MI3RARY
^ OF Tit K
UNIVERSITY-OF CALIFORNIA..
FT 01-"
Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH.
Received October, 1894.
No. 5*73.3$. Class No.
PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
AliCUT
Fruits, Flowers and Farming.
BY IIENKY WAED BEECHER.
NEW YORK-
DERBY & JACKSON 119 NASSAU STREET.
1859.
EmtKiD according to Act of C«agr*«, in Uie year 1859, by
HENRY WARD BE EC HER,
h U» CUik'a Office of lb« Dbtriet Court of the UnUed State* f»r the Southern District of
Now York.
OKO. Kl-MKLL ft CO., BUMKKTILLB & Bit
8t*r«otj-p«r. Printer*. BiuUere.
UHIVBRSITT
No one of our readers will be half so curious to know
what this book contains as the author himself. For it is
more than twelve years since these pieces were begun, and
it is more than ten years since we have looked at them.
The publishers have taken the trouble to dig them out from
what we supposed to be their lasting burial-place, in the
columns of the Western Farmer and Gardener, and they
have gone through the press without our own revision.
It is now twenty years since we settled at Indianapolis, the
capital of Indiana, a place then of four, and now of twenty-
Jive thousand inhabitants. At that tune, and for years
afterward, there was not, within our knowledge, any other
than political newspapers in the State — no educational
journals, no agricultural or family papers. The Indiana
Journal at length proposed to introduce an agricultural
department, the matter of which should every month
be printed, in magazine form, under the title, Indiana
Farmer and Gardener, which was afterward changed to
the more comprehensive title, Western Farmer and Gardener.
iii
IT PREFATORY.
It may be of some service to the young, as showing how
valuable the fragments of time may become, if incut ion is
made of the^ way in which we Ix-came prepared to nlii this
journal.
The continued taxation of daily pivai'hing, extending
through months, and once through eighteen consecutive
months, without the exception of a single day, began to
wear upon the nerves, and made it necessary for us to seek
some relaxation. Accordingly we used, after each week-
night's preaching, to drive the sermon out of our heads
by some alterative reading.
In the State Library were Loudon's works — his encyclo-
pedias of Horticulture, of Agriculture, and of Architecture.
We fell upon them, and, for years, almost monopolized them.
In our little one-story cottage, after the day's work was
done, we pored over these monuments of an almost incredi-
ble industry, and read, we suppose, not only every line, but
much of it, many times over ; until, at length, we had a
topographical knowledge of many of the fine English estates
— quite as intimate, we dare say, as was possessed by many
of their truant owners. There was something exceedingly
pleasant, and is yet, in the studying over mere catalogues
of flowers, trees, fruits, etc.
A seedsman's list, a nurseryman's catalogue, are more
fascinating to us than any story. In this way, through
several years, we gradually accumulated materials and
became familiar with facts and principles, which paved the
way for our editorial labors. Lindley's Horticulture and
Gray's Structural Botany came in as constant companions.
And when, at length, through a friend's liberah'ty, we be-
PBEFATOKY. 7
came the recipients of the London Gardener's Chronide,
edited by Prof. Lindley, our treasures were inestimable.
Afany hundred times have we lain awake for hours, unable
to throw off the excitement of preaching, and beguiling
the time with imaginary visits to the Chiswick Garden, to
the more than oriental magnificence of the Duke of Devon-
shire's grounds at Chatsworth. We have had long discus-
sions, in that little bedroom at Indianapolis, with Yan
Mons about pears, with Vibert about roses, with Thompson
and Knight of fruits and theories /of vegetable life, and
with London about everything under the heavens in the
horticultural world.
This employment of waste hours not only answered a
purpose of soothing excited nerves then, but brought us
into such relations to the material world, that, we speak
with entire moderation, when we say that all the estates
of the richest duke in England could not have given us
half the pleasure which we have derived from pastures,
waysides, and unoccupied prairies.
If, when the readers of this book shall have finished it,
they shall say, that these papers, well enough for the cir-
cumstances in which they originally appeared, have no such
merit as to justify their republication in a book form, we beg
leave to tell them that their judgment is not original. It is
just what we thought ourselves 1 But Publishers are willful,
and must be obeyed !
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
BROOKLYN, June 1, 1859.
CONTENTS.
Preliminary 9
Our Creed 10
Almanac for the Year 11
Educated Farmers 20
A n Acre of Words about Aker 23
Farmer's Library 27
Nine Mistakes 29
Agricultural Societies 80
Shiftless Tricks 33
Electro Culture 86
Single Crop Farming 39
Improved Breeds of Hogs and Cattle. 41
Absorbent Qualities of Flour 44
Portrait of an Anti-Book Farmer 46
Good Breeds of Cows 50
Cutting and Curing Grass 53
Country and City 65
Lime upon Wheat 56
Culture of Hops 68
White Clover 60
Plowing Corn 61
Clean out your Cellars 64
When is Haying over ? 66
Laying down Land to Grass 67
Theory of Manure 71
Fodder for Cattle 73
The Science of Bad Butter 75
Cincinnati, the Queen City 79
Care of Animals In Winter 83, 1G5
Winter Nights for Reading 85
Feathers 65
Nail up your Bugs 87
Ashes and their Use 90
Hard Times ... .02
Gypsum 93
Acclimating a Plow 93
Scour your Plows Bright 95
Plow till it is Dry and Plow till it is Wat. 96
Stirring the Soil 97
Subsoil Plowing 93
Fire-Blight and Winter Tilling 99
Winter Talk 101
" Shut your Mouth " 103
Spring Work on the Farm 104
Spring Work in the Garden 107, 214
Fall Work in the Garden 112
Guarding Cherry-trees from Cold 113
Shade Trees 114, 174
A Plea for Health and Floriculture. . 117
Keeping Young Pigs in Winter 120
Sweet Potatoes 121
Management of Bottom Lands 121
Cultivation of Wheat 124
Pleasures of Horticulture 136
Practical Use of Leaves 187
Spring Work for Public-spirited Men . 140
Farmers and Farm Scenes in the West . 142
Ornamental Shrubs 14wsA your pigs from the birth.
Look carefully at\er your lambs; see that the mothers are
well cared for; have dry and warm pens for any that are
ic-eblo. A little tenderness to the lambs will be well repaid
by and by.
GARDEN. — Your lettuce may be transplanted from the
hot-bed the middle and last of this month. A foot apart
is none too much, if you wish head-lettuce. Sow your
main supplies of radishes, cabbage, tomatoes, etc. Get
your pie-plant seed in early as possible ; also carrots, pars-
nips, and salsify or oyster-plant. Prune your gooseberries,
currants, and raspberry bushes. Grapes, which were not
laid in last fall should be pruned and laid in early in March ;
but if neglected then, let them be till the leaves are large
as the palm of your hand. Look out or worms' nests, and
destroy them promptly.
5. WORK FOR MAY. — Your whole force will be required in
this month. If the season has been late or wet, you still
have your corn to plant. Pastures will be ready for your
stock ; remember to salt your stock every week. Weeds
will now do their best to take your crops. Your potato
crop should be put in, as there will be little danger of frost.
After the 15th, you may put out sweet potato slips. If
you have not grass-land for pasturage, try for one season
the system of soiling, i. e. keeping up your cattle in
the yard or home-lot, and cutting green-fodder for them
every day. An acre or two of corn, sown broad-cast, or
oats and millet, should be tried. Above all other things, if
you have warm, deep sandy loam, put in an acre of lucerne.
During the last of this month, and at the beginning of
the next, pruning may be done. If the limbs be large,
cover the stump with a coat of paint, wax, grafting clay, or
anything that will exclude air and wet.
The garden will require extra labor in all this month.
After the 15th, tender bulbs and tubers may be planted,
dahlias, amaryllises, tuberoses, etc. Peas will require brush;
ABOUT FBUI1S, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 15
all your plants from the hot-bed should by this time be well
a growing in open air. Roses will be showing their buds.
It' large roses of a favorite sort are required, more than half
the buds should be taken off, and the whole strength of the
plant be given to the remainder. The soil for this best of
all flowers, cannot be too rich, nortoo deep.
6. WORK FOR JUNE. — May, June, and September are the
dairy months. The best butter and the best cheese are
usually made in these months. If you are not neat, you
do not know how to make cheese or butter. Uncleanliness
affects not only the looks, but the quality of butter. Broad,
shallow glass pans are the best, but the most expensive. In
these milk seldom turns sour in summer thunder-storms.
Tin pans are good, but unless the dairy-woman is scrupu-
lously neat, the seams will be filled with residuum of milk
and become very foul, giving a flavor to each successive
panful. The principal requisites for prime butter are,
good cows, good pasture for them, clean pans, cool, airy
cellars, clean churns. Let the cream be churned before it
is sour or bitter ; and when the butter comes, at least three
thorough workings will be necessary to drive out all the
butter-milk.
GARDEN. — Transplant flowers; destroy all weeds; get
out cabbages; more lettuce; get ready celery trenches;
layer favorite roses, vines, etc. ; examine and remove from
the peach-tree root, the grub which is destroying them.
Sow salt under plum-trees — put on a coat two inches
thick.
Transplant flowers ; bud roses with fine kinds ; see that
large plants are tied neatly to frames or stakes. Every
morning examine your beds of cabbage, etc., for cut-worms,
and destroy them if found ; plant succession crops of peas,
corn, radishes, lettuce, etc.
7. WORK FOR JULY. — Great difference of practice and
opinion exists as to the methods and time of harvesting.
Some cut their grass while the dew is on it ; others cut it
16 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
when perfectly dry, and say that if so cut it need not be
1, l»ut will dry in the swath in one or two days. As
to the time of cutting grass, we should avoid both ex-
tremes of very early or very late. Just before the seed of
•'/// is rijie, is, upon the whole, the best time for this
> for the scythe. Clover should be cut when
in full blossom ; instead of spreading, the best farmers
make it into small cocks and leave it there to cure, which it
will do without shrivelling or losing its color.
GARDEN WORK. — As soon as your roses are done bloom-
ing, if you wish to increase them, take the young shoots,
ami about eight inches from the ground, cut, below an eye,
half through, and then slit upward an inch or two through
the pith ; put a bit of chip in to keep the slit open ; bend
down the branch and cover the portion thus operated
on with an inch or two of earth and put a brick upon
it. It will soon send out roots, and by October may be
separated from the parent plant. Quinces, gooseberries, and
almost all shrubs which branch near the ground, may be
propagated in this way. Still keep down weeds. Sow suc-
cessive crops of corn, peas and salads, for fall use. Begin
to gather such seeds as ripen early. Take up tulips, hya-
cinths, etc., as soon as the tops wither.
8. WORK FOR AUGUST. — If during this hot month you will
clear out fence corners, and cut off vexatious intruders, the
sun will do all it can to help you kill them. If your wheat
is troubled with the weevil, thrash it out and leave it in the
chaff. It will raise a heat fatal to its enemy without injur-
ing itself. Every fanner should have a little nursery row
of apple, pear, peach and plums of his own raising. Plant
the seed ; when a year old, transplant into rows eight indies
apart in the row and two feet between the rows. During
July, August, and September, you may bud them with
choice sorts, remembering that a first-rate fruit will live just
as easily as a worthless sort. This is a good month to sow
down fallow fields to grass. Plough thoroughly — harrow
ABOUT FJRUI1S, FLOWKIiS AM> FARMING. 17
till the earth is fine ; be liberal of seed, aiid cover in with
a harrow and not with a bush, which drags the seeds into
heaps, or carries them in hollows. The early part of the
month should be improved by ah1 who wish to put in a crop
of buck-wheat or turnips. If your pastures are getting
short, let your milch cows have something every night
in the yard. Corn, sown broadcast, would now render
admirable service.
If you have neglected to raise your bulbs, lose no time
now. Take cuttings from roses and put in small pots, invert
a glass over them ; in two or three weeks they will take
root, and by the next spring make good plants. Gather
flower seeds as soon as they ripen.
9. WORK FOB SEPTEMBER. — You should finish seeding
your wheat grounds in this month. If sown too early, it
is liable to suffer from the fly ; if too late, from rust. Those
who sow acres by the hundred, must sow early and late
both. But moderate fields should be seeded by the mid-
dle of this month. In preparing the land, if the surface
does not naturally drain itself, it should be so plowed as
to turn the water into furrows between each land. Standing
water, and, yet more, ice upon it, being fatal to it. See
that your cattle are brought into good condition for winter-
ing. Fall transplanting may be performed from the middle
of this month ; take off every leaf— re-set, and stake.
By the latter part of the month, or early in October,
according to the season, it will be necessary to raise and pot
such plants as you intend to keep in the house ; to raise and
place in a dry and frost-proof room your dahlias, tube-
roses, amaryllis, tigridia, gladioli, and such other tender
bulbs as you may have. Let your seed be gathered,
carefully put away where it will contract no moisture. Go
over your grounds and examine all your labels, lest the
storms which are approaching should destroy them. Sow
in some warm and sheltered part ^rpr* ffird™ early in
this month, for ^j.rinir »M-, -] :""£fff^"%ijy^t|£f, etc.
^T>
WflRSITYj
!\ ** . -*
18 PLAIN \M' I'M. A>VNT TALK
As soon as the leaves fall, take cuttings from currant bushes
and grapes, and plant them out in rows. They will start
off and grow earlier by some six weeks, the next season.
Fill in your celery trenches every ten days.
10. WORK FOR OCTOBER. — Push forward your hogs as fast
as possible. If they have had a good clover range in the
summer, they will be ready to start off vigorously from the
moment that you begin to put them upon corn. See that
good paths are made in every direction from your house ;
and be sure to have walks through your barn-yards raised
so high as never to be muddy. Your cattle-yards should
slope toward the centre in such a way that horses and cat-
tle need not wade knee deep in going in and out.
Frosts will now begin to strip your trees and stop the
growth of garden shrubs, and all your preparations should
be made for protecting tender trees and shrubs. For
cherry and pear-trees, especially, you should provide good
covering for their trunk, until they have grown quite large.
A good bundle of corn-stalks set round the body so as to
keep out the sun, but not the air, will answer every purpose.
For beds of China and tea, and dwarf roses, we advise
a covering of three inches of half-rotted manure. Cover
this with leaves about six inches. Moss is better, if you
will take the trouble to collect it ; an d straw will do if you
have neither moss nor leaves. Half cover the part that
remains exposed, with fine brush, or pine branches. For
single plants, drive a stake by their side, and tie the plant
to it; wind loosely about it a wisp of straw or roll
of bass matting, or cloth, so as to exclude the sun and
not the air. The sun, and not the cold, usually destroys
plants.
11. WORK FOR NOVEMBER. — During this month, if the
ground is not locked by frost, you may plow stiff, tenacious
clay soils to great advantage. By lu-in^ broken up and
subjected to the keen frosts, your soil will become mellow
and tomlcr. Soe that every provision is made for shelter-
ABOUT FliUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 19
ing your cattle and horses ; be sure that your sheep are not
obliged to lie out in drenching rains.
IN THE GARDEN see that your asparagus bed is dressed
if neglected last month. House all your brush, poles,
stakes, frames, etc., which will be fit for use another season.
If your tulips, hyacinths, etc. have not been planted, you
had better reserve them for spring, as they will be liable to
rot in the ground if planted so late in the year. Cover with
brush, or leaves, or straw, your lettuce, spinage, and other
salad plants designed for spring use. If tender plants,
roses, vines, etc., have been left unprotected, cover as
directed last month. If you have no cold frame for half-
hardy plants, they may be laid in by the heels, i. e., taken
up, and the roots laid into a trench, the tops sloping at an
angle of about twenty degrees, and then covered with earth.
The soil should cover about half the stem.
It is now a good season for cutting grafts. Take them
from the outside of the middle of the tree ; let them be dono
up in small packages, and set up endwise in the cellar, and
covered with about half-dry sand. Roots may be taken
from pear and apple-trees, and packed in the same way for
root-grafting.
12. DECEMBER. — The year is about to close. Look back
upon your toil. In what respect will your year's labor bear an
approval when calmly examined ? Can you honestly acquit
yourself of indolence and carelessness? and as honestly take
credit for enterprise, activity, and a desire for improve-
ment? Your barns are full — your granary is heavy with
grain — the year's bounty has followed a year's labor, and if
you have the heart of a man you will not forget the source
whence your blessings have come. You have perhaps done
well by your stock, and in so far as the body is concern o«l,
for your children ; but what have you done for their cdiu-:i-
tion ? What have you done to promote popular education ?
Are you doing anything to make your neighborhood bet-
ter? What good newspapers do you provide for your thin-
•JO PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ily ? Do you lay out as much money for books as you do
for tobacco? In looking fonvunl to the next year, you
ought to mark out your personal course by good resolu-
tions, and your business course by a definite plan of opera-
tions. It would be well if a farmer should know before-
1 1:1 ml everything he means to do ; and afterwards, if he has
kept such an account that you can tell anything that you
h:ive th
fur and near. It is very difficult to fix on any rule for any-
thing in our language. Etymology is chiefly useful in
settling the primitive signification, and is, or ought to be,
scarcely at all authoritative in orthography. Where two
languages are very different, it is absurd to attempt the
forms of the one in the other. In respect to idiom, no one
dreams of transferring it from one to another. Oftentimes
it is equally absurd to transfer mere literation, as in the
Greek-blooded word Phthisic for Tisic, or as Walker would
have spelled it, Phthisic^ / Who rebels because demesne,
as it is written in our best authors until within a little time,
is now spelled domain f We see no reason why Anglicized
words should, against all our notions of sound, retain a
cumbrous foreign spelling. Words adopted into a lan-
guage by the ear, which are spoken before they are
written, generally conform, on being written, to our modes
of spelling. But words introduced first by the eye, as they
are written, for a long time wear the original spelling.
Thus some foreign words are spelled by one method, and
pome by another.
Custom is usually regarded as determinate, in the matter
of spelling, pronunciation, idiom, purity, etc. But, in
respect to spelling, custom is not long the same. If one
will examine our literature from the time of Henry VIII., ho
will find a constant succession of changes in spelling, both
for good and for bad. ./has been generally substituted for
Y, as in Lykwyse, accordynge, beyng, certayne. Sir
Thomas More wrote hym, thynges, desyer, myndes. Skel-
ton, the Poet Laureat, has centencyously, dyd, advysynge
hyll, etc., etc.
* Two-volume edition, imperial octavo.
24 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
There has, too, and widely, been a constant tendency to
drop all \insovnckd letters. AYhat earthly use is there of
liiLru-iiiLC alono; letters which arc entirely mute? In old but
classic authoix \vc liavc (iodnr, i\ \\ cared to take the dull but real
and necessary IMIMI
4. Notwithstanding all these things, the county societies
did a great deal of good. A skillful farmer told me, that
in the county, where he resided, there was hardly a con-
siderable farmer \\lio did not try a few acres, at least, to
see what he could do / and even many renters exhibited
specimens of fine cultivation. More attention was paid
to every part of the farm ; and, for a time, everything felt
the impulse.
A few words to those who may embark again in this good
cause.
1 . It is best to begin as you can hold out. A great meet-
ing, a vast roll of by-laws, a regiment of officers, a parade
of speeches, these make a fine meeting, and that's all. Let
a few stanch friends to improvement put their heads and
hands together, without show or noise ; begin at the little
end, and hold fast what is gained.
2. In choosing officers, societies almost invariably steer
upon one rock on which thousands have split. There is a
desire to put great men into offices, to get their influence.
In a mere public meeting of a day, this is well enough ; but
in a society which is to exist by efficient labor, it is suicide.
Such men like to be puffed and published as presidents,
chairmen, etc., etc., but that ends the matter. They go
away and are not seen again till the next annual meeting,
when, lo ! a resurrection takes place ; and they flame again,
a whole year's zeal exhibited in one day. It is best to
select officers, who are well broken, of a good strain of
blood, and who pull steadily, on hard ground, in the mud,
over bridging, or upon turnpikes. In this way we may not
have quite so large a show, but we shall have a steadily
growing and efficient society.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 33
3. In the award of premiums, more or less of dissatisfac-
tion will always be felt. A man who has worked a whole
year for a premium cannot be expected to lose it without
some pain. Premiums should be awarded with great care,
\\ Uh scrupulous impartiality, and every effort made by the
loading, substantial farmers to soothe and keep down every-
thing like bitterness and faction, in consequence of disap-
pointment.
4. It is indispensable that agricultural papers should go
hand in hand with agricultural societies. We will venture
to say, that no society will long exist prosperously, which
does not have a reading membership ; and that a society
can hardly fail to prosper if its members are regular readers
of agricultural papers.
SHIFTLESS TRICKS,
To let the cattle fodder themselves at the stack ; they
pull out and trample more than they eat. They eat till the
edge of appetite is gone, and then daintily pick the choice
parts ; the residue, being coarse and refuse, they will not
afterwards touch.
To sell half a stack of hay and leave the lower half open to
rain and snow. In feeding out, a hay knife should be used
on the stack ; in selling, either dispose of the whole, or re-
move that which is left to a shed or barn.
It is a shiftless trick to lie about stores and groceries,
arguing with men that you have no time, in a new country f
for nice farming — for making good fences; for smooth
meadows without a stump ; for draining wet patches which
disfigure fine fields.
To raise your own frogs in your own yard ; to permit,
year after year, a dirty, stinking, mantled puddle to stand
before your fence in the street.
2»
34 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
To plant orchards, and allow your cattle to cat the trees
up. When gnawed down, to save your money, by trying
to nurse the stubs into good trees, instead of getting 1'ivsh
ones from the nursery.
To allow an orchard to have blank spaces, where
have died, :mr, if
much molded, it is slightly skimmed, as if the flavor of
mold, which has struck through the whole mass, could be
removed by taking off the colored portion ! The peculiar
taste arising from this affection of the milk, blessed be the
man who needs to be told it !
Variety 7. SOUR-MILK BUTTER. — This is made from milk
which has been allowed to sour, the milk and cream being
churned up together. The flavor is that of greasy, sour
milk.
Variety 8. VINEGAR BUTTER. — There are some who
imagine that all milk should be soured before it is fit to
churn. When, in cool weather, it delays to change, they
expedite the matter by some acid — usually vinegar. The
butter strongly retains the flavor thereof.
Variety 9. CHEESY BUTTER. — Cream comes quicker by
being heated. If sour cream be heated, it is very apt to
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 77
separate and deposit a irliey : if this is strained iiito the
churn with the cream, the butter will have a strong cheesy
flavor,
Variety 10. GRANULATED BUTTER. — When, in winter,
sweet cream is over-heated, preparatory to churning, it pro-
duces butter full of grains, as if there were meal in it.
Variety 11. — In this we will comprise the two opposite
kinds — too salt and unsalted butter. We have seen butter
exposed for sale with such masses of salt in it that one is
tempted to believe that it was put in as a make-weight.
When the salt is coarse, the operation of eating this butter
affords those who have good teeth, a pleasing variety of
grinding.
Variety 12. LARD BUTTER. — When lard is cheap and
abundant, and butter rather dear, it is thought profitable to
combine the two.
Variety 13. MIXED BUTTER. — When the shrewd house-
wife has several separate churnings of butter on hand, some
of which would hardly be able to go alone, she puts them
together, "and those who buy, find out that "Union is
strength!" Such butter is pleasingly marbled; dumps of
white, of yellow, and of dingy butter melting into each
other, until the whole is ring-streaked and speckled.
Variety \ 4. COMPOUND BUTTER. — By compound butter
we mean that which has received contributions from things
animate and inanimate ; feathers, hairs, rags of cloth,
threads, specks, chips, straws, seeds ; in short, everything
is at one time or another to be found in it, going to pro-
duce the three successive degrees of dirty, filthy, nasty.
Variety 15. TOUGH BUTTER. — When butter is worked too
long after the expulsion of buttermilk, it assumes a gluey,
putty-like consistence, and is tough when eaten. But, oh
blessed fault ! we would go ten miles to pay our admiring
respects to that much-to-be-praised dairy-maid whose zeal
leads her to work her butter too much ! We doubt, how-
ever, if a pound of such butter was ever seen in this place.
78 ri.AIX AVD IM V. ASAXT TALK
Besides all those, whose history we have correctly traced ;
Otter la-tin;.: of turpentine iroiii beinij made in
pine churns; butter bent on travelling, in hot weather;
butter dotted, like cloves on a boiled ham, with Hies, which
Solomon assures us causeth the ointment to stink; besides
butter in rusty tin pans, and in dirty swaddling clothes;
besides butter made of milk drawn from a dirty cow, by a
dirtier hand, into a yet dirtier pail, and churned in a churn
the dirtiest of all ; besides all these sub-varieties, there are
several others with which we have formed an acquaintance,
but found ourselves baffled at analysis. We could not even
guess the cause of their peculiarities. Oh Dr. Liebig ! how
we have longed for your skill in analytic chemistry! What
consternation would we speedily send among the slatternly
butter-makers, revealing the mysteries of their dirty doings
with more than mesmeric facility !
And now, what on earth is the reason that good butter is
so great a rarity? Is it a hereditary curse in some
families ? or is it a punishment sent upon us for our ill-
deserts? A few good butter-makers in every neighborhood
aic a standing proof that it is nothing but bad housewifery;
mere sheer carelessness which turns the luxury of the churn
into an utterly nauseating abomination.
Select cows for quality and not for quantity of milk ;
give them sweet and sufficient pasturage ; keep clean your-
self; milk into a clean pail; strain into clean pans — (pans
scalded, scoured, and sunned, and if tin, with every particle
of milk rubbed out of the seams.) While it is yet sweet,
churn it; if it delays to come, add a little saleratus ; work it
thoroughly, three times, salting it at the second working ;
put it into a cool place, and then, when, with a conscience
as clean and sweet as your butter, you have dispatched your
tempting rolls to market, you may sit down and thank God
that you are an honest woman !
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 79
CINCINNATI, THE QUEEN CITY.
WHATEVER may have been the squealing celebrity of
Forkopolis, Cincinnati seems destined to merge the glory
of that name in the more agreeable title, City of.Vineyards.
That she is the Queen City none denies. But on account
of what single excellence, it might be difficult, for some, to
say. A queen of slaughter-pens might be a hearty buxom
lass, but, withal, not exactly the personage for which
knights (Sancho always excepted) love to break lances. A
queen of foundries and stithies, she might be, and not neces-
sarily, on that account, a ruddy brunette ; inasmuch as Sir
Vulcan was, once before, the husband of Venus — queen of
beauty. A blushing queen of strawberry beds would be
quite romantic; but yet more appropriate if her jurisdic-
tion were extended over vines and purple clusters and vine-
yards and orchards. But whether it be pork, or iron, or
pinions, or vineyards, or observatories, Cincinnati is acknow-
ledged on all hands to be the Queen City.
Leaving her commercial glories out of view, we think
Cincinnati has done more for horticulture than any Ameri-
can city, taking into the account her recent origin and her
means. In all other cities horticulture has been the child
of wealth and leisure. It has followed commercial or manu-
facturing prosperity. But in this city, it began with them
and kept pace with them ; so that one wonders which most
to admire, the thrift of industry and skill, or the elegant
taste which is so generally evinced in the cultivation of
fruit, and shrub and flower.
The first volume of the Transactions of the Cincinnati
Horticultural Society, is eminently worthy of that enter-
prising corporation.
The thoughts of several principal friends of horticulture
seem much directed to the subject of vine culture, and the
manufacture of wine. There are more than eighty-three vine-
yards in the vicinity of the city containing not far from 400
80 1M .A IN" AND PLEASANT TALK
acres of land! From 114 acres during the season of 1845i
more than 23,000 gallons of wine were manufactured, anh-
ments of hock and champagne, or redeeming our barley
and cornfields from the abominable persecutions of the
brew-tub and the still, by the conservative energy or evan-
gelizations of grape juice, we shall believe it when we see
it; and we shall just as soon expect to see fire putting out
fire and frost melting ice, as one degree of alcoholic stimu-
lus curing a higher one.
To PRESERVE GARDEN STICKS. — It is desirable
one has prepared good sticks for supporting carnations,
roses, dahlias, etc., to preserve them from year to year. The
following preparation will make them last a man's lifetime :
When they are freshly made, allow them to become tho-
roughly dry; then soak them in linseed oil for some tin;
two or three days. When taken out let them stand to dry
till the oil is perfectly soaked in ; then paint with two coats
of verdigris paint. No wet can then penetrate.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 83
CARE OF ANIMALS IN WINTER.
THE wisest man has said that " the righteous man regard-
eth the life of his beast ; but the tender mercies of the
wicked are cruel." If any one is at a loss to know the
meaning of the latter part, he cannot have made good use
of his eyes. Lean cattle, leaner horses, anatomical speci-
mens of cows, half fed, dirty, drenched by every rain, and
pierced by every winter wind, these are an excellent com-
ment OR the passage.
It is time for every merciful man to make provision for
every dumb animal which is dependent upon him.
Cows should be provided with a comfortable stable at
night. No feeding will be a substitute for good shelter.
Both the quantity and quality of the milk will depend upon
bodily comfort in respect to warmth and nutritious food.
Such as are becoming heavy with calf should be specially
cared for. Many farmers let their cows shift for themselves
as soon as their milk dries away. But the health of the
coming calf and the ability of the cow to supply it, and her
owner, copiously with milk depend on the condition in
which she is kept during the period of gestation.
Cattle should have a good shed provided for them, under
which they may be dry and sheltered from winds. It is the
curse of western farming that cattle and fodder are so plenty
that it is hardly a loss to waste both.
Where the amount of stock is too great for comfortable
home-quarters, and they are wintered in a stock field, there
should be places of resort for them, so high as to remain
dry, well turfed with blue-grass, and sheltered with cheap
si KM Is, or by belts of forest.
Sheep should receive special attention. They abhor vet.
They should be permitted to keep their fleece dry, and to
eat their food in a dry stable. The flock should be sorted.
The bucks and wethers by themselves, the ewes by them-
selves ; lambs and weak sheep in another division ; and a
84 1M..MN AND 1M.KASANT TALK
fourth compartment should never be wanting for the sick,
where they may be nursed and medically treated.
//•/»6' are more apt to be taken eare of than eattle.
But even they are often inure indebted for existence to a
stubborn tenacity of life, than to the can1 of their keepers.
The horse is a more dainty feeder than ruminating animals.
He should be supplied with a, better article of hay; his
grain should never be dirty or musty.
Hardy farm-horses may even rough out the winter with-
out blanketing or any other care than is necessary to sup-
ply good food and enough of it. But carriage horses, and
those highly prized for the saddle — aristocratic horses —
should be more carefully groomed. It is not wise to blan-
ket a horse at all, unless it can be always done. If he is
liable to change hands ; to be off on journeys under cir-
cumstances hi which he cannot be blanketed at night, it will
be better not to begin it.
Winter is a good time to kill off spirited horses. They
are easily run down by a smashing sleigh-ride pace. Boys
and girls, buzzing in a double sleigh like a hive of bees,
think that the horses enjoy themselves, at the exhilarating
pace of six or eight miles an hour, as much as they do.
But this is not ordinarily the worst of it. The horse stands
out, after a trip of ten or fifteen miles, at a post for am hour
or two until thoroughly chilled ; then home he races, and
goes into the stable, steaming writh sweat, to stand without
blankets all night. Horses catch cold as much as men do.
And a horse-cold is just as bad as a human cold. As there
Las been some difficulty, in the construction of fanning mills,
to gain a strong enough current of wind, we would advise
the builders of them to study the construction of a good
stable.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 85
WINTER NIGHTS FOR READING.
As the winter is a season of comparative leisure, it is the
time for farmers to study. It is a good time for them to
make themselves acquainted with the nature of soils, of
manures, of vegetable organization — or structural botany.
Farmers are liable to rely wholly upon their own experi-
ence, and to despise science. Book-men are apt to rely on
scientific theories, and nothing upon practice. If these
two tendencies would only court and marry each other,
what a hopeful family would they rear ! How nice it would
look to see in the papers :
MARRIED. — By Philosophical Wisdom, Esq., Mr. Prac-
tical Experience, to Miss Sober Science. [We will stand
godfather to all the children.]
FEATHERS.
THE quality of feathers depends on their strength, elasti-
city and cleanness ; and these, again, depend upon the condi-
tion of the bird, its health, food, and the time of plucking
its feathers. Down is the term applied to under-feaihers —
most abundant in water fowl, and in those especially which
live in cold latitudes, being designed to protect them from
wet and cold. The eider-down, from the eider-duck, is of
the most repute. It is brought from extreme northern
latitudes, and is used for coverings to beds, rather than for
beds themselves, as, by being slept upon, it loses its elasti-
city.
Poultry feathers, as those of turkeys, ducks, and chick-
ens, if assorted and the coarse ones rejected, afford very
good beds ; but they are not so elastic as geese-feathers.
86 PLAIN AM) PLEASANT TALK
Everybody knows that live geese-feathers are the
ry one does not think of tin* reason ; which,
as it is the key to the art of having good feathers, we
shall propound.
So long as a bird is alive, the feathers are as much an
object of nutrition as the llesh, the bones, or any other
part of the body.
When dead, put them into hot water to make the feathers
come easy. In pulling, take out large handfuls at a time,
so as to have scraps of meat and shreds of skin adhere
to the quill; let them lie for several days in wet heaps
to ferment a little. Then dry them suddenly by violent
heat, cram them into the bed-tick, and jump on, and if you
have not an odorous bed, and, in a month or two, a bedful
of visitors seeking food, then there is no truth in the laws
of nature.
The care of beds is not understood, often, by even good
housewives. When a bed is freshly made it often smells
strong. Constant airing, will, if the feathers are good, and
only new, remove the scent.
A bed in constant use should be invariably beaten and
shaken up daily, to enable the feathers to retain their elasti-
city.
It should lie after it is shaken up, for two or three hours
a day, in a well ventilated room. The human body is con-
stantly giving off a perspiration; and at night more than
usual, from the relaxed condition of the skin. The bed
will become foul from this cause if not well aired. If the.
bed is in a room which cannot be spared for such a length
of time, it should be put out to air two full days in tin-
week.
In airing beds, the sun should never shine directly upon
them. It is air, not heat, that they need. We lia\<
iying on a roof where the direct and reilecled rays of
the sun had full power, and the feathers, without dmibt,
were stewing, and the oil in the quill becoming rancid ; so
ABOUT HCVXlftf l-M.<)Wi:i:s AND FARMING. • 87
th:it the bed smells worse after its roasting than before.
Always air beds in the shade, and, if possible, in cool and
/ t/iti/s. And now, it' any of our attentive housewife-
n -adi-rs, and we have not a few, are disposed to reward us
for all this advice, let them give us a bed to sleep on, when
we next visit them, made of growing feathers, from live
air.d healthy geese, carefully picked, well cured, daily shaken
up and thoroughly aired ; and if we do not dream that the
owner is an angel, it will be because we are too much occu-
pied in sound sleeping.
NAIL UP YOUR BUGS.
" The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by masters
of assemblies." — SOLOMON.
AFTER a great pother about canker worms, peach-tree
worms, and other audacious robber-worms; after smoke,
salt, tar, and tansy, bands of wool, cups of oil, lime, ashes,
and surgery have been set forth as remedies, to the confu-
sion of those who have tried them bootlessly, it now appears
that #e are about to nail the rascals. The Boston Cultiva-
tor, contains an article " On Destroying Insects on Trees,"
from which we quote :
" I did not intend to give it publicity until I had fully
tested it, but as the ravages are very extensive in the West,
I cannot delay giving you the experiment, hoping that
some of your western readers may now give it a fair trial
and report the result. I will give one case which may
it.duce the experiment wherever the evil i^ felt. In conver-
sation witli a friend in Newburyport, Dr. Watson, last
fall, I mentioned the experiment; he invited me to his
garden, where last year a fruit-tree was infested with the
88 1M.AIN AND PLEASANT TALK
nests of caterpillar or canker-worms, as were his neighbors'
; he showed me a board naileil for convenience of a
clothes-line upon one of the lar^e limits of the- tree; he said
he noticed a little while afterward that the nests on that limb
dried up, and the worms disappeared, though the cause did
not then occur to him though apparent as it will be to any
scientific mind.
"Drive carefully well home, so that the bark will heal
over a, few headless cast iron nails, say some six or eight,
size and number according to the size of the tree, in a ring
around its body, a foot or two above the ground. The
oxidation of the iron by the sap, will evolve ammonia,
which will, of course, with the rising sap, impregnate every
part of the foliage, and prove to the delicate palate of
the patient, a nostrum, which will soon become, as in
many cases of larger animals, the real panacea for the ills of
life, via Tomb. I think if the ladies should drive some
small iron brads into some limbs of any plant infested with
any insect, they would find it a good and safe remedy, and
I imagine in any case, instead of injury, the ammonia will be
found particularly invigorating. Let it be tried upon a
limb of any tree, where there is a vigorous nest of cater-
pillars, and watch it for a week or ten days, and I think the
result will pay for the nails."
Let our farmers take their hammers and nails and start
for the orchard ; if they see a bug on the tree, drive a nail,
and he is a bug no more! If they see a worm, in with
a nail, and the "ammonia evolved" will finish his
functions !
The Southern Planter is out with a backer tp the Boston
Cultivator :
" A singular fact, and one worthy of being recorded, was
mentioned to us a few days since by Mr. Alexander Duke,
of Albemarle. He stated that whilst on a visit to a neigh-
bor, his attention was called to a large peach orchard, every
tree in which had been totally destroyed by the ravages of
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 89
the worm, with the exception tf three, and these three were
probably the most thrifty and flourishing peach-trees he ever
saw. The only cause of their superiority known to his host,
WBB an experiment made in consequence of observing that
those parts of worm-eaten timber into which nails had been
driven, were generally sound; when his trees were about
a year old he had selected three of them and driven a
tenpenny nail through the body, as near the ground as pos-
sible ; whilst the balance of his orchard has gradually failed,
and finally yielded entirely to the ravages of the worms,
these three trees, selected at random, treated precisely in
the same manner, with the exception of the nailing, had
always been vigorous and healthy, furnishing him at that
very period with the greatest profusion of the most
luscious fruit. It is supposed that the salts of iron afforded
by the nail are offensive to the worm, whilst they are harm-
less, or perhaps even beneficial to the tree."
We do not wish to interrupt any experiments which the
enterprising may choose to make. To be sure we regard
the facts with some incredulity, and the chemical explana-
tions with something of the mirthful superadded to unbelief.
]>iit if nails are an antidote to worms — a real vermifuge —
let them be administered, whatever may be the explana-
tions; whether they are an electric battery, giving the
insects a little domestic, vegetable lightning, or whether
they afford "salts of iron" to physic them, or "evolve
ammonia " in such potent, pungent strength that vermicular
nostrils are unable to endure it !
While one is fairly engaged in a campaign of experi-
ments, we heartily hope that war will be carried to the very
territory of ignorance, and we will propound several other
important questions of fact and theory, which, if settled,
will crown somebody's brow with laurels.
It is said that hanging a scythe in a plum-tree, or an iron
hoop, or horse shoes, will insure a crop of plums. This
ought to be investigated.
90 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
It is said that pear-trees that are unfruitful, maybe mrido
to bear, by digging under them, cutting the tap rout, and
burying a black cat there. We do not kno\v as it makes
any difference as to the sex of the cat, though we should,
if trying it, rather prefer the male cat.
Lastly, that we may contribute our mite to the advance-
ment of science, we will state that, in our youth, we were-
informed, that, if we would go into the wood-house once a
day and rub our hands with a chip, without thinking of red
f«xjs tail, the warts would all go off. We have no doubt
that it would have been successful, but every time we tried
the experiment, whisk came the red fox's tail into our head
•ind spoilt the whole affair. But might this not cure warts
on trees?
ASHhS AND THEIR USE.
SOME soils contain already the chemical ingredients which
wood ashes supply. If lime be applied to a calcareous soil,
it will do no good ; there was no want of lime there before ;
if potash be added to a soil already abounding in it, no
effect will be seen in the crops. Ashes contain lime and
potash (phosphate of lime and silicate of potash). If a
soil is naturally rich in these, the addition of ashes would
be useless. Such cases show the true benefits of a really
scientific knowledge of soils and manures. Every plant that
grows takes out of the soil certain qualities. Wheat, among
other things, extracts largely of its potash; Indian corn
•il --tracts but little; potatoes extract phosphate of mag-
. etc. A chemist would say, at once, apply that kind
of manure which is rich in the peculiar property extracted
by your wheat, corn, or potatoes ! What manure is that
Here again science must help. It analyzes manures — gives
the farmer the choice among them. The soil being known,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 91
the properties required by different crops being known —
tin- limii'T applies that manure which contains what the soil
lacks. Experiments have seemed to show, that, for purposes
of tillage, leached ashes are just as good as the unleached.
So that housewives may have all the use of their ashes for
soap, and then employ them in the garden. Leached ashes
become better by being exposed for some time in the air,
absorbing from the atmosphere fertilizing qualities (car-
bonic acid ?)
So valuable are ashes regarded in Europe, that they are
frequently hauled by farmers from twenty miles' distance —
and on Long Island they bring eight cents a bushel.
The ashes of different kinds of wood are of very unequal
value — that of the oak the least, and that of beech the
most valuable. The latter wood constitutes two-thirds of
the fire-wood of this region, and the ashes are therefore the
very best.
A coat of ashes maybe laid, in the spring, over the whole
garden and spaded in with the barnyard manure.
They may be dug in about gooseberry and currant
bushes.
They are excellent about the trunks of fruit-trees, spread-
ing the old each year, and renewing the deposit.
They may be thinly spread over the* grass-plat in the
dooryard, as they will give vigor and deeper color and
strength to the grass.
We have usually added about one shovelful of ashes to
every twenty in making a compost for flowers, roses, shrubs,
etc.
Ashes are peculiarly good for all kinds of melon, squash,
and cucumber vines. This is well known to those who
raise watermelons on burnt fields, on old charcoal pits, etc.
AYe have si-en statements of cucumbers being planted
upon a peck of pure, leached ashes, in a hole in the ground,
and thriving with great vigor. The ashes of vines show a
great amount of potash ; and as wood ashes afford this sub-
92 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
stance abundantly, its use would seem to be indicated by
theory MS well as confirmed by experiment.
Lastly, whenever ground is liable to suffer severely from
drought, we would advise a liberal use of ashes and salt.
HARD TIMES.
WHAT are called hard times produce veiy different
effects on different individuals. Some are made more
industrious, and some more indolent ; some grow frugal
and careful, others careless and desperate ; some never
appear so honest as when brought to the pinch, but many
men seem honest until they are brought to the trial, and
then give way. Hard times are gradually passing away.
As a community, are we better or worse off than before ?
A few particulars may help us to form some judgment.
Fewer goods are bought at the store, and more are man-
ufactured at home ; spinning-wheels and looms have
renewed their youth — and so have our mothers, who, after
along disuse, may now be seen working as merrily at them,
as they used to do when they spun and wove their wedding
furnishings — although they have not now any such rosy
hope to quicken their aged fingers. Men have been
obliged to rely more upon their own ingenuity — for want
of money to pay the carpenter, the blacksmith, the shoe-
maker, etc. Old clothes, old tools have been made to serve
an additional campaign.
The leisure of dull times has been improved exteifeively
in setting out orchards, and we hope this practice will be
continued in busy times. No one has, during the pressure,
suffered for food, raiment, or shelter. Indeed, it is supposed
that not a pound less of sugar, tea and coffee, has been used
by the farmers than hitherto. Probably the quantity has
increased.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 93
Debts have been gradually contracted or discharged.
.Men liavo seen the end of speculations to be sudden disaster
— and (of all things on earth) speculation-farming has
received its reward. Men contented with small gains — in-
dustrious, frugal, and prudent men — have suffered almost
nothing.
GYPSUM. — " Time and practice " have ascertained the
circumstances under which gypsum should be applied. As
a reason why, after repeated applications, it no longer
benefits, Prof. Liebig says, " when we increase the crop of
hay in a meadow by means of gypsum, we remove a greater
quantity of potash with the hay, than can, under ordinary
circumstances, be restored. Hence it happens that, after
the lapse of several years, the crops of grass on lands
manured with gypsum, diminish, owing to the deficiency of
potash." In such a case, if spent ashes were employed either
in connection or alternately with gypsum — potash would be
resupplied from the ashes.
ACCLIMATING A PLOW.
THE other day we were riding past a large farm, and
were much gratified at a device of the owner for the preser-
vation of his tools. A good plow, apparently new in the
spring, had been left in one corner of the field, standing in
the furrow, just where, four months before, the boy had
finished his stint. Probably the timber needed seasoning —
it was certainly getting it. Perhaps it was left out for
acclimation. May-be the farmer left it there to save time
in the hurry of the spring-work, in dragging it from tho
94 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
shod. Perhaps lie covered the share to keep it from the
dements, and snve it from rusting. Or, again, perhaps he
is troubled with neighbors that bvrroir, and had left it where
it would be convenient for them. He might, at least, liave
built a little shed over it. Can any one tell what a limner
- a plow out a whole season for ? It is barely possible
that he was an Irishman, and had planted for a spring crop
of plows.
After we got to sleep that night, we dreamed a dream.
We went into that man's barn ; boards were kicked off,
partitions were half broken down, racks broken, floor a foot
deep with manure, hay trampled under foot and AV
grain squandered. The wagon had not been hauled under
the shed, though it wras raining. The harness was scattered
about — hames in one place, the breeching in another — the
lines Were used for halters. We went to the house. A
shed stood hard by, in which a family wagon was kept for
wife and daughters to go to town in. The hens had appro-
priated it as a roost, and however plain it was once, it was
ornamented now, inside and out. (Here, by the way, let it
be remembered that hen-dung is the best manure for melons,
squashes, cucumbers, etc.) We peeped into the smoke-
house, but of all the " fixings " that we ever saw ! A Chinese
Museum is nothing to it. Onions, soap-grease, squashes,
hogs' bristles, soap, old iron, kettles, a broken spinning-
wheel, a churn, a grindstone, bacon, hams, washing tubs, a
barrel of salt, bones with the meat half cut off, scraps of
leather, dirty bags, a chest of Indian meal, old boots,
smoked sausages, the ashes and brands that remained since
the last " smoke," stumps of brooms, half a barrel of rotten
apples, together with rats, bacon bugs, earwigs, sowings,
and other vermin which collect in damp dirt. We started
for the house ; the window near the door had twelve lights,
two of wood, two of hats, four of paper, one of a bunch of
rags, one of a pillow, and the rest of glass. Under it
stood several cooking pots, and several that were not for
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 95
cooking. As we were meditating whether to enter, such a
squall arose from a quarrelling man and woman, that we
awoke — and lo ! it was a dream. So that the man who left
his plow out all the season, may live in the neatest house in
the county, for all that we know ; only, was it not strange
that we should have dreamed all this from just seeing a
plow left out in the furrow.
SCOUR YOUR PLOWS BRIGHT!
FARMERS may be surprised to know that their crops will
depend a good deal on the color of the plows ! yet so it is.
Bright plows are found to produce much better crops than
any other. It may be electricity, or magic for aught we
know ; we merely state the fact, leaving others to account
for it. But very much depends upon the manner of doing
it, for merely scrubbing it by hand with emery or sand is
not the thing — it must be scoured by the soil. It is found
that the subsoil scours it better for wheat, than the top soil
— for a plow kept bright by very deep plowing affords bet-
ter wheat than a plow brightened by the surface of the soil.
It is the same with corn. In respect to this last crop, if you
will keep your plow bright as a mirror until the corn is in
the milk, you will find that it will have a wonderful effect.
We appeal to every good farmer if he ever knew a rusty plow
to be accompanied with good crops ? Iron rust on a plow-
share is poisonous to corn.
A young- fanner of about twenty years of age said to us
the other day : " If anybody wants me, he must come to
my corn-field ; I live there — I am at it all the time — I have
harrowed my corn once, plowed five times, and gone over
it with the hoe once." "Yes," said his old father, who
eoeiiied, justly, quite proud of his son — " keep your plows
96 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
agoing if you want to fetch corn. I never let the ground
settle on the top ; if it is beaten down by rain, or begins t«>
look a kind of rusty on the surface, I pitch into it, and keep
it as mealy as flour. The fact is our farmers raise more corn
than they can tend, they can't go over the corn more than
once or twice, and that'll never do, and I guess I'll show
old Billy R that it's so."
Some ambitious farmers are pleased to " lay by" the corn
very early ; but it is not wise ; for the grass is always more
forward to grow about this season than any other ; and the
ground will become very foul where corn is too early laid
by, and, what is more to the purpose, a great deal of the
nourishment of a crop is derived from the air and dew con-
veyed to the roots. This can be done only when the surface
is kept thoroughly open.
PLOW TILL IT IS DRY, AND PLOW TILL IT IS WET.
SPEAKING of com, a very intelligent gentleman remarked :
" Well, by a five minutes' talk, I made Mr. produce
the best crop he ever had on a certain field." He was look-
ing over the fence where his corn was, at a flat field, upon
furrows full of water ; as I came by he said : " Well, I shall
never get a crop off this piece of land ; it's going just as it
always does when I plant here." I told him of an old man
in Indiana, who was a good farmer, to whom I once said
when at his house one morning :
" Deafenbaugh, how is it that you always have good corn
when no one else gets a half crop ?"
" TPAy," said he, "when it is wet I plow it till it is r/ry,
and when it is dry I plow it till it is wet."
The man to whom I told this anecdote, says our inform-
ant, tried the practice, and gained a fine crop.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 97
Now the principle is good. Our Dutch friend would not,
we suppose, plow a stiff clay in a wet condition, unless, pos-
sibly, to strike a channel through the middle between rows.
But the gist of the story lies in this — constant cultiv.
Stir, stir, STIR the ground.
STIRRING THE SOIL.
NEXT to deep plowing we should urge the advantage of
continually stirring the surface of the soil.
IT PRODUCES CLEANLINESS. — Weeds in a growing crop
are witnesses which no good farmer can afford to have testi-
fying against him. When seed is sown broad-cast, weeding
cannot be performed. In Europe, where labor is cheap and
children plenty, acres of wheat and such-like crops are
weeded by hand. Our only chance is to clear out every
field, to be sown broad-cast, by a thorough previous culture.
In all crops which are drilled, or planted in rows, the hoe, or
plow, or cultivator, should be kept in lively use through
the season. This practice should begin early, that weeds
and grass may not get a start, for often, if they do, it is
nearly impossible to keep them down, especially if the
season is a wet one.
But there are yet some important reasons for constantly
stirring the soil among growing crops. No matter how
thoroughly the earth was pulverized when the seed was
put in, one or two rains will, except in very sandy loam,
beat it down compactly. This crust is injurious in prevent-
ing the ingress of moisture. But that which is the most
material of all is, that it excludes the air. It is well known
that the air affords much nourishment to vegetation ; but,
perhaps, it is not as well known, that it supplies it by the
root as well as by the leaf. If any one wishes to try the
5
98 PLAE* AND PLEASANT TALK
experiment, and we have done it time and again, let two
patches in a Bunion K> trr:\ti-d in all respects alike, except
in this — let one be hoed or raked every two or three days
and the other not at all, or but once in the season.
The result will satisfy any man better than a paper argu-
ment. Indeed, we have found it impossible (in a garden)
to perfect some vegetables without constantly stirring the
soil.
While these advantages are gained, it is not to be for-
gotten that, in dry seasons^ a thorough pulverization of the
surface, will prevent the evaporation of the moisture in the
earth and prevent deleterious effects of the drought.
SUBSOIL PLOWING.
ONE of the great improvements of the age is the adoption
in husbandry of the subsoil plow; or, as it is called in Eng-
land, Deanstonizing system, from Mr. Smith, of Dean-
stone, who first brought the implement into general notice.
They are designed to follow in the furrow of a coinmon
plow, and pulverize without bringing up the soil for eight or
ten inches deeper. In ordinary soils two yoke of oxen will
work it with ease, plowing from an acre to an acre and a
quarter a day.
The use of this plow will renovate old bottom-lands, the
surface of which has been exhausted by shallow plowing
and continual cropping. It brings up from below fresh
material, which the atmosphere speedily prepares for crops.
Old fields, a long time in grass, are very much benefited.
7 Constant plowing at about the same depth will often
form a hard under-floor by the action of the plow, through
which neither roots nor rain can well penetrate ; subsoil \\\\$
will relieve a field thus conditioned.
Soils lying upon clay or hard compact gravel are opened
ABOUT FBTTITS, FLOWERS AND*FABMING. 99
and remarkably improved by the process. The wet, level,
beech-lands would be greatly benefited by deep plowing
in the fall of the year, subjecting the earth, to a consider-
able depth, to the action of the frosts, rains, etc., and giving
a downward drain for superfluous moisture.
Although we have incidentally alluded to the benefits of
subsoiling, they deserve a separate and individual enume-
ration.
1. In very deep molds or loams it brings up a supply of
soil which has not been exhausted by the roots.
2. In soils whose fertility is dependent upon the constant
decomposition of mineral substances, subsoil plowing is
advantageous by bringing up the disintegrated particles
of rock, and exposing them to a more rapid change by con-
tact with atmospheric agents.
3. Subsoiling guards both against too much and too little
moisture in the soil. If there is more water than the soil
can absorb, it sinks through the pulverized under-soil. If
summer droughts exhaust the moisture of the surface they
cannot reach the subsoil, which affords abundant pasture to
the roots.
FIRE-BLIGHT AND WINTER KILLING.
THESE are two entirely different processes. The Fire
Slight (of the middle and western States), is a disease of
the circulatory system, induced by a freezing of the sap
while the tree is in a growing and excitable state. It
always must occur before the leaves are shed in the autumn-
Winter-killing is of two kinds — resulting from severe cold,
and from untinu'ly heat. The loss of tender shrubs, roses,
etc., at least, before they are fully established, and of half-
hardy fruit-trees, is occasioned by the whiter sun shining
warmly upon them while frozen, and suddenly thawing
100 PLAINT AND PXEASANT TALK
them. The point of death is usually near the surface of the
ground, where the under-ground bark and upper bark
come together. Whole orchards are destroyed in this
way ; and, if examined, the bark may be found sprung off
from the wood. This may occur at any time during the
winter.
We are in doubt whether the winter-stored sap exists in
a state to be affected by the expansion of the freezing fluids
of the tree. If the expansion of congelation did produce
the effect, it should have been more general, for there are
fluids hi every part of the trunk — all congeal or expand —
and the bursting of the trunk in one place would not
relieve the contiguous portions. We should expect, if this
were the cause, that the tree would explode, rather than
split. Capt. Bach, when wintering near Great Slave Lake,
about 63° north latitude, experienced a cold of 70° below
zero. Nor could any fire raise it in the house more than
12° above zero. Mathematical instrument cases, and boxes
of seasoned fir, split in pieces by the cold. Could it have
been the sap in seasoned fir wood which split them by its
expansion in congealing ?
We quote a paragraph from Loudon — " The history of
frosts furnishes very extraordinary facts. The trees are
often scorched and burnt up, as with the most excessive
heat, in consequence of the separation of the water from
the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost
in 1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, and other trees,
were miserably split and cleft, so that they might be seen
through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises
like the explosion of fire-arms."
We don't exactly know whether to take the first part as
London's explanation of the facts in the second.
There can be no doubt that the nature of the summer's
growth, very much determines the power of a tree to resist
the severity of winter. When there is but an imperfect
ripening in a cold and backward season, the tissues formed
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEBS ANrf FABMING. 101
will be feeble, and the juices stored in them thin. Now
the power to resist cold, among other things, is in propor-
tion to the viscidity of the fluids in a plant.
It is highly desirable that the chemical researches which
have revolutionized the art of cultivation, should be pushed
into the morbid anatomy of vegetation. A close, exact
analysis of all the substances in an injured condition, will
Rave a vast deal of bootless ingenuity and fanciful specu-
lation.
• WINTER TALK.
Do not be tempted by fine weather to haul out manure
— it will be half wasted by lying in small heaps over the
field ; to spread it will be worse yet ; manure should lie in
a stack, as little exposed to the weather as possible.
Look to your fences ; see that they are in complete order
and leave nothing of this to consume your time in the
spring when you will need all your force for other work.
It is well to haul all the rails you will need for the year.
The timber will last longer cut now. Do not leave rails or
sticks of timber lying where you cleave them, on the damp
ground, they will decay more in six months there, than in
eighteen when properly cared for. Put two rails down and
lay the rest across them so as to have a circulation of air
beneath. If you have five or ten acres of deadening which
you mean to clear up and put to corn, you may as well
roll the logs now. Every good farmer should study
tli rough the winter to make his spring work as light as
possible. Whatever can be done now do not fail to do
it ; you will have enough to do when spring opens ; and
perhaps the season may be one which will crowd your work
into a week or two. If you have young fruit-trees, or a lit-
102 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
tie home-nursery, look out for rabbits. They usually depre-
date just after a light fall of snow.
Overhaul all your plows, carts, shovels, hoes, etc., and
put everything in complete readiness.
