, otherwise it
will not have vital energy sufficient to establish itself in its
new location. "Whenever these conditions can be secured,
budding may be successfully performed. The buds put in
early, however, especially in the South, make a considerable
growth the same season. Buds should be inserted on the
north side of the stock, if practicable. The operation is one
of some nicety, and to be successful must be performed rapidly^
and with fresh, healthy huds, smooth cuts, and cleanly rising
larTc. A few days after budding, the stock should be cut off
within ten or twelve inches of the bud, and when this has
grown three or four inches, the stock may be cut off again
near the budded shoot. All sprouts, or "robbers," as they are
called, that appear on the stock must be carefully removed.
Care should also be taken not to allow branches
from the main shoot of the bud to grow, and to
secure an upright position of it, a ligature of the
matting may be passed around the sprout and the
upper end of the old stock.

In spring budding, some gardeners recommend
to make the incisions in the form of an inverted
±, but we see no good reason for this inversion,
and believe that the other mode is equally suc-
cessful.

Annular budding is applied with success to trees
of hard wood and thick bark, or those which, like
the walnut, have buds so large as to render the
common mode of budding difficult and uncertain.
A ring of bark is taken from the stock, and one of
equal size, containing a bud, from the scion. If
the stock be larger than the scion, an entire ring

TREATMENT OF
TUB BCD.

HOKTICULTURAL PROCESSES. 65

will not be taken off, but only what may be filled by the ring
of bark from the scion. If the ring of bark from the scion be
too large for the stock, it will be reduced so as to just inclose
the stock. "V7hen thus fitted, tie with matting, and cover the
wound with clay or grafting-wax, and the work is done.

6. Grafting. — In grafting, a shoot with two or more buds on
it, instead of a single bud, is transferred from one tree or shrub
to another. The oj^eration, in all its forms, consists essentially
in bringing in contact portions of growing shoots, so that the
liljer or inner bark of the two may unite and grow together.
The same general principles apply to it as to budding.

The shoot to be transferred is called a scion. The best time
to cut scions is from the middle of January to the last of Feb-
ruary, although they may be taken from the trees at any time
from late autumn until spring. In order to keep them until
they may be used, nothing more is necessary than to thrust
their lower ends into the ground, in a shady place — say close
on the north side of the trunk of the tree from which they
were cut ; or a better way is to set them half their length deep
in a box of fine soil in a cellar.

In cutting scions, take from the extremity of the limb of a
tree that part of it which grew the preceding season,
and keep the shoot or twig entire till wanted for use.

Scions are united to their stocks in several ways.
"Whatever may be the mode of operating, however,
the principle is always the same — namely, tTie sap-
xessels of the graft and the stock must he so adapted
to each other that the sap can flow uninterruptedly
from the one to. the other.

Cleft grafting is the mode in most common use. cleft
Stocks from half an inch to two inches in diameter ^^^-^-^ting.
are usually worked over in this way. The whole top of a
large tree may thus be headed back and grafted, so as to
become even more valuable than one that was grafted in the
nursery.

The operation is performed as follows: Saw off the stock

66 TheGaeden.

crosswise, then pare the end smoothly with a knife. Next,
split it down about two inches with a thin, sharp knife, driven
with a hammer. A narrow wedge is now driven into the
middle of the cleft, so as to keep the top of it open about a
quarter of an inch. Cut the scion (which should not contain
more than three or four buds) at the lower end, in the form of
a wedge, about one and a half inches long, contriving to have
a bud or eye at the top of the part so formed, to insure greater
success. The scion is next to be inserted on one side of the
stock, and fitted nicely into the cleft, so that the inner bark of
the outer side of the scion shall exactly meet that of the stock.
On large stocks two scions are thus inserted, one on each side.

The scions being adjusted, carefully withdraw the wedge
which stands erect between the scions. Make a ball of wax,
and lay it on the head of the stock, between the scions, and
press it down, and spread it so as to cover the head, and lap
over three fourths of an inch all around upon the bark, and rub
it down smoothly, being careful to make an air and water-joint
around the scions and over the- end of the stock. Where the
wax passes over the corner of the stock, it g!iould be quite
thick, to prevent it from cracking. Then cover the cleft on
each side quite below its lower extremity, and the work is
done. The next spring cut off nicely the poorest scion in each
stock, as one is usually quite sufiicient.

For small seedling stocks, or small sprouts on larger trees,
less than half an inch in diameter, it is well to adopt the whip
or splice method.

Cut the stock with a sharp knife, obliquely upward, without
bruising or starting the bark, and the scion downward, with a
corresponding angle, to make the two parts fit nicely, care
being taken that the inner bark of the stock and scion exactly
meet. Then lay the parts together, and bind them snugly with
a strand of matting or bass-bark, and cover the splice with
grafting-wax or clay, to shield it from the air and water.

Allied to splice grafting is what is called saddle grafting.
On stocks of half an inch or more in diameter and scions of

HORTICTJLTTJRAL PROCESSES. 67

the same size, this mode is sometimes employed with excellent
success. In this process, cut the stock with a drawing-knife
upward, forming a wedge ; then split with a fine saw the scion,
and with a knife pare away each side to a point, so as to fit
the stock ; place the parts together, and bind them firmly with
matting or bark, and cover the whole with clay or grafting-
wax. At the end of two months the union wiU generally be
sufficiently perfect to allow the removal of the covering and
the ligature, which, if left on too long, will injure the growth.

In-arch grafting is used when others will scarcely succeed.
The two trees must stand close to each other. A twig of each,
without being cut from its tree, must be pared with a long,
corresponding slanting cut, and the two raw edges must be
fitted nicely, and bound firmly together, and the joint covered
with the composition. When the union has taken place, the
trees are so separated as to leave the scion on the tree where
it is wanted.

A mode called root grafting is practiced extensively in nurs-
eries. The two-year seedling stocks are headed down to within
an inch or so of the collar or crown ; they are then split, and
the scion inserted, as in common cleft grafting. The scion is
held in its place by a piece of matting bound round the stock.
The stocks to be used for this purpose are generally taken up
in the fall, grafted in the winter at the fireside, and packed
away in the cellar till spring, when they are properly planted ;
the point of insertion of the graft being covered with the soil.
ISTo wax or clay is necessary. Scions may also be grafted on
smaU roots by common splice grafting. The point of union
should be covered with soU to the depth of two inches.

Grafting may be performed at almost any season of the year
with scions properly kept ; but by far the best time is from
the middle of February, in mild weather, aU along until the
middle of May at the North, and till the end t)f March at the
South — stone-fruits first, and other fruits somewhat later.

ISTeither grafting nor budding can be successful, unless be-
tween different varieties of the same species, as the apple upon

68 The Garden.

a seedling apple-tree stock ; or between nearly allied species
of the same genus, as between the apple and the pear, which
unions are comparatively imperfect and short-lived ; or, thirdly,
between nearly allied genera, as between the cherry and the
plum, which maintain a feeble existence for a limited period,
and then die. All unions, therefore, betAveen widely different
genera and species, are utterly impossible, as the graft can not
live upon the sap supplied by the stock, any more than a lion
can be fed upon grass.

To produce dwarf trees, Apple is grafted upon Paradise (or
Doucin) stocks ; the Pear upon the Quince, Thorn, or Mountain
Ash; the Peach upon the Plum; the Plum upon Mirabelle
Plum seedlings ; the Cherry upon the Cerasus Mahaleb, and,
in general, any tree upon any other kindred tree of slower or
smaller growth.

The stock and the graft (scion or bud) exert influences upon
each other mutually. The stock often affects the size and
flavor of the fruit borne by the graft. Of a graft or stock,
either may communicate its own diseases and infirmities to the
other. It is pretty well estabhshed, also, that stocks bearing
early fruits have an influence in accelerating the ripening of
the fruits which may be made to grow upon them by grafting.

Grafting Wax. — To make grafting wax of an excellent
quality, take four parts of resin, two of beeswax, and one of
tallow; melt the whole together, pour the composition into
cold water, and work it over thoroughly, pulling it as you
would molasses candy. The hardness of the wax may be in-
creased or lessened by applying more or less tallow. In cold
weather keep the composition in warm water, and in warm
weather in cold water, to secure the proper consistency for use.
In using it, the hands should be slightly greased.

XIV.-PEUNING.

The principal objects souglit to be attained by pruning are
to promote the growth, improve the form, and increase the
fruitfulness of trees. No operation in horticulture requires

HOETICTJLTUEAL PROCESSES. 69

the exercise of more knowledge, judgment, and skill, iu order
to the attainment of complete success ; but in general no opera-
tion is more carelessly, ignorantly, and bunglingly performed,
or more frequently neglected.

Pruning to promote the growth of a tree proceeds upon the
principle that the sap which would have been appropriated
to the support of the branches, or parts of the top, taken off,
will go to increase the vigor of the parts which remain. This
is true within certain limits, but the process must not be car-
ried too far. Sufficient top must he left to supply leaves for
the elaboration of the sap.

Young trees, two or three years from the seed, or one year
from the graft, are not infrequently headed down to two or
three buds, on purpose to strengthen their growth. A single
bud is then trained vertically, and the rest pruned away in the
course of the summer. In such cases, the growth of the top
being attended with a corresponding increase of fibrous roots,
the tree at once becomes vigorous and healthy.

Peach trees, in our climate, are highly benefited by thus
shortening-in annually, in the spring, one half, or thereabouts,
of their entire growth of the previous summer, aU. over the
heads of the trees.

Dwarf pears on quince also require a similar heading-in, an-
nually each spring, so long as they continue to make a growth
of scions.

Pruning to improve the form is applied mostly to ornamental
trees, to which almost any desirable shape may be given by
this means. If one part of a tree should outgrow another part,
the former may be shortened-in in winter, and the shoots pinched
off the next summer, tih the sap is thrown in the right direc-
tion into the weaker branches, and the balance restored.
When you desire the new shoots of a branch to take an upright
direction, prune to an inside bud ; while, if you wish an open,
spreading top, prune to an outside bud, etc. Do not trim the
stems or trunks of your trees (whether ornamental or fruit-
trees) to bare poles, but allow the branches to form near the

70 The Garden.

ground, as they naturally will in open ground. Your orna-
mental trees will thus be more beautiful, and your fruit-trees
more likely to bear well.

Everything that is favorable to rapid and vigorous growth is
unfavorable to immediate fruitfulness, hence pruning to induce
fruitfulness is performed after vegetation has commenced. This
checks the growth of the wood, impedes the circulation of the
sap, and promotes the formation of fruit. Top pruning or
shortening-in is the most common form of pruning to induce
fruitfulness. Pruning the roots has a similar effect. The oper-
ation of root pruning is thus performed :

At a few feet from the trunk of the tree, varying the dis-
tance according to its size, dig a circular ditch around it,
eighteen or twenty inches deep, cutting off all the lateral roots
smoothly, close to the circular mass of earth in which the tree
stands, removing the outer pieces of roots from the surrounding
ground, as much as can be done conveniently. Fill up the
trench with good, rich soU, and the tree will, in this country,
generally be brought into a permanent fruit-bearing state.
Repeating the operation annuall}^, apples, pears, and other
fruit-trees may be rendered productive dwarfs — even so as to
be planted only six or eight feet apart. And, if at the same
time we apply the sliortening-in process above described, they
may be kept in a beautiful pyramidal form, and rendered very
profitable. This work may be done in autumn, in winter, or
early in the spring.

Pruning ought to be performed with sharp tools. When the
saw is used, the ends of the limbs should afterward be care-
fully pared with a knife. They should then be covered with
some composition to protect them from the weather. Down-
ing's Gum-Shellac is admirably adapted to this purpose. This
preparation is made by dissolving a quantity of the gum in
alcohol, so that the composition shall be of the consistency of
thin molasses. The liquid should be kept in a wide-mouthed
bottle, the cork of which should have a wire (running through
it into the bottle), with a sponge attached to the end of it.

HORTICULTUEAL PROCESSES. Yl

"When the object of pruning is to promote the growth or
improve the form of a tree, the operation is generally performed
in the winter or early in the spring. Some, however, recom-
mend pruning in May or June.

XV.-TEAINING.

In England, where fruit-trees generally are trained on walls
and trellises, this process requires much time and labor on the
part of the gardener. In this country it is hardly applied at
all, except to vines and pear-trees, and to the latter only occa-
sionally. The principal object of training is to produce from a
certain number of branches a larger quantity of fruit than
would grow on them if left in their natural state. This is
effected by spreading and bending the branches so as to form
numerous depositions of the returning sap, aided, where the
tree is trained against a wall, by the shelter and reflected heat
which the latter affords.

Directions for training the grapevine will be given under its
proper head.

A new mode of training fruit-trees, practiced in the north
of Eussia, is well deserving of trial in the colder parts of New
England, especially for cultivating the peach. A tree, one year
from the graft, is headed down to two healthy, strong wood-
buds. These are trained horizontally, about ten or twelve
inches from the ground, to a south wall — perhaps the north
side of a wall might do quite as well, in our more changeable
climate. These arms are suffered to throw up vertical shoots,
which become covered with fruit-spurs. These vertical shoots
are kept shortened-in, to a length of not more than about
one or two feet; and these, with the two horizontal arms
from which they spring, and the short trunk of about ten
to fourteen inches in length, constitute aU there is of the
tree above ground. The whole tree may be covered, through
the winter, with two feet or more of soil heaped over it,
with a deep bank of snow, or with straw, evergreen boughs,
or the like.

72 TheGaedek.

Peaches, we are convinced, can be raised in this way where
they fail entirely under ordinary treatment. It has hardly
been fairly tried, however, in this country.*

* In preparing the condensed directions for transplanting, budding, grafting,
pruning, training, etc., contained in this chapter, we have been deeply in-
debted to the valuable little manual of George Jaques, entitled "A Practical
Treatise on the Management of Fruit-Trees," which we cordially recommeud.
Bee also Barry's " Fruit Garden" on these points.

The Kitchen Garden.

73

VI.
THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

I consider the kitchen garden of very considerable importance, as pot-herbs, ealads, and
roots of various kinds are useful in housekeeping. Having a plenty of them at hand, a family
will not be so likely to run into the error which is too common la this coxmtry, of eating flesh
In too great a proportion for health. — Dr. Veane.

I.— ESCULENT ROOTS.

1. The Potato — Solanum Tuberosum.

HE potato, called by tlie Frencli la pomme
de terre, and by the Germans bie ^artofcT,
is a native of the elevated equatorial regions
of South America, and is still to be found
in a wild state in the neighborhood of
Quito and other places. It appears to have
been introduced into North America and cultivated by
the Virginia colonists as early as 1584. A few yeai-s
later it was carried to England by Sh' Walter Raleigh.
The varieties of the potato are numberless; and,
while old sorts are constantly disappearing, new ones
are every year coming into notice and taking their places.
The duration of a variety is believed by Knight and others to
be limited to fourteen years. Very few sorts continue to be
cultivated even that length of time. New varieties are readily
produced by planting the seed found in the balls. The opera-
tion is a simple one, and should more frequently be undertaken.
There is no doubt but that varieties will yet be obtained in this
way far superior to any yet known. "We give in the Appendix
full directions for producing and proving new sorts.

To give a list of the best varieties of the potato, were it
practicable, would be useless. The best sorts of this year
may be put in the second or third rank next year ; besides,

T4 The Garden.

those to whicli the preference is given in IsTew York may ba
considered inferior in Pennsylvania, and worthless in Georgia.
Select for planting those varieties which experience has decided
to be best adapted to your soil and climate, and to combine
the various qualities required for table use.

In a cold, moist climate the potato thrives best in a light
but rich loam. In a dry, hot climate a heavy loam is prefer-
able, excejDt for the earliest crop. Vegetable manure is best
for the potato. Ashes and, where the soil needs it, lime, may
be added with advantage, but, in garden culture, animal ma-
nures should, so far as possible, be avoided, as their use tends
to make the tubers moist and waxy. The manure should be
well rotted, and thoroughly mixed with the soil. Where you
can not get sufficient manure of the right kind to properly
enrich the whole soil, you may scatter it into the driU or hill
to the thickness of three or four inches.

In garden culture, plant in drills made with the plow or the
hoe, fl'om eighteen to twenty-four inches apart (some varieties
requiring more room than others), placing the sets about nine
or ten inches apart in the drills. Cover to the depth of from
four to six inches, according to the texture .and condition of
the soil — a heavy, moist soil requiring less depth of covering
than a light and dry one.

In reference to the sets or seed, many and contradictory
opinions prevail. Some contend that the largest-sized potatoes
alone should be used for planting; others prefer a medium
size ; while many use those which are too small for the table.
Some plant them whole, while others divide them, making
from two to eight sets from each. Even scooped-out eyes
have had their advocates. We have no room in this little
work to advance arguments or adduce evidence, and must be
content to give our opinion (as indicated by the mode pursued
in our own garden), which, however, we believe to be based
on sound theory and supported by general experience. We
choose for planting medium sized^ fully matured^ and every
way sound and perfect tuhers — such as we would select for the

The Kitchen Garden. Y5

table — and, if we have plenty of seed, plant them whole. If
there be a deficiency of seed, or the price be very high, we
divide them longitudinally, making two sets of each potato,
and plant them with the eyes upward. They should be cut a
week before planting ; and it is a good plan to roll them in
ground plaster of Paris or old slaked lime. Something may be
gained in earliness by cutting the potato transversely in the
middle, and planting only the seed end, which should be set
upright in the ground.

In garden culture, potatoes should generally be hoed at least
three times, to keep the weeds down, earthing them up a little
each time ; but if the ground be little infested with weeds,
twice will do. The first hoeing should be given soon after the
shoots appear above the surface of the ground. If they should
be partially covered with earth by the operation, no harm will
be done. Potatoes should never be hoed after the blossoms
appear. Pinching ofi" the flower-buds will considerably increase
the crop of tubers.

Potatoes should not be harvested till the tops are mostly
dead. They should be exposed to the sun only long enough to
dry them for storage. Store in a dry cellar (when there is
danger from frost), and cover them with sand or straw. When
sprouts begin to grow, as they will toward spring, carefully
rub them off. Their growth will greatly iujure the quality of
the tuber for table use. Those intended for seed should be fre-
quently turned over to prevent premature growth.

Of the potato rot^ as it is called, little can be profitably said.
Its cause and remedy are yet to be made known. As pre^
ventives, a dry soil, the use of lime and ashes, the absence
of fresh stable manure, early planting, and new, healthy varie-
ties are recommended. For arresting the disease, cutting off
the tops on the first appearance of the blight is sometimes
eflfectual.

Potatoes for an early crop are planted in this country from
the first of January to the first of May, according to the cli-
mate and season. In the latitude of New York they may in

76 The Garden.

ordinary seasons and in favorable situations be put into the
ground from the tenth to the twentieth of March.

Eor raising Irish potatoes (as they are invariably called
there) at the South, the plan published by Mr. Peabody of the
Soil of the South is undoubtedly a good one. We have tried
the same mode with fair success at the North, using here,
however, less straw. Mr. Peabody's dh-ections are substantially
as follows :

"As soon after Christmas as possible, plow or spade up the
plot of ground designed for the potato patch, and lay it off in
furrows two feet apart, and eight or ten inches deep. Fill
these furrows with decomposed straw or leaves. Divide each
potato once, and place the sets, cut side downward, upon the
straw ; now level the ridge made by the furrow, covering seed,
straw, and all, and then scatter straw evenly over all to the
depth of eighteen inches or two feet. 'No further culture is
required. In the diyest seasons the yield will be greater than
when planted in the ordinary way. Many have failed in this
mode of culture because they have not applied half straw
enough."

2. The Sweet Potato — Convolvulus Batatas.

This best of all esculent roots belongs to the convolvulaeece or
bind-weed family. It is a native of the East Indies, but grows
in perfection in our Southern States. It is raised in large
quantities in Delaware and New Jersey, and even farther
north, but the quality of the tubers is inferior to that of those
produced at the South.

A dry, loamy soil, inclining to sand, is best for the sweet
potato. It should be well manured. The special manures
indicated by an analysis of the root are potash and the phos-
phates.

Where the season is sufficiently long to mature it, the sweet
potato may be propagated by cutting the seed into slips, and
planting them where they are to grow ; but at the North the
sprouts must always be started in a hot-bed. Place the pota-

The Kitchen Gaeden. 77

toes in the bed early in April, covering them three or four
inches deep. They will throw np sprouts in three or four
weeks. When these are about four inches above the surface,
they may be separated from the parent tuber and planted out
in hills, leaving the latter to put out other shoots for future
plantings. The hills or beds should be about four feet apart,
and raised from six inches to a foot above the common level of
the ground. Some make continuous ridges four feet apart, and
plant the sprouts on the top, about a foot asunder. They must
be kept free from weeds till the vines cover the ground. They
are fit for gathering when the vines are dead. They are very
diflicult to preserve through the winter. A careful seclusion
from air and light, the absence of frost, and absolute dryness
are essential to their preservation. The best way to cook them
is by baking.

3. The Tuexip — Brasslca Eepa.

The French call the turnip le navet, and the Germans ber
©tedruk. It has been in cultivation at least two hundred and
fifty years. There are many varieties. For early crops the
Enghsh or Flat White, the Early White Dutch, and the Early
Yellow Dutch are to be preferred. For later sowing we would
name the Purple-Topped Swede, Skirving's Improved Swede,
and the White French. Elvers' Swede and Ashcroft's Swede,
two varieties lately imported by the Patent Office Department,
are highly spoken of; but we have not tested them.

Turnips thrive best in a rich, sandy loam. Bone-dust, lime,
ashes, and plaster of Paris are good special manures. Sow in
drills about two feet apart. Thin out the plants gradually to
six or eight inches apart. They may be readily transplanted
if desired. Stir the soil well, and keep the weeds in subjec-
tion. English turnips do well sown broadcast. Sow the early
sorts from February to May, according to climate and season.
Other sowings may be made in July and August for winter
nse. In the latitude of Georgia they may be sowed as late as
October. Harvesting should be deferred till the approach of

78 TheGaeden.

cold weather — or at tlie South thej may remain in the ground
all winter.

4. The Beet — Beta Vulgaris.

The beet (Fr, Beterave) is a native of the south of Europe.
It takes its name from the form of its seed-vessel, which resem-
bles the Greek letter l)eta (/3). The best varieties are Extra
Early Turnip or Bassano, the Early Turnip, the Long Blood,
and the London Blood.

A light soil, well enriched with manure and well broken up,
suits the beet. It will grow in almost any soil. Sow in drills
a foot apart and about an inch deep. Drop the seeds three
inches apart, cover smoothly, and press the earth firmly upon
them. Eadishes may be sown in the same bed, as they wiU
be removed before the beets are ready for thinning. Keep
the ground weU stirred and free from weeds, and thin the
beets to about six inches apart. Sow the early sorts in March,
or the first of April, in the latitude of New York. The later
varieties may be sowed in May or June.

In gathering your beets, cut off the leaves an inch or two
above the collar, and be careful not to break or bruise the root.
To preserve them through the winter, store in a dry ceUar.
They keep best packed in sand.

5. The Oareot — Daucus Carota.

The carrot (Fr. Garotte) is supposed to have been introduced
into Europe from the island of Crete. The Early Horn is the
most forward in ripening, and fully equal in color and flavor to
any other sort. ' It may be sown from the middle of April to
the middle of July in the latitude of New York, and in the
South from January to April inclusive. The Long Orange
grows very long and large, but is not equal in flavor to the
Early Horn. The Altringham is a bright-red variety, of an
excellent flavor, and keeps well for winter use. It is not quite
so hardy as the otlier sorts.

