Glass. 
 Book_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
PLEA>SAIsT TALK 
 
 FRUITS. FLOWERS AND FARMING 
 
 HENKV WAKI) BEECHEll. 
 
 A/.ir EDITION, 
 
 WITH AUJ^ITIONAL MATIKK lUoM liKCENT WRITINGS. 
 rrilMsHKI) AM) rNlTI;I.IsHEI>. 
 
 1 *--/-«» ^ , 
 
 NEW YORK: 4 
 J. li. FORD AND COMPANY 
 
 1874. 
 
Entered aecording to Act of Congress, in the ypAv 1873, 
 
 BY .1. B. FORU AND COMPANY, 
 in the Office of the ljb)anan ot Congress, .ft Witsliinglxm. 
 
 
 University Prkss; Wkixh, Bicfiow. & Co., 
 C \mui!1ix;h. 
 
 i 
 
PREFA/rORY. 
 
 Thk Pret;u;c lo the Hrst ('(lition of this vohiine, which 
 follows these few w»)rils, will give some idea of the hook's 
 uii'^iii. Miuh of vlu- iimtei-i:il is of oiily jcissinij,' importance, 
 :m<l is retaimnl now rather from retrospective interest. A 
 eonsiderahle a<Milion has heen made, however, consisting 
 of articles conM'ihnted to Mr. IJoiiiier's iVew York Ledger^ 
 hearing npon rural affiiirs, and also an unjiublished address 
 upon Tht Apple. This was delivered at lona Island, on 
 a fiiir summer day, when Indies and gentlemen, several 
 score, — editors, pomologists, singers, preachei's, poets, antl 
 inventors, — gatliered nnder Dr. C. W. Grant's hosj»ital)le 
 trees, — for the house was too small to hold them, — to eat 
 apples and pears, to discuss grapes solid ajid liquid, and to 
 listen to the veneral)le poet, Mr. Bryant, to Horace Greeley, 
 to Charles Downing, and to notable songsters, Avhose \\'ar- 
 hles put the bii-ds to envious silence, — at any rate, so the 
 compliments ran at the time. 
 
 The address liad better luck at lona than its great subject 
 did in Paradise ; though it will never give rise to such a 
 literature of results. 
 
 H. W. BEECHER. 
 
 Bbooklyn, Febi-uary, 1874. 
 
PEEFAOE 
 
 TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 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 Indianapohs, the 
 capital of Indiana, a place then of four, and now of twenty- 
 Jive thousand inhabitants. At that time, and for years 
 afterward, there was not, within our knowledge, any other 
 than political newspapers in the State — no educational 
 journals, no agricultural 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. 
 
VI PEBFATOBT. 
 
 It may be of some service to the young, as showing how 
 valuable the fragments of time may become, if mention is 
 made of the way in which we became prepared to edit this 
 journal. 
 
 The continued taxation of daily preaching, 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 monopoUzed 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 Enghsh 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 prmciples, 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 liberahty, we be- 
 
PREFATORY. Vll 
 
 came the recipients of the London Gardemrh Chronicle, 
 edited by Prof. Lindley, our treasures were inestimable. 
 Many hundred times have we lain awake for hours, unable 
 to throw off the excitement of preaching, and beguiling 
 the time with imaginary visits to the Chiswick Garden, to 
 the more than oriental magnificence of the Duke of Devon- 
 shire's grounds at Chatsworth. We have had long discus- 
 sions, in that Uttle bedroom at Indianapolis, with Yan 
 Mons about pears, with Yibert about roses, with Thompson 
 and Knight of fraits and theories of vegetable Ufe, and 
 with Loudon 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 enth'e 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 repubhcation 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 wiUTul 
 and must be obeyed 1 
 
 Beookltn, June 1, 1859. 
 
oo]srTE]srTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Political Economy of the Apple 1 
 
 A few Flowers easily raised 16 
 
 Flower-Farming 21 
 
 A Letter from the Farm 25 
 
 The Cost of Flowers 28 
 
 Haying 31 
 
 TheTalue of Robins 3i 
 
 Sounds of Trees 39 
 
 Uuveiled Nonsense 43 
 
 Natural Order of Flowers 46 
 
 Roses 49 
 
 Chestnuts 51 
 
 Green Peas 55 
 
 Hens 58 
 
 Farming 60 
 
 Gardening under Difficulties 63 
 
 Corn 66 
 
 Dandehons 69 
 
 How to beautify Homes 72 
 
 Birch and Aspen 75 
 
 Autumn 73 
 
 Plant Trees'. 81 
 
 Farewell to " Summer Rest " 84 
 
 Preliminary 87 
 
 Our Creed 88 
 
 Almanac for the Year 89 
 
 Educated Farmers 9S 
 
 An Acre of Words about Aker 101 
 
 Farmer"? Library 105 
 
 Nine 5Iistakes ]07 
 
 Agricultural Societies 108 
 
 Shiftless Tricks Ill 
 
 Electro Culture 114 
 
 Single-Crop Farming 117 
 
 ImproTed Breefis of Hogs and Cattle. .. 119 
 
 Absorbent Quahties of Flour 122 
 
 Portrait of an Anti-Book Farmer 124 
 
 Good Breeds of Cows 128 ! 
 
 Cutting and curing Grass 131 1 
 
 P.4GE 
 
 Country and City 133 
 
 Lime upon Wheat 134 
 
 Culture of Hops 136 
 
 White Clover 138 
 
 Plowing Com 139 
 
 Clean out your Cellars 142 
 
 When is Haying orer ? 144 
 
 Laying down Land to Grass 145 
 
 Theorj- of Manure 149 
 
 Fodder for Cattle 151 
 
 The Science of Bad Butter 153 
 
 Cincinnati , the Queen City 157 
 
 Care of Anunals in Winter 161, 243 
 
 Winter Nights for Reading 103 
 
 Feathers 163 
 
 Nail up your Bugs 165 
 
 Ashes and their Use 163 
 
 Hard Times 170 
 
 Gypsum 171 
 
 Acclimating a Plow 171 
 
 Scour your Plows bright 173 
 
 Plow tiU it is Dry and plow tiU it is Wet 174 
 
 Stirring the foil 175 
 
 Subsoil Plowing 176 
 
 Fire-BUght and ^Tinter Killing 177 
 
 Winter Talk 179 
 
 " Shut your Mouth "' 181 
 
 Spring Work on the Farm 182 
 
 Spring Work in the Garden 185, 293 
 
 Fall Work in the Garden 190 
 
 Guarding Cherry-trees from Cold 191 
 
 Shade Trees 192, K2 
 
 A Plea for Health and Floriculture 195 
 
 Keeping Young Pigs in Winter 198 
 
 Sweet Potatoes 199 
 
 Management of Bottom Lands 199 
 
 CultiTation of Wheat 202 
 
 Pleasures of Horticulture 214 
 
 Practical Use of Leaves 215 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Spring Work for Public-spirited Men . . 218 
 Farmers and Farm Scenes in the West. 220 
 
 Ornamental Shrubs 224 
 
 Gooseberries 227 
 
 Pulling off Potato Blossoms. 229 
 
 Blading and topping Corn 230 
 
 Maple-Sugar 231 
 
 Lettuce 237 
 
 Geological Definitions 238 
 
 Draining Wet Lands 240 
 
 O dear I shall we ever be done Lying ?. . 242 
 
 Deep Planting 245 
 
 Corn and Millet for Fodder 245 
 
 Seed Saving 24G 
 
 Rhubarb 248, 28G 
 
 Peas 250 
 
 Hot-beds 253 
 
 Original Recipes 254 
 
 Cooking Vegetables 25G 
 
 Fanners, take a Hint 260 
 
 Mi.xiug Paint and laying it on 262 
 
 Garden Weeds 267 
 
 Lucerne - 269 
 
 Family Government 270 
 
 List of Flowers, Seeds, and Fruits 271 
 
 Garden Seeds 274 
 
 Farmers' Gardens 277 
 
 Early Days of Spring 279 
 
 Parlor Flowers 280 
 
 A Salt Recipe 281 
 
 Culture of Celery 282 
 
 Sun-flower Seed 290 
 
 Rich and Poor Land 294 
 
 Getting ready for Winter 295 
 
 Esculent Vegetables 297 
 
 Field Root Crops 303 
 
 Cultivatiou of Fruit-trees 304 
 
 A List of Choice Fruits 316 
 
 The Nursery Business 319 
 
 The Breeding of Fruits 322 
 
 Pruning Orchards 327 
 
 Slitting the Bark of Trees 330 
 
 Downing's Fruits of America 332 
 
 Letter from A. J. Downing 339 
 
 Attention to Orchards 344 
 
 Page 
 
 Wine and Horticulture 346 
 
 Do Varieties of Fruit run out? 349 
 
 Strawberries 353, 359, 364 
 
 Raspberries, Gooseberries, Currants 364 
 
 Spring Work in the Orchard 367 
 
 Grapes and Grape Vines 372, 373 
 
 Autumnal Management of Fruit-trees. . 374 
 
 Pears grafted upon the Apple Stock 376 
 
 Seedlings from Budded Peaches 378 
 
 Care of Peacli-trees 381 
 
 Renovating Peach-trees 382 
 
 An Apologue or Apple-logue 384 
 
 Select List of Apples 385 
 
 Origin of some Varieties of Fruit 401 
 
 The Quince 403 
 
 Cutting and keeping Grafts 404 
 
 Frost Blight 405 
 
 Seedling Fruits 407 
 
 Time for Pruning 410 
 
 Plums and their Enemies 413 
 
 Root Grafting 417 
 
 Blight and Insects 419 
 
 Apples for Hogs 424 
 
 The Flower Garden 425 
 
 Preparation of Seed for Sowing 429 
 
 Sowing Flower Seeds— Transplanting... 431 
 Parlor Plants and Flowers in Winter. . . 432 
 
 Protecting Plants in Winter 439 
 
 To preserve Dahlia Roots 440 
 
 Hedges 441 
 
 Watering Trees, etc 443 
 
 Labels for Trees 444 
 
 Transplanting Evergreens 445 
 
 I Flowers, Ladies, and Angels 446 
 
 Horticultural Curiosities 447 
 
 The Cora Crop 451 
 
 Potato Crop 460 
 
 Potting Garden Plants for Winter Use.. 468 
 
 Mary Howitt's Use of Flowers 469 
 
 What are Flowers good for ? 470 
 
 The Blight in the Pear-tree 471 
 
 Progress of Horticulture in Indiana 489 
 
 Browne's Poultry Yard 495 
 
 Close of the Year 497 
 
LATE PAPEES 
 
 I. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE APPLE. 
 
 [In the Hudson River, nearly opposite Peekskill, and in 
 tlie very jaws of the "Race" (as the narrow passage through 
 the Highlands is called), there is a small, rocky island, by 
 the name of Iona. The name was borrowed from across 
 the water, by Dr. C. W. Grant's father-in-law, who owned 
 this gem, — for gem it was and is for those who love rocks, 
 glades, fine old trees, and absolute seclusion. 
 
 But who ever would have thought of such a place for 
 vineyards? Yet, lona became the very Jerusalem of grape- 
 vines. Dr. C. W. Grant, formerly of Newburgh, purchased 
 the island, and, adopting the then new grape, — the Dela- 
 ware, — commenced propagating it for commercial purposes. 
 It may be fairly said that no man in Amei'ica ever gave to 
 grape culture a greater impulse than Dr. Grant. Abundant 
 sales at length brought in abundant revenues. But his ideas 
 expanded with his means, and outran them. 
 
 The island was to become another Paradise. Here the 
 magnolia was to be propagated in such numbers that every 
 man in America could have it in his yard, holding white 
 cups filled with perfume to his windows. The rhododen- 
 dron was to be sent forth to every farm. New grapes were 
 originated. Every year developed its OAvn marvel. But 
 whether it was pear, Downing's mulberry, grape, or orna- 
 mental tree, the good democratic heart of Dr. Grant intended 
 
2 Pf.AIN AND PLEASANT TAMC 
 
 no narrower field than the continent. Men were to be 
 raised to a higher level by familiarity with better and better 
 grapes. The taste was to be refined. Every creature under 
 the western heavens was to sit under his own grape-vine, 
 and not under one alone, but a whole vineyard of them. 
 
 Health failed. Business got tangled. The kind doctor 
 sold out. He is gone from his vineyards. The island re- 
 mains. One of these days, in the hands of some one who 
 unites taste and thrift with abundant means, it will become 
 a marvel of beauty. 
 
 But it will hardly have a pleasanter day than when, in 
 1864, were gathered there two score or more of ladies and 
 gentlemen, — not a few of them fiimous in art, in literature, in 
 music, in pomology, and in sanguine plans of fruit culture, — 
 for a good time. Among the contributions to the general 
 amusement, I was appointed Orator to discourse upon The 
 Apple, and the address was to have been published, together 
 with minutes of the proceedings, other speeches, and various 
 interesting matter. But years passed on without progress 
 toward publication. What has become of other things I 
 know not, but this apple-talk has been fished up and sa^'ed. 
 I fear it will never again be as fresh or as powerful as in its 
 first estate. For there now hangs upon my cellar wall a 
 huge pan, lacking but a few inches of three feet in diameter, 
 upon which the ladies who had heard the address established 
 and ])erfected an apple-pie, — sent to me for New Year's Day 
 of 1865, — of so rare a spirit that every one of the hundreds 
 who tasted it declared it to be as good as it was large. 
 Alas ! the pan remains, and the poetry which came singing 
 its merits ; but the pie, — where is it ? So, too, the island of 
 the Hudson stands secure ; but where are the joyous people 
 that thronged it on that autumn day ?] 
 
 THE ADDRESS. 
 
 I am to discourse of the apple to an audience, many of 
 whom know much more about it than I do, and all of them 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING, O 
 
 full as much. It does not, on that account, follow that I 
 should not speak. "What a terrible blow would fall upon all 
 professions if a teacher should be forbidden to speak upon 
 things of which he knew nothing, and to an audience who 
 knew more about them than he ! One large part of the 
 duty of a teacher is to remind his hearers of how much they 
 know, and tempt them to a better use of their knowledge. 
 Instruction is one thing, and important in its place ; but the 
 inspiration of men to a good use of the things that they 
 already know is far more needed. 
 
 While the character of the ladies and gentlemen present 
 makes it projier for me to hide, Avith due modestj^, my 
 knowledge of the apple in the department of culture, there 
 is what may be called the Political Economy of the Apple^ 
 by which I mean the apple in its relation to domestic com- 
 fort and commerce ; and on that subject I think I can speak, 
 if not to edification, at least without fear of being tracked 
 and cornered. 
 
 The apple is, beyond all question, the American fruit. It 
 stands absolutely alone and unapproachable, grapes not- 
 withstanding. Originating in another hemisphere, neither 
 in its own country, nor in any other to which it has been 
 introduced, has it flourished as in America. It is conceded 
 in Europe that, for size, soundness, flavor, and brilliancy 
 of coloring, the American apple stands first, — a long way 
 first. 
 
 But it is American in another sense. This is a land in 
 Avhich diflTusion is the great law. This arises from our insti- 
 tutions, and from the character which they have imprinted 
 upon our people. In Europe, certain classes, having by their 
 intelligence and wealth and influence the power to attract 
 all things to themselves, set the current from the center 
 toward the surface. In America, the simple doctrines that 
 the common people are the true source of political power, 
 that the government is directly responsible to them, and 
 therefore that moral culture, intelligence, and training in 
 
4 PLAlISr AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 politics are indispensable to the common people, on whom 
 every state is to rest safely, have wrought out such results 
 that in all departments of justice and truth, as much as in 
 politics, there is a tendency toward the popularizing of every- 
 thing, and learning, or art, or any department of culture, is 
 made to feel the need of popularity ; a word which is very 
 much despised by classicists, but which may be used in a 
 sense so large as to make it respectable again. Things that 
 reach after the universal, that include in them all men in 
 their better and nobler nature, are in a proper sense pop- 
 ular ; and in this country, amusement and refinement and 
 wealth itself, first or last, are obliged to do homage to the 
 common jjeople, and so to be joopw/ar. Nor is it otherwise 
 in respect to horticulture. Of fruits, I think this, above all 
 others, may be called the true democratic fruit. There is 
 some democracy that I think must have sprung from the first 
 apple. Of all fruits, no other can pretend to vie with the 
 apple as the fruit of the common people. This arises from 
 the nature of the tree and from the nature of the fruit. 
 
 First, as to the tree. It is so easy of pi'opagation, that any 
 man who is capable of learning how to raise a crop of corn 
 can leai*n how to plant, graft or bud, transplant, and prune 
 an apple-tree, — and then eat the apples. It is a thoroughly 
 healthy and hardy tree ; and that under more conditions and 
 under greater varieties of stress than perhaps any other tree. 
 It is neither dainty nor dyspeptic. It can bear high feeding 
 and put up with low feeding. It is not subject to gout and 
 scrofula, as plums are ; to eruptions and ruptures, as the 
 cherry is ; or to apoplexy, as the pear is. The apple-tree may 
 be pampered, and may be rendered effeminate in a degree ; 
 but this is by artificial perversion. It is naturally tough as 
 an Indian, patient as an ox, and fruitful as the Jewish 
 Rachel. The apple-tree is among trees what the cow is 
 among domestic animals in northern zones, or what the camel 
 of the Bedouin is. 
 
 And, like all thoi'oughly good-natured, obliging, patient 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 5 
 
 things, it is homely. For beauty is generally unfavorable 
 to good dispositions. (I am talking to the ladies now.) 
 There seems to be some dissent ; but this is the orthodox 
 view. It seems as if the e\dl incident to human nature had 
 struck in, with handsome people, leaving the surface fair ; 
 while the homely are so because the virtue within has i)urged 
 and expelled the* evil, and driven it to the skin. Have you 
 never seen a maiden that lovers avoided because she was 
 not comely, who became, nevertheless, and perhaps on that 
 account, the good angel of the house, the natural inter- 
 cessor for afflicted children, the one to stay with the lonely 
 when all the gay had gone a-gadding after pleasure, the soft- 
 handed nurse, the story-teller and the book-reader to the 
 whole brood of eager eyes and hungry ears in the nursery ; 
 in short, the child's ideal of endless good-nature, self-sacri- 
 fice, and intercessorship, the Virgin Mary of the household, — 
 mother of God to their love, in that she brings down to them 
 the brightest conceptions of what God may peradventure 
 be ? And yet, such are stigmatized old maids, though more 
 fruitful of everything that is good (except children) than all 
 others. One fiult only do we find with them, — that they 
 are in danger of perverting our taste, and leading us to call 
 homeliness beautiful. All this digression, ladies and gentle- 
 men, is on account of my dear Aunt Esther, Avho brouglit me 
 up, — a woman so good and modest that she will spend ages 
 in heaven wondering how it happened that she ever got 
 there, and that the angels will always be wondering why 
 she wns not there from all eternity. 
 
 I have said, with some digressions, that the apple-tree is 
 homely ; but it is also hardy, and not only in respect to 
 climate. It is almost indifferent to soil and exposure. We 
 should as soon think of coddling an oak-tree or a chest- 
 nut ; Ave should as soon think of shielding from the winter 
 white pine or hemlock, as an apple-tree. If there is a lot 
 too steep for the plow or two rocky for tools, the farmer 
 dedicates it to an apple orchard. Nor do the trees betray 
 
b PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 his trust. Yet, the apple loves the meadows. It will thrive 
 in sandy loams, and adapt itself to the toughest clay. It 
 ■will bear as much dryness as a mullein stalk, and as much 
 wet, almost, as a willow. In short, it is a genuine democrat. 
 It can be poor, while it loves to be rich ; it can be plain, 
 although it prefers to be ornate ; it can be neglected, 
 notwithstanding it welcomes attention. But, whether 
 neglected, abused, or abandoned, it is able to take care of 
 itself, and to be fruitful of excellences. That is what I call 
 being democratic. 
 
 The apple-tree is the common people's tree, moreover, 
 because it is the child of every latitude and every longitude on 
 this continent. It will grow in Canada and Maine. It will 
 thrive in Florida and Mexico. It does well on the Atlantic 
 slope; and on the Pacific the apple is portentous. Newton 
 sat in an orchard, and an ajDple, plumping down on his head, 
 started a train of thought which opened the heavens to us. 
 Had it been in California, the size of the apples there would 
 have saved him the trouble of much thinking there- 
 after, perhaps, opening the heavens to him, and not to us. 
 Wherever Indian corn will grow, the apple will thrive; 
 and wherever timothy-grass will ripen its seed, the apple 
 will exist fruitfully. 
 
 Nor is the tree unworthy of special mention on account 
 of health and longevity. It is subject to fewer diseases than 
 almost any tree of our country. The worms that infest it 
 are more easily destroyed than those upon the currant or 
 the rose. The leaf is subject to blight in so small a degree, 
 that not one farmer in a hundred ever thinks of it. The 
 trunk is seldom winter-killed. It never cracks. It has no 
 trouble, as the cherry does, in unbuckling the old bark and 
 getting rid of it. The borer is the only important enemy ; 
 and even this is a trifle, if you compare the labor required 
 to destroy it with the pains which men willingly take to 
 secure a crop of potatoes. Acre for acre, an apple orchard 
 will, on an average of years, i)roduce more than half as many 
 
AUOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 7 
 
 bushels of fruit as a potato-field, — will it iiot ? And yet, 
 in j)lowing and planting and after-plowing and hoeing and 
 digging, the potato requires at least five times the annual 
 labor which is needed by the apjjle. An acre of apj^le-trees 
 can be kept clean of all enemies and diseases with half the 
 labor of once hoeing a crop of potatoes. And if you have 
 borers it is your own fault, and you ought to be bored ! 
 
 The health of the apple-tree is so great that farmers never 
 think of examining their orchards for disease, any more than 
 they do cedar posts or chestnut rails. And the great lon- 
 gevity of the apple-tree attests its good constitution. Two 
 hundred years it sometimes reaches. I have a tree on my 
 own place in Peekskill that cannot be less than that. Two 
 ladies, one about eighty years of age, called upon us about 
 three years ago, saying that they were brought up on that 
 farm, and inquiring if the old apple-tree yet lived. They 
 said that in their childhood it was called the old apple- 
 tree^ and was then a patriarch. It must now be a Methu- 
 selah. And, not to recur to it again, I may say that it is 
 probably the largest recorded apple-tree of the world. I 
 read in no work of any tree whose circumference is greater 
 than twelve or thirteen feet. This morning I measured 
 the Peekskill apple-tree, and found that six inches above the 
 ground it was fourteen feet and six inches, and, at about 
 four feet, or the spring of the limbs, fourteen feet and ten 
 inches. I am sorry to add that the long-suffering old tree 
 gives unmistakable signs of yielding to the infirmities of age. 
 The fruit is sweet, but not especially valuable, except for 
 stock. I do not expect to live to see any of my other trees 
 attain to the size and age of this solitary lingerer of other 
 centuries ! I cannot Itelp reverencing a tree whose leaves 
 have trembled to the cannonading of the guns of our Revo- 
 lution, which yielded fruit to Putnam's soldiers when that 
 hill was a military post, and under whose shadow Washing- 
 ton himself— without any stretch of probability — may have 
 walked. 
 
PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 I ought not to omit the good properties of the apple-tree 
 for fuel and cabinet-work. I have for five autumns kept up 
 the bright fire required by the weather in an old-fashioned 
 Franklin fireplace, using apple-wood, procured from old 
 trees i^runed or cut up wholly ; and, when it is seasoned, I 
 esteem it nearly as good as hickory, fully as good as maple, 
 and far better than seasoned beech. I have also for ray best 
 bureau one of apple-wood. It might be mistaken for cherry. 
 It is fine-grained, very hard, solid as mahogany, and grows 
 richer with every year of age. 
 
 In Europe, the streets and roads are often shaded by fruit 
 trees, the mulberry and the cherry being preferred. In some 
 parts, the public are allowed to helj) themselves freely. 
 When the fruit of any tree is to be reserved, a wisp of straw 
 is placed around it, which suffices. Upright-growing apple- 
 trees might be employed, with pears and cherries, in our 
 streets and roads, and by their very number, and their abun- 
 dance of fruit, might be taken away one motive of pilfering 
 from juvenile hands. He must be a preordained thief who 
 will go miles to steal that which he can get in broad day- 
 light, without reproach, by his door. One way to stop 
 stealing is to give folks enough without it. 
 
 I have thus far spoken of the apple tree. I now pass to the 
 fruit, — to the apple itself The question whether it sprang 
 from the wild crab I do not regard as yet settled. It is not 
 known from any historical evidence to have had that origin. 
 You cannot prove that this, that, or the other man, of any 
 age or nation, planted the seed and brought forward the 
 fruit. Nor am I aware that any man has conducted experi- 
 ments on it like those of Van Mons on the pear, or those 
 which Dr. Grant has made on the grape that is cultivated in 
 this country, to show that it sprang fi-om the wild grape of 
 Europe. Until that is done, it will be only a theory, a 
 probable fact, but not a fact proved. And, by the way, it 
 might be worth some man's while, at his leisure, to take the 
 seeds of the American wild grape, and see if, by any horti- 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 9 
 
 cultural Sunday school, he can work them up into good 
 Christian vines. 
 
 The apple comes nearer to universal uses than any other 
 fruit of the world. Is there another that has such a range 
 of season ? It begins in July, and a good cellar brings the 
 apple round into July again, yet unshi'unk, and in good 
 flavor. It belts the year. What other fruit, except in the 
 tropics, where there is no winter, and where there are suc- 
 cessive growths, can do that ? 
 
 It is a luxury, too. Kinds may be had so tender, so deli- 
 cate, and, as Dr. Grant — the General Grant of the vineyards 
 — would say, so refreshing^ that not the pear, even, would 
 dare to vie with it, or hope to surpass it. The Vanderveer 
 of the Hudson River, the Amei-ican Golden Russet, need not, 
 in good seasons, well ripened, fear a regiment of pears in 
 pomological convention, even in the city of Boston. It may 
 not rival the melting qualities of the jDcach, eating which 
 one knows not whether he is eating or drinking. But the 
 peach is the fruit of a day, — ephemeral ; and it is doubtful 
 whether one would carry through the year any such relish 
 as is experienced for a few weeks. It is the peculiarity of 
 the apple that it never wearies the taste. It is to fruit what 
 wheaten bread is to grains. It is a life-long relish. You 
 may be satisfied with apples, but never cloyed. Do you 
 remember your boyhood feats? I was bi'ought up in a 
 great old-fashioned house, Avith a cellar under every inch of 
 it, through which an ox-cart might have been wheeled after 
 all the bins were full. In this cellar, besides potatoes, beets, 
 and turnips, were stored every year some hundred bushels 
 of ap])les, — the Rhode Island Greening, the Roxbury Russet, 
 the Rxisset round the Stem^ as it was called, and the Spitzen- 
 berg; not daintily picked, but shaken down ; not in aristo- 
 cratic barrels set up in rows, but ox-carts full ; not handled 
 softly, but poured from baskets into great bins, as we poured 
 potatoes into their resting-place. If they bruised and rot- 
 ted, let them. We had enough and to spare. Two 
 
10 PLAIN AXD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 seasons of picking over apj^les — a sort of grand assizes — 
 put the matter all right. In all my boyhood I never 
 dreamed of apples as things possible to be stolen. So abun- 
 dant were they, so absolutely open to all comers, — who went 
 down into the cellar by the inside stairs instead of the out- 
 side steps, — that Ave should as soon have thought of being 
 cautioned against taking turnips, or asking leave to take a 
 potato. Apples were as common as aii\ And that was 
 early in December and January; for I noticed that the sun 
 was no more fond than I was of staying out a great while 
 on those Litchfield hills, but ran in early to warm his fingers, 
 as I did mine. When the day Avas done, and the candles 
 were lighted, and the supper was out of the way, we all 
 gathered about the great kitchen fire ; and soon after 
 George or Henry had to go down for apples. Genei-ally it 
 was Henry. A boy's hat is a universal instrument. It is a 
 bat to smack butterflies Avith, a bag to fetch berries in, a 
 basket for stones to pelt frogs withal, a measure to bring 
 up apples in. And a big-headed boy's old felt hat Avas not 
 stingy in its quantities; andAvhen its store ended, the errand 
 could ahvays be repeated. To eat six, eight, and twelve 
 apples in an evening was no great feat for a growing young 
 lad, Avhose stomach Avas no more in danger of dyspepsia than 
 the neighborhood mill, through Avhose body passed thou- 
 sands of bushels of corn, leaving it no fatter at the end of 
 the year than at the beginning. Cloyed Avith apples ? To 
 eat an apple is toAvant to eat another. We tire of cherries, 
 of peaches, of strawberries, of figs, of grapes, (I say it Avith 
 reverence in this presence !) but never of apples. Nay, Avhen 
 creature comforts fail, and the heart — hopeless voyager on 
 the troubled sea of life — is sick, apples are comforters ; or, 
 wherefore is it Avritten : — 
 
 " As the apple-tree among tlie trees of the Avood, so is my 
 beloved among the sons. I sat doAvn under his shadoAV Avith 
 great delight, and his fruit Avas sAveet to my taste. He 
 brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 11 
 
 me Avas love. Stay me with flagons," — undoubtedly of 
 cider ! — " comfort me with apples ; for I am sick of love." 
 
 If this is the cure of love, we may the better understand 
 why the popular instinct should have resorted to the apple- 
 tree as a cure for ambition, singing, 
 
 " We '11 hang Jeff Davis on a sour-apple tree." 
 
 There is, in this toothsomeness of the apple, together with 
 its utter harmlessness, a provision for nurses and mothers. 
 There is a growing period when children are voracious. 
 They must be filled ; and it is a matter of great account to 
 know what to fill them with. If you give them but bread, 
 that seems meager. Pies, cakes, and sweetmeats are mis- 
 chievous ; and yet more so are candies and confections. 
 Apples just hit the mark. They are more than a necessary 
 of life, and less than a luxury. They stand just half-way 
 between bread and cake, as wholesome as one and as good 
 as the other. 
 
 But noAv I enter iipon the realm of uses, culinary and 
 domestic, where, were I an ancient poet, I should stop and 
 invoke all the gods to my aid. But the gods ai*e all gone ; 
 and next to them is that blessing of the world, the housewife. 
 Her I invoke, and chiefly one who taught me, by her kitchen 
 magic, to believe that the germ of civilization is in the art 
 and science of the kitchen. Is there, among fruits, one 
 other that has so wide a range, or a range so important, so 
 exquisite, so wonderful, as the range of the apple in the 
 kitchen ? 
 
 First, consider it as a fruit-vegetable. It might with 
 great advantage take its place upon the table as regularly 
 as the potato or the onion. Far more odorous is the onion, 
 but, I think, far more blessed is the apple. It is an admi- 
 rable accompaniment of meat, wliich always craves a piquant 
 acid for relish. And when meat is wanting, a scrap of pork 
 in the frying-pan, with sliced apples, will serve the economic 
 table almost as well as if it had been carved from a beef 
 or cut from a sheep. 
 
12 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 "We do not use tlie apple enough in our cooking. As a 
 fruit upon the table it may be used for breakfast, for supper, 
 for dessert. Roasted apples ! Baked apples ! What visions 
 come before my mind ! Not the baked apjjles of the modern 
 stove, wliit'h lias humbled their glory. They are still worth 
 eating, but they have lost the stature, the comeliness, and 
 the romance of the old roasted apples, that were placed in 
 due order between the huge andirons, and turned duly by 
 the careful servant, drinking in heat on one side and oxygen 
 on the other, and coming to a degree of luxurious nicety 
 that will never be attained till we go back again to the old 
 fire])lace. It was a real pleasure to be sick, — I mean on 
 the hither border of sickness ; so that we might not go to 
 school, and so that, while we took a little magnesia, we might 
 feast on delicious roasted apples. And as for baked apples 
 and milk, how can I adequately speak of that most excel- 
 lent dish ! 
 
 Then, again, the apple may be regarded as a confection, 
 serving in the form of tarts, pies, — blessed be the unknown 
 person who invented the apple-pie ! Did I know where the 
 grave of that person was, raethinks I would make a devout 
 pilgrimage thither, and rear a monument over it that should 
 mark the spot to the latest generations. Of all pies, of every 
 name, the apple-pie is easily the first and chief And Avhat 
 shall I say of jellies, dumplings, puddings, and various pre- 
 serves, that are made from the apple ? 
 
 It might seem hard, in this enumeration of the many forms 
 in which the apple is made to contribute to the benefit of 
 mankind, not to notice that form in which it defies age, I 
 refer to the dried apple. No festoons are more comely than 
 were those half-circles that used to decorate the rafters of 
 the old-fashioned kitchen. I confess that no dried fruit is 
 worthy to be called fruit, whether it be huckleberry, or peach, 
 or pear, or apple. Once dried, these things have lost the 
 soul of their flavor ; and no coddling, no soaking, no experi- 
 menting, will ever bring them back to what they were in 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 13 
 
 their original fresli life. You cannot give youth to old age 
 in apples any more than among men. And yet, a« a souve- 
 nir^ as a sad remembrancer of days gone by, dried apples are 
 very good. 
 
 Next, we naturally consider the use of apples as food 
 for stock, — for swine, fn- horses, and for cattle. This 
 use of them is known ; but it seems to me that they 
 are not thus employed near so much as their benefits 
 would justify. 
 
 Last of all, let me speak of cider ; for, although the days 
 of temperance have banished cider from its former and 
 almost universal position upon the farmer's table, it is creep- 
 ing back again. Not daring to come in its own name, it 
 comes in the name of a neighbor, and is called champagne. 
 But whether it comes in one form or another, it still is 
 savory of the orchard ; still it brings warmth to chilly veins; 
 still it is a contribution to many a homely domestic festival. 
 And though I cannot, as a temperance man, exhort you to 
 make it, I must say, that if you will make it, you had better 
 make it good ! 
 
 But woe to him who takes another step in that direction! 
 Cider-brandy is a national disgrace. How great is the calam- 
 ity that impends over a community that makes cider-brandy 
 may be known by the recent history of the Shenandoah 
 valley; it being declared by several of the Richmond papers 
 that the defeat of Early was owing to the abundance of 
 apple-jack there. 
 
 It only remains that I should say a single word on the 
 subject of the apple as an article of commerce. Whether 
 fresh or dried, it is still, in that relation, a matter of no small 
 importance. The home market is enlarging every year; and 
 as soon as the apple shall become so cheap that all men may 
 have it no matter how poor they may be, the market must 
 of necessity have become very much augmented. Many 
 men suppose that as orchards increase and fruit multiplies 
 the profits diminish. Such is not the fact. As the com- 
 
14 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 moner kinds multiply, and the common peoj^le learn to use 
 them as daily food, the finer kinds will bear proportionally 
 higher prices ; and cheapness is one of the steps to profit in 
 all things that are consumed in the community. And I 
 should be glad to see the day when, for a few pence, every 
 drayman, every common laborer in every city, should be able 
 to bring as much fruit to his house every day as his family 
 could consume in that day. I should be glad to see in our 
 cities, what is to be seen to some extent in the cities of 
 Europe, the time when a penny or two will enable a man to 
 bring home enough flowers to decorate his table of food 
 twice a day. 
 
 We have not merely in view the profits of raising fruit 
 when we exhort you to bestow your attention on the apple 
 more and more as an article of commerce; we have also 
 in view the social influence which it may be made to exert. 
 I hold that when in any respect you lift the common 
 people up, whether by giving them a better dwelling, by 
 placing within their reach better furniture, or by enabling 
 them to furnish their table better, you are raising them to- 
 ward self-respect ; you are raising them toward the higher 
 positions in society. For, although all men should start with 
 the democracy, all men have a right to stop with the aris- 
 tocracy. Let all put their feet on the same level ; and then 
 let them shoot as high as they please. Blessed is the man 
 that knows how to overtop his neighbors by a fair devel- 
 opment of skill and strength. And every single step of 
 advance in general cultivation, even though it is brought 
 about by so humble an instrumentality as the multiplication 
 of fruit, or anything else that augments the range of healthful 
 enjoyment among the common people, not only stimulates 
 their moral growth, but, through that growth, gives the 
 classes above them a better chance to groAv. One of the 
 most efficient ways of elevating the whole community is to 
 multiply the means of livelihood among the poorest and 
 commonest. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 15 
 
 I will not finish my remarks with those elaborate statis- 
 tics or with those admirable and eloquent periods with 
 which I should be pleased to entertain you, for two reasons: 
 fii'st, because I would not consume your time at so late an 
 hour; and, secondly, because I have none of these things at 
 hand! 
 
16 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 II. 
 
 A FEW FLOWERS EASILY RAISED. 
 
 February 22c?, 1868. 
 
 The love of flowers is steadily increasing among the com- 
 mon people of America, and anything which shall increase 
 the knowledge and skill of the plain people in the manage- 
 ment of flowers will be a contribution to the ])ublic welfire. 
 
 Those that are rich can command the services of expert 
 gardeners, and need no advice from me. But there are 
 thousands who have ground enough around their dwellings, 
 and yet have little knowledge in the selection of plants and 
 flowers, and little skill in the cultivation of them, to whom 
 I may be of some service if I give such hints as have been 
 derived chiefly from my own experience. 
 
 Assuming, then, that my reader has given but little atten- 
 tion to the cultivation of flowers, and that he needs to be 
 told the simplest things, I would begin by recommending 
 him to send for a catalogue of flowers to Mr. Vick, Roches- 
 ter, K Y., or to Mr. B. K. Bliss, of Park Place, New York, 
 or Mr. Thorburn, John Street, also New York ; not, as 
 miglit at first be supposed, for the sake of the list of seeds, 
 but because each catalogue contains brief directions how to 
 prepare the ground, how to sow various kinds of seeds, etc., 
 etc. With such hints as these catalogues afford, one can 
 begin. The vei-y first step is to succeed the first year in 
 admirably raising one or two things. If one undertakes 
 too much before having practical experience he will fail, 
 become disgusted, and give up the whole eff'ort at flowers in 
 discouragement. But the exquisite delight of seeing a bed 
 of flowers, of your own raising, and thoroughly good, will be 
 apt to inspire a real ambition, and lay the foundation for 
 future success with more difl!icult flowers. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 17 
 
 I will suppose a young lady, who never has cultivated 
 flowers, but who can afford to hire a man's services for one 
 or two days in the spiing. She is to perform all the rest of 
 the work herself. What shall she plant ? 
 
 Morning-glories. If possible, select a place which the 
 morning sun will not reach before nine or ten o'clock in the 
 forenoon, in order to save the daily bloom from withering 
 before you have had half enough enjoyment. Let the 
 ground be made mellow, and enriched with black dirt from 
 the woods, or with old and well-decayed barn-yard manure, 
 or, if neither are convenient, with a pint of superphos- 
 phate of lime to each square yard of ground, well mixed 
 into the soil. This can now be bought in almost every 
 large town, or the merchant who sells seeds will procure it 
 for you. 
 
 The common sorts of morning-glories, if combined, will 
 answer well. But one who would do the best should have 
 two beds, one of the Convolvulus, and the other of Ipomea. 
 The difference is of importance only to a botanist. To the 
 common eye the flowers are the same. Of Ipomeas there 
 is a /)?<ce-colored one, which blossoms late in the afternoon, 
 named Buona Nox ; a mazarine-hlue^ shading to red 
 {Learii) ; a shy-hlue viith white edge, called in the catalogue 
 — don't be afraid ! — Ipotnea hederacea superha grandi- 
 flora, i. e. the superb great-flowering ivy-leaved Ipomea. 
 And then there is a very fine variety of this same one, whose 
 Latin name you will get by adding to the above the com- 
 pound word Atro-violacea. One more name, viz. Ipomea 
 limhata elegantissima. 
 
 Plant the seeds as soon as the frost is finally out of the 
 ground. Let there be pales, or strings, or trellis, arranged 
 for them to climb upon, and you will have all summer long, 
 and till the frost kills them, a magnificent show of exquisite 
 blossoms every morning; Sundays as well as week-days, for 
 flowers wear their Sunday clothes all through the week. We 
 have derived as much pleasure fi-om these morning-glories 
 
18 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 as from any one thing in our garden. They are healthy 
 and hearty growers, not infested with insects, profuse in 
 bloom, surpassing all blossoms in exquisite form and delicacy, 
 and, Avhat is of prime importance, holding fortlj^ftlnFough the 
 whole summer, Avhether hot or cold, Avet or dry.; 
 
 The common morning-glory will sow itself, and \;ome up 
 every year in the same place ; but the seed of the Ipomea 
 must be saved and planted every spring anew. Now, let 
 some sweet girl begin her flower-life with morning-glories — 
 nothing else — the first year, and see if she will ever let a 
 summer go by afterward without flowers ! 
 
 A bed of China Aster, although blossoming for only a 
 few weeks, may be had with so little trouble that one may 
 well undertake it. Send for the best kind, say Truffanfs 
 Giant Emperor, or his new Peony-flowered. Plant them 
 in rows six inches apart, in a seed-bed. Keep them clean 
 from all weeds. When grown from an inch to two inches 
 high, transplant them to a jDrepared bed, placing them about 
 fifteen inches apart each way. The ground should be rich, 
 light, and gently hoed, at least once a week, to keep the 
 surface open. If very large flowers are wanted, not more 
 than three blooms should be allowed to one root. We prefer, 
 however, to give the plant a rich soil and let it yield its 
 flowers, large and small, to suit itself. The seed should be 
 saved from the largest blossoms only. 
 
 A particular favorite with us is the Petunia. If fine seed 
 is secured, a bed of seedlings may be easily grown which 
 will be splendid the whole summer long. The directions 
 for the aster may be followed for Petunias, excejjt that the 
 plants should stand ttoo feet apart. Select a place where 
 they will have air and sun all day. They are generous, and 
 will roll out billows of color through the whole summer, and 
 even after the light early frosts have cut down many other 
 things. 
 
 There are two other beds on which we depend for color 
 every summer, and could no more afford to miss than we 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 19 
 
 could the sunsets, viz. Dwarf Convolvulus and Esch- 
 scholtzia. A bed of Dicarf ov Convolvulus Jfmor, say six 
 by twelve feet, will be an object of pleasure all summer long. 
 They are to be planted where they are to stand, as they will 
 not bear transplanting good-naturedly. Sow in rows eight 
 inches apart, and when well up thin out, leaving the plants 
 a foot apart. There are five or six varieties, and the mixed 
 seed, from a reputable seedsman, should contain them all. 
 No one will be walling to go without a bed of Dwarf Con- 
 volvulus who has once seen how easily they are raised, 
 and how splendid and long-continued is their blossom- 
 ing. 
 
 Manage the Eschscholtzia in almost exactly the same 
 way. There are three shades of color, — ^pale yellow, 
 bright yellow, and orange. The foliage is extremely deli- 
 cate. The buds are veiy shapely, and the full bloom gives 
 brilliancy to the whole region where the bed is planted. 
 No one knows this flower who has not seen its effect in 
 beds, or on long borders. In a similar way the Poppy 
 should be raised. Get seed of the Carnation Poppy 
 and the Peony-flowered Poppy. It will not bear trans- 
 planting well. 
 
 A bed of Portulacca will be so brilliant that it will almost 
 put your eyes out when the sun shines ; and it is so easy to 
 raise, that success is no credit. Prepare a bed, say four by 
 six feet, or larger if you choose, and rake it off smoothly. 
 The seeds are extremely minute. Take a pinch of them 
 as if they were snuff, and then do by them what everybody 
 ought to do by snuff, — sift them evenly all over the ground. 
 Then just touch the ground with the tips of the rake-teeth, 
 stirring it very lightly. Take a spade and spat the surface 
 gently, so as to bring the soil home to the seed. Keep 
 weeds away, and for the rest do nothing but enjoy the 
 labor of your hands. It will come up of itself every year, 
 and become a weed if you wish it to. 
 
 There, we have mentioned enough flowers for a beginning. 
 
20 PLAIN AND PLEASAIJfT TALK 
 
 They are all hardy, profuse bloomers, and, with the excep- 
 tion of the aster, last all sumniei", and form masses of color 
 which will charm the eye every time you look out of your 
 window. A girl can do all that is to be done, except work- 
 ing the ground, and even that ought not to be so hard as it 
 would be to go without flowers. 
 
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. '21 
 
 m. 
 
 FLOWER-FARMING. 
 
 February 29<A, 1868. 
 
 I ACKNOWLEDGE the merits of ^ovfex-garde7iing, but a 
 kind of necessity has compelled me to practice ^ovfer-f arm- 
 ing. I do not live upon my little farm, on the Hudson, ex- 
 cept for a few months in midsummer. To keep a professional 
 gardener befits more ample means than mine. Yet I must 
 have flowers ; I am as set and deteiinined to have flowers 
 as my farmer, Mr. Turner, is to have vegetables ; and there 
 is a friendly quarrel on hand all the season, a kind of border 
 warfare, between flowers and vegetables, which shall have 
 this spot, and which shall secure that nook ; whether in this 
 southern slope it shall be onions or gladioluses ; whether a 
 row of lettuce shall edge that patch, or of asters. I think, 
 on a calm review, that I have rather gained on Mr. Turner. 
 The fact is, I found that he had me at advantage, being 
 always on the place, and having the whole spring to himself 
 So I shrewdly tampered with the man himself, and before 
 he knew what he was about, I had infected him with the 
 flower mania (and this is a disorder which I have never 
 known cured) ; so that I had an ally in the very enemy's 
 camp. Indeed, I begin to fear that my manager will get 
 ahead of me yet in skill and love of flowers ! 
 
 I can see many and suflicient reasons for parterres of 
 flowers, for borders of mixed plants, for clumps and ribbons ; 
 but I can see no reason for supposing that flowers grow to 
 advantage only in these formal methods. 
 
 In a plantation of tomatoes, if every alternate plant in the 
 outer row is a petunia you will find a charming efiect in the 
 red fruit of the one and the profuse blossoming of the other ; 
 and on these outer rows the tomatoes may be left to ripen 
 
Z'2 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 tor seed, as being more exposed to the sun, thus adding the 
 beauty of their rich color. 
 
 I do not know why a square plat of beets or onions may 
 not be edged with asters, or with balsams. Sometimes I 
 plant a few alternate rows of flowers with my root crops, 
 and find that carrots and stocks, alternated, are admirable 
 friends. When the main crops are in, there are always some 
 outlying edges, some places about the walls, which would be 
 surely filled in with cabbages, if I did not jump at the 
 chance. I have great luck with tropealums, nasturtiums, 
 and particularly with labias, which are as easy of culture, 
 on a farm, as a bean. And I have a fancy that when one 
 comes upon a heap of stones in a corner, covered over 
 with all varieties of tropealum, he takes more pleasure 
 in them than if found just where one would look for them, 
 in a flower-bed. 
 
 If I should lay down a rule, it would be that, in arable 
 land, or in shrubbery and forest, no man should have to 
 walk more than twenty paces to find a flower. If a lady 
 should meet you on any acre on your farm, you ought to be 
 able then and there to make up for her an acceptable 
 bouquet. 
 
 In an unexpected way, I am like to have my rule kept for 
 me. For, in autumn, the stems and haulms of flowers go 
 to the barn-yard and join all other stuflTfit for compost ; and 
 when, in the spring, it is hauled out, I find, on every 23art of 
 the farm, that stray seeds have shaken out, and sown them- 
 selves, and produced volunteer flowers. Indeed, the primrose 
 family are getting too familiar ; larkspurs are everywhere ; 
 coreopsis glitters all over the fields ; poppies have turned 
 vagrants; and the portulacca has fairly become a weed. 
 Farms should be carried on for profit and pleasure ; and, as 
 I fail in the former, I am determined to make up in the 
 latter element. 
 
 Now and then, on the outer row of Indian corn, a convol- 
 vulus, climbing to the very top and full of blossoms, will 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 23 
 
 cheat nothing and enrich the eye a great deal. There is 
 always a spot or two, amidst field crops, where a Hicinus 
 sanguineus (castor bean) will do bravely ; and I will afiirm 
 that no fancier will be able to get past it without stopping 
 to look at its generous palms. 
 
 Where stone-walls prevail, what can be less expensive and 
 what more beautiful than to cover them with the Chinese 
 honeysuckles, with, now and then, the new and hardy 
 golden-veined honeysuckle, with other hardy sorts, easily 
 propagated ? There is also our own wild clematis, and to 
 this may be joined, at little expense, several of the new 
 varieties in this charming family, which may be obtained of 
 nurserymen. 
 
 If one has young evergreen trees, — say the Norway 
 spruce, — a few of the finer kinds of morning-glory (Ipo- 
 meas), planted near and suflTered to run up among the 
 branches and peep out of the green openings, will have a 
 beautiful eflfect all summer long, and the tree will sufier no 
 harm, as it sometimes does when the bitter-sweet, the ampe- 
 lopsis, and other woody vines, take possession of them. 
 
 Stumps are not deemed ornamental, and yet I have seen 
 them turned to an admirable account. If still standing on 
 their own roots, but decayed at the core, let them be hol- 
 lowed out, deeply as may be, filled with good soil, and 
 flowers planted in them, nasturtiums or petunias or the 
 linums or dwarf morning-glories. Stumps that have been 
 pulled up by the roots, and rolled into a corner, may be 
 dressed out with ferns, vines, and mosses, and a tasteful hand 
 will array them in such beauty that the farmer will be re- 
 luctant another season to give them up to the axe and the 
 stove. 
 
 Flowers peeping out of unlikely spots give a surprise of 
 pleasure. Therefore stick in a flower just where it Avould 
 not be expected. No matter if it " was never done before," 
 or if " farmers don't do so in these parts," or if " flowers are 
 a trouble, and don't bring any money." They bring what 
 
24 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 money often fails to bring, — refinement and pleasure. 
 There is no use, my old friend under a rough coat, in mak- 
 ing believe that you don't like flowers. I know that you 
 do. Somewhere in you is a spot, if the rubbish can be 
 cleared away, Avhich a flower always touches. There is no 
 reason why rich gentlemen should own all the flowers. 
 Hard-working farmers and mechanics have as much right to 
 them as if they lived without working. 
 
 What shall I say of the gladiolus? It is the flower for 
 the million ! It is as easy to manage as a potato. It blos- 
 soms long, and better if cut and carried into the house than 
 if left out doors. Its vai'ieties of color are endless. It is 
 healthy ; multiplies its conns rapidly, can be kept in winter 
 in a common cellar, if dried ofl" a little first; and is calculated 
 to return as much pleasure for a small outlay as any flower 
 in vogue. A few dozen to start with will convince any man 
 of the truth of my words. 
 
 Let me dissuade you, my dear readers, from too great an 
 addiction to mere profit. Don't wait for a regular garden 
 of flowers, but stick them in, in nooks and corners, all about 
 the homestead. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 25 
 
 IV. 
 
 A LETTER FROM THE FARM. 
 
 Peekskill, May litk, 1868. 
 
 My dear Mr. Bonner: You must expect no article 
 from me this week. I am engaged. I was never more busy 
 in ray life. Let me relate my occupations. At about half 
 past three in the morning, I wake. The liglit is just com- 
 ing. I do not care for that, as I do not propose to get up 
 at such an hour. But the birds do care. They evidently 
 wind up their singing apparatus over night. For, when the 
 first bird breaks the silence, in an instant the rest go off, as 
 if a spring had been touched which moved them all. Was 
 ever such noise ! There are robins without count, wood- 
 thrushes, orioles, sparrows, bobolinks, meadow-larks, blue- 
 birds, yellow-birds, wrens, warblers, catbirds (as the North- 
 ern mocking-bird is called), martins, twittering swallows. 
 Think of the noise made by mixing all these bird-notes to- 
 gether ! Add a rooster, and a solemn old crow to carry the 
 bass. Then consider that of each kind there are scores, and 
 of some kinds hundreds, within ear reach, and you will have 
 some faint conception of the opening chant of the day. 
 
 You may not believe that I wake so early. But I do. 
 You may be still less inclined to believe that, after listening 
 for ten minutes to this mixture, I again go to sleep. But I 
 solemnly do. Nor do I think of getting up before six 
 o'clock. Whether I should emerge even then, if it were 
 not for the savory odor that begins to steal through my 
 cottage, I cannot tell. After breakfast, there are so many 
 things to be don^rst that I neglect them all. The morn- 
 ing is so fine, the young leaves are so beautiful, the bloom 
 on the orchards is so gorgeous, the sounds and sights are so 
 many and so winning, that I am apt to sit down on the 
 
 2 
 
26 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 veranda, for just a moment, and for just another, and for a 
 series of them, until an hour goes by. Do not blame me ! 
 Do not laugh at such farming and such a firmer. The soil 
 overhead bears larger and better crops, for a sensible man, 
 than does the soil under feet. There are blossoms in the 
 clouds. There is fruit upon invisible trees, to those who 
 know how to pluck it. 
 
 But then sky-gazing and this dallying with the landscape 
 will not do. What crowds of things require the eye and 
 hand ! Flowers must be transj^lanted. Flower-seeds must 
 be sown ; shrubs and trees pruned ; vines looked after ; 
 a walk taken over the hill to see after some evergreens, 
 with many pauses to gaze upon the landscape, and many 
 birds watched as they are confidentially exhibiting their 
 domestic traits before you. The kittens, too, at the barn, 
 must be visited, the calf, the new cow. Then every gar- 
 dener knows how much time is consumed in noticing the 
 new plants; for instance, I have some eight new strawber- 
 ries that need watching, each one purporting to be a world's 
 wonder. I am quite anxious about eight or ten new kinds 
 of clematis; two new species of honeysuckle; eight or ten 
 new and rare evergreens ; and ever so many other things, — 
 shrubs and flowers. What shall I say of the new peas, new 
 beans, rare cucumbers, early melons, extraordinary pota- 
 toes? 
 
 Speaking of potatoes, do you know anything of the Early 
 Rose? Let me tell you. One hundred bushels were sold 
 this spring, to one man, for eighty dollars a bushel ! Since 
 then, they have been selling by the pound, at the increasing 
 prices of one, two, and three dollars a pound. It takes about 
 three potatoes to make a pound. 
 
 Now for a story — true, for I had it fl'om Timothy Tit- 
 comb's lips. A friend sent him this potato, with injunctions 
 to give it the utmost care. He j^lanted it m his garden, and 
 when it ripened, last summer, not informed of its exceeding 
 preciousness, he proceeded to eat. In a reasonable time he 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FL0WEK8 AND FAKMLNG. 27 
 
 consumed three barrels, which at the lowest price were 
 worth about seven hundred dollars ! 
 
 I have a very nice plat of these potatoes, and should like 
 to sell them to you in advance. As an inducement, I offer 
 mine at fifty dollars a bushel ! But this is confidential. I 
 do not wish to be overrun with purchasers, scrambling for a 
 chance ! 
 
 Do you not see that it is impossible for me, amid such in- 
 cessant and weighty cares, to compose an article ? The air 
 is white with apple-blossoms ; the trees are all singing ; the 
 steaming ground beseeches me to grant it a portion of 
 flower-seeds ; by night the whippoorwills, and by day the 
 wood-thrush and mocking-bird, fill my imagination with all 
 sorts of fancies, and how can I write ? 
 
28 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 THE COST OF FLOWERS. 
 
 June l^.th, 1868. 
 
 The charms of flowers have been sung ever since letters 
 have existed. But in our day the passion for flowers has 
 wonderfully increased, and the cultivation of them, which 
 is a thing very diiferent from the sentiment of admiration, 
 has become so common that it is considered as an evidence 
 of bad taste for one having any ground not to have flowers 
 about the dwelling-house. 
 
 But how few who only receive flowers as gifts, or pur- 
 chase them, know the pains and penalties of flower-raising 1 
 It may be imagined that one has only to scratch open the 
 ground, bury the seed, and then patiently wait for nature 
 to do the rest. Listen ! First comes the seed-buying. We 
 do not think seedsmen any less honest than other men. In- 
 deed, the conduct of those with whom we have dealt for 
 ten years past leads us to think that they are honorable and 
 honest in intent. But that does not insure good seeds. 
 
 They buy of other seedsmen, in foreign lands, who may 
 not be honest, or are obliged to trust seed-raisers. And so it 
 comes to pass that seeds, like thousands of other articles 
 in this wicked and adulterous generation, are adulterated. 
 Italian carnation seed come up miserable single pinks, of 
 very poor colors ; balsams are not half so choice as is the 
 price at which the seed is sold; not one in ten of this year's 
 ipomea seed (convolvulus) will stir out of the ground, — 
 and so of stock, sweet-william, etc. 
 
 But, that past, and our seed well planted, there often 
 comes a deluge, and washes the seed-beds to pieces, or a 
 long wet spell rots the seed in the ground. 
 
 At length we gather up what we can, and transplant the 
 
 1 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 29 
 
 remnant, and patiently wait for the flowers. But we are 
 not the only ones waiting for them. A legion of various 
 insects seem to think that all our flowers were planted for 
 them. We have been often asked why were insects cre- 
 ated ? If it is fair to say that the cause of their existence 
 may be learned from the efiects which they produce, we 
 boldly aver that they were made to humble man's arro- 
 gance, and to teach him how much mightier is insect weak- 
 ness than human power. A grasshopper is contemptible. 
 The farmer can crush him at a step. But let the plague 
 of grasshoppers be let loose, and all his fields be deluged 
 with them ; and how easily do myriads of creatures that 
 are individually weak overwhelm him and destroy all his 
 labor ! 
 
 We have a realizing sense of the unequal war which is 
 waged between man and insects. It seems in late years as 
 if horticulture might as well be abandoned. Cherries and 
 plums go down before the curculio ; apples before the can- 
 ker-worm, the tent-worm, and the apple- worm; currants 
 before a worm peculiar to itself; melons before half a dozen 
 kinds of enemies (not including rogiiish boys). 
 
 Among flowers the destruction is equally great. As soon 
 as the rose fairly shakes out its leaves it is attacked : one 
 bug cuts circles out of the leaves, as if busy with a pair of 
 scissors making diagrams ; then comes the thrip^ that can 
 neither be caught, nor wet with soapsuds, nor dusted with 
 lime, nor pinched with the fingers, — a nimble fellow, mi- 
 nute as a speck of flour, but numerous as dust. Close upon 
 its heels comes the slug, whose remorseless appetite leaves 
 nothing behind it but the ribs and fi-ame of the leaf. Next 
 come the rose-bugs proper, of a finer appetite, disdaining 
 anything less delicate than rose-petals. Of these the num- 
 ber is surpassing ; their devastation pitiable. There stand 
 my bushes stripped of leaves and blighted in flowers. 
 
 Of course there are remedies enough. One rose-bush 
 may be treated with hand-picking, or pinching, or washes, 
 
30 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 but one or two hundred rose-bushes would require formida- 
 ble engineering. 
 
 Year by year the number of insects increases. New 
 flowers come into the blighted circle. Aphides, grubs, 
 worms, moles, flies — at the root, or on the top — resist your 
 labor at every step. They never tire. They seem never 
 to be full. They get up before you do, and eat on all night, 
 after you are asleep. 
 
 Well, we are born into a world which pays few premiums 
 to lazy men. Whatever is worth having is worth working 
 for. At any rate, Providence seems to design that no man 
 shall gather who does not sow and tend. Of every lazy 
 man it may well be said. What does he in this world ? This 
 is a place for workers. " He that will not work shall not 
 eat," is an inspired command. It is as true of the garden 
 as of the field, of flowers as of fruit and grain. God sends 
 millions of insects over all our gardens and flower-beds, 
 saying, " We are sent to make you work." Every insect is 
 some malignant enchanter, and every fair-faced flower, like 
 a maiden lost in the wilderness, beseeches us to deliver it 
 from its enemies ! 
 
 / 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 31 
 
 VI. 
 
 HAYING. 
 
 July 2d, 1868. 
 
 Alas for the poetry of farming! All the songs of milk- 
 maids must be now listened for in the old English poets. 
 The whetting of the mower's scythe is almost over — quite 
 over on my farm! Instead of that, one hears the sharp 
 rattle of the mower, and sees the driving-man quite at his 
 ease riding round and round the meadow, for all the world 
 as if he were out airing. Whereas, hei-etofore, two acres 
 would be counted a large day's work, ten and twelve are 
 easily accomplished now! 
 
 Nor is the contrast less remarkable in all the after-work. 
 When I was a boy, I was placed in line with all the men 
 that could be mustered, to shake out the hay with forks ; 
 and after a few hours, all hands were called to go over the 
 ground and turn it. To do this rapidly, and yet so that 
 the bottom side should really come to the top, was no small 
 knack. Now, a tedder, with one man riding, will literally 
 do the work of ten men, and do it far better than the most 
 expert can. Have you ever seen a tedder? I have a per- 
 fect one. The grass rolls up behind it and foams, I was going 
 to say, like water behind the wheels of a steamer. The 
 grass leaps up and whirls as if it were amazingly tickled 
 with such dealings. The result is, that unless the grass is 
 very heavy, and the weather very bad, you may cut your 
 hay in the morning and get it into your barn before night, 
 in far better condition than it used to be when it required 
 never less than two, and generally a part of three days to 
 cure it. 
 
 But I have forgotten the horse-rake. Instead of the old- 
 fashioned, long-handled rake, and the five or six men pull- 
 
32 PLAIIf AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ing and hauling to get the grass into windrows, that same 
 fellow, with that same horse, rides his luxurious rake, and in 
 a fifth part of the time formerly required puts it into equally- 
 good shape. Indeed, haying, if it has lost its poetry, has 
 also lost its drudgery. A man can now manage a hundred 
 acres of grass easier than he formerly could twenty. 
 
 The only thing that remains to be made easy is pitching 
 on and off the load. It is true that horse-forks have been 
 invented, but I have never seen any that did their work 
 well ; and in my barn, at any rate, the old work of pitching 
 and mowing remains; and if you wish to know what fun 
 is, get on to the mow, under the slate roof of my barn, on a 
 hot day, and let Tim pitch off hay as he will if I give him 
 the wink. You will have to step lively, and even then you 
 will often be seen emerging fi'om heaps of hay thrown over 
 you, like a rat from a bunch of oakura. And then it is so 
 pleasant, when a man is all a^sweat, to have his shirt filled 
 with hay-seed, each particular particle of which makes be- 
 lieve that it is a flea, and wiggles and tickles upon every 
 square inch of his skin, until he is half desperate. 
 
 It is the 2d of July, and my grass is all cut, and the last 
 load is rolling into the barn -while I write. How sweet 
 it smells! How jolly the children are that have been 
 mounted on the top of the load ! And their little scarlet 
 jackets peep out from their nest while Tim stands guard 
 and nurse. A child that has not ridden up from the mead- 
 ow to the barn on a load of hay has yet to learn one of the 
 luxuries of exultant childhood. What care they for jolts, 
 when the v.'hole load is a vast and multiplex spring? The 
 more the wagon jounces the better they like it! Then come 
 the bars, leading into the lane with maple-trees on each side. 
 The limbs reach down, and the green leaves kiss the children 
 over and over again. So would I, if I were a green leaf, 
 and not consider myself so green after all ! And so the 
 load slowly rolls up the hill. There is no such thing as mo- 
 mentum in an ox. He is always at a dead pull and at the 
 
 I 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. OO 
 
 very hardest. But the children like it. The slower they 
 move the longer is the ride ! Let them take all the comfort 
 they can. By and by they will be grown, and own fine car- 
 riages, and roll in style through the streets. But there is 
 many a fair face that rides in a silk-lined coach, with a sad 
 heart, and would go back if she could, 0, how gladly, to 
 her joyous ride on a load of hay! 
 
34 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 VIL 
 
 THE VALUE OF ROBINS. 
 
 October 10th. 
 
 The game-law has relaxed its authority. The gun is set 
 free. I hear it in the woods, in the fields, on the hills, 
 Sundays and week-days, bang ! bang! bang! as if it could 
 not express its joy, and even celebrating its own emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 Well, let them fire, only so they keep off my hill. It is 
 true that the birds have finished their service, and are now 
 of little use, either as songsters or as worm-exterminators 
 — more 's the pity ! But are their past services to be for- 
 gotten ? 
 
 Let me speak of the robin. 
 
 He is an immense feeder, and omnivorous. Nothing seems 
 to come amiss — fruit, worm, or seed. Glutton he is not, 
 for he does not eat more than he really needs ; but he needs 
 more than most birds of his size. 
 
 It is a disputed question, among farmers, whether the 
 robin is a profitable bird. Whether he does not damage 
 the fi-uit crop out of all proportion to his services in the 
 crusade against insects. I grieve to say, that my own 
 household is divided, and that I am the only one that is 
 openly and wholly a friend to the robin. He is an early 
 riser, and no sooner has he sung his morning hymn than he 
 begins breakfast. Now, in the month of June cherries 
 ripen. I have a cherry orchard. When fully grown, there 
 will be enough for robins and men. But at jiresent my 
 trees are like precocious children ; they blossom enormously, 
 but set little fruit. The question now is, Whose is that 
 fruit? The people in the house declare that it belongs to 
 us. The robins out of doors say little about it, but actions 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 35 
 
 speak louder than words. Rising earlier than we do, they 
 get their breakfast before the smoke rises from my chimneys. 
 I Avill not permit them to be driven away, and still less to 
 be shot. I plead their services. I recount their deeds of 
 valor against insects ; their service of song. But it is all in 
 vain. I am voted down. All manner of threats are thrown 
 out by the boys, " if I would only let them." But I won't 
 let them ! 
 
 There are two distinct grounds on which these birds are to 
 be preserved and encouraged. The first ground is the refin- 
 ing pleasure which they give to every person of true suscep- 
 tibility. Thousands there are who live in the country who 
 will regard this as sheer sentimentality. They are robust 
 people, who drive around all day with vigorous industry, 
 and have always done so, until at length their very standard 
 of manhood is made up of some kind of physical force. He 
 is a man that can lift the largest weight, run the longest and 
 fastest, cut the most grain, climb most lithely, wrestle the 
 most dextrously. And if he can make a shrewd bargain, 
 has an eye for the points in an ox or horse, has the knack 
 of making money, and a good-natured way of pushing 
 about among men, he is considered, and considers himself, 
 to be a real up-and-down man ! 
 
 But where are the finer traits ? God made blossom bulbs 
 in every nature, and if men do not blossom they are deficient 
 in the higher elements. 
 
 To disregard qualities of beauty, in form, color, motion, 
 and song, is so far to indicate a deformity of one's own na- 
 ture. We never think one to be more manly who cares 
 nothing for the unmarketable graces of the natural world, 
 than he who makes them a part of his daily enjoyment. 
 
 The argument is conclusive to a fine nature, when one 
 says, " Birds are too beautiful to be killed." It may be re- 
 plied that noxious insects and animals are beautiful, too, and 
 yet are destroyed by the humane and refined, because they 
 are mischievous. We admit the statement, and are willing 
 
36 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 to apply it to birds. When they are really destructive to 
 crops, or Avhen they are, at proper seasons, needful for food, 
 it is no inhumanity to take their lives. They must take 
 their part and lot with the whole creation, which every- 
 where eats and is eaten. 
 
 But to return to our robin. There is no season of the 
 year when the robin does not prevent more mischief than 
 he accomplishes. He is an enormous eater, and, for the 
 most part, he prefers a meat diet. No one who has not 
 taken pains to observe and estimate can form any conception 
 of the insects and worms devoured by the robin between 
 March and August — that is, during the whole nesting pe- 
 riod. One robin eats, in a single season, what, if built into 
 a solid form, w^ould be more than a whole ox. Fruit is but 
 a small part of his diet ; chen-ies, strawberries, and grapes, 
 for a while, suffer from his depredations. Yet, if there were 
 no birds these very things would suffer far more. Insects 
 are more to be dreaded than birds. They elude our vigi- 
 lance, they work secretly, they swarm in such numbers as to 
 defy man's power. But birds keep them down. They de- 
 stroy myriads of eggs, of grubs, of tender worms, and of 
 fruit-loving insects. To destroy birds for the sake of saving 
 fi'uit is like throwing down the fence about one's garden to 
 keep the pigs out ! Even admit, as some do and we do not, 
 that blackbirds and crows deserve to be shot for destroying 
 the planter's seed. We claim that the robin does not be- 
 long to their company. He preserves a hundred-fold more 
 than he destroys. 
 
 On every ground, then, of humanity, of good taste, and 
 of thrift, robins should be spared. They are our best 
 friends. They are, beyond all question, the finest song-bird 
 of the temperate zone. They are a watch and guard against 
 insect depredations in orchard and garden, and, with other 
 birds, they make possible the raising of fruit, which, with- 
 out them, it is no exaggeration to say, would be utterly im- 
 possible. They are, next to the wren and sparrows, the 
 
 I 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 37 
 
 most companionable of birds, hovering about the dwellings 
 of man, and following him, step by step, as he subdues the 
 wilderness, and singing the song of triumph for the axe and 
 the plow. 
 
 One word as to the robin's song. Whoever has read Au- 
 dubon's description of the wood-thrush's song, and the still 
 more glowing account by a writer in the Atlantic Monthly 
 of two or three years ago, will surely be disappointed on first 
 hearing it. In any proper sense, it has no song, but only a 
 few sweet sentences, which it utters in a sad and almost 
 melancholy Avay, sitting solitary in some forest edge, or tree 
 overhanging a brook. The bird is a recluse. So, one im- 
 agines a tender-hearted woman, disapjjointed in love, yet 
 not embittered, might sing from the casement of a nunnery 
 a hymn of mingled resignation and regret. But, to com- 
 pare this monosyllabic song of the wood-thrush to the rob- 
 in's, is like comparing a ballad to an oratorio, or the tinkling 
 of a guitar to the sweet tone of a piano-forte under the 
 hands of some Perabo, 
 
 The robin is an out-door bird. He lives in the sunshine. 
 He attracts no sympathy by delicate ways. He is alto- 
 gether robust, and full of dashing life. When twenty or 
 thirty robins between three and four o'clock in a June 
 morning ai'e at full voice, it would be no exaggeration to 
 compare it to a rain of music. It is no dainty thrumming, 
 — no parceling out of a sweet note or two, with more rests 
 than notes. It is a musical rush, the exultation of a healthy, 
 hearty bird, that sings by the half-hour, without jjause, and 
 is ever ready to sing again. 
 
 The evening song of the robin I most love to hear. 
 Heard from the top of some orchard tree, or of some 
 meadow maple, while his note has the fire and brilliancy of 
 his morning song, there is in it a slight undertone of sad- 
 ness. Indeed, this evening song seems to be a mate-call. 
 For ten or fifteen minutes the bird will send out its mellow 
 call over all the region, if peradventure the truant mother 
 
38 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 may come home. A slight impatience mixes witli its clos- 
 ing notes. He flies to a neighboring tree, litters two or 
 three sharp single notes, and then, beginning again, swells 
 out his long call louder than before, warbling five to ten 
 minutes. He pauses. No bird returns. He sits silent. 
 