While you are moving about and repairing holes in the
fence, putting on a rail here, a stake yonder, a rider in
another place, you may inquire of yourself whether your
character is not in some need of repairs ? Perhaps you are
very careless and extravagant — the fence needs rails there ;
perhaps you are lazy — in that case the fence corners may
be said to be full of brambles and weeds, and must be
cleared out ; perhaps you are a violent, passionate man —
you need a stake and rider on that spot. And lastly, per-
haps you are not temperate, if so, your fence is all going
down and will soon have gaps enough to let in all the hogs
of indolence, vice, and crime : and they make a large drove
and fatten fast. Now is a good time to plan how to get
out of debt. Don't be ashamed to save in little things,
nor to earn small gains : "Many a mickle makes a muckle."
But set it down, to begin with, that no saving is made by
cheating yourself out of a good newspaper. No man reads
a good paper a year, without saving by it. Suppose you
put in your wheat a little better for something you see
written by a good farmer and get five bushels more to the
acre. One acre pays for a year's paper. One recipe, a
hint which betters any crop, pays for the paper fourfold.
Intelligent boys work better, plan better, earn and save
better ; and reading a good paper makes them intelligent.
Besides, suppose you took a good paper a year, and found
nothing new during all that time (an incredible supposi-
tion !), yet every two weeks it comes to jog your memory
about things which you may forget, but ought not to forget.
It steps in and asks whether that little store bill is paid ?
Whether that loan drawing a fatal six, seven or ten per cent
(poison! poison! deadly poison!) is being melted down?
.whether the children are going to school? whether the
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AHT> FARMING. 103
tools are all right ? the fences snug ? whether economy, and
industry, and sound morals (the best crop one can put in),
are flourishing ? It will look at your orchard — peep over
into your garden, pry into the dairy — nay, into the cup-
board and bureau, and even into your pocket. Now, if you
are a man willing to learn, it will give you hints enough
in a year to pay ten times over for your paper.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH."
WE heard a lad, in anger, use this expression to another.
It was not very bad advice, though given somewhat roughly.
When we hear some of our mincing misses singing, now
away up, and now away down, tossing their heads and roll-
ing their eyes, we think, Well, miss, if you knew what folks
thought of you, you'd shut your mouth.
We have seen many men ruined because they did not know
how to shut their mouth when tempted to say " Yes," to a
bad business.
When we see a man standing before the bar just ready to
drink, we think, Ah ! you fine fellow, if you will not keep
your mouth shut before that bar, you will, by and by, find
yourself before a Bar where it will be shut tight enough.
When we hear a fine lady scolding till every room rings ;
or tattling from house to house — or scandal-mongering, we
think, Ah, you lady, with all your schooling, you never
learned to shut your mouth
104 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
SPRING WORK ON THE FARM.
THOROUGHLY overhaul your tools; let plows be sharp
ened ; repair their stocks if anywhere started or weakened ;
look after the chains, the swingletrees, the yokes for youi
oxen, or the harness for your horses. Don't have any
straps to replace, or harness to tie up with tow strings after
you get into the fields, and when time is precious. Now is
THE TIME TO SAVE TIME, BY GETTING BEADY. Old TUSty
buckles will give way the moment the plow strikes a root ;
stitches which have been longing for some time to fall out
and part, will be likely to do it when you have the least
time to mend them. Then we shall hear talk ; you'll be
cursing the old horse or the old rickety harness, and declar-
ing that your " luck is always on the wrong side ;" and
you may depend upon it, that it always will be, so long as
you are not more careful. Good luck is a wary old fish
which nibbles at everybody's hook, but the shrewd and
skillful angler only catches it.
The opening of spring is usually debilitating both to man
and beast. Your horses cannot stand hard usage at once ;
some of them will need physic — all of them should be put
to work carefully ; increase their task gradually ; favor
them, and you will get abundantly paid for it before their
summer's work is done.
A good farmer may be known by the way he manages
his spring work. Consider how much there is of it.
Cows are calving ; mares foaling ; young heifers for the
first time to be broken to milking; all the tools to be
got ready ; the ground to be broken up and seeded ;
the orchards to be set ; or old ones to be attended to ;
a garden to be made ; and a hundred other things to do.
Now here is a chance for good management, and a yet bet-
ter chance for bad management. There is as much skill in
" laying out " a season's work for the farmer, as there is in
" laying out " a frame for a house or barn.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 105
Bethink you of all the mistakes you made last season ;
if you made any good hits, improve upon them this year.
Every fanner should resolve to do all things as well as he
did the last year, and some things a great deal better.
While everything is merry, birds singing, bees at work,
cattle frisky, and the whole animated world is joyous, do
but search and see if, among ah1 beasts, birds, or bugs, you
can find one that needs whisky to do its spring or summer
work on ?
Look again; seeds are sprouting; trees budding; flowers
peeping out from warm nooks. Everything grows in
spring-tune. Youth is spring-time, habits are sprouting,
dispositions are putting out their leaves, opinions are form-
ing, prejudices are getting root. Now take at least as
good care of your children as you do of your farm. If you
don't want to use the land you let it alone, and weeds grow;
but when you wish to improve a piece, you turn the natural
weeds under, and sow the right seed, and tend the crop.
I have heard good kind of folks object to much " bringing
up* of their boys. They guessed the lads would come out
about right. You break a colt, and break a steer, and
break a heifer, and break a soil, and if you won't break
your children, they will be very likely to break you — heart
and pocket.
Fermenting manures should not be hauled or spread
until you are ready to plow them under. [If you spread
manure on meadows it should be fine, and well rotted, and
let ashes be liberally mixed with it.] If you let manure lie
a week or ten days exposed in the fields to the air, it will
waste one half of " its sweetness on the desert air." Let
the plow follow the cart as fast as possible, and the gases
generated by your manure will then be taken up by the soilf
and held in store for your gram.
DEEP PLOWING. — There may be some rare cases where,
for special reasons, shallow plowing is advisable. But the
standing rule upon the farm should be deep plowing. A
5*
106 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
good farmer remarked the other day to us, " One of my
neighbors who is always talking of deep plowing was at it
last summer, and I followed in the furrow, and his depth
did n«>t average more than four inches; he did not measuu-
on the land side but on the mold-board side." The rea-
sons are very strong for deep plowing.
1 . When crop after crop is taken off the first four or five
inches of top earth, it tends speedily to rob it of all ma-
terials required by grass or grain. Every blade taken from
the soil, takes off some portion of that soil with it.
2. Deep plowing brings up from 'beneath a greater
amount of earth, which, when subjected to the frosts, the
atmosphere, and the action of the plow, becomes fit for
vegetation.
3. Summer droughts seldom injure deeply-plowed soils ;
certainly not to that degree that they do shallow soils.
The roots penetrate the mellow mould to a greater depth,
and draw thence moisture when the top is as dry as ashes.
Will not some one who is curious in such matters try two
acres side by side plowed shallow and deep, respectively,
and give us the history of their crop?
QUANTITY OP SEED. — It has been often said that Ameri-
can husbandry was unfavorably peculiar in stinginess of
seed-sowing. It is certain that very much greater quan-
tities are employed in Great Britain and on the Continent
than with us, and that much greater crops are obtained per
acre. In part the crop is owing to a superior cultivation ;
but those who have carefully studied the subject affirm that,
in part, it is attributable to the use of much greater quan-
tities of seed. We give a table showing the average quan-
tity of seed per acre for different grains, in England, Ger-
many, and the United States. The table was formed in
that manufactory of so many valuable articles, the Albany
Cultivator. It must be remembered that the average crop
is not the average of the best farming States, but of the
whole United States.
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND -FARMING.
107
OKKMANY.
ENGLAND.
1 i:i> STATK8.
Seed per acre— Product.
Seed per acre— Product.
Seed per acre — Product.
Wheat,
•Ji bushels.
25 bushels.
•-'i to 8J »'".
23 bushels.
1 to H bush 18 bushels.
Rye,
2 "
25 "
2 to 2i *•
25
ItolJ ll 15 "
BarUy,
2k "
85 «
2^ to 4 "
86
Hto2 " 25 «•
Oats,
ii to 4 "
40 "
4 to 7 "
82 "
2 to 8 " 85 "
Millet,
7 quarts.
85 "
-
Peas,
2j bushels.
26 "
8 to 8* "
80 to 40 bu.
2to2i " 25 ••
; Turnips,
j Buckwheat,
1 Clover,
20 quarts.
1 bushel.
14 pounds.
86 "
80 to 85 tons
27 bushels.
1 to 2 pints.
1 to 1 j bush
14 to 18 II >.-.
80 to 85 tons
26 bushels.
20 to 80 qts. 80 "
Ito21bs. 20 tons.
16 to 20 qts 15 to 80 bu.
5 to 10 Ibs.
Flax,
2 to 8 bush.
10 bu. seed.
2 to 8 bush.
10 bu. seed.
1 to Hbush 8 to 12 bush
Hemp,
2*to8 "
650 pounds.
8
550 pounds.
Hto2i " 500 pounds.
Potatoes,
5
800 bushels.
8 to 12 ••
250 bushels.
8 to 20 " 1 175 bushels
SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN.
WHEN spring comes, everybody begins to think of thf
garden. A little of the experience of one who has learned
some by making many mistakes will do you no harm.
Too MUCH WORK LAID our. — When the winter lets us
out, and we are exhilarated with fresh air, singing birds,
bland weather, and newly-springing vegetation, our ambi-
tion is apt to . lay out too much work. We began with an
acre, in garden ; we could not afford to hire help except for
a few days ; and we were ambitious to do things as they
ought to be done. By reference to a Garden Journal
(every man should keep one), we find that we planted in
1840, sixteen kinds of peas; seventeen kinds of beans; seven
kinds of corn ; six kinds of squash ; eight kinds of cabbage ;
seven kinds of lettuce ; eight sorts of cucumber, and seven
of turnips — seventy-six varieties of only eight vegetables !
Besides, we had fruit-trees to transplant in spring — flowers
to nurture, and all the etceteras of a large garden. Al-
though we worked faithfully, early and late, through the
whole season, tin- wt-ods beat us fairly; and every day or
two some lazy loon, who had not turned two spadefuls of
earth during the season, would lounge along and look over,
nnd seeing the condition of things, would very quietly say
108 TLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
" Why, I heard so much about your garden — whew ! what
regiments of weeds you keep. I say, neighbor, do you boil
that parsley for greens ?" It nettled us, and we sweat at the
hoe and spade all the harder, but in vain ; for we had laid
out more than could be well done. Nobody asked how
much we had done — they looked only at what we had not
done. To be sure so many sorts were planted only to test
their qualities ; but the laying out of so large a work in
spring is not wise. A HALF well done is better than a WHOLE
half done. Remember there is a July as well as an April ;
and lay out in April as you can hold out in July and Au-
gust. We have profited by our own mistakes and have no
objections that others should do it.
VEGETABLE GARDEN. — Before you meddle with the garden,
do two things: first inspect your seeds, assort them, reject-
ing the shrunk, the mildewed, the sprouted, and, generally,
the discolored. Buy early, such as you need to purchase.
Do not wait till the minute of planting before you get your
seeds. Second, make up your mind beforehand just what
you mean to do in your garden for the season.
Preparation. — Haul your manure and stack it in a
corner ; do not spread it till the day that you are ready to
turn it under ; cut your pea-brush and put it under shelter ;
inspect your bean-poles and procure such as are necessary to
replace the rotten or broken ones ; inspect every panel
of the garden fence ; one rail lost, may ruin, in a night, two
months' labor, and more temper and grace than you can
afford to spare in a whole year. Clean up all the stubble,
haulm, straw, leaves, refuse brush, sticks and rubbish of
every sort, and cast it out, or burn it and distribute the
ashes. If you intend to do your work in the best manner,
see that you have the sorts of manure that you may need
through the season : ashes, fine old barn-yard manure,
green long manure, leaf-mold from the wood, top-soil
from pastures, etc., etc. Every florist understands the use
of these.
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 109
Coarse manure may be put upon your pie-plant bed, as
a strong and succulent leaf-stalk is desirable. Let it be
thoroughly forked, gently near the stools and deeply
between the rows.
With an iron-toothed rake go over your old strawberry
beds that are matted together, and rake them severely.
Strawberries that have been kept in hills and cleanly tended
should be manured between the rows and gently spaded or
forked.
Early Sowings. — Tomatoes, egg-plant, early cucumbers,
cabbage, cauliflowers, broccoli, lettuce, melons, celery for
an early crop, should have been, before this, well advanced
in a hot-bed. If not, no time is to be lost ; and if a first
sowing is well along, a second sowing should be made.
You cannot get too early into the ground after the frost
is out and the wet a little dried, onions for seed or a crop,
lettuce, radishes, peas, spinage, parsnip, early cabbage,
and small salads.
ASPARAGUS. — The beds should be attended to; remove
all weeds and old stalks ; give a liberal quantity of salt to
the bed — if you have old brine, or can get fish brine at the
stores, that is better than dry salt. Asparagus is a marine
plant, growing upon sandy beaches along the sea coast, and
is therefore benefited by salt, to which, in its habitat, it was
accustomed. Put about three or four inches of old, thor-
oughly rotted manure upon the bed ; fork it in gently, so as
not to wound the crowns of the plant. Directions for form-
ing beds belong to a later period in the season.
ONIONS. — Should be sown or set early.
If you prefer seed, sow, across beds four feet wide, in
drills eight inches apart ; young gardeners are apt to be-
^nulge room — give it freely to everything, and it will repay
you ; when they come up, thin out to one for every inch ;
as you wish young and tender onions for your table, draw
these, leaving, at least, one every five inches in the row. If
your soil is deep and very rich, onions can be grown in one
110 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
season from the seed as well as from the set — we try it
almost every year and never fail, although told a hundred
times : " You could do that in the old States, but it won't
do out here." It had to do, and did do, and always will do,
whore there is no lazy men about ; but nothing ever does
wi-11 in a slack and lazy man's garden ; plants have an invet-
erate prejudice against such, and won't grow; but he is a
darling favorite among weeds.
The white or silver skin, and the yellow Portugal have
been favorite kinds with us to raise from seed. They are
tender, mild flavored, but do not keep as well as the Red.
Strong onions always keep better than mild ones.
If you prefer top-onion sets, or sets of any other kind,
plant them out at the same distances, viz. eight inches be-
tween the row and five or six between the sets. Inexpe-
rienced gardeners are afraid that little sets no bigger than
a pea, will not do well. It is a mistake — they will make
large onions ; put them all in, if they are sound. Plant the
sets so that the top shall just appear above the surface.
If you plant out old onions for seed, let them be at least
a foot apart and stake them when they begin to blossom.
If you plant the top-onion for sets you need not stake them,
for they cannot shed out their seed if they fall over. It is
not generally known that the same onions may be kept for
seed for many years.
TRANSPLANTING. — All fruit-trees, most kinds of shade
trees, shrubs, hardy roses, honeysuckles, pinks, lilacs, peonies,
etc., may be raised, divided, and transplanted in Apiil un-
less your soil is very wet. All hardy plants may be safely
transplanted just as soon as the ground is dry enough to
crumble freely — and not till then. In planting out shrubs,
remember that they will grow ; if you put them near to-
gether, for the sake of present effect, in a year or two tlu-y
will be crowded. We set at ample distances and fill up the
spaces with lilies, peonies, phlox, gladiolus, and herbaceous
plants which are easily removed.
A.BOU1 FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. Ill
FLOWER GARDEN. — Remove the covering from your bulb-
beds ; as soon as the earth is dry enough to crumble, with a
pmall hoe carefully mellow the earth between the rows of
bulbs, and work it loose with your hands, in the row itself.
Leave the surface convex, that superfluous rain may flow off.
Transplant roses that are to be moved. Divide the roots
of such lilies, peonies, irises, etc., as are propagated by divi-
sion, and replant.
As fast as the soil allows, spade up your borders, and
flower compartments, giving first a good coating of very
fine, old, pulverized manure.
If you have hot-beds you may bring forward most of your
annuals, so as to turn them out into the open beds as soon
as frosts cease.
But defer sowing in the open air until the first of April ;
and then, sparingly ; sow again the middle of April, and on
the first of May. Only thus, will you be sure of a supply.
If you gain more than you need by three sowings, should
all succeed, you have friends and neighbors enough, if you
are a reasonably decent man, who will be glad to receive
the surplus.
MANURE. — Corn and potatoes will bear green and unfer-
nicnted manure. But all ordinary garden vegetables require
thoroughly rotted manure. If the soil is sandy, leached
ashes may be applied with great profit at the rate of seventy
or eighty bushels the acre. The soil is made more reten-
tive of moisture, and valuable ingredients are secured to it.
Salt may be used with great advantage on all garden soils,
but especially upon light and sandy ones. Thus treated,
soils will resist summer droughts and be moist when other-
wise they would suffer. Salt has also a good effect in
destroying vermin, and it adds very valuable chemical in-
gredients to the soil. Soapsuds should be carefully -
and poured about currants, gooseberries and fruit-trees.
Charcoal, pulverized, is excellent, as it absorbs ammonia
from the atmosphere, or from any body containing it, and
112 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
yields it to the plants. Let a barrel be set near the house
filled with powdered charcoal. Empty into it all the cham-
ber-ley. The ammonia will be taken up by the charcoal, and
the barrel will be without any offensive smell. But as soon
as the charcoal is saturated, it will begin to give out the
peculiar odor of urine. Let the charcoal then be mixed
with about five times its bulk of fresh earth and well worked
together, and it wjll afford a very powerful manure for vege-
tables and flowers. In Europe, where manure is precious,
it is estimated that the excrementitious matter, slops, suds,
scraps, etc., of a family, will supply one acre, for each mem-
ber, with manure.* There are few families whose offal
would not afford abundant material for enriching the gar-
den, and with substances peculiarly fitted for flowers, fruits,
and esculent roots.
FALL WORK IN THE GARDEN.
PLANTING seeds may be performed for very early spring
use. Lettuce, spinage, and radishes, may be sown in a shel-
tered spot, and they will come forward ten days or a fortnight
earlier than those which shall have been sown in spring.
Clearing up the garden should be thoroughly performed.
Let pea-brush be removed, bean poles and flower stakes be
collected and put under shelter. Collect all refuse vines,
haulm, stems and stalks and wheel them to a corner to rot,
or to be ready for use in covering flower-beds. Let the
alleys be hoed out for the last time, and it will be as good
as one hoeing in the spring, when they will probably be too
wet to hoe. Gravel may now be laid in the walks ; if ashes
are to be spread, it may be done in autumn, and save time in
the spring.
* See note, p. 98, Colman's Tour, 2d part, where is given an estimate
by a distinguished agricultural chemist, Mr. Hay wood.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS ASTD FABMING. 113
All tender plants are to be removed or secured by covering.
The best covering to secure the earth from frost, that we-
know of, is a layer of leaves, say three inches thick when
well packed down, and upon them two or three inches of
chip dirt, with the coarsest part on top. We have had the
soil unfrozen in severe winters when so covered. In this
manner, tuberoses, gladiolus, dahlias, tiger flowers, etc., may
be kept out through the winter. The gladiolus thus treated
makes splendid tufts of blossoms. It may be prudent to
try only a few at first, and adventure more as experience
gives confidence.
CELEEY which is to be left in the trenches should first be
well covered with straw, and then boards should be placed
upon the top in such a manner as to shed the rain. Great
quantities of wet rot it when it is not growing ; and freez-
ing and thawing in the light destroys it.
If portions of the garden have been infested with cut-
worms, etc., let it be spaded and thrown up loosely just be-
fore freezing weather. A clay soil will be ameliorated by
frosts, if treated in the same way. A light, loose soil, should
not be worked in the fall.
GUARDING CHERRY-TREES FROM COLD.
THIS tree is peculiarly liable while young, but more espe-
cially when coming into bearing, to be roughly handled by
our winters. The bark at the surface of the ground splits, and
often the trunk, enfeebling the tree and sometimes destroy-
ing it. The evil does not result from the cold, but from the
action of bright suns upon the frozen trunk. Let those hav-
ing valuable young trees, prepare them for winter by giv-
ing a cheap covering to the trunks, so that the sun shall not
strike them. This may be done by tying about them bass
matting, long straw, corn-stalks, or any similar protection.
114 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
SHADE-TREES.
WE believe that no man ever walked under the magnifi-
cent elms upon the Boston Common, or beneath the Lin-
dens in Philadelphia, or through Elm street in New Haven,
without conviction of the beauty and utility of shade-
trees. Trees not only are objects of beauty — the architecture
of Nature — but they promote both health and comfort. Our
ardent summers, from June to October, make open, un-
shaded streets, almost impassable, and reflect heat upon our
dwellings from the side-walks and beaten road.
In this country the growth of trees is so rapid, and the
supply from our own forests so abundant and convenient
that every village and city, and every well-conducted farm
should be lined with shade-trees. We will offer a few sug-
gestions upon the kinds to be selected and the manner of
setting.
THE LOCUST (Rolinia pseudacacia). — This tree is very
popular, and is almost the only one at the West set for
shade-trees. It has a beautiful form, grows very rapidly,
bears a profusion of beautiful and very fragrant blossoms
(pendulous racemes of pea-shaped flowers), its foliage is sin-
gularly pleasing — the young leaves being of a light pea-'
green, and growing darker with age, so that in the same
tree three or four distinct shades of green may be seen ; it
grows freely in all soils, and is not infested by any worms ;
its timber is almost as durable as cedar, and in the West, is
not subject to the attacks of the borer, as it is in the East.
On the other hand, the tree becomes unsymmetrical with
age, it is brittle, breaking easily at slight wounds, even
when they have healed over. It is not a long-lived tree,
and requires careful protection from cattle.
We would advise a more sparing use of it. Let every
other tree be a Locust, and the alternate maple or elm, oak,
tulip, etc. By this method the Locust will afford immediate
shade, and when they become unsightly the intervening
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 115
trees will have grown to a goodly size. The Locust should
be transplanted just as the buds are ready to burst ; they
should be protected by frames as soon as set. Good cases
may be made at a trifling expense, by taking strips of inch
and a half stuff, three inches wide, and nine or ten feet long,
sharpen the lower end, and drive it into the ground four or
five inches, and in a box formed about the tree let cross-
pieces be nailed at the top. Be careful that the tree does
not rub upon the case, although the wound will heal over, yet
in the first high wind, it will be apt to break off at that
point. This tree is rather peculiar in that respect.
The Locust was introduced to Europe by a Frenchman
named Robin. From him the genus (Hobinia) took its
name. There are but four species belonging to it, and they
are all indigenous to North America, viz. :
JRobinia pseudacacia (common Locust). It. viscosa,
confined to the southwestern parts of the Alleghany Moun-
tains, bearing rose-colored blossoms and being even more
ornamental than the former ; it is equally hardy, and if it
could be introduced among us would form a valuable addi-
tion. Locusts nowhere appear to a better -advantage than
when planted in clumps of six or eight on a lawn, and if the
'JR. pseudacacia and JR. viscosa were contiguous, blending
the pure white and the rose-colored blossoms, the world
might be challenged for a finer effect.
The It. hispida (rose-acacia of our gardens) is a highly
ornamental shrub, its branches are, like the moss-rose, cov-
ered with minute spines, which give it a fine appearance.
A fourth species is said to exist in the basin of Red River.
The favorable opinion here expressed of the Locust, will
remove any impression of prejudice when we say, that they
are altogether too much cultivated. Our forests are full of
magnificent shade-trees whose claims can never, all things
considered, be equalled by the Locust.
ELM ( Ulmus Americana) , commonly called White Elm.
Of the four species of elms indigenous to the United
116 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
States, but two are particularly worth notice, the White
Elm, and Slippery Elm ( U. pulva). But the former of these
is so incomparably the superior, that it should be selected
wherever it can be had. It attains a height of one humlm]
feet, is very long-lived, grows more and more beautiful with
age, its long branches droop over, forming graceful pendu-
lous extremities ; and no one who has seen the Boston Mall,
or the New Haven elms, or those scattered along the vil-
lages of Connecticut, will think that Michaux exaggerated
in pronouncing this tree to be the most magnificent vegeta-
ble production of the Temperate Zone. It is unquestional »1 y
the monarch among shade-trees, as superior to the oak for
avenues and streets, as the oak is to it for parks and forests.
The great main-street of every village should be lined with
White Elms, set at distances of fifty feet, and Locusts
between to supply an immediate shade, and to be removed
so soon as the slower-growing elm has spread enough to
dispense with them.
THE MAPLE. — The following varieties are in our forests,
and are beautiful shade-trees for the borders of farms, door-
yards, public squares, avenues, streets, etc. The Sugar
Maple (Acer saccharinum), White Maple (A. eriocarpum,)
Red Maple (A. rubrum). This last variety shows beautiful
red flowers before its leaves put out in spring, and, like the
sugar-maple, brilliant scarlet leaves in autumn. The maple
is a beautiful tree of fine form, the leaves of the different
varieties are variously shaped and all beautiful, it is free
from disease and noxious insects.
Besides these, the ash, oak, tulip, beech and walnut, are
all worthy of being transferred to our streets. Shade-trees
for door-yards, and public squares, and pleasure-grounds,
require a separate notice, as in some material respects they
should be differently treated.
We warmly recommend in lining streets, that each alter-
nate tree only be locust.
It is better for effect that each street, or at least con-
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOTTEKS AND FABMING. 117
iinuous portions of each, have one kind of forest tree, so
that an avenue of similar trees be formed. In planting
grounds, it is well to group trees of different kinds, but in
streets an avenue should be of elms, or of oaks, or of syca-
mores, or of maples, and not all of them mingled together.
A PLEA FOR HEALTH AND FLORICULTURE.
EVERY one knows to what an extent women are afflicted
with nervous disorders, neuralgic affections as they are
more softly termed. Is it equally well known that formerly
when women partook from childhood, of out-of-door labors,
were confined less to heated rooms and exciting studies,
they had, comparatively, few disorders of this nature.
With the progress of society, fevers increase first, because
luxurious eating vitiates the blood ; dyspepsia follows next,
because the stomach, instead of being a laboratory, is turned
into a mere warehouse, into which everything is packed,
from the foundation to the roof, by gustatory stevedores.
Last of all come neuralgic complaints, springing from the
muscular enfeeblement and the nervous excitability of the
system.
Late hours at night, and later morning hours, early appli-
cation to books, a steady training for accomplishments, viz.
embroidery, lace-work, painting rice paper, casting wax-flow-
ers so ingeniously that no mortal can tell what is meant lilies
looking like huge goblets, dahlias resembling a battered cab-
bage ; these, together with practisings on the piano, or if
something extra is meant, a little turn, turn, turning, on the
harp, and a little ting-tong on the guitar ; reading " ladies'
books," crying over novels, writing in albums, and original
correspondence with my ever-adored Matilda Euphrosyne,
are the materials, too often, of a fashionable education
While all this refinement is bebg . put on, girls are taught
118 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
from eight years ol«l, that the chief end of women is to get
a IM. in, ami convert him into a husband. Therefore, every
action must be on purpose, must have a discreet object hi
vic\v. Girls must not walk fast, that is not lady-like ; nor
run, that would be shockingly vulgar ; nor scamper over
fields, merry and free as the bees or the birds, laughing till
the cheeks are rosy, and romping till the blood march* •*
merrily in every vein ; for, says prudent mamma, "my dear,
do you think Mr. Lack-a-daisy would marry a girl whom he
saw acting so unfashionably ?" Thus, in every part of edu-
cation those things are pursued, whose tendency is to
excite the brain and nervous system, and for the most part
those things are not " refined," which would develop the
muscular system, give a natural fullness to the form, and
health and vigor to every organ of it.
The evil does not end upon the victim of fashionable
education. Her feebleness, and morbid tastes, and preter-
natural excitability are transmitted to her children, and to
their children. If it were not for the rural habits and
health of the vast proportion of our population, trained to
hearty labor on the soil, the degeneracy of the race hi
cities would soon make civilization a curse to the health of
mankind.
Now we have not one word to say against " accomplish-
ments" when they are real, and are not purchased at the
expense of a girl's constitution. She may dance like
Miriam, paint like Raphael, make wax fruit till the birds
come and peck at the cunning imitation ; she may play like
Orpheus harping after Eurydice (or what will be more to
the purpose, like a Eurydice after an Orpheus), she may
sing and write poetry to the moon, and to every star in the
the heavens, and every flower on earth, to zephyrs, to
memory, to friendship, and to whatever is imaginable in the
spheres, or <>n the world — if she will, in the midst <»f tin-Mi
ineffable things, remember the most important liu-ts, that
health is a blessing ; that God made health to depend upon
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 119
exercise, and temperate living in all respects ; and that tho
great objects of our existence, in respect to ourselves, is a
virtuous and pious character, and in respect to others, the
raising and training of a family after such a sort that
neither we, nor men, nor God, shall be ashamed of them.
Now we are not quite so enthusiastic as to suppose that
floriculture has in it a balm for all these mentioned ills.
We are very moderate in our expectations, believing, only,
that it may become a very important auxiliary in main,
taining health of body and purity of mind.
When once a mind has been touched with zeal- in floricul-
ture it seldom forgets its love. If our children were early
made little enthusiasts for the garden, when they were old
they would not depart from it. A woman's perception of
the beauty of form, of colors, of arrangement, is naturally
quicker and truer than man's. Why should they admire
these only in painting, in dress, and in furniture? Can
In n nan art equal what God has made, in variety, hue, grace,
symmetry, order and delicacy ? A beautiful engraving is
often admired by those who never look at a natural land-
scape ; ladies become connoisseurs of " artificials," who live
in proximity to real flowers without a spark of enthusiasm
for them. We are persuaded that, if parents, instead of
regarding a disposition to train flowers as a useless trouble,
a waste of time, a pernicious romancing, would inspire the
love of it, nurture and direct it, it would save their daugh-
ters from false taste, and all love of meretricious ornament.
The most enthusiastic lovers of nature catch something of
the simplicity and truthfulness of nature.
Now a constant temptation to female vanity — (if it may
be supposed for the sake of argument, to exist) is a display
of person, of dress, of equipage. In olden times, without
entirely hating their beauty, our mothers used to be proud
nf their spinning, their weaving, their curiously-wrought
apparel for bed and board. A pride in what we have
is not, if in due measure, wrong or unwise ; and we really
120 PLAIN JLND PLEASANT TALK
think that rivalry among the young in rearing the choicest
plants, the most resplendent flowers, would be altogether a
wise exchange for a rivalry of lace, and ribbons, and silks.
And, even if poor human nature must be forced to allow
the privilege of criticising each other something severely,
it would be much more amiable to pull roses to pieces, than
to pull caps ; all the shafts which are now cast at the luck-
less beauty, might more harmlessly be cast upon the glow-
ing shield of her dahlias or upon the cup of her tulips.
A love of flowers would beget early rising, industry,
habits of close observation, and of reading. It would
incline the mind to notice natural phenomena, and to reason
upon them. It would occupy the mind with pure thoughts,
and inspire a sweet and gentle enthusiasm ; maintain sim-
plicity of taste ; and in connection with personal instruction,
unfold in the heart an enlarged, unstraitened, ardent piety.
KEEPING 1OUNQ PIGS IN WINTER.
THERE is both negligence, and mistake, in the way of win-
tering pigs. I am not talking to those whose manner of
keeping stock is, to let stock take care of themselves ; but
to farmers who mean to be careful. Hogs should be sorted.
The little ones will, otherwise, be cheated at the trough,
and overlaid and smothered in the sleeping-heap. There
should not be too many in one inclosure ; especially young
pigs should not sleep in crowds ; for, although they sleep
warmer, they will suffer on that very account. Lying in
piles, they get sweaty ; the skin is much more sensitive to
the cold, and coming out in the morning reaking and smok-
ing, the keen air pierces them. In this way, young pigs die
off through the winter by being too warm at night. If you
have the land-shark and alligator breed, however, you should
crowd these together, for the more they die off the better
for the farmer.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. . 12 J
SWEET POTATOES.
ALTHOUGH our practice has been more extensive, and ig
more skillful, in eating sweet potatoes than in raising them,
we yet adventure some remarks : No root can live and
grow without food from the leaf; if the tops be permitted
to root, so much nutriment is subtracted from the tubers as
is diverted to these new roots. Those who are best skilled
in their cultivation, raise their vines up so as to detach the
roots, but do not twist them round the hill ; which, by crush-
ing or covering the leaves, would render the vines unhealthy.
As to vines of the GucurMtacce^ their fruit not being under
ground, it is not necessary that such an amount of pre-
pared sap should go to the root as if tubers were formed.
There is, in such vines, a great liability to disease and
injury near the hill. The vines shrink and dry near the
base ; and however flourishing the running end may other-
wise be, it is destroyed. If roots are secured at several
points along the vine, we remove the chances of its prema-
turely dying, without withdrawing any sap necessary for
the maturation of its fruit.
MANAGEMENT OF BOTTOM-LANDS.
ALMOST every kind of soil requires a management of its
own. That proper for clays, and that proper for bottom-
lands, cannot be interchanged. Bottom lands are usually
composed largely of vegetable matter and sand ; and are
therefore light, and easy to work ; yet, as they are now
managed, they admit a less variety of crops than the
tougher and more unmanageable clay lands.
BOTTOM-LANDS FOR CORN. — Our corn-lands, strictly so
called, consist of rich intervales and river bottoms. On
these corn is raised year after year, without manuring, fal-
6
122 PLAIN AND I'l. i:\s.\NT TALK
lowing, clover, or any ehanuv; but one constant, suce>
corn, corn, corn. It is supposed that corn may l>e had tor
an indefinite period, so far as mere exhaustion of the soil is
concerned, if the right course is pursue.}. Some <>f thel>r
leave the stubble long, burn it over, and put it into wheat
again, or to corn, as the case may be.
CULTIVATION OF WHEAT.
THERE are two opinions which will prevent any attempt
to improve the cultivation of wheat, or, indeed, of anything
else. The first is the opinion that, what are called wheat-
lands, yield enough at any rate : the second is the opinion
of those who own a soil not naturally good for wheat, that
there is no use in trying to raise much to the acre. We
suppose that wheat will not average more than twelve bush-
els to the acre, as it is now cultivated in some parts. At
that rate, and with too low prices, it is not worth cultiva-
tion for commercial purposes. The cost of seed, of labor
in preparing the soil, putting in the crop, harvest in LI', thn-*l:-
ing, and carrying it to market, is greater than the value of
the crop. At fifty cents a bushel, and twelve bushels to the
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 125
acre, the farmer gets six dollars, which certainly does not
cover the worth of his time and the interest on his land.
Is it possible, then, at an expense within the means of
ordinary fanners, to bring a double or treble crop of wheat ?
It' nature has set limits to the produce of this grain to the
acre, and if our fanners have come up to that limit, there is
no use in their trying to do any better. But if their crop is
four fold behind what it ought to be, they will feel courage
to reach out for a better mode of cultivation. Vegetables
collect food from the atmosphere, and from the soil ; and
different plants select different articles of food from the
soil, just as different birds, beasts, insects, etc., require
different food. One class of plants draws potash largely
from the soil, as turnips, potatoes, the stalk of corn, etc.
Another class requires lime, in great measure, as tobacco,
pea straw, etc. Liebig partially classifies plants according
to the principal food which they require ; as silica plants,
lime plants, potash plants, etc.
Every plant being composed of certain chemical elements,
requires for its perfection a soil containing those elements.
Thus chemistry has shown, by exact analysis, that good
meadow hay contains the following elements : Silica (sand),
lime (as a phosphate, a sulphate, and a carbonate, i. e. lime
combined with phosphoric, sulphuric, and carbonic acids),
potash (as a chloride, and a sulphate), magnesia, iron, and
soda. Whatever soil is rich in these will be productive of
grass.
The grain of wheat (in distinction from the straw) con-
tains, and of course requires from the soil, sulphates of "pot-
ash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, etc.
Any vegetable, in its proper latitude, will flourish in a
soil which will yield it an abundance of food; and decline
in a soil which is barren of the proper nutritive ingredients.
A practical, scientific knowledge of these fundamental
facts, will give an intelligent farmer, in grain-growing lati-
tudes, almost unlimited power over his crops. A good
126 I'LAIN AND IM.KASANT TALK
cook knows what things ,ire required for bread; he selects
these materials, compounds them to deiinite ]>roj)ortions —
adding, if any one is deficient; subtracting, if any one i< in
excess. Raising a crop is a species of slow cooking. Here
is a compound of such materials (called wheat) to be made.
Nature agrees to knead them together, and produce the
grain, if the farmer will supply the materials. To do this
he must understand what these materials arc. Suppose a
cook perceiving that the bread was wretched, did not know
exactly what was the matter; and should add, salt, or flour,
or yeast, or water at hap-ha/ard ? Yet that is exactly what
multitudes of farmers do. They find that their fields yield
a small crop of wheat. They do not know what the matter
is. Is the soil deficient in lime, or sand, or clay ? Is mag-
nesia or potash lacking ? Perhaps they do not even know
that these things are requisite to this crop. "The land
must be manured." Now, manure on an impracticable soil,
is medicine. Of course if the farmer prescribes, he must
tell what medicine, i. e. what manure. Is it vegetable mat-
ter or phosphates ? alumina or silica ? Suppose a doctor
says : " You are sick and must take medicine," without
knowing what the disease is, or what the appropriate
remedy ; and so should pull out a handful of whatever there
was in his saddle-bags and dose the wretch ? That's the
way farming goes on. " The ten acre lot wants manure."
To the barn yard he goes, takes the dung heap, plows it
under, and gets an enormous crop of— straw. Nitrogenous
manure was not what the soil wanted. lie has added
materials which existed in abundance already; but those
elements, from the want of which his crop suffered, have
not been given it. The land is sicker than it was before.
It languishes for want of one element, it suffers from a sur-
feit of another. We are prepared to sustain these observa-
tions by a reference to authentic facts.
Massachusetts, a few years ago, was not a wheat-growing
State. Cautious farmers had given up the crop, because
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 127
neither soil nor climate was supposed to favor it. How
then have both soil and climate been persuaded to relent,
and permit from twenty to forty bushels to grow to the
acre ? It was no accident, and no series of blind but lucky
blunders, that effected the change. It was thinking that did
it. It was a change wrought by science. Elliot (in Con-
necticut), Deane (both clergymen), Dexter, Lowell, Fes-
senden, and many others, all men of science, were pioneers.
Agricultural surveys, geological surveys, and skillful chemi-
cal analyses of the soil and its products have been made for,
now, a series of years. A Hitchcock, a Dana, a Jackson
have applied science to agriculture. Pamphlets, books, and
widely circulated newspapers have diffused this knowledge.
Agricultural societies, state and county ; farmers' meetings
for diKcussion, such as are held every winter in Boston,
have awakened the mind of farmers, and by learning to
treat their soils skillfully, good wheat is raised in large
quantities on soils naturally very averse to wheat.
The average crop of wheat in great Britain is twenty-six
bushels to the acre, but forty and fifty are common to good
limners; sixty, seventy, and even eighty have been raised
by great care.
In the whole United States it will not average much more
than fifteen. A comparison of the two countries will show
a corresponding inferiority on our part in the application of
science to agriculture. Scotland, formerly, hardly raised
wheat. Since the formation of the Highland Agricultural
Society in Scotland, wheat has averaged fifty-one bushels to
the acre ! — Ellsworth's Report for 1844, p. 16.
Lord Ilardwicke stated, in a speech before the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, that fine Suffolk wheat
had produced seventy-six bushels per acre; and another
and improved variety had yielded eighty-two bushels
per acre ! This was the result of " book farming " in a
country where anti-book farmers raise twenty-six bushels
to the acre.
128 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Those very operations which farmers call practical, and
upon which they rely in decrying "book farming" wt'iv
first made known l>y science, and through the writings of
scientific men.
These views have an immediate and practical bearing on
the cultivation of wheat in the Western States.
Hitherto the want of enough cleared land has led farm-
ers to put in wheat among the corn, and half put it in at
that. Others have plowed their fallows, or their irrass
lands, so early in the season, that rains and settling have
made it hard again by seed-time. Then, without stirring it,
the grain has been thrown (away) upon it, and half har-
rowed in and left to its fate. Equally bad has been the
system of late single plowing. Others have given their
grain no soil to bed their roots in ; a scratched surface
receives the grain ; its roots, like the steward, cannot dig,
and so get no hold ; and are either winter killed, or subsist
upon the scanty food of the three or four inches of top soil.
With some single exceptions, wheat cannot be said to have
been cultivated yet. The two great operations in render-
ing soil productive of wheat, are either the development of
the materials already in the soil ; or, the addition to the
soil of properties which are wanting.
Much land yielding only twelve or fifteen bushels, by a
better preparation would, just as easily, yield thirty. Let
us suppose that a common plowing of four or five inches,
precedes sowing. Out of this superficial soil the wheat is
to draw its food. Constant cropping has, perhaps, already
diminished its abundance. Then wheat is rank in stem,
short in the head, and light in the kernel. But below there
is a bed of materials untouched. The subsoil, if brought
up, exposed to the ameliorating influence of the ele-
ments, will furnish in great abundance the elements
required. The simple operation of deep and thorough
plowing will, often, be enough to increase the crop one-half.
Deep plowing gives a place for the roots, which will not be
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 120
apt to heave out in winter ; it saves the wheat from drought, it
Lrivc* the nourishment of twice the quantity of soil to the crop.
Five acres may become ten by enlarging the soil down-
ward. These remarks are desultory ; and, while we intend
to continue writing on the subject, we say to such as may
be getting ready for the wheat-sowing, plow deeply and
thoroughly / unlike corn, wheat can only be plowed once,
and that at the beginning. It should be thoroughly done,
then, once for all.
WHEAT LANDS ought to be so farmed as to grow better
from year to year ; certainly, they ought to hold their own.
Lands may be kept in heart by the adoption of a rotation
suited to each particular soil ; or, if frequent wheat crops are
raised, by fallows or manuring. It is a fact that in this
neighborhood farms in the hands of careful men are yielding
better crops of wheat every year ; while multitudes of far-
mers think themselves fortunate in twelve or fifteen bushels
to the acre, there is another class who expect twenty-five or
thirty bushels, and in good seasons get it. This is encou-
r.-iumg. As our lands get older we may look for yet better
things. Some farmers put in from 100 to 800, and even
1,000 acres of wheat. The native qualities of the soil are
relied upon for the crop. To manure or clover such a body
of land is impossible with any capital at the command of its
owners. But with us, each o wner of a quarter section puts
in from ten to twenty acres, and it lies within his means to
dress this quantity of land to a high degree.
SOILS FIT FOR WHEAT. — A vegetable mold cannot yield
wheat, because it does not contain, and therefore cannot
afford to the crop, silicate of potash, or phosphate of mag-
nesia; the first of which gives strength to the stem, and
the second of which is necessary to the grain. On such soil
wheat may grow as a grass, but not as a grain.
A mere sand will not yield wheat ; because wheat re-
quires, and such soils do not contain, soda, magnesia, and
especially silicate of potash.
0*
130 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
All clays contain potash, which is indispensable to wheat,
but they may be deficient in soda, in magnesia, and in
other alkalies.
A calcareous clay-loam may be regarded as the best soil
for wheat. And when it does not exist in a natural stair,
all the additions in the form of manure should be with
reteivmv to the formation of such a soil. It' the land be
light and sandy, clay, and marl, and wood ashes should be
added, together with barnyard manure ; if the soil is a
tenacious clay, it should be warmed and mellowed by sand
and manure ; if it is deficient in lime, lime in substance, or
in marl must be given ; vegetable molds, if heavily
dressed with wood-ashes and lime, may be brought to pro-
duce wheat.
To PREPARE THE GROUND. — This operation depends
upon the condition of the soil. But, in all cases, the
deepest plowing is the best. The roots of wheat, if un-
checked, will extend more than five feet. Stiff, tough, soils,
unbroken for years, and especially if much trampled by
cattle, will require strong teams. Oxen are better than
horses to break up with. It has been said, that a yoke of
cattle draw a plow deeper, naturally, than a span of
horses. They are certainly better fitted for dull, dead,
heavy pulling. And if oxen have been well trained they
will do as much plowing in a season as horses, and come
out of the work in better condition.
Fallow lands should be broken up early in summer, as
soon as corn planting is over ; about midsummer plow
again ; and the last time early in September to prepare for
seed.
A grass or clover lay * may be plowed under deeply at
* The word lay, or ley, is only a different way of spelling lea, the old
English word for field, not used except in poetry or by fanners ; and it
is one, among many instances, of old Saxon English words being pre-
served among the agricultural population long after they have ceased to
bo generally used.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FABMING. 131
midsummer, and not disturbed till sowing-time ; and the
fall plowing should not disturb the inverted sod.
AVhc-n wheat is to be sown on wheat again, as large a
part of the straw should be left in the harvest-field as pos-
sible. This is to be plowed under ; but, if it can be done
without endangering the fences, it would be better to burn
it over ; the ashes will contain all the valuable salts. On
this point we extract the following note appended by the
editor of Liebig^s Agricultural Chemistry.
" In some parts of the grand-duchy of Hesse, where wood
is scarce and dear, it is customary for the common people
to club together and build baking-ovens, which are heated
with straw instead of wood. The ashes of this straw are
carefully collected and sold every year at very high prices.
The fanners there have found by experience that the ashes
of straw form the very best manure for wheat ; although it
exerts no influence on the growth of fallow-crops (potatoes
or the leguminosa), for example). The stem of wheat
grown in this way possesses an uncommon strength. The
cause of the favorable action of these ashes will be apparent,
when it is considered that all corn-plants require silicate of
potash ; and that the ashes of straw consist almost entirely
of this compound.
But this procedure does not depend upon theoretical
reasonings ; it has been abundantly substantiated by the
practice of English cultivators. We find on page 333 of the
" British Husbandry, " an admirable work published under
the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of
Useful Knowledge, the following statement :
" The ashes of burnt straw have also been found benefi-
cial by many intelligent practical farmers, from some of
whose experiments we select the following instances.
Advantage was taken of a fine day to fire the stubble of an
oat-field soon after harvest, the precaution having been pre-
viously taken of sweeping round the boundary to prevent
injury to the hedges. The operation was easily performed,
132 PLATX AXD PLEASANT TALK
by simply applying a light to windward, and it completely
•yrd rvery weed that grew, leaving the surface com-
pletely o>\ered with ashes; and tin- following crop, which
.\heat, produced full live quarters per acre. This
t-xciled further experiment, the result of which was, that in
the following season, the stubble having been partly plowed
in according to the common practice, and partly burned?
and the land sown with wheat, the crop produced eight
bushels per acre more on that portion which had IMM n
burned, than on that which had been plowed in. The
same experiment was repeated, on different occasions, with
similar results ; and a following crop of oats having been
laid down with seeds, the clover was found perfectly
healthy, while that portion on which the burning of the
stubble had been omitted, was choked with weeds. It
must, however, be recollected, that if intended to have a
decided effect, the stubble must be left of a considerable
length, which will occasion a material deficiency of farm-
yard manure; though the advantages will be gained of
saving, the cost of moving the stubs, the seeds of we«-ds and
insects will be considerably destroyed, and the land will
be left unimpeded for the operation of the plow.
" On the wolds of Lincolnshire, the practice of no-*, only
burning the stubble, but even the straw of threshed grain,
has been carried, in many cases, to the extent of four to
six loads per acre ; and, as it is described in the report of the
county, has been attended, in all those instances, with
very decidedly good effect. It is even said to have been
found^ superior, in some comparative trials, to yard-dung,
in the respective rate of five tons of straw to ten of manure !"
We frequently ride past immense piles of wheat straw,
encumbering the yard or field where it was threshed ; and
never without thinking upon the unthriftiness of a farmer
who ignorantly takes everything off his wheat land, re-
turns nothing to it, and is content with annually diminish-
ing crops.
ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 133
SELECTION OF SEEDS. — The varieties of wheat, already
very numerous, are constantly increasing. No farmer
should bo satisfied with anything short of the best kind of
wheat. Suppose an expense of many dollars to have been
incurred in procuring a new kind, if it yield only two
bushels more to the acre than an old sort, it will more than
pay for itself in the first harvest field. It should be observed
that different soils require different varieties; and every
farmer should select, after trial, the kind which agrees best
witli his land.
A standard wheat should be hardy, strong in the straw ;
not easy to shell and waste, prolific, thin in the bran, white
in flour, and the flour rich in starch and gluten. The
earliness or lateness of a variety affects its liability to dis-
ease.
Much may be done by every fanner to secure a variety
suited to his soil from his own fields. Let a watchful eye
observe every remarkable head of wheat — a very early one,
a very long head, any which have an unusual sized grain,
or is distinguished for any excellent property. By gather-
ing, planting separately, and then culling again, each
farmer may improve his own wheat fen fold. Indeed it has
been in this way that several improved varieties have been
procured.
Of spring wheat, the most valuable kinds are, Italian
Sjyring Wfieat / bearded, red berry, white chaff, head long,
bran thick, flour of fair quality. Tea or Siberian Bald ;
bright straw, not long ; berry white, bald ; flour good ;
extensively cultivated in New England and northern part of
N»'\s' York. Valuable variety.
BLACK SEA WHEAT. — White chaff', bearded, berry red,
long and heavy, bran thick, flour inferior. Ripens very
early, and seldom rusts or mildews.
The following are also the spring varieties. Egyptian
"Wild Goose or California. — Large and branching head,
bearded, berry small, bran thick, flour coarse and yellow,
184 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ripens Into, and subject to rust. Although branching, it is
not productive. There is a winter variety also. Rock
Wheat^ from Spain. — Chaff white, bearded, berry red and
long, bran thick, flour of fair quality, hardy, shows small,
well adapted for new lands and late sowing. Black
Bearded. — Long cultivated in New York — stem large,
heavy head, berry large and red, beard very long and still',
produces flour well. Red Bearded, English. — ChaiF red,
bearded, beards standing out, berry white, weighs from
sixty to sixty-two pounds. Scotch WJieat. — A large white
wheat, berry and straw large.
Spring wheat does well on soils which heave and throw
out winter wheat. It is deemed a good policy to sow some
spring wheat every year, that, if the winter wheat fails, a
crop may still be on hand.
An account of the best varieties of winter wheat, we
extract from the Western Farmer and Gardener :
11 WHITE FLINT. — A winter wheat, very white chaff, with-
stood Hessian fly well, has yielded fifty-four bushels to the
acre, weighing from sixty-three to sixty-seven pounds per
bushel. Improved White Flint. — This from early selection
from the first. White Provence, from France. — A white
wheat — shows small heads, well filled and large. Old Red
Chaff. — White wheat, old — subject to fly. Kentucky,
Wliite Bearded. — White wheat, sometimes called Cana-
dian Flint — early, good for clay soils. Indiana Wheat. —
White wheat — berry white and large, ripens early, not so
flinty as the White Flint, good flour, valuable for clayey
soils. Velvet Beard, or Crate Wheat. — White wheat —
English variety, chaff reddish, berry large and red, straw
large and long, heads long and well filled, beard very stiff,
flour yellowish. Soule's Wheat. — A mixed variety, heads
large, berry white, not very hardy. Beaver Dam. — Old
variety, berry red, flour yellowish, ripens late. Eclipse. —
English, not hardy. Virginia Wliite May, from Virginia. —
Winter, good flour, chaff white, Wlieatland Wfieat, from
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 135
Virginia. — Chaff red, heads well filled, berry red, hardy.
Tn^-i.tn Bald, from Italy in 1837. — Berry large and white,
not hardy, flour good. Tuscan ^Bearded. — Head large,
still less hardy. Yorkshire, from England, ten years ago.
— Mixed variety of white and red chaff, bald, berry white,
good flour, liable to injury from insects, subject to ergot.
Bellevere 1\dlavera. — White variety from England, head
large, tillers well, not hardy, insects like it much. Peggie-
sham, English. — Head large, berry white, and medium
sized, tender for our winters — (all this is calculated for New
York State.) Golden Drop, English. — Berry red, flour not
lirst rate. Skinner Wheat. — Produced from crosses, berry
red, chaff white, hardy, yield good, sixty-four pounds to the
bushel. Mediterranean. — Chaff light, red bearded, berry
red and long, very flinty, flour inferior. Hume's WJiite
Wtieat from crosses. — A beautiful white wheat, berry
large, bran thin, hardy and a valuable variety. J3lue Stem.
— Cultivated for thirty-three years, berry white, sixty-four
pounds to the bushel, flour superior, bran thin, and very
productive. Valparaiso WJieat, from South America. —
Chaff white, bald, berry white, bran thin, a good vari-
ety.
PREPARING SEED FOR SOWING. — Seed wheat should be
subjected to a process which shall separate all chess, cockle,
etc., from it, together with the shrunken kernels of the
wheat itself. This may be, in part, done by screening ; but
the light -grain will float and may thus be detected in the
process of brining. Two tubs, or half barrels, may be con-
veniently used. A strong brine of salt and water is pre-
ferred, and the wheat, in convenient parcels, is poured in,
the light wheat skimmed from the top, the brine poured off
into the second tub, and the heavy wheat at the bottom
put into some suitable receptacle to drain for an hour.
When in successive parcels the whole quantity to be used
has been brined, let it be emptied upon a smooth floor, and
limed at the rate of about a bushel of lime to ten of wheat.
130 PLAIN AND I'M \SA\T TALK
By this process the cliatVy ^rain is rejected, tlie smut, to
which wheat is SO liable, is entirely prevented ; and tlie
strain caused to germinate m«uv rapidly and strongly. The
lime should be what is termed quicklime, or that ju*t
slaked. The reason may be explained. No seed can ger-
minate until it has rid itself of a large part of that carbon,
which, being essential to its preservation, must be \\ith-
draxvn in order that it may grow. The addition of oxygen
from air and water converts the carbon to carbonic acid,
which is emitted from the pores, and escapes. Newly
slaked lime has a powerful affinity for carbonic acid ; and
by withdrawing it from the seed, puts it in a condition
favorable to immediate germination. Lime that has been
air-slaked or lain exposed to the air after being slaked by
water, combines with the carbonic acid in the atmosphere,
and when applied to wheat, being already a carbonate, it
does not liberate the carbonic acid contained in the seed.
PLEASURES OF HORTICULTURE. — There is no writing so
detestable as so-called fine 'writing. It is painted empti-
ness. We especially detest fine writing about rural affairs
— all the senseless gabble about dew, and zephyrs, and stars,
and sunrises — about flowers, and green trees, golden grain
and lowing herds, etc. We always suspect a design upon
our admiration, and take care not to admire. In short,
geoponical cant, and pastoral cant, and rural cant in their
length and breadth, are like the whole long catalogue of
cants (not excepting the German Kant), intolerable. Now
and then, however, somebody writes as though he knew
something ; and then a free and bold strain of commenda-
tion upon rural affairs is relishful.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 137
PRACTICAL USE OF LEAVES.
THERE arc two fads in the functions of the leaf, which
are wortli consideration on account of their practical bear-
ings, The food of plants is, for the most part, taken in
solution, through its roots. Various minerals — silex, lime^
alumen, magnesia, potassa — are passed into the tree in a
dissolved state. The sap passes to the leaf, the superfluous
water is given off, but not the substances which it held in
solution. These, in part, are distributed through the plant,
and, in part, remain as a deposit in the cells of the leaf.
Gradually the leaf chokes up, its functions are impeded,
and finally entirely stopped. When the leaf drops, it con-
tains a large per cent, of mineral matter. An autumnal or
old leaf yields, upon analysis, a very much larger propor-
tion of earthy matter than a vernal leaf, which, being yet
young, has not received within its cells any considerable
deposit. It will be found also, that the leaves contain a
very much higher per cent, of mineral matter, than the wood
of the trunk. The dried leaves of the elm contain more
than eleven per cent, of ashes (earthy matter), while the
wood contains less than two per cent. ; those of the willow,
more than eight per cent.) while the wood has only 0.45 ;
those of beech 6.69, the wood only 0.36 ; those of the (Eu-
ropean) oak 4.05, the wood only 0.21 ; those of the pitch-
pine 3.15, the wood only 0.25 per cent*
It is very plain, from these facts, that, in forests, the min-
eral ingredients of the soil perform a sort of circulation;
entering the root, they are deposited in the leaf; then, with
it, f:ill to the earth, and by its decay, they are restored to
the soil, again to travel their circuit. Forest soils, there-
fore, instead of being impoverished by the growth of trees,
receive back annually the greatest proportion of those
* See Dr. Grey's Botanic Text Book, an admirable work, which every
horticulturist should own and study.
138 LAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
mineral elements necessary to the tree, and besides, much
organi/ed matter received into the plant from the atmos-
phere ; soils therefore are gaining instead of losing. If
owners of parks or groves, for neatness' sake, or to obtain
> for other purposes, gather the annual harvest of
S, they will, in time, take away great quantities of mine-
ral matter, by which the soil, ultimately, will be impover-
ished, unless it is restored by manures.
Leaf-manure has always been held in high esteem by gar-
deners. But many regard it as a purely vegetable sub-
stance / whereas, it is the best mineral manure that can be
applied to the soil. What are called vegetable loams (not
peat soils, made up principally of decomposed roots), con-
tain large quantities of earthy matter, being mineral-vege-
table, rather than vegetable soils.