The carrot succeeds best in a ligbt, rich soil. It must be
deeply dug and well broken up, or the roots will grow forked

The Kitchen Gakden. 79

and crooked. Choose a warm spot and a calm day for sowing.
Sow in drills half an inch deep, and for the Early Horn nine
inches apart. For the other varieties twelve inches apart is
better. Eadishes may be sowed in the same bed. Stir the
ground frequently and deeply, and thin out to from three to
six inches apart. The latter is the proper distance when the
plants are to be left to grow to the full size. The directions
for preparing and preserving them for winter use are the same
as for beets.

6. The Paesistep — Partinaca Sativa,
This very palatable and exceedingly nutritious root is a native
of Sardinia, and in its wild state is said to be poisonous. In
French it is called le jMuais. The best variety is the Sugar
or Hollow Crown. Soil and culture the same as for the carrot
and beet. Bone-dust and ashes are the special manures most
likely to be required. Late in the fall take up as many as. you
need for winter use. The rest may remain in the ground, as
frost seems to improve their flavor. In the South, lift them
as wanted during the winter.

7. Salsify — Tragopogon Porrifolium.

The Salsify, or Oyster Plant, is a native of England, and is
less known in this country than it deserves to be. Sow and
cultivate the same as the parsnep, A portion of the crop may
remain in the ground all winter. Prepared and cooked accord-
ing to the following directions, it will be found to resemble the
oyster in flavor :

Scrape the roots slightly, soak them in water for an hour,
and then boil till quite tender. If ow let them drain for a short
time ; meanwhile make a thick batter with white of eggs
beaten up with a little flour. Grate the roots tolerably fine,
press them into flattened balls of the size of an oyster, dip
them in the batter, roll them into grated crackers, and fry
them in a pan till brown. Another way is to parboil, cut in
slices, and fry either with or without the batter. Try it.

80 The Garden.

8. Jeetjsalem Artichoke — Relianthiis Tuterosus.
This plant is a species of sunflower, and is occasionally culti-
vated for its tuberous roots. It may be planted like the potato,

and will grow anywhere.

•

II.— THE LEGUMES,

1. The Pea — Pisum Sativum.

This universally cultivated plant originated in the south of
Europe. The catalogues of the seedsmen embrace twenty or
more varieties. The earliest is the Prince Albert, a dwarf
grower with small pods. Next to this, in point of earliness,
is the Cedo-]Srulli, which is more prolific and of an equally
fine flavor. The Early "Washington or true May Pea is one of
the best bearers, and, we think, the finest-flavored of all the
early varieties. The Dwarf Blue Imperial is considered an
excellent pea. Blue Surprise, Champion of England, Knight's
Tall Marrow, Matchless MaiTOw, and New Mammoth are all
excellent sorts for later planting. Eor three varieties, we would
choose the Cedo-Nulli, the Early Washington, and Champion
of England, planting in the order in which we have named
them. For a fourth we would take the Matchless Marrow or
the New Mammoth. But another person would, perhaps,
choose difierently. A new variety called the Chicarras or
Spanish Pea, and said to be rich-flavored and marvelously
productive, was distributed in some of the Southern States last
year (1857) from the Patent Ofiice, but we have not heard the
results of any experiments which may have been made with it.

For the early sorts a light, warm, dry, and moderately rich
soil is to be preferred. If manure be used, it should be weL
rotted ; but it is better to take ground which has been made
sufficiently rich by a previous year's manuring. The later and
taller varieties require a heavier soil.

You may plant your early peas at almost any time when the
ground is not actually frozen, covering with mulch if necessary.
In the latitude of New York they may generally be planted
before the twentieth of March — sometimes on the first — and

The Kitchen Garden. 81

require no protection. In the Sonth, any time from January
to March will do. Plant in double drills, from six to nine
inches apart, according to the variety. The rows should be
three feet apart for the smaller sorts, and from four to six for
the larger. Cover the early kinds one inch deep, and the late
an inch and a half. The sticks should be from two and a half
to three feet for the early sorts. The Matchless Marrow reaches
the height of five or six feet, and the New Mammoth is a still
loftier grower. When the plants are about two inches high,
stir the ground well, and earth them up a little. Eepeat this
operation several times before setting the sticks or brush,
which should be done when the peas are from six to eight
inches high. If the season be dry, watering will much increase
the crop. Topping ofif the points of the vines soon after the
first blossoms appear will hasten the growth of the fruit. The
smaller kinds of early peas may be planted about half an inch
apart in the drills, and the later and larger sorts from a third
of an inch to an inch. It is weU to soak them twenty -four
hours before planting.

To forward an early crop, plant in lines from east to west,
and stick a row of cedar, spruce-fir, or other evergreen branches
along the north side, sloping so as to bend over the plants at
one foot or eighteen inches from the ground. These protect
them from cold rains and at the same time leave them open to
the full influence of the sun. Behind this temporary hedge
there should be a close board fence, a brick or stone wall, or a
high close hedge.

Beans, cabbage, lettuce, radish, or celery may be planted
between the rows of peas, especially of the earlier sorts.

Peas which are to be ripened or dried should not be sowed
before the tenth of June, as all earlier crops wiU be infected
with bugs.

2. The Bush-Beax — Pliaseolus Vulgaris.

The bean is believed to be a native of India, whence it was
?)rought to England near the close of the sixteenth century. In

4*

82 The Gaedek.

one foi'm or another it is universally esteemed. Of the com-
mon Bush, Snap, or Kidney bean there are many varieties.
Among the best are the Early Mohawk (a very hardy sort),
Early Six Weeks, Early Valentine, Early Dun Colored, Early
Pink Eye, Early White Marrow, Late Valentine, and the Royal
Kidney. The tender pods of all these sorts are eaten as string-
beans ; but they are also excellent taken from the pods after
they are nearly or quite grown, and boiled and prepared in the
same way that Lima beans usually are. Eor this mode of cook-
ing we prefer the Pink Eye and the Early White Marrow.

Beans will thrive in almost any soil ; but for an early crop
it should be light and dry. If the ground be too wet, they are
liable to rot. Bone-dust, ashes, and super-phosphate of lime
are very useful as manures. The bean is destroyed by a slight
frost, and can therefore seldom be planted, in this climate, till
the middle of April, or even later. Plant once in two weeks
till the last of August, to keep up a succession for the table.
Plant in drills from eighteen inches to tAvo feet asunder, drop-
ping the beans two inches apart, and covering them about an
inch deep. Give them frequent and deep hoeings, drawing a
little earth to the stems.

The Small White bean, so extensively used in New England
for baking, may be planted in any vacant spots in the garden
in June or July, and will require no care except to keep the
weeds down.

3. The Common Pole Bean — Phaseolus Multijiorus.
Of the common running or pole bean {le haricot a rames of
the French), the best varieties are the Dutch Case Knife, London
Horticultural, White Cranberry, and Scarlet Runner. Plant
in hills from the first to the middle of May, and give them
poles when they begin to put forth runners ; or, better, set the
poles first, and plant the beans around them. Or they may be
planted in drills along a border, or on each side of a walk, and
trained on a slight trellis of laths and lines, and thus be made
ornamental as well as useful.

The Kitchen Garden. 83

4. The Lima Beant — PlKueoliu Limensis.

Of the Phaseolus Limensis there are three varieties cultivated
in the United States — the Green Lima, the "White Lima, and
the Carohna Sewee. The "White Lima is to be preferred. It
requires a strong, rich soil, and should not be planted till
settled, warm weather, as the seed is very liable to rot in the
ground if the weather be cool.

Beans of all kinds can easily be preserved for winter use,
with very little loss of flavor. You have only to pick them iu
the same state as when for immediate use, and dry them thor-
oughly in the sun. You may have green beans aU the year
with very little trouble.

5. The Pea-Kut — AracMs Rypogea.
This plant, known also as the pindar ground pea and ground
nut, is a legume bearing its seed under ground. It is cultivated
extensively in some of the Southern States as a field crop, but a
few hills may find place in the Southern garden. Make the
hills two and a half or three feet apart, and drop three or four
of the shelled seeds in each. Cover them two inches deep.
Thin the plants to two in a hill, and keep the ground free from
weeds.

III.— THE CABBAGE FAMILY.
1. The Common Cabbage — Brassica Oleracea.
The cabbage (Fr. cJiou pomme) is one of the most ancient of
garden vegetables. It is mentioned by Pliny as being much
esteemed in his times. It was a favorite with the Romans, who
probably introduced it into England. Its varieties are almost
numberless. Of the common cabbage, the following are the
most desirable : Early York (very early, and of a delicate flavor),
Large Early York (a little later), Early Nonpareil, Early Vanack,
Early Dutch, Flat Dutch or Drumhead, and the Red Dutch.
The last-named is fit only for pickling. For two varieties we
should choose the Early York and the Drumhead. The Early
Dutch comes into use between these two. The Early Nonpa-
reil and the Early Vanack are a little later than the Early York,

84: The Gaeden.

but are in other respects equally desirable. The Early Win-
ningstadt, a variety sent out from the Patent Office, is said to
be worthy of trial.

The cabbage will grow in any soil sufficiently enriched and
properly prepared. It must be plowed or dug deeply, and well
pulverized. Common salt, ashes, plaster of Paris, and bone-
dust may be used with advantage, as the plant abounds in sul-
phur, phosphorus, soda, and potash. Animal manures may
also be freely used.

Tor producing early spring cabbages, various plans are pur-
sued. The best mode for general adoption is the following:
About the tenth of September, for southern New York (a little
earlier for New England, and a little later for the South), sow
seeds of the Early York, Nonpareil, or Yanack in a seed-bed
of rich, light soil. If the weather be dry, sprinkle the bed
with water a few times, to promote germination. When large
enough to transplant, set them quite thickly in a cold frame or
walled pit, for protection during the winter. The frame or
pit may be covered with boards, adding straw, if necessary,
when the frost is severe. Give the plants air whenever the
weather will permit. Carefully exclude the rain, as too much
moisture will injure them. Early in the spring transplant into
the compartment of the garden designed for them. "Where the
winters are not too severe, they may be brought forward a
week or two earlier by planting them out in the fall in good,
rich soil, previously prepared by throwing it up into high
ridges, running east and west, and about two feet apart. On
the south sides of these ridges set out the plants one foot apart.
They will then be shielded from the north winds, and receive
all the benefit of the sun. When the weather becomes severe,
cover with straw, laying it across the ridges. This may be
removed whenever mild weather returns. Early cabbages
may also be obtained by starting the plants in a hot-bed, soAving
in February or March.

In transplanthig cabbages, especially the early ones, the
growth of v.'hich it is important not to check, take them up

The Kitchen Garden. 85

with a trowel, removing considerable earth with them, in order
not to disturb their roots.

For summer, autumn, and winter use, sow Early Dutch and
Drumhead in April and May. Transplant into rows two feet
apart, and eighteen inches apart in the row. Give the plants
a copious watering the evening previous to taking up, and
water again after setting out. The whole secret of their after-
culture lies in frequent and deei) Jioeing. Hoe while the dew
is on, if practicable. Never strip off the lower leaves.

To preserve cabbages in perfection through the winter, the
following is the best mode with which we are acquainted : As
late in the fall as the weather will permit, dig trenches eighteen
or twenty inches apart, parallel to each other, and of any con-
venient length. Now dig out your cabbages with a spade, and
transplant them into these trenches as close together as they
will stand, covering root and stem to the lower leaf. Around
this bed raise a kind of frame with old posts, rails, or boards
and earth, making it a little higher at one side than the other,
and high enough at the lower side to prevent its roof or cover-
ing from coming in contact with the cabbages. Across this
frame place poles, lath, or narrow boards, and cover the
whole thickly with straw, bean haulm, corn-stalks, or any ma-
terial of that sort. In this way you may have cabbages up to
April, of as fine a flavor as when transplanted into the trenches.
A few may be transplanted into a similar trench in the cellar,
where, of course, they will require no covering.

2. Savoy Cabbage — Brassica Oleracea Subanda,

This member of the great cabbage family takes its name from
Savoy. It differs from the common cabbage in the wrinkled
character of its leaves. There are only two varieties worthy
of culture — the Curled and the Drumhead. The former is to
be preferred for family use. It is superior in delicacy to the
common cabbage. Cultivation the same as the winter varieties
of the latter.

Brussels Sprouts {choti de Bruxelles) is considered a sub-

86 The Garden.

variety of tlie Savoy. It is a celebrated vegetable in Europe,
but is not often seen in American gardens. Sow in April, and
transplant in June into rows eighteen inches apart. Cultivate
like cabbages. The stem grows to the height of two feet or
more, and is crowned with numerous little heads of from one
to two inches in diameter. After they have been frosted
(which is necessary to their perfection), they may be gathered.
To prepare them for the table, soak an hour in cold water ;
boil about twenty minutes ; drain ; season to the taste ; stew
gently in a sauce of cream or floured butter, stirring them con-
stantly. They are sometimes served with tomato sauce. They
may also be cooked simply as cabbages, and eaten with meat.

3. BoEECOLE — Brassica Oleracea Fimhriata.

This plant, also called German Greens (Tr. cTiou verf) and
Scotch Kale, is one of the most delicate and valuable of the
cabbage tribe. It has large, wrinkled leaves, forming an open
head or stool. It is perfectly hardy, frost only improving it.
It remains green and eatable all winter, requiring only a slight
protection in the Northern States, and none at all at the South.
For winter and spring greens it is unequaled. Sow and
cultivate the same as the cabbage. No garden should be
without it.

4. The Oatjliflowee — Brassica Oleracea Botrytis.

The cauliflower is a kind of cabbage, with long, pale green
leaves, surrounding a mass or head of white flower-buds. The
French very appropriately call it le cTiou-jieur. It was intro-
duced into England from the island of Cyprus. There are only
two true varieties — the Early and the Late.

The cauliflower requires a very rich soil and careful culture.
For the early spring or summer crop, sow the seed from the
first to the twentieth of September, in a properly prepared
seed-bed. When the plants are two inches high, transplant
tliem into a bed of very rich, liglit soil, three inches apart each
way, eo that they may grow firm and stocky for removal to their

The Kitchen Garden. 87

final place of growth. This should be a bed of the richest
light earth, two feet deep, and one third of it well-decomposed
manure, surrounded by a frame or wall, and covered with glass
or shutters. An open exposure, sheltered from the northwest,
is essential. The bed should be prepared about the first of
October, to give it time to settle. Into this bed remove your
plants about the middle of October (or earlier in a very cold
climate), setting them eighteen inches apart. Take them up
carefully with a trowel, and in planting press down the soil
pretty firmly upon the roots, giving it a gentle watering at the
same time. 'No further watering will be required till spring.
Protect the plants carefully against frost, covering the sash or
shutters with matting or straw if necessary ; but do not neglect
to give them the air every mild, clear day. They must not be
left open to the rain, as too much moisture will cause them to
"damp off," as it is called, at the neck. When the weather
becomes warmer in spring, copious waterings may be given.
Soap-suds and other liquid manures are applied with advantage.
Early lettuce may be sowed in the same bed between the rows
of cauliflowers.

When a cauliflower has attained its full size, which will be
indicated by the opening of the border, cut off the head with
several inches of the stem, and most of the leaves, these being
taken off, however, before cooking.

For the autumn crop sow in April, transplant into rich soil,
two feet apart. Hoe frequently and deeply, and if the season
be diy, water copiously. They, must not suffer from drouth.
You may know when they need water by the drooping of the
leaves. The hills about the plant should form a hollow basin
to retain the moisture.

The cauliflower is a wholesome and nutritious vegetable, and
should be more generally cultivated. To cook, soak an hour
in cold water with a handful of salt in it ; then boil till tender
in milk and water, taking care to skim the surface, so that not
the least foulness may fall on the flower. It may be served up
with sauce, gravy, or melted butter.

88 The Gaeden.

5. Beoccoli — Brassica Oleracea Botrytis Cymosa.

This plant is similar to the cauliflower, from which it is sup-
posed to have originated. It difiers from the latter in its undu-
lating leaves, its larger size, and its color. It is also a hardier
plant, but not so delicate in flavor. Grange's Earlj White
and the Purple Cape are the best varieties. White recommends
the latter for the South. Sow in April or May, and treat in the
same manner as the late cauliflower. They will commence
heading in October. To have them during the winter, in a
northern climate, they must be pitted in a cellar or shed.
South of Virginia they need little, if any, protection.

The turnip cabbage (fo§t raH), Brassica napo brassica, and
the turnip-rooted cabbage, Brassica caulo rapa, may be added
to our list, although they are little cultivated. The former, of
which the CTiar N'axet de Laporie, from France, is the best,
requires the same cultivation as the cabbage, and the latter
should be treated like the Swede turnip. The Green Stemmed
and the Purple Stemmed are recommended.

IV.-SPINACEOUS PLANTS.
1. Spestach — Spinacea Oleracea.

This vegetable — Vepinard of the French — is a native of
Spain, and is extensively cultivated on the continent of Europe.
It is excellent for greens, and should receive more attention
than has yet been accorded to it in this country. There are
three varieties — the Prickly-Seeded, the Round-Seeded, and the
Flanders. The first is best for sowing in the fall for winter
crops, in a cold climate ; but for spring sowing, and for a mild
climate, the second is to be preferred. The Flanders is little
known in this country, but is said to be superior to either of
the other sorts.

Spinach requires a rich soil. Sow in drills a quarter of an
inch deep and nine inches apart. For Avinter and early spring
crops, sow about the last of August, and again about the mid-
dle of September. For summer use, sow from the first of

The Kitchen Garden. 89

April to the twenty-fifth of Maj. Select an open situation.
If the soil be light and diy, it must bo trodden down or rolled
with a roller on sowing. Thin out the plants to nine inches
apart. Hoe frequently and thoroughly. The winter crop will
require the protection of a thin layer of straw during the
severe weather.

2. New Zealand Spinach — Tetragonia Expansa.

This is an annual plant from JSTew Zealand. It furnishes a
good substitute for spinach during the summer, when the latter
fails, but, as it requires to be forwarded in a frame or hot-bed,
is hardly worth the trouble it costs in a northern climate.

Garden Orache (atriplex hortensis) and Garden Patience
{rumex patientd) are sometimes used in the place of spinach,
but are only Avorthy of a mere mention here.

v.— ASPAEAGINOUS PLANTS.

1. AsPAEAGiTS — Asparagus Officinalis.

The asparagus plant is a native of the sea-coasts of Great
Britain. The varieties may be reduced to two— the Green Top
and the Purple Top.

Asparagus is propagated only by seed, but in forming a new
bud it is the most economical plan to procure plants two or
three years old from some nurseryman or gardener. If you
purpose to raise your own plants, sow early in the spring, in a
seed-bed formed of rich, sandy loam, in drills an inch and a
half deep, and eighteen inches from row to row, pressing the
earth firmly upon the seed. Keep the bed free from weeds by
frequent hoeing. About the first of the following November
spread stable litter or something of the sort over the ground, to
keep the young plants from the frost.

For the permanent bed, a rich, sandy loam is best. Select,
if possible, an open situation and a warm southern exposure.
Trench or spade deeply, digging in a plenty of manure, as the
soil can hardly be made too rich or too deep. Over a plot
forty feet long and twenty feet wide (which will be large

90 The Garden.

enougli for a moderate family), sow from fifty to a hundred
pounds of salt, incorporating it with the soil to the depth of
four or five inches. The ground having been well pulverized
and leveled, lay it off into beds about four feet wide, with
alleys two feet wide between them. Drive a stake at each
corner. This work should all be done toward the end of
March. IlTow cut a small trench or furrow six inches deep,
lengthwise of the bed, and about nine inches from the edge.
Take up the plants very carefully from the seed rows, and set
them in this trench or furrow, nine inches apart, with the
crown of the root two inches below the surface, and cover
them at once. Proceed in the same manner with the whole,
making the rows twelve or fourteen inches apart. A damp
day should be chosen for the operation, which must be care-
fully and skillfully performed. Keep the weeds down during
the summer, and on the approach of severe weather cover the
beds to the depth of three or four inches with rotten manure.
The first two years the plants are permitted to run up to
stalks, that strong crowns may be formed at their base for a
future crop. The winter dressing of manure must be continued
while the bed lasts, the tops being cut off and removed each
fall. In the spring, so soon as the frost will permit, loosen the
surface of the beds with a manure fork, introducing it three
or four inches into the soil, and turning it up, being careful
not to injure the crown of the roots. A full crop may be ex-
pected the fourth year after planting, or at the South a year
earlier. Cut when about four or five inches above the surface.
The shoot should be cut off slantingly about three inches
below the surface, using a long, sharp-pointed knife. The
cutting should never extend beyond the middle of June.

With good culture, an asparagus bed will continue product-
ive for fifteen years, but too many shoots must not be cut from
it, nor the cutting prolonged beyond the time we have named.

2. Sea Kale — Gramba Maratima.
This plant is closely related to the cabbage, and is called by

The Kitchen Garden. 91

the Frencli le cTiou marin. It is easily cultivated, and we rec-
ommend our readers to try it.

Sea Kale flourishes best in a sandy soil, well enriched with
decomposed vegetable manure and a top-dressing of salt. Sow
the seed in March or April, watering the bed freely if the
weather be dry. Thin out the plants gradually to two or three
inches apart; keeping the bed free from weeds by frequent
hoeing. In November cover the crowns of the plants with a
few inches of earth. In the spring, prepare beds as for aspara-
gus, and remove your plants in a similar manner, setting them
about two feet apart, and covering the crown of the root about
two inches deep, "Water occasionally, if the season be dry,
and hoe frequently. Allow no plants to go to seed. Early in
ISTovember give the bed two inches of well-rotted manure,
forking it over lightly at the same time. Now cover the
crowns of the plants with three or four inches of light soil, or
with pure sand if you can readily procure it. The bed being
thus finished, cover the crowns of the plants with large pots
or boxes, sinking them one or two inches in the ground, and
carefully stopping any holes in them. Then procure a quantity
of leaves from the woods, mix them with about the same
quantity of warm stable manure, and cover the ground and
boxes to the depth of twenty inches. In severe weather
throw over this some dry litter or boards. The materials will
come to a heat in two or three weeks ; and in three or four
weeks more it will be time to examine a pot or two, and when
the plants are found to have sprouts from six to eight inches
long, they may be cut for use. Eemove a portion of the earth,
and cut close to the crown, and then replace the box or pot,
and the other materials, and other shoots will soon appear.
The plants will continue in a vigorous state of growth for two
months, giving you a supply for the table nearly the whole
winter ; and having your bed once formed, the forcing process
just described may be repeated every year for fourteen or fif-
teen years. In the spring remove the covering gradually, dig-
ging in a few inches of the decayed material to strengthen the
plant for a future crop.

92 The Garden.

To have sea kale without forcmg, cover the plants earlj in
the spring with eight or ten inches of sand, or fine, light soil.
They will produce strong shoots, which, on clearing the ground
around them, will be found to be of a clear white color ; or
they may be blanched by covering them deeply with oat-straw.
They are useless unless well blanched. The shoots are cooked
in the same way as asparagus.

VI.— ESCULENT BULBS.

1. The OisnoN — Allium Cepa.

The onion is supposed to be a native of Asia. Its culture
is of "inscrutable antiquity." The most useful varieties are
the following: Eed Dutch, Portugal, Strasburg, and Silver
Skinned. The first two varieties named are very hardy and
keep "well, but are of too strong a flavor to suit a delicate
taste ; the last two are mild-flavored, but are not good keepers.
The Silver Skinned is much used for piclding. For winter use
we should choose the Strasburg.

The onion requires a light and friable, but rich and some-
what moist soil. The manure used should be well decomposed.
It need not be deeply mixed with the soil, as the roots of the
plant do not extend far below the surface. The whole must
be thoroughly pulverized. The onion may be sowed so soon
as the ground is in a condition to be worked in the spring.
Sow in drills half an inch deep and nine or ten inches apart.
After sowing, press the soil down firmly with a board. Keep
the bed free from weeds, and stir the soil frequently, but not
deeply. The onion should not be earthed up at all. It is bet-
ter that the bulb should be formed entirely above the surface.
They should be thinned out to two inches apart. This we con-
sider the best mode of culture for the main crop.