 Perhaps he remembers that there had been a little domes- 
 tic quarrel during the day, and if his mate is dead, he may 
 never be able to say to her, " I am sorry." A nest full of 
 little birds needs the mother. The twilight is deepening. 
 Once more, its brilliance now toned down by an unmistak- 
 able sadness, he sends out far and near through the dew- 
 damp air a song which is more a lamentation than a call. 
 If there be no response, he flies silently away, and the air 
 rests. 
 
 But, sometimes, just as his song is ending, it breaks out 
 into a sharp note of surprise. A flutter is heard, and two 
 birds fly hastily away. The wanderer has come home 
 again ! 
 
 Can one, all summer long, follow birds with sympathy, 
 and enter into their gentle life, throwing around it, by the 
 imagination, the charm of the afiections, and then consent 
 to their destruction as if they had been mere birds from a 
 coop ? Shoot and eat my birds ? It is but a step this side 
 of cannibalism. The next step beyond, and one would 
 hanker after Jenny Lind or Miss Kellogg. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEKS AND FABMLNG. 39 
 
 VIII. 
 SOUNDS OF TREES. 
 
 J^ily 2ith. 
 
 The sounds and motions of trees constitute subtle but 
 important elements of pleasure. It is not cpough that a 
 tree have a comely form as a whole ; that it cast a dense 
 shade in the sultry days of summer; that, perhaps, it yield 
 a nut or fruit; and that, finally, when it gives up its life to 
 the inevitable ax, its prostrate trunk shall furnish good 
 timber. Besides these uses of bodily comfort and of econ- 
 omy, a tree, like a rich-hearted person, has a hundred name- 
 less Avays which we hardly stop to analyze, but which, were 
 they suddenly taken away, we should miss. 
 
 The murmuring of trees is profoundly affecting to a sen- 
 sitive spirit. In some moods of imagination one cannot 
 help feeling that trees have a low song, or a conversation 
 of leaves. They whisper, or speak, or cry out, and even 
 roar. No one knows this last quality so well as those who 
 have been in old oak forests in a storm, with violent wind. 
 A dense forest opposes such a resistance to the free passage 
 of the air, that the soimd is much deadened. But in a park 
 or oak-opening, where spaces are left for the motion of the 
 air, and among open-branched trees, a storm moves with 
 such power and majesty, that not even the battles of thun- 
 der-clouds are more sublime, and, imder certain cii'cum- 
 stances, it becomes terrific. At the beginning of the tem- 
 pest, the trees sway and toss as if seeking to escape ; as the 
 violence increases, the branches bounce back, the leaves, 
 turning their white under sides to the light, fairly scream. 
 The huge boughs creak and strain like a ship in a storm. 
 Now and then some branches which have grown across 
 each other are drawn back and forth, as if demons were 
 
40 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 scraping infernal bass-viols. Occasionally a branch breaks 
 with a wild crash, or some infirm tree, caught unawares in 
 a huge puff of the storm, goes down with crashing as it 
 falls, and with a thunder-stroke when it reaches the ground. 
 I would go farther to hear a storm-concert in an old forest, 
 than any music that man ever made. No one who is famil- 
 iar with forest sounds but is sure, when he hears Beetho- 
 ven's music, that much of it was inspired by the sounds of 
 winds among trees. 
 
 There are milder joys, however, in tree converse. Only 
 this morning I awakened to hear it rain. That steady splash 
 of drops which a northeast wind brings on is not easily 
 mistaken. I flatter myself that my ear is too well trained 
 to all the ordinary sounds of nature to be easily deceived. 
 I rise, and throw back the blinds, when lo ! not a drop is fall- 
 ing. It is the wind in my maple-trees. I had thought of 
 that, and listened with the most discriminating attention, 
 and was sure that it was rain ! 
 
 Twice in our life we lived in houses built on the edge 
 of the original forests. These had been thinned out, and 
 recesses opened up. It happened in both cases that an ash 
 and a hickory had been left, which shot up, without side 
 bi-anches, to a great height. The trunks were supple and 
 tough. Whenever the winds moved gently, these long and 
 lithe trees moved with singular grace and beauty. As there 
 was no perceptible Avind along the ground, their movements 
 seemed voluntary. And yet there was in it that kind of 
 irresolution which one sees in sleep-walking. But as soon 
 as the breath became a breeze, the wide circles through 
 Avhieh these rooted gymnasts moved was wonderful. They 
 seemed going forth in every direction, and yet surely and 
 quickly sj^ringing back to position again. And in every 
 motion, such was their elasticity, they manifested the ut- 
 most grace. The sighing of winds in a pine forest has no 
 parallel sound except upon the sea-shore. Of all sounds of 
 leaves it is the sweetest and saddest, to certain moods of 
 summer leisure. 
 
 I 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 41 
 
 The pine sings, like the poet, with no every-day voice, 
 but in a tone apai*t from all common sounds. It has the 
 power to change the associations, and to quicken the poetic 
 sensibility, as no other singing tree can do. Every one 
 should have this old hai-per, like a seer or a priest among 
 trees, about his dwelling. Under an old pine would natu- 
 rally be found the young maiden, whose new lover was far 
 across the seas. In the sounds that would descend she 
 could not fail to hear the voices of the sea, — the roar of 
 winds, the plash of waves running in upon the shore. A 
 young mothei*, whose first-born had returned to God who 
 gave it, would go at twilight to the pines ; for, to her ear, 
 the whole air must needs seem full of spirit voices. They 
 would sing to her thoughts in just such sad strains as soothe 
 sorrow. Nor would it be strange if, in the rise and fall of 
 these sylvan syllables, she should imagine that she heard 
 her babe again, calling to her from the air. 
 
 Every country place should have that very coquette among 
 trees, the aspen. It seems never to sleep. Its twinkling 
 fingers are playing in the air at some arch fantasy almost 
 without pause. If you sit at a window with a book, it will 
 wink and blink, and beckon, and coax, till you cannot help 
 speaking to it ! That must be a still day that does not see 
 the aspen quiver! A single leaf sometimes will begin to 
 wag, and not another on the whole tree will move. Some- 
 times a hidden breath will catch at a lower branch, then, 
 shifting, will leave that still, while it shakes a topmost twig. 
 Though the air may move so gently that your cheek does 
 not feel it, this sensitive tree will seem all a shiver, and turn 
 its leaves upward with shuddering chill. It is the daintiest 
 fairy of all the trees. One should have an aspen on every 
 side of his house, that no window should be without a 
 chance to look upon its nods and becks, and to rejoice in its 
 innocent witcheries. I have seen such fair sprites, too, in 
 human form. But one does not get off so easily, if he sports 
 too much with them. The aspen leaf makes no wounds. 
 
42 PLAIN AND TLEASANT TALK 
 
 Its frolics spin no silken threads which one cannot follow, 
 and which will not break! 
 
 The musical qualities of trees have not been considered 
 enough, in planting around our dwellings. The great-leaved 
 magnolias have no fine sound. Willows have but little. 
 Cedars, yew-trees, and Lombardy poplars are almost silent. 
 It is said that the Lombai-dy poplar is the male tree, the 
 female having never come over. It is very likely. It is stiif 
 enough to be an old bachelor. It spreads out no side 
 branches. Its top dies early. It casts a penurious shadow. 
 
 But my hand is tired. The winds move ; all the leaves 
 call me. Let me go forth. 
 
 This ocean above me is sure to cure trouble. The winds 
 sound, the trees sing. My soul yearns. Its thoughts and 
 moods below may roll like a disturbed sea ; but, drawn up 
 into the heavenly air, like the waters of the sea, they forget 
 their wrath, and descend again in gentle dews and nourish- 
 ing rains. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 4o 
 
 IX. 
 
 UNVEILED NONSENSE. 
 
 August 2Sth. 
 
 My dear Mr. Bonner : Are you not a censor of all 
 your contributors? Do you not read cautiously all matter 
 sent to the Ledger^ to prevent the entrance thereinto of any 
 injurious sentiments ? And yet you have allowed blasphemy 
 in your columns? You have! Or else the Christian In- 
 telligencer, the Dutch Reformed religious journal of New 
 York, by one of its contributors, is greatly mistaken. An 
 article appears there signed " Puritan," and entitled " Veiled 
 Profanity." It begins with an extract from an article of 
 one of your contributors : — 
 
 " Henry Ward Beecher says, ' The only way to exterminate the 
 Canada thistle is to plant it for a crop, and propose to make money 
 out of it. Then worms will gnaw it, bugs will bite it, beetles will 
 bore it, aphides will suck it, birds will peck it, heat will scorch it, 
 rains will di'own it, and mildew and blight will cover it.' " 
 
 And now guess, if you can, what harm lies couched in 
 these words. Put on your spectacles. Nothing wrong, do 
 you say ? O, but there is ! You, a Scotch-Irish Presby- 
 terian, and can't see heresy ! Fie, for shame, to be beaten 
 by a Dutchman ! Now, let our Intelligencer'' s man express 
 himself. The italics are his, not mine : — 
 
 " These bugs, beetles, aphides, heat, rain, and mUdew are the 
 messengers of God. If they are sent, they are on an errand for 
 God ! Now, if the above extract has a point, it is that when man- 
 kind plant a crop of any kind of grain or seed, God takes a mali- 
 cious pleasure in defeating such schemes." 
 
 This is exquisite ! If mildew attacks my grape-vines, it 
 is on an errand for God, and if I sprinkle it with sulphur 
 as a remedy, I put brimstone into the very face of God's 
 
44 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 messenger ! When it rains — is not rain, too, GofPs mes- 
 senger? — does "Puritan" dare to open a blasphemous 
 umbrella, and push it up in the very face of this divine 
 messenger? When a child is attacked by one of "God's 
 messengers" — measles, canker-rash, dysentery, scarlet-fever 
 — would it be a very great sin to send for a doctor on pur- 
 pose that he might resist these divine messengers ? There 
 are insects which attack men, against one of which we 
 set up combs, and against another sulphur. "Nay," says 
 Puritan. " If they are sent, they are on an errand for GocV 
 " Puritan " goes on : — 
 
 " Such a sentiment is far deeper in its tone than a mere murmur. 
 Especially as Mr. Beecher's farm at Fishkill is well known to be 
 cultivated with reference to making money." 
 
 Yes, we confess it. A " murmur " very imperfectly ex- 
 presses our feelings as we dig at a Canada thistle, or squirt 
 whale-oil soapsuds over a myriad of" Puritan's " divine mes- 
 sengers, called aphides. A grumble would not be too strong 
 a word to use on such occasions. Nay, the reverend gentle- 
 man has been known to say, in a paroxysm of horticultural 
 impiety, " I wish every rose-bug on the place was dead ! " 
 which must seem to " Puritan " a piece of horrible de- 
 pravity. 
 
 I did not before know that I had a farm in Fishkill. My 
 experience with the farm at Peekskill, " which is well known 
 to be cultivated Avith reference to making money," is such, 
 that if it be true that I own another farm at Fishkill, I 
 shall consider myself on the straight road to the jDOor- 
 house ! 
 
 But there is more coming : — 
 
 " The charge of the reverend gentleman amounts to this, — that 
 whenever he attempts to raise a crop of wheat, corn, flax, or grass, 
 God sends beetles, bugs, aphides, heat, rain, and mildew, to blast his 
 designs. 
 
 " This has the ring of Cain when his sacrifice was rejected. That 
 primeval sinner vented his anger towards God on his holy brother. 
 Mr. H. W. Beecher vents his ano;er towards the real cause of his 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWKKS AND FARMING. 45 
 
 mildewed crops, by charging the innocent instruments in their Mak- 
 er's hand. If this is not blasphemy in one as well informed as ISIr. 
 Beecher is, we have read his words amiss. 
 
 " PUKITAN." 
 
 I may have been mistaken, but it has seemed to me that 
 every crop that I have ever attempted to raise has had 
 swarms of " messengers " sent upon it. But, until now, I 
 never suspected that God sent them, in any other sense than 
 that in which he sends diseases, famines, tyrants, literary 
 " Puritans," and .all other evils which afflict humanity. 
 
 But what is to be done about this matter? If it be "blas- 
 phemy " to speak against bugs, it can be little short of sacri- 
 lege to smash them. Here have I been, in the blindness of 
 unrepented depravity, slaughtering millions of " the messen- 
 gers of God " called aphides ! I have ruthlessly slain those 
 other angelic "messengers" called mosquitoes, who came 
 singing to me with misplaced confidence. I have even railed 
 at fleas, and s})oken irreverently of gnats. I have gone fur- 
 ther : on a sultry summer's day, after dinner, I have turned 
 out of ray room every one of those " messengers of God " 
 which wicked boys call flies — every one but one, I mean ; 
 and, just as the sounds grew faint and sight dim, and I was 
 sinking into that entrancing experience, the first virgin mo- 
 ments of slumber, an affectionate fly settled on my nose, ran 
 down to kiss my lips, and, like a traveler on a new conti- 
 nent, set about exploring my whole face. Instead of greet- 
 ing this " messenger " divine as " Puritan " would, I confess 
 to a lively vexation. And if speaking of flies in a very 
 disrespectful manner is blasphemous, I must confess to the 
 charge ! 
 
 But soberly, Mr. Bonner, is it not pitiable to have among 
 us men pretending to intelligence, who bring religion into 
 discredit by such hopeless stupidity ? 
 
 In the velocipede rinks, besides those for speed, premiums 
 are offered to the men who can ride the slowest. " Puritan " 
 should enter himself If anybody can go slower, he must 
 be a marvel of torpidity. 
 
46 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 X. 
 
 NATURAL ORDER OF FLOWERS. 
 
 May 7,1st. 
 
 He must have an artist's eye for color and form who can 
 aiTange a hundi-ed flowers as tastefully, in any other way, as 
 by strolling through a garden, picking here one and there 
 one, and adding them to the bouquet in the accidental 
 order in which they chance to come. Thus we see every 
 summer day the fair lady coming in from the breezy side-hill 
 with gorgeous colors, and most witching efiects. If only 
 she could be changed to alabaster, was ever a finer show of 
 flowers in so fine a vase ? But instead, allowed to remain 
 as they were gathered, the flowers are laid upon the table, 
 divided and rearranged on some principle of taste, I know 
 not what, but never regain that charming naturalness and 
 grace which they first had. 
 
 As to the bouquets put up for market, the less said about 
 them the better. They are mere pillories in which, like 
 innocent children put into the stocks, flowers are punished ! 
 Squeezed, tied on sticks, formal and pedantic, the flowers 
 lose their rare charms, their delicacy, their individuality, 
 their exquisite variety of form, every element of floral beauty 
 except color. They are used as mere pigments. They are 
 poor studies in color. There are few who really know any- 
 thing about flowers by their finer qualities. The elder Park 
 — who committed the capital crime of leaving Brooklyn and 
 going back to Scotland to live — loved flowers after the true 
 sort. We remember one day going to his green-house in 
 Amity Street, and after a world of talk about all sorts of 
 things, and looking over all his azaleas, camellias, laurusti- 
 nus, and what not, he drew us bashfully into a side apart- 
 ment, and with the diffidence of a girl, said, pointing to an 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 47 
 
 exquisite little fern hardly so large as our forefinger, grow- 
 in «• in the border under some orange-plants, "There, I should 
 not dare to tell anybody but you that I have taken more 
 real pleasure in that one little thing than in all the whole 
 establishment." We perfectly understood him. The fern 
 was of the most delicate sort. It seemed to hover between 
 form and spirit, — if there be such a thing as soul in plant- 
 life. All around it were large and vigorous plants growing 
 lush and stahvart. This dainty little fairy fern appealed to 
 the child-loving side of human nature, to the unworldly 
 and uncommercial faculties. We always respected Park 
 the better for this weakness. No man can have such a sen- 
 timent for flowers, who has not in him feelings as fresh and 
 delicate as the flowers which he admires. 
 
 But with what complacency can such a one look upon the 
 merchandise of flowers which is exhibited at every party, 
 every wedding, every vulgar jam of rich people, who tor- 
 ment themselves through untimely hours for the sake of tor- 
 menting their host? 
 
 Look at the atrocious bridal bouquets ! The bride, the 
 bridesmaids, come forth bearing each a huge melange of 
 orange-blossoms and rosebuds, wedged together into a 
 pyramidal wart of flowers ! If, instead, the bride were to 
 issue forth bearing in her hand a sprig of orange-blossoms 
 just as it grew, just as it was plucked from the branch, or 
 two or three simple rosebuds on the one stem, loosely clus- 
 tered, and with their own fi-esh green leaves, or a simple white 
 lily, would not every one feel how suj^erior flowers were for 
 such an occasion, in their own simplicity and individuality, 
 than when, as generally happens, they are smothei-ed up 
 in an artificial heap, in which all naturalness is utterly lost ? 
 
 A single blossom of carnation with a geranium leaf; an 
 exquisite safln-ano rosebud just beginning to 02:)en, with a 
 fresh leaf from its own bush for company ; a stem of mign- 
 onette, girt round with a dozen fragrant blue violets ; a long 
 sprig of mauvandia-vine, with its charming blue bells, hang- 
 
48 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ing from a tall wineglass, or carelessly trailing round it, — 
 these, ancl such little things, confer a pleasure on those who 
 have a sensitive eye for grace and simplicity, which nothing 
 else can. 
 
 We would not be understood as objecting to all masses 
 of flowers, nor to large combinations. For coarser and 
 more distant eflfects, they are j^ermissible. But even then, 
 the more they can be made to have a loose, airy, open habit, 
 the finer will be their eflTect. 
 
 But first, simplicity, naturalness, singleness, and individ- 
 ualism in flowers; afterward and inferior, though permis- 
 sible, artificial structures and combinations. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAKMLNG. 49 
 
 XI. 
 
 ROSES. 
 
 July Id. 
 
 June is the paradise of roses. In this month they break 
 forth into unparalleled sjjlendor. All Rosedom is out in 
 holiday apparel ; and roses white and black, gi'een and pink, 
 scarlet, crimson, and yellow, striped and mottled, double and 
 single, in clusters and solitary, moss-roses, damask-roses. 
 Noisette, perpetual, Bourbon, China, tea, musk, and all 
 other tribes and names, hang in exuberant beauty. The air 
 is full of their fragrance. The eye can turn nowhere that 
 it is not attracted to a glowing bush of roses. At first one 
 is exhilarated. He wanders from bush to bush and cuts the 
 finest specimens, until there is no room or dish for more. 
 So many roses, and so few to see them ! What would not 
 people shut up in cities give to see such luxuriance of 
 beauty ! How strange that those who have ground do not 
 gather about them these favorites of every sense! The 
 air and soil that nourish nettles and thistles, plantain and 
 dock, would bring forth roses with equal kindness. There 
 is enough ground wasted around country houses to furnish 
 root-room for a hundred kinds of roses, without detriment 
 either to fi'uit trees or ornamental shade trees. Men ad- 
 mire them when they see them in a friend's house ; they are 
 always pleased to receive a lapful as a present to their wife 
 or mother or daughter; but it does not enter their head 
 that they, too, might have roses to give away. 
 
 Roses are easy of culture, easy of propagation, requiring 
 almost as little care as dandelions or daisies. The wonder 
 is that every other man is not an enthusiast, and in the 
 month of June a gentle fanatic. Floral insanity is one of 
 the most charming inflictions to which man is heir ! One 
 
60 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 never wishes to be cured, nor should any one wish to cure 
 him. The garden is infectious. Flowers are " catching," or 
 the love of them is. Men begin with one or two. In a few 
 years they are struck through with floral zeal. Not bees 
 are more sedulous in their researches into flowers than 
 many a man is, and one finds, after the strife and heat and 
 toil of his ambitious life, that there is more pure satisfac- 
 tion in his garden than in all the other pursuits that prom- 
 ise so much of pleasure and yield so little. 
 
 It is pleasant to find in men whose hard and loveless 
 side you see in society, so much that is gentle and beauty- 
 loving in private. Hard capitalists, sharp politicians, grind- 
 ing business men, will often be found, at home, in full sym- 
 pathy with the gentlest aspects of nature. One is surprised 
 to find how rich and sweet these monsters often turn out to 
 be ! Here is the man whom you have for years heard de- 
 scribed, in all the newspapers, as a spectacle of wickedness 
 or a monument of folly. You are, by some convulsion of 
 nature, thrown into his company, and travel for days with 
 him. To your surprise his manners are gentle, his conver- 
 sation pleasing, his attentions to all about him considerate. 
 This must be artifice. It is a veil to hide that hideous heart 
 of which you have heard so much. You watch and wait. 
 But watching and waiting only satisfy you that this sup- 
 posed monster is a kind man, with a world of sympathy for 
 beautiful things. And when, in after-months, you have 
 been at his summer-house, and know him in his vineyard and 
 his garden, you smile at yourself that you were ever subject 
 to that illusion which is so often raised about public men. 
 
 A man is not always to be trusted because he loves fine 
 horses, or because he follows the stream or hunts in the fields. 
 But if a man that loves flowei-s, and loves them enough to 
 labor for them, is not to be trusted, where in this wicked 
 world shall we go for trust ? A man that carries a garden 
 in his heart has got back again a part of the Eden from 
 which our great forefather was expelled. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 51 
 
 XII. 
 
 CHESTNUTS. 
 
 July SOth. 
 
 I FANCY that trees have dispositions. At any rate, they 
 have those qualities which suggest dispositions to all who 
 are in sympathy with nature, and who look upon facts as 
 letters of an alphabet, by which one may spell out the hid- 
 den meanings of things. Some trees, like the apple, suggest 
 goodness and humility. They put on no airs. They do 
 not exalt themselves. They are patient of climate, full of 
 beauty in blossom, and, in autumn, beautiful in fruit. 
 
 The oak, when well grown, has the beauty of rugged 
 strength, and sometimes it has grandeur. Certain live-oak 
 trees on Helena Island, near Beaufort, S. C, with long, 
 pendant moss, like a Druid's beard, impressed us with a 
 feeling of the sublime in vegetation which we never ex- 
 perience in the presence of any other tree. Down on 
 our backs we lay, and gazed up into their vast tops with 
 a pleasure never since renewed. These were the types of 
 patriarchal dignity. 
 
 The American elm is the tree of grace and beauty. It is 
 stately without stiffness. It carries itself up to such a 
 height that its drooping boughs do not suggest feebleness, 
 as the weeping-willow does. And yet, one never has the 
 feeling of sympathy with it or of personal intercourse. One 
 may sit under its branches, but no one ever sat on or among 
 them. We admire, but do not sympathize. Still less did 
 any one ever love a hickory-tree. They are beautiful and 
 stately, but self-contained. When young, they are dandies; 
 and when old, aristoci-ats. 
 
 Not so the chestnut-tree. This darling old fellow is a 
 very grandfather among trees. What a great, open bosom 
 
52 PLAIN AND PLEASAXT TALK 
 
 it has ! Its boughs are arranged with express reference to 
 ease in climbing. Nature was in a good mood when the 
 chestnut-tree came forth. It is, when well grown, a stately 
 tree, wide-spreading, and of great size. Even in the forest 
 the chestnut is a noble tree. But one never sees its full 
 development except when it has grown in the open iields. 
 It then assumes immense 2)roportions. Having a tendency 
 when cut down to send u\:> many shoots from the stump, 
 old trees are often found with four or five trunks springing 
 from the same root. In such cases, no other American tree 
 covers so wide a space of ground. Not even the oak at- 
 tains to greater size or longevity. The Tortworth chestnut, 
 in England, is supposed to have been standing before the 
 Conquest, 1066, and must be not far from a thousand years 
 old. The longest known tree in America is the "Rice" 
 chestnut, on the estate of Marshall I. Rice, at Newton 
 Centre, Mass. It measures twenty-four feet and three 
 tenths in circumference at the base, seventy-six feet in 
 height, and spreads its limbs ninety-three feet. It is vigor- 
 ous, and still bears enormous crops. This, however, is a 
 mere stripling compared with the famous chestnut-tree of 
 Mount ^tna, whose trunk measured about one hundred 
 and sixty feet in circumference, or some fifty-three feet in 
 diameter, and which could shelter a hundred horsemen be- 
 neath its branches! But this tree, long hollow, is about 
 giving up the ghost, even if it has not already done so, 
 no doubt dying in the peaceful conscioiasness of having 
 spent a virtuous life, and fed thousands of people with two 
 thousand years' full of nuts ! 
 
 There is living in vigor at Sancerre, in France, a tree 
 which, at six feet from the ground, measures thirty feet in 
 circumference. Michaux says that he measured several 
 trees in the Carolina mountains of fifteen or sixteen feet in 
 circumference ; which, if a boy is expected to climb them, is 
 full large enough. 
 
 A chestnut-tree in full bloom is a fine sight. It bios- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 53 
 
 sonis about the first of July, iu clusters of long, yellowish- 
 white filaments, like a tuft of coarse wool-rolls. The whole 
 top of the tree is silvered over. We have never seen them 
 so finely in blossom as this year, and we foresee a grand 
 harvest for the boys. O, those golden days of October! 
 The thought of them brings back the days of boyhood, the 
 brilliant foliage of the forest just putting on its regal gar- 
 ments; the merry sport of squirrels racing on the ground 
 (if one lies dead-still to watch), or scampering up the trunks, 
 and leaping from tree to tree with chirk and bark, if dis- 
 turbed. 
 
 It was a great day when, with bag and basket, the whole 
 family was summoned to go " a-chestnuting ! " There was 
 frolic enough, and climbing enough, and shaking enough, 
 and rattling nuts enough, and a sly kiss or two, — but never 
 enough, — and lunch enough, and aj^petite enough. The 
 silver brook on the hillside carried down, on its mur- 
 muring current, the golden leaves which the ti'ees, with 
 every j^ufF of wind, sent shimmering down through the air. 
 Barefooted, as we were all summer long, the prickly chest- 
 nut burs were too sharp for our little tough feet, and we 
 were glad to pick our way cautiously under the trees. 
 
 Long live the chestnut-tree, and the chestnut woods on 
 the mountain-side, and the boys and girls who frolic under 
 their boughs ! And long live the winter nights, with the 
 homely fare of apples and nuts, and no stronger drink than 
 cider ; and a merry crowd of boys and girls, with here and 
 there the spectacled old folks ; all before a roaring hickory 
 fire, in an old-fashioned fireplace, big as the western horizon 
 with the sun going down in it, and with a roguish stick of 
 chestnut wood in it, which opens such a fusillade of snaps 
 and cracks as sets the girls to screaming, and throws out 
 such mischievous coals upon the calico dresses, as obliges 
 every humane boy to run to the relief of his sweetheart all 
 on fire ! 
 
 No doubt many an old gentleman will read this article 
 
54 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 with a face growing more and more full of smiles, and taking 
 off his spectacles at the end, and, looking kindly over at his 
 aged dame, will say, " Do you remember, Polly, when we 
 were at Squire Judson's — " " Well, well, father, you are 
 too old to be talking about such youthful follies." Never- 
 theless, she smiles and looks kindly over at the old rogue 
 who kissed her that night, proposed on the way home, and 
 was married before Christmas. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FABMING. 55 
 
 XIII. 
 
 GREEN PEAS. 
 
 August 20th. 
 What a comfort is the consciousness of usefulness ! One 
 may dig on his farm or delve in his library for weeks, with 
 nothing to show for it, and with no murmuring applause. 
 But let him once spread the table, put the jDOt to boiling, 
 and set forth a meal; and the praise of housekeepers begins 
 to ascend, sweet as frankincense or new-made apple-pies. 
 But we are praise-proof in culinary matters. There are 
 others around here that are liable to the puffing-up of van- 
 ity, if their domestic performances are loudly applauded. 
 But we, of the stronger sex, can hear our beefsteak com- 
 mended without a wrinkle upon our tranquil humility. We 
 can have our coffee criticised without a flush of indignation. 
 Even our method of cooking vegetables may be underval- 
 ued, without exciting us to controversy ; so tranquil is our 
 soul, when once under the inspiration of the cuisine. But 
 some there are who mingle praise with suggestion — a cup 
 of criticism with sugar in it. Thus : — 
 
 " We heartily thank him for his descriptions in ' Summer Dinners,' 
 and would mildly suggest, if lie would add a pint of nice, thick cream 
 to a quart of peas, taken from milk that has stood just six hours in a 
 cool, airy, and clean cellar — said milk must be milk, to start with ; 
 none of your blue, watery stuff, such as some cows are said to give, 
 but rich, golden milk, caught in bright tin pails, so polished that 
 they reflect the happy faces of all who wish to take a peep at them : 
 — with such a dish, I think we could tempt — well, Henry Ward, to 
 dine with us ; could n't we ? especially if we add an apple-pie made 
 after a receipt you gave in the Ledger several years ago. 
 " Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 " Twenty-year-old Dot." 
 
 If one wishes a new and composite dish, let the peas be 
 
56 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 smothered in cream. But, if one wishes joeas, pure and 
 simple, in tlieir own flavor, — a flavor cliosen out of the 
 whole vegetable realm, and not repeated in any other gi-ow- 
 ing thing, — let him not, let her not, audaciously introduce 
 any rival flavor. Peas are good ; cream is good ; peas and 
 cream are good, — each in its own severalty. But let each 
 one stand in its own name. Do not call peas and cream, 
 peas. One's tenderest culinary susceptibility is touched, to 
 be asked if he will take some green peas, and then to find 
 himself eating peas and cream ! 
 
 The English receipts recommend a sprig or two of mint 
 to be thrown in while green peas are cooking. We do not 
 challenge their right to do it. They may put in anise and 
 cummin too, if they choose. But we do protest, in the 
 name of kitchen literature, against calling such experimen- 
 tal comj)ounds by the ever-dear name of "green peas." 
 
 All smooth peas are tasteless compared with the wrinkled 
 peas. It is proper that wrinkles should bring sweetness. 
 The smooth-faced varieties are fairer to look uj^on. But 
 they are not inwardly rich. That these should be flavored, 
 enriched, and spiced with herbs, is not altogether against 
 nature or analogy. 
 
 Still, if on some bright summer day, soon after the twelve 
 musical strokes on the village bell, we shall find ourselves 
 the guest of the sprightly " Dot," we shall lay aside all pre- 
 conceived notions and all prejudices ; and if it prove to be that 
 peas absorb cream into their bosoms without losing their 
 peahood — nay, if this wedding shall prove, as all true wed- 
 dings should, that individuality is developed and established 
 — we shall gladly repent, confess, and recant our foregoing 
 protest. 
 
 Another fair heart has suflered itself to fall into shocking 
 doubts. 
 
 " Dear Sir : It is with great pleasure that I read your weekly 
 articles in the Ledger, and I have especially relished your ' Summer 
 Dinner,' which was got up in such good style. But — and this is 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 57 
 
 what is very important — did you have to ask your wife the differ- 
 ent names of the vegetables, and how to cook them? Or do you 
 believe in Mens Rights, and so know how to do your own cooking, 
 seasoning, and eating ? " 
 
 The fanrily should be sacred ! This attempt to pry into 
 its secrets must not succeed. This question answered, the 
 next one would be, whether we wrote our own articles for 
 the Ledger, or whether some one dictated them to us? 
 And then would come questions as to who wrote the ser- 
 mons ? Then, when once the stream had broken over the 
 bounds of proper privacy, it would rush through kitchen 
 and pantry, closet and cupboard, cellar and attic, until the 
 slime of curiosity would lie thick on all the sacred jDlaces of 
 the household. 
 
 " Ask our wife," forsooth ! We asked her once for all, 
 some years ago, and the answer lasts, full and strong, until 
 this day. 
 
58 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XIV. 
 
 HENS. 
 
 April 22d 
 
 The day is bright and windy. The sky has sunk back to 
 the uttermost, and the arch seems wonderfully deep above 
 your head. Little cloud-ships go sailing about in the heav- 
 . ens as busily as if they carried freight to long-expectant 
 owners. It is a day for the country. The city palls on the 
 jaded nerve. I long to hear the hens cackle. There are 
 lively times now in barn and barn-yard, I '11 warrant you. 
 If I were lying on the east veranda of a cottage that I wot 
 of, I should see flocks of pure white Leghorns, wind-blown, 
 shining in the sunlight, searching for a morsel in and out of 
 the shrubbery, and hear the cocks crowing, and the hens 
 crooning. The Leghorn, of true blood, leads the race of 
 foAvls for continuous eggs, in season and out of season ; eggs 
 large enough, of fine quality, and sprung from hens that 
 never think of chickens. For a true Leghorn seldom wants 
 to sit. They believe in division of labor. They provide 
 eggs; others must hatch them. Other fowls may surpass 
 them on the spit or gridiron, but, as egg-layers, they easily 
 take the lead. They are hardy, handsome, and immensely 
 productive. As it is just as easy to keep good fowls as poor 
 ones, thrifty housekeepers should secure a good laying breed. 
 Not every jDure white fowl is a Leghorn. There are many 
 White Spanish sold as Leghorns. They may be known by 
 their gray or peai*l-colored legs. The pure Leghorn has a 
 yellow leg, a single comb, quite long and usually lapping 
 down. This breed is M^ell known about New York, but no 
 description of it can be found in English poultry-books. 
 Indeed, we are informed that Tegetmayer, the standard au- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 59 
 
 thority, but recently knew anything about them, and then 
 from a coop sent from New York. 
 
 The Brahmas and Cochins have good quaUties. They are 
 large, sA'^en huge. They are peaceable, and the Cochins do 
 not scratch, — an important fact to all who have a garden, 
 and who yet desire to let their poultry run at large. They 
 are good layers, admirable mothers, and yield a fine carcass 
 for the table, but the meat is not fine, though fairly good. 
 But a more ungainly thing than buff Cochins the eye never 
 saw. A flock of Leghorns is a delight to the eye. One is 
 never tired of watching them. Their forms are symmet- 
 rical, and every motion is graceful. But the huge poddy 
 Cochins waddle before you like over-fat buffoons. They 
 are grotesque, good-natured, clumsy, useful creatures ; but 
 they have a great love of sitting. Every Cochin hen would 
 love to bring out two broods in a season ; while the white 
 Leghorns fill their nests with eggs, and then think their 
 whole duty done. We keep Cochin hens to sit on Leghorn 
 eggs. Better mothers cannot be. 
 
 I hear my hens cackle! These bright spring days are 
 passing, and the concert of the barn-yard is in full play, but 
 I am tied up to the j^en ! Currant-bushes are pushing out 
 their blossom-buds; rhubarb is showing its red knuckles 
 above the ground; willows are pushing out their silky cat- 
 kins; birds have come — everything has come but me! I 
 cannot sprout yet. Patience! I shall be green enough in a 
 few weeks. The city shall not always prevail. In due sea- 
 son I shall go to grass. Already I smell it. The odor of 
 new grass can be perceived but for a few days only in spring. 
 It should be noticed then, for it is unlike any other perfume, 
 and will be perceived no more until another year. How 
 happy are they that dwell among open fields, — or how 
 happy they might be if they but knew their privileges! 
 
60 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XV. 
 
 FARMING. 
 
 May \Zth. 
 
 If one wishes to make money out of the soil, upon an 
 Eastern farm, he must live upon it, study it, watch it, calk 
 and groove it so that no leak shall be possible, economize 
 rigidly, work fearfully, sell the best, use the unsalable, — in 
 short, he must be a drudge or a genius. Not a genius in 
 literature or art, but in money-making. Only think how 
 some old-fashioned New England ministers lived on a salary 
 of four hundred dollars ; educated seven or eight children ; 
 worked their farm during the week, and preached on Sun- 
 day ; and died rich, that is, worth anywhere from fifty 
 to a hundred thousand dollars, which, fifty years ago, was 
 as much as two hundred and fifty thousand dollars are now ; 
 for the purchasing power of gold and silver is steadily de- 
 clining, and of course more of it is required for the same 
 purposes. 
 
 But only now and then did such a man and minister turn 
 up ; and the general impression, even in his case, was, that 
 the farm was better tilled than the parish. 
 
 But the small farmers in the old States north of the Del- 
 aware have a hard life. If they get on, it is by vigorous 
 economy following excessive industry. There is a good 
 deal of sentiment wasted on the delights of farming. But 
 in New England, we suspect that for every farmer who 
 lives in abundance or comparative ease, there are five, and 
 perhaps ten, that fare coarsely, and ai'e not half as well 
 clothed and housed as the average mechanic. First-rate 
 farmers are few; third and fourth rate farmers are many, 
 and a hard time they have. But as one goes westward, to 
 better soil, larger farms, and more congenial climate, things 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 61 
 
 change. Farmers are prosi^erous without such exacting 
 toil. Their dwellings grow better, particularly in the 
 northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the great 
 Northwest. If one has money and leisure, he may carry 
 on a farm in the Eastern States with great enjoyment. 
 That is as pleasant a way to spend money as can Avell be 
 devised, not even excepting the management of fast horses 
 and fast yachts ; for both of these deteriorate in the using, 
 and some go under, while the farm steadily rises in value 
 and force. But with the exception of the owners of un- 
 commonly good land here and there, not much money is to 
 be made at firming in the East. The farm is an institution 
 designed to promote health and comfort in the expenditure 
 of money. Money is the one manure which the farm 
 greedily covets. 
 
 We say these things, not to discourage farming, but to 
 dissuade the annual host from going out to make their for- 
 tunes on a farm, who, in five years, will come back stripped 
 bare of everything but disgust — not of that. No man 
 would think of going from the law, or from a store, into a 
 mechanical trade without having served an apprenticeship, 
 or having become in some way familiar with it. Lawyers 
 do not set up at cabinet-making, nor go into steel works, 
 nor set up for builders or painters. But when business is 
 dull, and health delicate, many a professional man, many a 
 clerk or unsuccessful merchant, concludes to buy a "snug 
 farm," and retire from the cares of the town or city, to lead 
 the joyous life of a farmer. He has no knowledge of 
 farming; but it requires none! Farming is simple. You 
 rise with the dewy morn ; you go forth to your prodigal 
 acres ; you rest under the trees bending with fruit ; you eat 
 from your bountiful table the food that sprung from your 
 own soil, — and ever so nuich more romance of the same 
 sort. 
 
 Prosperous farming requires knowledge, tact at managing 
 men, skill in laying out work, incessant industry, very close 
 
62 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 calculations, good judgment in buying, and a good capacity 
 of selling. In short, the qualities which go to make u]) a 
 good merchant, a good manufacturer, and a good scientist 
 ought to be combined in a first-class farmer. There are 
 more passable orators born every year than there are first- 
 class farmers. If any one doubts the truth of these views, 
 let him try a farm for a few years ! 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAKMING. 63 
 
 XVI. 
 GARDENING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 It is not every one who can toss off his provocations 
 Avith so good a grace as our correspondent, whose letter we 
 insert: — 
 
 New York, Apiil 19th. 
 
 Dear Mr. Beecher : Suppose you were fond of flowers and 
 shrubs, and that the plat of Mother Earth allotted you was at the 
 back of your city house, say about seventeen feet square, — the most 
 of it occupied by the space for drying clothes ; the rest a hard clayey 
 soil, baked by the sun so quickly that you wish the Israelites might 
 have had it to make brick, and one that no amount of foreign ad- 
 mixture improves. 
 
 Suppose the florist came every spring, hoed and raked, and dis- 
 tributed roses, verbenas, geraniums, and the like, at regular inter- 
 vals, also sticks, bare evidence of the burial-place of various cherished 
 bulbs that never come up, but seem, hke your carnations, to disap- 
 pear with the wheelbarrow. 
 
 Suppose the occupants of the tenement-house close to your rear 
 fence, — who always, in all the stories of the day, nurse a geranium in 
 a cracked pot, — instead of thanking you for the pleasant sight under 
 their windows, garnished your bed with egg-shells, old paper collars, 
 rags, bones, empty spools, and other debris handy for the purpose. 
 
 Suppose the nine thousand and ninety cats and their families 
 roosted on the fence in the twilight, and tried their claws on your 
 shrubs, and the softness of your soil generally, in the small hours of 
 the night. 
 
 Suppose, with the first green leaves, the worms came also, and the 
 green Uce, and the ants, and made your bushes a sorrow and a vex- 
 ation. 
 
 Suppose the hoop of the laundress was over it all, so to speak, and 
 the hose always burst when the weather was dry, and your watering- 
 pot held about a teacupful. 
 
64 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 What would you do, Mr. Beecher? Would you give over the 
 space to old shoes and ugliness, or would you fly in the face of mani- 
 fest destiny and cultivate ? 
 
 Dejectedly yours, 
 
 Breeze. 
 
 The very first thing to be done with a tenacious and ob- 
 stinate day soil is to have it dug out and carted away 
 bodily, and its place supplied with good fresh loam. This 
 would be a serious job if there were several acres. But 
 when there is but a plat of seventeen feet square, and the 
 larger part of that reserved for laundry purposes, only bor- 
 ders being used for flowers, the amount to be removed 
 would be comparatively small, and the satisfaction would 
 be ample repayment. Any one with a cart can carry off 
 the clay, but not every one can get good soil. An honest 
 florist or garden jobber could jDut you in the way of that. 
 
 If you will have a garden, it is best to be your own 
 gardener. Adam and Eve set the example. 
 
 The cats may be managed in various ways. A black-and- 
 tan terrier ke])t in the back yard has a wonderful influence 
 on cats, arousing in them a strong local prejudice. If the 
 boys in the neighborhood knew that a premium were offered 
 for cat scalps, it would be found greatly to interest the cats. 
 At any rate, their number would grow less. 
 
 As to worms and aphides, no one is fit to own flowers 
 who, in so small a space as seventeen feet square, cannot 
 exterminate them, — worms by hand picking, and aphides by 
 whale-oil soapsuds. A vigorous fidelity will in a short time 
 put the last worm hors de combat. The Avhale-oil soap may 
 be had at any large seed-store, — directions for use accom- 
 panying the little jar. A tin garden syringe may be had 
 at the same place, costing but little, lasting, with care, 
 twenty years, and carrying the soapsuds like spray over 
 every leaf and twig. 
 
 We, too, in Brooklyn have lawn dresses with equatorial 
 hoops, and yet manage to have many a charming patch of 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 65. 
 
 flowers. But, of all things in this world, a garden needs 
 the presence of its owner. If you do not love it enough to 
 care for it as you would for a baby, better let it alone. 
 Flowers know who love them. They will not be put off" 
 with arm's-length cordiality. But, if you love them, you 
 will easily overcome a hundred obstacles, and rejoice in 
 your flowers all the more because they are the trojihies of 
 your patience and industry. 
 
66 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XVII. 
 
 CORN. 
 
 September 19th. 
 
 We have artists who give themselves to specialties. One 
 delights to know fruits. Another loves architecture, or 
 landscape, or figures, or animals, or grasses and flowers. 
 Now it has always seemed strange that the noblest of all 
 grasses, maize, or Indian corn, has never found an enthusi- 
 astic lover. It has been painted often, but never yet inter- 
 preted. No one has done by it what has been done by the 
 lily, the rose, the convolvulus. 
 
 And yet, where shall we find any union of strength and 
 grace more perfect among herbaceous plants? The jointed 
 stem, robust and stiff, gives off at each articulation the most 
 gracefully curved sword-leaves, which diminish in length as 
 the plant goes up to its fimbriated top, forming a symmet- 
 rical whole not to be equalled among field jolants. 
 
 If one will wander along the edges of a cornfield, he will 
 often see an exquisite picture, such as Nature loves to make. 
 The wild convolvulus, which often fills the fence corners, has 
 crept out of the grass into the furrow and twined around 
 the corn, climbing to its very top, and, having power yet to 
 grow, returns upon itself and fashions festoons of exquisite 
 leaves and white blossoms, which hang down in every neg- 
 ligent form of beauty. Other vines too, besides the convol- 
 vulus, try their arts, and none fail ; but none succeed so 
 charmingly as this queen of twining "\dnes. 
 
 A specialist might devote himself to corn without fear of 
 exhausting the subject. Of all the grains it is the true type 
 of republicanism. It knows how to live in the community 
 without losing its individuality. The smaller grains — 
 wheat, barley, and such like — produce their efiects only in 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 67 
 
 masses. Individual stalks are quite insignificant. It is 
 the community, and not the individual, that is beautiful. 
 But a field of corn does not swallow up in itself the stems 
 which form its mass. Every plant yet retains it nobility. 
 If corn is sown so thickly that it cannot find room for de- 
 velopment, the whole degenerates into mere grass, and loses 
 its proper force and beauty. But the husbandman has 
 found out what rulers yet but slowly learn, and reluctantly, 
 — that the force and beauty of the whole is to be sought in 
 the development and strength of each single plant. Indi- 
 viduality and community are not only compatible, but each 
 is the indispensable factor of the other. 
 
 Or, turn the subject in another light. Each stalk of corn 
 is a fiither and mother. It does not live for itself When 
 it hastens on in the hot days of July, it is not its own 
 beauty that it seeks. It takes that on the way to a higher 
 end. In the cool juices of that polished stem glows the 
 sacred fire of parentage. The arched and rustling leaves 
 borrow of the sun and air food for the coming brood. No 
 sooner does the tassel break forth at the top, than out peer 
 the infant ears nestling at the side of the noble stem. Nor 
 does the parent blossom into its final beauty until the ex- 
 quisite silk hangs from the nascent ears of corn to feed upon 
 the parent's life, and in that find its own. 
 
 No sooner do the new-born kernels swell, than the parent 
 bequeaths itself and all its inward stores to its offspring. 
 The long leaves swing idly in the air, as things that have 
 nothing more to do. Every day the winds evoke a shriller 
 sound from their motions. When the cob has covered 
 itself wdth golden kernels, rich and ripe, the parent dies, — 
 dies mourning sadly, shall we think? What though it shall 
 live a hundred-fold in its children ? All memory or con- 
 sciousness will be gone. It has spent its life and beauty for 
 others. But how strong, how fresh, how full, how beautiful 
 its life, while doing its appointed work ! How little does it 
 really care to live when the end of living is accomplished ! 
 
68 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It did the work at hand, and drew all its beauty from that 
 doing, then took its place in the great economy of nature, 
 falling back to nothing. 
 
 With such thoughts men looked upon the fields thousands 
 of years ago, and sighed, "As for man, his days are as 
 grass : as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the 
 wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof 
 shall know it no more." 
 
 It was thousands of years afterward that one said, " As we 
 have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
 
 image of the heavenly Death is swallowed up in 
 
 victory." 
 
 The grass of the field may image forth the secular side of 
 huinan life, but it can go no further than the grave. Be- 
 yond that it cannot point. Only one garden ever was 
 that set forth the sure hope of immortality. " In the place 
 
 where He was crucified, there was a garden There 
 
 laid they Jesus." 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 69 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 DANDELIONS. 
 
 June 8th. 
 
 There are many charms connected with the ideal life of 
 the tropics. The chief drawback is, that manhood deli- 
 quesces and runs out under the equator. This is not paid 
 for by luscious bananas, oranges, orchids, or ever-blooming 
 vines and trees. Enjoyment palls when it flows unceasingly 
 and without break. To live in summer forever, without 
 one ungarlanded hour in the year, might, for aught we 
 know, sate us with sweetness. 
 
 The tropics were not made to live in all the year. They 
 are a refuge for one or two months. After frost and snow 
 have had their full meal, and the northern winds have by 
 familiarity bred contempt and influenzas, it is a good thing 
 to go to sleep on the good steamer Moro Castle, and wake 
 up in Cuba, or Jamaica, or to go on through the Gulf of 
 Mexico to the Magdalena valley in Northern South Amer- 
 ica, which the painter Church once told me he regarded as 
 the most perfect climate that he had ever found in all his 
 travels. 
 
 But as soon as the contrast is satisfied, we are sure that 
 one in the tropics must long for the northern zones, north- 
 ern fruits and northern flowers ; for calm days without pes- 
 tilent insects ; for grass, and for dandelions ! 
 
 Now I have got upon my real subject. The foregoing 
 sentences were in the nature of a rhetorical introduction, — 
 a sly and adroit way of getting people to listen to the 
 praises of one of the brightest charms of our northern 
 spring days. 
 
 I am moved to celebrate this brilliant, and yet, I fear, not 
 much-prized flower, from the glory of my morning view. 
 
70 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Out of my back windows I look down on four or five grassy 
 yards, all well kept and lying well open to the sun. Soon 
 after the grass springs you may see such a gorgeous array 
 of dandelions as might make a florist fairly envious ! They 
 jut out from the edges of the walks, they crowd the narrow 
 strips of grass at the lower end, they fairly jostle each other 
 like a crowd pouring out of a jDublic hall, in their strife to 
 get into the light and open their golden crowns to the 
 sun. 
 
 So brilliant are they and so hardy, that we are apt to 
 miss the sentiment that lives in them. They are not of 
 the flowers that impudently push themselves forward, 
 demanding us to look at them whether we will or no. 
 With all their amazing brilliancy, they are still coy love- 
 flowers, that wait for the sun, as a bride for the bridegroom. 
 For dandelions do not wake up in the morning before we 
 do. They wait till the sun has long called them, and then 
 they fling open their golden disks, and shine with a real de- 
 light of existence, with a cheer and abundance which ought 
 to strike joy into the "heart of a misanthrope. 
 
 Soon after noon is at its highest, the dandelion, thinking 
 that the world is bright enough, and that the sun can man- 
 age the rest of the day, folds itself up, laces the golden 
 filaments with the green lepals, and retires to meditation. 
 Thus it plays courtier in the morning, and nun in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 But what a name ! Dens leonis ! or Dent-de-lion ! Or, 
 if you fly to the systematic name, — the harsh Taraxaciiml 
 Shall such a home-loving, radiant creature be called Dion^s 
 Tooth, because some impertinent, prying botanist fancied 
 that he had espied the shape of a lion's tooth in its minor 
 forms ? 
 
 Just as soon as we have got politics settled, business 
 reformed, and human nature elevated, I am determined 
 to form a society for the reformation of botanical names. 
 Botany has been the Noah's Ark of pedants. Every absurd 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 71 
 
 whim of every pragmatical professor has been turned into 
 Greek or Latin, and hung about the neck of unhappy flow- 
 er . One might as well hang a dictionary around a child's 
 neck by way of ornament, as to imi^ose on flowers such out- 
 rageous and outlandish names as now defend the science of 
 botany from all approach, as a fort is defended by a line of 
 chev aux-de-frise. 
 
 But blessings on those cheery children of the sun ! They 
 are born of brightness ; their whole life is like a smile of love. 
 They are not a flower for the hand; they are not to be 
 worn in the bosom. They do not love the house, or the 
 pressure of a close bouquet. Their life is in the free open 
 air. They shine out on you along your daily walk. They 
 crowd your yard with golden coin, which, good for nothing 
 in the market, may yet have the power to confer more en- 
 joyment than could golden dollars or ducats. 
 
 This is my annual tribute. To-day I look out of my 
 window, and thank God for the gifts which he sends me by 
 the hand of Dandelions ! Do they know my thoughts as I 
 gaze on them ? Is there not some sympathy between things 
 in nature Avhich wake up the soul to delight, and aid the 
 soul thus aroused ? Behind signs and signals, back of all 
 articulate utterance, may there not be a subtler relationship 
 which will yet be discovered, as connecting the inward and 
 the outward with a living relationship ? 
 
72 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XIX. 
 
 HOW TO BEAUTIFY HOMES. 
 
 August 25fh. 
 
 No one needs to be told how much a house is adorned by 
 vines / and yet many are averse to their liberal use from 
 the impression that they make a house damp. It is true 
 that they may, but it is not necessary that they should. 
 Vines do not collect dampness. If any part of the house 
 wall needs the sun to warm it, and is covered by a vine from 
 its influence, it may favor dampness. But an ivy vine, on 
 the other hand, is reputed to make a wall dry, and has 
 sometimes been employed to correct the undue moisture to 
 which certain portions of a dwelling are subject. A grape 
 vine, trained upon slats, which shall have a few inches of 
 air-space underneath it, will not injure the house. Upon 
 porches, over trellises, vines may be trained with charming 
 efiect, and without ofiending those Avho are superstitiously 
 prejudiced against vines on the house. 
 
 The kinds of vines must be left, in the case of thousands, 
 to accident. Men that are obliged to count the very last 
 penny in their expenses cannot send many orders to florists 
 for beautiful things, but must take what they can get in 
 their own neighborhood. "We will mention a few things 
 now generally difiiised. 
 
 The Glycine, or Wistaria, is one of the noblest. It will 
 run a hundred feet or more, and grow in time to have a 
 trunk like a small tree. Nothing can surpass it at its blos- 
 soming period. It is like a vision of the garden of heaven. 
 It may be raised by layers, but will be found somewhat 
 slow in taking hold after transplantation. Its arms may be 
 carried out in tier above tier to cover the whole side of the 
 house, when economy of space is no object ; but where one 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOAVERS AND FARMING. 73 
 
 desires to sjDare for other things, the Wistaria may be 
 trained upon a corner, or along the eaves. 
 
 There is nothing more beautiful in its summer greenness 
 or gorgeous in its autumn reds and purples, than the Vir- 
 ginia Ci-eeper — Am2)elopsis hederacea. There is a variety 
 called Am2Delopsis Veitchii, or Veitch's, which is extremely 
 beautiful. It clings to wood or brick with as much tenacity 
 as the ivy. Its foliage is tine, and its habit fits it to fill 
 small spaces. It is a plant that, having once owned, no 
 one would part with. 
 
 If one wishes a dense screen, there is no vine that grows 
 more rapidly or that is more hardy than the Aristoloicha 
 sipho, or Dutchman's pipe. One might as well attempt to 
 look through a brick wall as through the opaque mass made 
 by its enormous leaves. But its coarseness fits it chiefly for 
 liiding ungainly things or shading from the light. 
 
 The Trumpet Creeper is effective at a distance, but its 
 coarseness excludes it from familiar nearness. 
 
 Few people are aware of the vast improvements which 
 have taken place in the Cletnatis. Every one knows the 
 wild white clematis, which is beautiful in blossom, and 
 almost as fine when its seeds are ripened. It abounds in 
 our fields, and bears transplantation easily. The new kinds, 
 or those comparatively new, deserve to be better known. 
 Fortune's, Henderson's, Jackman's, the Prince of Wales, 
 Standish's, together with Helena, Sophia, Lanuginosa, are 
 obtainable at our first-class nurseries, and may be easily 
 propagated. Besides these, there are every year new vari- 
 eties introduced. There is no vine that we should spare 
 with more reluctance. The sheets of gorgeous bloom, 
 which, by judicious selection of kinds, Avill last from June 
 to September, the perfect hardiness of the plant, and the 
 ease with which it is trained, fit it eminently for small 
 places and sunny spots. For it loves the full blaze, and 
 will not flourish well even when planted with other vines 
 that at all shade it. Indeed, to have the best effect of 
 
74 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 clematis, it should be trained in a clear and open space 
 to a trellis of its own. 
 
 But, of all vines, none is more popular, and deservedly 
 so, than the honeysuckle. The kinds are numerous. But 
 if but one can be had, let it be the Salleana, or Hall's 
 Japan honeysuckle. It cannot be distinguished from the 
 Brachypoda., in leaf or blossom ; but it excels that immeas- 
 urably in the habit of blossoming all summer. The Flexu- 
 oso, or Chinese, is fine, but we consider it second to Hall's, 
 which ought to be better known and more widely diffused 
 than it is. By planting it on open soil, without support, it 
 spreads over the ground, and roots at every joint, so that 
 hundreds of new plants may be gained every year. 
 
 There is a beautiful golden honeysuckle — aurea reticu- 
 lata. This ought not to be planted by the side of green- 
 leaved varieties. It produces the effect of a diseased or 
 weak branch, rather than of contrast and variety. But the 
 golden-leaved, if planted by itself, and well grown, is gor- 
 geous. It is perfectly hardy, and is of good growth and 
 constitution. If one has a yard of ground, he may have a 
 vine which will give unfeigned pleasure through the whole 
 summer. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 75 
 
 XX. 
 
 BIRCH AND ASPEN. 
 
 September 2Sth. 
 
 Looking out from my window upon the dark sides of the 
 mountains, upon the massive clouds, upon the wind-blown 
 trees, I see my pet, the birch, all in a shiver with each blast. 
 The American white birch has all the grace and delicacy of 
 its European namesake, and, besides, a sensibility which it 
 borrows from the aspen, or shares with it. 
 
 One should have, on every side of a country house, a 
 group of aspens and birches. Planted together, they will 
 give you motion in charming variety. On other trees the 
 leaves are so rigid in the stem, that a wind strong enough 
 to set them in full activity is strong enough to set all the 
 branches in motion. We recognize the force, and, in large 
 trees, the grandeur of motion. When a strong wind moves 
 the whole tree, it swings its great boughs hither and thither, 
 all its leaves and twigs utter their voices, which in chorus 
 often rise to a roar. Yet, though the whole tree is agitated, 
 and seems convulsed, one sees that it is only upon the ex- 
 terior ; while the top and sides are in full motion, the trunk 
 stands firm, and seems motionless. Not till its very roots 
 give way will it move, and then it does not bend, but goes 
 down with stiff trunk. 
 
 The elastic birch, with long and slender limbs, avoiding 
 horizontal positions and aiming at the zenith, flexible to the 
 last degree, moves in the wind with a grace and elasticity 
 which has no i^arallel. 
 
 The American aspen has a shivering leaf upon a rigid 
 branch. It stands quite stifi* and motionless in bough, 
 while its leaves are quivering and shivering in the most in- 
 dustrious manner. Right over against the east door of the 
 
76 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Twin Mountain House, New Hampshire, at a little distance, 
 is a group of aspens, which are my perpetual delight. They 
 are my wind-meters, or, rather, zephyr measurers. On a hot 
 noon, when no air seems stirring, and the trees about them 
 doze and slumber, like good men at church, these twinklers, 
 like roguish boys, are dancing in an imaginary breeze, and 
 playing with themselves, without a particle of wind, so far 
 as I can perceive. Now a shiver runs over them from head 
 to foot ; then the topmost leaves shake and swirl, while the 
 bottom rests. Gradually the motion dies away all over, and 
 the frolic ends. No, a single leaf begins to wag; it goes on 
 in single blessedness, with accelerated pace, up and down, 
 round and round, until, for the life of me, I cannot help 
 bursting into a fit of laughter at this solitary dance. 
 
 At times, in certain moods, one cannot help thinking that 
 the aspen is striving to communicate something. It seems 
 so sigh and pant. It supplicates as one that suiFers. Then, 
 changing suddenly, it coaxes and winks and blinks at you as 
 if it was only in fun. It will stand perfectly still a minute 
 as if looking to see what you will do, and then a laughing 
 ripple runs all over it. It frolics with the same tireless 
 grace as a kitten. Indeed, it is a kind of compound kitten- 
 tree, each particular leaf a kitten, all frolicking together ; 
 though there is not one of them, if the rest won't play, that 
 is not ready, kitten-like, as it were, to chase its own tail. 
 
 Why have landscape gardeners done so little with birches 
 and aspens? Maples, oaks, ashes, and evergreens are well; 
 but in what other direction shall we look for such grace in 
 form, such susceptibility to aerial influences, and such ex- 
 quisite motion both of branch and leaf, as we find in the 
 aspen and birch ? The birches grow rapidly, are extremely 
 hardy, and will flourish upon poor soil, though loving a 
 generous soil better. In ten years, with birch and aspen, 
 one may rejoice in a thick grove. If the yellow locust be 
 added to these, and the silver maple, one who plants at sixty 
 may hope to see high over his head a respectable young 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 7< 
 
 forest, dense ienough for shade and high enough to begin 
 to comfort the imagination. 
 
 Long live the aspen and the birch ! Only the young 
 have just grounds for prejudice ; but even boys soon out- 
 grow the birch, and watch its sinewy motion without a 
 thought of moving too, in shivering accord. 
 
78 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XXL 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 November 2d. 
 
 The summer is gone. The autumn is here. Not this 
 year, as last, in the plenitude of color, but more soberly, 
 frugally, and sedately. The autumn of 1871 was eminently 
 a color season. Only once in three or four years does Na- 
 ture make a full jjallet. Then the colors are pure, intense, 
 tender, and fresh. Such was last year. The scarlets were 
 brilliant, the orange was pure, the crocuses and yellows 
 were clear and rich. But, as autumnal days steal upon us 
 now, we see already that we shall have picture-forests of 
 only second or third rate brilliancy. The hickories are of a 
 rusty and spotted golden brown. The maples are fine, yet 
 not exquisite. 
 
 The sumach is always brilliant. So are some of the vines. 
 The pepperidge-tree {JVj/ssa sylvatica) is very fine. If 
 any one doubts it, let hiin go over to Prospect Park, in 
 Brooklyn, not far from the stone cottage, on the south side, 
 and he will have an opportunity to review his opinion, and 
 to wonder why it is that one of the most magnificent 
 color trees of the American forests is so little known or 
 introduced into decorated grounds. It ranks among the 
 very first in merit, and stands among the very last in 
 use. 
 
 By the way, the parks of New York and Brooklyn should 
 be used for something else and more than mere walking and 
 driving. They are the best schools that America possesses 
 for the study of trees and shrubs. There are few things 
 which our climate will allow to grow that may not be found 
 here, under circumstances which tend to produce their most 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 79 
 
 favorable development. Gentlemen who have country 
 places may, by some little pains, here see just what things 
 they need, how to combine them for the best effects, and 
 how to provide for them soil and site. Once possessed, 
 the love of trees becomes a passion, and inspires more 
 pleasure than one can imagine who has never become an 
 enthusiast in that direction. 
 
 One may learn, particularly in the Brooklyn Park, the 
 value of the new golden evergreens of various sorts. They 
 are destined to work a revolution in yards and gardens. 
 Some of the more choice ones are marvels of brilliancy, and 
 carry their glowing yellows right through the winter. One 
 may learn in these parks how to decorate rocks. There is 
 many a place in the country abounding in outcropping 
 ledges, huge bowlders, or jutting rocks, which the pro- 
 prietor wishes he could dig out and cart away. But 
 he is rich who has large rocks upon his grounds. If one 
 will see what use can be made of them, what a frame 
 they furnish for mosses, ferns, vines, and various elegant 
 shrubs, he Avill cease foolishly spending money to get rid 
 of that which many men would gladly spend money to 
 obtain. 
 
 It is a fortunate thing for our country that so much atten- 
 tion is now paid to the planting of trees. We hope to see 
 the day when no longer ninety-nine in every hundred that 
 are planted in streets or yards shall be maples and elms. 
 What a sight would be a road on which one could ride 
 for a mile through an avenue of scarlet oaks, and then 
 for a mile through stately avenue of tulip-trees, and then 
 through lines of scarlet maples, pepperidge-trees, cyjiress, 
 or long rows of gentlemanly walnut-trees! The time will 
 come when, on the great roads, one may travel a whole day 
 in the shade of stately trees. 
 
 It is not enough to ])lant your own grounds. Every 
 village should line its streets with shade trees. It is not 
 enough to plant shade trees in the streets. They ought to 
 
80 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 outrun the town, and reach from village to village, until the 
 whole region is filled with shadowed roads. In doing this, 
 we ought to avoid the monotony of a few varieties end- 
 lessly reproduced, and make a generous use of the noble 
 sorts that are so abundantly scattered over our forests and 
 iiekls. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOM'EKS AND FARMING. 81 
 
 XXII. 
 
 PLANT TREES I 
 
 April is the time for planting trees. Too much cannot 
 be said to induce people to fill their villages, and the great 
 roads between village and village, with fine shade trees, and 
 private grounds with the choicer kinds. To write a gffod 
 hymn or plant a good tree makes one a benefactor to his 
 generation. 
 
 It is hardly to be expected that the old men, hard-work- 
 ing, and with enough to do at any rate, will trouble them- 
 selves to plant trees along public roads. But we may hope 
 for such service from enterprising young men, and even 
 more from the public spirit of young women. Several 
 instances have come to our knowledge in which women 
 have formed associations for beautifying towns and villages 
 by tree-planting, and in a few years have transformed the 
 places. Nor is it unworthy of mention that this has been 
 done by the influence of articles in the JVeto York Ledger. 
 A tree-planting week might be made a festival week; or 
 persons might agree to secure a given number during the 
 season. 
 
 And here it may be well to say, that, although spring and 
 fall are the best seasons for transplanting, yet trees may be 
 moved in any month in the year, — in the middle of August, 
 if need be. A long row of maples, in Peekskill, were moved 
 — in consequence of grading and fence-building — during 
 the month of July, and only two of them experienced any 
 permanent injury. 
 
 But it should be borne in mind that only small trees 
 should be removed in hot months, and after the foliage is 
 expanded, unless one has a mind to go to gi-eat expense. 
 
82 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 But trees six or eight feet high, if taken with ample roots,, 
 and especially if moved in damp or wet weather, may be 
 safely transplanted in midsummer. Of course, it will re- 
 quii-e twice the care and labor which the same tree would 
 need in sjjring, to produce the same result. 
 
 The three or four trees usually planted in grounds are 
 maples, elms, horse-chestnuts, and locusts. These are very 
 well. But there are many kinds of maple seldom seen 
 that deserve a place ; such as the English field maple (Acer 
 compestre), and notably the American red maple, called 
 SAWimp maple (.4cer riihrum), the former for its finely cut 
 leaves, and the latter for early blossoms and for the exquis- 
 ite scarlet autumn hues of its leaves. 
 
 The cut-leaf or fern-leaf white birch is now common in 
 nurseries. It grows raj)idly, is extremely graceful, has 
 leaves delicate as a fern, and in winter throws against the 
 sky a tracery of twigs which is beautiful to look upon. It 
 ought to be in every small collection. The liquidomen has 
 a very beaiitiful leaf, star-like, and changes in autumn to a 
 purplish bronze, quite distinct from all other leaves. If one 
 can get the tiipelo, which abounds in New England, and 
 may be found in some nurseries, he will secure a tree much 
 neglected, but which ought to be universally difiiised. 
 
 Few people know how beautiful is the sassafras-tree, 
 when well grown. In the woods it is hardly more than a 
 shrub, or sci-aAvny tree ; but when planted young in an open 
 space, and in good soil, it has a peculiar beauty of its own 
 which is not repeated in any other tree. 
 
 Why are magnolias so seldom planted? They are as 
 hardy as maples — some of them at least. The 31. consjnciia, 
 the 31. soxdangiana., 31. glanca, and 31. tripetala are easily 
 had, are fine all summer, and are the glory of the spring 
 when their flowers expand. 
 
 The American and the English beech, and also the pur- 
 ple beech, should be more often planted. An old beech- 
 tree, grown on good soil, in an open field, and not mutilated, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 83 
 
 has nothing to fear when standing among all the kings of 
 trees. No trees that we saw in England impressed us as 
 did the heeches at Warwick Castle. 
 
 In street planting, and along roadsides, nothing could be 
 finer than the tulip-tree, which grows rapidly, is clean, and 
 bears fine blossoms in early summier. They should be trans- 
 planted when small, as they easily die ofi* if moved when 
 large. The same is true of chestnuts, walnuts, and pecan- 
 nuts. 
 
 Of evergreens I shall not speak, as they deserve a sepa- 
 rate mention. But do not plant them in the city, nor in 
 any close yard. They do not thrive, and become disfigure- 
 ments rather than ornaments. 
 
84 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 FAREWELL TO " SmiMER REST." 
 
 In this bright October day I know, not what Eve felt in 
 leaving Paradise, but what John Milton imagined that she 
 felt. To be sure, I have no such garden as hers must have 
 been, and besides, I leave at a different season of the year ; 
 for she inquires feelingly, "Who now shall train these 
 flowers?" whereas my flowers are so nearly spent that 
 there is no need of training them. Tuberoses are gone, 
 verbenas are gone, phloxes, common roses, and all the 
 garden tribe, except scarlet sage, faithful marigolds, that 
 never flinch to the last, and petunias, that are more graceful 
 than they, and full as constant. Besides, there is the slow- 
 footed chiysanthemum, too late for summer, often too late 
 for autumn, — that never gets its Sunday jacket on until it 
 is time to take it off again. But the amplitude of the floral 
 harvest has been reaped. Now we only glean. Still one 
 leaves a home of two months — summer months — not with- 
 out a fluttering somewhere about the heart. The still 
 days, the deep days, the mellow days, without taxation or 
 excitement, are over. Now for the plunge and rush ! Now 
 for men. Farewell, Nature ! 
 
 Good by, top of the hill ! from which not a dwelling can 
 be seen, only an horizon of mountains ; and where, so often, 
 just after the sun sets, we have lingered alone, in the mys- 
 tery and inexplicable delight of an evening solitary hour, 
 lifted far above the surrounding earth, and almost as one 
 suspended in the very ether. 
 
 Good by, homely stone wall ! along which have grown 
 so many weeds which we naughtily admired and cherished, 
 contrary to good farming manners ; where so many shrubs, 
 finding good soil, shot up into thickets laced with wild 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 85 
 
 grape vines. Old tumble-down stone wall ! Every stone 
 colored and built over with weather-stains of hard moss; 
 stones covered with brilliant ampelopsis, with the three- 
 leaved ivy, fair to see, foul to touch, and with the rampant 
 bitter-sweet! Let no one despise a stone wall, nor judge 
 of it only from the cow's point of view. It is the city of 
 refuge to all the little fry. Squirrels run in and out, with 
 saucy alertness, every summer's day. Hares and rabbits find 
 it a bulwark. The hoary old fat woodchuck rejoices in it 
 as in a fenced city. Birds, too, wrens and sparrows, creep 
 in and out, like children playing bo-peep. On these sturdy 
 stones have we sat hours and hours, asking no softer cush- 
 ion, and desiring no finer spectacle than God sent down 
 from the heavens, or displayed upon the earth. The winter 
 will soon vault into my seat, and a Avhite shroud cover down 
 the neglected old wall on the hill-top ! Good by ! 
 
 Neither can a sensitive nature forget his summer com- 
 panions, or stint them in their meed of praise and gratitude. 
 Worms whose metamorphosis we have watched ; spiders 
 wdiose webs glitter along the grass at morning 'and at 
 evening, or mark out geometric figures among the trees, 
 — spiders red, brown, black, green, gray, yellow, and speck- 
 led ; soft-winged moths, gorgeous butterflies, steel-colored 
 and shining black crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers, and 
 all the rabble of creaking, singing, fiddling fellows besides, 
 which swarm in air and earth, — we bid you all a hearty good- 
 by. Sooth to say, we part from some of you without regret. 
 But for the million we feel a true yearning, — so much have 
 we watched your ways, so many hours has our soul been 
 fed by you through our eyes. Ye are a part of the Great 
 Father's family. 
 