Every gardener should know, that the best manure for
any plant is the decomposed leaves and substance of its own
species. This fact will suggest the proper course with refer-
ence to the leaves, tops, vines, haulm, and other vegetable
refuse of the garden.
The other fact connected with the leaf, is its function of
Exhalation. The greatest proportion of crude sap which
ascends the trunk, upon reaching the leaf, is given forth
again to the atmosphere, by means of a particularly beauti-
ful economy. The quantity of moisture produced by a
plant is hardly dreamed of by those who have not specially
informed themselves. The experiments of Hales have been
often quoted. A sun-flower, three and a half feet high,
presenting a surface of 5.616 square inches exposed to the
sun, was found to perspire at the rate of twenty to thirty
ounces avoirdupois every twelve hours, or seventeen times
more than a man. A vine with twelve square feet exhaled at
the rate of five or six ounces a day. A seedling apple-tree,
with twelve square feet of foliage, lost nine ounces a day.*
* Lindley's Horticulture, p. 42-44. Grey's Botany, p. 131.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 139
These are experiments upon very small plants. The vast
amount of surface presented by a large tree must give off
immense quantities of moisture. The practical bearings of
this fact of vegetable exhalation are not a few. AVet for-
est-lands, by being cleared of timber, become dry; and
streams, fed from such sources, become almost extinct as
civilization encroaches on wild woods. The excessive damp-
ness of crowded gardens is not singular, and still less is it
strange that dwellings covered with vines, whose windows
are choked with shrubs, and whose roof is overhung with
branches of trees, should be intolerably damp ; and when
the good housewife is scrubbing, scouring and brushing,
and nevertheless, marvelling that her house is so infested
^\ith mold, she hardly suspects that her troubles would be
more easily removed by the axe or saw, than by all her
cloths and brushes. A house should never be closely sur-
rounded with shrubs. A free circulation of air should be
maintained all about it, and shade-trees so disposed as to
leave large openings for the light and sun to enter. Un-
usual rains in any season produce so great a dampness in our
residences that no one can fail to notice its effect, both on
the health of the occupants, and upon the beauty and good
condition of their household substance.
THE following method to destroy weeds is pursued at the
mint in Paris, with good effect: 10 gallons water, 20 Ibs.
quicklime and 2 Ibs. flowers of sulphur are to be boiled in an
iron vensel ; after settling, the clear part is thrown off and
used when needed. Care must be taken, for if it will
destroy weeds it will just as certainly destroy edgings and
border flowers if sprinkled on them. "Weeds, thus treated,
will disappear for several yenrs.
140 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
SPRING-WORK FOR PUBLIC-SPIRITED MEN.
SHADE-TREES. — One of the first things that will require
your action is, the planting of shade-trees. Get your neigh-
bors to join with you. Agree to do four times as much MS
your share, and you will, perhaps, then obtain sonic help.
Try to get some more to do the same in each street of your
village or town.
Locusts, of course you will set for immediate shade.
They will in three years afford you a delightful verdant
umbrella as long as the street. But maples form a charm-
ing row, and the autumnal tints of their leaves and the
spring flowers add to their beauty. They grow quite
rapidly, and in six years, if the soil is good and the trees
properly set, they will begin to cast a decided shadow.
Elms are, by far, the noblest tree that can be set, but they
will have their own time to grow. It is best then to set
them in a row of other trees, at about fifty or a hundred
feet apart, the intervening space to be occupied with
quicker-growing varieties.
The beech, buckeye, horse-chesnut, sycamore, chestnut,
and many others may be employed with advantage. Now,
do not let your court-house square look any longer so bar-
ren.
Avenues may be lined with rows of trees, but squares
and open spaces should have them grouped or scattered in
small knots and parcels in a more natural manner.
MAY-WEED. — There was never a better time to extermin-
ate this villainous, stinking weed than summer-time will be.
Just as soon as the first blossoms show,, " up and at it." Club
together hi your streets and agree to spend one day a-mow-
ing. Keep it down thoroughly for one season and it will
no longer bedrabble your wife's and daughter's dresses,
nor fill the air with its pungent stench, or weary the eye
with its everlasting white and yellow.
SIDE-WALKS. — What if your neighbors are lazy; what if
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 141
they do not care ? Some one ought to see that there are
good gravel walks in each village. You can have them in
this way : Take your horse and cart and make them before
your own grounds, and then go on no matter who owns,
and when your neighbors see that you have public spirit,
they will, by and by, be ready to help you. But the grand
way to do nothing, is, not to lift a finger yourself, and then
to rail at your fellow-citizens as selfish and devoid of all
public spirit.
PROTECT PUBLIC PROPERTY. — What if it does concern
everybody else as much as it does you ? Some one ought
to see that the fences about every square are kept in repair.
Some one ought to save the trees from cattle ; some one
ought to have things in such trim as that the inhabitants
can be proud of their own town. Pride is not decent when
there is nothing to be proud of; but when things are worthy
of it, no man can be decent who is devoid of a proper
pride. The church, the schoolhouse, fences, trees, bridges,
roads, public squares, sidewalks, these are things which tell
tales about people. A stranger, seeking a location, can
hardly think well of a place, in which the distinction
between the house and stye are not obvious ; in which every
one is lazy when greediness does not excite him, and where
general indolence leaves no time to think of the public
good.
When politicians are on the point of dissolving in the
very fervent heat of their love for the public, it would
recall the fainting soul quicker than hartshorn or vinegar to
ask them — Did you ever set out a shade-tree hi the street ?
Did you ever take an hour's pains about your own village ?
Have you secured it a lyceum ? Have you watched over its
schools.? Have you aided in any arrangements for the
relief of the poor? Have you shown any practical zeal for
good roads, good bridges, good sidewalks, good school-
houses, good churches ? Have the young men in your place
a public library ?
142 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
If the question wore put to many distmgmflhecl village
patriots, What have you done for the public good? — the
answer would be: "Why, I've talked till I'm hoarse, and
an ungrateful public refuse me any office by which I
may show my love of public affairs in a more practical
manner."
FARMERS AND FARMING SCENES IN THE WEST.
IF any one goes to Holland they are all Dutch formers
there ; if he goes to England he finds British husbandry ;
iu New England it's all Yankee farming. A man must
go to the West to see a little of every sort of farming
that ever existed, and some sorts we will affirm, never had
an existence before anywhere else — the purely indigenous
farming of the great valley. Within an hour's ride of each
other is the Swiss with his vineyard, the Dutchman witli
his spade, the "Pennsylvany Dutch" and his barn, the Yan-
kee and his notions, the Kentuckian and his stock, the Irish-
man and his shillelah, the Welchman and his cheese, besides
the supple French and smooth Italian, with here and there
a Swede and a very good sprinkling of Indians.
Away yonder to the right is a little patch of thirty acres
owned by a Yankee. He keeps good cows, one horse only
(fat enough for half a dozen) ; every hour of the year, save
only nights and Sabbath-days he is at work, and neat fences,
clean door-yard, a nice barn, good crops, and a profitable
dairy, and money at interest, show the results. What if he
ha* but thirty acres, they are worth any two hundred around
him, it' what a man makes is a criterion of the value of his
farm. But a little farther out is a jolly old Kentucky
farmer, the owner of about five hundred acres of the best
land in the county, which he tills when he has nothing elso
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 143
to do. He is a great hunter and must go out for three or
four days every season after deer. He loves office quite
well, and is always willing to " serve the public " for a con-
sid-er-a-tion, as Trapbois would say. As to farming, he
hires more than he works ; but, now and then, as at plant-
ing or harvesting, he will lay hold for a week or a month
with perfect farming fury, and that's the last of it. As to
working every day and every hour, it would be intolerable !
He is a great horse-raiser, is fond of stock, and if a free and
easy fellow ready to laugh, not careful of his purse, nor
particular about his time, will ride over his grounds, admire
his cattle, his bluegrass pasture, his Pattons and his Dur-
hams; and above all, that blooded filly, or that colt of Sir
Archie's — our Kentucky farmer will declare him the finest
fellow alive, and his house will be open to him from year's
end to year's end again.
Right along side of him is a " Pennsylvany Dutch," good-
natured, laborious, frugal and prosperous. He minds his
own business. Seldom wrangles for office. Is not very
public spirited, although he likes very well to see things
prosper. He farms carefully on the old approved plan of
his father, plants by the signs in the moon, seldom changes
his habits, and on the whole constitutes a very substantial,
clean, industrious, but unenterprising farmer.
Then there is a New York Yankee ; he has got a grand
piece of land, has paid for it, and got money to boot ; he
knows a little about everything ; he " lays off" the timber
for a fine large house — bossed the job himself. "When it
was up he stuck on a kitchen, then a pantry on to that, then
a pump-room on that, then a wood-house on that, and then
a smoke-house for the fag end ; a fine garden, a snug little
v well tended, good orchards ; by and by a second
farm, pretty soon a boy on it, all married and fixed off; by
mid by again another snug little farm, and then another
boy on it, with a little wife to help him ; and then a spruce
young fellow is seen about the premises, and after a while
144 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
a daughter disappears and may be found some miles off on
a good farm, making butter and raising children, and has
good luck at both. The old man is getting fat, has money
lent out, loves to see his friends, house neat as a pin, glori-
ous place to visit, etc., etc. But who can tell how many
sorts more there are in the great heterogeneous West,
and how amusing the mixture often is, and what strange
customs grow out of the mingling of so many diverse
materials. It is like a kaleidoscope, every turn gives a new
sight. "We will take our leisure, and give some sketches of
men, and manners and sceneiy, as we have seen them in the
West.
About eight years ago a raw Dutchman, whose only
English was a good-natured yes to every possible question,
got employment here as a stable-man. His wages were six
dollars and board ; that was $36 in six months, for not one
cent did he spend. He washed his own shirt and stock-
ings, mended and patched his own breeches, paid for his to-
bacco by some odd jobs, and laid by his wages. The next six
months, being now able to talk " goot Inglish," he obtained
eight dollars a month, and at the end of six months more
had $48, making in all for the year $84. The second year,
by varying his employment — sawing wood in winter, work-
ing for the corporation in summer, making garden in
spring, he laid by $100, and the third year $125, making
in three years $309.
With this he bought 80 acres of land. It was as wild as
when the deer fled over it, and the Indian pursued him.
How should he get a living while clearing it ? Thus he did
it. He hires a man to clear and fence ten acres. He him-
self remains in town to earn the money to pay for the
clearing. Behold him! already risen a degree, he is an
employer! In two years' time he has twenty acres wi-Jl
cleared, a log-house and stable, and money enough to buy
stock and tools. He now rises another step in the world,
for he gets married, and with his amply-built, broad-faced,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 145
good-natured wife, he gives up the town and is a regular
fanner.
In Germany he owned nothing and never could; his
wages were nominal, his diet chiefly vegetable, and his
prospect was, that he would be obliged to labor as a menial
for life, barely earning a subsistence and not leaving
enough to bury him. In five years, he has become the
owner in fee simple of a good farm, with comfortable fix-
tures, a prospect of rural wealth, an independent life, and,
by the blessing of heaven and his wife, of an endless pos-
terity. Two words tell the whole story — Industry and
Economy. These two words will make any man rich at
the West.
We know of another case. While Gesenius, the world-
wide famous Hebrew scholar, was as school, he had a
bench-fellow named Eitlegeorge. I know nothing of his
former life. But ten years ago I knew him in Cincinnati as
a baker, and a first-rate one too ; and while Gesenius issued
books and got fame, Eitlegeorge issued bread and got
money. At length he disappeared from the city. Travel-
ling from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, a year or two since, I
came upon a farm of such fine land that it attracted my
attention, and induced me to ask for the owner. It belonged
to our friend of the oven ! There was a whole township
belonging to him, and a good use he appeared to make of
it. Courage then, ye bakers ! In a short time you may
raise wheat instead of molding dough.
A HOLE IN THE POCKET. — If it were not for these holes
in the pocket, we should all be rich. A pocket is like a cis-
tern, a small leak at the bottom is worse than a large pump
at the top. God sends rain enough every year, but it is
not every man that will take pains to catch it ; and it is not
every man that catches it who knows how to keep it.
7
146 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS.
A DESCRIPTION of a few of the desirable flowering and
ornanu-ntal shrubs for yards and lawns may enable our
readers to select with judgment.
PRIVET. — This is quite beautiful as a single plant ; but
is universally employed for hedges, verdant screens, etc.
There is an evergreen variety, originally from Italy, by far
the best. The roots of this plant are fibrous, don't spread
much ; the limbs endure the shears very patiently ; it grows
very rapidly, two full seasons being sufficient to form a
hedge ; and it will flourish under the shade and drip of
trees.
ROSE ACACIA (Robinia hispida). — This is a species of
the locust, of a dwarf habit, seldom growing six feet in
height, and covered with fine spines which give its branches
a mossy appearance. Its blossoms resemble the locust, but
are of a pink color. It is often grafted upon the locust to
give it a higher head and better growth. It should be in
every shrubbery.
VENETIAN SUMACH, or smoke tree (Rhus cotinus). — The
peculiarky of this shrub is in the large bunches of russet-
colored seed-vessels, looking, at a little distance, like a jmfF
of smoke. The French and Germans call it periwig-tree,
from the resemblance of these russet masses to a powdered
wig. It grows freely, and is highly ornamental.
There are two other species of sumach worthy of cultiva-
tion ; the Rhus typhina, or Stag's Horn sumach, of a fine
flower, and whose leaves turn in autumn to a beautiful pur-
plish red; and the R. glabra, or Scarlet sumach, having
red flowers and fruit of a \elvety scarlet appearance, chang-
ing as it ripens to crimson.
SYRINGA, or Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius), is
a beautiful shrub, having, in the spring, flowers of a pure
white, and of an odor only less exquisite than that of the
orange ; whence one of its popular names. Th$ leaves havt
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 147
the smell of the cucumber, and are sometimes used in spring
to flavor salads. It grows freely, even under the shade of
trees, which, in all low shrubs, is a valuable quality. There
is also a large flowered inodoious variety. The popular
name, Syringa, is the botanical name of the lilac; but
these plants are not in the remotest degree related to each
other.
LILAC. — This well-known and favorite little tree requires
only to be mentioned. There is a white variety, and deli-
cately-leaved variety called the Persian.
SNOWBALL ( Viburnum opulus), everywhere known, and
everywhere a favorite ; and scarcely less so is the
WAXBERRY, or Snowberry, (Symphora racemosa), intro-
duced by Lewis and Clark to the public attention, and first
raised from seed by McMahan, a gardener of some note.
When its fruit is grown, it has a beautiful appearance.
' TAMARISK (Tamarix g allied) , a sub-evergreen of very
beautiful feathery foliage, of rapid growth, and highly orna-
mental in a shrubbery. It will grow in very poor soil.
SHEPARDIA, or Buffalo Berry, from the Rocky Mountains,
a low tree, with small silvery leaves, a currant-like fruit,
which is edible. This is worthy of cultivation. It is dio3-
cious, and the male and female trees must therefore be
planted in proximity.
DWARF ALMOND (Amygdalus nana), but now called by
botanists Cerasus or Prunus japonica. This favorite shrub
is found in all gardens and yards. The profusion of its
blossoms and the delicacy of their color make it, during the
short time of its inflorescence, deservedly a favorite. As it
flowers before its leaves put forth, it requires a green back-
ground to produce its full effect. It should therefore be
planted alpinist evergreens.
WOOD HONEYSUCKLE (Azalea). — This is a native of North
America, and is ].. if, , i |y hardy. It flourishes best in a half
shade, :ml:int. It is conveyed to every organ ; each part, receiving
its portion, modifies it by a farther chemical action pecu-
liar to itself. Thus in the case of an apple-tree. The
elaborated sap which goes to the leaf, the alburnum, the
liber, the blossom, the fruit is the same in all ; but the fruit
gives it a still further elaboration, by which it imparts the
peculiar properties belonging to it, in distinction from the
152 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
tissues ; so of the bark, the blossom, etc. If, then, the seed-
vessels are removed, so much less elaborated sap is con-
sumed as they would have required ; and this, or at least,
portions of it, are given to the other parts of the vegetable
economy.
BLADING AND TOPPING CORN.
No one performs these operations for the benefit of the
ear, but to obtain fodder, and it is then justified on the
ground that the corn is not harmed by it. The sap drawn
from the root does not flow straight up into the ear and
kernel, but into the leaves or blades. The carbonic acid of
the crude sap is decomposed, oxygen is given off and carbon
remains in the form of starch, sugar, gum, etc., etc., accord-
ing to the nature of the plant. When sap has by exposure
to light undergone this change it is said to be elaborated.
It is only now that the sap, passing from the upper side
of the leaf to a set of vessels in the under side, is reconveyed
to the stem, begins to descend, and is distributed to various
parts of the plant, affording nourishment to all. But when
the fruit of every plant is maturing, it draws to itself a large
part of the prepared sap, which, when it has entered the
kernel, is still farther elaborated, and made to produce the
peculiar qualities of the fruit, whether corn or wheat, apple
or pear. It is plain from this explanation that a plant
stripped of its leaves is like a chemist robbed of his labora-
tory, or like a man without lungs.
If corn is needed for fodder, let it be cut close to the
ground when the corn has glazed. The grain will go on
ripening and be as heavy and as good as if left to stand, and
the stalk will afford excellent food for cattle. Shci-p arc
fond of corn thus cured, and will winter very well upon it.
In husking out the corn, the husk should be left on the stalk
for fodder.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 153
MAPLE. SUGAR.
As most persons who have not informed themselves on
the subject, imagine that we are indebted to cane-sugar for
our main supply, and that maple-sugar is a petty neighbor-
hood matter, not worth the figures employed to represent
it, \ve propose to spend some space in stating the truth on
this matter. We will exhibit, 1, the amount produced; 2,
the proper way of manufacturing it ; 3, the proper treat-
ment of sugar-tree groves.
We shall confine our statistics to the most important
Northern and Western States.
1. New York produces annually 10,048,109 Ibs.
2. Ohio 6,363,386 "
3. Vermont 4,647,934 "
4. Indiana 3,727,795 "
5. Pennsylvania 2,265,755 "
6. New Hampshire 1,162,368 "
7. Virginia 1,541,833 "
S.Kentucky 1,377,835 "
9. Michigan 1,329,784 "
Total of nine States 22,464,799 "
Residue thus — add for Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin 2,030,853 "
24,495,652 "
Something should be subtracted for beet-root and corn-
stalk-sugar. But on the other hand, the statistics are so
inurh below the truth on maple-sugar, that the deficiency
may be set off against beet-root and cornstalk-sugar. That
the- figures do not more than represent the amount of
maple-sugar produced in these States may be presumed
from one case. Indiana is set down at 3, 727, 795; but in
the four counties of Washington, Warrick, Posey and Har-
rison, no account seems to have been taken of this article.
7*
154 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
In Mur'mn county, four of the first sugar-making townships,
Warren, Lawrence, Centre and Franklin, are not reckoned.
If wr suppose these four townships to average as much as
the others in Marion county, they produced 77,648 Ibs.,
and instead of putting Marion county down at 97,064 it
should be 174,712 Ibs. It is apparent from this case, that
in Indiana the estimate is far below the truth ; and if it is
half as much so in the other eight States enumerated,*
then 22,464,799 is not more than a fair expression of the
maple-sugar alone.
Lousiana is the first sugar-growing State in the Union.
Her produce, by the statistics of 1840, was 119,947,720, or
nearly one hundred and twenty million pounds. The States
of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Flo-
rida, together, add only 645,281 pounds more.
Cane-sugar in the United States 120,593,001 Ibs.
Maple " " " 24,495,652 "
Thus about one-sixth of the sugar made annually in the
United States is made from the maple-tree.f It is to be
* Dr. J. C. Jackson puts Vermont at 6,000,000 Ibs. per annum, while
the census only gives about 4,000,000.
f The data of these calculations, it must be confessed, are very uncer-
tain, and conclusions drawn from them as to the relative amounts of
sugai produced in different States, are to be regarded, at the very best,
as problematical. We extract the following remarks from an article in
the Western Literary Journal, from the pen of Charles Cist, an able sta-
tistical writer :
" It is not my purpose to go into^an extended notice of the errors in the
statistics connected with the census of 1840. A few examples will serve to
show their character and extent. In the article of hemp, Ohio is stated to
produce 9,080 tons, and Indiana 8,605 — either equal nearly to the pro-
duct of Kentucky, which is reported at 9,992 tons, and almost equal, when
united, to Missouri, to which 18,010 tons are given as the aggregate.
Virginia is stated to raise 25,594 tons, almost equal to botli Kentucky
and Missouri, which are given as above at 28,002 tons. Now the indis-
putable fact is, that Kentucky and Missouri prodilce more than hemp all
the rest of the United States, and ten times as much as either Ohio, Indiana
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 155
remembered too that in Louisiana it is the staple, while at
the North maple-sugar has never been manufactured with
any considerable skill, or regarded as a regular crop, but
only a temporary device of economy. Now it only needs to
be understood that maple-sugar may be made so as to have
the flavor of the best cane-sugar, and that it may, at a tri-
fling expense, be refined to white sugar, and the manufac-
ture of it will become more general, more skillful, and
may, in a little time, entirely supersede the necessity of im-
porting cane-sugar. Indiana stands fourth in the rank of
maple-sugar making States. Her annual product is at least
four million pounds, which, at six cents the pound amounts
to $160,000 per annum. A little exertion would quickly
run up the annual value of her home-made sugar to half a
million dollars.
Maple-sugar now only brings about two-thirds the price
or Virginia, which three States are made to raise 60 per centum more
than those two great hemp-producing States.
" The sugar of Louisiana is given at 119,947,720 Ibs., equal to 120,000
hhds., 160 per cent, more than has been published in New Orleans, as the
highest product of the five consecutive years, including and preceding
1840.
" But what is this to the wholesale figure-dealing which returns
3,^60,949 tons of hay, as the product of New York for that article! a
quantity sufficient to winter all the horses and mules in the United States.
" Other errors of great magnitude might be pointed out ; such as
making the tobacco product of Virginia 11,000 hhds., when her inspec-
tion records show 55,000 hhds., thrown into market as the crop of that
year. Who believes that 12,233 Ibs. pitch, rosin and turpentine, or the
tenth part of that quantity, were manufactured in Louisiana in 1840, or
that New York produced 10,093,991 Ibs. maple-sugar in a single year, or
twenty such statements equally absurd, which I might take from the
returns ?"
Mr. Cist will find in the appendix to Dr. Jackson's Final Report on tho
Geology of New Hampshire, a statement, that Vermont makes 6,000,000
poun.Is of sugar annually. If this be so, we may, without extravagance,
suppose that New York reaches 10,000,000 Ibs. So far as we have colla-
teral means of judging, the amount of maple-sugar is wwfcr-stated in tho
census of 1840.
156 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
of New Orleans. The fault is in the manufacturing of it.
The saccharine principle of the cane and tree are exactly
the same. If the same care were employed in their man-
facture they would be indistinguishable; and maple-su«rar
would be as salable as New Orleans, and if afforded at a
•rice, might supplant it in the market. The average
quantity of sugar consumed in England by each individual
is about thirty pounds per annum.
MAPLE-SUGAR MAKING. — Greater care must be taken
in collecting the sap. Old, and half-decayed wooden-
troughs, with a liberal infusion of leaves, dirt, etc., impart
great impurity to the water. Rain-water, decayed vegeta-
ble matter, etc., add chemical ingredients to the sap, trou-
blesome to extract, and injuring the quality if not removed.
The expense of clean vessels may be a little more, but with
care, it could be more than made up in the quality of the
sugar. Many are now using earthen-crocks. These are
cheap, easily cleaned, and every way desirable, with tho
single exception of breakage. But if wood-troughs are
used, let them be kept scrupulously clean.
The kettles should be scoured thoroughly before use,
and kept constantly clean. If rusty, or foul, or coated with
burnt sugar, neither the color nor flavor can be perfect.
Vinegar and sand have been used by experienced sugar-
makers to scour the kettles with. It is best to have, at
least, three to a range.
All vegetable juices contain acids, and acids resist the
process of crystallization.
Dr. J. C. Jackson* directs the one-measured ounce (one-
fourth of a gill) of pure lime-water to be added to every
gallon of sap. This neutralizes the acid, and not only faci-
litates the granulation, but gives sugar in a free state, now
too generally acid and deliquescent, besides being charged
* Appendix to final Report on the Geology and Mineralogy of New
Hampshire, page 361. This admirable Report is an able exposition of
the benefit of public State surveys.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWEttS AND FARMING. 157
with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily
strikes a black color with tea.
The process of making a pure white sugar is simple and
i M u-x pensive. The lime added to the sap, combining with
the peculiar acid of the maple, forms a neutral salt ; this
salt is found to be easily soluble in alcohol. Dr. Jackson
recommends the following process. Procure sheet-iron
cones, with an aperture at the small end or apex — let
them be coated with white-lead and boiled linseed-oil, and
thoroughly dried, so that no part can come off. [We do
not know why earthen cones, unglazed and painted, would
not answer equally well, besides being much cheaper.]
Let the sugar be put into these cones, stopping the hole in
the lower end until it is entirely cool. Then remove the
stopper, and pour upon the base a quantity of strong
whisky or fourth-proof rum *— allow this to filtrate through
until the sugar is white. When the loaf is dried it will be
pure white sugar, with the exception of the alcohol. To
get rid of this, dissolve the sugar in pure boiling hot-water,
and let it evaporate until it is dense enough to crystallize.
Tlu MI put it again into the cone-moulds and let it harden.
The dribblets which come away from the cone while the
whisky is draining, may be used for making vinegar. It
is sometimes the case that whisky would, if freely used in
a sugar camp, go off in a wrong direction, benefiting neither
the sugar nor the sugar-maker. If, on this account, any
prefer another mode, let them make a saturated solution
of loaf-sugar, and pour it in place of the whisky upon the
base of the cones. Although the sugar will not be quite
as white, the drawings will form an excellent molasses,
whereas the drainings by the former method are good only
for vinegar.
* If those who drink whisky would pour it on to the sugar in the refin-
ing cones, instead of upon sugar in tumblers, it would refine them as
much as it does the sugar ; performing tiro valuable processes at once.
158 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
CARE OP SUGAR ORCHARDS. — It is grievous to witness
tin- waste committed upon valuable groves of sugar-trees.
It* tin* special object was to destroy them, it could hardly
be better reached than by the methods now employed.
The holes are carelessly made, and often the abominable
practice is seen of cutting channels in the tree with an axe.
The man who will murder his trees in this tomahawk and
scalping-knife manner, is just the man that .^Esop meant
when he made the fable of a fellow who killed his goose to
get ai once all the golden eggs. With good care, and
•flowing them occasionally a year of rest, a sugar-grove
may last for centuries.
As soon as possible get your sugar-tree grove laid
down to grass, clear out underbrush, thin out timber and
useless trees. Trees in open land make about six pounds
of sugar, and forest trees only about four pounds to the
season. As the maple is peculiarly rich in potash (four-
fifths of potash exported is made from sugar-maple), it is
evident that it requires that substance in the soil. Upon
this account we should advise a liberal use of wood-ashes
upon the soil of sugar-groves.
TAPPING TREES. — Two taps are usually enough — never
more than three. For though as many as twenty-four have
been inserted at once without killing the tree, regard ought
to be had to the use of the tree through a long series of
years. At first bore about two inches ; after ten or twelve
days remove the tap and go one or two inches deeper.
By this method more sap will be obtained than by going
down to the colored wood at first. We state upon the
authority of William Tripure, a Shaker of Canterbury, N. H.,
that about seven pounds of sugar may be made from a
barrel of twenty gallons, or four pounds the tree for forest
trees; and two men and one boy will tend a thousand trees,
making 4,000 pounds of sugar.
We would recommend the setting of pasture-lands,
and road-sides of the farm with sugar-maple trees. Their
1POUT FEUTTS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 150
growth is rapid, and no tree combines more valuable pro-
parties. It is a beautiful shade-tree, it is excellent for fuel,
it is much used for manufacturing purposes, its ashes are
valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are
twenty-seven species of the maple known, twelve of them
are indigenous to this continent. All of these have a sacha-
rine sap, but only two, to a degree sufficient for practical
purposes, viz., Acer saccharinum or the common sugar-
maple, and Acer nigrum or the black sugar-maple. The sap
of these contains about half as much sugar as the juice of
the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap contains,
on an average, 3,451 grains of sugar ; and one gallon of
caiu'-juiee (in Jamaica), averages 7,000 grams of sugar.
But the cane is subject to the necessity of annual and
careful cultivation, and its manufacture is comparatively
expensive and difficult. Whereas the maple is a permanent
tree, requires no cultivation, may be raised on the borders
of farms without taking up ground, and its sap is easily con-
vertible into sugar, and, if carefully made, into sugar as
good as cane-sugar can be. Add to the above considera-
tions that the sugar-making period is a time of comparative
leisure with the farmer, and the motives for attention to this
subject of domestic sugar-making seem to be complete.
LETTUCE. — Those who wish fine head lettuce should pre-
pare a rich, mellow bed of light soil ; tough and compact
soil will not give them any growth. In transplanting, let
there be at least one foot between each plant. Stir the
ground often. If it is very dry weather, water at evening
copiously, if you wati-r at all; buj; the hoe is the only
watering-pot for a garden, if thereby the soil is kept loose
and fine. We have raised heads nearly as large as a drum-
head cabbage by this method, very brittle, sweet and tender
withal.
100 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
GEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS.
MANY terms, in general use among scientific men, and
usually employed in agricultural works, are obscure to
young readers. For their sakes we will explain some of
them ; and shall not be angry if old men profit by the
explanation.
SOIL. — The surface-earth, of whatever ingredients it may
be composed. It may be a clay-soil, a sand-soil, a calcareous
soil, as the surface is composed of clay, or sand, or clay
strongly mixed with lime, etc.
SUBSOIL. — The earth lying below the ordinary depth to
which the plow or spade penetrate. Sometimes it has
hardened by the running of the plow over it for a series
of years ; then it is called pan, as hard-pan, clay-pan, etc.
It is sometimes of the same nature as the top-soil, as in clay-
lands ; in others it is a different earth ; as when a coarse
gravel underlies vegetable mold, or when clay lies
beneath sandy soil.
SUBSOIL PLOWING. — In ordinary plowing, the share runs
from five to seven inches deep. A plow has been con-
structed (called subsoil plow), to follow in the furrow, and
break up from six to eight inches deeper — so that the
whole plowing penetrates from ten to sixteen inches.
SUBSOIL PLOW. — A plow having a narrow " double share,
or a small share on each side of the coulter, and no mold-
board." It is designed to break up and soften the subsoil,
but not to bring it up to the top.
MOLD. — A soil in which decayed vegetable matter
largely predominates over earths. Thus, leaf-mold is soil
principally composed of rotten leaves; dung-mold, of
dung reduced to a fine powdery matter; heath-mold, a
black vegetable soil found in heath-lands; peat-mold,
forest-mold, garden-mold, etc.
LOAM. — Clay, or any of the primitive earths, reduced to
a mellow, friable state by intermixture of sand, or vegeta-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 161
ble matter, is called loam. Clay lands well manured with
*;unl, dung, or muck, are turned, gradually, to a loam.
ARGILLACEOUS. — From the Latin (argittaceusj) soil prin-
cipally composed of clay.
ALUMINA OR ALUMINE. — Generally employed to signify
pure clay. It is, chemically speaking, a metallic oxide ;
aluminium is the metallic base, and is an elementary sub-
stance.
It is generally known that the diamond is pure carbon
(charcoal is carbon hi an impure state), but it is not as
generally known that the ruby and the sapphire, " two of
the most beautiful gems with which we are acquainted, are
composed almost solely of alumina," or pure clay in a crys-
tallized state.
SILICIOUS. — An earth composed largely of silex. Silex or
silica is considered to be a primitive earth constituting flint,
and containing most kinds of sands, and sandstones, etc.
China or porcelain, ware is formed from silica and alumina
united, i. e. from silicious sand and clay.
CALCAREOUS. — A soil into the composition of which lime
enters largely. Limestone lands are calcareous. Pure
clay manured freely with marl becomes calcareous, for marl
is, mostly, clay and carbonate of lime.
ALLUVIAL. — Strictly speaking, alluvium or our alluvial
soil, is a soil formed by causes yet in existence. Thus a
bottom-land is formed by the wash of a river. It is usually
a mixture of decayed vegetable matter and sand.
DILUVIAL. — A diluvial soil or deposit is one formed by
cause's no longer hi existence. Thus a deposit by a deluge
is termed diluvial. The word is derived from the Latin
(diluvium), signifying a deluge.
The terms argillaceous, calcareous, silicious, alluvial and
diluvial are constantly employed in all works which treat of
husbandry.
FRIABLE. — A friable soil is one which crumbles easily.
Clay is adhesive, or in common language clammy: leaf-
162 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
mold ib friable, or crumbling. Clay becomes friable when,
by exposure to air or frost, or by addition of sand, vegeta-
ble matter, etc., it is thoroughly mellowed.
DRAINING WET LANDS.
BEFORE many years there will be thousands of acres
pierced with drains. But the inducements to it which
iii.-ike it wise in England and New England do not yet,
generally, exist in the West. The expense of draining one
acre would buy two. Many farmers have already more
arable land than they can till to advantage. Land
redeemed from slough would not pay for itself in many
years.
But although a general introduction of draining would
not be wise, there are many cases hi which, to a limited
extent, it should be practised. Lands lying near to cities
are sufficiently valuable, and the market for farming pro-
ducts sure enough, to justify the reclaiming of wet pieces
of land. On small farms of forty and eighty acres, sur-
rounded by high-priced lands, not easily procured for enlarg-
ing his farm if the owner should wish it, draining might be
employed with advantage. A man with a small farm can
afford expenses for high cultivation which would break a
large farmer.
Some times a large meadow or arable field is marred by
a wet slash through the middle of it ; a farmer would not
begrudge the labor of draining for the sake of having his
favorite field without a blemish. Sometimes farms are
intersected by wet lands, which make the passage from one
part of the farm to another difficult at all times, and almost
impassable at some seasons of the year. Draining might bo
resorted to in such a case, not so much for the sake of
the land reclaimed, as for the convenience of the whole farm.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLO WEBS AND FAEMING. 163
We know pieces of wet, peaty meadow land lying close
by the farm-house, the only drawback to the beauty of the
place. A good farmer would wish to recover such a spot
for the same reason that he would prefer a handsome house
to a homely one — a fine horse over a coarse-looking animal
— a sightly fence, rather than a clumsy one. There is much
strong land — but high, flat, and cold — which is wet through
all the spring, resisting seed till long after other portions of
the farm are at work, and which would, but for this back-
wardness, be regarded as the best land. If without great
expense, such land could be cured, few farmers would mind
the trouble or labor.
There are three kinds of draining which may be employed
according to circumstances — subsoil-plowing, furrow-drain-
ing and ditch-draining. When a soil is underbound by a
compact, impervious subsoil, all the rain or melting snow is
retained in the soil until it can exhale and evaporate. For
the subsoil acts like a water-tight floor, or the bottom of a
tub. Subsoil-plowing, by thoroughly working through this
under crust, gives a downward passage to the moisture ;
water sinks as it does in sandy loams. Nor will such treat-
ment be less useful to prevent the injury of summer drought ;
for the depth of soil affords a harbor for roots from whence
they can draw moisture when the top-soil is dry as ashes.
But there is a limit put to this treatment by the amount
of clay contained in the subsoil. It has been experiment-
ally ascertained in England) that when the soil contains
as high as forty-three per cent, of alumina (clay) sub-
soil-plowing is useless, because the clay soon coalesces and
is as impervious as ever. In such cases, if the land has a
slight inclination in any direction, furrow-draining may, in
some measure, relieve it. The ground is marked out in
lands as for sowing grain and plowed with back-furrows,
throwing the earth toward the centre. The rain and snow
will run to either side, and flow off by the channels left
between each strip. This treatment does not relieve the
164 PLAIN AND i :; \ \\r T.VI.K
land, to any great extent, of water contained in it, but acts
as a preventive, by carrying off the rain and snow before
they are absorbed.
O DEAR! SHALL WE EVER BE DONE LYING P
AN honest old gentleman, in telling us his troubles, gave
great prominence to the necessity he was frequently under
of disappointing his customers, whose work could not be
finished as soon as he had promised. After explaining the
difficulty, he looked up with great earnestness, and ex-
claimed, " O dear ! shatt we ever be done with this lying f»
We have often wondered ourselves whether such a con-
summation would ever take place. " Your boots shall be
done on Saturday night without fail." Nevertheless, you
have to go to church with gaping shoes for want of them.
" Your coat shall be sent home by nine o'clock on Satur-
day night ;" and you get it, in fact, the Wednesday after.
" Will you lend me your wheel-barrow ? I will return it to-
night." You wait for it till next week, and then send for
it. My carpenter solemnly agreed to finish my house by
November; but it was July before I could get the key.
My wood was to be split on Saturday afternoon — enough
for the Sabbath ; so it was — but I had to do it. My
money was to be paid me the next week ; and then, next
week ; and then, NEXT week — and then, as soon as he
could get it ; he did get it and spent it ; and then it should
be paid when he got it again — he got it again, and p:ii«-n<.
The moisture of the soil keeps the covering in a tender
ABOUT FEUITS, FLO WEBS AND FAKMING. 169
state, and it is easily ruptured by the expansion of tho
seed.
The shell of peach, plum, and other stone-fruit seeds
would form, if left to dry and harden, a yet more hopeless
prison. If kept for two years, the most stone-fruit pips,
it is to bo- presumed, would not germinate. Some, how-
ever, would have vigor enough to grow even then. We
have forgotten who it was, but believe it to have been
a. reliable person, recently mentioned the fact, that a peach
or apricot stone was for several years kept as a child's j KIV
thing; but upon being planted, grew, and is now a healtny
tree. Such cases are, however, rare.
The intercourse between Great Britain and her distant
colonies, and the various expeditions fitted out from her
shores for purposes of botanical research and for the acquisi-
tion of new plants from distant regions, have made the sub-
ject of seed-saving at sea a matter of much experiment.
In general, the conditions of preservation are three ; a
low temperature, dryness, and exclusion of air. But it
often happens, that all these cannot be had, and then a
choice must be made between them. Heat and moisture
will either germinate the seeds or corrupt them. In long
voyages, and in warm regions, moisture contained in the
seedy if in a close bottle, is sufficient to destroy the seed.
Glass bottles have therefore been rejected. Seeds for long
voyages, or for long preservation, are thoroughly ripened
and thoroughly dried ; but dried without raising the tempe-
rature of the air, as this would impair their vitality. They
are then wrapped in coarse paper, and put, loosely, in a
coarse canvas bag, and hung up in a cool and airy place.
In this way seeds will be as nearly secure from heat and
moisture — their two worst enemies — as may be. It is pro-
bable that some seeds have but a short period of vitality
under any circumstances of preservation. Seeds contain-
ing much oil, are peculiarly liable to spoil. Lindley sug-
gests that the oil becomes rancid.
8
170 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
The preservation of seeds from one season to another, for
home use, is not difficult, and may be described in throe
siMitenees: ripen them well, dry them thoroughly, and
keep them aired and cool.
RHUBARB.
RHUBARB or pie-plant is becoming as indispensable to the
garden as corn, or potatoes, or tomatoes. No family
should be without it. It comes in after winter apples are
gone and before green apples come in again for tarts. By
a little attention it may be had from the last of jNIaivh
through the whole summer. Indeed, it may be had
through the whole year. The root contains within itself
all the nourishment required to develop the leaves and
stalks at first, without any other aid than warmth and mois-
ture. If then it be lifted late in the fall or during open
weather in winter, and put in large pots, nail kegs, boxes,
etc., put in a warm room, or cellar, it will soon send up a
supply of leaves. It is not even necessary that there should
be much light, for the want of it only makes the stem
whiter and of a milder acid. The roots thus used may
either be thrown away, or set out again and not used until
they have recovered, wrhich will be in about one summer.
For early spring use, select a wrarm spot in the garden,
and late in the fall dig in around your roots a good supply
of rotten manure. Cover them with coarse manure, straw,
or litter. As soon as the frost comes out of the ground,
knock out the ends of a barrel and put one over each plant
from which you propose to gain an early supply. Put a
quantity of coarse manure around the outside of the bar-
rel to maintain the warmth, and, in cold nights and during
cold rains, lay a board over the open top. Thus treated,
you may have tarts in March. But the main supply of this
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 171
wholesome plant is to arise from open cultivation. The
roots may be gained from seed or from division of old
roots. Eastern writers recommend sowing the seed in
autumn ; but in the West spring sowings have vegetated
much better than an autumnal planting. In April sow the
seed in deep mellow and rich beds. Keep the plants free from
weeds and in a growing state during the summer. They
may require a little shading during the hottest days of sum-
mer. The next spring we transplant them to a trial-bed ;
for, it is to be remembered, that the seed does not neces-
sarily give a plant like its parent. Let them be set two
feet apart every way, and during the season it can be seen
which are the largest and best; these are to be raised in the
fall, divided and transplanted, and the rest thrown away.
Out of a hundred plants, not more than two or three may
be worth keeping. In the spring of 1842 we planted seed
obtained in New York, for the Victoria Rhubarb (a new
kind), which had been imported but a few months. Of
lilt y plants only three proved worth keeping — one of these
for its earliness and the others for size.
When you have secured roots from which you wish to
form a bed for your main supply, divide them either in the
fall or spring into as many pieces as there are buds on the
crown, each piece having, of course, a bud. The smallest
slice of root will live, although a large portion is preferable.
Do not be too timid in dividing ; the plant is exceedingly
tenacious of life — it can hardly be killed. We have had
roots lying in the open air for weeks, and when replanted
growing with nndiminished vigor. Every one who has, for
a single season, tended a garden, knows what dock is, and
how tenacious of life, so much so, as to make it quite a
trouble. The rhubarb is a full-blooded vegetable brother,
belonging to the same family of plants.
This plant thrives most luxuriantly in a rich, sandy loam;
tin- earth should be spaded and mellowed to at least twenty
inches depth. We prepare ground for it as follows : Mark
172 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
out the row with a line, throw out the top earth on one
side; throw out a full spade depth of subsoil upon the
other side. Throw back the top dirt, mixing it freely
with well rotted manure. Now put in the soil which was
taken from the bottom of the trench; as this is compara-
tively poor — mix it largely with manure. We make rows
four feet apart, and set the plants three feet apart in the
row. Very little care is needed in after cultivation. The
large leaves will shade the ground and check weeds. A
good supply of fresh manure, well dug in once a year, will
keep the plants in heart and health for a long time.
PEAS.
PEAS should be planted among the earliest of seeds.
They are a hardy vegetable, and will bear severe frosts in
the spring without injury. A light, sandy soil is the best.
If manured, let only the most thoroughly rotted be used,
Two sorts of peas are sufficient for all ordinary purposes —
one early kind, and one for the later and main supply. The
number of kinds advertised by seedsmen is very great, and
every year adds to the new varieties. Many of them are
of little value, and many, hitherto esteemed, are supplanted
by better ones. The Early Warwick and Cedo Nulli are
fine early peas, unsurpassed till the Prince Albert appeared.
This is now esteemed the earliest of peas, ripening at Boston
in fifty-three days from the time of sowing, and in England
in forty-two days. We hope to be able, soon, to have this
variety for distribution. Early peas are seldom of lii-h
flavor; none that we ever raised are comparable to tin-
larger and later peas, and it is, therefore, except for market
purposes, not desirable to plant very largely of early sorts.
Of late peas we have, after trying many sorts, fallen back
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEHS AM> I AIIMINC 173
upon the old-fashioned Marrowfat, and now raise it exclu-
sively. It will be fit for the table in from seventy to eighty
days after planting. KnighVs tall marrowfat is recom-
mended in Hovey's Magazine (a standard authority), as of
" delicious quality and producing throughout the whole sea-
son." We have never had an opportunity of proving it.
We prefer buying our seed to raising it. In this region
the pea-bug pierces every seed-pea, and, although the germ
is not usually destroyed by this depredator, the seed is
weakened, and the certainty of growth very much dimin-
ished. If one must plant buggy peas, let them have scald-
ing water poured upon them and turned off again imme-
diately. The bug will be destroyed and the pea not injured.
When peas are up they require but one or two hoeings,
as they soon shade the ground so as to prevent weeds from
growing. They should be well supplied with brush, strong-
ly set in the ground. When peas are allowed to fall over,
they become mildewed and rot. This also happens when
the rows are planted so near together as to prevent free
circulation of air.
When large quantities of peas are desired they should
be sown broad-cast, at the rate of about three bushels to
the acre — more rather than less. It leaves the land in fine
tilth, smothering all weeds. Thirty bushels to the acre is
a fair crop ; but eighty-four, and eighty-eight, have been
taken.
ONIONS. — Onions for seed should be
planted in October ; and, like their more brilliant, but less
perfumed, friends of the tulip and hyacinth connections,
they will thoroughly root themselves during the autumn
and mild winter weather, and be ready for early work, the
moment the frost rises from the ground.
174 PLAIN AND PI.KAHAVT TALK
PLANT SHADE-TREES.
WE would suggest to the editors of newspapers the pro-
priety of establishing in their columns a permanent agricul-
tural department. We are much pleased to see that many
excellent papers are doing it, and that others insert occa-
sional articles. Great advantage cannot fail to accrue to
our town* and rural population by putting into their hands
every week, able articles from practical formers and gar-
deners upon the various topics of agriculture and horticul-
ture. Let every paper urge the setting out of shade-trees
in our villages. It is greatly to be desired, that all our
towns should be filled with elms, maples, ashes, locusts, etc.
The cultivation of fruit may be much encouraged and pro-
moted by a frequent republication of articles on that sub-
ject. The gardens and conservatories of a few very wealthy
gentlemen do not constitute a horticultural community.
They are of great use in the procuration and cultivation of
new varieties of plants, and in testing important matters by
expensive experiments. But affluent men and their pleas-
ure grounds are to horticulture, what universities are to
common schools ; that State is best educated whose whole
population are the most thoroughly trained ; and that is tlie
horticultural State, all of whose villages, towns, farms, and
gardens, are in the highest state of cultivation.
Our desire is to diffuse a love for rural affairs, husbandry,
and horticulture among the whole mass of the community.
WEEDS IN ALLEYS. — It is said that weeds may be entirely
destroyed for years by copious watering with a solution of
lime and sulphur in boiling-hot water. This, if effectual,
will be highly important to such as have garden gravel
walks, pavements, etc., through which grass and weeds
grow up.
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 175
H O T - B E D S .
AFTER a little practice any one can make and manage a
simple hot-bed. For a common family one twelve by
four feet will be large enough, and nine by four will answer
for a small family. Frame. — The frame should be made of
two-inch stuff (pine or poplar). The back must be as high
again as the front, hi order to give the right inclination to
the sash. The ends should be nailed fast to corner posts,
say four inches square. The back and front are to be
attached to those parts by iron bolts, which may be screwed
or unscrewed at pleasure. The frame may be taken to
pieces, if so made, and put away during the season it is not
in use. A frame twelve by four, will take four sash of
three feet wide, the other sized frame will take three sash.
Where the sash meet, a piece of wood three inches broad
and two thick, should be let in from back to front, for the
sash to run upon, and it may be allowed to extend back for
two feet beyond the body of the frame. Three coats of
paint should be put on the outside and inside of the
frame, and then, with good care, it -will last twenty
years. Mark out the ground six inches larger every
way than your frame. Dig it out a foot deep. Take fresh,
strong horse-dung. Shake it up and mix it thoroughly.
Lay it into the bed evenly, beating it down with the back
of the fork, but never treading it. Raise the bed three feet
above the surface, making the thickness in all four feet. In
a week's time this will have settled six or eight inches.
AVr have for the sake of a gentler and longer continued
heat, laid alternate layers of manure and tan-bark, and thus
far it has done well with us. Put on the frame and sa-h
and let it stand till the heat begins to raise, which will be
two or three days. Then raise the sash to let the steam
pass off. In about four days take off the frame, put on
about six inches of light, good soil, evenly, all over the
170 ri.AIN AND PLEASANT TALK
l»i--l ; replace the frame, and in a day thereafter it will l>o
ready for seed.
Cal'' fflllflower, tomatoes, r^u: plunls, peppers,
, Cucumbers, lettuce, together with savory herb*, MS
; marjoram, sweet basil, thyme, sage, lavender, etc., <.tr.
may be sown in drills in the soil prepared as above.
It is difficult to give, on paper, the directions for the care
of the bed. The greatest dangers of all, arc that of bum /////
the plants by excessive heat, or of damping them off, by too
little air. These evils must be guarded against by the
admission of as much air as possible. In mild days let the
sash be partly open all day, and in very cold days, endeavor
to procure a half hour even, at mid-day, for raising the sash
ami airing the plants. As they grow up, if crowded, they
should be thinned out, so as not to run up spindling.
ORIGINAL RECIPES.
WHEN we say original, we don't mean that no one ever
employed the same recipes, but only this, that we have
obtained them, not from books, but from good and skillful
housewives.
EPICURE'S CORN BREAD. — Upon two quarts of sifted corn-
meal, pour just enough boiling water to scald it thoroughly ;
if too much water is used it will be heavy. Stir it thoroughly,
let it get cold ; then rub in a piece of butter as large as a
hen's egg, together with two teaspoonfuls of fine salt ; beat
four eggs thoroughly, and they will be all the better if the
whites and yolks are- beaten separately, add them to the
meal and mix thoroughly. Next, add a pint of sour cn-ain,
or butter-milk, or sour milk (which stand ir. the order of
their value). Dissolve two tcapoonfuls of saleratus in hot
water, and stir it in. Put it in buttered pans and bake it
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 177
Iii winter, it may be mixed over night and in that case,
the eggs and saleratus should not be put in until morning.
When ready for the oven, the mixture ought to be about as
thin as good mush, and if not, more cream should be
added.
If you are not an epicure already, you will be in danger
of becoming one, if you eat much of this corn cake —
provided it is well made.
SUGAR GINGER-BREAD. — To three-quarters of a pound of
butter and not quite a pint of finely rolled brown sugar, add a
great spoonful of ginger, and a little cinnamon and nutmeg ;
beat these up to a foam ; beat four eggs thoroughly and
add and mix well, with the butter and sugar. Add a tea-
cup of rich cream, a great spoonful of saleratus dissolved in
hot water. Stir in sifted flour as long as it can be worked.
Pound and knead the dough very thoroughly. Roll out
quite thin, cut into small cakes, bake in a quick oven. They
will be hard, but tender and crisp.
HOOSIER BISCUIT. — Add a teaspoonful of salt to a pint of
new milk, warm from the cow. Stir in flour until it
becomes a stiff batter ; add two great spoonfuls of lively
brewer's yeast ; put it in a warm place and let it rise just as
much as it will. "When well raised, stir in a teaspoonful of
saleratus dissolved in hot water. Beat up three eggs (two
will answer), stir with the batter, and add flour until it
becomes tolerable stiff dough ; knead it thoroughly, set it
by the fire until it begins to rise, then roll out, cut to
biscuit form, put in pans, cover it over with a thick cloth,
set by the fire until it rises again, then bake in a quick
oven. If well made, no directions will be needed for
eating.
As all families are not provided with scales and weights,
referring to the ingredients generally used in cakes and
pastry, we subjoin a list of weights and measures.
8*
178
PLAIN AXD PLEASANT TALK
.WEIGHT AND MEASURE.
Wheat flour
Indian meal
Butter, when soft
Loaf-sugar, broken,
White sugar, powdered,
Best brown sugar
one pound
one pound two ounces,
one pound one ounce,
one pound
one pound one ounce,
one pound two ounces,
ten eggs
is one quark
is one quart
is one quart,
is one qiurt.
is one quart.
is one quart,
are one pound.
LIQUID MEASURE
Sixteen large tablespoonfuls are
Eight large tablespoonfuls are
Four large tablespoonfuls are
A common sized lumber holds
A common sized wine glass holds
half a pint
one gill,
half a gill,
half a pint.
half a gill.
Allowing for accidental differences in the quality, fresh-
ness, dryness, and moisture of the articles, we believe this
comparison between weight and measure to be as nearly
correct as possible.
COOKING VEGETABLES
WHILE we believe meat to be necessary to laboring men,
we are equally sure that it is used to excess ; for persons of
a sedentary habit, vegetable diet is supposed to be much
more wholesome, because much less stimulating than meat.
Whatever shall make vegetables more relish ful will
extend their popular use, and therefore any simple recipe
for cooking them is a public good. The following are
taken fresh from the kitchen, and we will vouch for their
being good, although there may be other ways still better.
1. GREENS. — The articles employed for greens arc numer-
ous; we merely mention the following: — sprouts of turnip
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 179
and cabbage, dandelions, lamb's quqgjters, red-rooted
plantain, cowslip, wild pepper-grass, purslain, young beet-
tops, lettuce, and spinage — the best of all greens.
In gathering plantain, care must be taken to select only
the red-rooted, the white being thought poisonous. With
the exception of spinage, all these should be boiled in salted
water, or in water with a piece of salt pork, for half an hour,
then taken out, drained, and served up with butter gravy.
Spinage is boiled, as above, for half an hour, then taken
out, thoroughly drained, put into a skillet with cream, butter
and pepper, and if need be, a little more salt. Place it over
the fire and stir it up with a knife all the time it simmers,
until it becomes a paste. About five minutes are enough
for this last process — then dish and serve it.
2. ASPARAGUS. — Asparagus should never be cut below the
surface of the ground, although books and papers, almost
universally, direct to the contrary. The white part of the
stem is always tough and inedible. Let it; spring up about
six or eight inches and then cut it at the surface of the
ground. Lay it in the pan or kettle in which it is to be
cooked, and sprinkle salt over it. Pour boiling water over
it, until it is just covered ; boil from fifteen to twenty-five
minutes, according to the age of the asparagus. Have two
or three nicely toasted slices of bread in the dish which is
to go to the table ; lay the asparagus upon the toast, putting
first sweet butter and pepper upon it according to your
taste ; lastly pour over it the liquor in which it was boiled.
Many throw away the water in which it was cooked and
substitute cream and butter, but thereby the finest flavor
of the vegetable is thrown away and lost.
3. BEETS. — While young, beets may be boiled tops and
all ; as the tops get tough the root alone is boiled in salted
water until tender, viz. from three-quarters of an hour to
an hour and a half, according to the size of the beet.
Quarter or slice them if large, and add fresh sweet butter
and pepper.
ISO PLAIN AND I'l.K \-\\T TALK
4. PEAJS. — Xo^-ei:etal>le depends more for its excellence
upon good COokiiiLT than peas. Have tin-in freshly gathered
and shelled, l»t never wash tliem. If they arc n«>t per-
fectly clean, roll them in a dry cloth; but even this is sel-
dom required, and then only through carelessness. P«mr
them dry into the cooking dish, and put as much salt OY6T
them as is required, then pour on boiling water enough to
cover them ; boil them fifteen minutes if they are young ;
no pea is fit to cook which requires more than half an hour's
boiling. When done, put to a quart of peas three great table-
Bpoonfuls of butter, and pepper to your taste. Put all the
water to them in which they were boiled. The great mis-
takes in cooking peas are in cooking too long, and in de-
luging them with water.
STRING or SNAP beans are cooked like peas, only they
require longer boiling.
5. CORN should be boiled in salted water from twenty
to thirty minutes, according to its age ; if boiled longer it
becomes hard and loses its flavor. We have given in the
Western Farmer and Gardener, p. 231, a recipe for corn
and beans, but as all may not see that periodical, we extract
the substance of it.
We give directions for a mess sufficient for a family of
six or seven.
To about half a pound of salt pork put three quarts of
cold water ; let it boil. Now cut off three quarts of green
corn from the cobs, set the corn aside and put the cobs to
boil with the pork, as they will add much to the richness of
the mixture. When the pork has boiled, say half an hour,
remove the cobs and put in one quart of freshly-gathered,
green, shelled beans ; boil again for fifteen minutes ; then
add the three quarts of corn and let it boil another fifteen
minutes. Now turn the whole out into a dish, add five or
six large spoonfuls of butter, season it with pepper to your
taste, and with salt also, if the salt of the pork has not
proved sufficient. If the liquor has boiled away, it will be
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 181
necessary to add a little more to it before taking it away
from the fire, as this is an essential part of the affair.
6. SALSIFY OR OYSTER-PLANT. — This vegetable is raised
exactly as are carrots and parsnips. Like the latter — they
require a little frosting before their flavor is fully devel-
oped.
They should be scraped and washed (but not soaked in
vinegar, as English cooks direct, to extract a bitter taste,
which they do not contain), and sliced ; sprinkle enough
salt upon them to season them, pour on just enough boiling
water to cover them ; boil till perfectly tender, which will
be, say fifteen minutes. Put butter and pepper to them ;
stir up a little flour in cream to make a thin paste and pour
in enough to thicken a little the water in which they were
boiled. Dish with or without toasted bread, as may suit
the taste.