For an early crop, sow the seed thickly in drills early in
April ; and when the bulbs have grown to the size of peas, lift
them, and put away in an airy loft, to keep till the next spring,
when set them in shallow drills, covering very lightly, if at all.
They will be ripe in June or July. Soap-suds will not be

The Kitchen Gakden. 93

wasted on the onion bed. Soot and aslies are also good for
top-dressings.

To preserve the winter crop, pull in a dry day, put them
under a shed or similar shelter to dry, and store in a loft where
they can have plenty of air.

Onions may be sparingly eaten as a salad, but in the raw
state are rather difficult of digestion. They are most whole-
some boiled. Boil twenty minutes in water, with a little salt ;
then pour off the water entirely, and put in equal parts of hot
water and milk, or skimmed milk alone, and boil twenty min-
utes more. They may be fried or roasted, but are more diffi-
cult of digestion in those modes of cooking.

2. The Top oe Teee Onion — Allium Proliferum.
This is a very hardy species, producing little bulbs at the top
of its seed-stem. It is easily cultivated, comes early to maturity,
and never fails to produce a crop. Plant the little bulbs very
early in the spring, cultivating the plants in the same way as
the other species. They will be ready for use in May or June.
If large bulbs are required, the seed-stem must be broken off.
Those not thus treated will produce seed for the next year.
The top bulbs are considered excellent for pickling.

3. Potato Onion — Allium Tuberosum.

This is supposed to be the kind of onion that was worshiped

by the Egyptians. It is said never to produce either flowers

or seed. It is propagated by offsets from the bulbs which

should be planted in March, in drills eighteen inches apart.

Set them three inches below the surface, and six inches apart.

Keep the ground well stirred, but do not earth up the plants.

They may be lifted by the top as they ripen, which will be

shown by the drooping and withering of the leaves. In this

climate they generally ripen in August. They are milder in

flavor than those raised from the seed, but the bulbs are not so

large.

4. The Shallot — Allium Ascalonicum.

This plant — Veschalote of the French— was introduced into

94 T II E G A R D E N .

Europe from tlio town of Ascalon, in Syria. It is little used
in this country, except by the French, but is to be preferred
to the onion for some of tlie purposes of cookery. It is propa-
gated by offsets, which may bo planted in the spring, like the
sets of the onion. Store in the same way as other onions.

5. The Leek — Allium Porrum.

The leek (Fr. ^^orreau) is cultivated in France to an almost
incredible extent, as it forms an absolutely essential ingredient
of the soup on which the great body of the nation lives. The
London Flag and the Musselburgh are improved varieties of
the connnon leek.

The soil for the leek must bo rich, deep, and well worked.

The manure used must be well decomposed. Sow the seed

thinly, in drills six inches apart and half an inch deep. Thin

out the phmts to an inch apart. Wlien about eight inches

high, transplant them into a bed previously prepared for them.

Shorten the roots to about an inch from the plant, and cut off

two inches or more from the extremity of the leaves. Dibble

them in drills eight inches apart, and so deeply as the plant

will admit, without covering the young leaves pushing from its

center. Choose moist or cloudy weather for the operation ; or,

if dry, give the plants a copious watering, lloe frequently,

drawing the earth about the plants as they grow. They will

be *t for use in October. The whole plant is much used in

soups and stews, but the most delicate part is the blanched

stems.

G. The Garlic — Allium Sativu7Ji.

The garlic is much used in southern Europe in sauces and
salads ; but its unpleasant odor will, we suspect, debar it from
American tables almost entirely. The bulb is divisible into
numerous parts called "cloves," by means of wliich it is propa-
gated. Plant in the si)ring, in drills two inches deep and six
inches apart. When the bulbs are grown, take them jp, clean
them, and hang up in bundles. A very slight jflavur of garlic
is not unpleasant in soups and stews.

The Kitchen Gakden. 95

7. Tke CnivE — Allium Schmnox^rasum.
This little alliaceous plant is sometimes used as a spring
salad, or a seasoning for soups. It is easily propagated by
dividing the bulbs or roots either in autumn or spring, and
planting them in any bed or border. It will grow anywhere,
but prefers a moist, rich soil. It is generally spoken of in the
plural as chives or cives.

YII.— SALAD PLANTS.

1. Lettuce — Lactuca Sati'^.a.

The lettuce is appropriately jjlaced at the head of the list
of modern salad plants. There are two grand varieties of the
lettuce — the Cabbage and the Cos or Upright — and numerous
sub-varieties of each. The best of the cabbage sorts are the
Butter or Early, the Brown Dutch, the Victoria, and the Curled
India. They will come into use in the order we have named
them. The last will make good heads most of the summer.
Of the Cos or Upright sorts the best are the "VThite and the
Paris.

A deep, rich, sandy loam suits the lettuce jjlant. Salt and
ashes are useful as special manures. Sow as early as the sea-
son will permit, and repeat at different times during the spring
and summer. For forcing in a hot-bed, the Early Cabbage
should be chosen. For a winter crop, the Brown Dutch may
be treated as we have recommended for Early York and Non-
pareil cabbages. In the South it .will need no protection.

The Cos lettuce must be sowed in September, protected
during the winter, and transplanted out in the spring ; or sowed
in a hot-bed in February. The Cos varieties are improved by
tying up the leaves several days before cutting, to blanch them.

Lettuce may be had through the winter, by sowing in Octo-
ber in a walled pit or frame, and protecting from frost by
means of sash and straw mats, giving it air in warm, clear
days. The earth should be within eight inches of the glass.
Let the p'ants stand eight or ten inches apart. Water occa-
sionally, and pick off* all decayed leaves. It is a good precau-

96 The Garden.

tion to surround the frame or pit with leaves or straw. Lettuce
requires frequent and deep hoeings.

2. Ceess — Lepidum Sativum.
Of the garden cress there are two varieties — ^the Curled or
Pepper-Grass and the Broad-Leafed. The former is generally
preferred. It forms an excellent salad, and is easily cultivated.
To have it early, sow in a hot-bed in February. In the open
ground it may be sowed about the last of March. The soil
should be light and warm for the first sowing. Sow in shallow
drills, covering the seed very lightly. To have it during the
season, sow every fortnight. It should grow rapidly, and be
used when quite young and crisp.

i Water-cress is found in brooks, in various parts of the United
States, but is seldom cultivated. It also is excellent for a salad.

3. MusTAED — Sinapis Alba.

This salad plant is cultivated in the same manner as cress.
Cut the leaves for .use while they are crisp and tender. "Wash
them carefully in water to free them from the sand that is
liable to adhere to them. To have a constant supply, make
frequent sowings. Table mustard is made from the seeds of
Sinapis nigra.

4. Endive — Cichorium Endixia.

This plant is a native of China and Japan, and is much cul-
tivated in Europe. The variety generally used for salads is the
Green Curled. The Broad-Leaved or Batavian is used for
cooking, in stews and soups.

A light, rich soil is desirable for the endive. An open expo-
sure should also be chosen. The best time to sow for an early
crop is about the first of July in this climate. If sowed ear-
lier, it is apt to run quickly to seed. In New England, how-
ever, it may be sowed by the middle of June. In the South,
"White says, sow in August and September. Sow in drills
about four in dies deep, and about a foot apart, and scatter suf-
ficient earth upon the seeds to cover them, leaving the drills

The Kitchen Gakden. 97

to be filled up in the process of future cultivation. "Water
once or twice, if the weather be dry. When about two inches
high, thin out the plants to ten inches apart ; and when nearly
full grown, the leaves may be gathered up in a close, rounded
form, and tied with a shred of matting or other soft string,
drawing up a little earth to the stems at the same time.
Choose a dry day for this operation, and tie up only a few
plants at a time, or in proportion as they may be wanted for
use. They may also be blanched by covering them with pots
or boxes. It will take about ten days in warm weather, and
about twenty in cold weather, for the leaves to blanch for use.
For late crops, sow about the end of July. To have endive
in perfection during the winter, it must be moved into frames
or walled pits about the first of November, taking up consider-
able earth with the roots. Give ah* and light in mild weather,
but protect fi'om heavy rains and severe frosts.

5. Celery — Apium Graveolens.

Celery is a native of Great Britain, and in its wild state is a
coarse, rank weed. Cultivation has made it one of the pleas-
antest-flavored erf all salad plants. There are several varieties.
The Eed Solid is the hardiest, and is therefore generally pre-
ferred in the colder portions of our country ; but the White
Sohd is crisper and more delicately flavored. Cole's Superb
Red and Seymour's White correspond with the Red Solid and
the White Solid, and are the kinds to be preferred.

The soil best suited to the celery plant is a moist, rich vege-
table mold, to which salt, ashes, and lime may be advantage-
ously added, as special manures. The animal manures used
must be thoroughly decomposed. The cultivation of celery
embraces three distinct operations :

1. Forwarding the Plants. — Sow^ in a hot-bed from the first
to the middle of March, or in a warm border in the open
ground, at several different times, from the first of April to the
tenth of May. The seed-beds should be of hght and finely-
pulverized soil. Rake iu the seeds lightly and regularly, and

5

98 The Garden.

in dry weather water moderately, both before and after genni
nation. Liquid manures are very beneficial. Thin out the
plants to half an inch apart.

2. Stoclcing or Hardening. — "When the plants are two or
three inches high, prick them out, at successive times, into
intermediate beds, three or four inches asunder, watering if
the weather be dry, and protecting from frost with boards or
mats, if necessary.. This intermediate bed should be made
very rich with well-rotted manure. The plants that remain
in the seed-bed should be shortened by cutting oif their tops
occasionally, to make them grow more stout, and watered fre-
quently. Of the transplanted ones, those intended for late
celery should also be cut off nearly to the crown several times,
which will retard them and make them grow stout. When the
plants are from six to twelve inches high, they must be trans-
planted into trenches previously prepared for them.

8. Trench Culture. — It is well to trench the compartment
of the garden intended for the permanent culture of celery, as
this process turns the richest soil to the bottom where it will
be most needed for the nurture of the plant. In ground thus
prepared, or at least deeply spaded or plowed, mark out the
trenches a foot wide, and from tliree to three and a half feet
apart ; dig out each trench lengthwise, ten or twelve inches in
width, and a light spit deep, that is, six or eight inches. Lay
the earth dug out equally on each side of the trench ; put at
least four inches of very rotten dung into the trench, then pare
the sides, and dig the dung and parings with several inches of
the loose mold at the bottom. A pint of salt to every fifty
feet of trench, thoroughly mingled with the soil, is recom-
mended by some, and must, we think, prove beneficial. Trim
the tops and roots of the plants, and then set them in single
rows along the middle of each trench, allowing four or five
inches distance from plant to i)]ant. When this work is fin-
ished, give the plants water in plenty, and occasionally water
them from time to time, if the weather be dry, and likewise
let them be shaded, till they strike root and begin to grow.

The Kitchen Gakden. 99

Their after-culture consists in stirring the soil in the trench
frequently with a small hoe, and watering copiously in dry
weather. About the middle of August or the first of Septem-
ber, you may begin to earth up your plants for blanching. Tie
the leaves together, or hold them tight with one hand, wliile
you di*aw the earth, which must have been finely pulverized
with the spade, around the stems, being careful not to cover
the heart or center of the plant. You may now repeat this
operation once in ten days, till the plants are fit for use ; but
this earthing-up must never be done when the plants are in the
least wet. About the first of October earth up firmly and
evenly, and with a decided slope from the base, nearly to the
tops of the leaves. To take up the crop, it is best to begin at
one end of a row, and dig clean down to the roots, which then
loosen with a spade, and they may be drawn up entire, without
breaking the stalks.

To preserve this plant during the winter, on the approach of
frost take up a part of the crop, and lay it under sand for win-
ter use. That left in the beds may be covered with litter, to
be removed in mild weather. In planting, the white and red
sorts may conveniently be mixed in the same trench, so that
only one trench need be opened to obtain both.

6. The Radish — Bajyhanus Sativus.

The radish (Fr. rave, Ger. rttig) is a native of China. Of
the numerous varieties, the Scarlet Short Top is the earliest
and best. The Early Salmon, Eed Turnip-Rooted, White Tur-
nip-Rooted, "White Summer, and Yellow Summer are all
desirable sorts. For supplying the table in winter, the Black
Spanish should be chosen.

Any deep, rich soil, well broken up, will do for the radish,
but for early crops it is desirable to have it light, dry, and
warm. Sow as early as the weather will permit, and for a
continued supply repeat your sowings about once in two weeks
through the season. The Black Spanish may be stored in the
cellar, and will keep till spring.

100 The Garden.

T. HoESE Eadish — Cochlearia Armoracia.
The horse-radish grows best in a rich, moist soil, contiguous
to water, but may be cultivated in almost any situation. It is
propagated by sets from the root, which may be dropped into
boles made with a dibble fifteen inches deep, in soil previously
trenched or deeply spaded. Fill up the holes with fine earth.
The plants should stand about ten inches apart. It may be
planted either in spring or in November. In taking up the
roots for use, you may leave a small portion at the bottom to
serve as a new set. In the faU, lift enough for winter use, and
leave the rest in the ground. It is an excellent condiment.
The root is scraped into shreds, or grated fine, and eaten with
vinegar.

8. CoEN BAi.AT>^-Fedia Olitoria.

This plant, sometimes called lamb's lettuce, is a native of
Europe. It is in use to some extent as a spring salad. Sow
from the tenth to the twentieth of September, in shallow drills
six inches apart, and cover lightly, pressing the soil with a
roller or a board. Keep it clear of weeds, and in November
cover with straw, and pick the leaves as wanted. If the win-
ter prove mild, it may be in use the whole season.

VIII.— THE CUCUMBER FAMILY.

1. The Cucumbee — Cuciimis Sativus.

The cucumber is found wild in almost all warm countries,
and is cultivated all over the world. The best varieties for
forcing, or for an early crop in the open air, are the Early
Short "White Prickley and the Long Early Frame. The Long
Prickley, Negley's Seedling, and California Long Green are
good for the main crop. ISTegley's Seedling is best for the table,
but, we believe, not so productive as some of the other sorts.
The Gherkin, from France, is much prized for pickling.

A light loam is best for the cucumber, but it will grow in
almost any soil, and is very easily cultivated. Make excava-
tions for your hills a foot in diameter and fifteen inches deep,

The Kitchen Garden. 101

at the distance of six feet apart eacli way. Fill these holes
with a rich mixture of well decayed manure and light soil,
adding, if convenient, a little ashes, bone-dust, and common
salt. Raise the hills a little above the level of the ground, by
covering the manure mixture with loam, and make them
slightly concave on the top. Plant about the first of May, or
so soon as the season will admit, putting eight or ten seeds in a
hill. When the plants have made rough leaves, thin them out
to three in a hill. Nipping off the points of the vines to make
them branch out will hasten their fruiting. Stu- the ground
frequently, and keep it free from weeds.

By forcing in hot-beds, cucumbers may be had in March or
April ; but few except professional gardeners care to undertake
the somewhat delicate operation. They may be much for-
warded, however, with little trouble, by the use of small boxes
covered with glass, or by the following method :

Make a hole, and put into it a little hot dung ; let the hole
be under a warm fence. Put six inches deep of fine rich earth
on the dung. Sow a parcel of seeds in this earth, and cover at
night with a bit of carpet or sail-cloth, having first fixed some
hoops over this little bed. Before the plants show the rough
leaf, plant two into a little flower-pot, and fill as many pots in
this way as you please. Have a larger bed ready to put the
pots into, and covered with earth, so that the pots may be
plunged in the earth up to their tops. Cover this bed like the
last. When the plants have got two rough leaves out, they
will begin to make a shoot in the middle. Pinch that short ofil
Let them stand in this bed tUl your cucumbers sown in the
natural ground come up ; then make some little holes in good,
rich land, and, taking a pot at a time, turn out the lall^ and fix
it in the hole. These plants wUl bear a month sooner than
those sown in the natural ground.

The second week in July is sufiiciently early to plant for the
fall and pickling crop, in the Northern States. In the South,
the late planted crops are apt to be destroyed by the melon-
worm.

102 The Gaeden.

Cucumber plants being climbers by means of their tendrils,
some branchy sticks being placed to any advancing runners,
they will ascend, and produce fruit at a distance from the
ground, of a clean growth, free from spots, and well flavored.

2. The Melon — Cucumis Melo.

The melon is a tropical plant. Our finest varieties are sup-
posed to have come from Persia and Afighanistan. In the
south of EurojDe it is much used as an article of food by the
lower classes. This use may be made of it with advantage by
all classes in every country where it can be produced. Its
varieties are numerous and constantly increasing. The com-
mon mush-melon, formerly so extensively cultivated, has gen-
erally given way to newer and better sorts, among which the
Christiana, Extra Green Nutmeg, Beechwood, Sweet Ispahan,
Netted Citron, Rock Melon, Cantaloup Prescott (a French
variety), and the Arica from Japan are much esteemed. [For
the water-melon {cucurlita citruUus), which belongs to a dif-
ferent genus of the same natural order, see the next section.]

The melon should have the same soil and culture as the
cucumber (except that it requires less moisture), and may be
forced in a hot-bed, or forwarded by means of the glass-covered
boxes in the same way. Never allow more than three plants
to grow in a hill. Three will produce more fruit than six. As
the fruit appears and attains the size of a walnut, place under
each a piece of tile, slate, or glass to protect it from the damp-
ness of the earth, and assist it in ripening by reflecting the rays
of the sun.

IX.— THE PUMPKIN FAMILY.

1. TnE Pumpkin — CucurhUa Fepo.
The pumpkin is a native of India and the Levant. Numer-
ous varieties are cultivated, some of which, originated by
means of crossings with the squash, can hardly be distinguished
from that vegetable. The Cashaw and Large Cheese are the
best that we have tested. The Valparaiso is said to be a good

The Kitcken Garden. 103

variety ; and tlie Honolulu, from the Sandwich Islands, and tho
Cltronelle de Touraine^ from France, are new varieties which
we would recommend for trial.

The pumpldn will gi'ow anywhere, and with almost any
treatment. The culture indicated is the same as that for the
melon or the cucumber. It should never be planted in a gar-
den, if one has other gromid in which it can be cultivated, as
it will be sure to mix with and contaminate the squashes,
melons, and cucumbers. New England farmers often raise a
large crop by planting it with their field corn.

2. The SQrAsn — Cucurbita Melopepo.

This plant forms the connecting link between the pumpkin
and the melon. It originated in the Levant. The best summer
varieties are the Early Bush and the Early Bush Crooknecked.
Of fall and winter sorts the Boston Marrow is the best that
has a fair trial in various soils and climates. It is difficult
now, however, to obtain it pure. The Golden Imperial,
Adam's Favorite, and Golden Mammoth are new or less widely
known varieties, but are much esteemed by those who have
tried them.

The soil and cultivation required are the same as for pump-
kins, melons, and cucumbers.

3. Vegetable Maeeow — CucurMta Succada,

This is a species of gourd. It is cooked like the egg-plant
when young ; when half grown is used as squash ; and when
matured is used for pies. Cultivated the same as the squash.

4. The Water Melox — CuciirMta Citndlus.

The water-melon belongs to the same natural family or order
as the musk-melon or cantaloup, but to a different genus or
subdivision. It is a native of the tropics. The best varieties
are the Black Spanish, the White Spanish, the Orange, the
Mountain Sweet, the Carolina, the Texas, the Sugar White,
the Syrian, and tho Lawson. The Texas, the Sugar White

104 The Gakden.

(sometimes called Ice Cream), and tlie Syrian are all new
varieties — new to us, at least. "VVe have tested only the Texas,
wliich is a superior sort.

The best soil for the water-melon is a liglit, sandy loam.
Animal manures, well decomposed, bone-dust, and super-pbos-
pliate of lime should be used in moderate quantities. Cultivate
tlie same as mush-melons or cucumbers. If grown near any
other melon, squash, pumpkin, or cucumber, you can not bo
sure of pure seeds ; and the same remarks will apply to the
other members of the pumpkin and cucumber families.

X.— MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS OP CULTIVATION.

1. Indian Corn — Zea Mays.

Every garden should have a few rows of Indian corn. The
best garden sorts are the Extra Early and Eight-Kowed Sweet.
New varieties, however, are constantly being produced.

To produce a good crop, Indian corn requires a good soil,
and there need be no fear of giving it too much manure. - A
liandful of ashes in each hill will benefit the crop. Plant in
hills three feet ajjart, dropping five or six seeds in a hill, but
thinning out to three or four at the first hoeing. If sufficient
manure have not been mixed with the soil on plowing or dig-
ging, i)ut a small shovelful in each hill. Plant so soon as the
season will permit, and make successive plantings till August,
if you desire a continuous supply, lloe frequently, making
broad. Hat hills in earthing up the plants. Never plant more
than one kind of corn in the same garden at one time, as it
will mix and deteriorate. Change your seed every two or
three years, getting it, if possible, from a more northern lati-
tude.

2. The Tomato — Solamim Lycoijcrsicum.

This plant belongs to the same family as the potato, and,
like that vegetable, is almost universally esteemed and culti-
vateil. It is a native of South America. There are several
sorts — yellow and red. The I.arge Smooth Red and the Pear-

The Kitchen Garden. 105

Shaped are tLe best for table use ; hut the Large Red, a scol-
loped or indented variety, -is preferred for marketing, as it
grows much larger. The Large Yellow differs in flavor from
the Red, and is preferred by some. It comes into use some-
what earlier than the other sorts. It is much used for pre-
serves. The Red Cherry-Shaped and the Yellow Cherry-
Shaped are beautiful varieties, much used for pickling and
preserving.

A light, loamy, and moderately rich soil is best for the
tomato. To have early tomatoes, the plants must be started
in hot-beda in March. Sow the seeds thinly, or thin out the
plants soon after they come up. As they advance in growth,
they may be transplanted into a cold frame or walled pit, pro-
tected by glass, where they may stand three inches apart to
harden for final transplanting into the open air ; or they may
remain in the hot-bed till settled warm weather — from the
middle to the end of May in this latitude — when they may be
planted out into a warm, sheltered situation in the open air.

Those who have no hot-bed or pit may very easily forward
a few plants in a large pot or box of rich earth placed in the
kitchen window, sowing the seeds in it from the middle of
March to the first of April. Two or three weeks may be
gained in this way over those i>lanted in the open air.

For early tomatoes, we form conical hills, a foot or more in
height, and three feet apart, with a little well-rotted manure
in the center. Into a little crater-like excavation in the sum-
mits of these hills we set the plants, which should be taken up
with a trowel in such a way as not to check their growth. A
still better way is to sow the seeds in small pots, and in trans-
planting to transfer the whole ball of earth from the pot to the
hill. The advantage of the elevated hills is, that the earth
around the roots is more readily and thoroughly warmed by
the heat of the sun. For a late crop, or for a hot, dry climate,
this plan is not to be recommended.

In the South a plenty of tomatoes may be raised from self-
sown Beed, which will spring up in the garden, and require

5*

106 The Gaeden.

little care ; but if tliey are wanted earlier, the plants may be
forwarded in a frame, or glass-covered boxes, sowing in Febru-
arj or the first of March, and transplanting when the frosts
are over.

The earliest tomato plants should be shortened by taking off
a few inches of their tops, so soon as they have set their first
fruit, which will cause it to ripen more rapidly. Stir the soil
frequently, and keep it free from weeds. Support the plants
with branches or a little trellis, as you would peas, to keep the
fruit from the ground. The plants, too, when supported, run
less to vines, and are much more fruitful. One dozen plants
properly supported will yield more and better fruit than three
times that number will when allowed to rest on the ground.