 O, how goodly a book is that which God has opened in 
 this world ! Every day is a separate leaf, — nay, not leaf, but 
 volume, with text and note and picture, with every dainty 
 quip and quirk of graceful art, with stores of knowledge 
 illimitable, if one will only humble himself to receive it ! 
 
86 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK ABOUT FRUITS, ETC. 
 
 One should not willingly be ungrateful, even to the small- 
 est creatures, or to inanimate objects, that have served his 
 pleasure. And so, to reed and grass, bush and tree, stone 
 and hill, brook and lake, all creej^ing things and all things 
 that fly, to early birds and late chirping locusts, we wave 
 our hand in grateful thanks ! 
 
 But to that Providence over all, source of their joy and 
 mine, what words can express what every manly heart 
 must feel ? Only the life itself can give thanks for life ! 
 
PLEASANT TALK 
 
 FRUIT, FLOWERS AID FARMING. 
 
 PRELnnNARY. 
 
 We understand very well that every region must fashion 
 its system of agriculture upon the nature of its soil, its cli- 
 mate, etc. The principles of agriculture may be ahke in 
 every zone, hut the processes depend upon circumstances. 
 It would be folly for a new country, without commerce, to 
 imitate an old country with an active commerce ; it would 
 be folly, where land is cheap, abundant, and naturally fer- 
 tile, to adopt the habits of those who are stinted in lands, 
 who have a redundant population, and who find a market 
 for even the weeds which are indigenous to the soU. The 
 husbandry of Holland is suited to a wet soil, and of Eng- 
 land to a humid atmosphere and a very even annual tem- 
 perature. But our soil is subject to extreme wet in spring 
 and dryness in suinjner, to severe cold and intense heat. A 
 farm whose bottom-lands are reinvigorated by yearly inun- 
 dations, may thrive tinder an exacting husbandry that would 
 exhaust an upland fai-m in a few years. Modes of agricul- 
 ture must be suited to circumstances. Nevertheless, the 
 experiments and discoveries and practices of every land are 
 worth our careful attention. We do not import clothes — 
 
88 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 but we do cloth^ to be made up to suit our own habits and 
 wants. 
 
 The two extremes of husbandry are, the adoption of 
 every novelty and every experiment indiscriminately, and 
 the rejection of every new thing and every improvement, as 
 indiscriminately. Wisdom consists in "proving all things 
 and holding fast that which is good?'' "We do not advocate 
 large outlays for expensive machines — for fancy cattle, for 
 every new thing that turns up. But when, after full trial, 
 it is ascertained what are the best farm horses, the best 
 breed of cattle, the best milch cows, the most profitable 
 breed of hogs and sheep, and the most skillful routine of 
 cultivation, we think our farmers ought to profit by the 
 knowledge. It is never a good economy to have poor 
 things when you can just as well have the best. This, then, is 
 
 OUR CREED. 
 
 We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation. 
 
 We believe that soil loves to eat, as well as its owner, 
 and ought, therefore, to be manured. 
 
 We believe in large crops which leave the land better 
 than they found it — making both the farmer and the farm 
 rich at once. 
 
 We believe in going to the bottom of things and, there- 
 fore, in deep plowing, and enough of it. All the better il 
 with a sub-soil plow. 
 
 We believe that every farm should own a good farmer. 
 
 We believe that the best fertilizer of any soil, is a spirit 
 of industry, enterprise, and intelligence — without this, lime 
 and gypsum, bones and green manure, marl and guano wUl 
 be of little use. 
 
 We believe in good fences, good barns, good farmhouses, 
 good stock, good orchards, and children enough to gather 
 the fruit. 
 
 We believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a spin- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIISTG. 89 
 
 ning-piano, a clean cui:)board, a clean dairy, and a clean con- 
 science. 
 
 We firmly disbelieve in farmers that will not improve ; 
 in farms that grow j)oorer every year ; in starveling cattle ; 
 in farmers' boys turning into clerks and merchants ; in 
 farmers' daughters unwilling to work, and in all fanners 
 ashamed of their vocation, or who drink whisky till honest 
 people are ashamed of them. 
 
 ALMANAC FOR THE YEAR. 
 
 1. Work for January. — If you have done as you ought 
 to have done, you have a snug ice-house, with double walls, 
 the space between which is filled with non-conducting sub- 
 stances, as pulverized charcoal, or dried saw-dust, or tan- 
 bark, which are mentioned in the order of their value. Cut 
 your blocks of ice of a size and shape with reference to 
 close packing. Cover over thickly with clean straAV when 
 the stock of ice is all in. Look out not to lose all your 
 chance in waiting for a better one ; sometimes careful folks 
 mean to have such glorious ice, that an open winter cheats 
 them out of any at all. 
 
 Warmth. — ^The best fire in winter is made up of exercise^ 
 and the poorest, of whisky. He that keeps warm on liquor 
 is like a man who puUs his house to pieces to feed the fire 
 place. The prudent and temperate use of liquor is to let it 
 alone. If you don't touch it, it certainly won't hurt you ; 
 he that says there is no danger, boasts that he is something 
 more than other men. 
 
 The way to summer your cattle well is to whiter them 
 well ; and half the secret of good wintering is to keep them 
 warm. Animal heat is generated in proportion to the abun- 
 dance and excellence of their food. Exposure to the cold 
 air withdraws heat rapidly, and of course makes more food 
 
90 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 necessaiy to re-supply it, just as an open door makes it 
 necessary to have more wood in the stove. If your stock 
 run down in the winter and come out lean and feeble, all 
 the summer will not fully bring them up again. 
 
 2. Work fob February. — Get out rails, both for present 
 use, and for the fence which you exjject to lay in March and 
 Ajaril. Cut, haul and stack up near your house a good sup- 
 ply oi fire-wood ; no matter if the forest is within ten rods 
 of your door, your wife ought to have her wood chopped 
 and dried ready for use. Look at every fence upon the 
 place ; see if the corners of your rail fences are rotting 
 down ; if some rails have not broken ; if pig-holes have not 
 been made ; if boys and cattle have not thrown down top- 
 rails ; and in short, put your fences into proper repair. 
 
 Of course your tools will now be overhauled ; those 
 with steel blades should be thoroughly cleansed when laid 
 aside in the fall, and if you rub a little oil over them and 
 hang them up, all the better. Rejiair all that are out of 
 order. These things and all your ordinary work, may be 
 done, and stUl leave you leisure for reading. You should 
 have good books and good papers, and read them carefoUy 
 for your own sake and for your children's. A man who 
 brings up a family of ignorant children, cheats his children 
 of their rights, and cheats his country of its rights ; it is 
 therefore a crime. 
 
 Garden Work. — If there be no snow on the ground, 
 the gardens may be cleared of all rubbish, manure hauled 
 and stacked carefully ; and if you have a clay soil, and can 
 catch the ground without frost for a few days, it will mel- 
 low and ameliorate it to spade it up, leaving it in lumps and 
 heaps, through which the frost may thoroughly penetrate. 
 
 It is time to prepare your hot-bed, if you design having 
 early plants in your garden. 
 
 3 . Work eor March. — Begin the year by thorough, deep 
 plo^\"mg, where your fields are in good order for it. De- 
 pend upon it, that deep plowing is the only good plowing. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 91 
 
 Your first crop , generally, will tell you so. But if the sub- 
 soil is such that the first crop is rather poor, a year's expo- 
 sure of the land will ameliorate it so that your second 
 crop wUl remunerate aU expenses of time and labor laid out 
 in deep plowing. No farmer should be without a sub- 
 soil plow who has got his lands clear of stumps and 
 roots. 
 
 Take especial care of cows now just coming in with calf. 
 See that those which are heavy are carefully handled, well 
 fed, and warmly sheltered. Mares with foal should be ten- 
 derly used, exercised a httle, but not put to hard or strain- 
 ing work. The condition of the mother will to a great 
 extent determine the condition of the offsiwing. Cows, 
 mares, sows, ewes, etc. etc., should be kept in a hearty con- 
 dition, without being fat. 
 
 Orchard. — Do not trouble your trees with premature 
 pruning. Let the axe, and knife, and saw alone. Loosen 
 the dirt or sod around and beneath your trees. The best 
 manure for your trees is fresh mold, or forest soil and lime 
 in the proportion of about one part to ten. Take soft soap, 
 dilute it with urine, scrub your trees with it plentiftilly, 
 having first scraped off all rough bark. If you would work 
 easily always, never let your work drive you. 
 
 4. Work for April. — Gather from your barn the loose 
 hay seed, and sow it upon your wheat fields ; it will give 
 good pasturage after harvest, and make fine stuff for plow- 
 ing under. Push forward your plowing, but look well to 
 the teams ; as cattle and horses are like men, unable in 
 early spring to endure severe labor all at once. Tour 
 spring wheat should be got in ; barley is a better crop, usu- 
 ally, than rye. The middle and last of the month will keep 
 you in the corn-field. Plow deep — plow thoroughly; 
 and after planting, give the plow no rest, if you wish 
 good corn. 
 
 Young Animals. — You will now begin to have plenty of 
 calves, colts, ijigs, and lambs. K you mean to have pro- 
 
92 PLAIX AND PLEASAKT TALK 
 
 fitable pork, you ought to push your pigs from the birth. 
 Look carefully after your lambs ; see that the mothers are 
 well cared for ; have dry and warm jDens for any that are 
 feeble. 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 Mat. — 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 iDut 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, %oym 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 FRUIIS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 93 
 
 all your plants from the hot-bed should by this time be well 
 a growing in open air. Roses will be showing their buds. 
 If large roses of a favorite sort are required, more than half 
 the buds should be taken off, and the whole strength of the 
 plant be given to the remainder. The soil for this best of 
 all flowers, cannot be too rich, nor too deep. 
 
 6. 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. Uncleanhness 
 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 imder 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 
 
94 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 when perfectly dry, and say that if so cut it need not be 
 spread, but will dry in the swath in one or two days. As 
 to the time of cutting grass, we should avoid both ex- 
 tremes of very early or very late. Just before the seed of 
 timothy is ripe, is, upon the whole, the best time for this 
 best of grasses for the scythe. Clover should be cut 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 Woek. — As soon as your roses are done bloom- 
 ing, if you wish to increase them, take the young shoots, 
 and about eight inches from the ground, cut, below an eye, 
 half through, and then slit upward an inch or two through 
 the pith ; put a bit of chip in to keep the slit open ; bend 
 down the branch and cover the portion thus operated 
 on with an inch or two of earth and put a brick 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 tuUps, hya- 
 cinths, etc., as soon as the tops wither. 
 
 8. Work fok 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 farmer 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 inches 
 apart in the row and two feet between the rows. During 
 July, August, and Septembei-, 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 FRUITS, FLOWERS aJSTD FARMING, 95 
 
 till the earth is fine ; be liberal of seed, and cover in with 
 a harrow and not with a bush, which drags the seeds into 
 heaps, 01 carries them in hollows. The early part of the 
 month should be improved by aU 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 
 aduiirable service. 
 
 If you have neglected to raise your bulbs, lose no time 
 now. Take cuttings from roses and put in small pots, uivert 
 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 for 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 preparuig 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, beiug 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 iu 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, amarylhs, tigridia, gladioli, and such other tender 
 bulbs as you may have. Let your seed be gathered, 
 carefiilly put away where it wiU contract no moisture. Go 
 over your grounds and examine all your labels^ lest the 
 storms which are approaching should destroy them. Sow 
 in some wai'm and sheltered part of your garden, early in 
 this month, for spring use, spinage, corn salad, lettuce, etc. 
 
96 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 As soon as the leaves fall, take cuttings from currant bushea 
 and grapes, and plant them out in rows. They will start 
 oiF and grow earlier by some six weeks, the next season. 
 Fill in your celery trenches every ten days. 
 
 10. WoKK FOE 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 ujDon 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 Novesiber. — ^During this month, if the 
 ground is not locked by frost, jon may jilow stiff, tenacious 
 clay soils to great advantage. By being broken up and 
 subjected to the keen frosts, your soil will become mellow 
 and tender. See that every provision is made for shelter* 
 
ABOTJT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 97 
 
 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 wUl 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, si^inage, 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 done 
 up in small packages, and set up endwise in the cellar, and 
 covered with about half-dry sand. Roots may be taken 
 from pear and apple-trees, and packed in the same way for 
 root-graftuig, 
 
 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 exanjined ? 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, Tou have perhaps done 
 well by your stock, and in so far as the body is concerned, 
 for your children ; but what have you done for their educa- 
 tion ? 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 fam- 
 
98 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ily ? Do you lay out as much money for books as you do 
 for tobacco? In looking forward 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- 
 hand everything he means to do ; and afterwards, if he has 
 kept such an account that you can tell anything that you 
 have done. 
 
 Sleighing for the young and gay, and warm fire-sides for 
 the aged, are what are now most thought of. Those who 
 are best provided with the comforts of life should remem- 
 ber theii* less favored brethren. 
 
 EDUCATED FARMERS. 
 
 It is time for those who do not believe ignorance to be a 
 blessing, to move in behalf of common schools. Many 
 teachers are not practised even in the rudiments of the 
 spelling-book ; and as for reading, they stumble along the 
 sentences, like a drunken man on a rough road. Their 
 ''''hand-write^'' as they felicitously style the hieroglyphics, 
 would be a match for Champollion, even if he did decipher 
 the Egyptian inscriptions. But a more detestable fact is, 
 that sometimes their morals are bad ; they are intemperate, 
 coarse, and ill-tempered ; and wholly unfit to inspire the 
 minds of the pupils with one generous or pure sentiment. 
 We do not mean to characterize the body of the com- 
 mon schoolmasters by these remarks; but that any con- 
 siderable portion of them should be such, is a disgraceful 
 evidence of the low state of education. 
 
 Farmers and mechanics ! this is a subject which comes 
 home to you. Crafty pohticians are constantly calling you 
 the hone and sinew of the land ; and you may depend upon 
 it that you will never be anything else but bone and sinew 
 
ABOUT TEUITS, FLOWERS Alrt) FAEMING. 99 
 
 mthout education. There is a law of God in this matter. 
 That class of men who make the most and best use of their 
 heads ^ will, in fact^ be the most influential, wUl stand high- 
 est, whatever the theories and speeches may say. This is ft 
 " nature of things " which cannot be dodged, nor got over. 
 Whatever class bestow great pains upon the cultivation of 
 their minds will stand high. If farmers and mechanics feel 
 themselves to be as good as other people, it all may be true ; 
 for goodness is one thing and intelligence is another. If 
 they think that they have just as much mind as other 
 classes, that may be true ; but can you use it as well? 
 
 Lawyers, and physicians, and clergymen, and literary 
 men, make the discipline of their intellect a constant study. 
 They read more, think more, write more than the laboring 
 classes. The diiference between the educated and unedu- 
 cated portions of society is a real difference. Now a proud 
 and lazy fellow, may rail and swear at this, and have his 
 labor for his pains. There is only one way really to get over 
 it, and that is to rear up a generation of well educated, 
 thinking, reading farmers and mechanics. Your skill and 
 industry are felt ; and they put you, in these respects, ahead 
 of any other class. Just as soon as your heads are felt, as 
 much as your hands are, that will bring you to the top. 
 
 Many of our best farmers are men of great natural 
 shrewdness ; but when they were young they " had no 
 chance for learning." They feel the loss, and they are giv- 
 ing their children the best education they can. Farmers' 
 sons constitute three-fifths of the educated class. But the 
 thing is, that they are not educated as farmers. When 
 they begin to study they leave the farm. They do not ex- 
 pect to return to it. The idea of sending a boy to the 
 school, the academy, and the college, and then let him go 
 back to farming, is regarded as a mere waste of time and 
 money. You see how it is even among yourselves. If a 
 boy has an education, you expect him to be a lawyer, or a 
 doctor, or a preacher. You tacitly admit that a farmei 
 
100 PLAIN A.ND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 does not need such an education ; and if you think so, ycni 
 cannot blame others if they follow your example. 
 
 There is no reason why men of the very highest educa- 
 tion should not go to a farm for their living. If a son of 
 mine were brought up on purpose to be a farmer, if that 
 Avas the calling which he preferred, I still would educate 
 him, if he had common sense to begin with. He would be 
 as much better for it as a farmer, as he would as a lawyer. 
 There is no reason why a thoroughly scientific education 
 should not be given to every farmer and to every mechanic. 
 A beginning must be made at the common school. Every 
 neighborhood ought to have one. But they do not grow 
 of themselves, like toad-stools. And no decent man will 
 teach school on wages which a canal boy, or a hostler would 
 turn up his nose at. You may as well put your money into 
 the fire as to send it to a " make-believe " teacher — a great 
 noodle-head, who teaches school because he is fit for nothing 
 else ! Lay out to get a good teacher. Be willing to pay 
 enough to make it worth while for " smart " men to become 
 your teachers. And when your boys show an awakening 
 taste for books, see that they have good histories, travels, 
 and scientific tracts and treatises. Above all, do not let a 
 boy get a notion that if he is educated, he must, of course, 
 quit the farm. Let him get an education that he may makd 
 a better farmer. I do not despair of yet seeing a genera- 
 tion of honest politicians. Educated farmers and educated 
 mechanics, who are in good circumstances, and do not need 
 office for a support, nor make politics a trade, will stand 
 the best chance for honesty. But the Lord deliver us from 
 the political honesty of tenth-rate lawyers, vagabond doc- 
 tors, bawUng preachers, and bankrupt clerks, turned into 
 patriotic politicians ! 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AJSTD FARMING. 101 
 
 AN ACRE OF AVORDS ABOUT AKER. 
 
 Our spelling acre according to Webster's former method* 
 — dker^ has attracted no little attention, in a small way, both 
 far 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 diiferent, it is absurd to attempt the 
 forms of the one in the other. In respect to idioin^ no one 
 dreams of transferi'ing 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 si^elled 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 
 some 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., he 
 will find a constant succession of changes in spelling, both 
 for good and for bad. JThas been generally substituted for 
 J^, as in JLyTcwyse, accordynge, heyng^ certayne. Sir 
 Thomas More wrote Aym, thynges^ desyer^ m,yndes. Skel- 
 ton, the Poet Laureat, has centencyously, dyd, advysynge 
 hyll, etc., etc. 
 
 * Two-volume edition, imperial octavo. 
 
102 . PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 There has, too, and wisely, been a constant tendency to 
 drop all unsovnded letters. What earthly use is there of 
 lugging along letters which are entirely mute ? In old but 
 classic authors Ave have God^e dydc7e, nowe, whiche, pulle, 
 beste, suche, couerte (court) beetwene, begunwe, etc. 
 
 Within our own memory the final Jc is lopped off from 
 words where it had a perfect sinecure, as in musicA;, etc. 
 " KarCt hum it^'' does not look any more odd to our eyes 
 than our spelling would have looked to those who wrote 
 one hundred years ago. 
 
 If it be asked why we do not spell every word by the 
 same rule that we do some; we reply, that violent, and 
 sudden changes in languages are impracticable y and as in 
 everything else, are not desirable. We are glad to see 
 spelling simplified, and shall move along just as fast as we 
 can do it with a reasonable prospect of carrying the public. 
 
 It is not a matter of conscience ; we have no necessity 
 laid upon us to reform the language ; no call to be literal 
 martyrs ; it is a matter of convenience and taste, to be done 
 or omitted as one pleases. It would be more inconvenient 
 to stand alone with all writers against us, for the sake of 
 spelling consistently, than to spell fooUshly and super- 
 fluously in conformity to inveterate practice. Therefore, 
 for the sake of company, we still si3eU quite absurdly. 
 
 It is called inconsistent/ and by men, too, who spell 
 trough, cough, enough, though, through, bought, six dis- 
 similar sounds (oM, ow, oo, o, uf, off), by the same com- 
 bination of letters ! If consistency be the question, every 
 English writer that ever lived, is a mere bundle of incon- 
 sistencies. Every continental living language, and the dead 
 classic languages, have thrown in their contributions, and 
 our tongue comprises the scraps, odds and ends, of all 
 lands, with all the diverse peculiarities of each language 
 more or less retained. Under such circumstances, when no 
 man writes a sentence without spelling inconsistently, it is 
 quite ridiculous to oppose a simplification of spelling, be- 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 103 
 
 cause we cannot do, at once, what it is only practicable to 
 do gradually. As fast as the public is able to bear it, we 
 shall be glad to reduce all cumbrous siDclling to a consistent 
 simplicity. 
 
 An acquaintance declares, that the derivation of aker 
 from the Latia and Greek, is " without the least foundation 
 in the words as used in the Greek and Latin and in the Eng- 
 lish, and built entirely on the resemblance of sounds," etc. 
 The facts are the other way. In the Greek, and ia the 
 Latin, it meant simply a field, an open, cultivated spot. 
 Now, this was the meaning of the word in English, until it 
 was by statutes limited to a particular quantity (31 Ed. III. ; 
 5 Ed. I., 24 ; Henry VIII., as quoted by Webster) and this 
 is the meaning yet, of the word in German {acker) Swedish 
 {acJcer) Dutch {akJcer). There is, therefore, ample founda- 
 tion ia the use of the word ; and the sound our friend 
 gives up. 
 
 In almost aU the languages of the Teutonic family, of 
 which ours is one, the word is still sj)elled with k y and so it 
 is in the Asiatic languages, fi-om which, probably, both the 
 Teutonic and the Greek, alike borrowed it. 
 
 The spelling acre, as also centre, theatre we, probably, 
 derived from the French ; to which language we owe the 
 emasculation of many a noble Saxon word. 
 
 In the JSfeio ^England Farmer our orthographical sins are 
 thus set in order before us : 
 
 " The Western Farmer and Gardener, is an excellent 
 journal — very. It has only one feature that we dislike, 
 viz. — it spells acre a-k-e-r ! We are somewhat surprised 
 at Bro. Beecher, who usually evinces such good taste, as 
 weU as such good sense, should adopt such an ugly-looking 
 substitute for an old word of so much better appearance, 
 although supported in it by the prince of lexicogra- 
 phers. 
 
 " A-k-e-r I Wheugh ! Bro. editors, hoot at it till it 
 
104 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 shall become obselete. In Todd's, Johnson's, and Walkei's, 
 and Worcester's dictionaries, fuel is spelled fewel, as the 
 most correct way. This is odd enough and bad enough — 
 but it is hardly so unsightly as a^er." 
 
 Nothing becomes obsolete until it has been in vogue. 
 But pass that : what a sight will the hooting confraternity 
 present ! I imagine Maine Farmer Holmes — a plump, 
 short, dapper gentleman, giving a long howl, that sounds 
 so ludicrous, that he draws back from the open window to 
 laugh. Our more sober Breck performs the euphonious 
 duty with such conscientious heartiness, that up starts the 
 man of Buckwheat from his (mis-spelled) Plor/^/mian's 
 chair, as also does the Cultivator Cole — a trio not practiced 
 to sing together. The uproar reaches Albany, and sur- 
 prises him of the Cultivator, who hoots supplementary, 
 with such voice as he happens, in his surprise, to have on 
 hand. Next, toward the west. Dr. Lee shall give a scien- 
 tific roar or hoot such as wUl make his laboratory jar again. 
 Down across the lake the hooting (not hunting) chorus 
 goes (what Avill the sailors think is to i^ay !) to Elliot of the 
 yard-long-named Magazine, who, hoarse with lake fogs and 
 winds, shall put in so bass a hoot, that "Wight and Wright 
 of the Prairie Farmer will howl of mere fright, if for no- 
 thing else. 
 
 Audacious men ! we utterly defy you ! We shall pass 
 by the whole crowing brood of Polands, Dorkings and 
 what-not ; and raise a breed of genuine owls, to be our 
 champions in this dire necessity. We say, peremj)torily, 
 that we will not bet on any match between hooting birds 
 and hooting editors. But our serious opinion is, that, in 
 grave solemnity of looks, and in professional hootuig, a 
 half dozen well-trained owls will beat the whole of you. 
 However, we are open to conviction. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. IQo 
 
 FARMERS' LIBRARY. 
 
 It is of the highest importance that farmers should pos- 
 sess reading habits,' and that they should bring up their 
 children to a love of books. Every farmer should have a 
 library ; it may, at first, be small ; but it should be select. 
 As soon as a farmer is beforehand enough to own an acre, 
 he is prosperous enough to begin a library. It is said by 
 many, books won't make money. Yes they will. To-be- 
 sure, their best elFect is the production of intelligence in the 
 reader ; but a man well informed in his own business is just 
 the man to make money. Who ever thought of making 
 money by buying grindstones and whetstones ? But they 
 sharpen the scythe, and sickle, and the axe, and they pro- 
 duce money. Books are grindstones and whetstones for a 
 man's mind. 
 
 Many are unwilling to buy a treatise upon the disease of 
 the horse, although there are several which vf'AX preve^it most 
 of the evils which affect this noble anunal. In the West, the 
 horse is used, m town and country, by almost every man. 
 But very few profess to know how he should be treated ! 
 And, of those who think they are wise, how many have any 
 knowledge except of a few nostrums for sickness? The 
 horse, in man's service, is living in an entirely artificial 
 state. He takes care of himself if left wild. But living in 
 stables, laboring every month of the year in harness, and 
 under the saddle, not selecting his own food, but fed at the 
 will of his master, his own instincts become of little use, 
 and he is dependent entirely on the mercy and knowledge 
 of those whose slave he is. It ought not to be thought 
 unreasonable to say that every man who is willing to own a 
 horse, ought to be willing to know how to m,anage him, in 
 the stable and out of it. There is no work in the English 
 language containing more, or better instructions than* Stew- 
 
 * A Treatise on the management of horses in relation to stabling, groom- 
 ing, feeding, watering, and working : published by A. 0. Moore & Co., N. Y. 
 
106 PLAIN AND PLEAS AN! TALK 
 
 art's Stable Economy. It should be read by the farmer ; and 
 just as much by every man, of whatever calling, who uses a 
 horse, or owns one. It is of standard authority in England. 
 Mr. Stewart has long been a professor in veterinary institutes. 
 Every man ought to know how to treat a sick horse. Sup- 
 pose a horse to be taken sick on a journey ; most frequently 
 the driver is the only one at hand' to prescribe. If you are 
 at a tavern, of what use, generally speaking, are the brag- 
 ging pretensions of those that crowd aromid you ? Stop- 
 ping for a night at a wretched hole of a tavern, one of my 
 horses, at night fell sick. I knew no more than a child 
 what to do ; the landlord (ah me ! I shall never forget him !) 
 was equally ignorant and much more indifferent. A big, 
 braggmg, EugUsh booby was the only one pretending to 
 know what to do ; and to him I yielded the animal. After 
 sundry manipulations — punching him in the loins ; pulling 
 at his ears, etc. — he rolled up a wad of hair from, his tail, 
 and crammed it down the horse's throat! presuming, I 
 suppose, that the hair would find its way back to the place 
 it came from, and so pilot the disease out! I inwardly 
 resolved never to go another journey until in possession 
 of the best remedies for the attacks common to horses on 
 the road. 
 
 Peepaeing Cuttings in the Fall. — Cuttings of the 
 currant, gooseberry, and grape are better if cut immedi- 
 ately on the fall of the leaf, plunged into moist sand two- 
 thirds of their length, and placed in a cellar. If nature is 
 as propitious to others as she has been to us, the cuttings 
 will be found in the spring with the granulations completed 
 at the lower end, and the roots just ready to push ; and on 
 being planted out, they grow off immediately, forming dur- 
 ing the season well established plants. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AOSTD FARMING. 107 
 
 NINE I^nSTAKES, 
 
 Iisr so far as instruction is concerned, I esteem my mis- 
 takes to be more valuable than my successful efforts. They 
 excite to attention and investigation with great emphasis. 
 I will record a few. 
 
 1. One mistake, which I record once for all, as it will 
 probably occur every year, has been the attempting of more 
 than I could do well. The ardor of spring, in spite of expe- 
 rience, lays out a larger garden, than can be well tended 
 all summer. 
 
 2. In selecting the largest lima beans for seed, I obtained 
 most luxuriant vines, but fewer pods. If the season were 
 longer these vines would ultimately be most profitable ; but 
 their vigor gives a growth too rampant for our latitude. 
 If planted for a screen, however, the rankest growers are 
 the best. 
 
 3. Of three successive plantings of corn, for table use, the 
 first was the best, then the second, and the third very poor. 
 I hoed and thinned the first planting myself, and thorough- 
 ly ; the second, I left to a Dutchman, directing him how to 
 do it ; the third, I left to him Avithout directions. 
 
 4. I bought a stock of roses in the fall of the year. AU 
 the loss of Avintering came on me. If purchased in the 
 spring, the nurserymen loses, if there is loss. 
 
 5. I planted the silver-leaved abele {Populus alba) in a 
 rich sandy loam ; in which it made more wood than it could 
 ripen. The tree was top-heavy, and required constant stak- 
 ing. A poorer soil should have been selected. 
 
 6. I planted abundantly of flower-seeds — just before a 
 drought. I neither covered the earth with mats, nor 
 watered it — supposing that the seeds would come up after 
 the first rain. But, in a cheerless and barren garden, I 
 have learned that heat will kill planted seeds, and that he 
 who will be sure of flowers should not depend upon only 
 one planting. 
 
108 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 V. In the fall of 1843, I took up the bulbs of tuberoses, 
 and wintered them safely upon the top of book-cases in a 
 warm study. Having a better and larger stock in 1844, I 
 would fain be yet more careful, and packed them in dry 
 sand, and put them in a closet beyond the reach of frost. 
 On opening them in the spring all were rotted save about 
 half a dozen. Hereafter, I shall try the book-case. 
 
 8. We are told that glazed or painted flower-pots are not 
 desirable, because, refusing a passage to superfluous moist- 
 ure, they leave the roots to become sodden. In small 
 stove-heated parlors, the evajDoration is so great that glazed 
 or painted flower-pots are best, because the danger is of 
 dryness rather than dampness in all plants growing in 
 sandy loams or composts. 
 
 9. I have resolved every summer for three years, to cut 
 pea-brush during the winter and stack it in the shed; and 
 every summer following, not having kept the vow, I have 
 lacked pea-brush, being too busy to get it when it was 
 needed, I have allowed the cx'op to suffer. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
 
 Many county societies were formed in 1836 and for some 
 years flourished ; few of them, we believe, exist now. We 
 hope that the day has come for them to revive ; and, that the 
 experience of the past may not be lost, it is well to record 
 the reasons why these county societies declined. 
 
 1. Just after their birth, came on the fatal years of ficti- 
 tious prosperity ; when every man expected a railroad on 
 one side of his farm and a canal on the other — and when 
 everybody was about to be exceedingly rich ; not by legiti- 
 mate business ; not by producing wealth ; but by the rise 
 of property. Now the wealth of a farming community is 
 always to arise from the products of the farm. Whatever 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 109 
 
 withdraws attention from assiduous cultivation, or plants 
 the hope of gain in other sources than in the herds, the 
 dairy, the grain and the grass field, will, eventually, insure 
 disappointment and even poverty, as many of our farmers 
 can testify. It would be difficult for those who had not 
 seen it, to imagine the fervent, sanguine, exulting, state of 
 mind with which the whole community, at the time we 
 speak of, looked for the wealth. Farms were to quadruj)le 
 in value ; pork was to be cashed at enormous prices ; grain 
 and grass, stock and fruit, were to swell the golden tide ; 
 and, for once, the world was to see great riches from little 
 labor. Carelessness, waste, rashness, and incredible pre- 
 sumption were the result. Societies for the promotion of a 
 careful and patient cultivation of the soil could not long be 
 thought worthy of attention in a community which ex- 
 pected to be rich by a dexterous bargain, by one lucky spec- 
 ulation, by town lots, and shares, and that mysterious hum- 
 bug — the rise of property. 
 
 2. Succeeding such days came the opposite extreme. 
 Everybody w^as poor and expected to be poorer. There 
 was no money and no market. Hogs were hardly salable, 
 grain a drug, and aU produce unavailable. Nothing was 
 brisk but debt and debt collecting. Men were discouraged. 
 Said they, " if one can sell nothing, there is no use in rais- 
 ing anythmg ; twenty bushels an acre is as good as forty, 
 when one can't sell or use it." Schools languished, public 
 spirit died, business was totally deranged, and agricultural 
 societies became extinct with the downfall of other useful 
 institutions. 
 
 3. There were some things in the management of the 
 societies which embarrassed them independently of these 
 other causes. There was too much talk and pretension — 
 wind work ; the offices were taken for the honor — patient 
 endurance of drudgery, which somebody must bear, was 
 shirked off". Men took Httle pains between the meetings ; 
 everything was to be done at the time of meeting ; and, of 
 
110 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 course, half done. This led to dissatisfaction. The mis- 
 takes of carelessness were attributed to partiality or preju- 
 dice. Some dropped off; others relaxed; and, when the 
 excitement was gone, few cared to take the dull but real 
 and necessary business. 
 
 4. Notwithstanding all these things, the county societies 
 did a great deal of good. A skillful farmer told me, that 
 in the county, where he resided, there was hardly a con- 
 siderable farmer who did 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. 
 
ADOUT FRUITS, B'LOWERS AJSTD FARMING. Ill 
 
 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, 
 w itTi scrupulous impartiality, and every effort made by the 
 leading, substantial farmers to soothe and keep down every- 
 thing like bitterness and faction, in consequence of disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 4. It is indispensable that agricultural i^apers 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 tUl the 
 edge of appetite is gone, and then daintily pick the choice 
 parts ; the residue, being coarse and refuse, they wiU not 
 afterwards touch. 
 
 To sell half a stack of hay and leave the lower half open to 
 rain and snow. In feeding out, a hay knife should be used 
 on the stack ; in 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 count ry^ 
 for nice farming — ^for making good fences; for smooth 
 meadows without a stumjD ; for draining Avet 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. 
 
112 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 To plant (.rchards, and allow your cattle to eat the treea 
 up. When gnawed down, to save your money, by trying 
 to nurse the stubs mto good trees, instead of getting fresh 
 ones from the nursery. 
 
 To allow an orchard to have blank spaces, where trpes 
 have died, and when the living trees begin to bear, to wake 
 up and put young whips in the vacant spots. 
 
 It is very shiftless to build your barnyard so that every 
 rain shall drain it ; to build your privy and dig your well 
 close together ; to build a privy of more than seven feet 
 square — some shiftless folks have it of the size of the whole 
 yard ; to set it in the most exposed spot on the premises ; 
 to set it at the very far end of the garden, for the pleasure 
 of traversing mud-puddles and labyrinths of wet weeds 
 in rainy days. 
 
 It is a dirty trick to make bread without washing one's 
 hands after cleaning fish or chickens; to use an apron for a 
 handkerchief; to use a veteran handkerchief just fi-om the 
 wars for an apron ; to use milk-pans alternately for wash- 
 bowls and milk. To wash dishes and baby Unen in the same 
 tub, either alternately or altogether ; to chew snuff while 
 you are cooking, for sometimes food wUl chance to be too 
 highly spiced. We have a distinct but unutterable remem- 
 brance of a cud of tobacco in a dish of hashed pork — but 
 it was before we were married ! 
 
 A lady of our acquaintance, at a boarding-house, excited 
 some fears among her friends, by foaming at the mouth, of 
 madness. In eating a hash (made, doubtless, of every scrap 
 from the table, not consumed the day before), she found 
 herself blessed with a mouthful of hard soap, which only 
 lathered the more, the more she washed at it. It is a filthy 
 thing to comb one's hair in a small kitchen in the intervals 
 of cooking the breakfast ; to use the bread trough for 
 a cradle — a thiiig which we have undoubtedly seen ; 
 to put trunks, boxes, baskets, with sundry other utensils, 
 under the bed where you keep the cake for company ; we 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 113 
 
 have seen a dexterous housewife whip the bed-spread aside, 
 and bring forth, not what we feared, but a loaf-cake ! 
 
 It is a dirty trick to wash children's eyes in the pudding- 
 dish ; not that the sore eyes, but subsequent puddmgs, will 
 not be benefited; to wipe dishes and spoons on a hand- 
 towel ; to wrap warm bread in a dirty table-cloth ; to make 
 and mold bread on a table imiocent of washing for weeks; 
 to use dirty table-clothes for sheets, a practice of which we 
 have had experimental knowledge, once at least in our lives. 
 
 The standing plea of all slatterns and slovens is, thai 
 " everybody must eat a peck of dirt before they die." j^ 
 peck ? that Avould be a mercy, a mere mouthful, in com 
 parison of cooked cart-loads of dirt which is to be eaten ii 
 steamboats, canal-boats, taverns, mansions, huts and hovels. 
 
 Tobacco Tricks. — It is a filthy trick to use it at all ; and 
 it puts an end to all our aifected squeamishness at the 
 Chinese taste, in eating i-ats, cats, and bii'd's nests. It is a 
 filthy trick to let the exquisite juice of tobacco trickle 
 down the corners of one's mouth ; ©r lie in splashes on one's 
 coat, or bosom ; to squirt the juice all over a clean floor, 
 or upon a carpet, or baptismally to sprinkle a proud 
 pair of andirons the refulgent glory of the much-scouring 
 housewife. It is a vile economy to lay up for re-mastica- 
 tion a half-chewed cud ; to pocket a half-smoked cigar ; 
 and finally to be-drench one's self with tobacco juice, to so 
 be-smoke one's clothes that a man can be scented as far off 
 as a whale-ship can be smelt at sea. 
 
 It is a shiftless trick to snuff a candle with your fingers, 
 or your wife's best scissors, to throw the snuff on the car- 
 pet, or on the polished floor, and then to extinguish it by 
 treading on it ! 
 
 To .borrow a choice book; to read it with unwashed 
 hands, that have been used in the charcoal bin, and finally 
 to return it daubed on every leaf with nose-blood spots, 
 tobacco spatter, and dirty finger-marks — this is a vile 
 trick ! 
 
114 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It is not altogether cleanly to use one's knife to scrape 
 boots, to cut harness, to skin cats, to cut tobacco, and then 
 to cut apples which other people are to eat. 
 
 It is an unthrifty trick to bring in eggs from the barn in 
 one's coat pocket, and then to sit down on them. 
 
 It is a filthy trick to borrow of or lend for others' use, a 
 tooth-brush, or a tooth-pick ; to pick one's teeth at table 
 with a fork, or a jack-knife; to put your hat upon the din- 
 ner table among the dishes; to spit generously into the fire, 
 or at it, while the hearth is covered with food set to warm ; 
 for sometimes a man hits what he don't aim at. 
 
 It is an unmannerly trick to neglect the scraper outside 
 the door, but to be scrupulous in cleaning your feet after 
 you get inside, on the carpet, rug, or andirons; to bring 
 your drenched umbrella into the entry, where a black 
 puddle may leave to the houscwdfe melancholy evidence 
 that you have been there. 
 
 It is soul-trying for a neat dairy woman to see her " man " 
 watering the horse out of her milk-bucket ; or filtering 
 horse-medicine through her milk-strainer ; or feeding his 
 hogs with her water-pail ; or, after barn-work, to set the 
 well-bucket outside the curb and wash his hands out of it. 
 
 ELECTRO-CULTURE. 
 
 A FEW years ago, aU the world was agog about electri- 
 city applied to vegetation. Sanguine persons grew red in 
 the face with excitement, and enterprising schemers hoped 
 to supersede all past processes of culture by this magical 
 fluid. Things were to be made to grow not only as^fast as 
 lightning but hy lightning. Those mischievous bolts which 
 had played their dangerous pranks with chimneys, oaks, 
 and towers, were to be regularly harnessed and set to 
 work in the field like horses or oxen. Many of our readers 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AKD FjVRanKG. 115 
 
 will recollect how widely the agricultural papers copied the 
 glowing accounts brought from over the • seas ; and 
 nobody was afraid of anything except of not believing 
 enough. 
 
 Well, the lightning has been too smart for them ; and the 
 whole pack which opened loud on the scent, are now heard 
 just as loud on the back track. It usually takes two fool- 
 ings to satisfy the public. They first swing to an extreme 
 folly of injudicious admiration, and them vibrate to the op- 
 posite extreme of disgust. Everybody was fever-hot with 
 morus multicaulis ; and then they went into chills about it. 
 Durham stock broiight almost their weight in silver at one 
 time, and then could hardly be sold at butchers' prices. 
 Berkshire hogs were all the rage, and now are in great and 
 unmerited contempt. The guano fever sent hundreds of 
 ships a-dung-hunting all over the earth : and lucky were 
 they who espied a precious heap of excrement. How little 
 did the penguins and sea gulls of the Pacific imagine, that 
 their unconscious observance of the laws of nature 
 was one day to figure so largely on the British Ex- 
 change, and to raise such a bustle in chemical labor- 
 atories ! 
 
 We believed but few of these accounts of electricity, 
 because we perceived nothing which could be regarded as 
 settled. And now, we are far from sympathizing with the 
 recantations and apostasies from the electric faith. Like 
 all other things driven to extremes, we shall by and by see 
 it settle upon a middle point. 
 
 Editors are not without blame for these actions and re- 
 actions. Many of our best agricu.ltural papers are coii- 
 nected with agricultural warehouses which deal largely in 
 all articles for which there is an agricultural demand. 
 Without the slightest intention of deception, nay, with a 
 desire to act cautiously, such pecuniary interest may sen 
 Bibly affect the judgment of sanguine editors. But the 
 wish to issue a spicy paper, full of life and surprise, inclines 
 
116 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 an editor to publish whatever is new, without a scrutiny of 
 its truth. With a few honorable exceptions of standard 
 periodicals, we scarcely take an agricultural paper which 
 does not contain most absurd stories gravely indited with- 
 out a Avord of comment. Now, it seems to us that agri- 
 cultural papers ought not to be the common sewers of ncAvs, 
 full of waste and refuse matter ; but registers of rigid facts 
 and scientific expositors of the principles deducible from 
 facts. Farmers are at fault also in the matter. An editor 
 who depends for his support upon the proceeds of his 
 paper, must be a man of rare independence if he can shield 
 himself from the selfish influence of those who are his best 
 supporters. Men that have a novelty, a new and precious 
 jewel of a flower, a heavy stock of nursery commodities, or 
 large herds of fancy stock, sheep or swine, can afibrd to 
 circulate widely and praise any paper that will circulate 
 widely and praise their special interest. A sanguine 
 editor inditing a eulogistic article, with a red-hot specula- 
 tor whispering at each ear, will be very likely to lead many 
 simple farmers astray. Such articles, copied by newspapers, 
 spread the infection beyond the circle of subscribers. Far- 
 mers that take, and farmers that do not take the paper will 
 be deceived. 
 
 Now, let husbandmen give to their agricultural j^apers 
 such a support as shall leave the editors free from tempta- 
 tions to listen to interested persons ; let them contribute so 
 freely of their observations that editors will not have to 
 draw upon their imagination for facts, and the agricultural 
 press will become sober, stable, accurate, and so, pro- 
 fitable. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 117 
 
 SINGLE-CROP FARMING. 
 
 Ii is extensively the practice of large farmers, to put 
 their whole force upon one staple article ; a style of farm- 
 ing as foil of risk, as it would be to invest a whole fortune 
 in one kind of property. At the South, we have cotton 
 plantations ; nothing but cotton is raised. If the market 
 and the season happen to be propitious, enormous profits 
 are made. If markets, or the planting or picking season 
 are adverse, the year is lost ; for it was staked on one 
 article ; all the risks of the year, instead of being distributed, 
 were concentrated. Another plantation cultivates sugar 
 exclusively ; and the ambitious planter has his pockets full 
 or empty, according to chances which he cannot foresee, 
 calculate, or overrule. 
 
 At the North, some farmers put in nothing but wheat ; 
 others, nothing but corn. One relies on the hay crop ; 
 another makes or loses a year's profits on cattle. In each 
 case, if the staple raised happens to hit^ in every respect 
 profits roll in hke a flood. But such operations leave no 
 margin for those casualties, and annual changes, which are 
 inevitable. 
 
 Ireland, relying upon the potato as a support for a large 
 mass of its poverty-stricken people, is visited with famine 
 if this crop is shaken. The failure of the grain crop, in Eng- 
 land, strikes panic into the whole nation. 
 
 A perfect system of agricidture should have in itself, a 
 balancing power. There should be such a distribution of 
 crops that a firmer may have four or five chances instead 
 of one. To be sure, a farmer cannot drive so large a bus- 
 iness — cut such a swath — ^where five small or moderate 
 operations take the place of a single great one. Five years 
 of moderate profits are better than one gaining year, and 
 four years to eat it up. A farmer has 160 acres — sixty are 
 in wood : of the one hundred cleared acres, say twenty are 
 used for home lots, pasture, corn, etc., and eighty are in 
 
118 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 wheat. The fall may be bad for planting, the sj)iing may 
 be bad, the fly may take the crop or the rust may strike it ; 
 escaping all these, the weevil may damage it ; and, after all 
 this, it may not brmg a justifying price when got to mar- 
 ket. Is it wise for a man to put his yearly support or gains 
 upon one crop and that one crop dei^ending upon six or seven 
 contingencies ? If there is a large crop and high prices, he 
 makes largely. Eighty acres at thirty bushels the acre 
 yields 2,400 bushels, worth, say, seventy cents, or |1,680 
 gross receij)ts. Elated beyond measure, the lucky fellow 
 buys some forty acres more of cleared land, reduces his 
 pasture, shaves off a portion from his meadow, plants a few 
 acres only of corn, and puts every inch he can command 
 into wheat ; a good operation if he can find guaranty for 
 as good seasons and as good market as before. But there 
 are at least ten chances against for one in favor. 
 
 A farm which depends for its profit on butter, cheese, 
 fruit, timber, cattle, hogs, corn, wheat, potatoes, flax, etc., 
 makes, perhaps, but a little on each crop ; but the rains 
 that come in drops are useful, while those that come in tor- 
 rents and raise fi-eshets, leave great mischief behind. 
 
 Ticks on Sheep. — ^A clergyman, who was early in life a 
 regular-built shei^herd, after the old-fashioned style, living 
 with his flock, requests us to call the attention of all interested 
 in sheep, to the prevention of ticks adopted " in the place 
 he came from." A trough, large enough to hold a sheep, 
 was filled with a decoction of tobacco ; as soon as the sheep 
 are sheared, they are plunged all over in, except the nose 
 and mouth (these organs being sacred to chewers and snuff- 
 ers). The lambs are treated in the same way, and a world 
 of trouble to the owner and yet more to the flock, is saved 
 by this nauseous bath. 
 
AROUT FKUITS, FLOWEKS AXD FARMING. 119 
 
 IMPROVED BREEDS OF HOGS AND CATTLE. 
 
 No farmer ever owns a fine animal withrut being j)roud 
 of it. Yet, the same man will have an inveterate prejudice 
 against what are called improved breeds. The "fancy" 
 prices which have been extravagantly j)aid, the miserable 
 failure which some have made in attempting to stock their 
 form with foreign breeds, together with a suspicion of 
 whatever is new, and a lack of enterprise, have deterred 
 many farmers from seeking a better stock than the common 
 run. It is in this way that speculators, besides ruining 
 themselves, which is of no great consequence, seriously 
 retard the j^rogress of enlightened husbandry. 
 
 Let us take a plain and practical view of the matter. 
 
 1. Every^man who has had anything to do with cattle, 
 horses and swine, knows very well what a difference there 
 is between different animals, in respect to size, form, and 
 aptitude to fatten. Among twenty steers there will be a few 
 that without any reason that the owner can see, out-grow 
 and out-fatten all the rest. A lot of fifty hogs gathered up 
 from one neighborhood, will naturally divide itself into 
 three sorts, those which fatten with remarkable rapidity 
 and on little food; those that eat voraciously without 
 taking on fat ; and those that lie between these two 
 extremes and are not remarkable in one way or the other. 
 Every man that buys a horse knows that some horses re- 
 quire as much again food as others to keep them fat. 
 
 2. It is equally true that these qualities can be trans- 
 mitted, by careful breeding, from parent to offspring ; 
 until the qualities hecome Jixed in the breed. A particular 
 strain of blood, is then said to be established. By this pro- 
 cess, English breeders of stock, with the greatest persever- 
 ance and with admirable skill, have established several truly 
 improved breeds. It is not mere beauty of form that has 
 been gained, although this has been eminently attained ; 
 but also all those qualities which make an ox valuable for 
 
120 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 tlie yoke or for the hnife ; all that makes a cow good at 
 the pail and afterwards for the butcher ; all that makes a 
 hog valuable in flesh and fat. It is a mistake to suppose 
 that the improved breeds have been formed to please gen- 
 tlemen farmers and ainateur fanciers. They have been per- 
 fected with an eye mainly to %\\eiv prqfitahle^iess to the far- 
 mer — the real farmer. Nor are they the stock for large 
 farmers and rich proprietors alone. They are more 
 peculiarly suited to farmers of small or moderate means 
 than to any other ; a rich farmer can afford to keep poor 
 stock, if anybody can ; but a small farmer is badly off indeed 
 if the little that he has is poor. 
 
 3. No class of farmers are more interested in having 
 good stock of all kinds than western farmers. Pork and 
 beef constitute, probably, three-fifths of their exports. It is 
 of the last importance that they should jDOSsess animals from 
 which can be made the utmost profit. It is as much more 
 profitable for an Indiana farmer to drive the very be'fet cat- 
 tle, as it is for a Massachusetts farmer. If improved breeds 
 are found on the Mohawk to be vastly more profitable than 
 common stock, they will be found to be just the same on the 
 Wabash. 
 
 It does not follow, either, because we have more corn 
 than we can feed, or more grass and hay than can be used, 
 that we can make up for inferior quality by the greater 
 quantity of cattle kept. A western farmer may winter a 
 hundred head of cattle without positive loss, when a New 
 York farmer would sink money by it. But that is not the 
 question. Suppose two herds, of a hundred each, of four 
 year olds, preparing for the shambles. They eat the same 
 amount of grain, and hay or grass. But when weighing- 
 time comes, one herd averages a fourth heavier than the 
 other, and this is clear profit. With no more food, and no 
 more labor, and no longer time in fattening, they yield the 
 owner a fourth more profit. 
 
 Three men start a hundred hogs aj)iece for market. 
 
ABOUT FKIHTS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 121 
 
 Tlie first lot is of the true land-shark breed, and will 
 average, say one hundred and twenty-five pounds; the 
 second lot are of a better breed, and will average two hun- 
 dred pounds; the third hundred are of a choice breed and 
 average three hundred pounds. If the market happen to 
 be heavy, the first lot can hardly be sold ; the second lot 
 sells moderately well, the third lot goes promptly and at a 
 shade higher price. jSTow what is the difference of profit ? 
 If pork is selling for two dollars the hundred, the first hun- 
 dred hogs bring two hundred and fifty dollars. The second, 
 four hundred dollars; and the third, six hundred dollars. 
 That is, a difference of breeds makes a difference in profit, 
 feedmg and labor being the same in both cases, between the 
 first and last lot, of three hundred and fifty dollars. But it 
 wall be more than this, for hogs averaging three hundred 
 pounds will command twenty-five cents in the hundred more 
 than those weighing a hundred and twenty-five pounds. The 
 price which a farmer will get, then, for his hundred acres of 
 corn, depends upon what his hogs can do for him. One sort 
 of hogs can make up a fourth more fat than others, and ano- 
 ther can make up still a fourth more than these. K you 
 owned a mill, which of two millers would you choose — the 
 one who could make forty pounds of flour to the bushel, 
 or the one who could make forty-five — the quality being 
 equally good ? Of two acres of land, which would you 
 choose — the one which would yield fifteen bushels of 
 wheat, or the one which, with the same cultivation, would 
 yield thirty? Our farmers are willing enough to hunt 
 for good lands ; but why, on the same reasons, should they 
 not hunt for the best breeds of cows, cattle hogs, and 
 horses? 
 
 4. As to the different varieties which are cried up, we 
 have no interest in urging one more than another upon the 
 public. It is all one to us whether Hereford, Devon, or 
 Durham, prevail ; Woburn, Byfield or Berkshire. All that 
 v»/e ask is that farmers should aim to procure the best. Their 
 
122 PLAIN AISTD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 own experience must determine -which that is. One kind 
 will suit one range of land better than another. Beginning 
 with moderation, a shrewd farmer will soon be able to tell 
 whether any particular breed will suit his farm. 
 
 We jDresume that all farmers work for the sake of profit : 
 we urge an improvement of stock simply on the ground of 
 its profitableness. 
 
 ABSORBENT QUALITIES OF FLOUR. 
 
 It has long been known that flour gains in Aveight on 
 being made up into bread. The English act of Parliament 
 allowed 280 lbs. (a sack) of flour to make 320 lbs. of bread. 
 But in fact it makes a much greater weight than this. The 
 average per cent, of water, in English flour, naturally, 
 according to Johnson, is 15 per cent. But good English 
 and French wheat bread, according to the same author, con- 
 tains 44 per cent, of water ; i. e, twenty-eight j^ounds are 
 absorbed in making. By this estimate, 280 lbs. would gain 
 nearly seventy-four pounds, while the act of Parliament 
 allows on\j forty pounds. 
 
 It is understood that American wheat absorbs more water 
 than English ; and that United States southern wheat, absorbs 
 more than northern. It is also true that good wheat gains 
 more in baking than poor wheat, and old flour, more than 
 new. It is not good because it takes up water ; but good 
 flour has that property, and poor has not ; and absorption is, 
 therefore, an evidence of quality. 
 
 This absorption of water is in part mechanical and in 
 part chemical. The difference between these may be illus- 
 trated ; a bushel measure of shelled corn will admit a great 
 quantity of water into its open spaces ; it stands betioeen the 
 kernels. Wlien water is thrown upon lime, it does not 
 
ABOUT FKITITS, FLOWEES AND FARMIIS^G. 123 
 
 exist between the particles, but combines with them. Flour 
 absorbs water in both ways. 
 
 Absorption, mechanically, depends upon the coarseness of 
 flour, either from the character of its growth, or from the 
 manner of its grinding. The want of light and heat, in 
 imfavorable climates, or in bad seasons, induces sluggish and 
 imperfect action. The juices are but partially digested and 
 assimilated. Many vegetable constituents exist, in conse- 
 quence, in smaller quantities, or in a crude state. In such 
 cases the texture is porous and spongy. Grinding breaks 
 down the organized form without altering the essential 
 nature of the texture. 
 
 It would seem, if this be true, that grain ripened under 
 unfavorable influences would absorb less rather than more 
 water, since the watery particles, from the want of rapid 
 digestion and excretion, remain in the grain. But after 
 grain is cut, and put to dry, a literal evaporation takes 
 place ; the water is, in a measure, exhaled. 
 
 We are not to suppose that a mechanical absorption pre- 
 dominates. By far the greatest proportion of water is sup- 
 posed to combitie with the ingredients of the flour — starch, 
 gluten, etc., — chemically. And as flour is rich in starch and 
 gluten, it will have the power of taking water into com- 
 bination. It has been supposed that the absorbing jjower 
 of flour depended mainly upon its gluten. But Johnson 
 holds the position in doubt. Whereas, Webster (of Eng- 
 land) states that it is with the starch, principally, that water 
 combines. The per cent, of starch, sugar, and gluten, etc., 
 in wheat, depends on the soil and climate ; — on the soil, 
 because it must derive from it, originally, the elements of 
 its existence ; on cHmate, because these elements require a 
 certain temperature and quantity of light for their perfect 
 elaboration. It is on this account, that the wheat of 
 southern Europe is better than that of England ; that that 
 of Egypt is superior to the Italian. In each case there is a 
 superiority of climate which produces the most perfect ela- 
 boration of all the elements of wheat. 
 
124 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AN ANTI-BOOK-FARMER. 
 
 Whenever our anti-book-farmers can show us better 
 crops at a less expense, better flocks, and better farms, and 
 better owners on them, than book-farmers can, we shall 
 become converts to their doctrines. But, as yet, we cannot 
 see how intelligence in a farmer, should injure his crops. 
 Nor what difference it makes whether a farmer gets his 
 ideas from a sheet of paper, or from a neighbor's mouth, or 
 from his own experience, so that he only gets good, practi- 
 cal, soxmd ideas. A farmer never objects to receive politi- 
 cal information from newspapers ; he is quite willing to 
 learn the state of markets from newspapers, and as willing 
 to gain religious notions from reading, and historical know- 
 ledge, and all sorts of information except that which relates 
 to his business. He will go over and hear a neighbor tell 
 Low he prepares his wheat-lands, how he selects and puts 
 in his seed, how he deals with his grounds in spring, in har- 
 vest and after harvest-time; but if that neighbor should 
 write it all down carefully and put it into paper, it's all 
 poison ! it's book-farming ! 
 
 " Strange such a difference there should be 
 'Twixt tweedledum, and tweedledee." 
 
 If I raise a head of lettuce surpassing all that has been 
 seen hereabouts, every good farmer that loves a salad would 
 send for a little seed, and ask, as he took it, " How do you 
 contrive to raise such monstrous heads ? you must have 
 some secret about it." But if my way were written down 
 and printed, he would not touch it. " Poh, it's bookish !" 
 
 Now let us inquire in what States land is the best man- 
 aged, yields the most with the least cost, where are the 
 best sheep, the best cattle, the best hogs, the best wheat ? 
 It will be found to be in those States having the most agii- 
 cultural societies and the most widely-disseminated agriculr 
 tural papers. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 125 
 
 What is there in agriculture that requires a man to be 
 Ignorant if he -will be skillful? Or why may every other 
 class of men learn by reading except the farmer ? Mecha- 
 nics have their journals ; commercial men have their 
 papers ; religious men, theirs ; politicians, theirs ; there are 
 magazines and journals for the arts, for science, for educa- 
 tion, and why not for that grand pursuit on which all these 
 stand? We really could never understand why farmers 
 should not wish to have their vocation on a level with 
 others ; why they should feel proud to have no paper, while 
 every other pursuit is fond of having one. 
 
 Those who are prejudiced against book-farming are 
 either good farmers, misinformed of the design of agricul- 
 tural papers, or poor farmers who only treat this subject as 
 they do all others, with blundering ignorance. First, the 
 good farmers ; there are in every county many industrious, 
 hard-working men, who know that they cannot afford to 
 risk anything upon wild experiments. They have a growing 
 family to suj^port, taxes to pay, lands perhaps on which 
 purchase money is due, or they are straining every nerve to 
 make their crops build a barn, that the barn may hold their 
 crops. They suppose an agricultural paper to be stuffed 
 full of wild fancies, expensive experiments, big stories made 
 up by men who know of no farming except parlor-farming. 
 They would, doubtless, be surprised to learn that ninety- 
 nine parts in a hundred of the contents of agricultural 
 papers are written by hard-working lyractical farmers! 
 that the editor's business is not to foist absurd stories upon 
 credulous readers, but to sift stories, to scrutinize accounts, 
 to obtain whatever has been abundantly proved to be fact, 
 and to reject all that is suspected to be mere fanciful theory. 
 Such papers are designed to prevent imposition ; to kill off 
 pretenders by exposing them ; to search out from practical 
 men whatever they have found out, and to publish it for the 
 benefit of their brethren all over the Union; to spread 
 before the laboring classes such sound, well-approved scien- 
 
126 PLAIIf A'N'D PLEASANT TAIK 
 
 tific knowledge as shall throw light upon every operation 
 of the farm, the orchard and the garden. 
 
 The other class who rail at book-farming ought to be 
 excused, for they do not treat book-forming any worse than 
 they do their own farming ; indeed, not half so bad. They 
 rate the paper with their tongue ; but cruelly abuse their 
 ground, for twelve months in the year with both hands. I 
 will draw the portrait of a genuine anti-book-farmer of this 
 last sort. 
 
 He plows three inches deep lest he should turn uj) the 
 poison that, in his estimation, lies below ; his wheat-land is 
 plowed so as to keep as much Avater on it as possible ; he 
 sows tAvo bushels to the acre and reaps ten, so that it takes 
 a fifth of his crop to seed his ground ; his corn-land has 
 never any help from him, but bears just what it i^leases, 
 Avhich is from thirty to thirty-five bushels by measurement, 
 though he brags that it is fifty or sixty. His hogs, if not 
 remarkable for fattening qualities, would beat old Eclipse 
 at a quarter-race ; and were the man not prejudiced against 
 deep plowing, his hogs would work his grounds better Avith 
 their prodigious snouts than he does with his jack-knife- 
 plow. His meadow-lands yield him from three-quarters 
 of a ton to a whole ton of hay, which is regularly spoiled 
 in curing, regularly left out for a month, very irregularly 
 stacked up, and left for the cattle to pull out at their pleas- 
 ure, and half-eat and half-trample underfoot. His horses 
 would excite the avarice of an anatomist in search of osteo- 
 logical specimens, and returning from their range of pasture 
 they are walking herbariums, bearing specimens in their 
 mane and tail of every weed that bears a bur or cockle. 
 But oh, the coavs ! If held up in a bright day to the sun, 
 don't you think they would be semi-transparent ? But he 
 tells us that good milkers are always poor ! His cows get 
 what Providence sends them, and very little beside, except 
 in winter, then they have a half-peck of corn on ears a foot 
 long thrown to them, and they afford lively spectacles of 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 127 
 
 animated corn and cob-crushers — never mind, they yield, 
 on an average, three quarts of milk a-day ! and that milk 
 yields varieties of butter quite astonishing. 
 
 His farm never grows any better, in many respects it gets 
 annually worse. After ten years' work on a good soil, while 
 his neighbors have grown rich, he is just where he started, 
 only his house is dirtier, his fences more tottering, his soil 
 poorer, his pride and his ignorance greater. And when, at 
 last, he sells out to a Pennsylvanian that reads the Farmers' 
 Cabinet, or to some New Yorker with his Cultivator packed 
 up carefully as if it were gold, or to a Yankee with his New 
 England Farmer, he goes off to Missouri, thanking Heaven 
 that he's not a book-farmer ! 
 
 Unquestionably, there are two sides to this question, and 
 both of them extremes, and therefore both of them deficient 
 in science and in common sense. If men were made accord- 
 ing to our notions, there should not be a silly one alive ; 
 but it is otherwise ordered, and there is no department of 
 human life in which we do not find weak and foolish men. 
 This is true of farming as much as of any other calling. 
 But no one dreams of setting down the Avocation of agri- 
 culture because, like every other, it has its j^roportion of 
 stupid men. 
 
 Why then should agricultural loriters, as a class, be sum- 
 marily rejected because some of them are visionary? Are 
 we not to be allowed our share of fools as well as every 
 other department of life ? We insist on our rights. 
 
 A book or a paper never proposes to take the place of a 
 farmer's judgment. Not to read at all is bad enough ; out 
 to read, and swallow everything without reflection, or dis- 
 crimination, this is even worse. Such a one is not a book- 
 headed but a block-headed farmer. Papers are designed 
 to assist. Those who read them must select, modify, and 
 act according to their own native judgment. So used 
 papers answer a double purpose ; they convey a great 
 amount of valuable practical information, and then they stir 
 
128 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 up the reader to habits of thouglit ; they make him more 
 mquisitive, more observing, more reasoning, and, therefore, 
 more reasonable. 
 
 Now, as to the contents of agricultural papers, whose 
 fault is it if they are not practical? Who are the prac- 
 tical men? who are daily conversant with just the things a 
 cultivator most needs to know? who is stumbling upon 
 difficulties, or discovei*ing some escape from them ? who is 
 it that knows so much about gardens, orchards, farms, 
 cattle, grains and grasses ? Why, the very men who wonH 
 lorite a word for the paper that they read^ and then com- 
 plain that there is nothing practical in it. Yes there is. 
 There is practical evidence that men are more willing to be 
 helped than to help others ; and also that men sometimes 
 blame others for things of which they themselves are 
 chiefly blameworthy. 
 
 GOOD BREEDS OF COWS. 
 
 There is hardly one thing which conduces more to the 
 comfort of a family than a good cow. A family well sup- 
 plied with rich milk twice a day cannot have poor fare ; for, 
 besides the use of pure milk by itself, there is no article, 
 except flour, which enters into so many forms of cooking. 
 Next in importance to the family, are the relations of the 
 cow to the dairy ; we say next to the family, for it is more 
 important that there should be good cows for private fami- 
 lies than that dairies should have them. All the dairy 
 herds might be destroyed, and if each famUy has its cow, 
 the loss would be bearable. But take from families their 
 one cow, and all the dairies in the land could not compen- 
 sate. 
 
 The question of a good breed of milch cows is important, 
 then, to the whole community ; to the dairymen of course ; 
 
ABOUT." FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 129 
 
 but yet more to the families of laborers, mechanics, mer- 
 chants, etc. 
 
 Everybody knows that it costs no more to keep a good 
 cow than a j^oor one. But what is the use in talking so 
 when good ones are not to be had ? or to be had only at a 
 price which not one in fifty can afford ? But so far as we are 
 concerned, and so far as ninety-nine in a hundred are con- 
 cerned, of what use are these accounts except to make us 
 dissatisfied with our poor old cow without enabling us to 
 get a better ? It was all right to publish them, but the 
 sight of such facts reminded us of the low estate of our milk 
 cows, and of the woeful carelessness of farmers about im- 
 proving their stock. 
 
 It is high time that farmers should endeavor to pro- 
 cure a good milk breed. It is well known that horses and 
 oxen are almost bred to order ; if a fore shoulder is too 
 slight, a breeder crosses so that in the next generation it 
 comes out right ; if the animal is too small he is enlarged ; 
 if too large he is condensed ; if the back is too long, the 
 leg too heavy, the muscle too spare, the head heavily or 
 clumsily put on, the breeder has skill, in a great measure, 
 to remedy the evils. Why then should it not be thought 
 both possible and worth while to breed for good milking 
 properties ? 
 
 The least trouble, not the best stock, seems to be the 
 question with most. The discouragement of debt, the low 
 prices of all farm products, the habits of arrant carelessness 
 which naturally belong to large farms, of rich lands, re- 
 moved from a ready market, and on which there is more 
 than enough for home use, and much waste of the surplus 
 because a poor sale for it ; these things are the causes why 
 but little attention is paid to good stock. To be sure, in 
 speculating times, large prices have been paid for animals 
 of repute. And now, if fancy prices could be realized, 
 there are thousands who would beg, borrow, or steal enough 
 to rush madly into the raising of improved bi3eds Even 
 
130 PLAHSr AKD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 from such extravagance much collateral advantage results. 
 Many, doubtless, are disappointed, as they expected angelic 
 cattle, and got nothing but flesh and blood ; those who are 
 the most furious in one extreme, revolt to the other, and 
 are as careless and neglectful this year, as they were cattle- 
 mad the last year. But, some good, notwithstanding, re- 
 mains. Good breeds have been brought in. Good blood 
 will run longer in good stock, than perseverance, often, will 
 in their owners. Here and there a man holds on. His 
 stock improves. His neighbor's herds are gradually 
 leavened. By and by particular counties grow famous for 
 their fine stock. The farmers feel some jaride in it; and 
 now the thing begins to work rightly. When once the 
 best stock, of any kind, is a matter of hearty personal pride 
 with the farmer, over and above the mere price of them in 
 mai'ket, then there will be constant and solid improve- 
 ment. 
 
 These remarks, applying to stock generally, are peculiarly 
 applicable to the subject of milch cows with which we set 
 out. 
 
 Dahlias. — It is necessary to give your plants a strong 
 support, for, in good seasons, they grow so thriftily, that 
 rains and winds break down the branches even when the 
 main stalk is strongly staked. Those who are willing to be 
 at the trouble, should put three stakes so as to leave the 
 stem in the middle. Take a pliant Avithe, or small hoop, and 
 encircle the stakes at the top, the middle, and also about a 
 foot fi'om the ground. In this way the branches will lean 
 on the hoops, and not be liable to split oif ; a few weeks' 
 groAVth Avill cover and conceal the stakes and hoops, leav- 
 ing to the eye only a mass of foliage, apparently, self-sus- 
 tained. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 131 
 
 CUTTING AND CURING GRASS. 
 
 The question ■when grass ouglit to be cut, it seems to us, 
 is to be answered by the purposes to which we mean to 
 put it. 
 
 Do we wish it for the seed, or for the stem ? Are we 
 anxious to obtain the ^I'eatest weight from an acre ? or are 
 we desirous of gaining the largest amovmt with the least 
 exhaustion of the soil ? 
 
 1. If one, regardless of soil, wishes the greatest weight 
 to an acre, let the grass ripen. It mil have become per- 
 fectly developed ; its juices will have perfected the solid 
 matter, and less loss will ensue in curing. But the stem 
 will be comparatively hard, and without nutriment. 
 
 2. Do we desire, without particular regard to economy, 
 the most nutricious food for animals ? The grass should 
 ripen and only the upper part of the stem and the head 
 should be fed out ; for, while the buts will be hard and 
 juiceless, the grain and husk and neighboring parts ^\\\ 
 have received, in a concentrated form, the height of the 
 plant's juices. Chemistry has recently shown that plants 
 prepare in themselves, the fatty matter which is afterward 
 laid on the bones of the cattle. This fatty substance lies 
 not in the gram, but the husk. 
 
 Johnston, the agricultural chemist, says : " This fact of 
 the existence of more fat in the husk than in the inner part 
 of the grain, explains what often seems inexphcable to the 
 practical man, why bran, namely, which appears to contain 
 little or no nourishing substance, should yet fatten pigs and 
 other full grown animals when fed to them in sufficient 
 quantity, along with their other food." K, for example, a 
 horse is to be trained, it has long been the practice (though 
 hitherto the reason was not understood) to give the racers, 
 the hunter, etc., only the top joint and head of hay. 
 Now the principle on which a trauied horse is fed, is to give 
 the most solid nourishment in the most compact form — 
 
132 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 throwing as little uunuti-icious food as possible into the 
 stomach consistently with a proper distension of it. 
 
 This fact also explains the value of old hay which has 
 been well cured and well kept. It is known that freshly 
 gathered nuts are not so oily as those which are old. All 
 seeds perfect their oil after being thoroughly ripened by 
 keeping. The seed of old hay will be richer in fatty matter, 
 then, than new. 
 
 3. The most palatable hay for cattle is that which is cut 
 before it ripens its seed. If the farmer has enough grain to 
 feed with, he can afford to cut his grass early. Its want of 
 nutriment will be made np by feeding grain, and his stock 
 will relish their food better than if it had grown hard with 
 age before cutting. 
 
 4. £ut for general purposes, grass should be cut when 
 just out of flower. This is a compromise betw^een the two 
 extremes. It combines the two advantages of juiciness of 
 stem and richness of grain more nearly than any other. 
 The stem will be cut w^hile yet in juice, and the seed will 
 continue to fill and ripen after it has been cut. This is 
 w^ell known in respect to wheat, and the best farmers cut it 
 before it is dead ripe. 
 