7. TOMATOES. — The recipe which we gave in the Farmer
and Gardener has been universally copied, and, we believe,
has beguiled thousands to the love of tomatoes. It has
been introduced to cook-books under the name of " Indiana
Recipe for Cooking Tomatoes."
8. ONIONS should be boiled for half an hour in salted
water, then drained, put into sweet milk, boiled again for
five or ten minutes, seasoned with butter, pepper and salt,
and served up.
9. PIE-PLANT. — This important vegetable — among the
earliest, the most wholesome, and of the easiest culture —
should be found hi every garden, and served up on every
table during the spring and early summer. To prepare it
for use, strip off the skin, slice it thin, put into a dish with
a few spoonfuls of boiling water, just enough to keep from
sticking, for its own juice will afford liquid enough after it
is cooked. Boil until it is perfectly tender, stirring it con-
stantly. If the plant is good and the fire quick, it ought
to be boiled in five minutes. Stir in all the sugar needed
while it is hi a scalding state. A little nutmeg o^ lemoi
182 1M.MN AND PLEASANT TALK
peel. ]>ut in while it is hot, improves the flavor. Win n cool,
it may IK- used for tarts, or pics, with or without upper
i-ni.st ; it also makes a better apple-snucc than apples do
themselves.
10. EGG-PLANT. — Boil in salted water a few minutes ; cut
slices, put a little salt between each slice, and let them lie
for half an hour. Then fry them hi butter or lard until
they are brown.
11. CAULIFLOWER AND BROCCOLI. — The only difference
between these, so far as the cook is concerned, is in color.
Take off the outside leaves and soak them for an hour in
salted water. Pour boiling water to them and boil for about
twenty minutes. Serve them up with butter and pepper.
The Savoy cabbages are next in delicacy of flavor to the
cauliflower, and may be cooked in the same way.
FARMERS, TAKE A HINT.
IT is very surprising to see how slow men are to take a
hint. The frost destroys about half the bloom on the fruit-
trees ; everybody prognosticates the loss of fruit; instead
of that, the half that remains is larger, fairer, and higher
flavored than usual ; and the trees instead of being ex-
hausted, are ready for another crop the next year. Why
don't the owner take the hint and thin out his fruit every
bearing year? But no; the next season sees his orchard
overloaded, fruit small, and not well formed ; yet he
always boasts of that first-mentioned crop without profiting
by the lesson it teaches.
We heard a man saying, " the best crop of celery I ever
saw, was raised by old John , on a spot of ground
where the wash from the barn-yard ran into it after e\ « i v
hard shower." Did he take the hint, and convey such
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 183
liquid manure in trenches to his garden? Not at all;
he bragged about that wonderful crop of celery, but would
not take the hint.
We knew a case where a farmer subsoiled a field and
raised crops in consequence which were the admiration of
the neighborhood ; and for years the field showed the
advantage of deep handling. But we could not learn that a
single farmer in the neighborhood took the hint. The man
who acted thus wisely, sold his farm and his successor pur-
sued the old way of surface-scratching.
A stanch farmer complained to us of his soil as too loose
and light ; we mentioned ashes as worth trying ; " well,
now you mention it, I believe it will do good. I bought a
part of my farm from a man who was a wonderful fellow to
save up ashes, and around his cabin it lay in heaps. I took
away the house and ordered the ashes to be scattered, and
to this day I notice that when the plow runs along through
that spot, the ground turns up moist and close-grained."
It is strange that he never took the hint ! There are thou-
sands of bushels of ashes lying not far from his farm about
an old soap and candle factory with which he might have
dressed his whole farm.
A farmer gets a splendid crop of corn or grain from off a
grass or clover lay. Does he take the hint? Does he
adopt the system which shall allow him every year just
such a sward to put his grain on ? No, he hates book-
farming, and scientific farming, and " this notion of rota-
tion ;" and jogs on the old way.
A few years ago our farmers got roundly into debt ; and
they have worried and sweat under it, till some of them
have grown greyer, and added not a few wrinkles to their
face. Do they take the hint ? Are they not pitching into
debt again ?
A few years ago mules commanded a high price ; every-
body raised mules forthwith ; the market of course was
glutted ; the price fell ; everybody quit the business ; mar-
184 PLAIN AM> PLEASANT TALK
kets became empty and the price rose ; a few men who
had stuck to the business pushed in their droves ami made
money ; and now everybody is raising mules again. The
same game is played every four or five years with pork ;
men make when pork is scarce, but few farmers have stock
on hand. They instantly rush into the business, flood the
country with hogs and get almost nothing for them. Why
don't men take the hint ? A moderate stock all the time,
makes more money than that system which has none when
the price is high and too many when the price is low.
Because one year, the wheat crop has been very large
and fine, and the price low, not half so much will be put hi
another year. Those who are wise, foreseeing this fact and
sowing largely, will, if the season favors wheat, reap a hand-
some profit.
Auctioneers tell us that a " wink is as good as a word."
We give both, and hope our readers will take the hint.
MIXING PAINT, AND LAYING IT ON.
IT is convenient, and oftentimes, on the score of economy,
necessary for persons (who have not been apprenticed to
the trade), to do their own painting. To enable such to
practise with success, we propose giving a few hints.
RESPECTING THE ARTICLES USED.
WHITE LEAD. — This is extensively manufactured in all of
our principal cities. Low priced leads are always adulterated
by chalk, or, as it is called in its prepared state, whiting. It
is sometimes so largely mixed with this, as to be worthless,
and every one has observed houses, painted for a year
or so, from which the paint rubs off like whitewash, in
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 185
consequence of the use of adulterated lead. The poorest
lead is sold without any brand. The common article is
branded as No. 1, with the maker's name. The best article
is branded with the maker's name, as PURE, or SUPERIOR.
It is the best economy always to use the pure lead.
OIL. — Linseed oil is that usually employed in painting.
It contains a large amount of fatty substance and of other
impurity, which should be separated from it before it is
used. This is to be done by boiling. For outside work,
the oil should always be boiled, no matter what the" painter
says about it. Great care should be taken in doing this.
Let the kettle be set out of doors, the heat be increased
gradually, but never enough to produce violent boiling, as
the oil will expand, run over, and take fire, when nothing
can save it, or the house either, oftentimes, if you have
been foolish enough to do it within doors. As fast as
impurities rise to the surface, skim them off — when the oil
has a clear look, slack off the fire and let the oil cool ; care-
fully turn off the clear portion, leaving the sediment undis-
turbed.
DRYERS. — Substances used to make paint dry quickly
are called Dryers. For light work sugar of lead is the
best ; for colored paint, litharge and red lead are employed.
Spirits of turpentine is used for the same purpose. Litharge
and red lead are usually boiled in with the oil at the
rate of about a quarter of a pound of litharge to a gallon
of oil.
MIXING AND LAYING ON. — Paint is purchased in kegs,
containing twenty-five pounds of lead ground in oil, and
ready for mixing. The kegs themselves make excellent
paint-pets. The lead is to be mixed according to the work
to be done. If paint is laid on in heavy coats it will crack
and peel off. If several thin coats are successively laid on,
it forms a solid body. The first coat is called priming.
The lead is made quite thin with oil for' priming. Before
laying it on, let the work be cleaned, all dust and dirt be
18G PLAIN A\l> r\ KASANT TALK
removed. The surface is then covered evenly with paint,
and allowed to dry thoroughly.
SECOND COAT. — Let nail-holes, cracks, etc., be filk-d with
putty; for colored painting, red-lead putty is the best.
Tlic paint should be mixed to the thickness of thin rream,
and laid on evenly, but not in too great quantities. In nice
work, arter this coat has thoroughly dried, it should be
rubbed down with pumice-stone or fine sand-paper. The
third coat is to be laid on as was the second. Three e<>:its
at leaM, an- required for good painting. Four or five will
be still better.
Taint mixed with boiled oil usually has a glossy appear-
ance. If it is desired to increase this, small portions of
varnish are added. This is usually confined to outside
work.
In cities the glossy surface of paint, is dis-estcemed for
inside work ; and instead, a flatted white is laid on. This
is produced by mixing the lead for the last coat with tur-
pentine instead of oil, by which a dull white is made.
Flatted colors are not susceptible of being cleaned by wash-
ing more that once or twice, whereas common paint will
endure washing, if carefully performed, for years. If paint-
ing is well done, and the paint is of the best materials, it
ought to last twenty years. But the trash too often
daubed upon buildings, does not last five years.
White will keep its color best for outside work. Some
tint is thought to be more agreeable for inside work. Much
judgment is required in preparing colored or tinted paints;
and verbal directions cannot well be given for it in any
moderate space. The usual pigments employed in making
up the tints most in fashion, are for grey — white lead.
Prussian blue, ivory black, and lake, or Venetian red ; for
pea and sea greens — white, Prussian blue, and yellow ; for
olive green — white, Prussian blue, umber, and yellow
ochre ; for fawn color — burned terra sienna, umber, and
white.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 187
We add two recipes taken from an English work, for a
cheap paint for inside walls.
" MILK PAINT. — A paint has been used on the Continent
with success, made from milk and lime, that dries quicker
than oil paint, and has no smell. It is made in the follow-
ing manner : Take fresh curds and bruise the lumps on a
grinding-stone, or in an earthen pan, or mortar, with a spa-
tula or strong spoon. Then put them into a pot with an
equal quantity of lime, well slacked with water, to make it
just thick enough to be kneaded. Stir this mixture without
adding more water, and a white-colored fluid will soon be
obtained, which will serve as a paint. It may be laid on
with a brush with as much ease us varnish, and it dries
very speedily. It must, however, be used the same day it
is made, for if kept till next day it will be too thick : conse-
quently no more must be mixed up at one tune than can be
laid on in a day. If any color be required, any of the
ochres, as yellow ochre, or red ochre, or umber, may be
mixed with it in any proportion. Prussian blue would be
changed by the lime. Two coats of this paint will be suffi-
cient, and when quite dry it may be polished with a piece
of woollen cloth, or similar substance, and it will become as
bright as varnish. It will only do for inside work ; but it
will last longer if varnished over with white of egg after it
has been polished."
" The following recipe for milk paint is given in
'Smith's Art of House Painting:' Take of skimmed
milk nearly two quarts; of fresh-slaked lime about six
ounces and a half; of linseed oil four ounces, and of whiting
three pounds; put the lime into a stone vessel, and pour
upon it a sufficient quantity of milk to form a mixture
resembling thin cream; then add the oil, a little at a time,
stirring it with a small spatula; the remaining milk is then
to be added, and lastly the whiting. The milk must on
no account be sour. Slake the lime by dipping the pieces
188 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
in water, out of which it is to bo immediately taken, and
Irt't t«» >!;ike iii the air. For fine white paint the oil of
oara^ t, because colorless; but with ochres the com-
monest oils may be used. The oil when mixed with the
milk and lime entirely disappears, and is totally dissolved
by the lime, forming a calcareous soap. The whiting or
ochre is to be gently crumbled on the surface of the fluid,
which it gradually imbibes, and at last sinks : at this
period it must be well stirred in. This paint may be
colored like distemper or size-color, with levigated charcoal,
yellow ochre, etc., and used in the same manner. The
quantity here prescribed is sufficient to cover twenty-seven
square yards with the first coat, and it will cost about three
halfpence a yard. The same paint will do for outdoor
work by the addition of two ounces of slaked lime, two
ounces of linseed oil, and two ounces of white Burgundy
pitch : the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat with the oil,
and then added to the smooth mixture of the milk and
lime. In cold weather it must be mixed warm, to facilitate
its incorporation with the milk."
"We add several recipes of various convenient kinds of
paint to be employed in particular situations, and for special
purposes.
"A coating to preserve wood in damp situations may
be made by beating twelve pounds of resin in a mortar,
and adding to it three pounds of sulphur and twelve pints
of whale oil. This mixture must then be melted over afire,
and stirred well while it is melting. Ochre of any required
color, ground in oil, may be put to it. This composition
must be laid on hot, and when the first coat is dry, which
will be in two or three days, a second coat may be given ;
and a third, if necessary."
" Gas tar, with yellow ochre, makes a very cheap and
durable green paint for iron rails and coarse woodwork."
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 189
" Composition to lay on a boarded building, to resist the
wither and likewise fire. — Take one measure of fine sand,
two measures of wood-ashes well sifted, three of slaked
lime ground up with oil, and mix them together ; lay this
on with a brush, the first coat thin, the second thick. This
adheres so strongly to the boards covered with it, that it
resists an iron tool, and the action of fire, and is impene-
trable by water."
" A flexible paint for canvas is made by stirring into
fifty-six pounds of common oil paint a solution of soap lye,
made of half a pound of soap and three pounds of water : it
must be used while warm."
" A* black coloring for garden walls may be made by
mixing quicklime, lampblack, a little copperas, and hot
water."
GARDEN WE EDS.
AFTER hot weather sets in many are naturally inclined to
relax their garden labors; they have eaten their salads,
their radishes and peas ; their beans and corn require but
little attention, and as for the rest, it is left to the company
of weeds.
WEEDS. — If the garden be thoroughly hoed twice or
three times, the labor of keeping down weeds the rest of the
summer will be small. It is best to go over a compartment
first with the hoe, to cut off weeds and loosen the soil, then
with a rake go over it again, levelling and smoothing the
surface, and collecting the weeds into heaps, which should
be wheeled to the manure-corner and left to decay. In
raking, tread backward so that your tracks will be covered
by the rake, and the bed left even.
Among the most vexatious weeds may be mentioned the
jmrslain (Portulasca oleracea), commonly called pussly.
It comes in May and lasts through the summer. One plant
190 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
1 enough lor a whole :irro. It is very tenacious
of. life. The least bit of root sprouts again, and when
rooted up, if a single iil>iv touches the soil, it starts oil' in
full vigor. When boiled it furnishes a very palatable artiele
of "greens." We go over the ground with a hoe, then
rake it into heaps and wheel it to the barn-yard. HOLTS
are fond of it, and it is said to fatten them well. It is
somewhat amusing to those who are vexed at its insuper-
able intrusiveness and its inevitable vigor, to hear English
garden-books speaking of it as "somewhat tender," of rais-
ing it on hot-beds, of drilling it in the open garden, of
watering it in dry weather thrice a week, and cutting it
carefully so that it may sprout again ! Cut it as you please,
gentlemen ! rake it into alleys, let an August sun scorch it,
and if there is so much as a handful of dirt thrown at it, no
fear but that it will sprout again. It is a vegetable type of
immortality. The Jamestown weed (called jimpsum), the
Spanish needle, lamb's-quarters, etc., are easily eradicated
for the season by one or two hoeings. The grasses which
infest gardens, spreading into a cultivated ground from the
grass-plat, or brought in with manure, are easily weeded
out if plucked while small ; but if left, the long spreading-
roots tear up tender plants along with them.
It is said that if no seeds were brought into the land by
wind or manure, or growth, the stock of weeds might be
eradicated in eight years. But so long as corners and
fence edges are reserved as weed-nurseries, to furnish an
annual supply of seed, no one need fear that gardening will
become too easy from want of work.
We know of but two reasons for letting weeds grow to
any size. In a large garden, when all the ground is not to
be planted at once, the reserved portions may be suffered
to sprout all the weeds, and when six or eight inches high,
if turned under, they will furnish good manure. Again,
when cut-worms are very numerous, when tomatoes and
cabbages have been set out on a clean compartment, wo
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 191
have lost from a half to two-thirds of the plants. If the
wivds are kept down just about the hill, and permitted to
grow for a few weeks, between the rows, although it has a
very slovenly look, it will save the cabbages, etc., by giving
ample foot to the cut-worm. When the plants grow tough
in the stem the weeds may be lightly spaded in, and the
sin ihce levelled with a rake.
LUCERNE.
THIS admirable plant is not so well known as it should be.
It resembles a clover, and is used for green food for cattle,
for which it is peculiarly adapted both by its nutriciousness
and its endurance of repeated cuttings. Care must be
taken to put it upon the right soil and it will bear mowing
four or five times a year, and will last for ten years — with
care five years more ! The soil for it is a deep, a very deep
vegetable loam, which drains itself perfectly and yet with-
out becoming dry. It has a fusiform root, which, as the
plant grows older, extends downward from four to six feet.
The subsoil is regarded by Flemish farmers as of more
importance than the surface soil. A stiff, cold, clay, a wet
and springy soil ; a hard, cold, wet subsoil of any sort, is
unfavorable to it. It should therefore be tried on warm,
dry, and rich soils, than which none are better than our
sandy alluvions or bottom lands. During its first year it
requires some care, to keep down weeds, as it is easily
smothered ; but when once established it rules the soil in
di'iiance of anything. If the ground is very clean, it may be
sown broadcast ; but it is always safer and often necessary
to drill it. Authors vary as to the quantity of seed
required per acre, Von Timer says six to eight pounds,
while his French editor says from sixteen to eighteen. We
192 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
suppose that from ten to twelve pounds will be a fair
amount.
"When the plants are well established they will be
improved by severe harrowing every spring, a sharp har-
row being used until the field looks as if it were plowed.
Lucerne has been tried by a few cultivators in the West,
but by more in the East, with great success, and it lias this
peculiar excellence, that, thanks to its very long roots, it
withstands our severest droughts ; indeed our hottest and
dryest summers are those which it seems to delight in.
FAMILY GOVERNMENT.
" WILLIAM ! stop that doise, I say — won't you stop ! Stop,
I tell you, or I'll slap your mouth."
William bawls a little louder.
" William, I tell you ! ain't you going to stop ? Stop I
say ! If you don't stop I'll whip you, sure."
William goes up a fifth, and beats time with his heels.
" I never saw such a child ! — he's got temper enough for
a whole town ; I'm sure he didn't get it from me. Why
don't you be still ! Whist. Wh-i-st. Come, come, be still,
won't you ? Stop, stop, STOP, I say ! Don't you see this —
don't you see this stick ? See here now," (cuts the air with
the stick).
William, more furious, kicks very manfully at his mother
— grows redder in the face, lets out the last note, and
begins to reel, and shake, and twist, in a most spiteful
manner.
" Come, William ! come dear — that's a darling — naughty
William ! come, that's a good boy ; donty cry, p-o-o-r, little
fellow; sant ab-o-o-s-e you, sail eh! Ma's ittle man, want,
a piece of sooger ? Ma's little boy got cramp, p-o-o-r little
sick boy," etc., etc.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 193
William wipes up, and minds, and eats his sugar, and
stops.
AFTER SCENE. — The minister is present, and very nice
talk is going on upon the necessity of governing children.
"Too true," says mamma, "some people will give up to
their children, and it ruins them — every child should be
governed. But then it won't do to carry it too far ; if one
whips all the time it will break a child's spirit. One
ought to miy kindness and firmness together in managing
children."
" I think so," said the preacher ; " firmness first and then
kindness."
" Yes, sir, that's my practice exactly."
CATALOGUE OF FLOWERS, SEEDS, AND FRUITS.
WE have received from different directions catalogues of
seeds, flowers, and fruits. Instead of a mere mention of
them, we shall employ them as texts for some remarks on
the departments to which they belong.
The kinds, and varieties of the same kind of vegetables
advertised are satisfactory. Then there is evidence that the
easily besetting sin of seed establishments has been resisted
and very much overcome, viz. : a prodigal multiplication
of varieties. Now we do not wish to tie down a seedsman
to only one variety of cucumber — one pea — one bean ; for
there is great advantage in having many varieties of the
same vegetable. Some love mild radishes, and some love
the full peppery taste ; as both qualities cannot exist in the
same variety it is desirable to have two. But some radishes
which do admirably in the spring and early summer, lose
their good qualities if planted in summer. We therefore
seek and find a summer variety. This again fails for late
194 PLAIN AND PI.KASAXT TALK
autumnal use, :masi-
rs, with a slender bed for beets, complete the stock
of esculents. But sage, and summer savory, and thyme, and
rue, and sweet marjoram, tansy, boneset and wormwood
are attended to ; a part for stuffing ducks and chickens —
and the others for curing those who have been too much
stuffed with them. The garden yields in due time its first
fruits ; the potatoes come and go, the corn is early plucked,
lettuce shoots up its seed-stalk, peas render their tribute
and grow sere, beans rattle in the pod, and before August
her work is done and her garden forsaken except a small
retinue of flowers, which are nursed to the last. Weeds
now make up for lost time, and in a few weeks a weedy
forest hides every trace of cultivation. This is not a fancy
sketch ; we have been far from drawing a picture from the
worst specimens ; it is a fair average case.
Our business is, not to quarrel with the farmer, but to
suggest a better plan for his garden. We saw the plan
stated some years ago ; where, we have forgotten, but think
well of it. It is simply this : let the garden be an oblong —
say three times as long as it is broad — and cultivate it with
the plow. Instead of having beds, let all seeds be planted
in rows running the whole length of the garden. For
example, begin with one row of beets — or more if wanted ;
next a row or rows of carrots, parsnips, cabbages, potatoes,
corn, and all about three feet apart. The same system
should be followed for small fruits — currants, gooseberries,
strawberries, raspberries, etc. — and it will have this advan-
tage over common gardens, that the bushes will have sun
and air on all sides, and be more fruitful and more healthy
for it. The whole garden, thus arranged, can be kept in
order with very little labor. A single-horse plow will dress
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 201
between the rows of the whole garden in a very little time
and save all hand-hoeing. The hand-weeding in the row
may be performed by women or children.
In large towns ground is scarce and labor abundant.
Gardens, therefore, are properly laid out for economy of
space. In the country the reverse is true ; land is abundant
but labor scarce and dear ; of course gardens should be laid
out not to save room, but to economize labor. The plan
suggested will save labor, improve the garden, and take
from the wife the drudgery of the spade and hoe.
EARLY DAYS OF SPRING.
IF the soil be thrown up during the open weather into
ridges, an immense number of insects will be unburrowed
and destroyed; stiff clayey soils will be rendered more
crumbling and mellow by exposure to frost. If advantage
is taken of the weather to haul manure, let it be stacked up,
and a little earth thrown over it, else the volatile and most
valuable portions will escape. Ashes may be spread over
the garden ; a small portion of refuse salt will benefit the
ground, and may be sown now. Clear the ground of all
vines, stalks, haulm. If you have flowering bulbs, cover
slightly with coarse manure — they will not be so much tried
by the changes of temperature and moisture, and will
flower stronger for it. Bright, dry days afford a fine tune
for going to the woods and cutting poles for your beans,
stakes for your trees and dahlias, brush for peas, etc.
While you are about it, collect moss from old logs, and put
away in the barn or shed to cover the ground in summer
where roses and shrubs have been newly set out, and
require to be kept moist. If not done before, put two or
three forks full of coarse green manure about tender shrubs
9*
202 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
— Noisette and China roses. Freezing and thawing at the
crown of tlu« roots, destroys them ofleuer than anything
else.
On mild days when the earth is open, sow lettuce sec'-l in
a warm corner, beat it gently with the back of the shovel,
and cover it slightly with fine earth or old crumbling
manure. You will have lettuce ten days earlier for your
trouble. Pepper-grass and radishes may be sowed in like
manner.
C^T" Let alone the knife and saw. Your vines and trees
will not be benefited by any pruning at this season.
• PARLOR FLOWERS.
WATER freely such as are in pots, while in blossom.
The flower stalks will be apt to shoot up taller and weaker
than in the garden, and will require rods to support them.
Let the rod be thrust down about two inches from the cen-
tre of the flower, and attach the flower stem to it by one
or two ligaments. Flowers in small stove rooms can
be kept in health with extreme difficulty. The heat forces
their growth, or injures the leaves. They should be
washed off once a week (either on a mild day out of doors,
or in a warm room within, if the weather be severe), as the
dust settles upon the leaf, and stops up the stomata
(mouths) by which the leaf perspires and breathes. If
green aphides infest them, put a pan of coals beneath the
stand, and throw on a half-handful of coarse tobacco. In
half an hour every insect will tumble off. Let such as lie
on the surface of the earth be removed or crushed, as tlu-y
will else revive. Plants should have fresh air every day.
4BOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 203
A SALT RECIPE.
THERE is a great fashion, now-a-days, in all papers, to
set forth useful recipes for every imaginable purpose.
Every newspaper has its weekly budget of recipes. Our
magazines have a page of original recipes; and, before
long, why should not the North American Review, or the
Edinburgh Review come out with their quarterly bill of
fare reciped in full ? So practical is our nineteenth cen-
tury, that our literary men and women feel it to be a solemn
duty to indite novel recipes for cooking, seasoning, remov-
ing stains, curing diseases, etc.; and why not? If one can
invent a sonnet, an elegy, or worse yet, a poem, and thus
draw people's brains a wool-gathering in the regions of
imagination, ought they not to atone for their license by an
invention equally substantial for the body? Miss Leslie
writes a beautiful story, and a recipe for manipulating
lobsters. Miss Martineau writes travels, political econo-
mies and suggestions on plum pudding. Mrs. Sigourney
tunes her lyre with a hand most redolent of pies, cakes and
gingerbread. Such is the aspect of culinary affairs, and
the rights of women, that the day seems at hand when no
learning will sustain a man, and no accomplishments a
woman, who does not understand the art and mystery of
cooking. It will be the duty of some future Heyne to give
accurate recipes for all the feasts of Homer's heroes, the
ingredients of all the Horacian drinking-bouts — the dishes
of Virgil's fine fellows, as well as the minor matters of
armor, language, manners, and customs ; and a good lexi-
con, Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, must contain clrarly written
recipes for all the dishes used by the people whoso lan-
guage it sets forth. We have been lce rich,
rather inclined to moisture, and perfectly mellow. Sow
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 205
the seed broadcast, and cover very thinly by sifting over it
finely pulverized mold. Beat the bed gently with the back
of the spade to settle the earth firmly about the seed.
Don't fear that the seed will be troubled by beating ; every
seed should have the earth pressed to it by a smart stroke of
the hoe, hand, spade, or by the pressure of a roller. If the
weather is exceedingly warm and dry, cover your seed-bed
with matting or old carpet, to retain the moisture. When
up let them be well weeded, until they are six inches high,
when they are to be removed to the trench for blanching.
FIRST TRANSPLANTING. — The process here detailed may be
wholly omitted by those who are obliged to economize time
and labor. But those who wish to do the very best that
can be done — who wish to avoid spindling, weak plants,
and secure strong and vigorous ones — transplant their
celery to a level bed of very rich soil, placing the plants
four inches apart every way. They are cultivated here for
about five weeks, when they will have attained a robust
habit, or, technically, they will have became stocky — for
which purpose they were thus transplanted.
CELERY TRENCHES. — Dig your trenches about eighteen
inches wide, and one foot deep, laying a shovelful of dirt
alternately on each side of the trench, that it may be con-
veniently drawn in on both sides when you forth up. If
you are favored with a very deep and rich loamy soil, such
as often abounds in Western gardens, you will need little
or no manure. But usually about four inches of vegetable
mold and very thoroughly rotted manure, should be placed
in the bottom of the trench and gently spaded in. No
part of the culture is more critical than manuring. If the
soil is slow, poor, and stingy, the celery will be dwarfish,
tough and strong. On the other hand, if you employ new,
rank, fiery manure, although you will have a vigorous
growth, the stalks will be hollow, watery, coarse and flavor-
less. Let the manure be very thoroughly decayed and
mixed half and half with leaf or vegetable mold.
206 IM.MN AND PLKA8ANTTAI.lv
Set tlu- plants five inches apart, water t IK-MI freely with a
line rosed watering pot, ami, if the sun is tierce, cover
the trenches daily from ten A.M. till even'mi: with hoards.
In about a \\.,k they will begin to grow and will need
no moro >hadiiiL;.
Let them alone, except to weed, until the plants are from
twelve to fifteen inches high — at which time they are to be
earthed tip.
EARTHING UP. — In dry weather, witli a short, hand-hoe,
draw in the earth gently from earh side and bring it up
carefully to the stalk. The soil must be kept out of the
plant, and it is best for the first and perhaps the second
time of earthing, to gather up the leaves in the left hand,
and holding them together, to draw the earth about them.
Fill in about once in two weeks, and always when the plants
are dry. When the trench is full, the process is still to go
on, and at the close of the season your plants will be
exactly reversed — instead of standing in a trench they will
top out from a high ridge.
SAVING CELERY IN WINTER. — Three ways may be men-
tioned. Letting it stand hi the trench — in which case it
should be covered with long straw and boards so laid over
it that it will be protected from the wet, which is supposed
to be more prejudicial to it than mere cold.
The Boston market gardeners dig it late in autumn, trim
off the fibrous roots, cut off the top, lay it for two days
in an airy shed, turning it, say twice a day, and then pack
it in layers of perfectly dry sand, in a barrel. After laying
two days to air it goes into the barrel much wilted, hut
regains its plumpness, and comes out as fresh as from the
trench.
Lastly, it may be put in rows on the cellar bottom, with-
out trimming, and earth heaped up about it. Set a plank
at an angle of forty-five degrees and hank up the eart-h
against it, set a n,\v of roots and cover them with dirt,
then another row and so on.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 207
Solid celery is not a particular variety — any celery is solid
\vhen properly grown — and if grown too rankly the most
celery in the world will be hollow.
\\\- have seen it recommended to water the trenches once
or twice during the season with a weak brine of salt and
water. Besides the fertilizing effect of salt, it will have
the effect of retaining moisture in the soil, and what is of
yet more moment, it destroys the parasitical fungus
(Puccinca Jleraclci) which attacks and rusts the plant, and
probably would, also, guard it against a maggot which is
apt to infest and very much injure it. There is an insect,
which, in very dry weather, is apt to sting the leaf and cause
it to wilt. While the dew is on in the morning, sift lime
over the plants once or twice, and it will check the fly.
If any think these directions too minute and the process
vexatious, they are at liberty to try a cheaper method — and
may, once in a while, succeed. But a certain crop, year by
year, cannot be expected without exact and very careful
cultivation. We have learned this by sorrowful expe-
rience.
The main crop of celery need not be placed in the
trenches until the middle of July or the first of August.
It's greatest growth will be in the fall months.
SEEDLING TREES. — Many trees which are entirely hardy
when grown, are very tender during the first and second
winters. Cover them with straw, refuse garden gatherings,
leaves, etc. Sometimes it is best to raise them and lay
them in by the heels, by which those gardeners designate
the operation of laying trees in trenches or excavations,
and covering the roots and a considerable portion of the
stems. This will not be extra labor in all cases when the
young trees are to be reset, at any rate, the second year
in nursery rows.
208 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
CULTURE OF PIE-PLANT.
BEGINNERS should in all cases, if possible, obtain a supply
of plants, from a proved sort, by dividing the root, liaising
from seed is an after, and an amateur practice. The first
object with every man is to supply his family with this
esculent,, and not to experiment with new sorts. Let him
buy or beg from garden or nursery, enough buds to estab-
lish a bed, of some kind already known to be good.
The best season of the year for dividing the root is in the
spring ; the next best is in late autumn ; and the worst in
midsummer — as we have abundantly ascertained by experi-
ment. The reason is plain. Like bulbs, and tubers, the
root of the pie-plant stores up in itself during one season, a
supply of organizable matter enough to enable it to start
off the next season, without any dependence upon the soil.
Dahlias, potatoes, onions, turnips, cabbages, etc., it is well
known, are able to grow for a considerable time, in the
spring, without any connection with the soil ; being
sustained by that supply which they had treasured up
within themselves the previous autumn. When this is
exhausted, they will die, if they have not been put in con-
nection with food from without. When pie-plant is divided
in the spring, it is full of the material of life, and a bud cut
off from the main root with a portion of the root attached,
has a supply of food until new roots are emitted, which in
good soil and weather will be in about a week. There is
the same vitality in autumn, and the only reason why it is
not so good for transplanting as spring, is the risk that the
buds and roots will rot off during the winter. A uniform
winter will scarcely injure one in a hundred, but constant
changes, freezing and thawing, will weaken, if not destroy
many of them. When, however, it is necessary to divide
and transplant in 'the fall, cover the bed full four inches
deep with coarse, strong manure. Although great care
will enable one to transplant a section of the root in mid-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 209
summer, yet we have found that when no more attention is
paid than in spring, nine plants are lost out of ten. The
reason is obvious. There is no reserved treasure of sap in
the root in summer, such as gives it vitality in spring or
autumn. If for any reason we must take up a root in
summer, let every possible fibre be saved, the plant well
watered and sheltered until it begins to grow again.
RAISING FROM SEED. — The origination of new varieties
of fruits, flowers and esculent vegetables is one of the
greatest rewards of gardening. Almost every seed of the
pie-plant will produce a variety. We have thought our-
selves repaid for trouble if one in fifty seedling plants were
worth saving. It requires a full two years' trial to improve
a sort. Of fifty plants, say twenty-five may be rejected
peremptorily the first season, the petioles being mere wires.
Of the other twenty-five, one or two will give great promise,
and the others will be doubtful. Let them be transplanted
in the spring of the second season, into very mellow, rich,
deep loam, full three feet apart every, way, and here they
may stand until the owner is fully satisfied, by the trial of
one or more seasons, which are good and which inferior.
In marking seedling plants, the cultivator should bear in
mind that there are two kinds required, viz. a very early
sort, and one for the later and mam supply. If a plant has
small stalks, and is late too, reject it of course. If it be
very early, it may be valuable even if quite small. Some
sorts are fit for plucking five or six weeks before others ;
we have a variety which comes forward almost the moment
the frost leaves the ground in the spring, or in warm spells
in winter.
In selecting a late sort from your seedlings, several
qualities must be consulted. The plant should manifest an
indisposition to go to seed ; should be apt to throw out an
abundance of leaves, to supply those taken off; the petioles
should be large ; the meat rich and substantial. There is
great difference between one sort and another in the
210 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
amount of sugar required, in the delicacy of flavor, and in
the property of stewing to :i pulp, \\ithout wasting aNvav.
A good variety of pie-plant, then, should be a vigorous
grower, prolific, large in the stalk, not apt to flower, of a
>p rightly acid without any earthy or woody taste, not stew-
ing away more than one-third when cooked, and not requir-
ing too much sugar.
We have observed in our trials that seedlings having
smooth leaves, with the upper surface varnished mid glossy,
are seldom good ; while every plant which we have thought
worth keeping, had the upper surface of its leaves of a
deep, dull, lack-lustre green.
FORMATION OF A BED. — Select a strong and rich loam
Let it be spaded full two feet deep. If the subsoil has
never been worked, and is clay, or gravel, a large supply of
old manure should be mixed with it. Our working-method
is this: Mark off the square, begin on one side, lay out a
full spadeful of the top-soil clear across the bed ; lay four or
five inches of manure in the trench, and then spade it down
a full twelve inches deep ; beginning again by the side of the
first trench, put the top-soil of the second into the first ; add
manure and spade as before ; and so across the bed. The
surface-soil thrown out of the first trench may be wheeled
down and put into the last one. This process wrill leave
the bed much higher than it was ; let it stand one or two
weeks to settle. If the bed is prepared in autumn it will
be better, and in the spring it may be half-spaded again
before planting.
Mark out, by line, rows three feet apart, and set your
plants in the rows three feet fi$>m plant to plant, if of
the large kind, and two feet, if of the small. Very largt*
varieties require four feet every way. The buds should be
left just below the surface of the soil.
AFTER CULTURE. — Through the summer keep the surface
mellow and free from weeds. In the fall of the year, when
the leaves show signs of falling, form a compost heap of
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 211
fine charcoal, if you can get it from blacksmith's or else-
where, vegetable mold, ashes, and very old manure. Spread
and spade in a good coat of this, spading lightly near to the
plants and deeply between them. When frost destroys the
tops wholly, cover the bed with coarse, strong manure
about four inches deep, smooth it down, and let it remain
thus. The next spring stir the surface smartly with a rake,
and no further care will be required except to pluck out any
weeds that grow through the summer.
GATHERING. — Leaves are constantly springing from the
centre. Of course the full-grown ones will be on the out-
side. These should be harvested, leaving the inside ones
to mature. By going regularly over your bed, and taking
in turn the outside leaves, a bed may be used till July with-
out the slightest injury. Other fruit, after that time,
usually displaces pie-plant and leaves it to rest the
remainder of the year. The leaf-stalks should not be cut
off. Slide the hand down as near as possible to the root,
and give the stalk a backward and sidewise wrench and it
will be detached at a joint or articulation, and no stump
will be left to rot and injure the root — we usually cut off
the leaves on the spot, leaving them about the root, both
for shade to the ground and for manure.
PRESERVE TOUR POT-PLANTS. — We warn ladies having
pot-plants designed for winter-wear, to be prudent before
hand, or some frosty night will cut every tender plant left
out, and then prudence will be good for nothing. Every
one who pretends to keep parlor plants should own a
thermometer. If at sundown or at nine o'clock it stands
anywhere near forty degrees, your plants are in danger.
Sometimes it will fall, in one night, from fifty degrees to
below thirty-two degrees, which last is the freezing point.
212 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
SUN-FLOWER SEED.
To some extent this is likely to become a profitable crop.
Medium lands will yield, on an average, fifty bushels;
while first-rate lands will yield from seventy to :\ hundred
1'iishels.
MODE OF CULTIVATION. — The ground is prepared in all
respects as for a corn crop, and the seed sown in drills four
feet apart — one plant to every eighteen inches in the drill.
It is to be plowed and tended in all respects like a crop of
corn.
HARVESTING. — As the heads ripen, they are gathered,
laid on a barn floor and threshed with a flail. The seed
shells very easily.
USE. — The seed may be employed in fattening hogs, feed-
ing poultry, etc., and for this last purpose it is better than
grain. But the seed is more valuable at the oil-mill than
elsewhere. It will yield a gallon to the bushel without
trouble ; and by careful working, more than this. Hemp
yields one and a fourth gallons to the bushel, and flax-seed
one and a half by ordinary pressure ; but two gallons under
the hydraulic press.
The oil has, as yet, no established market price. It will
range from seventy cents to a dollar, according as its value
shall be established as an article for lamps and for painters'
use. But at seventy cents a gallon for oil, the seed would
command fifty-five cents a bushel, which is a much higher
price than can be had for corn.
It is stated, but upon how sufficient proof we know not,
that sun-flower oil is excellent for burning in lamps. It has
also been tried by our painters to some extent; and for
inside work, it is said to be as good as linseed oil. Mr.
Hannaman, who has kindly put us in possession of these
facts, says, that the oil resembles an animal, rather than
a vegetable oil ; that it has not the varnish properties
of the linseed oil. We suppose by varnish is meant,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 213
the albumen and mucilage which are found in vegetable
oils. The following analysis of hemp-seed, and flax-seed, or
as it is called in England lint or linseed, will show the
proportions of various ingredients in one hundred parts.
Hemp-seed. Linseed.
(Bucholi.) (Leo Meier.)
Oil, 19.1 11.3
Husk, etc 88.3 44.4
Woody fibre and starch, 5.0 1.5
Sugar, etc 1.6 10.8
Gum, 9.0 7.1
Soluble albumen (Casein ?) 24.7 15.1
Insoluble do — 3.7
Wax and resin, 1.6 8.1
Loss, 0.7 8.0
100 100
The existence of impurities in oil, such as mucilage, albu-
men, gum, etc., which increase its value to the painter, dimin-
ishes its value for the lamp, since these substances crust or
cloy the wick, and prevent a clear flame. All oils may,
therefore, the less excellent they are for painting, be regarded
as the more valuable for burning. Rape-seed is extensively
raised in Europe, chiefly in Flanders, for its oil, and is
much used for burning. Ten quarts may be extracted
from a bushel of seed. "We append a table represent-
ing the richness of various seeds, etc., in oil.
Oil per ceok
Linseed (flax) 11 to 22
Hemp-seed, 14 to 25
Rape-seed, 40 to 70
Poppy-seed, 36 to 33
White mustard-seed, 86 to 48
Black mustard-seed, 15
Swedish turnip-seed, 34
Sun-flower seed, 15
Walnut kernels 40 to 70
214 I'LADT AND PLEASANT TALK
Hazel-nut kernels, 60
Beech-nut kernels, • 15 to 17
Plum-stone do 83
Sweet almond kernels, 40 to 64
Bitter do. do . . 28 to 46
APRIL GARDEN-WORK.
EVERY one will now be at work in the garden. A few
suggestions may make your garden better.
PLOWING GARDENS. — We do nol like the practice except
when the garden is large, and the owner unable to meet
the expense of spading. But if you must plow, let that be
well done. Those contemptible little one-horse plows, with
which most gardens are plowed, should be discarded. The
best plowing will be too shallow, but these spindling little
plows, drawn by a little meagre horse, will skim over your
ground, averaging from three to four inches deep, and pre-
paring your soil to receive the utmost possible detriment
from summer droughts. What chance have young roots,
or the finer fibres of plants, to penetrate more than a few
inches of surface-soil ? Persons come to our garden and
wonder why some vegetables flourish so well, while they
never have luck with them, "It must be a difference of
soil." No, it is the difference of working it. Give your
vegetables a chance to descend eighteen or twenty inches
if they incline to it, and you will have no more trouble. A
large plow should be used, and you should stand by and
see that it is put in to the beam. A garden soil is usually
mellow, and a plow can go to its full depth without hurting
the horses.
SPADING. — This mode of working the ground will always
be employed by those ambitious of having a first-rate gar-
den. Indeed, where there is much shrul»l»rry and ju-nna-
beds, as of asparagus, pie-plant, strawberry, and plant-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 215
ations of currants, raspberries, etc., spading is the only
method which can be employed.
SPADING SHRUBBERY. — Let very fine manure be spread
about roses, honeysuckles, and ornamental shrubs (where
they are not standing in a grass-lawn). Beginning at the
plant, with great care turn over the soil one or two inches
deep, yet so as not to injure the fibres ; gradually deepen
the stroke of your spade as you go out from the plant ; at
two feet from the shrub you may put in the spade half its
depth, and at three feet to its full depth. You will of
course cut many roots, but they will very soon re-form and
send out fibres, and by the manure spaded in, be supplied
with abundant nourishment for the season.
SPADING FLOWER BEDS. — This requires a practised hand.
There is danger of wounding and displacing clumps of
flower-roots, or of filling the crowns with dirt, or of leaving
the surface uneven, and the edges ragged. If there is a
skillful gardener to be had, hire it done, and watch while
he performs, for any man who has seen a thing done in a
garden once, ought to be ashamed if he cannot himself do
it afterwards.
SPADING VEGETABLE BEDS. — Asparagus, pie-plant, straw-
berries, etc., require enriching every year, and to have the
iiiai Hire forked or spaded in. It is easy to perform this
upon strawberries, and a spade is preferable. A three or
four-pronged fork is better for asparagus and pie-plant. Be
careful not to tear or cut the crowns of the plants. No
material injury ensues from clipping the side fibres, in the
spring" in summer, when a plant requires all its mouths to
supply sap for its extended surface of leaf, it is not wise to
cut the roots or fibres ut all, but only to keep the surface
mellow and friable.
DEEP SPADING. — Ames' garden-spades measure twelve
inches in length of blade. In a good soil the foot may gain
one or two additional inches by a good thrust. Thus the
soil is mellowed to the depth of fourteen inches. This will
216 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
do very well ; but if you aspire to do the very best, another
course must be first pursued. The first spadeful must be
thrown out, and a second depth gained, and then the top
soil returned. This is comparatively slow and laborious,
but it need not be done more than once hi five years, and
by dividing the garden into sections, and performing this
thorough-spading on one of the sections each year, the pro-
cess will be found, practically, less burdensome than it seems
to be.
GETTING POOR ON RICH LAND AND RICH ON POOR LAND.
A CLOSE observer of men and things told us the follow-
ing little history, which we hope will plow very deeply into
the attention of all who plow very shallow in their soils.
Two brothers settled together in county. One of
them on a cold, ugly, clay soil, covered with black-jack
oak, not one of which was large enough to make a half
dozen rails. This man would never drive any but large,
powerful, Conastoga horses, some seventeen hands high. He
always put three horses to a large plow, and plunged it in
some ten inches deep. This deep plowing he invariably
practised and cultivated thoroughly afterward. He raised
his seventy bushels of com to the acre.
This man had a brother about six miles off, settled on
a rich White River bottom-land farm — and while a black-
jack clay soil yielded seventy bushels to the acre, this fine
bottom-land would not average fifty. One brother was
steadily growing rich on poor land, and the other steadily
growing poor on rich land.
One day the bottom-land brother came down to see the
Mark-jack oak farmer, and they began to talk about their
crops and farms, as farmers are very apt to do.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 217
"How is it," said the first, "that you manage on this
poor soil to beat me in crops ?"
They reply was " I WORK my land."
That was it, exactly. Some men have such rich land
that they won't work it ; and they never get a step beyond
where they began. They rely on the soil, not on labor, or
skill, or care. Some men expect their LANDS to work, and
some men expect to WORK THEIR LAND ; — and th at is just
the difference between a good and a bad farm er.
When we had written thus far, and read it to our infor-
mant, he said, " three years ago I travelled again through
that section, and the only good farm I saw was this very
one of which you have just written. All the others were
desolate — fences down — cabins abandoned, the settlers dis-
couraged and moved off. I thought I saw the same old
stable door, hanging by one hinge, that used to disgust me
ten years before ; and I saw no change except for the worse
in the whole county, with the single exception of this one
farm."
GETTING READY FOR WINTER.
HAUL tanbark and bank up around the house to insure
a warm cellar. Cellar windows should be kept open through
the day, and closed after the nights begin to freeze, as late
in the season as possible. See that dry walks are prepared
from the house to all the out-houses. Do not be stingy of
your materials ; make the paths high and rounding, so as to
insure dryness, especially about the barn. See that stones,
gravel, or timber are laid so as to be out of the way of cat-
tle's feet, and just in the way of your own. We have seen
swamp-barn-yards, before going into which a prudent man
would choose to make his will. Mud on the shoes from
roads and fields is all well enough ; but mud from one's own
10
218 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
yards, shows that the owner has not fixed up as he ought
t<> have done.
It \ -..in- sables are old, examine the floor; or some night
may let a horse through, to come out lame for life. If you
a dirt floor, see that it is carefully laid, and remember
that if it be inclined cither way, it should be from the rack
and not toward it. Let your wagons, carts, plows, etc., be
repaired during the fall and winter, and not be left till spring.
See that your shingles are all sound on the house, barn,
and shed. The leak which you have allowed to drop, drop,
drop all summer has at last taken off a yard or two of
planter, and it is time now to put on a shingle or two.
There is another leak or two that must be stopped. That
pocket of yours which has let out dime after dime for liquor,
the hole getting bigger and bigger every year, now is the
time to sow it up, or it will rip you up. A pocket is a small
place, to be sure, but we have seen barns, cattle, and acre
after acre slip through a hole in it which, at first, was
only large enough to let sixpence through.
See that all your tools have a safe and dry standing-
place; hoes rakes, scythes, sickles, yokes, spades, shovels,
chains, pins, harrows, plows, carts, and sleds, axes, mattocks,
hammers, and everything, but your geese and ducks, should
be kept from wet and snow.
If you have no stables for your cattle, you should have
good sheds provided, opening to the south. Even when
cattle are allowed to run through the stock-fields, there
ought to be in some warm place an ample shed to which
they can resort during wet and cold weather ; and one suffi-
ciently snug can be made without calling in the carpenter
or buying lumber.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING 219
ESCULENT VEGETABLES.
WE mention some of the more common kinds of garden
esculent vegetables, to point out the best kinds, and give
some hints for their cultivation. If more vegetables were
raised and eaten in the place of meat, there would be fewer
diseases, and less expense for medicine than is now the case
among those who eat so heartily and liberally of the fat of
the land.
BEET. — The turnip-rooted blood beet should be sown for
the earliest crop ; the long blood beet for the late crop, and
for winter use. The blood beet is the proper garden beet.
The scarcity r, the sugar beets (so called), white, yellow, and
red, are inferior for table use. Every year we see accounts
of new varieties, which are seldom mentioned a second
time, while these old standard sorts* hold their own from
year to year. We see people running around among
their neighbors for beet-seed, careless whether it is early or
late, coarse fleshed or fine grained, sweet or insipid. It is
just as easy and cheap to have the best seed of the best
kinds, as to have refuse seed of worthless kinds. Lately, a
variety introduced from France, called Hassano, has at-
tracted attention and commendation.* It is early, tender,
and sweet. If you attempt to raise your own seed, let only
one sort stand in the garden ; otherwise bees and other
insects will mix them, and the purity of the variety will be
* A new variety called tne Bassano has been recently introduced into
France, and extensively cultivated ; and it is said to be found in all the
markets from Venice to Genoa, in the month of June. It is remarkable
for the form of the root, which is flattened like a turnip. The skin is
red, the flesh white, veined with rose. It is very tender, very delicate,
preserving its rose colored rings after cooking, and from two to two
and a half inches in diameter. This description is from the Bon Jardi-
nier for 1841. The edition for 1842 states that this variety is highly
esteemed in the north of Italy, and that it is, in fact, one of the best kinds
for the table. — ffovey's Magazine.
220 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
lost. We very seldom sec an unmixed variety in common
pm long, unless seed have been bought from good seeds-
men.
The best seed is a small black seed about the size of a
}>in head, enveloped in a ragged, rough, two or thin ]..lu .1
husk. Every seeming seed planted, then, is a mere envel-
ope of two or more seeds, and two or three plants come up,
very much to the surprise of the inexperienced, for each
husk. When a little advanced, they are to be thinned out
to one in a place.
We prefer planting very early, and in rows eight inches
apart and at about one inch distant in the row. As the plants
begin to gain size tltey make very delicate greens ; and for
this purpose are to be boiled, leaf, root, and all. Continue
to thin out until one is left for every six inches for full
growth.
Every year a great ado is made about monstrous beets —
twenty and thirty pounders. There is no objection to
these giants, unless they beget an idea that size is the i<-t
of merit. For table-use, medium sized fruits and vegetables
are every way preferable ; a beet should never be larger
than a goose-egg.
It is equally foolish to suppose that large, coarse-grained
vegetables, whether potatoes, beets, parsnips, rut a
anything else, are as good for stock, though not so palat-
able to men. To be sure they fill up. But that whieh is
nutriment to man is nutriment to beast ; a vegetable which
is rank and watery is no better for my cow than for us.
It is not the bulk but the quality that measures the fitness
of articles for food.
PABSNIP. — This vegetable is, to those who are fond of it,
very desirable, as coming in at a tune when other thin-
failing. For, although the parsnip attains its si/.c 1>\
autumn, yet its flavor seems to depend upon its reeeh iiiL: a
pretty good frosting. It may be dug at open spells thmu^h
the winter and early in the spring. It gives one of the
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 221
first indications of returning warmth, and its green leaves
:uv among the first which cheer the garden. On this ac-
count it niiivt be dug early in the spring and housed, or it
will spoil by growth.
We know of no difference in varieties. The Gruemsey,
is not a different sort from the common, but only the com-
mon sort, very highly cultivated in that island, where it
sometimes grows to a length of four feet. The hollow-
crowned and Siam are mentioned in English catalogues, as
fine fleshed and flavored, but we have never been able to
obtain seed of them.
The parsnip (Pastinacea sativa) is a native of Great
Britain and is found wild by the road-sides, delighting par-
ticularly in calcareous soils. It has hitherto been supposed
that the seed would not retain its germinating power more
than one year, but Mr. Mendenhall states that he has raised
freely from four year old seed. The parsnip is much sown
as a field crop at the east, yielding 1,000 bushels, on good
land, to the acre. They are invaluable both to cows
and horses. The quantity and quality of milk in cows
is improved ; and no farmer with whom butter-making is a
considerable object of interest, should be without a root
crop — beet, carrot, or ruta baga.
CABROT. (Daucus carota). — This is a native of Great
Britain. The early horn and Altringham are the best
varieties sold by our seedsmen. Beside their use upon the
table, they are largely and deservedly cultivated hi the field
for stock. A horse becomes more fond of them than of oats,
and they do not, like the potato, require boiling before tivd
ing out. A thousand bushels may be raised to the am-.
Tlic premium of the New York Agricultural Society for the
year 1844, was to a crop of 1,059 bushels the acre.
The seed should be new each year, as it will not
come well even the second year, and not at all if kept yet
longer.
RADISH. — Every garden has its bed of radishes, and they
222 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
are among the first spring gifts. They will grow in any
soil, but not in all equally well. A mellow sandy loam is
best ; or rather that soil is best which will grow them the
quickest. If they are a long time in growing, they are
tough and stringy. It is said that a compost of the follow-
ing materials will produce them very early and finely.
Take equal parts of buckwheat bran and fresh horse-dung,
dig them in plentifully into the soil where you intend to
sow. Within two days a plentiful crop of toadstools will
start up. Spade them under, and sow your seed, and the
radishes will come forward rapidly, and be tender and free
from worms.
The aJwrt-top scarlet, is the best for spring planting. It
is so named, because, from its rapid growth the top is yet
small when the root is fit for the table. There is a white
and red turnip-rooted variety, also good for spring use.
The turnip-rooted kinds have not only the shape, but some-
thing of the sweetness and flavor of the turnip, and are by
some preferred to all others. For summer planting, there
is a yellow turnip-rooted sort and the summer white. For
fell and early winter, the white and black Spanish are
planted. When radishes are sown broadcast, it must be
very thinly, for if at all crowded they run to top, and
refuse to form edible roots. For our own use, we sow on
the edges of beds, devoted to onions, beets, etc., and thrust
each seed down with the finger.
The radish (Raphanus sativus) is a native of China, and
was introduced to England before 1584.
SALSIFY, OB VEGETABLE OYSTER. — We esteem this to be
a much better root for table use than either the parsnip or
carrot. It is cultivated in all respects as these crops are.
Some have been skeptical as to their possessing an oyster
flavor. They seldom attain the true taste until, like the
parsnip, they have been well frosted. But if dug up dur-
ing spells in winter and early in the spring, and cooked by
an orthodox formula, they are strikingly like the oyster.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 223
We have just consulted the oracle of our kitchen, and give
forth the following method of cooking it: First, oblige
your husband to raise a good supply of them. When you
have obtained them, scrape off the outside skin — cut the
root lengthwise into thin slices — put them into a spider and
iust cover with hot water. Let them boil until a fork will
hrough them easily. Without turning off the water,
season them with butter, pepper, and salt, and sprinkle
in a little flour — enough to thicken the liquor slightly. Then
eat them.
The success of this gustatory deception depends, more
than anything else, upon the skill in seasoning. If well done
they are not merely an apology, but they are a very excel-
lent substitute for the shell-fish himself ; a thousand times
better than pickled can-oysters — those arrant libels upon all
that is dear in the remembrance of a live oyster.
Every one may save seed for himself, as it will not, if well
cultivated, degenerate. It is a biennial, and roots may
either be set out, or left standing where they were planted.
When the seed begins to feather out it must be immediately
gathered, or like the dandelion or thistle, it will be blown
away by the wind. This vegetable should be much more
extensively cultivated than it is.
BEANS. — There are three kinds — English dwarf, kidney
dwarf or string, and the pole beans. The first kind, so far
as our experience has gone, are coarser than the others,
and, in our hot and dry summers, are very difficult to raise.
Of kidney or bush beans, there is a long catalogue of
sorts. The Mohawk is good for its hardiness, enduring
spring frosts with comparative impunity. The red-speckled
valentine is highly commended. But after a trial of some
twenty kinds, we are entirely contented with one — the
China red-eye. It is early, hardy, very prolific, and well
flavored.
Of the pole beans, one sort, the Lima, might snpi r
all others were it a little earlier. It is immensely prolific •
224 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
N v>r unrivalled, and nearly the same in the dry bean
as when cooked in its green state, a quality which has
Bever, |fe U-lirNr, lu-m found in any other \aru-ly. To
sujijily tin- deticieney of tliis variety in eaiTmess, we know
of none equal to the Horticultural. With these two kinds
one has no need of any other. Pole beans will not bear
frost, and are among the last seeds to be planted, seldom
before the last of April. The bush-bean may precede
them a fortnight.
The English dwarf (Vidafaba) is a native of Egypt ; but
has been cultivated in England from time immemorial, and,
it is supposed, was introduced by the Romans.
The kidney dwarf (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a native of
India, and was introduced into England about the
year 1597.
The pole bean (Phaseolus multi/loris) is a native of
South America, and was introduced to England in 1633.
Pole beans are not strictly annuals. In a climate where
the winter does not destroy them they bear au:iin the
second year, and we believe yet longer. Gov. Pinney,
of Liberia, on the African coast, stated in a lecture, speak-
ing of the vegetable productions of that region, that the
bean was a permanent vine like the grape, bearing its crops
from year to year without replanting. The bush bean is
strictly an annual. If the pole bean were protected in the
ground, or raised and put away like sweet potatoo,
dahlias, etc., in the cellar and replanted in the spring it
would bear again the second season. Perhaps an earlier
crop of beans might thus be secured.
The bean crop, by field culture, is not to be overlooked.
Great quantities of dried beans are consumed by families,
by the army and in the navy, and they always bear a good
price, when they are well grown and well cured. They an-
excellent for sheep, not from their fattening properties, hut
for improving their fleece. Analysis has shown them to bo
rich in those properties which aro " wool-gathering."