3. The Egg Plant — Solanum Melongena,

This plant also, as may be seen by its botanical name, belongs
to the potato family. It is a native of Africa. One of its
varieties bears a white fruit resembhng an Qgg^ whence its
name ; but the purple varieties only are used in cookery. Of
these the Large Prickley Purple produces the largest fruit, but
the Long Purple is superior in flavor, and should be preferred
for family use. They may be cultivated in the same way as
tomatoes, but are rather more sensitive and tender. They may
be sowed in April or the first of May in the open air, selecting
a warm border, with a southern exposure.

The fruit is fit for use when two or three inches in diameter,
and continues so till the seeds begin to change color. It is cut
in thin slices, and fried, and is also sometimes used in stews and
soups.

4. The Cape Gooseberry — Physalis Edulis.

This is a newly-introduced annual plant, producing fruit of
the size of a cherry, which is said to be excellent eaten raw or
made into pies. We have not yet tested it. It is cultivated
tli0 same as the tomato.

The Kitchen Garden. 107

5. The Pepper — Capsicum Annum.
The pepper is a tropical plant, but may easily be matured in
tbe open air in this climate. It is better, however, to start the
plants in a hot-bed, if practicable, and transplant in May or
June. A warm situation and a light, rich soil suit it best.
The plants should stand in rows eighteen inches apart, and a
foot apart in the rows. Earth them up a little in cultivation.
The Bell or Sweet is the best for pickhng. The Cayenne is
more used in its ripe state as a seasoning.

6. Okra — Hibiscus Esculentus.
This vegetable, which belongs to the natural family of the
cotton plant, was introduced from the West Indies, and is much
cultivated in the Southern States. It is often called gumbo
(Fr. gombo)^ and is used as an ingredient in stews and soups.
It is cultivated to a considerable extent in Kew Jersey, and
may be produced still farther north. A light, dry soil is best
suited to it. Plant in drills three feet apart, scattering the
seeds sparsely, and thin out to eighteen inches apart in the
drill. It requires careful culture in a northern climate. Hoe
very frequently, and keep the ground free from weeds. The
pods must be gathered while quite green and tender. They
may be cut into thin slices and dried for winter use.

7. Khubaeb — Elieum Ehaponticum.

Khubarb, sometimes called pie-plant, although it has been
cultivated to a small extent for centuries, and used for medic-
inal purposes, has not till quite recently been popularly appre-
ciated. It certainly deserves a place in every garden. It is a
native of Asia. Myatt's Victoria, Myatt's Linnseus, Buist's
Early Ked, and Downing's Colossal are all excellent varieties.

The soil for rhubarb should be a light loam, rich, and moder-
ately moist. Bone-dust and guano are excellent special ma-
nures for it.

Ehubarb is propagated either by seeds or by division of the
roots. The latter is, in ordinxiry cases, the preferable method.

108 The Garden.

From ten to twenty plants will be sufficient for a moderate
family, and these may be had by dividing one or two good
roots, leaving an eye on each set. The ground should be pre-
pared in October, by spading it at least eighteen inches deep,
digging in a large quantity of well-rotted manure, and breaking
it up thoroughly in the process. Allow it to settle, and then
plant out your sets two feet apart in the row, and four feet
between the rows. The crowns or eyes of the sets should be
about two inches below the surface, and should be immediately
covered with four or five inches of litter, leaves, or straw, to
prevent the frost from throwing them out during the winter.
In this way a crop may be obtained the first year after plant-
ing. The only after-culture required is to cover the ground
with a few inches of manure every fall, digging it in with a
fork in the spring, and keeping the ground free from weeds.
If you wish to raise it from the seed, sow in the spring, trans-
plant in the fall, and treat as just directed. You will get new
varieties. It will be ready for the table in three years.

To make the edible leaf-stems of your rhubarb grow long
and tender, place barrels, pots, boxes, and so forth over them
when they begin to grow in the spring ; but the air and light
should not be entirely excluded, unless you wish to obtain a
very mild flavor.

Pwhubarb may easily be forced by inverting boxes, pots, or
half barrels over the plants in the autumn, and afterward cov-
ering the whole with leaves and hot stable manure. The
boxes, etc., should be placed over the plants before the ground
shall be frozen, covering the ground with eight or ten inches
of litter. The mixture of leaves and manure may be applied
about the middle of January or the first of February. By
merely covering your plants with six or eight inches of litter,
leaves, or almost any dry material, you may forward them from
seven to ten days, M'ithout further trouble.

To gather, remove a little earth, and, bending down the leaf
you would remove, slip it ofl:' from the crown without breaking
or using the knife. The stalks are fit to use when the leaf is

The Kitchen Gaeden. 109

half expanded. A larger, but inferior produce is obtained by
letting them remain till in full expansion, as is practiced by the
market-gardeners.

For use, peel the stem, and cut it into thin slices, and pre-
pare as you would apples, for pies, tarts, or sauce. The
English gardeners say, however, that it should be grown so
quickly and be so tender as to require no peeling.

8. Paeslet — Apium Petroselinum.
Parsley is but little cultivated in this country, and is princi-
pally used for garnishing. It is a native of Sardinia. The
curled variety is most worthy of cultivation. Sow in April,
in drills half an inch deep. It may form an edging around
beds, borders, or compartments. From the long time the seed
lies in the ground without germinating, it has been said that it
goes nine times to the devil and back before it comes up!
These journeys require ordinarily a month or more ; but by
soaking the seed twenty-four hours before sowing, the process
is somewhat hastened. When the plants are three or four
inches high, thin them out to six inches apart. With a little
protection, it will grow all winter in this climate. It is
esteemed by many as a seasoning for stews and soups.

XI.— SWEET HEEBS, ETC.

Of the sweet herbs and medicinal plants more or less culti-
vated in gardens, a brief mention may properly be here made.
They are generally planted in borders, and, to secure their
peculiar virtues in perfection, should not be manured. Com-
mon garden soil is sufficiently rich for most of them. As a
general rule, they are gathered when in bloom, and carefully
dried in the shade.

1. Shrubhy Plants. — Sage {Salma officinalis)-^ Winter
Savoy {Saturlca montana) ; Rosemary {Rosmariiis officinalis) ;
Thyme {Thymus 'vulgaris) ; Rue {Rutu graveolens) ; Wormwood
{Artiinesia absintMum)\ Southernwood {Artimesia abrota-
num) ; Lavender {Lavenchila spica) ; Hyssop {Eyssopiis offid-

110 The Garden.

nalk). The foregoing are all propagated by dividing the roots
or by cuttings, and require little cultivation.

2. Perennial Herbaceous Plants. — Peppermint (Mentha
piperita)-^ Spearmint {Mentha mridis)\ Pennyroyal {Mentha
pulegium) ; Balm {Melissa officinalis) ; Tansy {Tanacetum vul-
garis) ; Bm-net (Poterium sanguisorla) ; Chamomile {Anthemis
noMlis) ; Elecampane {Iluna helinium) ; Fennel {Anethum
fmniculum) ; Thoroughwort or Boneset {Eupatorium perfolia-
tum) ; Liquorice {Glycirrhiza glabra). These are all increased
by parting the roots.

3. Biennial and Annual Plants. — Caraway {Carum carni) ;
Coriander {Coriandrum sativum) \ Dill {Anethum graveolens);
Anise {Pimpinella anisum); Sweet Marjoram {Origonum ma-
jorana)\ Summer Savory {Saturega horten^is); Sweet Basil
{Ocimum lasilicum) ; Bush Basil {Ocimum minimum) ; Angelica
{Angelica archangelica)\ Borage {Borogo officinalis) \ Hore-
hound {Marrubium vulgare). All propagated by sowing the

The Feuit Garden,

111

VII.

THE FRUIT GARDEN.

But forward in the name of God, graffe, set, plant, and nourish up trees In every coi-ner of
your grounds, the labour is small, the cost is nothing, the commoditle is great, yourselvea
shall have plenty, the poore shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their necessitie,
and God shall reward your good mindes and diligence.— C?erarde.

L— A HINT OE TWO.

HE lamented Downing says : " He who owns
a rood of proper land in this country, and,
in the face of the pomonal riches of the
dav, raises only crabs and choke-pears,
deserves to lose the respect of all sensible
men. Yet there are many in utter igno-
rance of most of the delicious fruits of modern days —
who seem to live under some ban of expulsion from
all the fair and goodly productions of the garden."

Such persons are still to be found, but their number
is rapidly decreasing ; and there are few who will not
thoughtfully heed the quaint exhortation which we have chosen
for the motto of this chapter.

After what we have said in our third and fifth chapters
(which see), but few introductory hints will here be necessary.
Let it be remembered that the plot set apart for the fruit gar-
den should be thoroughly prepared before you commence
planting ; that the soil should be very deep (not less than two
feet), and thoroughly broken up ; that it must be moderately
rich ; that it should be well drained if the nature of the soil
require it, and that a careful attention to the directions we
have given under the heads of transplanting, budding, grafting,
pruning, etc., are essential to success. Specific directions,
when necessary, will be given under the name of each species.

112 The Garden.

The best mamire for fruit-trees in general is composed of
about equal parts of meadow mud, muck, or peaty earth, and
common stable manure. A small quantity of wood-ashes, say
four bushels to a cart-load of manure, and charcoal-dust in
about the same ratio, may be intermixed with this composition
to great advantage. This manure should be prepared and well
worked over several months before using. Half a peck of
bone-dust and a little lime, well mixed with the soil when set-
ting the tree, or from a peck to a bushel of old broken bones,
put into the bottom of the hole before setting, will be of great
benefit for years. The general manuring of a fruit garden
should be performed in autumn ; and the holes for setting out
the trees in the spring may be dug and filled with compost and
earth at the same time with decided advantage. Eotted chips
make an excellent manure for fruit-trees, and may be applied
either in the holes or as a top-dressing.

Having set out your trees properly in well-prepared ground,
the work is rightly legun — that is all. If you stop here, you
might as well have never commenced — nay, better ; for in that
case you would have saved the cost of the trees and the labor
of preparing the soil.

After your trees are planted, it is absolutely essential that
the ground around them shall de Jcept loose and mellow hy culti-
vation. Cultivate potatoes or some other low-growing crop
between the rows of trees, keeping an area of more than the
diameter of the head around each tree clear from both the
crop and the weeds. So far as the tree's roots extend, the
ground belongs to them, but it must be kept well stirred.

Newly transplanted trees sometimes, especially if the season
be uncommonly dry, require watering; but a little water
poured on the surface never reaches the roots, and, by causing
the ground to bake, does more harm than good. To produce
the desired result, take off a few inches of the surface above
the roots, apply the w^ater, and then replace the earth.

Mulching is exceedingly beneficial to young fruit-trees. A
sufficient quantity of straw, litter, leaves, or tan-bark applied

The Fruit Garden. 113

in a circle covering the whole area of the roots will tend to
retain the moisture, and render watering, in ordinary cases,
unnecessarj. In winter, where the climate is severe, it is still
more useful, and often saves young trees from entire destruc-
tion by frost. A small space immediately about the trunk may
be left uncovered, as it might harbor mice.

Every spring, wash the bodies of your young trees with soft
soap, or one of the following preparations :

1. Dissolve one pound of potash in two gallons and one
half of water, and then apply with a flat varnish-brush to the
limbs and trunks of the trees. A varnish-brush is best, as the
bristles are held together by tin bands on them, and not tied
together with strings, as paint-brushes are, which the potash
soon cuts^hrough, and the brush falls to pieces.

2. Mix fresh cow-dung with urine and soap-suds, and with
the mixture wash over the stems and branches of the trees as
you would your room with whitewash, first cutting oflT the
cankery parts, and scraping the moss and rough bark off the
trunks of the trees before applying it. This is particularly
applicable to large and old trees. It wiU destroy the eggs of
insects, and prevent moss growing on the tninks.

The following, it is said, will prevent rabbits [and probably
mice] from girdling fruit-trees :

Make a solution of, say half a pound of tobacco to three
gallons of water. Mix with clay, a little lime, a little fresh
cow-dung, and an ounce or two of glue or paste. Thicken to
the consistency of thick whitewash, and put on with a brush.

The following is Bridgeman's recipe for causing trees to
thrive :

" The ground Avhere they are planted must be kept well cul-
tivated. Young trees will not thrive if the grass be permitted
to form a sod around them ; and if it should be necessary to plant
them in grass grounds, care must be taken to keep the earth
mellow and free from grass for three or four feet distant around
them, and every autumn some weU-rotted manure should be
dug in around each tree, and every spring the bodies of the

lU

The Gaeden,

trees washed or brushed over with common soft-soap, undiluted
with water. This treatment will give a thriftiness to the trees,
surpassing the expectation of any one who has not witnessed
its effect."

II.— POMACEOUS FRUITS.

1. The Apple — Pyrus Malus.
All the varieties of the apple cultivated in this country have
originated from the small, acid crab-apple of Europe. When

cultivated with the same care and skill, it seems to succeed
even better here than in its native localities. It is well worthy
to stand at the head of all the fruits of temperate climates.

The apple-tree requires so much room that, in an ordinary
garden, we must confine ourselves to a small number. The
choice of our varieties, then, becomes an important affair, and,
we may add, a difficult one. 1. In the first place, the varieties
are very numerous, being numbered by thousands; 2. Sorts
which are considered " best" in one section of our widely ex-

The Fruit Garden. 115

tended country, often prove inferior or worthless in another ;
3. Soil, seasons, and modes of cultivation modify them greatly
in the same climate ; 4. Many new and apparently excellent
varieties have not yet been sufficiently tested in reference to
their adaptation to general cultivation ; 5. Tastes differ widely
in reference to flavors ; 6. Some sorts are known by from three
to twenty difterent names — every neighborhood, almost, ha\ing
its local appellation for them. This last circumstance creates
great confusion, and renders our recommendation of varieties
liable to be constantly misunderstood. The reader must make
the necessary allowances, and modify our lists as the circum-
stances of his locality, soil, and climate, and his own experi-
ence and observation may dictate. ISTone but the best should
be allowed to occupy the limited space of a fruit garden ; so
we shall name- only first-class apples, and our list of them will,
of course, be far from complete :

BUMMEE APPLES.

1. Early Harvest— Ahnye the medium size; shape round; skin smootji;
bright straw color; flesh rich, sprightly, sub-acid. It begins to ripen about
the first of July at the North. The tinest early apple yet known. Succeeds
well in all sections of the United States.

2. lied AstracJian.—'Pretty large ; roundish ; brilliant crimson, with a bloom
like a plum ; crisp, sub-acid. Showy, and excellent for stewing. Ripens from
the last of July to the middle of August. Succeeds in the Northern, Middle,
and Western States.

3. Large Yellow Bough.— 'MXMle size ; oblong-ovate ; smooth, greenish
yellow ; tender ; crisp, rich ; sweet. Eipens from the middle of July to the
tenth of August. Succeeds everywhere. Sometimes known as the Early
Sweet Bough.

4. Carolina Bed Jzme.— Medium size ; oval ; irregular ; smooth, shaded
with deep red, with a purplish hue on the sunny side, and covered with a
light bloom ; tender, juicy ; briskly sub-acid. Eipens a few days later than
the Early Harvest. Supposed to have originated in North CaroUna. Succeeds
best South and West.

5. Summer Ease. — Under the medium size; roundish, or slightly flattened;
striped with red ; tender ; fine-grained ; mild sub-acid. Ripens through the
month of August. Pretty, excellent, and much esteemed for a dessert fruit.
North and West.

6. Boliannan.—'L&rge, roundish, flattened; fair, shining yellow, with a
crimson cheek in the sun ; flesh yellow ; tender, juicy, with a fine, spicy,

116 The Gakden.

sub-acid flavor. Eipens in July and August. Originated, we believe, in Ken-
j;ucky. Succeeds finely South and "West.

7. Early Strawberry.— T^ather small ; roundish ; finely striped and stained
with bright and dark red on a yellowish-white ground ; tender, sub-acid,
brisk, with an agreeable aroma. Northern, Middle, and Western States.

8. Julian.— M.edmm size; roundish, rather one-sided; yellowish-white,
Btriped with carmine ; tender, juicy, and fine-flavored. Southern, but succeeds
woll at the North. Eipens about the middle of July in Georgia.

9. Golden Sweet.— Aho\e the medium size ; roundish ; well formed ; straw
color; very sweet and rich. The tree grows freely, and is a great bearer.
August and September. Eastern.

10. William''s Favorite. — Medium ; oblong ; a little one-sided ; very smooth ;
light red ground, nearly covered with a fine dark red ; mild and agreeable.
It requires a strong, rich soil, and does not succeed in aU localities. Eipens
last of July. New England.

AUTUMN APPLES.

1. Fall Pippin. — Yery large ; roundish ; generally a little flattened ; smooth ;
yellowish-green ; very tender, rich, aromatic. October to December. In the
Middle States is considered the best of all the autumn apples. At the North
it becomes a winter apple, and at the South, where it also succeeds well, a
summer apple.* It is a universal favorite.

2. Porter.— 'S.ai'h.fir large ; oblong ; regular, narrowing to the eye ; glossy,
bright yellow, with a dull blush on the sunny side ; fine-grained, juicy, rather
acid. September. New England ; but succeeds in all the Northern and West-
ern States.

3. Gravenstein. — Large ; a little flattened ; slightly one-sided, broadest at
the base ; yellow, striped and marbled with deep red and orange ; juicy, very
rich, crisp, aromatic. September and October. A German apple, and one of
the few European sorts that fully sustain their reputation here. Succeeds in
the Northern, Middle, Western, and some of the Southern States.

4. jRam&o.— Medium ; flat; yellowish-white; striped and marbled rough red
spots; mild but sprightly sub-acid. October to December. Originated iu
Pennsylvania. Very popular throughout tlie West.

5. Pomme de ]\'eige\. — Medium; roundish; somewhat flattened; pale yel-
low ground, with faint streaks of pale red, becoming bright and deep on the
sunny side ; very tender ; juicy ; slightly perfumed. Eipens in October and
November. A handsome dessert fruit. Canada. Very valuable for North.

6. Bachelor.— Yery large ; roundish ; flattened a little, broader at the base ;
lemon yellow, tinged with lively red in the sun; fltie-grained, juicy, very
agreeable sub-acid. "A magnificent fruit." November. North Carolina,
Very fine for most of the Southern States.

* It may here be added that all the autunan apples of the North become
summer apples so far south as Georgia,
t Downing ; the Fameuse of the Am. Pomological Society's List.

The Feuit Garden. 117

7. HaskeU Siceet— Large, or very large ; flattish ; greenish yellow, with a
blush on the sunny side ; tender, sweet, rich. Not widely proved. Succeeds
admirably in Massachusetts and New Tork. September.

8. MaiJe^i^s Blush. — Medium; flat; smooth, fair, clear; lemon yellow,
" with a colored cheek, sometimes delicately tinted, like a blush, and in others
of a brilliant red ;" tender, brisk, sub-acid. Excellent for cooking and drying.
Both the tree and the fruit are very beautiful. From August to October. Ori-
gin New Jersey.

9. Fall Queen of Kentucky. — Large; oblate; slightly one-sided; yellow,
striped and marbled with crimson, and sprinkled with brown and white dots ;
crisp, tender, juicy, brisk ; mild sub-acid. Much esteemed at the South and
Southwest. A winter apple at the North.

10. Summer Swed I'aradise.— Quite large; roundish ; pale green, becoming
yellowish ; sweet, rich, aromatic. Very fine. The tree is an abundant bearer.
August and September. Pennsylvania. Not widely proved.

"W-INTEB APPLES.

1. I^etctcncn PJppirK — Medium size; roundish; a little irregular; yellowish
green, with a brownish blush on one side ; juicy, crisp, fine-grained, high fla-
vored, delicious. December to May. The best of all apples, whether native
or foreign — acknowledged to be so in Europe. Succeeds well in New York
and the Middle and "Western States, but poorly in New England. The Yelloio
Xewto^vn Fippi/i differs but slightly from the foregoing, but is rather hardier.

2. Baldwin.— B.&ther large; roundish; dull, yellowish red; rich, mild sub-
acid. November to March. Massachusetts. The best of the New England
apples. Succeeds well in many localities out of New England, but not in all.
At the South it becomes a summer apple.

3. Sicaar. — Above medium, roundish ; rich yellow ; fine-grained, tender,
compact, very rich, mild, aromatic. December to March. New York. One
of the finest-flavored of American apples. Does not succeed in damp, cold
soils. Is successful in some parts of the West, but -not generally in New En-
gland.

4. Huhlardston iVonswcA.— Large ; roundish-oblong; yellowish ground,
with pale and bright red stripes ; tender, juicy, mild, very agreeable. October
to January. New England.

5. Yelloio Bell&-Jleur.— Large; oblong; irregular; pale lemon yellow, with
a blush next the sun ; tender, juicy, crisp, sprightly sub-acid. November to
March. Succeeds in most of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, but
fails in some localities. Called Belle-fieur (beautiful flower) from the beauty
of its blossoms.

6. Belmont.— }S.e(!ivam or large; globular; yellow, often with a Vermillion
cheek; tender, juicy, sometimes almost melting; mild, agreeable. November
to February. Ohio and the Middle States.

7. J/r/72gr?/w?.— Medium ; oblate; slightly conic; "yellowish, mostly striped
and shaded with red, thickly sprinkled with whitish and bronze dots ;" very

118 The Garden.

tender, juicy, mild, sub-acid ; excellent. Southern, Eipcns in October and
November.

8. Melo)i.—Full medium ; roundish, slightly conical ; striped with red ; very
juicy ; mild, sub-acid ; spicy ; very agreeable. Considered by many as the
best of all table apples. October to March. Western New York.

9. Payor's 7?6(?.— Eather large; roundish; irregular; dull brick red and
russet ; tender, mild, agreeable. January to March. Excellent for the West
and South.

10. lihocU Idand Greening.-'LaTge; flattish ; rich, greenish yellow when
exposed ; tender, rich, rather acid. Adapted to New York and New England.

11. Eqxdnteh/.—'L&Yge ; oblate, conic, angular, slightly oblique ; whitish yel-
low, mostly overspread with a beautiful crimson, and thinly sprinkled with
whitish dots; very tender, almost melting; juicy, mild, sub-acid; excellent.
Southern. November to May.

12. Westfield Seek-no-Further,— Large, round ; pale, dull red, over a clouded
green ground ; fine-grained, tender, spicy, rich. Very fine for all the Northern
States. October to February.

13. Lady Ajnjle.—^m&W, flat, regular ; smooth, glassy, brilliant ; deep-red
cheek on a lemon-yellow ground ; crisp, tender, very juicy, pleasant. Hardy
and very beautiful. December to May.

14. Eoxhury i?i/.sse/.— Medium or large; roundish, a little flattened; dull
green, covered with a brownish-yellow russet ; moderately juicy, rather rich,
Bub-acid. An excellent keeper. Massachusetts. January to June. Does not
succeed in all localities.

15. 3fonmouth Pijjpin.— Large, roundish, flat; smooth, russety-green,
marked with dots ; crisp, juicy, high-flavored. In use from November to
March. New Jersey.

16. NctkajacJc.—Yerj large, flattened ; yellowish green, striped and splashed
with red, and sprinkled with minute white specks ; juicy, tender, brisk, acid.
North Carolina. One of the very best Southern winter apples.

17. aaiasaga.— Large, regular, slightly conical ; yellow, with fine crimson
stripes; pleasant, sub-acid, aromatic. Keeps well. North Carolina. Excel-
lent for all the Southern Spates.