 The want of barns to store it, the want of markets in 
 which to sell it, the want of jDrofit in raising it, and lastly, 
 the want of thrift in making it, has caused thousands of 
 tons of hay to be most wretchedly put up — curing as it is 
 sarcastically called ; cured, probably, on the principle of 
 the following story : A physician in England went out with 
 the gamekeeper to hunt ; covey after covey was started, 
 into which the doctor fired with a strange want of pro- 
 fessional skill, without killing anything. The gamekeeper 
 at length lost patience, and snatching the gun, said : 
 " Let me take it, I'll doctor them." 
 " What do you mean, sir, by doctoring them ?" 
 " Why, kill them, to be sure." 
 Thus, we think, grass is too often doctored. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAUMING. 133 
 
 COUNTRY AND CITY. 
 
 A WORTHY friend recently said to me : "A gentlemen of 
 observation from one of our principal cities of the West, 
 stated to me, that in point of fact, almost all the leading 
 men of the cities were from the country, and had been 
 raised farmers' sons. The reasons seemed to me quite 
 obvious. The vigorous health, patient industry, thorough 
 economy, and hard thinking necessary to success, are the 
 product of the country and but seldom of the town or city. 
 A large part of the best merit and talent of the country 
 doubtless remains upon and adorns our farms. Another 
 portion is drawn by a spiiit for enterprise of a different 
 kiad to our towns. When they enter they find an active 
 competition that brings out their best efforts. Success on 
 their part takes away the necessity of effort on the part of 
 their children ; and the next result is, that their children 
 become reduced in means and merit, and every element of 
 success, and are di-iven to some refuge in vice or petty em- 
 ployment. It is therefore the duty of the man who has 
 been successful in town, to retire to the country again that 
 his children, who are to succeed him, may partake, as far as 
 possible, of his advantages." 
 
 The facts stated we believe are undoubted ; the business 
 men — merchants, lawyers, physicians, and clergymen of 
 large cities are, to a large degree, drawn fi-om the country. 
 And there is a system of circulation^ if the facts could be 
 well made out, worth attention. In travelling, one day last 
 year, tlie rain drove us into a country tavern, where a fat 
 man of some fifty years of age was waiting to entertain us 
 with a dish of philosophy (of which, considering our accom- 
 modations, we had special need). But we were led to 
 notice one part of his remarks : " You see, sir, everything 
 comes round in about four generations. First comes the 
 enterprising and hard-workmg fellow who gets the money ; 
 then his chUdreu begin to live in style ; but their parents' 
 
134 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 example and stamina keep them pretty well up ; but their 
 children begin to run down ; in their hands the property is 
 wasted and they die poor ; and the fourth race begin in pov- 
 erty, and work upward agam." Now, if our fat and some- 
 what dogmatical friend has reasoned aright, there is a de- 
 generating and rejuvenating process going on in society, 
 having a period of about four or five years. We give the 
 theory for what it may be worth. 
 
 LIME UPON WPIEAT. 
 
 Lime is used either to j)repare the seed for germination, 
 or to prepare the soil for the better growth of the seed. 
 This latter operation it does, either by adding itself as a 
 new mgredient, or by acting chemically upon the ingre- 
 dients already in the soil. 
 
 When lime is applied to the seed (the seed being moist) 
 the oxygen of the water, combining with carbon of the 
 seed, forms carbonic acid ; which, having a powerful affin- 
 ity for lime, imites with it, forming a carbonate of lime. 
 The escape of a portion of its carbon constitutes the natu- 
 ral preparation of a seed for growth ; but why, chemists 
 have not been able to explain. 
 
 Air-slaked lime, is lime which has combined with carbonic 
 acid existing in the atmosphere. Unburnt limestone is a 
 carbonate of lime ; air-slaked lime is the same, and they do 
 not materially differ. Air-slaked lime, having no longer an 
 affinity for carbonic acid, withdraws none from the grain to 
 which it may be applied ; and in nothing helps the germi- 
 nating process. Our readers will therefore see the rea^ 
 son why wheat does not sprout any quicker when it is 
 limed, than when it is not. Precisely the same thing 
 is true of other substances applied to grams. Magnesia, 
 existing naturally as a carbonate, like lime, has its carbonic 
 
ABOUT TKUITS, FLOWERS AND FAKMING. 135 
 
 acid expelled by strong heat, and in that state applied to 
 seeds, will assist the germination. If exposed to the air it 
 attracts carbonic acid and becomes again a carbonate, and 
 useless to seeds. 
 
 Where lime is employed upon the soil, it is either as a 
 mere article of vegetable food, or, as a chemical agent, to 
 change the condition of other ingredients of the soil. All 
 good soils contain lime ; of ninety-four different cultivated 
 soils in Rhode Island, analyzed by Professor C T. Jackson, 
 eighty-nine contained lime. Ruffin, in his essay on calcare- 
 ous manures, says, after a large induction of fact, "that all 
 soils naturally poor, are certainly destitute of calcareous 
 earth." When there exists in the soil, already, enough lime 
 for the wants of vegetation, the addition of more mil pro- 
 duce no effect upon the crop. New lauds, and old land not 
 run down, and naturally rich in lime, may require none. 
 But lime is applied not alone as food directly offered to 
 vegetation, but to act upon and change the soil itself. 
 
 It neutralizes free acids which exist in the soil. This is 
 done with quick-lime or air-slaked ; the first combining 
 directly with the acid — the second by liberating its carbonic 
 acid and then combining with the acid of the soil, leaving 
 the carbonic acid to be food for plants. It is very well 
 known by those accustomed to use peaty substances for 
 manures, and meadow mud, that they will rather injure than 
 benefit soils, until their acid has been neutralized. 
 
 Lime decomposes vegetable fibre, and reduces tough lig- 
 neous substances, to a consideration in which they can be 
 approj^riated by plants. For this purpose quick-lime should 
 be used and may be applied at the rate of from twenty to 
 thirty bushels t . the acre. 
 
 Lime enters mto combination with sand or silex, forming 
 a substance different from either of them. Even strona: 
 clays will be foimd to contain much silex ; and lime, by com- 
 bining with it, makes the soil friable or crumbling. 
 
136 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 CULTURE OF HOPS. 
 
 We shall state such facts as are within our reach, ami 
 leave each one to make his own calculations. 
 
 The Hop Plant. — The hop belongs to the natural order, 
 Urticeae, or the nettle and hemp family. Its root is peren- 
 nial ; its stem annual, twining to the height of from fifteen 
 to twenty feet. They bear male and female flowers on 
 different plants, and the female is the only one used for 
 planting. 
 
 Soil. — ^Rich, friable clay, and hearty loams, and vege- 
 table molds are the best soils. A wet subsoil is fatal to their 
 health. Any rich, light, dry (but not droughty) soU suits 
 them. A large crop may be obtained from our rich allu- 
 vions, or bottom lands ; but although uplands yield a less 
 crop, the quality is regarded as decidedly superior. A wet 
 clay subsoil is not good. 
 
 Planting. — Plants are set out in rows six to eight feet 
 apart and six to eight feet from hill to hill in the row. 
 Rooted plants, but more frequently cuttings from old 
 plants are employed ; five or six being planted to the hill. 
 Poles from fifteen to twenty feet in length are placed to 
 each hill. In England from three to six and even eight are 
 placed to each hill. But three is about the average number. 
 
 Harvest. — No crop is more variable than this ; the yield 
 per acre ranging accordiag to the season from 300 to 2,000 
 lbs. On rich bottom lands 2,000 lbs. may be not unfre- 
 quently raised ; but on an average, from 700 to 1,000 lbs. 
 may be reckoned. 
 
 The plants bloom in July and are ready for harvest by 
 the first of September. It is necessary t gather them 
 promptly, as they soon deteriorate if allowed to remain 
 after they are ripe. As soon as gathered they are kiln- 
 dried, then placed from ten days to two weeks to cool, and, 
 finally, they are baled for market. 
 
 General Considerations, — A plantation will last in full 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEKS A.XU FARMING. 137 
 
 vigoi for ten years, and then will decline, but gradually, for 
 ten raore, when it is to be broken up. Fifteen years, per- 
 haps, is the average duration of the hop plantations. They 
 exhaust the soil, withdrawing much and returning little to 
 it. Hops vary exceedingly in price in different years, not 
 only on account of the varying supply arising from the 
 uncertainty of yield, but from the quality of the article 
 in different years. The average price in the United States 
 is not far from sixteen cents per pound. Sometimes they 
 rise to thirty, forty, and even fifty cents per pound. 
 
 From the moment of sj^routing, in the spring, until the 
 hop is ready for the kiln, they are liable to disaster from 
 insects or disease. Nowhere has more experience been had 
 in their cultivation than in England. Brown says, " they 
 are exposed to more diseases than any other plant with 
 which we are acquainted, and the trade offers greater room 
 for speculation than any other exercised within the British 
 dominions." Parkinson, with a quaint play upon the word 
 hop, says, " the hop is said to be a plant very properly 
 named, as there is never any certamty in cultivating it." 
 
 If the crop is to be planted largely, it would seem 
 plain, from the foregoing, that one should have capital 
 enough to be able to bear some losses, at least, at first. For 
 ordinary cultivators, if the experiment is to be made, it 
 would be better to begin with a small plantation at first, 
 embarking more largely as knowledge and skill increase, 
 and as experience determines its profitableness. 
 
 Grape Vines should be trimmed before the sap begins 
 to rise, else they will bleed, to their great injury. If it be 
 neglected till the sap is in motion, let the cultivator wait 
 till the leaves are about the size of a dollar ; then cutting 
 may be performed without injury. 
 
138 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK. 
 
 WHITE CLOVER. 
 
 We are inclined to suppose that the excellences of white 
 clover have not been enough esteemed among our farmers; 
 indeed, they have adopted a few grasses as special favorites 
 upon whom all favors are lavished, Ana the rest are totally 
 or very nearly rejected. 
 
 In regions where dairies abound, and where, therefore, 
 the subject of pasturage is of vital interest, those grasses 
 are sown which spring early in the year and continue late ; 
 which grow quickly, abundantly, and shoot again rapidly 
 after being cropped ; which are nutritious ; which tend to 
 produce milk, and impart to it high flavor. If any one 
 grass possessed all these properties, it would be perfect; 
 and, for pastures, all others might be rejected. As it is, 
 several grasses must conspire to form a sward possessed of 
 these diverse excellences. In this joint result white clover 
 bears no mean place. It is, on congenial soils, of vigorous 
 growth, eminently conducive to the production of milk, 
 and milk of fine flavor. These are its peculiar virtues* 
 Besides these, it possesses in common with other pasture 
 l^lants, hardiness, tenacity of life, nutritiousness for beef- 
 cattle. Thaer, the most eminent practical, and scientific 
 cultivator of his day, says : " It is certainly the most gene- 
 rally approved of all plants that are cidtivated for this 
 (pasture) purpose.''^ Sinclair, whose authority in grasses 
 will not be disputed, says . " nor does it form a good pas- 
 ture when sown by itself . . but, combined with other 
 grasses, it is a valuable plant." Great quantities of seed 
 are annually so^v^l in England by the best farmers. Fessen- 
 den, of New England, says, " it does not contain as much 
 nutritive matter as red clover ; yet its value as a pasture- 
 grass is universally admittedy This is the experience of 
 Germany, England, and New England. Has experience 
 determined that these good qualities are suppressed in 
 western pastures ? Or is there such a prejudice against it 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 139 
 
 on account of its prying, intrusive disposition in arable 
 lands, that our farmers are unwilling to give it a chance ? 
 
 PLOWING CORN. 
 
 Many farmers, because their fathers did so before them, 
 plow their corn lands very shallow before planting; but 
 make up for it in deep plowing while dressing the corn- 
 crop. Why is corn plowed at all ? 
 
 1 . To DESTROY Weeds. — In this climate if a plow is not 
 kept lively in the early part of the season, weeds will com- 
 pletely take the crop. The soil is like a table full of food. 
 Every man who sits down to it makes it less. Every weed 
 eats uj) a part of the soil, and takes away, needlessly, so 
 much from the corn. But it is not merely the nutritive 
 ingredients which are extracted — but what, on some soils, 
 in some seasons, is even worse — weeds drink up the moist- 
 ure. There are many soils which could afford to lose much 
 mineral and vegetable substance without lessening the sup- 
 ply for corn ; but, in this climate, in ordinary seasons, no 
 soil can afford to squander its moisture. 
 
 But a corn crop is often put in to act as a cleanser of the 
 soil when it has become foul. This end can only be 
 answered by a rigid persecution and destruction of the 
 weeds throughout the whole growing season. Some 
 farmers, strangely enough, will deal thoroughly with their 
 fields, but allow the edges and fence rows to swarm with 
 weeds that luxuriate and ripen seed which the winds 
 scatter all over the field. This is as if a man should busy 
 himself all day long, in driving hogs out of his field, but 
 leave all the holes open where they broke in. The soil 
 should be thoroughly worked. 
 
 2. To PREVENT Dryness. — Nothing is wider of the truth, 
 than letting corn alone in dry weather for fear of " firmg " 
 
140 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 it. If the plow begins early, and is kept going, no dvoughl 
 likely to occur in our climate can do much injury ; espe- 
 cially if the ground has been broken up deep before plant- 
 ing. 
 
 Where the atmosphere is very dry, very hot and windy, 
 the evaporation of moisture from the plant, and from the 
 surface of the soil, is excessive. A hill of corn will exhale 
 many pounds of moisture in a day. There is no remedy 
 for excessive exhalation from plants ; but this renders it yet 
 more necessary that a supply should be kept up at the 
 roots. If the soil therefore, is permitted to evaporate from 
 its surface, the double draught upon its moisture — through 
 the plant, and from the surface — will soon exhaust its 
 water. 
 
 Everybody knows that if a board or cloth be put upon 
 the ground, in dry weather, the earth under it vsdll remain 
 moist — its aqueous particles being checked in their pass- 
 age upward. If a shovelful of fine manure be laid in a 
 heap upon a spot of ground, the same eifect will be pro- 
 duced. Gardeners are accustomed to cover the earth about 
 shrubs with an inch or two of fine sand ; experience teach- 
 ing them that it preserves the moisture of the soil. Now, 
 if the soil, instead of being covered Avith sand, or light 
 manure, be itself pulverized, the same effect wUl be pro- 
 duced — and for reasons which will appear. When the soil 
 is compact the moisture ascends from particle to particle 
 without obstruction. Every crevice which separates the 
 particles of earth, checks the passage of the moisture. 
 This may be more readily seen in an analogous case — the 
 transmission of heat. Take two nail-rods, lay the end of 
 one in the fire ; divide the other into inch pieces and lay 
 them in a row from the fire, each piece touching the other. 
 The transmission of heat in the rod made up of pieces will 
 be checked at each point of division, while the uncut rod 
 will heat rapidly. On this principle, an iron chain two feet 
 long, with one end thrust into fire, will not transmit heat 
 
ABOUT TRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 141 
 
 through its length near so soon as a solid bar of the same 
 length. 
 
 If this reasoning be true, and experience bears it out, the 
 plow should be kept running in dry times to save a crop 
 from drought. But if the farmer has neglected his corn, 
 waiting for rain, and begins to plow after his ground is 
 very diy, and plows deep, hredking the roots of his corn, 
 the crop will be " fired ;" for, in this case, besides the 
 evaporation from the leaves and the dryness of the soil, he 
 commences breaking the roots by which the crop drinks 
 what little water there may be left for it. Of course it 
 despairs when it is attacked on one side by the heat, and 
 on the other by the foolish farmer, and underneath by a 
 treacherously dry soil. Begin, then, early, and plow often, 
 and you may defy dry summers and cram your crib with 
 hearty crops of corn. 
 
 Breaking the Roots. — Many farmers study to break 
 the roots of their corn. Wfe have heard them boast of ripping 
 them up with a big plow till they clogged it up like bimdlea 
 of yarn. It is done by some because others do it ; those 
 who attempt to reason, say, that if a root be broken it 
 immediately puts out many more fi'om the point of break- 
 age ; and the practice of root-pruning fruit-trees is cited, 
 to show that the fruitfulness of a plant is increased by 
 reducing the root and checking the growth of the wood. 
 It is not true that the fruitfulness of a tree is increased by 
 root-pruning, but, it is made to yield its fruit earlier. It is 
 a device to bring trees rapidly into bearing. A pear-tree 
 (grafted) requires from five to eight years before it is 
 matured enough to commence bearing. By mutilation of 
 root, bending of branches, or by a poor gravelly soil, the 
 tree is partially forbidden to grow, and obliged to ripen its 
 wood and fit it for fruit-bearmg. But had it grown to its 
 natural size, it would then have borne even more fruit than 
 when dwarfed. 
 
 No such practice is required upon annual plants, whose 
 
142 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ripening is not delayed through years, but "which come up 
 and ripen and die within the limits of a single season. 
 They need no artificial treatment to accelerate the fruiting, 
 because it ordinarily makes no difierence whether the corn 
 crop comes in September or October. It is better to select 
 varieties of corn which ripen within the limits of the season 
 natural to the region where it is planted. Then there wiU 
 be no occasion to break roots, or to apply any other arti- 
 ficial and violent process to accelerate maturation. 
 
 CLEAN OUT YOUR CELLARS. 
 
 I SPEAK to those who have cellars. If not already done, 
 thoroughly purge this subterranean story of your house. 
 Every decayed onion, cabbage stump, potato vine or tuber, 
 turnip, parsnip, carrot, and all the dirt they have made, all 
 straw and rubbish, rake them up and out with them. The 
 cellar is no place for them at any time of year. If you still 
 retain a few potatoes for table use, let them be picked over 
 and all decayed ones removed. One of the best housewives 
 of our acquaintance, greeted us not long since, with an invi- 
 tation to come and see her cellar : " I have swept down 
 every cobweb, whitewashed the walls, swept up the floor, 
 and sowed it with salt." Decayed vegetable matter is a 
 fertile cause of disease, and there is enough of it out of 
 doors, in this country, without heaping it up m the cellar 
 for the special purpose, it would almost seem, of breeding 
 fevers. Whitewash the walls, for lime purifies as well as 
 beautifies. Rake down the cobwebs, they are the infallible 
 marks of a slattern. Every spider that is allowed to peer 
 out of his corner in a house, up-stairs or down, undisturbed, 
 pomts his long black leg in thanksgiving at the house- 
 wife, " Hurra for folks that are not too particular." Old 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AIO) FARMING. 143 
 
 legends represent witches as addicted to riding brooms, I 
 wish that many women would get bewitched enough to do 
 this, something more than they do. Down cellar, then, 
 with your broom. Look now ; the window is perfectly 
 covered ; there is a great sprawling gaunt spider in the 
 corner and half a dozen empty bugs hung ujd like scalps to 
 commemorate his triumphs ; next to him is a great over- 
 swollen potbellied fellow — ^for all the world he looks like a 
 huge glutton ; then there is a sharp, nimble, enterprising 
 spider, below him, who has just opened an office and 
 is keen for business, prejDaring to inherit, like many other 
 fellows, his neighbor's custom, who, having got rich frau- 
 dulently, will soon burst ; there, too, are several pale and 
 shadowy spiders, who look as if the cobwebs had kept 
 them from the light until they had become quite sallow and 
 emaciated ; then there are several little round, shining-black, 
 pestilent fellows, whose legs are so long in proportion to 
 their bodies, that they make one think of a little potato 
 with yard-long sprouts all over it, I say nothing of crab- 
 spiders on the window-sill, who, like metaphysicians, run 
 backward just as easy as forwards. Just look, too, my dear 
 madam, at the various patterns of their webs. Here is one 
 from point to point resembling a sheet-like shelf of dusty 
 cotton, and running like a tunnel, into a knot hole, where 
 stands the venomous old fellow waiting for flies, like a usu- 
 rer waiting for customers. Another corner is filled up with 
 a web like a skein of tangled silk ; then there is a beautiful 
 wheel, worked more beautifully than any lace-work, while 
 there are a multitude of base and lazy little spiders who, 
 like many of their betters, live on other folk's webs. Well, 
 we have talked long enough ; dash your brush into that 
 spider-village, give it a dextrous twirl, and with the whole 
 population on the end of it, run to the door and crush them ! 
 So much for spiders. 
 
 As to salt ; the only advantage of salt in a cellar, that 
 occurs to us, is its efiect in destroying snails, bugs, and that 
 
144 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 fungus vegetation called mold. It will do this. But it 
 attracts moisture from the atmosi^here and renders a cellar 
 damp. If your cellar is very dry and sandy, you may use 
 salt without detriment. But if too damp it will make the 
 matter worse. 
 
 WHEN IS HAYING OVER? 
 
 In a trip through the country last summer we saw seve- 
 ral fields of timothy, out of blossom, which had become diy, 
 seedy, and snufi'-colored. Haying was not over, it seems. 
 Cattle that had been hardened to eat iron-weed stems, jimp- 
 sum stalks, and packing straw, would probably be willing to 
 eat this hay. 
 
 We saw another sight. Hay which had been cut and 
 partly cured, was cocked up and had been left, probably for 
 a week or two already ; and, doubtless, was to stand thus 
 much longer, for there is a fashion with some to let their 
 hay lie about the field in little three-feet cocks, until it is 
 convenient to haul it to the stack. This may be in August, 
 or September, and sometimes we have seen a farmer (so 
 called) with a little sled and rope hauling his hay in Octo- 
 ber. Now, hay thus served is good for nothing but for 
 litter. The bottom of each little heap molds ; the sides are, 
 by sun and rain, spoiled, and the little wad in the middle 
 does not, after subtracting the sides and bottom, amount to 
 much. 
 
 I'll venture my head that these are not " book farmers." 
 I have no doubt that "book farmers " do some foolish things, 
 but farmers without books do a great many more. No 
 book former, none but a farmer utterly svithout books, 
 would think of leaving his hay in cocks for six weeks or two 
 months. We see enough of such hay offered for sale every 
 winter, of a dingy, lack-lustre, straw-colored look, without 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS A?fD FARMING. 145 
 
 fragrance, or odor of any sort except a faint smell of old 
 wood, or more pungent odor of mold. 
 
 We say, in conclusion, grass should not be left so long 
 that it will be already dry and cured before it is cut ; and, 
 after grass is once down, it is not to be treated like flax, and 
 left to bleach and rot, but should be got in as soon as pos- 
 sible. Farmers whose hay is on the stack or in the mow 
 may laugh at this article ; those whose hay is not stacked or 
 in the barn had better do something besides laugh. 
 
 LAYING DOWN LAND TO GRASS. 
 
 We shall speak of the kinds and quality of seed, and of 
 the time and manner of putting them in. 
 
 We think our farmers err in not sowing enough kinds of 
 seed together. 
 
 The objects to be secured are very early grass in the 
 spring, a heavy body of hay, a rapid after-growth, and the 
 greatest amount which the soil can yield. No one grass can 
 be found capable of meeting all these ends. Some are very 
 early, but not heavy enough or sufficiently nutritious for the 
 main crop ; others are admirable for hay, but do not start 
 readily again after cutting. By judiciously mixing different 
 sorts of grasses, any one of these objects may be secured 
 and the meadow be admii-able both for the scythe and for 
 pasturage. Nor can the soil be made to yield all of which 
 it is capable in any other way ; for a square foot of ground 
 may be able to sustain but a certain number of roots of any 
 one kind of grass, and yet many support, in addition, as 
 much more of another kind, since different species of grass 
 draw their nourishment from different portions of the soil — 
 the fibrous-rooted grasses from the surface, and tap-rooted 
 plants from the lower strata of the soil, while broad-leaved 
 vegetation, as clovers, lucerne, etc., draw very much of 
 
146 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 their support from the air. Indeed, this is the lessou 
 which Nature teaches us, for a dozen kinds of grass may 
 oftentimes be found growing wild on a single square foot. 
 
 The English farmer sows from four to seven or eight 
 kinds of grass-seed, and sometimes as high as twelve or 
 fourteen, each one of which is destmed to answer some 
 special end, and the whole taken together constitute as it 
 were, a perfect grass. 
 
 We subjoin the quantity and kind of seed per acre re- 
 commended by English authorities, that our readers may 
 have an idea of the English method, and derive such benefit 
 from it as their circumstances will admit of; 
 
 Smooth-stalked poa, 8 quarts. 
 
 Rough-stalked poa, 8 " 
 
 Meadow fescue, , 12 " 
 
 Meadow fox-tail, 8 " 
 
 Crested dog's-tail, 6 " 
 
 Rib-grass, 4 " 
 
 Timothy-grass, 4 " 
 
 Yellow oat-grass, 4 " 
 
 Perennial rye-grass, 12 " 
 
 Cock's foot, 4 " 
 
 Yarrow, 4 " 
 
 Sweet-scented Ternal, 2 " 
 
 White clover, 6 lbs. 
 
 Cow-grass, 4 " 
 
 and annual meadow-grass. 
 
 These seeds may, for the most part, be had of eastern 
 dealers, though not probably in the West. 
 
 With blue grass we should join orchard grass, say a 
 bushel to the acre — white clover five pounds, red clover 
 ten pounds, and sweet-scented vernal {anthoxantTium odo- 
 ratum) say three pounds. 
 
 This last grass is remarkably early in the spring, and 
 peculiarly fragrant ; indeed, it is supposed that the famous 
 spring butter of Philadelphia derives its peculiar flavor from 
 this grass, and we should include it in every mixture to be 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 
 
 147 
 
 sown for pasturage. The orchard grass is one of our most 
 valuable ; for hay it may be inferior to timothy ; but it is 
 decidedly superior to it for pasturage. Colonel Powell, of 
 Pennsylvania, after growing it ten years, declares that it 
 produces more pasturage than any cultivated grass he has 
 even seen in America. It should be spread on a floor and 
 sprmkled with water a day or two before sowing, it being 
 very light, not weighing more than twelve or fourteen 
 pounds to the bushel. 
 
 The following table exhibits the quantity of seed, by 
 weighty and also on the three kinds of soil : 
 
 FOR PERMANENT PASTURE, PER IMPERIAL ACRE. 
 
 Perennial rye-grass . . 
 
 Meadow fox-tail 
 
 Timothy-grass 
 
 Meadow fescue 
 
 Light Soil. 
 
 AlEoinM Soil. 
 
 Heavt Soil. 
 
 With a 
 crop. 
 
 Without a 
 crop. 
 
 With a 
 crop. 
 
 Without a 
 crop. 
 
 With a 
 crop. 
 
 Without a 
 crop. 
 
 lbs. 
 12 
 li 
 
 2* 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 u 
 
 lbs. 
 24 
 2i 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 It 
 8 
 
 2* 
 2i 
 2i 
 
 lbs. 
 
 13 
 2 
 li 
 2* 
 3i 
 1* 
 li 
 5 
 1* 
 1* 
 li 
 
 lbs. 
 
 24 
 4 
 8 
 4 
 6i 
 8i 
 Si 
 8 
 
 2i 
 2i 
 2i 
 
 lbs. 
 
 12 
 8i 
 8i 
 2i 
 2i 
 Si 
 
 5 
 li 
 li 
 li 
 
 lbs. 
 24 
 
 6i 
 
 5i 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 6i 
 
 1 
 2i 
 2i 
 2i 
 
 Rough-stalked poa. . . 
 Smooth-stalked poa. . 
 White clover 
 
 Hop-clover, or trefoil 
 Cow-grass 
 
 S8i 
 
 60i 
 
 84 
 
 63i 
 
 86i 
 
 66 
 
 There is a very great difierence of opinion respecting the 
 quantity of seed to be sown to an acre. There can be no 
 doubt that the question is to be settled by the character 
 of the soil and climate. In soils and under circumstances 
 where every seed will vegetate and grow off with unob- 
 structed vigor, less seed is needed than where a part will 
 be taken by frosts, a part by drenching rains which are not 
 well drained off, and a part by severe drought. Every 
 former must employ his best judgment in this matter ; but, 
 
148 PLAIN Al?rD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 it is better to err on the side of too much than of too little 
 seed. 
 
 Time of Seeding. — We cannot pretend to decide be- 
 tween the conflicting opinions on this subject. The positive- 
 ness of those who prefer spring-sowing is only to be 
 equalled by that of those who prefer fall-planting. Young 
 says of the month of August, " this is the best season of the 
 whole year for laying down land to grass, and no other is 
 admissible for it on strong, wet, or heavy soils." This, 
 however, is said of humid England. But if the character 
 of the season toward the close of summer favors, there can 
 be no doubt that fall-sowing will advance the crop very 
 early the next year, in all soils where it is not liable to be 
 thrown out by the frosts. If the winter proves severe, it 
 will be prudent to add an additional quantity of seed in the 
 spring. It is objected to spring sowings, that the grass is 
 grown in the shade during the early part of the summer, 
 and is, of course, tender^ so that when the grain is cut, it 
 is enfeebled by the powerful heat, to which, then, it be- 
 comes exposed. On the whole, we are inclined to prefer 
 the month of Sej^tember, if the season favors, to any other 
 for sowing grass seed. Since writing these lines, one of our 
 best farmers informs us that he prefers August to any other 
 month. 
 
 Method of Sowing. — ^The ground should be very tho. 
 roughly prepared by deep and fine plowing, and the want 
 of labor in this respect is want of economy. 
 
 If the soil is naturally wed drained, no further provision 
 against wet will be required. But if it be flat, it may be 
 well to lay it off into lands, strike a furrow through the 
 centre, and then turn the fiirrows toward the outer on 
 each side. This will give a slight elevation at the middle 
 and a drain between each land sufficient to answer the pur- 
 pose of moderate surface draining. The seed should be sown 
 with the greatest evenness possible. The English farmer pre- 
 fei's to sow some of the kinds separately on this account ; for 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 149 
 
 although he has to sow the whole ground several times 
 over, experience has taught him, as it will us, that that is 
 the cheapest which is . clone the best. Let it be covered in 
 well Avith a harrow, and not with a bush, which last leaves 
 the soil dead, and tends to drag the seed into patches and 
 hollows. As a general rule, grass seed may be planted as 
 deeply as grain. Farmers lose much more seed from shal- 
 low than from deep planting. For although shallow-planted 
 seed vegetates sooner, they are more liable to be winter- 
 killed, or to perish by drought than those which are deeply 
 covered. 
 
 THEORY OF MANURE. 
 
 It is very well known that a young orchard will not, usu- 
 ally, flourish on the site of an old one ; for the older trees 
 are supposed to have withdrawn from the soil certain ele- 
 ments necessary to their growth ; and as necessary to the 
 growth of the young tree, should it be planted there. 
 There is no "like" or "dislike" of the soil to the tree ; it 
 is a plain case of starvation. The tree needs, and the soil 
 oannot suj^ply certain elements of its wood. 
 
 But if, after a plant has abstracted from the soil certain 
 ingredients, the whole plant is decomposed and returned to 
 the earth, the soil repossesses itself of the lost elements, and 
 is ready to yield them up again to a plant of the same kind. 
 If the straw of wheat be burned upon the field, annually, the 
 soil would yield fine crops for a thousand successive years, 
 that is so far as the straw is concerned. But if the grain 
 is removed, and nothing resupplies the drain of phosphates 
 Avhich it makes from the soil, the soil will in due time, 
 according to the original quantities in the soil, cease to 
 yield grain., although the straw may be admirable. But if 
 both straw and kernel were every year burned upon the 
 
150 PLAIX AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 field, as gi-ass and its seed is upon the prairies, wheat would 
 grow for a thousand years in succession. The same is true 
 of corn, of potatoes, and of any annual crop. When the 
 annual growth is restored to the soil, it is repossessed of all 
 its treasure which had been loaned for a season. If a part 
 of the crop is removed, the soil is poorer by just so much 
 as the portion removed contained within it of the elements 
 neces sary to that crop, and it must be restored artificially, 
 i. e. by manuring ; or by allowing the earth to prepare 
 (by disintegration or decomposition of its minerals) a new 
 supply ; i. e. by fallowing. A forest will grow for ages on 
 the same spot, for it returns annually its leaves, and, grad- 
 ually, by force of accidents and the elements, its twigs, 
 branches, trunks, etc., to the soil again. But let the whole 
 product be gradually removed, and the soil would soon be 
 unable to supply the trees their nourishment, except in cases 
 where the soil was very rich in the materials of growth. 
 The forests of Germany, like our mines, are under the man- 
 agement of the government. It was customary, for a time, 
 to allow the peasants the use of the twigs and smaller 
 branches y but analysis has shown that in these, especially, 
 resides the large proportion of potash entering into the 
 composition of trees ; the annual removal of it debilitated 
 the trees to an extent that obliged the Conservators to 
 change their mode of proceeding. 
 
 On the other hand, in one of Mr. Horsford's letters from 
 Germany, we have the question of growing plants upon 
 their own ashes, brought, by the ablest chemist of the age, 
 directly to the test of experiment. 
 
 " In the spring preceding my arrival in Giessen, Professor 
 Liebig planted some grape scions under the windows of the 
 laboratory. He fed them, if I may use such an expression, 
 upon the ashes of the grape vine — or upon the proper inor- 
 ganic food of the grape, as shown by analyses of its ashes. 
 The growth has been enormous, and several of the vines 
 bore large clusters of grapes in the course of the season. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AISTD FARMING. 151 
 
 Indeed, I know not but all, as my attention was drawTi to 
 them particularly only since the fruit has been gathered. 
 The soil otherwise is little better than a pavement — a kmd 
 of fine gravel, in which scarcely anythuig takes root. 
 
 " I was shown pots of wheat, in different stages of their 
 growth, that had been fed variously — some upon the inor- 
 ganic matters they needed, according to the analyses of 
 their ashes — others had- merely shared the tribute of the 
 general soil. The results in numbers I don't yet know. In 
 appearance, no one could be at a loss to judge of what might 
 be expected," 
 
 The fact that depopulated forest-grounds change the 
 character of their growth, is quite familiar to all ; and the 
 reasons of it have been variously debated. 
 
 FODDER FOR CATTLE. 
 
 Although the practice of soiling cattle, i. e. of cutting 
 their food daily and feeding it to them in a green state, 
 would be profitable to many small farmers, it is especially 
 to be recommended to those living in towns, where pastur- 
 age is distant and expensive. Where an immediate supply 
 is required, corn may be sown broadcast, and cut as wanted, 
 until it begins to tassel, when all should be cut and cured, 
 and the ground sown again, and a third time in the same 
 summer. 
 
 But if half that is said of lucerne is true, and we see no 
 reason to doubt it, it is valuable far above all other kinds 
 of green fodder. It starts very early in spring ; may be 
 cut four times in a summer, yielding from four to nine tons 
 to the acre, acccording to the condition of the land. It is 
 much relished by cattle, imparts no bad flavor to milk, is a 
 very fattening food, and one sowing will last ten years. 
 
152 PLAIN AND PLEASAJN'T TALK 
 
 One acre is sufficient for four or five cows. It may be sown 
 in drills, if the land is foul, and kejit clean by hoeing, the 
 first year ; but on clean ground it may be sown broadcast. 
 It is hardy imder the infliction of severe frosts ; and sur- 
 passes all grasses in endurance of drought, its enormously 
 land roots afibrding it moisture fi-om a great depth. An 
 English writer says, its roots have been found from ten 
 to fourteen feet below the surface ; and an American writer 
 says, that it made, on his land, roots three feet long the first 
 summer. 
 
 Where it is sown broadcast, it is difficult to get it through 
 the first year. But if sown in drills ten inches apart, and 
 hoed once or twice, it may be cut twice or thrice the first 
 season, and be entirely established before winter. 
 
 A light, sandy soil is the best ; it should not be put upon 
 heavy and non-friable soils, though it will flourish on even 
 these, when fully established. Ten pounds of seed to the 
 acre is enough, if drilled ; fifteen pounds, if sown broad- 
 cast. 
 
 The only reason, that we can imagine, why this plant 
 should not be extensively cultivated, is, the disrelish which 
 our farmers too often have to any crop requiring much care. 
 To slash along with a plow is all well enough ; but to hoe 
 and weed is rather tedious. But these operations are 
 required only during the first part of the first year. 
 
 Camphoe for Flowers. — ^Two or three drops of a satu- 
 rated solution of camphor in alcohol, put iiito half an ounce 
 of soft water, forms a mixture which will revive flowers 
 that have begun to droop and wilt, and give them freshness 
 for a long time. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 153 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF BAD BUTTER. 
 
 We once took occasion to give our opinion of the but- 
 ter which was largely brought to our market. The article 
 was deemed severe ; but if they who think so had eaten of 
 the butter they would have regarded that as the more pun- 
 gent of the two. We have w^aited a year ; and are now 
 prepared more fully to testify against that utter abomina- 
 tion, slanderously called butter, so unrighteously exchanged 
 in our mai'ket for good money. Far the most part, the 
 cream is totally depraved at the start, and churning, work- 
 ing, and packing are only the successive steps of an evU 
 education by which bad inclinations are developed into 
 overt wickedness. We determined to keep an eye upon 
 the matter ; and now give, from life, the natural history of 
 the butter sold. 
 
 Before doing this, we will express an opinion of what is 
 good butter. 
 
 Good butter is made of sweet cream, with perfect neat- 
 ness ; is of a high color, perfectly sweet, free from butter- 
 milk, and possesses a fine grass flavor. 
 
 Tolerable butter^ diflers from this only in not having a 
 fine flavor. It is devoid of all unpleasant taste, but has not 
 a high relish. 
 
 Whatever is less than this is bad butter ; the catalogue is 
 long and the descending scale is marked with more varie- 
 ties than one may imagine. 
 
 Variety 1. Butter-milk; Butter. — ^This has not been 
 well worked, and has the taste of fresh buttermilk. It 
 is not very disagreeable to such as love fresh buttermilk ; 
 but as it is a flavor not expected in good butter, it is usually 
 disagreeable. 
 
 Variety 2. Strong Butter. — This is one step farther 
 along, and the buttermilk is changing and beginning to as- 
 sert its right to predominate over the butteraceous flavor j 
 
154 PLAEN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 yet it may be eaten with some pleasure if done rapidly, 
 accompanied with very good bread. 
 
 Variety 3. Feowy or frowsy Butter, — ^This is a second 
 degree of strength attained by the buttermilk. It has 
 become pungent, and too disagreeable for any but absent- 
 minded eaters. 
 
 Variety 4. Rancid Butter. — This is the putrescent stage. 
 No description will convey, to those who have not tasted it, 
 an idea of its unearthly flavor ; while those who have, will 
 hardly thank us for stirring up such awful remembrances by 
 any description. 
 
 Variety 5. Btiter Butter. — Bitterness is, for the most 
 part, incident to winter-butter. When one has but little 
 cream and is long in collecting enough for the churn, he 
 will be very apt to have bitter butter. 
 
 Variety 6. Musty Butter. — In summer, especially in 
 damp, unventilated cellars, cream will gather mold ; When- 
 ever this appears, the pigs should be set to churn it. But 
 instead, if but just touched, it is quickly churned ; or, 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 ofi" the colored portion ! The peculiar 
 taste arising from this affection of the milk, blessed be the 
 man who needs to be told it ! 
 
 Variety V. 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 
 imaginf Lhat 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 FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 155 
 
 separate and dej)osit a whey : if this is strained into 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 grams, 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 yelloAV, and of dingy butter melting into each 
 other, until the whole is ring-streaked and speckled. 
 
 Variety J 4. Compound Butter. — By compound butter 
 we mean that which has received conti'ibutions 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. 
 
156 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Besides all these, Avbose history we have correctly traced ; 
 besides bvitter tasting of turpentine from being made in 
 pine churns ; butter bent on travelling, in hot weather ; 
 butter dotted, like cloves on a boiled ham, with flies, which 
 Solomon assures us causeth the ointment to stink ; besides 
 butter in rusty tin pans, and in dirty swaddlmg 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 iU- 
 deserts? A few good butter-makers in every neighborhood 
 aiu 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, ^dth 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. I57 
 
 CINCINNATI, THE QUEEN CITY. 
 
 Whatever may have been the squealing celebrity of 
 Porkopolis, 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 
 gardens, or vineyards, or observatories, Ciucinnatiis 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 
 
158 PLAIlSr AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 acres of land! From 114 acres during the season of 1845i 
 more than 23,000 gallons of wine were manufactured, and 
 there was not more than half a crop obtained in that sea- 
 son. The average yield of wine per acre, for five years 
 in succession, is stated to be from 450 to 500 gallons per 
 annum. 
 
 Many think the culture of the grape will be the finishing 
 stroke to the temperance enterprise ; aifordmg a whole- 
 some beverage from our hills in place of " corn juice " from 
 our bottoms, and beer from our hop and barley fields. 
 
 The arguments urged by some with great sincerity, 
 are the often-quoted facts, that the inhabitants of wine- 
 making countries are favorably distinguished for temper- 
 ance ; and that a palatable and wholesome beverage — pure 
 wine — would supersede the use of violent liquors. If we 
 thought that our people would become temperate upon 
 such conditions, we should be glad to see a vineyard on 
 every hillside, and a wine-vat to every farmhouse. But 
 there is no reason to expect any such result. Vineyards in 
 Europe exist among a quiet, comparatively unenterprising 
 peasantry. They have been trained to moderation ; neces- 
 sity has made them temperate in all things — in food, in 
 dress, in expense, and in drink. The jDopular habits are not 
 so excitable as with us; business runs in quiet streams, 
 and politics are unknown. With us, business is boisterous, 
 pleasure obstreperous, and politics outrageous. Our peo- 
 ple are anything but quiet ; they are hot, hot in tongue and 
 blood. It is wide enough of the mark to suppose that the 
 same cause existing among two entirely dissimilar people, 
 would, of course, produce the same results. We might as 
 well say that vineyards would make om- people eat less meat, 
 less corn and pork, because the residents of wine districts 
 were known to be addicted to a vegetable diet. The pro- 
 bable consequences of abundant cheap wine must be 
 judged, not by what would happen in France, among 
 abstemious peasants, nor on the Rhine, among economical 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND PAEMING. 159 
 
 and sober Germans ; but by the tastes, habits, and tenden- 
 cies of our own people. In this land everything tends to 
 excitement. Men live upon a higher key, and live faster 
 and live much more full of exhilaration than the same 
 Classes do in foreign lands. Our people drink not for the 
 taste but for the excitement of liquor ; and, so that wine, 
 beer, or whisky will bring them up to the right key, the 
 question of wholesomeness is quite unimportant. Our peo- 
 ple are free and therefore have a right to live in the viola- 
 tion of natural laws ; and a right, constantly exercised, of 
 having fevers on account of surfeitings, and of dying early 
 and by thousands by reasons of gross excesses. 
 
 Pleasures and business are esteemed by the volume o^ 
 blood which they can drive, the pulse they can raise, 
 the heat of excitement which they can produce. So long 
 as affairs are fresh and piquant they are stimulants enough. 
 But in the inequalities and intervals and fatigues of life, 
 something else is required to hold the sj)irits up to the high 
 level upon which everything proceeds. As soon as a man 
 resorts to alcoholic stimulants to do this, he has embarked 
 upon a course where all experience shows that he 
 will drink deeper and deeper to final downright intem- 
 perance. 
 
 Some people think that cheap and wholesome beverage for 
 the " masses," for laboring people, is desirable. "While it 
 may be well enough for every gentleman of leisure, it is to be 
 the poor man's special blessing, saving him from the swill 
 of the brewery and the fire of the still. Facts will stand 
 on the side of the reverse reasoning. If wine is to be 
 harmless at all, it will be with men who are not prone to 
 enterprising heats; but given to the relishful pleasure of 
 sipping just for the delicate flavors, for the aroma, for the 
 fine bouquet of wine — men who need to have their blood 
 up, and kept up, and resort to wine to supply the. flagging 
 stimulus of affairs ; such men will not drink for the flavor, 
 but for the feelinar. 
 
160 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It is for the sake of being roused ; it is to be stimulated ; 
 it is, in plain language, to have the first exhilarations of 
 drunkenness that laboring men drink, will drink, and have 
 always drank cider, beer, wine, and brandy. The result of 
 aflfording wine in abundance to such i)eople as ours, will be 
 to prepare them for a stronger drink just as soon as wine, 
 by frequent use, is no longer stimulating enough. Wine 
 will play jackal to brandy for the rich, and to whisky for the 
 poor. W^e have some facts on hand touching this popular 
 wine-drinkingj which, if necessary, we shall employ at 
 another time. Meanwhile, we are glad to see grape-cul- 
 ture spreading for the production of table-grapes ; for the 
 manufacture of wine, in so far as a supply of pure wine is 
 needed for medicinal purposes. Further than that, we are 
 opposed to wine-making. And as to cheating whisky out 
 of its authority over " the dear people " by the blandish- 
 ments of hock and champagne, or redeeming our barley 
 and cornfields from the abominable persecutions of the 
 bre^A^-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 when 
 one has prepared good sticks for supportmg carnations, 
 roses, dahlias, etc., to preserve them from year to year. The 
 following preparation will make them last a man's lifetime : 
 When they are freshly made, allow them to become tho- 
 roughly dry; then soak them in linseed oil for some time, say 
 two or three days. When taken out let them stand to dry 
 till the oil is perfectly soaked in ; then paint with two coats 
 of verdigris paint. N"o wet can then penetrate. 
 
ABOUT FKLITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 161 
 
 CARE OF ANIMALS IN WINTER. 
 
 TuE wisest man has said that "the righteous man regard- 
 eth the life of his beast ; but the tender mercies of the 
 wicked are cruel." If any one is at a loss to know the 
 meaning of the latter part, he cannot have made good use 
 of his eyes. Lean cattle, leaner horses, anatomical speci- 
 mens of cows, half fed, dirty, drenched by every rain, and 
 pierced by every winter wind, these are an excellent com- 
 ment on the passage. 
 
 It is time for every merciful man to make provision for 
 every diimb 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 ^s'estern 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 
 sheds, or by belts of forest. 
 
 Sheep should receive special attention. They abhor \ret. 
 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 
 
162 PLAIN AND PLKASANT TALK 
 
 fourth comj)aitment should never be wanting for the sick, 
 where they may be nursed and medically treated. 
 
 Horses are more apt to be taken care of than cattle. 
 But even they are often more indebted for existence to a 
 stubborn tenacity of life, than to the care of their keepers. 
 The horse is a more damty feeder than ruminating animals. 
 He should be supj)lied 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 oif on journeys under cir- 
 cumstances in which he cannot be blanketed at night, it will 
 be better not to begin it. 
 
 Winter is a good time to kill oif 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 an hour 
 or two until thoroughly chilled ; then home he races, and 
 goes into the stable, steammg wath 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 
 has been some difficulty, in the construction of fannmg 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 FKUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 1(J3 
 
 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 pajDers : 
 
 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-feachers — 
 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. 
 
164 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Everybody knows tliat live geese-feathers are the 
 best. Every one does not think of the reason ; which, 
 as it is the key to the art of having good feathers, we 
 shall proponnvl. 
 
 So long as a bird is alive, the feathers are as much an 
 object of nutrition as the flesh, the bones, or any other 
 part of the body. 
 
 When dead, put them into hot water to make the feathers 
 come easy. In pulling, take out large handfuls at a time, 
 so as to have scraj^s 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 oif 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 the 
 Aveek. 
 
 In airing beds, the sun should never shine directly upon 
 them. It is a^>, not heat, that they need. We have seen 
 beds lying on a roof where the direct and reflected rays of 
 the sun had full power, and the feathers, without doubt, 
 were stewing., and the oil in the quill becoming rancid ; so 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 165 
 
 that the bed smells worse after its roasting than before. 
 Always air beds in the shade, and, if possible, in cool and 
 windy days. And now, if any of our attentive housewife- 
 readers, and we have not a few, are disposed to reward us 
 for all this advice, let them give us a bed to sleep on, when 
 we next visit them, made of growing feathers, fi'om live 
 and healthy geese, carefully picked, well cured, daily shaken 
 up and thoroughly aired ; and if we do not dream that the 
 owner is an angel, it will be because we are too much occu- 
 pied in sound sleeping. 
 
 NAIL UP YOUR BUGS. 
 
 " The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by raastera 
 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 oU, lime, ashes, 
 and surgery have been set forth as remedies, to the confu- 
 sion of those who have tried them bootlessly, it now appears 
 that we are about to 7iail the rascals. The Boston Cultivor 
 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 
 ij.duce the experiment wherever the evil is felt. In conver- 
 sation with a friend in Newburyport, Dr. Watson, last 
 fall, I mentioned the experiment; he invited me to his 
 garden, where last year a fruit-tree was infested with the 
 
166 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 nests of caterpillar or canker-worms, as were his neighbors' 
 trees ; he showed me a board nailed for convenience of a 
 clothes-line upon one of the large limbs of the tree ; he said 
 he noticed a little while afterward that the nests on that limb 
 dried up, and the worms disappeared, though the cause did 
 not then occur to him though apparent as it will be to any 
 scientific mind. 
 
 "Drive carefully well home, so that the bark will heal 
 over a, few headless cast ii'on 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 vdU, of course, with the rising sap, impregnate every 
 part of the foliage, and prove to the delicate palate of 
 the patient, a nostrum, which wiU soon become, as in 
 many cases of larger animals, the real panacea for 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 win 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 to the Boston 
 Cultivator : 
 
 " A singular fact, and one worthy of being recorded, was 
 mentioned to us a few days smce 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. 167 
 
 the worm, with the excei^tion c f three, and these three were 
 probably the most thrifty and flourishing peacli-trees he ever 
 saw. The only cause of their superiority known to his host, 
 was an experiment made in consecjuence 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 m 
 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 imbelief. 
 But if nails are an antidote to worms — a real vermifuge — 
 let them be administered, whatever may be the explana- 
 tions; whether they are an electric battery, giving the 
 insects a httle domestic, vegetable hghtning, or whether 
 they afford " salts of iron " to physic them, or " evolve 
 ammonia " in such potent, pmigent 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 cai-ried 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 j^lum-tree, or an iron 
 hoop, or horse shoes, will insure a crop of plums. This 
 ought to be investigated. 
 
168 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It is said that pear-trees that are unfruitful, may be made 
 to bear, by digging under them, cutting the tap root, and 
 burjong a black cat there. We do not know as it makes 
 any diiference 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 thinhing of red 
 fux''s tail, the warts would all go off. We have no doubt 
 that it would have been successful, but every time we tried 
 the experiment, whisk came the red fox's tail into our head 
 and spoilt the whole affair. But might this not cure warts 
 on trees ? 
 
 ASHES AND TPIEIR 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 Hme 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 quaUties. Wheat, amono- 
 other things, extracts largely of its potash; Indian corn 
 abstracts but little ; potatoes extract phosphate of mao-- 
 nesia, etc. A chemist would say, at once, apply that kind 
 of manure which is I'ich in the peculiar property extracted 
 by your wheat, corn, or potatoes ! What manure is that 
 Here again science must help. It analyzes manures — ogives 
 the farmer the choice among them. The soil being known, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 169 
 
 the properties required by different crops being known — 
 the farmer aiDplies that manure which contains what the soil 
 lacks. Exj^eriments 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 quaUties (car- 
 bonic acid ?) 
 
 So valuable are ashes regarded in Europe, that they are 
 frequently hauled by farmers from twenty miles' distance — 
 and on Long Island they bring eight cents a bushel. 
 
 The ashes of different kinds of wood are of very unequal 
 value — that of the oak the least, and that of beech the 
 most valuable. The latter wood constitutes two-thirds of 
 the fire-wood of this region, and the ashes are therefore the 
 very best. 
 
 A coat of ashes may be laid, in the spring, over the whole 
 garden and sj)aded 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 thualy spread over the grass-plat ia 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. 
 We have seen statements of cucumbers being planted 
 upon a peck of pure, leached ashes, in a hole in the ground, 
 and thriving with great vigor. The ashes of vines show a 
 great amount of potash ; and as wood ashes afford this sub- 
 
170 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 stance abundantly, its use would seem to be indicated by 
 theory as well as confirmed by experiment. 
 
 Lastly, whenever ground is liable to suffer severely from 
 drought, we would advise a liberal use of ashes and salt. 
 
 HARD TIMES. 
 
 What are called hard times produce very different 
 effects on different individuals. Some are made more 
 industrious, and some more indolent ; some grow frugal 
 and careful, others careless and desperate; some never 
 appear so honest as when brought to the innch^ 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 
 a long disuse, may now be seen working as merrily at them, 
 as they used to do when they spun and wove their wedding 
 fiirnishings — 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 exteiteively 
 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 tne farmers than hitherto. Probably the quantity has 
 increased. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 171 
 
 Debts have been gradually contracted or discharged. 
 Men have seen the end of speculations to be sudden disaster 
 — and (of all things on earth) speculation-farming has 
 received its reward. Men contented with small gains — in- 
 dustrious, frugal, and prudent men — have suffered almost 
 nothing. 
 
 Gypsum. — " Time and practice " have ascertained the 
 circumstances under which gypsiun 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 ft-om 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 stmt. Probably the timber needed seasoning — 
 it was certainly getting it. Perhaps it was left out for 
 acclimation. May-be the farmer left it there to save time 
 in the hurry of the spring-work, in dragging it from the 
 
172 PLAIN AJND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 shed. Perhaps he covered the share to keep it from the 
 elements, and save it from rusting. Or, again, perhaps he 
 is troubled with neighbors that borrow, and had left it where 
 it Tv^ould be convenient for them. He might, at least, have 
 built a little shed over it. Can any one tell what a farmer 
 leaves a plow out a whole season for ? It is barely possible 
 that he was an Irishman, and had planted for a spring crop 
 of plows. 
 
 After we got to sleep that night, we dreamed a dream. 
 We went into that man's bam ; boards were kicked off, 
 pai'titions were half broken down, racks broken, floor a foot 
 deep with manure, hay trampled under foot and wasted, 
 grain squandered. The wagon had not been hauled under 
 the shed, though it was raining. The harness was scattered 
 about — hames in one place, the breeching in 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 sausao^es, the ashes and brands that remained since 
 the last " smoke," stumps of brooms, half a barrel of rotten 
 apples, together with rats, bacon bugs, earwigs, sowbugs, 
 and other vermin which collect in damp dirt. We started 
 for the house ; the window near the door had twelve lights, 
 two of wood, two of hats, four of paper, one of a bunch of 
 rags, one of a pillow, and the rest of glass. Under it 
 stood several cooking pots, and several that were not for 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND PAKMING. 173 
 
 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! 
 
 Farmees 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 9nus6 be scoured hy the soil. It is found 
 that the subsoil scours it better for wheat, than the tojD 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 wUl 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 farmer of about twenty years of age said to us 
 the other day : " If anybody wants me, he must come to 
 my corn-field ; I live there — I am at it 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 
 seemed, justly, quite proud of his son — " keep your plows 
 
174 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 to 
 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 coi*n 
 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'U 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 corn, a very intelligent gentleman remarked : 
 
 " Well, by a five minutes' talk, I made Mr. produce 
 
 the best crop he ever had on a certain field." He was look- 
 mg 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 ofi" this j^iece of land ; it's going just as it 
 always does when I plant here." I told him of an old man 
 in Indiana, who was a good farmer, to whom I once said 
 when at his house one morning : 
 
 "Deafenbaugh, how is it that you always have good com 
 when no one else gets a half crop ?" 
 
 " TF7jy," said he, '■'"when it is loet I plow it till it is dry^ 
 and lohen it is dry Iploto it till it is wetP 
 
 The man to whom I told this anecdote, says our inform* 
 ant, tried the practice, and gained a fine crop. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMIISG. 175 
 
 Now the principle is good. Our Dutch friend would not, 
 we suppose, plow a stiff day 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 cultivation. 
 Stir, stir^ stib the ground. 
 
 STIRRING THE SOIL. 
 
 Xext to deep plowing Ave 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 unpossible 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 m, 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 hy the 
 root as well as by the leaf. If any one wishes to try the 
 
176 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 experiment, and we have done it time and again, let two 
 patches in a garden be treated in all respects alike, except 
 in this — let one be hoed or 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 Stirling tlie 
 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 tlie 
 earth and prevent deleterious effects of the drought. 
 
 SUBSOIL PLO\^^NG. 
 
 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 imj)lement into general notice. 
 They are designed to follow in the furrow of a common 
 plow, and pulverize without bringing up the soil for eight or 
 ten inches deeper. In ordinary soils two yoke of oxen 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 ploA^nng 
 and continual cropping. It brings up from below fresh 
 material, which the atmosphere speedily prepares for crops. 
 
 Old fields, a long time in grass, are very much benefited. 
 
 Constant plowing at about the same depth will often 
 form a hard under-floor by the action of the plow, through 
 which neither roots nor rain can well penetrate ; subsoiling 
 will relieve a field thus conditioned. 
 
 Soils lying upon clay or hard compact gravel are opened 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWKKS AND FARMING. 177 
 
 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 rajjid 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 imder-soil. If 
 summer droughts exhaust the moisture of the surface they 
 cannot reach the subsoil, which afibrds abundant pasture to 
 the roots. 
 
 FIRE-BLIGHT AND WINTER KILLING. 
 
 These are two entirely difierent processes. The Fire 
 might (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 untimely heat. The loss of tender shrubs, roses, 
 etc., at least, before they are fully established, and of half- 
 hardy fruit-trees, is occasioned by the winter sun shining 
 warmly upon them while frozen, and suddenly thawing 
 
178 PLAIN AND PLKASAJNT TALK 
 
 them. The pomt of death is usually near the surface of the 
 ground, where the under-ground bark and ujiper 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 in 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 xoood 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, Avalnut, and other trees, 
 were miserably split and cleft, so that they might be seen 
 through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises 
 like the explosion of fire-arms." 
 
 We don't exactly know whether to take the first part as 
 Loudon's explanation of the facts in the second. 
 
 There can 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 FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 179 
 
 will be feeble, and the juices stored in tliem thin. Now 
 the power to resist cold, among other things, is in propor- 
 tion to the viscidity of the fluids in a i:»lant. 
 
 It is highly desirable that the chemical researches which 
 have revolutionized the art of cultivation, should be pushed 
 into the inorhid anatomy of vegetation. A close, exact 
 analysis of all the substances in an injured condition, will- 
 save 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 yoitr 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 avUI 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 raUs 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 wliich 
 you mean to clear up and put to corn, you may as well 
 roll the logs now. Every good farmer should study 
 through 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^ 
 
180 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 everythhig 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 
 doT\ai 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 tnickle makes a muchleP 
 But set it down, to begin with, that no savmg 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 tenx>er cent 
 (poison! poison! deadly poison!) is being melted doAvn? 
 whether the children are going to school? whether the 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 181 
 
 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 tnan 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 inoutTi. 
 
 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 aU your schooling, you never 
 learned to shut your mouth. 
 
1S2 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 SPRIXG WORK ON THE FARM. 
 
 Thoroughly overhaul your tools; let plows be sharp 
 ened ; repair their stocks if anywhere staited 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 mth tow strings after 
 you get into the fields, and when time is precious. Now is 
 
 THE TIME TO SAVE TIME, BY GEITING READY. Old rUSty 
 
 buckles will give way the moment the plow strikes a root ; 
 stitches which have been longing for some time to fall out 
 iind 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 ; mcrease their task gradually ; favor 
 them, and you will get abundantly paid for it before their 
 summer's Avork 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. 183 
 
 Bethink you of all the mistakes you made last season ; 
 if you made any good hits, improA'e upon them this year. 
 Every farmer should resolve to do all things as well as he 
 did the last year, and sotne 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 all 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-time. 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, ^cndi 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 i^low follow the cart as fast as possible, and the gases 
 generated by your manure will then be taken up by the soil, 
 and held in store for your grain. 
 
 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 
 
184 PLAIN AND PLKASANT TALK 
 
 good farmer reiuarked 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 not average more than four inches ; he did not measure 
 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 6f 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 of 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 ])er 
 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 m 
 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 FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 
 
 185 
 
 
 GE8MANT. 1 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 Seed per acre— Product. 
 
 Seed per acre— Product. 
 
 Seed per acre— Product. 
 
 Wheat, 
 
 2i bushels. 
 
 25 bushels. 
 
 ^ to 8i bu.! 28 bushels. 
 
 1 to U bush IS bushels. 
 
 Rye, 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 2to2i "125 
 
 ItoH ■' 15 
 
 BarUy, 
 
 2} " 
 
 85 
 
 2i to 4 " 36 " 
 
 Hto2 " 125 
 
 Oats, 
 
 2 to 4 " 
 
 40 " 
 
 4 to 7 " ! 32 
 
 2 to 3 " 85 
 
 Millet, 
 
 7 quarts. 
 
 85 
 
 
 
 Peas, 
 
 2t bushels. 2G " 
 
 8 to Si " 30 to 40 bu. 
 
 2to2i " 25 
 
 Corn, 
 
 20 quarts. 
 
 36 
 
 
 20 to 30 qts. ' 80 " 
 
 Turnips, 
 
 
 80 to 85 tons 
 
 1 to 2 pints. 80 to 85 tons 
 
 1 to 2 lbs. 1 20 tons. 
 
 Buckwheat, 
 
 1 bushel. 
 
 27 bushels. 
 
 1 to 1^ bush 26 bushels. 
 
 16 to 20 qts 15 to 30 bu. 
 
 Clover, 
 
 34 pounds. 
 
 
 14 to IS lbs. 
 
 5 to 10 lbs. . 
 
 Flax, 
 
 2 to 8 bush. 
 
 10 bu. seed. 
 
 2 to 3 bush. 10 bu. seed. 
 
 Ito Hbush 8 to 12 bush 
 
 Hemp, 
 
 2ito3 " 
 
 650 pounds. 
 
 3 " 550 pounds. 
 
 lito2t " ."iOO pounds. 
 
 Potatoes, 
 
 5 
 
 300 bushels. 
 
 8 to 12 " 250 bushels. 
 
 8 to 20 " ,1 75 bushels 
 
 SPRING WOEK IN THE GARDEN. 
 
 When spring comes, everybody begins to think of the 
 garden. A little of the experience of one who has learned 
 some by making many mistakes will do you no harm. 
 
 Too jrucH Work laid out. — 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 icorJc. 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 seve7i 
 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, the weeds 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, 
 and seeing the condition of things, would very quietly say : 
 
18G PLAIN 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 parslei/ for greens ?" It nettled us, and we sweat at the 
 hoe and spado 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 Jidy as well as an April ; 
 and laT/ 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 jDurchase. 
 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 s^^read 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 m 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. 187 
 
 Coarse manure may be put uj)on 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 eaiiy. 
 
 If you prefer seed, sow, across beds four feet wide, in 
 drills eight inches apart ; young gardeners are apt to be- 
 grudge 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. It 
 your soil is deep and very rich, onions can be grown in one 
 
188 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 season from the seed as well as from the set — we trj 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, 
 where there is no lazy men about ; but nothing ever does 
 well 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 heep 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 yoii 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 April 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 efiect, in a year or two they 
 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. 
 
.4.BOU1 FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 189 
 
 Flower Garden. — Remove the covering from your bulb- 
 beds ; as soon as the earth is dry enough to crumble, with a 
 small hoe cai'efully mellow the earth betioeen the rows of 
 bulbs, and work it loose with your hands, in the row itself. 
 Leave the surface convex, that superfluous rain may flow ofi". 
 Transjjlant 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 compai'tments, 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- 
 mented 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 sufier. Salt has also a good efiect in 
 destroying vermin, and it adds very valuable chemical in- 
 gredients to the soil. Soapsuds should be carefully saved 
 and poured about currants, gooseberries and fruit-trees. 
 Charcoal, pulverized, is exceUent, as it absorbs ammonia 
 from the atmosphere, or from any body containing it, and 
 
190 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 yields it to the plants. Let a barrel be set near the bouse 
 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 weU worked 
 together, and it will 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 famiHes 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, 
 hauhu, 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 wiU 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 ir 
 the spring. 
 
 * See note, p. 98, Colraan's Tour, 2d part, where is given an estimate 
 by a distinguished agricultural chemist, Mr. Haywood. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 191 
 
 All tender plants are to be removed or secured by covering. 
 
 The best covering to secure the earth from frost, that w( 
 know of, is a layer of leaves, say three inches thick v/hen 
 well packed down, and iqyon 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. 
 
 Celery 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 covermg 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. 
 
192 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, 
 withoiit 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 Uned with shade-trees. We will offer a few sug- 
 gestions upon the kmds to be selected and the manner of 
 setting. 
 
 The Locust {Rohinia pseiidacacia). — 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, FLOAVERS AND FARAONG. 193 
 
 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 triflmg expense, by taking strips of inch 
 and a half stuiF, three inches wide, and nine or ten feet long, 
 sharpen the lower end, and drive it into the ground foar 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 wiU be apt to break off at that 
 point. This tree is rather pecuhar in that respect. 
 
 The Locust was introduced to Europe by a Frenchman 
 named Robin. From him. the genus {Mohinia) took its 
 name. There are but four species belonging to it, and they 
 are all indigenous to North America, viz. : 
 
 Mohinia pseudacacia (common Locust). JR. 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 
 H. lyseudacacia and M. viscosa were contiguous, blending 
 the pure white and the rose-colored blossoms, the world 
 might be challenged for a finer effect. 
 
 The H. 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 thei/ 
 are altogether too much cultivated. Our forests are full of 
 magnificent shade-trees whose claims can never, aU things 
 considered, be equalled by the Locust. 
 
 Elm ( Ulmus Americana)., commonly called White Elm. 
 Of the four species of elms indigenous to the United 
 
194 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 States, but two are particularly worth notice, the White 
 Elm, and Slippery Elm ( XJ. 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 hundred 
 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 vegetor- 
 hle production of the Tem.perate Zone. It is vmquestionably 
 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. ruhrum). This last variety shows beautiful 
 red flowers before its leaves put out in spring, and, like the 
 sugar-maj)le, brilliant scarlet leaves in autumn. The maple 
 is a beautiful tree of fine form, the leaves of the difierent 
 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 difierently 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 FKUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 195 
 
 tinuous portions of each, have one hind 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. 
 
 Evert 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 natui-e. 
 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 traming 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 tum, 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 evei'-adored Matilda Euphrosyne, 
 are the materials, too often, of a fashionable education 
 While all this refinement is being put on, girls are taught 
 
196 PLAIN A^^) pleasant talk 
 
 from eight years old, that the chief end of women is to get 
 a beau, and convert him into a husband. Therefore, every 
 action must be on purpose^ must have a discreet object in 
 view. 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 romi^ing till the blood marches 
 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 j)art 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 in 
 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 friendshij), and to whatever is imaginable in the 
 spheres, or on the world — if she will, in the midst of these 
 ineffable things, remember the most important facts, that 
 health is a blessing ; that God made health to depend upon 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 197 
 
 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, 
 taiuing 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 dej)art from it. A woman's jDerception of 
 the beauty of form, of colors, of arrangement, is naturally 
 quicker and truer than man's. Why should they admire 
 these only in paintmg, in dress, and in furniture? Can 
 human 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 ivom. 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 
 of their spinning, their weaving, their curiously-wrought 
 apparel for bed and board. A pride in what we have done 
 is not, if in due measure, wrong or unwise ; and we really 
 
198 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 think that rivah-y 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 iu connection with personal instruction, 
 unfold in the heart an enlarged, unstraitened, ardent piety. 
 
 KEEPING YOUNG 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 
 keei^ing stock is, to let stock take care of themselves ; but 
 to farmers who mean to he 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 sufier 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. 
 
A.BOUT TBUITS, FLOWEKS AND FAKMUSTG. 199 
 
 SWEET POTATOES. 
 
 Although oiir practice has been more extensive, and is 
 more skillful, in eating sweet potatoes than in raising them, 
 we yet adventure some remarks : No root can live and 
 grow without food from the leaf; if the tops be permitted 
 to root, so much nutriment is subtracted from the tubers as 
 is diverted to these new roots. Those who are best skilled 
 in their cultivation, raise their vines up so as to 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 Cucurhitacce^ their fruit not being vtnder 
 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 foe 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- 
 
200 PLAIN AND PLEAS a.NT TALK 
 
 lowing, clover, or any change ; but one constant, successive 
 corn, corn, corn. It is supposed that corn may be had for 
 an indefinite period, so far as mere exhaustion of the soil is 
 concerned, if the right course is pursued. Some of the best 
 fai-niers in this region hog their corn lands. Hogging^ is 
 turning the hogs in upon the rijoe corn, and letting them 
 harvest it in their own way. The saving of labor of gath- 
 ering the corn and feeding it out is very great. Some sin- 
 gle farmers fatten from one to five hundred head of hogs ; 
 but if this number were fed by hand and the grain gath- 
 ered for them it would require a force which would eat up 
 the profits. When the fatting hogs have eaten off the field 
 (temporary fences divide large fields into inclosures of con- 
 venient size) they are turned into another, and the stock- 
 hogs for another year, are let in to glean and root for the 
 waste and trampled corn. In this way nothing is lost. 
 
 This method takes very little off from the land ; for the 
 droppings of the hogs returns a great amount of food for 
 the soil ; and the corn stalks being burned or turned under, 
 the land continues in good heart. Land being hogged will 
 be free from cut-worms y for the continual rooting of the 
 stock-hogs, which continues until the ground freezes 
 throws up the eggs or insect to be destroyed by the winter 
 This method of cultivation is peculiarly suited to large- 
 farms, where extensive tracts of ground are kept under the 
 plow. 
 
 But in the course of eight or ten years, this process ren- 
 ders the soil extremely light. The action of frost upon it, 
 after the hogs have snout-plowed it, leaves it in the spring 
 as light and dry as an ash-heap. The corn will still grow 
 as well, but every high wind will throw it down ; the soil 
 has not tenacity enough to hold up its crop. Clovering 
 has been resorted to by some good farmers as a remedy ; 
 out without pretending to know certainly, we suspect 
 that clover will not fully answer the object. Clover on 
 hard soils, separates the particles and renders the ground 
 
ABOUT FKCriTS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 201 
 
 lighter, and adds vegetable matter to its composition. This 
 is not what bottom land needs. It is too light, and rich 
 enough in vegetable matter. 
 
 We believe a better course will be found in putting hot- 
 mn-lands to small grain. To be sire, there are difficulties 
 in the way of this ; but good farming is nothing but a com- 
 promise of difficulties. If the month of May be cold and 
 backward, wheat will do well and yield freely. But if the 
 spring is forward, May w^arm and wet, the grain will run 
 rank, break down when the head begins to fill, and, of 
 course, the berry, however plump and well it might have 
 looked ii; the milk, will, after it falls, for want of nourish-, 
 ment, lighJ;, and air, shrink and shrivel. But even in such 
 springs, might not an over rankness be prevented by pastur- 
 ing the grain ; or even mowing it, when, as it sometimes 
 happens, it gets ahead of what cattle are put upon it. But, 
 at the worst, the grain is not lost ; for if it lodges, and is 
 spoiled for the sickle, hogs may be turned upon it and they 
 mU thrive well. 
 