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 225
FIELD ROOT CROPS
FROM mid- winter, and especially just before spring opens,
beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, ruta baga, and mangel
wurtzel are of the highest utility. After months of dry
fodder, and of sloops thickened with corn-meal, cattle need —
their stomach, their blood need — a change of diet ; and none
can be better than roots. At the East it is no longer a de-
batable question — root crops are as regularly laid in as
grain or grass crops. The chief difficulty at the East, in
introducing "new-fangled notions," arises from the regular
routine habits of farmers and their settled aversion to change
from old ways. Very little of this spirit exists at the West.
Tlu- re the very essence of life is change. The population
have broken up from old homesteads, moved off from old
States, abandoned the comforts and settled life of long
tilled agricultural districts — to come into a new country,
where they have to practise new ways, live differently, and
labor by new methods ; and, by consequence, the farming
community of the West are remarkably free to meet and
adopt agricultural improvements. But the difficulty lies in
a different direction. The farmers have large farms — are
ambitious of large crops, large herds of cattle, large droves
of hogs, and of a style of husbandry which brings in a
large pile, and all at once ; so that the idea of good farming
is large farming. Many a sturdy Kentuckian will very
patiently plow, two or three times, his fifty or hundred acres
of corn, and think nothing of it ; but to put in half an acre
of carrots, or beets, to weed and work, to harvest and store
the vexatious little crop, this seems a piddling business.
Our big prairie farmers, our heavy bottom-land fanners, our
stock farmers who " hog" one or two hundred acres of corn,
of their own planting or of their neighbor's, they do not
love little work. We know a man who lives on thirty acres
of land of about a middling quality. lie winters seven
cows, two horses, and two pi.^s. Ho raises corn and grasa
10*
226 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
enough for his own use, and sells none. Every year he puts
in about a quarter of an acre of parsnips, or ruta baga, for
winter and spring fodder. His garden in summer, and his
dairy all the year round, are represented in market. He
probably does not receive five dollars at once, on any one
sale, through the year. We never looked into that old
chest under his bed; but we will venture much, tliat it' the
shrewd housewife would keep her eagle eyes off long enough
to give us a chance, it would be found that this man has
made, and laid up, more money in the last five years from
his thirty acres, than any farmer about here from six times
the amount. Our farmers have not grown rich on large
and careless farming; but many are growing rich on small
farms and careful husbandry.
When the dairy shall be more thought of — when winter-
ing stock, and fattening it, shall be more carefully studied —
we predict that our farmers will annually raise thousands
of bushels of roots, and have capacious cellars under their
barns to store them in.
CULTIVATION OF FRUIT-TREES.
WE must give up thinking of remedies for blights and
diseases of fruit-trees and seek after preventives. Amputa-
tion may limit its ravages ; but surgery is not a remedy,
but a resource after remedies fail. We must, it seems to
us, look for a preventive in a wiser system of fruit cultiva-
tion. To' this subject we shall now speak.
The effect of cultivation in changing the habits of plants
is familiar to all. Incident to this artificial condition of the
plant, there will be new diseases, vegetable vices, which, as
they result from cultivation, must be regarded in every
perfect system of cultivation.
Where trees are grown for timber, or shade, or orn.i-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLCXWERS AND FARMING. 227
ment, everything can be sacrificed to the production of
wood and foliage, put in fruit-trees wood is nothing and
fruit is everything. We push for quantity and quality of
fruit ; and would not regard the wood or foliage at all, if it
were not indispensable as a means of procuring fruit. That
is the most skillful treatment of fruit-trees which involves a
just compromise between the wants of the tree, and the
abundance and excellence of fruit. There is away of train-
ing fruit by a rapid consumption of the tree ; and there is a
method of gaining fruit by invigorating and prolonging the
tree. Two systems of cultivation grow out of these dif-
ferent methods — a natural system and an artificial system.
All cultivation is artificial, even the rudest. By natural
system, then, is only meant a treatment which interferes
but little with nature; and by artificial, a system in which
skill is applied to every part of the vegetable economy.
For conservatories, gardens, and experimental grounds,
there is no reason why an artificial system should not exist.
Moral considerations restrain us from stimulating a man or a
beast to procure a quick or a large return at the expense of
life and limb; but in vegetable matters our preference or
interest is the only restraint. If any reason exists for forc-
ing a tree to bear young, and enormously, and after ten
years' service for throwing it away, it is proper to do it.
For larger show-fruit we ring a limb expecting to sacrifice
the branch ; we diminish the life of the pear by putting it
to a dwarf habit by violent means. If we have any suffi-
ciently desirable object to accomplish, there is no reason
why we should not do it. There may be as good reasons
for limiting a tree to ten years as a strawberry bed to
three.
There is another form of the artificial system in which
there is much to censure. When fruit-trees are set in gar-
dens, yards, etc., to be permanent, and long-lived, it is folly
to apply to them that high-toned treatment which belong
to an artificial system as I have spoken of it above.
228 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Impatient of delay, the cultivator presses his trees foiward
by stimulating applications, or retards thorn l>y violent
.tTonei — l»y pruning at tin- root ur branch, by heiul-
iug or binding ; e\ cr\ tiling is sacrificed for early and abun-
dant bearing. Fine fruit yards, designed to last a hundred
years, are served with a treatment proper only to a con-
st rvatory or experimental garden. This high-toned system
is still more vicious when applied to orchards and especially
to pear orchards; and it seems to us that much is to be
learned and much unlearned before we shall have attain* -1
a true science of pear culture. Let us consider some facts.
It is well known that seedling apple-trees are generally
longer lived than grafted varieties, and obnoxious to fewer
diseases. The same is true of the pear-tree. It has fre-
quently been said that seedling and wilding pears were not
subject to the blight. This is not true if such trees are under-
going the same cultivation as grafted sorts ; it is not always
true when they exist in an untutored state ; but when they
are left to themselves, they certainly are less obnoxious to
the blight and to disease of any kind, than are grafted ami
cultivated varieties. A comparison between wild and
tame, between cultivated and natural, between seedling and
and grafted fruit, is certainly to the advantage of seedling
uncultivated fruit, in respect to the HEALTH of the tree — of
course it is not in respect to quality of fruit. In connection
with these facts, consider another, that seedling and wilding
fruit is nearly twice as long in coming into bearing as are
cultivated varieties. The seedling apple bears at from ten
to fourteen years. The pear bears at from fifteen to eighteen
years. But upon cultivation the grafted pear and apple
bear in from five to eight years. It is noticeable that,
although the pear as a wilding is four or five years longer
in coming to a bearing state than the apple, yet, upon
cultivation, they both bear at about the same age from the
bud or graft. In a private letter from Robert Manning (we
pri/e it as among the last he ever wrote; another, receive.!
ABOUT FBUITS, FLO WEBS AND FARMING. 229
not long after, was dictated ; but signed by his tremulous
luiiitl in letters which gpeak of death), he says, "Pears bear
as soon as apples of .the same age; on the quince much
sooner," etc.
It appears, then, that while cultivation accelerates the
period of fruit-bearing and perfects the fruit, it is also
accompanied with premature age and liability to diseases,
we do not wish to be understood as opposing the habit of
cultivating fruit, or as prejudiced against grafted varieties
— we are neither opposed to the one nor to the other. But
we would deduce from facts, some conclusions which will
enable us to perfect our fruits by a more discriminating
treatment.
The question will arise, Is it only by accident that liability
to disease increases, with increase of cultivation ? Is there
an inherent objection in all artificial treatment ? or is there
objection only to particular methods of artificial cultiva-
tion?
Although there may be too many exceptions, to allow of
our saying, that quickly-growing timber is not durable, it
may be said in respect to trees of the same species, that the
durability of the timber depends (among other things) on
the slowness of its growth. Mountain timber is usually
tougher and more lasting than champaign wood; timber
growing in the great alluvial valleys of the West, is noto-
riously more perishable than that grown in the parsimonious
soils of the North and East.
The reason does not seem obscure. In a rich soil, and
uiuU-r an ardent sun, not only is the growth of trees greater
in any given season, than in a poor soil, but the growtli is
coarser and the grain coarser. But what is a coarse growth,
and what is fine-grained, or coarse-grained timber ? — timber
in which the vascular system has been greatly distended, in
which sup-vi'ssols and air-colls are large and coarse. Where
wood is formed with great rapidity and with a super
abundance of sap, not only will there be large ducts and
230 PLAIN AXD PLEASANT TALK
vessels, but the sap itself will be but imperfectly elaborated
l»y tin- U-avcs. We may suppose that overfeeding in vege-
tal iK's is, in its effects, analogous to overfeeding in animals.
The sap is but imperfectly decomposed in the leaf— it passes
into the channels for elaborated sap in a partially nudi-
st ate — it deposits imperfect secretions, and the whole tissue
from it will partake of the defects of the proper
juice*
Thus a too rapid growth not only enlarges the sap pas-
sages, but forms their sides and the whole vegetable tissue
of imperfect matter. This accounts, not only for the perish-
ableness of quickly-grown timber, but, doubtless, for the
short-lived tendency of cultivated fruit in comparison with
ir tidings. For where the tissue is imperfectly formed,
general weakness must ensue.
These reasonings do not include plants which, in their
original nature, have a system of large sap-vessels, etc., and
which naturally are rapid growers, but respects only plants
which have been forced to this condition by circumstances.
Has this condition of the vegetable substance nothing to
do with the health of a tree? Does it not very much
determine its liability to disease ? — its excitability ? Where
are trees liable to diseases of the circulation ? In England,
in New England, where, by climate and soil, growth is
slow ? — or in the Western and Middle States, where, by
climate, by soil, and by vicious treatment, the growth is
excessive ? This leads me to review the methods employed
in rearing fruit-trees.
The nursery business is a commercial business, and aims
at profit. It is the interest of nurserymen to sell largely,
and to bring their trees into market in the shortest possible
time from the planting of the seed and the setting of the
* For the young reader it may be necessary to say, that- when sap is
first taken up by the roots it is called true sap ; but after it has under-
gone a chaiifrr in tin- lc;ivcs it in called proper juice.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 231
bud, to the sale of the tree. But independently of this,
few nurserymen know, accurately, the nature of the plants
which they cultivate, and still less the habits of each
variety. Why should they, when learned pomologists are
content to know as little as they ? The trees are highly
cultivated and closely side-pruned. The vigor of a tree,
i. 6. the rapidity with which it will grow, determines its
favor. Sorts which take time, and require a longer treat-
ment, are regarded with disfavor. Everything is sacrificed
to rapid growth and early maturity.
Next, and proceeding in the same evil direction, comes
the orchard cultivation. From what quarter have we,
mostly, derived our opinions and practices in fruit cultiva-
tion ? From French, English, and New England writers.
But is the system which they pursue fit for us ? There is
an opposite extreme to high cultivation ; there are evils
besetting low-cultivation. In cold, wet, stiff, barren soils,
and in a cool, or humid, or cloudy atmosphere, trees
require stimulants. The soil needs drying, warming,
manuring; and the tree requires pruning. But such a
system is ruinous, where the soil is full of fiery activity,
bursting out with an irrepressible fertility and a superabun-
dant vegetation; where the long summer days are intensely
brilliant, and the air warm enough to ripen fruit even in
the densest shade of an unpruned tree.
A traveller hi Lapland would require the most bracing
and stimulating food ; but in New Orleans it would produce
fever and death. A region, subject to all the diseases and
evils of vegetable plethora, has adopted the practice of
regions subject to the opposite evils. While receiving with
gratitude, at the hands of eminent foreign physiologists
and cultivators, the principles, we must establish the ART
of horticulture, by a practice conformable to our own cir-
cumstances. A treatment which in England would only pro-
duce healthful growth, in this country would pamper a tree
to a luxurious fullness. Let us not be deluded by the faila-
232 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
cious appearance of our orchards. The evils which we
have to fear are not shown forth in the early history of a
tree or an orchard. On the contrary, the appearance will
be flattering. The apple is a more hardy tree than the
pear, and will endure greater mismanagement; but in the
Iciiir run we shall have to pay for our greedy cultivation,
<\t-
ly), that slow and tedious growers are put up«ni rampant
Crowing stocks to quicken them. In some cases manun-> an-
freely applied to the soil, as directed by all writers who teach
ABOUT. jfBUTTS, FLOW1LBS AND FARMING. 235
how to prepare ground for a nursery. But such writers
had their eye upon the soil of England or New England.
The still more vicious practice of side trimming and free
pruning is followed, which forces the tree to produce a great
deal of wood, rather than to ripen well a little. A well-
informed nurseryman ought not to look so much at the
length of his trees, as to the quality of their wood. The
very beau ideal of a fruit-tree for our climate is one that,
while it is hardy enough to grow steadily in cool seasons, is
not excitable enough to grow rampantly in warm ones, and
which completes its work early in the season, ripens its
wood thoroughly, and goes to rest before there is danger
of severe frost. Such trees may be had, by skillful breed-
ing, as easily, as, by breeding, any desirable quality may be
developed in cattle or horses. But of this hereafter.
The subject of pruning will be separately treated ; but
it is appropriate here to say, that every consideration should
incline the nurseryman to grow his trees with side brush
from top to bottom, and by shortening these, to multiply
leaves to the greatest possible extent all over the tree. In
every climate we should idolize the leaf- — in which are the
sources of health and abiding vigor.
2. The mistakes of the nursery are carried out and de-
veloped by the purchaser, in the following respects — by bad
selection, pernicious cultivation, and by improper pruning.
First, trees are selected upon a bad principle. Men are
very naturally in a hurry to see their orchards in bearing ;
precocious trees, therefore, and all means of prematurity
are sought. In respect to the pear, it is the popular, but
incorrect, opinion that it takes a man's lifetime to bring
them into fruit. Hope deferred, very naturally in such
cases, makes the heart sick. But certain talismanic words
found in catalogues and fruit manuals restore the courage,
and you shall find the pencil mark made upon all prars,
described as " of a vigorous growth," " a rampant grower,''
u comes early into bearing," " bears young," " a great and
236 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
early bearer." But such as these — " not of a very vigorous
growth," "does not bear young," "the growth is slow but
healthy,'' "grows to a large si/.c In-fore producing fruit," —
art1 passed by. Many tanners ju«lgr of a tree as they
would timothy grass." A short-jointed, compact hraiu-li, is
"stunted ;" but a long, plump limb, like a water shoot, or
a Lombardy poplar branch, is admired as a first-rate growth.
Some pears have but this single virtue : they make wood in
capital quantities, but very poor pears. Now our selection
must proceed on different principles if our orchards are to
be durable and healthy. We should mark for selection pears
described as — "of a compact habit," "growth slow and
healthy," " ripens its wood early and thoroughly." A tree
which runs far into the fall, and makes quantities of wood
more than it can thoroughly ripen, must be regarded as
unsafe and undesirable.
There is another marked fault in selecting trees — a dispo-
sition to get long and handsome trees with smooth stems.
This principle (of selection would be excellent when one
goes after a bean-pole, or a cane. A fruit-tree is not usually
cultivated for such uses. In the first place, it is not wise to
expose the trunk of a fruit-tree to the full sun of our sum-
mers. We have seen peach trees killed by opening the
head so much as to expose the main branches to the sun.
A low head, a short trunk should be sought. When land
is scarce, and orchards cultivated, high trimming is em-
ployed for the sake of convenience, not of the tree, but of
its owner. And in cool and humid climates, such evils do
not attend the practice, as with us. Beside picking long
shanked trees, one would suppose that a leaf below the
crotch would poison the tree from the assiduity with wlfu-h
they are trimmed off. It ought to be laid down as a funda-
mental rule with us, that a tree is benefited not by the
amount of its wood, but by the extent of its leaf surface.
Every effort should be used to make the length of the wood
moderate, and the amount of its leaves abundant. The
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 237
leaf does not depend for its quality on the wood, but the
wood takes its nature from the leaf. Young trees ought
to be grown with side brush from the roots to the fork.
Water shoots from the root are to be removed, but leaves
upon the trunk are to be nursed. By cutting in the brush
when it tends to a long growth, it will emit side shoots, and
still increase the number of leaves.
Secondly. There is great evil in pruning too much.
France and England have given us our notions upon prun-
ing. There, their own system is wise, because it conforms
to the climate and soil. But their system of pruning is to-
tally uncongenial with our seasons and the habits of our
trees. In England, for instance, the peach will not ripen in
open grounds, except, perhaps, in the extreme southern
counties. In consequence, it is trained upon walls, and its
wood thinned, to let light and heat upon every part of it.
It is very right to husband light and heat when it is scarce,
and by opening the head of a tree to carry them to all parts
of the sluggish wood. But we often have more than we want.
A peach will ripen, on the lowest limb and inside of the
tree, by the mere heat of the atmosphere. Even in New
England, the English system of pruning proves too free.
Manning says, " From the strong growth of fruit-trees in
our country and the dryness of its atmosphere, severe prun-
ing is less necessary here than in England." We are not
giving rules for pruning ; but cautions against pruning too
freely. There is not a single point in fruit cultivation where
more mistakes are committed than in pruning.
Thirdly. Great mistakes are committed in stimulating the
growth of trees by enriching the soil. Books direct (and
men naturally and innocently obey), the putting of manure
to young trees. We have no doubt that the time will
come, when manures will be so thoroughly analyzed and
classified, that we can employ them just as a carpenter does
his tools, or the farmer his implements ; if we wish wood*
we shall apply certain ingredients to the soil and have it ;
238 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
if we wish fruit, we shall have at hand manures which pro-
mote tin* fruiting properties of the tree; if we want seed,
we shall have manures lor it. But manures as new cm-
ployed, are, usually, not beneficial to orchards of young
A day soil, very stiff and adhesive, may require
sand and vegetable mold to render it permeable to the root ;
some very barren soils may require some manure; but the
average of our farms are rich enough already, and too rich
for the good of the young tree. It would be better for the
ore-hard if it made less wood and made it better.
If these directions make the prospect of fruit so distant
as to discourage the planting of orchards, we will add, plant
your orchard ; and if you cannot wait for its healthful
growth, plant also trees for immediate use, and serve them
just as you please ; manure them, cut them, get fruit at all
hazards; only make up your minds that they will be short-
lived and liable to blight and disease.
A LIST OF CHOICE FRUITS.
OUR readers may desire a list of fruits, which are univer-
sally admitted to be of first-rate excellence. We cannot
include, of course, all that are first rate ; but we put none
in that are not so.
I. APPLES.
I. SUMMKR.
Red er Carolina June. Prince's Harvest.
Summer Queen. Kirkbridge White.
Yellow Hoss. Sweet June.
Sweet Bough. Dauiel.
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FABMING. 239
II. AUTUMN.
Maiden's Blush. Fall Harvey.
Wine. Gravenstein.
Holland Pippin. Ashmore.
Rambo. Porter.
III. WINTER.
Black. White Belle Fleur.
Golden Russet. Michael Henry Pippin.
Newtown Spitzenberg. Pryor's Red.
Rhode Island Greening. Green Newtown Pippin.
Hubbardstou Nonsuch. Jenetan or Rawle's Janet.
Vandeveer Pippin. Putnam Russet.
Yellow Belle Fleur.
II. PEAKS.
I. SUMMER PEARS, or such as ripen from the first of July to the last of
August.
1. Madeleine,or Citron des Carmes. 4. Dearborn's Seedling.
2. Bloodgood. 5. Julienne.
3. Summer Francreal. 6. Williams' Bon Chretien.
II. AUTUMN PEARS, or such as ripen from September to the last of No
vember.
7. Stevens' Genesse. 14. Beurre Bosc.
8. Belle Lucrative. 16. Andrews.
9. Henry the Fourth. 16. Marie Louise.
10. Washington. 17. Doyenne or fall butter.
11. Dunmore. 18. Dix.
12. St. Ghislain. 19. Petre.
13. SeckeL 20. Duchesse D'Angouleme.
III. WINTER PEARS, or those which ripen during the winter and spring
months.
21. Beurre Diel. 27. Van Mons Leon le Clerc.
22. Bacon's Incomparable. 28. Beurre Easter.
23. Passe Colmar. 29. Chaumontelle.
24. Beurre Ranz. 80. Glout Morceau.
25. Columbia. 81. Prince's St. Germain.
26. Beurrc D'Aremberg. 82. Winter Nells.
240 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Those who wish only four trees, may select Nos. 2, 6, 20,
26. Those who have room for eight^ to the above may add
13, 23, 25, 32. Those who wish sixteen trees, to the above
nay add, 1, 3, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28.
III. PEACHES.
I. EARLY.
1. Red Magdalen. 4. Morris' Red Rareripe.
2. Early Royal George. 5. Crawford's Early Melocoton.
3. Early York.
II. MEDIUM.
6. Apricot Peach. 11. Malta.
7. Baltimore Rose. 12. Brevoort.
8. Swalsh. 13. Douglass.
9. Noblesse. 14. Grosse Mignoune.
10. Coolidge's Favorite.
III. LATE.
15. Heath. 17. Lemon Cling.
16. Crawford's late Melocoton. 18. La Grange.
IV. APRICOTS.
1. Large Early. 3. Peach Apricot.
2. Breda. 4. Moorpark.
V. CHERRIES.
1. Bauman's May or Bigarreau de 6. Bigarreau, or Spanish Yellow.
Mai. 7. Belle de Choisy.
2. Black Eagle. 8. Black Tartarian.
3. Knight's Early Black. 9. Downer's Late.
4. May Duke. 10. Napoleon.
5. Elton.
For a collection of two trees, 4, 9 ; for four trees, add
6 and 10.
VI. PLUMS.
1. Green Gage. 6. Cruger's Scarlet.
2. Jefferson, 7. Washington.
3. Huling's Superb. 8. Red Gage.
4. Coe's Golden Drop. 9. Smith's Orleans.
6. Purple Gage. 10. Royal de Tours.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 241
For two trees, 1 and 4 ; for four add 2 and 7. The fol-
lowing are said to be suitable for light sandy soils, on which
plums usually drop their fruit : Cruger's Scarlet, Imperial
Gage, Red Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, Bleeker's Gage, Blue
Gage.
VII. STRAWBERRIES.
Early Virginia. Hudson.
Hovey's Seedling. Ross Phoenix.
No one man can make out a list that will suit all ; and
those who are acquainted with fruits will reject some from
the above list and insert others. But it may be safely said,
that he who has in his collection the above varieties, will
have a collection comprising the best that are known, and
without one inferior sort, although there may be many
others as good ; which may be added by such as have room
for them.
THE NURSERY BUSINESS.
THE great interest in the cultivation of fruit which has
been excited within a few years, has given rise to many
nurseries to supply the demand, and every year we see the
number increasing. Or rather, we see new adventurers in
this line, for the failure of many and the abandonment of
the business, prevents the number from becoming so great
as one would suppose.
We are very glad to see the art of fruit culture increas-
ing, and we are very glad to see competent men embarking
in the nursery business. But we are sorry to see the
impression gaining ground that it is a business which any-
body can conduct, and that every man can make money by
it who knows how to graft or to bud. Let no man embark
in it under such misapprehension.
11
242 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
In the first place, the time, and labor, and patience re-
quired for a successful nursery business is much greater
than any one suspects beforehand. If a man has a large
capital he may begin sales at once upon a purchased stock.
But if one is to prepare his own stock for market, and this
must be the case with by far the greater number of western
nurserymen, it will require several years of expensive labor
before he can realize anything. Nor even then will he be
apt to receive profits which will at all meet his expectations.
During these years of preparation on what is he to live?
If he has means, very well ; but let no man suppose that he
can get along, especially with a family on his hands, during
the early years of his nursery, if he has nothing else to de-
pend upon. The mere physical labor of keeping a nursery
in proper order is such as to make it no sinecure.
But all this is a less consideration than the special skill
and vigilant care required to conduct a nursery in an hon-
orable manner. Nowhere do mistakes occur more easily,
and nowhere are they more provoking, both to the buyer
and seller. It is rare that assistants can be had upon
whom reliance can be placed. There are men enough to
plow, and grub, and clean ; but to select buds and grafts,
to work the various kinds, and plant them safely by them-
selves, this, usually, must be done by the proprietor. Where
a nursery is carried on by assistants, it makes almost no dif-
ference how much care is used, mistakes will abound.
The extent to which an error goes is not unworthy of a
moment's attention. We purchased of a very highly re-
spectable nurseryman, the Royal George peach. The first
season many buds were distributed from it. An expert
nurseryman in the vicinity, among others, got of it. The
credit of the original proprietor of the tree was such that
it was thought safe to propagate at once, and thousands of
trees were worked with these buds ; from him, nurserymen
from neighboring counties procured scions, and now the
Royal George, which has proved to be no Royal George at
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 243
all, is scattered all over the country. When a nursery con-
tains from fifty to a hundred kinds of apples, thirty or forty
kinds of pears, ten to twenty sorts of cherries, thirty or
forty kinds of peaches, besides plums, nectarines, apricots,
etc., there will be some two or three hundred separate
varieties of fruit to be propagated each year, and of each
sort from a hundred to a thousand or more trees, according
to the business of the nursery. Two things are apparent
from this view ; first, that such unremitting and sagacious
vigilance is required that not every one is fit to be a nurse-
ryman; and, secondly, that not every nurseryman is a
scamp who puts upon you trees untrue to their names.
No doubt there are roguish nurserymen ; no doubt, too,
there are culpably careless men in this, as in all other forms
of business. But no one will be so charitable to nursery-
men as those who understand the difficulties of their busi-
ness ; and a mistake, and many of them, may occur in well-
appointed grounds, which no care could well have pre-
vented.
We think this to be a business to which no man should
turn, except under two conditions ; first, that he will, if he
has not already, serve a faithful apprenticeship to it — we
do not mean by regular indenture, but by practising for
several years in a good nursery until the prominent essen-
tial parts of the business have become practically familiar.
The other condition is, that he make up his mind to see
to it himself.
REMEDY FOR YELLOW BUGS. — A gentleman informs us
that he has always saved his vines by planting poppies
among them. Those on one side of an alley, without pop-
pies, would be entirely eaten, while th^se on the other side,
with poppies, would not be touched.
244 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
THE BREEDING OF FRUITS.
BECAUSE, as yet, no certain rules can be laid down for the
production of a given result by crossing flower on flower,
it does not follow that there are not certain invariable prin-
ciples which govern the process. It is but a little while since
breeding animals had any pretension to scientific rules. But,
by careful practice and observation, the most important
improvement has been attained in all the animals belonging
to the farm. And if careful research and experiment do
not result in absolute certainty, they will yet render the
production of fine varieties of fruit, by the crossing of
the old ones, a matter of much less chance than it now
is.
The art of cross-fertilization is being much more practised
by florists than by pomologists, and for obvious reasons.
What the breeder of annuals can do in a few months
requires more than as many years from him that essays to
raise new fruits. Many florists' flowers, however, require
as long and even a longer time than apples or pears ; and it
is a marvel that the phlegmatic patience of the tulip-loving
Dutch Jobs should not have found imitators in the orchard.
If a man can wait ten years to ascertain that all his seedling
bulbs are good for nothing, or at the best, that out of ten
thousand, but one or two are worth keeping, surely the
patience of an enthusiast in fruit ought not to snapbybciiuj
drawn through such a space.
Two methods for originating new varieties of fruit have
been practised ; the natural method of Van Mons, and the
artificial method of Knight. Van Mons, born at Brussels
in 1765, was a man of fine genius and thorough education.
Although he is chiefly_ known as a pomologist, his labors
in the nursery were only incidental to the regular occupa-
tion of a public scientific life. M. Poiteau quaintly says of
him that he writes "on the gravest subjects, in the mi«lst
of noise, in a company of persons who talk loudly on frivo-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 245
lous subjects, and takes part in the conversation without
stopping his pen."
Van Mons' theory is founded upon two physical facts :
1. That all seeds in a state of nature can be made by cul-
tivation to vary from their condition, which variations
may be fixed, and become permanent.
2. Ttiat all cultivated seeds have a tendency to return to-
ward that natural state from which they originally varied.
We say toward, for he supposed that an improved fruit would
never return absolutely to the original and natural type.
It was upon this last principle that Van Mons accounted
for the fact, that as a general thing, the seeds of fine old
varieties of fruit produced only inferior kinds. Recourse
could not be had therefore to seeds of unproved fruit.
On the other hand, the seed of fruits' absolutely wild
would produce fruits exactly like their original. If the
seed of the wild pear be gotten from the wood and planted
in a garden, every seed will yield only the wild pear again.
But if a wild pear be transplanted, and put under new influ-
ences of soil, climate and cultivation, its fruit will begin to
augment and improve. The change is not merely upon the
size and appearance of the fruit, it affects also the qualities
of the seed. For if the seed be now planted, the difference
between a wild pear, in a state of nature and the same wild
pear-tree in a state of cultivation will at once appear in
this, that whereas the seed of the first is constant, the seed
of the second shows an inclination to vary. Here then is a
starting. When once the habit of variation is gained, the
foundation of improvement is laid. In a short time the
enthusiasm of Van Mons had collected into his garden
80,000 trees upon which he was experimenting, nor can the
result of his labors be better stated than in the words of
M. Poitcau :
" That so long as plants remain in their natural situation,
they do not sensibly vary, and their seeds always produce
the same; but on changing their climate and territory
240 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
several among them vary, some more and others less, and
when they have once departed from their natural state,
they never again return to it, but are removed more and
more therefrom, by successive generations, and produce,
sufficiently often, distinct races, more or less durable, and
that finally if these variations are even carried back to the
territory of their ancestors, they will neither represent the
character of their parents, or ever return to the species
from whence they sprung."
Accordingly, Van Mons began to sow the seeds of natural
and wild fruit which were in a variable state. By all means
within his power he hastened his seedlings to show fruit.
The first generation showed only poor fruit but decidedly
better than the wild. Selecting the seed of the best of
these, he sowed again. From the fruit of these he sowed
the third generation. From the third, a fourth ; and from
the fourth, a fifth ; as far as the eighth generation.
His experience showed that there was great difference
among different species of fruit in the number of gene-
rations through which they must pass before they were per-
fect. The apple yielded good fruit in the fourth genera-
tion. Stone fruits produced perfect kinds in the third
generation. Some varieties afforded perfect fruit in the
fifth generation, while others go on improving to the
eighth.
The time required for this renovation diminished at each
remove from the normal or wild state. Thus, the trees
from the second sowing of the pear-seed fruited in from ten
to twelve years ; those from their seed, or of the third gene-
tion in from eight to ten years ; those of the fourth genera-
tion in from six to eight years ; those of the fifth genera-
tioi\ in six years, and those in the eight, in four years.
These are the mean terms of all his experiments.
To obtain perfect stone fruits, through four successive
generations, from parent to son, required from twelve to
fifteen years ; the apple required twenty years, and the pear,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 247
when carried only to the fifth generation, required from
thirty to thirty-six years.
HYBRIDIZATION, OR KNIGHT'S METHOD. — Andrew Knight,
one of the most original and philosophic horticulturists that
ever lived, pursued an entirely different method — that of
cross-fertilization. He carefully removed the anthers from
the blossoms upon which he wished to operate, so that the
stigma should not receive a particle of the pollen belonging
to its own flower. He then procured from the variety
which he wished to cross, a portion of the pollen, and arti-
ficially impregnated the prepared blossom with it. When
the fruit thus produced had ripened its seeds, they were
sown, and by regular process brought into bearing. The
progeny were found to combine, hi various degrees of
excellence, the qualities of both parents.
REMARKS ON THE TWO METHODS.
1. Both Van Mons and Knight believed in a degeneracy
of plants ; but the degeneracy of the one system is not to
be confounded with that of the other.
Knight believed that varieties had a regular period of
existence ; although, as in animal life, care and skill might
make essential difference in the longevity, yet they could in
nowise avert the final catastrophe; a time would come,
sooner or later, at which the vegetable vitality would be
expended, and the variety must perish by exhaustion — by
running out.
Van Mons believed that an improved variety tended to
return to its normal state — to its wild type ; and although
he did not believe that it could ever be entirely restored tc
its wild state, it might go so far as to make it worthless for
useful purposes.
Knight believed in absolute decay ; Van Mons, in retro-
cession. According to Knight's theory, varieties of fi-iil
248 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
cease by the natural statute of limitation; according to
Van Mons, they only fall from grace.
Thriv oan IK- n<> ivax.nalik- doubt that Van Mons held
tlu- truth, and as little, that Knight's speculations were fal-
lacious. Bad cultivation will cause anything to run out; no
plant will perfect its tissues or fruit without the soil affords
it elementary materials. The so-called exhausted varieties
renew their youth when transplanted into soils suitable for
them.
2. Against Van Mons' method it is urged, that it enfee-
bles the constitution of plants ; that, enfeebling is the very
key of the process. This Mr. Downing urges with emphasis,
saying that, " the Belgian method (Van Mons') gives us
varieties often impaired in their health in their very origin."
It is one thing to restrain the energy of a plant, and an-
other to enfeeble it. It may be enfeebled until it becomes
unhealthy, but rampant vigor is as really an unhealthy state
as the other extreme. A tree refuses fruit and is liable to
death from a coarse, open, rank growth, as much as from a
languor which suppresses all growth.
No ; that which we imagine Van Mons to have effected
was a smaller, but more compact and fine growth. Nor
are we aware that, as a matter of experience, the Belgian
pears prove to be any more tender than the English.
Doubtless, there are trees of a delicate and tender habit in
the number, but as few, in proportion to the great number
originated, as by any other method.
The two main objections to the plan are the time required,
and the utter uncertainty of the results. To imitate the
process would require a Van Mons' patience, in which, pro-
bably, he was never surpassed, and his enthusiasm, which
was extraordinary even for a horticulturist, a race of beings
supposed to be anything but phlegmatic.
The uncertainty is such as to prevent any determinate
improvement. We get, not what we may wish, but what-
ever may happen to come. Nothing that art can do would
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWEBS AND FARMING. 249
affect the size, color, hardness, or in any respect, the gene-
ral character of the fruit.
It is in these aspects that Knight's method must always
be preferred as a practical system. We can obtain a return
for our labor in one-fifth the time ; and, what is even more
important, we can regulate, before-hand, the results within
<-. i tain limits. The new fruit is to be made up of the quali-
ties of its parents in various proportions. We cannot deter-
mine what the proportions shall be, but we can determine
what parents shall be selected. Nor is it at all improbable
that, when knowledge has become more exact by a longer
and larger experience, the breeder of fruit may cross the
varieties with neanly the same certainty of result as does
the breeder of stock. It is upon this feature, the power
,\ -hi fh science has over the results to be obtained, that we
look with the greatest interest ; and we urge upon scientific
cultivators the duty of perfecting our fruits by judicious
breeding.
PRUNING ORCHARDS.
THE habit of early spring pruning has been handed down
to us from English customs, and farmers do it because it
always has been done. Besides, about this time, men have
leisure, and would like to begin the season's work ; and
pruning seems quite a natural employment with which to
introduce the la"bors of the year.
It is not possible for America, but more emphatically for
western cultivators to do worse than to pattern upon the
example of British ami Continental authorities in the matter
of orchards and vineyards. The summers of England are
moist, cool, and deficient in light. Our summers are exactly
the reverse — dry, fervid, and brilliant. The stimuli of the
11*
250 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
dements with them are much below, and with us much
above par. In consequence, their trees have but a moderate
growth ; ours are inclined to excessive growth.
Their whole system of open-culture, and wall-training is
founded upon the necessity of husbanding all their re-
sources. To avail themselves of every particle of light,
they keep open the heads of their trees, so that the parsi-
monious sunshine shall penetrate every part of the tree.
Let this be done with us, and there are many of our trees
that would be killed by the force of the sun's rays upon tin-
naked branches in a single season, or very much enfeebled.
For the same general reasons, the English reduce the quan-
tity of bearing-wood, shortening a part or wholly cutting it
out, that the residue, having the whole energy of the tree
concentrated upon it, may perfect its fruit. Our difficulty
being an excess of vitality, this system of shortening and
cutting out, would cause the tree to send out suckers from
the root and trunk, and would fill the head of the tree with
rank water-shoots or gourmands. What would be thought
of the people of the torrid zone should they borrow their
customs of clothing from the practice of Greenland ? It
would be as rational as it is for orchardists, in a land whose
summers are long and of high temperature, to copy the
customs of a land whose summers are prodigal of fog and
rain, but penurious of heat and light.
Except to remove dead, diseased or interfering branches,
do not cut at all.
But if pruning is to be done, wait till after corn-planting.
The best time to prune is the time when healing will the
quickest follow cutting. This is not in early spring, but in
early summer. The elements from which new wood is pro-
duced are not drawn from the rising sap, but from that
which descends between the bark and wood. This sap,
called true sap, is the upward sap after it has gone through
that chemical laboratory, the leaf. Each leaf is a chemical
contractor, doing up its part of the work of preparing sap
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWJKRS AND FARMING. 251
for use, as fast as it is sent up to it from the root through
the- interim- sap-passages. In the leaf, the sap gives off and
receives, certain properties; and when thus elaborated, it
is charged with all those elements required for the forma-
tion and sustentation of every part of vegetable fabric.
Descending, it gives out its various qualities, till it reaches
the root ; and whatever is left then passes out into the soil.
Every man will perceive that if a tree is pruned in spi-in;;
before it has a leaf out, there is no sap provided to repair
the wound. A slight granulation may take place, in certain
circumstances, and in some kinds of plants, from the ele-
ments with which the tree was stored during the former
season ; but, in point of fact, a cut usually remains without
change until the progress of spring puts the whole vege-
table economy into action.
In young and vigorous trees, this process may not seem to
occasion any injury. But trees growing feeble by age will
soon manifest the result of this injudicious practice, by
blackened stumps, by cankered sores, and by decay.
If one must begin to do something that looks like spring-
work, let him go at a more efficient train of operations.
With a good spade invert the sod for several feet from the
body of the tree. With a good scraper remove all dead
bark. Dilute (old) soft soap with urine; take a stiff shoe-
brush, and go to scouring the trunk and main branches.
This will be labor to some purpose ; and before you have
gone through a large orchard faithfully, your zeal for spring-
work will have become so for tempered with knowledge,
that you will be willing to let pruning alone till after corn-
plantiixj.
Two exceptions or precautions should be mentioned.
-1. In the use of tin- wash ; new soap is more caustic than
old ; and the sediments of a soap barrel much more so tL-m
the mass of soap. Sometimes trees have been injured by
applying a caustic alkali in too great strength. There is
little danger of this when a tree is rough and covered with
252 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
• Ira- 1 bark or dirt; but when it is smooth and has no scurf
it is more liable to suffer. Trees should not be washed in
»id warm weather. The best time is just before spring
rains, or before any rain.
2. Where fruit-trees are found to have suffered from tho
winter, pruning cannot be too early, and hardly too severe.
If left to grow, the heat of spring days ferments the sap
and spreads blight throughout the tree ; whereas, by severe
cutting, there is a chance, at least, of removing much of the
injured wood. We have gone over the pear-trees in our
own garden, and wherever the least affection has been dis-
covered, we have cut out every particle of the last sum-
mer's wood; and cut back until we reached sound and
healthy wood, pith and bark.
SLITTING THE BARK OF TREES.
THIS is a practice very much followed by fruit-raisers.
Downing gives his sanction to it. Mr. Pell (N. Y.), famous
for his orchards, includes it as a part of his system of
orchard cultivation. Men talk of trees being bark-bound,
etc., and let out the bark on the same principle, we sup-
pose, as mothers do the pantaloons of growing boys. We
confess a prejudice against this letting out of the tucks in
a tree's clothes. We do not say that there may not be
cases of diseased trees in which, as a remedial process, tliis
may be wise ; but we should as soon think of slitting the
skin on a boy's legs, or on a calf s or colt's, as a regular
part of a plan of rearing them, as to slash the bark of sound
and healthy trees. Bark-bound! what is that ? Does the
inside of a tree grow faster than the outside ? When bark
is slit, is it looser around the whole trunk than before ?
When granulations have filled up this artificial channel, is
not the bark just as tight as it was before ? Mark, we do
ABOUT. FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 253
not say that it is not a good practice ; but only that we do
not yet understand what the benefit is.
" Why, the bark bursts sometimes."
Yes, disease may thus affect it ; and when it does, cut if
necessary.
" Does it do any harm?" Perhaps not ; neither would it
to put a weathercock on the top of every tree ; or to bury
a black cat under the roots, or to mark each tree with talis-
manic signs. Is it worth while to do a thing just because
it does no harm ?
" But when a tree is growing too fast, does it not need
it ?" Yes, if it can be shown that the bark, alburnum, etc.,
do not increase alike. That excitement which increases the
growth of one part of a tree will, as a general fact, increase
the growth of every other. In respect to the fruit and
seed, doubtless, particular manures will develop special
properties. But is there evidence that such a thing takes
place in respect to the various tissues of the wood,
bark, etc?
" But if a tree be sluggish, and bound, will it not help
it ?" Whatever excites a more vigorous circulation will be
of advantage. Whether any supposed advantage from the
knife arises in this way, we do not know. But a good
scraping, or a scouring off of the whole body with sand,
and then a pungent alkaline wash — (soft soap diluted with
urine) would, we think, be better for bark-bound trees than
the whole tribe of slits, vertical, horizontal, zig-zag, or
waved.
HOVEY'S MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. — We recommend
all who can afford three dollars a year for a sterling monthly,
beautifully got up, in the best style of Boston typography,
to send to Boston for Hovey's Magazine. We give it an
unqualified recommendation, and those who take it one
year will be loth to part with it.
254 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
DOWNING S FRUIT AND FRUIT-TREES OF AMERICA.
WHEN a book is hopelessly weak or incorrect, it should
l»e the object of criticism to exterminate it. But when a
work is admitted to be, upon the whole, well done, criti-
cism ought to be an assistance to it, and not a hin«lr:mce.
Praise by the wholesale is better for the publisher than for
the reputation of the author ; since, in a work like Down-
ing's, every pomologist knows that perfection is not attain-
able, and indiscriminate eulogy inclines the better-read
critic to rebut the praise by a full development of the faults.
Thus on one side there is general praise and faint blame ;
and on the other, faint praise and general blame.
We shall, at present, confine our attention to the cata-
logue of apples and pears, for all other fruits of our zone
together are not of importance equal to these ; and if an
author excels in respect to these, his success will cover a
multitude of sins in the treatment of small fruits, and fruits
of short duration. Mr. Downing has shown good judg-
ment in making out his list of varieties ; his descriptions,
for the most part, seem to be from his own senses ; he has
added many interesting particulars in respect to fruits not
recorded before, or else scattered in isolated sentences in
magazines and journals.
But are his descriptions thorough and uniform ? While
he has added materials to pomology, has he advanced the
science by reducing such materials to a consistent form ? If
we compare Mr. Downing's descriptions with those of Ken-
rick, or even of Manning, he excels them in fullness. If he
be compared with classic European pomologists, he is de-
cidedly inferior, both in the conception of what was to lie
done, and in a neat, systematic method of execution. In-
deed, Mr. Downing does not seem to have settled, before
hand, in his mind, & formula of a description ; sometimes
only three or four characteristics are given. Downing sins
iii excellent company. There is not an American porno-
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEliS AND FAKMIXfi. 255
logical writer who appears to have conceived, even, oi
tematic, scientific description of fruits. European authors,
decidedly more explicit and minute than we are, have never
reduced the descriptive part of the science to anything like
regularity. We do not suppose that there can be such exact
and constant dissimilarities detected between variety and
variety of a species, as exists between species and species of
a genus. We do not think a description of fruits to be im-
perfect, therefore, merely because it is less distinctive than
a description of plants. But the more variable and obscure
the points of difference between two varieties, the more
scrupulously careful must we be to seize them. Where
differences are broad and uniform, science can afford to be
careless, but not where they are vague and illusory. We
can approximate a systematic accuracy. But it must be by
making up in the number of determining circumstances,
that which is wanting in the invariable distinctiveness of a
few that are specific.
1. Downing's descriptions are quite irregular and unequal.
Both his pears and apples are imperfect, but not alike im-
perfect. The descriptions of pears are decidedly in advance
of those of the apple. It would seem as if the improve-
ment which he gained by practice was very easily traced in
its course on his pages.
Hardly two apples are described in reference to the same
particulars. . With respect to color of skin, size and form,
eye and stem, he approaches the nearest to uniformity.
But with respect to every other feature there is an utter
want of regularity, which indicates not so much carelessness
as the want of any settled plan or conception of a perfect
scientific description.
We will, out of a multitude of similar cases, select a few
as specimens of what wo mean. Of the Pumpkin Russet,
he says, " flesh exceedingly rich and sweet ;" but he does
not speak of its texture, whether coarse or fine ; whether
brittle or leathery. Pomme de Neige — "flesh remarkably
250 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
white, very tender, juicy and good, with a slight perfume ;"
but is it sweet or sour, or subacid, or astringent ? No one
ran tell by reading the joint descriptions of the Red and
the Yellow Ingestries what their flavor is, since it is only
said that they are "juicy and high flavored" — but whether
the high flavored juice is sweet or sour, does not appear.
These are not picked instances. They occur on almost
every page of his list of apples. The Summer Sweet Para-
dise is, of course, sweet, since we are three times told of it,
once in the title and twice in the text. The SWEET Pear-
main also, is a " sweet apple " " of a very saccharine flavor."
Of course it is sweet. Nos. 67, 68, 69, 74, 75, and very many
more, are described without information as to their flavor
except that, whatever it is, it is " brisk," or " high," or " rich"
— forlorn adjectives unaffianced to any substantive which they
may qualify. Sometimes the health of the tree and its hardi-
ness are given, and as often omitted. Some times its habit
of bearing is mentioned, but oftener neglected. . The color
of the flesh is given in No. 82, but not in 83 ; in 84, but not
in 85 ; from 86-92 inclusive, but not to the second 92, for
the Bedfordshire Foundling and the Dutch Mignonne are
both numbered 92. The color of the flesh is not given in 93,
97, 100, 101, 103, 110, although the intermediate numbers
have it given. Why should one be minutely described, and
another not all ? We should regard it an ungrateful requital
for all the pleasure and profit which this volume has afforded
us to hunt up and display what, to some, may seem to be
mere "jots and tittles," were it not that these, in them-
selves, unimportant things mark decisively the absence in
the author's plan, of a style of description which pomology
always needed, but now begins imperiously to demand.
And we are confident that a pomological manual on the
right design, is yet to be written. Our hearty wish is, that
Mr. Do wiring's revised edition may be that manual.
2. We are led, from these remarks, to consider, by it-
self, the imperfect scale of descriptions adopted by all our
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 257
American pomological writers, upon wh.ch Mr. D. has not
iiiutL-rially improved.
The description of the tree is very meagre or totally neg-
lected. Nothing at att is said of it in cases out of the 174
apples numbered and described. The general shape of
the tree is given in but thirty-eight instances in the same
number.
The color of the wood is, usually, noticed in the account
of pears ; but in the account of apples in not one case, we
should think, in ten.
The peculiar growth of the young woody in a great
majority of cases, is not noticed ; but more frequently in
the pear than in the apple list. The least practised
observer knows how striking is this feature of the face of a
tree. We do not remember an instance where the buds
have .been employed as a characteristic. Are distinctive
marks so numerous that such a one as this can be spared ?
The shape, color, size, prominence, and shoulder of buds,
together with their interstitial spaces, form too remarkable
a portion of trees to be absolutely overlooked in a book
describing the "fruits and fruit-trees of America."
Equally noticeable is the almost entire neglect of the
core and seed, as identifying marks. Once in a while, as in
the case of the Belle Fleur, the Roman Stem, the Spitzen-
berg, and the Pomme Royale, we are told, that the cores
are hollow. But neither among pears nor apples, is the core
or seed made to be of any importance. This is the more
remarkable as being a decided retrocession in the art of
description. Prince, wisely following continental authors,
is careful in his description of pears, to give, and with some
minuteness, the peculiarities of the seed. But Downing^
injudiciously misled by, in this respect, the decidedly bad
example of British authors, has, almost without exception,
neglected this noble criterion. There is not another single
feature, either of fruit or fruit-trees, which we could not
spare better than the core and seed. Not only may varie-
258 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ties be marked by their seeds, but they form, in connection
with the core, important elements of diagnosis of qualities.
A long-keeper, usually has a very small, compact core, with
few seeds. A highly improved and luscious pear, not unfrc-
quently is wholly seedless; while fruits not far removed
from the wild state abound in seeds. Whenever a system
of description shall have been formed, we venture to predict
that the core and seed will be ranked at a higher value in it
than any one other element of discrimination and description.
The same neglect or casual notice is bestowed upon the
leaf. If anything about it is remarkable it is mentioned,
not otherwise : but is there a page of any book that was
ever printed, that has more reading on it than is on a leaf,
if one is only taught to read it ? Ity too, is not only a sign
of difference but very often of quality. Mr. D. has availed
himself of this criterion in describing peaches. Is it a legible
sign only in the peach orchard ? He that is ignorant of
these marks, and only can tell one fruit from another, is yet
in the a b c of pomology. Who but a tyro, on importing
Coe's Golden Drop, would not at once perceive the imposi-
tion, if there was one, the moment his eye saw a bud, or its
shoulder ? Van Mons learned to select stocks for his experi-
ments, as well by the wood and bud hi winter, as by the
leaf and growth of summer. In a large bed of seedlings
every experimenter ought to know by wood and leaf what
to select as prognosticating good fruit, and what to reject,
without waiting to see the fruit. Nurserymen of our
acquaintance, without book, label, or stake, can tell every
well-known variety on their grounds. One of our acquain.
tance never had a mark, label, stake, or register, of any
kind upon his ground ; a culpable reliance on his ability to
read tree-faces; for, on his throwing up the business sud-
denly, his successor fell into innumerable mistakes. It is
just as easy for a pomologist to know the face of every
variety, as for a shepherd to know the face of every sheep
in his flock, or a grazier every animal of his herd. .
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 259
3. Although the "Fruit and Fruit-trees of America"
professes to give the process of management only for the
garden and the orchard, it ought to include, and we pre-
sume was designed to embrace the essential features of
nursery culture. Every cultivator of fruit must be a private
nurseryman ; he needs the same information, the same direc-
tions as if he were a commercial gardener. He that designs
planting an orchard ought to know the disposition of each
variety of fruit-tree, that he may suit the circumstances of
his soil, or provide for the peculiarities of a tree, as a
farmer needs to know the peculiarities of the different
breeds of hogs and cattle. With a large number of persons
it would be enough to say of fruits, " superb," " extra-
superb," "superlatively grand," "extra magnificent;" for
such, a princely catalogue would answer every purpose.
But such as have some knowledge, and every year, we are
happy to believe, the number of such increases, ask, not the
author's bare eulogy, but a definite statement of all those
special qualities on which such eulogy is founded. The
exact taste of each variety of fruit should be studied in res-
pect to soil; some, and but few, love strong clays; yet
fewer thrive upon wet soils ; but some will, as the Sweet or
Carolina June, which does well on quite wet soils; some
refuse their gifts except upon a warm and rich sand ; some,
and by far the greatest number, love a deep loam, with a
subsoil moist without being wet. The buds of some varie-
ties escape the vernal frosts by their hardiness; some by
putting forth later than their orchard brethren. Some
varieties thrive admirably by ground or root grafting, while
very many, so worked, are killed off during the first winter;
some varieties, if budded, grow off with alacrity, others are
dull and unwilling ; some form their tops with facility and
beauty; others, like many men, are rambling, awkward,
and averse to any head at all. Some sorts, put upon what
stock you will, have singularly massive roots ; others have
fine and slender ones. Every variety of tree has traits of
260 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
disposition peculiar to itself; and in respect to traits pos-
sessed in common, even these may be classified. In every
description there should be, at least, an attempt at giving
these various nursery peculiarities. It canngt be done, as
yet, with any considerable accuracy. Fruit-trees have not
yet been minutely studied. A florist can give you a thou-
sand times more minute and special information hi respect
to the peculiar habits and wants of his flowers, than an
orchardist can of his trees. Doubtless, it is easier to do it
in plants which have a short period ; whose whole life passes
along before the eye every season, than in plants whose vn-y
youth outlasts ten generations of Dahlias, Pansies, Balsams,
etc. But that only makes it the more important that we
should be up and doing. Let no work be regarded as clas-
sic which does not take into its design the most thorough
enunciation of all the peculiarities of fruits, and pomology
will receive more advantage in ten years, than it could by a
hundred years of rambling, unregulated, discursive descrip-
tions.
The ability which Mr. D. has shown as a horticultural
writer, his industry in collecting materials for this, his last
work ; the skill which he has shown himself to possess in
describing fruits, give the public a right to expect that he
will " go on unto perfection ;" and if Mr. D. will adopt a
higher standard and set out with a design of a more sys-
tematic description of fruits, every liberal cultivator in the
land will be glad to put at his disposal whatever of minute
observation he may possess.
BUCKWHEAT is a corruption rather than a translation of
the Saxon word Buckwaizen, the first syllable signifying
beech, the tree of that name, whose nut the kernel of the
grain so much resembles in shape. The grain, therefore,
might be properly called beech-wheat.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 261
LETTER FROM A. J. DOWNING.
WE give below a letter from Mr. Downing, long known
as an eminent pomologist and more recently yet more
distinguished for his writings upon Horticultural matters.
Although a private letter, it is of general interest, and he
will, we hope, indulge the liberty taken.*
" HIGHLAND GARDENS, NEWBURGH, NEW YORK,
Feb. 29*A, 1846.
" MY DEAR SIR : I thank you for the interesting article
on horticulture in the West, which appears in the last No.
of Hovey's Magazine.
" My particular objectnn writing you at this moment is
to call your attention to the remarks you make on the
'Golden Russet,' which you call 'the prince of small
apples.' From your description of this fruit it is the
' Sheep-nose,' or ' Bullock'3 Pippin ' of Coxe, well known
here, and one of the most melting and delicious of apples.
I understand from Professor Kirtland of Cleveland, that
this is the apple known by the name of Golden Russet in
his region.
" Will you do me the favor, for the sake of settling the
synonyms, to send me two or three cuttings of the young
wood, by mail ? I can then determine in a moment. The
Sheep-nose has long shoots of a peculiar drab color. If
your apple proves the same, I think I shall cancel the title
'Sheep-nose' — (a vile name), known only in New Jersey,
and substitute 'American Golden Russet 'f — this being its
common title in New England and the West. I speak now
in relation to my work on fruits, now in press.
" What do you mean by the ' White Bell-flower of Coxe ?'
The Detroit I have carefully examined, and it is quite
* Mr. Downing's untimely end by drowning, is well known,
f There is an English Golden Rus.spt, distinct and quite acid.
2t)2, PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
di ill-rent from the Yellow Bellflower. The Monstrous Bell-
flower— the only other one Coxe describes — is a large
autumn fruit, while the Detroit keeps till April?
" My work on Fruits has cost me a great deal of labor,
but will still contain many imperfections. When it is out
of press — in about six weeks — I promise myself the plea-
sure of sending it with the copy of each of my previous
Avorks for the acceptance of your Horticultural Society.
And I then hope to be favored with your criticism.
Hoping an early answer to my queries herein,
" I am sincerely yours,
" A. J. DOWNING.
" H. W. BKECHKR."
We should have said " Monstrous Bellflower " instead of
White.
The Bellflower here mentioned is the White or Green
Bellflower of Indiana, the Ohio Favorite of western Ohio
about Dayton, etc., the Hollow-cored Pippin of some ; and
it has been inquired for, at Mr. Alldredge's nursery, as the
Cumberland Spice. Mr. A considered, from the
description given, that the white Bellflower only could
have been meant. But from the following description of
Cumberland Spice in Kenrick, from Coxe, I am inclined to
think that the true Cumberland Spice may have been
inquired for.
" The tree is very productive ; a fine dessert fruit, large,
rather oblong, contracted toward the summit ; the stalk
thick and short ; of a pale yellow color, clouded near the
base ; the flesh white, tender, and fine. It ripens in
autumn, and keeps till winter, and shrivels in its last
stages."
The fruit was brought to Wayne County, Indiana, by Mr.
Brunson. He came from New York to Huron county,
Ohio, and thence to Wayne County, Indiana. It is
A.BOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 263
Bally diffused through the eastern and central parts of
Indiana, and is esteemed a first-rate apple. The tree strik-
ingly resembles the Green Newtown Pippin, but its brush is
not so small, and there is less of it, the top being rather
more open. The wood is brittle, and, as the tree is a free
:md constant bearer, it tends to break, and is troublesome
to keep in good order. Mr. Ernst and other gentlemen of
Cincinnati suppose the variety to be the Detroit. We
cannot say one thing or another, except that it is of the
Bellflower family. The Detroit of New York is a widely
different fruit, of a bright scarlet color, and we never heard
of any other Detroit, until the name was applied to this
apple.
There is not the least doubt that the Golden Russet of the
West is the Bullock Pippin and Sheep-nose of New Jersey,
and we hope that the proposed name " American Golden
Russet" will deliver us, for ever after, from eating any
more sheep-noses. Names are of importance in classifying
fruits, and there is a pleasure also in having a decorous name
to a good fruit. It is amusing to look through a catalogue
of singular names.