18. OrUey.—M_edmm to very large, ovate or conic ; yellow, sometimes with
a sunny cheek ; tender, fine-grained, juicy, sub-acid, very pleasant. In use
from November to February. Highly esteemed and very popular at the West.
Docs not succeed so well at the East.

19. Golden Pippin.— Largo, oblate, globular; golden yellow, sprinkled
with dots, and sometimes slightly netted with russet ; tender, juicy, almost
melting, rich, refreshing, vinous, aromatic. November to February. Best
known in Westchester County, New York, where it is very popular. Hardy
and productive.

20. Esopm Spitzenherg.— Large, oblong, tapering to the eye ; rich, lively
red, dotted with russet dots, and on the shady side a yellowish ground, with
bn^ken streaks of red ; firm, crisp, juicy, rich, brisk, delicious. December to
February. Unsurpassed as a dessert fruit. Does not succeed in all localities.
New York.

The Fruit Garden. 119

21. Ladies'' SiDeeting.—lsi.(i(i.\\im or large, roundish-ovate ; bright red ; crisp,
tender, juicy, sweet, delicious, agreeably perfumed. Will keep till May.
Downing considers it the finest winter sweet apple for the dessert yet known
in this country. New York.

22. Danvers'* Winter Sweet. — AboA'e the medium, roundish, a little conical ;
light yellow, often with a handsome blush ; sweet, rich. Good to bake. Keeps
till April. Massachusetts. Succeeds in all the Northern and Middle States.

23. Broad ivell.— 'Large, oblate, somewhat conic; greenish yellow, with a
blush ; tender, juicy, sweet, aromatic. NoA'ember to March. Ohio. New,
but excellent for the West and Southwest.

24. Camak'^s Sioeet.—lsi&d.\w.m. to large, roundish, conical; whitish green,
mottled with green russet, with a fine blush or red cheek toward the sun ; firm,
juicy, scarcely sweet, aromatic, fine flavored. In use from November to May.
Southern. Origin, North Carolina.

25. Dutchess Count]/ Sweeting. — Large, or very large; bright yellow, with
brown specks, and often with a bright blush on the sunny side ; juicy, rich,
tender, sugary. October to April. Dutchess County, New York. Seems to
be a new variety. Charles Downing pronounces it one of the best of sweet
apples.* •

We must leave the reader to select from the foregoing forty-
five varieties, and such others as he may add to them, the five
or six or more sorts that he may require for a garden, hoping
that he will find the task a less difficult one than we have
found ours.

Of crab apples, the Siberian Eed and the Siberian Yellow
are the proper kinds for a garden. They are used for preserv-
ing. The Eed makes a very ornamental tree.

Apple-trees should be planted thirty feet apart each way.
As special manure, lime and ashes are indicated. About half
a peck of each, applied annually to each tree, will be useful.

In common management, apple-trees in general bear only
alternate years, which are called their bearing years ; but by
thinning out half the blossoms on the bearing year, you may
easily have about an equal quantity of fruit every season. The
bearing year may be entirely changed, by taking oif all the
blossoms or young fruit on that year, and allowing them to
remain on the year which we wish to make the bearing one.

To preserve winter apples, gather them carefully by hand on

* Correspondent of Country Gentleman.

120

The Gakden.

a dry day ; lay tliem gently by hand twelve or fourteen inches
deep on the floor of a cool, dry room, and let them dry and
season there for three weeks. Then carefully take them up,
on a clear day, and pack them by hand in clean, dry barrels,
filling the barrels so fuU that a gentle pressure will be necessary
in order to head them up.

Smaller quantities may be put up in common, tight, wooden

buckets. The best place for keeping them is a dry, airy room or

cellar, of which the temperature ranges from 35° to 45° Fahr.

Thomas recommends packing alternate layers of apples and

dry chaff mixed with
a small portion of dry,
pulverized lime. Ap-
ples for exportation
are often wrapped each
one separately in clean,
soft, coarse paper, like
oranges, and then put
up in boxes or barrels,
as above directed.

2. The Pear— Py-

rus Communis.

The pear is second
only to the apple in
general utility, and
superior to that fruit
in delicacy and flavor.
The pear was culti-
vated so long. ago as
the earliest times of
the Romans, but it is
only in modern times
that it has reached a

high degree of those delicious qualities for which it is now so

much esteemed.

MADELEINE

The FiiuiT Garden. 121

The task of selecting varieties of the pear is still more diffi-
cult than in the case of the apple. They are subject to greater
variation under the influences of climate, soil, and culture, and
the status of each sort is less easily determined. "We shall
make our list brief, admitting only well-tested sorts.

SUilMEK PEAKS.

1. Madeleine.— lilLedinm size ; yellowish green ; juicy, delicate, Blightly per-
fumed. Kipens from the middle to the last of July. Originated in France.
Succeeds everywhere.

2. Doye7ine ofEU (Summer Doyenne).— Small; yellow, shaded with bright
red ; juicy, melting, sweet, pleasant flavor. A little later than the Madeleine.
France.

3. Bloo(lgood.—'i&.e6mm.\ yellow-russety ; buttery, melting, rich, sugary,
highly aromatic, perfumed. August, The highest flavored of all the early
pears. Long Island. Succeeds everywhere.

4. i2t>6-^i<.ze;'.— Scarcely medium ; dull yellow, mixed with reddish-browu on
the sunny side ; buttery, very sugary ; vinous, aromatic, perfumed. Middle of
August. Foreign. Almost equal to the Seckel in flavor. Universally esteemed
and successful.

5. Dmrl>orn''s Seedling.— Scarcely medium ; light yellow ; very juicy, melt-
ing, sweet and brisk in flavor. August, Massachusetts. Succeeds in all
climates.

6. Julienne. — Small ; clear, bright yellow ; half buttery, sweet, moderately
juicy. August. Foreign (?). Very productive. Kequires warm, dry soils.
Succeeds best at the South.

AUTUMN PEAE9.

1. Bartlett.— 'Large ; clear yellow, with a blush on the sunny side ; .fine-
grained, buttery, juicy, sweet, vinous, highly perfumed. August and Septem-
ber. England. A noble fruit, and has no competitor in the market at its
season. Belongs both to the summer and autumn lists.

2. Seek eLSmaU; yellowish-brown, with a russety red cheek; very juicy
and melting, with a peculiarly rich, spicy flavor and aroma. It ripens gradu-
ally in the house from the end of August to the last of October. American,
For flavor, it stands at the head of all pears, whether native or foreign.

3. F'Tidante d^Automiie (Belle Lucrative). — Medium, yellowish-green,
6lightly russeted ; exceedingly juicy, melting, sugary, rich, and delicious. Last
of September. Belgium. Scarcely inferior to the Seckel in flavor. Does not
succeed in all localities and seasons. Excellent in the South.

4. TJ'rhanlste. — Medium; pale yellow, with gray dots; juicy, melting, deli-
cious, delicately perfumed. October ; will keep t'dl December in the house.
Belgium. Especially adapted to the Middle States.

5. FUmiisIt ^etiwi'y.— Large ; reddish-brown russet; juicy, melting, sweet,

G

122 The Garden.

rich, excellent. Last of September. Belgium. Should be picked before fully
mature, and ripened in the house. Does not succeed in all localities.

6. 2>2a5.— Large ; deep yellow, -with russet dots ; juicy, melting, rich, sugary,
Blightly perfumed. Massachusetts. October and November. American.

7. — Louise Bonne de Jersey. — Large; pale green, with a brownish-red
blush ; very juicy and melting, rich, excellent. Not the very best in point of
flavor, but very hardy and productive. Excellent for cooking. Succeeds best
on the quince. France. Eipens in September and October.

8. Beurre ^osc— Large; dark yellow, with cinnamon russet streaks and
dots ; melting, very buttery, rich, delicious, perfumed. September and Octo-
ber. Belgium.

9. White Doyenne (Virgalieu).— Medium or large; pale yellow, sprinkled
with dots; melting, buttery, rich, high flavored, delicious. September.
France. Does not succeed in all localities.

10. Gray Doyenne. — Medium; cinnamon russet ; resembles the "White Doy-
enne in flavor. October. A good keeper. France.

WINTEE PEAES.

1. Winter Ntlis. — Medium ; yellowish-green, dotted and streaked with rus-
set; very juicy, fine-grained, melting, buttery, rich, sugary, aromatic, delicious.
Keeps till the middle of January. Almost equal to the Seckel in flavor. Bel-
gium. Succeeds everywhere.

2. Lawrence. — Medium or large ; lemon-yellow, with brown dots ; somewhat
buttery ; rich, aromatic, excellent. Early winter. Long Island. Succeeds
everywhere.

3. Eastr Beurre. — Large ; yellowish-green ; juicy, buttery, sweet, rich, deli-
cious. Keeps till spring. It requires high culture and a warm situation at the
North. Succeeds best at the South. Foreign.

4. Glou-Morceau*. — Rather large ; greenish-yellow ; fine-grained, melting,
buttery, rich, sugary. December. Belgium. Does not succeed in heavy, cold
Boils. Excellent at the South.

5. Vicar of Winkfield. — Large, long ; pale yellow ; juicy, sometimes buttery ;
good, sprightly flavor. November to January. France. Only second-rate for
the table, but most excellent for cooking. Very hardy and productive.

6. Prince's St. Germain. — Medium ; brownish-russet over a green ground,
becoming red next tlie sun; melting, juicy, sweet, somewhat vinous, very
agreeable. Will keep till March. Long Island.

The best soil for tlic pear is a strong loam on a dry subsoil.
It requires the same manure as the apple, with the addition of
a larger quantity of ashes or potash in some other form. Set
standard trees twenty feet apart each way ; dwarfs from ten to

* Downing; the Beurre d''Areriiberg of the French, and so named in the
lists of the American Pomological Society.

The Fruit Garden. 123

twelve. Give bearing trees a moderate top-dressing of manure
every autumn. Pear-trees require comparatively little pruning.

To dwarf the pear, it is grafted on Anger's quince stocks.
The fruit produced by trees thus grafted is usually better than
that of those on the pear stock. They also come into bearing
sooner, and take up less room in the garden ; but they are not
so long-lived as on the pear. Quince-bottomed pear-trees must
be very carefully cultivated. They will not bear neglect.
They should be headed-in more or less every year.

Winter pears are all necessarily ripened in the house ; and
nearly all summer pears, and a very large proportion of the
autumn varieties, are greatly improved by ripening them in the
house also. As a general rule, take summer and early autumn
pears from the trees, just when some of the earlier full-grown
specimens begin to ripen. Gather them carefully by hand in a
dry day, spread them on the shelves of your fruit-room^ or
upon the floor of a cool, dry chamber. Here they will ripen
by degrees, and without further care.

Late autumn and winter pears should also be gathered very
carefully by hand, in dry weather. Put them away very care-
fully, so as not to bruise or indent them in the least, in tight,
clean wooden boxes, buckets, or barrels, and keep them in a
cool, dry, airy room or cellar, of which the temperature shall
be from about 38° to 45o Pahr. Examine them occasionally,
and if they should be sweating, take them out carefully, and
dry them on the floor, removing any that may have begun to
decay, and re-packing them as before. About ten days before
their usual time of ripening, bring them into a warm room..
The result of this process will surprise, as well as gratify, one
who has never tried it.

3. The Quixce — Cydonia Vulgaris.
This tree is a native of Germany. It was cultivated, and its
fruit much esteemed by the Greeks and Romans. It was used
by them, as by the moderns, for preserving. There are only
two varieties deserving of culture.

124: The Garden.

1. 77(6 Ax>ple-Shax>ed (Orauge Quince).— Large, roundish, shaped like an
apple ; a fine golden color ; stews tender ; flavor excellent.

2. Portugal. — Very large, oblong; color not so deep as the foregoing; very
fine flavor. The flesh turns purple or a deep crimson when cooked. It is su-
perior to the Apple-Shaped, but less productive.

The quince is easily propagated from seeds, layers, or cut-
tings. A moist, strong soil suits the quince, as it grows natu-
rally along the borders of streams. Set the trees ten feet
apart, and give them the same cultivation as the apple and the
pear. Little pruning is required, except to improve the form
of the head.

III.— STONE FEUITS.

1. The Peach — Persica Vulgaris.

The peach derives its name from Persia (It. ^^ersica^ Fr.
pecher)^ from which country it originated. It is now culti-
vated to a greater extent in the United States than in any other
country in the world. In its perfection, it does not yield the
palm to any other fruit. A Seckel would hardly tempt us to
lay aside a Rareripe.

The varieties of the peach are very numerous. The few we
name are all of a very high order of merit. We place them
so nearly as possible in the order of their ripening :

FEEESTONE PEACHES.

1. Early Tillotson.—'KeAmm size ; red ; juicy, rich, high flavored. Does not
succeed in all localities at the North. Excellent generally at the South. Orig-
inated in New York.

2. Columlius t7'«;ie.— Medium ; yellowish-white; high flavored; excellent.
Southern.

3. Early 3'orA;.— Medium ; pale red ; tender, melting, juicy. A universal
favorite. England.

4. Early Neicington Freestone.— liarga ; pale yellowish-white ; juicy, melt-
ing, vinous. Without a superior at its season. American.

5. Grosse Mignonne.—hiixgQ ; pale greenish-yellow ; rich, vinous, high fla-
vored. World-renowned and excellent everywhere. France.

G. CocUdge's Favorite.— }A.Q(}ii\\m; red; juicy, rich, sweet, high flavored.
Popular in New England. Very valuable for the North.

7. George the Fottrth.— "Large ; pale yellowish-white; melting, very juicy
remarkably rich, delicious. The very best in its season. Succeeds every-
where. New York.

The Fruit Garden. 125

8. White Imperial.— father large ; yellowish-white ; delicate, sweet, juicy,
delicious. Fine at the North. New York.

9. Breroort. — Medium to large ; yellowish-white ; rich, sugary, high flavored.
Excellent in nearly all localities. New York.

10. Crawford^s Farli/.— Very large; yellow; yellow-fleshed; melting, rich,
sweet ; very excellent. Universally esteemed, and successful everywhere.

11. Bergen Yellow. — Yery large; deep orange, with red dots; flesh yellow,
juicy, melting, rich, luscious. Long Island.

12. Red Baret^ijje.—'Raihcr large; white, mottled with red— cheek dark,
rich red ; very rich and high flavored. Yery fine. American.

13. Morins White.— Hatlicr large; pale, creamy white; juicy, sweet, and
rich. A favorite sort in the Middle States; not so good at the North. Penn-
sylvania.

14. 2>'oMesse.—IjaTge; pale green, marked on the cheek with delicate red,
clouded with darker red ; very juicy and very highly flavored ; luscious. Orig-
inated in England.

15. Oldmiicon Free-sto7ie.— Large ; yellowish, marbled with red, and a deep
red cheek ; rich, sugary, vinous. American.

16. Late Bed Bare ripe.— Large; grayish-yellow, thickly marbled with red-
dish spots, and with a dull-red cheek ; luscious and high flavored. Unsur-
passed at its season ; a universal favorite. American.

IT. Druid Hill.— Large; pale greenish-white, clou(ied with red on the
sunny side ; exceedingly rich and high flavored. One of the best of the late
varieties. Maryland.

18. Craioford''s Zate.—Yerj large ; deep yellow, with a red cheek ; rich and
juicy. Succeeds everywhere. New Jersey.

19. Henry Clay.— Very large ; deep purple in the sun, shading to bright
pink and creamy white ; delicate, tender ; flavor peculiar, partaking slightly
of the pineapple and the strawberry. Mississippi.

20. Late AdmiraUe.—\ery large; pale yellowish-green, with a pale red
Cheek; very juicy, melting, and of a delicate, exquisite flavor. Everywhere
successful and excellent. France.

CLrN-GSTONES.

1. Oldmixon Cling.— Large; yellowish-white, with a dotted red cheek;
juicy, rich, excellent. Should have a place in every garden North and South.
Origin, England.

2. Large White Clingstone.— Large; white, dotted with red on the sunny
side ; very juicy, tender, and luscious ; high flavored. Next to the preceding
in value. New York.

3. Heath.— Very large ; creamy white, with a faint blush of red on the sunny
side ; tender, melting, very juicy, with the richest, highest, and most luscious
flavor. "Where it will succeed, the best of all the clingstone peaches. Will
seldom ripen in New England. Succeeds well in Southern New York and the
Middle and Southern States. Maryland.

126 The Garden.

4. RoHon'^s Delicious.— 'Large ; creamy white, with a faint blush toward the
sun ; flavor like the Heath. New, but excellent. Georgia.

5. Lemon Clingstone.— Large ; fine yellow, with a brownish, red cheek ;
rich, sprightly, vinous, sub-acid; flesh yellow. Best of the yellow-fleshed
clings. South Carolina.

Set peach-trees about sixteen feet apart each. way. Bone-
dust and wood-aslies are the special manures most likely to be
serviceable to them.

The peach is somewhat dwarfed and rendered hardier in a
northern climate by grafting on a plum stock. It requires but
little pruning, except "shortening-in," which should be done
early in the spring every year so long as the tree lives. Cut
off half the last year's growth over the whole outside of the
tree. This method will increase the size and value of the fruit,
and cause the tree to live and continue in bearing several years
longer than under the old system.

Every one who cultivates peaches should preserve a quantity
for winter use, either in air-tight cans or by drying.

2. The Nectaeike — Persica Vulgaris Lcevis.
The nectarine is only a distinct accidental variety of the
peach with a smooth skin. The well-known Boston nectarine
originated from a peach-stone. Soil, manure, and culture are
the same as for the peach. It is a beautiful fruit, but, on ac-
count of its liability to be destroyed by the curculio, is little
cultivated. Good crops are rare.

1. JTunPs Taivny.— Medium; pale orange, with a dark red cheek; very
good. The best early variety. England.

2. Violet Ildtice (Early Violet).— Rather large ; pale, yellowish-green in the
shade, but when exposed of a dark, purplish red ; very rich and highly flavored.
The best of all nectarines. France.

8. Mrwffe.—Uadium ; purplish red, like the Violet Hdtive, but may be read-
ily distinguished from tlie latter by the pale color of its stone ; rich and high
flavored. Kxccllcnt. England.

4. Z>ciwz;on.— Intermediate between the Violet Hative and the Elruge.
Very good.

5. Stanwicl:—A new and highly extolled variety from England. Kequires
hot-house culture at the North. Will probably be found adapted to the South.

The Fruit Garden. 127

8. The Apricot — Armeniaca Vulgaris.

The apricot is a native of central Asia, and is the most beau-
tiful of all the stone fruits. It ripens about midsummer, or
immediately after the cherries. In this country it may be cul-
tivated in the open air, in almost any locality south of Massa-
chusetts. Like the nectarine, it is very liable to be destroyed
by the curculio. Let the poultry or pigs have access to the
trees when the fruit begins to di'op.

The apricot is generally budded on the plum stock. It
should be placed on a north, east, or west aspect, and be pro-
tected by a wall or fence. It requires no pruning. The best
varieties are the Large Early,
Early Golden, Breda, Moorpark,
and Hemshirke.

4. The Plum — Prunua Domes-
tica.

Several varieties of the plum
are found growing wild in this
country, but the original parent
of most of our cultivated sorts is
supposed to have been brought

from Asia. The varieties are nu- geeen-gage plum.

merous. The Green Gage, an old English plum, still keeps its
place, in popular estimation, at the head of the list ; but for a
single variety, we should choose the Jefferson. The following
is Downing's selection of choice varieties :

1. Elvers'' Early Favorite.— First of August. Foreign.

2. Green Gage. — Middle of August. Foreign.
8. Imperial Ottoman.— Lasi of July. Foreign.

4. Jefferson (the plum of plums\— Last of August. American.

5. Laiorence's Favorite. — Middle of August, American.

6. Purple Favorite.— A\\gxLs.i. American.

7. Purple <?<)'<7e.— September. Foreign.

8. Coe''s Golden Drop.— Last of September. Foreign.

9. McLaughlin. — Last of August. American.

10. Imperial Gage.— Yir&t of September. American.

11. Howard''^ i^(/r(?/v7f.— September. American.

128 The Garden.

12. Prince''a Yellow Gage.— First of August. American,

13. Prune d''An gen.— Ijast of September. Foreign.

14. Heine Claude de Bevay. — September. Foreign.

15. Schuyler (?a^6.— Last of September. American.

The best soil for tlie plum is a strong l©am on a dry subsoil ;
but it will grow in any tolerably fertile soil. An annual top-
dressing of common salt will be found very useful, not only
promoting the growth of the tree, but driving away most of
the insects to which it is liable. The trees should be set about
sixteen feet apart each way. The great enemy of the plum is
the curculio, against which yon must wage a
war of extermination.

The plum is generally propagated by bud-
ding, but may be grafted with success, if the
operation be skillfully and carefully per-
formed. Little pruning is necessary, except
when the tree is young, to improve the form
of the head.

5. The Cheery — Cerasus SyUestris et C.
Vulgaris.

The cherry was brought originally from
Asia by the Eoman general Lucullus, and
OHIO BEAUTY. has bccu in cultivation in Europe for more
than eighteen hundred years. It was introduced into America
on the first settlement of the country. There are more than a
hundred varieties. "We submit the following selection of choice
sorts, which we. name nearly in the order of ripening.

HEART AND BIGAEllEAU CHERRIES.

1. Early Purple Guigne.— Color nearly black ; juicy ; sweet ; very early.

2. £elle dWrleans (French).— Void red; excellent.
8. Governor Wood.— J^ight red ; fine flavored.

4. Coe'« Tran.9parent,— Talc redd'ish-amhcr; sweet.

5. KnighVs Early M(tck.—FL\c\\. and high flavored.

6. Eigarreau.*—l'alc whitish yellow ; rich, sweet, delicious.

♦ Yellow Spanish or Graffion of most American gardens.

T n E F E U I T G A K D E N . 129

7. ^^on.— Yellow, marked with red ; high flavored.

8. Delicate. — Amber yellow, with a red cheek ; rich and SAveet.

9. Doicnton.—lAghi yellow ; delicious.

10. Downe,v''s Late. — Soft, lively red; melting, luscious.

DUKE AXD MOEELLO CHEREIES.

1. J/i/y i>i<Z:€.— Nearly black ; rich, acid ; very hardy ; best of its kind.

2. Belle de C/iois//.— Yellowish red ; delicate, sub-acid.
8. Kentish. — Bright red; rich, brisk, acid; very hardy.

4. Eeine //o?-^e?i.y^.— Bright red, marbled; like the May Duke in flavor.

5. Belle Magnijique. — Bright red ; juicy, brisk, sub-acid.

The Dukes and Morellos are hardier than the Hearts and
Bigarreaus, and succeed better in both extremes of climate —
isTorth and South. Next to these are the Early Purple Guigne,
Elton, and. Downer's Late.

All sorts of cherries are generally worked on Black Mazzard
stocks. Thej may be either budded or grafted. Set the trees
from sixteen to twenty feet apart, and cultivate the same as
the plum.

6. The Oliye — Olea Europea.

The olive should be more widely cultivated in the Southern
States. The seaboard States of the
South are well adapted to its cul-
ture. It will thrive farther north
than the orange. It is a low ever-
green tree, and commences bearing
in five or six years after being
planted. The oil is made by crush-
ing the fruit to a paste, and pressing
it through a coarse, hempen bag,
into hot water, from the surface of
which the oil is skimmed off. The ^^^^ ^^^^^'° ^"^ ^^'^^
common European olive is the best variety for general cultiva-
tion. It is propagated by means of little knots or tumors,
which form on the bark of the trunk, and are easily cut out
with a penknife. These are planted in the soil like bulbs. It
may also be propagated by cuttings or seeds.

6*

130 The Garden.

iv.-the oeange family.
1. The Oeance — Citrus Aurantum.