 But now comes the advantage of small grain to the soil, 
 which will be the same whether the crop is reaj^ed or 
 hogged. The straw or stubble, in either case, remains 
 upon the ground. This should not be plowed in, but 
 hurned^ and the ashes ploioed under. To do this a strip of 
 eight feet should be plowed about the w^hole field ; and fire 
 put to it, on every side at once, so that it may burn to- 
 wards the centre ; for fire, driven across a field, would leap 
 many feet of open space at a fence. The more stubble the 
 better, and the more weeds the better. The ashes will give 
 to the soil just what it lacks, 3ohesion or firmness, and 
 moisture. For, to make a dry soil moist, requires some 
 substance to be added, which, having an affinity for mois- 
 ture, shall attract and retam it. This is the natiire of wood 
 or straw ashes. A gentleman who will recognize in the 
 above much of his own jiractical exj)erie/ice, mentioned to 
 as a singular fact in corroboration of thi? reasoning. Hav- 
 
202 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ing a very heavy wheat or oat stubble on a bottom-land 
 field, which made it very hard for the plow, he burned it 
 over ; but a smart thunder-storm coming suddenly uj), the 
 fire was extinguished, leaving about five acres in the middle 
 of the piece, unbui-ned. The whole field was then plowed. 
 It was found that the soil in the part burned over was more 
 firm, and moist, all the ensuing summer ; and the corn more 
 even, and darker colored, than that ujDon the five acres 
 which escaped the fire, and whose stubble had been plowed 
 in. 
 
 At all events, there can be no doubt that wood-ashes 
 would be very advantageous to bottom lands. And we are 
 persuaded that such soils may be kept in wheat and corn 
 for any length of time, if thus managed. In conclusion, 
 corn your bottom-lands till they are too light, hogging 
 instead of harvesting them ; then put in wheat or oats > 
 leave the stubble long, 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 xolieat- 
 lands^ jdeld 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 i:)rices, it is not worth cultiva- 
 tion for commercial purposes. The cost of seed, of labor 
 in preparing the soil, putting in the crop, harvesting, thresh- 
 ing, and carrying it to market, is greater than the value of 
 the crop. At fifty cents a bushel, and twelve bushels to ihe 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARjnXG. 203 
 
 acre, the farmer gets six dollars, which certainly does not 
 cover the worth of his time and the interest on his lanr^ 
 
 Is it possible, then, at an expense within the means of 
 ordinary farmers, to bring a double or treble crop of wheat ? 
 If nature has set limits to the produce of this grain to the 
 acre, and if our farmers have come up to that limit, there is 
 no use in their trying to do any better. But if their crop is 
 four fold behind what it ought to be, they will feel courage 
 to reach out for a better mode of cultivation. Vegetables 
 collect food from the atmosphere, and from the soil ; and 
 different plants select diiferent 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 pol- 
 ish, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, etc. 
 
 Any vegetable, in its proper Jatitude, will flourisL 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 farmei', in grain-growing lati- 
 tudes, almost unlimited power over his crops. A good 
 
204 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 cook knows what thinjrs are required for bread ; he selects 
 these materials, compounds them to definite proportions — 
 adding, if any one is deficient ; subtracting, if any one is in 
 excesi. Kitlsing a crop is a species of slow cooking. Here 
 is a comjjound of such materials (called wheat) to be made. 
 Nature agrees to knead them together, and produce the 
 grain, if the farmer will supply the materials. To do this 
 he must understand what these materials are. Suppose a 
 cook perceiving that the bread was wretched, did not know 
 exactly what was the matter ; and should add, salt, or flour, 
 or yeast, or water at hap-hazard ? 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 
 imder, and gets an enormous crop of — straw. Nitrogenous 
 manure was not what the soil wanted. He has added 
 materials which existed in abundance already; but those 
 elements, from the want of which his crop suffered, have 
 not been given it. The land is sicker than it was before. 
 It languishes for Avant of one element, it sufiers from a sur- 
 feit of another. AYe 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 FRHTTS. FLOWKKS AND FARMING. 205 
 
 neither soil nor climate was supposed to favor it. How 
 theu 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 blmd but lucky 
 blunders, that eifected the change. It was thinking that did 
 it. It icas a change xcrought hy 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 ajDplied science to agriculture. Pamphlets, books, and 
 widely circulated newspapers have difiused this knowledge. 
 Agricultural societies, state and county ; farmers' meetings 
 for discussion, such as are held every winter in Boston, 
 have awakened the mind of farmers, and by learning to 
 treat their soils skillfully, good 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 
 farmers ; sixty, seventy, and even eighty have been raised 
 by great care. 
 
 In the whole United States it will not average much more 
 than fifteen. A comparison of the two countries will show 
 a corresponding inferiority on our part in the aiDplication of 
 science to agriculture. Scotland, formerly, hardly raised 
 wheat. Since the formation of the Highland Agricultuj'al 
 Society in Scotland, wheat has averaged fifty-one bushels to 
 the acre ! — Ellstcorth''s Report for 1844, p. 16. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke stated, in a speech before the Royal 
 Agricultural Society of England, that fine Suffolk wheat 
 had produced seventy-six bushels per acre; and another 
 and improved variety had yielded eighty-tioo bushels 
 per acre ! This was the result of " book farming " in a 
 country where anti-book farmers raise twenty-six bushels 
 to the acre. 
 
206 PLAIN AND PLKASANT TALK 
 
 Those very operations which farmers call practical, and 
 upon which they rely in decrying "book farming" were 
 first made known by science, and through the writings of 
 scientific men. 
 
 These views have an immediate and practical bearing on 
 the cultivation of wheat in the Western States. 
 
 Hitherto the want of enough cleared land has led farm- 
 ers to put in wheat among the corn, and half put it in at 
 that. Others have j^lowed their fallows, or their grass 
 lands, so early in the season, that rains and settling have 
 made it hard again by seed-time. Then, without stirring it, 
 the grain has been thrown (away) upon it, and half har- 
 rowed in and left to its fate. ' Equally bad has been the 
 system of late single plowing. Others have given their 
 grain no soil to bed their roots in ; a 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 abimdance. 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. 207 
 
 apt to heave out in winter ; it saves the wheat from drought, it 
 gives the nourishment of twice the quantity of soil to the crop. 
 
 Five acres may become ten by enlai-ging the soil doxon- 
 ward. These remarks are desultory ; and, while M'e intend 
 to continue writing on the subject, we say to such as may 
 be getting ready for the wheat-sowing, ploio deeply and 
 thoroughly y 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 firmed as to grow better 
 from year to year ; certainly, they ought to hold their OAvn. 
 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- 
 raging. As our lands get older we may look for yet better 
 things. Some farmers put in from 100 to 800, and even 
 1,000 acres of wheat. The native qualities of the soil are 
 relied upon for the crop. To manure or clover such a body 
 of land is impossible with any capital at the command of its 
 owners. But with us, each o\vner 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 yielc? 
 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. 
 
20^ 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 state, 
 all the additions in the form of manure should be with 
 reference to the formation of such a soil. If the land be 
 light and sandy, clay, and marl, and wood ashes should be 
 added, together with barnyard manure ; if the soil is a 
 tenacious clay, it should be 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 Geound. — 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 Jive 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 Jield, 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 
 be generally used. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 209 
 
 midsummer, and not disturbed till somng-time ', and tlio 
 fall plowing should not disturb the inverted sod. 
 
 When wheat is to be soAvn on wheat again, as large a 
 part of the straw should be left in the harvest-field as posb- 
 sible. This is to be plowed under ; but, if it can be done 
 without endangering the fences, it would be better to hum 
 it over ; the ashes will contain all the valuable salts. On 
 this point we extract the following note appended by the 
 editor of Liehig''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 Avood. The ashes of this straw are 
 carefully collected and sold every year at very high prices. 
 The farmers there have found by experience that the ashes 
 of straw form the very best manure for wheat ; although it 
 exerts no influence on the growth of fallow-crops (potatoes 
 or the leguminosse, for example). The stem of wheat 
 grown in this way possesses an uncommon strength. The 
 cause of the favorable action of these ashes will be apparent, 
 when it is considered that all corn-plants require silicate of 
 potash ; and that the ashes of straw consist almost entirely 
 of this compound. 
 
 But this procedure does not depend upon theoretical 
 reasonings ; it has been abundantly substantiated by the 
 practice of English cultivators. We find on page 333 of the 
 " British Husbandry, " an admirable work published under 
 the superintendence of the Society for the 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, 
 
210 PLAIN AHD PLEASA^'T TALK 
 
 by simply applying a light to windward, and it completely 
 destroyed every weed that grew, leaving the surface com- 
 pletely coA^ered Avith ashes ; and the following crojj, which 
 was wheat, produced full five quarters per acre. This 
 excited fui-ther 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 jiortion which had been 
 burned, than on that which had been plowed in. The 
 same experiment was repeated, on different occasions, with 
 similar results ; and a following crop of oats having been 
 laid down with seeds, the clover was found perfectly 
 healthy, while that portion on which the burning of the 
 stubble had been omitted, was choked with Aveeds. 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 weeds and 
 insects will be considerably destroyed, and the land will 
 be left unimpeded for the operation of the plow. 
 
 " On the wolds of Lincolnshire, the practice of noi, 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 farmei 
 who ignorantly takes everything off" his wheat land, re- 
 turns nothing to it, and is content with annually diminish- 
 ing crops. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 211 
 
 Selection of Seeds. — The % arieties of wheat, already 
 v^ery numerous, are constantly increasing. No farmer 
 should be satisfied with anything shoit of the best kind of 
 wheat. Suppose an exj)ense 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 liarvest field. It should be observed 
 that different soils require different varieties; and every 
 farmer should select, after trial, the kind which agrees best 
 with his land. 
 
 A standard wheat should be hardy, strong in the straw ; 
 not easy to shell and waste, prolific, thin in the bran, white 
 in flour, and the flour rich in starch and gluten. The 
 earliness or lateness of a variety affects its liability to dis- 
 ease. 
 
 Much may be done by every farmer to secure a variety 
 suited to his soil from his own fields. Let a watchful eye 
 observe every remarkable head of wheat — a very early one, 
 a very long head, any which have an uniisual sized grain, 
 or is distinguished for any excellent property. By gather- 
 ing, planting separately, and then culling again, each 
 farmer may improve his own wheat ten fold. Indeed it has 
 been in this way that several improved varieties have been 
 procured. 
 
 Of spring wheat, the most valuable kinds are, Italian 
 Spring Wlieat ; bearded, red berry, white chaff, head long, 
 bran thick, flour of fair quality. Tea or Siberian Bald ; 
 bright straw, not long ; berry white, bald ; flour good ; 
 extensively cultivated in New England and northern part of 
 New York. Valuable variety. 
 
 Black Sea Wheat. — White chaff, bearded, berry red, 
 long and heavy, bran thick, flour inferior. Ripens very 
 early, and seldom rusts or mildews. 
 
 The following are also the spring varieties. Egyptian 
 Wild Goose or Galifornia. — Large and branching head, 
 bearded, berry small, bran thick, flour coarse and yellow, 
 
212 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ripens iate, 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. JBlack 
 Bearded. — Long cultivated in New York — stem large, 
 heavy head, berry large and red, beard very long and stiff, 
 produces flour well. Red Bearded, English. — Chaff red, 
 bearded, beards standing out, berry white, weighs from 
 sixty to sixty-two pounds. Scotch Wheat. — 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 : 
 
 " 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. KentucJcy, 
 White Bearded. — White wheat, sometimes called Cana- 
 dian Flint — early, good for clay soils. Indiana Wheat. — 
 White wheat — berry white and large, rij^ens 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. Soide'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, chafl' white Wheatland Wheat, from 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEES AND FARMING. 213 
 
 Virginia. — Chaff red, heads well filled, berry red, hardy. 
 Tuscan £ald, 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 mjury from insects, subject to ergot. 
 Bellevere Tallavera. — 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 
 first rate. S?"^'^'"'"^ Wheat. — Produced from crosses, berry 
 red, chaff white, hai dy, yield good, sixty-four pounds to the 
 bushel. Mediterranean. — Chaff light, red bearded, berry 
 red and long, very flinty, flour inferior. Hume's "White 
 "Wheat from crosses. — A beautiful white wheat, berry 
 large, bran thin, hardy and a valuable variety. Blue Stem. 
 — Cultivated for thirty-three years, berry white, sixty-four 
 pounds to the bushel, flour superior, bran thin, and very 
 productive. Valparaiso Wheat, 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. 
 
214 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 By this process the chaffy graui is rejected, the smut, to 
 which wheat is so liable, is entirely prevented ; and the 
 grain caused to germinate more rapidly and strongly. The 
 lime should be what is termed quicklime, or that just 
 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 with- 
 drawn 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. 
 
 Pleastjees of Hortichltttee. — There is no writing so 
 detestable as so-called fine loriting. It is painted empti- 
 ness. We especially detest fine writing about rural afiairs 
 — all the senseless gabble about dew, and zephyrs, and stars, 
 and simrises — 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 oi 
 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 FKUIIS, FLOWERS AND FARAnXQ. 215 
 
 PRACTICAL USE OF LEAVES. 
 
 There are two facts in the functions of the leaf, which 
 are worth consideration on account of their practical bear- 
 ings. The food of jDlants is, for the most part, taken in 
 solution, through its roots. Various minerals — silex, lime 
 ulumen, magnesia, potassa — are passed into the tree in a 
 dissolved state. The sap passes to the leaf, the supei-fluous, 
 water is given off, hut not the substances which it held in 
 solution. These, in part, are distributed through the plant, 
 and, in j^art, remain as a deposit in the cells of the leaf. 
 Gradually the leaf chokes iip, 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 joer cent, of mineral matter, than the wood 
 of the trwik. 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 fer 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 ^er 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, fall 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. 
 
L.1G PLAIX AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 mineral elements necessary to the tree, and besides, much 
 organized 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 
 leaves for other purposes, gather the annual harvest of 
 leaves, they Avill, 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 tnmk, uj)on 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 sui'face 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 seedUng apple-tree, 
 with twelve square feet of foUage, lost nine ounces a day.* 
 
 * Lindley's Horticulture, p. 42-44. Grey's Botany, p. 131. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOT.ERS ANI> FARMING. 217 
 
 Tliese are experiments upon very small plants. The vast 
 aiiiount 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. Wet for • 
 est-lands, by being cleared of timber, become dry ; and 
 streams, fed from such sources, become ulmost 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 
 w 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 
 maintaiaed 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 m Paris, with good effect: 10 gallons water, 20 lbs. 
 quicklime .nnd 2 lbs. flowers of sulphur are to be boiled in an 
 iron vessel ; after settling, the clear part is thrown off and 
 nsed when needed. Care must be taken, for if it will 
 destroy weeds it will just as certainly destroy edgings and 
 border flowers if sj^rinkled on them. Weeds, thus treated, 
 will disappear for several years. 
 
218 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 SinilNG 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 j'ou. Agree to do four times as much as 
 your share, and you will, perhaps, then obtain some 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 in your streets and agree to spend one day a-mow- 
 mg. 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 ey t^ 
 with its everlasting white and yellow. 
 
 Side-walks. — What if your neighbors are lazy; what i! 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 219 
 
 they do not care ? Some one ought to see that there are 
 good gravel Avalks 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 yoxi 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 Propertt. — ^What if it does concern 
 eveiybody 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 in 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 ? 
 
220 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 If the question were put to man} Jistinguished village 
 patriots, What have you done for the public good? — the 
 answer would be : " Why, I've talked till I'm hoarse, and 
 an imgrateful public refuse me any office by which I 
 may show my love of public affairs in a more practical 
 manner." 
 
 FAEMERS AND FARMING SCENES IN THE WEST. 
 
 If any one goes to Holland they are all Dutch farmers 
 there ; if he goes to England he finds British husbandry ; 
 in 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 Smss with his vineyard, the Dutchman with 
 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, 07ie 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 i esults. What if he 
 has but thirty acres, they are worth any two hundred around 
 him, if what a man makes is a criterion of the value of his 
 larm. But a little farther out is a j^Uy old Kentucky 
 farmer, the owner of about five hundrec ' acres of the best 
 land in the county, which he tills when lie has nothing else 
 
ABOTIl' FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 221 
 
 to Jo. 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-tiou, 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 
 Avorking every day and eveiy 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 bis 
 OAvn 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 firmer. 
 
 Then there is a Neio 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 
 nursery well tended, good orchards ; by and by a second 
 farm, pretty soon a boy on it, all married and fixed off; by 
 and 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 
 
222 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 a daughter disappears aud may be found some miles off o\\ 
 a good farm, making butter and raising children, and has 
 good luck at both. The old man is getting fat, has monej 
 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 scenery, 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 well 
 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 marjied, and with his amply-built, broad-^ced, 
 
AJBOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 223 
 
 good-natured wife, he gives up the town and is a regular 
 farmer. 
 
 Tu 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 wcre 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. 
 
224 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION of a few of the desirable flowering and 
 ornauiental shrubs for yards and lawns may enable oxir 
 readers to select with judgment. 
 
 Pkivet. — 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 
 mucli ; the limbs endure the shears very patiently ; it grows 
 very rapidly, two full seasons bemg sufficient to form a 
 hedge ; and it will flourish under the shade and drip of 
 trees. 
 
 Rose Acacia {liohinia hispida). — This is a species of 
 the locust, of a dwarf habit, seldom growing six feet in 
 height, and covered Avith 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 
 peculiarity of this shrub is in the large bunches of russet- 
 colored seed-vessels, looking, at a little distance, like a puff 
 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 beautifol 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 
 Avhite, and of an odor only less exquisite than that of the 
 orange ; whence one of its popular names. The leaves have 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 225 
 
 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 inodoioiis 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 Httle tree requires 
 only to be mentioned. There is a white variety, and deli- 
 cately-leaved variety called the Persian. 
 
 Snowball {Vibtirmitn opiclus), everywhere known, and 
 everywhere a favorite ; and scarcely less so is the 
 
 Waxberry, or Snowberry, {Symjyhora 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 gallica), a sub-evergreen of very 
 beautiful feathery foliage, of rapid growth, and highly orna- 
 mental in a shrubbery. It wUl grow in very poor soil, 
 
 Shepardia, or Bufialo 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 dioe- 
 cious, and the male and female trees must therefore be 
 planted in proximity. 
 
 Dwarf Almond {Amygdalus nana)^ but now called by 
 botanists Cerasug 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, durjjjg 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 efiect. It should therefore be 
 planted against evergreens. 
 
 Wood Honeysuckle {Azalea). — This is a native of North 
 America, and is perfectly hardy. It flourishes best in a half 
 sliade, and flowers freely. There have been a vast number 
 of varieties originated from crossing the species; and the 
 
226 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 nurseries will supply almost every shade of color from white 
 to brilliant flame color. 
 
 The A. pontica^ is also hardy ; but the Chinese vspecies 
 require a greenhouse. This is one of the most magnificent 
 shrubs that can be cultivated, and deserves the special atten- 
 tion of those who wish to form even a moderately good 
 shrubbery. 
 
 The Beeberey {Berberis vulgaris) is quite beautiful when 
 in fruit. It is easily propagated, grows in any soil, requires 
 little pruning, and is very good fur hedges. 
 
 Globe Flovtee (Corchorus japonica). — A very pretty 
 shrub with double yellow flowers, which are in abundance 
 early in the summer, and also, but sparingly, shown through- 
 out the season. 
 
 "By some mistake K^erria japonica was at first supposed 
 to belong to Corchorus, a genus of Tiliacea, and of course 
 nearly allied to the lime-tree ; to which it bears no resem- 
 blance, though it is still called Corchorus -japonica in the 
 nurseries. It is also singular, that though the double-flow- 
 ered variety was introduced into England in 1700, the spe- 
 cies was not introduced till 1835. It is a delicate little 
 shrub, too slender to support itself in the open aii- ; but 
 when trained against a wall, flowering in great profusion. 
 It should be grown in a light, rich soil, and it is propagated 
 by cuttings," — Companion to the Flower Garden. 
 
 Labuenum (Cytisiis laburnum). — This beautiful plant 
 forms a small tree, which, in May, is covered with pendant 
 yello^sfcblossoms. BloomiBg at the same time Tvith the lilac, 
 the two planted together have an extremely beautiful efiect. 
 It is hardy, grows in any soil, and is propagated easily by 
 seed. 
 
 The Scotch Laburnum {C. alpinus), is much more beau- 
 tiful than the common kind, " the flowers and leaves being 
 larger and the flower more frequently fragrant. They are 
 also produced much later in the season, not coming into 
 flower till the others are quite over." 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING, 227 
 
 Althea, or Rose of Sharon [HlMscus Syriacus). — One 
 of the most desirable shrubs for yards and gardens. The 
 form of the shrub is compact and sightly ; flowers double, 
 and may be had of every color ; it is hardy, growing well 
 in all soils, and blooms continually from the last of July till 
 frost. It is beautiful in avenues, and, being patient of the 
 shears, it will form a fine floral hedge, a good specimen of 
 which may be seen on Mr. Hoflfner's beautiful grounds near 
 Cincinnati. The single altheas are not so desirable. We 
 regard this shrub as worthy of much more extensive culti- 
 vation than it has received. Its flowers are coarse on a 
 close inspection, but at a little distance, and among other 
 plants its effect is excellent. It is very easily propagated 
 by cuttings, or from the seed. 
 
 Sweet-scented Shrub {Calycanthus Floridus). — Chief- 
 ly desirable from the pine-apple fragrance of its brownish- 
 purple flowers. They are used to scent drawers, to carry 
 n the pocket, etc. It grows freely in any dry, ric'i soil, 
 and is propagated by layers and suckers. 
 
 Red-bud [Cercis CanadeJisis.) — This small tree is fami- 
 liar to every one, being the first spring flowering tree of our 
 woods. It flourishes in gardens and makes a finer aj)pear- 
 ance there than in its native localities. 
 
 Gooseberries. — Let those who are accustomed to lose 
 their fruit by mildew, drench their bushes with an alka- 
 line wash. Lime-water, or diluted lye are the most conve- 
 nient. With a watering-pot, copiously water the whole bush, 
 on the upper and under side of the branches ; which can be 
 easily done, if one will lift the branches while another be- 
 stows the shower-bath. After they have done bearing, prune 
 out the head, and the lower branches, so as to give a free 
 circulation of air under and through the bush. Spade in 
 about them a liberal dressmg of leached ashes, and fine 
 cha: coal if j^rocurable. 
 
228 PLAIN AKD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 GAKDEN WORK FOR AUGUST. 
 
 Dahlias will require special attention to secure them from 
 splitting down, and breaking ; let every part be well sup- 
 ported by ties. The cool nights and warm days of 
 approaching fall wiU give them their most vigorous 
 growth. 
 
 Saving Seed. — Beet, spinage, peas, celery, salsify, let- 
 tuce seeds will now be ripe and should be gathered. Even 
 if not quite ripe, they may be plucked, as experiments seem 
 to show that seeds are more injured by over-ripeness than 
 under-ripening. Seal up your peas in bottles and put wax 
 about the cork, according to Dr. Plummer's directions, and 
 the larvae of the pea-bug will die for want of air. Seeds 
 are ripened best in their own pods or receptacles ; and 
 where they ripen nearly at the same time, and do not easily 
 shake out, w^e hang the whole plant in an aii-y shed, barn, 
 etc., until winter ; and then, for convenience, thresh out and 
 pack up. 
 
 As fast as your perennial plants have shed their 
 flowers, let the seed plants be destroyed, unless you 
 wish to save seed, as the ripening of seed exhausts the 
 root. 
 
 Young peach-trees should have the side shoots cleared 
 away and one strong centre stem secured for budding in 
 the fall. 
 
 Onions may now be gathered. Let them lie a day or two 
 on the bed or in the alley, and then be transferred to a cool 
 and airy place. The sets for top onions may be tied in bim- 
 dles and hung up till spring. 
 
 Wliere peas and bush beans have been cleared away, tur- 
 nips may be sowed for a fall and winter crop. 
 
 Spinage seed should be got ready to be sown in Septem- 
 ber, if you wish a good supply of this choicest of all spring 
 greens. 
 
 Celery plants will begin to grow strongly in the trenches ; 
 
,. ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 229 
 
 water with liquid manure ; if troubled with insects, dust 
 with quick lime and water with salt water. Above all 
 things be careful in drawing in the earth to keep it 
 out from the heart of the plant, and let it be done in dry 
 weather. 
 
 PULLING OFF POTATO BLOSSOMS. 
 
 The JBoston Cultivator, speaking of this process, says : 
 " As the quaUties of the potato- ball or apple differ con- 
 siderably from the root or tuber, it may be that the juices 
 destined to nourish the balls will not, on removing the 
 blossoms, go to increase the roots. This view is not un- 
 reasonable." 
 
 We do not suppose the theory to be, that the sap tend- 
 ing to the bloom and ball returns to the root. But, 
 simply, that there will be so much less food to be prepared, 
 and therefore so much less exhaustion to the vegetable 
 economy. It is well known that the filling out and ripen- 
 ing of seeds is eminently exhausting to the plant. It has 
 long been the custom of florists who wish show-flowers, to 
 refuse their bulbous plants leave to bloom for one season, 
 plucking off the bud, that they might be so much the 
 stronger for the next year's blooming. 
 
 But we suppose the truth to be this. The sap is pre- 
 pared in the leaf and enters the distributing vessels of the 
 plant. 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 th^ 
 
230 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 
 Lhe crude sap is decomposed, oxygen is given ofl' 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 
 lo 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, afibrding nourishment to all. But when 
 the fruit of every plant is maturing, it draws to itself a large 
 part of the jDrepared 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. Sheep are 
 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, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 231 
 
 MAPLE-SUGAR. 
 
 As most persons who have not informed themselves on 
 the subject, imagme 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, we propose to spend some sj)ace 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 lbs. 
 
 2. Ohio 6,363,386 " 
 
 S.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 " 
 
 8. Kentucky 1,377,835 " 
 
 9. Michigan 1,329,784 " 
 
 Total of nine States 22,464,799 
 
 Residue thus — add for Maine, Massachusetts, 
 Connecticut, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois, 
 Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin 2,030,853 
 
 24,495,652 
 
 Something should be subtracted for beet-root and corn- 
 stalk-sugar. But on the other hand, the statistics are so 
 much below the truth on maple-sugar, that the deficiency 
 may be set oif against beet-root and cornstalk-sugar. That 
 the figures do not more than represent the amount of 
 maj^le-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. 
 
232 I'r.AIN AND PIEASANTTALK 
 
 In Marion county, four of the first sugar -making townships, 
 Warren, Lawrence, Centre and Frankhn, are not reckoned. 
 If we suppose these four townships to average as much as 
 the others in Marion county, they produced 77,648 lbs., 
 and instead of putting Marion county down at 97,064 it 
 should be 174,712 lbs. 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 lbs. 
 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 lbs. per annum, while 
 the census only gives about 4,000,000. 
 
 \ The data of these calculations, it must be confessed, are very uncer- 
 tain, and conclusions drawn from them as to the relative amounts of 
 sugar produced in different States, are to be regarded, at the very best, 
 as problematical. We extract the following remarks from an article in 
 the Western Literary 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 both Kentucky 
 and Missouri, which are given as above at 28,002 tons. Now the indis- 
 putable fact is, that Kentucky and Missouri produce more than hemp all 
 the rest of the United States, and ten times as much as either Ohio, Indiana 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 233 
 
 remembered too that in Louisiana it is the staple, while at 
 the North maple-sugar has never been manuflxctured 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 50 per centum more 
 than those two great hemp-producing States. 
 
 "The sugar of Louisiana is given at 119,947,720 lbs., equal to 120,000 
 hhds., 160 per cent, more than has been published in New Orleans, as the 
 highest product of the five consecutive years, including and preceding 
 1840. 
 
 " But what is this to the wholesale figure-dealing which returns 
 3,160,949 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 lbs. 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 lbs. 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 the 
 Geology of New Hampshire, a statement, that Vermont makes 6,000,000 
 pounds of sugar annually. If this be so, we may, without extravagance, 
 suppose that New York reaches 10,000,000 lbs. So far as we have colla- 
 teral means of judging, the amount of maple-sugar is wmfcr-stated in the 
 census of 1840. 
 
234 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 of New Orleans. The fault is in the manufacturing of it. 
 The saccharine 2)riuciple 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-sugar 
 would be as salable as New Orleans, and if afforded at a 
 less price, might supplant it in the market. The average 
 quantity of sugar consumed in England by each individual 
 is about thirty pounds per annum. 
 
 Maple-Sugar Making. — Greater care must be taken 
 in collecting th3 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 the 
 single exception of breakage. But if wood-troughs are 
 used, let them be kept scrupulously clean. 
 
 The kettles should be scoured thoroughly before use, 
 and kept constantly clean. If rusty, or foul, or coated with 
 burnt sugar, neither the color nor flavor can be perfect. 
 Vinegar and sand have been used by experienced sugar- 
 makers to scour the kettles with. It is best to have, at 
 least, three to a range. 
 
 All vegetable juices contain acids, and acids resist the 
 process of crystallization. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Jackson* directs the oi^e-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 
 nampshire, page 361. This admirable Report is an able exposition of 
 the benefit of public State surveys. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWBitS AISD FARMING. 235 
 
 with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily 
 strikes a black color with tea. 
 
 The process of making a pm-e white sugar is simple and 
 unexjjensive. 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 
 eones^ 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 mto 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. 
 Then put it again into the cone-moulds and let it harden. 
 The dribblets which come away from the cone while the 
 whisky is draining, may be used for making vmegar. 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 wUl not be quite 
 as white, the draininffs 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 two valuable processes at once. 
 
236 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Care of Sugar Orchards. — ^It is grievous to witness 
 the waste committed ujjon valuable groves of sugar-trees. 
 If the 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 JEsop meant 
 when he made the fable of a fellow who killed his goose to 
 get at once all the golden eggs. With good care, and 
 allowing 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 maj^le 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 
 
SlBOUT fruits, flowees and faemikg. 237 
 
 growth is rapid, and no tree combines more valuable pro- 
 perties. It is a beautiful shade-tree, it is excellent for fuel, 
 it is much used for manufacturing purposes, its ashes are 
 valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are 
 twenty -seven species of the maple known, twelve of them 
 are indigenous to this continent. All of these have asacha- 
 rine sap, but only two, to a degree sufficient for practical 
 2:)urposes, viz., Acer sacoharinum or the common sugar- 
 maple, and Acer nigrum or the black sugar-maple. The sap 
 of these contains about half as much sugar as the juice of 
 the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap contains, 
 on an average, 3,451 grains of sugar ; and one gallon of 
 cane-juice (in Jamaica), averages 7,000 grains of sugar. 
 
 But the cane is subject to the necessity of annual and 
 careful cultivation, and its manufacture is comparatively 
 expensive and difficult. Whereas the maple is a permanent 
 tree, 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 evenmg 
 copiously, if jon water at all ; but the hoe is the only 
 watering-pot for a garden, if thereby the soil is kept loose 
 and fine. We have raised heads nearly as large as a drum- 
 head cabbage by this method, very bi'ittle, sweet and tender 
 withal. 
 
238 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 GEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS. 
 
 Many terms, in general use among scientific men, and 
 asually 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 difierent 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 meUow, friable state by uatermixture of sand, or vegeta. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 239 
 
 ble matter, is called loain. Clay lands well manured with 
 sand, dung, or muck, are turned, gradually, to a loam. 
 
 Argillaceous. — From the Latin {argillaceus^) 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 in 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. 
 taUized 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 aUuvial 
 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 
 causes no longer in 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- 
 
£40 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 mold ih 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 Avith drains. But the inducements to it which 
 make 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 in 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 
 iavorite 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 aU times, and almost 
 impassable at some seasons of the year. Draining might be 
 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 FRtllTS, FLOAVERS AXD FARMING. 241 
 
 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 A^dsh 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 
 t1ie 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 Avhich 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 Avater-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 afibrds 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 soAving grain and plowed with back-furrows, 
 throAving the earth toward the centre. The rain and snow 
 will run to either side, and floAv off by the channels left 
 between each strip. This treatment does not relieve the 
 
242 PLAJN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 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? 
 
 AjSt 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, " dear I shall we ever he done with this lying .^" 
 
 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 paid 
 another debt because the man treated hun more savagely 
 than I would. The strength laid out in running for this 
 money, if it had been economically applied to labor, would, 
 nearly, have earned the whole debt. The fellow never paid 
 me at last ; but Death came along, and he paid him 
 
AJBOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 243 
 
 promptly. "O dear! shall we ever get done with this 
 lying ?" It is one of the few domestic manufactures which 
 need no protection, and flourishes without benefit either to 
 the producer or consumer. 
 
 CARE OF STOCK IN WINTER. 
 
 Perhaps no better sign of careful husbandry can be found 
 than in the attention paid to brute animals. We always 
 expect a thriftless fellow to neglect and abuse his stock. 
 When we see them well cared for, we always judge the 
 owner to be a good farmer. Cattle ranging out often 
 have had good picking, and if partly fed at the rack, will 
 come out in the spring well-conditioned. Where hay and 
 grain are a drug, we suppose that all cautions about wasting 
 them will be laughed at. Care and econotny are not the 
 pecuhar features of western farming ; profusion and easi- 
 ness are the more characteristic. But there are some 
 points of attention to which every farmer should give 
 heed. 
 
 Cleaning the Stable. — ^When cattle lie out, this trouble 
 is saved in their case. But it is almost universally the prac- 
 tice to let the manure accumulate in stables for horses from 
 autumn to spring, and sometimes from year to year, until 
 its quantity compels its removal. This is all weU enough 
 for the sake of the manure — it is sheltered, and its strength 
 preserved. But it is at the expense of the horse. The con- 
 centrated effluvia is bad ; and lying down upon manure, 
 night after night, causes the skin to break out in blotches ; 
 and sometimes the whole ham is affected so much that the 
 hair comes oif, and the skin is inflamed and covered with 
 running sores. The ammonia of urine (which abounds in 
 
244 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 horse manure), is caustic, and acts upon the skin like a blis- 
 ter upon the human flesh. If Providence had ordained that 
 a sore should break out on the owner, for every one on his 
 stock occasioned by his negligence, animals would have 
 a much better time than they now do. 
 
 Cows WITH Calf. — Especial attention should be paid to 
 these. As they grow heavy, toward spring, they should 
 not be chased by horses or dogs, or beaten by unmannerly 
 boys and men. Their food should be abundant and nutri- 
 cious. A cow brought to calving in spring in a very thin 
 and lean condition will not recover through the whole sum- 
 mer, no matter how carefully tended. The cow, the calf, 
 and your own profit in both, require that you should bring 
 your cows to the spring in first-rate condition. If you have 
 roots, feed them ; but if not, give a slojj of shorts, meal, and 
 flax-seed cake. This last ingredient is eminently service- 
 able in laying on flesh. 
 
 Milking Cows. — Let them be milked regularly without 
 regard to weather. A careless girl will, if not watched, 
 milk irregularly, and what is worse, leave the cow unstript. 
 The morning work presses, or the cold pinches, or she is in 
 haste, at night, to go a visiting, or some one of a hundred 
 other reasons tempt her to milk out the full flow, and leave 
 the strippings. A cow so abused will be injured, in a short 
 time, so much, that all the care in the world will not bring 
 her back again. 
 
 See that stock are treated with gentleness and pctience. 
 It is a shame to abuse a kind and docile animal, and it is 
 useless to thrash those that are not so. In either case, kind- 
 ness is the best policy. A man who is brutal to cattle is 
 more of a beast than they are. We have seen many a man 
 who, if he had two more legs, would not fetch the price of 
 a stock-hog. 
 
ABOUT FEUITSj FLOWEES AND FARMING. 245 
 
 DEEP PLANTING. 
 
 We saw recently a potato which grew at the depth of 
 twenty -five feet below the surface of the earth. This is an 
 extraordinary depth. Few things planted at that depth 
 would vegetate. The fact in this case is unquestionable. 
 The top was terminated by a cluster of blossoms, and the 
 potatoes were of the size of small hickory-nuts. 
 
 P. S. Another fact, which like to have been omitted in this 
 account, is, that it grew at the bottom of an 02^en well. 
 
 CORN AND MILLET FOR FODDER. 
 
 The practice of sowing grains for fodder has been prac- 
 tised with great success. Millet is sown in May, June, or 
 July, at the rate of three pecks of seed to the acre. It is, 
 usually, ready for the scythe in about ninety days. Thick 
 sowing is best. Cut when the grain is fairly out of the 
 milk, and cure it like hay. Four tons is a fair yield — two 
 tons is a small crop. 
 
 Indian Corn should be sown broadcast at the rate of 
 four to five bushels to the acre. Corn belongs to the tribe 
 of grasses. Cultivating it for the grain, in rows, with every 
 stimulant of air, light, and manure, develops the stalk 
 almost to a tree form. When sown for fodder, the object 
 should be to produce it, as nearly as possible, like a grass. 
 Thick sowing will tend to do it, and each stalk being small 
 and tender, the crop will be easily masticated by cattle. By 
 good management six or eight tons may be cut to the acre 
 — cutting twice in the season. The first mowing should be 
 about the period of silking. The next, whenever the 
 shoots have grown again to a proper size. If but one 
 mowing is intended, it should be permitted to stand a week 
 
246 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 or two later than when two crops are to be taken. For, all 
 plants prepare the most of nutritious juices at the period of 
 their fruiting. Indian corn is the richest in saccharine 
 matter at about the time its grain is turning from a milky 
 to a mealy state. Cattle will eat either of the above grains, 
 treated like a grass crop, with great avidity ; and every one 
 knows that it is desirable to give them a change of food 
 through the winter. 
 
 SEED SAVING. 
 
 The seeds of cucumber, melon, etc., are better, at any 
 rate, when four of five years old than when fresh ; and wo 
 have well authenticated instances of seeds retaining their 
 vitality much longer than this. There is no fixed period 
 during which seeds will keep. There is no reason to sup- 
 pose that they would lose their vitality in any assignable 
 number of years if the proper conditions were observed. 
 De Candolle says that M. Gerardin raised kidney beans, 
 obtained from Tournefort's herbarium, which were at least 
 a hundred years old ; but beans left to the chances of the 
 atmosphere are not good the second year, and hardly worth 
 planting in the third. Professor Lindley raised raspberry 
 plants from seed not less than sixteen or seventeen hundred 
 years old. Multitudes of other instances might be given. 
 In reply to the first question, it may, then, be said, that the 
 length of time through which seeds will keep depends upon 
 the method of preserving them. 
 
 We do not suppose it to be essential to inclose apple, 
 pear, and quince seeds in earth for the purpose of preserv- 
 ing their vitality during a single winter. But if exposed 
 to the air, the I'ind becomes so hard and rigid as to make 
 germination very difficult from mere mechanical reasons. 
 The moisture of the soil keeps the covering in a tender 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 247 
 
 state, and it is easily ruptured by the expansion of the 
 seed. 
 
 The shell of peach, plum, and other stone-fruit seeds 
 ■would form, if left to dry and harden, a yet more hopeless 
 prison. If "kept for two years, the most stone-fruit pips, 
 it is to be presumed, would not germinate. Some, how- 
 ever, would have vigor enough to grow even then. We 
 have forgotten who it was, but believe it to have been 
 a reliable person, recently mentioned the fact, that a peach 
 or apricot stone was for several years kept as a child's play 
 thing ; but upon being planted, grew, and is now a healtliy 
 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 
 seed^ if in a close bottle, is sufficient to destroy the seed. 
 Glass bottles have therefore been rejected. Seeds for long 
 voyages, or for long preservation, are thoroughly ripened 
 and thoroughly dried ; but dried without raising the tempe- 
 rature of the air, as this would impair their vitality. They 
 are then wrapped in coai'se 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. 
 
248 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 The preservation of seeds from oue season to another, for 
 home use, is not difficult, and may be described in three 
 sentences: rijDen them Avell, 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 March 
 through the whole summer. Indeed, it may be had 
 through the whole year. The root contains within itself 
 all the nourishment required to develop the leaves and 
 stalks at first, Tvithout 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 throA\Ti away, or set out again and not used until 
 they have recovered, which will be in about one summer. 
 
 For early spring use, select a warm spot in the garden, 
 and late in the fall dig in around your roots a good supply 
 of rotten manure. Cover them with coarse manure, straw, 
 or litter. As soon as the frost comes out of the ground, 
 knock out the ends of a barrel and put one over each plant 
 from which you propose to gain an early supply. Put a 
 quantity of coarse manure around the outside of the bar- 
 rel to maintain the warmth, and, in cold nights and during 
 cold rains, lay a board over the open top. Thus treated, 
 you may have tarts in March. But the main supply of this 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 249 
 
 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 fi-om 
 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 
 flill, 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 
 fifty plants only three proved worth keeping — one of these 
 for its earliness and the others for size. 
 
 When you have secured roots from which you wish to 
 form a bed for your main supply, divide them either in the 
 fall or spring into as many pieces as there are buds on the 
 crown, each piece having, of course, a bud. The smallest 
 slice of root will live, although a large portion is preferable. 
 Do not be too timid in dividing ; the plant is exceedingly 
 tenacious of life — it can hardly be killed. We have had 
 roots lying in the open air for weeks, and when replanted 
 growing with undiminished vigor. Every one who has, for 
 a single season, tended a garden, knows what dock is, and 
 how tenacious of life, so much so, as to make it quite a 
 trouble. The rhubarb is a full-blooded vegetable brother, 
 belonging to the same family of plants. 
 
 This plant thrives most luxuriantly in a rich, sandy loam ; 
 the earth should be spaded and mellowed to at least twenty 
 inclies depth. We prepare ground for it as follows : Mark 
 
250 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 out the row with a line, throw out the top eailh 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 fi-om 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 War^vick and Cedo Nulli are 
 fine early peas, unsurpassed till the Prince Albert appeared. 
 This is now esteemed the earliest of peas, ripening at Boston 
 in fifty-three days from the time of sowing, and in England 
 in forty-two days. "We hope to be able, soon, to have this 
 variety for distribution. Early peas are seldom of high 
 flavor; none that we ever raised are comparable to the 
 larger and later peas, and it is, therefore, except for market 
 purposes, not desirable to plant very largely of early sorts. 
 
 Of late peas we have, after trying many sorts, fallen back 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FAKMIXG 251 
 
 upon the old-fashioned Marroiofat, 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 opportvinity of proving it. 
 
 We prefer huying 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 wiU 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 soAvn broad-cast, at the rate of about three bushels to 
 the acre — more rather than less. It leaves the land in fine 
 tilth, smothering all weeds. Thirty bushels to the acre is 
 a fair crop ; but eighty-four, and eighty-eight, have been 
 taken. 
 
 Autumn-planted Onions. — Onions for seed should be 
 planted in October ; and, like their more 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 srround. 
 
252 PLAIN AND PLEASANT 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 farmers and gar- 
 deners upon the various topics of agriculture and horticul- 
 ture. Let every paper urge the setting out of shade-trees 
 in our villages. It is greatly to be desired, that all our 
 towns should be filled with elms, maples, ashes, locusts, etc. 
 The cultivation of fruit may be much encouraged and pro- 
 moted by a frequent republication of articles on that sub- 
 ject. The gardens and conservatories of a few very wealthy 
 gentlemen do not constitute a horticultural community. 
 They are of great use in the procuration and cultivation of 
 new varieties of plants, and in testing important matters by 
 expensive experiments. But affluent men and their pleas- 
 ure 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 the 
 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 gi'ass and weeds 
 grow up. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 253 
 
 HOT-BEDS. 
 
 After a little practice any one can make and manage a 
 simple hot-bed. Foi* 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 fi'ont, in 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 mde, the other sized frame will take three sash. 
 Where the sash meet, apiece 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 dowm with the back 
 of the fork, hut never treading it. Raise the bed three feet 
 above the surface, making the thickness in aU four feet. In 
 a week's time this will have settled six or eight inches. 
 We have for the sake of a gentler and longer continued 
 heat, laid alternate layers of manure and tan-hark, and thus 
 far it has done well with us. Put on the frame and sash 
 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, aU over the 
 
254 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 bed ; reiilace the frame, and in a day thereafter it will be 
 ready for seed. 
 
 Cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, 
 celery, cucumbers, lettuce, together with savory herbs, as 
 sweet marjoram, sweet basil, thyme, sage, lavender, etc., etc. 
 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, are that of burning 
 the plants by excessive heat, or of damping them ofl", 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 
 and airing the plants. As they grow up, if crowded, they 
 should be thinned out, so as not to run up spindling. 
 
 ORIGINAL RECIPES. 
 
 When we say original, we don't mean that no one ever 
 employed the same recipes, but only this, that we have 
 obtained them, not from books, but from good and skillful 
 housewives. 
 
 Epicure's Corn bread. — ^Upon two quarts of sifted corn- 
 meal, pour just enough boiliag 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 
 raeal and mix thoroughly. Next, add a pint of sour cream, 
 or butter-milk, or sour milk (which stand ir the order of 
 their value). Dissolve two teapoonfuls of saleratus in hot 
 water, and stir it in. Put it in buttered pans and bake it 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 255 
 
 In winter, it may be mixed over night and in that case, 
 the eggs and saleratus should not be put in until morning. 
 When ready for the oven, the mixture ought to be about as 
 thin as 'good mush^ and if not, more cream should be 
 added. 
 
 If you are not an epicure already, you will be in danger 
 of becomhig 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 pmt 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, 
 refeiTing to the ingredients generally used in cakes and 
 pastry, we subjoin a list of weights and measures. 
 
256 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 WEIGHT AND MEASUR 
 
 Wheat flour 
 Indian meal 
 Butter, when soft 
 Loaf-sugar, broken. 
 White sugar, powdered, 
 Best brown sugar 
 Eggs 
 
 one pound 
 
 one pound two ounces, 
 
 one pound one ounce, 
 
 one pound 
 
 one pound one ounce, 
 
 one pound two ounces, 
 
 ten eggs 
 
 is one quart 
 is one quart, 
 is one quart, 
 is one quart. 
 is one quart, 
 is one quart, 
 are one pound. 
 
 LIQUID MEASURI 
 
 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 measui-e to be as nearly 
 correct as possible. 
 
 COOKING VEGETABLES. 
 
 While we believe meat to be necessary to laboring men, 
 we are equally sure that it is used to excess ; for persons of 
 a sedentary habit, vegetable diet is supposed to be much 
 more wholesome, because much less stimulating than meat. 
 Whatever shall make vegetables more relishful will 
 extend their popular use, and therefore any simple recipe 
 for cooking them is a public good. The following are 
 taken fresh from the kitchen, and we will vouch for their 
 being good, although there may be other ways still better. 
 
 1. Geeens. — The articles employed for greens are numer- 
 ous ; we merely mention the following : — sprouts of turnip 
 
ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARSIING. 257 
 
 and cabbage, dandelions, lamb's quarters, red-rooted 
 plantain, cowslip, wild pepper-grass, purslain, young beet- 
 t02:)s, 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 uj) 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. 
 
258 PLAIX AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 4. Peas. — ISTo vegetable depends more for its excellence 
 upon good cooking than peas. Have them freshly gathered 
 and shelled, but never toash them. If they are not per- 
 fectly clean, roll them in a dry cloth; but even this is sel- 
 dom required, and then only through carelessness. Pour 
 them dry into the cooking dish, and put as much salt over 
 them as is required, then pour on boiling water enough to 
 cover them ; 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- 
 spoonfuls 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 FETJITS, FLOWEES A^S^D FAEMING. 259 
 
 necessary to add a little more to it before taking it away 
 from the fire, as this is an essential part of the affair. 
 
 6. Salsify oe Otstee-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 wdth 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 ujd. 
 
 9. Pie-plant. — This important vegetable — among the 
 earliest, the most wholesome, and of the easiest culture — 
 should be found in every garden, and served up on every 
 table during the spring and early summer. To prepare it 
 for use, strip off the skin, slice it thin, put into a dish with 
 a few spoonfuls of boiling w^ater, 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 in a scalding state. A little nutmeg o'' lemon 
 
260 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 peel, put in while it is hot, improves the flavor. When cool, 
 it may be used for tarts, or pies, with or without upper 
 crust ; it also makes a better apple-ssiuce 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 in 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. 
 
 FAEMERS, 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 every 
 hard shower." Did he take the hint, and convey such 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 261 
 
 liquid mauure 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 fanner 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 soU as too loose 
 and hght ; 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 fi-om off a 
 grass or clover lay. Does he take the hint ? Does he 
 adojjt 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- 
 
262 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 kets became empty and the price rose ; a few men who 
 had stuck to the busmess pushed in their droves and made 
 money ; and now everybody is raising mules again. The 
 same game is played every four or five years with pork ; 
 men make when pork is scarce, but few farmers have stock 
 on hand. They instantly rush into the business, flood the 
 country with hogs and get almost nothing for them. Why 
 don't men take the hint ? A moderate stock all the time^ 
 makes more money than that system which has none when 
 the price is high and too many when the price is low. 
 
 Because one year, the wheat crop has been very large 
 and fine, and the price low, not half so much will be put in 
 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 18 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. 
 
 EESPECTT^G THE AETICLES 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, 263 
 
 consequence of the use of adulterated lead. The poorest 
 lead is sold without any brand. The common article is 
 branded as ISTo. 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 ahoays 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, lithai-ge 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-pots. The lead is to be mixed according to the work 
 to be done. If paint is laid on in heavy coats it wiU crack 
 and peel off. If several thin coats are successively laid on, 
 it forms a solid body. The first coat is called priming. 
 The lead is made quite thin with oil for priming. Before 
 laying it on, let the work be cleaned, all dust and dirt be 
 
264 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 removed. The surface is then covered evenly with paint, 
 and allowed to dry thoroughly. 
 
 Second Coat. — Let nail-holes, cracks, etc., be filled with 
 putty ; for colored painting, red-lead putty is the best. 
 The paint should be mixed to the thickness of thin cream, 
 and laid on evenly^ but not in too great quantities. In nice 
 work, after this coat has thoroughly dried, it should be 
 rubbed do^vn with pumice-stone or fine sand-paper. The 
 third coat is to be laid on as was the second. Three coats, 
 at least, are required for good painting. Four or five will 
 be still better. 
 
 Paint mixed with boiled oil usually has a glossy appear- 
 ance. If it is desired to increase this, small portions of 
 varnish are added. This is usually confined to outside 
 work. 
 
 In cities the glossy surface of paint, is dis-esteemed for 
 inside work ; and instead, a 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 coloi's are not susceptible of being cleaned by wash- 
 ing more that once or tmce, 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. 265 
 
 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 fi'esh 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 mthout 
 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 time 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 milJc 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 
 
266 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 in water, out of which it is to be immediately taken, and 
 left to slake La the air. For fine white paint the oil of 
 caraAvay is best, because colorless ; but with ochres the com- 
 monest oils may be used. The oil when mixed with the 
 milk and lime entirely disappears, and is totally dissolved 
 by the lime, forming a calcareous soap. The whiting or 
 ochre is to be gently crumbled on the surface of the fluid, 
 which it gradually imbibes, and at last sinks : at this 
 period it must be well stirred in. This paint may be 
 colored like distemper or size-color, with levigated charcoal, 
 yellow ochre, etc., and used in the same manner. The 
 quantity here prescribed is sufficient to cover twenty-seven 
 square yards with the first coat, and it wUl cost about three 
 halfpence a yard. The same paint will do for outdoor 
 work by the addition of two ounces of slaked lime, two 
 ounces of linseed oU, and two ounces of white Burgundy 
 pitch : the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat with the oil, 
 and then added to the smooth mixture of the milk and 
 lime. In cold weather it must be mixed warm, to facilitate 
 its incorporation with the milk." 
 
 We add several recipes of various convenient kinds of 
 paint to be employed in particular situations, and for special 
 ])urposes. 
 
 "-4 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 a fire, 
 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 
 wiU 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 rEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 267 
 
 " Composition to lay on a hoarded building^ to resist the 
 weather and likewise fire. — ^Take one measure of fine sand, 
 two measures of wood-ashes well sifted, three of slaked 
 lime ground up with oil, and mix them together ; lay this 
 on with a brush, the first coat thin, the second thick. This 
 adheres so strongly to the boards covered with it, that it 
 resists an iron tool, and the action of fire, and is impene- 
 trable by water." 
 
 " A flexible paint for canvas is made by stirring into 
 fifty-six pounds of common oil paint a solution of soap lye, 
 made of half a pound of soap and three pounds of water : it 
 must be used while warm," 
 
 " A black coloring for garden loalls may be made by 
 mixing quicklime, lampblack, a little copperas, and hot 
 water." 
 
 GARDEN WEEDS. 
 
 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 doAvn 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 soU, 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 
 purslaia {Portulacca oleracea), commouly called pussly. 
 It comes in May and lasts through the summer. One plant 
 
268 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 bears seed enough for a whole acre. It is very tenacious 
 of Hfe, The least bit of root sprouts again, and when 
 rooted up, if a single fibre touches the soil, it starts off in 
 full vigor. When boiled it furnishes a very palatable article 
 of "greens." We go over the ground with a hoe, then 
 rake it into heaps and wheel it to the barn-yard. Hogs 
 are fond of it, and it is said to fatten them well. It is 
 somewhat amusing to those who are vexed at its insuper- 
 able intrusiveness and its inevitable vigor, to hear English 
 garden-books speaking of it as " somewhat tender," of rais- 
 ing it on hot-beds, of drilling it in the open garden, of 
 watermg 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 i% 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 groimd 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 vdll furnish good manure. Again, 
 when cut-worms are very numerous, when tomatoes and 
 cabbages have been set out on a clean compartment, we 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 269 
 
 iia\ e lost from a half to two-thirds of the jilants. If the 
 weeds are kept down just about the hill, and permitted to 
 grow for a few weeks, between the rows, although it has a 
 very slovenly look, it will save the cabbages, etc., by giving 
 ample foot to the cut-worm. When the plants grow tough 
 in the stem the weeds may be lightly spaded in, and the 
 surface levelled with a rake. 
 
 LUCERNE. 
 
 This admirable plant is not so well known as it should be. 
 It resembles a clover, and is used for green food for cattle, 
 for which it is peculiarly adapted both by its nutriciousness 
 and its endurance of repeated cuttings. Care must be 
 taken to put it upon the right soil and it will bear mowing 
 four or five times a year, and will last for ten years — with 
 care five years more ! The 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 
 defiance 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 Thaer says six to eight pounds, 
 while his French editor says from sixteen to eighteen. We 
 
270 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 has this 
 peculiar excellence, that, thanks to its very long roots, it 
 withstands our severest droughts ; indeed our hottest and 
 dryest summers are those which it seems to delight in. 
 
 FA]VnLY GOVERmiENT. 
 
 " William ! stop that noise, I say — wonH you stop ! Stop, 
 I tell you, or I'U slap your mouth." 
 
 William bawls a Uttle 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. 271 
 
 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 mix kindness and firmness together in managing 
 children." 
 
 " I think so," said the preacher ; " firmness first and then 
 kindness." 
 
 " Yes, sir, that's my practice exactly." 
 
 CATALOGUE OF FLOWERS, SEEDS, AND FRUITS. 
 
 We have received from difierent 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 quaHties if planted in summer. We therefore 
 seek and find a summer variety. This again fails for late 
 
272 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 autumnal use, and we procure a (so called) winter sort. 
 We need one pea for its earliness : but early fruit seldom 
 has size or a high flavor ; we desire other varieties, there- 
 fore, for flavor, even though, in giving them a longer 
 period to perfect their juices, we have a late pea. But some 
 men raise peas for market, and cannot afibrd to raise a pea 
 merely because fine-flavored, unless also it is prolific. Then, 
 once more, market peas must be raised, usually as a field- 
 pea, and sown broadcast. Some peas stand up stronger 
 than others, and these are of course preferred. Now, as we 
 cannot find any vegetable that combines all the quahties of 
 earliness, size,fiavor, and adaptation to variety of soil and 
 diversity of cultivation, we come as near to it as possible, 
 by gaining varieties, in which some one or more of these 
 qualities are better developed than in any others. The rea- 
 sons for multiplying varieties afford a rule by which they 
 may be limited. 
 
 The fact that a seed is a variety different from aU others 
 is no good reason for retaining or cultivating it ; it must, in 
 SOME respects, surpass others now in use, or it only encum- 
 bers the garden. What is the use of ten varieties of peas 
 ripening at the same time of one size, and differing from 
 each other in not one assignable particular ? When a cata- 
 logue enumerates j'l/'^y varieties of cabbage, or pea, or bean, 
 are we to believe that each of the fifty has a virtue peculiar 
 to itself? If not, if two-thirds of them have no merit 
 which is not found, and found in a higher degree, in the 
 one-third they have no business to be retained. Let the 
 one-third, stand and the rest be erased. We regard a very 
 fat catalogue as we do a very fat man — all the worse for its 
 obesity. In comparing catalogues, we are not left as much 
 without an authoritative standard of judgment, in respect 
 to a proper extension of the number of varieties, as might 
 at first appear. English gardening has been carried to such 
 a degree of excellence, both as an art and as a science, that 
 we may regard the deliberate judgment of the best gar 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AKD FARMING. 
 
 273 
 
 deners as law on this subject. When Loudon published his 
 invaluable " Encyclopedia of Gardening," he was permitted 
 by the London Horticultural Society to avail himself of the 
 services of the distinguished Monro in the department of 
 culinary vegetables. 
 
 Let us compare the catalogues of three first rate seedsmen 
 as it respects a multiplication of varieties, with Mr. Monro's 
 selections : 
 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Si 
 
 
 
 CM 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 9 
 17 
 
 15 
 10 
 
 ^5 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 8 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 49 
 
 7 
 20 
 47 
 
 15 
 24 
 61 
 
 8 
 12 
 56 
 
 Breck 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mr. Monro names nineteen kinds of peas only, instead 
 of forty-seven : t^centy-two kinds of beans instead of sixty- 
 one ; seven varieties of turnip instead of twenty-two^ or, 
 worse yet, thirty ; fourteen sorts of lettuce, instead of fifty- 
 two. 
 
 To the uninitiated a catalogue may look meagre with only 
 eight kinds of lettuce instead of fifty ; fifteen beans instead 
 of sixty-one^ etc., but these corpulent catalogues make 
 meagre pockets, except in the case of the seedsman. A 
 much greater latitude of varieties is allowable in a nursery 
 catalogue than in a seedsman's list. But in even these 
 there is a disposition to extravagance which needs to be cor- 
 rected. Where the disproportion of knowledge between 
 the buyers and seller is so great as it is, and for some time, 
 must be, in horticultural matters, it becomes nurserymen 
 and seedsmen who are honest (and we have many such, and 
 they are increasing) — those who regard their business as an 
 honorable branch of science., as well as a proper means of 
 livelihood, and who hope to gain a high reputation^ even 
 
274 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 more than they do wealth, it becomes such to render the 
 hsts SELECT ; and while the monstrously bloated catalogues 
 of boasting and avaricious men continue to perplex and de- 
 ceive the unwary, let all intelligent cultivators sustain 
 those who rely on the quality rather than quantity of their 
 articles. 
 
 GARDEN SEEDS. 
 
 Good seeds are the veiy first requisite for a good garden ; 
 SOU and culture cannot make good crops out of bad seed. 
 
 1. As a general rule, buy your seeds. The reasons for it 
 are so many and so good, that you will certainly do it, 
 imless economy prevent ; but it is better to economize else- 
 where. 
 
 In the first place, seed-raising is a delicate business \ and, 
 for many reasons, will be better done by those who make it 
 their business, than by those who do not. A reputable 
 seedsman never dreams of raising, himself, all the seeds 
 which he sells. For example, one sort of seed is let out to 
 a farmer who contracts to raise it in a given soil and man- 
 ner, and at a distance from all other seeds. One man raises 
 the beet seed — another man, very often hundreds of miles 
 distant, another sort. Peas are sent to Vermont and to 
 Canada, where the pea-bug does not infest them. Some 
 seeds, for which this climate is not favorable, are imported 
 from Italy, from Guernsey — just as floweriug bulbs are from 
 Holland. We suppose this to be true of Landreth, Thorn- 
 burn, Prince, Bliss, Risley, etc. In cases where seeds are 
 raised upon the premises of the seedsman, they are put on 
 difierent parts of the farm, as far apart as possible. 
 
 These precautions are indispensable to the procuration of 
 the best seeds of esculent vegetables. Species of the same 
 genus, with open flowers, are so easily crossed^ that, if 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING, 275 
 
 growTi contiguously, they cannot be kept pure. All cvcicrhi- 
 taceous plants, such as squashes, pumpkins, inelons, 
 cucumbers, gourds, etc., will mix and degenerate if planted 
 even in the same garden. Let any one who wishes to see 
 how it is done, watch the bee covering itself with golden 
 pollen as it searches for honey in the cells of the flower, and 
 darting off to another, mingling the fertihzing powder of 
 the two. In a single morning, cucumbers, will be mixed 
 with each other, and with canteloupes; squashes will be 
 crossed, and in the next generation will show it. Where 
 the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea, bean, etc., 
 by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their pollen. I 
 I have never known pure beet seed raised in a private gar- 
 den which had more than the single kind in it — or when 
 another garden was near which had other sorts. 
 
 We prefer, generally, northern seeds to those raised 
 elsewhere. A mere change of soil and climate is often 
 advantageous to seeds. But besides this, greater care and 
 skill are usually employed at the north in producing sound 
 and safe seeds. 
 
 We can recommend, from repeated trials, the seeds of 
 Risley, Chatauque county, N. Y., and of Mr. Breck of 
 Boston. Landreth of Philadelphia has a high re2)utation ; 
 so have the veteran Thorburn of John Street, and the enter- 
 prising house of B. K. Bliss &> Sons of Park Place, New 
 York. 
 
 2. Some seeds retain their power of gei'mination to an 
 astonishing length of time, as will appear from facts stated 
 by Prof. Lindley : 
 
 " Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken 
 from the Pyramids having germinated, melons have been 
 knoAvn to grow at the age of 40 years, kidney beans at 100, 
 sensitive-plant at 60, rye at 40 ; and there are now grow- 
 ing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberry 
 
276 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 plants raised from seeds IGOO or 1700 years old." (See 
 " Introduction to Botany," ed. 3, p. 358.) 
 
 But in selecting seeds, fresh ones should be had if pos- 
 sible. Where, however, the vegetable is cultivated for the 
 sake of its flower, or its fruit, it is sometimes better to select 
 old seed. Thus balsamines (the touch-me-not) and the 
 cucumber, squash and melon tribe do better on seeds three 
 or four years old ; for fresh seeds produce j^lants whose 
 growth will be too luxuriant for producing fruit ; whereas 
 from old seed, the plants have less vigor of growth but a 
 greater tendency to fruit weU. 
 
 We insert a table, exhibiting the years which different 
 seeds will retain their vitality. 
 
 TIMB THAT SEEDS WILL KEEP. 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Asparagus 4 or 13 
 
 Balm 2 
 
 Basil 1 or 3 
 
 Beans 1 or 2 
 
 Beets 8 or 10 
 
 Borage 2 
 
 Cabbage 6 or 8 
 
 Carrot 1 or 7 
 
 Celery 6 or 8 
 
 Corn 2 or 3 
 
 Cress 2 
 
 Cucumber 8 or 10 
 
 Caraway 4 
 
 Fennel 6 
 
 Garlic 3 
 
 Leek 3 or 4 
 
 Lettuce 3 or 4 
 
 Mangel Wurtzel 8 or 10 
 
 TVAtBi 
 
 Marjoram 4 
 
 Melon 8 or 1(1 
 
 Mustard 3 or 4 
 
 Nasturtium 2 or 3 
 
 Onion 3 
 
 Parsley 6 or 6 
 
 Parsnip 1 
 
 Pea 2 or 3 
 
 Pumpkin 8 or 10 
 
 Pepper 5 or 6 
 
 Radish 6 or 8 
 
 Rue 3 
 
 Ruta Baga 4 
 
 Salsify 2 
 
 Savory 3 or 4 
 
 Spinage 3 or 4 
 
 Squash 8 or 10 
 
 Turnip 3 or 4 
 
ABOUT FKUIT6, FLOWERS A.ND FARMING. 277 
 
 FARMERS' GARDENS. 
 
 Farmers are apt to have very inferior gardens. The 
 idea is, that in the spring they have no time ; the fai-m crops 
 are of more importance. In consequence of such a decision, 
 no garden will be had unless the housewife is willing to be 
 gardenwife too. At her importunity at length one horse is 
 put to the plow and the garden is broken up — say four 
 inches deep. Possibly the boy is allowed to throw up the 
 beds, but very often even this is left to woman's hand. She 
 has to hunt up seed ; peppers are pulled off from the ceiling 
 and eviscerated ; drawers are ransacked for the bag of ra- 
 dish seed or the paper of lettuce seed ; the old broken 
 pitcher is taken from its long seclusion on the top of the 
 cupboard and emptied of its beans and peas ; withal a few 
 flower seeds are added to grace the stock — four o'clocks, 
 poppies, marigolds, and touch-me-nots. Our gardenwife is 
 not so admirable for lily hands or fair face, or fairy form. 
 She cannot walk over dewy flowers without crushing them, 
 as can a true heroine ; for her specific gravity gives evidence 
 of a good constitution, health and habits. 
 
 Her praise is, that in a new country where woman unques- 
 tionably suffers the most of hardships, she is cheerful, con- 
 tented, industrious, enterprising, and, like women the world 
 over, seeks to draw around herself objects of taste and 
 beauty to decorate and cheer her husband's and her child 
 ren's home ; and, if necessary, to do it by the field-labor of 
 her own hands. We could not forbear saying so much of 
 the meritorious gardener of more than half the rural gar 
 dens in the West. 
 
 The seeds all mustered, she may be seen, after the break- 
 fast things are all done up, busy with spade and hoe, hiding 
 her treasures. And thus she does it. First a Hberal suit 
 of onion beds — savory vegetables to the tongue and most 
 unsavory to the nose — ^making it almost impossible for these 
 respectable neighbors to live together in peace, one or 
 
278 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 other of them being in bad odor with the other. Next, a 
 seed-bed full of cabbages — significant to the imagination of 
 cold-slaw, sourcrout, etc. A good row of peas, and a few 
 hills of running beans are added. The alleys are ruffled 
 with bush beans ; a few early potatoes, some corn for roast- 
 ing-ears, with a slender bed for beets, complete the stock 
 of esculents. But sage, and summer savory, and thyme, and 
 rue, and sweet marjoram, tansy, boneset and wormwood 
 are attended to ; a part for stuffing ducks and chickens — 
 and the others for curing those who have been too much 
 stuffed with them. The garden yields in due time its first 
 fruits ; the potatoes come and go, the 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 aU 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 httle labor. A single-horse plow will dress 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 279 
 
 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 gromid 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 soU be thrown up during the open weather into 
 ridges, an immense number of insects will be unburrowed 
 and destroyed ; stiff clayey soUs wiU 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 wiU benefit the 
 ground, and may be so^vn now. Clear the ground of aU 
 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 afibrd a fine time 
 for going to the woods and cutting poles for your beans, 
 stakes for your trees and dahlias, brush for peas, etc. 
 While you are about it, collect moss from old logs, and put 
 away ia 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 
 
280 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 — Noisette and China roses. Freezing and thawing at the 
 crown of the roots, destroys them oftener than anything 
 else. 
 
 On mild days when the earth is open, sow lettuce seed in 
 a warm corner, beat it gently with the back of the shovel, 
 and cover it slightly with 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. 
 
 HI^^ Let alone the knife and saw. Your vines and trees 
 will not be benefited by any pruning at this season. 
 
 PARLOR FLOWERS. 
 
 Water fi-eely 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 they 
 will else revive. Plants should have fresh air every day. 
 
4.B0UT FRUITS, FLOWERS AN1> FARMING. 281 
 
 A SALT RECIPE. 
 
 There is a gi'eat fashion, now-a-days, in all papers, to 
 set forth useful recipes for every imagmable 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 Meview^ or the 
 Edinburgh jRevieio 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- 
 mg 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 clearly written 
 recipes for all the dishes used by the people whose lan- 
 guage it sets forth. "We have been led into this grand 
 prairie of reflections by a recij)e found in a country paper 
 which unquestionably is salty. 
 
 " Indian Baked Pudding. — Indian pudding is good and 
 wholesome, baked. Scald a quart of milk, and stir in seven 
 
PLAIN AND PLKASANT TALK 
 
 table spoonfuls* of salt, a tea-cupful of molasses, and a great 
 spoonful of ginger, or sifted cinnamon. Bake three or four 
 hours. If you want whoy you must be sure and pour in a 
 little cold milk, after it is all mixed. Try it," 
 
 If Misses Leslie, Childs, etc, refuse to mother such a 
 recipe, with no Indian meal in it, but seven mortal spoon- 
 fuls of salt, then we will consider it as emanating from Lot's 
 wife. We are sure if one should eat many such puddings, 
 he would speedily come to her estate. 
 
 CULTURE OF CELERY. 
 
 We know of no vegetable which requires more care and 
 skill in its cultivation, from beginning to end, than celery- 
 An inexperiened hand will be aj^t to fail in planting his seed, 
 fail in preparing the trenches, and fail in earthing up the 
 plants and bleaching them. And yet, celery is so generally 
 a favorite that every family desires it, and every gardener 
 is willing to cultivate it. 
 
 Seed Sowing. — The seed is exceedingly slow in germi- 
 nation, and, if not assisted artificially, will lie three and 
 sometimes four weeks without sprouting. We soak the 
 seed in water, (a solution of oxalic acid would be much 
 better), for twenty-four hours : turn off the water, and then 
 add and stir up a few handfuls of sand, well moistened, and 
 let the seed stand in a stove room or other warm place, for 
 two or three days. The sand will now be nearly dry ; if it 
 be not, add dry sand to it until it is perfectly powdery, 
 and can be sown without falling in lumps. Besides hasten- 
 ing its germination, mixing the seed with sand ena- 
 bles the operator to sow it with greater facility and 
 evenness. Select a shaded spot, let the earth be rich, 
 rather inclined to moisture, and perfectly mellow. Sow 
 
ABOUT FKTJITS, FLOWERS AND FARMLNG. 283 
 
 the seed broadcast, and cover very thinly by siftiBg 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 maybe 
 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, w^eak 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. 
 
 Ci:LERY 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 Avhen you earth tip. 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 
 tnold 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. 
 
284 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Set the plants five inches apart, water them freely with a 
 fine rosed watering pot, and, if the sun is fierce, cover 
 the trenches daily from ten a.m. till evening with boards. 
 In about a week they wiU begin to grow and will need 
 no more shading. 
 