The JEToss apple is popularly the Horse apple, and when,
on a certain contingency a gentleman promised to eat a hoss
it was not so hazardous a threat as some have imagined.
The French, in naming their fruits, exercise a freedom with
things human and divine, to which we occidentals are not
accustomed (as, Ah Mon Dieu ! Grosse Cuisse Madame,
etc.), and an innocent person, recapitulating his pears, might,
if overheard by neighbors understanding French, be
thought very profane, or worse. There are other names
which have a tendency to make the mouth water, as Onion
Pear. One must have pleasing associations while eating
the Toad Pear. (See Prince's Pom. Man. p. 24 and 34.)
The French Bon Chretien (or Good Christian) is called in
these parts the Bon Cheat-em. Then, there is the Demoi-
selle, the Lady's Flesh, and Love's Pear (Prince, 58, 34,
264 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
and 117) — very proper for young lovers. Then, there is
the Burnt Cat (Chat JBrusle of the French, Prince 89),
which undoubtedly has a musk flavor. "We have less
objection to the Priest's Pear (Poire de Pretre, Prince,
108). Piscatory gentlemen would always angle in our nur-
series for the Trout pear (Prince 130), and if they did not
get a bite, the pear would, as it is a fine variety. How did
those who named pears, Louise Bonne de Jersey, or Van
Mons leonle clerc, expect common folks to hold fast to the
true name ? But he must have a short memory indeed,
who forgets the emphatic name of Yat or Yut.
But to return from our digression. We give the descrip-
tion of the Golden Russet from three sources, and indorse
their general accuracy:
GOLDEN BUSSET. — (DB. PLUMMER.)
" SIZE. — 2 2-10 inches long ; 27-10 inches wide.
" FORM. — Rather smaller at the summit ; moderately flat-
tened at the ends.
" PULP. — Very tender, juicy, yellowish white.
" COLOE. — Deep yellow, with brown and russet clouds ;
or wholly brown and russet.
"SURFACE. — Nearly dull; ruffled by the confluent line-
oles ; dots hardly discoverable.
" FLAVOR. — Sweet and delicious.
" STEM. — Slender ; half to one inch long, reaching to a
considerable distance beyond the verge.
" EYE. — In rather contracted cavity ; closed.
" Ripens in the tenth month.
" It is one of our best apples, and keeps well through the
winter."
" Whether the Leathercoat and the Glass apple are the
same as are now known under those names, it is impossible
to determine. Near Poughkeepsie, in the State of New
York, the Leathercoat used to be a favorite fruit; and
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 265
whether it is the same as the Golden Russet, described
above, I am not now able to say ; but my recollection of
that apple after a lapse of twenty-three years, induces me
to think it is no other than the Golden Russet ; and, indeed,
Trevelyan calls it also the ' russet appell.' The Glass apple
was described in a former number of 4 The Orchard.' If
the 'lethercott' has descended to us under the name of
Golden Russet, the fine flavor of this apple would lead us
to believe that it had not deteriorated, after a period of
more than two centuries and a half." — West. Farm, and
Gard., 1843.
BULLOCK'S PIPPIN, OR SUEEP-NOSE. — (COXE.)
Oolden Russet of Cincinnati. Golden Russet of the Eastern,
nurseries. — (Dr. Kirtland.)
"Neither the size nor appearance of this fruit would
attract attention ; yet it sells more readily in markets where
it is known than any other apple. Its flavor is rich and
pleasant, and many people consider it the best fruit of the
season. In northern Ohio it matures at New- Year's, while
in Cincinnati it is in perfection in November." — West.
Farm, and Gard., 1841.
GOLDEN RUSSET — BULLOCK PIPPIN, OR SHEEP-NOSE. —
(A. HAMPTON.)
" This apple is below medium size ; the skin is yellow,
inclined to a russet; the flesh yellow, rich, juicy, tender
and sprightly. I know.of no apple more generally admired
for its richness and excellent flavor than this ; commanding
a high price, and ready sale, in market ; it makes very rich
cider; a great and constant bearer; and keeps well till
spring." — West. Farm, and Gard.j 1841.
We do not know another apple whose flavor and flesh
12
266 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
arc so admirable. A gentleman in Ohio, on being asked for
a list of a hundred trees for an orchard, replied, "set out
ninety-nine Golden Russets, the other one you can choose
for yourself."
ATTENTION TO ORCHARDS.
CLEAN OUT your orchards. Let no branches lie scattered
around. If in crops, let the tillage be thorough and clean.
In plowing near the tree be careful not to strike (let1)*
enough to lacerate the small roots and fibres. An orchard
should be tended with a cultivator rather than a plow, and
the space immediately about the tree should be worked
with a hoe. Look to the fence corners, and grub out all
bushes, briers and weeds. A fine orchard with such a ruffle
around it, is like a handsome woman with dirty ears and neck.
Pruning may still be performed. Those who are raising
young orchards ought not to prune at any particular time
between May and August, but all along the season, as the
tree needs it. If a bad branch is forming, take it out while
it is small ; if too many are starting, rub them out while so
tender as to be managed without a knife and by the fingers.
If an orchard is rightly educated from the first, there will
seldom be a limb to be cut off larger than a little finger,
and a pen-knife will be large enough for pruning. In the
West there is more danger of pruning too much, than too
little. The sun should never be allowed to strike the inside
branches of a fruit-tree. Many trees are thus very much
weakened and even killed if the sun is violently warm.
Over-pruning induces the growth of shoots at the root,
along the trunk, and all along the branches.
Grub up suckers, and clear off from large and well
established trees all side-shoots. After a tree is three inches
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWEB8 AND FARMING. 267
in diameter through the stem, it may be kept entirely free
of side-shoots. But young trees are much assisted in every
respect, except appearance, by letting brush grow the whole
k-iigth of their stem, only pinching off the ends of the whips,
if they grow too rampantly. In this way the leaves afford
great strength to the trunk, and prevent its being spindling
or weak-fibred.
Scour off the dead bark, which, besides being unsight-
ly, is a harbor for a great variety of insects, and affords
numerous crevices for water to stand in. We have pre-
viously recommended soft soap, thinned with urine to the
consistence of paint, as a wash for trees ; we have seen
nothing better.
Examine grafts if any have been put in. See if the
wax excludes the air entirely; rub out all shoots which
threaten to overgrow and exhaust the graft ; if it is grow-
ing too strongly, it must be supported, or it will blow out
in some high wind.
LOOK our FOB BLIGHT. — All trees that have shown no
indications of blight, wiU be safe for the season. But those
which have shown the affection may be expected to con-
tinue to break out through the season. It is all important
to use the knife freely ; for although there is no contagion
from tree to tree, yet the diseased sap will, in the same tree,
be conveyed from part to part over the whole fabric. But
prompt pruning will remove the seat and source of the evil.
Where a branch is affected, cut chips out of the bark along
down for yards ; indeed, examine the limb entirely home
to the trunk, and you may easily detect any spots which are
depositories of this diseased sap, which, by its color, and
whole appearance, will be identified by the most unprac-
tised eye. Cut everything, below and aloft, that has this
feculent sap in it, even if you take off the whole head by
the trunk, and leave only a stump ; for, the stump may send
new shoots ; but if the tree is spared from false tenderness
you will lose it, bough, trunk, and root.
208 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
WINE AND HORTICULTURE.
" Look not thou upon the wine when it t* r«J, when it giveth his color
in the cup, when it movcth itself aright"
Now, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society appointed a
committee to do just what Solomon says must not be done.
Their report is a very artful document, so drawn up thai
the unwary would suppose that this was a mere business
affair — passing off quite respectably. But we were not to
be deceived ; we instantly saw through it ; and pencil in
hand, we noted all places in the report proper to shock a
true Washingtonian heart.
Although the array of forty kinds of wine save one, did
not intimidate these hitherto respectable gentlemen, it
inspired them with prudence; and a German Committee
called in, to ferret out any foreign wines which might have
been smuggled in to the confusion of the judges.
The committee only darkly intimate their modus ope-
randi ; if they had given us a journal of their doings,
made out on the spot, by some trusty clerk, what a Jmr-
chanal mystery would have been disclosed ! but they had
discretion enough left to defer this until they were sober
again.
But Washingtonianism is abroad, and can detect all the
mysteries of ebriety, however graced with authority from a
Horticultural Society. We can imagine the impatience
with which the bottles were preliminarily eyed — the entire
moderation with which each sipped a few first specimens ;
we can see them gradually warming with their subject —
tasting with alacrity — nodding at each other, squinting
through the ruddy glass, smacking their too often a
weak, thin wine? Here we have it, "Good strong wine."
The last record made is "Good new, not in a state for judg-
ment." Does this refer to the wine or to the committee ?
'2 TO PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
To the latter we suppose ; and at this point, probably per-
ceiving tlu-ir condition, they laid a>ide their ollicial charac-
ter and made it a private, personal, and somewhat miscel-
laneous affair. We see now the moaning of a sentence
winch follows the tabular exhibit: "The judgments pro-
nounced and recorded in the foregoing table, were as
nearly unanimous as can ever be expected among so many
judges."
The committee state in respect to western wines : "That
the pure juice of the grape when judiciously managed will
furnish the finest kind of wine, without any addition or
mixture whatever ; that no saccharine addition is necessary
to give it sufficient body to keep for any length of time in
this climate."
We submit that the keeping properties of wine are not
altogether intrinsic; but depend much upon the pcrs-.ns
having access to them, or, as we were taught in school,
"on time, place, and person." In our cellar American
wines would doubtless have great longevity. We wish to
call the attention of Mr. Gough to the closing sentence of
the report : " A taste for the wines of this region appears
to be well established, since all that can be produced finds
a ready market at good prices ; and the committee are of
opinion, that the period is not distant when the wines of
the Ohio will enjoy a celebrity equal to those of the
Rhine."
Here's work on hand for him. In conclusion, wo
respectfully suggest that the same committee be continued
from year to year, as there is no use in spoiling a fresh set
every year. If the specimens multiply, perhaps more help
will be required — at any rate a by-law should be passed,
so that there shall be one committee-man to at least everv
ten bottles.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 271
DO VARIETIES OF FRUIT RUN OUT.
Is there such similarity between animals and vegetables,
in their organic structure, development and functions, as
to make it sale to reason upon the properties of the one
from the known properties of the other ?
It is admitted that the lowest forms of vegetable exist-
ence are extremely difficult to be distinguished from a cor-
responding form of animal existence. As we approach the
lower confines of the vegetable kingdom, flowers, and of
course, seeds, disappear. The distinction between leaves
and stem ceases ; and, at last, the stem and root are no lon-
ger to be separated, and we find a mere vegetable sheet or
lamina whose upper surface is leaf and whose lower surface
is root. In a corresponding sphere, animal existence is re-
duced, to its simplest elements. Whatever resemblances
there are in the lowest and rudimentary forms of vegetable
and animal life, it cannot be doubted that when we rise
to a more perfect organization, the two kingdom be-
come distinct and the structure and functions of each are
in such a sense peculiar to itself, that he will grossly mis-
conceive the truth who supposes a structure or a function to
exist in a vegetable, because such structure or function
exists in an animal, and vice versd. To be sure, they resem-
ble in generals but they differ in specials. Both begin in a
seminal point but the seed is not analogous ; both develop
— but not by an analogous growth ; both require food, but
the selection, the digestion and the assimilation are differ-
ent. The mineral kingdom is the lowest. Out of it, by
help of the sun and air, the vegetable procures its mat trials
of growth; in turn the vegetable kingdom is the magazine
from which the animal kingdom is sustained ; to each, thus
the soil contains the original elements ; the vegetable is the
chemical manipulator, and the animal, the final recipient of
its products. The habit of reasoning from one to the other,
of giving an idea of the one by illustrations drawn from the
272 PLAJN AND PLEASANT TALK
other, especially in popular writings, will always be fruitful
of iiiUi-niu-fptions ami mistakes.
The next idea srt forth in tin- paragraph which \vr re\ ic\v, is,
the essential eftMtfidJorfty of buds and seeds. The writi-r
thinks that a plant from a seed is a new organization, but a
plant from a bud or graft (which is but a developed bud) is
but a continuation of a previous plant. With the exception
of their integuments, a bud and a seed are the same thing
A seed is a bud prepared for one set of circumstances, and
a bud is a seed prepared for another set of circumstances —
it is the same embryo in different garments. The seed lias
boon called, therefore, a "primary bud," the dilVoionco
beng one of condition and not of nature.
It is manifest, then, that the plant which springs from a
bud is as really a new plant as that which springs from a
seed ; and it is equally true, that a seed may convey the
weakness and diseases of its parent with as much facility as
a bud or a graft does. If the feebleness of a tree is general,
its functions languid, its secretions thin, then a bud or graft
will be feeble, — and so would be its seed ; or if a tree be
thoroughly tainted with disease, the buds would not escape,
nor the tree springing from them — neither would its seed,
or a tree springing from it. A tree from a bud of the
Doyenne pear is just as much a new tree a? ouo from its
seed.
The idea which we controvert has received encoura La-
ment from the fact, that a bud produces a fruit like the
parent tree, while, oftentimes, a seed yields only a variety
of such fruit. But, it is probable that this is never the case
with seeds except when they have been brought into a
state of what Van Mons calls variation. In their natural
and uncultivated state, seeds will reproduce their parent
with as much fidelity as a bud or a graft.
The liability of a variety to run out, when propagated by
bud or graft, is not a whit greater than when prop.igat.ed by
seed, in so far as the nature of the vegetable is concerned.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 273
But it is true that the conditions in which a bud grows
render it liable to extrinsic ills not incidental to a plant
springing from seed. A seed, emitting its roots directly
into the earth, is liable only to its own ills ; a bud or graft
emitting roots, through the alburnum of the stock on which
it is established, into the earth, is subject to the infirmities
of the stock as well as to its own. Thus a healthy seed
produces a healthy plant. A healthy bud may produce
a feeble plant, because inoculated upon a diseased branch
or stem.
Instead of a limitation in their nature, there is reason to
suppose that trees might flourish to an indefinite age were
it not for extrinsic difficulties. A tree, unlike an animal, is
not a single, simple organization, it is rather a community
of plants. Every bud separately is an elementary plant,
capable, if disjoined from the branch, of becoming a tree
by itself. In fact, each bud emits roots, which, uniting to-
gether, go down upon a common support (the trunk) and
enter the earth, and are there put in connection with ap-
propriate food. Every fibre of root maybe traced upward
to its bud from which it issued.
In process of time, the elongation of the trunk exposes it
to accidents; the branches are subject to the force of
storms; in proportion as the distance from the roots
increases, and the longer the passages through which the
upper sap, or downward elaborated sap travels, the more
liabilities are there to stoppage and injury. The reason of
decline in a tree is not to be looked for in any exhaustion
of vital force in the organization itself, but it is to be found
in the immense surface and substance exposed to the wear
and tear of the elements.
It would seem, if this view be true, that no bounds can
be placed to the duration of perennial plants, if, by any
means, we could diminish their exposure, by reducing their
expansion, by keeping them within a certain sphere of
growth. Now this is exactly what is accomplisJicd by bud
12*
274 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ding. A bud, far removed on the parent stock from the
root and connected with it through a long trunk, is inocu-
lated upon a new stock. It now grows with a comparat i vt-ly
limited exposure to interruption or accident. The connec-
tion with the soil is short and direct.
In this manner :i variety of fruit maybe perpetuated to
all generations, if the laws of vegetable health be regarded
in the process. Healthy buds, worked upon healthy stocks
and planted in wholesome soil, will make healthy trees ; and
from these another generation may proceed, and from thc-se
another. By a due regard to vegetable physiology, the
Newtown Pippin, and the Seckle Pear, may be eaten two
thousand years hence, provided, always, that expounders of
prophesy will allow us the use of the earth so long for
orchard purposes. A disregard of the laws of vegetable
physiology in the propagation of varieties, will, on the
other hand, rapidly deteriorate the most healthy sort.
There is no clock-work in the branches of the tree, which
finally runs down past all winding up ; there is no fixed
quantity of vitality, which a variety at length uses up, as a
garrison does its bread. Plants renew themselves and
every year have a fresh life, and, in this respect, they dif-
fer essentially from all forms of animal existence. Any one
tree may wear out ; but a variety, never.
We need not say, therefore, that we dissent from
Knight's theory of natural exhaustion and from every sup-
plement to it put forth since his day. Van Mons' theory of
variation and the tendency of plants to return toward their
original type, is to be regarded as nearer the truth.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 275
THE STRAWBERRY CONTROVERSY.
No man will deny that in their cultivated state, strawber-
ries are found, in respect to their blossoms, in three condi-
tions : first, blossoms with stamens alone, the pistillate organs
being mere rudiments ; second, blossoms with pistillate or-
gans developed fully, but the stamens very imperfect, and
inefficient ; third, blossoms in which staminatc and pistillate
organs are both about equally developed.
There are two questions arising on this state of facts ;
one, a question of mere vegetable physiology, viz., Is such
a state of organization peculiar to this plant originally, or
is it induced by cultivation ? The other question is one of
eminent practical importance, viz., What effect has this state
of organization upon the success of cultivation ?
1 'assing by the first question, for the present, we would
say of the second that, a substantial agreement has at
length, been obtained. It is on all hands conceded that
staminate plants, or those possessing only stamens, and not
pistillate organs, are unfruitful. Any other opinion would
now be regarded as an absurdity. It is equally well under-
stood that pistillate plants, or those in which the female
organs are fully, and the male organs scarcely at all devel-
oped, are unfruitful. No one would attempt to breed a
herd of cattle from males exclusively, or from females; and,
for precisely the same reason, strawberries cannot be had
from plants substantially male, or substantially female, where
cadi are kept to themselves.
But a difference yet exists among cultivators -as to the
facts respecting those blossoms which contain both male and
female organs, or, as they are called, perfect flowering
plants.
Mr. Longworth states, if we understand him, substan-
tially, that perfect-flowering varieties will bear but moder
ate crops, and, usually, of small fruit.
On the other hand, Dr. Brinkle, whose seedling straw
270 ri.AIX AM) PLEASANT TALK
berries we noticed in a fornu-r article, Mr. Downing, and
•;.l other eminent cultivators adopt the contrary opin-
ion, that, with care, large crops of large fruit may be obtained
from perfect-flowering plants. This question is yet, tlu-n,
to be settled.
It is ardently to be hoped that, hereafter, we shall have
less premature and positive assertion, upon unripe obsei \ a-
tions, than has characterized the early stages of this con-
troversy. Wo will take the liberty of following Mr. Ilovey
in liis magazine, between the years 1842 and 1846, not for
any pleasure that we have in the singular vicissitudes of opin-
ion chronicled there, but because an eminent cultivator,
writer, and editor of, hitherto, the only horticultural maga-
zine in our country, has such influence and authority in
forming the morals and customs of the kingdom of Horti-
culture, that every free subject of this beautiful realm is
interested to have its chiefs men of such accuracy that it
will not be dangerous to take their statements.
In 1842, Mr. Longworth communicated an article on the
fertile and sterile characters of several varieties of straw-
berries for Mr. Hovey's magazine, which Mr. II. for sub-
ject-matter, indorsed. In the November number, Mr. Coit
substantially advocated the sentiments of Mr. L. ; and the
editor, remarking upon Mr. Coit's article, recognized dis-
tinctly the existence of male and female plants.
He (Mr. H.) says that, of four kinds mentioned by Mr.
C. as unfruitful, two were so "from the want of staminatc
or male plants;" and " the cause of the barrenness is thus
easily explained." And he goes on to explain divers cases
upon this hypothesis ; and still more resolutely he says, that
all wild strawberries have not perfect flowers ; " in a dozen
or two plants which we examined last spring some were per-
fect (the italics are ours) having both stamens and pistil-;
otters, only pistils, and others, only stamens; thus showing
that the defect, mentioned by Mr. T^ongworth, exists in the
original species." He closes by urging cultivators i<> set
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 27*4
rows of early Virginia among the beds for the sake of im-
pregnating the rest.
Mr. Hovey's next formal notice was exactly one year from
the foregoing, November, 1843, and it appears thus: " We
believe it is now the generally received opinion of all intel-
ligent cultivators (italics are ours again) that there is no
necessity of making any distinction in regard to tJie sexual
character of the plants when forming new beds. The idea
of male and female flowers, first originated, we believe, by
Mr. Longworth, of Ohio, is now considered as exploded."
Such a sudden change as this was brought about, he says,
by additional information received during that year by
means of his correspondents, and by more experience on
his own part. He says nothing of male blossoms and female
blossoms, which he had himself seen in wild strawberries.
Mr. Hovey then assumed the theory that cultivation, good
or bad, is the cause of fertile or unfertile beds of strawber-
ries, and he says : " in conclusion, we think we may safely
aver, that there is not the least necessity of cultivating any
one strawberry near another (our italics) to insure the fer-
tility of the plants, provided they are under a proper state
of cultivation."
Mr. Hovey now instituted experiments, which he prom-
ised to publish, by which to bring the matter to the only
true test ; and he, from time to time, re-promised to give
the result to the public, which, thus far, we believe, he has
forgotten to do.
His magazine for 1844 opens, as tl.at of 1843 closed ; and
in the first number he says, " the oftener our attention is
culled to this subject, the more we feel confirmed in the
opinon that the theory of Mr. Longworth is entirely iin-
iimnded; that there is no such thing as male and female
plants, though certain causes may produce, as we know
they have, fertile and sterije ones."
Nevertheless, in the next issue but one this peremptory
language is again softened down, and a doubt even appears,
278 PLAIN ASM 1M KASANT TALK
M!I m he says, "Ir Mr. Longwortfcs tlieory should prove
true," ct>: \Ve, among others, waited anxiously for the
promised experiment*; but it' published we never saw them.
The subject rather died out of his maga/ine until August,
1845, when, in speaking of the Boston Pine, a second tine
seedling of Iiis own raising, he is seen bearing away on the
other tack, if not with all sails set, yet with enough to give
the ship headway in the right direction: "Let the cau>es
be what they may, it is sufficient for all practical purposes,
to know, that the most abundant crops (italics ours) can be
produced by planting some sort abounding in staminate
flowers, in the near vicinity of those which do not possess
them." P. 293. And on p. 444 he reiterates the advice to
plant near the staminate varieties. In the August number
for 1846, p. 309, Mr. Hovey shows himself a thorough con-
vert to Mr. Longworth's views, by indorsing, in the main,
the report of the committee of the Cincinnati Horticultural
Society. We hope after so various a voyage, touching at so
many points, that he will now abide steadfast in the truth.
We look upon this as a very grave matter, not because
the strawberry question is of such paramount, although it is
of no inconsiderable importance ; but it is of importance
whether accredited scientific magazines should be trust-
worthy; whether writers or popular editors should be
responsible for mistakes entirely unnecessary. We blame
no man for vacillation, while yet in the process of investi-
gation, nor for coming at the truth gradually, since this is
the necessity of our condition to learn only by degrees, and
by painful siftings. The very first requisite for a writer is,
that he be worthy of trust in his statements. No man can
be trusted who ventures opinions upon uninvestigated mat-
ters; who states facts with assurance which he has not
really ascertained; who evinces rashness, haste, careless-
ness, credulity, or fickleness in bis judgments. The ques-
tion of perfect or imperfect blossoms depends upon the sim-
plest exercise of eyesight. It requires no measurements,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 279
ii" process of the laboratory, no minute dissections or nice
calculations ; it requires only that a man should see what
he looks at.
When a boy, playing " how many fingers do I hold up,"
by dint of peeping from under the bandage, we managed to
make very clever guesses of how many lily-fingers some
roguish lassie was holding in tempting show before our ban-
< lauyd eyes ; but some folks are not half so lucky with both
eyes wide open, and the stamens and pistils standing before
them.
If such a latitude is permitted to those who conduct the
investigations peculiar to horticulture, who can confide in
the publication of facts, observations or experiments ? Of
what use will be journals and magazines? They become
like chronometers that will not keep time ; like a compass
that has lost its magnetic sensibility ; like a guide who has
lost his own way. and leads his followers through brake,
and morass, and thicket, into interminable wanderings.
Sometimes, the consciousness of faults in ourselves, which
should make us lenient toward others, only serves to pro-
duce irritable fault-finding. After a comparison of opinions
and facts, through a space of five years, with the most dis-
tinguished cultivators, East and West, Mr. Longworth is
now universally admitted to have sustained himself in all
the essential points which he first promulgated — not discov-
ered, for he made no claims of that sort. The gardeners
and the magazines of the East have, at length, adopted his
practical views, after having stoutly, many of them, con-
tested them.
It was, therefore, with unfeigned surprise, that we iva.l
Mr. Ilovey's latest remarks in the September number of his
magazine, in which, with some asperity, he roundly charges
Mr. Longworth with manifold errors, and treats him with
a contempt which would l<-ad one, ignorant of the con-
troversy, to suppose that Mr. Ilovey had never made a
mistake, and that Mr. Longworth had been particularly
280 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
fertile of them. Thus : " Mr. Longworth's remarks abound
in so many errors and iuconM>tt m it <, that we shall expect
scarcely to notice all." " Another gross assertion," etc. Re-
ferring to another topic, he says, " This question we, there-
fore, consider as satisfactorily settled, without discussing
Mr. Longworth's conflicting views about male and female,
Keen's," etc.
This somewhat tragical comedy is now nearly played out,
and we have spoken a word just before the fall of the cur-
tain, because, as chroniclers of events, and critics of horti-
rultural literature and learning, it seemed no less than our
duty. We have highly appreciated Mr. Hovey's various
exertions for the promotion of the art and science of horti-
culture, nor will his manifest errors and short-comings in
this particular instance, disincline us to receive from his pen
whatsoever is good.
We hope that our remarks will not be construed
defence of western men or western theories, but as the
defence of the truth, and of one who has truly expounded
it, though, in this case, theory and its defender happen to
be of western origin. Whatever errors have crept into
Mr. Longworth's remarks should be faithfully expurgated ;
and perhaps it may be Mr. Hovey's duty to perform the
lustration. If so, courtesy would seem to require that it
should be done with some consciousness, that through this
whole controversy Mr. Longworth is now admitted to have
been right in all essential matters ; and if, in error at all,
only in minor particulars, while Mr. Hovey, in all the con-
troversy, in respect to the plainest facts, has been chamr'niLT
from wrong to right, from right to wrong, and from wrong
back to right again. We do not think that the admirable
benefits which Mr. Longworth has conferred upon the
whole community by urging the improved method of culti-
vating the strawberry, has been adequately appreciate!.
We still less like to see gratitude expressed in the shape of
snarling gibes and petty cavils.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 281
We will close these remarks by the correction of a matter
which Mr. Downing states. While he assents to all the
2>rm twelve to fifteen
ABOUT FRUITS, Fl.oWKRS AND FARMING. 283
inches apart ; then move the line eighteen inches, and plant
another row; then move it three feet, and again eighteen
inches — and so on till the ground is planted. I then go
over and put one male plant every six feet, between the
two rows. Keep them clear of weeds through the summer,
and let them spread as much as they will.
" In the fall dress the out-walks eighteen inches wide,
which will leave the beds three feet wide ; and when it sets
in cold, give them a light covering of straw ; rake it off in
the spring. You may then expect a full crop. It is best to
make a new bed once in two or three years."
But plantations may be made through the summer, and
as late as September ; of course, the earlier in the season
the better established the plants will become before winter,
and the larger the next summer's crop. Thus, a bed
formed in September would bear very scantily ; while .Mr.
Jackson's beds, formed in the spring, produced a large
crop the next season.
Mr. Kenrick gives the following methods as practised by
market gardeners near Boston ; the first one strikes us as
being the most economical way of working strawberries,
on a large scale, that we have seen :
" In the vicinity of Boston, the following mode is often
adopted. The vines are usually transplanted in August.
The rows are formed from eighteen inches to two feet
asunder. The runners, during the first year, are destroyed.
In the second year, they are suffered to grow and fill the
interval, and in the autumn of that year, the whole old rows
are turned under with the spade, and the rows are thus
si lifted to the middle of the space. The same process is
repeated every second year.
M Another mode, which maybe recommended generally, is
to plant the strawberries in rows thirty inches asunder, and
nine inches distant in the row, and suffer the vines to
extend to the width of eighteen inches, leaving twelve
inches' space for an alley ; or allow eighteen inches' width
284 1'I.AIN AND PLEASANT TALK
to the alleys, an«l throe feet asunder to the rows; and to
form new rv three years, or never to suffer the bed
to exist over lour years ; and to plant out in August in
^reference to spring."
Dr. Bayne of Alexandria, D. C., gives his methyl
of producing very large fruit. The peculiarity of his
treatment is the use of undecomposed or green manure.
Almost every other cultivator recommends well rotted
manure ; and, we are inclined to think, with the better
reason. "We have found some English cultivators who
agree with him; but the most dissuade from the practice,
as making plants productive of leaves rather than fruit.
" To produce strawberries of extraordinary size for exhi-
bition, I would recommend the following preparation :
select the best soil and trench it at least two feet deep ;
incorporate well with the first twelve inches an abundance
of strong undecomposed manure ; pulverize and rake the
ground well, then mark off the rows twelve or fifteen inches
asunder, and set the plants in the rows from twelve to
fjfteen inches, according to the luxuriance and vigor of the
variety. During the first year, the runners must be care-
fully and frequently destroyed before they become rooted.
By this means the stools become very vigorous and bear the
most abundant crops. In the spring after the fruit is set,
place around each plant a small quantity of straw, or what
is much better, cover the whole surface of the ground one
inch thick with wheat chaff. This prevents evaporation,
protects the fruit from the earth, improves the flavor, and
will greatly increase the size."
Loudon gives Garnier's method of treating the straw-
berry as an annual. It is peculiarly applicable to small
gardens. The observations on the depth of soil required,
are worthy of especial attention :
" Early in August, or as soon as the gathering is over, I
destroy all my beds, and proceed immediately to trench,
form, and manure them in the manner before directed, to
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 285
receive the plants for the crop of the ensuing year, taking
care to select for that purpose the strongest and best-rooted
runners from the old rejected plants. If at this season the
weather should be particularly hot, and the surface of the
ground much parched, I defer the operation of preparing
my beds and planting them till the ground is moistened by
rain. Such is the simple mode of treatment which I have
adopted for three successive years, and I have invariably
obtained upon the same spot, a great produce of beautiful
fruit, superior to that of every other garden in the neighbor-
hood. Depth of soil I have found absolutely necessary for
the growth and production of fine strawberries, and when
this is not to be obtained, it is useless, in my opinion, to
plant many of the best varieties. It is not generally known,
but I have ascertained the fact, that most strawberries
generate roots, and strike them into the ground, nearly two
feet deep in the course of one season. The practice of
renewing strawberry plantations every year, and even of
using runners of the current year for forcing, is now become
very general among gardeners. Mr. Knight generally
adopts this mode, and, notwithstanding the increased labor
attending it, it is even adopted by some market-gardeners
about London for their earliest crops. It is invariably
found that by this mode the fruit not only comes larger,
but somewhat earlier. It must always be recollected, how
ever, by those who intend practising it, that almost the
whole of the success depends on bringing forward the
earliest runners, by encouraging them to root. This is
done by stirring the soil beneath them, hooking them
down, or retaining them in their proper places by small
stones ; or, when the object is to procure plants for forcing
rooting them into small pots."
PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
RASPBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS.
CURRANTS, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strftwfeorfoft, etc.,
are termed -Small Fruit." We will give some directions
for spring- work which these require.
IiAsri;i:i:i:n:s. — The sorts usually found in our gardens arc
rejected from all good collections as worthless. The Ant-
werp, red and white, have, until lately, been regarded as
the best. Two new kinds are very highly thought of —
the Franconia and the Fastolf. This last is an Kng-
lish variety; was found growing on a gentleman's ground
among some lime and brick rubbish — evidently a seedling
— and removed to his garden. It was a number of years
before it attracted attention; but, lately, it has been much
in demand and bids fair to claim a rank among the first, if
it is not the first.
A deep, rich, loamy soil which is moist, proves best for
this fruit. It prefers a half shady position.
When first planted, put them four feet apart in the row,
and the rows three feet from each other.
In old beds cut out the last year's bearing icood, now
worthless, and also all the new shoots but four or five to a
root; grub up all that have come up between the fOWB.
Cut those which are reserved for bearing to about live feet
in length, and tie them gently to a stake. Thus treated
from year to year, and well manured, raspberries will return
a rich reward.
STRAWBERRIES. — The number of kinds is immense. Knight,
late president of the London Horticultural Society, had/crar
hundred kinds in his garden, and most of them seedlings of
his own raising. The early Virginia is regarded as tin-
best early kind. Hovey's, Warren's and Keen's seedling
are admirable sorts. Wiley's and Motter's seedlings ori-
ginated in Cincinnati and arc esteemed. There arc many
other fine sorts which an amateur cultivator would wish,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 287
not necessary to common gardens, where two or three
choice sorts will suffice.
Almost every cultivator has a way of his own in raising
strawberries.
In private gardens, in a soil well enriched and deeply
spuded, let beds be formed about four feet wide; upon
set three rows of hills and the plants about fifteen
Belies apart in the row. Pinch off all runners through the
season, unless they are wanted for new plants.
Old beds, grown over and matted, had better be des-
troyed ; but if, for any reason, it is desirable to save them,
mark out lines every eighteen inches and dig alleys through
the l»ed, by turning the plants under. In this way the patch
will l>e tin-own into beds of eighteen inches width. Before
this is done take an iron-toothed rake and rake the bed
severely. Do not be afraid of tearing the plants ; go over
the whole bed thoroughly. It will seem as if scarcely a
dozen plants were left, but in a few weeks your bed will be
entirely covered with a strong growth.
GOOSEBERRIES. — This fruit is very much neglected because
its merits are only little known. There are two sorts found
in our gardens, the common gooseberry and English, by
wh irh name is meant a large, coarse, thick-skinned green
variety. It is not generally known that there are any other
cultivated sorts ; and as these are inferior they are little
cared for. The Lancashire (England) Nurserymen publish
300 varieties! The select list of Mr. Thompson of the Lon-
don Horticultural Society's garden comprises fifty-six
varieties ; the still more condensed select list of Robert
Mnmhifj (Mass.) includes twenty-eight sorts. Some of
tlu-sr Itear fruit as large as a medium-sized plum. There
are four colors, red, yellow, green and white; to each color
are two M/.I-S, large and small fruits. Those who have not
Been and tasted the Scotch and Lancashire varieties of the
gooseberry do not km»w what the fruit is. In sending foi
them, select a trustworthy nurseryman, and request him to
I
288 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
send, of each color, such kinds as have proved, with him,
the best ; and in such numbers as you may wish. The
gooseberry delights in three things, a very rich soil, a shady
position, and a free circulation of air. If accommodated in
these respects, it will be free from mildew and give a sure
and ample crop of delicious fruit.
Hill-tops are the best sites. In gardens the open and airy
parts should be selected; in low and confined situations
they mildew. Hog manure is esteemed the best for this
fruit. When the fruit begins to set, if threatened with
blight, take a moderately strong lime-water (sulphur added
will be all the better) or, if lime is not convenient, lye from
wood ashes, and drench the bushes freely with it. A large
watering-pot should be employed. Gooseberries may be in-
creased from cuttings like the currant, and with the same ease.
CURRANTS. — There are very few varieties of this fruit.
Our common red and white, if well cultivated, are very
good. The Large Dutch Red, and White, are much larger
varieties and generally preferred in the best Eastern gar-
dens. Every farmer, if he has nothing else, has a long row
of currant bushes, and gets, usually, five times as many cur-
rants as he can consume. Very few fruits nave so few
diseases incident to them as the currant. It is not infested
with worms, its fruit is subject to no blight, it bears every
year, is rarely affected either by severe winters or late
frosts, and we do not remember a season in our lives when
there was not, at least, a partial currant crop.
We advise those who are careful in such matters to train
their currants to a tree form / let a cutting be set, rub out
all the buds but two or three at the top ; at about twelve
or fifteen inches from the earth let the branches put out,
and never permit suckers to grow, or branches to stand
lower than this. The difficulty which some have found in
tree currants, that they are top-heavy and require staking
to prevent their being bent by winds and their own weight,
arises from having the stem too long. We have seen two
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 289
feet and even more allowed. If twelve or fifteen inches be
allowed, the stem, in a few years, will become strong
enough to withstand winds and sustain its own top. Thus
formed they are beautiful to the eye, convenient for borders,
allow a free circulation of ah* under and through them, are
easy to work in spring or for manuring, and easy to prune,
when, as should be done every year, you take out the old
wood.
Gooseberries will do better to be trained in this way,
than in the bush form. The top once formed, there is no
difficulty in keeping it so. If you are faithful to grub up
every sucker for one season you will have few to plague
you after that.
Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries and Currants
ought to be found in every farmer's garden. The trouble
of cultivation is slight and the return of wholesome fruit
very great. One woman can, for the most part, bestow all
the attention which they need.
SPRING-WORK IN THE ORCHARD.
1. THERE is a great deal more pruning done than is need-
ful or healthful. Our hot summers and strong growth of
wood make every leaf on the tree precious. Dead limbs
should be taken out. Where the tree is really tangled with
wood, thin out. Where branches are rubbing across each
other severely, take off one of them. Grub up every water-
sprout from the roots. If you can avoid it, do not use them
for trees, for the tree thus obtained will inherit the same
propensity of sending up \\atrr-shoots. Sometimes, in
scarcity of stock, they are used rather than to have none,
but it is then only a lesser of two evils.
2. TIME OF PRUNING. — There is a bad practice abroad of
pruning before the leaves are out. English books direct to
13
290 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
prune in February, and we suspect that the custom sprang
up at the East from the old country example. It is not sate
lor us to follow the specific processes of Great Britain or
the Cont iniMit. OUR OWN well settled experience is to be our
rule of practice.
There is no better month in the year to prune, than that
month in which the tree is making the most wood. It is
plain that the sooner a wound heals the better; and equally
plain, that a tree which is growing will heal a wound
quicker than an inactive tree. All the matter which goes
to form wood, or to form the granulations by which a cut
heals, comes from the downward current of sap, or sap
which has been elaborated in the leaf. Of course when the
tree has the most leaves, and the leaves are preparing the
greatest quantity of proper juice or elaborated sap, that is
the time for pruning, because the time for healing. In this
climate we have preferred the last of May for spring prun-
ing, and the last of August for summer pruning — the exact
week varying as the season is forward or backward.
3. INSTEAD OF PRUNING AT THIS EARLY PERIOD, LET TREES
BE THOROUGHLY SCRAPED AND SCOURED. — A three-sided
scraper, such as butchers use to clean their blocks with, or
any convenient implement, may be applied to the trunk and
large branches with force sufficient to take off the dry, dead
bark. Only this is to be removed. Take soft soap and
reduce it by urine to the consistence of paint. With a stiff
shoe-brush rub the whole trunk and the limbs as far up as
is practicable. The bark will grow smooth and glossy ;
insect eggs will be entirely destroyed ; all moss and fungous
vegetation removed, and the bark stimulated and madu
healthier. THIS is BETTER THAN ANY WHITEWASH, and just
as convenient.
4. Lime is better used as follows : remove the earth from
the trunk, and put about half a peck to each tree. Jtivrry
spring, spread and dig in the old lime, and put new in its
place. Unleached ashes are good to be dug in arouud a
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 291
tree. If your soil is calcareous, full of lime, these applica-
tions are not needful. Thoroughly rotted manure, or better
yet, black vegetable mold may be dug in liberally, and
will supply the soil with nutriment, and the roots will find
their way in with great facility.
5. When a tree is manured, remember that the ends only
of the roots take up nourishment, and that the ends of the
roots are not found close by the trunk. We often see
heaps of manure piled about the trunk, and the ends of the
roots are three yards or more distant from it. You might
as well put your fodder down at your cattle's hind legs,
and wonder that they did not get fat on it. Treat your
trees as you do your stock — put their food where their
mouths are. YOUNG ORCHARDS are better without stimu-
lating manure. Let the soil be mellowed, and then give
the trees their own time, and if they do not bear quite as
soon, they will live longer and be less subject to disease.
MIRACLES IN FRUITS.
WHEN a traveller was relating, in Cowper's presence,
some prodigious marvels, the poet smiled somewhat incredu-
lously. " Well, sir, don't you believe me ? I saw it with
my own eyes." " Oh, certainly, I believe it if you saw it,
but I would not if I had seen it myself." Even so we feel
about the thousand and one physiological fooleries which
run the monthly rounds of the papers.
How on earth do men suppose a fruit to receive its char-
acteristic quality? .Is it from the root, trunk, pith, bark,
branch, or leaf? One would think that it made no differ-
ence which. We have long supposed that the leaf digested
the sap, returned it to flu- jia>sa^-s <•!' «list.ril»iiti«»n to be
employed in the formation of fruit, wood, tissue, etc. Is
this the function of the leaf? or have recent investigations
292 PL ATX AND PLEASANT TALK
exploded this doctrine? If not, it will be apparent that all
grafting of scions together, cannot change the quality of
fruit, unless the leaves are also amalgamated. Is a red,
green, yellow, and white fruit, sweet, sour, or bitter, bo put
upon the same tree, each will maintain its characteristics;
because, each bud or scion has its own peculiar leaves, from
whose laboratory the fruit is sweetened or acidulated and
colored with all its hues. To be sure, fruits are affected by
the stock on which they are put; but their characteristic
elements are not altered, but only pushed along in the same
line and made more perfect.
There is no doubt that trees indulge, occasionally, in rare
antics. A sober apple-tree will sometimes let down its dig-
nity, in what gardeners call a ." sport," e. g. a sweet apple
may grow on a sour tree, and vice versd. An apple may
oil one side be sweet and on the other sour. But, in such
cases, the same general law is seen governing yet. We all
know that great changes of temperament occur in men. A
nervous temperament often becomes abdominal, and a little,
wiry, fussy, peevish, minikin, becomes a round, plump, rosy,
corpulent spot of good nature. Similar changes may occur,
through disease, or the peculiarity of the season, or from
unknown causes, in the structure of the leaves of a branch,
and then the fruit will follow the change of the leaf.
But the fruit itself digests still further the elaborated sap
sent to it from the leaf. If, then, from any hidden can-* •-,
the fruit should in part change its structure, the juices
elaborated would be altered. If stamens and pistils may
change to petals, if petals may change to leaves, if leaves may
extend to branches, we know of no reason why the whole
or the half of a fruit may not, also, alter its structure ; and
with its peculiarity of function, also, of course, the charac-
ter of the fruit. While then we are not skeptical of " mon-
sters," "marvels," "sports," " singularities," we think \\<-
can trace the original law through all the transmuta-
tions.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 293
PROTECTING THE ROOTS OF FRUIT-TREES.
CULTIVATOR^ are frequently urged in Horticultural papers
to cover the roots of the peach-trees with heaps of snow,
etc., that they may be retarded in the spring, and escape
injury from late frosts upon their blossoms. This direction
takes it for granted that the warmth of the ground starts
the root, and the root starts the sap, and the sap wakes up
the dormant branch. By covering the soil and keeping it
back, the whole tree is supposed to be secured. But,
unfortunately for this process, the motion of the sap is first
in the BRANCHES, and last in the roots. Light and heat,
exerted upon the branches for any considerable length of
time, produce a high state of excitability ; the sap begins to
move toward the bud, its place is supplied by a portion
lower down, and so on until the whole column of sap
through the trunk is in motion, and last of all in the ROOT.
But suppose warm, spring days, with a temperature of from
sixty degrees to sixty-five degrees, have produced a vigor-
ous motion of the sap in the branches and trunk, while the
root, (thanks to snow and ice piled over it to keep it
frozen), is dormant, what will result? The sap already
within the tree will be exhausted, the root will supply
none, the light and heat still push on the development
of bud and leaf and the tree will exhaust itself and die-
We not long since observed a remarkable confirmation ol
these reasonings. A gentleman of our acquaintance, in
reading these unskilfull directions to cover the peach-tree
root, opened trenches about his trees, and filled them with
snow, heaping bountifully also all about the trees. The
in \t spring, long after his trees should have been at work,
the snow hold the root fast; the buds swelled and burst,
liii.uvrud, shrivelled and died — and the trees too. This
might have been prognosticated. There are partial
methods of protecting the peach from too early develop-
ment, but they all have respect to the protection of the
294 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
limbs. If the Itram-ht'S can l»r m\ r;v
yellow ground covered with red, and russet about the
stem; tender, melting, very juicy, high-flavored, sweet,
with a spicy dash of subacid. One of the richest cooking
apples; one of the most desirable for drying, resembling
dried pears. Where known, it is worth, dried, a dollar and
a half a bushel, when other apples command but seventy-
five cents. Ripens first of September and has passed its
prime by November. Eastern writers call it a winter
apple, and Kenrick gives October to March as its season ;
but, in the West, it seldom sees the first winter month.
Takes by graft and bud pretty well ; does well grafted upon
the root ; favorable for nursery purposes.
12. HOLLAND PIPPIN. — Tree large and spreading;
strong growth; wood short and stubbed, healthy; bears
moderately young ; they are averse to heavy clay and wet
soils ; on light, dry, rich, sandy soils bears largely, and of
high color and flavor; bears every other year. Fruit
large, very bright yellow, tender, juicy, subacid. The pulp
in the mouth becomes rather viscid, as if the fruit were
mucilaginous, which is agreeable or otherwise according to
the taste of the eater. It is sometimes, but rarely, water-
cored. Ripens in October and November ; will keep later,
but apt to lose in flavor. Good for drying, but usually
sold green, being a very marketable fruit. Not a good
tree for nurserymen ; not willing to come if grafted on
the root ; does well by crown-grafting ; moderately well
by budding, the eye being apt to put out simply a spur,
which can seldom be forced into a branch if permitted to
harden.
13. RAMBO. — This apple is known in New Jersey by the
names of Romanite, Seek-no-further, and Bread and
Cheese. The first two names belong to entirely different
apples. The rambo is not to be confounded with the jRam-
bours, of which there are several varieties. Tree upright,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 313
and the most vigorous growth of all trees cultivated in the
West ; the easiest of all to bud with, a bud seldom misses,
and makes extraordinary growth the first season ; it may
well be culled the nurseryman's favorite ; bears very young,
abundantly every year, good on all soils. Fruit medium
size, yellow ground with red stripes and the whole over-
laid with a bloom, like a plum ; tender, juicy, melting, sub-
acid, rich ; it has a peculiarity of ripening ; it begins at the
skin and ripens toward the core ; often soft and seemingly
ripe on the outside while the inside is yet hard. Ripens
from October to December. One of the best of all
fruits.
14. GOLDEN RUSSET. — This admirable apple is put in the
list of fall fruits, because, though it will keep through the
winter, it ripens in November, and sometimes even in
October. Tree, strong grower, upright, compact top-
healthy, grows late in foil and therefore subject to winter-
killing ; will grow on all soils, but delights in rich sandy
loams, on which it bears larger and finer fruit. Fruit small,
rather oblong ; color yellow, slight red next to the sun ;
although called russet, there is but a trace of it on the fruit
of healthy trees ; tender, melting, spicy, very juicy ; in
flavor it resembles the St. Michael's pear (Doyenne) more
nearly than any other apple.
This fruit is the most popular of all late, fall, or early
winter apples, and deservedly, and should be put at the
head of the list. A gentleman near Belfre, Ohio, being
applied to for a list of apples to furnish an orchard of a
thousand trees for marketing purposes, replied, " Take nine
hundred and ninety-nine golden russets, and the rest you
can choose to suit yourself." For nursery purposes it is
rather a backward apple; the buds apt to fail, which
occasions much resetting. It will not do well grafted on
the root, being ten* In- and always largely winter-killed
when so wrought. They graft kindly on well established
stocks.
14
814 , PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
I fa larger list of full apples is desired, we rer.mnnend tlio
Fall Harvey. <;raven*tein, Lyscom, Porter, lied Iiiir^trie,
Yellow do. The Ashmore is a desirable i'ruit — ditlieult to
raise in tin- nursery, ami therefore avoided, but the tVuit is
line. The Ross Nonpareil is a very admirable full iVuit «•!'
Jri>h origin.
The list of autumn apples is very large and continually
augmenting. But fall apples are, ordinarily, less desirable
than any others; not from inferior quality, but because they
ripen at the season of the year when peaches and pears are
in their glory.
WINTER APPLES.
15. GLORIA MUNDI or Monstrous Pippin. Tree, one of
the most upright, top close, and resembling the pear.
Wood medium sized, healthy, vigorous growth, wood
ripens early, not subject to frost-blight ; bears on moderately
young trees. It works well from the bud, and also
extremely well grafted on roots, and grows straight and
finely for nursery purposes. Fruit very large, green,
changes when dead-ripe to a yellowish white. Flavor mild,
subacid; flesh melting and spicy. Ripens in November, at
the same time with the Golden Russet, but will not keep as
long. A native.
16. BLACK APPLE. — Tree low, spreading, and round
topped ; wood of medium vigor, healthy, ripens early, and
not subject to frost-blight. Grafts on the root kindly ; not
so favorable for budding as the No. 15 ; bears remarkably
young, and abundantly to a fault. Fruit medium sized;
color very dark red, almost black, with grey rusty spots
about the stem; flesh tender, breaking ; moderately juicy,
flavor rather sweet, though not a real sweet apple. No
apple would stand fairer as an early winter fruit, wen- it not
for a peculiar, dry, raw taste, somewhat resembling tho
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 315
of uncooked corn meal. Ripens from November to
.January. It is a native.
17. NEW ION SIMT/K.YBURG. — Tree, not large, upright but
not compact, top open; wood of medium size and vigor of
growth; healthy, ripens early, and yet, now and then, it
takes the frost-blight; bears moderately young, every other
year, very abundantly; grafts well on the root, buds only
moderately well, good for nursery handling. Fruit, vary-
ing much in size, but often large, flesh melting, juicy ; flavor
rich, spicy, subacid; ripens from November to January.
18. RHODE ISLAND GREENING. — Tree large, very spread-
ing and drooping, grows vigorously, healthy, ripens early,
not subject to frost-blight; bud takes well; but, whether
grafted on the root, or budded, it will plague the nursery-
man by its disposition to spread and twist about like a
quince bush. It should be budded on strong stocks
at the height at which the top is to be formed; but it
always overgrows the stock. Fruit very large, color green4
with cloudy spots dotted with pin-point black specks ; flesh
breaking, tender and juicy: flavor mild, rich, subacid; a
very popular fruit. Ripens from November to January.
19. HUBBARDSTON NONESUCH. — Admirable in nursery;
works well on root or by bud. We give Downing's des-
cription, as it has not fruited in this region.-
" A fine, large, early winter fruit, which originated in the
town of llubbardston, Mass., and is of first rate quality.
The tree is a vigorous grower, forming a handsome branch-
ing head, and bears very large crops. It is worthy of
extensive <»ivhard culture.
" Fruit large, roundish-oblong, much narrower near the
eye. Skin smooth, striped with splashes an. I irregular
broken stupes of pale and bright red, which nearly cover a
yellowish ground. The calyx open, ami the stalk short, in
a russeted hollow. Flesh yrllow, juicy, and tender, with
an agreeable mingling of sweetness and acidity in its flavor.
October to January."
310 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
20. ]M i \i-iii:. — Wo jjivo Manning's dosoription :
" Tliis tim- apple original od in IJowloy, Mass. The si/.u
is large, the form oblong like the Bcllflowor, tapoi -\i\\r to the
eye, with broad ridges the whole length of the fruit; the
skin a light greenish yellow, striped with bright red, but
the red seldom extends to the eye ; flesh yellow, light, high
flavored and excellent. This is one of the very lim st apples
which New England has produced. It ripens from Novcm-
ber to February, and deserves a place in every collection
of fruits, however small. This apple received its pivsmt
name from the circumstance of the late Rev. Dr. Spring, of
Newburyport, having purchased the first fruit brought to
market."
21. VANDEBVEER PIPPIN. — Tree large, one of the most
vigorous, spreading, but not drooping; ripens its wood
late, occasionally touched with frost-blight and liable to
burst at the surface of the ground during the winter.
Bears young, every year, and very abundantly. Buds well,
grafts well on the root, grows off strongly, forms a top
readily, and will please nurserymen. Fruit large, more uni-
formly of one size all over the tree than any in the orchard ;
shape of fruit flat ; color, red stripes on a yellow, russety
ground. Flesh coarse, gritty; flavor strong, penetrating,
without aroma; December to March. This fruit is remark-
able for having almost every good quality of tree and fruit
and being notwithstanding a third-rate apple. The tree is
hardy, its bloom, from peculiar hardiness, escapes injurv
from frost, and even a second set of blossoms put out,
though feeble ones, if the first are destroyed. The fruit is
comely, cooks admirably, keeps well ; but a certain sharp-
ness and coarseness will always make it but a second or
third-rate fruit. No tree is sought by farmers in this
region, with more avidity. Its origin is doubtful. Bnnf-
son, of Wayne County, brought it to Indiana, and all our
nurseries trace their stock to his. It was carried for the
first time to New Jersey, by Quakers visiting that region,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 317
from his orchard. It should have been mentioned, that it
holds its nge remarkably well, very old trees producing as
largely, an«l us i'uir, sound fruit as when young.
22. YELLOW BELLE FLEUR, OR BELLFLOWER. — Tree
spreads and droops more than any tree of the orchard, the
Newark pippin, perhaps, exceptcd; wood very slender
and whip-like, healthy, ripens early, not subject to frost-
blight, grafts well on the root, but is rather tender during
the first winter when so worked ; buds well, but from its
drooping, sprawling habits, is hard to form into a top. Bears
moderately young (not so young as the white) ; abun-
dantly. Flesh melting and tender and juicy ; flavor fine
and delicate rather than high; color deep yellow when
ripe ; ripens from December to March. One of the most
deservedly popular of winter apples and always salable in
all markets.
23. WHITE BELLE FLEUB. — This apple is cultivated in
Ohio under the names of Hollow-cored Pippin, Ohio
favorite, and, by the Cincinnati pomologists, of Detroit.
It is also the Cumberland Spice and Monstrous BeUflower
of Coxe. It was taken to the West by Brunson of Wayne
County, Indiana, and thence disseminated in every direc-
tion ; and it may be called the Bellflower of Indiana,
since it and not the yellow, predominates in all orchards,
The yellow, however, within five years, has been largely
distributed. Tree, medium sized, spreading ; wood stronger
than the yellow belle flour, healthy, ripens its wood early,
but liable to after-growth in warm falls, and therefore sub-
ject to frost-blight. The tree, from its habit of growth,
more liable to split and break under a full crop than any
tree of the orchard. One of the youngest bearers in the
nursery ; fruitful to a fault. Grafted on the root it kills off
in winter ; buds well and forms a top without difficulty.
Fruit above medium and sometimes very large; color,
greenish white, and, in some seasons with a blush on the
sunny side; flesh breaking at first, but when fully ripo,
318 1M.AIN AND PLEASANT TALK
inciting and juicy ; flavor mild and delicate. It is not apt
to cloy, and nnnv ean lie cairn than of almost any variety.
Ripe from December to March.
24. BALDWIN. — Works well in nursery by root or bud,
and is fine for nurserymen. Top forms easily. Not up-
right, as Downing says, but a round, spreading top. We
give Downing's description :
"The Baldwin stands at the head of New England
apples, and is unquestionably a first-rate fruit in all respects.
It is a native of Massachusetts, and is more largely culti-
vated for the Boston market than any other sort. It
bears most abundantly, and we have had the satisfaction
of raising larger, more beautiful, and highly favored speci-
mens here, than we ever saw in its native region. The
Baldwin, in flavor and general characteristics, evidently
belongs to the same family as Esopus Spitzenburg, and
deserves its extensive popularity.
" Fruit large, roundish, and narrowing a little to the eye.
Skin yellow in the shade, but nearly covered and striped
with crimson, red, and orange, in the sun ; dotted with a
few large russet dots, and with radiating streaks of russet
about the stalk. Calyx closed, set in a rather narrow
plaited basin. Stalk half to three fourths of an inch long,
rather slender for so large a fruit, planted in an even,
moderately deep cavity. Flesh yellowish white, crisp, with
that agreeable mingling of the saccharine and acid which
constitutes a rich, high flavor. The tree is a vigorous,
upright grower, and bears most abundantly. Ripe from
November to March, but attains its greatest perfection in
January."
25. MICHAEL HENRY PIPPIN. — Tree upright, with a
round-shaped top ; wood strong, rather slow grower, ripens
its mam growth of wood early, but liable to fresh growth
in warm, wet falls ; bears very young, every other year
abundantly and not a single apple in the next year. Should
not be grafted on the root ; and it is rather troublesome
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 319
when "budded, from a disposition to make dwarf spur-
like branches, rather than upright limbs. Fruit medium-
sized, long, large about the base, sharpening toward the eye ;
color green, clouded and black speckled; flesh tender,
melting ; flavor rich, inclined to sweet, and very fine.
Ripens from December to March.
20. RED SWEET PIPPIN. — Tree handsome, round-topped,
but rather spreading ; wood strong, and vigorous growth,
ripens early ; tree very healthy, apt to grow with very
smooth bark affording little shelter for insects; bears
young, every year and abundantly. Works well in the
nursery either by grafting on the root, or by budding.