This delicious tropical fruit is successfully cultivated in Flor-
ida, and to some extent in Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, South
Carolina, and other Southern States. With only slight protec-
tion, it will succeed so far north as Baltimore. Of the sweet
orange, which alone is worthy of garden cultivation, the hest
varieties are the Havana or Common Sweet, the Maltese, the
Blood Eed, the Mandarin, and the St. Michael.

The orange requires a deep, rich loam. To procure stocks
for budding with the sweet varieties, sow early in the spring
the seeds of the wild, bitter orange of Florida. They may be
budded the same or the next season.

The great foe of the orange-tree is the scale insect (Coccus
Hesperidum), but the common chamomile is found to be a spe-
cific against it. This herb, in bunches, hung on the branches
of the trees, drives it away, and by cultivating the plant about
the roots of the tree, it is protected against its attacks.

2. The Lemon — Citrus Limonum.
The lemon is cultivated like the orange. Besides the com-
mon lemon, there is an Italian variety called the
Sweet Lemon. The lime, the citron, and the
shaddock belong to the same family, and are
subject to the same culture.

V.-THE BEEEIED EKUITS.

1. The Geape — Vitis of species.
The grape should undoubtedly head the list
of berried fruits. It has been cultivated from
the earliest ages, and in almost every country in the temperate
zones. The varieties cultivated in Europe are all of one species
( Vitis vinifera), and originated in Asia. Our native grapes are
of different species.

The Feuit Garden. 131

The foreign grapes do not succeed in this country in open-air
culture. The Black Burgundy and the Sherry may perhaps
be considered as partial exceptions at the South. Under glass
they may be successfully cultivated in all parts of the United
States; but as our plan does not embrace hot-house cultiva-
tion, we must refer the reader to Chorlton's " Grape Grower's
Guide," and other works devoted specially to grape culture.
Our list will embrace only native sorts.

1. Isabella.— Bunches of good size; berries oval, rather large; skin nearly
black, covered with a blue bloom ; flesh tender, juicy, sweet, rich ; slightly
musky. Hardy and productive. Origin, South Carolina. Succeeds every-
where.

2. Catawba.— Bunches medium; berries pretty large, round, or slightly
oval ; pale red in the shade, but deep red next the sun, with a lilac bloom ;
juicy, sweet, rich, musky, aromatic. Hardy, productive, and succeeds in all
localities adapted to grape culture. Maryland.

3. 2>ia?ia.~Eesembles the Catawba, of which it is a seedling, but is earlier
and more beautiful. Color a fine reddish lilac, covered with bloom ; juicy,
vinous, aromatic. It originated in Massachusetts, but succeeds even better at
the South than at the North.

4. ^e&ecca.— Branches cylindric, very compact, heavy; berries full medium,
oval ; light green in the shade, auburn or golden toward the sun, and covered
with a light bloom ; juicy, sweet, delicious. It ripens ten days earlier than the
Isabella, and keeps well. Hardy and productive. New. Has not been ex-
tensively proved. New York.

5. Scuppernong.— Bunches small, loose; berries large, round; juicy and
sweet; very musky. Found growing wild from Virginia to Florida. It is a
distinct species, quite unlike the other cultivated sorts. Excellent at the South.
Does not succeed north of Virginia.

6. Concord.— Bunch large, compact; berries large, globular; almost black,
thickly covered with bloom ; sweet and juicy. Hardier and earlier than the
Isabella, but not quite equal to the latter in flavor. Best for the most northern
range of the grape.

7. Jlei'benwnt.— Bunch very large, compact, shouldered ; berries below me-
dium, round ; dark blue, or violet, with a thick, light bloom ; skin thin, and
filled with a sweet, rich, vinous, aromatic juice, of so little consistence that it
can hardly be called flesh. In favorable localities, one of the best of our na-
tive grapes. North of Philadelphia it succeeds only in warm exposures and
favorable seasons. It is probably of Southern origin.

Were we to add to the foregoing list, we should name the
Delaware, the Bland, and the To-Kalon, all good varieties.
The grape will succeed in most soils, if properly prepared ;

132

The Gaeden.

but dry, rich loam is preferable. It must be deeply worked,
and, if at all wet, thoroughly underdrained. Lime, ashes,
plaster of Paris, and bone-dust may be added to the common
compost, or used as a top-dressing with great advantage.
Choose a warm, sunny exposure for your grapery. In the
shade the fruit is liable to mildew.

All the varieties of the native grape are very readily propa-
gated by means of layering, and most of them will grow from
cuttings. Cuttings — unless struck where they are to remain,
which is the better plan — should be left where they are started
for two years before planting out. Layers may be planted out
the first year. Set the plants from twelve to twenty feet apart,
according to the height of the trellis and the mode of training
to be adopted. When planted, cut them down to about two
eyes from the ground, and allow only one of these to grow the
following season.

In garden culture, grapevines are trained in various ways, as
fancy or convenience may dictate. Downing directs as follows :
" The two buds left on the set are allowed to form two up-
right shoots the next summer, which at the end of the season
«, / 1=, ^ ^ ^ are brought down to a horizontal
position, and fastened each Avay to
the lower horizontal rail of the
trellis, being shortened to three or
four feet, or such a distance each
way as it is wished to have the
plant extend. The next year up-
right shoots are allowed to grow
one foot apart; and these are
stopped at the top of the trellis. The third year, the trcl-is
being filled with vines, a set of lateral shoots will be produced
from the upright leaders, with from one to three bunches on
each. The vine is now perfect, and it is only necessary at the
autumnal or winter pruning to cut back the lateral shoots or
fi-uit spurs to witliin an inch of the uprights, and new laterals
producing fruit will amiually supjjly their places. If it shouL]

TEAINING.

The Feijit Garden. 133

he found after several years bearing that the grapes fail in size
or flavor, the vines should be cut down to the main horizontal
shoots at the bottom of the trellis. New uprights will be pro-
duced, which treat as before.

This is the way to have good crops of perfect grapes. If
you desire wood and leaves instead, less pruning will do. The
annual pruning should be performed either in November, in
February, or early in March — at least a month before vegeta-
tion commences. All the other pruning required may be per-
formed with the fingers or a pair of scissors. Only two
bunches should be allowed to grow on one shoot; and the end
of the shoot should be pinched off, four or five joints beyond
the last of these, when the grapes are about half grown. All
suckers and supernumerary shoots should be rubbed ofi" so soon
as they appear. Beyond this, no leaves must be removed, as
they are absolutely essential to the full development and ripen-
ing of the fruit. Every third year, at least, the borders where
the grapevines are growing should have a heavy top-dressing
of manure.

Grapes may be preserved for a considerable time by taking

the ripe bunches when free from external moisture, and packing

them in jars, filling all the interstices with baked saw-dust or

bran.

2. The Oueeaxt — Hiies Biibum.

The currant is supposed to be a native of the north of Eu-
rope. There are several varieties, of which the best are Red
Dutch, White Dutch, and Knight's Sweet Red.

Of the black currant {vibes nigrum)^ the only sort worthy
of cultivation is the Black Naples.

The currant is more easily cultivated than any other fruit.
The best mode of propagating it is by planting out cuttiugs in
tlie fall, or quite early in the spring. It is well to procure the
cuttings in the fall, and keep them like scions until spring. By
taking out all the eyes of a cutting except the three or four
upper ones, currants can easily be kept in the form of little
trees.

134:

The Gaeden.

3. The Goosebeeet — Riles Grossula/ria.
The gooseberry requires a deep, strong, rich soil. It is very
liable to suffer from drouth, and in dry seasons should be
mulched. It is rather shy of bear-
ing in this country, and does not
succeed in aU localities, even at
the North. At the South it is
nearly useless, in ordinary locali-
ties, to attempt its culture.

The tree form is best for the
gooseberry; and one half of the
top should be thinned out at the
winter pruning, so as to admit
light and air through the head of
the plant. When the berries are fairly set, thin them out, tak-
ing aAvay one half or more of them for the benefit of the rest.
The best preventive and remedy for mildew is to keep the
plants well manured and pruned every year.

Of the numberless varieties cultivated, the following are
among the best ;

hotjghton's seedling.

WHITE.

GEEEN.

Woodward'3 Whitesmith,

Green Gage,

Freedom,

Green Walnut,

Taylor's Bright Yenus,

Parkinson's Laure'

Sheba Queen.

Thumper.

YELLOW.

EED.

Leader,

Crown Bob,

Tellow Ball,

Warrington,

Catherine,

London,

Gunner.

Houghton's Seedling.

4. The Raspbeeet — Eulus Idmus.
This is a delicious fruit, even in its wild state, and has been
much improved by cultivation. The following sorts are all
desirable :

Red Antwerp,
Orange,

American Ked,
American Black,

The Fkijit Gaeden. 135

rastolf, Ohio Everbearing,

Franconia, Merveille de Quatre Saisons.

The grand merit of tlie Ohio Everbearing is its property of
bearing till late in the season. In other
respects it is precisely like the American
Black (common thimbleberry). The
Merveille de Quatre Saisons, a French
variety, is an autumnal raspberry. The
foreign varieties do not, in general, suc-
ceed at the South. The American Black
seems to do best there.

A deep, rich loam, rather moist than
dry, suits the raspberry best. It is
propagated by suckers or offsets. Plant eed antweep.

in a sunny quarter of the garden, in rows from three to four
feet apart each way. Three or four suckers may be planted
together to form a group. This should be done in the autumn
or very early in the spring.

All dead wood and the smaller stems should be cut away in
the spring, even with the ground. Four or five shoots should
be left, and tied to a stake, the tops having about one foot of
their upper extremities headed off. A slight top-dressing of
manure, with a sprinkling of salt, dug in every spring, is all
the further cultivation required.

The raspberry plant is in perfection when it is three years
old. "When it is about six years old, it should be dug up, and
a new plantation made, on a piece of ground where the plant
has not recently grown before. It is an excellent mode to
make a small plantation every year, so as to continue a supply
of the fruit. In extreme cold latitudes, it is necessary to bend
the plants down, and cover them with earth or straw through
the winter.

To have a fine crop of late raspberries, cut down some of
the canes or stems, in the spring, to within a few inches of the
ground. The new shoots which will spring up will come into
bearing in August or September.

136

The Garden.

5. Blackberry — Rebus of species.
The low blackberry or dewberry {rebus Canadensis) has
never, we believe, been cultivated, but the fruit, when well
exposed to the sun and fully ripened, is sweet, high flavored,
and not to be despised. It is also doubtless susceptible of im-
provement. Of the high blackberry (rebus mllosus)^ the fol-
lowing improved varieties are highly esteemed, and the first
two much cultivated.

1. 2lew EocJielU. — Very large; intensely black; juicy; rather soft, sweet,
excellent flavor. Eipens the first of August, and continues in use six weeks.
Originated at New Eochelle, N. Y.

2. Dcrc/ics^e/'.— Nearly equal in size to the foregoing, but of a more elongated
form. Very sweet and high flavored. Vigorous and productive. Eipens
about the first of August. Bears carriage well. Originated in Massachusetts.

3. N'eiDman''8 27iO/';u'ess. -Promises to be valuable. Not bo well tested as
the others. New York.

The blackberry requires similar culture to the raspberry.

6. The Strawberry — Fragaria.
This is the queen of all berries — delicious, wholesome, and
tmiversally esteemed. It is a native of the temperate latitudes

of Asia, Europe, and
America. The best va-
rieties now cultivated in
this country have origin-
ated from native species
— the Scarlets and tho
Pines.

In its wild or natural
1 1 a t e , the strawberry
generally produces her-
maphrodite or perfect
blossoms. Cultivated
varieties have not all
retained this property.
uovEY's SEEDLING. Thcy aro properly di-

vided, with reference to their blossoms, into three classes —

The Fetjit Garden. 137

hennaphrodite, staminate, and pistillate. Varieties of the first
class are, like the wild plants, perfect in themselves, and bear
excellent crops. In the second class, the staminate or male

Hermaphrodite. Staminate. Pistillate.

STEAWBEBBY BLOSSOMS.

organs are perfect, but the female or pistillate organs are more
or less imperfect. They bear uncertain and comparatively
small crops, because only a part of the blossoms develop the
pistils sujfliciently to swell into perfect fruit. Plants of the
third class bear only pistillate or female blossoms, and are by
themselves entirely barren ; but when grown near a proper
number of the staminate plants, they bear the largest crops
and the most perfect berries. In planting a strawberry bed,
therefore, it is important to know which are staminate, which
pistillate, and which hermaphrodite varieties, and to arrange
them accordingly. We shall carefuUy mark the three classes
in our lists of sorts. From varieties almost numberless, we
make the following selection :

FIXES AXD SCARLETS.

1. Ebvet/^s SeedUng.—Yery large and highly flavored. Succeeds everyAvhere.
Originated in Massachusetts. Pistillate.

2. Large Earl}/ Scarlet. — Medium ; sprightly, sub-acid. Yery early. Pop-
ular in all sections of the country. Staminate.

3. Jenmfs Seedling.— 'Large and excellent for market and preserving.
Staminate.

4. Bofiion PiHe.— Eather large, and very beautiful. Early. Eequires a
deep, rich soil, and should be cultivated in hills or bunches. Does not succeed
in all localities. Pistillate.

5. _Bm/7 's Xew Pine.— A. very excellent variety for some localities, but does
not withstand extremes of heat or cold. Eequires high cultivation and great
care, which it well repays in favorable localities. Pistillate.

6. iMng^corWa Prolific.- Large, vigorous, and very productive; rich, acid*
Hermaphrodite.

138 The Gaeden.

T. Crimson Cone.— Old and well known; late; excellent for preserving.
Pistillate,

8. 3IcAvoy''s Superior.— Truly superior at Cincinnati, where it originated.
Has not fully sustained its reputation at the East.

ALPINE AND WOOD STEAWBEEPJES.

1. Jied Wood. — This is the wild strawberry of Europe. Easy of cultivation,
and on-e of the most desirable kinds. Sweet and delicate, but small. Flowers
always hermaphrodite or perfect. The White Wood is similar, except in color.

2. lied Alpine. — The French call this Des Alp)es de Tows les Iloio, signifying
that it bears every month. It really continues in bearing from June to No-
vember, and a fine autumn crop may be insured by cutting off the spring blos-
soms. Eesembles the Eed Wood. Flowers always perfect.*

3. Eed Bush Alpine — This grows in compact bunches, and is remarkable for
its entire destitution of runners. It makes a fine edging for beds. Bears abun-
dantly through the season. One of the most desirable sorts. Propagated by
dividing the roots. Hermaphrodite.

HAUTBOIS STEAWBEEEIES.t

1. Peabody''s Nexo Hautbois. — Very large, and very sweet, melting, and
juicy, with a pineapple flavor. A new sort of the highest promise, originated
by Chas. A. Peabody, of CoJumbus, Gra. Has not yet been well proved at the
North. Hermaphrodite or perfect flowered.

2. Prolific or (7o7iioa^.— Large; dark-colored, very rich, and high flavored;
slightly musky. A very excellent sort. Hermaphrodite.

Form your strawberry bed in an open exposure, free from
the shade of trees or buildings. For an early crop, a slight
inclination to the south or east is desirable. The ground must
be«deeply spaded, and a plenty of decomposed leaves and other
megetable manure and ashes well turned under and mixed with
the soil. Pulverize the soil thoroughly. Now mark off your
bed into rows two feet apart, and set the plants, if of the large

* Geo. M. Caldwell, of St. Albans, Vt., describes, in a communication now
before us, an ever-bearing strawberry cultivated by him, the origin of which
he does not know. He says :

" It blossoms and perfects its fruit in the open air until the ground freezes.
The variety is not remarkably high flavored, of medium size, and an ordinary
bearer, but perfectly hardy. In pots they will blossom, and ripen fruit through
the winter."

It may be the Red Alpine, but we can not determine this point from his
description.

t Ilautl/oiH, high wood— that is, wood strawberries with high leaves and
fruit stalks.

The Fruit Garden. 139

growing sorts, two feet apart. For some of the smaller sorts
one foot or eighteen inches will do. " Care should be taken,
that the plants are put into the ground just as they came out
of it — that is, with all their laterals spreading, and not all
gathered together and crammed into a little hole." If your
principal sort is a pistillate, you must plant a sufficient number
of staminate plants to impregnate the others. Of the Early
Scarlet, one row to eight of the pistillates will be enough. Of
less vigorous kinds, more are required. It is well to plant them
in alternate strips, thus :

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

PATH.

BSSSSSS8SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
pppppppppppppppppp
pppppp pppppppppppp
pppppppppppppppppp

The staminate strip may, of course, consist of several rows
if desirable.

In planting the hermaphrodite or perfect flowered varieties,
as the Woods, Alpines, and Hautbois, of course no such
arrangement is required. Planting may be done with success
either in autumn or spring. Keep the ground well worked
between the rows, to keep it free from weeds, and, unless you
want new plants for a future setting, cut off all the runners so
soon as they appear. A light mulching with partially decayed
leaves or straw, covering the whole ground, but not the plants,
will prove highly beneficial, especially in dry seasons and at
the South. Before the fruit begins to ripen, cover the ground
with a thin layer of straw, hay, or new-mown grass, to keep
the fruit clean. Every autumn, if the plants be not sufficiently
luxuriant, a light top-dressing of manure should be applied.

140 The Gaeden.

A strawberry bed must always be renewed after the fourth
year. An easy mode of renewing a strawberry is what is
called cultivation in alternate strips. On the third summer
from planting, suffer the runners to grow and root into the
spaces between the rows ; then, in the fall or spring, dig up the
old plants, and your new rows are already formed in what
were last year the spaces between the rows. At the end of
three years repeat the process, and so on, not forgetting to
spade in a generous quantity of vegetable manure whenever
you dig up the old rows.

" To accelerate the ripening of strawberries," Downing says,
*' it is only necessary to plant the rows or beds on the south side
of a wall or tight fence. A still simpler mode is to throw up
a ridge of earth three feet high, running east and west, and to
plant it in rows on the south side." Ten days or more may be
gained in this way ; and if later fruit be desired, rows planted
on the north side would probably have their fruiting retarded
nearly as much.

Mr. Peabody, of Georgia, one of the most successful straw-
berry culturists in tlie world, insists with great emphasis that
no animal manure should be used in the cultivation of this
plant. The grand secret of success, he says, is to feed the plant
for fruity and not for mne — to stint the natural luxuriance of
the latter, and turn all the vital forces of the plant to the pro-
duction of berries. In this way, and by keeping the ground
shaded by mulch, and continually watering his plants, he has
fine strawberries for nine months out of the twelve. " Let the
cultivator remember," he says, "the four great requisites for a
profitable strawberry bed : Proper location, vegetable manures,
shade to the ground, and watee, water, water." The shade
to the ground is secured by the mulching we have recommended.
The watering is less essential at the North than at the South,
but is often very advantageous. Let no reader of this little
work neglect to plant a strawberry bed, and enjoy with thank-
fulness its delicious fruits.

The Fkuit Gakden. 141

vi.— miscellaneous fruits.
1. The Fig — Ficus Carica.
This delicious southern fruit is a native of Asia and Africa,
and has been cultivated from the earliest times. In our South-
ern States it grows almost spontaneously everywhere. In tho
Middle States it may be cultivated in the open air, by keeping
it low, and covering it weU during the winter. For a selection
of choice varieties, the following are recommended :

EED, BEOWN, OR PUEPLE.
Brunswick (purple), Malta (brown),

Brown Turkey, Black Genoa,

Brown Ischia, Black Ischia,

Small Brown Ischia, Yiolette,

Alicante Qjurple), Pcrgussetta (light purple).

WHITE, GEEEN, OE YELLOW.
Common White, Nerii (light green),

White Genoa, White Ischia.

The i3g is propagated by cuttings either of the shoots or the
root, and planted either in the faU or the spring. Planted in
hot-beds in January, they will form handsome plants the same
season. Layers also may be made, and suckers taken oif for
planting. Set them out fifteen feet apart, and the first winter
after planting they may be cut off nearly to the ground. The
next year they wiU make vigorous shoots, one or more of which
may be allowed to grow, and the rest rubbed off. When
young, it is best even at the South to protect the tree during
\he winter by covering it with evergreen branches. Little
pruning is required. North of Philadelphia the branches must
be bent down to the ground on the approach of winter, and
covered with three or four inches of soil. No one who lives in
a climate adapted to their growth should fail to cultivate a few
fig-trees.

2. The Pomegranate — Funica Granatum.
This unique and beautiful fruit should receive moi-e attention

142 The Gaeden.

than has hitherto been given to it in all Southern gardens. It
will grow readily so far north as Mary-
land, but does not always mature its
fruit perfectly north of South Carolina.
The tree is quite ornamental, and the
fruit has a very refreshing acid pulp.
Its singular and beautiful appearance
renders it a welcome addition to the
dessert. It is also used medicinally in
fevers, on account of its cooling nature.
It might be exported from the South
to any extent. It is propagated by
BEANCH AND FETTiT. cuttlugs, laycrs, Or suckers, and is very
easily cultivated. The finest varieties are the Sweet Fruited,
the Sub-acid Fruited, and the Wild Acid Fruited. Besides
these, there are several double-flowering varieties, which are
very beautiful.

8. The Mulberry — Morus of species.
The mulberry deserves mention here, and a place in the
garden or lawn. It is a hardy and handsome tree, and pro-
duces a palatable and wholesome fruit.

.. The Red Mulberry {morus rubra) is a native species, but is
less desirable for the garden than. the Black Mulberry (morus
nigrd)^ a species much esteemed and widely cultivated in Eu-
rope. This sort will hardly succeed, except in very warm and
sheltered situations, north of New York. It is propagated by
cuttings, and easily cultivated.

The Flower Garden. 143

VIIL
THE FLOWER GARDEN.

God might have bade the earth bring forth

Enough for great and small,
The oak-tree and the cedar-tree,

Without a flower at all.

He might have made enough, enough

For every want of ours —
For luxury, medicine, and toil.

And yet have made no flowers

Our outward life requires them not-
Then wherefore have they birth ?

To minister delight to man ;
To beautify the earth ;

To comfort man — to whisper hope'

■Whene'er hisfaith is dim ;
For whoso careth for the flowers,

Will much more care for him.—Mary Howitt.

I.-mTEODUCTOEY EEMAEKS.

^E who loves not flowers, and grudges the
few square feet of soil which they are
grumblingly permitted to occupy in a cor-
ner of his garden, may skip over this
chapter. We give him our heartfelt pity ;
and to the wife or daughter, whose more re-
fined and elevated tastes have not allowed him to
devote his front yard to the cultivation of potatoes
and cabbages, we offer our thanks.
Had we room, we could prove even to the devotee
of literal utilitarianism, that the flower garden has its uses —
that lilies and dahlias have quite as important a mission in the
world as beets and carrots ; but we must forego the argu-
ments and illustrations which this course would call for, and

144 The Garden.

confine ourself to the less interesting, but perhaps more use-
ful, details which follow.

A word, however, to the ladies, to whom we most respect-
fully dedicate this chapter. We shall take it for granted that
you love flowers ; for we hold that she who does not, is no true
woman. But perhaps you are ready to declare that, positively,
you have no time to devote to their cultivation ; that you have
not sufficient strength for such labor; or, possibly, that all
out-of-door employments are ungenteel and unfeminine.

Unless you have time to be sick, which you will hardly ad-
mit, you have time to take care of your health. To do this
properly, you must have daily exercise in the open air. "Where
can you take this more pleasantly or more profitably than in
your flower garden ? You are not strong enough, do you say ?
This is just the way to acquire strength. Begin very moder-
ately, allowing some stronger person to do the heaviest work.
An hour or two of light, active, and pleasurable employment,
out-of-doors, each fair day, take our word for it, will prove
more beneficial than the best tonic mixture that your good and
much respected doctor, with all his skill, can prepare for you.
Try it. You will soon be able to use the light hoe and spade,
which we recommend you to procure at once, with ease and
pleasure. The quack's Female Pills find few patrons among
the wives and daughters who cultivate their own flower gar-
dens. The idea that the employment is unsuited to woman is
a preposterous and absurd one. Where is her place if not
among the flowers — herself the fairest flower of all? Shall
she blush to own that her own fair hands have reared the
floral gems with which she adorns her hair ? But we rejoice
in believing that few of our readers will urge this plea. They
will, for the most part, fully agree with us that floriculture
should have a promment place among the female " accomplish-
ments."