 Let them alone, except to weed, until the plants are from 
 twelve to fifteen inches high — at which time they are to be 
 earthed up. 
 
 Earthing Up. — In dry weather, with a short, hand-hoe, 
 draw in the earth gently from each side and Tjring 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. 
 
 Saying Celery in Winter. — ^Three ways may be men- 
 tioned. Letting it stand in the trench — in which case it 
 should be covered with long straw and boards so laid over 
 it that it will be protected from the wet, which is supposed 
 to be more prejudicial to it than mere cold. 
 
 The Boston market gardeners dig it late in autumn, trim 
 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 dar'j to air it goes into the barrel much wilted, but 
 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 bank up the earth 
 against it, set a row of roots and cover them with dirt, 
 then another row and so on. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 285 
 
 Solid celery is not a particular variety — any celery is solid 
 when properly grown — and if grown too rankly the most 
 solid celery in the woi'ld will be hollow. 
 
 We have seen it recommended to water the trenches once 
 or twice during the season with a weak brine of salt and 
 water. Besides the fertilizing effect of salt, it will have 
 the effect of retaining moisture in the soil, and what is of 
 yet more moment, it destroys the parasitical fungus 
 {Puccitica Heraclei) 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 vnth 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 aU cases when the 
 young trees are to be reset, at any rate, the second year 
 in nursery rows. 
 
286 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 CULTURE OF PIE-PLANT. 
 
 Beginners should in all cases, if possible, obtain a supply 
 of plants, from a proved sort, by dividing the root. Raising 
 from seed is an after, and an amateur practice. The first 
 object with every man is to supply his family with this 
 esculent, and not to experiment with new sorts. Let him 
 buy or beg from garden or nursery, enough buds to estab- 
 lish a bed, of some kind already known to be good. 
 
 The besi 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 dm-ing 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 fiill of the material of life, and a bud cut 
 off from the main root with a portion of the root attached, 
 has a supply of food until new roots are emitted, which in 
 good soil and weather will be in about a week. There is 
 the same vitality in autumn, and the only reason why it is 
 not so good for transplanting as spring, is the risk that the 
 buds and roots will rot off during the winter. A uniform 
 winter wUl scarcely injure one in a hundred, but constant 
 changes, freezing and thawing, will weaken, if not destroy 
 many of them. When, however, it is necessary to divide 
 and transplant in the fall, cover the bed full four inches 
 deep with coarse, strong manure. Although great care 
 will enable one to transplant a section of the root in mid- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 287 
 
 summer, yet we have found that when no more attention is 
 paid than in spring, nme plants are lost out of ten. The 
 reason is obvious. There is no reserved treasure of sap in 
 the root in summer, sucl\ 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 
 peremj)tori]y 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 main supjDly. 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 ofi"; the petioles 
 should be large ; the meat rich and substantial. There is 
 great difference between one sort and another in the 
 
288 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 amount of sugar required, in the delicacy of flavor, and iu 
 the property of stewing to a pulp, without wasting away. 
 
 A good variety of pie-plant, then, should be a vigorous 
 grower, prolific, large in the stalk, not apt to flowei", of a 
 sprightly acid without any earthy or woody taste, not stew- 
 ing away more than one-third when cooked, and not requir- 
 ing too much sugar. 
 
 We have observed in our trials that seedlings having 
 smooth leaves, with the upper surface varnished and glossy, 
 are seldom good ; while every plant which we have thought 
 worth keeping, had the upper surface of its leaves of a 
 deep, dull, lack-lustre green. 
 
 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 
 fix'st 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 will 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 from plant to plant, if of 
 the large kind, and two feet, if of the small. Very large 
 varieties require four feet every way. The buds should be 
 left just below the surface of the soil. 
 
 After Culttjke. — ^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 PEUTTS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 289 
 
 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 requu-ed 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 tUl 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 wi'ench 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. 
 
 Pbeseevb yoijr Pot-Plants. — ^We warn ladies having 
 pot-plants designed for winter-wear, to be prudent before 
 hand^ or some frosty night wUl 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. 
 
290 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 a hundred 
 bushels. 
 
 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. 
 
 Hakvesting. — 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 jjoultry, 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 vrill 
 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 FBUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 291 
 
 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. 
 
 (Bucholz.) (Leo Meier.) 
 
 Oil , 19.1 11.3 
 
 Husk, etc 38.3 44.4 
 
 Woody fibre and starch, 5.0 1.5 
 
 Sugar, etc 1.6 10.8 
 
 Gum, 9.0 n.\ 
 
 Soluble alb umea (Casein ?) 24.7 15.1 
 
 Insoluble do — 3.7 
 
 Wax and resin, 1.6 3.1 
 
 Loss, 0.7 3.0 
 
 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 ^eed. We append a table represent- 
 ing the richness of various seeds, etc., in oil. 
 
 Oil per cent. 
 
 Linseed (flax) 11 to 22 
 
 Hemp-seed, 14 to 25 
 
 Rape-seed, 40 to 70 
 
 Poppy-seed, 36 to 33 
 
 White mustard-seed, 36 to 48 
 
 Black mustard-seed, 15 
 
 Swedish turnip-seed, 34 
 
 Sun-flower seed, , 15 
 
 Walnut kernels- , 40 to 70 
 
292 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Hazel-nut kernels, 60 
 
 Beech-nut kernels, 15 to 11 
 
 Plum-stone do 33 
 
 Sweet almond kernels, 40 to 64 
 
 Bitter do. do 28 to 46 
 
 APRIL GARDEN-WORK. 
 
 Evert one will now be at work in the garden. A few 
 suggestions maj make your garden better. 
 
 Plowing Gardens. — We do not 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 spindhng little 
 plows, drawn by a little meagre horse, will skun 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 vsdthout 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 shrubbery and perma- 
 nent beds, as of asparagus, pie-plant, strawberry, and plant- 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 293 
 
 ations of currants, raspberries, etc., spading is the only 
 method which can be employed. 
 
 Spading Shrubbert. — 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 abimdant 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 du"t, or of leaving 
 the surface uneven, and the edges ragged. If there is a 
 skillful gardener to be had, hire it done, and watch while 
 he performs, for any man who has seen a thing done in a 
 garden once, ought to be ashamed if he cannot himself do 
 it afterwards. 
 
 Spading Vegetable Beds. — ^Asparagus, pie-plant, straw- 
 berries, etc., require enriching every year, and to have the 
 manure forked or spaded in. It is easy to perform this 
 upon strawberries, and a spade is preferable. A three or 
 four-pronged fork is better for asparagus and pie-plant. Be 
 careful not to tear or cut the crowns of the plants. No 
 material injury ensues from clipping the side fibres, m the 
 sjyring; in summer, when a plant reqxiires all its mouths to 
 supply sap for its extended surface of leaf, it is not wise to 
 cut the roots or fibres at all, but only to keep the surface 
 mellow and fi^iable. 
 
 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 
 
294 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 in five years, and 
 by dividing the garden into sections, and performing this 
 thorough-spading on one of the sections each year, the pro- 
 cess wiU 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 corn to the acre. 
 
 This man had a brother about six miles off, settled on 
 a rich White River bottom-land farm — and while a black- 
 jack clay soil yielded seventy bushels to the acre, this fine 
 bottom-land would not average fifty. One brother was 
 steadily growing rich on poor land, and the other steadily 
 growing poor on rich land. 
 
 One day the bottom-land brother came down to see the 
 black-jack oak farmer, and they began to talk about their 
 crops and farms, as farmers are very apt to do. 
 
ABOUT PEUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 295 
 
 "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 me7i expect to work their land ; — and th at is just 
 the diiFerence 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 ofi". 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 i:)repared 
 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 Avill. Mud on the shoes from 
 roads and fields is all well enough ; but mud from one's own 
 
296 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 yards, shows that the owner has not fixed up as he ought 
 to have done. 
 
 If your stables are old, examine the floor ; or some night 
 may let a horse through, to come ou^t lame for life. If you 
 have a dirt floor, see that it is carefully laid, and remember 
 that if it be inclined either way, it should be from the rack 
 and not toward it. Let your wagons, carts, ploAvs, 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 
 plaster, and it is time now to i:»ut 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 sufiS^ 
 ciently snug can be made without calling in the carpenter 
 or buying lumber. 
 
ABOUT FBUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING '297 
 
 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, 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 JBassano, 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 wiU 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 deUcate, 
 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- 
 flier for 1841. The edition for 1842 states that this variety is highly 
 esteemed in the north of Italy, and that it is, in fact, one of the best kinds 
 for the table. — Hovey^s Magazine. 
 
298 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 lost. We very seldom see an unmixed variety in common 
 gardens, unless seed have been bought from good seeds- 
 men. 
 
 The best seed is a small black seed about the size of a 
 pin head, enveloped in a ragged, rough, two or three lobed 
 husk. Every seeming seed planted, then, is a mere envel- 
 ope of two or more seeds, and two or three plants come up, 
 very much to the surprise of the inexperienced, for each 
 husk. When a little advanced, they are to be thinned out 
 to one in a place. 
 
 We i^refer planting very early, and in rows eight inches 
 apart and at about one inch distant in the row. As the plants 
 begin to gain size they make very delicate greens ; and for 
 this purpose are to be boiled, leaf, root, and all. Continue 
 to thin out until one is left for every six inches 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 test 
 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 jiotatoes, beets, parsnips, ruta bagas, or 
 anything else, are as good for stock, though not so palat- 
 able to men. To be sure they fill up. But that which is 
 nutriment to man is nutriment to beast ; a vegetable which 
 is rank and watery is no better for my cow than for us. 
 It is not the bulk but the quality that measures the fitness 
 of articles for food. 
 
 Parsnip. — This vegetable is, to those who are fond of it, 
 very desirable, as commg in at a time when other things are 
 failing. For, although the parsnip attains its size by 
 autumn, yet its flavor seems to depend upon its receiving a 
 pretty good frosting. It may be dug at ojDen spells through 
 the winter and early in the spring. It gives one of the 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 299 
 
 first indications of returning warmth, and its green leaves 
 are among the first wliich cheer the garden. On this ac- 
 count it must be dug early in the spring and housed, or it 
 will spoil by growth. 
 
 We know of no difference in varieties. The Guernsey^ 
 is not a different sort from the common, but only the com- 
 mon sort, very highly cultivated in that island, where it 
 sometunes grows to a length of four feet. The holloio- 
 crovjned and Siani 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 fomid 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. 
 
 Carrot. {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 in the field 
 for stock. A horse becomes more fond of them than of oats, 
 and they do not, like the potato, require boiling before feed 
 ing out. A thousand bushels may be raised to the acre. 
 The premium of the New York Agricultural Society for the 
 year 1844, was to a crop of 1,059 bushels the acre. 
 The seed should be new each year, as it will not 
 come well even the second year, and not at all if kept yet 
 longer. 
 
 Radish. — Every garden has its bed of rad'thes, and they 
 
300 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 
 fi'om worms. 
 
 The short-top scarlet, is the best for spring planting. It 
 is so named, because, from its rapid growth the top is yet 
 small when the root is fit for the table. There is a white 
 and red turnip-rooted variety, also good for spring use. 
 The turnip-rooted kinds have not only the shape, but some- 
 thing of the sweetness and flavor of the turnip, and are by 
 some preferred to all others. For summer planting, there 
 is a yeUow turnip-rooted sort and the summer white. For 
 fall and early winter, the white and black Spanish are 
 planted. When radishes are sown broadcast, it must be 
 very thinly, for if at all crowded they run to top, and 
 refuse to form edible roots. For our own use, we sow on 
 the edges of beds, devoted to onions, beets, etc., and thrust 
 each seed down with the finger. 
 
 The radish i^Raphanus sativus) is a native of China, and 
 was introduced to England before 1584. 
 
 Salsify, ok 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 FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. oOl 
 
 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 
 pass through them easily. Without turnmg 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 diflicult to raise. 
 
 Of kidney or bush beans, there is a long catalogue of 
 sorts. The Mohawk is good for its hardmess, 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 supersede 
 all others were it a little earlier. It is immensely prolific . 
 
B02 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Its flavor unrivalled, and nearly the same in the dry bean 
 as when cooked in its green state, a quality which has 
 never, we believe, been found in any other variety. To 
 supjily the deficiency of this variety in earliness, 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 ( Viciafaha) 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 rmdtifloris) is a native of 
 South America, and was introduced to England in 1633. 
 
 Pole beans are not strictly annuals. In a climate where- 
 the winter does not destroy them they bear again the 
 second year, and we believe yet longer. Gov. Pinney, 
 of Liberia, on the African coast, stated in a lecture, speak- 
 ing of the vegetable productions of that region, that the 
 bean was a permanent vine like the grape, bearing its crops 
 from year to year without replanting. The bush bean is 
 strictly an annual. If the pole bean were protected in the 
 ground, or raised and put away like sweet potatoes, 
 dahlias, etc., in the cellar and replanted in the spring it 
 would bear again the second season. Perhaps an 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 Avell grown and well cured. They are 
 excellent for sheep, not from their fattening properties, but 
 for improving their fleece. Analysis has shown them to be 
 rich in those properties which are " wool-gathering." 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWBES AND FARMING. 303 
 
 FIELD ROOT CROPS. 
 
 From mid-winter, and especiaWj Just before spring opens, 
 beets, carrots, pai'snips, potatoes, ruta baga, and mangel 
 wurtzel are of the highest utility. After months of dry 
 fodder, and of slops thickened with corn-meal, cattle need — 
 their stomach, their blood need — a change of diet ; and none 
 can be better than roots. At the East it is no longer a de- 
 batable question — root crops are as regularly laid in as 
 grain or grass crops. The chief difficulty at the East, in 
 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. 
 There the very essence of life is change. The population 
 have broken up from old homesteads, moved off from old 
 States, abandoned the comforts and settled life of long 
 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 farmers, our 
 stock farmers who " hog" one or two hundred acres of corn, 
 of their own planting or of their neighbor's, they do not 
 love little work. We know a man who lives on thirty acres 
 of land of about a middling quality. He winters seven 
 cows, two horses, and two pigs. He raises corn and grass 
 
304 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 aU 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, that if the 
 shrewd housewife would keep her eagle eyes off long enough 
 to give us a chance, it would be found that this man has 
 made, and laid up, more money in the last five years from 
 his thirty acres, than any farmer about here from six times 
 the amount. Our farmers have not grown rich on large 
 and careless farming j but many are growing rich on small 
 farm^s and careful husbandry. 
 
 When the dairy shaU 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 Qhanging 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 orna- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 305 
 
 meiit, everything can be sacrificed to the production of 
 wood and foliage. But in fruit-trees wood is nothing and 
 fi-uit 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 oi fruit. There is a way of gain- 
 ing fruit by a rapid consumption of the tree ; and there is a 
 method of gaining fruit by invigorating and prolonging the 
 tree. T^vo systems of cultivation grow out of these dif- 
 ferent methods — a natural system and an artificial system. 
 All cultivation is artificial, even the rudest. JBy 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 belongs 
 to an artificial system as I have spoken of it above. 
 
306 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Impatient of delay, the cultivator presses his trees foiward 
 by stimulating applications, or retards them by violent 
 interference — by prunings at the root or branch, by bend- 
 ing or binding ; everything is sacrificed for early and abun- 
 dant bearing. Fine fruit yards, designed to last a hundred 
 years, are served with a treatment proper only to a con- 
 servatory or experimental garden. This high-toned system 
 is 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 unleai'ned before we shall have attained 
 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 and 
 cultivated varieties. A comparison between wild and 
 tame, between cultivated and natural, between seedling and 
 and grafted fruit, is certainly to the advantage of seedHng 
 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 
 prize it as among the last he ever wrote ; another, received 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 307 
 
 not long after, was dictated ; but signed by his tremialous 
 hand in letters which speak of death), lie says, '■'•Pears hear 
 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 fi-uit, it is also 
 accomj)anied with premature age and liability to diseases, 
 we do not wish to be imderstood as opposang 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 fi-uits 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 
 under an ardent sim, not only is the growth of trees greater 
 in any given season, than in a poor soil, but the growth is 
 coarser and the grain coarser. But what is a coarse growth, 
 and what is fine-grained, or coarse-grained timber ? — timber 
 in which the vascular system has been greatly distended, in 
 which sap-vessels and air-cells are large and coarse. Where 
 wood is formed with great rapidity and with a super 
 abimdance of sap, not only will there be large ducts and 
 
308 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 vessels, but the sap itself M^dll be but imperfectly elaborated 
 by the leaves. We may supj^ose that overfeeding in vege- 
 tables is, in its effects, analogous to overfeeding in animals. 
 The sap is but imperfectly decomposed in the leaf — it passes 
 into the channels for elaborated sap in a partially undigested 
 state — it deposits imperfect secretions, and the whole tissue 
 resulting from it will partake of the defects of the proper 
 juiced 
 
 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 
 xoildings. 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 brmg 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 eap is 
 first taken up by the roots it is called true sap ; but after it has under- 
 gone a change in the leaves it is caWedi proper juice. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 309 
 
 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. e. the rapidity with which it will grow, determines its 
 favor. Sorts which take time, and require a longer treat- 
 ment, are regarded with disfavor. Everything is sacrificed 
 to rapid growth and eax-ly 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 fi-uit 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, stiif, barren soUs, 
 and in a cool, or humid, or cloudy atmosphere, trees 
 require stimulants. The soU 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 in Lapland would require the most bracing 
 and stimulating food ; but in New Orleans it would produce 
 fever and death, A region, subject to all the diseases and 
 evils of vegetable plethora, has adopted the practice of 
 regions subject to the opposite evils. While receiving with 
 gratitude, at the hands of eminent foreign physiologists 
 and cultivators, the principles, we must establish the 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 falla- 
 
310 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ciouB 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 
 long run we shall have to pay for our greedy cultivation, 
 even in the apple family. Our pear-trees are already 
 evincing the evils of a too luxuriant habit ; and if the West 
 is ever to become the pear-region of America, the culture 
 of this tree must be adapted to the peculiai'ities of western 
 soil and climate. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that our remarks upon the culti- 
 vation of fruit-trees are not applicable to the processes of 
 art employed in experimental gardens, or in climates 
 requiring a highly artificial culture, but to gardens and 
 open orchards of the pear and apple in the middle and 
 Western States. 
 
 Our climate and soil predispose fruit-trees to excessive 
 growth. There is, in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 and in the thickly settled portions of Missouri and Ken- 
 tucky, very little poor soil. Limestone lands, clay lands, 
 sandy loams and alluvions, aflbrd not only variety of soil, 
 but the strongest and most fertile. The forest trees of the 
 West compared with the same species east of the Alleghany 
 ridge, exhibit the diiference of soils. Artificial processes 
 may prodiice better soils, it may be, but there is not pro- 
 bably on earth so large a body of land which is, as 
 uniformly, deep, strong, quick, and rich in all mineral and 
 vegetable substances. It is cultivated under a climate most 
 congenial to vegetation, both in respect to length and tem- 
 perature. Our spring is early. In 1835 we gathered 
 flowers from the woods, near Cincinnati, on the 22d of 
 February. In 1839 we gathered them at Lawrenceburgh, 
 in the last week of February. We find in our garden 
 journal at Indianapolis, latitude 39°55' north, March 11, 
 1840, " rose-bushes, honey-suckles, and willow trees had 
 
ABOUT FEDITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIKG. 311 
 
 been in leaf for some days," and seed-sowing had begun. 
 In 1841, seed was sown in open ground, April 8tli. In 
 1842, pie-plant broke ground March 8th, and aU early seed 
 were in the ground by the 21st. In 1843, seeds were in by 
 April 20. In 1844 ground was in a working state Feb. 
 23 d, and seeds put in by March 1. Trees, varying according 
 to the nature of the season, complete \h.Q first growth, on an 
 average, about the 1st of September. Their second growth 
 continues, usually, into November. In 1844 we had noisette 
 roses pushing out terminal leaves after Christmas ; but this 
 is not a frequent occurrence. Upon an average, the middle 
 of March and the 1st of November, may be taken as the 
 limits of the vegetable year — a period of more than seven 
 months. During this season rains are copious, and fre- 
 quent. Our midsummer droughts are seldom so severe 
 upon vegetation as they seem to be in New England, 
 During the months of June, July and August, the tempe- 
 rature of mid-day seldom falls below 70° Fahren. and 
 ranges between 70° and 100°. 
 
 One other cause of rapid growth is to be mentioned 
 — the nature of our winters. Except when the roots are 
 frozen, they are supposed never to be mactive. During the 
 winter they slowly absorb materials from the soil, and fiU 
 the whole system with sap. When the winters are severe 
 they are usually very long ; and the slowness of its winter 
 action is compensated by the length of time afforded to the 
 plant. In the western States, though the winters are short, 
 yet there is scarcely a week in which trees may not accumu- 
 late their stores. The spring growth will be vigorous in 
 proportion to the amount of true sap collected in the vege- 
 table system. As the whole winter is mild enough for 
 this process to go on, the growth of trees is rampant in 
 spring. Thus, the quality of the soils, and the nature of 
 the seasons — the mildness of winter — the earhness of spring 
 and length of summer — its heat and great atmospheric bril- 
 liancy, an conspire to produce very rapid and strong 
 
312 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK. 
 
 growth in herb, shrub, and tree ; and I repeat, as a funda^ 
 mental consideration, that our soil and season predis- 
 pose FRUIT-TREES TO EXCESSIVE GROWTH. FrOm this fact 
 
 we should take our start in every process of orchard, nur- 
 sery, and garden cultivation of fruit-trees ; and if philoso- 
 phically employed it will, we will not say revolutionize, but 
 materially modify the processes of cultivation peculiar to 
 colder climates and poorer soils. In respect to esculent 
 vegetables — cabbages, radishes, celery, rhubarb, lettuce, 
 etc., this rank and rapid growth is beneficial, since it is not 
 the fruit but the plant which we eat. The reverse is true 
 in fruit-trees. Observant cultivators have conformed to 
 this indication of nature, in some things ; for instance, • in 
 the treatment of the grape. The German emigrants who 
 settled in these parts, having been conversant with vine- 
 dressing in Europe, were usually employed to cut and lay 
 in the vines of such as were desirous of the best gardens. 
 But, gradually, their practice has been rejected, and now, 
 instead of reducing our vines to niggardly stumps, the 
 wood is spared and laid in long. If pruning be close, the 
 vine may be said to overflow with excess of new wood, 
 which does not ripen well. Our remarks more especially 
 apply to regions below 40° of north latitude. 
 
 Below this line, our efforts need not be directed to the 
 forcing of growth, for that, naturally, will be all-suflicient. 
 Our object must be compact and thoroughly ripened wood. 
 These reasonings may be applied to many practices now 
 generally in vogue. 
 
 1. It is the practice of nurserymen to force their trees by 
 cultivation, and by prunmg. It is very well known, to 
 those conversant with the nursery business, that great grow- 
 ers and early growers are the favorites (and, so far as an 
 expeditious preparation of stock for sale is concerned, just- 
 ly), that slow and tedious growers are put upon rampant 
 growing stocks to quicken them. In some cases manures are 
 fi-eely applied to the soil, as directed by all writers who teach 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWIlBS AND FARMING. 313 
 
 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 xoith 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. 
 
 Fu-st, 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 lifetune 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 pears, 
 described as " of a vigorous growth," " a rampant grower," 
 " comes early into bearing," " bears young," " a great and 
 
314 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 early bearer." But suet as these — "not of a very vigorous 
 growth," " does not bear young," " the growth is slow but 
 healthy," " grows to a large size before producing fruit," — 
 are passed by. Many farmers judge of a tree as they 
 would timothy grass. A short-jointed, compact branch, is 
 " stunted p'' but a long, plump limb, like a water shoot, or 
 a Lombardy poplar branch, is admired as a first-rate growth. 
 Some i3ears have but this single virtue : they make wood in 
 capital quantities, but very poor pears. Now our selection 
 must proceed on different j^rinciples 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, aud 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 which 
 they are trimmed off. It ought to be laid down as a fimda- 
 mental rule with us, that a tree is benefited not hy the 
 amount of its wood, hut hy 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 FKITITS, FLOWERS AND FAEMING. 315 
 
 \ 
 
 leaf does not depend for its quality on the wood, hut the 
 \oood takes its nature from the leaf. Young ti-ees 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 owm 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 vsdU 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 yoimg trees. We have no doubt that the time will 
 come, when manures wUl 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 Avish wood., 
 we shall apply certain ingredients to the soil and have it ; 
 
316 PLAIN AISTD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 if we wish fruit, we shall have at hand manures which pro- 
 mote the fruiting properties of the tree ; if we want seed, 
 we shall have manures for it. But manures as now em- 
 ployed, are, usually, not beneficial to orchards of young 
 trees. A clay soil, very stiff and adhesive, may require 
 sand and vegetable mold to render it permeable to the root ; 
 some very barren soils may require some manure; but the 
 average of our farms are rich enough already, and too rich 
 for the good of the young tree. It would be better for the 
 orchard if it made less wood and made it better. 
 
 If these directions make the prospect of fruit so distant 
 as to discourage the planting of orchards, we will add, plant 
 your orchard ; and if you cannot wait for its healthful 
 gi'owth, 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. 
 
 OuE 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. SUMMER. 
 
 Red »r Carolina June. Prince's Harvest. 
 
 Summer Queen. Kirlcbridge White. 
 
 Yellow Hoss. Sweet June. 
 
 Sweet Bough. Daniel. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 
 
 317 
 
 II. AUTUMN. 
 
 Maiden's Blush. 
 Wine. 
 
 Holland Pippin. 
 Rambo. 
 
 Fall Harvey. 
 Gravenstein. 
 Ashmore. 
 Porter. 
 
 III. WINTER. 
 
 Black. 
 
 Golden Russet. 
 Newtown Spitzenberg. 
 Rhode Island Greening. 
 Hubbardston Nonsuch. 
 Vandeveer Pippin. 
 YeUow BeUe Fleur. 
 
 White Belle Fleur. 
 Michael Henry Pippin. 
 Pryor's Red. 
 Green Newtown Pippin. 
 Jenetan or Rawle's Janet. 
 Putnam Russet. 
 
 II. Pears. 
 
 I. Summer Pears, or such as ripen from the first of July to the last of 
 
 August. 
 
 1. Madeleine,or Ci*ron des Carmes. 4. Dearborn's Seedling. 
 
 2. Bloodgood. 5. Julienne. 
 
 3. Summer Francreai. 6. WilUams' Bon Chretien. 
 
 II. Autumn Pears, or stich as ripen from September to the last of No 
 
 vember. 
 
 1. 
 
 Stevens' Genesse. 
 
 14. 
 
 Beurre Bosc. 
 
 8. 
 
 BeUe Lucrative. 
 
 15. 
 
 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. 
 
 22. Hacon's Incomparable. 
 
 23. Passe Colmar. 
 
 24. Beurre Ranz. 
 
 25. Columbia. 
 
 26. Beurre D'Aremberg, 
 
 27. Van Mons Leon le Clerc. 
 
 28. Beurre Easter. 
 
 29. Chaumontelle. 
 
 30. Glout Morceau. 
 
 81. Prince's St. Germain. 
 
 82. Winter Nelis. 
 
318 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Those who wish only four trees, may select Nos. 2, 6, 20, 
 26. Those who have room for eighty to the above may add 
 13, 23, 25, 32. Those who wish sixteen trees, to the above 
 may add, 1, 3, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28. 
 
 III. Peaches. 
 
 1. Red Magdalen. 
 
 2. Early Royal George. 
 
 3. Early York. 
 
 6. Apricot Peach. 
 ^. Baltimore Rose. 
 
 8. Swalsh. 
 
 9. Noblesse. 
 
 10. Coolidge's Favorite. 
 
 15. Heath. 
 
 16. Crawford's late Melocoton. 
 
 I. KARLY. 
 
 4. Morris' Red Rareripe. 
 
 5. Crawford's Early Melocoton. 
 
 II. MEDIUM. 
 
 11. Malta. 
 
 12. Brevoort. 
 
 13. Douglass. 
 
 14. Grosse Mignoune. 
 
 III. LATE. 
 
 17. Lemon Cling. 
 
 18. La Grange. 
 
 IV. Apkicots. 
 
 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. 
 
 2. Black Eagle. 
 
 3. Knight's Early Black. 
 
 4. May Duke. 
 
 5. Elton. 
 
 7. Belle de Choisy. 
 
 8. Black Tartarian. 
 
 9. Downer's Late. 
 10. Napoleon. 
 
 For a collection of two trees, 4, 9 ; for four trees, add 
 6 and 10. 
 
 1. Green Gage. 
 
 2. Jeiferson, 
 
 3. Huling's Superb. 
 
 4. Coe's Golden Drop. 
 
 5. Purple Gage. 
 
 VI. Plums. 
 
 6. Cruger's Scarlet. 
 Y. Washington. 
 
 8. Red Gage. 
 
 9. Smith's Orleans. 
 
 10. Royal de Tours. ^ jT. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AOT) FARMING. 319 
 
 For two trees, 1 and 4 ; for four add 2 and 7. The fol- 
 lowing are said to be suitable for light sandy soUs, on which 
 plums usually drop their fi-uit : 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 fi-om 
 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 m 
 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 embarkmg 
 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. 
 
320 PLAIN AND PI,KASANT TAT,K 
 
 In the first place, the time, an (3 )ahor and natience ro- 
 qnired for a successful nursery business is ranch f^reater 
 than any one suspects beforehand. If a nan has a ]vge 
 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, esi^ecially 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 Boyal 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 
 Koyal George, which has proved to be no Royal George at 
 
ABOUT FEJITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 3'21 
 
 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, aj^ricots, 
 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 imderstand 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 3se on the other side, 
 with poppies, would not be touched. 
 
322 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 snap by being 
 drawn through such a space. 
 
 Two methods for originating new varieties of fruit have 
 been practised ; the natural method of Yan Mons, and the 
 artificial method of Knight. Van Mons, born at Brussels 
 in 1765, was a man of fine genius and thorough education. 
 Although he is chiefly known as a pomologist, his labors 
 in the nursery were only incidental to the regular occupa- 
 tion of a public scientific life. M. Poiteau quaintly says of 
 him that he writes " on the gravest subjects, in the midst 
 of noise, in a company of persons who talk loudly on frivo- 
 
A150UT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 323 
 
 loiis subjects, and takes pai't 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 he made hy cul- 
 tivation to vary from their condition^ which variations 
 may befixed^ and become permanent. 
 
 2. That all cidtivated seeds have a tendency to return to- 
 ward that natural state from which they originally varied. 
 We say toward, for he suj^posed that an improved fruit would 
 never return absolutely to the original and natural type. 
 
 It was upon this last principle tliat 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 improved 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 wiU begin to 
 augment and improve. The change is not merely upon the 
 size and ajspearance of the fruit, it affects also the qualities 
 of the seed. For if the seed be now planted, the difference 
 between a ^nld pear, in a state of nature and the same wild 
 pear-tree ^?^ 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. Wlien once the habit of variation is gained, the 
 foimdation of improvement is laid. In a short time the 
 enthusiasm of Van Mons had collected into his garden 
 80,000 trees upon which he was experimenting, nor can the 
 result of his labors be better stated than in the words of 
 M. Poiteau : 
 
 " That so long as plants remain in their natural situation, 
 they do not sensibly vary, and their seeds always produce 
 the same; but on changing their climate and territory 
 
324 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 seedhngs 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 difierence 
 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 afiTorded 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- 
 tioUi in six years, and those in the eight, in foui- 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, FLO WEES AND FAKMING. 325 
 
 when carried only to the fifth generation, required from 
 thirty to thirty-six years. 
 
 Hybridization, or Knigut's Method. — Andrew Knight, 
 one of the most original and jjhUosophic 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 owTi 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, in 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 skUl 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 
 i^nning out. 
 
 Van Mons believed that an improved variety tended to 
 return to its normal state — to its wUd 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 fruit 
 
326 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 cease by the natural statute of limitation ; according to 
 Van Mous, they only fall from grace. 
 
 There can be no reasonable doubt that Van Mons held 
 the truth, and as little, that Knight's speculations were 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 i\m\.Y 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 EngUsh. 
 Doubtless, there are trees of a delicate and tender habit in 
 the nmnber, but as few, in proportion to the great number 
 origmated, as by any other method. 
 
 The two mam 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 xmcertainty 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 
 
>30'JT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 327 
 
 affect tho size, color, hardness, or in any respect, the gene- 
 ral character of the fruit. 
 
 It is in these aspects that Knight's method must always 
 be preferred as a practical system. We can obtain a return 
 for our labor in one-fifth the time ; and, what is even more 
 important, we can regulate, before-hand, the results within 
 certain limits. The new fruit is to be made up of the quali- 
 ties of its parents in various propoi*tions. We cannot deter- 
 mine what the proportions shall be, but we can determine 
 A^hat parents shall be selected. Nor is it at all improbable 
 tliat, when knowledge has become more exact by a longer 
 and larger experience, the breeder of fruit may cross the 
 varieties with nearly the same certainty of result as does 
 the breeder of stock. It is upon this feature, the power 
 which science has over the results to be obtained, that we 
 look with the greatest interest ; and we urge upon scientific 
 cultivators the duty of perfecting our fruits by judicious 
 breeding. 
 
 PRUNING ORCHARDS. 
 
 The habit of early spring pruning has been handed down 
 to us from English customs, and farmers do it because it 
 always has been done. .Besides, about this time, men have 
 leisure, and would like to begin the season's work; and 
 pruning seems quite a natural employment with which to 
 introduce the labors of the year. 
 
 It is not possible for America, but more emphatically for 
 western cultivators to do worse than to pattern upon the 
 example of British and Continental authorities in the matter 
 of orchards and vineyards. The summers of England are 
 moist, cool, and deficient in light. Our summers are exactly 
 the reverse — dry, fervid, and brilliant. The stimuli of the 
 
328 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 elements vrith them are much below, and with iis 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 the 
 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 goicrmands. What would be thought 
 of the people of the torrid zone should they borrow their 
 custoiBS 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 Avhose summers are prodigal of fog and 
 i-ain, 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-jjianting. 
 Tlie best time to prune is the time when healing will the 
 quicJcest 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 bai-k and Avood. 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 FEUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 329 
 
 for n&e, as fast as it is sent up to it from the root through 
 tke interior 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, tUl 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 sprhig 
 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 far tempered with knowledge, 
 that you will be wUling to let pruning alone till after corn- 
 planting. 
 
 Two exceptions or precautions should be mentioned. 
 
 1. In the use of the wash ; new soap is more caustic than 
 old ; and the sediments of a soap barrel much more so thin 
 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 
 
330 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 dead bark or dirt ; but when it is smooth and has no scurf 
 it is more hable to suiFer. Trees should not be washed hi 
 dry and warm weather. The best time is just before spring 
 rains, or before any rain. 
 
 2. Where fruit-trees are found to have suffered from the 
 winter, pruning cannot be too early, and hardly too severe. 
 If left to grow, the heat of spring days ferments the sap 
 and spreads blight throughout the tree ; whereas, by severe 
 cutting, there is a chance, at least, of removing much of the 
 injured wood. We have gone over the pear-trees in our 
 own garden, and wherever the least affection has been dis- 
 covered, we have cut out every particle of the last sum- 
 mer's wood; and cut back until we reached soimd 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 hark-bound, 
 etc., and let out the bark on the same principle, we sup- 
 pose, as mothers do the pantaloons of growing boys. We 
 confess a prejudice against this letting out of the tucks in 
 a tree's clothes. We do not say that there may not be 
 cases of diseased trees in which, as a remedial process, this 
 may be wise ; but we should as soon think of slitting the 
 skin on a boy's legs, or on a cal:Ps or colt's, as a regular 
 part of a plan of rearing them, as to slash the bark of sound 
 and healthy trees. Mark-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 
 
ABOUl FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 331 
 
 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 aflfect it ; and when it does, cut if 
 7iecessary. 
 
 " 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 wiU, 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 sUts, 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. 
 
332 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 DOWNING'S FRUTT AND FRUIT-TREES OF AMERICA. 
 
 When a book is hopelessly weak or incorrect, it should 
 be the object of o'iticism to exterminate it. But when a 
 work is admitted to be, upon the whole, well done, criti- 
 cism ought to be an assistance to it, and not a hindrance. 
 Praise by the wholesale is better for the publisher than for 
 the reputation of the author ; since, in a work like Doa^ti- 
 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 Avill 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 resi:)ect to fi'uits 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 
 Ave 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 conceiDtion of what was to be 
 done, and in a neat, systematic method of execution. In- 
 deed, Mr. Downing does not seem to have settled, before 
 hand, in his mind, a formula of a descrij^tion ; sometimes 
 only three or four characteristics are given. Downing sins 
 in excellent company. There is not an American pomo- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMnS-G. 333 
 
 logical writer who appears to have conceived, even, of a sys- 
 tematic, scientific description of fruits. European authoi's, 
 decidedly more explicit and minute than we are, have never 
 reduced the desciiptive 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, tnit not where they are vague and illusory. We 
 can approximate a systematic accuracy. But it must be by 
 making up ia the number of determining circumstances, 
 that which is wanting in the invariable distiactiveness of a 
 few that are specific. 
 
 1. Do\\n2ing's descriptions are quite ^'regular 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 m reference to the same 
 jmrticulars. 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 Avhat we 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 
 
334 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 white, very tender, juicy and good, with a slight perfume ;" 
 but is it sweet or sour, or subacid, or astringent ? No one 
 can tell by reading the joint descriptions of the 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 unafl&anced 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 afibrded 
 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 mai'k decisively the absence in 
 the author's plan^ of a style of description which pomology 
 always needed, but now begins imperiously to demand. 
 And we are confident that a pomological manual on the 
 right design, is yet to be written. Our hearty wish is, that 
 Mr. Downing's revised edition may be that manual. 
 
 2. We are led, from these remarks, to consider, by it- 
 self, the imperfect scale of descriptions adopted by aU our 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, TLOWEES AND FARMING. 335 
 
 American pomological writers, upon wh.ch Mr. D. has not 
 materially improved. 
 
 The description of the tree is very meagre or totally neg- 
 lected. Nothing at all is said of it in cases out of the 174 
 apples mmabered 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 accoimt 
 of pears ; but in the accoimt of apples in not one case, we 
 should think, in ten. 
 
 The peculiar growth of the young xoood^ 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 huds 
 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 d^w^ 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- 
 
338 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 unfre- 
 queutly 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 ? It^ 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 irova another, is yet 
 in the a b c of pomology. Who but a tyro, on importing 
 Coe''s Golden Drop^ would not at once j^erceive the imposi- 
 tion, if there was one, the moment his eye saw a bud, or its 
 shoulder ? Van Mons learned to select stocks for his experi- 
 ments, as well by the wood and bud in winter, as by the 
 leaf and growth of summer. In a large bed of seedlings 
 every experimenter ought to know by wood and leaf Avhat 
 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 groimd ; a culpable reliance on his ability to 
 read tree-faces ; for, on his throwing up the business sud- 
 denly, his successor fell into mnumerable 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 FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 337 
 
 2. 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 
 jilanting an orchard ought to know the disj^osition of each 
 variety of fruit-tree, that he may suit the circumstances of 
 lus 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- 
 Bupei'b," " 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 fiir 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 
 
338 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 cannot 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 in respect 
 to the peculiar habits and wants of his flowers, than an 
 orchardist can of his trees. Doubtless, it is easier to do it 
 in plants which have a short period ; whose whole life passes 
 along before the eye every season, than in plants whose very 
 youth outlasts ten generations of Dahlias, Pansies, Balsams, 
 etc. But that only makes it the more important that we 
 should be up and doing. Let no work be regarded as clas- 
 sic which does not take into its design the most thorough 
 enunciation of all the peculiarities of fruits, and pomology 
 will receive more advantage in ten years, than it could by a 
 hundred years of rambling, unregulated, discursive descrip- 
 tions. 
 
 The abUity 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 
 wUl " 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. 
 
AnoTj^i fblus, flovkrs and farming. 339 
 
 LETTER FROM A. J. DOWNING. 
 
 We give belov a letter from Mr. Downicg, long known 
 as an eminent pomologist and more recently yet more 
 distinguished fcr his writings upon Horticultural matters. 
 Although a private letter, it is of general interest, and he 
 will, we hope, indulge the Hberty taken* 
 
 " Highland GARDENa, Newburgh, New York, 
 Feb. 29th, 1845. 
 
 " My deak Sik : I thank you for the interesting article 
 on horticulture in the West, which appears in the last No. 
 oi Hovey''s Magazine. 
 
 "My particular object in 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's Pippin ' of Coxe, well known 
 here, and one of the most melting and delicious of apples. 
 I understand from Professor Kirtland of Cleveland, that 
 this is the apple known by the name of Golden Russet in 
 his region. 
 
 " Will you do me the favor, for the sake of settling the 
 synonyms, to send me two or three cuttings of the young 
 wood, by man ? 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. 
 \ There is an English Golden Russet, distinct and quite acid. 
 
340 PLAIN 4.NT) PLEiSANT ii LK 
 
 different 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 
 works for the acceptance of your Horticultural Society. 
 And I then hope to be favored with your criticism. 
 Hoping an early answer to my queries herein, 
 
 " I am sincerely yours, 
 
 " A. J. Dow2sriNG. 
 
 " H. W. Beecher." 
 
 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 Sollow-cored Pippin of some ; and 
 it has been inquired for, at Mr, Alldredge's nursery, as the 
 
 Gumherland 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 univer- 
 
A.BOTJT FKtJITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 341 
 
 eally diifused 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 
 and constant bearer, it tends to break, and is troublesome 
 to keep in good order. Mr. Ernst and other gentlemen of 
 Cincinnati supjiose 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 
 difiprent 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 
 Russef'' 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 Soss 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 Cicisse Madame, 
 etc.), and an innocent person, recapitulatmg his pears, might, 
 if overheard by neighbors understanding French, be 
 thought very profane, or worse. There are other names 
 Avhich 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 (Prmce, 58, 34, 
 
342 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 and 117) — very proper for young lovers. Then, there is 
 the Burnt Cat ( Chat Brusle of the French, Prince 89), 
 which undoubtedly has a musk flavor. We have less 
 objection to the PriesPs Pear {Poire de PrUre^ 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 
 Mans leon le clerc, expect common folks to hold fast to the 
 true name ? But he must have a short memory indeed, 
 who forgets the emphatic name of 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 EUSSET. — (dR. PLUMMEK.) 
 
 "Size. — 2 2-10 inches long; 2 7-10 inches wide. 
 
 " Form. — ^Rather smaller at the summit ; moderately flat- 
 tened at the ends. 
 
 " Pulp. — Very tender, juicy, yellowish white. 
 
 " Color. — 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 FETJITS, FLOWERS AND FARXnNG. 343 
 
 wl ether it is the same as the Golden Russet, described 
 ahcve, I am not now able to say ; but my recollection of 
 that apple after a lapse of twenty-three years induces rae 
 to think it is no other than the Golden Kusset ; and, indeed, 
 Trevelyan calls it also the ' russet appell.' The Glass apple 
 was described in a former number of ' The Orchard,' If 
 the 'lethercott' has descended to us under the name of 
 Golden Russet, the fine flavor of this apple would lead us 
 to believe that it had not deteriorated, after a period of 
 more than two centuries and a half." — West. Farm, and 
 Gard., 1843. 
 
 bullock's pippin, or sheep-nose. (COXE.) 
 
 Golden Russet of C'mcinnati. 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 Qard.., 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.., 1841. 
 
 We do not know another apple whose flavor and flesh 
 
344 PLAIM .4ND PLEAS A>rr TALK 
 
 are so admirable. A gentleman in Ohio, on being asicd for 
 a list of a hundred trees for an orchard, replied, '■set ont 
 ninety-nine Golden Russets, the other one you can cnoose 
 for yourself." 
 
 ATTENTION TO ORCHARDS. 
 
 Clean out your orchards. Let no branches lie scatteitd 
 around. If in crops, let the tillage be thorough and clean. 
 In plowing near the tree be careful not to strike deep 
 enough to lacerate the small roots and fibres. An orchar 1 
 should be tended with a cultivator rather than a plow, and 
 the space immediately about the tree should be worked 
 Avitli 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. 
 
 Griih up suckers, and clear off fi-om large and well 
 established trees all side-shoots. After a tree is three inches 
 
4B0TJT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 345 
 
 ill diaipeter through the stem, it may be kept entii'ely free 
 of side shoots. But young trees are much assisted in every 
 respect, except appearance, by letting brush grow the whole 
 lengoh of their stem, only pinching oif 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 d,ead harh^ which, besides being unsight- 
 ly, is a harbor for a great variety of insects, and affords 
 numerous crevices for Avater 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 out for Blight. — ^All trees that have shown no 
 indications of blight, will be safe for the season. But those 
 which have shown the affection may be expected to con- 
 tinue to break out through the season. It is all important 
 to use the knife freely ; for although there is no contagion 
 from tree to tree, yet the diseased sap 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 easUy 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. 
 
346 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 WINE AND HORTICULTURE. 
 
 ^^ Look not thou upon the whu when it is red, tvhen it giveth his color 
 in the cup, when it moveth itself aright." 
 
 Now, the Cincinnati Hortip-^.llVc*! Society appointed a 
 committee to do just what Sol jmon says must not oe done. 
 Their report is a very artful document, so drawn up that 
 the unwary would suppose that this was a mei-e 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 re})ort proper to shock a 
 true "Washmgtonian 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 bac- 
 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 dewy 
 lips, or wagging their heads with more than ordinary satis- 
 fliction as a beaker of great merit made the facilis descen- 
 sus averni. Laughter interrupts sober attention to busi- 
 ness; in vain the chairman thumj)s the table for order; 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 347 
 
 he gets more jokes than attention. Many a sly story ia 
 told ; some of them have visited vnne countries and now 
 begin long yarns thereof; the clamor of laughing, and 
 anecdote, and criticism — the necessity, in consequence, of 
 re-tasting, and tasting again to arrive at a conclusion, 
 brought them, we doubt not, to a most lamentable conclu- 
 sion, although the report only obscurely hints of it, as we 
 shall see. Had any of them married into the Caudle con- 
 nection we might have had a graphic account of their 
 several arrivals at their homes — at what time, by whose 
 help, in what condition, etc. 
 
 The tabular report given in has evidently been studiously 
 framed. We suspect that if the opinions had been set 
 down just in the order of their occurrence, they would 
 have afforded an index of the condition of the committee as 
 well as of the wine. But though they have mixed them 
 up, they cannot elude our vigilance — we can pick out the 
 chronological order. At first such opinions as these were 
 given : " Tolerably good," " Inferior," " Poor, fermented 
 on skins." They were critical yet ; but warming a Uttle 
 they express more generous sentiments ; " Good," " Very 
 good Cape," " Very good, resembling old Madeira." The 
 next step shows the genial advance — some were getting 
 disputatious. " Good, considered by some better than 
 No. 8, by others not so good," — they evidently had a row 
 about it. They next advanced into the patriotic mood as 
 is seen in the judgment of our foreign wines, "Good dry 
 wine, but supposed to be foreign," " Inferior, a foreign 
 wine," "Not American wine." Here the gradations of 
 contemjjt are very plain. We have next, melancholy evi- 
 dence of their progress in the necessity of a stronger body 
 to their wines, — " Not liked, supposed to have been injured 
 in the bottle." Why not say it right out, that it was a 
 weak, thin wine ? Here we have it, " Good strong wine." 
 The last record made is "Good new, not in a state for judg- 
 ment." Does this refer to the wine or to the committee ? 
 
348 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 To the latter we suppose ; and at this point, probably per- 
 ceiving their condition, they laid aside their official charac- 
 ter and made it a private, personal, and somewhat miscel- 
 laneous affair. We see now the meaning of a senten(;e 
 which follows the tabular exhibit : " The judgments pro- 
 nounced and recorded in the foregoing table, were as 
 nearly unanimous as can ever be expected among so many 
 judges." 
 
 The committee state in respect to western wines : "That 
 the pure juice of the grape when judiciously managed will 
 furnish the finest kind of wine, without any addition or 
 mixture whatever ; that no saccharme addition is necessary 
 to give it sufficient body to keep for any length of time in 
 this climate." 
 
 We submit that the keeping j^roperties of wine are not 
 altogether intrinsic; but dej^end much upon the persons 
 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, smce all that can be produced finds 
 a ready market at good prices ; and the committee are of 
 opinion, that the period is not distant when the wines of 
 the Ohio will enjoy a celebrity equal to those of the 
 Rhine." 
 
 Here's work on hand for him. In conclusion, we 
 respectfully suggest that the same committee be continued 
 from year to year, as there is no use in spoiling a fresh set 
 every year. If the specimens multiply, perhaps more help 
 will be required — at any rate a by-law should be passed, 
 so that there shall be one committee-man to at least every 
 ten bottles. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING, 349 
 
 DO VARIETIES OF FRUIT RUN OUT? 
 
 Is there such similarity between animals and vegetables, 
 in their organic structure, development and functions, as 
 to make it safe to reason upon the properties of the one 
 fi'om 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 versa. To be sure, they resem- 
 ble in generals but they difter 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 diifer- 
 ent. The mineral kingdom is the lowest. Out of it, by 
 help of the sun and air, the vegetable procures its materials 
 of growth ; in turn the vegetable kingdom is the magazine 
 from which the animal kingdom is sustained ; to each, thus 
 the soil contains the original elements ; the vegetable is the 
 chemical manipulator, and the animal, the final recipient of 
 its products. The habit of reasoning from one to the other, 
 of giving an idea of the one by illustrations drawn from the 
 
350 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 other, especially in popular writings, will al\\-ays be fruitful 
 of misconceptions and mistakes. 
 
 The next idea set fortli in the paragraph which we review, is, 
 the essential dissimilarity of huds and seeds. The writer 
 thinks that a plant from a seed is a 7iew 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 has 
 been called, therefore, a " primary bud," the difference 
 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 sj)ringing from it. A tree from a bud of the 
 Doyenne pear is just as much a new tree as one from its 
 seed. 
 
 The idea which we controvert has received encourage- 
 ment from the fact, that a bud produces a fruit like the 
 parent tree, while, oftentimes, a seed yields only a variety 
 of such fruit. But, it is probable that this is never the case 
 with seeds except when they have been brought mto 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 propagated by 
 seed, in so far as the nature of the vegetable is conce'med. 
 
ABOUT FRXnXS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 35I 
 
 Bill ii is true that the conditions in which a bud grows 
 render it liable to extrnisic ills not incidental to a plant 
 springing fi'om seed. A seed, emitting its roots directly 
 into the earth, is lialile 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 
 supi^ose that trees might flourish to an indefinite age were 
 it not for extrinsic difiiculties. 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 
 stoi'ms; 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 \dtal force in the organization itself, but it is to be found 
 in the immense surface and substance exposed to the wear 
 and tear of the elements. 
 
 It would seem, if this view be true, that no bounds can 
 be placed to the duration of perennial plants, if, by any 
 means, we could diminish their exposure, by reducing their 
 expansion, by keeping them within a certain sphere of 
 growth. Now this is exactly what is accomplished hy hud 
 
852 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 comparatively 
 limited exposure to interruption or accident. The connec- 
 tion with the soil is short and direct. 
 
 In this manner a variety of fruit may be perpetuated to 
 all generations, if the 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 these 
 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 ti-om 
 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 theii' 
 original type, is to be regarded as nearer the truth. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 353 
 
 THE STRAWBERRY CONTROVERSY. 
 
 No man will deny that in their cultivated state, strawher- 
 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 stamLnate 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 ? 
 
 Passing by the first question, for the present, we would 
 say of the second that, a siihstantial 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 opmion 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 j and, 
 for precisely the same reason, strawberries cannot be had 
 from plants substantially male, or substantially female, where 
 each are kept to themselves. 
 
 But a 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* 
 
354 PLAIX A>fD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 berries we noticed in a former article, Mr. Downing, and 
 several other eminent cultivators adopt the contrary opiu- 
 ion, that, xoith care, large crops of large fruit may be obtained 
 from perfect-flowering jjlants. This question is yet, then, 
 to be settled. 
 
 It is ardently to be hoped that, hereafter, we shall have 
 less premature and positive assertion, upon unripe observa- 
 tions, than has characterized the early stages of this con- 
 troversy. We will take the liberty of following Mr. Hovey 
 in his magazine, between the years 1842 and 1846, not for 
 any pleasure that we have in the singular vicissitudes of oi:)in- 
 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 kmgdom 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. Plovey's magazine, which Mr. H. for sub- 
 ject-matter, indorsed. In the ISTovember 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 loant of staminate 
 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 sirring some were per- 
 fect (the italics are ours) having both stamens and pistUs ; 
 others^ otily pistils, and others, only stamens; thus showing 
 that the defect, mentioned by Mr. Lo7igicorth, exists in the 
 original species.'''' He closes by urging cultivators to set 
 
ABOUT FEtriTS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 355 
 
 rows of early Yirginia among the beds for the sake of im- 
 pregnatmg the rest. 
 
 Mr. Hovey's next foi'mal 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 onrs again) that there is no 
 necessity of tnahing any distinction in regard to the sexual 
 character of the plants when forming new beds. 71} e idea 
 of male aiid female floioers^ 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 loild straioberries. 
 Mr. Hovey then assumed the theory that cidtivation, good 
 or bad, is the cause of fertile or unfertile beds of strawber- 
 ries, and he says : " in conclusion, we think we may safely 
 avei', that there is not the least necessity of cultivating any 
 one strawberry near another (our italics) to insure the fer- 
 tility of the plants, provided they are under a proper state 
 of cultivation." 
 
 Mr. Hovey now instituted experiments, which he prom- 
 ised to publish, by which to bring the matter to the only 
 true test ; and he, from time to time, re-promised to give 
 the result to the public, which, thus far, we believe, he has 
 forgotten to do. 
 
 His magazine for 1844 opens, as that of 1843 closed ; and 
 in the first number he says, " the jftener our attention is 
 called to this subject, the more we feel confirmed in the 
 opinon that the theory of Mr. Longworth is entirely un- 
 founded ; that there is 7io such thing as male and female 
 plants., though certain causes may produce, as we know 
 they have, fertile and sterile ones." 
 
 Nevertheless, in the next issue but one this peremptory 
 language is again softened down, and a doubt even appears, 
 
356 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Avlien he says, " If 3fr. LongwortK's theory should prove 
 tnie,^'' etc. We, among others, waited anxiously for the 
 ])romiscd experiments ; but if published we never saw them. 
 The subject rather died out of his magazine until August, 
 1845, when, in speaking of the Boston Pine, a second fine 
 seedling of his own raising, he is seen bearing away on the 
 other tack, if not with all sails set, yet with enough to give 
 the ship headway in the right direction : " Let the causes 
 be what they may, it is sufficient for all practical purposes, 
 to know, that the most 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 inconsidei-able importance ; but it is of importance 
 whether accredited scientific magazmes should be trust- 
 worthy; Avhether writers or popular editors should be 
 responsible for mistakes entirely unnecessary. We blame 
 no man for vacillation, while yet in the process of investi- 
 gation, nor for coming at the truth gradually, since this is 
 the necessity of our condition to learn only by degrees, and 
 by painful sittings. The very first requisite for a writer is, 
 that he be worthy of trust in his statements. No man can 
 be trusted who ventures opinions upon uninvestigated mat- 
 ters; who states facts with assurance which he has not 
 really ascertained; who evinces rashness, haste, careless- 
 ness, credulity, or fickleness in his judgments. The ques- 
 tion of perfect or imperfect blossoms depends upon the sim- 
 plest exercise of eyesight. It requires no measurements, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 357 
 
 no process of the laboratory, no minute dissections or nice 
 calculations ; it requires only that a man should see what 
 he looks at. 
 
 When a boy, jdaying " how many fingers do I hold uj)," 
 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- 
 daged 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 jf facts, observations or experiments ? Of 
 what use will be journals and magazines? They become 
 like chronometers that will not keep tune ; 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 pi*o- 
 duce irritable fault-finding. After a comparison of opmions 
 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 promixlgated — 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 read 
 Mr. Hovey's latent remarks in the September number of his 
 magazine, in which, vAih. some asperity, he roundly charges 
 Mr. Longworth with manifold errors, and treats him with 
 a contempt which would lead one, ignorant of the con- 
 troversy, to suppose that Mr. Hovey had never made a 
 mistake, and that Mr. Longworth had been particularly 
 
358 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 fertile of them. Thus : " Mr. Longworth's ren/arks abouncl 
 in so many erroi'S and inconsistencies, that wq shall expect 
 scarcely to notice all." " Another ^ross assertion,'''' etc. Re- 
 ferring to another topic, he says, " This question we, there- 
 fore, consider as satisfactorily settled, without discussmg 
 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- 
 cultural literature and learning, it seemed no less than our 
 duty. We have highly appreciated Mr, Hovey's various 
 exertions for the promotion of the art and science of horti- 
 culture, nor will his manifest errors and short-comings in 
 this particular instance, disincline us to receive from his pen 
 whatsoever is good. 
 
 We hope that our remarks will not be construed as a 
 defence of western men or western theories, but as the 
 defence of the truth, and of one who has truly expounded 
 it, though, in this case, theory and its defender happen to 
 be of western origin. Whatever errors have crept into 
 Mr. Longworth's remarks should be faithfully expurgated; 
 and perhaps it may be Mr, Hovey's duty to perform the 
 lustration. If so, courtesy would seem to require that it 
 should be done with some consciousness, that through this 
 whole controversy Mr. Longworth is n: w admitted to have 
 been right in all essential matters ; and if, in error at all, 
 only in minor particulars, while Mr, Ilovey, in all the con- 
 troversy, in respect to the plainest facts, has been changing 
 from wrong to right, from right to wrong, and from wrong 
 back to right 'again. We do not think that the admirable 
 benefits which Mr. Longworth has conferred upon the 
 whole commimity by urging the improved method of culti- 
 vating the strawberry, has been adequately appreciated. 
 We still less like to see gratitude expressed in the shape of 
 snarling gibes and jjetty cavUs. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 359 
 
 We will close these remarks by the correction of a matter 
 which Mr. Do^Tiing states. While he assents to all the 
 practical aspects of Mr. Longworth's views, he dissents as 
 to some matters of fact and philosophy, and among others, 
 to the fact that Hovey's seedling is alicays and only a pis- 
 tillate plant. He thinks that originally it had perfect flow- 
 ers, but that after bearing twice or thrice on the same roots 
 the plants degenerate and become either pistillate or stami- 
 nate. He says, " Hovey's seedling straAvberry, at first, 
 was a perfect sort in its flower, but at this moment more 
 than half the plants in this country have become pistillate." 
 
 Mr. Hovey himself states the contrary on p. 112 of his 
 magazine for 1844. He denies that there are two kinds 
 of blossoms to his seedling, and says, " the flowers are all 
 of one kind, with both pistils and stamens, hut the latter 
 quite short and hidden under the receptacle.'''' This is the 
 common form of sM pistillate blossoms, and shows, in so far 
 as Mrr Hovey's observations are to be trusted, that, at its 
 starting-point and home, Hovey's seedling was, as with us it 
 now invariably is, so far as we have ever seen it, a pistillate 
 plant. 
 
 STRAWBERRIES. 
 
 Directions for the culture of the strawberry will vary 
 with circumstances ; as, whether it is raised for private use, 
 or for market. But, for whatever purpose cultivated, 
 respect must be invariably had to the fact of staminate and 
 pistillate flowers, or male and female. Each flower contains 
 the rudiments of both the male and female organs. But the 
 male organs are more or less defective in one set of plants 
 and the female in another " and, in the Hudson and some 
 others, it amounts to a complete separation of the sexes. 
 In some of the male (staminate) varieties mo re or less of 
 
3 GO PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 the blossoms are also partially perfect in the female organs 
 and will produce some fruit. 
 
 " Every flower contains both the male and female organs ; 
 and, in the white and monthly, both organs are always 
 perfect in the same blossom, as far as my experience goes. 
 In other kinds, the male organs are more or less defective 
 in one set of jDlants, and the female in the other ; and, in 
 the Hudson and some other varieties, it amounts to a com- 
 plete separation of the sexes. The male organs are so 
 defective in one set of plants, and the female in the other, 
 that an acre of either would not produce a single fruit. In 
 some of the male (staminate) varieties, more or less of the 
 blossoms are also more or less perfect in the female organs, 
 and will prodiice more or less fruit ; but I have never seen a 
 female plant with the male organs sufficiently developed to 
 produce a single perfect fruit. Ilovey's seedling, and some 
 others, may produce deformed berries." — Longworth. 
 
 Mr. Longworth, in consequence of this fact, always has 
 a compartment allotted to male and one to female plants, 
 and out of these he forms his beds, being able thus to 
 insure a proper proportion of males to females. Mr. S. S. 
 Jackson, a very skillful nurseryman of Cincinnati, usually, 
 in selling plants, puts up ninety females to ten males in the 
 hundred. 
 
 We shall now give the time and manner of planting of 
 some of the best cultivators in the West, at the East, and in 
 England. 
 
 Mr. Jackson says : "I plant any time from the first of 
 April, till they are in bloom. I, one year, planted twenty- 
 five square roods of ground ; the plants were all in bloom 
 when set out ; and the next year I picked thirty-eight 
 bushels, and there were fully ten bushels left on the 
 vines. 
 
 "I plant them in this way: first plow or spade the 
 ground ; harrow it smooth ; then strain a line on one side 
 nine inches from the edge, and a row from twelve to fifteen 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 361 
 
 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 sj^rmg. 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 
 shifted to the middle of the space. The same process is 
 repeated every second year. 
 
 " Another mode, which may be recommended generally, is 
 to plant the strawberries in rows thirty inches asunder, and 
 nine inches distant in the row, and suffer the vines to 
 extend to the width of eighteen inches, leaving twelve 
 inches' space for an alley ; or allow eighteen inches' width 
 
362 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 to the alleys, and three feet asunder to the rows ; and to 
 form new beds every three years, or never to suffer the bed 
 to exist over four years ; and to plant out in August in 
 preference to spring." 
 
 Dr, Bayne of Alexandria, D. C, gives his method 
 of producing very large fruit. The peculiarity of his 
 treatment is the use of undecomposed or green manure. 
 Almost every other cultivator recommends 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 
 fifteen inches, according to the luxuriance and vigor of the 
 variety. During the first year, the runners must be care- 
 fully and frequently destroyed before they become rooted. 
 By this means the stools become very vigorous and bear the 
 most abundant crops. In the spring after the fruit is set, 
 place around each plant a small quantity of straw, or what 
 is much better, cover the whole surface of 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. 363 
 
 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 asceitained the fact, that most strawberries 
 generate roots, and strike them into the ground, nearly two 
 feet deep in the course of one season. The j^ractice 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 adoi)ted by some market-gardeners 
 about London for thoir 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 int<>nd 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 tbrcing 
 rooting them into small pots." 
 
364 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 RASPBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES AND 
 CURRANTS. 
 
 Currants, Gooseberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, etc., 
 are termed " Small Fruit." "We wiU give some directions 
 for spring-work which these re [uire. 
 
 Raspbeeeies. — The sorts usually found in our gardens are 
 rejected from all good collections as worthless. The Ant- 
 werp, red and white, have, until lately, been regarded as 
 the best. Two new kinds are very highly thought of — 
 the Franconia and the Fastolf. This last is an Eng- 
 lish vai'iety ; 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 wood, now 
 worthless, and also all the new shoots but four or five to a 
 root ; grub up all that have come up between the rows. 
 Cut those which are reserved for bearing to about five feet 
 in length, and tie them gently to a stake. Thus treated 
 from year to year, and weU manured, raspberries will return 
 a rich reward. 
 
 Ste awbereies. — The number of kinds is immenst,. Knight, 
 late president of the London Horticultural Society, had/bwr 
 hundred kinds in his garden, and most of them seedlings of 
 his own raising. The early Virginia is regarded as the 
 best early kind. Hovey's, Warren's and Keen's seedlings 
 are admirable sorts. Wiley's and Motter's seedlings ori- 
 ginated in Cincinnati and are esteemed. There are many 
 other fine sorts which an amateur cultivator would wish, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 365 
 
 not necessary to common gardens, where two or three 
 choice sorts will suffice. 
 
 Almost every cultivator has a way of his own in raising 
 strawberries. 
 
 In private gardens, in a soil well enriched and deeply 
 spaded, let beds be formed about four feet wide ; upon 
 these set three rows of hills and the plants about fifteen 
 inches apart in the row. Pinch off 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 s^ve them, 
 mark out lines every eighteen inches and dig alleys through 
 the bed, by turning the plants under. In this way the patch 
 will be thrown into beds of eighteen inches width. Before 
 this is done take an iron-toothed rake and rake the bed 
 severely. Do not be 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 
 which name is meant a large, coarse, thick-skinned green 
 variety. It is not generally known that there are any other 
 cultivated sorts ; and as these are inferior they are little 
 cared for. The Lancashire (England) Nurserymen publish 
 300 varieties ! The select list of Mr. Thompson of the Lon- 
 don Horticultural Society's garden comprises fifty-six 
 varieties; the still more condensed select list of Robert 
 Manning (Mass.) includes txoenty-eight sorts. Some of 
 these beai- fruit as large as a medium-sized plum. There 
 are four colors, red, yellow, green and white ; to each color 
 are two sizes, large and small fruits. Those who have not 
 seen and tasted the Scotch and Lancashire varieties of the 
 gooseberry do not know what the fruit is. In sending foi 
 them, select a trustworthy nurseryman, and request him to 
 
366 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 send, of each color, such kuids as have proved, with huu, 
 the best ; aud in such numbers as you may wish. The 
 gooseberry delights in three things, a very rich soil, a shady 
 positio.", 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 
 pans 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 (sul23hur 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, aud 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 have so few 
 diseases incident to them as the currant. It is not infested 
 with worms, its fruit is subject to no blight, it bears every 
 year, is rarely affected either by severe winters or late 
 frosts, and we do not remember a season in our lives 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 tAvo 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 ihan this. The difliculty Avhich 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. 3G7 
 
 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 air under and through them, are 
 easy to work in spring or for manuring, and easy to prune, 
 when, as .should be done every year, you take out the old 
 wood. 
 
 Gooseberries will do better to be trained in this Avay, 
 than iu 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 f irraer'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 IX 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 ofi" 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 water-shoots. Sometimes, iu 
 scarcity of stock, they are used rather than to have none, 
 but it is then only a lesser of two evils. 
 
 2. .Time of Prui-nIng.— There is a bad ])ractice abroad of 
 pinning before the leaves are out, English books direct to 
 
368 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 prune in February, and we suspect that tlie custom sprang 
 up at the East from the old country example. It is not safe 
 for us to follow the specific processes of Great Britain or 
 the Continent. Our own well settled experience is to be our 
 rule of pfactice. 
 
 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 Mali 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 tune for healuig. 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 drv^ dead 
 bark. Only this is to be removed. Take soft soap and 
 reduce it by uritie to the consistence of paint. Witli a stiff 
 shoe-brush rub the whole trunk and the limbs as far up as 
 is practicable. The bark will grow smooth and glossy ; 
 insect eggs will be entirely destroyed ; all moss and fungous 
 vegetation removed, and the bark stimulated and made 
 healthier. This is 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. JlLvery 
 spring, spread and dig in the old lime, and put new m its 
 place. Unleached ashes are good to be dug in aroumi a 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 369 
 
 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 lind 
 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 trunJc^ 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 Avhere their 
 mouths are. Young orchards are better without stimu- 
 lating manure. Let the soil be mellowed, and then give 
 the trees their owti 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. " \yell, 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 the passages of distribution to be 
 employed in the formation of fruit, wood, tissue, etc. Is 
 tliis the function of the leaf? or have recent investigations 
 
370 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 exploded this doctrine ? If not, it will be apparent that all 
 gi-afting of scions together, cannot change the quality of 
 fruit, unless the leaves are also amalgamated. Is a red, 
 green, yellow, and white fruit, sweet, soui", or bitter, be 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 vith 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 
 niay grow on a sour tree, and vice versd. An apple may 
 wu 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 abdoramal, and a little, 
 A\'iry, 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 causes, 
 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 we 
 c ;n trace the original law through all the transmuta- 
 tions. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMI>fG. 371 
 
 PROTECTK^G THE ROOTS OF FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 Cultivators 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 groimd 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 
 \\\ the BKANCHEs, 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 boot. 
 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 ot 
 these reasonings. A gentleman of our acquaintance, in 
 reading these unskilfull directions to cover the peach-tree 
 root, oj)ened trenches about his trees, and filled them with 
 snow, heaping bountifully also all about the trees. The 
 next spring, long after his trees should have been at work, 
 the snow held the root fast ; the buds swelled and burst, 
 lingered, shrivelled and died — and the trees too. This 
 might have been prognosticated. There are partial 
 methods of protecting the peach from too early develop- 
 ment, but they all have respect to the protection of the 
 
372 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 limbs. If tlie branches can be covered during the random 
 and premati;rely hot days of spring, the tree will not suffer. 
 High, and cool-aired aspects, north hill-sides, northern sides 
 of houses, barns, etc., will answer this purpose. When it 
 can be afforded, long boai'ds may be set up upon the east 
 and south sides of choice trees, upon a frame slightly made 
 and easily removed. 
 
 The reason why more damage has not been done by 
 covering peach-tree roots, than has occurred, is, that the 
 ground has been superficially frozen, and many of the roots 
 extending deeper and laterally beyond the congealed por- 
 tions, have afforded a supply of sap after a motion had been 
 imparted to it in the branches. 
 
 PRUNING GRAPE VINES. 
 
 All know that after the sap begins to flow in the spring, 
 a vine, if cut, will bleed. It seems that at this early period 
 of its development tlie sap vessels have no power of con- 
 traction. Many suppose that the same state of things con- 
 tinues throughout the growing season, and are afraid to 
 cut their vines. But after the vine has begun to grow 
 freely (when the leaves, for example, are as large as the 
 palm of one's hand), a wound very soon contracts, bleeds 
 little or none, and heals over as in a tree. Any pruning 
 which is necessary upon the old wound may, therefore, be 
 fearlessly performed. 
 
 Some inexpert cultivators, in order to let the sun iall 
 upon the graj^es, pluck off the leaves; hoping thus to pro- 
 cure sweeter grapes. This is the very way to have acid 
 fruit. Where is the sugar prepared for the cluster but in 
 these very leaves which are taken off? Withovit leaves, 
 the sap which flows into the cluster has undergone but 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 373 
 
 imperfectly those chemical changes on which the fruit 
 depends. Every leaf in the neighborhood of the fruit is 
 precious. 
 
 MILDEW ON GRAPES. 
 