Fruit medium size inclining to large ; color red with grey
stripes on the shaded side ; flesh breaking and firm ; flavor
sweet and rich. It bakes well, is good for pies, eats well,
ami its kitchen and table qualities combined make it a
desirable fruit. Ripe from December to April.
27. PRYOR'S RED. — Tree upright; wood slow growing,
slender, and the branches full of small wood, healthy, not
subject to frost:blight ; comes very late into bearing,
requiring ten or twelve years for full bearing ; bears only
moderate crops; every year. Difficult to work in the
nursery, but does better by grafting on the root than by
budding. Fruit above medium size ; color, red dotted
with white specks; the whole surface covered with slight
bloom ; flesh melting ; flavor very rich and high, and by
some thought to be even richer than the golden russet. If
this apple only grew on the Vanderveer pippin tree, it would
requiiv nothing more to render it perfect. Ripens from
December to March. Its keeping properties are more
in danger from the teeth than from ordinary decay. A very
salable and popular apple, which, when once had, none
would consent to lose. It is unknown in New England and
N ew York except by description ; and is not even described
by Downing, and but little more than mentioned by Ken-
rick.
320 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
28. GREEN NEWTOWN PIPPIN. — Tree spreading, wood
nlmdi-r and sl.:\v growing; ripens early, making it oiu-n
troublesome for nurserymen to procure buds tit tor lau«
u ork ; not subject to frost-blight. The tree requires vigor-
ous cultivation to redeem it from a feeble growth ; the bark
is inclined to crack on the branches and scale up, and when
once roughened it is difficult ever again to make tin in
smooth. Late coming into bearing, bears abundantly every
other year. They should never be grafted on the root ;
they should be budded on strong healthy stocks and high
up in order to do well. Fruit large, green, changing to
yellow when dead-ripe ; flesh firm, breaking ; flavor very
rich. Ripe from February to May. This apple is culti-
vated in extraordinary abundance at the East both for
home and foreign markets. They sell in London, at six-
pence a piece. The farm of R. L. Pell contains 2,000 bear-
ing trees of this variety ; a note descriptive of which we
give from Downing :
" One of the finest orchards in America is that of Pell-
ham farm, at Esopus, on the Hudson. It is no less remark-
able for the beauty and high flavor of its fruit, than the
constant productiveness of trees. The proprietor, R. L. Pell,
Esq., has kindly furnished us with some notes of his experi-
ments on fruit-trees, and we subjoin the following highly
interesting one on the apple.
" 4 For several years past, I have been experiment-
ing on the apple, having an orchard of 2,000 bearing
Newtown Pippin-trees. I found it very unprofitable to
wait for what is termed the 'bearing year,' and it
has been my aim to assist nature, so as to enable the
trees to bear every year. I have noticed that from the
excessive productiveness of this tree, it requires the inter-
mediate year to recover itself— to extract from the earth
and the atmosphere the materials to enable it to produce
again. This it is not able to do, unassisted by art, while it
is loaded with fruit, and the intervening year is lost ; i£
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 321
however, the tree is r hedges, borders, etc. The discoverer attempted to
remove the tree, then, apparently, about five years old, to
"his nursery for a stock; but digging two feet deep, and
finding no root but the tap root, he feared that deplanting
324 n.AIV AND 1M. HAS A XT TAI.K
might kill it. It |fM left to grow, and lias Droved to be
one of the first. ;-lurricnecd orehardists suppose the best time for
cutting Drafts to be immediately on the fall c«f the leaf in
autumn.
Grafts should be cut in mild weather, when the wood is
entirely free from frost. Select the outside limbs and the
List year's growth of wood.
Too much care cannot be observed in keeping the varie-
ties separate. Tie up in bundles and mark the names of
each kind as soon as cut. A moment's carefulness may save
years of vexation.
When the grafts are to be used at home, it is well to lay
them in the cellar where frost will not reach them, and
slightly cover them, so that they shall not evaporate the
moisture which they contain. Too much wet injures them.
Half-dry sand is as good as anything, and if packed in an
old nail-keg and put in a cool place, they will require no
further attention until it is time to use them.
When grafts are to be sent to a considerable distance,
they should be carefully wrapped in moist cloth, with folds
enough to exclude the air entirely. For convenience of
carrying they may be packed, in this condition, in a box,
and the space filled in with cotton-wool, chaff, bran, or any
similar substance.
It is stated by some, that grafts taken from the lower
limbs of trees will produce fruit the soonest ; while those
from the middle and top and from the upright shoots will
make trees of the finest form. We confess a slight preju-
dice against the lower limbs of trees, as it was thence that
"switches" were cut in the mischievous days of our youth,
wherewith to apply Solomon's doctrine of discipline.
Whether they will make upright trees, we cannot say ; but
they are supposed to have a tendency to make upright
men.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 327
FROST-BLIGHT.
IT is a matter of great importance that all cultivators of
fruit unite in making observations on this subject, and that
it may be done with some unity of purpose.
1. Let the examiner select trees upon which are seen
small water-shoots, that have evidently grown late in the
fall. Usually, a tuft of withered leaves will indicate them.
Examine also all the new wood which retains terminal
leaves or is winter-killed at the tips.
2. The pith will be, in apples, an iron-rust color, and in
pears greenish black or pepper color ; the inner skin will be
discolored, and the wood of a greenish, waxy appearance.
On cutting down to the point where these shoots unite with
the branch or trunk, the diseased sap will be found to have
discolored the whole neighborhood. In many cases which
we have examined, half the trunk is affected. "VVe exam-
ined a bearing pear-tree, which to the eye has not one
sign of unhealthiness, but which, , on cutting, is found
to be affected throughout, and will, undoubtedly, die in
spring.
3. Let a comparison be instituted between trees in differ-
ent circumstances.
Is there any difference between slow-growing varieties
and those which grow rapidly ?
Is there any difference between trees in cold, northern
aspects, whose sap, in autumn, would not be likely to be
excited, and those with southern aspects ?
Is there a difference between trees upon a fat clay or
rank loam of any kind, and those upon a wrarm, dry, sandv
loam. It is supposed that any causes which produce a
coarse, watery, flabby tissue in a tree, predispose it to
injury by frost, and thus to the blight; and that the fine-
ness and firmness of texture of trees growing in a sand-
loam on a gravelly subsoil give them great power of endur-
ance.
328 PLAIN AND MLBAftABT TALK
4. Let trees which arc found to be in an injured condi-
tion 1)0 marked and examined a^ain as follows:
(1.) At the Id-raking up of winter, to see if any change
of condition has taken place.
(2.) At the breaking of the bud into leaf.
(3.) At the full development of leaf and when the down-
ward current of sap is begun.
5. It is a matter of great importance to ascertain whether
the character of the season which follows such frost-injuries
as have befallen fruit-trees in this region, modifies the dis-
ease. Some think that blight will follow without regard to
the ensuing season ; others suppose that a dry, and warm
season will very much prevent the mischief; but that a
moist and warm spring and summer, will give it a fatal
development.
It is ardently to be hoped that accurate observations will
be made; and upon a large scale. We presume that it need
not be added that the exact truth of facts is the first step
toward any sound explanation ; and that our object should be
to find out facts, and then, afterward, to deduce principles.
BOILING POTATOES. — Not one housekeeper out of ten
knows how to boil potatoes properly. Here is an Irish
method, one of the best we know. Clean wash the potatoes
and leave the skin on ; then bring the water to a boil and
throw them in. As soon as boiled soft enough for a fork to
be easily thrust through them, dash some cold water into
the pot, let the potatoes remain two minutes, and then pour
off the water. This done, half remove the pot-lid, and let
the potatoes remain over a slow fire till the steam is evapo-
rated ; then peel and set them on the table in an open dish.
Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, will always be sweet,
dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it
keeps the steam in, and makes them soft and watery.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 329
SEEDLING IRUITS.
ALREADY the varieties of hardy fruits have become so
numerous, that not only can they not all be cultivated, but
the mere list of names is too bulky to be printed. Down-
ing's book gives a list of 181 apples. The London Horti-
cultural Society's Catalogue, expurgated at that, gives 900
kinds of apples, and 1,500 have been tested in the Society's
gardens. Manning's experimental grounds and nursery at
the time of his death, contained 1,000 named varieties of
the pear ! Swollen as is the list, there are scores annually
added ; many under the advice of scientific bodies ; many
have popular approbation ; many from the partialities of
some parental nurseryman ; and many come in, as evil came
into this world, no one can tell how.
It has become necessary, therefore, to exclude many from
the catalogue, and especially necessary that none should
enter without the very best passport. In the main, one set
of tests will serve, both for receiving and expurgating ; for
no matter how long a fruit has been on the list, it should be
ejected if, being out, its qualities would not gain it a fresh
admission. There are no hereditary rights, or rights of
occupancy, in poniological lists.
Titles, rank, antiquity, pedigree and other merciful means
of compensating a want of personal merit, may do for men
but not for apples. A very glorious poniological reforma-
tion broke out in the London Horticultural Society's gar-
dens at Chiswick, and that Luther of the orchard, Mr.
Thompson, has abolished an astonishing number of sine-
cures, and reformed, if not worthless rotten boroughs, verv
worthless apples and pears. The Society's first catalogue
issued in 1826. Its third catalogue was published in De-
erinher of 1842. The experience of the intervening six-
teen years led to the total rejection from their list, on the
ground of inferiority, or as" synonyms, of 600 varieties of
apples; 139 of cherries; 200 of gooseberries ; 82 of graphs,
330 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
80 of str.iu 1 . rriei ; 150 of peaches ; 200 of pears : and 150
of plums. Only hrmty-t iylit peaches an- allo\M-d to Maud ;
and only / «B str:i\\ berries out of the hundreds tliat
provrd. We have no similar society in the United
States whose authority would be generally acknowledged.
Our only resource is the diffusion of the very best fruits
that every n< -ighborhood may have a standard of compari-
son by the reduction of experience to the form of rules.
Although it is difficult to lay down general rules on this
sulijeet, there are three which may be mentioned.
1. No fruit should be admitted to the list a>t<1 mme
retained upon it, which is decidedly poor. — One would sup-
pose this truism to be superfluous as a rule. But it is only
necessary to go out into seedling orchards in any neighbor-
hood to find small, tough, and flavorless apples, which hold
their place alongside of orchards filled with choice grafted
fruit.
2. No seedling fruit should be added to the list, which
is in no respect better than those of the same period of
ripening already cultivated. — It is not enough that an
apple is nearly or quite as good as another favorite ap-
ple. It must be as good in flavor, and better in some of its
habits.
3. In testing the merits of fruit, an estimate should be
the result of a consideration of all the habits, jointly, of the
tree and of the fruit. — It, is in the application of this rule
that great experience and judgment are required. This
will be plain, if one considers how many essential particu-
lars enter into a first-rate fruit beside mere flavor.
Of two fruits equal in flavor, one may surpass the other
in tenderness of flesh, in juiciness, in delicacy of skin, and
in size. It is rare that any single fruit combines all th«-se
excellences, and therefore it is that we retain several vari-
eties, among which such properties are distributed.
There are many fruits which, having good substance and
flavor, derive their value from some single peculiarity.
AHOUT YRUITS, FLO\VEKS AND FARMING. 331
Thus a fruit may be no better than many others, but the
tree, blooming very late in spring, is seldom overtaken by
prowling and irregular frosts. Some of our best fruits have
stingy bearing-trees, or trees of very tender and delicate
habit ; and we are obliged to tolerate more hardy and pro-
lific trees with fruit somewhat inferior.
A few fruits are retained on the list because they have
the singular property of being uninjured by frosts, and
others because, though not remarkable for flavor, they are
endless keepers, of both which properties the Rawle's Jen-
netting is an example.
In fruits designed for market, beauty and abundance
must be allowed to supersede mere excellence of flavor.
Some very rich fruits are borne in such a parsimonious way
that none but amateurs can afford tree-room.
Nor are we to overlook nursery qualifications ; for, of two
fruits equally good, preference should be given to that
which will work the kindliest in the nursery. Some will
bear grafting on the root, some will not ; some take well by
budding, and grow off promptly and with force ; others
are dull and slugglish, and often reluctant to form the new
partnership. While then it will always be to the nursery-
man's interest to work such kinds as he can sell the most of
— he has a right, in so far as he directs the public judg-
ment of his neighborhood, to give a preference, among
equal fruits, to such as work the surest and strongest. It
is as much the interest of the purchaser and the public to
have the freest growing sorts, as it is the nurseryman's
interest. Thus, if another Seckle pear could be found grow-
ing on the tree of Williams' I$on Chretien, it ought to sup-
plant the old Sec kle tree, which, in spite of its incomparable
fruit, is a vexatious thing to manage; and, as often in the
case of other and fairer fruit, makes one wonder how such
amiable and beautiful daughters ever had such a surly and
crusty old father.
A pomological censor must also have regard to varieties
332 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
of taste among men, and to commercial qualities of fruit,
and to its adaptation to soil and climate.
No OIK- man Jit to make his tongue tin- monarch
over otlu-r people's tongues. Therefore, for instance, it is
none of our business, if a rugged mouth chooses to roll a
slice of the austere Vanderveer pippin, like sin, as a s\\ eel
morsel under his tongue. The mild delicacy of an apple,
which fills our mouths with admiration, would be mere insi-
pidity to all who are favored with leather mouths. So that
there must be toleration even among apple-mongers.
Nor are the humbler tests of cooking to be overlooked.
Some fruits are good eaters and poor cookers ; gome cook
well but are villainous to the taste when raw; some will
stew to a fine flavor and sweetness without sugar, and some
have remarkable jelly properties. But after the largest allow-
ance is made for taste, hardiness, keeping, prolific bearing,
color, size, texture, season, adaptation to soils, etc., etc.,
there will be found, we think, a large number of tenants in
our nurserymen's catalogues, upon whom should be instantly
served a writ of ejectment.
TIME FOR PRUNING.
WE do not believe in severe priming at any time. If a
man has the education of his orchard from the start, it is an
utter abomination to leave his trees in such a condition as
to require it. If, however, one comes into possession of a
much abused orchard, or of a seedling orchard ; or, if a
single tree is to be changed, or an old tree is to be headed
back for health's sake, then it may be necessary to prune
with a free hand. But in such cases, the change should
not bo attempted in one season, but divided between two.
There is, we suppose, a critical time in which pruning
will injure the tree. It is after the sap is in full motion, the
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 333
vegetable system impleted, but before the pores and sap
passages have acquired a contractile power. Thus, if a
grape is pruned when the buds begin to swell, the wood
does not contract, and the vine bleeds to excess. But if
pruned after the leaves are as large as the palm of the
hand, no injury ensues from cutting, for now .the sap pas-
sages contract and close speedily.
Thus if a tree be handled before or after this period, it
does not suffer ; but if pruned at, this critical state of the
wood, it will bleed, the stump part will become diseased,
probably from the relaxed state of the woody tissue, and
canker will ensue — a word indicating, we presume, simply
a state of decay, covered by or accompanied with, some
sort of fungus growth.
Pruning before this critical time, is sometimes the most
convenient. But if it be a question, at which of the two
periods is the tree in a state to suffer the least, and to
recover the soonest, we say, after it is in full leaf and wett
a-growing, viz. the last of May and the first of June. The
wood has then a contractile force, does not bleed ; the tree
is making new wood with great energy, and has therefore
a full supply of organizable matter with which promptly to
heal the wound.
Mr. O. V. Hill thus speaks in the Boston Cultivator :
" Fruit growers at the present day, are generally of the
opinion, that the proper time for pruning is the last of
May or early in June, when the tree is in full leaf and in a
vigorous, growing state. This, on many accounts, appears
to be the most suitable season, as the wounds heal much
more rapidly, the tree throws out less suckers, canker is
avoided and the sap circulates freely to every part of the
tree ; but there are some objections to pruning in the
early part of summer, which I do not recollect to have seen
noticed. Any one who is familiar with vegetable physi-
ology is aware that there is a new layer of wood and a new
layer of bark deposited every year, and that in June this
334 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
process is in active operation ; tin* newly-forming wood anil
bark are then consequently in a tender and imperfect state,
and very susceptible to injury. Standing in t lie forks of
the brandies as it is sometimes nece»ary to do in pruning,
will frequently separate the bark ami wood, especially in
young trees at this season. In grafting late in the season,
this is frequently the case ; sometimes where the ladder is
placed against a branch it will remove the bark; and in
sawing, unless the saw runs very clear, and the teeth are
fine, the same results wrill follow; if pruning is done
in June, it should be performed with the greatest cau-
tion."
The New York Farmer and Mechanic^ commenting on
the above, says:
"The best time for pruning apple-trees is, as yet, we
believe, undetermined by the most experienced orchardists,
but we are of opinion that the early part of June is, for
reasons above given by Mr. Hill, to be preferred. The
objection arising from the fear of injuring the bark of the
tree can easily be obviated by having the operator use
moccasins instead of shoes, and surrounding the upper
round of the latter with straw or flannel."
Downing says :
" We should especially avoid pruning at that period in
spring when the buds are swelling, and the sap is in full
flow, as the loss of sap by bleeding is very injurious to most
trees, and, in some, brings on a serious and incurable can-
ker in the limbs.
" There are advantages and disadvantages attending all
seasons of pruning, but our own experience has led us to
believe that, practically, a fortnight before midsummer is
by far the best season, on the whole, for pruning in the
northern and middle States. Wounds made at this season
heal over freely and rapidly ; it is the most favorable time
to judge of the shape and balance of the head, and to see at
a glance which branches require removal ; and all the stock
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 335
of organizable matter in the tree is directed to the branches
that remain."
Some of the western States are so much earlier than
t!i;ii of New York, that early June will be equivalent to the
time1 specified by Downing. We have now fortified the
opinion which we heretofore expressed, by good authority,
and by what seems to us good reasons. As it is, however,
with some, yet a debated question, we shall carefully insert
the experience of any man for or against our position.
PLUMS AND THEIR ENEMIES.
MULTITUDES of men have had pliim-trees, and every year,
for ten years, have seen the fruit promise fair at first and
then prematurely drop, without knowing the reason. Even
well-informed men have said to us that it arose from some
defect in the tree, from too much gum, from a worm at the
root, etc.
The plum-tree is very hardy; is less subject to disease
than most fruit-trees ; its fruit is highly prized ; and the
varieties of it are numerous and many of them delicious.
By a proper selection of trees a succession of fruit may be
had from July to November. The trees are usually sure
and enormous bearers, every year. With so many good
qualities the cultivation of the plum is well-nigh prohibited,
as a garden or orchard fruit, by the valor of one little bug 1
The (luri'itlio (a very hardy fellow, with :i constitution
yet unimpaired by such a name as Rhynchc&nus Nenuphar I")
is a small beetle, about a quarter of an inch long, which
attacks the plums almost as soon as the fruit has set. They
seek this, and almost all smooth-skinned fruits, as a place ol
deposit for their eggs. Many of the facts which we >hall
336 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
narrate, were mentioned to us by]\Ir. Payne of Madison,
who has closely and curiously observed this depredator.
An incision is first made, of semicircular form, by a little
rostra or lancet which he carries in his head for this very
purpose. After the opening is made, the curculio deposits
an egg therein ; then changing positions again, it carefully,
with its fore legs, secures the egg in its 7//n.
L'. The mode of ascent luis been a matter of doubt. J. J.
Thomas, in the Fruit Cidturist says: u It has the power of
using its wings in flying; but whether it crawls up the tree
or ascends by flight, appears not to be certainly ascer-
tained."
Downing admits that it flics, but says, "How far this
insci-t ilies is yet a disputed point, some cultivators affirm-
ing that it scarcely goes further than a single tree,
and others believing that it flies over a whole neighbor-
hood."
Kenrick says : " They crawl up trees," and he quotes an
author as saying : " That of two trees standing so near each
other as to touch, the fruit of one has been destroyed and
the other has escaped ; so little and so reluctantly do these
insects incline to use their wings." Dr. James Tilton says,
in the " Domestic Encyclopedia," that " they appear very
reluctant to use their wings, and perhaps never employ
them but when necessity compels them to migrate."
It is true that the curculio, in cold and chilly weather, is
disinclined to fly ; but give it a right murderously hot day,
and "McGregor's on his native heath again." Just before,1
a thunder storm, in summer, in a still, sultry, sweltering
day, they may be seen flying among the trees as blithely as
any house-fly; alighting on your arm, or hand, and spring-
ing oil* again as nimbly as a flea.
All remedies founded on the idea of their crawling pre-
ferences will be signal failures. Troughs about trees, bats
of wool, bandages of all kinds about the trunk to impede
the ascent will be found as useful as would high fences to
keep crows from a cornfield, or birds from the garden.
All remedies for this pest succeed to a charm where the
cuivulio does not abound; and almost everyone of them
fails in places really infested them.
In cities, and in country places which are far removed
15
338 I'l.MN AM> Pl.KASANT TALK
t'roni all orchards <•»' gardens, the crops may IK- saved. It
is not ditlicuit to dcicnd a tree against all the eurculios tliat
are ?>rul ttjxiH if. Pavements; bard-rolled gravel; ^athor-
iiiLC up, daily, the fallen plums and destroying them; the
application of salt, and many oilier remedies may succeed
where the curculio from other gardens or orchards cannot
easily migrate to supply the trees with a fresh brood.
Trees in cities, and in retired places, on this account, often
bear plenteously.
But of what use is it to destroy five hundred larva-, if
twice that number of emigrants, from some other quarter,
are anxious, the next spring, to squat upon your trees, or
to enter them, in land-office style, most nefariously 'i All
remedies founded on the destruction of the larvoj will bo
totally useless if your trees can be reached from some
infected point abroad, as we have found to our sorrow. In
our own experience, and in that of other amateur-cultivators
of fruit, the pavement, salt, and all have been " love's labor
lost." But in the experience of others, in climates where
the curculio does not abound, or in secluded situations, they
have proved effectual.
The remedies to be employed, in ordinary cases, im;
such as will constantly molest the insect at his work.
Inclosures, in which swine root, and rub against the i
lanes, where cattle resort, to rub off their hair in spring, to
shade themselves in summer — these are the best situations.
In yards and gardens plum-trees should be placed upon the
most frequented paths; close to the well, by the kitchen
door, near the wood-house, so that, as often as possible,
they may be jarred in passing and repassing.
Where a few trees stand apart in the garden, it is said
that, daily, morning and evening, by spreading a sheet
under them, and giving the tree a sudden and violent blow
with a mallet, the insects will drop and may then be
irathi'ivd and destroyed. This should be performed while
it is cool, as then, only, the curculio is somewhat torpid. II
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 339
this course is pursued, a block should be put upon the tree,
to receive the stroke, with a bit of carpet or some soft pad
to it, that the bark may not be injured. A white sheet
should be spread under the tro3 to catch the falling
robber.
A few trees will suffice for a private family, and the fruit
must be earned by careful watchfulness. Those who are
too indolent, or careless, or indifferent to the luxury to
bestow the requisite attention through the months of May
and June, may spare themselves the trouble of planting
plum-trees. Plum orchards are not to be thought of.
Although the curculio chiefly delights in the plum, it
scruples at no fruit. It may be found upon peaches, cher-
ries, nectarines, apricots, gooseberries and currants.
ROOT GRAFTING.
WHILE nothing can be done out of doors in the nursery,
the process of root grafting may be carried on, and the
stock be ready for setting as soon as the grounds are open
in spring.
When this method of grafting is employed with discretion,
it greatly aida the nurseryman. It is a resource in case he
cannot procure stocks to bud or graft upon ; it makes finer
and handsomer trees ; and it can be carried on at a season
of leisure; and the scions, being early in the ground, have
a longer season of growth by two months than buds, or
.irtli nary grafts.
Although any healthy root with some fibres will answer
to graft upon, yet experienced nurserymen prefer the tap
roots of young seedling stocks. Those who have apple and
pear stocks which are to be removed, should employ the
open weather of winter to raise them. The tap roots may
340 PLAIN AND Tl. HAS A. NT TALK
be taken for grafting purposes and the stocks put away in
collars, or buried in the ground.
We do not know that there is any difference in favor of
the root of one variety over another; but it will not do to
propagate every variety of fruit by this method. Exjieii-
ence has shown that souio sorts do better by root grafting
than in any other way; but other kinds are very apt to
be winter-killed ; and some varieties have such a straggling
habit of growth, that it would be extremely difficult to train
them to a good head; and such sorts, therefore, require to
be budded or grafted high up on good stocks.
The roots being washed, are cut into four or five inch
pieces; and the scions prepared as for ordinary grafting.
Splice, or tongue grafting is the most convenient method.
Woollen yarn, cut to ten or twelve inches' length, is wound
around it closely at the point of junction. Let the grafting
wax be kept in a melted state, by being put in a pan, over
a few coals. Holding the work over the pan, with a spoon
pour a portion of the liquid all over the yarn ; it hardens
immediately, and the whole may be set in rows in a box
and covered above the point of union with moist sand,
and kept in a cellar till it is tune to turn them out in the
THE cherry, plum, pear and apple trees, in a diseased
condition, will often throw up numerous and thrifty
sprouts that will offer to an inexperienced cultivator invit-
ing temptations to multiply his stock at a rapid rate
with little labor. If he be deceived by these appearances,
and propagate his valuable kinds upon these diseased
growths, his efforts will ultimately result in his disappoint-
ment.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 341
BLIGHT AND INSECTS.
IN an article on employing suckers of fruit-trees for
stocks, which we shall copy, Dr. Kirtland says :
" The practice of grafting and budding pears upon this
quality of stocks has extended a diseased action, a kind of
canker among our pear orchards, that has, in some instances,
la-en mistaken for bliyht^ a disease that has its origin in the
depredations of a minute coleopterous insect, which has
been satisfactorily described in all its stages of transforma-
tion by Dr. Harris, and other Massachusetts entomologists."
That the fire-blight is, to any considerable* extent any-
where, but especially at the West, occasioned by an insect,
is an idea, we believe, totally unsupported by facts. That
some injury has been done by the scolytus pyri, the invest!
gations of Mr. Lowell and Professoi Peck leave no room tc
doubt. But we are not satisfied that, even in these cases,
they were the cause of the blight^ but only an accidental
concomitant. Did Mr. Lowell or Piofessor Peck always
find this beetle upon blighted trees? Was it found in
very blighted limb ? Did not blight occur without these
insects? Has any one of New Englani since found the
blight to proceed from the gnawings of this beetle ?
Has any one found this beetle before the blight occurred
at its mischievous work, or is it only after the blight is seen
that the beetle is found ? If the scolytus pyri has been found
only after the tree is thoroughly affected, there is reason to
suppose that it did not come until after the disease had pre-
pared the way for it.
We are seriously skeptical of this alleged cause. What-
ever may be true of the blight at the East, the blight in the
Wrst is unquestionably not an effect of the scolytus pyri.
We have examined with the utmost pains, multitudes of
trees in all soils — several of our shrewdest nurserymen have
searched year by year, and we have, unfortunately, had too
much opportunity and too many subjects, and yet no in>. < t
342 PLAIN AN'D PLEASANT TALK
or insect-track has been detected, except those which have
attacked the tree in consequence of the blight.
To be sure, we can find bugs, black, brown, green and
irrey, but the mere presence of an insect is nothing, though
with many, it seems enough, when a tree is blighted, if a
bug is found on it, to determine the parentage of the mis-
chief. Nor do the published accounts of insects, found on
blighted trees, increase our respect for this theory. The
observations seem to have been not thorough enough, and
not carefully made, and the reasonings even less philo-
sophical. Men have searched for a theory rather than for
the mere facts in the case. But by far the greatest num-
ber of those who write, give no evidence of relying upon
any observations which they have themselves made, but go
back perpetually to the old precedents, Mr. Lowell and
Professor Peck, without being at any pains to verify them.
Has Dr. Kirtland ever found the scolytus pyri f Has he
ever, in time of extensive blight, found it under such cir-
cumstances as to satisfy his mind that it was the real cause
of fire-blight ? or does he rest satisfied that blight is occa-
sioned by an insect simply because so it is set down in good
books ? The canker may be mistaken for blight by those
who have not been acquainted with either ; but surely, no
one who lias ever attentively examined one real case of fire-
blight would ever mistake it for anything else, or anything
else for it.
The insect theory we regard as wholly untenable except
for special, local, peculiar ravages which are not properly
blights. The blight is a disease of the circulation. It
affects every tissue of the plant. It is not a disease from
exhaustion of sap by the suction of aphides, as Dr. Mosher,
of Cincinnati, supposed, for the trees have a plethora rather
than scarcity of sap ; it lacerates the sap-vessels, bursts the
bark, flows down the branches, and dries in globules upon
the trunk. On cutting the tree, if the blight is yet new,
the texture of the alburnum will be found to resemble what
Ai;orr FKIITS, FI.OWMKS AND FA K.MING. 343
is called a water-core in the apple, its color is of a dirty
greenish hue, soon changing by exposure to brown and
black. But if the blight is old, the wood is of a dingy
white, the alburnum, colored like iron rust, and the bark of a
brownish black. These appearances are incompatible with
any idea of exhaustion by the gnawing of the scotytus pyri,
or the suction of aphides, which would result in mere shrink
ing of parts, dryness and death. If insects have a hand ii.
the mischief, it is by the secretion of poison, of which fact,
we have never seen the trace of proof, although it has often
been suggested, and is by some empyrically asserted. To
our minds the insect-poison-theory is imaginary. It is
entirely convenient to refer every excrescence, or shrinking
of parts, every watery suffusion, wart, discoloration, crump-
ling leaf, wilting, etc., to poison, and still more convenient
to find the insect so atomic that it cannot be found, and thus
to heap the multiform sins of the orchard on the scape-goat
uf a hypothetical insect.
As to electricity, as no one knows anything about this
elemental sprite, his out-goings or in-comings, we are like to
have acted over again all the caprices of witch-times, when
elves and gnomes cut up every prank imaginable, and when
any prank, which was cut up, of course was performed by
them. Everybody is agog about electricity. But we
respectfully suggest that it is one thing to ascertain facts
by cautious, guarded experiments or careful observation,
and quite another to set down everything, which one does
not know what else to do with, to electricity, simply becau-r
it may be so for aught that we know to the contrary.
People reason somewhat in this wise ; electricity performs
a vast number of very mysterious operations, therefore,
every operation which is mysterious is performed by elec-
1 1 it-it y. We believe electricity to have something to do
with it, only because it seems to have concern with every
living, growing thing.
We believe that the blight is, in all cases, the effect of
3-M PLAIN AM> IM.I:Aut little selection. Melons, squashes, and eueum-
bers should bo onllod, or better yet, bo put into water; only
which sink promptly should bo used, the swimming
and floating ones being light and trashy. Beans are apt to
be imperfect. We have usually found occasion to reject full
one-third of every quart, for seedsmen are apt to put in
every seed that grows, whether they will ever grow again
or not. There is no dishonesty certainly in this ; but if one
would habitually screen or select, and put up only the very
choicest, he would ultimately get a higher price, and secure
for his seed a universal demand.
2. SOAKING SEEDS. — Some seeds will not germinate for a
long period, unless they are artificially brought forward
Locust seeds are scalded before planting. Peas are scalded
to kill the bug, when thus inhabited. The cypress vine seed
require soaking to induce a quick germination. Celery
seed is very sluggish unless soaked.
Seeds are often steeped in prepared liquids to force their
growth. Old seeds, whose powers of germination are much
diminished, are made to vegetate by being put into a weak
solution of oxalic acid. Wheat is pickled in salt brine, then
rolled in lime, as a preventive of smut.
Corn is protected from worms by copperas water ; and
peas are put into train oil to guard them from moles and
mice. Tanner's oil, and a solution of saltpetre are often
used ; the first for turnip-seed, to protect them from a
destructive insect ; and the latter for all seeds, as a stimu-
lant to their growth and to guard against worms and IMILTS.
Some excitement was made in Scotland, not long ago, by
the great effects alleged to have been produced by so pre-
paring seeds that they would contain in or on themselves all
those fertilizing qualities usually looked for in the soil. It
is possible, by employing chemical mixtures, or coatings, to
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 353
make the seed germinate with great vigor, and to establish
itself strongly; but we do not suppose any process can l»e
made to reach beyond this. No mere soaking or coating
can extend its influence through the whole growth of the
crop.
When seeds are soaked they anticipate the weeds in com-
ing up, especially seeds planted in May and June, and this
i- a very important object, as crops are, often, almost smoth-
ered with weeds before they are large enough to be we
SOWING FLOWER SEEDS— TRANSPLANTING.
MANY flower-seeds require no more skill in planting than
do peas or beans, for they are as large and as easily ger-
minated. But very many are small, and some extremely
small, and if planted too deeply, they will not shoot, or
will shoot very feebly.
Select a free-working and rich piece of ground — a sandy
loam is best, and a stiff clay the worst — let it be spaded
deeply, incorporating very thoroughly-rotted manure, i. e.
manure full two years old and which will crumble in the
hand as fine as sand. With a fine-toothed rake reduce every
lump and bring the surface to the finest state of pulveriza-
tion. If the seed is very small, it had better be mixed
with a little sand, or dry soil, to increase the bulk. The
sowing will be easier and more equal. Scatter the seed
upon the bed ; then with the hands or a fine garden sieve,
sift fresh and mellow earth upon it from a quarter to half an
inch in depth. To bring the earth compactly about the
seed, spat the bed with moderate strokes with the back of a
spade. If the weather is very dry, water the bed at evening
with :i watering-pot — to pour it from a pail or cup would
wasli up the surface. Keep the plants from weeds, and
when they are one or two inches high, they may be trans.
354 PLAIN AN,> PLEASANT TALK
planted to tlie places when.1 they are to stand. Balsams,
larkspurs, poppies, and, indeed, most ilo\vers do better by
{•ciiiLT transplanted. Tlui operation checks the luxuriance
of the plant, and increases its tendency to flower.
Sometimes seeds are planted where they are to remain;
the treatment is precisely the same as before, except they
are thinned out instead of transplanted. No mistake is
more frequent, among inexperienced gardeners, than that
of suffering too many plants to stand together. One is re-
luctant to pull up fine thriving plants ; or he does not reflect
that what may seem room enough while the plant is young,
will.be very scanty when it is grown.
There is much taste to be displayed in arranging flowers
in a garden so that proper colors shall be contrasted. It is
important that proper colors should be matched in a gar-
den, as on a dress.
PARLOR-PLANTS AND FLOWERS IN WINTER.
THE treatment of house plants is very little understood,
although the practice of keeping shrubs and flowers during
the winter is almost universal. It is important that the
physiological principles on which success depends should
be familiarly understood; and then cultivators can apply
them with success in all the varying circumstances in which
they may be called to act.
Two objects are proposed in taking plants into the house
— either simple protection, or the development of their
foliage and flowers, during the winter. The same treat-
ment will not do for both objects. Indeed, the gn
number of persons of our acquaintance, treat their winter
plants, from which they desire flowers, as if they onlv
wished to preserve them till spring ; and the consequence
Ls, that they have very little enjoyment in their favorites.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 355
HOUSE PLANTS DESIGN Kl> SIMPLY TO STAND OVKK.
Tender roses, azaleas, cape jasmins, crape myrtles, or-
anges, lemons, figs, oleanders, may be kept in a light cellar
if frost never penetrates it.
If kept in parlors, the following are the most essential
points to be observed. The thermometer should never be
permitted to rise above sixty degrees or sixty-five degree* ;
nor at night to sink below forty degrees. Although plants
will not be frost-bitten until the mercury falls to thirty-two
degrees, yet the chill of a temperature below forty degrees
will often be as mischievous to tender plants as frost itself.
Excessive heat, particularly a dry stove heat, will destroy
the leaves almost as certainly as frost. We have seen plants
languishing in a temperature of seventy degrees (it often
rising ten degrees higher), while the owners wondered what
could ail the plants, for they were sure that they kept the
room warm enough !
Next, great care should be taken not to overwater. Plants
which are not growing require very little water. If given,
the roots become sogged, or rotten, and the whole plant is
enfeebled. Water should never be suffered to stand in the
saucers ; nor be given, always, when the top-soil is dry.
Let the earth be stirred, and when the interior of the ball
is becoming dry, give it a copious supply; let it drain
through thoroughly, and turn off what falls into the saucer.
PLANTS DESIGNED FOE WINTER FLOWERING.
It is to be remembered that the winter is naturally the
season of rest for plants. All plants require to lie dormant
during some portion of the year. You cannot cheat them
out of it. If they are pushed the whole year they become
exhausted and worthless. Here lies the most common error
of plant-keepers. If you mean to have roses, blooming
geraniums, etc., in winter, you must,
850 PLAIN A\D PLKASANT TALK
their season of rest. Plants which flower in summer must
IVM in winter; those \\hich arc to flower in winter must
rest either in summer or autumn. It is not, usually, worth
while to take into the house for flowering purposes any
shrub which has been in full bloom during the summer or
autumn. Select and pot the wished-for flowers during sum-
mer; place them in a shaded position lacing the north, give
very little water, and then keep them quiet. Their ener-
gies will thus be saved for winter. When taken into the
house, the four essential points of attention are light,
moisture, temperature, and cleanliness.
1. LIGHT. — The functions of the leaves cannot be health-
fully carried on without light. If there be too little, the
sap is imperfectly elaborated, and returns from the leaves to
the body in a crude, undigested state. The growth will be
coarse, wratery, and brittle ; and that ripeness which must
precede flowers and fruit cannot be attained. The sprawl-
ing, spindling, white-colored, long-jointed, plants, of which
some persons are unwisely proud, are, often the result of
too little light and too much water. The pots should be
turned around every day, unless when the light strikes
down from above, or from windows on each sic\e ; other-
wise, they will grow out of shape by bending toward the
light.
2. MOISTURE. — Different species of plants require differ-
ent quantities of water. What are termed aquatics, of
which the Calla ^Ethiopica, is a specimen, require great
abundance of it. Yet it should be often changed even in
the case of aquatics. But roses, geraniums, etc., and the
common house plants require the soil to be moist, rather
than wet. As a general rule it may be said that every pot
should have one-sixth part of its depth filled with coarse
pebbles, as a drainage, before the plants are potted. This
gives all superfluous moisture a free passage out. Plants
should be watered by examination and not by time. They
require various quantities of moisture, according to their
AHOUT FUl'lTS, FLOW KIM AND FAKMIXG. 3o?
activity, and the period of their growth. Let the earth be
well stirred, and if it is becoming dry on the inside, give
water. Never water by dribblets — a spoonful to-day,
another to-morrow. In this way the outside will become
bound, and the inside remain dry. Give a copious watering,
so that the whole ball shall be soaked ; then let it drain off,
and that which comes into the saucer be poured off. But?
in whatever way one prefers to give water, the tiling to be
gained is a full supply of moisture to every part of the
roots, and yet not so much as to have it stand about them.
3 [an nre- water may be employed with great benefit every
second or third watering. For this purpose we have never
found anything of value equal to guano. Besides water to
the root, plants are almost as much benefited by water on
the leal — but of this we shall speak under the head of
cleanliness.
3. TEMPERATURE. — Sudden and violent changes of tem-
perature are almost as trying to plants as to animals and
men. At the same time, a moderate change of tempera-
ture is very desirable. Thus, in nature, there is a marked
and uniform variation at night from the temperature of the
day. At night, the room should be gradually lowered in
temperature to from forty-five degrees to fifty degrees, while
through the day it ranges from fifty-five degrees to seventy
degrees. Too much, and too sudden heat will destroy
tender leaves almost as surely as frost. It should also be
remembered that the leaves of plants are constantly exhal-
ing moisture during the day. If in too warm an atmos-
phere, or in one which is too dry, this perspiration becomes
excessive and weakens the plant. If the room be stove-
heated, a basin of water should be put on the stove to sup-
ply moisture to the air by evaporation. Sprinkling the
leaves, a kind of artificial dew, is also beneficial, on this
account. The air should be changed as often as possible.
Every warm and sunny day should be improved to let in
fresh air upon these vegetable breathers.
PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
1. (."i.ii.xM.iNKss. — This is nil important element of health
•II as of l>oauty. At<(tit>!l-ivcd. If ground-worms have been incorporated with
the dirt, sed in this respect than in the removal of fruit-trees;
indeed, there is little risk when good roots are obtained and
kept in a moist condition. In planting, the most successful
operators that we have seen, mix about half and half com
368 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
mon soil and old rotten wood from the forests, filling it in
can-fully about the roots and covering the surface with sub-
stances \\hieh will prevent too much evaporation of mois-
ture, as litter, di-i-ayed wood, sods grass side down, etc.,
etc
The old wood employed should be thoroughly decom-
; : ::nd that of the hackberry, maple, and beech are
preferred. The decayed wood of the black walnut and oak
do not seem congenial to plants.
When large trees are to be removed it is often done with
success in the winter, by opening a trench about the tree
and permitting the ball of earth to freeze pretty thoroughly.
The tree is then undermined and upon a sledge easily
removed to its destination. The hole for its reception
should have been dug while the ground was unfrozen, and
it will be necessary to wait until it thaws before it can again
be filled in about the tree.
FLOWERS, LADIES AND ANGELS.
IF ladies wish to get into the very best company pos-
sible, we do not know of any pleasanter way than is detailed
in this beautiful scrap from a German poet :
A flower do but place near thy window glass,
And through it no image of evil shall pass.
Abroad must thou go ? on thy white bosom wear
A nosegay, and doubt not an angel is there ;
Forget not to water at break of the day
The lilies, and thou shalt be fairer than they ;
Place a rose near thy bed nightly sentry to keep,
And angels shall rock thee on roses to sleep.
And pray what will happen if a gentleman does all this ?
For one, we have a personal curiosity to know ; for we do
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 369
all these things and a good many more. If any other
angels have hovered about us than angelic flowers, we make
an especial request to them not, hereafter, to be so shy
about it. Our natural eye would delight to behold in
veritable substance all the flower-spirits which our ideality
spies lurking in our garden-blossoms.
HORTICULTURAL CURIOSITIES.
MR. Ho VET, editor of the magazine which bears his name,
had occasion during the year 1844 to visit Europe, for pro-
fessional objects; "not the least was that of giving some
account of the condition of gardening in that country, from
whose works, whose practice, and experience, our own cul-
tivators have derived so much knowledge."
We cull from the several numbers already published in
his magazine, the most interesting facts.
RHODODENDRONS. — Speaking of the Liverpool botanical
gardens, he says :
" The principal clumps were filled with rhododendrons of
various kinds, which do remarkably well ; the climate, from
its humidity, seems to suit them, and most of the plants
were clothed with branches from the base to the top. R.
altaclerense we saw six feet high; how fine must be its
numerous clusters of splendid rosy blossoms \ From the
time we entered this garden, where we first saw the rhodo-
dendrons in abundance, until we returned home, we were
constantly impressed with the importance which this shrub
is destined to hold in our gardens. Although a native of
our woods and forests, it is scarcely known out of our native
habitats ; yet abroad we see it the first ornament of the
garden. By hybridization, and the production of an
immense number of seedlings, during the last fifteen years,
it has been increased in splendor, until it now .almost equals
16*
370 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
its tender, but gorgeous eastern sisters. How long shall
our gardens be iK-lii-ii-nt in tlii^ «jivat ornament?"
FUCHSIAS, OB LADIES' EARDROP. — Nothing will be more
surprising to those who have cultivated this beautiful plum,
and thought it well grown if a foot high, and brilliant if a
dozen blossoms showed at once, than the magnificent size
and flowering of Fuchsias as seen in England.
At the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Mr. Hovey saw the
Fuchsias globosa major, upwards of twenty feet high, the
stem, at the base, being two inches through ! Its drooping
branches were clothed with thousands of flowers ; another
variety, "called Youngii grandiflora was also twenty feet
high, and equally strong, with innumerable flowers: this
plant was only seven years old. It is almost impossible for
those who have never seen specimens more than four or
five feet high, to imagine the great beauty of such gigantic
plants; notwithstanding their size they were well grown,
being of symmetrical shape, and with vigorous and healthy
foliage ; they were planted in very large tubs, about two
feet deep and two feet in diameter.
"The splendid F.fulgem and corymbiflora we also saw
here upward of ten feet high, and full of their showy
flowers."
The Regent's Park Garden occasions the following
remarks :
" Fuchsia globosa was, perhaps, as beautiful as anything
which we saw for this subject. There is an opinion pre-
valent that fuchsias in our climate do not do well in the
open border ; but we suspect such an idea has been pre-
maturely formed without experience, for we recollect seeing
in the garden of Mr. Johnson, of Lynn, three years ago,
plants, which were then in profuse bloom, and had been so
all summer, turned out of the pots into the soil ; the proba-
bility is that the plants have not been abundant enough to
give a fair trial. As they are easily propagated, ami m.iv
be sold almost as cheap as verbenas, we hope to hear of
ABOUT FRUITS, ii.<.\vi;;;s AND FARMING. 371
experiments being tried to test their capability of enduring
our warm sun."
At Ch is wick Mr. Hovey saw the original tree of Wil-
liams' Bon Chretien pear (the Bartlett of Boston gardens).
It was hale and healthy.
TULIPS. — Mr. H. visited Mr. Groom, at Clapham ; u pre-
pa rat ions were making for planting out the great collection
of tulips in October. For this flower Mr. Groom is fam»us ;
he has raised several very splendid seedlings, some of which
are priced as high as Jive hundred dollars, and a great num-
ber at one hundred dollars each (£21 sterling). It would
seem to those who know little of the tulip that this was
something of a tulip mania ; but the tulip is a most gorgeous
flower, and when once a love for it takes possession of the
amateur, and he obtains a knowledge of its properties, there
is scarce anything he would not sacrifice to obtain the
choicest kinds. In England, there are many collections
valued at thousands of pounds. In this country the tulip is
but little valued, and a "bed of the most common kind
attracts nearly as many admirers as one of the choicest and
high-priced flowers."
DWARF PEAR-TREES. — "The garden is laid out with
numerous walks, and the borders of them were filled with
bearing trees. They were from six to ten feet high, trained
in pyramidal form, and many of them full of fruit. This
mode of growing trees appears to be universally adopted
around Paris; we scarcely saw a standard tree. The
advantages of the pyramidal or quenouille form are, that, in
gardens of moderate extent only, a collection of two or
three hundred kinds may be cultivated ; they occupy but
little room, being placed about six feet apart, and being
pruned in, they do not throw sufficient shade to injure any-
thing growing near them. They afford greater facilities
for examining the fruit while growing, and for picking it
when ripe ; the trees are not so much shaken by high winds,
and the large kind of pears do not so easily blow off: the
:'T2 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
facilities for making observations upon the wood and leaves,
are also greater; and, as regards appearance alone, they
are, when well managed, far more beautiful than standard*.
To those who wish to plant out large quantities for orchard
cultivation, they would not, of course, be recommended;
but for the garden, the pyramidal form should be
•dopted.91
ALPINE STRAWBERRY. — This variety is especially valu-
able from its propensity to bear all the summer. At the
gardens of the Luxembourg, Paris, Mr. Hovey says :
" The Alpine strawberry is cultivated very extensively
for the supply of the royal tables throughout the whole
summer and autumn, and one-quarter was devoted to this
fruit ; the plants were set out in long rows, with alternate
plantations of dahlias, which were now in most profuse
bloom ; a great many of them were the fancy sorts, which
are greatly admired and extensively cultivated in and
around Paris. One of the finest we saw was the Bc-auty
of England, purple tipped with white ; and every flower
distinctly marked. The strawberries are set out in August
or September, and the following season produce abundantly;
or they may be raised from seed in the spring, and planted
out to bear a crop in the autumn. A moist soil and half
shady aspect is most favorable, and, in our climate, to
expect success, such a locality should be selected if possible ;
an abundance of fruit may then be expected. The best
berries were as large as the finest Woods we generally see
in our market. We recommend all who love this delicious
fruit to try the experiment of their cultivation. Such pro-
fusion as we saw them exposed for sale in the cafes of Paris,
shows that there can be no great difficulty in the way of
success."
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 373
THE CORN CROP.
THE valleys of the West are regarded as the corn-fields
of the world, and the people seem to regard the crop of
corn as the foundation crop. Lately wheat is becoming a
rival, particularly in the northern part of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Our real object, is, not to
theorize, — to teach " book fanning" — but to lay before prac-
tical men practical results, to inform them of what has been
done. We give on page 382 the method of cultivating the
potato as employed by eminent and successful cultivators.
We here present the modes of cultivating corn which have
produced the largest crops.
W. C. YOUNG'S METHOD. — Mr. Young is a Kentucky
farmer, and raised 1 95 bushels of shelled corn to the acre.
When this was first published it quite staggered the faith of
eastern farmers. This roused the zeal of Kentucky, and
the Dollar Farmer sets forth the manner, and adds a series
of explanations, all of which we give. We must say, that
such a depth, for seed on stiff soils — on any soil except
the lightest and mellowest, and on these, in a cool or rainy
spring, would not be proper. Neither could planting be
done in March in the latitudes of Indiana unless in the
southern part, and then only in early seasons. That
Mr. Young did produce 195 bushels to, the acre, we feel just
as certain as that we now hold a pen in our hand. It was
measured by as respectable gentlemen as any in Jessamine
County — gentlemen appointed for the purpose by the Jes-
samine Agricultural Society. And let it be remembered
that this was no first experiment on a single acre. The
com was planted and cultivated according to the method
long adopted by Mr. Young, and his whole crop was pro-
nounced equal to the five acres measured. This extraordi-
nary crop was produced in 1840, a ^ear very favorable to
corn ; but we are told by Mr. Young that in the dryest
years he does not get less than 100 bushels to the acre.
374 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Here then is not " book farming," but a method of cultiva-
tion practised for years by a plain, practical, but intelligent
fanner. Here then is actual ex pcrinice for a course of ycar>,
the very tiling the fanner says he must have before he can be
convinced! But, reader, arc you convinced ? No. You can
not get round the experience, provided it was experience,
and yon will take a short way of evading the matter by sim-
ply saying that you don't believe a word of the whole story.
Strange as it may seem, these worthy farmers that
go so strong for facts and experience, and who yet deny
all iacts and all experience that do not tally with their
own notions — these veiy farmers are' fond of arguing, and
like mightily to have the reason or rationale of things
explained; and many a one of them will yield to the theory
who will not yield to a fact. Well, then, let us look into
the theory of Mr. Y.'s practice. Hear him :
" My universal rule is, to plow my corn land the fall pre-
ceding the spring when I plant ; and as early in the spring
as possible, I cross-plow as deep as circumstances will per-
mit ; and as soon as this is done, I commence checking off —
the first way with my large plows, and the second with my
small ones ; the checks three feet by three, admitting of
working the land both ways. And then I plant my corn
from the 20th to the 25th of March — a rule to which I adhere
with scrupulous exactness ; planting from eight to twelve
grains in each hill, covering the same from four to six
inches deep, greatly preferring the latter depth. So soon
as my corn is up of sufficient height, I start the large har-
row directly over the rows, allowing a horse to walk each
side ; harrowing the way the corn was planted ; and on
land prepared as above and harrowed as directed, the hoe-
ing part will be so completely performed by this process,
th:i« it will satisfy the most skeptical. Then, allowing the
corn thus harrowed, to remain a few days, I start my small
plow with the bar next the corn ; and so nicely will this be
done, that when a row is thus plowed, so completely will
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 375
the intermediate spaces, hills, etc., be lapped in by the
loose earth, occasioned by this system of close plowing, as
to render any other work useless for a time. I thin to four
stalks upon a hill, never having to transplant, the second
plowing being performed with the moldboard toward the
rows of corn ; and so rapid has been the growth of the corn
between the first and second plowings, that this is per-
formed with ease ; and when in this stage, I consider my
crop safe — my general rule being, never to plow my corn
more than four times, and harrow once. My practice is, to
put a field in corn two successive years, then grass it, and
let it lie eight years — a rule from which I never deviate.
Now, I do not pretend that the labor bestowed upon a sod-
field to put it in a state of thorough cultivation, does not
meet with a fair equivalent from one crop ; but I presume
no farmer will doubt when I say the second year's crop
from sod land is better than the first, with not more than one
half the labor. The best system of farming is to produce the
greatest amount of profit from the smallest amount of labor."
Now what are the essentials of this method ?
First — Fertility of soil, kept up by his system of manur-
ing and grass, of which we shall not speak.
Second — Early planting. In consequence of this, the
corn matures before the dry season commences, and every
farmer knows that plenty of rain will make a good crop of
corn in almost any soil. They all know that the essential
thing* for corn is rain, and there is generally plenty of rain
till about the 1st of July. Mr. Young might plant his corn
considerably later and have it come up as early, and grow
off more rapidly, by soaking it in a solution of saltpetre.
Thus would the effect of frost and chilly mornings be in a
degree avoided, while we feel confident, from our own expe-
rience, all injury from the cut-worm would be avoided.
Third — Close planting. Every farmer must know that
to produce the heaviest possible crop, a certain number of
stalks must be upon the ground. It is often observed that
376 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
the great sin of American agriculture is too thin sowing.
Grass is nearly always sowed too thin, and the same is true
of small grain. In England they sow four and five and
sometimes six bushels of oats to the acre; in this country
generally not more than a bushel or a bushel and a half.
Hence in England they yield three or four times as heavy as
in this country ; while in this country we never hear of an
extraordinary crop where less than three or four bushels
to the acre were sown. Now, we venture to ailirm that no
very large corn crop was ever grown unless it was planted
more than usually thick. In the crop of George W. Wil-
liams, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, the com was planted in
rows two feet apart, with a stalk every foot in the rows.
This crop produced 167 bushels to the acre. But there is
another important advantage of close planting. The com
very soon becomes so dense that the ground is shaded, and
the growth of the grass is prevented, and the moisture
retained in the soil. By this method of cultivation, no
grass is ever allowed to absorb the moisture from the earth,
or to take up the nutritious gases which ought to be appro-
priated exclusively to the corn.
Fourth — Deep planting. This probably operates favor-
ably by giving the roots a bedding where the soil is always
moist. Another advantage may be that the roots are thus
not so liable to be broken by the plow in cultivation. But it
must be here noted, that by Mr. Young's methed, the corn
is " laid by " before the roots are so extended as to be liable
to much injury from the plow.
Fifth and last — It will be observed that, by Mr. Young's
method, the soil is kept very friable and loose, and that to
a considerable depth. This may be considered the all-
essential point in husbandry. One of the chief advantages
of all majmres is, so to divide the soil that the atmos-
phere, from which plants derive their principal nutri-
ment, may freely penetrate to the roots of the plants. In
such a loose soil, too, it is well known that much less rain is
• ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 377
requisite than in a stiff, cold, close soil. For this reason,
gravel, sand, or sawdust is often the best manure that can
U | Mil IIJMIH a stiff soil. In the full of the year, Mr. Young
turns down very deep a thick-rooted sod of eight years'
standing. The vegetable matter in the sod will obviously
keep the soil very loose for a year or two by mechanical
division, as well as by the slow fermentation of this matter
in the soil. But this is not all. The soil is deeply broken
up before planting ; it is harrowed thoroughly as soon as
the corn comes up, and then there is a rapid succession of
plowing, until the ground is shaded by the corn, and plow-
ing is no longer possible or necessary. "No doubt the
plow is preferable to the hand-hoe or cultivator in the case
of Mr. Young ; for it makes the soil loose to a greater
depth, and we have already explained that, according to
his method, the roots of the corn are not exposed to injury
from the plow.
We append to this account of Mr. Young's method, that
of several other cultivators, and are indebted for them to the
Western Farmer and Guardian. In Mr. Miller's account
the reader will observe the depth of planting in a stiff clay.
MR. SUTTON'S METHOD. — Mr. James M. Sutton, of
St. George, Delaware, who raised upon seventy-nine acres
6,284 bushels of com, and who gives an accurate and
detailed account of the condition and cultivation of each
field, makes this remark in relation to the use of the plow :
" In order to test the advantage of the cultivator over
the plow, for tilling corn, he nad five rows in this field that
he lapped the furrow to, with a plow, previous to going
over it the last tune with the cultivator. He soon dis-
covered that the growth of these five rows fell short, in
height, of those adjacent, and yielded one-fifth less com.
" There is no doubt but the true mode of tilling corn,
especially where sod-ground is used, is to plow deep, and
use nothing but the fallow and flake-harrow for its cultiva-
tion. By not disturbing the sod plowed down, it remains
378 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
there as a reservoir of moisture, and an exhilarating prin-
ciple throughout the season, to the growth of the corn."
Upon Mr. Button's report of his crop, Judge Buel adds
the following :
" The management which led to the extraordinary pro-
duct of corn, should be deeply impressed upon the mind of
every corn-grower. 1, The ground was WELL dunged with
LONG manure ; 2, it was planted on a grass lay, one deep
plowing; 3, it was well pulverized with the harrow; 4,
the plow was not used in the after-culture, nor the corn
hilled, but the cultivator only used ; 5, the sod was not
disturbed, nor the manure turned to the surface ; and 6,
the corn was cut at the ground when it was fit to top.