For her light work, a lady requires implements made spe-
cially for her use. A spade ; a hoe ; a rake ; a fork ; a trowel ;
a watering-pot ; a pruning-knife ; a pair of small shears ; a

The Flower Gaeden. 145

basket, for the weeds and clippings ; a small hammer ; a ball
of twine ; a stout apron, with pockets for the pruning-knifc,
shears, etc. ; a pair of strong leather gloves, for handling prickly
shrubs ; and a pair of overshoes, will make up a very good
outfit. The implements should all be light, and of the best
quality. The pruning-knife should be kept 'very sharp. Use
it for cutting slips, and for removing branches, leaves, etc.
The shears are used for clipping hedges, box, borders, etc.

In connection with her gardening operations, we recommend
to every lady who has sufficient leisure the study of botany —
both structural and systematic.

II.-LATING OUT A FLOWEE GAEDEN.

To attempt, within the limits of a few pages, to fidly instruct
those who have extensive grounds to lay out, would be pre-
sumptuous. Such persons will need to study Downing's
" Landscape Gardening," or seek the aid of a practical land-
scape gardener. Our brief hints and suggestions are intended
for those whose ornamental grounds are measured by rods
instead of acres.

We will suppose that, as is generally the case, you wish to
devote a portion of the space immediately around your dwell-
ing-house to the cultivation of flowers.

If the distance between the entrance gate and the house be
small, you must be content with a straight walk from the one
to the other ; but this should be relieved, and its necessary
stifiihess somewhat modified, by curved side-walks, branching
from the main walk near the front door, and running back to
the vegetable garden in the rear of the house. Where the
space is a little greater, the straight walk should not be toler-
ated. It may be curved in various ways, as taste may sug-
gest, and the nature of the case permit. The walks may all
have edgings of dwarf box. Near these walks we recom-
mend cutting a sufiicient number of flower-beds in the turf.
This gives a much more beautiful appearance to the yard than
it would have if devoted exclusively to flower-beds. If more

7

146 The Garden.

space be wanted, it may, perhaps, be found behind the house,
and next the fruit or vegetable garden. The beds thus cut in
the turf may be of various shapes and sizes, but should always
be bounded by curved lines. The grass-plots in which they
are situated should be kept smoothly shaven.

In arranging the plants in your beds, place the tallest in the
center; but very tall growers, like the hollyhocks and sun-
flowers, should, in general, be disposed as a back-ground in
borders next the walls. So arrange aU the kinds that the
smaller shall not be hidden or too much shaded by the larger,
but all be seen in their order, and each contribute to the gen-
eral effect. Reference must also be had to colors and their
proper combination. It is well, so far as is possible, to select
plants which appear well through the season, whether in blos-
som or not.' A constant succession of flowers in each bed
may be secured by commencing with the early flowering bulbs,
following these with the best herbaceous perennials, and clos-
ing with a good selection of annuals.

Climbing plants of various kinds, both annual and perennial,
if judiciously introduced, add greatly to the beauty of the
grounds around a dwelling. Walls may be mantled with them;
doors and windows enwreathed ; any unsightly object hidden ;
arbors covered ; and posts and the trunks of trees entwined.
They may also be permitted to trail among the smaller shrubs —
care being taken, of course, that they do not, in their luxuri-
ance, overpower or hide other plants. Various kinds of sup-
ports for climbers may be introduced into the portions of the
yard devoted to trees and shrubs. The simplest of these is a
single upright pillar of cedar or other durable wood in its
rough bark, or a sawed piece of timber with holes bored
through it at regular intervals, through which the leading
shoots may be drawn as they advance in growth. Prairie
roses, bignomas, and other hardy climbers, if skillfully trained,
make a very handsome appearance on such pillars. Two
climbing roses, of milike colors, may be thus trained together
with a fine effect. These posts should bo nine or ten feet high.

The Flower Garden. 147

In some cases it is better to drive strong wooden rods throngh
the holes we have spoken of, for the support of the climber.
Slender climbers, like the cypress vine and the morning glorj,
require a lighter and more elegant support.

In the arrangement of the shrubs and trees the same prin-
ciple applies as to the herbaceous plants. "We should endeavor
to produce the effect of banks, and irregular and picturesque
conical masses of foliage, rising higher as they recede from the
eye. "We therefore place the larger growing kinds in the back
row, or in the center of a group, as the case may be ; some-
what smaller ones next in order, and still smaller ones in front.

III.-GENEEAL DIRECTIONS.

Our very limited space will not permit us to go into details
in reference to the cultivation of flowers. "With a few general
directions, however, one may get on very well in the manage-
ment of a small flower garden. "What is most needed is some
guide in the selection of plants to be cultivated ; and this we
shaU furnish in the next section.

1. Soil^ etc. — For most kinds of flowers a rather sandy soil,
well enriched with vegetable mold and well-rotted stable man-
ure, is the best. It must be thoroughly broken up or pulver-
ized before planting. This is even more necessary here than
in the kitchen garden. The ground should be dug to the depth
of fifteen inches, and raised a few inches above the general
level of the garden or yard.

2. Annual and Biennial Plants. — Annual* and biennial t
plants are in general very easy of cultivation, merely requir-
ing, in a majority of cases, to be sown where they are to
bloom, thinned out (with a few exceptions, which wiU be noted
in their place) to give them room, and kept free from weeds.

I^ever sow till the soil has become tolerably warm and dry,
as some flower-seeds are very liable to rot in the ground. In

* Annual plants are those which live but one year.

+ Biennial plants are such as endure two years ; blooming oh the second.

148 The Garden.

this climate, from tlie middle of April to the first of May, in
ordinary seasons, will be sufficiently early for most of them.
A little farther north, from the first to the middle of May will
be the average time. The smaller seeds must be very lightly
covered, but larger ones, like the lupines, may be covered to
the depth of two inches. It is a good way to sow in small
circles— say from four to nine inches in diameter. In the cen-
ter of this circle place a tally, or label of some kind, with the
name, to prevent mistakes. Soon after they come up, the soil
must be carefully stirred, the plants thmned out, if they re-
quire it, and aU weeds removed. A few kinds do better with
transplanting than to remain where they are sown. Of this
nature are the balsams, the China aster, the marigold, the
hibiscus, and the zinnia, and several other very free-growing
plants.

3. Bulbs. — The best season for planting hardy bulbous roots,
such as the lilies, peonies, etc., is late in autumn, but they
may be set out in December if the ground be not frozen, and
the bulbs remain sound.

" Hyacinths, Amaryllis, Martagon, and other large lilies, and
peonies, should be planted at the depth of four inches ; Crown
Imperials and Polyanthus Narcissus, five inches ; Tulips, Double
Narcissus, Jonquilles, and Colchicums, three inches ; Bulbous
Iris, Crocus, Arums, small Fritillarias, Gladiolus Byzantium,
and Snowdrops, two inches ; Eanunculus and Anemones, ono
inch ; always measuring from the top of the bulb. The roots
should be placed from four to six inches apart, according to
their size.

" Take up bulbous roots about a month after the blossom is
completely over, in the following manner : When the plants
put on a yellowish, decayed appearance, take up the roots, cut
off the stem and foliage within an inch of the bulbs, but leave
tke fibers, etc., attaclied to them ; spread them in an airy room
for two or three weeks to dry, after which wrap each root
carefully in paper (as the air is very injurious to bulbs), or
cover them in-sand perfectly dry."

TnE Flow Eli Gakden. 149

4. Shrills. — Flowering-shrubs may be planted out so soon
as the frost is out and tlie ground sufficiently dry, wbich will
geuepally be in April. The same general directions apply as
have already been given for trees. Tall shrubs should be sup-
ported for a while by a stake. The roots must not be permit-
ted to dry before planting ; and if they are to be carried to a
distance, they must bo kept from the air by means of moss, or
straw mats bound about them.

IV— LISTS OF FLOWEEING PLANTS AND SHEUBS.

We now proceed to give lists of choice herbaceous plants
and flowering shrubs. "We might make our catalogues much
more extensive, and still fail to embrace all that are desirable
in particular localities and under particular circumstances.
"We trust that they will be found usefid, if not wholly satis-
factory, to the novice. For the professional gardener, of course,
we do not write.

HARDY AX^TTALS.

1. Bltie Floweeed Aegekatum {Argeratum M€a:icanum).— Color, blue;
height, one foot ; in bloom all the season.

2. Sweet Altssum {A. cali/ciiia).— 'White ; fragrant ; six Inches ; all season.

3. Love Lies Bt^^edii^q (Amaranthits candatm).—Tx.e<l and yeUow ; sum.

4. Peince's Feathee {A. hyijochondriacus). — Eed ; summer.

5. Thbee-coloeed AMAEA>-Tn {A. tricolor).— la most beautiful on rather
poor soil ; summer

6. Pheasant's 'Eye {Ado7iismi7iiata).—'B,ed; showy; summer.

7. China Aster {A. Chi}iensis).—Y arions colors; some lately imported
varieties are very beautiful ; eighteen inches ; summer.

8. Cockscomb {Celosia criitoto).— Crimson ; eighteen inches ; autumn.

9. Sweet Sultan (Centcmrea of species).— ( (7. mo^chata), purple ; (C ere-
tica), white ; (<7. suu'Veolena), yellow ; two feet ; summer.

10. MosNiNG Globy {Convolvulus r/wyc/-).- Various ; climbing; summer
and autumn.

11. DwAEF MoENiNG Gloet {C. ?« Jrtor).- Bluc ; eighteen inches; summer.

12. Chktbeis {C. croccii).— Orange ; one foot ; all the season ; (C. Californica)
yellow.

13. Lupine {Luphms of species).— Many varieties ; various ; one to five
feet ; some are perennial.

14. Cypeess Vine {Tpomrea of species). — (/. quamoclif)^ crimson ; (7. aZha),
white ; climbing ; summer and autumn. /. coceinea, a native Southern plant ;
is generally classed with the morning glories ; red ; climbing ; autumn.

150 The Garden.

15. Phlox (P. Drummondii).— Crimson ; rose, lilac, and white ; (P. Van
Houtii), variegated ; two feet ; all the seasou.

16. Zinnia (Z. f Zej/ajis).— Yarious ; two feet ; very showy ; should be watered
copiously ; all the season.

17. Balsam, ok Ladies' Slippee (_Balsainina ^o/*^en sis).— Various ; two feet ;
summer and autumn.

IS. Mignonette {Reseda odoraia). — Yellowish green ; six inches ; chiefly
valued for its perfume ; all the season.

19. Nasturtium {Trop(jRolum atrosonquinetim).— Crimson', climbing; in
bloom all the season.

20. Canabt Bikd Flower (T. aduncum). — A beautiful climber.

21. Poetulacca (P. splendens). — Purple ; splendid ; (P. Thorhurnii), yel-
low ; (P. alba), white ; (P. elegans), crimson ; (P. Thellusonii), red ; should
be grown in a mass to give the finest effect.

22. Malope (3/. grandiflora).— Scarlet and white ; three feet ; summer.

23. Ten-week-stock {Matliiola annua). — At least a dozen distinct colors ;
one foot ; summer. All the varieties are well worthy of cultivation.

24. Marigold {Tagetes erecta).— Orange, yellow, straw-colored ; eighteen
inches; autumn. French Marigold {T. patula), striped with deep brown,
purple, and yellow.

25. Clarkia (C. elegans).— 'Rose-color e(i; elegant; ((7. Pulchella), purple;
showy ; (C. alba), white ; one foot ; all the season.

26. Candytuft {Iheris amara). — White ; (/. unibellata), purple ; (/. vio-
lacea), violet ; {I. odorata), sweet-scented. All these species are desirable.

27. Larkspur {Delj^hinuin ajases). — Many varieties, double flowered, and
superb. Branching Larkspur {D. consoUda), various colors ; summer.

28. Three-colored Gilia {G. tricolor).— Lighi-blne margin and dark cen-
ter; dwarf; summer.

29. Pappy {Papaver MarseUlii).— White, edged with red ; eighteen inches ;
summer.

30. Sweet Pea {Lathyrus odoratus).— Many varieties— white, black, scarlet,
and variegated ; three or four feet ; summer and autumn.

31. Hibiscus (//. ma7iihot).—Yello-w; {R. Africanus major), buff, with a
black center ; two feet ; summer.

82. Clintonia (C. e/t(7a»s).— Blue ; six inches; very slender; autumn.
33. Verbena ( F. of species).— Every shade of color from white to crimson ;
procumbent ; very pretty ; all the season.

84. Dwarf Sunflower {JleUantlms CaUfornicu8).—K double flower.

85. Sun Love (//e^io^v/a'Zrt ara?>oi(ies).— Blue; very pretty.

36. Pansy {Viola tricolor).— Yaxioxis; all the seasou. [A perennial, but
treated as an annual.]
87. Petunia (P. tioZac^a.).— Every variety of color; dwarf; all the season.

38. Yellow Everlasting (X<jrawf/iej/?»of species).— Eighteen inches ; ant.

39. Evening Pki.mrose {(Enothera macroca/pa).— Yellow ; large flowered ;
dwarf; summer and autumn.

40. LoABA {L. laterUia).— Orange colored ; a beautiful climbing plant.

41. Calandrinia {C. diecolori.—'RoBy purple ; very fine ; sum. and autumn.

The Flower Garden. 151

42. Calliopsis ((7. dicolor).— Three feet ; very showy ; autumn.

43. Maktel of Peru {Mirahilis Jalajya). — Many varieties ; autumn.

44. Grove Love {NemopMla maculat(t).— Spotted ; beautiful.

45. B.EL.IOTROVE {Tournefortia keliotropoides).— White and blue; very fra-
grant; autumn.

46. LovE-iN-A-MiBT {Mgella Damacene).—'&hovfy ; autumn.

For twelve sorts, the following would be a good selection :
Numbers 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 83, and 37. To make
up twenty sorts add 6, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 29, and 41.

HAEDT BIENOTALS.

1. ItosE Campion {Ayrontemma coronai'ia). — Blooms all summer.

2. Foxglove {Digitalis of species). — Purple, while, and spotted.

8. Caxterbuey Bell {Campanula of species).— Various ; blooms in July
and August.

4. Hollyhock {Althea rosa).—K\\ its varieties ; summer and autumn. De-
sirable varieties can be propagated by dividing the roots. Biennial-perennial.

5. Geeaedia (6^. of species). — Yellow, purple, and spotted.

6. DwAEF Evening Primrose {CEnothera corytnljosa).

7. HuMEA {R. elegans).— All the season.

8. Catch Fly {Silene multijlora).

9. MusK-ScENTED ScABioTJS {ScuMosa atropurpurea).

10. Naked-Stemmed Poppy {Papaver nudi aule).

Though all the biennials are generally propagated by seeds,
the double ones may also be successfully continued by cuttings
and slips of the tops, and by layers and pipings. Biennials, it
should be remembered, never flower till the second year.

HAEDY PEEEISTNIALS.*
1. HERBACEOUS PLANTS.t

1. Columbine {AquiUgia vulgaris). — Single and double, and many colors.

2. Harebell {Campanula of species). — All the species of this genus are
very beautiful. Flowers single and double; many colors. C. grandlfiora
has superb blue flowers.

3. CA-Ry Ana's {Diantkus eari/02:>hyllus).— A much noted and very beautiful
flower ; propagated by seeds and by layers.

4. Sweet William (Z>. harhatuf). — Many colors and shades of color — white,
red, pink, and crimson. The French call it l>oquet parfait,

* Perennial plants are those which endure from year to year indefinitely.

t Those which die down to the root every year. In a restricted sense (in
which we use it here), the term herbaceous is not made to include the bulbous
and tuberous rooted plants.

152 The Gakden.

5. TiNK {D. phcmarms).— 'Many varieties.

6. CHRYSANTiiEinjM {Pi/retkrufn of species). — Varieties and colors number-
less ; the last showy flower of the season. The following are all very beautiful :

LAEGE FLOWEKED. SMALL FLOWEKED.

Defiance— lemon-yellow. La Fiancee — white.

Baron de Solomon— rosy-crimson. Ilarriette Lebois— rosy-carmine.

Julia Langdale— rosy-purple. Cybelle- amber and gold.

Liencour— lilac and orange. Mignonette— rose.

Magnificent— blush. Vartigene— crimson.

Mrs. Cope— crimson-purple. Paquerette— white-shaded crimson.

Sphinx— bright claret. Sacramento— dark yellow, red center.

White Perfection— pure white. Louise— pale rose.

7. Double Daisy {Bellis p6re7mis).—Kany varieties and various shades of
•white, pink, and crimson.

8. Dielytea (Z>. 8pcctabilis).—A. very beautiful plant; flowers pink and
white ; June and July.

9. Foxglove {Digitalis of species^.— Various and beautiful. Theoretically
a biennial ; but may be continued by dividing into olf-sets.

10. Gentian {Gentiana of species). — Blue, yellOAV, and white ; very showy.

11. Geranium {PdargQiiium of species).— Species numerous ; varieties num-
berless. For bedding plants the Scarlet, the Nutmeg-scented (white), and the
Ivose are the most desirable.

12. Foeget-me-Not {Myosotis sylvatlca). — Blue, pretty, and indispensable.

13. Hollyhock (Althea rosa).— "We have mentioned this among the bien-
nials, where it theoretically belongs ; but it is practically a perennial, from the
■way in which it increases by ofi"-sets. Hollyhocks are very beautiful in their
2')7'oper places — in borders and among shrubbery. The varieties and colors
are numberless. Choose the double-flowering sorts.

14 Lupine {Lupimis of species).— Some of the perennial herbaceous sorts
are very beautiful ; early in summer.

15. Double Eagged Eobbin {Lychnis of species). — Scarlet and white.

16. Pansey, or Heartsease ( Viola i/'icoZor).— Varieties innumerable ; some-
times treated as an annual ; blooms all the season.

17. Violet ( FioZrt of species).— Many of the species, both native and foreign,
deserve a place in the garden. Of V. odorata pjlena, the white and purple
varieties are very beautiful ; bloom early.

13. Phlox (P. of species).— Various colors ; no garden should be without
some of the perennial species ; summer.

19. Veronica ( V. chariKBdrys). — Blue flowers ; a good border plant ; early
in summer.

20. Valerian ( F. hortensis et V. Pyrenaica). — "White and red ; grow and
bloom well on walls and rock-work.

Nearly all the foregoing plants arc casilj propagated by
dividing the roots, and Avill grow in any garden soil. A few
of them will not i)rove hardy north of New York.

The Flower Garden. 153

2. TUBEEOrS-EOOTED PLANTS.

1. Dahlia (Z>. variabilis). — Colors and varieties numberless ; a splendid
autumn flower for large beds and among shrubbery. The following are a few
of the finest varieties :

Amazone — yellow, margined with carmine.

Anna Maria — violet, tipped with white.

Belle Amazone— bright yellow, edged with gold.

Favorite — dark carmine.

Gazelle— delicate blush.

Grand Sultan— dark purple, with light edges.

Emperitrice Eugenie— black brown.

Madame Becker— maroon, tipped with white. '

Malvina— purple, shaded with darker purple.

Eenuncale Imperiale— lilac and purple.

Pr6trose— dark carmine.

"Wonderful — dark yellow, with purple stripes.

2. Ieis (/. of species). — More than fifty species, some of which are tuberous-
rooted ; all very beautiful. /. smiana is the finest ; flowers large and spotted
with brown.

3. Marvel of Peetj {Mirahilis tTc/Zo^a).— Generally treated as an annual ;
very beautiful ; requires a warm border.

4. EvEELASTiNG Pea {Lathi/riis of species).— The common Everlasting Pea
is Z. latifolius. Once planted it will, for the most part, take care of itself.
Some of the species are annuals.

5. Peony {P. officinalis).— M-anj varieties. The Chinese Peony (P. //'a-
grayis) has pinky-purple flowers and a rose-like perfume.

6. Eanitnoulfs {It. of species).— Several species are hardy and desirable for
border-plants. The Double Buttercup {R. acris) is well known.

T. Ladies' Slippee {Cypripedium of species). — Several species are natives
of our woods; very beautiful, but difficult of propagation.

8. Anemone (^4. of species).— Many species ; white, purple, yellow, and scar-
let ; succeed best in cool latitudes. Our native Wood Anemone {A. nemorosa)
deserves mention among the garden flowers.

The tuberous-rooted plants are propagated by tubers, and
some of them also by seeds. Dahlias requu-e a sandy soil.
Sand and vegetable mold make a good mixture for them. ]!To
animal manure should be applied.

3. bulbous-eooted plants.

1. Ceoctts {C. of species).— Many species; yellow, lilac, white, etc. The
Yellow Crocus ((7. luteus) is the greatest favorite. The Spring Flowering {C.
vernus) works in well among shrubs and trees ; blooms early in the spring.

2. Ceown liiPEEiAL {Fritillaria Irnperialis).— Color varies from light yellow
to orange red ; showv ; suitable for borders.

7*

164

The Gaeden

8. Hyacinth {Hyacinthus Orientalis).—Yaneties innumerable ; choose an
assortment of various colors.

4. Ikw (7. of species). — Of the bulbous species, the Persian (/. Persiea) is
the most beautiful, but does better in a pot or frame, with some protection.

5. Lilt {LiUum of species).— The species are very numerous, and all very
beautiful. The following is a selection :

Common White (Z. candidum).

Double White (Z. candidv/)nfiore,'X)Uno).

Scarlet {L. ehalcedonicum).

Japan (Z. laneifoliuni of var.)— white, red, rose, spotted ; very beautiful.

Turk's Cap (Z. martajon) — ^various.

Tiger (Z. Ugrimmi).

6. NAEOisstrs (iV^. tasetta). — Yellow and white variously combined ; varieties
numerous.

. Daffodil '2^. ^laeudo narcissus). — Many varieties.

8. Jonquil {N. jonquilla). — Bright yel. ; fragi'ant ; requires copious watering.

9. Snowdeop {GalantJiUS nivalis). — Double and single ; both desirable.

10. Squill (Svilla of species).— Blue and wliite ; S. ammna and S. Siberica
are exceedingly brilliant and beautiful ; blossom early in spring.

11. Star of Bethlehem {OrnitJiogalum of species). — White and variegated ;
easy of cultivation.

12. Tulip {Tidipa Gesneriana). — Varieties innumerable and of every shade.
There are early and late sorts. Choose some of both.

FLOWERING SHRUBS.

1. EosE (^Rosa of species).— Multitudinous in species and countless in variety.
No two persons would make the same selection. For the few sorts wanted in
a common garden, we suggest the following :

HTBEID PEEPETUAL E0SE8.

Augusta Mic— blush.

Geant des Battailles— brilliant crimson.

Caroline de Sansal— flesh color.

Lord Eaglan— fiery crimson.

Matharin Ecgina— lilac.

General Jaqueminot— crimson-scarlet.

Mrs. Elliott— rosy-purple.

Duchess d'Orleans— rosy-carmine.

Baron Ilallez— light crimson.

Bydonie— light pink.

Baron Provost— deep rose.

La Ecine— deep rosy lilac,

Louis Peronny— deep rose, shaded.

PEEPETUAL MOSS

Madam Edward Ory— rosy carmine.

Marie de Burg03Tie— clear red.
Salet— bright rosy red.
General Drouot — purplish crimson.
Perpetual White— pure white.