 Many permit the fruit of the vines to perish before their 
 eyes from the ravages of mildew, ignorant that an effectual 
 remedy is within their reach. It is simply to dust the 
 branches with flowers of sulphur. It is best done while the 
 dew is on. 
 
 When vines are trained upon the sides of a house or 
 fence, it is well to whitewash the surfaces on which they 
 are fastened with a wash in which flowers of sulphur has 
 been largely mixed. 
 
 It is recommended by some cxiltivators to employ such a 
 whitewash for the loood of the vine, covering all the main 
 stems with it ; but all these methods result in the one thing 
 — the application of sulphur as a remedy for mildew. 
 
 HOW TO OBTAIN GRAPE VINES. 
 
 Grafting is only practised on the vine for special rea- 
 sons, and we have never had occasion to try it. We shall 
 speak of a better mode of obtaining vines. 
 
 The best method of " getting a start " of grape vines is, 
 by the employment of cuttings. These may be planted 
 immediately after the spring pruning of established vines. 
 But cuttings of native grapes are as well planted in the 
 fall. The granulation, from which the roots spring, will 
 form during the winter, and the cuttings, starting early in 
 the spring, will make good growth the first year. Cutting,-* 
 
374 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 are the best, because they can be procured easily, abun- 
 dantly, and cheaply ; they will bear carriage to any dis- 
 tance, are exceedingly tenacious of life, and they make 
 thi'iftier plants. Cuttings may be set, either where they 
 are to remain, in which case several should be set, to 
 allow for failures, and only the strongest finally retained ; 
 or, they may be set in nursery rows, eight inches apart. 
 Cutting" should be inserted about eight inches deep, 
 and have two eyes or buds above the surface. The two 
 buds are merely precautionary ; that if one fails the other 
 may sprout ; one only, and that the strongest, should finally 
 be permitted to grow. 
 
 An old and skillful cultivator of the vine says that ciit- 
 tings are the best of all modes of securing a supply of 
 vines. "For my part I am for scions withoiit roots, 
 after many experiments. All the advantage the one with 
 roots has over the other, is that they are more sure to 
 live ; but they will not in general, make as thrifty 2)l<^nts^^ 
 — tT. J. Dufour. 
 
 This only objection to cuttings — that a part of them fail 
 to root — is of little practical importance, as they are easily 
 ol)tained in any quantity. 
 
 AUTUMNAL MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 Orchaedists and cultivators of garden-fruit will have 
 need of all their skill to prepare tender fruit-trees for win- 
 ter. It is the misfortune, alike of the English summers, and 
 of ours in the "West, that trees do not properly ripen their 
 wood. But in Great Britain it is from the want of enough, 
 and in America, from too much summer. Our long and hot 
 summers give two or three separate growths to fruit-trees, 
 and the last one is usually in progress at a period so late 
 
A.BOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 375 
 
 that severe frosts and freezings overtake the tree while yet 
 in an excitable state, pushing new wood, and with a top 
 quite unripened for severe frosty handling. 
 
 The year 1845 furnished a fine type of western summers. 
 The spring came in very properly, and at so late a period 
 that the usual frosts, after the expansion of leaves, were 
 avoided. The summer opened warmly and continued with 
 almost imvaryiug heat throughout. At the same time there 
 were frequent and copious rains. 
 
 By this statement the' average temperature of June was 
 71°, and the rain 6* inches; of July, average noon heat 
 80°, rain 3^ inches ; of August, average noon heat 80°, rain 
 5 1" inches. Nights were exceedingly warm. The day 
 repeatedly opened and closed at 80°. Our thermometer on 
 the north of our house, in a shady yard, stood for eight and 
 ten days together between 94° and 100°, twice attaining 
 the latter height. 
 
 Under such stimulus our pear, apple and plum-trees, made 
 their first growth by the first of July. They soon started 
 into a second growth, which wound up during the last of 
 August and the first of September, plum-trees entirely 
 shedding their leaves and standing as bare as in Jan- 
 uary. 
 
 Let orchards be examined when frosts begin to occur, 
 and every side-shoot^ sucker or loater-sprout^ cut cleanly 
 out. These succulent, raw sprouts are the breeding-spots 
 of disease. Cold-blight invariably manifests itself in them 
 in the most positive form. 
 
 Garden trees, choice pears, and stone-fruits, should, in 
 addition to this operation, if still in growth at the last of 
 September, receive a fill pruning. From the first to the mid- 
 dle of October, according to the season, cut oif two-thirds 
 of the new growth, or back to strong, ripe wood. It is well 
 known that the newest buds, near the extremity of young 
 wood, are the most sensitive and apt to break and grow, 
 whereas the buds near the base of a branch are dormant 
 
376 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It is the repose of the older buds which makes fall pruning, 
 if performed with judgment, so valuable. Because it forces 
 the tree to expend its energies in ripening its wood instead 
 of making more, and it also tends to induce fruitfulness by 
 changing leaf-buds to fruit-buds. The great art of fall 
 pruning is to relieve the tree of its crude wood without 
 causing its dormant buds to break. If performed too early, 
 or if but the tips of the fine wood are removed, the new 
 buds may break and side-shoots issue, leaving the tree 
 worse off than before. 
 
 Young trees just coming into bearing should have their 
 trunks protected. That there is a change in the economy 
 of a tree when it begins to bear is plain ; and experience 
 seems to teach that trees are peculiarly tender at the time 
 of this change, since they are far more apt to die when 
 coming to fruit, than either before or afterward. Cherry- 
 trees and pear-trees should have brush, or corn-stalks, 
 or straw, or matting, as is most convenient, so placed from 
 the ground to the branches, as to exclude the sun with- 
 out excluding air. An hour's attention may save much 
 regret. 
 
 PEARS GRAFTED UPON THE APPLE STOCK. 
 
 We do not think the pear does so well in any other way 
 as on its own root. But it has been foimd extremely diffi- 
 cult to obtain the requisite stock. Pear-seeds are scarce. 
 When obtained, the seedlings have proved intractable, and 
 left the nurseryman oftentimes in the lurch. The first and 
 best substitute for pear-stock, is the root of the pear — great 
 quantities may be obtained when removing pear-trees in 
 the autumn from the nursery, and also without any injury 
 to the trees, roots may be taken from old bearing-trees. 
 
ABODT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 377 
 
 These are to be grafted in the manner already described in 
 our pages. Next to this, the quince stock is to be chosen. 
 The pear is dwarfed uj)on it. In other words, the two are 
 but imj)erfectly suited to each other, and the scion does not 
 develop according to its original nature. But this very 
 dwarfing adds something to the good qualities of the fruit, 
 affords trees so small that, at eight feet apart, they make 
 beautiful linings to a walk or border, and, morever, brings 
 the pear to its fruit several years earlier than if it were on 
 its own bottom. But on the other hand, the pear on quince 
 is comparatively short-lived. The white-thorn has been 
 tried as a stock and not without success, but it is hardly to 
 be used except in extremities. 
 
 Last, and worst of all, comes the apple. The scion grows as 
 vigorously upon the apple as upon a stock of its own species, 
 and we do not know that the fruit deteriorates. But the 
 trees seem to have no constitution. After a few bearings 
 they seem struck with irremediable weakness, and soon run 
 down and die. Nurserymen ought not, therefore, to graft 
 the pear upon the apple. To do so, if advised of the fore- 
 going facts, cannot be honest. Our attention has been 
 called to the subject by some painful experience of our 
 own. 
 
 Neshanoc Potato. — This potato (pronounced Jf/esha^ 
 noc), was raised from the seed about the year 1800, by 
 John Gilkey, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He called it 
 Neshanoc^ from a creek near to which he lived. It was 
 called by some, Mercer., from the county in which it was 
 raised. It is extensively cultivated, and deserves to be. 
 Mr. Gilkey was an Irishman — of course a judge of good 
 potatoes. 
 
C78 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 SEEDLINGS FROM BUDDED PEACHES. 
 
 Me. Nicholas Long worth iuquires: "Will the pit of 
 the budded peach produce the same fruit as the bud, or as 
 the stock, or a mixture of the two?" And he also says, "1 
 have never fairly tested the question, but my experience 
 led me to believe that the budded pit produced the same 
 fruit as the original stock." 
 
 So far as this question can be determined (independently 
 of experiment) upon the known laws of the vegetable king- 
 dom, we say that it will not produce fruit like that of the 
 original stock ; nor will it, on the other hand, with any cer- 
 tainty, reproduce the budded kind. 
 
 If the pit of a budded variety takes after the stock, we 
 must very much change our theory of the office of leaves, 
 and perhaps of the bark. At present, the received and 
 orthodox teaching is, that the sap from the root is crude 
 and undigested until it has received in the leaf a chemical 
 change. Until then, the sap does not materially influence 
 the vegetable tissue, nor form new substance, or aflect the 
 fruit. But after its elaboration in the leaf, a returning cur- 
 rent of prepared sap (similar in its functions to arterial 
 blood), sets downward, distributuig to every part of the 
 vegetable economy the properties required by each. The 
 sap arising from the root, does not touch the channel of 
 fruit until it has been chemically changed; and the differ- 
 ence exhibited in the fruit of one tree compared with 
 another, arises, primarily from the nature of the sap which 
 it receives ; the sap receives its qualities by a digestion in 
 the leaf.* In all cases, then, we suppose the leaf to deter- 
 mine the nature of the fruit (and the root in no case, and 
 the trunk in no case), since the stem is, so far as sap is con- 
 cerned, but a bundle of canals for its j)assage — a mere high- 
 
 * The fruit itself still further elaborates the sap, else a peach would be 
 ae acrid as the juice of the peach leaf. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 379 
 
 way foi" transmission — and not like the leaf, a laboratory for 
 its preparation ! * 
 
 We may be reminded that a stock, in point of fact, does 
 influence the fruit. It is indisputable that pears are changed 
 on quince roots. The Wilkinson, grafted upon the quince, 
 is smaller, more prolific, higher flavored, and of a brighter 
 red cheek than if grafted on the pear. The Duchesse d'An- 
 gouleme is larger and better on the quince than on its own 
 roots. But what is the influence in this case ? When a free- 
 grower is put upon a slow-grower, the j)oint of junction 
 becomes a point of comj^arative obstruction to the return- 
 sap. It is only a wholesome process of I'itiging, or decor- 
 tication. Lindley says : 
 
 " When pears are worked upon the wild species, apples 
 upon crabs, and peaches upon peaches, the scion is, in regard 
 to fertility, exactly in the same state as if it had not been 
 grafted at all : while, on the other hand, a great increase 
 of fertility, is the result of graftmg pears upon quinces, 
 peaches upon plums, apj^les upon the thorn, and the 
 like. In these cases, the food absorbed from the earth 
 by the root of the stock is communicated slowly." And 
 
 * Loudon (Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 448), has the following 
 remarks : 
 
 " The bark is the medium in which the proper juices of the plant, in 
 their descent from the leaves, are finally elaborated and brought to the 
 state which is peculiar to the species. From the bark these juices are 
 communicated to the medullary rays, to be by them deposited in the 
 tissue of the wood. The character of timber, therefore, depends chiefly 
 upon the influence of the bark: and hence it is that the wood formed 
 above a graft never partakes, in the slightest degree, of the nature of 
 the wood below it. The bark, when young and green, like the leaves, is 
 supposed, like them, to elaborate the sap, and hence may be considered 
 as the universal leaf of a plant. 
 
 These views corroborate the reasoning above, although Loudon 
 extends the functions of the leaf to the bark. We have not been able, 
 in our limited range of books, to fiud any other authority for this state- 
 ment, respecting the " young and green bark." 
 
380 
 
 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Manning adds : " No other influence have we ever noticed 
 exercised by the scion upon the stock." 
 
 But if, after all, it can be shown by actual trial, that the 
 pits of budded peaches do go hack to the fruit of the 
 stock, why we must receive it, in spite of all theory ; for, 
 (and some would do well to heed the maxim), facts must 
 rule our theories, and not theories our fact. But we may 
 properly put any facts seeming to contravene the received 
 theory of the functions of plants in producing fruit, upon 
 their oath, and refuse them, unless they are unquestionable 
 and relevant. 
 
 SujDpose a budded peach not to yield a fruit at all like 
 the bud, sujjpose it to resemble the fruit of the stock, it 
 does not follow that the stock influenced the fruit to such a 
 change. Mr. Longworth knows how freely some peaches 
 " sport," and that all peaches may be made to do it. If a 
 Melacatune be budded upon a Red Rareripe, and the Mela- 
 catune pit shows a fruit resembling the Red Rareripe, it 
 must be shown that the blossom had not been crossed by 
 the busy offices of flies, bees, etc., with the pollen of con- 
 tiguous Red Rareripe-trees. 
 
 When a tree is even solitary, it does not follow that a 
 change in fruit which shall make it resemble the stock more 
 than the graft, results from the force of the stock on the 
 grafted fruit, for seedlings of grafted fruit are, notoriously 
 often, base and degenerate ; and the resemblance might be 
 accidental, for seedlings of different origin are often strik- 
 ingly alike. 
 
 While we are aware of no facts which justify Mr. Long- 
 worth's suspicion, that the pits of budded varieties produce 
 kinds like the stock on which the bud was put, we have 
 facts enough showing that "budded pits" produce their 
 own kind. 
 
 It may be added that thoroughly ripe peaches are lesa 
 inclined to " sport " than those which are partially green. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWJERS AND FARMING. 381 
 
 CARE OF PEACH-TREES. 
 
 Take a light hoe and remove the earth from the trunk 
 of your trees. If there are worms there you may detect 
 them from the gum which has exuded, or by the channels 
 w^hich they have made in the bark, or if by neither of these, 
 Dy the discoloration of the bark in spots. Scrape the bark 
 gently with the back of a knife, and you can easily detect 
 the traces of worms if any are there. Cut freely and boldly 
 both ways along their track so as to lay bare the channel 
 in its whole length — remove the worm, and the bark will 
 very soon heal. Sometimes four, six, and even more will 
 be found in one tree. The ashes of stone coal, blacksmiths' 
 cinders, wood ashes, lime, the refuse stems of tobacco, plant- 
 ing tansy around the trunk, these, and dozens of other 
 remedies are proposed. For our own part we rely solely 
 on our jack-knife. In March or April, and then again in 
 August or September, according to the season, we search 
 the trunk thoroughly. We can attend to twenty trees in 
 an hour or two ; and when eating freely of dehcious peaches 
 we never had a qualm of regret for having so spent the 
 time. 
 
 We have practised sowing salt under fruit-trees with 
 decided advantage. If one pound of saltpetre be added to 
 every six pounds of salt, it will be yet better. We sow 
 enough to make the ground look moderately white, and 
 prefer to do it in wet weather. 
 
 The most salable butter, quality being equal, is that 
 which is neatest done up. There is a great deal in the looks 
 of a thing. You'll always find it so. 
 
382 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 RENOVATING PEACH-TREES. 
 
 The peach-tree inclines to thicken at the top, the small 
 inside branches die, and are removed by e'^ery neat cultiva- 
 tor. As the bi"anches shoot up, this tree is disposed to 
 abandon its lower branches, and, like the vine, to bear on 
 the wood the farthest from the root, i. e. the young and 
 new wood. In a few years the tree has a long-iiecked trunk, 
 sometimes several of them ; while the weight of foliage and 
 fruit is situated so as to act like a power applied to a lever ; 
 and as the fruit grows heavy, or a storm occurs, the tree is 
 broken down. We have practised the follo^^dng method 
 with success. In the month of July we saw off the top of 
 one half of the tree, leaving about ten or twelve feet of 
 stem, measuring from the ground. New shoots will now 
 put out along the whole trunk; a part of these should be 
 rubbed off, according to the judgment of the cultivator, 
 leaving such as will give symmetry to the tree, and form a 
 head low down. The second year, these branches will bear 
 fruit, and the other side may then be treated in the same 
 way. 
 
 This new head will require little meddling with for about 
 four years. At this time, or whenever the tree is outrun- 
 ning itself, the same process is to be renewed. But this 
 time the tree will be composed of a multitude of smaller 
 branches, instead of two or three main ones as at first. 
 Some of these should be wholly cut out, and the wound 
 smeared with a residuum of paint, or a thick white paint, 
 or grafting wax, or anything that wiU exclude the air while 
 the cxxt is granulating. The others are to be cut within, 
 say, five inches of the old, original Avood — leaving, thus, a 
 stem of mere stumps. If the branches are taken entirely 
 ofi", leaving only the oldest wood, the buds which would 
 break from it would not be as healihy or vigorous as those 
 which wiU spring from the stumps of the later branches. 
 
 Probably twenty or thirty whips will come to each stump; 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 383 
 
 these should from day to day he reduced in numher, until, 
 at last, all are removed hut one, and that one should, if pos- 
 sible, spring from the nearest point where the stump joins 
 the old stem. When this new branch is obtained and fairly 
 established, remove the stump with a fine saw, so as to 
 leave the new branch, as nearly as possible, in the place of 
 the old one. We remove the whips from a stump gradu- 
 ally in order to give the tree the advantage of their leaves 
 as long as it can be done without interfering with the 
 branch or branches which we are training out. 
 
 This method is to the peach what prunmg is to the grape. 
 The tree is kept in hand instead of sprawling abroad, a 
 prey to its own weight and to storms ; there is always a 
 plenty of young wood for the fruit, which can be easily 
 reached when one thins out, or gathers for use. 
 
 One of our trees taught us this method of its o^vn accord 
 in the summer of 1843. The weight of fruit was so great 
 that we applied a prop to the middle of the branch ; in a few 
 days the branch broke short off at the point of the prop. 
 It so hapj)ened that the three main limbs on one side of the 
 tree acted in this manner. That same fall a strong growth 
 of new wood shot out, and the next season I had on that 
 side as fine a top as ever I had on any peach-tree. 
 
 Evert farmer who expects his wife to make good butter, 
 after furnishing her with some good, well-fed milk cows, 
 should provide her with good milk-pans — large and shallow, 
 so as to present a large surface for the cream to rise on, and 
 enough of them to hold all her milk, and allow it to remain 
 undisturbed long enough for all the cream to rise. These 
 pans should be nicely washed every time the milk is emp- 
 tied out of them, and always be clear and bright when 
 ailed. 
 
384 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 AN APOLOGUE OR APPLE-LOGUE. 
 
 Two men planted out each one hundred apple-trees. In 
 six or seven years they began to bear. One had spared no 
 pains to bring his orchard into the highest condition. He 
 had constantly cultivated the soil about them, scraped off 
 the rough bark, washed them with urinated soap, picked 
 off every worm and nursed them as if they had been child- 
 ren. The other, pursuing a cheaper plan, simply let his 
 trees alone ; but the moss, and canker-worms took his place 
 and attended to them every year. When the orchards 
 began to bear, the careful man had the best fruit, and the 
 careless man covered his folly by cursing the nurseiy-man 
 for selling him poor trees. In a year or two the careful 
 man had two bushels to the other's one from each tree. 
 Not to be outdone, the latter determmed to have as many 
 apples as the former, and set out another hundred trees. 
 By and by, when they bore, the other orchard had so im- 
 proved that it produced twice as many yet ; another hun- 
 dred trees were therefore planted. In process of time the 
 first orchard of one hundred trees still sent more fruit to 
 market than the three hundred trees of the careless man, 
 who now gave up and declared that he never did have luck, 
 and it was of no use to try on his soil to raise good fruit. 
 
 1. When a man is too shiftless to take good care of two 
 horses, he buys two more, and gets from the four what he 
 might get from two. 
 
 2. A farmer who picks up a cow simply because it is not 
 an ox, and is^ nominally, lactiferous, and then lets the crea- 
 ture work for a hving, very soon buys a second, and a third, 
 and a fourth, and gets from them aU, what he should have 
 had from one good one. 
 
 3. A farmer had one hundred acres. Instead of getting 
 seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre, he gets forty and 
 makes it up by cultivating twice as many acres ; instead of 
 thirty bushes of wheat he gets twelve, and puts in acres 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 385 
 
 enough to make up ; instead of making one hundred acres 
 do the work of three hundred, he buys more land, and 
 allows three hundred to do only the work of one hundred. 
 
 4. A young woman, with a little pains, can have three 
 times as many clothes as she needs, and then not look so 
 well as a humble neighbor who has not half her wardrobe ; 
 wherefore, we close with some proverbs made for the occa- 
 sion : , 
 
 Active little is better than lazy much. 
 
 Carefulness is richer than abundance. 
 
 Large farming is not always good farming, and small 
 farming is often the largest. 
 
 SELECT LIST OF APPLES. 
 
 It is impossible to frame a list of apples which will suit 
 every cultivator. Men's taste in fruits is widely different. 
 The delicacy and mildness of flavor which some admire, is 
 to others mere insipidity. The sharp acid, and coarse grain 
 and strong flavor which disgust many palates, are with 
 others the very marks of a first-rate apple. The object of 
 the cultivator in planting an orchard, whether for his own 
 use, for a home market, for exportation, for cider-making, 
 or for stock-feeding, will very materially vary his selection. 
 
 The soil on which an orchard is to be planted should also 
 determine the use of many varieties, which are admirable 
 only when well suited in their locality. 
 
 Regard is to be had to climate, since some of the finest 
 fruits in one latitude entirely betray our expectations in 
 another. The hardiness and health of different varieties 
 ought to be more an object of attention than hitherto. As 
 in building, so in planting an orchard, a mistake lasts for a 
 century, and a bad tree in a good orchard is like bad tim- 
 ber in a good mansion. 
 
386 PLAIN AND PLEASAXT TALK 
 
 However select, then, a list may be, every cultivator 
 must exercise his own judgment in adapting it to his own 
 circumstances. 
 
 SUMMER APPLES. 
 
 1. Caeolina June. — ^This is identical with the Red June 
 of the principal nurseries ; but many inferior varieties scat- 
 tered through the country, called Red June, are to be dis- 
 criminated from it. 
 
 The tree is upright with slender wood, which, when 
 loaded with fruit, droops like a willow. It is a healthy 
 tree, ripens its wood early in the fall, and is not subject to 
 frost-blight. It comes early into bearing, is productive and 
 bears every year. The fruit is of medium size though 
 specimens grow large ; the flavor is sprightly, subacid, the 
 flesh tender. It has flourished well on sand-loams, common 
 clays, and on strong limestone clay. Ripens from the first 
 to the twentieth of July. A valuable market fruit. Four 
 trees, in one county, sent eighty dollars'' worth to mar- 
 ket in one season. Not mentioned by eastern writers, nor 
 found in eastern catalogues, but described at the "West by 
 Hampton and Plummer, and found in Ohio and Indiana 
 nurseries. 
 
 2. Sweet June. — ^Tree upright, wood moderately strong ; 
 ripens its wood early in fall; not subject to frost-blight; 
 flomishes on all soils, even if quite wet ; bears very young, 
 often while in nursery rows ; bears every year and abun- 
 dantly. The fruit is of medium size ; color a pale yellow ; 
 form globular ; flavor sweet and pleasant. Ripens at same 
 time as the Carolina June. 
 
 3. KiRKBRiDGE White. — Not fouud in any catalogues 
 but those of Western nurseries. Tree upright, wood 
 strong and stubbed ; grows slow while young, but vigor- 
 ously when fully established; ripens its wood early in 
 autumn ; not subject to frost-blight ; bears moderately 
 
A.BOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 387 
 
 young, and is very productive. Its fruit ripens in succes- 
 sion for six loeeks from first of July to middle of 
 August, and is peculiarly valuable on that account ; color 
 nearly white ; it is largest at base and tapers regularly to 
 the eye, and is ribbed ; flavor, mild, pleasant acid ; flesh 
 melting, and, if fully ripe breaks to jjieces in falling to the 
 ground. 
 
 4. Prince's Harvest. — Manning pronounces this " the 
 earliest apple worthy of cultivation." It may be in Massa- 
 chusetts, but it is preceded by many at the West. Man- 
 ning's description is good. 
 
 " The form is flat, of medium size ; the skin, when per- 
 fectly ripe, is of a beautifully bright straw color ; the flesh 
 tender and sprightly; if gathered before they are fully 
 ripe, it has too much acidity. The finest fruits are those 
 which drop ripe from the tree ; the branches make very 
 acute angles, by which it is readily distinguished from most 
 other trees in the orchard ; it bears young. Ripe early in 
 July." 
 
 Our nurserymen regard it as a shy bearer. 
 
 5. Summer Queen. — Extensively cultivated in the West 
 under the name of Orange Apple. The tree is spreading ; 
 a rapid grower ; not subject to frost-blight ; wood moder- 
 ately strong ; comes late into bearing ; productive when the 
 tree is fully grown, according to the books, but in this 
 region with some exceptions has proved to be a poor bearer. 
 Fruit large, yellow, striped with red ; flesh, breaking ; 
 flavor strong, and not delicate. 
 
 6. Sweet Bough. — ^Two varieties of this name are cul- 
 tivated in the West — Coxe's and Mount's. Coxe's sweet 
 bough, is that of the books and catalogues. Ripens at the 
 same time ; not quite so high in flavor. Coxe's trees are 
 large limbed and spreading ; bearing on the point of the 
 limbs, and are shy bearers ; Mount's variety is of upright 
 growth ; bears on spurs along the branches ; is a good 
 bearer and ripens from middle of July to August. 
 
388 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 " A Tariety under the name of Philadelphia Jennetting is 
 known in Trumbull County, Ohio. It ripens two weeks 
 later than the common kind, otherwise it is not essentially 
 diflferent."— X>/. J. P. Kirtland. 
 
 Y. Summer Pearmain, — There seem to be two varieties 
 of this name cultivated in Ohio and Indiana. 
 
 (1.) That of Coxe, which is the one generally cultivated, 
 and deservedly popular. 
 
 " The fruit-buds seem to be unusually hardy, and often 
 resist the impression of late spring frosts, while others are 
 killed. In 1834, when our fruits were universally cut off 
 by that destructive agent, a tree of the summer pearmain 
 and another of the Vandeveer, matured a dozen or two 
 apples, while not another tree in an orchard containing over 
 five hundred, bore a solitary fruit. It is worthy of more 
 extensive cultivation." — Dr. Kirtland. 
 
 (2.) A variety evidently allied to Coxe's, but all things con- 
 sidered a more desirable variety. The fruit resembles Coxe's, 
 but is larger ; the flavor is the same, but not quite as high ; 
 Coxe's is oblong ; this variety is Vandeveer pippin shape ; 
 color the same, and the period of ripening, viz., July and 
 August. The trees are very distinct; Coxe's is upright, 
 this is spreading ; Coxe's of a slender growth, and stinted 
 habit, and is hard to bring forward in the nursery ; this has 
 a vigorous growth, and strong wood, and strikingly resem- 
 bles the Vandeveer pippin-tree. It bears early and abun- 
 dantly in all soils. 
 
 This second variety was brought, by a man named Har- 
 lan, Fayette County, Indiana, from South Carolina, where 
 it is extensively cultivated. 
 
 8. Daniel. — The tree is upright, nearly pear-tree shape ; 
 wood strong and healthy ; leaves, above aU varieties, dark 
 green and glossy; bears young and abundantly. Fruit 
 medium size ; it has a yellow ground covered with blotches 
 of dull red; flavor rich, sweetish, and high. Ripens in 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING, 389 
 
 succession from first to middle of August. A desirable 
 variety. 
 
 9. Hoss, improperly pronounced Sorse, and so written 
 in Prince's catalogue. Originated in North Carolina ; 
 largely cultivated in both Carolinas and southern Virginia ; 
 named from the originator. It has been propagated by 
 suckers, grafts, and even hy seeds / in this latter case, the 
 product very nearly resembles the parent. Three varieties, 
 however, may be discriminated. Tree upright, wood strong 
 and healthy ; bears yearly and abundantly ; flesh melting : 
 flavor rather too acid until thoroughly ripe, and then fine. 
 Ripens in August and September. Desirable in the most 
 select orchards. 
 
 The time of ripening \ have set down for the latitude of 
 Indianapolis. Upon the Ohio River, near Cincinnati, it will 
 be ten days earlier. 
 
 AUTUMN APPLES. 
 
 10. Maiden's Blush. — Tree moderately spreading, open 
 top, limbs slender ; grows late in fall, and somewhat liable 
 to winter-killing ; grows well on aU good soils ; bears 
 young and very abundantly every year. The fruit large 
 when the tree is not allowed to ripen too large a crop ; 
 white, and blush toward the sun ; tender, melting, very 
 juicy, decidedly acid. The fruit is, even in unfavorable 
 seasons, very free fi'om cracks, knots, and is always fair ; 
 one of the best for drying and excellent for marketing ; 
 should be plucked before it is dead ripe ; ripens from 
 August to October. It is the same as the English Hor- 
 thornden. It does not do well grafted on the root ; being 
 apt to burst the first or second winter ; buds well, and 
 should be thus propagated in the nursery. It is a native of 
 New Jersey. 
 
 11. Wine Apple. — Tree spreading but not sprawling; 
 medium grower, healthy ; limbs rather slender ; does well 
 
390 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 on all soils ; bears very young, largely, and every year. 
 Fruit large on young, and medium-sized on old trees ; deep 
 yellow ground covered 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 ajiples command but seventy- 
 five cents. Ripens first of Sej)tember and has passed its 
 13rime 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 soQs 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 j^ermitted 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 difierent 
 apples. The rambo is not to be confounded with the Mam- 
 bours, of which there are several varieties. Tree upright, 
 
ABOUT FRIHTS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 391 
 
 and the most vigorous growth of all trees cultivated in the 
 West ; the easiest of all to bud with, a bud seldom misses, 
 and makes extraordinary growth the first season ; it may- 
 well be called the nurseryman's favorite ; bears very young, 
 abundantly every year, good on all soils. Fruit medium 
 size, yellow ground with red stripes and the whole over- 
 laid Avith a bloom, like a plum ; tender, juicy, melting, sub- 
 acid, rich; it has a peculiarity of riiDening ; it begins at the 
 skin and ripens toward the core ; often soft and seemingly 
 rij^e 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 fall 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 
 Avinter 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 Avell grafted on 
 the root, being tender and always largely winter-killed 
 when so wrought. They graft kindly on well established 
 stocks. 
 
392 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 If a larger list of fall apples is desired, we recommend the 
 Fall Harvey, Gravenstein, Lyscom, Porter, Red Ingestrie, 
 Yellow do. The Ashmore is a desirable fruit — difficult to 
 raise in the nursery, and therefore avoided, but the fruit is 
 fine. The Ross Nonpareil is a very admirable fall fruit of 
 Irish 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. 
 
 WTNTEK 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 weU from the bud, and also 
 extremely well grafted on roots, and grows straight and 
 finely for nursery purposes. Fruit very large, green, 
 changes when dead-ripe to a yellowish white. Flavor mild, 
 subacid ; flesh melting and spicy. Ripens in November, at 
 the same time with the Golden Russet, but wiU not keep as 
 long. A native. 
 
 16. Black Apple. — ^Tree low, spreading, and round 
 topped ; wood of medium vigor, healthy, ripens early, and 
 not subject to frost-blight. Grafts on the root kindly ; not 
 so favorable for budding as the No. 15 ; bears remarkably 
 young, and abundantly to a fault. Fruit medium sized ; 
 color very dark red, almost black, with grey rusty spots 
 about the stem ; flesh tender, breaking ; moderately juicy, 
 flavor rather sweet, though not a real sweet apple. No 
 apple would stand fairer as an early winter fruit, were it not 
 for a peculiar, dry, raw taste, somewhat resembling the 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 393 
 
 taste of uncooked corn meal. Ripens from November to 
 January. It is a native. 
 
 17. Newton Spitzekburg. — ^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, biit 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 green' 
 with cloudy spots dotted with pin-point black specks ; flesh 
 breaking, tender and juicy : flavor mild, rich, subacid ; a 
 very popular fruit. Ripens from November to January. 
 
 19. 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 Hubbardston, Mass., and is of first rate quality. 
 The tree is a vigorous grower, forming a handsome branch- 
 ing head, and bears very large crops. It is worthy of 
 extensive orchard culture. 
 
 " Fruit large, roundish-oblong, much narrower near the 
 eye. Skin smooth, strij^ed with splashes, and irregular 
 broken stripes of pale and bright red, which nearly cover a 
 yellowish ground. The calyx open, and the stalk short, in 
 a russeted hoUow. Flesh yellow, juicy, and tender, with 
 an agreeable mingling of sweetness and acidity in its flavor. 
 October to January." 
 
394 PLA.IN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 20. Minister. — We give Manning's description : 
 
 " This fine aj^ple originated in RoAvley, Mass. The size 
 is large, the form oblong like the Bellflower, tapering to the 
 eye, Trith 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 finest apples 
 which New England has produced. It ripens from Novem- 
 ber to February, and deserves a place in every collection 
 of fruits, however small. This apple received its present 
 name from the circumstance of the late Rev. Dr. Spring, of 
 Newburyport, having purchased the first fruit brought to 
 market." 
 
 21. Vanderveee Pippin. — Tree large, one of the most 
 vigorous, sjjreading, but not droopmg ; ripens its wood 
 late, occasionally touched with frost-blight and Hable 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 ofl" 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 injury 
 from frost, and even a second set of blossoms put out, 
 though feeble ones, if the first are destroyed. The fruit is 
 comely, cooks admirably, keeps well ; but a certaio sharp- 
 ness and coarseness will always make it but a second or 
 third-rate fruit. No tree is sought by farmers in this 
 region, with more avidity. Its origin is doubtful. Bran- 
 son, of Wayne County, brought it to Indiana, and all our 
 nurseries trace their stock to his. It was carried for the 
 first time to New Jersey, by Quakers visiting that region, 
 
A.BOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AKD FARMING. 395 
 
 from his orchard. It should have been mentioned, that it 
 holds its age remarkably well, very old trees producing as 
 largely, and as fiiir, sound fruit as when young. 
 
 22. Yellow Belle Fleur, or Bellflower. — Tree 
 spreads and droops more than any tree of the orchard, the 
 Newark j^i^^pin, perhaps, excepted ; wood very slender 
 and whip-like, healthy, ripens early, not subject to frost- 
 blight, grafts well on the root, but is rather tender during 
 the first winter when so worked ; buds well, but from its 
 drooping, sprawling habits, is hard to form into a top. Bears 
 moderately young (not so 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 Fleur. — 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 Monstroxis Bellflower 
 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, predommates in all orchards, 
 The yellow, however, within five years, has been largely 
 distributed. Tree, medium sized, spreading ; wood stronger 
 than the yellow belle fleur, healthy, ripens its wood early, 
 but liable to after-growth in warm falls, and therefore sub- 
 ject to frost-blight. The tree, from its habit of growth, 
 more liable to split and break under a full crop than any 
 tree of the orchard. One of the youngest bearers in the 
 nursery ; fruitful to a fault. Grafted on the root it kills ofi" 
 in winter ; buds well and forms a top without difiiculty. 
 Fruit above medium and sometimes very large; color, 
 greenish white, and, in some seasons with a blush on the 
 smmy side; flesh breaking at first, but when fully ripe, 
 
39G PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 melting and juicy ; flavor mild and delicate. It is not apt 
 to cloy, and more can be eaten 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 Do^vning says, but a round, spreading top. We 
 give Downing's description : 
 
 "The Baldwin stands at the head of New England 
 apples, and is unquestionably a first-rate fruit in all respects. 
 It is a native of Massachusetts, and is more largely culti- 
 vated for the Boston market than any other sort. It 
 bears most abundantly, and we have had the satisfaction 
 of raising larger, more beautiful, and highly favored speci- 
 mens here, than we ever saw in its native region. The 
 Baldwin, in fiavor and general characteristics, evidently 
 belongs to the same family as Esopus Spitzenburg, and 
 deserves its extensive popularity. 
 
 " Fruit large, roundish, and narrowing a little to the eye. 
 Skin yellow in the shade, but nearly covered and striped 
 with crimson, red, and orange, in the sun ; dotted with a 
 few large russet dots, and with radiating streaks of russet 
 about the stalk. Calyx closed, set in a rather narrow 
 plaited basin. Stalk half to three fourths of an inch long, 
 rather slender for so large a fruit, planted in an even, 
 moderately deep cavity. Flesh yellowish white, crisp, with 
 that agreeable mingling of the saccharine iand 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 Henet Pippin. — Tree upright, with a 
 round-shaped top ; wood strong, rather slow grower, ripens 
 its main growth of wood early, but hable 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. 397 
 
 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. 
 
 26. Red Sweet Pippin. — Tree handsome, round-topped, 
 but rather spreading ; wood strong, and vigorous growth, 
 ripens early ; tree very healthy, apt to grow with very 
 smooth bark afibrding 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, 
 and its kitchen and table qualities combined make it a 
 desirable fruit. Ripe from December to April. 
 
 27. Prtok's Red. — ^Tree upright; wood slow growing, 
 slender, and the branches ftiU 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 
 require nothing more to render it perfect. Ripens from 
 December to March. Its keeping properties are more 
 in danger from the teeth than from ordinary decay. A very 
 salable and popular apple, which, when once had, none 
 would consent to lose. It is unknown in New England and 
 New York except by description ; and is not even described 
 by Downing, and but little more than mentioned by Ken- 
 rick. 
 
898 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 28. Green Newtown Pippin. — Tree spi-eading, wood 
 slender and slow growing; ripens early, making it often 
 troublesome for nm-serymen to procure buds fit for late 
 work; not subject to frost-blight. The tree requires vigor- 
 ous cultivation to redeem it from a feeble growth ; the bark 
 is inchned to crack on the branches and scale up, and when 
 once roughened it is difficult ever again to make them 
 smooth. Late coming into bearing, bears abundantly every 
 other year. Tliey 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 Avhich we 
 give from Downing : 
 
 " One of the finest orchards in America is that of Pell- 
 ham farm, at Esopus, on the Hudson. It is no less remark- 
 able for the beauty and high flavor of its fruit, than the 
 constant productiveness of trees. The proprietor, R. L. Pell, 
 Esq., has kindly furnished us with some notes of his experi- 
 ments 'on fruit-trees, and we subjoin the following highly 
 interesting one on the apple. 
 
 " ' For several years past, I have been experiment- 
 ing on the apple, having an orchard of 2,000 bearing 
 Newtown Pippin-trees. I found it very unprofitable to 
 wait for what is termed the 'bearing year,' and it 
 has been my aim to assist nature, 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 j^roduce 
 again. This it is not able to do, unassisted by art, while it 
 is loaded with fruit, and the intervening year is lost ; if, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 399 
 
 lio'.vever, the tree is supplied with proper food it will bear 
 every year ; at least such has been the result of my experi- 
 ments. Three years ago, in April, I scraped all the rough 
 bark from the stems of several thousand trees in my 
 orchards, and washed all the trunks and limbs within reach 
 with soft soap ; trimmed out all the branches that crossed 
 each other early in June, and painted the wounded part 
 with white lead, to exclude moisture and prevent decay. I 
 then, in the latter part of the same month, slit the bark by 
 running a sharp-pointed knife from the ground to the first 
 set of limbs, which prevents the tree from becoming bark- 
 bound, and gives the young wood an opportunity of ex- 
 panding. In July I placed one peck of oyster-shell lime 
 under each tree, and left it piled about the trunk until 
 November, during which time the drought was excessive. 
 In November the lime was dug in thoroughly. The follow- 
 ing year I collected from these trees 1,700 barrels of fruit, 
 part of which was sold in New York for four, and others in 
 London for nine dollars per barrel. The cider made from 
 the refuse, delivered at the mill two days after its manufac- 
 ture, I sold for three dollars and three-quarters per barrel ot 
 thirty-two gallons, exclusive of the barrel. In October I 
 manured these trees with stable manure in which the 
 ammonia had been fixed, and covered this immediately with 
 earth. The succeeding autumn they were literally bending 
 to the ground with the finest fruit I ever saw, while the 
 other trees in my orchard not so treated were quite barren, 
 the last season having been their bearing year. I am now 
 placing round each tree one peck of charcoal dust, and pro- 
 pose in the spring to cover it from the compost heap. 
 
 " ' My soil is a strong, deep, sandy loam on a gravelly 
 subsoil. I cultivate my orchard grounds as if there were 
 no trees on them, and raise grain of every kind except rye, 
 which grain is so very injurious that I believe three suc- 
 cessive crops of it would destroy any orchard younger than 
 twenty years. I raised last year m an orchard containing 
 
400 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 twenty acres, trees eighteen years old, a crop of Indian 
 corn which averaged 140 bushels of ears to the acre.' " 
 
 29. Rawle's Janet, or Jennetting. — Tree round 
 topped, a little spreading and handsome. Wood strong, 
 slow gri/wth, short jointed, and the healthiest, perhaps, of 
 all orchard trees. Does not bear young ; but when estab- 
 lished, a great bearer every year, unless overloaded, when 
 it rests a year. It is the finest of all apples to graft on the 
 root, and should be always so propagated in the nursery ; 
 if budded, it being a late starter in spring, the stock will 
 put out its branches before the bud, and make great trou- 
 ble. Fruit medium sized ; color green strij^ed with red ; 
 roundish but inclined to sharpen toward the eye; flesh 
 white, melting, very juicy; flavor mild and delicate. 
 Ripens from February to May. This is, and deserves to be, 
 an exceedingly popular apple in all the West. The tree 
 is remarkably healthy ; it blooms ten days later than other 
 varieties, and therefore seldom loses a ci'op by spring frost ; 
 but the bloom is very sensitive to frost if overtaken ; the 
 fruit is very relishful ; keeps as well as the ISTewtown Pippin, 
 and by many, and by this writer among the number, is much 
 preferred to that noted variety. It has the peculiar excel- 
 lence of enduring frost Avithout material injury ; a property 
 which has enabled cultivators to save thousands of bushels 
 of fruit which by sudden and early cold had been severely 
 frosted. 
 
 The reason that the Cockle-bur, that great peat on farms, 
 cannot be destroyed by being cut ofi" once a year, is that 
 nature has provided for its propagation by bestowing on it 
 seed vessels which ripen at two difierent times of the year. 
 This will be found to be the case on careful examination. — 
 Western Farmer and Gardener. 
 
ABOUT FRUITb, FLOWEKS AND FARMIXG. 401 
 
 ORIGIN OF SOME VARIETIES OF FRUIT. 
 
 The history of our fine fruits has many curious points of 
 interest to the zealous j^omologist. It is made up of 
 skill, felicitous blunders, discoveries, and profitable acci- 
 dents. 
 
 The Flemish pears, with which so large a portion of the 
 calendai of new pears is filled, were the products of scienti- 
 fic efforts. In like manner, many of the finest fruits ori- 
 ginated by Knight, were by a scientific, although a different, 
 process. On the other hand it would be difiicult to find 
 fruits suj^erior to those in the making of which only Nature 
 had a hand. 
 
 The Duchesse dP Angoulenie^ a pear without a rival, in its 
 season, was found in 1815, growing wild in a hedge, near 
 Angers, in the department of Maine et Loire, France. 
 
 The Washington^ one of our finest native pears, was 
 likewise discovered in a thorn hedge, at Naaman's creek, 
 Delaware, by Gen. Robertson. He was removing a fence 
 on his farm about forty-five years ago ; he found the young 
 tree nearly grown. 
 
 The Lewis is a native of Massachusetts. Mr. Downer, of 
 Dorchester, a critical judge of fruits, was acquainted with 
 the original tree ten years before he thought it worth a 
 place in his garden. He visited it three times, and was 
 each time disinclined to cultivate it ; it was not until he had 
 seen a tree taken from it, growing in cultivated ground, 
 that he adopted it. It now ranks among the finest native 
 pears. 
 
 Dearborn's Seedling was -discovered by General Dearborn 
 in a cluster of syringas and rose bushes, forming a part of q. 
 border to an avenue. Pears seem to have great fondness 
 for hedges, borders, etc. The discoverer attempted to 
 remove the tree, then, apparently, about five years old, to 
 bis nursery for a stock; but diggmg two feet deep, and 
 findmg no root but the tap root, he feared that deplantiui; 
 
402 PLAIN AMD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 might kill it. It was left to grow, and has proved to be 
 one of the first-class pears. 
 
 Dow)icr''s late cherry, was a stock in the nursery row, and 
 several times budded with other kinds; the buds always 
 failing, the tree Avas allowed to fruit, and proved one of the 
 best, if not the best, of late cherries. 
 
 KnighVs Black Eagle was raised from the seed of the 
 Bigarreau fertilized by the May Duke. "When it bore, the 
 fruit was so inferior that tlie London Horticultural Society 
 peremptorily rejected it. Mr. Knight determined to head 
 the tree down and graft into it other sorts. But he had 
 given the tree to a daughter, with whom it was a favorite, 
 and she refused to have it sacrificed. Each year, subse- 
 quently, showed an improvement in the fruit ; and now it 
 stands in the first class of cherries. This is one among 
 many instances, which show that young seedlings do not 
 exhibit the true qualities of the fruit for several years after 
 they come to bearing. 
 
 The Red-cheeh Melocoton peach was accidentally obtained 
 by the late Wm. Prince, Flushing, Long Island. He had 
 budded the Kennedy's Caroline upon a stock, and below 
 the point of inoculation a branch of the original stock had 
 shot up into bearing. Sending a servant to gather the 
 budded fruit, he was surprised by his bringing, and, as he 
 declared, from this tree, a free-stone peach. On examining, 
 he found the cause as stated above, and was so much 
 pleased with the new kind that he cultivated it. 
 
 The best stock a man can invest in, is the stock of a 
 farm ; the best shares are plow-shares ; and the best banks 
 are the fertile banks of the rural stream : the more these 
 are broken the better dividends they pay. 
 
ABOUT FRUTTS, FLOWERS AXD FARMESTG. -ICo 
 
 THE QUIXCE. 
 
 We have nothing to say that has not been well said by 
 Downing, in his most intei'esting chapter on the Quince. 
 His Fruit and Fruit Trees of America, by the way, is 
 beyond all question the best pomological manual, all things 
 considered, which has appeared at home or abroad. 
 
 To return to the quince ; we marvel that so few trees 
 have found a place in our collections of fruit. Quinces bear 
 transportation, and will, upon an average, bring two dollars 
 a bushel. They sell extravagantly high every year, and yet 
 no one seems to take the hint. 
 
 Our favorite mode of increasing the quince, is by layers. 
 The tree being low and inclined to be bushy, there is always 
 an abundance of suitable wood to lay down. Twenty or 
 thirty or even more rooted plants may be obtained in a 
 single season ; and the layers throw out such a profusion of 
 roots that the only difficulty will be to separate each plant 
 Avith its roots from the tough and matted abundance which 
 will be found to have filled the soil. If laid down in the 
 spring, they may be removed by midsummer, a cool and 
 moist day being chosen, and the plants shaded until they 
 start again to growing. If this is done, a second set of 
 layers may be put down to remain over fall and winter and 
 be removed the next spring. 
 
 Trees intended for the fruit-compartment of the garden 
 should be trained to a single stem, when they will make a 
 low and not altogether unsymmetrical tree ; at any rate, a 
 tree much more convenient than the quince bush which we 
 usually find in our garden corners. 
 
 Where the seed is to be planted, they should be prepared ; 
 they are covered with a thick mucilaginous matter which 
 resti-ains their quick germination. Let them be jDut into 
 water for twelve hours, and the water will become nearly 
 as thick as paste. Pour it off and repeat the operation 
 until they are nearly clean ; mix them with sand and sow 
 them immediately. 
 
404 PI.AIX AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 CUTTING AND KEEPING GRAFTS. 
 
 Mant experienced orchardists suppose the best time for 
 cutting grafts to be immediately on the fall of the leaf in 
 autumn. 
 
 Grafts should be cut in mild weather, when the wood is 
 entirely free from frost. Select the outside limbs and the 
 last year's growth of wood. 
 
 Too much care cannot be observed in Jceeping the varie- 
 ties separate. Tie up in bundles and mark the names of 
 each kind as soon as cut. A moinent'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 wraj^ped in moist cloth, with folds 
 enough to exclude the air entirely. For convenience of 
 carrying they may be packed, m 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 " Avere 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. 405 
 
 FROST-BLIGHT. 
 
 It is a matter of great importance that all cultivators of 
 fruit unite in making observations on this subject, and that 
 il may be done with some unity of purpose, 
 
 1. Let the examiner select trees upon which are seen 
 small loater-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 wmtei'-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 fomid to have 
 discolored the whole neighborhood. In many cases which 
 we have examined, half the trunk is affected. We exam- 
 ined a bearing pear-tree, which to the eye has not one 
 sign of uuhealthiness, but which, on cutting, is found 
 to be affected throughout, and will, undoubtedly, die in 
 sprhig. 
 
 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 warm, dry, sandy 
 loam. It is supposed that any causes which produce a 
 coarse, M'atery, 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. 
 
4C6 PLArN" AND PLEASA3irT TALK 
 
 4. Let trees which are found to be in an injured condi- 
 tion be marked and examined again as follows : 
 
 (1.) At the breaking up of winter, to see if any change 
 of condition has taken place. 
 
 (2.) At the breaking of the bud into leaf. 
 
 (3.) At the full development of leaf and when the down- 
 ward current of sap is begun. 
 
 5. It is a matter of great importance to ascertain whether 
 the character of the season which follows such frost-injm-ies 
 as have befallen fruit-trees in this region, modifies the di.s- 
 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. — N'ot 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 skm 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 jDot-lid, and let 
 the potatoes remain over a sloAV fire till the steam is evapo- 
 rated ; then peel and set them on the table in an open dish. 
 Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, will always be sweet, 
 dry and mealy. A covered dish is bad for potatoes, as it 
 keeps the steam in, and makes them soft and watery. 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 407 
 
 SEEDLING FRUITS. 
 
 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 apj^les. The London Horti- 
 cultural Society's Catalogue, expurgated at that, gives 900 
 kinds of apples, and 1,500 have been tested in the Society's 
 gardens. Manning's experimental grounds and nursery at 
 the time of his death, contained 1,000 named varieties of 
 the pear ! Swollen as is the list, there are scores annually 
 added ; many under the advice of scientific bodies ; many 
 have popular approbation ; many from the partialities of 
 some parental nurseryman ; and many come in, as evil came 
 into this world, no one can tell how. 
 
 It has become necessary, therefore, to exclude many from 
 the catalogue, and especially necessary that none should 
 enter without the very best passport. In the main, one set 
 of tests will serve, both for receiving and expurgating ; for 
 no matter how long a fruit has been on the list, it should be 
 ejected if, being out, its qualities would not gain it a fresh 
 admission. There are no hereditary rights, or rights of 
 occupancy, in pomological lists. 
 
 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 pomological reforma- 
 tion broke out in the London Horticultural Society's gai'- 
 dens at Chiswick, and that Luther of the orchard, Mr. 
 Thompson, has abolished an astonishing number of sine- 
 cures, and reformed, if not worthless rotten boroughs, very 
 worthless apples and pears. The Society's first catalogue 
 issued in 1826. Its third catalogue was published in De- 
 cember of 1842. The experience of the intervening six- 
 teen years led to the total rejection from their list, on the 
 ground of mferiority, or as synonyms, of 600 varieties oJ 
 apples; 139 of cherries; 200 of gooseberries ; 82 ofgrapos, 
 
408 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 80 of Strawberries ; 150 of peaches ; 200 of pears ; and 150 
 of plums. Only twenty-eight peaches are allowed to stand ; 
 and only twenty-six strawberries out of the hundreds that 
 were proved. We have no similar society in the United 
 States whose authority would be generally acknowledged. 
 Our only resource is the diffusion of the very best fruits 
 that every neighborhood may have a standard of compari- 
 son by the reduction of experience to the form of rules. 
 Although it is difficult to lay down general rules on this 
 subject, there are three which may be mentioned. 
 
 1. N'o fruit should be admitted to the list and none 
 retained upon it, which is decidedly poor. — One would sup- 
 pose this truism to be superfluous as a rule. But it is only 
 necessary to go out into seedling orchards in any neighbor- 
 hood to find small, tough, and flavorless apples, which hold 
 their place alongside of orchards filled with choice grafted 
 fruit. 
 
 2. JVo seedling fruit should he 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 shoidd be 
 the result of a consideration of all the hahits, jointly , of the 
 tree and of the fruit. — It is in the application of this rule 
 that great experience and judgment are required. This 
 will be plain, if one considers how many essential particu- 
 lars enter into a first-rate fruit beside mere flavor. 
 
 Of two fruits equal in flavor, one may surpass the other 
 in tenderness of flesh, in juiciness, in delicacy of skin, and 
 in size. It is rare that any single fruit combines all these 
 excellences, and therefore it is that we retain several vari- 
 eties, among which such properties are distributed. 
 
 There are many fruits which, having good substance and 
 flavor, derive their value from some single peculiarity. 
 
ABOUT T-KUITS, FLOWEKS AND FABMING. 409 
 
 Thus a fruit may be no Ijetter thau many others, but the 
 tree, blooming very late m 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 afibrd 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 ofi" 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 I'ight, 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' £on Chretien, it ought to sup- 
 plant the old Seckle tree, which, in spite of its incomparable 
 fruit, is a vexatious thing to manage ; and, as often in the 
 case of other and fairer fruit, makes one wonder how such 
 amiable and beautiful daughters ever had such a surly and 
 crusty old father. 
 
 A poraological censor must also have regard to varieties 
 
410 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 of taste among men, and to commercial qualities of fruit, 
 and to its adaptation to soil and climate. 
 
 No one man has a right to make his tongue the monarch 
 over other people's tongues. Therefore, for instance, it is 
 none of our business, if a rugged mouth chooses to roll a 
 slice of tlie austere Vanderveer pipjoin, like sin, as a sweet 
 morsel under his tongue. The mild delicacy of an apple, 
 which fills our mouths with admiration, would be mere insi- 
 pidity to 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 ; some cook 
 well but are villainous to the taste when raw ; some will 
 stew to a fine flavor and sweetness vnthout 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 m severe pruning at any time. If a 
 man has the education of his orchard from the start, it is an 
 utter abomination to leave his trees in such a condition as 
 to require it. If, however, one comes into possession of a 
 much abused orchard, or of a seedling orchard ; or, if a 
 single tree is to be changed, or an old tree is to be headed 
 back for health's sake, then it may be necessary to prune 
 with a free hand. But ia such cases, the change should 
 not be attempted in one season, but divided between two. 
 
 There is, we suppose, a critical time in which pruning 
 will injure the tree. It is after the sap is in full motion, the 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 411 
 
 vegetable system impleted, hut before the pores and sap 
 passages have acquired a contractile power. Tlius, if a 
 grape is pruned when the buds begin to swell, the wood 
 does not contract, and the vine bleeds to excess. But if 
 [•runed 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 well 
 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 £osto7i 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 Avood and a new 
 layer of bark deposited every year, and that in June tliis 
 
412 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 process is in active operation ; the newly-forming wood and 
 bark are then consequently in a tender and imperfect state, 
 and very susceptible to injury. Standing in the forks of 
 the branches as it is sometimes necessary to do in pruning, 
 will frequently separate the bark and wood, especially in 
 young trees at this season. In grafting late in the season, 
 this is frequently the case ; sometimes where the ladder is 
 placed against a branch it wiU remove the bark ; and in 
 sawing, unless the saw runs very clear, and the teeth are 
 fine, the same results will fallow ; 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 jDreferred. 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 midsumm,er is 
 by far the best season, on the whole, for pruning in the 
 northern and middle States. Wounds made at this season 
 heal over freely and rapidly ; it is the most favorable time 
 to judge of the shape and balance of the head, and to see at 
 a glance which branches require removal ; and all the stock 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 413 
 
 of orgauizable matter in the tree is directed to the branches 
 that remain." 
 
 Some of the western States are so much earlier than 
 that of New York, that early June will be equivalent to the 
 time specified by Downing. We have now fortified the 
 opinion which we heretofore expressed, by good authority, 
 and by what seems to us good reasons. As it is, however, 
 with some, yet a debated question, we shall carefully insert 
 the experience of any man for or against our position. 
 
 PLUMS AND THEIR ENEMIES. 
 
 Multitudes of men have had pliyn-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 I 
 
 The CurcuUo (a very hardy fellow, with a constitution 
 yet unimpaired by such a name as Rhynchmnus Nenuphar!) 
 is a small beetle, about a quarter of an inch long, which 
 attacks the plums almost as soon as the fruit has set. They 
 seek this, and almost all smooth-skinned fruits, as a place ot 
 deposit for their eggs. Many of the facts which we shaU 
 
414 PLAIN' AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 narrate, were meutioued to us by Mr. Payne of Madison, 
 who has closely and curiously observed this dej)redator. 
 
 An incision is first made, of semicircular form, by a little 
 rostra or lancet which he carries in his head for this very 
 purpose. After the opening is made, the curculio deposits 
 an egg therein ; then changing positions again, it carefully, 
 with its fore legs, secures the egg in its nidus, and pats the 
 skin under the edge of which its treasure is hidden, with 
 repeated and careful efforts of its feet. Where fruit abounds 
 it deposits, usually, but one to a plum. But we have had 
 trees, just beginning to bear, whose few plums were scari- 
 fied all over. 
 
 The egg hatches to a worm, and this feeds on the plum, 
 causing it prematurely to fall ; the insect issuing from it, 
 enters the ground, to undergo its transformations, and soon 
 to reappear, a beetle, ready for fresh mischief-making pro- 
 pagation. 
 
 The climate of the West is entirely glorious for all man- 
 ner of insects. They can put the East to shame in the mat- 
 ter of aphides, cockroaches, cutworms, army and wire- 
 worms, cu^rculios, i:)each-worms, grubs, etc., etc. There are 
 many questions relating to the history of insects, about 
 which eastern writers are in doubt, not at all doubtful 
 with us. 
 
 1. Do the larvae remain in the ground all the residue of 
 the summer, and come forth only in the ensuing spring ? 
 In cold latitudes it may be so. Harris says, that they 
 undergo their transformation in twenty days. Downing 
 admits this of a few stragglers. But the main supply of 
 bugs, he thinks, remains all summer and until spring, in the 
 ground. But with us the curculio is not exclusively an early 
 summer insect. It is found, in its appropriate haunts, 
 through the whole warm season. Mr. Payne put plums 
 containing the worms into a glass, and in eleven days 
 obtained full-grown curculios. In cool regions they pro- 
 bably have but an annual generation j but in warm and 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 415 
 
 long summers, in the West, tliey reproduce often in each 
 season. 
 
 2. The mode of ascent has been a matter of doubt. J. J. 
 Thomas, in the Fruit Culturist says : " It has the power of 
 using its wmgs in flying ; but whether it crawls up the tree 
 or ascends by flight, appears not to be certainly ascer- 
 tained," 
 
 Downing admits that it flies, but says , " How far this 
 insect flies is yet a disputed point, some cultivators affirm- 
 ing that it scarcely goes further than a single tree, 
 and others believing that it flies over a whole 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 escaj^ed ; so little and so reluctantly do these 
 insects inchne 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 
 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 off agam as nimbly as a flea. 
 
 All remedies fovmded on the idea of their crawling pre- 
 ferences wUl 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 
 curculio does not abound ; and almost every one of them 
 fails in places really mfested them. 
 
 In cities, and in country places which are far removed 
 
416 TLAIN AXD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 from all oicliards or gardens, the crops may be saved. It 
 is not difficult to defend a tree against aU the curculios that 
 are bred upon it. Pavements ; hard-rolled gravel ; gathe)"- 
 ing up, daily, the fallen plums and destroying them ; the 
 application of salt, and many other remedies may succeed 
 where the curculio from other gardens or orchards cannot 
 easily migrate to supply the trees with a fresh brood. 
 Trees in cities, and in retired places, on this account, often 
 bear plenteously. 
 
 But of what use is it to destroy five hundred larvae, if 
 twice that number of emigrants, from some other quarter, 
 are anxious, the next spring, to squat upon your trees, or 
 to enter them, in land-office style, most nefariously? All 
 remedies founded on the destruction of the larvse will be 
 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 clunates where 
 the curculio does not abound, or in secluded situations, they 
 have proved effectual. 
 
 The remedies to be employed, in ordinary cases, must be 
 such as will constantly molest the insect at his work. 
 Inclosures, in which swine root, and rub against the trees ; 
 lanes, where cattle resort, to rub off their hair in spring, to 
 shade themselves in summer — these are the best situations. 
 In yards and gardens plum-trees should be placed upon the 
 most frequented paths ; close to the well, by the kitchen 
 door, near the wood-house, so that, as often as possible, 
 they may be jarred in passing and rej^assing. 
 
 "Where a few trees stand apkrt 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 
 gathered and destroyed. This should be performed while 
 it is cool, as then, only, the curcuho is somewhat torpid. li 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 417 
 
 this course is pursueJ, a block sliould 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 trea to catch the falling 
 robber. 
 
 A few trees mil 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 deUghts in the plum, it 
 scruples at no fruit. It may be found upon peaches, cher- 
 ries, nectarines, apricots, gooseberries and cm-rants. 
 
 ROOT GKAFTIJS^G. 
 
 While nothing can be done out of doors in the nursery, 
 the process of root graftmg may be carried on, and the 
 stock be ready for setting as soon as the grounds are open 
 in spring. 
 
 When this method of graftmg is employed with discretion, 
 it greatly aids the nurseryman. It is a resource in case he 
 cannot procure stocks to bud or graft upon ; it makes finer 
 and handsomer trees ; and it can be carried on at a season 
 of leisure ; and the scions, being early in the ground, have 
 a longer season of growth by two months than buds, or 
 ordmary grafts. 
 
 Although any healthy root with some fibres will answer 
 to graft upon, yet experienced nurserjonen 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 
 
418 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 be taken for grafting purposes and the stocks put away in 
 cellars, or buried in the ground. 
 
 We do not know that there is any difference in favor of 
 the root of one variety over another ; but it will not do to 
 propagate every variety of fruit by this method. Expei i- 
 ence has shown that some sorts do better by root grafting 
 than in any other way; but other kinds are very apt to 
 be winter-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 bemg 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 time to turn them out in the 
 spring. 
 
 The cherry, plum, pear and aj)ple trees, in a diseased 
 condition, will often throw uj) 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. 419 
 
 BLIGHT AND INSECTS. 
 
 In an article ou employing suckers of fruit-trees for 
 stocks, wliicli 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, 
 been mistaken for blight^ a disease that has its origin in the 
 depredations of a minute coleopterous insect, which has 
 been satisfactorily described ii\ 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 investi 
 gations of Mr. Lowell and Professoi Peck leave no room to 
 doubt. But we are not satisfied that, even in these cases, 
 they were the cause of the blight^ but only an accidental 
 concomitant. Did Mr. Lowell or Piofessor Peck always 
 find this beetle upon blighted trees'? Was it found in 
 every blighted limb ? Did not blight occur without these 
 insects? Has any one of New England 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 \)QQ\i found 
 only after the tree is thoroughly afiected, 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 
 Wo<5t is unquestionably not an efibct of the scolytus pyri. 
 We have examined with the utmost pains, multitudes of 
 trees na all soils — several of our shrewdest nurserymen have 
 searched year by year, and Ave have, unfortunately, had too 
 much opportunity and too many subjects, and yet no insect 
 
420 PLAIN AND 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 
 grey, but the mere presence of an insect is nothing, though 
 with many, it seems enough, when a tree is blighted, if a 
 bug is found on it, to determine the parentage of the mis- 
 chief. Nor do the published accounts of insects, found on 
 blighted trees, increase our respect for this theory. The 
 observations seem to have been not thorough enough, and 
 not carefully made, and the reasonings even less philo- 
 sophical. Men have searched for a theory rather than for 
 the mere 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 has ever attentively examined one real case of fire- 
 blight would ever mistake it for anything else, or anything 
 else for it. 
 
 The insect theory we regard as 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 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 421 
 
 is called a loater-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 scolytiis pyri, 
 or the suction of aphides, which would result in mere shrink- 
 ing of parts, dryness and death. If insects have a hand in 
 the mischief, it is by the secretion of poison, of which fact, 
 we have never seen the trace of proof, although it has often 
 been suggested, and is by some empyrically asserted. To 
 our minds the insect-poison-theory is imaginary. It is 
 entirely convenient to refer every excrescence, or shrinking 
 of parts, every watery suffusion, wart, discoloration, crump- 
 ling leaf, wilting, etc., to poison, and still more convenient 
 to find the insect so atomic that it cannot be foimd, and thus 
 to heap the multiform sins of the orchard on the scape-goat 
 of a hypothetical insect. 
 
 As to electricity, as no one knows anything about this 
 elemental sprite, his out-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 j^rank, which was cut up, of course was performed by 
 them. Everybody is agog about electricity. But we 
 respectfully suggest that it is one thing to ascertain facts 
 by cautious, guarded experiments or careful observation, 
 and quite another to set down everything, which one does 
 not know what else to do with, to electricity, simply because 
 it may he so for might that we knoto to the contrary. 
 People reason somewhat in this wise ; electricity performs 
 a vast number of very mysterious operations, therefore, 
 every operation which is mysterious is performed by elec- 
 tricity. We believe electricity to have something to do 
 with it, only because it seems to have concern with every 
 living, growing thing. 
 
 We believe that the blight is, in all cases, the effect ot 
 
422 PLAIN AXD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 frost upon the sap. We have, until recently, supposed it 
 to arise from autumnal freezing, while the tree is in full 
 growth. We are now inclined to suppose that severe freez- 
 ing and sudden thawing at any time, autumn, winter or 
 spring, when the sap is m motion^ will result in blight. 
 The blight of 1844 was from the freezing of growing trees 
 in the autumn of J 843, and the premonitory stages were 
 clearly discernible in the tree during the whole winter 
 months before it broke out in its last malignant form. 
 
 When a warm winter allows continuous motion of sap, 
 and sudden, severe freezing with rapid thawing occurs, we 
 suppose it to cause a variety of blight. We are making 
 investigations on this head, but are not yet prepared to 
 speak with certainty. 
 
 When a sudden violent freezing overtakes growing trees 
 in spring, with rapid thaws, it, we suppose, results in a 
 blight resembling the autumn-caused blight. 
 
 We are diligently searching into this whole matter, and 
 hope to throw some light upon it. 
 
 But now comes the question. What is it that makes 
 some trees so obnoxious to this evil while others escape ? 
 Why are some orchards generally affected-, and contiguous 
 orchards entirely saved ? 
 
 It is very plain that the blight occurs, as a general disease, 
 in some seasons more than in others, because it depends upon 
 the peculiar condition of the season, the time and degree 
 of frosts. But it does not seem so clear why, when these 
 conditions are favorable to blight, one tree should suffer, and 
 the next in the row should not ; why one orchard should 
 be depopulated, and another in the same town not touched. 
 
 We think that light will be afforded on this point by a 
 consideration of the texture oitv&o.'^. 
 
 When trees are rapidly grown by stimulating manures, 
 or upon strong clay loams, or from any other cause, the 
 wood is coarse, the passages enlarged, the tissue loose and 
 spongy. The tree passes a great volume of sap — it is but 
 imperfectly elaborated (as is seen by the late period to 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMIXG. 423 
 
 which such trees defer the beariug of fruit), and the tissues 
 formed by it are correspondingly imperfect in wholesome- 
 ness, compactness, and solidity of parts. The tree is bloated 
 — is dropsical. 
 
 On gravelly soils, or loams with a gravelly subsoil, or on 
 any kind of soil, which gives a slow and thorough growth^ 
 the wood is fine, close and perfect; the vessels are not 
 expanded, their sides are firmer, less sensitive to sudden 
 changes of temperature, and when exposed to them better 
 able to resist them. 
 
 Whatever soil produces rank or coarse w^ood, a flabby 
 tissue will be subject to blights. Whatever soil induces 
 a fine-grained, compact fibre, and vigorous tissue, will be 
 free from blight. The same is true of the various methods 
 of cultivation ; those who drive their trees, who aim chiefly 
 at a rapid and strong growth, will give their trees a con- 
 dition requisite for blight. Those who pursue a more cau- 
 tious, a slower method, and look to the quality rather than 
 the quantity of their wood, will be comparatively fi-ee 
 fi'om blight. 
 
 To be sure, there may be seasons so extreme that blight 
 will occur in the most healthy tree; so disease will occur in 
 the most temperate men ; yet temperance, conformity to 
 the laws of nature, is the rule of health, and nonconformity 
 the preparation for disease. 
 
 Meanwhile, will those who are unfortunate enough to have 
 a good opportunity for observing, examine — 
 
 1 . The soil and subsoil of blighted trees ? 
 
 2. The habit of the tree, as to rankness of growth? 
 
 3. The character of the cultivation which has been em- 
 ployed ? 
 
 4. In short, the relative condition of orchards and trees 
 which have escaped or been blighted, as to fineness and 
 closeness, and health of texture. It is high time that this 
 matter should be minutely investigated. It is the appro- 
 brium cultoruni. 
 
424 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 APPLES. FOR HOGS. 
 
 Farmers are afraid of sour apples ; if stock have only 
 sour fruit they are injured ; but let both sweet and sour 
 grow in the orchard, and experience has determined that 
 they wUl, of themselves, eat the due proportion of each. 
 Cattle and hogs are as fond of variety in fruit as men are. 
 In raising potatoes, pumpkins, apples, etc., for animals, it is 
 frequently supposed that the larger and ranker the growth 
 the better ; that, at any rate, cattle fare as well on coarse- 
 grained vegetables as on others. But a rank, coarse, watery 
 vegetable is no better for an ox than for a man. The 
 nutritious principle is the same to man or beast. A fine- 
 fleshed, highly nutritious apple or potato is as much better 
 for stock as it is for man. If a variety is not fit for men, it 
 is not worth while to cultivate it at all. Cattle show them- 
 selves to be of this opinion when left to range ; they avoid 
 coarse, rough herbage, and pick the sweetest and highest 
 flavored. Let the best sorts of apples be planted for stock. 
 If one has a seedling orchard which it would be worth while 
 to graft over for human use, let not its poor, miserable fruit 
 be fed to hogs; let it be grafted over even if one means to 
 use it for stock. 
 
 Pulling off Potato Flowers. — The man who makes his 
 potato-ground feed flowers, prevents it feeding his children. 
 Every ounce of matter consumed by the flowers is so much 
 taken from the consumption of the family. 
 