These are the points which we have repeatedly urged in
treating of the culture of this crop ; and their correctness
is put beyond question by this notable result. The value of
lime and marl are well illustrated in the second experiment."
Mr. Charles H. Tomlinson, of Schenectady, N. Y., in giv-
ing an account of his experience says :
" The two last years' corn has been raised in the follow-
ing manner, on the Mohawk Flats near this city. If in
grass, the land is plowed and well harrowed, lengthwise of
the furrow, without disturbing the sward. The ground is
then prepared for planting, by being marked out two and a
half feet one way and three feet the other. The last season,
the field was rolled after being planted, with evident benefit,
as it made it level. When the corn is three inches high,
the cultivator is passed through both ways ; and twice
afterward it is used in the same manner ; no hills are made,
but the ground is kept level. Neither hand-hoe nor plow
are used, after the corn is planted. Fields manured with
coarse manure have been tilled in the same manner. Corn
tilled in this way is as clean of weeds as when tilled in the *
usual way : it is no more liable to be blown down, and the
produce equally good. It saves a great deal of hard labor,
which is an expensive item in the usual culture of corn.
ABOUT FEUIT8, FLO WEBS AND FARMING. 379
Last October, ten rods were measured out in two different
places, in a corn-field, on grass land — the one yielding ten,
the other nine, bushels of ears. In one corn-field, after
the last dressing in July, timothy and clover-seed were
sown, and in the fall the grass appeared to have taken as
well as it has done in adjoining fields where it had been
sown with oats."
Upon which Judge Buel again remarks : " All, or nearly
all, the accounts we have published of great products of
Indian corn, agree in two particulars, viz. hi not using
the plow in the culture, and in not earthing, or but very
slightly, the hills. These results go to demonstrate, that
the entire roots are essential to the vigor of the crops, and
to enable them to perform their functions as nature designed,
must be near the surface. If the roots are severed witli
the plow, in dressing the crop, the plants are deprived of a
portion of their nourishment ; and if they are buried deep
by hilling, the plant is partially exhausted hi throwing out
a new set near the surface, where alone they can perform all
their offices. There is another material advantage in this
mode of cultivating the corn crop — it saves a vast deal of
manual labor."
The preceding considerations justify us in recommending,
that in the management of the Indian corn crop, the fol-
lowing rules be observed, or at least partially, so far as to
test their correctness.
1. That the corn harrow and cultivator be substituted
for the plow in the culture of the crop.
2. That the plants be not hilled, or but slightly so — this
not to prevent the soil being often stirred and kept clean, and,
3. That in harvesting, the crop be cut at the ground as
soon as the grain is glazed.
Again, in reference to the system of level cultivation of
corn, Judge Buel remarks :
" The experience of the last two years has been sufficient
to admonish us, that without due precaution, our crops ot
380 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Indian corn will not pay for the labor bestowed on the cul-
ture ; and yet, that where due attention has been paid to
soil, manure, st-o»l and harvesting, the return has been
bountiful, notwithstanding bad seasons. Having been uni-
formly successful in the culture of this crop, we feel
justified in repeating some leading directions for its manage-
ment."
" AFTER-CULTURE. — In this the plow should not be used
if the corn harrow and cultivator can be had, and if used,
should not be suffered to penetrate the soil more than two
or three inches. The plow tears the roots, turns up and
wastes the manure, and increases the injuries of drought.
The main object is to extirpate weeds, and to keep the
surface mellow and open, that the heat, air and moisture
may exert better their kind influences upon the vegetable
matter in the soil, in converting it into nutriment for the
crop. At the first dressing, with the hand-hoe, the plants
are reduced to four, or three, in a hill, the surface is broken
among the plants, the weeds carefully extirpated, and a lit-
tle fresh mold gathered to the hill. At the second dressing,
a like process is observed, taking care that the earthing
shall not exceed one inch and a halfj that the hill be broad
and flat, and that the earth for this purpose be not taken
from one place, but gathered from the surface between the
rows, where it has been loosened by the cultivator."
MB* MILLER'S METHOD.
" GEORGETOWN x ROADS, Kent Co^ Md.
" I have just finished measuring the corn that grew this
year on a lot of mine of five and a half acres, and have
measured 105i barrels and one bushel of ears, making 103
bushels of corn per acre. The following is the manner in
which I prepared the ground, etc. The soil is a stiff clay :
and one and a half acres of said lot was in clover last y«'ur,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 381
the balance in wheat. I put 265 two-horse cart loads of
barn-yard manure on it : the manure was coarse, made out of
straw, corn-tops and husks, hauled into the yard in January
and February, and hauled out in March and April, conse-
quently was very little rotted. I spread it regularly and
plowed it down with a large concave plow, seven inches deep.
I then harrowed it twice the same way it was plowed. I then
had the rows marked out with a small plow, three feet ten
inches wide, and one and a half inches deep. I planted my
corn from eighteen to twenty-two inches apart, and covered
it with hoes: just drawing the furrows over the corn,
which covered it one and a half inches below the sur-
face. When the corn was four inches high, I harrowed it,
and thinned it to two stalks in the hill : in about two weeks
after harrowing, I cultivated it: about the 15th of June I
cultivated it again, which was all the tillage I gave it. We
farmers of the eastern shore count our corn by the
thousand : I had 38,640 hills on my lot, and I think my corn
would have been better had I planted earlier : I did not
plant until the last of April. I think the planting of corn
shallow and working it with the cultivator is much the best
way, especially on clover lay.
MR. HOPKINS' METHOD. — " Soil and Culture. — The soil
is a warm sandy loam. It was plowed deep in the autumn.
About the first of May, I carried on, and spread all over
the ground, about thirty loads of stable and barn-yard
unfermented manure, then rolled and harrowed the ground
well, being careful not to disturb the sod, which was timo-
thy, and mown the summer preceding ; and on the 9th and
10th of May planted the same, two and a half feet between
the rows, and fifteen inches between the hills. It was
dressed with ashes when it made its appearance above
ground. On the 10th June commenced weeding and thin-
ning, leaving from two to four of the best spears in earh
hill, the whole averaging about three spears in a hill. After
this I ashed it again, using in all about ten bushels of good
382 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK.
unleached house ashes. On the 10th of July commenced
hoeing, and at the same time took off all the suckers — put
no more about the hills than we took from them, but care-
fully cleaned out all the weeds from the hills. The seed
was prepared by simply wetting it with warm water, and
rolling it in plaster.
" HARVESTING. — The corn was cut up on the 1 8th Sep-
tember at the ground, and shocked in small shocks ; and on
the 9th of October it was housed and husked, and subse-
quently threshed and measured.
" PRODUCT. — Ninety-nine bushels of first-rate corn, with-
out even a nubbin of soft or poor grain, owing to the fact,
probably, that there were no suckers on which to grow
them."
POTATO CROP.
THE potato crop has never been as much attended to in
this region as in New York, and New England. We
believe, however, that its value is becoming apparent, and
that potatoes will be produced to a much greater extent
than hitherto. Reserving some remarks of our own to a
future number, we insert the methods of cultivation, em-
ployed by eminent cultivators.
SPURRIER'S METHOD OF CULTIVATION. — " Be careful," says
he, " to procure some good sets ; that is, to pick a quantity
of the best kind of potatoes perfectly sound and of a toler-
ably large size ; these are to be prepared for planting by
cutting each root into two, three or more pieces, minding
particularly that each piece be furnished with at least one
or t\vo eyes, which is sufficient. Being thus prepared, ih«-y
are to be planted in rows not less than eighteen inches dis-
tant : if they are to be plowed between, they must not be
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 383
less than three feet, and if four feet apart the more
eligible.
" The best method I have found by experience is to make
a trench either with the spade or plow, about five inches
deep, and put long dung or straw at the bottom, laying the
sets on it at their proper distances, which is from 9 to 12
inches apart, covering them with mold. They must be kept
clean from weeds."
MR. KNIGHT'S PLAN. — " He recommends the planting of
whole potatoes, and those only which are of fine medium
size — none to be of less weight than four ounces. The
early sorts, and, indeed, all which seldom attain a greater
height than two feet, are to be planted about four or five
inches apart in the rows, centre from centre, the crown ends
upward, the rows to be from 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet
asunder. The late potatoes, which produce a haulm above
3 feet in height, are to be planted 5 or 6 inches apart, centre
from centre, in rows 4 or 5 feet asunder. The potatoes to
point north and south and to be well manured."
MACKENZIE'S PLAN. — " Work the ground until it is com-
pletely reduced and free from root weeds. Three plowings,
with frequent harrowings and rollings, are necessary in both
cases, before the land is in a suitable condition. When this
is accomplished, form the drills ; place the manure in the
drills, plant above it, reverse the drills for covering it and
the seed, then harrow the drills in length.
" It is not advantageous to cut the seed into small slips ;
for the strength of the stem at the outset depends in direct
proportion to the vigor and power of the seed-plant. The
seed-plant, therefore, ought to be large, rarely smaller than
the fourth part of the potato ; and if the seed is of small
size, one half of the potato may be profitably used. At all
I'Vi-iits, rather err in giving over large seed than in making
it too small ; because, by the first error, no great loss can
ever be sustained; whereas, by the other, a feeble and late
crop may be the consequence. When the seed is properly
88 1 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
cut, it requires from ten to twelve hundred weight of pota-
toes, from 12i to 15 bushels, where the rows are at 27 inches
distance ; but this generally depends greatly upon the size
of the potatoes used; if they are large a greater weight
may be required ; but the extra quality will be abundantly
repaid by the superiority of the crop, which large seed
usually produces. Plant early in May."
BABNUM'S PLAN. — "Plow deep and pulverize well by
thoroughly harrowing ; manure with compost, decomposed
vegetables or barnyard manure; the latter preferable.
When coarse or raw manure is used it must be spread and
plowed in immediately. Stiff clay soil should always be
plowed the fall previous. Lay your land in drills 27 inches
apart, with a small plow, calculated for turning a deep, nar-
row furrow running north and south ; lay on the bottom of
the drills 2 inches of well-rotted barnyard manure, or its
equivalent, then drop your potatoes, if of the common size,
or what is more important, if they retain the usual quan-
tity of eyes — if more, they should be cut to prevent too
many stalks shooting up together : put a single potato in
the drills or trenches 10 inches apart, the first should remain
uncovered until the second one is deposited, to place them
diagonally in the drills, which will afford more space
between the potatoes one way, than if laid at right angles
in the rows. The covering may be performed with a hoe,
first hauling in the furrow raised on each side the drill,
then carefully take from the centre of the space the soil to
finish the covering to the depth of 3i or 4 inches ; by taking
the earth from the centre of the space on either side to the
width of 3 inches, it will leave a drain of 6 inches in the
centre of the space and a hill of 14 inches in width gently
descending from the drill to the drain, the width and depth
of the drill will be sufficient to protect the plant against any
injurious effects of a scorching sun or drenching rain. The
drains in the centre will at all tunes be found sufficient to
pass off the surplus water.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 385
" When the plant makes its appearance above the surface,
the following mixture maybe used: for each acre take 1
bushel of plaster and 2 bushels of good ashes, and sow it
broadcast as even as possible ; a moist day is preferable for
this operation — for want of it, a still evening will do.
" The operation of hilling should be performed once and
once only during the season ; if repeated after the potatoe
is formed it will cause young shoots to spring up, which
retards the growth of the potatoe and diminishes its size.
If weeds spring up at any tune they should be kept down
by the hand or hoe, which can be done without disturbing
the growth of the stalk.
"My manner of hoeing or hilling is not to haul in the
earth from the space between the hills or rows, but to bring
on fresh earth sufficient to raise the hill around the plant 14
or 2 inches ; in a wet season the lesser quantity will be suffi-
cient, in a dry one the larger will not be found too much.
The substance for this purpose may consist of the scrapings
of ditches or filthy streets, or the earth from a barnyard that
requires levelling : where convenient, it may be taken from
swamps, marshes, the beds and banks of rivers or small
sluggish streams at low water. If planted on a clay soil,
fresh loam taken at any depth from the surface, even if it
partakes largely of fine sand, will be found an excellent top-
dressing. If planted on a loamy soil, the earth taken from
clay pits, clay or slaty soil will answer a valuable purpose ;
in fact, there are but few farms in the country but what
may be furnished with some suitable substance for top-
dressing, if sought for. The hoeing and hilling may be per-
formed with facility by the aid of a horse and cart, the
horse travelling in the centre of a space between the
drills, t"he cart-wheels occupying the two adjoining ones,
thereby avoiding any disturbance or injury to the growing
plants."
Mr. "Bamum's method has attracted great attention, from
the fact that he actually raised from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels
17
386 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
of potatoes to the iCW ! When this was first published it
was received with irivat incredulity; calls \\ ere made for
the method of culti\ ation, which dre\v forth an elaborate
article' from .Mr. B., of which the above is but a morsel. It
afterward was stated, and the most authentic and unques-
tionable evidence adduced in proof, that Mr. Banmm
raised, upon experiment, at the rate of more than 3,000
bushels to the acre. Now, although the labor and the great
amount of seed required would prevent the cultivation of
many acres of land thus, yet it is worth a trial in a small
way; and if one acre can be made to produce 1,000
bushels, it will be as much as is usually dug from five acres ;
and it is questionable whether the labor and seed for live
acres are not more than that required by Mr. B.'s method
for one.
MB. A. ROBINSON'S PLAN. — He says: "If I plant low
ground, I plow my ground in beds in a different direction for
the water to drain off, then harrow lengthwise of the fur-
rows and small lands ; having a number of them, side and
side, I take a light, sharp horse-harrow, and harrow cross-
wise of the beds, which pulverizes the ground and fits it
well for planting, leaving a small space between the rows,
which answers for two purposes, one for a guide for the
rows for dropping : this is done by dropping in the middle
of the tracks of the harrow, which is easily and correctly
performed, by any small boy. It also serves completely to
fill up all cracks or holes, the seed lying fair and easy. I
then drop my manure directly over the seed potatoes, ana
when covered up, the seed is safe from inundation, by
being some inches above the surrounding surface : the seed
lies warm under this manure, the rains drain into the mid-
dle furrows ; I plant three feet distance ; it takes the most
of the surface that is pulverized to cover the potatoes, and
by the time they are twice well hoed, my hills are as I want
them to be. They naturally rise high above the surface in
the form of a sugar-loaf: this hill is to turn off heavy rains,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 387
and it naturally keeps the potatoes from being too moist,
and they are often injured thereby. I have found that
three feet i-.-u-h way is the most proper distance to insure a
good crop; I plant three common sized potatoes in the
hill ; it is no use to cut them : if cut small, the vines come
up small and weak, grow fast and fall down."
The following method we take from an able writer in the
Louisville Journal, signing himself " Grazier :"
" The ground selected for potatoes should be dry, where
no surface-water will rest. It .should be rich ; if not natur-
ally so, it must be made so by a sufficient quantity of good
manure. It should be plowed twice, and at least twelve
inches deep. After the first plowing, it should be har-
rowed and cross harrowed; and after the second plowing,
harrowed again, and if not very friable and free from clods
it should then be rolled. The mold cannot be too fine, as
on the depth of the plowing, and fineness of the earth,
depend the retention of that moisture so indispensable to
the health and maturing of all bulbous roots in particular.
The ground thus prepared, should then be opened off in
drill*) three feet from the centre of one to the centre of the
other, and, if practicable, running north and south. When
opened, if manure is to be applied, it must then be hauled
in carts ; the horse going down between the drills, the bed
of the cart will cover two drills, where the manure can be
pulled out at intervals, in quantity sufficient, not only for
the two drills described, but for one on each side in addi-
tion ; all of which one hand, following with a fork, can
easily distribute and spread in the four drills.
" This done, the ground is ready for the seed. I shall
first describe the whole of the cultivation and harvesting
necessary, and then speak of the seed and its preparation
separately. The seed should be dropped in the manure,
twelve inches apart, and as quickly as a drill is planted, the
plow should follow and cover it in. The double mold-
board plow, which is the proper implement for the business,
388 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
will cover two drills by going once up and once down the
field; if the single mold-board plow is used, it will of
course cover l»m one drill by the same operation. When
your ground is thus gone over, your land will all be in high
drills, an ri i:\s\\r TALK
of temperature in the :iir ami of moisture in the earth; to
sudden change from sward to high tillage ; and the result is
stated to be an "overplus'' of sap, or a "surfeit." All
these causes occur every year; but the blight does not
every year follow them. Changes of temperature, and vio-
lent changes in the condition of the soil, may be allied with
the true cause. But when only these things exist, no blight
follows.
4. Others have attributed the disease to over-stimulation
by high manuring, or constant tillage ; and it has been said
that covering the roots with stones and rubbish, or lay-
ing the orchard down to grass, would prevent the evil.
Facts warrant no such conclusions. Pear-trees in Gibson
County, Indiana, on a clay soil, with blue slaty subsoil,
were affected this year more severely than any of which
we have heard. Pears in southern parts of this State, on
red clay, where the ground had long been neglected, suf-
fered as much as along the rich bottom lands of the Wa-
bash about Vincennes. If there was any difference it was
in favor of the richest land. About Mooresville, Morgan
County, Indiana, pears have been generally affected, and
those in grass lands as much as those in open soils. Aside
from these facts, it is well known that pear-trees do not
blight in those seasons when they make the rankest growth
more than in others. They will thrive rampantly for years,
no evil arising from their luxuriance, and then suddenly
die of blight.
5. It has been supposed by a few to be the effect of aye,
the disease beginning on old varieties, and propagated upon
new varieties by contagion. Were this the true cause, we
should expect it to be most frequently developed in those
pear regions where old varieties most abound. But this
disease seems to be so little known in England, that Lou.
don, in his elaborate Encyclopedia of Gardening, does not
even mention it. Mr. Manning's statement will be given
further on, to the same purport.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 397
6. Insect theory : The confidence with which eastern
cultivators pronounce the cause to be an insect, has in part
served to cover up singular discrepancies in the separate
statements in respect to the ravages, and even the species
of this destroyer. The Genesee Farmer of July, 1843,
*' the cause of the disease was for many years a mat-
ter of dispute, and is so still by some persons ; but the ma-
jority are now fully convinced that it is the work of an
insect (scolytus pyri). T. W. Harris, in his work on insects,
speaks of the minuteness and obscure habits of this insect,
as " reasons why it has eluded the researches of those per-
sons who disbelieve in its existence as the cause of the
blasting of the limbs of the pear-tree." Dr. Harris evi-
dently supposed, until so late as 1843, that this insect in-
fested only the pear-tree ; for he says, " the discovery of
the blight-beetle in the limbs of the apple-tree, is a new
fact in natural history ; but it is easily accounted for, be-
cause this tree belongs not only to the same natural group,
but also to the same genus as the pear-tree. It is not,
therefore, surprising, that both the pear and the apple-tree
should occasionally be attacked by the same hisect." [See
an article in the Massachusetts Ploughman, summer of
1843, quoted in Genesee Farmer, July, 1843.]
This insect is said to eat through the alburnum, the hard
wood, and even a part of the pith, and to destroy the
branch by separation of part from part, as a saw would.
On these facts, which there is no room to question, we
make two remarks.
1st. That the blight thus produced is limited, and proba-
bly sectional or local. No account has met my eye which
leads me to suppose that any considerable injury has been
done by it. Mr. Manning, of Salem. Mass., in the second
edition of his " Book of Flowers," states that he has never
" had any trees affected by it" — the blight. Yet his garden
and nursery has existed for twenty years, and contained
immense numbers of trees.
398 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
2d. It is very plain that neither Mr. Lowell, originally,
nor Dr. Harris, nor any who describe the blight as caused
by the blight-beetle, had any notion of that disease which
passes by the same name in the middle and western States.
The blight of the scolytus pyri is a mere girdling of the
branches — a mechanical separation of parts ; and no men-
tion is made of the most striking facts incident to the great
blight — the viscid unctuous sap ; the bursting of the bark,
through which it issues; and its poisonous effects on the
young shoots upon which it drops.
We do not doubt the insect-blight ; but we are sure that it is
not our blight. We feel very confident, also, that this blight,
which from its devastations may be called the great blight,
has been felt in New England, in connection with the insect-
blight, and confounded with it, and the effects of two dif-
ferent causes happening to appear in conjunction, have
been attributed to one, and the least influential cause.
The writer in Fessenden's American Gardener (Mr. Low-
ell ?) says of the blight, " it is sometimes so rapid in its
progress, that in a few hours from its first appearance the
whole tree will appear to be mortally diseased." This is
not insect-blight ; for did the blight-beetle eat so suddenly
around the whole trunk f Now here is a striking appear-
ance of the great blight, confounded with the minor blight,
as we think will appear in the sequel.
This theory has stood in the way of a discovery of the
true cause of the great blight; for every cultivator has
gone in search of insects ; they have been found in groat
plenty, and in great variety of species, and their harmless
presence accused with all the mischief of the season. A
writer in the Farmers Advocate, Jamestown, N. C., dis-
cerned the fire-blight, and traced it to " small, red, pellucid
insects, briskly moving from place to place on the branches."
This is not the scolytus pyri of Prof. Peck and Dr. Harris.
Dr. Moshcr, of Cincinnati, in a letter published in the
Farmer and Gardener for June, 1844, describes a third
ABOUT Fill ITS, IH'UKKS AND FARMING. 399
insect — "very minute bwwn-colored aphides, snugly secreted
in tlu- axilla of every leaf on several Mnall branches; . . .
nioM of them were busily engaged with their proboscis
inserted through the tender cuticle of this part of the jwtiole
of the- leaf, feasting upon the vital juices of the tree. The
leaves being thus deprived of the necessary sap for nourish-
ment and elaboration soon perished, . . . while all that part
of the branch and trunk below, dependent upon the elabo-
rated sap of the deadened leaves above, shrunk, turned
black, and dried up," p. 261.
Lindley, in his work on Horticulture, p. 42—46, has de-
tailed experiments illustrating vegetable perspiration, from
which we may form an idea of the amount of fluid which
these " very minute brown-colored aphides " would have to
drink. A sunflower, three and a half feet high, perspired
in a very warm day thirty ounces — nearly two pounds ; on
another day, twenty ounces. Taking the old rule, " a pint
a pound," nearly a quart of fluid was exhaled by a sun-
flower in twelve hours ; and the vessels were still inflated
with a fresh supply drawn from the roots. Admitting that
the leaves of a fruit-tree have a less current of sap than a
sunflower or a grape-vine, yet in the months of May and
June, the amount of sap to be exhausted by these very
minute brown aphides, would be so great, that if they
drank it so suddenly as to cause a tree to die in a day, they
would surely augment in bulk enough to be discovered
without a lens. If some one had accounted for the low
water in the Mississippi, in the summer of 1843, by saying
that buffaloes had drank up all the upper Missouri, and cut
off the supply, we should be at a loss which most to pity,
the faith of the narrator, or the probable condition of the
buffaloes after their feat of imbibition.
But the most curious re*ults/o//o," these feats of suction.
The limbs and trunk bcloic shrink and turn black, for want
of thai elaborated sap extracted by the aphides. And yet
every year we perform artificially this very operation in
400 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
ringing or decor ticat ion of branches, for the purpose of
accelerating maturation or improving the fruit. Every year
the saic takes off* a third, a half, and sometimes more, of a
living tree ; and the effect is to produce new shoots, not
death. Is an operation which can be safely performed by
man, deadly when performed by an insect? Dr. Masln-r
did not detect the insects without extreme search, and then
only in colonies, on healthy branches. Do whole trees
wither in a day by the mere suction of such insects ? Had
they been supposed to poison the fluids, the theory would
be less exceptionable, since poisons in minute quantities
may be very malignant.
While we admit a limited mischief of insects, they can
never be the cause of the prevalent blight of the middle
and western States — such a blight as prevailed in and
around Cincinnati in the summer of 1844 — nor of that
blight which prevailed in 1832. The blight-beetle, after
most careful search and dissection, has not been found, nor
any trace or passage of it. Dr. Mosher's insect may be set
aside without further remark.
I think that further observation will confirm the follow-
ing conclusions :
1. Insects are frequently found feeding in various ways
upon blighted trees, or on trees which afterward become so.
2. Trees are fatally blighted on which no insects are dis-
cerned feeding — neither aphides nor scolytus pyri.
3. Multitudes of trees have such insects on them as are
in other cases supposed to cause the blight, without a sign
of blight following. This has been the case in our own
garden.
III. CAUSE OF THE BLIGHT. — The Indiana Horticultural
Society, early in the summer of 1844, appointed a commit tee
to collect and investigate facts on the Fire-Blight. "While
serving on this committee, and inquiring in all the ]•< Mr-
growing regions, we learned that Reuben Reagan, of Put nam
County, Ind., was in possession of much information, and
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 401
supposed himself to have discovered th 3 cause of this evil ;
and to him we are indebted for a first suggestion of the cause.
Mr. Reagan has for more than twelve years past suspected
that this disease originated in the fall previous to the sum-
mer on which it declares itself! During the last winter
Mr. Reagan predicted the blight, and in his pear-orchards
he marked the trees that would suffer, and pointed to
the spot which would be the seat of the disease ; and his
prognostications were strictly verified. After gathering
from him all the information which a limited time would
allow, we obtained from Aaron Alldredge, of Indianapolis,
a nurseryman of great skill, and possessed of careful,
cautious habits of observation, much corroborative informa-
tion ; and particularly a tabular account of the blight for
nine years past in his nursery and orchard.
The spring of 1843 opened early, but cold and wet, until
the last of May. The summer was both dry and cool, and
trees made very little growth of new wood. Toward
autumn, however, the drought ceased, copious rains satu-
rated the ground, and warm weather started all trees into
vigorous, though late, growth. At this time, while we
hoped for a long fall and a late winter, on the contrary we
were surprised by an early and sudden winter, and with
unusual severity at the very beginning. In the West,
much corn was ruined and more damaged ; and hundreds of
bushels of apples were caught on the trees and spoiled — one
cultivator alone losing five hundred bushels. Caught in this
early winter, what was the condition of fruit-trees ? They
were making rapid growth, every part in a state of excite-
ment, the wood unripe, the passages of ascent and descent
irapleted with sap. In this condition, the fluids were sud-
denly frozen — the growth instantly checked ; and the
whole tree, from a state of great excitability, was, by one
shock, rudely forced into a state of rest. Warm suns, for
a time, followed severe nights. What wou d bo the effect
of this freezing and sudden thawing upon the fluids and
402 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
their vessels? We have been able to- find so little written
upon vegetable morbid anatomy (probably from the want
of access to books), that we fan give but an imperfect account
ot' the derangement produced upon the circulating fluids
by congelation. We cannot state the specific changes pro-
duced by cold upon the ascending sap, or on the cambium,
nor upon the elaborated descending current. There is rea-
son to suppose that the two latter only suffer, and probably
only the last. That freezing and thawing decompose the
coloring matter of plants is known ; but what other «lrc. mi-
position, if any, is effected, we know not. The effect of con-
gelation upon the descending sap of pear and apple-trc< •<, is
to turn it to a viscid, unctuous state. It assumes a reddish
brown color ; becomes black by exposure to the air ; is
poisonous to vegetables even when applied upon the leaf.
Whether in some measure this follows all degrees of con-
gelation, or only under certain conditions, we have no means
of knowing.
The effect of freezing and thawing upon the tissues and
sap-vessels is better known. Congelation is accompanied
with expansion ; the tender vessels are either burst or lace-
rated ; the excitability of the parts is impaired or destroyed;
the air is expelled from the aeriferous cavities, and forced
into the passages for fluids ; and lastly, the tubes for the
conveyance of fluids are obstructing by a thickening of their
sides.* The fruit-trees, in the full of 1843, were thru
brought into a morbid state — the sap thickened and dis-
eased ; the passages lacerated, obstructed, and probably, in
many instances burst. The sap elaborated, and now pass-
ing down in an injured state, would descend slowly, by
reason of its inspissation, the torpidity of the parts, and the
injured condition of the vessels. The grosser parts natu-
rally the most sluggish, would tend to lodge and gradually
collect at the junction of fruit-spurs, the forks of branches,
* Lindlcy's Horticulture, p. 81-82.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 403
or wherever the condition of the sap-vessels favored a lodg-
ment. In some cases the passages are wholly obstructed ;
in others, only in part.
At length the spring approaches. In early pruning, the
cultivator will find, in those trees which will ere long deve-
lop blight, that the knife is followed by an unctuous sap,
and that the liber is of a greenish yellow color. These will
be the first signs, and the practised eye may detect them
long before a leaf is put forth.
When the season is advanced sufficiently to excite the
tree to action, the sap will, as usual, ascend by the albur-
num, which has probably been but little injured ; the leaf
puts out, and no outward sign of disease appears ; nor will
it appear until the leaf prepares the downward current.
May, June and July, are the months when the growth is
most rapid, and when the tree requires the most elaborate
sap ; and in these months the blight is fully developed.
When the descending fluid reaches the point where, in the
previous fall, a total obstruction had taken place, it is as
effectually stopped as if the branch were girdled. For the
sap which had lodged there would, by the winds and sun,
be entirely dried. This would not be the case if the sap
was good and the vitality of the wood unimpaired ; but
where the sap and vessels are both diseased, the sun affects
the branch on the tree just as it would if severed and lying
on the ground. There will, therefore, be found on the tree,
branches with spots where the bark is dead and shrunk
away below the level of the surrounding bark; an. I at
these points the current downward is wholly stopped.
Only the outward part, however, is dead, while the albur-
tuni), or sap-wood, is but partially injured. Through the
alburnum, then, the sap from the roots passes up, t
the leal', ami men are astonished to see a branch, seemingly
• lead in the mi. Idle, growing thriftily at its extremity. No
insect-theory can account for this case ; yet it is perfectly
plain and simple when we consider that there are two cur-
404 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
rents of sap, one of which may be destroyed, ami the other
for a limited time go on. The blight, under this aspect, is
nothing but ringing or decortication, effected by diseased
sap, destroying the parts in which it lodges, and then
itself drying up. The branch will grow, fruit will set,
and frequently become larger and finer flavored than
usual.
But in a second class of cases, the downward current
comes to a point where the diseased sap had effected only
a partial lodgment. The vitality of the neighboring parts
was preserved, and the diseased fluids have been undried
by wind or sun, and remain more or less inspissated. The
descending current meets and takes up more or less of this
diseased matter, according to the particular condition of the
sap. Wherever the elaborated sap passes, after touching
this diseased region, it will carry its poison along with it
down the trunk, and, by the lateral vessels, in toward the
pith. We may suppose that a violence which w^ould destroy
the health of the outer parts, would, to some degree, rup-
ture the inner sap-vessels. By this, or by some unknown
way, the diseased sap is taken into the inner,* upward cur-
rent, and goes into the general circulation. If it be in a
diluted state, or in small quantities, languor and decline will
be the result ; if in large quantities, and concentrated, the
branch will die suddenly, and the odor of it will be that of
frost-bitten vegetation. All the different degrees of mor-
tality result from the quantity and quality of the diseased
sap which is taken into circulation. In conclusion, then,
where, in one class of cases, the feculent matter wras, in the
fall, so virulent as to destroy the parts where it lodged, and
was then dried by exposure to wind and sun, the branch
above will live, even through the summer, but perish the
next winter; and the spring afterward, standing bare amid
green branches, the cultivator may suppose the branch to
* See Lindley, p. 82.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 405
have blighted that spring, alth >ugh the cause of death was
seated eighteen months before. When, in the other class
of cases, the diseased sap is less virulent in the fall, but
probably growing worse through the spring, a worse blight
ensues, and a more sudden mortality.
We will mention some proofs of the truth of this explana-
tion.
1. The two great blight years throughout the region of
Indianapolis, 1832 and 1844, were preceded by a summer and
fall such as we have described. In the autumns of both
1831 and 1843, the orchards were overtaken by a sudden
freeze while in a fresh-growing state ; and in both cases the
consequence was excessive destruction the ensuing spring
and summer.
2. In consequence of this diagnosis, it has been found
practicable to predict the blight six months before its devel-
opment. The statement of tkis fact, on paper, may seem
a small measure of proof; but it would weigh much with
any candid man to be told, by an experienced nurseryman,
this is such a fall as will make blight ; to be taken, during
the winter into the orchard, and told, this tree has been
struck at the junction of these branches ; that tree is not at
all affected ; this tree will die entirely the next season ; this
tree will go first on this side, etc., and to find, afterward,
the prediction verified.
3. This leads us to state separately, the fact, that, after
such a fall, blighted-trees may be ascertained during the
process of late winter or early spring pruning.
In pruning before the sap begins to rise freely, no sap
should follow the knife in a healthy tree. But in trees
which have been affected with blight, a sticky, viscid sap
exudes from the wound.
4. Trees which ripen their wood and leaves early, are
seldom affected. This ought to elicit careful observation ;
for, if found true, it will be an important element in deter
mining the value of rarieties of the pear in the middle and
406 PLAIN AND PLEAS A XT TALK
western States, where the late and warm autumns render
orehards more liable to winter blight than New England
orchards. An Orange Uergamot, grafted upon an apple
stock, had about run out; it made a small and i'eeble growth,
and cast its leaves in the summer of 1843, long before frost.
aped the blight entirely; while young treos, and of the
same kind (we believe), standing about it, and growing vig-
orously till the freeze, perished the next season. I have
before me a list of more than fifty varieties, growing in the
orchard of Aaron Alldredgc, of Indianapolis, and their history
since 1836 ; and so far as it can be ascertained, late-grow-
ing varieties are the ones, in every case, subject to blight ;
and of those which have always escaped, the most part arc
known to ripen leaf and wood early.
5. Wherever artificial causes have either produced or
prevented a growth so late as to be overtaken by a freeze,
blight has, respectively, been felt or avoided. Out of 200
pear-trees, only four escaped in 1832, in the orchard of Mr.
Reagan. These four had, the previous spring, been trans-
planted, and had made little or no growth during summer
or fall. If, however, they had recovered themselves, dur-
ing the summer, so as to grow in the autumn, transplant-
ing would have had just the other effect; as was the case
in a row of pear-trees, transplanted by Mr. Alldredge in
1843. They stood still through the summer and made
growth in the fall — were frozen — and in 1844 manifested
severe blight. Mr. Alldredge's orchard affords another
instructive fact. Having a row of the St. Michael pear (of
which any cultivator might have been proud), standing
close by his stable, he was accustomed, in the summer of
1843, to throw out, now and then, manure about them, to
force their growth. Under this stimulus they were making
excessive growth when winter-struck. Of all his orchard,
they suffered, the ensuing summer, the most severely. Of
twenty-two trees twelve were affected by the blight, and
eight entirely killed. Of seventeen trees of the Bell pear,
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 407
eleven suffered, but none were killed. All in this region
know the vigorous habit of this tree. Of eight Crassune
Bi'rgamot (a late grower), live wore affected and two
killed. In an orchard of 325 trees of 79 varieties, one in
seven blighted, 25 were totally destroyed. Although a
minute observation was not made on each tree, yet, as a
general tact, those which suffered were trees of a full habit
and of a late growth.
6. Mr. White, a nurseryman near Mooresville, Morgan
County, Indiana, in an orchard of from 150 to 200 trer<,
had not a single case of the blight in the year 1844, though
all around him its ravages were felt. What were the facts
in this case ? His orchard is planted on a mound-like piece
of ground ; is high, of a sandy, gravelly soil : earlier by a
week than nursery soils in this county ; and in the summer
of 1843 his trees grew through the summer; wound up
and shed their leaves early in the fall, and during the warm
spell made no second growth. The orchard, then, that
escaped, was one on such a soil as insured an early growth,
so that the winter fell upon ripened wood.
7. It may be objected, that if the blight began in the new
and growing wood, it would appear there ; whereas the
seat of the evil, i. e. the place where the bark is diseased
or dead, is lower down and on old wood. Certainly, it
should be; for the returning sap falls some ways down
before it effects a lodgment.
8. It might be said that spring-frosts might produce this
disease. But in the spring of 1834, in the last of May,
after the forest-trees were in full leaf, there came frost so
severe as to cut every leaf; and to this day the dead tops
of the beech attest the power of the frost. But no blight
occurred that year in orchard, garden or nursery.
9. It may be asked why forest-trees do not suffer. To
some extent they do. But usually the dense shade pre-
serves the moisture of the soil, and favors an equal growth
during the spring and summer ; so that the excitability of
408 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TAXK
the tree is spent before autumn, and it is going to rest
when frost strikes it.
10. It may be inquired why fall-growing shrubs are not
always blighted, since many kinds are invariably caught by
the frost in a growing state.
We reply, first, that we are not to say that every tree or
shrub suffers from cold in the same manner. We assert it
of fruit-trees because it has been observed; it must be
asserted of other trees only when ascertained.
We reply more particularly, that a mere frost is not sup-
posed to do the injury. The conditions under which blight
is supposed to originate are, a growing state of the tree, a
sudden freeze, and sudden thawing.
We would here add, that many things are yet to be
ascertained before this theory can be considered as settled ;
as the actual state of the sap after congelation, ascertained
by experiment ; the condition of sap-vessels, as ascertained
by dissection ; whether the congelation, or the thawing, or
both, produce the mischief; whether the character of the
season following the fall-injury may not materially modify
the malignancy of the disease ; seasons that are hot, moist
and cloudy, propagating the evil ; and others dry, and cool,
restraining growth and the dsease. It is to be hoped that
these points will be carefully investigated, not by conjec-
ture, but by scientific processes.
11. We have heard it objected, that trees grafted in the
spring blight in the graft during the summer. If the stock
had been affected in the fall, blight would arise from it ; if
the scion had, in common with the tree from which it was
cut, been injured, blight must arise from it.
Blight is frequently caused in the nursery ; and the cul-
tivator, who has brought trees from a distance, and with
much expense, has scarcely planted them before they show
blight and die.
12. It is objected, that while only a single branch is at
first affected, the evil is imparted to the whole tree ; not
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 409
only to tne wood of the last year, but to the old branches.
We reply, that if a single branch only snould be affected by
fall-frost, and be so severely affected as to become a reposi-
tory of much malignant fluid, it might gradually enter the
system of the whole tree, through the circulation. This
fact shows, why cutting is a partial remedy ; every diseased
branch removed, removes so much poison ; it shows also
why cutting from below the seat of the disease (as if to fall
below the haunt of a supposed insect), is beneficial. The
further the cut is made from that point where the sap has
clogged the passages, the less of it will remain to enter the
circulation.
13. Trees of great vigor of constitution, in whose system
but little poison exists, may succeed after a while in reject-
ing the evil, and recover. Where much enters the system,
the tree must die ; and with a suddenness proportioned to
the amount of poison circulated.
14. A rich and dry soil would be likely to promote early
growth, and the tree would finish its work in time ; but a
rich and moist soil, by forcing the growth, would prepare
the tree for blight ; so that rich soils may prevent or pre-
pare for the blight, and the difference will be the difference
of the respective soils in producing an early instead of a late
growth.
IV. REMEDY. — So long as the blight was believed to be
of insect origin, it appeared totally irremediable. If the fore-
going reasoning be found correct, it will be plain that the
scourge can only be occasional ; that it may be in a degree
prevented ; and to some extent remedied where it exists.
1. We should begin by selecting for pear orchards a
warm, light, rich, dry and early soil. This will secure an
early growth and ripe wood before winter sets in.
2. So soon as observation has determined what kinds are
naturally early growers and early ripeners of wood, such
should be selected; as they will be least likely to come
under those conditions in which blight occur*
18
410 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
3. Wherever orchards are already planted ; or where a
choice in soils cannot be had, the cultivator may know by
the last of August or September, whether a fall-growth is
to be expected. To prevent it, we suggest immediate root-
pruning. This will benefit the tree at any rate, and
will probably, by immediately restraining growth, prevent
blight.
4. Whenever blight has occurred, we know of no remedy
but free and early cutting. In some cases it will remove
all diseased matter ; in some it will alleviate only ; but in
bad blight, there is neither in this, nor in anything else that
we are aware of, any remedy.
There are two additional subjects, with which we shall
close this paper.
1. This blight is not to be confounded with winter-kill-
ing. In the whiter of either 1837 or 1838, in March a deep
Bnow fell (in the region of Indianapolis) and was immediately
followed by brilliant sun. Thousands of nursery-trees per-
ished in consequence, but without putting out leaves, or
lingering. It is a familiar fact to orchardists, that severe
cold, followed by warm suns, produce a bursting of the
bark along the trunk ; but usually at the surface of the
ground.
2. We call the attention of cultivators to the disease of
the peach-tree, called " The Yellows." We have not spoken
of it as the same disease as the blight in the pear and the
apple, only because we did not wish to embarrass this sub-
ject by too many issues. We will only say, that it is the
opinion of the most intelligent cultivators among us, that
the yellows are nothing but the development of the blight
according to the peculiar habits of the peach-tree. We men-
tion it, that observation may be directed to the facts.
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 411
PROGRESS OF HORTICULTURE IN INDIANA.*
I AM induced to send you some remarks upon Horticul-
tural matters, from observing your disposition to make your
magazine not merely a record of specific processes, and a
register of plants and fruits, but also a chronicle of the
yearly progress and condition of the Horticultural art. I
should be glad if I could in any degree thus repay the pleas-
ure which others have given me through your numbers, by
reciprocal efforts.
The Indiana Horticultural State fair is held annually, on
the 4th and 5th of October. Experience has shown that it
should be earlier ; for, although a better assortment of late
fruits, in which, hitherto, we have chiefly excelled, is se-
cured, it is at the expense of small fruits and flowers. The
floral exhibition was meagre — the frost having already visit-
ed and despoiled our gardens. The chief attraction, as, in
an agricultural community, it must long continue to be, was
the exhibition of fruit. My recollection of New England
fruits, after an absence of more than ten years, is not dis-
tinct ; but my impression is, that so fine a collection of fruits
could scarcely be shown there. The luxuriance of the peach,
the plum, the pear and the apple, is such, in this region, as
to afford the most perfect possible specimens. The vigor
of fruit-trees, in such a soil and under a heaven so conge-
nial, produces fruits which are very large- without being
coarse-fleshed ; the flavor concentrated, and the color very
high. It is the constant remark of emigrants from the
East, that our apples surpass those to which they have been
accustomed. Many fruits which I remember in Connecticut
as light-colored, appear with us almost refulgent. All sum-
11 MM ;md early fall apples were gone before our exhibition;
but between seventy and a hundred varieties of winter ap-
* A letter published in Hovey'e Magazine of Horticulture, February,
1845.
412 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
pies were exhibited. We never expect to see finer. Our
most popular winter apples ars : Yellow Bellflower ; White
Jiellrtower (called Detroit by the gentlemen of Cincinnati
Horticultural Society — but for reasons which are not satisfac-
tory to my mind. What has become of the White Belli! own-
of Coxe, if this is not it?) Newtown Spitzenberg, exceed-
ingly fine with us; Canfield, Jennetting or Neverfail, escap-
ing spring frosts by late blossoming, very hardy, a givat
bearer every year ; the fruit comes into eating in February,
is tender, juicy, mild and sprightly, and preferred witli us
to the Green Newtown pippin — keeping full as well, bearing
better, the pulp much more manageable in the mouth, ami
the apple has the peculiar property of bearing frosts, and
even freezing, without material injury; Green Newtown
pippin; Michael Henry pippin (very fine); Pryor's Red,
in flavor resembling the New England Seek-no-further ;
Golden Russet, the prince of small apples, and resembling a
fine butter-pear more nearly than any apple in our orchards
— an enormous bearer ; some limbs exhibited were clustered
with fruit, more like bunches of grapes than apples ; Milam,
favorite early winter ; Rambo, the same. But the apple
most universally cultivated is the Vandervere pippin, only a
second or third-rate table apple, but having other qualities
which quite ravish the hearts of our farmers. The tree is
remarkably vigorous and healthy ; it almost never fails in a
crop ; when all others miss, the Vandervere pippin hits; the
fruit, which is very large and comely, is a late winter fruit —
yet swells so quickly as to be the first and best summer
cooking apple. If its flesh (which is coarse) were fine, and
its (too sharp) flavor equalled that of the Golden Russet, it
would stand without a rival, or near neighbor, at the very
head of the list of winter apples. As it is, it is a first-rate
tree, bearing a second-rate apple. A hybrid between it
and the Golden Russet, or Newtown Spitzenberg, appropri-
ating the virtues of both, would leave little more to b*e"
hoped for or wished. The Baldwin has never come up to
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 413
its eastern reputation with us ; the Rhode Island Greening
IN < iten for the sake of "auld lang syne;" the Roxbury
russet is not yet in bearing — instead of it several false
varieties have been presented at our exhibitions. All the
classic apples of your orchards are planted here, but are
yet on probation.
Nothing can exhibit better the folly of trusting to seed-
ling orchards for fruit, for a main supply, than our experi-
ence in this matter. The early settlers could not bring
trees from Kentucky, Virginia or Pennsylvania — and, as
the next resort, brought and planted seeds of popular ap-
ples. A later population found no nurseries to supply the
awakening demand for fruit-trees, and resorted also to plant-
ing seed. That which, at first, sprang from necessity, has
been continued from habit, and from an erroneous opinion
that seedling fruit was better than grafted. An immense
number of seedling trees are found in our State. Since the
Indiana Horticultural Society began to collect specimens of
these, more than one hundred and fifty varieties have been
sent up for inspection. Our rule is to reject every apple
which, the habits of the tree and the quality of its fruit
being considered, has a superior or equal already in cultiva-
tion. Of all the number presented, not six have vindicated
their claims to a name or a place — and not more than three
will probably be known ten years hence. While, then, we
encourage cultivators to raise seedlings experimentally, it
is the clearest folly to reject the established varieties and
trust to inferior seedling orchards. From facts which I have
collected there has been planted, during the past year, in
this State, at least one hundred thousand apple-trees. Every
year the demand increases. It is supposed that the next
year will surpass this by at least twenty-five thousand.
In connection with apple orchards, our formers are
increasingly zealous in pear cultivation. We are fortunate
in having secured to our nurseries not only the most ap-
proved old varieties, but the choicest new pears of British,
414 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
Continental or American origin. A few years ago to
one hundred apple-trees, our nurseries sold, perhaps, two
]uai -trees; now they sell at least twenty to a hundred.
Very large pear orchards are established, and in some in-
stances are now beginning to bear. I purchased Williams's
Bon Chretien in our market last fall for seventy-five cents
the bushel. This pear, with the St. Michael's, Beurre Diel,
Beurre d'Aremberg, Passe Colmar, Duchesse d'AngoultJmc,
Seckel, and Marie Louise, are the most widely diffused, and
all of them regularly at our exhibitions. Every year ena-
bles us to test other varieties. The Passe Colmar and
Beurre d'Aremberg have done exceedingly well — a branch
of the latter, about eighteen inches in length, was exhib-
ited at our Fair, bearing over twenty pears, none of which
were smaller than a turkey's egg. The demand for pear-
trees, this year, has been such that our nurseries have not
been able to answer it — and they are swept almost entirely
clean. I may as well mention here that, beside many more
neighborhood nurseries, there are in this State eighteen
which are large and skillfully conducted.
The extraordinary cheapness of trees favors their general
cultivation. Apple-trees, not under ten feet high, and finely
grown, sell at ten, and pears at twenty cents ; and in some
nurseries, apples may be had at six cents. This price, it
should be recollected, is in a community where corn brings
from twelve to twenty cents only, a bushel ; wheat sells
from forty-five to fifty ; hay at five dollars the ton. During
the season of 1843-'44, apples of the finest sorts (Jennetting,
green Newtown pippin, etc.), sold at my door, as late as
April, for twenty-five cents a bushel — and dull at that. This
winter they command thirty-seven cents. Attention is in-
creasingly turned to the cultivation of apples for exporta-
tion. Our inland orchards will soon find an outlet, both to
the Ohio River by railroad, and the Lakes by canal. The
effects of such a deluge of fruit is worthy of some spi'c.iiln-
tion. It will diminish the price but increase the profit of
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWEBS AKU FAKMING. 415
fruit. An analogous case is seen in the penny-postage sys-
tem of England. Fruit will become more generally and
largely an article, not of luxury, but of daily and ordinary
diet. It will find its way down to the poorest table — and
the quantity consumed will make up in profit to the dealer,
what is lost in lessening its price. A few years and the,
apple crop will be a matter of reckoning by fanners and
speculators, just as is now, the potato crop, the wheat crop,
the pork, etc. Nor will it create a home market alone.
By care it may be exported with such facility, that the
world will receive it as a part of its diet. It will, in thib
respect, follow the history of grains and edible roots, and
from a local and limited use, the apple and the pear *ill
become articles of universal demand. The reasons of «ach
an opinion are few and simple. It is a fruit always jwilat-
able — and as such, will be welcome to mankind whawver
their tastes, if it can be brought within their reach. The
western States will, before many years, be forested with
orchards. The fruit bears exportation kindly. Thus there
will be a supply; a possibility of distributing it by com-
merce, to meet a taste already existing. These views may
seem fanciful — may prove so ; but they are analogical.
Nor, if I inherit my three score years and ten, do I expect
to die, until the apple crop of the United States shall sur-
pass the potato crop in value, both for man and beast. It
has the double quality of palatableness, raw or cooked — it
is a permanent crop, not requiring annual planting — and it
produces more bushels to the acre than corn, wheat, or, on
an average, than potatoes. The calculations may be made,
allowing an average of fifteen bushels to a tree. The same
reasoning is true of the pear ; it and the apple, are to hold
a place yet, as universal eatables — a fruit-grain^ not known
in their past history. If not another tree should be
this county (Marion County), in ten years the annual crop
of apples will be 200,000 bushels. But Wayne County has
double our number of trees ; suppose, however, the ninety
1 1 •' PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
counties of Indiana to have only 25 trees to a quarter sec-
tion of land, i. e. to each 160 acres, the crop, of fifteen bush-
rl> a tree, would be nearly two millions.
The past year has greatly increased the cultivation of
small fruits in the State. Strawberries are found in almost
every garden, and of select socts. None among them all is
more popular — or more deservedly so — than Hovey's Si-i-il-
ling. We have a native white strawberry, removed from
our meadows to our gardens, which produces fruit of supe-
rior fragrance and flavor. The crop is not large — but con-
tinues gradually ripening for many weeks. The blackberry
is introduced to the garden among us. The fruit sells at
our market for from three to five cents — profit is not there-
fore the motive for cultivating it, but improvement. I have1
a white variety. " What color is a Wac&-berry when it is
green f " We used to say red, but now we have ripe black-
berries which are white, and green Wac&-berries which are
red. Assorted gooseberries and the new raspberries, Fran-
conia and Fastolff are finding their way into our gardens.
The Antwerps we have long had in abundance. If next
spring I can produce rhubarb weighing two pounds t« the
stalk, shall I have surpassed you ? I have a seedling which
last year, without good cultivation, produced petioles weigh-
ing from eighteen to twenty ounces. My wrist is not ?ery
delicate, and yet it is much smaller in girth than they were.
In no department is there more decided advance among
our citizens than in floriculture. In all our rising towns,
yards and gardens are to be found choicely stocked. All
hardy bulbs are now sought after. Ornamental shrub* are
taken from our forests, or imported from abroad, in great
variety. Altheas, rose acacia, jasmin, calycanthus, snow-
berry, snowball, sumach, syringas, spicewood, shepherdia,
dogwood, redwood, and other hardy shrubs abound. The
rose is an especial favorite. The Bengal, Tea and Noisettes
bear our winters in the open garden with but slight protec-
tion. The Bourbon and Remontantes will, however, driv«
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 417
out all old and ordinary varieties. The gardens of this
town would afford about sixty varieties of roses, which
would be reckoned first rate in Boston or Philadelphia.
While New England suffered under a season of drought,
on this side of the mountains the season was uncommonly
fine — scarcely a week elapsed without copious showers, and
gardens remained moist the whole season. Fruits ripened
from two to three weeks earlier than usual. In conse-
quence of this, winter fruits are rapidly decaying. To-day
is Christmas, the weather is spring-like — no snow — the ther-
mometer this morning, forty degrees. My Noisettes retain
their terminal leaves green ; and in the southward-looking
dells of the woods, grasses and herbs are yet of a vivid ,
green. Birds are still here — three this morning were sing-
ing on the trees in my yard. There are some curious facts
in the early history of horticulture in this region, which I
meant to have included in this communication ; but insen-
sibly I have, already, prolonged it beyond, I fear, a conve-
nient space for your magazine. I yield it to you for cut-
ting, carving, suppressing, or whatever other operation will
fit it for your purpose.
BROWNE'S AMERICAN POULTRY YARD.*
LET no man turn up his contemptuous nose at this Trea-
tise until he has traced the manifold relations of eggs and
capons to cake, company, and civilization. Banish the barn-
yard, and the universal aldermanhood would shrink and
grow lean ; cup-cakes and sponge-cakes, omelets, whips and
legionary confections, would become mere dreams of re-
membrance.
Every friend of the trencher, every notable housewife,
* Published by A. 0. Moore & Co., New York. Price $1 00.
418 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
complacently glorious amidst stacks of praised and devoured
cake, has an interest in this book. There is, therefore, a
certain interest which every civilized community should
take in the progress of the great art of fowl-breeding.
There are striking analogies, also, which should be noticed
by every comparative psychologist. The doctrine of trans-
migration has some of its strongest proofs in the Kingdom
of Poultry. The glowing comb, the haughty carriage, the
resplendent tail-feathers, and ostentatious crowing of the
lord of the barn-yard creation, reveals to the sagacious
reasoner either the origin or destination of many other
" lords of creation."
Nor can one mistake the resemblances traceable in the
gentler sex of hens. Some there are industrious only in
scratching and cackling, but nervous, gadding, restless ;
never content at home, never so happy as when at work in
a new-made garden, and sagacious always of the very spots
which are most precious in the owner's eyes. Are these
the types of human busybodies, or are these resemblances
only accidental? Others are discreet, domestic, prolific*
useful and happy hens, human and feathered. Many there
are neglectful. Some fowls are laborious egg-layers, but
poor setters ; others disdain the pains of laying, but are
quite willing of a leisure summer's month to set awhile
upon other eggs.
In the management, too, of their families, can any can-
did man resist the evidence of resemblances and affiliations
between hens and humanity ? Here a hen walks forth
from her nest with but a single chick ; the whole farm is
too small for her anxious spirit. On this one precious
pledge she bestows more clucking, more research and
scratching, than a discreet old matron of many broods
would upon five annual generations ! And after all, what
is the little brat good for — lazy and worked for, but never
taught to work, it lives a few months petted and spoiled —
dies of neglect, or is anatomized by some science-loving
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 419
weasel ! Other, and unnatural hens there are, to whom
the vast brood of peeping, chirping chicks is but a burden.
They seem to have thoughts of their own, and are per-
plexed and interrupted by the cares needful for their
household. Could we pry into the secrets of this race,
doubtless there would be found to be literary mothers, too
busy for the general good to hare much time for special
duties. We cannot stop now to draw out these analogies,
so well worthy the study of mental philosophers ; else we
should exhibit the distinctions of rank, race, and culture, in
this interesting kingdom. There are nice questions of
pedigree, there are points in relation to feathers and top-
knots, combs and spurs, tail-feathers and wing-feathers,
neck-hackles and toes, which are worthy the attention of
any Calhoun of the barn-yard. The more savory but
homely considerations of fattening, slaying, dressing, sell-
ing, stuffing, cooking, carving, distributing, eating and
digestion, must be left to our readers' own reflections.
Meanwhile, any man that owns a hen, or has a coop in
prospect, may buy this book, certain of his money's worth.
Book-farming and book-fowling are better than nothing.
REFLECTIONS ON THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.*
THE labor of another year has passed beyond our reach.
We can alter nothing, and the past is of no use to us except
as a lesson for the future. The soil that the plow ripped
up, in the spring, has yielded its harvest, its work is closed,
its fruits garnered. The tree whose boughs grew green
when the singing of birds proclaimed that spring was come,
lias ripened its fruit, perfected its growth, its store is
gathered, and its leaves are lying beneath it, and slowly
• A.D. 1846.
420 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK
returning to the earth from which they sprang. Only here
:md there, on a bright morning, do we see one of those
birds which, a few months ago, builded their nest, watched
their young, or taught the nestlings how to fly — young and
old, with their grace of motion and sweet notes, are gone
to a fairer clime. These changes one cannot help noticing ;
and no meditative mind can avoid many thoughts which
flow out of them. Where are the harvests garnered which
grow in the soil of the human heart ? What thoughts and
generous purposes have been ripened and stored up like
fruit, and what ones have fallen and perished like leaves ?
Our vernal orchards never stood, within our remembrance,
in such a glory of bloom ; yet when the fruit' should have
set, most of the blossoms proved vain. And how many
good purposes and fair resolutions have so perished within
us ! Have we, like the trees which we love and care for,
made growth, of root and branch ? Everything in nature
has gradually assumed a preparation for winter. Those
frosts and that ice which would have sent such mischief
upon the leaves of summer, now lie, without harm, upon
orchard and garden. Are we ripe and ready, too, for such
a winter as adversity brings upon men ?
THE END.
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