SUMMEK E0SE8.

Coupe do Hebe— brilliant pink.
Paul Eicaut— rosy crimson.
Pcrle de Pancho— Avhite and red.
Persian Yellow— deep golden yellow.
Madame Plantier- pure white.

CLIMBING EOSES.

Queen of the Prairies — red, striped

with white.
Baltimore Belle— blush, nearly white.
Mrs. Hovcy- pale blush.
Porpotiial I'iiik— purple pink.

The Flower Garden. 155

2. EnoBODENDEON {B. CaiaicMens6).—TMs splendid American flowering
shrub is worthy of a place in every garden.

3. AzELiA {A. vicosa et A. nudiflora). — White and purple; fragrant; too
much neglected.

4. Flowering Almond (^Amygdalrjus wa?ta).— Beautiful pinlc flowers.
Very desirable in every garden. Spring.

5. Magnolia (J/, ahovata).

6. Teee Peony (P. Jloutan).

7. Japan Quince {Pyrus Japonica of var.).— Scarlet and white ; very early
in the spring.

8. Japan Globe Flowee {Kerrier Japonica). — Double yellow flowers.
Showy. Spring.

9. Spie^a {S. of species).— Many very beautiful species. The Lance-Leaved
Spiraea {S. lancolata) is the most beautiful of all. Flowers, white ; blooms in
May. Very desirable indeed.

10. Deutzia (Z>. graeilis ct D. 6'ca&?'a).— Flowers white. Z>. scabra is the
more hardy. Both should be cultivated where the climate will permit.

11. Gueldee Eose oe Snowball Teee {Vibromum opulus).

12. Gaeden Hvceangea {II. IIorte7iMa).— White flowers.

13. Lilac {Syringia of species).— Some of the new varieties are very fine.

14. PoiiEGEANATE {Granatuiiifio)'6 2:>/€?io).— Beautiful; should be a favorite
wherever the climate is sufficiently mild.

15. Sweet Scented Siieub {CalycantJius Floridus).

16. Altitea oe Eose of Suaron {IliMsciis Syiicus). — Many varieties.

17. Honeysuckle {Lonicera of species).— Beautiful shrubs.

18. Pink Mezekeum {Djphne mese/'eiun).— Dwarf, pretty ; flowers in March.

19. Eose Acacia (lioLina liispida).

20. Mock Oeange {PhiladeliJhus coronarus).— White ; fragrant May and
June.

21. FoESYTHiA {F. vividissima). — A magnificent new shrub from China;
flowers bright yellow ; very early in spring.

22. Crimson Cueeakt {Bibes sanguine2cm).—Singie and double crimson;
early in spring.

23. AsHBEEET {JIu7io7iia aquifulia). — Evergreen; bright yellow flowers,
blossoms very early in spring.

24. EosE-CoLOEED "WiEGELA ( W. roseo). — Delicate rose-colored blossoms.

25. Silver Bell {Ilalesia of species).— ZT. diptera is much finer than the
common Silver Bell {H. tetraptera).

CLIMBERS AND CEEEPEES.

1. ViEGiNiA Ceeepee (Ampelopsis hederacea).

2. Tettmpet 'Fi.o^iE.n {Teco/na radicans*).

8. Clematis {C. of species).— Several species ; white, blue, and purple. The
Sweet Scented {Cflamula) is exceedingly fragrant.

* Gray ; the Bignonia of the old botanists.

156 The Gaedei?^.

4. Ivy {Hedera of species).

5. Honeysuckle {Lonicera of species).— The Sweet Scented (Z. Belgica) is
one of the most desirable species ; in bloom through the summer ; very fra-
grant. The Chinese Evergreen {H. sinensis) is also a very fine sort.

6. Chinese Wistaria ( W. sinensis).— A. very beautiful climbing plant ; pale
blue flowers in clusters.

7. Climbing Eose {Rosa of species). — For these, see preceding list.

8. Jasmine {Jasniijium 7'evolutum). — Bright golden flowers ; very fragrant.
Southern. Deserves a place in every garden at the South.

9. Passion Flo wee {Passiflora of species). — The most beautiful one is the
Purple Flowering (P. incarnata).

10. BiRTHwoET OE DUTCHMAN'S PiPB {AristolocMu sipho).--An excellent
arbor vine.

Oenamental Trees and Sheubs. 167

IX.

ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS.

Happy is he who In a countiy life
Shuns more perplexing toil and jarring strife ;
■Who lives upon the natal soil he loves.
And sits beneath his old ancestral grovea.

I.-GEKEEAL HINTS.

APPY indeed is he

Who lives upon the natal soil he loves,
And sits beneath his old ancestral groves ;

but this happiness is the lot of compara-
tively few in this conntr j. Our forefathers
were too deeply absorbed in the work of hewing
down forests to think of planting groves, or to ap-
preciate their beauty. They waged a war of exter-
mination against trees, and, so far as they went,
nothing but blackened stumps and unsightly skeletons
remained. The effects of their indiscriminate " clearing" have
been partially remedied in the older portions of the country
(for which more thanks to nature than to man) ; but even
there the language of our motto applies to only a few. Each
man's natal soil is in the hands of a stranger. What American
lives where his father and grandfather lived and died? We
have been a migratory people. It will not always be so, how-
ever, and if we can not, except in rare cases, "sit beneath our
old ancestral groves," we may yet sit beneath those of our own
planting — may learn to

Love our own cotemporary trees,

and die with the hope that our children and grandchildren may
enjoy their shade after we have ceased to need it.

158 The Garden.

The exhortation, " Plant trees! plant trees!" which has gone
forth of late, and been so often reiterated, has not fallen upon
heedless ears. Thousands have obeyed it, and tens of thou-
sands stand ready, and only wait to be told what trees to plant,
and how to plant them.

For planting trees, we have already given such general direc-
tions as the limits of our work would permit. With a careful
attention to the fundamentlu principles set forth in the first and
second chapters, these directions will be found sufficient. It
remains for us to add a few hints on arrangement, etc., and to
give lists of the most desirable species for common use, as
ornamental and shade trees and shrubs.

As a border for a straight road or street, we must, of neces-
sity, have a straight row of trees, if any ; but in laying out the
road or street, simple utility, and not beauty, was the end in
view. In laying out ornamental grounds, straight lines and a
geometrical arrangement of objects must be avoided ; and any
necessary straight line, like a boundary fence, should be wholly
or partially hidden, and its effect neutralized, by curving rows
and irregular groups of trees and shrubs.

This principle applies to the smallest village plot as well as
to the extensive park. Something may be done in arrangement
and grouping to produce a pleasing and beautiful or picturesque
effect, in a very limited space. To tell the reader how, in
detail, would require a volume. The hint we have just dropped
will at least lead him to think and inquire. His own taste,
once awakened, will do the rest.

Do not, we beg of you, distort and deform your ornamental
trees by trimming. If any accident or unnatural condition
may have caused a tree to grow into an ungraceful and unnat-
ural shape, you may, by a judicious use of the pruning-kuife,
aid it to return to its natural form ; but you can not improve a
fi-ee-growing and symmetrical tree. If it put out branches near
the ground, do not, by any means, remove them. Therein
consists much of the beauty of many of our handsomest trees,
especially the evergreens.

Oenamental TiiEEs AND Sheubs. 159

Other things being equal, preference should be given to
native trees and shrubs, and we have so many beautiful species
that but few foreign ones need be placed on our lists.

Trees taken from the nursery or forest before they can be
used must be "heeled in" — that is, their roots must be placed
in a trench prepared for the purpose, and covered with earth.
Roots left exposed to the sun and winds soon lose their vitality.
Avoid the common error of too deej) planting. The tree should
be set only two or three inches deeper than it stood before, in
the nursery or forest, to allow for the settling of the soil.

II.— LISTS OF TEEES AND SHEUBS.

Those who desire more extensive lists to select from than
our space allows us to give, can readily obtain them from the
nurserymen. Our object is to aid the novice in making a
selection of a few kinds.

LARGE-GEOWING TPwEES.

DECIDUOUS.*

1. Oak {Qidrous of species).— "Well known; indispensable in extensive
grounds— especially the White Oak {Q. alba).

2. American Elm {Vhmis Americana).

8. Maple {Acer of species). — In an article condemnatory of the ailanthus,
the lamented A. J. Downing says: "Take refuge, friends, in the American
maples ; clean, sweet, cool, and umbrageous are the maples." For the Middle
and Western States the Silver Maple {A. dasycarpum) is the best. For the
North and East the Sugar or Eock Maple (^-1. saccJiajnruim) is better. The
Eed Flowering {A. mihrum) and the Norway (A. 2Jlatanoides) are beautiful
trees, but of slower growth.

4. Black Walnut {Juglans nir/r a).— Adapted to extensive grounds.

5. Ash {Fraximis Americana).— 'Erne to group with other trees.

6. IIoESE Chestnut {^■sciilus of species). The White Flowering {JE. Mp'
po-cafitanum) and the Eed Flowering {JS. rxClncuncJo) are desirable.

7. Tulip Teee {Liviodendi'cn, tulipifera^.—hoiiy and magnificent.

8. Cucumber Tree {Magnolia acuminata).— A. large, beautiful tree, with
bluish-white flowers. All the magnolias are desirable where they will succeed.
The most magnificent of them all (J/, grandiflora) will flourish only at the
South, where it is deservedly a favorite.

9. Larch {Larix of species). — The European (Z, Europea) is the beat. The

* Deciduous trees are those whose leaves fall in autumn— not evergreens.

160 The Garden.

American or Black Larch Tamarac (Z. Americana) resembles it, but gro-ws
only in very moist soils.

10. American Cypress (Ta^odiwrn disticUvm).—Lofty and magnificent,
but requires a moist, rich soil. For the Middle and Southern States,

11. Catalpa (C s ringoefolia). — Makes a large, round head, and large
leaves and showy flowers.

12. American White Birch {Betula alba).— A. tall, slender, and beautiful
tree ; has a fine efi"ect for grouping.

13. Honey Locust {GladitscMa triacanthos).— Highly ornamental; fine for
lawns and for grouping.

14. Paulonia (P. imperialis).—'Rai)id gro-wing ; large-leaved; large blue
flowers in clusters ; blooms in June. Suitable for Middle and Southern States.

15. Weeping Willq-w {Sileco Budalonieum).

EVERGREENS.

1. Sprttce {AMes of species).— The Hemlock Spruce {A. Canadensis) is one
of the most beautiful of all evergreen trees. Fine for a lawn. The Norway
Spruce {A. excelsa) is also a stately and magnificent tree.

2. White Pine {Pinus strobus).

3. Balsam Fir (Picea halsamea).

4. Deodar Cedar ((7. i>eo(^ara).— Graceful and beautiful; rapid growing ;
not perfectly hardy at the North.

5. Cedar of Lebanon ( C. Libani). — Scarcely hardy at the North, but ex-
ceedingly desirable where it will succeed.

6. Ambeioan Abbob Vit^ {Thuja occidentalis).

SMALL TEEE3 AXD LARGE SHRUBS.
DECIDFOTJS.

1. Weeping Ash {Fraximis excelsior pendula). — Very graceful.

2. Judas Tree {Cercis Canadensis).

8. Laburnum {Cytissus laburnum et C. Alpimis).

4. Mountain Ash {Pi/rus of species).— European and American. The
Weeping Mountain Ash (P. aucuparia pendula) is a beautiful drooping va-
riety of the European.

5. Fringe Tbtse {Chionanihus Virginica).— Co\eTed in spring with a pro-
fusion of white flowers.

C. Hawthorn {Cratcegus oxyacani7ia of var.).— White, scarlet, and rose-
colored flowers ; single and double.

7. Magnolia {3f. conspicua et M. Soulangiana). — The first has white and
the second purple flowers.

8. Burning Bush {Euonym,ous airopurpur&us).

9. Large Flowering Syringla (PKiladelphus grandijlorus).

10. Cobnblian Cherry {Cornua mascula).

evergreens.

1. Tree Box {Biwnts aborescens).

2. Common Juniper (Juniperus communis).

Oenamental Tkees and Shrubs. 161

8. Irish Yew (Taxtcs Hibernicus).

4. Mountain Laurel {Kalmia laUfolia).

5. American Holly {Ilex opaca).

HEDGE PLANTS.
DECIDUOUS.

1. Osage Orange {3TacIura mirantiaca).

2. Buckthorn {liharntius Cathartic^is),
8. Hawthorn {Cratagus oxyaccmtha).

4. Althea or Eose of Sharon (Ribiseits Syt'iacus).

5. Berberry {Berberis vulgaru).

evergreens.

1. American Arbor Yn^ {Thuja oceidentalis).

2. American Holly {Rex opaca).

8. Hemlock Spruce {Abies Canadensis).

4. Norway Spruce {Abies excelsa).

5. "White Cedar {Cujyressiis thuyoides).

6. Holly-Leaved Berberry {3IaJionia aquifolia).
T. Dwarf Box {Baxus suffmcticona).— For edging.

8. Evergreen Thorn {Oratmgus pyraca7itha).— For the South.

9. Cherokee Eose {liosa IcEvigata). — Southern.

10. White Macartney Eose.— The best of all hedge plants for the South.

Live hedges must gradually take the place of our unsightly
fences in the older parts of the country, where timber is already
scarce. On the prairies of the "West there seems to be no other
resource. See " The Farm" for directions for their cultivation.
Some of the foregoing hedge plants have not been well proved,
but are all more or less perfectly adapted to the purpose. The
Osage Orange seems as yet to be most generally approved.

APPENDIX.

A.

THE BEAEING TEAE.

This arises simply from tlie tendency in the apple, when left to itself, to bear
BO large crops one year as to require the next year to recover sufficient strength
to bear again. This becomes a Icind of fixed constitutional habit in a given
variety, and is continued by grafting, so that whole orchards bear one year, and
are unfruitful the next, with great regularity. On the other hand, certain sorts,
like the Belle-fleur and Holland Pippin, which bear but moderate crops, in
strong soils bear every year.

The habit itself may be corrected or changed, when the tree or orchard is
young, by picking off all the fruit that sets the first year the tree bears a good
crop, thus forcing it to take its bearing year the next season. — A. J. Downing.

B.

CAUSE OF DIMINISHED FEETILITY.
The first colonists of Virginia found a country the soil of which was rich in
alkalies. Harvests of wheat and tobacco were obtained for a century from one
and the same field, without the aid of manure ; but now whole districts are
converted into unfruitful pasture laud, which without manure produces neither
wheat nor tobacco. From every acre of this land there were removed in the
space of one hundred years 1,200 lbs. of alkalies, in leaves, grain, and straw.
It became unfruitful then because it was deprived of every particle of alkali
which had been reduced to a soluble state, and because that which was ren-
dered soluble again in the course of a year Avas not sufficient to supply the
demands of the plants. . . . It is the greatest possible mistake to suppose
ttiat the temporary diminution of fertility in a soil is owing to*the loss of vege-
table mold. It is the mere consequence of the exhaustion of the alkalies,—
Liebig.

0.

EEMOVING LAEGE TEEES—" BALLING."
Late in the autumn, dig a circular ditch at a distance of from two to five feet,
according to its size, from the trunk of tlic tree, and from eighteen to thirty
inches deep, smoothly cutting off all the lateral roots close to the central mass
of earth. This ditch must be kept free from snow, until the inclosed ball con-
taining the roots of the tree is tiioroughly frozen. "With iron bars and levers
force up this circular mass of eartli, and place two or more strong skids under
it. By means of a strong set of pulleys, with oxen attached, if necessary, the

Appendix. 163

mass of earth, and the tree altogether, must be drawn over the skids up out of
the hole, upon a stone-boat or sled, the tree standing vertically, just as it grew.
Thus loaded and secured, it may easily be drawn to the spot selected for it. —
Oeorge Jaques.

D.

NEW VAEIETIES OF THE TOTATO FEOM THE SEED.

The plants from the seeds are about as hardy as tomatoes [and may be sown
in the same way either in a hot-bed or in the open air. The former is the pref-
erable way.] They should be hoed often, and dug early, or before the fall
rains and cold nights. Some years they will grow large enough for the table,
but are not fit to eat until three or four years old.

Each hill should be dug by itself, and all small and unhealthy tubers thrown
away, and the good ones labeled and put away carefully for another year's
planting. Any plants that have been well cultivated, and only produce small
tubers the first year, will never afterward ripen in season.

The second planting will need care and close attention through its growth.
Observe the time of flowering, and time of the decay of the vines, that when
digging them you may have the history of every hill, for almost every hill is a
family by itself.

At this time many sorts can again be rejected, reserving only those that
promise good, or indicate the object in view. I threw away a great many
varieties at every digging till the fourth year. I had but three families, all
white skin and flesh, to which I gave the name of " Stone Hill," the quality of
which has been well tested by use, as they have gone into almost every State
in the Union, and have been exhibited at very many fairs, and always attracted
notice, and a premium. — A. D. Bulkeley,

LUXUPJES OF A FEUIT GAEDEN.

A friend of ours, in M'hose reliability we have implicit confidence, has a
small plot of ground, of which he tells us the following facts :

From a row of currant bushes, about eight rods long, he and hie neighbors
gathered over two bushels of currants this year. The currant season, from
the first picking to the last, was, from June 1st to August 15th, two and a half
months.

From a row of gooseberry bushes, two rods long, he gathered about a bushel
of gooseberries.

From a plot of strawberry vines, four rods long and one rod wide, he gath-
ered nearly three bushels of strawberries. The strawberry season lasted about
three weeks, ending about the middle of July.

Then his raspberries came on, and lasted about three weeks. Of these he had
about half a bushel. They stood next to the strawberries in point of delicacy.

He has a number of cherry-trees. They yielded well this year. His family
and friends used a bushel or so, and the children of the neighborhood fed
themselves upon them, without stint, for two weeks.

164 Appendix.

Soon after the raspberries were gone, his peaches began to ripen. One of the
trees ripened its fruit late, and it has lasted till within a few days past ; of these
he has had two or more bushels.

All along since the first of August his apples and pears have been ripening,
and have furnished an abundant supply for his family, for the cow and pig, and
some to sell or give away besides. He will have a large quantity of excellent
winter apples. He has just gathered from two or three grapevines as many
bushels of fine grapes. Some of these his wife made into marmalade, and
some she has preserved in paper, for use hereafter. The best— and greater
portion of the whole— were eaten as a dessert, or given to children or friends,
all of whom enjoyed them much.

These are some of the enjoyments drawn from a small plot of ground during
the season just closing. They were at small cost, but they sweetened many a
meal, ministered to health, and added to the comfort of many guests.

Why may not nearly every man have as large a plot of ground, and as many
comforts ? Simply because he is negligent. — Ohio Farmer.

F.

HYACINTHS IN GLASSES.
Hyacinths intended for glasses should be placed in them during October and
November, the glasses being previously filled with pure water, so that the bot-
tom of the bulb may just touch the water ; then place them for the first ten
days in a dark room, to promote the shooting of the roots, after which expose
them to the sun and light as much as possible. They will blow, however, with-
out any sun, but the color of the flowers will be inferior. The water should be
changed as it becomes impure ; draw the roots entirely out of the glasses, rinse
ofi" the fibers in clean water, and wash the inside of the glass well. Care
should be taken that the water does not freeze, as it would not only burst the
glass, but cause the fibers to decay. Whether the water be hard or soft is not
of much consequence— soft is preferable— but must be perfectly clear to show
the fibers to advantage. — Thorbur/i^s Catalogue.

G.

BIX BEST KOSES FOR POT CULTURE.

TEA.—Glorie de Dijon.— Yellow, shaded with salmon and rose. A splendid
flower for all purposes. Blooms freely all winter. Form and habit of Souvenir
de la Malmaison. Triomphe de Luxembourg— Balmon buff, shaded with deep
rose; very large; distinct and fine; very fragrant. ArcMicchess Therem—
creamy white, with yellow center ; very sweet.

Bourbon.— //<3;'??i'c»sa.— Light blush; large, full, and double; grows freely
and blooms profusely. Queen of BoitrJwns—iawn color rose ; beautiful, and
fine bloomer.

Bengal.— Z>ai^y or Common.— Unglii rose ; a most profuse and constant
hloomer.— Rural New- Yorker.

INDEX

PACE

Ashes 33

Asparagus 89

Apple 114

Apricot 127

Aunuala 149

Bulbs 19

Budding 63

Beet 78

Bean 81

" Pole 82

" Lima 83

Borecole 86

Broccoli 88

Blackberry 136

Biennials 151

Bulbous Rooted Plants 153

Composts 39

Crops, Rotation of 60

Cuttings 62

Carrot 78

Cabbage 83

Savoy 85

Cauliflower 86

Chive 95

Cress 96

Celery 97

Cucumber 100

Corn Salad 100

Cape Gooseberry 106

Cherry 128

Currant 133

Climbing Plants 155

Draining 32, 44

Exogen 20

Endogen 20

Endive 96

Egg Pkmt 106

Flowers 23

" Annual 149

" Biennial 151

" Perennial 151

" Tuberous Rooted 153

" Bulbous Rooted 153

Flower Garden, Laying Out 115

" " Cultivation of 147

Fruit 24

" Ripening of 24

" Gardening Ill

Food of Plants 25, 23

Fencing 4^3

Fixtures 43

Forcing 52

Frost, Protection from 57

Fig 141

PAGE

Garden, Situation of a 41

" Size of a 41

" Shape of a 41

" Laying Out 42

Garlic 94

Grape 130

Grape Vines, How to Train 132

Germination 13

Growth, Conditions Essential to.. 2T

Guano 39

Grafting 65

Grafting Wax 68

Gooseberry 134

Hot Beds 49

Hoeing 5T

Horse Radish 100

Hedge Plants 161

Implements 46

"' for Ladies 144

Insects, Destruction of 58

Indian Corn 104

Leaves 21

Lime 38

Lavers 61

Leek 94

Lettuce 95

Lemon 130

Lime, The 130

Manures 86

" Application of 51

Marls 38

Mulching 53

Potatoes 76

" Trees 53

Mustard 96

Melon 102

Mulberry 142

Nectarine 126

Onion 92

" Top 93

" Potato 93

Okra 107

Olive 129

Orange 130

Pits 48

" Sunk 48

" Walled 49

Propagation 61

Pruning 63

Potato 73

" Rot 75

" Sweet 76

Parsnep 79

Pea 80

166

Index

PAflK

Pea, Sweet 150

" Everlasting 153

Pea-Nut 88

Pumpkin 102

Peach 124

" Trees, Pruning 126

" " Heading-in 126

" " Training 71

Pomegranate 141

Pepper 107

Parsley 109

Plum 127

Perennials 151

Quince 123

Eoots 16

Radish 99

Rhubarb 107

Raspberry 134

Seed-Leavea 16

Stem 19

Seeds U

" Sowing 53

" Saving 60

Soils 30

" Improvement of 82

" Depth of 34

" Preparation of 44

" Stirring 51

Situation 41

Subsoils 32

Subsoil Plowing 45

Stirring the Soil 51

Sowing Seeds 53

PAOR

Suckers 61

Slips 62

Salsify 79

Spinach 88

" New Zealand 89

Sea Kale 90

Shallot 93

Shrubs 154^160

" Lists of 154

" Flowering 154

Squash 103

Sweet Herbs 109

Sweet Potato 76

Strawberry 136

Trenching 44

Trellises 50

Transplanting 53

Training 71

Turnip 77

Tomato 104

Trees -. 157

" Transplanting 54

" Washes for 113

" Protection of, against Rabbits 113

" Lists of 159

" Large Growing 159

" Small 160

" Deciduous 159, 160

" Evergreen 160

Vegetable Marrow 103

Wheat, Analysis of 27

Watering 5T

Water Melon 103

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