 To RESTORE an exhausted, or rather tired field, it should 
 be sown in grass, and stock fed upon it during the winter 
 months. Hogs fattened upon tired land enrich it very 
 much. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 425 
 
 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
 
 Spring FLOWERixct-BuLBs. — When crocus, hyacinths, 
 narcissus, tulips, have done flowering, let the seed stalks 
 be cut down, as the ripening of the seed severely taxes and 
 exhausts the powers of a plant. Some persons are accus- 
 tomed, after the bulbs have flowered, to cut ofi" the tops, as 
 if to do the most mischief possible. The success of the next 
 year's flowering will depend very much on the care given 
 to your beds now. Many bulbs, as the tulip, form entirely 
 new bulbs ; and others, as the hyacinth, form the flower 
 bud for the next season. The leaf is the indispensable 
 means of doing this ; m it are perfected the juices which are 
 returned and deposited in the root. If the bed is left to be 
 choked with weeds, and your bulbs robbed of nutriment, or 
 if the soil is left compact, or if there is too much moisture, 
 or on the other hand, too little, the bud or bulb for the 
 next year will be weakened. A very deep bed, or a sandy 
 soU, wUl sufficiently prevent the effects of too much 
 water. 
 
 The surface should be mellowed by the hand, and tho- 
 roughly weeded. The raost careful cultivators raise their 
 bulbs every year. The careful at least every third year. 
 The careless let them alone and wonder, from year to year, 
 why their bulbs do so poorly — " The moles must eat them, 
 or, worms probably injure them ;" but the worst worm in a 
 flower-garden is careless indolence. When bulbs are raised, 
 it should not be done until the leaves are dry. 
 
 Gladiolus. — We are surprised that this fine soldier-like 
 plant is not more extensively employed to adorn gardens, 
 yards, and lawns. A few varieties only are found in our 
 gardens. Great attention has been given in Europe, espe- 
 cially in Belgium, to raising new varieties, and many mag- 
 nificent kinds are now found in European collections which, 
 so far as we know, are not to be had for love or money in 
 
426 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 America. The bulb, or rather corm,* increases very rapidly, 
 and by a little attention one may obtain from a few, a very 
 large supply. They may be planted with good effect in 
 rows, in clumps, and in beds, but not singly. A sandy 
 loam, well mixed with leaf-mold, is their delight. We 
 usually remove the top soil, and then take out and reject 
 about twelve inches of the subsoil, making in all about 
 twenty inches' depth ; return the top earth, together with 
 enough compost of leaf-mold, sand, and thoroughly 
 decayed manure, to fill it ; plant about four inches deep, 
 measuring from the top of the corm. When your plants 
 are growing, examine every day ; if you see a sawdust-hke 
 matter about them, they need attention. On searching, a 
 perforation will be found in the stem. With a penknife slit 
 the stem down from the hole until you reach the worm 
 which caused the mischief If this course is not projDerly pur- 
 sued, you will lose stem and root. With a thin strip of bass 
 matting, or a bit of green ribbon, the stem may be tied and 
 fastened to a rod for support. In door-yards, and in the 
 scanty grounds of city yards, clumps of ten or fifteen gladioli 
 would have a very beautiful appearance, especially if dif- 
 ferent varieties, instead of being mixed, should be planted 
 in separate but contiguous patches. 
 
 TuBEKOSE. — ^The beauty of its pure, white florets, but 
 especially the delightful odor of this fragrant flower, has 
 rendered it a favorite wherever it is known. It is very 
 
 * Bulbs are of two kinds : those which have a number of coats, or 
 skins, one within the other, like the hyacinth, which are called tunicated 
 bulbs ; those which consist of a number of scales, only attached to the 
 base, like the lily ; but what are called corms, are only a solid mass of 
 feculent matter, and which modern botanists do not allow to be bulbs, 
 but call underground stems. Corms do not require taking up so often 
 as bulbs ; and when they are intended to remain for several years in the 
 ground, they should be planted from four to six inches deep at first ; as 
 every year a new corm vill form above the old one ; and thus, if planted 
 to3 near the surface, tht corm, in a few years, will be pushed out of tho 
 ground. — Loudon. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 427 
 
 tender to frost, and must not be j^lanted out until about 
 the first of May. It is to be treated like the gladiolus. Its 
 effect is heightened by being put in a half shade, where its 
 pure white is relieved by a green background. The flower 
 stem rises from two to three feet and requires a rod to sus- 
 tain it. The fragrance is so powerful that a few plants will, 
 at evening, scent a whole garden; a circumstance well 
 known to owners of pleasure gardens, who render their 
 grounds very delightful by disjDersing these, and other odo- 
 riferous flowers, in various j)arts of their grounds, thus 
 loading the dewy evening air with delicious perfume. They 
 may be planted in ten-inch pots and sunk in the ground 
 until they have begun to blossom, when the pots may be 
 raised and conveyed to the parlor or veranda. A single 
 plant will sometimes make a room disagreeable by its exces- 
 sive odor. 
 
 The roots are imported to England from Italy, as that 
 climate is too humid and cool too perfect them for flower- 
 ing. But, in our soil and climate, we have found no diffi- 
 culty in raising, from oiF-sets, the finest possible bulbs. No 
 yard or garden should be without tuberoses. 
 
 Plants in Pots. — It is better when one has ground at 
 hand, to turn out plants which have been housed through 
 the winter into the open garden. Roses, geraniumS) 
 azaleas, cape jasmins, fuchsias, etc., will be wonderfully 
 invigorated by such treatment. The tea and Bengal roses 
 can hardly be brought to perfection in pots, and those who 
 have only seen the penurious growth and diminished and 
 sparse blossoms in the parlor have no idea of the beauty of 
 these roses. We usually excavate a place two feet square 
 and two feet deep for each rose, filling it Avith sandy loam 
 very highly enriched with leaf-mold and decayed manure. 
 The trouble will be repaid four fold ; for nature has never 
 made a plant that forgets to be grateful for attention. 
 
 In turning out plants, put the left hand in such a way 
 upon the top as that the stem shall come between the 
 
428 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 second and third finger, then invert the pot and give the 
 bottom of it two or three sharp raps, when the pot will 
 come off. If the plant is in a lively, growing state, and the 
 outside of tlie ball of earth is covered with fine, white, new 
 roots, it will be best to put the ball into the ground with- 
 out disturbing the roots at all. But if the plant is not grow- 
 ing, the earth may be carefully worked out from the roots 
 with the hands, taking care to break the fibres as little as 
 2>ossible. Sj^read out the roots as much as possible in every 
 direction, and cover with fine earth. 
 
 Rose bushes will need attention soon, as worms and bugs 
 begin their depredations. When the number of bushes is 
 limited, hand-picking every day or two is best. For a 
 large collection one must resort to more general methods. 
 Drench your shrubs, which aphides and worms infest, with 
 soapsuds, made of two pounds of whale-oil soap to fifteen 
 gallons of water. This is by far the most efiicacious — the 
 only efficacious — course for destroying insects. 
 
 As flower-seeds come up, see that they are well weeded, 
 and if crowded, thin them out. We would recommend the 
 cultivation of some old-fashioned flowers. N"othing is more 
 showy than a bed of poppies of mixed colors. Holyhocks 
 are becoming very great favorites, and we saw recently 
 flowers as magnificent, and as well worth having, as any 
 dahlia. The varieties of lupine should be sought for, and 
 for those who have seen nothing but the white and blue 
 lupines we make an extract from Mrs. Loudon's "Com- 
 panion to the Flower Garden " — an admirable work, which, 
 though professedly written for ladies, may be used with 
 profit by everybody who cultivates a garden. 
 
 "LupiNus. — LeguminoscB. — The Lupine. A genus of 
 herbaceous annuals and perennials which contain some of 
 our most beautiful border flowers : yellow, blue, white, and 
 pink lupines are among the oldest border annuals; JL. nanus 
 is a beautiful little annual, with dark blue flowers, a native 
 of California, and requiring the usual treatment of Cali- 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 429 
 
 fornia annuals. L. mutablUs and Gruicshankii are splen- 
 did plants, growing to tlie height of four oi* five feet, and 
 branching like miniature trees. L. Polyphyllus and its 
 varieties are perennials, and they are splendid and vigorous- 
 growing plants, with spikes of flowers from one foot to 
 eighteen inches in length ; L. nootkatensis is a handsome 
 dwarf perennial, and L. arboreiis^ when trained against a 
 wall, will attain six feet in height, and in sheltered situations 
 it will grow with equal vigor trained as a bush tied to a 
 stake ; L. latif alius is a perennial from California, with 
 very long spikes of blue flowers. All the species will 
 thrive in common garden soil ; the annuals are propagated 
 by seed sown in February or March, and the perennials by 
 division of the roots." 
 
 PREPARATION OF SEED FOR SOWING. 
 
 Many persons suppose that when seeds have been select- 
 ed, nothing is necessary but to put them into the ground 
 just as they are. A careful pi-eparation of seed, both for 
 field or garden use, wall add much to the success of a 
 planting. 
 
 1. Assorting Seeds. — In every lot of seed there are 
 many imperfect ones ; some are insectiferous, some are un- 
 ripe, some are the extreme terminal seeds, small and weak, 
 some are very often a httle moldy. In some way all de- 
 fective seeds should be removed. 
 
 Then it should be remembered, that the soundest and 
 largest seeds will produce plants of a corresponding vigor, 
 and that by planting only the healthiest, the variety is kept 
 pure — or even improved. 
 
 For garden use hand picking will suffice. We pour our 
 corn on a table, and select only the kernels which are plump 
 and large, rejecting any which show an intermixture oi 
 
430 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 other varieties. Beet seed requires careful winnowing, 
 nearly one-fourth, as they are usually sold, being unfit for 
 planting. Peas are more uniform in size and quality, and 
 require but little selection. Melons, squashes, and cucum- 
 bers should be culled, or better yet, be put into water ; only 
 those which sink promptly should be used, the swimming 
 and floating ones being light and trashy. Beans are apt to 
 be imperfect. We have usually found occasion to 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 kUl 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 ^epared 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 '\^ 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 fi-om a 
 destructive insect ; and the latter for all seeds, as a stimu- 
 lant to their growth and to guard against worms and bugs. 
 
 Some excitement was made in Scotland, not long ago, by 
 the great eifects 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. 431 
 
 make the seed germinate with great ^■igor, and to establish 
 itself strongly ; but we do not suppose any process can be 
 made to reach beyond this. No mere soaking or coating 
 can extend its influence through the whole growth of the 
 crop. 
 
 When seeds are soaked they anticipate the weeds in com- 
 ing up, especially seeds planted in May and June, and this 
 is a very important object, as crops are, often, almost smoth- 
 ered with weeds before they are large enough to be weeded. 
 
 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 stiflT 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. K the seed is very small, it had better be mixed 
 with a little sand, or dry soil, to increase the bulk. The 
 sowing will be easier and more equal. Scatter the seed 
 upon the bed ; then with the hands or a fine garden sieve, 
 sift fresh and mellow earth upon it from a quarter to half an 
 inch in depth. To bring the earth compactly about the 
 seed, spat the bed with moderate strokes with the back of a 
 spade. If the weather is very dry, water the bed at evening 
 with a watering-pot — to pour it from a pail or cup would 
 wash up the surface. Keep the plants from weeds, and 
 when they are one or two inches high, they may be trans- 
 
432 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 planted to the places where they are to stand. Balsams, 
 larkspurs, poppies, and, indeed, most flowers do better by 
 being transplanted. The operation checks the luxuriance 
 of the plant, and increases its tendency to flower. 
 
 Sometimes seeds are planted where they are to remain; 
 the treatment is precisely the same as before, except they 
 are thinned out instead of transj^lanted. No mistake is 
 more frequent, among inexperienced gardeners, than that 
 of sufiering 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 proj^osed in taking plants into the house 
 — either simple protection, or the development of their 
 foliage and flowers, during the winter. The same treat- 
 ment will not do for both objects. Indeed, the greatest 
 number of persons of our acquaintance, treat their winter 
 plants, from which they desire flowers, as if they only 
 wished to preserve them till spring ; and the consequence 
 is, that they have very little enjoyment in their favorites. 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AJSTD FARMING. 433 
 
 HOUSE PLANTS DESIGNED SIAIPLY TO STANJ) OVER. 
 
 Tender roses, azaleas, cape jasmins, crape myrtles, or- 
 anges, lemons, figs, oleanders, may be kept in a light cellar 
 if frost never penetrates it. 
 
 If kept in parlors, the following are the most essential 
 points to be observed. The thermometer should never be 
 permitted to rise above sixty degrees or sixty-five degrees ; 
 nor at night to sink below forty degrees. Although plants 
 \vdll 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 suifered 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 FOR WINTER FLOWERING. 
 
 It is to be remembered that the winter is naturally the 
 eeasoii 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-keepei'S. If you mean to have roses, blooming 
 geraniums, etc., in winter, you must, artificially^ change 
 
434 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 tJieir season of rest. Plants which flower in summer must 
 rest in winter; those which are to flower in winter must 
 rest either in summer or autumn. It is not, usually, worth 
 while to take into the house for flowering purposes any 
 shrub which has been in full bloom during the summer or 
 autumn. Select and pot the wished-for flowers during sum- 
 mer ; place them in a shaded position facing 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, watery, 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 side ; other- 
 wise, they will grow out of shape by bending toward the 
 light. 
 
 2. Moisture. — Difierent species of plants require differ- 
 ent quantities of w^ater. What are termed aquatics, of 
 which the Calla ^thiopica, 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 loet. 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 vai'ious quantities of moisture, according to their 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMIXG. 435 
 
 activity, and the period of tlieir growth. Let the earth be 
 well stirred, and if it is hecoming dry on the inside, give 
 water. Never water by dribblets — a spoonfnl 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 thing to be 
 gained is a full supply of moisture to every part of the 
 roots, and yet not so much as to have it stand about them. 
 Manure-water may be employed vsdth 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 als much benefited by water on 
 the leat — 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 foi'ty-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 shoiild be changed as often as possible. 
 Every warm and sunny day should be improved to let in 
 fresh air upon these vegetable breathers. 
 
436 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 4. Cleanliness. — ^This is an important element of health 
 as well as of beauty. Aninial-undeanliness is first to be 
 removed. If ground-worms have been incorporated with 
 the dirt, give a dose or two of lime-water to the soil. Next 
 aphides or green-lice will appear upon the leaves and stems. 
 Tobacco smoke will soon stupefy them and cause them to 
 tumble upon the shelves or surface of the soil, whence they 
 are to be carefully brushed, or crushed. If one has but a 
 few plants, put them in a group on the floor; put four 
 chairs around them and cover with an old blanket, forming 
 a sort of tent. Set a dish of coals within, and throw on a 
 handful of tobacco leaves. Fifteen minutes' smoking will 
 destroy any decent aphis. 
 
 If a larger coUection is on hand, let the dish or dishes be 
 placed under the stands. When the destruction is completed, 
 let the parlor be well ventilated, unless, fair lady, you have 
 an inveterate smoker for a husband ; in which case you may 
 have become used to the nuisance. 
 
 The insects which infest large collections of green-houses, 
 are fully treated of in horticultural books of directions. 
 
 Dust will settle every day upon the leaves, and choke up 
 the perspiring pores. The leaves should be kept free by 
 gentle wiping, or by washing. 
 
 White Clover is an important grass on flourishing old 
 meadows. It grows very thick at the bottom of the other 
 grass, although in a good season it will grow to the height 
 of from twelve to sixteen inches. I have seen it in low 
 spots completely covered for weeks together. Therefore 
 land which produces abundant crops of grass, would require 
 extensive draining for grain, and seeing that plowing such 
 land destroys its life, it is far better to keep it in grass con- 
 tinually. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND PARMIKG. 437 
 
 PARLOR FLOWERS AND PLANTS IN WINTER.— (^r«. 2.) 
 
 Theue are so few who care enough for flowers to trouble 
 themselves with them during the winter, that it seems 
 almost unkind to criticise the imperfections of those who 
 do. But it is very plain that, for the most part, skill and 
 knowledge do not keep pace with good taste. Not to point 
 out defects to those who are anxious to improve would be 
 the real unkmdness. 
 
 There are two objects for which plants are kept over. 
 
 Plants are housed for the sake of their verdure and 
 bloom during the winter ; or, simply to protect them from 
 the frosts. Our first criticism is, that these two separate 
 objects are, to a great extent, improperly imited. Tables 
 and window-stands are crowded with plants which ought to 
 be in the cellar or in a pit. Plants which have bloomed 
 through the summer will rest during the winter. To 
 remove them from the heat and dust of the parlor — to place 
 them in a dry, light, warm cellar, will certainly conduce to 
 their entire rest, and the parlor will lose no grace by the 
 removal of ragged stems, falling leaves, and flowerless 
 branches. When a large quantity of plants are to be pro- 
 tected, and cellar room is wanting, a pit may be prepared 
 with little expense. Dig a place eight or ten feet square, 
 in a dry exposure. The depth may be from five to six feet. 
 Let the surface of this chamber be curbed about with a 
 plank frame, the top of which should slope to the south at 
 an inclination of about three inches to the foot. This may 
 be covered with plank except in the middle, where two 
 sash may be placed. The outside of the plank may be 
 banked up with earth, and if light brush or haulm be placed 
 upon the top, in severe weather, it will be all the better. 
 The inside may be provided with shelves on every side for 
 the pots, and thus hundreds of plants may be efiectually 
 protected. During severe freezing weather the sash should 
 be covered mth mats, old carpet, straw or anything of the 
 
438 PLAIN AXD PLEASA^fT TALK 
 
 kind ; and in very cold weather this should not be removed 
 during the daytime : for if the plants have been touched 
 with frost, the admission of light will destroy or maim them, 
 whereas, if kept in darkness, they will suiFer little or no 
 injury. Several fimilies may unite in the expense of form- 
 ing a cold-pit and thus fill it with plants at a small expense 
 and very little inconvenience to each. Very little if any 
 water should be given to plants thus at rest. 
 
 Even where plants are wanted to bloom in the parlor late 
 in the winter, it is often better to let them spend the fore- 
 • part of the winter in the cellar or pit. 
 
 Our second criticism respects the character of winter col- 
 lections. 
 
 The most noticeable error is the strange crowd of plants 
 often huddled together, as if the excellence of a collection 
 consisted in the number of things brought together. Every- 
 thing that the florist sees in other collections has been pro- 
 cured, as if it would be an unpardonable negligence not to 
 have what others have. Hence we sometimes see scores 
 of plants, very diflerent in their habits, reqitiring widely 
 different conditions of growth, reduced to one regimen, 
 viz. a place near the window, so much water a day, and 
 one turning round. This summary procedure, of course, 
 soon results in a vegetable Falstaff's regiment ; some plants 
 being long, sprawling, gangling, some dormant and dumpy ; 
 some shedding their leaves and going to rest with unripe 
 wood, some mildewed, a few faintly struggling to show 
 here and there a bewildered blossom. In such a collection 
 the eye is pained by the entire want of sympathy arising 
 from jumbling together the most dissimilar kinds ; from the 
 want of robust health, and from the entire disappearance 
 of that vivid freshness and sprightliness of growth, com- 
 pact while it is rapid, which gives a charm to well man- 
 aged plants. 
 
 AU plants which are not growing, or for whose growth 
 your parlors are not suitable, should be put into the cellar 
 
ABOTTT FEITITS, FLOWEES AUTD FAEMITSTG. 439 
 
 and should tliere be allowed to stand over in a state of rest. 
 According to your accommodations, select a feto vigorous, 
 symmetrical, hearty, healthy plants for the Avindow. One 
 plant well tended, will afford you more pleasure than twen- 
 ty, half-nurtured. 
 
 In our dwellings, one has to make his way between two 
 extremes in the best manner that he can. Without a stove 
 our thin- walled houses are cold as an ice-house, and a frosty 
 night sends sad dismay among our favorites. Then, on the 
 other hand, if we have a stove, the air is apt to be parched^ 
 and. unwholesome, fit for salamanders, fat and torpid cats 
 and dozing grandmothers. There is not much choice be- 
 tween an ice-house and an oven. There can be 7io such 
 thing as floral health toithout fresh air and enough of it. 
 This must be procured by frequent ventilation. 
 
 PROTECTING PLANTS IN WINTER. 
 
 Vert many shrubs, vines, roses, etc., usually regarded as 
 tender, may yet be safely left standing in the garden if 
 properly protected. 
 
 The neck of plants^ i. e. that part at which the roots and 
 stem come together, requires thorough protection ; both 
 because it is the most tender (as some say), and because it 
 is at this point, that freezing and sudden thawing must 
 occur. The black soil absorbing heat rapidly, th© neck of 
 a plant will be first and most affected by the morning sun ; 
 and this is the reason, we think, rather than any special 
 tenderness of parts, why plants are killed at the crown of 
 the root. Let the ground be well covered with leaves or 
 with coarse manure, and let it come up three or four inches 
 high on the stem. It is better to have the top strawy, 
 rather than dark colored manure. 
 
440 PLAIN" AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 It is the sun, and not the frost, tliat, for the most part, 
 kills the stems of half-hardy plants. Protection is often, 
 therefore, only thorough shading. The Bengal tea, and 
 noisette roses are left out at Philadelphia and at Cincin- 
 nati without detriment. 
 
 Drive a stake by the side of the plant, and drawing up 
 the branches to it, cover them with straw, or bass-matting 
 wrapped around them. Kegs, barrels, boxes, etc., may be 
 turned over such as are not too high and will sufficiently 
 protect them. Air-holes should be bored in barrels, etc., 
 and the north side is the best for the purpose. 
 
 Grape vines which need protection should be loosened 
 from the trellis or wall, pruned, laid down on the ground 
 and earth thrown over them three or four inches deep. 
 Isabella and Catawba grape vines will need no protection. 
 
 TO PRESERVE DAHLIA ROOTS. 
 
 The least frost destroys these roots. In warm and damp 
 cellars they rot. Very many persons have no cellars at all 
 (a very frequent destitution at the West) ; others are so 
 small and moist, as to be unfit (our own, for instance) ; and 
 the extreme variations of temperature during the day and 
 night make sitting-rooms and their closets very rmsafe 
 places for them. The labor of packing them in sand is not 
 great to those who have it ready or men to procure it ; but 
 to ladies, and especially to many in tovras and cities who 
 are enthusiastic cultivators of flowers, but grievously vexed 
 with poverty of pocket, this plan is inconvenient. 
 
 Why may not dahlias be kept in the soil ? We think 
 there is not the least doubt that they can be protected from 
 frost and heat. Every one knows that in spading up in 
 the spring the dahlia beds of the previous year, large sec- 
 tions of the tubers, which had broken ofl" when the main 
 
ABOUT FEUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 441 
 
 roots were removed, are found in a fresh and sound condi- 
 tion. 
 
 Let a pit be dug say two feet deep, the roots carefully 
 disposed in it, covered with soil, and the whole protected 
 by coarse litter, straw, etc. We do not advise any to ad- 
 venture their whole stock in this manner ; but we design 
 to select the inferior sorts fi-om our stock and treat them 
 thus ; and if successful, we shall, another year, try our 
 whole stock. 
 
 HEDGES. 
 
 1. Where a hedge is properly made and carefully trim- 
 med, it is the most beautiful fence that can be made ; and, 
 as an object of beauty, it may be vvell to form hedges in a 
 wood country ; but as a mode of general fencing we deem 
 it totally inappropriate to the condition of a country abound- 
 ing in timber. The labor of setting and tending it until it 
 is established, is tenfold more than is required for a timber 
 fence ; a hedge requires from five to eight years for its 
 establishment ; and every year of this time it must be well 
 tended ; when grown, it requires annual shearing ; which, 
 on a long line of fence, is a labor to which few farmers wUl 
 submit for the sake of appearances. It is hable to get out 
 of order by disease, or the death of particular parts ; and, 
 if neglected a few years, it becomes ragged, a covert for 
 vermin and mischievous animals. In yards, gardens, and 
 lawns, hedges should be grown for ornament, and to serve 
 as screens, and backgrounds. 
 
 Upon the estates of the affluent where money is less valu- 
 able to the owner than decorations, hedges should be estab- 
 lished. Hedges may also be economical in a prairie coun- 
 try ; the labor and expense of making and keeping may be 
 less than would be the cost of timber ; but on farms in a 
 
442 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ■woodland district they are to be regarded as a luxury; and 
 like all luxuries, they are expensive. 
 
 2. The white thorn will do very well for hedges if care- 
 fully tended. The usual materials for hedges, at the East, 
 are the English white thorn {cratCBgus oxycantha)^ the 
 buckthorn {rliamnus catharticus), Newcastle thorn {cra- 
 tcegas crus-galli), honey locust [gleditschia triacanthos)^ 
 red cedar [Juniperus Yirginiana), the Washington or Vir- 
 ginia thorn {cratcegus cor data). 
 
 The Osage orange {maclura aurantiaca) has been high- 
 ly recommended ; it is eminently beautiful, and if proved 
 to be good for hedging, should be employed. Privet makes 
 a sightly hedge, but is thoi-nless. The "Washington thorn 
 is employed in this neighborhood by Aaron Aldredge ; it 
 is very beautiful ; will require eight or ten years to give it 
 maturity. 
 
 3. When the thorn is used, the berries should be gath- 
 ered and mashed, in the fall, and the seed exposed, mixed 
 with moist sand, to the frost of winter. In the spring they 
 should be sown in nursery rows, and at a year old, they 
 should be transplanted. A reserve of plants should be kept 
 in the nursery to supply vacancies which may occur. 
 
 The ground should be thoroughly and deeply pulverized 
 by plowing (spading would be much better) and the plants 
 set about six inches apart. The ground should be kept 
 entirely free from weeds ; this may be done in a profitable 
 manner by planting bush beans on each side, the tending 
 'of which will keep the hedge clean, the ground mellow, 
 besides the profit of the crop. Dr. Shurtlifi", of Boston, 
 gives the following brief but excellent directions : 
 
 " Prepare your land in the best manner ; use suitable plants 
 of thrifty growth, the older the better ; assort and accom- 
 modate to the difierent kinds of soil ; preserve all the roots, 
 but crop the tops, leaving only few buds ; keep a few in 
 your nursery ; set them sloping to the north, and leave the 
 ground a little concave about the roots ; keep them cleat 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 443 
 
 of grass and weeds, and add a little eartli to the roots at 
 each hoemg ; clear away the leaves at autumn ; trim the 
 side branches carefully, and leave the main stems to nature 
 till they are six feet high, then crop off the toj^s to the 
 height you mean to have your hedge. It will look like a 
 wedge with the sharp end upwards, and will exhibit a most 
 beautiful appearance." 
 
 WATERING TREES, ETC. 
 
 We have observed many persons copiously watering 
 young trees and garden plants. 
 
 1. In many cases much Avater is a positive injury. The 
 roots draw up a larger suj)ply of liquid than there is vigor 
 in the tree to digest or appropriate. In such cases the 
 tissue is enfeebled, the roots decay, and the tree perishes in 
 the trying heats of July and August. 
 
 2. It often happens that wetting the tree itself is much 
 better than watering the root. Take a watering-pot and 
 drench the leaves, and limbs and trunk, several times in a 
 day. In a small tree a large bunch of cotton or rags may 
 be put in the crotch and saturated with water. It will gra- 
 dually trickle down the stem, and also evaporate, keeping 
 the leaves in a moist medium. This trouble is worth while 
 in case of rare trees difficult to be obtained. A tree per- 
 spires as really as an animal or a man. Every leaf is fur- 
 nished with sto'>nata or pores, the number and size of which 
 determine the amount of perspiration. Of course, as they 
 vary in different plants, there is a corresponding difference 
 in the amount which they perspire. Plants which grow in 
 exposed situations, scorched by the sim, have a structure 
 which admits but slight perspiration, while those which grow 
 in the shade and in moist places perspire copiously. 
 
 It is upon this state of facts that watering the tree itself 
 
444 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 is beneficial. The exhalation from the leaf is diminished, 
 and sap retained -within the tree. Beside this, the leaf and 
 young green bark absorb some moisture. 
 
 3. Where watering is resorted to it should not be upon 
 the surface ; esjDecially is this injurious in clay soils. The 
 moisture is immediately exhaled, and the sun hardens the 
 wet earth into a crust, nearly as impervious to light, and 
 air and moisture, as if it were sheet-iron. Let a slight 
 trench be opened, and after the water has sunk away, 
 replace the earth and pulverize it. In this way no baking 
 will take place. 
 
 4. But the best method of watering by the root, is that 
 which is technically denominated mulching. Cover the 
 surface of the ground beneath the tree or shrub with three 
 or four inches' thickness of coarse, strawy manure. If 
 watered through this the earth will not bake; tbe moisture 
 will not evaporate ; the root will be shielded from the sun, 
 and enriched by the infiltration of the juices of the manure. 
 
 LABELS FOR TREES. 
 
 It is of great importance for every farmer to preserve the 
 names of his fruit-trees ; and no amateur cultivator should 
 think himself worthy of a name whose garden and fruit 
 ground is not registered and labelled. 
 
 It is best in every case to have a fruit-book, in which 
 should be entered the name of each tree, its place, time of 
 planting, from whom obtained, how old it was from the 
 graft or bud, when set out, its size, condition, etc. 
 
 Such a book, kept in the house, is a sure and permanent 
 record of the names of your fruit-trees. Beside this, each 
 tree should have a label attached to it. For, in passing 
 through an orchard or fruit garden, it is desirable to know 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AKD FARMING. 445 
 
 the names of trees without the inconvenience of carrying 
 your book under your arm. The labels are for daily use ; 
 the book keeps a permanent record, so that if a label be lost 
 the name of the tree does not go with it. It is quite pro- 
 voking to examine a friend's premises without being able to 
 learn the name of a single tree. Beside, every cultivator 
 should know the names of his trees as well as of his cattle ; 
 otherwise they will get local names, and the same fruit have 
 a new name in each orchard. 
 
 TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS. 
 
 The general impression that evergreens are very difficult 
 to transplant is not well founded if one will observe a few 
 directions. 
 
 The best time for transplanting is when the tips begin 
 to show fresh growth in spring. This is exactly the 
 reverse of directions in English books, which denounce 
 spring, and enjoin fall transplanting — in the climate of Eng- 
 land, doubtless with good reason ; and it is a good illustra- 
 tion of the caution necessary before imitating, in our 
 climate, the most skillful foreign practices. 
 
 A friend informs us that he has always totally lost all 
 his fall transplantings ; not saving ten in a hundred ; and 
 other men say they have had similar experience, and it is 
 a settled fact that fall transplanting of evergreens is bad 
 practice. 
 
 The best method of removing is to lift the plant with as 
 many roots and fibres as possible. More care should be 
 used 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 
 
446 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 mon soil and. old rotten wood, from the forests, filling it in 
 carefully about the roots and covering the surface with sub- 
 stances which Avill prevent too much evaporation of mois- 
 ture, as litter, decayed wood, sods grass side down, etc., 
 etc 
 
 The old wood employed should be thoroughly decom- 
 posed ; and that of the 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 recej^tion 
 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. 447 
 
 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 theui 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. Hovey, editor of the magazine v/hich 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, fi-om 
 whose works, whose practice, and experience, our own cul- 
 tivators have derived so much knowledge." 
 
 We cull from the several numbers alreadv 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 
 Avere 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 wliich 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 
 
448 PLAIN AND PLEAS A VT TALK 
 
 its tender, but gorgeous eastern sisters. How long shall 
 our gardens be deficient in this great ornament ?" 
 
 Fuchsias, or Ladies' Eaedrop. — Nothing will be more 
 surprising to those who have cultivated this beautiful jjlant, 
 and thought it well grown if a foot high, and brilliant if a 
 dozen blossoms showed at once, than the magnificent size 
 and flowering oi 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 j^lanted in very large tubs, about two 
 feet deep and two feet in diameter. 
 
 "The splendid F.fulgens 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, and may 
 be sold almost as cheap as verbenas, we hope to hear of 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 449 
 
 experiments being tried to test their capability of enduring 
 our wai'm sun." 
 
 At Chiswick 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 ; " pre- 
 parations were making for planting out the great collection 
 of tulips in October. For this flOwer Mr. Groom is famous ; 
 he has raised several very splendid seedlings, some of which 
 are priced as high as 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 Avas 
 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, ti-ained 
 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 sufiicient shade to injure any- 
 thing growing near them. They afibrd 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 ofi": the 
 
450 PLAIN AXD PLEASANT TATK 
 
 facilities for making observations upon tlie wood and leaves, 
 are also gi-eater; and, as regards appearance alone, they 
 are, when well managed, far more beautiful than standards. 
 To those who Avish to plant out large quantities for orchard 
 cultivation, they would not, of course, be recommended ; 
 but for the garden, the pyramidal form should be 
 adopted." 
 
 Alpine Strawberry. — This variety is especially valu- 
 able from its jjropensity 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 Beauty 
 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 FEUITS, FLOTV'ERS AXD FARMING. 451 
 
 THE CORN CROP. 
 
 The valleys of the West are regarded as the corn-fields 
 of the world, and the people seem to regard the crop of 
 corn as the foundation crop. Lately wheat is becoming a 
 rival, particularly in the northern part of Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Our real object, is, not to 
 theorize, — to teach " book farming" — 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 
 ])otato 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 195 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 Fanner 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, Avould 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 
 corn 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 year very favorable to 
 corn ; but we are told by Mr. Young that in the dry est 
 years he does not get less than 100 bushels to the acre. 
 
452 PLAIN AND PLEASAIST TALK 
 
 Here then is not " book farming," but a method of cultiva. 
 tion practised for years by a plain, practical, but intelligent 
 flirmer. Here then is actual experience for a course of years, 
 the very thing the farmer says he must have before he can be 
 convinced ! But, reader, are you convinced ? ISTo. You can 
 not get round the experience, provided it xoas experience, 
 and you 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 facts and all experience that do not tally with their 
 own notions — these very 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 prejjared as above and harrowed as directed, the hoe- 
 ing part will be so completely performed by this process, 
 thao it will satisfy the most skeptical. Then, allowing the 
 corn thus harrowed, to remain a few days, I start my small 
 jolow Avith 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 FAEMIXG. 453 
 
 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 raoldboard 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 
 Jet 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 Ls 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 eai'ly, and grow 
 oft* 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 
 
454 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 the great sin of American agricitlture is too thin soNving. 
 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 
 extiaordinary crop where less than three or four bushels 
 to the acre Avere so^vn. Now, we venture to affirm 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 corn was planted in 
 rows two feet apart, with a stalk every foot in the rows. 
 This crop produced 167 bushels to the acre. But there is 
 another important advantage of close planting. The corn 
 very soon becomes so dense that the ground is shaded, and 
 the groA\'th 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. Yoimg'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 manures is, so to divide the soil that the atmos- 
 phere, from which plants derive their principal nutri- 
 ment, may freely penetrate to the roots of the plants. In 
 such a loose soil, too, it is well known that much less rain is 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AXD FARMING. 455 
 
 requisite than in a stiff, cold, close soil. For this reason, 
 gravel, sand, or sawdust is often the best manure that can 
 be put upon a stiff soil. In the fall of the year, Mr. Young 
 turns down very deep a thick-rooted sod of eight years' 
 standing. The vegetable matter in the sod will obviously 
 keep the soil very loose for a year or two by mechanical 
 division, as well as by the slow fermentation of this matter 
 in the soil. But this is not aU. The soil is deeply broken 
 up before planting ; it is harrowed thoroughly as soon as 
 the corn conies up, and then there is a rapid succession of 
 plowmg, mitil 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 corn, 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 had five rows in this field that 
 he lapped the furrow to, with a plow, previous to going 
 over it the last time with the cultivator. He soon dis- 
 covered that the growth of these five rows fell short, in 
 height, of those adjacent, and yielded one-fifth less corn. 
 
 " 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 cultivar 
 tion. By not disturbing the sod plowed down, it remains 
 
456 PLAIN ANP PLEASA]NTr TALK 
 
 there as a reservoir of moisture, and an exhilarating prin. 
 ciple throughout the season, to the growth of the corn," 
 
 Upon Mr. Sutton's report of his crop. Judge Buel adds 
 the following : 
 
 " Tlie management which led to the extraordinary pro- 
 duct of corn, should be deeply impressed upon the inind 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 prej^ared 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 w^hen 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 FRUITS, FLOWERS A1VX> FARMING. 457 
 
 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 api^eared to have taken as 
 well as it has done iu 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. in not using 
 the plow in the culture, and in not earthing, or but very 
 slightly, the hiUs. 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 with 
 the i^low, iu dressing the crop, the plants are deprived of a 
 jjortion of their nourishment ; and if they are buried deep 
 by hilling, the plant is partially exhausted in throwing out 
 a new set near the surface, where alone they can perform all 
 their 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- 
 lowmg rules be observed, or at least partially, so far as to 
 test theii- correctness. 
 
 1. That the corn harrow and cultivator be substituted 
 for the plow m 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 groimd as 
 soon as the gi'ain is glazed. 
 
 Again, iu 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 -wdthout due precaution, our crops of 
 
4r)8 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 
 soU, manure, seed 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 han-ow and cultivator can be had, and if used, 
 should not be sufiered 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 oj^en, that the heat, air and moisture 
 may exert better their kind influences uj)on 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 half, that the hill be broad 
 and flat, and that the earth for this purpose be not taken 
 fl-om one place, but gathered from the surface between the 
 rows, where it has been loosened by the cultivator." 
 
 MR. 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 year, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. • 4f.9 
 
 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 furi'ows 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 Gidture. — 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 bai'n-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 each 
 hill, the whole averaging about three spears in a hill. After 
 this I ashed it again, using in all about ten bushels of good 
 
460 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 moi-e 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. 
 
 "Habvesteng. — The corn was cut upon the 18th 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 
 beheve, 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 two eyes, which is sufficient. Being thus prepared, they 
 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. 461 
 
 less than three feet, and if four feet apart the more 
 eJi£!,"ihle. 
 
 " 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 jDotatoes, 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 j^otatoes to 
 point north and south and to be Avell manured." 
 
 Mackenzie's Plan. — " Work the ground until it is com- 
 pletely reduced and free from root weeds. Three plo-w-ings, 
 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 
 events, 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 
 
462 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 cut, it requires from ten to twelve hundred weight of pota- 
 toes., from 12i to 16 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." 
 
 Barnum'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 wiU afford more space 
 between the potatoes one way, than if laid at right angles 
 in the rows. The covering may be performed with a hoe, 
 first hauling in the furrow raised on each side the drill, 
 then carefully take from the centre of the space the soil to 
 finish the covering to the depth of 3| 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 sufiicient to protect the plant against any 
 injurious effects of a scorching sun or drenching rain. The 
 drains in the centre will at all times be found . sufficient to 
 pass off the surplus water. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FAR5IIXG, 4G3 
 
 " When the plant makes its appearance above the surface, 
 the following mixture may be used : for each acre take 1 
 bushel of plaster and 2 bushels of good ashes, and sow it 
 broadcast as even as possible ; a moist day is preferable for 
 this operation — for want of it, a still evening v,n.\\ 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 time they should be kept down 
 by the hand or hoe, which can be done without disturbing 
 the growth of the stalk. 
 
 " My manner of hoeing or 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 1^ 
 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 tact, 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, tbe cart-wheels occupying the two adjoining ones, 
 thereby avoiding any disturbance or injury to the growing 
 plants." 
 
 Mr. "Barnum's method has attracted great attention, from 
 the fact that he actually raised from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels 
 
464 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 of potatoes to the acre ! "When this was first published it 
 was received with great incredulity ; calls were made for 
 the metliod of cultivation, which drew 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. Barnum 
 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 Avill be as much as is usually dug iroxn five acres ; 
 and it is questionable whether the labor and seed for five 
 acres are not more than that required by Mr. B.'s method 
 for one. 
 
 Me. a. Robinson's Plan. — He says: "If I plant low- 
 ground, I plow my ground in beds in a difierent direction for 
 the water to drain ofi", 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 dropj^ing 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 : tlie 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 ofi" heavy raina, 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS A^^) FARMING. 465 
 
 and it naturally keeps the potatoes from being too moist, 
 and they are often injured thereby. I have found that 
 three feet each 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 ofli* in 
 drills, 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 manui-e can be 
 pulled out at intervals, in quantity sufiicient, 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, 
 
466 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 will cover two drills by going once up and once dowoi the 
 field ; if the single mold-board plow is used, it will of 
 course cover but one drill by the same oi^eration. When 
 your ground is thus gone over, your land will all be in high 
 drills, and can rest so for about one Aveek, when you must 
 take a two-horse harrow, and harrow your drills across, 
 leaving your field as level as before your drills were opened. 
 There is no danger, as some woiald suppose, of disturbing 
 your seed. 
 
 " In a few days, when you can see your plants distinctly 
 above groimd, from one end of your drills to the other, you 
 must take your one-horse plow, and go up and down each 
 drill, running the land side of your plow as close to the 
 plant on each side as you safely can, throwing the earth 
 away from it, which operation will leave your field in raised 
 drills between your plants. In a few days after this you 
 take your double mold-board plow, and go down the centre 
 of the blank drills, covering all your plants nearly out of 
 sight, observing as you go along that the weight of earth is 
 thrown against, and not ow, the plants. Then, in some 
 days after, when your plants are well over the toj) of your 
 drills, take your scuffle, an implement not unlike your cul- 
 tivator in this country,»and for which the cultivator can be 
 substituted, and go over your whole field between the drills, 
 giving the earth a good stirring, and not be afraid of 
 encroaching a little at each side on the drill. At this stage, 
 a boy should follow the scuffle, and pull up any weeds that 
 apj)ear on the top or sides of the drills. In a few days 
 after this, when your plants are strong and well up, you go 
 down the centre between the drills, with your double mold- 
 board plow, the wings well apart, and throw the earth well 
 up to the plants. This must sometimes finish the cultivar 
 tion, if the vines have spread and are closed too much, but 
 generally the vines will allow it, and the crop be much 
 benefited by one more scuffling ; but this time take par- 
 ticidar care not to disturb the drill at the bottom, as the 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 467 
 
 bulbs are now forming and spreading; then gently run 
 your double mold-hoard plow through the whole field again, 
 narrowing the wings of it, which will have the eiFect of 
 adding the earth, and compressing it to the bottom of the 
 drill, where the bulbs are forming, rather than throAving it 
 up to the stalk at top, where there is sufficient already. 
 This finishes the cultivation. 
 
 " To prepare the seed you must select well-shaped, even 
 potatoes, not too small nor too large. Cut them, leaving one 
 good eye at least to every set ; prepare them from two to 
 three weeks at least, before you plant ; and each day, as you 
 cut, roll your sets in pulverized lime, and spread them on 
 the barn floor to dry : when dry, heap them in a corner till 
 taken out to plant. If this plan is pursued, and the ground 
 selected and prepared as directed, you may rest satisfied 
 that so sure as the laws of nature are invariable, and that 
 hke eifects follow like causes, as sure will a good and sound 
 crop of potatoes be produced in this climate with no vari- 
 ation in the result, except what may be occasioned by the 
 vicissitudes of the season. 
 
 " Ten tons of potatoes, two thousand two hundred and 
 forty pounds to the ton, is considered a fair crop in Ire- 
 land. Twelve tons an extra one — equal to three hundred 
 and seventy bushels the first, and four hundred and forty- 
 four bushels the second, allowing sixty pounds to the 
 bushel, which I have found to be about the average weight 
 of a bushel here. I have grown four crops of potatoes in 
 this country, in two diflferent situations and latitudes (six 
 acres the smallest quantity cultivated any season). Each 
 crop was treated in every particular as here described, 
 and in three instances out of the four, I got a little over 
 four hundred measured bushels to the acre. The fourth 
 crop was only about three hundred and fifty bushels to the 
 acre, caused by the peculiarity of the season, which pro- 
 duced an almost entire failure with my neighbors, vmder 
 their management." 
 
468 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 POTTING GARDEN PLANTS FOR WINTER USE. 
 
 Roses, geraniums, chrysauthemums, Cape jasmins, etc^ 
 which have been put into the garden boi'dcrs, should 
 be prepared for removal to the parlor for winter, before 
 frost, else the plants will not be established in the pots 
 when removed to the parlor, and will thrive but poorly. 
 
 Select the pot which is to receive each plant, draw a cir- 
 cle about the plant of the size of the pot, then thrust a 
 sharp spade down so as to cut all the roots at the line of the 
 circle described. Let the plant remain, Avatering it tho- 
 roughly , and if it droops, let it be sheltered from the sun. 
 In a few days new roots will begin to form within the ball 
 of earth described by the circle, and in three or four weeks 
 that ball may be carefully hfted, placed in the pot for which 
 it was measured, and it will go on growmg as if nothing 
 had happened to it. If one waits till frost, then digs up the 
 plant without a previous preparation of its roots, it will of- 
 tentimes not recover from the violence during the winter. 
 But by the method suggested above, roses, etc., will go on 
 growing and blooming through the winter. 
 
 There are many who suppose it necessary to leave the 
 second growth of grass undisturbed, to rot on the ground, 
 in order to preserve the fertility of old meadows in grass 
 where top dressmg with manure is not resorted to. But 
 such management is oftentimes extremely hurtful, and the 
 hijury is proportioned to the amount left untrodden and 
 unfed. If the amount left standing, or laying loose upon 
 the surface, be considerable, it makes a harbor for mice, 
 which will, under cover of the old grass, intersect the sur- 
 face of the land with paths innumerable, from which they 
 cut all the grass that comes in then- way. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLO WEBS AUD FAKMING 469 
 
 MARY HO WITT'S USE OF FLOWERS. 
 
 Here is another of those beautiful gems which can never 
 be brought to the light too often. And when more appro- 
 priately than in the middle of our spring-time, while burst- 
 ing buds and fragrant blossoms are delighting every 
 sense ? 
 
 God might have made the earth bring forth 
 
 Enough for great and small, 
 The oak-tree and the cedar-tree, 
 
 Without a flower at all. 
 
 We might have had enough, enough 
 
 For every want of ours, 
 For luxury, medicine, and toil, 
 
 And yet have had no flowers. 
 
 The ore within the mountain mine 
 
 Requireth none to grow. 
 Nor does it need the lotus flower 
 
 To make the river flow. 
 
 The clouds might give abundant rain, 
 
 The nightly dews might fall, 
 And the herb that keepeth life in man, 
 
 Might yet have drunk them all. 
 
 Then wherefore, wherefore were they made 
 
 And dyed with rainbow light. 
 All fashioned with supremest grace, 
 
 Upspringing day and night? 
 
 Springing in valleys green and low. 
 
 And on the mountains high, 
 And in the silent wilderness, 
 
 Where no man passeth by ? 
 
 Our outward life requires them not^ 
 
 Then wherefore had they birth ? 
 To minister delight to man — 
 
 To beautify the earth. 
 
470 PLAIN AJn) PLEASANT TALK 
 
 To comfort man, to whisper hope 
 Whene'er his faith is dim, 
 
 For whoso careth for the flowers, 
 Will much more care for Him. 
 
 WHAT ARE FLOWERS GOOD FOR? 
 
 *' I HAVE said and Avritten a great deal to my countrymen 
 about the cultivation of flowers, ornamental gardening, and 
 rural embellishments ; and I would read them a homily on 
 the subject every day of every remaining year of my Hfe, 
 if I thought it would induce them to make this a matter of 
 particular attention and care. When a man asks me, what 
 is th(! use of shrubs and flowers, my first impulse is always, 
 to look under his hat and see the length of his ears. I am 
 heartily sick of measuring everything by a standard of 
 mere utility and profit ; and as heartily do I pity the man, 
 who can see no good in life but in the pecuniary gain, or 
 jn the mere animal indulgences of eating and drinking." — 
 Colmaii's Agricidtural Tour. 
 
 We protest against the sauciness of the italicized line. 
 Mr. Colman never feels any such impulse ; and if he does, 
 he ought to suspect his own ears. Nothing is more prepos- 
 terous than interflagellations among men on the matter of 
 likes and dislikes. Every man selects his ruling passion, 
 and scoflfs at such as do not grow enthusiastic with him. A 
 market gardener rails at a florist for fol-de-rol trifles ; and 
 the florist looks at the length of the fellow's ears who has 
 nothing but turnips, onions, and cabages ; while a big 
 Miami farmer, who puts in his five-hundred-acre corn-patch, 
 by way of summer amusement, regards both as small affairs. 
 We find no faiilt Avith those who possess a super-ardent 
 enthusiasm for flowers ; but when they throw it in other 
 people's faces, and call them brutes and asses, for not liking 
 pretty flowers, we think the thing has been carried quite far 
 enough. We love good manners along with pretty flowers. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 471 
 
 THE BLIGHT IN THE PEAR-TREE* 
 
 ITS CAUSE AND A REMEDY FOR IT. 
 
 The year 1844 will long be remembered for the exten- 
 sivei'avages of that disease hitherto denormnated Jire-blight. 
 Beginning at the Atlantic coast, we have heard of it in 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indi- 
 ana, and as far as Tennessee ; and it is probable that it has 
 been felt in every fi-uit-growing State in the Union where 
 the season of 1843 was the same as that west of the Alle- 
 ghany range, namely, cold in spring, dry throughout the 
 summer, and a wet and warm fall, with early and sudden 
 winter. 
 
 In Indiana and Ohio the blight has prevailed to such an 
 extent as to spread dismay among cultivators ; destroying 
 entire collections — taking half the trees in large orchards — 
 affecting both young and old trees, whether grafted or 
 eeedings in soils of every kind. Many have seen the labor 
 and fond hope of years cut off, in one season, by an invisible 
 destroyer, against which none could guard ; because, in the 
 conflicting opinions, none were certain whether the disease 
 was atmospheric, insect or chemical. 
 
 I shall now proceed to describe that blight known in the 
 western States (without pretending to identify it with the 
 blight known in New York and New England), to examine 
 the theories proposed for its causation, and to present what 
 now seems to me the true cause, 
 
 I. Description. — ^Although the signs of it, as wiU appear 
 in the sequel, may be detected long before the leaves pnt 
 out in the spring, yet its full effects do not begin to appear 
 vmtil May, or if the spring be backward, until June. On 
 the wood of the last year will be found a point where the 
 
 * Read before the Iiidiana Horticultural Society, and communicated by 
 Mr. Beecher to Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, December, 1844. 
 
472 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 bark is either dead and dry, or else at the same point the 
 bark will be puffed, softened, or sappy with thickened sap 
 — these two ai^pearances indicating only different degrees 
 of the same blight. Wherever the bark is dead and dry, 
 the limb will flourish above it, make new wood, ripen its 
 fruit, but perish the ensuing winter. In the other case, as 
 soon as the circulation of the sap becomes active, the point 
 described shows signs of disease, the leaf turns to a darker 
 brown than is natural to its ordmary decay, being nearly 
 black, and the wood perishes. 
 
 The disease, at first, blights the terminal portions of the 
 branch ; but the affection spreads gradually downward, 
 and sometimes affects the whole trunk. The time from the 
 first appearance of the blight to that in which any affected 
 part dies, is various ; sometimes two or three weeks — some- 
 times a day only ; and sometimes, but rarely, even a few 
 hours consummate the disease. 
 
 On dissecting the branch, the wood is of a dirty, brown- 
 ish, yellow color ; the sap thick and unctuous, of a sour 
 disagreeable odor, like that of a fermented watermelon, on 
 the tops of potato vines after they have been frosted. In 
 still, moist days, where the blight is extensive in an orchard, 
 this odor fills the air, and is disagreeably perceptible at 
 some distance from the trees. 
 
 Sometimes the bark bursts, the sap exudes, and runs 
 down, turning black ; and its acridity will destroy vegeta- 
 tion on which it may drop, and shoots, at a distance from 
 the trunk, upon which the rain washes this ichor, will soon 
 perish. When we come to treat of the cause of this dis- 
 ease, it will be important to remember this malignancy of 
 the fluids. 
 
 We are carefully to distinguish these appearances, pecu- 
 liar to what I suppose ought to be called lointer-bllght, from 
 another and a summer-blight. In this last, the leaf is affected 
 at first in spots ; gradually the whole leaf turns russet 
 color and drops. Along the wood may be seen the hard- 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 473 
 
 ened trail as of a slimy insect, of an ash coloi*. The wood 
 suffers very little by this summer-hlight, and sometimes 
 none. The winter-blight is found on almost all kinds of 
 trees. This summer it has affected the apple, the pear, the 
 peach, the quince, the English hawthorn, privet, black 
 birch, Spanish chestnut, elder, and calycanthus. I enume- 
 rate the most of these kinds on the authority of J. H. 
 James, of Urbana, Ohio, and C. W. Elliott, of Cincinnati, 
 having observed it myself only on fruit-trees. 
 
 II, Theories. — A variety of theories exist as to the 
 causes of this disease. Some are mere imaginations ; soine 
 are only ingenious ; and some so near to what I supiDose to 
 be the truth, that it is hardly possible to imagine how the 
 discovery was not made. 
 
 The injury is done in the fall, but is not seen till spring 
 or summer, or even the next fall. Thus, six months or a 
 year intervene between the cause and the effect — a sufficient 
 reason for the difficulty of detecting the origin of the evil. 
 
 1. Some have alleged that the rays of the sun, passing 
 through vapors which arise about the trees, concentrate 
 upon the branches, and destroy them by the literal energy 
 of fire. Were this true, the young and tender shoots would 
 suffer first and most ; all pear-trees would suffer alike ; all 
 moist and hot summers would be affected with blight ; her- 
 baceous plants would suffer more than ligneous : all of 
 which results are contrary to facts. 
 
 2. Some have supposed the soil to contain deleterious 
 substances, or to be wanting in properties necessary to 
 health. But in either case such a cause of the blight ap- 
 pears untrue, when we consider that trees suffer in all soils, 
 rich or poor ; that, in the same soil, one tree is blighted 
 and the next tree escapes ; that they will flourish for twenty 
 years and then blight ; that a tree partially diseased recov- 
 ers, and thrives for ten or more years without recurrence of 
 blight. 
 
 3. It has been attributed to violent and sudden changes 
 
474 PLAIlSr AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 of temi)eratiire in the air and of moisture in the earth ; to 
 sudden change from sward to high tillage ; and the result is 
 stated to be an " overplus " of sap, or a " surfeit." All 
 these causes occur every year; 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 hav^e 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 Avas 
 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 age^ 
 the disease beginning on old varieties, and propagated upon 
 new varieties by contagion. Were this the true cause, we 
 should expect it to be most frequently developed in those 
 pear regions where old varieties most abound. But this 
 disease seems to be so little known in England, that Lou. 
 don, in his elaborate Encyclopedia of Garde7iing, does not 
 even mention it. Mr. Manning's statement wiU be given 
 further on, to the same purport. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS jS SD FAEMIXG. 475 
 
 6. Insect theory : Tlie confidence with which eastern 
 cultivators pronoiuice the cause to be an msect, has m part 
 served to cover up singular discrepancies in the separate 
 statements in resj^ect to the ravages, and even the species 
 of this destroyer. The Genesee Fanner of July, 1843, 
 Hiiys, " the cause of the disease was for many years a mat- 
 ter of dispute, and is so still by some jjersons ; but the ma- 
 jority are now fully convinced that it is the work of an 
 insect (scolytus pi/ri). T. W. Harris, in his work on insects, 
 i-peaks 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-treey Dr. Harris evi- 
 dently supposed, imtil so late as 1843, that this insect in- 
 fested only Xh.e pear-tree ; for he says, "the discovery of 
 the blight-beetle in the limbs of the apple-tree, is a new 
 fact in natural history ; but it is easily accounted for, be- 
 cause this tree belongs not only to the same natural group, 
 but also to the same genus as the pear-tree. It is not, 
 therefore, surprising, that both the pear and the apple-tree 
 should occasionally be attacked by the same insect." [See 
 an ai-ticle in the 3Iassachusetts Ploughman, summer of 
 1843, quoted in Genesee Farmer, J'^iiy, 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, v.e 
 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 hy iV — the blight. Yet his garden 
 and nursery has existed for twenty years, and contained 
 immense numbers of trees. 
 
476 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 bhght, 
 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 bhght, confounded with the minor blight, 
 as we think will appear in the sequel. 
 
 This theory has stood in the way of a discovery of the 
 true cause of the great blight ; for every cultivator has 
 gone in search of insects ; they have been found in great 
 plenty, and in great variety of species, and their harmless 
 presence accused with all the mischief of the season. A 
 writer in the Farmer's Advocate^ Jamestown, N. C, dis- 
 cerned the fire-blight, and traced it to " small, ret?, pellucid 
 insects, briskly moving from place to place on the branches." 
 This is not the scolytus pyri of Prof Peck and Dr. Harris. 
 
 Dr. Mosher, of Cincinnati, in a letter published in the 
 Farmer and Gardener for June, 1844, describes a third 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FAEKIXG. 477 
 
 insect — " very ininute hrown-colored aphides^ snugly secreted 
 in the axilla of every leaf on several small branches ; . . . 
 most of them were busily engaged with their proboscis 
 inserted through the tender cuticle of this part oi XkiQ petiole 
 of the leaf, feasting upon the vital juices of the tree. The 
 leaves being thus deprived of the necessary sap for nourish- 
 ment and elaboration soon perished, . . . while all that part 
 of the branch and trunk below, dependent upon the elabo- 
 rated sap of the deadened leaves above, shrunk, turned 
 black, and dried up," p. 261. 
 
 Lindley, in his work on Horticulture^ p. 42-46, has de- 
 tailed exjieriments 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 piut 
 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-vin§. yet in the months of May and 
 June, the amount of sap to be exhausted by these very 
 minute brown aphides, would be so great, that if they 
 drank it so suddenly as to cause a tree to die in a day, they 
 would surely augment in bulk enough to be discovered 
 without a lens. If some one had accounted for the low 
 water in the Mississippi, in the summer of 1843, by saying 
 that buffaloes had drank up all the upper Missouri, and cut 
 off the supply, we should be at a loss which most to pity, 
 the faith of the narrator, or the probable condition of the 
 buffaloes after their feat of imbibition. 
 
 But the most curious results /b^/oio these feats of suction. 
 The limbs and trunk helow shrink and turn black, for want 
 of thai; elaborated sap extracted by the aphides. And yet 
 fivery year we perform artificially this very operation in 
 
478 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 ringing or decortication of branches, for the purpose of 
 accelerating maturation or improving the fruit. Every year 
 the saw takes off a third, a half, and sometimes more, of a 
 living tree ; and the effect is to produce new shoots, not 
 death. Is an operation vrhich can be safely performed by 
 man, deadly when performed by an insect ? Dr. Masher 
 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 hlight-heetle^ after 
 most careful search and dissection, has not been found, nor 
 any trace or j^assage of it. Dr. Mosher's insect may be set 
 aside without further remark. 
 
 I think that further observation will confinn 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 committee 
 to collect and investigate facts on the Fire-Blight. While 
 serving on this committee, and inquiring in all the pear- 
 growing regions, we learned that Reuben Reagan, of Putnam 
 County, Ind., was in possession of much information, and 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEES AND FARMING. 479 
 
 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 } ears past suspected 
 that this disease originated in the foil 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 spoUed — 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 unrij^e, 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, foi 
 a time, followed severe nights. What woui d be the effect 
 of this freezing and sudden thawing upon the fluids and 
 
480 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 their vessels ? We have been able to- find so little written 
 uiDon vegetable morbid anatomy (probably from the want 
 of access to books), that we can give but an imperfect account 
 of the derangement produced upon the circulating fluids 
 by congelation. We cannot state the specific changes 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 decom- 
 position, if any, is effected, we know not. The effect of con- 
 gelation upon the descending sap of pear and apple-trees, is 
 to turn it to a viscid, unctuous state. It assumes a reddish 
 brown colpr ; 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 fall of 1843, were then 
 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, 
 
 * Lindley's Horticulture, p. 81-82. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 481 
 
 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 jDractised 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 prqbably 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 ; and at 
 these points the current dovmward is wholly stopped. 
 Only the outward part, however, is dead, while the albur- 
 num^ or sap-wood, is but partially injured. Through the 
 alburnum, then, the sap from the roots passes up, enters 
 the leaf, and men are astonished to see a branch, seemingly 
 dead in the middle, growing thriftily at its extremity. No 
 insect-theory can account for this case ; yet it is perfectly 
 plain and simple when we consider that there are two cur- 
 
482 PLAIN AKD PLEASAVr TALK 
 
 rents of sap, one of which may be destroyed, and the other 
 for a limited time go on. The blight, under this aspect, is 
 nothing but ringi7ig 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 would destroy 
 the health of the outer parts, would, to some degree, rup- 
 ture the inner sap-vessels. By this, or by some unknown 
 way, the diseased sap is taken into the inner,* upward cur- 
 rent, and goes into the general circulation. If it be in a 
 diluted state, or in small quantities, languor and decline will 
 be the result ; if in large quantities, and concentrated, the 
 branch will die suddenly, and the odor of it will be that of 
 frost-bitten vegetation. All the different degrees of mor- 
 tality result from the quantity and quality of the diseased 
 sap which is taken into circulation. In conclusion, then, 
 where, in one class of cases, the feculent matter was, in the 
 fall, so virulent as to destroy the parts where it lodged, and 
 was then dried by exposure to wind and sun, the branch 
 above will live, even through the summer, but perish the 
 nest winter ; and the spring afterward, standing bare amid 
 green branches, the cultivator may suppose the branch to 
 
 * See Lindley, p. 82. 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMING. 483 
 
 have blighted that spring, alth >ugh the cause of death wag 
 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 mouths before its devel- 
 opment. The statement of this fact, on paper, may seem 
 a small measure of proof; but it Avould 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 wOl 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 faU, 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 
 
484 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 western States, where the late and warm autumns render 
 orchards more liable to winter blight than New England 
 orchards. An Orange Bergamot, grafted upon an apple 
 stock, had about run out ;it made a small and feeble growth, 
 and cast its leaves in the summer of 1843, long before frost. 
 It escaped the blight entirely ; while young trees, and of the 
 same kind (we believe), standing about it, and growing vig- 
 orously till the freeze, perished the next season." I have 
 before me a list of more than fifty varieties, growing in the 
 orchard of Aaron Alldredge, of Indianapolis, and their history 
 since 1836 ; and so far as it can be ascertained, late-grow- 
 ing varieties are the ones, in every case, subject to blight ; 
 and of those which have always escaped, the most part are 
 known to rij^en 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 AND FARMING. 485 
 
 eleven suffered, but none were killed. All in this region 
 know the vigorous habit of this tree. Of eight Crassane 
 Bergamot (a late grower), five were affected and two 
 killed. In an orchard of 325 trees of 79 varieties, one in 
 seven blighted, 25 were totally destroyed. Although a 
 minute observation was not made on each tree, yet, as a 
 general fact, those which suffered were trees of a full habit 
 and of a late growth. 
 
 6. Mr. White, a nurseryman near Mooresville, Morgan 
 County, Indiana, in an orchard of from 150 to 200 trees, 
 had not a single case of the blight in the year 1844, though 
 all around him its ravages were felt. What were the facts 
 in this case ? His orchard is planted on a mound-like piece 
 of ground; is high, of a sandy, gravelly soil: earlier by a 
 week than nursery soils in this county ; and in the summer 
 of 1843 his trees grew through the summer; wound up 
 and shed their leaves early in the fall, and during the warm 
 spell made no second growth. The orchard, then, that 
 escaped, was one on such a soil as insured an early growth, 
 so that the winter feU upon rij)ened wood. 
 
 7. It maybe objected, that if the blight began in the new 
 and growing wood, it would appear there ; whereas the 
 seat of the evil, t. e. the place where the bark is diseased 
 or dead, is lower down and on old wood. Certainly, it 
 should be; for the retux-ning sap falls some ways down 
 before it effects a lodgment. 
 
 8. It might be said that S2)ri?ig-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 
 
486 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 the tree is spent before autumn, and it is going to rest 
 when frost strikes it. 
 
 10. It may be mquired why flail -growing shrubs are not 
 always blighted, since many kinds are mvariably caught by 
 the frost in a growing state. 
 
 We reply, first, that we are not to say that every tree or 
 shrub suifers 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 mider which blight 
 is supposed to originate are, a growing state of the tree, a 
 sudden /"reese, 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 hojDcd 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 smnmer. If the stock 
 had been alfected in the fall, blight would arise from it y 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 ia imparted to the whole tree ; not 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWEKS AND FARMESTG. 487 
 
 only to the wood of the last year, but to the old branches. 
 We reply, that if a single branch only should 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 hdow the seat of the disease (as if to fall 
 below the haunt of a supposed insect), is beneficial. The 
 farther 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 occurs. 
 
488 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 3. Wherever orchards are ah-eady 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-hill- 
 ing. In the winter of either 1837 or 1838, in March a deep 
 snow fell (in the region of Indianapolis) and was immediately 
 followed by brilliant sun. Thousands of nursery-trees per- 
 ished in consequence, but without putting out leaves, or 
 lingering. It is a familiar fact to orchardists, that severe 
 cold, followed by warm suns, produce a bursting of the 
 bark along the trunk ; but usually at the surface of the 
 ground. 
 
 2. We call the attention of cultivators to the disease of 
 the peach-tree, called " The Yellows." We have not spoken 
 of it as the same disease as the blight in the pear and the 
 apple, only because we did not wish to embarrass this sub- 
 ject by too many issues. We will only say, that it is the 
 opinion of the most intelligent cultivators among us, that 
 the yellows are nothing but the development of the blight 
 according to the peculiar habits of the peach-tree. We men- 
 tion it, that observation may be directed to the facts. 
 
ABOUT FKCITS, FLOV.'KKS AND FARMIXG. 489 
 
 PROGRESS OF HORTICULTURE IN INDIANA* 
 
 1 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. 1 
 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 ISTew 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- 
 mer and early fall apples were gone before our exhibition ; 
 but between seventy and a hundred varieties of winter ap- 
 
 * A letter published in Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, February, 
 1845. 
 
490 PLAIN AISTD PLEASANT TALK 
 
 pies were exhibited. We never expect to see finer. Our 
 most pojjular winter apj^les are : Yellow Bellflower ; White 
 Bellflower (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 Bellflower 
 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 great 
 bearer every year ; the fruit comes into eating in February, 
 is tender, juicy, mild and sprightly, and preferred with us 
 to the Green Newtown pij^pin — keeping full as well, bearing 
 better, the pulp much more manageable in the mouth, and 
 the apple has the peculiar property of bearing frosts, and 
 even freezing, without material injury; Green Newtown 
 pippin; Michael Henry pippin (very fine); Pryor's Red, 
 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 
 Avould 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 Sj^itzenbei'g, appropri- 
 ating the virtues of both, would leave little more to be 
 hoped for or wished. The JBaldwin has never come up to 
 
ABOUT FKUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 491 
 
 its eastern reputation with us ; the Rhode Island Greening 
 is eaten for the sake of " auld lang syne ;" tlie Roxbiiry 
 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 
 Bent up for inspection. Our rule is to reject every apple 
 , Avhich, 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 j^lace — and not more than three 
 Avill 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 farmers are 
 increasingly zealous in pear cultivation. We are fortunate 
 in having secured to our nurseries not only the most ap- 
 proved old varieties, but the choicest new pears of British, 
 
492 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 
 
 Continental or American origin. A few years ago to eacli 
 one hundred apple-trees, our nurseries sold, perhaps, two 
 pear-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, 
 Beurrc d'Aremberg, Passe Colmar, Duchesse d'Angouleme, 
 Seckel, and Marie Louise, are the most widely dilFused, 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 Q^g. 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 tioenty 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, ajDples 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 
 ereasingly 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 sjjecula- 
 tion. It will diminish the price but increase the profit of 
 
ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 493 
 
 fi'uit. 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, 
 Avhat is lost in lessening its price. A few years and the 
 apple crop will be a matter of reckoning by farmers and 
 speculators, just as is now, ths 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 this 
 respect, follow the history of grains and edible roots, and 
 from a local and limited use, the apple and the pear will 
 become articles of universal demand. The reasons of such 
 an opinion are few and simple. It is a fruit always palat- 
 able — and as such, will be welcome to mankind whatever 
 their tastes, if it can be brought within their reach. The 
 western States 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 ^pennanent 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 set in 
 this county (Marion County), in ten years the annual crop 
 of apples will be 200,000 bushels. But Wayne County has 
 double our number of trees ; suppose, however, the ninety 
 
494 PLAIN AND PLEASANl 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- 
 els a tree, would be nearly two millio7is. 
 
 The past year has greatly increased the cultivation of 
 small fruits in the State. Strawberries are found in almost 
 every garden, and of select sorts. None among them all is 
 more populai' — or more deservedly so — than Hovey's Seed 
 ling. We have a native white strawberry, removed from 
 our meadows to our gardens, which produces fruit of supe- 
 rior fragrance and flavor. The crop is not large — but con- 
 tinues gradually ripening for many weeks. The blackberry 
 is introduced to the garden among us. The fruit sells at 
 our market for from three to five cents — profit is not there- 
 fore the motive for cultivating it, but improvement. I have 
 a white variety, " What color is a black-herrj when it is 
 greetiP" We used to say red, but now we have ripe black- 
 berries which are white^ and green ^toc^-berries which are 
 red. Assorted gooseberries and the new raspberries, Fran- 
 conia and Kastolfi* 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 to the 
 stalk, shall I have surpassed you ? I have a seedling which 
 last year, without good cultivation, produced petioles weigh- 
 ing from eighteen to twenty ounces. My wrist is not very 
 delicate, and yet it is much smaller in girth than they were. 
 
 In no department is there more decided advance among 
 our citizens than in floriculture. In all our rising towns, 
 yards and gardens are to be found choicely stocked. All 
 hardy bulbs are now sought after. Ornamental shrubs are 
 taken from our forests, or imported from abroad, in great 
 variety. Altheas, rose acacia, jasmin, calycanthus, snow- 
 berry, snowball, sumach, syringas, spicewood, shepherdia, 
 dogwood, redwood, and other hardy shrubs abound. The 
 rose is an especial favorite. The Bengal, Tea and Noisettes 
 bear our winters in the open garden with but slight protec- 
 tion. The Bourbon and Remontantes will, however, drive 
 
ABOUT FETJITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 495 
 
 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 untU 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. 
 
496 PLAIK AND PLEASAITT 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, prolificj 
 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 tlie 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, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 497 
 
 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 have 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 nas passed beyond our reach. 
 We can alter nothing, and the past is of no use to us except 
 as a lesson for the future. The soil that the plow ripped 
 up, in the spring, has yielded its harvest, its work is closed, 
 its fruits garnered. The tree whose boughs grew green 
 when the singing of birds proclaimed that spring was come, 
 has rijrened its fruit, perfected its growth, its store ia 
 gathered, and its leaves are lying beneath it, and slowly 
 
 • A.D. 1845. 
 
498 PLAIN AJiTD PLEASANT TALK (^ H (/ (^ '^ 
 
 u 
 
 returning to the earth from which they sprang. Only here 
 and there, on a bright morning, do we see one of those 
 birds which, a few months ago, builded their nest, watched 
 their young, or taught the nesthngs 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 
 grew in the soil of the human heart ? What thoughts and 
 generous purposes have been ripened and stored up Hke 
 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 ? 
 
 TECB END.